Choose Your Holidays

Two New Zealand movies will join a line up of top rated films from around the world to be screened at the inaugural Beijing International Film Festival later this month.

Jason Stutter’s crime comedy, Predicament, starring Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), Heath Franklin and Hayden Frost, and Simone Horrocks’ debut feature After the Waterfall, starring Antony Starr and Sally Stockwell, will both screen as part of the Festival’s Film Panorama programme.

Predicament, a crime comedy , is based on a 1975 novel by Kiwi author Ronald Hugh Morrieson and is set in the Taranaki rural town of Hawera in the North Island. A

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WHAT: The Vapur Anti-Bottle (www.vapur.us) is a 0.4-liter (about 9 ounces) reusable water bottle made of heavy flexible plastic. Actually, it’s more of a water bag.

HOW IT WORKS: It’s like any other water bottle but with one difference. You put water in it. You carry it. You drink the water when thirst strikes. And the difference? When it’s empty, you fold it up and stash it, enabling you to use it another day or as soon as you find a water fountain for a refill.

HIGH POINTS: From a convenience standpoint, the Anti-Bottle has much to offer. It chills easily (the thing is even freezable), it’s lightweight (nice for runners), and it can be rolled up when empty for easy transportation.

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It’s barely 11 a.m., and Frankie B. and his buddies are already enjoying steady pulls from bottles of Feldschlossen beer.

Frankie is a barber who has plied his trade for 40 years, and while his tiny shop on a quiet cobblestone street in Zurich devotes a few obligatory square feet to swivel chairs and an array of scissors, the narrow room reads more like a boy’s clubhouse, with racy postcards and girlie posters on the walls, a jukebox and a pinball machine presiding over one dusty corner. Then there is Frankie, whose long curly locks haven’t had a trim for a while, and his friend, whose bushy mustache and graying blond lion’s mane lend him the air of an aging rock star or roadie.

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This is the fourth in a series of articles I will be posting about my days as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania.

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Southwest Rules the Skies; Hilton Top ranked in Two Hotel Categories

In a year of major airline mergers and baggage fees, no-frills carrier Southwest Airlines was named 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend® Airline Brand of the Year, with JetBlue making a tremendous improvement to be ranked second. Hawaiian Airlines is ranked third, while Delta had a significant improvement in brand equity to rank fourth. Overall, awards are given in each of 46 different categories.

Southwest’s response to other major carriers inserting heavy baggage fees is being met with consumer approval as evidenced by the results of the study. Th

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