Cate of Many Colours

Cate Blanchett attended the Paris premiere of her Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine last night in an amazing spider-web style Karl Lagerfield dress. Contrast it with the orange creation she wore at the Sydney premiere and the amazing red dress she wore at this year's AACTA Awards.

Clive Palmer's Inspiration

He's building a replica of the Titanic which is due to sail from Southampton on it's maiden voyage in 2016 and ordered 100 mechanical dinosaurs for his Palmer Coolum Resort on the Sunshine Coast but of course, we all know him more recently as a candidate for Prime Minister who has launched his own political party.
Our favourite wacky billionaire Clive Palmer appeared on morning radio yesterday claiming to channel Miley Cyrus but the Shuttle reckons the real inspiration for Clive's antics is former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Watch the 2 videos and see if we lie !

Teaching the British

London mayor Boris Johnston (who comedian Jon Stewart once charmingly described as “a boiled ham in a DonaldTrump wig.”) has written an impassioned letter to the the UK Telegraph on behalf of Aussie teachers. Boris reckons there should be more of them and they should be encouraged to teach the English, English and so on. Boris is no stranger to these shores. In the 80s he attended Prince Charles' old school  Geelong Grammar’s Timbertop and his mayoral election was organised by Aussie election mastermind Lynton Crosby.

Johnson was in Victoria last week at the Melbourne Writer's Festival and had the audience eating of his hand as he extolled the virtues of city living claiming that an Escape To The Country was "an incoherent human urge, deep in our psychic hard drive to idolise country living." I think that might mean he wants to give property developers a free hand in England's green pastures. Boris is Sydney this week. Batten down the hatches.
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Sunday Telegraph columnist Jonathan Moran isn't happy and has had a go at '“blow-in bloggers” who have not earned their position in the industry.'. Even though he's a "show biz" writer he's taken great umbrage to fashion bloggers getting front row seats at fashion shows.
Just 2 weeks ago a rival columnist wrote a riveting piece on who sat where at the Ground Hog Day called the DJ's Spring /Summer parade (same cast list, different seating) but Moran reckons bloggers " are at red carpet premieres, usually to get themselves a keepsake photograph with a big name celebrity.” Gee. It wasn't too long ago as a struggling intern Jonathon was spotted queuing up to get his snap taken with Jodie Foster.

DJs , Myer : "Cyberbullying For Profit"

A David Jones' advert beneath a malicious post about a 14 year old US teenager.

While Australia's tabloids pound out endless words of praise for the Ground Hog Days that constitute the seasonal fashion parades of the countries biggest department stores, Myer and David Jones, an Adelaide academic has uncovered an extraordinary scandal where both retailers along with many of Australia's top corporations are placing their adverts via Google on some of the USA's nastiest cyber bullying websites.
There has been a growth in so-called 'customer advocate' website that are little more than extortionist entities that allow posters to publish the most vile claims, many about Australian politicians, celebrities,  teenagers and school children. To get the statements removed the website owners charge an extortionate fee while Google charges a further fee to remove the item from their search engine.

The advertisements from Aussie companies like Coles, Myer, Bunnings, Officeworks, Foxtel and others can appear along side racist, homophobic and disgusting comments about young teens. The academic says some Australian companies she has contacted are shocked to hear their adverts appear on the websites but have as much trouble contacting Google as a member of the public does.
So much for Google's inane "Don't Be Evil' motto.

Cate Shines In Orange

Looking as always, sensational, Cate Blanchett attended the premiere of the new Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine last night in Sydney.

There's the usual talk of Oscars and such for her performance. How does he do it ?. Allen has the world's best actors queueing, almost begging to be in his flicks. And it's not like they are even paid sensational sums. It's rumoured Cate worked on Blue Jasmine for a half million dollar fee which is chicken feed compared to the usual $15M wage she can demand.

Gina Rinehart flees Charity

Infighting has broken out in Cambodia over the high profile 'ant-slavery trafficking' charity SISHA.

SISHA's HQ

SISHA  (South East Asia Investigations into Social and Humanitarian Activities) is mainly staffed by ex-policeman from Australian  and the UK and hit the headlines in March this year when it led a raid on the Love in Action orphanage in Phnom Penh run by former Queenslander Ruth Golder. Children were removed from the orphanage by local police and government officials.

In the days following the raid Cambodian officials began issuing denials on some of the more lurid SISHA claims that also appeared in the report filed by a Fairfax writer who accompanied SISHA. Indeed, it seems Golder was unfairly maligned in the reporting which wasn't subsequently corrected by Fairfax.
 A war of words has now begun amongst the ex-pat community in Phnom Penh with posters saying the Fairfax writer should have disclosed that when they were 'embedded' with the SISHA raid, that Gina Rinehart as a major Fairfax shareholder was also the main funder of SISHA.
Now it seems SISHA's generous benefactor Rinehart, one of the world's richest woman who has genuine interest in saving Asian children and women from poverty, has abandoned the charity.
On Friday her Hancock Prospecting sent out emails on Friday stating that Gina had resigned her post at SISHA.
Meanwhile the war of words continues on the web.

What A Drag !

The Shuttle rarely visits the Golden Mile of Oxford Street Darlinghurst but on rare occasions we call into the infamous/famous Midnight Shift.
We thought it was time to bring some updated snaps of the Hostess With The Mostess, Maxi Shield host of the Shift's cocktail bar and MC extraordinaire.

In fact the last time we visited the Shift is was with actor Rupert Everett who took a shine to the place and a few of the locals. So much so that when he turned up the following day for a lunch in his honour in a restaurant just off Taylor's Square he posed for a snap with  local chef Peter Everett who was to dine with him and then booted him off the table so his new Shift friends could join him.

Below is a video of Maxi Shield at work:

It's Rudd by a Whisker

In all matters astrological we usually turn to Britain's up and coming top stargazer Victor Olliver but so busy is he with his new book Lifesurfing: Your Horoscope Forecast Guide 2014 , now an Amazon bestseller, we have turned to another expert, Marjorie Orr  for a forecast on the September 7th General Election.
It doesn't look too hot for either Tony Abbott or Kevin Rudd but Marjorie seems to see Rudd holding on. Another 'hung' parliament ?. Both leaders have said they won't deal with the minor parties- well they would say they wouldn't they - personally, the Shuttle reckons hung parliaments are all the rage and keep our politicians on their toes as exampled by Julia Gillard's tenure where she managed to negotiate over 300 pieces of legislation.
Over to Ms Orr :

Australian Election - hums and haws  From: Marjorie. (07 Aug 2013 17:48): 
The Australian Election on 7 September will now be two days before the bad tempered Mars in Leo square Saturn rather than a few days after when it was set by Julia Gillard for 14th Sept. So not a generally happy result. Indeed the Australia country chart has tr Pluto conjunct the Sun/Saturn midpoint then so feels like a real drear. Aussies not in chipper spirits.

There's the usual mixter maxter on both charts with no birth time for Tony Abbot.

Marjorie Orr

Kevin Rudd, 21 Sept 1957 12.07pm, has the strongest influence of tr Pluto trine Jupiter/Uranus which helped oust Julia Gillard tho' it disappears briefly in the days following the election. Aside from that he has tr Saturn conjunct his Venus which can denote unpopularity and conjunct his Solar Arc Mercury which can be discouraging; a couple of droopy tr Neptune trine Saturn midpoints which don't look reassuring; and tr Saturn moving to conjunct Jupiter/Saturn a few days later which again is minorly downbeat.

Tony Abbot has tr Neptune trine one Mars midpoint and tr Saturn conjunct Sun/Neptune, neither of which look cheerful. But he does have tr Jupiter trine and sextile Jupiter/Saturn and Jupiter/Uranus. And he may have useful aspects to Ascendant and Midheaven which we don't know with no birth time.
He is certainly running into major problems within a year as his Solar Arc Pluto is then conjunct his Mars/Neptune midpoint. But the same is true of Rudd since he has Solar Arc Neptune square Sun Mars within a year as well. 
Rudd was elected on the party switch round on a Sun Jupiter conjunction trine Neptune trine Saturn which should stand him in good stead. Abbot's opposition party is just ahead in the polls but I wouldn't be surprised if Rudd hung on. But it isn't a clear cut call at all even given the normal uncertainties of election charts."

Dame Nellie for Downton Abbey !

Long before the Moonee Ponds' housewife Dame Edna Everage conquered the world, opera diva Dame Nellie Melba was the Antipodean toast of New York , London , Paris and all points were opera was revered.

Aussie Dames of note : Nellie Melba, Enid Lyons , Pattie Menzies , Edna Everage

Now she is to be featured in the next series of Downton Abbey and New Zealand opera star Dame Tiri Te Kanawa is to play Melba. Let's hope she
shows Melba as she was, not only a gifted and loved soprano but a diva of the first order. Melba lives on of course not just because of her gorgeous voice
but via menus around the world with Melba Toast and Peaches Melba  dishes that are yet to disappear.
And that is real stardom !

Move over James Packer

While it's all over bar the shouting with James Packer's proposed $1.1B casino for high rollers at Barangaroo getting the go-ahead, he will have fierce competition in Cairns.

the proposed Barangaroo Packer Casino and hotel...  and Tony Fung's proposed Acquis Resort in Cairns

Chinese tycoon Tony Fung wants to build a A$4.4 billion casino and resort in Cairns,

James Packer                   Tony Fung

close to the Great Barrier Reef, which is bound to  accelerate competition in the country's gambling and tourism market particularly the fierce attempts to lure 'whales', the high spenders.

The Queensland state government announced two weeks ago that Fung's casino proposal was declared a "coordinated project", the first step in the government's approval process.
"Basically it's declared a coordinated project because of the size and complexity of it," a spokesman for the Queensland state government told Reuters. "It's the first step in a comprehensive assessment of the approval process. The proponent has to prepare an environmental impact statement."
 The Aquis Resort at the Great Barrier Reef has a targeted opening of 2018 and is said will create 26,700 jobs when fully operational, according to information on Aquis' website. The resort is also set to include 13,500 square metres of high-end retail and two 2,500-seat theatres.
Fung, a Hong Kong based private investment banker and investor, has homes in Queensland including a house in the Noosa Hinterland. His private businesses include a cattle farm and wagyu beef breeding business and a sugar cane plantation.

Matt Damon & the premiere of Elysium.

Matt Damon was in Sydney last night for the Australian premiere of his new film Elysium.He gave an interview about his life to local TV:

ABC.net.au

Letter from South Africa

There has been a spike in the past fortnight of visitors to these pages from South Africa- why?. we do not know. But here is something for them and all readers:
21 ICONS South Africa launches its third short film and portrait, featuring Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the tireless activist and social justice campaigner who, in Nelson Mandela’s words, symbolises “the voice of the voiceless”.  The previous two films have featured Nelson Mandela and FW De Klerk.
In the film, Desmond Tutu talks to photographer and film director Adrian Steirn about his inspiration, his role since retirement and his view on his legacy. He tells him in his usual self-deprecating and humorous way: “What do I do? I am retired, so I don’t do anything. Well, I go around the world and try to remind people fairly straightforward things that we easily forget, like, yes, there is a lot of evil in the world, but there is also a lot of good. In fact, we are made for goodness, which is fantastic.

Very Sharp

Martin Sharp & Fairley Kingston

Artist Martin Sharp has a new exhibition at the Damien Minto Gallery in Redfern and as always, it's not too be missed. Sharp has been ill for some time but he still made the opening night along with many old pals from the past.
You can also watch the superb ABC TV documentary on Sharp : The Sharp Edge - The Art of Martin Sharp .here
 And of course you can just look across the harbour and beneath the Harbour Bridge to the wonderful entrance face to Luna Park, painted by Martin.

Damien Minton Gallery, 583 Elizabeth St, Redfern, 2016
 Tel : 9699 7551

Graceland : Tue 6 - Sat 17 August 2013

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Earth to the noted Sydney fashion Designer, much beloved by the Sunday tabloid gossip merchants :
When you post your preferred voting intentions on Facebook ( perfectably reasonable) it's probably best not to say the country should by run by businessmen and as a corporation when your own business went belly-up a few years ago leaving dozens of small creditors out of pocket, some who lost their businesses and had to take out mortgages to pay debts, whilst you re-surfaced in a large mansion and opened new boutiques. Why do these words spring to mind : Boliva, marching, powder.

More Fashion & Klunk Klink

As sure as night follows day-the Myer Spring /Summer parades follow David Jones fashion gala a week later. And so it came to pass at the Horden Pavilion (soo much easier to park !) and of course, the most successful Miss Universe ever, Jennifer Hawkins strutted the catwalk to show off the wares. Along with some others of course including Kris Smith and football superstar Harry Kewell.

Jennifer Hawkins & Kris Smith in the 2013 Myer parade, Harry Kewell and errr Kris & Jennifer from 2009- not a lot changes !

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The row over the bizarre election front pages on the Daily Telegraph has spread to the UK with the BBC picking up the controversy. Yesterday's photo-montage depicted Anthony Albanese, Craig Thomson and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as characters out of the 60's TV show Hogan's Heroes.

After Rudd complained Opposition Communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said that the PM sounded like a "jilted lover" but as some unkind wag commented-"does that mean Tony Abbott is now Rupert Murdoch's new mistress?"
Now UK Labor MP and staunch Murdoch opponent Tom Watson who was involved in the recent select committee investigating Murdoch has just tweeted he is "mentally packing his bags" to visit Australia soon to talk about Murdoch's activities in the UK. 
We think the last word should go to Tim Dunlop writing on the ABC's The Drum :
"What the editors and proprietor no doubt saw as some sort of brave, daring play by a vital and vibrant news organisation putting itself in the middle of the biggest political story of the year, looked more like some sad grandpa with a comb-over at a nightclub trying to impress the ladies with his hip moves from another era."

Copy This ! : Designer's Anger at Newspaper

Strong words have been appeared on Facebook with professional Australian designers expressing their disgust at an advertisement that appeared in the Fairfax newspaper The Sun Herald on the weekend.
Heidi Dokulil, former editor of Monument Magazine and co-founder of the respected Australian Design Unit posted:
 "SMH you should be ashamed of yourself! Yesterday's advertorial for copycat furniture placed opposite the work of an absolute design legend is disgusting. The headline 'make a classic choice' rubs salt in the wound and shows just how low some major newspapers are going to make advertising $$. Design rip-offs hurt the industry and the thousands of hardworking local designers. What next SMH, a feature on Coco Chanel flanked by fakes? I'd like to see how that goes down".  Ouch !.
 Other designers have condemned the positioning of the advert for 'replica' Eames furniture and were busy arranging an email campaign to the Sun Herald. Some have forwarded a complaint to Media Watch. 
An Eames original can sell for around $5400 while the Taiwanese copy, sold out of a showroom in inner Sydney goes for just $1800. In 2011 the US Henry Miller company which distributes furniture designed by the legendary Americans Charles and Ray Eames reached a settlement with the distributor but they are still trading on the valuable Eames name.

left : a genuine Eames chair and right : the "replica"

The Double Bay newspaper Latte Life found recently when it discovered a local shop flogging handbags that looked identical to well known brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, that the law is difficult to get enforced and authorities can be apathetic much to the annoyance of other shopkeepers in the Bay selling genuine goods. 
China is famous for producing 'replicas' (today's speak for rip-off) of just about anything including a Rolls Royce Phantom, Mini Cooper and the humble Toyota Corolla. While the Rolls copy, labelled a Geely GE sells for just $30,000  a genuine Rolls Phantom can cost up to $1M.
 Australia is not new to rip off designs. In the days before the Internet one fashion store chain owner turned property developer was known for having models and friends regularly bring back a suitcase of the latest London and Paris designs which were whipped up into copies in local factories and on sale within days of their appearance on the international catwalks  
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As the election campaign revs into high gear, a 'replica' front page newspaper war has also broken out on Facebook after the Daily Telegraph published it's front page attack upon prime Minster Kevin Rudd.
Those firmly in the Labor camp were furious and a replica was soon on-line replacing KRudd with Tony Abbott. By the end of the day Rupert Murdoch's face had replaced Abbott's. By midnight News Ltd journalists were in the firing line.
And this is just Day One !

Tragic News

Anthony Del Col the popular Wedding Planner has died at the age of just 33 while on holiday in Greece. It's believed Del Col was killed in a crash in the early hours of Friday morning on the island of Mykonos.

Anthony featured in the Nine Network's reality wedding show The Knot as one of Australia's Top Ten wedding organisers.
 He was a popular choice for TV stars and planned the weddings of Ada Nicodemou and Chrys Xipolitas, Rove McManus and Belinda Emmett, and Guy Sebastian and Jules Egan.  
All who met him praised Anthony's friendly outlook and expertise. 

left: Anthony Del Col with chef Luke Mangan

'Queen of One's Own Realm'

We like to think that would be the occupation that the new Prince of Cambridge's Great Granny would put down

should she be asked to fill in a form like the one pictured here: Prince George's birth certificate.

What is in store for the new heir to the British (and Australian) throne ?. For expert advice we turn to the Astrologer of choice Victor Olliver, Britain's rising star of the stars :
"Born on 22 July 2013 , at 4.24pm (London), Prince George is a ‘watery’ fellow – he will be hypersensitive, compassionate, intuitive if not psychic, possibly artistic, temperamental and abundantly focused on the people.                                                                                     
If you want to know whom he most resembles, tremble not (too much) if I say that he will be a cross between grandparents Charles and the late Diana. Just about a Cancerian (Diana), with one minute to spare, he has Scorpio (Charles) rising: prepare for a deliciously bumpy national ride as baby grows into manhood and courts controversy. Cool on the surface, he’ll try to disguise unusually intense feelings and reactions, the trigger for many battles with authority. But George will be both a valiant and lucky champion for the UK and an internationalist. And immensely popular, globally.
With his Venus on the same spot as regal fixed star Regulus at birth, he’s a Royal superstar of the 21st century." You can read more detail here.

For your own astrological outlook we suggest you check out Victor Olliver's new book at Amazon :
Victor Olliver’s Lifesurfing: Your Horoscope Forecast Guide 2014.
 It's currently No 1 on Amazon and there is a handy Kindle version available for $4.99.

One Man & His Blog

Oh the joys of  blogging, even if the rewards may not seem apparent at first.
Advertising wise thesocialshuttle has picked up a handful of (badly) paid adverts- enough to settle maybe 2 telephone bills.
 Photography wise we have sold hundreds of photographs sourced from the Shuttle since 2010.  Our pics have appeared around the world in major newspapers and on similar websites as the Shuttle.
Surprisingly, few snaps get stolen from the website. Only 2 have in the last 3 years, both by a major Australian publisher.

Whilst websites pay a minimal amount to publish a snap for a month- when it's a particularly popular one like Aussie hunk Chris Hemsworth (right) it can be very rewarding: it has sold over 60 times. For some reason our snap of Rupert Murdoch (left) and the soon to be ex-Wendi Murdoch is extremely popular in China. 4 publications have used it including the Chinese Hello! in the past month and one Taiwanese newspaper.

Even better British newspapers that still pay big bikkies, routinely scour the Shuttle for tales and photographs. The Daily Mail for instance has 3 full time web assistants whose sole job is to search the net for suitable stories.
 Recent publications in the UK the Shuttle has sold material to (sourced from here) include  The Sun, the Sunday Mirror, The Daily Mail and The Independent amongst others. In the USA The Daily News & Vanity Fair have run Shuttle pics recently.
We may not have a billion dollar entity behind us providing unparalleled support. We may just operate from a second floor apartment sitting at a humble desk albeit with a pleasing view over Prince Alfred Park and within a cooee of the nearby mighty News Ltd empire but we reckon it's the way of the future. One day, we will all be bloggers !
Time to report on the latest Social Shuttle viewing figures : since mid 2010 daily readers of the Shuttle have never fallen below 1000. they usual hover between 1400 /1800 and on a peak day have reached 2600.
Google's own stats reveal an interesting picture and they cannot be fiddled with or fudged - they record every visit, the location of the viewer and the system they use-Apple, Ipad , IPhone and so on.
Total Social Shuttle page views this month: 48297
That's similar to a large suburban newspaper. As for readers they can be spread around the world as the last 2 weeks show:
Australia  15164
United States 3514
Germany  1582
Russia 1336
China 1234
United Kingdom 1151
Indonesia 430
Saudi Arabia 225
France 203
Ukraine 73
Not bad for what some critics may call an unknown website.

Nice Set of Wheels

New York got Daniel Craig when the new Range Rover Evoque was launched earlier this year but we got someone far prettier and a tad taller Jennifer Hawkins who did the honours at a rather swell party at the Overseas Terminal.

On the wharf  with a view directly opposite the Opera House it was the perfect evening. Other 'ambassadors' were on hand-George Gregan and Heidi Middleton who joined 250 guests including Skye Leckie, Tom Waterhouse, Magdalena Roze,  Peter Overton & Jessica Rowe for a cocktail party. You really have to sit in one these cars to appreciate them- pure heaven!

Peter Overton, Jessica Rowe, Heidi Middleton & pal, David Novak-Piper, Neale Whittaker, Magdalene Roze, Darren Robertson

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Here is promotional pic from the new film Diana based upon the last turbulent years of the late Princess Diana.  

Naomi Watts plays Diana and bears an uncanny resemblance to the fated royal as the Shuttle's own snap shows taken on Diana's last visit to Australia in 1996.

Fun On the Runway

David Jones launched their Spring Summer 2013 collection with new Fashion Ambassador Jessica Gomes. With a set of rich white walls, poolside bars, bougainvillea and high shine surfaces DJ's On Seven guests set out on a jet set adventure. Think Slim Aarons, Cap D'Antibes and the Italian Rivera where high fashion meets the clearest of blue skies followed by hot, steamy and decadent Summer nights. Well that's what the press release says. And good luck to them. Here are a few snaps from the evening with guests and models and a couple of bonus backstage snaps of Jessica with Zac & Jordon Stenmark.

Anna Plunkett , Luke Sales, Elizabeth Debicki ,Megan Gale,Gary Bigeni,Suzanne Pritchard, Joh Bailey

Glenn &Sara McGrath, Charlotte Dawson ,Alex Perry, Erika Heynatz, Andrew Kingston,Gai & Robbie Waterhouse

    (photographs : Getty)

Foodies Unleashed

Bianca Venuti-Hughes and her mom, the larger than life songstress Maria Venuti (right) love their food. And with an Italian heritage- Maria was born in Sicily- so they should. In fact the pair have just hosted a tour of Aussie travellers around the magical island of Sicily on a foodies discovery tour.

Bianca has now launched a new website : foodgasms.com.au as they bring us the latest on culinary delights  Currently the pair are checking out Thailand and have an exclusive menu on the site from one of the world's most celebrated Thai chefs. Aussie David Thompson who is renowned in Thailand for re-discovering exquisite ancient Thai recipes and is so respected that he is regularly called upon to organise official banquets for the much revered and longest reigning monarch in the world Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand.
It's a tough job but someone has to do it !

Looking Good

One guest at the Helpmann Awards last night was supermodel and Foxtel star Sarah Murdoch. Sarah is an ambassador for the Australian Ballet Company. Although she trained to be a ballet dancer she switched careers when told she was probably too tall for the ballet.

Today News Ltd has run a story claiming that the ailing Sydney Morning Herald has refused to run $30,000 worth of adverts promoting the book Killing Fairfax, the book by Fairfax writer Pamela Williams which is odd given that the current managing team at Fairfax weren't running the show during the period the events take place. James Packer, who isn't Fairfax's greatest fan and Sarah's husband Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch were both at the launch of the book.
Meanwhile the Sydney Morning Herald has a new Editor In Chief, one of the countries most experienced investigative reporters Darren Goodsir- a move in the right direction.