Tag Archives: Sydney Morning Herald (The)

Tea-total

Tea-total

Auckland University researcher, Joy Hsu, has confirmed the belief of generations: a strong, hot cuppa works wonders. Hsu measured the antioxidant levels of 33 types of green, black and oolong teas to discover that the stronger and…

Black Caps’ Dark Horse

Black Caps’ Dark Horse

Stephen Fleming will come out looking good no matter where NZ places in this year’s Cricket World Cup. So says Johannesburg’s The Star, which included the Black Caps’ captain in their official “World Hunks XI.” “One…

Reel-time Direction

Reel-time Direction

NZ-born Rodney Charters (The Pretender, Roswell) is the directing force behind the latest US television sensation, 24. Described as “a heart-stopping hit,” the 24 hour-long episodes represent one day in the life of Jack…

Crowe KO’s the Competition

Crowe KO’s the Competition

Empire‘s 2003 awards had a strong NZ flavour, with Russell Crowe picking up Best Actor and Peter Jackson and The Two Towers winning Best Director and Best Film. In other Crowe news, the NZ-born…

From Dreams to (Augmented) Reality

From Dreams to (Augmented) Reality

SMH interviews “augmented reality” guru Mark Billinghurst, director of NZ’s Human Interface Technology Lab. HIT works in conjunction with Seattle’s University of Washington designing cutting-edge communications technology reminiscent of Star Wars’ virtual projections. Billinghurst: “Twenty years later, we…

Brain-gain

Brain-gain

The findings of a team of Auckland University researchers have created hope for sufferers of degenerative brain disease. According to Professor Richard Faull, diseased brains produce new cells to replace dying ones at a previously unknown rate….

Edge-istential Cinema

Edge-istential Cinema

NZ filmmaker Andrew Niccol is again poised to ” filmgoers into audacious mind games” with his latest feature Simone. Like previous projects Gattaca and The Truman Show, Simone explores the complicity of the media…

Telecom Top Performer

Telecom Top Performer

Trans-Tasman rivalry entered the field of telecommunication last month, as Australian Telstra and NZ Telecom battled for recognition as the best performer in their field for 2001-02. British consultants, IR Group, awarded top honours to NZ Telecom…

BBQ Kings in Sydney

BBQ Kings in Sydney

Two Kiwis more than make the grade in SMH‘s respected rating of Sydney’s top young chefs. Jared Ingersoll of Danks Street Depot is praised for his “simple yet fine food, cooked with faultless technique,”…

Superb, Eh?

Superb, Eh?

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming played the “innings of his career when his team most needed it”, scoring 133 not out, to lead the Black Caps to a comprehensive 9 wicket win over hosts South Africa…

NZ: Lonely Planet Hot Spot 2003

NZ: Lonely Planet Hot Spot 2003

Proving that NZ is not only destination of choice for Louis Vuitton carrying America’s Cup acolytes, Lonely Planet, bible of the young and Birkenstocked, picks NZ as the grand winner in its annual survey of hot spots….

Cruisin’ Taranaki

Cruisin’ Taranaki

Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow are both currently on location in NZ. Paltrow is in Dunedin filming scenes for Christine Jeff’s adaptation of the life of Sylvia Plath, while Cruise has set…

Two Films Tower Over Rest

Two Films Tower Over Rest

The Piano and The Fellowship of the Ring both made SMH‘s list of the top 100 movies of all time. “For the first time in a century, Hollywood was beaten in the big budget…

Precious Acclaim: Two Films Tower Over Rest

Precious Acclaim: Two Films Tower Over Rest

“For the first time in a century, Hollywood was beaten in the big budget fantasy stakes. Jackson and his team delivered better special effects and better story-telling in what could be the new millennium’s…

Big Ted gets bigger

Big Ted gets bigger

NZ baritone Teddy Tahu-Rhodes is receiving great acclaim as the Don to Opera Australia’s Don Giovanni. “He sings like an angel but there the resemblance ends. He does a nice line in depravity …

In high demand

In high demand

Fresh out of London’s Royal College of Music, NZ-born Samoan Jonathan Lemalu is being widely touted as “the next big  thing in opera.” A qualified lawyer and accomplished (former) rugby player – “I kind…

Edge of the alphabet conjurer has cancer

Edge of the alphabet conjurer has cancer

SMH pays tribute to Janet Frame – “one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and enigmatic writers” – who recently revealed she is terminally ill with cancer. Frame’s biographer Michael King (Wrestling with the Angel)…

Epilogue Written to a Life of Words

Epilogue Written to a Life of Words

NZ lost one of its edgiest inhabitants with the death of Janet Frame from acute myeloid leukemia on January 29. Frame, the author of 11 novels, 5 collections of short stories, a poetry collection,…

Trans-Tasman Trippers

Trans-Tasman Trippers

SMH‘s summary of Australia and her people for the year 2002 notes a 14% rise in holidays across the Tasman. The dramatically increased figure made NZ the most popular travel destination for the year, ahead of…

Jackson: Hobbit or Wizard?

Jackson: Hobbit or Wizard?

Boston Globe: “Who would have guessed that it would take a woolly bear horror-flick director from New Zealand to restore our faith in epic moviemaking?” Praise for Peter Jackson reaches epic proportions of…

Leading the field

Leading the field

“Never before has technology played such a pivotal role in bringing an animal back from the brink, setting the stage for computer-based rescues of endangered species elsewhere.” SMH feature documents the radical efforts of NZ scientists and conservationists…

Good clean ball

Good clean ball

“Small but perfectly formed.” Lloyd Jones’ The Book of Fame included in SMH‘s tribute to the short novel, or novella. Jones joins the likes of Michael Ondaatje and Jeanette Winterson as one who achieves…

Golden Boy

Golden Boy

In a rare coup for a Kiwi, Warrior Stacey Jones has been awarded rugby league’s top honour: the Golden Boot. The trophy represents the sports media’s pick for best player in the world. Andrew Johns, Golden Boot…

Corporate Edge Makes Global Player

Corporate Edge Makes Global Player

Businessman Graeme Hart – “the New Zealander with aspirations to take on the world” – has joined the bidding war for Australia’s major food group, Goodman Fielder. If successful, he will helm a $4.3 billion combined…

“What a Beauty”

“What a Beauty”

Confessions of a (former) one-eyed Aussie: “Abandon all those negative clichés. NZ has changed To go to a country so deeply etched in the Australian consciousness by cliché and misinformation is to spend most of…

Intellectual Grand Slam

Intellectual Grand Slam

John Clarke – the NZ comedian who “rates as a national institution” across the Tasman –  delights critics with his latest book, The Tournament. A blistering satire, The Tournament involves a fictitious tennis contest…

Big Tex Inspiration

Big Tex Inspiration

Leading NZ artist Julian Dashper is currently on show at the Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery. The varied and interactive works (created during his residency at the Chinati Foundation in Texas) include a reproduction…

Kiwi Geeks Take a Stand

Kiwi Geeks Take a Stand

In a bid to be “taken seriously,” members of NZ’s IT community have requested permission to use geek.nz as a second-level domain in the country. The office of the NZ Domain Name Commissioner plans to stage…

The Big Break-up

The Big Break-up

“Somewhere east of New Zealand, where Gondwana’s break-up may have started some 130 million years ago, with New Zealand splitting from Australia, ‘the last resources of mankind’ could be awaiting discovery. So say a crew of German…

What is this?

What is this?

“They can be seen as postmodern hymns to invention and appropriation, or they can be read as theoretical texts that map the visual culture of at least two phases of the 20th century.” Dick Frizzell’s latest…

Fox Gives the Hard Word

Fox Gives the Hard Word

SMH enlists an outside view on recent Wallabies’ performances from All Black legend Grant Fox. The verdict? Not good: “There doesn’t appear to be a lot of blooding of new talent going on at the moment,…

Liquor, Lear and Liz

Liquor, Lear and Liz

NZ’s 2002 Actor of the Year, Ray Henwood, has taken his award-winning portrayal of Richard Burton Sydney-side. In Playing Burton the Welsh-born actor brings to life his hell-raising compatriot with uncanny ability. Opening night…

IE (International Exploration) Browser

IE (International Exploration) Browser

“David Lewis was the most wonderfully fantastic scallywag I have ever met. His love for the ocean can only be balanced by the love of beautiful women for him” (Dick Smith). David Lewis -…

Best Actor

Best Actor

New Zealand born actor Gary Day, renown for roles in soap operas Gloss and Shark in the Park, wins Best Guest Actor for his cameo performance in Aussie drama Blue Heelers at the AFI…

Brothers in Farms

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…

Never Take a Spinner Seriously

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…

Runaways and Jean-genies

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…

Walker Talks Trends

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…

Sun Sets on “The People’s Horse”

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…

“That’s the way it is:” broadcast legend bows out

“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…

From Soaps to Splatter-flicks

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….

66 and Still Dancing the ACDC Way

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

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.”…

Warriors

Warriors

The New Zealand Warriors averted an Australian national emergency by falling at the final hurdle in their proud and historic run to the National Rugby League Grand Final, losing to Sydney Roosters 3-8. From ruin two…

Brazarre

Brazarre

In the Sydney Morning Herald: “New Zealand’s most uplifting tourist attraction, a brassiere-hung fence in the Cardrona valley in Otago is being restored. Farmer John Lee will wire 400 bras – sent to him by women…

Daggs vs. SNAGs

Daggs vs. SNAGs

Kiwi men not wild but woolly apparently: NZ Rugby columnist “Jessie”(Jack?) was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald calling her male countrymen “girls with hairy legs” in a rant against men embracing, “their long-haired,…

Whale Rider: People’s Choice at Toronto

Whale Rider: People’s Choice at Toronto

Whale Rider swerves past Bend it Like Beckham to win the prestigious AGF People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival – an award previously won by Amelie and …

Warriors Minor Premiers

Warriors Minor Premiers

“Kiwis break a few hearts.” The New Zealand Warriors continue an impressive NRL season by finishing top of the table and taking out the minor pemiership (and a $100,000 bonus for the club) – meaning…

Land of the Great Big Tout

Land of the Great Big Tout

Australian fly-fishing convert Margie Blok declares NZ an angler’s paradise. Blok describes her chopper ride into the inaccessible headwaters south-east of Lake Taupo as yielding “the ultimate fly-fishing experience”: “…the hypnotic noise of the river and the…

It’s in the Bag

It’s in the Bag

NZ designers, Emma East and Nicky Harris, have taken their successful accessories line Rosa Bespoke Bags across the Tasman. The pair arrived back from a trip to Europe determined to oust the black leather…

Guilt-free Fur

Guilt-free Fur

Ah, to be able to wear fur without fear of red paint. The possum’s status as NZ’s chief environmental menace has encouraged the fashion industry to use its fur for everything from bags to…

“Land of the Long White Run”

“Land of the Long White Run”

NZ slopes get the thumbs up from Oz ski-buffs. The Southern Alps: “bigger than the Swiss, French and Austrian Alps combined” – are praised for their variety, beauty, and value for the dollar in a comprehensive SMH report.

Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes

The heart-stopping (breaking?) Bledisloe battles are becoming enshrined in Ocker sporting lore: “Once, Australians could rattle off virtually every ball of an Ashes cricket series. Now it is Bledisloe Cup rugby.” According to Spiro Zavos, the battle…

Alone it Stands

Alone it Stands

Irish playwright John Breen’s tale of Munster’s famous victory over the 1978 grand-slam All Blacks recieves winning reviews and box office at the Sydney Opera House on its way to a season in Auckland’s…

“Oh the Shame”

“Oh the Shame”

Crys the Sydney Morning Herald. In a great weekend for trans-Tasman rivalry the All Blacks put one hand on the Beldislode Cup with a tough 12-6 victory over the Wallabies in atrocious conditions in Christchurch and the…

iEdge

iEdge

The SMH tries to find the code behind the icon-making, convention busting, award winning (but secretive) Apple design team after, for the fourth year running, Apple takes out the British Design and Art Direction Association’s top award…