When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows dropped its last terrible three words on us at the close of the book, all was not well. It would never be well without Harry, Ron, Hermione fighting the Dark Lord in a series of fantastical and wholly engrossing scenarios. But, little did we know, this would not be the end of the Age of Harry Potter. Thanks to the internet and the sheer demand for all things HP, Harry has lived on through new books, fan website Pottermore, the Fantastic Beasts film spinoff series and all manner of events dedicated to the franchise. One of the biggest things to come of the post-Harry Potter era has been Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, of course — aka the West End play that's essentially the eighth book in the series. It first arrived in Australia in February 2019, hitting up Melbourne's Princess Theatre, and proved unsurprisingly popular. Now, after closing down during the Victorian capital's 2020 lockdowns, the production has announced that it's returning in 2021. Muggles, rejoice. Harry Potter fandom aside, this is also something that all theatre-goers can get excited about. Since debuting in London in July 2016, the production has won a swathe of awards and has proven a repeated sell-out — in the West End, on Broadway and in San Francisco, too. Melburnians — and other Australian Harry Potter and/or theatre aficionados — can mark Thursday, February 25, 2021 in their diaries, as that's when the magic is returning. The show will resume after a 49-week hiatus, with tickets currently available until Sunday, July 18. If you already hold a ticket for shows originally scheduled for January 20–February 24, those performances are being postponed and rescheduled — and you'll be automatically moved to an alternative date from July 21 onwards (and with the same seats you originally booked). You'll also be given the option to exchange your ticket to an earlier show, if you'd prefer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gp6ekBcNYY&feature=emb_logo So what exactly is The Cursed Child about? Well, it picks up 19 years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and that abominably cheery epilogue on Platform 9 3/4. Harry is now an overworked Ministry of Magic employee, and the play focuses on both him and his youngest son Albus Severus Potter as they grapple with the past and future. The production is presented in two parts, so you'll have to book into two performances, either on the same day (matinee and evening) or on consecutive evenings. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child returns to Melbourne's Princess theatre from Thursday, February 25, 2021, with tickets on sale now. Top image: Evan Zimmerman for Murphy Made.
If there's one region that put the Australian wine industry on the world wine map, it's the Barossa. Its signature style of bold, juicy, and age-worthy red wines has stunned wine critics, experts and novices worldwide. You can't get shiraz like a Barossa shiraz anywhere else. One wine brand that is spruiking its prestige in the region is Krondorf Wines. We chatted with Krondorf's head winemaker and Barossan native, Nick Badrice, about the brand and what makes the Barossa region so special. Tell us a little about yourself and your time at Krondorf Wines. I grew up in the Barossa Valley, so it was natural that I was immersed in the wine industry from a young age. This [current] vintage will see me having completed 35 vintages. I have made wines from many of Australia's premium wine-growing regions including Tasmania, Yarra Valley, Eden Valley and the Barossa Valley. But I also spent several vintages working overseas in Spain making wines from the region's extremely old grenache and tempranillo bush vines. I drive my knowledge and experience from this time to fuel my passion for producing super premium wines under the Krondorf label, using fruit from some of the Barossa Valley's oldest vines. As a native Barossan, do you think wine runs in your veins or is it less nature and more a case of nurture that led you to join the industry? My father and grandfather both worked in the wine industry which led me to do a vintage. My aim was to earn some money to be able to travel overseas, but this didn't go as planned. I ended up loving it — and here we are now. What, in your opinion, sets the Australian wine industry apart from the old-world wine regions of Europe and the new-world wine regions of the Americas and South Africa? The Australian wine industry is always pushing the boundaries to try new things and advance ourselves. Whether it's technology, winemaking techniques, advancements in equipment, or viticulture [grape-growing], we are continually striving to be at the forefront of the industry. The history of the Barossa Valley extends back almost two hundred years and includes the oldest vines in the world — do you think it was always destined to be a wine country, or was it purely chance that led those settlers there? The Silesians [people of Central Europe] who first settled the Barossa in the 1840s practised diversified farming. This includes farming livestock, growing crops, maintaining fruit orchids and small vine gardens. After the first few years, they discovered the grape vines doing particularly well on the fertile soils of the Barossa, which led to further plantings. So, what was once a 'cottage industry' is now recognised as a region that produces some of the most sought-after wines in the world. What makes the region such a perfect spot for this red variety? The Barossa has a warm climate that experiences cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers with low humidity and plenty of sunshine. This combination of dry, sunny days broken by short spells of rainfall creates an uninterrupted ripening period, which allows the grapes to achieve optimum ripeness. It's ideal conditions for full-bodied red wines with exceptional depth, flavour and richness, such as shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and grenache. What time of the year does the region really shine? As a winemaker, harvest time is always the most exciting — the anticipation of the new vintage and the opportunity to create new wines is super exhilarating. The Barossa comes alive during this time. The community also comes together for the bi-annual Vintage Festival, which is a major drawcard for tourists coming to the area during the harvest season. If a complete wine rookie were to ask you 'why should I choose to buy Krondorf?' what would you tell them? Krondorf's winemaking approach is one of minimalism. We use traditional techniques to create wines that showcase the terroir of the wine — the characteristics of the soil type and microclimate of the sites on which the grapes are grown. The range includes super-expressive wines, some of which are made from the oldest vineyards in the region. The Krondorf Kings Mantle Shiraz is the icon shiraz in our range — it's the epitome of Barossa shiraz. What's your recommended care plan to get the best glass out of a bottle of Krondorf shiraz? Do you recommend cellaring or are your wines drinkable now? The Krondorf range includes wines that are delicate, highly fragrant and medium-bodied and made to be drinkable now, and those that are made to be cellared. These wines are typically full-bodied and have amazing richness, concentration, depth of flavour and structure, which will only get better with time. I would recommend carefully cellaring these wines which means storing them somewhere that sits between 12-14 degrees Celsius, with no light and has minimal changes in temperature. A seldom-used wardrobe or cupboard is better than the top of your fridge. Krondorf recently opened a cellar door; what experiences does that offer visitors? The cellar door is located in the township of Tanunda and delivers a high-end, relaxed atmosphere without the stuffiness that can sometimes come along at certain wine tastings. At the cellar door we share a range of sub-regional wines from individual vineyard sites at our masterclass tastings, where the wines are matched with local, regional produce. We immerse our guests in the history of Krondorf and the lives of the early Silesian settlers to the Barossa. What are some local spots in the region for first-time visitors to check out? The Barossa is steeped in history and has so many amazing historical destinations for visitors to experience. My personal recommendation is to visit the historic village of Seppeltsfield, it has an excellent spectacle of palm trees that line the roads and is a must-see. The historic Seppeltsfield winery offers wine tastings, a restaurant and specialty shops, plus it's surrounded by gorgeous gardens. Obviously, the other place I'd recommend for visitors to relax and enjoy a drink is the Krondorf Wines cellar door. Be honest: when you go out for dinner, do you order wine, or do you like to keep your work life out of your personal time? Whenever I'm out to dinner, I always like to check the wine list out of curiosity to see what's on offer. There's often a wine I'd like to drink. As a winemaker, there is always something new to experience, whether it be Australian or international. How do you go about pairing wines? Are you a classic red wine and steak person, or do you have any unusual pairings up your sleeve that always work? To be honest, I don't have any rules here. It's all about experimenting and discovering what does or doesn't work for you. My personal favourite is Barossa grenache matched with fried pig's ears and spicy Sichuan sauce. What's exciting you about the wine industry right now? At Krondorf, we are always looking for better ways to combat climate change and lessen our carbon footprint, it's an important part of our brand's future. We're in the process of transitioning several of our vineyards to organic farming and certification. Our customers are searching for high-quality organic and biodynamic wines, and we want to meet that demand. Plus, increasing sustainable agricultural practices is key to the future of the Australian wine industry. Discover Krondorf Wines and its story at its cellar door in the township of Tanunda in the heart of the Barossa. Book a tasting on the website.
James Bond has never really been comrades with Russia. In fact 007 novels and films were officially banned in the USSR for decades due to their perceived anti-Soviet rhetoric, so the last thing to expect would be the Russian Army Choir covering Adele's sultry Oscar-winning eponymous track to Skyfall but that is exactly what has been delivered to us — and it is fantastic. The singing military septet performed the song in full on Russian breakfast television dressed complete in military garb, supplying a tidal wave of intensity to a song already drowning in it. Singing entirely in English — with a little clipboard help and some minor slip-ups that can be forgiven by their commitment — the youthful soloist beautifully introduces the song before his stern choristers join in to roar the chorus and have the hosts of the show (dressed in their favourite Wiggles block colours) swaying along. The singing sensations have now been viewed more than 1 million times on YouTube. Amidst the (deserved) uproar over Russia's anti-gay laws, brought to light in particular by Stephen Fry's impassioned plea to boycott the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, hopefully this love ballad can melt the hearts of the Russian administration behind this legislature. Whilst incredibly unlikely, at least we can still enjoy this tingling rendition. Also, check out those hats. Via Huffington Post.
In too many music biopics to count, a star is born — and also rises to fame after putting their talents towards a dream that's inspired them as long as they can remember. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story looks set to follow same formula, and also parody it. It wouldn't be a movie about Weird Al Yankovic if it didn't take something that already works, then give it a satirical spin, now would it? "My whole life, all I wanted was to do... was make up new words to a song that already exists," Yankovic, as played by Daniel Radcliffe (The Lost City), says in the just-dropped full trailer for Weird — in case you thought the film wasn't going to be gloriously ridiculous. This line bookends glimpses of a childhood Al happily thumbing through accordion magazines and getting caught at a polka party. In other words, this humorous look at the man behind oh-so-many humorous songs is taking the exact approach a film about Weird Al really has to. The new trailer follows a teaser back in May, and gives viewers plenty of gifts: accordions, obviously; recreations of Weird Al's film clips and live performances; chaotic meetings with Madonna, as played by Westworld's Evan Rachel Wood; and origin stories behind tracks like 'My Bologna' and 'Like a Surgeon'. The list goes on, and also includes Radcliffe having an absolute ball in the lead role. In his time playing Harry Potter, Radcliffe did many things. He didn't cut like a surgeon, get himself an egg and beat it, or lose on Jeopardy, though. And, he certainly didn't don the curliest of wigs, swan around in Hawaiian shirts with his chest hair flapping in the breeze or pick up an accordion, either — but Weird is making all of the above magic happen. With Radcliffe seemingly having the time of his life as the musician behind 'Another One Rides the Bus', 'Smells Like Nirvana' and 'Amish Paradise' — plus comedic riffs on pretty much every other big song of the past four-plus decades that you can think of — Weird: The Al Yankovic Story really is exactly what it sounds like. It sounds wonderful, too, naturally. Radcliffe sports wire-framed glasses, those shirts, that hair and Yankovic's instantly recognisable moustache in the music biopic, which feels like it was cast by the internet. Made for the Roku Channel in the US, and arriving in America on November 4 — with no details yet dropping about where it'll air Down Under, or when, sadly — this is 100-percent an authorised bio. Yankovic is one of the screenwriters, in fact, alongside director Eric Appel (a TV sitcom veteran with Happy Endings, New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and top-notch cop-show parody NTSF:SD:SUV on this resume). If the man in the spotlight's career has taught us all anything apart from the wrong words to pop hits, however, it's that he doesn't take a single thing, including himself, seriously. Also set to feature: Yankovic's rise to fame, all those songs, everything from "his torrid celebrity love affairs" to his "famously depraved lifestyle", and a story that follows his journey "from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time" — at least according to the original press release revealing the flick, which sports a healthy sense of humour. When the film was announced, Yankovic gave his input too, of course. "When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I'm very happy to say we're on schedule," he said. "And I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for." Check out the trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story below: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story releases in the US on November 4, but doesn't yet have a release date Down Under — we'll update you when further details are announced.
Expressions Dance Company (Brisbane) and Cathy Sharp Dance Ensemble (Basel, Switzerland) have teamed up for a 60min performance, giving Australians the rare opportunity to experience European-styled contemporary dance at its very best. Inspired by old-fashioned letter writing and modern social networking between dancers from both companies, Scripsi Scriptum is a program of two dance works where the art of communication is questioned. Following the evolution of communication, conversations and questions are explored uniquely through each company’s own style. Although physically and visually contrasting, refined subtleties link the program and take the audience on a thought-provoking journey. The show comes to us after a successful opening season at The Roxy Theatre in Basel, Switzerland, where both companies enjoyed standing ovations every night. Each group are highly regarded in their own countries and the fusion of the two is proving to be an incredible success. Described by the European Press as striking, sophisticated, playful, sexy and acrobatic, each company paint imaginative pictures with their own distinctive choreography and unique style. Come explore the questions of communication and enjoy a completely new fusion of European and Australian styles of contemporary dance through this highly praised program.
Maybe you look forward to winter for the warmer attire. Perhaps you're all about getting cosy at home. Or, if you're a fan of loading up on sweets and carbs, you could have National Doughnut Day marked in your calendar — circled, of course — for a date with free doughnuts. Each year, Krispy Kreme gives away an extremely excessive number of doughnuts. You're probably now wondering what constitutes an excessive amount of doughnuts — and no, polishing off a packet by yourself doesn't count in this instance. Krispy Kreme's giveaway is going big, with the chain slinging 100,000 original glazed doughnuts for the occasion. Whether or not you're a big fan of food 'days', we're guessing you are quite fond of free doughnuts. To snag yourself a signature glazed freebie, head to your closest Krispy Kreme store in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia on Friday, June 7. That gives you a heap of places to flock to, with Sydneysiders able to hit up 18 stores stretching from Penrith to the CBD, Victorians needing to visit nine locations from Chadstone to Collins Street, and Queenslanders given eight different doughnut shops to pick from (with the most central in Albert Street in the CBD). Residents of Perth can make a date with one of four Krispy Kreme locations, while Adelaide has a raft of stores to visit. The National Doughnut Day deal isn't available anywhere other than Krispy Kreme stores, or via online orders or third-party deliveries. There's also a limit of one freebie per person, and the giveaway only applies to the original glazed variety. The 100,000 doughnuts will be spread across the participating shops, so you'll want to get in relatively early if you want to kick off your Friday with a free sweet and doughy treat. Obviously, whether you nab one or not is subject to availability. Krispy Kreme's free doughnut giveaway is happening in the chain's stores around the country on Friday, June 7, 2024. To find your closest shop and check its opening hours, head to the Krispy Kreme website.
UPDATE, September 17, 2021: Another Round is available to stream via SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Even the most joyous days and nights spent sipping your favourite drink can have their memory tainted by a hangover. Imbibe too much, and there's a kicker just waiting to pulsate through your brain and punish your body when all that alcohol inevitably starts to wear off. For much of Another Round, four Copenhagen school teachers try to avoid this feeling. The film they're in doesn't, though. It lays bare the ups and downs of knocking back boozy beverages, and it also serves up a finale that's a sight to behold. Without sashaying into spoiler territory, the feature's last moments are a thing of sublime beauty. Some movies end in a WTF, "what were they thinking?" kind of way — for a recent example, see Wild Mountain Thyme — but this Oscar-shortlisted Danish film comes to a conclusion with a big and bold showstopper that's also a piece of bittersweet perfection. The picture's highest-profile star, Mads Mikkelsen (Arctic), is involved. His pre-acting background as an acrobat and dancer comes in handy, too. Unsurprisingly, the substances that flow freely throughout the feature remain prominent. And, so does the canny and candid awareness that life's highs and lows just keep spilling, plus the just-as-shrewd understanding that the line between self-sabotage and self-release is as thin as a slice of lemon garnishing a cocktail. That's how Another Round wraps up, in one the many masterstrokes splashed onto the screen by writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (Kursk)) and his co-scribe Tobias Lindholm (A War). The film's unforgettable finale also expertly capitalises upon a minor plot detail that viewers haven't realised had such significance until then, and that couldn't typify this excellent effort's layered approach any better. But, ending with a bang isn't the movie's only achievement. In fact, it's full of them. The picture's savvy choices start with its premise, which sees the quiet and reserved Martin (Mikkelsen) and his fellow educators Tommy (Thomas Bo Larsen, Veni Vidi Vici), Peter (Lars Ranthe, Warrior) and Nikolaj (Magnus Millang, The Commune) all decide to put an out-there theory to the test. Motivated by real-life Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, they conduct an experiment that involves being permanently sauced. Skårderud has hypothesised that humans are born with a blood alcohol deficit of 0.05 percent, so, with some cajoling needed on Martin's part, the quartet work that idea into their daily lives. Ground rules are established, and the shots, sneaky sips and all-hours drinking swiftly begins. Another Round's concept might initially seem like a gimmick. Contending that constantly being under the influence of alcohol is better for humans than sobriety sounds like something that a teenager might mix up, after all. And yet, that premise is never treated as a goofy stunt by Vinterberg, Lindholm and their cast (even if it's easy to imagine how the sure-to-happen US remake will handle the situation). Instead, Another Round uses its underlying idea to uncork a wealth of sharp and raw insights into men, midlife malaise and group behaviour. It pours out more than a few observations on the weight of societal expectations, and the male tendency to internalise rather than express one's feelings as well. These notions are evident when Martin and his pals start drinking to commence their days and to get through them, but they only get more potent as the film goes on. As the four teachers commit to doing whatever they need to maintain their sloshed state, it doesn't take long for them to veer away from their own guidelines. Also quick and easy: straying away from the high-minded notion that they're getting drunk in the name of science and not just because they're each unhappy with their lives in their own ways. Whether you're a keen social drinker or you stay away from the hard stuff completely, Another Round doesn't trade in unrealistic revelations — because we all know that no amount of alcohol, or lack of it, can ever solve all of life's problems. But the film approaches its subject with equally clear, playful and melancholy eyes, especially where Martin is concerned. Before his friends suggest non-stop day-drinking, he's in a rut. When he asks his wife Anika (Maria Bonnevie, Becoming Astrid) if he's boring, it's obvious that she wants to say yes. At school, his students are so worried about his absence of enthusiasm that they tell him they think his bland teaching could cost them marks in their exams. Then, one drop at a time, he starts proving Skårderud's theory. He's creative, confident and courageous, and feels more like himself. It takes an immense amount of skill on Vinterberg's part to convey that change, ground it in reality and never lose sight of the grim repercussions of overindulging. As aided by the movie's naturalistic colour scheme and graceful framing, it takes just as much to ensure the entire film remains frank, unflinching and yet also warm and sometimes humorous. One of Denmark's best directors, Vinterberg was always going to rise to the challenge. Earning the same description in his own field, the always-excellent Mikkelsen was always going to do the same. They make an exceptional pair; when they last teamed up for 2012's The Hunt, the difficult drama about a teacher accused of acting inappropriately with one of his kindergarten students was one of the cinematic highlights of that year. As everything from Festen to Far From the Madding Crowd have also shown, Vinterberg consistently casts his films well, and Mikkelsen is in top-notch company here. Still, Another Round needs its leading man's versatility, and his ability to flit between stoicism, desperation, quiet despondency and charming swagger in particular. There's a reason that, thanks to the likes of Casino Royale, A Royal Affair, Hannibal, Doctor Strange and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Mikkelsen has become one of film and television's most engaging performers — and Another Round will have you saying cheers to that, and to its astute tragicomic look at coping with mundane lives and the realities of getting older in an extreme fashion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5R46NgopPw
A star of movies as well as music, Elvis Presley has rarely been far from screens. First, he was acting in flicks. Then, features were made about his story. He'll be back in the building in Priscilla, although it doesn't tell his tale from the usual angle. As the name makes plain, Sofia Coppola (On the Rocks) is exploring his marriage to Priscilla Presley from the latter's perspective. Coppola reteams with American distributor A24 after On the Rocks and The Bling Ring before it to adapt Elvis and Me, Priscilla's 1985 memoir that was co-written with Sandra Harmon. This isn't the first time that the book has hit the screen thanks to a 1988 TV movie, but it clearly has its namesake's approval given that she's one of the film's executive producers. (Another: Coppola's brother Roman.) The focus: the tale from when a teenage Priscilla Beaulieu met rock 'n' roll superstar Elvis Presley at a party, following their courtship and marriage. It's a well-told affair both on-screen and in the media, taking the couple from a a German army base to Graceland, with Coppola's version seeing its ups and downs — thrills and struggles, too — through Priscilla's rather than her hip-swinging husband's eyes. In both the initial teaser and just-dropped full trailer, Priscilla and Elvis' romance rides highs and lows towards heartbreak, including their first meeting, her arrival at Graceland, their wedding, her pregnancy and being a mother to Lisa Marie. Elvis' music stardom and fame also feature, plus Priscilla's yearning to be her own person. Playing the rock 'n' roll couple, thank you very much: Mare of Easttown, Devs, On the Basis of Sex, Bad Times at the El Royale and Pacific Rim: Uprising actor Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla, with Australian Euphoria and The Kissing Booth star Jacob Elordi as Elvis. Spaeny won the Best Actress award at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival for her performance. Coppola writes and directs Priscilla, making her first film since 2020's On the Rocks, while Succession and Hello Tomorrow!'s Dagmara Dominczyk also stars. The movie is due in US cinemas in November, with release details Down Under yet to be announced. And, if you're wondering whether the Presley family's story is angling for a trilogy, each with a different cast, different acclaimed filmmaker at the helm and different person in the spotlight, that's understandable. Baz Luhrmann's Elvis arrived in 2022, and now Priscilla takes that trilogy idea two-thirds of the way there. Whether there'll also be a Lisa Marie movie is yet to be seen. Check out the trailer for Priscilla below: Priscilla doesn't yet have a release date Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced.
Caitlin Park Electronic whiz kids don't come more stylin' than Sydney's multitalented Caitlin Park. With her 2011 debut album Milk Annual applauded Australia-wide and the 2012 Qantas Spirit Of The Youth Award under her belt, Park inked a deal with Create/Control in February this year (home to fellow Aussies Oliver Tank, Feelings, Go Violets and internationals Parquet Courts and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros). Marking the team-up with the release of her second album The Sleeper, the smoky-voiced Sydneysider will bring her brand new tunes to The Hive on Saturday, August 2. Disarmingly catchy singles like 'Lemonade' are sure to get this all-ages gig significantly toe-tappin'. Saturday at The Hive. More info here. Marie Ellis OAM Prize for Drawing 2014 Recognised nationwide, the Marie Ellis OAM Prize for Drawing is a significant event on the Brisbane arts calendar. Hundreds of entries are submitted for consideration, showcasing the amount of depth and imagination within our artistic community. Now in its fifth year, the prize exhibition will be one of the best yet. The 2014 exhibition is directed by Holly Riding (founder of Nancy Zine) and Peter Breen, and will run until the 18th of August. The opening night festivities will include the announcement of the winner and a vote for the People’s Choice Award. This is an important night for many, and everyone is encouraged to attend to support all the selected artists and to witness Brisbane art history in the making. Saturday and Sunday (until August 18) at Jugglers Art Space. More info here. Devil's Knot It’s the movie that was always going to be made, the re-enacted version of one of the most heartbreaking small-town murder mysteries and biggest miscarriages of justice the United States has seen. It’s also the movie that never should have been made, for the devastating true tale as told in four documentaries now — the Paradise Lost trilogy, and West of Memphis — can’t be embellished, fictionalised or bested. Yet exist Devil’s Knot does, a cinematic facsimile of the originals, albeit with an ample dose of star power. Though the potency of the facts remains, the sensationalist and the sentimental combine in an attempt to craft a cautionary case of tragedy crippling a community not just in its initial appearance but in the way it is then handled. Saturday and Sunday, various cinemas in Brisbane. More info and our review here. Jungle Love Festival Launch The Jungle Love Festival is a brand new music and arts festival, set to take place in November at the picturesque Moogerah Dam. Details are still being kept hush-hush at the moment, but anticipation is building steadily. To further stoke the fires of expectation, the team behind the festival are hosting a launch party at new West End venue, The Motor Room. There will be live art from Brisbane art collective, Lost Movements, a performance by Leanna Donovan aka Pent Upglamour and musical performances by Desmond Cheese (pictured) and HRBRT. Also, Stone and Wood Brewing will be on tap and the Bun Mobile will be parked right outside. Also, Trainspotters will be hosting the launch-party after party, so you can get all your pent up partying out in one night. Saturday at The Motor Room. More info here. New Farm Cinemas Everything old is new again at the New Farm Cinemas, the iconic Brisbane venue formerly known as the Village Twin finally reopening its doors. On August 1, the revamped theatre will welcome the public into its retro-styled confines for the first time since 2003. Boutique in style but big in impact, stage one of the renovated venue sees two screens entice cinephiles with a lineup of new and recent blockbusters — Guardians of the Galaxy, Lucy and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes among them. Patrons will enjoy state-of-the-art digital projection equipment and an Australian-first audio system as they sit in either all-new cinema seating or beanbags. Saturday and Sunday (and so forth) at New Farm Cinemas. Head behind the scenes over here. Claire Stening: Shutter Light Grab a paintbrush, find something pretty, pick a surface, add a little texture, finish it off with some shadow, and you’ve got yourself a still life. While these types of paintings tend to shoot straight as far as execution, Brisbane artist Claire Stening adds a unique tranquility to her depiction of everyday objects. Stening has exhibited extensively throughout Australia, was the finalist in the Portia Geech Memorial Award 2010 and was invited to show with the Salon Des Refuses from 2008 to 2010. Now, you can see her calming and creative work in the flesh at Edwina Corlette Gallery till August 16. Saturday and Sunday (until August 16) at Edwina Corlette Gallery. More info here. A Healthy Nosh Mission Not so long ago, going on a health kick meant shutting yourself off from the world, rejecting all dinner invitations and telling yourself you could never eat out again. Not anymore it seems. Brisbane restaurant meal options now include organic, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, raw — the list goes on. To think we can still remember a time when white rice was considered good for you and only coeliacs had to worry about gluten. Mindful eaters and health fanatics should find much to celebrate in our list of the top ten healthy eating spots in Brisbane. There may even be a little something for everyone else. All weekend long, make it a healthy one. Our top ten is over here.
Two years ago, Pappa Rich gave tastebuds across Australia the culinary hybrid they didn't know they were craving: a nasi lemak burger. They were originally sneakily trialled in Sydney stores in 2018, then rolled out for a limited time in 2019. Now, they're back. The burger takes the typical accompaniments in this Malaysian rice dish and sandwiches them all between two toasted burger buns. There are layers of crispy Malay fried chicken, spicy sambal, peanuts and anchovies, all topped with cucumber, lettuce and a fried egg. As a side? Expect Pappa Rich's deep-fried chicken skin, of course. You can also opt for chips if you prefer. The Malaysian hawker chain is returning the nasi lemak burger to its menu — at all of its 31 stores countrywide, but only until Sunday, May 30. If you're instantly hungry, you'll want to pop into one of Pappa Rich's outlets, which includes Wintergarden, Garden City, Indooroopilly and Coorparoo Square in Brisbane.
It's taken a long time to get here, but today the Federal Government will finally legalise the sale of medicinal marijuana in Australia. According to The Courier Mail, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt will today officially announce that cannabis can now be distributed in Australia to those who need it for health and pain relief reasons. At present, thanks to laws passed last year, patients can request medicinal marijuana from their GP, but, as there is no legal market in Australia, are forced to import the drug from overseas (or source it illegally). This change will essentially open up a whole new legal cannabis market in Australia, and allow companies to distribute (and eventually cultivate) it as a medicine. "We are now making it easier to access medicinal cannabis, while still maintaining strict safeguards for individual and community safety," Hunt told The Courier Mail. "As part of these changes, importers can source medicinal cannabis products from a reputable supplier overseas and store these in a safe, secure warehouse in Australia." The new rules will mean that people with chronic illness and pain — like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and cancer — will be able to access the drug much more quickly and with much less rigmarole, although they'll still have to get a prescription from their doctor. Imports will initially make up the country's inventory of cannabis while domestic cultivation is established. According to News Corp, 14 crop licenses are already under consideration. Just to be clear though, recreational use of marijuana is still very much illegal and laws vary state-to-state. This approval is a huge (and necessary) win for people who need marijuana for medical reasons, which will hopefully be implemented very soon. Via The Courier Mail.
Bravo Child is a performance poet and a community builder. But he's also a coder, and he doesn't see that as all that far divided from his other talents. Bravo will be the host of Memebrain, an upcoming hackfest in Chatswood convened by dLux MediaArts, with partners Darwin Community Arts Centre, Kulchajam and the ISEA Portals Project, which aims to link up willing hackers in Sydney, Byron Bay and Darwin to see what they can do when pressing the arts and the computer sciences together. Concrete Playground recently got the chance to catch up with Child at one of his workspaces in inner-city Chippendale, where he told us all about what happens when art and science collide. If you're a coder, it's probably not a great surprise that Memebrain host Bravo Child would like to see you at his upcoming hackfest. But, if you're more of an arts type with little in the way of technical skills, you should know he wants you there, too. A hackfest is traditionally an afternoon, day or weekend where coders get together to collaborate and hopefully come up with some interesting software. Probably the best known recent Sydney attempt was the apps4NSW hackfest that slowly led to real-time bus and train data appearing on Sydney transport apps. The day itself is a 48-hour hackfest buried under the new Chatswood Concourse building. All sorts of people are expected to turn up Friday night — games developers, web developers, creative coders, roboticists (to be confirmed, at time of writing), illustrators, DJs, VJs and maybe even another poet. They'll all be politely clumped together to try to find new ways of linking up art and tech. The long term goal with Memebrain is to start a kind of Kino for Sydney hacking, with a permanent online presence and meetups in the physical world. Growing up to be a Coginaut Bravo describes himself as a 'coginaut', which he says is "an explorer of ideas". Essentially — like recent Vivid Ideas guest Jonathan Harris — he's a storyteller across media. Child splits his time over performance poetry, design work and occasionally cheering up countries one suburb at a time. His technical skills are only a late arrival in an ongoing love of live story. "My art form, if I could whittle it down, would be ideas and experiences." He wasn't always captivated by the technical side of things, though. He started when he was young at singing, acting and dancing workshops in South Africa. Coming to Australia, he studied at Australian Theatre for Young People, later learning impro and competing in the Cranston Cup. He'd run Outspoken workshops and hip hop battle nights and toured with spoken word group the Spokes. Eventually a degree in communication design (print media, essentially) got him interested in the technical, and his career veered off into game design. Make Code Without Computer Skills According to Jonathan Harris, "the medium of our time is code". Child feels similarly, that it's code that cleaves modern electronic art away from being just a repetition of cutscene-heavy, movie-like '90s games. But he doesn't think you need to give up your arts-brain to get into it just because there's a new mechanism to understand behind the scenes. He gives examples of easy ways to dip your toes in the coding world, depending on where your artistic interests lie: Code Academy turns the basic ideas of code into a game, with Foursquare-like achievements for threading your way through short, approachable coding lessons. Processing is another good place to start experimenting. Max/MSP is great for manipulating sound, while Isadora is a simple, "node based" way to learn to program your own interactive video for the stage. Just like some people can write prose but can't really draw, Child makes coding sound like simply another skillset for artists to DIY, or learn to coexist with. You wouldn't need any of it to turn up to Memebrain. But, equally, it doesn't sound like it would be too much drama to get a taste of the code side of things along the way. 48 Hours of Hacking For hacking participants, 48 hours of Memebrain will start Friday evening, June 14. Anyone can join in the main event there. And it's free. But you'll need to register first. There'll be some briefing, some meet and greet, then a night of hacking. He says that the vibe will be a bit like a mini-festival, with massages on Saturday, a chill-out space off to one side for sleepy-lidded hackers and some Saturday mentoring from ISEA Portal Project artists. There'll also be a live link up to teams working in parallel in Darwin and Byron. Participants bring their own components — art, mechanisms, code, ideas — and find a way to plug them together and do new, wonderful things. On Sunday, the results will be shown to the public in front of the Concourse big screen at 6pm. Zydnei should also be wrapping up nearby. It's about integrating skillsets. Any tech or art skill will do, says Child: "If you make cakes: cool. Bring your cake, and we'll plug an electrode into it." But it's also about integrating disparate pools of talent across town. As Child sees it, it's more about combining the two Snowian cultures of science and art. It's a hackfest that takes all types. "An artist who uses technology as the medium or a technologist who creates something artistic. We're really trying to have the fault line between the two become one."
Apollo Bay's seafood extravaganza will return to the Great Ocean Road for three big days in February 2020, dishing up world-class seafood, sourced locally, to the people of the beautiful coastal town. The main event takes place on Saturday, February 15, where you can take your pick from the morning's catch directly from the fishermen at an 'off the boat' seafood market, which will see stalls brimming with oysters, caviar and prawns. Then, Harbour Day continues with live music, pop-up restaurants, interactive demonstrations, sailing lessons, casting competitions, and plenty of craft beer, wine and cocktails to sweeten the deal. Feast on lobster rolls, prawn dumplings, paella, abalone sashimi and more, as the festivities continue into the evening. Bookending the festival are two ticketed events for the true seafood enthusiasts. On Friday night there will be an ocean-to-plate gala feast, which will see top Melbourne chefs dishing up a huge dinner showcasing locally caught produce, complete with matching wines and an ocean-themed dessert. On Sunday afternoon, guest speakers and experts will discuss sustainability in the fishing industry, with oysters, lunch and champagne on the menu.
Sydney can prepare to see a few less dockless share bikes around, as one council makes good on its promise to start impounding those that are left lying around damaged or abandoned. Waverley Council — which covers Bondi, Bronte, Vaucluse, Dover Heights, Bondi Junction, Waverley and parts of Rose Bay — last week backed a motion by Mayor John Wakefield to start clearing wayward bikes from the streets, with Business Insider Australia reporting as many as 60 were impounded on Monday alone. Currently, it costs operators $70 to get each bike back, though the council says it's looking into charging as much as $500 a pop under environmental legislation. There are plans to recycle any unclaimed bikes after one month. Waverley is one of the six councils that teamed up last December to write a new set of share bike guidelines, giving operators three months to step up their game and fix the many problems their bikes appear to have created. Later this month, there'll be a review of the companies' responses to the new guidelines, which call for bikes to be removed from dangerous spots within three hours, require bikes to be unlocked for council staff upon request and state that any damaged bikes must be deactivated immediately. Right now, there's an estimated 2000 share bikes around Sydney, though who knows how much longer that will be the case if their owners don't lift their game. Via Business Insider.
Brisbane's penchant for a party boat has a long history, from The Island to Seadeck and now Yot Club. Haven't had the joy of revelling on the water while cruising down the river? Give it a try for Halloween. Yot Club has been making quite a big splash, as you'd expect from a huge yacht with two bars, a stage, a dance floor and a 400-person capacity. The glamorous, custom-built vessel calls itself "the world's first super yacht entertainment venue", and it's certainly something that southeast Queensland hadn't seen before it hit our waters. Sprawling over two levels, it measures nearly 40-metres long and over 22-metres wide, and blends a licensed floating club and a luxe function space. With lounges across an open deck and undercover, a VIP room in the hull, and the promise of bands and DJs on its lineup, Yot Club wants to be the region's one-stop watery hangout. It serves up more than water, of course, thanks to a menu of classic and creative cocktails, plus brews chilled in the 45-keg-capacity cool room. Yot Club sets off from City Botanic Gardens River Hub — and its Halloween bash on Friday, October 27 includes spooky-themed cocktails, a photo booth to snap all those costumes and prizes for best dressed as well. Yes, you do need to don something to suit the occasion to hop onboard; "only guests in full costume will be allowed on the cruise," the venue advises. Prices vary, starting at entry from $49.95 with drinks and food purchased separately, and also including a $99.95 option with a sip upon arrival. Images: Richard Greenwood / Yot Club.
Residents of Warrnambool, a huge festival is coming your way. Music lovers, you're heading to the Victorian town. The coastal spot has been named the host of Triple J's One Night Stand for 2024, with G Flip, Ruel, What So Not — with some friends — and Thelma Plum leading the lineup. Warrnambool was picked by the Australian radio station from a huge 2087 submissions, with the nation clearly excited about the return of the fest for the first time in five years. The roster of talent taking to the stage at Friendly Societies Park three hours out of Melbourne also includes Sycco and DICE, a competition winner from Unearthed, and special guests as well. [caption id="attachment_966668" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Callum Walker Hutchinson[/caption] Triple J announced back in April that the event would make a comeback this year, then revealed at the beginning of July that it'd return on Saturday, September 14, 2024. Next came the lineup details, and now finally where the fest is rolling into town. Victoria was the site of the very first One Night Stand, too. Twenty years ago, the ABC station gave the town of Natimuk a day to remember when the spot 300 kilometres out of Melbourne hosted its very own major music fest, with Grinspoon, Eskimo Joe and The Dissociatives (aka Daniel Johns and Paul Mac) all getting behind the microphone. So began an event that became a yearly tradition, but taking place in different regional locations, with Triple J putting on a fest every year between 2004–2014, then again from 2016–2019. There's no prizes for guessing why One Night Stand pressed pause from 2020, but that gap in the event's history is finally coming to an end. The all-ages event is returning at time when the Australian live music scene has been suffering, and after a spate of festivals have been cancelling or saying farewell forever. In 2024 alone, both Groovin the Moo and Splendour in the Grass announced lineups, then scrapped this year's fests mere weeks later. Summergrounds Music Festival, which was meant to debut at Sydney Festival 2024, also didn't go ahead. As announced in 2023, Dark Mofo took a breather this year — and Mona Foma, the summer fest also held by Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art, has advised that its 2024 event was its last ever. With the state of the industry in mind, bringing back One Night Stand is not only much-needed and well-timed, but will also raise funds Support Act, the charity for the Australian music industry. In the past, the event has also been to Ayr, Dalby and Mt Isa in Queensland; Port Pirie, Tumby Bay and Lucindale in South Australia; Cowra and Dubbo in New South Wales; Collie and Geraldton in Western Australia; Sale and Mildura in Victoria; Alice Springs in the Northern Territory; and St Helens in Tasmania. One Night Stand Lineup 2024: G Flip Ruel What So Not + Friends Thelma Plum Sycco DICE triple j Unearthed Competition Winner + special guests 2024's triple j One Night Stand will take place on Saturday, September 14 in Warrnambool, with tickets on sale from 19am on Thursday, July 25. For more information, head to the radio station's website. Top image: Drew de F Fawkes via Wikimedia Commons.
As Brisbane starts to cool down and you find yourself asking ‘do I even own a jumper?’ and ‘do I need to shave my legs?’ chances are you’ll start to feel even less like leaving the comfort of your doona. We’ve piled together the top 10 places to keep warm as the mercury drops. Papa Jacks Cheaper than a flight to New Orleans, Papa Jack’s is the new heart of Creole South. When the thick velvet curtains are drawn the space becomes warm and intimate, and if you’re as lucky as us a seven-piece jazz band will take the stage. My cocktail had a ginger syrup so zesty I swear the bartender dug it from the ground himself mere hours before – that’s sure to scare off any lingering cold. PS. Papa Jack’s is celebrating cocktail week with a round-the-world drink tour until Tuesday Fourth Wall Velvet-covered padded crates, guitars, curtains, candles and wall art make up the interior and give this bar a comforting atmosphere. Fourth Wall uses the luxury of being a small bar to throw away the tangible cocktail menu, ask a few questions and tailor you a cocktail that fits like a glove. Drink in hand, jump up on one of the cushioned crates by the window to see throngs of very cold, semi-clothed women line up for the GPO – queue your own warm and smug feeling. Schadenfreude at its finest Three Monkeys Tea Room Nothing says warm and cozy like a hot drink the size of your face. Those seasoned with trips to Three Monkeys will have come across the breakfast-bowl-sized chai this iconic West End cafe serves up nightly. Though the line out the door can sometimes be intimidating, it is always worth the wait for that late-night slice of cake and hot drink of your choice. Three Monkeys is always done best in comfy clothes (they won’t judge you for trackies) and with friends. Garuva There may not be a sign over the door, but most Brisbane restaurant-goers know where to find Garuva. Through a narrow doorway on Wickham St, down a green-hued and tree-lined path lies a rabbit warren of curtained dining areas. The first time I walked into Garuva, I thought I’d accidently found a brothel or massage parlour – four walls of white curtains surround each table and diners are seated on the floor. Cosy up with crossed legs and enjoy a warm Asian fusion menu. Cobbler Bar From the street Cobbler Bar doesn't look like much, but open the door to this speciality whiskey and cocktail bar in West End and it's like opening the door to a world of Edgar Allan Poe. Inside are dimly lit tables, melted red wax candles and floor to ceiling wooden shelves filled with not books but every single genre of booze, malt and spirit imaginable. Pull up a leather padded bar stool, bop your head to the sounds of 50's rock and cast your eyes over the ever changing cocktail list, which stretches from the traditional to the tropical to the innovative and quirky. The End Never has the saying 'good things come in small packages' rung truer than at West End's boutique bar, The End. The deep, dark hue of the walls, interesting artwork, low hanging lights and pot plants make for a cozy interior. While the long tables with high stools and opposing comfy couches add to the snugness of the venue and make it almost impossible to not meet new people or run into friends at The End, mirroring the friendly West End vibe. Death Before Decaf New kid on the block, Death Before Decaf is a caffeine lover’s dream. Serving top quality grinds 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we can guarantee DBD will keep you warm any time of day. With skate decks covering the walls, DBD is our only 24/7 espresso bar, and they play hardcore, metal, rap and hip-hop all day, every day. Make yourself at home. Southside Tea Room Cold weather calls for comfort food, and nothing says comfort food like grilled cheese and a taco plate. We’ve all dreamed of what it would be like to have rock stars for parents, and while there is no chance of that happening, you can let the South Side Tea Room temporarily adopt you. Owned by Brisbane band The Grates, this cozy space is fitted retro kitsch. Sit back on an old sofa, complete with crochet throw, and tuck into a Cuban sandwich. The Gresham There is something warm about rich mahogany. On the floor a large rug covering wooden floors is topped with custom-made Chesterfield couches, cedar tables and red leather bar stools. Behind the bar wooden shelves are lined with a wall of every premium whiskey you can imagine; a ladder is needed to reach the top shelf. The Gresham is a place to sit and savour, a place to be cozy, and (if smoking indoors was still legal) a place to smoke cigars. Lefty's Old Time Music Hall Mix velvet with nostalgia and a live band and Leftie’s has warmth down pat. Inside the cavernous building that used to belong to gentleman’s club The Velvet Cigar, you can now find a portal to an entirely different place and time. The first strains of country and rockabilly music will reach you as you pass through the first set of doors, and by the time you’re really inside, you’ll have well and truly forgotten that you just came from Caxton Street, Brisbane.
Outbreak Day, the date that Cordyceps reached critical mass in The Last of Us — that'd be September 26 — has been and gone for 2024 in Australia. But as the occasion hit the US, HBO gave fans of the TV show based on the hugely popular gaming series a welcome gift. After dropping sneak peeks as images and in promos for the network's full upcoming slate over the past few months, the American cable TV network has unveiled a teaser trailer for the post-apocalyptic hit's second season. Prepare for a time jump. Prepare for a guitar. Prepare for hordes of infected. Prepare for a haunting feeling, too. How does life go on after not just the global devastation caused by the Cordyceps virus, but following the chaos that the first season of The Last of Us brought? Sometime in 2025, viewers will find out — but here's a glimpse now. In season two, it's been five years since the events of season one. And while there has been peace, it clearly isn't here to stay. Yes, Joel and Ellie are back — and, in their shoes, so are Pedro Pascal (The Wild Robot) and Bella Ramsey (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget). This time around, the show's main duo have company from both familiar faces and a heap of newcomers. Rutina Wesley (Monster High) and Gabriel Luna (Fubar) return as Maria and Tommy, while Kaitlyn Dever (Good Grief), Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus), Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), 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 additions. The first teaser for season two gives fans a glimpse of plenty of the above new cast members, including Dever as Abby and Wright as Isaac. Also new: Catherine O'Hara (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) as a guest star. She starts the clip setting a timer and trying to get Joel to talk. His look in response says everything. 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 first-timers to the franchise on consoles and as a TV series, The Last of Us kicked off 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. 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. Check out the new teaser trailer for The Last of Us season two 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.
Get ready to get lit: Enchanted Garden, one of the big highlights of Brisbane's festive calendar in recent years, is returning to celebrate Christmas in 2023. The luminous show lets you see one of the city's favourite places in a completely new light, and will switch on its seasonal brightness for a month leading up to the jolliest day of all — complete with food trucks and a bar so that you can make a night of it. To be accurate, Enchanted Garden fills 22,000 square metres of Roma Street Parkland with lights flickering in, around and over the top of its lush greenery. The local favourite pops up year after year, delighting Brisbanites of all ages — and 2023 is no different. This year, you'll be heading along from Thursday, November 23–Wednesday, December 20, with the event sticking around for an extended season due to past demand. We all sure do love glowing lights, clearly. Designed to take around half an hour to wander through, The Enchanted Garden combines custom-made LEDs — plus special effects, light sculptures, lasers, projections and holograms — with an immersive audio soundscape. The aim: getting merry and celebrating nature, with the 2023 installation telling a tale about a possum getting mischievous in an island cave, then breaking a magical crystal, which shattered into four pieces. For your $9 entry fee, attendees shouldn't go expecting the kind of setup that you've been ignoring on every street corner in Brissie's suburbs. Lights will twinkle and decorations will sparkle; however, this isn't a tacky DIY display at all. That said, a word of warning: people love all things glittery, so prepare to a heap company. Also, tickets usually get snapped up quickly, with this year's going on sale at 10am on Monday, November 13. Sessions run from 6.30pm, letting folks in every 15 minutes until 9.15pm — and, if you're organised enough, you can always pack a picnic, arrive early and enjoy dinner beforehand. Food trucks will also be onsite at the Celebration Lawn from 5pm daily, as will a licensed bar, if you don't get around to taking care of your own nosh.
Coulrophobia affects many people. If the fear of clowns is a common cause of apprehension and panic in your mind, this is definitely not the show for you. If you're the type of person that has balls of steel, can laugh in the face of Pennywise and actually enjoys the circus, than chances are this is your type of entertainment. And the Birds Fell From the Sky is a twenty minute sound and video experience taking you on a trip through a parallel world populated with Faruk clowns. Combining cinema and theatre, this performance takes extra precautions to make you feel detached from reality equipping viewers with video goggles and headphones to create an intense and intimate journey. Actually, intimate may be the wrong word to describe the content of this performance as there is really nothing sexual or cozy about a world colonised by clowns. Finding your eyes and ears hijacked and thrown into the realm of the Faruk clown it's easy to get lost in this wild, anarchic, fictional world. Live interactions are also incorporated into the experience just in case you didn't feel involved enough already. Be ready for a conscious nightmare.
Daniel Craig's run as Bond, James Bond might be over, but that just gives him more time to spend as Benoit Blanc. Back in 2019, the British actor added sleuthing his way through murder-mysteries to his resume, playing the private detective in star-studded whodunnit Knives Out. The end result was not only ace, but also such a hit that Netflix hopped on two sequels. The first followup, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, arrives this December — to stream on December 23, in fact, so consider it any early Christmas gift. It's also filled with famous faces, as the just-dropped first trailer illustrates. Joining Craig: Edward Norton (The French Dispatch), Janelle Monáe (Antebellum), Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision), Leslie Odom Jr (The Many Saints of Newark), Jessica Henwick (The Gray Man), Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Kate Hudson (Music) and Dave Bautista (Thor: Love and Thunder). In this chapter of the Knives Out franchise, the action moves to Greece. If you saw the original — or any murder-mystery involving a motley crew of characters brought together in one location when someone turns up dead — then you'll know how it works from there. There's a lavish setting, that aforementioned big group of chalk-and-cheese folks, threats aplenty and just as much suspicion. Glass Onion takes place on a Greek island, but also sends its various players on a cruise — and yes, thinking about Agatha Christie, including this year's Death on the Nile, is a natural reaction. "Lock the doors. Stay in your rooms. Everyone is in danger," Blanc advises in the sneak peek, because all of that goes with the territory as well. Is the culprit Bautista's Duke Cody on the yacht? Hudson's Birdie Jay in the games room? Hahn's Claire Debella by the pool? You'll have to watch to find out. Just like its predecessor, Glass Onion is both written and directed by Rian Johnson, with the filmmaker moving onto the franchise after 2017's Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi — and still indulging his love of on-screen puzzles, as shone through in Brick and Looper as well. Check out the first trailer for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery below: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will be available to stream via Netflix from December 23. Images: John Wilson/Netflix © 2022.
Brisbane is set to score a huge influx of music this festive season, thanks to the city's newest festival: Wildlands. Taking over the Brisbane Showgrounds on Saturday, December 28, the one-day event will focus on dance, electronic and hip hop, showcasing a heap of local, Australian and international talent. And while the full lineup is yet to be announced, the fest will have an exciting Aussie act among its headliners: Rüfüs Du Sol. The ARIA Award-winning three-piece — who completed a sold-out national tour earlier this year, and made appearances at Coachella and South America's Lollapalooza — have released two chart-topping (and platinum) albums in their short career, with Atlas in 2013 then Bloom in 2016. The song 'You Were Right' — from their second album — also won an ARIA Award for Best Dance Release in 2015. [caption id="attachment_728646" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Rüfüs Du Sol[/caption] Joining the Sydney alternative dance stars — as revealed today, August 1 — will be chart-topping American rapper Tyler, The Creator, who'll be heading to Australia for the first time since releasing his highly lauded album IGOR. Also on the lineup are Grammy Award-winning R&B singer Ella Mai, MC Skepta, funk duo Lion Babe and local producer What So Not. Wildlands already has an impressive pedigree, too — it's the latest venture from the teams behind two other popular Australian festivals, Melbourne's Beyond The Valley and Perth's Origin Fields. The former has played host to the likes of The Kooks, Chance the Rapper, Jamie XX, Stormzy and Mura Masa, while the latter has welcomed Cardi B, A$AP Rocky, Khalid, ScHoolboy Q, Kehlani, M.I.A and Hayden James. Although Wildlands won't simply combine the two interstate festivals into one Brissie-set package, Beyond the Valley's Michael Cristidis does describe the new fest as "bringing the best of the East and West Coast together for one very special day". Still, even if the lineups overlap somewhat, the aim is to give Brisbane a unique fest experience. "I feel that we will be able to create an event that is unique to Brisbane as Beyond The Valley is unique to Melbourne and Origin is to Perth," explains Origin Fields' Saran Bajaj. WILDLANDS 2019 LINEUP Rüfüs Du Sol Tyler, The Creator Ella Mai Green Velvet Jauz Mallrat RL Grime Skepta What So Not 16BL Big Words Claptone Don Dolla Gunma Hobo Johnson & The Lovemakers Jordan Brando Lastlings Lion Babe Made In Paris Shoreline Mafio Willaris K Wildlands hits the Brisbane Showgrounds, 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills, on Saturday, December 28. Tickets go on sale to the general public and midday on Wednesday, August 7 with pre-sale starting at 6pm on Tuesday, August 6. Top image: Beyond The Valley. Updated August 1, 2019
If you're thinking of heading to Tassie for Dark Mofo this year, this could be the clincher. MONA has just announced its next big exhibition, Zero — a celebration of Germany's radical artists of the 1950s and 60s. The show gets its name from the term the artists used, collectively, to describe themselves. They didn't identify as belonging to a movement, style or group, but instead felt connected by a "vision of the things", as explained by Otto Piene, one of the founders. "Zero's philosophical foundation was that art was not something to be painfully extracted in solitude, but assembled and constructed with others, using whatever materials came best to hand: metal, cardboard, glass, plastic, cloth, mirrors and smoke," says MONA's Senior Research Curator Jane Clark. "They banged nails, smashed bottles, poked holes and cut up each other's canvases." The show will feature artworks by original Zero artists, as well as those that have since absorbed their influence. These include Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Günther Uecker and Adolf Luther from Germany; Lucio Fontana, Nanda Vigo, Grazia Varisco, Enrico Castellani and Gianni Colombo from Italy; with Marcel Duchamp, Yves Klein and François Morellet from France; Henk Peeters from The Netherlands; Christian Megert from Switzerland; Jesús Soto from Venezuela; and Yayoi Kusama from Japan. Given that these artworks were often ephemeral, many will be reconstructions. Expect sound effects, music, optical illusions, moving parts, shifting lights and reflective materials. There'll be a particular focus on vibration, which Mack described in 1958 as "resting restlessness…the expression of continuous movement, which we call 'vibration'…Its harmony stirs our souls, as the life and breath of the work." Taking care of curation is Mattijs Visser, founding director of the international Zero Foundation. "Zero is one of the most significant, yet largely forgotten, art movements since the Second World War...Zero needs to be discovered now, while several of their speakers are still with us," he says. Zero will open with a big party on Saturday, June 9 — and it's free for the public to attend (with registration). If you're in town for Dark Mofo — which will run from June 15–24 — it might be a good reason to head to Hobart earlier. The full lineup will be announced on April 6 — we'll keep you updated on that one. Zero will run at the Museum of Old and New Art in Berriedale, Hobart from June 9, 2017 until April 22, 2019. For more info, visit mona. Image: Gianni Colombo: Elastic Space, shot by Matteo Zarbo, courtesy of the Institute for Contemporary Archaeology.
How does an object change once it's presented on a plinth in a museum? How does a pile of bones differ from a crowbar, a trio of glass vessels, or a nude, when each is placed on the same simple white cube and viewed from a uniform angle? These are questions raised by New York-based artist and photographer Simon Harsent’s latest series, White Cube, a meditation on both stillness and change. In Harsent’s own words, "I'm quite intrigued by how keeping a locked-off camera position but changing a single element in a photograph can change perception, ideas and assumptions." A successful photographer working in advertising, Harsent has long been fascinated with change. A decade ago in the series Salt Moon his camera remained in a fixed position, capturing the moonlit ocean on a slow exposure. Approaching the theme of change from another angle, 2009's Melt is a spectacular landscape series capturing the slow decay of icebergs. So how did the artist decide what items to present on the austere white cube? Harsent says they were selected "based on what I thought they could achieve in both their aesthetic appeal and their ability to offer up a myriad of options of stories; not in a literal sense, but each object could potentially have a story behind it. After all, most things in museums are just objects with a history, so by replacing the object each time, a new story is potentially conceived." Historical readings and assumptions collide in possibly the most loaded image of White Cube, a beautiful nude black woman relaxing on the cube as though she were just another museum artefact. How did she enter the mix? After shooting the objects, Harsent wanted to add a human element. "At one point I was thinking of having someone’s body painted like a statue, but I felt that was the wrong thing to do, and I decided to shoot the girl as she is in the final image." As with the rest of this series, the photograph's meaning is supplied by you. What's inspiring Harsent right now in the art world? He's taken with abstract expressionism, and with Richard Serra's current show at the Gagosian in New York. "I love [Serra’s] use of space," he says. "It feels like you are walking in a three-dimensional Rothko painting." He also enjoyed the Richard Avedon exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. "The one thing that struck me were the imperfections in the images that make them so special. There is one image in particular of Bjork where you can see an impression that stockings she must have been wearing has left on her legs. Today that most likely would have been retouched out by an art director and in doing so, the image would have lost the most valuable thing in it." You can view the White Cube series in full and more of Simon Harsent's work on POOL Collective's fancy app, downloadable from iTunes. White Cube is on display at The Pool Collective Redux exhibition at The Black Eye Gallery, 138 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, Sydney, from December 5 to 23.
If you ask me, there is nothing at all to fault about the 90s. Back in the days when you could catch The Fresh Prince, Saved by the Bell and The Secret World of Alex Mac on Nickelodeon every afternoon, you could get around in a pair of jeans that didn't cost you your bank account and you would actually pay for CDs to play in your discman. Health Ledger was still alive, Macaulay Culkin wasn't all coked up and Justin Timberlake wasn't trying to spam the genres. It was a good decade, best spent riding bikes or figuring out cheats on Nintendo games, not lurking Facebook and reblogging memes on Tumblr. It’s time we all got together to appreciate the good things that decade gave us. This Thursday is your chance to get nostalgic and up in the 90s grill. Childhood 4 Change is a 90s party committing to two good deeds - it gives you the excuse to dress up as you long lost 90s hero whilst also raising funds for the Oaktree Foundation’s Ba Futuru Project in East Timor. Don’t be clueless. Head out to Limes Hotel this Thursday for discounted drinks and a night of the nineties.
Got a taste for design? Enjoy your music? I might have an event you’d enjoy. You might have heard that BIGSOUND is on this week, it’s pretty large. Well, this year, the team behind BIGSOUND are introducing a new component to festivities; the BIGSOUND Music+Design Conference. Music and visuals have become intrinsically linked ever since the birth of moving pictures, maybe even before that. Album art, poster design, music clips – there are so many aspects of music that are enhanced by some good visuals. BIGSOUND is celebrating that element of music. On the conference panels are a massive list of who’s who in Music/Design. Perhaps one person that is worth name dropping is rock-god superstar, Nick Cave. Yes, the Nick Cave. In addition, several design houses are on hand to showcase some of their ideas and projects. Though a ticket might cost you a pretty penny, there are some freely accessible sections for the public to enjoy. The Artisan Beer+Design Lounge will be open from 2pm until 8pm where patrons can sample delicacies from Street Food Australia and craft beer from The Scratch – not to mention, they can have a squiz at some great design work. This is bound to be revolutionary aspect of the BIGSOUND conference. If you are in any way intrigued about music and design, this could be for you.
Oh, the forward march of the aging process. It is unrelenting. Just as one birthday passes, another, bigger one is just around the corner. This is quandary Bella is facing. It is the year of the Rabbit and she is turning 29, and with 30 looming over her in bright, fluorescent lights she finds herself seeking solace in a big birthday piss up with her nearest and dearest. Unfortunately what should be a night of frivolity with mates descends into birthday hell when her attendees are not actually ‘friends’ but evil hangers-on, and her uninvited father. In the end her birthday party becomes a night of facing the past rather than forgetting it. Productions of Rabbit, written by Nina Raine, have received rave reviews the world over, and this staging is sure to be no exception with The Good Room aka the unbearably talented Daniel Evans, and the equally impressive Amy Ingram bringing the show to town. If there previous productions (Holy Guacamole, Single Admissions, The Reunion) are anything to go by this will be a fantastic dose of theatre bliss!
We've all tried to soundtrack our lives, whether by creating an iTunes playlist reminding us of that excellent birthday party or by listening to those annual So Fresh CDs that commemorate each individual year of our childhood. Now media artist Brian House has taken it to the next level by literally recording an entire year of his life and etching it onto a playable vinyl record, the Quotidian Record. House tracked his location using an app called OpenPaths for 365 days, assigned each place he visited a certain point on the musical scale and designated each city a key. He then ordered each location by how much time he spent there as well as the regularity of his visits. Whilst there was a distinct repetitiveness as in all daily routines — home, work, the daily commute — the changes offered by daily life, such as travel, provided House with musical creativity. "The more common places were generally given more consonant harmonies, so throughout most of the piece you get a major third repeating, which is basically me sleeping at home," House says to Fast Co.Create. "As I’m moving around more, it gets more complex.” This complexity can be seen on the vinyl itself as it is marked with dates and places so that House and other listeners can jump ahead and experience an exact moment in time. Neatly, an entire day can be heard in just one full revolution of the record, meaning a full year can be musically manifested in 11 minutes. However, despite the data-centric focus of the project and his endeavour to prove that all data is qualitative, House just wants his personal rhythmic signature to be felt like all other music. “It's a framework for a set of memories,” he says. “I hear my commute and my travels through a lens of expectation. I love the sound of my trip into the Colorado wildness, in particular. I re-enact that when I listen, and it’s especially meaningful to me". Due to House wanting to preserve the sanctity of the work on vinyl, you cannot hear the full recording online. However, he has provided a teaser of his year, and despite the unconventional method of composition, it is surprisingly catchy. [Via Fast Co.Create.]
To those yet to finger the face of Ghostface Chilla, Snapchat's mascot stuck in a state of eternal smugness, don't believe everything you've heard. Snapchat is much more than just sexting. In fact, it's hilarious. This app du jour, first launched by four Stanford students in September 2011, allows users to send a predetermined viewable media from one connection to the other before deleting it from both devices forever (lest, of course, someone screenshots what you send, but you'll be notified of that, don't worry). Naturally, targeting those raised suckling the teat of social media, it was a huge hit and by May 2012, 25 images were being sent a second. These days the small American venture is valued between US$60 and $70 million and more than 20 million photos and videos are shared between friends a day. Trust us, they're not all pictures of genitalia in various states of arousal. Honestly. Let us present a brief list of five functions that make Snapchat that little bit awesome. Don't get us wrong, it's ridiculous, it's stupid and it's one of the silliest things you can possibly spend your time doing. But if you can't do and be all of those things with your mates, then you need to find new ones. Gross/freak out your pals Snapchat's greatest asset is its self-defeating, inhibition-killing philosophy. Your more 'creative' chums might brew up some less-than-settling situations like our little baby head here. And don't be surprised if you ever open a Snapchat to find a friend, how should we put it, taking a dump. Check out hot people on the street It's natural, it's normal and there's nothing wrong with being mesmerised by that hot tradie's bulge. So why not share the beauty? Sure, some may argue it's 'breaching' their 'privacy', but as we all learned this Mardi Gras, it's perfectly legal to capture anything on camera/film in a public domain. Become a director Screw you Spielberg, we're a brand new generation and we cry dislike to your feature-length, permanent creations. That's right, we have a camera, we have tools to add text and colour and we have an audience prone to a short attention span at the tap of a screen. Alter reality With the aforementioned added bonus of being able to go cray cray with a paint function, it's always fun to mix things up a little and not so subtly bend reality. Make that hungover selfie just that little more true to life. After all, authenticity sells. Play a game of 'Guess Where I Am' If Twitter has taught us anything, it's ok to show off as long as you're not humble about it. Own that self-righteousness you brilliant genius, and what better way to brag your tits off (not literally) than sending, say, a bed-ridden sick friend a little reminder that you're still functioning like a normal person? All images by Jack Arthur Smith.
From The Crucible and The Craft to Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Suspiria, witches just keep working their magic on popular culture. Now they're casting a spell on the Brisbane art world too, all thanks to the UQ Art Museum. The venue's next big exhibition delves into the world of witches, sorcery, rituals and magic — and given the topic, there's plenty to examine. This showcase will feature bewitching historic etchings, enchanting modern-day works that ponder intuition and incantations, and new commissions of the dark and otherworldly kind. Displaying from Friday, March 1 to Saturday, June 29, Second Sight: Witchcraft, Ritual, Power aims to not only explore all things witchy, but to understand why witches continue to conjure up a reaction — be it fascination or fear. Expect pieces that ruminate on everything from collective happenings to the usual elements to peripheral activity, all while challenging prevailing stereotypes. Witches have been known to have second sight, and here you'll give them a second look. The four-month exhibition features works by 11 artists, and entry is free. Image: Naomi Blacklock, Padma. 2018. Performance documentation from NETHERWORLDS exhibition, Spring Hill Reservoir, Brisbane, 9 June 2018. Photo: Charlie Hillhouse. Courtesy of the artist.
Sydney is currently experiencing a wave of new hotel openings. From the sleek-as-hell Ace Hotel and the lavish Capella Sydney to exciting upcoming openings like the forthcoming W Hotel, the Harbour City is awash with flash new accommodation providers. On top of all of this, a five-star Sydney favourite has just received a multimillion-dollar transformation with heritage CBD hotel Swissôtel unveiling its new look, Euro-influenced rooftop pool and grand lobby bar. Both the bar and pool are located high in the sky, nestled among Sydney's high rises. Enter the hotel from Market Street and head up to level eight to find Arches On Market, a no-holds-barred dining and drinking experience within the building's pre-existing 1930s lobby. A luxurious fit-out has brought new life to the space, and an award-winning chef now heads up the kitchen, serving up a selection of finger food and bar snacks. Take your pick from intimate booths, relaxed lounge seating and the more formal dining space, or take a seat at the eight-metre-long Calacatta marble bar where you can really analyse the cocktail list with the bartenders to determine the beverage your heart truly desires. On the drinks menu, you'll find the signature martini served straight out of the freezer and garnished depending on your preference, as well as sours, cobblers and a twist on an Old Fashioned. Executive Chef John Giovanni Pugliano has pulled together a snack menu that will have you cancelling your dinner reservations elsewhere. Oysters, finger sandwiches, goats cheese and caramelised onion croquettes, prawn cocktails and pork terrine all make appearances alongside caviar and mandarin cheesecake. These vibrant cocktails and stellar eats are all calling to be enjoyed poolside, and hotel guests are in luck with the Arches fare available at the new rooftop pool. This inner-city oasis now boasts built-in cabanas and sun-soaked day beds, as well as booths set up to accommodate a spread of snacks from the lobby bar. Pristine white pool club-style walls surround the timber deck, giving the sky-high swim spot a sense of privacy without shutting it off from the sun and the surrounding skyline. The new-look 369-room hotel and all of its fresh amenities are open now. Rooms start from just over $350 a night and include access to the Ten Stories restaurant, Arches on Market, the rooftop pool and the wellness and spa facilities, all in the heart of the Sydney CBD. Swissôtel Sydney is located at 68 Market Street, Sydney. Restaurant images: Steven Woodburn
There are many things that are great about The Great, and the fact that it tells you what to exclaim whenever you're enjoying it, just received good news about it or simply can't stop thinking about it is one of them. For two seasons so far, this historical satire has bandied about "huzzah!" like it's the only word worth saying. And, come May, it'll do so again when its third season finally drops. The Great was renewed after its second batch of episodes arrived late in 2021, and now season three finally has a release date. Mark Saturday, May 13 in your diary for your next binge — following the rise and reign of Catherine the Great, including her marriage to and overthrowing of Emperor Peter III, with only the slightest regard for the actual facts, this show has a concept that's all killer, no filler, after all. [caption id="attachment_771188" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ollie Upton /Hulu[/caption] Season three will once again feature Elle Fanning (The Girl From Plainville) as Catherine and Nicholas Hoult (The Menu) as Peter, and again step into their chaotic life together. Their nuptials have always been tumultuous, but season two threw everything from attempted murders to mass imprisonments at the couple — and kept disrupting their dynamic as Catherine continued to work towards the name that's a part of history, and also inspires the show's title. So, this time around, expect more of Peter figuring out what it means to play First Husband, and Catherine expanding her influence and reputation beyond just Russia. That, and visions of Peter's late father (Jason Isaacs, Mrs Harris Goes to Paris), life lessons, attempts to build a new country and the usual scheming. While the series has always been supremely confident in its blend of handsome period staging, the loosest of historical realities and that savage sense of humour (it does spring from Oscar-nominated The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara, after all), it felt even more comfortable in its skin during its second season. And smoother, too, yet just as biting. So, hopefully that will remain the case in season three as well, all while it keeps seesawing tonally and proving as sharp as a shot of vodka — or several. Fanning and Hoult will be joined by returning co-stars Phoebe Fox (The Aeronauts), Adam Godley (Lodge 49), Gwilym Lee (Top End Wedding), Charity Wakefield (Bounty Hunters), Douglas Hodge (I Hate Suzie Too), Sacha Dhawan (The Prince), Bayo Gbadamosi (War of the Worlds) and Belinda Bromilow (Doctor Doctor), too, because this is a show with a phenomenally great cast. There's no trailer for The Great season three as yet, but you can check out the trailer for season two below: The Great season three will be available to stream in Australia via Stan from Saturday, May 13.
In sad news for Stateside fans of St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, this year’s Detroit event has been cancelled. Sad – but unavoidable. Unfortunately, the promoters have been unable to book the acts necessary to the Laneway vision. “We tried to get the very few acts that we felt would be appropriate for Laneway and none of them were available,” promoter Danny Rogers stated. “We had one that went all the way to the wire and then changed its mind at the very last minute – bless their beautiful heart, too; they were under so much pressure to be everywhere and anywhere and something had to give. “We decided that we needed to be honest with ourselves and sit it out this year and review it again next year.” Laneway first hit Detroit in September 2013, with a line-up that included Sigur Rós, The National, Chet Faker and Flume. Rogers said the event “delivered what I genuinely believe was the most awesome festival I have ever been part of.” Earlier in 2013, Laneway hit Auckland and Singapore before making its way to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle, with performances from Lorde, Kurt Vile, Haim, Earl Sweatshirt, Four Tet, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Jezabels, Vance Joy and CHVRCHES, among others. Via TheMusic.com.au.
If you're heading to Byron Bay this summer, get ready to ride the world's first solar-powered train. The two-carriage chugger was built in Sydney in 1949, but, as of later this year, will travel along a three-kilometre track between downtown Byron Bay and Northbeach Station up near Sunrise Beach and the Byron arts and industrial estate, driven solely by the sun's energy. Byron Bay Railroad Company, which is operating as a non-profit, has spent four years restoring the train, which was in disuse. There are seats for 100 passengers, as well as standing room for extras and, importantly, space for surfboards and bicycles. To begin, the train will run once per hour between 8am and 10pm, at a cost of three bucks per person. Back in the day, the train ran on diesel. Its conversion took place at the Lithgow Railway Workshop, where solar panels were added to the roof and solar-charged batteries installed. While Indian Railways did launch a solar-powered train earlier this year, the sun only powers the lights, fans and displays on that vehicle. By comparison, on this train, the batteries can power every system, including lighting, air compressors, control circuits and traction. And, should the sun hide its face for a while, they'll gain energy from the grid's green arm. One diesel engine has been removed and replaced with an electric drive package. The remaining diesel engine is staying on-board for to provide emergency back up in the case o an electrical glitch. The Byron Bay Railroad Company will commence its first service by the end of the year. For more information, visit byronbaytrain.com.au.
Brisbane comedy fans, your autumn plans now include chuckling your way through sets by Josh Thomas, Nazeem Hussain, Joel Creasey, Rhys Nicholson, Nina Oyama, Melanie Bracewell and Arj Barker at the 2024 Brisbane Comedy Festival. Each year, the Brisbane Powerhouse-run event brings the giggles for an entire month, with more than 100 comedians set to stand behind the microphone when it next returns. Also on the 2024 list: Reuben Kaye, Luke Heggie, Ivan Aristeguieta, Guy Montgomery, Schalk Bezuidenhout and the return of Sh!t-faced Shakespeare. As always, BCF is a something-for-everyone fest. If you can't find something to laugh at, you mightn't have a funny bone. 2024's Brisbane Comedy Festival will take place from Friday, April 26–Sunday, May 26, filling not only New Farm's riverside arts venue with laughter, but also The Princess Theatre, Fortitude Music Hall and The Tivoli. So far, the event has announced its first 25 acts, spanning both local and overseas names, stand-up sets and broader events. The annual Brisbane Comedy Festival Opening Gala is among them, kicking off the fest with a yet-to-be-revealed list of talents — and so is rom-com production 44 Sex Acts in One Week. Thomas' place on the bill is big news given that he hasn't taken to the BCF stage since 2013, which was when Please Like Me first arrived. When Sh!t-faced Shakespeare makes its comeback — yes, its name is as descriptive as it sounds, with one member of the troupe completely sloshed at each performance — it'll be to take on the Scottish play, aka Macbeth. And Deadloch fans will want to check out Oyama's onstage efforts. The first-round bill also includes Bob Franklin, Tony Martin, Bev Killick and Gretel Killeen teaming up for an Aussie Comedy Legends night; Kaye's brand-new show APOCALIPSTIK; and James Schloeffel from The Shovel and Charles Firth from The Chaser bringing Wankernomics: Solutionising the Corporate World follow-up Wankernomics 2.0: As Per My Last Email Brisbane's way. The 2024 Brisbane Comedy Festival will take place between Friday, April 26–Sunday, May 26. For further details and tickets — with the first shows on sale from 10am on Friday, November 17 — head to the festival's website.
A year-long program of design events could be headed Sydney's way, and a two years' worth of bragging rights as well. The New South Wales capital is currently in the running to be crowned the World Design Capital, making the shortlist for the 2020 title alongside Lille in Northern France. If successful, Sydney will play host to six signature events between January and October, with an opening ceremony at the Sydney Opera House, a World Design Street Festival throughout the CBD, an array of exhibitions and conferences in the lead up to Vivid, and a forum coinciding with Sydney Fringe Festival all currently outlined in the city's bid. Masterclasses, a new Festival of the Front Yard that focuses on post-war design and a design camp on Cockatoo Island are also mooted, in a proposal that seeks to "engage, collaborate and design a new model of social impact for an increasingly urbanised world." Beyond the showcase events, much of the suggested program focuses on Parramatta and its surrounding suburbs — and if you're wondering why, there's a good reason. The bid hasn't been put together by the City of Sydney, with the Parramatta council helping to lead the charge as part of a not-for-profit organisation backed by 40 other outfits, institutions and agencies. Still, "Sydney, World Design Capital" has quite the nice ring to it. As for that moniker and how it comes about, the World Design Capital is designated by the World Design Organisation, highlighting cities that use of design to drive economic, social, cultural and environmental development. The 2020 choice will be announced in October, with Sydney potentially joining previous picks Torino (2008), Seoul (2010), Helsinki (2012), Cape Town (2014), Taipei (2016) and Mexico City (2018). Via Sydney Morning Herald / ArchitectureAU. Image: Vivid / Ash Bollard
UPDATE: MARCH 17, 2020 — Splendour in the Grass has been postponed until Friday, October 23–Sunday, October 25, 2020. This one-off spring edition is 'an effort to ensure a safe Splendour in the Grass experience' in such 'unpredictable times' as well as in response to the Australian Government's ban on public gatherings in excess of 500 people. Many artists have confirmed they'll be playing over these new dates, including Flume, The Strokes and Tyler, The Creator. The below article has been updated to reflect this. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. Throw those GoPros, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. Its 20th year, in fact. As usual, speculation has run wild in anticipation of the lineup announce — will Frank Ocean finally come to Australia? Will the recently reunited Rage Against the Machine be on the lineup? Will Flume be playing? — but the details for Splendour 2020 are finally here. And we're happy to report that some of the rumours were true. Flume — AKA Harley Edward Streten — himself will be Splendouring. He'll be heading back Down Under for his only Aussie show. Speaking of Splendour exclusives, Tyler, The Creator will also only be playing at the festival, performing hits off IGOR including the always-banging 'EARFQUAKE'. The Strokes will be heading to the festival to perform their first new album in seven years, The New Abnormal, and, while the Rage Against the Machine rumour isn't true, another recently reunited big-name band will be playing: Midnight Oil. The Aussie rockers have recently started recording music together for the first time in two decades. They're collaborating with First Nations artists for a new mini-album called The Makarrata Project, which they'll be performing at Splendour. There's also a big female contingent — that is kick-ass but still nowhere near as big as the pool of male performers — which includes Stella Donnelly, Thelma Plum, Jack River, Alice Ivy, Sampa The Great and George Alice (and more). The lineup seems to go on forever, including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Denzel Curry, Violent Soho, the list goes on. Anyway, we know what you're here for. We'll cut to the chase. [caption id="attachment_735766" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tyler, The Creator by Sam Rock[/caption] SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2020 LINEUP Flume (only Aus show) The Strokes Tyler, The Creator (only Aus show) Yeah Yeah Yeahs Midnight Oil (The Makarrata Project) Glass Animals Denzel Curry Duke Dumont Live Violent Soho Mura Masa 100 Adrian Eagle Alex The Astronaut Alice Ivy Andy Golledge The Babe Rainbow perform The Velvet Underground's Loaded Bad//Dreems Baker Boy Banoffee Benee The Big Moon Brame & Hamo Bruno Major Charlie Collins Cry Club Cub Sport Dillon Francis DMA'S Dom Dolla Dro Carey & DJ Scorpion Fazerdaze G Flip George Alice Georgia Gerry Cinnamon Greentea Peng Grinspoon Grouplove Gryffin Hooligan Hefs Idles Illy Inhaler Jack Garratt Jack River Jarreau Vandal Joy Crookes JPEGMAFIA Julia Jacklin Julia Stone The Jungle Giants King Krule King Princess Kllo The Lazy Eyes Lex Deluxe Lillie Mae Lime Cordiale Mako Road Mall Grab Memphis LK Methyl Ethel Mickey Kojak Miiesha Mildlife Miss June Mo'Ju (fka Mojo Juju) Muna Northeast Party House Oliver Tree Petit Biscuit Pink Matter PUP Rolling Blackouts CF Ruel Sampa The Great Shaed Shannon & The Clams Sly Withers Sofi Tukker The Soul Movers Starcrawler Stella Donnelly Stevan Still Woozy Surfaces Thelma Plum Tierra Whack Tim Minchin Triple One Wallows Splendour will return to North Byron Parklands on Friday, October 23, Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25, 2020. Tickets go on sale Thursday, February 27 at 9am AEDT sharp. For more info, head to the official Splendour In The Grass site. Image: Bianca Holderness and Charlie Hardy
Over the past few years, Gelatissimo has whipped up a number of creative flavours. It's a hefty list, spanning everything from frosé sorbet to gelato for dogs, plus ginger beer, Weet-Bix, fairy bread, hot cross bun, cinnamon scroll and chocolate fudge varieties. You might've tried its Biscoff, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Hershey's Kisses scoops, too, or its gingerbread cookie dough version. That's a lot to choose from — but its Caramilk-inspired flavour was always going to stand out. Back in early 2021, the Australian dessert chain delivered a Caramilk Hokey Pokey-inspired gelato, and we're betting that your tastebuds were instantly thankful. It was a limited-time offering, however, but Gelatissimo has done us all a solid by bringing back its caramel milk version — sans Hokey Pokey — right now. This flavour is as simple as it sounds: caramelised white chocolate gelato, plus a burnt caramel sauce, all ready for you to lick either in a cone or a cup. And yes, it's the perfect option if you can't choose between devouring some Caramilk chocolate or opting for a few scoops of ice cream. Gelatissimo isn't revealing how long the caramel milk gelato is sticking around for this time, so it's the kind of dessert you want to make a date with sooner rather than later. The chain has brought it back because it's popular, understandably — and with that in mind, it's also scooping up its beloved bubble tea gelato again as well. That brown sugar bubble milk tea number starts with milk tea gelato that's infused with organic black tea, then swirls through brown sugar syrup and tops it with brown sugar pearls. And, giving everyone three past faves, Filipino ube cheesecake gelato — ube gelato topped with chunks of jiggle cheesecake — is back on the menu as well. You'll find the trio in all Gelatissimo stores Australia-wide, and only while stocks last. That includes via delivered take-home packs via services such as UberEats, Menulog, Deliveroo and DoorDash. Gelatissimo's caramel milk gelato, brown sugar bubble milk tea and Filipino ube cheesecake gelato are available from all stores nationwide while stocks last.
Did you know that it's illegal to store an ice cream in your back pocket in Alabama? One dare not imagine the horrifying tragedy that must have engendered this law. The destruction of such a very fine pair of acid-wash Levi's. The cruel, undeserved fate of the ice cream. Ludicrously entertaining, yes, but this is just one of infinite madcap laws that have been passed in the US over time, and now a young photographer is cleverly drawing attention to them through a series of images titled I Fought the Law. Recent School of Visual Arts grad, 22-year-old Olivia Locher, is working through every American state in turn, selecting the weirdest law of each to express as a photograph. Known for her colourful work and currently seeking Kickstarter funding for a fairly bizarre and intriguing cult-inspired film featuring lean girls in matching underwear, Locher has chosen the literal route for representing the unusual laws, and you can scope them all out here. Below we have included some of Locher's chronicle of what's verboten, to act as a kind of visual warning manifesto. Back that fixie away from the diving board, hombre, because in Cali it's absolutely forbidden to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool. Enjoying more than two dildos in the privacy of your own Arizonan home? The cops are onto you. (But this instructional video may prove helpful, should you choose to defend your hobbies). Meanwhile, in enlightened Wisconsin, serving apple pie without cheese is an illegal act. Why? Why should this be so? Does cheese even taste any good with apple pie? The boys in blue don't care for your existential line of inquiry. Coins can't legally be placed in human ears on the island of Hawaii, and Texan children are denied the legal right to get a weird haircut. Little Bobby wants a groovy mullet? Cuff 'im. Via PSFK
It took a mere one episode when House of the Dragon premiered for HBO to sign on for season two of the Game of Thrones prequel. That second season debuts on Monday, June 17, 2024 Down Under, but the US network behind the TV adaptations of George RR Martin's novels just can't wait to go all in on more battling Targaryens, already renewing the show for season three. Yes, Succession may be over, but the fight for the Iron Throne between half-siblings Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney, Rogue Heroes) and Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy, Mothering Sunday) is sticking around for at least another batch of episodes after 2024's return to Westeros continues the story before the hit fantasy series everyone watched from 2011–19. Both figures want to rule the Seven Kingdoms. Both claim the famous seat as theirs. Both are destined for war: the Targaryen civil war between the green and the black camps known as the Dance of the Dragons. "We are in awe of the dragon-sized effort the entire team has put into the creation of a spectacular season two, with a scope and scale that is only rivalled by its heart. We could not be more thrilled to continue the story of House Targaryen and watch this team burn bright again for season three," said Francesca Orsi, the Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, and Head of HBO Drama Series and Films, about the renewal. There's no details yet on when season three of House of the Dragon will arrive — including if it'll be in winter in Australia and New Zealand, as has proven the case for both season one and two — but this account of flowing long blonde hair, carnage, fire, dragons, conflicting factions and fights for supremacy is nowhere near done yet. When the show's season season premieres, it will arrive two years after the first debuted in 2022. If you haven't yet caught up with the series so far, which is based on Martin's Fire & Blood on the page, it dives into a prior battle for the Iron Throne. Paddy Considine (The Third Day) started the series King Viserys — and it's exactly who should be his heir that sparked all the fuss. The words "succession" and "successor" (and "heir" as well) got bandied around constantly, naturally. Also, Australian actors Milly Alcock and Ryan Corr were among the stars. As this first Game of Thrones spinoff jumps back into House Targaryen's history, the initial season kicked off 172 years before the birth of Daenerys and her whole dragon-flying, nephew-dating, power-seeking story — and gave HBO its largest American audience for any new original series in its history when it debuted. If you're thinking that House of the Dragon is basically a case of new show, same squabbles, as it was easy to foresee it would be, you're right. It's pretty much Game of Thrones with different faces bearing now well-known surnames — and more dragons. Game of Thrones was always going to spark spinoff shows. Indeed, when HBO started thinking about doing a prequel six years ago, before the huge fantasy hit had even finished its run, it was hardly surprising. And, when the US network kept adding ideas to its list — including a Jon Snow-focused series with Kit Harington (Eternals) reprising his famous role, novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg and an animated GoT show, to name just a few prequels and spinoffs that've been considered, but may or may not actually come to fruition — absolutely no one was astonished. So far, just House of the Dragon has hit screens; however, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, the Dunk and Egg adaptation, is now due in 2025. Also returning among the cast when House of the Dragon season two hits: Olivia Cooke (Slow Horses) as Alicent Hightower, Matt Smith (Morbius) as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Rhys Ifans (The King's Man) as Ser Otto Hightower, Eve Best (Nurse Jackie) as Rhaenys Targaryen and Steve Toussaint (It's a Sin) as Lord Corlys Velaryon, plus Fabien Frankel (The Serpent), Ewan Mitchell (Saltburn) and Sonoya Mizuno (Civil War). HBO is also adding new faces to the mix, with Clinton Liberty (This Is Christmas) as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna (Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew (Warrior) as Hugh, Tom Bennett (Black Ops) as Ulf, Tom Taylor (Love at First Sight) as Lord Cregan Stark and Vincent Regan (One Piece) as Ser Rickard Thorne. They join Abubakar Salim (Napoleon) as Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin (Perry Mason) as Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox (The Great) as Ser Gwayne Hightower and Simon Russell Beale (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Ser Simon Strong among the season two newcomers. Check out the full trailer for House of the Dragon season two below: House of the Dragon streams Down Under via Foxtel and Binge in Australia, and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand, with season two arriving on Monday, June 17, 2024. Season three doesn't yet have a release date. Read our review of season one. Images: HBO.
Earlier this year, Scotland's BrewDog created the world's first craft beer hotel at its US base. Of course, if you're keen to head to Ohio for a boozy holiday, you'll need to get there somehow. Enter the world's first craft beer airline, which the beer fiends have aptly named BrewDog Airlines — and yes, it's all about drinking craft brews at 30,000 feet. In fact, BrewDog has also created its own beer that tastes better at a flying altitude. If you hop on board its airline, you'll be among the first to try it out. Cathay Pacific did something similar back in 2017, launching a bottled beer that was made to taste as great in the air as it does on the ground — but that's not the only brew-focused flourish on BrewDog Airlines. Boarding a Boeing 767, passengers will also enjoy a spot of beer tasting, tuck into a BrewDog-inspired menu that's paired with matching beers, watch the brewery's BrewDog Network — its own streaming platform — and receive a branded eye mask and blanket. More brews will be served during the flight, obviously. And, once the plane lands, you're in for a tour of BrewDog's Columbus facility, as well as a brewery-hopping day trip to Cincinnati. You can also stay at The DogHouse, the brewery's hotel, for an extra fee. If you're keen to take the trip, it's only flying from the UK to America on February 21, 2019, then making the return leg on February 25, 2019. You'll also need to be of BrewDog's Equity Punks, which is what it calls its shareholders — and pay £1,250 per person (or £2,250 for two people sharing a room). That said, the brewery is also giving away ten spots, if you're feeling lucky. With BrewDog also opening an Australian base in Brisbane in 2019 — albeit without a hotel — here's hoping it brings this idea with it. Image: BrewDog.
If you are part of the wider majority of the ‘good’ music loving population there is a greater than high chance you, like me, and the rest of our penny-less majority cannot afford a ticket to the most expensive, envious and fun loving festival of the year – Splendour in the Grass. You may have cried about it, you may have begged your parents for a hefty loan, or you may have contemplated using a few months of Centrelink payments to buy yourself a ticket. Someone wise once said that the best things in life are free. I would, for this situation, alter this statement to read the best things in life are cheap and in following that notion this means a ticket to Splendour may not the best thing out there. But a ticket to Too Poor for Splendour just might be. Featuring a rather full lineup of good local bands that will definitely get you in the festival façade without the multi hundred-dollar entry fee. Plus, there’s a licensed bar that promises not to be as overpriced. You don't need a tonne of money to appreciate good music. Head on down to the poor man’s (and woman’s) Splendour this Saturday. Image credit: Lily-Pearl
After many years and many hours spent on the Skybus, it seems Melbourne's long-awaited airport rail link is closer than ever to being an actual reality. The Federal Government has today announced it will commit up to $5 billion to help build the project — which should help things along. Four months after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed that construction of the link would kick off shortly, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised the big bucks to get it done. "There have been countless reviews, reports and recommendations, but Melbourne is still waiting for a service almost all of the world's great cities take for granted," Mr Turnbull said. "This is the rail link that Melbourne, Victoria and the millions of people who use the airport every year demand and deserve." The proposed rail line is expected to help ease congestion, speed up travel times and create a stack of new jobs in the process. However, the promised $5 billion isn't quite enough to cover such a hefty project and the pressure's now on the Victorian Government to match that figure in funding of its own. The Federal and State governments have previously committed $30 million to conducting a planning study for the airport link, which is also likely to include extra train lines between Southern Cross Station and Melbourne's western suburbs. This would mean speedier commutes between the CBD and Geelong and improved accessibility across western and northern Victoria. About time, we say. Sydney and Brisbane already have airport rail links, and Perth is currently in the process of building its own. Maybe this will finally kill or clarify that myth around the airport's secret underground 'station' as well. Image: Global Panorama via Flickr.
Days after winter has officially landed, HBO has gone and announced something totally off The Wall. Just as we were prepping to find alternate means to secure Game of Thrones for another Monday night, the giants of television have announced that Game of Thrones: The Exhibition will open in Sydney in July 2014. And now they've confirmed the venue and dates: the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia from July 1-5. Presented by Google Play, the immersive exhibition will highlight all key GoT locations, characters and narrative ERHMAGHERD moments, with nearly 100 props, weapons, costumes and bits and pieces from the show — season four included. Because they're Stark raving mad legends, Game of Thrones: The Exhibition will be open to the public FO FREE. It's been confirmed that the exhibition is the same one that has been touring the globe of late, so we're in for a big ol' dragon-sized treat. The existing HBO exhibition started in New York in January then moving to Mexico City, Austin, Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, Toronto and Belfast and Vancouver. Included are cloaks galore, an Iron Throne you can sit on and an interactive virtual reality experience powered by Oculus Rift. If the exhibition saw numbers anything like those from the Powerhouse's past Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Star Wars blockbusters, Google Play and HBO will rub some gleeful paws in the merchandising aftermath. With the amount of gore and boobery in GoT, however, major kiddie target markets are almost totally ruled out. For all the details, check out the exhibition website. Updated June 17, 2014.
No one should ever need a specific excuse to celebrate Australia's First Nations culture, but Quandamooka Festival offers one anyway: a three-day event on Minjerribah, also known as North Stradbroke Island, that heroes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, music, dance, food, stories and more. Returning to Country for the first time since 2019, this year's event has locked in its August dates and first program details — with Roger Knox, Shakaya and Electric Fields leading the music lineup. Also on the bill: Emma Donovan and the Putbacks, Joe Geia, Benny Maza, Georgia Corowa, Keely and CKNU. And, given that the festival also heroes Quandamooka talent — with the Quandamooka Peoples hailing from the Moreton Bay region — local musicians Sachém, Nix Grose and Maibre Grenfell will also perform. [caption id="attachment_862591" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Morgan Sette[/caption] They'll take to the stage across the fest's three-day run between Friday, August 26–Sunday, August 28, as part of a wide-ranging program that'll also include everything from eco boat tours and art exhibitions through to whale watching and cultural tours — and more. Dance groups will come from across southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales to perform, and storytelling, plus insights into the region's cultural heritage, will fuel the lineup as well. There's plenty to celebrate; the Quandamooka Peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Quandamooka Estate, have ties to Minjerribah dating back 20,000 years. Quandamooka Festival also highlights the diverse landscape across the Redlands and Moreton Bay islands, and the creatures that call it home, as explored from a First Nations perspective. The festival includes food stalls and artisan market stalls, too, alongside fibre art and weaving workshops, plus Kunjiel (corroboree). Announcing the music lineup, Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation CEO Damian Miley said that "QYAC is excited to be holding the Quandamooka Festival again for the first time since 2019". "We are looking forward to welcoming our community and visitors to Country to celebrate Quandamooka, art, culture, music and people." Quandamooka Festival 2022 runs from Friday, August 26–Sunday, August 28 on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). For more information, or to buy tickets, head to the festival's website.
Along with the Tokyo fish market, Kyoto during cherry blossom season and eating as much ramen as possible, spying Mout Fuji ranks highly on most traveller's Japanese to-do list. Actually getting a glimpse of the mountain isn't always as easy as it sounds, however. If the weather isn't right, even someone staying in a hotel specifically built to give visitors the iconic view they're after might be greeted by clouds rather than a towering peak. One such hotel, Yamanashi prefecture's aptly named Hotel Mt Fuji, has come up with a solution. If you visit between January 9 and 19, and you're unable to enjoy the sight of Mount Fuji for more than a minute between checking in and checking out — including at night — then you'll receive a free night's stay next time you return. And, while you're sitting, waiting and trying to see the mountain, you can do so in their semi-openair hot water bath. There are a few conditions, understandably. The deal is only available to guests who checkout after 7am, so anyone who leaves before the sun comes up the next day isn't eligible. It won't be offered to people who book a stay either the same day, or the day prior, to avoid folks purposefully planning to visit in bad weather conditions. And, it is being offered during a window of time considered to be peak Mount Fuji-viewing season. Still, if spending a night with a stellar vantage of the enormous landmass is in your short-term future, it's a decent backup plan. Better than simply buying some of the plentiful Mount Fuji merchandise on offer anywhere you look, or trying your luck seeing it from quite the distance from Tokyo Tower. Via PR Times.
It has been said that describing Burning Man Festival to a person who has never been is like trying to explain what a particular colour looks like to a person who is blind. But perhaps this is no longer the case. Aerial footage has been released of the recent 2013 Festival, taken from a drone. Held two weeks ago, Burning Man was captured on camera by San Franciscan filmmaker Eddie Codel. Taken from a DJI Phantom Quadrocopter — a pilotless mini-aircraft with four propellers — fitted with a GoPro camera, the impressive HD footage is currently one of the best and fastest available introductions to the famous festival. This 360-degree tour pans slowly over the festival during the daytime, functioning to communicate a snapshot of the immense size and sparsity of the constructed city. It reveals close detail of the installations and artworks set up in the desert and at times comes very close to people. Held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, Burning Man draws in a crowd of approximately 50,000 each year. First established in 1986, the seven-day event welcomes attendees from all over the world, encouraging radical art and self-expression through the construction of a temporary community. The city is built the week before Labor Day, on an ancient lake bed, 100 miles north of Reno. Perhaps it's true that to truly understand Burning Man, one must participate. In the meantime, however, the drone tour certainly gets you very close. https://youtube.com/watch?v=m2ThTb6iffA Via Mashable.
Already home to stunning sights across its coastal landscape, Victoria's Great Ocean Road is set to welcome a new attraction: a 50-acre nature park dedicated to observing and learning about native animals in their natural setting. Called Wildlife Wonders and expected to commence construction this year, the site will sit just outside Apollo Bay, overlooking the ocean — and will offer guided walking tours conducted by qualified conservationists. Under their guidance, visitors will stroll through bushland to see Australia's native critters living freely — and predator-free — in their own habitats. Expect to spot the area's animals like you've never been able to before, spying koalas sleeping in trees, bandicoots scampering through the foliage and kangaroos hopping wherever they please. More than that, patrons will mosey through an experience designed by Brian Massey, the art director on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. If you're thinking "wasn't he blessed with great landscape on those flicks?", well, you're not wrong — but he also turned landscape designer with New Zealand's Hobbiton tourist attraction. Here, he'll be involved in a site that includes a themed field-research base, a visitor arrivals building, and a cafe and retail outlet that'll highlight local products. The Victorian Government will support Wildlife Wonders via a $1.5 million grant to the Conservation Ecology Centre, while the Federal Government has already $2 million to the project. When it's up and running, the park's profits will be used to further the centre's conservation efforts, including ecosystem restoration, ecological research, species recovery programs and community education programs. For more information, visit the Conservation Ecology Centre website.
There's nothing small about Dark Mofo, the wintry music and arts festival hosted by the Museum of Old and New Art. With everything from rainbows to the Chernobyl score played live in an immersive industrial setting on its initial 2022 program — a doll house, The Kid LAROI, tunes from Candyman, Jónsi from Sigur Rós and 100 artists from 30 countries, too — that's definitely the case this year. But its hefty lineup so far just wasn't enough, it seems, so the fest has gone and added a slew of new shows. Among the newly announced additions: an afterparty following the Reclamation Walk on opening night, headlined by Briggs and Emma Donovan & The Putbacks; Japanese quartet Chai, busting out euphoric live tunes neo kawaii-style; queer dance party Club Mince, which'll take over two floors at Hobart's Altar; and three-night dance party Night Garden at the fest's In The Hanging Garden venue. [caption id="attachment_854706" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image courtesy of the artist, and Dark Mofo 2022.[/caption] Or, there's also a special tribute gig focusing on Ukraine — called With Ukraine, in fact — by musician and Mona's resident composer Dean Stevenson with his Arco Set Orchestra. It'll commit commit $10,000 of proceeds from the performance to charity Voices of Children, which assists Ukrainian children and families affected by the Russian invasion. And, the aforementioned Chernobyl score performances will also donate funds to the people of Ukraine, too. Other new highlights on the bill span more Mona Up Late, rapper Birdz sharing the stage with DENNI and her synth-driven hip hop, Shady Nasty with 208L Containers and Threats, and Import Export: The Dark Sessions — a showcase of Tassie talent presented by Ben Salter. [caption id="attachment_800593" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Hunniford[/caption] Arriving unexpectedly — think of it as Dark Mofo bonus — this is the third batch of program announcements for the fest, after it dropped the first highlights for this year's fest back in March. Accordingly, all of the above also joins the previously announced Kim Gordon, who'll bust out songs from her 2019 solo release No Home Record; Berlin-based composer and producer Nils Frahm playing Music For Hobart; and Spiritualized, Deafheaven and American multi-instrumentalist Lingua Ignota. And yes, that's just a taste of what awaits at the Tasmanian festival. Dark Mofo will run from Wednesday, June 8–Wednesday, June 22 in Hobart, Tasmania. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the festival website. Top image: DarkLab/Jesse Hunniford, 2019. Image Courtesy DarkLab, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
If you were planning on catching an Uber to work or uni this morning, you may need to think again. Thousands of drivers have logged off the app — during Monday's peak hour — in a bid to curb upfront pricing and penalties. At present, drivers receive an upfront amount instead of being paid for time and distance travelled and are penalised for opting out of UberPools. Drivers also want rates increased by 15 percent, which were reduced back in 2016. The strike comes amid strong competition from Ola and Taxify, both which offer cheaper fares for riders and take a smaller commission cut compared to Uber — Taxify takes a 15 percent cut compared to Uber's 20-25 percent. The drivers will strike until 9.30am today in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. via news.com.au
