Drilling for Silence
Seventy scientists from around the world will gather in Gisborne from 1-5 August to discuss proposals to study “silent” earthquakes by drilling into the seabed. Silent quakes, also known as slow slip events, occur…
July 2011 Archives
Ensuring World Nourishment
With a rapidly growing world population New Zealand has a key role in ensuring food security and safety for future generations, according to Mark Ward, general manager of Massey University’s The Riddet Institute, which…
Running Them Ragged
“New Zealand produced a dazzling display to run South Africa ragged in an emphatic Tri Nations victory at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium,” reported England’s Daily Mail. The All Blacks crushed the Spring Boks 4-7, with…
Jango Fett Has a Ball
Actor Temuera Morrison surprised Rotorua high school students recently when he made an appearance at their Star Wars-themed ball. According to the New Zealand Herald Morrison — who played bounty hunter Jango Fett in…
Huhu Animates the Edible
Auckland animation company Huhu Studios has signed a multi-million dollar deal to produce six all-new direct-to-video episodes of popular children’s show VeggieTales for America’s Big Idea Entertainment studio. Founder and CEO of Huhu Trevor…
Soprano in the Scrum
New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra has been snapped with a number of burly rugby players, after she was named as the official voice of the Rugby World Cup for audiences in the UK. Westenra’s…
Californian Upset
New Zealand No 1 Marina Erakovic stunned top-seeded and defending champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 at the Stanford Classic in California to reach her second quarterfinal of the year. The 23-year-old…
Love Song to Opera House
New Zealanders musician Neil Finn and opera star Teddy Tahu Rhodes have been included in a line-up of artists chosen to perform sections of Nick Cave’s classic The Ship’s Song for a Sydney Opera…
New Zealand in Vogue
New Zealand is known for its edgy fashion exports such as Kate Sylvester and Zambesi, but a retrospective exhibition on now at Te Papa reveals a lesser known secret: the land of the long…
Farmyard Cancer Link
Researchers from Massey University in Wellington have found that growing up on a farm is linked to an increased risk of developing blood cancer later in life. The academics studied the death certificates of…
Auckland’s Top Five
“ city’s charming, walkable neighbourhoods offer distinct architectural styles and settings, from the iconic clock tower at the University of Auckland, to the Victorian houses backing up to lush Albert Park, with its fig…
Live Action at Comic-Con
Animation/motion-capture combination enabled Steven Spielberg to ‘step in and film like a live-action film’, said Peter Jackson at Comic-Con, who was a surprise guest at…
Grass and Seeds
Wellington reggae-soul group The Black Seeds played at the Australian music festival Splendour in the Grass at Woodford in Queensland on 29 July; keyboardist Nigel Patterson was interviewed ahead of the gig by the…
Sailing World Champion
Tauranga sailor Sam Meech has won the Laser Standard Youth World Championships in La Rochelle, France. Of 12 races sailed in the world championship, Meech won eight and finished second in another three. In…
In Love With His TV
Chief executive of Virgin Media New Zealander Neil Berkett has been placed at number 52 on the MediaGuardian annual top 1 guide to the most powerful people in television, radio, newspapers, magazines, digital media,…
Curing the Post-Tour Blues
New Zealand musician Liam Finn admits that on the back of tours around the world with Pearl Jam, The Black Keys and Wilco, he was cast adrift by his sudden sea change. “I didn’t…
Adventurous Disguise
New Zealand designer Karen Walker’s sunglasses line — her “newest collection rang from some seriously oversized, rounded mad-scientist-type specs to something that looks like a more stylized, larger pair of Wayfarers” —…
From Heights in Heels
One of the most sought-after stuntwomen in Hollywood, New Zealander Zoe Bell crashes through glass, slams into book cases and leaps from tall buildings. She has done stunts on more than 2 films and…
Beijing as Seen Like a Local
Auckland University of Technology media graduate Kim Bowden, who is currently working for three months as an intern at China Daily.com in Beijing, writes about the benefits of getting about the city on bicycle….
Return to Kapiti
Sixty-nine years after he survived a fatal landing exercise off Paekakariki Beach, former marine American Frank Zalot plans to travel to New Zealand in 212 for a commemoration of American servicemen stationed here in…
Time For a Change
Tiger Woods says goodbye to long-time caddie Steve Williams after twelve years, 13 majors and 72 tournament wins. Woods and Williams, have been together since 1999. “I want to express my deepest…
Pioneering MP
Whetu Trikatene-Sullivan, New Zealand’s longest serving female MP has died in Wellington, aged 79. Trikatene-Sullivan, of Ngai Tahu, was Labour MP for Southern Maori for 29 years, from 1967 till 1996. She famously travelled…
Talent Spotting Down Under
“There’s a lot of incredibly talented people in New Zealand,” legendary American venture capitalist Peter Thiel told the New Zealand Herald recently. “You look around and you see the small businesses and it’s very…
#136: International Velvet
Edge Message #136 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM | New York City NZEDGE.COM publishes daily on Facebook and Twitter. This newsletter…
Violent Realism
Wellington-born director Lee Tamahori insists that his scripts are already dripping with violence when he gets them. His latest movie, The Devil’s Double tells the story of Latif Yahia, an Iraqi military officer who…
Holy Grail of Inspiration
Auckland-based online fashion diarist Marcella of Fashion Distraction tells trend-spotting site StyleCaster about her inspirations and icons, and gives advice to the would-be style blogger. StyleCaster reporter Kelly Mullins writes: “Coming across…
Back to the Place He Loves
Los Angeles is losing one of the greatest living jazz pianists, and a composer-orchestrator who has few peers, if any, New Zealand native Alan Broadbent. Before Broadbent moves his family to New York this…
Ace Pilot and Farmer
Former Sergeant-Pilot Geoffrey Bryson Fisken, the British Commonwealth’s No. 1 fighter pilot in the Pacific during WW2, has died at age 96 in Rotorua. He had spent much of his postwar years as a…
Cameo Contest Win
Hamilton-born singer Kimbra has won the AU$5, 211 Vanda and Young Songwriting Contest, receiving the honour for her song Cameo Lover ahead of 4 other entries. Now based in Melbourne, Kimbra — real name…
Fluffy Emblem of Hope
An expectant silence hangs over the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Sanctuary as hundreds of spectators await a glimpse of a rare white kiwi, a bird held sacred by Maori, describes The…
Petunia Precedent
A few years back, several New Zealand scientists began tinkering with petunia pigment genes developing biotech varieties with lush dark leaves. The scientists wondered if they could sell their flowers. They wrote to regulators…
Newspaper Man Takes Over
Since joining the Murdoch empire in 1991, native New Zealander Tom Mockridge — former economics editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and now Rebekah Brooks’s replacement as CEO at News International and in charge…
Getting Shirty
The New Zealand Rugby Union says it has no qualms with England wearing a black strip at this year’s Rugby World Cup. The Rugby Football Union said England will wear a black kit in…
Schools of Thought
Auckland’s Macleans College was “a world apart” from Westmont Hilltop High School in the US for trainee teacher Leah Fuller who spent seven weeks on an internship at the Bucklands Beach high school. Many…
Wide Awake and Charged
“It’s a tribute to the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s eclectic, open spirit that, once again, they visit the UK with a programme of work never seen here before,” Guardian reviewer Judith Mackrell writes. “In…
#135: News+New Bio Te Ruki Kawiti, Innovative Warrior
Edge Message #135 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM | From New York NZEDGE.COM publishes daily on Facebook and Twitter. This newsletter presents a selection of…
Dynamic Blair Now a Tiger
New Zealand test forward Whangarei-born Adam Blair, has signed a four-year deal with the West Tigers, to start in the next NRL season. The signing of the Melbourne back-rower/prop has been one of the…
Bear Grylls Eats a Huhu Grub
Man vs. Wild star Bear Grylls eats a Huhu grub to see if they really taste like peanut butter.
Welcome to Limboland
“The once bustling central business district resembles a wasteland,” Jonathan Hutchison reports for The New York Times. “Office furniture can be seen sitting inside partially collapsed buildings. Piles of bricks and steel lie along…
Fattening Up for the Swim
Happy Feet, the lost emperor penguin who turned up alone on Kapiti Coast’s Peka Peka Beach a month ago, has been eating up to 2kg of high-grade salmon each day — funded through donations…
Finding Solitude in the North
New Zealand is American musician Moby’s favourite place on the planet to holiday. “My fear is that every person you talk to is going to give that answer, because New Zealand is so beautiful…
Raiding the Global Pantry
Martha Jeffries, producer/director of New Zealand-made food and travel series World Kitchen is a self-confessed foodie with wanderlust, who had a “very Hutt upbringing”, growing up in Pinehaven and attending Sacred Heart…
Jackson on Location
“Leave it to Peter Jackson to make a Facebook video as thrilling and breathtaking as any of his films,” Entertainment Weekly reporter Aly Semigran writes. “As the Oscar-winning director promised, and New…
Winning Ways in Edmonton
Taupo double Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty has won gold at the Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup. “This course seems to treat me well. I enjoy racing here,” Docherty said. “But the reality is I…
Countryside in Collage
Cruising through New Zealand, marvelling at the breathtaking natural environments that define this country, Savannah artist Laura Adams returned to the US and had an “explosion of creativity”. “I worked non-stop,” Adams said. “It…
Quitting his day job
New Zealand-born Stephen Daisley, winner of Australia’s 211 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, said the AU$8, tax-free prize would finally enable him to quit his weekend job selling second-hand clothes and focus exclusively…
Internationally Eclectic
“The Royal New Zealand Ballet may be based a long way from the main centres of ballet, but the repertory for its UK tour is as international as it is eclectic,” Judith Mackrell writes…
Spirituality Curved in Bone
A selection of “amazingly beautiful” hand-crafted bone carvings from Auckland-based gallery The Bone Art Place feature on American industrial design blog site Core77. “They are soft and warm to the touch yet the finish…
Maori Manuscripts Memorialised
A collection of 19th Century manuscripts written by Maori to record life before the arrival of Europeans has been officially listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World New Zealand register. The collection of 147…
Podium Regular
Classed as the world’s best freeskier, at just 19 Wanaka-born Jossi Wells has already jumped off more mountains and stood on more podiums than most other sportsmen of his age. Wells excels in slopestyle,…
Market Prevails
New Zealand’s stock market, worth a total of around only $48 billion, is one of the world’s best performing this year despite the effects of the Christchurch earthquake, a weak economy and a foreign…
Shot Putting Machine
Auckland 16-year-old Jacko Gill has smashed his own world youth shot put record by nearly half a metre with a throw of 24.35m at the world youth championships in Lille. Gill had three throws…
Sharks on Holidays
Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Department of Conservation (DOC), and University of Auckland have discovered that the great white shark, can travel thousands of kilometres on seasonal migrations,…
D-Day Demons
New Zealand director Paul Campion’s debut feature film The Devil’s Rock is reviewed in the Guardian by Michael Hann. “ attempts to settle the type of question posed by bumptious schoolboys: which would be…
Juicy Japanese Deal Done
Former All Black and television personality Marc Ellis has sold his juice company Charlie’s to Japanese drinks giant Asahi for NZ$129 million. Ellis told the New Zealand Herald the deal would not change him…
