expats

News.com.au Celebrate Melissa George’s Career Renaissance With A Golden Gaytime

12:10PM Clem Bastow | Melissa George has long since joined the ranks of Aussies who’ve taken the twilight of their local soap career overseas and cashed in big time (fellow clubmembers: Isla Fisher, Julian McMahon, Kimberly Davies, Tammin Sursok – the list is actually rather long), so noting that she’s about to – potentially – nab a key role in Grey’s Anatomy almost feels pointless. But, it seems she could be brushing past McFlurry (or whoever) sooner rather than later: But the one-time Summer Bay resident isn’t shaping up as McDreamy’s latest love interest – instead playing an intern who has a liaison with one of the series’ established female characters, The Daily Telegraph reports. George is believed to be in the midst of final negotiations to sign on the dotted line for the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning program, which revolves around Dr Meredith Grey – played by Ellen Pompeo – and the team at Seattle Grace Hospital in Washington. This is all well and good, but what I’d like to draw your attention to is the remarkably mature way in which news.com.au handled this piece of news: More »

Lyndsey Rodrigues Thanks MTV For Canning Her Show

11:45AM Clem Bastow | For most happening young things on the up-and-up through the entertainment stratosphere, being shipped overseas only to find your golden televisual chariot canned after less than a year would be cause for an ice-cream and Lithium sundae shoveled into your mouth with your hands while you howl “REJECTION, I CAN’T STAND REJECTION!!” as your mascara streaks down your face. Not so Australian expat Lyndsey Rodrigues, who 10 months ago was snapped up (from MTV Australia) to go to NYC and present MTV’s TRL (too many acronyms? DWI), which has just been cancelled; the ex-Sydney VJ is sounding remarkably chipper. “After 10 years of success, TRL has finally been laid to rest, which is actually a blessing in disguise for me,” Rodrigues confessed. More »

So Teresa Palmer Didn’t Really Change Russell Brand That Much, After All

12:30PM Clem Bastow | One thing that has been missing from the coverage of Russell Brand’s apparent “hook up” with Britney Spears is any mention of his GIRLFRIEND, Australian actress and expat, Teresa Palmer. Yes, remember her? The one for whom Russell Had apparently become a changed man (The Sun twice crowned him Shagger Of The Year). So, er, yeah, Russell, where’s your girlfriend? Just hours before their rendezvous, Brand told reporters he was newly single after ending his three-month relationship with Palmer, 22. Describing himself as “footloose and fancy free,” Brand reportedly even propositioned a female journalist during press interviews for his upcoming film Bedtime Stories. More »

Sophie Monk Trades The GC Volvo In For A Maroon Jaguar

3:19PM Clem Bastow | Sophie Monk is certainly aware of the concept of “trading up”: after breaking her engagement with Good Charlotte’s cuddly tattoo artists’ pin-cushion Benji Madden, she has apparently been macking with Maroon 5’s lead dude and ladies’ man Adam Levine. So sayeth the US gossips: The Aussie, who was said to be in a relationship with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, was reportedly seen having a pash with Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine in Los Angeles. “They were on the patio at the Chateau Marmont, and they kissed,” a source told The New York Post. And that’s all we’ve got on that story for the time being, so I’ve taken the liberty of creating an artist’s impression of what I believe the events at the Chateau Marmont looked like: I think you’ll agree it is quite true to life. More »

Attention Australian Gamers: Remember This Face

11:30AM Clem Bastow | Here’s one for those of you who think success is necessarily only facilitated by television and movies: an expat Australian actress took an odd call from her agency and her digitised form will now be seen by bazillions (note: may not actually be scientifically proven statistic) of gamers. Welcome to the darkened bedrooms and LAN parlours of the world, Michelle Van Der Water! The 30-year-old has scored an unique role as the heroine in the fifth instalment of hit video game Resident Evil, which will be released in October. Makers of the horror game, set in Africa, have used Van Der Water as the model for Sheva Alomar, an agent who handles firearms and is involved in hand-to-hand combat. Alomar is also the partner of the main character. For the part, Van Der Water had to be photographed dressed up in outfits with guns and firearms. The digitised end product looks very much like her, she said. “It was very exciting… I was pretty pleased,” Van Der Water said from Los Angeles today. “It came out really well.” Michelle is onto a good thing here, as much as most will shrug and say “so what?” Geek fame is the best fame of all – it’s everlasting. If Galaxy Quest has taught me anything, it means that, so long as you don’t piss off the faithful, you can go to comic-cons and open shopping centres and discount computer retailers for the rest of your natural life! More »

Sam Sparro Takes Time Out From Sledging, Festivaling, To Work With Lindsay Lohan

9:24AM Clem Bastow | After having a go at Madonna and then getting reasonably good reviews for his Glasto performance, expat Aussie Sam Sparro has decided it’s time to make the jump to plaid: he’s going to work with Lindsay “Remember, She Had A Career Once, You Know, Before She Made Leggings With Kneepads” Lohan. No word on whether he will wear that ridiculous top hat while he’s doing it. “Working with Lindsay is an interesting proposition. I’ve always been a big fan and I think she’s cool,” said Sparro, currently riding high on the music charts with his single Black and Gold. “I’ve never met Samantha Ronson but I have met her dad and her sister Charlotte when I was working with Mark at Coachella. They are a great family. “I’ll be heading over to Los Angeles and New York in a couple of weeks to start writing for Lindsay and a few other artists. I’m really excited.” Well, there you go. Well done you, Sparro. It’s a pity his song is pretty much pants, otherwise I’d probably be more excited than I am about all this. So, er, go Aussie! ED: You know, there are times where Clem and yours truly don’t agree, and this looks like one of them. Although my beloved Bastow may hate Sam Sparro’s single, I wish to speak up and say I fucking love Black & Gold, and I am quite thrilled he’ll be working with Lindsay. CLEM YOU ARE WRONG PLEASE UPDATE YOUR OPINION x More »

An Australian Has Been Nominated For An Award, We Repeat, An Australian Has Been Nominated For An Award!

10:08AM Clem Bastow | Long time Defamer Australia readers will know how much we just love seeing the Australian press wet themselves when one of ours is touched by the hands of the gods and gifted with an award nomination on the hallowed shores of America or Britain, so they’ll no doubt be rustling their Thesauruses in glee at the news that Rachel Griffiths has picked up her fourth Emmy Award nomination. Break out the Bolly, sweetchops! Rachel Griffiths has picked up her fourth Emmy Award nomination for her role opposite dual Academy Award winner Sally Field in US drama series Brothers and Sisters. In Australia filming Rachel Ward directed and Bryan Brown produced feature film Beautiful Kate, Rachel Griffiths, 39, happily toasted the best supporting actress nomination news with close friends and family following the announcement after 11pm last night. “I got a call telling me I had been nominated when I was out to dinner with friends in Australia,” the mother of two told Variety magazine. “We were just finishing up and were determined to go home not too drunk and not too late. Then we heard the news and got champagne and stayed an extra hour.” Bless. Also, I feel we should take this moment to welcome Griffiths in our “top celeb chicks we’d sink the piss with” list (she now breathes the same rarefied air as Sienna Miller and Charlotte Church). And that’s a nomination to write home about if ever there was one! More »

Delta’s Postmodern US Talk Show Fantasy Continues

9:35AM Clem Bastow | It seems that her previous dead-end attempts to conquer the US market are but a thing of the past now that Delta is attacking the press rounds in the States with the sort of one-eyed determination (and hair style) that makes me think of Nicole Kidman in To Die For. First odious gossip blogger Perez Hilton described Delta and Potato as “like Barbie and Ken” (and no, I’m not linking to him) and now she’s set to do the rounds on the talkshows. Sayeth Confidential: Goodrem, hitting the airwaves in New York to promote the album, scored a guest spot on the high-rating talk show The View. Luke Dennehy reports from New York that she will film her guest spot on the show tomorrow. The View is hosted by veteran American TV news queen Barbara Walters and features Whoopi Goldberg on the panel. Goodrem is also pencilled in to appear on the powerful David Letterman Show. Well, gee, go Delta, or something. Am I the only person who is massively underwhelmed by Delta and doesn’t really care if she makes it stateside or not? Is that un-Australian? Do I not understand mateship? Should I eat more BBQ’d shrimps?? More »

Do YOU Have What It Takes To Bitch Alongside Napoleon?

12:29PM Clem Bastow | Napoleon Perdis, largely through his association with Australia’s Next Top Model, has become one of those “industry” types you either love to hate or hate to love; I find myself in between, except when he is fabulously sparring on the AusNTM final three contestants to slag each other off while in the chair (most memorably clapping his hands and shouting “I LOVE IT!” after getting Alice to lay into Steph in Cycle 3), then I just love to love him. Anyway, his Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics line has become big news in the States, so it seems he’s taken advantage of his growing overlord celebrity status and whipped up an Apprentice-esque reality/doco show. After an exhaustive search, Perdis has found a protege to run his business in the US – with every step filmed for a documentary reality series. Get Your Face On has followed the extravagant and entrepreneurial life of the former Parramatta powder prince. The series will introduce the Aussie dynamo, who waves his magic brush over 59 stand-alone stores and 800 outlets across the country, to US audiences. Provided it involves making wannabe models up to look like Amsterdam hookers and then having them pose in the front window of your flagship store, I for one am excited to see what Napoleon and his bronzer brush bring to the world of reality television. More »

Eden Gaha’s Deep Thoughts On Reality Television

9:40AM Clem Bastow | Remember Eden Gaha? The host of Vidiot? The occasional musical theatre performer and sometime Home & Away pin-up from the ’90s? He’s been in the States for some time now, and has had considerable success as a producer of reality television, working with Mark Burnett and others, and is currently producing a second series of Celebrity Apprentice. All standard industry, back-slapping the successful expat stuff, but we did find his comments regarding local versions of US reality franchises quite telling (in light of So You Think You Can Dance Australia ending up a pale imitation of the OG version): Locally made reality television shows have been met with mixed success in Australia, with audiences tending to favour reality programs produced in the US. While Gaha agrees shows such as So You Think You Can Dance have been successfully adapted for Australian audiences, he says the American character tends to lend itself more easily to some reality formats. “Some of the shows and some of the formats mean more in the United States so they mean more to American contestants and they play out better on TV, so that’s possibly why those shows have done better with American casts.” We’re inclined to agree. Naturally there are loads of dancers in Australia, and lots of working ones, too, but there’s something about the American dream, not to mention opportunities like dance revues in Las Vegas and LA, that makes SYTYCD – the proper version – so compelling. American Series Two winner Benji ended up in an Xtina video, ferchrissakes! With the Australian version it’s all a bit, “So what? Even if I win I’ll still have to wait tables/teach toddlers jazz ballet/be on the Dole.” More »