Parisian Hang-Ups
Phillipa ‘Pip’ Brown, 30, that’s Ladyhawke to her fans, is interviewed in Paris, where outside the French capital’s “cavernous Nouveau Casino venue, the line of ticketless opportunists snaking into the fading light speaks for…
Blog Archives
Cheap sticks
Wellington-based percussion group Strike is in Singapore to play as part of a New Zealand festival. Strike met at Victoria University, when they were mostly playing chamber music, and now are a group of…
Sailing into the US
New Zealand global procurement company Unimarket is in the process of finalising a move to Annapolis, Maryland in the United States, where it plans to hire 100 new employees by 2011. Founder and chief…
Morrison’s future roles
The best example and a “notable exception” of a “Native … living in the future quite comfortably, particularly in sci-fi movies” would be Temuera Morrison, writes Peterborough Examiner columnist and award-winning Ojibwa author Drew…
Pride of place
According to the third national Quality of Life survey, nine out of ten New Zealanders rate their quality of life as good or better. Wellingtonians thought they had the best quality of life at…
Football Ambassador
6 April 2009 – Christchurch professional footballer Ryan Nelsen, 31, is a pivotal member of English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, one of a number of teams fighting against relegation this season. Nelsen has…
Questioning change
New Zealander Bob Rigg has published an extensive analysis of the Obama administration’s initial approach to foreign policy in a paper for the South Asia Strategic Forum, a recently launched thinktank on global geo-political…
Time Well Spent
Lieutenant-Colonel John Darwin Maling, awarded an MC on the North-West Frontier and a DSO in Burma has died at the age of 94 in Waikanae. Born in Timaru in 1915 and educated at Christ’s…
Return to the Overlooked
Now Sydney-based, New Zealand photographer Rebecca Wiig, 27, has documented the city’s RSL clubs for an exhibition of 26 photographs called ‘If These Walls Could Talk’ held at Darlinghurst’s Tap Gallery. She began shooting…
Memories of millions
Dame Silvia Cartwright, former New Zealand Governor-General and now serving as one of five international judges on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Phnom Penh, has recently criticized Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s disdain for…
Flattery Gets you Places
“Undoubtedly when God created the world He made two Edens. New Zealand is the second one,” writes Betty McCoy for Alabama newspaper The Gadsden Times, describing the country as “a pristine landscape drenched…
Study With Leisure
A recent New Zealand Education Fair held in New Delhi attracted hundreds of Indian students eager to discover the merits of study in this country, many surprised to see New Zealand was more than…
Potential Pro
Christchurch student James Meredith, 19, is a freshman at Boise State University and since joining the university’s tennis team in January, Meredith has been called “unbelievable” and “one of the best talents” the squad…
In good company
US Amateur champion Rotorua-raised Danny Lee, 18, joins two other teenagers on the field at the US Masters in Augusta, Georgia prompting golfing great Tiger Woods to comment on the “new bloods” and the…
Wine’s a Winner
Marlborough, on New Zealand’s South Island, “doesn’t offer much to the nine or ten people on the planet who still smoke, but for cognoscenti of quality sauvignon blanc, it may well outrank King Bordeaux…
Next Stop: South Island
The Pangaea Expedition is making a welcome visit to the fjords of the South Island, heading straight over from a brief stop in South Africa. Eight New Zealand explorers will meet the crew of…
Educating Through Dance
Atamira Dance Collective’s production ‘Ngai Tahu 32’ has made its Australian debut, performing in Tasmania’s premier arts festival — Ten Days on the Island 2009 — and is reviewed by Kylie Eastley, writing for…
Sir Bob Charles’ Induction to World Golf Hall of Fame
Sir Bob Charles’ induction speech at the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Fish over sea
Eighty-four goldfish flew over the Tasman Sea on March 21 as part of the New Zealand-wide One Day Sculpture series of temporary public art works, this conceived by Italian artist Paola Pivi entitled…
Vying for the ultimate
Radio host and television personality Clarke Gayford is one of 16 finalists for the ‘Best Job in the World’ organised by Tourism Queensland. Queensland Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor on Friday telephoned 15 finalists across…
Tours in Make Believe
“When Florida native Michele Maro became captivated by The Lord of the Rings movies, she never imagined she would one day be walking around in the Shire, touring Hobbiton and peeking into hobbit holes,”…
Dogs Sacked
British supermarket Tesco has ordered its largest suppliers in New Zealand, Silver Fern Farms in Fairton, Canterbury to stop using dogs to herd sheep into the abattoir. Tesco wants the shepherds to wave their…
Sixties renewal
Auckland-based fashion designer Kate Sylvester and her partner Wayne Conway chose New Zealand architect Belinda George to design the renovations to their 1960s Westmere home, remaining true to that decade’s form, combining new with…
Making more milk
New Zealand scientists at AgResearch have discovered some keys to dramatically increasing milk production in the country’s cows. Researchers investigated the potential of epigenetic regulation, or changes in gene expression caused by chemical changes…
Dangerous Utopias
What happened to March? My calendar accelerated and it just went. One minute I was planning for St Paddy’s Day and the next thing I know it’s been, gone, and done for. The ginko…
Height Of Fashion
Kate Sylvester is approaching this year’s Australian Fashion Week with bold and colourful designs based on the lives of adventurers called, Take a Hike. Last year’s collection Royally Screwed caused a stir angering ANZACS…
Pass the Wallaby
The increasingly ubiquitous wallaby may be the newest presence on the New Zealand dinner table, as municipalities around the country are being encouraged to consider different strategies to control their booming populations. The Australian marsupials…
Home sweet home
“The time has come to learn from Down Under,” where homes have sustainable features “light years ahead of the curve,” are “modestly scaled and unpretentious, employ an original aesthetic language, and without fail, offer…
Rugby’s Return
Rugby Sevens might be only seven years off when it comes to the Olympics, thanks to an effort to reinstate the sport spearheaded by the Oceania National Olympic Committee. During a recent committee meeting…
Designing the Future
British-born, Hawkes Bay-based designer David Trubridge, takes part in a Q&A for the latest issue of Dwell, where he quizzed about number of things like his ideal working environment, what music keeps him…
Painting Piha
Tauranga-raised Lancôme artistic director Aaron De Mey, who featured in the October edition of Mindfood magazine and whose past clients include Winona Ryder, Keira Knightly and Kate Moss, has released his debut colour collection…
Island Choreography
Dance troupe Black Grace are in Guam performing a series of workshops in local schools and at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort for an audience at a gala dinner. Black Grace was founded in…
Writing from abroad
New Zealand-born, Bryan Gould’s latest column for The Guardian Newspaper identifies governments as the only organisations in a position to take the necessary long-term approach needed to stimulate the global economy and counter the…
Rating a medical return
American Doctor Jackie Underwood seems to prefer the American medical system, after spending a year spent practicing at a rural New Zealand hospital. Having recently returned to her home in Newark New Jersey, Underwood…
Universal access
High-speed broadband Internet access is coming to over three quarters of the country over the next decade, in a 3 billion dollar project jointly funded by the private and public sectors. “This model aims…
Shocking and pleasing
Palmerston North teenager Levi Sherwood, 17, has shocked the freestyle motocross world (FMX) by winning the first event of the 2009 Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour in Mexico on debut, in front of 43,000…
Slave-driven
Former Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless has been cast in the new action series Spartacus: Blood and Sand as Lucretia, who with her husband Batiatus own a gladiator camp called the Ludus. The…
Dark Past Revisited
New Zealand-born Zak Feaunati, a former Samoan international rugby player, has been selected to play All Black legend Jonah Lomu in the upcoming film The Human Factor. The film includes the Springboks’ victory over…
Advocating radical change
A “ground-breaking” report has been developed by the United Kingdom’s Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), an expert watchdog group chaired by Jonathan Porritt, the son of New Zealand Olympian and 11th Governor General Arthur…
Musiq Makers Win
R&B group Nesian Mystik have won the “Best Kiwi” category at the Australian MTV Awards on March 27. The four other New Zealand acts nominated were: Ladyhawke, Cut Off Your Hands, P-Money and Goodnight…
Auckland Calling
New Zealand could be one of the world’s last havens as climate change fundamentally changes the planet according to the scientist and creator of the Gaia theory James Lovelock, and for this reason, on…
Switched Off for Change
New Zealand was one of the first countries to switch of its power for this year’s Earth Hour event aimed at highlighting environmental problems caused by excessive use of energy. Forty-four New Zealand cities,…
Heroes of the Battle of Britain: Sir Keith Park
A video on Sir Keith Park – a hero of the Battle of Britain.
Particles in Motion
Fonterra’s latest foray into “smart” water “Whole”, is advertised in a continuous 650-frame shot leaping and transforming from brains to bridges to bananas and was created as a joint project by Auckland-based animation studio…
Money in bank
Billionaire investor and philanthropist Richard Chandler, who heads Singapore-based investment fund Orient Global, has bought a 3 per cent stake in Russian commercial bank Sberbank for $430 million, reports The Guardian. Chandler’s Sovereign Global…
Win on Lake Rotorua
Chairman of Blind Sailing New Zealand Dick Lancaster won a silver medal in a 25-foot yacht at the 2009 World Championships held on Lake Rotorua in March. Lancaster told CNN that sailing for the…
Stormy Outlook Ahead
New Zealand’s economy contracted in the fourth quarter at its fastest pace in 16 years as the global turmoil worsened a domestic slump, putting interest rate cuts back on the agenda. The Reserve Bank…
Phil Keoghan: No Opportunity Wasted
Phil Keoghan, host of the Amazing Race, speaks on his book, No Opportunity Wasted.
Clark’s UN role confirmed
26 March 2009 – Helen Clark’s nomination to lead the United Nations Development Program has been officially announced by Michele Montas, spokeswoman for the UN secretary general, in New York today. As the former…
Hot competition
Blenheim-based company Carbonscape — one of only five companies to make the shortlist in the Financial Times global Climate Change Challenge — makes charcoal from biomass for the sequestration of carbon using industrial microwaves….
Reserved for the Solomons
Last year, New Zealand Territorial Forces machine gunner Private Adam Friend, 33, left the Marlborough Museum where he had been putting together an exhibition on the history of grape growing in the region, to…
Beauty Reigns
National MP Korean-born Melissa Lee has been voted one of “the most beautiful women in politics in the world” by Spanish newspaper 20 Minutos, a poll which also included Hillary Clinton. Photos of 60…
Electric Rules
“In New Zealand, an idea has been floated to convert up to 60 per cent of the country’s automobile fleet to electric vehicles, which would be e charged with wind power,” writes daily trade…
The power of the pedal
New Zealand is considering building a 3, km bike path winding through the country in an attempt to stimulate tourism and maintain an industry central to the country’s economy. The project would cost around…
On the Cheap
Rotorua hotpool Kerosene Creek, Rangitoto Island, Waitomo Caves, the Tongariro Crossing and Te Papa are the “five best freebies” on offer for tourists “with strained budgets” writes journalist Xavier La Canna who has lived…
