Tag Archives: Los Angeles Times

California Dining – From the Edge

California Dining – From the Edge

Country style cooking? “We’re all familiar with restaurants featuring cuisines from countries and subregions around the world. What if a restaurant opened that featured the food products of a certain country rather than…

Best supporting instrument

Best supporting instrument

LA Times names The Piano as one of the instrument’s most memorable cinematic tributes in the history of film. “In a category of its own is Jane Campion’s modern-day classic The Piano… [Campion is one who…

Giovanni Intra Remembered

Giovanni Intra Remembered

We are diminished to report the death of Giovanni Intra in New York City on December 17th 2002. Giovanni, artist, critic, gallerist  went east to stir up the LA art scene and established the gallery,  China…

Tall Poppy Keeps His Head

Tall Poppy Keeps His Head

“A genius masquerading as an ordinary person, a creative whirlwind, financial powerhouse and folk hero rolled into one.” LA Times applauds Peter Jackson’s phenomenal success, not only in film circles, but in the eyes…

Middle Earth to the Masses

Middle Earth to the Masses

Te Papa’s Lord of the Rings exhibition (opening 19 December) is set to go global. The interactive collection of costumes, props, sets, and gadgetry mounts a two year international tour from February 2002, which includes stop-offs…

Sunny praise for Chidgey

Sunny praise for Chidgey

The Strength of the Sun by Lower Hutt writer Catherine Chidgey makes LA Times Best Books list for 2002. “An exquisitely written, curiously tantalizing book that looks something like a mystery story but is…

A Walk in Good Company

A Walk in Good Company

“On the South Island, it’s fun and games with Kiwis on a privately operated trail that delivers fine coastal scenery, rustic lodgings and, happily, no crowds.” LA Times writer discovers the joys of NZ tramping the…

“I am an Illusionist”

“I am an Illusionist”

“She is a ball of fire in Chinese pajama pants; she is a whirling dervish, a Nepalese tonka with a million faces, a human mandala.” The work of LA-based artist Joanne Gair – the…

Hostel Heaven

Hostel Heaven

LA Times‘ Youth Beat offers tips for the budget traveller. “NZ has a reputation for having the world’s best hostels, and one thing that helps to keep the hostel owners on their toes is the Blue…

Rebel with an Emmy

Rebel with an Emmy

Ex-Wellingtonian Rob Pearson received a Creative Arts Emmy for his contribution to TNT’s James Dean biopic. The award was for outstanding art direction on a movie, mini-series or special.

Summer Time and the Living’s Cheap

Summer Time and the Living’s Cheap

Taupo makes the list of top-10 alternate destinations for US students traveling abroad for their summer. Up there with Cappadocia, Kuala Lumpur, and Krakow, Taupo is recommended for its extreme outdoor sports and value for the dollar.

Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of Water

“In my native NZ, a rain-free day is a small miracle, so my sodden soul soars when I feel that dry heat and behold those azure skies.” Desert-worshipping Kiwi Amanda Jones chronicles her Chilean adventure…

Scene stealing

Scene stealing

The LA Times surveys an “invasion of American films by directors and stars from Down Under. The biggest star now working in American films who began in his native New Zealand is Russell Crowe…

Zespri Patriotism

Zespri Patriotism

In a fascinating 2-part feature the LATimes slices open the Kiwifruit and looks at the history of NZ’s No.1 horticultural product, from poor crop protection: “Even without a patent, the trademark “kiwifruit,” if copyrighted, could have become the…

From Sea to Sea: Kipling’s Landscapes

From Sea to Sea: Kipling’s Landscapes

Biographer David Gilmour finds chronicler of British imperialism Rudyard Kipling has an affinity for the edges, “his favourite landscapes were in adverse angles of the Pacific (New Zealand and British Columbia) and in opposite corners of the…

Legacy of Letters

Legacy of Letters

LA Times special focuses on Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington. “Considered one of the 20th century’s finest short story writers” – and the only one to make Virginia Woolf jealous – Mansfield has remained…

Art for Masses

Art for Masses

LATimes cover story on art for the people in Chinatown, LA, features NZ artists and curators, including an exhibition at the Lord Mori Gallery, curated by Tessa Laird and Joyce Campbell, “featuring work…

Tourism Plumbs New Depths in NZ

Tourism Plumbs New Depths in NZ

Tourists can now make in-depth explorations of New Zealand’s Milford Sound aboard a four-passenger sub, descending 330 feet underwater.

Galaxy Star

Galaxy Star

NZ professional soccer player Simon Elliot kicked his first goal of the season – and ensured his Los Angeles Galaxy team victory in front of 17, fans.  

Archived Story

Archived Story

Drilling and hammering continued right up to opening, but the Jewish Museum in Germany is at last open. It is the culmination of an intense period of work for Ken Gorbey and Nigel Cox,…

On the Defensive

On the Defensive

The debate continues over scrapping the Air Force. Is it an example to the world or peacenik idealism?  

Cartoon Commies

Cartoon Commies

Cartoons from New Zealander David Low’s (“the greatest cartoonist of the twentieth century”) “Russian Sketchbook” on show alongside high-profile Russian cartoonists in the first exhibition run by Britain’s new Political Cartoon Society.

Actress Remembered

Actress Remembered

International tributes continue for “cucumber-cool” New Zealand-born Forsyte star Nyree Dawn Porter.

Must do Today: Production, Script, Light

Must do Today: Production, Script, Light

Wellington-born Richard Curtis penned the Bridget screen adaptation: one of Britain’s “cleverest screenwriters” in LA Times and “a virtuoso at devising horrific embarrassments for his protagonists,” in Slate. Rounding out the kiwi trio, Stuart…

Musical score

Musical score

“Pragmatic and visionary” New Zealander Grant Cooper scores a sugar plumb of a job, conducting New York’s Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

The Win

The Win

New Zealand racing legend Grant Dalton brought giant Club Med in to Marseilles 62 days after leaving Barcelona – winning The Race by over 900 miles and clocking the fastest circumnavigation ever.

Oil and Ice

Oil and Ice

New Zealand micro-biologist Jackie Aislabie is working on an international effort to fight oil-slicks in pristine Antarctica.

Trans-oceanic Phone Tag

Trans-oceanic Phone Tag

“After a morning spent hiking in New Zealand’s spectacular Rotorua region – a volcanic area of geysers, thermal pools and surreal landscapes – my tour guide, Jacqui, heard the chirping of her cell phone. Then, with…

Tui Flower and ANZAC Biscuits

Tui Flower and ANZAC Biscuits

Tui Flower, the “Julia Child of New Zealand” shares her ANZAC biscuits recipe with readers of the Los Angeles Times.

Unblemished

Unblemished

“We did not spot a single blemish in New Zealand, where it’s hard to tell where the pristine national parks end and the rest of the country begins….We discovered why New Zealand’s Milford Track, with its…

Sam Neill is in LA filming Jurassic 3

Sam Neill is in LA filming Jurassic 3

The grounds of his temporary residence are described as “park-like”…

LA Love

LA Love

The LA Times runs a triumvirate of New Zealand travel features: Compact New Zealand, Wellington and comment from Fabio, King of Hearts: “They have the most amazing lakes. They’re huge and as deep as the mountains are high”.

Are You Reading This Now?

Are You Reading This Now?

New Zealand ranks among the most literate countries in the world, according to a study released on September 8. The Scandinavians, with their long winters by the fire, ranked at the very top of…

The “Most Beautiful Scenery on Earth” … with an Ecological Edge

The “Most Beautiful Scenery on Earth” … with an Ecological Edge

LA Times travel writer John Fretter has a romantic environmental encounter on Fjordland Ecology Tour’s ketch. “In front of us was a giant geologic amphitheatre, the passengers fell silent and ceased all activity, even breathing, some said.  the emotional…

Today in History: Hillary’s Everest Ascent Remembered

Today in History: Hillary’s Everest Ascent Remembered

LA Times remembers Hillary and Tenzing’s historic achievement in being the first to reach the top of the world’s tallest mountain.  

New Zealand Scholar Suggests Sceptical Slant on Sikh Story

New Zealand Scholar Suggests Sceptical Slant on Sikh Story

Kiwi scholar Hew Mcleod puts claims made in Patwant Singh’s The Sikhs to the test of historical veracity – a task that has made him persona non grata with many members of the world’s…

Naturalist, Author, Rabbit Expert

Naturalist, Author, Rabbit Expert

Ronald Lockley, 96, naturalist and expert on islands, birds and rabbits who provided factual data for the imaginative Watership Down, died this week in New Zealand, where he has lived since 1977. Ronald Lockley: 8…

New Zealand Puts British-based Honorary Titles to the Sword

New Zealand Puts British-based Honorary Titles to the Sword

New Zealand has scrapped the use of the titles ‘Sir’ and ‘Dame’ in favour of a local system of honours. But those with titles, like the mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and the diva Dame…

“It’s All Too Beautiful”

“It’s All Too Beautiful”

Our pal, LA Times travel writer Mike Mcintyre needs electronic help to get a certain tune out of his head as he hikes New Zealand’s scenic tracks.

Spider pic hatched – New Zealander to direct

Spider pic hatched – New Zealander to direct

Hollywood: the duo behind Independence Day and Godzilla are producing “Arch Attack”, an f/x driven comedic thriller about a toxic waste spill that causes giant spiders to go on a rampage.  Will shoot in…

New Zealand Has No Edge

New Zealand Has No Edge

“It’s like a beauty queen, gorgeous, but dull”, writes LA Times travel writer Mike Mcintyre … rage, rage against the impudence!