Expat angst 
Hamilton artist John Hurrell writes about NZ artists living internationally in the February issue of Art Monthly Australia. He discusses last year's exhibition 'The expatriates: Frances Hodgkins and Barrie Bates' in the context of the NZ government's current $850,000 campaign to lure Kiwis home from abroad. "[2005] is a good time to look at the lives of two of NZ's most recognised expatriate artistic talents - the time they spent on the other side of the world in England and the mental vacillations they went through concerning 'home' and identity." The ambitious exhibition, which showed at Victoria University's Adam Art Gallery Auckland University's Gus Fisher Gallery, drew parallels between the unlikely duo of modernist Frances Hodgkins (1869-1947) and conceptual artist Billy Bates (aka Billy Apple, 1935-). 
(February 2006)

New world order 
A British travel site predicts big things for the NZ ski industry, as more and more international tourists head south for their holidays in the snow. The article focuses on Treble Cone, which has had a £565,000 face-lift in preparation for the upcoming ski season. "The world order of premier ski resorts is set to change over the coming years because of declining snowfall, with places in Europe such as Switzerland and Austria losing out to the likes of Israel and New Zealand." 
(28 March 2006)

Edge divas 
Maori language musician Hinewehi Mohi features in Adventure Divas, a best selling book by US writer/editor turned intrepid documentarian Holly Morris. A few years back Morris traded in her desk job in order to scour the world for "women of action," taking along a PBS film crew for the ride. The resulting series, Adventure Divas, profiled women from Cuba to New Delhi to Aotearoa. Morris interviewed an array of edgy divas including author Keri Hulme, PM Helen Clark, filmmakers Gaylene Preston and Sima Urale, and Mohi, who is described on the book's dust-jacket as "reinvigorating her native culture for a new generation." Adventure Divas was selected as an 'Editor's Choice' book for 2005 by the New York Times, who praised it as "A delightful triangulation of adventure travel, telecommuting and self-reinvention… [Morris] can be hilarious." 
(2005)

No.1 fan turned majority shareholder 
Russell Crowe has teamed up with businessman Peter Holmes à Court to buy a 75% share of the South Sydney "Rabbitohs" rugby league club. A lifelong supporter of the Rabbitohs, Crowe has contributed large sums of money to the community-owned club in the past. His $3 million bid to win the majority share was successful after more than the required 70% of shareholders voted in its favour. "He wanted us to win a premiership last year, he wants us to win a premiership this year, and the year after ... Russell just can't stand losing anything," says Holmes à Court, who will act as executive chairman. 
(22 March 2006)

Pacific gateway Ia Orana! 
Air Tahiti Nui is now offering stopovers in Auckland and Tahiti for any direct flights between New York or LA and Sydney. Billed as the first-ever non-stop service between New York and the South Pacific, the package kicked off in summer 2005. 
(February 2006)

Designs on Hyde 
Palmerston North sculptor Paul Dibble is the winner of an NZ government sponsored competition to design a $3 million war memorial in London's Hyde Park. Dibble's design - developed in association with Athfield Architects of Wellington - consists of 16 bronze plinths engraved with text and images, which form the shape of a crucifix when viewed from above. "The design is a fitting memorial to the more than 250,000 NZers who served in the wars of the last century," said PM Helen Clark in the NZ Herald. "It evokes and reflects the courage, determination and loyalty of New Zealanders who served in and supported the war effort, as well as the accompanying grief, loss and suffering which NZ experienced." The sculpture is due to be completed by the end of the year. 
(21 December 2005)

Die! Die! Die! in Arizona
Auckland art punk trio Die! Die! Die! forms part of an impressive Australasian contingent heading to this year's South By Southwest music festival in Arizona. Tipped as one of NZ's most promising new bands, Die! Die! Die! hopes to land label and agency deals for both the US and Europe at the prestigious industry showcase event. "We've been talking to about 10 labels," says singer/guitarist Andrew Wilson. "So far, they haven't given us exactly what we want." Die! Die! Die! will tour Japan and Europe later this year. 
(10 March 2006)

Out in the open 
An interview with mystery author Anne Perry in the Times inevitably brings up her former life in NZ as Juliet Hulme, one half of the murderous teenage duo portrayed in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures. A hugely prolific and successful writer, particularly in the US, Perry's identity was made known in the early 1990s. In order to protect her elderly mother from the ensuing media circus, Perry has deliberately maintained a low profile in her adopted Scotland. Only after her mother's death in 2004 has Perry opened up in the UK, embarking on numerous press tours of the region. "I would not have an old lady of 90 having people on the doorstep, telephoning her, pointing long lenses into the bedroom," she says. "If she was still alive we would not be having this conversation. I would like to establish a proper literary reputation in this country, but not at that price." 
(12 March 2006)

Hansen homeward bound?
MTV Europe’s head, New Zealander Brent Hansen has retired after nearly two decades with the company. Hansen joined MTV in 1987 as a news producer and soared through the ranks to become the President of Creative and Editor in Chief of MTV Networks International. “Brent’s strong, creative instincts have … helped us achieve a unique editorial voice and music credibility that will continue to lend integrity to our brands for years to come,” says MTV Networks International president Bill Roedy. Always maintaining he would retire from the top job at 50, and after 18 years in London, Hansen is looking forward to making “time for my relationship with New Zealand.” 
(17 February 2006)

Blast from the past
Ornithologists the world over have been fascinated by recent confirmed sightings of the NZ Storm Petrel, which was thought to have been extinct for more than a century. In November 2005 a NZ fisherman took the first ever photograph of a Storm Petrel in the hand, after the bird landed on his boat in the Hauraki Gulf. Storm Petrels are thought to be using Little Barrier Island or the nearby Mokohinau Islands as their breeding ground.
(17 February 2006)

No.2 No.1 
Toa Fraser's debut feature No.2 won the World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic at the 25th Sundance Film Festival in February. "[From] a humble backyard in Mt. Roskill in the Pacific, on behalf of the hundreds of people that worked on and invested in the movie, we want to thank the audiences of the Sundance Film Festival, for coming and celebrating life with us," said Fraser in his acceptance speech. "God bless Mt. Roskill." Two World Cinema Audience awards are bestowed at Sundance each year, one for dramatic film the other for documentary. 
(10 February 2006)

JK on growing the game 
The Observer talks to All Black legend John Kirwan about his globetrotting ways and aspirations to coach in the  UK. “Kirwan was a travelling rugby player long before it became the fashion it is today…Unsurprisingly for a man with such a thirst for different cultures, Kirwan becomes impassioned when discussing the importance of the game growing.” Formerly head coach for  Italy, Kirwan now lives in Venice and works as a consultant for Japanese club side NEC Green Rockets.
(5 February 2006)

Keith gets the Grammy
Whangarei-born country music sensation, Keith Urban, has won his first Grammy Award. Urban was named best male country vocal performer ahead of Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Delbert McClinton and Brad Paisley. This follows his best entertainer and male vocalist trophies at last year's Country Music Awards. Urban's Grammy win was nearly overshadowed by his date to the awards - actress Nicole Kidman, the first public appearance by the couple.
(17 February 2006)

Edge connection for leading scientist 
Pioneering archaeologist Lady Aileen Fox has died aged 98. Born and educated in England, Lady Fox held a visiting lectureship at Auckland University from 1972 to 1983. She conducted excavations at Tiromoana Pa (where she noted similarities with the hill forts of southern Britain, her area of expertise), carried out field survey work with students and became closely involved with the archaeological committee of the Historic Places Trust. She was also a key figure in the establishment of the New Zealand Journal of Archaeology. 
(20 January 2006)

History to be re-written in Waikato?
University of Waikato researchers have been set about dating an ancient Chinese map, which could challenge existing beliefs about who first discovered New Zealand, Australia and America. The theory that Chinese explorer Zheng He mapped America before the arrival of Christopher Columbus was first brought to public attention in 2003 with the best-selling book 1421, but has been debated in academic circles for about 10 years. If the map is proved to be genuine it would also support claims that the Chinese discovered New Zealand and Australia in the 15th century. Waikato University houses one of the world's leading radio carbon-dating laboratories.
(17 January 2006)

Mongolian musings 
Auckland born investment banker, John O'Loghlen, muses on Mongolia in the nicely titled Feeding a Dragon: Mongolia's Position within a Rising Asia. Observations on the Land of Eternal Blue Sky for the Land of the Long White Cloud. In 2004 O'Loghlen spent ten days in Mongolia participating in the annual Sunrise to Sunset marathon, an event which sparked his ongoing interest with the country's history and future. Feeding the Dragon notes similarities between Aotearoa and Mongolia - "the world's two most beautiful patches of grass" - and ponders Mongolia's ability to ride the Asian financial wave currently headed by neighbouring China. Read the full article here. 
(August 2005)

Ben Ohau doing just fine 
The South Island's MacKenzie Basin is internationally famous for two things; providing the stunning backdrop to the final battle in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and producing the most consistently high quality merino wool in NZ. The Cameron family of Ben Ohau Station have been exporting their premium merino wool to Europe since 1897. One of its more recent customers, Italy's Loro Piana fashion house, has twice awarded Ben Ohau its World Wool Record Challenge Cup for the finest bale of wool produced in a solar year. The station has also won the Loro Piana Trophy for the NZ Record Bale for four years running. Ben Ohau currently holds the NZ record for the finest fleece ever produced - at 12.3 microns it is finer than cashmere. Read about the history of Ben Ohau Station in NZ Life and Leisure here. 
(3 September 2005)

At the forefront of disease control
Professor Neil Pearce, Director of NZ's Centre for Public Health Research, was elected President of the International Epidemiology Association (IEA) at the recent World Congress of Epidemiology held in Bangkok. The first ever president from the Southern Hemisphere, Pearce will president-elect for 3 years before assuming the presidency at the next World Congress in Brazil, 2008. "The IEA was originally founded in England in 1955, and for many years was centred on Europe and North America," says Pearce in Massey News. "However, we are now particularly interested in building the work of the association in developing countries, while maintaining and supporting its current activities in Europe and North America." Epidemiology is the branch of medical science dealing with the transmission and control of disease. 
(23 September 2005)

Spoiled for choice 
Kiwi chef Rex Morgan takes Guardian food writer Jonathan Ray on a culinary tour of Queenstown. The eating extravaganza takes place at Morgan's recently opened boutique hotel, The Spire (competitors will be "hard-pressed to improve upon Rex's celebrated dégustation menus, the 10-course version of which he puts before me"), Joe's Garage ("the breakfasts are indeed amazing, great hangover food, and the best coffee in town"), The Coronation Bathhouse ("[recommended] as much for its spectacular position as anything else"), Wine Tastes ("Central Otago pinot noir just gets better and better, and here you can taste wines from almost every producer"), and Winnie's ("still feeling the effects of my Kiwi wine- fest earlier, I avoid the fine-looking cocktail list and order myself an awesomely good pizza.") 
(24 December 2005)

Gourmet Burger Kitchen
London's Gourmet Burger Kitchen - the brainchild of three Kiwi entrepreneurs - is credited with starting the trend for "fast food for the organic generation" in a lengthy Guardian piece. Now boasting 8 restaurants, the GBK chain was founded in 2001 by Greg Driscoll, Brandon Allen and Adam Wills. "Food made with good quality, fresh ingredients is part of any New Zealander's upbringing," says Driscoll. "It's that casual but quality food experience you get in NZ we wanted to bring to London." GBK has inspired a slew of imitators, but the original remains "the biggest, best known and most successful." Driscoll, Allen and Wills recently sold their business to Clapham House for ?25 million, but will stay on as company directors (see previous Newzedge story). 
(2 January 2006)

Mt Roskill meets Utah… and the world 
No.2, the debut feature film by playwright Toa Fraser, has been selected for competition at Sundance 2006. Based on his award winning play of the same name, No.2 stars a mixture of international and local actors - including Ruby Dee (Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing) in the central role of Nanna Maria. "From a backyard in Mt. Roskill to the Sundance Film Festival, it's crazy and very cool, a big honour," says Fraser in Arts Calendar. "I'm very proud of the film and can't wait for audiences to get to see it." The 2006 Sundance Festival sees a return to its independent roots, with a slimmed down program and greater emphasis on the discovery of new faces and names. No.2 is one of just 16 films selected for the festival's international dramatic section. 
(29 November 2005)

Kiwi story rings true in US 
Roger Donaldson's World's Fastest Indian, with Sir Anthony Hopkins playing NZ motorcycle legend Burt Munro, has been largely praised in the US. Hollywood Reporter: "A pleasingly whimsical and slyly mischievous road movie that features an aging, quixotic hero … a feel-good Christmas movie and a potential hit film among the over-25 set." Variety: "The film offers no complexities, details about Burt's earlier life and family or even hints about why his old bike is so much faster than new models. Button-pushing score emphasizes the most obvious emotional notes of the story. LA Times: "[Hopkins is a] wild dark horse in the Best Actor derby." 
(November 2005)

Heir to a legend 
Antoni Gaudi's great unfinished masterpiece - the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona - is finally nearing completion, under the steady hand of NZ architect Mark Burry. Work on the epic scale building effectively ended with Gaudi's death in 1926. In 1979, while still an architecture student, Burry visited the cathedral and met its aging project directors. One interview later, Burry was heading the restoration project. "When you look at [the Sagrada Familia] as a whole," says Burry, "you realise that [Gaudi is] probably an exceptional architect, one of a handful of brilliant architects whose work is future-proof." The cathedral's interior is expected to be open to the public by 2008, but the exterior will not be completed until the centenary of Gaudi's death in 20 years time. 
(13 October 2005)

From LA to the Bay 
From Waimarama Beach to Napier, the Hawke's Bay region gets a fantastic write up in the LA Times. The writer had organised a family holiday to her mother's place of birth, in honour of said mother's 70th birthday. "Hawke's Bay, once the domain of gentleman farmers, has bloomed into a haven for oenophiles, fishermen and nature lovers … [The] arc of coast and inland plains encompasses swaths of empty beach; gentle, rolling landscape; abundant orchards; and superb trout fishing in broad, meandering rivers." The family stayed at various "retreats" owned by Kim Thorp and Andy Colthart's Black Barn enterprise. 
(6 November 2005)

Next stop Commonwealth Games 
NZ won the New South Wales 100m Relay Championship at Sydney Olympic Park on November 19, breaking a NZ national record in the process. Led by Olympic representative Chris Donaldson, the winning team also included Dallas Roberts, David Falealilli and James Dolphin. The team's time of 38.99 broke both the previous NZ record of 39.25 (set by the same four runners two years ago) and the NSW record of 39.89. "We didn't change too well in the heat but got it together in the final," says Donaldson. "That was good enough for a Commonwealth Games final and we now hope to show a clean pair of heels to other runners in Melbourne." 
(19 November 2005)

Building bridges on canvas 
One of NZ's most respected Maori artists and pioneer of indigenous art in schools, John Bevan Ford, has died aged 75 from cancer. While tremendously skilled in traditional Maori wood carving, Ford is best perhaps known for his striking linear paintings using a mixture of coloured inks, acrylics, graphite and pastels. He was the first NZ artist to present his work at a series of guest lectures at New York's Metropolitan Museum in 1990. In 1998, he was artist in residence at the British Museum's Maori Art exhibition. He has created major sculptures for the Chinese cities of Chang-chun and Beijing and his works feature in the collections of numerous galleries throughout Britain, Holland, Germany, Australia and NZ. Guardian: "Highly responsive both to nature and to symbolism, [Ford] readily absorbed motifs and symbols from other cultures. Much of his art was concerned with making bridges: between the past and the present, between different cultures and peoples."

(14 October 2005)

Battle of Britain hero dies 
Group Captain Edward Preston "Hawkeye" Wells, one of the RAF's most outstanding WWII pilots has died at the age of 89. Born in Cambridge (NZ) on 26 July 1916 and educated at Cambridge High School, Wells was called up a month after WWII broke out in 1939. He learned to fly at New Plymouth and Woodbourne and arrived in England in 1940 when the Battle of Britain was at its peak. He is credited with destroying 13 enemy aircraft, 3 probable destroyals and damaging 15. For these incredible feats he earned the nickname "Hawkeye" among his peers and was the first pilot to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in August 1941 for showing "showing the greatest courage and determination". Johnnie Johnson, the RAF's most successful WWII pilot, considered him the "complete Wing Leader and the finest shot and most accurate marksman in Fighter Command." Wells' coolness under pressure became legendary. When a shouted warning came through that a Messerschmitt was on their tails, Wells answered: "It's okay, it's only a Spitfire". Wells retired from the RAF in 1960 as a Group Captain and later moved to Spain from where he traveled the world in search of subtropical fruit species, many of which he grew commercially in Spain.
(11 November 2005)

Sugarfoot speaks up 
In a sports-mad country like NZ, how can one of its richest and most successful exponents be virtually unknown? Kickboxer Ray "Sugarfoot" Sefo has quietly earned more than $10 million from the sport and is a bona fide star in Japan and the US. He holds five world title belts and has just signed a US$1 million a year three-year deal with K-1, the kickboxing's premiere fighting circuit. As is apparent in an interview with the Sunday Star Times, Sefo is keen to publicise himself and, more importantly, his sport of choice in his home country. He has established the Ray Sefo Academy in Auckland and is pleased with the growing recognition for the sport: "It makes me happy inside to see that, when for so long we have tried to push the sport and educate the public, and finally, it is recognised as what it is today - it's awesome."
(October 2005)

Bogans go global 
New Zealand comedians Matt Heath and Chris Stapp, of Back of the Y and Bogan's Heroes fame, have taken their special brand of gross-out humour to London, as contributing stuntmen on Channel 4's Balls of Steel. "It's ridiculous," says Heath of the flashy studio set-up, in NZ's Sunday magazine. "We're spending huge money just to make things look as crap as they always have." Earlier this year, Balls of Steel made international headlines for spraying Tom Cruise with water from a fake microphone at the London premiere of War of the Worlds.
(October 2005)

Meet Me in Miami 
Christchurch-produced independent film Meet Me in Miami premiered in one of the prime spots at the prestigious Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival on October 29 at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Starring two of the biggest Latino film and television sensations Carlos Ponce and Eduardo Verastegui, the romantic comedy follows Luis Montero, an heir to a wealthy hotel chain and one of Miami's most eligible bachelors, as he and his best friend Eduardo board a plane to New Zealand to win back Luis' childhood sweetheart Julia, played by Tara Leniston. The film was shot in nine weeks, seven of those in Christchurch and two on the Californian coast. The Christchurch actors include Brigid McClelland, Richard Burtt, Nicholas Bollen and Claire Bruce. Meet Me in Miami is produced by Lisa Abbott, and directed by Eric Hannah and Iren Koster. Christchurch based Abbot said, "It is a huge honour for Meet Me in Miami to be included at the LA Latino International Film Festival where it will be up against some of the very best Latino films in the world. Rarely are comedies invited to compete in this competition so I am thrilled Meet Me in Miami has been considered for this year's festival and is nominated for the competition awards." 
(30 October 2005)

End of ancestral visa 
A new points-based immigration system could end the door-opening power of the ancestral visa. Many New Zealanders and other Commonwealth citizens have relied on having British grandparents to allow them to settle in the EU. Under the old system, Commonwealth citizens who have proof of a grandparent's birth in Britain can gain entry to the country if they are prepared to work without relying on the State and after four years of doing so they can apply for permanent residency. The new hardline policy comes as a result of the May 2005 election campaigning of both Tony Blair's Labour Party and the Conservatives for a tougher approach to immigration and asylum.
(27 October 2005)

Continental drift
Former PM Mike Moore spoke up about NZ’s increasing politico-cultural distance from Australia in the Melbourne Age. “After 100 years of convergence, there is the beginning of divergence. Australia is becoming more like the US and NZ more like Canada and a bit Nordic … The elephant in the living room that the polite diplomatic community will not admit to is the defence and security issue.”
(13 October 2005)
   

Great expectations
Former Black Cap Mark Greatbatch is the new coach for British county cricket side Warwickshire. Greatbatch is also Director of the Warwickshire Academy, and has previously coached at Giggleswick School in Yorkshire and at Edgbaston.
(29 September 2005)
   

Phoenix rising
NY Times feature on the burgeoning international alternatives to Coca Cola mentions NZ-brewed delight, Phoenix Cola. “This organic, caffeine-free drink from New Zealand is actually made from the cola nut. Refined-sugar shunners can opt for the honey-sweetened version.”
(25 September 2005)

   

On the right path
Another talented Urban, Karl is to star in the upcoming US$30 million Viking epic, Pathfinder. Directed by Marcus Nipsel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and written by Laeta Kalogridis (Alexander), Pathfinder tells the story of a Viking child (Urban) left behind during a battle between Native Americans and Norse warriors in pre-Columbus America. Urban is also reportedly a contender to take the reins from Pierce Brosnan as the next James Bond. According to Bond fan-site MI6, he is the right age, is a recognizable but not yet big name, and has proven himself adept at genre fare.” The next Bond film – Casino Royale – will be directed by fellow Kiwi Martin Campbell, who also made 1995’s Goldeneye.
(15 August 2005)
  

 

Drawn to the edge
Michele Law is currently working the most challenging assignment of her already distinguished legal career. As a lawyer for the UN Office of Constitutional Support, Law is helping to draft Iraq's first constitution. The Canterbury University graduate has worked on democracy building and constitutional issues in numerous war-torn countries, including post-coup Fiji. “I wanted to contribute to the future of Iraq - to be at this place at this time in history to see if I could help,” she says. And for the future? “NZ is thinking of making a constitution and I'm interested in that. But there's something about being in dangerous places doing cutting edge work which keeps drawing me back.”
(31 August 2005)
    

The new wave
Two NZ companies made international business magazine Red Herring’s vaunted “Top 100 Private Companies in Asia” list for 2005. Esphion and Argent Networks, both based in Auckland, are rated as companies which could significantly affect the way we live. Esphion is a network appliance company which specialises in securing large IP networks by detecting faults in the network itself before they reach computers. Argent Networks provides billing and customer service solutions for telecommunications companies, netting much of its business from the rapidly expanding mobile phone markets of Africa and the Middle East. Both companies are financed by Wellington-based venture capital firm No.8 Ventures.
(2 September 2005)
    

Princes of darkness
Black Grace was invited to perform again at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival after being the surprise hit of the event last year. “Never before has this reviewer seen a group of male dancers who seemed so gentle yet breathtakingly virile,” raved Boston Globe correspondent Karen Campbell. “The NZ-based all-male troupe can rock the house with thundering stomps, macho body slaps in syncopated rhythms, and acrobatics that send the dancers crashing into one another. Yet they can just as convincingly sing in sweet three-part harmony, accompanying their vocals with gestures that softly curve and dip.” Artistic director Neil Ieremia admits to being “humbled” by the response his troupe has received from US audiences in an interview with the Boston Herald: “It's certainly a great honour for us to be invited back.”
(August 2005)
    

Visionary mourned
NZ’s scientific and business community has lost one of its brightest stars with the death of Pulse Data founder Dr Russell Smith. Smith and his wife, early childhood specialist Marian D’Eve, were both killed when their Cessna 182 crashed into the sea off North Canterbury in August. Pulse Data (now known as Human Ware) is the largest provider of information technology for the visually impaired in the world, with an annual turnover of $50 million. Stevie Wonder owns three of the company’s BrailleNote handheld computers, which were championed in the US by Microsoft’s Bill Gates. HumanWare product manager Jonathan Mosen: “His vision, foresight and business acumen have enabled blind people to succeed. This one man has made such a difference to blind people all over the world.” Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind chairman, Don McKenzie: “He was a brilliant engineer and humanist ... I'm devastated by his death.”
(9 August 2005)

  

On the mark 
The Guardian hails the rise and rise of Mark Baldwin, Fijian-born NZ-raised artistic director of London's renowned Rambert Dance Company. After just three years in the job, Baldwin has significantly increased the Company's profile. Under his direction it has won six national awards and dramatically larger audiences, and is currently in the midst of a £9.5 million fundraising campaign for a new and improved base in London's South Bank. "Competition is very tough now," says Baldwin when asked about his bold directorial moves and innovative productions. "We have to give audiences a much clearer reason to come and see Rambert." Baldwin will soon take two months leave from Rambert to create a new work for the Royal NZ Ballet, of which he was a one-time member. The full length piece will be scripted by Whale Rider author Witi Ihimaera. 
(15 November 2005)

Records broken, legends born 
New Zealand won 31 medals - 6 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze - at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. 200m butterfly victor Moss Burmester became the first NZ man to win gold in the pool since Danyon Loader in 1994 (sparking a spontaneous haka from his team-mates), Valerie Vili set a new Games record with her gold-winning 19.66m shot put throw, the rugby 7s team won their third consecutive Games gold, Graeme Ede won the men's trap shooting, and the world champion Silver Ferns netball side beat Australia to take gold in the final event of the Games. But the most rhapsodic media response came after Nick Willis' dramatic victory in the men's 1500m track event. NZ Herald: "Willis is no longer the promising athlete. He is no longer the boy who could follow in the footsteps of Lovelock, Snell and Walker. He is now the man chosen to follow that path. And he is acutely aware of his place in history."
(15-26 March 2006)

Pride of the Asia-Pacific 
Sam Neill is the inaugural subject of Peschardt's People, a 13-part BBC series hosted by veteran foreign correspondent Michael Peschardt. The series aims to introduce global viewers to "some of the most famous people in the Asia-Pacific region," such as Neill, burns specialist and Australian of the Year Dr Fiona Wood, Singaporean violin virtuoso Vanessa Mae, and groundbreaking Indian author Shobhaa De. Peschardt spent three days on Neill's private estate and vineyard in Central Otago discussing everything from multiculturalism in NZ to his relationship with Steven Spielberg. "Sam was utterly charming," says Peschardt in the Age. "And he wasn't acting." 
(30 March 2006)

Exhibiting art with Edge 
Always at the cutting edge, Wellington's City Gallery is using an interactive website and podcast in its current exhibition, Patricia Piccinini: In Another Life. An Australian artist, Piccanini is renowned for her sometimes creepy studies of humans, technology and the environment, and the effects they have upon each other. "After meeting Patricia and hearing her talk about her ideas and work, we concentrated on how we could share that very cool experience with people that would visit the show," says LA-based Tom Eslinger of Saatchi & Saatchi, Worldwide. "How can we use interactive as a channel to connect people more closely with Patricia's ideas?" Visitors can either download artist commentaries to a portable media player to use as an exhibition audio guide or use one of the pre-loaded iPods provided by the gallery. 
(29 March 2006)

Race with a difference 
February 22 saw the official launch of Earthrace, a 100% biodiesel fuelled boat aiming to set a new world record for circumnavigating the globe. The brainchild of Pete Bethune, Earthrace is a charitable foundation promoting the use of renewable fuel. The boat will tour NZ from mid-April to June before heading to North America. The global circumnavigation attempt is scheduled to begin in either September 2006 or March 2007 (depending on the weather) from Barbados. 
(17 March 2006)

Dinosaurs of the South Pacific
The first proof that dinosaurs lived on remote South Pacific Islands has been revealed by Dr Jeffrey Stilwell of Monash University, Melbourne. Stilwell, who trained at Otago University under NZ's leading palaeontologist Ewan Fordyce, has discovered a 2km-long pocket of dinosaur bones on the Chatham Islands. These include at least three kinds of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaur, one kind of flying reptile and marine reptiles such as mosasaurs and elasmosaurs. "Prior to our discoveries, only a few isolated examples of dinosaur fossils had been found in the northern part of NZ," says Stilwell. "Now we've found dinosaur remains almost 1000 kilometres east out in the middle of the South Pacific. [The dinosaurs] were on their own evolutionary path for probably 15 million years since the separation of the Chathams-NZ region some 85-80 million years ago. No one had even hypothesised that there were any fossils out that far."
(30 March 2006)

A life in pictures 
NZ born artist Derek Ward was the subject of a retrospective exhibition recently staged in Norwich, England. Ward was born in Richmond, NZ, in 1922 and relocated to England with his family aged 7. "Art for me is essentially a form of meditation and I avoiding discussing my work with others for this reason," he says in an interview with Norwich Evening News. "If I feel the need for recharging my work I walk along a Norfolk beach and look at the pebbles there." 
(21 March 2006)

The wow factor 
NZ is the subject of a 14-page spread in the March issue of National Geographic Traveler, entitled 'Dreamland: 28 Ways New Zealand Will Wow You.' Billed as an insider's guide to Aotearoa, featured items include Whale Rider star Grant Roa's tour of the Porirua market, a photo essay on the Kiwi bach, and an interview with chef Aaron Lee of the Seafood Kitchen in Christchurch. Traveler Editor Keith Bellows, who was a guest of Tourism NZ at last year's TIANZ Tourism Industry Conference, also focuses on NZ in his editorial column. "National Geographic Traveler is the sort of magazine that appeals to the type of people who are interested in NZ," says Tourism NZ CEO George Hickton on the company website. "We know there are over 900,000 readers of this magazine who fit into our target market and it is one of the most widely-read and respected travel magazines in the world."
(March 2006)

The many facets of King Kong
Peter Jackson's King Kong graced the cover of the January issue of Cinefex, America's premiere cinema effects magazine. Inside is a 45-page in depth look at the incredibly detailed digital, physical and emotional processes which went into the making of the film. The article is the result of extensive interviews with 30 people involved in the 2005 remake, including director Peter Jackson, whose interview is available online at the Cinefex website. Cinefex: "Mounted on a scale that, in many respects, outstripped the Lord of the Rings films - with more visual effects than any single Tolkein film, and more creatures and miniatures than the entire trilogy combined - King Kong pushed all levels of production to new heights." Despite the technical wizardry involved, Jackson believes the true impact of the film stems from the enduring emotional resonance of the original story. "I always felt that we love Kong because we understand his tragedy … The basic irony and the terrible tragedy is that Kong follows his heart and that leads to his downfall. That, I think, is what gives the story its power." 
(January 2006)

Top gun 
New Zealand has its first Maori defence force head with the appointment of Major-General Jerry Mateparae. Mateparae will be promoted to lieutenant general when he replaces Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson in May. "I'm immensely proud as a New Zealander to serve and I'm immensely proud as a member of Ngati Tuwharetoa to be selected," he says. 
(7 March 2006)

Kiwi wine takes US by storm 
An extensive article on NZ's burgeoning wine industry examines its history and development in an American context, interviewing US importers and connoisseurs of NZ wine as well as ex pat US vineyard owners such as Barbara and Patrick Stowe (Rimu Grove) and John Kemble and Karr Field (Kemblefield). "I still remember my first sip of NZ wine," says wine judge Paul White. "It smelled of kiwis, but when I tasted, it was this wild, spicy, herbaceous fruit salad with lettuce. It was this roller coaster experience. At the time, I had no idea that NZ even made wine." Now, as wine importer Howard Kalmer points out, "every top restaurant from New York to San Francisco has NZ on their wine list." NZ wine exports have grown from just 15,000 cases in 1995 to 1.5 million cases of wine per annum. 
(15 February 2006)

All features great and small 
Debate over the effects of big budget US films such as King Kong and the Narnia series being filmed in NZ continues, with most in favour of the Hollywood blockbusters. "The blockbusters have been phenomenally helpful for people like us trying to get a film made," says Toa Fraser, whose debut feature No.2 recently won an audience award at Sundance. "I embrace the blockbusters and the Hollywood back lot as long as we can use it to tell our own stories." Hollywood funded films have boosted local production financing to a record NZ$596 million ($406 million) in the year ended 31 March 2005, from roughly NZ$300 million in 1999. "That two of the biggest films in the world were made in NZ is an extraordinary achievement,'' says NZ Film Commission CEO Ruth Harley. "Our industry is the most vibrant it has ever been."
(9 February 2006)

Keoghan living large 
LA Times interviews Phil Keoghan, the Kiwi host of Emmy Award-winning reality series The Amazing Race. The "savvy NZ native" discusses everything from his lucky break into TV ("there was no degree that you could do in broadcasting and communications, so out of the whole country they would take two people from all the high schools to work for the national network, and I was lucky enough to get one of the spaces") to his life-altering brush with death while filming Spot On ("I said I wasn't going to live my life the same way, so I wrote a list of things to do before I died. Then I decided that I would do everything humanly possible to turn the list that I wrote into my living.") The Amazing Race recently began its ninth season on US network CBS. 
(12 March 2006)

Pride of the deep south 
The film-inspired tourism phenomenon has hit Invercargill thanks to the release of Roger Donaldson's The World's Fastest Indian, a biopic of the city's most famous son - motorcycle legend Burt Munro. "It must be said that Invercargill has been somewhat forgotten since Burt was tearing along the beach. But this is our loss, for there is much to enjoy here and round about … The 25 mile-long arc of sand [at Oreti Beach], lapped by Antarctic waters, is where Burt did all his speed trials, and set many of his records, and it is where Hopkins is seen measuring out a course at the very beginning of the film. It is a starkly beautiful, empty and - on a wild and windy day like this - desolate spot." 
(11 March 2006)

Brian Barratt-Boyes 
Internationally acclaimed New Zealand pioneering heart surgeon Brian Barratt-Boyes has died aged 82. Educated at Wellington College and Otago University Medical School, Barratt-Boyes battled against bureaucracy for more funding and staff to do what was necessary for a country that he observed had “the rather dubious position of leading the world in the incidence of heart disease.” Barratt-Boyes was knighted in 1971 for his numerous contributions to the advancement of heart surgery including: performing New Zealand’s first cardio-pulmonary bypass (1958), leading the team at Green-lane Hospital that carried out the first successful heart operation in New Zealand to give a 3 year old “blue baby” a new lease of life (1965), introducing aortic valve replacement (1982) and pioneering a now standard procedure of lowering infant body temperature (1985). In a sad twist of fate, Barratt-Boyes’ greatest battle was with his own heart problems, a condition he kept to himself until 1974 when a Green Lane colleague performed a coronary artery bypass on him. Barratt-Boyes underwent a further three heart operations in his lifetime, the last performed two weeks before his death.
(March 2006)

Nature’s best
New Zealand enjoyed success at the 2006 Black & White Spider photography awards, with Jason Boa winning third place in the Nature category for “Field Waimate” and Jocelyn Carlin gaining an honourable mention in the same category for “Cabbage Tree”. The prestigious annual black and white photography awards are judged by some of the most highly respected members of the industry, including David Clarke, Head of Photography at The Tate London, Alicia McWhinnie, Editor of Black & White photography magazine and Eric Browner, Administrator of the Man Ray Trust.
(13 February 2006)

Her mother's daughter 
Linda Carroll, therapist, writer and mother of Courtney Love has written her memoirs, which include an account of the family's unconventional attempt to live an alternative lifestyle in Nelson and their struggle to deal with their wild child. The memoirs document Love's turbulent experiences in the Nelson commune community of the 1970s, as she was passed between caregivers, schools and relatives both in New Zealand and the US. Her Mother's Daughter has been labelled a pre-emptive strike from Carroll, in anticipation of Love's planned release of "intimate" journals later this year.
(March 2006)

Tourism’s Holy Grail
A Guardian Film article on cinema-inspired tourism points to NZ as the ultimate example. “Every country wants its own Lord of the Rings. The extra-ordinary pulling power of the trilogy - the perfect shop window for the country's spectacular landscapes - revitalised a tourist industry now worth more than £3bn.” 
(17 February 2006)

Post praise NZ wine
Washington Post writer notes the timely rise of NZ wine, which is strong in today's most in-demand varietals. "[NZ] is the emerging star for wines that live on delicacy and finesse, most notably, pinot noir and sauvignon blanc … NZ has a gift second only to Burgundy for delicately lacy and aromatic pinots. With sauvignon blanc, NZ delivers a racy, fresh herb and citrus white wine that compares well with French Pouilly-Fume from the Loire Valley, but with more overt freshness and fruit." The critics picks: Villa Maria Pinot Noir Marlborough Private Bin 2004, Saint Clair Pinot Noir Marlborough Vicar's Choice 2004, The Crossings Pinot Noir Marlborough 2004, Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough Vicar's Choice 2005, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2005 and Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough Regional Collection 2005.
(25 January 2006)

Walker ahead 
Karen Walker's most recent London show has been labelled one of the top five trend setting collections for 2006 by the world's leading fashion forecast agency, WGSN. Walker's fellow style leaders include current buzz brands Miu Miu, Lanvin and Chloe, and veteran designer Donna Karan. "Walker's collection … has creative commercial appeal without being pantomime, and illustrates that what London is about today is cool street wear-inspired fashion labels that can more that hold their own with the likes of Undercover and marc by Marc Jacobs," enthuses WGSN's website. Walker's latest collection also received a 5-page spread in fashion show bible Italian Collezioni and made the cover of the industry's most respected newspaper, Women's Wear Daily. 
(29 November 2005)

Roast with the most 
Edge establishment Batch Espresso is cutting it in Melbourne's razor-like café scene, with more stellar reviews in the city's leading newspapers. Herald Sun: "[Owner Jason Chan] works the coffee machine and the room, making beautiful coffee and good conversation. He's the consummate host … The menu is choice. In fact, it's choice bro, eh? Chan is proudly Kiwi and the menu features NZ wines, smoked salmon and fruit juices." The Age: "Last year [the Age] Cheap Eats again recognised a Carlisle Street cafe with its best barista prize, describing Jason Chan's Batch Espresso as 'a coffee-themed retreat.' Café lifestyle magazine Crema wrote: 'Move over Wall, Batch is in town.'" 
(7 February 2006)

International hot spot 
Rotorua's Polynesian Spa was listed on the Guardian's top 50 Best Spas. "The hot springs at Rotorua are said to cure arthritis in three months. We can't vouch for that, but after lazing in the hot alkaline pools, you'll feel the benefits of a manuka honey therapy or an Aix massage (under jets of warm water using coconut oil)." 
(22 January 2006)

Year of Tibet 
2006 is officially the Year of Tibet in NZ and Australia. The Dalai Lama launched the year-long festivities at the Woodford Festival in Queensland on January 1. "On behalf of Tibetans, both in and outside Tibet, I wish to express my appreciation to you all for your continuing interest and support in our non-violent efforts for freedom and justice," he said before the 100,000+ strong crowd. The Dalai Lama will tour Australia and NZ in 2007. 
(25 January 2006)

Celluloid fantasy becomes a reality
The number of Indian tourists travelling to NZ is on a definite increase according to an Express India article. 17,286 Indians visited Aotearoa in the year ending November 2005 - 11.5% more than the previous year. Tourism NZ's country manager for India, Kiran Nambiar, cites the booming Indian economy, more competitive airfares and NZ's world-wide reputation as a film locale paradise as just some of the reasons behind the increase. 
(January 2006)

Hunt fights for our rights 
Waikato University graduate Paul Hunt has built a high profile international career as a human rights lawyer and independent expert. Hunt was elected to serve on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1998. In 2001 he was enlisted by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, to co-author the Guidelines on Human Rights Approaches to Poverty Reduction. In 2002 he was appointed UN Special Raconteur on the right to health, a role he remains in today. He has lived and worked in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Pacific, has written prolifically on economic, social and cultural rights, and is an active member of the global Make Poverty History campaign. "Making poverty history is not just a question of morality, charity or self-interest," he says on the Realizing Rights website. "Developed countries have a human rights responsibility, binding in international law, to assist Africa and others burdened by poverty … Making poverty history - and ensuring a fair deal for Africa - is the greatest human rights campaign of our time." 
(January 2006)

Kiwi contributes to Anger canon
Auckland University graduate Alice Hutchison has written an internationally acclaimed book on cult 1960s filmmaker Kenneth Anger, the artist who many believed defined the Age of Aquarius with such iconic works as Invocation of My Demon Brother (scored by Mick Jagger), Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (which anticipated 60's psychedelia), and Lucifer Rising (the final piece in the acclaimed Magick Lantern cycle). Titled simply Kenneth Anger, the book has already been hailed as one of the definitive pieces on the notoriously difficult and reclusive artist. A Film Journal review describes Hutchison's work as "stunningly produced … Gaining permission [from Anger] to reproduce a huge range of film stills, many of them not previously published, is Hutchison's triumph." Read the Listener story on Hutchison's book here. 
(November 2005)

Going all the way 
John Hood continues to shake the cloisters at Oxford University in his attempts, as Vice Chancellor, to secure the venerable institution's status as an academic powerhouse for the 21st century. A former CEO with Fletcher Challenge and Vice Chancellor at Auckland University, Hood has taken a no-nonsense business-minded approach to Oxford's notoriously decentralized power structure. While his critics damn him for "acting like a CEO of a large corporation," his champions praise his forward thinking and global outlook. "I think he is going to take Oxford all the way," says former president of Magdalen College, Anthony Smith. "He knows where Oxford needs to place itself in the world." 
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(5 December 2005)

On living legends and future music
NZ composer and musicologist Robin Maconie has written a meticulously researched autobiography of the man many believe to be the world's greatest living composer, German electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Maconie is regarded as the world authority on Stockhausen, and his book Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen is the result of 40 years of studying his work. As well as detailing the process of writing Other Planets, Maconie discusses the future of classical music in NZ in an article for the Listener: "[Although] we may not be able to compete with the artistic and intellectual resources of New York, London or Vienna, other areas of excellence that we can realistically aspire to are contemporary music, electronic music and computer music, expertise that is thin on the ground elsewhere in the world. Imagine developing music software to the level that Weta has achieved in computer animation. It can be done." 
(15 October 2005)

Revved up for '06 
2005 was an incredibly successful year for NZ motorsport, as TMC reports in its annual review. Two of the top three places in the world MX1 motocross championship were filled by New Zealanders, with Josh Coppins and Ben Townley finishing second and third respectively. Aucklander Wade Cunningham looks set to repeat fellow Kiwi Scott Dixon's Indy Racing League success after winning the Menards Infiniti Pro title. 15-year-old Brendon Hartley netted the biggest deal ever by a NZ driver in Europe (NZ$700,000) with his selection to the Red Bull junior racing team - widely acknowledged as a transitionary step to Formula One. Last but not least, Auckland businessman Colin Giltrap (pictured) founded a NZ team franchise to compete in the A1 World Cup of motorsport series, a new event involving 30 countries developed by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum al Maktoum, a member of the United Arab Emirates ruling family. "I've always dreamed about getting involved with an overseas series," said Giltrap in NZ's Weekend Herald. "[This is] the World Cup of motorsport. A nation-against-nation contest created to test their best young drivers." 
(2 January 2006)

Juggling juggernauts with local stories 
NY Times piece entitled 'Spunky NZ film Industry Takes on the Hollywood Juggernaut' ponders the pros and cons of NZ's bold new presence in the international film community. Interviewees such as director Vincent Ward and producer John Barnett worry that big budget Hollywood projects shot in NZ have driven up production costs for more modest, local films. "You get six years of Xena and Hercules, three or four years of Lord of the Rings or a year or two of King Kong, and you have a whole generation of film crews who have worked only on big-budget productions," says Barnett. "And they say, 'This is what I get paid, and it's your problem if it's a low-budget job.'" NZ Film Commission CEO Ruth Harley opposes the view that big budget projects stifle their local counterparts, pointing out that "the year under review has been one of the most successful in the organization's 27-year history, with more local films being made than ever and more local films winning awards and acclaim overseas." Producer Tim White, production designer Phil Ivey and OnFilm editor Nick Gant also support the new balancing act between an international and national film industry. "Those big films provide some continuity of work for local film crews," says White. "Then those people bring skills they've honed to smaller productions like [Toa Fraser's] No.2." 
(2 January 2006)

NZ in a nutshell 
A travel guide to NZ written for a Tennessee paper offers a brief overview of the country, focussing on geographical features and native flora and fauna. Cultural insight is offered by Travel NZ's Bruce Lahood, who relocated from Tauranga to LA several years ago. "The NZ culture is a very modern culture defined by music, by food, by wine," he says, using such internationally renowned Kiwis as the Finn brothers and Kiri Te Kanawa, and NZ's burgeoning food and wine industry as examples. 
(2 January 2006)

Brits back Fat Freddy 
Incessant European touring appear to have paid off for Wellington band Fat Freddy's Drop. The dub/reggae/roots collective won worldwide album of the year at the annual BBC Radio 1 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Awards for their 2005 release Based on a True Story (which also swept October's 2005 NZ Music Awards). After attending the Hammersmith Palais show, Guardian music critic Robin Denselow likens Dallas Tamaira's "easy-going soulful vocals" to Bill Withers and praises the band's "intriguing and unlikely" Pacific update on the Jamaican sound. 
(17 December 2005)

Food for thought 
A lengthy Independent feature examines Auckland's burgeoning food scene - and NZ's as a whole. While NZ has embraced café culture ("probably the best espresso experience outside Italy in about 13 years, skipping the Starbucks phase altogether"), the Kiwi meat and two veg dinner mindset has been a tougher nut to crack. "We are trying to educate our public by taking them on a taste journey, rather than offering them a stomach-filler," says Morgan. "We are getting there, slowly." Eateries leading the charge towards gastronomic greatness include Citron (Wellington), The Spire (Queenstown), Dizengoff, SPQR, Dine by Peter Gordon, Soul and The French Café (all Auckland). Says the writer, "Personally, I came to scoff, but left converted." 
(15 October 2005)

New take on an extraordinary figure
Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life, a new authorized biography by art curator Alexa Johnston, has been well received both at home and abroad. According to Johnston, speaking in the Sunday Star Times, the book grew out of an exhibition celebrating Hillary's life which she curated in 2003. "I wanted [the book] to have a strong visual component, encapsulating much of what had been shown at the museum … There are other books about Ed, of course, including his own, but I think I've come up with a fresh approach." The Baltimore Sun recommends the book as essential winter reading: "Sir Edmund's life has been more than just conquering the world's highest mountain." 
(24 November 2005)

South sea saga 
Pamela Stephenson, NZ born psychologist, author and wife to comedian Billy Connolly, has published a book retracing the 19th century travels of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson. The Advertiser: "[Written] loosely as the diary of two women, [Pamela Stephenson: Treasure Islands] is both historically erudite and delightfully bright and entertaining. Stephenson has a light touch with the pen and a good eye for her world." According to an interview with the NZ Herald, Stephenson decided to spend her life savings on a boat after being visited by the ghost of Fanny Stevenson in an Auckland hotel room. "This vision poked at her with an umbrella and declared that Stephenson was 'truly awash' with this 'existential angst, creative illness, mid-life crisis ... you must take action!'" 
(26 November 2005)

Urban philosophy 
Whangarei-born, Caboolture (Queensland)-raised, Keith Urban is the hottest country music sensation in the world. Urban won entertainer of the year and best male vocalist at the Country Music Association Awards broadcast from New York's Madison Square Garden. Urban's second consecutive CMA Male vocalist of the Year and his first Entertainer of the Year Award make him the only artist in CMA Awards history to win the Horizon, Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year Awards (Urban won the Horizon Award in 2001). Acclaimed for his high energy performances that often go in a more rock than country direction, Urban has earned a reputation as one of the best live performers around with shows that regularly sell out within minutes. Co-produced and co-written by Urban, his new album Be Here sums up his philosophy on life: making the most of every moment. "Time's so limited, you just don't know how long you'll be here for. So it seems to me that to make the most of every day is really crucial. The relationships you have with people are the only things that are going to matter in the end," he explains. "Being in the moment at any given time, that's the greatest achievement, that's where the balance is. That's where everything is. That's the goal." 
(16 November 2005)

Challenge to a war 
Brisbane born, Dunedin raised and educated Malcolm Kendall-Smith, the man who refused to return to fight in a war that was "manifestly unlawful", stood by his decision at a court martial hearing on 27 October at Bulford Camp's Military Court Centre, Wiltshire and maintained his plea of not-guilty. The 37 year-old decorated RAF officer who holds dual NZ/British citizenship and dual degrees in Medicine and Kantian moral philosophy faces four charges of disobeying a lawful order and could face a jail term if convicted. A second private preliminary hearing is scheduled for the first week of December. Following that, a more lengthy public hearing will take place some time in March 2006, preceding the trial proper. Kendall-Smith's lawyer Mr Hugheston-Roberts said: "It is going to be a case that will raise very substantial and profound questions of international law and jurisprudence. It is the most important case that has come before the courts in a lifetime and it is the first time that we will be seeking a judicial ruling, to a criminal standard, of this country's actions."
(28 October 2005)

Technological trailblazers 
A group of Canterbury University scientists have developed a machine with the potential to revolutionise everything from counter-terrorism and border control to disease detection. Since the early 1980s, Professor Murray McEwan and his CU team have been working alongside NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the field of SIFT technology - the analysis of ionic chemical reactions in interstellar space. In recent years McEwan has brought the technology's applications closer to home, using it to detect the invisible smell and taste fingerprints known as volatile organic compounds (VOC's) in quantities of air or breath. The initial prototype has been downscaled from a four-tonne machine to one the size of a bar fridge, the Voice100. As well as detecting traces of explosives and narcotics, the Voice100 can analyse subsoil for valuable oil and gas reserves, measure pollution levels, and diagnose diseases ranging from diabetes to schizophrenia from a single human breath - all at 100 times the speed of standard technologies. 
(17 September 2005)

In memoriam 
18 NZ veterans attended the unveiling of a memorial commemorating NZ soldiers who served in the 1950-53 Korean War at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan. PM Helen Clark was also present. "I came to Korea for the 50th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, and visited this cemetery," she said. "I was concerned that no NZ memorial had been built here to honour the memory of those who died and all who fought … I am both pleased and moved to see the project come to fruition with this unveiling today." Designed and sculpted in NZ by artists Fred Graham and John Edgar, and Warren and Mahoney Architects, the granite memorial is modelled after the moko of a Maori woman, with 45 cuts representing the 45 NZ lives lost in the war. 
(20 November 2005)

The lion, the witch and the evangelicals 
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will not only be doing battle at the box-office but also for the souls of mankind, according to an article published in the Guardian. US groups such as Catholic Outreach and the National Association of Evangelicals intend to use the film - and its projected sequels - as a preaching tool to reach the masses, due to its overtly Christian themes and symbolism. Bill Pullman, acclaimed fantasy author and vocal critic of Narnia's creator, C.S Lewis, describes the popular series as "a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice; but of love, of Christian charity, [there is] not a trace." Disney's marketing campaign for the first Narnia instalment - filmed in NZ by Kiwi Andrew Adamson - is one of the biggest in recent cinema history. 
(16 October 2005)

Badge of Gold for Nancy Wake

Potential for history making 
Dame Silvia Cartwright has been confirmed as a judge on the upcoming Cambodian war crimes tribunal. NZ's Governor General headed a list of seven judges submitted by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, from which Cambodian PM Hun Sen selected 5. The 3-year Khmer Rouge Tribunal will investigate former party leaders from Pol Pot's murderous 1975-79 reign, under which 1.7 million Cambodians lost their lives. When selected to try Rwandan war criminals in 1995, Dame Silvia was not in a position to commit to the trials and sees the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as her second chance at playing a part in international justice. "I felt then that [the Rwandan trial] was something I should be doing, but I couldn't for a whole lot of reasons. It has lurked in the back of my mind ever since." 
(3 April 2006)

Three more for the C.V 
Edge artist Julian Dashper continues to make inroads in the US, after his 2001 Fulbright residency at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. His first solo show in New York (at the Esso Gallery) consists of two works - Future Call and Untitled (C.V). Dashper's work is also the subject of a major 25 year retrospective presently touring the US, organised by the Sioux City Art Center in Iowa and co-curated by Sioux City curator Christopher Cook and art historian/writer David Raskin. It marks the first ever American museum retrospective of a resident NZ artist. Finally, Art Asia Pacific magazine features a six-page spread on Dashper in its Winter 2006 issue. AAP: "Dashper's conceptual art can be spoken on the phone, mailed, sent by email or courier, carried as hand luggage on a plane, made on-site by the artist or by someone other than the artist - all actions/qualities that allow him to overcome the isolation of NZ … his is truly art for the information age."
(10 March 2006)

Buddha Wild On
The distinctive and original film "Buddha Wild Monk in the Hut" by LA/Christchurch director and actress Anna Wilding (Carpe Diem Films) premiered at the Laemmle Cinema Los Angeles on March 24. Shot in a gritty news style combined with the full colours and sounds of a poetic narrative feature, Buddha Wild travels inside Thai culture and the Sri Lankan and Thai Buddhist missionary life. It discusses issues of war and religion, and the role of women in Asia. "A surprisingly pleasant trip" with a "homespun honesty and integrity" said LA Weekly. Union Jack newspaper said the film “captures our attention; the monks open up the most they have in a long time". Anna Wilding says the film contains a simple message - to treat each other with respect and "loving kindness". She says of the monks, "they have a freedom we do not have, yet they have a freedom we will never know."

Up the Nile in 80 days 
Two New Zealanders and a Briton have redrawn the map of Africa by following the Nile River to its true source - something no explorer in history has managed before. Lake Victoria was generally believed to be the Nile's starting point but according to Neil McGrigor, Cam McLeay and Garth MacIntyre the real source is located deep in Rwanda's Nyungwe Forest. This makes the Nile at least 107km longer and far more winding than previously thought. The 'Ascend the Nile' adventurers covered 6,700km in 80 days, in a mission fraught with danger. The initial attempt was called off after the team's driver, former British diplomat Steve Willis, was shot and killed in an attack by Ugandan rebels. The rest of the team battled tropical disease, hippos, gigantic crocodiles and raging rapids to complete the journey. "Of all countries, [Rwanda] has been one of the most incredible," says MacIntyre. "Wherever you go, [people] appear: from banana plantations, sitting up trees, alongside us on canoes. And if we can help to put their country on the map, and to persuade people to come here, and to see what we believe to be the real source of the Nile … then it'll be a great achievement." 
(31 March 2006)

Te Rapa creams the opposition
Cream cheese from Fonterra's Te Rapa site won a silver medal at the World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin; its 97.55 out of 100 score less than half a point behind the winner. Known as the Cheese Olympics, the WCCC is the largest event of its kind, boasting 1,792 entries from 18 countries this year alone. Te Rapa cream products process manager Dave Waterman was particularly pleased to win such an award in the US, the undisputed home of cream cheese. 
(31 March 2006)

Another lovable monster for Letteri 
Weta Digital head Joe Letteri is to be visual effects supervisor on the upcoming children's feature, The Water Horse. Letteri was part of the Oscar-winning visual effects team for Peter Jackson's King Kong. Based on the book by Dick King-Smith, The Water Horse tells the story of a lonely boy in Scotland who finds a mysterious egg on the shore of a loch. The film begins production in Scotland and NZ in May 2006. 
(9 March 2006)

Learning made easy for all
According to the Guardian, a NZ designed alternative to the computer mouse was one of the highlights of Bett 2006, the annual ICT in education show held in London. "Lomak (light-operated mouse and keyboard) from NZ is the most exciting piece of kit I have seen in a long time. It is for those who cannot use a conventional mouse and keyboard. It has three circles - one for letters, one for numbers and one for functions. Using the head or hand pointer, you pass the light beam over a letter or number and then over the centre of the circle to confirm the choice." Lomak won both the product design and consumer product design categories at NZ's annual BEST awards in September 2005. "Lomak is a revolutionary concept in keyboard design that provides a new approach to the way a computer is operated … [It] is an affordable and effective alternative for anyone with a physical disability that prevents them from using a standard QWERTY keyboard," says the official website. 
(7 March 2006)

Craze hits new heights 
Czech accountant Jana Tylova has won the inaugural sudoku world championships held in Lucca, Italy. The Japanese game of logic has been popularised by NZ judge-turned-entrepreneur Wayne Gould, whose syndicated games now appear in over 400 newspapers worldwide. Gould was on hand in Lucca to present the winner's trophy. 
(11 March 2006)

Spotlight on Niki Caro 
North Country director Niki Caro was interviewed before a live studio audience by the Guardian's Sandra Hebron, alongside the star of her film (and new best mate) Charlize Theron. "[North Country] was a script that really shocked me, because it's real and it's recent," says Caro of the gruelling dramatisation of America's first major successful sexual discrimination lawsuit. "This case wasn't settled until 1998. So, for somebody from NZ, which is socially pretty progressive, and who's been fortunate enough to grow up as I have, it was a very good project to do." Theron admitted to "secretly stalking" Caro: "I'd gone to see Whale Rider, like everybody else, and really fell in love with Niki through that film. And so I stalked her - I was trying to see what she was doing next … For me, we had instant chemistry. We started finishing each other's sentences and I was just ecstatic to start with her. She was really the person who catapulted me into really wanting to do this." 
(3 February 2006)

Simple pleasures in spectacular surrounds 
Stewart Island is now home to NZ's 14th national park - Rakiura, named after the anchor stone of Maui's canoe (the South Island). A Toronto Star writer visited the rugged outpost and was won over by the fresh food (paua fritters, blue cod and chips), unpronounceable fauna (piwakawaka, ngirungiru and tokoeka) and spectacularly unspoiled landscape. "Stewart Island is NZ's least farmed, least logged and least built-up region … [It] has a mere 22 kilometres of road but 280 kilometres of walking trails, some right in Oban but one of 181 kilometres that can take two weeks to cover." 
(11 March 2006)

Karate vs. Kea 
Organisers of a vintage car rally near Mt Cook took an unusual defensive stance against marauding local kea, which are notorious for damaging cars in alpine areas. The car club hired 40 karate practitioners to protect the precious vehicles, insisting that the birds would not be hurt but rather "scared away." 
(4 February 2006)

From pastoral paradise to prehistoric wonder 
US travel writer takes a week long bus tour of the South Island. "After several days of being on the road, touring NZ seems like viewing a slow-moving film that repeats its frames: rolling green hills, occasional small towns with well-kept homes and luxuriant gardens, sheep, cows, deer, more sheep and sunshine." But a very different sort of landscape is apparent at Franz Josef Glacier: "Looking up into the mountains of Franz Josef with clouds settling over the tree tops, I am struck by how impenetrable this forest is, how this could be the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, home to the Mountain Gorilla. King Kong may be as close as most of us get, but the forests of NZ are definitely prehistoric." 
(5 March 2006)

Guantanamo report
NZ human rights lawyer, Paul Hunt, is one of the authors of a new UN report on the US-run detention camp at   Guantanamo Bay, which calls for a dramatic improvement in its conditions if not its closure. The UN team was denied access to prisoners by the US. “It would have been a dereliction of duty if we'd closed our eyes to Guantanamo Bay,” says Hunt. “[The team] is really disappointed that the  US declined to invite us to Guantanamo Bay to interview the detainees.” The report, described by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as “just flat wrong,” has received support from the European Parliament and numerous human rights organisations.
(20 February 2006)

Top ten showing
New Zealand was listed in the top ten in Forbes’ recent ranking of the world’s most foreign investment friendly economies. NZ scored 88.5/100 taking tenth place in the list of 135 countries. The Top places went to Denmark,  Finland and Iceland. According to the National Business Review, NZ scored highly in the wages and prices (99), ease of regulation (98) and absence of corruption (99) categories but was disadvantaged by an abysmal score in corporate tax rates (31).
(6 February 2006)

To err is human, to forgive divine
NZ-raised canon emeritus of Coventry Cathedral and Quaker chaplain to the University of Sussex, Paul Oestreicher, writes about guilt and forgiveness in the Guardian, using both WW2 and the modern day 'War on Terror' as his points of reference. "The demonisation of 'the other' is both the cause and motor of war: in turn, war legitimises barbarity on a grand scale…Now in the global war on terror no holds are barred. The murderer and the torturer are back on the official payroll - both theirs and ours." 
(28 January 2006)

Cruise control 
Epoch Times writers take an “enchanting” tour of NZ by cruise ship, with a 9-day itinerary encompassing  Auckland, Tauranga, Rotorua, Napier,  Dunedin, Akaroa,  Christchurch,  Wellington, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and White Island. Highlights include a panoramic view of Devonport from Mt Victoria and earning a Certificate of Udderance after milking cows at Rotorua’s Agrodome.
(18 February 2006)

Pride of the south
Speight’s Gold Medal ale gets a big thumbs up from the Journal and Courier’s (Indiana, US) resident 'Beer  Man’. “It poured a nice head and was an absolutely crystal clear, light amber colour. Bready, biscuity smells wafted from my pint glass as I prepared for my first sip. Those characteristics were also apparent in the taste, as well as light caramel malt …This is a good everyday drinking beer that shows New Zealand breweries can compete on an even keel with many bitters and pale ales from England. You won't be disappointed by this fine beer.”
(15 February 2006)

NHNZ takes NY
Dunedin based production company, NHNZ received two awards at the prestigious New York Festivals, held at the end of January. NHNZ won gold and silver medals in the Nature and Wildlife section of the Television Programming and Promotion Awards with Equator: Power of an Ocean and Buggin' with Ruud respectively. Death Valley was also a finalist in the same section. "What links these three productions is a dedication to painstaking research, a shared vision from pre to post production and crews who are prepared to put in weeks in the field often in extreme conditions," says NHNZ managing director Michael Stedman. "Our teams always attempt to find that difficult balance between information and entertainment, and I believe these films have found that balance." Owned by Fox Studios, NHNZ produces factual programming for such international broadcasters as the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery Health, National Geographic Channel, France 5, NHK in Japan and NDR in Germany. (27 January 2006)

Hard earned success 
US Farm Week includes a feature on New Zealand's thriving agricultural industry. Fiona Hutchison of the New Zealand Embassy in Washington details how the industry has recovered from the axing of agricultural subsidies in the 1980s. As she points out, New Zealand is one of the few developed countries in the world where agriculture's contribution to the national gross domestic product has increased over the last few decades. She cites the growth in agri-tourism and increased trading with Asia as key examples of farmers recognising business opportunities and taking them. "These are some of the things that happen when you allow the producers to make their own choices, to respond to the market signals. I think that's something every country should look to embrace." 
(27 January 2006)

NewZealand.com the business
Business Week hails Tourism NZ's Webby Award winning website, NewZealand.com, as "a vibrant blend of heritage and enterprise" - media savvy, innovative and easy to use. "[NZ] is clearly establishing itself as a prime mover with a perceived ascendant star. A neutral country with a rich cultural past and an abundance of breathtaking scenery, matched only by the warmth and humility of its people. The website perfectly complements these qualities." The Webby Awards are the online equivalent of the Oscars. 
(11 January 2006)

Crowe to fly the coop 
With Australia Day been and gone the Aussies wonder when NZ born Russell Crowe will officially become one of their own. According to Sydney's Daily Telegraph, "the country's most celebrated Kiwi" was confirmed for a live-to-air citizenship ceremony on Australia Day (January 26) but had to pull out because the formalities could not be organised in time. 
(27 January 2006)

End of one era, beginning of another 
All Black captain Tana Umaga has officially retired from the game aged 34, with a stellar career behind him. "Already he has been admitted by his countrymen into the exclusive band of great NZ captains, along with Colin Meads, Sean Fitzpatrick…and the first All Blacks skipper, Dave Gallaher," says the Observer. "The contrasting emotions that the [O'Driscoll spear tackle] episode inspired in the rugby world placed him out on an edge where few find themselves and from where fewer still return in triumph." In addition to 74 Tests and 37 tries, Umaga was the first ever NZ player to be awarded the prestigious Pierre de Coubertin trophy for fair play. Family friend Ken Laban and former All Black and race relations conciliator Chris Laidlaw credit Umaga as changing the face of New Zealand rugby in a profile on the Captain on stuff.co.nz. "People see a Samoan player and they typecast him as rough and ready to rumble - they don't see them in the captaincy or a leadership role," says Laban. "People don't see a lot of our people in the boardroom. They see them on the factory floor, they see them carrying the ball up and making the tackle but they rarely see them leading the team out and speaking on behalf of the country. That's the legacy I reckon Graham Henry and Tana are going to leave behind." 
(15 January 2006)

Kiwi kayak heralds new era of design 
NZ biochemist Murray Broom's FirstLight Kayak received a three-page spread in I.D magazine, America's leading authority on the art, business and culture of design. Reviewer Barbara Flanagan (I.D contributing editor and product designer) hails the 20-pound collapsible kayak as a perfect meeting of form and function. "To paddlers, Broom's FirstLight Kayak is a sublime achievement. It means we can finally store our boats wherever we live, and take them wherever we go - on foot, by air, by subway … To designers, the museum-worthy vessel is thrilling proof that the age of textiles is here, and that metal is over." 
(November 2005)

Time is on his side 
A remarkable feat of timing brought Massey University's Dr John Ross to the attention of the international literary community in late 2005. Two weeks after the publication of his bibliographical history of prolific British writer Harold Pinter, Pinter himself won the Nobel Prize for Literature. "The timing is impeccable," says Ross' co-author, Northern Illinois University Professor William Baker. "With scholarly books, you're lucky to sell more than 1,000 copies. Already the publishers have called for an extra press run." Read Ross' account of the research behind Harold Pinter: A Bibliographic History in Massey News here. 
(19 October 2005)

Heading the catalogue of life 
Dr David Penman has been elected chair of the governing board of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, an international organization working to develop the world's first free mega-database of all living organisms. The internet resource, which will help individuals and governments research areas as diverse as climate change, border control, and species stability, is expected to be online by February 2006. "I've always tried to defend the role of the small and ugly, or the underdogs which make the soils function, provide the nutrient flow and the natural biological controls," says Penman, an entomologist and research manager for Landcare Research, in Stuff. "The Department of Conservation will pour a lot of money into a single species like the kakapo, but to have effect, you've got to have the ecosystem function so the rimu trees flower. It's a whole system." 
(4 January 2006)

Home office 
The work of New York based Kiwi architect David Howell scored the cover of September's Interior Design magazine. Howell's  firm transformed the New York office of London post-production house Framestore CFC (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) from a "lacklustre temporary studio space" to "quirky Englishmen themed". Rather than obviously highlighting the technological aspect of Framestore's work via industrial lighting and exposed wires, Howell chose homely pieces in walnut veneer and banana faux leather, in a look described as "more living room than antechamber." 
(1 September 2005)

Bullionaire business opportunity 
A Massey University graduate may soon be striking agricultural pay-dirt after founding the world's first gold-farming company, Tiaki International. Chris Anderson spent 8 years at Massey developing a chemical process which causes plants to "hyperaccumulate" gold particles from the soil. When crops such as canola, corn or mustard are planted on former gold-mining land they soak up the precious substance and store it in their roots and leaves. Tiaki is now promoting its services in China and Brazil as a means of simultaneously re-greening former mine sites and creating a lucrative offshoot to sell on the open market. 
(1 October 2005)

Future craft flies thanks to Kiwi know-how 
NZ engineer Bill White has designed an ultra-lightweight engine to power a "back to the future" style mini helicopter for US company AirScooter. Christchurch based company Pegasus Aviation began developing the AeroTwin engine in the 1990s and quickly caught the interest of Australian and US companies including AirScooter. Pegasus eventually collapsed as a company but AirScooter persisted with its sale due to the impressive reputation of Bill White, who made his name in motorcycle racing engines. Former Pegasus director Stuart Pearson, who formed a new company - Motor Corp (PMC) - specifically to manage White's engineering firm W.L White, hails the AeroTwin engine as a shining example of Kiwi guts and ingenuity. "American companies don't seem to want to venture into [this] sort of thing," he says in the NZ Herald. "They would have to hire a dozen experts, each to do a different task. They have a different mindset. We just get stuck in and do everything ourselves where there they seem to do everything by committee … In the States this would have cost $10 million, whereas we do it for less than one." 
(7 September 2005)

Pinot lovers unite 
Wellington is to host its third Pinot Noir festival from January 31 to February 3 2007. 500 of the world's leading Pinot Noir experts, producers and enthusiasts have been invited to the prestigious tri-annual event, which was founded in 2001 to showcase the depth and quality of what is now officially NZ's most widely planted grape variety. Confirmed speakers and panellists for Pinot Noir 2007 include top French wine writer Michel Bettane and leading UK wine lecturer and judge Matthew Jukes. "Pinot Noir 2007 has some serious aims," says board chairman Steve Smith. "We want to promote NZ's super and ultra premium wines to the world, focusing on the uniqueness of our wines and the special contribution they make. But we also want to have 500 of the world's key wine media, trade, connoisseur wine lovers and winemakers join us for a celebration of NZ Pinot Noir and give them an experience like they have never seen."
(9 December 2005)

More praise, bigger audience 
"Lit like a dream and full of intrigue." Guardian reviewer Rob Mackie picks Taika Waititi's Two Cars, One Night as the highlight of a new DVD compilation of the best short films of 2005. Produced by Shooting People, an independent film-makers' network, Best v Best Volume 1 contains seven prize-winning shorts from around the world. 
(23 December 2005)

Black Caps start as they mean to go on 
The Black Caps made a fine start to their 2006 season, cruising to victory in the five-match ODI home series against Sri Lanka. NZ won the deciding third match at Jade Stadium by five wickets. Nathan Astle - who was initially left out of the NZ squad - was the top run scorer, with an impressive 90 not out.
(4 January 2006)

Aoraki off limits? 
Mt Cook (Aoraki) has provided yet another example of the effects of global warming, with local guides warning that visitors may no longer be able to climb its famed heights. "We had a very lean winter with very little snow and the glaciers are not in good shape," says Alpine Recreation director Gottlieb Braun-Elwert. "Climate warming is a fact. I've watched the glaciers for 30 years and there are some dramatic changes happening in NZ and overseas." The 3754m peak - NZ's highest - has become increasingly dangerous for climbers in recent years, due to thinning snow cover and unstable glaciers. 
(2 January 2006)

For love and money 
British male accountants are being lured to NZ with promises of work and women. According to top UK agency, Think Global Recruitment, the shortage of men in NZ has reached its highest level in 80 years, and Kiwi women in the 20 to 45 age group outnumber men by 35,000. "NZ offers an array of fantastic career and lifestyle opportunities," says Think managing director Abigail Stevens. "A lot of the people we find roles for are between the ages of 25 and 30 and single. They like to work hard but also find time to enjoy the glorious beaches, wide open spaces, great social life and a huge range of sports, including extreme sports."
(4 January 2006)

2005: year of the All Black 
The All Blacks' decisive win over Scotland on December 2 made them the first NZ side since 1978 and the first team since Australia in 1984, to complete a "grand slam" of the UK and Irish home sides on a single tour. "The grand slam and what we have done previously has capped a great year, which is delightful," said coach Graham Henry. "They wanted to set some history in NZ and they have done that, something very special." As expected, NZ took out all major categories at this year's International Rugby Board awards. Daniel Carter won player of the year, Graham Henry coach of the year, and the All Blacks team of the year. A 2005 recap: the AB's won 11 of 12 Tests, crushed the Lions 3-0, won back the Tri-Nations, retained the Bledisloe Cup, and became the second All Blacks side in a century to achieve a grand slam against Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland. 
(2 December 2005)

A victory for the underdogs 
Not to be outdone by their rugby union counterparts, NZ's national rugby league side achieved a momentous Tri-Nations win against traditional rivals England and Australia. The BBC describes the NZ's 24-0 victory over Australia in the series final as "one of the most remarkable performances in rugby league history." Manu Vatuvei scored two tries and Paul Whatuira and Brent Webb each scored one. Australia has not lost a Test series since 1978 and the match marked their first scoreless result since 1985. 
(26 November 2005)

Emotional Call  
Kiwi Andrew Adamson has being doing back to back promotional rounds since the release of the first instalment in his highly anticipated Narnia series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He describes the heady experience bringing one of his favourite childhood books to the big screen in a lengthy interview with the Toronto Star. The film itself has received mixed reviews due to its perceived groundings in Christian fundamentalism. Two Guardian reviewers represent opposite ends of the love it/hate it spectrum; while Polly Toynbee berates viewers about an "arm-twisting emotional call to believers," Peter Bradshaw's five star rave calls it "a triumph … gorgeous to look at, superbly cast, wittily directed and funny and exciting by turns… I can't see how it could be done better." Perhaps the last word should go to Adamson, who sees the film's themes as "open to the audience to interpret."
(5 December 2005)

A glass a day won't keep the doctor away 
NZ researchers have put a dampener on previous claims that drinking in moderation is good for the heart. According to Auckland University's Dr Rod Jackson, the studies conducted in the 1970s and 80s were flawed and the harm caused by drinking almost certainly outweighs any positive side effects. Alcoholics, he points out, have "clean" arteries, which indicates that heavy drinking is in fact better for the heart than a glass or two a day. But any coronary benefits gained from drinking heavily are rendered useless by the damage alcoholism inflicts on the rest of the body's functions. 
(5 December 2005)

Chinese opportunity 
Fonterra has made the biggest ever investment in the Chinese dairy industry by a foreign company by purchasing a 43% stake in the Shijiazhuang San Lu Group for US$107 million. The San Lu Group produces powdered milk, liquid milk and fresh dairy products, and is predicting sales of US$925 million in China this year. According to Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier, the investment reflects Fonterra's confidence in the future of the dairy industry in China, where dairy consumption has doubled in the last five years. 
(3 December 2005)

Something old, something new 
The internationally acclaimed NZ String Quartet made an impressive debut in Minneapolis, performing as part of the annual Music in the Part Series in St Paul. The Quartet's program included the world premiere of NZ composer Gillian Whitehead's Hin-pu-te-hue, a work celebrating the Maori goddess of peace. Star Tribune: "The sense of quietude that might have been expected from a work commemorating peace seemed oddly lacking as sophisticated contemporary sonorities interwove with the ancient sounds. But together they created an eerily haunting and compelling aural landscape." The NZSQ comprises Helene Pohl, Douglas Beilman, Gillian Ansell and Rolf Gjelsten. 
(21 November 2005)

The new jazz order 
Stuart Nicholson, author of Is Jazz Dead (Or has it Moved to a new Address)?, names Kiwi Aron Ottignon as one of the six best new players on the international jazz scene. "Without anyone really noticing, jazz has become discreetly hip and these young musicians are part of the reason why. They represent a refreshing breeze of change blowing through a music that once sounded like a tormented brain puzzle … Ottignon's Australia debut, in 1999, was the stuff of legend. 'Aron was an unknown quantity when he made the finals of the National Jazz Awards here,' recalls Adrian Jackson, the Wangaratta festival's artistic director. 'Nobody expected a 16-year-old from NZ to play with such absolute confidence and energy and poise. I think it was obvious to everyone that a major new talent had arrived.' Six years on, Ottignon is serving notice that he is, potentially at least, one of the finest pianists in jazz."
(20 November 2005)

Crash claims liquor chiefs 
NZ liquor innovator, Michael Erceg, was killed in early November when the helicopter he was piloting crashed south of Auckland. As the founder and managing director of Independent Liquor, Erceg was one of the country's richest people. Grolsch International export director Guus Klatte - who had flown from Amsterdam to NZ to discuss a lucrative business deal with Erceg - was also killed. The wreckage of the helicopter was not found until two weeks after the crash. 
(21 November 2005)

Award in the bag 
The giant handbag-shaped tent used at the openings of Louis Vuitton mega-stores in Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo and Paris has won its NZ manufacturers an esteemed international design award. Fabric Shelter Systems (Whangarei) took top honours in the tent manufacturing section of the 2005 Industrial Fabrics Association International. According to company director Warwick Bell, the tent reflects the ultimate in kiwi ingenuity and Fabric Shelter Systems is thrilled with the recognition. 
(21 November 2005)

Grey Lynn on the silver screen 
South Pacific Pictures' feature Sione's Wedding has received rave reviews in NZ and Samoa following its February premiere. Written by Oscar Kightley and James Griffin, the comedy revolves around a group of first and second generation Pacific Islanders living in Grey Lynn, Auckland. In acknowledgement of the film's central Polynesian themes, the cast and crew decided to hold an official premiere in Samoa at Apia's Magik Cinema, with stars such as Kightley, Robbie Magasiva and Teuila Blakely in attendance. Griffin describes Sione's Wedding as "a contemporary, urban story set in the Polynesian world … a kind of romantic comedy for guys. It's about universal themes of love and respect and friendship, told from a Polynesian perspective." 
(29 March 2006)

Verdict reached 
Dual British/NZ citizen Flight Lieutenant Dr Malcolm Kendall-Smith has been found guilty on five counts of disobeying orders and has been sentenced to 8 months in prison and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs for refusing to serve in Iraq. The doctor who has now been dismissed from the RAF, has already served two tours of duty in Iraq but refused to return last June on the basis that the invasion was illegal and that he therefore did not have to obey orders to serve there. In court, Kendall-Smith began his statement by defining aggression as "the use of armed forces by a state against a sovereign state's integrity". He said that as a commissioned officer he was required "to consider each and every order" and to consider their legality under domestic and international law. "I believe that the current occupation of Iraq is an illegal act and for me to comply with an act which is illegal would put me in conflict with both domestic and international law". In a statement outside the court at Aldershot in Hampshire, Kendall Smith's defence lawyer said his client felt his actions were "totally justified. He would do the same thing again [and] will appeal against the conviction and the sentence." 
(14 March 2006)

ABs at the top of UK game 
Former All Blacks Carlos Spencer and Justin Marshall lead the nominations for the Professional Rugby Players' Association (PRA) player of the year award. Described by The Independent as godlike and "the union game's answer to Diego Maradona", Spencer is the favourite for the award, following a succession of outstanding performances for his Northampton club. Marshall has also enjoyed a personally successful season, having emerged as the Premiership's outstanding scrum-half.

Barr & Barr
Wellington curators and strategists Jim Barr and Mary Barr head the survey by London art magazine Contemporary of 21 international collectors. An essay by William McAloon features work by Ronnie Van Hout, et al, Michael Parekowhai, Michael Stevenson, Peter Robinson, Rose Nolan and Frances Upritchard, and references collected artists from Europe, Japan and America. “Connections and counterpoints abound – local/global, high-tech/homespun.” The video dimension of the collection is highlighted by the work of French artist Nicolas Jasmin showing an actor venting his rage while locked out of his car in an urban wasteland. “For the Barrs, “it summed up a tough 20th century in 59 seconds.”” Reboot – a selection of works from the collection, will be an exhibition at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in August 2006, further underlining the Barrs’ commitment to showing and sharing cutting-edge art from New Zealand and the world.

Liquid gold 
One of NZ's most respected wineries, Waiheke Island's Goldwater Estate, has been sold to the NZ Wine Fund for $10 million. The Wine Fund, which also purchased Marlborough's Vavasour Wines in 2003, is predicting combined sales this year of $12-15 million from around 200,000 cases of wine. Goldwater Estate was founded by Kim and Jeanette Goldwater in 1982, the first winery to be established on Waiheke Island. It currently holds the record for the most expensive bottle of NZ wine ever to be sold, after a 6 litre bottle of its sauvignon blanc fetched $13,680 at an auction in Houston last year. The Goldwaters have retained a seat on the board and a 20% share holding.
(30 March 2006)

Online authority 
New Zealand raised, former TVNZ reporter Robert Freeman has been appointed Head of Multimedia at Press Association, UK. "I am heading up this team at a critical time when the publishing industry is looking to us to provide leadership in how to successfully migrate their audiences online," he says. Prior to his Press Association posting, Freeman was Deputy Head of Multimedia at the BBC. 
(21 March 2006)

Little snail vs. big business 
NZ environmental groups are at war with Solid Energy over the power company's intention to mine the only known habitat of the endangered brown snail, Powelliphanta Augustus. The entire snail population, believed to total just 800-1000, is located on a 5-hectare stretch of Happy Valley, on the West Coast of the South Island. Solid Energy wants to mine $300 to $540 million in high-grade coal that lies beneath the surface of the habitat. The company has proposed moving some of the topsoil, along with 100 snails, to a new fenced-off location. They would then fund an incubation project to breed them. The Forest and Bird Society, however, remains unimpressed. "Solid Energy's proposals would effectively kill off all but the 100 snails it wants to move," says field officer Eugenie Sage. "It is uncertain that these would survive translocation. This could pose a real risk of extinction."
(30 March 2006)

A master of confrontational cinema 
The March issue of Inside Film includes a lengthy feature on the latest project by edge writer/director Andrew Niccol - Lord of War. Starring Nicolas Cage and Ethan Hawke, Lords of War is a morally confronting black comedy about the international arms trade. Given the nature of the film Hollywood refused to back it, despite the success of Niccol's previous (and in their way equally subversive) films The Truman Show, Gattaca and S1M0NE. Niccol himself raised the required $50 million to film Lords of War overseas and then sold it back to the studios. "In France it was the number one film, which seemed to say something about the national attitude," says Niccol. "A lot of the reviews in the States were really quite good - but they went on to say that the problem was that nobody should be allowed to make it!" 
(March 2006)

About me 
Edge denim designer Nicole Colovos and husband Michael were guest editors and cover stars of the sixth issue of independent US magazine, Me. Created by New York art director Claudia Wu, Me profiles a different pair of creative professionals and their circle of friends in each issue. Nicole and Michael Colovos are the brains behind Habitual, one of the most desirable denim brands on the international market. In their interview, Nicole and Michael talk about everything from how they met (when Nicole was Market Editor for Harper's Bazaar and Michael an up-and-coming fashion designer) to their respective upbringings in Auckland and New York. 
(Winter 2005-2006)

Dusty Down Under 
Already triple platinum in NZ, Bic Runga's third album - Birds - is now making waves across the Tasman. The Age: "Dark and majestic … [Birds] is without a doubt Runga's best album - 11 eerie, atmospheric songs that sound somehow displaced, out of time, but classic." Sydney Morning Herald: "Gentle and lush, it features delicate melodies augmented by lavish backing vocals and occasional flourishes of harp and French horn. Held together by the lightness and agility of Runga's voice, the best songs evoke a smoky, retro cocktail bar - the sort of setting in which Runga made a cameo in the film Little Fish, as a 'Vietnamese lounge singer.'" Australian Vogue: "With Birds, her quietly devastating third album, Runga keeps the lights way down low while radiating a deep soulfulness that could transform her into the Antipodean Dusty Springfield … it's a contender for the first great album of 2006." 
(12 March 2006)

Up-and-coming Upritchard 
Artist to watch Francis Upritchard features in the 48th issue of Object magazine. "An exciting talent … Upritchard's art locates value in the personal and the imperfect … [She] finds a way of accommodating beauty, rendering it approachable, a part of life, freeing it of conspicuousness and convention." The Ilam graduate is now based in London, where she has set up the Bart Wells Institute (an emerging artists' gallery collective) with friend and fellow artist Luke Gottelier. "It is hard to make art on your own, and in NZ you are very much alone," she explained in a NZ Herald interview. "[But] my family is here, and I want to suck NZ back into me because I'm a colonial in England. My friends forget about that, but I need to stay different, I need to stay a visitor."
(December 2005-March 2006)

Book world's reigning queen
Literary doyenne Liz Calder, co-founder of Bloomsbury Press and nurturer of such talents as Salman Rushdie, Anita Brookner, Julian Barnes and J.K Rowling, has continued her success with the establishment of the Festa Literaria Internacional de Parati in Brazil. Founded in 2003, FLIP is the first literary festival to be held in South America. It drew 12,000 people in its first year and earned Calder an Order of Merit for services to culture from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Calder was born in Middlesex and educated at Palmerston North Girls' High and Canterbury University. Her love affair with Brazil began after working as a model and journalist there in the 1960s. Calder may have stepped down from the directorship at Bloomsbury but her influence still resonates in the publishing world. Says good friend, Virago Press founder Carmen Calill, "[she is] probably the most magnificent of the generation of women who changed things; who moved the centre of the universe, of vision, and gave it a jolt."
(2 July 2005)

Local epic lures Donaldson home
An interview with The World's Fastest Indian director Roger Donaldson is the cover story for the October issue of Inside Film. Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, the feature is described as the culmination of a 30-year dream for Donaldson, who made a documentary about the film's subject - Invercargill land speed record holder Burt Munro - back in 1971. As well as speaking about the movie itself, the US-based director talks about the present state of the NZ film industry ("pretty impressive… NZ seems to make a fair mark for itself") and his own desire to make more films back home. "I've got some [films] in development and some more movies I'd like to make in NZ," he says. "If I had a great science fiction movie to make or something like that I'd definitely think about making it in NZ … I'm always looking for some excuse to come back." 
(October 2005)

Welcomed to the fold 
Wellington band Recloose earned a positive plug in the Hamstead & Highgate after a packed gig at the Jazz Café. Recloose was formed around the Detroit born producer/DJ of the same name, who relocated to Titahi Bay in 2003. His all-star NZ band includes Riki Gooch (ex Trinity Roots) on drums and Mike Fabulous (The Black Seeds) on guitar and bass. Recloose describes his latest album Hiatus on the Horizon (2005), which includes contributions from Dallas Tamaira (Fat Freddy's Drop) and Jonathan Crayford, as "really alive and loose and fun and playful. And I think how it sounds is totally to do with the calibre of the musicians that played on it. I didn't want to rely too heavily on samples like I did on the last one. I had access to great musicians and it made sense to get them in, rather than relying on luck when you're going through records and trying to find samples." 
(10 March 2006)

Buy-now price $700 million 
John Fairfax Holdings has bought New Zealand internet auction site Trade Me for $700 million. What started as one young Wellingtonian looking to buy a second-hand heater to warm his drafty Mount Victoria flat in 1999, has expanded exponentially to become the most visited website in New Zealand with 1.2 million registered users and one of the most successful edge enterprises in years. Trade Me will continue to operate as a stand alone business, with founder and Chief Executive Sam Morgan continuing to run the company with a board of Trade Me and Fairfax executives.

Wild about Welly 
Another Canadian writer is seduced by NZ, this time in the "wild and windy city of the sea" that is Wellington. Highlights include Susan McLeary's Zest Food Tour ("the city is bustling with some 400 cafes and restaurants, welcome havens from the weather"), the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary ("a friendly Jurassic Park"), and picturesque Thorndon ("a leafy suburb that is to downtown Wellington what Rosedale is to Toronto: lots of gingerbread houses with gardens bursting with colour.") 
(1 March 2006)

Bra fence here to stay 
A US immigrant has been thwarted in his attempt to rid the Cardrona Valley of its "world famous in NZ" bra fence. Andre Prassinos, who resides for part of each year in Cardrona, petitioned the local council to remove the bras, calling them an eyesore and traffic hazard. His neighbours, however, voted unanimously in favour of keeping the unusual tourist attraction, which was established by four New Year's Eve revellers in 2001. 
(13 February 2006)

2005 Campbell's year
Golfer Michael Campbell has been named NZ’s Sportsperson of the Year for 2005 after winning both the US Open and the World Matchplay Championship in Britain. It is the second time Campbell has won the country’s top prize – he received his first NZ Sportsman of the Year award in 1993 as a member of the team that won the Eisenhower Trophy amateur golf title. NZ rowing coach Dick Tonks was named Coach of the Year, after his rowers won 4 gold medals at the 2005 world championships in Japan.
(17 February 2006)

Environmental No.1 
NZ leads the world in environmental performance according to the Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities measured how close 133 countries came to reaching 16 environmental goals, which included air quality, biodiversity, sustainable energy, and the provision of clean water. NZ scored 88%, followed by Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and the UK, all of which scored 84% or higher. "In spite of data gaps, methodological limitations, and serious scientific uncertainties, the Environmental Performance Index demonstrates that environmental policy results can be tracked with the same outcome-oriented and performance-based rigor that applies to poverty reduction, education, health promotion," says Marc Levy of Columbia University. "The ability to evaluate policy results is critical in the context of initiatives under the UN Millennium Development Goals to expand investments in environmental sustainability." 
(25 January 2006)

Whale Rider to North Country
Whale Rider director Niki Caro has officially earned her Hollywood stripes with the release of Warner Brothers' North Country. Starring Charlize Theron, Sissy Spacek, Frances McDormand and Sean Bean, North Country is a fictionalised account of the first major sexual harassment case in the US. Variety describes the film as "an emotionally potent story told with great dignity" in which Caro "creates a vivid sense of the women's isolation and powerlessness." Charlize Theron made the long trip to Auckland for North Country's NZ premiere, telling NZPA "I wanted to come and support Niki because I know that this is her home town and I'm so incredibly proud of her." Theron has been nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress for her performance. 
(28 January 2006)

Model of multi-tasking 
RH is the host of new US reality TV show Style Me. In an interview with Media Village, she describes the show as "offering real honest and interesting insight into the world of stylists." RH has numerous other ventures, including designing men's and women's jewellery for Demeter's Goddess Collection and writing a book - "not about who my lovers were, but my personal experiences, from my children to my love of Africa." 
(26 January 2006)

Kubrick's successor? 
The latest Hollywood release by Kapiti-grown, LA-resident writer-director Andrew Niccol (The Truman Show, Gattaca) is Lord of War. Described by the Guardian as "a moral fable treated with a surface realism," Lord of War tells the dual stories of a Ukrainian-American gunrunner (Nicholas Cage) and the Interpol agent (Ethan Hawke) determined to bring him down. Hawke had this to say of Niccol in an Australian Vogue interview: "I really believe in him. Andrew thinks differently from anybody else making movies. I feel he could really wind up being the Kubrick of our generation." 
(16 October 2005)

World to come to Waikato? 
NZ has officially placed its bid to host the 2010 world rowing championships at Lake Karapiro in Waikato. "It's our turn," says RNZ chief executive Craig Ross. "NZ rowing has never been in a stronger position." The other hosting bids have come from Slovenia and Australia. 
(26 January 2006)

Keeping it local 
One of NZ's most successful producers Tim White returned to work on Toa Fraser's debut feature No.2. An Ilam graduate, White's producing credits include Ned Kelly, Map of the Human Heart, Two Hands, Oscar and Lucinda, and Death in Brunswick. He was chief executive of Fox Icon, a cooperative venture between 20th Century Fox and Mel Gibson's Icon Productions, and until last year headed Working Title Australia, the Antipodean branch of the UK production house behind Bridget Jones, Billy Elliot and Four Weddings and a Funeral. White describes working on No.2 as the best homecoming he could ever ask for in an interview with Stuff. "I was really drawn to finding a story that explored the incredibly vivid, energetic Pasifika culture and the very thing that made Auckland attractive in a way that I'd never really appreciated long ago." His next project is Scarfies director Robert Sarkies' film about the Aramoana massacre. 
(11 December 2005)

Sir Kenneth reaches zenith 
NZ Supreme Court judge, Sir Kenneth Keith, has been elected to the UN's World Court, the highest judicial authority in the world. The court, officially known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and consists of 15 judges. The position is a nine-year term, with the possibility of re-election. It is the first time a New Zealander has been elected to the ICJ since its inception in 1946. "I warmly congratulate Sir Kenneth," says PM Helen Clark in an official statement. "He will be a great asset to the Court, and his election reinforces NZ's strong commitment to that body." 
(28 November 2005)

A winning formula on and off the field 
Hyde Pride, Washington's only all-African American school rugby side, has a Kiwi connection that extends beyond its game of choice. Established in 1999, the team at Hyde Leadership Public Charter School has been sponsored by the NZ embassy since 2002. Ambassador John Wood stumbled upon the school whilst looking for a new ground to host the embassy's annual rugby tournament - the Ambassador's Shield. "We discovered that Hyde school had a pretty good ground," he says. "We found they had a pretty good rugby program, too. But no money." The embassy adopted Hyde Pride, raising $10,000 for the team from tournament profits last year. Head coach and founder Tal Bayer describes the team's story as amazing. As well as its phenomenal success on the field, the game has undeniably helped team members, many of whom were sent to Hyde as a last resort for disciplinary problems, in their own personal development. More important than winning games, Bayer points out, is the fact that every Hyde Pride player has gone on to attend college. 
(14 November 2005)

Teddy fan-club on the rise 
Kiwi baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes continues to set hearts a-flutter in the opera world. The Sydney media have called him "opera's Brad Pitt," the New York Times "a cross between Paul Bettany and Viggo Mortensen" and the Washington Post "a hunkier Sting." But with acclaimed roles in Le nozze di Figaro, The End of the Affair and The Little Prince (Houston Grand Opera), Don Giovanni (Opera Australia), and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking (San Francisco Opera) to his credit, his voice is evidently more than a match for his looks. "I can't imagine another baritone like Teddy," says Jake Heggie. "It's a big, rich voice, a classic sound where the diction is so clear. I knew right away I wanted to write the role for him in The End of the Affair. Teddy is totally comfortable with his own artistry, in his own skin." 
(26 October 2005)

Conference finds common language
Hamilton hosted the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in late November, an event which drew more than 3,000 attendees from all over the world. The delegation from North America's Kodiak Island is keen to emulate the "unusual success" of Maori in maintaining their culture and language. Kodiak Islander April Laktonen Counceller spoke of her NZ experience - which included visiting te reo immersion schools from primary to university level and meeting the Maori Queen, Te Atairangikaahu - in the Indian Country, America's leading indigenous paper. "It felt really good to be around so many people trying to improve their community," she said. "It didn't matter if they were from an island in the South Pacific or an island in the North Pacific, like Kodiak." 
(3 January 2006)

A thing of wonder 
Released in December, Peter Jackson's King Kong has received near unanimous praise from critics and movie-goers around the world. "This new King Kong is a folie de grandeur with real grandeur; in its power, its spectacle, and its spine-tinglingly beautiful vision of 1930s New York, it is a thing of wonder," raves the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw. "There's no cage strong enough for the sheer brute strength of Jackson's movie, a muscularity matched by its ingenuous love for the great beast himself. Like his tiny blonde worshipper, you will be in the palm of his hand." New York Times reviewer A.O Scott is similarly effusive. "[Jackson], who not so long ago was making low-budget monster movies in his native NZ, clearly wants to hold onto the artisanal, eccentric spirit of the past - his own and that of the art form he loves … He succeeds through a combination of modesty and reckless glee, topping himself at every turn and revelling in his own showmanship." 
(9 December 2005)

A year for remembrance 
2006 has been designated "Year of the Veteran" by the NZ government, with an official launch planned for February. According to Veteran Affairs Minister, Rick Barker, the government will provide funds for community events to honour local servicemen and women, whether they served in one of the two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, or any of NZ's numerous international peacekeeping operations. 
(30 December 2005)

End of an era 
NZ lost its last WW1 veteran with the death of Victor "Bob" Rudd aged 104. Born in London in 1901, Rudd served with the British Army's 9th Lancers regiment in the final months of the war after lying about his age. He emigrated to NZ in the 1920s and eventually settled in Greymouth, where he worked variously as a waterfront worker, cobbler and labourer. Rudd lived independently at home until shortly after his 100th birthday. He outlived his wife and son and is survived by a daughter, Valda. "He was a great storyteller. He really held the floor," she says. "As he's got older, he didn't stopped going back to the days of the First World War." 
(20 November 2005)

Five million in the stands 
Despite widespread international media opinion that we would be out in the first round, New Zealand has won the bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup. After South Africa's unexpected removal from the running, New Zealand and Japan were left in contention with the final round of voting going New Zealand's way. Australia voted for Japan. After a campaign tour of 12 countries in 20 days, the final pitch included presentations from Helen Clark, Tana Umaga, Jock Hobbs, Colin Meads and Chris Moller. Clark was the first head of state to visit the IRB offices in Dublin, an appearance that cemented New Zealand's commitment to the Cup. Former All Black Captain-turned commentator Sean Fitzpatrick summed up the bid's key messages: "Every New Zealander feels they have a share of the All Blacks. They love their rugby union and will do everything to make sure the event is one to remember." 
(18 November 2005)

All Black domination 
The All Blacks have continued their domination of their Northern hemisphere tour with a 23-19 victory over England. Easy victories over Wales and Ireland were useful opportunities for trying out new playing combinations, but the Twickenham match proved to be a true test for the All Blacks who played their best side with the exception of Ritchie McCaw who was a late withdrawal. The All Blacks' forward pack stood strong against a highly rated English front row fresh from an annihilation of the Wallabies. With three All Blacks sent to the sin-bin, the side was one man down for a full 23 minutes in the final stages. With the Scotland match firmly in their sights New Zealand are now within a game of repeating their northern hemisphere Grand Slam of 1978. 
(20 November 2005)

Auckland to be Shia centre 
The International Shia Cultural and Human Rights Organization (ISCHRO) officially opened for business in Auckland on September 8. The Shia Muslim organization aims to propagate and facilitate Shia thought and culture and protect human rights for Shias around the world. 
(30 November 2005)

Would you like fries with that $25 million? 
Three Kiwi entrepreneurs have sold their hugely successful chain of UK burger restaurants for NZ$25.7 million. Greg Driscoll, Brandon Allen and Adam Wills opened the first Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Battersea, south London, in 2001. Similar in concept to NZ's Burger Wisconsin, GBK soon developed a cult following, winning the Observer Food Monthly's coveted Best Cheap Eats award in 2005. The business has been purchased by Clapham House, a major restaurant conglomerate owned by David Page. Driscoll, Brandon and Wills will stay on as company directors. 
(13 November 2005)

Evolution in an egg shell 
Massey University's David Lambert has published his findings on the microevolution of Antarctica's Adélie penguins in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lambert's research shows a marked difference between the genetic make up of modern day Adélie penguins and their 6,000 year old ancestors. He believes this was caused by the splitting up of giant icebergs in Antarctica, which forced many nesting colonies to migrate and interbreed with other types of penguins. 
(8 November 2005)

Hayley hits America 
NZ's popera diva, Hayley Westenra, has landed the coveted opening slot for Il Divo on their U.S tour early next year. Touring with the hit operatic boy band could provide the ideal opportunity for Westenra to break into the tough US market. She will mount her own headlining tour of North America in April 2006. 
(16 November 2005)

Lord of the dance 
Wellington born Kristian Fredrikson, one of the most celebrated theater and dance designers in New Zealand and Australia has died in a Sydney Hospital of complications from pneumonia at the age of 65. His career began in Wellington as a reporter for The Evening Post, Dominion and Truth. After a short stint at design school, Fredrikson moved to Australia at the age of 21 and began working with the Melbourne Theatre Company. He went on to create sets at costumes for the New Zealand Ballet, Australian Ballet, Australian Opera, South Australian Opera, the Sydney Dance Company, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Houston Ballet in the United States. "All of us at the ballet are deeply saddened by the loss of Kristian," Australian Ballet artistic director David McAllister said. "Those of us who worked with him closely considered him as part of the family and we all benefited from his prodigious talent and imagination…the world will be a little less beautiful now that we don't have Kristian to redesign it for us." Sydney Dance Company artistic director Graeme Murphy said "Kristian, bugger you. So much to do. So sad to lose such a great friend and theatrical luminary." Throughout his 40-year career Fredrikson's talents were honoured with many awards, most recently a Helpmann Award and Green Room Award in 2003 for his work on the Australian Ballet's production of Swan Lake. 
(10 November 2005)

Bright spark 
Auckland University's Johanna Montgomery has become the first southern hemisphere scientist in history to win a prestigious Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology. Dr Montgomery was one of 4 scientists to be awarded the prize, as judged by a team of world-leading neurobiologists and the Editor-In-Chief of premiere scientific journal, Science. Her essay, Synapses in a State: A Molecular Mechanism to Encode Synaptic History and Future Synapse Function, outlines her years of research into the synapses of the human brain, which are responsible for behaviour, understanding, learning and memory. "I almost didn't enter it because I didn't think I had any chance of winning, and then I did win and I was just absolutely rapt," says Montgomery. "The prize is also a big thing for NZ neuroscience research because it's the first time anybody in this part of the world has won this award." 
(4 November 2005)

Who is the typical Kiwi? 
An international study on cultural stereotypes, led by the US National Institutes of Health, has concluded that there is no relation between supposed cultural characteristics and the actual traits identified in real people. "People should trust less in their own beliefs about national character," says study co-leader Antonio Terracciano. "These can be dangerous and the basis for discrimination." According to study conductors at Victoria and Otago Universities, participants described the "typical Kiwi" as fun-loving, risk-taking, intellectually curious, open-minded, friendly, affectionate, happy and calm. NZ was one of the few nations of the 49 surveyed to give a fairly accurate assessment of their national character.
(6 October 2005)

"Pragmatic idealist, friend of the earth and a good man" 
NZ has lost an inspiring political figure with the death of Green Party co-leader Rod Donald. Donald died of a rare virus affecting the heart aged just 48. He will be remembered for his tireless campaigning in aid of human rights and fair trade, as well as for spearheading the introduction of MMP in 1993 and leading the national branch of Trade Aid. "Rod is the last person that you would expect to die suddenly like this," says Donald's co-leader Jeannette Fitzsimmons. "He was my political other half and we were complementary. Our strengths were different, our weaknesses were different and I shall miss him enormously." 
(9 November 2005)

Serial thriller 
October saw the UK premiere of hit NZ play, Serial Killers. Written by former Shortland Street scriptwriter, James Griffin, Serial Killers is a black comedy which takes place behind the scenes of a fictional Antipodean soap series. The very appropriate star of the UK version is Mark Little - AKA Joe Mangel, of Neighbours fame. As well as successfully touring NZ and Australia, the play was recently developed into a TV series by Griffin for NZ's TV1. 
(29 October 2005)