Ruskies Clone NZ Lawyers
“A computer programmer from St Petersburg has cloned a New Zealand law firm’s website and changed its details to make it appear Russian. Patent attorney A J Park’s website was plagarised down to the last detail:…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Phar Lap’s Hide on Display Again After Three Years in Storage
“The hide is in Melbourne, the heart in Canberra. The bones are in Wellington, the big delicate skeleton of a horse who used to mean business.” (from ‘Phar Lap’, by Bill Manhire)
All Sewn Up
New Zealand designer Therese Hollingsworth has won the Textile category of the Country Road Design Awards. Her piece, felted was strongly influenced by the “simplicity and symmetry of Japanese design”.
Listen up there, folks!
Jim Cuddy, one of the starring acts at the upcoming Ottawa Folk Festival, praises the depth of folk talent in New Zealand, but claims we’re not sufficiently proud of our “roots music”.
Kiwi Runners Feel the Pain
In the US they run to escape the pressures of work. In the UK they find running leaves the mind time to think about sex. Kiwis, on the other hand, think about the pain they’re putting themselves…
Obituary: Sir Peter Platt, Musicologist
Sir Peter Platt was born in Sheffield but spent a lifetime merging the music of the edges in the antipodes: he regarded an understanding of the music of the regions as crucial and guided his students…
Learning from Grandma and the “Notorious” Truby King
A expectant grand-daughter ponders generational attitudes to child-rearing, musing on her grandmother’s strict training under New Zealander Truby King”: ” is the Aunt Sally for almost all post-war child-rearing books … His doctrines were adopted across the…
New Zealand Urges Japan to Halt Whaling
Representatives of 15 countries have urged Japan, the world’s largest consumer of whale meat, to halt its research whaling. New Zealand and Australia, along with anti-whaling groups and conservationists have been at the forefront of efforts to…
Cancer Clue in Birthmarks
New Zealand researchers led by plastic surgeon Swee Tan have found a gene they believe helps shrink a benign tumour. The gene, they hope, may do the same thing in cancerous tumours. Their research involved investigating…
Chris Knox: Not the Hallmark variety
Rolling Stone praises Chris Knox’s latest effort: “You can always count on a rock eccentric to make you scratch your head – but touch your heart? That’s usually not the province of ordinary weirdos,…
Secret History
An Italian monk’s stinging criticism of British mistreatment of Maori has been published in New Zealand for the first time – more than 100 years after it was written. Written by Benedictine monk Dom Felice Vaggioli,…
Tiger’s Big Brother
“He walks with him, laughs with him, listens to him, and knows what to say to him and how to say it.” The New York Time describes Kiwi caddy Steve Williams as a big brother to…
Starbright and the Dreameater
Kiwi author Joy Cowley gets a glowing review for her latest childrens’ book whose story “could be a mix of the ‘X-files’ and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’… The plot may be hokey, especially to…
Air NZ Freshener
Air New Zealand is helping the in-transit global citizen feel more at home by offering amenity kits to make passengers feel fresh as a daisy when they debark. First Class flyers get aromatherapy kits to combat…
Canary Breaks Free of its Textual Cage in Mansfield Adaptation
A short story by Katherine Mansfield “The Canary” has been adapted for the theatre by Walk About Theatre Company in Chicago.
The Gould Standard
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato and former British Labour spokesman Bryan Gould offers his perspective on one of the most heated debates in British politics – the integration of European currency and urges Blair’s government to…
Zambesi Zen
Relax, salute the sun: this summer warm to the meticulously designed, unstructured, ‘new age’ look picked to capture the fashion mood. Yoga inspired spiritual materials for contemplative consumption. Leading the pack of new-agers are…
Hitting Sex Criminals Where it Hurts
Maori activist Titewhai Harawira has recommended a traditional Maori punishment for sex criminals to ensure that they don’t re-offend: Her solution: tying flax around the offender’s penis and pulling until the penis drops off. “I’m sick of…
Te Rangi Hiroa/Sir Peter Buck Remembered
The Sunday Times remembers the birthday of Sir Peter Buck – a pioneering and internationally renowned anthropologist, the first Maori medical doctor, a politician, administrator, soldier, and leader of the Maori people. Born in…
More Marie Clay Pedagogue Innovation
Marie Clay’s “running records” reading assessment programme proved the hit of Howard County’s reading summer institute. “Running records were developed in the 1970s by the same New Zealand psychologist and educator who introduced the…
Rock at Home
Alex Ross’ investigation of New Zealand music rock: “surface blips in the international musical marketplace give only a hint of an amazingly rich music…
Festival founding flutist celebrates the Hampton summer
Internationally acclaimed New Zealand-born flutist Marya Martin (Winner of the prestigious Young Concert Artists International Auditions) is the flute and artistic artistic director of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. Newsday talks to…
The Dunedin Sound #2
On August 9th, the 34th annual MacCrimmon Piobaireachd recital took place, as always, in the drawing room of Dunvegan Castle in Skye, Scotland, the seat of the 29th Chief of Clan MacLeod. It featured…
Cycling Gold
New Zealand won two gold medals in the fifth and final leg of the Track World Cup Cycling Championship. Glen Thompson won in the 30km points race and Sarah Ulmer continued her superb Olympic preparation.
Kiwi Museum Authority Leads Berlin’s Jewish Museum
Ken Gorbey of Te Papa, “New Zealand’s enormously successful national museum,” has been appointed artistic leader of of one of the new Berlin’s emblematic projects: the Daniel Liebeskind designed Jewish Museum. Gorbey’s challenge it…
Maori Mystique
The Washington Post’s Kid’s Section “Web@tlas” spotlights Australia and New Zealand, inviting readers to “take a peek into the world of the Maori – including the intricate tattoos that “they’re known for” by linking…
Twin Poi: Fire Play With Me
Ultimate frisbee and hackeysack just don’t cut it anymore for the young and birkenstocked. Young Americans looking for the latest hip zen vibe have been inspired by Maori ritual: “Poi, an energetic twirling of a pair…
Sssshhh! Silence is Regulated Golden
A multiplex in Birmingham banning kissing in its cinemas prompted the BBC to investigate cinema etiquette leading them to uncover the news that an independent cinema in Wellington, New Zealand, banned crisps from its…
Art and text:
In an ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Artist Corp) collaboration Kiwi writer Damien Wilkins offers a “rather beautiful piece of writing” to accompany an exhibition of paintings by ascendent Aussie painter Noel McKenna (the…
Hold on to Your Stetsons – Fly-by-wire Hits Texas
New Zealander Neil Harrap, developer of the fly-by-wire concept is bringing his innovative and heart-pounding flight simulation ride to Texas. With the right stuff – $75 – you can pilot a 24-horsepower open aircraft at heights…
Kiwi Cunning Conquers IQ Test
In a Sunday Times report noted science commentator Bryan Appleyard ponders the limits of DNA science and why ‘designer intelligence’ is not such a good thing, using the evidence of New Zealander James Flynn and his…
Crowe Songs Attract Flock of Acolytes
Crowds packed, paid up to $300 and queued for up to 12 hours to get into Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin, Texas, for a performance by an unknown country-rock band called Thirty Odd Foot of…
Edge Affirmation from Elaine Showalter
The Princeton University feminist icon and scholar writes on effect of globalisation on national identity: “If one is an expatriate from, say, New Zealand”, as American Political scientist Daniel Bell notes, “one can click…
Superplonk
Is Cloudy Bay the new Champagne? “An utterly gob-smackingly gorgeous bubbly … Track down the 1995 vintage of Pelorus, from the Cloudy Bay bunch in New Zealand. A massive advance … this is one of the most…
Sir Ron Brierley: 61 Not Out
Sir Ron described by the Financial Times as the “cricket mad corporate raider” and “one of the most controversial corporate figures of the past twenty years” knocked the London Stock Exchange for six when his Guiness Peat…
Sailing Away with the Kenwood Cup
New Zealand was officially named champion of the 12th Biennial Kenwood Cup Hawaii International offshore series, with Big Apple 3, after stopping to help a distressed boat, still coming in ahead of Australia, the USA and…
Lilith Lacroix Goes to the Olympics
Well she’ll be performing, but at the Opera House, not Stadium Australia. Lilith, aka New Zealand composer Gareth Farr, brings his percussion concertos, Hikoi and Wairua to the Sydney Olympics Arts Festival. He’ll need…
Cyber-policing
In Porirua, New Zealand, the thin blue line has turned into the thin blue URL in the fight against crime. Police have decided to enlist the use of a website as a way to…
Gaping Gandalf
In the The Grey Book, acclaimed actor Sir Ian McKellen’s diary of the Lord of the Rings film shoot, McKellen raves about the scenery: “New Zealand would amaze and enrapture anyone who responds to the wild landscapes of…
Russell Crowe: Hollywood Actor of the Year
Russell Crowe was named Hollywood Actor of the Year at the Hollywood Film Festival Awards held at the Beverly Hilton on August 7th. Internet users voted online at Entertainment Tonight site ETonline.com and Reel.com…
Sheep Shearer’s Delight Strolling the Paris Catwalks
Watch out Rod: “you wouldn’t want to mess with a girl like Rach. She is an Alp of a woman. Throw in the facial features of a young Judy Finnegan, a formidable Sports Illustrated…
New Zealand Firm to Introduce CNG Equipment to Pakistan
Prescon Technology Limited has been chosen to introduce quality Compressed Natural Gas equipment to Pakistan, as well as introducing new and cheap water filters for domestic and commercial treatment plants. The aim of the enterprise is to…
All Black Diplomacy
Kiwi Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Don McKinnon, is “a New Zealander in the traditional mould … he’s a refreshing antidote to the blandness of his three predecessors, who knew that if they stopped being boring they were…
Just Add Soap and Hey Presto: 20m Geyser!
In the notes and queries section of the Guardian a reader enquires about the practice of putting soap down geyser spouts to stimulate eruption. Leo Pyle elaborates on the science of the practice by refering to…
NZ Research Finds Anticholesteral Drug May Modify Stroke Risk
Pravastatin, a drug used to help lower blood cholesterol levels, may have a role to play in stroke prevention according to research (published in The New England Journal of Medicine) led by Dr Harvey D. White of…
Sam Neill: vintage celebrity
The Telegraph investigates the latest celebrity trend: the wine-making lifestyle: accessorise with vines, winery and bottling linel. Kiwi Sam Neill makes the star vigneron along with Aussie golfer Greg Norman, French actor Gerrard Depardieu,…
‘Human’ Cow Milk an MS Aid?
The lush pasture of some of New Zealand’s finest farming land will soon be home to a special herd of cows. New Zealand’s state-owned agricultural research institute has just won government approval for a five-year field trial…
Sport of Kiwis
New Zealand beat South Africa 11-10 after withstanding an onslaught in the final chukka, to win the BMW polo series 2-0 in Durban. They won the first test 10-8 and showed the benefit of professional experience,…
Kiwi Banker Helps Bosnia Rebuild
As the Bosnian economy struggles to recover from the ravages of war, its citizens are struggling to accept the recovering local currency. “The most telling detail on the new Bosnian currency is the signature on every…
Getting Jiggy: Bolstad Axes the Competition at ESPN Outdoor Games
Dave Bolstad “considered to be one of the world’s best” of Taumarunui won the most medals at the inaugural ESPN Outdoor Games held in the last week of July. The timber expert and world champion axeman…
Anna’s new rhythm
Vanity Fair profiles the maturing of Kiwi actress Anna Paquin, from precocious Oscar winner in Jane Campion’s The Piano, to upcoming roles in Bryan Singer’s blockbusting sci-fi flick X-Men and Cameron Crowe’s 70’s rock…
Edge Exposure
Fiona McCann might have frozen as she hitchhiked around the South Island, but she was comforted by the warmth of Kiwi hospitality in “the thrill inducing, stomach curdling adventure capital of the world”. On the soft side…
Taking You to the Edge … and Jumping Off
“Not so long ago, New Zealand was finding it hard to shake off its “beautiful but boring” tag. It may have been renowned for its spectacular scenery – dramatic mountains and sweeping coast lines -…
Holy Boy! From Nintendo to Nepal
A Kiwi kid is giving up his game-boy, chicken nuggets, cricket, pokemon, and other typical Kiwi 7year-old delights to study Buddhist philosophy and rituals at a monastry in India for the next 15 years….
Poetic shock tactics
An extensive Guardian profile of New Zealand poet Fleur Adcock that elaborates on everything from her OBE, the end of her muse, her relationship with Barry Crump (“New Zealand’s answer to George Best or…
“They Kiss With Their Noses in New Zealand”
In an exploration of social climbing etiquette the Philippine Star explores the kissing conventions around the globe, from the Latin influenced beso-beso, to hand kissing in France, to bowing in Japan to Maori hongi in New…
