Masked Man

When Whispers first encountered the amiable make-up supremo Napoleon Perdis many moons ago it was at the opening of his Parramatta salon on a Thursday afternoon. A small coterie of locals had gathered by the red carpet to watch the celebrations including 2 senior citizens who politely inquired of us whether the 2 tall elegant ladies ascending the salon stairs were "soapie stars". Alas we didn't have the heart to inform them that were actually drag queens, albeit fairly glamorous ones.

Napoleon has risen to giddy heights of stardom with salons all over the world including Beverley Hills (California!) where he is in huge demand especially by movie stars on the night of the Academy Awards but now he has turned his back on "high maintenance celebrities " according to this article.
Fortunately our home grown celebrities are still in favour as evidenced by society favourite, hair dresser Joh Bailey who wore what was acclaimed as the most superb mask of the evening created by Napoleon for the Silver Ball last week at John Symonds' Point Piper house.

A Tale of Two Cities:

Our favourite, sometimes loathed (it's really the very best & worst of the tabloids in the world) the UK Daily Mail and Mail Online has differing thoughts for each country where it appears. Thus the terrible aeroplane accident involving superstar Harrison Ford was reported somewhat differently in the UK and Australia. Perhaps they perceive us colonials are made of sterner stuff  when they described Ford's injuries as "moderate" in the UK but "serious" in Oz!

Mama Mia !

 Check out some fab photos of local actress, the gorgeous Mia Wasikowska at a press conference for her new film  Stoker. Go to the Mail Online.

The Archbishop Vs Dawkins

Why on earth did Cardinal George Pell's minders-the coterie of priests known as Pell's Angels allow the man to go head to head in debate with the boorish Richard Dawkins, let alone the ABC devote one hour of prime time television on the hugely popular Q&A program for the professional atheist to promote his non-religious religion.

Pell, a fierce right winger who was pipped at the post by his pal Joseph Ratzinger to become Pope, is certainly knowledgeable on Catholic dogma and theology and can explain himself when necessary, even if he has some wacky views on women and gays.

But Dawkins has honed debating to a fine point and pulls every trick in the book. Pell just wasn't up to speed and Dawkins cleverly sweeps aside questions he cannot or will not answer, a tactic he uses often and which becomes apparent on repeated views of his act.

One way is to dismissively say "that's just a silly question" when thrown a curly one as he did on Monday night when asked  "what is the point of civilisation ?".
Dawkins brushed off the question with no answer and ignored the fact that man has been asking himself just that since time immemorial.
Pell was just still confused from the hash he had just made of his remarks on Jewish civilisation.

Now the Daily Mail in the UK has completely mis-quoted Pell in this article.

Pell was clearly talking about the past when comparing the sophistication of Jewish life of 2000 years ago with their neighbours, the Egyptians and Persians.
The Mail's headline screams :  

"Australia's most senior Catholic Archbishop sparks outrage after saying Jews are 'intellectually and morally inferior'".

Pell said no such thing. He was plainly talking, in a muddled sense about the past and not today. The tabloid changed one word "were" to "are" giving his sentence a completely different meaning.
And when host Tony Jones asked Pell if he included Jesus in the claim, the Mail says Pell did. He did not. As one person in the comments section says: the article is total bunk. As was Monday's Q&;A.

UK Newspaper's Saucy Pic

It's one of the Shuttle's favourite newspapers in all the world-The Daily Mail in the UK and it's on-line version Mail Online. It's mixes gossipy tidbits about celebrities with saucy tales on the Royal Family, the usual Fleet Street 'outrages' in line with it's right wing policies condemning welfare 'scroungers' (usually pointing out they may well be Polish) heady beat-ups about the lack of Laura Norder (law and order) with dozens of colourful photographs delivered in an easy to read snappy formula with great graphics.

And that's probably why the Mail Online gets around 30 million readers a month.

A current feature brings us a series of fascinating colour photographs in an article titled : 
Bygone times: Incredible colour photos from the early 20th century which capture a world on the brink of permanent change.

It's a series of fascinating snaps taken by Frenchmen Albert Kahn in 1909, over a century ago. What is different about these pictures is that they are in colour and give us a much more accessible feel of the era as demonstrated in the pictures below.


We particularly like the snap of the West African villagers who as the caption explains had probably "never seen a camera before". Indeed, and as our blow-up shows, the camera had an extraordinary effect upon the villagers!

West African Villagers

West African Villagers spot camera for first time

Swimming With Whales

The UK Daily Mail newspaper's website gets more hits per month than any other publication on the planet. This is probably one reason why-go and check out these amazing photos of Russian scientist Natalia Avseenko swimming naked with Beluga whales in freezing water, all for the sake of science.

Great Minds Think Alike # 2

Following our Twitter tale about Paris Hilton and her day in Las Vegas that included a hairdressing appointment , a radio interview and a night in front of the telly watching A Family Guy ( with a police arrest for cocaine possession in between) the UK Daily Mail has taken up the theme :

Paris Hilton's latest mug shot

The moment Paris Hilton was busted for possession of cocaine in Las Vegas