Archive >> December 2010

A Renaissance Man

“Denis Dutton, a distinguished philosopher, writer and digital-media guru who founded Arts & Letters Daily, one of the first Web sites to exploit the Internet as a vehicle for…

Honoured this year

Golfer Bob Charles, 74, has been made a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), restricted to 2 living New Zealanders, in the New Year Honours. Carterton-born Charles…

Notable Remembered

Hawera-born artist Tim Chadwick is included in an Art Daily “roll call” of “notable people in the Arts and Popular Culture Who Left Us in 21”. Chadwick’s mixed media…

Tintin draws closer

Three new images from the Peter Jackson-produced and Steven Spielberg-directed 3-D motion capture film The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, have just been released online. Secret…

Displaced in New York

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was amongst those present at the annual Christmas night dinner in the baronial Lincoln Center duplex of Sissy and Max Strauss in New York. Each…

New crowd descends

Visitors from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to New Zealand was up 57 per cent in the last eight months, largely driven by UAE tourists, according to…

One big game changer

Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 777-3ER is reviewed by industry publication NYCAviation reporter Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren who takes a detailed tour on board “one of the biggest game changers to…

Winston Reid Injury Time Equaliser

Winston Reid scores the equalising goal of the All Whitesv Slovakia match during the 2010 Football World Cup.

Ginseng dilemma solved

Otago University senior chemistry lecturer Dr Barrie Peake has come up with a way to prove that Wisconsin’s ginseng really does comes from Wisconsin, putting an end to fraud…

New migration findings

New research led by Janet Wilmshurst from Landcare Research, and Atholl Anderson, from the Australian National University has found that New Zealand was colonised by humans more recently —…

Customise Your Cool

Auckland-based One Cool Habitat designs small portable container habitats for use as home offices, studys or sleep outs and ships them around the world. The company’s site…

Part of Camden history

New Zealander Francis Upritchard, 33, is one of 3 artists and designers included in a Camden Arts Centre (CAC) exhibition curated by British artist and Turner prize-winner Simon Starling….

Scenic Rail Journeys

Travelling by train from Wellington to London, BBC journalist Robert Greenall writes that “there are still plenty of good reasons to go by train.” “The joy of ‘slow travel’…

If only in Afghanistan

Hamilton doctor Marc Shaw is the first civilian doctor to be deployed with the New Zealand Defence Force in Afghanistan, recently donning a red suit to play Father Christmas…

Taking on the World

New Zealand quintet  The Naked and Famous have already topped local singles and album charts and now they want to repeat their success globally. They’re off to a blistering…

Pristine Parengarenga

“Somewhere ahead is Parengarenga Harbour on New Zealand’s North Island,” Peter Gosnell writes in an article about a kayak tour for The Daily Telegraph. “Legendary oceanographer Jacques Costeau once…

Stretching Out on High

“In what is being hailed as the most important development in air travel for decades,” Air New Zealand has taken delivery of the world’s first passenger plane with a…

Poisonous Fuming

It is said that those gifted with foresight often observe ‘tohu’, signs, portents of things to come. Recently we have witnessed a raft of missed signals in a range…

Kayaking with Seals

Tauranga winemaker Tim Taylor, 24, has kayaked almost 1km on his attempt to be the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation of New Zealand. Taylor has been travelling…

New Zealand’s X-Files

New Zealand’s military has released hundreds of files, dating from 1954 to 29, detailing claims of sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including New Zealand’s most famous UFO sighting…

Breath of Fresh Air

“It’s an extraordinary place, New Zealand,” British writer and journalist Daniel Hannan writes in a blog for the Telegraph. “Its pure air gets to work on even the most…

Polished Parisian Finish

A simple New Zealand-designed plastic-clip system — originally made for superyachts — held together a recent Parisian exhibition celebrating the 125th anniversary of Italian fashion brand Bvlgari. The fifteen…

Dealing in Cricket

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the USA Cricket Association (USACA) have announced an historic deal that is designed to grow the game exponentially in one of the ICC’s target…

Wright takes up reigns

Former Black Caps test captain and coach of India from 2 to 25, John Wright is the new coach of the New Zealand cricket team, taking over from Mark…

Luscious success

Handmade cosmetics company Lush, which Wellington-born Andrew Gerrie helped found in the UK in 1995, will release chewable toothpaste tablets to help reduce the amount of tubes thrown into…

Camel spotting in UAE

New Zealand couple Thomas Carl Akash and Julie William arrived on bicycles at this year’s Al Dhafra Festival, a camel festival held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Akash…

Lester’s mini Mini

Retired Napier mechanic Lester Atherfold, 67, has transformed his 1964 Mini 85 into an even mini-er Mini trimming the 1ft long British classic car to a mere 7ft 1ins….

Generations Loved Her

New Zealand-born author Ruth Park, who moved to Sydney in 1942 and who was the author of classic Australian books such as The Harp in the South and The…

Looking at the Liberal

Chief executive of the Alcohol Advisory Council Gerard Vaughan says that because New Zealand is a small country, an issue can get on the public agenda quickly and then…

Tickets sales on track

Rugby New Zealand 211 Ltd chief executive Martin Snedden has said that key World Cup match ticket sales and revenue targets had been met in 21. Since the sales…

Sweet Start to Season

Dunedin cyclist Alison Shanks, 28, has won two gold medals at the UCI World Cup in Cali, Colombia at the Alcides Nieto Patiño Velodrome taking first place in the…

Airline alliance

Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue will form an alliance on trans-Tasman routes, after the competition regulator dropped its opposition to the plan. After indicating three months ago that…

Royal Advertising

Shortly after the royal wedding date was announced, Education New Zealand published a quarter-page advertisement in Britain’s The Times newspaper offering Prince William and Kate Middleton’ s first-born child…

Incentive for training

All Black Sonny Bill Williams, 25, will soon step back into the boxing ring for a bout against Australian Scott Lewis on January 29 ahead of the Super rugby…

Sinkhole Record

New Zealander William Trubridge, 3, has set yet another world freediving record descending 1m on a single breath into Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island in the Bahamas beating…

Diamond forever

Auckland couple Cameron and Shariyah Morris have won the title of “The World’s Best Couple” and a 22-carat diamond ring worth $1 million, which was presented by US reality…

Compassion from grief

Emma Woods, whose four-year-old son Nayan was killed by a teen driver who careened onto a footpath after losing control of his modified car, has been named New Zealander…

Sevens trophy for NZ

New Zealand has beaten England in the Sevens World Sevens final 22-19 in South Africa taking the title in extra-time. New Zealand’s captain Aucklander DJ Forbes, 27, said of…

Man of many matches

The International Rugby Board’s player of the year Richie McCaw, 3, “is a hero to many… establish himself as one of rugby’s great players,” The New York Times’ Emma…

Films advancing art

“The most exhilarating show of 2th-century art to be seen in this country right now is by the New Zealand artist Len Lye,” Laura Cummings writes in a Guardian…

Island artscape

Bailey, a full-time artist whose Maori, Irish and Dutch heritage is central to his work is one of more than 1 who make Waiheke Island their home, many of…

Alcatraz role for Neill

Actor Sam Neill has a role in the upcoming Fox pilot series Alcatraz which chronicles the efforts of a team of FBI agents tracking down a group of missing…

Easy on the eye

Auckland’s Eden Park features in green design blog Inhabitat which describes the renovation of the stadium for the 211 World Rugby Cup. “For a century Eden Park has been…

Human Footprints

The effect of early humans on New Zealand forests is being studied by scientists from Montana State University in a project titled “Ecosystem resilience to human impacts: ecological consequences…

World-first treatment

Auckland-based Living Cell Technologies, which is pioneering a world-first treatment for type 1 diabetes using insulin-producing cells grown in pigs, has been approved for sale in Russia. Professor Bob…

Onward to Invercargill

Wellington actor Bret McKenzie will co-star with Australian television and radio personality Hamish Blake in a New Zealand feature film, Two Little Boys, which is due to start filming…

Speedshear fundraiser

Te Kuiti veteran shearing champion David Fagan will join current World Champion Cam Ferguson, 1994 World Champion Alan MacDonald and 1984 World Champion Tom Wilson amongst others…

Classic reimagining

“Reports that Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom will reprise their Lord of the Rings roles in The Hobbit suggest Jackson’s two-part production may be more epic than its…

Benji Bags the Boot

New Zealand Test captain and Wests Tigers star five-eighth Benji Marshall, 25, has won the 21 Rugby League Golden Boot Award. Now in its 25th year, the prestigious award…

Gallantry Cross awarded

Wellington-born Rifleman James McKie, 29, a member of the British Forces, has been presented with the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross at Buckingham Palace. McKie was providing security for a new…

Swell Protection

Nineteen New Zealand top surf breaks will now be officially protected from inappropriate use and development under the revised New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement which came into effect in…

Lifestyle for sale

A Waimauku three-bedroom cedar home on five acres is advertised for sale in a recent New York Times. Priced between $1.2 and 1.4 million, the main house has a…

Gimblett’s workspace

Auckland photographer John Savage and Auckland-born New York painter Max Gimblett have collaborated on a book from Italian art publisher Charta about Gimblett’s studio and home on The Bowery….

Back on the Wards

Auckland-born actor Martin Henderson is profiled by Canadian television station site Global Lethbridge. Henderson, who currently lives in Los Angeles, will soon appear on the American small screen as…

Air New Zealand’s All Blacks Livery

 

Air New Zealand’s  new livery design showing support for the All Blacks in 2011.

Two shorts for Sundance

Two New Zealand short films have been selected for the 27th Sundance Film Festival which runs from January 2 to 3. Both short films are part of a group…