Little Wellington, a glimpse of the capital of New Zealand, also home to Webstock, and the iconic Beehive, one of the country’s parliament buildings.

I’ve rarely ever watched a game of rugby in its entirety, but this recent match between Super 15 teams the Highlanders and Chiefs, should have been an exception, if this snippet of play was indicative of the excitement of the rest of the game.

Both teams, by the way, are from New Zealand, and their players would go on to form the ranks of the All Blacks, which would be, historically/statistically, the best rugby team in the world. I suspect though plenty of people would disagree with such a statement.

Eerily quiet video footage of the carnage wreaked by the earthquake in central Christchurch on 22 February, filmed by Civil Defence, New Zealand’s emergency response organisation.

Aside from some bird song, the occasional wail of a siren, plus the sounds of a couple of helicopters, the city centre is almost devoid of any signs of life.

Photos of the heartbreaking carnage and destruction resulting from last Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, from The Big Picture.

A stack of 75 silent movies, many dating from the 1920s have been uncovered in an archive in New Zealand, and includes the only surviving copy of US director John Ford’s film, “Upstream”.

On account of exorbitant shipping costs at the time, film reels shipped out from the US to countries like Australia and New Zealand were seldom returned, a state of affairs that is now proving to be a boon for film historians.

Among the movies found in storage are a copy of Ford’s “Upstream,” the earliest surviving movie by comic actor and director Mabel Normand and a period drama starring 1920s screen icon Clara Bow. Only 15 percent of the silent films made by Ford, who won four Oscars, have survived.

I’ve been looking through some of the photos* from last week’s Webstock conference in Wellington, and of all things a picture of this year’s Webstock computer carry bag, above, caught my eye (photo by Cle0patra).

This has to be the best one yet, I already have the 2008 and 2009 bags, so here’s hoping I can get hold of this year’s as well.

* some photos are dated March 2009, I’m not sure why, a camera’s incorrect date setting possibly?

While people continue to question the integrity of Wikipedia, early editions of one of its print predecessors, Encyclopædia Britannica, had a curious method – to say the least – of selecting what information it would publish.

Australia and New Zealand: Despite the fact that both lands had been discovered their existence was not recognised in the Encyclopaedia until they had been colonised.

Webstock – whose swish new website is sporting a very avian (dare I say bird themed) look – is on again in 2010, taking place in Wellington from 15 to 19 February.

Speakers include Kevin Rose of Digg, Jessica Jackley founder of Kiva, and Sydney based inventor, writer, and theorist Mark Pesce.

The Australian state of Queensland is laying claim as the home of lamington cakes, and given the delicious chocolate sponge cake was named after Lady Lamington, who lived at Government House in Brisbane, this seems somewhat logical.

Lady Lamington, the mistress of Government House in Brisbane, found herself in just such a predicament in 1900, when more guests than expected turned up to one of her informal “at homes”. Her head chef, Frenchman Armand Galland, was called upon to whip up something to feed the extra mouths. Galland cut up some French vanilla sponge cake he had baked the day before, dipped the cubes in chocolate to soften them and then in coconut to set. So popular was the treat that Lady Lamington’s guests asked for the recipe. As was the tradition of the time, Galland named his creation in honour of his patrons.

Apparently New Zealand is trying to claim lamingtons as theirs… can’t they just be happy calling the pavlova one of their creations?

New from the Webstock crew, a brand new award to honour outstanding New Zealand web design, The ONYAs.

Entries open in two weeks time on Monday 25 May, with the winners being announced on Thursday 20 August 2009.