Come for the breakfast burrito stuffed with black beans, quinoa, egg and bacon. Stay for a loaded Bloody Mary as a morning pick-me-up. Return later for three-cheese croque monsieur, Chinese five-spice chicken wings, and a jug of raspberry and citrus sangria. That's what you'll find at 100 Wickham Street from Monday to Friday. Basically, Fortitude Valley's new eating and drinking spot has something on offer for every time of day. Don't worry, you won't need fortitude to make your way through their meals — even if that's the cafe's name. What you might need at Fortitude, however, is something to convince you to leave their modern decor. If getting a fresh cup of Campos coffee doesn't convince you that you need to spend more time there, then a special menu dedicated to G&Ts (think dry, citrusy, spicy and zesty) just might. There's more tempting options where that came from, too: six types of burgers for lunch, peanut butter and pulled pork (which is exactly what it sounds like, on sourdough), salmon poke bowls, and watermelon and white chocolate daiquiris included.
2025 marks once, not twice, but three times in a row now that winter in Melbourne is being bookended by major arts festivals. RISING kicks off the cooler weather, then Now or Never helps farewell the frostier temperatures. As the former was as well, the latter is back in a big way this year, whether you're keen to witness one of the city's key spaces undergo a spectacular transformation just for the fest, fill 11 days and nights with live tunes, hear more about astronauts and astronomy, see where the lines between cinema and real-time performances blur, or celebrate queer Black excellence. Now or Never packs its lineup with arts, ideas, sound and technology events. From Thursday, August 21–Sunday, August 31 around Melbourne, 2025's fest features more than 140 free and ticketed sessions, which are the products of 285-plus local and international artists. Whatever else you head to, making a date with the Royal Exhibition Building — the venue that hosted its first large-scale live music performances in over 20 years at 2023's debut Now or Never — is a must, however, if you want to step inside a pink bubble. Free, running for the first four days of 2025's festival, and both an Australian premiere and a Melbourne exclusive, MATRIA looks set to prove quite the stunner. The installation's aim: to turn the Royal Exhibition Building, its temporary home, into a womb-like space via a recycled pink inflatable. Courtesy of Barcelona-based collective Penique Productions, translucent membrane will wrap around the venue's wooden interior skeleton — and breathe. The accompanying soundtrack, complete with a solo vocalist, will get it vibrating. Dancers will also help the installation's skin move and stretch, and you can expect to see futuristic art feature as well. Inside MATRIA, you'll be cocooned — and you'll also engage with more of Now or Never's program, because the site is still hosting shows and gigs within the installation. Dancer and choreographer Amber McCartney is teaming up with DJ Shapednoise on one, composer Alex Zhang Hungtai is in the spotlight on another, and rRoxymore is also doing the honours one evening. Or, get inhaling and exhaling along with MATRIA thanks to The Breath Haus and its meditation and breathwork sessions. For more music, Melbourne Town Hall will feature four nights of acts spanning Marie Davidson, DJ Python, DJ Logic1000, Young Marco and Yarra — plus Japanese visual and sound artist Ryoji Ikeda bringing ultratronics and its blend of minimalistic light and sound to Australia for the first time. Also engaging multiple senses in the same venue is Einder, a 20-metre-long light and sound installation by Dutch artist and composer Boris Acket. For one evening only, you can also feast beneath it, with Julia Busuttil Nishimura in charge of the multi-course menu. For a memorable outdoor installation, Dr Christian Thompson is on the case at the Evan Walker Bridge. Burdi Burdi (Fire Fire) is all about quiet reflection, and will be the Bidjara/Chinese Australian artist's largest such work. Hit up State Library Victoria instead and you'll spy DELIRI from the Barcelona-based Hamill Industries, a large-scale projection musing on understanding and deconstructing reality that's taking over the building's facade. Thinking about the cosmos is on the bill when Aussie astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg and astronomer Dr Tania Hill team up, complete with a screening of a short film commissioned by the Australian Space Agency. For more folks chatting, former Australian of the Year Tim Flannery will contemplate facing the future as the climate changes. Plus, the Charting the Future: First Nations Knowledges and Artificial Intelligence session will examine Australian innovation, not just looking at machine learning now and beyond, but also at knowledge in First Nations cultures — and neuroscientist Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston is digging into potentially living forever. If you're all about the big screen, ACMI is presenting Rashaad Newsome's documentary Assembly, which steps behind the scenes of his installation at New York's Park Avenue Armory. With this year's Melbourne International Film Festival, it's also screening VR documentary The World Came Flooding In. Or, drop by for PARA.CINE's merging of where cinema and real-time virtual performances intersect. One world-premiere piece is giving picture palaces a zoological spin. The other boasts New York's Team Rolfes, with speeding jockeys at its centre.
If summer screams ice cream to you, then there's only one way to start the season: indulging in your favourite frosty treat. That's great advice in general, but gelato chain Gelatissimo has an even better spin on it. Hit up one of its 43 stores around the country across a five-hour period and you'll nab $3 scoops. The date: Thursday, December 1. The time: between 4–9pm at all Brisbane shops. The offer: creamy gelato for just a couple of gold coins, all to celebrate the official start of the warm weather and indulge in a dessert staple. Thursday, December 1 also happens to be the day that Gelatissimo is releasing its latest limited-edition flavour, which is both summery and festive: smashed berry pavlova. So, you can add that to your list of cheap scoops — in a cone or cup, it's up to you — complete with vanilla bean gelato swirled with blueberry sauce, then topped with Aussie-made meringue pieces and strawberry puree. Fancy a year's worth of gelato afterwards? We all do. The chain is running a competition to make your dessert dreams come true for 12 months, as long as you tag @gelatissimogelato between December 1–13 and and add #gelatissimosummer to your post.
Ever wonder where beautiful art is created? These little behind-the-scenes peeks into the places in which classic artworks are born fascinate us, home to some of the most stunning and influential artworks of our time. Gustav Klimt's studio - Vienna, Austria Salvador Dali in Port Lligat, Spain. Francis Bacon's studio - London, England. Paul Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence, France Frida Kahlo's Studio - Mexico City, Mexico Norman Rockwell in Stockbridge, Massachusetts Andy Warhol in New York Pablo Picasso in the French Riviera. Joan Miró's studio in Palma de Mallorca, Spain Jackson Pollock's studio in East Hampton, New York.
Finding new music usually requires raiding your cool friend’s music collection or trawling internet forums for anything vaguely decent. In the worldwide music scene, we know it’s hard to feel newness when we hear practically anything these days - someone always sounds like something else we’ve heard. I guess that’s why it’s so hard to put the artists in The Zoo’s Un-Boxed... in a box. With 4 different performances, I can almost guarantee even your most nostalgic Rockinghorsin’ pals won’t have got their paws on these Brisbane newcomers. On Sunday night, you will be enlightened by the folk stylings of Clare Quinn and posse, the acoustic jams of The Local Residents, the talented Steven Turner-Jones’ unique sounds and bluesy Tim Brennan’s country rhythms. Try to squeeze them into square receptacles, and they won’t budge (mainly because these peeps haven’t had an album release, but that’s not the point!). Have one over your JB Hi-Fi indie flicking chums and get into music you know will be like no other. The Zoo is waiting to cage you in.
No two Necks concerts are ever the same. The Necks are a trio of musicians, a wholly improvisational act, born from personal penchants for the humble jam session. Between their some 25 years, 17 albums and worldwide stages, they have won over masses of critics and now call the likes of Brian Eno and Nick Cave their fans. Their one restriction to their sound is the limits of their own instruments, which are given their own voices and guide the music where it wants to go. Nothing is said between the band members - Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Tony Buck (percussions) - before any show; they are committed to creating a truly unique and unrehearsed sound, a personalised experience for their audience. This is a band you can see many times over, and their biggest fans do. Come along to experience The Necks, the band that the New York Times describes as “one of the greatest bands in the world”.
It might seem like another festival pops up every weekend, but you won’t hear us complaining. The more the merrier, especially when they combine local bands, gourmet bites and craft brews into one fun package — which is exactly what Brisbane’s newest event promises. The Bites and Brews Laneway Festival will take over the Shafston Hotel and its surrounding laneways from on February 28 for its first-ever outing, and what a treat it is shaping up to be. Live performances from Pocket Love, Noah Slee, Tiana Khasi, DJ Cutloose and Gavin Boyd will set a festive mood, but that’s only the beginning. Want a delicious meal? Of course you do — and food trucks such King of the Wings, The Bun Mobile, Chiptease and Char Baby have your tastebuds covered. Want to wash it all down with a refreshing drink? That’s where stalls from over 18 brewers come in, serving up Stone & Wood, Little Creatures, Green Beacon, White Rabbit and more.
History is repeating in the latest change to Fortitude Valley's music scene. When disco started to wane in popularity from the late 70s and early 80s, rock slid in to help take its place — and that's exactly what's now happened on McLachlan Street in Alhambra Lounge's former home. In October 2022, the space welcomed in SuperFly Disco, which even sported a light-up dance floor. Half a year later, the retro nightclub has been reborn as SuperFly Studios, and now focuses on live tunes. The new approach kicked in at the beginning of March 2023, complete with a hefty stage and sound system to match. In its rebranded guise, SuperFly can fit in 400 people, and also now welcomes in patrons for free — including until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights. The dress code is also more casual, too. And, in the future, Thursday and Sunday gigs are on the agenda. Given that the venue always hailed from the Drunken Monkey Group team, which also boasts Brooklyn Standard and Suzie Wong's Good Time Bar in its portfolio, the switch from DJs to bands is hardly surprising. A bonus: Superfly Studios can now ensure that the company can host larger shows and names. In its initial form, SuperFly leaned into the tunes, attitude and decor of five decades back, including a fitout boasting walls of records, neon lights, disco balls aplenty — including in the bathrooms — and murals featuring famous music faces from the bar's celebrated era. Some of that remains, including mirrored tiles and all that vinyl, but you'll now spot Amy Winehouse, for instance, gracing the plaster. Drinks-wise, the venue pours beers and classic cocktails, with its bartenders still on hand to mix something up.
Photographer Allan Teger has created a series of images where human bodies have been cleverly used as landscapes. His Bodyscapes series, first created in 1975, uses miniature figurines against a backdrop of a person, and the viewer is given the illusion that the bodies are in fact surfaces from nature. Each image is a single shot on traditional film. The black-and-white images include horses riding down hills, which are in fact the curves of a human back and bottom. Furthermore, a man playing golf is actually looking to sink his ball into a bellybutton. Teger's creative use of props and lighting make these images captivating and rather realistic. Indeed, he is able to create a real sense of vastness, distance and space using just the human canvas.
It’s called Dracula Untold — a curious title in light of the fact that an IMDB search shows it’s already been told over 200 times. But perhaps there’s something new here? Nope. Did you know Dracula was originally Vlad the Impaler? Yep. Did you know his dastardly turn to darkness was a result of the death of his beloved Mina? Yep. Did you know he ‘vonts to sarrrrk your blaaaard’? Of course you did. Here’s the critical thing: a guy whose nickname includes the words “the Impaler” is not a nice guy. He’s an impaler. He impales people. Yet Dracula Untold sets out with the task of humanising a monster for the purposes of... what, exactly? There isn’t an ‘evil bias’ that needs to be redressed for the sake of balance. Nobody's crying out for Pol Pot to get a heartwarming movie of the week to ensure ‘his side of the story’ is told. Some people are simply savage wretches and wretches they will remain. In short: let villains be villains. Here, the villain isn’t Dracula, but instead the Turkish sultan ‘Mehmed', determined to claim 1000 young Transylvanian boys for his army. Sultan ‘Meh’ would be far more appropriate. He, like the rest of the film, is bland and unthreatening, afforded only a smattering of flavourless lines to occasionally remind us he’s a cold and unfeeling dictator. In response, Vlad opts to become a cold and unfeeling vampire to stop him and save Transylvania’s people. He’s a 19th-century Batman in that he’s a night-time vigilante capable of literally morphing into bats when he needs to get anywhere. The special effects are good, but who cares? This is a film that — lame pun absolutely intended — sucks.
Whether you're already heading out of town for the weekend or you're in need of an excuse to do just that, Nightquarter has you covered — in a brand new spot. Southeast Queenslanders are used to heading south, down to the Gold Coast, to hit up the weekend venue's market stalls, gigs and rides. But it is now making the move north, opening on the Sunshine Coast on Friday, November 6. From that point onward, it'll be a permanent part of Kawana — so Brisbanites will need venture between Caloundra and Mooloolaba. Every Friday and Saturday from 4–10pm and every Sunday from 12–6pm, Nightquarter will keep doing what it has always done best, including serving up plenty to eat from its shipping containers. Sunday sessions are a new feature inspired by the move, making the most of the Sunny Coast weather — and, in the same spirit, patrons will also be able to while away the afternoon at the Eumundi Backyard space, where Eumundi Brewery's craft beers are on offer. The space is operating under COVID-19-safe requirements, and you can choose from one-off entry passes ($5) to six-month unlimited passes ($69). Tickets to some gigs cost extra, if you're keen on Fleetwood Mac or Queen tribute shows — or seeing San Cisco or Butterfingers. [caption id="attachment_788865" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Peter Wheeler Photography[/caption]
Brisbane comes alive in summer. Riverside bars and restaurants fill up with people taking advantage of longer days, barbecue smells waft throughout the city's parks and arts and culture venues host all manner of summer events. Yes, you can certainly run away to beaches along the coast for spectacular nature-filled getaways. But when you want a city break, this is the ultimate way to do it. From sunup till sundown, here's how to spend a weekend in the River City when you're treating yourself to a weekend break, whether it's your first time visiting or you're a Brisbanite looking to make the most of what the city has to offer. [caption id="attachment_698056" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brisbane Powerhouse's Wonderland Festival[/caption] FRIDAY Kick off your weekend Brisbane break by finding a premium sunset spot. We have two easy options for you. First off, there's Kangaroo Point Cliffs. Head up here to watch the sun go down over Brisbane's skyline, so BYO picnic hamper. Another one of our favourite ways to experience Brisbane's vibrant sunsets is by heading down to the water. You can walk alongside the river or hang at one of the many bars that dot its banks, but we think you can go one step better by going on a leisurely sunset kayaking tour. Operators like Adrenaline and River Life have guides who'll take you to the best sunset viewing spots. An unbeatable sunset view is an ideal prelude for an evening experiencing Brisbane's thriving arts and culture scene. Head to Fortitude Valley comedy bar Blute's Bar to see big Aussie names working on new material as well as newbies who may just surprise you with true silliness, Brisbane Powerhouse for a diverse array of both international acts and the best of Brisbane's local alternative arts scene, or QPAC for a big-ticket stage show. [caption id="attachment_875466" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Motion Dining[/caption] SATURDAY If you didn't go too hard the night before (or if you stayed up all night long), we say you should sneak in a sunrise viewing from Mt Coot-tha. Seeing Brisbane and its surrounds slowly wake up to the sun's golden glow is a magical experience — and one that's only a 15-minute drive from the CBD. From here, make your way to the Powerhouse Farmers Markets, and browse over 120 stalls showcasing all kinds of foodie delights. Expect fresh farm produce, flowers and artisan products, as well as food trucks and coffee kiosks — more than enough, in other words, to set you up for a big day of exploring. Next, take your bounty to the adjacent New Farm Park (pictured below). This is one of Brisbane's oldest and largest parks, so you won't struggle to find a secluded spot where you can graze well into the afternoon — while doing some sly people watching as well, of course. [caption id="attachment_876238" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Michael (Unsplash)[/caption] Suitably fuelled, hop on the ferry from New Farm Park and head to South Bank and the impressive Gallery of Modern Art. Here you'll find a whole host of exhibitions and film screenings showcasing the work of local and international artists as you see firsthand just how far Brissie's arts and culture scene has come in recent years. If you're wanting to take a glimpse at Brisbane's burgeoning local arts scene, head up to Fortitude Valley to spot some eye-catching street art. We recommend you take it at your own pace, exploring the local area with a self-guided tour. Once you've got your art fix, the sun will be starting to dip and you'd have likely spent a lot of time on your feet. Our tip: unwind in style with cocktails and bar snacks at The Charles', set within the luxurious surrounds of The Westin Brisbane. Settle in for a sundowner at this sleek lobby bar an antipasto platter that'll whet your appetite for dinner. Once you've warmed up the cogs of your stomach, it's time for dinner — and why not treat yourself to an evening of local produce? You can do just that at the stylish Motion Dining, where executive chef Peter Iwanczyk oversees a diverse menu that puts locally sourced ingredients front and centre. Whether you take a seat at the chef's table overlooking the theatre of the grill or you nab an al fresco riverside table, you'll be treated to some of Queensland's freshest seafood, premium steaks and more. [caption id="attachment_827832" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Three Blue Ducks[/caption] SUNDAY Sundays are made for taking it easy. That's why our go-to Sunday morning activity in Brisbane is a leisurely stroll through the City Botanic Gardens. This centrally located park is an oasis of calm located right on the river. Take your time wandering the grounds, taking in the views with a necessary coffee in hand. For brunch, it's all about Three Blue Ducks. This restaurant's ethos centres around paddock-to-plate dining — that means everything you get is locally sourced, seasonal and respectfully prepared. It's also pretty damn tasty, so you'll quickly understand why this is one of Brisbane's favourite breakfast destinations. Walk off your brunch by visiting Brisbane's much-loved Riverside Markets. Every Sunday, this patch of the riverbank transforms into a mini festival with live music, food trucks and stall after stall selling local wares. Pick up a few last-minute souvenirs here, bringing some memories of this Brisbane city break back home with you. Looking to make the most of your next city break? Find your home away from home with Marriott Bonvoy. Book your stay now at the website. Top image: Brisbane Local Marketing (Unsplash)
They won't change your tyres, but they will fill your fridge with fresh and delicious deli items. Hawthorne Garage is a gourmet grocer and deli serving specialty products, local produce and gourmet treats 6am-8pm everyday. The best available fresh produce is sourced and selected directly from growers at the markets each morning and sold alongside fresh cut meats, freshly baked bread and Campnell & Bradley fresh flowers at the Garage. If that wasn't enough, the deli doubles as a cafe serving breakfast, lunch, coffee and treats to sustain you while you shop.
For most folks, Boxing Day follows one of three paths. First, you nurse your Christmas hangover and spend all day fussing over your pressies. Second, you hit the shops for bargains, adding to your haul. Third, you seek out the dark and cosy confines of a cinema — 'tis the biggest movie release day of the year, after all. In 2021, you can shake up your routine — or add to it — by hitting up Hibiscus Room's Boxing Day BBQ Brunch. The just-launched retro-themed rooftop venue on level four of the Hyatt Regency Brisbane is turning the day after Chrissie into an excuse to get eating and drinking — and splashing if you like. You'll pay $79 per person for the food lineup, which obviously goes heavy on barbecued fare — and there'll be live entertainment on the bill as well. It's a pay-as-you-drink setup and, if you'd like to get splashing, access to the pool will cost you $25 on top, too. And yes, the CBD location means that you can slot it in after shopping up a storm in the sales, and before catching a flick.
Not content with getting a superhero and supervillain experience on screens big and small, and jumping into multiverse mania in cinemas and on TV as well? Head to Brisbane's bar scene, where a trio of drinking spots themed after caped crusaders and their antagonists will get you hopping between different IRL worlds. Fortitude Valley's 1st Edition opened its doors in 2021, but it has gained two sidekicks, also in California Lane. Harley Quinn launched first back in May 2024, and now Poison Ivy is also up and running. If you're making the rounds at this trio of watering holes, do you need a change of outfits Superman-style for each one? Should you conjure up an alter ego to bust out, at least? However you answer those questions, you can now enjoy the River City's very own comic book-inspired quarter — all slinging cocktails, as well as leaning into their theming as heartily as a spandex-clad saviour does vanquishing world-threatening foes. Each venue has its vibe, though. Taking over the site that was previously home to Viva La Cali, 40-seater Poison Ivy splashes around green aplenty (of course) and sports a mural of its namesake. Across the rest of the 100-person-capacity precinct, Harley Quinn pairs a more casual atmosphere — it operates as a cafe by day — with its a likeness of its own key influence, while 1st Edition savours a moody air as it heroes a roster of characters in its artwork. Also tying the trio together: a multiverse menu, which is on offer at all three locations. It applies to both drinks and food options, so you'll know what's on offer to sip and eat if you're turning a visit to this patch of California Lane into a bar crawl. Beverages include the Poison Ivy, naturally, which is made with gin, bay leaf cordial, celery shrub, sea salt and a burnt bay leaf garnish; the also-expected Harley Quinn, featuring gin, lemon, rosé prosecco and fairy floss; and The Tesseract!, with gin, Italicus and blue curacao, as served under a smoke-filled glass dome with a glowing light. Or, opt for the Constantine's Old Fashion and you'll be indulging in Jameson stout, Mr Black liqueur, maple syrup, a milk-washed doughnut and chocolate. Yes, there's drinks named after Batman, Deadpool, The Riddler, The Flash, Dr Doom, Mysterio, Invisible Girl and Steve Rogers, too. Accordingly, patrons won't just be thinking about characters played by Uma Thurman (Red, White & Royal Blue) in Batman & Robin, and by Margot Robbie (Barbie) in Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and The Suicide Squad — and that Lady Gaga (House of Gucci) is taking on in the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux. To line the stomach, the food side of the multiverse menu features KFC ribs with kimchi and shallots, bang bang cauliflower, beef carnita gyoza with pineapple and spring rolls, salt and vinegar calamari, and more. Or, Harley Quinn's daytime spread will get you tucking into curry pies — both lamb and vegetables — muffins, and bacon and egg rolls, plus coffee from Almanac. Now that both Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are welcoming in Brisbanites, laneway parties are also on the bill, with the last Saturday of every month getting the disco ball spinning to house music from sunset. Find Poison Ivy Bar and Harley Quinn Bar in California Lane, 22 McLachlan Street, Fortitude Valley. Poison Ivy opens from 4.30pm–late Friday–Saturday, with Sunday trading coming soon. Harley Quinn operates from its bar from 5.30pm–late Friday–Saturday, and also its cafe from 11.30am–4pm Wednesday–Saturday. Head to the 1st Edition website for more details and bookings.
Do you have the time to listen to Green Day live? Do you now have 'Basket Case' from the California-born band's iconic 1994 album Dookie stuck in your head? To celebrate three decades since releasing one of the records that defined the 90s, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool are returning to Australia to play it in its entirety — and to also bust out their American Idiot album from 2004 in full as well. If you're a Green Day fan, welcome to paradise come March 2025, when the band will hit up stadiums in Sydney, Melbourne and on the Gold Coast. We hope you have the time of your life getting a blast of 90s and 00s nostalgia, complete with 'When I Come Around', 'Longview', 'She', 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', 'Wake Me Up When September Ends', 'Holiday' and, yes, 'American Idiot' echoing through Engie Stadium, Marvel Stadium and CBUS Super Stadium. [caption id="attachment_972774" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alice Baxley, Apple Music[/caption] While the visit is part of the group's global The Saviors Tour, which is named for their 14th studio album Saviors, they're clearly happy to keep working through their best-known tunes — and, while they aren't on either Dookie or American Idiot, 'Minority', 'Brain Stew' and 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)' have been on Green Day's recent setlist overseas. "We've never been more excited to unleash new music than with Saviors, a record that's meant to be rocked live, together. And we can not wait to return to Australia, it's been way too long. So let's thrash," said Green Day, announcing their Down Under visit. [caption id="attachment_972776" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Raph_PH via Flickr.[/caption] In support, also bringing the 90s and 00s to mind, fellow California-born group AFI will share the stage on Green Day's three Aussie gigs in 2025. It's currently a great time to hear beloved albums in full live in Australia, given that Green Day's tour comes just days after The Killers announced their own trip for late 2024, including playing Hot Fuss from start to finish at some gigs. [caption id="attachment_972775" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alice Baxley[/caption] Green Day The Saviors Tour Australia 2025 Saturday, March 1, 2025 — Marvel Stadium, Melbourne Monday, March 3, 2025 — Engie Stadium, Sydney Wednesday, March 5, 2025 — CBUS Super Stadium, Gold Coast Green Day are touring Australia in March 2025, with presale tickets available from Monday, September 16 (at 1pm for the Gold Coast, 2pm for Melbourne and 3pm for Sydney) and general sales from Friday, September 20 (at 12pm Gold Coast, 1pm Melbourne and 2pm Sydney). Head to the tour website for more details. Top image: Raph_PH via Flickr.
Eyes to the sky, Australia — it's time to catch one of the year's most-impressive meteor showers. Each autumn Down Under, the Eta Aquariids meteor shower sets the sky ablaze. And yes, it's happening right now. This vibrant astronomical vision starts in April every year, but is at its peak in early May. In 2024, the best date to mark in your diary is the early hours of Monday, May 6, which is when the shower will be at its most spectacular. If you're eager to catch a glimpse, even from just your backyard or balcony, here's what you need to know. [caption id="attachment_769233" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] What Is It? The Eta Aquariids might not be as famous as Halley's Comet, but the shower is actually a distant relation — because the bits and pieces you see flying around were on Halley's path a really, really long time ago. And, rather than only being visible every 76 years (the next Halley's Comet sighting is in 2061), the Eta Aquariids come around every year, usually between April 19–May 28. The shower's name comes from the star from which they appear to come Eta Aquarii, which is part of the Aquarius constellation. So, that's what you'll be looking for in the sky. Luckily, being in the southern hemisphere, we get some of the best views in the world. On average, you can see up to 20–40 meteors per hour. When to See It The shower will reach a peak in the early morning of Monday, May 6, but its best viewing window runs for a few days on either side. The optimal time to catch an eyeful is just before dawn after the moon has set, so around 3am AEST — but between 2am–7am is also recommended. At that time, you'll be in the running to see as many as 50 meteors every 60 minutes. Each will be moving at about 225,000 kilometres per hour, shining extraordinarily brightly and leaving a long wake. The shower's cause is, essentially, the Earth getting in the comet's way, causing stardust to fry up in the atmosphere. How to See It Usually, when a meteor shower lights up the sky, we'd tell city-dwellers to get as far away from light pollution as possible to get the best view. If you can't venture out of town at the moment, you can still take a gander from your backyard or balcony. To help locate the shower, we recommend downloading the Sky Map app — it's the easiest way to navigate the night sky (and is a lot of fun to use even on a non-meteor shower night). If you're more into specifics, Time and Date also has a table that shows the direction and altitude of the Eta Aquariids. It has been updating this daily. The weather might get in the way of your viewing, though, depending on where you live. Sydney and Brisbane are set for showers until at least Thursday. Melbourne will be partly cloudy on Sunday and mostly sunny on Monday, and Perth partly cloudy across both days, with Adelaide mostly Sunny on Sunday and sunny on Monday. The Eta Aquariids meteor shower runs until Tuesday, May 28, 2024, and will be at its peak during the night on Sunday, May 5–Monday, May 6. For further details, head to Time and Date. Top image:
Primavera translates to 'the season of spring' in Spanish, and while opposite to our seasonal changes in Queensland, fresh new talent is here all autumn. Presented by the QUT Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney (MCA), Primavera is an annual exhibition showcasing Australia's best creatives under 35. The exhibition brings together the work of seven artists: Akira Akira, Julie Fragar (Brisbane), Agatha Gothe-Snape (works pictured above), Alasdair McLuckie, James Newitt, Jackson Slattery and Emma White. Primavera focuses on progressive art by upcoming artists with fresh perspectives and interpretations of the contemporary art world. You won't find any similar themes here; the exhibition aims to reflect on a broad variety of styles in different disciplines and mediums, highlighting each individual artists' achievements. “The artists provide a 'criss-crossing' in-and-out of modes to find the best visual language for art expression,” National Art School guest curator Katie Dyer told Habitus Living. She cites one such example as Akira Akira's sculptures, which borrow Modernist and Utopian concepts of design and are based around the ideas of objects circulating in the world. You can see Akira Akira's work and many more inspiring pieces now at the QUT Art Museum until April 3.
Keen to escape the heat, check out Brisbane's newest cinema, discover what's become of Red Hill's old Skate Arena and go easy on your wallet? A visit to Enoggera Terrace's new movie-watching spot has you covered. For the five days between Saturday, November 30–Wednesday, December 4, Red Hill Cinemas is offering up discount tickets to celebrate its opening — and you'll only pay $10 for your movie of choice. Or movies. With everything from Last Christmas, The Irishman and Marriage Story to Knives Out, Ford v Ferrari and Frozen II on the cinema's opening bill, there's plenty to watch if you're keen to spend as much time in a darkened room — and within a gloriously graffiti-covered building — as possible. Even better — all five of Red Hill Cinemas' screens feature leather chairs, including in its huge Vmax-style 160 seater. In the venue's four 70-seat gold rooms, you'll also relax in recliners. And yes, all of the above are available for a tenner.
In a decade's time, a trip to South Bank might involve hopping along a treetop walk, strolling along wider footpaths, shopping at a permanent handmade goods market, hanging out on new riverside lawns and taking a longer promenade to Kangaroo Point. They're just some of the ideas that've been floated in the new South Bank Master Plan, aka the blueprint for how the 42-hectare inner-city precinct that was first created for Expo 88 might change as part of its latest revamp. Also on the list: refreshing Little Stanley Street's dining options, adding a beach plaza, offering up four different water experiences among the lagoons and onsite beach, expanding the Queensland Performing Arts Centre cultural forecourt, and adding a new public space and streetscape around the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Throw in making the whole spot a maritime precinct and there's clearly big plans afoot — all to happen ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Change is set to become a constant around town over the next decade, with tearing down and rebuilding the Gabba, making over Victoria Park and getting us all zooming around via self-flying taxis already on Brisbane's self-improvement list before the two global sporting events hit the city. Also in this neck of the woods, a new seven-hectare riverside parkland is set to join South Brisbane, down past the Gallery of Modern Art. And, revamping and expanding Northshore Hamilton along an extra 1.2-kilometre stretch of the river, turning it into Brisbane's next South Bank, is also in the works. Brisbane's pre-Olympics transformation isn't going to forget South Bank itself, of course, as the just-revealed master plan shows. Not everything will change, with the draft concepts mixing the old with the new. And if you've got some thoughts on the prospect, the Queensland Government is also seeking feedback. "South Bank's iconic beach, bougainvillea-lined arbour, rainforest and riverside greens will be protected and celebrated," said Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles, announcing the South Bank Master Plan in a statement. "The plan proposes more of what the community told us they love. It proposes more green space, places to enjoy by the river, people-friendly streets, improved active travel connections and more diverse dining opportunities," the Deputy Premier continued. "The vision is for South Bank to remain Brisbane's most lively, green, and inclusive precinct for current and future generations to enjoy." So far, more than 10,000 pieces of feedback have been fed into the current plans; however, Brisbanites can offer more between Wednesday, November 2–Wednesday, December 14 — by filling out a survey online now, and keeping an eye out for community consultation sessions that'll happen at the end of November and beginning of September. A final version of the master plan is then set to be finalised by the end of 2023. Parts of this riverside stretch, including South Bank, are already set for a revamp anyway, as anyone who has been in the area will have noticed. QPAC's fifth theatre is in the works, as is the Neville Bonner Bridge from the new Queen's Wharf precinct to the Cultural Centre. Also, a bit further along, Kangaroo Point is set to score a new green bridge with an overwater bar and restaurant. For more information about South Bank's proposed revamp, and to provide feedback before Wednesday, December 14, head to the South Bank Master Plan website.
The 203 has reopened with a refreshed interior and a renewed focus on what it does best: pairing serious Australian beef with Italian heritage. The dining room balances polish and warmth, creating a space that feels relaxed yet refined – equally suited to date nights, group dinners and celebrations that stretch well into the evening. The menu centres on premium cuts sourced through a partnership with Stanbroke, allowing the kitchen full oversight of quality from paddock to plate. Expect expertly cooked steaks alongside house-made pasta dishes designed for sharing, with seasonal Queensland produce woven throughout. The approach is simple but confident: bold flavours, generous portions and Italian family-style sensibility. A 500-plus bottle wine cellar underpins the experience, spanning local and international producers, with a sommelier on hand to guide pairings. Next door, Bar 203 adds another dimension, offering cocktails, Italian wines and small plates in a more relaxed, lounge-style setting. Together, the spaces deliver a dining experience that's equal parts steakhouse substance and Italian warmth.
A simple and surprisingly affecting love story set against the stunning summery glow of rural New South Wales, Love Is Now is the feature film debut of writer-director Jim Lounsbury. The story concerns Dean (Eamon Farren) and Audrey (Claire van der Boom), two young photographers who embark upon a romantic holiday cycling along the NSW harvest trail. Lounsbury's screenplay suffers from a lot of the familiar shortcomings of first-time film outings, including patches of dodgy dialogue and a distinct lack of self-awareness. Nevertheless, the film is made worthwhile thanks to its sympathetic characters and some gorgeous cinematography, not to mention an absolute gut-punch of an ending. The weakest section of Love Is Now is definitely the first half-hour. The prospect of yet another indie film romance about an artistically sensitive guy and the free-spirited girl who changes his life isn't exactly electrifying, especially when it never manages to convince you that she'd want to get with him in the first place. Even by that low standard, Dean and Audrey's meet-cute is seriously unconvincing, although credit to the actors for doing what they can with the stilted getting-to-know-you banter. Van de Boom, in particular, is fantastic in the film, recalling the screen presence of a young Rachel Griffiths. And while it's a little hard to believe that Audrey would fall head-over-heels with Dean, Lounsbury's screenplay does an excellent job capturing the feelings that accompany such a sudden and unexpected romance. The spontaneity. The excitement. And, of course, the jealousy. Once you accept them as a couple, Dean and Audrey begin to grow on you, to the point that, when things start to turn sour, it's easy to find yourself caught up in the melodrama. The climax of the film sheds a whole new light on their relationship, and your visceral emotional reaction more than makes up for the fact that, narratively, it's sort of a ridiculous cliché. Love Is Now also earns big points in the technical department. The quintessentially Australian landscape is captured beautifully by cinematographer Anthony Jennings using digital SLR cameras – Nikon helped foot part of the film's bill, and as a showcase of what their products can do, it appears to be money well spent. Shots of long roads and eucalyptus trees at sunset aren't exactly a new direction for local cinema, but still, you can't deny it looks good.
If eating your way through plenty of creative and tasty desserts is your current pandemic coping strategy, Gelato Messina has been more than willing to help over the past few months. This year alone, it has released cookie pies in choc chip, red velvet, choc-hazelnut, and peanut butter and jelly varieties; 40 of its best flavours; and full tubs of Iced VoVo gelato, Messina's own take on the classic Viennetta ice cream cake and a gelato based on Italy's famed cremino dessert. Oh, and it even whipped up a batch of sticky lamington-scroll hybrids as well. For Messina's next tastebud-tempter, it's answering a question you've probably never, ever thought of asking yourself: what would gelato inspired by fashion labels Rag & Bone, Café Kitsuné, State of Escape, Paloma Wool and Patagonia taste like? Well, although this query has likely never popped into your brain before, now you can find out. Dropping across five days from Tuesday, October 20–Saturday, October 24, the new flavours are part of a collaboration with lifestyle and streetwear hub Incu, to help it celebrate its 18th birthday. A different variety will become available each day, so if you want to try the full set, you'll either need to plan multiple desserts or head by — or order delivery via Deliveroo — at the end of the week. Arriving first is the Paloma Wool-inspired 'Island Souvenir', which is based on ensaïmadas from Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, uses brioche-like pastry as the gelato's base and then layers in chocolate custard. Next, you can lick your way through Café Kitsuné's 'Tea-ramisu', a take on tiramisu with Japanese matcha gelato and coffee-soaked biscuits. Also on offer: the State of Escape-influenced 'Wanderlust', combining mango, sherbet, coconut and lime; Patagonia's dark chocolate and honey sorbet 'Save takayna', which is named to raise awareness about Tasmania's takayna/Tarkine; and the Rag & Bone-inspired 'A Piece of Cake', as made with clotted cream gelato, layers of sponge cake and swirls of strawberry jam. If you're in Melbourne, remember that you can only venture to shops within five kilometres of your house — to get essentials, including food. The Incu x Messina range of flavours will be available for a week from Tuesday, October 20, in-store and via Deliveroo, with a new flavour dropping each day. Keep an eye on the Messina website for further details.
What's better than one new episode of Black Mirror in a six-month period? A whole new season. After Black Mirror: Bandersnatch dropped in the last few days of 2018, unleashing its movie-length choose-your-own-adventure mysteries upon the world, just when the show's fifth series would hit was anyone's guess. Now, all has been revealed. Mark Wednesday, June 5 in your diary and prepare for quite the unsettling night. Yes, if you're super keen on bleak technological tales that explore just how dystopian our world could become, you'll be able to knock the new season out in a single evening. While more Black Mirror is always a good thing — especially more Black Mirror arriving so soon — this run will only include three episodes, just like the show's first two seasons. Although specific storylines haven't been completely revealed, the series' first trailers do give away a few hints. Unsurprisingly, the pesky buzzing of mobile phones features prominently, as does the growing prominence of social media, artificial intelligence, smart technology and virtual reality. A police standoff, a lonely teen getting empowering feedback from a desktop robot and the troubles of stardom all earn a mention in the teaser's montage of clips, too. As always, that's certain to be just the beginning. Also familiar: a hefty lineup of familiar faces, with the Charlie Brooker-created series continually going above and beyond on the casting front. This time around, Miley Cyrus, Anthony Mackie, Topher Grace, Andrew Scott and Aussie actress Angourie Rice lead the way, alongside Nicole Beharie, Pom Klementieff, Madison Davenport, Ludi Lin, Damson Idris and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Check out the trailers below — including the overall series trailer, plus individual episode trailers for the three instalments, which are called Striking Vipers, Smithereens and Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bVik34nWws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssr40U3-do0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SybklT8k1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qIlCo9yqpY Black Mirror's fifth season drops on Netflix on Wednesday, June 5. Updated May 23. Images: Netflix / Pedro Saad.
When I was in primary school, weekday morning cartoons were a big no-no as my parents believed it would make my brain hyper active, or something equally as ridiculous. This ban, however, only served to make Saturday Morning Disney all the more sweeter. The famous ears, the distinctive theme song, and not to mention the wide variety of cartoons, all fueled my love for the most famous mouse in the world. Sadly my days in front of the television are over, partly because I work most weekends but also because they replaced Shelly, Mel and Dan – sad face. Yet with my love for Disney still going strong, I am constantly tasked with finding new mouse inspired activities. Australia’s lack of a Disneyworld also puts a spanner in the works, but I finally found a winner at the Brisbane Convention Centre with Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival. Really, it even sounds like they’re trying to cater for the 18+ set who are still softies at heart. With Mickey bringing over 25 of his pals (and your favourite characters) Down Under to fill in the chorus line, all the greatest hits that have featured in Disney movies over the years will be in full rotation. With promises of hip hop, pop, swing, reggae and rock remixes, Mr Mouse is really aiming to please. Before you start 2012 back in reality, why not spend an afternoon hanging out with Ariel, Buzz Lightyear and Goofy, singing some tunes?
UPDATE, December 23, 2021: Don't Look Up released in select Australian cinemas on Thursday, December 9, and will be available to stream via Netflix on Friday, December 24. Timing may be everything in comedy, but it's no longer working for Adam McKay. Back when the ex-Saturday Night Live writer was making Will Ferrell flicks (see: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Step Brothers), his films hinged upon comic timing. Ensuring jokes hit their marks was pivotal to his scripts, crucial during editing, and paramount to Ferrell and his co-stars. Since 2015, McKay has been equally obsessed with timeliness. More so, actually, in his latest film Don't Look Up. As started with The Big Short, which nabbed him a screenwriting Oscar, his current breed of politically focused satires trade not just in laughs but in topicality. Skewering the present or recent state of America has become the filmmaker's main aim — but, as 2018's Vice so firmly illustrated, smugly stating the obvious isn't particularly funny. On paper, Don't Look Up sounds like a dream. Using a comet hurtling towards earth as a stand-in, McKay parodies climate change inaction and the circus that tackling COVID-19 has turned into in the US, and spoofs self-serious disaster blockbusters — 1998's double whammy of Deep Impact and Armageddon among them — too. And, he enlists a fantasy cast, which spans five Oscar-winners, plus almost every other famous person he could seemingly think of. But he's still simply making the most blatant gags, all while assuming viewers wouldn't care about saving the planet, or their own lives, without such star-studded and glossily shot packaging. Although the pandemic has certainly exposed stupidity on a vast scale among politicians, the media and the everyday masses alike, mining that alone is hardly smart, savvy or amusing. Again, it's merely stating what everyone has already observed for the past two years, and delivering it with a shit-eating grin. That smirk is Don't Look Up's go-to expression among its broad caricatures — in the name of comedy, of course. Trump-esque President Orlean (Meryl Streep, The Prom) has one, as does her sycophantic dude-bro son/Chief of Staff Jason (Jonah Hill, The Beach Bum). Flinging trivial banter with fake smiles, "keep it light and fun" morning show hosts Brie Evantee (Cate Blanchett, Where'd You Go, Bernadette) and Jack Bremmer (Tyler Perry, Those Who Wish Me Dead) sport them as well. But PhD student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence, X-Men: Dark Phoenix) and her astronomy professor Dr Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) aren't smiling when she discovers a Mount Everest-sized comet, then he realises it's on a collision course with earth and will wipe out everything in six months and 14 days. And they aren't beaming when, with NASA's head of planetary defence Dr Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan, The Unforgivable), they try to spread the word. The world is literally ending, but no one cares. Conjuring up the premise with journalist/political commentator David Sirota, McKay turns Don't Look Up into a greatest-hits tour of predictable situations bound to occur if a celestial body was rocketing our way — and that've largely happened during the fights against climate change and COVID-19. The President's reactions stem from her clear-cut inspiration, including the decision to "sit tight and assess" until it's politically convenient or just unavoidable, and the later flat-out denial that anything is a problem. The character in general apes the same source, and bluntly, given Orlean is initially busy with a scandal surrounding her next Supreme Court nominee, and that her love life and the porn industry also spark headlines. The insipid media and social media response, favouring a rocky celebrity relationship (which is where Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi come in), is also all too real. The list goes on, including the memes when Dibiasky gets outraged on TV and the worshipping of Mindy as an AILF (Astronomer I'd Like to Fuck). A Steve Jobs/Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk-style tech-company head (The Trial of the Chicago 7's Mark Rylance, putting in the movie's worst performance) also gets involved — poking fun at putting capitalism ahead of the planet's best interests — as does a stoner skater (Timothée Chalamet, The French Dispatch) enamoured with Dibiasky. The list goes on here as well, because Don't Look Up is as overstuffed as it is toothless. Satire is meant to use irony and exaggeration to highlight failings and flaws, but McKay pads out the bulk of his 138-minute film with first draft-style sketches and figures that say the bare minimum, then hops quickly from one to the other in the hope that something lands. Yes, amid its on-screen text explanations, montages of stock clips, a superfluous pop song and overactive editing, Don't Look Up has a comic timing problem, too. And the scenes it does hover on, including the grating White House confrontations, could've easily been cut in half. McKay has zero faith in the world's ability to face existential and apocalyptic threats (understandably), and no hope his audience would notice if he didn't slickly spoon-feed surface-level commentary (insufferably), but he places plenty of responsibility upon DiCaprio, Lawrence and Morgan. The film's key trio aren't given much to work with, but everyone else — aside from the underused Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets) as Mindy's wife June — plays a one-note gag. Mindy is sweaty and swayed by attention; Dibiasky is defined by her two nose rings, flame-hued hair and the Wu-Tang Clan lyrics she's introduced singing; and Oglethorpe is the only competent government employee. It's a credit to all three actors that they turn in convincing performances and make their characters the most compelling part of Don't Look Up, although no one is anywhere near their best. The entire planet definitely isn't at its finest in Don't Look Up, which is the whole overstressed point; however, in weakly holding up a mirror to truths everyone's already painfully familiar with, it didn't need to embody the same concept itself. Forget following in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb's footsteps, or Wag the Dog's, or mustering up an iota of Succession's astuteness (McKay is one of the latter's executive producers) — Anchorman felt shrewder and more incisive. Maybe Don't Look Up might've worked if it had pre-dated the pandemic. It undoubtedly would've been improved by ditching the puffed-up snark, as its closing scenes demonstrate; it's a far better movie when it switches to earnestness and even takes a few cues from Lars von Trier's immensely superior Melancholia, as unearned as the tonal change proves. Perhaps a humanity-is-damned flick that crashes itself is McKay's ultimate joke, though, because that's just the doomed world we find ourselves in. Don't Look Up releases in select Australian cinemas on Thursday, December 9, and will be available to stream via Netflix on Friday, December 24. Image: Nico Tavernise/Netflix.
When Scrubs first aired across 2001–2010, the prognosis for a patient would sometimes look bleak, only for their fortunes to thankfully change for the better. Now that it's officially returning for a new batch of episodes, the same is true of the show itself. In America's 2025–26 TV season, Sacred Heart Hospital will be back on our screens — complete with a few very familiar faces. Word of Scrubs being revived has been floating around for a few years, with another run for the hit sitcom locked in late in 2024. A full new season has just been ordered, however, and Zach Braff (Bad Monkey), Donald Faison (Home Delivery) and Sarah Chalke (Rick and Morty) are all confirmed to be making comebacks, Variety reports. There's no exact date for the series' 2025–26 return as yet, or word of where you'll be able to watch it Down Under. Still, who has two thumbs and is excited about one of the most-entertaining network comedies of the 00s hitting screens again — and about JD, Elliot and Turk all being a part of it? Anyone who has ever watched Scrubs' initial nine seasons. Braff, Faison and Chalke aren't just returning on-screen, but will each be executive producers on the new series. In front of the camera, it's also expected that more OG cast members will join them. Getting the gang back together shouldn't come as a surprise if you've also caught other shows created by Bill Lawrence, including Ted Lasso and Shrinking in recent years. Found families are a regular part of his work. They're also something that he cherishes off-screen, he shared with Concrete Playground in a 2024 interview about season two of Shrinking. "I still spend time with the cast and crew of Scrubs, not because we're working together, but because I sincerely love them," Lawrence told us at the time. It seems that JD and Turk will be at the centre of the plot when Scrubs pops up on-screen again, as will Sacred Heart. The two long-time pals are set to be back working together for the first time in some time, bromance still intact, while the hospital will also welcome new characters. There's obviously no trailer for the new Scrubs yet, but you can check out clips from past seasons above and below: Scrubs is set to return in America's 2025–2026 TV season — we'll update you with further information, including where to watch it Down Under, when more details are announced. Via Variety. Top image: NBC/Getty Images.
Imagine that you're 22, you're settling into your chosen career and you're suddenly the name on everyone's lips. Imagine you've gone from never seeing an episode of the past decade's biggest TV sensation to starring in its prequel, in fact. In other words, imagine that you're Australian actor Milly Alcock, who has had a better, brighter and more chaotic 2022 than the rest of us. Before August, the Sydney-born talent was best known for an impressive resume of homegrown parts. Now, she's forever the young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO's Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. Ask Alcock what the year has been like and she's candid. "It's all weird. One day you're you, and then suddenly someone places value on you," she advises. "And you're like 'why me? Why me? Okay, I guess I'll take it. I guess I'll run with it'. So life's been weird, wacky and wonderful, basically, but yeah, it's been such a big year. This year feels like the longest year of my life but in the best possible way." Alcock is chatting with Concrete Playground on the phone from the UK, where she shot House of the Dragon in 2021, and where she's now based as her international career takes off. But after working her way through roles on Australian shows such as Wonderland, Janet King, A Place to Call Home, Pine Gap, Fighting Season and Les Norton, she knows the part that made 2022's dreams happen: her AACTA-nominated role on Upright. Created by Chris Taylor from The Chaser, the show's' first season cast her as Meg, a 13-year-old pretending to 16 who literally collides with Tim Minchin's Lucky while she's running away across the country. An odd-couple dynamic ensues, and so did one of 2019's Aussie TV standouts. Three years later, a second season is here. This time, the headstrong, whip-smart Meg is 17 and no longer speeding across the desert. But Upright wouldn't be Upright if it didn't send Meg and Lucky on another soul-searching, life-defining road trip, this time to Far North Queensland to find Meg's mum. The old adage proves true once again: it isn't just about the destination but the journey. At the heart of the show is a sense of connection and solace, as two lost souls forge a bond that helps them process their individual struggles. That means that Upright's lead performances couldn't be more pivotal; indeed, without Alcock and Minchin as Meg and Lucky, it wouldn't be the success it is, let alone have returned for season two. With Upright's second season now airing on Foxtel and streaming via Binge, Alcock fills us in on the series that helped bring her to attention, making the leap to 2022's biggest TV blockbuster, playing determined young women and handling everything that House of the Dragon's fame has brought her. ON INITIALLY GETTING CAST IN UPRIGHT "You just read the audition scene for Meg and you're like: 'I want to play this character'. You don't even usually see those types of characters on Australian telly at all, and I felt such a kinship with her as soon as I read her on the page. Then when I met Tim, I was like 'please hire, please hire me, this is incredible!'. I owe my Upright my career, because it gave me such a beautiful body of work at such a young age." ON MAKING UPRIGHT'S FIRST SEASON "It was incredibly exciting. I was 18, I just dropped out of school, and I went and travelled around Australia for three months shooting a TV show. I'd never worked like that in my life — I'd never gotten a part like that ever, and I just wanted to do it so well. I just remember being like 'I can't fuck this up, I have to do it right, I have to do it right, I have to nail it, I have to make sure I'm making all the right choices and looking after myself and everything'. I was travelling around and I was without my family, and it got a bit difficult, but it was a massive learning experience." ON RETURNING FOR UPRIGHT'S SECOND SEASON "I didn't think that a second season was going to happen because of the way the story wrapped up — and the time passes. I was like, 'oh it's been three years, we're not going to do another one'. But we did. Meg is such a beautiful person and I'm always excited to talk about Meg, and play Meg." ON CO-LEADING UPRIGHT WITH TIM MINCHIN "We're friends; we just get on and act. And we just go 'these people have chemistry, let's give them the kind of chemistry that this scene warrants because of where they're at in their heads'. I think that Lucky is a bit of a mentor to Meg without her wanting to admit it. He's the only parental figure in her life that kind of guides her in any way. I think Tim and I's relationship reflects that narrative a bit, and we pull from that." ON JUMPING FROM AUSTRALIAN TV TO A HUGE HBO PRODUCTION "It was incredibly daunting. It was the most amount of fear I've felt in my entire life because I was like 'if you fuck this up, you're not going get to another chance'. It really felt like I had to prove myself very quickly, and I wanted to. I was Australian. Everyone was British. It was the pandemic. I didn't get to see my family while we were shooting. I didn't know anyone in London. So I really focused on my work because it was why I was there. I was there to do a job. But quickly, you realise that it's all the same, people are lovely and they're the same — and just the way that it functions is different and bigger because there's more cogs in the machine than there is in a smaller production like Upright, and like other jobs I've done before. I met a lot of amazing people and a lot of beautiful people, and they saw me and were like 'okay, we've got to look out for this one because she's a long way from home'. I was mortified for the first three months, basically. Yeah, absolutely mortified." ON NOT WATCHING GAME OF THRONES UNTIL BOOKING HOUSE OF THE DRAGON "When Game of Thrones is like 'we're doing prequel auditions', and you haven't really done a lot of acting before like I had, you're like 'oh yeah, of course I'm going to audition for this'. It's a massive show — not only a big show, but a very well-written show. It had great characters, and a great story, too. I was like 'yeah, of course'. But I hadn't seen the show before. I knew of it. I knew the accolades, I knew the reputation it had, I knew the status of it, but I hadn't seen it until I booked the job. It was incredibly exciting but also incredibly daunting, because I was like 'oh fuck, I have to do this. I have to live up to that. I don't know if I can do that'. It was exciting and scary. It was a rollercoaster, but you just keep going up. I haven't gone down yet. Then I read a bit of Fire & Blood. I wanted to really get an understanding of what was at stake in this world and be able to contextualise it into the world that we live in on earth. I would go to the library and just kind of study, basically. I would make graphs on what the houses are, what that means, what their titles were, what their status was like in our kind of world — all to understand it." ON PLAYING STRONG, DETERMINED YOUNG WOMEN "That's the way the jobs have landed because until House of the Dragon, I haven't been able to pick and choose — I still can't really pick and choose. I'm so young, I'm still starting out. With House of the Dragon, I was working against amazing actors — Paddy Considine and Rhys Ifans and Matt Smith — who have had a very big and beautiful and broad careers that I admire. I think that it's difficult because on one side, I want to play everyone. But then on the other hand, I know I'll read a script and be like 'this is a great part but I know I'm not that girl'. You just read a part and you're like 'I just can't play her, I'm just not her. In my heart and in my soul, I know I'm not her'. Unless you're a phenomenal character actor like Paddy, like Meryl Streep, like all those kind of legends, you kind of have to lean into parts of who you are. I think that I've been so lucky that there's parts of me that people have picked out and been like 'you can play that role'." ON THE CHANGE THAT HOUSE OF THE DRAGON HAS BROUGHT "I didn't expect anything. I didn't go in expecting anything with this. I think I was protecting myself, because everyone was like 'it could be a flop because it's a prequel'. But I think very early on, we realised that it had a lot of potential just from reading the script alone — but no, I didn't prepare myself at all. I just thought that if nothing comes of this, my life stays exactly the same. If something comes of it, everything changes. I think that for me to be able to do the work while we were shooting, I needed to not get swept up in what could happen because I needed to really focus. The opportunities have changed massively. People around me have changed. A Pandora's box has been opened, and I got to have a little peek inside. I think that just the way that people treat me is a bit different, which is the hardest thing to grapple with. It's weird. One day you're just you and then you're not. And you're like 'why am I chosen, what made me so special?'. I don't see it because I see me every day, I can feel the good bits and the ugly bits — especially the ugly bits, because you're stuck with yourself. It's just tricky. I mean, I'm 22 — I still can barely use a washing machine, let alone [process] what all of this is. But the most important thing is just keeping the right people around me and keeping my head on my shoulders, having that screwed on right — which I think I'm doing." Upright screens on Foxtel and streams via Binge, with both seasons available to watch in full. House of the Dragon's first season is available via Foxtel and Binge. Read our full review.
Combining the hypnotic works of M.C. Escher, one of the 20th century's most celebrated artists, with the design aesthetics of acclaimed present-day Japanese design studio Nendo, the National Gallery of Victoria's newest blockbuster exhibition Between Two Worlds discovers a stunning and unexpected middle ground. The first ever merging of these acclaimed creators, the exhibition features more than 150 of Escher's woodcuts, lithographs and sketches. Described as the NGV's most ambitious exhibition design to date, Nendo — led by renowned designer Oki Sato — was invited to produce the spectacular space that features several large-scale rooms and installations, and reflects upon the complex themes found within the surrounding Escher works. Running until April 7 2019, Between Two Worlds covers the full spectrum of Escher's artistic vision, which was largely ignored during his lifetime. Showcasing everything from Escher's early works as a student, his newfound inspiration while travelling across Italy, and his final creations in the lead up to his death in 1972, the exhibition showcases virtually all of his most famous works, including Drawing Hands, Relativity and Day and Night. Mirroring the optical illusions and mathematically inspired works of Escher, Nendo has contributed a variety of immersive spaces that will warp your perspective and bring a new light to the works displayed throughout the exhibition. Conveying Escher's theories through the studio's own motif, the rudimentary outline of a house, it appears in various shapes and forms throughout the exhibition and references Escher's unique perspective on space and patterns. With not one, but two creative geniuses on display at the NGV's newest exhibition, we've selected six works (three Escher, three Nendo) that you can't miss out on seeing at Between Two Worlds. [caption id="attachment_700134" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eugene Hyland[/caption] DAY AND NIGHT (ESCHER) Perhaps the Dutch artist's most celebrated work, Day and Night perfectly illustrates Escher's uncanny ability to combine art and science with resounding impact. Uniting a complex understanding of mathematics and perspective with his undeniable creative talent, here, Escher depicts two Dutch towns attached by a series of rolling hills that melt away into a soaring flock of birds. At once day and night, real and unreal, this woodcut offers two simultaneous perspectives that remove the distinction between foreground and background. [caption id="attachment_700137" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eugene Hyland[/caption] DRAWING HANDS (ESCHER) Another widely known artwork of Escher's that has been reproduced in various pop culture mediums since its creation in 1947, Drawing Hands is a clear example of Escher's obsession with paradoxes. Produced in a more photorealistic style than many of Escher's other works, this lithograph displays two hands conceiving each other into existence. While conveying Escher's interest in the concept of infinity, it also demonstrates his desire to produce two-dimensional drawings that leap off the page. [caption id="attachment_700274" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eugene Hyland[/caption] SNAKES (ESCHER) Finished in 1969, Snakes was the last work that M.C. Escher would ever produce. But while he might have passed away just a few short years later, this piece demonstrates just how highly advanced his work became. Showcasing Escher's legendary understanding of symmetry and interlocking arrangements, the work features a rotational symmetry as snakes weave their way between an ever-shrinking pattern. Recognising the significance of this artwork, Nendo has produced a specially designed space, Snake House, where a brightly lit pathway serpentines through an otherwise dark room and ends with the work. [caption id="attachment_700126" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sean Fennessy[/caption] ZOOMING HOUSE (NENDO) Serving as a connecting corridor between two of the exhibition's distinct rooms, Zooming House is a vast architectural structure that once again recalls Escher's obsession with perspective and illusion. Following the same house motif seen throughout the exhibition, here the pathway starts as a wide four-metre chasm before gradually shrinking into a tight 55 centimetres. The contrasting black and white pattern amplifies this effect before you turn off into another hypnotic space. [caption id="attachment_700282" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eugene Hyland[/caption] HOUSE IN PERSPECTIVE (NENDO) Both luminous and reflective, while the floor-to-ceiling rods in this room first appear to be simply an interesting way to display Escher's works, on closer inspection — when viewed from a specific spot in the room — the rods merge together and the form of Nendo's house motif appears. Here, you'll find a selection of Escher's most mind-bending drawings and prints. [caption id="attachment_700133" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sean Fennessy[/caption] GATHERED HOUSE (NENDO) While this grand circular space is dedicated to Escher's many works fixated on the concept of infinity, it's hard to ignore the massive Nendo installation featured in the centre of the room. Constructed from thousands of miniature house motifs, the dazzling installation echoes Escher's artworks presented throughout the space, which explore eclectic geometric loops and images of limitless tessellation. Escher x Nendo: Between Two Worlds is on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne until April 7, 2019. You can grab tickets here.
It has been more than two years since City Winery opened its doors in Fortitude Valley, giving Brisbanites something they didn't know they were missing. Wineries and the inner city don't traditionally go hand in hand, but this vino-loving venue found a way. A vineyard was never going to pop up just a stone's throw from the CBD, of course, so it sources its grapes elsewhere, then does the barrelling, bottling and serving in Wandoo Street. The concept has clearly been a hit, because City Winery keeps expanding — first with an initial cellar door on Edward Street, and now with a new site at Eagle Street Pier. Open since early May, the latter also includes a second cellar door, but combines it with a wine bar and bistro. So, you can now drop by the riverside spot to pick up a bottle, have a drink or sit down for a meal. If you're opting for the latter, the venue's menu changes seasonally, has been designed with sharing in mind and heroes sustainably farmed local produce. At the moment, think: beetroot scotch eggs, dagwood dogs made out of carrots, charcuterie, a selection of cheeses and, from the small list of mains, mushrooms with polenta, fish paired with a kiwifruit sauce and miso beef short rib. Drinks-wise, City Winery's Gerler wines all feature on the beverage list, naturally. If you're after something other than vino, local craft brews are also on the menu, alongside spirits and cocktails. Located opposite the Coffee Club, the Eagle Street spot also offers wine tastings, wine-blending workshops and food-and-wine pairings. For parties, you can book out the private dining space for you and 17 of your mates as well. And if the decor looks familiar, that's because you've clearly been to City Winery's original digs — with the Eagle Street bar and bistro designed to ape the OG site's layout and atmosphere. Find City Winery Eagle Street at Eagle Street Pier, 45 Eagle Street, Brisbane — with bookings available from 12–8pm Tuesday–Saturday.
Cheese and pasta go together like few food combinations. As great as they both are individually, a particularly enticing alchemy of flavours occurs when they join forces. But simply sprinkling grated mozzarella or ground parmesan over your spaghetti is yesterday's news. Eating pasta served out of a cheese wheel is what it's all about now. Salt Meats Cheese is hopping on everyone's current favourite Italian culinary bandwagon with its new weekly night dedicated to the dish. Drop into the Gasworks eatery on Wednesdays from 6pm, and you'll tuck into the cheesiest bowl of pasta you're ever likely to taste — for $25, plus $5 for toppings. Flavour-wise, there's a few available, because even a meal like cheese wheel pasta can use a few additions. Just classic cheese is still on the menu, and so is the ol' fave that is truffle — plus newcomers such as carbonara, pesto genovese, gorgonzola and smoked mozzarella.
It happened. Change has swept into the highest office in the United States. With it, crowds both in America and around the globe have come out in force — against newly inaugurated President Donald Trump and his highly publicised comments against women, and for equality in general. There's no shortage of reasons driving the protests, thanks to the new POTUS and his administration's stance on race, class, gender, healthcare, civil rights, queer rights, reproductive rights, immigration, education, conflicts of interest... the list goes on. There's also no shortage of folks heading out to voice their concern. The Women's March started as an event planned for January 21 in Washington, D.C. the day after Trump's swearing-in ceremony in the US capital, then quickly swelled to become a massive movement drawing hundreds thousands of people worldwide. Marches have taken place everywhere from London to Nairobi, Toronto to Tel Aviv, and Oslo to Antarctica, plus Park City, Utah, where the Sundance Film Festival is currently underway. In Sydney, a crowd of approximately 5000 people took to the streets to march in solidarity, continuing unfazed when skywriting emblazoned the US President's name above them. With such a massive outcry comes a massive onslaught of passion and creativity, including a sea of placards getting the point across in an engaging fashion. Don't just take our word for it — the array of pictures snapped around the world do all of the talking. https://twitter.com/callirachel/status/822694126588047360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/mradamscott/status/822969795985416192 https://www.instagram.com/p/BPh6cP5DEuu/?taken-by=womensmarch https://twitter.com/corinnepurtill/status/822923128221249536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/myquirky_corner/status/822931521241640960 https://twitter.com/jgitchell/status/822846113246048256 https://twitter.com/HamillHimself/status/822938477989769217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/lindazunas/status/822877872587231232 For more information about the Women's March, visit their website.
It has been ten years of Young Henrys, the Sydney brewery responsible for changing Australia's relationship with craft beer. That's no overstatement. Young Henrys was the first of the small-batch and independent brewers to genuinely crossover into the mainstream and started a movement. And despite ten years of expansion, high-profile collaborations and regular new product development (including the launch of a RTD gin and tonic), the business has remained steadfastly independent. Like all great ideas, Young Henrys was first conceived in a pub after an undisclosed number of schooners. The difference is that unlike most ideas that start out as excitable pub chat, this one actually panned out. THE ORIGIN STORY Founders Richard Adamson and Oscar McMahon were running a beer club at a pub in Glebe where punters could sample and discuss craft beers from far and wide. Their enthusiasm and well-trained palate for beer naturally evolved into a plan to give brewing a whirl themselves. According to the story as McMahon tells it, one thing just kind of led to another. "One night after beer club Richard said to me: 'How cool would it be to make a beer company that was in touch with the people drinking the beer, like the feeling of beer club.' We'd obviously had quite a few," he notes. "And then the next morning we actually followed up with a phone call and said 'hey... are you kind of serious about that?' And that began the journey of getting together some like-minded people and it took us about two years to find this site in Newtown and ten years ago this week we sold our first keg." That keg contained the now-ubiquitous Young Henrys Natural Lager. Ten years later, this loose and instinctive approach to developing the brand is warmly described by Dan Hampton, Young Henrys' Head of Sales, as 'the Young Henrys way'. Hampton explains: "The YH way or Young Henrys way is our way of saying that we don't always need to reinvent the wheel — and you can spin your wheels a lot trying to reinvent the wheel. But we go: how can we take good ideas, proven concepts and do them in our own unique way, and put our unique lens on it? Or take something that already exists and completely spin it on its head." A SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION The Young Henrys way has resulted in projects, events and creative collaborations that cross cultural intersections. They did a project with You Am I to create a collaborative beer 'Brew Am I' for the band's 20th anniversary tour — a partnership the founders cite as one of their favourite ever. They have since followed that up with partnerships with bands like DZ Deathrays and Foo Fighters, multi Grand Slam-winning tennis champ Dylan Alcott and the Rabbitohs, to name a few. Collaboration has been an important part of the business from the beginning. "We assume that people who are into craft beer will seek out and find and educate themselves on craft beer and craft breweries. We always thought it was a really interesting concept to take a craft beer company and find collaborators in other creative, interesting industries and work on a project," Oscar McMahon explains. "It not only brings new audiences into Young Henrys but into craft beer. It actually spreads that conversation. Also, we're a creative company. We're always coming up with new products and designs and themes and events, so pushing yourself to collaborate with someone means you're not only pushing yourself to be creative to your own standards, but to someone else's as well. And that can create some really great internal pressure." [caption id="attachment_610876" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Young Henry's collaboration with Dune Rats in 2017[/caption] THE TEN YEAR BEER No big name collaborations or great internal pressure went into the beer brewed specially to commemorate the 10th anniversary. The limited edition creation '10 Years Strong' is a red ale that was aged in rum and port casks, balancing bitterness and body, and has a hefty ABV of 8%. The beer will be given away to customers whenever they buy any two six-packs or four-packs of any Young Henrys product as a way of saying thanks to the people who have supported them for the past decade. 10 Years Strong is a birthday gift available with any Young Henrys purchase from bottle shops nationally.
Right now, Adore Beauty is a huge Aussie-owned retailer known for offering up deals on thousands of beauty products exclusively to online customers. It's also much-loved for its generous free samples and for giving away Tim Tams with every single purchase. But come Saturday, February 1, Adore Beauty will officially have a permanent bricks-and-mortar shop in Melbourne's Westfield Southland. The new store will house skincare, haircare, fragrances, makeup and a heap of other wellness items from over 300 beauty brands — both Australian and international. But team is seeking to make the most of the in-person shopping experience by not merely setting up a bunch of aisles full of products and leaving it there. At the centre of the flagship Adore Beauty store, visitors will find a large curved table that will host regular masterclasses, activations and even the odd live podcast recording. There'll even be a leading-edge digital skin analysis system, which will help punters gain a deeper understanding of their personal skin type and needs. You'll also still get a free Tim Tam with every purchase — thank the chocolate gods. And to entice folks in on the opening day, the Adore Beauty crew is giving the first 250 visitors a free goodie bag chock-full of 20 samples. This is the first retail store out of many more to come for Adore Beauty, with plans for a national store network set to roll out over the next few years. Adore Beauty's CEO Sacha Laing shared, "The Southland store is the first step in a new and exciting chapter for Adore Beauty that will see us bring our online experience that our customers know and love into physical settings where they can explore, learn and play with beauty with the guidance of our in-store experts." Adore Beauty's first-ever retail store opens on Saturday, February 1, and can be found at Level 2 of Westfield Southland, Cheltenham. For more details, you can check out the company's website.
Only watching a single scene, merely a few minutes or just a sole episode of Such Brave Girls is impossible. With its blisteringly frank and hilarious first season in 2023, and now with its equally raw, authentic and side-splitting second run in 2025 — both streaming in Australia via Stan — letting instalment after instalment roll while binge-viewing is the natural response to pressing play on this British sitcom about three adult women in a dysfunctional family. That said, there's a line in the show's second season that couldn't sum it up better, even if you were to only ever hear one piece of dialogue from the Kat Sadler-created series. "Your mouth's doing the right thing, but your eyes are trying to call the Samaritans," Josie, her on-screen alter ego, is told when she cracks a smile. Sadler also writes Such Brave Girls, with its first season winning Best Scripted Comedy and earning her the Best Emerging Talent: Fiction award at the 2024 BAFTAs. She's drawn much within its frames from her own experiences, as well as those of her sister Lizzie Davidson, who plays Josie's sibling Billie. Across its 12 episodes to date, there isn't a second of the end result that isn't deeply perceptive, including about depression, trauma, love, financial stress and the unshakeably intertwined relationship between the latter two, to name just some of its focuses. But that Samaritans line is such an astute statement about trying and pretending — however wholeheartedly or convincingly, or willingly or not — to put on a content and settled face to the world, an idea that's at the core of Such Brave Girls again and again. As she keeps exploring the lives of not just chalk-and-cheese sisters Josie and Billie, but also of their mother Deb (Louise Brealey, Lockwood & Co) — and of Dev, (Paul Bazely, Miss Scarlet and the Duke), a quiet widower with a big house, who the family matriarch is keen on marrying; Seb (Freddie Meredith, Andor), the keen-to-wed boyfriend that the queer Josie wishes that she didn't have; and Nicky (Sam Buchanan, Just Act Normal), the womaniser that Billie refuses to see anything but good in — how does Sadler find new ways to dig into the ever-relatable concept of constantly putting on brave faces? "It is capturing the MO of the show, and that's a really interesting way to look at it," Sadler tells Concrete Playground, "because I think every character is an emblem of this fine line of dancing through this desperation going on in the family home, and capturing that through keeping up appearances." "You've got Deb, who deals with it more superficially. Similarly with Billie, who's looking for someone to love her. And then it's Josie sort of constantly weaponising her mental health as a way of trying to experience love. Every character is on the quest for it. So I think when I go about writing, I often just have my characters on the wall, and I have this theme of love that I'm always trying to dig into, and then it's about finding different ways to have that come out." When season one introduced its main figures, it plunged into Josie's mental-health struggles, the mountain of debt that Deb can't escape, and the impact of her ex-husband going out for teabags ten years earlier and never returning home — as well as Josie's sexual identity, and the need for the series' three women to discover ways to try to keep fiscally afloat. Sadler's own attempts on her life and the £20,000 that Davidson owed at the same time were firm inspirations. Another motivation for the show: making the type of no-holds-barred sitcom about these situations and themes that didn't already exist but Sadler wanted to see. "That's exactly what I wanted to do," she explains. "I wanted to capture the uniqueness in the way that we talk, and the way that I talk to my friends, and show that, because I hadn't seen that before. And I wanted to lift up a rock into our world and try to capture as much of that in as much detail with as much authenticity as possible, to open people's eyes to the way that we see the world. And show that perspective, because there wasn't a lot of that that I was seeing on-screen — and it made me sad that we didn't have a lot of that. It made me lonely." "So I was trying to capture that — and help other people feel more normal by saying that the way that they talk is the maybe the way that they talk in their family." Life brightening up isn't Such Brave Girls' journey, though. That wouldn't fit its tone, or its aim to both subvert and satirise. Most sitcoms don't have the origin story that this one does, clearly — and also don't sport the commitment not to shy away from complicated characters, from daily woes, from mental illness, and from a range of topics that many dramas don't even dig into, let alone comedies. The again-exceptional season two begins with Josie chasing a crush, then swiftly being trapped in her worst nightmare: marrying Seb. Deb is endeavouring to use the nuptials to show to Dev that the family's women are worth getting hitched to, while Billie is intent on locking in a sugar-daddy relationship with the much-older — and already-wed — Graham (Daniel Ryan, The Bay). Most sitcoms also don't ensure, no matter what else Josie, Billie and Deb are navigating — be it weddings, infatuations, affairs, boat trips, potential pregnancies, rivals and so much more — that worrying about money isn't something that dissipates. That's another of Such Brave Girls' profoundly relatable touches. Interrogating the connection between love and finances is not the status quo for the bulk of television comedies, either. The feeling of catharsis for its creator, whether in processing her own experiences into something where Josie can make different choices, turning pain into laughs or seeing a show built with such a commitment to authenticity in such a range of ways resonating with audiences, stands out for Such Brave Girls, too. Alongside those themes of romance and money, as well as her own emotional journey with the show, we also spoke with Sadler about discovering the tone and feel for the series, and how season one's BAFTA success empowered her for season two. Among our topics as well: finding new scenarios to put Josie, Bille and Deb in the second time around, plus standing in Josie's shoes for 12 episodes now. On Financial Stress as a Daily Reality Always Sitting at the Heart of the Series — and How Love and Money Intersect "I love having a theme. And I think when you keep it on theme, the whole series will feel unified and keep the characters together — and that's the rubber dinghy that these characters are all stranded in and the ocean: financial stress. And if anything grows or moves or changes the way they're dealing with it, then the whole boat goes over. So it's all about keeping the characters on track and having that be the theme that we're constantly exploring. Like, when I start writing, I have love and money, that's my really strong theme of this year — and last year, too. I think that's what makes the characters feel relatable, and what is exciting to me as a writer is that it is fundamentally about love at its core. Even though the characters are horrible to each other and narcissists and all these things, their quest is fundamentally to be loved — but it's just these toxic ways they go about it. That was what was interesting to me as a writer in series two, was the kind of way that money relates to that. And Deb's quest for that, quest for money, is really about showing her love to the girls by keeping the house there, and keeping everyone safe and surviving. But we deal with it in these kind of toxic ways. So I do want to show that love and money really intersect in lots of ways that you might not be expecting." On Finding the Tone and Feel of the Show From Its Personal Origins for Both Sadler and Her Sister, and with Its Range of Topics That Not Even Dramas Always Cover "I think it went through lots of different versions. There was a while in which I suddenly thought 'oh gosh, am I writing a comedy-drama? Am I writing a drama?' in some of the stuff I dealt with. And then I think I had to stop and reassess and decide what I wanted to make — and fundamentally all I ever wanted to make is a sitcom that shows that you can deal with these issues, and not shy away from it and be hamstrung by the format of a sitcom. You can put anything in there, as long as you understand why characters are the way they are and act the way they do. So I think that was what I really decided on, and then I think once I decided that, it was all systems ago. I remember it went through lots of different drafts. That whole series went through loads of different drafts of versions, and then when I stripped all that back and showed it to my sister, it was then like 'this is what it is'. I think when it became like it was just jokes, that was then, I think, this is what makes me feel excited. Like, this is what gets me feeling a bit nervous, which is the best feeling — when you get a bit of fear." On If the Success of Season One, Including Its BAFTA Wins, Set Sadler a Challenge to Push Even Further in Season Two "Exactly. And it was an incredible vote of confidence in the show, and just gave us the feeling of 'people are behind us on this' — like they get it. Because it is a big ask, because it is challenging in different ways. So the fact that we had that mark of kudos of 'we back you' was huge, and so rewarding. And has been amazing, and totally made me feel like I can be more brave and confident, and like people give me the benefit of the doubt now. But it also comes with 'oh my god, how do you follow that up?'. We won the most-incredible prize — the list of shows on that list of BAFTA-winners for Best Scripted Comedy is unparalleled. It's incredible. So to try to compete with that or to be like 'okay, what's series two?' was terrifying. So we're working out 'how do you follow it up and not just try to be outrageous for outrageous' sake'. But it was a huge mark of confidence that has made me feel much more confident as a writer, which I struggle with." On Finding New Scenarios to Push the Characters Into in a Series About a World Where Nobody Is Right "My favourite thing is the twisted logic of the characters. That's what I love to write. I love twisted logic, like something that makes complete sense to the character, but as the viewer, you're like 'why on earth have you done that?'. So that's always my challenge. So I love to get a situation up on the board and be like 'what is the funny way that my characters would be front-footed and decide how to' — because we're all spin doctors, that comes from my family experience, like how we always just turn everything into something positive. You rewrite it. You work out how you win. And so it was about being like 'okay, how do I spin these situations so that the characters leave it feeling powerful, or leave it feeling like this is actually what they wanted?'. So that is the fun bit of the job, is working out 'what would be the most cathartic way to deal with this?' and 'how do these characters manipulate the situation?'. That's the bit which comes from just sitting and writing it, rather than reality, because a lot of reality didn't happen like that." On Whether There's a Feeling of Catharsis That Comes with Processing Sadler's Own Experiences Via the Series and Seeing Audiences Relate "Yeah, that has been an incredible experience. Having people relate or connect or say 'oh my god, I did that' or 'oh my god, that happened to me', that is actually, it's the best feeling. It's such a mark of confidence in the writing that it is truly the most rewarding bit. It truly is. Getting messages on Instagram being like 'oh my god, I can't believe you talked about that' or 'I thought only we did that' or something — those are the best messages." On How Sadler Feels About Josie After 12 Episodes of Standing in Her Shoes "I find her the hardest one to write for, because she's me. So I do find her difficult, because I haven't got that level of separation like I do with the other characters. So it's sort of about working out how to keep her — because Josie is also quite a passive character. She lets things happen to her. She's obsessed with her own trauma. She's lives in her head. And so it's hard to — thinking of plots for her to do where she is active is hard. Because I'm someone that usually just like — I think there's a line series one that's 'you're a deer in headlights, you just wait for the car to hit you' and that's me. So how on earth do you explore that in writing a series? She is the most fun, though, when she is front-footed about something. So it's just working out how to make her go for that. So that has been my challenge, just to make sure there's a degree of separation there between the two." Such Brave Girls streams via Stan. Read our review of season one.
When Victoria's March long weekend arrives each year, festivalgoers have two reasons to head out of town — or head to the state from interstate — for a few days of tunes. Both are beloved parts of the cultural calendar. Both are such a hit that you need to enter a ballot to get tickets. And just as Golden Plains has already done, Pitch Music & Arts is announcing it 2025 details. Everyone should make the trip to the Grampians at least once, and here's as ace an excuse to do so as any: the return of the much-loved camping festival, which will host its eighth edition, taking over Moyston again. There's no lineup just yet — it drops on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 — but the 2025 dates have been locked in. The long-running celebration unleashes its fun across the Grampian Plains, with next years' festivities happening from Friday, March 7–Tuesday, March 11. Not only will its three stages play host to a sparkling lineup of local and international musical talent, as always, but the tunes will be backed by a hefty program of interactive art and installations. Basically, no matter who makes it onto the bill, attendees are in for a very big, very busy four days. Joy Orbison's 'flight fm' and 'better' have been used in teaser videos for 2025's fest so far, so that could be a lineup hint. 2024's roster featured Gerd Janson, I Hate Models, Job Jobse, Spray, XCLUB, Bambonou, Chippy Nonstop, Narciss, Mac Declos, Sedef Adasï and Hasvat Informant, among others, if you're wondering which type of electronic acts that Pitch usually welcomes. The ticket ballot is currently open — and is a necessity after the last three festivals all sold out — ahead of the program reveal; however, you can get excited now about a bigger Pitch One stage, Pitch Black getting a revamp and the Resident Advisor stage's red orb being part of the fun again. In between all the dance-floor sessions and arty things, festivalgoers will again be able to make themselves at home in the Pitch Pavilion, which is where yoga classes, meditation and sound baths usually help patrons unwind. The local-focused Club Serra will be new in 2025, championing homegrown talent. Pitch Music & Arts will return to Moyston from Friday, March 7–Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Head to the festival's website for further details, or to enter the ballot. The lineup will drop on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, with tickets sale details announced then as well. Top Images: Duncographic, William Hamilton Coates, Max Roux and Ashlea Caygill.
When it comes to fresh sushi, sashimi, ramen, tempura, udon and the like, you can never have too many options. South Brisbane's Izakana-Ya Okuman demonstrates this in two ways: in adding to the city's growing range of Japanese restaurants, and in their hefty menu. Open twice daily for lunch and dinner, that selection of dishes includes all the classics and all the taste sensations you could want. Bento boxes, available in seven varieties, are a midday favourite. For an evening meal, platters are your friend, showcasing the eatery's daily fresh fish deliveries. Then, wash it all down with a rice lager or one of ten types of sake. Of course, the food is the first part of the Izakana-Ya Okuman experience. The second, as in any good restaurant, stems from the atmosphere. That the space is styled like a traditional Japanese bar and dining room certainly boosts to the latter. Kimono-wearing waitresses, ordering via iPad and a very lively vibe also does plenty. Images: Anwyn Howarth
While most people tend to give the coast a wide berth during the cooler months, there's something especially romantic about the beach on a winter's day. Whether it's the lack of people or the misty sky, winter on the coast is a time to indulge, with candlelit meals and long, warming lunches. Enter By the Sea, a two-day dining experience hosted by Halcyon House featuring a collaboration between chefs Danielle Alvarez and Andrew Milford. By the Sea will take place over two days, with a candlelit dinner on Saturday, July 5, and a long lunch on Sunday, July 6. Returning to Halcyon House following her sell-out gourmet weekend in 2018, Danielle Alvarez will unite with Andrew Milford, Executive Chef of Halcyon House's award-winning hatted restaurant, Paper Daisy. The event will showcase a rare city-meets-regional chef collaboration through a thoughtfully curated three-course menu. Upon arrival, guests can expect a glass of Roederer champagne, followed by a soulful menu made with seasonal ingredients that celebrate the region's range of local producers and sustainable food sources. Guests will also take home a Halcyon candle as a keepsake, perfect for remembering the weekend long after they leave. Located a scenic two-hour drive from Brisbane and just 15 minutes south of Gold Coast Airport, the boutique hotel and spa in Cabarita Beach is the perfect setting for a weekend of good food, delicious wine and quality time with family and friends. The weekend is also one of a handful of experiences planned throughout the year to mark Halcyon House's tenth anniversary. With limited seats available for both sittings, bookings are essential. For reservations and further details, visit the website. Images: Supplied.
When it comes to food events, there's nothing quite like the Sunnybank $2 Food Trail. It's all there in the name, with the Brisbane suburb's shopping hub becoming a diner's delight in the most affordable fashion. Think of it as the ultimate self-guided foodie adventure, for nothing more than spare change. At your own pace, you'll walk between more than 41 participating local cafes and restaurants featuring a range of authentic Asian cuisines. You'll feast on Chinese, Japanese, Hong Kong-style, Vietnamese, Korean and Taiwanese dishes, and you'll only pay $2 per plate. With such an array of steaming soups and sizzling stir-fries on offer, we don't recommend eating lunch first; in fact, you'd best arrive feeling as hungry as possible. Snacking on signature dishes is the main course — or several; however there's also plenty of non-edible appetisers, too. That'd be live music, lion dancers and roaming entertainment, adding the perfect garnish to every meal by setting the mood.
Vegan eats can't be hit and miss. You want a kitchen that sources fresh, high-quality ingredients and isn't afraid to experiment with taste combinations. In this, Dicki's certainly delivers. From an understated New Farm nook of sleek white wood with indoor and footpath seating, it offers plant-based meals bursting with flavour. Once you've had smashed avo with macadamia 'feta' ($12), you'll never look back. Bad memories of buckwheat? Try them as waffles with stewed apples, cinnamon crumble and salted caramel ($16.5). Bright and fresh dishes like the Nurture Bowl ($16.5) and maple-roasted granola ($12.5) with seasonal fruit and coconut yoghurt are picture perfect, as is the decadent cake selection. Then, on Saturday and Sundays nights, food and drinks are available till 5pm. Prosecco, local beers and refreshing cocktails are paired with tasty plates like burritos with crumbed tofu and black beans ($15.5), as well as the big house-made mushroom burger with fries ($18.5). Trust us: you won't even miss the meat. Images: Dane Beesley.
"He is the most accomplished man in Europe in riding, running, shooting, fencing, dancing, music." Writing in his diary in 1779 about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, American Founding Father and future second US President John Adams didn't hold back with his praise. But the world has barely taken his cue in the nearly two-and-a-half centuries since, letting the tale of this gifted French Creole violinist, conductor and composer slip from wider attention. Within a sumptuous period drama that's charmingly, confidently and commandingly led by Kelvin Harrison Jr — with the Waves, The High Note, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Cyrano star full of mesmerising swagger, and also endlessly compelling as a talent forced to struggle as a person of colour in a white aristocratic world — Chevalier endeavours to redress this failing of history. Veteran television director Stephen Williams (Watchmen, Westworld, Lost) and screenwriter Stefani Robinson (Atlanta, What We Do in the Shadows) begin their Bologne biopic boldly, playfully and with a front-on confrontation of the "Black Mozart" label that's surrounded their subject when he has been remembered — even if they also commence Chevalier with likely fiction. In pre-revolution Paris in the late 18th century, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Joseph Prowen, Father Brown) has an enraptured crowd in his thrall as he both plays and conducts. He pauses, then prompts his audience for requests. The response comes as a surprise: Bologne striding down the aisle, asking if he too can pick up a violin, then getting duelling with the musical instrument against the acclaimed maestro. Williams and Robinson start their film with a statement, announcing that they're celebrating a life that's been left not only ignored and erased — especially in a realm that's so often considered old, stuffy and definitely not culturally diverse — but also been stuck lingering in someone else's shadow. Chevalier's opening scene is well-staged, instantly rousing and a clever kickoff that speaks volumes — also cheer-worthy, as its on-screen viewers heartily deem it — and, most crucially, it sets the tone for Bologne's continual battle. He won't go mano a mano with Mozart again, but he'll never stop fighting in various fashions. Being underestimated, undervalued and worse due to his race is sadly his life story, which Chevalier places front and centre. As 2013's Belle did in focusing on Dido Elizabeth Belle, the film makes plain the prejudices and politics of the era in a genre that too rarely genuinely interrogates either. The world of Bridgerton may now peer backwards with romantic fantasy and colourblind casting, but that isn't the same as stepping through the experiences of someone who should be far better known, and undoubtedly would be if not for the reaction to their heritage. When he's still a boy (debutant Reuben Anderson) being installed in the only boarding school that will take him, far away from the French colony of Guadeloupe that has always been his home, Joseph is told by his father (Jim High, Foundation) that he must always be excellent in order to be accepted. From that exchange onwards, Bologne chases greatness in all matters — with a foil in his hand, and both performing and writing music, most notably. But even as he impresses Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton, Barbie) as an adult, is bestowed the knightly chevalier title and gets a chance to compete to lead the Paris Opera, French society remains quick to drip scorn whenever he exceeds the parts that they'll let him play. Whatever heights he's allowed to reach, he's still viewed as the illegitimate son of white plantation owner and an enslaved Senegalese teen. Williams and Robinson unpack the complexities of Bologne's friendship with the queen, whose progressive ideals are pushed to the fore purely when she's confident in her popularity, and his, among the court. Over both of their futures, the French Revolution looms inescapably — although Chevalier stops before depicting Bologne's time leading an all-Black regiment. Instead, it hones in on two interconnected plot points: that attempt to obtain France's top music post and a romance. For the coveted job, he vies for glory against the snooty and dismissive Christoph Gluck (Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Marriage). In affairs of the heart, he falls for Marie-Joséphine de Comarieu (Samara Weaving, Scream VI), wife of the stern military figure Marquise de Montalembert (Marton Csokas, The Last Duel), after convincing her to sing in the opera that's meant to secure his dream gig. Chevalier repeatedly anchors Bologne's journey in a blatant truth, albeit one that he doesn't see: that the more entrenched he thinks he is within France's upper echelons, the more he's immersed in a discriminatory system that'll never truly welcome him. When his mother Nanon (Ronke Adékoluẹjo, Rain Dogs) re-enters his life, finally free after his father's death, she instantly spots what her son can't — "you are a tourist in their world," she advises — and he isn't thrilled. Whether Joseph is contentedly believing that he's close to carving out his niche or eventually angry at the grim reality, he's feverishly working or dashingly courting, or he's demonstrating his prowess with a rapier or a bow, Harrison Jr is consistently exceptional. He's excellent at conveying Bologne's certainty in his skills and worth, too, including when diva Marie-Madeleine Guimard (Minnie Driver, Starstruck) thinks that he'll bed her because she demands it, and at working through the fiery heartbreak when his society dream is broken. This biopic is an act of rectification. It's a dive into the forgotten past, sometimes taking liberties as it depicts its subject's pursuit of liberté, égalité, fraternité, with a clear purpose and point. The film benefits immensely from enlisting Harrison Jr as its lead. It also boasts fine performances by Adékoluẹjo, Boynton and Weaving, with the former playing plucky and proud, and the latter two each exploring the difficulties of your heart and mind being at odds with the role that you inhabit. Chevalier is gleefully happy to relish its genre's aesthetic and conventions as well, be it at lavish champagne-filled parties or behind opera's scenes, complete with sniping among the well-to-do. While it's the tale, reclamation and portrayals that shine brightest — even if detailing significant parts of Bologne's later story in the text-on-screen post-script is a curious move — reaching ample high notes comes easily.
Melbourne's annual arts festival RISING might not return until winter (running from Saturday, June 1–Sunday, June 16), but tickets are already selling out to some of the most-popular events. If you've been thinking about heading to Victoria's capital to catch hidden laneway gigs, free exhibitions and international performances, then you best start making some serious plans. To help you get the most out of this year's festival, we've teamed up with the crew at RISING to bring you three exclusive travel packages that can be booked until Tuesday, April 30. [caption id="attachment_950619" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Damien Raggatt[/caption] First off, we've got our hands on a select number of Day Tripper tickets, which give punters access to a huge day party on Saturday, June 8. For just one arvo, the arcades and laneways surrounding Melbourne Town Hall will be taken over by post-punk, acid house, hip hop and disco tunes, as well as video works and contemporary dance performances. It will be huge. This package gets you access to the block party and afterparty, and includes a two-night stay at The Howey (with a full mini-bar worth $100), which is just a short walk from all the fun. The second RISING travel package will get you VIP access to see Dirty Three's performance at Hamer Hall, which has already sold out to the general public. We're the only ones still offering access if you want to see the trio perform live on Friday, June 14 or Saturday, June 15. This deal also includes a two-night stay at The Howey (again with a full mini-bar worth $100), a couple of drinks vouchers and priority entry to the festival club. Seats are highly limited for this one, so don't wait long to nab them. Lastly, we've secured a few tickets to Sydney drill legends ONEFOUR on Saturday, June 8. The lads' raw stories of crime, poverty and social dislocation have clocked over 500-million streams, with rap stars like A$AP Ferg and The Kid LAROI also fans. Book this RISING travel package for $549 and you'll receive two tickets to the show, plus a two-night stay at Causeway 353 (with $50 of mini-bar credit). Head to Concrete Playground Trips to book these exclusive RISING packages, which are only available up until Tuesday, April 30. Top image: Ian Laidlaw.
One of Eddie the Eagle's many training montages is set to the toe-tapping refrains of Hall & Oates' 'You Make My Dreams'. For an '80s-set film about a sporting wannabe trying to achieve Olympic glory, it's an appropriate choice in a multitude of ways. It's also rather clichéd. Still, it fits — and the feature knows that it's obvious, making it even more apt. That's Eddie the Eagle in a nutshell: a bit cheesy but completely aware of that fact, and utterly warm and enjoyable as a result. Those who aren't up to date on their British sporting history might be surprised to discover that Eddie Edwards (Taron Egerton) changed the face of the nation's ski jumping team. Actually, he was the face of the nation's ski jumping team. After struggling to become a downhill skier, the good-natured lad turned his attention to soaring not only down the snowy slopes but through the frosty air as well. England didn't have any other competitors in the field that year. In fact, they'd never had any competitors in the field in any year. But with his dad (Keith Allen) far from impressed, his coach (Hugh Jackman) a heavy-drinking, washed-up former athlete, and his own experience severely lacking, Eddie's Olympic quest wasn't exactly easy. Eddie the Eagle is a crowd-pleaser through and through — and while the term can sometimes have not-so-flattering connotations, that isn't the case here. Indeed, much of the film's success springs from director Dexter Fletcher's happy embrace of the tried-and-tested sports movie formula. While plenty of liberties have been taken with the truth to bolster the film's feel-good credentials, they all suit the story. If only sticking to the inspirational underdog playbook was always this entertaining. Fletcher seems to be following a specific train of thought: if it worked for Cool Runnings, which told of another against-the-odds story at the exact same Winter Olympics, then it can work here too. The actor-turned-filmmaker even nods to the Jamaican bobsled team, and to his own background around the same time, courtesy of a brief appearance from one of his late '80s Press Gang co-stars. Accordingly, his feature isn't just lazily throwing together the usual elements and hoping that something sticks. It's doing so knowingly with a wink, a nod and a smile, and while wearing its retro style and upbeat cheer on both sleeves. A number of other factors assist the all-round amiable effort enormously, including broad but winning performances by Egerton and Jackman in vintage earnest protégé and reluctant mentor mode, respectively. Add a canny splash of visual spectacle, a well-earned sense of genuine tension during the jumping scenes, and other time- and theme-appropriate tunes on the soundtrack, and Eddie the Eagle soars.
Who would've thought that little old, humble-as-anything Southside Tea Room would make it to two years old? Pretty much everyone, right? As grand holders of the infamous white chocolate and Turkish delight brownie, leaders in themed trivia, music, and movie nights, they’ve spent a good two years working their way to the top of Brisbane's artistic and culinary food chain – and now it's time to celebrate! In a night of great tunes, free brownies, streamers, free brownies, an over-excited rendition of happy birthday, free brownies and I’m a guess a hell of a lot of sugar- and alcohol-induced dancing, Southside Tea Room’s Second Birthday Bash is an event you can’t really afford to miss. There will be hugs, cheer, beer and some pretty excited faces under just as wild party hats. BYO novelty straw. A joint that has sold itself as a home away from home, with three times as much food, beer and entertainment, we all owe them a birthday drink, or a high five at least. So truck long at 5pm this Friday, present in one hand, cinnamon babka in the other, yell Happy Birthday, and party all night!
Losing yourself in a giant Pac-Man-inspired maze may or may not be your idea of the ultimate reality break, but it is something you'll actually be able to pencil into the diary when The Pac-Maze hits Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane next year. Yep, someone has created a human-size version of the classic 80s arcade game that had you losing hours navigating tiny yellow Pac-Dots and avoiding ghosts. As with most immersive, themed experiences happening across Australia these days, this one's popping up in secret locations on unknown dates. At this stage, all we know is that it's only popping up for one day in each city — and that you can sign up for notifications and first dibs on pre-release tickets via the website. The Pac-Maze comes courtesy of the same masters of nostalgia that brought you the adults-only Lego bar, The Brick Bar, which means you can expect a bunch of interactive fun that'll delight both your adult self and your inner kid. Organisers are promising an immersive escape room-style experience, held within a 1.5-kilometre, LED-lit maze, with the chance to score prizes if you're quick enough to elude those multi-coloured ghosts (aka Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde). You can play solo or in teams of up to ten, though there are only 500 tickets in total up for grabs in each city. To stay in the loop and snag pre-release tickets, visit The Pac-Maze website.
When one venue closes, another one usually opens. That's a unshakeable fact in the hospitality realm — in general, and also right here in Brisbane. Take the pile of containers set up on MacLachlan Street in Fortitude Valley, for instance. The site's original inhabitant, bar X Cargo, has now shut down; however, newcomer Summa House has just taken over its boozy setup. Here, you'll still find those metal boxes stacked high, grass sprawling out between them, and big beer garden vibes — all under the Brissie sun and, by night, beneath the stars as well. You'll also find fairy lights, couches, picnic tables, striped umbrellas and a giant flamingo mural. Oh, and cocktails to sip, pub-style food to tuck into and parties to dance through, too, with the latter taking over once evening hits. In total, there's also 14 event spaces — and the venue can host 1200 people. When you're not getting comfy on the ground level amid the gardens, you can literally take your hangout session up a level, and also peer at the city thanks to the venue's 360-degree vistas. If it's drinks you're after, the beverage menu spans reds, whites, sparkling, rosé, a range of beer on tap — including Balter, Byron Bay, James Squire and XXXX, and also Brookvale ginger beer — and summery-themed share jugs. There's an eight-option roster of cocktails for one, too, with names such as 'Tidal Wave' and 'Summasalt'. Bound to be a hit: Summa House's choc espresso martini. That pub grub-esque food lineup includes chicken parmigiana, beer-battered barramundi, steaks and lamb cutlets with sides like truffle mash and chat potatoes, as well as four types of burgers. For something light, there's spring rolls, tempura cauliflower, barbecue corn ribs and buffalo wings, too. And, on weekdays, you can grab a $15 lunch special, which features a choice between tacos, schnitzels, rumps and cheeseburgers (with a beer or wine costing $5 extra). X Cargo was known for its boozy weekend brunches, so Summa House is also doing its own version from 12–3pm on Saturdays and Sundays. This time, you'll get a tapas spread for two hours, and either cocktail jugs, beer and wine (for $55 per person), or menu cocktails, brews, vino and spirits (for $99).
There are two ways to approach Sundays. You can either take the half-to-go view, leisurely and blissfully enjoying the fact that you've still got a whole day of weekend left. Or, you can go with a half-over outlook, feverishly making the most of every second you have because work looms the next day. Either way, Shuckin' Sundays can add to your fun. Each week, it's Victory Lane's excuse to dish up $2 oysters from 11.30am–5pm. At the Ascot spot on Racecourse Road, you'll want to head to the streetside oyster cart every Sunday during the mollusc-slinging window. The oysters are shucked fresh, and you can pair them with regular drinks from Victory Lane's menu or $15 glasses of Laurenti Grand Cuvee champagne. When it launched in early 2024, the event proved so popular that the oysters sold out in three hours. So, this is the kind of deal that you'll want to arrive early to make the most of. Live tunes will provide a soundtrack right through until the venue's 5pm closing time.
Not much else compares to the sounds, smells and tastes barbecuing evokes. That sizzle, the smokey aroma wafting from the barbie, that burst of juicy, meaty flavour from the initial bite — good barbecue is something pretty glorious. And luckily, we have plenty of barbecue joints at our disposal. There's Japanese yakitori, Brazilian churrasco, Korean barbecue and, of course, down-home American B-B-Q hailing from the US's southern states. Down past the Mason-Dixon Line (the obsolete boundary that 'divides' the USA's northern states from the south), barbecue is king, and we've tracked down some grade-A American barbecue joints in Brisbane where you can head for some brisket, ribs, wings and more. Get your appetites ready — you're gonna need 'em.
