For the People
Don’t cry for me Argentina. The BBC looks at the progress of KiwiBank: ” New Zealand, more often famed for its sheep population than its financial sector, is attempting to shake-up its banking system with a…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Off the Sheep’s Back?
The BBC looks at the changing iconic status and importance of the sheep to the New Zealand economy. Sheep numbers have fallen from 70 million to 40 million in the last two decades and farmers are…
The Piano Makes All Time A-List
Jane Campion’s The Piano seated in esteemed company in The A List: The National Society of Film Critics’ 100 Essential Films, edited by Jay Carr.
Ed from the Edge: “World’s Greatest Living Explorer”
“Humble beekeeper turned world’s greatest living explorer” – Legend Sir Edmund Hillary leads the pack of the ‘ten greatest living explorers’ in an extensive Vanity Fair photo essay. “‘Those magnificent men’ …the men and…
Sir Peter Blake Honoured at World Sport Awards
Sir Peter has been posthumously given both the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award and the Laureus Sport for Good Award at the 2002 World Sports Awards in Monte-Carlo. Sir Peter, was a founding member of the Academy…
Utopia: Wild at Heart
“The grandeur of this place is so extreme it makes you want to dive right into the heart of it”, Aotearoa-NZ is May cover country of one of the world’s most prestigious travel magazines, National Geographic…
Kiwi Sites in Webby Race
Two Christchurch based websites are in the running for Webbies – the internet version of the Oscars. They are University of Canterbury Philosophy of Art Professor Denis Dutton’s brain-tickling Arts and Letters Daily…
The Piano
Jane Campion’s The Piano seated in esteemed company in The A List: The National Society of Film Critics’ 1 Essential Films, edited by Jay Carr.
WorldEdge: Sydney Fashion Week
The Australian Review headline: “Kiwis upstage hosts at fashion week”. WORLD’s youthful postmodern colour blast made the cover of the all the major papers. And Zambesi’s bomber jackets coupled with their trademark structuralist dresses…
One Giant Leap
“New Zealand newcomer Whiri Mako Black’s haunting and silken soulfulness” joins Robbie Williams, Horace Andy, Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, Nenah Cherry and Grant Lee Buffalo in a celebration of world music on the collection…
Rugby Sevens World Champions
New Zealand won the World Rugby Sevens series title for the third consecutive year, wrapping up the series with a convincing 29-5 victory over South Africa in the Malaysia Sevens final. Said coach Gordon Tietjens: “I am…
Rain: “under the surreal glare of a sunburnt hangover”
“A detached study of sleepy domestic torpor seizing up into tragic desperation, Christine Jeffs’s debut feature, Rain, bears resemblance to The Virgin Suicides and Ratcatcher Jeffs’s compositions are clean and evocative; and aided…
Ta Moko on Show
Time reviews Skin Deep, a history of Western tattooing currently on show at London’s National Maritime Museum. The exhibit traces the practice back to its Polynesian roots, beginning its official documentation with Cook’s 1768 voyage to NZ….
The Datsuns: the future of rock’n’roll?
dotmusic revs up Kiwi rockers The Datsuns. “four stick-thin, long-haired, fresh-faced, sinful-souled boys from Cambridge, New Zealand, and the latest genius rock’n’roll band to swarm on London”. Accompanied by the same feeding frenzy that…
Kiri to sing at Palace & Castle
Opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa will sing at Buckingham Palace June 1 as Queen Elizabeth celebrates her Golden Jubilee party. Taking the stage alongside Kiri will be Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and opera’s latest…
Acid Rain
“This New Zealand coming-of-age movie isn’t really about anything. When it’s this rich and luscious, who cares?” Direction and acting applauded in Christine Jeff’s debut feature adaptation of Kirsty Gunn’s novella Rain. “A richly detailed movie.” Salon’s…
From Sea to Sea: Kipling’s Landscapes
Biographer David Gilmour finds chronicler of British imperialism Rudyard Kipling has an affinity for the edges, “his favourite landscapes were in adverse angles of the Pacific (New Zealand and British Columbia) and in opposite corners of the…
Middle Line Management
NZ Reserve Bank governor Don Brash, has stepped down after 14 years in the top job as central banker to make a new career for himself as a politician. Widely regarded as the architect of New…
Karl Popper’s NZEdged Legacy
Roger James in the The Guardian ponders the centenary of the birth of one of the C20th most original (and controversial) thinkers, philosopher Karl Popper. In an affirmation of edge theory Popper’s most influential…
Lest We Forget
CNN reports on revivified NZ and Australian interest in the memorial of ANZAC Day and it’s importance to trans-Tasman relations: “Tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealanders arose before dawn on Thursday to pay their respects…
Business Class Destination
New Zealand is ranked the fourth best place to do business in Asia, according to prominent think tank – the Economist Intelligence Unit. The rankings took into account 70 factors, including political risk and corruption, key…
Soft edge scenery?
BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan-Doyle’s dinosaur romp The Lost World: shot “against the glorious backdrop of New Zealand’s South Island … New Zealand offered diverse landscapes in relatively easy conditions. “New Zealand has a…
AB Old Boy’s Coaching Club: JK, Buck, Gatland
All Black legend, winger John Kirwan, to take over as coach of the Italian national team from NZer Brad Johnstone – this includes touring Italy through his homeland where playing for the ABs he scored…
Superyacht Supremos
“New Zealand is fast becoming one of the world’s biggest centres for superyacht construction, with its low-cost high-tech designs.” Alloy Yachts is the world’s 2nd largest manufacturer of superyachts: advantages that make the sailing smooth include…
Nanotech NZ – Solutions from the Small?
Front-running nanotechnology expert, NZ-born Michael Kelly, (technology professor, University of Surrey), recently visited Wellington’s MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Kelly is optimistic of edge innovation in the field, “There are a whole range of problems which…
Under the Radar
A governmental mission to Australia led by PM Helen Clark aims to repair the damage done to already slack perception of NZ business (“yokels”) across the ditch by events such as the Ansett collapse and the…
Finn Family Fun
A laid back Tim Finn ponders his career, fatherhood, his NZ-homecoming, getting picked up by Iggy Pop, and more on the eve of an Aussie tour and muses on the power of song:…
Legacy of Letters
LA Times special focuses on Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington. “Considered one of the 20th century’s finest short story writers” – and the only one to make Virginia Woolf jealous – Mansfield has remained…
Writer’s block
“The literary traffic across the Tasman isn’t as brisk as it should be. Much good writing has to come from Auckland or Wellington to Australia by way of publication in London; and New Zealand…
Bacchic and Bucolic: Les Vins de Sam
The Guardian spends the day with actor/winemaker Sam Neill, who is back home in NZ for 6 months working his three Central Otago vineyards. “I love coming here. I think it’s a great place”, comments…
The Empire Strikes Back
The SMH finds Tem Morrison carrying the antipodean banner in the new Star Wars blockbuster, Episode II: Attack of the Clones – the latest installment of George Lucas’s epic fantasy: “The best…
The Price of a Degree
New Zealand rates as the cheapest study destination, in terms of living costs and tuition fees, from an IDP Education Australia survey of 168 universities in the “Big 5” major education destinations: the US, Canada, UK, Australia,…
Totem – Mind Your Own Business
An alternative to working at the end of the dining table or in the back of the car and holding business meetings in cafes, Totem on the Viaduct is Auckland’s newest business “meeting hub”.
Bryan Drake Remembered
New Zealand-born baritone Bryan Drake has died in London aged 76. A “fine musician with an equable temperament and warm personality”, Drake will be particularly remembered for his long association with Benjamin Britten and his…
World’s Finest Fleece
Canterbury-based Escorial Company, in conjunction with CSIRO (Australia’s Government science organisation), has produced the world’s finest bale of wool, registering a fibre diameter of 12.7 microns. “The finest bale up to now was 12.9 micron in raw…
Westenra captivates Wembley
NZ singing prodigy Hayley Westenra accompanies Russell “The Voice” Watson to a sold-out Wembley Stadium and provides some sonar respite in a Telegraph review of Russell’s talents. “At Wembley, he was joined by…
Kiwi to Head Biggest British Milk Plant
A veteran of New Zealand dairy industry projects, Steve Satherley, will be at the controls when Britain’s single biggest milk manufacturing plant starts pumping its first milk in England next month. Mr Satherley as operations manager for United…
Wonder Mare
NZ-bred wonder mare Sunline is set to race on in the spring, poised to continue a record breaking run of victories. Presently Sunline is one race short of the record for group one wins set by…
Munster Monster of ABs makes Top-10 Sporting Shocks
Irish club side Munster’s shut-out 12-0 defeat of the 1978 All Blacks proclaimed by Observer Sport Monthly as the tenth greatest shock in sport’s history. Munster playwright James Breen (Alone It Stands – about the events surrounding…
Bacchic and Bucolic in NZ #2
The Guardian’s ‘Superplonk’ column discovers the flavour of New Zealand in a six-week wine tasting trip. Highlights include the “superb, tannic tenacity and layered fruit” of Delegat’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1999, and the “racy, complex, finely textured…
BBC1 Haka Use Stirs Reaction
BBC1 uses the haka amongst a series of segments featuring multicultural imagery used to re-brand the British TV Channel, attracting reaction in NZ. Maui Solomon: “The Western culture, having all their own stories, are starting to mine…
All Blue
Former Kiwi rugby player centre Tony Marsh is “a major force” in French rugby’s resurgence in this years Six Nations tournament as the French take the Grand Slam for the first time since 1988.
Pleasantville 2002: Deep Impact
The release of NZ company Deep Video Imaging’s new ActualDepth 3-D monitor is being likened to the dawn of colour television in the 1950s, with Deep Video aiming to be to the monitor what Dolby was to…
Colonial Post
New Zealand beat England for the first time at home in 18 years as the series finishes 1-1. “New Zealand are a very resilient side and they are very hard to break down”, says England captain…
Land of Milk and Honey
The Scotman reports on New Zealand’s “white gold rush” – the scramble by milk producers to find new dairying land as world prices continue to rise, and further impetus given to the industry with…
Kiwis: Our Sheep Don’t Stink
The No.8 gene gets Wired for the 21st Century: “With about 45 million sheep and only 5 million people, New Zealanders hear their fair share of sheep jokes. When it comes to biotechnology and sheep, however,…
Boondoggle Playtime
Featured in the April edition of Fortune magazine’s ‘boondoggle’ section: Wall Street billionaire Julian Robertson has built Kauri Cliffs, a “remote, lush getaway on more than 5,000 acres at the northern tip of New Zealand.” “Three private…
Allan Wilson Out of Africa Evolution Theory
“The most profound story Discovery Channel has ever presented.” In Real Eve the Discovery Channel traces the tale of human evolution through fossilised evidence and breakthrough genetic evidence towards the theory that that that all humans…
Journey to Middle Earth
Following in the tradition of cine-tourism success prompted by such films as A Passage to India, Out of Africa, and Crocodile Dundee, New Zealand is enjoying its busiest ever summer tourism season, due in part…
Improv Bandits steal America’s Cup
NZ’s Improv Bandits are NZ’s latest world champions having won the Super Cage Match Championship at the Chicago Improv Festival in the USA. Beating off “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” wannabes from across…
Grapes of Worth
Marlborough, “Lively with a distinct lemon/lime character, this sauvignon blanc is snappy but substantial and will take on the cacophony of flavors in the calamari salad with ease.”
Vanity Fair enough
Ex-Shorties original Martin Henderson, after a stint across the ditch, goes west to LA and hits the big-time featuring in Vanity Fair’s annual hyping Hollywood photo essay for his part in the upcoming Windtalkers….
“A work of almost perfect pitch”
CK Stead’s new novel The Secret History of Modernism reviewed inThe Age: “Stead is very clever and he’s comfortable on this ground, patrolling that sometimes misty territory between truth and invention, between history and…
Tower de force
Pictures from Two Towers, the second instalment of Lord of the Rings, can be viewed in this Sun Online special.
Edge Triple play
Three New Zealanders – Russell Crowe (no. 28), Peter Jackson (no. 41), and Tim Bevan (no. 51=) feature in Premeire Magazine’s 2002 Power List of the most influential people in Hollywood.
Laid back Luna lover’s rock
Indie rock icon Dean Wareham (son of NYNZer businessman and author John Wareham) and lead singer of Luna (“they of the lovely and atmospheric guitar ballads and frontman Dean Wareham’s priceless, Ivy-grade lovelorn quibblings”)…
