Kuala Lumpur’s Coffee Hero
New Zealander Michael Wilson used to be in the British Army and even started a construction company in Scotland before finding his true calling: coffee, with the Artisan Roast brand. Wilson also co-owns two cafés…
Blog Archives
Silent Treasures from the NZ Film Archive on DVD
Over one hundred long-vanished films, including movies by John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Mabel Normand, were quietly residing in the New Zealand Film Archive when Brian Meacham, an archivist for the Academy of Motion Picture…
Connan Mockasin Swims Upstream
New Zealand psych-funk oddball Connan Mockasin hasn’t listened to anyone else’s music for 10 years; he shuns record labels and recorded his bewitching new album in a Tokyo hotel room, Ben Arnold…
NZ Native Forest Takes Root in Seattle
A New Zealand forest exhibit has opened at the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, the first of five eco-geographic forests to be completed in the Pacific Connections Garden, which eventually will cover…
Weatherman Predicts Year Ahead for Ireland
Auckland-born weatherman Ken Ring has made his latest predictions for the coming Northern winter, forecasting a white December for Ireland. Ring, who predicted the deadly Christchurch earthquake and Ireland’s arctic winter in 2010, also…
Urban Branches out with Billboard-Topping Fuse
New Zealand-born country singer Keith Urban, 45, has been branching out musically – playing with the Rolling Stones and others, and fresh collaborations on his latest album, Fuse, which debuted on Billboard’s 200 Albums…
Top of the Class in Stylish at London Fashion Week
“It’s rare to find a designer who sticks to her style guns through thick and thin but Emilia Wickstead isn’t your average fashion creative,” the Daily Mail’s Ruth Styles writes from London…
Protecting Our Wine Brands Against Counterfeits
New Zealand winemakers are lobbying for the same legal protection for their brands that French producers won for Champagne two decades ago, because of fears knockoff wines are posing as premium labels exported from…
Misfits Making Mayhem in Chicago
Bay of Plenty writers James Morcan and Lance Morcan’s international conspiracy thriller, The Orphan Trilogy is set in Chicago at the site of the Pedemont Orphanage, where 23 orphans acquire the skills to become…
Baltimore-Based Artist Reminisces on Dog Days
Before he was an artist, New Zealand-born Hugh Pocock, 50, sold hot dogs in the heyday of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. Desperate times called for desperate measures. “Selling hot dogs was my first experience with real,…
Shout-it-to-the-Heavens Inspiring
“Xena: Warrior Princess, which ran for six years before it ended in 2001, was a show that charmed even as it taught its audience a thing or two,” American former model and actress Jennifer…
Bespoke Blends for Marks and Sparks
New Zealand winemaker Jeneve Williams joined Marks & Spencer in 2012 as the buyer for the retailer in charge of wines from South America, Eastern Europe, New Zealand and Italy. A year on, and…
Willis Switches Speed Codes
Lower Hutt-born middle-distance Olympic medallist Nick Willis, 30, is venturing into the hybrid sport of speed golf and will participate in the Speedgolf World Championships on 26 October and 27 October at…
Black and White Exhibition Opens in Berlin
Work by New Zealand artists Gordon Walters (pictured) and Judy Millar features in a new exhibition at Berlin’s Hamish Morrison Galerie, which opened 13 September and runs through 19 October. Walters and Millar are…
Debunking the Fire-Walking Myth in Georgia
Retired physicist John Campbell, formerly of the University of Canterbury, is offering a fire-walking demonstration at the University of Georgia on 19 September. For Campbell, fire-walking is a matter of thermal conductivity, and not…
Freeze Frame in the Alaskan Wilderness
New Zealand director Scott Walker, who is currently promoting his first feature film The Frozen Ground, talked recently to KFTV about all aspects of the production, from development and casting right through to getting…
Flying the Flag and Stealing Hearts
Emirates Team New Zealand just keeps showing up and beating Oracle, regardless of the time or day, Al Saracevic writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s a loose bunch of guys who are here…
Feminine in Work Wear at NY Fashion Week
New Zealand-born designer Rebecca Taylor “put old-school American work wear to work” in her Spring 2014 show at New York Fashion Week on 7 September. “Never mind that she normally dresses young women who…
Rolling out Their Second Album from LA
Naked and Famous singer-guitarist Thom Powers says Los Angeles was the perfect environment for the New Zealand synth-pop outfit to make their second album, In Rolling Waves. “That side of living in Los Angeles is…
Triumph from the Saddle at Burghley Trials
New Zealanders have come up trumps at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, with Jock Paget, 29, taking the top spot and Marlborough-based world No 1 Andrew Nicholson, 52, taking second place, as well as…
Winter Warmest since Records Began
Scientists says New Zealand has had its warmest winter since record-keeping began in 1909. The average nationwide temperature was 9.5C for June, July and August, about 1.2C above average, the National Institute of Water…
Rothko Inspires Fashionable Understatement
Three residential designers who have mastered the style of “restraint … but not necessarily minimalism” – New Zealand-born Sandra Nunnerley, Canada’s Elizabeth Metcalfe and Suzanne Kasler of Atlanta – explain how they merge the…
Spaceman Fires up West Auckland Pupils
NASA aero-engineer New Zealander Mana Vautier, who works at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, is developing guidance systems, flight simulations and navigation controls to train NASA flight controllers. Vautier’s designs allow…
Fashion Shoots for Couture Clad Canines
New Zealander Paul Nathan, has become a kind of society photographer for the doggie couture crowd and has documented furry fashionistas in his book Couture Dogs of New York, which came out…
Alberta Landscapes in Hyper-Realism
New Zealand-born artist David Scott exhibits with Canadian Marilynn Jeffrey at St Albert’s Visual Arts Studio Association in a show called Between Earth and Sky: Portraits of Rural Alberta, which runs through 27 September. Scott…
Arnett Features in New AP Vietnam War Book
Distinguished New Zealand war correspondent, Pulitzer Prize-winning Peter Arnett is one of a number of well-known journalists whose text will be included in Vietnam: The Real War, a photographic history by the Associated Press,…
New Cookbook Serves Up Comfortable Fresh
New Zealand-born chef Justin North’s new book Family Cooking has “an appealing selection of recipes”, reviewer Michelle Rowe writes for The Australian. “ North is the latest in a conga line of chefs to…
Fashion Forward Wedding Attire
A “delicate crochet trouser suit with chiffon ruffled sleeves” created by 50-year-old New Zealand label Vinka Design “stole the show among an assortment of flowing gowns”, Irish Independent writer Aishling Phelan reported…
Morgans Charmed on N Korean Motorbike Trip
New Zealanders Gareth and Joanne Morgan have become the first people to motorbike across the Korean Peninsula and say they have some real insights to share, especially regarding the terrain, people and…
Experts Behind the Global Yachting Scene
“As the America’s Cup finals begin on 7 September on San Francisco Bay, the people of New Zealand will be watching most intently,” New Zealand Trade and Enterprise chair Andrew Ferrier writes for Forbes….
As Much Attention to Heart-Rates as Hull Shapes
Taranaki-born Craig Monk, a mountain of a mariner, remembers his first year in charge of physical training for an America’s Cup team, Christopher Clarey writes for The New York Times. It was 1995 and…
Beyond the Edge Premieres in Toronto
“In 1953, no one even knew if it could be done,” says Auckland-based Leanne Pooley, director of the 3-D documentary Beyond the Edge, which chronicles Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s…
Pages Seethe with Misfired Bullets and Opium
“Eleanor Catton didn’t set out to write an enormous book,” Guardian correspondent Kira Cochrane begins. “When she started her second novel, the Man Booker longlisted The Luminaries, she expected it to be about the…
Royals Makes Top 10 and Selena Gomez Covers
Auckland singer Lorde, 16, has made it into the United States Billboard Top 10, with her “debut alternative/pop hit” Royals, which pop star Selena Gomez covered at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on…
Mountain Peaks to Be Named in Their Honour
Nepal is set to name two Himalayan peaks after New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the men who were the first to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain on…
Risk Taker on Another Collision Course
“Seconds before Russell Coutts crashed his AC45 into the race-committee boat at the start of an America’s Cup World Series race a year ago in San Francisco, Murray Jones braced himself…
Through Yellowstone and on to Key West
Alabama is the latest stop for New Zealand engineer Wayne Gatenby, who is biking across America on a journey taking him to Key West. Gatenby turns 40 this year, and his particular bucket list included…
Norfolk Chef Passionate About Region’s Produce
New Zealand-born north Norfolk-based owner of the Flying Kiwi Inns chain of UK boutique hotels Chris Coubrough is also chairman of this year’s North Norfolk Food Festival, to be held at Holkham…
Deciphering Tokyo Voxels over Coffee
New Zealander James White, 30, owns Pico Pico Café in Tokyo and he is also an independent game designer, musician and futurist; the café doubles as the home of Lexaloffle Games, White’s one-man game…
Unearthing a Personal History
Is an actual, physical, deadly and devastating earthquake too obvious a metaphor for personal upheaval? Sydney Morning Herald journalist Sally Pryor asks New Zealand author Lloyd Jones. Perhaps, he says, but in his case…
Cormack on Remand in Wentworth Drama
Auckland-born actress Danielle Cormack, 42, has said she jumps at the chance to play strong women, this time in the lead role of Bea Smith in Wentworth Prison, a contemporary reworking of Prisoner:…
Telephone Me and I Will Show You My Land
New Zealand-born artist Nabil Sabio Azadi, 21, has reinvented a cherished commodity for world travellers seeking an authentic experience in a new place: a local’s recommendation, Erika Allen reports in The New York Times. In…
Casual Brilliance Shines Brightest of All in Canada
“Amateur Lydia Ko is a humble sports prodigy, a student and 16 years old, all of which means that rarely have the absolute best pros in women’s golf had their collective butts…
Beautiful Food Earns Melbourne Accolades
Taranaki-born chef Ben Shewry has been named Victoria’s best at the launch of The Age Good Food Guide 2014, with the Ripponlea restaurant he heads, Attica, also honoured. Attica was among four restaurants awarded…
NZ is Beating Australia to the next Wool Bonanza
“As to why the New Zealanders beat Australia to a market that could – arguably should – have been ours, the story is complex, ranging from chutzpah to lost opportunities and marketing failures…
Illinois Race Win for Young Cyclist
Auckland cyclist Alexander Ray has won the Bloomington Jaycee Criterium in Illinois. The 22-year-old’s solo breakaway with six laps left so shredded the legs of his opponents, he had more than enough strength to…
Sir Keith’s Locomotive Rededicated in Worcestershire
A locomotive renovated after 20 years in a scrapyard has been rededicated to the Battle of Britain legend New Zealander Keith Park it was first named after in 1947. Sir Keith commanded RAF squadrons…
More Caffeine Injections for Central Londoners
London’s Coffeesmiths Collective, run by New Zealanders Tim Ridley and Chris McKie is, together with London banker and investor Stefan Allesch-Taylor, about to open its fifth specialist cafe in the centre of the capital …
Spiffing Stuff on Stage at the Edmonton Fringe
New Zealand actress Penny Ashton, 38, “magnificently” pulls off one-woman Jane Austen musical Promise and Promiscuity, on during August’s Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival. Edmonton Journal reviewer Elizabeth Withey gives Ashton’s show 4.5 stars…
Misadventure Tourism Makes for Good Read
Wellington-born performer and writer Tom Doig (left) prefers travel with adversity over leisure, and as Doig says in his new travelogue Mörön to Mörön, a book about him and his best mate, Tama Pugsley…
South Sea Treasure Available Online
New Zealand-born London-based Laura Myers, creative director of new fashion brand Atea, says she wanted her collection to be fashionable, “but not shout-y”. “Think more Emmanuelle Alt than fashion blogger,” Myers says. With the launch…
Stamps Behind Stories of Terrible Wartime Loss
Aucklander Bruce Chadderton, president of the Philatelic Society of New Zealand, has had his book Descent into the Abyss: The Shoah — a philatelic retelling published by the Society of Israel Philatelists after one…
Cook Responsible for Beauteous Vancouver Garden
New Zealand-born Alleyne Cook has devoted 23 years of his life to planting and maintaining Vancouver’s Ted and Mary Greig Garden within Stanley Garden which contains an extraordinary botanical inventory of more than 4500…
With a Talent Like Catton’s One Can Never Be Sure
New Zealand-raised author Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker nominated The Luminaries is reviewed by Lesley McDowell in The Scotsman this week. “ Catton’s doorstopper of a novel read like a recall the Victorian works so…
Cage and Cusack Star in Impressive Debut
New Zealand-born writer-director Scott Walker’s “impressive debut” The Frozen Ground, starring Nicholas Cage and John Cusack “amounts to an exploitation flick about the hunt for Alaska’s most notorious serial killer, but told with style and…
Hope for Help from British Construction Workers
An innovative live webcast run by Immigration New Zealand and the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) hopes to encourage British civil construction and engineering workers to consider a move to earthquake-ravaged…
