Quite frankly, Elvis at 21 was a drop dead spunk and should always be remembered as such, rather than the sweaty singer stuffed into a rhinestone-encrusted jumpsuit after five too many fried squirrel and peanut butter sandwiches. But maybe that’s just me. Meanwhile, Leonard pulled his new powder blue suit out of its bubble wrap on Wednesday for a photo shoot and video at the gallery. He had a tour of the photo vault, and proudly reports that the pictures are awesome. We are lucky in the nation’s capital that not only do we get access to the exhibition, but next time you’re lonesome or planning a party, you can strap on your blue suede shoes, and call on the big hunk o’ Lemvis to shake you up. He says the work keeps piling in – everything from corporate events to birthdays and weddings.

“I did a first birthday party recently. The kid wasn’t a fan but the parents were,” he admitted.

As to the suit? Hope you like it because it required an investment of $2,500. It was custom made for Lemvis by B and K Enterprises who took the reins from Bill Belew, the chief designer of Elvis’ costumes from 1968 until his death in 1977.

Napoleon has conquered Myer. The Aussie makeup guru this week aligned his concealers, lipsticks and glittery shadows to the might of a major retailer. For Canberra fans this means you can go to his eponymous shop in the Canberra Centre or wander around the corner to the department store. Either way, you’ll be sure to have great access to the snail mucous he proudly incorporates into his BBB cream. Describing himself as “a very angry wog” when he left Australia nine years ago to seek his fortune in face paint, the Napoleon Perdis name is just about everywhere these days. It is a story of strong work ethic, self-belief and the transformative power of a good mascara. Just not sure about the electric blue, glittery spaceman suit he wore to the launch in Sydney this week. A little bit more Ziggy Stardust than French emperer. But then David Bowie was clearly a make up devotee back in the day.

White Ribbon Day on Monday saw men from all walks declaring publicly and privately that they would stand against any acts of violence against women. We like the style of Dean Hall from the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union who rallied his blokey teams together to mark the day. Rather than simply shout from the rooftops that violence against women is not acceptable, Hall took things to a higher level by pinning White Ribbon flags to crane towers hovering above construction sites right across the city.

“The CFMEU is in a unique position of being able to get the message directly to men in their workplaces,” said Hall, who is a white ribbon ambassador and keen supporter of the campaign.

Hall said there were far reaching effects of violence against women on women, children and families and the union wanted to show leadership on the issue.

Strap on your knee pads, those crazy girls from the Canberra Roller Derby League will tonight contest a grand final double header at the Australian Institute of Sport.

With a committed and energetic pack of 100 skaters enjoying a very fast-paced sixth season, four home teams are facing off to battle it out – The Surly Griffins, Red Bellied Black Hearts, Black ’n’ Blue Belles and Brindabelters.

It is colourful as the Moulin Rouge, with the excitement and aggression only full-contact sport can bring. Doors open at 3pm and tickets are available from Ticketek.

It takes a brave man to abandon all personal dignity in the name of making kids read. But if that is what it takes for Radford College junior school head Paul Southwell to improve literacy outcomes among youngsters, then so be it. He has pledged to walk from the Bruce campus to the National Library dressed as the Gruffalo if his students can rack up one million minutes of reading between now and week four of first term next year. It sounds like a big ask, but Southwell has been on the losing end of many a reading challenge over the past 11 years. As a result, he has sat on the school roof dressed as a hippo, immersed himself in a bath of jelly, been slimed, dunked and, horror of all horrors, been forced to wear an All Blacks jumper for a week. As a former Wallaby, this presented a particularly onerous burden. Understandably. Southwell is starting the challenge on the first day of the holiday break this year so kids don’t forget about books after Santa delivers their new iPads and DSs. Readers of this esteemed journal, meanwhile, have been forewarned should they see a large hairy creature, with a Rugby centre’s physique, wandering disconsolately down Belconnen Way early next year, do not be alarmed.

It’s the toyshop commercial that went viral (right before Christmas we might add) in the name of promoting engineering among girls. A two-minute video of three popettes creating a Rube Goldberg machine out of household goods and set to a parody of a Beastie Boys song “Girls” has received more than eight million hits on Youtube this week. It’s done for toy company Goldiblox what a black man on a white horse has done for Old Spice. But we like to think there are more targeted measures to getting chicks into engineering. The Defence Science and Technology Organisation this week handed three $10,000 scholarships to Australian National University engineering students Joyce Mau, Molly Thomas and Katrina Kelleher. The scholarships aim to encourage high-performing female students to “solidify their passion in an area where a gap exists between the numbers of male and female students,” according to Chief Defence Scientist Dr Alex Zelinsky. Vice-Chancellor Ian Young – an engineer of some repute himself – reported that women make up just over 20 per cent of the ANU’s undergraduate engineering program.