October 2013 Archives

Taking His Own Passions into New Sydney Role

Taking His Own Passions into New Sydney Role

Senior curator at the Christchurch Art Gallery Justin Paton has been named as the new head of international art at the Art Gallery of NSW and will take up the position in January. Paton has…

World of Wearable Art Awards Show: Celebrating 25 Years

World of Wearable Art Awards Show: Celebrating 25 Years

Take a look at 25 years of amazing Supreme Winner costumes from the World of Wearable Show. First shown in 1987, World of Wearable Art began as a promotion…

Young Soccer Player off to Flying Start in US

Young Soccer Player off to Flying Start in US

Aucklander Nicolai Berry, 19, is a freshman midfielder for the University of Buffalo (UB), and amid his transition to a new culture in the United States, Berry has excelled on the pitch, according to…

Coffee Revolutionaries Educate the Locals in Lyon

Coffee Revolutionaries Educate the Locals in Lyon

New Zealander Roz Morris James and her French partner Sadry Abidi, owners of Cafe Mokxa, are spearheading a slow but steady coffee revolution in France’s second biggest city, Lyon. Their 29 square metre…

Kiwi Making YouTube Waves with ‘Royals’ Cover

Kiwi Making YouTube Waves with ‘Royals’ Cover

As Lorde goes from strength to strength, covers of her number one song ‘Royals’ are sprouting like mushrooms on YouTube, and now a second Kiwi is finding fame with his take on the world…

Shopkeepers – Drug Driving Ad

Shopkeepers – Drug Driving Ad

Drug Driving. Is it really that safe? Shopkeepers around New Zealand share their stories about troublesome customers to help New Zealand be more aware of the effects of drug…

Postal Service to Reduce Deliveries from 2015

Postal Service to Reduce Deliveries from 2015

With more people emailing their correspondence rather than popping it in the mailbox, New Zealand Post will deliver mail as infrequently as three days a week to most customers from June 2015. The…

Talented Generation of Welsh Stars Mean Coach Could Stay

Talented Generation of Welsh Stars Mean Coach Could Stay

Wales coach New Zealander Warren Gatland, 50, has hinted he may stay with the “golden generation of stars” beyond the 2015 Rugby World Cup, according to WalesOnline. Gatland’s current deal with the Welsh Rugby Union…

World-First Footpath Lights up the Way

World-First Footpath Lights up the Way

New Zealander Hamish Scott has had offers from all over the world for what could be the future in street lighting – glow-in-the-dark footpaths, which light up when the sun goes down. London-based Scott approached…

Sonny Bill Faces the Fear

Sonny Bill Faces the Fear

Vulnerability, fear and palpable humbleness are not qualities normally associated with sporting star, Sonny Bill Williams. But in an interview with The Guardian, the footballer and occasional boxer opens up about recent and historic…

New Zealand Features in Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2014 Lists

New Zealand Features in Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2014 Lists

Two New Zealand destinations have made their way into two Lonely Planet Top Ten list,s part of Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2014. Auckland features in the top ten cities in the world to…

BMX Canyon Leap Just Felt Right so He Sent It

BMX Canyon Leap Just Felt Right so He Sent It

Footage of New Zealand BMX sensation Kelly McGarry’s 20 metre leap, complete with backflip, across a Utah canyon gap has gone viral. The incredible stunt won Nelson-born McGarry, 31, the hearts and…

Hobbit Global Fan Celebration Event Planned

Hobbit Global Fan Celebration Event Planned

Director Peter Jackson has announced plans to preview footage from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug at a “global fan celebration” on 4 November that will be simulcast in theatres and feature…

Bret McKenzie and Kermit the Frog sing “Life’s a Happy Song”

Bret McKenzie and Kermit the Frog sing “Life’s a Happy Song”

Sing-along with Bret McKenzie and Kermit the Frog’s, “Life’s a Happy Song”, featured in the 2011 film, The Muppets. The Muppets, a American musical comedy produced by Walt Disney…

Richie McCaw: Challenges

Richie McCaw: Challenges

Adidas interviews Richie McCaw about the challenges he has faced during his career and how he is able to overcome them. If you’re playing the game or just looking…

Letting Go of NZ Essential for Artists

Letting Go of NZ Essential for Artists

If artists get a chance to leave New Zealand, says Thom Powers, co-founder of The Naked and Famous (TNF), then they must seize the opportunity. Los Angeles-based Powers is in the US with TNF…

Tramp the Past with Milford Anniversary Heritage Walk

Tramp the Past with Milford Anniversary Heritage Walk

The Milford Track is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a Department of Conversation (DOC) guided commemorative heritage walk to be held between 31 October and 3 November so that participating trampers may have…

Walker and De Mey Are the Fashion Business

Walker and De Mey Are the Fashion Business

New Zealander Karen Walker has been named as one of the world’s most influential designers by leading industry website The Business of Fashion. Walker was one of 118 designers included on the site’s annual Bo500…

Introspective New Album for LA-Based Singer

Introspective New Album for LA-Based Singer

New Zealand-born singer and songwriter, Los Angeles-based Ted Brown has released his second album, An Unwide Ride; “an elegantly spare and tenderly introspective record”, recorded at Roundhead Studios in Auckland. In 1993, Brown…

Oscar Foreign-Language Submission a Battle of Wills

Oscar Foreign-Language Submission a Battle of Wills

Based on the novella Medicine Woman by Witi Ihimaera, New Zealand’s 2014 foreign-language Oscar submission, White Lies (Tuakiri Huna) is a period drama about three women drawn together in conflict. David Rooney, reviewer for the…

Shelved – Short Film by MDS Student

Shelved – Short Film by MDS Student

Take a look at this amazing animated short film created by Auckland’s Media Design School. Directed by James Cunningham, ‘Shelved’ was the winner of three top awards…

Kiwis: Half a Century of Points Not Good Enough

Kiwis: Half a Century of Points Not Good Enough

Much sterner tests lie ahead but the New Zealand Rugby League team delivered an encouraging start to its defence of the World Cup with a 50-0 romp over the Cook Islands. The one-sided win…

On the Trail of Colour in Hokitika

On the Trail of Colour in Hokitika

For those “following the trail of the world created” in Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, the Telegraph suggests ten great things to do in Hokitika. Included in the list is a cycle…

McKenzie Stars in Austenland Though More a Brontë Man

McKenzie Stars in Austenland Though More a Brontë Man

Bret McKenzie, 37, one half of the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, stars opposite Jane Seymour in the new romantic-comedy Austenland, which opened in the UK in September. “I’m not a crazy Jane Austen…

Repatriation of Lost Ancestral Remains

Repatriation of Lost Ancestral Remains

A tattooed preserved Maori head, or toi moko, and skeletal remains, koiwi tangata, discovered in the anatomy department at the University of Birmingham, are being returned to New Zealand. University staff said the ancestral items…

Snow on Cuba Mall, Wellington

Snow on Cuba Mall, Wellington

This beautifully made video, captures Wellingtonian’s reactions to the once in a lifetime experience of snow falling on Wellington’s famous Cuba Mall. Filmed and edited by Ro Tierney and…

Aotearoa Casts Its Shadow on the Clouds

Aotearoa Casts Its Shadow on the Clouds

“There is a playful antagonism between the inhabitants of New Zealand’s two islands, North and South,” Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton writes for the Guardian in a story about growing up in New…

Move to the Sunshine Has Rejuvenated Golfer

Move to the Sunshine Has Rejuvenated Golfer

Queensland Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Hamilton-born Jim Cusdin, 28, credits a move to Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast for revitalising his golf career. It was somewhat of a risk he says, but…

Nearly Naked Aussies Almost Pull One Over Nude Blacks

Nearly Naked Aussies Almost Pull One Over Nude Blacks

New Zealand blushes were spared in Dunedin, as the Nude Blacks narrowly edged an invitational Australian side in the annual naked rugby contest in the country’s southern-most city. To coincide with the Bledisloe test…

Lydia Ko Goes Pro: Teen Golf Sensation Makes Announcement With Help From Israel Dagg

Lydia Ko Goes Pro: Teen Golf Sensation Makes Announcement With Help From Israel Dagg

Kiwi golf prodigy Lydia Ko has finally announced she has turned professional – but to mix things up a bit she has done so through a YouTube video and Twitter. A two-time winner…

Taxpayers Put Wind in Team NZ Sails

Taxpayers Put Wind in Team NZ Sails

Taxpayers have thrown Emirates Team New Zealand a lifeline, courtesy of the Government’s “bridging investment” of NZ$5 million, to fund another bid to win the America’s Cup. The syndicate had sought NZ$6.1m but Economic…

Air NZ: Betty White – Safety Old School Style

Air NZ: Betty White – Safety Old School Style

Air New Zealand has done it again, another hilarious in-flight safety video. Starring Golden Girl, Betty White, the video proves that age doesn’t matter when it comes to in-flight…

Musket Room Cellar Tips for Future NZ Classics

Musket Room Cellar Tips for Future NZ Classics

23 October 2013 – The sommelier at New York’s first restaurant showcasing haute New Zealand cuisine, The Musket Room suggests we start cellaring future New Zealand classics before the rest of the world catches on. Erin…

Lorde’s Bid for the Big Time

Lorde’s Bid for the Big Time

Lorde makes it into the New Yorker this week, the subject of a profile by contributor and music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, who conducted several conversations with the 16-year-old about, amongst other things, how important…

Degrees Available in Healing with Humour

Degrees Available in Healing with Humour

New Zealanders considering a career as a professional clown will now be able to earn a certificate, diploma or full Bachelor of Arts in Medical Clowning. The qualifications are scheduled to be launched in…

Lorde Performs ‘Royals’

Lorde Performs ‘Royals’

Lorde performs her international chart topping song ‘Royals’ on The Ellen Show

The Goodnight Kiwi

The Goodnight Kiwi

Back in the day, when there was no such thing as 24 hour TV, there was the Goodnight Kiwi. Each night after the day’s broadcast had ended, a short…

Katherine Mansfield Interacts with Google

Katherine Mansfield Interacts with Google

Google commemorated the birthday of writer Katherine Mansfield on 14 October with an interactive doodle on its homepage, marking the 125th anniversary of the New Zealander’s death in Fontainebleau, France, aged 34. The first

Booker Winner Sells Luminaries to Spooks-maker

Booker Winner Sells Luminaries to Spooks-maker

The makers of the critically acclaimed Spooks TV series have bought the rights to Eleanor Catton’s Booker prize-winning novel, The Luminaries. Catton, at 28-years the youngest ever Booker winner and her 832-page book the…

Leap to Victory at the Boekelo in the Netherlands

Leap to Victory at the Boekelo in the Netherlands

New Zealand eventer Lizzie Brown, 25, has claimed the biggest victory of her career, winning the 2013 Boekelo CCI3* in the Netherlands, ahead of veteran rider Sir Mark Todd. Brown, who is based…

Dixon Does It Again Claiming Third IndyCar Title

Dixon Does It Again Claiming Third IndyCar Title

New Zealander Scott Dixon has claimed his third IndyCar championship, regardless of a fifth place finish at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Dixon won the title by 27 points over Power teammate Helio…

Tales From Te Papa – The Art of the Haka

Tales From Te Papa – The Art of the Haka

You’ve seen the All Blacks perform the Haka but have you ever seen it on canvas? Tales from Te Papa is a series of mini-documentaries showcasing the exciting and…

US$120 Street Stall Bargains Worth US$500K

US$120 Street Stall Bargains Worth US$500K

It was not quite the million dollar masterpiece found in a garage but a New York-based New Zealand woman has potentially netted herself artwork worth half a million dollars – and it only cost…

Bledisloe Cup Whitewash with Win over Wallabies

Bledisloe Cup Whitewash with Win over Wallabies

The All Blacks have maintained their 100 per cent record this year, beating Australia at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin 41-33 to seal a 3-0 Bledisloe Cup whitewash, the BBC reports. Having clinched the…

Men of a Certain Age Rile Booker Winner

Men of a Certain Age Rile Booker Winner

Sexism in the literary world is thriving, Man Booker prize winner Eleanor Catton says. The youngest-ever winner of one of the world’s most prestigious writing award says her book, The Luminaries, received a “bullying”…

Kiwi Drought Hits Choc-lovers

Kiwi Drought Hits Choc-lovers

The price of Christmas chocolates look set to surge as the cost of key ingredients – including New Zealand milk – squeezes manufacturing margins. Milk powder prices have risen 50% in the year to…

Winter Wonderland for World’s Best In-Training

Winter Wonderland for World’s Best In-Training

“Every August, the world’s best snowboarders come to work on big-air and physics-defying tricks in this tiny town hidden by mountains and surrounded by sheep,” New York Times reporter Joe Drapes writes. “The athletes…

Kiwis Make Accounting Sexy

Kiwis Make Accounting Sexy

The accounting software industry is not known as the sexiest business sector. But New Zealand cloud accounting software provider Xero is, Reuters reports, bringing spice and drama to the world’s greyest profession. “Oh, yeah, we’re…

Aotearoa: Minuit

Aotearoa: Minuit

Building New Zealand’s Fashion Profile Online

Building New Zealand’s Fashion Profile Online

The New Zealand Fashion Museum is a very modern affair with a strong online presence, organising exhibitions around the country but without a physical location of its own. It is only one of a score…

Sweeping down the Staircase for Tea at Otahuna

Sweeping down the Staircase for Tea at Otahuna

A stay at the five-star Otahuna Lodge located in Tai Tapu, Canterbury “will give you a tantalising taste of landed gentry living”, according to travel writer, New Zealander Amanda Jones for the Los…

Happiness: Voting With Your Feet

Happiness: Voting With Your Feet

New Zealand, allegedly, is the third happiest place on earth. Happiness is a subjective subject. Couples, for instance, routinely report higher relationship satisfaction when they are able to favourably compare themselves to other less…

Reaction To Reaction of the Happy Hobbits

Reaction To Reaction of the Happy Hobbits

The Hobbit actors Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly and Lee Pace chuckle in delight to the reaction of two happy hobbits watching the new trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit:…

NZ Pinot Beats Burgundy

NZ Pinot Beats Burgundy

A wine-tasting of international Pinot Noir – 18 wines from six different regions, including Burgundy – by more than 100 experts has seen New Zealand deemed best by value. Influential business magazine Forbes positively…

As If You Needed Another Reason to Go Down Under

As If You Needed Another Reason to Go Down Under

Waiheke Island’s “stylish hotel” Oyster Inn has its own selection of fashionable Waihetian beach accessories available on site at their shop; souvenirs worth the trip to New Zealand, according to Condé Nast Traveler. “We’ve always…

Fifty Thousand Kilometre Journey Peddling for the Heart

Fifty Thousand Kilometre Journey Peddling for the Heart

After two years and 43,000km, New Zealander Jeremy Scott is almost home having been riding his bike from London since 5 October 2011, heading to his final destination, Auckland, by March next year. He made…