No sweat merino
Wellington-based merino wool pioneer for the outdoors, Icebreaker, recently launched its new range of technical knits for runners, the GT Run range, at a product show in Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance…
Tag Archives: Wellington
All Blacks start afresh
“New Zealand is revolutionising rugby,” according to The Independent’s Peter Bills. “For those with a brain to think, a mind to rationalise, what the All Blacks are doing right now in world rugby terms…
Do the Dracula
Otago University researchers from the Wellington campus conducted a trial in the capital at the tail end of the swine flu pandemic last August which has found that the majority of people still don’t…
Roots and culture
Reggae groups The Black Seeds and Katchafire recently played at Whistler’s Garibaldi Lift Co. (GLC) as part of a two-day New Zealand showcase. Both Wellington-based bands are among the most celebrated reggae acts in…
Sublime Sale
A single brown and white feather from the extinct huia bird has sold for a record sum at Webb’s Auction House in Auckland for $8. Managing director of Webb’s Neil Campbell said that the…
Fame becomes them
Tickets for The Flight of the Conchords’ two May shows at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre sold out in a record 12 seconds. “It’s all just weird,” Bret McKenzie says. But then he finds a lot…
Collaborative honour
Director, Peter Jackson, has been knighted by Governor-General, Sir Anand Satyanand, at an investiture ceremony in Wellington. Jackson’s knighthood was for services to the arts in New Zealand. “The truth is, making movies is…
Tentative ten
Wellington’s Weta Digital effects house has begun pre-production on the sequel to Peter Jackson-produced District 9, the “tentatively titled” District 10. Filming is scheduled to begin in South Africa and New Zealand in October….
Creepy plot wins Emmy
The makers of Wellington-made interactive drama Reservoir Hill, KHF Media, have won New Zealand’s first ever Emmy in the Digital Program: Children & Young People category. Reservoir Hill – which was shot in Porirua…
Not Humpty Dumpty
Should the New Zealand-bred champion horse Phar Lap be “put back together again” asks The Sydney Morning Herald. Victorian Racing Minister Rob Hulls is seeking to “re-unify” the skeleton (from Wellington) and the heart (now…
Seattle tie tightens
“The unlikely New Zealand-Sup Pop connection just keeps getting stronger,” writes Anand Balasubrahmanyan for Seattle news site Publicola. “First, the label that once brought you Mudhoney’s Superfuzz/Bigmuff and doom/drone masterpiece, Earth 2, went and…
Gandalf’s Return
The Hobbit, produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, will begin filming in New Zealand in July with Sir Ian McKellen once again taking the role of Gandalf the Grey. The film, and its…
Developing football
Wellington property developer Terry Serepisos, “who decided three years ago to save professional football in New Zealand, is the talk of his home town” writes The Sydney Morning Herald’s Michael Cockerill. “Wellington Phoenix are…
Like it or loathe it
Wellington Airport-owned land on the hills of Miramar Peninsula could soon sport a Hollywood-style sign with the word ‘Wellywood’ erected in 3.5m high letters, that is, if it isn’t in violation of Hollywood’s trademark….
Twomey triumphs
Artistic director of the New Zealand International Arts Festival Lissa Twomey has “put together a triumphant programme of calculated risk-taking”. Guided by her long experience with the Sydney Festival and her now shrewd understanding of…
Short film revolution
“Could 2010 be the year that New Zealand short filmmakers take over the world?” asks Indie Wire’s Kim Adelman. “The year began promisingly as Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland’s The Six Dollar Fifty Man…
Lending a Hand
Former New Zealand All Black Wellington-born Filo Tiatia, 38, now a back-row forward and coach with the Ospreys rugby region in Wales, is backing a campaign to save Swansea’s Tennis Centre from closure. He…
Towards the Moon
Wellington mountain-running and marathon champion Melissa Moon, 40, won the women’s section of New York City’s annual Empire State Building Run-Up, passing 300 runners and ascending 1576 steps to the finish line in 13…
Gusty But Gourmet
“With more than 300 bars, restaurants and cafes in the city alone, Wellington is certainly not short of options,” recommends Winsor Dobbin for The Sydney Morning Herald. Dobbin explores the best dining…
Weta woos Hollywood
Wellington-based Weta Digital, which was behind the effects work on blockbusters Avatar and District 9, has been nominated for nine Academy Awards; CNET Asia’s Daniel Terdiman says the “accolades may finally make Weta a…
Boondigga takes on US
Wellington band Fat Freddy’s Drop recently played three sell-out shows on the West Coast of the United States. The seven-piece dub outfit has been together for nearly a decade, yet only recently released its…
Aotearoa soul infectious
“There’s a place far from Jamaica where old-school reggae still rules: New Zealand,” writes Cary Darling for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Such traditionalists as Katchafire and the Black Seeds, as well as more electro…
Watch Out for Laulala
New Zealand centre Casey Laulala, 27, signed with the Cardiff Blues in July, having turned down Magners League champions Munster. Samoan-born Laulala is described by many as one of the hardest players to contain…
Blissful ending
The Phoenix Foundation’s latest album Happy Ending has been given five stars by The Independent’s Andy Gill who says the Wellington sextet “are surely the most potent band to come out of New Zealand…
Out Damn Pests
New Zealand’s possum population has halved over the last 20 years down from 70 million in the 1980s to approximately 30 million. Possum control is carried out over 13 million hectares, which is about…
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…
Travel Trailer Legacy
New Zealand-born entrepreneur Wade F. B. Thompson, who made his name reviving the American Airstream brand of travel trailers, has died at his Upper East Side home, aged 69. Raised in Wellington, Thompson dreamed…
All Whites Make History
The All Whites have qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa beating Bahrain 1–nil at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. Striker Rory Fallon, 27, scored the only goal of the game to…
Soap’s Scottish success
Wellington opera director Colin McColl was interviewed by The Scotsman on the eve of the opening night of Rossini’s The Italian Girl in Algiers at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal. Has Scottish Opera lost its marbles…
Homemade Impresses
Wellington reggae seven-piece Fat Freddy’s Drop is compared to 70’s funk groups the Average White Band and War in a Guardian review of their latest nine-track album Dr Boondigga & the Big BW. The…
Digital industrialists
David ten Have, the 34-year-old CEO of Wellington company Ponoko features on the cover of Inc. Magazine, as part of an article called ‘The Future of Manufacturing’. “Ponoko did not invent the laser cutter….
Lomu Gets Ripped
Former All Black great Jonah Lomu, 34, stepped back into the limelight coming second in the Men’s Open over-90kg class at the NZFBB Body Building Championships in Wellington, an exercise in weight-loss before making…
Anchor Marks the Spot
Hamilton Niwa ecologist Aleki Taumoepeau went to great lengths to retrieve a wedding band which after only three months of marriage slipped from his finger into Wellington harbour while he checked for invasive plant…
Massive comparisons
Wellington soul collective Fat Freddys Drop released their second album Dr Boondigga & the Big BW earlier this year, an album which according to Guardian reviewer Neil Spencer has an “infectious mix of retro-soul…
Lights, camera, action!
Wellington film director Peter Jackson is gearing up for an extended run at the box office, ending a four-year hiatus from the big screen. Working with a stable of filmmakers, from fellow Oscar-winners to…
He’s Lippy
Wellington actor Jemaine Clement is included in Bust magazine’s ‘Fall Preview’ film section showing off “his sugar lumps on the big screen” in Gentlemen Broncos. In the film, directed by the folks behind Napolean…
Adamson meets Mister Pip
New Zealander Andrew Adamson will direct his own adaptation of Wellington-based Lloyd Jones’ award-winning novel Mister Pip. Producer Robin Scholes, who was behind Once Were Warriors and The Tattooist, plans to film Mister Pip…
Fronting up at Comic-Con
Wellington director Peter Jackson spoke last week at the 40th annual Comic-Con in San Diego — the largest comic book and popular arts convention late last week — much to the delight of 6,500…
Charismatic Leader
Chief executive of New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa, Dr Seddon Bennington, 61, died on July 15 tramping in the Tararua Ranges, a sight Dr Bennington admired from his office window, “frequently think of…
If Trees Could Talk
Much movie magic is created “in and around Wellington, the San Francisco-like capital city situated at the southwest tip of North Island” writes Boston Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf. “In the city limits and within…
Energetic last dance
Wellington jazz musicians the Ford/Tipping/Wise Trio have released a “hard-grooving, impressively creative release” called After the Last Dance, which music site All About Jazz reviews this month. “Each tunes is thoughtfully…
42 x 42
Director Niki Caro is one of 42 creatives signing up for the 42Below vodka-instigated ONEDREAMRUSH campaign, which will see each individual create a 42 second film based on a dream they’ve had. Caro…
Jackson in the district
Wellington director Peter Jackson will attend this year’s San Diego convention Comic-Con International on July 24 for the first time, the prospect delighting thousands of comic-book, science-fiction and fantasy fans. Jackson, a three-time Oscar…
Wellington for Women
Wellington’s “glam beer hall” Mighty Mighty, “funky little” BATS Theatre and the “legendary” Slow Boat Records are included in a suggested itinerary for “ladies of the world” in the June/July issue of American popular…
Bully for them
Wellington writers and directors, Sticky Pictures’ Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland’s short film Six Dollar Fifty Man was awarded a special distinction at the Cannes Film Festival. The pair’s 2007 short film Run was…
Eruption Earns Bafta
Visual effects producer Marie Jones, formerly of Invercargill, has won a Bafta for her special effects work on BBC1’s sci-fi drama Doctor Who in an episode called Fires of Pompeii, as part of London…
No Bones About It
Wellington-born actor Karl Urban, 36, is Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy in director J.J Abrams’ Star Trek and for Urban, “the elephant in the room was to embody DeForest Kelley’s character without falling victim…
Peter Jackson in action
Six of Peter Jackson’s Oscars quietly share desk space with a grasshopper model from James and the Giant Peach, a Lancaster Bomber, a cardboard replica of Thunderbird One, and piles of toy soldiers. “I…
Built to Sway
21 February 2009 – “Wellington, full of steep and newly formed hills held together by grass, gorse bushes and stunted ngaio trees … shares with its better-known counterpart San Francisco an engaging characteristic: it’s…
Whiti te ra
The ‘Ka Mate’ haka has been officially designated the intellectual property of Ngati Toa in a compensation agreement signed in Wellington. Ngati Toa was compensated for its decades of use by the All Blacks,…
Brain Dead Dolls
Wellington’s Weta Workshop will create practical and creature effects for American director Kristoffer Aaron Morgan’s independent horror film, The Home. “The Home is going to be an amazing film that we are thrilled to…
Demanding justice
Wellington actress Kerry Fox plays a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal in thriller Storm, a film set in Bosnia with a suspected Serb war criminal on trial after three years in detention. The…
On-screen explosion
Wellington director Taika Waititi’s film The Volcano, a follow-up to his 2007 feature Eagle vs Shark, will be distributed by Australian company Transmission Films. The Volcano is inspired by Waititi’s Oscar-nominated short film…
NZ’s film bonanza
Wellington’s Weta Digital will develop the effects for upcoming 3D motion-capture trilogy, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the sequel of which Peter Jackson will direct in New Zealand. Recently announced is…
Aiding an Avian Identity
Though the battle to save New Zealand’s famous national symbol the kiwi is “conceded unwinnable on some fronts”; the bird’s existence is mounting with the help of Zealandia, Wellington’s Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, which expects…
Contained Holiday Spots
New Zealand-produced port-a-bach, made by Wellington company Atelier Workshop from shipping containers, are reviewed in multi-medium technology magazine Gizmag, which describes the relocatable dwellings as “the perfect home for a disaster situation.” All that…
