Crissy blog

Air NZ flight safety video an online hit

An Air New Zealand in-flight safety video featuring camp US fitness guru Richard Simmons has gone viral on the Internet, the airline said Wednesday, attracting a million hits in three days.

Air New Zealand said the video "mile-high madness", which has a sequin- and lycra-clad Simmons taking passengers though pre-flight safety routines on a plane decked out like a disco, had been hailed as the best safety video ever.

The airline's marketing manager Mike Tod described the online response to the video as "quite extraordinary".

"In a matter of hours the new safety video had become a global hit on YouTube," Tod said.

The three-minute video, which includes a cameo appearance from Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe in a sweatband and shorts, began screening on Air New Zealand flights this week.

The airline has previously had safety videos featuring cabin staff wearing nothing but body paint, and New Zealand's famous All Blacks rugby union team.

A scene from the latter, showing New Zealand centre Richard Kahui refusing to kiss a male flight attendant, was cut after complaints it could spur gay suicides.

Air New Zealand has also stirred controversy with advertisements featuring a furry puppet called Rico who makes double entendres as he extols the airlines virtues, with some staff labelling it a "sleazeball".

The airline bemused many New Zealanders with an advertisement released this month which had the puppet starring alongside US rapper Snoop Dogg, reciting lyrics such as "from Cali to Kiwi -- we do it big in the New Zee".

The Simmons video can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iaTEgoezNQ

Germany stars shoulder blame for Socceroos defeat

Germany's stars shouldered the blame in the wake of their shock 2-1 defeat here to Australia as the Socceroos claimed their maiden win over the hosts.

After forward Mario Gomez had put the hosts ahead with a first-half strike, two goals in two stunning second-half minutes by Blackpool midfielder David Carney and a penalty from Dynamo Moscow's Luke Wilkshire floored the Germans.

Tuesday's victory was Australia's first win over Germany at the fourth attempt and was revenge for the Socceroos' humiliating 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Germans at last year's World Cup.

Since finishing third in South Africa, Germany have failed to win any of their last four friendlies, but are undefeated and five points clear at the top of their Euro 2012 qualifying group.

Germany coach Joachim Loew was punished for naming an inexperienced line-up which never recovered after the guests stunned their hosts by taking the lead and then refused to buckle when the Germans pressurised for an equaliser.

"It was a question of attitude," admitted veteran striker Miroslav Klose, who came off the bench in the second-half with his side behind.

"You can prepare very well, but then you play a bit loosely come match day and pay the price.

"That sort of thing shouldn't happen."

The 30,000-strong crowd, mainly Germans with pockets of die-hard Australian fans, vented their frustrations with loud boos and whistles in the second-half when the home side fell behind.

Defender Arne Friedrich, another survivor from the side which won so convincingly at the World Cup last June, said the team suffered from their inexperience.

"We had a lot of changes, but that is no excuse," said the Wolfsburg star.

"We didn't pay attention for a few minutes and were punished.

"The coach can't have failed to notice what worked and what didn't, so these type of matches are necessary (to experiment)."

Goal-scorer Mario Gomez blamed the fans for his poor performance, who booed and whistled their team in Moenchengladbach, just as they did against Kazakhstan on Saturday despite the 4-0 win in Kaiserslautern.

"I wasn't able to concentrate fully," admitted Bayern Munich star Gomez, who with 19 goals, is the Bundesliga's top-scorer.

"Normally, my biggest competition for a place in the team is Miroslav, but at the moment, some of the fans are not making life easy."

Mainz striker Andre Schuerrle, who was winning only his second cap and was one of several who struggled, admitted the team lost their shape after falling behind.

"A lot of things didn't work, because we weren't organised enough," said the 20-year-old.

"We then let in the two stupid goals and we threw the game away."

Dortmund defender Mats Hummels, winning his fourth cap, said he sympathised with the fans frustrations.

"You have to understand the whistles, it is pretty expensive to watch a football match these days," he said.

"It's a few hundred euros to bring a family here and we didn't perform."

Oprah's last show: Will planet Earth survive?

The media's most powerful woman will wrap up her talk show in May — and bloggers are already relishing the finale's over-the-top flourishes

When Oprah Winfrey launched her namesake OWN network last year, she reassured fans of her syndicated talk show that she'd continue taping it until September, 2011. Change of plan: The queen of sympathy has moved up the finale of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to May 25, possibly becauserequires her full attention. Oprah's announcement quicklyexactly how the last show might transpire. Here's a sampling of remarks:

I'm all farklempt! "Start stockpiling the tissues now," ."You get a box of Kleenex! And YOU get a box of Kleenex! And YOU get abox of Kleenex!"

What's in it for me?"We're expecting her to give away small islands to each and every member of the studio audience in attendance," .

Paging Tom Cruise... "Details on which celebrity might be jumping up and down on her couchforthe last time... have not been released," Or someone even more powerful"As of now, no word on who her final guest will be," , "but we're thinking at this point that it's probably going to be Jesus! Seriously, if anyone can pull it off and get him,it's her!"

Forget the guests"Honestly, we don’t want to see any guests on Oprah’sfinal show," . Montages and memories of years past would be much more appropriate. Although, perhaps "Oprahcan give everyone a car too? You know, for old time's sake."

View this article on GetIssues of The Week

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Wal-Mart opposes big sex-bias case at Supreme Court

Several U.S. Supreme Court justices sharply questioned on Tuesday whether female employees at Wal-Mart Stores Inc can proceed with the largest class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit in history that seeks billions of dollars.

At issue in the case was whether a small group of women who began the lawsuit 10 years ago against the world's largest retailer can represent a huge nationwide class that could total millions of women.

After attorneys for Wal-Mart and for the employees presented arguments, a crowd of protesters that had gathered outside the Supreme Court shouted "fair pay now" and carried signs such as "Stop discounting the women of Wal-Mart" and "The women of Wal-Mart are not worthless."

Chris Kwapnoski, a 24-year Wal-Mart employee and one of the named plaintiffs in the case, confidently told reporters after the arguments, "We're not going to lose."

She recalled being told by a manager to "brush the cobwebs off" and "doll up" if she wanted advancement.

After listening to the attorneys, the top court took the case under advisement, with a ruling expected by late June. The decision could change the legal landscape for workplace and other class-action lawsuits.

During the session, some justices strongly questioned the arguments by the plaintiffs.

NOT SURE WHAT THE UNLAWFUL POLICY IS

Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate conservative who often casts the decisive vote on the nine-member court, said, "I'm just not sure what the unlawful policy is."

Justice Antonin Scalia described as inconsistent the argument by the plaintiffs that Wal-Mart had a strong corporate culture that fostered stereotypes of women while at the same time giving local store managers too much discretion in pay and promotion decisions.

Scalia questioned whether it would be fair to the company for the case to proceed. "Is this really due process?" he asked.

Wal-Mart's attorney, Theodore Boutrous, who argued the case, said female employees in different jobs and in different stores do not have enough in common to be in a single class-action lawsuit.

"It's not fair to anyone to bring this in one big class," he told the justices.

Joseph Sellers, an attorney for the women, argued the class-action lawsuit should be allowed to go to trial for a decision on the merits of the claims. "This is an extraordinary case," he said.

Betty Dukes, a Wal-Mart employee in Pittsburg, California, for whom the case has been named, attended the arguments, along with Kwapnoski.

"Without a class action, I wouldn't be able to do anything about the discrimination. Wal-Mart is just too big. A class action gives us a fair shot. That is all we ask for," Dukes said.

Women's groups have said a Wal-Mart victory could signal a significant retreat for women's rights in the workplace.

Businesses said a Wal-Mart defeat could make every large corporation vulnerable to sweeping allegations of employment bias and would water down class-action requirements.

Large class-action lawsuits make it easier for big groups of plaintiffs to sue corporations and they have led to huge payouts by tobacco, oil and food companies.

Companies have sought to limit such lawsuits to individual or small groups of plaintiffs. The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, has often agreed, dating back to 1997.

Legal experts and financial analysts said even if Wal-Mart loses in the Supreme Court and at trial, the retailer with more than $400 billion in sales and $16 billion in net income last year has enough cash to make a big payout.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Colin McGranahan said he estimates a settlement could cost roughly $1.5 billion. That equates to 26 cents per Wal-Mart share, or less than 0.5 percent of the company's current share price.

He said Wal-Mart could "easily" fund that through existing liquidity or free cash flow, with less than 1 percent impact on its earnings per share.

The Supreme Court case is Wal-Mart Stores Inc v. Betty Dukes, No. 10-277.

(additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Jessica Wohl IN Chicago, (Editing by Christopher Wilson and Philip Barbara)

St. Francis (Pa.) defeats Monmouth (NJ) 57-51

LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Jesse Steele scored 20 points and Monmouth (N.J.) used two second-half spurts to pull away from St. Francis (Pa.) 57-51 on Thursday night, splitting the season series.

After the game's fifth tie at 34-34, the Hawks (9-18, 5-10 Northeast Conference) went on an 8-0 run.

The Red Flash closed to 42-39 with 10:07 to go, then Monmouth used a 9-1 spurt to build an 11-point lead with 5:32 left.

St. Francis responded with a 10-2 run to make it 53-50 with 1:02 remaining. Marcus Ware hit a jumper and Steele made two free throws to push the lead back to seven.

The point total was the season's second-lowest for St. Francis (7-19, 5-10), which lost 57-44 at St. Francis (N.Y.) on Dec. 2.

Mike Myers Keitt added 12 points for the Hawks, who shot only 37 percent from the field (20 of 54) while avenging their 70-54 defeat Jan. 13.

Umar Shannon scored 13 to lead the Red Flash.