Archive >> October 2010

Gud on youse

In an article entitled: ‘Culubrating thu daggiest ick-cent of all’ Clare Barry writes for The Age: “Back in the ‘7s, when John Clarke called himself Fred Dagg and got…

Lost in Times Square

Auckland model Zippora Seven, 19, features in an Oyster Magazine fashion spread shot in New York. Fashion blog Dope Ambition describes the shoot: “Seven wanders the streets of Times…

Chunder Champs

Rotorua was the host of this year’s Singlespeed World Championships (SSWC) held over Labour Weekend with some 9 competitors clad in fancy dress riding mountain bikes over the 4km…

Eerie Compulsion

Lloyd Jones’ latest novel Hand Me Down World is reviewed in the Financial Times. Hand Me Down World, about an illegal immigrant who makes her way from Tunis to…

Most compelling on earth

“If there’s been a bad New Zealand side over the years, I must have missed it,” the Telegraph’s Paul Ackford writes, admitting to being “consumed by the All Blacks”….

Auckland comparisons

“Travellers from Vancouver disembarking in Auckland will feel instantly at home,” Alan Ferguson writes for The Vancouver Sun. “The city’s temperate climate, its easy access to the coast and…

Ottolenghi likes manuka

New Zealand manuka honey is combined with walnuts and added to a radicchio, pecorino fiore sardo and lentil salad created by the high-profile London-based Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi for…

Wired for drive

Auckland UniServices has launched a technology allowing cars to charge wirelessly, employing the same technology used to charge electric toothbrushes. The company behind the technology, called HaloIPT, is a…

Sci-fi Artistic Wonder

To be released in November, art book White Cloud Worlds showcases a never-before seen collection of science fiction and fantasy artwork from New Zealand, “home to Weta Workshop, and…

Super Contract for Tony

Former New Zealand international utility player Motu Tony, 29, has signed with UK Super League club Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. Samoan-born Tony has had spells with rugby union clubs Hull…

Big Man in Front

Hawke’s Bay prop Clint Newland, 3, has signed a three-month deal with Irish side Leinster. “He’s a big man,” Leinster coach Joe Schmidt said. “He’s 6ft 3ins, 130 kilos,…

Ballet Appointment

The Royal New Zealand Ballet has appointed American dancer Ethan Stiefel, 37, as artistic director of the company. Stiefel, who assumes the role in 211, will be taking over…

Holiday hero

Hamilton sergeant Murray Stapp has received a bravery award from the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, after a July 28 arrest of an armed man who had…

On the Astral Express

Sailing legend Aucklander Graeme Kendall, 63, has completed a 51,856km solo round-the-world voyage, including the first ever non-stop solo passage through the Arctic Northwest Passage, sailing the 37km over…

Age of Now

Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Worldwide and nzedge.com co-founder Kevin Roberts appeared on US financial and business news channel Bloomberg. In a 14-minute interview with Pimm Fox, Roberts talks…

Tasmanian tiger hunt

Actor Sam Neill stars alongside Willem Dafoe and Frances O’Connor in the Australian psychological thriller The Hunter which began production in Tasmania in late October. The Daniel Nettheim-directed film,…

Sharing the wave

North Otago’s Waitaki District has been chosen as Nevada’s Douglas County sister community. One borders the South Pacific, and the other sits in the Great Basin. One calls August…

Simply affordable

Earlier this year, director of Auckland-based S3 Architects Limited Stephen Smith won a Department of Building and Housing competition challenging entrants to come up with a design for a…

Rocking good chat

Juice TV presenter Scotty Rocker, 3, host of the Rocker’s Hell show interviewed American popstar and 29 American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert who was in New Zealand in…

Hobbit gets greenlighted

Film industry labour issues between actors and producers were among the elements that triggered a month long crisis in Peter Jackson’s production of The Hobbit, solved only by the…

Transparency reigns

New Zealand has tied with Denmark and Singapore for first place as the world’s least corrupt governments and public sectors, according to watchdog group Transparency International (TI). Finland, Sweden,…

Bindi on at Pataka

Porirua’s Pataka Museum of Arts & Culture is currently holding “Bindi — The Indian Dot” exhibition, which will continue through November 14. Applauding Pataka for holding an art…

Song for consolation

Christchurch-born singer Hayley Westenra, 23, performed Taiwan on November 1 as part of her 21 Asian tour. Westenra, sang Amazing Grace at a press conference in Taipei as a…

Classic Q for Finn

Neil Finn, 52, earned a Classic Songwriter Award at the Q Awards 21 held in London at Grosvenor House on October 25. He was presented with the award by…

On the Cusp of History

Could the current All Blacks squad be the finest of all time? Scotland on Sunday sports columnist Iain Morrison thinks so writing that “their success over the years in…

Finding Jean Batten

New Zealand writer Ian Mackersey’s 1991 biography of aviatrix Jean Batten is reviewed by Joseph May on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Readers Blog page. “In [Jean Batten: Garbo of the…

Hospitable angles

“Inspired by the nearby Remarkables and Bob’s Peak, architects incorporated intriguing roof angles into a low-line structure housing just 19 rooms, including a fabulous two-level…

Southern Surprises

Southern surprises “The Chatham Islands off the coast of New Zealand offer a unique ecology rich with opportunities to discover plants and birds that live nowhere else,” American horticulturist Daniel…

English Physicality

New Zealand striker Greg Draper, who is currently under contract with Hampshire team Basingstoke Town, “has had a big hand in recent good form, finding the back…

Californian Appointment

Aucklander Brian Kelly has been appointed president-designee at Life Chiropractic College West in San Lorenzo, California. Kelly owned a chiropractic practice in Melbourne for over a decade before being…

Intimate Sophistication

Wanaka’s Whare Kea is included in a Forbes’ list of the ‘World’s Top Microboutique Hotels’. “Whare Kea means ‘house of the kea’ in Maori — the kea being the…

Unforgettable sights

“New Zealand is no single thing, stretched as it is across 1 miles in the Roaring Forties, from businesslike Auckland in the north to the uninhabited, penguin-covered Snares Islands…

In pencil at Rare Device

Wellington-based artist Sarah McNeil is presenting new work at San Francisco’s design store and gallery Rare Device in an exhibition entitled, ‘Eighteen Twenty Three’, from November 5 through November…

Christmas in the UK

Comedian Jarred Christmas is in the UK touring his show, Jarred Christmas Stands Up. Christmas reveals he cannot get enough of the UK’s comedy scene. “The crowds over here…

Positive Food Experience

Pupils at East Tamaki Primary, Meadowbank Primary and Peninsula Primary schools are learning to grow and harvest fruit and vegetables with the help of the Garden to Table Trust…

Cruel to be kind

The Christchurch-based Rare Breeds Conservation Society is aiming to save the critically endangered Arapawa Island boar by killing two of the pigs and extracting semen for later research. Head…

L&P: Nothing Much

There’s nothing much like L&P when you’re doing nothing much.

Political management

Policy analyst Luke Malpass, who is based in Sydney where he works for the Centre for Independent Studies, claims that New Zealand is in the midst of a “great…

Waving the flag

Wellington-born singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser’s third album Flags is reviewed by Birmingham, Alabama university magazine The Samford Crimson. Reviewer Matt Davidson describes the album as “unlike any other Fraser has…

Te Reo Quandary

Justice Joe Williams who is chairing an inquiry by the Waitangi Tribunal says the Maori language is in “crisis” and only urgent action will halt its decline. As…

Dangerous embrace

Auckland musician Zowie (born Zoe Fleury) made the best fashion statement of the day when performing at the opening of New York’s CMJ Music Marathon in October, proclaimed New…

Market reforms pay off

Korea should follow the example of New Zealand farmers Special Agricultural Trade Envoy Alistair Polson tells the Korea JoongAng Daily on a recent visit to Seoul to meet Korean…

Rugby Takes Off in US

New Zealander Craig Knight is the recruiting co-chairman of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Rugby Club and tells the University’s student newspaper that he initially expected American rugby…

Professional Profile

Hamilton-born professional triathlete Keegan Williams, 3, is profiled by online triathlon magazine Slowtwitch. Perhaps the best sign Williams might yet follow in the footsteps of legendary New Zealand ironman…

Commonwealth Games 2010: Silver Ferns Win Netball Final

The Silver Ferns win the netball final of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Releasing the writer

“It’s a weird thing to call yourself a ‘writer’ before you’ve written anything that others have read,” Lower Hutt-raised Eleanor Catton, 25, tells the Calgary Herald. “I’m not sure…

Urban takes lessons

“Like it or not, I’ve become a global citizen,” Auckland actor Karl Urban tells The Kansas City Star. “The challenge is to maintain your cultural identity, especially back in…

Seeing some girls

Lord of the Rings stars Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Elijah Wood discuss their time spent in New Zealand working on the trilogy 11 years ago with Entertainment Weekly….

On kissing and reading

Miller’s Flat children’s book author Kyle Mewburn was in Wahpeton, North Dakota, at local schools talking to students about reading and writing. Mewburn’s award-winning 28 book Kiss! Kiss! Yuck!…

Starbucks combo

Wellington-based design company The Formary, have developed a new sustainable textile called “WoJo” which will be used by coffee chain Starbucks for chairs in their stores and unveiled as…

Unanimous decision

“New Zealand’s parliament voted unanimously in September to pass the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act (CERRA), which gives government ministers the power to override almost any law in…

Height advantage

A study of 2 children undertaken by researchers at New Zealand’s Liggins Institute has found individuals conceived using a certain In Vitro Fertilisation technique were several centimetres taller, by…

Felapau in Botswana

New Zealander David Felapau has been appointed chief executive officer of the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC). Felapau began his agricultural career in New Zealand working on sheep and beef…

Unmistakable humour

Comedian Rhys Darby, 36, has an “unmistakable” voice, retaining his “thick New Zealand accent despite increasingly frequent roles in Hollywood films,” The Sydney Morning Herald’s Kylie Northover writes in…

In Memory of a Mother

Auckland weightlifter Stanislav Chalaev won a silver medal in the under-15kg class at the 21 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Russian-born Chalaev lifted 15kg in the snatch and 184kg in…

Strength in Numbers

Shot put champion Valerie Adams took gold in Delhi with a winning throw of 2.47m and her coach Didier Poppe predicts Adams is capable of yet another metre. She…