Expert Slams Shakespeare Film

Otago University expert on the works of English playwright William Shakespeare Professor Evelyn Tribble has criticised the film Anonymous — which questions the bard’s authorship of his attributed plays — calling…

Investing for Prosperity

A new study undertaken by global network Kea claims that encouraging expatriate New Zealanders to invest in their home country is the best way to “achieve improved prosperity.” The…

Reflective Energy Efficiency

Auckland’s “sleek” New Zealand Insurance Centre is “one of the city’s most eye-catching and sustainable buildings utilizing energy efficient technology” according to CNN. “Situated on a busy junction, the…

Antipodean McCartneys

Message to My Girl is a “latter-day classic from Split Enz” and “the missing link between I Got You and Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over according to the…

Comeback On Track

“Here he was, in his 50th year, a successful television boss and New Zealand sporting icon embarking on a comeback he hopes will see him end up playing the…

Jaw-dropping Triumph

Player agent New Zealander Tyran Smith, 37, knows he’s set himself a tough benchmark by brokering perhaps the NRL’s most extraordinary contract — a two-year deal worth A$1.7 million…

True Technie Tonic

“Geeks will love the stereoscopic cameras and 3D methods” on Peter Jackson’s fourth video blog and “most people wouldn’t care if it was shot on a hand-held,” according to…

Campion Directs Madmen Star

Wellington-born film director Jane Campion has written and will direct a Sundance Channel seven-part miniseries starring Madmen actress Elisabeth Moss, called Top of the Lake. Campion wrote the script…

Whirling Dervish Duty Bound

“For the first time in 26 years, a team from New Zealand will make a bid for the Volvo Ocean Race without New Zealand legend Grant Dalton whirling dervishly…

Index Up and in the Black

New Zealand is the only MSCI developed country index still to be in the black over the past year. Throughout the year, global economies have been rocked by the…

Macau’s Straight Shooter

Affectionately known as ‘Machine Gun Rock’, pool player Rocky Lane — former police officer and prosecutor, world record jump shooter, and now resident House Pro at Macau’s…

Crisp New Flavours in NY

“Anyone who’s visited the Tuck Shop, Public or any of the other New Zealand or Australian restaurants that have cropped up in New York City in recent years knows…

From a Different Perspective

Former Split Enz frontman Tim Finn, 59, plays the Tanks Arts Centre in Cairns on 26 November, which is to coincide with the release of his latest album, The…

Shy Morning Feeling

An ethereal South Island landscape is captured by German photographer Steffen Schrägle for an Intelligent Life photo essay called, ‘A World of Mist’. Schrägle, who took the…

Why Kiwis Get Stroppy

Manukura the six-month-old white kiwi “appears to have regained her mojo after a heart scare during surgery to remove a stone from her gizzard.” “You try to grab her…

Building on Solid Ground

“Newly uncovered details about the earthquake that rocked Christchurch in February may offer grim lessons regarding the potential threat of fault lines running through urban centres,” Our Amazing Planet…

Winning Irish Debut

New Zealand World Cup winner prop John Afoa, 28, has signed a two-and-a-half year deal with Ulster. Auckland-born Afoa came on as a replacement in New Zealand’s wins over…

Marriage Made in LA

New Zealand-born actor Nico Evers-Swindell’s marriage to American actor Megan Ferguson, 28, featured in The New York Times’ ‘Weddings/ Celebrations’ column in October. The pair were married in Los…

Kerr’s Final Fight

New Zealand Business Roundtable leader Roger Kerr, once described by Sir Douglas Myers as a “national treasure”, has died. He was 66. Kerr was born in Nelson in 1945…

Galloper From Day One

Young Cambridge trainer Trent Busuttin’s hard work has paid off with Sangster winning the $A1.5 million Victoria Derby at Flemington. Busuttin, who has just turned 32, was almost lost…

Ladyhawke Takes London

Ladyhawke is returning to the London stage in November playing an “intimate gig” at the 100 Club, according to XFM. “The New Zealand-born musician, aka Pip Brown, will play…

Deconsecrating Deconstruction

Christchurch’s most famous landmark, the 19th-century ChristChurch Cathedral, is to be deconsecrated and partially demolished after February’s devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake toppled the steeple. Church and government representatives have…

Roosters Snap Up Otahuhu Star

Auckland schoolboy 18-year-old fullback/winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has been snapped up by the Sydney Roosters. Tuivasa-Sheck has starred in both rugby codes at schoolboy level and recently represented New Zealand’s…

Capital Hobbit Premiere

Wellington will be the site of the world premiere for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in November 2012. “I think Warner Bros. in particular were blown away by [The…

Living Fossil Bewitches

Te Papa scientist Vincent Zintzen and colleagues have been studying the hunting behaviour of the hagfish — or snot-eel — a blind sea creature partway between fish and worm,…

Investigation for a Pardon

Movie director Peter Jackson has told media that he was working with high-profile former American death row inmate Damien Echols in hopes of getting the man a complete pardon….

Good Kids Making Bad Choices

A New Zealand Transport Authority advertisement, created by Clemenger BBDO Wellington, is using humour to get the drink-driving message across to its young audience. Rather than rely on the…

Steam Research Collaboration

New Zealand’s geothermal scientists will be collaborating with the world’s leading researchers after the country is admitted to the International Partnership for Geothermal Technology (IPGT) in Melbourne on 16…

Zen-like in the Name of Warhol

New Zealand artist Max Gimblett’s exhibition “The Sound of One Hand” brings to focus the world of Zen Buddhism and is on through 27 November as part of Pittsburgh’s…

All Blacks World’s Best Rugby Team

“New Zealand is always the team to beat. You talk about rugby, you talk about the All Blacks,” says actor Mickey Rourke in The New York Observer. Rourke and writer…

Granny a Winning Outsider

The first woman to train a Melbourne Cup winner was New Zealander “Granny” McDonald (centre), who prepared outsider Catalogue in 1938. “Granny” had the eight-year-old under her care for…

Open-minded Visionary

New Zealand-born psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall, who made significant contributions to the understanding of perversions, psychosomatic symptoms, female sexuality, creativity and addictions, has died aged 91. Her clinical insights, theoretical…

All Hands on the Webb Ellis

“Twenty-four years of Rugby World Cup pain and misery melted away for New Zealand” on 23 October with the All Blacks beating the French 8-7 in a nail-biting final…

Victorious on Charles River

New Zealand rower Mahe Drysdale, 33, had a “convincing victory” in the men’s championship singles on the first day of the Head of the Charles Regatta 47th annual running,…

Outback and Living Life

“Somewhere in regional Australia lives a man whose tale has gone into New Zealand rugby’s folklore,” The Sydney Morning Herald’s Georgina Robinson writes. “He is Keith Murdoch, the towering…

With Familial Encouragement

New Zealand rower Emma Twigg’s introduction to her sport wasn’t quite love at first sight. Twigg, 24, who took second place at the recent Championship Women’s Singles event of…

Dangerous Driving for Kicks

“There are, perhaps, 20 people wedged into a small bus that’s winding its way down a dirt road in one of the steepest canyons I’ve ever seen,” the Toronto…

Wowing the Wallabies

All Black legend Jonah Lomu surprised Australia’s players by dropping in on a training session ahead of their World Cup third place victory match against Wales. Auckland-born Lomu, 36,…

Breathtaking Safe Danger

“The only thing crazier than bungee jumping itself might be setting up a business helping other people to fling themselves off high surfaces,” Time’s Nick Carbone writes…

Go-to Rebecca Taylor

“New Zealand designer Rebecca Taylor is known as the go-to girl for laid-back quirky looks for everyone from Cameron Diaz, Rachel Bilson and Alessandra Ambrosio, to Reese…

Communicating with China

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) administrator Helen Clark has said that China can play a rebalancing role in the current global financial crisis to combat future global poverty and…

Smeltz Scores for Perth

All Whites striker Shane Smeltz, 30, has scored his first A-League goals in a Perth Glory FC shirt to take his overall A-League goalscoring tally past 50. The double…

Stricken Ship Spills Contents

The Liberian-flagged container ship MV Rena, which struck the Astrolabe Reef 5 October on its way to Tauranga, continues to spill oil into the ocean. A total of 90…

Hiring Ahead of the Pack

New Zealander Stephen Jennings is CEO of emerging markets investment bank Renaissance Group, “the bank that keeps on hiring”, and a company “running the other way and obeying Warren…

Boosting Activity in the South

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard says New Zealand’s reconstruction of the earthquake-devastated city of Christchurch will boost growth and inflation pressures and may mean an increase in interest rates….

Omnified for Ninety-Five

New Zealander Nigel Richards has won the World Scrabble Championships, for the second time, in Warsaw, Poland. Richards overcame 116 competitors from 44 countries to eventually defeat Australian Andrew…

On a Whizz-Bang Thrill Ride

The Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg motion-capture animation The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn opens in Europe on 22 October before hitting American cinemas ahead of…

Snapping Up Stereotypes

Auckland comedian Andre King, who recently took to the stage in Bangkok and Phuket as part of an international comedy festival in Thailand, spoke to the Bangkok Post about…

Semi-Final of Brutal Beauty

“This was the All Blacks as they would love the world to see them: tough, mean, committed and ruthless in every department,” the Guardian’s Robert Kitson wrote after New…

On the Bus on the Cheap

New Zealand is a popular backpacking destination for Canadians with its relaxed beaches, spectacular scenery and reputation for extreme fun. The Calgary Herald’s Sarah Deveau gives advice about how…

Plan for Luxury Moving Hotel

Businessmen John Johnston and Dave Nixon are behind a planned luxury Orient-Express-style luxury train that would travel the length of New Zealand catering to foreign tourists with a big…

Wearable Breathalyser

Wellington’s Matt Leggett has invented a breathalyser jacket which lets the wearer know whether they’ve had too much to drive, with results displayed on lights stitched into the forearm…

Gourmet Island Adventures

New Zealand chef Bill Manson is the organizer of the second annual Martha’s Vineyard Local Wild Food Challenge which “showcases the skills and resourcefulness of the people living” on…

Wright Has the Edge

Cantabrian and Black Caps coach John Wright “is the coach best placed to lift the Australian team” and has “an affable manner that conceals toughness and a fund of…

Healthy UK Appointment

New Zealander Professor Malcolm Grant will be appointed chair of the UK’s new National Health Service (NHS) commissioning board. Grant, who is currently president and provost of

Views Up-Front and Horse-Back

“There’s no finer way to experience the pristine New Zealand countryside than riding horses at Rangihau Ranch, in the Coromandel,” according to Lost at E Minor’s Zac in an…