Warwick Smith
Nau mai haere mai. Here's a selection of some of my work.
Warwick Smith
This is an example of an exert.
Joel Little's favourite song was penned by a six-year-old.
Following on from the success of household smash Sunshine Terror, the equally catchy but no less frightening A Night to Fight, by pint-sized songwriter Lila Little, has just been released into the hallways of her home in a leafy suburb of Los Angeles.
"The lyrics are like: 'Tonight is the night, the night to fight. We're gonna fight tonight,' then it goes into, 'I'm gonna fight you Ruby,' who's her mate," says Little.
It is a serious question, and Noel Fielding takes his time to contemplate it. Would he rather be chased by a duck the size of a horse, or 100 horses the size of ducks? There is a long silence.
"Lots of little horses... that's quite a nice thought, isn't it?," he says thoughtfully. "Much less frightening than a duck the size of a horse. You've probably got those in New Zealand, haven't you?" We used to have moa, I say. They were at least pony-sized.
It was the day after our wedding, and washed-up guests were strewn around my parents' lounge, sprawled on the deck, gingerly cracking open fresh beers.
My new husband and I walked into the kitchen, a little worse for wear but enshrouded in the kind of happy fug that only 24 hours dedicated entirely to the celebration of your love can create. You could even go so far as to say we were starry-eyed.
At the table, I bent down for a hug with Grandma. "Hello, Mrs Witehira," she said, giving me a proud squeeze.
There are times in journalism when you feel completely privileged to be allowed into people's lives, and this story was one of these. Mitchell Scales and Anthea Jameson were born with one or more of the bones in their skulls stuck together. It was the job of Hutt Hospital craniofacial surgeon Charles Davis to surgically prise these bones apart, and in Mitchell's case, re-design his entire skull.
Both the Scale's and the Jameson's agreed to participate in the story, and I was invited along to watch both surgeries. It's hands down one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Both videographer Karl Drury and I were left speechless, both by the dexterity of Dr Davis, the tenacity of the kids and the courage of the parents. We were pretty proud with the resulting package. And the best part - both kids are now doing better than ever. See the story and watch the video here.
Once, a Feilding schoolboy named Ewen Macdonald gave a girl in his primary school class love letters filled with confetti and lollies. She opened her desk to find the thoughtful gift among her schoolbooks, and rewarded his devotion by watching him play cricket at lunchtimes.
Two decades later and Macdonald's life is in tatters, his marriage and reputation torn apart despite his acquittal for the murder of his brother-in-law, Scott Guy.