In Hugh We Trust: why we love the Aussie actor

I must be getting old because I rather enjoy reading Reader's Digest.

The July cover features actor Hugh Jackman.

It's the whole package (well, head and shoulders - and he is wearing a suit) 5 o' clock shadow, lips curved in teasing smile and those lazy bedroom eyes staring right down the barrel of the camera.

Imagine all the 60-something nannas having a 'spell' at the sight of 'our very own' Hugh!

As it turns out, Jackman is there for a reason. He features high up on the mag's annual Most Trusted People list.

He finishes in 6th position after a burns doctor, brave soldier, cancer researcher, Clean-Up Australia founder Ian Kiernan and ex-cricketer Glenn McGrath, who is highly respected for his fundraising for breastcancer research (his lovely wife Jane succumbed to the disease 12 months ago).

IN 2007, Jackman made it to 21st place on the list and in 2008 he climbed to 16th.

But what's he done to deserve top 6 in 2009? It can't be just that he's hot-to-trot?

The article's author Heidi Krause writes that since '08 Jackman has hosted the Oscars and stamped his hand on Hollywood Boulevard.

She continues: "But despite his success we view Jackman as a normal, unaffected, devoted family man. He is down-to-earth, a great ambassador for Australia and exudes trustworthiness."

However, social commentator Bernard Salt, hits the nail on the head when he touches on the fantasy element.

Salt says of Jackman: "He is an idol. Half the population want to marry him and the other half want to be him."

I don't know about wanting to marry him, but...

it's easy to see why Jackman is one of the pin-up boys for romance writers.

Tip for our Hugh: To fly in at numero uno in 2010 all he has to do is a bit of fundraising - selling a couple of boxes of Cadbury's Freddo Frogs to raise money for his kids' footy camps should do it.

On Michael Jackson and why good friends are worth their weight in gold

I've led a lucky life where I've managed to make some very brainy, erudite friends.

Friends like this are priceless because they make me look good, ie: occasionally witty and erudite on the rare occasions where I haven't overimbibed. I definitely benefit from their wisdom and worldliness.

One such friend, Q, lives in Germany. After the news of Michael Jackson's death, I sent Q a brief email along the lines of 'isn't this sad?'

Jackson was around our age and we grew up with his music. I know it's selfish, but when he died I helpessly watched yet another fragment of my youth spin off into the vortex. (Goodness, there goes Farrah Fawcett, too! So long chicky babe.)

But let me quote my Aussie-expat mate now based in Mannheim, Germany.

Q wrote:

"I've been watching TV for the last hour, catching multiple reports about Michael Jackson's life and death. He was certainly odd, but a great talent and musically amazingly influential.

"For our generation, his death is comparable to Elvis Presley's all those years ago. We've focussed so much on MJ's eccentricities over the last decade, that we forgot what a wonderful entertainer he was. Some of the '80s and '90s clips of him dancing I saw this afternoon still give me goosebumps.

"A great loss and - cynically - a smart career move. No doubt his album sales will hit a new peak.

"Can't wait for the tribute concert with (guessing here) Elton John, Madonna, Diana Ross, Lionel Ritchie, Janet & Jermaine, Justin Timberlake (duh), etc."

Already eBay has gone berserk with MJ memorabilia and his CDs have sold out on Amazon.

Let's just wait for the tribute gig. It's only a matter of time.

The two-pronged moral of this story is - 1. surround yourself with clever people and you'll always look smarter than you really are 2. don't inject prescription drugs.

PS: If MJ had friends like mine he'd still be alive today and probably doing the occasional ocean swim.

Show pony gallops home after Mona Vale Cold Water Classic

Whaddya reckon?

This is a pic of my brother-in-law Davo, snapped by Mr Ocean Swims at http://www.oceanswims.com/.

The reason I'm 'full' exposing Davo is because this pic helps illustrate our ocean swimming relationship. We're good mates and it's all grand, but there is an undercurrent of rivalry.

Davo usually beats me out of the water, and I'm cool with that (sort of).

But recently, the competition has moved from the ocean to the oceanswims website.

Up until last Sunday's Mona Vale swim, my photo had appeared twice on the ocean swimming bible, since I started swimming three years ago.

I was chuffed!

Davo only featured once - though his mug was on the website's homepage back in February after a chilly Bondi sprint (see pic right: 'frozen in time'. That's Davo).

But last Sunday, Mr Ocean Swims snapped Davo running along Mona Vale Beach to the finish line.

Not only did Davo get homepage billing with this shot, but it was used again in the photo gallery, with an ebullient photo caption: 'See you next year!'

It's a deceptive shot because Davo needed an intravenous paracetamol drip and a good lie down by the end of the swim. But he put on his 'this-is-a-piece-of-cake, mate' face and gave the royal wave.

And that did it for him. He is a self-proclaimed show pony. And, I might add, a fine figure of a man.

Bull shark cruises Sydney Harbour from Manly to Abbotsford and back

Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Daily Telegraph has managed to run a story on SHARKS, even though it's mid-winter in Sydney.

Last summer SHARKS were Page 1 headliners.

In early February, navy diver Paul de Gelder lost a hand and a leg after he was attacked in Woolloomooloo Bay, Sydney Harbour, at around 7am. The culprit was a BULL SHARK.

Less than a week later, a 2.5 metre GREAT WHITE SHARK almost tore off Glenn Orgias's hand while he was surfing at Bondi around 8pm. His hand could not be re-attached.

Now SHARKS ARE BACK. But the thing is, they've never really been away.

In March the Department of Primary Industries tagged over 55 SHARKS in NSW to trace their movements. The newspaper story is mostly about a tagged BULL SHARK that recently spent quality time in Sydney's waterways.

From March 24 to April 4, the '2.47m menace' travelled more than 300km around Sydney before heading out to sea. Interestingly, it cruised 230km during the night - when it would have been feeding.

If you know Sydney, you might be a little unnerved to learn the SHARK visited Abbotsford twice. That suburb is a long, winding way up the Parramatta River.

The SHARK also visited Manly twice.

My theory is the BULL SHARK did what a lot of Sydneysiders do - checked out the real estate, found it too expensive and headed north.

Headline idea: Smart SHARK attacks bull market