Biggest Selfie in Australia

Biggest Selfie in Australia

Since it was Australians who invented selfies, it was to be expected they would be the ones to come up with the biggest selfies.

Everyone likes to take selfies, and if you are travelling it is somehow awkward to ask people to take your photo. The problem with selfies, though, is that it's hard to see past the beaming face of the selfie-taker.

That is why Tourism Australia has come with a new service for taking selfies in which the self is just one part of an epic widescreen landscape. There are no selfie sticks involves, so how did they do this? Giga Selfie, billed as the world's biggest selfie service, uses a super high definition camera and mobile technology to take photos big enough to suit egos of all shapes and sizes.

The fist place this app was launched was in Gold Coast, as it is a holiday destination and hot spot where travellers like to take selfies.

So how does this work? Well travellers using the service stand on a designated spot on the beach and use a Giga Selfie app - only available on that day, on that spot - on their smartphone devised to trigger a distant camera.

A huge selfie is then emailed to them as a short video clip which starts as a close-up of their face and zooms out to reveal the surrounding scenery.

The cheeky project is a part of a campaign to attract a younger and social media savvy Japanese consumer.

Gold Coast is one of the most popular and visited Australian destinations amongst the Japanese, Leo Seaton, TA's general manager in media and communications. The beaches also provide an iconic backdrop for something like this.

The campaign is focused on Australia's aquatic and coastal experiences.

TA's managing director John O'Sullivan says Japan is key market for Australia's tourism sector, with Japanese visitors contributing $980 million annually.

However, this app is not expected to foster a big selfie frenzie as the special camera and lens - 100 times more powerful than typical photo gear - is only capable of snapping 10 giant shots per hour.

Given the costs and logistics of the service, it is only scheduled for deployment in the Gold Coast, even though the promotional video includes multiple spots around Australia.

National Gallery of Australia

National Gallery of Australia

Have you ever imagined admiring an exhibition by a well-known American completely naked? So picture you are admiring his life's work while you have no clothes on and everyone around you is also naked.

A bunch of ordinary people completely naked around the gallery and you being one of them is what lies ahead if you attend one of the naked tours of the James Turrell: A Retrospective exhibition at Camberra's National Gallery of Australia.

100 uninhibited art fans take part in the National Gallery of Australia's first ever naked art tour. The exhibition is called James Turrell: A Retrospective.

The exhibition highlights the 70-year old American light artist's 50 years of work and includes installations purpose-built for Canberra. as well as drawings, prints and photographs.

You don't have to be naked to view the show. The naked tours take place after hours on three days only. However, it looks like many people are not afraid to strip down as both tours are already fully booked.

When visiting Canberra, Turrell previous had encouraged the gallery to allow visitors to experience his works naked. And he had done the same in Japan.

We drink light through the skin as Vitamin D... so we are literally light eaters, said Turrell. It's part of our diet.

The naked tours are in close collaboration with Melbourne-based artist Stuart Ringholt, who has had similar encounters at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art and Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art.

Ringholt's work regularly explores personal and social themes such as fear and embarrassment through ridiculous situations or novice self-help environments - and these include nude gallery tours.

It seems absurd to bring a bunch of beautifully dressed people into the gallery when we can bring in a bunch of nude people, said Ringholt.

We seem to forget the nude is really important to art history. The museum in itself is reductive - we have the idea of the white cube but why have we then reduced the viewer through their clothing?

Apart from Japan and Australia, similar tours have been hosted at other galleries worldwide. For instance, in 2013, in Viella, Austria's Leopold museum offered a special after-hours showing of its Nude Men from 1800 to the Present Day exhibit, which welcomed more than 60 naked art lovers.

Hugh Jackman celebrates 20th anniversary

Hugh Jackman celebrates 20th anniversary

Hugh Jackman may be one a heartthrob of Hollywood but he only has eyes for his wife. For his 20th anniversary, he celebrated in the Caribbean with the love of his life Deborra-Lee Furness. Flashing a smile with a scruffy bead and a white shirt, the now 49-year-old star took a selfie with his wife and the sunset in the background.

Hugh Jackman has constantly expressed how much he loves his wife. In fact, he has stated he falls more and more in love with her every day. "I have a terrific marriage, but unlike a lot of relationships where they ebb and flow, no matter what happens you fall deeper and deeper in love every day. It's kind of the best thing that can happen to you. It's thrilling."

He has also expressed what a great woman she is on many occasions. "I run into people, really powerful, big people, who say, 'Congrats to you, but your wife is really one of the most talented.' And every time I hear that, it reminds me of the sacrifice she's made, her selflessness, her love and what she's done for the kids ... We always made family a priority but I'm acutely aware, everyday, that actually, when it comes to sacrifices, Deb has shouldered most of those. In fact, I was telling her right now, 'You need to get back to work because you're just too good to waste that talent. Everyone needs to see it.'"

The wolverine star had the opportunity to unwind by a beachside bar in St. Barts with the backdrop of the ocean and palm trees. And he reflected this on his photo which he captioned as Our last night - topped off by this stunning sunset. Hugh Jackman had told the press he had been looking forward to celebrating his 20th anniversary and he joked that the motto he lives by is happy wife, happy life. In fact, his relationship advice is: "Your wife is always right. Very simple. I think I'm going to get it tattooed on my forehead."

‘It'll be just the two of us,' he said. ‘We love the kids but they can rack off and find something else to do for a week. We want to relive our honeymoon.'

During the holidays, the couple joined their billionaire friend Jim Clark, 72, and his wife Kristy Hinze, 36, aboard their boat Comanche. Hugh and Deborra-Lee posed for a photo with Jim and the boat's skipper Ken Read that reached the Internet.

The Aussie stars, who have two children together named Oscar and Ava, got married in 1996 a year after meeting on the set of Australian TV show Correlli.

In love as ever, Hugh shared a lovely photo from his wedding day to mark the couple's two decade-long marriage. The 20 year old photo in black-and-white shows a young Hugh smiling widely as he stands beside his beaming bride, with the caption: '20 years ago on this day.'

The star expressed his vision on marriage that shows how much he cares about family. "When you fall in love and you get married it's such a relief, he confessed. You're like, 'Oh, this feels so right and this woman is just so great and I love her.' And then you have a kid — it kind of just gets even bigger. And it's frustrating and it's tiring and all those things but your sense of, like, living life becomes so much bigger."

"The best part about being married is that feeling of being a team. All couples have ups and downs, so having someone you trust is priceless,' he said. "The activity of being a husband a father — those are roles, too, but underneath them is the spiritual center that connects us all, and that's what's most important. If you ask my wife, the biggest fault is my inability around the house. She says the only thing handy about me is that I'm close by. And, I have a terrible memory. I'm bad at saying no. I often double-book. There are a lot of things."

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day

ANZAC (this year Wednesday, April 25 2018), was the name given to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps solders who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey on the morning of 25 April 2015 during the First World War.

However, Anzac Day is more than the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is actually the day in which the nation salutes all Australians who served and died in war and on operational service. The meaning of Anzac is still fundamental for Australians' sense of national identity.

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.

In Canberra the Australian War Memorial, in cooperation with the Returned and Services League of Australia ACT, will host the Dawn Service, National Ceremony and Last Post Ceremony.

One of the biggest ceremonies is held at Sydney's Martin Place, where dignitaries from Australia and New Zealand laid wreaths.

Anzac Day also draws thousands of Tasmania to pay their respects to the war heroes. The biggest crowds gather at the Cenotaph in Hobart and at Kingston Beach, south of the city, as well as the Cenotaph in Launceston.

RSL Tasmania President Robert Dick said he was glad to see Anzac services to so well attended: It goes to show how people are remembering those who served our country, he said. It's fantastic to see.

Thousands also gathered in the national capital of Australia, Camberra. There Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson said it was tempting to settle for the broad brushstrokes, headlines and shallow imagery of Australian history.

He said Australian comfortable lives bred easy indifference to the individual sacrifice made in their names. 102,700 Australians are named on the roll of honour. Like us each had only one life, one life to serve others and our nation. They chose us, he said.