Russell Crowe: “From dud to stud”
Russell Crowe makes the grade in a run-down of Hollywood’s sexiest men by People Magazine. From unlikely beginnings “sporting high heels and lipstick” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Crowe has come to epitomize…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Pinetree Chews the Fat
“If you want a snapshot of the way rugby used to be, there is no more impressive monument to the past than Colin Meads, a man as straight as he was hard.” The Observer talks rugby,…
Great southern (is)Land
The South Island was ranked fourth on the BBC‘s “50 places to see before you die,” clocking in behind the Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef, and Disney World. The list was compiled via a phone…
Brothers in Farms
“So if the grass is always greener in NZ, let’s colonise it.” SMH reader’s opinion column ‘heckler’ proposes the immediate annexation of NZ as a quick and cheap solution to drought-proofing Australia (currently experiencing…
The quality of Maori Merchant of Venice is not strained
Don C. Selwyn’s The Maori Merchant of Venice won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the 22nd Annual Hawai’i International Film Festival’s Golden Maile Awards. The Maori film adaptation of Shakespeare’s…
Murray Backed in Melbourne Cup Fashion Stakes
NZ designer Zelda Murray came up trumps in a run-down of fashion hits and misses at this year’s Melbourne Cup. Murray, who debuted at last month’s New Zealand Fashion Week, took out the Best…
Runaways and Jean-genies
“Maverick NZ designer” Karen Walker is to return to Australian catwalks, showing a variation on her Runaway collection (recently acclaimed at London Fashion Week). Walker plans to modify the Runaway range for her southern…
Never Take a Spinner Seriously
The tiny Pacific state of Kiribati was thrown into panic by an article published by New Zealand spoof site www.spinner.co.nz. The article announced the imminent invasion of Kiribati by US forces, quoting President Bush as accusing its…
Nation of Giant-killers
American wine guru, Michael Franz, has made a wager that the NZ wine industry (“well organized, unusually cooperative, and marked by a spirit of openness and innovation”) will be producing the best wines outside Europe 20 years from…
Independent Film in the Wars
An independent British film telling the story of a New Zealand WW2 hero has ignited a “trans-Atlantic row over Hollywood movie muscle.” Two Men Went to War is to be screened in a paltry…
Frodo’s choice
American pop oddballs Elf Power have released a covers album featuring NZ’s Tall Dwarf’s – the now disbanded Chris Knox outfit. Nothing’s Going to Happen also includes renditions of songs by Husker Du,…
Transit vs. Taniwha
“Maori swamp creature delays road”. The proposed upgrade to a stretch of Waikato road is of concern to local Maori, who believe that the underlying swamp-land is home to a taniwha. This, they explain, is the reason…
Finding beauty in quotodian Wellington architecture
Ex-pat Peter Campbell, LRB art critic, returns home to report on all things architectural: “Painters have not made much of Wellington houses, but in Rita Angus’s picture of Thorndon, the part of the city…
Scene-stealing scenery
“New Zealanders watching the latest batch of car advertisements on Australian television could be excused for thinking they were back at home.” Rugged and diverse, NZ terrain is the showcase of choice for the…
These Boots Are Made for Walking … On
Dame Judith Mayhew will not seek re-election to her position as head of the City of London Corporation, claiming she is “doing too much.” She’s not joking either – see above for BBC profile. Described as “one of…
Surf’s Up in Cornwall
Waikato University’s resident surf expert – Dr Kerry Black – is helping create waves in Cornwall, where a £6 million proposal for constructing an artificial reef is currently under negotiation. Black and his team of marine…
A Walk in Good Company
“On the South Island, it’s fun and games with Kiwis on a privately operated trail that delivers fine coastal scenery, rustic lodgings and, happily, no crowds.” LA Times writer discovers the joys of NZ tramping the…
The Datsuns, The D4 … The Datson Four?
Kiwi rockers The Datsuns and The D4 are to play at the 2002 K-Fest in London. The event has previously featured line-ups including Black Sabbath, Slipknot and The Hives. Says D4 front-man, Jimmy Christmas:…
“Read This and Weep Some More”
Anonymous Kiwi makes an impassioned plea to US citizens in the Baltimore Chronicle. “America dips its toes in the water and my nation gets flooded by a tidal wave … such is the power and…
All Black Mana Enhanced
“Playing New Zealand means battling against the myths, legends and history of the All Blacks. In this professional era the aggression, determination and sheer ferociousness of the New Zealand game make them so hard to beat.” English…
“They Know They Have an Edge”
November’s French Vogue goes south seas gothic in fashionable NZ, with the edge providing both spectacular and downtown Aotearoa-style backdrops for a Mario Sorrenti photo shoot, from the volcanic plateau to the local 4-Square….
Well-oiled
Tauranga-based company, Avocado Oil New Zealand, has won a lucrative contract to supply Tesco –Britain’s leading supermarket chain. Avocado Oil New Zealand is a world-innovator in cold-pressing and refining extra virgin avocado oil – which is…
Giving new meaning to wildlife
NZ production The Most Extreme has proved a hit with international Animal Planet viewers. The series, made by Dunedin-based Natural History New Zealand, involves a countdown of the world’s weirdest animal trivia. Due to…
Intrepid Botanist Remembered
NZer Betty Molesworth Allen, OBE-awarded botanist and explorer, has died aged 89. Allen made her career in some of the harshest regions in the world; from the rainforests of Borneo, to the cliff-faces of southern Spain….
Dr Grant, I presume?
Sam Neill has hinted he will reprise his role as Dr Grant in Steven Spielberg’s fourth Jurassic Park installment. The Queenstown-based actor is sufficiently impressed by the script that he would consider ” his…
Something old something new
Multimedia artist Lisa Reihana commended at the 2002 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art for her current “work in progress,” Digital Marae. The large-scale photographs dramatise female mythological figures in an exploration of matriarchy in Maori culture….
UN Children’s Television Workshop
A New Zealand production features in the International Children’s Television Festival in Manhattan this month. The Kiwi entry in the UN sponsored exhibition, The Dress-Up Box Wonder, was written on the morning of the…
Magic + Maths = Inspired Teaching
Ken Ring has taken his own special brand of mathematics to the UK. The former teacher is now president of the New Zealand Society of Magicians – a career change reflected in his “eccentric approach to…
Bolger on Water
In a letter to the Times, ex-PM Jim Bolger cites the role of water in global tensions. Warning against letting War on Terror overshadow basic human needs, Bolger advocates a government-led promotion of water conservation and efficiency:…
Walker Talks Trends
In a bid to understand the fashion industry’s “pandemic schizophrenia,” SMH picks the brain of Kiwi style guru, Karen Walker. “It’s all about zig-zagging. If it was white last season, it’ll be black this…
Concord Dawn high-flying in Asia
” bass-heads into a mind-boggling frenzy” were Kiwi act Concord Dawn on their recent tour of Asia. The DJ/producer duo of Matt Harvey and Evan Short have already established themselves back home – they…
America’s Cup: Billionaires and Espionage
“Yacht racing has been compared to tearing up $10 bills while standing in the shower. In the case of America’s Cup racing, make that $1,000 bills.” Time Magazine delves into the high rolling depths of…
Kiwi Scientists Search for Merrick’s Ma
Joseph Merrick (the Elephant Man) is still drawing crowds. This time round, Merrick’s deformities are attracting genealogists and scientists, rather than circus-goers. A team of NZ researchers wants to find living descendents of Merrick and take samples…
South Pacific sounds
NZ group Te Vaka has made the list of nominees for next year’s BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. The Polynesian ensemble, led by Opetaia Foa’i, describe their sound as “tribal, powerful and…
Elevator Not Included
NZ runners Jonathan Wyatt and Melissa Moon won the men’s and women’s categories at the World Towerthon in Malaysia. The event involves an 800m run from the Kuala Lumpur Tower entrance, followed by a grueling climb…
Sun Sets on “The People’s Horse”
NZ mare Sunline, Australasia’s grand lady of racing and a champion that uniquely inspired anthromomorphic devotion, ended her five-year domination of Australian tracks with a brave final run at October’s Cox Cup. The winner of 32…
Booker Prize: end of an era?
Observer critics liken this year’s Man Booker Prize win to that of NZ’s Keri Hulme on “that unforgettable night in the mid-80s.” Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi won thanks to “a virtuoso display…
“Musician Who Revitalized Maori Culture”
Dalvanius Prime, pioneer of Polynesian soul and hip-hop, has died aged 54. Prime developed his own take on American soul by merging its ballad form with traditional Maori vocal harmonies. In the early 70s…
King of Greece Honours King of Sailing
Sir Peter Blake has been posthumously awarded the prestigious Olympic Order for his services to sport. Honorary IOC member, the former King Constantine of Greece, presented the award to Blake’s wife, Pippa, at the Emsworth Sailing Club….
I can’t believe it is butter
A preservative-free spray-on butter invented in New Zealand won a top prize at the Sial International Food Fair in Paris. The bi-annual event is renowned for its trends and innovations section; other ‘innovative’ entries…
Sex in the City (of Sails)
Are you looking at us? Rebecca Weinberg, Emmy-Award winning stylist from Sex and the City, was a headlining guest at New Zealand Fashion Week. Weinberg crossed the Tasman in search of The Next Big…
“That’s the way it is:” broadcast legend bows out
Brian “Hendo” Henderson, Channel 9 Australia’s “stalwart newsreader” for the last 46 years, has announced his retirement. Born and bred in Southland, NZ, Henderson started out on Dunedin radio. Moving to Sydney in the…
High Steaks
NZ beef takes centre stage at New York’s latest meat-lovers’ paradise; Sosa Borella. According to its reviewers – “a group of eager carnivores” – the “grass-fed, free-range beef from New Zealand” is the main…
“I am an Illusionist”
“She is a ball of fire in Chinese pajama pants; she is a whirling dervish, a Nepalese tonka with a million faces, a human mandala.” The work of LA-based artist Joanne Gair – the…
Freudian felines
NZ-based author/psychoanalyst Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson attempts to unravel the feline psyche in The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey into the Feline Heart. The “witty, elusive and often enchanting” book challenges the place…
From Soaps to Splatter-flicks
New York-based Kiwi, Martin Henderson (Shortland Street, Windtalkers), co-stars in October’s US box-office No.1 – The Ring. The thriller is a re-make of the cult Japanese Ringu series, and revolves around a video-tape curse….
Vegas Pays Up
Golfer Philip Tataurangi had the first US PGA Tour win of his career at the Las Vegas Classic, beating Australia’s Stuart Appleby by one shot. The 32-year-old pulled out his best round ever – 10 under…
66 and Still Dancing the ACDC Way
NZ’s “first really iconic out-and-out drag queen” – Carmen Rupe – was honored at the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney. The November 2 opening ceremony at the Sydney Football Stadium devoted a segment entitled…
The Resurrection
“If the internet could express emotions, a collective groan of despair would have filtered through a quarter of a million modems with the sudden closure of a site called Arts & Letters Daily.”…
Running Man
Lower Hutt born Nick Willis is the University of Michigan’s latest star athlete. Still in his freshman year, he is already the No. 2 cross-country runner on campus. The best seems yet to come; according to…
Sir Garfield Todd “A Legend in His Lifetime”
Tributes continue to flow for NZ-born former PM of Southern Rhodesia, Sir Garfield Todd. The Washington Post obituary remembers his “rugged good looks, fluent oratory and lucid memory,” and The Guardian calls him “an internationally…
“Feast feats”
London restaurant Pied a Terre, where Kiwi chef Shane Osborn reigns as “creative genius,” praised in the Observer: “You may wonder how it is possible for a Michelin-starred restaurant to serve a three-course lunch…
Cook Sails into Prime Time
Captain Cook is the inspiration behind America’s latest hit reality TV show. The Ship follows a group of ordinary folks in their bid to sail a replica of the Endeavour from Australia to Indonesia….
Hostel Heaven
LA Times‘ Youth Beat offers tips for the budget traveller. “NZ has a reputation for having the world’s best hostels, and one thing that helps to keep the hostel owners on their toes is the Blue…
The Necessary Jester
A recent Victoria University study asserts the value of the office clown. According to its research, humour is “a natural and, maybe, a necessary byproduct of complex social systems such as the modern workplace.” Evidently, shared…
Fine print
Kiwi publications took out several top spots at the 2002 Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards in Adelaide, with The Gisborne Herald named “Newspaper of the Year.” Other high achievers were the Christchurch Star,…
