Archive >> November 2010

Breaking the NY ice

Actor and comedian Jemaine Clement recently made an appearance at the opening of sporting apparel line Icebreaker’s new Manhattan store. Examiner.com wrote: “While the staff was getting ready for…

Awesome US deal

Auckland hip-hop talent David Dallas, formerly known as Con Psy, has partnered with American label Duck Down Records in a publishing, distributing, and marketing deal. The half-Samoan artist reached…

Underground Stars

“The world renowned Waitomo Glowworm Caves should be high on any visitor’s wish-list,” recommends Monsters & Critic’s writer Jennie Radue. “The most obvious difference between the Waitomo Glowworm and…

Record steam

Aucklander Simon Janson’s “pretty amazing” steam-powered record player is reviewed by gadgets and gizmos blog site Techabob. “Janson mated steam-power with an Arduino processor. The engine was cobbled together…

The Topp Twins: Baby I Think I Love You

The Topp Twins perform Baby I Think I Love You from their album, Grass Highway.

Holiday Seclusion

New Zealander Amanda Jones writes for the Los Angeles Times about the bach, “purportedly evoking ‘bachelor pad,’ although this typically refers to their condition and not the marital status…

Inquiry for Pike River mine

A Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine the causes of the tragic explosion as well as the safety practices at the Pike River mine has been confirmed. “I think…

Passionate About Food

Wellington is New Zealand’s “culinary epicentre” according to the Los Angeles Times’ Laura Fraser, a city which “gazes out to the Mediterranean” for inspiration. “We’ve got a country with…

Carter’s kick to history

All Blacks first-five Dan Carter kicked himself into the history books as the record points scorer in the history of Test match rugby on Sunday morning as New Zealand…

Ink star in town

New Zealand tattooist and star of Hollywood reality show LA Ink Dan Smith, 3, got his first tattoo in the kitchen of a house of a few friends…

Adventure Shared

Bachelorette’s second full-length release My Electric Family is reviewed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by David Bowling, who writes that Alpers has “a mind that doesn’t work like the normal…

Rural Studies Merge

Lincoln University, New Zealand’s smallest university, is to merge with Telford Rural Polytechnic, both institutions specialists in the rural sector. Lincoln has about 27 full-time students, including some 7…

Trophy for Team NZ

Dean Barker has led Emirates Team New Zealand to victory over defending America’s Cup champion BMW Oracle Racing winning the 21 Louis Vuitton Trophy. The final in Dubai marked…

First light treks

New Zealander Reg Kaa, 46, and wife Dutch-born Jacqui Kaa, 39, run Eastender Horse Treks in Rangitukia. Their most popular route is a two-hour circuit along the isolated Rangitukia…

Peterborough-honoured

Papakowhai-based Revd Alison Pitts will be awarded the title of Distinguished officer of Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) Council in New Zealand at the RSCM awards to be…

String release

The New Zealand String Quartet has recorded an album of Asian composers in St Anne’s Church, Toronto. The ensemble’s fifth disc for the label Naxos includes Tan Dun’s Eight…

Distinctive Edginess

Unnerved: The New Zealand Project, an exhibition of 26 contemporary local artists in various media, including photography, sculpture, video, painting and installation has opened at the National Gallery of…

What a scream

Promotional photographs of actress Anna Paquin in the fourth instalment of the Scream series have just been released in the United States, with the film due to hit American…

U2 pay tribute

The 29 men who perished in the Pike River coal mine tragedy were honoured during the song One Tree Hill at the November 27 U2 concert, with their names…

Nation in Mourning

PM John Key declared that New Zealand was a “nation in mourning” after the deaths of 29 miners in explosions in the Pike River coal mine. “New Zealand is…

General Ovations for Liddell

General Motors CEO Dan Ackerson and Vice-Chairman and CFO Chris Liddell (center, at the New York Stock Exchange listing) received standing ovations from the trading floors of JP Morgan…

Varvoom goes live

New Zealand’s first lesbian dating and social networking website, Varvoom, is now live. Varvoom.com is a place where lesbians can connect with each other in a relaxed, fun…

Animating beauty

University of Canterbury philosophy lecturer Denis Dutton has collaborated with TEDTalks and animator Andrew Park creating a video illustrating the provocative argument about beauty — that…

Trailer: My Wedding and Other Secrets

The trailer for My Wedding and Other Secrets – a romantic comedy with a Kiwi-Asian twist.

Native Methuselah

“The animal that may well be New Zealand’s most bizarrely instructive species at first glance looks surprisingly humdrum,” writes The New York Times’ Natalie Angier. “The tuatara — whose…

Drawn to the horizon

It is the lot of New Zealanders to be peripatetic, says author Lloyd Jones, 55, in an interview with the Independent on Sunday’s James Kidd in Streatham, south London….

Paradigm shift

“New Zealand is very much within the US ‘Sphere of Influence” and Clinton just confirmed it by signing the high-profile Wellington Declaration,” Balaji Chandramohan writes for the Diplomatic…

Beware the shy crook

“It does not pay to be a shy criminal in New Zealand,” Tim Dick writes in an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald. “On this side of the…

Open for Business

The first of New Zealand’s ‘Great Rides’, the 64km St James Cycle Trail, has been opened by the Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson. This section is the first fully…

Acclaim for debut

Hastings-born author Alison Wong’s debut novel As the Earth Turns Silver, which won the 29 Janet Frame Award for Fiction and the Fiction Award winner at the 21 New…

Death of an Iron Man

All Black prop Johnny Simpson, who played 33 matches including nine Tests for New Zealand in the late 1940s, has died in Wellington, aged 88. Know as the “Iron…

Help from Afar

A conservation awareness “Kakapo Parrot Day” event in Greenwich, Conneticut organised by a local teenager keen to help with the endangered bird’s survival will be held on December 11….

New face of Milky Bar

Hinetaapora Short, 8, from Rotorua is the world’s first female Milky Bar Kid, beating more than 15 entries in a nation-wide search scoring the highest percentage of more than…

Iconic competition

Northland builder Iain Cathcart’s Hobbit-inspired letterbox has been named the quirkiest in the country in a competition run by Kaukapakapa nursery owners David and Geraldine Bayly. The concrete sculpture…

In-tents Experience

The Auckland Theatre Company performance of Cabaret is praised by Los Angeles Times blogger Christopher Smith, who writes that company director and actor Michael Hurst is “fortunate to have…

Better with age

The “exceptional player” Brad Thorn is set to earn his 5th cap for New Zealand against Wales at Cardiff on November 28, after missing the last game due to…

Record Goldie Sale

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has sold one of the finest paintings by renowned New Zealand artist Charles Goldie for the record price of $573, at Auckland’s International Art Centre….

Sea-life haven

“This is Kaikoura: and it’s paradise,” Kip Brook writes for the International Business Times. “It’s just two hours’ drive from Christchurch international airport and is one of the most…

Trailer: The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell

The trailer for The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell, featuring Robyn Malcolm.

FBI role for Curtis

Actor Cliff Curtis, 42, takes on the role of a top forensic consultant for the FBI in the ABC Dana Delany-led midseason drama Body of Proof. Rotorua-born Curtis —…

Portable cooler mayhem

Daredevils attached to a wheelchair, a scooter and skis leapt from a plane in the skies over Matamata in November launching the 211 Nitro Circus Live New Zealand Tour….

Bric-a-brac lucky

A painting bought for $5 at a Northland flea market is expected to sell for more than $2, at an auction to be held at Aesthete Gallery in Hamilton…

Structural winnings

The Supreme Court of New Zealand in Wellington, designed by New Zealand-based Warren & Mahoney and completed in 29, has won the Institution of Structural Engineers Structural Award in…

In the whanau

Producers of smash hit film Boy Ainsley Gardiner and Cliff Curtis took the independent producers of the year kudo at the New Zealand’s Screen Production and Development Agency…

Conchord revival

The Flight of the Conchords are in discussion to bring a live version of the cult television series to Australia and New Zealand next year. US comedian Arj Barker,…

There is such a thing

New Zealand dairy company Fonterra has created a new yoghurt tailored for men, filled with fruit, seeds, grains and barley, under the brand name Mammoth Supply Co. Its marketing…

Leap over loveliness

Crammed in a small plane nearing 4m above the “gorgeously rustic” Bay of Islands, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Steve McKenna is about to throw himself out into the blue….

Kiwis in a League of their own

The Kiwis took an exhilarating victory from the Kangaroos at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, winning the Rugby League Four Nations by four points in the game’s final minutes (with a…

Honour the Past, Enjoy the Present, Prepare for the Future

I love this time of the year in Hawke’s Bay, although it’s been a little bit different than usual weatherwise. I don’t know if these are natural portents of…

And How Beautiful

“One stunning image outdoes another in the hurtling, circling, swooping cinematography of Ben Seresin, a New Zealander whose palette is restrained but never suppressed,” the Wall Street Journal’s Joe…

Impressive on Wheels

A New Zealand mountain biking trip features in the extras of Canadian adventure documentary DVD release, Follow Me, which is paired with a slide show by New Zealander Caleb…

New Asian markets

Owner of Marlborough’s Forrest Estate Winery John Forrest was recently in Seoul, South Korea studying the local market, attending a wine fair, and introducing products to Korean consumers, buyers…

Simple literary lines

The New Zealand Book Council is running an advertisement in cinemas throughout the country with a simple message: “Go home, and read a book.” The ad, which rolls after…

Factory opening in US

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra is taking on the tenancy of the Heartland Corporate Center in Shorewood, Illinois. Fonterra’s products will come to the United States from New Zealand…

Pago Pago challenge

Fletcher Construction of New Zealand has been awarded a US$7 million contract for the replacement of 33 homes destroyed in last year’s 8. earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa….

Sons change codes

The sons of former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan and ex-All Blacks skipper Tana Umaga have chosen to play league rather than pursue representative careers in union. Matt McGahan, 17,…