February 2018 Archives

New Zealand’s New Big Thing Is Pinot Noir

New Zealand’s New Big Thing Is Pinot Noir

New Zealand “was once known merely for crisp, grassy sauvignon blanc wines. No longer,” Elin McCoy writes in a report for Bloomberg. “Actor Sam Neill just finished a six-part television documentary on the voyages of…

EDGE #303: NZ’s Role in Apocalypse Now, Marlon Williams Tiny Desk Session, Taika Waititi’s Breakers and Upperers + Skiing’s Remarkable Wells Brothers ++

EDGE #303: NZ’s Role in Apocalypse Now, Marlon Williams Tiny Desk Session, Taika Waititi’s Breakers and Upperers + Skiing’s Remarkable Wells Brothers ++

News of New Zealand…

Magnetic Marlon Plays Brilliant Tiny Desk Session

Magnetic Marlon Plays Brilliant Tiny Desk Session

“Marlon Williams is a handsome devil with a heart-stopping voice, who writes songs about vampires and horror films. This 27-year-old, New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer is also a teller of tales,” tastemaster Bob Boilen writes…

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Outside the Box

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Outside the Box

“Perhaps no other wine style is as instantly recognisable as New Zealand sauvignon blanc,” Christina Pickard writes for Wine Enthusiast magazine. “It put New Zealand wine on the map in all its brash, aromatic…

Skiing’s Remarkable Wells Brothers

Skiing’s Remarkable Wells Brothers

Wanaka’s Wells brothers are “skiing’s answer to the Von Trapp family”, according to CNN’s Matias Grez. The four freeskiers are: Jossi, 27, (pictured) Byron, 25, Beau-James, 21, and Jackson, 19. Ever since he can remember,…

At Home with Newsreader Kay McGrath

At Home with Newsreader Kay McGrath

For a woman who has appeared in living rooms across Queensland almost nightly for 30 years, Channel Seven newsreader New Zealand-born Kay McGrath is a little uncomfortable in her own. “I wish I hadn’t put…

Vicki Lee Takes Music of Vera Lynn Across Sussex

Vicki Lee Takes Music of Vera Lynn Across Sussex

Palmerston North singer Vicki Lee, 64, is touring Sussex, England in February with her tribute to the life and music of centenarian Dame Vera Lynn, known as the ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’. The show began life in…

Staring Down the Barrel with Aldous Harding

Staring Down the Barrel with Aldous Harding

Aldous Harding’s sophomore album Party has every right to stake its claim as the best album of last year, according to Melbourne-based lifestyle website Broadsheet. The power of Harding’s voice was only hinted at…

How Bisexual Goose Thomas Became an Icon

How Bisexual Goose Thomas Became an Icon

A memorial was recently held for Thomas the goose, a “New Zealander who spent most of his life as a loving partner, caring father and an icon of the LGBT community”, Yvette Tan writes in a…

Isaac Burrough Reveals 28m Motor Yacht Concept

Isaac Burrough Reveals 28m Motor Yacht Concept

Amsterdam-based designer New Zealander Isaac Burrough has released his latest concept, a 28m motor yacht that draws inspiration from the world of product design. Eschewing the more commonplace reference points of architecture and automotive design,…

Scientists Assess Surprise Status of Ross Ice Shelf

Scientists Assess Surprise Status of Ross Ice Shelf

New Zealand scientists have peered into one of the least-explored swaths of ocean on Earth, a vast region located off the coast of West Antarctica. It is locked beneath a crust of ice larger…

Boy Fans Will Love The Breakers and Upperers

Boy Fans Will Love The Breakers and Upperers

If you enjoy contemporary New Zealand comedies like Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, then you should put this Taika Waititi-executive produced title The Breaker Upperers on your radar, recommends…

Move Over Norway and Behold Fiordland

Move Over Norway and Behold Fiordland

“If you’ve never heard of this national park, on New Zealand’s South Island, then you won’t know that it’s one of earth’s most staggeringly jaw-dropping wildernesses,” the Britain’s Daily Mail reports. The publication features…

Superorganism’s Harry Lets Us in on Band’s Mystique

Superorganism’s Harry Lets Us in on Band’s Mystique

Signing to Domino Records mid-2017, the fun pop eight-piece Superorganism has since kept a pretty exclusive profile, playing only a handful of shows throughout the entire year. With the release of their self-titled debut…

New Zealand’s Role in Apocalypse Now

New Zealand’s Role in Apocalypse Now

“If you’re interested in the end of the world, you’re interested in New Zealand. If you’re interested in how our current cultural anxieties – climate catastrophe, decline of transatlantic political orders, resurgent nuclear terror…

Maryanne Redpath at Helm of Berlinale’s Generation

Maryanne Redpath at Helm of Berlinale’s Generation

Within 10 years, former artist, teacher and filmmaker New Zealand-born Maryanne Redpath has turned the Berlinale youth section Generation into one of the most popular strands of the film festival, with a gem-packed programme…

Fossil Poop Reveals Critical Role of Giant Birds in NZ’S Ecosystem

Fossil Poop Reveals Critical Role of Giant Birds in NZ’S Ecosystem

“When the first humans landed on what is now known as New Zealand 700 years ago, they didn’t find mammals. Instead, they discovered giant birds called moas, as well as a host of other…

How to Dad – Teaching A Baby to Talk

How to Dad – Teaching A Baby to Talk

Auckland Dad Jordan Watson, aka ‘How to Dad’ is known for his funny parenting videos. Watch his new clip on teaching a baby how to talk.

Robyn Malcolm on Cleavage and Credibility

Robyn Malcolm on Cleavage and Credibility

It is something of a surprise to see New Zealander Robyn Malcolm looking positively restrained, wearing a conservative skirt and blouse, for her role as Maxine Pavich in the new ABC television drama series…

Why New Zealand Has So Many Gang Members

Why New Zealand Has So Many Gang Members

“For a quiet country, New Zealand has a peculiar problem with gangs. It is reckoned to have one of the highest membership rates in the world. In a population of 4.7m, police count over…

Pirate Involved in Peter Blake’s Death Recaptured

Pirate Involved in Peter Blake’s Death Recaptured

Brazilian police on a remote Amazon River island have arrested a man involved in the murder of round-the-world sailor New Zealander Sir Peter Blake in 2001. José Irandir Cardoso had been a fugitive for the…

NZ Trail Huts Provide Shelter, Conversation and Community

NZ Trail Huts Provide Shelter, Conversation and Community

“I wouldn’t have guessed that backcountry huts would become a focal point of my travels in New Zealand. Sixteen years later, I had come for the forests of Lothlorien, the peaks of the Misty…

Rotorua the Southern Hemisphere’s Yellowstone

Rotorua the Southern Hemisphere’s Yellowstone

“The Rotorua region, one of the world’s most geothermally active areas, is the Southern Hemisphere’s take on Yellowstone – minus bison, bears and backed-up crowds,” journalist M.L. Lyke writes for The Washington Post. “Gases and…

Jacinda Ardern Graces Vogue’s Pages

Jacinda Ardern Graces Vogue’s Pages

Jacinda Ardern is clear-eyed about what a prime minister of New Zealand, a country with a population of under five million, can achieve on the world stage. “We’re small,” she tells Amelia Lester reporting…

New Zealand Sporting Moment of the Year

New Zealand Sporting Moment of the Year

Mitchell Hunt of the Crusaders won the New Zealand Sporting Moment of the Year at this year’s Halberg Awards for his match-winning drop goal against the…

Former PM Bill English Quits Politics

Former PM Bill English Quits Politics

Former New Zealand prime minister Bill English, 56, has resigned as leader of the National Party, quitting politics after a 27-year career. “Now is the right time for me to step aside and embark on new professional…

Adrian Ramsay: Making Your Dream Home A Reality

Adrian Ramsay: Making Your Dream Home A Reality

“The idea of the dream home is something we all have. But what most of us don’t is someone to realise it for us. Consider then the genius mind of Adrian Ramsay, who prides…

Artist Francis Upritchard Describes Balata

Artist Francis Upritchard Describes Balata

A festive crowd of art-lovers gathered at Lux Art Institute in Encinitas, California recently for the opening of a show by the first of its 2018 resident artists, London-based New Zealander Francis Upritchard. Upritchard’s odd…

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Begin Promotion of New LP

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Begin Promotion of New LP

The follow-up to New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s 2015 album Multi-Love, their fourth studio album, Sex & Food is out on 6 April. Bandleader Ruban Nielson described the impetus behind the album, saying he wanted to…

See If You Can Pronounce This Place Name

See If You Can Pronounce This Place Name

“Every world traveller knows the struggles of trying to fit into a foreign country’s culture. It requires remembering local customs, practicing appropriate etiquette, and (perhaps the most challenging) learning to speak like a local….

How to Honeymoon in New Zealand

How to Honeymoon in New Zealand

Wanting to take their time soaking in jagged mountains, rolling pastures, steep fjords, pristine lakes, raging rivers and scenic beaches, Indonesians Gwen Winarno and Yudha Budhisurya took a road trip in New Zealand while…

Anna Paquin Does Some Detective Work in Bellevue

Anna Paquin Does Some Detective Work in Bellevue

New Zealander Anna Paquin plays Detective Anna Ryder in the Canadian television series, Bellevue. “Paquin, whose onscreen presence guarantees an otherworldly, alienating grace, is doing more work than is first apparent,” Variety TV critic…

Sriwhana Spong Considers Monuments to Oppression

Sriwhana Spong Considers Monuments to Oppression

“A quiet but intensely powerful exhibition at San Francisco nonprofit gallery Kadist refutes the idea that we can shed the pain of the history of oppression by turning away from it,” Charles Desmarais writes…

Inspiring Cancer Story Written by Petra Kotrotsos

Inspiring Cancer Story Written by Petra Kotrotsos

Wellingtonian Petra Kotrotsos is not your average 21-year-old, according to Melbourne-based Greek community newspaper Neos Kosmos. A video blogger and aspiring filmmaker, she’s also a cancer veteran, having been through various treatments since she…

Opuio Releases Striking Ginger Lizard Video

Opuio Releases Striking Ginger Lizard Video

New Zealand-born Melbourne-based producer Oscar Davey-Wraight, aka Opiuo, has released the official video for his brand new single Ginger Lizard, which is taken from his forthcoming EP, Syzygy 01 scheduled for release on 2…

Marlon Williams – What’s Chasing You?

Marlon Williams – What’s Chasing You?

Watch the official video of Marlon Williams’ ‘What’s Chasing You’. The song is part of his album ‘Make Way For Love,’ which was released on February 16, 2018. Marlon Williams is a…

Conductor Michael Joel Directs Fine Concert

Conductor Michael Joel Directs Fine Concert

Under the direction of New Zealand-born conductor Michael Joel, the Lakeland Sinfonia “presented a programme that was well-suited to their strengths,” according to the Westmorland Gazette’s Adrian Mullen in a review of a recent…

Ice Sculptor Tatiana Zimina Competes in China

Ice Sculptor Tatiana Zimina Competes in China

New Zealander Tatiana Zimina has recently returned from northeast China where she competed in ice and snow sculpting with her partner and two friends in the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. The…

Marlon Williams Leads Fertile Lyttelton Music Scene

Marlon Williams Leads Fertile Lyttelton Music Scene

There is nothing like some personal trauma to fuel the muse of a songwriter. Acclaimed New Zealand troubadour Marlon Williams, 27, can attest to that, and the results are etched deeply into the grooves…

Virgin Media’s Tom Mockridge Connects UK Homes

Virgin Media’s Tom Mockridge Connects UK Homes

Virgin Media, with New Zealander Tom Mockridge at the helm, has connected more than a million homes to its ultrafast broadband network, in the latest sign that the roll-out of high-speed internet services is…

Peter Beck’s Mission to Conquer Space

Peter Beck’s Mission to Conquer Space

Rocket Lab entrepreneur Peter Beck’s recent launch into orbit of the 65-sided, carbon-fibre satellite Humanity Star drew a barrage of flak from scientists. But the New Zealander remains undaunted. Beck explains his decision to Ian…

Georgia Fowler Shoot Lauds Harper’s Anniversary

Georgia Fowler Shoot Lauds Harper’s Anniversary

Georgia Fowler, 25, the youngest daughter of Australian golfer Peter Fowler, is quickly becoming one of the most recognisable faces in the world, twice taking to the coveted Victoria’s Secret runway. Fowler (pictured left)…

Darkest Hour Trailer

Darkest Hour Trailer

Watch the trailer to acclaimed Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour, which was written by New Zealand-born filmmaker Anthony McCarten. McCarten is best known for the screenplay…

Athletics Role for Rowing Ireland’s Hamish Adams

Athletics Role for Rowing Ireland’s Hamish Adams

Athletics Ireland has announced the appointment of New Zealander Hamish Adams as its new chief executive officer. Adams, who for the past five years has been Rowing Ireland CEO, will vacate that role and take…

EDGE #301: NZ Perfect Place to Shape Ed Hillary, Kimbra’s Primal Heart, Tape Face in Vegas, Braindead Revisited, Bevan Congdon RIP + MORE

EDGE #301: NZ Perfect Place to Shape Ed Hillary, Kimbra’s Primal Heart, Tape Face in Vegas, Braindead Revisited, Bevan Congdon RIP + MORE

News of New Zealand…

Perpetual Guardian Announces Shorter Work Week

Perpetual Guardian Announces Shorter Work Week

New Zealand trustee company Perpetual Guardian is on the cusp of granting its employees the ultimate in work-life balance: four days work for five days pay, Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for UK newspaper The…

Frisky Spokesbird Sirocco Comes out of Hiding

Frisky Spokesbird Sirocco Comes out of Hiding

Sirocco, New Zealand’s superstar kakapo, is alive and well in Fiordland, according to the Department of Conservation. The conservation ‘spokesbird’ shot to fame after he got a bit too friendly…

New Zealand Captured in Dreamy Infrared

New Zealand Captured in Dreamy Infrared

Interested in producing images on “the fringe of the otherworldly,” California-based landscape photographer Paul Hoi creatively combines science fiction with psychedelia. Using a camera modified for full spectrum infrared, Hoi transforms familiar visuals into…

New Zealand Publicly Funds HIV Protection Drug

New Zealand Publicly Funds HIV Protection Drug

New Zealand is about to take a pioneering approach to fighting HIV/AIDS – by publicly funding pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication Truvada, manufactured by US biotech giant Gilead. Taking this drug daily has shown to offer…

Chris Waller Humbled by Hall of Fame Recognition

Chris Waller Humbled by Hall of Fame Recognition

All Sydney-based trainer Chris Waller wanted to be was a reasonable trainer when he started in the tough game of preparing racehorses in his homeland of New Zealand. Reasonable has been replaced by premier…

Cricket Legend Bevan Congdon Leaves True Legacy

Cricket Legend Bevan Congdon Leaves True Legacy

Motueka-born Bevan Congdon, who captained New Zealand to its first Test win over Australia in 1974, has died a day short of his 80th birthday in Auckland. In total, Congdon played 61 Tests and captained…

Sirocco Is Back

Sirocco Is Back

For the past two years New Zealand’s national “spokesbird” Sirocco had disappeared off the radar due to a failed transmitter. Watch this clip to see DOC rangers Jake Osborne and Sara…

Shotover Tech Wizards Score Early Oscar for Aerials

Shotover Tech Wizards Score Early Oscar for Aerials

Queenstown design engineers John Coyle, Brad Hurndell, Vikas Sathaye and Shane Buckham have scored a jump on Margot Robbie, Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep a month before the Oscars. The group has just been…

Politicians Must Earn Back Trust Says Ardern

Politicians Must Earn Back Trust Says Ardern

Jacinda Ardern is not your average prime minister, Times political journalist Alice Thomson quickly learns. The second prime minister after Benazir Bhutto, in 1990, to be pregnant while running a country, is down to…

New Zealand the Perfect Place to Shape Ed Hillary

New Zealand the Perfect Place to Shape Ed Hillary

“I ended up in boat-drunk summery Auckland because I wanted to figure out, 10 years after Sir Edmund Hillary’s death, how the first person to climb Mount Everest ever happened. I promise that is…

Aaron Jeffery Gets into the Head of Chopper Read

Aaron Jeffery Gets into the Head of Chopper Read

A quirk of fate could have changed the path of Australian film history and seen New Zealander Aaron Jeffery play Chopper Read nearly 20 years ago. “I auditioned for the original Chopper movie,” Jeffery, 47,…