Catwoman is Hathaway's dream role

CLAWS OUT: Anne Hathaway plays Selina Kyle in the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Anne Hathaway says landing the coveted Catwoman role has been a ''pinch me'' moment.

The Hollywood star is Selina Kyle/Catwoman in the hotly-anticipated The Dark Knight Rises, which is due for release this summer.

Anne has revealed that landing the desirable film part is a pivotal moment in her career.

"Well the first thing you have to say is what an honour. It was funny for me because when I got my start, I kind of got my big break with The Princess Diaries and during the press rounds for that everyone asked me: 'Did you always want to be a princess growing up?'  And the truth was, no I wanted to be Catwoman," she told Collider.

"And I think a lot of women feel that way. And the fact that I am actually her is such a dream come true. It's such a pinch me moment. And the fact that I am Catwoman in Chris Nolan's Gotham to Christian Bale's Batman is unbelievably cool."

The Christopher Nolan-directed movie has been shrouded in secrecy, so that it has maximum impact upon its release.

"It's sort of implied that everything is meant to be kept under wraps as possible…" Anne added.

- Cover Media

'Brilliant feat of imagining' wins

SOPHIE SPEER

Early trading between Maori and European settlers, and a domestic violence case in which a man throws a stapler at his wife's head, helped two up-and-coming authors win the country's highest accolade for emerging writers.

Wellington PhD student Hamish Clayton won the New Zealand Society of Authors Best First Book Award for Fiction for his debut novel, Wulf.

The book welds together a cryptic 10th-century British poem of the same name with the story of attempts by British trader John Stewart to trade with Maori chief Te Rauparaha.

Clayton said the idea for the book came to him in the middle of the night.

"The poem is fantastically illusive, sad and evocative. It came to me that line by line the atmosphere created by the poem worked with the Te Rauparaha story."

From the initial idea came months of research and writing, using historical events but giving the narrators – sailors aboard Stewart's ship – a kind of "Chinese whispers" way of retelling the stories.

"Regardless of whether the stories are completely accurate, they're based on something historical recorded somewhere. I didn't make much up but I did let the story tellers let their imaginations run wild."

Awards' convener Chris Bourke said the judges described Wulf as one of the most memorable debut novels in recent times.

"Hamish Clayton's first novel is a work of bravura lyricism, a brilliant feat of imagining that transforms historical events which occurred in early 19th century New Zealand into metaphor and myth."

A series of poems and short prose about a fictional domestic violence case won district court and family court judge John Adams the award for poetry.

The 64-year-old Aucklander's debut book, Briefcase, marries law and poetry with a series of related pieces looking at different aspects of a court trial, such as a police summary of facts and a victim impact statement.

"Law is very saturated in language, so it's not so surprising [to combine law and poetry]."

Mr Bourke said the judges considered Briefcase to be a challenging, creative and moving collection.

"His experimentation with form depends upon the heart as much as it does the intellect."

Designer Michael Smythe took the NZSA Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction with his work, New Zealand by Design.

The awards were part of the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards. Each category winner received $2500.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Kimbra and Gotye win again

Kimbra may have missed out on her own top song gong across the Tasman last night but still gets to share in the honour with Australian singer Gotye.

At an awards ceremony in Sydney, Goyte won the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) for song of the year for his duet with Kimbra Somebody That I Used To Know.

The US chart-topping was also awarded as the most played song in Australian airwaves.

Kimbra's solo hit Cameo Lover was also up for song of the year.

The peer-voted awards celebrated their 30th anniversary and were hosted by Missy Higgins and Jonathan Biggins.

Tina Arena, with Tex Perkins, performed a special rendition of Somebody That I Used To Know during the ceremony.

The song recently became the first Australian artist since Savage Garden in 2000 and New Zealand's OMC in 1997 to claim top spot on the US charts.

Although Kimbra didn't write the smash hit and won't benefit hugely financially, it was still a massive boost for her profile.

Performances with Gotye on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Saturday Night Live have introduced her to the US public, and she touring America with debut album Vows.

She has a handful of her own prestigious song writing awards, including taking home the grand prize of the Nashville-based International Songwriting Competition.

Somebody That I Used To Know sold 542,000 downloads between April 9 and April 15 in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan - the fourth highest figure since SoundScan began tracking digital sales in 2003.

In Glee, the break-up song was transformed into a tune about sibling rivalry between characters Blaine Anderson, played by Darren Criss, and his older brother Cooper, played by Matt Bomer. The episode aired in New Zealand on Friday.

It was also covered on the US version of the television talent contest The Voice, while Gotye performed it at the US music festival Coachella last month.

On the Billboard chart, Gotye and Kimbra dethroned US indie pop band Fun's We Are Young, which slipped to number two.

Somebody That I Used to Know is taken from Gotye's third album, Making Mirrors, which he recorded entirely at his parents' farm on the Mornington Peninsula.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Tiki Taane accused of taunting police

VICKI WATERHOUSE

Chart-topping musician Tiki Taane could face charges after he chanted obscenities in front of police officers at a Palmerston North gig.

Taane, whose song Always On My Mind topped the New Zealand music charts for two weeks, was performing at the Bassy Bizniz show at Mr Cue in Taonui St when police turned up.

Acting Palmerston North Inspector Brett Calkin said police entered Mr Cue to perform a routine inspection about 1.15am on Sunday.

Taane began chanting the words "F*** the police", prompting the officers to speak to a person associated with the singer, Calkin said. "He apparently stopped using that terminology."

But when police went to leave, Taane resumed his earlier chants, Calkin said.

"It would appear that he has begun taunting the police again by yelling "F*** the police" and pointing to the door as they left.

"Apparently the crowd were laughing, but fortunately there was no violence towards the police."

He said police were considering their options in relation to charges.

"We're not discounting that at this stage," he said.

Calkin said it was not the sort of behaviour to be expected from someone of Taane's standing in the community.

"It's extremely disappointing that police officers are going into licensed premises and doing their job and they are being taunted by well-known individuals, such as Tiki Taane."

Taane found himself in a Tauranga courthouse after a similar incident in April last year. He was charged with acting in a disorderly manner likely to incite violence after he sang the NWA song F*** Tha Police during a performance at Illuminati club.

The charge was dropped after mediation between Taane and Tauranga police.

Taane told the Manawatu Standard he did sing the NWA song in Palmerston North, but said he performed it at all of his shows.

"Sometimes we also play Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff and Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up and many other controversial songs," he said.

"Some people find these songs extremely offensive and others think they're amazing."

Taane said it was not illegal to perform the songs and he had received positive feedback about the show.

He dismissed the allegation that he pointed at police as they left, while singing the NWA song.

"I'm on stage in front of 450 people, and I'm sure every single one of them will say I pointed my finger at them at some stage during the night," he said.

Concert-goer Reuben Crowther said the crowd found it amusing the song was played as the police walked in.

"It got the crowd going quite hard, so it was quite good," he said.

"Everyone was singing along but nobody was going up to the police that I saw."

- © Fairfax NZ News

Coleman: Number's up for TVNZ7, regardless

DANYA LEVY

Former broadcasting minister Jonathan Coleman has admitted using incorrect audience figures for the soon-to-be-defunct TVNZ7 but says the free-to-air channel was to be scrapped anyway.

Those campaigning to save TVNZ7, which is due to turn into a TV One Plus One channel next month, say the error has contributed to the demise of New Zealand's only commercial-free, public-service television station.

In April last year Dr Coleman said TVNZ7 attracted about 207,000 viewers a week, compared with the 600,000 people who tuned in nightly to One News, and the Government would not be putting new money into the channel because it was not a high priority.

He was questioned about the figure earlier this year after a report on TVNZ7's own programme Media 7 said it was wrong because Dr Coleman had divided a monthly figure by four. Audience data was only collected once a month and weekly audience numbers were much higher, it said.

At the time Dr Coleman said the figures were provided by officials or by TVNZ itself.

However, papers released under the Official Information Act show the only figure officially provided to Dr Coleman was that Channel 6 and TVNZ7 together had a monthly audience of 2.1 million.

That figure was contained in a Cabinet paper he approved in February last year which said the Government would not extend its funding of $79 million over six years, $70m of which was offset by a special dividend paid by TVNZ.

Yesterday Dr Coleman said an official from the Culture and Heritage Ministry or someone in his office had verbally provided him with a breakout figure.

"I can't remember exactly but at some point we decided it was 200,000 per week.

"That formula was not correct but at the end of the day that was not central to the argument."

The decision to axe TVNZ7 was made on the basis the funding was for only a set period, he said. The channel had been set up on the understanding it would be self-sustaining when that funding ended.

"When it came to the end of the funding period there was no plan for how they would be funded in future."

Labour's broadcasting spokeswoman, Clare Curran, said the incorrect figure had been "extremely damaging".

"The theme that TVNZ7 has got very small audience figures has been pushed by all Government ministers and so therefore it's not going to be missed."

Labour is running a campaign to save TVNZ7 and Ms Curran said public meetings around the country were attracting hundreds of people.

Officials took steps to ensure Broadcasting Minister Craig Foss, who took over the portfolio in December, would not make the same mistake.

In a memo in March, officials warn: "Cumulative figures cannot be divided to provide weekly audience figures as people only get counted once in the month, so a straight division of four will misrepresent viewer numbers."

The memo also notes TVNZ7's cumulative monthly audience increased to 1.47 million in the week beginning December 25, up from 1.40 million the month before, and a big rise on 863,100 a year earlier.

- © Fairfax NZ News