Surf's Up For Air NZ

Hey dude, if you've not flown Air New Zealand internationally in the last month, you've probably not caught a wave or two with its latest safety video.
This time, it's teamed up with some of the world's hottest surfers...past and present world champs, NZ's best surfers, and two of the world's most popular women surfers on social media.
But wait! Aren't some of these waves in California and Ozzie's Gold Coast??? Yeup, and the producers threw in a bit of Piha and Raglan too, just to keep it vaguely kiwi.
Hmmm, I know surfers are generally a bit crazy, but why promote surf, sun and safety in the middle of a Noo Zild WINTER???
And that backing track seemed ever so tedious and inane...
Still, perhaps - as this is the 11th of the safety videos that get tens of millions of online views globally - Air NZ's getting low on ideas. No! Marketing boss Mike Tod says it's aimed at creating awareness of three locations the airline operates in. And by involving surfers from Brazil and Japan as well, the airline hopes to create interest in those countries too.
Say what? If they're seeing the vid on an Air NZ jet, then they're already on their way here, right? Wrong! There's method in the Air NZ Madness! It's designed to make YOU wanna fly to those places with THEM!
So when does the line between safety message and marketing get crossed? Did that happen months back, with Air NZ's controversial swimsuit vid? And let's not even mention the crappy Richards Simmons one!
Ok, so if you want oxygen masks dropping from a Malibu lifeguard tower, floating paper lanterns to represent floor lights, airline seats on a Gold Coast beach, tanned taut and terrif rubber-clad surfer girls and boys, then check this...

Faroese Enjoy Family Bloodbath

The Faroe Island's first grindadráp (or whale slaughter) of 2015 kicked off in fine form yesterday morning, on the island of Vágar in the NW of the Faroe Islands archipelago.
Officials say 154 individual pilot whales were in the slaughtered pod, making this one of the bloodiest grinds in at least two years.
The Faroese Fisheries Patrol vessel Brimil located the large pod south of Vágar. Over the next 4-5hrs, as many as 25 hunting boats drove the pod, finally herding them on to the beach of Miðvágur where the killing took place.
The slaughter occurred just two weeks before Sea Shepherd crews are due to arrive in the Faroe Islands, for the start of the organisation's 2015 Faroe Islands pilot whale defence campaign, Operation Sleppid Grindini.
CEO of SS Global, Alex Cornelissen: "The beaches of the Faroe Islands are once again red with the blood of hundreds of slaughtered pilot whales. Without the presence of SS, shining a spotlight on these ferocious shores, this massacre will continue unabated."

For hundreds of years, the Faroese have been herding migrating pilot whales from the sea into shallow water and slaughtering them. The slaughter, known by the local term 'grindadráp' or 'grind', wipes-out entire family groups of whales and dolphins at one time.
Operation Sleppid Grindini will be SS's 6th.campaign in the Faroe Islands. Led by SS ships Bob Barker, Sam Simon and Brigitte Bardot, and supported by a dedicated land team, the campaign marks SS's strongest at-sea presence in the region to date.

Kiwi Coffee Kills The Cappuchino

Once considered the height of sophistication, the cappuccino may now be in decline.
Starbucks, the world's biggest chain of coffee shops, has taken it off the menu in a number of US outlets. And what's pushed it out…is the good ol' kiwi favourite: the flat white!
Invented during the 1970s in New Zealand, the flat white is a coffee house staple here. And now Starbucks is playing catch-up. But because Americans fear anything unfamiliar, their news outlets have had to publish articles explaining what goes into the drink. Ahhhh, bless! (Incidentally, a flat white should be in between the foam of a cappuccino and the warm milk of a latte.)
The cappuccino has slowly disappeared from some outlets in NY, San Fran and Seattle - the home of the chain. However, it is still available so fans are able to order them as usual. And Starbucks has no plans to stop selling cappuccinos in the UK.

A decent cuppa char!

Digital brand consultant Peter Thompson, who reviews cafes in London and NY, says he for one will not be grieving the loss of the cappuccino: "It's a relic of when the world aspired to drink coffee Italian-style. It represents the mass consumerization of bland and poorly-made chain coffee." He believes the flat white represents a new wave of independent, hipster-style craft coffee from unexpected places.
Sounds a bit ponsy - we kiwis just think it's a bloody good cuppa!