Mother of gore
Peter Jackson’s 1992 zombie horror Braindead — released as Dead Alive in the United States — is, according to the Tri-City Herald’s Ed Robertson, “unless someone has video of the Normandy invasion lying around,…
March 2009 Archives
Small With Might
14 March 2009 – In an unprecedented move, Lincoln University, New Zealand’s smallest with just 2,600 full-time students and 610 staff, will merge with government-owned AgResearch “in order to capitalise on the institutions’ strengths and deliver more…
Accent on Mr Big
Auckland University of Technology language expert Andy Gibson says Australian actor Matthew Newton, who plays New Zealand drug lord Terry Clark in the series Underbelly, is using “fush and chup” vowels where real New…
Marlin mayhem
Weymouth-raised stunt fisherman Matt Watson — who famously dove from a helicopter onto the back of a cruising marlin in the Pacific Ocean wrestling the giant fish to the surface before finally letting it…
Taste the Day
Cloudy Bay winemaker Tim Heath is putting a “sense of glass”. Heath – a tall, athletically…
Commonwealth win
Auckland author Mo Zhi Hong has won Best First Book Prize for South East Asia and the South Pacific at the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2009 in London for his debut novel The Year of…
Wing on a Current
Queenstown BASE jumper and cameraman Chuck Berry, famed for the longest unassisted ‘wingsuit’ flight, has leapt off the top of Terror Peak in Milford Stand once again with wings “turning a nine-second freefall into…
Down but not out
Sir Bob Charles and US amateur champion Danny Lee, 18, were amongst the line-up at the New Zealand Open, with Charles, “believed to be the oldest golfer to make the cut on any of…
Art for all times
Contemporary Pacific art exhibition Le Folauga is showing at Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts until April 5. Le Folauga features a representative sample of the best artwork being created in New Zealand by…
Memorial at Shore’s Edge
Missing Warriors rugby league player Sonny Fai, 20, is remembered with wreaths and garlands at a memorial on Te Henga, Bethells Beach, in Auckland, a poignant image included in a Los Angeles Times photo…
Barbie The Muse
New Zealand fashion designer Karen Walker has recreated several outfits from her Autumn Winter ’09 collection ‘she’s cracked’ to dress Barbie in celebration of the iconic doll’s 50th anniversary. The ensembles include a bronze…
Victorian Mod-Cons
Greytown in the Wairarapa – population 2001 and New Zealand’s first planned town – is definitely worth a visit writes the WA Today’s Kate Duthie, a town not unlike Berry, on the NSW South…
Scaling nature
New Zealander Paul McCathie is a former arborist who in 2005 founded Goodleaf Tree Climbing Adventures on the Isle Of Wight. McCathie “works with only one tree, a 60ft ancient oak, and in two…
New Black Cap
Newly-appointed Black Caps manager Dave Currie – chef de mission of the New Zealand team for the 2004 and 2008 Olympics campaigns and the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games – has worn many hats…
Tough Guy Mourned
Auckland talent agent and former professional wrestler Robert Bruce has died, aged 65. The Scottish-born villain could enrage the crowd with a mere facial expression. Such were his talents and wrestling style, which saw…
French’s Heaven
It was love at first sight for comedienne Dawn French when she landed on New Zealand’s North Island, falling for a “peaceful, unspoilt and friendly” country that reminded her of Scotland, only warmer. French…
Key Looks Ahead
6 March 2009 – The idea of growing a nation out of recession by improving productivity puts Prime Minister John Key and his conservative National Party at odds with Washington, Tokyo and Canberra writes…
Natasha Likes It
Natasha Bedingfield, 27, the UK singer who has sold over ten million records, is currently back in New Zealand — the birthplace of her parents — finding inspiration for her next album, which she…
A Classical Reaction
Waitakere City has been using classical music to deter vandals and loitering youth, driving them away from a local transit hub with remarkable success. Bob Harvey, mayor of Waitakere, says there has been no…
Fantasy Land
ABC’s new series, Legend of the Seeker, is being filmed in New Zealand, taking advantage of the surreal midland setting. “They have a real respect for nature,”says the shows star, Bridget Regan. “We film…
The News with an Accent
Working as a presenter for BBC World news, Taranaki native Lucy Hockings says her New Zealand accent “is a good reflection of the newsroom, which is very international.” When she became a presenter for…
Link Rethink
A Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences study has found that alcohol abuse may increase the risk of depression, instead of the other way around as was previously thought. This new study included…
A personal charm
Hermann Seifried was laughed at when he arrived on the South Island 40 years ago, looking to make wine. Today, he is the proud owner of an outstanding winery, and the father of an…
Call to arms
Actor Sam Neill, one of the stars of New Zealand/British film Dean Spanley, has told Prime Minister John Key at the premier of the film that: “George Bush declared war on an emotion, a…
Dishwashing debut
Founder of Ecostore Aucklander Malcolm Rands has put his household cleaning product range on the shelves in U.S. chain Meijer Inc.’s 185 stores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Rands wants to move…
Big Easy Baller
Auckland local Sean Marks is enjoying regular playing time on the New Orleans Hornets, one of America’s top basketball teams. Recently interviewed by InsiderHoops.com, Marks describes how he grew up in a markedly different…
Girls Don’t Cry
Stuntwoman Zoë Bell, 30, often found it easier to “brawl than bawl” when filming online series Angel of Death, in which she plays assassin Eve. Bell had to display both action and acting chops….
Marvelous Middleditch
Sydney-based New Zealander Paul Middleditch, 40, is interviewed about his success as an advertising director in the March issue of Australian Financial Review. “I believe there was a time when advertising was the stuff…
Peter Jackson in action
Six of Peter Jackson’s Oscars quietly share desk space with a grasshopper model from James and the Giant Peach, a Lancaster Bomber, a cardboard replica of Thunderbird One, and piles of toy soldiers. “I…
Time has flown
Auckland watchmaker Malcolm Campbell of Timeshop Watch Repairs, who has been in business in a two metre square Lorne Street premises for almost twenty-two years, is now to retire. Campbell told the ABC’s Kerri…
