Archive >> May 2008

Short lines hide

Wellington poet Bill Manhire takes the cover of the 2008 spring edition of literary periodical Poetry London, in which his poems ‘Song with a Chorus’, ‘Velvet’ and ‘The Carpe…

Search Engine Commemoration

The anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of Mount Everest in 1955 has been honoured by search engine giant Google. Google periodically changes its logo…

Europe Follows Lead

New Zealand is the first English-speaking country in the world to have banned smacking and Europe wants to follow suit. The New Zealand police were reassured when they won…

By the People for the People

Auckland trio, Tim Tregonning, Dan Phillips and Danis Roberts are crowd pleasers; their project, OurBrew is currently recruiting beer drinkers to unite and develop a collective drop by signing…

Home Amidst History

Four hours from Auckland, New Zealand developer Peter Cooper’s 400 ha Mountain Landing property boasts white sand beaches, native bush and historical value. “When I first saw the property,…

Chip off the Old Block

Jeremy Coney, as announcer on Sky TV’s ‘Test Match Special’, is “cricket’s answer to the poet and critic Tom Paulin”, according to Guardian sports blogger Rob Bagchi. A guest on TMS…

For the Love of Letters

Thirteen-year-old Hamilton spelling champion Thomas North will compete at the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., travelling further than any of the record 288 competitors. North competes a year…

Flaming Britches

James Watson, head of Massey University’s school of history, philosophy and politics in Palmerston North and author of agricultural study, ‘The Significance of Mr Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers’, won…

Fear the Flanker

Forty-eight test veteran, Jerry Collins, 27, has announced his retirement from New Zealand rugby. Collins said: “It’s difficult for me to talk about myself but I know I’ve always been committed…

Ice Man Wins Indy 500

New Zealander Scott Dixon, 27, woke to the traditional 6am race-day explosion, ate American pancakes with hot syrup for breakfast and then from pole position drove 200 laps to…

Hobbiton revisited

New Zealand is once again the backdrop for Middle Earth, Peter Jackson and Hobbit director Guillermo Del Toro confirmed in an hour-long live internet chat with fans. Speaking from…

Luxury Golf Getaways

The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs in the Bay of Islands was voted one of New Zealand’s best resorts in 2007 and one of the top 20 resorts in the…

Peaceful Isles

New Zealand comes in at number four on the second annual Global Peace Index released by Britain’s Economist  Intelligence Unit. A survey on the harmoniousness of the…

Enigma funds school

Though New Zealand tycoon Christopher Chandler keeps a reclusive profile, he has invested $50 million in a business school for students from developing countries in Boston. Chandler, a beekeeper’s…

Corporate Iwi Unite

Divided into four tribes: kea, ruru, tui, and weka, 200 employees of US firm Seagate Technologies face the elements in the mountains above Queenstown in a week-long “mother of…

Constantly Gardening

Auckland greensman Robbie Penny has worked on Bridge to Terabithia, 10,000 BC and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian arranging on-set nurseries, sourcing Belgian lettuce ferns and…

Unlikely Gathering

On a subsea mountain peak 400km south of New Zealand, a robot submarine has filmed tens of millions of waving five-armed creatures called brittlestars, in a never-seen-before seamount discovery….

Colonial Space Rockets

First published in New Zealand in 1881, the second volume of science fiction  novella The Great Romance lay hidden on the shelves of Dunedin’s Hocken Library until the 1990s…

Finding Precious

Tauranga-based filmmakers Lance and James Morcan are searching for the best person to take on the role of four-foot-nine power-lifting champion Precious McKenzie. Ranked the best weightlifter in South…

Touting the Youth

New Zealand ‘the youngest country’, is the new focus of Tourism New Zealand’s international branding. Tourism chiefs have called in London PR agency Henry’s House as they revive the…

London from home

New Zealand author Emily Perkins leans out to close a window at her publisher’s in Soho and “raising her voice over a building site, takes a deep breath of…

For the Good of All

Lake Karapiro in Cambridge is the headquarters for Rowing New Zealand’s centralized training programme which has produced “one of the strongest rowing squads in the world” on a budget…

#99 International Kiwi Role Model

Edge Message #99 from Brian Sweeney,…

Kosher in Canterbury

Christchurch is visited by some 20,000 Israeli backpackers annually, and to cater for these numbers, the city will soon be home to New Zealand’s first kosher restaurant. Rabbi Mendy…

Oliver the Oxonian

Former Highlander Anton Oliver, 32, will play the last rugby matches of his career at Oxford University while he studies for an MSc in Biodiversity, Environment and Management. Oliver,…

NZ Pop’s Work Permit

Auckland band Ruby Suns has the UK press “salivating” over its latest guitar-pop album Sea Lion, with other acts like the Brunettes, Connan and the Mockasins…

Out of the Shade

Sir Richard Hadlee and his father, Walter are probably one of the most successful father-son sporting combinations according to the Guardian’s Will Buckley, but this son doesn’t want…

An Intelligence Question

James Flynn, Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the University of  Otago and moral philosopher, says human intelligence has improved over the last century, rather than declined as was…

Union Commute

First five-eighth and fullback Aucklander Nick Evans has signed a three-year contract with English side the Harlequins for the 2008-2009 Guinness Premiership season. Considered the high-quality understudy to Daniel…

Cattle for Capital

New Zealand dairy farmers are benefiting from a worldwide demand for milk and cheese with Fonterra Cooperative Group members promised big payouts for their efforts this year. Never before…

Royal Interlude

Filmmaker Andrew Adamson’s Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, shot in New Zealand, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia, has been released worldwide. The release comes just before Adamson takes a…

Geometric on the Bay

The 1931 Napier earthquake devastated the Hawkes Bay region, but two years later Napier was rebuilt and an Art Deco masterpiece. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Rebecca Lancashire pays a…

Safety in Cyber-space

New Zealand-designed educational software Hector’s World, which teaches children about the dangers of online aedophiles with cartoons, has been launched at St Vincent de Paul RC Primary School, in…

For the Whales

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, 19, has joined the Save the Whales Campaign and is urging the New Zealand government to reject Japan’s proposal to resume commercial whaling in its waters…

Economic Hardware

In 1949, New Zealand engineer and economist Professor William “Bill” Phillips astonished the London School of Economics revealing his “do-it-yourself” creation: an analogue computer model of the workings of…

Weathering the Storm

Rotorua-born and Ruatoria-raised political campaigner and artist Tame Iti has the leading role in a Europe-bound performance based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Iti will perform in Tempest II with…

Comedic Eclecticism

Flight of the Conchords have “a gift of genre-blending that makes even David Bowie’s efforts pale in comparison,” writes London Time Out. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie shift comfortably…

The Highest of Achievers

Colin Murdoch, inventor, pharmacist and self-taught engineer, a man who designed something the world could not do without, has died in Timaru, aged 79. Murdoch led an extraordinary life;…

Debating the Warrior Gene

The Mongrel Mob feature in an episode of BAFTA award-winning BBC documentary Ross Kemp on Gangs, in which Kemp explores the history of the gang, formed in Hastings in…

Berkett Settles In

Neil Berkett is eight weeks into his role as chief executive at Virgin Media and already has battle scars. Actually, he explains in an interview with Sunday Times reporter…

Oram Fit for Lords

Palmerston North Black Caps all-rounder Jacob Oram, 29, has recovered from stress-related injury and is braced for the first Test against England at Lords on May 15. Oram’s economy rate of…

Trailer: Second Hand Wedding

The trailer for the New Zealand film, Second Hand Wedding.

Singer Performs on Ice

New Zealand singer/songwriter, Mihirangi has returned from a trip to Antarctica where she filmed a video for her latest single No War. “They put me on this iceberg all…

Breathing Clean Air

New Zealand is a haven for environmental refugees and in this BBC World Service programme, one of six in the Global Perspective documentary series, four immigrants discuss their new…

#98 Queen Remembers Sir Ed

Edge Message #98 from Brian Sweeney,…

Paquin in beautiful 100

Academy-Award winner Anna Paquin, 25, features on US Men’s magazine Maxim’s 2008 Hot 100, the “ultimate list of the world’s most beautiful women.” At number 50, Paquin is described…

Chopped, but Not Out

New Zealander Mark Simmons, 29, a sous chef at New York restaurant Public and until recently a contestant on popular reality show Top Chef, wants to open his own…

Reed Races for US

Palmerston North-born Matt Reed is 6-foot-5 and the world’s tallest triathelete. Two weeks ago Reed, 32, won the US men’s team trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and secured a place…

War and Peace

I start this blog on a Friday night in mid April and I’ve not long pulled into the homestead at Waiohiki after…

Exploring the Lab

New Zealand is where the revolution will happen and a “perfect place for an ideas summit,” writes journalist Craig Sherborne in an essay entitled ‘Not…