Never meet your heroes. Kill your darlings. A murderous rampage through the Hundred Acre Wood — a slasher take on a childhood favourite, too — Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey sticks its paws in both pots. Based on AA Milne's famed creation, which initially appeared in kids' poetry book When We Were Very Young in 1924, this schlockfest is exactly what a headline-courting low-budget horror flick about a homicidal Pooh and Piglet seemed sight unseen, and in its trailer. Blood and Honey is all about that high-concept idea, and splashing around as many instances of bloody bother as possible, to the point of repetition. It slathers on well-executed gore, but isn't anything approaching good or so-bad-it's-good. That said, it's also a reminder that everything changes, even a cute, cuddly stuffed animal revered by generations — and that carving away cosy notions about comforting things is a fact of life. Commenting on ditching one's safety blankets and inevitably being disappointed by one's idols is an unexpected — and perhaps unintended — bonus here. With so little plot and character development to writer/director/producer Rhys Frake-Waterfield's (The Killing Tree) script, making a statement is hardly Blood and Honey's main meal. This is a film of opportunity. Milne's loveable bear of very little brain entered the public domain at the beginning of 2022, which is what gave rise to this gruesome spin on figures seen on the page, in plenty of cartoons, and also examined in recent movies such as Goodbye Christopher Robin and Christopher Robin. As sure as the titular teddy's historical love for ditching pants and palling around with Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga and Roo, this Texas Chainsaw Massacre-style Pooh twist primarily exists because the premise was too irresistible thanks to copyright laws. Now gone all lumberjack, Pooh does don dacks in Blood and Honey. He's also fond of sadistically ripping people apart with a range of weapons, particularly inflicting head traumas. Why? To satisfy bloodlust that's sprung from feeling abandoned by Christopher Robin (Nikolai Leon, also Frake-Waterfield's The Killing Tree) when he went off to college, then having to carnivorously rely on a friend to survive. Unsurprisingly, much of the picture is filled with stalking and killing, as the bear and his porcine companion dispense with anyone who dares go down to the woods on any day. Just as much focuses on lingering shots of Pooh and Piglet in all their human-sized, fully clothed glory — their faces rubbery, twisted, grinning and grotesque, and never resembling anything but two guys (Craig David Dowsett and Chris Cordell, both alumni of Frake-Waterfield's The Area 51 Incident) in masks. Often, they lurk in the background like they're Michael Myers, waiting to strike cinema's go-to throwaway victims: out-of-towners on a rural vacation, and women at that. Blood and Honey uses illustration-style animation to set the scene before getting cold-blooded, and to establish not only Christopher leaving the Hundred Acre Wood crew, but also the latter's decision never to speak again after the hunger, resentment and tough decisions that follow. Dubbed "abominations" by the opening narration anyway, they maintain their mute promise even when their former friend returns brimming with excitement to show his boyhood haunt and its residents to his disbelieving spouse Mary (Paula Coiz, Tooth Fairy Queen of Pain) — and when that reunion turns feral, when they spark the torture-porn onslaught. Blood and Honey isn't the product of many savvy decisions past its central idea, and can't even decide whether Mary is Christopher's fiancée or wife in its early dialogue; however, removing the possibility of ill-fitting voices for Pooh and company slicing the mood to pieces is at least one smart move. What's a man-shaped bear and pig to do when Maria (Maria Taylor, Mega Lightning), Jess (Natasha Rose Mills, Return of Krampus), Alice (Amber Doig-Thorne, Summoning Bloody Mary 2), Zoe (Danielle Ronald, Shockwaves), Lara (Natasha Tosini, Quarantine Leap) and Tina (May Kelly, also Mega Lightning) mosey their way not long after Christopher's comeback? Get kill-happy, complete with slaughtering a few other folks who stumble along in Frake-Waterfield's straight-faced, by-the-numbers affair — and prolific producer Scott Jeffrey's latest cheap horror effort, including almost every film mentioned above in the Blood and Honey's cast's previous credits. How are any of the movie's humans supposed to stand out, or make an imprint beyond being grist for the grindhouse mill? They can't, although Maria is introduced as the victim of a prior attack, a background detail that's barely explored and then utterly ignored. Otherwise, two of her friends are a couple, and one likes taking bikini-clad selfies — which is all that the feature shares about them. How's a director meant to find tension in the monotonous array of deaths, and with dispatching with such one-dimensional, forgettable prey? Frake-Waterfield can't, especially given there's zero doubt from the outset that Pooh and Piglet are deranged and demonic, the body count and accompanying splatter will be high, and a sequel will be on the way based on the viral response to the feature's existence alone. Blood and Honey's creative forces are indeed planning a second jaunt for violent Pooh and his pals, as revealed before the first movie hit cinemas. More than that, they have their sights set on other children's favourites now in the public domain, such as Bambi and Peter Pan, all in their own Marvel Cinematic Universe-esque interconnected realm. Like the MCU, DC Comics Extended Universe and the like, they're also clearly fine with filler in their franchise. Perhaps future serial-killer Pooh flicks will find more to bother with. To keep audiences coming back now the 'beloved character gets unhinged' bit has been so dully done, they'll need to. More nods to Milne's pages would be a start, because Blood and Honey plays like a generic slasher with familiar names and a heap of honey thrown in (using Eeyore's detachable tail to get whipping is a rare and welcome touch). Perhaps whatever returns to the Hundred Acre Wood from here will give viewers a reason to care about someone — anyone — and their fates. Maybe there'll be dialogue that actual people would genuinely say, or a much-needed sense of OTT humour. Ideally, there'd be some weight behind the slaying of childhood innocence. If 2023's other big bear-focused release is a hit, though, maybe the best that can be hoped for is Winnie-the-Pooh meets Cocaine Bear — a notion that doesn't sound bad on paper, but neither did Blood and Honey before the movie started rolling.
Getting paid to do what you love is the ultimate employment dream. Finding a job doing something that everyone loves? That's a next-level kind of gig. When Gelatissimo turned taste-testing new gelato flavours into an actual position, it fell into that category. When Domino's wanted someone to eat garlic bread for cold hard cash, it did too. Now, hospitality group Australian Venue Co has a similar kind of job on offer. Fancy adding 'secret sipper' to your resume? That's the gig that AVC is currently advertising, with 36 positions available across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin. You'll get assigned to cover some of the company's 160-plus bars and pubs around the country, and you'll get paid for dining, drinking and then submitting a review once a month. If you've ever worked in retail and heard about mystery shoppers, then you know the drill. That's how these roles work, but in hospitality. So, you'll be posing as a customer and interacting with the venue's staff to scope out their service — and they'll be unaware that you're on AVC's payroll, like they are. Secret sippers will receive a $30 meal allowance for their monthly visit, plus $200 for each review, which'll cover a survey and a detailed written report. You don't need to have any experience in the field. Obviously, we're all veterans at eating and drinking, but you don't need to have done this type of job before. There are some pre-requisites, though, such as having your own transport, an ABN and access to a mobile device; being passionate about the industry; attentiveness and impartiality; and being able to do 12 visits each year. And if you're wondering which venues you might be visiting, it could be any in AVC's stable — which includes Cargo, Kingsleys and The Winery in Sydney; Fargo and Co, State of Grace and The Smith in Melbourne; Darling & Co, Riverland and The Regatta in Brisbane; The Hope Inn and Brighton Metro Hotel in Adelaide; and Sweetwater Rooftop Bar, The Globe and Wolf Lane in Perth. Find out more about AVC's secret sipper roles — and apply — by heading online.
Detroit chef Kyle Hanley has created a ten-course meal based entirely off Radiohead's classic 2000 album, Kid A. For one night only, a pop-up restaurant will host 36 guests to enjoy the menu, drink pairings and a full stream of the album . Hanley, who studied music before becoming a chef, told Huffington Post when he listens to music he hears "textures and colours" and explained that Radiohead are a very textural and "very visceral band”. "Most people put out CDs, and this is an actual album," he said. "One song flows into the next, and we kind of want to do the same thing with the courses." The menu includes pan seared scallops and Pfalz Riesling paired with opening track 'Everything In Its Right Place', black caprese and a glass of Alto Adige Kerner to accompany the title track 'Kid A' and mousse dou with blackberry pâte de fruit Niepoort LBV port to see out the album alongside 'Motion Picture Soundtrack'. See the full menu below. Everything in Its Right Place: Pan-seared diver scallop, yuzu fluid gel, fried cellophane noodle, lemongrass ponzu, chili oil. With Pfalz Riesling. Kid A: Black caprese. With Alto Adige Kerner. The National Anthem: Pan-seared lamb chops, crispy pig ear, blood orange reduction. With 100 percent Mourvedre. How to Disappear Completely: Oil-poached monkfish, white asparagus, white balsamic vinaigrette, daikon sprouts. With Leelanau Good Harbour Golden Ale. Treefingers: Tomato granita. With cilantro-infused gin, jalapeno syrup, fresh lime, sea salt, chilli oil. Optimistic: Maple sugar-seared duck breast, pink peppercorn gastrique, orange juniper pearls, shredded confit. With Anderson Valley Knez Pinot Noir. In Limbo: Shades of Bouillabaisse. With Cava VallDolina. Idioteque: Arugula salad, sous-vide egg, lardo croutons, manchego crisps, crispy pancetta, smoked sherry vinaigrette, Meyer lemon foam, caper dust. With Mezcal Chartruese sour, dash of Ango. Morning Bell: Meyer lemon sorbet. With gin and tonic. Motion Picture Soundtrack: Mousse dou with blackberry pate de fruit Niepoort LBV port. Via Huffington Post.
Can a fourth wall be smashed if it's barely even a gauze curtain? For audiences, Deadpool & Wolverine plays out on sturdy IRL surfaces that can be shattered — cinema screens first, then home entertainment's TVs and computers and phones forever afterward — but the film's to-camera asides, self-reflective jabs, in-gags, sarcasm, meta references upon meta references and all-round superhero satire aren't breaking, busting through or saying bye, bye, bye to anything. There's nothing to destroy when the idea that movies are their own worlds separate to the reality that they're viewed in simply doesn't exist in the third picture with Deadpool in its title, 11th X-Men feature and 34th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is still a flick spinning make-believe as it makes fun, but one that acknowledges how everyone interacts with pop culture: by knowing personal and industry goings-on tangential to the in-film action, such as that Ryan Reynolds (IF) is married to Gossip Girl's Blake Lively, Hugh Jackman (Faraway Downs) is Australian and newly divorced, Disney bought Fox in the battle of Hollywood studios and the MCU hasn't had the strongest of times of late. Deadpool & Wolverine may spend a fair portion of its duration in a wasteland-like place called The Void; however, viewers don't watch anything in a vacuum. This isn't the only feature to recognise that truth, nor the lone Deadpool movie to do so. That said, there's leaning into the fact that no one can completely split any art from their contextual awareness around it, and then there's this level of commitment. Comparing one of its major settings to the Mad Max realm within seconds of arriving there — and within months of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga releasing — is merely one further example. Nods, shoutouts and wisecracks go everywhere, including deep into the Marvel comics, their prior leaps to the screen, gripes about the latter, Tinseltown manoeuvrings, box-office fortunes, abandoned projects, stalled future flicks and actors' romantic lives. Reteaming after Free Guy and The Adam Project, Reynolds and director Shawn Levy co-penned the screenplay with Zeb Wells (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law), plus Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (who return from 2016's Deadpool and 2018's Deadpool 2), but the internet may as well have earned a scripting credit. For those less head over heels with Deadpool's merc-with-a-mouth schtick than Reynolds visibly has been for the eight years and running, consider this the only-way-out-is-through approach: there's more stacked on top of more, then huge piles of more again, then more and more sprinklings as well, especially when it comes to jokes that can't occur without referring to details well beyond Deadpool & Wolverine's frames. Reynolds, Levy and company own the onslaught with the transparency of the film's absent barrier — and while that isn't the same as ensuring that the bit always works or avoids getting repetitive (on both, it doesn't), it firmly helps establish part of the feature's vibe. This probably should be named Deadpool with Wolverine, but adding James 'Logan' Howlett to Wade Winston Wilson isn't just about superheroes teaming up, then the bickering banter and frenemy frays that result. Deadpool & Wolverine also gains energy from the scowling, growling, unhappy-to-be there mutant with the adamantium skeleton, giving it what past Deadpool jaunts have deeply missed: some tonal balance. Spirit first, story second: that's also Deadpool & Wolverine's gambit. As it cracks the boundaries between Disney and Fox's respective Marvel domains, and endeavours to win over the naysaying Wolverine — two tasks with glaring parallels between what's happening in its narrative and for viewers — it spins a straightforward tale given stock-standard sprawling franchise complications. The world is in peril. Masses will die. Multiple villains have schemes. The ill-fated sphere needs a hero, and that hero needs aid from another. Or: told by the Time Variance Authority's Mr Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen, Succession) that his timeline needs pruning following the events of 2017's Logan, Deadpool can only save everyone that he loves from being snuffed out by finding a new Wolverine from across the multiverse. But, they'll also have to flee The Void where unwanted intellectual property is dumped, and where Charles Xavier's maniacal twin Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin, A Murder at the End of the World) controls and manipulates everything. Although the plot doesn't lack specifics, be it Wade's eagerness to join the Avengers to impress his ex-fiancee Vanessa (Morena Baccarin, The Flash), Logan grappling with trauma and mistakes, Paradox's machine that's due to eradicate Earth-10005 or Cassandra messing with minds, the tale itself never feels like the point. While the minutiae is engaging enough, when Deadpool mentions more than once that he's now Marvel Jesus, believe the intent behind those words. After Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was a flop, with the MCU's route towards the fifth and sixth Avengers flicks requiring reworking after off-screen developments, and as 2024's only film in the series, there's some world-saving needed for this saga, too. Deadpool & Wolverine's method of going about it is crashing well-known pieces together for fun — not just its titular characters, but also via more surprises than at a Kinder factory, with one reveal particularly wittily done. There's that favouring atmosphere above all else again; refreshingly, despite teasing several times that Jackman will likely keep playing his role till he's 90, no one can accuse this movie of solely or mainly trying to lay groundwork for the franchise's 35th entries onwards. There's no missing where Deadpool & Wolverine's strengths reside, though: in Jackman, Corrin and Macfadyen. That Reynolds can irreverently and acerbically snark the hell out of Deadpool and sell the meta-ness of it all has been plain for almost a decade now, and he rides Wade's emotional journey here effectively as well, yet his co-stars couldn't be more pivotal. Sometimes slicing and stabbing at each other's regenerative flesh in a Honda Odyssey, sometimes trading barbs for glares, sometimes dispensing with foes in a side-scrolling frenzy, the odd-couple act with Jackman gleams and wipes the dull clash that 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine flatly served up from memories. In addition to donning his character's yellow suit, Jackman himself wears weariness, anger, disappointment and regret like it too is fused to his framework, getting more and more moving the longer that he dons the claws. It's been 24 years now since the debut X-Men and if there's a potential Marvel messiah here for his Real Steel helmer, it's him. Also, memorable bad-guy alert not once but twice: Corrin is an unnerving delight as Cassandra gets into peoples' heads — not just figuratively — and Macfadyen hams it up superbly. Layered within the nudging and parodying, stream of inside-baseball shots, shiny display of Disney's new IP wares, OTT violence and retro-leaning tunes — Goo Goo Dolls, Avril Lavigne, the Grease soundtrack and Madonna all echo prominently — is a takeaway that life isn't a mystery, but rather is all about acceptance. It's worth fighting for. It deserves you giving a shit, not coasting. Nonetheless, learning to come to terms with missteps and mourning, and faded dreams and paths not taken, is inescapable no matter if you have adversaries to vanquish, universes to rescue, lost loves to woo, identities to reconfigure, reputations to salvage and caped-crusader squads to wow. Cue another instance of mirroring. Levy mightn't be actively aiming to tell viewers that looking past Deadpool & Wolverine's tussles with itself is also part of this package, yet it still sticks when some of the film's scenes struggle with blandness visually and in their effects, the corporate-synergy angle is laid on thick and, regardless of what Reynolds quips, there's also a sense of holding back now that Disney is pulling the strings. Looking for a devilishly self-aware Deadpool and Wolverine romp, though? Just like a prayer, this'll take you there.
If you're the type of person that loves getting into heated pop-culture debates with friends, then you'll definitely want to get on board with this Kickstarter project. Part card game, part ridiculous debate, the Metagame asks players to consider questions like 'Which feels like first love: Pride and Prejudice or Hungry Hungry Hippos?' and 'Which should be required in schools: Dungeons and Dragons or the Bible?' The game comes with two decks of cards: one set of discussion cards with questions like 'Which will save the world?' or 'Which best represents America?', and one set of culture cards, which feature various works of art and pop culture, like Helvetica, the Rubik's Cube and 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)'. There isn't really a set way of playing, but the makers include a few game suggestions and encourage players to invent their own. Most of the suggested games involve players choosing culture cards that best answer the question and debating their choices. The Metagame was created by Local No. 12, a game design collective made up of Eric Zimmerman, Colleen Macklin and John Sharp. While the original Metagame focused on video games, the trio decided to release 'Metagame: The Culture Edition' following numerous requests for music and film versions. The game is still in prototype form, but it's already attracting praise from Filmmaker Magazine and Attract Mode, and the original Metagame was also an official selection of the 2013 IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games. The project has raised over $50,000 on Kickstarter — nearly double their original target of $25,000. Potential backers have the option of donating anything from $1 (which gets you early access to a print-and-play PDF version) to $500 or more (which gets you your own version of the Metagame, where you pick the rules).
International travel hasn't returned to normal as yet, but the airline industry has still kicked off the new year the way it always does: by announcing the safest carriers to fly with over the next 12 months. If heading to or from New Zealand is on your to-do list for 2022 — depending upon border restrictions, of course — then this year's rankings come bearing great news, with Air New Zealand earning the top spot. As decided by AirlineRatings.com, the carrier nabbed the number-one positions for a number of reasons, including flying in difficult conditions — "from windy Wellington to the Southern Alps", the publication noted — and having a young fleet of planes. "The last two years have been extremely difficult for airlines with COVID-19 slashing travel and Airline Ratings editors have particularly focused on the lengths airlines are undertaking to re-train pilots ahead of a return to service. Air New Zealand is a leader in this field with comprehensive retraining," said Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas. Air NZ's victory came at the cost of another airline from Down Under — and the winner of the safest airline for the past eight years in a row. That'd be Qantas. Since 2014, the Australian carrier has begun each year by being named the safest airline to travel on for that upcoming year, but that streak has now ended. It still placed in the highly sought-after accolade's top 20, however, from a pool of 385 carriers from around the world. Virgin Australia also made the cut — and, in order, the full rundown of 20 airlines includes Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, TAP Portugal, SAS, Qantas, Alaska Airlines, EVA Air, Virgin Australia/Atlantic, Cathay Pacific Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, Lufthansa/Swiss Group, Finnair, Air France/KLM Group, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Emirates. [caption id="attachment_823330" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brent Winstone[/caption] If you're a budget-conscious flyer, the website also outlined the ten safest low-cost airlines. Jetstar made the list — which it also did back in 2019 and 2021 — with Allegiant, easyjet, Frontier, Jetblue, Ryanair, Vietjet, Volaris, Westjet, and Wizz also featuring. Factors that influence a carrier's placement on the two lists include crash and incident records, safety initiatives, fleet age, profitability, and audits by aviation governing bodies, industry bodies and governments. No one needs any extra encouragement to dream about overseas holidays at the moment, but this just might be it. For the full AirlineRatings.com list, visit the airline safety and product rating review outfit's website.
In case we didn't have enough endangered phenomena to worry about, what with the encroaching extinction of the Black Rhino, the disappearance of the Barrier Reef, and the centralisation of indie culture, the United Nations has thoughtfully added a new category to the list. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has this week released a fresh batch of the world's endangered 'intangible cultural traditions'. French-style horse back riding, Chinese shadow puppetry, and poetic dueling in Cyprus were amongst the newly endangered traditions added to the 250-strong list compiled last year. The new additions encompass rituals and art forms passed down orally from generation to generation, lacking any formal documentation system. Recipes and food preparation methods can also be found amongst the UNESCO's list of disappearing acts, including the Japanese ritual of transplanting rice, and the ceremonial Turkish meat dish, Keskek. Those recipe books brimming with scrawled post-it notes and hand-written recipes born of the mind of your Great Great Grandmother just got even more precious. These 'intangible' traditions provide the cultural glue for some of the world's smallest communities, encouraging unity in a world of increasing globalization and cultural dilution. Hopefully awareness generated by the UNESCO list will stop these traditions from pulling a Houdini any time soon.
Eriksson Architects have compiled a proposal for an eco-silicon valley that will revolutionise modern enviro-friendly architecture. They have created blueprints for the Mentougou Eco Valley, an experimental 100 square-metre development with buildings of diverse contemporary design. If and when the Chinese government approves the proposal, the company plans to install the Mentougou Eco Valley about 60 kilometers west of Beijing, in a deep valley surrounded by lush mountains, an ideal haven for eco-friendly living. The city will be self-sufficient in producing water, returning nutrients back to the environment and maintaining its own agriculture because it will be built amidst vast vegetation and small bodies of water. Protected by the surrounding wall of mountains, noise and pollution are also kept out of the Mentougou Eco Valley. The development is designed to include nine environmental research institutes, a city center and small residential neighbourhoods built into the mountains that would house over 50,000. The architects will experiment with new building materials and designs, technologies and floor plans in an attempt to build the most modern eco-friendly city ever created. [via designboom]
Good things happen when the minds behind Peters Ice Cream and Gelato Messina come together, as has proven the case multiple times now. In the summer of 2019 — centuries ago — the dessert experts unveiled a limited-edition line of gourmet Drumsticks. Fast forward to spring 2020, and they teamed up for a range of Messina X Peters gelato bars. Now, with spring 2021 in full swing, they've added a new lamington flavour to its in-supermarket lineup. Yes, next time you're hankering for a frosty sweet treat, you can nab one of Messina's takes on the best chocolate- and coconut-covered cake there is. The new creation, which has just landed in the freezer aisle of your local supermarket, comes filled with chocolate gelato mixed with desiccated coconut, plus raspberry sauce — a mix that might taste familiar if you're already a Messina fiend. Here, all that gelato is placed on a biscuit base, then covered in milk chocolate. The Messina lamington gelato bar joins the existing Messina X Peters choc hazelnut and espresso dulche de leche numbers. The former features layers of chocolate biscuit, cocoa gelato, a hazelnut sauce and a chocolate coating, while the latter pairs espresso gelato and dulce de leche, then covers it in milk chocolate. All three flavours are available at supermarkets around Australia. Each comes in pop art-style boxes of four, priced at $10 per box. On Tuesday, October 19, to mark the new lamington gelato bar's launch, Messina is also giving away boxes of them. To get your hands on one, you'll either need to make a purchase at a Messina store — or order from Messina via Uber Eats from 12pm onwards and tick the 'free box of lamington gelato bars offer' box. Both giveaways are while stocks last, so getting in early is obviously recommended. Gelato Messina X Peters gelato bars are available at supermarkets around Australia.
Uber's really gunning on the whole transportable goods monopoly, huh. Transport's youngest taxi-threatening empire moved to explore the billion-dollar food delivery market, after the recent Messina delivery hootenanny (which didn't actually work for hundred of new Uber — Newber? — users). But that type of gimmicky PR stunt is going one step further into an actual delivery service: lunch delivered by taxi driver, in under ten minutes. UberFresh is the idea, with the plan to make Uber drivers into the ultimate vehicular-based slashie: equal parts taxi driver and delivery person. Planning to take you "happy to hungry in under ten minutes", the service is capitalising on that bout of hanger that sets in when your delivery snail takes an age to show up. But you can't just order any ol' extravagant, slow-cooked short rib for lunch and expect it to show up in ten. UberFresh works on a limited menu, daily specials restricted to sandwiches, salads or soups from local businesses (with a little side cookie thrown in). You'll have to meet the driver on the street to pick up your lunch, but you just skipped a 20-minute lunch line, so hush. The UberFresh program is currently only available in Santa Monica and on weekdays until September 5. Plans to bring the service to Australia or New Zealand haven't yet been announced, but with the rising rates of Uber users (and the anger at Cabcharge's sneaky extra fees) rising, shouldn't be too long before your lunch is just ten minutes away. Delivery.com and Seamless probably need new pants. Via Grub Street.
It's been a busy 12 months or so for Qantas. The Australian airline launched 17-hour non-stop flights from Perth to London, started eyeing off even lengthier trips direct from the east coast to the UK and US, and introduced biofuel into its jaunts from Melbourne to Los Angeles. Now the carrier is kicking off the new year by earning a highly sought-after accolade, being named the safest airline to travel on in 2019. It's not the first time that Qantas has achieved the feat. In fact, the Aussie carrier has topped AirlineRatings.com's list for six years in a row. Entering its 99th year of operation, the airline emerged victorious from a pool of 405 carriers from around the world, with Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand also making the site's top 20. The other 17 airlines — which aren't ranked by number — span Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, American Airlines, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, EVA Air, Finnair, Hawaiian Airlines, KLM, Lufthansa, Qatar, Scandinavian Airline System, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. If you're a budget-conscious flyer, the website also outlined the ten safest low-cost airlines. Jetstar is one of them — and it's joined by Flybe, Frontier, HK Express, Jetblue, Cook, Volaris, Vueling, Westjet and Wizz. Factors that influence a carrier's placement on the two lists include crash and incident records, safety initiatives, fleet age, profitability, and audits by aviation governing bodies, industry bodies and governments. At the other end of the scale, five airlines received the lowest rankings: Ariana Afghan Airlines, Bluewing Airlines, Kam Air and Trigana Air Service. Via AirlineRatings.com.
The Snowy Mountains has long attracted snow bunnies from across the state, nation and even oceans to play. Though these days the area is buzzing with much more than skiing fresh powder to entertain you. Whether you've never so much as seen snow before, or are a seasoned pro, there's plenty to taste, see and do when you're not flying down the slopes. A big draw card during the winter season is the Snowtunes music festival, returning to Jindabyne this year to host an epic snowy weekend. The breathtaking lakeside town of less than 3000 people is set to explode with music from a swag of Australian and international artists. Unzip your puffer jacket and warm up to some fiery sets from Gang of Youths, Safia, Tigerlily, Mashd N Kutcher, Klingande, Royal and Skeggs — just to name a few. This is not a drill; if you're looking to see this winter out dancing it up to some electro tunes, surrounded by some pretty stunning snowy vistas, you'll want to mark this one in your diary for the first weekend of September. The two-day music festival is just the tip of the 'snowberg', if you will. We've partnered with Destination NSW to bring you a Snowy Mountains getaway cheat sheet, so before, after and between sets, you can pack in as many snowbound activities as possible. [caption id="attachment_632818" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wildbrumby Schnapps Distillery.[/caption] EAT AND DRINK From your road trip to the snow and into the wee hours of après ski, the Snowy Mountains region has a bustling food scene that'll keep you going. Make your first stop Ingelara Farm Truck. This bright blue food truck sits just outside of Bredbo and caters to all your stop, revive, survive needs from coffee to homemade sourdough. And once you've settled in The Snowies, there's plenty more tasty goodies to discover for all budgets. Take a culinary journey down the Alpine Way running between Jindabyne and Thredbo. Stop by award-winning Wildbrumby Schnapps Distillery Door and Café for a free tasting of their wide array of schnapps — our picks are the butterscotch and spicy devil's tongue — and stay for the hearty Euro-inspired meals like German smoked sausages, the schnitzel burger and Austrian beef gulasch. Next stop along the way is Crackenback Farm Restaurant. If you splurge anywhere, make it here. The French farmhouse-style cuisine is best enjoyed leisurely by the fireside. And make sure to save room for dessert, because the hot chocolate mousse with vanilla ice cream and marinated mandarins will crack even the most seasoned dessert connoisseur. [caption id="attachment_633133" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Crackenback Farm.[/caption] If you're based Thredbo village way, take a tour through the brimming offering of eateries, bars, pubs and even a nightclub. Stop by Central 2526 for their dumplings of the day, or wander up to The Denman Hotel for the fanciest cocktails in town. Looking for a mid-ski refuel? The classic drive-thru's got nothing on Eagles Nest. Ski in and out of Australia's highest restaurant perched 1937 metres above Thredbo at the top of Kosciuszko Express Chairlift. The show-stopping 270-degree view pairs nicely with some hearty classics such as a rather generous parmigiana schnitzel, loaded waffles and a cold German beer. DO Of course, a trip to NSW's snow capital wouldn't be complete without a bit of shredding — they don't call it 'Shredbo' for nothing. Whether you prefer one plank or two, investing in lessons for those just starting out or even those in need of a refresher will definitely pay dividends. Thredbo runs two-hour group lessons three times a day at Friday Flat. You'll find solidarity in your fellow students as five-year-olds fly past you down the mountain. Many locals and visitors alike have not ventured beyond the resorts into the surreal wilderness, but K7 Adventures opens this world up with their snowshoeing tours leaving from Thredbo resort. On a clear day, you'll be rewarded with awe-inspiring views across the valley. On a snowy day, the hike across fresh snow is well worth the unexpected beauty of snowy gums and staggering rock formations that emerge from the white silence. You'll feel like you've just discovered frozen Atlantis. K7 also hosts cross-country skiing, photography and ice climbing tours. After carving up the slopes, or just making some casual snow angels, slip on your après-ski boots and get ready for the evening's entertainment at Snowtunes. If you're feeling extra celebratory, opt for one of their sweet package deals like the Snow Worries. As the name suggestions, the festival legends organise it all for you, including a two-day admission ticket, express entry, return bus from Central Station in Sydney to Jindabye, accommodation and brekkie at the Snowy Valley River Inn. You'll be sorted for a full weekend in the snow, without a care to dampen those spirits. And finally, a tough day playing in the snow or burning up the dance floor is sure to take it out of you, so the Lake Crackenback Spa & Wellness Centre is the chilled-out cherry on top of an action packed weekend. Book into a facial, massage or go all in with a spa special like their Winter Day package that sees you massaged, exfoliated and completely relaxed. Go on, you've earned it. STAY To fully immerse yourself in alpine luxury, check in to Lake Crackenback Resort & Spa nestled at the foot of the mountains on the edge of Kosciusko National Park. The striking lake view apartments and mountain view chalets cater up to seven mates, while the expansive grounds are a playground for wildlife and visitors alike. Greet the day with the local kangaroos, try your hand at archery in the afternoon, take a dip in the indoor heated pool pre-dinner, then grab a pizza to-go for some in-room dining with a view from Alpine Larder or dine at onsite Cuisine Restaurant & Bar right on the edge of the lake. The resort also offers a complimentary shuttle bus to the Skitube that connects you via rail to Perisher and Blue Cow. It's also only a 20-minute drive along the picturesque road to Thredbo village. Alternatively, you have the option of staying in one of the several ski-in, ski-out chalets on the fields. The big four resorts – Thredbo, Perisher, Charlotte Pass and Selwyn Snow Resort – all offer a huge array of accommodation for all budgets. Though, many of the best value spots can be found in Jindabyne. Round up your nearest and dearest to rent one of the many large guesthouses there. For a splashy stay, split the bill with sixteen mates and enjoy large, private entertainment areas, fancy tubs and open fireplaces. And for a no frills kind of stay, try The Banjo Patterson Inn and take advantage of their pool table, the onsite Kosciusko Brewery and an energetic Tuesday night trivia. Head to the snow to eat, drink and play, then hit the dance floor at Snowtunes, taking place September 1 and 2.
One of the most poorly kept secrets of the year has finally been confirmed: The Cure, patron saints of bedroom dancing and boys in eyeliner, are officially coming to Sydney as part of the Vivid Live lineup. The legendary new-wave '80s band will be playing two shows, entitled 'Reflections,' at the Sydney Opera House on May 31 and June 1. The shows will see the band play three of their most influential albums in their entirety: Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith. Get out your black trench coats and tease up your hair, The Cure are a-coming. Around for more than thirty years, The Cure have had over a dozen line-ups, but it's their earlier albums which have become their most definitive, with their dark and melancholy melodies treasured by generations of goths and boys who don't, but might, cry. In an almost-original lineup, front man Robert Smith will be accompanied by Simon Gallup and Jason Cooper for the performance of Three Imaginary Boys, while the original drummer Lol Tollhurst will come on stage for the performance of Seventeen Seconds and Faith. Rumours that the band were due to appear at Vivid began last week, but it was only when Stephen Pavlovic, 2011's festival curator, rocked up to FBi Radio and played a Cure track, and then proceeded to neither confirm nor deny the possible appearance of The Cure, that the rumours entered into the realm of the bleeding obvious. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xik-y0xlpZ0
Australia is just getting accustomed to life without single-use plastic bags; however Europe is set to go one step further, backing a directive to ban a number of single-use plastic items within the European Union. The European parliament's plan was drawn up to specifically combat the growing amount of plastic that's clogging up the world's oceans, specifically targeting plastic cutlery, plates, stirrers and straws, as well as cotton buds and balloon sticks. And the target date for phasing out these products is soon: 2021. The EU's highlighted items rank among the top ten products found in the sea, the directive states, with reducing the consumption of food containers and beverage cups also on the agenda. By 2025, all EU members will also be required to collect 90 percent of single-use plastic beverage bottles for recycling, while awareness campaigns will ramp up for the likes of general plastic packets and wrappings, sanitary items such as wet wipes and sanitary towels, and cigarette butts. The draft legislation received overwhelming support, passing 571 votes to 53, although it's not yet law. It is, however, the latest recognition that the war on waste is one that needs serious attention. The British parliament announced plans to go plastic-free earlier in the year, France has banned plastic plates, cups and cutlery from 2020, while the Australian government has pledged to ensure that 100 percent of the country's packaging is recyclable, compostable or reusable in the next seven years. And that's on top of the flurry of supermarkets, big name brands, well-known food chains and furniture behemoths making their own commitments to reduce, recycle or eradicate single-use plastics from their operations.
For the past five years, Josh Niland has been showcasing his seafood prowess to Sydneysiders, with the acclaimed chef first opening restaurant Saint Peter in 2016, then launching fishmonger Fish Butchery in 2018. Last year, he shared his recipes in The Whole Fish Cookbook, letting seafood fiends everywhere follow in his footsteps at home. And now that ocean-focused text has just picked up the prestigious James Beard Book of the Year Award. On Wednesday, May 27 in the US, Niland nabbed the coveted prize — which is considered the top culinary book award in America and worldwide. Handed out by the culinary-focused non-profit James Beard Foundation each year, the James Beard Awards recognise food-centric media across a number of categories, including chefs and restaurants, books, journalism and broadcast media. They also bestow prizes in fields such as restaurant design, leadership, humanitarian work and lifetime achievement. In receiving the Book of the Year Award, Niland became the first Australian to ever take out the prize. And, he scored a second honour as well, with The Whole Fish Cookbook also winning in the Restaurant and Professional field. Niland's debut cookbook, The Whole Fish Cookbook champions his culinary philosophy, with an ethical and sustainable approach to seafood paramount to his cooking. The book's recipes include cod liver pate on toast, fish cassoulet, roast fish bone marrow, and the chef's 'perfect' version of fish and chips. [caption id="attachment_771910" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Rob Palmer[/caption] The Whole Fish Cookbook has been picking up praise and accolades since it was first published last September, with the James Beard Book of the Year Award joining a long list of gongs. It also received the Food Book Award at the 2019 André Simon Awards, was named illustrated book of the year at the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards, earned photographer Rob Palmer the National Portrait Gallery's National Photographic Portrait Prize 2020 for one of his photos of Niland, and has been longlisted for the Australian Booksellers Association Booksellers' Choice Awards 2020. To peruse the full list of 2020 James Beard Award winners, visit the awards' website. For more information about The Whole Fish Cookbook, head to publisher Hardie Grant's website. Top images: Rob Palmer.
It has been 13 years since Planet Earth, the 11-part documentary series that combined stunning high-definition images of this place we all call home with David Attenborough's inimitable narration. It has been three years since Planet Earth II, the show's six-part sequel, did the same too. A third program, Planet Earth III, is slated to join them in 2022 — but you don't need to wait that long for your next Attenborough-voiced nature doco fix. Four years in the making, Netflix's Our Planet will help fill the gap. Releasing in April, it isn't related to BBC's Planet shows — which also include The Blue Planet and Frozen Planet — but it does still feature Attenborough's informative tones. Across eight episodes, the iconic broadcaster and natural historian will talk viewers through the planet's remaining wilderness areas and their animal inhabitants. The series is made in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, so expect to see plenty of astonishing and majestic critters. And we do mean plenty. Our Planet was filmed in 50 countries across all the continents of the world, heading everywhere from the remote Arctic wilderness to the South American jungles — and to sprawling African landscapes and the depths of the ocean, as well. In total, it took 600 crew members to shot the series, who helped capture a plethora of never-before-filmed sites over more than 3500 filming days. It's also filmed in ultra high-definition at 4K resolution, so should your TV support it, you'll be in for quite the detailed glimpse at the natural world. Check out the full trailer below: Our Planet starts streaming on Netflix on April 5. Image: (c) Ben Macdonald/Silverback Films.
It's time for another madcap, star-studded, pastel-hued adventure with Wes Anderson. Hooray! The follow-up to Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel follows Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), a manager at the swanky eponymous establishment and his devoted lobby boy, Zero Moustafa. The suave Gustave is a hit with the mature lady guests, and when one of them dies, he is suspected of murder and theft. So he and his precious sidekick make a run for it, and the story unfolds into the whirlwind of adventure, mystery, romance and, of course, comedy that captivate us with Anderson's films. It looks like Anderson won't be abandoning his colourful, dreamy sets; dry, poker-faced humour; and eccentric characters anytime soon. The usual suspects in the cast include Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Tilda Swinton, Jude Law and Saoirse Ronan are also thrown in, making The Grand Budapest Hotel one Anderson's most dynamically cast films yet. The Grand Budapest Hotel is is in cinemas on Thursday, April 10, and thanks to Twentieth Century Fox, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Fg5iWmQjwk
First things first: Lady Macbeth isn't about William Shakespeare's famous character. It does, however, bring some of the Bard's best-known words to mind. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," he waxed lyrical in Romeo and Juliet. It's a statement that rings true here, in a film about a woman every bit as calculating, ambitious, disarming and deadly as her notorious namesake. In adapting Nikolai Leskov's 1865 novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, first-time feature director William Oldroyd delivers a stunning character study, an unnerving portrait of the female experience in the 19th century, and a tense psychodrama. With playwright turned screenwriter Alice Birch moving the action from the book's Russian setting to Northern England, Lady Macbeth explores the married woes of young Katherine (Florence Pugh), who is wed to the unkindly but wealthy Alexander (Paul Hilton), confined within his family's rural estate and treated like property. As her overbearing father-in-law Boris (Christopher Fairbank) explains, she has been bought and paid for; accordingly, tending to her husband's needs should now be the only reason for Katherine's existence. Exploring the dismal way English women were treated just 150 years ago drives much of the film's first act, as it touches on not only gender but also race and class courtesy of Katherine's black housemaid Anna (Naomi Ackie). Showing how Katherine plans to break free from her restrictive regime underscores everything that follows. When an affair with one of Alexander's handsome groomsmen, Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis), gives her a glimpse of a different life, she's reluctant to return to the drudgery that comprises her version of normality. In fact, she's reluctant enough to scheme, flout convention, and generally do whatever it takes to regain her independence. If you're familiar with Macbeth, you'll have an idea of the kinds of plots she conjures up. If you're not, let's just say that getting caught in Katherine's way isn't recommended. In other hands, Lady Macbeth might've been more of a bodice-ripper. Constraining undergarments are indeed torn open and tossed aside, a sexual awakening takes place, and passions refuse to be contained. And yet it's the intensity of Katherine's feelings, not only for Sebastian but also for control over her life, that Oldroyd and Birch thrust to the fore. The film is austerely shot and composed; Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner (The Kettering Incident) keeps the visuals largely still, gloomily lit and posed from a distance, allowing the underlying emotions to bubble up against bleak images and a dour atmosphere. Of course, the movie's stylistic restraint serves another purpose. When such a potent figure stalks through almost every frame — as brought to life with such a stunning central performance — dialling back everything around her is an astute choice. And what a force to be reckoned with Pugh turns out to be, so assured that it's hard to believe that Lady Macbeth is only her second big screen role (she previously appeared in The Falling). Then again, perhaps it's apt: this is a tale of a young woman defying expectation to make a bold statement, after all. Either way, no one will forget her in a hurry — the actress, or the character she plays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQAG253WWZU
It seems we can't get enough Robo-Cop inspired tech. The robot exoskeleton that confers superhuman strength is already out there, and now circuit-laden contact lenses are being developed to beam augmented reality straight to your retina. Researchers at the University of Washington have developed lenses embedded with semi-transparent electronics, which most pundits report as an internet accessible contact lens. The reality, at this stage, is much more modest. So far the team have been able to put an 8 x 8 pixel array on a contact lens, and tested it on rabbits for twenty minutes — think Robo-Rabbit playing a quick game of checkers, rather than Minority Report. This article by the lead researcher Babak A Parviz discusses the difficulties with developing an augmented reality contact lens, but shows that we already have the technology to overcome most of the hurdles. The only question is getting it small enough, and safe enough, to fit on 1.5 square centimetres of polymer that sits on your eye. The piece also suggests uses for the tech other than web surfing — being in constant contact with fluids, it would be an ideal place for sensors to monitor health metrics like glucose levels. Being able to bat your eyelids and check your email might still be a pipe-dream, but perhaps we're not so far from having a health bar in the corner of the 'screen' reminding us when to have our next check up. https://youtube.com/watch?v=h1SlPUkC6Fc [via PSFK]
It was the film that forced two beloved superheroes into a fight; however that's not the only battle Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has faced. Critics were far from impressed, and nor were the folks behind the Golden Raspberry Awards. After bestowing eight nominations upon the Zack Snyder-directed, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill-starring flick, the gongs also known as the Razzies have backed that up with four trophies. At the 37th awards, BvS took out worst screenplay; worst screen combo for Sad Affleck and his "baddest foe forever"; worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel; and worst supporting actor for Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Still, the movie's clashes are never over, it seems, with conservative political documentary Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party coming out on top — or is it bottom? — in the worst picture, worst actor and worst director fields (and, worst actress, though BvS didn't get a look in there). Kristen Wiig was among those adding an unwanted accolade to their resume, thanks to her work in Zoolander 2. The Razzies also recognise someone whose career has taken a turn in a better direction, with Mel Gibson this year's recipient of the Razzie Redeemer Award thanks to the success of Hacksaw Ridge. The Razzies are held the day before the Academy Awards, giving the industry a moment to consider the other side of the Hollywood filmmaking spectrum before showering the best and brightest of the year in statuettes. For anyone that's been living in a musical rather than in the real world, La La Land remains the Oscars favourite after nabbing a record-equalling 14 noms, but here's hoping there'll be plenty of love for eight-time-nominee Moonlight. Check out our helpful guide before the February 27 ceremony, Australian time. GOLDEN RASPBERRY NOMINEES AND WINNERS 2017 WORST PICTURE Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Dirty Grandpa Gods of Egypt Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Independence Day: Resurgence Zoolander 2 WORST ACTOR Ben Affleck, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Gerard Butler, Gods of Egypt and London Has Fallen Henry Cavill, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Robert De Niro, Dirty Grandpa Dinesh D'Souza [as Himself], Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Ben Stiller, Zoolander 2 WORST ACTRESS Megan Fox, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Tyler Perry, Boo! A Madea Halloween Julia Roberts, Mother's Day Becky Turner [as Hillary Clinton], Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Naomi Watts, Divergent Series: Allegiant and Shut-In Shailene Woodley, Divergent Series: Allegiant WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Julianne Hough, Dirty Grandpa Kate Hudson, Mother's Day Aubrey Plaza, Dirty Grandpa Jane Seymour, Fifty Shades of Black Sela Ward, Independence Day: Resurgence Kristen Wiig, Zoolander No. 2 WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR Nicolas Cage, Snowden Johnny Depp, Alice Through the Looking Glass Will Ferrell, Zoolander 2 Jesse Eisenberg, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Jared Leto, Suicide Squad Owen Wilson, Zoolander No. 2 WORST SCREEN COMBO Ben Affleck & His BFF (Baddest Foe Forever) Henry Cavill, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Any 2 Egyptian Gods or Mortals, Gods of Egypt Johnny Depp & His Vomitously Vibrant Costume, Alice Through the Looking Glass The Entire Cast of Once Respected Actors, Collateral Beauty Tyler Perry & That Same Old Worn Out Wig, Boo! A Madea Halloween Ben Stiller and His BFF (Barely Funny Friend) Owen Wilson, Zoolander 2 WORST DIRECTOR Dinesh D'Souza and Bruce Schooley, Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Roland Emmerich, Independence Day: Resurgence Tyler Perry, Boo! A Madea Halloween Alex Proyas, Gods of Egypt Zack Snyder, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ben Stiller, Zoolander 2 WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL Alice Through the Looking Glass Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Dawn of Justice Fifty Shades of Black Independence Day: Resurgence Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Zoolander 2 WORST SCREENPLAY Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Dirty Grandpa Gods of Egypt Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party Independence Day: Resurgence Suicide Squad
When 2023 arrived, it marked two decades since composer Stephen Schwartz and playwright Winnie Holzman took a book inspired by The Wizard of Oz, put it to music and turned it into one of Broadway's biggest hits of the 21st century. Now, before 2024 is out, this year will give Brisbane musical theatre fans their latest chance to see that very show right here at home — because Wicked is flying into the Queensland capital from September. Even if you haven't seen the stage blockbuster before, including on its past Aussie run from 2008–11, then you've likely heard of it. Following the Land of Oz's witches — telling their untold true tale is the musical's whole angle, in fact — Wicked has notched up more awards than you can fit in a hefty cauldron over the years. That includes three Tonys from ten nominations, a Grammy, an Olivier Award and six Drama Desk Awards. Also huge: its worldwide footprint, playing in 16 countries around the globe since its 2003 debut. And, when it makes its way to QPAC's Lyric Theatre for its next stop on its current Aussie run, following its past Sydney season and present Melbourne season, it'll do so after enchanting itself into fourth place in the list of longest-running Broadway shows ever — even surpassing Cats. Story-wise, Wicked starts before The Wizard of Oz and continues its narrative after Dorothy Gale lands, adapting Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The text itself has sold 5.5-million copies, including five million since the musical first opened. Here, before Dorothy blows in, two other women meet in the Land of Oz: Elphaba and Galinda. One will later be known as the Wicked Witch of the West, while the other will become Glinda the Good Witch. Exactly why that happens, and how, and the pair's relationship from rivals to unlikely friends to grappling with their new labels, fuels the show's tale. Popping on your ruby slippers, clicking your heels three times and defying gravity at the Brisbane stage show means seeing Courtney Monsma in her debut lead role as Galinda/Glinda, Sheridan Adams as Elphaba, Robyn Nevin as Madame Morrible and Todd McKenney as the Wizard — plus Liam Head as Fiyero, Adam Murphy as Dr Dillamond, Shewit Belay as Nessarose and Kurtis Papadinis as Boq. Wicked has been brought back to Australia by John Frost for Crossroads Live Australia, Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B Platt and David Stone — and is taking to the stage again before the two-part film adaptation starring Cynthia Erivo (Pinocchio) as Elphaba and Ariana Grande (Don't Look Up) as Galinda, and directed by Jon M Chu (In the Heights, Crazy Rich Asians), is due to start reaching cinemas from November 2024. Wicked will play Brisbane's QPAC Lyric Theatre from September 2024. For more information or to join the ticket waitlist ahead of sales — with general sales from Friday, March 22, and presales the week prior — head to the production's website. Images: Jeff Busby.
How many spider-men is the optimal amount of spider-men? Asking for the best Spider-franchise there is: the Spider-Verse series. Sure, 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home messed with multiverse madness, complete with Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland's versions of the titular character — but the stunning 2018 Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse not only got there first, but topped that first. Now, the animated flick's upcoming sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is going one better yet again. Initially set to release in 2022 — and even dropping a first trailer in 2021 — but now arriving in June 2023, Across the Spider-Verse is the first of two follow-ups to the Miles Morales (Shameik Moore, Wu-Tang: An American Saga)-focused franchise. And, it isn't holding pack on its spider-people. Where the initial film gave us a spider-woman, spider-robot and spider-pig, as well as Nicolas Cage as a 30s-era spider-vigilante, this one has another whole onslaught of Spideys heading Miles' way. This time around, the movie's Brooklyn-based friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is slightly older, and also faced with a spider-team, who are keen to protect the multiverse's existence. When there's that many Spideys, agreeing on how to handle things — including a new threat — isn't easy. That's how the clash between Miles and his fellow spider-folk comes about, as animated in the series' usual dazzling onslaught of colour and movement in the just-released sneak peek. Also included amid all the spider-alternatives in the trailer: Miles reuniting with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld, Hawkeye). And, there's Spider-Woman (Issa Rae, Insecure), the Spider-Verse version of The Vulture (Jorma Taccone, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) and the return of Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight). (If you're wondering about Isaac's character, he first turned up in the post-credits section of Into the Spider-Verse, and he's an alternate version of Spidey from a specific Marvel Comics imprint.) The voice cast spans Daniel Kaluuya (Nope) as Spider-Punk and Jason Schwartzman (I Love That for You) as The Spot as well, and Jake Johnson (Minx) is also back as Peter B Parker — alongside Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train) as Miles' dad and Luna Lauren Velez (Power Book II: Ghost). Expect to see Miles head into other Spidey realms, too, in a franchise that made every single live-action Spidey film pale in comparison to its initial instalment. Once again produced by The Afterparty's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — and this time co-written — Across the Spider-Verse will be followed by third film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse in 2024. There's also a female-focused spinoff in the works as well. Check out the new Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer below: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will release in cinemas Down Under on June 1, 2023.
In Love Lies Bleeding, a craggy ravine just outside a dusty New Mexico town beckons, ready to swallow sordid secrets in the dark of the desert's starry night. Tumbling into it, a car explodes in flames partway through the movie, exactly as the person pushing it in wants it to. There's the experience of watching Rose Glass' sophomore film emblazoned across the feature's very frames. After the expertly unsettling Saint Maud, the British writer/director returns with a second psychological horror, this time starring Kristen Stewart in the latest of her exceptionally chosen post-Twilight roles (see: Crimes of the Future, Spencer, Happiest Season, Lizzie, Personal Shopper, Certain Women and Clouds of Sils Maria). An 80s-set queer and sensual tale of love, lust, blood and violence, Love Lies Bleeding is as inkily alluring as the gorge that's pivotal to its plot, and as fiery as the inferno that swells from the canyon's depths. This neon-lit, synth-scored neo-noir thriller scorches, too — and burns so brightly that there's no escaping its glow. When the words "you have to see it to believe it" also grace Love Lies Bleeding — diving into gyms and in the bodybuilding world, it's no stranger to motivational statements such as "no pain no gain", "destiny is a decision" and "the body achieves what the mind believes" — they help sum up this wild cinematic ride as well. Glass co-scripts here with Weronika Tofilska (they each previously penned and helmed segments of 2015's A Moment in Horror), but her features feel like the result of specific, singular and searing visions that aren't afraid to swerve and veer boldly and committedly to weave their stories and leave an imprint. Accordingly, Love Lies Bleeding is indeed a romance, a crime flick and a revenge quest. It's about lovers on the run and intergenerational griminess. It rages against the machine. It's erotic, a road trip and unashamedly pulpy. It also takes the concept of strong female leads to a place that nothing else has, and you do need to witness it to fathom it. Stewart is Love Lies Bleeding's shaggy mullet-wearing heartthrob, a surly and oft-silent type who knows what she wants and doesn't. In the first category for the gym-managing Lou: a life free of abuse for her sister Beth (Jena Malone, Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire), who has scuzzy and vicious husband JJ (Dave Franco, Day Shift) lurking about; nothing to do with the shooting range-owning, gun-running, insect-obsessed, ponytailed Lou Sr (the scene-stealing Ed Harris, Top Gun: Maverick); and, from when she first sets eyes on her, muscular and permed out-of-towner Jackie (Katy O'Brian, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania). It's 1989, Lou is unwilling to be anyone but herself — iron-pumping patrons try and fail to insult her with "grade-a dyke" — and she's also introduced knowing how to clean up a mess and navigate amorous complications. Glass initially finds one of her protagonists with a hand deep in a backed-up toilet, and with local hang-about and past fling Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov, Dickinson) pleading for a date. More muck and more relationship chaos are in store for both Lou and for Love Lies Bleeding. Breezing in en route to a bodybuilding championship in Las Vegas, Jackie reciprocates her affections, then moves into her house — but the day before they meet, she's sleeping with JJ for a job at Lou Sr's. That's just some of the shit, metaphorical rather than literal, that Lou will have to get more than elbow-deep in. The FBI agents hovering around asking questions fall into the same camp. Alongside gleefully subverting the usual take on powerful women characters on-screen, Glass carves into idyllic perceptions of love. Love Lies Bleeding's central romance is urgent, instant, sweaty and horny, and also opportunistic, perilous and thorny. The idea that discovering your special someone is transformative also receives a stunning spin, and far beyond the fact that bulging biceps and doing everything on steroids — sometimes literally there — are rarely far from returning Saint Maud cinematographer Ben Fordesman's lens. It isn't merely Glass, Fordesman, editor Mark Towns (another Saint Maud alum), composer Clint Mansell (Sharper) and the meticulous team of sound designers who go all in on crafting Lou and Jackie's plight as an evocatively visceral and squelchy fever dream, heated sex scenes, an onslaught of gore and brutality, and an eagerness to get weird all included. Almost every time that she rolls out a new performance, Stewart is in never-better form again and again, which is true once more in this phenomenal portrayal. The anxiety, tension and vulnerability that's pulsating through Lou is evident in a look, a line reading and posture alone, as is determination, devotion, grit and complexity. Stewart masters something that's only matched by the electric O'Brian, as Glass demands: mesmerising viewers, and making them fall as head over heels for this chemistry-dripping pair and the movie they're in as they do with each other. For O'Brian, who also has The Mandalorian and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Westworld and The Walking Dead on her resume, has studied martial arts since childhood, takes part in bodybuilding contests off-screen and was previously a cop, it's a star-making, can't-look-away turn. Add obsession to the forces pumping ravenously through Love Lies Bleeding, which befits its filmmaker; this isn't her first picture about transformation and connection. The links between Saint Maud and Love Lies Bleeding mirror Lou and Jackie, with the two duos as much kindred spirits as opposites. Glass relishes the magnetic clash, then revels in it. What it truly means to change, and why, and the motivations to try; attempting to abandon old and forge new habits; what a person can and can't find in another; where faith and trust kick in: they all throb through both flicks. But jumping from a claustrophobic British setting to the expansive American west, plus from ailing bodies to musclebound figures, is also Glass' journey. Contrasts abound within Love Lies Bleeding itself, which is intimate but sprawling, raw and tender, sweet and savage, gets love and sex butting heads with carnage and death, grim but blackly comedic, and also dark and distressing yet swoonworthy and romantic. In her two features so far — a helluva debut, then this astounding follow-up — Glass has also proven herself a builder, but not of the bodies that her second movie peers at with as female a gaze that cinema is capable of. There's no watching Love Lies Bleeding and not spying its influences, as was the case with Saint Maud. That said, that both take those inspirations as foundations to construct something else entirely is equally inescapable. These are no one's copies. True Romance, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, Thelma & Louise, Showgirls, Badlands, Paris, Texas, Raising Arizona, Bonnie & Clyde, Natural Born Killers: consider them all Love Lies Bleeding's siblings. So are Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon, as spied in the intoxicating hues that dance across the screen. Although it similarly only reached cinemas in 2024, Ethan Coen's Drive-Away Dolls would make a glorious double with one of the standout movies of the year. For a burning, bulging, blistering and brilliant plunge into filmmaking at its most exhilarating, however, Love Lies Bleeding stands and shines fiercely atop its own cliff.
If you've been wondering about the story behind today's rainbow Google doodle, here's the low-down. With the Winter Olympics opening ceremony to be held tonight in Sochi, the online giant has put its weight behind the protest against Russia's discriminatory laws. Six stylised athletes are depicted participating in various winter sports, from ice hockey to figure skating to bobsledding. Underneath, a quotation from the Olympic Charter reads, "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." Activists all over the world have spoken out against the International Olympic Committee's decision to hold the Games in Russia, where the law bans the promotion of non-traditional sexuality and prevents under-18-year-olds from having access to information about homosexuality. On Wednesday, February 5, protests were held in 19 different cities. Yesterday, UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon acknowledged the issue in his speech to the IOC, stating, "Many professional athletes, gay and straight, are speaking out against prejudice. We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people. We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face."
Name a fictional detective — be it Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nancy Drew, Scooby-Doo, Inspector Gadget or Benoit Blanc — and, no matter who they are or which cases they've solved, someone has wanted to follow in their footsteps. Actually, more than a few someones have. We've all done it: watched, read or listened to a murder-mystery, then figured that we could solve a big case if the situation arose. Thanks to podcasts such as Serial, as well as the recent true-crime boom in general, that's become the default reaction to hearing about an unsolved or thorny story. It's also the premise behind returning Disney+ series Only Murders in the Building, which satirises the fact that everyone has wanted to be Sarah Koenig over the past decade. Only Murders in the Building has its own version of Koenig, called Cinda Canning (Tina Fey, Girls5eva). As viewers of the show's first season know, though, she's not the marvellous murder-mystery comedy's focus. Instead, it hones in on three New Yorkers residing in the Arconia apartment complex — where, as the program's name makes plain, there's a murder. There's several, but it only takes one to initially bring actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), theatre producer Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and the much-younger Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die) together. The trio then turn amateur detectives, and turn that sleuthing into their own podcast, which also shares the show's title. In season two, which starts streaming Down Under on Tuesday, June 28, the show returns to the same scene. No time has passed for Only Murders in the Building's characters — and, while plenty has changed since the series' debut episode last year, plenty remains the same. Viewers now know Charles, Oliver and Mabel better, and they all know each other better, but that only makes things more complicated. Indeed, there's a lived-in vibe to the program and its main figures this time around, rather than every episode feeling like a new discovery. Among the many things that Only Murders in the Building does exceptionally well, finding multiple ways to parallel on- and off-screen experiences ranks right up there. That applies to podcast fixations, naturally, and also to getting to know someone, learning their ins and outs, and finding your comfort zone even when life's curveballs keep coming. There wouldn't be another season without another murder, however. This time, Arconia board president Bunny Folger (Jayne Houdyshell, Little Women) has left the land of the living. The OMITB crew were all known to have their struggles with her, so they're all persons of interest. They have media profiles now, due to their first-season success. Canning herself starts a podcast about the podcasters. It's Mabel who finds Bunny, in fact, sparking too many internet theories. And, to the joy of the actual NYPD detective on the case (Michael Rapaport, Life & Beth), all the evidence keeps pointing at her, Charlies and Oliver. Even if you've only watched one murder-mystery before, you know the old cliche about returning to the scenes of crimes. Generally, that's what the guilty do, driven by a need to witness the aftermath of their handiwork, insert themselves into the investigation and enjoy a second round of thrills. But Only Murders in the Building makes a comeback for a different reason, which definitely doesn't involve zapping more enjoyment out of evil deeds. At a series level, there's none of the latter to revel in anyway. The first season was such a warm and amusing gem — and smart and astute, too, whether it was serving up odd-thruple banter, or parodying whodunnits and their obsessives — that it instantly became one of 2021's best small-screen newcomers. What makes season two tick is the same thing that made season one tick, though: the show's fondness for people above all else. They're the only thing that ever truly matters in any murder-mystery, as should always be the case when someone has lost their life at the hands of another. In its first batch of episodes, Only Murders in the Building made a point of identifying its victim's flaws and troubles — explaining why more than a few people wanted him dead, because that's the genre's whole concept — but also took great care to flesh him out as a person, too. It does the same with Bunny the second time around, unsurprisingly. Indeed, diving into the ups and downs, strengths and struggles, and wins and losses that make the Arconia's inhabitants who they are is as crucial a part of the show as figuring out who decides to wield a gun, knife or knitting needle. Only Murders in the Building has been doing exactly that with Charles, Oliver and Mabel from the outset, of course, and keeps digging into its central trio. But new residents and familiar faces alike still get the same treatment during season two, including Amy Schumer as herself and the returning Theo Dimas (James Caverly, A Bennett Song Holiday). Viewers learn more about Charles' past with his father, which may be linked to Bunny — and his connection to Lucy (Zoe Colletti, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), the now-teenager who was almost his stepdaughter. Oliver's bond with his son Will (Ryan Broussard, Modern Love) gets pushed into the spotlight, as does his need to be the dip-eating centre of attention. And Mabel's distrust of others continues to help drive the narrative, especially after she becomes the key suspect and gets badged #BloodyMabel on social media. Around of all the above, there are blackouts and 70s-style parties, canny commentary about lives lived online and lonely hearts in equal measures, wonderful one-liners and knowing in-jokes, and an impressive balance of comedy and heart. If cracking any case is all about puzzling together the right pieces, then Only Murders in the Building has found its ideal components — more so in season two, which is weightier, deeper, funnier, more insightful and more charming. It's also an even better showcase for its three leads, who just might be the most likeable trio currently gracing any series. Martin, Short and Gomez all such delights together that they deserve their own podcast about why they're so great playing podcast-obsessed podcasters. If you're already a fan of Only Murders in the Building, you know you'd listen to it. Check out the trailer for Only Murders in the Building season two below: Only Murders in the Building's second season starts streaming Down Under via Star on Disney+ on Tuesday, June 28, starting with two episodes, then airing new instalments weekly. Read our full review of the show's first season. Images: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu.
Don't you hate it? You finish carving it up on the black run, having linked together some pretty sweet tricks, only for your buddy to claim his jumps were airier and his landings smoother. If only you had some way of objectively measuring just who was the more extreme… Perhaps you can. Nokia have teamed up with leading snowboard company Burton to develop Push Snowboarding, adding sensors to the board and rider that track your every action. Motion data and biometrics such as heart-rate and skin conductivity are collected wirelessly by the phone sitting in your pocket, allowing you to back up your bragging, or just monitor your progress. The development of 'connected' products can sometimes be an unnecessary gimmick, but in the sports world performance data is priceless for elite athletes. Innovatively, rather than keep the tech in-house and hush-hush, the platform is open to the boarding world, allowing the end-users to hack their own uses for the technology. It's a clever strategy from Nokia, effectively crowd-sourcing their customers to help develop ideas for the product. It could lead to purely entertaining uses, such as loading real runs up to video games, or improved safety features that aid in search and rescue. Whether it ends up as the next must-have accessory for the slopes, or is consigned to the tech junk heap along with the internet fridge, now rests in the hands of the boarders themselves. [via PSFK] https://youtube.com/watch?v=1y8nMUAUeKM
The Autark Home redefines waterfront living. Passivhaus, an independent research institute, has built an eco-friendly floating houseboat. The houseboat is highly energy-efficient, runs completely on solar power and is ten times more energy efficient than the average house. The Autark Home is currently flaoting in Maastricht, Netherlands. Designed by Pieter Kromwijk, the prototype has gained popularity because of its ultra-low energy consumption. There are plans to produce more Autark Homes to meet the demand of willing buyers.
The year has barely started, but one Brisbane's favourite trends is already in full swing, with the city becoming home to a brand new craft brewery. Setting up shop just a stone's throw away from the Story Bridge, Sea Legs Brewing Co has transformed a former industrial warehouse into Kangaroo Point's newest watering hole. Created by five engineering mates, including co-owner Dave Machin, it boasts five of its own beers as well as the facilities to brew plenty more — with Jon Fuchs overseeing the hoppy drops as head brewer. If you're a beer nerd, you'll be excited to know that the spot features a 15-hectolitre brewery that can ferment up to a 9000 litres, as well as an extra 100-litre setup for speciality, seasonal and experimental tipples. And while Sea Legs is focused on its tropical lager, golden ale, pale ale and IPA at present, as well as an interesting sounding oats and lactose-infused milk stout, one-off batches are on the agenda down the track. The inner-city newcomer also serves up the type of bar food that pairs well with a cold one (or several), spanning seven kinds of pizza, three different burgers, katsu bao, fried chicken wings, haloumi chips and build-your-own charcuterie and cheese boards. For those after a beverage that isn't beer, Sea Legs pours 17 different wines and four cocktail jugs as well. Find Sea Legs Brewing Co at 89 Main Street, Kangaroo Point from 12–10pm Sunday to Thursday and 12pm–12am Friday and Saturday. Visit the brewery website for further details.
Add another date into your doggo's diary — the NewBARKet Markets are upon us. On Saturday, July 16, Newmarket Village is going to the dogs again, but in a good way, with the adorable event taking over the inner north shopping centre. Take your pupper along from 11am–3pm, with plenty of treats and pats on offer. One place your cute canine will want to head to: the bone bar, where free bones will be given out to all good woofers (while stocks last). The main attraction, as the name makes plain, is stalls selling all kinds of goodies for your four-legged friend. Expect dog food, accessories, threads and grooming, and usually dog desserts as well — dog ice cream and pupcakes have been on offer in past years. For attendees of the two-legged variety (no, your clever canine standing on their two back legs doesn't count), there'll also be food for humans. And if you're sadly lacking in the pooch department, don't worry — everyone else will have you covered, so you'll be in for a top day of dog-watching.
Never a brand to do things like anyone else, Melbourne-based skincare label Aesop has just launched their first collection of room sprays as a multi-sensory experience. With fragrance said to evoke some of the strongest emotional responses (it's the sense most associated with memory), the modern-day alchemists asked composer and musician Jesse Paris Smith (daughter of Patti and Fred 'Sonic' Smith) to create three unique tracks to 'narrate the journey' of each scent. It's pretty poetic. As with Aesop's fragrances, each track has been deconstructed, with top notes (ones that are perceived immediately), heart notes (the ones that emerge just before the top notes dissipate) and base notes (the lingering finale). Smith's three compositions are ambient and perfectly calming — and available to download for free off the Aesop website. It's like being at a health spa in the comfort of your own home. Each scent is named after an ancient Greek city and is distinct without being overpowering — there's no sickeningly sweet vanilla here. Rather, Aesop has developed three characteristically sophisticated scents. Istros combines pink pepper, lavender and tobacco, while Cythera embraces geranium, patchouli and Myrrh, and Olous is a citrusy burst of botanicals, cedar and cardamom. Aesop's aromatic room sprays retail for $60 each and and can be bought here. [embed]https://vimeo.com/224417380[/embed]
When it comes to finger lickin' goodness, fried chicken isn't the only delicious dish in town. Who doesn't love getting all sticky eating a big batch of ribs? And as regulars at the Boundary Street Markets will agree, Big Roddy does some of the best. Since April last year, Big Roddy's Ripping Rib Shack has been one of the best places in the city to get your Chicago-style barbecue fix — and they're not done filling your stomachs just yet. Like so many market stalls before them, they've made the leap to a permanent store because everyone really does need more beef and pork ribs, buffalo wings, poutine and burgers in their lives. Also following in the footsteps of plenty of other Brisbanites, Big Roddy's has set up their bricks-and-mortar shop in Fish Lane in South Brisbane. Their new venture opens its doors at 5pm on April 1 — more than seven months after word of their new home first spread — but hey, being able to feast on their American-influenced bites in their very own diner is worth waiting for. As for what's on the menu, expect half and full racks of both pork and beef ribs; veggie, cheese and fried chicken burgers; and the combination of both that is certain to tempt your tastebuds, aka The Ribwich, as served on a brioche bun. Snacks include wings dripping in sauce and dipped in homemade garlic aioli, chicken bites, chilli fries, jala-macca-peño poppers (which, yes, really do stuff good ol' jalapeño poppers with mac 'n' cheese), and the fries, gravy and cheese curd combo that is poutine. Be warned: if you weren't a rib lover before, you will be soon if you keep looking at pictures of their drool-worthy dishes. Find Big Roddy's Ripping Rib Shack at 67 Fish Lane from 5pm on April 1. For more information, visit their website and Facebook page.
It’s nothing new to reference the explosion of social media across our cultural landscape, how it mediates our fumbling navigation through the murky and glorious waters of the World Wide Web, nor how its various forms facilitate and foster ever-expanding networks of communication, knowledge and connection globally. Rather than contracting our cyber presence to the corners of our computer screens, sites such as GetUp! and Twitter have become the go-to tools of a dynamic, interwoven and international citizenry in their various en-masse calls for change to governments, institutions and laws (think of the Arab Spring, or the current ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement). A concurrent trend of the Noughties has been the popularisation of ethical consumerism. No longer the exclusive domain of hippies or hipsters, the growth of demand for organic food, fairtrade goods, farmers markets and the like reveal a genuine awakening regarding the production of goods as well as a desire to align one's consumerism with one's values. Cue the bright-eyed, pigtailed offspring of these two trends, Slavery Footprint. A new app developed by Justin Dillon, Slavery Footprint aims to show you how many ‘slaves’ your consumption entails via the supply chain, which, the website informs, now enslaves more people than at any time in human history. The application isn’t designed as a guilt trip or a disincentive to buying, but rather is geared towards heightening awareness as an avenue for inciting change – change through you, and your choices. And not just a change in the brands you buy – the app doesn’t offer ‘alternative, cruelty-free’ options so as to avoid the emergence of expensive, ‘ethical’ brands only economically accessible to certain demographics – but rather a change in the entire mentality towards consumption and, hopefully, along with it, the enterprise of slave labour that sustains it. Says Ambassador Luis CdeBaca of the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, who helped develop the app, “You’re going to be touched by slavery no matter what, and I think that’s actually a liberating thing. We can no longer say this is someone else’s problem….” Overwhelmingly, the ethos of the app is empowerment, and apparently Dillon has struck an untapped reservoir of empowerment-hungry shoppers. On a recent trip to Melbourne I happened across a piece of paper stuck to a graffitied wall in an alleyway that asked “Is our empathy on the rise?” After ponderous deliberation, I wrote “Maybe, but I think we can do better”. And with the aid of innovations such as Slavery Footprint, perhaps we can, after all.
Every couple has in-jokes, a valuable currency in all relationships, but only Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp have turned a cute private gag into Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. The Parks and Recreation actor and the Fraud director are no longer together romantically, marrying and divorcing in the 13 years since they first gave the world the cutest talking shell anyone could've imagined; however, they've now reteamed professionally for an adorable film based on their 2010, 2011 and 2014 shorts. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On also gave rise to two best-selling children's picture books, unsurprisingly, following a familiar internet-stardom path from online sensation to print and now the big screen. Neither Slate and Fleischer-Camp's faded love nor their joint project's history are ignored by their footwear-sporting seashell's cinematic debut, either; in fact, acknowledging both, whether subtly or overtly, is one of the things that makes this sweet, endearing, happily silly, often hilarious and deeply insightful movie such an all-round gem. That inside jest? A voice put on by Slate, which became the one-inch-high anthropomorphic Marcel's charming vocals. In Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's initial mockumentary clips, the tiny critter chats to an unseen filmmaker chronicling his life, with earnestness dripping from every word. ("My name is Marcel and I'm partially a shell, as you can see on my body, but I also have shoes and a face. So I like that about myself, and I like myself and I have a lot of other great qualities as well," he advises in his self-introduction.) The same approach, tone and voice sits at the heart of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's feature-length leap, of course, but so does a touching meditation upon loss, change and valuing what's truly important. Fleischer-Camp plays the movie's documentarian, mostly off-camera, who meets Marcel and his grandmother (voiced by Isabella Rossellini, Julia) after moving into an Airbnb following a relationship breakup — and, yes, their work together becomes a viral phenomenon. With Fleischer-Camp directing IRL, plus co-penning the warmhearted script with Slate and Nick Paley (who has helmed episodes of Broad City and Inside Amy Schumer), Marcel the Shell with Shoes On spends its opening third initiating viewers into its namesake's world. Clever sight gags abound — inventive uses of everyday objects, too, with honey helping Marcel walk on walls, sneakers (not Marcel's) forming part of ziplines and a tennis ball repurposed as a mollusk-appropriate car. As rendered with a combination of stop-motion animation and live-action, the film's central setting is a delight of details, and each item that's essential to Marcel and Nanna Connie's lives says plenty about them. Theirs is a modest but resourceful and curious existence, and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's production design screams its love for that combination even when no one is speaking. Here, the movie's main figure plays tour guide, as he did in the shorts, outlining how everything operates. Dean records and asks questions, paying Marcel more attention than any of the abode's previous guests ever have. But melancholy underscores the shell's every response, with Marcel and the ageing Connie missing the rest of their family thanks to their home's owners' (Undone's Rosa Salazar and Halloween Kills' Thomas Mann) own split (aka the reason the house is an Airbnb to begin with, bringing Dean to their door). From there, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On sends its characters, human and talking, walking, kicks-adorned shells alike, on a quest to reunite Marcel and Connie with their lost relatives. That's the narrative arc, but Fleischer-Camp, Slate and Paley also keenly understand the need to accept the ebbs and flows that simply living brings everyone's way, even as their film scurries in eager search of a happy ending. The delights are in the details everywhere that Marcel the Shell with Shoes On looks, including in its slicker but still low-key visuals. A handcrafted appearance, from Marcel's single googly eye through to cinematographers Eric Adkins (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Bianca Cline's (Belly of the Beast) keen use of perspective, couldn't be more crucial to the movie's cosy allure — and those careful and caring images do feel lived-in. This is a movie about coping with seismic shifts to one's comfortable status quo, too, so the snug, homely sheen assists in communicating why Marcel isn't so fond of change. He wants to see his family again. He's interested in the world around him. He's set in his busy daily routine. And he's worried about the ailing Nanna Connie, who tends to her window garden, adores the US version of 60 Minutes and its veteran host Lesley Stahl, and has an accent explained by being from the distant location that is the garage. Marcel really just wants what we all yearn for, though: happiness we've known and lost. Ensuring that family-friendly animation is genuinely adult-friendly is a rarer skill than it might seem; just because all-ages-courting flicks reach screens with frequency, that doesn't mean they all keep both older and younger viewers equally engaged. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On has the kid-centric cuteness down pat inherently — just look at Marcel, as millions have since those first shorts — but its mature and layered storyline is just as much of a wonder for everyone else. While the picture's midsection savvily and amusingly skewers internet attention, aka the type that's followed this seashell for more than a decade (and Slate's career as well), getting the room to create something this thoughtful out of a viral hit is one of its spoils in this specific instance. Slate and Fleischer-Camp have channelled their inner Marcel, clearly, making the most of the situation and its ups and downs — and making a soul-refreshing marvel. Don't be suspicious: an online-famous critter that sprang from an in-joke about a funny voice has indeed sparked this sincere and soothing — and impressively, intelligently meta — film. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's achievements are many, including offering a far cheerier alternative to Barbarian when it comes to folks unexpectedly sharing the same Airbnb, but its biggest might be its deceptive simplicity. Yes, it's a movie about a chattering shell dressed in footwear. Yes, it knows what worked in Marcel's early screen appearances and doesn't shy away from it. Fleshing all of that out to feature length proves just like putting your ear up to a seashell here: you can see and hear the world in this delicate, tender and disarmingly beautiful film. You can also listen to the iconic and inimitable Rossellini serve up a rich, smooth and enchanting vocal effort with an impeccable sense of comic timing, which is exactly the kind of treat that Marcel would want everyone to revel in.
It seems that wherever this man lands, the crowds come a-flocking. Restaurateur Paul Limberios (of city dining destination Sparrow & Finch) has spread his wings (pardon the pun) and opened two more spaces just up the road — Toobirds Bistro & Bar and Toobirds Espresso & Eats. The latter is a grab-n-go concept with long glass cabinet filled with freshly prepared gourmet goodies. With salads priced at $10 (think felafel with Roma tomato, Lebanese cucumber, diced onion and sweet chilli mayo or a light and fresh beef strip salad with carrot julienne, bean sprouts, cucumber, mint, coriander, vermicelli noodles and peanuts) and rolls and sandwiches at $9 (hello Moroccan lamb with blanched kale, white onion rings, sliced roast lamb, diced tomato, baked herb ricotta, grilled zucchini and eggplant with tahini!) it’s the perfect stop en route to work or during the lunch-hour rush. The bistro, on the other hand, has been designed with the working lunch or business meeting in mind. With a clean, modern interior, diners can choose to sit up at the high bar tables along the open window or sit darker hued restaurant area where large palm fronds can shield a sneaky bottle of wine during the lunchtime graze. The food proposition is simple – hearty fare served quickly followed by a lovely cup of Allpress Espresso coffee ($3.50). The cuisine is modern Australian with a Mediterranean edge — think quinoa porridge and poached fruit ($8.5) or jamon and poached eggs with cherry tomato salsa, basil pesto, charred asparagus and virgin olive oil ($18) — while lunch and dinner feature plates of crispy flathead burgers ($18), beef scallopine ($29), fresh QLD crab spaghetti ($23) and tuna nicoise ($17). Alternatively, choose to nibble on share plates of fior di latte arancini with spicy arrabbiata sauce ($12), grilled haloumi with salsa verde ($9) or warm olive bread with dukkah ($10). The wine list is fairly comprehensive, with Australian drops dominating the list, followed by Spanish and Argentinian varieties. If vino isn't your thing, they also have a good selection of cocktails starting at $10. The verdict? Good food, good location and good service = bird in hand.
UPDATE, January 25, 2022: The Long Sunset has been postponed from Saturday, February 12 to Saturday, April 30 "with the safety of staff, artists, punters and the wider music community in mind". This article has been updated to reflect that change. It's just been named one of the best places in the world to visit in 2022, and it's about to give you another reason to stop by. That'd be southeast Queensland's Scenic Rim region, which will play host to the state's newest music event early next year: The Long Sunset. On Saturday, April 30, the music and camping festival will sprawl across Elysian Fields in Canungra — and it'll make the most of its almost 500-acre location. Listening to live tunes may be the main drawcard, as well as bunking down for the night afterwards, but this fest will also fill its sprawling venue with other highlights. Think: cocktail bars, pop-up art galleries celebrating local artists and artisans, and a range of homegrown food highlights. The full event rundown hasn't been revealed as yet, but one key thing has been announced: The Long Sunset's headliners. Angus and Julia Stone will do their first Queensland gig together since 2018, with Brisbane's own Ball Park Music also taking to the stage. Byron Bay's Babe Rainbow is on the bill as well, alongside Jack Gray, Clea, Asha Jeffries, Sofia Isella and Cheek2Cheek. The fest will be an all-ages affair — organisers have used the word "wholesome" to describe it — and it's also aiming to entice visitors to check out the rest of the Scenic Rim while they're there. And yes, as the name suggests, you can expect quite the dazzling display as day turns to night — with sunset at Elysian Fields seeing beams of light flicker over from the region's surrounding mountain ranges. If you're keen, ticket pre-sales will be available from 8am on Monday, November 8, before general sales start at 9am on Tuesday, November 9.
First, it teamed up with Belles Hot Chicken to bring you this indulgent Malaysian twist on a fried chicken sando. Now, PappaRich has its eyes set on burgers. After a sneaky trial in Sydney stores last year, the Malaysian hawker chain has rolled out a nasi lamek burger across Australia — at all of its 29 stores. The burger takes the typical accompaniments in this Malaysian rice dish and sandwiches them all between two pillowy brioche buns. There are layers of crispy Malay fried chicken, spicy sambal, peanuts and anchovies, all topped with cucumber and a fried egg. As a side? Expect PappaRich's deep-fried chicken skin instead of fries, of course. On offer for lunch and dinner throughout July and August, it'll cost you $14.90 all up, which we reckon will be worth every penny. If you're in Sydney, you can grab one in Bankstown or on your lunch break at the express outlet inside Westfield in the city; in Melbourne, pop by Chadstone, Southern Cross or QV; and PappaRich in Wintergarden and Coorparoo Square will be selling them in Brisbane. There are a heap more locations though, so check the website if you're looking for one closer to you. The nasi lamek burger will be available for lunch and dinner from July 1 until the end of August at PappaRich locations across the country. Updated: July 26, 2019.
Once, getting festive in Brisbane didn't involve taking to the greens to putt your way through Christmas trees, decorations and all things seasonal under twinkling lights. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case in the River City now for years. When the end of the year hits, Victoria Park's mini-golf course marks the occasion in the possible best way: by giving itself a jolly makeover. Now that Victoria Park's Halloween course has been and gone for 2024, festive cheer, bells, bows and more are taking its place from Friday, November 8, 2024–Thursday, January 2, 2025. The seasonal makeover will deck the greens with merriment all round, which usually means baubles, lights, mistletoe, foliage both green and white, and more. This is the excuse that you need to swap the backyard cricket for 18 holes this summer — and to battle your loved ones for supremacy in a different kind of sport when the holidays hit. In past years, the course has also sported holly, giant candy canes, gingerbread houses, elves, toy soldiers, polar bears, snow men and everything else festive that it can think of. Reindeers and Santa are usually involved, too, and different sections of the 18-hole site tend to be designed around ideas like Chrissy Down Under, Santa's mailroom and Christmas morning — plus there's even been a festive feast fairway, The North Pole and a 'deck the halls' hole. Find out whether you're naughty or nice while swinging a club from 6am–10pm Sunday–Thursday and 6am–11pm Friday–Saturday — which means that you can stop by on your way to work, during your lunch break or after quittin' time as well. If you drop by post-6pm, you'll take to the green beneath Christmas lights, naturally. If vying for mini-golf glory while getting merry also feels like an occasion for a beverage, boozy tequila slushies will be on offer. Also, the course lets you order drinks and snacks as you play. Christmas Putt Putt takes over the Victoria Park Putt Putt Course at 309 Herston Road, Herston from Friday, November 8, 2024–Thursday, January 2, 2024, operating 6am–10pm Sunday–Thursday and 6am–11pm Friday–Saturday — with tickets costing $23 for adults. For more information, head to the venue's website. Images: Stephanie Adams Photography.
Is there any activity that KFC doesn't think could be improved by fried chicken? Given that the fast-food chain has put on weddings, opened a pop-up nightclub, held a music festival and hosted an 11-course degustation, there clearly isn't. The next to join the list is holidays. Even better, the chook-slinging brand is serving up free holidays. Always wanted to know what KFC dishes up in other countries? Now you can head there to find out on the brand's dime. KFC is calling its giveaway Kentucky Fly Chicken, naturally. Is Kentucky on the destination list? That hasn't been revealed, because exactly where you could be spending time is being kept a surprise. The promotion starts on Tuesday, February 20, runs through to Monday, March 18, and includes giving away trips over four weeks. Each week's winner scores a jaunt to somewhere around the world were fried chicken is definitely on the menu, of course. To enter, you do indeed need to buy some KFC first. Wannabe travellers can hit up the KFC app, then look for the international products among the usual range. They'll stand out in terms of what they're dishing up, but they're hidden. Locate them, spend at least $1 on an order, then cross your chicken-loving fingers that you emerge victorious in the winners' draw. Whatever the special meal is that you're looking for on the app, the nation that it's from is where you'll be flying to if your name is picked. And while there's only four trips on offer now, the campaign unofficially started with a fifth getaway which has already been won. It was to Tokyo, and involved spotting the wafu cutlet burger on the Aussie app, then jetting to Japan to try it in-person. The four folks who receive the rest of the prize getaways will get business-class flights, four-star accommodation, plus $6000 in total in cultural experiences and spending money while you're there. KFC is calling the promotion a travel service, because arranging your itinerary is covered. Depending on the destination, this might be an excuse to break out your KFC sweater — or your bucket hat from the chain's 2023 couture line. To enter the Kentucky Fly Chicken promotion, head to the KFC app between Tuesday, February 20–Monday, March 18, look for the international products among the menu and spend at least $1 on an order. Visit the KFC website for more details.
Trying to pick where to eat in Brisbane in March? No matter which reason has you out of the house and looking for a bite, a trip to Bowen Hills means feasting your way through Eat Like a King. All month long, King Street's restaurants are doing specials, whether you're hankering for a burger, a heap of chicken, tacos, pizza, crab claws, a toastie or a Vietnamese feast. 2025's offerings are split into three sections: snack, feast and indulge. Only the first two will take care of your tastebuds, but dinnerware from Artisan, hitting the gym, adding to your wardrobe and styling your tresses are options among the latter deals. Back to the food: the snack specials include burger joint Super Combo slinging an $18 burger-and-shake duo, Winghaus going with $32 snack platters, PJ's Steaks serving up cheesesteak rice bowls for $9.90 and The Gourmet Press pairing premium toasties with a small coffee for $12. Or, from the feasts, $69 gets you tucking into all-you-can-eat tacos at El Camino Cantina, and washing them down with cocktails from a marg tower; an hour of unlimited chicken is waiting at 3 Bros for $26.90; Xin Chao's Vietnamese spread with spring rolls, pork belly bao, a choice of chicken or beef pho, and either a beer or a glass of wine is $40; and Six Acres has a four-course degustation for just $95, or $105 with dessert. You can also choose from a pizza or a pasta with either a house red, white or spritz for $35 at Il Verde, head back to Six Acres for a $30 breakfast buffet from 6.30–10.30am daily, and hit Bar Gusto for a $20 pizza or pasta between 12–6pm Tuesday-Saturday. Prefer crab claws, tacos and loaded fries, together at last? Claw BBQ is your go-to — and you'll pay $39.
Already one of the most scenic areas in Australia, the Whitsundays is giving visitors something else to look at: an installation of underwater and inter-tidal art. As part of the Whitsundays Reef Recovery and Public Art Project, six artists have created six artworks that sit beneath the sea, with the first four sculptures now in place. If you're heading to Blue Pearl Bay, Manta Ray Bay or Langford Spit, you can now check out the new attractions, as created by artists Brian Robinson, Col Henry and Adriaan Vanderlugt. Set up on Manta Ray Bay, Robinson's Migration of the Mantas is made from concrete and stainless steel, spans four metres by six metres and depicts six large manta rays, while Henry's Turtle Dream fashions a hawksbill turtle out of 15 tonnes of stainless steel at Langford Spit. As for Vanderlugt, he has two pieces in place: Maori Wrasse, which towers nearly four metres high in Blue Pearl Bay, and Manta Ray in Manta Ray Bay featuring indigenous markings from the Ngaro people, the Whitsundays' traditional owners. They'll soon be joined by another sculpture from Robinson, called Bywa, with the intertidal piece retelling a Dreamtime story about the reef, creation and marine life. It'll be put in place in Horseshoe Bay in Bowen later this month. Completing the set is a collaboration by Caitlin Reilly, Jessa Lloyd and Kate Ford, from the Arts Based Collective. Dubbed Anthozoa and headed to Blue Pearl Bay by late September, it "not only performs aesthetically in its sculptural form, but importantly doubles as a site for reef restoration," Lloyd explained when their piece was commissioned last year. "As the underwater form matures, visitors snorkelling and diving the site will see a sculpture festooned with a myriad of coral species, tentacles encrusted with soft and hard corals, marine animals sheltering in and peeking from small holes." [caption id="attachment_631230" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Lauren Vadnjal[/caption] Selected from 73 expressions of interest, the sculptures all sit in spots accessible to snorkelers and scuba divers — should you need something else to look at, other than marine life, on your next underwater adventure. Other than celebrating creativity, the Whitsundays Reef Recovery and Public Art Project aims give the region a new attraction, unsurprisingly. "This artwork will provide a new experience for people travelling to the Whitsundays and will help the marine tourism industry recover after Cyclone Debbie," said Queensland Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones in a statement in 2018. "Around the world — from the Caribbean, to the Maldives, Spain, Bali and Australia's west coast — underwater art has been used to lure visitors." Top image: Tourism and Events Queensland.
New year, new summer sandwiches. That's the vibe at much-loved Japanese chain Motto Motto, as the crew has revealed its new Sando Sets made for the warm weather and on-court tennis action. Available for the special price of $15 from Saturday, January 10–Sunday, January 11, smash an elevated milk-bread creation, paired with signature Japanese seaweed-salt fries. Three exclusive options make up the Sando Sets, including a new-and-improved version of Motto Motto's chicken katsu order. Expect golden panko-crumbed chicken breast topped with creamy kale slaw and tonkatsu sauce. Plus, the orange-yuzu crispy fish is a sweet-and-sour delight, served with heaps of kale slaw and a slice of lemon. Finally, sando lovers can wrap their hands around the curry prawn sandwich. Here, five juicy prawns are smothered in rich Japanese curry and kale slaw, offering a comforting combination of spice and crunch bound to ace your next summer lunch. Yet the new menu also features two more stars ready to win over your taste buds. Those are Motto Motto's existing summer exclusives, giving you five tasty options to munch on. Get stuck into the tuna avo, a fan-favourite featuring creamy tuna, Japanese mayo, cucumber salad and sliced avo. Meanwhile, the double egg sando tops a silky egg salad with a soft-boiled number, ensuring harmonious flavour and texture.
Walk into Melbourne's Napier Quarter, and you'll smell the aroma of coffee. Just don't expect to leave with a cup in your hand. The Fitzroy cafe is doing something that might seem at odds with today's always-caffeinated, always-on-the-go culture: it's phasing out takeaway coffees. There are two reasons for the Napier Street hangout's decision, and the first is exactly what you'd expect. At a time when reusable and recyclable takeaway cups are gaining prominence — including a world-first reusable cup made from recycled coffee cups — Napier Quarter is going one step further and eliminating the source of potential waste altogether. https://www.instagram.com/p/BrgCQlWgES7/ As stated in Napier Quarter's December 18 Instagram post, the other reason is all about getting Melburnians to slow down and actually enjoy their chosen brew, rather than drink it in a hurry. That queue of people usually hovering around any cafe counter, waiting for their orders so that they can walk straight out the door? Soon, you won't find that here. Napier Quarter also announced that you'll now be able to enjoy a flat white in-house for $3.50. Find Napier Quarter at 359 Napier Street, Fitzroy. Image: Brook James. Updated: December 20, 2019.
When the National Gallery of Victoria dedicates its blockbuster summer or winter exhibitions to big fashion names, one word usually applies no matter which designer is in the spotlight: stunning. It was true back in 2022 when the Melbourne venue turned its focus to Alexander McQueen, for instance, and also in 2021 when it did the same with Gabrielle Chanel. Expect the same across the summer of 2025–26 — it's Vivienne Westwood's time to shine, plus Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garçons' moment as well. Displaying at NGV International across Sunday, December 7, 2025–Sunday, April 19, 2026, Westwood | Kawakubo is both an Australian and a world first, pairing pieces by both the British talent and the Japanese designer in one massive showcase. No matter which of the duo's works you're looking at, you'll be revelling in rule-breaking, status quo-subverting threads. Some helped define the fashion of the punk movement in the 70s. Others have earned the world's attention at the Met Gala. In-between, items donned by supermodels, seen in films and from collections worn by plenty of well-known names feature. [caption id="attachment_1011671" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rhianna wearing Comme des Garçons, Tokyo (fashion house), Rei Kawakubo (designer) at The Met Gala, 2017. Photo © Francois Durand via Getty Images.[/caption] In total, more than 140 designs are gracing the NGV. To assemble such a wide range, the gallery has sourced pieces from New York's Metropolitan Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum, Palais Galliera and the Vivienne Westwood archive, plus its own collection. Over 40 works are new gifts to the gallery from Comme des Garçons especially for Westwood | Kawakubo, as chosen by Kawakubo. Among the full lineup of items: punk ensembles made famous by The Sex Pistols and Siousie Sioux, the wedding gown that Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That...) wore in Sex and the City: The Movie and the tartan dress that Kate Moss stepped into in Westwood's Anglomania collection in the mid 90s — and also a version of Rihanna's petal-heavy 2017 Met Gala outfit, plus pieces from collections that Lady Gaga and Tracee Ellis Ross (Black Mirror) have sported. Westwood | Kawakubo spans from taffeta to tweed, vinyl and leather to silk, and corsetry to ruffles and knitwear, then — and much beyond. The exhibition is designed to step through Westwood and Kawakubo's careers across five thematic strands, including the former's punk-era work and the influence of the movement on the latter, their shared needs to rebel against the norm, how the two women have looked either forward or back in their pieces, eschewing objectification and using fashion to make a statement. [caption id="attachment_1011673" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Vivienne Westwood, London (fashion house), Vivienne Westwood (designer) Look 49, from the Anglomania collection, autumn–winter 1993–94. Le Cercle Républicain, Paris, March 1993. Photo © firstVIEW. Model: Kate Moss.[/caption] Top image: excerpt of Vivienne Westwood, London (fashion house), Vivienne Westwood (designer) Look 49, from the Anglomania collection, autumn–winter 1993–94. Le Cercle Républicain, Paris, March 1993. Photo © firstVIEW. Model: Kate Moss.
Boy, do we have a giveaway for you. To celebrate the release of the stunning new documentary film Dancer, we're giving away a trip for two to Auckland — return flights and accommodation included. When you get to Auckland, you'll also get to see Sergei Polunin, one the world's most gifted ballet dancers, perform a rare, special guest appearance at the Auckland Arts Festival. From Oscar-nominated director Steven Cantor, Dancer takes a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the life of the magnetic bad boy of ballet, Sergei Polunin. He was the youngest principal dancer in the history of London's prestigious Royal Ballet, and he shocked the world by quitting just two years later and giving up dance entirely. If you're unfamiliar with the ballet world, Polunin was the guy that featured in the beautifully dance-heavy video clip for Hozier's song Take Me to Church. Dancer, by Oscar-nominated director Steven Cantor, is set for national release in Australian cinemas on December 1. Enter your details below and you're in the running. [competition]600295[/competition]
Brisbane has already welcomed in 2025, but that's not the only new year that demands celebrating. Before January is out, Lunar New Year will hit, kicking off the Year of the Snake. Fancy marking the occasion with street food in South Brisbane's Fish Lane, a rooftop party in Sunnybank, watching the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens light up, listening to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, dancing to K-pop, giggling to stand-up comedy or enjoying a DJ-spun soundtrack? At BrisAsia Festival, you can. For 13 years now, the River City has commemorated Lunar New Year with a citywide fest, and that isn't changing in 2025. This year's lineup includes 25 events around town, all designed to get you in celebration mode. The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art forms part of 2025's program, if you need another excuse to head to Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art to check it out between now and April, but the bulk of the BrisAsia fun takes place across ten days from Friday, January 31–Sunday, February 9. After debuting in 2024, Asian street festival Lush is back again this year, with Southside Restaurant, Hello Please, Chu the Phat and Bird's Nest set to serve up bites to eat. That's just one of BrisAsia 2025's fests within the broader fest. While the Hội chợ Tết (TET Festival) is taking place in advance, on Friday, January 24, the Vietnamese festivities in Richlands are still included on the lineup. And, Southside by Night is back, once more combining street food with a car meet in Willawong. The Sunnybank Lunar New Year Rooftop Party is always a highlight, showcasing Sunnybank Plaza's eateries, busting out lion and dragon dance performances, and capping the night off with fireworks. Consider it the perfect way to help close out BrisAsia 2025, with the shindig happening on Saturday, February 8. New in 2025 is Lunar New Year in the Gardens at Mt Coot-tha, complete with sitar tunes, martial-arts displays, street food and K-pop. For more of the latter, the Thomas Dixon Centre is hosting a showcase. Other events for your calendar include BrisAsia Stands Up, enlisting Brisbane's Asian Australian comedians; a special presentation at Brisbane Planetarium; Longwang featuring Korean dishes across a Seoul-themed weekend; and Warehouse 25's BEAT STREET party in Milton. Or, albeit just after the fest's official dates — on Sunday, February 16 — you can catch the Singapore Symphony Orchestra at QPAC.
In need of some new procrastination material? Well, you're in luck. Google image search 'Banff' and spend a few minutes (or half an hour) taking in the gorgeous pictures of snow-capped mountains, aqua water and towering pines. It's impossible to not daydream about holidaying somewhere far-flung and exciting while ogling these picture-perfect views, as we're sure you'll agree. Thankfully, you'll have the opportunity to slip into this magical world without ever leaving Brisbane. The River City's Brisbane Powerhouse is hosting Banff Mountain Film Festival's 2025 tour — the event's latest stopover, after beginning back in 1976. Its stunning cinematography attracts film buffs and adventurers alike, making the festival mighty popular across the world today. [caption id="attachment_997959" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pierre Vieira[/caption] Each year, hundreds of films enter the competition with the cream of the crop chosen to entertain and amaze festivalgoers. Some of the featured flicks battled it out in categories including Best Film on Mountain Sport, Best Film on Mountain Environment, Best Film on Mountain Culture, Best Film on Exploration and Adventure, and more. Check out seven of them from Wednesday, May 28–Saturday, May 31 at Brisbane Powerhouse, in a package featuring films about snowboarding on Antarctic icebergs, wingsuit flying in the Swiss Alps, ultra-marathon running, mountain biking in the Dolomites and more. Top images: Christoph Thoresen Ofa / Tamara Susa / Jerome Tanon.
After being unearthed by Triple J just over a year ago, Brisbane locals Ball Park Music have experienced a flurry of successes and are showing no signs of slowing down. Returning home for their most ambitious national tour yet, The 180 Degree Tour finds our creative crew gallivanting across the nation playing their collection of colourful and catchy tracks such as iFly, Sad Rude Future Dude and Rich People Are Stupid from their debut album, Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs. The six piece are notorious for their energetic performances and will be back at the Hi-Fi on March 24. Our local indie sextuple sure are something to be proud of. Having toured with a wide array of acts such as Hungry Kids of Hungary, Boy & Bear, DZ and international giants Radiohead, it's been a fast journey up the road to success. As the band said themselves, they can't wait to make love to their fan's ears. So put on your dancing shoes and join the party.
Reckon your pup gets a bit lonely sometimes? Well, now you can find him a bunch of new mates with just a few swipes of your phone. It's all thanks to a clever new smartphone app, which helps dog owners to connect their pooches with other local doggos and dog communities. Created by Queensland University of Technology business student Josh Fritz — who came up with the app when he moved to Brisbane, adopted a cavoodle called Quincy and wanted to find him some buddies — PatchPets works a little bit like Tinder. Users create a personalised profile for their pup, and then use the app to find and network with other fur parents in their area, based on location. You can scroll through photos of local hounds, check out their details and get in touch with their owners to set up doggy play dates. To keep you informed about your pooch's possible new pal, profiles feature information about which vaccinations each dog has had, whether it's been desexed and what their all-important Instagram handle is. Got a particularly picky pupper? You can even filter the results by dog breed and size. PatchPets also comes loaded with plenty of other nifty features, including a directory that lists pet-friendly businesses nearby, plus real-time dog park maps — allowing you to see when four-legged friends are hanging out at your local park. No more rocking up to the park for a play sesh, only to find there's no one else there. And, you can use the app's message function to join group chats with your dog's new mates. Having launched in May, PatchPets has already clocked up over 5000 users — which means your doggo will be totally spoilt for choice in the friends department. PatchPets is now available to download for free, for both iOS and Android, from the iTunes App Store and Google Play. Images: QUT Media
When the end of July hits, the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games will kick off, with the finest athletes from Commonwealth countries competing to take home shiny medals. That's all well and good and interesting; however, we've found a much cuter display of sportsmanship that's also popping up this July. At 1pm on Thursday, July 21, viewers can watch four adorable guide-dogs-to-be participating in their very own Puppy Games. Yep, that's a thing and we're definitely here for it. If it sounds familiar, that's because it has been held for the past two years, too — but clearly this is the kind of adorable event that needs to be held annually. Once again, the folks at Seeing Eye Dogs have teamed up The Petbarn Foundation to host the canine-centric games — and, this year, with pet food brand Royal Canin as well. The results will be streaming on a device near you via the event's website. No matter where you're located in Australia, it sounds like perfect lunchtime viewing. How do the Puppy Games work, you might be asking? The event will see young trainee guide dogs Sandler, Tambo, Rani and Tom tackle a series of skill-testing challenges, with their every move captured on camera. They'll be helped through their tasks by their trainers — Abi, Jack, Lina and Paige, respectively. Accordingly, you can watch the young pups hurtle through a time trial, take on a 'puppy patience' food bowl challenge and battle it out for glory in the 'dogstacle distraction course'. And they are very much just pups — Tambo and Tom are the youngest at 11 weeks old, while Rani is the comparative veteran of the competitors at 15 weeks old. The project aims to support fundraising efforts for the annual Seeing Eye Dogs Appeal, of course, but also promises a much-needed boost of dopamine and general happy feels all round. Viewers can donate to the cause by hitting the link on the event's website. This year, the appeal is shooting for a goal of $1 million to help cover the costs of breeding, training and caring for at least 20 Seeing Eye Dogs. Can't make Thursday's viewing? Fear not, the full event will be up on YouTube to rewatch any time you need a mood boost. The 2022 Vision Australia Seeing Eye Dogs Puppy Games will stream via the event's website from 1pm on Thursday, July 21.
