MAC Makeup Range in Lorde’s Name
Lorde’s signature dark purple lipstick and sweeping eyeliner has landed the Grammy award-winning singer, 17, her own MAC range, following in the footsteps of Rihanna, Ru Paul and Lil’ Kim. Lorde said: “I have loved…
Tag Archives: Guardian (The)
Dame Kiri Returns to Covent Garden Stage
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has returned to Covent Garden after 17 years for performances of Donizetti’s comedy La Fille du Régiment in the role of the Duchess of Crackentorp. Te Kanawa celebrated her 70th birthday…
Visit the City Reinventing Itself with Art
For those fancying a long-weekend getaway in Christchurch, the Guardian recommends the best places to stay, eat and visit, “touring the extraordinary renewal of the city that survived an earthquake”. “There’s no camouflaging the damage,”…
Creation Is a Completely Divine Concept, Says Catton
Ahead of appearances at Perth Writers Festival on 22 February and Adelaide Writers’ Week on 1 March, the Guardian’s Vicky Frost met with Booker prize-winning author 28-year-old Eleanor Catton to talk about her next…
Prince George’s First Royal Trip to Be New Zealand
Prince George will take part in his debut public engagement next month when he accompanies the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to New Zealand, Kensington Palace has announced. The Prince, who will be…
Pioneering People Who Value Community Rebuild a Theatre
How the Court Theatre rose from the rubble of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake is described by its chief executive Philip Aldridge for the Guardian’s “Culture Professionals Network” series. “[After the earthquake on the morning of…
Friends Bid Farewell to an “Outstanding Human Being”
Auckland-born television personality and former model Charlotte Dawson who has died in Sydney, aged 47, was “outrageous, outgoing and outspoken”, said sports presenter Ben Fordham, who worked with Dawson at Channel Nine. “More than anything…
Fledgling Party Giving a Voice to New Zealanders Living Overseas
An estimated one million New Zealanders living overseas will become a serious political force if the newly formed Expatriate Party of New Zealand gets its way, says the Guardian. Based in Perth, the party says…
Neil Finn’s Latest Solo Album His Funkiest
“Neil Finn makes pop music, and good pop music at that. He can’t help it,” espouses the Sydney Morning Herald’s senior music writer Bernard Zuel, and he “makes the oddest and, to these ears,…
Clark Tipped for Top UN Job
Introducing UN Secretary General … Helen Clark? The Guardian is tipping the former prime minister is the prime candidate to replace incumbent Ban Ki-Moon when he steps down in two years. Clark was New…
NZ and UK Leading the Public Sector Digital Revolution
At the Open Government Partnership (OGP) summit in London in November 2013, New Zealand became the 61st member of a rapidly expanding global movement. The OGP is all about making governments more transparent, accountable…
Dotcom Has His Own Party, and Dance Moves
New Zealand-based Megaupload.com entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, 40, is launching two ventures this month: a new political party to contest in the country’s next general election and a debut dance album, Good Times, to be…
19th Century Plate Depicts Extraordinary Set of Birds
“No country on the globe can offer such an extraordinary set of birds as are here depicted,” wrote British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace of “the peculiar Ornithology of New Zealand” in The Geographical Distribution…
Brooding Synth-Pop Makes Sadness Sound Lovely
Auckland brother-sister duo Broods, aka Georgia, 19, and Caleb Nott, 21, “make, ahem, brooding synth-pop that makes sadness sound quite lovely,” according to the Guardian’s Michael Cragg writing for the publication’s “New Music” blog. “
Travelling the Inked Map of Her Father’s Life
A coloured butterfly, a pseudo-celtic armband, a giant spiral: the tattoos on New Zealander Nell Frizzell’s father are an inky historical record of his lifetime’s journey through continents, relationships, families, marriages and deaths. Ahead…
Like a Weird Untitled Mixtape They Beguile
The songwriting savant behind Unknown Mortal Orchestra, New Zealander Ruban Nielson, 33, spends many of his nocturnal hours locked away in the basement of his Portland, Oregon home, creating beguiling, hypnagogic psych-pop, the Guardian’s…
Lowe Is ENERGY Personified at BBC 1
In the studio of the BBC’s Radio 1 station, the boisterous New Zealander Zane Lowe is a few minutes into his own show, Peter Robinson reports for the Guardian. “RIDICULOUS SOUND!” Lowe honks over…
Movie-Making to Rival Lucas and Spielberg
“Peter Jackson has picked up the pace … The Desolation of Smaug is a cheerfully entertaining and exhilarating adventure tale, a supercharged Saturday morning picture: it’s mysterious and strange and yet Jackson also effortlessly…
Bungee Celebrates 25 Years of Adrenaline
To mark the 25th anniversary of the world’s first organized bungee jump made in New Zealand, the Guardian has picked the 10 best adrenaline dives on the planet, including naturally, Queenstown’s 43-metre drop over…
Kiwi Women Lead Cultural Renaissance
Once upon a time New Zealand cultural values were based on the unholy trinity of rugby, racing and beer. Then the marketing concepts – clean and green; 100% Pure – were added to the…
Wine for the Discerning but Diet-Conscious
New Zealand has announced its intention to become the world’s leading producer of “lifestyle wines” – those with fewer calories and lower alcohol levels – for the discerning but diet-conscious drinker. The government has decided…
She’s a Huge Fan of Her Mother Jane Campion
Alice Englert, the actor and daughter of New Zealand screenwriter, producer and director Jane Campion, talks choosing passion over cash and whether her mum makes sexy films with the Guardian’s Alex Godfrey. She’s only 19…
Skjellerup to Make a Stand For Equality
New Zealand speed skater, Blake Skjellerup, intends to throw the spotlight on Russia’s anti-gay propaganda laws if he is selected to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympic in Sochi, which would also make him…
Adventurer’s African Queen Back on the Nile
The boat thought to be the original African Queen used in the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn has been restored by owner, New Zealander Cam McLeay. There’s no sign of the 2000 cigarettes…
Sonny Bill Faces the Fear
Vulnerability, fear and palpable humbleness are not qualities normally associated with sporting star, Sonny Bill Williams. But in an interview with The Guardian, the footballer and occasional boxer opens up about recent and historic…
Aotearoa Casts Its Shadow on the Clouds
“There is a playful antagonism between the inhabitants of New Zealand’s two islands, North and South,” Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton writes for the Guardian in a story about growing up in New…
Men of a Certain Age Rile Booker Winner
Sexism in the literary world is thriving, Man Booker prize winner Eleanor Catton says. The youngest-ever winner of one of the world’s most prestigious writing award says her book, The Luminaries, received a “bullying”…
Pop Sensation Unfazed by Impending Global Stardom
Lorde, 16, who says she chose her stage name because she wanted an aesthetically feminine aristocratic title, tells the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis that the record company “got straight away that I was a bit…
Helen Clark Tackles Digital Discrimination
Digital gender inequality – women’s access to technology is less than men’s – is being tackled by the United Nations in a new report unveiled by Helen Clark, administrator of the UN Development Programme….
Connan Mockasin Swims Upstream
New Zealand psych-funk oddball Connan Mockasin hasn’t listened to anyone else’s music for 10 years; he shuns record labels and recorded his bewitching new album in a Tokyo hotel room, Ben Arnold…
Moa Bones Kill Dino DNA Dream
The dream of resuscitating dinosaur species – a la Jurassic Park – has been dealt a death blow in a new study examining the decay rate of DNA in the bones of the extinct…
Winter Warmest since Records Began
Scientists says New Zealand has had its warmest winter since record-keeping began in 1909. The average nationwide temperature was 9.5C for June, July and August, about 1.2C above average, the National Institute of Water…
New Zealand Author Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize
New Zealand writer, Eleanor Catton’s book, The Luminaries, has been short-listed for the illustrious Man Booker Prize, becoming the youngest person to ever make the list. The 28-year-old’s book, about the New Zealand goldrush…
Pages Seethe with Misfired Bullets and Opium
“Eleanor Catton didn’t set out to write an enormous book,” Guardian correspondent Kira Cochrane begins. “When she started her second novel, the Man Booker longlisted The Luminaries, she expected it to be about the…
Mountain Peaks to Be Named in Their Honour
Nepal is set to name two Himalayan peaks after New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the men who were the first to reach the top of the world’s highest mountain on…
Should Australia Follow Suit in Housing Sector
Is New Zealand’s macro-prudential mortgage tools an option for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), The Guardian’s economics correspondent Greg Jericho writes. The RBA will be watching closely as New Zealand introduces innovative regulations…
All Blacks Retain Bledisloe Cup
The All Blacks have retained the Bledisloe Cup after 27-16 trouncing of the Wallabies in their Rugby Championship clash in Wellington on Saturday night. New Zealand winger Ben Smith followed up on last weekend’s hat-trick…
New Zealand Parliament Passes Controversial Spy Bill 61-59
The New Zealand parliament has narrowly passed a controversial bill that opponents say represents a fundamental threat to democratic rights and freedoms. The new legislation allows the country’s main intelligence agency, the Government Communications…
Tributes Pour in After 26-year-old New Zealand Rider Dies in ‘Tragic Accident’
New Zealander Tom Gadsby, a young horse rider, died after falling from his horse during an eventing competition in Cheshire, England on Sunday. Tom, a Kerikeri native, was riding on the cross-country course at…
Christchurch Cardboard Cathedral Opens
Christchurch’s ‘cardboard’ cathedral has opened, a move that is seen as a significant step in the regeneration of the city following the February 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people. Dubbed the ‘Transitional Cathedral’, the…
Catton’s Favourite First Line Unfolds Breathlessly
Man Booker nominee New Zealand author Eleanor Catton chooses her favourite first line for a Guardian catalogue, and it’s from another of our own, Janet Frame’s 1961 novel Faces in the Water. Faces in the…
After 150 years Mummified Maori head to Return to New Zealand
After 150 years Britain’s Warrington Museum is sending back the mummified head said to be that of a New Zealand Maori chief. The Maori head, or Toi moko, was brought to Britain in the…
McEwan Takes on Politically Charged RBS Leadership
New Zealander Ross McEwan, 56, has been named the new chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), “one of the highest-profile and politically charged roles in the banking world.” The Guardian’s city…
Ada Would Not Have Surfaced Says Campion
Jane Campion has revealed she wanted a bleaker ending for The Piano, with the character of mute Ada McGrath, played by Holly Hunter, drowning with her beloved instrument. It is one of the most…
Successful Planting of Our Natives in UK Gardens
A selection of New Zealand plants ideal for UK gardens feature in a Guardian picture gallery this week. “If you squint a bit, parts of the New Zealand landscape can look familiar to the…
That’s Showbiz for Wootton Who Takes Up Tabloid Role
Former News of the World showbiz editor Lower Hutt-born journalist Dan Wootton, 30, is joining British tabloid, Sun on Sunday, where he will write a double-page showbiz column as part of moves…
Young Aucklander Breaks US Charts
Auckland born singer Ella Yelich O’Connor has broken into the American Billboard Chart despite doing next to no State-side promotion. The sixteen-year-old who goes by the name Lorde became a national sensation in late…
Gatland Rang His Chances and Triumphed
Hamilton-born Warren Gatland “turned a Lions travesty into a triumph” with the team’s 41-16 win over Australia in the third and deciding match, the Lion’s first Test series victory in 16 years. “Only a…
Vivid Encounters with Insects in Glass Wings
“It takes just four lines for ‘Alumnae Notes’ to transport us first to the schoolgirl in 40s New Zealand and then to her literary exile in London: ‘Beautiful Ataneta Swainson is dead….
Angry Lego on the Rise
A researcher in New Zealand has found that Lego figurines are becoming increasingly angrier. In a study of 3,655 figures produced between 1975 and 2010, Dr Christoph Bartneck, a robot expert at the University…
Sequencing Genes to See What Makes a Thoroughbred
A piece of champion thoroughbred Phar Lap’s tooth is being sent to the University of Sydney’s veterinary science faculty from Wellington so scientists can analyse his DNA and compare it with other champions like…
Despite Chaotic Intentions Ambience Prevails
New Zealand-born photographer Simon Davidson’s “beguiling” portraits of drag racing shot on the Utah salt flats and at Lake Gairdner in South Australia feature in The Guardian this week. “Through clouds of pungent smoke and…
‘First-Ever Photos’ of World’s Clearest Lake
Blue Lake in Nelson Lakes National Park is the clearest fresh water lake in the world, with visibility ranging between 70 -80 metres. Entering the lake is strictly prohibited and is located in a…
Lots of Impish Relations and More Aluna Than Aretha
Takapuna singer-songwriter Lorde, 16, “is about to make a big splash beyond blog-land,” according to The Guardian’s daily column “New Band”. “Think Lily meets Lana, only cuter and more cutting,” reviewer…
Signing Away Her Life and Giddy with Survival
“It was beginning to feel as if New Zealand’s national emblem wasn’t the silver fern, but the disclaimer form,” Guardian correspondent Rebecca Nicholson writes on a recent backpacking adventure throughout the country….
New Zealand’s Oldest Driver Has No Plans to Give Up
Born before the first Model T rolled out of Henry Ford’s factory in Detroit, Northland man Bob Edwards, 105, is New Zealand’s oldest licensed driver – and one of the oldest in the…
