Talk about dreams coming true, or ideas that you've probably fantasised about over a few glasses of vino actually becoming a reality. A town in Italy has installed what's certain to become a tourist attraction, at least with those fond of a grape-centric boozy beverage: a free, 24-hour wine fountain. Because you're probably already booking a trip to the European country, then Abruzzo is the place you want to head to. There, designed to provide refreshments to folks following the Cammino di San Tommaso pilgrimage from Rome to Ortona, inspired by a similar setup on the Camino de Santiago route in Spain, located at the Dora Sarchese vineyard and open to anyone who walks by, you'll find the fontana del vino dripping with the good stuff. Red wine that is, not white. Yes, this is a real thing. No, we'd never joke about something like this. It's better than anything Art vs Science could ever sing about, and up there with the cascade of youth-giving liquid spoken about in legends and nodded to in Darren Aronofsky's Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz-starring 2006 film. Forget bubblers spurting H20 — this is the true holy grail of public drink dispensers. You might recall similar concepts popping up around Italy in the past; however they were once-off affairs. This is permanent: no gimmicks, no time limit, just an all-day-round spring of vino that you can enjoy for zilch. The vineyard does warn that it's not for drunkards, though, so behave yourselves. Via Travel and Leisure.
Whether chasing some pre-party fridge replenishment, or avoiding that midweek bottle shop run once safely ensconced on your couch, the quest for booze has officially got a whole lot easier, now that 30-minute alcohol delivery service Jimmy Brings has landed in Brisbane. The company's already popular in its launch city of Sydney, and more recently in Melbourne. It has become a go-to for its carefully curated range of wine, beer and spirits, and its ability to bundle delicious beverages to your doorstep in under half an hour, before 10.30pm on any given night. Now, Jimmy Brings has thankfully headed north, launching in Brisbane across 29 suburbs. Places like New Farm, Paddington, West End, Greenslopes and Milton are among the first to enjoy access, with plans to expand to even more suburbs in the near future. The service is now delivering to a whopping 286 suburbs across Australia. Jimmy Brings is now servicing 29 suburbs across Brisbane. To see if yours is included, head to the website.
Do you like being terrified and entertained at the same time? Is indulging in all things spooky and scary your idea of fun? Halloween only comes around once a year, so The Brightside is making the most of it. If you're itching for a frightening fix and some live tunes, it has you covered. Nightmare on Warner Street combines two things: an excuse to get dressed up in whatever costume you feel sums up Halloween 2020, and music by The Cutaways, Ringpull, Copius and Ghost College. Actually, there's a third part of that equation, with the Chevron Showgirls busting out their burlesque moves as well. This petrifying party is taking place in The Brightside's outdoor area, and it does have a capacity limit of 100 — so if you're keen, you'd best grab a ticket faster than a trick-or-treater sticking their hand inside a candy jar. Donning a costume isn't just a suggestion, either, with prizes on offer — and lucky door prizes as well.
You might think you know Richard Ayoade from his time as Maurice Moss in the British comedy The IT Crowd. But did you know he's also an acclaimed director of quirky indie films full of deadpan humour? After smashing it with his debut feature, Submarine, Ayoade's now back with The Double. Based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Double follows Simon James, the timid and nerdy office clerk whose life is completely unenviable. Played by Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Simon reaches breaking point when new co-worker James Simon appears on the scene. Also played by Eisenberg, James excels in all the ways that Simon cannot, being a daring extrovert with confidence and charm. Simon is both James's double, and as it turns out, his polar opposite. Also starring Aussie actor Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Stoker, The Kids are Alright) and Wallace Shawn (Clueless), The Double premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to Sundance. It's been praised in early reviews, including by the Playlist, who wrote: "Totally bonkers, hilarious and wickedly clever, The Double is special and singular filmmaking at its best." The Double is in cinemas on Thursday, May 8, and thanks to Madman Films, we have 15 double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), 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 https://youtube.com/watch?v=_klCoDTHKGg ',width:'1150',height:'700'" width="1150" height="700" align="" />
"Write what you know" is common creative advice, and words of wisdom that Shake & Stir Theatre Co's Nelle Lee has clearly taken to heart with Tae Tae in the Land of Yaaas!. One of Brisbane Festival 2023's big world-premiere theatre shows, the brand-new production draws upon her sister Estee Lee's true tale — and, as well as scripting, Nelle also co-directs. Taking over QPAC's Cremorne Theatre from Friday, August 25–Sunday, September 17, Tae Tae in the Land of Yaaas! focuses on its eponymous character, who was paralysed in a car accident when she was six. Immediately afterwards, she struggles, but then receives a much-needed boost from a fairy godmother (played by Maxi Shield from RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under) in her search to keep discovering happiness. Shake & Stir Theatre Co wowed Bris Fest in 2022 with Fourteen, so the company is back with another personal, honest and heartfelt stage story for this year's event — and another must-see. Newcomer Maya Dove stars as the production's titular figure, in a tragi-comedy that throws together songs, dance, drag queens, glitter, a huge heart, colourful staging, camp and positive vibes, and a heaving sense of community. Images: Joel Devereux.
When it comes to Mother's Day, Brisbane is spoilt for choice this year. If bubbles are high on the agenda, check out our list of champagne-fuelled adventures — from high tea to oyster pairings and decadent buffets. Plus, over here, you'll find a slew of standout restaurants, bars and cafes. But are you looking for something a bit different? Funlab has come to your rescue. It's the name behind some of Brisbane's most entertaining venues — and, this Mother's Day, it wants to treat your mum to the free adventure she deserves. That might be a round of mini golf at Holey Moley while sipping on colourful cocktails, a game of ten-pin bowling at Strike or Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq, or a session in a challenge room at Hijinx Hotel. All you have to do is book an activity for a minimum of two people on Sunday, May 11, and make your reservation online with the code MUMFREE.
Forget grey. Come October-November, the Northern Rivers of New South Wales will be covered in 50 shades of purple when the historic town of Grafton gives off big main character energy through its annual showcase of violet-hued blooms. With roots as the oldest floral festival in the country, the Grafton Jacaranda Festival really knows what it takes to celebrate one of Australia's most-loved flowers. And, for one week between Friday, 27 October and Sunday, 5 November, visitors and locals alike will line the main street of Grafton to watch the annual float parade, settle in for a round of drag queen bingo (complete with lavender eyeshadow), enjoy a lazy long lunch underneath a floral lilac canopy or watch the beautiful trees of See Park illuminated as the sun goes down. While the fest will feature a mix of ticketed and free activities, if there's one event which we recommend committing to, it's Jacaranda Thursday. On this day Grafton's main street will close down as people meander throughout the CBD, soak up the atmosphere and simply stop and smell the jacarandas. The Grafton Jacaranda Festival will run from Friday, 27 October and Sunday, 5 November 2023. For the full event program visit their website.
When Paniyiri rolls around in 2026, expect it to be bigger than ever, with the annual Brisbane festival set to celebrate its 50th year. That's next year's fun, however. Paniyiri will also be back in 2025, turning 49 with another two days of souvlaki, haloumi, barbecued calamari, loukoumades, dancing the zorba, smashing plates and sipping Mediterranean wine — all taking over Musgrave Park in May. For two days every year, this patch of South Brisbane and West pretends that it's on the other side of the world. The menu goes heavy on all of the above dishes, Greek vino flows freely and an array of market stalls celebrate Greek culture. It's one of the River City's biggest annual events, and it has a date with Saturday, May 17–Sunday, May 18 in 2025. First held in 1976, Paniyiri began at The Greek Club — where else? — as an exhibition. Now, it sees 50,000-plus people eat, drink and party like they're in Greece across a weekend. After a few pandemic cancellations and scaled-down revamps, plus the impact of soggy weather, the fest returned to its OG format in its OG timing in 2023, and has kept doing so since. So, if you've been before, other than between 2020–22, then you know what's in store. Food-wise, the spread of bites covers dishes from 11 Greek regions. If devouring as much as you can is your idea of a great time, the festival's regular food contests tend to keep stomachs satisfied. Then, to wash all of that down, that's where the Greek wine, Greek beer and Greek-inspired cocktails come in. For 2025, if you nab entrance in advance for the fest's first day, you can also book in for a Paniyiri picnic between 12–4pm. Your online ticket will get you a Greek mezze box on the day — think: keftethes, spanakopita, taramasalata, tzatziki, kalamata olives, feta and pita bread to feed four — and access to the VIP picnic area to enjoy it in. Either way, in addition to eating and drinking — usually including at 20-plus stalls — Paniyiri's array of Greek revelry spans grapes to stomp, plates to smash, TV stars to rub shoulders with and cooking demonstrations to watch. To really ensure that attendees feel as if they've jumped over to Europe, a pop-up Greek village also sets up shop. Also, it wouldn't be Paniyiri without fancy footwork via Greek Dancing with the Stars and the Hellenic dancers. Alongside relishing all things Greek in Musgrave Park, Paniyiri also takes over its original home at The Greek Club. And if you've always wondered why it has the name it does, that's for a very fitting reason: the event's moniker means 'festival' in Greek.
Don't just grab a drink. If you're heading out for a sip with a date or mate, you want it to feel like an occasion, even if there's nothing particularly special to celebrate. Located inside the W Brisbane hotel, Living Room Bar understands that train of thought. Even better — it keeps trying to make knocking back cocktails within its walls stand out via creative collaborations and installations. In 2022, the venue teamed up with top Barcelona bar Paradiso, aka the third-best bar on the World's 50 Best Bars list for 2021, on a special menu featuring the Spanish spot's globally acclaimed beverages. Now, for at least six months across the second half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, Living Room Bar is pairing its latest cocktail offering with an immersive light, sound and art setup. The watering hotel has dubbed its latest excuse to drop by Sensory Sips, with art and design studio Loose Collective taking care of everything that patrons see and hear. On offer: bespoke work all around the North Quay bar, including mesmerising lighting effects, audiovisual sculptures, motion graphics, and patterns projected across the floor, roof and even the bar itself. In one especially eye-catching piece called Light Lines, 400 lit-up vines made from medical-grade silicon look like they're floating. That's what Sensory Sips has opened with. The idea is for this dazzling setup to not just let cocktail lovers feel like they're escaping, but for it evolve over its stay, which started in August 2023 and will run until mid-February 2024 at the earliest. So, that means that Brisbanites have plenty of motivation to head along more than once — and ample time to do so. As for the drinks, the event's nine cocktails are made with Brown-Forman spirits, with each concoction designed to also engage the senses just like the installations around the bar (and given names such as The Hypnotist, The Heist and Mystique to match). Among the highlights, The Illusionist goes floral and colourful with gin, violet-flavoured liqueur, white chocolate bitters, hibiscus, coconut, lemon and butterfly pea ice — and, crafted to appear as if it is floating, The Magician combines whisky, Frangelico, cocoa nibs and bloody mary drops. If you opt for the Cirque Du Fizz, you'll be sharing your sips with at least one other person (minimum: two) while tasting vodka, butterscotch bitters, marmalade cordial, sage, lychee and Australian Daintree tea. Not hitting the hard stuff? The Ballerina is Sensory Sips' non-alcoholic option, as made with a lemon marmalade and hibiscus non-boozy wine, zero-alcohol dry gin, lemon and lychee foam. And, when it's served, it comes with a light projection showing stars. Sensory Sips at W Brisbane's Living Room Bar, 81 North Quay, Brisbane will run until at least mid-February 2024 — head to the venue's website for further details and bookings. Images: Markus Ravik.
In Europe, it's called the Night of Museums: an annual evening when leading cultural institutions across the continent stay open long after they'd normally shut their doors, welcoming in patrons for after-dark art activities. In Melbourne, a new event is taking that idea, running with it and rolling it out across the city — with everything from gigs and movies to immersive dome projections and after-hours exhibition access on offer. That's all on the just-dropped program for Art After Dark, which was initially announced back in March. Back then, Melburnians heard the basics — that the city would be scoring an after-hours extravaganza in May, with State Library Victoria, the NGV, Federation Square, Arts Centre Melbourne, ACMI and Melbourne Museum all involved. That was all well and good and exciting, of course, but the actual lineup is even more dazzling. Set to run from 6pm–1am on both Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14, Art After Dark will feature limited-time-only experiences — both free and ticketed — that span live music, visual and performing arts, and food and drink. The Social Crew is producing the inaugural event, which is presented by Visit Victoria. And the aim, unsurprisingly, is to get both locals and visitors to the city to play tourist at Melbourne's cultural venues. At State Library Victoria, things will be particularly bright, all thanks to Midnight at Pink Lake. It's a 360-degree immersive projection that'll light up the La Trobe Reading Room — so yes, looking up is well and truly in order. And, it'll be paired with a themed program called Dream State, which features mindful workshops, music, roving performers, giant chess, and food and drinks. Basically, the venue is going all out on a visual and aural experience, calling it "part guided meditation, part poem, part chant, part song". Next, at NGV Australia, Ron Mueck's Mass from the 2017 Triennial will return — giant skulls and all — accompanied by pop-up poetry readings, choirs and DJs. And, at NGV International, light projections will transform its bluestone exterior thanks to QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection. Also on the bill: Hannah Brontë's video installation EYE HEAR U MAGIK 2020, as well as access to the whole venue itself, with everything free to access across all levels. Over at Fed Square, BRIGGS is headlining Fed Square Live on the Friday night, with Kee'ahn, Soju Gang and Izy in support. And, that's where you'll be able to peer up at Aussie-first art installation Constellations — which'll see artist Joanie Lemercier's monochrome, vector-based aesthetics paired with an electronic soundscape by producer Paul Jebanasam. Also, for something sweet, Fed Square will also be doing free takeaway hot chocolates, coffees, s'mores and glow-in-the-dark fairy floss. Arts Centre Melbourne is also hosting live performances, going nostalgic with Human Nature on the Saturday night. DJs will play from the balcony, food trucks will pop up and the Australian Music Vault will stay open, complete with curators and tour guides diving into the local music scene. At ACMI, drop-in showings of Soda Jerk's phenomenal Terror Nullius will be a big highlight, as will free Oskar Fischinger exhibition Raumlichtkunst — featuring one of the first multimedia projections ever made. The screen-focused museum is teaming up with Collingwood's beloved Bar SK, too, for a room of innovative and interactive entertainment that's all about Aussie game developers. And, it's collaborating with PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography on Gillian Wearing: Editing Life, with the British artist in focus. [caption id="attachment_852016" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Triceratops at Melbourne Muserum. Photo by Eugene Hyland[/caption] Last but by no means least, Melbourne Museum is letting folks see its triceratops after dark, and doing projections, hosting food trucks, setting up pop-up bars and inviting DJs to spin tunes. Or, over at IMAX, you'll be able to dive into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with late sessions of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Art After Dark is expected to see thousands of punters descend on the city for a late-night culture fix — a move that's sure to be welcomed by Melbourne's hard-hit creative industries as they continue through their post-COVID recovery phase. Art After Dark takes place at State Library Victoria, the NGV, Federation Square, Arts Centre Melbourne, ACMI and Melbourne Museum from Friday, May 13–Saturday, May 14. Head to the event's website for further details and tickets. Top image: Performers sing with Mass by Ron Mueck, 2017 on display at NGV Triennial 2017 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Eugene Hyland.
Perhaps you've always been a fan of Mickey Mouse. Maybe you can remember how it felt when you first watched Bambi. Or, you might be able to sing all of Genie's lyrics in Aladdin. You could've fallen head over heels for Raya and the Last Dragon or Encanto more recently, too. Whichever category fits — and we're guessing that at least one does — Disney's animated movies have likely played a significant part in your life. We all have those childhood memories. We've all grown up with a lingering fondness for the Mouse House. Based on its just-announced big 2022 exhibition, the team at the Queensland Museum clearly knows the feeling as well. From Friday, June 24, the South Bank venue will become one of the happiest places in Australia (and on earth) by hosting a huge Disney exhibition: Disney: The Magic of Animation, the Mouse House showcase that already dazzled Melbourne during 2021 up until January this year. On display will be more than 500 original artworks, including paintings, sketches, drawings and concept art, all from Disney's beloved catalogue of animated movies. Disney: The Magic of Animation explores everything from 1928's Steamboat Willie — the first talkie to feature Mickey Mouse — through to other recent fare such as Moana. Obviously, a wealth of other titles get the nod between those two flicks. Fantasia, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King also feature, as do Mulan, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia. And yes, some of these movies have been remade in live-action or photo-realistic CGI; however, QM's showcase is only about the animated films. The big drawcard: art from the Mouse House's hefty back catalogue of titles, which almost dates back a century now — and heaps of it. The entire lineup has been specially selected by the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, and will let you get a glimpse at just how the movie magic comes to life, how some of Disney's famous stories were developed and which animation techniques brought them to the big screen. Get ready to peer at hand-drawn dalmatians (which is timely, given that Cruella released last year), marvel over Frozen and Frozen II's artwork (timely again, seeing that Frozen the Musical plays Brisbane this year), stare closely at Mickey Mouse's evolution, examine Wreck-It Ralph models and pose next to Snow White. If the Queensland Museum setup mimics Melbourne's, wall-sized artworks will pay tribute to a number of movies, too, such as The Little Mermaid — and feeling like you're stepping into a Disney movie will be an unsurprising side effect. Disney: The Magic of Animation's arrival in Brisbane is fantastic news for local Mouse House aficionados, especially after the exhibition's Melbourne run was initially billed as an Aussie exclusive. Announcing the Queensland season, which'll be QM's blockbuster showcase for the year, Queensland Museum Network CEO Dr Jim Thompson said that the venue is "delighted to welcome an iconic and well-known brand such as Disney to our museum this winter, and we believe Queensland residents will excitedly anticipate taking a step behind the scenes to see how their favourite animated characters have been brought to life in this exhibition". Disney: The Magic of Animation arrives in Queensland after past seasons in cities such as Paris, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore, too, and is clearly designed to appeal to Mouse House fans of all ages. You, your parents, today's primary school kids — you've all grown up watching Disney flicks. So, while you're pondering tales as old as time, being QM's guest, contemplating the animated circle of life and definitely not letting your nostalgia go, prepare to be accompanied by aficionados both young and young at heart. Disney: The Magic of Animation will open on Friday, June 24 at the Queensland Museum, corner of Grey and Melbourne streets, South Bank, South Brisbane. For more information or to join the ticket waitlist, head to the Queensland Museum website. For more information about the exhibition, read through our run-through of Disney: The Magic of Animation's season. Images: Phoebe Powell, ACMI.
Charlie Murphy deserves some serious credit. Trying to forge a career as a professional comedian is pretty tough at the best of times, let alone when your brother is none other than Eddie Murphy. Yet Charlie has not only taken that plunge – he's come out the other side as a top-billed international comedian playing to sold-out audiences around the world. Next month he'll be bringing his act to both Australia and New Zealand, so he took some time to talk to Tom Glasson about comedy, basketball, being Eddie Murphy's brother and even Lamingtons. Charlie Murphy, hello from Sydney! Hey brother - how ya doin' man? Good mate, yourself? Yeah it's all good. I'm just sitting here in Englewood, New Jersey watching the afternoon news you know. Keeping an eye out for new material? Always brother. Got to keep it fresh for you folks in Australia. Well yeah, it's only a little over a month now until you bring your show – the 'Acid Trip Tour' – down our way. You excited? You better believe it man – I've never been to Australia before so this is my first time and I'm super-charged about coming there. First time? Well then you're probably carrying around some serious '80s clichés and stereotypes about us all! [Laughs] Ha, Crocodile Dundee! But you know, I'm looking forward to seeing all that AND the real deal. It's gonna be fun! So what can people expect from your show? Laughs, man! Whenever people ask me that I always tell them the same thing: you should expect to laugh. I mean you ain't going to a basketball game, you ain't going to a magician, you're going to see a comedian. When you see a comedian you should expect to laugh. But yeah, people ask me that a lot because they haven't seen me before – I'm new to most people – and I let them know it's for them to laugh. And you know, this is my first time coming to Australia; I've been to England, Canada, Scandinavia, all over the US and I've been making people laugh and I enjoy doing it. How would you describe your own sense of humour? What makes you laugh? Oh it's adult, man! I leave it raw and you can take it the way you want it. But it's raw and it's adult. I expect my audience to be adult, too. I don't go do lunchtime crowds at high schools, you know – I have an adult show. Who's making you laugh right now? You know man, it's funny - whoever's funny really. All of them can make me laugh, you know what I'm saying? I mean they're all funny guys. I enjoy all of them. Jumping back a few years, you grew up in Brooklyn right? Yeah. I grew up, partially in Brooklyn, 'til I was 13. Then I moved to Long Island and lived there from 13 to 17. And then I went to the military. And your father was almost a 'slashy' wasn't he, in that he was a transit cop but also a part-time actor and comedian? Well, my father was a police officer – a transit officer – and that's what he really was. He did a little stand-up when he was in high school, he did it on the side a bit, but he never really became a professional stand-up comedian. You know, he did talent shows and – my uncle did it as well – he did local stuff but never became professional where it was their way of making a living. Because that's when I think you can say you're a professional comedian; until then you're just dabbling. Where do you think this passion for comedy came from, since you'd almost have to call it a family business now? Ha, yeah. Well, I was already in the business but not as a comedian. You know I was in the business as an actor, I was in the business as a writer, a producer, but I wasn't in it as a comedian because it was obvious to me at that point that I was "Eddie's brother", you know? Eddie Murphy was the comedian, he was the younger brother and so it was always going to be hard for them to accept me as one too. But then The Chappelle Show kind of knocked that door down and I thought: "wait a minute, you can go out now and play with that." You know, that was a free pass to do it because people wanted to see me all of a sudden, and so I started going out, I started developing it and I've never stopped. I've been on the road for ten years straight! [laughs] You just mentioned Chappelle. Did you have any sense at the time that this was your sort of 'shine the light' moment? That this was when it was all going to change, or was it only retrospectively that you came to appreciate how important it all was? Nah I didn't know that this was going to happen. I had no idea and neither did anyone else. What's happened since is actually kind of unbelievable because I started doing stand-up at 42 years old. I didn't start when I was nine like Chappelle or Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock. I didn't start doing stand-up when I was a teenager, or in my twenties or thirties, I started when I was 42 years old…and my brother was Eddie Murphy! I mean he's one of, or rather the, stand-up guy; the recognised God of stand-up, okay? That's my brother, so to have that in front of you, you know what I'm saying, it's very unlikely that you would firstly take a chance to try to get into it, and then secondly - be successful at it, and I've done both those things. And so that's a blessing. I've jumped over those hurdles and I'm now making a presence for myself and beginning to be appreciated for what I do. And now you're coming out to Australia on tour. That's quite an incredible run. Exactly man! And you know, everywhere I've been it's all part of reaffirming that I'm now doing what I'm supposed to be doing; that I made a very smart choice with my life. And I'm doing something special because I can't think of anybody else that's a comedian who can say: "Okay this guy, he did it like this." I think I'm carving a brand new street. I'm curious about your take on comedy at the moment, because – and I'm thinking here about something one of Conan's writers said, a guy called Andrés du Bouchet – his advice to young comedy writers was: "write and perform comedy for 10 years in obscurity then luck out." Do you feel that's a little cynical or pretty reflective of the nature of the industry? No that's kind of true man, because there are guys out there right now who are really really really good and they're not famous. I know who they are because I'm in the world of stand-up, I'm a comedian so I know who the other comedians are. Like the guy I'm bringing with me to Australia, his name's Freeze Love. You've never heard of him, but he's very very funny in his own right and yet he doesn't have a headliner name, a household name yet, so people say: "who's this guy? We came to see Charlie Murphy!" And then this guy comes out and you forget that you came to see Charlie Murphy because he's that funny. When you come to my show I want you to laugh from the moment you get there to the moment you leave. And I'm only on stage for an hour but the show's an hour and a half, you know, so I make sure you get some variety and when you leave your face is hurting. That's my objective – to hurt your face – and I'm not a boxer! There's this idea that comedy runs parallel with the zeitgeist, so in the '60s and '70s it was all about social change, then in the '80s it was the battle of the sexes, in the '90s it was drugs and most recently it's been terrorism and war. And George W Bush! The human punch-line. Exactly! Do you feel like there's a new theme emerging now? Because a lot of the current acts seem to focus on the influence - and perhaps intrusion - of technology in our lives and how dehumanising and lonely it can all be. Totally, that's it man. But at the same time these comics, people like Louis CK, they're sort of embracing that failing aren't they? Embracing their own shortcomings and emerging as anti-heroes. Yeah man, it's all those things! You named almost everything I cover, like my show encompasses all the things you just talked about. We've had the '60s, '70s, '80s…well this is the new millennium and I'm talking about all of it. You're gonna hear about social issues, you're gonna hear about family, politics…all of that in one hour. And it's going to be fun. A few years ago you said you were a huge fan of Obama but just couldn't see him becoming President given the state of things in America. Now that it's happened a lot of people have called this the 'post race' age, but that seems like a bit of a stretch doesn't it? Exactly. That's not true. Things are just different, you know. Racism's still alive and well. Is it as rigid and defined as it was in the '60s? No, but it's still there. That other way, the old way, it wouldn't be able to exist in the climate we've got now, but it's still there. It just adapted. It's gradually leaving though, because if you look at the young people and their intelligence, there's not as much of that ignorance from the old days any more. Actually I was watching that movie the other day, the J Edgar movie with Leonardo DiCaprio - who does an excellent job by the way - but for me that movie was about this man who, before this movie was made and various documentaries were made, he was held up like a God, a man who could do no wrong, a perfect person. And then that movie exposed that not only was he human – that was the first thing – but he was also flawed like all of us. Severely! I really liked that movie. And just finally Charlie, you're a New Yorker and you recently did some promo stuff for Air Jordan with your Leroy Smith character – I'm guessing you've been caught up in the whole Jeremy Lin saga? Oh yeah man – I'm a big time Knicks fan! And my show's called "The Acid Trip" so I'm glad you brought the Knicks up because I point out things that are really really totally unexpected, like if ten years ago you'd said that in 2012 the highest paid rapper would be white, there's going to be a black President and an Asian's gonna be dominating the NBA, nobody would've believed it! An Asian guy from Harvard no less. Exactly! This is all really happening, it's real, see so that's kind of the metaphor for my show because every day of life is another opportunity for you to go: "Oh wow!" Every day something could happen that's never happened in your life before. You could smell something you've never smelled before, taste something you've never tasted before and I don't know how old you are but think about that. If somebody said to me: "How long did it take you to get here?" and – because the first person who did that said "oh it took me 15 minutes" and I replied "Oh really, because it took me 52 years." So that's how you're looking at it, you know? Well it was well worth it Charlie because we can't wait to have you out here. I can't wait to come out there man. And I want you to give me the heads up on what's the first thing I should try to eat? What's an Australian dish, because I've never had Australian food so what would you recommend I eat when I get there? What's it like? Well it's pretty much like American food except sized for humans. But I suppose the Lamington is the go-to option for something sweet, and of course the good ole meat pie. Meat pie? What kind of meat is it? Okay, it might not be 'meat'. Ha, yeah okay. But I'll do it anyway. Just ask for a regular beef pie and if they like you they'll top it off with some ketchup in the shape of Australia. [Laughs] Okay I'm gonna try that man, and I look forward to seeing you all real soon. Thanks brother. Charlie Murphy's "Acid Trip Tour" will hit Melbourne on 19 and 20 April, Auckland on April 23 and then Sydney on April 26. Check for tickets at www.abpresents.com.au and keep up with Charlie via Twitter @cmurphycomedy. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AwgvwFWK_dQ
In Love Lies Bleeding, a craggy ravine just outside a dusty New Mexico town beckons, ready to swallow sordid secrets in the dark of the desert's starry night. Tumbling into it, a car explodes in flames partway through the movie, exactly as the person pushing it in wants it to. There's the experience of watching Rose Glass' sophomore film emblazoned across the feature's very frames. After the expertly unsettling Saint Maud, the British writer/director returns with a second psychological horror, this time starring Kristen Stewart in the latest of her exceptionally chosen post-Twilight roles (see: Crimes of the Future, Spencer, Happiest Season, Lizzie, Personal Shopper, Certain Women and Clouds of Sils Maria). An 80s-set queer and sensual tale of love, lust, blood and violence, Love Lies Bleeding is as inkily alluring as the gorge that's pivotal to its plot, and as fiery as the inferno that swells from the canyon's depths. This neon-lit, synth-scored neo-noir thriller scorches, too — and burns so brightly that there's no escaping its glow. When the words "you have to see it to believe it" also grace Love Lies Bleeding — diving into gyms and in the bodybuilding world, it's no stranger to motivational statements such as "no pain no gain", "destiny is a decision" and "the body achieves what the mind believes" — they help sum up this wild cinematic ride as well. Glass co-scripts here with Weronika Tofilska (they each previously penned and helmed segments of 2015's A Moment in Horror), but her features feel like the result of specific, singular and searing visions that aren't afraid to swerve and veer boldly and committedly to weave their stories and leave an imprint. Accordingly, Love Lies Bleeding is indeed a romance, a crime flick and a revenge quest. It's about lovers on the run and intergenerational griminess. It rages against the machine. It's erotic, a road trip and unashamedly pulpy. It also takes the concept of strong female leads to a place that nothing else has, and you do need to witness it to fathom it. Stewart is Love Lies Bleeding's shaggy mullet-wearing heartthrob, a surly and oft-silent type who knows what she wants and doesn't. In the first category for the gym-managing Lou: a life free of abuse for her sister Beth (Jena Malone, Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire), who has scuzzy and vicious husband JJ (Dave Franco, Day Shift) lurking about; nothing to do with the shooting range-owning, gun-running, insect-obsessed, ponytailed Lou Sr (the scene-stealing Ed Harris, Top Gun: Maverick); and, from when she first sets eyes on her, muscular and permed out-of-towner Jackie (Katy O'Brian, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). It's 1989, Lou is unwilling to be anyone but herself — iron-pumping patrons try and fail to insult her with "grade-a dyke" — and she's also introduced knowing how to clean up a mess and navigate amorous complications. Glass initially finds one of her protagonists with a hand deep in a backed-up toilet, and with local hang-about and past fling Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov, Dickinson) pleading for a date. More muck and more relationship chaos are in store for both Lou and for Love Lies Bleeding. Breezing in en route to a bodybuilding championship in Las Vegas, Jackie reciprocates her affections, then moves into her house — but the day before they meet, she's sleeping with JJ for a job at Lou Sr's. That's just some of the shit, metaphorical rather than literal, that Lou will have to get more than elbow-deep in. The FBI agents hovering around asking questions fall into the same camp. Alongside gleefully subverting the usual take on powerful women characters on-screen, Glass carves into idyllic perceptions of love. Love Lies Bleeding's central romance is urgent, instant, sweaty and horny, and also opportunistic, perilous and thorny. The idea that discovering your special someone is transformative also receives a stunning spin, and far beyond the fact that bulging biceps and doing everything on steroids — sometimes literally there — are rarely far from returning Saint Maud cinematographer Ben Fordesman's lens. It isn't merely Glass, Fordesman, editor Mark Towns (another Saint Maud alum), composer Clint Mansell (Sharper) and the meticulous team of sound designers who go all in on crafting Lou and Jackie's plight as an evocatively visceral and squelchy fever dream, heated sex scenes, an onslaught of gore and brutality, and an eagerness to get weird all included. Almost every time that she rolls out a new performance, Stewart is in never-better form again and again, which is true once more in this phenomenal portrayal. The anxiety, tension and vulnerability that's pulsating through Lou is evident in a look, a line reading and posture alone, as is determination, devotion, grit and complexity. Stewart masters something that's only matched by the electric O'Brian, as Glass demands: mesmerising viewers, and making them fall as head over heels for this chemistry-dripping pair and the movie they're in as they do with each other. For O'Brian, who also has The Mandalorian and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Westworld and The Walking Dead on her resume, has studied martial arts since childhood, takes part in bodybuilding contests off-screen and was previously a cop, it's a star-making, can't-look-away turn. Add obsession to the forces pumping ravenously through Love Lies Bleeding, which befits its filmmaker; this isn't her first picture about transformation and connection. The links between Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding mirror Lou and Jackie, with the two duos as much kindred spirits as opposites. Glass relishes the magnetic clash, then revels in it. What it truly means to change, and why, and the motivations to try; attempting to abandon old and forge new habits; what a person can and can't find in another; where faith and trust kick in: they all throb through both flicks. But jumping from a claustrophobic British setting to the expansive American west, plus from ailing bodies to musclebound figures, is also Glass' journey. Contrasts abound within Love Lies Bleeding itself, which is intimate but sprawling, raw and tender, sweet and savage, gets love and sex butting heads with carnage and death, grim but blackly comedic, and also dark and distressing yet swoonworthy and romantic. In her two features so far — a helluva debut, then this astounding follow-up — Glass has also proven herself a builder, but not of the bodies that her second movie peers at with as female a gaze that cinema is capable of. There's no watching Love Lies Bleeding and not spying its influences, as was the case with Saint Maud. That said, that both take those inspirations as foundations to construct something else entirely is equally inescapable. These are no one's copies. True Romance, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, Thelma & Louise, Showgirls, Badlands, Paris, Texas, Raising Arizona, Bonnie & Clyde, Natural Born Killers: consider them all Love Lies Bleeding's siblings. So are Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon, as spied in the intoxicating hues that dance across the screen. Although it similarly only reached cinemas in 2024, Ethan Coen's Drive-Away Dolls would make a glorious double with one of the standout movies of the year. For a burning, bulging, blistering and brilliant plunge into filmmaking at its most exhilarating, however, Love Lies Bleeding stands and shines fiercely atop its own cliff.
How does life go on after not just a global Cordyceps infection, but the chaos that the first season of The Last of Us brought? In 2025, viewers will find out. While the hit HBO series isn't returning until next year, the US network has given fans a glimpse in the interim via the initial two images from the new season. Yes, Joel and Ellie are back — and, in their shoes, so are Pedro Pascal (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) and Bella Ramsey (Catherine Called Birdy). The pair of first pictures doesn't give away much; however, Ellie has a rifle in hand and Joel is looking as serious as ever, but with longer hair. The Last of Us made the leap from video games to TV in 2023, and was swiftly renewed after proving a massive smash instantly. The series gave HBO its most-watched debut season of a show ever — and its first episode was also the network's second-largest debut of all time. Locking in a second season was also hardly surprising because the 2013 game inspired a 2014 expansion pack and 2020 sequel. For newcomers to the franchise on consoles and as a TV series, it's set 20 years after modern civilisation as we know it has been toppled by a parasitic fungal infection that turns the afflicted into shuffling hordes. Pascal plays Joel, who gets saddled with smuggling 14-year-old Ellie (his Game of Thrones co-star Ramsey) out of a strict quarantine zone to help possibly save humanity's last remnants. There wouldn't be a game, let alone a television version, if that was an easy task, of course — and if the pair didn't need to weather quite the brutal journey. [caption id="attachment_932860" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Last of Us season one[/caption] As a television series, The Last of Us hails from co-creator, executive producer, writer and director Craig Mazin, who already brought a hellscape to HBO (and to everyone's must-watch list) thanks to the haunting and horrifying Chernobyl. He teams up here with Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, who also penned and directed The Last of Us games. In season two, Rutina Wesley (Queen Sugar) will also return to the cast alongside Pascal and Ramsey. Kaitlyn Dever (Good Grief), Isabela Merced (Madame Web), Young Mazino (Beef), Ariela Barer (How to Blow Up a Pipeline), Tati Gabrielle (Kaleidoscope), Spencer Lord (Family Law) and Danny Ramirez (Black Mirror) are the season's newcomers, as is Catherine O'Hara (Argylle) as a guest star. There's no clips from The Last of Us season two yet, but check out the trailer for season one below: The Last of Us season two doesn't yet have a release date, other than sometime in 2025. When it returns, it'll stream via Binge in Australia and on Neon in New Zealand. Read our review of the first season. Images: HBO.
It outraged tyrants, terrified theatre chains and knocked one of Hollywood's most powerful executives
To mask or not to mask? During the pandemic, that's often been the question. In Brisbane over the past few months, you've always needed to carry a mask with you; however, the rules around that have changed more than a few times — and at 4pm today, Friday, October 8, they're changing yet again. Brisbanites, next time you head out for a bite to eat, to have drinks or see a movie, you won't need to keep your mask on while you're seated. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has just announced the loosening of Queensland's COVID-19 restrictions, reverting back to the rules that were in place before they were last amended at the end of September. And, that means that mask rules are easing slightly as well. Masks are still staying for now, but you'll be able to take them off when you're sitting down in public. You will still need to always carry a mask with you, of course, but you can flash that smile if you're seated in a pub, bar, restaurant, cafe, cinema or theatre. At hospitality venues, you'll actually only need to mask up when you're entering and exiting, in another relaxation of the rules. At all other indoor sites — other than your own home — you can uncover your face once you're seated. Mask requirements change from 4pm. #covid19 pic.twitter.com/RaSRdRfCI8 — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) October 8, 2021 Queensland's standing mask mandate for flights, airports and stadiums still remains in place, though, so you'll always need to mask up there. And, they remain mandatory on public transport, in ride shares and while waiting for both; outdoors if you can't remain 1.5 metres away from people who aren't part of your household; and indoors in public if you're not sitting or you're not inside a hospo venue. Queensland currently has 31 active COVID-19 cases, with zero new locally acquired case reported in the past 24 hours. And, as always, the usual requests regarding social distancing, hygiene and getting tested if you're feeling even the slightest possible COVID-19 symptoms also still apply — as they have since March last year. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Queensland, head to the QLD COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website.
Usually, for one week each September, Brisbane becomes Australia's live music capital — even if a Melbourne survey generally claims otherwise. When BIGSOUND hits the city, it typically seems like every venue in Fortitude Valley is packed to the rafters with bands, industry folks and music-loving punters, all enjoying the latest and greatest tunes and talent the country has to offer. There's nothing usual about 2020, though. And, yes, that applies to this beloved music-fuelled celebration. In fact, after announcing back in July that it would still forge ahead this year as a physical — but socially distanced, COVID-safe and scaled-down — event, BIGSOUND has just revealed today, Thursday, September 3, that it'll now proceed as a virtual-only affair. Rather than four days of conferences, live festival showcases, secret shows and official parties, music fans can look forward to keynote addresses, online workshops, panels, discussions and an Australian artist showcase called The BIGSOUND50, all across a condensed two-day online program. The lineup wont be revealed until the end of September, but the event will still happen next month — having already moved from its normal timeslot to Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22, the digital-only BIGSOUND is keeping the latter dates. Announcing the change in an emailed statement, BIGSOUND management advised that the shift in direction stems from "ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and domestic border closures"; however the festival will adjust. It'll also address the challenges of 2020 and what that means for the industry moving forward by focusing on three specific themes: community, survival and re-futuring. [caption id="attachment_636254" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Waax, BIGSOUND 2017. Image: Bec Taylor.[/caption] Overseeing the virtual program are Janne Scott, BIGSOUND's creative director (and Splendour In The Grass' senior creative manager); Alethea Beetson, the event's First Nations producer and programmer; and conference programmer Tom Larkin. Beetson, as well as festival co-programmers Dominic Miller and Ruby-Jean McCabe, will select the artists featured in The BIGSOUND50. Past BIGSOUNDs have showcased everyone from Gang of Youths, Flume, Tash Sultana and Courtney Barnett to San Cisco, Violent Soho, Methyl Ethel and The Jungle Giants, so its program is usually a very reliable bellwether of current and up-and-coming talent. BIGSOUND 2020 will run virtually on Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22, with further details set to be announced in late September. For more information — or to obtain a free online delegate pass — visit bigsound.org.au. Top image: Keynote speaker Mo'Ju at BIGSOUND in 2019
Feeling Women's World Cup withdrawals? That's understandable. After a glorious month of stellar football across Australia and New Zealand — the globe's best women soccer players all playing in our time zones, too — the competition is over for 2023. Want to keep the Matildas love going after the squad's historic fourth placing? You can watch a rousing docuseries about the team, get excited about Brisbane's upcoming statue commemorating their efforts and throw Sam Kerr some love to win the Goal of the Tournament. The Matildas won four of their seven games across the series, but you already know which one was home to the squad captain's nominated strike: the semi-final loss to England. And, we know that you saw it, because that match became the most-watched Australian TV event since 2001 and likely ever (ratings body OzTAM's records don't go back that far). Kerr is Australia's only nominee for the Goal of the Tournament, competing against nine other ace strikes. The winner is decided by public vote, which is where you come in. Get clicking, keep spreading the green-and-gold joy — it's that easy. Voting is open until Tuesday, August 29, via the FIFA website. If you're a Matildas supporter, you'll rightly think that there's no other goal as stunning among the contenders — but Kerr does have some impressive company. England's Lauren James, Japan's Mina Tanaka, Spain's Aitana Bonmati and The Netherlands' Esmee Brugts are all vying for the prize as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CommBank Matildas (@matildas) FIFA clearly know what Kerr's strike means to Australia, describing it as "the goal that made a nation erupt" and "a dream realised, the physical, tangible embodiment of hope". No, adults sadly can't enrol at Kerr's just-announced football academy for Aussie kids — girls and boys — to follow in her footsteps, but we can do our part to give our hero this accolade. .@samkerr1's out-of-this-world strike 🚀🌏#Matildas #FIFAWWC #TilitsDone pic.twitter.com/CRvBO1PonE — CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) August 16, 2023 To vote for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Goal of the Tournament until Tuesday, August 29, head to the FIFA website.
Working in retail since I was 15 hasn’t dampened my love of Christmas, no sir, it has not. I love watching Christmas decorations be put up in September, listening to carols that start in November and answering the phone every time it rings with, “Merry Christmas, how can I help you?” for a month straight. Just kidding, all of those things really irritate me! Howeve,r when it comes to the genuinely nice and time-appropriate activities, you can count me in - family feasts, kisses under mistletoe, and present wrapping I’m there. One other Christmas tradition that tickles my fancy is setting up the tree, so what better way to partake this year than to supersize and watch the lighting of the Brisbane City Christmas Tree. An annual tradition held in King George Square, this year the Lord Mayor Graham Quirk will be joined by Santa and a bevy of special guests to officially launch the 2011 countdown to Christmas. As well as an extensive amount of lights and baubles, the evening also involves festive banter and carol singing to get every one in a joyful mood. And considering this event takes place in December, it will be out of the ‘retail zone’ and into the ‘real zone’, meaning all of you will have no excuses not to attend.
Mona Foma, MONA's wild and weird summer music and arts festival, is back for 2018. And this time around, it's set to eclipse all previous incarnations, with the festival adding a program of Launceston events to its usual Hobart lineup. Further to the announcement of the MONA hotel and the move to Launceston back in July, this beefed-up presence also heralds the festival's biggest, most eclectic program to date, thanks largely to funding from the State Government. The Mofo 2018 lineup is a cracker, delivering 11 days of thought-provoking art and music to Tasmania's two largest cities and celebrating creativity and personal expression in all forms. Running from January 12 to 14, the Launceston leg will see singer-songwriter Gotye join the Ondioline Orchestra to pay homage to renowned French electronic composer Jean-Jacques Perrey (January 12 and 13), as well as a dance performance by Canada's The Holy Body Tattoo, scored live by post-rockers Godspeed You! Black Emperor (also January 12 and 13). Mofo's northern run will culminate with a huge, free party on January 14. To follow, January 19 to 21 will mark Mofo's final MONA appearance for a while, so it's exiting with a bang. The museum's outdoor stage will feature performances from the likes of punk poet Moor Mother, all-female Argentinian act Fémina and a collaboration between Tassie bassist Nick Haywood and The Hobart Liberation Orchestra. Martin Blackwell will deliver a 24-hour continuous performance soundtracked by an array of global instruments, while the MONA tennis courts play host to a challenging fashion runway courtesy of SAAKA's Hunger for Gluttony. Elsewhere in Hobart, the Violent Femmes will perform with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, a one-day mini-Mofo will pull together local acts like Comrad XERO, Crypt Vapor and Phillipa Stafford, and the festival's official after-party Faux Mo will take over a huge new waterfront space at MAC2. Mona Foma 2018 will take place at venues across Launceston from January 12–14, at MONA from January 19–21 and across Hobart from January 15–22. Tickets are available here from Monday, October 16.
No one asked for a global lockdown, but here we are. Working from home and practising social distancing has been a successful move to flatten the curve of COVID-19, and it's all been possible because we care about the health and wellbeing of others. We also, no doubt, care about the impact we have on the natural world — and though the negative impacts of being in lockdown may take months to recover, there've been some surprising upsides. The peaks of the Himalayas are visible in some parts of India for the first time in decades thanks to the drop in pollution and New York and Los Angeles have reported lower pollution levels linked to the lack of vehicle traffic. Though these upsides are likely to be temporary, you can make some small but effective changes to your routine to help minimise our collective contribution to the ongoing climate crisis. With support from our friends at Tripod Coffee — who make certified compostable, Nespresso-compatible pods filled with fair trade, cafe-quality coffee — we've come up with a list of ways you can make positive changes while you're living your best stay-at-home lives. Read on for inspiration. [caption id="attachment_767688" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Markus Spiske[/caption] DITCH SINGLE-USE PLASTIC IN THE KITCHEN Three years ago, KeepCup's co-founder Abigail Forsyth reported a 400 percent increase in sales of the brand's reusable coffee cups, showing that Australians are willing to adapt their daily habits for sake of the environment. Now that your reusable cup is stored away for a while, it's worth looking at your day-to-day cooking and food preparation habits to see if there's a simple swap you can make that's just as convenient but a lot less wasteful. Cling wrap is a good example. National Geographic reported that plastic wrap is difficult to recycle and made from potentially harmful materials "especially as they break down in the environment". A more environmentally friendly purchase is beeswax, which you can get online from Bee Wrappy and Eco Food Wrap — or you can learn to make it yourself. Then there are silicone covers from Byron Bay eco-store Seed & Sprout or Food Huggers, which are handy for half-used onions and citrus, and 100-percent organic cotton produce bags like these ones, which are best for containing loose veggies like green beans, carrots and brussels sprouts. Vegan dish washing blocks also claim to replace three plastic bottles' worth of washing up liquid. And, as you're eating more meals at home than ever before, investing in reusable and longer-lasting kitchen products can save you money in the long term. [caption id="attachment_767924" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sippakorn Yamkasikorn[/caption] START A WORM FARM According to Foodbank Australia, the average Australian household sends almost five kilograms of food waste to landfill each week. That's a lot of veggie peel that could be feeding a clew of worms. Instead of chucking eggshells, banana skins and unused lettuce leaves into the bin, consider collecting organic scraps and adding them to a worm farm. You can create your own worm farm with a plastic storage bin or oversized food containers — or, if you prefer, you can buy worm habitats online. Order these worms born-and-bred in Australia, and, according to chef and writer Palisa Anderson, as long as you're not overfeeding, overheating, under-watering your worms you're probably doing it right. The main things to avoid are adding too much citrus, bones or meat, and to remember to add carbon, like newspaper and empty toilet rolls (cut into small pieces), to maintain a healthy carbon-nitrogen balance for your wriggly friends. Space is rarely an issue here, so you can start a worm farm even if all you have is a balcony, and the benefits include a rich vermicompost for your soil and worm juice that's a rich fertiliser for your house plants. Find handy maintenance tips from the War on Waste team here. [caption id="attachment_768047" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cornersmith[/caption] LEARN TO PICKLE AND PRESERVE Itching for a new hobby? Instead of buying your favourite brined veggies and preserved fruits on your supermarket dash, learn to do it yourself and you'll come out of lockdown with sweet life skills as well as that beaming glow of someone with enviable gut health. Cornersmith owner Alex Elliott-Howery is the queen of pickling and preservation; she hates to see food wasted and, no matter where you live, you can learn the art of Cornersmith's distinctively flavoured pickled veggies through its online preserving courses. You'll pick up tips for bottling briny cucumbers, pickling beets and creating a jar of sweet preserved pears. There's also courses in tomato preservation in which you'll master passata and additive-free ketchup. Not your first rodeo? Find refresher recipes from the ABC, Bon Appétit and Cornersmith. More of a live, hands-on learner? Book into this fermenting and pickling class via Zoom from wholefood educator Marcea Klein or this one from Sugar-Free Home Preserving author Valerie Pearson via Work-Shop. SWITCH TO COMPOSTABLE COFFEE PODS Reaching for the coffee machine between Zoom meetings? Those with a Nespresso machine at home might be looking for a more sustainable alternative to wasteful aluminium coffee pods that can't be recycled. Australian brand Tripod Coffee produces 100-percent certified compostable coffee pods, made from plant-based bio-polymers. It has a Pod-to-Plant returns program that means you can return your used pods to be converted into fertiliser for local farmers, or you can place the entire pod and paper lid in your green council bin, if they accept organic waste. Tripod's fair trade coffee beans are roasted and ground in Australia in an air-tight environment, which means the coffee is as flavourful as any freshly ground blend. Find out more about Tripod's subscriptions and returns program, here. [caption id="attachment_767670" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Markus Spiske[/caption] GROW YOUR OWN HERBS Step away from the plastic-wrapped basil leaves and pick up a packet of seeds, or potted plant, instead. There's never been a better time to try not to kill house-bound babies, like a luscious row of basil, coriander and parsley. Bunnings, which is practising social distancing and cashless payments across its stores as well as offering a drive and collect service, recommends starting out with coriander, chives, mint and thyme as they're easy to maintain and don't require a lot of space. Basil and flat-leaf parsley grow prolifically, so make sure you have more space and plan to use the leaves regularly. Pick up a small pot and potting soil from your local gardening centre, or order a self-watering one from Mr Kitly, and find a place with lots of sunlight. The Little Veggie Patch has lots of educational resources if you want to track growth or need to order more seed bundles and planters. And once you're all set up, you can start planning pesto and mojito nights to make your evenings at home more fragrant and flavoursome, as well as financially and environmentally friendly. Tripod Coffee produces Australian certified-compostable coffee pods. Find out more about the range and delivery options, here.
Warm summer days, kicking back with friends, gin and tonics on the go — it doesn't get much better than that. While you don't need to go out to enjoy the classic drink, you'll definitely need all the best ingredients. Enter Ginny Brings: the brainchild of Tanqueray and Jimmy Brings that's arrived to make your at-home hangs even better. You can now order any Tanqueray gin from the Ginny Brings site between midday and 11pm and have it delivered to your door within half an hour. Plus, each order comes with a free Fever-Tree tonic water (some of the best tonic out there) and garnishes to help kit you out for total G&T success. But hold on, your gin mastery doesn't stop there. You may now have quality ingredients at your fingertips, but you still need to know how to make a G&T properly. It's all too easy to end up with an unbalanced drink — even if it seems like it's one of the easiest drink recipes out there. To help you out, we've had a chat with Tanqueray brand ambassador Krystal Hart to uncover a few key tricks of the trade so you can concoct flawless G&Ts at home like a pro. Gather the troops, order your preferred gin and start mixing. Just make sure to brush up on the below tips first for maximum G&T prowess. [caption id="attachment_689394" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Smallbone.[/caption] CHOOSE THE RIGHT GIN With so many gins on the market at the moment, choosing the right one can make your head spin. But really it comes down to personal preference. If you love that big hit of juniper, Tanqueray London Dry could be the winner. After a burst of citrus? Tanqueray No. Ten delivers refined, zesty notes. And if you're looking to shake things up a bit, set your sights on Tanqueray's new Rangpur gin, distilled with Rangpur limes and mandarin, or the sweeter Flor de Sevilla, made with Seville oranges. FIND THE PERFECT TONIC Tonic can affect taste just as much as your choice of gin. Skip the home brand option and opt for something a little more distinctive in terms of purity and flavour. Fever-Tree has a range a tonics, from elderflower to lemon to Mediterranean, that help to highlight the varying botanicals in your gin. Hot tip: pair Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla gin and Fever-Tree aromatic tonic, then add a wedge of orange and sprig of thyme for an afternoon spritz-inspired G&T. [caption id="attachment_689430" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Smallbone.[/caption] CONSIDER YOUR GLASSWARE They say it's what's on the inside that counts, but that rule doesn't apply to your G&T vessel of choice. You wouldn't drink coffee from a wine glass, so don't go pouring quality gin into some second-rate sippy cup. For an aromatic gin like Tanqueray Sevilla, try a stemless wine glass or Bordeaux glass to help accentuate the taste. A good glass is ergonomic, it's classy — it's fashion. KEEP THINGS CHILL No one likes a flat, warm G&T. The best way to avoid this dire outcome is by loading up on the ice. Depending on personal preference, you can roll with one giant cube (classy and restrained) or fill your glass to the brim with standard cubes. The more chilled, the more balanced, the better. [caption id="attachment_700029" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Boud.[/caption] MAKE IT VISUAL Always garnish. We're not saying it's hard science, but pretty looking drinks just seem to taste better. A classic staple is a piece of citrus and, to up the ante slightly, some fresh herbs to complement the gin's botanicals. But feel free to experiment with the unknown: add a fresh bay leaf, get around blackberries and cucumber or garnish with chilli, lime and coriander for a spicy, savoury alternative. You'll not only end up with some attractive drinks but also some new flavours to tickle your tastebuds. Start exercising your skills this festive season. Just make sure you've got everything you need for a flawless G&T. Look to Ginny Brings to get you sorted with the Tanqueray of your choice (Tanqueray London Dry, Tanqueray No. Ten, Tanqueray Rangpur and Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla) plus free Fever-Tree tonic and garnishes to go with. Looking for more ways to enjoy gin? Check out The Gin List for more ideas.
Just north of Brisbane, muggles and magical folk alike can shop for wands, pick up Harry Potter merchandise, knock back butterscotch brews and try Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, all at Samford's Store of Requirement. For wannabe witches and wizards, that's reason enough to pretend that your car is the Hogwarts Express and make the half-hour journey out of town — but if you need more motivation, the enchanting shop is now hosting Harry Potter-themed tournaments. It's not quite the Triwizard Tournament, but The Store of Requirement's Wizard's Tournament will put your skills to the test, as well as your Harry Potter trivia knowledge. When you're not answering questions about the huge book and film franchise, you'll solve escape room-style riddles and puzzles. Each two-to-four person team will represent a different house while they're competing (and no, everyone can't be in Gryffindor). While just what the escape room part of the fun will entail hasn't been revealed, it has been designed by Escape Hunt Brisbane and Directors of the Extraordinary. The latter was behind the huge interactive zombie game, Containment, that took over Brisbane Powerhouse back in 2017, so you can reasonably expect their Potter antics to be immersive. After kicking off this week, four future events are scheduled — and although the July 25 tournament is already booked out, you can sign up for August 2, 9 and 22. Tickets cost $90 for two people, $145 for three and $190 for four, with an option to pay extra for cheese and fruit, cheese and meat, or hot food platters. A live scoreboard will track your progress throughout the night, so you'll know just how often you'll need to say "accio points!" to try to up your score. Unsurprisingly, dressing up is encouraged — so all that's left to do is find some Potter-loving friends to don some robes and house colours with you. Find The Store of Requirement at 22 Station Street, Samford Village — and head to the shop's website to book a spot at The Wizard's Tournament, which takes place at 6.30pm on August 2, 9 and 22.
2024 is a big year for Brisbane's new Queen's Wharf precinct, which will finally start opening its doors from August after being in the works for almost a decade. It's also a huge year for the Tassis Group, after already launching Longwang and Fatcow on James Street, and with two new venues to come in Kangaroo Point's green bridge before 2025 hits. What happens when you combine both the River City's about-to-open $3.6-billion inner-city hub and one of the town's thriving hospitality outfits, then? Dark Shepherd, making a massive period for both even heftier. The announcements just keep coming for Queen's Wharf, with the latest arriving just a week after Ghanem Group also revealed that it'd open Lúc Lắc, its own latest eatery, at the new The Star Brisbane. Tassis Group's Dark Shepherd is headed to the same spot, bringing a taste of the Mediterranean with a particular focus on lamb on the menu. With both Yamas Greek + Drink and Opa Bar + Mezze already to its name, the Tassis crew is no stranger to Greek cuisine, but its next addition will take its cues more broadly from the surrounding region. With both Fatcow and Rich & Rare in its stable as well, it's also not new to heroing red meat, even if lamb rather than beef is in the spotlight at Dark Shepherd. And yes, this is still the company responsible for Fosh Bar & Restaurant, which means that seafood will pop on among the newcomer's dishes. Brisbanites will be able to tuck into Dark Shepherd's culinary lineup from sometime in September, with woodfired meals from the grill also a focus. Clui Design is on decor duties, with the venue set to include a sunken dining room as well as a private dining room. A live oyster-shucking station will also feature. Restaurants-wise, add Dark Shepherd to the Queen's Wharf list alongside the Indochine-leaning Lúc Lắc, the initial outpost beyond Sydney for Japanese fine-diner Sokyo, the relocated Black Hide Steak and Seafood, Italian eatery Cucina Regina, Luke Nguyen's reimagined Fat Noodle, cocktail bar Cherry, the new LiveWire with its live music focus, and a towering deck filled with restaurants and bars that will sit 100 metres above the city. The full precinct will also include the 4.5-star Dorsett and Australia's only Rosewood hotel, Brissie's first riverside bikeway cafe and a swathe of retailers in a huge new shopping precinct. More dining, such as an ice creamery, Asian cuisine and other spots themed around parts of the world, will come, too. And, so will the revitalised heritage buildings, which will feature food, beverage and retail options. Find Dark Shepherd at The Star Brisbane, Queen's Wharf Road, Brisbane from sometime in September 2024 — we'll update you with an exact opening date when it is announced. Head to the restaurant's website for more details in the interim. Food images: Markus Ravik.
Google's self-driving car has already brought widespread automated-automobiling one step closer. Now, a UK town has announced plans to establish a driverless public transportation system. Milton Keynes, home to about 40,000 residents, and situated approximately 87 kilometres northwest of London, will soon host a fleet of 100 self-driving pods. Each has the capacity to carry two passengers, as well as luggage, and can travel up to 19km per hour. Electronic motors provide power and, at first, the pods will travel in their own lanes. These are likely to be dispensed with once passengers have developed the confidence to travel driver-free. A smartphone app will facilitate the reservation and payment of journeys, which will take place between the Milton Keynes train station and various locations in the town centre — about 1.6km away. Each trip is expected to cost 2 GBP ($3.44), with total revenue to amount to 1 million GBP after 12 months. The system will begin its test run in 2015. Initially, just twenty pods, featuring joysticks or steering wheels enabling human intervention, will be used, with all 100 expected to be in full swing by 2017. The trial period will last five years, at a cost of 65 million GBP. Driverless pods have been used at Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport, since 2011. During the past two years, a fleet of 21 vehicles travelling along a 3.8km track has transported more than 700,000 passengers. The difference with the pods planned for Milton Keynes is that they will not have the advantage of an installed guideway. Instead, their technology is closer to that utilised in self-driving automobiles, dependent on a combination of GPS, sensors and HD cameras. Via the Independent.
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, took to the small screen on Tuesday with his new talk show, The World Tomorrow. Assange and his first interviewee, the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, chatted companionably (with the aid of of translators) via video chat. Nasrallah spoke from an undisclosed location in Lebabnon, and Assange from the UK, where he is under house arrest. The interview marked Nasrallah's first Western interview since 2006. The World Tomorrow is carried by Russia Today (RT), a Kremlin-backed English-language news network and website with an anti-American undertone. Created by Vladimir Putin in 2005, RT aims to promote the Kremlin line abroad; it is also broadcast in Spanish and Arabic. Assange is noted for his involvement in a 2010 mass release of secret government documents. Though he was supported by the cooperation of several news organisations (including the New York Times), Assange was the only one involved to fully disclose the documents' details, names and all. He published the documents on his website, and has since become a target of controversy. Though no TV host natural, Assange covered a wide range of interesting topics, including issues in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, with Nasrallah on Tuesday night. The interview was thought-provoking and fresh, leaving audiences guessing what could be coming up in future episodes. https://youtube.com/watch?v=GDLXPpooA18 [via Pedestrian]
The first of Red Rock Deli's Secret Suppers has been and gone, with MasterChef Australia 2010 winner Adam Liaw kicking things off in May. The exclusive supper series — running until September at secret locations across Sydney and Melbourne — sees some of Australia's most talented chefs whipping up mouth-watering, three-course feasts inspired by Red Rock Deli's new limited-edition range. And when we say exclusive, we mean it — only 20 lucky guests get to tuck into each lavish dinner. On Wednesday, May 15, Malaysian Australian chef Adam Liaw put up an Asian-fusion feast. After guests were picked up from Central Station's Grand Concourse entrance and whisked away to a mystery location, Liaw dished up plates inspired by Red Rock Deli's Thai red chilli and creamy coconut chips. In the first course, Liaw made chilli the hero with a Korean bo ssam of pork, prawns and herb kimchi, while his dessert of coconut and lychee pavlova with mango sauce incorporated the creamy texture of coconut. But it was the melt-in-your-mouth braised ox cheeks in red chilli and coconut curry that was the real winner — to recreate it at home, check out the recipe here. If Liaw's dinner is anything to go by, the upcoming suppers will be quite something. Duncan Welgemoed of Adelaide's famed African-inspired wood fire joint, Africola, is up next. The dinner will take place on Thursday, June 20 and will be inspired by Red Rock Deli's flame grilled steak and chimichurri flavour. To nab tickets for Sydney's upcoming Red Rock Deli supper, enter the ballot here to be given the chance to purchase tickets. Images: Conrad Coleby and Kitti Gould.
From a cinema to one of the world's best hotels, plus plenty of food and drink options as well, James Street is home to many things. Also now included: a garden sanctuary in a brand-new woodfired diner that heroes Jordanian and Moroccan flavours. That's what Brisbanites will find at just-opened newcomer ēmmē. All-day dining is on the menu, with the latest addition to the Fortitude Valley precinct doing breakfast, brunch and lunch daily, plus slinging coffees from 6am–5pm — and opening for dinner Wednesday–Saturday. Whatever meal tempts your tastebuds, or even just a caffeine fix, you'll be heading opposite James St Market to Spoon Deli Cafe's former site. The look is luxe, but the vibe is laidback. Think: hues that bring flames to mind, fittingly, whether you're settling in at the bench seating by the window, perching at the bar — where you will indeed see fire — or surrounded by greenery outdoors. A source of inspiration for ēmmē is wabi-sabi, the Japanese take on impermanence and imperfection — which comes through in the textures around the place, the hues and also an aesthetic that isn't afraid of raw edges. In the kitchen, Thomas Tze Lian, fresh from Greca, oversees the culinary lineup. The range of dishes is tightly curated from avocado with harissa and native dukkah on sourdough to start the day through to mustard-spiced wagyu striploin for a big midday meal. Breakfast highlights also span pickled eggplant with fried egg and chilli, french toast paired with date caramel and whipped yoghurt, and crab and eggs. Come lunch — and dinner when ēmmē starts serving it — swordfish kofta with saffron yoghurt, wagyu rib skewers and barbecue chicken with garlic labneh are among the standouts. And for dessert? A plate of brie, quince, lavosh and fresh fruits is one option. Or, opt for the chocolate tahini cake or rosewater custard. Images: Ciaran Murphy.
Head into Sydney's Odd Culture in Newtown, or its new accompanying bottle shop and small bar SPON, and you'll be greeted with a stack of tasty wine and snack pairings. The venue's chicken liver pâté with potato chips and fish sauce caramel is one of the Harbour City's best bar snacks. The same can be said down in Melbourne, where Odd Culture's Fitzroy digs boasts the same addictive trio on its snack menu. And, all three offer charcuterie from LP's Quality Meats — all of which can be paired with a white, red, skin-contact, rosé or pét-nat. But, sometimes you're not on the hunt for something as extravagant as pâté and instead are hankering for a snack with a bit more nostalgic familiarity. Well, not to worry — we've asked Odd Culture Group's Beverage Manager Jordan Blackman (Odd Culture, The Duke of Enmore, The Old Fitz) for suggestions for the best wines to pair with schoolyard snacks, all of which are available in-store or online at SPON. (And, yes, SPON ships beyond New South Wales.) If you've ever craved a natty wine with a full box of cheese and bacon Shapes, or wondered what drop would partner well with a berry Roll-Up, we've got you covered. ROLL-UPS Jordan: "If we're talking Roll-Ups, then we simply can't go past grenache. Candied fruit with a lick of spice — a match made in heaven. Grab a bottle of 2021 Les Fruits Gonzo made from a blend of grenache and cinsault. Bright and crunchy with juicy red fruits (think strawberry, raspberry and cherry) and gentle tannin. Great chilled, great at room temp. It goes without saying we're talking about the best flavour of Roll-Ups here — and that's strawberry." OVALTEENIES Jordan: "Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it Roundtine. Anyway. Steering away from anything too hectic that might overwhelm the sweet, delicate chocolate malt of our precious Ovalteenies, I'd crack into some Ngeringa Altus from Mount Barker. Inspired by Vin Santo by way of Tuscany, it's sweet yet oxidative and insanely complex — crème caramel, Turkish delight, hazelnut and dried fruits drenched in honey." CHEESE AND BACON SHAPES Jordan: "My mind immediately gravitated towards Bandol rosé from the south of France — weighty, powerful and made from mourvèdre, often said to be quite 'meaty'. In the spirit of keeping things homegrown, I've gone with a longstanding favourite: 2022 Poppelvej Dead Ohio Sky Rosé which clearly draws inspiration from the Bandol. Organically grown Mourvèdre from McLaren Vale with texture turned up to eleven, it's serious, savoury and spicy all the while refreshing and moreish — kind of like cheese and bacon Shapes?" LE SNAK Jordan: "Cheese and crackers, but not just any ordinary cheese and/or cracker — elevate your lunchbox with Le Snak and a bottle of 2021 Harkham Aziza's Chardonnay. Hands down, one of my favourite cuvées — zero adds, clean as a whistle, alive! Naturally fermented and rested in seasoned French oak, these two play almost too well together coaxing out notes of fresh sourdough, vanilla biscuits and whipped cream while racy acidity keeps everything in check." JUMPY'S Jordan: "Apparently there are other flavours of Jumpy's than chicken? 2022 Trutta Pétillant Naturel Blanc is the obvious choice here. A blend of chardonnay and riesling, this organic fizz is brimming with energy, bright acidity and reminds us of another nostalgic Australian snack — oh, glorious Splice! Saline, zippy and ultimately refreshing — a perfect match for couch snacks of the kangaroo-shaped kind. We love salty snacks with our bubbles." Head to SPON's website — or in-store if you're in Sydney — if you want to get your hands on any of the mentioned wines. SPON is open at 256 King Street, Newtown 12pm–10pm Monday–Thursday, 12pm–12am Friday and 11am–12am Saturday.
After the mild let down of last year's supermoon, you could be forgiven for not engaging in the hype of major celestial movements. But last night's total solar eclipse didn't disappoint astronomers, token stargazers and brazen US presidents alike. The eclipse wasn't visible from our part of the world, instead passing over the the US — starting over Oregon in the west and finishing over South Carolina on the east coast. As the name suggests, a total eclipse is when the sun is completely obscured by the moon. This is a pretty rare event — Time and Date says that, on average, it takes about 375 years for a total solar eclipse to happen again in the same place — so, naturally, everyone turned out to catch a glimpse. NASA live streamed the event, The Weather Channel live tweeted the lead-up to totality, and even Donald Trump stepped out of the White House to look directly at the sun. Yes, he did that. Someone: don't look into the ec- Donald trump: pic.twitter.com/71wpDiwPr1 — sarah (@sarahburhans_) August 21, 2017 So while we wait for a solar eclipse to pass over Australia — the ABC reports that the next one will take place in 2028 and will pass directly over Sydney — here's some of the most epic images from last night's total solar eclipse. Only 11 years to go. A post shared by Getty Images (@gettyimages) on Aug 21, 2017 at 11:51am PDT A post shared by Reuters (@reuters) on Aug 21, 2017 at 1:44pm PDT A post shared by NASA (@nasa) on Aug 21, 2017 at 2:03pm PDT Amazing composite images capture the moon during a previous total solar eclipse, shot by Czech photographer Miloslav Druckmüller #Eclipse pic.twitter.com/LAHenYm2Qi — sobore (@sobore) August 21, 2017 PHOTO: TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 2017 from Green River Lake, WY. I truly think I had the most beautiful spot in the whole path. More photos soon. pic.twitter.com/jLDBMHJJU4 — Ben Cooper (@LaunchPhoto) August 21, 2017 Timelapse: Total solar eclipse brings darkness to Oregon. https://t.co/q3jBRYgob2 pic.twitter.com/MgESS6odoW — ABC News (@ABC) August 21, 2017 A post shared by NASA (@nasa) on Aug 21, 2017 at 3:57pm PDT Top image: Wikimedia Commons.
It calls itself a "micro mezcal mecca". It's small, adores agave spirits, and prides itself on being one of the best places in Sydney for a margarita (and for a drink in general). And, it's coming to Brisbane for one night only: Cantina OK!, that is, for a pop-up at Fortitude Valley's Savile Row that'll not only bring the former's top-notch cocktails north, but also raise money for a great cause. If you're wondering why Cantina OK! is considered such a standout watering hole, that's partly because the pint-sized bar's tequila and mezcal collection is that extensive, and also packed with both rare and wild varieties. "You won't find another mezcaleria in the southern hemisphere that has the particular collection that we have," said Manager Alex Gilmour back when the bar first opened in 2019. Cantina OK! visitors can enjoy its sips among the venue's bright pink and purple walls, in an old garage down a service laneway, in a spot that seats just 20 people. Pouring the drinks and offering the know-how: staff who love chatting about mezcal. The venue keeps earning worldwide acclaim, becoming a World's 50 Best Bars list mainstay since opening. In 2023, it came in at 41st, as one of only two Aussie venues on the list. Cantina OK! also placed 23rd in 2021 and 28th in 2020. So, behind Savile Row's orange door and beneath its eye-catching chandelier, that's what's in store for Brisbanites from 7pm on Monday, August 14. With Cantina OK!'s Creative Director Storm Evans and Group Manager Ryan Bickley in attendance, the Ann Street bar will pour a trio of cocktails from its Sydney guest: a margarita made with mezcal and orange oil; a sour with salted peanut and banana meringue; and the Nevada OK!, which features lime leaf, Thai basil, watermelon and jelly. All three will hero Los Arcos Tequila. The good cause mentioned above isn't just letting Brissie agave fiends sip Cantina OK!'s drinks. The evening will also raise money to help boost the quality of life in rural Mexico via charity S.A.C.R.E.D. Cantina OK! will whip out its seltzers, too, thanks to Seltzer OK!. The bar's own line of sparkling margaritas in a bottle, its sips come in regular and passionfruit flavours. Cantina OK! is popping up at Savile Row, 667 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley from 7pm on Monday, August 14 — head to Savile Row's Instagram feed for further details. Top image: Kimberley Low.
If you've seen the last season of Arrested Development — or actually been to Mexico — you'll know that Cinco de Mayo is celebration like no other. Think spicy food, energetic dancing, street stalls and more mariachi bands than you can tip your sombrero to. All that comes to the Cinco de Mayo Mexican Festival, which takes over Riverlife this Sunday. Yep, it's just going to be one of those fast-paced, high-octane events that will have your eyes darting between DJs, dancers, chimichangas, chillis and chicken wings till you collapse. A bit of history on the day: originally Cinco de Mayo commemorated the Mexican battle of Puebla where Mexico defeated the French. Now, the fifth of May marks a celebration of Mexican culture, cuisine, cocktails and music. That means you've finally got a chance to bust out that dusty sombrero and show off your attempt at salsa. The Cinco de Mayo Mexican Festival will take place Sunday May 1 from 12pm till late. Tickets are still available at $65, and can be purchased online.
A Queenslander on Main Street is Kangaroo Point's new fish 'n' chip destination, whether you're keen for some paper-wrapped takeaways or a serving of the ocean's finest to eat in. Run by owners Daniel and Amelia Miletic — with the former bringing plenty of seafood expertise from his time at Burleigh Heads' The Fish House — One Fish Two Fish serves up familiar dishes, new takes on old favourites and plenty of booze. Think oysters, crumbed calamari rings, battered cod and baby whiting, all fish 'n' chippery staples — soft-shell crab sliders, cajun fish taco nachos, Thai green curry with prawn dumplings, and a seafood risotto packed with fish, shellfish and crustaceans. Or, in the traditional camp, the trusty fish burger has been dubbed the 'Quarter Flounder' and comes with panko-crumbed flounder goujons, lettuce, cheese, house-made tartare and fries. Also a highlight is the whole salt-baked fish of the day, as well as a potato-centric range of fries, chips, scallops and potato bake with your pick of sea salt, chicken salt, vinegar salt or cajun powder seasoning. Or, if you're stopping by on a Sunday, you'll find a $69 seafood and bottomless rosé package on offer. Tuck into a 'seacuterie' platter and your choice of a main, and sip endless pink drinks for two hours. As for the rest of the beverage list, the full range includes 30 wines, five beers and ciders on tap — and seven by the bottle or can — plus espresso martinis, peach spritzes and Pimm's. And the aforementioned 'seacuterie' platter is also available for $35 every day of the week, which includes two glasses of wine.
Home to raindrop cakes, Nutella gyoza and salted caramel gyoza, Harajuku Gyoza clearly likes getting creative with its menu. The chain is fond of trying out new things with its dumpling range in particular, as its experiments with mac 'n' cheese, pepperoni pizza and marshmallow versions have demonstrated. But mixing things up isn't only about stuffing gyoza with different kinds of ingredients. That's all well and good — and tasty — but the Australian brand likes to get creative elsewhere, too. Now on the chain's winter menu: charcoal karaage chicken fondue. All of those words really do describe exactly what you'll be eating, so get ready to dip charcoal-coated bite-sized pieces of karaage chicken into a hot pot of oh-so-gooey cheese. If your stomach isn't already rumbling, it really should be. Just how long the new addition to the menu will be hanging around for your dipping pleasure hasn't yet been revealed, but a serving will cost you $14. And if you fancy pairing the new charcoal karaage chicken fondue with any of the chain's other inventive dishes — or after devouring cheeseburger gyoza, which is stuffed with burger pieces, aged cheddar, onion, pickles, mustard and tomato sauce; and mozzarella gyoza, which is filled with the obvious, then deep-fried and sprinkled with Twisties salt — that's up to you. Harajuku Gyoza's charcoal karaage chicken fondue is now available at all Australian stores — at Darling Harbour in Sydney; at South Bank and the CBD in Brisbane; and in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.
Before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Seth Rogen and his regular behind-the-camera collaborator Evan Goldberg had more than a few hands in Sausage Party. Lewd and crude isn't their approach with pop culture's pizza-eating, sewer-dwelling, bandana-wearing heroes in a half shell, however. Instead, the pair is in adoring throwback mode. They co-write and co-produce. Platonic's Rogen also lends his vocals — but to warthog Bebop, not to any of TMNT: MM's fab four. That casting move is telling; this isn't a raunched-up, star voice-driven take on family-friendly fare like Strays and Ted, even when it's gleefully irreverent. Rather, it's a loving reboot spearheaded by a couple of patent fans who were the exact right age when turtle power was the schoolyard's biggest late-80s and early-90s force, and want to do Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo justice. Affection seeps through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem as pivotally as ooze, the reason that there's even any adolescent marine reptiles that aren't at all like most of their species, and are also skilled in Japanese martial arts, within the franchise's narrative. Slime might visibly glow in this new animated TMNT movie, but the love with which the film has been made is equally as luminous. Indeed, the Spider-Verse-esque artwork makes that plain, openly following in the big-screen cartoon Spidey saga's footsteps. As it visually resembles lively high school notebook sketches under director Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs the Machines) and Kyler Spears' (Amphibia) guidance, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem feels exactly like the result of Rogen and Goldberg seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, wondering how Leo and company would fare in a picture that aimed for the same visual flair, then making it happen. Computers did the animating, of course, but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem's appearance may as well have smudgy fingerprints where someone has coloured in heavily with a texta, then accidentally slid a digit over the page before the ink was dry. While the TMNT realm has delivered good entries and bad, plus memorable and bland renderings of its core quartet — fittingly, these turtles have kept mutating — their current iteration is warm, retro and nostalgic while veering in its own aesthetic direction. So, the turtles aren't 80s-era slick like the OG cartoon series splashed across the small screen. They're not costume-wearing men (costumes by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, no less) as seen in the 90s live-action flicks, either. It's for the best that this Leonardo (voiced by Nicolas Cantu, The Fabelmans), Donatello (Micah Abbey, Cousins for Life), Raphael (Brady Noon, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers) and Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr, The Chi) haven't been spawned in the likeness of 2007 picture TMNT, either, or the motion-capture efforts of 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its 2016 sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Fun: that's how TMNT: MM looks with its scribbled-on, graffiti-leaning style, and it's also what Rogen, Goldberg, Rowe (also a co-scribe), Spears, Koala Man's Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit (the last of the flick's five screenwriters), and the Bad Neighbours movies' Brendan O'Brien (who gets a story credit) are overtly after. So were comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird when they created the anthropomorphic crew four decades back to parody superhero tales — as are the adopted turtle children of mutant rat Splinter (Jackie Chan, Hidden Strike), too. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem's key group just wants to be teens, and the movie wants to hang out with them as they try. In addition to an updated take on their origin story, TMNT: MM sketches Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo into a coming-of-age story. They practice ninjutsu. They bust out their fearsome fighting skills. They sneak out to watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the ultimate teens-just-wanna-have-fun film. They also just want to be accepted for who they are, because this is a Frankenstein story as well. Here, living below New York City's neon streets has become a drag for Leonardo who leads, Donatello who does machines, Raphael with the attitude and Michelangelo the party dude. Emotionally scarred from humanity's worst impulses, the protective Splinter forbids the turtles from venturing above ground for anything but supplies — which is where the stealth outdoor cinema trips come in. The ageing rat is certain that the world isn't safe for four slime-transformed humanoid critters. Unlike Ferris, though, his 15-year-olds would like to spend their days in classrooms and hallways, and with teachers and fellow pupils, a wish that they can only dream about. Then they meet April O'Neil (Ayo Edebiri, The Bear) as a high schooler who aspires to be a journalist and is investigating Big Apple crime for the school paper. She becomes a friend when the katana-, sai-, bo- and nunchuck-wielding brothers help her with the thugs who steal her scooter. Like slipping into toxic sludge when they were babies, crossing paths with April is just the beginning of the turtles' latest journey. All of those robberies link back to Superfly (Ice Cube, The High Note) — and soon there's a menagerie of mutants, including Bebop and his rhino pal Rocksteady (John Cena, Barbie), bat Wingnut (Natasia Demetriou, What We Do in the Shadows), alligator Leatherhead (Rose Byrne, Physical), manta ray Ray Fillet (Post Malone, Wrath of Man), and also Mondo Gecko (Paul Rudd, Only Murders in the Building) and Genghis Frog (Hannibal Buress, Spider-Man: No Way Home). Being a teenager is about yearning to fit in, and so is standing out because you're seen as a monster by everyone around you. Those Frankenstein nods are well-deployed, but then so is most of this turtle tale: cowabungas, Beyoncé love, jokes about both Ratatouille and Shrek, and a soundtrack that's catnip to 80s and 90s kids (think: Blackstreet's 'No Diggity', 4 Non Blondes' 'What's Up?' and A Tribe Called Quest's 'Can I Kick It?'). Getting Trent Reznor, the rock-god patron saint of angsty alternative teens of three decades ago, on score duties with his usual composing partner Atticus Ross (Bones and All) is a genius move, and always sounds that way. Who else can craft tunes to fight frenetically in sewers and slink through the street by? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem caters expertly to millennial adults, clearly, but it doesn't forget that it's for today's young viewers as well. Although that mix of audiences requires a balancing act, Rogen and co know how to amuse themselves and still serve up TMNT for the next generations. All those famous names among the voice cast? Crucially, they always come second to Cantu, Abbey, Noon and Brown Jr in a lively, energetic treat of a flick — the franchise's equivalent of fresh-out-of-the-oven pizza and, yes a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles renaissance.
It won 11 Tony Awards. It's one of the Obamas' favourite musicals. A filmed version of its Broadway production was nominated for several Golden Globes. It's also proven a hit in Sydney and Melbourne — and, it's finally on its way to Brisbane. That'd be Lin-Manuel Miranda's game-changing Hamilton, of course, which makes its River City debut from the end of January 2023. Even better: if you're as keen to see the hottest thing in musical theatre as its namesake was about American politics in the 18th century, you just might be able to nab yourself a cheap ticket. As happened with Mary Poppins, a ticket lottery is being held for Hamilton's Brisbane run at QPAC. And, this one is cheap. Very cheap, in fact. Via TodayTix, you can sign up for your chance to score a ticket for just $10. Yes, that figure is accurate. Obviously, you won't want to throw away your shot to see the most talked-about musical of the decade for less than the price of a cocktail. To take part in the lottery, you will need to download the TodayTix app — which is available for iOS and Android — and submit your entry each Friday. The lottery will go live at 12.01am every Friday morning and close at 1pm the next Thursday, with winners drawn between 1–4pm on that Thursday. If your name is selected, you'll have an hour to claim your tickets from when you receive the good news. The first lottery will open on Friday, January 13, covering performances for dates between Friday, January 27–Sunday, January 29. From then onwards, you'll be entering on a Friday, then hearing if you're successful on the following Thursday, all for performances that start the next week. And, if you need a reminder, you'll also be able to sign up for lottery alerts via TodayTix, too. The critically acclaimed hip hop musical, for which Miranda wrote the music, lyrics and the book, is about the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, as well as inclusion and politics in current-day America. In addition to its swag of Tony Awards, which include Best Musical, it has nabbed a Grammy Award and even a Pulitzer Prize. After hitting Broadway in 2015, then West End in 2017, Australians have been finally getting their turn since 2021, with Brisbane the show's third stop. Usually, tickets start at $70, so the $10 lottery really is an absolute bargain. [caption id="attachment_817298" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hamilton, Daniel Boud, Destination NSW.[/caption] This isn't Miranda's first musical to hit Australia, of course, with his take on the classic 2000s film Bring It On: The Musical hitting Melbourne in 2018 and quadruple Tony Award-winning In The Heights playing a short season at the Sydney Opera House in 2019. While you wait for your lottery shot, you can watch the filmed version of Hamilton with the original Broadway cast on Disney+ — yes, it's as phenomenal as you've heard. Hamilton's Brisbane season kicks off on Friday, January 27 at QPAC's Lyric Theatre. Visit the musical's website for further details. To enter the TodayTix $10 lottery, download the company's iOS or Android app, and head to the company's website for more information — and to set up an alert. Hamilton images: Daniel Boud.
If David Dastmalchian ever tires of acting, which will hopefully never happen, he'd make an entrancing late-night television host. He even has the audition tape for it: Late Night with the Devil. Of course, the star who earned his first movie credit on The Dark Knight, and has stood out in Blade Runner 2049, The Suicide Squad, Dune and the third season of Twin Peaks — plus Boston Strangler, The Boogeyman, Oppenheimer and Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter all in 2023 alone, alongside Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — might be hoping for a less eerie and unsettling gig IRL. Dastmalchian is a fan of horror anchors, writing an article for Fangoria about them. Here, putting in a helluva can't-look-away performance, he plays one. That said, the namesake of Night Owls with Jack Delroy isn't meant to fit the mould so unnervingly, nor is the series that he's on. Delroy is a Johnny Carson rival — and, because Australian filmmakers Cameron and Colin Cairnes (100 Bloody Acres, Scare Campaign) write and direct Late Night with the Devil, he's also a Don Lane-type talent — who isn't afraid of embracing the supernatural on his live talk show. On Halloween in 1977, airing his usual special episode for the occasion, he decides to attempt to arrest the flagging ratings of what was once a smash by booking four attention-grabbing guests. What occurs when Delroy, who is grieving the loss of his actor wife Madeleine Piper (Georgina Haig, NCIS Sydney) a year earlier, shares the stage with not only a famous skeptic and a psychic, but also with a parapsychologist and a girl who is reportedly possessed? That might sound like the setup for a joke, but it's this new Aussie horror gem's captivating premise. To be precise, it's the contents of the October 31 instalment of Night Owls with Jack Delroy, with Late Night with the Devil posed as a documentary about the broadcast that includes the entire show itself. With Michael Ironside (BlackBerry) on narration duties, Delroy gets some backstory first, stepping through Piper's lung cancer diagnosis despite never having smoked, plus Delroy's own affiliation with exclusive and highly questionable Californian men's club The Grove. The 70s gets some context, too, digging into its climate of fear and mistrust post-Manson family murders, and the anger of the decade's reckoning with race relations and the Vietnam War — all reasons put forward to explain why variety entertainment offering pure escapism is having a moment. The fortunes of the series itself from gleaming to flailing are also charted, justifying going all-in on the occult for the Sweeps Week episode that "shocked a nation", as presented in full as found footage from a master tape interspliced with behind-the-scenes material. If you've seen one evening talk show — from then, now or in-between; whether hailing from the US or Australia (Late Night with the Devil was shot in Melbourne, but packages its content as purely American) — then you know the basic format. Delroy monologues and banters charismatically to begin, albeit with an inescapable sadness that he's endeavouring to plaster over with a smile and 'the show must go on' bravado. So, he starts bringing on his guests. Medium Christou (Fayssal Bazzi, Prosper) foresees that something sinister is about to be afoot. Professional cynic Carmichael "the Conjurer" Haig (Ian Bliss, Safe Home), who was once a magician, is all doubt. There to spruik her book Conversations with the Devil, about a girl who was offered up as a Satanic sacrifice by a cult but survived, Dr June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon, Foe) is wary that her text's subject Lilly (Ingrid Torelli, Force of Nature: The Dry 2) isn't ready for the exposure. But with the kid supposedly afflicted with demonic possession, and so much at stake for Delroy and the show, no one is letting her remain off the air. When The Blair Witch Project made found footage a horror movie go-to 25 years back, sparking too many imitators — most generic and/or terrible — it didn't create the format. Indeed, the gimmick of unearthing tales from previous documents hadn't only been seen on-screen, but is engrained in iconic gothic horror novels Frankenstein and Dracula, both of which deploy correspondence to unfurl their stories. In the post-Blair Witch era, however, inventive and exciting screen uses of the tactic have become increasingly rare. Enter: the Cairnes brothers. The duo also give riffing on Martin Scorsese's 1982 satire The King of Comedy, which Joker did as well, a fresh spin. Late Night with the Devil is the best kind of pastiche: one that knows it, loves it, adores everything that it's drawing upon and is committed to never merely aping its inspirations (which also span Scanners, as Ironside's involvement helps reinforce — plus four-time Oscar-winner Network, which sports a fellow Aussie connection in British Australian actor Peter Finch). Watching the Halloween chaos of Night Owls with Jack Delroy in real time is a masterstroke: viewers have no alternative but to have the same experience that the show's audience, both in the studio and at home, did at the fateful broadcast — and that Delroy, his crew and guests all shared. Late Night with the Devil is constructed from a raft of equally clever decisions, the most pivotal of which is casting the hypnotic Dastmalchian. There's an Alan Partridge-esque air to the film and its protagonist, transported into literal horror rather than the horrors of cringe comedy, and with the same go-for-broke commitment that's always marked Steve Coogan's (The Reckoning) best-known character. Within the picture's sole setting — another savvy move — Dastmalchian owns the screen. He also grounds Late Night with the Devil's examination of the relationship between celebrity and the attention that mass media brings, aka the cult of personality; it might be easy to paint the price of fame as a Faustian bargain, but it works. A performance this perfect and an idea this brilliant receives the execution to match, making sitting down to the movie virtually a time machine. The look, the feel, the detailed production design (by Otello Stolfo, Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe) and costuming (Steph Hooke, The Wheel), the era-specific cinematography (Matthew Temple, Gold Diggers) and editing (by the Cairnes siblings themselves) choices, the commitment to practical effects when the spookfest kicks in after a tense and patient build up: they all ensure that Late Night with the Devil plays like it truly has been newly discovered in a pile of forgotten tapes from decades and decades back. As it conjures up that sensation, this is Cairnes' best film yet, and a delight of a wild ride to watch in one of two ways: in a packed cinema where everyone reacts to its contents like they're in the studio with Delroy; and at home on the couch, glued to the tube like Night Owls with Jack Delroy devotees. Whichever suits, no one is switching off.
Step into your local arthouse theatre these days and you'd be hard pressed not to find a regional film festival going on. From established cinematic powerhouses like France, Germany and Japan, to less spotlighted industries such as Poland, Indonesia and Serbia, the sheer amount of world cinema on the cultural calendar means there's almost always an alternative to the latest blockbuster out of Hollywood. As long as you don't mind reading subtitles, that is. In 2014, the line-up is getting that little bit more crowded, with the inaugural edition of a brand new festival highlighting the films from Europe's frozen north. Covering Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the first annual Scandinavian Film Festival is set to put the kvikmynd in kvikmyndahátíð. One area where contemporary Scandinavian cinema really seems to excel is the crime genre. Case in point, the Easy Money trilogy, starring Joel 'RoboCop' Kinnaman as a uni student turned drug runner. All three films will screen at the festival — see them before the scheduled US reboot featuring Zac Efron. From across the bridge in Denmark, meanwhile, comes police thriller The Keeper of Lost Causes, one the highest grossing films at the Danish box office last year. Continuing the dramatic thread, Metalhead, out of Iceland, tells the story of a pre-teen girl who copes with her brother's accidental death by taking on his identity. Sounds a little strange, sure, but the film has drawn rave reviews on the international festival circuit and scored a record-breaking 16 nominations at Iceland's prestigious Edda Awards. Thankfully, despite the region's chilly climate, not everything on the program is so severe. Finland's August Fools is a rom-com set against a Cold War era backdrop, while opening night features the informatively titled Swedish comedy The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. For more information about the Scandinavian Film Festival, visit their website. It's on at Palace Cinemas on the following dates: Canberra Tues 8 July - Sun 20 July Sydney Wed 9 July - Sun 27 July Melbourne Thu 10 July - Sun 27 July Brisbane Fri 11 July - Sun 20 July Adelaide Wed 23 July - Thurs 31 July Perth Thu 24 - Wed 30 July Byron Bay Fri 25 - Wed 30 July
At the beginning of July, when Greater Sydney's lockdown had been hanging around for a few weeks, Taronga Zoo did everyone a solid by releasing videos of its latest wombat joey. Even if you weren't under stay-at-home conditions then — because you don't live in the area — the footage was heartwarmingly cute. Thankfully, the zoo has more where that came from. This time around, you can take a peek at another baby animal: a koala joey named Humphrey. He's just over 12 months old, he's only been out of his mother Willow's pouch since he was around six months old — because that's what koala's do — and yes, he's as endearing as you'd expect. He's just as fluffy as well. In the video, which was captured by one of Taronga's koala keepers, Humphrey is keen to climb, eat and cuddle. His little eyes light up with curiosity as he scurries about, too. When he entered the world in 2020, Humphrey was the first koala joey born at Taronga Zoo in over a year — so he's obviously been able to garner plenty of attention. That's enough words about this loveable little critter, because we all know that you're here to get a glimpse. Check out Taronga Zoo's footage below: [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://cdn.concreteplayground.com/content/uploads/2021/07/Taronga-Media-Alert-Humphrey-the-koala-joey.mp4"][/video] Taronga has also been spoiling animal lovers with cuteness via its online television station, which was initially established by in 2020, and it is back now for obvious reasons. It's also releasing regular videos across its Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channels, and making keeper talks and other clips available online as well. Taronga Zoo is currently closed during Sydney's lockdown, but you can check out more videos of its cute animals via its online Taronga TV channel.
Christmas markets are always excellent for those of us who tend to leave gift purchasing until the last minute — and, thankfully, Etsy is setting up their markets all over Australia in the second last weekend of November. Etsy Made Local is a grassroots initiative that celebrates crafters, collectors and artisans in local communities, and provides them with the opportunity to sell their creations both online and in a physical space. So whether you're on the hunt for handmade wares or vintage goods, these guys have got you covered. The markets will be held in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Because each market focuses on the best local talent, each market will be filled with different stallholders and unique creations. Supporting creative small businesses and scoring a killer Christmas gift is a win for everyone involved, so head to the Brisbane Showgrounds on Saturday, November 19 and get your festive shopping done early, for once.
West End has been a hive of activity lately, with new venues springing up all over the place. One such venue is Grown, a plant-based dining venue offering breakfast and lunch every day (except Monday) from 7 am - 3 pm in the Vida Complex. The plant-based, seasonal menu uses produce which is sourced from FoodConnect, a company who source from local farmers within a 400km radius of Brisbane. The ethos behind Grown is pretty simple: good food, sourced from local farmers, beautifully presented. Plus, scraps and waste aren't going into the bin — they're being composted at Jane Street Community Garden (check them out — it's a must-do and just a stroll around the corner from Grown), a volunteer-run community space where permaculture reigns supreme. Walking through the doors of Grown, you enter a relaxed space with splashes of green everywhere. You might sit inside, or people watch on the street outside. The menu sports interesting and delicious dishes for all palates, like housemade hash brown with roasted tomato and avocado ($12), scrambled tofu with Asian mushrooms and sesame cheese on multigrain ($12) or grilled cos with watercress hummus, black garlic and crispy buckwheat ($12). If sweet is more your style, why not go for lemon pannacotta with housemade granola ($11) or brioche french toast with berries and pepper ice cream ($14)? Because yes, it's perfectly acceptable to have ice cream for breakfast at Grown. Drinks-wise, you could go all out and sip on a gut-friendly kombucha — the blueberry pie flavour is delicious ($6.5) — or grab a golden ($5) or a beetroot latte ($4) to complement your plant-based brunch. If it's one of those scorching Brisbane days where the bitumen is sticking to your shoes, we recommend high-tailing it to Grown where you can beat the heat with a fresh juice ($7) or iced latte ($5) by Dramanti Artisan Roasters. As far as brunch spots go, Grown is an exciting one to watch. And while dinner isn't available yet (and vegan wine and beer are coming soon), it's only a matter of time before this Brisbane vegan venue is ticking boxes from sunrise to sunset. Images: Jacque Prior
Calling all Amy Poehler fans — the beautiful tropical fish, powerful musk ox and noble land mermaid of Netflix flicks is here. The Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation star has directed her first film, a comedy that'll hit the streaming platform in May. Here's hoping it'll earn all of the unusual compliments that Leslie Knope has showered upon Ann Perkins. Turning a vino lover's dream weekend getaway with the gang into a movie, Wine Country follows a group of friends who head to Napa to celebrate Rebecca (Rachel Dratch)'s 50th birthday. Poehler plays Abby, the organiser of the gang; Maya Rudolph co-stars as a worn out mother desperate for a break; and fellow Saturday Night Live on-screen alum Ana Gasteyer, plus ex-SNL writers Paula Pell and Emily Spivey, all round out the besties. Also featuring: Tina Fey (of course) and Jason Schwartzman. If you've had a Parks and Recreation-shaped hole in your life since the acclaimed sitcom ended, adored Sisters or just can't get enough of these funny ladies in general, prepare to chuckle and celebrate as the film shows just what happens when a boozy break, lifelong friends and facing a huge milestone all mix. The first trailer has just dropped, and it comes with plenty of laughs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW_0MO-XKog Wine Country releases on Netflix on Friday, May 10. Image: Colleen Hayes.
All you holiday-planners, Queensland is calling with a long list of weird and wonderful things to do in 2023 — and it's time you knew about them. Wanting to experience something a little bit different? Longing for events that can't be found anywhere else? Listen up. In 2023, the Sunshine State is celebrating everything from rock music in the desert to Mary Poppins, Elvis and medieval times — there's even a festival that celebrates both jazz and jumpers (yep, that's a thing). So, together with Queensland, we've rounded up 11 fantastically different events that need to be added to your 2023 travel diary, stat. Plus, while you're there having a memorable time, make a real trip out of it and explore some of Queensland's regional areas — or scoot back to Brisbane and dive deeper into the thriving arts scene. AGNES BLUES, ROOTS & ROCK FESTIVAL, 1770 The town of 1770, at the Great Barrier Reef's southernmost tip, will host the eighth Agnes Blues, Roots & Rocks Festival from Friday, February 17 till Sunday, February 19. The three days will be packed full of music (courtesy of over 30 bands, including headliner Busby Marou), stand-out food from local vendors and free-flowing bevs. Discovering new music or soaking up your faves, dancing away your Queensland days — in a numerically named township — is a terrific way to live. You could be leaving with new skills as well, with a range of workshops run by performers. All this takes place on a stunning stretch of Queensland's coast — so be sure to spend a few extra days swimming and surfing in the area. Agnes Blues, Roots & Rocks Festival, Friday, February 17 till Sunday, February 19, 2023 [caption id="attachment_881866" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visual Poet Society[/caption] FESTIVAL OF OUTBACK OPERA, OUTBACK QUEENSLAND Opera in the outback? Delightfully different. Outdoor concerts under star-filled skies, pop-up performances taking over main streets and panel discussions in local parks — these are the experiences that made the 2022 Festival of Outback Opera a huge success. And Opera Queensland is bringing it back for its third year from Friday, May 19 until Monday, May 22. Forming part of this year's Queensland Music Trails, the festival will be running in the towns of Winton and Longreach, offering visitors the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of local and national artists all while experiencing some proper outback culture. Festival of Outback Opera, Friday, May 19 till Monday, May 22, 2023 [caption id="attachment_881863" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bianca Holderness[/caption] COOLY ROCKS ON FESTIVAL, GOLD COAST From Wednesday, June 7 until Sunday, June 11, Coolangatta will go back in time with this old school rock 'n' roll, swing and rockabilly festival. Expect this coastal Queensland town to welcome all who are ready to rock out to classic tunes, appreciators of retro motors and countless hip-shaking groovers making moves towards the preliminary round of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest — with the winner heading straight to Memphis to compete in Elvis Week. It's a must-see part of the Cooly Rocks On Festival. But that ain't all. The festival also includes a pin-up pageant celebrating the days of rockabilly fashion and beauty, a 1940s-themed Harvest Moon Swing Ball and a huge selection of vintage cars for the motoring enthusiasts to gawk at. Either come to dress up and join the festival-goers who attend religiously each and every year, or come as you are and watch on as fun-loving fanatics do their very own version of larping. Cooly Rocks On Festival, Wednesday, June 7 till Sunday, June 11, 2023 [caption id="attachment_881862" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matt Williams[/caption] BIRDSVILLE BIG RED BASH, OUTBACK QUEENSLAND This music festival is kind of like an Australian version of Burning Man — but significantly more family friendly. People head to the Simpson Desert, dressed up in their brightest and wackiest costumes, to party along to the sweet sounds of Aussie music legends. This year, Icehouse is headlining, with Pete Murray, Human Nature and the Hoodoo Gurus taking to the big stage as well. Hire an RV with your mates or bring your own camping gear along to the Birdsville Big Red Bash from Tuesday, July 4 till Thursday, July 6. Along with the stellar sounds, you can take part in a bunch of super quirky activities too. From a colourful drag race (a literal running race) along steep sand dunes to a fashion show for pooches, air guitar championship and camel rides, this is one fun-filled desert party. Birdsville Big Red Bash, Tuesday, July 4 till Thursday, July 6, 2023 MARY POPPINS FESTIVAL, FRASER COAST Each year, lovers of all things Mary Poppins descend upon Maryborough's Portside Precinct. Dressing up in their best Mary Poppins garb, they gather to celebrate Pamela Lyndon Travers — the author of the classic tale — who was born in the town. (We bet you didn't know that nugget of Australian trivia!) The most hardcore attendees dress up in their very best outfits to take part in The Great Nanny Race (where competitors attempt to reach the finish line first with their baby doll still safely in its pram), the Chimney Sweep Challenge (a race to guide a balloon up a chimney before demonstration of the best chimney-sweep jump) and the Costume Competition. But, you don't need to go all in at the Mary Poppins Festival — many come to watch the beautifully bizarre activities and wander around this part of the Fraser Coast, enjoying sidewalk performers, pop-up art installations and great local grub. It's a whole lot of wholesome fun. Mary Poppins Festival, Sunday, July 3, 2023 JUMPERS & JAZZ IN JULY, SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND COUNTRY 'Jumpers' on trees and jazz — who knew such an unlikely pairing could be so popular? Back in 2004, the Jumpers & Jazz in July festival was created in response to a streetscaping project by Warwick Art Gallery. The idea was simple: get the community together to enliven the wintery locale by knitting some jumpers to put on leafless trees and then play some jazz. And now? The festival is massive. From Thursday, July 20 to Sunday, July 30, the population of Warwick will almost quadruple in size as visitors descend to get in on the arty merriment. And as it's grown, so has the lineup of events. There's the usual — trees in the town centre covered in brightly hued yarn and live jazz music performances all over town — but there are also art exhibitions, markets, workshops, a vintage car show and heaps of pop-up food and drink stalls. It's a really unique way to brighten up your winter. Jumpers & Jazz in July, Thursday, July 20 till Sunday, July 30, 2023 [caption id="attachment_881860" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ken Huntley[/caption] ABBEY MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL, BRISBANE Live your best A Knight's Tale fantasy at the 2023 Abbey Medieval Festival on Saturday, July 8 and Sunday, July 9. Yes, it is super geeky, but that's the fun of it all. Geeks are cool. Get on board. Join the club. Dress up in your finest ye-olde 'fits and go watch some jousting or shoot your shot in an archery competition. As you explore the Abbeystowe grounds you may also happen across actors playing Vikings and Turkish oil wrestlers while a string of food stalls sling medieval-themed food — think venison pies and other delights. You can even rest up at The Stag Inn to refuel while you sip mead or cider. Abbey Medieval Festival, Saturday, July 8 and Sunday, July 9, 2023 CRAFTED BEER & CIDER FESTIVAL, GOLD COAST Beer and cider fans best get around the beachside Crafted Festival in September. While the exact dates are yet to be announced — keep your eyes peeled in the coming months — in 2022, more than 50 of Australia's top craft brewers landed on the Gold Coast's Broadbeach, with a whopping 250-plus sips on pour. (This lineup included wine, spirits and cocktails for those who needed a break from the hopsy bevs.) If it's anything like last year, you'll be tasting all your favourite brews in the ocean air, with live music in your ears and stacks of local food stalls dishing out delicious bites to eat. Crafted Beer & Cider Festival, August 2023 CAPRICON POP CULTURE CONVENTION, ROCKHAMPTON Cosplayers, this one is for you. CapriCon Pop Culture Convention is a yearly event that celebrates comics, collectibles, anime, medieval larping, gaming and steampunk culture in Queensland's Rockhampton — and it's back for one day only on Saturday, September 2, 2023. In years gone by, there have been Star Wars lightsaber classes, cartoon and manga drawing workshops and monumental LEGO competitions (for all ages). There are also awards for those with the most spectacular costumes — so come dressed to impress. CapriCon Pop Culture Convention, Saturday, September 2, 2023 [caption id="attachment_881868" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Leximagery, Clayton Blake's Bathing Box[/caption] SWELL SCULPTURE FESTIVAL, GOLD COAST You'll be hard pressed to find an Australian outdoor art exhibition in more breathtaking surrounds. From Friday, September 8 till Sunday, September 17, over 70 large-scale contemporary sculptures will pop up along the picturesque Currumbin Beach while several other parts of the Gold Coast host a series of art exhibits — a huge (and fantastically arty) undertaking. But Queensland's biggest outdoor art festival isn't just about the artworks themselves. Throughout SWELL Sculpture Festival, there will be guided twilight walks around the installations, live music performances, comedy shows, masterclasses and talks. Be sure to stick around to get the full experience. SWELL Sculpture Festival, Friday, September 8 till Sunday, 17 September, 2023 MITCHELL CREEK ROCK 'N' BLUES FEST, SUNSHINE COAST This annual music festival in the Noosa Hinterland brings a wide range of Aussies together — that all have a common love for classic rock 'n' roll and blues. For three days and nights, over 140 local bands hit the stages to perform to excited crowds. But, it's super laidback, with visitors drinking and eating the day away at their campsites or hitting up pop-up markets and vintage car shows. A diverse selection of food vendors are also at the Mitchell Creek Rock 'n' Blues Fest throughout the festival — from Friday, September 15 right up until the last tent packs up on Sunday, September 17. The event organisers are also known for making this festival — its amenities, stages and camping grounds — accessible for those with disabilities. They even have an area for those who come camping with their dogs — everyone's welcome at this party. Mitchell Creek Rock 'n' Blues Fest, Friday, September 15 till Sunday, September 17, 2023 To explore more arts and culture events taking over Queensland in 2023, head to the website. Top image: Ravel, Alejandro Propato's Permanent Sunrise at SWELL Sculpture Festival
Pastels and poop. Step inside Unko Museum: The Kawaii Poop Experience and that's what awaits. The colour scheme is soft and soothing, but the point of focus is literal crap (well, fake versions). If you've ever called something "cute shit" before, those words have never applied quite as they will here. This Japanese-style installation takes its cues from not only Japan's kawaii poop trend, but from the Unko Museum's sites across the nation, including in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Shizuoka. Now, Unko Museum is making its Australian debut in Melbourne — originally slated to open in December 2023, but now adding some adorable crap to summer from Wednesday, January 17, 2024. The focus: "max unko kawaii", aka "the maximum cuteness of poop". Also one of the mains attractions: getting everyone taking snaps and filling their social-media feeds, so expect a heap of pastel emoji-esque shit to fill Instagram. Unko Museum: The Kawaii Poop Experience is split into zones and areas, spanning displays to take pictures of and other inclusions that are more immersive. Think: images of poop projected around the place, snapping selfies with poop props and flying poop, and retro-style games with a poop theme in a space called the Crappy Game Corner. Pastel-hued toilets are also a feature, lined up along a wall under a sign calling them "my unko maker". So are neon poop signs, giant poops, a ball pit where the balls are shaped like poops, poop hats, walls filled with toilet seats, glowing poop lights and a towering toilet-shaped doorway. Plus, exiting through the gift shop here means picking up kawaii poop merchandise and souvenirs. In Japan, as at October 2023, 1.4-million people had flushed the interactive experience into their itineraries. In Australia, Melburnians and tourists who now want to add some poo to their next Victorian visit can expect to spend 30–60 minutes revelling in endearing crap, in a family-friendly experience — because poop is for everyone.
UPDATE, December 22, 2023: Foe streams via Prime Video from Friday, January 5, 2024. Pondering the end of the earth also means pondering the end of people. When the planet that we live on withers to the point of becoming uninhabitable, humanity doesn't just suffer big-picture consequences as a species — existentially, the basic facets of being human are upended as well. So explores and interrogates Foe, the haunting third feature from Australian director Garth Davis (Lion, Mary Magdalene), as well as the latest adaptation of Canadian author Iain Reid's books after 2020 movie I'm Thinking of Ending Things. The pair teamed up to pen the script to a dystopian thriller that looks every inch the stark sci-fi part, using Victoria's Winton Wetlands as its shooting location to double for America's midwest circa 2065, and yet is always one thing above all else: like Killers of the Flower Moon, too, this is a relationship drama. In his third film to reach Australian cinemas in 2023, his second since earning an Oscar nomination for Aftersun and also one of two in a row made Down Under alongside Carmen, Paul Mescal plays half of Foe's key couple opposite his Irish compatriot (plus Atonement, Brooklyn, Lady Bird and Little Women Academy Award-nominee) Saoirse Ronan. The pair trade their natural lilts for American accents as Junior and Hen, holdout farmers in a world and at a time where there's little hope in the field, their actual fields or for the future. As a title card explains, days on the third rock from the sun are numbered. Also noted in that opening text is the setup moving forward, relocating the population to space stations. And, as Blade Runner did decades ago and The Creator — which is also set in 2065 — adopted just this year, simulated humans are also entwined in this new status quo. Junior and Hen's marriage is one of lived-in routine, concise exchanges and loaded looks — of resignation and malaise, in fact, with life's realities tampering down the high-school sweethearts' spirits mere years into their wedded bliss. He works at a poultry factory, she waits tables at a diner, and the bleak expanse surrounding their farmhouse sports rows of symbolism; Foe's central couple cling to the wish that the inherited land and their love alike hasn't turned fallow, no matter the signs otherwise. With such barrenness lingering, car lights outside their home one night and then a sharp knock at the door were always going to feel like more than just an ordinary visitor. The cause is anything but an average passerby: he's government consultant Terrance (Aaron Pierre, Old), who has come with conscription orders for the OuterMore project, which is building the off-world installation that earth's residents will soon need to live on. Like young men before him forced to wage war, Junior doesn't have a choice in the plans to send him to space. With Hen, he also has no say in the next two crucial pieces of information that the calm-yet-commanding Terrance imparts: only Junior is going, but a simulant will take his place, not only looking and sounding but behaving exactly like him, so that Hen isn't left alone. The pair are told that they have around two years to adjust to this news, and that Terrance will eventually come to live with them as that departure date shuffles closer. Swiftly, the dust storms outside have another threat as a source of swirling tension and visible upheaval. In an already-fraying marriage and with an increasingly slipping sense of control, neither Junior nor Hen is pleased about their twist of fate, understandably — but enjoying what they have takes on added urgency. Even if two of Ireland's best current actors can't share their native tones in Foe, they share the screen with shimmering potency, selling every iota of emotion felt by their characters. Whether only coming to fame in 2020 with Normal People or demanding attention since being a 13-year-old stealing scenes in a BAFTA Best Picture-winner — so, each breaking out in highly anticipated and widely applauded page-to-screen adaptations — Mescal and Ronan keep proving themselves spectacular acting talents, which isn't different here. Both are supremely skilled at being silently, subtly and naturalistically expressive, and so at conveying interiority. Under Davis' guidance, that means cycling through hurt, anger, uncertainty, yearning, surprise, betrayal, affection and hope as Junior and Hen grapple with the full spreadh of responses to their situation, and also navigate the remnants of their long-festering romance. Each giving deeply felt performances that could swell through several countryside abodes, they bring to mind another great on-screen coupling that also tore into marital melancholy: Kate Winslet (Ronan's co-star in Ammonite) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon) in 2008's Revolutionary Road. Pierre, too, more than holds up his role as the third point in Foe's acting triangle. Ahead of becoming the voice of Mufasa in upcoming The Lion King sequel Mufasa: The Lion King — which reunites him with filmmaker Barry Jenkins after The Underground Railroad — he finds the ideal balance of enigmatic and intimidating in a movie that's all about shifts big and small. As Pierre's star rises, which it is destined to and fast, this will remain one of his essential performances. Adding to the excellent work all-round is cinematographer Mátyás Erdély (The Nest), who sees the landscape as surreal, foreboding and dreamy all at once. While Foe's backdrop might look like Australia if you're aware that it is, but devoid any ochre dirt and standard outback sights, it also blazes as lonely terrain that's as thorny and knotty as its animal, plant and human occupants. It could seem ambitious, getting desolate yet heatedly psychological and emotional in Black Mirror-esque environmental sci-fi-meets-AI territory, but Davis and Reid know what Charlie Brooker always has as well: that tales about where the future leads, and the technology it inspires with it, are nothing if they're not actually about people. Although within Foe sits a question about whether accepting and embracing AI replacements for our nearest and dearest is ever possible, what it means to live and love, to work out who we are and want to be, and to grow and progress — with or without tech — is hardwired into this affecting film. This is a movie about how people change and evolve, especially within relationships; how that change and evolution both responds to the climes and occurs regardless of it; and how it can happen together or individually, complete with the heartbreak when the latter applies. Aptly, then, it's an evocative, stirring and exceptionally acted feature that morphs in hindsight the more that's revealed on-screen, poignantly so.
UPDATE: July 13, 2020: Animals is available to stream via Binge, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. In the space between ignored dreams and shirked responsibilities, that's where Animals' Laura (Holliday Grainger) and Tyler (Alia Shawkat) largely live. Devoted friends to the point of codependency, and just as dedicated to their Dublin routine of drinking, debauchery and doing the bare minimum at their barista gigs, they've seen no reason to change their ways for the past decade. But, as Laura suddenly realises, they're not getting any younger. The pair's thirties are here. The book that Laura has supposedly been penning since the two first met remains little more than an idea. And, her younger sister (Amy Molloy) has traded partying for pregnancy on purpose. Tyler is near-aggressively happy with the status quo, however Laura's epiphany hits like the wine and MDMA the duo are so fond of — and leaves an unshakeable hangover. Directed by Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde (52 Tuesdays), and scripted by British writer Emma Jane Unsworth based on her own book, Animals finds its joined-at-the-hip protagonists at a crossroads. Glued together by choice for so long, they're now coming unstuck. Forget romantic turmoil; this is a tale of platonic heartbreak and existential malaise spiralling into an inescapable whirlpool. Animals isn't the first film to understand that drifting away from a friend is just as painful as ending a love affair, but it joins a relatively sparse dramatic subgenre. Indeed, there's a refreshing forthrightness to the story, taking Laura and Tyler's pseudo-couple status as a given. While jokes are made about wives, marriages and separations, particularly once Laura starts seeing more of her new musician boyfriend Jim (Fra Fee) and spending less time with her increasingly petulant bestie, they're hardly necessary — just how crucial the pair have been to each other for a third of their lives is constantly written across their faces. Girl meets girl, sparks fly, they live wildly and become each other's ride-or-dies — that's not a scenario that often gets such thoughtful big-screen attention. The importance of depth and detail in this situation, especially in leapfrogging any and all female friendship cliches, really can't be underestimated. Whether or not Hyde and Unsworth have overtly drawn upon their own respective experiences, the end result resonates with a lived-in air. Authenticity isn't just something their characters are searching for; it seeps from the movie. Frolicking or fighting, embracing firmly or steadfastly ignoring each other, the dynamic between Laura and Tyler feels like it could've moseyed out of any shared flat filled with retro furniture, piles of clothes and too many empty bottles (and, thanks to stellar production design and costuming work, it looks that way too). That said, Animals does come with a caveat, or a strength that could initially be seen as a flaw. Played to perfection by the two leads, the movie's main characters seem as genuine as the circumstances they're navigating, as well as the relatable emotions they're displaying. Unsurprisingly, that means they're not always wholly pleasant to spend time with. They needn't be, of course. They shouldn't be, in fact. No mere mortal is bearable every second of every day. Again, this warts-and-all approach is refreshing, not to mention teeming with meaning. Shawkat's Tyler can come across as abrasive and performative, and Grainger's Laura as uncertain and unfocused, with the picture calling out, sifting through and challenging common millennial stereotypes through these traits. There's no judgement here, but rather a commitment to seeing things like they are — even if the film styles its frames in a somewhat dreamlike way at the same time. As steeped in truth as Animals proves, bleak, stark reality isn't the name of its game — visually, at least. When you're caught in the hustle and bustle of life, it can be surreal. When you're reflecting on past choices, agonising over future paths and wondering if your most important relationship to date will survive the present, the right answer rarely stares you plainly in the face. With all of that in mind, Hyde gives her movie a flavour of hectic exuberance, with ample assistance from editor and cinematographer Bryan Mason. That mood couldn't be more influential, including when Animals leans into its more obvious developments and sentiments. In the easy, hard, routine and thorny moments alike, questioning everything you know and navigating a quarter-life crisis should feel energetic, jittery and a little uncanny, after all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FN_zr4rQzY
UPDATE, February 1, 2021: Hail Satan? is available to stream via DocPlay, Stan, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. Between Australia's last election, the ongoing mess over Brexit and the trashfire that is the American political landscape, conflict thrives in today's society. Perhaps satanism is the answer? Such a solution is guaranteed to polarise, especially at a time when right-wing Aussie factions are trying to excuse homophobia as an expression of religious beliefs, and when conservative US groups are using their faith as a reason to eradicate women's reproductive rights. But, as the thoroughly engaging and informative documentary Hail Satan? explains, challenging and tearing down outdated attitudes like these is The Satanic Temple's main aim. Partial to a title with punctuation, as her 2016 doco Nuts! demonstrated, filmmaker Penny Lane astutely places a question mark at the end of Hail Satan?. By the conclusion of her latest seemingly gimmick-driven movie, you can be forgiven for wondering if you actually agree with the two-word phrase — or, at least, with the people seen uttering it. Lane takes her attention-grabbing subject, sheds the demonic stereotypes and cartoonish uproar, and examines the reality of worshipping at The Satanic Temple's altar. Founded in 2013 as a headline-seeking means of calling out the legislated introduction of Christian prayer in Florida schools, the Salem-headquartered organisation agitates for true religious freedom, and takes its social activism seriously. Sure, members sometimes wear goat horns and don fetish outfits, and plenty call themselves heavy metal fans, however it's the quest to keep all churches away from matters of state that really lights their fires. Lane is never seen on-screen, but her jauntily spliced-together film shares the wry smile that must've been plastered across her face as she was making it — the grin of someone aware that she's not only unpacking a fantastic, thought-provoking area, but a topical and provocative one that makes a meaty statement about the modern world. Seen in talking-head interviews and on-the-ground footage, The Satanic Temple's co-founder and spokesman Lucien Greaves sports the same look and certainty about his cause, with an extra glint of mischief. Given his organisation's many stunts, his expression is understandable. "Performing a "pink mass" designed to turn the dead mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps into a lesbian — a response to the hate-mongering church's plans to picket the funerals of Boston marathon bombing victims — is just one of the Temple's high-profile exploits. The After School Satan project, an alternative to Christian-based class activities, is another. And then there's the passionate fight to counter statues of the Ten Commandments placed outside of government buildings by applying to erect satanic monuments next to them. While there's no doubting where Hail Satan?'s sympathies reside (even with its purposeful question mark), the film builds its case in a clever and witty manner. Simply showing what The Satanic Temple stands for, and insightfully exploring how it uses Satan as a subversive symbol against government-mandated theology, conveys much of the documentary's point. It doesn't escape attention that the group's outreach and protest actions, and crusade against religious doctrine triumphing over justice and intelligence would receive emphatic support if they were performed by a less divisive body. Or, that they'd likely be championed for their pursuit of equality and freedom on all grounds, too. Of course, that's one of the movie's incisive messages. If the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions, these occultists heartily embrace both parts of that phrase. Life battling injustice with brimstone isn't all a bed of roses, which Hail Satan? doesn't overlook. As The Satanic Temple has expanded, reaching 50,000 members worldwide in its first three years, controversy and squabbles have followed. Displaying the playful tone that makes the film such an enjoyable watch, the doco doesn't avoid its counterpart's own internal turmoil either — rightfully contending that the Catholic Church's continuing and widespread sexual abuse scandal eclipses any troubles linked with contemporary satanism. That's the type of faith-based corruption and hypocrisy this anti-Christ outfit is attempting to combat. If you like that satanist brand of activism, rebellion, openness and inclusion, then Hail Satan? will sweep you over with the right kind of satanic panic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amB2Ol6wihg
