Yen Editor Jacqui & Cameron Peters            Director Karen Shakhnazarov & Virginia Judge

Friday night marked the start of one of the biggest celebrations of Russian cinema and culture with the opening night of the Russian Resurrection Film Festival at the Paddington Town Hall. Audiences were treated to a screening of the highly anticipated comedy The Vanished Empire, the film, set in 1970’s Moscow was directed by celebrated filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov (pictured), who spoke at the event. The night kicked on post screening as the vodka flowed and the Russian beauties were out in force. The Baltics also showed their wild side in a dance competition with sounds provided by the Sydney Balalaika Orchestra which kept the crowd going late into the evening.

The festival continues in Sydney at the Chauvel Cinema until November 10 and then goes on tour around Australia.

Head to http://www.russianresurrection.com/ for details of events in your state.

Dangerous night crawlers could be a menace of the past for fashion savvy Tokyo girls due to the wildly creative talent of artist Aya Tsukioka. The artist has invented a chic skirt that doubles as a vending machine disguise in case the Yukuza (Japanese mafia) should be lurking near by – fingers crossed they’re not feeling parched! Several variations of the costume are currently in the making including a deluxe model which folds from a kimono, for the streetwise Geisha.

As one of the few unfortunate members of Gen-Y who actually still doesn’t have pay TV, I was mortified to hear that ALF, my furry friend from the planet Melmac is back and I’ll be missing out! As a child I loved and laughed with the Tanner family and their ugly extraterrestrial pal - in fact I was so enamored I chose my first catch and kiss conquest on a resemblance to him. When they bring back Punky Brewster I’ll be officially giving up on my stand against pay TV. Dam.

6:30am and 3:30pm weekdays Channel 111
 
          

Guys, are you looking for an affordable way to jazz up any outfit?
Why not be the uberest trendiest lad at your next social soiree with a pair of mantyhose?
Why should men be denied the support of a fashionable control-top hose?!?
Mantyhose site www.e-mancipate.net aims to promote the acceptance of male pantyhose and has an illustrated guide on how to put them on as well as stockists of fashionable patterned and comfortable summer weight tights, for the discreet male.

Switch to Channel 7 this week for your doco fix as BBC journalist Louis Theroux gets naked in the name of research. Louis gets down and dirty with porn industry legends like Sharon Mitchell of Debbie Does Dallas fame and explores the predicament of whether to go ‘gay for pay’ when he’s offered a part in a gay action film, Snowbound.

It’s on at 11:30pm next Monday.

 

It’s amazing how ads can totally miss the mark sometimes. Does anybody remember the recent Saab ad with the yellow convertible roaming through gorgeous country mountains to that absolutely captivating song “Release Me”? I certainly do, but it didn’t make me rush to the local dealership – instead I Googled frantically to find out whom that fabulous voice belongs to. It turned out to be that of Frida Öhrn of Swedish Band ‘Oh Laura’ whose highly recognizable single jumped straight to the top of the Scandinavian charts in its first week.

The band is headed to Australia next month as one of the international headliners of The Queenscliff Festival on November 29. They’ll also be performing two intimate sideshows at The Basement on 27 November and Melbourne’s Manchester Lane on November 30.

Want to know why young girls are overstimulated, oversold and oversexed? If you ask me it’s Bratz Dolls and the sweat shop prices at Supre, but according to Maggie Hamilton, author of What’s Happening to Our Girls? pre-teens today have a completely different lifestyle to what they did, even five years ago. The book focuses on understanding the pressures facing young girls and what we can do to help them to realise their options are endless.

Hear Maggie speak about her book at the Writers Tent at the Newtown Festival, November 9. Event info here.