Sideswipe: Second look...

A tomato or a kitten wistfully gazing out the window?

Don't look, kids

An Arkansas grocery shop used magazine shields to obscure the cover of a US Weekly. The shields are used to cover content deemed inappropriate for children, such as pornography. But this cover featured Elton John and partner David Furnish with their baby, Zachary. The shields were removed after a vigorous Twitter campaign. (Source: Twitter.com)

Thumbs down for Rico

The airline's own staff disapprove and now so do the Aussies. Air New Zealand has begun another ad fronted by their grubby puppet Rico, this time for Australia Day. So how did it go down across the ditch? This comment from a Campaign Brief reader is fairly typical, says Admedia.co.nz. "You'd think the country that gave the world the Flight of the Conchords would be able to go beyond the most banal of double entendres and the 50-year-old idea of using a foreign accent for their national airline ... The two or three I've looked at are incredibly crass." (Please do not send Sideswipe another T-shirt.)

Dry visit home

A reader had a very dry visit home to NZ ... "I got denied everywhere, including supermarkets and bars, and I was 30. I didn't have a NZ driver's licence because I was legally required to convert to a UK photo licence and no NZ passport as it was with the British High Commission getting a new visa. I did contact Simon Power but he said a foreign photo licence was not secure for identity purposes. Imagine my surprise when it was acceptable ID to fly domestically between Nelson, Christchurch and Auckland. It appears the dangers of the demon drink are stronger than the potential damage of a terrorist."

Roads for pedestrians too

Ron Hood from Walk Auckland writes: "Mark Graham is under a misapprehension if he believes roads are for cars only. Under section 11.3 of the 2004 (Road User Rules) pedestrians have the right to cross the road at any point more than 20m from the nearest crossing."

Did anyone see anything?

Alex, a solo dad who took a second job delivering pizza to make ends meet, stopped outside the Quay Street Pizza Hut at 9pm on Monday to pick up an order. "Within minutes some low-life had stolen my GPS ... My car is a small Gold Toyota Platz. I'm so upset; I only get $5 a delivery and pay my own vehicle costs, so $300 to replace a GPS is 60 deliveries."