April 14, 2008

A Great New Angle For Dubbo Tourism!

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 4:26 PM on April 14, 2008

Via today's edition of the ever-informative Crikey, we have learned that the following front page was proudly published in Dubbo paper the Daily Liberal.

dubbotourism.jpg

Crikey reader Keith Perkins says about the above -

You want unwarranted, unappreciated sensational journalism, then take a peek at Dubbo's Daily Liberal front page on the 9th of this month. In 32mm bold print they informed their readers that "It all started here." They then went on (page 3) to relate details of an incestuous relationship between a South Australian father and daughter, a story that had been running in, and on, every media outlet in Australia, for days. The couple's only connection to Dubbo was a one-time visit to the Dubbo Zoo. I would advise any future visitors to Dubbo to ensure there are no skeletons in their family closets before embarking on such an adventure.

John and Jenny Deaves, your tale still manages to induce shudders.

Meanwhile, IT STARTED HERE! should be the tagline for all future television advertisements for Western Plains Zoo.

Nollsy: "I'm Not A Pisshead, It Was The Meds! The Meds, I Tell Ya!"

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 1:45 PM on April 14, 2008

Bloody hell, Shannon Noll's still carping on about his disastrous performance at the CMC Rocks The Snowys concert a month ago.

Shannon Noll has blamed antibiotics for a ramshackle concert performance in Thredbo last month, which led to criticism of the Idol star.When he appeared at the CMC Rocks The Snowys festival, Noll was accused of slurring his way through his set.

The singer has revealed his embarrassment about the performance, saying he was on antibiotics at the time and misjudged the effects of mixing three beers with the medication.

"I had a bit of a shocker," Noll said. "I was particularly disappointed in myself. I got a throat infection - so I was on some pretty solid antibiotics. Had the normal couple of beers - three beers - before I went on. I got out there and five minutes later, whoa ... but that's no excuse. I've definitely got to win back some trust."

Interestingly, Shannon's original apology for the incident made no mention of antibiotics.

In a statement to The Telegraph late today, Noll said: "It is with great regret that I acknowledge, by my actions during my performance on Saturday night, that I have disappointed my fans, the organisers of CMC Rocks The Snowys, and my band. I apologise unreservedly.

"As a result I am taking the necessary steps to ensure that it never happens again."

Did it take him a month to remember he was on meds? Is forgetfulness, along with the irrepressible urge to bang on about how proud you are to be a country boy, another side effect of these mysterious drugs? Wonderful! We're gonna have to get our hands on some in time for the weekend...

Cate Blanchett And Andrew Upton Welcome Another Little Boy Into Their Theatrical Family!

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 1:16 PM on April 14, 2008

ourcateblanchett.jpgCheery news just in(ish)! It seems Cate Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton are a baby boy producing machine, with the couple welcoming a third young lad into their ever-growing brood of fancily monikered children.

Blanchett and her playwright husband Andrew Upton welcomed Ignatius Martin Upton into the world yesterday.

The boy weighed 3.6 kilograms

The couple, who are the joint artistic directors of the Sydney Theatre Company, already have two sons: six-year-old Dasheill and three-year-old Roman.

Defamer Australia offers our hearty congratulations to the Blanchett-Upton family.

Zoo Magazine In Being-Tools "Shock"

Australian Post Posted by Clem Bastow at 12:45 PM on April 14, 2008

Zoo Magazine.jpgWell, this is surprising news for a Monday! After pulling such witty publicity stunts as offering a reader a boob job and searching for the hottest feminist, Zoo Weekly have come up with another hilarious competition: win a divorce!

That's right, as their website reads, "Tired of being shackled to the woman of your nightmares? Want to break free from the rut of married life? Then enter our Win a Divorce Competition!"

Here's what editor Paul Merrill says:

"When a marriage fails it's always sad but what's even sadder is being stuck under the same roof as someone who's shagged your best mate or something.

"This is hopefully going to encourage people to see the error of their ways and get out rather than put up with 40 years of misery.''

Asked if the competition could be viewed as encouraging divorce, Merrill said: "You'd have to be pretty nutty to enter a competition to win a divorce if you're happily married."

Oh, we get it - it's a humanitarian effort! They're trying to help these guys. How sensitive of them!

Call us cynics, but we'd hazard a guess that not only is a large slice of the Zoo readership probably unmarried, we suspect some of them may actually have never felt the touch of a female human!

Kerry Katona's Little Bundle Of Joy

Australian Post Posted by Clem Bastow at 12:30 PM on April 14, 2008

We know it's neither big nor clever to laugh at babies, but when we saw this little blurb and pic linking to the news of Kerry Katona's new bub, we had to stifle more than a few laffs:

Maxwell Croft.png

"Already bearing some resemblance to his mother"? Is it just us, or is The Daily Mail being a bit cheeky?

It is, shall we say, not the loveliest bit of footage of a newborn we've ever seen - and, oh, wouldn't you know it, it was all caught on camera for Kerry's fly-on-the-wall MTV series. Happy days!

Denton Not Planning On Attending The Logies Despite Nomination, Also Unlikely To Interview David Hicks (Unless The Former Guantanamo Bay Resident Has A Penchant For Freddo Frogs)

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 12:29 PM on April 14, 2008

andrewdenton.jpgIt's going to take more than a Gold Logie nomination to get Andrew Denton to break his tradition of watching the awards ceremony in the comfort of his own home whilst wearing his pyjamas.

... on the night of May 4, when the industry elite turn out at Melbourne's Crown Casino for the 50th Logies, the host of Enough Rope With Andrew Denton hopes to be tucked up at home.

"Don't get me wrong, I love the Logies, but I think the best way to watch them is at home on the couch in my jammies," he said.

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Ryan Adams Blogwatch: When Ryan Met Jay-Z

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 10:46 AM on April 14, 2008

ryanadams.jpgThe best thing we ever did was subscribe to Ryan Adams' Tumblr blog. We've spent the last few days inflicting repeated viewings of his videos on friends (check this clip out - WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH) and his random ramblings make our heart swell too.

In this entry, Ryan talks about the time he met the new Mr Beyonce, hip hop superstar Jay-Z.

He made a video for Jay-Z. Beyonce' showed up. Which makes him very close to a religious icon in my opinion.

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YouTube Clip Of The Day

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 10:06 AM on April 14, 2008

Right, any of you lot ever seen Tipping The Velvet? As your Editor's new haircut appears to be deciding the viewing choices at Chez Defamer, we watched it recently and thoroughly embraced every single part of its Victorian era lesbiotic glory.

That said, we did find certain things in the beanflick hilarious (Nan's accent for starters...) so when we stumbled upon this French and Saunders parody, we were in stitches.

If you've seen Tipping The Velvet, we dare say you'll love our Clip Of The Day. If you haven't - well, we hope you get something from it.

Heather Mills, We're Not Sure This Is Much Of An Insult

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 9:48 AM on April 14, 2008

Apparently the increasingly daft Heather Mills is "lashing out" at her ex husband Sir Paul McCartney in the press. Yes, still.

The former model, who was awarded £24.3 million in her divorce settlement from The Beatles' legend, poured scorn on reports Paul is enjoying being a bachelor again by dating three different women.

In her first interview since her divorce was finalised, she said: "I think he's got three different girlfriends so I wish all the girls the best of luck.

"Better them than me."

As far as witty sledging goes, "Haha, you have three people jumping your bones and I'm alone, ner ner nee ner ner!" seems a little weak to us.

The Great Walk to Beijing 2008: Dannii Ignores Mike Goldman, Prefers To Blog On Her Blackberry

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 9:40 AM on April 14, 2008

Our Personal Gay (and Euro Correspondent) Will has been flooding our inbox with an assortment of Dannii Minogue-related information, and we've just sat down to go through it all - and you know what? We're starting to get his deep love of Minogue the Younger!

Enjoy this short "film", please.

System Of A Down Frontman Comes Up With A Great Idea To Help The Environment

Australian Post Posted by Jess McGuire at 9:19 AM on April 14, 2008

In this current age of Earth Hours and goddawful Madonna tracks, many concerned folk on this gradually heating planet are putting their brains to work in order to think of any way - large or small - they can do their part for the environment. Three thumbs up to System Of A Down "singer" Serj Tankian then, for this frankly brilliant concept.

"We could reduce our need to travel if we could project ourselves into concerts. It's not like the audience can touch me, anyway." --Serj Tankian

The System of a Down singer turned solo artist explained why he supports the dubious, yet environmentally conscious concept of holographic touring.

Ahem.

As No Rock And Roll Fun so wonderfully puts it -

The technology does exist to allow SOAD to appear virtually on a stage - it's called television - but until someone invents away for festival audiences to transmit bottles-filled-with-urine into contact with the stage from a distance of miles, the band are still going to have to turn up.

From "Advertorial" To "Travel Series", What A Difference Half A Day Makes In Lara Bingle's World Of Spin

Australian Post Posted by Clem Bastow at 8:30 AM on April 14, 2008

270px-LaraBingleAd.jpgWe were reading yesterday about Lara Bingle's new gig at Channel Nine, which comes as a surprise of sorts after more or less being dropped from the payroll after a nothing-much year at the network and we're sure has nothing to do with her fairly high-profile engagement to Michael Clarke.

In any case, when we went back to post on the topic, we couldn't help but notice how a few bits of data had been "massaged" in the transition from news.com.au 'news' to Sunday Mail 'entertainment' stories over the course of the day.

Here's how the Mail breathlessly described Bingle's new role:

Bingle, 20, filmed her first episode of Channel 9's new travel series, Holidays For Sale, on Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays last week.

The model has been hired as a travel reporter to co-star with veterans Shelley Craft and Laura Csortan as well as Underbelly actor Frankie J. Holden and swimmer Sam Riley.

"Travel series"! A "travel reporter"! That sounds awfully professional and exciting! And what a great cast, too!

However, travel (ho ho!) back in time eleven hours or so and News.com.au tells a noticeably different tale:

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Nation Shocked To Hear '60 Minutes' May Not Be The Bastion Of Journalistic Excellence We Once Thought They Were!

Australian Post Posted by Clem Bastow at 8:21 AM on April 14, 2008

Network.jpgHaving a go at 60 Minutes now seems almost passé; like, it's not as though they haven't been churning out utter drivel and questionable ethics for some time now.

However, perhaps inspired by but not limited to the John and Jenny Deaves blow-up, the critics are coming out hard and fast against Nine's flagship Sunday night program, with everyone from George Negus to Nine's own head of news calling it out on shonky journalistic techniques and iffy-at-best story choices.

News chief John Westacott said "on balance" the flagship news show should have included the fact that the father and daughter couple from Adelaide had a previous son, Jackson, in 2001, who died of a heart defect at four days.

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