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Executive Producer
BRIAN SWEENEY
brian@nzedge.com

Sea urchin reef concert
Auckland University marine biologists Craig Radford and Andrew Jeffs have discovered that sea urchins are behind loud noises emanating from underwater around New Zealand reefs. The 20- to 30-decibel sound is caused by the spiny sea creatures' teeth scraping on reefs as the hungry starfish relatives feed on algae and invertebrates. Radford said urchins had long been suspected of creating the din, but it took a series of experiments to confirm it. "We put some urchins in a tank and got them feeding on algae, then we recorded them. The noise they were producing caused spikes at certain frequencies," he said. Coastal noise of similar frequency and bandwidth has been recorded near the Bahamas; San Diego, California; and Australia. Chris Tindle, a physicist at the University of Auckland, said the urchins made more noise on dark nights around the new moon.
(18 August 2008)

Cooking by numbers
Wellingtonian Matt Moss, 36, left New Zealand 16 years ago to play rugby in Britain, Germany and the United States winding up in Beijing working for catering company, Aramark as operations manager at the Olympic village. Moss oversees the cooking for 10,000 athletes, who consume tonnes of vegetables, seafood, dessert, and some 300 Peking ducks daily. "Asian food is always popular," said Moss, who is now based in Baltimore. "Our local partners help educate us on special flavours needed for making authentic Chinese food." Moss's job is a big responsibility, and not surprisingly, food safety is Aramark's top priority. Once it reaches the village it enters temperature-controlled zones and is prepared by an army of chefs whose every move is monitored by video. "At this point you probably could not eat safer anywhere in the world," says Moss.
(11 August 2008)

Travel award for editor
Taumarunui travel writer and publishing editor of Inside Tourism Nigel Coventry has been named the 2008 Pasific Asia Travel Association Travel Journalist of the Year. PATA president Peter de Jong said Coventry had been a bastion of professional journalism for more than 30 years. "IT has grown to become a primary source of tourism-related editorial for stakeholders in New Zealand's travel and tourism industry and continues to break new ground with its independent analytical approach to industry news," said de Jong. Coventry said he was delighted to receive the award. "I was totally flabbergasted as I live in a very small town in a very small country at the bottom of the world - and someone noticed my work," he said. Coventry founded Inside Tourism in 1994.
(2 August 2008)

A thirty year legacy
New Zealand drama teacher Ken Rea - who trained at Auckland's Gil Cornwall academy and worked at Downstage and the Mercury Theatre - was honoured at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama for his thirty year contribution to the institution, which included training pupils Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor and Damian Lewis. In a congratulatory message to Rea, McGregor said: "Ken's opinion always meant a great deal to me, and still does now. When I know he's in the house when I'm on stage, I still get the wobbles. I still want him to like what I'm doing." Rea also runs theatre workshops throughout the world and has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is artistic director of London's Koru Theatre and for 15 years was a theatre critic for the Guardian.
(15 July 2008)

Te Reo goes Google
Google Aotearoa has been launched to coincide with July's Maori Language Week (Te Wiki O Te Reo Maori 2008), with more than 8750 words translated. Potaua Biasiny-Tule, 32, and his Puerto Rican wife Nikolasa, 35, of Rotorua have been directing volunteers from throughout New Zealand translating search pages. A spokeswoman from the Maori Language Commission said 29 people had been part of the team working on the project during the last year, including three key translators. "It is a huge resource for Maori living overseas who are raising bi-lingual children or who are developing their own proficiency," she said. The next step would be to allow search results to be translated directly in Maori, although this was not expected to occur for some time. To use the new interface, visit google.co.nz and click on the link to search in Maori.
(24 July 2008)

The American dream
New Zealand is an enticing destination for American property developers and investors because the populace speaks English, there are minimal restrictions on ownership and land is still relatively cheap. There are also no property taxes, and land sales other than by people in the real estate business are exempt from capital gains taxes. Chief executive of Equity International Gary Garrabrant says: "Visitors see New Zealand as one of a handful of last spots that are undiscovered. There's a lure." New Zealander Peter Cooper, 56, splits his time between California and the North Island. Cooper's Mountain Landing development targets affluent Americans who want two things: security and a unique environment. The first stage of the development was completed last year, and 8 of the 46 available sites have been sold, mainly to US buyers. American interest in New Zealand as a place to retire or to buy a second home jumped after the September 11 attacks. Residency applications doubled from pre-attack levels. New Zealand is a 12-hour flight from the U.S. West Coast, and Cooper could add to his sales pitch a pristine environment: The Lord of the Rings meets The Piano.
(21 July 2008)

Powered by fruit
Kiwifruit rejected for damage or inferiority is used as cattle feed throughout New Zealand, but Crown Research Institute, Scion and ZESPRI Innovation scientists are reconsidering its use as a potential biogas able to generate electricity. ZESPRI scientist Alistair Mowat says the fruit would be composted in a large chamber to form a gas. "Biogas could be used to power the packing sheds and the cool storage of the kiwi fruit. And we see an opportunity to off-set between five and 10 per cent of the carbon footprint from kiwi fruit," Mowat says. Each year about 15 million trays, or 10 per cent of the country's total crop, are rejected because the fruit is spoiled.
(13 July 2008)

Piercing revelation
Janet Frame's 1963 novel, Towards Another Summer, written in London and first published posthumously in New Zealand in 2007, is considered by Guardian reviewer Rachel Cooke. Towards Another Summer is based on a weekend visit Frame made to the north, to the home of a journalist, his New Zealand wife and their children (the journalist was Geoffrey Moorhouse of the Guardian, who interviewed Frame in 1962). "As an account of what it is like to be an overly sensitive and lonely single young woman, it is as true and as piercing as anything I have read in a very long time," writes Cooke. "Strongly reminiscent of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, the novel is exciting for its language. It feels surprisingly right to hold Towards Another Summer. It is a short novel, but a numinous one. This time, the keepers of the flame did the right thing."
(29 June 2008)

Cooking from scratch
Bridal Falls provides a spectacular setting, and outdoor market, for chef Charles Royal's Maori feast made with bush asparagus-flavoured pikopiko fern, horopito and supple jack vine. On Royal's food tour, which he offers from the Treetops Lodge & Wilderness Estate near Rotorua, we are lead into a different world. He stops at a tawa tree and explains that its wood is excellent for hangi, because it imparts a wonderful flavour. He points out the keikei plant, which once a year produces the tawhara fruit: "A delicacy with a flavour rather like a nashi pear," he says. On arrival at the Falls, he creates a banquet with the freshly harvested ingredients including: three-pepper spice (horopito, kawakawa and cayenne pepper), served with h?rore wild bush mushrooms and meringues infused with kawakawa. Royal trained as a chef in the New Zealand army. He has won awards for food innovation and runs Kinaki Wild Herbs which supplies the domestic and international market with indigenous herbs.
(28 June 2008)

Campbell's beginnings
Hawera-born, Brighton-based golfer Michael Campbell is eating bacon sandwiches at the Royal Ashdown Forest clubhouse in Sussex where he explains his golfing initiation in Taranaki. "I started playing on a local course where you had to dodge sheep and climb over electrified fences," Campbell says. He turned professional in 1993 and beat Tiger Woods in 2005 to win the US Open. Campbell hopes to repeat the feat, though without competition from an injured Woods, when he tees off at Royal Birkdale in the Open next month. "It will be quite different not to have Tiger," he says. "He adds so much, another dimension to every tournament he plays in. It's a shame, but it gives us more of a chance."
(29 June 2008)

Between continents
At low tide in June on the Firth of Thames in Auckland, American traveller Eric Wagner looks for the bar-tailed godwit amongst thousands of waterbirds flocking to feed on uncovered shellfish. Wagner describes the godwits he spies amongst the throng: "They were easy to identify: a loose flock of large, slender birds with long, upswept bills. Their plumage is gray, mottled with brown and black. They stepped with graceful, deliberate precision, and then thrust their heads into the mud in pursuit of some worm or clam." When his time in Auckland comes to an end he returns to Seattle. "Perhaps, our plane would pass over those flocks as they made their way to New Zealand, two groups navigating over the featureless space of ocean, flying toward different homes."
(29 June 2008)

Pirate captain dies
Thames-born actor Bruce Purchase, a founding member of Sir Laurence Olivier's National Theatre, has died in Putney, aged 69. Purchase decided to become an actor at the age of five and upon leaving Auckland Grammar School won a scholarship to London's Rada. The son of a grocer, he worked as an apprentice baker, co-editor of the New Zealand Timber Journal and as an abattoir hand before going on to star in regular performances at the National Theatre in London. Purchase is perhaps best known for his memorable performance as the villainous captain in 1978's Doctor Who four-part story, The Pirate Planet. Though Purchase appeared in a number of films - including All Quiet on the Western Front and Richard III - and television shows, his first loyalty, however, remained to the theatre. Purchase's autobiography Changing Skies was published shortly before he died, and delighted readers with anecdotes about a parade of celebrities, ranging from Roman Polanski and Franco Zeffirelli to Princess Alexandra, Noel Coward, and Sir Ian McKellen. A man of many talents, Purchase also wrote books on film-making and musical theatre. His paintings were exhibited in London, Oxford, Tokyo, New York, Denver and Los Angeles.
(23 June 2008)

Readymade mule at Basel
Et al.'s exhibition 'altruistic studies' - a "non-peopled, computer-generated performance" - installed at the Basel art fair in early June, their fourth at the international show, has once again sparked curiosity about the group's identity. Et. al consistently covers its tracks - it promotes confusion about its practice, is consistently mysterious about the number and gender of its membership, and has even "denied" the authenticity of previous works. One of the interpretations of their work is that they are commenting on the generic role of the artist as a figure of authority, their own acts of suppression while enforcing that role, and the New Zealand art world's complicity with that fact. It's the complex layering and seesawing of their material that makes et al. so intriguing.
(June/July 2008)

Venice bound
Christchurch sculptor Francis Upritchard and Auckland painter and teacher Judy Millar will represent New Zealand in a six-month exhibition at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Upritchard is known for her hand-made figures inspired by the works of medieval painters Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel, while Millar makes large-scale, abstract paintings. In 2006, London-based Upritchard won the Walters Prize for her installation of sculpture entitled 'Doomed Doomed Doomed'. Creative NZ arts council chairman Alastair Carruthers has described Judy Millar as "one of New Zealand's most experienced abstractionists" and her project for Venice as "strong, bold and exciting". This is the fourth Biennale New Zealand has exhibited at.
(25 June 2008)

Wood choppin' win
Auckland lumberjack Dion Lane, 31, has sawn and chopped his way to overall victory at the Midwestern Lumberjack Championships held in Rochester, United States, beating fellow New Zealander and brother-in-law Jason Wynyard. Lane competed in the event for the ninth year in a row and after seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths, he finally won the men's overall championship. "It's about time," the 350-pound giant said. Lane has been competing in timber sports for 14 years. New Zealander Sheree Taylor, a three-time Midwestern winner, was runner-up on the women's leader board.
(23 June 2008)

US discovers oil
Far North Olive Oil, a premium extra-virgin oil, from New Zealand is on sale in farmers markets in the North West United States thanks to the efforts of locals Charles and Gayle Pancerzewski, who bought a 25-acre olive grove in the north of New Zealand where they spend half the year preparing the oil. The couple takes pride in the quality of their product and believe this is probably the only of its kind available in the Northwest. Extra virgin olive oil is the best, made without a hydraulic press or centrifuge. Processes that use heat or intense pressure degrade the oil and take away most of its health benefits. "Basically, you'd be better off buying canola oil," Pancerzewski said.
(19 June 2008)

Long-haul feast
Maori hunter Dale Whaitiri was on Mokonui Island when he discovered a small electronic tag in a muttonbird nest, a tag which had been attached two years previous to follow the path of a steelhead salmon10,170 km away from the Island on the Colombia River in the United States. Scientists think the fish may have been eaten by a muttonbird - also known as a titi or sooty shearwater - that was scavenging fishery wastes behind a processing vessel in the North Pacific. BirdLife's Marine IBA Research Officer Ben Lascelles said: "The epic journeys undertaken by sooty shearwaters illustrates how conserving seabirds is an international challenge. Seabirds don't respect country borders!"
(16 June 2008)

Solomon Islands position
New Zealander Peter Marshall has been sworn in as the Acting Police Commissioner for the Solomon Islands. Marshall has over 35 years experience across all areas of policing and since 2007 has held the role of Deputy Commissioner of Operations with the Solomon Islands. Marshall was integral in leading the police response to the tsunami and more recently during Operation Parliament. Speaking after the swearing in ceremony, Marshall was enthusiastic about his latest role. "I am very grateful to be the new Acting Commissioner. I will be leading the Police and progressing matters in a timely manner," he said. Marshall has the rank of Assistant Commissioner in the NZ Police and is on secondment to the Royal Solomon Islands Police as part of a bilateral arrangement between the two countries.
(5 June 2008)

By the people for the people
Auckland trio, Tim Tregonning, Dan Phillips and Danis Roberts are crowd pleasers; their project, OurBrew is currently recruiting beer drinkers to unite and develop a collective drop by signing up online, voting and then launching the world's first crowd produced beer. Participants choose the style of beer, the name, logo, packaging and details for tasting and launch parties. Fascinated by the idea of crowd sourcing and funding, the boys at OurBrew asked themselves, "How could we bring crowd sourcing to New Zealand? It has to involve something Kiwis are passionate about, something that is a constant in our lives." The answer? Beer.
(28 May 2008)

Europe follows lead
New Zealand is the first English-speaking country in the world to have banned smacking and Europe wants to follow suit. The New Zealand police were reassured when they won the right to apply the smacking law in 2007 with discretion, and there have been no silly prosecutions. The Council of Europe, a 47-country body, will launch a campaign in Croatia in mid-June to abolish corporal punishment. The campaign involves a flurry of debates, puppet shows, television spots, pamphlets in many languages and stirring calls to "raise your hand against smacking".
(29 May 2008)

Unlikely gathering
On a subsea mountain peak 400km south of New Zealand, a robot submarine has filmed tens of millions of waving five-armed creatures called brittlestars, in a never-seen-before seamount discovery. Scientists from New Zealand and Australia discovered "Brittlestar City" on a peak in the Macquarie Range, where the starfish-like creatures colonized against daunting odds on an underwater summit higher than the world's tallest building. NIWA ecologist Dr Ashley Rowden said the aggregation of brittlestars was amazing. "The implications of the find for our understanding of the relative uniqueness of seamount assemblages are potentially far-reaching," Rowden said.
(18 May 2008)

Peaceful isles
New Zealand comes in at number four on the second annual Global Peace Index released by Britain's Economist Intelligence Unit. A survey on the harmoniousness of the world's nations, the Index evaluates 140 nations with respect to 24 criteria, including numbers of deaths from organized conflict, levels of violent crime and proportions of GDP used for military expenditures. The report said New Zealand lacked internal conflict and had generally good relations with neighbouring countries. "It is clear that small, stable and democratic countries are the most peaceful," the report said, noting that island nations also "generally fare well". New Zealand ranked behind number one Iceland, Denmark and Norway.
(21 May 2008)

Geometric on the Bay
The 1931 Napier earthquake devastated the Hawkes Bay region, but two years later Napier was rebuilt and an Art Deco masterpiece. The Sydney Morning Herald's Rebecca Lancashire pays a visit and "wanders the city looking up at whimsical pastel-painted facades: sunbursts, zigzags, Mayan and Egyptian-inspired designs." In the "excellent local museum", she reads clippings from old newspapers, and in the Weekly News a witness recalls: "It all seems like a blurred cinematograph film of wrecked buildings, crying children, smoke, piles of bricks, bandaged heads, hurrying motor-cars, despair and isolation." This a far cry from the modern Napier, which is recommended for the architecture, wineries and artisan produce.
(10 May 2008)

Oliver the Oxonian
Former Highlander Anton Oliver, 32, will play the last rugby matches of his career at Oxford University while he studies for an MSc in Biodiversity, Environment and Management. Oliver, winner of 55 New Zealand caps at hooker who was last seen in action for the All Blacks during the World Cup, says he feels very privileged to be accepted by the University. "I see my time at Oxford as a clear demarcation in my life, leaving behind a life as a professional sportsperson for one of academic rigour and thought," he says. "The chance to play in the Varsity match - which is clearly a unique event in rugby union - is also very exciting and I see it as a natural way for me to finish my playing career." Oliver played a record 127 games for the Highlander franchise.
(12 May 2008)

Berkett settles in
Neil Berkett is eight weeks into his role as chief executive at Virgin Media and already has battle scars. Actually, he explains in an interview with Sunday Times reporter Andrew Davidson, he just banged his head at home, and you wouldn't want to argue. Berkett, 52, is a scrapper who makes a virtue of pragmatism, like many rugby-loving New Zealanders. Medium height, with an economy of movement that underpins his occasional terseness, he has jumped enough sectors and continents to take whatever's coming. "My appointment coincides with a huge coming together of opportunities," says Berkett, keen to accentuate the positive. "We are the single organisation with the most powerful digital network in the UK." And right now, he says, he is where he wants to be - scarred, but involved.
(4 May 2008)

Oram fit for Lords
Palmerston North Black Caps all-rounder Jacob Oram, 29, has recovered from stress-related injury and is braced for the first Test against England at Lords on May 15. Oram's economy rate of 2.4 is the best among leading New Zealand bowlers of the past 20 years and superior to that of Sir Richard Hadlee. At 6ft 6in, Oram might be considered a stretch version of the limousine of fast bowlers. Oram says this Test series could be perceived as either daunting or an adventure. "It could be damned rocky but a year or two from now we might feel the benefits. New Zealand cricket tends to go up and down. We have some rough periods then hit a golden patch. Cricket remains very popular in our country and our domestic cricket is a lot more professional than it was," he says.
(4 May 2008)

Outfoxing furniture
The small town of Pokeno in Franklin district, Auckland is behind ex-Thompson Twin Alannah Currie's latest artistic foray, a display of surreal furniture on show at London's Ragged School. Under the moniker Miss Pokeno, the exhibition combines upholstery and taxidermy - that's armchairs and entwined foxes. Seeking the good life in New Zealand after years of making synth-pop in the UK, Currie explains her comeback as an "armchair activist": "I'm making chairs to confront ideas of what comfort is."
(26 April 2008)

Hawaiian hunt
New Zealand hunting specialist Prohunt has been hired by The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii to help stem the destruction of the island's native forest by marauding wild pigs and goats. Prohunt is conducting research and demonstration projects on Conservancy preserves and other private lands on Maui, Kauai and Molokai. TNC decided to work with Prohunt because according to spokesperson Evelyn Wight, "we do not know of a local company that has all of the tools needed to run a project of this magnitude." Prohunt was established in 1994 and have also been involved in pest eradication on Great Barrier Island, Lord Howe Island, in the Galapagos and on Cocos Island in Costa Rica.
(April 2008)

Surfing rhapsody
Raglan may be home to "one of the world's best left-hand surf breaks", but the town is also garnering international interest for its relaxed isolation and its arts scene. "Bohemian" Raglan writes the Lonely Planet, is "Perched on the rugged western edge of the North Island, on the road to nowhere." The article recommends Solscape, "Raglan's most spectacular accommodation", a gig at Aqua Velvet or in the town's renovated Victorian pub, the Harbour View Hotel and a visit to "funky" gallery, Jet Collective. "Raglan may be at the end of the road to nowhere, but I'm in no hurry to move on," concludes the author.
(20 April 2008)

Peter Jackson step aside
Christchurch video production company Gorilla Pictures is making a zombie film "better than most indie stuff cranked out on the cheap" in the US, according to horror film aficionados Dread Central. Director Logan McMillan's film Last of the Living has just been picked up by LA-based Quantum Releasing for worldwide distribution later this year. Central says: "For a low budgeter, it sure as hell looks like a damn professional film." Last of the Living is about three boys making their way through a post-zombie apocalypse world, asked to become heroes by a girl who might know of a cure for the infection. Gorilla Pictures also produce music videos, promos and short films.
(April 2008)

Beijing pact signed
New Zealand is the world's first developed country to sign a free-trade deal with China. "It's a bit like getting the first date with the best-looking girl on the block," says Stuart Ferguson, chairman of the New Zealand-China Trade Association: in this case, ahead of suitors Australia, Norway and India. Dairy and timber exporters are expected to profit most, but manufacturers like white-goods maker Fisher & Paykel and fashion house Icebreaker also stand to gain from easier access to China's low-cost factories as well as to its fast-growing middle class. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao described the occasion as "a day of historical significance".
(3 April 2008)

Moore to head charity
Former prime minister and World Trade Organisation Director-General Mike Moore has been hired by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman. Moore will chair the Altimo Foundation, one of Fridman's charitable organisations associated with the telecom arm of the Alfa Group. The foundation will focus on fighting poverty in developing countries. Credited with restoring confidence in the multilateral trading system following the setback of the 3rd WTO Ministerial Conference held in Seattle in 1999, Moore is also author of a number of books including World without Walls, a reflection on his time at the WTO. Moore is widely regarded as one of the most powerful voices in the debate about the future of globalisation.
(30 March 2008)

Off-stage antics
Wellington-born musician and "New York Rock God" Dean Wareham formed the band Luna in 1992 and later, together with his second wife Britta Phillips, Dean & Britta. Black Postcards is Wareham's just-released chronicle of his career, and it's 'A Rock & Roll Romance'. Aside from the hint of a New Zealand accent in his voice, he looks like a pretty typical 40-something New Yorker writes the Observer. An emissary of New York to the world of indie rock for almost 20 years, Wareham said of his book: "I wanted to pull back the curtain, show the boredom, the pettiness, and the arguments." "It's the hardest thing I've ever done," he admitted. The latest issue of Men's Vogue features an excerpt from Black Postcards.
(13 March 2008)

Twain's tramping track
Motatapu Track, which cuts across a Central Otago high country property owned by Canadian country singer Shania Twain, has officially opened. The 28km track is part of Te Araroa/The Long Pathway - a walkway planned from Cape Reinga to Bluff. In 2004, Twain and her husband Robert Lange won approval to buy the 33-year lease to 24,700 hectares of rugged and scenic farmland on condition they created a tramping track, with huts and other facilities, crossing their land as part of a nationwide trail.
(14 March 2008)

Alaskan war chant
Taranaki basketball player Jeremiah Trueman, 19, has introduced New Zealand's haka to his Alaskan team, the UAA Seawolves, and the crowds love it. Trueman, a junior transfer to the Seawolves, said he was trying to tell them something about himself. "It kind of blew them away a little bit. I was pretty excited to do it," he said. The haka is now an integral part of the Seawolves' pregame ritual and reflects the team's international flavour. Trueman formerly played for the Nelson Giants and the Tall Blacks.
(15 March 2008)

Peak inspiration
In preparation for a race to the South Pole, adventurer Ben Fogle hits the South Island for some thrill-seeking training. "The country that staged the world's first commercial bungee jump has invented a whole world of extreme sports," Fogle writes. Inspired from helicopters, kayaks and whale-watching boats, his real challenge lies in the ascent of the 2,340m Double Cone, part of the Remarkables range. "At the final pinnacle, the cloud lifted and New Zealand revealed itself. Our peak was no Everest, but I felt exhilarated as I surveyed the view stretching before me. Maybe, just maybe, a little bit of its magic will have rubbed off on me and help me in my attempt to reach the South Pole later this year."
(14 March 2008)

Tunnel museum opens
During the Great War beneath the unassuming French town of Arras and the German enemy, the New Zealand Tunnelling Company built two interconnected tunnels, almost 20km long and able to hide 25,000 troops. The tunnellers named this dark, damp kingdom - rediscovered in 1990 - after home towns. From one huge quarry called Auckland, soldiers could march through to Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Christchurch and Dunedin. Canteens, chapels, power stations, a light railway and even a fully functioning hospital were all established below ground. A £3 million visitor centre and a lift have just been opened to the public. Head of Arras's archaeology department Alain Jacques said: "I could not understand why there was all this English writing on the pillars and signs to places such as Wellington," he said, still thrilled at the recollection of his discovery. "And then I worked out that these must be the tunnels of the Great War."
(15 March 2008)

Promises reviewed
Dunedin indie band Die! Die! Die! is currently touring Los Angeles and Austin, Texas to promote their latest album Promises, Promises released in the US in February. Die! Die! Die! may sound less like the Sex Pistols and more like Dookie-era Green Day according to the Santa-Fe Reporter, but at least they're not like the pseudo-punk bands that have "been tarnishing the radio for the last decade and a half." Popmatters says Promises "thrives on its own individual sense of confidence and youth, and the primitive sense of escapism that only loud, crashing rock music can bring." According to Popmatters you'll want to be amongst the fanbase.
(5 March 2008)

Leap for frogkind
Thirteen tiny, and extremely rare, Maud Island froglets have been spotted at Wellington's Karori Wildlife Sanctuary hitching a ride on the back of a fully grown male. Researcher Kerri Lukis said the frogs have never before been seen breeding, even on their home islands of Maud and Motuara in the Malborough Sounds. "It's wonderful timing for the 2008 International Year of the Frog," Lukis said. Maud Island frogs are one of four native New Zealand frogs, and unlike other frogs, they do not croak, live in water or have webbed feet. They also hatch from an egg as opposed to going through the tadpole stage.
(3 March 2008)

Bursting into canzone
New Zealand bass-baritone Paul Whelan stepped out of the audience and onto the stage to sing the part of Raimundo at a London Coliseum performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. Whelan, who is due to play the part in March, sang from the side of the stage while Clive Bayley stayed on to mime having lost his voice. Whelan made it to the stage before the second scene but did not have time to change into 19th Century costume. A spokesman for the English National Opera said: "It was an electric evening all round. There was such an enthusiastic response from the audience, and then when Paul stepped forward to take his bow, the house erupted."
(19 February 2008)

Rhodes vies for Bianca
New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes performs in Rossini's Bianca e Fallierio at Washington D.C's Lisner Auditorium in April. Rhodes stars as Capellio, Fallierio's rival for the affections of Bianca. Rhodes won New Zealand's Lexus Song Quest in 1989 and studied at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His discography includes Faure's Requiem and Le naissance de Vénus, Handel's Messiah as well as the solo discs, Mozart Arias, The Voice and Vagabond.
(13 February 2008)

New exec at Opera House
Sydney's most famous landmark is now presided over by New Zealander Richard Evans, who last month became chief executive at the Opera House. Among the challenges Evans will face, is raising some NZ$790 million for the ongoing renovation of the Sydney Opera House complex. Evans told The Dominion Post: "There is no question that it must be one of the more difficult jobs there is, but unless it was, I wouldn't want to do it." Chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust Kim Williams said Evans has the right attributes for the role. "Richard has a strong entrepreneurial outlook with a good sense of humour ... qualities which are essential to managing an enterprise like the Sydney Opera House," Williams said. Evans was previously chief executive of the Australian Ballet.
(16 February 2008)

NZ studies awarded
Dr Ian Conrich, director of New Zealand Studies at the University of London, is the 2008 New Zealander of the Year in the UK. Conrich received the accolade at an awards ceremony in London on Waitangi Day in recognition of his achievements establishing the Centre for New Zealand Studies last year. "Over the last decade New Zealand Studies has made significant strides in becoming a recognisable and serious discipline," he recently said. A highly respected New Zealand academic, Conrich has a particular interest in film, cultural studies and early forms of tourism. He has written extensively about New Zealand and is editor of the forthcoming book, Contemporary New Zealand Cinema.
(9 February 2008)

NZ makes a dash
Seachange is primed to be the first ever New Zealand-trained horse to race at Royal Ascot. She will contest the Group Two Windsor Forest Stakes over a mile in June, if she wins the $6.5 million Group One Dubai Duty Free at Nad Al Sheba in late March. Seachange won New Zealand's $250,000 Telegraph Handicap at Trentham this year, recording a cracking 1min 6.66sec, just outside the national record. "She usually takes four or five starts to find her best, so she'll be ready for Dubai and all going well, England," said trainer Ralph Manning.
(4 February 2008)

NZ scientists dry their eyes
New Zealand's Crop & Food Research Institute has taken the tears out of chopping onions. In collaboration with Japanese scientists, the breakthrough was made using gene silencing technology. The Institute's senior scientist Dr Colin Eady said his team were able to turn off the gene that produces the enzyme that causes people to cry. "By shutting down the lachrymatory factor synthase gene, we have stopped valuable sulphur compounds being converted to the tearing agent, and instead made them available for redirection into compounds, some of which are known for their flavour and health properties," he said.
(1 February 2008)

On top of the world
New Zealand has been voted Top Country for the second year running in a UK-based travel magazine readers' poll. Almost 30,000 travellers voted in the annual Wanderlust poll, with New Zealand receiving a 96.8 percent satisfaction rating. Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton said that visitors come to New Zealand for a unique and authentic experience. "The fact that this award is based on visitor satisfaction is something our tourism industry can be very proud of," said Hickton.
(1 February 2008)

Beyond Cloudy Bay
Twenty years on from the discovery of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, Washington Times writer Paul Lukacs surveys the latest on the New Zealand wine market. The Times article is particularly praiseworthy of the pinot gris produced at Kumeu River, Lawson's Dry Hills and Mt. Difficulty. "...the pinot gris grape is generating considerable excitement - as well it should because the wines are real head-turners," Lukacs writes. Pinot noir is also lauded. "Put simply, outside of Burgundy in France, no place in the world is producing more compelling wines with this fickle grape than New Zealand's South Island."
(6 February 2008)

Pianist in demand
Award-winning New Zealand pianist and current associate professor of piano at Florida State University Read Gainsford has performed throughout the world as solo recitalist, concert soloist and chamber musician. Gainsford performs at Middle Tennessee State University where School of Music Director Dr George Riorden is excited at the prospect of Gainsford working with the students before becoming a household name. "From the level of his artistry we know he is going to be an artist much in demand in the very near future," Riorden said. "This will give the middle Tennessee public a chance to claim him before becoming famous."
(4 February 2008)

Windy farewell
Paddy Gillooly owns a tourism company in New Zealand which takes visitors by jeep or all-terrain bus to the tip of the South Island's Farewell Spit, one of only two companies permitted the sandy, and windy trip. Some days it's like looking through a "curtain of sand" says Paddy. "Only a mechanic could do this job," he says. That's because his buses, which are continuously deluged by sand, salt water and mud, need constant care. Farewell Spit is a protected area and still growing and changing, mostly due to those strong winds.
(4 March 2008)

Beyond the ugg
No longer are New Zealand's fashion tastes being derided for unbecoming tracksuits and shoes, the local fashion industry is pinning the country on the style map. New Zealand is now home to a vibrant and steadily expanding fashion industry, with some 50 established labels, up from a handful ten years ago, half of which sell abroad. The Economist cites Karen Walker, Trelise Cooper and Icebreaker as leading examples of the New Zealand fashion industry's value. The World Trade Organisation says clothes exports were worth NZ$315m ($216m) in the year to June 2007, up from NZ$194m a decade earlier. Trelise Cooper says because New Zealanders are geographically remote and have little exposure to mass labels, like Gucci and Gap, designers ignore the rules. "This produces a different, quite edgy style," Cooper says.
(28 February 2008)

NZ whaler doco
The BBC is making a documentary about ex-Royal New Zealand Montague Whaler, the Essex which sunk in the South Pacific in 1819 whilst chasing an aggressive sperm whale. The Essex was twice rammed, the second blow knocking crew-members aboard the ship off their feet and fatally holing the ship below the waterline. Years later, the almost unbelievable story, including the surviving crew's attempt at reaching South America, was recounted to Herman Melville who used the true story as the basis for Moby Dick.
(29 February 2008)

Finn unpacked
Auckland artist Martin Ball's portrait of singer Neil Finn is up for Australia's most prestigous art award, the Archibald Prize. Ball won the Archibald Packing Room prize, selected annually by backroom staff at the NSW Art Gallery in Sydney. It is one of 700 entries for the Archibald Prize, which will be announced on March 7. The winning artist said he picked Neil Finn as a subject because "he has an interesting face, I like his music and he is an iconic figure in Australasia." Ball studied at the University of Auckland's School of Fine Arts and completed a Masters degree there in 2001.
(28 February 2008)

Shadows at Pataka
Porirua's Pataka Museum is building on ties with the American Haille Ford Museum in an exhibition of North American Indian prints called 'Crow's Shadows', put on in conjunction with Wellington's International Festival of the Arts. Curator of the exhibition, American Rebecca Dobkins first connected with indigenous people from New Zealand when she curated a Hallie Ford exhibition of Maori weaving in the 2005 Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread, which saw Maori weavers demonstrating at the museum. Pataka says they are expecting thousands of visitors for the exhibit, which offers the widest range of work by Native American artists seen in New Zealand for more than a decade. The show opened February 16 and runs through June 8.
(24 February 2008)

Vintner role for Paikea
New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, has begun filming The Vintner's Luck, based on Elizabeth Knox's novel of the same name and directed by Niki Caro. Castle-Hughes told the New Zealand Herald she was initially nervous playing her first adult role. "But now I'm really looking forward to it. It is going to be a challenge, but I love challenges," the 18-year-old said. She plays the vintner's wife, Céleste opposite Belgian actor Jeremie Renier. Best known for her role as Paikea in Caro's 2002 Whale Rider, Castle-Hughes was at the recent Berlin Film Festival promoting Australian comedy Hey Hey It's Esther Blueberger.
(19 February 2008)

Godwits fly
Every year, godwits fly from Alaska to New Zealand in an astonishing six days. A Seattle-based husband and wife team have been following the migratory patterns of the tiny bird and write about their findings in The Christian Science Monitor. The couple write that the first people to discover New Zealand owed much to godwits. "One legend has it that ancestors of the Maori, who were living on a nearby barrier island at the time, observed the annual southward passage of what they called the kuaka. They thought, surely all those birds aren't just circling the earth. Their outriggers, set sail, and found New Zealand."
(28 February 2008)

Written on the Edge
Duncan Fallowell's latest travel book Going As far As I Can about a trip to New Zealand, is a candid account of three months spent in the country in 2004. And though many New Zealanders have complained of his honesty, this Guardian reviewer declares Fallowell's anti-travel book, charming and elegant. "His matter-of-fact encounters include fleeing a gay hotel, sex cellars and financial transactions. Fallowell is constantly ambushed by variations of Englishness, but the reiteration of being in God's own country conveys the opposite as well: insularity and void." The New Zealand Herald said the book "paints a scathing picture of the country."
(9 February 2008)

Drawn on difference
Preeminent documentary photographer Mark Adams is making his North American debut with the exhibition Tatau: Samoan Tattooing and Global Culture at Canada's Ontario College of Art & Design. The exhibition explores the Samoan tattooing tradition of tatau as an example of cross-cultural collaboration and cultural diversity. Gallery curator Charles Reeve says the "beguiling" photographs describe distant cultures while raising relevant issues in Canada. Adams' work has been shown extensively throughout New Zealand, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Brazil. His books include Land of Memories and Cook's Sites. The exhibition runs 15 February through May 18, 2008.
(14 February 2008)

Microsoft's gatekeeper
Christopher Liddell, Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft since 2005, and the former senior New Zealand business leader is the architect of Microsoft's recent $44.6 billion takeover offer for Yahoo. Liddell is now dealing with the rejection of that offer and Microsoft's imminent acquisition fight. "You have to be disciplined and ruthless," Liddell told The New York Times before Yahoo's board turned down the offer. "We should see acquisitions as a way of growth. We should not be embarrassed at all." Liddell, who since joining Microsoft has made 50 acquisitions, was previously CFO at forest product company International Paper and CEO at Carter Holt Harvey.
(11 February 2008)

Sculptured theme park
Since 1992, New Zealand art collector Alan Gibbs has commissioned both national and international artists to contribute to a sculpture park on his farm in Kaukapakapa, Auckland. New York artist Tony Oursler's video projections are the latest addition, to what Men's Vogue describes as the most outlandish private art playground on earth. Oursler's images are floating women, writhing snakes and pyrotechnics. Sculpture is Gibb's main interest and artists include: Ralph Hotere, Daniel Buren and Richard Serra. Alan Gibbs told Vogue he wants his sculpture large: "I don't want any wimpy pieces in the landscape."
(February 2008)

Indian love affair
More Indian tourists than ever are coming to New Zealand for the expansive scenery, favourable weather conditions and a bit of romance. In 2006-2007, as many as 20,946 Indians spent an average of 13.8 days in New Zealand, showing a growth of 8.3 percent over the previous year. A glowing article in The Economic Times said it was no wonder New Zealand was recently voted Top Country in Wanderlust magazine. A Rajasthani couple told the Times, "New Zealand gives you space and a chance to spend quiet time together. It is serene, romantic and at the same time adventurous and exciting."
(10 February 2008)

Tastebuds will travel
Guardian reporter Emma Johns and friend spent a two-week culinary tour of New Zealand "exploring the local flavours before attempting to recreate them ourselves." From fine-dining in Wellington to cooking lamb fillet off a cliff in Arthur's Pass: "One great incentive to roam, on any New Zealand road trip, is the extraordinary proximity of its different landscapes. A few hours' drive can take you almost anywhere, from the coastline to the snowline; you can eat prawns for breakfast on the beach, lunch on farmed venison on the plains, and drink your sundowner atop a 3,000ft mountain."
(10 February 2008)

Holding his breath
Dispensing with weights, ropes and flippers, New Zealander William Trubridge descended to 82 metres and broke the world record for constant weight diving without fins. Now living and working in the Bahamas, Trubridge runs No Fins freediving courses. For Trubridge, diving without aid is a way of severing his attachment to the world above the surface. "In essence, this is about pushing the edge of human experience," he says. Trubridge will attempt another record at the AIDA Team World Championships at world-renowned diving destination Sharm-El-Sheik in the Red Sea, later this year.
(2 February 2008)

Quick sale
Two Yorkshire property developers are enthusiastic about the benefits of investing in property in New Zealand; Ian Payling and Dave Rothwell-Wood built the 'Lemon-Tree house' on land north of Auckland. Once the sale was agreed, the two men made the first of three trips to New Zealand. On the first, they had 20 meetings in eight days, got their planning application in, found a builder and pegged out the site. Payling said he couldn't imagine that happening in the UK. "We also opened a bank account and secured a loan within a day to pay the builders' costs," he said. New Zealand has much to recommend to overseas buyers. It has a robust economy, with no capital gains tax, stamp duty or estate duty and no overseas ownership restrictions for residential property.
(23 February 2008)

West Coast purity
Sydney Morning Herald writer Anthony Dennis travels to the South Island's West Coast and marvels the glow-worms beneath a "pristine sky ... so starry it looks as if it's been attacked by a monumental salt-shaker." Hosted by New Zealand ex-journalist Susan Cook and her partner, American Marion "Weasel" Boatwright at the Rough and Tumble Bush Lodge, Dennis takes a day trip down rusty railway lines. "What lies ahead is the unspoiled world of the Tasman Sea coastline ... mountains never more than 30-kilometers from the sea ... tranquil viewing points where you can marvel at some of the world's most wondrous alpine scenery."
(17 February 2008)

Dialect mystery solved
New Zealanders speak an English dialect made up of quarter Scottish, one quarter Irish and 50 percent cockney, northern and west country English according to Scottish linguists. In a five-year study, mathematicians from New Zealand teamed with linguists from the UK and the US to determine why a unique dialect developed so quickly and uniformly across New Zealand. "Scots had quite a bit of influence. They are said to have had a particular role as teachers in New Zealand, so this would have had some effect on the children," Edinburgh physicist Dr Richard Blythe told The Herald. It was previously thought New Zealand English was a derivative of Australian English.
(8 February 2008)

Past meets present
Financial Times writer Richard Evans finds Christchurch to be much more than a sleepy replica of an English village. "There is nothing backward about Christchurch, just a happy mix of today and yesterday with the past preserved by a strict eye for conservation," he writes. Evans recommends Canterbury Wine Tours, Hanmer Springs, Orana Wildlife Park, the Charlotte Jane Hotel and restaurants The Viaduct and Hay's to his London readers.
(26 January 2008)

Black Beauty tops rankings
Team NZ has won its first A1 Grand Prix race on home soil in Taupo, and is now the overall series leader. Black Beauty driver Jonny Reid won the Sprint Race and finished fourth in the Feature, boosting NZ ahead of Switzerland and France on the points table. Reid, 27, described his Sprint win as the highlight of his career. "It's huge, absolutely huge. It's the greatest moment in my motorsport career," he said. The next leg in the A1GP series takes place at Eastern Creek, Australia, in two weeks.
(20 January 2008)

Budding swim star
Te Haumi Maxwell, 13, has been hailed as the "best male swimming prospect since Ian Thorpe" in the Australian press. Maxwell was born in NZ but raised in Australia, and is due to become an Australian citizen later this month. Maxwell won five gold medals and a bronze at the New South Wales state age championships in Sydney last week, with times that make him the fastest swimmer in the world for his age. "Thorpe is my idol but I want to swim like (US superstar) Michael Phelps," he said in the Melbourne Age.
(20 January 2008)

Farewell to a literary legend
Hone Tuwhare, one of NZ's most distinguished and best-loved writers, has died in Dunedin aged 86. Tuwhare was the first Maori poet to be published in English (No Ordinary Sun, 1964) and one of the leading figures in the Maori cultural renaissance of the 1970s. Born in Kaikohe of Ngapuhi descent, Tuwhare spoke only Maori until the age of nine. He began writing in 1939, combining ancient Maori myth with contemporary political issues in a uniquely accessible style. Maori Party MP Hone Harawira said Hone Tuwhare was a writer who could "say what people really felt in their bones…You just have to look at his poetry to see his love of people and his deep sadness at the impacts of man on the world." Tuwhare won two Montana NZ Book Awards for poetry in 1998 and 2002, and was given honorary doctorates by the universities of Auckland and Otago. He was made NZ's second Te Mata Poet Laureate in 1999.
(17 January 2008)

The world mourns our humble colossus
Sir Edmund Hillary - adventurer, philanthropist and global icon - has died aged 88. The lanky beekeeper from Tuakau found international fame in 1953 as the first person to scale Mt Everest, together with his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay. "In the annals of great heroic exploits, the conquest of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund and Mr. Norgay ranks with the first trek to the South Pole by Roald Amundsen in 1911 and the first solo nonstop trans-Atlantic flight by Charles A. Lindbergh in 1927," reads his New York Times obituary. Fame did not sit easily with Sir Ed. He preferred to be known for his philanthropic work rather than his high-profile adventures, and saw his greatest achievement as the founding of the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Trust. Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala praised Hillary's lifelong devotion to Nepal in an official message of condolence: "The Government and people of Nepal shall always cherish the fond memories of his selfless devotion to the cause of development of the Everest region, his human qualities and courageous spirit as well as his contribution to make Nepal known to the world." NZ PM Helen Clark has announced a state funeral to honour the man she calls "the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived". "Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities," she said in her official statement. "In reality, he was a colossus. He was a heroic figure who not only knocked off Everest but lived a life of determination, humility and generosity ... All New Zealanders will deeply mourn his passing." Click here to read Sir Edmund Hillary's NZ Edge Heroes biography, the most popular in our ongoing series.
(11 January 2008)

Pacific perspective on disarmament
Christchurch anti-nuclear campaigner Kate Dewes is the first New Zealander to be appointed to the UN's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. "It is exciting," she said in a Christchurch Press interview. "It is a real honour and a huge responsibility. Issues from the Pacific often aren't raised in a forum like that." Dewes, 55, is the co-ordinator of the Peace Foundation Disarmament and Security Centre in Christchurch and a key player in the World Court Project, an international citizens' network fighting for nuclear disarmament. She will attend her first UN session in New York next month.
(10 January 2008)

Portrait of a lady
New Zealander Daisy Wilkie has been immortalised in oil for Australia's leading portrait prize. Australian artist Malcolm Smith chose Wilkie as his Archibald Prize subject after meeting her at one of the art classes he hosts in Cronulla, Sydney. Wilkie, 75, was born in NZ and is a descendant of Te Rauparaha. "I've always been terribly proud of my heritage; there is something spiritual that ties me to New Zealand," she says. The AU $35,000 Archibald Prize is Australia's most prestigious award for portraiture. This year's Archibald winner will be announced in March.
(8 January 2008)

Gov-Gen reflects on changing nation
NZ Governor-General Anand Satyanand gave an exclusive online interview to Indian TV station NDTV. In it, he discussed NZ's increasingly multicultural makeup, as well as his own Indian ancestry. "New Zealand, like all countries, continues to have disparities in race and other areas but my appointment is symbolic of this country's commitment to ending those disparities," he says. "Since the first New Zealand-born Governor-General was appointed in 1967, two Governors-General have been women (Dame Catherine Tizard and Dame Silvia Cartwright) and one has been Maori (Sir Paul Reeves) and their appointments in turn reflect other changes within New Zealand." Anand Satyanand succeeded Dame Silvia Cartwright as Governor-General in 2006.
(8 January 2008)

Beauty and the beast
Black Beauty driver Jonny Reid took on a Boeing 777 at Auckland International Airport this month, in a dramatic promotional stunt for January's A1 Grand Prix event in Taupo. The race car and the Air New Zealand jet won a race each on the tarmac, with Reid's car reaching speeds of nearly 300 km p/h. Race teams from 21 nations competed for the A1GP Taupo on January 20, with Reid's victories placing New Zealand at the top of the race table.
(8 January 2008)

Worthy splurges and brilliant bargains
Two NZ luxury lodges feature in Tatler's annual hotel guide for 2008. Otahuna Lodge, Christchurch, and Matakauri Lodge, Queenstown, were named two of the world's 101 Best Hotels by the British society magazine. At the other end of the spectrum, three NZ establishments feature in The Guardian's top 50 hotels under £50 this month. "Flashpacker" hostel Base Auckland, Pukekohe bed and breakfast No.40 Carlton Gardens, and the ultra-modern Hotel SO in Christchurch all made the cut, alongside the best budget hotels from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia and the Americas.
(5 January 2008)

Aquaflow ahead of the curve
A Blenheim-based company could hold the key to the world's energy crisis, according to a recent Guardian article. Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation has patented a cleansing process known as bio-remediation that extracts biofuel from wild algae. "Wild algae is one of the ubiquitous units of nature," says Aquaflow partner Nick Gerritsen. "If you leave a bucket of water outside, the water will turn green as it is settled by wild algae. We realised very early that we needed to create a model that took advantage of wild algae feedstocks." Aquaflow describes its process as cheap, practical and accessible, and its end product as suitable for both domestic use and transport. The rest of the world is already catching on: Shell has announced a joint algae harvesting venture with HR Biopetroleum, the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative is seeking an algae-based biojet fuel, and an "algae summit" held in San Francisco last month drew more than 300 delegates.
(9 January 2008)

Arrondissement-on-the-Edge
NZ-born architect Brendan MacFarlane is playing a major role in the redevelopment of Paris's 13th arrondissement. The planning project for the French capital's "nouveau quartier" is known as Paris Rive Gauche, and has been in progress since 1996. MacFarlane, who is one half of Paris-based architecture firm Jakob + MacFarlane, won the development rights to a turn-of-the-century dockside depot on the banks of the Seine. The Docks de Paris building will house cafés, shops, a landscaped roof terrace, exhibition space for contemporary design, and the French Fashion Institute. "When it works, that collective nature can be really wonderful," he says of the group spirit driving the area's redevelopment. "Sometimes having to have so many opinions and agreement can be a nightmare but, when everyone comes together around a table and it works, it can be amazing. I don't think this is an experience that will be repeatable."
(5 January 2008)

Tapping into Kazakhstani market
A tiny Martinborough vineyard has become the first NZ winery to establish a presence in Central Asia. Alexander Vineyard, a family-run business headed by Michael Finucane, has added Kazakhstan to its growing list of export destinations, which includes Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States. Alexander Vineyard produces just 1000 cases of wine a year, most of which is sent overseas. It is testing the market in Kazakhstan with six cases of premium pinot noir.
(7 January 2008)

Gourmands flock to Matakana
The New York Times heads to Matakana Village, a thriving boutique wine town an hour north of Auckland City. Matakana Village is a gourmand's delight, boasting an award-winning artisanal bakery, scores of boutique wineries, cafes and restaurants, and a popular weekend organic market. "[The market] is no dusty-radishes Birkenstock scene," assures NYT writer Debra Klein. "With uniform chalkboards, resort-style umbrellas and slickly packaged products, it's more like Dean & DeLuca in a country setting." Matakana Village is located in Auckland's Rodney District, the fastest growing region in the north island.
(13 January 2008)

Master craftsman
Leading children's book illustrator Graham Percy has died aged 69. Percy was born and grew up in Auckland, where he attended the Elam School of Art. After graduating, he won a scholarship to study graphics at the Royal College of Art in London. Percy went on to be a prolific and much admired illustrator, who was best known for the delightful images he created for children's books. Independent: "His craftsmanship - the later work was mostly done with coloured pencils - was perfect ... People, vehicles, chairs, houses and tables all give the feeling that they have been taken from a toy box and skilfully arranged." Percy's work can be seen in the Sam Pig stories for Faber and Faber, The Wind in the Willows for Pavilion Books, and the full-length animated film Hugo the Hippo.
(10 January 2008)

Christchurch goes carbon neutral
Christchurch International Airport has become the second airport in the world to be certified carbon neutral, after Sweden's LFV. According to chief executive Rene Bakx, the airport achieved carbon neutral status by reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by airport operations and offsetting any remaining through the purchase of carbon credits. "We don't want to be ruled out of consideration as a destination because it is seen as unsustainable to be here at all," said PM Helen Clark. "New Zealand as a country, and tourism as an industry, must go the extra mile to prove sustainability credentials."
(24 January 2008)

Worldwide appeal
NZ documentary Sand Dancer has clocked up more than 30 international film festival screenings since its 2006 release. Directed and produced by Valerie Reid, the 10-minute short showcases the work of Christchurch-based sand artist Peter Donnelly. Sand Dancer has been accepted for competition at festivals in Thailand, Taiwan, France, NZ, Australia, Tahiti and the US. It has won awards at the Golden Horse International Short Film Competition in Taipei, the Foursite Film Festival in Utah and the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Reid is currently working on a longer version of her documentary.
(January 2008)

Dazzling debut
Liam Finn's solo debut, I'll Be Lightning, has received widespread praise in the US, where it was released this week. Paste magazine calls it "a dazzling solo debut" while The Wall Street Journal praises the "spare, melodic sound" that Finn has achieved by recording on an old-fashioned analogue tape. Finn, 24, is the eldest son of NZ music pioneer Neil Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House) and the front-man for Melbourne-based band Betchadupa. He begins a year-long US tour next month.
(19 January 2008)

Provocative prize-winner
The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins by Auckland filmmaker Pietra Brettkelly has won an award at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Brettkelly's documentary tells the story of contemporary artist Vanessa Beecroft's attempt to adopt Sudanese twins. Irena Dol won the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award for her work on the film, which has been widely praised by US critics. Variety: "Director Pietra Brettkelly's enigmatic rendering of the situation echoes incendiary questions raised in Beecroft's art and defies the commercial demands of documentary cinema ... [The] provocative result is not a straightforward artist's profile, political commentary or domestic drama, but a poetic fusion of the three."
(21 January 2008)

Golf's rising star
Rotorua schoolboy Danny Lee, 18, has the golfing world at his feet after becoming the youngest player ever to win the US Amateur championship, held at the Pinehurst club in North Carolina last week. Lee beat opponent Drew Kittleson from Arizona 5 and 4 in the 36-hole final, capping off a very successful three-week stint in the US, which included another win at the Western Amateur, and a top-20 finish in the Wyndham Championship on the US PGA tour. The Korean-born golfer, who has lived in New Zealand for nine years, will return home briefly next week to attend a ceremony in Rotorua where he will receive New Zealand citizenship. The youngest player to win the US Amateur championship before Lee, who turned 18 last month, was Tiger Woods who was 18 years eight months when he won the first of three successive US Amateur finals in 1994.
(24 August 2008)

21st century renewal
Wellington's Waitangi Park - transformed in a collaboration between landscape architects Wraight & Associates and Athfield Architects - combines environmentally-sound urban redevelopment with recreation, and includes water purifying ponds, man-made wetlands and a concrete skate park. Australasian architecture magazine Monument writes: "For decades the harbour-front site was a car park known as the Chaffers. Working with specialist engineering and environmental consultants, Waitangi Park is now a model for the future of urban renewal and one of the first of its scale to implement a number of environmental engineering features. The wetlands of native reeds and sedges filter out pollutants through natural processes."
(June/July 2008)

In search of a history
New Zealand film producer and public speaker Anna Wilding is now writing regularly for the TennisGrandStand site, and in her first column, as the US Open approaches, she writes about her great uncle, tennis legend Captain Anthony Wilding and the "hallowed grounds" of Forest Hills, New York. "My 'Uncle Tony' actually played his last match in America at Forest Hills, before being killed in the war in 1915 at the tender age of 32. In that time, he also won bronze at the Olympics," Wilding explains. "In The New York Times in 1915, W. De B. Whyte wrote the following: 'In tennis [Anthony Wilding] was always the soul of honour; as courteous and gallant a player as ever set foot in an American court. He was the last man ever to excuse himself for poor form or indifferent play.'"
(19 August 2008)

Releasing expectations
Auckland-based band Cut Off Your Hands are described as a "vicious and vibrant foursome" and frontman Nick Johnston, "the new Iggy Pop of the New Zealand pop-punk pioneers" on a British news website. The band discuss the UK release of their latest single 'Expectations', their musical influences (including the Buzzcocks, Sonic Youth and Bailterspace) and making music in New Zealand. Johnston thinks the local scene is influenced positively by the lack of industry. "Bands are formed in New Zealand for the sake of creating something the individuals are turned on by, as opposed to kids in London desiring to be the next Razorlight on the cover of a glossy mag. It's naive and pure and idealistic, but at least it's rooted in substance, rather than commerce and fashion." Cut Off Your Hands' debut album, You & I was recorded this year.
(20 August 2008)

Medal haul in Beijing
Hastings twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell took gold medals in the double skulls beating their German rivals by 0.01sec, the win on the same day Mahe Drysdale won a bronze in the single skulls and George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle won a bronze in the men's pair. Like the millions of spectators, the Evers-Swindells initially had no idea who had won after crossing the line. "I looked across and the Germans were happy and I thought maybe they'd got it ... and then someone said New Zealand had won," Georgina said. Ashburton cyclist Hayden Roulston won silver in the men's individual pursuit at the Laoshan velodrome.
(17 August 2008)

Screen Australia hires Harley New Zealander Ruth Harley - currently CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission - has been appointed chief executive of the newly formed national film agency, Screen Australia. Dr Harley begins the position in November. The appointment is tacit acknowledgment that New Zealand has been, and remains, the role model for national filmmaking outside the Hollywood studio system. The appointment was announced by the Australian Arts Minister, Peter Garrett who commented "Following an extensive global search the government was particularly impressed by Dr Harley's experience and commitment to the development of a successful and sustainable local film industry". Screen Australia is the Australian Government's new screen agency replacing the Australian Film Commission, Film Australia and the Film Finance Organisation. Harley is a former Fulbright Scholar. She was awarded an OBE in 1996 for her contribution to the broadcasting and the arts.
(15 August 2008)

Science made funny
Auckland's Indian Ink Theatre Company - with co-founder Jacob Rajan in the starring role - performed The Candlestickmaker to Australian audiences at Brisbane's Cremorne Theatre. Rajan, who wrote the play with the other half of the partnership Justin Lewis, "deftly plays all characters; through the frenetic changing of character through mask, he draws the audience in from the beginning. The Candlestickmaker is enchanting theatre. It embraces the themes and narrative of modern New Zealand. The same themes and narrative have relevance for Australia, yet when the performance ends, one is left wondering where these voices are in Australian theatre and do they get enough support or exposure? In the meantime, we await more from Indian Ink Theatre Company." The Company takes their latest "comedy with bite", The Dentist's Chair, to Wellington and Auckland later this month.
(11 August 2008)

On your marks, get set
Artist Daniel Crooks, who originally hails from Hastings, has won the Australian inaugural $100,000 Basil Sellers Art Prize for 'Static no. 11 (man running)', a computer-modified video of champion athlete Christopher Brown sprinting on a treadmill. Melbourne-based Crooks beat a field of 54 works by 16 artists to win the award established by the philanthropic businessman to unite sport and art. Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Chris McAuliffe, said yesterday that he and his fellow judges were struck by the "visual, technical and historical complexity of the piece", which creates "a lingering, poetic image of the body in motion." Crooks works as a video designer at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. His first New Zealand exhibition, 'Everywhere Instantly', is on at Christchurch Art Gallery through November 9.
(1 August 2008)

Beauty in cold
Winter in New Zealand is captured in seascape images by Independent photographer Hannah Bills, who travelled through Wellington and then south, taking shots in and around Christchurch, "the Oxford of the southern hemisphere." "Intensely cold, mid-winter days in New Zealand, especially in the south island," writes partner Peter Bills, "often produce vivid blue skies to tempt the photographer. The sunsets can be wondrous, dramatic; nature's fireworks at the end of a day. But the blue skies of day time also offer dramatic backdrops for photos, as is seen with the sculpture of flowers which stands in Christchurch's Cathedral Square. The lack of visitors at this time of year in the southern hemisphere enhances the scenes of natural beauty to be found all over the antipodes."
(31 July 2008)

Figments of the imagination
Wellington author Elizabeth Knox's Dreamhunter Duet is reviewed in Canadian newspaper The Star Phoenix. The two "intricate" fantasy titles are highly recommended for young adults, and are described as "intriguing" and "intelligent". The first of the two books, and "a gripping ride", is Dreamhunter. In the second, Dreamquake, "the plot continues to hold, and readers become disturbed by what seems more and more plausible within the context of Knox's fine writing. Rising above a simple mystery into an intense myth of place, some challenging questions are raised about power and freedom, artistic license, and the role of the storyteller ... With these books, Knox takes her place beside fine fantasy writers Susan Cooper, Mollie Hunter, Lloyd Alexander, Kenneth Oppel, Philip Pullman, and Garth Nix." Both titl