Sideswipe: Not so cool

Everyday price gouging that has nothing to do with the World Cup spotted at a poncy fish retailer in the Viaduct, Auckland. (Source: Radio guy Jesse Mulligan's blog Aucklandfoodblog.co.nz)

Kanye's a happy Tweeter
Kanye West is the latest celebrity to join Twitter and the star, who is known more for his ego and wealth than his music, is making fun of that perception of himself. "I think Twitter was designed specifically with me in mind just my humble opinion hahhhahaaaahaaa humble hahahahhahaahaaaa," he wrote, his best tweets satirising himself. According to Entertainment Weekly website ew.com, yesterday he was posting photos of various regal housewares with deadpan captions like, "I hate half empty water bottles so I copped these goblets to drink out of" and "I specifically ordered Persian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple Persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh."

One little letter...
A reader writes: "Picking the newspaper out of the letterbox yesterday in the dim light of early dawn without my glasses, I thought Hone Harawira was saying 'Don't Hate Pakeha' and thought that's a nice change ... but no, it was 'Don't Date Pakeha'. Some things - and people - never change."

Culture crisis
Like Barney Meyers, David Franks was also upset by an Afrikaans slogan, this time on a woman's T-shirt in Browns Bay. "The wording was 'Praat Afrikaans of hou jou bek', which translates as, 'Speak Afrikaans or shut your mouth'," he says. "My problem is that all former South Africans are lumped together so a bad reputation rubs off on all of us. We are not all arrogant and bad-mannered and I hope that those New Zealanders who know some of us a bit better will understand we are very appreciative of the fact New Zealand has accepted us so readily."

There they go again
"No doubt Barney Meyer also objects to the licence plate seen around Albany that reads 'VOETSK' (voetsak means piss off in Afrikaans)," writes Andrew. "Considering the driving in and around Auckland I thoroughly agree with the owners of such plates. I only wish I had one."

Heavy duty
A few years ago Alex bought a second-hand lamp from a Danish online auction house. "I made sure the cost of the lamp, handling and shipping came to less than the Customs limit for tax. When it arrived I got a bill from Customs for $150. They had arbitrarily increased the value to put it just over the limit. When I rang them they said they had the right to assign value, regardless of true costs. What a rort."

Today's Webpick: Men stripping just looks silly, but in the 80s hunky beefcakes with long hair, dressed as policemen did nationwide tours gyrating for the ladies. Go here.



Follow Ana Samways on Twitter.