Dead-eyed beauties

Photographer Yvonne Todd reviewed in Art Forum’s Best of 2002 issue. “Todd applies Revlon-style control to construct the opposite of the bouffant and bouncy … she assembles a group…

Tyler no diva

Liv Tyler talks to The Scotsman about making movies Middle Earth-style. “It was a labour of love for everyone. There weren’t a lot of perks. We didn’t have these huge…

Frosty the Crowe-man

Indie film website Film Threat has voted Russell Crowe 2002’s Coldest Person in Hollywood. Crowe topped the annual poll, his “bad-boy big mouth” beating out Winona Ryder and Robert De Niro…

Liquor, Lear and Liz

NZ’s 2002 Actor of the Year, Ray Henwood, has taken his award-winning portrayal of Richard Burton Sydney-side. In Playing Burton the Welsh-born actor brings to life his hell-raising compatriot…

Tribute to Edge-geneticist

NZ’s “third man of the double helix” Maurice Wilkins has been honoured in the lead-up to next year’s 50th anniversary of DNA. In 1962, Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology…

Not All Doom and Gloom

Wellington author Damien Wilkins counters small-town unease and drug-addled characters with a good dose of black comedy in Chemistry. New Statesman: ” a world of jealousies, scandals, and…

The (Edge) Spirit of a Sailor

USA Today ponders Kiwi dominance of the America’s Cup. “No matter that the boats will fly the flags of Switzerland and the United States. The men at the helm are Kiwis,…

“Amo, ergo compro”

NZ’s leading ad-man, Kevin Roberts, interviewed in Italy’s L’espresso. “He dresses completely in black and looks like a bar room bouncer just back from Armani. But Kevin Roberts, CEO…

Team NZ’s High-tech Edge

NZ bioengineering group, Christian Cook, have developed a radical method of keeping Team NZ one step ahead of their rivals. Health levels of the 36 sailors are monitored via a daily…

Music of the land

“The Kiwi singer-songwriter lyrics and cheekbones as fine as Delft china.” Bic Runga talks to Time Pacific about books, politics and her new album, Beautiful Collision. “Eclectic but…

IE (International Exploration) Browser

“David Lewis was the most wonderfully fantastic scallywag I have ever met. His love for the ocean can only be balanced by the love of beautiful women for him”…

Best Actor

New Zealand born actor Gary Day, renown for roles in soap operas Gloss and Shark in the Park, wins Best Guest Actor for his cameo performance in Aussie drama…

Wilkins’ Latest Bonds with Reviewer

Guardian reviewer Phil Whitaker assesses Damien Wilkins’ novel, Chemistry, a chronicle of drug addiction and family trauma set in small-town NZ. “Wilkins is brilliant at character, and his resistance…

Gender Studies 101

Guardian writer Julie Burchill questions Russell Crowe’s status as “sole standard bearer” for old-school Hollywood hell-raising in the wake of his latest public brawl. Back in the bad old days, she…

Praise in spades for Runga

Daily Texan writer goes ga-ga for Bic Runga’s “innovative melodies, careful harmonies and baby-doll voice” in a review of her latest album, Beautiful Collision. “A wonderfully evocative and brilliant effort …

Last action hero

“In the age of digitized battle, is there still such thing as a war correspondent?” According to New York Metro, NZ-born Peter Arnett is the last, and greatest, of…

Pinetree Chews the Fat

“If you want a snapshot of the way rugby used to be, there is no more impressive monument to the past than Colin Meads, a man as straight as he…

Kiwi’s Cup

“America’s Cup? Why, we call it the Kiwi’s Cup now!” An encounter with “a proper cocky Kiwi” sees Post writer Angus Phillips ruminate over this auld mug called the America’s Cup….

Russell Crowe: “From dud to stud”

Russell Crowe makes the grade in a run-down of Hollywood’s sexiest men by People Magazine. From unlikely beginnings “sporting high heels and lipstick” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show,…

Murray Backed in Melbourne Cup Fashion Stakes

NZ designer Zelda Murray came up trumps in a run-down of fashion hits and misses at this year’s Melbourne Cup. Murray, who debuted at last month’s New Zealand Fashion…

The quality of Maori Merchant of Venice is not strained

Don C. Selwyn’s The Maori Merchant of Venice won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 22nd Annual Hawai’i International Film Festival’s Golden Maile Awards. The…

Brothers in Farms

“So if the grass is always greener in NZ, let’s colonise it.” SMH reader’s opinion column ‘heckler’ proposes the immediate annexation of NZ as a quick and cheap solution…

Great southern (is)Land

The South Island was ranked fourth on the BBC‘s “50 places to see before you die,” clocking in behind the Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, and Disney World. The list…

Runaways and Jean-genies

“Maverick NZ designer” Karen Walker is to return to Australian catwalks, showing a variation on her Runaway collection (recently acclaimed at London Fashion Week). Walker plans to modify the…

Never Take a Spinner Seriously

The tiny Pacific state of Kiribati was thrown into panic by an article published by New Zealand spoof site www.spinner.co.nz. The article announced the imminent invasion of Kiribati by US forces,…

Nation of Giant-killers

American wine guru, Michael Franz, has made a wager that the NZ wine industry (“well organized, unusually cooperative, and marked by a spirit of openness and innovation”) will be producing the…

Transit vs. Taniwha

“Maori swamp creature delays road”. The proposed upgrade to a stretch of Waikato road is of concern to local Maori, who believe that the underlying swamp-land is home to a taniwha. This,…

Independent Film in the Wars

An independent British film telling the story of a New Zealand WW2 hero has ignited a “trans-Atlantic row over Hollywood movie muscle.” Two Men Went to War is to…

Finding beauty in quotodian Wellington architecture

Ex-pat Peter Campbell, LRB art critic, returns home to report on all things architectural: “Painters have not made much of Wellington houses, but in Rita Angus’s picture of Thorndon,…

Scene-stealing scenery

“New Zealanders watching the latest batch of car advertisements on Australian television could be excused for thinking they were back at home.” Rugged and diverse, NZ terrain is the…

Frodo’s choice

American pop oddballs Elf Power have released a covers album featuring NZ’s Tall Dwarf’s – the now disbanded Chris Knox outfit. Nothing’s Going to Happen also includes renditions…

Surf’s Up in Cornwall

Waikato University’s resident surf expert – Dr Kerry Black – is helping create waves in Cornwall, where a £6 million proposal for constructing an artificial reef is currently under negotiation. Black…

A Walk in Good Company

“On the South Island, it’s fun and games with Kiwis on a privately operated trail that delivers fine coastal scenery, rustic lodgings and, happily, no crowds.” LA Times writer discovers the…

These Boots Are Made for Walking … On

Dame Judith Mayhew will not seek re-election to her position as head of the City of London Corporation, claiming she is “doing too much.” She’s not joking either – see above…

The Datsuns, The D4 … The Datson Four?

Kiwi rockers The Datsuns and The D4 are to play at the 2002 K-Fest in London. The event has previously featured line-ups including Black Sabbath, Slipknot and The Hives….

“Read This and Weep Some More”

Anonymous Kiwi makes an impassioned plea to US citizens in the Baltimore Chronicle. “America dips its toes in the water and my nation gets flooded by a tidal wave ……

All Black Mana Enhanced

“Playing New Zealand means battling against the myths, legends and history of the All Blacks. In this professional era the aggression, determination and sheer ferociousness of the New Zealand game make…

“They Know They Have an Edge”

November’s French Vogue goes south seas gothic in fashionable NZ, with the edge providing both spectacular and downtown Aotearoa-style backdrops for a Mario Sorrenti photo shoot, from the volcanic…

Well-oiled

Tauranga-based company, Avocado Oil New Zealand, has won a lucrative contract to supply Tesco –Britain’s leading supermarket chain. Avocado Oil New Zealand is a world-innovator in cold-pressing and refining extra virgin…

UN Children’s Television Workshop

A New Zealand production features in the International Children’s Television Festival in Manhattan this month. The Kiwi entry in the UN sponsored exhibition, The Dress-Up Box Wonder, was written…

Intrepid Botanist Remembered

NZer Betty Molesworth Allen, OBE-awarded botanist and explorer, has died aged 89. Allen made her career in some of the harshest regions in the world; from the rainforests of Borneo, to…

Giving new meaning to wildlife

NZ production The Most Extreme has proved a hit with international Animal Planet viewers. The series, made by Dunedin-based Natural History New Zealand, involves a countdown of the world’s…

Dr Grant, I presume?

Sam Neill has hinted he will reprise his role as Dr Grant in Steven Spielberg’s fourth Jurassic Park installment. The Queenstown-based actor is sufficiently impressed by the script that…

Something old something new

Multimedia artist Lisa Reihana commended at the 2002 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art for her current “work in progress,” Digital Marae. The large-scale photographs dramatise female mythological figures in an exploration…

Bolger on Water

In a letter to the Times, ex-PM Jim Bolger cites the role of water in global tensions. Warning against letting War on Terror overshadow basic human needs, Bolger advocates a government-led…

Magic + Maths = Inspired Teaching

Ken Ring has taken his own special brand of mathematics to the UK. The former teacher is now president of the New Zealand Society of Magicians – a career change reflected…

Concord Dawn high-flying in Asia

” bass-heads into a mind-boggling frenzy” were Kiwi act Concord Dawn on their recent tour of Asia. The DJ/producer duo of Matt Harvey and Evan Short have already established…

Walker Talks Trends

In a bid to understand the fashion industry’s “pandemic schizophrenia,” SMH picks the brain of Kiwi style guru, Karen Walker. “It’s all about zig-zagging. If it was white last…

Kiwi Scientists Search for Merrick’s Ma

Joseph Merrick (the Elephant Man) is still drawing crowds. This time round, Merrick’s deformities are attracting genealogists and scientists, rather than circus-goers. A team of NZ researchers wants to find living…

America’s Cup: Billionaires and Espionage

“Yacht racing has been compared to tearing up $10 bills while standing in the shower. In the case of America’s Cup racing, make that $1,000 bills.” Time Magazine delves into…

Elevator Not Included

NZ runners Jonathan Wyatt and Melissa Moon won the men’s and women’s categories at the World Towerthon in Malaysia. The event involves an 800m run from the Kuala Lumpur Tower entrance,…

South Pacific sounds

NZ group Te Vaka has made the list of nominees for next year’s BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. The Polynesian ensemble, led by Opetaia Foa’i, describe their…

King of Greece Honours King of Sailing

Sir Peter Blake has been posthumously awarded the prestigious Olympic Order for his services to sport. Honorary IOC member, the former King Constantine of Greece, presented the award to Blake’s wife,…

“Musician Who Revitalized Maori Culture”

Dalvanius Prime, pioneer of Polynesian soul and hip-hop, has died aged 54. Prime developed his own take on American soul by merging its ballad form with traditional Maori vocal…

Booker Prize: end of an era?

Observer critics liken this year’s Man Booker Prize win to that of NZ’s Keri Hulme on “that unforgettable night in the mid-80s.” Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi won…

Sun Sets on “The People’s Horse”

NZ mare Sunline, Australasia’s grand lady of racing and a champion that uniquely inspired anthromomorphic devotion, ended her five-year domination of Australian tracks with a brave final run at October’s Cox…