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Archive >> July 2000
The Art of Selling Nothing: Cashing in on Kiwi Fresh Air
New Zealand’s tourism campaigns play on the myth of its clean, green image, but soon the truth may be stranger than fiction. A proposal for clean air producers, such as New…
Rogue Paquin: mutant rebel with a cause
Paquin stars in Bryan Singer’s blockbuster adaptation of the comic X-Men. In the high tech parable of good and evil, Paquin offers “a surprisingly poignant performance.” Expressing well the…
The Man Who Saved Britain
“If ever one man won the Battle of Britain, he did.” On the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain TheTimes remembers the New Zealander who was the key man in…
Golden Kiwi
Zespri gives the Kiwifruit the golden touch, hoping to strike it lucky in the lucrative American market. The new yellow cultivar is, “much like the green variety on the outside, but its…
The New Zealand Presence at Wimbledon
Unfortunately it wasn’t a tennis player: “New Zealand’s profound influence on international sport goes beyond the haka and influencing the bidding of World Cup football finals. Consider, for example, Aorangi Park, the…
Fast Cat Dalton Borne on the Scud of the Sea
The New York Times scuds along at 31 knots on board the world’s quickest ocean-going sailboat. For Club Med, skippered by Kiwi Grant Dalton pushing the boundaries of speed is…
Lovebug the Secret to On-line Advertising
Internet advertising that works has become the advertising industry’s holy grail. Futurist Kevin Roberts says that solution remains the same as always: good web advertising will play on emotional…
Kiwis Have the Secret to Animal Magnetism
It sounds like a line from a bad personal ad, but a team of New Zealand biologists, led by Dr. Michael Walker, in an upcoming issue of Nature, report findings from…
God Save Thee, Ancient Mariner!
The mariner soon learnt his lesson, but it doesn’t seem to have rubbed off on today’s fishermen, with one of the world’s most majestic seabirds threatened with extinction from long-line fishing,…
Kiwi Behind the Scenes Racing Legend
“She is perfect and I think most people agree.” Efficiency, accuracy, reliability and above all loyalty are the words the Sydney Morning Herald uses to describe Sue Hutchinson, the first female…
The real Gauguin? A hairy question
Four hairs stuck in a depiction of an outrigger canoe on a harbour may help decide whether an oil painting is the work of Paul Gauguin. A New Zealand…
Ray the Negotiator
Accused of taking illegal photos from the roof of her truck, Englishwoman abroad Lindsay Hawdon found herself at the mercy of the Ugandan Army while touring Africa. It took the calm…
How to Command Attention, Change Minds, and Influence People
Yes! we can finally tell you how to be the better you: the Dallas Morning Herald business section offers their guide to summertime self-improvement, including this “top investment” from Harry Mills…
Ian Athfield: last of the intelligent bohemians
As if the rugby wasn’t enough: renowned Australian playwright Alex Buzo advances our architect fair, calling Athfield a member “of a species now extinct in Australia, the intelligent bohemian.”…
New Zealand weaned spin-king appointed to Buckingham Palace
We are amused – a colonial has been given the job of putting spin on the damming corgi stories (head of public relations for HM the Q). Currently head…
Fcuk Judge Graffiti
Singapore is in uproar over an advertising campaign for a British clothing company that uses a certain four-letter word, yet as the Straitstimes reports, judges in New Zealand have been scribbling…
“I Never Thought the World Cup Was So Important to So Many People.”
Call it Kiwi modesty, call it naive call of the week, but we had to mention it somewhere. After all it may not be New Zealand’s proudest, or smartest, moment, but…
Sign of the Times
A Transit New Zealand road sign in the South island, linking the towns of Clinton and Gore, is attracting the attention of the White House.
Sun, sea, sand and … guns: Palm Beach Hotel (Gaza)
New Zealand journalist Phil Reeveson, writing for the Independent, visits the chaotic and ‘screwed up’ Gaza Strip – the conflicted strip of land between Egypt and Israel. Including a…
Te Whaea opens Options
Options, a tertiary dance festival for Australian and New Zealand students held in Sydney, was joined on its gala day by the New Zealand School of Dance. The Kiwi…
New Zealand High School Dropout Blazes a Trail in Bit Valley
Terrie Lloyd runs one of Bit Valley’s (Tokyo’s answer to Silicon) most successful start-up companies, Daijob.com, the largest on-line recruiting firm in Japan, as well as his English- language J@pan Inc…
Human Gene in Kiwi Sheep
We get enough flak for our supposed close relationship with sheep, but this is ridiculous. Thousands of sheep are walking around with a gene inside them which, it turns out, came…
Japan Harpoons ANZAC Conservation Efforts
Japan has gestured towards restarting ‘scientific’ whale-killing, despite stern objection form New Zealand and Australia and environmental groups. New Zealand IWC Commissioner Jim McLay, who is seen as a key anti-whaling…
Chris Cairns Nominated for International Cricketer of the Year
Daniel Vettori was also nominated for International Young Cricketer of the Year. Unfortunately the Aussies took out the double with Glenn McGrath and Brent Lee taking the respective awards.
Classy Champagne
New world producers, with the help of the champagne houses, are producing great tasting sparkling wines that are making the originals uncomfortable. Leading the bunch is Daniel Le Brun, making “some…
Gung Ho Tourism
After China agreed to grant New Zealand “approved destination” status, Air China, the national carrier, will begin direct flights to Auckland, a move likely to spur further the growth of New…
Bilbo buzz spawns rumour about a hoard of treasure
The Lord of the Rings folklore continues to spread. Fox chronicles the Ring rage: the record breaking previews, websites, esoteric and precious fans, mammoth investment and eager anticipation that…
The Outsider: Huck Finn on Heroin
Alison Maclean brings verge vision to the story of an American outsider. Jesus’ Son, an adaptation of a story by cult American author Dennis Johnson, is about a 7’s…
#20 Celebration of New Zealand
Edge Message #20 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM
TO NZEDGE.COM COMMUNITY
In NEWZEDGE today, the Kiwis who are upsetting assumptions, rocking equilibriums and putting edge back into the globe include:
Romance, roadkill…
Sheep Joke
Alliance MP Grant Gillon faces being baa-ed from parliament after making a wise-crack (more commonly used by Australians) about the relationship between sheep and opposition politicians. The remark was made during…
New Zealand Seeks New Relationship with Korea
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Phil Goff said his country will seek to support the process for peace on the Korean peninsula “through a developing dialogue and new…
Kiwi Killer Lady of Kingairloch
In a shooting career from 1930 to 1999 the huntress of the highlands Patricia Strutt shot more than 2000 stags. With her death, aged 89, the Scottish highlands lost…
Fortified Cereals May Reduce Heart Risk
Researchers from University of Otago report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that folic acid supplements and fortified cereals are more effective than a diet rich in naturally occurring folates…
New Zealand Not Giving Up on South Pacific Whale Sanctuary
A bid by New Zealand and Australia to establish an ocean sanctuary to protect whale breeding grounds failed at the International Whaling Commission Meeting in Adelaide. Despite securing two-thirds of the vote,…
The White Sox’ Hurling Hope
As the New Zealand women’s softball team hopes to reclaim glory at the Olympics, they place a great deal of expectation on the shoulders of Gina Weber as the Vancouver Sun…
Cate’s Elvish Ways: standing up for the sisters in
Cate Blanchett, playing the role of the enigmatic and beautiful elf queen Gandriel in Lord of the Rings, found a unique way of keeping up with the lads on…
The Edge Beckons
The Financial Times ponders years of reform, New Zealand’s loss of confidence in its ability to survive in an era of globalisation and evaluates the context: what is the role of…
War and Peace: Kiwi UN Official Warns of Half-job Solutions
As the United Nations administration in Kosovo prepares to shut down, its job of emergency relief deemed to be over, Kiwi UN special envoy Dennis McNamara has some advice for the…
Stead and Knox star at Melbourne Writer’s Festival
New Zealand writers CK Stead “whose new novel has earned rave reviews in Britain and the US” and Elizabeth Knox feature among global talent including Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson,…
Want Twins? Ewe May be in Luck
New Zealand scientists at the AgResearch Institute have found a gene responsible for twins in sheep, a discovery that could lead to understanding human fertility treatments and contraceptives, as well…
Frozen Tomb of Kiwi War Pilot Uncovered
The RAF has never forgotten a Kiwi pilot, flight officer Arthur Round, and his crew who died when their aircraft crashed in a glacier in northern Iceland during a…
Delightful Dowderwell’s Delphiniums
The Scotsman’s gardening writer Carolyn Spray recommends an esoteric Wanganui website: “If you’re as passionate about delphiniums as I am, you’ll love this site … All about growing, pests and diseases likely…
“Absence of Cutting Edge” Proves Scots Undoing
The All Blacks proved the theory and continued with breathtaking conviction to erase uncomfortable memories when they trounced Scotland 48-14. As Andy Nicol, the Scotland captain remarked later, “that is…
Big cheese #2
New Zealander Errol J. Baird runs a food importing business in Jamaica. “He offers to the discerning gourmet New Zealand cheese and wine.”
Enjoy: Lattes and Colas Not as Dangerous as Thought
A study by the Australian and New Zealand Food authority has found that the caffeine pick-me-ups effect in tea, coffee, and soft drinks did less harm than previously thought. “We have…
TimeOut Gets into NZ’s Real Crown Jewels
Time Out’s Mary Ann Percy provides an insider’s guide to New Zealand’s recondite attractions. Everybody knows about New Zealand’s tourist standards (Jonah and the whales), but “get your A…
Piecing Together the WTO After Seattle
Kiwi World Trade Organisation head Mike Moore urges resolve and ponders the failure to launch a new round of trade talks in protest-ridden Seattle. “The WTO is at the heart of…
Out of Africa Theory of Evolution
The Economist ponders the ‘where did we come from’ question, referring to the out-of-Africa theory first developed by New Zealand biochemist, the revolutionary Allan Wilson, and his colleague Rebecca Cann. They…
Mandy Smith: Hockey’s Answer to Anna Kournikova
In an article deploring the emphasis on sex over substance in the sporting press, the Irish Times compares New Zealand hockey’s Mandy Smith to Anna Kournikova. This, following a 3-0 drubbing…
Cuizean
Kiwi super-chef Peter Gordon is one of the “illustrious visitors” concocting culinary creations at Henrietta Green’s Food Lovers’ Fair. The fair brings together specialist food producers and suppliers hand-picked…
Otherworldly Sauvignon Blancs
The New York Press predicts a sauvignon blanc summer – great for when the mercury rises. “The genuinely good stuff–particularly the world-class sauvignon blancs of New Zealand’s Marlborough region – tastes…
Jesus and the Second Coming
Kiwi director Alison Maclean wowed Cannes with the moody Crush, then took a seven year maturing process, through Sex and the City, Homicide and a Natalie Imbruglia music video,…
Peter Jackson: “One of the Most Creative Directors Around”
Chicago Tribune, backs the talent of Jackson and a “top notch cast” as Hollywood indemnity for the Lord of the Rings. Jackson was recently voted 7th most promising director…
Lisa Harrow brings Wit to the stage in New York
Kiwi Lisa Harrow plays the lead in what the Times calls “a theatrical experience of which legends are made”. She plays Dr. Vivian Bearing, an uncompromising professor of literature…
