Sideswipe

Blot: Peregrine winery apparently blends into the landscape.

The Peregrine Winery in Gibbston Valley in Central Otago has just won a supreme award for design from the Institute of Architects. But the house that Shania Twain wants to build near Wanaka has been blocked because the Queenstown Lakes District Council says it doesn't blend in with the surrounding landscape. Now there is something wrong here.

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Mattel is suing to shut down a BBQ restaurant in Quebec called Barbie's, on the grounds that very stupid children might wander alone into the bar/restaurant and order ribs under the mistaken impression that they have something to do with the Barbie dolls. "My client's position is that there's no confusion when you have an adult restaurant with a bar that has nothing in it to have someone think about toys or children," says the restaurant's lawyer. "It's not decorated in pink colours or in any way that could have someone think about dolls or children." But documents filed with the Supreme Court show Mattel thinks there's plenty of room for confusion and the company deserves exclusive rights to the brand. "Barbie and Barbie's are among the most famous marks in North America, having been widely used and promoted for more than 40 years," the company maintains.

(Source: boingboing.net)

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Gordon D. McKendry, of Epsom, writes: "Auckland's best secondary school cyclist teams (our future Olympians) race usually every second Sunday morning along the waterfront near Mechanics Bay to a turn-around point 8km out at St Heliers. Last Sunday as usual racing gets under way and the many supporting parents adjourn to various coffee shops and vantage points to cheer on their daughters and sons. A typical one-hour watching would be to park yourselves at a road-side cafe with your coffee and cakes and every time one of your kids' school teams go past, casually wander to the kerb and call encouraging words, then order more coffee ... Imagine parents' surprise when those sitting at Cafe On Kohi last Sunday are actually asked to leave by the owner as they do not allow calling out to cyclists! Given there were only two other customers in the place and the rest were all cyclist parent supporters, it is hard to understand where the guy is coming from."