Greener Pastures
Retailers in Britain should sell New Zealand-produced lamb if they want to help protect the environment, experts claim in a report called ‘Climate Change and Food Systems’. The suggestion, likely to outrage British farmers,…
October 2012 Archives
Air New Zealand: An Unexpected Briefing
Air New Zealand welcomes visitors to Middle Earth with a Hobbit themed safety video, An Unexpected Briefing.
Landscapes a Drawcard
Foreign buyers are mostly drawn to the Auckland area, or to the lake and mountain views near Queenstown on the South Island, according to The New York Times. Bill Sandston, a real estate lawyer…
Doctor Turned Astronaut
New Zealand actor Martin Henderson, 38, has been cast as the lead in a new NBC soap thriller from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, The Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives. “Henderson will play Kyle…
Imagine the Growth
Growing ties between New Zealand and China are giving new optimism to everyone from coffee chains and jade producers to organic farmers, universities, tour operators and real estate brokers. The increasing number of Chinese…
Exquisite Cutlery
New Zealand artist Francis Upritchard has collaborated with London art collector Valeria Napoleone on a cookbook of Northern Italian recipes, with Upritchard contributing a piece entitled, ‘Balata dining’, (2010) featuring in the ‘meat’ section….
Universal Appeal
New Zealand children’s film Kiwi Flyer has won the Audience Award at the Schlingel – 18th International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience held in in Chemnitz, Germany. Tony Simpson, director…
Unexpected Welcome
Over the next few months at Wellington Airport, a giant 13m Gollum diving for 4m fish, will welcome visitors to ‘the middle of Middle Earth’. Designed by Weta Workshop, and built by Japanese artist…
Wildcat Spark Plug
Hawkes Bay basketball player Everard Bartlett, 26, is fast establishing a reputation as Perth’s spark plug, emerging as yet another scoring weapon for the Wildcats as it looks to build on an impressive 3-0…
Catch Yourself a River Prawn
“Hurl yourself out of a plane, swim in a lake that’s bigger than Singapore and catch Malaysian prawns,” Joleen Lunjew writes for The Malaysia Star. “Welcome to the Great Lake Taupo.” “What’s so great…
Treasures Travel to Beijing
Te Papa is sending an exhibition of pounamu to China, where it expects a flurry of interest among museumgoers who haven’t seen how other cultures work with the precious stone. ‘Kura Pounamu: Treasured Stone…
Revival Vest a Finalist
The James Dyson Award has nominated 22-year-old Victoria University graduate James McNab as one of 15 finalists in its 2012 design competition. After the death of McNab’s friend Jacob Beck-Jaffurs, who suffered a shallow…
Vertigo Top Yacht
New Zealand has won awards at the latest International Superyacht Society (ISS) Design Awards, held in Fort Lauderdale in Florida. The winner in the category ‘Sailing yacht 40m +’ was won by the ketch,…
Epic Story About Epic Men
A new book about New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of Mt Everest “is one of courage, perseverance and jingoism”, author Justin Cartwright writes for The Observer. “Mick Conefrey’s moving book…
Jackson’s Empire Five
“There’s a new Jackson Five in town,” Empire magazine says. “The December issue of Empire five gorgeous 3D lenticular covers to celebrate The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” “Your choices are; Galadriel (Cate Blanchett),…
Honouring the Greats
Prince Charles is greeted with a hongi by Bruce Simpson from the Ngati Ranana London Maori Club during a reception at St James’s Palace for prominent New Zealanders, Australians and Papua New Guineans….
Unexpected Genetic Diversity
Genome sequencing of the first-known four New Zealanders has revealed surprising genetic diversity, according to new research by the University of Otago. The complete mitochondrial genomes of the individuals – found buried at Wairau…
Super Swap for Winger
Canterbury Crusaders winger Sean Maitland, 24, has signed a contract with Super Rugby side Glasgow Warriors and could be eligible for the national team immediately due to his Scottish grandparents. “We’re delighted to be…
Best of Both Hemispheres
Wellington-born composer Lyell Cresswell has lived in Edinburgh since the early 1980s writing regularly for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO). “His latest piece for them, a triple concerto premiered here with the Swiss Piano…
McIndoe’s Genius on Stage
The life of New Zealand-born plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe was portrayed in The Guinea Pig Club, a play recently on at York Royal Theatre. The play explored the unorthodox techniques of the man. At…
New Contemporary Novel
Award-winning New Zealand novelist C.K. Stead, 80, was a guest on BBC series The Forum talking about his latest novel, Risk, which tells the story of a lawyer who turns to banking…
Anniversary of Loss
Twenty-one New Zealand veterans, aged between 88 and 96, attended a service in Egypt at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery on 19 October to mark the 70th anniversary of the…
Farewell to a Favourite
Sir Wilson Whineray, who captained the All Blacks 67 times between 1957 and 1965, has died in Auckland, aged 77. Judged by renowned rugby writer Terry McLean as the greatest of All Blacks captains,…
What’s Not to Like
Raised in the North Island town of Ruawai, Sydney-based actor Roy Billing, 65, lives with his New Zealand wife Linda Tizard, a former entertainment industry executive, in the suburb of Coogee. Coogee, Billing says,…
Talent Embedded in Genes
Up-and-coming actress Alice Englert, 17, the daughter of New Zealand film director Jane Campion (“similar talents seem to be embedded in her genes”), stars in Ginger & Rosa, “an evocative and beautifully shot portrait…
Back to His Roots Playing Cop
Sam Neill plays Belfast police chief C.I. Campbell in new BBC gangster drama, Peaky Blinders, which is currently shooting in Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. While Neill is one of the more well-known New Zealand…
Yeah, Shuffle This
New Zealand-born singer/songwriter Willy Moon’s song ‘Yeah Yeah’ has secured prime placement: usage in Apple’s latest iPod Shuffle and Nano ad campaign. The coveted spotlight results in Moon’s first Billboard chart ink, as the…
Even Harder on Himself
“It would be hard not to describe McCaw as one of rugby’s greats,” Emma Stoney writes for The New York Times. “He is the captain of the most successful team in…
Insight into Dotcom
“Across an ocean, hours before Operation Takedown began, the US Department of Justice had already tipped off a select group of journalists about the raid’s planned highlights. If you know nothing else about Kim…
Inspired by Home
Senior sous chef at Le Gavroche restaurant in London, New Zealander Monica Galetti recently answered questions from Guardian readers about, amongst other culinary things, cooking seafood and gender barriers in professional kitchens. “I went…
Belief in Emerging Markets
Taranaki-born businessman Stephen Jennings, Renaissance chief executive, is one of the “world’s smartest money” affirming that the next big emerging market may be Africa. “It is the only region in the world where growth…
Master of All Surveyed
“Watching on a monitor, tucked out of sight , is Peter Jackson, the magician of Middle Earth,” Kim Masters writes for The Hollywood Reporter. “He had to overcome many…
Stylish Thrift in the Village
New Zealand couple, freelance art director Miranda Dempster, 41, and Gus McKay, 45, a tailor for the fashion label Tocca, spent no more than US$3000 on renovating their 155-year-old West Village apartment. On a…
Not Alone at Being Alone
A message in a bottle tossed into the sea by a group of children from Katikati Primary School has washed up over a year later in Oceanside Harbor, California. Seventy-seven-year-old Sonja van Hall, who…
Fit for the Job
Former Gatorade president New Zealander Sarah Robb O’Hagan has taken on the same role at Equinox, the New York City-based fitness company. “This is a case of building on the momentum that…
Middle Earth Mania
The country’s national tourism slogan “100% Pure New Zealand” has become “100% Middle-earth”, and in the days leading up to the premiere of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Wellington will be…
Hop, Skip and a Jump
“The sea is never more than a few miles away on Waiheke,” Jonathan Hutchison writes for The New York Times. “West is Oneroa, a small township with cafeterias and shops selling clothes, crafts and,…
Loving What He Does
With his signature laid-back New Zealand-accented rambles often breaking into unintelligible hysterics and high-pitched impersonations, 39-year-old BBC 1 radio DJ-come-presenter-come-live-DJ-come-producer-come-general-music-guru Zane Lowe has attracted skepticism from those who find it hard…
This Country is Why
Bill Foley, American businessman and owner of Marlborough vineyards Clifford Bay and Vavasour, visited New Zealand more than 10 years ago and fell in love with the landscape. Foley also found some good…
Blooms and Bohemians
“Wellington long ago shed its staid, bureaucratic image, though you’ll still find plenty of ‘the suits,’ as they are affectionately called, around the beehive-shaped Parliament Building and New Zealand Stock Exchange,” Katherine Rodeghier writes…
Up on the Plane
New Zealand-founded company Gibbs Sports Amphibians will introduce a new off-roader on to the market this week, the Quadski, which is equipped with retractable wheels and a BMW motorcycle engine. Gibbs’ chairman Neil Jenkins…
Discovering Sounds of Home
New Plymouth-born saxophonist and composer Hayden Chisholm, 37, toured Germany to learn about its rich folk music tradition – and why the Germans have a problem with it. His back-to-the-roots journey was captured in…
Inside His Head
New Zealand-raised filmmaker and host of online show Inside Horror Elric Kane, who currently lives in Los Angeles, talks to Werewolf editor Gordon Campbell about the show and all things horror-fic. “The first…
Local Talent Lights NY
New Zealanders Hayley Heartbreak, Elspeth Hoskin and Johnson Witehira, winners of the Chorus NZ national competition for tertiary student artists, recently displayed their artwork on the neon billboards of Times Square in New York….
#151 The New Zealand Story
THE GLOBAL LIFE OF NEW ZEALANDERS From Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM | 11 October 2012| #151 |…
Alternative Traditional Remedies
“With its unique flora and fauna, New Zealand offers a large array of plants found only in that region, many of which became part of the Maori traditional system of medicine known as Rongoa…
Minting Hobbits
New Zealand Post is minting coins and printing stamps featuring characters from Middle-earth to commemorate the upcoming film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The coins feature Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, dwarf king Thorin…
Big Name from a Small Place
“Growing up in a small country on the other side of the world, a young girl named Kimbra Lee Johnson did what she said almost every New Zealander does – dream big,” Michael Bialas…
Big and Small Comparisons
In an appearance at the Mipcom conference in Cannes, New Zealand director Jane Campion explained that she was attracted by the creative freedom in television, in comparison to film. Campion was at Mipcom to…
Storytellers Converge
In an image from the Guardians’ “best news pictures of the day”, New Zealander Metini Mitai Ngatai poses prior to the official opening of the book fair in Frankfurt. The world’s largest book…
Sunshine Helps the Zing
Head winemaker at Cloudy Bay winery Tim Heath, 36, explains how New Zealand’s viticultural environment has created its signature “vivid tastes”. The key to understanding the creation of these zingy, tropical and fruity aromas…
Wilkommen in Frankfurt
With New Zealand the Guest of Honour at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel showcased the country in its Sunday magazine section. “Whenever one thinks of New Zealand, one thinks about kiwis, sheep,…
Rubberman Prevails
Palmerston North 21-year-old freestyle motorcross champion Levi Sherwood has become the youngest-ever winner of the Red Bull X-Fighters tour championship beating French rider Thomas Pagès on Cockatoo Island in Sydney. “All I came here…
Decades of Aisle Style
With Air New Zealand celebrating its 30th anniversary of flights between London and Los Angeles, British lifestyle magazine Female First looks at the fashion of the airline over the decades. “Air New Zealand’s heritage can be…
Through a Pacific Lens
Auckland poet Courtney Meredith, 26, was at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week for the launch of her debut book Brown Girls In Bright Red Lipstick. Meredith has been described as leading a generation…
