THE DIARY
Happy Birthday ... Luna Park Sydney is sending it's Melbourne counterpart a giant cake to celebrate its 100th birthday. Photo: Tamara Dean
ONLY two of Australia's Luna Parks remain and when one has something to celebrate, it's worth raising the banner high. Luna Park Sydney is sending a giant cake, pictured, to help Luna Park Melbourne celebrate its 100th birthday next week. A bunch of street performers farewelled the cake on Tuesday as it headed off by road south. Melbourne was the first of four such parks to be built in Australia in the early part of last century as the nation embraced the American form of entertainment. Like Sydney, the Melbourne Luna Park suffered years of neglect, also including a devastating fire. Seven years ago, a consortium headed by the Melbourne transport magnate Lindsay Fox bought the St Kilda amusement park to save it for posterity. Sydney opened in 1935 and after various closures still survives. Others opened in Glenelg, South Australia, and another in Redcliffe, Queensland, but both closed, victims of the Depression and the advent of television.
END OF NEWS FOR MEAKIN
Channel Seven's director of news and public affairs, Peter Meakin, is to step down but remain with the network ''in an advisory role''. Meakin, 70, had previously been a key wheel in Nine's news/current affairs division. He said he simply felt it was ''time to pull the plug'' on this chapter of his life. ''It's been a wonderful nine years and I want to thank everyone who has taken Seven to the top,'' Meakin said. ''That includes Kerry Stokes, David Leckie, Tim Worner and all the great people who made me look better than I am.'' Meakin was so huge that Seven needs two men to replace him: the network's Brisbane news director Rob Raschke will become director of news while Neil Mooney, a former spin doctor for the late Victorian premier Sir Rupert Hamer, who has been running Seven's Queensland coastal empire, has been named director of public affairs. Stokes, the chairman of Seven West Media, paid tribute to Meakin, saying he was key to the network's present success. ''I set out to secure his services for Seven. He agreed to join our network as it set its sights on leadership, and today his track record speaks for itself: with his leadership of market-leading news and public affairs at two television networks over the past two decades. There's no one quite like Meakin.''
WIZARD'S WHEEZE
In London these days they are talking about Lynton Crosby, the former Liberal Party campaign director, as ''the Wizard of Oz''. He has been named to run the Conservative Party's strategy for the next election. Seven years ago he ran the Conservatives' failed general election campaign but atoned by overseeing Boris Johnson's successful tilt for London lord mayor in 2009. Crosby received a brutal welcome back to the political arena with stories in the British media quoting unnamed sources accusing him of saying untoward things about Muslims. ''What the anti-Crosby stories also reveal is a weird prejudice against Australians,'' wrote a columnist for The Spectator, Charles Moore. ''It is assumed that Australian voters are racist, sexist Les Pattersons.''
PLAYING WITH J.LO
After entrepreneur Michael Gudinski rocked-on during a five-day festival to celebrate his joint 60th birthday with wife Sue, the Mushroom maestro has announced that his daughter, singer Kate Alexa, is the support act for Jennifer Lopez. J.Lo rolls into Sydney's Allphones Arena on December 14 and 15. Kate, who created the stage name ''Alexa'' to forge her own identity, had to pinch herself when told she was on the bill with Lopez. ''I'm a massive fan and can't wait to see J.Lo's show … even more excited now that I get to perform in front of a massive audience every night.'' The Gudinskis will put on their party outfits again after the rock star-style reception they received from guests at three birthday parties during the festival of the 60th. International stars unable to jet in for the Gudinski extravaganza sent a video message, including Sting, Kylie Minogue and legendary manager Irving Azoff.
OUT OF THEIR TREE
The shocking allegation by the former host of The Biggest Loser, Ajay Rochester, that a contestant quaffed copious amounts of tea tree oil to lose weight has elicited a worried response from the Australian Tea Tree Industry Association. Tony Larkman, the association's industry development officer, said emphatically that tea tree was not a weight-loss remedy and was strictly a topical application. ''It is vitally important that everyone knows and understands that tea tree oil must never, never be ingested,'' he said, going on to wax lyrical about the oil's record in combating bacterial and fungal infections.
VOICELESS VOICES
Several creative types will be among the animal lovers gathering on Wednesday night at Sydney's Blue Hotel for the annual Voiceless Awards Event. Nobel prize-winner for literature J.M. Coetzee will join Oscar-winning movie producer Emile Sherman, artist Adam Chang and actor Emily Barclay. Sherman has given $140,000 to various animal causes, as well as launching the inaugural Voiceless writing prize, which is sponsored by Australian Ethical Investment and its media partner the Herald. Sherman might well chat about Coetzee's novel Disgrace, which he turned into a movie in 2008 starring John Malkovich. Barclay is briefly in Sydney, no doubt studying up on her next role as Ophelia in the 2013 production of Hamlet at Belvoir Street. Of course, the friends to animals will munch on vegan canapes.
STAY IN TOUCH WITH ...
WITH MODEL LEARNING CURVES
MEET the new Australian face of French lingerie house Simone Perele, Cregan McDermott, pictured, and she won't be throwing a Christina Hendricks-style hissy fit if you call her ''full figured''.
McDermott beat 250 women to win the first national ''Curvy Couture'' competition run by Perele and BGM Models in the search for an unsigned model who is a size 12-16.
McDermott is a size 12-14 and has a 14DD bust - which is close to the average size of women in Australia.
''I think I'm confident enough to know that plus-sized or full figured is just an industry name. I think it's safe to say I am plus-sized, I'm authentic and I'm real,'' McDermott said. ''My imperfections are what make me, me.''
Darrianne Donnelly, the founder of BGM Models, said there was a growing number of clients wanting curvy models.
''The pressure will be for Cregan to not lose weight, because she's in the modelling industry now, and it's a tendency with all my models to go 'hey, I'm a model now, I'm going to drop weight'. So she has to maintain her weight. She needs to tone up just a little, but to remain an authentic model she has to be true to herself.'' National marketing manager for Simone Perele, Sarah Cohen, thought it was fantastic to use curvier models. ''I think it also sends a really positive message around body image when designers embrace the curvier model. It sets a tone that young girls can be confident in their form and have an amazing career in the modelling and fashion industry.''
WITH DINERS TURNING THE TABLES
RECENTLY there has been a brouhaha over ''no shows'' in high-end Sydney restaurants. Chef Michael Moore, pictured, of O Bar and Dining, was reported saying no-shows cost him about $250,000 a year. At Lucio's in Paddington, co-owner Lucio Galletto said: ''If one table for two or four doesn't come in, it makes a big difference. If one table for two isn't here, that can cost us one wage for a day.'' On the flip side, diners are kicking up a stink at the price of dinner, especially if they are asked to vacate a table for the second sitting. Enter a web-savvy solution. A new website called lunchalot.com allows restaurant owners to upload available tables to members who can snap up those tables plus get up to 50 per cent off the food bill or 25 per cent of the total food and drinks bill. Unfortunate name for a website given that the real ''Sir Lunchalot'', disgraced former state Labor minister Ian Macdonald, is readying himself for more starring turns at the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into NSW Inc. Website membership is free with a monthly fee of $5. It has a range of restaurants to choose from including Catalina in Rose Bay, Libiamo in Pyrmont, Mezzaluna Ristorante Italiano in Kings Cross and Kaya in Darlinghurst.
WITH BLUESFEST GIG FOR EDEN
KARISE EDEN, the first winner of The Voice Australia, has been booked to play next Easter's Bluesfest at Byron Bay. She's only 19 and it will be her first major gig since the reality show. No pressure, but she will be appearing alongside hugely respected and experienced artists such as Robert Plant, Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Iggy Pop, Ben Harper, Steve Miller, Bonnie Raitt and Joan Armatrading. As well as local artists the Cat Empire, The Break (Rob Hirst and Brian Ritchie), Fat Freddy's Drop, Xavier Rudd, RocKwiz Live and the Beasts of Bourbon. Bluesfest is in its 22nd year and runs from Thursday, March 28, until Monday, April 1, and last year attracted 17,500 visitors a day and 6500 campers over the holiday weekend.
GOT A TIP?
Contact diary@smh.com.au or 928217970
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