Adventure Shared
Bachelorette’s second full-length release My Electric Family is reviewed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by David Bowling, who writes that Alpers has “a mind that doesn’t work like the normal musician, which is part of…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Rural Studies Merge
Lincoln University, New Zealand’s smallest university, is to merge with Telford Rural Polytechnic, both institutions specialists in the rural sector. Lincoln has about 27 full-time students, including some 7 international students, while Telford has…
Trophy for Team NZ
Dean Barker has led Emirates Team New Zealand to victory over defending America’s Cup champion BMW Oracle Racing winning the 21 Louis Vuitton Trophy. The final in Dubai marked the last series for America’s…
First light treks
New Zealander Reg Kaa, 46, and wife Dutch-born Jacqui Kaa, 39, run Eastender Horse Treks in Rangitukia. Their most popular route is a two-hour circuit along the isolated Rangitukia beach for a trot or…
Peterborough-honoured
Papakowhai-based Revd Alison Pitts will be awarded the title of Distinguished officer of Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) Council in New Zealand at the RSCM awards to be held at a special service…
String release
The New Zealand String Quartet has recorded an album of Asian composers in St Anne’s Church, Toronto. The ensemble’s fifth disc for the label Naxos includes Tan Dun’s Eight Colours, T?ru Takemitsu’s A way…
Distinctive Edginess
Unnerved: The New Zealand Project, an exhibition of 26 contemporary local artists in various media, including photography, sculpture, video, painting and installation has opened at the National Gallery of Victoria in Brisbane. The pieces…
What a scream
Promotional photographs of actress Anna Paquin in the fourth instalment of the Scream series have just been released in the United States, with the film due to hit American cinemas in April next year….
U2 pay tribute
The 29 men who perished in the Pike River coal mine tragedy were honoured during the song One Tree Hill at the November 27 U2 concert, with their names listed on a massive stage…
Nation in Mourning
PM John Key declared that New Zealand was a “nation in mourning” after the deaths of 29 miners in explosions in the Pike River coal mine. “New Zealand is a country where we are…
General Ovations for Liddell
General Motors CEO Dan Ackerson and Vice-Chairman and CFO Chris Liddell (center, at the New York Stock Exchange listing) received standing ovations from the trading floors of JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley to cap…
Varvoom goes live
New Zealand’s first lesbian dating and social networking website, Varvoom, is now live. Varvoom.com is a place where lesbians can connect with each other in a relaxed, fun and safe environment. The website…
Animating beauty
University of Canterbury philosophy lecturer Denis Dutton has collaborated with TEDTalks and animator Andrew Park creating a video illustrating the provocative argument about beauty — that art, music and other beautiful…
Native Methuselah
“The animal that may well be New Zealand’s most bizarrely instructive species at first glance looks surprisingly humdrum,” writes The New York Times’ Natalie Angier. “The tuatara — whose name comes from the Maori…
Drawn to the horizon
It is the lot of New Zealanders to be peripatetic, says author Lloyd Jones, 55, in an interview with the Independent on Sunday’s James Kidd in Streatham, south London. But at least they have…
Paradigm shift
“New Zealand is very much within the US ‘Sphere of Influence” and Clinton just confirmed it by signing the high-profile Wellington Declaration,” Balaji Chandramohan writes for the Diplomatic Courier. “This is the first…
Beware the shy crook
“It does not pay to be a shy criminal in New Zealand,” Tim Dick writes in an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald. “On this side of the Tasman, if you are invisible…
Open for Business
The first of New Zealand’s ‘Great Rides’, the 64km St James Cycle Trail, has been opened by the Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson. This section is the first fully competed track in the Nga…
Acclaim for debut
Hastings-born author Alison Wong’s debut novel As the Earth Turns Silver, which won the 29 Janet Frame Award for Fiction and the Fiction Award winner at the 21 New Zealand Post Book Awards, has…
Death of an Iron Man
All Black prop Johnny Simpson, who played 33 matches including nine Tests for New Zealand in the late 1940s, has died in Wellington, aged 88. Know as the “Iron Man” for his strength and…
Help from Afar
A conservation awareness “Kakapo Parrot Day” event in Greenwich, Conneticut organised by a local teenager keen to help with the endangered bird’s survival will be held on December 11. Aaron Friedman, a student at…
New face of Milky Bar
Hinetaapora Short, 8, from Rotorua is the world’s first female Milky Bar Kid, beating more than 15 entries in a nation-wide search scoring the highest percentage of more than 11, total votes received. Three…
Iconic competition
Northland builder Iain Cathcart’s Hobbit-inspired letterbox has been named the quirkiest in the country in a competition run by Kaukapakapa nursery owners David and Geraldine Bayly. The concrete sculpture topped with white, New Zealand…
In-tents Experience
The Auckland Theatre Company performance of Cabaret is praised by Los Angeles Times blogger Christopher Smith, who writes that company director and actor Michael Hurst is “fortunate to have a compelling Sally Bowles in…
Better with age
The “exceptional player” Brad Thorn is set to earn his 5th cap for New Zealand against Wales at Cardiff on November 28, after missing the last game due to a hamstring injury. “At 35…
Record Goldie Sale
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has sold one of the finest paintings by renowned New Zealand artist Charles Goldie for the record price of $573, at Auckland’s International Art Centre. The oil on canvas, Forty…
Sea-life haven
“This is Kaikoura: and it’s paradise,” Kip Brook writes for the International Business Times. “It’s just two hours’ drive from Christchurch international airport and is one of the most breathtaking locations of any town…
FBI role for Curtis
Actor Cliff Curtis, 42, takes on the role of a top forensic consultant for the FBI in the ABC Dana Delany-led midseason drama Body of Proof. Rotorua-born Curtis — who also appeared as flight…
Portable cooler mayhem
Daredevils attached to a wheelchair, a scooter and skis leapt from a plane in the skies over Matamata in November launching the 211 Nitro Circus Live New Zealand Tour. Nitro Circus stars Joelene Van…
Bric-a-brac lucky
A painting bought for $5 at a Northland flea market is expected to sell for more than $2, at an auction to be held at Aesthete Gallery in Hamilton on 22 November. The unsigned…
Structural winnings
The Supreme Court of New Zealand in Wellington, designed by New Zealand-based Warren & Mahoney and completed in 29, has won the Institution of Structural Engineers Structural Award in the heritage category, for its…
In the whanau
Producers of smash hit film Boy Ainsley Gardiner and Cliff Curtis took the independent producers of the year kudo at the New Zealand’s Screen Production and Development Agency conference in November. The cousins…
Conchord revival
The Flight of the Conchords are in discussion to bring a live version of the cult television series to Australia and New Zealand next year. US comedian Arj Barker, who plays the philosophising stoner…
There is such a thing
New Zealand dairy company Fonterra has created a new yoghurt tailored for men, filled with fruit, seeds, grains and barley, under the brand name Mammoth Supply Co. Its marketing plays on social stereotypes of…
Leap over loveliness
Crammed in a small plane nearing 4m above the “gorgeously rustic” Bay of Islands, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Steve McKenna is about to throw himself out into the blue. “Peering out of a little…
Kiwis in a League of their own
The Kiwis took an exhilarating victory from the Kangaroos at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, winning the Rugby League Four Nations by four points in the game’s final minutes (with a spectacular final minute try and…
And How Beautiful
“One stunning image outdoes another in the hurtling, circling, swooping cinematography of Ben Seresin, a New Zealander whose palette is restrained but never suppressed,” the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern writes in a review…
Impressive on Wheels
A New Zealand mountain biking trip features in the extras of Canadian adventure documentary DVD release, Follow Me, which is paired with a slide show by New Zealander Caleb Smith of Wellington-based mountain bike…
New Asian markets
Owner of Marlborough’s Forrest Estate Winery John Forrest was recently in Seoul, South Korea studying the local market, attending a wine fair, and introducing products to Korean consumers, buyers and retailers. “The group that…
Simple literary lines
The New Zealand Book Council is running an advertisement in cinemas throughout the country with a simple message: “Go home, and read a book.” The ad, which rolls after the film credits, was created…
Factory opening in US
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra is taking on the tenancy of the Heartland Corporate Center in Shorewood, Illinois. Fonterra’s products will come to the United States from New Zealand via ships and then be…
Pago Pago challenge
Fletcher Construction of New Zealand has been awarded a US$7 million contract for the replacement of 33 homes destroyed in last year’s 8. earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa. Fletcher Construction has done business…
Sons change codes
The sons of former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan and ex-All Blacks skipper Tana Umaga have chosen to play league rather than pursue representative careers in union. Matt McGahan, 17, and Cade Umaga, 16, are…
Postulating intrigues
“A private sale under way ‘outside New Zealand,’ according to the sale’s official Web site (and which we first read about on Jalopnik) has the enthusiast community scratching its collective head and postulating…
Jet-propelled milestone
The Martin Jetpack has been included in Time magazine’s 5 Best Inventions of 21, alongside Google’s driverless Prius and Amtrak’s cattle fat-powered train. New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin spent nearly 3 years developing a…
Welcome to Grimsby
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, the first female administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the third-highest UN position, will make an appearance at Grimsby Central Hall on November 19 to discuss the…
Taste of Success
“There are several reasons for Man O War’s success,” Air New Zealand Wine Awards judge Eric Arnold writes in an article for Forbes. “It’s the island’s biggest, most established producer; it’s…
In love with Brooke
“In early 28, I fell in love with New Zealand indie-pop-rock sensation Brooke Fraser’s second album, Albertine,” Speakers in Code blogger Jason Gonulsen writes. “I played it everywhere — in my house, in my…
Mozart deters crims
Since 29, in a downtown Christchurch mall, music by Mozart and other classical composers has been played over speakers to deter would-be criminals. The music has led to a steep fall in petty crime,…
Covering the dream
Britain’s got Talent star Susan Boyle performed Crowded House classic Don’t Dream It’s Over on The Oprah Winfrey Show in October with the cover also included on Boyle’s new Christmas album The Gift. “Don’t…
Mood-lit air travel
“Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 777-3ER passenger cabins look more like those inside a private jet than a commercial airliner,” according to Alan Ferguson reporting for The Province. “Redesigned from scratch, the mood-lit cabins…
A really good time
In an extract from the 21-published Lonely Planet title Discover New Zealand, which highlights the very best the country has to offer, the guide says: “You probably already know how ludicrously photogenic New Zealand…
Psychological Primer
Wellington author and English teacher Denis Wright’s debut young adult novel Violence 11 is reviewed in the Los Angeles Times by Susan Carpenter who says the book “is a solid psychological primer that should…
Railway tranquillity
New Zealand’s trains, like the country itself, offer a glimpse of an older world. Travelling from Picton to Christchurch, the Telegraph’s James Owen relishes the chance to slow down and take stock. “‘Here, you…
Karapiro Medals
New Zealanders Eric Murray and Hamish Bond won gold with a narrow win over their rivals at this year’s Rowing World Championships on Lake Karapiro. The coxless pair edged ahead with less than 4m…
Tears over Billy
“I read a picture book called Billy by Kate De Goldi to my daughter a few nights ago, and one of my tear glands experienced a distinct tweak,” British award-winning novelist David Mitchell admits…
