January 2003 Archives

Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Canterbury University’s Andy Cockburn is leading a team of computer scientists in redesigning the back button function on computers. In a bid to up the popular button’s efficiency, Cockburn and co. have reprogrammed web browsers so that…

Big Ted gets bigger

Big Ted gets bigger

NZ baritone Teddy Tahu-Rhodes is receiving great acclaim as the Don to Opera Australia’s Don Giovanni. “He sings like an angel but there the resemblance ends. He does a nice line in depravity …

Addicted to rock

Addicted to rock

The Datsuns’ popularity in the U.K shows no signs of diminishing. The boys from Cambridge are soon to headline NME‘s annual showcase of “the forthcoming year’s thrusting new talent” in what will be their fourth U.K tour…

We salute you

We salute you

The Datsuns’ popularity in the U.K shows no signs of diminishing. The boys from Cambridge took out Best Live Band at the New Musical Express annual showcase of rock’s best. Other winners included…

Couch Potato Paradise

Couch Potato Paradise

Fellowship of the Ring wins “hands down” the best DVD of 2002 according to a New York Times review. “A movie of 208 minutes takes some tall explaining, but here we develop sympathy for the notion…

Biculiterature

Biculiterature

The US readers’ magazine Pages (‘the magazine for people who love books’) focuses on literature from Aotearoa-NZ in its monthly global focus. Contributing editor Bethanne Kelly Patrick focuses on biculturalism and asks, “Maoris and Pakehas are…

Washington Wine Win

Washington Wine Win

NZ wines cleaned up at the 7th Annual Wines for Oysters competition in Washington. Marlborough vineyards won five of the ten awards, with Charles Wiffen’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2001 taking home the Grand Champion Trophy.

Habit-forming

Habit-forming

Habitual – brainchild of Kiwi designer Nicole Garrett – is officially the coolest denim line on the street. The range is now stocked by big-gun retailers including Barneys (New York and Japan), Colette (Paris),…

‘Queen of Literature’

‘Queen of Literature’

Easy Jet In-Flight profiles Liz Calder, co-founder of Britain’s most successful independent publishing house, Bloomsbury Plc. Dubbed the ‘Queen of Literature,’ Calder is credited with discovering the likes of Salman Rushdie, Anita Brookner and Julian Barnes. The…

In high demand

In high demand

Fresh out of London’s Royal College of Music, NZ-born Samoan Jonathan Lemalu is being widely touted as “the next big  thing in opera.” A qualified lawyer and accomplished (former) rugby player – “I kind…

Eichardt’s en Vogue

Eichardt’s en Vogue

Australian Vogue‘s A-Z of deluxe travel destinations includes the historic Eichardt’s Private Hotel in Queenstown. Built in 1873 and recently refurbished by new owners, Eichardt’s contains “a series of luxurious interiors, with a clever melange of…

Interislanders Cruise to Victory

Interislanders Cruise to Victory

Kevin Biggar and Jamie Fitzgerald of Team Holiday Shoppe won the epic Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race from the Canary Islands to Barbados in record time, despite their boat being capsized 40 hours into the event. The pair’s…

Edge of the alphabet conjurer has cancer

Edge of the alphabet conjurer has cancer

SMH pays tribute to Janet Frame – “one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and enigmatic writers” – who recently revealed she is terminally ill with cancer. Frame’s biographer Michael King (Wrestling with the Angel)…

Epilogue Written to a Life of Words

Epilogue Written to a Life of Words

NZ lost one of its edgiest inhabitants with the death of Janet Frame from acute myeloid leukemia on January 29. Frame, the author of 11 novels, 5 collections of short stories, a poetry collection,…