June 2015 Archives

Lemi Ponifasio Directs Epic Canadian Theatre Piece

Lemi Ponifasio Directs Epic Canadian Theatre Piece

Canada’s most ambitious musical theatre piece had a recent curtain call 35 years after its premiere, as part of Toronto’s 2015 Luminato Festival. New Zealand-based choreographer Lemi Ponifasio was called in to revive…

Artist Kristina Webb Prospering in Insta-Economy

Artist Kristina Webb Prospering in Insta-Economy

Kristina Webb, a 19-year old New Zealander, has built a full-time job on Instagram with colourful, Disney-like pictures, which are appealing to a huge teenage base of viewers. “It is sort of my perfect job…

Original Kiwiburger Advert

Original Kiwiburger Advert

Go back in time and revisit the 1999 Kiwiburger advert by Mcdonald’s. The advert mentions 46 different well known Kiwiana items as well as being quite a catchy song….

New Jazz Album Two-Out Intensely Moving

New Jazz Album Two-Out Intensely Moving

New Zealand “jazz titans” pianist Mike Nock and saxophonist Roger Manins’ new album Two-Out features “11 well-known standards delivered in ways that are accessibly melodic, yet interpretative, and at times intensely moving,” reviewer John…

Hard as Nails Keven Mealamu Has an Arty Side

Hard as Nails Keven Mealamu Has an Arty Side

The second most-capped All Black of all time tells the Independent how illustrating children’s books helps keep him grounded before big games, like the forthcoming defence of the World Cup. Mealamu, 36, one of the…

Keisha Castle-Hughes Thinks Big for Warrior Role

Keisha Castle-Hughes Thinks Big for Warrior Role

Not much more than a year ago, New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, 25, was a Game Of Thrones fan scouring Hollywood Boulevard for a long blonde wig to wear to an informal dress-up event…

A Friendly Career

A Friendly Career

Watch an old film presented by Archives New Zealand about the training and life of New Zealand nurses. Find out what it took back in the day.

California Playwright Inspired by Life of Nancy Wake

California Playwright Inspired by Life of Nancy Wake

Wellington-born wartime heroine Nancy Wake’s story unfolds in Code Name: Brass Rose, a California-produced play by Rachel Bublitz on as part of San Francisco’s Loud and Unladylike reading festival. Wake was a British…

Queenstown Airport to Open New International Terminal

Queenstown Airport to Open New International Terminal

“New Zealand’s Queenstown Airport (…) is turning to be the busiest and the fastest-growing in the country (and) is set to become the third bigger as it opens the new international terminal”, writes Kalyan…

New Zealand Black Currants Boost Brain: Study

New Zealand Black Currants Boost Brain: Study

A study conducted by scientists at the New Zealand Plant & Food Research center and UK Northumbria University has found that compounds in juice from New Zealand black currants increases mental performance, mood, and…

Astronomers Hoping for Glimpse of Pluto in New Zealand

Astronomers Hoping for Glimpse of Pluto in New Zealand

Scientists from all over the world will gather in Central Otago on New Zealand’s South Island for a rare 90-second glimpse of Pluto on Tuesday June 30. “A stellar occultation (is) an event when light…

New Zealand Ranked Top in Poll of Must-Visit Film Locations

New Zealand Ranked Top in Poll of Must-Visit Film Locations

New Zealand has topped the list of must-visit filming locations in a poll commissioned by HBO Entertainment. The Lord of the Rings film locations were followed by New York (Sex and the City) and The…

Benjamin Hadfield the Man Behind Hong Kong’s Junk Parties

Benjamin Hadfield the Man Behind Hong Kong’s Junk Parties

New Zealander Benjamin Hadfield is co-founder of a Hong Kong-based start-up company, which serves as an online marketplace where anyone can easily book a junk for the day. Junks.hk aims to bring the city’s…

Jet Boating in New Zealand

Jet Boating in New Zealand

Devin Super Tramp head to New Zealand for a extreme jet boating adventure. Filmed by Devin Graham and TeamSupertramp using the RED Dragon in 6K resolution, with the Glidecam…

Rowland Perry Transforming Skateboards into Kitchen Tools

Rowland Perry Transforming Skateboards into Kitchen Tools

As a child growing up in rural New Zealand, Rowland Perry always had the need for a blade. Now, the Sydney-based skater and designer is making his own, refashioning old skateboards into bespoke kitchen…

New Zealand a Prosperity Index Success Story

New Zealand a Prosperity Index Success Story

While Greece, Spain and Portugal face a bleak scenario as they struggle on their road to recovery New Zealand, Canada, America and Britain emerge from the Legatum Institute’s Prosperity Index as success stories, Newsweek…

Alan Larsen Is the Duke of Wellington at Re-enactment

Alan Larsen Is the Duke of Wellington at Re-enactment

The most important man in the Allied camp at the re-enactment of Napolean’s defeat at Waterloo was 55-year-old New Zealander Alan Larsen, known as the Duke of Wellington. Larsen, a historical events coordinator, can be…

Kids Review the Housing Market

Kids Review the Housing Market

This time with Jono and Ben, Kiwi kids review the housing market in New Zealand. Jono and Ben is an entertainment show hosted by Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce.

Our Best Wild Lodges Stun Condé Nast Traveller

Our Best Wild Lodges Stun Condé Nast Traveller

New Zealand’s 18 best wild lodges feature in the June issue of Condé Nast Traveller and include Akaroa’s Scrubby Bay, Minaret Station in Wanaka, Russell’s Eagle’s Nest and Acacia Cliffs Lodge in…

Back of the Bus Show Hits the Streets of East Lancashire

Back of the Bus Show Hits the Streets of East Lancashire

New Zealand-based Java Dance Company heads to East Lancashire with a show that wowed audiences at the Edinburgh Festival. Their physical comedy show Back of the Bus takes place on an hour-long circular ride…

Callum Millward Wins Colorado Ironman

Callum Millward Wins Colorado Ironman

Professional triathlete New Zealander Callum Millward has won the Ironman 70.3 Boulder in 3:46:47, a race he last won in 2012. His competition included three-time British Olympian Tim Don and Colorado’s Ben Hoffman, who placed…

Lake Wanaka Timelapse

Lake Wanaka Timelapse

Watch a beautifully filmed timelapse of Lake Wanaka, New Zealand by Matthew Vandeputte.

Trinity Hill’s Warren Gibson Making Wine with Sense of Place

Trinity Hill’s Warren Gibson Making Wine with Sense of Place

Winemaker at Trinity Hill Warren Gibson called 2013 the vintage of the century. That year was incredibly dry. Considering he was just as excited about 2014 and 2015, now is the ideal time to…

New Zealand’s Super Fund – World’s Best-performing Sovereign Wealth Fund

New Zealand’s Super Fund – World’s Best-performing Sovereign Wealth Fund

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has outperformed all of its counterparts with its generated returns of more than 17 per cent a year over the past five years according to analysis by JPMorgan. “Acting as…

Guide James Blick Preserving Spain’s Culinary Authenticity

Guide James Blick Preserving Spain’s Culinary Authenticity

New Zealand travel writer James Blick and American Lauren Aloise run Devour Tours in Barcelona, as well as in Madrid, Seville and Malaga. They both feel strongly about helping to preserve the…

New Zealand Film Festival Reveals Line-Up

New Zealand Film Festival Reveals Line-Up

The New Zealand Film Festival has revealed this year’s programme including ten New Zealand films. Act of Kindness is an “inspiring true story (that) follows a spirited young New Zealander’s search for…

Gin Wigmore – New Rush (Official Video)

Gin Wigmore – New Rush (Official Video)

Listen and take a look at Gin Wigmore’s Official video for her single ‘New Rush’ from the album ‘Blood To Bone’. The video was directed by Zachariah de…

Serbia Win Fifa-U20 World Cup

Serbia Win Fifa-U20 World Cup

Serbia have beaten Brazil 2-1 in the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2015 final in Auckland, New Zealand, early on Saturday Central European time. In the 70th minute Stanisa Mandic scored the first goal for his…

Emilia Wickstead Wins British Fashion Council Prize

Emilia Wickstead Wins British Fashion Council Prize

New Zealand designer Emilia Wickstead, a favourite of Kate Middleton, has been named one of nine winners of the British Fashion Council (BFC) annual trust fund. The financial prizes, which total about £300,000, are…

New Zealand Chardonnay Named World-Beater

New Zealand Chardonnay Named World-Beater

The 2012 Vidal Legacy Chardonnay, “a distinctly modern New Zealand chardonnay”, has been awarded the International Trophy for Chardonnay priced over £15 in the annual World Wine Awards released by influential wine publication

Wildlife of the Mountains (1958)

Wildlife of the Mountains (1958)

The New Zealand National Film Unit presents Wildlife of the Mountains. The old historic film is about the South Island and the abundant and varied bird life in its…

Jemaine Clement Starring in People Places Things

Jemaine Clement Starring in People Places Things

Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement stars in the new “incredibly charming and sweet” dramedy People Places Things, which will be released in New Zealand on September 10.   The New Zealand actor plays Will…

Outstanding Baby Blacks Beat England to Take World Title

Outstanding Baby Blacks Beat England to Take World Title

“Black is back. England’s reign as World Rugby Under-20 champions is over, deposed by an outstanding New Zealand side, several of whom you should expect to see in an All Black shirt in the…

New Zealand Elderly Protected from Crisis as Income Gap Widens

New Zealand Elderly Protected from Crisis as Income Gap Widens

“Income inequality has risen in most OECD countries” in the last 30 years and the age profile of poverty has shifted “with young people replacing the elderly as the group most at risk of…

Lorde – a Force of Nature

Lorde – a Force of Nature

Just a few weeks after having covered Vogue Australia, the New Zealand singer has been photographed by Ryan McGinley for the cover of Dazed Magazine’s Girls Rule the World issue. Dazed…

Why Kiwis Just Know How to Tell a Killer Story

Why Kiwis Just Know How to Tell a Killer Story

“The best in Auckland town tell us why Kiwi storytellers are simply irresistible to global audiences” says global creative advertising site The Little Black Book in a series of posts on Auckland. Dave…

Next-Gen Facial Animation with the Auckland Face Simulator

Next-Gen Facial Animation with the Auckland Face Simulator

A team located at The Laboratory for Animate Technologies at the University of Auckland’s Bioengineering Institute, is developing multidisciplinary technologies to create interactive autonomously animated systems that will define the next generation of human…

7 Emerging Auckland Directors

7 Emerging Auckland Directors

“There’s no mistaking it; the city of sails sure does produce some talented directors thriving in the best kind of creative currents,” suggests global creative advertising site The Little Black Book in…

Dance Connects with Locals – the New Zealand Haka

Dance Connects with Locals – the New Zealand Haka

After a Vienna waltz class in 2013 and dancing with Cretans in a “giant spinning circle of locked arms”, Christine Negroni travelled to India, Ethiopia and New Zealand to connect with locals through dance. Her…

Mikey McCleary – “I Became a Part of Indian Music”

Mikey McCleary – “I Became a Part of Indian Music”

Mikey McCleary “has recreated some evergreen Bollywood tracks and infused youthfulness in them”. With his work on “Khoya khoya chand”, “Hawa hawai”, “Dhak Dhak” or the recent “Fifi– Jata kahan hai deewane” he has…

New Zealand Stunt Double Falls in Love at Mad Max Fury Road Set

New Zealand Stunt Double Falls in Love at Mad Max Fury Road Set

New Zealand stunt double Dayna Grant and Dane Grant have found their soulmate at the set of post-apocalyptic action movie. “The couple that does stunts together, stays together”, writes Andrea Romano for

The Hobbit Heli Mountain Biking

The Hobbit Heli Mountain Biking

Devinsupertramp go on a Hobbit adventure by mountain biking through New Zealand. Filmed by Devin Graham and TeamSupertramp using the RED Dragon in 6K resolution, with the Glidecam Devin…

New Zealand Salmon Industry Leads the Way in Sustainability

New Zealand Salmon Industry Leads the Way in Sustainability

The New Zealand Salmon Industry is leading the way in fish sustainability measures according to the recent global sustainability report Global Salmon Initiative Sustainability released by the Global Salmon Initiative. “Overall,…

Martin Henderson Joins Grey’s Anatomy

Martin Henderson Joins Grey’s Anatomy

New Zealand actor Martin Henderson has been cast as the new dreamboat doctor on Grey’s Anatomy, which is heading into its 12th season, to fill the void left by Patrick Dempsey’s departure in season…

UMO Ringleader Ruban Nielson Gets Personal

UMO Ringleader Ruban Nielson Gets Personal

Ruban Nielson’s private life provided the conditions under which Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s latest LP Multi-Love came together. But the album is much more than the sum of its body parts, the Guardian’s Kate Hutchinson…

New Zealand Satellite Timelapse

New Zealand Satellite Timelapse

Watch in awe as the ISS pans over New Zealand in a beautiful timelapse as the sun sets.

Lecretia Seales’ death comes amidst growing momentum for euthanasia

Lecretia Seales’ death comes amidst growing momentum for euthanasia

Dutch euthanasia expert Rob Jonquiere hopes the death of New Zealander Lecretia Seales, an advocate who has died from brain cancer, will bring about a law change. Seales, 42, died from natural causes, just hours…

Family Pays Tribute to Dapper Tailor Peter Rigby

Family Pays Tribute to Dapper Tailor Peter Rigby

Well-known Lower Hutt tailor Peter Rigby, who made clothes for many New Zealand plays and films, including Utu, The Frighteners, Goodbye Pork Pie and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died, aged 81. Born…

ArtScience Museum Head Honor Harger Embracing Technology

ArtScience Museum Head Honor Harger Embracing Technology

Executive director of Singapore’s ArtScience Museum New Zealander Honor Harger is embracing interactive technology such as touch screens and mobile apps in order to retain visitors and draw new ones, mirroring a trend in…

SIX60 – Don’t Forget Your Roots

SIX60 – Don’t Forget Your Roots

Listen to New Zealand rock band Six60’s single, “Don’t Forget Your Roots”. It was released as on 18 July 2011 as the second single from their self-titled debut studio…

Rare Baby Kiwi Named Nutter – “a Ball of Fluff With a Beak”

Rare Baby Kiwi Named Nutter – “a Ball of Fluff With a Beak”

A rare baby kiwi has been born at the West Coast Wildlife Centre in Franz Josef on New Zealand’s South Island. The baby kiwi named Nutter, described as “90 per cent fluff and 10…

Teenager Ayla Hutchinson Lands US Deal with Kindling Cracker

Teenager Ayla Hutchinson Lands US Deal with Kindling Cracker

Taranaki teenager Ayla Hutchinson’s science project has earned her a lucrative international business deal. Hutchinson, who invented the Kindling Cracker, recently entered into an agreement with America’s lead supplier of professional-quality tools, Northern Tool…

Joseph Parker Crushes Yakup Saglam in Two Rounds

Joseph Parker Crushes Yakup Saglam in Two Rounds

Heavyweight contender Joseph Parker has defeated the “more experienced but terribly limited Yakup Saglam” with a “two round knockout” at the Manawatu Arena in Palmerston North, New Zealand On Saturday, June 13. Parker, who came…

The Kiwi Experience

The Kiwi Experience

Experience the sights and sounds around New Zealand with Tamar and James as they travel around New Zealand for a month on the Kiwi Bus and using the Tiki…

New Zealand Drivers Come First and Second for Porsche in Le Mans 24 Hours Race

New Zealand Drivers Come First and Second for Porsche in Le Mans 24 Hours Race

New Zealand racers Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley, driving for Porsche, have come first and second in the Le Mans 24 Hours Race ending Audi’s five year winning streak. The winning Porsche “had both pace…

Unknown Katherine Mansfield Poems Found in Chicago Library

Unknown Katherine Mansfield Poems Found in Chicago Library

Nearly 30 unknown poems by Katherine Mansfield have been discovered in Chicago’s Newberry Library, giving fresh insight into the writer’s most painful and difficult period, the evidence for which she had later destroyed. Gerri Kimber,…