In news that both sounds and feels familiar, Vivid Sydney has announced that this year's festival won't go ahead as currently planned due to Sydney's current COVID-19 outbreak and corresponding lockdown. Unlike 2020, however, the event isn't being cancelled. Instead, Vivid 2021 will now take place from mid-September. This year's fest had already been pushed from its usual June time slot, and was due to run from Friday, August 6–Saturday, August 28. After the news today, Wednesday, July 14, that Sydney's lockdown will continue until at least Friday, July 30, Vivid's move is hardly unexpected. In a statement, Vivid organisers advised it was rescheduling "in the interest of community health and safety". The event will now kick off on Friday, September 17 and run through until Saturday, October 9. New South Wales Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said that "the recent outbreak has presented a new challenge for everyone, and the health and safety of our citizens and entire event community involved in Vivid Sydney is our foremost concern." He continued: "Destination NSW will continue to work with NSW Health and other agencies to deliver a COVID-safe Vivid Sydney later this year, with support from our event partners, artists, sponsors, and suppliers." The minister did also comment that "Vivid Sydney will only proceed if it's safe to do so" — although, again, the event has been postponed at present, not cancelled. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vivid Sydney (@vividsydney) This year's Vivid was slated to feature a hefty array of light installations, cultural events, pop-ups and activations, with the full program announced back in May. Just what impact the rescheduling will have on the lineup hasn't yet been revealed, with Vivid organisers noting that details of the revised program will be released in the coming weeks after venues and event owners finalise the necessary logistics. If you have a ticket to a Vivid event, you'll be able to transfer it to the new date, or ask for a refund via the relevant ticket agent. When it was last held back in 2019, Vivid attracted more than two million attendees, so its postponement in the current circumstances doesn't come as a surprise — and nor did its cancellation didn't last year. Heartbreaking, it's the second big NSW event that's been impacted by the pandemic two years running. The same thing happened with Bluesfest, which was cancelled in 2020, then scrapped a few days before it was meant to start in April this year, and then rescheduled until October. Vivid Sydney 2021 will no longer take place from Friday, August 6–Saturday, August 28, and has instead been moved to Friday, September 17 –Saturday, October 9. For more information, visit the event's website. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: Destination NSW.
Remember when discovering new music meant listening to mix tapes? Like, actual cassettes? And how you couldn’t even find out the name of the song you liked most because WebFerret didn’t account for the fact that you had misheard the lyrics? A lot of romanticism surrounds the idea of obsolete technology, but you have to admit that the idea of merely pressing a button on your iPhone to figure out what you’re listening to is an attractive proposition. Rdio recently threw parties in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne to celebrate the unlimited social music service coming to our shores. Spotify has been a lot slower to sort itself out, despite declaring it would reveal Australian launch plans in late March. In the meantime, here are eight cool music discovery apps you can access right now. 1. RDIO Rdio has been the redeemer, saviour and friend of everyone who can’t access Spotify, Pandora or Grooveshark because of annoying “Not Available in Your Country” screens. If you already know what you’re looking for simply search by name, add it to your collection or add it to a playlist. If the artist isn’t too touchy about the idea of free music you can also sync songs and albums to your iPhone and listen to them even when, God forbid, you’re without Internet. Rdio also lets you “follow” users whose tastes you admire and pick their brains/music collections. Free, also available on Android. 2. TUNEIN RADIO There’s a reason smartphones don’t come with a built-in radio, and that reason is TuneIn. With over 50,000 stations and 120,000 shows for you to choose from, TuneIn allows you to search both local FM and overseas stations as far away as Antarctica (at the moment the South Pole is all about folk music). The app will also scan your music library and make radio station recommendations accordingly, and tracks your data usage so you can monitor your addiction to Radio Kishi Wada closely. Free, also available on Android. 3. SHAZAM ENCORE Simply press a button, hold your iPhone up to a source of music and the 9th most downloaded app of all time tells you what’s playing. iTunes recommends you use it during American Idol to get the song lists, but other options include discovering new music in Shazam Friends & Charts, finding more tracks by tagged artists and using it in conjunction with TuneIn Radio. $6.49, also available on Android. 4. SOUNDHOUND Got an extra dollar and a knack for emitting continuous droning sounds? Upgrade to SoundHound and you can identify songs by humming them. $7.49, also available on Android. 5. SONGKICK Let it scan your music library and reveal the touring dates of all your favourite artists, or plug in your geographical region and scroll through a calendar of all the live shows in your city. There’s nothing like seeing a live gig to get you amped about a new band. Free. 6. DISCOVR MUSIC If you’ve always wanted to be one of those people who discovers cool new bands but just really can’t be bothered, Discovr is for you. Just type in the name of any artist you like and the app will give you a whole bunch of similar ones in the form of a nice-looking web. Double-click to find out more about a particular artist, or keep expanding your web until Neon Indian connects with The Electric Prunes. $1.99, also available on Android. 7. POCKET HIPSTER It’s probably no longer cool since everyone found out about it, but it’s still hilarious. If you’ve ever had a friend who raked through your music collection before mocking it and making suggestions about how to make it cooler, you’ll have some idea of how it works. Bonus points for spot-on animations, snarky quips and the way it lets you pretend their suggestions aren’t cool at all before sneaking over to iTunes to download them. Free. 8. CHOMPIN Browse through genres and listen to suggestions, and “chomp” things you like. Chomping a track saves it to your phone so you can listen to it whenever, and lets you tell your friends when you’ve found something worthy — sort of like Pocket Hipster in reverse. Free, also available on Android.
If one particular Bee Gees song was ever the answer on Heardle, the music intro spinoff from Wordle, every Australian would guess it instantly. That tune: 'Spicks and Specks', which has been gracing the ABC's music quiz show of the same name since 2005 — whenever the show has been on the air, that is. It'll start echoing from your television again from Sunday, August 7, too, which is when the national broadcaster is bringing back the beloved series. Back in June, the network announced that the show would return this year for ten episodes, but now it has revealed the actual date. Adam Hills, Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough will be back as well, hosting and taking on team captain roles respectively, while this new season also boasts an impressive list of guests. Hamish Blake, Denise Scott, Dave O'Neil, Luke McGregor, Rhys Nicholson, Nath Valvo and Zoe Coombs Marr will all return, while Casey Donovan, Montaigne, Emma Watkins, Dylan Alcott and Mama Alto will make their Spicks and Specks debut. And, that doesn't include the lineup of bands performing. If you're somehow new to the ABC hit, it answers an easy question. What's better than watching a heap of top Australian talent sit around and talk about music? Watching them do all of the above while flinging around trivia, competing for points and just generally being funny, too. From there, taking a few cues from the UK's Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Spicks and Specks throws plenty of queries at its star-studded teams — pitting Aussie musos and comedians against each other. Yes, it's no wonder that the show has proven a hit several times over, and that it keeps coming back. It was a first weekly favourite when it initially aired between 2005–2011. Then, it was revived back in 2014, but with a new host and team captains. Finally, it started gathering its original lineup of Hills, Warhurst and Brough back together, first via a one-off reunion special, then with four new Spicks and Specks specials across 2019–20, and then in its regular format since 2021. Obviously, Spicks and Specks has been enjoying more comebacks than John Farnham of late. For its 2022 run, it's also dropping clues to a new game in each episode. To play The Secret Song, you'll need to watch out to cryptic clues uttered by Hills during the regular questions and games, which Warhurst and Brough also need to pick up on — and doing just that could mean the difference between winning and losing. Until August 7 arrives, check out a sneak peek at Spicks and Specks' new season below: Spicks and Specks will return to ABC TV and ABC iView from 7.40pm on Sunday, August 7.
2023 isn't even here yet, or any of the hundreds of films that it'll unleash upon big screens around Australia and New Zealand. That hasn't stopped 2024's most-anticipated movie from unveiling its first sneak peak before 2022 is out, though. That flick: Mickey 17, which oozes sci-fi intrigue from its name alone, and in its very brief initial trailer. But it's the fact that this is the first film from Korean director Bong Joon-ho since Parasite that's the most exciting part. At the time of writing, it has been three years since twisty thriller Parasite became the film of 2019, winning almost everything it could — such as the Palme d'Or at Cannes; the Sydney Film Festival Prize; and four Oscars, including becoming the first film in a language other than English to win Best Picture. When 2024 hits, half a decade will have passed since that cinematic triumph. But any new Bong Joon-ho movie is worth the wait, as his impressive cinematic resume attests. He is also the filmmaker behind stunning crime procedural Memories of Murder, creature feature The Host, dystopian thriller Snowpiercer and the offbeat Okja, after all. Directed, scripted and produced by Bong, Mickey 17 looks set to mark his third movie mostly in English after Snowpiercer and Okja, with Robert Pattinson (The Batman) leading a cast that also includes Steven Yeun (Nope), Naomi Ackie (Small Axe), Toni Collette (Nightmare Alley) and Mark Ruffalo (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law). Story-wise, it adapts Edward Ashton's book Mickey 7 — and no, why the title has added ten to its number isn't revealed in the debut trailer. The novel follows an 'expendable' being sent to colonise an ice world, who doesn't want to let his replacement take his place. On the page, the lead character is the seventh clone trying to fend off the eighth, but Bong has clearly upped that to the 17th version of his lead character. [caption id="attachment_706462" align="alignnone" width="1920"] High Life[/caption] Science-fiction fans will spot that the premise alone gives off big Moon, Sunshine and Voyagers vibes — and brings High Life, RPatz's last exceptional sci-fi flick, to mind. That said, Bong isn't a filmmaker to follow in anyone else's footsteps. How he makes this concept his own will be a treat to see. In the US, Mickey 17 arrives at the end of March 2024. No exact date Down Under has been locked in as yet, but you can reasonably expect the film to drop locally around the same time. Check out the first trailer for Mickey 17 below: Mickey 17 releases on March 29, 2024 in the US, and doesn't yet have a release date Down Under — we'll update you with local details when they're announced.
Back in 1990, a Christmas movie took an eight-year-old kid, left him stranded at home for the holidays, threw in some bumbling crooks and delivered quite the festive gift. For the almost three decades since Home Alone first graced cinema screens, it has become an end-of-year mainstay — up there with eating junk food and watching rubbish, no doubt making Kevin McAllister proud. In Liverpool come the end of this year, it's also going to provide the inspiration for the themed, pop-up watering hole that someone really had to make a reality at some point. At the Home Alone Christmas Bar, three things will be on the menu: celebrating the classic Macaulay Culkin-starring flick, getting into the festive spirit and alcohol. Prepare to say "keep the change, ya filthy animal" if you're in the vicinity of the city's Cains Brewery Village, with the space featuring all of the Christmas trimmings — trees, tunes, decorations, a sequence of decked-out lounge rooms and Sinatra's crooning — plus themed cocktails. Whether you'll be required to outwit the bartenders to get a drink, avoid various traps or make sure the clocks are set to the right time is yet to be revealed, along with the opening date; however the folks running the show are also behind the well-received Ghetto Golf bar, so expect more than just a heap of toys thrown across the entryway. Via Metro.
It was meant to be the sci-fi hit of 2020. It ended up being one of 2021's standouts instead. It picked up a heap of 2022 Oscars and has a sequel about to drop. Spice saga Dune is also now back on the big screen in Australia and New Zealand, giving audiences another chance to see it in the best way possible. Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049), the 2021 film followed in David Lynch's footsteps, making a new adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel — and managing what Alejandro Jodorowsky sadly couldn't (see: excellent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune) in the process. It also gave the world a stunning new science-fiction cinema classic, which started its return season in cinemas on Thursday, February 8, 2024 Down Under in preparation for part two arriving at the end of the month. The initial Villeneuve-helmed Dune flick scored ten Oscar nominations and six wins for beginning the space-opera series' story. In the 2021 film, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet, Wonka) headed to Arrakis because his dad Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight) had just been given stewardship of the planet and its abundance of 'the spice' — aka the most valuable substance in the universe — and then got caught up in a bitter feud with malicious forces over the substance. It also saw Paul meet the population of people known as the Fremen, including Chani (Zendaya, Euphoria), plus Javier Bardem's (Lyle, Lyle Crocodile) Stilgar, which is who he and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson, Silo) are with in Dune: Part Two. The second film has also taken the long way to cinemas, after originally being slated to release in November 2023, then postponed during Hollywood's strikes. It will now keep the tale going from Thursday, February 29. This time, war has arrived on the franchise's spice-laden planet, and Paul and the Fremen are ready to fight. The former doesn't just want to face off against the folks who destroyed his family, but for the sandy celestial body, with Chani at his side. Expansive desert landscape, golden and orange hues, sandworms, Villeneuve's reliable eye for a spectacle and Hans Zimmer's (The Son) sonic best: they're all part of the first movie. So are Josh Brolin (Outer Range), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Beau Is Afraid) and Charlotte Rampling (Benedetta) among the cast. Some cinemas are also doing Dune double features on Wednesday, February 28, the evening before the second part officially releases, if you want the full Chalamet-led Dune experience so far in one sitting. Check out trailers for Dune and Dune: Part Two below: Dune returned to cinemas Down Under on Thursday, February 8, 2o24. Read our review. Dune: Part Two will release in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, February 29, 2024.
Do you remember the first time that you saw a pastel-hued facade, ornate interior detailing, or something gloriously symmetrical indoors or out, then thought "that looks like something out of a Wes Anderson film"? For almost three decades now, we've all done it. Since his feature debut Bottle Rocket, the Asteroid City and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar director has firmly established his stylistic trademarks, ensuring that a Wes Anderson movie is always immediately recognisable as a Wes Anderson movie no matter which of the filmmaker's regular actors is in front of the camera. Brooklyn-based husband and wife Wally and Amanda Koval shared this line of thinking to the point of creating an Instagram account around it in 2017. Accidentally Wes Anderson now has 1.9-million followers. The social media feed is a curated selection of images from real life that look like Anderson has staged, styled and shot them, but hasn't — and after taking films as inspiration for an online compilation of images, Accidentally Wes Anderson has taken the IRL route itself via an exhibition. At Accidentally Wes Anderson: The Exhibition, 200-plus images await — and they're all coming to Australia for the first time. Following past runs in Tokyo and Seoul, and present seasons in London and Los Angeles, the immersive art experience will make its Down Under debut in Melbourne from Wednesday, September 18, 2024, complete with ten rooms. Some of the exhibition's walls feature facades that Anderson must covet, others find landscape that'd make the perfect Anderson backdrop, and plenty highlight either vintage vehicles or enchanting hotels. Yes, pastel tones pop up frequently. So does symmetry, including in the exhibition's presentation. The idea is to make you feel like you're stepping into Anderson's flicks by showing how the world beyond his frames often conjures up that sensation anyway. To borrow from a different filmmaker, is this the Wes Anderson version of Inception? Attendees enter an exhibition of real-life pictures inspired by an Instagram account that's inspired by Anderson's moving pictures, particularly his aesthetic within them that takes cues from real life. Accidentally Wes Anderson has also been turned into a book, too, plus a website with a map spanning almost 2000 spots across the planet that fit the theme. At Accidentally Wes Anderson: The Exhibition, patrons arrive via the lobby, then explore a space dedicated to portals, then embrace an array of facades. Checking out sections devoted to coastal scenes, planes and trains (and automobiles, of course), sports, accommodation and nature is also on the agenda. There's a space that'll get you watching big-screen travel adventures, too — and, just for Australia, one about Aussie spots that evoke Anderson. For souvenirs, you'll exit through the Accidentally Wes Anderson shop.
As a filmmaker, he co-created the Saw and Insidious franchises, and has since been tackling iconic horror tales with The Invisible Man and 2025 release Wolf Man. As an actor, he popped up in The Matrix Reloaded. Before all of that, he was a film critic on beloved late-90s Saturday-morning music TV show Recovery. That's a helluva career so far — and next, Leigh Whannell is heading to AACTA Festival to chat about it. In 2024, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards launched a festival to sit alongside its accolades, and to celebrate the latter's move to the Gold Coast. That event is returning in 2025 in a bigger guise, running for five days between Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, and hosting more than 100 sessions. The initial program details were revealed in November 2024, but a few more high-profile names have just been added. AACTA Festival will also welcome Australian The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey, who has been earning some love from the academy of late. Better Man, his unconventional Robbie Williams biopic, topped the 2025 AACTA nominations — and attendees will hear all about the film at his festival session. Equally huge news is enlisting Paul Kelly to perform at the live How to Make Gravy concert, which also features Meg Washington, Brendan Maclean and Beddy Rays — and yes, it's easy to predict what the Australian icon will be singing. Plus, Late Night with the Devil is in the spotlight via filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes getting talking, while Netflix's upcoming Apple Cider Vinegar series will score a behind-the-scenes look. [caption id="attachment_926549" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Moshcam[/caption] Featuring 20-plus new sessions, the expanded lineup builds upon a roster of events that already boasted plenty of highlights. One such drawcard: the Working Dog team, aka Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Michael Hirsh and Rob Sitch, coming together for an in-conversation session that's bound to touch upon everything from The Castle, Frontline, Thank God You're Here and Utopia to The Dish, The Hollowmen and Have You Been Paying Attention?. The Dish is also the screening program, and the Working Dog team will receive the prestigious AACTA Longford Lyell Award. Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser, who won an Oscar for Dune and is highly tipped for another one for Dune: Part Two, is another big-name inclusion, chatting about his Hollywood work. Also in the same category: John Seale, who took home an Academy Award for The English Patient, and was nominated for Witness, Rain Man, Cold Mountain and Mad Max: Fury Road. Everyone can also look forward to authors Trent Dalton and Holly Ringland returning from 2024's lineup, chatting about Boy Swallows Universe and The Lost Flowers of Alice on the small screen, respectively; a dive into the Heartbreak High soundtrack; a panel on queer storytelling with RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under season two winner Spankie Jackzon and Deadloch's Nina Oyama; and a session with First Nations filmmakers. And if you're keen to watch movies, Gettin' Square followup Spit will enjoy its Queensland premiere, complete with star David Wenham (Fake) chatting about the feature's journey; Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will make its Australian debut, at Movie World, of course; and upcoming action film Homeward with Nathan Phillips (Kid Snow) and Jake Ryan (Territory) will take viewers behind the scenes. [caption id="attachment_985262" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of Netflix © 2024[/caption] [caption id="attachment_927965" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix © 2023[/caption] AACTA Festival will run from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise Gold Coast. For further details, head to the fest's website.
They call it Tina — The Tina Turner Musical, oh Tina — The Tina Turner Musical — and it's finally coming to Australia. After premiering in London back in 2018, this stage ode to the music icon that's had Aussies dancing to 'Nutbush City Limits' for decades is making its way Down Under, locking in its first local stint in Sydney from May 2023. No, it isn't taking to the stage in a church house, gin house, school house or outhouse — or on highway number 19, either. But Tina — The Tina Turner Musical will obviously have Theatre Royal Sydney enjoying Turner's greatest hits in one massive show. The list of musical numbers includes 'Nutbush City Limits', naturally, as well as everything from 'River Deep, Mountain High' and 'Proud Mary' through to 'Private Dancer' and 'What's Love Got to Do with It?'. Tina — The Tina Turner Musical makes its trip Down Under courtesy of TEG DAINTY, Stage Entertainment and Tali Pelman, in association with Tina Turner herself. Announcing the news, the singer said that "Australia has always shared abundant love with me, going back to my early concerts in the late 70s through the uplifting partnership with the National Rugby League. It is very special for me that we will be reunited." "The joy, passion and message of resilience in my musical is so important now as ever. Thank you from the bottom my heart for welcoming me with open arms once again," Turner continued. The singer mightn't have mentioned her appearance in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, but she is indeed part of the beloved Mad Max franchise, too. Exactly what date in May the musical will open hasn't been revealed as yet, but it heads our way after also playing Hamburg, on Broadway, and in Utrecht and Madrid — and it'll tour North America from September. Penned by Tony Award-nominee and Pulitzer Prize-winner Katori Hall, plus Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, and directed by fellow Tony-nominee Phyllida Lloyd, Tina — The Tina Turner Musical clearly has quite the story to tell. The show steps through Turner's life and fame, including growing up in Nutbush, Tennessee, the hard work that led to her career, all of those aforementioned hits, her 12 Grammy Awards, her volatile time with Ike Turner and her huge solo success. If you're a fan, Turner herself summed it up — yes, it's simply the best. There's no word yet as to whether Tina — The Tina Turner Musical will head to other Australian cities, but cross your fingers while you're doing the Nutbush, obviously. Tina — The Tina Turner Musical will open its Australian-premiere season at Theatre Royal Sydney from May 2023, with the exact launch date still to be announced. To join the ticket waitlist, head to the musical's website. Images: Manuel Harlan.
Usually when August rolls around, the Ekka takes over Brisbane. And, to encourage everyone to get their fix of rides, sideshows and showbags, the city scores a midweek public holiday to celebrate. But in 2020, the annual exhibition has been cancelled due to COVID-19, which means enjoying a Wednesday without work doesn't seem as appealing — so the Queensland Government is moving the day off to the end of the week. If you had plans for Wednesday, August 12, you'll need to cancel them (or request a day off work). Instead, prepare to sleep in, kick back and even head out of town on Friday, August 14. 'People's Day' is becoming 'People's Long Weekend', and yes, that means that Brisbanites will receive a bonus three-day work-free span. And, with regional travel back on the cards from mid-June, everyone is being encouraged to make the most of it. Announcing the change of date — which is in effect for 2020 and 2020 only — Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: "everyone knows the Ekka is when the bush meets the city. Since that can't happen this year, this gives the city the chance to go to bush — or the beach — have break and let Queenslanders support Queenslanders in our wonderful tourism industry." https://www.facebook.com/annastaciamp/photos/a.523591701005345/3178640332167122/?type=3&theater After confirming today, Thursday, May 21, that Queenslanders will be able to travel within 250 kilometres of home, and stay overnight, once stage two of the state's relaxed restrictions come into effect next month, the Premier also noted that further easing of restrictions are expected in August. While no additional details were offered — and the current timeline in Queensland's previously revealed "step-down approach to COVID-19" only runs until mid-July — that means you might be able to venture even further away for your unexpected long weekend getaway. The change of date only applies to Brisbane council areas that receive the Brisbane Show Holiday; however, the Queensland Government has advised that other councils can apply to similarly change their show holidays to a later date due to COVID-19. Brisbane's 'People's Day' public holiday will now take place on Friday, August 14. For further details, read the Queensland Government's announcement. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Like a stack of Melbourne's large cultural institutions, the National Gallery of Victoria has temporarily shut its doors to the public in an effort to help slow the spread of COVID-19. But, you can now feast on some of the NGV's art offerings from afar, thanks to its newly-launched virtual programming. A series of online galleries, virtual exhibition tours and eBooks are now free to access via the NGV's website and social media channels. And if you're having a crack at the whole social distancing thing, or stuck in self-isolation, that's a serious boredom-busting win. Over on the new NGV Channel, punters will find a growing haul of virtual content to explore. Right now, you can join a free, curator-led tour of Collecting Comme and the NGV's Indigenous art collection Marking Time. From Saturday, March 21, you'll be able to digitally explore around KAWS: Companionship In The Age Of Loneliness and then, from Saturday, March 28, Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines. [caption id="attachment_742493" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kaws, What Party (2019) photo by Tom Ross[/caption] On the NGV app, there are also guided tours of NGV International and NGV Australia artworks, narrated by curators, artists and special guests. Thanks to a lengthy digitisation project, much of the 75,000-strong NGV Collection is also online for your viewing pleasure, so you can take a peek at the likes of the Spirit of Herbarium couture dress by Maria Grazia Chiuri for Christian Dior, or Katsushika Hokusai's 1830 piece The great wave off Kanagawa. It's easy to search by artist or artwork name, and even boasts a few pieces that aren't usually accessible. Those craving some new reading material can dig even deeper with a bunch of new eBooks and curatorial essays available free online, exploring exhibitions like Collecting Comme and Japanese Modernism. In a first, the almost 60-year-long back catalogue of Art Journal of the National Gallery of Victoria is also yours to browse at your own pace online. And don't forget, there's a whole lot more going on over on the NGV's socials and under the hashtag #NGVEveryDay, with regular insight videos and mini talks from the curators. Get your remote art fix over at the NGV website or via Facebook and Instagram. Top image: Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines, NGV. Photo by Tom Ross.
Well, Sydney suggested it — and for some reason, Transport for NSW has obliged. The city's newest ferry will be named Ferry McFerryface. Proving that the bizarre legacy of Boaty McBoatface will live on for some time, the people of Sydney have decided that names of suburbs and notable Australians aren't the way to go. The government authority threw to the public for suggestions for the new fleet of ferries last year and, of the 15,000 submitted, Ferry McFerryface was one of the most popular submissions. Ferry McFerryface is the last ferry in the new fleet of six to be named, and joins other (more cordially named) vessels named after individuals who have contributed to Australian society like ophthalmologist Fred Hollows, heart surgeon Victor Chang and obstetrician Catherine Hamlin. McFerryface doesn't quite have the same reverence as its counterparts, but the internet, I guess. This new fleet will serve inner city routes and service Watsons Bay, Cockatoo Island and the new Barangaroo wharf. The new ferries will have Wi-Fi on-board, greater disability access and space for bikes. Transport for NSW also plans to acquire four more ferries to service the Parramatta River.
Between the missed birthdays and array of postponed parties, chances are you've got a lot of catching up to do on the celebrations front. And the folks at renowned accomodation brand QT are here to help you do so in style. Five of their plush hotels and resorts are now hosting an indulgent new experience called Floor'd, which allows guests to book out an entire floor for one wild night in with their nearest and dearest. Available at QT's Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Gold Coast and Perth sites, Floor'd is on offer to groups of between 16 and 41 punters keen for an exclusive rockstar-style soiree. And it's pretty much only limited by your own imagination, with three packages and a multitude of luxe add-ons to choose from. Starting from $620 per couple, the experience includes exclusive use of a whole hotel floor for the evening, with a dedicated team of hosts on hand to cater to your every whim. You and your mates will sit down to a special hallway dinner of seasonal dishes matched with brand-new signature cocktails like the Floor'd negroni and the Summer Affair. Then, after your chosen post-dinner kick-ons, you'll all spend the night sleeping like kings in your luxury hotel rooms, before waking to breakfast in bed. Of course, after the year that's been, you've got a solid excuse to splurge on a few extra additions. Mix and match your ultimate soiree with the likes of VIP drinks, pop-up bars, private DJ sets, pamper packages, late-checkout and maybe even a live performance from your favourite artist. Floor'd is available now at QT Sydney, QT Melbourne, QT Auckland, QT Gold Coast and QT Perth, running until the end of 2021. Learn more and make a booking over at the website.
Whenever an Australian state experiences a new COVID-19 outbreak, a few things tend to happen — and fast. As cases grow, restrictions are implemented, masks are mandated and other parts of the country start shutting their borders. Usually, the latter happens incrementally, starting with banning folks from certain areas, then moving onto the entire city, and then perhaps even the whole state. That's the process that has been playing out over the past week regarding Sydney's current COVID-19 cluster. Masks are back, restrictions came into effect yesterday, Wednesday, June 23, and other states have started closing their borders to the New South Wales capital. In fact, after closing up shop to seven Sydney Local Government Areas over the past couple of days, Queensland and Victoria are now doing the same with the whole Greater Sydney area. So, if you're a Queenslander or a Victorian with a trip to Sydney in your future — or vice versa — the pandemic has definitely interrupted your plans again. All of Greater Sydney is now considered a hotspot by Queensland and a red zone by Victoria. Queensland's ruling came into effect at 1am today, Thursday, June 24, while Victoria's will kick in at 1am tomorrow, Friday, June 25. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1407611107594825733 Accordingly, folks who've been in Greater Sydney will no longer be permitted to enter either Victoria or Queensland, other than in a few circumstances. Queensland residents coming home from Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Wollongong and Shellharbour will need to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days — and non-residents will only be allowed to enter if they receive an exception, and will also need to go into hotel quarantine for a fortnight. Plus, everyone going to Queensland will need to complete one of the state's online travel declarations first, after that system was brought back into effect last week. Under its traffic light-style permit system, Victoria will allow the state's own residents who've been in Greater Sydney and Wollongong to obtain permits to return home — but they'll then need to quarantine for 14 days. If you're not a Victorian resident and you've been in the NSW capital, you will no longer be able to enter Victoria. In separate press conferences today, leaders in both states advised that people from Sydney have been turned away after trying to enter both Queensland and Victoria — and put on flights back to Sydney. Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino also announced that a case linked to the current NSW outbreak has been identified in Melbourne, after a man in his 60s flew into the city from Sydney, was tested and returned a positive result. For more information about Queensland's COVID-19 border restrictions, or about the status of COVID-19 in the state, visit the Qld COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. For more information about COVID-19 in Victoria and the state's border restrictions, head over to the Department of Health website.
As every Brisbanite knows, the city's public transport leaves plenty to be desired. If you're not waiting for buses that don't show up or being routinely forced to catch overcrowded trains, you're wondering why there's no buses at all or why half the city's railways are out of action over a weekend. Or, you're simply dreading the impending Commonwealth Games rail nightmare. One of the solutions that's been bandied around over the past few years is the Brisbane Metro, and it's getting closer to coming to fruition. Promising services every three minutes during peak periods, it will comprise two high-frequency lines linking existing busway stations and spanning 21 kilometres. That's the original proposal, with an extension also mooted — not only running from Eight Mile Plains and Roma Street on one line, and between the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital and the University of Queensland on the other, but also including Chermside, Carindale and Springwood. A new underground station at the Cultural Centre at South Bank is part of the plans as well. This week, the project was given high priority status on Infrastructure Australia's priority list, "which is used by governments to guide future infrastructure investments," the Brisbane Metro website explains. It's the only Queensland proposal in that category, and it boosts its chances of securing the funding it needs. More news is due in April, when the Brisbane City Council is set to reveal its Brisbane Metro draft design report. Don't start expecting to speed around the city just yet, however — as long as funding and approvals are received, formal procurement activities are expected to commence mid-this year, but construction isn't slated until 2019 to 2022, with services commencing in 2023. Still, with a high-speed Brisbane to Sunshine Coast train route also part of a separate proposal, the city's public transport options might soon get quite the boost. For more information, head to the Brisbane Metro website.
Journey to where the sugar-white sand is oh-so-sweet on the feet and there are more shades of blue than you can count. The Maldives will have you dozing off while fish glide by at Huvafen Fushi’s underwater spa, or diving off your private deck into a crystal clear lagoon to join them at Cocoa Island by Como. Each atoll is an idyllic natural wonder and Mr & Mrs Smith has some sensational sunseeker offers that will have you barefoot and blissful in no time. One&Only Reethi Rah A PADI National Geographic dive centre, 12 beaches and eight dining destinations make up One&Only Reethi Rah, a lush, sprawling Maldivian island retreat. From huevos rancheros in the morning to lobster gyoza at Tapasake in the evening, your palate will take an international trip each day. Hint: the island’s boutique, Neo, stocks Louboutin espadrille wedges designed especially for the resort, just in case you tire of flip-flops. Action-hungry travellers can zip from the Grand or Duplex Villas to the resort’s climbing wall in a golf buggy, dice with danger on a shark safari, then watch the sunset while swaying in a hammock between the palms on a private sandy stretch. Lazy landlubbers might find the hammock too hard to leave from dawn til dusk. Cocoa Island by Como An exquisite blue lagoon is the true champion at Cocoa Island by Como, although the villas are nothing to scoff at either. From outside, the overwater villas resemble tradtional dhoni boats resting atop the lagoon. Understated bright white interiors paired with timber furnishings make the turquoise waters the statement – even more so from your private sun-deck. Bend like the palms at yoga every morning then feast on the daily catch at Ufaa, where a combination of Mediterranean- and Thai-inspired dishes use only the best seasonal produce and local seafood. Como Shambhala Spa has world-class treatments and guided meditation to ease lingering tensions. Anantara Kihavah Villas Enjoy nature’s best at Anantara Kihavah Villas, where sandy beaches and island isolation are just the beginning. There’s an underwater wine cellar and an overwater spa with views into the azure lagoon in each treatment room – you’ll also find yoga mats, sun hats and beach bags at the ready in every villa. Sway in the ocean breeze on the Overwater Pool Villa’s hammock-strung terrace or sink your toes into your own stretch of sand in a Beach Pool Villa (wine-coolers included). Take a dip at night in the 49-metre pool where LED lights in the tiled floor mimic the stars above to create the perfect stage for romance. Naladhu Reef-fringed Veligandu Huraa is where you’ll find the boutique resort Naladhu and its 19 villas nestled between a sheltered lagoon and the Indian Ocean. Enjoy sea breezes from bedroom to bathroom – a glass panel is all that separates the soaking tub from your private pool and the horizon beyond. Dive, snorkel and swim until your heart’s content in this romantic water-bound paradise. Under a thatched roof overlooking the lagoon is the Living Room, where torches light up the night sky and you can feast on grilled tiger prawns, spicy lemongrass red snapper and more internationally inspired dishes that draw from fresh market ingredients. Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa An eco-friendly oasis on one of the largest Maldivian atolls, North Huvadhoo, Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa instils immediate holiday calm. Floor-to-ceiling windows in minimalist villas ensure constant island views from verdant tropical fronds to azure waters. Fancy learning something new? Tackle the mojito mixology class, where you’ll have to try your concoctions so you know you’re getting it just right. There’s an intricate mosaic of marine life just steps (or strokes) away at the in-house reef, which you can explore with the resident marine biologist. Laidback foodies will love the Island Grill with its sandy floor and locally inspired dishes such as plantain ragout or Wagyu tenderloin with spicy papaya. Baros Baros is a boutique on the North Malé Atoll that’s sure to fulfil your castaway island dreams (with added luxury, natch). Hide yourself away in one of the secluded Water Pool Villas on the end of the winding jetty. Each has a private pool, canopied day-bed and personal Villa Host at your beck and call. Beach Villas are nestled among palm trees and tropical fronds and have an extra portion of privacy. Travel across the lagoon to a strip of sand for morning yoga practise, then explore the reef and learn about the resort’s coral planting programme that helps sustain the local marine habitat. Huvafen Fushi Everywhere you look you’ll discover a different shade of blue at Huvafen Fushi. The toughest decision you’ll have to make here is whether you want sand shores within reach in a Beach Villa or direct ocean dips from the overwater bungalows, which come with a private plunge pool. Visit the world’s first underwater spa, Lime, where you’ll float on a bed of relaxation while watching stingrays, clownfish and co. glide by. Enjoy fine dining paired with perfect wines at Vinum, but not before sampling something from the extensive cocktail list at UMbar — the Crouching Tiger (lemongrass, lychee, gin sake, ginger liqueur and jasmine tea) is delectable. Niyama On the deserted Dhaalu Atoll, Niyama’s hovering overwater bungalows will make you swoon with their reclaimed wood exteriors, luxurious marble bathrooms and lavish rain showers. Brilliant azure waters, shimmering sands and lush palm fronds are standard here; Subsix, the world’s first underwater club, is anything but standard, with its aquarium-like feel creating definite wow-factor as you sip cocktails among vivid corals and flirty fish. Opt for a Beach Studio with Private Pool on the sunset side of the island for its prime people-watching potential — Number 14 is right in the thick of the action. Viceroy Maldives The sparkling Shaviyani Atoll has water-a-plenty, especially when you consider that all the villas at Viceroy Maldives have private plunge pools to boot. Beach Villas boast monochromatic elegance; the Water Villas’ cool greys, blues and timber furnishings allow no loud, colourful distractions from the sounds of the ocean. Wander up to Treehouse for spectacular views and delicious mezze platters at sunset and cross wooden platforms to find your own secluded dining spot. Be your own bartender in a private beach cabana for two and mix favourite tipples or tropical concoctions into the early hours. Constance Moofushi Picture this: a crystal clear lagoon with vivid corals, swaying palms and tunes from the in-house DJ drifting on the sea breeze. Welcome to laidback luxury at Constance Moofushi. For a break from the party scene at Manta Bar, take your Moofushi Nasta Lemonade (home-made lemon and ginger marmalade with bourbon, fresh mint and cucumber) back to your Water Villa. Numbers 30–35 are perfect for counting stars on your private terrace and have the best of both worlds — sandy beach on one side; the Indian Ocean on the other. Browse more hotels in the Maldives, discover the Mr & Mrs Smith collection and exclusive offers online, or contact Smith’s expert Travel Team.
On the page and the big screen, Scott Pilgrim vs the World told the same story. Its namesake (Michael Cera, Barbie) fell in love with Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ahsoka), but there was a roadblock on the way to the pair dating: her seven evil exes that needed defeating. On streaming from November, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off will also cover those details in anime; however, that's just the beginning of the tale. One, two, three, four: Sex Bob-Omb! are back, and everything Scott Pilgrim with them, thanks to this animated Netflix series. First announced earlier in 2023 and dropping its teaser trailer in August, the new take on a bass player fighting the object of his affection's past boyfriends isn't just hitting the small screen as a streaming series — as the new full sneak peek stresses, it has amassed the entire Scott Pilgrim vs the World cast back in their roles. Obviously, a lot can happen in 13 years — and for the cast of 2010's page-to-screen favourite Scott Pilgrim vs the World, much has before Scott Pilgrim Takes Off reaches screens. Michael Cera kept returning to Arrested Development's George Michael, made a stunning appearance in the Twin Peaks revival and featured in Barbie. Mary Elizabeth Winstead added everything from Fargo and 10 Cloverfield Lane to Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and Ahsoka to her resume. Chris Evans became Captain America, Kieran Culkin killed it with insults in Succession and Anna Kendrick had the whole Pitch Perfect franchise. Brie Larson slipping into Captain Marvel's shoes, Aubrey Plaza's The White Lotus stint, Jason Schwartzman still showing up in Wes Anderson films aplenty — that's all occurred as well. Now, more Scott Pilgrim has come all of the above actors' way, too. The movie that started off as a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and also hit video games, will live on again from Friday, November 17. When a film becomes a streaming series, that doesn't always mean that the OG stars return with it — but it does in this case. As well as Cera and Winstead, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off boasts Culkin as Wallace Wells, Kendrick as Stacey Pilgrim, Larson as Envy Adams and Plaza as Julie Powers. And, yes, Evans, Schwartzman, Satya Bhabha (Sense8), Brandon Routh (The Flash) and Mae Whitman (Good Girls) are all back as Ramona's evil exes. The list doesn't stop there. Alison Pill (Hello Tomorrow!) as Kim Pine, Johnny Simmons (Girlboss) as young Neil, Mark Webber (SMILF) as Stephen Stills, Ellen Wong (Best Sellers) as Knives Chau are reprising their roles as well. While Scott Pilgrim Takes Off still sees its namesake swoon over Ramona, then tussle with her former paramours, this is more than just a do-over. "I knew that a live action sequel was unlikely, but I would usually defer by suggesting that perhaps an anime adaptation was an interesting way to go," the original film's director Edgar Wright told Netflix back when the series was first announced. "And then, lo and behold, one day Netflix got in touch to ask about this exact idea. But even better, our brilliant creator Bryan Lee O'Malley had an idea that was way more adventurous than just a straight adaptation of the original books," Wright continued — and he's back as an executive producer. Check out the full trailer for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off below: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off streams via Neflix on Friday, November 17.
Sipping beers, standing under giant chandeliers: at the first-ever brew festival set to be held at Fortitude Music Hall, that's firmly on the agenda. The brainchild of the Range Brewing crew, this one-day event will fill the eye-catching Valley Mall venue with independent brewers for an ale of a great and boozy time — and yes, given the location, you'll be knocking back your yeasty beverages to a soundtrack. Creating the new event — which has been dubbed Juicy — Range duo Gerard Martin and Matt McIver have taken inspiration from all-inclusive brew fests overseas. "Matt and I experienced the all-inclusive beer festival model while we were travelling overseas and we knew we had to bring the concept home to Brissie. To also be the first beer festival held at the beautiful Fortitude Music Hall? It's a beer lover's dream," explains Martin. So, you'll buy your ticket, get your glass and start sipping your way through all the brews on offer — without needing to worry about paying for drinks as you go. Served up in 100-millilitre tasters, there'll be more 40 specialty beers poured by 20 independent brewers. Doing the honours: Range, naturally, as well as everyone from Banks, Garage Project and Sea Legs to Wildflower, Hop Nation and Mountain Culture, with Juicy spanning not only tipples from Brisbane breweries, but also from the rest of Australia and New Zealand as well. Hitting the decks to soundtrack all that drinking are Sampology and Winston Surfshirt, as well Quivr DJs. Again, it's all happening in the exact right place for it. And to line your stomach between brews, there'll be an oyster and stout bar at The Outpost upstairs, pop-up stalls from Brissie restaurants such as Kid Curry, and also the winning combination that is steak and frites. Joining Brisbane's fast-growing lineup of food and booze festivals popping up this autumn and winter — alongside Pinot Palooza, Regional Flavours, Paniyiri and Indie Spirits Tasting, just to name a few — Juicy will run two sessions: an afternoon slot from 12–4pm and an evening one from 6–10pm. Juicy Beer Festival takes place on Saturday, July 9. For more information or to buy tickets from 9am on Thursday, April 14, head to the fest's website. Top image: Sam Charlton.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. HALLOWEEN ENDS Whenever a kitchen knife gleams, a warped mask slips over a killer's face or a piano score tinkles in a horror movie — whenever a jack-o'-lantern burns bright, a babysitter is alone in someone else's home with only kids for company or October 31 hits, too — one film comes to mind. It has for four-plus decades now and always will, because Halloween's influence over an entire genre, slasher flicks within it and final girls filling such frames is that immense. That seminal first altercation between then 17-year-old Laurie Strode and psychiatric institution escapee Michael Myers, as brought to the screen so unnervingly by now-legendary director John Carpenter, also valued a concept that couldn't be more pivotal, however. Halloween was never just a movie about an unhinged murderer in stolen mechanic's overalls stalking Haddonfield, Illinois when most of the town was trick-or-treating. In Laurie's determination to survive Michael's relentless stabbing, it was a film about trauma and fighting back. As played by Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once) for 44 years — her big-screen debut made her an OG scream queen, and she's returned six times since, including now in Halloween Ends — Laurie has never been anyone's mere victim. In the choose-your-own-adventure antics that've filled the franchise's ever-branching narrative over 13 entries, her tale has twisted and turned. The saga's has in general, including chapters sans Laurie and Michael, films that've killed one or both off, and remakes. But mustering up the strength to persist, refusing to let Michael win and attacking back has remained a constant of Laurie's story. That's all kept pushing to the fore in the current trilogy within the series, which started with 2018's Halloween, continued with 2021's Halloween Kills and now wraps up with an instalment that flashes its finality in its moniker. Laurie keeps fighting, no matter the odds, because that's coping with trauma. This time, though, is a weary Haddonfield ready to battle with her? First, a just-as-pressing question: is this David Gordon Green-directed and co-written, Jason Blum-produced movie ready to fight back itself? Green (Stronger, The Righteous Gemstones) has been the mastermind behind the franchise's revival with co-scribe Danny McBride (The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter) — and while their first dance with the boogeyman (James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle), and the woman pursued by him, gave the Halloween series its best sequel yet, their second lurked in lacklustre been-there, done-that territory. Despite a title that's bound to be proven wrong down the line because that's just the way Hollywood goes, Halloween Ends leaps forward after its average-at-best most-recent predecessor, thankfully. It does so weightily, eerily and gorily, in fact, albeit sometimes clumsily as well, in a mostly fitting swan song for Curtis that understands what it means to spend half a lifetime shrouded in tragedy. Halloween circa 2018 and Halloween Kills sliced into the same night, 40 years after Michael initially attacked Laurie, but Halloween Ends covers two other October 31s. In the first, a year later, a babysitter, a child and Haddonfield's understandably on-edge vibe are all present — as is Carpenter's 1982's masterpiece The Thing, playing on a TV — and a bloody end results. Jumping forward three more years, Laurie is penning a memoir about moving on from her ordeals, and has begun to re-embrace life while living with her granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak, Foxhole). Still, around them, their home town is uncertain in Michael's absence. Accustomed to having a big bad responsible for their woes, fears and misery, its residents now point fingers at twentysomething Corey Cunningham (Rohan Campbell, The Hardy Boys), who's already escaped a murder accusation but is forever branded in the community's eyes. Read our full review. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT War makes meat, disposable labour and easy sacrifices of us all. In battles for power, as they always are, bodies are used to take territory, threaten enemies and shed blood to legitimise a cause. On the ground, whether in muddy trenches or streaming across mine-strewn fields, war sees the masses rather than the individuals, too — but All Quiet on the Western Front has always been a heartbreaking retort to and clear-eyed reality check for that horrific truth. Penned in 1928 by German World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque, initially adapted for the screen by Hollywood in 1930 and then turned into a US TV movie in 1979, the staunchly anti-war story now gets its first adaptation in its native tongue. Combat's agonies echo no matter the language giving them voice, but Edward Berger's new film is a stunning, gripping and moving piece of cinema. Helming and scripting — the latter with feature first-timers Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell — All My Loving director Berger starts All Quiet on the Western Front with a remarkable sequence. The film will come to settle on 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (astonishing debutant Felix Kammerer) and his ordeal after naively enlisting in 1917, thinking with his mates that they'd be marching on Paris within weeks, but it begins with a different young soldier, Heinrich Gerber (Jakob Schmidt, Babylon Berlin), in the eponymous region. He's thrust into the action in no man's land and the inevitable happens. Then, stained with blood and pierced by bullets, his uniform is stripped from his body, sent to a military laundry, mended and passed on. The recipient: the eager Paul, who notices the past wearer's name on the label and buys the excuse that it just didn't fit him. No one dares waste a scrap of clothing — only the flesh that dons it, and the existences its owners don't want to lose. Paul's parents are against him signing up with the Imperial German Army, but his pals Albert Kropp (Aaron Hilmer, The Island), Franz Müller (Moritz Klaus, Die Chefin) and Ludwig Behm (Adrian Grünewald, also The Island) are doing it, so he's soon forging a signature and receiving his pre-used uniform. You could say that the high schooler and his friends get the shock of their lives once they make it to the front, because they do; however, as the Germans and the French keep tussling over a ridiculously small stretch, making zero impact upon the greater war in the process, Paul and company's lives — shocks and all — couldn't be more expendable. In the unit's first big push, the teenagers' numbers already diminish. Building upon the movie's potent opening, Berger ensures that nothing about war remains romanticised in their gaze. Call it hell, call it a nightmare, call it a senseless throwing away of innocent life and a needless robbing of the future: they all fit. Eighteen months later in November 1918, All Quiet on the Western Front moves to Paul and his compatriots behind the trenches. Trying to survive is still their only aim, and any sense of excitement, passion, enthusiasm and patriotism for their service has long dissipated. Sometimes, with the older and brotherly Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky (Albrecht Schuch, Berlin Alexanderplatz), making it through the day involves attempting to steal food from French farms. Sometimes, it means looking for new recruits who haven't shown up. When orders come as they unavoidably do, though, the front is inescapable. Alongside 1917, All Quiet on the Western Front proves a masterclass in conveying armed conflict's relentlessness, terror and futility — from a first-person perspective, and also via lengthy, unbroken, like-you're-there shots steeped in gut- and heart-wrenching wartime brutality. Read our full review. THE NIGHT OF THE 12TH On the night of the 12th, the incident that makes that date worthy of a movie's moniker happens quickly, heartbreakingly and horrifyingly so. It's October 2016, in the French Alps-region city of Grenoble, and Clara Royer (Lula Cotton-Frapier, Mixte) is walking home alone after an evening at her best friend Nanie's (Pauline Serieys, Grown Ups). It's 3am, the streets are quiet, and she's giddy with affection, sending a video message telling her pal how much she loves her. All it takes is a hooded figure emerging from the dark, whispering her name, dousing her with liquid and sparking a lighter, and Clara will never arrive home. Before this occurs in The Night of the 12th's opening scenes, director and co-writer Dominik Moll (Only the Animals) shares details just has distressing and dismaying: the French police are tasked with solving 800 murders a year, 20 percent of them never can be and, sadly, the case in this feature is among the latter. It might seem a strange decision, giving away the film's ending before it even begins; however, while The Night of the 12th is about the search for Clara's killer, it's never about the murderer. Instead, as it adapts 30 pages from Pauline Guéna's non-fiction book 18.3 — A Year With the Crime Squad, takes a Zodiac-style procedural approach and opts for a Mindhunter-esque survey of interrogations as well, it makes clear how easy and common it is for situations like this come about, especially in a world where women are slain at men's whims with frequency (then typically blamed if any of their own actions can be wrongly perceived to have put themselves in danger). Alongside David Fincher's serial killer fare, Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder casts a shadow, too, as detective Yohan Vivès (Bastien Bouillon, Jumbo) and his partner Marceau (Bouli Lanners, Nobody Has to Know) scour the area for suspects and answers. "The problem is that any one of them could have done it," Yohan observes after potential culprit after potential culprit fields their queries and flouts their engrained misogyny. Was it the bartender boyfriend (Baptiste Perais, The Companions), who saw Clara as nothing more than a fling on the side? The gym buddy (Jules Porier, Simone Veil, a Woman of the Century) that's guffawing seconds after the cops bring up the killing, all while bragging about a friends-wth-benefits setup? A rapper (Nathanaël Beausivoir, Runaway) knew the police would come calling because he wrote a song about setting Clara alight, while an awkward local squatter (Benjamin Blanchy, Spiral) welcomes the attention. By the time that her dalliance with an older man (Pierre Lottin, Les Harkis) with a violent past and convictions for domestic abuse comes up, one of Yohan and Marceau's colleagues is joking about Clara's taste in men. Judgemental views about women don't just fester among the interviewees; how many cases have been hindered by such prejudiced perspectives, The Night of the 12th silently gives viewers cause to wonder. Played as meticulous and passionate by Bouillon, the newly promoted Yohan isn't one of those chauvinist officers. More prone to splashing his feelings around in Lanners' hands, neither is Marceau. The film's central duo is dutiful and dedicated, and their efforts turn The Night of the 12th into a chronicle of devoted and hard-working people doing what they're supposed to — and well, and with care — even if viewers instantly know they won't achieve their desired outcome. In the script by Moll and his regular co-scribe Gilles Marchand (Eastern Boys), both men find the case impacting them in different ways, though, including the fact that their obsessive endeavours don't and won't wrap up the case. Amid chasing leads, making enquiries and sitting down with the men in Clara's life, Yohan lives a spartan existence in his spick-and-span apartment and in his relationships. Marceau is navigating a marriage breakdown, and his emotions run high personally and professionally. Read our full review. MURU Defiant, powerful and passionate at every turn, Muru depicts a relentless police raid on New Zealand's Rūātoki community. Equally alive with anger, the Aotearoan action-thriller and drama shows law enforcement storming into the district to apprehend what's incorrectly deemed a terrorist cell, but is actually activist and artist Tāme Iti — playing himself — and his fellow Tūhoe people. If October 2007 springs to mind while watching, it's meant to. Written and directed by Poi E: The Story of Our Song and Mt Zion filmmaker Tearepa Kahi, this isn't a mere dramatisation of well-known events, however. There's a reason that Muru begins by stamping its purpose on the screen, and its whole rationale for existing: "this film is not a recreation… it is a response". That the feature's name is also taken from a Māori process of redressing transgressions is both telling and fitting as well. Kahi's film is indeed a reaction, a reply, a counter — and a way of processing past wrongs. In a fashion, it's Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion turned into cinema, because a spate of instances across New Zealand over a century-plus has sparked this on-screen answer. Muru's script draws from 15 years back; also from the police shooting of Steven Wallace in Waitara in 2000 before that; and from the arrest of Rua Kēnana in Maungapōhatu even further ago, in 1916. While the movie finds inspiration in the screenplay Toa by Jason Nathan beyond those real-life events, it's always in dialogue with things that truly happened, and not just once, and not only recently. If every action causes an opposite reaction, Muru is Kahi's way of sifting through, rallying against and fighting back after too many occasions where the long arm of the NZ law, and of colonialism, has overreached. Played by Cliff Curtis (Reminiscence) with the brand of command that he's long been known for — and with the unshakeable presence that's served him through everything from The Piano, Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider through to The Dark Horse, Fear the Walking Dead and Doctor Sleep — Police Sergeant 'Taffy' Tawhara sits at the heart of Rūātoki's us-and-them divide. A local cop, he has the nation's laws to uphold, but he's also beholden to the community he hails from. His homecoming is recent, with his father (Tipene Ohlson) ailing and undergoing dialysis. So far, it has also been quiet. On the day that Muru begins, Taffy drives the school bus, takes the Aunties for medical checkups at the local mobile clinic and does what everyone in the valley does in their own manners: watches out for and tries to support 16-year-old Rusty (Poroaki Merritt-McDonald, Savage), the nephew of fellow officer Blake (Ria Te Uira Paki, The Dead Lands), who has the role of Rūātoki's resident wayward teen down pat. When Rusty smashes up shop windows that night, Taffy takes the call, then makes Iti's Camp Rama his second stop. A gathering of locals that champions survival skills and Tūhoe culture, it's designed to foster and reinforce the area's identity, which Taffy thinks Rusty can benefit from — even if that evening marks the sergeant's first attendance himself. But Camp Rama has also been under surveillance by the NZ police's special tactics group, with haughty leader Gallagher (Jay Ryan, The Furnace) and his quick-tempered second-in-command Kimiora (Manu Bennett, The Hobbit) deciding that Iti and his friends are a threat to national security. The highly armed tactical unit descends upon the community the next day, aided behind the scenes by colleagues Maria (Simone Kessell, Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Jarrod (Byron Coll, Nude Tuesday), overseen by an MP (Colin Moy, Guns Akimbo) determined to make a statement, and ignoring Taffy's pleas that their mission is mistaken. Read our full review. MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON When Ana Lily Amirpour made her spectacular feature filmmaking debut in 2014, and made one of the best movies of that year in the process, she did so with a flick with a killer title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. That moniker also summed up the picture's plot perfectly, even if the Persian-language horror western vampire film couldn't be easily categorised. Take note of that seven-word name, and that genre-bending approach. When Amirpour next made wrote and directed The Bad Batch, the 2016 dystopian cannibal romance started with a woman meandering solo, albeit in the Texan desert in daylight, and also heartily embraced a throw-it-all-in philosophy. Now arrives her third stint behind the lens, the hyper-saturated, gleefully sleazy, New Orleans-set blend of superheroes, scams and strippers that is Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon — which, yes, features a female protagonist (Jeon Jong-seo, Burning) strolling unescorted again, back under the cover of darkness this time. Mona initially walks out of a home instead of towards one, however. And Amirpour isn't really repeating herself; rather, she has a penchant for stories about the exploited fighting back. Here, Mona has been stuck in an institution for "mentally insane adolescents" for at least a decade — longer than its receptionist (Rosha Washington, Interview with the Vampire) can remember — and breaks out during the titular lunar event after gruesomely tussling with an uncaring nurse (Lauren Bowles, How to Get Away with Murder). The Big Easy's nocturnal chaos then awaits, and Bourbon Street's specifically, as does instantly intrigued drug dealer Fuzz (Ed Skrein, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) and a determined but decent cop (Craig Robinson, Killing It). With opportunistic pole-dancer Bonnie Belle (Kate Hudson, Music), Mona thinks she finds an ally. With her new pal's kind-hearted latchkey kid Charlie (Evan Whitten, Words on Bathroom Walls), she finds a genuine friend as well. Amirpour's movies sport a kinetic feel that's as natural to them as breathing is to watching audiences. Her love of movement shines through as brightly as moonlight, too — and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon is another glowing example. Directed with style and boldness to spare, this is a garish, on-the-go, howling-at-the-sky kind of southern Gothic horror flick, purposefully and strikingly so. Slinking along with it is inescapable, whether Mona is unleashing her supernatural skills, navigating the French Quarter's hustle-and-bustle nighttime vibe, or wholesomely dreaming of a safer future. First, though, Mona has to break out of the bayou-adjacent facility she's been forced to call home, which happens in a grim, revenge-seeking, attention-grabbing fashion. The aforementioned nurse usually spits insults the straightjacketed, catatonic Korean detainee's way, including while clipping her toenails. Then the inmate snaps back into focus — maybe the moon that's stirred her? — and uses her gifts to wreak havoc. Without touching the nurse, or anyone else she imposes her will upon throughout the movie, Mona can take control of their bodies. There's no flesh-swapping (another spin on Freaky Friday, this isn't); here, via voodoo-esque physical manipulation, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon's main figure waves her hands or nods her head, then whoever's in her gaze does as she directs. That's a skill that comes in handy once she's out on her lonesome, meandering the city barefoot with threats lurking. It's also a talent that Bonnie observes during a fast-food store car park catfight, with Mona saving her bacon. Deciding that those telekinetic capabilities can be put to cunning, canny and profitable use — look out, strip-club patrons — Bonnie is swiftly offering up her companionship, and her home, although the metal-loving Charlie warns their new houseguest to be wary. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on July 7, July 14, July 21 and July 28; August 4, August 11, August 18 and August 25; September 1, September 8, September 15, September 22 and September 29; and October 6. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Thor: Love and Thunder, Compartment No. 6, Sundown, The Gray Man, The Phantom of the Open, The Black Phone, Where the Crawdads Sing, Official Competition, The Forgiven, Full Time, Murder Party, Bullet Train, Nope, The Princess, 6 Festivals, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Crimes of the Future, Bosch & Rockit, Fire of Love, Beast, Blaze, Hit the Road, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Orphan: First Kill, The Quiet Girl, Flux Gourmet, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Moonage Daydream, Ticket to Paradise, Clean, You Won't Be Alone, See How They Run, Smile, On the Count of Three, The Humans, Don't Worry Darling, Amsterdam and The Stranger.
Two super sweet Brisbane fashion labels, Blossom and Fabled and True, have teamed up for a gorgeous night of fashion fun. Featuring the label’s debut fashion parade as well as a night market, this will be a lovely night to bring out the girly girl inside you. Not only will you be the first to view the latest pretties from these two charming fashion labels, you will also have the chance to purchase them straight off the catwalk! That’s right, no late night look book drooling; we’re talking instant gratification. Your $10 ticket will get you entry to the event, drinks, nibbles AND goodie bags filled with something special from lots of lovely Brisbane businesses including Mio Cupcakes, Little Wild Rose, Glochidion Jewellery, Sisterhood Sewing and Drowining in Decadence. There’s even a door prize (which includes a $100 Fabled and True voucher among other things), a prize for the ‘loveliest dressed’ and some reported secreted surprises. Get yourself down to the uber cool Kerbside bar for a night of vintage inspired fashion, oversized flower headbands and cute markets. Make sure you book now, as tickets are limited and running out fast!
The kind of place where 18 degrees is considered freezing, Brisbane is hardly a snowman's natural habitat. But that'll change come summer, when South Bank's Gallery of Modern Art welcomes its own icy figure — and, yes, it'll be made out of real snow. GOMA's latest high-profile acquisition, Snowman is the work of artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, and dates back to 1987. First conceived as part of a site-specific work at a German thermic power plant, the fairly typical-looking snowman is made from three balls of snow, with the top one boasting hand-drawn eyes and a mouth. What's not typical of this well-travelled snowman, however, is its ability to survive full summers. To protect Snowman from Brisbane's subtropical climate, it'll sit encased in a glass and metal industrial freezer — so, while GOMA visitors will be able to see the frosty sculpture, you definitely won't be able to touch it. But, lucky gallery staff members will be given the task of retracing its eyes and smile every few days, with the artwork's enigmatic expression expected to shift subtly over time from happy to quizzical to maybe even diabolical as a result. When Snowman brings its literal chill to Brissie, it'll mark the piece's first visit to the Southern Hemisphere. Understandably, it's usually exhibited in locations where it's much, much older — including a hit season at New York's Museum of Modern Art. [caption id="attachment_743010" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Snowman (1987/2017-19). Copyright: Peter Fischli David Weiss, Zurich 2019. Courtesy Spruth Magers, Matthew Marks New York and Los Angeles, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich.[/caption] The icy work will first go on display on December 7 as part of GOMA's huge summer showcase, which is completely dedicated to the theme of water. As well as marvelling at Snowman — because a snowman in Brisbane is definitely something worth marvelling at — visitors will also be able to walk across a massive indoor riverbed, with Olafur Eliasson's Riverbed installation another of Water's centrepieces. More than 40 works by international and Australian artists will be featured across the entire exhibition. Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow, Curatorial Manager of International Art at GOMA, hopes the sculpture will help inspire visitors to contemplate topical environmental issues. "In the context of Water, Snowman prompts us to think about issues such as global warming and climate change," Barlow said in a statement. While Water runs until April 26, 2020, Snowman will become a permanent feature at GOMA. The piece isn't just on loan to the gallery, but has been acquired thanks to philanthropic support — and, according to The Courier-Mail, may even eventually tour the state in its freezer. Snowman will display at the Gallery of Modern Art, Stanley Place, South Brisbane as part of GOMA's forthcoming Water exhibition, which runs from December 7, 2019 to April 26, 2020. Top image: Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Snowman (1987/2016). Installation view: SFMOMA. Copyright the artists. Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery. Photograph: Mary Ellen Hawkins.
Nothing about 2020 has been normal, and that includes heading to a sporting event. In fact, with COVID-19 lockdowns and mass-gathering bans put in place in mid-March, fans haven't been able to attend either AFL or NRL games in-person in Brisbane all season — but that's changing this weekend. Today, Wednesday, June 17, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that the state's stadiums will once again welcome in public spectators, with up to 2000 allowed at each venue. The news comes after the respective football codes developed COVID-Safe plans allowing fans to watch matches at the grounds while still maintaining social-distancing requirements. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1273039721334104064 If you follow AFL, it's particularly great timing, with the Brisbane Lions playing their next three games at home at The Gabba. A heap of matches are also happening at Metricon Stadium at Carrara across those three weekends as part of a hub arrangement — with not only the Gold Coast Suns based out of the venue, as they always are, but the West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers, Port Adelaide Power and Adelaide Crows all temporarily based on the Goldie for the next few weeks. In the NRL, at least one game is scheduled to take place at Suncorp Stadium each week between now and July 11. They'll feature either the Brisbane Broncos or the Gold Coast Titans — or, on June 27, both. Just who'll be let into the grounds and how tickets will be made available seems to vary per code and perhaps even per team; however the Brisbane Lions have already announced that 1250 seats will be given to members selected at random, 400 will go to corporate partners and sponsors, 100 will be allocated internally, 100 will go to Queensland Cricketer's Club members, 50 will be distributed by the week's opposition team and 100 will be put up for general sale. And, with Premier Palaszczuk's social media announcement specifically referencing sporting codes, no word has been given as yet regarding whether Queensland stadiums will also be able to host 2000 patrons for other events — such as cultural performances and concerts. To find out more about Queensland's easing COVID-19 restrictions, and the status of the coronavirus in the state, visit Queensland's online COVID-19 hub. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. Top image: Brisbane Cricket Ground by Rae Allen for WikiCommons.
Since late in 2019, when Disney launched its own streaming platform, fans of its animated classics, beloved hits and many, many super-popular franchises have been able to binge their way through the Mouse House's back catalogue from the comfort of their couch. Later this year, however, movie buffs will be asked to leave their houses to check out a selection of the company's famed titles — all thanks to the new pop-up Disney+ Drive-In that's coming to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Yes, a streaming service is running a drive-in. Or, to put it another way, a product designed to get everyone watching on small screens at home is now endeavouring to lure viewers out to watch its flicks on a big screen from their cars. That's a very 2020 situation, with Disney+ teaming up with Openair Cinemas to make it happen. The drive-in will kick off in Brisbane, at Northshore Hamilton — in the event space next to the Brisbane Cruise Terminal, to be specific — on Thursday, September 17, screening films every night (except Tuesdays) until Sunday, October 18. Brisbanites with a long memory might remember that the stretch along the river has been used as a drive-in before, with the Brisbane International Film Festival doing so back in 2011 and Eat Street Northshore also screening movies. As for what'll be screening, the Disney+ Drive-In is theming its various evenings, with double features on offer on most nights. That means on 'Star Wars Wednesday' you'll catch The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker and Rogue One; and on 'Throwback Thursday' there'll be a focus on nostalgic movies like 10 Things I Hate About You, Mrs Doubtfire, Mighty Ducks and Edward Scissorhands. Then there's 'Disney Super Fan Friday', serving up both live-action and animated versions of Aladdin, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast; and 'Sing Along Saturday', where Moana, The Greatest Showman, The Little Mermaid and both Frozen films will screen. Next comes 'Pixar Sunday', including everything from Cars and Ratatouille to Inside Out and Wall-E — and, finally, 'Marvel Monday' will feature the likes of Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok and Captain Marvel. The pop-up will then head to Sydney from Thursday, October 22–Sunday, November 15, with both its program and its location yet to be revealed. Lastly, it'll hit up Melbourne, too, with both dates and the venue still under wraps. Folks interested in either season can sign up for updates via the drive-in's website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue80QwXMRHg Popcorn, snacks and drinks will be available onsite — or you can bring your own. It's strictly a no-alcohol affair, though. And, ticket-wise, you'll be paying per car; however, prices vary depending on a number of factors. For a single film, you'll pay $42.53 if there's one or two people in your car, and $52.75 if there is three or more. For a double feature, that changes to $73.74 and $84.51. Disney+ Drive-In presented by Openair Cinemas kicks off in Brisbane, at Northshore Hamilton, on Thursday, September 17 — with its season running until Sunday, October 18. It'll then head to Sydney, at a yet-to-be-disclosed location, from Thursday, October 22–Sunday, November 15. Lastly, it'll hit up Melbourne, with both dates and the venue still under wraps.
The couple at the centre of relationship dramedy Before Midnight is one we know oddly well, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy). In a typically Gen X act of slacker romanticism, they spent one night walking and talking around Vienna in 1995's Before Sunrise and were finally reunited for a further afternoon in Paris in 2004's Before Sunset. In the nine years since, it turns out they've stuck with each other, but the insouciance of those early encounters has gone now they're into their early forties. "When was the last time we just walked around bullshitting?" Jesse says in one beautifully self-aware moment, as they rediscover the pastime on holiday in Greece. With this series of films, dialogue is everything. In Before Midnight, it sparkles, dances and defies the bounds we expect of film. All three instalments are the product of a unique collaborative partnership between director Richard Linklater, Hawke and Delpy; from the start the actors have written parts of their own selves into the characters, and the possibility for honest exploration seems to have deepened with the passing of time. Before Midnight is in cinemas on Thursday, July 18, and thanks to Hopscotch Films, we have ten double in-season passes to give away to. To be in the running, sign up to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. Read our full review of Before Midnight here.
A Brisbane favourite for waterside eats, Pony Dining at Eagle Street Pier has just introduced a new range of five lunchtime burgers with a gourmet twist. Think soft shell crab with wasabi aioli, pickled radish and betel leaves; braised wagyu brisket with green mango, grilled pineapple, coriander and sticky chilli barbecue sauce and the gourmet David Blackmore’s Wagyu Cheeseburger. We took the chance on Sunday to head over, soak up panoramic views of the Story Bridge and sink our teeth into a few buns – and boy, do Pony have some contenders for best burger. The cheeseburger is possibly the best you’ll ever eat – the patty still slightly pink in the centre, balanced with cheddar, mustard and pickles. Heaven. The soft shell crab works well with the wasabi mayonnaise, but is perhaps a little delicate in flavour for the bun. But best of all, the wagyu brisket. A fresh and Asian-influenced feast – the beef is tender, perfectly soft and accompanies the grilled pineapple, green mango, coriander and sticky chilli as though they were soul mates. General manager Trent Farrell said the Pony on a Bun range was designed to entice office workers from their cubicles and are priced lower than other options, without skimping on quality. The burgers available noon-3pm, starts at $16.50 and includes french fries. Read more about Pony Dining in our full review.
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.
For the first time since it launched in 2000, World Pride is heading to the Southern Hemisphere. And it's not just heading anywhere — the world's largest LGBTQI+ celebration is coming to Sydney. Taking over the city's streets, bars, clubs, galleries and theatres between February and March 2023, the World Pride event will coincide with the 45th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The decision to host the international pride celebration in Sydney was announced overnight with members of InterPride — the organisers of World Pride — voting between Sydney, Montreal (Canada) and Houston (Texas). The Aussie state capital came out on top with a whopping 60 percent of the votes. Of the host city, World Pride Committee Chair Robyn Kennedy said, "InterPride has recognised how far Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has come since 1978, and now the world will march with us down Oxford Street to celebrate our community and support our region." Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018 and this year hosted over 100 parties, shows, and late-night shindigs for the annual event. The State Government usually relaxes the lockout laws in the surrounding areas for the local Mardi Gras, but in 2023 they could be gone altogether in the CBD and on Oxford Street. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced plans to repeal the lockout laws in those areas by the end 2019 — they will, however, remain in place in Kings Cross for now. We'll keep our fingers crossed that they'll be wound back by 2023 there, too. https://www.instagram.com/p/B31TjkcD0qZ/?igshid=x6c9d4q0ay1w As the Sydney World Pride will be also be the first in the Asia Pacific, it's expected that the celebration will also have a focus on communities and cultures from across the region. In Sydney's bid for the event, organisers said: "it's an opportunity to focus the world's attention on LGBTQI rights, communities and culture in our Asia-Pacific Region. Many of our closest neighbouring countries do not have the same level of equality and human rights as we do." While Australia finally passed a marriage equality bill in late 2017, the same rights do not exist in many countries in the surrounding region — in fact, same-sex relations are still illegal in some Asia-Pacific countries. The 2023 World Pride will help raise awareness about these issues and help fight for equality for LGBTQI+ people across the region. For the Sydney event, expect, also, the biggest, most fabulous celebration of pride the city has ever seen, with parades, parties, and more to take over the city. It's expected 25–40 percent more than the usual 1.2 million Mardi Gras visitors will be heading to Sydney for the 2023 event — so it's going to be big, loud and colourful. World Pride 2023 will take place across Sydney in February and March. Top image: Jeffrey Feng
They're sticky, cinnamon scrolls, drenched in glaze and famous all across the USA. And at the end of last year, they finally became available Down Under when Seattle-born chain Cinnabon opened its first Australian store in Brisbane. Now, a second store is set to open next Friday, February 14. That store — sorry everyone else — is also in Brisbane. While the first one is located in Toombul Shopping Centre, this one will be on the other side of the city inside Westfield Garden City. So both north and south Brisbane will be in close proximity to the sticky baked goods. When it opens next week, Brisbanites will be able to grab a scroll from 8am seven days a week — but be prepared to queue. The Toombul store still regularly has a lengthy line, even two months after opening. Just like the Toombul store, this one will sling a trio of Cinnabon cult classics, including the classic cream cheese cinnamon roll, the popular chocolate-drizzled Chocobon and very extra Caramel Pecanbon. They're available in both mini and large sizes, along with packs featuring either four or nine 'minibons'. There's coffee and lots of sugary drinks to pair with your snacks, too, including a cinnamon bun frappe. [caption id="attachment_755764" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Cinnabon Toombul[/caption] If you're yet to get acquainted with the decadent dessert creations, prepare yourself for aromatic, cinnamon-spiked dough made to a long-held recipe, decked out with stacks of signature cream cheese frosting and loaded with extras. They're notoriously tough to replicate. The Australian launch was first announced in January 2019, when family-run Queensland company Bansal Foods scored the Aussie rights to Cinnabon. Cinnabon has been going strong in America since 1985, so it has already picked up plenty of Aussie fans along the way. But this is the first time that we're able to get our hands on those sticky, cinnamon-infused baked goods on home soil. And if you're not in Brisbane, you might just need to be patient. Since opening in December, Cinnabon has run multiple pop-ups around Brisbane and — according to Bansal Foods Group Director Gaurav Bansal — the group is "exploring opportunities to have more pop-ups around the country". In a statement, he also 'promised' to open more permanent bakeries in other cities soon. Cinnabon will open at 8am on Friday, February 14 on level two of Westfield Garden City, Kessels Road, Upper Mount Gravatt.
Professional boxers aren’t typically renowned for their eloquence. Pre-fight press conferences tend to centre around the two combatants standing silently and mashing their foreheads together, while the post-fight ones rarely escalate beyond monosyllabic grunts and the flaunting of novelty-sized belts. Maybe it’s the boxers' traditionally low socio-economic backgrounds at play, maybe it’s the almost guaranteed head trauma, or perhaps they’re simply still trying to figure out why a square arena is called a ‘ring’ and why anybody thought ‘light heavyweight’ wouldn’t sound ridiculous as a fighting category. In Southpaw, Jake Gyllenhaal plays one such professional ‘boxymoron', and he takes the inarticulacy to the extreme — presenting his character Billy Hope as a man who drools in the place of dialogue. It’s a bold choice for the accomplished actor, whose commitment to both it and the role’s physicality can't be overstated. One glance at the posters for Southpaw is enough to see that Gyllenhaal got jacked for this film, with muscles so enormous they should almost receive separate billing. He looks like a boxer, moves like a boxer and absolutely sounds like a boxer, meaning — in Southpaw — we totally believe him as a boxer. It’s a phenomenal performance, and without it the movie would be a complete write-off. Director Antoine Fuqua is fast establishing himself as the go-to action director in Hollywood, much like John Woo was in the '90s. With recent offerings including Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer, he’s continued to deliver slick, high-octane pictures without ever quite managing to repeat the success of his breakthrough film Training Day. The problem isn’t with the direction so much as the scripts, whose stories and dialogue languish in a mire of cliches. Southpaw is another example of this, failing to offer anything new despite coming tantalisingly close at its preface. The film’s early scenes touch upon compelling themes of administrative oversight, bureaucratic corruption, capricious management and the threat of ‘punch drunkenness’ courtesy of Hope’s particular fighting style in which he shirks defence and absorbs countless blows from his opponent until it makes him angry enough to retaliate. All of this largely falls by the wayside, however, as soon as family tragedy strikes and Hope finds himself bankrupt and alone. Redemption, then, becomes the order of the day, but the problem is we neither feel particular involved in it nor satisfied when it inevitably comes. This isn’t so much a tale of personal growth as it is one of reinstitution, where the only thing Hope really learns by the end is how not to get punched. Eminem was originally slated to play Gyllenhaal's role, but in his absence the roles of ‘singers trying to act’ were taken up by 50 Cent and Rita Ora, both delivering adequate performances as line delivery systems. Rachel McAdams pops in as a caricature of a boxer’s WAG and Oona Laurence does a decent job as Hope’s young daughter despite often unspeakably bad lines to work with. The only real other performance of note is from Forest Whitaker as Hope’s eventual trainer, whose brief screen time nonetheless reminds us why he’s one of the most gifted actors of his generation. He seems to find things in scripts that not even the writer could see, and injects some much needed humanity into Southpaw’s later stages, when neither the boxing nor the family troubles prove capable of sustaining the drama.
Leave a message for your family or roommate without having to scramble for a pen on your way out the door. Luc van Hoeckel's 'Record me' allows you to leave a personalised voice message as opposed to a haphazardly scribbled note. 'Record me' is wall-mountable and can save up to 12 messages at a time. To use, simply turn the dial to a free 'station', press the button, record your message, and press it once more. Messages may be deleted by holding down the same button. Leaving voice messages gives you the chance to be both fun and informative, allowing a quick 'I love you' to a significant other, or a reminder to your roommate get dinner started. 'Record me' ensures that you never have to ask "Did you get my note?" again. [via PSFK]
Maybe you're always on the hunt for new experiences. Perhaps you can't go past a meal with a view. You could be keen to indulge your adrenaline-junkie side any way that you can. Or, you just might want to see Brisbane from a different perspective. All of the above is on the menu at Vertigo, as is dinner. Sure, a great bite to eat should satisfy your tastebuds and your stomach; however, this one will also get your blood pumping and pulse racing. Initially announced in August and now serving sky-high diners Thursday–Sunday weekly, Vertigo is a brand-new addition to the River City's iconic Brisbane Powerhouse. The twist: it isn't just located on top of the riverside New Farm venue, but hangs off of the site's industrial facade. Forget just living on the edge — this is dining on the edge, and literally. Obviously, the views are spectacular. Given that patrons climb out to their seats while donning a safety harness, then eat four stories (and 17 metres) up, so are the thrills. An Australian-first vertical dining experience, Vertigo's levelled-up dinners welcome in tables of two to peer out over Brisbane. It comes with a big caveat, however, with the restaurant at the mercy of the weather. That'll certainly play a factor over Brissie's stormy summers, but the night's sitting will still go ahead if it's only lightly raining. Once you're seated, Brisbane Powerhouse's Bar Alto downstairs provides Vertigo's food across its eight tables — and each reservation's two-hour sitting — with the two-course menu featuring local ingredients to go with what's certain to become a local attraction. Unsurprisingly, a visit here doesn't come cheap, costing $250 per person. Another caveat: you can't head up if you've been drinking, with everyone breathalysed first and required to return a 0.00-percent blood alcohol reading. That said, while you need to be sober to climb over the edge, a matched glass of wine will be served with dinner. You'll also get a post-descent champagne, beer or soft drink. If you're not fond of heights, this won't be for you. But if you're fine with towering not just atop but over the side of an old power station-turned-arts precinct that dates back to the 1920s — whether you're a Brisbane local or a tourist — you'll be in for quite the unique experience. To make the evening even more dramatic, diners can also choose to come back to earth post-meal via dropline down the facade. Or, if that's too much adventure for you — especially after eating — you can just head back to the ground through the venue. If star chef Luke Mangan achieves his dream of setting up a restaurant on the Story Bridge, too, Brisbane might need to rename itself the Sky-High City. "Vertigo is unlike anything else in the world, it is an unexpected combination of adventure tourism and fine-dining on a heritage site," said Brisbane Powerhouse CEO/Artistic Director Kate Gould when the restaurant was first announced. "Stepping off the roof of Brisbane Powerhouse to take a seat suspended at your table, four stories above the ground, will be the ultimate thrill. Experience silver service dining — albeit one with unbreakable crockery and cutlery attached to the table!" "We are creating a uniquely Brisbane dining experience, at height. You will be on the edge of your seat in the open air before descending via an unforgettable exit," added Riverlife creator and co-founder John Sharpe, with the outdoor tour operator partnering with Powerhouse on the venture. "Vertigo will inspire fear but with the knowledge that safety is the priority of our experienced team of adventure tourism guides." Find Vertigo at Brisbane Powerhouse, 119 Lamington Street, New Farm, Brisbane, operating from 5pm Thursday–Sunday — head to the venue's website for further details and bookings. Images: Markus Ravik.
Anna Kendrick. Blake Lively. Paul Feig. A twisty thriller novel as source material. Combined, those four key ingredients helped make 2018's A Simple Favour a hit, a delight, and a deliciously engaging and entertaining mystery. It's no wonder that audiences have been keen on a sequel for years — and come May 2025, those dreams are becoming a straight-to-streaming reality. Kendrick (Woman of the Hour) is back as Stephanie Smothers. So is Lively (It Ends with Us) as Emily Nelson — and as the just-dropped first teaser trailer for Another Simple Favour shows, nothing is straightforward between the pair again. As the name of the movie also makes plain, Emily has something else to ask of Stephanie. Out of prison and about to get married to a wealthy businessman, the former crashes the latter's book reading to task her with being her maid of honour. But is this just a quest for revenge? Using the Italian island of Capri as a backdrop, Another Simple Favour boasts Feig (Jackpot!) back behind the lens, too — and also Andrew Rannells (Girls5eva), Bashir Salahuddin (How to Die Alone) and Henry Golding (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) back among the cast. Equally part of this big return: more secrets, as little is ever as it seems with Stephanie's glamorous and mysterious friend. While the first film released in cinemas, this seven-years-later sequel is heading to Prime Video, hitting streaming queues on Thursday, May 1, 2025. It does have a date with the silver screen first, however – but only at this year's SXSW in Austin, where it's the opening-night movie at the event's Film and TV Festival. If you missed the initial picture — which was adapted from Darcey Bell's 2017 novel of the same name — it followed a widowed mum who is also a vlogger and becomes friends with a fashion executive. Then Emily asks Stephanie to do her a simple favour, changing everything. Screenwriter Jessica Sharzer (Nine Perfect Strangers), who wrote the first film, is also among Another Simple Favour's returnees — this time penning the follow-up's script with Laeta Kalogridis (Altered Carbon). Check out the first teaser trailer for Another Simple Favour below: Another Simple Favour will stream via Prime Video from Thursday, May 1, 2025.
Take one secret Sydney location and one celebrated Perrier mixologist, and what do you have? Concrete Playground’s first covert cocktail, that’s what, brought to you from one of Sydney’s best kept hideaways: Wendy’s Secret Garden. Tomas Vikario is a beverage innovation manager and top mixologist from Croatia. He divides his time between New Zealand and Australia, working on new cocktail ideas for brands like Perrier. “The source was discovered a long time ago by the Romans,” Tomas tells us, “and today, it’s an iconic brand found in many of the world’s best bars and restaurants. Perrier, is great for mixology, because of the long-lasting bubbles. It’s 100% natural, from volcanic soil.” The mixologist, who is a little like the Adriano Zumbo of cocktail making, has been creating innovative drinks for 18 years in Europe and Australasia. He loves to travel, and says that he likes to take inspiration from the places he visits and convert the aromas and flavours from a place into a drink. For the first in a series of new cocktail recipes for Concrete Playground, Tomas is making a ‘Perrier Tea Break’ in the luscious surround of Wendy’s Secret Garden, Lavender Bay (here's a map). A formerly derelict space, owned by NSW Rail Corp, the public space was restored by Australian artist Wendy Whiteley, widow and former muse of the Archibald Prize-winning painter Brett Whiteley. Wendy removed old train carriages and dumped waste, creating a truly hidden spot that anyone can visit, at any time. After heading down the secluded path into the gardens, Tomas found a spot in the sun, overlooking Sydney Harbour, to show us how to make a ‘Perrier Tea Break’. “It’s like a garden,” he says, “oranges, apples and lemon... It’s easy to make and it’s romantic. I can imagine two people escaping to this garden, hiding away, and enjoying something like this. It’s very refreshing; perfect for a hot day.” In his picnic basket: 1 orange1 lemonOrange blossom water, or essential orange oil330ml bottle of Perrier water (chilled)Apple flavoured vodka (optional) Step 1 First, peel approximately 4cm of the zest of an orange. Using a knife, score the zest length-ways, then twist and squeeze over a glass or cup to release the fruit’s oils and aroma. (To look like a true pro, swirl the zest along the rim of the glass before popping it in the bottom of the cup). Step 2 Peel and score the zest of a lemon. Twist and squeeze the lemon zest, as with the orange in step one, to release the fruit’s oils and aroma. Place the lemon zest in a teapot or glass container. Step 3 Add two drops of orange blossom water, or essential orange oil, in to the teapot. If you don't have a nifty measuring pipette like Tomas, one or two teaspoons will work just as well. Step 4 Add one 330ml bottle of Perrier water and stir. For the best results, ensure the Perrier is chilled. (Perfect! No need to pack the ice). Step 5 (optional) To take this refreshing mocktail to a cocktail, simply add 60ml of flavoured vodka. Tomas uses Smirnoff’s apple vodka to create a his Perrier Tea Break, but he also recommends Belvedere orange or lemon flavoured vodkas. Enjoy! Finally, kick back and enjoy this refreshing, clean and fruity drink with sweet treats and sunshine. A glorious garden picnic!
The Brisbane International Film Festival is showcasing dozens upon dozens of amazing films from around the world, so it is understandable if you find the process of selecting what to watch a little bit daunting. Fear not! We have made it easier for you with a selection of films that we think are some of the must-sees of the festival, encompassing Hollywood fare, international offerings, documentaries and obscure arthouse gems. There's lots more to see, so keep in mind that BIFF sells tickets in groups of six, twelve and twenty-five so, you know, you can see everything if you want to. Only Lovers Left Alive Jim Jarmusch is a cinematic maverick. Known for gritty, indie hits like Dead Man and Ghost Dog, Jarmusch is great at conveying desperation and humour with his unconventional style, and Only Lovers Left Alive looks to continue that trend. This film stars Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska. Don Jon Hollywood heartthrob, Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes his writing and directorial debut with Don Jon, a tale about a man’s struggles with an internet porn addiction and its affects on his sex and love life. This is a comedy with a bit of an unexpected edge; it also features fellow good-looker Scarlett Johansson. Big Sur Kerouac fans will get a kick out of this film, which depicts the writer in a successful yet stressful stage of his career. Director Michael Polish has created a film that manages to accurately portray the acclaimed writer, his thoughts on life and his internal struggles. Filth Continuing the trend of gritty films on show this year is Filth, a surreal and sleaze-drenched tale of a Scottish detective whose morals lie on the wrong side of the law. In a world of sex, drugs and crime, Filth is a thriller that is as mind-bending as it is confronting. It stars James McAvoy. Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer The world took notice when the Russian punk band, Pussy Riot, was detained for an allegedly illegal protest. The world declared the imprisonment of members of the band a criminal offense in itself. This documentary delves into the trial of Pussy Riot and their transformation into symbols of youth resistance and punk idols. Mistaken for Strangers If you have heard the brooding, beautiful music from The National, then you might be interested in this fly-on-the-wall look at the inner workings of the band on tour. Filmed by Tom Berninger (brother to The National’s lead singer, Matt), Mistaken for Strangers is a funny and touching look at one of the biggest bands on the planet. Blue Is the Warmest Colour You may have heard about this Palme d’Or winning film due to its sexual content, but Blue Is the Warmest Colour is being hailed as a passionate tale of love between two young women. Despite the sex, this could be one of the best films at BIFF, but just to be safe, maybe don’t go and see it with your parents. The Grandmaster As one of many international films on display at BIFF, The Grandmaster is a brilliant example of filmmaking from another culture. The Grandmaster is about Ip Man (the guy who trained Bruce Lee!) and blends martial arts with substance as the film depicts the political and cultural landscape of Ip’s youth. This film is directed by renowned auteur Wong Kar-wai. The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith As part of BIFF’s retrospective on the work of Fred Schepisi, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith is a classic piece of Australian cinema based on the novel by Thomas Keneally. This was the first piece of Australian cinema to ever premiere at Cannes, so not only is it an important story, the film itself is also a major landmark in Australian cinematic history. 12 Years a Slave 12 Years A Slave is the closing night film of BIFF this year, and they couldn’t have made a better choice. This film is generating a lot of Oscar buzz thanks to the inspired performances by its lead actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor and its visionary director, Steve McQueen. This movie is being hailed as the most important films about slavery made to date — it could also be one of the best films of the decade. The Brisbane International Film Festival is on from November 11-24, 2013. To see the full program and book tickets, visit the festival website.
Pull out that old Discman, break out the cargo pants and start practising your smoothest 90s and early 00s dance moves — the pop tour of your wildest teenage dreams is hitting Aussie shores this summer and it's got more stars than a TV Hits sticker collection. Next February, the So Pop festival is set to deliver a huge serve of nostalgia to venues across the country, pulling together a juicy lineup of old-school icons, headlined by none other than Vengaboys — celebrating their 25th anniversary, too. Stages in Auckland, Cairns, Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth and will be transported back to the 90s and 00s for one glorious night each, playing host to the pop-drenched soundtrack of your youth. Heading up the show are Vengaboys, with Cowboy Donny, Captain Kim, PartyGirl D'Nice and SailorBoy Robin bringing their party-starting smash hits like 'Boom Boom Boom Boom!!' and 'We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)' from the Netherlands — and yes, you now have both tunes stuck in your head from reading this. They'll be joined by Danish artist and producer Whigfield, who'll break out 'Sexy Eyes'; the UK's N-Trance, which means hearing 'Set You Free', 'Stayin' Alive', 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy' and 'Forever'; and Reel 2 Real teaming up with The Mad Stuntman, which is where 'I Like To Move It' and 'Go On Move' come in. Dutch trance/pop outfit Alice DJ is also on the lineup in Australia only, so Aussies can get ready to hear 'Back in My Life', 'Will I Ever' and 'Better Off Alone'. And in both Australia and New Zealand, Nick Skitz is on DJing duties — after releasing Skitmix 59 (DJ Mix) in 2021. SO POP 2023 LINEUP: Vengaboys Whigfield Alice DJ (not performing in Auckland) N-Trance Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman Nick Skitz SO POP 2023 DATES: Saturday, February 4 — Spark Arena, Auckland Wednesday, February 8 — Gilligan's, Cairns Thursday, February 9 — The Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Saturday, February 11 — Night Quarter, Sunshine Coast Sunday, February 12 — Forum Melbourne, Melbourne Thursday, February 16 — Big Top, Sydney Saturday, February 18 — Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide Sunday, February 19 — Metro City, Perth So Pop 2023 tours Australia and New Zealand in February 2023. Frontier Member pre-sale tickets are up for grabs for 24 hours from 12pm local time on Monday, October 31, while the rest are on sale from 12pm local time on Wednesday, November 2.
When a trend spreads its wings everywhere from Coles to KFC — and above Australian beaches, too — you mightn't expect it to zip into theatres as well. But humanity's love of drones just can't be stopped, whether they're helping shoot sky-high aerial footage for cinema and television, taking to the heavens to put on a dazzling light show or, at Australasian Dance Collective's new world-premiering production Lucie in the Sky, providing almost half the cast for a new choreographed stage show. Performing at Brisbane's Queensland Performing Arts Centre, in the South Bank venue's Playhouse, this production pairs six dancers with five drones, with the latter mimicking the former's movements. The robotic part of the piece definitely isn't just about hovering around. The drones are named, given personalities and — in a big change to the usual drone shows — treated like individual players rather than a swarm. From Friday, May 5–Saturday, May 13, audiences will meet the friendly Lucie, the show's namesake with the Beatles-inspired moniker; M, the leader of the group; jester Skip; Rue, the wise drone; and the rebellious Red. As well as their own vibe, which could be anything from joyful to melancholic, each has their own light colour to match. The flesh-and-blood component of the show sees the five drones create relationships with ADC's dancers, all in a performance that's about exactly what you think it is: how people interact with technology, what that says about both us and the gadgets that we use in our lives, and also what it means to be human. Images: David Kelly.
Infographics. So hot right now. It seems that facts don't count any more unless they're dressed up in just the right colour and an on-trend font. Having taken over mainstream media, the infographic is now coming after you. Vizualize.Me is a yet-to-be-launched site that will take your LinkedIn profile and turn it into an infographic. Given the dull and drab traditions of CV writing, something with a judicious use of colour and, of course, an appropriate font, could set your CV apart and help you land that job. Also, if you're a graphics or font nerd, no doubt it will allow for many more hours of CV writing procrastination as you try and get it looking just so. The site isn't infographicising anything yet — the image above is a prototype — but you can register for the invite list and hopefully score one of the free premium accounts being given out to the first 10,000 sign ups. [via PSFK]
If you've caught up with some of the highest-profile new movies in recent months, you might have noticed that looking up has been a big part of a few films. Top Gun: Maverick demanded it, while Don't Look Up grappled with the very idea of peering upwards — and the sky plays a significant role in fresh release Nope, too. Tonight, on the evening of Thursday, August 11 Down Under, looking up should be on your agenda as well. Stare at the heavens with your own two eyes and you'll see a stunning sight — and it'll also be visible tomorrow morning, on Friday, August 12, too. Another supermoon is upon us, and will officially be at its peak at 11.35 AEST on Friday — but if you train your peepers towards the sky this evening, you'll still be in for a glowing show. While super full moons aren't particularly rare — several usually happen each year, and one occurred just last month — there is a good reason to peer upwards this time around. If you're wondering why, we've run through the details below. WHAT IS IT? If you're more familiar with The Mighty Boosh's take on the moon than actual lunar terms, here's what you need to know. As we all learned back in November 2016, a supermoon is a new moon or full moon that occurs when the moon reaches the closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, making it particularly bright. They're not all that uncommon — and because August's 2022's supermoon is a full moon (and not a new moon), it's called a super full moon. It's also a sturgeon moon, too, which doesn't refer to its shape or any other physical characteristics, but to the time of year. In the northern hemisphere, August is around the time that sturgeon fish start to show up in big numbers in North America's lakes. Of course, that doesn't apply in the southern hemisphere, but the name still sticks. Also, this supermoon happens to the last one of 2022. WHEN CAN I SEE IT? As mentioned above, the sturgeon supermoon will officially be at its peak at 11.35am AEST tomorrow, Friday, August 12, Down Under — but thankfully it will be visible from Thursday night Australia and New Zealand time. The moon does usually appear full for a few days each month, so if you already thought that the night sky looked a little brighter this week, that's why. Still yet to catch a glimpse? You'll want to peek outside when it gets dark to feast your eyes on a luminous lunar sight. Head over to timeanddate.com for the relevant moonrise and moonset times for your area, with the moon rising at 4.22pm AEST on Thursday, August 11. WHERE CAN I SEE IT? You can take a gander from your backyard or balcony, but the standard advice regarding looking into the night sky always applies — so city-dwellers will want to get as far away from light pollution as possible to get the absolute best view. Weather-wise, the Bureau of Meteorology advises that Sydney and Perth will be cloudy, Melbourne is in for a few showers, and the wet will increase in Adelaide. In Brisbane, though, clear skies await. Over in NZ, Conditions are fine in Auckland, while Wellington can expect periods of rain. Fancy checking it out online? The Virtual Telescope Project is set to stream the view from Rome at 3pm on Friday, August 12, too. Top image: NASA/Joel Kowsky.
The past couple of years have seen Aussies moving out of the cities in droves. The pandemic has undeniably played a part, particularly thanks to the flexibility for some that comes with working from home. It has also caused a lot of us to start re-evaluating our lifestyles, and it now seems everyone is considering a seachange — or a treechange. House prices in our major cities — especially Sydney and Melbourne — are skyrocketing, making big city living less appealing (and less achievable) for anyone trying to take a step onto the property ladder. And no, smashed avo is not to blame. Sure, we love the metropolitan buzz, the convenience of public transport and the proximity to our mates. But, if you're considering moving, indulge us. We've teamed up with Great Southern Bank to round up ten underrated gems that offer affordable house and unit prices (comparatively, anyway). Plus, these booming regional towns offer lifestyle shifts that won't make you feel like you've given your life up. Considering buying a place in one of these up-and-coming towns? Great Southern Bank has a range of clever tools to help you hit your savings goals faster — like The Vault which lets you hide your house deposit funds from sight, so you can't easily dip into them. If you're already there and are now at the serious point — the getting a home loan part — then check out Great Southern Bank's home loan options, which offer many ways to help manage your loan including unlimited fee-free extra repayments on all variable loans, free redraw to access any additional repayments and flexible repayment options to suit your budget. [caption id="attachment_831263" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Taste Orange[/caption] ORANGE, NEW SOUTH WALES When you think of Orange, you think wine. And, yes, that's a good enough reason to move there. But there's more to this picturesque town of 40,000-plus people than the nectar of the grapes. For one, Orange has a burgeoning food scene with a thriving community of growers, producers and restaurateurs. You can grab a coffee from the local roastery, sit down to lunch at one of the many restaurants and cafes, do your weekly shop at an artisanal grocer and call into a cellar door on your way home all in one day. There are also historic surrounding villages, countless beautiful walking tracks and a growing population of artists and musicians now calling Orange home. Less than a four-hour drive from Sydney, Orange is the ideal location for those seeking the sweet spot between rural idyll and having plenty to do — and eat. Median house price: $611,000 Median unit price: $391,250 [caption id="attachment_831340" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria/ Robert Blackburn[/caption] WARRNAMBOOL, VICTORIA Located at the western end of the Great Ocean Road, Warrnambool has long been known for its coastal views, whale watching tours and shipwrecks. As a place to call home, it's ideally positioned for day trips to tourist destinations like Port Fairy and the Twelve Apostles, but this family-friendly locale is more than just a base from which to explore. Warrnambool has a growing street art scene and an incredible laneway art trail, as well as tons of hikes, playgrounds, galleries and museums. And, of course, it's coastal, so surfers and beach bums will feel right at home. The local council has a grand plan to forge economic links with China, so get in now before Warrnambool becomes even more popular (and pricier). Median house price: $505,000 Median unit price: $375,000 [caption id="attachment_831266" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism & Events Queensland[/caption] CAIRNS, QUEENSLAND You'll most likely know it as a base for visits to the Great Barrier Reef, but Cairns has more going for it than just yacht cruises and coral (although these are great perks). The Tropical North Queensland city combines laidback everyday living with outdoor fun galore, plus top-notch restaurants and craft breweries for catch-ups with mates. You're only a short hop to the paradise that is Fitzroy Island, and you've got numerous adventures close by, such as swimming holes and stunning beaches. Thanks to its affordable living, crystal-clear waters, surrounding rainforest and tropical climate, Cairns will make every day feel like a holiday should you decide to live here. Median house price: $522,500 Median unit price: $260,000 [caption id="attachment_677921" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] WOY WOY, NEW SOUTH WALES Sydneysiders will already know the appeal of the Central Coast for day trips and convenient weekends away. But, following months of COVID-enforced working from home, the area has seen an influx of people move here permanently. While the house prices have certainly gone up, the suburb of Woy Woy is still a whole lot cheaper than inner Sydney. It's also just a bit over a one-hour train ride (or drive) away from the bustling CBD, so you can easily commute. It's got a more laidback way of life than the Harbour City, but still has plenty going for it — enough so that you won't miss nights out or a quality cup of coffee. Plus, you've got Brisbane Waters and Bouddi National Parks on your doorstep, as well as pristine beaches and easy access to neighbouring towns. Median house price: $900,000 Median unit price: $620,000 [caption id="attachment_831323" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Charles Hill via Tourism Tasmania[/caption] LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA Tasmania's second-most-populous city, Lonnie is a real up-and-comer. Its location in the Tamar Valley means there's a wealth of incredible produce, and this is reflected in the city's foodie scene. Top eateries include Italian aperitivo bar and restaurant Geronimo and the award-winning Stillwater, which is housed in an old flour mill perched right on the water. There are also ample pubs, bars, breweries, distilleries and wineries to boot. More into nature? Almost half of Tasmania is national parkland, meaning the Apple Isle has some of the cleanest air in the world. So, it's no wonder Launceston residents take advantage of an outdoor lifestyle. Launceston is more affordable than Hobart but has a growing economy and plenty else to woo you, including decent transport links (there's even an airport). Median house price: $665,000 Median unit price: $495,000 [caption id="attachment_831273" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria / Robert Blackburn[/caption] BALLARAT, VICTORIA If you want the culture, art and food of Melbourne without the hustle and bustle (and for a lower price), then Ballarat could be just the ticket. The famous gold rush town is steeped in history and offers an ideal mix of galleries, restaurants and outdoor experiences, with beautiful bushwalking opportunities readily accessible. Small enough to feel like a community but large enough to have all the amenities you need, Ballarat also has some more obscure places such as Kryal Castle, a medieval theme park where you can watch re-enactments of knights jousting alongside court jester shows and a potion-making school. Yep, Ballarat practically has it all. Median house price: $691,000 Median unit price: $310,000 [caption id="attachment_831356" align="alignnone" width="1920"] RemyBrand195[/caption] PORT MACQUARIE, NEW SOUTH WALES If you're looking for an east coast town on the rise, then consider Port Macquarie. Long derided for its reputation as a haven for retirees, its welcoming climate and numerous beaches have attracted a younger demographic in recent years. For the outdoorsy people, there's surrounding hinterland and the ocean as your playground. For those still wanting a bit of buzz, Port — as it's known locally — boasts nightlife, a few breweries, a solid dining offering and plenty of family-friendly activities. It's also home to more esoteric attractions, such as beach camel rides, the world's first koala hospital and an offshore inflatable water obstacle course. While it's a fair way from Sydney, it's less than three hours north of Newcastle, and comparable as a more chilled version of the popular city. Median house price: $775,000 Median unit price: $515,000 [caption id="attachment_831260" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] CALOUNDRA, QUEENSLAND It may only have a population just over 50,000, but Caloundra's location in the Sunshine Coast region means it's an ideal place to lay down some roots — or even buy your first investment property. Less than 100 kilometres from Brisbane, the area is a beach lover's mecca. It was primarily known as a place for retirees before an influx of youngsters wised up and wanted in on the lifestyle. In Caloundra, you get the benefit of living a dreamy beach lifestyle without the eye-watering cost you'd find in other stretches along the coast. Median house price: $745,000 Median unit price: $599,000 [caption id="attachment_831268" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Australia[/caption] DUNSBOROUGH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA The remoteness of Western Australia can feel like another world entirely, and if you want to escape the grind, there's nowhere really like it. Situated 250 kilometres southwest of Perth lies Dunsborough, a small coastal town with a strong sense of community and a love for the outdoors. Like many places on this list, Dunsborough is your opportunity to live the beach lifestyle and have the ocean a stone's throw away — without breaking the bank. But here, you get the added bonus of having one of Australia's most-loved wine regions — the Margaret River — just down the road. Once more of a holiday-house town, Dunsborough is seeing more and more people settle there full time resulting in a surge of cafes, restaurants and shops. Median house price: $695,000 Median unit price: $540,000 [caption id="attachment_831352" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Fotovision[/caption] MOUNT BARKER, SOUTH AUSTRALIA Mount Barker may be the largest town in the Adelaide Hills region, but it's still a huge shift from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It's got a family-friendly vibe and an expanding infrastructure, but its real drawcard is its proximity to both a renowned wine region and the city — Adelaide is just a half-hour drive away. The beauty of living in the Adelaide Hills is you're never far from a great walking track, beautiful panoramic views or an array of local wildlife — and, of course, A-class vino. Of all the places on this list, Mount Barker is perhaps the best pick for those who want a quieter, more affordable life while still wishing to commute into the city. Median house price: $475,000 Median unit price: $363,000 Great Southern Bank is empowering Aussies to get clever with their banking. Whether you want to stick to your savings goals with The Boost or hide your house deposit fund from yourself with The Vault, Great Southern Bank helps you get there. For more information on savings tools and home loan options, head to the Great Southern Bank website. Top image: Lighthouse Beach, Port Macquarie, Lindsay Moller Productions *All median house and unit prices were sourced from realestate.com.au and were correct at time of publication.
Brisbane's day-long celebration of seafood is coming back — again. If everything the ocean has to offer your tastebuds gets your stomach a-rumbling, you'll be in culinary heaven. And, you won't even need to leave the CBD. Love oysters and Moreton Bay bugs? Can't pass up prawns? Adore fish, no matter how it's cooked? Returning for Dine BNE City 2022, Sea to the City is the event for you. There's a big focus on oysters and bugs, though, and a heap riverside eateries will serve up their best takes on both — from 11am–6pm on Sunday, May 29 at the Brisbane river precinct from Eagle Street Pier to Customs House. On the menu: Moreton Bay bug sliders at Blackbird; cured ocean trout at City Winery; crudo, oysters with fro'secco granita and bug arancini at Coppa Spuntino; and lobster rolls at Fatcow Steak and Lobster. Or, there's blue swimmer crab mac 'n' cheese croquettes at Friday's, oysters with yuzu buttermilk at Madame Wu, prawn and bug rolls at Mr & Mrs G's, and Moreton Bay bug croissants at Patina — and handmade crab spring rolls at Navala Churrascaria, and spiced coconut prawns at Naga Thai. Yes, the list goes on, with George's Seafood Paragon, Pig N Whistle and Rico's Bar and Restaurant all taking part as well. If you need any other excuses to head along, Eagle Street Pier is set to be torn down to make way for a new riverside precinct — and will close up shop mid-year. You'll also find live music, pop-up bars and, of course, gorgeous river views at Sea to the City. And, entry is free — although you'll need your wallet for whatever you'd like to eat and drink. Updated May 24.
The Sydney Dance Company has announced they'll be kicking off their 2013 season with a killer show, De Novo, which features costumes by Dion Lee and the music of Sarah Blasko and Nick Wales. The artists are collaborating on artistic director Rafael Bonachela's Emergence, one part of a trio of dance works that make up De Novo. It will be a testament to Bonachela's belief in the value of pop culture and other artistic practices to contribute to contemporary dance, with Blasko's vocals and Wales's soundscape providing the inspirational fuel for the piece. It's certainly piqued our interest, even more so because Lee's and Blasko's aesthetics don't suggest an immediate match. Will it be severely tailored, or adorably vintage? Adorably tailored? The start of a new cultural epoch? The only thing we know for certain is that it will be memorable. The other two works in De Novo have their own lure. Cacti is the product of renowned Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman, currently working with the Netherlands Dance Theatre, and features 16 dancers, a string quarter, and a dynamic set with the titular cacti. Meanwhile, the third dance, Fanatic, is about a fan outraged over the Alien vs Predator franchise — a choreographic theme as old as star-cross'd romance. De Novo opens in Sydney on March 1. Tickets are available from the SDC website.
In this world, nothing is what it seems. Bagels are not really a health food, dream boyfriends turn out to be players, and scooters are actually plants. This latter cunning deception has been wrought by the Dutch design firm Waarmakers and more specifically its resident geniuses Maarten Heijltjes and Simon Akkaya, who have fashioned an electric scooter from our chlorophyllous friends. Who knew compressed plants could be such a great way to get around? Created in collaboration with InHolland University of Applied Science and NPSP composites for Van.Eko, the Be.e scooter is both eco-friendly and stylish. Its frameless monocoque body trades metal, plastic and glass-fibre composites for NFCs (natural fibre-reinforced composites of flax, hemp and bio-resin). The trick is, the external skin of the scooter supports the load, without any need for a frame. The distinctive windscreen boasts a dirt and water-repelling nano-coating, prepping it for use in the wet and wild Netherlands, and its 48V 40AH battery powered with a 600 W charger provides 2 hours of carefree cruising. The Be.e can travel at up to 55km/hr and climb an incline of 15%. There are even USB charging ports in the dashboard for all your devices. It's no magic carpet, but with further models in development, this green machine may one day be a common way to travel. Via PSFK
"Darling it's better down where it's wetter" isn't just a line The Little Mermaid fans have had stuck in their head for the last two decades. Come April 2019, it's also the first thing likely to pop into the minds of anyone heading to one particular Norwegian restaurant. Set to open in the coastal village of Båly in the country's south, Under will plunge hungry patrons into watery surroundings, offering more than just the usual scenic vistas. At this eatery, diners will be tucking into their dishes underwater. To be specific, they'll be feasting on seafood under the sea — if you're going to open a space underneath the ocean, you have to serve up the fish, which is just what head chef Nicolai Ellitsgaard will be doing. If that sounds like your idea of a memorable meal, Under is now taking bookings from April 2019 onwards. Visitors will descend down three colour-coded levels to sip sparkling tipples in a champagne bar that boasts views of the shoreline, before enjoying their dinner in the completely submerged dining room. The latter sits five metres below the water's surface, and is surrounded by panoramic acrylic windows for quite the aquatic view. For those wondering about pressure and safety, metre-thick concrete walls will keep everyone nice and dry, in a structure designed by architecture firm Snøhetta. Describing the space as "a sunken periscope", the building is being constructed not only to wow those stepping foot inside, but to fit in with its surroundings. The grey exterior colour scheme is designed to blend in with the rocky coastline, with coarse surfacing that encourages molluscs to cling on. Indeed, over time it's hoped that Under will become an artificial mussel reef. As well as offering quite the place to eat, the project also aims to champion biodiversity, functioning as a research centre for marine life. This will include informational plaques educating visitors about the area, helping to expand not only the list of places you've tucked into a meal, but your knowledge. Start planning your 2019 Scandinavian trip now. Images: Snohetta.
A team of London-based designers have come up with a solution to the information overload suffered by most of us in this digital age. It's called Little Printer, created by BERG. Saving its users from wading through the endless content in the online information jungle, this itty bitty printer navigates the web on their behalf. It turns select content from its partners Arup, foursquare, Google, the Guardian, and Nike into miniature newspapers, delivered multiple times each day and ready to be popped into a wallet and read on the go. The little guy operates with a zero-configuration wireless connection to the web, and produces inkless thermal prints. The printer is also configured to your phone, to produce customised to-do lists that are just the right size for your back pocket. It will also print your friends' check-ins, plus cross word puzzles and word games - just make sure there's a pen in your other pocket. While there are obviously much more practical ways to catch up on your reading, this itty bitty printer has a face. A face! If nothing else, the BERG design is bound for success based purely on the cuteness factor. And as more and more publications go digital, there's something special about getting your news in physical form. Pre-orders for Little Printer open in 2012, and you can sign up for the mailing list here.
If there's one person audiences should happily follow into a haunted house, it's Guillermo del Toro. He played with spooky spaces in the Oscar-winning Pan's Labyrinth and told ghost stories in The Devil's Backbone. Actually, the Mexican filmmaker has danced with all things dark and sinister across his career, including vampires in Cronos, Blade II and TV's The Strain; giant insects in Mimic; a demon defender in the Hellboy movies; and monsters versus robots in Pacific Rim. In Crimson Peak, del Toro dives into gothic horror territory, telling the tale of a young woman (Mia Wasikowska) seduced into confronting the secrets of the titular house. Add Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain and Charlie Hunnam to the stellar cast, as well as a haunting mood and stunningly spooky imagery, and this frightening effort looks like something truly special. Plus, Crimson Peak even earned the approval of iconic horror author Stephen King, who compared it to Evil Dead. Consider us excited — and a little scared, to be honest — in anticipation. Crimson Peak (© 2015 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.) is in cinemas nationally from October 15, and thanks to Universal Pictures Australia, we have 10 double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter and then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
Chances are you're reading this article thinking it has something to do with Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg or Jesse Eisenberg. Unfortunately it's not going to be about any of these people, but more fortunately it is about something interesting that will both educate and entertain you. Believe it or not the concept of social networking was utilised well before the introduction of the online social media giant. Just incase you forgot how personal (as in face to face) contact is utilised in the creative, professional world, GoMA gives you the Social Networking exhibition. Addressing themes such as human rights, sustainability and cultural exchange, the exhibition reflects on the ways that individuals shape, and are shaped by, their social networks by exposing how contemporary artists seek social contact with their subjects and audiences. Featuring the work of many acclaimed artists such as Destiny Deacon and Virginia Fraser (Australia), Pat Hoffie (Australia), Sutee Kunavichayanont (Thailand), Jompet Kuswidananto (Indonesia), Raquel Ormella (Australia), Tsuyoshi Ozawa (Japan), You Are Here (Australia) and Zhang Huan (China) there is sure to be something interesting to suit every artistic taste.
Summer music festivals are all about embracing the best things in life — good vibes, great friends, and epic tunes. But Secret Garden Festival turned the happiness factor up to out-of-control joy by hosting an actual wedding ceremony at Brownlow Hill Farm. The nuptials were held as part of the annual festival's February 24 - 26 celebration of music, creativity, and disco-infused fun, all held for 48 hours against a lush forest backdrop, just one-and-a-half hours outside of Sydney. Though renowned for its stellar lineup, with The Jezabels, Japanese Wallpaper, Oliver Tank, Urthboy and more on this year's bill, the main stage became the site of a very different kind of celebration at 4pm on Saturday, February 25 — the joining in matrimony of Sydneysiders Alexis and Jimmy. Here's how it went down (and you'd best prepare to say "awwwww" quite a bit). The main stage area was set up with chairs for the wedding party, giving them the best position in the fest. Once the formalities got underway, Alexis and Jimmy swapped Peter Pan-themed vows, because that's how you make tying the knot at a festival even more magical. A brass band played 'Sexual Healing' as the newlyweds were raised over the crowd in a cherrypicker — with confetti cannons also thrown into the mix — while the crowd came together to form a "tunnel of love" for the just-hitched duo to run through. When the wedding was announced, festival director Clare Downes said her crew was pretty stoked to be taking on wedding planner duties, and promised one hell of a party for the lucky lovebirds, their friends and family, and all other festivalgoers who'd be getting in on the loved-up fun. "Alexis and Jimmy sent us an email a couple of months ago and I had to rewrite my response about nine times because I was way too overexcited," she told Concrete Playground. "They had already locked in the February 25 for their wedding, but they were just really struggling to find a venue and a celebrant etc — so it was a no brainer. I'm just so stoked they are letting us organise their wedding." While past years have seen Secret Garden host kissing booths, faux weddings, and plenty of dance floor pashes, Alexis and Jimmy's knot-tying marked its first official wedding ceremony. If you managed to get an invite — aka a highly coveted ticket almost instantly sold-out even — it's certain to have been an event to remember. ❤️ Secret Garden's first ever REAL wedding... and they have asked us to plan it 😏💥🎉 A video posted by Secret Garden (@secretgardenfestival) on Dec 12, 2016 at 1:25pm PST Secret Garden Festival takes place on February 24-26, 2017. For more info on the festival, visit secretgarden.com.au. By Libby Curran and Sarah Ward.
If there’s one thing we’ve come to know about ourselves it’s that we love a good gimmick. Whether it’s a nautically-themed gastropub or an entire cafe built on Pantone colour palettes, we can’t get enough of the weird and the wonderful. And so it’s no surprise that we’re squee-ing in anticipation of the Brisbane Festival's bizarre food-meets-theatre offering Fear and Delight. Created by Strut & Fret, the theatrical culinary event has been making waves in the news for the last few days, mainly because of the inclusion of food artists Bompas and Parr's so-called G&T Cloud Experience, first opened in London last month. This, in layman’s terms, means 'a room filled with a cloud of humidified gin and tonic which is consumed through the skin and eyeballs'. Yep, breathable booze. As expected, some are delighted with the prospect and others are fearful, while some people are just downright ready to party. Health experts have been lining up around the block to offer their opinion on the phenomenon. Professor Jake Najman, of the University of Queensland’s Drug Research and Education Centre, told the Guardian that rapidly absorbing a carcinogenic chemical is a big no-no. To be fair to the Professor, downing six Jaeger bombs and a Big Mac every Saturday night could also be considered near to carcinogenic but that certainly doesn’t stop us. However Najman also admits that not too much is known about the effects of inhaling alcohol, so bottoms up! Or bottoms out or however it is you toast in this new landscape of possibility. Celebrated internationally for such foodie happenings as an anatomical whisky tasting, a DNA-matching cocktail bar and a huge pagan feast at this year's Dark Mofo, Bompas and Parr are no strangers to controversy. Parr told Bloomberg that humidified drinking is "a new way of experiencing drink, and it’s social because it’s an immersive shared environment. You all have the same flavour sensation. Alcohol tastes better, with more nuances. You can detect more subtle flavours when it is humidified". What a time to be alive! But don’t worry about overdoing it on the alcohol-infused vapour, as Fear and Delight director Scott Maidment says that patrons would have to stand in the cloud for 40 minutes to absorb the equivalent of a large gin and tonic. So even if you get naked and do laps of the room, you won’t end up too drunk to watch the show afterwards. It really adds a whole new layer of meaning to #vapelife. Brisbane Festival’s Fear and Delight runs 4-25 September at South Bank Culture Forecourt. Grab tickets here.
I love Neil and Tim Finn, and I wish wish wish they were Australian so we could claim them as our own. But I do think the Aussie love affair with those boys has really had a fantastic impact on Australian/New Zealand relations. Really, it’s most likely the only reason we are still allies. It seems a lot of other Australians are head over heels for Neil and Tim as well, even some pretty fabulous musical Australians. In fact, a whole raft of them created two fantastic albums titled She Will Have Her Way (released in 2005) and He Will Have His Way (released in 2010) a tribute to the songs of the Finn Brothers. Obviously the ‘She’ album features lady musicians and the ‘He’ album has the blokes. Both albums are totally great with the likes of Clare Bowditch, Missy Higgins, Boy and Bear, Lior and many more playing their favourite songs by Neil and/or Tim Finn. This includes the oldies from Split Enz through to Crowded House, and their more recent solo and duo efforts - all totally beautiful and fabulous. Now these songs will be performed live with a raft of lovely Aussie musicians (Clare Bowditch, Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann, Holly Throsby, Paul Dempsey, Lior and Alexander Gow) strutting the sounds of Neil and Tim on stage at QPAC. There really is no need to spruik this, it will be amazing, and you should go.
Three little letters. That's all it took back in the day, to kickstart a bonafide mad chat with a perfect stranger. And now you'll be able to dredge up those three simple little alphabet members again, wielding all the power and responsibility of sending those feelers into the cybersphere. We're talkin' A/S/L. Anonymous chatrooms are about to ignite the heyday flame once again in Australia, with the launch of Facebook's new anonymous chat app, Rooms. Having launched in the US in October, the stand alone app takes cues from the IRC-type chatrooms, message boards and forums of internet beginnings. Available only on Apple devices, users can create 'rooms' to chat with other users on any topic of their choice, from baking recipes to The Hunger Games (and probably everything sordid and el rauncho in between). "Pick a topic, customize the look and feel, choose a different nickname for each room you're in and share your room with others," says the app rundown. "Rooms is perfect for the things you love and interests that makes you unique." Don't worry, your Facebook profile isn't your user profile; you can use a pseudonym (you can even use different ones for each room). Invites go through direct message invitations or public recommendations. Once you download the app, you're prompted to screenshot a QR code to see your first room. After you let the app access your photos, you're prompted to join the 'recommended rooms' picked by the Rooms team: anything from Chihuahua Lovers to Cross Stitch Room, God Talk to Depression Support. Alongside the predictable anime, TV show and music rooms, you'll find rooms for people with diabetes, ceramics and pottery lovers, trailrunning enthusiasts, rabbit parents, electric car owners. Screenshot the invite (QR code) and post to be let into the room — you'll have to wait for a moderator to approve you. Most rooms are image based, kind of like an Instagram feed-based forum. The app could be seen as an attempt to nab traffic from Reddit, already well-known and established as the current platform for this type of niche discussion. But the key to Rooms (heh) seems to be the anonymity factor, one bound to be compromised by creepy idiots at one point or another. Few reviews have been posted since the app's October release, but some have been pretty negative — one reviewer called it a "social media Burn Book". "I'm sure the creators of this app have good intentions," wrote user KSully54. "I live in Washington where a room was made to allow naked pictures or screen grabs to be posted. Without consent of the poor people who are just ridiculed and bullied. By our peers no less. hysteria has begun in my gay community which is essentially a social media Burn Book. It's incredibly sad." Via SMH. Image: Chapendra via photopin cc.
