September 2000 Archives

Does This Man Have a Government Scholarship?

Does This Man Have a Government Scholarship?

It’s more cost-effective than traditional space-flight, and it’s spiritually enriching … the New York-based International Institute of Projectiology and Conscientiology has been guiding consciousnesses’ astral bodies through the extraphysical dimensions since 1988. Kiwi attorney David Lindsay, who is…

Brain Gain: Happy Consultants Flock In

Brain Gain: Happy Consultants Flock In

On-island media has been hyping the “Brain Drain”, but check out the opposite story: “Last year, a few of my friends from Gujarat migrated to New Zealand. They are very happy. I was thinking to procure…

Moa Simulation: The Strange World of Canterbury Ecology

Moa Simulation: The Strange World of Canterbury Ecology

New Zealand has more small-leaved, tangled shrubs than anywhere else in the world. Some experts think the plants evolved like this to deter the now-extinct moa from making them dinner, but Canterbury University ecologist Dave Kelly doesn’t…

Rena Owen on jury at Montreal Film Festival

Rena Owen on jury at Montreal Film Festival

Feisty Kiwi actress Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors, What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted), sat on the jury of the of the Montreal Film Festival. The jury awarded the festival’s major award, the…

Hadlee Awards Trophies, Deplores Fixing and Lauds Lillee

Hadlee Awards Trophies, Deplores Fixing and Lauds Lillee

Sir Richard Hadlee, former New Zealand pace bowler, awarded the trophies at the Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai earlier this month. He railed against international match fixing, but had congratulatory words for the players in the tournament. Hadlee…

Temping: A Permanent Way of Life

Temping: A Permanent Way of Life

“Temping” is a phase in the life of many young Kiwis, but some, like Tracey Ward who is profiled in this article, are beginning to see it as a flexible, stimulating career in itself….

Who is that famous writer living next door?

Who is that famous writer living next door?

Michael King spoke about his authorised and hugely successful biography of Janet Frame at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Frame a recluse: she writes under her own name, but lives under a pseudonym. Other Kiwi…

A man of many amenities

A man of many amenities

Hundertwasser, the Austrian architect who lived out his last years in New Zealand and designed the famous toilets in Kawakawa, also left his mark in the curving lines of Bad Blumau, a spa…

Stirling Effort

Stirling Effort

British energy companies are looking at the Stirling engine produced by NZ company WhisperTech. By 2025, 13m households in Britain could have their own little power station installed with this  technology.

Rugby: Brits Gush About All Blacks

Rugby: Brits Gush About All Blacks

“To watch the sheer brilliance of New Zealand’s opening passage of play against the Wallabies, and then to have that followed by the marvellous fightback which took Australia to level pegging—and for that quality to be sustained…

Thigh-deep in Flyfishing

Thigh-deep in Flyfishing

What does New Zealand have in common with Argentina, Russia and Alaska? No, not an “a” in the name – they’re all “flyfishing glamour spots”. Thomas McGuane chronicles his time standing thigh-deep in glamorous rivers in his new…

Initiative Edge

Initiative Edge

In a tough call, trust your instincts, says cognitive psychologists Gary Klein. “The best decision makers that Klein has seen are wildland firefighters … They fight fires 12 months a year – in western…

The Piano plays on

The Piano plays on

Holly Hunter, who played a mute Scottish widow in Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993), muses on the unexpected success of the movies. “It was a $5 million movie in New Zealand, and it ended…

The purloined piano?

The purloined piano?

The Piano secured Jane Campion as a major director and catapulted her from the art-house to the multiplex, but the Oxford Companion to Australian Film recently cast doubt over the originality of the screenplay for…

Inky Waves

Inky Waves

Tattoos have become increasing popular among the men and women who chase the massive waves of the Pacific. For many, a tattoo is an important way of recognising their Polynesian heritage.  

Tuaman

Tuaman

”I discovered at an early age that I had something special,” says championship contender David Tua. ”It’s a God-given talent I have to knock people out.” It is a gift rewarded only in one place. Only…

Dean’s Decision

Dean’s Decision

Dean Barker, Team New Zealand skipper, had ten minutes to make up his mind to take the hottest seat in sailing.

Stunts at 25mph in six inches of water help to demonstrate the Audi Quattro A6

Stunts at 25mph in six inches of water help to demonstrate the Audi Quattro A6

The ad took nine days to film at Bethell’s Beach on the west coast of New Zealand.