Taste of life in refugee's shoes

Given the ferocity of the 'Pacific Solution' debate in Australia, Hamid Sultani is surprised how little people know about asylum seekers.

The Dandenong refugee from Afghanistan is one face in the second instalment of the SBS social-experiment series Go Back to Where You Came From, which starts screening tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

The show puts six well-known Australians with polarised views into the shoes of asylum seekers. As part of the journey, rock singer Angry Anderson, writer Catherine Deveny and former defence minister Peter Reith stayed with Sultani for two nights at his home.

During that time, Sultani and his three refugee housemates tell their stories.

He was shocked by some of their views. Deveny was sympathetic, Anderson steadfast in his resolve that boats should be turned back, and Reith - regarded as one of the architects of the Howard government's Pacific Solution - proud that "we stopped the boats".

"They didn't have information about asylum seekers and had not communicated with asylum seekers in Australia," Sultani said.

He hoped to have influenced his guests' ideas by sharing his experience, as well as taking them to speak with fellow refugees who run an Afghan bazaar, and a halal butcher in Dandenong. He welcomed the chance to break bread with his guests and tell his own astounding story on how and why he fled to Australia.

Like half of asylum seekers coming to these shores, Sultani is an ethnic Hazara - a minority that is persecuted by the Taliban insurgents in his homeland.

He said it was simply not safe to live there. The Taliban are against education, technology and modern hospitals. Those who wanted to go to school or university were targeted and labelled as 'infidels'. Those who ran businesses were heavily scrutinised.

"When you step out of your house, you are not safe. A lot of people are losing their life to trrorists."

He first fled to Pakistan as a 15 year old in 1999 when the Taliban took over, closed schools and killed people "not for doing something wrong but for doing something right", Sultani said.

During ‘Elvis Week,' fans remember pivotal year

Every year, thousands of Elvis devotees flock to Memphis to remember the singer's death on Aug. 16, 1977. The main event of “Elvis Week” is the solemn candlelight vigil at Graceland, his longtime home, at midnight Tuesday.

This year, fans have something else to commemorate. It was 55 years ago — 1956 — when the first two Elvis albums were released, launching an international music career that brought Elvis' mix of country, rhythm and blues, and gospel to millions of fans around the world.

“It's a documentation of what I think is rock music's most incredible year,” said Ernst Jorgensen, a music producer and Elvis catalog expert. “Nobody was prepared for Elvis.”

To mark Elvis' breakout year, Jorgensen and his team have assembled a five-CD box set called “Young Man with the Big Beat.” Jorgensen will be unveiling the RCA/Legacy box set Monday at Graceland. The collection goes on sale Sept. 27.

The set includes not only the five CDs, but also an 80-page book that provides a daily chronology of Elvis' year though photos, postcards, fan letters, magazine covers and other memorabilia. The set also includes rare photos, posters and a replica concert ticket stub.

The first two CDs in the set are packed with music from the debut LP “Elvis Presley” and the follow up “Elvis.” Those seminal albums had some of Elvis' most well-known songs: “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Don't Be Cruel,” “Hound Dog,” “Love Me Tender” and more.

Those tunes, recorded in New York, Memphis, Nashville, Tenn., and Hollywood, Calif., helped sell 10 million singles and 800,000 LPs in 1956 alone. They also brought Elvis to television on Milton Berle's show, where he gave a hip-swiveling performance that excited his young fans and shocked their parents.

Elvis' stage presence, soulful voice and love of songs he heard growing up in Memphis put him in a unique position alongside other rock pioneers of his time: Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bill Haley, Fats Domino.

“We were fascinated about how this one man seemed to change the entire music business in America in 12 months,” Jorgensen said.

But it was the first album, which included “Trying to Get to You” and Ray Charles' “I Got a Woman,” that author Peter Guralnick said is the more important of the two 1956 albums.

“I would look at the first album as an American songbook. It's an homage to all the great genres of American music,” said Guralnick, who wrote two Elvis biographies, “Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley” and “Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley.”

The third CD in the set features rare live recordings that have been re-mastered. They include songs from a previously unreleased concert in Shreveport, La., in December 1956, and a Las Vegas concert where he bombed in front of an older audience.

Jorgensen said he is always looking for undiscovered gems like the Shreveport concert that can make Elvis' music new to longtime fans.

“You try to get all the pieces to the puzzle,” Jorgensen said.

The fourth CD in the set features outtakes from the first RCA recording session in January of that year, and a February session in which Elvis does 12 takes of “Shake, Rattle And Roll.”

The fifth CD includes interviews and two segments of Elvis' rare monologue, “The Truth About Me.” The outtakes and interviews display a sensitive, emotional side of Elvis amid a great deal of criticism.

Guralnick said the criticism didn't start until Elvis became a national star, and it was based on class and social prejudice. It really bothered Elvis when critics put down his fans, Guralnick said.

“He was extremely outspoken that this was unfair, and that every generation needs to have its own style of music,” said Guralnick, who showed a documentary of Sam Phillips, the producer man who discovered Elvis, Saturday at the University of Memphis.

Fans can pre-order “Young Man with the Big Beat” for $109.99 at Elvis1956.com, or wait until Sept. 27 and pay a suggested retail price of $139.98.

Kate Middleton mannequin 'horrid': Queen

The lace gown that Kate Middleton wore for her wedding to Prince William is the centrepiece of Buckingham Palace's annual open house - fitted on a headless mannequin that Queen Elizabeth II pronounced "horrid."

For £17.50 ($28.38) per adult ticket, you can join the hordes of visitors herded through the palace rooms to gape at the dress, the shoes, the cake, a selection of Faberge eggs, and choice Old Master paintings in a Disneyland-like tour that may entice as many as 500,000 visitors between now and October 3.

Buckingham Palace has linked its summer exhibition to the April 29 nuptials to raise cash for the royal collections while the Queen is on holiday. The wedding is good business: It could add as much as £620 million to the UK economy this year in tourism revenue and food and drink sales, according to Verdict Research, a retail analysis unit of Datamonitor Plc.

Kate Middleton mannequin 'horrid': Queen
August 10, 2011 - 3:19PM

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"Horrid" ... Kate Middleton and the Queen view the wedding dress display.

"Horrid" ... Kate Middleton and the Queen view the wedding dress display.

The lace gown that Kate Middleton wore for her wedding to Prince William is the centrepiece of Buckingham Palace's annual open house - fitted on a headless mannequin that Queen Elizabeth II pronounced "horrid."

For £17.50 ($28.38) per adult ticket, you can join the hordes of visitors herded through the palace rooms to gape at the dress, the shoes, the cake, a selection of Faberge eggs, and choice Old Master paintings in a Disneyland-like tour that may entice as many as 500,000 visitors between now and October 3.

Buckingham Palace has linked its summer exhibition to the April 29 nuptials to raise cash for the royal collections while the Queen is on holiday. The wedding is good business: It could add as much as £620 million to the UK economy this year in tourism revenue and food and drink sales, according to Verdict Research, a retail analysis unit of Datamonitor Plc.
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"It's horrid, isn't it? Horrible," Her Majesty said within earshot of the television cameras as she previewed the ghostly wedding-gown dummy late last month, her own Cartier tiara suspended over it.

Visitors don't see it that way.

"I think it's beautiful," says mother of two Charlotte Philips, as she stoops to peel her bored five-year-old off the carpeted floor. "This is what drew me."

"It's something my eight-year-old will remember, the way I remember seeing Princess Diana's dress when I was 11," she says.

The tour weaves through the throne room, ballroom and dining room, and into the gardens. There, after spending more cash in the temporary cafe and boutique, visitors can take a stroll along Her Majesty's private pond.

The first highlight is the palace throne room. Beneath a tall velvet canopy are the red armchair-like thrones of the Queen and Prince Philip. Placards of the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge smiling on that very spot make the connection with the wedding.

Next, you shuffle past a console topped with a fake arrangement of roses, peonies, and hortensias. Above the faux bouquet is a real Canaletto of Venetian gondolas bobbing in the Grand Canal.

Other pictorial gems include Vermeer's The Music Lesson (1662-5), showing a young lady at her virginal, and Rembrandt's portrait of the rosy-cheeked Agatha Bas (1641), whose left thumb grips the corner of the frame as if she were preparing to climb out.

Visitors are then led into a dimly lit tunnel to ogle vitrines containing the world's finest Faberge collection: bejeweled eggs, miniature instruments, plants, and animals.

"Look at that little frog!" squeals one visitor at a toad-shaped desk seal given to Prince Charles for his 1981 wedding.

The dress display is the climax of the tour. The gown's designer - Sarah Burton of the house of Alexander McQueen - describes on video how her creation was "a real feat of engineering."

To stress the difficulty, framed strips of beaded lace hang nearby, and action shots of the dress are beamed on a plasma screen: You see footage of the wedding, ending, in slow motion, with the royal kiss.

In the ballroom, the gown, perched on a podium under a gauze covering, looks surprisingly small. Beside it are Kate's lace pumps, her earrings, and a replica of her bouquet, which included a flower named Sweet William (which symbolises gallantry).

Isn't £17.50 a high price for a wedding-gown exhibition?

Model collection

Karl Lagerfeld had shoes that lit up like blue torches and a robot Coco Chanel perched atop a replica of the pillar in Paris's Place Vendome. Dutch designer Iris van Herpen sent out a dress with a skirt resembling a scouring pad and Alexis Mabille's bride wore green.

It was Stephane Rolland who showed that gimmicks don't need to be gauche, creating a collection inspired by 80-year-old American modelling legend Carmen Dell'Orefice.

"What inspired this collection was an eternal grace, an alluring attitude, a formidable presence, that of the great Carmen Dell'Orefice," Rolland says. "As a muse, she is statuesque and appears as a long and mysterious figure, just like a stroke of black ink topped with a white cloud."

Fighting words

THERE were no gimmicks at Azzedine Alaia's intimate return to the couture calendar. Few editors were included in the audience at the Tunisian-born designer's first show since 2003; US Vogue's editor Anna Wintour was a notable absentee. It may have something to do with Alaia's recent comments in Virgine magazine about Wintour's sense of style.

"When I see how she is dressed, I don't believe in her tastes one second," Alaia said. "Anyway, who will remember Anna Wintour in the history of fashion? No one. Take Diana Vreeland, she is remembered because she was so chic."

Fortunately, Alaia's collection was more restrained than his words, earning the praise of Style.com's Tim Blanks.

"His focus was as sharp as the laser cutting that created the latticed velvet on his eveningwear," Blanks said.

"It felt like the designer was exploring all the possibilities of a tightly edited handful of ideas, starting with one that was newest for long-time fans: the coat-dress."

Little and large

FROM little things big things are growing for the Eveden underwear group, which is targeting petite Australian women.

Eveden already services a curvy clientele with the Elomi range but recently acquired the French label Huit, which specialises in smaller briefs and bras.

"We hear a lot about women with D cups and bigger but there is a big market for well-made lingerie that starts at an A cup," says Janine Fisk, general manager of Eveden Australia.

"Huit has been popular in Europe for years. They were one of the first labels to create bras with air cushions.

"They also feature briefs that enhance the shape of women lucky enough to have a small bottom. I expect a great take-up in Australia."

British company Eveden set up an Australian branch 3 1/2years ago, following the overseas success of Australian brands such as Elle Macpherson and Collette Dinnigan.

"The company's thinking was that if Australians could sell their underwear to them, they could do the same thing," Fisk says.

In a crowded market Eveden is already having an effect on underwear drawers across the country, with about 350 stockists. From August 1, Myer will stock Elomi and the premium Fauve brand, which goes from a B to a GG.

"We're experiencing 20 per cent growth in the Australian market a year," Fisk says.

To improve its position in the market Eveden started the financial year by reducing the prices of many of its bras by $5. Bras in the Huit range start at $79.95 with briefs starting at $44.95.

"Boutiques that sell our products are doing it tough at the moment and this was our way to get people shopping," Fisk says.

"The strong Australian dollar also helps. It's the little things that make a difference."

Vatican exhibit on Pope John Paul starts in St. Peter's Square

The Vatican's special exhibit hall wasn't big enough to honor the life and ministry of Pope John Paul II, so the exhibit begins in St. Peter's Square, said Barbara Jatta, curator of what is described as Pope Benedict XVI's special tribute to his predecessor.

"The exhibit begins in the square, which for the first time ever for a beatification, is decorated with one large photograph of the pope with his pastoral staff as well as with photographs from each year of his pontificate," Jatta told reporters April 28.

In addition, she said, "the exhibit leads directly to the basilica where people can venerate the tomb of Pope John Paul II."

Visitors can enter the main exhibit, housed in the Carlo Magno Hall off of St. Peter's Square, until July 24 for free.

The exhibit is a collaborative effort of the Vatican governor's office and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The entrance to the Carlo Magno Hall is under a super-sized replica of the Book of the Gospels; a hidden motor flips the pages, evoking a memory of how the wind turned the pages of the Gospel placed on Pope John Paul's coffin during his funeral in 2005.

The exhibit includes artifacts from the museum set up in his family home in Wadowice, Poland, like family photographs, a report card and the uniform he wore when he worked at the Solvay quarry and factory. Skis, boots and poles he used in the 1960s and a canoe from about the same time also are on display, along with prayer books and his black priest's cassock.

The exhibit contains a letter from Pope Pius XII naming him auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958 and one from Pope Paul VI naming him a cardinal in 1967.

The section dealing with his 1978-2005 papacy includes the official medals from each year of his pontificate, a pair of his red shoes (which actually are more burgundy) and the mobile platform used to move him in processions after he could no longer walk.

Opening the exhibit April 28, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, head of the Vatican governor's office, said the exhibit could give people only a small idea of who Pope John Paul II was.

"In particular, it isn't possible to show the source from which he drew the strength and richness of his spirit," although that was hinted at by the Book of the Gospels at the entrance and by the small replica of his private chapel at the other end of the Carlo Magno Hall, he said

The Look-A-Likes: Biting off Middleton's Ring, Dress, Face

Presumably, when a girl decides she's going to start auditioning for roles in TV and film, she's taking the risk of catapulting to fame and thereby having her hair, nails, clothes, shoes, accessories, friends and sexual partners judged by the masses on a daily basis. If she's lucky, people will like her and want to be like her and dress like her and then she can get a lucrative fashion line and finally get off that CW show. Kate Middleton never technically made this tacit agreement with the media hungry public at large, but it's her life now anyway! Since it's dubious that the future queen will strike a deal with Macy's for a collaboration, it's up to other people to profit from her! And they will, oh they will. Below are just a few of the ways...

The Ring:
It started with the engagement, obviously, and the knock-off rings that followed, available now for $55, on Amazon! The same thing occurred when Diana first got engaged, so you might even be able to find one of these replicas vintage. Sexy.

The Dress:
I mean, this wedding gown is going to get more knock-offs than a Louis Vuitton bag, but what the people want, they want. I can just see the classy Jersey gals walking into Kleinfeld's with their entourage of 20 and asking for a 10 foot train and Kate Middleton's dress.

Some people are already starting! According to the Times, Don O’Neill, the creative director of Theia, a bridal boutique in NYC, already designed a dress that he thinks is what Middleton will wear. This seems risky. “We’re calling it the Kate," he told the newspaper. “It’s very precious, very regal and suited to a princess, if only in my head.” There's also someone who heads up a website called My Big Fat Beautiful Wedding waiting to make a true replica of the dress for brides demure enough to actually visit this site.

The king of all dress copies though, the man who hardly knows what an original design is, Allen B. Schwartz, is most certainly on the job. We do appreciate that he's creating the gown for a very worthy charity, The 18th Annual Race to Erase MS, care of a wealthy philanthropist, but I'm going to bet he would have done it anyway.

Schwartz is literally going to turn this thing around in mere hours, according to WWD, with sketching beginning at 3:30AM for a full gown to be produced for the evening's event. It's so Project Runway! There will even be a celeb fashion show to present it. Schwartz told the trade, “There’ll be a look-alike of Prince William in uniform and one of Kate in the wedding dress coming down the runway. This wedding is very healthy for the business. You’re not just talking about Lindsay Lohan. You’re talking about royalty." Bite your tongue, Allen.

Her Face:
And in easily the oddest knock-off, per se, there is a designer who started a lingerie line, basically because she resembles Kate. A press release reads that, "After countless friends and strangers told [Melissa Pelz] she highly resembled the future princess, she was eventually put in touch with some photographers and agents. This resulted in Melissa being in hot demand as a Kate Middleton lookalike and has been making a variety of ‘royal appearances’ over the past few months including working with photographer Alison Jackson, showing off royal memorabilia on the UK's "This Morning" and appearing in foreign press." Weird! But what's even weirder is that the doppelganger then opted to create and distribute a "limited edition Ligne de Soie Royal Bridal Collection, including a Royal Sapphire Silk Nightdress and Royal Silk Dressing Gown, or the “Royal Robe." So it's what someone who looks like Kate Middleton thinks Kate Middleton would wear to bed!

Are you on the Middleton train? Or does all of this obsessive obsession kind of creep you out?