“Asia is Us”
NZ’s Asia2000 head Chris Butler on a recent 5-city tour of Asia, Butler spoke of NZ’s 40 year evolution towards a post-colonial identity: “Now, instead of relying on the ‘Lion of England,’ NZ is…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
The Sweet Taste of Success
NZ wines raked in the medals at the 2002 London International Wine Challenge. The respected annual competition is the world’s largest blind-tasting session, with thousands of wines judged alongside each other regardless of price…
Reforging public perceptions
James Belich’s history of C20th NZ, Paradise Reforged, applauded in lengthy TLS article. Reviewer Jane Samson: “It is refreshing to have a personal vision of the country’s history from an astounding scholar who…
A W(h)ine By Any Other Name…
In a blow to New World wine producers – NZ included – the European Commission is seeking to place further limits on wine label terminology. “Champagne” and “port” are already off limits, now the Commission hopes to…
Air New Zealand Mile High Grub
Air New Zealand rates highly in a survey of post-Sept 11 airline food. As opposed to the “inedible” or nonexistent meals on many US carriers, Air NZ offers “selections like grilled herb marinated venison…
History Resurfaces
A letter penned by Captain Cook announcing his return from Australasian waters has been discovered stuck behind a picture frame at Brancaster Hall, England. The 200-year old missive “recalls the grim hardship of what is now considered…
Carving a place in history
For two years Polynesian “master carver” Shane Eagleton has been teaching disadvantaged Californian teens the ancient art of mallet and chisel. Employed by the One Voice arts program, the NZ-born artist/ecologist has helped his students to create…
It’s in the Bag
NZ designers, Emma East and Nicky Harris, have taken their successful accessories line Rosa Bespoke Bags across the Tasman. The pair arrived back from a trip to Europe determined to oust the black leather…
NZ Condé Nast Hot Spots
US Conde Nast Traveler’s influential “hot list” names the Auckland Hilton, Eagle’s Nest in the Bay of Islands, and the lodge at Kauri Cliffs as the premier places to stay in NZ. Auckland’s
Kea Car-ha?
Judy Diamond and Alan B. Bond’s spent hours at an Arthur’s Pass rubbish dump working out the evolutionary significance of the kea: “Keas are giant mountain parrots, and they love cars, especially soft-tops. If you leave…
Deconstructing faculty
Respected Dean of Columbia School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Bernard Tschumi’s tenure reviewed on notice of his retirement. His transformative guidance made the faculty a model of architectural education and he will leave…
A Believer in the Green Light
“Without a doubt one of the most brilliant journalists and columnists of his generation.” Neal Travis, the “brash, swashbuckling New Zealand import”, legendary editor of The New York Post’s in/famous Page Six gossip column, as well as…
Bic is back
“She sings the kind of beautiful, haunting songs that work their way into your subconscious and emerge when it’s raining and you can’t sleep.” Bic Runga’s new album Beautiful Collision (and her clothes) were…
Edge People of Middle Earth
“, for all its knockout grandeur, is but the trailer, the preview of the country. NZ doesn’t need to be digitally enhanced. It has an orchestra replete with special effects all of its own.” Headlining feature on…
LOTR
The Fellowship of the Ring won the Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation at the World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, California. In attendance for the ceremony were Sean Astin (A.K.A Sam Gamgee) and NZer…
“It’s All About That Fern”
The Cinderalla New Zealand Tall Black’s sensational hoop dreams soared as they hustled and impressed their way into the semi finals of World Championships (Indianapolis). Sports Illustrated calls them the ‘thunder from
On the Straight and Narrow Isles
A survey of 102 countries by German-based Transparency International found NZ to be one of the least corrupt states. The annual report claims “to reflect perceived levels of corruption among politicians and public officials.” NZ scored 9.5…
Dick Hubbard: “Messiah of Muesli”
Kiwi entrepreneur, Dick Hubbard, profiled in Independent. “A highly unconventional capitalist,” Cereal evangelist Hubbard is NZ’s chief advocate of social responsibility in business, joining international brands such as Benetton and The Body Shop in his claim to…
Sporting success: air guitar and Scrabble
Hastings meatworker Toby Peneha took out second place at the 7th annual World Air Guitar Championship in Oulu, Finland. Narrowly beaten by two-time British winner Zac Munro, Toby “the Tobanator” achieved unofficial glory by…
Karen Walker: Back Yard High Casual
6 page Observer spread: Walker uses her distance to advantage, preferring the hilltops of Auckland to the glamour and pace of Europe. “Karen Walker’s lived-in fabrics and homely knits evoke her idyllic New Zealand…
Bamboo Dick: First Flyer
“What’s all the fuss about the Wright Bros? All good Kiwis know New Zealand’s Richard Pearse got there first.” With the centenary of his flight looming, Debbi Gardiner, writes in Salon about his place in history and…
A toast to Elvis
Not content with gracing the billboards of Wellington, NZ toast artist Maurice Bennet is going global. Bennet’s Elvis tribute was noted in Ananova’s quest for the world’s weirdest news: “on his website…
Children subject of Her Majesty
The Edinburgh International Film Festival screens the “quirky New Zealand film” Her Majesty. Mark J Gordon’s feature (from a Sundance award-winning script) tells the story of an impassioned young Royalist during the…
Guilt-free Fur
Ah, to be able to wear fur without fear of red paint. The possum’s status as NZ’s chief environmental menace has encouraged the fashion industry to use its fur for everything from bags to…
“Land of the Long White Run”
NZ slopes get the thumbs up from Oz ski-buffs. The Southern Alps: “bigger than the Swiss, French and Austrian Alps combined” – are praised for their variety, beauty, and value for the dollar in a comprehensive SMH report.
Uncle Sam’s Head?
The sale of Te Kuri/Young Nick’s Head to an American financier has not escaped international notice. Symbolic for both Maori and European firsts (reputed to be the first land seen by Captain Cook’s Endeavour), comparisons were…
Ashes to Ashes
The heart-stopping (breaking?) Bledisloe battles are becoming enshrined in Ocker sporting lore: “Once, Australians could rattle off virtually every ball of an Ashes cricket series. Now it is Bledisloe Cup rugby.” According to Spiro Zavos, the battle…
Steady Hand
A thematic juggling act handled with skill: C.K Stead’s The Secret History of Modernism intersperses a tale of young love with one family’s experience of the Holocaust. Washington Post Reviewer Chris Lehman: “In the…
Moore Free Trade?
Mike Moore, outgoing NZ director-general of the World Trade Organisation, makes an impassioned plea for wealthy nations to review their agricultural trade policies, arguing that subsidies are no help to poorer nations. He cites the world sugar…
Sculling Sisters
NZ twins Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell continue to impress on the international rowing circuit. The pair won gold at July’s World Cup in Munich and are tipped to do the same at next month’s World…
The blink and you’ll miss him sex symbol
“Lord of the extras: Elfin charmer nets fans.” A pout like that and musical and comedic talent! Wellington musician Bret McKenzie (The Black Seeds, Flight of the Conchords) has found internet fame via…
Sevens Heaven
Kiwi dominance impresses at Manchester where they prove themselves masters of the form: “New Zealand dominate seven-a-side rugby the way that Lance Armstrong lords it over cycling, Tiger Woods bestrides the world of golf and…
Hi-fi Goes Hi-tech
More Hyperfactory innovation. Popular NZ dance music radio station – GeorgeFM – has introduced a streaming SMS system to interact with their audience. Listeners can now text their requests, queries, and feedback directly to the…
Nature vs. Nurture
The argument over whether environment or genetics plays the bigger part in creating violent dispositions is moving towards a tentative reconciliation. London-based research has proposed that the level of a particular gene – MAOA, which regulates an…
Tri-Nations Champions
The All Blacks positioned themselves to take the Tri-nations title for the first time since 1999 with a gripping and eventful tussle with the Springboks (including a spectator who took the game into his own hands). The…
Idyll
Vogue Living (Australia) visits the gardens of the exlusive Huka Lodge, designed by Suzanne Turley. “With brilliant green lawns punctuated by conifers, native trees and sub-tropical plants, the serene garden of New Zealand’s Huka Lodge encapsulates nature’s…
Giant Spiders Terrorise Public
Campy, 50s sci-fi inspired Eight Legged Freaks achieves what it set out to do: “scare the pants off the viewer.” Written and directed by NZer Ellory Elkayem, Freaks delivers thrills aplenty, while remaining…
Pacific terrific
NZ artists Lisa Reihana, Ralph Hotere, and the “Pasifika Divas” will be exhibiting at the Asia Pacific Triennial at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. The exhibition brings together artists from Japan to…
Critic goes ga ga for Noble
Reviewed: Justin Paton’s, Anne Noble: States of Grace, the accompaniment to Noble’s epoynmous recent exhibition. The book, “is the type of publication that makes people pat books in bookstores one finds oneself…
I am international
“He is the first important painter in that part of the world.” The Netherlands’ Stedelijk Museum is to hold the Western hemisphere’s first major retrospective of Colin McCahon’s work. “What at first sight…
Psathas & Kiri
NZ composer John Psathas and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa provided some of the high points at Manchester’s eclectic “Pulse Festival.” The concert was the climax to a six month exploration of Commonwealth arts entitled…
Alone it Stands
Irish playwright John Breen’s tale of Munster’s famous victory over the 1978 grand-slam All Blacks recieves winning reviews and box office at the Sydney Opera House on its way to a season in Auckland’s…
Giving Karl Popper His Propers
David Cohen collects the views of international scholars, including Graham Macdonald of the University of Canterbury, to place and demystify one of the university’s most celebrated former lecturers – controversial Austrian philosopher Karl Popper – on the…
Scandanavia Cleans Up
NZ was ranked 19th best place to live according to the UN Development Programme’s annual quality of life survey. The report looks at issues such as life expectancy, per capita income, educational opportunities, and…
Gold, Silver and Bronze Fern
All-comers finished in the green and gold shadow of Australia, but New Zealand completed a successful Commonwealth Games campaign, finishing a credible 5th on the medal table, with 11 golds in rugby sevens, cycling (Sarah Ulmer…
“No Place at the Table … but a Good Deal Across the Counter.”
NZ representative Paul Cotton responds to Greg Sheridan’s criticism of NZ’s independent defence stance in The Australian (20/7). As Cotton avers, “It doesn’t seem that the Kiwis are suffering too much from just being a ‘very,…
Snell Still Streaks Ahead
Sebastian Coe reminisces about the grand days of athletics, when athletes focused on ambitious all-round feats. For a middle- distance runner, “no championship season was complete without a tilt at the 800m-1500m double.” He cites NZ legend…
Clean and Green: Even Out of the Lab?
“The clean green reputation of NZ – an image worth millions, according to the environment industry – is under threat.” The GM issue continues to divide NZers, rearing its head in the fields of economics, agriculture, tourism,…
Pacific Protest
Yachts containing more than 50 protesters from NZ, Australia and Vanuatu confronted a ship carrying nuclear waste through the Tasman Sea from Britain to Japan. According to Greenpeace, the cargo contained enough nuclear material for 50 bombs,…
Third time’s a charm
NZ tenor Benjamin Makisi won the prestigious McDonald’s Operatic Aria in Sydney after making the finals three years running. He intends to put his NZ$41,110 prize money towards enrolment in a European opera studio….
Haka Mancunian Style
New Zealand athletes received a special welcome on their arrival at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. After getting the green light from the Maori Minister of Education, students from Tarvin Primary School (Cheshire) performed an enthusiastic haka…
Greatest Games’ Moments
An Observer run-down of the 10 greatest Commonwealth Games’ moments gives two spots to NZ achievers. No. 4: one of the finest middle distance races run, the 1974 1,500m race between John Walker and Tanzania’s Filbert Bavi…
Queenstown on Cruise Control
“Adrenalin, who needs it?” John Westbrooke discovers the secret to an enjoyable Queenstown holiday for over-60’s, recommending cheese-tasting, wine tours, and gondolier rides over the ubiquitous bungee jump. Not an extreme sport in sight!
NZ Press-ganged In The Australian
Greg Sheridan, using some sobering cliches, gives his views on the trans-Tasman relationship: as well as comparing NZ to Tasmania he invokes ghosts of ANZUS past and our “unreliable” unwillingness to join Australia in Pax-Americana, as reasons…
“She’s a Go-getter and a Good Chap”
Georgina Beyer interviewed in the Independent in the wake of promoting Georgie Girl in Sydney. A mass of contradictions – “she might judge a sheep show one day, march in a gay pride parade the next”…
Cell Growth
London-based NZ biochemist Dr Peter Shepherd was honoured for his groundbreaking work on the causes of type-2 diabetes at the London Biotechnology Network (London, Oxford and Cambridge) biotechnology excellence event in London. Shepherd was joint winner of…
