"Our" ABC scoops the rest

It may be just some light celebrity reporting but the ABC has scooped the well funded private media networks with their exclusive photos and report on the filming of the movie Thor in Brisbane with actor Chris Hemsworth ( the Hemsworth brothers were brought up in Byron Bay about a 90 minute drive from Brissy). The ABC have confirmed their pictures were taken by an ABC staff photographer and that they would never buy in paparazzi pics in a tale like this. They have also done a follow-up today on how the LIVIN top Hemsworth is wearing -with profits going to a suicide prevention charity-are selling like hotcakes.
My source also says Hemsworth was active in informing the ABC of their filming schedule as he wants to promote LIVIN and deliberately chose the national broadcaster as he is a great believer in it.

Johnny Depp's Surprise Visit to a Brisbane Hospital

He's like a walking PR machine as he daily greets tourists and fans hovering around the Gold Coast filming Location. Johnny Depp took time off from shooting the new Pirates of The Caribbean flick to visit the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane today and surprise patients. Our spy disguised as a lowly gaffer on the film set swears that Depp never gets out of that costume and arrives on-set every day still in character. You can see the full video here.

The Real Thing

The Gold Coast is nothing if not colourful and glitzy in a sort of refreshing way that Sydney and Melbourne could take more notice of.
The Magic Millions is now one of the world's great race meetings with prizes that dwarf others. Obviously an injection of cash from (always complaining) retailer Gerry Harvey and his wife Katie is welcome. Yet the often clueless social writers who snatch their freebie flights and Casino hotel rooms in Queensland and breathlessly report on the z-list celebs that attend always forget whose idea it always was and who put the whole idea of a race meet on the Gold Coast into motion, against the odds, and was successful

Angela Belle McSweeney

And credit for that goes to Sydney socialite Angela Belle McSweeney who comes from a well known racing family. It was Angela's brainchild and it was her efforts that eventually saw Queensland's recalcitrant racing officials finally concede that her idea had merit.
The Magic Millions should always pay homage to one of Australia's more interesting public relation's experts and entrepreneurs.
Here are a couple of snaps from this year's event.
 Princess Anne's commoner daughter Zara Phillips (hey guys- she is not Royalty which was  the whole idea of her parents not giving her a title) and one of Sydney's glam couples, fine vodka purveyor Vitek Czernuszyn (right)and his always glamorous wife Deborah Thomas who is head honcho at Bauer Media and doubles up as a Double Bay councilor in her spare time, with a couple of good looking chaps.

Invasion from DownUnder

Readers of the world's most scurrilous terrific newspaper, the MailOnline have been expressing puzzlement of the sudden rash of tales about Aussie (alleged) celebrities that have appeared over the last few days.
Glitzy Melbourne estranged couple Geoffrey & Brynne Edelsten have now featured for two days in a row much to the bewilderment of the intrepid commentators on the popular British rag : "who are these people' : "DM seriously this isn't relevant for the UK! (and that's from a Melbourne reader) :No one overseas knows who the hell she is, and no one here in Oz gives a damn! Where to now DM????: "What's this current obsession with Australian non entities?" are some of the more refined comments.

A tale about Charlotte Dawson leaving Australia's Top Model has drawn positive support from one reader- guysomewhere is obviously a fan of Charlotte's with his comment : "top cougar !"

Who are they ?

What can it all mean?. It's a carefully planned marketing ploy to gauge reader reactions and numbers for the imminent launch of an Australian version of the MailOnline. There are big bikkies involved in advertising with the UK version now raking in millions of pounds in revenue. That knocking sound you here is Fairfax and News Corp shaking in their boots.
                     ***************************


 Meanwhile the hapless Edelstens have begun unloading assetts as their 'fairytale" romance crumbles and Geoffrey faces bankruptcy in the USA.
Just released on the market for a price of around $4.5M is the couple's homage to '90's decor, their Palazzo Versace apartment on the Gold Coast. (pictured below)

Sharks Attack In Venice

It's Jaws and the Tsunami in one movie (in 3D nat!) with a touch of Westfield thrown in.
Disaster-shark film Bait 3D, directed by Kimble Rendall, will screen as Australia's only official selection for the 69th Venice International Film Festival.

Bait 3D is a movie about a group of shoppers trapped in an underground supermarket after a tsunami strikes the coast which has sent a school of sharks into the building. Produced by Arclight Films it was shot on the Gold Coast at Village Roadshow Studios in 2010 and stars Xavier Samuel, Julian McMahon, Sharni Vinson and Dan Wylie.

The Shuttle has seen a preview of Bait 3D and it's delightfully scary with fantastic FX especially in 3D with sharks jumping out of the screen at you. Let's hope Baz Luhrmann's Gatsby is this good.

Fool's Gold Coast

Michael & Donrecka Issakidies

For about 4 years they were a fixture around Sydney at all the right parties, shop openings and soirees. Noticeable for their 'his and hers" matching gold Rolls Royce's.

And then they seemed to vanish. It appears businessman Michael Issakidis and his glamorous blond wife Donrecka had decamped to the glittering Gold Coast in Queensland.

John Burgess

Yesterday Australian Federal Police and investigators from the tax office seized $40million in assetts from Issakides and a business partner during raids, including the Issakides Gold Coast mansion, another in Sydney, 4 Rolls Royce's and 4 other luxury cars along with two motor cruisers.

Issakidis had recently been in the media after he sued the TV game show host 'Baby' John Burgess and his wife Jan for $40,000 in rent owed on a 71st floor beach front Gold Coast apartment rented to Burgess. Now Mr Issakidis has been charged with conspiring to deal in proceeds of crime worth $63 million and defrauding the Australian Tax Office of tens of millions of dollars. If convicted the penalty can be up to 25 years in jail.

Emerald City Update #4

ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S top publicists, Roxy Jacenko of Sweaty Betty fame threw a swish bash in her Woollahra home last night to launch her first book Strictly Confidential.

Roxy

Roxy seems to have a best-seller on her hands going by some of the reviews:

‘Think of it as The Devil Wears Prada meets the PR industry … ‘
’It’s a riveting read with lots of humour and plenty of real-life characters who are so thinly disguised as to be almost see-through…’
‘As well as providing all of this saucy intrigue, Jacenko manages to write with lots of humour so Strictly Confidential is an entertaining read.’
-  Ros Reines, The Sunday Telegraph (high praise indeed from Ros !)

‘If you like gossip, designer clothes and handbags, you’ll love this story.’
- Vittoria Bon, Sunday Telegraph  and Hobart Mercury

‘… it’s a faced-paced, enjoyable read that offers the right amount of escapism and a juicy insight into the world of Sydney celebrity.’
- Lizzie Stafford, Sunday Mail, U on Sunday

************* 

Snooki from Jersey Shore

Ruby

The talk is that Roxy's vivacious sister Ruby Jacenko may soon start work as a scribe on the increasingly successful Latte Life newspaper that is distributed around Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.

Does Latte Life have the staid Wentworth Courier that has coasted on it's market dominance for so long, worried ?. You bet your life. For the first time in living memory the Wenty has appeared over the Christmas break-a slim version-when they never usually bother


# The Yanks strike again :  Many readers may recall when the TV show Baywatch was on it's last legs and they convinced the then NSW premier Bob Carr to invest in the series by funding filming on Sydney''s Northern Beaches (much to the chagrin of locals as film crews trod and trampled the delicate undergrowth ).

A handful of local actors were employed plus the late Rene Rivkin appeared in some episodes before the producers, wads of taxpayers cash in  hand decamped to see out Baywatch's last days in Hawaii.

Now the ghastly US reality show Jersey Shore is threatening to descend upon  Queensland's Gold Coast and the local burghers have fallen hook line and sinker. It could be a marriage made in Heaven!


##  KYLE SANDILANDS is stumbling from advertiser woe to woe as they flee his radio show (why did he think he could viciously insult a News Ltd journalist and get away with it ?).

Jenny Craig stepped into the breach when Holden and others fled depriving he and Jackie O's radio show of up to $8M in revenues.
Now after thousands of complaints Jenny Craig have fled as well.

But is Jackie O planning to do a bunk ?. An insider tells the Shuttle that while publicly supporting Sandilands, Jackie is privately fuming over the dramas and has been spotted in secret talks with a rival radio network. Although she is contracted to 2DAYFM our legal expert tells us Kyle's actions are enough To break her present contract. Watch this space !.
.

Versace bargain : "it's just not etiquette"

Paris Hilton, Bono of U2, Mick Jagger and the Dubai Royal Family are just some of the slebs who have resided at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast.

 There isn’t another hotel or residential resort in Australia that can invoke such recognition and reaction with it's Italian extravagance.Now living the lifestyle of a celebrity is no longer exclusive for high rollers or the rich and famous at an establishment listed in the prestigious Leading Hotels of The World.

Gold Coast real-estate agent Rob Astbury has just listed a  three bedroom residential apartment at Palazzo Versace for just $1,450,000. Some would describe it as an unbelievable bargain but Astbury told the Shuttle “I have been informed that using the words “Versace and bargain” in the same sentence is just not etiquette.” 

The reality is after an unprecedented property boom the Gold Coast is now undergoing a major price correcting and nothing is exempt, not even Palazzo Versace. After a decade working with a property developer in Thailand  Astbury has returned to the Gold Coast where he was once crowned the top Ray White sales person in Queensland. Winning two prestigious marketing awards Astbury is renowned for his theme “still the ONE”. It was the call sign of Channel 9 where Astbury built a reputation as the top sports journalist in Australia.

Despite one of the toughest Gold Coast markets ever  Astbury has had nine sales in three months totalling over $8.7 million and attributes his success to thinking outside the square when marketing prestige real estate.

And who is buying into the Gold Coast ?. Just about everyone who is anyone in Sydney and Melbourne has a holiday unit on the Gold Coast but the word is that Middle East oil sheiks and millionaires are snapping up properties at the top end of the market viewing Queensland as one of the safest spots on earth to invest. The Shuttle also hears that billionaire James Packer is looking for the quintessential property to complement the extravagant Vauclause mansion he is currently building.

Elena Ioukhnovitch

Rob Astbury

Astbury recently teamed up with glamorous Gold Coast resident and agent Elena Ioukhnovitch. The pair is now making an assault on marketing properties in Mermaid Beach including Hedges and Albatross Avenues long renowned as “Millionaire Row” with some of the most expensive real estate in Australia.

In the past month Rob and Elena have listed several properties ranging from a three bedroom apartment at the tightly held Broadbeach On The Park to a spectacular three level residence at 203 Hedges Avenue, both boasting absolute beach frontage.

On The Park is a boutique six level building with one apartment per floor reduced from $3,000,000 to $1,625,000. Three years ago at the height of the boom 203 Hedges sold for $9 million and today it can be snapped up for $6,950,000. With three bedrooms, a private movie theatre and roof top swimming pool there is parking for six cars in the basement.

Astbury’s website www.robastbury.com.au has complete details, photos and videos of the large price range of properties listed including a spectacular 700 square metre Broadbeach Penthouse for $4.9 million and a stunning four bedroom beach house at La Sabbia for $4 million.