Whether it's for a staycation, quick getaway or lengthy vacation, spending a night or several away from your own house isn't just about getting cosy inside any old different four walls. There's an art to providing a memorable stay away from home, including when you're slumbering in someone else's abode. Given that Airbnb is all about folks opening up their spaces to travellers wanting to spend the evening, of course it realises this — and rewards the platform's hosts with the most. For the three years running, Airbnb's Host Awards have recognised the people making booking at their listings something special — and the memorable stays themselves. 2023's winners have just been announced, showing some love across both Australia and New Zealand. Whether you're after a romantic Sunshine Coast retreat, hanging out in a 1920s steam train carriage and or a Hamurana cabin with an outdoor bath, these applauded options have you covered. In Australia, Host of the Year went to Veronica and Colin Eastmure for their Down at The Dale farm stay at Conondale, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Among the often-personalised touches that earned them the coveted prize: robes and slippers, handwritten welcome notes, roasting marshmallows on the fire pit, an outdoor spot to bathe and even making a birthday cake for a guest. From the newcomers to the platform, Fremantle's Sarah Abbott won Best New Host for a light-filled loft in the city's West End district, which earned plaudits for its design focus. There's also a Best Design Stay, which went to a restored Victorian terrace called Mister Munro, as hosted by Elise Croker in Crookwell in New South Wales. Rounding out the Aussie awards: that steam carriage in Forrest in Victoria, which got host Fleur Leslie the nod for Most Unique Stay (unsurprisingly); Bec and Angus McDougall's The Cottage at Dunmore Farm, also in Victoria, for Best Nature Stay; and Skye Lanser's boho-style room in NSW's Forest Lodge, which won for Best Room Host. If you're wondering how Airbnb's Host Award winners are chosen, a heap of Airbnb data goes into picking the recipients, plus guest scores and reviews — and then a judging panel oversees the process. In Aotearoa, The Cabin in Rotorua took pride of place — aka Host of the Year — for David and Christina Chemis. Again, personalisation for guests was a hit with the judges (this time including homemade treats), as was an outside bath. Soaking in the air, scenic surroundings and being made to feel like you really are at a home away from home: that's the formula that's resonated at the 2023 awards across both countries Down Under. NZ's Best New Host went to Viv Madsen-Ries for The Loft on Flynn Host, which gives Arrowtown visitors mountain views. Also, Chanel Griffiths' off-the-grid two-person Kawakawa Hut on a Taupō farm won Best Nature Stay. If it's just a room you're after, that's where Joanna Bell's Freemans Bay villa comes in, including a daily homemade breakfast. In the Best Design Stay field, glamping with a hot tub — and four bedrooms — is at the top of the agenda in Waitomo thanks to host Emily Scott. And New Zealand's Most Unique Stay? A house bus on a 35-acre field will do it, with hosts Tara and Guillaume Wrigley Gignoux dubbing it the Raglan LoveBus. For more information about Airbnb's Host Award winners in Australia and New Zealand, had to the platform's website.
What if The Boys took its superhero satirising to college? That's one of the ideas behind Gen V, which helped expand streaming's Vought Cinematic Universe in 2023. When the spinoff series quickly proved a hit, a second season was locked in. What if dealing with having superpowers turned higher learning into utter chaos? Expect to dive into that concept again from September 2025. Just because The Boys loves parodying pop culture's caped-crusader obsession, that doesn't mean that it can't spark its own franchise. After the OG series, first came the animated The Boys Presents: Diabolical. Then, Gen V arrived to take on the 'We Gotta Go Now' storyline. Viewers can enrol in the later's sophomore season on Prime Video from Wednesday, September 17, 2025, with a new Dean setting the agenda for the university's students — and the impacts of Homelander's (Antony Starr, G20) actions in The Boys being felt. That's what the just-dropped first trailer for Gen V season two teases, beginning with its new uni head Cipher (Hamish Linklater, Nickel Boys) letting the blood-bending Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair, Please Baby Please) re-enrol. With its controlling necklaces, the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Centre has been her home since the events of season one — and for some of her friends, too. But going back to class isn't the same as it was the first time around, including in a "Make America Super Again" world. "It is time that humans learn that what runs through our veins is true Vought blue," Cipher tells the amassed students — and a war between humans and supes is indeed part of the storyline. If you missed Gen V 's initial season, Godolkin University is the college for superheroes that's meant to help prepare the best of the best for caped-crusader life — until exploding classmates, creepy secret facilities and untrustworthy professors complicate matters, that is. Season one spent its time with Marie, who knows that attending God U is a pivotal opportunity. After a traumatic experience when her powers kicked in, this is her chance to completely change her life, as well as achieve her dream of becoming the first Black woman in The Seven. Then, nothing turns out as planned. Also, things on campus (and underneath it) get shady, fast. Starring in season one as well: Lizze Broadway (Kinda Pregnant) as Marie's roomate Emma Meyer, who can change her size; Maddie Phillips (Overcompensating) as the persuasive Cate Dunlap; London Thor (Never Have I Ever) and Derek Luh (Shining Vale) as the gender-shifting Jordan Li; Asa Germann (Monsters) as the super-strong Sam Riordan; and Sean Patrick Thomas (High Potential) as superhero Polarity. All six also return for season two. The first look at the new season also dives into how the show is addressing an off-screen tragedy, after season-one talent Chance Perdomo (After Everything), who portrayed the magnetic Andre Anderson, passed away in 2024. Check out the teaser trailer for Gen V season two below: Gen V streams via Prime Video, with season two releasing from Wednesday, September 17, 2025. Read our review of season one.
There's no shortage of highlights along Tassie's eastern shores, with Freycinet National Park's Wineglass Bay an alluring attraction. However, just a short drive up the coast, the charming community of Bicheno awaits, renowned for its scenic natural landmarks and vibrant culinary scene. Returning on Saturday, November 15, the Bicheno Food & Wine Festival is where visitors can experience the community's mouthwatering bites and sips in one spot. Featuring 30 stallholders showcasing Tasmania's finest flavours and makers, expect a coastal celebration of stellar seafood, local wine and live music. The lineup for the 2025 edition is soon to be revealed, but previous instalments have included a who's who of local epicureans. Think award-winning drinks from Bicheno Beer Co., Maclean Bay Wines and Ironhouse Tasmania, alongside non-stop gourmet cuisine from Formosa Bites, Salsa Sol and Fried & Loaded. Set against a picturesque seascape, the Bicheno Food & Wine Festival is also stacked with live music and entertainment. Throughout the day, local bands and singer-songwriters will take to the stage. Meanwhile, roving buskers also provide an easy-breezy soundtrack for visitors dining on the freshest east coast produce.
Trying not to think about Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet is about to become impossible in Australia. So will getting Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' out of your head, where it's dwelled for most people since the Oscar-winning track was released in 1997. The reason: a Titanic exhibition has dropped anchor Down Under and docked at Melbourne Museum until Sunday, April 21. Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition has brought 200-plus items from the shipwreck to the Victorian capital in its Aussie trip after selling out its Paris season and also proving a hit in the US. The pieces on display were legitimately recovered from the vessel's wreck site, too, after the RMS Titanic's ill-fated voyage in April 1912 — aka the events that James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water) turned into the DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon)- and Winslet (Ammonite)-starring Titanic more than a quarter-century ago. For everyone bound to exclaim, "I'm the king of the world!" while walking through Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition's Australian-exclusive stop, this is the king of all Titanic exhibitions. In fact, it's the most extensive in the world. As well as seeing the genuine objects from the ship, attendees will wander through full-scale recreations of the vessel's interiors, such as the veranda cafe, first-class parlour suite and grand staircase. In addition to the recovered items and recreations of the Titanic's spaces, the exhibition will tell tales about those onboard the ship that launched its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, only to sink five days later on April 15, after hitting an iceberg. You'll be able to immerse yourself in the fateful events of that night with interactive exhibits like a touchable iceberg chilled to the temperature of the water the night of the sinking. This exploration of a tragic chapter in history will focus on passengers and crew alike while stepping through the vessel's class divisions and pondering the boat's legacy. Beyond the historical learnings, you can enjoy a Titanic-themed high tea designed by a Michelin-star chef to fully immerse yourself in the era in an elegantly designed lounge. Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition must close on Sunday, April 21. Evening sessions are also available. For more information or to book tickets, visit the website. Images: EMG / Alexandre Schoelcher / Eugene Hyland / Museums Victoria.
Travelling overseas ranks right up there on everyone's bucket list, but the actual travelling part is far from fun. No one loves spending more than a couple of hours on a plane, and no one loves taking multiple flights to get to their destination either. But if you could choose between hopping over to your destination in one leg, or getting a break from being cramped and uncomfortable in the air, which would you opt for? Thanks to advances in aircraft development, ensuring that today's planes are more fuel-efficient over hefty distances, airlines are increasingly making non-stop long-range flights a reality. After Qantas introduced its 17-hour-plus Perth-to-London route earlier this year, Singapore Airlines will be unleashing the world's longest non-stop commercial flight later in 2018: from Singapore to New York over 19 hours. First announced by the airline in 2015, the route will be made possible thanks to the new Ultra Long Range version of the Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, which completed its first successful test flight in April. The planes can travel up to 16,000 kilometres (or 8,700 nautical miles) without refuelling — or, for over 20 hours non-stop — which makes the 15,322-kilometre trip between Singapore and New York possible. It's not the first time that the airline has flown direct to the US, with Singapore-to-Newark, New Jersey flights in operation until 2013. The world's current longest route without stopovers runs from Doha to Auckland in around 18 hours, travelling 14,529 kilometres on a Boeing 777-200LR, followed by the Perth-to-London leg. Qantas is keen to beat both the current and the impending record-holders, though, announcing plans last year to fly direct from Australia's east coast to both London and New York by 2022 — once either Airbus and Boeing make a plane that can handle the 20-hour and 20-minute, 16,983-kilometre stint between Sydney and London.
I'm not going to lie, I'm not the biggest fan of pizza. I could never find a really great one, but that's because I had not yet discovered The Burrow! Walking down Boundary Street on a cool autumn night, I managed to strut past my usual haunts to find what is soon to be my new local pizza shop. In the dark evening, this new space of beautifully dressed timber beams, long wide communal tables, great music, tasty pizzas and a healthy beer list of great boutique brews is like a candle to a hungry moth. This is not your classic Italian pizza place and it's not your '90s fusion pizza disaster. The Burrow has managed to create a smart mix of pizzas, some in the more traditional style and others with the mindset of 'let's just make it tasty'. When looking down at the menu, my heart flutters as I come across the ‘lucky chick’ pizza, consisting of harissa chicken, artichoke and caramelised onions on a thin (not too crispy) pizza base with a great chewy quality ($18). If you're up for a challenge, ‘the calzone of champions’ is filled with champignons, ham, cheese and artichoke then topped with napoli and parmesan ($18). It will have you relaxing your belt buckle to try and fit the monster in! The ‘mr potatohead’ pizza is also great and is just that - rosemary seasoned sliced potato, parmesan and prosciutto($18). This is taking you down the more classic vein of pizza traditions. The mood at The Burrow is casual and relaxed with no pretence. The staff are really helpful and their relaxed nature helps to make you feel welcome. This is the perfect place to catch up with friends or a chill for a relaxed mid-week dinner. Take off your fancy tie and horribly high heels and pop on your favourite hoodie and cons' to enjoy a delicious pizza in the comfort of The Burrow.
If your ideal holiday involves hitting the sea, sailing to a heap of countries and exploring some of the most famous sites in popular culture over the past decade, then come September 2021, you'll be in luck. With Game of Thrones turning Iceland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Malta and Croatia into must-visit tourist destinations, a new cruise is launching to take fans to all of the above places. Naturally, it's called Cruise of Thrones. While it isn't officially affiliated with Game of Thrones, HBO, author George RR Martin or any of the enormous page-to-screen hit's powers-that-be, Cruise of Thrones will let fans live out their love for their series on a prolonged boat trip through Europe. Two eight-day options will be available, so you can pick one or the other — or sail them back to back. If you choose the northern cruise, you'll head to Iceland and Northern Ireland, where the Fist of the First Men, the Bloody Gate, Jon and Ygritte's cave, The Wall, Castle Black, Hardhome, Winterfell, Pyke and the King's Road all await. Folks on the southern cruise will journey through Spain, Malta, and Croatia, visiting Sunspear and the Water Gardens, the Tower of Joy, the Citadel, the Long Bridge of Volantis, King's Landing and the Red Keep. https://www.facebook.com/CruiseofThrones/posts/2368376046808980?__xts__[0]=68.ARDKtajQ6dIZzuH_8UMZveijqPbNWJ88xfHW_GQ6UnaQKDIySSo9wuynxBaGqzaE5RMgt1kvfbiPP72SkIxqYTDdqXHeRnGBbDFK-S1ZNx11lNElAkoMAz5BV-jxuAQP9mHcE0XZZDPoam__mGLvNX6HDpDg8q9Yfl7Gcry4wRIkfhAie_ASB0hdAcp2jqDh_Cjst8zO-V4-mLh6B1crmVCQWS2-ersCur9OLezRpRJhekaONPIVxPti0say29XxAi5MN150hD4GC29nvksfKnoO8gDgkoO9qS6q_YzRnKTmZhRjx1etMSh__oC9OKhEc04moCBZYECoat6Q2twFitPl4s3w&__tn__=-R Apparently the luxury ship will be fitted out to suit the theme, too; think dining rooms that resemble Winterfell's feasting halls, other decorative touches that recall various places from the show, and plenty of encouragement to dress up and play along. Everything from panels, discussions and lectures to wine tasting, storytelling, a scavenger hunt and game shows is also listed on the cruise's website, should you be in need of some onboard entertainment. A reference to celebrity guests is also made — presumably meaning GoT stars — but no specifics have been provided. If you're keen, you'll need to have a hefty Iron Bank account, with prices starting at US$5130 per person for eight nights. Of course, if you're not overly fond of organised cruises, plenty of fans have been making similar treks themselves — and, from sometime in 2020, you'll also be able to visit a huge new (and official) GoT tour through sets, costumes and props in Northern Ireland. For more information about Cruise of Thrones, which is due to set sail in September 2021, visit its website.
What do Count Bass D, Massive Attack and TV on the Radio all have in common besides syllable-exhausted names? They’ve all worked with the American music changer Jneiro Jarel, and come out the other side all the musically better for it. Born in Brooklyn, this artist, music producer, composer and DJ has worked a sound that meshes his early influences of jazz and hip hop with contemporary rock and electronica – it’s a little boppy, a little techno and very unpredictable. He’s upstaged JK Rowling by working under more than four pseudonyms – Dr. Who Day?, Shape of Broad Minds, Capitol Peoples etc. – and has become somewhat music royalty in the Brooklyn underground creative exchange. Now, he’s jetting over to play at The Apartment’s next A Love Supreme alongside Brisbane’s finest, Milesago, Yumø and Alex Intas. Jneiro Jarel - or any of his stage names - are ones you may not have heard of, but even a late investment pays off in the long run – catch him this Sunday.
Slipping, sliding and splashing are familiar parts of every Australian summer, thanks to the nation's water parks. But Queensland's Wet 'n' Wild, Sydney's Raging Waters, Melbourne's Funfields, Adelaide's Semaphore Waterslide Complex and Perth Aqua Park — and all the other H20-filled, slide-heavy attractions around the country, too — could all soon have some hefty competition from the southern hemisphere's biggest indoor-outdoor facility of the same kind. Called SurfnPlay Aqua Park, it's due to open in Melbourne by 2024 as part of a four-hectare development in Dingley Village. Almost half of the park will be dedicated to indoor pools and recreation — 1.82 hectares, in fact — while another 1.3 hectares slides and pools will sit outdoors. Outside, there'll also be a beach pool that'll be able to generate 1.8-metre waves (so you'll really feel like you're swimming and surfing at the real thing). Also part of the current plans: an indoor wave room, water-jet powered slides that'll let you slip your way up an incline rather than just down, and a 250-metre stretch that's been dubbed a 'lazy river'. Basically, whether you like hitting a board, hurtling through water-filled tubes or just floating around, it'll be on offer at the facility, which is being developed by Pellicano. SurfnPlay Aqua Park has actually been in the works for the past couple of years — with initial plans submitted to the City of Kingston back in March 2019 — however it's now seeking final approval. Construction is expected to start within 12 months of the latter. If it comes to fruition, it'll become Melbourne's latest manmade site to catch a few waves — with not only the aforementioned Funfields featuring a heated wave pool, but surf park Urbnsurf pumping out waves since January 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BlEQt3PckY For more information about SurfnPlay Aqua Park — which is due to open in Dingley Village, Melbourne, by 2024 if it is approved — head to its Facebook page. Via Pellicano / The Herald Sun. Images: SurfnPlay Aqua Park
'The mormons are coming', posters popping up all around Brisbane promised last year. Until May, the mormons are officially here. Brisbanites have been waiting for years for The Book of Mormon to come to town, but it seems that we already want more. While the musical's first Queensland run has only just started, a return season has been announced for 2020. If you haven't nabbed tickets to the current slate of shows, don't worry — Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit musical will bring its hilariously irreverent self back to QPAC's Lyric Theatre from January 3, 2020. The production spent a year in Melbourne, then did the same in Sydney, and initially slated three months for Brisbane; however it clearly wasn't long enough. Tickets for the 2020 season will go on sale on Monday, March 25 and, given that The Book of Mormon has been enjoying sell-outs everywhere it has played, it's certain to prove a hot ticket. In Sydney, it set a record for the highest grossing musical in the city's history, and did the same at Melbourne's Princess Theatre. Written by South Park and Team America's notoriously puerile creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, together with Robert Lopez of genius grown-up muppet show Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon is probably one of the most lauded comedies ever to have centred on the Church of Latter Day Saints, African missions, AIDS, bum jokes and super ironic racism. If it wasn't so smart and so funny, few would forgive it. But since it is, The Book of Morman has picked up nine Tonys, four Olivier Awards and a Grammy since it debuted in 2011, and has been called "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years". If you've been envious of the throngs seeing the musical in New York, Chicago, London, elsewhere in Australia or in Brisbane at the moment, then you'll be plenty excited that you'll now get another chance to go learn all the idiosyncratic details of Mormonism, meet war criminal General Butt-Fucking Naked and know the true meaning of the hakuna matata-like saying 'Hasa Diga Eebowai'. The Book of Mormon plays QPAC's Lyric Theatre until May 31, 2019, then returns from January 3, 2020. Tickets for the return season go on sale on Monday, March 25 from BookOfMormonMusical.com.au. Image: Ryan Bondy, Zahra Newman, Nyk Bielak and company in The Book of Mormon, AUS 1411. (c) Jeff Busby.
It has been 22 years since the Valley Fiesta first turned Fortitude Valley's live music scene into a weekend-long street party — and, returning for its annual spin across August 29 to September 2, it's bigger and better than ever. From live music to boozy shindigs to learning to dance in the middle of the Brunswick Street mall, the event's 2018 lineup is packed with things to do. Outdoor gigs, a light-filled art showcase and a special focus on active activities designed to get punters moving beyond making shapes and tapping their toes are all on the bill as well. Indeed, the area around Brunswick, Wickham and Ann streets is the place to be across five massive days, but if you're a little overwhelmed for choice, we're here to help. Add these ten top happenings to your Fiesta itinerary, and prepare for a busy stint of Valley revelry.
Some cocktails sport names that just scream 80s, even if you weren't around then — or of drinking age at the time. What other decade could've loved a tipple called sex on the beach? Or, there's the Miami Vice, which does indeed share the moniker of a TV show of the era. And while it wasn't invented then, the mix of lemonade and beer that is the good ol' shandy sure did enjoy a mighty fine heyday back when shoulder pads were everywhere. With nostalgia for four decades back having quite the moment right now — see: screens filled with movies about Air Jordans, Tetris and Super Mario Bros — of course some of the top drinks of the 80s are in the spotlight again as well. In fact, they're the beverages of honour at Brisbane's new disco-inspired cocktail pop-up The 86 Club, which'll make its debut in May to celebrate the period in question. [caption id="attachment_707293" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Black Bear Lodge[/caption] This boozy addition to the River City's social scene actually takes its title from the hospitality term "86", which refers to something that's no longer available; however, it does a nice double duty with its nod to 80s as well. Bartenders and The 86 Club creators Andie Bulley, Blade Deegan, Liam Murphy and Martin McConnell definitely want you to revel in the decade — although, given that their new pop-up also takes its cues from disco, it's clearly gleaning inspiration from the 70s as well. The quartet have branched out from their jobs mixing drinks at Savile Row, The Gresham and Frog's Hollow Saloon, and are teaming up with brands such as Bacardi, Bombay Sapphire, Grey Goose, Patron, Marionette and Range Brewing on this side venture. The 86 Club will launch on Sunday, May 7 at Black Bear Lodge, with entry free but wallets required to sip your way through five reimagined 80s cocktails — sex on the beach, Miami Vice and the shandy obviously among them. For a soundtrack, DJ collective QUIVR will be on the decks spinning house and disco tunes. And yes, dancing beneath the disco ball with a cocktail in your hand is firmly on the menu. The 86 Club will host its first event from 7pm on Sunday, May 7 at Black Bear Lodge, with free entry — and we'll update you about further pop-ups when they're announced. Top image: Max MacInnes (@__highlandermax).
So, that 'New Year, New You' resolve has started to fade and the end of summer's left you a little lacking in the motivation department. Well, online fashion retailer The Iconic reckons it has exactly what it takes to inspire us all to jump back into the fitness game — a sweet $135,000 worth of vouchers. The vouchers are up for grabs as part of The Iconic's 2019 Sport Challenge, which kicks off today, Tuesday, February 26. Now in its third year, the eight-week digital fitness competition sees Aussie and New Zealand participants of all skill levels winning vouchers for workout threads, shoes and accessories, by simply exercising and completing fitness challenges. It's free to enter, though you'll need to connect your go-to fitness tracking app or device (there are 13 different compatible apps, including Nike Run Club and Polar Flow) to access the 17 different challenges, divided into easy, medium and hard. Expect things like the beginner-friendly Champion Challenge — where you'll need to tick off three 20-minute workouts for the chance to score a $50 Champion voucher — through to the slightly sweatier Skins Challenge, offering a shot at claiming $50 worth of Skins gear, whenever you clock a non-stop 15km run. Rack up 2km of activity in one go and there could be a $100 Fitbit voucher with your name on it. The vouchers are redeemable online at The Iconic for a bunch of big-name sportswear brands, including Mizuno, Reebok, Nike, Adidas and Running Bare. Participants have eight weeks to smash as many challenges as they can, before the competition wraps up at midnight on Tuesday, April 23. The more times you conquer one, the more chances you'll have to score a prize. Sign up over at The Iconic Sport Challenge website and start moving.
Some movies sport monikers so out of sync with their contents that someone really should've had a rethink before they reached screens. Uncharted is one of them, but it was never going to switch its name. The action-adventure flick comes to cinemas following a decade and a half of trying, after the first Uncharted video game reached consoles in 2007 and the journey to turning it into a movie began the year after. Accordingly, this Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home)- and Mark Wahlberg (Joe Bell)-starring film was fated to keep its franchise's title, which references its globe-trotting, treasure hunting, dark passageway-crawling, dusty map-coveting storyline. But unexplored, unfamiliar and undiscovered, this terrain definitely isn't — as four Indiana Jones films to-date, two National Treasure flicks, three Tomb Raider movies, 80s duo Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, and theme park ride-to-screen adaptation Jungle Cruise have already demonstrated. Uncharted mightn't live up to its label, but it is something perhaps unanticipated given its lengthy production history — a past that's seen six other filmmakers set to direct it before the Zombieland movies' Ruben Fleischer actually did the honours, plenty of screenwriters come and go, and Wahlberg once floated to play the saga's hero Nathan Drake rather than the mentor role of Victor Sullivan he has now. That surprise? Uncharted is fine enough, which might be the best likely possible outcome that anyone involved could've hoped for. It's almost ridiculously generic, and it sails in the Pirates of the Caribbean flicks' slipstream as well, while also cribbing from The Mummy, Jumanji and even the Ocean's films. Indeed, it borrows from other movies as liberally as most of its characters pilfer in their daily lives, even nodding towards all things Fast and Furious. It's no worse than the most generic of its predecessors, though — which isn't the same as striking big-screen gold, but is still passable. The reasons that Uncharted just hits the barest of marks it needs to are simple and straightforward: it benefits from Holland's charms, its climax is a glorious action-film spectacle, and it doesn't ever attempt to be anything it's not (although reading a statement of intent into the latter would be being too generous). It also zips through its 116-minute running time, knowing that lingering too long in any one spot wouldn't serve it well — and it's as good as it was going to be given the evident lack of effort to be something more. While you can't make a great movie out of these very minor wins, they're all still noticeable pointers in an okay-enough direction. Getting audiences puzzling along with it, delivering narrative surprises even to viewers wholly unfamiliar with the games, asking Wahlberg to do anything more than his familiar tough-guy schtick, making the most of the bulk of its setpieces, providing the product of more than just-competent direction: alas, none of these turn out. In a film that acts as a prequel to its button-mashing counterparts, Holland plays Drake as a 20-something with brother issues, a vast knowledge of cocktail histories that's handy for his bartending gig, an obsession with 16th-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and the gold he might've hidden, and very light fingers. Nate's elder sibling dipped out of his life after the pair were caught trying to steal a Magellan map as orphanage-dwelling kids, in fact, which Sully uses to his advantage when he first crosses his path in a New York bar — and, after some convincing, Nate has soon signed up to finish the quest he's been dreaming about since childhood. Naturally, this newly formed duo aren't the only ones on the Magellan treasure's trail. The wealthy Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard) is descended from the explorer's original financiers and boasts a hefty sense of entitlement, while knife-wielding mercenary Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle, You) and enterprising fortune-hunter Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali, India Sweets and Spices) are each chasing a windfall. It's telling — and farcically blatant — that Uncharted begins with Nate hanging upside down. He's suspended from a train of freight trailing out of a plane, but the visual message is instant and obvious: yes, Holland also plays Spider-Man. Actually, the film doesn't ever ask him to stretch his talents beyond everything he's already immensely famous for, going for a 'Peter Parker, but make him a thief with a heart of gold' setup. Still, he's as entertaining and charismatic as the part demands, and lifts the routine script by The Wheel of Time's Rafe Lee Judkins and Men in Black: International duo Art Marcum and Matt Holloway purely by his presence. Holland hasn't had a great time of late beyond the Marvel web, with the also long-troubled Chaos Walking proving flat-out awful, and Cherry failing to set streaming alight; however, if Uncharted leaves a lasting imprint, it's wondering how much better its star could fare with if he had more than a by-the-numbers screenplay to work with. A worthy lead, underperforming material, a general unwillingness to take any risks: that's a problem that's plagued too many movies about too many connect-the-dots treasure hunts well before now. Thankfully, Uncharted's eagerness to just get on with its story helps significantly — breezing by rather than loitering on its chest of illogical twists and turns, and, Wahlberg aside, never giving its one-note supporting characters too much of the spotlight. Also, when that aforementioned eye-catching finale arrives and puts the whole archaeology-meets-swashbuckling idea to nice use, the picture almost justifies its existence. X doesn't ever quite mark the spot with Uncharted, and the history of bringing video games to the movies still sinks more often than it swims, but there's just enough that gleams here to be watchable. It's a film with a few shiny coins in its bag, rather than a whole bar, cavern or ship of riches.
Swedish furniture giant IKEA has been creating stylish storage solutions for our personal possessions for decades. As part of their latest marketing strategy, they've released a digital version of the Expedit shelving range to restore order to computer files. Hungarian advertising agency Laboratory Ideas developed the concept, saying "We prepared a useful, design-conscious and cost-effective way - true to IKEA's values - to organize and store your stuff even in your second home, your computer." One of my pet hates is that PCs don't allow for folder customisation. At least on Mac you can colour-code and highlight, though it's limited to seven shades. With its icon set of boxes, drawers and shelving in a range of colours and designs, IKEA's e-Folder set lets you say goodbye to stock-standard folders and furnish your computer so it feels like home. Download the set from IKEA online stores in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, check out the installation instructions in English and get tidy! [Via NotCot]
Fans of weighty Australian fare that reckons with the country's past are fans of the Mystery Road franchise, spanning both the big and small screens. They're fans, then, of the way that the outback-set saga surveys the nation's distinctive ochre-hued landscape from above in picturesque drone shots, all while contemplating the racist ills waged to live and work upon it. Stan's new six-part series Black Snow borrows much that's made Mystery Road such a hit, including a shock murder in a small town, a cop riding in to solve the mystery it heralds, a grim look at Aussie history and a bird's-eye view of its setting. But when this instantly compelling show peers down, it spies fields of green sugar cane fields far and wide. And, when it explores the country's traumas, it focuses on the treatment of the Australian South Sea Islander community. Seventeen-year-old Isabel Baker (talented debutant Talijah Blackman-Corowa) is the first person seen in Black Snow's opening moments, riding her bike hurriedly through the cane in the thick of night, making a frantic call from a remote phone booth and getting spooked by a music-blaring car's sudden appearance. The year is 1994, and the evening is the high schooler's Year 12 formal, as well as her last alive. Black Snow's second face belongs to James Cormack (Travis Fimmel, Raised by Wolves), a Brisbane-based Cold Case Unit police officer trying his luck in 2019 at a claw machine in a pub. He's troubled in a different way, haunted by emotional pain he attempts to deaden by paying for a Fight Club-style beating in the bar's back alley, and he'll swiftly be on Isabel's trail. Flitting between the two timeframes — hopping back and forth so heartily that Isabel is as much Black Snow's protagonist as Cormack, meaningfully so — this series isn't short on 90s touchstones. VHS stores, mix tapes, camcorders, Smashing Pumpkins and You Am I on the soundtrack, a Thelma & Louise video, teen chat about piking and being cut, a mention of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: they're all covered. The best TV show of that decade, Twin Peaks, doesn't get an overt shoutout; however, David Lynch's influential masterpiece springs to mind while watching as clearly as Mystery Road does. Ashford, Black Snow's setting, is indeed a quaint locale centred around a mill and populated by inhabitants who all know each other. And, due to the murder of its most promising daughter, the town's secrets start to spill. As simple maths makes plain, Ashford's 90s tragedy bubbles up again a quarter-century later, in one of creator Lucas Taylor (Harrow) and co-writers Beatrix Christian (Hearts and Bones) and Boyd Quakawoot's (Black Comedy) sharpest moves. In what's supposed to be a moment of celebration to mark the local school's centenary, the town gathers to unearth a time capsule buried by Isabel and her classmates, with the blasts from the pasts that result spanning far beyond nostalgia. In addition to providing the series with an immediate point of difference — outsider detectives dropping by to solve dead-girl crimes is a well-worn on-screen trope — the excavated box also signals Black Snow's devotion to looking backwards. Fields like the fictional Ashford's have been blighted by blackbirding, the exploitation of South Sea Islanders involving forced relocation, severe underpayment and brutal working conditions, a grim form of slavery that isn't forgotten here. In the show's 2019 timeline, Cormack heads north to sweaty heat, an unwelcoming Senior Sergeant Turner (Kim Gyngell, Wakefield) — who originally led the case, and is adamant a passerby was responsible — and a mixed reaction from Isabel's sister Hazel (potent first-timer Jemmason Power), mother Glenda (Seini Willett), aunt Rosa (Lisa Blackman) and pastor father Joe (Jimi Bani, Mabo). His job: to find the murderer by "finding out who people really were back then", he notes, with his enquiries also involving Isabel's boyfriend Anton Bianchi (Alexander England, How to Please a Woman) and best friend Chloe Walcott (Brooke Satchwell, The Twelve), the former a farmer's (Rob Carlton, Bali 2002) son and the latter gifted every advantage courtesy of her mill-owning father (Erik Thomson, Blueback). Back in 1994, Isabel wades through her own chaos, with the younger Hazel (Molly Fatnowna) watching on. Her parents are strict, so much so that she's scared to tell her dad about plans for a pre-university road trip to Sydney with Chloe (played by The Unlisted's Annabel Wolfe as a teen). Anton (Josh Macqueen, Significant Others) is hardly reliable, but he is jealous of the time she's spending with the picked-on Hector Ford (Fraser Anderson, Rock Island Mysteries). Plus, Isabel soon has her own investigation causing waves around town, tied to fresh-faced Vanuatu newcomer Ezekiel Iesul (musician Ziggy Ramo), absent visas, hellish abuse and missing people. Without its leaps backwards, Black Snow would still be gripping and well-acted, with Fimmel giving the series an expectedly dogged but quietly magnetic cop — one so breezily spoken that he stands out from every other detective that's ever chased comparable cases — and Power living up to her name as a woman that's spent more than half her life in a tragedy's shadow. Still, it can't be overstated how essential the 1994 segments prove. They gift Isabel a voice and presence past being a mere victim; showcase Blackman-Corowa's luminous performance in the process; and inescapably anchor Black Snow's narrative in colonial crimes, horrors waged for centuries since, the deep-seated intergenerational traumas they've caused, Australian South Sea Islander culture and telling class clashes. Come for Australia's latest must-stream crime drama, and the first of 2023, then, but stay for a show that embraces and interrogates much more than its recognisable basic setup typically indicates. Stay, too, for taught and tense direction from helmers Sian Davies (Spreadsheet) and Matthew Saville (A Month of Sundays), an emotive score by Ramo with Jed Palmer (Animals), and eye-catching cinematography from Eric Murray Lui (We Are Still Here) — scenic sights lush with greenery but as stained with hurt, woe and sorrow as Australia's reddest soil. Check out the trailer for Black Snow below: Black Snow streams via Stan.
Last time Hunx & His Punx were here — back in 2012 — they charmed many an Antipodean heart with their penchant for getting (nearly) naked, offers to autograph genitalia and expletive-rich expressions of self-desire. In short, they delivered nothing less than what you’d expect of San Francisco’s maddest and baddest bubblegum punk band. So it’s only natural that we’ve invited them back. And this time, they’re bringing Shannon and the Clams in their suitcases. On Friday, March 14, tickets go on sale for a five-date April tour that will see the two bands smashing genres in Melbourne, Sydney, Wollongong, Brisbane and Perth. Since their previous visit, Hunx & His Punx have been busy blending ‘80s hardcore and ‘90s grrrl sounds to create nasty yet catchy tunes for their new album Street Punk, which was released in 2013 via Hardly Art. Meanwhile, co-tourers Shannon and the Clams have lately been spending time playing SXSW sideshows and Psych Fest and hitting the road via Burgerama tours. They mash ‘60s girl group sounds with West Coast garage rock, delivering “doo woppers, bomp stompers, punk rippers, country clippers and psych-o trippers”. Trying say that really quickly five times in a row. Here are the dates: THU 17 APR – Copacabana, MELBOURNE. Tickets via Oztix. SAT 19 APR - Oxford Art Factory, SYDNEY. Tickets via OAF. SUN 20 APR – Farmer and the Owl Laneway Party, WOLLONGONG. Tickets via the Farmer and the Owl. TUE 22 APR - The Zoo, BRISBANE. Tickets via the Zoo. THU 24 APR - The Rosemount, PERTH. Tickets via the Rosemount. Tickets go on sale on Friday, 14 March. Tickets via Oztix.
There's nothing quite like having time off, especially if that means having the opportunity to get out of the city for a good dose of fresh air, nature and countless outdoor adventures. We know figuring out where to go and how to fill your days can be a bit like putting a puzzle together. That's why we've done the hard yards for you by narrowing your choices down to eight must-do experiences in New South Wales' Mid North Coast region. Whether you're passing through on a road trip to Sydney or just keen to spend a few days over the border, you can return home with some new memories in tow and experiences checked off your bucket list. Please stay up to date with the latest NSW Government health advice regarding COVID-19. [caption id="attachment_795539" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Skywalk Lookout, Destination NSW[/caption] ENJOY PANORAMIC VIEWS OVER DORRIGO NATIONAL PARK When seeking out superb views, you'd be hard-pressed to find many as vast and stunning as the one from the Skywalk lookout in Dorrigo National Park. Walk along the 70-metre platform and, from the edge of the escarpment, you'll see everything from the dense rosewood subtropical rainforest and Bellinger Valley to the distant coastline and McGrath's Hump, also known as Old Man Dreaming, which, according to Gumbaynggirr legend, shows the profile of a warrior's face. [caption id="attachment_795540" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bago Maze and Winery, Destination NSW[/caption] GET LOST IN A SWIRLY MAZE IN BAGO We all get a little lost sometimes, but you'll probably find the feeling of not knowing where to go next more fun when you're trying to make your way through the maze at Bago Maze and Winery. With over 2000 metres of lilly pilly-lined pathways, it'll make you feel like you've entered a magical world, if only for a little while. The best part is afterwards you can enjoy a meat or cheese platter with a few glasses of wine from the neighbouring vineyard. [caption id="attachment_795547" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rotary Park, Destination NSW[/caption] CATCH YOUR DINNER IN TENTERFIELD CREEK Any keen fisherman will know a day out on or by the water is always a good time — even if you don't catch anything. Tenterfield Creek might not look like it holds many fishing opportunities at first glance, but locals know it's a great spot for snagging cod and yellow belly. Nearby spots, including Mole River Dam, Dumaresq River, Clarence River and Glenlyon Dam, are also stocked with golden perch, catfish and more (depending on the time of year). Don't worry if you're not experienced, as fishing charter companies like Northern Rivers Sportfishing can teach you the ropes for the day. Don't forget to get a fishing licence from Service NSW before casting your line. [caption id="attachment_795548" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ebor Falls, Destination NSW[/caption] HIKE TO THE STUNNING EBOR FALLS Cascading over 100 metres of graphite-coloured, lava-formed rock, Ebor Falls is quite simply one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Australia. Although the falls are broken into two sections, there are three platforms to view them from, all of which offer incredible views over the gorge and Guy Fawkes River National Park. If you visit in the warmer months, golden daisies and rare ground orchids sometimes bloom around the upper falls making the whole place seem like a scene from a fantasy movie. Stay updated on park closures here. [caption id="attachment_795549" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paragliding, Unsplash[/caption] GLIDE THROUGH THE CLOUDS OVER TAMWORTH Ever had a dream that you could fly? Well, this is the next best thing. Manilla Paragliding at Mount Borah offers tandem paragliding flights that last for about 30–40 minutes. You don't need any experience, just a bit of courage. Once you're in the air, you won't regret it. If you're lucky, while you're soaring high above the rest of the world, you might spot a local wedge-tailed eagle. For dinner, make a reservation at The Pig and Tinder Box, based inside the heritage-listed bank building, and enjoy pizza and other share-style dishes. [caption id="attachment_795550" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Fossicking, Unsplash[/caption] SEARCH FOR GOLD IN NUNDLE Nundle is steeped in history. The quaint little town maintains its heritage gold rush era roots from the late 1800s by keeping timeless traditions like fossicking alive. With its reputation as a regional treasure trove, people come from all over to experience panning for gold and sapphire in the Peel River. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and strike it big? Panning equipment is available for hire from Mount Misery Mine or Nundle Country Cafe. [caption id="attachment_803381" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bellingen Canoe Adventures, Destination NSW[/caption] PADDLE ALONG BELLINGER RIVER AT SUNSET OR UNDER THE STARS Few would dispute that Australia is a country filled with nature worth seeing up close — and that shouldn't be limited to just walking or driving. Seeing your surroundings at water level from the comfort of a canoe or kayak is a pleasure you'll only understand once you've tried it. Bellingen Canoe Adventures in the Coffs Harbour area will take you for a relaxing paddle down the Bellinger River at any time you like, although we'd recommend a full moon tour for anyone looking for something truly peaceful. Thrillseekers won't be disappointed either — there are also whitewater options if you're keen for a rough and tumble ride. [caption id="attachment_802881" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hot Air Ballooning, Destination NSW[/caption] SOAR ABOVE THE HUNTER VALLEY WINE REGION IN A HOT AIR BALLOON Speaking of seeing things from a different point of view, what could be more special than witnessing the vast expanse of some of Australia's most remarkable vineyards and valleys from a hot air balloon? If the Hunter Valley was a painting, hot air ballooning with Balloon Aloft would be one of the best ways to step back and admire the whole thing. Nothing really compares to a bird's eye view of Pokolbin, Lovedale and Rothbury from a wicker basket at sunrise — although having a champagne breakfast at nearby winery Peterson House afterwards does come close. Start planning your great escape to New South Wales this season by visiting the Visit NSW website. Top image: Bellingen Canoe Adventures, Destination NSW
You might have thought King George Square looked pretty fine during the day and maybe a tad finer at night, but it's at twilight City Hall really shows off its colours. And what better backdrop when you're shopping the evening away — especially when the King George is filled with some of Brisbane's best designers and makers. The regular Brisbane Twilight Market shows off a sizeable array of stalls — more than 60, in fact — all staffed by some pretty nifty and talented local artists. Returning for 2022, the event will host an eclectic selection of items, so prepare to browse and buy. You'll be perusing everything from handmade clothing, accessories and leather goods to paper goods, homewares, art and ceramics (and more). This market is all about sound, smell and sales — so live music will provide a soundtrack to the evening, and expect to be hit with that spring flowerbed smell that always lingers when there's a soap stall around. Food stalls are also on the agenda, with 2022's slate of regular markets held on Friday, May 6; Friday, July 15; Friday, September 2; and Friday, December 2. Each event runs from 4–9pm, so take along some cash and stock up on all things crafty. [caption id="attachment_666947" align="alignnone" width="1920"] BrisStyle[/caption] Top image: Brisbane City Council.
Summer has settled in for the long haul and a sultry season of day-tripping, beach sessions and poolside hangs awaits. It can be hard to keep your cool when the temperatures are soaring. So, we've teamed up with the skin and beauty experts at M.A.C Cosmetics to share our list of summer essentials. Stock up on these must-haves and be ready for anything summer throws your way. FIX+, M.A.C COSMETICS ($39) Sticky, sweaty faces are a classic summer curse, but they needn't be. M.A.C's cult favourite Fix+ facial mist works as both a hydrating setting spray and a cooling skin spritz, so it's a must-have item for when those temperatures start climbing. It's free from alcohol and packed with nourishing ingredients like cucumber and camomile. It's even infused with caffeine to help pep up tired, post-party-season skin. Use it before, during or after makeup application to help stop wayward foundation from slipping down your face in a sweaty mess. Or, simply spritz some on whenever you need to counter the sweats with a little facial refresh. Hot tip: pop it in your fridge or esky so it's nice and cool when you spray away. WATER-RESISTANT SPEAKER, BOSE ($199.95) Beach, backyard, park or pool — any good summer session needs a decent soundtrack. And with a nifty waterside speaker like this one from Bose, you can keep the music kicking on no matter where the party takes you. It's poolside-friendly, so you can have those tunes pumping right alongside you while you swim, soak or sunbake. What's more, a nine-metre bluetooth connectivity range means your whole crew can take turns playing DJ, without any pesky sound dropouts. And with an impressive eight-hour battery life, this little noise machine will keep partying as long as you do. BEACH UMBRELLA, BASIL BANGS ($289) The Aussie sun can be savage, no matter how heavily you slather on the sunscreen. But with an umbrella in tow, you'll always have some sweet, shady relief from its rays, whether you're kicking back in the park or battling scorching hot sand at the beach. Amp up the summer vibes with a lively, feel-good print, like this special edition umbrella, designed by Basil Bangs in collaboration with legendary artist Ken Done. It boasts a hefty 1.8-metre diameter — so, no squishing in like sardines — with UPF50+ sun protection. Plus, it comes with a matching carry case that transforms into a sandbag weight should things get blustery. PICNIC CUTLERY WALLET SET, LAZY DAYZ ($34.95) Long days and balmy temperatures mean picnic season is in full swing, so you'll want to be prepared to make the most of it. Just because you're dining on a rug on the ground doesn't mean you have to slum it. Elevate any al fresco feast with the help of a proper picnic set, like this fun design from Lazy Dayz. Available in two vibrant prints, it has plastic plates, stainless steel forks, knives and spoons for two, all zipped up neatly into one compact carry case. Keep it by the front door and you'll always be picnic-ready in a snap. [caption id="attachment_799130" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Abbas Malek Hosseini[/caption] UNDERWATER CAMERA, KASBAH ($21.56) Here in Australia, summer and water go hand-in-hand, whether it's a backyard pool or your local stretch of beach. And while you might be partial to a splash and a dip, your phone probably isn't. So, for the sake of those summer happy snaps, hook yourself up with a camera that was made to get wet. This lightweight underwater version from Kasbah features a fun, tropical get-up and a detachable waterproof casing, so you can take it just about anywhere. Just stock up on 35-millimetre film and you're all set to capture even the soggiest memories this summer. To learn more about M.A.C Cosmetic's Fix+ facial mist, head this way.
Annie Leibovitz once famously stated that "there are still so many places on our planet that remain unexplored. I'd love to one day peel back the mystery and understand them". It is in this spirit that National Geographic presents its Photo of the Year winners. In an effort to uncover the "unexplored" and clandestine wonders of the world, National Geographic's annual competition provides a fascinating glimpse into the incredible beauty and complexity of the natural world, the places that define it, and the people that inhabit it. In 2012 a whopping 22,000 photographs from over 150 countries were submitted, with an expert panel of judges whittling this number down to a winner in each of the three categories (people, places, and nature) and the $10,000 Grand Prize Winner. Based on its remarkable creativity and visual flair, this year's "nature" winner and overall champion was Ashley Vincent's image of Busaba, the Indochinese tigress from Thailand's Khao Kheow Open Zoo (above). Have a look below to see the rest of the winners along with the National Geographic readers' favourites and some other honorable mentions. Winner - Places The Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland. By Nenad Saljic. Winner - People Workers in Kenya's Dandora Municipal Dump Site, the only dumping site for waste in Nairobi, East Africa's most populous city. By Micah Albert. Viewers Choice - Nature Female cheetah Malaika and her cub in Masai mara National Reserve, Kenya. By Sanjeev Bhor. Viewers Choice - Places An iceberg frozen in place in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. By Adam Coish. Viewers' Choice - People Explorers follow a race route over 100km of the Hardangervidda Mountainplateu, Norway to cross Greenland. By Kai-Otto Melau. Honorable Mention - Nature Thousands of fish moving in synchrony in Komodo, Indonesia. By Fransisca Harlijanto. Honorable Mention - People The traditional Chinese entertainment Dragon boating is a water sport, in Yanbu Town, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China. By ? ??. Honorable Mention - Places The Eiffel tower in Paris on a grey day. By Indra Swari Wonowidjojo. Honorable Mention - Nature A red fox goes after a mouse hidden under 2 feet of snow in Squaw Creek, Park Country, Wyoming. By Micheal Eastman. Honorable Mention - People Stilt fishing in Midigama, Sri Lanka. By Ulrich Lambert.
When a relationship fails, sometimes it ends with fiery passion. Sometimes, love's spark fades slowly. And sometimes, the dying embers scorch the earth. Wildlife charts the downfall of a marriage that flirts with all three phases, all while forest fires rage on the outskirts of a small Montana town. As the physical flames carve a path of destruction, Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry Brinson (Jake Gyllenhaal) let years of resentment, frustration and disappointment ignite into a heated blaze that threatens their family. As far as metaphors go, Wildlife's is certainly appropriate. Contrary to how it might sound on the page — obvious, or even clumsy — it's also delicately deployed. Adapting Richard Ford's 1990 novel, actor-turned-writer/director Paul Dano and his co-scribe Zoe Kazan make every moment of this portrait of domestic disharmony blister with aching sadness. Wildlife is a film of haunting pain that's often left unspoken, but that crackles with inescapable force and feeling. It's 1960 when the movie introduces its unhappily wedded couple, as well as their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould). The trio has moved to Great Falls for Jerry's new job as a golf pro at a country club, although any hopes of a blissful fresh start dissipate when he's swiftly fired. Drinking away his discontent and rejecting any work that comes his way, he instead volunteers to fight the flames, leaving his wife and boy at home. Joe waits for his father's hopefully safe return, but Jeanette starts blazing her own trail. First, she gets a job as a swimming instructor to make ends meet; then, she openly has an affair with one of her students, car salesman Warren Miller (Bill Camp). There's another metaphor at Wildlife's core, stemming from its title. Often, the casualties of an inferno decimating bushland aren't human — they're the smaller creatures that get caught in its way. Dano paints all three of the film's key characters as scurrying victims engulfed by a roaring disaster, however he also makes plain that Jeanette and Jerry started this all-consuming emotional fire themselves. Stepping behind the lens for the first time, the Love & Mercy and There Will Be Blood star also extracts all-consuming performances from his actors. Gyllenhaal is a ball of tortured angst, desolated by failing to realise his dreams as a man, a husband and a father, while young Australian actor Oxenbould more than holds his own as the son who can only observe as his family turns to ash. But it's Mulligan, segueing from quietly bearing a life filled with emptiness to wilfully indulging her desires, that burns brightest, and hurts and seethes hardest. Alongside her efforts in acclaimed stage production Skylight, it's finely wrought, career-best work. Indeed, Mulligan's is the kind of performance that helps Wildlife conquer what could've been its biggest obstacle: that scenes from a crumbling marriage have been splashed across the screen many times before. There's such a spark to her portrayal, even when she's in tense and restrained mode, that earns the film its own place alongside greats of the marital woe genre like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Blue Valentine and Revolutionary Road. That said, the same description also fits Dano's filmmaking, as he crafts a movie that overflows with emotion even when it couldn't feel more careful and meticulous. Just looking at its artful frames gives that very impression, with each deliberate, patient, mostly still image of nondescript interiors, smoke-filled skies and struggling faces proving as sweeping as the film's simmering sentiments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00tyPOTDCG8
Sweet news: if nothing says Easter to you like tap, tap, tapping your way around a mini-golf course that'll get you hankering for dessert, Victoria Park's Candyland setup is returning. The Herston site has been known to give its greens a makeover for special occasions, including Christmas, Halloween and Valentine's Day in the past. Candy-themed holes aren't new to the rotation, but they're back in 2025, taking cues from Easter eggs, ice creams, cakes, gumballs and popcorn and more. From Friday, March 28–Monday, May 5, a trip to Herston Road means trying your luck on greens with names like 'Candy Corner', 'Ice Cream Lane', 'Bakery Bunker, 'Popcorn Party', 'Gumball Green', 'Bunny Hop' and 'Candy Workshop'. In previous years, rabbits have featured heavily, unsurprisingly — plus giant ice creams, gummy bears, candy necklaces, Easter eggs, cupcakes, doughnuts, lollipops and other sweet treats. Basically, if it's sweet and can somehow be worked into a themed mini golf course, you'll find it here. While there's obviously nothing edible among the decorations, you can order drinks and snacks to the green as you play, including lollies and ice creams. Bookings are recommended, with the course open from 6am–11pm Monday–Thursday, and 6am–12am Friday–Saturday and 6am–10am Sunday. Fancy a few holes before work? Want to add some fun to your lunch break? Need something to look forward to come quitting time? They're all options. Candyland's run covers not just the Easter public holidays, but the ANZAC Day and Labour Day long weekends, should you need a few days off as motivation to head by. Expect company, because Brisbane sure does love themed mini golf courses — as seen at the city's Holey Moley sites in Fortitude Valley, the Wintergarden, Chermside and Mt Gravatt; Redcliffe's underwater-themed spot; Hey Caddy in North Lakes and South Bank; and Tingalpa's 16-hole jungle-themed green. Candyland Putt Putt takes over the Victoria Park Putt Putt Course at 309 Herston Road, Herston from Friday, March 28–Monday, May 5, open 6am–11pm Monday–Thursday, and 6am–12am Friday–Saturday and 6am–10am Sunday — with tickets costing $23 for adults. For more information, head to the venue's website. Images: Stephanie Adams Photography.
Sometimes it takes a crisis to appreciate the little things in life — for example, what feels like to watch an acrobatic fly twizzle a matchstick with perplexing grace and accuracy. In 'normal times' we might have missed this moment of joy, but now, thanks to the Art Gallery of New South Wales' digital portal the three-minute archival film has lifted our spirits giving us an intriguing escape from 2020. "Optimism through art" is the aim of the new Together in Art digital space on the AGNSW website, says Art Gallery of NSW director Dr Michael Brand. It contains bite-sized art experiences that you didn't know you needed, but will capture your attention and give you something beautiful, inspiring, unsettling or unusual to hook onto — even for a short while. You can watch painter Ben Quilty and his daughter Livvy show you how to draw a face, artist Nell has an amusing and hopeful three-minute video on how to solve a problem (below), and there are clips of singers Sarah Belkner and Ngaiire performing in empty exhibition spaces. It's a digital gallery where you can actively learn, or simply tune into something more transportive than the latest Tik Tok track doing the rounds. The Art Gallery itself is closed to the public in line with the government's social distancing advice, and this means even the most regular visitors may have missed current exhibitions such as Shadow catchers or Under the stars, which opened just prior to the lockdown. You can explore the themes of these exhibitions in video interviews and tours. And, especially for Together in Art, there are Pocket Exhibitions put together by the Gallery's curators — such as Working from home: a Dog's perspective, a micro series of dog portraits and photographs compiled in a brief slideshow. Those looking for projects should make a beeline for the series of art-making classes from various artists in their studios. Though some of the videos are geared towards kids, there's a lot of accessible art tips that are just as appealing to adults. Our pick for a weekend project is learning how to turn your old magazine pile into a Dada poem with contemporary artist Tony Albert and his niece. The Gallery plans to add to its Together In Art series every day, and you can follow its program across social media pages, Youtube and on the Gallery's website. Images: 1. Musician Joji Malani performs in the Grand Courts at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. 2–3. Singer Sarah Belkner performs a vocal improvisation with herself in the exhibition 'Shadow catchers'. 4. Ngaiire performs in the Australian Galleries. All photography: Matt McGuigan, Hospital Hill.
Six years after launching its first-ever store in Sydney, salad chain Fishbowl is finally making the move north. From Saturday, July 16, Brisbanites will be able to head to Newstead to tuck into the brand's Japanese-inspired bowls, with its debut Queensland outpost opening up at Gasworks. For newcomers to Fishbowl, the chain heroes fast but healthy vegetable-filled bowls, all revolving around its range of house favourites. So, you can enjoy its original salmon sashimi number, its coconut chicken bowl and a warm 12-hour braised brisket option — among other varieties — but personalise it by choosing from brown rice, sushi rice, glass noodles, mixed cabbage, mixed leaves and soba noodles as bases. Down south, where Fishbowl operates 22 stores in Sydney and five in Melbourne, the company serves up more than 10,000 bowls of its most popular dish — The OG, that salmon sashimi bowl with kale, savoy, beets, shallots, edamame, red onion, roasted sesame dressing, seaweed salad, tobiko and crispy shallots — every week. Since first making its name in Bondi in 2016, back when founders Nathan Dalah, Nic Pestalozzi and Casper Ettelson were all uni students, the brand has clearly expanded its footprint considerably. But it's not just about tucking into bowls; Fishbowl has also set up run clubs and created its own surf team, and also opened smoothie and salad bar Side Room, seafood eatery Fish Shop and takeaway joint FSH MKT. For Brisbanites keen to give Fishbowl a try, it's celebrating its Queensland launch with free bowls for its first 100 Newstead customers on opening day. There'll also be free seltzers, live tunes and giveaways — if you need something to tempt more than your tastebuds. Find Fishbowl at Gasworks, 76 Skyring Terrace, Newstead from Saturday, July 16. Images: Nikki To.
Now a decade and a half in — and 28 films, too, plus seven new TV series that've hit queues in the last 18 months — the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever-expanding pop-culture behemoth. Sometimes it can be spectacular, as with Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok. Sometimes it's dispiritingly routine, as seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The MCU keeps shining bright popularity-wise, though, so much so that it's now telling its own tales about how it's so popular. In Ms Marvel, it even focuses on a Marvel superfan, heads to a Marvel fan convention and revels in worshipping at its own altar. Yes, we've reached the point in the biggest current franchise there is where the MCU is overtly and openly celebrating itself within its own on-screen stories — and celebrating the people who celebrate the MCU. Here, Marvel also shows its characters frothing over the very saga they're appearing in, homemade costumes whipped up for cosplay contests and all. That sounds like something out of the supremely non-Marvel superhero satire The Boys, but it's now an IRL status quo. And yet, with new streaming series Ms Marvel — which started its six-episode run on Disney+ on Wednesday, June 8 — all this Marvel self-fandom thankfully doesn't just feel like a massive corporation patting itself on the back in an expensive splash of self-congratulations. One of the reasons that Ms Marvel works: it's a series about a Marvel devotee because it's a coming-of-age series. Today's teens have grown up with the MCU, so a show about a 16-year-old finding her place in the world — with and without powers — can easily acknowledge that fact. The comic-book company isn't being meta or reflective. Rather, as non-Marvel fellow Disney+ release Turning Red was, Ms Marvel is about a teenage girl working out who she is and what she wants to be, and also how that process is shaped by what she loves. Pakistani American Kamala Khan (debutant Iman Vellani) happens to be obsessed with Marvel, and with Captain Marvel (Brie Larson, Just Mercy). Ms Marvel's first two episodes largely set the scene, establishing the MCU's second new-to-screens character in as many Disney+ programs after Moon Knight. Kamala lives in Jersey City with her parents Yusuf (Mohan Kapur, Bullets) and Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff, The Affair) — one friendly, the other strict — plus her elder brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh, Unfair & Ugly). As well as palling around with her mates Bruno (Matt Lintz, The Walking Dead) and Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher, Let Us In), often while talking about the Avengers, Kamala makes stop-motion videos fuelled by her Marvel mania. She also wants to do more than her mother allows, such as attending an Avengers convention dressed up as her hero, which Muneeba deems inappropriate. Deepening this tale about a teen desperate to follow her heart — a story that's hardly unique — is how wonderfully culturally specific Ms Marvel proves. The titular character is Marvel's first Muslim superhero, and this TV series embraces Kamala's heritage, as well as the stresses that come with being the American-born child of immigrant parents who want her to take advantage of their adopted home while remaining steadfastly true to their culture. Yes, Bend It Like Beckham did something similar first, just with soccer in Britain rather than superhero devotion in the US. That doesn't make Ms Marvel any less astute and affecting, however, including when it examines Kamala's layered relationship with her family and their expectations, and balancing caped-crusader fandom with tradition, religion and Pakistani pop culture. Of course, if Kamala's on-screen debut was only about a Marvel-loving high schooler with recognisable adolescent woes — even welcomely culturally apt ones — it wouldn't exist. Amid the yearning and rebellion, and just being a Pakistani American teen, arrives superpowers that are a literal dream come true for such a MCU stan. But Kamala doesn't know why she can suddenly create floating energy fields, shooting them a bit like Spider-Man slings webs, or where her abilities stem from. While that setup isn't unique either, creator and head writer Bisha K Ali (Loki, Four Weddings and a Funeral) ties Kamala's tussle with her new skills to everything that makes her who she is. The broader embrace and exploration of her culture doesn't subside; indeed, thanks to family whisperings about the perils of indulging in fantasies, her heritage might be linked to her future path. The MCU has spun coming-of-age tales before, with not one, not two, but three Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man movies within the franchise. There's a touch of the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to Ms Marvel, though, in its infectiously joyous vibe. If the series wasn't as sincere as it is — and as charming, warm and fun as well — it could've easily felt too calculating. Marvel does like to try other genres on for size, often moulding them to fit the house style, and Ms Marvel might've done the same with teen dreams and high-school hijinks. Indeed, it still may have played out that way if its lead casting wasn't so spot-on. Surprisingly given how much of a natural she is in front of the camera, and in the role, Vellani is an on-screen newcomer — and an utter delight. Just as the unrelated Conversations with Friends benefited from casting a new talent without any past credits, Ms Marvel is all the better for having its lead come to the part without any film and TV baggage. But being a fresh face navigating such a sprawling realm isn't why Vellani is so engaging. She's at home selling the show's comedy and drama alike, and its diehard Marvel devotion and adolescent angst as well, and making it all feel as lived in and genuine as the MCU has ever managed. That this miniseries is a lead up to 2023 big-screen release The Marvels, where Vellani will return as Kamala, is gloriously great news as a result. It'll team her up with Larson as Carol Danvers, plus WandaVision's Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau — and, if Ms Marvel is any indication, it's hopefully poised to be much better than the lacklustre Captain Marvel. Check out the trailer for Ms Marvel below: Ms Marvel streams via Disney+ from Wednesday, June 8, with episodes dropping weekly. Images: ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
Summer is here, so keeping cool means heading to the beach, hiding under the air-con or knowing a moneyed mate with their own pool. However, you can now create your own backyard bliss — with the food to match — thanks to El Jannah's latest limited-time promo. Available for one weekend only, from Saturday, January 10—Sunday, January 11, the Lebanese-Australian charcoal chicken legends invite customers to score their own chilled-out pool. And all you have to do is order an OG Charcoal Chicken Meal, featuring two whole chickens, large chips, large garlic sauce and Lebanese bread. There are no tricky hoops to jump through, either. Redeemed on a first-come, first-served basis, customers simply need to snap a photo of their receipt and email it to El Jannah's team. If you're fast enough, you'll be lounging in the pool with your pals in no time at all. "Summer in Australia has always felt a little Lebanese at heart, family everywhere, food in the middle, and everyone talking over each other," says El Jannah Chief Marketing Officer, Adam Issa. "So this year, we wanted to make it even easier for Aussies to take those El Jannah moments wherever the day leads."
Whether you like hitting the beach, hopping on rollercoasters, touring movie studios or trekking through the hinterland, the Gold Coast isn't short on tourist attractions. But the Sunshine State holiday spot's latest addition will take you to new depths — swimming around underwater sculptures and coral, and past hundreds of different species of marine life, all without venturing too far from the shore. Meet Wonder Reef, which opens for dives from Wednesday, June 8. It's a huge artificial reef, and it's perched just a ten-minute boat trip from the Gold Coast Seaway. Here, you'll descend down to 30 metres, and paddle around nine giant buoyant reef sculptures, which are floating beneath the surface about 2.5 kilometres offshore from Philip Park at The Spit. First announced back in mid-2021, the new $5-million attraction is designed for experienced divers — and to draw in more tourists to the Goldie, obviously. The site's coral was planted just before Christmas last year, and has already been attracting everything from lobsters, octopus and tropical fish to turtles and giant gropers. It's also expected to grow by between one and 25 centimetres a year. That's what more than 16,000 divers will see each year, too, as well as those nine sculptures. Made by Queensland artist Daniel Templeman, they measure up to 22 metres tall, weigh more than 738 tonnes (in air) and span a reef habitat of 32,000 cubic metres in size. If you're now keen for a dip, Gold Coast Dive Adventures and Queensland Scuba Diving are running regular tours. Or, if you're an experienced diver with your own boat and dive equipment, you can also book a public mooring. Pitched as a new bucket-list dive site by the City of Gold Coast and the Queensland Government, who've brought it to fruition, Wonder Reef has been given a 50-year seabed lease. So, it's sticking around for both a good time and a long time. And while the site is man-made — the coral is real, but the reef setup is artificial — it's been crafted with the natural environment in mind. Indeed, not that anyone should need any assistance, but helping folks to appreciate the underwater beauty of the natural world is another of Wonder Reef's big aims. Wonder Reef is open for bookings from Wednesday, June 8. For more information, head to the Wonder Reef website.
A scene-stealer in 2018's The Breaker Upperers, Ana Scotney now leads the show in Millie Lies Low. She's just as magnetic. The New Zealand actor comes to the part via Wellington Paranormal, Shortland Street, Educators and Cousins — and the film first debuted at festivals before her role in God's Favourite Idiot — but it's an exceptional calling card. It isn't easy playing someone so committed to making such utterly questionable choices, yet remaining so charmingly relatable; however, that's Scotney's remit and achievement in this canny, savvy and amusing comedy. It also isn't easy to pull off the timing needed to highlight the hilarious side of Millie's hijinks, while ensuring that her woes, hopes and everything that's led her to lie low but lie about living it up remain understandable; consider her entire portrayal a masterclass in just that. Scotney plays the film's eponymous Wellington university student, who panics aboard a plane bound for New York — where a prestigious architecture internship awaits — and has to disembark before her flight leaves. She says she isn't anxious. She also says it isn't an attack. And by the time she realises what she's done, she's alone in the airport, the aircraft has departed and her own face beams down at her from a digital billboard. Even getting that Big Apple opportunity had made her the toast of the town, and huge things were meant to await, hence the ads and publicity. Now, a new ticket costs $2000, which Millie doesn't have. Admitting that she hasn't gone at all — to her family, friends, teachers, school and the NZ capital at large — wouldn't cost her a thing, but it's a price she isn't willing to pay. First, Millie endeavours to rustle up the cash from her best friend and classmate (Jillian Nguyen, Hungry Ghosts), and then her mother (Rachel House, Heartbreak High). Next, she hits up a quick-loan business (run by Cohen Holloway, The Power of the Dog) but is still left empty-handed. Millie's only solution, other than admitting the situation and facing the fallout: faking it till she makes it. As she searches for other ways to stump up the funds, she hides out in her hometown, telling everyone that she's actually already in NYC. To support her ruse, she posts elaborate faux Instagram snaps MacGyvered out of whatever she can find (big sacks of flour standing in for snow, for instance) and scours for every possible spot, building feature and poster that can even slightly double for New York. There's a caper vibe to Millie's efforts skulking around Wellington while attempting to finance the ticket to her apparent dreams. Sometimes, she's holed up in a tent in her mum's backyard. Sometimes, she's putting on a disguise and showing up at parties in her old flat — eavesdropping on what her mates are saying in her absence, and spying on the boyfriend (Chris Alosio, Troppo) she's meant to be on a break from. While she's doing the latter, she's also reclaiming the car she sold pre-trip to use as loan collateral, because she's that determined to get to America and leave her nearest and dearest none the wiser. Making her feature debut, director and co-writer Michelle Savill has more than just a laugh and a lark in her sights, though, as entertaining as Millie Lies Low's namesake's antics are. There's a caper vibe to the picture of Millie's supposedly perfect existence that she's trying to push upon herself as much as her loved ones as well, like she's selling herself on an unwanted fantasy. Millie mightn't be sure whether the internship is truly her heart's desire, but she's sure that she doesn't deserve it or the fanfare that's come her way with it. Accordingly, Savill has imposter syndrome and the shame spiral it sparks in her gaze, too, and finds much to mine in both an insightful and darkly funny manner. As she follows her protagonist between episodic efforts to print the legend — or post it one Insta picture at a time — her keenly observed film also treads in the perennially great (and relevant) Frances Ha's footsteps. Both movies examine the self-destructive life choices of a twentysomething with a clear idea of what she wants everyone to think of her, but with far less of a grasp on who she really is herself and what she genuinely needs. Some framing and music choices make the connection between Noah Baumbach's Greta Gerwing-starring 2012 masterpiece and Millie Lies Low obvious, but this astute delight is never merely a Wellington-set copy of that fittingly NYC-set feature. Tapping into the reality that no one ever feels like a real adult, let alone a real person, is fuel enough for thousands of movies — and Savill's always has its own mood, thoughts and strengths, including in its interrogation of social media. It doesn't come as news that broadcasting a seemingly idyllic version of your life to everyone you know, and don't, creates pressure to maintain that facade. It isn't a revelation that that's what Facebook, Instagram and the like have inspired to begin with, either. Millie navigates a heightened version of a daily truth for many, and Millie Lies Low does what comedic exaggeration is meant to, acting like a mirror and a magnifying glass. Whether you're a Wellington local or not — or you've visited, or haven't — you can sense the city around Scotney as she flits around; Savill's direction, and Andrew Stroud's (The Changeover) cinematography along with it, has a lived-in look and atmosphere. It feels tangible, too, as do the many shrewd character details and bits of backstory layered through Savill and Eli Kent's (Coming Home in the Dark) script. Nothing about the film would work even half as well if Millie felt artificial, unsurprisingly. Scotney's magnificent performance is crucial, yes, but so is the fleshed-out material she's working with. Millie Lies Low also operates as a cringe comedy, and proves just as textured and relatable as viewers wince and squirm at its central figure's decisions. We cower and recoil — and chuckle — because we can spot the gap between the options that Millie takes and the better alternatives, and because there's nothing pretend about how accurate her fakery feels.
During its 75-year run, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra has played many things. All the classical greats fall into that category, obviously. Sometimes, it's busy playing beloved film scores live as the movies screen, or teaming up with musicians well outside the classical realm, or providing tunes for sweeping operas. That longevity and adaptability is something worth celebrating, so that's exactly what QSO is doing on one huge evening. Even better: to mark its 75th year, the orchestra is hosting one big — and free — birthday concert. Taking place at QPAC's Concert Hall from 7.30pm on Friday, August 19, the gig will showcase the wide range of music that QSO has brought to life over the years — including everything from Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake' finale to Australian composer Sean O'Boyle's 'Concerto for Didgeridoo'. Also set to echo through the venue: 'Rákóczy March' and 'La damnation de Faust' by Berlioz, plus Respighi's 'Pini di Roma', as well as the very fitting 'Fanfare for the Seventy-fifth Birthday of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra'. The tunes will be played not only by Queensland's state orchestra, but with the help of guest artists; First Nations didgeridoo player Chris Williams will do the honours on 'Concerto for Didgeridoo', for instance. And, they'll be interwoven with interviews with musicians, all while historical imagery is projected throughout the Concert Hall. On conducting duties: Guy Noble and Johannes Fritzsch. Unsurprisingly, tickets are expected to get snapped up quickly when they become available from 10am today, Tuesday, July 19, via the QSO website. Whether you're a fan of classical music, you've only experienced QSO's efforts when it has played concerts dedicated to movie scores or you've always wanted to attend one of its gigs but haven't gotten around to it, heading along for free is a rare treat. And if you're wondering about the history of the QSO, it made its debut on March 26, 1947, with 45 members playing to a crowd of 2500 people at Brisbane City Hall. It now boasts 74 musicians, and is the state's largest performing arts organisation. Queensland Symphony Orchestra's free 75th birthday concert will take place from 7.30pm on Friday, August 19 at QPAC's Concert Hall, with tickets available from 10am on Tuesday, July 19 via the QSO website. Images: Peter Wallis.
With catastrophic weather conditions saturating Queensland and New South Wales over the past week, good news has been in very short supply. Enter the team at Sikh Volunteers Australia, which has put in an enormous effort to help folks affected by flooding in northern New South Wales. Their actions can only be described as heartwarming, feel-good, wholesome and just all-round ace. Any other synonym for great, nice, lovely and generous that you can think, it'd fit as well. The charity, which has a mission to provide people in need with free food, is based in Melbourne. But after seeing that its services could be used further north as the devastating weather hit, its members hit the road. Cue a 34-hour drive to serve free, freshly cooked vegetarian meals to flood-affected communities in Lismore — which has been doing it tough after the wet conditions moved through the regional town earlier in the week. Team is serving free meals to flood affected communities in Lismore NSW pic.twitter.com/BsO1HjEaJw — Sikh Volunteers Australia (@AustraliaSikh) March 3, 2022 Originally, the plan was to head to Queensland — so that drive would've been even longer — but, based on community response, the Sikh Volunteers decided that there was more need for their services in Lismore. They arrived yesterday, Wednesday, March 2, and have been dishing up free meals since. Sikh Volunteers Australia's efforts in Lismore follow the organisation's ongoing work in Melbourne, including delivering meals to COVID-19 cases during the recent Omicron wave — and, before that, via 320 dedicated volunteer drivers who did the same during the city's 2021 lockdown from August onwards. That's a huge effort, and the charity aims to expand its work to other parts of the country in the future, too. In Lismore now, Sikh Volunteers Australia has set up at 60 Ross Street, Goonellabah, and is providing free meals to anyone who needs them. For more information about Sikh Volunteers Australia, or to support their work via a donation, head to the organisation's website.
If you've stepped foot outside recently, you'll probably have noticed Sydney has scored a bevvy of new neon-green arrivals. First appearing in early November, the distinctive vehicles of US-born bike share company Lime has now taken over the city. You might be thinking it's a strange time to be rolling out yet another bike share service in Sydney, and you're not wrong. A swag of international share bike companies like Reddy Go and oBike launched in Australia, but had a rough time gaining traction locally, as councils crack down on dumping and vandalism issues spurred by the new dockless systems. But strict laws and stories of ill-fated predecessors don't appear to have deterred Lime, which has this week launched a fleet of its Lime-E electric-assist bicycles across Sydney. These work much the same as others we've seen — you locate a nearby bike using the Lime app, unlock it by scanning a QR code or entering an ID, cruise to your destination, then park and lock the bike safely out of the way. The difference between other dockless bikes and Lime-E, is its lithium battery, which the company says allows users to ride up to 14.8 mph (23.8kmh) without breaking a sweat — even when venturing uphill. The bikes' batteries (which last for about 80 kilometres) will be supposedly monitored and replaced regularly by the company, and can be checked by tapping the Lime-E icon on the app. Each of the vehicles is also equipped with a sensor, which can tell the operators its location, elevation and even orientation — a feature which may or may not help curb bike dumping. In Sydney, it'll cost you $1 to unlock a Lime-E and 30 cents per minute for your ride. The Californian company's perhaps best known for its dockless electric scooters, which first hit the streets of Auckland and Christchurch last month. A week-long trial of the two-wheeled vehicles is also underway on campus, at Monash University in Clayton, Melbourne. The scooters are gaining popularity across the globe, with even Uber signing up as a strategic partner. Unfortunately, given that NSW road safety laws currently state that "powered foot scooters and skateboards cannot be registered and can only be used on private land", it doesn't look like we'll be seeing a Sydney launch of Lime's e-scooters anytime soon. While we don't have high hopes for the success of this new bike sharing service, we do hope it's better monitored, and the neon green bikes don't end up clogging footpaths, parks and waterways, like the others did. The Lime App is available to download now via the app store.
You've listened your way through multiple seasons of Serial. You've tuned your ears to plenty of other similar podcasts, too. And, when you've been sat on your couch, you've watched your way through the seemingly non-stop array of shows about real-life cases as well — whether you're more interested in lurid stories such as Tiger King, or shows with a more personal focus like I'll Be Gone in the Dark. If all of the above applies to you, you're clearly a fan of true-crime tales. It's a great time to be interested in the subject, because more and more cases gone by keep getting the podcast or small-screen treatment. Dropping on Stan on Sunday, November 29, After the Night is the latest. And, if you feel like you've already seen and heard every story there is — especially regarding US crimes — this one focuses on an Australian serial killer. Known as 'The Night Caller', Eric Edgar Cooke terrorised Perth in the early 1960s. He's known to have murdered eight people, and he also assaulted and tried to kill many more, but local police took their time in connecting him to his horrendous acts. As created and directed by Perth-born filmmaker Thomas Meadmore (The Spy Who Fell to Earth), After The Night explores the details across a four-part series — spanning Meadmore's own return to Perth and also featuring interviews, including with two men wrongly convicted of Cooke's crimes. Viewers can expect a true-crime investigation with plenty of twists and turns — which is exactly what the genre always promises, of course. Here, though, you'll also watch your way through a series that ponders not only Cooke's heinous deeds, but the quest for justice they inspired and the impact the whole ordeal has left on the local community. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqQSfltwvuk&feature=youtu.be After the Night will be available to stream via Stan from Sunday, November 29.
Maybe you love swimming laps. Perhaps a leisurely soak is your favourite way to cool down. Or, nothing could say summer to you quite like hanging out poolside. Whichever category fits, you might've lived the pool life at one of Brisbane's City Council's public venues, especially if you don't have your own backyard spot to splash in. This summer, for $2 a pop, you really should. From Sunday, December 1, 2024–Friday, February 28, 2025, Brisbane's City Council is slashing the entry fee to all 22 of its public pools around the River City — as it also did last year. For the entire three months of summer, having a splash will only cost you $2. The program is named $2 Summer Dips for obvious reasons, and that discounted price applies to everyone — adults and kids alike. If you haven't hit up a public pool for a while, it's a considerable saving, dropping the adult entry price from $6.40 to $2. The reduced rate also covers every single day across the period, too, which includes all of the Christmas and New Year public holidays. [caption id="attachment_904761" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council via Flickr[/caption] There's no other catches or caveats — including no limit on how many times you can take advantage of the deal. Fancy going for a swim at your local every day during summer? Working your way around Brisbane's public pools, diving into a different one daily? Both are options. The 22 pools include Centenary Pool, Spring Hill Baths and the Valley Pool, plus Musgrave Park Swimming Centre, the Colmslie Aquatic Centre in Morningside, Ithaca Pool in Paddington, Dunlop Park Memorial Swimming Pool in Corinda and Hibiscus Sports Complex Pool in Upper Mount Gravatt. Newmarket Olympic Swimming Pool, Chermside Pool, Bellbowrie Pool, Jindalee Pool and Manly Pool are all covered as well, as are Yeronga Park Memorial Swimming Pool, Mt Gravatt East Swimming Pool and Sandgate Aquatic Centre — and more. [caption id="attachment_741063" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cieran Murphy[/caption] Top image: Brisbane City Council via Flickr.
As fun as it is, Easter isn't just about staying home and eating chocolate. Given that most of us have four days off, it's also a great time for a road trip. In keeping with the eating and drinking theme, might we suggest a cheese, wine and food festival? If heading to the Sunshine Coast sounds like your idea of fun, then the Kenilworth Cheese, Wine & Food Fest should be your first destination. Sample cheese and wine all day long, watch cooking demonstrations, and enjoy some live music. And then there's the cheese rolling contest, which is exactly what it sounds like. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
When 2019's The Farewell won Awkwafina a Golden Globe for Best Actress — Musical or Comedy, it did so for a nuanced and affecting performance that dwelled in the space between putting on a happy face for the world and confronting what you're truly feeling inside. Following a China-born, New York-raised woman upon her return home to see her dying grandmother, the film used its semi-autobiographical scenario as fuel for an incisive and thoughtful character study. Writer/director Lulu Wang's feature spread further, however, as a broader portrait about the ties and lies that bind families, plus the societal and cultural surroundings that enforce expectations and dictate choices. Adapting Janice YK Lee's 2016 novel The Expatriates, Wang's first major stint behind the lens since The Farewell starts streaming via Prime Video from Friday, January 26. Dubbed Expats as a miniseries, the six-parter marks a shift in location to Hong Kong and a splinter in focus to three protagonists, but its guiding force — with Wang creating the show, executive producing, helming all six episodes and writing two — is still plunging deep into bonds of blood, deceptions amid close relationships, grappling with grief and tragedy, and being caught between how one is meant to carry on and inescapable inner emotions. It too sees not only people but also its chosen place. It's a haunting series and, albeit not literally in the horror sense, a series about women haunted. As Margaret Woo, an American landscape architect who has relocated to Hong Kong for her husband Clarke's (Brian Tee, Chicago Med) job, Nicole Kidman (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom) is in familiar territory. In Big Little Lies, The Undoing and Nine Perfect Strangers, all fellow small-screen efforts that she also executive produced, she similarly played characters tormented: by a horrific husband, a murder case and loss, respectively. She's well-experienced at stepping into the shoes of women bearing anguish and heartbreak while living privileged existences as well, and at sporting the masks demanded when there's a status quo to uphold. But Kidman isn't one to turn in the same traumatised performance again and again, even if she's repeatedly drawn to such roles. Here, Margaret's seesawing between relentlessly soldiering on and being unable to flee her desperation says everything about someone who is rarely able to admit the truth of her feelings even to herself. The year is 2014, and the Woos aren't new Hong Kong arrivals — but their past 12 months have been under a shadow ever since their youngest son Gus (debutant Connor James) went missing. No one is coping, including elder children Daisy (Tiana Gowen, True Love Blooms) and Philip (Bodhi del Rosario, 9-1-1). But while Margaret refuses to give up hope of finding her three-year-old boy, there are still lives to lead and, to help start Expats, a 50th birthday party for Clarke to host. In the lift at The Peak, the towering symbol of wealth inhabited by plenty who give the show its title, she's also insistent that her friend, downstairs neighbour and fellow American Hilary Starr (Sarayu Blue, A Million Miles Away) attend the shindig. The frostiness that fills the elevator also stems from Gus' disappearance, and accusations made against Hilary's recovering-alcoholic husband David (Jack Huston, Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches). Unpacking Hilary's plight provides the second of Expat's interconnected character studies, as the successful businesswoman treads water in a marriage where going through the motions is among the few shared traits remaining. Despite their quest to start a family, she's started secretly taking birth control again. Hilary and David do still boast something else in common, though: an inability to shake their hurt at each other over secrets, reactions and never believing that they're on the same page. Frequently dressed in tan- and beige-hued jumpsuits, Blue plays her part with no less potency than Kidman, but with softer edges. At her extremes, Hilary is deliberate rather than steely and quietly fragile instead of achingly frenzied. Completing Expats' triangle is Mercy (Ji-young Yoo, The Sky Is Everywhere), a Korean American in her twenties working gig-economy jobs, residing in far-more-ordinary digs and happiest about Hong Kong's distance from her mother. With the friends that she's collected in her time in the city, she flits in and out. On her catering assignments, she weaves around well-to-do crowds. She feels like an outsider in multiple ways, and is also convinced that she's cursed. It's Mercy's narration that kicks off the series, talking about the people who unwittingly spark life-changing tragedies, plus the world's quick-to-forget attitudes towards their guilt and agony — voiceover that not only assists in connecting the narrative's web-like strands, but expresses vulnerability and pain that Yoo's shattering performance is always endeavouring to plaster over with anything that the character can even fleetingly grasp onto. Every city is home to a mourning mother with other kids to try to put on a brave face for, women stuck in fraying marriages and restless young souls keen to discover who they want to be. Every place has an expat community of folks who've relocated for love, employment and fresh chances, some or none of which might've worked out nicely. Every town includes those who can't move away even after they've weathered the worst that their life has thrown at them in their adopted spot. Every locale is inhabited by some who don't feel like they quite belong, but are also certain that they'd feel the same even if they retraced their steps. As probingly and naturalistically lensed by Wang's returning The Farewell cinematographer Anna Franquesa-Solano, and as purposefully set in a year where protests took to the streets against China's role in the special administrative region's elections, Hong Kong isn't just any city to Expats, however. Wang also spends time with two Filipino women who work as live-in helpers away from their own families, the Woos' nanny Essie (Ruby Ruiz, In His Mother's Eyes) and the Starrs' housekeeper Puri (first-timer Amelyn Pardenilla). They're regular presences in Expats' first four episodes, then get pushed to the fore in its movie-length fifth episode, alongside local students (including Sparks' Bonde Sham as Charly) among the Umbrella Movement who are fighting for better futures. The series sees their hopes, wants, dreams and disappointments, too. It stares unflinchingly at the chasm between their Hong Kong and the one navigated by wealthy transplants. Crucially, this drama puts comfortable existences, woes and all, into stark context. A different series could've been made with Essie, Puri, Charly and company firmly at the centre — but in this tale of three Americans adrift with their sorrows, where and the reality that surrounds them is equally as important as how and why. Check out the trailer for Expats below: Expats streams via Prime Video from Friday, January 26.
If September weather still isn't hitting compared to a tropical holiday, then maybe it's time to book a short-haul flight with Virgin Australia's happy hour sale. From now until 11pm today (AEST), score international flights for as little as $419 return. But be quick, because you've only got until 11pm tonight to nab these deals. Travel anywhere from Queenstown and Vanuatu to Bali, Samoa and Fiji, to make the most of this limited-time offer. Deals include a Melbourne to Bali flight for as little as $419 return, or Sydney to Fiji from $489 return. Book your economy flights between October 22, 2025 and March 31, 2026, to be eligible for these red-hot deals. If you're a Velocity Frequent Flyer, then these deals are even better, because sale fares still go towards your Velocity Points and Status Credits. Just make sure to pack light, as these fares do not include baggage and seat reservations. For more information about Virgin Australia's Happy Hour Flights Sale, head to the website. Images: iStock
Society has drilled it into our heads that it's unethical to capitalise on the youthful vitality of small, underprivileged children, but Soccket might make you see things differently. A small company called Unchartered Play has developed a soccer ball that doubles as a portable generator, providing both fun and power to those who play with it. The Soccket uses Unchartered Play's patent-pending technology to capture the kinetic energy generated by a game of soccer, storing it in the ball for later use as an off-grid power source. Powering an LED lamp requires 30 minutes of play. The immediate advantages are threefold: Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, one in five people around the globe are without power, and most kids think soccer is fun — particularly kids who have never heard of Angry Birds and who are often denied the opportunity to be kids due to more pressing issues such as survival. It is hoped to bring particular relief to developing countries reliant on kerosene lamps, which can lead to severe health problems and are responsible for huge amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. The ball is currently produced very labour intensively in North America, but Unchartered Play have launched a Kickstarter campaign to take things to the next level. $75,000 will help Unchartered Play (a team of just eight people) bring on board more employees, purchase more tools and equipment, automate parts of the assembly process, and up their output of Soccket Balls from a few hundred to thousands per week. They've almost reached half of their goal with 24 days to go. $1 is the minimum, but pledging $89 or more will get you one standard Soccket Ball and lamp if the campaign is successful. You've then got the option of keeping it for a sweet-as camping gadget or, you know, giving it up to a child in need. Via Inhabitat.com.
Lockdown is bringing wholesome home activities back into the spotlight. If you've already birthed a sourdough starter, planted new seedlings and started leaning te reo Māori, it may be time to start flexing your puzzle skills. New Zealand's national museum Te Papa is getting in on the action for those who forgot to stock up and has turned taonga (treasures) from its collection into online jigsaw puzzles. Unwind as you piece together Bernard Roundhill's colourful 1956 painting of Auckland, make up the skeleton of a Stewart Island brown kiwi or complete the fossil of an iguanodon tooth from 132-137 million years ago. Te Papa is closed to the public until further notice. Read about the museum's collections, research and stories at tepapa.nz.
If you've got a hard earned thirst for some spiffy new beer merch, the folks at Victoria Bitter have you covered. The famed Carlton & United Breweries beer has released a new range of branded VB gear for your wardrobe, your head and even your bedroom wall. Dropped this week, the collection's got a definite retro edge, in a nod to the brew's lengthy history quenching the thirst of hardworking Aussies. There are crewneck jumpers, t-shirts, beanies and caps, all emblazoned with that instantly recognisable logo. And yep, these threads are sure to get a serious workout over the upcoming festival season. Alongside the clothes, you'll find a trio of old-school full-colour VB poster prints, vintage-inspired stickers and VB stubby coolers, both in regular size and ones big enough to hold your longneck. What's more, you can feel extra good about your purchase, knowing that the t-shirts and jumpers are all manufactured and printed in Melbourne, by an ethical clothing-accredited manufacturer. Victoria Bitter's new line of 'Big Cold Gear' is available for purchase online.
When it debuted in 2022 with a full-frontal embrace of feminism, penises and 70s porn for women, Minx instantly cemented itself among the year's best new TV shows. The setup: Vassar graduate and country club regular Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond, Trying) makes her dream of starting her own magazine come true, but for Bottom Dollar Publications pornography publisher Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse). Created by Ellen Rapoport (Clifford the Big Red Dog) and executive produced by Paul Feig (Last Christmas), the show wasn't shy about the industry it dived into, even if its protagonist initially was. It wasn't afraid to push the strait-laced Joyce out of her comfort zone, see the empowering side of erotica for the fairer sex and champion the female gaze, either. The end result: a savvy, smart and breezy series that was as layered as it was astute and funny — and, yes, one that happily filled its frames with male genitalia. It took mere months for Minx to score a season-two renewal, and welcomely; however, the path from that great news to the show's second go-around arriving — from Friday, July 21 on Stan in Australia — bears more than a little in common with the attitudes that the series rallies against. Originally made by HBO Max, HBO's US streaming service, Minx was then cancelled in December 2022 during production. Underestimating the appeal of something confident and unashamedly raunchy where women are in control? Yes, that's what this casualty of David Zaslav's cost-cutting measures at Warner Bros Discovery demonstrated. Luckily, fellow American network Starz then stepped in. Watching Minx's bigger, richer and deeper second season, it's mindboggling to think that it almost didn't make it to screens. "Minx is back and better than ever," announces Doug with his usual likeable, affable, shambling brand of swagger — the kind that Johnson long-perfected in New Girl, and also in film roles in Drinking Buddies and Win It All — and he isn't wrong. Of course, he's talking about the series' eponymous erotic mag, not the series itself, but he's on the money. First, though, the again vibrantly shot, styled and costumed show has season-one finale fallout to deal with, after Joyce and Doug ended their tumultuous working relationship. The former goes looking for a new publisher, with boardrooms overflowing with besuited men dropping compliments and promising money awaiting. Then billionaire and ex-shipping industry titan Constance Papadopoulos (Elizabeth Perkins, The Afterparty) shows an interest in the magazine, in supporting and mentoring Joyce, and in having Doug involved. Decades of TV sitcoms and procedural dramas have spent episode after episode testing their characters with problems, then restoring the status quo before the credits roll and the next instalment arrives. Minx falls into neither genre, nor that trap. Joyce and Doug were always destined to reteam as colleagues early in season two, but this series doesn't go backwards. There's a new dynamic at play with Joyce leading the charge, Constance pushing for growth and Doug attempting to find his best new angle. (Some ideas: hosting a screening of Deep Throat, international expansion and taking the mag from the page to reality Chippendales-style.) There's another case of mirroring, too, this time firmly within the show; the world at large navigates sexual freedom and the women's liberation movement, and Joyce and Doug endeavour to work out what that truly means for them, and also what they want it to. Egos and ambitions still clash, and the naked male form remains a frequent and ample presence, but Minx has evolved from a fledgling enterprise to a success both on- and off-screen. Within the series, that sees Joyce, Doug, Constance and the returning magazine staff — namely Bottom Dollar's former model Bambi (Jessica Lowe, Miracle Workers), photographer Richie (Oscar Montoya, Final Space), Doug's girlfriend and ex-secretary Tina (Idara Victor, Shameless), and Joyce's sister Shelly (Lennon Parham, Veep) — try to grasp what their ideal version of a popular, well-known, boundary-pushing Minx is. Making a splash sparks expectations and fame. It deepens the challenges and compromises. And it brings attention, competitors and the potential for bigger losses with bigger risk. Minx season two backdrops the workplace chaos — because yes, this is a workplace-set series as much as fellow 2022-debuting aces Severance and The Bear — with familiar historical details. Deep Throat is just the beginning, with Joyce profiled by Rolling Stone and enjoying a fling with a musician, and references to Gloria Steinem and Annie Leibovitz popping up. The Battle of the Sexes match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs gets the men and women of the office competing themselves (including by swinging tennis racquets in an unorthodox way). Key parties get a shoutout via Shelly's new arc, which is playfully introduced via an errant earring spotted on her bedroom floor. That stray piece of jewellery does belong to another woman, but because Shelly has embraced suburban swinging with her dentist husband Lenny (Mad Men alum Rich Sommer). That isn't the only way that she's exploring herself sexually, and not just by reigniting her dalliances with Bambi, either. Joyce and Doug earn much of Minx's spotlight again, spending plenty of their time clashing and bickering as they learn and grow, but season two realises how strong the series is as an ensemble effort. There wasn't a disappointing performance among the key cast in season one, which the show leans into more heartily. Not just Shelly but also Bambi, Richie and Tina receive meaty arcs — with Bambi, now Bottom Dollar's Chief Fun Officer, wanting to be valued for more than her looks; Richie campaigning to service Minx's queer male readers but receiving homophobic responses; and Tina striving to be seen for her business acumen, not her trusty place at Doug's side. And, not just the excellent scene- and show-stealing Parham but also Lowe, Montoya and Victor turn in weighty portrayals to match. Surveying shifting gender dynamics as well as the complicated media landscape, Minx also knows that it's peering back to the past while pointing out what has and hasn't changed today. Sometimes, it's as direct as a centrefold, as witnessed when Joyce is invited onto a panel with other editors of female-centric publications, most of them are male and those men expect her to fight with the only other woman onstage. Sometimes, it builds slowly and steadily for just as spectacular an outcome, including as it widens its focus. Season two's only real issue: eight episodes doesn't feel like enough. Wanting more of a great thing? Now there's a very Minx problem. Check out the trailer Minx season two below: Minx season two streams via Stan.
ALDI's cult-favourite Special Buys are officially making the jump online. From January 7, Victorians will be the first in Australia to have their pick of the supermarket's most coveted middle-aisle treasures delivered to their doors through DoorDash — with the rollout set to expand nationwide from January 21. The update marks the next evolution in ALDI's partnership with the delivery platform, which first brought grocery delivery to Australian households in 2025. Now, shoppers can order everything from air fryers and Bluetooth speakers to back-to-school shoes and lunchboxes without leaving the couch. "Our partnership with DoorDash has been a game changer for shoppers," says Simon Padovani-Ginies, Group Director at ALDI Australia. "It's given them greater access to our Good Different shopping experience, direct to their doors through the tap of an app. Launching Special Buys on DoorDash means shoppers can now get high-quality everyday grocery essentials — and our most-loved limited-time drops — delivered straight to their homes." Just like in stores, Special Buys will drop on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with limited stock available until sold out. The launch kicks off with ALDI's Back-to-School range, offering everything from stationery and backpacks to tech accessories and school shoes — all available for delivery via the DoorDash app. "Our Special Buys have become almost ritualistic to some shoppers, who mark their calendars and scour our catalogues regularly," Padovani-Ginies says. "Now, they'll be able to get their hands on those same products in an entirely new and convenient way." Simon Rossi, Vice President of DoorDash APAC, adds: "ALDI's famous middle aisle has long drawn shoppers to stores on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Now, these products will be conveniently available to customers through on-demand delivery for the first time." Not everything will make the move online — any Special Buys that require a two-person lift (like large furniture) won't be available for delivery — but the vast majority of categories will be included, from homewares and tech to beauty, fashion, food and seasonal favourites. Delivery fees and item prices may vary slightly compared to in-store, but the supermarket promises the same 'Good Different' value and limited-time charm that's made Special Buys a weekly obsession for shoppers. Shop now via DoorDash. Images: supplied
Since they first won our hearts and tickled our senses of humour on Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have inspired two reactions. Audiences either want to be them or be best friends with them, though the former is impossible and the latter highly unlikely. 30 Rock, Parks and Rec and their Golden Globes co-hosting gigs didn't lessen this desire, so their latest collaboration offers the next best thing. For two hours, Sisters re-teams the charismatic comedic twosome, throws an outlandish party and invites everyone to witness the mayhem. Fun is high on the agenda, and laughs are too — aka everything anyone could want when two of their favourite stars join forces once again. But even with such a pedigree, there's a difference between an enjoyable film and an excellent one, just as there's a difference between meeting expectations and exceeding them. Sisters' director Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) and writer Paula Pell (another SNL alum) know their leads will put a smile on most people's faces simply by sharing screen time. They're also aware that the movie doesn't need to do much else. Accordingly, Sisters takes a well-worn scenario, adds a few just-as-recognisable issues, and hopes that the charm and hilarity of Fey and Poehler wins out. Unsurprisingly, it does. The two play mismatched siblings forced to finally say goodbye to their childhood and face everything maturity entails. Fey's free-spirited hairdresser and single mother Kate can't hold down a job or find a permanent place to live, while Poehler's responsible nurse Maura has dedicated her post-divorce life to her job. They're summoned to their family home in Florida when their parents (James Brolin and Dianne Wiest) decide to sell. But before the sale goes through, the girls decide to throw one last party. Adults behaving like teenagers may have worn somewhat thin, now that every second film is obsessed with states of arrested development. Still, you can trust Fey and Poehler to make the most of the concept. They're game for whatever comes their way — and plenty does. Sure, the script reverses their roles from Baby Mama, their last big-screen pairing, and then relies upon the usual march of escalating big-screen silliness. Yet even when the parade of outrageous antics seems familiar, nothing ever feels stretched or tiresome thanks to the central duo's winning chemistry and all-round energetic performances. Moreover, while the leads are never anything less than a delight to watch, in a feature that's as much a reunion movie as it is a party movie, they're certainly not the only humorous highlights. Maya Rudolph threatens to steal every scene she's in as Kate and Maura's high school nemesis; Ike Barinholtz affably plays against type as Maura's love interest; and John Cena continues to amuse outside of the WWE arena. The movie's attempts to traverse darker territory aren't quite as successful as its jokes, though it's nice that there's something more to the film than Fey and Poehler acting wild and cracking wise. Though it's execution is slight and clumsy, the movie's initial nostalgia for times gone by blossoms into the bittersweet epiphany we all eventually have: that youthful dreams don't always come to pass. Sisters is the type of film best consumed with an eager crowd. There's little that's unexpected here, with the film largely content with letting two of the funniest people on the planet do their thing. And you know what? That's okay. When it comes to laughs, Sisters well and truly delivers — and throws in a great dance routine set to Snow's 'Informer' as well.
UPDATE: APRIL 4, 2019 — Unfortunately all tickets to Rone's Empire sold out extremely fast so, unless you are one of the ticketholders, you won't be able to see it IRL. But you can still look at the pictures here. Melbourne's acclaimed street artist Rone has launched his latest beauty-meets-decay installation — and this time, it's taken over a deserted art deco mansion in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges. Empire has transformed the 1930s estate into an exhibition combining art, vision, sound, light and VR (as well as scent and botanical design) to take visitors on an immersive multi-sensory experience. Empire is set in the 'decaying glory' of the Burnham Beeches mansion, which is now owned by the Vue Group but has been vacant for over 20 years. The exhibition spans 12 (previously empty) rooms over multiple storeys and centres around a series of the artist's signature 'Jane Doe' monochrome portraits — the muse for which is actress Lily Sullivan (Mental, Picnic at Hanging Rock). Apart from the murals, the art deco-era furnishings are courtesy of interior stylist Carly Spooner (Fitzroy's The Establishment Studios), who also worked on Rone's The Omega Project. The rooms have been furnished with over 500 antique pieces, including a moss-covered grand piano — which was left exposed in the open garden for several weeks to attain an aged effect. The four seasons play a major role in Empire, and this varying atmosphere was accomplished by a team of specialists. These include seasonal botanical installations by design studio Loose Leaf, scent design by Kat Snowden and lighting design by John McKissock. These go alongside a multi-channel sound work by composer Nick Batterham, who recorded ambient audio in the estate's gardens across different seasons. Expect a hauntingly beautiful vibe of an era gone by, as Rone seeks to create an ambiguous storyline that can be felt by each guest individually. Rone takes personal inspiration for the space from the Mark Romanek-directed music video for the Johnny Cash cover of Hurt (originally by Nine Inch Nails) — which should give a sense of what you're in for. The mansion began as the family home to wealthy industrialist Alfred Nicholas, before becoming a research facility, then a children's hospital, luxury hotel and finally falling into disrepair in the late 1990s. It was bought, along with the estate, by Shannon Bennett's Vue Group in 2010 — while the mansion has remained deserted, the group has opened a cafe and bakery on the property. The project took one year to complete and is Rone's largest yet. It's a follow up of sorts to the artist's 2017 installation The Omega Project, in which he similarly created an exhibition in a condemned family home in the inner north just before it was demolished. Empire by Rone will be on display from March 6 until April 22 at Burnham Beeches, 1 Sherbrooke Road, Sherbrooke. All tickets are unfortunately sold out.
Four years ago, legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Fleetwood Mac toured Australia with Christine McVie, who'd just rejoined the band after a 16-year absence. This year, when the British-American group tours the country, the lineup will look a little different. Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, John McVie and Christine McVie will be joined on stage in August by Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and Mike Campbell, from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with Lindsey Buckingham controversially axed from the band early last year. Despite the switch-up — it's not the band's first personnel change, and probably won't be its last — the band will be performing all its biggest hits, from 'Dreams' to 'The Chain' and 'Go Your Own Way'. The six will head to Australia's west coast first, hitting up Perth on August 9, before flying east to perform shows across the east coast — with one show in Brissie, and two in Sydney and Melbourne. Fleetwood Mac is one of the world's best-selling bands, selling in excess of 100 million albums worldwide, with the album Rumours one of the best-selling of all time. Their Aussie tour follows the band's 50-show tour of the US. FLEETWOOD MAC 2019 TOUR DATES Perth — RAC Arena, August 9 Brisbane — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, August 20 Sydney — Qudos Bank Arena, August 27 and 29 Melbourne — Rod Laver Arena, September 2 and 4 Fleetwood Mac pre-sale tickets are available from midday (local time) on Thursday, January 24, 2019, with general on-sale is at midday (local time) in Sydney and Perth, and 1pm in Melbourne and Brisbane, on Friday, January 25, through Live Nation.
If you've got to the point in life where your local Thai place is saved in your favourites, they know your order and you don't even bother changing out of your daggy trackies to go pick it up, congrats. You, lounge dweller, are living your best life. But there is an alternate life you could be living, involving less humdrum routine and more exploring; it's the life of stepping out and trying new things. Say "it's not you, it's me" to your usual Wednesday pad see ew and start making a list of what the city has to offer that's new and exciting. We'll even give you a headstart — we've pulled together a list of restaurants that opened in the last few months around Brisbane to try on your next night out. From many a waterside eatery to Greek eats and Latin American bites, there's a little something for everyone. Happy eating, friends.
Think you know what's on the menu at Cheddar? Think again. Rather than a haven for cheese-loving folks, the cafe on the corner of Albert and Mary streets offers up brunch and burgers. You'll find a certain dairy product on the both though, don't worry. Parmesan-topped herb pesto and prosciutto on sourdough, zucchini fritters with haloumi or a double cheeseburger should be enough to satisfy your cravings — assuming that, like most people with a pulse and an ability to eat lactose, you have an obsession with cheese. Or, opt for the distraction method. From good ol' smashed avo to Tasmanian smoked salmon to croissants aplenty, you'll also find enough tasty bits and pieces to whet your appetite. Other morning options include an array of tried-and-tested favourites such as bacon and egg rolls and granola, while the burg range features chicken, braised pulled pork, beef, and slow-cooked lamb and fennel. Grab a cup of Campos coffee with it, and you're set, with Cheddar open for brekkie, brunch and lunch during the week, and for your early food fix on weekends.
Break out the sugar honeycombs, grab your bag of marbles, and get ready for a few more games of hopscotch and tug of war. Squid Game is coming back, as Netflix confirmed at the beginning of 2022 — and now the second season has its first teaser trailer. Well, it has an extremely short animated clip of the series' killer Red Light, Green Light doll, with the teaser short on details but big on mood. That said, the new video came with a statement by Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who started chatting about season two in 2021, and confirms a few details. Hwang Dong-Hyuk writer, director, producer, and creator of @squidgame has a message for the fans: pic.twitter.com/DxF0AS5tMM — Netflix (@netflix) June 12, 2022 "It took 12 years to bring the first season of Squid Game to life last year. But it took 12 days for Squid Game to become the most popular Netflix series ever," Hwang shared. "And now, Gi-hun returns. The Front Man returns. Season 2 is coming," he continued. "The man in the suit with ddakji might be back. You'll also be introduced to Young-hee's boyfriend, Cheol-su. Join us once more for a whole new round." So, get ready to spend more time with more Lee Jung-jae (Deliver Us From Evil) as the show's protagonist. And, to learn more about its masked villain (Lee Byung-hun, The Magnificent Seven) as well. How the narrative will play out in season two hasn't yet been revealed, and neither has exactly when it will return. But if you want to live life like you're actually in Squid Game — with the puzzles, not the murders — you can start trying to piece together its clues now. The series was always bound to return for another round. Compulsively watchable from its opening moments, the South Korean show was one of the best new TV programs of 2021, and proved enormously popular for Netflix — becoming its most-watched show ever, in fact. And yes, Hwang also advised last year that lead actor Lee would be coming back, but now that detail is locked in. If you somehow missed all things Squid Game last year, even after it became bigger than everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton, the Golden Globe-winning series serves up a puzzle-like storyline and unflinching savagery, which unsurprisingly makes quite the combination. It also steps into societal divides within South Korea, a topic that wasn't invented by Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's excellent Oscar-winning 2019 thriller, but has been given a boost after that stellar flick's success. Accordingly, it's easy to see thematic and narrative parallels between Parasite and Squid Game, although Netflix's highly addictive series goes with a Battle Royale and Hunger Games-style setup. Here, 456 competitors are selected to work their way through six seemingly easy children's games. They're all given numbers and green tracksuits, they're competing for 45.6 billion won, and it turns out that they've also all made their way to the contest after being singled out for having enormous debts. Squid Game's first season is available to stream via Netflix. We'll update you with a release date for season two when one is announced. Images: Noh Juhan/Netflix.
