Buzz Aldrin Down To Earth

Lois & Buzz in happier days

Just a few months ago Buzz Aldrin and his diminutive and glamorous wife Lois were dining and partying around Sydney arm in arm like teenagers in love.

Now they are headed for the divorce courts and Buzz is trying to extract himself from a deal he signed, drawn up by Lois's daughter who acted as Buzz's lawyer.

That deal gives Lois and her daughter Lisa Cannon 60% of Aldrin's income and as he puts it in a lawsuit, the pair now own, "most of what he has acquired since the day he walked on the Moon."

 Astronaut Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon says he was tricked out of making buckets of money off his own name according to the lawsuit he's filed against his stepdaughter.

Buzz filed the suit against Lisa Cannon, who helped run StarBuzz Enterprises LLC which markets and promotes Buzz. He wants a judge to tear up the agreement.

Buzz on the moon

Buzz filed for divorce from Lois in June, not long after he returned from his Australian trip siting “irreconcilable differences”. The two were married in 1988 and Buzz has claimed Lois saved him from bouts of depression. At the several parties the pair attended in Sydney, Lois who wears false finger nails studded with hundreds of tiny Swarovski Crystals, and Buzz appeared very much in love with neither ever leaving the other's side.

At one Sydney official function for the astronaut, Buzz posed with guests for $100 a picture.

 On July 20, 1969 Aldrin landed on the moon in the first lunar mission and followed Neil Armstrong as the second man to walk on the moon. He later claimed to have seen UFOs on the space journey and once punched a film maker who claimed the moon trip was a hoax.

The Streets Ran Red With Blood

It was the 1920s and Sydney was dominated by two rival crime queens who presided over vicious gangs and stand over men. Between them they controlled prostitution, the booming cocaine and heroin trade and dozens of inner city sly grog shops.

Matilda 'Tilly' Devine

It earned Sydney an international moniker as the "Chicago of the South Pacific"


Tilly Devine, a tough Cockney was known as the Queen of Woolloomooloo and her deadly rival Kate Leigh, a former country convent girl, was the Queen of Surry Hills. Both lived to a ripe old age with the law only ever catching up to them for minor crimes.

A state government law dictated severe penalties for carrying guns so the gangs decided razors were an alternative and they used them with deadly accuracy.

Kate Leigh's 1923 police mug shot.

One night in 1931 in Kellet Street in Kings Cross, up to thirty gangsters battled it out with razors, iron bars and knuckle dusters and blood literally flowed in the gutters. Local police sensibly never dared enter the fray while many detectives were on the payroll of the two crime queens.

 A small club Gastro Park, backing onto Kellet Street was the venue on Thursday night where the NINE network launched the fourth series in the hugely successful crime films based on real life

Chelsie Preston Crayford and Danielle Cormack

Underbelly: Razor, produced by Screentime, will screen on Sunday 21 August at 8.30pm and it's back to the future with the series set in the roaring twenties. In the lead roles Chelsie Preston Crayford as Tilly Devine and Danielle Cormack as Kate Leigh.

 Legend goes that Sydney had become so corrupted by the end of the era that it took until the late 1990s for police corruption to be finally winkled out when the NSW government hired Commander Peter Ryan, the former head of London's Police Training Centre in Hendon to clean out the infamous 'white shoe brigade ' as bent coppers had become known.

For his efforts Ryan was pilloried by politicians and shock jocks and eventually left to become the head of security for the Olympic Games.

Fast forward to 2011 and Mark Standen the chief investigator for the secretive and powerful NSW Crime Commission was found guilty last Friday on drug conspiracy charges with an enquiry announced to investigate the Commission itself and it's involvement with leading crime figures.

Not much changes in the Emerald City.

Kerri Anne Kennerley joins Underbelly actors Conrad Colbey & John Batchelor

stars of Underbelly :Anna McGahan & Richard Brancatisano

Kate (left) and Tilly tried reconciliation in 1948. It didn't last. Kate died in 1964 and Tilly in 1970.

Below is the promo film for the series.

Summer Fashion From Myer

As day follows night, the Myer fashion parade occurs a week after the David Jones parade.

To the Carriageworks in downtown Waterloo as Jennifer Hawkins and British import  Kris Smith ( Mr Danni Minogue ) launched the Myer Spring Summer 2011/2012 Collections last night with lots of  fresh, bright and bold colours

Brands new to Myer, Jayson Brunsdon, Fleur Wood and sass & bide (lured away from DJs with a multi-million dollar payout) plus new season collections by Myer’s leading stable of Australian designers and our favourite US import, Charlie Brown.

This summer campaign has drawn inspiration from the Australian landscape, with the show’s set design embracing the expansive and dramatic Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia. Models made their way down a 30-metre catwalk created to form a spectacular panoramic desert scene. 

Check out our exclusive back stage video below                                                              

Jennifer Hawkins

dapper Kris Smith

                                                             

Elle Of A Cover

 


Don't forget to pick up your September issue of Elle Decoration for some handy hints on how to brighten up your home.

There are a couple of tasteful tips on the graffiti style blackboard featured here on the cover- one in the top right corner which reads "our friendship is tighter than a nun's v*gina  "" and the drawing in the lower right corner !

Richard Wilkins & Jeff Goldblum's 'Death'

One guest at last Friday's Volvo Alpine ice skating party was Richard Wilkins who arrived with his pal top chef Luke Mangan.

Luke Mangan & Richard Wilkins

 Wilkins has had a long and varied career. Born in New Zealand he was a budding classical violinist until he decided that rock was more his thing. After graduating from teachers’ college, majoring in English and Music, he started a band – Wilde and Reckless which he fronted under the name Richard Wilde.

He enjoyed some success, touring Australia with the band in 1980 and supporting Grace Jones, while managing several other bands from a small Sydney office. Eventually he became the face of MTV when it was first launched and for many years now he's been a fixture on the Nine TV network jetting back and forth between the USA and Australia and interviewing celebs like Billy Connolly, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Robbie Williams, Olivia Newton-John, Britney Spears and Barbara Streisand.

On the 25th of this month he launches his first book : Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms published by Doubleday. Richard says it isn't an autobiography but more a series of anecdotes about the people he's met, interviews with some of the world's top stars along with back room show biz gossip.
Maybe he'll reveal how he happened upon one of his top exclusives that swept the world- the announcement that actor Jeff Goldblum had 'died' while falling from a cliff in New Zealand. Fortunately for Goldblum it turned out to be a hoax !.

Hetty Sees Off Robert Crumb

The Shuttle had a rare interview lined up with American artist Robert Crumb who was due to visit as part of the Graphic festival at Sydney Opera House. Now Crumb has cancelled his visit.
The Enthusiast tells the story of the cancellation :

"It only took one article for the notoriously ornery cult cartoonist Robert Crumb to cancel his Sydney Graphic arts festival headlining appearance. And NewsCorp journalists wonder what the big deal is.
In a July 31 article titled ‘Smutty Show A Comic Outrage’, Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph wheeled out professional pearl-clutcher Hetty Johnston of The Won’t Somebody Think Of The Children Association Bravehearts to comment on counter-culture comic legend Robert Crumb.

Go to The Enthusiast here.

Cate Blanchett, Jackie Weaver a Hit in Washington

Cate Blanchett * Hugo Weaving * Jackie Weaver * Richard Roxborgh

 Another US hit for the Sydney Theatre Company under the auspices of Cate Blanchett. The latest production Uncle Vanya has received high praise.

Starring a host of Australian theatre heavyweights- Blanchett, Jackie Weaver, Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh ( currently starring in Sunday's ABC TV hit Rake) one can only hold high expectations for staging of Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya, currently running at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Ben Brantley of the New York Times  describes the production as''outrageously funny and heartbreaking''  and the three hours watching it as among the happiest of my theater going life''.

Peter Marks in the Washington Post says :"The Sydney company, run jointly by Blanchett and (Andrew) Upton, came to town two years ago with an astonishing version of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which was anchored by the actress. In its way, this emotionally in-touch “Uncle Vanya,” buoyed by its entire cast, is just as extraordinary. On the basis of this “Vanya,” no one should ever again try to convince you that Chekhov is a delicate flower. As Ascher shows us in his transformative production, the playwright’s pen could contain dynamite."

Just Like Central Park

To St Mary's Cathedral in the heart of the city and the launch of the Australian Winter Festival's pop-up ice skating rink.
The 1200sq m rink is twice the size of last year’s and will play host to alpine-themed events such as ice dancing, ice hockey, ice discos and mulled wine drinking.Hungry skaters can tuck into bratwurst and poffertje and more importantly, glasses of Veuve Clicquot.

The 2011 Alpine Winter Festival offers an exciting array of gourmet winter food sensations, some dazzling action on the huge open air ice skating rink, skating performances, themed nights and much more.
It's open 12pm-10pm on weekdays and 10am-11pm on Saturdays and 10am-10pm n Sundays.
Entry to the event site is FREE - We highly recommend that you book ice rink tickets online in advance as they often sell out.

Singer PJ Lane gets romantic

Husky Rusky wonders who the sponser is

                                                             

Jack Vidgen Joins Eric Bana & A Murdoch

Getty

YOTS patron Eric B

Having picked up a prize of $250,000 with his spectacular win in the latest Australia's Got Talent, 14 year old Jack Vidgen has been revealing how he plans to spend some of the money.

A new Audi is on the cards- for Mum ( Jack has 2 more years to go before he gets his P plates) but Jack also wants to donate to charity with has heart set on Youth Of The Streets, YOTS the charity started and run by Catholic priest Father Chris Riley . YOTS provides services to assist homeless and disadvantaged, abused and neglected youth.

And Jack joins some high profile names- actor Eric Bana is the charities patron and publisher Matt Handbury, nephew of Rupert Murdoch has been a patron of YOTS for decades. Handbury donated a farm to YOTS in NSW to be used as a rural retreat for deprived city kids.

Vidgen is working on his first album having been signed by Sony and the song he wowed audiences with, Yes I Am is now available on iTunes here.

For more about Youth Of The Streets go to their website here.

Gae Avoids Bomb Drama at Fashion Show

Gae, Robbie, Hoda and Tom Waterhouse

THE WATERHOUSE FAMILY were out in force at David Jone's Summer fashion show on Wednesday night, including the recently married Tom and new wife Hoda and Tom's parents the famous and highly successful horse trainer Gae Waterhouse and husband Robbie.

While the four sat front row to watch Miranda Kerr treading the boards little did they realise the drama that was unfolding in the street where the Waterhouse family home is located. Gae and Robbie live in the same Mosman street and within sugar borrowing distance of the luxury house where plucky teenager Madeleine Pulver was attached to a fake bomb device in a terrifying ordeal that gripped the nation and that was splashed across front pages around the world as the NSW bomb squad liaised with British police to remove the device from Madeline's neck.

Today Gae was able to give police some valuable information about 2 'suspicious' looking individuals she had seen in the street earlier that day.
                                                       *******************************

Megan Gale at DJs

Meanwhile the sensationally beautiful Megan Gale  who was also at the David Jones event has today been named as the new face and world ambassador for L’Oreal. Megan describes the job "the Holy Grail of modelling".

Perth born Gale is part Maori which explains her dark looks and height. In Italy she has reached goddess like status and cannot walk down a street without attracting the attentions of hundreds of  fans.

Megan is also an accomplished actress and she really should be in many more movies. Easy on the eye and and charismatic as this clip from her 2010 appearance in "I Love You Too " demonstrates:

Miranda Kerr Models for DJs

Miranda Kerr jetted in for the David Jone's summer fashion show at Fox Studios last night and to introduce her new baby to the family. Hubby Orlando Bloom baby-sat Flynn while Kerr showed of her stunningly slim and in-shape body. Afterwards she mingled and chatted with guests at a party where magnums of Veuve Clicquot were served well into the late hours !

Miranda & make-up king Napoleon Perdis

with Natalie Imbruglia

Camerman Displays Perfect Tabloid Mentality

The Shuttle interviewed him once in Sydney on his many visits to promote his movies. Matt Damon is an intelligent and polite actor (not star truck, just impressed).

In this answer to a cameraman as Matt explains to an interviewer why he supports US teachers (one success of the Tea Party in the USA has been it's ability to convince the country the worker is now the Enemy Of The State) he illustrates the state of today's media.

The public may say they "don't believe everything they read in newspapers" but still buy them in large numbers. The demise of the News of The World has seen a surge in the circulation of other Sunday tabloids in the UK.

With some in the media business now mounting a campaign to convince the public that freedom of the press is about to be trashed by politicians (Brendan O'Neill on Monday's Q&A) and that the attacks upon News International are some sort of Commie plot, despite one newspaper, The Guardian having uncovered one of the greatest scandals in decades in British public life by legal means, it's scary how many media workers today are possibly more gullible than the public.

Gone are the grizzled old cynical hacks of yesteryear who pounded away on typewriters and created a network of contacts, trudging their beats and uncovering all manner of underhand political machinations, fraudsters and so on, replaced by a new breed who believe everything they write is gospel, re-produce press releases or simply don't give a damn and even worse, believe what their rivals publish.

Was Nikita Krushev channeling the future when he reputedly asked JFK in the 1960s how the West got journalists to write their lies when he had to threaten Pravda scribes to do likewise ?
..and here is the 14 year old lad who won Australia's Got Talent last night (plus $250,000) who Kyle Sandilands says has "a black woman inside him and looks like Ellen DeGeneres" : Jack Vidgen.