One big break
One of the most influential performing artists agents in the United States will represent Wellington actor Jacob Rajan and his Indian Ink Theatre Company. Agent David Lieberman, a legend in performing arts and festival…
September 2010 Archives
Participant in History
“I am in the midst of a living, pictorial history as it is being etched into our nation’s collective memory and into the core of this unstable but stunning landscape of Canterbury,” Jacqueline Monkman…
Banking on youth
Aucklanders Justin Crooks and Roger Chu have taken New Zealand cuisine to Shanghai, opening Little Huia restaurant on Dagu Lu. “We wanted to create what we believe epitomizes the New Zealand dining experience, being…
Spunky wonky donkey
Queenstown-born children’s author Craig Smith is currently touring Australia promoting his best-selling book Wonky Donkey. Smith began his tour at Hobart Library where a crowd of 5 children danced and clapped as he read…
Patent Challenge
New Zealand patent lawyer Professor Yvonne Cripps, who is now based in London, was recently a guest on the BBC World’s radio programme The Forum discussing the patenting of genes and whether “we really…
Ferns Win Again
The Black Ferns have won their fourth Women’s Rugby World Cup beating England 13-1 at Twickenham Stoop in front of a crowd of 13,253. Guardian sports writer Robert Kitson declared the match “the most…
Otago tourism mined
The Otago Rail Trail is New Zealand’s first dedicated long-distance cycleway, following part of the course of a former railway 15km into Central Otago from Dunedin, and used by some 2, cyclists a year….
Everyday hero
Ray Avery — New Zealander of the Year 21 — is interviewed by Hindustan Times reporter Tithiya Sharma for a series she is undertaking throughout the year profiling 1 “everyday heroes”. In 23, Avery…
Amidst grottos of fern
About 4 walkers, both guided and independent, tramp Fiordland’s Hollyford Track each year. The Australian’s John Borthwick writes that New Zealanders’ “love of hoofing it over hill, dale and scrub, tramping, not rugby, is…
On the Ring of Fire
In the early hours of Saturday, September 4, Christchurch was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale, the same magnitude as that which hit Haiti in January. The quake was shallow,…
Land Apart
Garden editor for the New Zealand House and Garden magazine Gordon Collier was recently in Seattle giving a lecture on the flora and fauna of the remote Chatham Islands. Collier’s illustrated lecture, “A Land…
Not quite themselves
Flight of the Conchords’ stars Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie will make a guest appearance on hit show The Simpsons in the first episode of the new season, Elementary School Musical, to be broadcast…
One of the best
New Zealand’s listed stock exchange NZX has been included in a Forbes list of the 2 ‘Best Under a Billion’ top-performing companies in Asia for the fourth consecutive year. The NZX was listed by…
All the Better for Pero
First the Tall Blacks beat Canada 71-61 at Halkapinar Arena in Izmir, Turkey, and then France 82-7 in the knockout round of the FIBA World Championship. The team now faces Russia (the TBs went…
Will They Be Drinking Their Tea Out of Saucers?
From Wellington to Wagga Wagga it’s Bledislode time again. The All Blacks come to July’s Tri-Nation series against Australia and South Africa with a string of wins under their belts, some less than convincing. They’d better…
A Load Of…?
“Merde is made to be quoted at cocktail parties: ‘Polly, did you know the Maori have 35 different words for faeces?” “Nigel, really!‘”
Oklahoma Appointment
Emma Gresson, originally from Hamilton, has joined The University of Oklahoma rowing staff as an assistant coach. Gresson previously worked with the Orlando, Florida Area Rowing Society (OARS), assisting with the junior girls’ programme…
Carbon trading issues
Three years ago, in anticipation of substantial growth in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets, governments and business groups around the Asia-Pacific region were jockeying to establish a regional hub for carbon trading, including…
Delightfully Posh
Auckland-born fashion designer Emilia Wickstead, 26, talks to the Telegraph’s Samantha Cameron about low-key style and “how to do stealth chic”. Wickstead says: “When I was 14 I moved from New Zealand to Milan,…
Homecoming King
2,500 fans took part in a “low-key” ceremony to honour Peter Jackson and fellow Oscar winners at the Wellington Events Centre. Jackson and co each received a glass goblet to add to their already…
“Urban Cowboy”
Leading NZ actor Karl Urban makes Nylon‘s list of “those most likely to succeed.” The interview reveals a lifelong passion for film and theatre, from amateur play-writing (at age 8) to a string of…
Weta Puts Out Feelers
New York-based Ohio Edit is to represent Weta Digital on the US commercial circuit. Company heads Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor decided that their acclaimed effects house would benefit from small international projects in…
In the footsteps of Frodo
The inevitable spate of Rings-related travel articles continues, with major features in the Scotsman and New York Times. The Scotsman writer – who walked the Tongariro Crossing and Routeburn Track, and sailed Milford …
Good Morning USA From NZ
Wake up! To coincide with the ‘Amazing Race’ visiting New Zealand, roaming New Zealander ambassador of down under adventure, Phil Keoghan, will be staging ‘ Kiwi Week’ on the CBS Early Show….
Kiwis of tomorrow
The prestigious Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) dedicated its short film section – “Leopards of Tomorrow” – to NZ and Australian film-makers. 8 NZ short films were accepted for competition; Cow, The French…
“I’m from New Zealand, I only know about rugby.”
Andrew Adamson, NZ co-creative behind hit movie Shrek, is reportedly confused by the green ogre’s latest claim to fame – as unofficial mascot of the New York Jets. Adamson: “are the Jets baseball or…
Angela Dotchin is the boss-fox
British secret agent / scientist with whom he’s partnered — did someone say “prickly”? Review of Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Hercules) produced new TV show Jack of All Trades.
Alison Maclean In Time Out New York’s “We Told You So” List
20 to watch in 2000: “Film’s drug-subculture genre has been pretty played out lately – really, how many times can you watch an artfully mussed stud or starlet shoot up on screen? But director Alison…
Sam Neill Brings Thomas Jefferson to Life
Growing up in New Zealand, Sam Neill was aware of Thomas Jefferson merely as “writer of the Declaration of Independence, architect, politician, two-time U.S. president and big cheese on Mount Rushmore.” (5February 2)
Distance makes special
New Zealand “is the ideal destination to gain maximum distance from everyday life” describes German magazine Geo in a special edition about this country, which includes stunning photographs of Fiordland, Nugget Point and Hoopers…
“Tramping is a Way of Life in New Zealand”
and we wear grass skirts … Michigan’s mlive.com looks at New Zealand’s “love affair with tramping”, falls for the guide’s gospel, and admires our extensive National Parks system, including ‘the finest walk in the world’: the…
Fleece Fit for a King: Taking on Cashmere
A Spanish king with a penchant for tactile pleasures; a New Zealand farmer with a passion for curly heads; an endangered species shipped across the world; a suave man stepping out of a plane in an…
More Than Tiger’s Caddy
Golf caddy Steve Williams always wanted to carry someone else’s golf clubs, and he ended up carrying them for Tiger Woods. Williams could always see that the golfers he caddied for did well. “I…
Thunking Room
2 page spread in LA style barometer Flaunt for chanteuse Anika Moa, that explores the edge in the angst. “One of the things you will hear throughout Thinking Room is the same melancholy moodiness that infuses…
Urban cowboy
NZ-born Keith Urban was named Best New Artist in US Country Weekly magazine’s 2003 Fan Favourite Awards. More than 65,000 US country fans voted in this year’s poll.(23)
Edge divas
Maori language musician Hinewehi Mohi features in Adventure Divas, a best selling book by US writer/editor turned intrepid documentarian Holly Morris. A few years back Morris traded in her desk job in order to scour the…
South Pacific
“A major new talent destined for greatness”. Samoan Jonathan Lemalu, continues to stun the UK music scene. As well as featuring on the cover of the Sunday Times Magazine, the bass baritone received the Young Artist Award…
Wai 100%: Something Old, Something New
Wai 100% nominated in Asia/Pacific and Innovator categories of the BBC’s World Music Awards. Singer Mina Ripia and producer Maaka McGregor have created a sound described as a “startlingly original combination of the ancient and the…
Edge Quake
Salmonella Dub’s epoynmous DVD reviewed in The Weekend Australian. With a large Australian following and formidable live reputation Elizabeth Coleman finds the Kaikoura dub waves don’t disappoint: “from the animated single Platectonics through to the exhilarating Push…
Home and away
The latest work by acclaimed ex-pat composer Lyell Cresswell is, appropriately enough, about exile. Shadows Without Sun, which premieres with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in mid-December, fuses the voices of a bigoted 19th century Highland preacher and…
Rhombus nices it up
Wellington-based musical collective Rhombus headline at Mullumbimby’s Mullum Music Festival in late November, having this month released their third full-length self-titled album. Initiated in 21, Rhombus presents a seamless blend of hip-hop, soul, funk, dub and bass…
Blue-eyed soul brother
Brit-based Kiwi-born Daniel Bedingfield continues his assault on the U.K pop charts with a second No.1 hit, “If You’re Not the One.” Bedingfield’s album, Gotta Get Thru This, has seen him compared to Craig David and…
Aotearoa Ark
Auckland band Goodshirt get big ups in SMH’s Metro: “irresistibly catchy, clever pop quirk that mixes up the laid-back idiosyncrasies of Pavement with classic melodic pop, new wave and retro synths. It could be too…
On the edge of Country
New Zealand country music star Kylie Harris from Edendale Southland (pop 57), Timaru, Hamilton and Rotorua broadcasts to 34 million US homes daily on leading Nashville cable program On The Edge of…
Girl From Invercargill
“Helen Henderson mines her New Zealand heritage, creating music with a unique blend of folk, rock, blues and country sounds, along with her own provocative “Down Under” attitude.” (Dec 2)
Nuns fly high in Seattle
Seattle Weekly chats with “one of New Zealand’s coolest exports” – David Kilgour of The Clean. Kilgour answers questions on a musical career which spans 20 years; from 1981’s “coughing, cursive, and practically perfect Boodle Boodle Boodle” …
