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Archive >> February 2001
Flying High
The contemporary kite industry is still riding the buzz generated by New Zealander Peter Lynn’s 80’s creation, the kite-powered buggy.
Lamb OK
I will buy in New Zealand lamb, but I won’t buy anything else says a British butcher feeling the pinch of foot and mouth.
Circus Life
New Zealand Olympic gymnast David Phillips has given up the competitive grind for life as a circus performer.
Bad Bird
“Even in New Zealand there are sheep farmers that lose stock to wildlife, namely the Kea, a large native and protected parrot. It may seem incredible, but it’s true.”
Science Star
New Zealand planktonologist Allison Joy Haywood is one of ten international recipients of a UNESCO-L’OREAL Fellowship for developing research talent.
Protest Flotilla
“The people who live around the Japanese reactor that the plutonium is destined for don’t want it, Australians and New Zealanders don’t want their seas being used to transport it and…
Furry Love
Wellington residents disturbed by amorous possums engage in chemical warfare to keep the peace.
Great Spinner
New Zealand-born Clarrie Grimmet’s 216 wickets from 37 tests earned him a place in Australia’s pantheon, despite a rift with the big man of Australian cricket.
Ciao, Gladiatore!
Crowe-band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts gig Milan for Children in Crisis fund-raiser.
Fleet of Foot
Ex-New Zealand detective Cheryl Fleet now runs international tours catering to women on journeys of adventure and renewal.
Kiwis in Oz
Taking the edge to the world, Russell Crowe and former Australian Channel 9 boss, now Telstra board member Sam Chisholm are examples of Kiwi excellence that “will always float…
Environmental Energy
A proto-type has been built for New Zealand’s first alternative power plant, using water to power a dual-cell hydrogen power station designed to supply energy to a timber company.
Sweet Tooth
Dental-wise, honey’s sweet as says Waikato scientist Dr Peter Molan.
She’s Right
New Zealand business confidence hits two-year high.
Living Well
Buzzy Auckland hits the big time, ranked 7th best-living city world-wide. Wellington also cruised high, beating London, Paris and New York at 23rd equal.
Classical Stirrer
“By instinct a man of the left and no respecter of reputations,” influential Cambridge Classical scholar Professor Robert Coleman “brought from his native New Zealand a suspicion of the great English…
Gene Genie
Edge Gene Therapist and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Jefferson Medical College Philadelphia Matthew During, releases a first and major step forward in the prevention and possible treatment of stomach cancers through…
View From an Ass
Masterton man Geoff Roder will fight for his right to watch the drive-in from his donkey.
Sea of Faith
What do edge theologian Lloyd Geering and Lisa Simpson have in common?
Crowe’s Upward Flight
Future films Flora Plum and John Nash biopic will “stretch Crowe to show the extent of his capability and range”.
Natural Edge
New Zealand’s innovative network of marine reserves are seen as a prototype for international action to preserve the health of the ocean.
Urban Vine
Fast-food outlets and urban life now surround Babich Wine’s Henderson vineyard, but Joe and Peter Babich go on producing fine westie wine.
One Neil
Neil Finn tours the UK and Ireland later this year in support of his album One Nil. His current mini-tour is rarking it up in London: “This one-off gig…
Adventure on Air
The mini-series of the Discovery Channel World Championship Adventure Race, run in the South Island last November, will air on the Discovery in late April, showcasing some of the New Zealand’s…
Travel Bug
Travel is at the top of the spending list for young UK professionals. Exotic New Zealand is among the choicest destinations on offer.
Garageland sale
Auckland indie-poppers Garageland team with UK distributors foodchainrecords to release Do What You Want Stateside. PDF Copy
Love Who You Are
High spirits and grief at Hero, New Zealand’s premier gay pride event.
Tolkien Talk
‘I’ve never met or worked with a director with a more comprehensive artillery of qualities for a big project like this than Peter Jackson. Someone should give him a…
Intimacy and success
New Zealander Kerry Fox wins Silver Bear (best actress) at the Berlin Film Festival for her “searing and explicit” performance in Intimacy, winner of the Golden Bear for best…
Altogether a delight
The new Museum of Scotland launches itself with Altogether a Delightful Country, a display focusing on immigrant Scots in Otago.
Argument Success
The New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team carried their point, finishing sixth at the World Schools’ Debating Championships in Johannesburg.
Sydders Running
The Sydney Half-Marathon turns ten. Back in 1996, New Zealand woman Nyla Carroll won the women’s section so fast the official nearly missed her dash over the finish line.
Hollywood outgrows itself
Gladiator, filmed in Morocco, Malta and the UK, directed by a Brit, scored by a German and “sexed up by the hottest New Zealander on the planet” is a…
Cyber-verse
Cultural export poet Andrew Johnston pushes poetry on the web.
Making Waves
“Where once New Zealand seemed bent on shrinking the public sector to anorexic proportions, it is now pumping it full of new blood. New Zealand has a long record of setting…
Down Right Funny
“I’m sure New Zealand has its own sense of humour. I know so, because I once wrote a preview of the rugby world cup for a satirical magazine here, a piece…
No talk, just sex
Intimacy is a smouldering film about a man who is living in a basement in south London who has a sex affair with a woman at his place every…
Capital Style
“Deregulation and the cosmopolitan tastes of a new generation of globe trotting Kiwis have transformed Wellington from a gray town for civil servants into a cultural haven with a thriving cafe…
Snow Queen
New Zealand snowboard star Juliane Bray crowned world champ at Japan’s World Cup Snowboard.
US Feels the Edge
The US needs a fillip if it is to maintain inventiveness and compete with up-and-coming centres of innovation like New Zealand.
Big, Bad Bird
“A San Francisco Zoo employee was injured yesterday when a 5-foot tall bird native to New Zealand tore into his leg with its powerful claws … The animals are found in…
#35 The Global Life of New Zealanders
Edge Message #35 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM
TO NEW ZEALAND EDGE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Today’s download of news, views, provocations and affirmations includes:
NEWZEDGE 120 stories of New Zealand Edgers scorching the…
Cold shoulder
Historic moment: the first shipment of frozen meat left New Zealand 119 years ago.
Milk magic
Director Harry Sinclair explains the magic behind The Price of Milk: “We put a window frame on a dolly and sat Danielle Coramck and the camera on the dolly. And…
Face the Message
New Zealand tech-designers LifeFX’s Facemail programme spreads the word about a deal with major photo company Kodak.
Into the Black
New Zealand leads the pack in debt reduction, cutting government debt from 65% of GDP in 1993 to 31% in 1999.
Bank On It
Here it comes – the People’s Bank. Lower fees, more branches, but there is a risk.
Star of the year
Russell Crowe named “Male Star of the Year” at ShoWest 2001, the largest motion picture industry convention.
Sooty Mania
New Zealanders respect a real man – or a real guinea pig. Sooty, the rodent famous for fathering 43 babies in one sweaty night, received a large volume of Valentines…
Nick Heir to Jack, Peter, John
Hutt Valley high school miler Nick Willis has become the fastest miler in New Zealand history, beating the times of Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Walker at the famous Wanganui Cook…
Mad world of Milk
“In the real world, Lucinda probably would be in court-ordered psychotherapy, with a restraining order or two thrown in to boot. In the fanciful world of The Price of…
Go Russell, go!
“What we do in life/echoes in eternity.” Russell “Maximus” Crowe gets a second Best Actor nomination (last year was for The Insider), continuing a fine run of Wellington actors…
Old Birds
Entering into the debate over cloning, Dr. Alan Cooper of Oxford comments that, despite the moa-mapping efforts of his team, “it is crucial that we do not become complacent and start…
Bird DNA
“The first ever functional genome sequences from an extinct species have been mapped by scientists at Oxford University. The mitochondrial DNA sequences were obtained from two giant moa and a Madagascan elephant-bird.”
Which Way do I Jump?
Queenstown – the capital of adventure, or, as this ambivalent adventurer puts it, “dumb stuff”.
Seats of Power
New Zealand backpackers unwittingly helped end apartheid, acting as bus-filling decoys for safari-organising gun-runners.
