School of Hard Knocks
Jonah Lomu talks to The Independent about growing up on South Auckland’s mean streets. “I lost an uncle; decapitated in a shopping centre, and a cousin who was stabbed. That’s when my mother said I was…
Blog Archives
The Peoples’ Choice
“New Zealand’s most revered sportsman”, Michael Campbell, finishes a gallant second at the NZ Golf Open, five strokes ahead of world No 1 Tiger Woods. Back in the clubhouse, Campbell announces he will allocate to children’s charities…
Lessons From the Kiwi Experience
The Scotsman praises “small, proud” New Zealand – “the more the government intervenes in industry the less enterprise and boldness there is. By rolling back the frontiers of the state New Zealand has discovered enormous energy and…
Asian Free Trade Zone
Japan is keen to envelop New Zealand and Australia into its vision for an Asian free-trade zone in both trade and investment, and beyond into technology, education and tourism.
“Fair-dinkum” Kiwi tops the pops
NZ-born musician Daniel Bedingfield, 21, tops the UK pop charts with Gotta Get Thru This – recorded on rudimentary equipment and a computer in his south London bedroom. “The track is absurdly brilliant, as…
The Crowe Road to Oscar Success?
Russell Crowe is named Actor of the Year by the Broadcast Film Critics Association for his lead role in A Beautiful Mind. Crowe has won the award for the last three years.
Tiger Tamer
13-year-old New Zealander, Jae An, becomes the youngest ever male to play a professional golf tournament, and then the youngest golfer ever to make the cut, when he lines up alongside Tiger Woods at the New…
“Cook Me Some Eggs James”
NZ-born Lee Tamahori, is charged with the license to uphold pop-cultural iconography, as he undertakes the directorship of the 20th James Bond installment, taking over from another Kiwi Martin Campbell. “To me the Bond film is…
Truly, madly, deeply explicit
New Zealand actor Kerry Fox visits Sydney to promote her controversial new film, Intimacy and offers this boyfriend-friendly pronouncement on her method: “Its not sex. It’s not lovemaking. It’s pretend”, says Fox of the…
One Love
Anna Kournikova, “the tennis temptress whose courtships tend to garner more attention than her shot selection”, completes her 99th WTA tour singles event – the Auckland Classic – in the same way she ended the previous…
Commanding Performance
Grant Dalton and his crew hold second place in the Volvo Ocean Race, as the event “reaches its spiritual home”, Auckland. “The World’s premier yachting capital”. according to the Volvo Ocean race website.
Front line truck stop
War correspondent Margaret Moth heads to another of the world’s trouble spots, this time Kabul, Afghanistan. Along the way, while searching for a truck waylaid picking them up at Bagram air base, Moth and CNN…
Fans Flock to Tolkien Trail
“Thanks to a bunch of elves, orcs and hobbits”, New Zealand is “one of this year’s most fashionable tourist destinations”. Experts believe the trilogy will boost NZ’s tourist industry by a third. On the edge we’ve always…
Madcap Pamela bestselling biographer
New Zealand-born Pamela Stephenson, practicing psychotherapist and ex-comedian (part of the anarchic foursome who made the seminal and career launching comedy Not the Nine o’clock News – along with Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith…
Counting Down and Counting Up
The 31st America’s Cup is 13 months away, but the Hauraki Gulf is already a hive of activity as 1 syndicates prepare to battle for the Auld Mug. And Government puffs up Team NZ’s sails with…
Great Escape
The Times lists New Zealand a hot destination, due to scenery witnessed in Lord of the Rings. United Kingdom travel companies report 20 per cent increases in travel bookings since the film’s release. .
Cell-phone Sunblock
SMS sun-safety – who says cell-phones are bad for your health? As the Kiwi summer heats up Auckland’s Hyperfactory, in partnership with telco Vodafone and cosmetics company Nivea has developed a short-message service advising cellphone users of…
Young stars
Australian Ex-Monty Python director, Maurice Murphy, stars students from Toi Whakaari New Zealand drama school in his latest feature film, Zenolith.
Irish Rugby Miracle
Alone it Stands, a heart-warming and hilarious re-enactment of Irish club side Munsters’ defeat of the All Blacks in 1978, plays to its 100,000th person. “Beating the All Blacks is the ultimate dream of anyone who…
Clean, Green and Safe
Condé Nast Traveller recently rated Aotearoa the world’s safest destination and the Government wants to make sure the haven remains safe, committing increased resources to help fight terrorism.
World First
Associate finance minister Trevor Mallard is the first person to conduct a euro cash transaction, exchanging NZ dollars for new euro notes at Wellington’s airport.
#1 Trans-Tasman Lampoon
Australian correspondent Martin Graham, in the ‘Heckler’ section of Sydney Morning Herald mocks Kiwi hobbit hubris over Lord of the Rings raving. While accusing NZers of fawning over “the fulm” like they’d split…
Awards of Merit
Controversial clergyman and academic Lloyd Geering carried off the highest honour in the New Years’ list, Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Colin “Pinetree” Meads, All Black 1957-71 and all-time greatest…
Moment in time
Photographic heavyweight Regan Cameron engages his lens in some model-watching to “express the emotion” behind the new range from high-end watch-maker Patek Philippe.
Double Happy
“Deputy chief content producer Peter is celebrating twice. He’s not greedy, he just comes from New Zealand. The Kiwi has already raised a glass as the clock struck midnight in his homeland – 14…
Movie of the year
“The most heartbreaking thing about faithful movie-going is that awe, beauty and excitement, three of the things we go to the movies for, are the very things we’re cheated out of the most. The…
Top Honours and Front-runner in Oscar-quest
The Lord of the Rings wins Best Picture, Best Digital Effects, and Best Production Design at the American Film Institute Awards. Closer to home, Peter Jackson is named Companion of the New Zealand Order…
Weldon CBE
New Zealand-raised London-based writer Fay Weldon is now Fay Weldon, CBE. “One feels very flattered,” says Weldon, honoured for her charitable work as well as her writing.
Heavenly Creatures
“Director Peter Jackson knew something Hollywood did not. He knew that his home country was more than a match for the imaginative breadth of Tolkien’s vision. The Lord of the Rings blows the secret – there is…
Te Rangi Hiroa / Peter Buck
Te Rangi Hiroa/Sir Peter Buck’s achievements are astonishing for their diversity, reading more like a list of possible careers than a biography – a pioneering and internationally renowned anthropologist, the first Maori medical doctor,…
The Queen and Us
Analysis of the Queen’s Message reveals her accent is going downhill. Meanwhile, New Zealanders and Australians speak increasingly different English.
#48 Remembering The Year Thats Been
Edge Message #48 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM TO NEW ZEALAND EDGE GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF NEW ZEALANDERS Merry Christmas from the city of Middle- earth-on-the-edge, if I can mix metaphors. Hit your printers for…
Flooring the Market
Forty-one companies, mainly from the US, confirm they will exhibit high-end Wools of New Zealand branded carpets at Surfaces 2002. The giant US flooring trade fair, which last year attracted more than 60,000 trade visitors…
Feel Like Jonah/Never Meaning No Harm?
Phil Robinson, helicopter pilot and Greenpeace activist, films rare Southern Ocean footage of a Japanese vessel harpooning a whale after a 40 minute chase. “Scientists” responded by targeting Greenpeace inflatables with water cannons.
Fellowship of the Rings?
Our neighbours across the Tasman have always thought of themselves as Big Brother, now they want to share toys: “anything which is good for Australia is good for New Zealand, and vice versa. Anyone…
Lord of the Screen
“The Lord of the Rings is easily the best film of the year” – The Times. “Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the fantasy classic is as near to perfection as makes no difference” -…
Tourism Plumbs New Depths in NZ
Tourists can now make in-depth explorations of New Zealand’s Milford Sound aboard a four-passenger sub, descending 330 feet underwater.
Floored by the Rings
“The real star of The Lord of the Rings is New Zealand. The scenery, ranging from snowbound mountain passes to rolling grasslands, has a beauty of jaw-dropping quality and it is all lovingly captured…
Kiwi Hero Laid to Rest
A thousand mouners gather at the parish church of St Thomas a Becket in Warblington to pay their respects to the late Sir Peter Blake. “Peter Blake was a living legend. I believe that he was…
“Call Me Dr Johnson”
Adventure-seeking Kiwi scientist, Mark Johnson, tags 60-foot sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico. Shrugging off comparisons with Captain Ahab (I’ve already been given three copies of Moby Dick”, complains Johnson. “Never read it”) he modestly…
Where Can Jackson Go From Here?
If anyone wants Citizen Kane remade, here is the man “Potter was made by a committee masquerading as a director. Rings is made by a genius masquerading as a normal human being….it takes a…
Oscar front-runner
“Oscar is no great fan of fantasy. But the Lord of the Rings, with such Oscar heavyweights as Ian McKellen and Ian Holm, may carry enough high-class baggage to over come that prejudice”.
Trans-urbanism: getting Wigley with it
Colombia University Professor of Architecture, NZer Mark Wigley bemoans the divide between theory and practice at a Rotterdam symposium to debate the future of the city. Sharing the hustings with Rem Koolhaas, Edward Soja…
Left-handed Crows
New Zealand scientist Gavin Hunt describes a new theory of “how human beings came to be right-handed” by investigating the “right beakedness” tendencies of crows when “ripping pieces from leaves.” The discovery makes it more likely that…
Olympic Honours
The International Olympic Committee will award the Olympic Order to Sir Peter Blake, one of its highest honours. IOC President Jacques Rogge declares Blake “one of the most gifted and successful yachtsmen in the world”.
The Land of the Rings
“The first thing I thought when Peter showed me the pictures of the locations in New Zealand was: this is Middle-earth,” says Elijah Woods. “I mean, it has every sort of geographical, geological formation…
Gladiator to Genius
Russell Crowe is tipped for repeat Oscar honours following his fantastic performance as mathematical genius John Forbes Nash Jr in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind.
Celebrity Race
Former Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie narrowly beats rugby star Jonah Lomu in a 50m novelty race set up to promote next year’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester. “When he pushed out of the block I thought, he’s been…
On a Wing and a Prayer
Jonah Lomu, “the world’s greatest living player and rugby’s most global individual commodity”, turns to the Bible for inspiration on the rugby field. Says Lomu, “It says there, ’tis greater to give than receive’, so that’s what…
Designer of the Year
New Zealander Frances Howie takes top honours at the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards, the world’s largest showcase of new designer talent. The $115,000 first prize includes automatic acceptance into the renowned Central Saint Martins…
The Heart of the Matter
Dr Peter Hunter, of the University of Auckland, has created a “virtual heart” – hailed by Economist magazine as a spectacular example of in silico biology, an emerging discipline that brings computing power to bear on…
“Over the Last Five Days They Basically Outplayed Us in Most Departments.”
Australian batsman Justin Langer: “New Zealand proved to themselves and the cricket world that they have the credentials and determination to compete with the best.” In the final test of the series the valiant Kiwi cricketers…
Kiwi Success Not So Ethereal in Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup winner Ethereal continues a proud tradition of winning New Zealand horses as well as opening a new chapter in Cup history. For the first time a female trainer, Shelia Laxon from Cambridge, is behind…
Shakespeare Goes Maori
The Merchant of Venice is turned into the first Maori-language film of a Shakespeare play. “Shakespeare’s use of language is not dissimilar to the ancient poetic, lyrical and metaphorical Maori style,” explains Scott Morrison,…
Holy lamb of Godzone
Two of the culinary world’s US icons, Julia Childs & Emeril Lagasse, dined on the finest lamb in the world, courtesy of Newport Beach, California-based Noel “King of New Zealand gourmet food” Turner…
