NZ Judge Finds PM Blair Guilty
Retired NZ Supreme Court judge Ted Thomas has published an article condemning outgoing British PM Tony Blair for his “immoral and illegal” invasion of Iraq. The essay, which is written as a judicial…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Pole Position
Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) has won the Louis Vuitton challenger series, crushing American rival BMW Oracle Racing by 1m 34s. The victory gave ETNZ the right to choose its opponent for the best-of-nine semifinals. Skipper
New Voice in US Media Marketplace
NZ-born advertising executive Antony Young, US CEO of Optimedia, is about to publish his first book in America. In Profitable Marketing Communication he offers US marketers a fresh perspective on the media marketplace, based largely around successful…
NZ Pathologist Testifies in Canada
NZ-based pathologist Dr James Ferris has given evidence in the most high-profile murder case in recent Canadian history. Ferris, a veteran of 40 years forensic investigation, has testified at the trial of Robert William…
DreamWorks nets Jackson
DreamWorks SKG has won a week-long Hollywood bidding war for Peter Jackson’s latest film. Jackson made his screen adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones available on the open market last week,…
The Players’ Player
Former NZ Maori representative Glen Jackson has won Britain’s Professional Rugby Players’ Association (PRA) player of the year award, calling it “the greatest achievement of my rugby career”. The 31-year-old Saracens fly-half, who previously played for Waikato…
NZ Preacher Battles US Atheists
Christchurch-born evangelist Ray Comfort fronted a controversial debate over the existence of God on US TV this month. Comfort (pictured left) and his preaching partner, child actor Kirk Cameron, squared off against two members…
Diving’s Best Kept Secret
Jacques Cousteau named the Poor Knights Islands one of the world’s top ten dive sites and Australian travel writer Nigel Marsh agrees. Located 24km off the coastline of Tutukaka, 200km north of Auckland, the Poor Knights…
A taste of Nelson in New York
A NZ-themed gastropub, Nelson Blue, has opened in New York’s burgeoning Seaport area. Owned by Pauli Morgan, a Nelson-born veteran of New York’s bar scene, the 100-seat restaurant features a suspended waka,…
Australia, meet Reg
The first full-length documentary on NZ-born artist Chris O’Doherty (AKA Reg Mombassa) screened on Australia’s SBS in May. Golden Sandals: The Art of Reg Mombassa explores the links between the artist’s NZ upbringing, suburban landscape…
Brad McGann Was Acclaimed Director
NZ filmmaker Brad McGann has died aged 43 (cancer). His adaptation of the Maurice Gee novel In My Father’s Den won ten awards at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards, and the International Critics Award…
Creepy sheep
NZ horror film Black Sheep has impressed international critics with its blend of low-budget gore and on-the-nose humour. Since its premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, Black Sheep has won the…
Winning Streak for 42 Below Ads
42 Below Vodka’s US advertising campaign won Saatchi & Saatchi New York seven statues at this year’s Clio Awards, including the Grand Clio in the print section. The slew of awards saw Saatchi & Saatchi New…
NZ Ranks Swell at Creative Hotspot
Geoff Coyle is the latest New Zealander to join advertising powerhouse 180 in Amsterdam, bringing the combined total to eight. “Of the 23 nationalities employed here, NZ is by far the most over-represented group,” said Coyle’s…
Canada, your time is NOW
NZ adventurer Phil Keoghan is about to launch his hit TV series No Opportunity Wasted (NOW) in Canada. In each half-hour episode of NOW – based on his best-selling book of the same name…
Surfing the Menu in NZ
NZ chef Mark Gardner will co-present the fourth season of popular cooking show Surfing the Menu, with London-based Australian Ben O’Donoghue. Gardner, 29, replaces O’Donoghue’s previous co-presenter, Australian Curtis Stone. The fourth season comprises…
Webby Celeb
Mt Maunganui raised Jessica Rose has been named best actress in the 11th annual Webby Film and Video Awards in a special achievement category, for her performance in the fictional YouTube video blog…
New Era for NZ Golf Open
Jeweller Michael Hill’s private golf club has been unveiled as the NZ Open venue for the next three years. Designed by landscape architect John Darby, the Hills Golf Club covers 202 hectares of land in Arrowtown, just…
Travelling in the reel
Adam Hartzell, a writer for US film blog Daily Greencine, “travels, reads, watches and sips his way through NZ”. On his five-day tour he (ironically) attends the Latin American Film Festival in Wellington, the…
The way of Music
The Way of Music by Robin Maconie (pictured), a New Zealand born composer and musicologist who studied with Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen, is a listener’s guide to the hidden meanings of…
Tourism NZ Gets Googled
Tourism NZ has teamed up with Google to develop its own official ‘layer’ on Google Earth, in a world first for a tourism authority. Google Earth is a searchable tool for geographic information that combines satellite…
Designs on New York
Christchurch-born art director and graphic designer, Jeff Docherty has spent the last seven years making a name for himself in NZ, Australia, and New York. To date, Docherty’s work has appeared in the New…
Ideas of abstraction
New York’s Esso Gallery in Chelsea’s West 26th Street, is holding a second solo exhibition by Auckland artist Julian Dashper. Titled The Abstract Office, the exhibition is a broad survey of Dashper’s work from…
High Price for Anzac Artwork
An iconic Anzac painting has sold for more than twice its estimated price at an auction of wartime artworks in Sydney. Simpson and his Donkey by NZ artist Horace Moore-Jones was purchased for $120,000…
Gates of Hell open in Fulham
Hell Pizza has opened its first UK outlet in Fulham, northwest London. Founders Callum Davies and Stu McMullin decided it was time to test a new market after 11 successful years in NZ….
Short and Sweet
Auckland writer Charlotte Grimshaw has been nominated for the world’s richest prize for collected short stories, the £35,000 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Grimshaw joins 32 authors on the Irish event’s longlist,…
Hunter retains her edge
NZ-born Alexis Hunter features in the WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution exhibition at LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Hunter moved to London in 1972 aged 24 and has lived and worked there…
Royal Welcome for NZ Flora
The largest collection of NZ native plants in the UK has opened at the Savill Garden, near Windsor Castle in Surrey. The NZ Garden in Great Windsor Park was officially opened by the Duke of York…
Inside Perspective on Disarmament
New Zealander Bob Rigg has written an essay for Open Democracy protesting the US manipulation of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the ousting of its Brazilian director-general, José Bustani, in 22….
All Black Up-and-comers
NZ has won the world under-19 rugby championship for the first time since 2004, with a decisive 31-7 victory over South Africa in Belfast, Ireland. “To win tonight, and also so resoundingly, was just fantastic,” said NZ…
Phoenix on the Rise
A Wellington-based franchise is to replace Auckland’s NZ Knights in the Australian A-League soccer competition beginning in August. Wellington Phoenix will be the eighth team in the 2007-2008 series, which runs for 21 rounds up until next…
Healthy Competition
A NZ healthy fast food chain has opened its first European outlet in Glasgow, Scotland. Owner Conrad van der Klundert believes that Reload, a South Island-based juice, salad and sandwich bar, can take…
Matterhorn Among World’s Best
Wellington institution the Matterhorn has been named one of the world’s top five bars by respected US trade magazine, Bartender. The Cuba St local was ranked fifth behind Milk & Honey (London), Salvatore…
A Star Among Men
Frank Bateson, one of the world’s most respected astronomers, has died in Tauranga aged 97. Born in Wellington in 1909, Bateson was the internationally acknowledged expert on variable stars (those which intermittently vary in brightness)….
Fight night
Two New Zealanders have been nominated for the 2007 Taurus World Stunt Awards. Ben Cooke (pictured) and Kirk Maxwell are both up for Best Fight, for their work in Casino Royale and…
Blanket Bay Among World’s Best
Queenstown’s Blanket Bay Lodge has been selected as the best lodge in the world by the US Discovery Travel & Living channel. Blanket Bay will feature on Discovery’s new Five-Star Insider series alongside the world’s best…
NZ Triathletes Dominate at Ishigaki
NZ athletes dominated at Japan’s Ishigaki Island World Cup series triathlon, despite their lack of a gold medal finish. Bevan Docherty, Kris Gemmell, Shane Reed and Andrew Hewitt finished second, third, fourth and sixth in the…
Icon and Storyteller Who Inspired All
Veteran actor and filmmaker Don Selwyn has died aged 71 after a long illness. Selwyn was a founding member of the New Zealand Maori Theatre Trust and He Taonga Films, and was…
Auckland Pioneers Landing Technique
Auckland International Airport is leading the world in trialling a landing method designed to reduce fuel use and emissions. Beginning April 18, the test landings will see selected Air NZ and Qantas jets glide into the…
Tributes Flow for Reading Expert
Educators the world over have mourned the loss of Dame Marie Clay, an internationally renowned reading expert who has died in Auckland aged 81. Clay was a leading figure in the International Reading Association…
Big pond, big promise
Wellington singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser relocated to Sydney three years ago, hoping to create an Australian following to rival the one she enjoys back home. In NZ, Fraser’s first album – What to do…
Keats Inspires New Campion Film
The doomed love affair between English poet John Keats and his neighbour, Fanny Brawne, is to be the subject of a literary biopic written and directed by Oscar-winning NZ filmmaker, Jane Campion. Keats and…
Something for Everyone
The recent volcanic lahar at Mount Ruapehu has done nothing to put off eager skiers, from NZ or overseas. As a news.com.au article points out, visitors continued to ski and snowboard both during and immediately after the…
Cliff’s time in the sun
NZ actor Cliff Curtis has a starring role in Sunshine, the latest critically acclaimed film by English director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later). The film is a futuristic sci-fi thriller about…
Planned to Perfection
The Toronto Star reports on the wonder of Victorian-era town planning that is Christchurch, NZ. Prior to its December 1850 settlement, Christchurch was designed to be a replica of the ideal English, Anglican town – right…
Te Mata in Dream Opener
Hawkes Bay’s Te Mata Estate will open next month’s London International Wine and Spirits Fair (LIWSF) with a tasting celebrating 25 years of its flagship Cabernet/Merlot, Coleraine. Te Mata CEO John Buck and winemaker Peter Cowley will…
“A Little Savage From New Zealand”
A Telegraph review of Penguin’s Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield celebrates the influential author’s short yet remarkable life. Born in Wellington in 1888, Mansfield made a strong and lasting impression on the London literary…
Cheap Solar Power a Step Closer
Massey University researchers have developed a novel means of harnessing solar energy, at a fraction of the price. Scientists at the university’s Nanomaterials Research Centre have produced a range of coloured synthetic dyes for use in dye-sensitised…
More Gold for Kendall
NZ sporting legend Barbara Kendall is back in the spotlight after winning the women’s RS:X windsurfing event at the Princess Sofia Trophy regatta in Palma, Spain. The three-time Olympic medallist was also named the overall Princess…
Fresh Perspective on Antarctica
A NZ doctoral student and her Dutch counterpart have initiated a radical new program to involve the humanities and social sciences in Antarctic research. Canterbury University’s Daniela Haase and Machiel Lamers of the University of Maastricht launched…
Zambesi Marches on Moscow
NZ fashion label Zambesi has netted its largest ever international account. Zambesi will be stocked in Moscow’s soon-to-open Cara & Co concept store, which describes itself as a “deluxe boutique for intellectuals.” Label owners…
Praise for Bright and Vital
Ferris South Australian Liberal Senator Jeannie Ferris has died after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer. Born in NZ, Ferris studied agribusiness and worked as a journalist and political adviser before entering Australian parliament…
NZ a Modern Treasure Hunter’s Dream
NZ features in a “21st century treasure map” for entrepreneurial Americans, published by Inc. magazine. The interactive online map is a guide for American business owners looking for international opportunities. The NZ economy is described as one…
Surf Secrets Revealed
Artificial Surf Reefs (ASR) co-founder Kerry Black has been profiled by CNN. Black, a former Waikato University professor, has spent the last few years perfecting the world’s first fully adjustable computer-controlled reef. He expects the technology to…
Stamps Commemorate Centenaries
NZ Post has issued a series of stamps celebrating the centenaries of four organisations that have played a major role in the country’s history. Released April 24, the stamps pay tribute to Suzanne Aubert’s House of…
Writing in the margins
Auckland writer Tzeming Mok spoke about globalization and the Chinese Diaspora at last month’s Shanghai Literature Festival. Mok, a published poet, author, blogger and journalist, is known for writing about issues of displacement, with…
