Latest news with #Burd
NZ Herald
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
No Tears on the Field: A love letter to grassroots women's rugby
And it's women – from a pre-teen girls' team who've just 'smashed' the boys to a Black Ferns superstar – who get the final word. 'The [festival organisers] called me and said, 'What are we going to do about the swearing?'' says Burd. 'But they decided not to bleep it out because there'd be almost nothing left; the beeps would be constant. And that's what a true blue doco is.' Mereana Anderson makes a storming run for Clifton in the Taranaki women's rugby premiership. People talk about the arts being a labour of love, but for an independent filmmaker like Burd, it truly is. No Tears on the Field, her fifth documentary, is almost completely self-funded. She sold her campervan to help finance the project and gave up her paid job as a visual journalist at the Taranaki Daily News late last year to concentrate on getting it completed. A Boosted campaign aiming to raise $30,000 to help cover the final costs closes next week. The day before we talk, Burd has been up till midnight working on the colour grading, after driving up to Auckland from New Plymouth in atrocious weather. She did much of the initial filming herself and, to the exasperation of her post-production team, used half a dozen different forms of camera during the shoot, including a GoPro, a drone and her cellphone. 'Matching all those colours is quite challenging,' she says. 'But I just picked up [what was at hand] and started.' Dairy farm manager Kate Thomson, one of the stars of the documentary, plays at prop for the Southern Sharks. Burd is exhausted, but the result speaks for itself. Finalists for the Doc Edge Awards have just been announced and No Tears on the Field has been nominated in five categories: best feature, director, editing, sound, and cinematography. Choosing not to use an intrusive voiceover makes for raw and immersive storytelling, a deceptively difficult approach that's become Burd's trademark style. For The Pinkies are Back, her 2021 documentary, she embedded with a dragon boat team made up of breast cancer survivors. Monterey, released in 2016, was filmed at an Auckland cafe over an entire year and won her a Doc Edge emerging filmmaker award. Here, the star power is provided by double Olympic gold medallist Michaela Blyde, who started out playing club rugby in Taranaki before gaining legendary status with the Black Ferns Sevens. Black Ferns Sevens superstar Michaela Blyde with her father, Stephen, a former Taranaki rugby representative. Now Michaela Brake, after marrying rower Michael Brake, she's just signed for the Warriors' women's team for its return to the league competition this year. Getting her on camera, alongside her mother, Cherry – herself a former Black Fern – was a real coup. The guts of the story, though, is grounded firmly in the heartland. 'The real legends come out of grassroots rugby,' says Burd. A local girl who grew up on a dry-stock farm in Taranaki chasing her two older brothers around, Burd admits there wasn't universal support for her decision to focus solely on the women's game when she first pitched the idea. Currently based in New Plymouth, she also had to break down an instinctive reserve where she was kept at arm's length, even within the clubs whose fortunes she followed most closely. 'It took a long time to build people's trust. They still see me as a townie, I think.' Maddison Davison, who plays at Number 8 for Clifton, on her parents' sharemilking farm. An immensely engaging and entertaining story, packed with unexpected twists and turns, No Tears on the Field centres on key players from two rival teams hunting the championship title. Kate Thomson, who's nicknamed The Bulldozer, manages a large dairy farm and is a powerful prop with the Southern Sharks, the defending champions after beating Clifton in a nail-biter final by just three points. 'Absolutely no mercy on the field,' she says, with a grin. 'I don't care who you are, if you're in front of me, I'm going to run you over.' Maddison Davison, another big personality totally at ease in front of the camera, plays at Number 8 for Clifton and works on her parents' sharemilking farm. Her dad, Justin, coaches Clifton and her mum, Brenda, is the team manager. Mereana Anderson is a prop for Clifton. A 'beautiful, bubbly' primary school teacher, she's utterly ruthless on the field and has ambitions to play for the Black Ferns. Women's rugby is often more exciting to watch, she reckons. 'No offence to the All Blacks, but it is.' When she's on the rampage, it takes about seven people to bring her down. Another rising talent is her teammate Phoenix Fraser, a flanker who was just 16 when Burd began filming. Phoenix Fraser, a talented flanker for Clifton. The documentary also features former Black Ferns coach Vicky Dombroski, the only woman to have held that role. Grace, strength, power – you need all of that to play rugby, says Burd, who was forced to draw on some inner toughness of her own, filming from the sideline in freezing conditions. 'I'd have 50 layers on and they'd just be in their little shorts with steam coming off their backs. 'They look great and they're just so bulletproof, you know? They all love it, the camaraderie. There's such strength and resilience in all of them. 'Kate has had so many bad injuries and can rattle them off, but she's desperate to get 100 games under her belt and just keeps coming back. I think she'd be lost without it. 'They find their power within. On the rugby field, you get to be the true side of yourself in a way that [as women] you might not otherwise get the chance to do. And then some of them go out afterwards with their makeup on and dressed up to the nines.' Mt Taranaki – and dairy cows – form the backdrop for filmmaker Lisa Burd's new documentary. Not all of the women have had an easy time of it, facing some significant personal losses along the way. That's handled with sensitivity by Burd, who's always been drawn to the underdog. A sub-plot threaded through the main narrative tells the comeback story of Tukapa, a club that was fielding a team for the first time in 30 years. 'Their mission was to do it quietly, slowly and make it all about the women,' she says. 'So they set up a creche and arranged cooking nights, where the boys would cook one night and the girls the other. They just totally embraced that. 'In their first game, they got wasted. But we round back to them at the very end and it shows the results of how well they were looked after and how the guys loved having the girls there.' Other clubs are starting to take notice. While the number of men playing rugby in New Zealand is declining, registrations by women and girls are at record levels. That's forcing a change in attitudes, says Burd, with both skill levels and public support for the women's game reaching new highs. 'I think people are realising they have to go with the times if they want to be in to win, and that if they have a good women's team, then that'll be good for their club.' Doc Edge is putting on a special screening of No Tears on The Field at an independent cinema in Stratford for those who can't leave their farms and make it to the Auckland premiere. Burd brought a largely local crew on board – Mt Taranaki becomes a character in its own right in the film – and local blues band The Mons Whaler gifted some of their music for the soundtrack. In 2016, Burd worked on Real Housewives of Auckland in casting and as a field producer, later making a documentary, Let's Talk About Sex, with Julia Sloane, one of the reality show's controversial stars. The two worlds couldn't seem further apart, but Burd sees some similarities in their alpha personalities. 'They're all strong women within themselves and there's a confidence in that they don't mind being seen,' she says. 'They've got a goal, they've named it and they've gone for it.' In 2022, a record-breaking 1.3 million Kiwis watched the Black Ferns lift the Women's Rugby World Cup. In August, they head to England to defend their title. No Tears on the Field premieres on June 25 and has screening dates in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Stratford. See Doc Edge: Strange journeys A seven-day dating boot camp in China, family separations on the US/Mexico border and the dark underbelly of the global tuna trade are among the eclectic lineup at this year's festival. More than 30 world premieres mark Doc Edge's 20th anniversary, which will showcase 90 features, short films and immersive projects. The Dating Game, directed by Violet Du Feng, explores the pressures of modern courtship in China. Opening on June 25, the programme screens across two months in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, with virtual cinema passes also available for online viewing. An Oscar-qualifying festival, Doc Edge presents its annual awards on July 3, and winners of the best local and international feature and short film categories will be eligible for consideration at the 2026 Academy Awards. Here's a taster of what's in store: Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, directed by Linus O'Brien. Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror It's 50 years since The Time Warp unleashed a global cult following. And who better to explore that phenomenon than director Linus O'Brien – Rocky Horror creator Richard O'Brien, who also played Riff Raff, is his dad. Folktales, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. Folktales Three Gen Z teens enrol in a traditional 'folk high school' in the Arctic wilds of northern Norway, spending a year off social media with only a team of sled dogs for company. Let's hope they do a better job of surviving than the Yellowjackets did. A Sisters' Tale, directed by Leila Amini. A Sisters' Tale In Iran, women are forbidden from singing in public. For seven years, director Leila Amini filmed her sister, Nasreen – once silenced by marriage and tradition – as she dared to reclaim her voice. Ms President, directed by Marek Sulik. Ms President A lawyer and human rights activist, Zuzana Caputova faced 'an aggressively misogynistic atmosphere' in 2019 when she became Slovakia's first female president (sound familiar?). An intimate portrait of her five years in power. Never Get Busted, directed by David Anthony Ngo and Stephen McCallum. Never Get Busted How a former Texas narcotics officer switched sides to become a frontline fighter against America's War on Drugs. Doc Edge 2025 screens in Auckland (June 25-July 13), Wellington (july 16-27) and Christchurch (July 16-27). For the full programme and to buy tickets, see Joanna Wane is an award-winning senior lifestyle writer with a special interest in social issues and the arts.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Oil and gas teacher workshop aims to end West Virginia 'brain drain'
MORGANTOWN — East Fairmont Middle School teacher Michael Leshko squats down at eye level with a contraption that contains boiling green mouthwash. The mouthwash boils off some gases, which travel down a coil encased in glass. Leshko holds a bag of water over the piping, which cools the gas until it condenses again and drips out into a small plastic cup. Leshko joked it was West Virginia's grand tradition of making moonshine, but in the case of the oil and gas teachers workshop he took part in Thursday, the tradition took on an entirely different significance. 'What we're doing is boiling and collecting the alcohol that is boiled off,' Leshko said. 'This is exactly the same way gasoline or other products are made from crude oil or from the liquid form of natural gas that is pumped out of the ground in West Virginia.' The Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia held its 7th annual Science Teacher Workshop in Morgantown on Thursday. More than 40 teachers from across the state received curriculum materials and hands-on experience with eight training units that are related to the state's natural gas and oil industry. Charlie Burd, president of the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia, said the workshop gives teachers the latest details and information on the industry so they can take that information back to their students and incorporate it in class. Burd said today's students will someday be candidates for jobs within the oil and gas industry. 'Anytime we can get children or students more engaged in our industry at an earlier time, the better,' he said. 'The better off we are to having a willing and waiting workforce. Waiting till high school, when they're ready to graduate, isn't as good as trying to catch them early on in their late middle school or early high school stage.' Burd said teachers learn all aspects of the industry at the workshop, from distribution, to drilling, well construction, environmental safety, storage, transmission and other essential parts of the field. Teachers also learn how natural gas is fractured and processed, and how heavier hydrocarbons such as propane, butane and isobutane are separated out and how those elements are used to create the synthetics that appear in everyday life. There's also a geopolitical aspect to the education teachers bring back to their classrooms. 'We take natural gas, and we produce so much of it here in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania area that we produce six times more than we use,' Burd said. 'What we don't use here, we ship out to other parts of the country or from a geopolitical standpoint, we liquefy and send it to other allies across the globe.' Craig Whitaker, one of the education specialists at the event, said the ultimate goal of the workshop was to get children to understand how oil and gas reflect on the everyday objects they use and things they do, and how that connects back to careers. Whitaker added the oil and gas industry has openings across the educational spectrum, a degree in engineering isn't necessary for a job in the field. 'For the workforce of the future, kids need to know what jobs are out there and available for them that don't necessarily require a four-year degree or even a technical degree,' Whitaker said. 'Being able to make those connections in the classroom to get them to springboard them into careers within this industry, because — Pennsylvania, parts of Kentucky — you're looking at one of the largest oil and natural gas reserves in the entire world right now. So, these are up-and-coming jobs that could be sustained for a lifetime.' Whitaker said the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics aspect is important because the industry is trying to get kids to apply the problem solving skills they learn in the classroom and take it to the field on their own. Maureen Miller, a middle school teacher in Putnam County Schools, said the timing of the workshop is perfect because it happens at the end of the school year, and gives teachers plenty of time to develop lesson plans from the material they learn at the workshop. She's been to the workshop seven years in a row, and regularly incorporates what she learns at the workshop into her classroom. 'I created an entire project based upon all the activities that are done in this,' she said. 'They have to build a pipeline themselves. They have to work together to develop ways, if they were an oil and gas company. So, so they have to develop their company logo, their business cards. They have to research all the different types of jobs in there.' The final project has students build a simulated pipeline that goes across Putnam County, which is the pipeline that exists now. A sample of oil or gas has to travel through the pipeline for students to be successful. Miller said mastering these skills is important in order to create productive members of society, and it is important to make students aware of what opportunities the field provides. 'First of all, preventing brain drain from our state,' Miller said. 'These wonderful students, so they stay here in our state and contribute to our West Virginia society and be a productive citizen. That is ideally what we want to see happen.'
Axios
27-05-2025
- Health
- Axios
U of I study challenges meat-muscle theory
Vegan protein can work just as well as animal protein when it comes to muscle building, according to a recent University of Illinois study. Why it matters: The research appears to upend long-held beliefs, based on lab studies of subjects who ate whey protein versus soy or other plant-based proteins, that animal protein offers the best path toward muscle building. What they're saying: "We hypothesized that animal protein would be greater than vegan, and protein distribution (meaning meal timing) would matter," Nicholas Burd, researcher and director of the UIUC Nutrition and Exercise Performance Group, tells Axios. "But as the paper showed, our findings are in contrast to our hypotheses." Methodology: Burd randomly assigned 40 young adult participants to eat vegan or omnivore meals for nine days. They engaged in three weightlifting sessions over the nine days and at the end of the trial, researchers biopsied participants' muscles to track "protein synthesis" and observed no significant differences. Zoom in: Burd also had subjects eat their meals at different times to see "if frequent and smaller meals are better for muscle building than eating two small ones and a big one at the end of the day." The result: Also no difference. The change: This U of I study looked beyond the effects of isolated protein sources by giving participants whole meals that, for instance, paired beans with rice, creating "a complete protein." Burd thinks this likely contributed to the surprising results. The big takeaway: "Achieving a high-quality protein meal that supports the muscle-building response in response to weight lifting can be achieved via different ways," Burd says. "Including animal protein foods into the meal is easier to achieve a high-quality protein meal, but vegan approaches can be effective too, especially when using complementary protein pairings to balance the amino acid profiles." The intrigue: The research was sponsored by the beef industry-funded marketing and research program known as The Beef Checkoff. But Burd says his funders didn't try to influence the outcome. "The Beef Checkoff is committed to educating the consumer regardless of the outcome, but I'd assume they expected a different outcome because our findings are in contrast to what we originally hypothesized. That's the beauty of science … the conviction for a hypothesis doesn't dictate whether it's true or not."
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
How to complete Jar Jar Binks quests in Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 3
Image via Epic Games Fortnite's collaboration with Star Wars continues to expand, and this time it brings the galaxy's most eccentric Gungan into the mix. Jar Jar Binks has landed on the island, and helping him out in Chapter 6 Season 3 could earn you a generous XP boost. The Jar Jar Binks quests are part of the Galactic Battle event in Fortnite and offer both fun and rewards. Here's how you can complete the full set of tasks tied to this quirky character. Where to find Jar Jar Binks in Fortnite? To get started, you'll need to find Jar Jar Binks on the island. He's located near a small riverside house, just between Foxy Floodgate and the Burd to Go gas station. Once you approach him, select the 'Help Troopers' dialogue option to begin the Found Quest, which consists of four tasks in total. Fortnite Complete Story Quests - How to EASILY Complete Jar Jar Binks Found Story Quests Each stage you complete will reward you with 30,000 XP, amounting to a total of 120,000 XP. Step-by-step guide to completing Jar Jar's Found quest 1. Collect a fish: Near Jar Jar's house, you'll find a barrel containing Fishing Rods. Pick one up and head down to the nearby river. Cast your line, wait for it to bob, then reel it in. You only need one fish, but make sure to collect it from the water. 2. Throw the fish inside a republic outpost: Keep the fish in your inventory and travel to any Republic Outpost. These are mainly found in the southeast section of the map near Masked Meadows and Kappa Kappa Factory. Once inside an Outpost, throw the fish onto the ground to complete this task. 3. Use sprays inside a republic outpost: Don't leave just yet. While still inside the Outpost, open your Emote wheel and select a Spray. Apply it on any surface nearby. You can use any Spray you've unlocked, though a Clone Trooper Spray is a thematic fit. 4. Report back to Jar Jar Binks: With all tasks completed, return to Jar Jar at his original location and interact with him again. This final step will wrap up the quest and deliver your last dose of XP. For casual players and Star Wars fans alike, this short but quirky questline offers a great blend of humor, nostalgia, and useful rewards. Whether you're grinding XP or just helping a clumsy Gungan cheer up Clone Troopers, this quest is a win-win. Get IPL 2025 match schedules , squads , points table , and live scores for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
The Independent
22-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Trying to bulk up? It doesn't really matter what you eat to gain muscle
Trying to build muscle? It doesn't really matter what kind of protein you eat after weight training, researchers announced this week following a new study. Eating plant or animal-based protein will do the trick, they said, challenging a long held notion. 'The longstanding belief or the current dogma was that animal-based protein sources were better, particularly for the muscle-building response,' Nicholas Burd, a professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in a statement. Burd led the study with former graduate student Andrew Askow. It was published on Monday in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. It was supported by the Beef Checkoff program, which was overseen by the National Cattlemen's Beef Board. Previous studies had found that muscle biopsies after a single feeding showed an animal-based meal provided more of a stimulus for muscle protein synthesis than a vegan meal, he noted. However, measurements taken after a single meal might not reflect the effects of a balanced vegan diet, he cautioned. Burd's lab recruited 40 healthy and physically active men and women between the ages of 20 and 40 to examine how vegan or meat-based diets influence the rate of the process in which protein is produced to repair muscle damage after intense exercise — eventually leading to muscle gain. The experiment also tested the hypothesis that a moderate protein intake should be distributed evenly throughout the day to maximize muscle growth. The recruited participants underwent a week-long 'habituation diet' to put them on an even nutritional playing field, and then were assigned to either a vegan or meat-eating diet. Some of the meals the lab provided for them were eaten in the lab. Most were consumed at home. The meat diet included beef, pork, chicken, dairy, and eggs. The vegan diet balanced the amino acid content of their provided meals, the study's authors noted. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. The groups were divided once more into those who ate roughly the same amount of protein at each of three daily meals, and those whose intake varied across five meals eaten daily. All groups participated in muscle-strengthening activities in the labs every three days, wearing accelerometers to track their activity levels at home. Lastly, the participants drank what is known as 'heavy' water. Instead of hydrogen, the atoms are replaced with a heavier fingerprint of the element. Those replaced atoms allowed the researchers to trace where they went in muscle tissue, and they took samples of tissue from participants' leg muscle at the beginning and end of the trial. Ultimately, they found there were no differences in the process in which protein is produced to repair muscle damage between those eating vegan or omnivorous diets. Researchers also found that protein distribution across the day had no effect on the rate of muscle building. Burd said the results surprised him. So, what's the best kind of food to eat to gain muscle? 'It's the kind you put in your mouth after exercise. As long as you're getting sufficient high-quality protein from your food, then it really doesn't make a difference,' said Burd.
