Sideswipe: June 12: PR at its best

If it sounds like PR it probably is PR. "Not sure about the validity of some of these consumer comments on the side of this box of baby rusks!" writes Susan Miller.

Sax trickster gets punked

Sax players always get the girls. Well not always. "I was at a little club/restaurant in Sydney called Soup Plus. It was kinda quiet and this dude at the table casually gets out a case, pulls out a sax and plays Memories. He plays it really, really well. He got the girls that night. So, why mess with a formula. Back in NZ, I borrow a mate's sax, rig a 3" speaker down into the cone and wire it to a little Sony Walkman hidden in my pocket loaded with a cassette of a solo sax session. I rehearsed the mime to the notes for hours. And then came the night to get the girls. We hit Bacchus restaurant on Courtenay Place and it is full of hot tottie ... About 10pm I stand up at our table with sax strung over neck, reed approaching lips. People are looking. A bit of hush even. I surreptitiously hit the play button on the Walkman. Out blares the theme from Flipper, the original from the CBS classic 60s TV themes album. My mate Darryl is on the floor now, tears of laughter. He, of course, is the wag who switched the cassette. I didn't get the girls." (Via NZ's Music Scene, Bands and Nite-clubs 1960s and 1970s)

Children are embarrassing

1. "I had stopped at a liquor outlet for a bottle of wine to give to the hosts of a party. While I was selecting an appropriate bottle, my daughter (who had just turned 4) picked up an especially pretty blue bottle of vodka. She danced around holding the bottle until I had made my purchase. I told her, "It's time to go - you can put that back on the shelf now." She replied, in a happy, chirpy voice loud enough for the whole store to hear, "But I love vodka!"

2. "I will never forget it, my son was 2 and his father, who was my husband at the time, would fart and then playfully blame my son for it. They would laugh and have fun with that. One day, as I was at the supermarket checkout. There was a long line behind me. My son farted very loudly. Then he yelled, just as loudly: 'Mummy, you farted!' I seriously didn't know what to say or do. People just started laughing. I just wanted to disappear!" (Source: Quora.com)

Agent inadvertently brings personal touch

A reader writes: "We recently went to view my mother-in-law's new house. She and my father-in-law were waiting patiently on the deck when we arrived with 3-year-old grandson in tow, just behind the real estate agent who had also just arrived. 'Aren't you going to give me a kiss?' said mother-in-law... The agent sheepishly leaned in and puckered, but she was [of course] talking to her grandson. Awkward [but hilarious]."

Art: Polish artist Pawel Kuczynski specialises in thought-provoking images that make his audience question their everyday lives. His subjects deal with everything from social media to politics to poverty, and all have a very distinct message if you look closely enough...

Picture this: Fifteen horrifying attempts to make awful food look fancy...

Picture this: A good tip...

Video: From the days when the wide boys of New Zealand television could get funded to make an epic version of the national anthem, this is what greeted TV viewers everyday at 6am on channel one during the 1980s. The visuals showthe everyday scenes of New Zealand. The singers are Annie Crummer, Bunny Walters and John Rowles...

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Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz