'Grotesque' NZ pizza ads dropped. Auckland, New Zealand

A New Zealand pizza chain has withdrawn a Halloween promotion that showed skeleton animations of three deceased celebrities dancing on graves.

Hell Pizza's advert showed animations of Sir Edmund Hillary, actor Heath Ledger and the Queen Mother dancing to Michael Jackson's song Thriller.

The family of Mount Everest conqueror Sir Edmund, who died in January, said the ad was in "extremely poor taste".

Hell's Pizza apologised and said it did not mean to cause offence.

I think it's disturbing

Peter Hillary

"Clearly he's revered in New Zealand and we all love him," spokesman Glenn Corbett said.

"The idea of Sir Ed being there was intended to be a light-hearted remembrance."

The firm is no stranger to controversy. Last year, it showed Hitler in a Nazi salute with a pizza in his hand. Previously, it has distributed condoms alongside its "Lust" pizza.

The firm's marketing director Rachael Allison told New Zealand media that the latest animation was part of an e-mail campaign targeting existing customers.

'Not funny'

Around 5,000 people saw the advert before it fell into the hands of the media.

She said Hell Pizza was known for its controversial advertising and customers loved it. But she accepted it is not to everyone's taste.

"Interpretation of this is always up to individuals and we are always mindful of that and always keep an eye on our tone of voice and try to keep on top of that," she said.

Peter Hillary said the death of his father, who became the first person to reach the summit of Everest in 1953, was still "pretty raw" and the advert was not funny.

"I think it's disturbing... a little grotesque", he told New Zealand's Dominion Post.

There has been no reaction from the family of Australian actor Heath Ledger, who also died in January, or Britain's Royal family, who buried the Queen Mother in 2002.

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The outcome will be known soon for the 2008 US Presidential Election 2008 and I hope that Obama will prevail!

Next week, we will see the result of the 2008 New Zealand Election.

Man found glued to steel toilet, UK, England, Pranks

02 November 2008, BBC News -- A man had to be taken to hospital still attached to a steel toilet after super-glue was deliberately smeared on the seat.

Firefighters were unable to free the man and were forced to remove the entire toilet with the man attached.

The 35-year-old was in a public toilet cubicle in Brierley Hill in the West Midlands when he became stuck.

He was taken to hospital where doctors were forced to get into the ambulance before using chemicals to free him.

Toilet re-installed

An ambulance service spokesman said: "He appeared to be none the worse for his ordeal other than being understandably somewhat embarrassed."

It is thought the glue had been smeared on the toilet seat by a prankster.

An ambulance crew and a rapid response vehicle attended the scene just before midday but they were unable to free the man.

"With the help of a local authority and the fire and rescue service, the man was removed from the cubicle still attached to the stainless steel toilet," the spokesman said.

The toilet was later taken back to the public convenience and re-installed.