They call it "Cuddle Class," but we affectionately think of it as "Economy Kama Sutra." That's right, we're talking about the infamous Air New Zealand Skycouch.
It's an unconventional seating idea—selling three economy seats with extra room as a kind of convertible bed for two passengers—and AirNZ has been going about marketing it in unconventional ways. But then, when have they ever been conventional? They have a pitch-black plane and body-painted crew for goshsakes!
Lately, however, Air New Zealand has taken the celebrity route to pitch the seats, involving such unlikely names as Richard Simmons, David Hasselhoff, Snoop Dogg and now...the scandalous Playboy twin ex-girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. Watch above as they flirt with AirNZ's latest mascots. ]]>
We've made the point once or twice before, but not only do we adore innovative travel search engine Hipmunk on its merits, but there's also something about their cute little mascot that seems custom-built for the Internet. We're not sure that the success can be reduced down to a simple formula, except inasmuch as the Internet loves cute animals that are kind of animated, and the Hipmunk mascot is a cute animal that's kind of animated, and so the Internet loves the Hipmunk mascot.
Hmmm. Apparently it can be reduced to a simple formula after all.
So much can viral videos be reduced to formulas, apparently, that the Hipmunk people have gone ahead and done exactly that in their first stab at video advertising. Explaining on their blog that "everything's better with cute animals," the search engine brought together members of sketch comedy show SMBC theater and asked them to dress up like some of the Internet's most famous stars. Then they had the actors recreate those stars' most famous moments, the result being a series of homages to cute animals doing cute things (with some exceptions for annoying animals doing annoying things, because sometimes the Interwebs have a problem distinguishing cute from annoying). ]]>
A few months ago Newsweek published its list of "America's Dying Cities," putting Grand Rapids, Michigan at #10. The rust belt city is demographically upside down, having lost more under-18 residents than it gained in the last decade. Wikipedia says that the per capita income for the city is $17,661, with one in every five children living below poverty. Being mayor is a part-time job. Literally.
In an effort to show that Newsweek was wrong and that they were still hip and relevant, Grand Rapids responded with a YouTube video of thousands of residents lipsyncing to Don McLean's American Pie. And to think, there are people out there who think that the Internet is dumbing down public debate.]]>
The movie will debut on YouTube Friday, March 11, as it is simultaneously screened at South By Southwest.
Zachary Quinto stars in the movie as a dentist who hires a would-be assassin (played by Carla Gugino) to kill his wife. As he finalizes the assassin's payment, he unknowingly sets off a chain of events that fuels a cross-town journey through 10 of L.A.'s many lounges, bars, and strip clubs, all in one night. Girl's stellar cast also includes Danny DeVito, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Alexis Bledel, Josh Hartnett, and Rosario Dawson, among others.]]>
Irish LCC Ryanair has long been notorious for eschewing social media. Their reasoning is unclear, but we've always guessed it goes something like "if we engage our customers they might think we don't hate them, and then where will we be?" It turns out, though, that the airline makes exceptions on its embargo when it can use platforms like YouTube to be extra douchey.
You'll recall how, just before the weekend started, we posted this story about a near-riot that broke out on a Ryanair jet. A vacationing Belgian student had overpacked but refused to pay the airline's draconian baggage fees. He was duly denied entry onto the plane, which upset the students with whom he was vacationing, which led to something of a scuffle, which ended with dozens of arrests and the entire plane getting cleared. We kind of sort of sided with Ryanair, since we don't expect anything better from the airline and we don't understand how anyone else possibly could. ]]>
The hot topic these days is Full-Body Scanning and exactly how much radiation it gives you, or how much nakedness it reveals, or how much of a right the TSA has to force you into one at an airport. As a result, airport security is the butt of many jokes, but as the above Australian commercial and the Japanese comedy skit below reveal, this is far from the first time. ]]>
Move over, Rick Steves. There's a new travel show host on the scene and he's much funnier than you. What also makes Zach Anner different is that he has cerebral palsy, which he says is the "sexiest of all the palsies.” Anner's condition is explained on his Facebook fan page: "He also is confined to a wheelchair like that kid from Glee, but for real, and can't sing."
The 26-year-old became an Internet darling for his hilarious audition video to Oprah's Your OWN Show contest. The comedian proposed that if he got his own show, it would focus on travel "for people who never thought they could travel" that would tell you "how to have the perfect vacation when things don't go right at all."]]>