Inviting Gods Into the Theatre
“With a stunning combination of ceremony, ritual, dance and theatre, ,” will have its US premiere this week at the downtown Los Angeles’ Million Dollar Theater. Samoan…
Tag Archives: Los Angeles Times
Tempest on Broadway
Auckland-based choreographer Lemi Ponifasio will perform Tempest: Without A Body on Broadway at the historical Million Dollar Theater on April 2-3. Performed by Ponifasio’s company MAU, the production is making its US premiere in…
Diva Loves Danny Boy
Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa is a “sucker” for sentimental Irish ballad Danny Boy. Te Kanawa is one of eight musicians asked by the Los Angeles Times to share their favourite love song in the…
Self-Controlled Success
A study by an international team of researchers who looked at 137 children in Dunedin born in the early 197s, observing their levels of self-control at ages 3 and 5, has found that those…
High-End Drama
Director Lee Tamahori’s new Sundance film The Devil’s Double, a violent glimpse at Saddam Hussein’s notorious son Uday and his unwilling body double, is a chance for the 60-year-old, he says, to prove once…
Looking at the Liberal
Chief executive of the Alcohol Advisory Council Gerard Vaughan says that because New Zealand is a small country, an issue can get on the public agenda quickly and then become part of public debate,…
Holiday Seclusion
New Zealander Amanda Jones writes for the Los Angeles Times about the bach, “purportedly evoking ‘bachelor pad,’ although this typically refers to their condition and not the marital status of their occupants.” “On a…
Passionate About Food
Wellington is New Zealand’s “culinary epicentre” according to the Los Angeles Times’ Laura Fraser, a city which “gazes out to the Mediterranean” for inspiration. “We’ve got a country with a very Anglo-Saxon food heritage,…
In-tents Experience
The Auckland Theatre Company performance of Cabaret is praised by Los Angeles Times blogger Christopher Smith, who writes that company director and actor Michael Hurst is “fortunate to have a compelling Sally Bowles in…
Psychological Primer
Wellington author and English teacher Denis Wright’s debut young adult novel Violence 11 is reviewed in the Los Angeles Times by Susan Carpenter who says the book “is a solid psychological primer that should…
Ballet Appointment
The Royal New Zealand Ballet has appointed American dancer Ethan Stiefel, 37, as artistic director of the company. Stiefel, who assumes the role in 211, will be taking over from London-born Gary Harris, who…
Wine Search Simplified
New Zealander Martin Brown’s search-engine wine-searcher.com “has done more to transform that commercial landscape than any other, affecting every facet of the way the wine business is conducted, certainly in this country and…
Fruit Ban Overturned
Australia’s 89-year ban on imports of New Zealand apples is illegal, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled, ordering Canberra to comply with international commerce law. In a 548-page verdict, the WTO rejected Australia’s…
UN Confirms Palmer
With Israel agreeing to participate in a UN investigation of its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla earlier this year, former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer will chair the four-member panel inquiry made up…
Justice argued
Rob Hamill — whose 28-year-old brother Kerry fell into the hands of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime when his yacht was captured in Cambodian waters in 1978 — was in Cambodia for the sentencing…
Igniting efficient burn
Four hundred and fifty tons of New Zealand lignite has been successfully dried in a southwestern Dakota coal drying plant’s first commercial test of the process, which removed 65 per cent of water from…
Tokyo Strategies
Anti-whaling activist Pete Bethune, 45, has been convicted by a Tokyo court of assault and obstruction of Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic Ocean, receiving a suspended two-year prison sentence. Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd…
Artful Carrier
The Dunedin-designed Freeload rack is included in a Los Angeles Times article called “Gear: Better bike accessories”. “These new accessories make on- and off-road touring a breeze, indoor training more realistic, fast rides more…
Hollywood Bowled
“In an age of bloated, self-importance and out-of-control celebrity worship, songs of parody and general mirth served as a lively and engaging antidote,” writes Martin Miller for the Los…
Exercise Habits Studied
University of Auckland researchers have compared the exercise habits of 84 first-time mothers in a study which has shown that exercise during pregnancy may help babies start life at a healthy weight. The women…
Campbell’s Big Gun
Hastings-born director Martin Campbell, 66, best known for the 2006 Bond film Casino Royale, has told the Los Angeles Times that “there was nobody else” but Mel Gibson for the role of Boston cop…
Barrier Time
“You won’t find street lights, an ATM or a bank on the Barrier,” a local tells Los Angeles Times reporter Rosemary Macclure. “But we do have two stop signs.” They also have a place…
Missouri Dairy Kings
New Zealander Kevin Van der Poel, 46, remembers the skepticism and suspicion when he moved to Missouri more than four years ago to raise dairy cattle. When Van der Poel started construction on rock…
Spartacus Debuts in US
Former warrior princess Lucy Lawless stars as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, “a sword-and-sandals epic that Starz, the US premium cable network, rolls out January 22”. Spartacus is a flashy, big-budget attempt to…
Record Over Ice
Twizel adventurer Kylie Wakelin and six other women who made up the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition have made it to the South Pole, cross-country skiing 900km over 38 days to celebrate the 60th anniversary…
Two Globe Nominations
New Zealand-raised actress Anna Paquin has been nominated for two best actress Golden Globes in her roles as Sookie Stackhouse in True Blood and playing the lead in made-for-TV movie The Courageous Heart of…
Bevan Honoured in NY
Queenstown-born, London-based Academy Award-nominated film producer Tim Bevan will be presented with a career tribute at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York on November 30. Bevan has worked as producer…
Televised Aliens
Wellington-based Weta Workshop is working with Disney XD on a television movie called Skyrunners creating, what the star of the show American Kelly Blatz describes as, a “unique and frightening … transparent” alien “with…
Auckland’s Happy Herd
In January 2010, the California Department of Food and Agriculture will film a new series of 10 California “Happy Cows” commercials in Auckland, taking advantage of New Zealand’s low production costs, but much to…
Toronto’s Triple Treat
New Plymouth-raised, Los Angeles-based actress Melanie Lynskey, 32, has roles in three of the most talked-about movies at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Her roles in Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, Tim…
Finding Originality
Director Peter Jackson talks to Los Angeles Times reporter Geoff Boucher about producing sci-fi film District 9, hobbits and the proliferation of remakes, sequels and adaptations in Hollywood. District 9, which is set in…
Small Screen Shenanigans
Actress Lucy Lawless, 41, who stars as gladiator camp owner Lucretia in the American network Starz’s epic series Spartacus, told the crowd at Los Angeles convention Comic-Con that it was “big fun back on…
Mobile Bach Adventure
A Christchurch Classic Camper Volkswagen Vanagon is rented by Los Angeles Times’ reporter Mary Engel and her husband who says the rented vehicle makes for an “experience still more up-close and personal”. No taller…
This is really a dog
Gisborne dog owner Cheryl McKnight believes her 6-month-old Maltese puppy Scooter, which stands at just 8cm tall, is a Guinness World Record potential for the smallest dog by height. McKnight says he hasn’t grown…
Induction Duets
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performs at this month’s Hollywood Bowl’s season-opening gala, which will also serve as the soprano’s induction into the Bowl’s Hall of Fame. Te Kanawa spoke candidly with the Los Angeles…
Goats the New Carrot
Peter Wilkins of Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand launched an advertising ploy to increase sales of the Mitsubishi Triton with the promise of a goat. Buy a Triton — win a goat! Goats improved farm…
Great Balls of Fire
The traditional Maori performance art of poi, now popular with flame on beaches and at festivals throughout the world, is taking off as a form of exercise in Hollywood with classes available at two…
Learning With Light
Hawkes Bay-based designer David Trubridge’s The Three Baskets of Knowledge features in a Los Angeles Times photo gallery with an image of “pendulous lighting fixtures that look like giant water droplets suspended in baskets…
Up in the Trees
New Zealand directory company Yellow has built a Tree House Restaurant using only resources listed in its books. The restaurant, described by Lucy Gauntlett of the Los Angeles Times as “a graceful pod that…
Copywronged Righted
New Zealand’s Creative Freedom Foundation, opponents of an amendment to the country’s copyright law, Section 92a, have secured victory with the scrapping of the plan which would have required Internet service providers to implement…
Long Distance Teamwork
Tintin collaborators Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are in touch across the world via a video-conferencing setup for the first installment of the film, using a custom-made iChat-type system by which Jackson can see…
Memorial at Shore’s Edge
Missing Warriors rugby league player Sonny Fai, 20, is remembered with wreaths and garlands at a memorial on Te Henga, Bethells Beach, in Auckland, a poignant image included in a Los Angeles Times photo…
Girls Don’t Cry
Stuntwoman Zoë Bell, 30, often found it easier to “brawl than bawl” when filming online series Angel of Death, in which she plays assassin Eve. Bell had to display both action and acting chops….
Sights on California
Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, 19, and her family are in Los Angeles, considering a move to California, but right now “bunking down at a modest hotel in West Hollywood between stints with friends at various…
Alongside the Big Guns
Rotorua-born actor Cliff Curtis, 40, has been in Los Angeles promoting his latest film, immigration drama, Crossing Over and re-shooting Eddie Murphy’s comedy A Thousand Words, in which Curtis stars as charismatic spiritual leader…
Gold-plated Memories
Directors Jane Campion and Peter Jackson, as well as actor Russell Crowe — who also hails from Wellington — feature in a Los Angeles Times Oscar winners photo gallery of New Zealand and Australian…
Return of the Poker Face
Flight of the Conchords “is finally back” on American television screens for a second season. The Los Angeles Times reviews the series opener on HBO: “Mixing the ironic whimsicality of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ with…
Truly Awesome Victory
Lower Hutt-raised Hollywood starlet Anna Paquin, 26, has won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama, awarded for her performance as Sookie Starkhouse in HBO’s vampire series True Blood, beating A-list…
With Comforts, Without Pack
Opened in 1992, the 71km Queen Charlotte Track is located between Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sound, and Los Angles Times’s reporter Amanda Jones ó who considers herself “an outdoorswoman” but for who the “appeal…
Defender of the Skies
Air New Zealand is aiming to be the cleanest airline on the planet, recently making headlines with fuel-saving and environmentally conscious initiatives including demonstrating a new way of flying an airplane and testing the…
Series Victory for Dixon
Aucklander Scott Dixon has won his second IndyCar Series championship at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Though Brazilian Helio Castroneves won the race by .0033 of a…
Four Years Pays Off
Athens silver medallist triathlete Bevan Docherty, 31, took third place and a bronze medal in the men’s triathlon at the Beijing Olympics and is determined to try for the gold in four years time….
Spoilt for shenanigans
Wellington’s Bret McKenzie likes Los Angeles eatery Pie n’ Burger because “the name lets you know what you’re going to get. No surprises.” This is one of a sampling of places McKenzie recommends in…
Solving the Belch
New Zealand scientists are conducting world-first research into solutions for agricultural methane emissions including genetic engineering, cloning and a vaccine for gassy animals. “Given that we’re trying to turn around hundreds of thousands of…
Running on Jatropha
Air New Zealand and Boeing plan a three-hour test-flight at the end of the year using fuel produced from jatropha, a poisonous tree which grows seeds rich in oil. The airline expects to use…
Ice Man Wins Indy 500
New Zealander Scott Dixon, 27, woke to the traditional 6am race-day explosion, ate American pancakes with hot syrup for breakfast and then from pole position drove 200 laps to win the 92nd Indianapolis 500,…
