Sideswipe

This week New Idea's cover story is about The OC starlet Mischa Barton hooking up with All Black Mark Robinson, also known as Sharky, who played half-back for North Harbour.

Trouble is, without a picture of the couple together, the magazine's creative cut and paste job unfortunately used the picture of the other Mark Robinson, the former midfield back for the Crusaders.

* * *

Ragui Michael of San Francisco tells CNN he was not allowed to board a plane from Fresno to San Francisco because his shoe insole was made of a liquid gel.

* * *

Robert Samson faces a $250 fine because the sunflowers in his front yard are too high. The city of Tonawanda, New York, fined him for sight obstruction because they are more than 1m tall. (Source: Reason.com)

* * *

I have come to realise the modern woman really is a multi-tasker, concludes a reader. "This week I saw a young woman driving a car (she was stopped at a busy crossroad intersection) and she was talking on her cell phone with one hand, holding a cigarette in the other, while somehow guiding the steering wheel. I wonder what happens when she wants to take a puff? Or if she needs to indicate? And then I saw two young women travelling up Symonds St, one on a scooter and the other on a skateboard getting a tow in the traffic lanes going 50km/h with no helmet or protective gear. Silly, silly."

* * *

Ian Young of Whenuapai received a water rates bill from the Waitakere City Council. "Included with it was a pamphlet encouraging us to install a water tank," he says. "As an incentive the council is offering those who install a tank a rebate of $500 up until June 30, 2006. Isn't that big of them?"

* * *

Sad news for the NZ Idol franchise: Two out of three former winners appear in the Worst Number 1 Single Ever list as voted by viewers of C4's U Choose 40 music show. At least this year they get a car and some cash to ease the swift backlash of public popularity.

1. They Can't Take That Away - Ben Lummis
2. Axel F - Crazy Frog
3. Mmmbop - Hanson
4. Barbie Girl - Aqua
5. The Ketchup Song - Las Ketchup
6. Popcorn - Crazy Frog
7. Because I got High - Afroman
8. So Damn Beautiful - Michael Murphy
9. Who Let The Dog Out? - Baha Men
10. F**k It - Eamon.

Go to www.c4tv.co.nzwww.c4tv.co.nz to vote for The Greatest Power Ballads Ever.

* * *

On Sunday Prime re-ran a 2004 Top Gear episode in which host Jeremy Clarkson test-drove the Prius. Nadene writes: "True to his petrol-head form, he absolutely loathed it and was delighted to report that its fuel economy was rubbish. According to Jeremy, most new diesels get significantly better mileage ... In defence of the Prius, viewers argued he didn't drive it properly (it does require a different driving style to get the best out of it) and that comparing the quiet, high-spec, four-person Prius with a rattling, low-spec, tiny VW Lupo was rather unfair."