I just got back from a great trip to the South Island of New Zealand with Scott Andreas. Two weeks away from the grid.  It was wonderful, and the first ‘proper’ vacation I have ever had. My thoughts: There is really a pain point of trying to write this post.  I am sitting with the foun...

Last year, the New Zealand government passed ‘3-strike’ legislation which was designed to have alleged copyright infringers disconnected from the Internet. In February a code of practice was drafted by the music industry and ISPs which attempted to lay out how the ISPs would go about dis...

Do you want to know one of the reasons why I had the idea for Kiwi Writers? I didn't have hard facts to back it up but here's one: 90% of writing published in New Zealand is non-fiction and the remaining 10% is almost all literary fiction. Compare this to the markets of most other countries where ov...

The winter behind me I haven’t had much to say about my time in New Zealand so far but it certainly is not because there’s been nothing happening.    It’s been a busy and very eventful time but I haven’t written much because I’ve had a very hard time trying to decide ...

Filed under: Teens & tweens, In the news Barry Manilow is the latest weapon in the war on crime. The New Zealand city of Christchurch is fed up with unruly teens spreading trash, spraying graffiti, getting drunk and intimidating citizens at a local mall, so they're pulling out the big guns: "Man...

  A New Zealand softcore porn star and sometime stripper is suing the Sexpo after a disastrous live performance that got her in trouble with festival organizers... Lisa Lewis, no relation to any other Lisa Lewis we might've heard of here in the States, calls herself an "international s...

“Prime Minister” March 1st, 2009 There are two stories in “Prime Minister,” and each of them is absolutely perfect for this surrealist world we’ve created. The show has leaned heavily this season on the humour to be found in New Zealand’s low level of cultural awa...

Just read this in the New Zealand Herald On Sunday… “This week the Seven Network confirmed it had cut the value of its 47 per cent holding in the Seven Media Group from A$793.9 million to zero, following Packer’s similar valuation of PBL Media when he dumped his residual holding of his familyâ...

{Aramoana Beach} Beaches are great, healthy, wholesome. Of course we live right above one pretty much year round. We like them. So it's good to introduce the children to a great old family tradition when over in NZ: cold windy beaches. Besides it saves a lot of $ to get out of those huge wondero...

Feb 14 (Valentines Day), our destination was Skyline. We were going to take the gondola up, I was going to do a couple luge rides, then we would head back to the motel. I didn't mention it was 13° and raining. Still, I wanted to make sure I got at least 1 luge ride in. We ended up buying a pack of ...