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Howard Davis
Scoop Arts Editor
Educated at Cambridge and UCLA; worked on several major Hollywood feature films and as a Kundalini Yoga instructor in Los Angeles; currently enjoying life in Wellington.
Howard Davis - Latest News [Page 6]
The Glory That Was Greece & The Grandeur That Was Rome (II)
Wednesday, 27 June 2018, 10:02 am | Howard Davis
"The Divine Augustus banished his daughter who was shameless beyond the very limits of the world. He made public the scandals of the Emperor's household, that adulterers had been admitted in droves, that the city had been roamed through on ... More >>
The Glory That Was Greece, And The Grandeur That Was Rome
Wednesday, 20 June 2018, 10:32 am | Howard Davis
On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome. - Edgar Allan Poe, To Helen . More >>
A Bigger Splash - Te Papa Celebrates Twenty Years
Monday, 19 March 2018, 8:12 am | Howard Davis
Over the past twenty years, Te Papa has attracted international attention and evolved into one of the most loved and most debated museums in Australasia. To celebrate this extraordinary achievement, its press has published an appetizing and easily-digestible ... More >>
The Creole Stylings of Cécile McLorin Salvant
Wednesday, 14 March 2018, 8:02 am | Howard Davis
The word Creole has come to describe anyone of mixed European and African descent, and derives etymologically from the Portuguese crioulo (black person born in Brazil), which in turns comes from criar (to breed), and the Latin creare (to produce or create). ... More >>
Taonga Pūoro, Rob Thorne, and the NZSQ
Wednesday, 7 March 2018, 8:15 am | Howard Davis
The musical category of taonga pūoro includes a variety of traditional instruments that fulfilled many functions within Māori society, including a call to arms, communications with the gods, the dawning of a new day, and the planting of crops. Their tones, ... More >>
Sally Potter's 'The Party'
Friday, 23 February 2018, 9:15 am | Howard Davis
Sally Potter remains one of Britain’s most determined independent film-makers, deliberately resisting the lure of mainstream attention in order to work entirely on her own terms. Adapting Virginia Woolf’s 'unfilmable' novel Orlando , directing ... More >>
Wellington Film Society Screens Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil'
Wednesday, 21 February 2018, 8:48 am | Howard Davis
Harry Tuttle: Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can't make a move without a form. More >>
Ria Hall Performs 'Rules of Engagement' at The NZ Festival
Wednesday, 21 February 2018, 8:15 am | Howard Davis
Concerned with the perennial themes of conflict and resistance, Rules of Engagement took five years for Ria Hall to complete. Her key inspiration came specifically from a letter written by Henare Taratoa (Ngāi Te Rangi) in March 1864 to the Governor ... More >>
Paul Thomas Anderson's Seamless Phantom Thread
Friday, 2 February 2018, 9:41 am | Howard Davis
"There is an air of quiet death in this house - and I don't like the way it smells." - Reynolds Woodcock. More >>
From Free Press to Fancy Dress - Spielberg's 'The Post'
Tuesday, 16 January 2018, 10:46 am | Howard Davis
Steven Spielberg's The Post is an opportune newsroom drama in which a corrupt Republican president wages war against the "liberal media," as The Washington Post 's plucky proprietor risks economic and legal ruin to bring the Pentagon Papers to ... More >>
The Black Dog of Empire - Joe Wright's 'Darkest Hour'
Friday, 12 January 2018, 9:38 am | Howard Davis
"The wonderful thing is that 3/4 of the population of the world imagine that Churchill is one of the Strategists of History, a second Marlborough, and the other 1/4 have no idea what a public menace he is and has been throughout this war! It ... More >>
Anger Begets Anger - 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing ...'
Friday, 5 January 2018, 9:58 am | Howard Davis
For fans of what Ricky Gervais termed "number movies" (Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven, Ocean's 11, Se7en, etc.), Martin McDonagh's latest offering will no doubt be a welcome addition to the roster. The Irish playwright turned screenwriter ... More >>
Sexting in George Dawe's 'Genevieve' - Part II
Thursday, 21 December 2017, 12:02 pm | Howard Davis
Born in 1781, eight years after Coleridge, information about George Dawe's life and career is much more sketchy. His father was an artist and mezzotint engraver who worked with Hogarth and Turner, while George Morland was Dawe's godfather and painted ... More >>
Sexting in George Dawe's 'Genevieve' - Part I
Wednesday, 20 December 2017, 8:34 am | Howard Davis
Genevieve (from by a poem by S.T. Coleridge entitled 'Love' - George Dawe, 1812 Her pure and eloquent blood Spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought, That one might almost say, her body thought. - John Donne, Second Anniversary . More >>
Ten x Ten: One Hundred of Te Papa's Best-Loved Art Works
Friday, 8 December 2017, 10:01 am | Howard Davis
Wellingtonians can look forward to some wonderful displays of art in 2018 with the imminent redesign and renovation of exhibition spaces in both Te Papa and City Gallery. When it opens in March 2018, Toi Art, the new gallery at Te Papa, will increase the ... More >>
Christopher Pugsley’s 'The Camera in the Crowd'
Monday, 4 December 2017, 11:39 am | Howard Davis
Christopher Pugsley’s The Camera in the Crowd - Filming in New Zealand Peace and War 1895-1920 More >>
Album of the Year - Van Morrison's 'Roll with the Punches'
Wednesday, 29 November 2017, 7:46 am | Howard Davis
There are traditionally three or four different Van Morrisons at any given time, depending on the album. His more recent recordings reflect as many musical angles as can fit within the seventy minute CD format: R&B, jazz, folk, soul, and blues, ... More >>
A Musical Axis - Brahms, Mahler, & Sibelius
Monday, 13 November 2017, 8:30 am | Howard Davis
Dutch violinist Janine Jensen and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performed a fascinating programme of complementary pieces at Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre on Friday night - Johannes Brahms' warm and exquisitely subtle Symphony No. 3 in ... More >>
Bic Runga Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of 'Drive'
Monday, 6 November 2017, 8:15 am | Howard Davis
Blessed with a delicate yet broad vocal range that possesses a wispy, gossamer quality, and an uncanny ability to compose both haunting and catchy melodies, Bic Runga is a naturalised New Zealand treasure. "You say it Bec, rather than Bic," ... More >>
Conflict & Resistance - Ria Hall's 'Rules of Engagement'
Tuesday, 24 October 2017, 8:52 am | Howard Davis
The Tauranga Campaign was a six-month-long armed conflict in the Bay of Plenty in early 1864, part of the New Zealand Wars that were fought over issues of land ownership and sovereignty. The campaign was a sequel to the invasion of Waikato aimed at crushing ... More >>
