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Archive >> November 2021
How the All Blacks Handle Public Expectation
Every sports team has an expectation to succeed, but few do like the All Blacks, CNN reports.
The burden of public opinion – as well as the high standards set…
Naming NZ Aotearoa Meaningful Step for Travellers
The Māori Party has launched a petition to revert to the country’s original name of Aotearoa. In an opinion piece for Condé Nast Traveler, Māori authors Stacey and Scotty…
Ponsonby Period House Gets 21st Century Facelift
“An Edwardian house in the Ponsonby neighbourhood of Auckland, has been given a 21st-century facelift with a thorough redesign and a touch of minimalism – through an extension’s monolithic…
Jiu-Jitsu Coach John Danaher Learnt from the Best
“Brazilian jiu-jitsu has been compared to chess, philosophy, even psychoanalysis. But its real appeal is on the mat,” Stephanie Hayes writes for The Atlantic in a story about influential…
Rare Sea Lions Are Back and Crashing Sports Games
After their populations were decimated by hunters, New Zealand’s sea lions are returning to the coasts – sometimes surprising locals by turning up in unexpected places, Charlotte Graham-McLay reports…
Steven Alker Gets All His Ducks in a Row
Since a Monday qualifier in the middle of August in the state of Washington, Golf magazine reports on what has happened to Hamilton-born golfer Steven Alker – six top…
Gisborne’s Where the Surf’s At
In a Condé Nast Traveler feature, pros weigh in on the best places in the world for a surf trip – whether it’s for learning the sport, testing your…
Golfer Lydia Ko Takes the Trophy in Dubai
A bogey-free 65 in the final round earned a commanding five-shot victory for two-time major champion New Zealander Lydia Ko at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, earlier this month,…
Film-Making Set Jane Campion Free
New Zealand’s “trailblazing director” Jane Campion speaks to The Guardian’s Sean O’Hagan about how the #MeToo movement inspired her first feature in more than a decade, “revisionist western”, The…
Peter Jackson Takes Us into the Locked Beatles Vault
Ahead of his epic series Get Back, the New Zealand director Peter Jackson reveals the secrets of 60 hours of intimate, unseen footage of the Fab Four – and…
Weta Digital Tech Sale has 1.65 Billion Special Effects
Unity Software, a 3D game-development platform, is expanding its VFX footprint in a big way with the US$1.625 billion acquisition of the technology division of Peter Jackson’s New Zealand-based…
McLaren Names Emma Gilmour First Female Driver
McLaren has announced Dunedin-born Emma Gilmour as its first-ever female racer, with the rally driver set to compete in the new electric Extreme E off-road series in 2022.
The announcement…
How New Zealand Used Humour to Reform Police
“Every year, American police officers kill roughly 1000 people. By comparison, New Zealand police officers kill, on average, about eight people per decade. Even if you adjust for the…
Victory for Bat in Bird of the Year Competition
The winner of New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2021 contest has been announced and it’s the country’s only native land mammal – the pekapeka-tou-roa long-tailed bat. The UK’s…
Catching Up With Lucy Lawless On New Roles
Lucy Lawless, who currently stars in the television series My Life Is Murder, which screens in both New Zealand and the US, spoke to Forbes about doing voiceover animation,…
Wagner’s Ring Cycle Gets Bold Samoan Rework
Here is an insane undertaking: a small London-based arts collective, Gafa, run by singers of Samoan heritage, putting on a complete Ring cycle – four vast operas, almost 15…
What’s On Thomasin McKenzie’s Cultural Radar?
Wellington-born actor Thomasin McKenzie, who plays the lead in Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, is interviewed for The Observer’s regular column, ‘On my radar’, one person’s snapshot of…
Karen Walker Divulges Most Creative Partnership
New Zealand fashion designer Karen Walker, 51, discusses her upbringing, career and the men who have influenced her, with The Sydney Morning Herald.
“My father, Noel, worked in the travel…
Fabled Terraces the Birthplace of NZ Tourism
“Although New Zealand’s Pink and White Terraces were destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1886, travellers can still explore this bubbling, boiling landscape today,” Dani Wright reports for the…
UK Reaches Agreement on New Zealand Trade Deal
The UK has brokered a trade agreement with New Zealand that will cut tariffs on clothing, buses and wine, and, it hopes, lay a foundation for joining a trans-Pacific…
Cricketing Pioneer Grace Gooder an Unsung Hero
Auckland-born Grace Gooder took six English wickets in one innings, yet was never picked for New Zealand again. Instead, she became a psychiatric nurse and spent her life caring…
Adele Is Back and so Is Michael Ashton’s Trademark
Hamilton-born makeup artist Michael Ashton, 39, has admitted in a new interview with the New York Post’s Page Six Style, that he never thought Adele’s signature winged eyeliner would…
Revitalising Te Reo Māori Via Music
When musician and producer Dame Hinewehi Mohi, one of the primary engines behind the musical Māori revival, performed the New Zealand national anthem at the 1999 Rugby World Cup…
Rēnata West Searches US for Spirit of His Ancestors
When Rēnata West moved from New Zealand to the US in 2016, he discovered something unexpected: the path of his great grandmother, who had travelled the same route more…
