Raving About Dixon in Detroit
Motown: Scott Dixon has won the first two races of the Dayton Indy Lights series and history indicates that he is well on his way to a championship in his first season with PacWest Racing. “I…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Oceania Merge the Edges With Log Drums and Electro Beats
Former leader of Killing Joke Jaz Coleman joins Maori singer Hinewehi Mohi in a high-tech fusion on their eponymous debut. “This isn’t a fashion record for me, or a passing flirtation with another culture,” says Coleman, recently…
Wilson Picked in All-Star Futures Game
Kiwi baseball player Travis Wilson, who is a rookie with the Atlanta Braves, has been selected to play in the US vs the World All-Star Futures Game – a strong indication that he’s on track to…
Rebecca Taylor’s Urban Femininity Nominated for Prestigious Perry Ellis Award
New York based New Zealander Rebecca Taylor’s signature brightly colured cardigans with sequin trim have seen her nominated for the reputation-making Perry Ellis Fashion Award. She will be hoping to follow in the fashionable…
“He Who Laughs Last …” Kiwi Wines Now the Benchmark
Colonial upstarts from the all parts of the Empire are conquering Britain. As renowned wine merchant Simon Berry ponders regretfully, “We laughed at New Zealand 20 years ago, and now they are benchmark wines.”
Give them a taste of Kiwi
“Sometimes expats crave a taste of the familiar – and now they can find it on the net.” A New Zealand writer yearns for Tim Tams and ponders the number of dotcoms, such as…
Bob Charles in Putting Pantheon
Las Vegas Sun columnist Peter Benton joins the end of century reviews and attempts to evaluate the world’s greatest putter, putting Kiwi left-hander Bob Charles up there with Woods, Nicklaus and Duval.
Save Our Sea-mammals : Pacific Plan for Whale Sanctuary
New Zealand and Australian governments are set to pressure the International Whaling Commission into creating a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific, believing that a plan must be implemented to protect stocks already severely depleted by whaling.
Bonding Bungee Brings Together Father and Son Film-makers
Award-winning doco “Pop & Me” charts father/son relationships around the world as the father/son makers work out their own. The film’s defining moment comes when Chris persuades his Dad join him in a tandem…
“Brain Drain Clouds NZ’s Future” – Refuse the Hype and Get to the Edge
More centric thinking, this time from London’s Observer, “New Zealander’s are leaving their country in droves, placing a strain on the economy and painting a grim picture for the future.” Our opinion: New Zealand Edgers of the…
Oui Fumer
A political party in New zealand is to hand out free cigarettes in protest at the countires recent increase in tobacco taxes. The Libertarianz Party will hand out free cigarette’s in the city of Roturua, a geothermal…
Sir David Low: “the greatest political cartoonist of the century”
London’s Evening Standard previews an exhibition by the Kiwi cartoonist Churchill called “a green-eyed young Antipodean radical.” His work was banned in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy due to “the savagerealism” of his pen….
The “Most Beautiful Scenery on Earth” … with an Ecological Edge
LA Times travel writer John Fretter has a romantic environmental encounter on Fjordland Ecology Tour’s ketch. “In front of us was a giant geologic amphitheatre, the passengers fell silent and ceased all activity, even breathing, some said. the emotional…
Reading Recovery Gets Thumbs Up in Baltimore
Maryland: the innovative system, started by New Zealand educator Marie Clay over 20 years ago, is a remedial program targeted to young children struggling with reading. Threatened with loss of funding parents made passionate…
Catch Up Columbus: World Speed Record a Holiday in the Sun for Grant ‘Pure Speed’ Dalton
Dalton, captaining the maxi-catamaran Club Med has smashed the trans-atlantic 24-hour sailing record. Retracing Columbus’s historic East-West Atlantic Crossing, they broke the elusive 600 mile barrier for the first time, travelling at an incredible average speed of…
McKinnon and the End of the World
“No sooner had former New Zealand foreign minister Don McKinnon stepped across the threshold of London’s Marlborough House to take over as Secretary-General than all hell broke loose across the Commonwealth. It was a coincidence, of course…
“All You Sweet Girls With Your Sweet Talk”
Known for her willingness to thematically peer over the edge ‘to the centre in her head’, Maclean is attracting attention for Jesus’ Son (starring Billy Cudrup and Samantha Morton). The film, about alienation, ennui…
Edge Explorer Revised and Revisited by Aussie Historian
Tony Horwitz revisits the James Cook legend and Cook’s Star-Trek echoing logbook, “I have gone farther than any man has been before me, as far as I think it is possible for a man…
Kiwi’s Big Fightback in the War of Whiteware
They might have won the eponymous netball cup, but at least someone’s beating the Aussies: Fisher & Paykel increased its Australian market share and boosted its annual profit above expectations to A$43 million, a 290% improvement…
Odious Vampire’s Kiss: NZ Researchers Investigate Garlic Mystery
Kiwi research team Rex and Christine Munday claimed in New Scientist magazine that eating half a clove of raw garlic a day could help protect against cancer. They believed the key ingredient was a substance called…
Coach Bracewell Has Opponents in a Spin with the All Black Way
Former New Zealand spinner John Bracewell, now in a coaching role, has turned the fortunes of underachieving Gloucestershire a full circle through preaching ‘the All Black way’. They are looking to complete a hatrick of one…
Masters class
Jazz legend Ian Chaplin was joined in concert by the Gerard Masters Trio. Young NZ pianist Masters was hailed as an “imaginative deconstructionist” and his trio “a highly individualistic unit.” The Trio released their…
Touring Scots Experience Hongi and Other Quirks of New Zealand Culture
Such as this unique local solution to the Fijian Crisis, on observing the Scots training an onlooker reportedly said: “what you should do is use that big fellar as ram on the door of the Parliament…
Tim Finn Inspires Repeat of History in Boston
Finn’s Boston show prompts memories at Boston gig-guide Go!. Years ago, ” was introduced to an outstanding New Zealand pop outfit called the Split Enz. A friend’s older sister was showing off a sweat…
Innovative Computer Mapping to Curb Crime
New Zealand police are, introducing a high-tech solution to beat burglaries. They are using a NZ$6million computer-mapping programme to allow police to zero in on burglars’ homes as well as break-in hot spots, said…
Serendipity the Secret to Cyber-Success
“Human beings, by and large don’t know what they’re interested in,’ says Denis Dutton, a professor in New Zealand who started and edits the highly accliamed Arts and Letters Daily, perhaps the most eclectic,…
ANZAC Divers Recover Sunken Vietnamese Treasure
A group of four New Zealand and Australian professional divers spent over 70 days working 12 hour shifts in the cramped quarters of a diving bell to recover a sunken collection of valuable 15th Century Vietnamese ceramics….
Kiwi Art Criticism: vol. #1
“The buttock of a dead cow washed up on the beach” was how Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture Torso II was described when it arrived in New Zealand in 1963.
Home and Away: Taking the Edge to London
“If you are passionate about where you come from, working abroad can provide the ideal opportunity to promote your native country.” The Times profiles Anna Kensington who promotes NZ Tourism in London. Anna considers…
World set to discover the rigours of the Southern Traverse
“One of the world’s most prestigious adventure races, and the cornerstone of global media company announce a new partnership in adventure racing. Discovery Channel will be the exclusive media sponsor of the Southern Traverse (New Zealand),…
Bugger the #*!@&! Domain Names
A ban on seven deadly words deemed too offensive to register as part of a domain name has been lifted in New Zealand. Deciding that a censorship role didn’t fit in with their purposes,…
Kiwi Commonwealth Leader Gets Pacific About the Pacific
The Commonwealth Secretary General, New Zealander Don McKinnon, working towards peace in Fiji, admitted yesterday that it would be hard to find an effective way of pressing Fiji to abandon its newly re-imposed race-based constitution.
Windy Wellington Challenges the Eternal Spirit of the Olympic Flame
NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark was forced to take an unscheduled breather on the Olympic Torch Relay when “Windy” Wellington remained true to name. As the Prime Minister jogged down the stairs of Parliament House in the…
Tua Terminates Sullivan in Tysonesque Power Show
“Even Mike Tyson would have been impressed. Fighting with the savage explosiveness of the former champion, David Tua needed only 51 seconds to stop Obed Sullivan and firmly establish himself as the heavyweight division’s leading challenger.”
Gandalf: Lord of the Seas
Sir Ian McKellen takes a break on Auckland Harbour from playing the wise wizard Gandalf in the 16 month long shoot of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. He is immersing himself in the…
Alison Maclean gives
The story of a grunged out herion addict ‘FH’ (Billy Cudrup), based on the stories of Dennis Johnson and inspired by the Lou Reed lyric, also stars Oscar nominated Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter and…
New Zealand No.8 Legend Farewelled
He changed the rugby ball in the same crazy way that Kiwi farmers altered fencing wire. “The career of Zinzan Brooke, a singular player in a uniform age, ended at Twickenham yesterday amid a sea of points…
Quality Not Quantity for Outstanding New Zealand Vintage
“Outstanding quality and lower quantities characterize the 2000 vintage in New Zealand. The country’s hallmark Sauvignon Blanc and very promising Pinot Noir varieties in particular have benefited from the difficult growing conditions.”
Boar-wheel Drive: Kiwi Kune Kune Goes Skateboarding
Ten month old Purdey, a rare New Zealand Kune Kune pig is amusing the locals in Warrington by adopting a sty-lish mode of transport.
From the Edge to the (Medical) Centre: Kiwi Brings Tibetan Medicine to Chelsea
New Zealand born Christopher Hansard, is medical director of the newly opened Eden Medical Centre in London’s King’s Road. It aims to blend Dur Bon, a Tibetan form of medicine, with Western conventional and complementary systems.
Détente New Zealand Style
The New Zealand-China Friendship Society is determined to double its efforts to promote friendship and exchange between the peoples of China and New Zealand the People’s Daily reports. Chinese Consul in Auckland, Zhao Xianling said…
David Tua Demonstrates Power
“In only 51 seconds, David Tua showed why the heavyweight division may become a more interesting place once again. In knocking down Obed Sullivan the squat Samoan from New Zealand also staked a claim alongside Mike Tyson…
New Zealand Whites Give Bland Californians a Taste of the Real Thing
“Here come the sauvignon blancs from New Zealand. Hooray!” White wines from “half a world away” are challenging the blandly commercial US natives, “they almost seem juicier than other wines, maybe because they supercharge our salivary glands.”…
Helen Clark on the Edge of World Power Summit
Kiwi PM attends Conference on Modern Governance in the 21st Century in Berlin. The Conference, chaired by Gerhard Schroeder and attended by Bill Clinton, was a meeting of the world’s “third way” governments. Clark was the only female amongst the…
Kiwi ‘Ghost of 68’ Asks if Secret Service Intelligence is an Oxymoron
Victoria University’s “frightenly radical” David Robinson gets accused of being ‘a red under the bed’ in a British Secret Service intelligence report, but questions whether a secret intelligence report means that the report is secret or that…
Queenstown in World’s Ten Best Places for Mountain Biking
“Queenstown has a deserved reputation as the extreme sport’s capital of the southern hemisphere, and the mountain biking is nothing short of crazy. Gorgeous scenery that assaults the senses with waterfalls and snow-capped mountains.”
Campbell Hits Record Breaking Haka of a Round
“The New Zealand Maori produced a spear-waving, chest beating, lip-curling, foot-stompin’ 63 in the first round of the English Open here yesterday”. Cambell’s nine under par round created a new European PGA record – no one has…
Wordplay No Game for Kiwi King of Scrabble
“Nigel Richards was something else. The man of the tournament, considered by many to be the world’s best scrabbler, thrilled everyone with his clinical skills and microscopic reading of the game.” Nigel has a record six straight…
Hyper-girl Lisa Reihana Weaves The Pacific Wave at Sydney Biennale
Along with fellow Kiwi Bill Hammond. Lisa Reihana, with the Pacific Sisters, has been honoured with a show at the prestigious Sydney Biennale 2000. Exploring Toi Maori, her works weave between the contemporary and…
Wild Weather
New Zealander Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section of the Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado, is in the middle of the wild weather/global warming storm.
South Sea Sojourn: Discovery Explores Abel Tasman National Park
Discovery’s Natasha Nowakowski gets immersed in the colourful allure of the “unique and exhilarating” Abel Tasman National Park. Kayaking around the steel-blue waters to the isolated white sandy beaches, emerald-green lagoons, sentrious cliffwalls and lustrously sodden forests…
On the Road the New Zealand Way
Discovering along the journey Hone Heke, the ‘inventive’ Richard Pearse and the Kauri Gum Rush, Road & Track takes to the other side of the street on the great New Zealand road-trip. “Was I interested? Which…
Fine Wine
Kim Crawford Unwooded Marlborough Chardonnay 2000: “sprightly, with pure quince apple and tangerine-lime citric accents and bright acidity tamed by the process of malolactic fermentation”. Seresin Estate’s Pinot Noir and Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc make Bloomberg’s favourites of…
“Nobody Does Sauvignon Better Than New Zealand”
“Certain wine regions become known for certain wines because the majority of producers there do them better than anyone else … when it comes to sauvignon blanc, nobody does it better on a consistent basis than…
Courtney Love: Nelson Girls old-girl takes on Napster
As a user Courtney loves Napster, but it carries some risks and the Hole lead singer is wary of corporate relationships in general, “If you want some little obedient slave content provider, then fine….
New Zealand Firm Hails Taxi Innovation in India
Tait Electronics is launching in India an innovative two-way radio communication service using using cutting edge technology. The ‘Mega Cab’ service, using a satellite based global positioning system is set to revolutionise the business of catching…
