Day FiftySix of being Aflickionless...

What a productive day it was today for Maz. She handed in the physical copy of her NZ Body Art Award concepts (& payment), posted off her Style Pasifika designs (& payment), PLUS she has sculpted two Om Nom Nom's today as well (possibly may make more tonight). Maz also went to Spotlight again and spent a further $20 on lace, ribbon, string of pearls and gold 'rope' (stuff for the Kinky Slinkybody paint & Body Art Awards). She even picked up a 'stick' at Mitre 10, so she can make the weapon for Body Art Awards. FUN TIMES!!!

Check out The Rapping Flight Attendant as well. Wouldn't that be frickin awesome!?!


The weather was warm enough for some girls today to be out in shorts and singlets. It was a wonderful sight driving along Wairau Road, but you must remember...it's the school holidays, it could be wrong to be looking at them.

Oh and the kids spotted Maz in the 2Degree advert. Orange shirt, white scarf! woot!

The swine flu death toll has officially reached six with a seventh case unconfirmed.

One of Auckland's most popular summer events is at risk after its major sponsor yesterday pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding. The SkyCity Starlight Symphony - which has been running for the past 17 years - is in limbo as its promoters look for a new sponsor. SkyCity - the naming-rights sponsor for 11 years - has announced it will no longer fund the show.

While some females would argue this has long been the case, British fertility researchers are on track to proving it, having created sperm using stem cells from an embryo. Scientists at the Northeast England Stem Cell Institute say that with some minor adjustments, the technique could theoretically be used to fertilise an egg to create a child - taking real men out of the equation.

John Key says the "door is wide open" for former All Black Michael Jones to stand for National if he decides he wants to be an MP. Mr Jones is on the Prime Minister's trip to the Pacific, as is Va'iga Tuigamala. Mr Key said he had tried to encourage Mr Jones to stand in 2008, but he had chosen not to for family reasons. He said if Mr Jones changed his mind, "the door is wide open".

The bodies of a man and a woman have been found outside a Rotorua address after a fatal shooting this afternoon. The incident took place in Rotorua's Sunset Rd. A police spokesperson said the two victims were not shot by police. Traffic is being diverted from the area.

A Maori cloak and a diamond-studded silver fern are among some of the Queen's most treasured gifts to be displayed in London this month.

The Queen and Commonwealth: The Royal Tour exhibition will run in Buckingham Palace from July 26 to September 30, displaying gifts given to the Queen on her various trips around the world. They include a cloak presented to her by Maori chiefs in 1953 when she visited Arawa Park in Rotorua. The Queen was invested as a Maori chieftain and given the brown kiwi-feather cloak as well as a korowai - a flax cape covered in tassles. A diamond-studded fern brooch gifted to her by the Women of Auckland group on Christmas Day 1953 will also be displayed, as will the intricately patterned dress she wore for the state opening of Parliament on a 1963 visit to New Zealand. Other gifts from the Pacific in the exhibition will include traditional handheld fans from Tuvalu, a Fijian whale tooth necklace and an Aboriginal carving from Australia.

And to international news...

John "Junior" Gotti has lost another attempt to be freed on bail before his New York trial on racketeering charges. Judge Kevin Castel rejected his latest bid during a hearing on Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Manhattan. Gotti's defence lawyers had asked Castel to free him on bail while he awaits a trial in September.Prosecutors have accused Gotti of being involved in three slayings in the late 1980s and early 1990s and possessing and trafficking more than 5 kilograms of cocaine. His three previous trials have ended with hung juries and mistrials.

Police say a 22-year-old worker died after falling into a vat of boiling chocolate in New Jersey. The accident happened at a plant owned by Lyons and Sons in Camden.Police tell WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that the chocolate was being mixed

It is Australia's national gemstone, mined in the deserts of the Outback and prized worldwide for its brilliant plays of light and colour. But the opal industry is struggling, with the market flooded with synthetic stones and demand plunging thanks to the global recession. The situation is so dire that the world's only tertiary-level course in opal cutting, in the South Australian mining town of Coober Pedy, has just been scrapped. Stuart Jackson, who founded the course 20 years ago, said yesterday: "Opal is a luxury item and times are tough. You can't eat it, you don't need it, so people aren't buying it." Coober Pedy calls itself the "Opal Capital of the World", but even there, shops in the dusty main street are selling synthetic stones, made from plastic and silica and imported into Australia, mainly from Japan.

U2 and Bono's long-held commitment to "save the planet" has been questioned after it emerged they have a combined carbon footprint big enough to fly the band the distance from the Earth to Mars. The Irish rockers have campaigned to fight poverty and Aids in Africa and Bono called on the world's population to take better care of their planet. Speaking in Tokyo last year he said: "My prayer is that we become better in looking after our planet." However, according to an environmentalists' website, the band's 100-date 18-month world tour will see the multi-millionaires clock up 70,000 air miles (113,000km) in their private jet.

One's a rising soccer star. The other's a self-described jealous boyfriend. One had no physical evidence linking him to a rape. The other had matched DNA and teeth marks. One's black. The other's white. One was convicted. The other was never a suspect.
Please check out the story here and Digg it or Twitter a link to it #FreeEric. It hasn't had much publicity at all, just a single story on ESPN.

HAWT RIGHT NOW
Beyonce has a new track out and it is HAWT. Awesome, awesome hook! Check out the video clip below.


SLIGHTLY TWISTED (BY MISS CADAVER)
A dyslexic kid sold his soul to Santa

SIDESWIPPING IT
An empty billboard is an ugly thing in a recession and a tempting canvas for taggers, but a group of street artists from Cut Collective have come up with a great idea to brighten up unbooked billboard space. Together with billboard company OGGI, the Cut Collective will add its street art on empty billboard spaces around Auckland. The first artwork, measuring a massive 6m x 3m, will be auctioned on Trade Me, with the proceeds going to Kenzies Gift, a charity supporting families of children with cancer. Come on, corporate Auckland with large dull foyers, dig deep!

AUCKLAND FORECAST TODAY
Max: 13 °C
Min: 2°C (overnight)
Humidity: 84 %
Fine, with light southeasterly winds. (Translation: It was a beautiful day, the sunset even had colour *gasp*)

CURRENT WEIRDNESS
Maz had a productive day for once *gasp*

DAILY FOF MOMENT
Maz shaking her ass at Russell while opening the door and Tina opening the door at the sametime to snap her. FAIL!