Local Natives have made it, exploding out of support band status into a headliner demanding to be heard. They have earned their rise through the musical ranks, attracting the attention of indie heavy-hitters The National and Arcade Fire after their critically acclaimed debut, Gorilla Manor, and are now riding a wave of success all the way to Australia. Their tour comes on the back of the highly anticipated sophomore release Hummingbird, an eclectic harmony of sounds ready to be played at all occasions. There are tracks for parties as well as tracks to woo first dates; you name the event and they have it soundtracked. A live performance by Local Natives is also something to behold, with all four band members tugging at your heart strings and making you feel all of the feelings, culminating in an overwhelming sense of happiness. Thankfully you can experience all this on Sunday, May 19, in an intimate performance at The Zoo, and we can guarantee that ticket prices will not be as low as this next time they come back.
Snakadaktal are one of those bands that pop their head out occasionally to remind us of how incredibly talented they are. They won Triple J Unearthed High in 2011 and debuted on the Hottest 100 for that year at number 22 with 'Air', no easy feat for a band fresh out of high school. They then went into the studio bunker for most of 2012, only releasing the dance-friendly wonder 'Dance Bear', which also snuck onto the Hottest 100 despite the band hibernating most of the year on the production front. This time, though, they are set to keep their pleasurable pop where everybody can see it, with their solo nationwide tour. It comes on the back of releasing their debut LP Sleep in the Water, which if lead teaser track 'Ghost' is anything to go by, will certainly feature many claims for entry into a third consecutive Hottest 100. The dream-inducing wizards will be playing at The Hi-Fi on September 20 and they will be supported by Fishing and Holy Holy. This should not be missed. https://youtube.com/watch?v=MNN1JWnXzyQ
There's only one Wes Anderson, but there's a litany of wannabes. Why can't David O Russell be among them? Take the first filmmaker's The Grand Budapest Hotel, mix in the second's American Hustle and that's as good a way as any to start describing Amsterdam, Russell's return to the big screen after a seven-year gap following 2015's Joy — and a starry period comedy, crime caper and history lesson all in one. Swap pastels for earthier hues, still with a love of detail, and there's the unmistakably Anderson-esque look of the film. Amsterdam is a murder-mystery, too, set largely in the 1930s against a backdrop of increasing fascism, and filled with more famous faces than most movies can dream of. The American Hustle of it all springs from the "a lot of this actually happened" plot, this time drawing upon a political conspiracy called the White House/Wall Street Putsch, and again unfurling a wild true tale. A Russell returnee sits at the centre, too: Christian Bale (Thor: Love and Thunder) in his third film for the writer/director. The former did help guide the latter to an Oscar for The Fighter, then a nomination for American Hustle — but while Bale is welcomely and entertainingly loose and freewheeling, and given ample opportunity to show his comic chops in his expressive face and physicality alone, Amsterdam is unlikely to complete the trifecta of Academy Awards recognition. The lively movie's cast is its strongest asset, though, including the convincing camaraderie between Bale, John David Washington (Malcolm & Marie) and Margot Robbie (The Suicide Squad). They play pals forged in friendship during World War I, then thanks to a stint in the titular Dutch city. A doctor, a lawyer and a nurse — at least at some point in the narrative — they revel in love and art during their uninhabited stay, then get caught in chaos 15 years later. Amsterdam begins in the later period, with Burt Berendsen (Bale) tending to veterans — helping those with war injuries and lingering pain, as he himself has — without a medical license. He once had a Park Avenue practice, but his military enlistment and his fall from the well-heeled set afterwards all stems from his snobbish wife Beatrice (Andrea Riseborough, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) and her social-climbing (and prejudiced) parents. As he did in the war, however, Burt aids who he can where he can, including with fellow ex-soldier Harold Woodman (Washington). That's how he ends up lending a hand (well, a scalpel) to the well-to-do Liz Meekins (Taylor Swift, Cats) after the unexpected death of her father and their old Army general (Ed Begley Jr, Better Call Saul). The bereaved daughter suspects foul play and Burt and Harold find it, but with fingers pointing their way when there's suddenly another body. Two police detectives (The Old Guard's Matthias Schoenaerts and The Many Saints of Newark's Alessandro Nivola), both veterans themselves, come a-snooping — and Burt and Harold now have two tasks. Clearing their names and figuring out what's going on are intertwined, of course, and also just the start of a story that isn't short on developments and twists (plus early flashes back to 1918 to set up the core trio, their bond, their heady bliss and a pact that they'll keep looking out for each other). There's a shagginess to both the tale and the telling, because busy and rambling is the vibe, especially with so much stuffed into the plot. One of Amsterdam's worst traits is its overloaded and convoluted feel, seeing that there's the IRL past to explore, a message about history repeating itself to deliver along with it, and enough mayhem to fuel several romps to spill out around it. The pacing doesn't help, flitting between zipping and dragging — and usually busting out the wrong one for each scene. Among all of the above, there's also no shortage of characters; that lengthy list of well-known names has to get up to something, and that jam-packed story has to get as many cogs whirring as possible. Valerie Voze (Robbie) sweeps back in just as pandemonium kicks in, under her brother Tom (Rami Malek, No Time to Die) and his wife Libby's (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Northman) watch. Old war buddy Milton King (Chris Rock, Spiral: From the Book of Saw) warns Burt and Harold about helping Liz from the start, but autopsy nurse Irma St Clair (Zoe Saldana, The Adam Project) — who Burt is visibly fond of — dutifully assists. Also popping up: celebrated army buddy General Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro, The War with Grandpa), as well as intelligence officers Paul Canterbury (Mike Myers, The Pentaverate) and Henry Norcross (Michael Shannon, Bullet Train). Russell uses his supporting players to inject as many quirks and as much energy as he can, including via Canterbury and Norcross' cover as purveyors of glass eyes — something that Burt needs, in dark hazel green — and their keen and genuine interest in birdwatching as a hobby. Those and other eccentricities are also sprinkled around heartily as flavour, setting up and deepening the madcap mood with more than a tad too much force, particularly given that the score by Daniel Pemberton (See How They Run), roving and Dutch-tilting cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki (Song to Song), and intricate production and art design more than do their showy and flamboyant part. Still, there's little faulting the spirited actors circling around Bale, Washington and Robbie — Malek, Saldana, Riseborough and De Niro especially — or that lead threesome. Whenever Amsterdam lags or rushes, the performances bring viewers in. Alongside Bale's engaging sense of comedy, Washington wears understated charm as well as a suit, and Robbie is just as charismatic playing free-spirited yet tenacious. Lubezki's floating lensing truly is magnetic; if ever given the option to go large or go home, Russell is rarely known for holding back or getting his collaborators to. The filmmaker is fond of idealistic protagonists making their way through a trying world with their sizeable personalities, hopes and hearts shining bright, recognisably so — and contemplating what his boisterous bounces through fictionalised/dramatised blasts from the past say about America today. Being aware of how quickly fascism can infiltrate, and via whom, isn't a new or novel message for 2022. Amsterdam is never as simplistic in stating the obvious as Don't Look Up was about climate change, though, and it isn't patronising, insulting or irritating, thankfully. It's no The Grand Budapest Hotel or even American Hustle, either, but worse can happen, a notion that the screwball flick's characters keep learning.
When that slice of inner-city delights known as Teneriffe was officially named a suburb back in 2010, locals threw a party to celebrate. More than a decade on, that shindig is still going strong annually and attracting 45,000 people a year — you know it as the Teneriffe Festival. For its 2023 outing, the event will boast another wide-ranging day of fun, aka the kind of shindig that previous attendees have come to expect. When 10am–9pm rolls around on Saturday, May 27, there'll be tunes, food, markets and more, all helping locals and visitors alike make the most of the bustling locale. On the music bill, as curated by The Triffid: Boy & Bear on headliner duties, plus GANGgajang and Odette. There's also Flowertruck, Felivand, The Moving Stills, Betty Taylor and Dizzy Days — and the list goes on. The lineup will hit two main stages, plus a dedicated riverside jazz garden stage with sounds provided by the Jazz Music Institute — and the tunes will keep going via DJs and roving performers. Between stints of dancing in the street, attendees will be able to sample the area's bars and restaurants, find a feast of from a food truck, hit up a pop-up beer garden — which is being overseen by Stone & Wood — then walk around bespoke market stalls. TENERIFFE FESTIVAL 2023 LINEUP: Boy & Bear GANGgajang Odette Tijuana Cartel Flowertruck Felivand The Moving Stills Betty Taylor Dizzy Days Kurilpa Reach Doggie Heaven Tjaka Radium Dolls Ghost Mutt Neish Smallest Horse Melody Graves and The Hokum Redemption Dave & The Mudcrabs Updated May 11.
By this stage, most of us have come to terms with the fact that jetting off to USA or Europe is a seriously long slog, made worse by unavoidable (sometimes long, always painful) stopovers. But that European or American trip could soon become a whole lot more bearable, with Qantas announcing plans to launch direct flights between the east coast and both London and New York, by 2022. While the airline's already revealed it'll run nonstop flights from Perth to London starting March 24, 2018, the extra distance involved with trips from the east coast capitals is something that none of today's planes can handle. Right now, the world's longest direct flight clocks in at just over 17 hours and 14,529 kilometres, running between Doha and Auckland on a Boeing 777-200LR. So, to realise its grand plans for east coast Aussies, Qantas has put the call out to Airbus and Boeing, the world's biggest aircraft manufacturers, to make a plane that can go the distance. In numbers, that's a 20-hour and 20-minute stint between Sydney and London (16,983 kilometres), and an 18-hour and seven-minute journey from Sydney to New York. The airline's done its homework, analysing a decade's worth of wind and weather data to confirm the routes are actually possible. Now, all it needs are the planes to fly it. Via the Australian Financial Review.
When we take that first sip of our barista brewed coffee on a workday morning we often say to ourselves, and our friends, "I can't imagine living without coffee". Well what about living without a roof over your head or a guaranteed meal? Unfortunately this is what many homeless people around Australia face each day but on Friday 7 June you can help out simply by purchasing a coffee as part of CafeSmart. CafeSmart is an annual event from StreetSmart that raises money and awareness for the homeless and is back for its third year running, aiming to build on the $74,477 raised last year. $1 from every coffee purchased at a participating café will be donated towards local projects, so if your café is not participating, head to one that is just for one day. You can also donate at the counter so if you prefer a hot chocolate then you can still help out. Just remember that sometimes it is the little things that make a big difference, so drink a coffee and do some good.
The Way, Way Back is the newest piece of cinematic excellence put forth by Oscar winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, writers of the acclaimed The Descendants, and is sure to challenge for silverware come award season. The film tells the heartwarmingly awkward tale of Duncan (Liam James) as he struggles to express himself in a world he doesn't feel comfortable in. This is made all the more complex when his recently divorced mother, Pam (Toni Collette), takes him away on a "spring break for adults" vacation with her obnoxious new boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell). Thankfully he befriends Water Wizz water park employee Owen (Sam Rockwell) and finally begins to feel like he belongs — but not without a few hiccups along the way. The comedy is beautifully simple and the all-star cast promises to take us on an emotional roller-coaster as we contemplate the awkward moments of our teenage years and the simple acts of kindness it takes to make someone feel wanted. The Way, Way Back is in cinemas August 1, and to celebrate we have ten double in-season passes — as well as one major prize pack containing a The Way, Way Back drawstring beach bag, towel, sunscreen and a Slip n Slide — to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven't already) and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. https://youtube.com/watch?v=GiH5wmuexZY
As part of this year's Wynnum Fringe, Railed! is galloping onto the stage. The western-inspired circus spectacular combines physical talent with comedy and chiselled bodies — what more could you want? The cowboy-themed extravaganza sets the scene for what to expect from this year's Wynnum Fringe, which returns for its sixth year this July, offering a vibrant celebration of connection, creativity, and community. Starring the cast of Head First Acrobats, known for Elixir and Circus Oz, the circus spectacular is the perfect girls' night out. Expect jaw-dropping acrobatics, stunts and some old-school Western romance. You'll see handstands on whisky barrels, slow-motion lasso scenes and scary rope tricks. And don't think because you're in the audience, you won't be involved — these boys love to get the crowd joining in, so don't be shy. Piqued your interest? Check the website for the full range of showtimes and dates. Images: Supplied.
Flickering across a cinema screen, even the greatest of movies only inherently activate two senses: sight and hearing. Audiences can feel the seats they nestle into in their favourite picture palaces, and savour both the scent and flavour of popcorn while they watch, but no one can touch, taste or smell films themselves as they're playing — even if adding scratch-and-sniff aromas to the experience has become a cult-favourite gimmick. British director Peter Strickland knows all of the above. And, he hasn't ever released a feature in Smell-o-Vision, Smell-O-Rama or Odorama. But his work still conjures up sensations that viewers know they can't genuinely be having, such as running your fingers over an alluring dress with In Fabric, detecting the flutter of insect wings against your skin via The Duke of Burgundy and, courtesy of his latest movie Flux Gourmet, relishing the fragrances and tastes whipped up by a culinary collective that turns cooking and eating into performance art. If you've seen his features before, Flux Gourmet instantly sounds like something that only Strickland could make — and from its first frame till its last, it proves that with every moment. While spinning this innately sensory tale, which he both helmed and penned, it does indeed literally sound like something that only Strickland could've come up with, in fact. As the acoustics-focused Berberian Sound Studio demonstrated, the filmmaker's audioscapes are always a thing of wonder, too. His movies may manage to magically engage senses that cinema's sound-and-vision combination intrinsically shouldn't, but they also make the utmost use of every echo. The same applies to each image; unsurprisingly due to his strong and distinctive sense of style and mood, everything about Flux Gourmet looks and feels like pure Strickland. His films can't actually be injected into anyone's veins, but the director's devotees will instantly want this delirious farce pumping through their system. The setting: The Sonic Catering Institute, a conservatory specialising in blending sound and cuisine, as its name makes plain. The "institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance" is overseen by the couture-coveting Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones), and regularly welcomes in different groups to undertake residencies. Those visiting artists collaborate, percolate and come up with eye-catching blends of food, bodies and creativity. Hosting OTT dinners, role-playing a trip to the supermarket, getting scatalogical and turning a live colonoscopy into a show: they're just some of the menu items that Jan's latest guests cook up. In Elle di Elle (Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed), Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed, The Souvenir: Part II) and Billy Rubin's (Asa Butterfield, Sex Education) case, however, that unique kind of kitchen virtuosity only springs when they're not broiling in messy bickering. Chaos bubbles through and troubles the trio's troupe, who stir up mayhem among themselves as heartily as any chef stirs their dishes. But Elle, Lamina and Billy aren't the Institute's only current visitors. Watching and chronicling is journalist Stones (Makis Papadimitriou, Beckett), who is also suffering from gastrointestinal struggles that he worries might be something more. As his subjects keep riffing on the human digestive system, or trying to, he can't control his own. Endeavouring to withhold his flatulence 24/7 is his constant struggle. Somehow, keeping a straight face as everything gets absurd around him is a far easier task, but Flux Gourmet's viewers shouldn't want to share that achievement with him; this purposefully strange, silly and surreal film is far too deliciously hilarious. Let Stones' struggle sink in again: to fart or not to fart, that is his question. Yes, one of Flux Gourmet's key plot points revolves around letting it rip. Yes, Strickland masterfully finds empathy in that toilet humour, understanding that we all break wind as a normal bodily function, and pairs it with a savvy takedown of art-world and showbusiness pretension. As a satire, his film dips its spoons into smug attitudes, exclusionary conventions, and all the pompousness and ceremony that's stereotypically ascribed to every art form's upper echelons, then delights in gobbling down biting parody after biting parody. Thanks to Stones and his questions, Flux Gourmet is a spin on This Is Spinal Tap, too, complete with The Sonic Catering Institute's version of rockstar behaviour. Elle, Lamina and Billy play instruments, after all, even if they're often egg whisks, blenders and saucepans. They have post-show orgies. Tempers boil, even before Billy ends up in bed with Jan, their residency version of a manager — and an argument about a flanger threatens to tear everything apart. That heated disagreement, and the key scene that sees Jan and Elle face off about the amusingly named audio-effects equipment — and say the word "flanger" again and again — screams everything about Flux Gourmet. It's ridiculous and riotous, never stops simmering, and proves entertaining as a piece of farce and a statement on the domain and personalities that Strickland is skewering. Crucially, it also owes as much to its leads as it does to its director. Strickland has Billy and Jan's relationship, Elle and Lamina's tension, and vengeful attacks by a rival sonic catering group called The Mangrove Snacks (who applied for the same stint but missed out) among the plot's courses, but his film not only gleams brightest but bounces around at its liveliest when neither the magnetic Mohamed nor Christie at her uproariously domineering best hold back. Every recipe hinges upon its ingredients and Flux Gourmet is no exception. Its cast is committed, all playing characters attempting to control something, everything or both, and each peppering in their own seasoning — including the affable Papadimitriou as the seemingly sanest of the lot. Cinematographer Tim Sidell (I Hate Suzie) lenses the raucousness with verve and pop, and also like he's peering at a dream that's as intimate and visceral as a medical procedure, and yet as out-there as our brain's nocturnal imaginings come. Strickland's own hyper-stylised flair naturally flavours the whole meal, and saying that Flux Gourmet stands out even among his inimitable work is saying something. Wild, warm, witty, weird, wonderfully its own curious concoction: that's this delectable affair, which only falters in its slightly overindulgent pacing. That said, when a cinematic feast is this nourishing in so many ways — and to so many senses — who doesn't want it to go on?
Maybe you discovered omurice on a holiday to Japan. Perhaps you saw it in a Japanese film or TV show, instantly tempting your tastebuds. The dish's viral fame might've started your stomach rumbling. Whichever fits, the combination of omelette and rice is up there with sushi and ramen as a beloved Japanese staple — and Brisbane just keeps scoring new excuses to tuck in. Alongside conjuring up pavlova bao and air cheesecakes with a Mont Blanc spin, Harajuku Gyoza has been championing omurice in a big way in Brisbane. Already in 2024, it has hosted an omurice pop-up at its Albert Lane store and welcomed in chef Motokichi Yukimura from Kyoto's Kichi Kichi. The latter is also returning in July. So news that Harajuku Gyoza's South Bank store is next dedicating six weeks to omurice isn't at all surprising. It is delicious, though. Some dishes are as straightforward as they sound, and omurice — aka omelette rice — is one of them. It's an omelette made with fried rice, then typically topped with sauce. Yes, it's an easy concept to get around. From Saturday, July 27, Brisbanites will be treated to three versions from Osaka Omurice's Chef Tadamichi, who is coming to the Queensland capital to prepare and serve up the popular meal at diners' tables. Starting at his family's market stall, Tadamichi has been cooking up omurice since he was 14. In Brisbane, he'll be making the classic version, one with ketchup and an Osaka okonomiyaki-style take, his signature. It features okonomi sauce on top, as well as mayonnaise and katsuobushi flakes. Whichever you choose, you'll be paying $28 a dish from 4–8pm Wednesday–Thursday and from 5–8pm Friday–Sunday, as well as for lunch from 11.30am–3pm Friday–Sunday. The reason that Harajuku Gyoza is leaning into omurice so heavily, especially in 2024? Saving themselves the airfare to Japan or trying to make their own version at home, its customers can't stop eating it. With the upcoming Kichi Kichi tour, "even after adding capacity, the event sold out in less than 24 hours and there was clearly huge demand for omurice", explains Harajuku Gyoza General Manager Masahiro Endo. Harajuku Gyoza South Bank's omurice pop-up runs for six weeks from Saturday, July 27, 2024 — from 4–8pm Wednesday–Thursday and from 5–8pm Friday–Sunday, as well as for lunch from 11.30am–3pm Friday–Sunday. Head to 184 Grey Street, South Bank. For more information and bookings, check out the eatery's website.
No doubt by now you've heard something about the Kony 2012 campaign. I know that I got at least three Facebook invitations to Kony-related events last night alone, and in the past few days the link has been shared on Facebook over 750,000 times, making it one of the fastest trending topics of conversation alongside this crazy weather. For those not quite on top of it yet, Kony 2012 is a viral campaign spearheaded by the humanitarian group Invisible Children, an ambitious attempt of a group of Americans who have been trying for nigh on a decade to get Western governments to pay attention to the injustices occuring in Uganda. Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, a terrorist rebel group active for 26 years, and wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, including the abduction of over 30,000 African young people to be used as child soldiers or sex slaves. He is the world's most wanted war lord. Unfortunately, while some of the most atrocious crimes against humanity occur in Africa, little is done by Western governments to intervene unless they have a direct foreign policy or financial interest in the country. As a consequence people in the Western world have been largely ignorant of the problems in Uganda until about 48 hours ago. The Kony 2012 video, made by US director Jason Russell utilising an appealing soundtrack and the emotional heartstring pull of an adorable blonde child, has been viewed more than ten million times in two days. While the group's motives and plan of attack have been criticised because a high proportion of the donations they receive are spent on travel costs and postage expenses, their attempts at raising public awareness in the navel-gazing West is certainly proving effective. A Facebook event has been planned for April 20, where Sydneysiders are set to cover the city in Kony 2012 posters to help raise awareness of the campaign. Hopefully all the awareness will lead to real action in Uganda itself.
After nine decades in operation, a disused mental institution in Massachusetts became a public art space as artist Anna Schuleit filled the empty rooms and corridors with thousands of brightly-coloured flowers. The temporary artwork, which was commissioned as a tribute to the building's emotive history, gave local residents a chance to remember and memorialise the work of the medical centre before it will be demolished to make way for new facilities. The artwork, called 'Bloom', filled a former children's psychiatric unit with white tulips, covered the basement floor with vivid green grass, blue African violets in the annex and orange tulips in one of the patients' treatment rooms. [Via This Is Colossal]
Sometimes you just want to get away from it all. Luckily, New Zealand's watery borders are home to around 600 islands that offer a unique blend of peace and tranquility, stunning scenery and adventure too. Make a beeline for one of the accessible island escapes below. Time your visit right to avoid the crowds and you might even manage to have an island practically all to yourself. Here are five islands where you'll find wildlife reserves for spotting kiwi in their natural habitat and island dark sky sanctuaries perfect for stargazing up into the universe. [caption id="attachment_986097" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Matt Crawford[/caption] Stewart Island/Rakiura Off the southern coast of South Island lies New Zealand's third largest island, Stewart Island/Rakiura. Over 85 percent of the island is designated National Park land and unspoiled nature with rare wildlife is what to expect down here. Despite its size, settlement on Stewart Island is sparse and the only place to stay is in Oban (also known as Halfmoon Bay) where you won't ever be too far from the island's pristine natural environment. Getting to the southernmost island of New Zealand is an adventure in and of itself, with ferries serving as one of the main ways to arrive. If the thought of travelling by boat makes you feel queasy, you can always fly in too. [caption id="attachment_986589" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alistair Guthrie[/caption] Bay of Islands Just a three-hour drive or a 50-minute flight from Auckland is the Bay of Islands, a breathtaking destination where you'll discover sleepy towns that roll on to crystal-clear inlets, more than 144 undeveloped islands up for exploration as well as water activities and vineyards to fill your days. Roberton Island (Motuarohia) is a 20-minute boat ride from Paihia or Russell and is best known for its stunning blue water lagoons and snorkelling trail. The luxury Cook's Cove Retreat is one of five houses on the island that can be hired for overnight getaways. The eight-person resort is found in a peaceful private bay. From there you can bushwalk to historic Māori sites, explore underwater marine reserves, or set off via kayak from the private jetty. [caption id="attachment_986579" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Scott Venning[/caption] Great Barrier Island/Aotea Great Barrier Island (Aotea) is the fourth largest island in New Zealand. A 30-minute flight or four-hour boat ride from Auckland will bring you to the rugged wilderness where spectacular fishing, natural hot springs and first-class surfing spots await. Away from the light pollution of Auckland, the off-the-grid island is also one of four dark sky sanctuaries, and the only officially recognised island dark sky sanctuary in the world. [caption id="attachment_663062" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Miles Holden.[/caption] Waiheke Island An escape to New Zealand's Waiheke Island feels miles away from the bustle of central Auckland, though it's only a quick ferry ride from downtown. It's an island of varying landscape, with the turquoise-blue waters of the coast giving way to rolling green hills inland. This gives visitors endless options, too — from bushwalks and beaches to art galleries and, most notably, the plentiful wineries on offer. The whole island is easily explored by bus or bike, and trips from the vines of one winery to the next take only a traipse through the vineyard. Mudbrick is a standout, with stunning views back to Auckland city and top-shelf wines and dining options.You could spend a week here and still not hit all of the artisanal producers dotting the island. Join an art walking tour, try your hand at archery or distil your own bespoke gin, just to name a few things waiting for you on this wine island. Waiheke is the most densely populated island with over 8000 permanent residents. Kapiti Island This wildlife sanctuary off the Kapiti Coast is home to rare species such as the flightless takahē, white faced heron and kākā. You can visit the island for a self-guided day tour, or spend the night and enjoy local hospitality — while keeping an eye out for kiwi in their natural habitat. Kapiti is home to over 1200 little spotted kiwi, making it one of the most reliable opportunities to see them in the wild. There are three accommodation options including private glamping tents, native timber cabins and a Kiwi-style bach offering ocean views out across Waiorua Bay. Find your very own Aotearoa New Zealand here. Top image: Slipper Island Resort.
The perpetual re-creation of urbanscapes amounts to copious waste. It's true that an abundance of recycling processes aims at diminishing resource use. However, they're often heavy on the energy consumption front. Consequently, designer Omer Haciomeroglu, in conjunction with Atlas Copco, has come up with 'ERO: Concrete De-Construction Robot'. It's programmed to pull apart reinforced concrete structures, so that they can be re-used in the construction of pre-fabricated concrete buildings. 'Today, operators manually control different sized demolition machines to smash and crash the concrete structure into dusty bits within the demolition location,' Haciomeroglu explains. 'All of these machines consume a lot of energy to operate. Water has to be sprayed constantly over the pulverised surfaces with fire hoses to prevent harmful dust from spreading around. After the work is done, big machines come and scoop the rebar and concrete mixture and transfer them to the recycle stations outside the city. There, the waste needs to be separated manually.' So, Haciomeroglu designed ERO to separate materials during the de-construction process, achieved through Hydro-demolition and Centrifugal Decanter technologies. This means that new concrete blocks can be created onsite. In the 2013 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA), ERO won First Prize in the Student Designs category. Haciomeroglu has studied design at California State University, Istanbul Technical University and the Umea Institute of Design, Sweden. 'As a developing designer I always look forward to being part of design teams that develop projects, concepts and products that will grant us, the humankind, valuable and entertaining vision of a better and sustainable future,' he explains. [via PSFK]
Edwina Corlette Gallery introduces two new art exhibitions, Dord Burrough's Ghost Emotions and Tara Marynowsky's Tide Is High. Not to be confused with the Atomic Kitten song, Tide Is High is a collection of poetic art pieces that explore the raw power of the feminine. Marynowksy balances emotive intensity with delicate line, form and colour, and uses fragile figures of women and men, animals, ghostly apparition and masked players to present pieces of unsettling honesty. She has exhibited widely throughout Australia as well as internationally and has received a number of grants, residencies and awards for her work. Burrough is an artist who plays with the darker wells of thoughts and lets personal journeys, daydreams and altered states direct her work. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Brisbane, Sydney and Berlin, and has been selected in the Churchie Emerging Art Award. Ghost Emotions explores the "physical worlds of friendly grotesquerie". Burroughs uses painting, drawing, sculpture and animation as part of this exhibition.
UPDATE, March 12, 2021: Slender Man is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Forget Slender Man's thin body, faceless head and eerie vibe. Sure, the character's unsettling appearance was designed to frighten people; however the scariest thing about the lingering internet meme is the fact that it still exists. It's been nine years since Something Awful forum user Eric Knudsen came up with the macabre figure as part of a photoshop contest to create paranormal images, and not only is it still doing the digital rounds, it's making the leap onto the big screen as well. Longevity is one thing. Flogging a nearly decade-old creepypasta — the online equivalent of telling ghost stories around a campfire — is something else entirely. In the film that shares its name, Slender Man has a knack for timing, but Slender Man the movie definitely doesn't. In fact, this flimsy horror effort doesn't have a knack for much, other than sticking to the dullest of formulas. A group of teenage girls view an unnerving video, begin to notice weird occurrences and then start disappearing. If you'd like us to wake you up when it stops sounding generic, then you're in for quite a lengthy snooze. When Massachusetts pals Katie (Annalise Basso), Chloe (Jaz Sinclair), Hallie (Julia Goldani Telles) and Wren (Joey King) get bored at a slumber party, they decide to switch from watching porn to discovering what this Slender Man character is all about. A week later, Katie goes missing during a class trip to a cemetery, and her drunken dad blames her newfound obsession with the occult. That sparks the rest of the gang into action, taking advice from a mysterious online source and trying to offer Slender Man an exchange to get their missing friend back. To their surprise (but not to the audience's), that plan doesn't pan out well. Slender Man isn't someone to be bargained with, it seems. Given that Ringu and The Ring already exist (with several sequels to both), you might expect Slender Man to reach beyond an already well-worn premise. Given that The Craft exists as well, you might expect more than just a group of goth-leaning besties trifling with ominous forces, too. Sadly, we can keep playing this game, and the outcome remains the same. The film follows terrorised, victimised girls in the same US state that's infamous for the Salem witch trials, but it draws zero modern-day parallels. And, while it stems from the pen of screenwriter David Birke — the scribe behind the vastly superior Isabelle Huppert-led rape-revenge thriller Elle — Slender Man boasts no signs of complexity either. Along with by-the-numbers performances, bland shots of spooky forests and a paper-thin message about the corruptive power of going viral, among Slender Man's many missteps is the squandering of its eponymous villain. The elongated figure is literally yesterday's news now, but the film does little more than point out that it looks creepy and thrust it at the screen for a few jump-scares. That's the kind of laziness that usually plagues direct-to-video sequels, arrogantly believing that name recognition will do half of the work, and that occasionally pointing the camera at something sinister will do the rest. In that spirit, it should come as no surprise that director Sylvain White also has derivative threequel I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer on his resume. If there's one positive aspect to Slender Man, though, it's this: thankfully, it doesn't try to capitalise upon the real-life stabbing committed in the titular entity's name. Back in 2014, two 12-year-old girls attacked one of their friends in an effort to impress the internet's favourite boogeyman, adding an extra level of discomfort to the Slender Man saga. The case was covered in 2016 documentary Beware the Slenderman, which is straightforward but still vastly more intelligent and engaging than this fictional take on the meme. Still, watching Slender Man, viewers get the feeling that the film might've once cribbed a few cues from reality, then cut them from the final version — the movie is so drab and cobbled-together that it seems like the work of filmmakers trying to salvage a bad situation. Or, that could just be the kindest way to look at this scare-free, intrigue-free mess. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jc0ez0IZ4k
Masters of putting unlikely things together, Ikea, have kicked off a smart design initiative to connect thousands of homeless dogs with potential families. Shelters are overcrowded and homestarters want that little extra addition to their pad, so the US-based Animal Lovers League and Singapore's Save Our Street Dogs have teamed up with the Swedish furniture giants for a very simple marketing project. Dubbed Home for Hope, the campaign uses the ol' cardboard cut out routine in the best possible way. Home renovators wander through Ikea displays picturing every thoughtfully-placed item in their own abodes (we've all entertained 'friends' around an Ikea display kitchen once, right?), a state of mind the furniture heavyweights are harnessing with life-size cardboard cut outs of the adoptable dogs merrily chillin' out in the lounge room. Customers visualise themselves 'completing their home' with throw rugs, patterned curtains and kitchen blackboards, then attach the same sentiment to a scruffy little face. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tBka2eF4OAI Ikea's team headed to the involved shelters, photographed the homeless pooches and created life-size cardboard cut outs of legends like Momo, Lady and Pampam. Then the team went to work, perching the 'dogs' on lounge chairs, begging at dinner tables, snuggling at the end of beds. Shoppers can scan the QR codes on the cardboard dogs' collars to register their interest in adoption, with each scruffy mutt having their own bio and individual video on the Home for Hope website (watching dogs have their own photoshoots is actually The Best Thing Ever). Alongside Ikea, Home for Hope will work with other big furniture players like Grafunkt, Foundry, Commune, Journey East and Noden Collective. The idea was borne from a lack of budget and a subsequent need to market the poor pooches creatively. "Home for Hope was borne out of a pressing issue," the foundation says. "With a limited budget, most animal shelters can only afford to voice their messages using social media. Problem is, their followers are pet lovers, and most already own pets. Hence, adoption rates are low." Via Fast Co.Design.
Four years after adding a new celebration of cinema to Brisbane's annual calendar, Queensland Film Festival returns with perhaps its most ambitious event yet — and its most topical. Running from July 19 to 29, the 2018 festival will not only span high-profile new titles, multiple cinephile-friendly retrospectives and QFF's first gallery installation, but will also boast an overwhelmingly strong contingent of female filmmakers. From opening night's Australian duo of Terror Nullius and Strange Colours (with filmmakers Soda_Jerk and Alena Lodkina in attendance), to festival circuit favourites You Were Never Really Here and The Rider, to a restored print of under-appreciated local coming-of-age horror gem Celia, more than 80 percent of QFF's lineup of 59 features and shorts is either directed or co-directed by women. That includes the fest's showcase on French filmmakers Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, with the pair coming to Brisbane for QFF ahead of their appearance at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Renowned for lurid genre films that toy with everything from horror to crime to spaghetti westerns, Cattet and Forzani's three full-length efforts to date — the psychosexual, psychedelic Amer; follow-up The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears (which actually initially screened at the first QFF back in 2015); and their latest effort Let the Corpses Tan — all feature in the program. From the rest of QFF's 2018 bill, other highlights include Lucrecia Martel's Zama, which marks the long-waited next effort from the acclaimed Argentinian filmmaker; as well as the gorgeously otherworldly The Wolf House by Cristóbal León and Joaquin Cociña — an astonishing piece of stop-motion animation that turns a meticulous and creative art installation into an entrancing movie. And, among the fest's other retrospectives, the festival will celebrate the work of avant-garde Czech director Věra Chytilová, whose subversive comedy Daisies is considered one of the landmark films of the 60s. Anthropologists and documentarians Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel are also in QFF's spotlight, thanks to a program focusing on their observational and immersive explorations of both the natural and man-made world. As part of the latter, GOMA will screen a free, ongoing installation of the duo's work for the duration of festival. Elsewhere, the fest will feature German horror Hagazussa, about women deemed witches during the Dark Ages; An Elephant Sitting Still, the bleak but moving first and last film by Chinese filmmaker Hu Bo; and creative 3D effort Prototype, which ponders both the deadliest natural disaster in US history strikes and the history and future of cinema. Then, closing out the fest is a pair of movies that combine film and sport: documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection and fictional effort Diamantino, about a soccer star coping with everything from neo-fascism to the refugee crisis to genetic modification. Queensland Film Festival runs from July 19 to 29 at New Farm Cinemas, Elizabeth Picture Theatre, the Gallery of Modern Art and the Institute of Modern Art. To view the full program or buy tickets, head to the festival website.
Have you heard? Legendary pop and dance icons Charli XCX, Duke Dumont, Cosmo's Midnight and Sonny Fodera are taking to the stage with other stellar artists across four stunning waterside locations for the 2023 run of For The Love. On Saturday, February 25, stars from here and abroad will be taking over the Gold Coast's Doug Jennings Park for one massive day and night of good-time vibes — with the glitzy-meets-beachy locale's skyline glistening across the water as your backdrop, you'll be dancing to hits and sending out your summer on a high. The 2023 lineup is stacked. The team at Untitled Group — the same minds behind Beyond the Valley and Pitch Music & Arts — have gathered an incredibly strong list of acts to keep the energy high while FTL delivers its signature elevated experience (complete with stand-out fashion and lifestyle elements). Expect Snakehips, Budjerah and KYE, as well as Sumner and Jade Zoe, to make appearances. And while you can experience all of this as a regular punter, For The Love's VIP tickets make it that much better. Enjoy a private bar (avoiding longer lines elsewhere — huge win), upgraded amenities and access to the coveted VIP deck (for uninterrupted views of the stage) and the double-storey VIP fashion lounge (where you'll mingle with FTL's fun-loving ambassadors and social personalities). Is is, by far, the best way to experience this red-hot lineup, which is why Concrete Playground Trips has teamed up with For The Love to create an epic VIP travel package. First off, we're putting guests up in the The Island Gold Coast for two nights — just a short drive from the For The Love venue. In each room? Grey Goose Vodka Essences (to start your pre-drinking the right way) and Tend-2 Hangover Relief (the 100% organic pills that will save you a bit of pain the next day). The much-anticipated event is an exceptional way to send off summer — set your reminders now, legends. The VIP For The Love Gold Coast package is exclusive to Concrete Playground Trips. To book your curated experience, head to the website.
Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan, the team behind the cult favourites 24 Hour Party People and The Trip, are teaming up on the big screen again, this time presenting a biopic of the infamously rich British entrepreneur Paul Raymond in The Look of Love. Raymond, famous for opening Revue Bar in Soho and cultivating an empire built on the famous message 'sex sells', is portrayed by Coogan, who is perhaps a perfect fit given he once showered a topless model with £5000. The movie does much more than explore his world of erotica though, focusing on the King of Soho's personal relationships with the women closest to him and how he lost them on his way to gaining millions of pounds. The exploration of his life as a professional, husband, lover and father has already garnered acclaim, and whilst not everything Coogan touches recently has turned to gold, he seems to be onto a winner here. The Look of Love hits Australian screens June 27 and we have ten double in-season passes to give away, courtesy of Madman Entertainment. To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven't already) and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
According to the BucketFeet philosophy, "Art is not meant to hang in an expensive gallery, it is meant to travel and be seen." Why hang paintings on your wall when you can wear them in the street? BucketFeet, a Chicago-based company, sells artist-designed footwear. Every one of their products is a unique piece, envisioned by an artist and realised through ethical production methods. The artists involved collect royalties from every shoe sold. Launched in spring 2011, they're now selling in 12 countries, and the best news is, they've just hit Australian shelves. Co-founders Raaja Nemani (who doubles as CEO) and Aaron Firestein (chief artist) first met in Argentina, where Raaja was escaping the world of finance via extended international travel and Aaron was working as a photographer with a sideline in putting Sharpie to sneaker. "[Aaron] designed a pair of shoes for me that inspired a pair of shoes we later launched with BucketFeet called 'Cuadras', based on the city blocks of Buenos Aires," says Raaja, who went on to wear the shoes across six continents and gather the attention of footwear lovers at every stop. "I think what made the shoes special were the stand out colours he used, which you wouldn't necessarily think go together. They were so unique and original, and while I'm not the craziest dresser, I always like to wear a unique piece — usually a cool pair of shoes or a cool hat. Lately, it's been BucketFeet!" Now launching their SS14 line, they've clocked up more than 100 shoe designs by 70 artists. And those artists are a diverse bunch. "It doesn't matter where you're from or what social class you fit into," says Aaron. "For example, we have worked with artists from the favelas of Rio who work jobs as pizza delivery boys during the day and paint at night, just because they love it so much. We've also worked with people who get artwork commissioned by big companies like Disney, Dr. Pepper or Sony for their marketing campaigns. Art is the unifying factor and, if the person has talent, we want to work with them. Everyone's got a story." The artists involved earn US$250 upfront for their work and then $1 per pair of shoes as well as royalties for as long as the shoes are sold. The payment system is the same no matter how many shoes are sold, or through which channels. "On a global scale, our give-back is substantial," says Raaja. "More than the financial element, we drive awareness and exposure to our artists. We think this is more important than money. There's something to be said about applying artwork to shoes and then having a person walk around in those shoes. The art travels, it is seen by new people, and I think that is what matters most. To get into a pair of Bucketfeet, check out their website or their Australian stockists, Monster Threads.
For years, NSW residents looked through jealous eyes at other Australian states enjoying a multitude of extra public holidays that weren't afforded (NSW typically observes just 11 public holidays per year, while other states observe as many as 15), but now the tables have turned, thanks to a calendar loophole. On Sunday, NSW Premier Chris Minns announced that NSW residents are getting an extra public holiday for the next two years. Having announced the intention to explore it last month via press conference, Minns has confirmed that the Monday following ANZAC Day 2026 and 2027 would be a public holiday for NSW. Remembrance services will still fall on Saturday, April 25, 2026 — until this past weekend, only residents in WA and the ACT were being granted a public holiday on Monday, April 27. "NSW has fewer public holidays than other states. Some other states have already moved to having an additional public holiday when ANZAC Day appears on the weekend, and we're going to follow suit for 2026 and 2027," Minns said in a video posted to his social media accounts. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chris Minns (@chrisminnsmp) In the video, Minns acknowledges that this isn't a decision to mark the occasion with celebration, saying "[ANZAC Day] is probably the most important national day that we have". Minns also places faith in NSW to not abuse the holiday and its historical significance, adding, "I think NSW residents can, of course, be trusted with this public holiday in the sense that it won't detract from the solemnity and importance of the 25th of April." The response has been mixed, with RSL NSW members and business owners in particular not fully on board (though the former is still mostly in favour), hesitations acknowledged by the Minns government. Then there's the court of public opinion. One Facebook commenter on Minns' video wrote "NO! ANZAC Day is a day of remembering those who have fought and gave their lives for Australia. It is not just another long weekend." Another commenter added, "it would be a greater sign of respect for us to sacrifice one day of our weekend to remember the ANZACs' sacrifice," while a third pointed out public holidays aren't just a day off for some, asking pointedly, "not thinking about small businesses, families that rely on child care?" No ANZAC Day services will be impacted over the weekend, and for those who may be wondering, two-up will still be illegal on the Monday, and every day in the year other than April 25th and November 11th. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chris Minns (@chrisminnsmp) ANZAC Day will next fall on a weekend in 2032, so NSW residents will have a few years to consider how the changes impacted remembrance around the occasion before another opportunity arises. Hear Minn's full commentary on the new public holiday via his social media accounts. Image: iStock
"Why did you choose pizza? It must've been fate." They're the words of Yoshihiro Imai, a pizza chef in Kyoto, in the trailer for Chef's Table: Pizza — but for anyone who loves pizza, that dialogue could've been plucked out of your own head. No one just likes pizza. No one is just happy with one slice of it, either. If you adore pizza, you're all in. Pizza is dinner. Pizza is lunch. Pizza is breakfast, too. And, pizza is life. You mightn't really eat pizza for every single meal, no matter how much you'd like to; however, if you're fond of orbs of dough stacked with toppings, then baked in an oven, then Chef's Table: Pizza is serving your next streaming feast. The latest addition to the Chef's Table franchise, arriving on Netflix on Wednesday, September 7, it's set to dedicate its entire six-episode run to pizza and the folks who make it. Accordingly, viewers will watch pizza chefs cook up the beloved dish around the world, including in Portland, Phoenix and Minneapolis in the US; in Rome and Caiazzo in Italy; and in Kyoto, Japan. The latter is where the aforementioned Imai comes in, but he's joined by fellow pizza-cooking talents Sarah Minnick, Chris Bianco, Ann Kim, Gabriele Bonci and Franco Pepe. If you're a Chef's Table fan already, you'll know the format. Each episode hones in on a specific chef, and steps through their approach to cooking. The only difference here: everyone featured whips up pizza, whether opting for traditional slices or mixing things up. In the trailer, flowers even feature atop one pizza. Chef's Table: Pizza joins the franchise after five previous seasons focusing on a broad array of chefs — celebrating the stellar kitchen skills of talents such as Massimo Bottura, Francis Mallmann and even Attica's Ben Shewry, for instance — plus a four-episode instalment devoted to French cuisine, a four-chapter run that's all about pastry and another four-episode focus on barbecue. The usual advice applies while watching anything food-related, whether it's this, chef dramedy The Bear or everything in-between: eating beforehand or as you press play is clearly recommended. Obviously, this time you'll want to eat pizza. Already feeling your stomach rumble? Check out the trailer below: Chef's Table: Pizza will be available to stream via Netflix from Wednesday, September 7. Images: Netflix © 2022.
If there's a question that no employee wants to hear from the person setting company agendas, pulling strings and signing paycheques, it's "what do we do?". In The Consultant, Regus Patoff (Christoph Waltz, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio) asks a variation of it early — "what do we make?" he queries at CompWare after he arrives amid grim circumstances. The mobile gaming outfit came to fame under wunderkind Sang (TV first-timer Brian Yoon), so much so that school groups tour the firm's office. Then, during the visit that opens this eight-part Prime Video thriller, a kid shoots and kills the company's founder. That doesn't stop Regus from showing up afterwards clutching a signed contract from Sang and spouting a mandate to do whatever it takes to maximise his legacy. Regus is as stern yet eccentric as Waltz has become known for — a suit- and tie-wearing kindred spirit to Inglourious Basterds' Hans Landa, plus Spectre and No Time to Die's Ernst Stavro Blofield. He first darkens CompWare's door in the thick of night, when only ambitious assistant Elaine Hayman (Brittany O'Grady, The White Lotus) and stoner coder Craig Horne (Nat Wolff, Joe vs Carole) are onsite, and he won't take no for an answer. There's no consultant job for him to have, Elaine tells him. There's no business to whip into shape, she stresses. By the next morning, he's corralling employees for an all-hands meeting and telling remote workers they'll be fired if they don't show up in-person within an hour, even if he proudly doesn't know what CompWare does — or care. Giving the small screen its latest moody and mysterious workplace nightmare, The Consultant adapts horror author Bentley Little's 2016 novel of the same name, but plays like Severance filtered through Servant. Similarities with the former come with the setting, tone and keep-'em-guessing setup, while commonalities with the latter arise from sharing creator Tony Basgallop. Both series kick off with a blow-in, unsettle a group already coping with tragedy and reorder their status quo with severe methods. Both lace the chaos that follows with nods towards the supernatural, and both ask what bargains we're willing to make — or not — to live the lives we're striving for. The Consultant hinges upon two ideas: the disdain all workers have for head honchos who slash and restructure without knowing the daily grind, bothering to understand it or even pretending to get to know their staff; and the lengths someone might be willing to go to, including what they may accept and overlook, to advance their own careers. Regus doesn't waste any time earning ire, whether through arbitrary firings — he claims one worker smells of "putrid fruit" — or by pitting his employees against each other to fight for a management office. But, as he sits in the top-floor suite still splattered with Sang's blood, he also accepts Elaine's self-given title bump to Creative Liaison and rushes Craig's new game into production. There's still plenty getting Elaine and Craig questioning, such as Regus' around-the-clock calls, the basement records room filled with invasive personal files that no one previously knew about, his sudden rule changes — one day, shoes are verboten — and how he whisks off Sang's visiting mother (Gloria John, Shifter), who actually now owns the company, but doesn't take her to her hotel or anywhere else she can be found. Elaine and Craig also have a romantic past to deal with, The Consultant's most obligatory narrative detail. Plus, Craig is preparing to marry the Catholic Patti (Aimee Carrero, Spirited), who isn't fond of his slacker vibe or his at-work friendships. And, there's a helluva mid-series night that involves a sky-high nightclub, a Russian model (Gena Heylock, Chicago Med) with prosthetic limbs and a wild car ride. The heavy splashes of red that colour The Consultant's opening titles and much of CompWare's office lighting aren't subtle. Neither is the "devil made me do it" excuse offered by Sang's boy killer or the soundtrack's use of Elvis Presley's '(You're the) Devil in Disguise'. But Basgallop excels at keeping viewers guessing about whether the diabolical events that come his characters' way have nefarious sources, or if they're as easily explainable via everyday details. His two currently streaming series are also masterclasses in using their confined settings — The Consultant steps beyond CompWare HQ rarely, like Servant and its Philadelphia brownstone — to bubble with unease. The Severance comparisons kick in again here, too, weaponising and satirising a tech company's look and feel, as well as its attitude and atmosphere. While O'Grady backs up her stellar turn opposite Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney in The White Lotus with another astute performance — and character — and Wolff conveys disaffected but driven with ease, The Consultant wouldn't be as quick a binge without Waltz. Quentin Tarantino has built two films around him, with both Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained winning the actor Oscars, and he's perfectly cast here. There's also a slipperiness to Waltz's involvement that matches Basgallop's fondness for the same trait. Viewers know exactly how the series' biggest-name star will play Regus and he doesn't disappoint, but that alone doesn't explain everything about the sinister character. As Waltz gets menacing and malevolent, and O'Grady and Wolff flit from shock to acquiescence and back again and again, The Consultant makes expected points about corporate culture, its cut-throat dynamics and increasingly 24/7 demands; the 21st-century employment landscape and its ruthlessness towards employees; and the engrained mindset that has everyone dutifully complying with authority. Familiar but still topical, sly, smart and shrewd: that's the thematic terrain the series traverses, and well. Try not to think of recent social-media moves when Regus starts throwing his weight around, for instance. Try not to ponder your own horrible bosses — yes, Waltz has played one before in Horrible Bosses 2 — and career pressure points, too. There's no point trying not to get drawn into this tense, suspenseful and slickly made series, however, which boasts Destroyer and Yellowjackets' Karyn Kusama among its directors, and lures in viewers as easily as addictive mobile games. Check out the trailer for The Consultant below: The Consultant streams via Prime Video.
Heading overseas from Australia is about to become a reality again, with the Federal Government recently announcing that international travel will be allowed to restart on a state-by-state basis from November. When each state or territory hits the 80-percent fully vaccinated mark set out in the National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response, that part of the country will be able to resume international flights — and Qantas has announced which routes will be operating first. Back in August, the airline revealed that it was planning to begin flying overseas again in December this year, based on when it forecast that Australia's international borders would reopen again. It has since started selling tickets for a number of overseas routes and, now that a firm plan has been put in place to open the nation back up to the rest of the world, it's bringing forward the start date for its flights to London and Los Angeles. Both legs will operate out of Sydney, and recommence operations from Sunday, November 14. To begin with, there'll be three weekly return flights to each city on Qantas' Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. And if you're wondering why the carrier picked these two routes, it's because they've been the most searched options for the past few weeks. Pack your bags, flights from Sydney to LA and London take-off from mid-November ✈️ https://t.co/reJshnEF0U pic.twitter.com/KsxjrsBfGC — Qantas (@Qantas) October 1, 2021 The airline advises that it'll add more flights if it needs to, as per demand, and that the dates may shift once the exact border reopening date is announced (or, if anything changes with the Australian Government's current plan). So, if travel can recommence out of Sydney earlier, Qantas will move things forward — and it it gets pushed back, so will the flights, obviously. If you're keen to get booking anyway, ticketholders for these flights will be able to make changes without paying a fee for travel up until the end of 2022, although you will need to pay a difference in fare if that applies. Fares for the two routes are open to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families and some visa holders, and start at $1662 return for the Sydney–Los Angeles trip and $1869 return for Sydney–London. At present, Qantas is sticking with its plans to restart other international flights from Saturday, December 18. Previously, Qantas had revealed its intention to recommence flights to destinations with high vaccination rates from December 2021, including Singapore, Japan, the US, the UK, Canada and Fiji, before adding Hong Kong flights in February, and then trips to Bali, Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City and Johannesburg in April 2022. When overseas flights do resume, Qantas will use digital health passes to verify vaccination and testing status. And, as Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has previously stated, the airline will only allow fully vaccinated passengers to travel on international flights. Passengers will also need to have returned a negative PCR COVID-19 test 72 hours before departure. It's expected that travellers on these international flights will need to go into home quarantine for seven days when they return, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison mentioned when he announced that the international border will reopen in November; however, the exact details of how that'll work hasn't yet been revealed. As part of its efforts to encourage vaccinations — and to help speed up the return to its normal operations — the airline is also currently giving away discounts and frequent flyer points to vaxxed Aussies. Qantas will restart Sydney–Los Angeles and Sydney–London flights from Sunday, November 14. For more information or to book, visit the Qantas website.
Erotica fans Australia-wide are celebrating the return of World Movies Channel's adults only program, Summer of Sin. Starting in December, it's a 62-night festival of all things intimate, with a sexually charged film screening at 9.30pm every single night until January 31. Before you ask, yes, Christmas Day's included. 2011 Spanish film The Sex of the Angels has that one covered. Moreover, New Year's Day will see a coital marathon kicking off at midnight, with 24 hours of films played back-to-back. In December 2012, the initiative saw a 49 percent increase in the channel's audience. This year, the formula that proved so irresistible to so many is being reapplied — a combination of classics and new international films, never-before-seen in Australia. In the words of the organisers, "We've scoured the darkest and dirtiest corners of the cinematic world for a line-up of the sexiest premiere films." Pretty much every fantasy or fetish gets a look-in, from swingers' parties to alien abduction. Here's our top 5. Young and Wild (Chile, 2012) When: Friday, 13 December 2013 (Australian television premiere) & Wednesday, 15 January 2014 This playful, raunchy, stylish film centres on 17-year-old Daniela (Alicia Rodriguez), who can't stop thinking about sex. Raised in a strict, wealthy, religious family, she expresses herself through her blog, Young and Wild, where she records her most outrageous desires and experiences. Call Girl (Sweden, 2012) When: Wednesday, 18 December 2013 (Australian television premiere) Inspired by true events involving Swedish politicians and prostitutes, this crime film is one of the more serious items on the Summer of Sin menu. A teenage girl's entry into prostitution exposes widespread hypocrisy at governmental level. Intimacy (France, 2000) When: Thursday, 26 December 2013 (Australian television premiere) & Saturday 18 January Every Wednesday afternoon, Jay (Mark Rylance), a failed-musician-turned-bar-tender, meets a woman (Kerry Fox) for brief, rough, wordless sex. One day he follows her home and discovers more than he bargained for. Kiss Me (With Every Heartbeat) (Sweden, 2011) When: Wednesday, 8 January 2014 Mia has always lived a straight life, and is about to enter an engagement with her partner, Tim, when she falls in love with her stepmother's gay daughter, Frida. An irrepressible mutual attraction develops between the two women, leading to a sensual affair. Elles (France, 2011) When: Friday, 31 January 2014 (Australian television premiere) Obsessive, middle-aged, unhappily married journalist, Anne (Juliette Binoche), receives an assignment that carries her into the risky yet seductive world of Parisian student prostitution. She gets to know two independent young women whose erotic adventures carry them into dangerous and unpredictable territory. Read our review here.
Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White needs little introduction – his epic career has seen him work with the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal at renowned restaurants across the world. But the latest project from the Michelin-starred chef isn't in the kitchen, but in the form of an app that allows customers to score meals at some of the city's best restaurants at discounted prices. Launching in Melbourne this month, EatClub is a new platform that allows restaurants to offer real-time discounts to customers at specifically slow or off-peak periods So if a restaurant doesn't have many covers for dinner, they can put up four tables and offer, say, 30 percent off to EatClub users that book those tables before 7.30pm. When you open the app, you're shown a selection of nearby restaurants with live deals on a map or in a list. You can then browse the restaurant's interior, peruse the different deals on offer and even check out the menu before you redeem the deal. It's a first in, best dressed system, so if you see something you want to jump on, best be quick – once a deal has been redeemed, it disappears from the app. The technology was co-founded by Matt Cantelo, Ben Tyler and Pan Koutlaki (ex-CEO of Foodora) who worked alongside Pierre White. The idea is that it'll encourage people to eat out more on a whim, an activity that has declined noticeably since delivery apps like UberEATS and Deliveroo have risen in popularity. More than 130 Melbourne restaurants are on board so far, including +39 Pizzeria, Mr Scruffs, Papa Goose and Babu Ji. Arguably the most exciting part of the app is that twice a day, at a random time, one restaurant will offer a 100 percent off deal for a single table. The first person to snatch up this daily deal will be able to dine for free, which is as good a reason to give it a go as any. EatClub has only launched in Melbourne so far, but there's talk of the app launching in Sydney very soon. To download EatClub, visit the Apple App Store or head to Google Play.
In the not-so-distant future, every wine lover in Brisbane might be able to call Ardo's their local. The neighbourhood bar and bottle shop first opened in Carl's Bar and Bistro's old Newstead digs earlier in 2023, giving the River City's inner north a new vino haven. Now, the chain is also pouring in Graceville, launching in Brissie's west mere months later. That isn't the end of Ardo's plans, either. Next stop: Hawthorne. For the moment, the just-launched Graceville outpost doubles the brand's footprint — and gives the City Winery crew, which is behind all things Ardo's, yet another venue. You'll find it on Honour Avenue, sticking with the same concept on the other side of town. Accordingly, wine fans in Brisbane's west now have easy access to plonk-slinging chain's curated range of vino, including over pintxos, cheese and charcuterie. "We couldn't be more excited to continue to bring Ardo's to more people in Brisbane after the reception our first location in Newstead received. We always wanted to build small hubs and communities of wine lovers throughout the city, and Graceville should be the perfect setting to grow new friends and fans of Ardo's," says General Manager Doug Gilmour. "Guests can expect a wonderfully curated selection of local and international wines, our delicious small bar bites and our takeaway wine tap. In addition, we'll be launching our functions and events offering, as well as educational masterclasses in food-and-wine pairing." Like its sibling spot, Ardo's Graceville is welcoming in patrons in for a glass and a bite, and will also let folks pick up their favourite tipples — or a new discovery — to take home once the takeaway license kicks in. Again, offering a selection that you wouldn't just find at any bottle-o is a big source of pride, with Ardo's staff on-hand to chat you through its drops, help you make a pick and impart their expert knowledge. Here, customers can enjoy wines by the glass and the bottle. The lineup rotates, but everything you see on the shelf is able to be drunk on the premises or, license pending, taken away. As you're getting cosy, you'll also be surrounded by vino all across the walls, plus a wine tap that looks like an altar. And, you'll be tucking into seasonal snacks. There's no word yet as to when Ardo's Hawthorne will open its doors, or exactly where, but expect it to follow the same formula as well. Given the short gap between Newstead and Graceville's launch, don't be surprised if it pops up soon. Similarly, if the chain of vino hangouts keeps expanding elsewhere, don't be astonished at that, either. Find Ardo's Wine Bar at 335 Honour Avenue, Graceville. Keep an eye on the venue's website for more details.
New to Bird Gallery in the CBD, New Arcadia is a thought provoking exhibition exploring the nature of Australian iconography and its character as a continually evolving topic through constant and evolving representations. The idea that what Australia ‘is’ is not a constant or static ideal has inspired a collection of artists to see how they can interpret the nations identity through art. The exhibition includes 24 works by 11 artists, all of whom have used their varied styles to present their ideas on what is Australian – drawing on ‘the illusion of Australia as a Tropical Arcadia’. The exhibition runs until Thuirsday, so head to Brid Gallery, order one of their sublime coffees and spend some time looking at Australia through a different pair of eyes. The artists on display are as follows: CALLUM ROSS JOEL REES GEOFFREY ZABELL AIMEE HAN ROLAND PARTIS JOE NIGEL COLEMAN MCKENZIE BRIGGS BLAINE THOMAS WATSON SOPHIE RICHARDS SAMUEL J DAVISON CRAIG ALLSOP
Come July 2021, ten years will have passed since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 reached cinema screens, wrapping up the big-screen story about a certain Boy Who Lived. But, to the delight of wannabe wizards and witches everywhere, the franchise hasn't faded away. The Fantastic Beasts films have kept it alive in cinemas, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has done the same on the page and stage, Harry Potter events have been a common occurrence, dedicated stores sling merchandise related to the saga and a Harry Potter theme park is in the works. Soon, you might be able to add a TV series to the long list of HP spinoffs — because it looks like one might be heading to the small screen. Discussions are in the works about a live-action HP show, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with streaming service HBO Max involved. There are few other details available at this point, however. So, what it'll be about, who it'll star, who'll be guiding it behind the scenes, when it'll release and where it'll screen Down Under if it happens are all obviously yet to be revealed. In fact, THR's report comes as a result of "multiple conversations with potential writers exploring various ideas that would bring the beloved property to television" — so it really is early days at present. The same report also notes that HBO Max and Warner Bros have said in a statement that there's nothing in development as yet, if you're wondering just how early the conversations about a HP show are. Of course, that bringing this wizarding world to the small screen is under consideration is hardly surprising news. The same is happening with the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after all, because no huge pop culture phenomenon ever disappears these days. To bide your time until further Harry Potter news comes to hand, Australian fans can stream the eight original films as they've just hit Binge. And, for a refresher on how the movies wrapped up, you can also check out the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mObK5XD8udk&utm_keyword=referral_bustle Via The Hollywood Reporter
Films about humanity's affinity with animals are films about our ties to the natural world — and doesn't Blueback splash that truth around. Plunging from The Dry into the wet, writer/director Robert Connolly reteams with Eric Bana for another page-to-screen adaptation of a homegrown book; this is another movie inseparable from its landscape, too, again exploring the impact people have upon it. This time, however, Bana isn't the star. He's memorable as larrikin abalone diver and fisherman 'Mad' Macka, and this Tim Winton-based feature would've benefited from more of his presence, but the Dirty John actor is firmly in supporting mode. Set against the enticing Western Australian coast as the author's work tends to be, this is a picture about the sea's thrall, existential importance and inherent sense of connection — as filtered through the bond between a girl and a wild blue groper, plus the evolving relationship between that same child and her eco-warrior mother. Mia Wasikowska (Bergman Island) plays Blueback's fish-befriending protagonist as an adult, with the text's Abel becoming Abby here. Radha Mitchell (Girl at the Window) shares the screen as Dora, her widowed mother, early in the film's year-hopping timeline. Still, in their second of three movies in succession — arriving before upcoming The Dry sequel Force of Nature — Connolly and Bana dip back into familiar territory. Obvious swaps are evident, including a beachside rather than a farming community, and atrocities against the planet and its wildlife instead of crimes against people, but it's easy to see Blueback's appeal as a reunion project. Among the key differences as Abby and Dora fight to save their town and its aquatic treasures, still battling wrongs to strive for what's right: this is an overtly and eagerly family-friendly affair. When Blueback introduces Abby, she's a marine biologist trying to stop the earth's coral reefs from being destroyed. Then comes a call from home about her mum. In Longboat Bay, Dora (played in her elder years by Liz Alexander, Clickbait) has suffered a stroke — and, in a too-neat move, that medical situation is used to inspire Abby's memories of why she chose her line of work in the first place. While Winton's novella initially hit shelves in 1997, justifying someone caring for the environment is a very 2020s touch. Being concerned about the planet doesn't require an origin story for a second, but they're the tales that flicker across screens in droves of late. Not all heroes wear capes, yet movies about valiant deeds and worthy attitudes keep feeling obliged to couch them in such terms. Wasikowska is sincere and affecting as the older Abby, her performance bathed in equal parts melancholy and determination, but Blueback's best sequences don't always involve the Judy & Punch and Crimson Peak talent. Connolly has cast his three versions of Abby well; taking on the character as a pre-teen and then a high schooler, and conveying resolve buoyed by curiosity and youthful hope in the process, Wolf Like Me's Ariel Donoghue and screen debutant Ilsa Fogg are each commanding and compelling. The biggest scene-stealers? The intricate mechanised puppetry by Creature Technology Company, which brings the movie's namesake to life, plus Rick Rifici's (Facing Monsters) wondrous underwater cinematography. Indeed, Blueback's lack of subtlety about Dora's health is so unnecessary because the film's strikingly shot and staged moments between a kid and a mesmerising fish communicate everything that needs saying anyway, and genuinely make the audience feel as Abby feels. Having read Winton's book over the past quarter-century isn't a prerequisite for knowing how Abby and Blueback's connection flows. Although this is just the latest movie sparked by the writer's prose — see also: Dirt Music, Breath and anthology The Turning in the past decade alone, the latter of which Connolly produced and Wasikowska directed a segment of — spying Winton's usual love of water, the WA coast, the environment and coming-of-age tales isn't, either. The author's regular hallmarks float through Blueback, but a child forging a sense of fellowship with another critter, loving their domain and discovering themselves along the way is its trusty anchor. Cinema in general, and Australian cinema specifically, is so fond of this storyline that the resulting flicks are practically their own genre. Where the two versions of Storm Boy, the Red Dog pictures and Oddball have all paddled before, this feature now swims (with ripples of overseas efforts Free Willy and Pete's Dragon as well). On a varied resume that spans The Bank, Balibo, and TV shows The Slap and Barracuda, too, Connolly also helmed Paper Planes. Consequently, as that film illustrated with its underdog chronicle about mastering a new skill in the pursuit of childhood glory, he knows a thing or two about working with well-worn all-ages formulas that've been sweeping over screens for generations. As glaringly as the sun bouncing off a glistening expanse of blue as far as the eye can see, oh-so-much about Blueback fits an easy template. Chief among them: the conflict between the younger Dora and shady developer Costello (Erik Thomson, How to Please a Woman), who wants to snap up the land that Abby's family's shack stands on, reshape the shoreline to the detriment of its marine life and make a bundle, all with help from nefarious spearfishers. Thankfully, there's also an ocean's worth of heart beating within Connolly's current release, especially whenever the titular creature makes an enchanting appearance. An unflinchingly earnest movie about valuing the natural world and stopping its decimation, as told with visual splendour that helps make its point through spectacular below-the-sea imagery, yet struggling with nuance: yes, add Avatar: The Way of Water to the lengthy list of films that Blueback recalls. This Aussie feature premiered on the festival circuit before James Cameron's 13-years-in-the-making blockbuster, though. It's also a quieter and more tender experience. Nonetheless, while scenic lensing by Nude Tuesday's Andrew Commis catches the eye on dry land as well, Blueback similarly gets caught adrift above the tide. Blunt eco-focused flicks aren't going anywhere, however, and nor should they. As Dora and Abby do for their patch of sand, friendly groper and the blue rock we all call home, this movie is campaigning — broadly, simplistically yet still engagingly, and as a fable for viewers young and old alike.
If there is ever a time to heed the advice of a seasoned crocodile handler, dive instructor and underwater photographer, it is on your trip to tropical north Queensland. Having literally grown up on the Great Barrier Reef (her family owns and runs a crocodile park there), Jemma Craig, now 25 and Instagramming as @islandjems, knows the ins and outs of the region, famous for its rainforests, relaxed style and that sweeping, threatened stretch of coral reef. In partnership with Pullman Hotels and Resorts, we're helping you explore more on your next holiday and make sure you get those experiences that the area's most switched-on residents wouldn't want their visitors to miss. In north Queensland, we've called in Jemma, whose favourite things to do in her extended backyard range from cruising in Australia's most awarded dive liveaboard catamaran to self-guided exploration of underground caves. A stay in one of Pullman's four five-star properties in north Queensland — whether Port Douglas, Palm Cove or Cairns — will not only let you bliss out in their pools, spas and sunloungers, it will put you in the thick of all this action. Read on for Jemma's favourite things to do on land and sea in north Queensland in her own words, and check out the rest of our Explore More content series to hone your itinerary for some of Australia's best holiday destinations. CORAL SEA SAFARI — MIKE BALL EXPEDITIONS One trip on Mike Ball Dive Expeditions' luxury liveaboard Catamaran, the MV Spoilsport, and you'll see why they're on the top of my list. Spoilsport is Australia's most awarded dive liveaboard, custom built for diving and with a twin-hull design that maximises space, stability and comfort. Their trips take you far from home into the rarely visited Coral Sea and all the incredible deep reefs it has to offer, to the remote Lizard Island and back down the spectacular Ribbon Reefs to Cairns. If you don't dive, these trips alone are a reason to start. MARINELAND CROCODILE PARK Where else in the world can you come face to face with a living dinosaur while relaxing on a tropical island on the Great Barrier Reef? Green Island's Marineland Crocodile Park is the home of Cassius, the Guinness World Record-holding Australian crocodile, and this is your opportunity to get close to a 5.5m croc, along with many other reptiles and sea life. My family founded this park in 1972 and I was lucky enough to grow up here — I love that it is hidden away from the tourists and that the island also boasts diving, water sports and arguably the best snorkelling in the area. [caption id="attachment_643370" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] by Zang Fan[/caption] TURTLE SPECTACULAR — MIKE BALL DIVE EXPEDITIONS Mike Ball's Turtle Spectacular Expedition is perfect for the summer months — green turtle nesting season on Raine Island, a remote national park at the very tip of Australia that is home to 70 percent of the world's nesting green turtles and can only be visited by a lucky few guests each year. The trip takes you to the Coral Sea, the remote Lizard Island, and then into the wild northern Great Barrier Reef and Raine Island. Dive on the most pristine coral reef flat I've ever laid my eyes on, and be surrounded by the largest turtles you've ever seen in your life. PORT DOUGLAS, CAPE TRIBULATION AND THE DAINTREE RAINFOREST Port Douglas is a town on the Coral Sea in tropical far north of Queensland. It's known for its beach resorts and as a base for visits to both the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree rainforest. In town, Macrossan Street is lined with boutique shops and quaint restaurants. The white sands of Four Mile Beach stretch off into the horizon, and you can visit the incredible Opal Reef for a snorkel. Further north you can visit Cape Tribulation, which offers walking routes and boardwalks through the jungle and mangroves, and a historical ridge trail on Mount Sorrow. UNDARA LAVA TUBES Set in the Gulf Savannah country in tropical north Queensland, Undara National Park is a bit of a drive from Cairns inland into the outback but is worth it for the unique opportunity it offers. Its main attraction are the lava tubes, which were formed by volcanic activity approximately 189,000 years ago. They are among the largest and longest of this type of lava cave on the planet, and the guided tours really make you appreciate this fascinating geological formation. There's also the option to stay here overnight — in an antique railway carriage, no less. FITZROY ISLAND Fitzroy Island is a gem, close to the coast and only a short ferry ride from Cairns. It's an unspoiled tropical paradise of rainforest and beaches within the calm sheltered waters of the Great Barrier Reef. Discover spectacular walking trails in the national park with abundant marine life and local wildlife. Visit the pristine Nudey beach or take a romantic walk to the hidden waterfall. Fitzroy has campgrounds and a boutique resort so stay a night or two and explore everything it has to offer. TJAPUKAI ABORIGINAL CULTURAL PARK If you've only ever had limited interaction with Indigenous Australian culture, Tjapukai is a must. You can visit day or night to taste native foods and be led in activities such as boomerang throwing. Performances are a key part of the experience, as the park was built around theatre and dance shows devised with the local Djabugay people. The park lies claim to being the largest Indigenous employer of any tourism enterprise in Australia, with more than two-thirds of the team coming from Aboriginal backgrounds. THE CRYSTAL CAVES Located a short drive out of Cairns up into the Atherton tablelands, the Crystal Caves offer guests an interactive tour of a truly unique underground cave system. Visitors are able to explore at their leisure — seeing and touching the ancient treasures of the earth. You are given a miner's helmet, a light and a comprehensive map with printed guide before you set off on your self-guided tour. This is a truly special experience that only a few places in the world offer. KURANDA VILLAGE A short distance from Cairns is the mountain village of Kuranda. It's known for the Kuranda Scenic Railway, which winds along forested hillside tracks carved out by early settlers. Kuranda offers a vibrant arts and crafts culture, with quaint little stalls and a colourful market running through the rainforest. Enjoy some homemade ice cream or candy and visit one of the many Wildlife Habitats Kuranda has to offer. Travel via shuttle bus, car, Skyrail or Kuranda's Scenic Train. SKYRAIL RAINFOREST CABLEWAY You're in the tropics now, so how fitting to go hang out in the jungle for a little while. The Kuranda Skyrail offers you the opportunity to glide above the treetops in a secured windowed gondola running along an 8km cableway through the Barron Gorge and the Kuranda Range Rainforest. Glass-floored and open-air gondolas are also on offer. The Skyrail has won a number of tourism and sustainability awards, and provides a unique link between the bustle of Cairns City and the beautiful jungle village of Kuranda. Explore more with Pullman. Book your next hotel stay with Pullman and enjoy a great breakfast for just $1.
There's a scene in the recently released 20,000 Days on Earth where Nick Cave claims he's genuinely jealous of Warren Ellis for having a piece of Nina Simone's used chewing gum. No ordinary piece of gum, this was what she chewed just before launching into the show of a lifetime. She stuck it on the piano in front of her, wiped her head with a ratty old towel and delivered a performance so phenomenal that its memory captivates Cave and Ellis more than a decade on. In an act of hardcore fandom Ellis grabbed both the towel and gum after her set. Inspired by these small pieces of sentimental memorabilia, Nick Cave and the creators of this semi-fictional documentary are currently curating an online Museum of Important Shit. Composed of user-submitted photographs, the museum documents the small keepsakes and trinkets that stay with us over the years. Whether that be a Polaroid photograph of a high school sweetheart, a lucky charm from your childhood or, on the more disgusting end of the spectrum, an old piece of gum wrapped in an old sweat rag. Validating hoarders all over the world, the collection really romanticises and unpacks the magic of these items. Dealing in "humble signifiers of huge significance," the museum's objective is to "catalogue the things that remind us of those transformative moments that make us who we are, and unlocks the stories connected to them." Comprised of over 200 items, the site currently displays receipts, drawings and a cigarette butt that once belonged to Tom Waits. For those who have seen 20,000 Days on Earth, the museum should come as no surprise. A bizarre blend of fiction and fact, the film is so centred upon the nature of memory that in many ways it emulates one — built on a shaky foundation of small moments and half-remembered stories. In one scene Cave narrates his memories through old photographs and collectables archived now as historical resources. "I've been a great collector of stuff from the start, you know, as a child, with my marbles and bits of string in my pocket," said Cave. "To this day, I keep the writing and photographs and the random ephemera, that over time, unexpectedly, collects meaning and significance. That stuff seems to be a kind of buttress that supports the soft tissue of my life. It feels connected to my soul in some kind of way. These physical things that define particular periods of my life, hold great importance to me. That stuff can unexpectedly reduce you to tears, because unexpected memory has that capacity. We all do it, I suppose, collect stuff, we all have our totems and touchstones that anchor us to our past. Stupid shit, in a way, but important shit." This important shit will be curated in the coming weeks by various actors and creative types including Richard Ayode (of The IT Crowd and recent directorial fame). And, while it may be hard for them to find a similarly profound meaning in all our trinkety junk, it's nice to know we're not the only ones collecting it. Via Wired.
UPDATE, October 18, 2020: Bombshell is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. Playing two women caught in the climate of sexual harassment that engulfed Fox News under former CEO Roger Ailes, Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie both turn in stellar — and now Oscar-nominated — performances in Bombshell. Aided by noticeable facial prosthetics, Theron steps into the shoes of real-life TV personality Megyn Kelly, serving up a pulsating vein of steeliness in every scene. As a fictional producer who calls herself an "influencer in the Jesus space" and an "evangelical millennial", Robbie's Kayla Pospisil possesses softer edges but still sports plenty of inner grit — especially when she summons up the guts to put her self-respect first, rather than her desire to feature on-camera on the right-wing network. But much like the unease that plagues both women until they decide to speak out, something definitely isn't right in the film that tells their tales. Bombshell is the slick, shiny version of this ripped-from-the-headlines story, which earned global attention when it broke back in 2016. Airbrushed to buffer away blemishes and avoid tricky spots, it's watered down to deliver an easy, glossy, simplified narrative. It doesn't help that 2019's Russell Crowe-starring The Loudest Voice already brought the same minutiae to the small screen — and in far greater detail, as you'd expect in a seven-part mini-series compared to a 109-minute movie. That said, Bombshell really isn't interested in diving as deep as its predecessor. Instead, it wants to make a feisty flick about kick-ass women fighting back in a male-dominated realm. Fight back, Kelly did — although not at first. As the film unpacks, fellow anchor Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) leads the charge and initially suffers the consequences, going public about her inappropriate dealings with Ailes (a cartoonish John Lithgow) by suing him personally. Despite the head honcho's protests of innocence to Rupert Murdoch (Malcolm McDowell) and sons Lachlan and James (Ben and Josh Lawson), more women share their stories. Director Jay Roach (Trumbo) and screenwriter Charles Randolph (The Big Short) explore this, as well as Kelly's apprehension to join the chorus and Pospisil's experiences as a young, ambitious woman eager to score her big on-screen break. And yet, by championing these efforts but barely delving into Fox News' status as a conservative propaganda machine, Bombshell proves an empty shell of a #MeToo movie. The treatment that Kelly and Carlson (and the real-life women that Pospisil represents) received at the hands of Ailes — yes, literally — is infuriating and unacceptable, as all accounts of men exerting power over women for their own gratification are. Their ordeal doesn't just hark back to one man, though; it's inescapably intertwined with Fox News and the agenda it serves — notions that are scarcely considered here. Roach and Randolph hint at the network's public standing, illustrating the wider world's reaction to its political leanings via a woman who insults Carlson in a supermarket. The film paints Ailes as feverish about pushing the Republican party's perspective and currying favour with Donald Trump during the lead up to the 2016 election, even when the future president tweets sexist comments about Kelly. And, it lays bare the TV station's misogynistic internal culture, where women are forced to wear short skirts and sit behind clear desks. Still, it all feels like lip service in a movie that merely depicts, rather than dissects. If one was feeling generous, you could assume the film's powers-that-be just expect that everyone already knows Fox News' reputation, and the perspectives it pedals. Being realistic, however, Bombshell seems happy to brush past the network's toxic on-air views — because contemplating them in-depth means adding shades of grey that this visually bright feature is keen to avoid. Ailes is a clearcut villain, and deserves the scorn he's served, of course. But ignoring the fact that Kelly, Carlson and their fellow female Fox News employees all buy into a conservative agenda where behaviour like Ailes' continually festers, and do so because they share the same political views, means that Bombshell ignores the broader context that helped lecherous acts prosper at the network. Yes, it's an immensely complicated situation — but Bombshell rarely treats it as such, or recognises much in the way of texture. While Kate McKinnon is memorable as a Hillary Clinton-supporting lesbian who remains closeted about both preferences at Fox News, that's another case of the movie barely dipping its toes into more complex territory. Perhaps the film's skin-deep approach shouldn't come as a surprise, seeing that Roach also directed all three Austin Powers flicks and the first two Meet the Parents movies. Bombshell certainly tries to keep its tone light and sometimes even farcical, even though it deals with such heavy matters. Alas, what results is the kind of movie you'd expect given this tellingly glib piece of closing voice-over — one where its unambiguously heroic protagonists "got the Murdochs to put the rights of women above profits, however temporarily". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOdDd4NEeg
It's that time again for Ekka fever to sweep across Brisbane, as the Royal Queensland Show returns from Saturday, August 9–Sunday, August 17 at the Brisbane Showgrounds. While the carnival rides, show bags, giant vegetables and cute animals are always a hit, perhaps the event's greatest icon is its sweet, sweet strawberry sundae. Yet this time around, you won't have to fight the crowds to get a massive dose of nostalgia. Instead, the Italian stallions at Massimo Restaurant & Bar are serving up their version of the gourmet treat, paying tribute to an Ekka favourite while adding their own spin. Available from Friday, August 1, the date also marks the launch of the restaurant's new menu. "The strawberry sundae is such an integral part of the Ekka experience for so many Queenslanders," says Head Chef Daniel Espinosa. "We wanted to capture that same joy and nostalgia, but with the premium ingredients and attention to detail that our guests know us for. It's comfort food, elevated to an art form." Carefully balancing tradition with a touch of modern-day sophistication, Massimo's elevated strawberry sundae still packs plenty of sugary punch. Featuring house-made strawberry ice cream topped with Queensland-grown strawberries and a signature strawberry sauce, the delicate addition of rose fairy floss brings even more fairground spirit to the show. Served in a bowl reminiscent of old-world Brisbane diners, Massimo's take on Ekka's most cherished treat is as humble as it is delicious. Priced at $15 each and served until the end of August, the sundae is available from 2pm daily. This ensures families and early diners have a chance to make this decadent classic a part of their Ekka adventure. Set in the heart of Brisbane's dining precinct on Eagle Street, Massimo Restaurant & Bar has become a stellar spot for diners seeking a taste of the Amalfi Coast. Drop in for an Ekka-inspired strawberry sundae, but consider delving into the restaurant's top-notch pasta dishes and ocean-caught seafood cuisine that brings a little of the Med to Brissie. Massimo Restaurant & Bar's strawberry sundae is available daily from 2pm until Sunday, August 31, at 123 Eagle St, Brisbane City. Head to the website for more information. Images: Mitch Fresta.
Next time you're at Southbank, look for the highest point along street's beach. See that Scandi-chic, wood-panelled building? That's Southbeach Social. Ever since Southbank has been remodelled in recent years, we've been hungry for any chance to head down to our inner-city stretch of beach. Plus, everybody loves a bright purple bougainvillea archway. Southbeach Social features an impressive sharing menu — we rate the half kilo of fresh prawns ($28) — and a killer entertainment lineup that features local and international DJs. The views across the CBD aren't too shabby, either. Images: Grace Smith.
When Beauty and the Beast typically graces the screen, it doesn't involve a rose-haired singer decked out in a matching flowing dress while singing heart-melting tunes atop a floating skywhale mounted with speakers. It doesn't dance into the metaverse, either. Anime-meets-Patricia Piccinini-meets-cyberspace in Belle, and previous filmed versions of the famed French fairytale must now wish that they could've been so inventive. Disney's animated and live-action duo, aka the 1991 musical hit that's been a guest of childhood viewing ever since and its 2017 Emma Watson-starring remake, didn't even fantasise about dreaming about being so imaginative — but Japanese writer/director Mamoru Hosoda also eagerly takes their lead. His movie about a long-locked social-media princess with a heart of gold and a hulking creature decried by the masses based on appearances is firmly a film for now, but it's also a tale as old as time and one unafraid to build upon the Mouse House's iterations. At first, there is no Belle. Instead, Hosoda's feature has rural high-schooler Suzu (debutant Kaho Nakamura) call her avatar Bell because that's what her name means in Japanese. That online character lives in a virtual-reality world that uses body-sharing technology to base its figures on the real-life people behind them, but Suzu is shy and accustomed to being ignored by her classmates — other than her only pal Hiroka (Lilas Ikuta of music duo Yoasobi) — so she also uploads a photo of the far-more-popular Ruka (Tina Tamashiro, Hell Girl). The social-media platform's biometrics still seize upon Suzu's own melodic singing voice, however. And so, in a space that opines in its slogan that "you can't start over in reality, but you can start over in U", she croons. Quickly, she amasses an audience among the service's five-billion users, but then one of her performances is interrupted by the brooding Dragon (Takeru Satoh, the Rurouni Kenshin films), and her fans then point digital pitchforks in his direction. Those legions of interested online parties don't simplistically offer unwavering support, though. Among Belle's many observations on digital life, the fact that living lives on the internet is a double-edged sword — wielding both opportunities to connect and excuses to unleash vitriol, the latter in particular when compared to the physical experience — more than earns its attention. That said, all those devotees of Suzu's singing do rechristen her avatar as Belle, and she starts living up to that fairytale moniker by becoming fascinated with the movie's Beast equivalent. He's mysterious to the point that no one in U or IRL has been able to discern who he really is, but the platform's self-appointed pseudo-police force is desperately trying. Suzu is also mortified about the possibility of anyone discovering that she's Belle, although she's drawn to Dragon because she can sense his pain. Hosoda has repeatedly proven an inspired filmmaker visually — one just as creative with his stories and storytelling alike, too — and Belle is no exception on his resume. After the likes of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children and Mirai, he's in especially dazzling form in a movie that wields its images in two distinctive modes. In U, Belle is an epic onslaught for the eyes, its animation lively, busy and hyper-real in a way that cannily mirrors the feeling of wading through always-on online realms. This is where that whale swims through the air, concerts are held in what appears to be a hollow planet and Disney-style castles turn gothic. When it's in Suzu's reality, the film opts for naturalistic tones in a look that notices the everyday beauty in the flesh-and-blood world, even amid daily routines in fading small towns filled with average teens and their families. Hosoda revels in the contrast between the two, in fact, because that clash constantly sits at the film's core. A wealth of juxtapositions echo through Belle, so much so that Hosoda may as well paint with them as he does with his mix of hand-drawn animation and pixels. Collisions between the virtual and actual, genuine connection and online ease, perceptions and truth, anonymous freedom and reality's trappings, being anyone and accepting yourself, and happiness and trauma all bounce through the movie — and never, befitting its vibrant visuals, in a black-and-white fashion. Indeed, while the film's top-level insights into the solace we seek online, the faux coat of armour it affords and the horrors it can also unleash don't reveal anything new, Belle is both deeply felt and disarmingly attuned to tiny details. Those two traits apply in its piercing emotions and background minutiae, and also in bigger strokes such as in Suzu's and Dragon's backstories. She suffered a great loss when she was younger, and the grief it still causes shapes everything about her every move in devastatingly astute ways, for instance. Some other pitch-perfect bits and pieces: the chorus of text clouds, incessantly bubbling up on computer and phone screens, that the feature uses for both worshipping and cruel online chatter; the scars Dragon sports, as imitated in IRL tattoos by his aficionados, but also emblematic of the motives driving him; and repeated vistas as Suzu wanders through Kōchi Prefecture, where she lives, and her surroundings don't physically change but her feeling within them shifts depending on what else is colouring her life. That's the level of intricacy that Hosoda is working with as he also spins a coming-of-age tale complete with teen angst and schoolyard gossip — the offline parallel to digital witch-hunts — over Suzu's long-running friendship with now-class hunk Shinobu (Ryô Narita, Remain in Twilight), and doesn't stop using Belle's bangers to convey a world of emotion. Studio Chizu, which Hosoda co-founded with producer Yuichiro Saito in 2011, isn't yet a household name as fellow Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli is — but as it keeps growing with each of the director's releases, it really should be. Belle deserves to be the new go-to Beauty and the Beast adaptation, too, although three decades of Disney domination means that it'll likely never supplant the Mouse House's versions. Hosoda might find that apt, however, because Belle sings loudest about being brave enough to know and embrace who you truly are in an existence where it's now ridiculously easy to pretend you're someone or something else. And while it mightn't seem like it'd need courage to create this lush, grand, generous and captivating film — and gorgeous as well — but bold, insightful and transfixing takes on stories as old as rhyme just don't come around that often. Top image: Studio Chizu.
Record Store Day might only come once a year, but every second Saturday of each month, Brisbane gets into the spirit of the occasion. That's when a treasure trove of vinyl descends upon a specific spot in this fair city of ours, showering music fiends in the stuff collectors' dreams are made of. Brisbane Record Fair is the type of event that gives aficionados reason to salivate, deliberate, negotiate, and then spend, spend, spend — after rifling through crates and crates of rare material, obviously. Post COVID-19 lockdowns, it's also popping up in a brand new place, with the monthly event moving from West End to Aspley. Thousands of items are for sale, with Brisbane Record Fair taking over the Aspley Central Shopping Centre at 1368 Gympie Road. Expect a smorgasbord of sounds — offering up music of all types — when you head along to the next event from 8.30am–3pm on Saturday, November 14. It also takes place at the same time and at the same place as The Plant Lovers' Market, too. Vinyl-wise, whether you're after a decades-old gem or something newer on an LP or a 45, chances are you'll find it here. Sellers come from far and wide to share their wares, including private collectors parting with their sonic pearls. And no matter the time of year, a selection from their stash would make a perfect present, whether for someone else, or for yourself. Updated November 8.
First, Grapevine Gathering locked in its 2022 dates and hosts. Now, the vino-fuelled Australian festival has announced exactly who'll you be watching when you're sipping plonk and dancing in a winery this October. Leading the bill: The Kooks, Peking Duk and The Veronicas, giving music and wine lovers plenty to say cheers to. Also hitting the stage: Ball Park Music, Gus Dapperton and Jack River, as well as Confidence Man, Alice Skye, Nyxen and Becca Hatch. And, as previously revealed, Aussie sketch comedians and Instagram celebrities The Inspired Unemployed are on hosting duties. As they did at the last Victorian Grapevine Gathering, they'll be charged with keeping the audience entertained between musos — and also hitting the decks as well. That's who you'll be seeing over one grape-filled day. As for where you'll be headed, the fest will return to Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, of course — hitting up Sandalford Wines in Swan Valley, Rochford Wines in the Yarra Valley and Roche Estate in the Hunter Valley, respectively. In 2022, for the first time ever, Grapevine Gathering is also debuting in Queensland and South Australia — at Sirromet Wines at Mount Cotton and Serafino Wines in McLaren Vale. Love heading to a scenic spot to dance to live tunes? Adore sipping wine, too? This is clearly the fest for you. Naturally, sipping vino is a huge part of the attraction. As always, attendees will have access to a heap of wine given the fest's locations, plus an array of yet-to-be-announced food options. GRAPEVINE GATHERING 2022 LINEUP: The Kooks Peking Duk Ball Park Music Gus Dapperton Jack River The Veronicas Confidence Man Alice Skye Nyxen Becca Hatch hosted by The Inspired Unemployed GRAPEVINE GATHERING 2022 DATES: Saturday, October 1 — Sandalford Wines, Swan Valley, Western Australia Sunday, October 2 — Serafino Wines, McLaren Vale, South Australia Saturday, October 8 — Rochford Wines, Yarra Valley, Victoria Saturday, October 15 — Roche Estate, Hunter Valley, New South Wales Sunday, October 16 — Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton, Queensland Grapevine Gathering will tour Australia in October 2022. Tickets go on sale from 12pm AEST Thursday, May 26 — with presale registrations open now till 3pm AEST Wednesday, May 25, and presales starting at 6pm AEST that same day. For further information, head to the festival's website.
Whether he's co-writing and starring in sketch comedies, directing two of the best horror films of the past few years, producing an Oscar-nominee or reviving a science-fiction classic, Jordan Peele has amassed an impressive resume. So, whenever he adds a new project to the lengthy list, it's worth paying attention. After Key & Peele, Get Out, Us and The Twilight Zone — and producing BlacKkKlansman, too — he's now lending executive producing skills to upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Hunters. It stars Al Pacino, it's about hunting down Nazis in the 70s and it's inspired by real events. As first glimpsed in the show's initial teaser back in November and now explored in further detail in its just-dropped first full trailer, Pacino plays Meyer Offerman, the leader of a group of Nazi hunters who are intent on stopping a Fourth Reich taking hold in America. They've discovered that hundreds of escaped Nazis are not only living in the US, but have genocidal plans — and Offerman and his vigilante pals plan to thwart this conspiracy by any means necessary. Expect violence, tensions, action, thrills, and a fight between good and evil. Not just calling out oppression, injustice and hatred, but tackling it through film and television is firmly in Peele's wheelhouse, as his filmography shows. Accordingly, Hunters slots in nicely, with a ten-episode first season due to drop on February 21. Fresh from his excellent turn in The Irishman — his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese, somehow — Pacino is in less theatrical, more nuanced mode here. He's also joined by a well-known roster of co-stars, which includes Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Carol Kane (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Lena Olin (Vinyl) and Australian actress Kate Mulvany (Lambs of God) as a kick-ass nun. Check out the full trailer for Hunters below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBGkjmfIzAw Hunters will hit Amazon Prime Video on February 21.
If you don't believe that Fast X will be one of the Fast and Furious franchise's last films, which you shouldn't, then it's time to face a different realisation. Now 22 years old, this family-, street racing- and Corona-loving "cult with cars" saga — its own words in this latest instalment — might one day feature every actor ever in its always-expanding cast. Dying back in 2013 hasn't stopped Paul Walker from regularly appearing a decade on. He's the first of the core F&F crew to be seen in Fast X, in fact, thanks to a flashback to 2011's Fast Five that explains why the series' flamboyant new villain has beef with the usual Vin Diesel (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3)-led faces. Playing said antagonist is Jason Momoa (Dune), who adds another high-profile name to a roster that also gains Brie Larson (Ms Marvel), Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad), Alan Ritchson (Reacher) and Walker's daughter Meadow this time around. It's no wonder that this 11th flick in the franchise (yes spinoff Hobbs & Shaw counts) clocks in at an anything-but-swift 141 minutes. It's also hardly surprising that living on-screen life a quarter mile at a time now seems more like a variety show than a movie, at least where all that recognisable talent is involved. There are so many people to stuff into Fast X that most merely get wheeled out for their big moment or, if they're lucky, a couple. Some bring comedy (the long-running double act that is End of the Road's Ludacris and Morbius' Tyrese Gibson), others steely glares and frenetic fight scenes (The School for Good and Evil and Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves' always-welcome Charlize Theron and Michelle Rodriguez, respectively), or just reasons to keep bringing up Walker's retired Brian O'Conner (which is where Who Invited Charlie?'s Jordana Brewster still fits in). When more than a few actors pop up, it feels purely obligatory, like the F&F realm just can't exist now without a glimpse of Jason Statham's (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) scowl or getting Helen Mirren (Shazam! Fury of the Gods) going cockney. Do too many drivers and offsiders spoil the Point Break-but-cars hijinks? Not completely, but the high-octane saga's jam-packed cast is now a roadblock. It certainly can't have helped screenwriter Justin Lin, the director of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, F9 and initially Fast X until leaving a week into production, and his co-scribe Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans). Their script sports an overarching plot, with Momoa's Dante Reyes avenging the death of his drug-lord father five films back, but it's really about servicing the required parts. Oh-so-many folks require some screentime; all the usual heist, chase and race antics have to drop in; everyone needs to jet between the US, Italy, Brazil, the UK, Antarctica and Portugal; family must be mentioned approximately 423,000 times; and Diesel's Dominic Toretto demands a few of beats to act as if Brian is dead even though he remains alive in the series' storyline. That's the to-do list that Lin, Mazeau, and Statham's The Transporter and The Transporter 2 filmmaker-turned-Fast X helmer Louis Leterrier tick through — and tick they do. Dom and the fam, including his abuelita (Moreno) and son Little Brian (Leo Abelo Perry, Cheaper by the Dozen), get an early backyard barbecue, waxing lyrical under the Los Angeles sun about the ties that bind. Then Roman (Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang, Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel, The Invitation) go to Rome for a job that goes wrong, and ex-adversary Cipher (Theron) shows up bruised and bloody on Dom and Letty's (Rodriguez) doorstep talking about the devil. The common factor: Reyes, who has declared war on the extended Toretto brood without them knowing he exists. They should've expected him, though, given that battling family members — of past enemies and, when John Cena (Peacemaker) joined in F9 as Dom's brother Jakob, their own — is another box-checking saga staple. Almost every newcomer to the franchise, both here and in general, is related to someone else. That's how deep the series' family values go. And yet, for a saga that started embracing its ridiculousness when Dwayne Johnson (Black Adam) jumped aboard — also in Fast Five; you can't have Diesel, Johnson and later Statham bashing their sweaty heads together without having a sense of humour about it — it plays the soap opera-esque parade of kin (and the well-known actors being them) too straight. Fast X knows how outlandish it and its predecessors are with stunts, even if no one rockets to space this time. It says cheers over Mexican beers to its established cliches as well. And it joyfully has Momoa get giddily OTT as the scrunchie-wearing, "awesome!"-spouting, Joker-esque Dante, visibly having a ball doing so. But the so-earnest-it's-playful deliriousness that should always hum through these tales of petty thieves-turned-international spies is often revved over by needing to shoehorn in another character, then another, then more, whether they've been fam since day one or they're making their debut. It's doubtful that it's on purpose, but Fast X practises what Dom preaches, making its audience appreciate the simple things. There's nothing uncomplicated about the movie's hyper-stylised stunt choreography, with its giant pinballing bombs and reggaeton drag racing — the latter soundtracked by Daddy Yankee's 'Gasolina', of course — but the film is lighter and livelier when it strips itself down to its pedal-to-the-metal and fist-throwing basics. That's when there's an energy to now seven-time F&F cinematographer Stephen F Windon's whooshing and whirling lensing, too, especially when he's gliding through windshields while engines are purring in a Rio-set moment. Smartly, Theron and Rodriguez are gifted an impressively staged fray that screams for them to have their own spinoff. And when helicopters are being flung at each other by a Dodge Charger, it's pure dumb action-flick fun. While those choppers are swooping and crashing, revhead-in-training Little Brian can't help exclaiming with excitement. Fast X isn't ready to usher the saga's big-screen entries into Fast and Furious: The Next Generation just yet — it will eventually, sometime after this chapter's one confirmed sequel and likely second follow-up get motoring, although animated Netflix series Fast & Furious Spy Racers got there first — but that glee is exactly what Diesel and company want their audience to share. This is a thrill ride in fits and starts, however. At its worst, including with its stop-mid-scene cliffhanger, it's franchise-extending filler that never-ending sagas like the Marvel Cinematic Universe have made the gear-grinding norm. But when Fast X pumps the gas on turbocharged vehicular lunacy rather than playing connect-the-dots and spot-the-famous-face, giving four Oscar-winning actresses too little to do and dropping in hardly surprising guest appearances, it's an entertaining-enough spin down a well-driven road.
For more than half a century, the Australian Aboriginal flag has flown high with pride as a symbol of the nation's First Peoples — and you can now expect to start seeing it in more places. The Federal Government has just announced that the black, red and yellow design, which was created in 1970 by Luritja artist Harold Thomas, is now freely available for public use following a hugely significant copyright deal. Before the new arrangement, copyright for the flag resided with Thomas — and, when displayed on clothing, to an apparel company thanks to an exclusive license. The latter deal helped spark the Free the Flag movement, after reported infringement notices were issued over the design's use by other organisations including Clothing The Gap and various sporting codes. Over the past few years, you've probably seen Free The Flag shirts, posters and billboards raising awareness about the flag's copyright restrictions. "We've freed the Aboriginal flag for Australians," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison, announcing the news in a statement. "Throughout the negotiations, we have sought to protect the integrity of the Aboriginal Flag, in line with Harold Thomas' wishes. I thank everyone involved for reaching this outcome, putting the flag in public hands." The @ScottMorrisonMP Govt has secured the free use of the Aboriginal Flag. The Aboriginal Flag copyright has been transferred to the Commonwealth & all Australians can use the Flag digitally or in any other medium without having to ask for permission or pay a fee. pic.twitter.com/COpVC0DVKJ — Ken Wyatt (@KenWyattMP) January 24, 2022 Now managed in a similar manner to the Australian national flag, the Aboriginal flag is free to use moving forward, "but must be presented in a respectful and dignified way," the Prime Minister said. "All Australians can now put the Aboriginal Flag on apparel such as sports jerseys and shirts, it can be painted on sports grounds, included on websites, in paintings and other artworks, used digitally and in any other medium without having to ask for permission or pay a fee." Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt confirmed that the new agreement resolves the copyright issues around the flag — and that "all Australians can freely display and use the flag to celebrate Indigenous culture". The Minister continued: "now that the Commonwealth holds the copyright, it belongs to everyone, and no one can take it away." [caption id="attachment_840573" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Oliver Lupton via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Aboriginal flags and bunting will still be made by Carroll and Richardson Flagworld, the exclusive licensed commercial manufacturer; however, that arrangement doesn't restrict individuals from making their own flag for personal use. The copyright deal also includes an agreement that future royalties from Flagworld's flag sales will be but towards the work of NAIDOC, the provision of an annual $100,000 scholarship for Indigenous students by the Australian Government in Thomas' honour, and the creation of an online history and education portal for the flag by the National Indigenous Australians Agency. And, the Australian Government will also display an original painting by Thomas recognising the flag's 50th anniversary and the historic transfer of copyright in a yet-to-be revealed but prominent location. For more information about the Aboriginal flag and the transfer of its copyright, head to the Australian Government website. Top image: Peripitus via Wikimedia Commons.
Has anyone ever cracked open a VB — stubby, tinnie, throwie or tallie, whichever takes your fancy — and not gotten the beer brand's "hard-earned thirst" jingle stuck in their head? Not since the late 1960s, they haven't. Even if you're not a fan of the company's brews, or you've had the hankering for a different type of beer, you've probably found yourself humming the tune to yourself anyway. You can get it lodged in your mind while you're talking, walking, lifting, shifting and any old how, after all, because it's that damn catchy. (Matter of fact, you're probably singing it to yourself now — aren't you?) You can also get that classic anthem stuck in your head while you're getting vaccinated, too, with VB releasing a new advertisement to encourage Australians to get the jab. You'll recognise most of the images, but the tune has had a bit of a revamp to note the impact of lockdowns on going to the pub and indulging that hard-earned thirst. "Right now you can't get it goalin', you can't get it bowlin'. You can't get it takin' a vow, or chasin' a cow," the new riff on the jingle says. "A hard earned thirst comes from being all over town. Not from being in lockdown," it continues. Obviously, it's all a bit daggy, because that's how the OG ad has always played. But the new twist on the song, and the ad, sees Victoria Bitter join a growing list of local companies that've been finding ways to encourage Aussies to get vaxxed so that restrictions and lockdowns can ease and life can look a little more normal again. Running the ad for at least a month to help support the national aim of getting 80-percent fully vaccinated, and therefore loosening more restrictions at that point, VB also joins campaigns by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a heap of Australian hospitality figures and the local live entertainment industry to promote the country's vaccination rollout. Check out the VB vaccination ad below: You can also view VB's television commercial by heading to YouTube.
Imagine starting the day with a spot of yoga and one of the best views of the city. Last year, Eleven Rooftop Bar and The Cove teamed up to make that a reality, and they're back to do it again in 2018. This time, it's monthly — but it's still free. With Series II of theRooftop Wellness Classes launching at 6am on March 27, early risers can stretch their limbs at a great height with yoga and Pilates sessions, or get the blood pumping with some boxing or circuit training. With all of that on offer, you'll probably want to take the lift up to the 11th-floor rooftop — best save your energy for working out while staring at the city below. As an added bonus the second time around, attendees will also receive a free on-the-go breakfast catered by Miss Bliss, plus goodie bags filled with health and wellness products from local businesses. Registration is required, with pre-registrations for the March event now open.
The next New Yorker cover will feature a Brooklyn hipster, though one whose inspiration comes via Surry Hills, after its 2013 Eustace Tilley Contest was won by Sydney illustrator Simon Greiner. The annual contest challenges entrants to come up with a new twist on its iconic top-hatted mascot, Eustace Tilley, who graced the cover of the magazine's first issue in an illustration by Rea Irvin. The entries reflect the toll that contemporary values and current affairs may have taken on the fictional figure, and Greiner chose to focus on the symmetry he saw between Eustace and today's Williamsburgians. "The New Yorker mascot Eustace is a dandy," Greiner told us, "and in order to update him to a contemporary setting I just took dandyism to its logical modern equivalent — hipsterism — Brooklyn being one of the centres for this cultural force in the states." It's a big win for the 31-year-old, who has been living in New York for the last year and a half. His striking design has now been printed on the anniversary issue of what may be the world's most venerable magazine, and he's presumably spending some time strutting around Park Slope blaring 'Empire State of Mind' while actually relating to Jay-Z's lyrics. "New York is an awesome place, but it can be hard starting out," he says. "I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity, especially since the magazine is such an icon in this city. I kind of feel I've been skipped ahead a couple of spaces on the board — it's very exciting." If Greiner's visual wit and bold line seem familiar, you may recognise them from local lit journal Ampersand, of which he is resident illustrator, or his Dr Suess sex ed parody, Now That You're Big. Greiner's cover is below, along with a selection of other entries. This year's prevailing themes were more pop cultural than political, with Instagram, emoji, and Don Draper all making appearances. Brooklyn's Eustace by Simon Greiner Eustace-gram by Jin Suk. Readers' choice winner. Dandy Men by Jeff Weyer. Readers' choice winner. Eustace in Gangnam Style by Alex S. C. Hsu. Readers' choice winner. Eustace Emoji by Fred Benenson. Tilley Submerged by Robert Linn. Want more Eustace? See how he's been portrayed through time in the New Yorker's gallery.
We're teaming up with Intrepid for a season of adventure throughout 2024, and we need your help to put it all together. If you've got a craving for a food-fuelled adventure and are pretty savvy with a camera and video tools, you could secure your place on a ten-day tour of Vietnam with Intrepid Travel as our newly-appointed roving reporter, capturing every moment of the experience and helping us share the wonders that travel has to offer. This adventure will take you from one end of the country to another, seeing famous sights like Ha Long Bay and the Mekong River Delta. Along the way, you'll sample the specialty cuisines the country is known for, seeing the sights fly by on an overnight train ride, explore quiet fishing villages and the busy streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City alike. Just remember, keep that camera charged and ready for the money shots and the little snippets you can't see coming. We'll need your footage and creative skills to put together a video to showcase the trip and others like it. To enter, you just need to fill out the form below and submit an original video entry to prove you've got what it takes to get behind the camera and shoot a video as a roving reporter for Concrete Playground. It doesn't need to be a travel video, just as long as it shows you've got an eye for good content and have the practical skills to film and edit footage. Good luck, winners will be contacted by midnight on Friday, August 30. [competition]965314[/competition] Images courtesy of Intrepid Travel
When Netflix released the first season of Heartstopper in 2022, audiences found it easy to say "I love you". When the streaming platform dropped the show's second season in 2023, the same was true of this coming-of-age gem. But in the first look at the series' third season, uttering those three words is causing plenty of anxiety for Charlie Spring (first-timer Joe Locke) — so much so that he's practising what he wants to tell Nick Nelson (Kit Connor, Little Joe) in front of the mirror. Netflix hasn't quite unveiled a trailer for the upcoming third instalment of this webcomic-to-page-to-screen delight, but it has released footage as part of its date announcement. So, everyone gets a very brief sneak peek at one scene — Charlie's nerves, his sister Tori (Jenny Walser, Call the Midwife) offering advice and Nick showing up at his door — and also the knowledge that the show will return on Thursday, October 3, 2024. This season will open with an episode called 'Love', fittingly, as Charlie attempts to express it verbally and Nick also has something to say to him. Expect the pair to learn more about each other — including Charlie seeing Nick in a singlet and Nick seeing Charlie in a cap, both for the first time, as per the just-dropped clip — and also start to think about the future beyond high school. As charming as romantic comedies, LGBTQIA+-championing tales, British series and coming-of-age stories can get so far, Heartstopper has proven a show to swoon over regardless of whether you currently are or ever have been a queer teen trying to be true to yourself, navigating adolescence and riding the emotional rollercoaster that is falling for someone. Its first season proved such a hit that Netflix renewed the series for two more go-arounds afterwards — with the graphic novel's author and illustrator Alice Oseman as the show's writer (and creator, obviously). Story-wise, Heartstopper began with Truham Grammar School pupils Charlie and Nick Nelson being seated next to each other at the start of a new term, with sparks flying swiftly and overwhelmingly — at least on Charlie's part — and then a life-changing love story blossoming. In season three, a few well-known faces are joining the cast, with Hayley Atwell (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One) playing Nick's aunt, Eddie Marsan (Back to Black) as Charlie's therapist and Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton) as Charlie's celebrity crush. Check out the first look at Heartstopper season three via the date announcement video below: Heartstopper season three will stream via Netflix from Thursday, October 3, 2024. Read our reviews of season one and season two. Images: Netflix.
Our memories aren't always choices. Our brains recollect some things and forget others, and we can be left wondering why. What we can control, however, is how we choose to store our memories beyond our own mind: in objects, mementos, photographs and paintings, for example. Think of Sally Anderson's new exhibition as an exercise in doing just that, sifting through her life and choosing which moments to commit to canvas. And while that's true of all art, the Australian artist has crafted her Self Storage and the Really Real showcase with that intention, endeavouring to both put the idea into action and interrogate it. Comprised of items and landscapes that hold significant memories, the end result displays at Edwina Corlette Gallery from February 1 to 22. It's the latest effort from Anderson, who received a Brett Whiteley Travelling Arts Scholarship in 2017, and spent a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Image: Sally Anderson, SKIES ARE CEILINGS, DISTANCES ARE WALLS.
UPDATE, October 23, 2020: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is available to stream via Netflix, Binge, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube, iTunes and Amazon Video. The film that inspired DC Comics fans to ridiculously call for Rotten Tomatoes' closure, 2016's Suicide Squad was many things. Filled with nefarious characters forced to band together to save the world, it was supposed to be a Joker-led villainous team-up flick — and, while it ticked that box, it was also formulaic, bloated, unsubtle and overflowing with ugly CGI. As a result, it was mostly just dull and a slog to watch. And while the anti-hero onslaught is still getting a sequel in 2021, only one element truly stood out. That'd be Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, the Arkham Asylum psychiatrist who jumped into a life of crime when she became the jester of genocide's main squeeze. From the moment that Robbie stole the show in Suicide Squad, a Quinn-focused spinoff was always inevitable. So, knowing when they're onto a good thing — and witnessing their now Academy Award-nominated Australian star keep rising in fame via I, Tonya, Mary, Queen of Scots, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Bombshell — the folks behind the DC Extended Universe have gone and done the obvious. Thankfully, the powers-that-be learned a few lessons along the way, leaning into everything that first made the anarchic character attract so much big-screen attention. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is vividly stylised, irreverently upbeat, and both frenetic and fluid. To the benefit of every fight and chase scene, it's also more concerned with eye-popping action choreography than overblown special effects. The movie's riotous mood, lurid colour scheme and kookily comic sensibilities can't smooth out all of its bumps, though, but put it this way: Suicide Squad, this definitely isn't. After breaking up with the Joker (Jared Leto's awful green-haired version of the villain is nowhere to be seen, luckily), Quinn finds herself at a crossroads. Just like anyone who's newly single, she's not quite sure what to do with herself, other than drinking, downing comfort food, cutting her hair and getting a pet. Just when she's starting to reclaim her havoc-wreaking spark, she also discovers an unexpected consequence of changing her relationship status. Now that she's no longer the clown prince of crime's other half, every lowlife in town wants to settle the score for all the times she's done them wrong. One of them is psychopathic nightclub owner Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) — and, in trying to save her alabaster skin from her new number-one nemesis, Quinn gets caught up with a posse of other feisty Gotham gals. Enter: Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), a hard-nosed detective constantly overlooked by the brass; Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a singer at Sionis' club with a helluva voice; and the crossbow-wielding, vengeance-seeking, leather-clad Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Light-fingered teen Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) actually brings them all together, with Sionis' goons chasing her, too. These ladies comprise a disparate bunch throughout much of the movie, but — because this flick is based on and named after a comic-book superhero team — becoming a girl gang is blatantly on the agenda. Yes, even with candy-coloured trickster Quinn leading the charge and grinning away as she's doing so, Birds of Prey brandishes a familiar caped crusader template. Besting Suicide Squad is an incredibly low and easy bar to conquer, which Birds of Prey does. Completely finding its own groove is a trickier task and, despite the best efforts of director Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) and writer Christina Hodson (Bumblebee), it proves harder to master here. Sporting a punk-ish, perky, peppy attitude, Birds of Prey feels unique in the DC movie realm, even against other standout franchise entries like Wonder Woman and Aquaman. But its goofy, off-kilter vibe also feels just a few shades away from Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok on occasion. Quinn's cheeky, knowing, mile-a-minute narration, as well as the playful plot structure that comes with it, can also veer too close to Deadpool territory. That makes Birds of Prey fun, purposefully chaotic and mostly entertaining, but also sometimes struggling to keep it all together. That's Quinn herself in a nutshell, though — and while this isn't a case of a film perfectly aping its protagonist in every possible way, there's still some nice symmetry at play. And, there's always something enjoyable going on on-screen. Often, it's the kinetic fight scenes, with credit to second-unit director (and John Wick franchise director) Chad Stahelski. At other times, it's the dazzling, glittering production design, or a memorable dream sequence that casts Quinn as Marilyn Monroe. Usually, it's the cast, which firmly pushes a diverse array of girls to the front. An over-the-top McGregor relishes his rare cartoonish bad guy role, but Birds of Prey's motley crew of female stars soar highest. Robbie most of all, unsurprisingly — and just as Joaquin Phoenix's take on the Joker looks likely to nab him an Oscar, it's a delight to see Harley Quinn still stealing the spotlight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygzqL60kvwU
