Atypical Events

Cranial Billboards to appear at LAX

Posted by jessie under News, Travel

Would you shave your head for $660?

With the airline industry suffering globally, some airlines are taking extreme measures to attract more business. A New Zealand airline is planning to use human heads as advertising space, starting later this month.

An incentive of $660 is being offered by Air New Zealand for people to shave their heads and don temporary tattoos promoting the airline. The human billboards will be stationed at California’s LAX airport.

Air New Zealand will be paying people to shave their heads (people who are already bald can participate too) so they can be used as “cranial billboards.” The backs of their heads will bear temporary tattoos that advertise slogans like “Need a Change? Head Down to New Zealand.” read more »

Connecticut Casinos hit hard by Economic Downturn

Posted by jessie under News

Foxwoods casino in Connecticut is learning the hard way that the gaming industry is not in fact recession-proof, as they plan to lay off about 6% of their workforce in an effort to cut costs.

Among the workers being laid-off is Foxwoods CEO Patricia Irvin, a former Pentagon official and Wall Street attorney. Irvin was on the job for less than a year before being let go. The casino plans to lay off roughly 700 workers by October 17th.

The Mashantucket Pequot tribe, who own Foxwoods, say that the layoffs will be across the board, affecting everyone from hourly employees to management positions.

The layoffs will be staggered over the next couple of weeks. Foxwoods opened its new MGM Grand expansion just four months ago, which created two thousand jobs.

Board director for the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board, John Beauregard says that this is a daunting layoff and that reabsorbtion will be a challenge in today’s economic climate. read more »

Airport Polls Passengers: Do You Prefer Fox News or CNN?

Posted by jessie under News, Travel

Which news channel would you prefer to watch at the airport: Fox News or CNN? This is the question that South Bend Regional Airport in Indiana is asking passengers after receiving complaints from five University of Notre Dame professors about the airing of Fox News on airport televisions.

The complaints from the professors called for the airport to switch over to news broadcasting that was more politically neutral than Fox News, which tends to be “the right-wing Republican voice,” said ethics professor Darcia Narvaez, who also said that many cable news stations are biased in their political coverage.

Narvaez said that such programs essentially become propaganda when they are aired in public spaces that are financed by money from taxpayers.

Because airports are considered a public space, the people inside them can be considered to be a captive audience, according to Erik Bucy, an Indiana University Professor. Bucy is currently working on a project that deals with the way in which candidates’ images are displayed in visual media.

Since it is election season, news broadcasts could have a bigger influence on the voting mindset of a casual viewer at the airport.

The airport has decided to conduct a survey asking passengers whether they’d rather see news, sports, or weather broadcast on the airport’s 15 television monitors. If someone answers that they would like to see news, they are asked which station they would prefer.
The survey aims to collect responses from 1,000 passengers to help figure out what changes need to be made.

So far, 300 out of 400 responses wanted to see news instead of other kinds of programming such as weather or sports. Out of the people who responded in favor of news, 132 of them wanted to see CNN, 113 wanted to see Fox News, 58 were for MSNBC and four preferred CSPAN.

John Schalliol, the airport director, said that the results so far have not given reason enough to make a change.

(source)

Scarlet Johansson Marries Ryan Reynold in Quickie Wedding

Posted by jessie under News, Weddings

Sorry guys but Scarlet Johansson is officially off the market.

The 23-year-old starlet married fiancé actor Ryan Reynolds, 31, last weekend in a small wedding in Reynolds’ hometown of Vancouver.

The couple became engaged last May after having dated since April of 2007.

Reynolds, known for his role in the television series Two Guys and a Girl and National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, was previously engaged to rock star Alanis Morissette. However, the two mutually ended their engagement in 2007, and the experience is said to have fueled Morissette’s new album, Flavors of Entanglement. (Rolling Stone review)

Johansson and Reynolds were married at Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, a remote resort located outside of Vancouver. The ceremony was intimate, with less than 40 people in attendance. Clayoquot describes itself on its website as “remote, refined, remarkable” is an “ultra-luxurious eco-resort in Canada’s untamed wilderness playground.”

The seasonal resort features wood-fired hot tubs and saunas scattered throughout and a Healing Grounds Spa, which is housed in white canvas tents. Rates start at $4,750 per person and include accommodations, horse-drawn wagon shuttle, all gourmet meals, snacks and alcohol, guided/unguided activities and Vancouver/Tofino return float plane.

Johansson, who recently starred in Woody Allen flick Vicky, Cristina Barcelona, told US Weekly less than two months ago, “I mean, I’m 23. There’s no reason to rush into it. Everything feels very natural and relaxed” and had also said recently that she finds the idea of monogamy to be “unnatural,” so the wedding is an interesting turn of events.