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Archive >> December 2012
Rethinking Team Rankings
Economist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New Zealander Niven Winchester, who studies sports rankings as a hobby, argues that The National Football League (NFL) should rank teams more the…
Dishing Up Comfort Food
Peter Gordon’s 2012-published Peter Gordon Everyday is one of Catherine Phipp’s ‘Best Food Books of the Year’. “Flashes of trademark fusion sit with more personal dishes from…
Quigley’s Own Heroic Symphony
New Zealand author Sarah Quigley’s novel The Conductor is a “vivid evocation” of winter in Leningrad during the years 1941-42. “As the German army besieged the city, her citizens…
Through A Child’s Eyes
In Sailing the Unknown: Around the World With Captain Cook, American poet Michael J. Rosen imagines the journal of the real-life 11-year-old Nicholas Young, the youngest sailor aboard Captain…
Role Of The Year
New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey’s role as depressed twentysomething divorcée in Hello I Must Be Going is one of Paste magazine’s ‘25 Best Movie Performances of 2012’. “Most recognizable…
Home in the Desert
Moving to Las Vegas was a dream come true for New Zealander Jennifer Scott, a former journalist and magazine editor. Scott said she has had an obsession…
Surprise Involvement
When the premiere of West of Memphis was first announced for the Sundance Film Festival this year, the participation of Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson was…
Outsider Looking In
“This smart and sophisticated novel by prolific New Zealand writer C.K. Stead surveys the atrocities of our time – the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, the…
Librarians Confer
Under a new five-year Arrangement on Cooperation agreement signed by the National Library of New Zealand and the National Library of China, the two institutions will share…
What Could Be Better
The New Zealand specialty bacon and egg pie features in The New York Times’ ‘Diner’s Journal’ weekly column and video. “I got the inspiration to make a bacon and…
#153 Accolade Of 2012: Least Corrupt Nation
THE GLOBAL LIFE OF NEW ZEALANDERS
From Brian Sweeney,…
American Deal For Angels
Wellington company Angel Delivery, owned by Becs Cass, has struck a US partnership that will see the four-year-old freshly made meal and treat delivery service enter the…
Blessed Love
Nga Kupu Aroha recorded a journey. It may well have been…
Brilliant Ideas Remain
Gifted Wellington-born academic Amanda Rohloff, who has died aged 30, is fondly remembered by her friend, Philippa Chandler in a Guardian obituary. “She grew up in Karori, excelled at…
Must See On The West End
Everyone should see New Zealander Sam Wills in The Boy with Tape on His Face, writes Telegraph reviewer Dominic Cavendish. “But not everyone should sit near the front or…
Review Of Whimsy
Magazine illustrator New Zealander Peter Campbell’s work is collected in Artwork and describes his 30-year career as art director, contributor (writing more than 300 articles) and, from 1993, cover…
Look At That
Auckland-born Academy Award-nominated director Andrew Adamson – of Shrek and The Chronicles of Narnia fame – returns to the realm of the fantastic with Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away,…
Speed Demon Wins In US
New Zealand Paralympic skier Adam Hall, 25, was at Copper Mountain, Colorado for the 2012-13 IPC Nor-Am Cup, where he won two silver medals in the men’s standing competition….
TEDxAuckland: Sam Hunt
“National treasure” Sam Hunt reads his poems at TEDxAuckland 2012.
Not Just Any Caravan
New Zealand architectural and interior design firm W2 have designed a fold-out luxury caravan “unlike anything we’ve come across before,” Gizmag’s Loz Blain writes. “The Romotow looks…
Big Ears Of The Insect World
The iconic New Zealand weta has ears similar to those of a whale, researchers at the University of Auckland have found. The ears of this 8cm-long Auckland tree weta…
TEDxAuckland: Peter Young
Documentary film-maker Paul Young discusses his latest work, The Last Ocean at TEDxAuckland 2012.
Woman Alone
“A mythic quest involving fellowship and solitude; the startling beauty, by turns lush and austere, of a wild land: if you now have visions of The Hobbit floating in…
Retro Ads Bank On Paradise
Five vintage New Zealand travel advertisements feature in Jaunted this week. Among them the ‘Fly TEAL’ ad, which “pushes the airline’s popular Coral Route, which once flew passengers to…
Bond Gets Nastier
Researchers from the University of Otago have analysed 22 James Bond films and discovered that violent acts in the films have more than doubled since Dr No in 1962….
Lord of the Rings was Perfect
“The Lord of the Rings was the work of a filmmaker perfectly in tune with his source material. Its too-muchness — the encyclopedic detail, the pseudoscholarly exposition, the soaring…
Get Out The Velvet
Fashion blogger New Zealander Laura Allard-Fleischl’s take on velvet makes her one of MTV Style’s ‘Bloggers of the Week’. “, is getting back to…
Discerning Types
Melanie Lynskey, 35, is one of ten Indie actors on the verge of mainstream, according to Loren DiBlasi writing for Highbrow Magazine. “In 1994, the New Zealand native won…
TEDxAuckland: Matthew Simmons
Matthew Simmons – co-founder of Arvus Group – shares his passion for sound during his presentation ‘Saving Lives with…
Long Line Of Macs
New Zealander John McIntosh can trace his family lineage to the inventor of the raincoat, Charles MacKintosh and to John Mackintosh, the inventor of Mackintosh’s Toffee. McIntosh is now…
Home On The Range
A Queenstown detached home with “views of the mountains, deer roaming nearby, and hills that change colour with the seasons,” is the Wall Street Journal’s ‘House of the Day’….
Made From Milk Honey
Broken Shed vodka, which is distilled from whey, is “vodka for the vodka haters”, according to one of the Huffington Post’s editors. “When we caught wind of…
Distinguished Man Of Figures
Wellington-born applied mathematician Professor Bruce Morton has died in Melbourne aged 86. Under his leadership, Monash, where he worked for 25 years, became the leading university for its atmospheric…
Strange Volcanic Goings-On
A peculiar lava spine between 20 and 30m across has appeared in the crater of White Island. Wired’s Eric Klemetti is “not even sure how to describe it.” “The…
Holding It In For A World Record
Free divers, like New Zealander William Trubridge, 32, are taking extreme sports to new depths, while ever mindful of not being shark bait, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Emma…
Dog Drives Car on its Own
In a world first a New Zealand dog is taught how to drive a car on its own.
TEDxAuckland: Mobileeye
Aakash Polra and Jade Tan from technology start-up Mobileeye speak at TEDxAuckland 2012 about using smartphones to give sight…
Improvising Love In NY
New Zealand filmmaker Florian Habicht, 30, lets the people direct his tale of romance in the Big Apple. In New York he fell in love every few minutes, Habicht…
Knock Out For Life
New Zealand All Black and kickboxer, Hastings-born Hika Elliot, 26, unbeaten in 62 fights, will square off against Australian league player Paul Gallen in the Fight For Life boxing…
Where Do We Come From
A two-year study, called “The longest journey — from Africa to Aotearoa”, could provide a snapshot of the lineage of all human history, according to biological anthropologist Lisa Matisoo-Smith,…
Cooking Stones With The Force
Hangi rocks could reveal the magnetic history of the Earth going back hundreds of years, new research from Victoria University suggests. The findings, which were presented at the annual…
TEDxAuckland: Philip Patston
Comedian, entertainer and social change agent Philip Patston presents his talk, The Label Libel, at TEDxAuckland 2012.
Boyens’ Cinematic Adventure
Asked one day in 1997 if, as a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, she might have any interest in helping out friends and fellow New Zealanders Peter Jackson and Fran…
Hong Kong’s Fashion Heroine
New Zealand-born fashion writer Jasmine Webster, 29, who is based in Hong Kong and is the face of Dress Me blog, talks to the South China Morning Post about…
TEDxAuckland: David Krofcheck
Professor David Krofcheck speaks about New Zealand’s involvement in the search for the Higgs Boson particle at TEDxAuckland 2012.
Stan Walker: Take It Easy
The music video for Stan Walker’s track, Take It Easy.
Everyday Finery
Designer Karen Walker caught up with Vogue Australia to talk about her new Diamond jewellery collection. “The inspiration behind all our jewellery designs is jewellery for modern occasions,” Walker…
TEDxAuckland: Alistair Knott
Alistair Knott speaks at TEDxAuckland 2012 about teaching computers to talk.
Capital Freebie Tourism Activities
“Whether you’re a fan making a pilgrimage to the city where the films were made, or you have no interest whatsoever in dwarfs and goblins, there’s plenty to…
TEDxAuckland: Paul Cameron
Booktrack founder and CEO Paul Cameron explains the future of reading in his talk, Reinventing Reading, at TEDxAuckland 2012.
Super Plan Most Innovative
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has been named the world’s most innovative sovereign fund, winning the prestigious Sovereign Wealth Fund category in the 2012 aiCIO Industry Innovation Awards…
Canines Take To The Wheel
Dogs rescued by the SPCA are being taught to drive in a campaign to show how intelligent canines, and even those abandoned, really are. Astonishingly, it took three dogs…
Prince Charles and Camilla Arrive in New Zealand
Prince Charles and Camilla arrive in New Zealand as part of their tour celebrating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
TEDxAuckland: Andrew Patterson
Internationally recognised architect Andrew Patterson presents his talk, Rebuilding Architecture from the Ground Up, at TEDxAuckland 2012.
TEDxAuckland: Pip Hall
Award-winning playwriter Pip Hall shares her presentation – Wet Hot Beauties – at TEDxAuckland 2012.
TEDxAuckland: John Windsor
Professor John Windsor talks about advancements in fighting organ failure at TEDxAuckland 2012.
