When in Rome … Russell Crowe fights on in
March 2000 Archives
Pompidou lyes down to get kinetic
Renowned New Zealand film-maker, kinetic sculptor and animator Len Lye is honoured with a show at the Pompidou Centre, Paris, France.
Watch out France – New Zealand is on the Fast Track to Becoming Top Wine-producer
New Zealand may be one of the newer players in the wine industry, but it has already carved out a niche as one of the best producers of white wines in the world and is now…
Kiwi editor of Oscar winning documentary paints LA pink
Director of the acclaimed “One Day in September” Kevin McDonald recounts his poolside adventures at the Oscars: “At 2pm, Justine Wright, the brilliant editor who cut our film arrives to get changed with us….
“Fresh Talent” Chad Taylor sends sophisticated shivers in Shirker
“With a tight and observant style, Taylor has weaved an engaging tale reminiscent of Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy and with peripheral detail as obsessive as Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. He may touch upon…
Now, if we could just send some of those country singers to New Zealand
Tim Finn, Say It Is So (review). (1–16 March 2)
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…
Russell Crowe: Heroic gladiator rises from the burger-pits of
“The people who brought you World War II now think that you are ready for really ancient history: the Roman Empire. And, even though they’re leaving out the orgies, they may be onto something”.
Godfrey Bowen
With a history steeped in agriculture it is natural that New Zealand’s farmers, shepherds and shearers have become known throughout the world for their skill and toughness. Many have travelled, to teach and work…
#6 Shearing The Love
Edge Message #6 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM Hello from The New Zealand Edge. Today we publish the extraordinary story of Godfrey Bowen, the shearer with “the race of Nureyev shaping an arabesque”; a…
They’re Playing Monopoly
There’s always been a strong connection between sailing and skiing, but listen to what FIS officials have to say about their situation: “The domination of the sport by the Austrians has become an increasing concern.” At this…
High-flyer Who Went Over the Edge
Mike Bastion was a high-flyer. Few flew higher or faster than the bright, brash young man who rose from nowhere to carve his initials in two of the chanciest games of all: stockbroking and…
Sweet News About Honey
Biochemists at the University of Waikato in New Zealand have found that the tea tree has a nectar with bacteria fighting properties that can neutralise the staphylococcus aureus bacteria.
Beware of Frankenfood
New Zealand has developed a niche in the prosperous international organics market. “New Zealand, for example, is developing its organics markets with great success and produce from that country can be found in health food shops around the…
Greenhouse Gassed – CO2 Emissions Spell Indigestion for Food Chains
Sheep in New Zealand may teach scientists how livestock will fare as the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere goes up. White poles ringing the pasture continuously pump CO2 into the air.
Paddles Powers into ICC All-Star XI
Sir Richard Hadlee was selected in a strong squad by a nine-man selection committee. The selection criteria kept in view the players contributions to international one-day cricket since 1975.
Kiwi Powerhouses Overwhelm Aussies to Seal Women’s Rugby Title
New Zealand, strengthened by a full national side for the first time, thrashed fellow antipodeans 36-10 to win the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens for the second year running yesterday.
Boat Race to Put Coaching Philosophy to the Test
“Harry Mahon, the New Zealand coach who has worked in England for eight years … is the nearest thing that the sport has to a single font of wisdom …”
New Zealander has the Chance to Make Top-four
UNLV guard Mark Dickel was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round last week. There is still a New Zealand player with a chance to reach the Final Four. Kirk Penny …
New Zealand Scientists Find out More About Moa
In an article in Science new evidence suggests that a huge flightless birds called the moa was extinct within a few decades after humans’ first arrived at the bird’s New Zealand homeland, suggesting that whole species can…
One for the connoisseurs: Kiwi crime writer weaves a seductive web of existential anomie
New Zealand crime-fiction writer Chad Taylor makes a big impact on Guardian reviewer Maxim Jakubowski, “Shirker: a fascinating and obsessive novel from New Zealand with shades of Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy…” …
Looks Wonderful
“It’s not always easy to flow the tortuous intrigues, passions and deceits, but it looks wonderful, with photography by the gifted New Zealand cinematographer and director Chris Doyle”. BBC2 film preview of Temptress Moon…
Xena: motherhood becomes her
Lucy Lawless’ pregnancy not only changed scripts on Xena: Warrior Princess, but the costume department had to ‘expand’ with the times too. New to the show: Spandex.
William Pickering
The launch of Sputnik in 1957 forced the United States into the space race. Fighting the Cold War, the Americans needed to show the world that they too could launch a rocket into space…
Famed Wartime Pilot Irving “Black” Smith
Invercargill born Group Captain Irving Smith, famed for his courage and low-level precision bombing raids during WWII, died on Feb 16. Irving Smith: May 21 1917 – February 16 2000
#5 Rocketing Science
Edge Message #5 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM Hello from The New Zealand Edge. Today we publish the story of William Pickering, born in Wellington, the “Rocket Man” who sent spacecraft to the far edges…
New Zealand Sets the Standard in How to Say Sorry
“The question of an official apology to the indigenous people which is proving so contentious in Australia, has been dealt with quite differently in New Zealand, as part of the settlement process initiated by the Waitangi Tribunal”….
The America’s Cup is New Zealand’s Cup
Exclaimed a jubilant Peter Montgomery when New Zealand won in 1995 – and doesn’t the world know it now. The humid Hauraki Gulf breeze not only filled the sails of Team New Zealand to…
Magicians Who Turned the Test Tide
“Two outstanding bowlers proved once again that in almost any conditions a top-class slow bowler who truly gives the ball a tweak is a precious asset”.
Kiwi Sweeps Up Aftermath of War in Kosovo
John Flanagan, a colonel from New Zealand, who heads the UN’s mine action coordination centre in Kosovo. “They [Nato} may have intended to drop six bombs on one target and four go off somewhere…
Jean Batten
She was the manifestation of triumph and hope against the odds through the dark days of the Depression. In 1934, she smashed, by six days, Amy Johnson’s flight time between England and Australia. The…
Nabokov’s Pale Fire Still Smoulders
38 years later, the mystery continues to intrigue… Auckland University’s Professor Brian Boyd attempts to solve the enigma.
#4 Postcard From The Edge
Edge Message #4 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM Dear NZEDGE.COM member Those of you who read North & South in November will have already been introduced to my partner in crime, Brian Sweeney. There’s no place…
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!
Quietly Evolving: Auckland Smooth
“Auckland is a city without an edge and the locals don’t seem to mind” – well it doesn’t fit the brief, but …
America’s Cup: New Zealand Style
“Is this Monte Carlo, Rio de Janeiro, Cannes or Santa Catalina, the playground of California’s rich and famous?” Auckland, New Zealand’s “City of Sails”, must have been tourism’s best-kept secret destination – the Pacific’s own Riviera –…
Bugger
A Cultural phenomenon has reached Asia, and it has bugger-all to do with Bulgarians or heretics, but something to do with a car advertisement, a racehorse and climbing Mt. Everest.
Where There’s Smoke…
Green MP Nando Tanzcos and political cartoonist Tom Scott debate the currently topical subject of marijuana decriminalisation on Crossing Continents.
Justine Wright Nominated For Oscar
New Zealander Justine Wright has been nominated for this year’s Oscar Awards for her editing of a dramatic documentary One Day in September, an account of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972…
Detectors Search for Nuclear Material
The world’s first nuclear monitoring station is being established in New Zealand.
Piping up a storm down under
Cultural history was made as the massed bands of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo played in front of a sell-out crowd in New Zealand, the first time in its 50-year history that the event has…
Jane Campion is a model profile of a working artist
Anthropologist, artist, and award winner, internationally acclaimed New Zealand director exercises an organic approach to her craft …
That Auld Mug? Why Should Anyone Care?
“No wonder the Kiwis hate us. This week, Team New Zealand became the first syndicate to successfully defend the America’s Cup in its 149-year history, and the Australian media barely bothered to acknowledge it.” The trans-Tasman perspective.
Three wishes for the World
On the eve of International Women’s Day Thinkers from the four corners of the globe, including a New Zealand women’s rights and healthcare advocate, offer their visions for enriching the economic, educational, social and emotional lives of their…
US Venture Capitalists Eye Kiwis
New Zealand’s win of the America’s Cup confirmed its yachting prowess. Now the country wants to be known for its high-tech wares.
New Zealand Destination of Choice for Wall Street’s Status Sleepers
One of the most shocking news stories of 1999 was a Wall Street Journal article revealing that Jeff Bezos gets eight hours of sleep every night.
Week of Glory for New Zealand
“Little New Zealand” has done it again. A country of less than 3.8 million people has once again proved how talented it is at sports.
Child Superstar Anna Paquin’s Vampish Turn
Anna Paquin has got something tucked away in her closet: an Oscar … becoming the second-youngest Academy Award winner is a tough act to follow.
“I Love Dick”
Interview with Kiwi writer and avant-garde filmmaker Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick (the spare-no-prisoners tell-all that scandalised the Soho Intelligentsia) talks about anorexia, romance, and faking it.
Ciao for Now New Zealand
Beaten by Black Magic, Prada promises they’ll be back for America’s Cup rerun. Minutes after New Zealand’s Black Magic sailed past the finishing line to clinch the America’s Cup with a 5-0 whitewash …
Russell Crowe: Inside Story
Playing a 52-year-old tobacco company executive in The Insider is all in a day’s work for 35-year-old Russell Crowe; giving up the smokes is not.
New Zealand Sweeps Up
Dean Barker, a fresh-faced 26-year-old backup skipper and Russell Coutts’s protege, helmed Team New Zealand to its second America’s Cup win yesterday, beating Italy’s Prada by 48 seconds to sweep the series, 5-0
Black Magic Casts its Spell; All New Zealand Celebrates
Skipper Russell Coutts always put the emphasis on ‘team’ in Team New Zealand, and today, he gave an understudy the glorious job of winning the America’s Cup …
