From top The 42 Below logo on the Carillon at the National War Memorial. American graffiti: the US entrants spray-painted ‘USA’ and ‘42’ on stage. ‘Team America’ collect their trophy.

A full report from the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup will be coming, but above are some quick shots we took earlier tonight where the US team won top honours. France pulled in a surprise second place, while New Zealand came in third.
   The event, which took place at Massey University’s Great Hall behind the National War Memorial, was the first time proceedings had been transferred to Wellington, where the 24 finalists in eight teams—judged the best bartenders in the world—competed to win the top prize.
   42 Below, the brand that has organized the World Cup since its inception in 2004, said Wellington was the perfect host, as it was where the vodka originated.
   International media, including Lucire’s US west coast editor Elyse Glickman, and New Zealand networks TV One and C4, covered the event.
   Also on the website today is Getty Images Gallery’s latest exhibition, running till April 3, of Hollywood celebrities. Celebrating Hollywood’s centenary, the exhibition takes images from Getty’s archives.
   The Peninsula Hotel opened in Shanghai, curator Angela Lassig talks about her seminal book on New Zealand fashion design, and our team has more fashion picks—this time with prints and patterns.
   And that, ladies and gentlemen, marks the 1,000th entry in the online version of ‘Insider’, which began in 2007.

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