Preoccupation with Love
Jane Campion’s Bright Star, which recently opened in New York, won much praise at Cannes, some from unlikely sources. “I’m not really into poetry,” said Quentin Tarantino, who also said he believes Bright Star…
Tag Archives: New York City
Chopper Pilot Mourned
New Jersey-based pilot Aucklander Jeremy Clarke, 32, died after the tour helicopter he was flying crashed in a mid-air collision over the Hudson River. Clarke was a certified commercial helicopter pilot an flight instructor,…
New Zealander in NY
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, now in the role of administrator for the United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP), talks candidly to TV1’s Breakfast show host Paul Henry in New York about “fitting in” as…
Interpreting Haydn
The New Zealand String Quartet performed two pieces by Haydn at Ithaca College in New York to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death in 1809. The group also played Janacek’s String Quartet No…
In Praise of Hard Work
Radio New Zealand has received a Gold Medal at the recent New York Festival Radio Awards for its documentary on the life of Mount Everest conqueror, Sir Edmund Hillary. The medal went to ‘It’s…
Bloody messy
Anna Paquin, 26, has slept through her first interview with Time Out New York having for two weeks been shooting back-to-back episodes of HBO’s True Blood. “I don’t party. I’m not that cool,” Paquin…
An Amazing Bike Ride
Christchurch-born adventure TV host and producer Phil Keoghan has just completed another ‘Amazing Race’, this time a 3,500 mile coast-to-coast bike ride across the United States to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis research. He…
Cold Comparisons
Ladyhawke, who this month made her New York debut at the Bowery Ballroom and Studio B, said in an interview with The Village Voice, that New Zealand “is like being in Iceland, or something. …
Thriller crashes onto shelves
Wellington author New York-based John Wareham’s latest book The President’s Therapist and the Secret Intervention to Treat the Alcoholism of George Bush hits US stores on January 20, Inauguration Day. The President’s Therapist is…
Teddy’s triumph
Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes plays Antony in New York City Opera’s presentation of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra, in a performance the New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini calls “fervent and sensitive,” “the best…
Stellar win for Brettkelly
Auckland documentary-maker Pietra Brettkelly has won Best Documentary Award for Art Star and the Sudanese Twins at the 2008 Whistler Film Festival. The jury was quoted as saying, “This is a film that…
Made for Manhattan
New Zealand designers are now represented at essenze, a store within a store at the Metropolitan Design Center on Broadway in New York, which opened on November 19. Exporting to the US since 2005,…
Truth from Wood
New Zealand furniture designer David Trubridge and his lighting fixtures feature in a Time photo essay. Trubridge is the antithesis of those rock-star product designers who turn up at “design art” auctions in…
Branding Billy Apple
Aucklander Barrie Bates became Pop artist Billy Apple in 1962, and since then – his name now trademarked – has always made art, life. His 2008 solo exhibition ‘The Bruce and Denny Show’ at…
Futures in the Heavens
Bethany Edmonds, 26, is a Maori artist about to leave on a scholarship for New York University to study the conservation of traditional textiles; Kipa Rangiheuea works at the Auckland Museum. Both are proud…
Debut at the Met
New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes made news again this week with a number of glowing reviews for his first role at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes. The New York…
Dave Versus Goliath
The opening of a new hotel in Christchurch coincided with the launch of a film detailing the unusual story behind its development. Hotel SO is the result of property developer Dave Henderson’s 13-year clash with the…
Hyperfactory Enters Hyperdrive
Rich Frank, former president of both Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Television Group, has invested in NZ mobile marketing agency The Hyperfactory. He joins 42 Below vodka’s founder and chairman, Geoff Ross and Grant Baker, and Paul…
The Funniest Thing on TV
Guardian reviewer Tim Jonze has dubbed Flight of the Conchords “the funniest thing on TV” as the cult HBO series goes to air on the BBC. Conchords stars NZ comics Jemaine Clement and Bret…
Dame Kiri Begins Farewell
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has launched her farewell tour of North America in Vancouver. Canada’s Globe and Mail ran a feature on Te Kanawa, covering world famous soprano’s career from her fêted debut at…
Marathon Medal Prospect
Auckland runner Nina Rillstone finished third in the New York City Half-Marathon, just seconds behind Kenyans Hilda Kibet and Catherine Ndereba. The NZ record holder made a career best time of 1:10:35 – three seconds…
Castaway tales from edge of the world
The latest book by Wellington maritime historian Joan Druett uses personal memoirs to recount two very different survival stories on the Auckland Islands, 500km south of NZ. Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked on the…
Soprano scales new heights
Gisborne-born soprano Marie-Adele McArthur graced Opera America’s home page for the month of June, with images and video of her acclaimed performance as Lina in Verdi’s Stiffelio. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune described her as “the…
During Breaks New Ground
A groundbreaking study by NZ neuroscientist Matt During has been applauded in leading British medical journal, The Lancet. During has pioneered a controversial gene therapy for Parkinson’s Disease that involved inserting synthetic copies of human genes…
New York falls for Sand Dancer
Sand Dancer, Valerie Reid’s documentary about Christchurch sand artist Peter Donnelly, received an honourable mention at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival in March. The award is the latest in a string of wins for…
Sellaband Springboard for NZ Rapper
Christchurch rapper Maitreya has found international fame through sellaband.com, a new social networking site for entrepreneurial music lovers. Sellaband allows users to buy “shares” in acts they think have the potential for major chart…
Conchords viral captures US
Flight of the Conchords, the HBO series based on the NZ comedy act of the same name, has premiered in the US. HBO launched the series with a headline-grabbing viral campaign, which allowed…
On and off-screen success story
Anna Paquin’s career has soared to new heights since her starring role in the blockbuster X-Men franchise. Her upcoming films include Margaret and Trick r’ Treat, and she stars in (and executive produces…
A taste of Nelson in New York
A NZ-themed gastropub, Nelson Blue, has opened in New York’s burgeoning Seaport area. Owned by Pauli Morgan, a Nelson-born veteran of New York’s bar scene, the 100-seat restaurant features a suspended waka,…
Designs on New York
Christchurch-born art director and graphic designer, Jeff Docherty has spent the last seven years making a name for himself in NZ, Australia, and New York. To date, Docherty’s work has appeared in the New…
Smither reveals wild side over tea and cake
NZ poet laureate Elizabeth Smither was a guest speaker at the recent Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival. A journalist interviewing her for the Malaysian Star was amazed at her calm and easygoing persona, which…
New Era in Online Advertising
NZ internet entrepreneurs Firstlight are emerging as world leaders in online advertising with their Editorial Related Advertising (E|R|A) programme. With offices in Bangalore (content support), New York (sales) and Wellington (research and development), Firstlight have developed what…
This is NZ: Take two
A NZ film made over 30 years ago has won an award at the prestigious New York Festivals Film and Video Competition. This is NZ was originally screened at the Expo 70…
Boiling Point
US BusinessWeek profiles “white-hot” New York-based company Fahrenheit 212’s fresh take on innovation for global consumer product companies. Named after the point at which water boils (“when one degree of difference can make all the difference”), Fahrenheit…
Dance film tackles domestic drama
Shona McCullagh’s short film Break was a highlight of the Dance on Camera Festival at New York’s Walter Reade Theatre, according to the New York Times. Set in rural NZ, ‘Break’ illustrates, with surprising subtlety, the breakdown…
Action Packed Queenstown
A self-confessed lazy New Yorker experiences adventure tourism NZ-style in Queenstown. The Skyline luge run is the highlight of a three-day trip which includes and air and sea tour of Milford Sound, skydiving and…
Knife-edge Marketing
A Miami Herald feature puts the spotlight on the man behind 42 Below’s aggressive US marketing campaign: James Dale. Despite having no professional training, 35-year-old Dale has successfully carved a niche in the ultra-competitive world American liquor…
Going the Distance
NZ distance runner Kim Smith came second in the Continental Fifth Avenue Mile, held in New York on 30 September. The 24-year-old was a four-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion while at Providence College in Rhode…
Wairewa Station on the Ball
South Canterbury sheep farmers Philip and Anne Munro won a lucrative US contract to supply wool for the tennis balls used at the US Open. The couple hosted American tennis ball producers Tex Tech and Wilson’s…
The Deal’s Not Just Big, it’s Massive
New York based company, Massive Inc, of which Wellingtonian Claudia Batten is a part owner, has been sold to Microsoft for up to $US 400 million. Founded four years ago, Massive Inc pioneered a…
Essential Design from the World’s Edge
Essenze, the distribution partner for some of NZ’s best known designers, has partnered with Saatchi & Saatchi to present a comprehensive exhibition at the ad agency’s New York headquarters at 375 Hudson St. Entitled ‘The Edge…
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…
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,…
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)…
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…
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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…
NYC pie fix
NY Daily News profiles Kiwi Gareth Hughes, the brains behind NYC’s Down Under Bakery. “In Australia and NZ, meat pies are as central to the culture as pizza in New York,” says Hughes. Popular…
Google and Froogle
Waikato University graduate Craig Nevill-Manning is Director, New York & Senior Staff Research Scientist for the world’s leading search engine company, Google. Nevill-Manning completed a PhD in computer science at Waikato before taking up a post-doctoral fellowship…
A Race of Extremes
John O’Loghlen (NZ investment banker at Goldman Sachs, NY) and Rosa Volz (Wellington IT worker) were the first non-Mongolian man and woman respectively to finish the 42km Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset Marathon, “one of the toughest and…
Back to Back Wins at ‘The Glens’
Kiwi driver Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing has won the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix for the second consecutive year. Dixon’s win – his first for 2006 – moves him up two…
Lovin’ Lovemarks
CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, Kevin Roberts, launches Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands, in the USA, UK and Australia. “Roberts new book is not just another one of a multitude of works about…
Jolly good fellow
New York-based dancer/choreographer Jeremy Nelson was named a Guggenheim Fellow for 2004 in April. The prestigious award is granted annually to scientists, scholars, and artists at the peak of their achievements. Nelson was born…
A Tailor of Two Empires
Bafta award winning costume designer Ngila Dickson profiled (+ slide show) in the New York Times. The signature of Dickson’s work on Lord of the Rings and Last Samurai is its fluidity and authentic…
Making Waves Out of Raglan
Kerry Black and his Raglan-based company, ASR (Artificial Surf Reef Ltd), are the focus of a SunSpot article on improving surf on America’s East Coast. A former Waikato University lecturer, Black is at the forefront of artificial…
No worries for Wunderkid
Dunedin-born baritone, Jonathan Lemalu, is soon to make his Royal Opera House debut as Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando. Described by the Guardian as “ the next Bryn Terfel,” his career has skyrocketed since graduating…
Gene-injected Performance
Dr Matthew During of Auckland University is part of a US medical team promoting the groundbreaking use of gene therapy in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Speaking in New York, During emphasised that the procedure was…
