In The Houses Of The Muses

Martin Browne, Susie Hagon,Ross Steele

Photographer Susie Hagon has published her second book of photographs: In The Houses Of The Muses.

It’s a collection of portraits of Australian identities and scenes from Alexandria in Egypt where Susie has been involved in the project Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the ambitious scheme to re-build the fabled Royal Library of Alexandria reputedly burnt to the ground by Julius Caesar in 48BC.

The project was the brainchild of Egyptian noble and Alexandrian born Prince Lorenzo Montesini, or to give him his full title : Prince Giustiniani, Count of the Phanaar, Knight of Saint Sophia and Baron Alexandroff.  

Hal Salter

John & Caroline Laws

A launch party organised by French language expert Professorr Ross Steele was held at the Wagner Gallery in Paddington and drew a diverse crowd including racing identity Angela Belle Sweeney, Prince Lorenzo, social figures like Robert Hampshire and Glen Marie Frost, renowned winemaker Brian McGuigan, artist Kerry Lester, folk song expert Warren Fahey, Caroline Laws (Susie’s mum ) and her step-father radio tsar John Laws. Antique dealer Martin Browne did the honours and launched the book.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (by Susie Hagon)

Kerrie Lester

Angela Belle McSweeney

Contact the Wagner Gallery on 02)9360 6069 or go to Susie’s website to enquire about copies of the book.

Mother Of All Balls

Rachel Ward and husband Bryan Brown

Actress Rachel Ward's Mother of All Balls annual event has raised over $3M now for the YMCA and is becoming so popular that larger and larger premises are needed each year.

Held at Royal Randwick Racecourse this year, the huge function centre easily held the 450 guests who attended. With the theme- Shanghai Chic, a 1930s 'Paris of The East' atmosphere was re-produced.

Food by top chef Luke Mangan and excellent champagne from Nicholas Feuillatte (still the top selling champagne in Paris and billed as the "Australian champagne'-vineyard owner Nicholas divides his time between his French chateau, a Tangier palace and a magnificent Sydney harbour side penthouse) and some excellent wines from a new label, Eagle Rest.

Silverchair's Chris Joannou & Laura Csortan

Anthony Minichiello & Terri Biviano

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Earth to Channel Nine News !

The photographer Alison Jackson (who you have just discovered) as featured first on the Shuttle over 12 months ago and as recently as 4 weeks ago is not American-she is British, born in Hampshire.

here's Alison's film of Charles & Camilla's yoga session..see lots more at her youtube channel

Broadway Has A New Aboriginal Star.

Gospel singer Olive Knight at home in the Kimberleys

Hugh Jackman's one man show 'Hugh Jackman, Back On Broadway" opened last Thursday in New York with a glittering opening night guest list including Donna Karan, Mandy Patinkin, Wendi Deng Murdoch and Hamish Bowles.

Olive Knight, an Aboriginal gospel singer from the Wangkatjungka community has swapped the dusty plains of the Kimberley for the bright lights of Broadway after being invited to perform in Hugh's one-man show.

 Olive has taught Jackman to sing the chorus of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in a traditional Aboriginal language and the segment with the cast (including Hugh) and Olive speaking in Walmarjari received a standing ovation.

Artemis,Packer, Picasso and Obama

Shanthini Naidoo & Ros Packer at the Picasso show

She was at the Art Gallery of NSW last Friday taking in the Picasso exhibition- Ros Packer, the widow of the late media mogul Kerry Packer who passed away in 2008. On the same day a remarkable sculpture was being loaded on a ship bound for Australia where it will arrive on December 27^th.

A report has emerged claiming Ros may have been the purchaser of the giant bronze sculpture by British artist Nic Fiddian-Green which has recently been on display at Goodwood Racecourse.

Titled Artemis after the Greek god, its name has now reverted to the original name given it by the artist: ‘I Look Beyond for a Distant Land’.

The Midhurst & Petworth Observer newspaper says the 40ft high piece is on its way to Australia where it has been “bought by the widow of an Australian media mogul who had strong links with the equine world. She has collected work by Mr Fiddian-Green for the past 15 years.”

Kerry’s grave is at his beloved property Ellerston in the Hunter Valley where there is already some of the artist’s work and it's believed the sculpture will overlook his resting place.

Artemis

Nic Fiddian-Green

Son James Packer who inherited Kerry’s $6B fortune and was recently entertaining Tiger Woods, Shane Warne and Elizabeth Hurley at his Crown Casino in Melbourne has undertaken extensive renovations at Ellerston including installing a new Olympic size swimming pool, upgrading the private Polo field , building several guest cottages and landscaping the gardens.

Meanwhile Ros Packer will be in Canberra today to attend a reception for the US president Barack Obama.

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?

Mel B & Stephen Belafonte

Brynne Edelsten

Here they are-Who Magazine's 'Sexiest People'. Presented at a red carpet party at the Grand Hall at Sydney University. Plenty of good looking people but the only original thing about this bash was the superb location.

Breathless PR persons rushed yet another soapy star to be interviewed on the subject of being a 'sex symbol'. No wonder guests were fleeing after about 40 minutes.

One guest who looked rather pale and snatched the taxi the Shuttle was headed towards was Melbourne medical entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten and his Las Vegas born wife Brynne Edelsten who appears regularly on red carpets in sparkling outfits. Maybe Geoff had other matters on his mind such as a slight problem with the Taxation Office.

Here are a few of the guests and you can see the full list .here

Samara Weaving (Hugo's little girl)

Rhiannon Fish & boyfriend

Jodi Gordon

Rikki-Lee Coulter

Dr Geoffrey & Brynne

God Save Us From Pompous Gits : Dawkins, Hitchens, Fry

A regular reader has forwarded a YouTube piece (below) in which the increasingly tiresome Stephen Fry interviews nutter Richard Dawkins who (the reader) believes decimates the concept of 'respect' and believes we should publish it. We have. It's real thigh slapping stuff.

There is a madness that encapsulates the navel gazing stuff being churned out by the disciples of New Atheism who are threatening to descend upon Melbourne in 2012 en masse to flog more books encourage enlightened discussion in their crusade against organised religion.

Recently Dawkins, author of one of the dreariest tomes in recent years The God Delusion refused to debate Christian theologian William Lane Craig (probably a pointless task) and explained his reasons in this nonsensical spirited piece in The Guardian.

One of Dawkins oddest reasons was that Craig apparently supported God's (whoever that is) decision to slaughter the Canaanites, a tale from the Bible, that may or may not be true, (or a fable as Dawkins would call it) but which Dawkins quotes from ad infinitum. Dawkins declares Craig an "apologist for genocide".

Oddly, Dawkins is more than happy to share a stage with bore writer Christopher Hitchens who openly supported via numerous editorials, the invasion of Iraq- an atrocity he called "a war to be proud of" in which at least 113000 have died with official figures (according to Wikileaks) of civilian deaths at 1300 but possibly far more and with over one million Iraqis displaced. That was a war that George Bush Jr claimed : "God Told me to end tyranny in Iraq". Maybe some genocides are more equal than others.

Confused ?. So am I.

'A Celebration Of Reason' will take place in Melbourne on 13th to 15th April 2012. You can book tickets here but hurry, the ranks of Atheists are already splitting into different religious factions.

Kathy Lette-Swinging from The Chandeliers

Today is Kathy Lette is 53 and she plans to celebrate her birthday with hubby Geoffrey Robertson QC at London's Savoy Hotel where she says she will be "swinging from the chandeliers".

Kathy has been telling the London Evening Standard about her recent encounter with a would be handbag snatcher in London's East End:
"I think adrenaline kicked in. He grabbed it, but I wasn't going to let him have it, so I fought back, I grabbed it back from him. The handle broke, but at least I got it back.
"I just held on for grim death. I couldn't really give chase afterwards because I had my high heels on. Taking a woman's handbag, it is like you are violating her very body.
"From now if I walk in the East End the only handbag I will carry will be in the form of the arm of a really burly bloke."

Kathy had been on her way to a literary event when the mugger struck and attempted to bag the Moschino handbag. As the writer says :
"You don't come between an Australian woman and her handbag".
PS : Kathy's first husband was Kim Williams who has just become the overlord of News Corp in Australia.

Scenes from Picasso

  The Picasso exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW  is a rare privilege-a must see. These are Pablo Picasso's own choice, the works Pablo kept for himself, the ones he couldn't bear to part with. The entire collection comes from the Musée National Picasso in Paris.

On Friday evening the Shuttle attended a private viewing along with Premier Barry O'Farrell, Federal Arts Minister Simon Crean, Mrs Ros Packer, M. Michel Filhol-Ambassador for France, Spanish Ambassador

H.E. Carlos Sánchez de Boada y de la Válgoma, and the retiring Gallery director Edmund Capon.

Dolly Parton & Horny Hillbillies

Ms Dolly Parton swept into her Sydney press conference yesterday and the media was treated to a full on  performance.
Dolly's a real professional and armed with just a small bundle of notes she smoothed her way past every curly question with ease. Such as when she was asked to comment on Dr Conrad Murray's guilty verdict in the Michael Jackson death trial.

Dolly said she adored Michael and he was just a little angel, so talented and ..well by the time she was finished there was no way we were going to ever get her to comment on the court case.

Dolly's never had kids with her husband of 45 years Carl Dean but she does have 11 siblings.
"My parents were just horny hillbillies . My husband is not from the country but he is horny." she says,  describing herself as "a white trash princess".

In between praying to God everyday and being inspired by the bible, Dolly says her beauty routine is pretty quick taking only about 30 minutes to get her makeup on and dressed. 
As for her hair :"I don't know how long it takes to get ready as I'm not there at the time" she quips saying she has dozens of wigs.

Dolly also had a nice word to say about Anthony Albanese the Federal Transport Minister who paved the way for Dolly's 14.5-metre bus she'll be travelling in while on tour in Australia.
"I don't know if he's here today, but if he is, you can come up here and I'll smear lip gloss all over you."
Customs had refused permission for the bus to enter the country saying it was too wide for our roads but Albanese sorted that out. Plus a similar back-up vehicle.  Dolly's publicist says the media has no chance of getting snaps of the buses and they'll have no hope in spotting them.
It may be easier than he thinks as the buses are left-hand drive and wider than any other vehicle on the road. Let's hope Dolly looks both ways when alighting as the doors will be on the wrong side as well.

She's already done one show in Perth and one Sydney show is a sell out but she'll be back for another show on the 29th November. 
Below is a clip from Dolly's presser at the Hotel Intercontinental.

Earth to News Corp #4

Another colourful feature in the glorious Daily Telegraph, Rupert Murdoch's flagship Sydney newspaper.

In a picture gallery titled Celebrities-Then and Now featuring stars when young and how they look today, such as Kelsey Grammer, Drew Barrymore, Andre Agassi etc, this one caught our eye with the caption:

Celebs then and now :  Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin as child stars in 1994 film "The Good Sons"

Followed by this one with the caption:

Almost unrecognisable from his years as a child actor..Macaulay Caulkin in 2011.

..err..yes, probably because it isn't Macaulay but his younger brother Kieren Culkin.
Macaulay is still recognisable even at the age of 30 as you can see from this snap from 2011:

 With Fox Studios boss Kim Williams, a stickler for detail taking over the helm at News Corp and all of Murdoch's Australian newspapers, be warned-there will be no more of this nonsense. 

Big News at News Ltd

It was an announcement that caught everyone by surprise today - the resignation of the boss of the Australian arm of News Ltd, John Hartigan.

Kim Williams

Even more surprising was Rupert Murdoch's following announcement in Melbourne today, that the Foxtel boss who also runs Fox Studios, Kim Williams will take Hartigan's place. Murdoch will now takeover as CEO of Australian operations.

It's a sure sign that no matter what happens with News Corp in the USA or UK, Murdoch is ensuring that the highly profitable control of his Australian operations is under his command. A court case in the Melbourne courts is currently tarnishing the image of Murdoch's most beloved publication The Australian, the countries only national newspaper set up by Rupert in 1964.

Gough & Margaret Whitlam

And the choice of Kim Williams who has never worked on a newspaper is an extraordinary departure from standard Murdoch practice. Williams is a no-nonsense boss and considered not only articulate and clever but bordering on the intellectual and certainly not a 'right winger' like most of News Ltd's major executives.

He is also married to Catherine Dovey, daughter of former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam who broke the Conservative stranglehold on Australian politics in 1972 when the Coalition was finally defeated after 23 years in power.

Whitlam swept into office on a wave of enthusiasm for change and for Australia to get out of the Vietnam War with the backing of the Murdoch media. Three years later Murdoch was to turn on Labor and give his support back to the Coalition.

Subo, Anna Wintour and More

Susan Boyle is in Sydney for an exclusive appearance on X Factor.  
Sony boss Denis Handlin took her on that all important harbour cruise yesterday to meet Susan's local family members and fans. What a sweet lady.
It's difficult to reconcile that the down-to-earth Subo is one of the major recording stars of the last ten years.

Meanwhile Vogue editors from around the world were summonsed to Tokyo by 'she who must be obeyed'- Anna Wintour for Japan's Fashion Night Out last Friday night and they complied.
Wintour reckons Japan is a major player in the fashion world and who are we to argue ?. Also in attendance Jonathon Newhouse  the chairman of Conde Naste International , publishers of Vogue.

Here's a snap of the 18 Vogue editors from all over the globe. Our own Kirstie Clements is second from the left.

Vogue Editors (left to right): Yolanda Sacristan, Spain (seated), Kirstie Clements Australia (middle), Anaita Adajania - India (back), Christiane Arp, Germany (seated), Angelica Cheung, China (standing), Franca Sozzani, Italy (seated), Mitsuko Watanabe - Japan (standing), Anna Wintour, America (seated), Emmanuelle Alt - France (reclining), Alexandra Shulman - Britain (seated), Victoria Davydova, Russia (standing), Anna Harvey, representing Brazil and Greece (seated), Seda Domanic - Turkey (seated), Myung Hee Lee - Korea (seated), Rosalie Huang -Taiwan (standing), Eva Hughes, Mexico and Latin America (standing), Paula Mateus - Portugal (seated)