Blog Archives

All Blacks 7, Opposition 0

All Blacks 7, Opposition 0

The All Blacks remain undefeated in 2006 having secured both Bledisloe and Tri-Nations trophies after a ferocious Eden Park test against Australia on 19 August. The victory puts Graham Henry’s team on the verge of breaking…

Bumper Crop

Bumper Crop

Kiwi wine exports hit a record high of half a billion dollars this year, according the New Zealand Winegrowers annual report. Pinot noir sales increased 55% to overtake chardonnay as NZ’s second most exported varietal, after perennial…

Queen Mourned, King Crowned

Queen Mourned, King Crowned

The Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday 15 August aged 75 after a 40-year reign. Dame Te Atairangikaahu was the sixth monarch of the North Island tribes who formed the King movement…

Double Dose of Glacial Magic

Double Dose of Glacial Magic

A Sydney Morning Herald travel writer takes in equal parts local history and jaw-dropping natural scenery at the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. “Tramping, walking and hiking have long been popular pastimes in this wildly picturesque region…

Rev Cardy on breaking the language barrier

Rev Cardy on breaking the language barrier

The Rev Glynn Cardy of Auckland’s progressive Anglican church, St Matthew-in-the-City, recommends an overhaul of traditional liturgy in an opinion piece for the Guardian. Cardy believes that the gendered language and sometimes archaic metaphors…

Earthrace Is On

Earthrace Is On

Kiwi Peter Bethune is now part way through a 30-city world tour aboard Earthrace, his unique biodiesel-fuelled powerboat. Since leaving NZ, Earthrace has visited Samoa, Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, Hawaii and San Francisco on its mission to promote…

The Christchurch Wizard

The Christchurch Wizard

Christchurch’s famous Christchurch Wizard performs in Cathedral Square.

World Descends on Rotorua

World Descends on Rotorua

Rotorua’s Mt Ngongotaha played host to the UCI World Mountain Bike Championships from August 23-27, the first time the event has been held in the southern hemisphere in ten years. The Rotorua cycling community had campaigned for…

Moko Takes to US Streets

Moko Takes to US Streets

The sale of Maori themed Halloween costumes by an American store has angered Maori leaders. Halloween Town in Los Angeles is advertising the Maori Facial Tattoo Kit for $US10. Rotorua academic Ngahihi o te ra…

Philharmonia in Fashion

Philharmonia in Fashion

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra has launched a new initiative to dress visiting international soloists in NZ designs. For the APO’s recent ‘Russian Spectacular,’ pianist Marina Kolomiytseva wore a Liz Mitchell gown and presenter Elena…

Wairewa Station on the Ball

Wairewa Station on the Ball

South Canterbury sheep farmers Philip and Anne Munro won a lucrative US contract to supply wool for the tennis balls used at the US Open. The couple hosted American tennis ball producers Tex Tech and Wilson’s…

Three Strikes, You’re Out

Three Strikes, You’re Out

Rainbow Warrior bombers Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart have lost a third court appeal to prevent TVNZ from screening footage from their 1985 trial. Three NZ appeal court judges unanimously granted the channel permission to air…

Kiri Te Kanawa: Dove Sono

Kiri Te Kanawa: Dove Sono

Kiri Te Kanawa: Dove Sono

World class visionaries

World class visionaries

Weta Digital is to provide special effects for upcoming Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. Directed by James Cameron, the US$200 million sci-fi epic will be almost entirely made up of computer generated action. Cameron used…

Game Over

Game Over

A group of NZ bars has developed a novel method of curbing excess drinking. Unruly patrons can be yellow or red carded depending on their degree of intoxication – yellow cards preventing drinkers from…

Half-way Happy

Half-way Happy

NZ ranks 94th out of 178 countries in the inaugural Happy Planet Index, produced by independent British “think-and-do tank” the New Economics Foundation. The Happy Planet Index (HPI) measures human well-being in relation to…

Manaakitanga and other matters

Manaakitanga and other matters

Years ago, it would have been the late 70’s, and I was working on an arts employment project with Para Matchitt and Jacob Scott at Otatara, the arts campus of the then Hawke’s Bay…

The Edge in 24

The Edge in 24

The tense, edgy feel of the Emmy Award-winning series 24 is largely propelled by the work of New Zealander Rodney Charters csc asc, who has been Director of Photography for all five…

All grown up

All grown up

Veils front man Finn Andrews is compared to Tom Waits, John Lennon and Nick Cave in a glowing Guardian review. “Andrews’ voice is no longer that of an anguished child, but the trembling…

Oh Happy Day

Oh Happy Day

New Zealand is the 18th happiest nation in the world, according to the first ever “world map of happiness.” Produced by Adrian White of Leicester University’s School of Psychology, the map uses data from the CIA,…

Hands on High Flyer

Hands on High Flyer

Kiwi Carly Arnold has been named one of British magazine Management Today‘s 35 women under 35 for 2006. Arnold, 29, studied engineering and business at Auckland University and worked for Air NZ before landing a business…

Douglas Wright’s “poem of love, cruelty and death”

Douglas Wright’s “poem of love, cruelty and death”

During his dance career Douglas Wright was said to resemble Nijinsky in his face, his flair and his soaring leap. He now has the taut, high cheekbones, full lips and furrowed brow of…

Kiwi Thesps Impress

Kiwi Thesps Impress

Sam Neill charmed the British film press while promoting his latest UK release, Little Fish. Guardian: “In the Q&A session that followed , his performance as Sam Neill was as compelling as…

The Flight of the Conchords: Business Time

The Flight of the Conchords: Business Time

New Zealand Comedians, the Flight of the Conchords, perform Business Time.

L&P: Swimming Pool Bombs

L&P: Swimming Pool Bombs

A favourite L&P ad on the classic Kiwi summer.

Guardian handles the jandal

Guardian handles the jandal

The Guardian pays tribute to the jandal/thong/flip flop – a welcome arrival in Britain given the recent heatwave. A brief history of the humble rubber shoe attributes its commercial origins to the NZ Jandal,…

Aotearoa meets Sao Paulo

Aotearoa meets Sao Paulo

Six NZ musicians spent three weeks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as part of the Bacardi B-Live OE, organised by Bacardi and Wellington’s Loop Recordings. P Digsss (Shapeshifter), Barnaby Weir (Black Seeds, Fly My…

World Heritage Watchdog

World Heritage Watchdog

Ngati Tuwharetoa chief Tumu te Heuheu has been named chairman of the UN World Heritage committee, the global supervisory body for cultural and natural heritage sites. PM Helen Clark described the appointment as a “momentous achievement,” and…

Once the Muss, always the Muss

Once the Muss, always the Muss

Temuera Morrison talks to Japan’s CrissCross News about the NZ film industry, his plans for the future, and his now legendary portrayal of Jake Heke in Once Were Warriors. “I was in Sweden signing…

Patea Maori Club: Poi E

Patea Maori Club: Poi E

Watch this video of a New Zealand classic: Poi E by the Patea Maori Club.

Kiwi Creation Joins World’s Supercars

Kiwi Creation Joins World’s Supercars

NZ’s first supercar, the Hulme.F1, secured a rare invitation to show at Britain’s prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed. The annual event showcases the latest designs by big names Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin, as well as…

Chills still thrill

Chills still thrill

Flying Nun legends the Chills are the unlikely inspiration behind up-and-coming Swedish band Peter, Bjorn and John. The indiepop trio pay tribute to Dunedin’s finest with a song titled The Chills, on their third…

Million dollar baby

Million dollar baby

An entrepreneurial NZ website is selling words for SUS1 each in a bid to create a one-of-a-kind multi-authored novel. The brains behind anovelmillion.com is Australian born Aditya Kesarcodi-Watson. “Anybody is capable of buying…

Imitation, Inspiration or Appropriation?

Imitation, Inspiration or Appropriation?

2006 has seen a rash of advertising and design taking inspiration – with varying degrees of offensiveness – from Maori art and culture. An Italian ad for the Fiat Idea showing a group of…

Henderson plumbs personal landscape

Henderson plumbs personal landscape

Peninsula, the latest play from NZ writer Gary Henderson, is applauded in Brisbane’s Courier Mail. Commissioned by the Christchurch Arts Festival, the play was inspired by Henderson’s own experience growing up in Duvauchelle Bay,…

Itinerant observer

Itinerant observer

Groundbreaking NZ anthropologist, Michael Jackson, currently Visiting Professor in World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, has released his memoirs. Titled The Accidental Anthropologist, the book details his nomadic lifestyle since leaving NZ as…

A floating world

A floating world

Titirangi’s Brake House features in architecture magazine Monument’s inaugural guide to Australasia’s seminal residential projects. Designed by Auckland architect Ron Sang, the Japanese-inspired house was built for world-famous NZ photojournalist Brian Brake in 1976….

Epic in More Ways than One

Epic in More Ways than One

NZ director Vincent Ward relates the harrowing experience of filming River Queen in a candid interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. Weather, illness and car crashes aside, it was lead actress Samantha Morton who…

When Denzel met Peter

When Denzel met Peter

Oscar winning actor Denzel Washington made a fleeting visit to Wellington in June to discuss a possible film project with Peter Jackson. According to Wellington’s Dominion Post, Washington wants Jackson’s Weta Workshop and Weta…

Agencies with Edge

Agencies with Edge

The Kiwi ad industry once again proved its strength on the global stage, picking up a slew of awards at this year’s Cannes Lions Advertising Awards. Saatchi & Saatchi won a Gold Lion in the media…

One for the True Fan

One for the True Fan

In the era of selling Britney Spears’ used chewing gum on eBay, Adidas has released a limited edition All Blacks poster containing DNA samples from every member of the national team. According to Chris…

Power Shift in World Wine Community

Power Shift in World Wine Community

The EU is instructing struggling European winemakers to follow the example of their increasingly successful New World counterparts in NZ, Australia, and America. The “wine lake” situation in Europe has now reached crisis point, with one in…

Indigenous Art in the Spotlight

Indigenous Art in the Spotlight

The Musée du Quai Branly, French President Jacques Chirac’s long-awaited €235.2 million shrine to indigenous art, was officially inaugurated on June 21 in Paris. The Quai Branly boasts a collection of 300,000 works from Africa, Asia, Oceania…

Wonder of the Natural World Reborn

Wonder of the Natural World Reborn

Rotorua’s famed Pink and White Terraces – destroyed in the 1886 Mt Tarawera eruption – are being replicated 8km away at Wairakei by businessman Jim Hall. The original staircase-like tiers of pink and…

Fur Patrol: Lydia

Fur Patrol: Lydia

The video for the 1990s hit, Lydia, by Fur Patrol.

Fonterra Gets Bigger

Fonterra Gets Bigger

NZ dairy giant Fonterra has established a strong foothold in Australia’s eastern states thanks to a crucial new partnership with Lismore-based co-op, Norco. Under the agreement, Norco will provide the manufacturing facilities and supply milk to the…

From Screen to Stage, Henderson Impresses

From Screen to Stage, Henderson Impresses

Kiwi actor Martin Henderson is currently walking the boards at London’s Apollo Theatre with a lead role in Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love. Henderson stars alongside American actress Juliet Lewis (Natural Born Killers) in…

Right Royal Exposure

Right Royal Exposure

The Queen’s official 80th birthday was marked in suitably sumptuous fashion, with a 4-course lunch at Mansion House for more than 350 guests. The four British chefs charged with overseeing the dinner won the honour after competing…

Another Webby for Edge

Another Webby for Edge

Exponents Tourism NZ’s consumer website newzealand.com, designed by Shift, has won the Webby award for best tourism website in the world for a second time. Known as the Oscars of the internet,…

History Maker Remembered

History Maker Remembered

International archery associations and Olympic committees have paid tribute to Neroli Fairhall, who has died aged 61. Fairhall won a gold medal in archery for NZ at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in…

Pedalling Their Wares

Pedalling Their Wares

NZ features in a New York Times guide to “less-pedalled wine regions to please the palates of cyclists.” Writer Stefani Jackenthal recommends Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay and Central Otago for their respective viticultural and scenic pleasures. Her picks…

Card Sharks Revealed

Card Sharks Revealed

Swimming with the Devil Fish, Des Wilson’s timely history of the British poker scene, gets a great review in the Guardian. “While the US market is saturated with poker manuals and ghosted autobiographies, the…

A Place in the Sun

A Place in the Sun

Granta editor, Ian Jack, writes about Katherine Mansfield’s convalescence in Menton for the Guardian. Menton, a resort town on the French Riviera, was renowned for its curative sea air in the early 20th century….

Return to Peak Form

Return to Peak Form

Commonwealth Games medallist and Olympian, Greg Henderson, marked his return to form with a convincing win at the inaugural Commerce Bank Reading Cycling Classic in Philadelphia, USA. Riding for the Health Net-Maxxis team, Henderson beat Uzbekistan’s Sergey…

Poi Reaches New Audience

Poi Reaches New Audience

The traditional Maori poi has surfaced in Penticton, British Columbia. 22-year-old Penticton native, Donalee Davidson, teaches poi classes in her home city and tours the world performing her own interpretation of the art. “You…

Global Roaming

Global Roaming

Auckland-based company RoamAD has secured another major international contract, providing a high-speed wireless network to the Italian university city of Bologna. The free wi-fi network is the first to be deployed in the historic centre of a…