Sideswipe: December 5: The hungry bird

Even the smaller creatures of our world get hungry and call for Mum and Dad. "This little guy, a white eye chick that stands less than an AAA battery, got the attention of his parents pretty well."

Movie titles you'll never recognise

The movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was translated in Israel to It's Raining Falafel and in Turkey, Raining Kofte. Big Hollywood films have immediate name recognition in the United States, but in the rest of the world, moviegoers are long accustomed to their countries translating the titles. The results are often amusing. No one can quite explain how in Israel Terminator became Deadly Mission, or how Alien turned into The 8th Passenger or Top Gun morphed into Love in the Skies. In France, 80s TV show The Dukes of Hazzard became Sheriff, Make Me Afraid and The Hangover is known as Very Bad Trip. Germany's translation of Woody Allen's classic Annie Hall as The Urban Neurotic makes sense, but the funniest has to be China's interpretation of The Full Monty. The comedy about men who form a striptease act was renamed Six Naked Pigs.

Initiative not rewarded

A man in China has been fined after he was captured on surveillance footage painting new road signs in a bid to make his daily commute easier. The Modern Express reports that the 28-year-old was caught with a can of white paint painting new arrows on to the road to redirect traffic. "I saw that the straight lane was always packed with cars, while the lane that turns left has a lot of space," he said. "I thought changing the signs would make my commute smoother."

Nativity joke falls flat

The Pak'nSave creativity team love a good pun but one reader didn't see the funny side. "Secular celebrations at Christmas, sure ... we are a secular society, but poking fun at others who deeply hold beliefs and traditions, like a nativity scene ... Is this okay?"

Bad sex in fiction

The Literary Review's 2017 Bad Sex in Fiction shortlist includes this:

"A clothed body is always human or human-like, a naked body always animal or animal-like. Only at close quarters is the full extent of a body's wildness revealed, like when a bird gets trapped inside a house. One is moved to not entirely human thinking then. One goes towards its animalness." (From Here Comes Trouble by Simon Wroe) Read the full shortlist here.

Quick links

1. The ludicrous story of a man who was sued by a monkey over copyright for his image of said monkey taking a selfie, as told by This American Life.

2. Indecent Apes. Where a scientific magazine is banned from a supermarket chain...

3. Hands off, he's mine.

Video Pick

If action movie director Michael Bay made waffles, he'd make 'em like this…

Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz