NZEDGE News — New Zealand through the eyes of the world's media

Singular Artistic Vision

Singer-guitarist of The Naked and Famous Thom Powers wasn’t as temperamental as Orson Welles but he did have a singular artistic vision his Auckland peers apparently could not comprehend. “I had a real difficulty…

Flight Company Sold to Canada

Nelson-based Helicopters New Zealand (HNZ) has been bought by Canadian Helicopters Group for $16 million. HNZ operates 33 helicopters at 11 bases in New Zealand, Australia, Laos and Cambodia. “The acquisition of HNZ represents…

Return of One Precious Book

The bible of New Zealand World War One soldier Private Richard Cook, which he dropped as he came under heavy fire during the Battle of Messines in Belgium in June 1917, has found its…

Unique Creative Sensibility

New Zealand’s “famously scenic locations are a big draw for Hollywood filmmakers — but they’re not the only one,” Sangeeta Anand writes for Time. “New Zealand’s Large Budget Screen Production Grant offers a 15…

Personal Race Track Antics

New Zealand racing competitor and vehicle designer Rod Millen has unveiled his new mile-long asphalt driveway — which doubles as a hillclimb racetrack — in a video which shows Millen behind the wheel of…

Home and Away Favourite

Singing star Brooke Fraser — described as New Zealand’s answer to Adele — reveals to News of the World’s Dan Wootton how she’s lent some of the songs from her impressive new album Flags…

Perkier Versions of the xx

“The Naked And Famous go one better than MGMT by having a girl in the band — the spectacularly named Alisa Xayalith, whose dreamy yelps combine with the hazy utterings of co-singer…

Helping His Hometown

New Zealander Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race and chief marketing officer of drinks company Gatorade, along with New Zealander Sarah Robb-O’Hagan have organised a video titled ‘Christchurch Stay Strong’, using the power…

Loved By Robins and Kakapo Alike

Internationally renowned conservationist Don Merton has died in Tauranga, aged 72. “Forest and Bird is extraordinarily grateful for the work Don did over several decades,” Forest and Bird executive member Dr Peter Maddison said….

Formerly Good-Looking In Rio

Actor Jemaine Clement is the voice of a villainous cockatoo called Nigel in animated film Rio — The Movie, created by the makers of the Ice Age series. “Talk about ad-lib heaven,” director Carlos…

London Olympics Prospect

Christchurch-born professional triathlete Andrea Hewitt has placed third in the Dextro Energy ITU World Championship Series triathlon in Sydney. Hewitt is currently ranked sixth in the world. Hewitt, who was sixth after the 15-metre…

Retaining Our Competitive Edge

Executive director of the Lowy Institute in Sydney Dr Michael Wesley was in Auckland in early April addressing the Australia/New Zealand Leadership Forum. The latest in a string of bilateral gatherings which aim to…

World Cup One Big Carnival

Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick recommends his favourite haunts ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup, which he says “will be not so much a sporting event as a national carnival.” Take, for…

Toppling The Big Gun

Raglan’s Billy ‘The Kid’ Stairmand knocked out American 1-times world champion surfer Kelly Slater from the Telstra Drug Aware Pro at Surfers Point in Western Australia inflicting the shock upset on the superstar after…

Mobile Muscle Power

Auckland Bioengineering Institute’s Biomimetics Lab scientists are developing “wearable energy batteries” capable of converting human movement into battery power. These would be light, soft, form-fitting, stretchy materials with mechanical properties that match human muscle….

Wall of History up for Prize

Wellington’s Gibson Group is up for a global award for its 12-metre multimedia touchscreen display “Wall” designed to tell Copenhageners — and let them add to — the story of their city. The multimillion-dollar,…

NZPA To Close After 132 Years

New Zealand Press Association Chairman Michael Muir said the board of the 132-year-old agency has ordered a review to determine whether it could keep operating, and that NZPA would be closed within six months….

Elfin Airs For McKenzie

Former Conchord, Wellingtonian Bret McKenzie, is joining the cast of Peter Jackson’s epic The Hobbit as the elf Lindir from Rivendell. McKenzie previously played an elf nicknamed Figwit in The Fellowship of the Ring…

Don’t Mention Reconditioning

“Mention the words rest, reconditioning and Rugby World Cup in the same sentence to New Zealanders, and they are likely to break out in a cold sweat,” New York Times reporter Emma Stoney writes….

New Zealand Cradle for League

According to this year’s Australian NRL media guide, which lists the birthplace of each first grade and Toyota Cup player, New Zealand has overtaken Brisbane as a cradle for rugby league top-graders, with 67…

Winners at Caples in NY

Draftfcb New Zealand was named the top winner and most awarded agency in Australasia at the 33rd annual John Caples International Awards held in New York on March 24. Draftfcb NZ picked up eight…

Anthropologist Of Avant-Garde

Inglewood-born artist Michael Stevenson is exhibiting at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art through June 19. Stevenson, who is based in Berlin, has been described as an ‘anthropologist of the avant-garde’. This exhibition is the…

Afghanistan Made Light

Founder and CEO of Kabul-based renewable-power firm Sustainable Energy Services Afghanistan (SESA) New Zealand-raised Tony Woods says helping the poor was never his primary goal; he came to the energy business —…

Life of the Party

New Zealand caterer Margot Henderson (standing) is profiled in the Spring/Summer issue of The Gentlewoman, a new British biannual style magazine. The restaurant founded by Henderson is called the Rochelle Canteen. It’s set in…

To Curb Or Not To Curb

New Zealand is among several regions in the world where geese are in the crosshairs, Renata D’Aliesio writes for The Globe and Mail. “As the population of Canada geese continues to increase, so does…

Recording Four Letter Words

New Zealand musician Simon Spire, 28, is forging a career on both sides of the globe simultaneously. Spire has lived in New York since 28. His second album, Four-Letter Words is due to be…

Stones Analogies Welcomed

Sam McCarthy, one half of Auckland duo Kids of 88, tells The Huffington Post’s Mike Ragogna the “whole ‘88’ thing sort of summed up the kind of cultural references and the bizarre things we…

Brooklyn’s NZ Pie Man

New Zealander Gareth Hughes owns the Dub Pie Shop, in New York, an Antipodean oasis, where lattes come second on the menu to flat whites, good old Kiwi meat pies fill the pie warmer…

Versatile Move

Auckland Blues versatile back Jared Payne is moving to Ulster on a three-year contract where he will play at either wing, centre or full-back. A former New Zealand Under-21 international, Payne made his Super…

Flyer Up for Sale

The 12-year-old steam locomotive Kingston Flyer is being offered for sale on auction site Trade Me. With the locomotive come two beautifully wood-panelled passenger carriages, a kitchen van, several goods wagons, almost nine miles…

Zowie Likes Left-Field Types

Electro pop star Aucklander Zowie — who opens Katy Perry’s shows in Australia and New Zealand during May — talks to MTV Australia about her idol Michael Jackson and about her debut album set…

Remembered Always

The Prince of Wales has joined a congregation of some 19 — mainly made up of London-based New Zealanders — at a Westminster Abbey memorial service for the victims of February’s Christchurch earthquake. At…

Not All Sweetness and Light

“The beautiful island nation of New Zealand hides something ugly beneath its lush exterior, hundreds of its children under the age of 16, some even as young as 9, are alcoholics,” Pamela Wallace reports…

Star Rising in US Car Industry

“Dan Ammann’s meteoric career track began with a call from his native New Zealand,” Detroit Free Press business reporter Chrissie Thompson writes. “We’ve got somebody very special whom we think should spend some time…

Mooloolaba First Place

Whangarei-born Nicky Samuels has won the Mooloolaba Triathlon ITU World Cup event beating a strong international field taking her first victory at this level. Samuels led from the start of the second-stage 4km bike…

Global Merino Expert

Icebreaker owner and CEO Jeremy Moon hated wool as a child. “I had to wear it as a kid and it was my nightmare — itchy, heavy and prickly. It sucked.” In 1994, a…

Bold, Courageous and Anarchic

Te Aroha-born actor and co-founder of London’s Common Stock theatre group Frank Whitten, who died in February at the age of 68, was “a giant beanpole of a man who only seemed to open…

Jimmy Choux a Winning Freak

Hastings jockey Jonathan Riddell “is actually making some money after years of racing for scraps,” Andrew Eddy writes for The Age. Earlier this month, a cheque of $65, was deposited into his account after…

Auckland’s Own Nantucket

“Once a hippie haven where forested blocks sold for a few quid, Waiheke is today dotted with multi-million-dollar holiday homes and slick cellar doors (although it remains a firm favourite with artistic types),” The…

Slaying the Cricket Giants

The Black Caps head into the semifinals of the World Cup after beating South Africa by 49 runs at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. Man-of-the-match Jacob Oram took two brilliant catches and captured…

Celebrities Love Taylor

“The fashion event of the week was definitely the celebration of designer Rebecca Taylor’s second boutique in New York’s Meatpacking District,” according to the Examiner’s Shea Peters. “Despite rain, snow, sleet, and slush celebs…

Easy On the Planet

Sisters Andrea and Robin McBride’s eco.love is the first carboNZero Cert™ winery in the world; the pair tell American sustainable business innovator Paul Smith how it can be, coming all the way…

Inviting Gods Into the Theatre

“With a stunning combination of ceremony, ritual, dance and theatre, ,” will have its US premiere this week at the downtown Los Angeles’ Million Dollar Theater. Samoan…

One and only Topp Twins

Lynda Topp, one half of the “one-of-a-kind” Topp Twins, talks to Susan Cole of Now Toronto about the pair’s career and how they rode the wave while keeping their values intact. “It doesn’t matter…

Trading Dairy for Baht

New Zealand’s high quality food and beverage industry is responsible for market growth in Thailand, according to acting New Zealand Trade Commissioner to Thailand Thanadej Trakulyingyong. New Zealand’s food industry, in particular dairy products,…

Focus on Food

The Gascoigne Associates-designed Japanese restaurant Cocoro in Auckland features on the World Interior Design Network site. “The interior décor features large squares of woven charcoal and chocolate carpet that resemble subtle tatami-style matting. All…