When Brisbane favourite Longtime shut up shop, it marked the end of an era. The Ann Street restaurant had only been open since 2014, but the Thai joint had amassed a hefty following. Thankfully, when one door closes, another one opens — in this case, new upscale eatery Same Same from the same crew. The focus on street-inspired Thai cuisine remains the same — think salt and pepper tofu sliders, and whole crispy fish with sweet four chilli dressing — however Same Same has plenty of surprises in store. This isn't just a case of transplanting a successful concept to a new spot and giving it a new name. Other food highlights include grilled scallops lathered in a curry butter, banana blossom salad with fermented shrimp salad and grilled sweet soy chicken. Or, you can pick from five types of curry, featuring the likes of lamb shanks, angus beef cheeks, and Queensland grouper. The Longtime chicken burger has made the jump over, sitting on the bar menu, while the dessert lineup is worth a trip all on its own — with coconut pana cotta, tamarind pudding with butterscotch sauce and condensed milk ice cream ($12), and mango sticky rice with coconut foam and toasted sesmae on offer. Dining with seven or more others? Then you'll need to tuck into the $79 or $120 banquet menu. You'll receive a selection of Same Same's most popular dishes, including some of the aforementioned ones — ranging from snacks and mains through to dessert. Located in the same Ada Lane strip as The Calile — one of the best hotels in Brisbane — its location also makes an imprint, joining the busy James Street precinct. Spread across two levels, it's a place with clean lines, concrete and wicker design flourishes, and, on the ground level, a long bar curving around an open central kitchen. Drinks-wise, expect a heavy focus on riesling, rose and rhone on the 140-bottle wine list, as well as a nice range of natural, organic and biodynamic Aussie drops. Given the restaurant's overall Thai flavour, Thai-inspired cocktails are also a highlight. And, if you're particularly keen on having a few beverages, Same Same's upstairs level is home to dimly lit bar LOS — and more than 110 tequilas. It's open from Thursday to Sunday until late. The team has also opened a collection of other restaurants in Brisbane, including Bianca, Honto and Agnes — if you fall in love with Same Same, perhaps give the rest of these a go as well. Appears in: The Best Restaurants in Brisbane
Among the many great filmmaker-actor pairings that cinema has gifted the world, Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jordan have spent more than a decade cementing their spot on the list. It was back in 2013 that the two first joined forces, one for his feature directorial debut and the other for his first lead film role, on Fruitvale Station. Each time that a new Coogler movie has arrived since, including 2015's Creed, then 2018's Black Panther and its 2022 sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Jordan (Creed III) has been a key part — and after playing Oscar Grant, Adonis Johnson and Killmonger for his go-to helmer, Jordan is at the heart of 2025's Sinners, too. Five pictures into their collaboration now, how does Coogler manage to double down on working with Jordan? Literally, actually. This time, in the director's first horror film, he has cast his favourite actor in two roles. Sinners focuses on brothers — twins, in fact, called Elijah and Elias — who find more than familiar faces awaiting when they try to start afresh upon returning to their home town. They also find much greater troubles than have been haunting them in their lives elsewhere. This is a movie set in America's south in the Jim Crow-era, as well as a film where being able to enjoy blues music at their local bar is a welcome escape for Sinners' Black characters. But as the just-released second trailer for the feature makes clear, there's more than a touch of the supernatural to Coogler's new flick. Yes, things get bloody. Cast-wise, the movie also gets stacked, with Hailee Steinfeld (The Marvels), Wunmi Mosaku (Loki), Delroy Lindo (Unprisoned), Jack O'Connell (Back to Black), Jayme Lawson (The Penguin) and Omar Benson Miller (True Lies) co-starring. Sinners marks the first time that Coogler hasn't either explored a true story, jumped into an existing franchise or brought an already-known character to the screen — and alongside him working with an original tale, he's also telling a personal one. Inspiration came from members of his family, including for the film's setting and pivotal use of music. But Coogler also considers every feature that he's made to be personal. Asked at a press Q&A about the movie and its new trailer if this tops the list in that regard, he advises that "it's interesting because at each point in my life, that statement has been correct — but never like this one". [caption id="attachment_988567" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] "I don't want to give all of this away, but each time I make something — and none of the films that I worked on have had the horror or the thriller element like this one has — but each time I'm conquering a fear, a personal fear of mine, and this one is no different," Coogler also shared. For Sinners, Jordan isn't the writer/director's only returning collaborator. For a picture that's partly shot on IMAX — "I got to get some advice from Chris and Emma, who are masters of the form," Coogler offered, speaking about Christopher Nolan and his producer and wife Emma Thomas — he also reteamed with pivotal talents behind the lens. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw (The Last Showgirl), production designer Hannah Beachler (Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé), editor Michael P Shawver (Abigail), composer Ludwig Göransson (Oppenheimer) and costume designer Ruth E Carter (Coming 2 America) each return from either Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or both — some, such as Göransson and Carter, with Oscars for their past efforts working with Coogler. The filmmaker also chatted about his clearly rewarding creative partnership with Jordan, Sinners' origins, its mix of genres and supernatural elements, and his aim with using large-format visuals — plus how Stephen King's Salem's Lot proved pivotal, the eeriness of twins, why making movies is a form of catharsis for him and more. On Making Five Films Now with Michael B Jordan — and How Their Collaboration Pushes Coogler Creatively "It's incredible. With Mike, he was a working actor when I met him. He had been on some incredible television shows, basically been a professional actor since he was a school-aged kid, but he hadn't had a feature-length role where he was the lead just yet. So when we worked together on Fruitvale, that was his first time in a lead role in a movie, and it was my first time making a movie — so in many ways, we've grown up together in the industry, in these situations. I've definitely found a kindred spirit in him. He's somebody who's incredibly gifted. In some ways, it's god-given: his charisma, his ability to channel empathy without even trying. But the other facets are the things under his control: his work ethic, his dedication to the craft. And the other thing is his constant desire to want to push himself, to increase his capacity, to continue to stretch. Having both those things rolled up into one, and being somebody who's around the same age, we became work friends and eventually have become like family since. It's an incredible gift to have somebody like that, who you can call up and say 'hey, I've got a new one for you, what do you think?'. And I know he is always trying to look for new challenges constantly. He doesn't want to rest on his on his laurels. And I thought that this role would be something where we could challenge each other." On Injecting Personal Elements Into Coogler's First Horror Film "Each time I've made a film, it's become more and more personal. With this one, I was really digging into two relationships. One with my maternal grandfather, who I never met, he died about a year before I was born — but he was from Merrill, Mississippi, and eventually moved to Oakland, married my grandmother, and actually built the house that our whole family was based out of in Oakland. And I had an uncle named Uncle James who I came up with my whole life, he actually passed away while I was in post-production on Creed, and he was from another town in Mississippi — and he wouldn't really talk about Mississippi unless he was listening to the blues, unless he had a little sip of old Italian whisky, then he would reminisce. And I miss him profoundly. With this film, I got a chance to dig into my own ancestral history here in the States — not dissimilar to what I was doing with the Panther films, like that generational ancestral history, this is right there for me. And I had a chance to really go to the south and scout and think. And the film is about the music that was so special to my to my uncle — and I couldn't be happier with the film that we'll be able to show you guys in a few months." On the Movie's Supernatural Aspects "The film is very genre-fluid. It switches in and out of a lot of different genres. Yes, vampires are an element of the movie. But that's not the only element. It's not the only supernatural element. The film is about more than just that, and I think it's going to surprise folks in a good way. My favourite films in the in the genre, you could take the supernatural element out and the films would still work — but the supernatural element actually helps to heighten it, helps to elevate it. So I was aspiring to make something in that in that tradition. And the film has elements of all of the things that I that I love. It's really a personal love letter for me to cinema, to the art form, specifically the theatrical experience. It's interesting working in a post-COVID time, when everybody was sequestered — and I know I found myself missing that experience of experiencing things in a room with folks I didn't know, but still reacting in the same way, or maybe reacting in different ways and getting to enjoy that. The film is meant to be seen in that capacity." On Using Large-Format Visuals, Such as Shooting in IMAX, to Draw Audiences In "The whole effort was for the experience to be immersive. We wanted to let folks experience this world. And for me, it's the world that my grandparents were a part of. It's the world that they came up in. And it's a time that's often overlooked in American history, specifically for Black folks, because it was a time associated with a lot of things that maybe we're ashamed to talk about — but I got to talk to my have conversation with my grandmother, who's nearly 100 years old, and do some really heavy research, and it was exciting. To bring that time period to life with the celluloid format that was around then, but with the technological advancements that IMAX can provide, it's really exciting — really exciting." On How a Stephen King-Penned Vampire Novel Proved an Influence "A big inspiration for the film is a novel called Salem's Lot, and in the novel — it's been adapted quite a few times and in some really cool ways, but what's great about that novel is when Stephen King talks about it, for him it was Peyton Place, which is another novel, meets Dracula. What happens when a town that's got a lot of its own issues, a lot of interesting characters, meets up with a mythological force of nature and it starts to influence the town? So that idea for me was a great way to explore some of the real things in this place that my grandparents and uncles who influenced my life came from — but also that a lot of American pop culture came from, right there. One of the things we explore in the film is blues music and blues culture, and that became so many other things that affect what we do today. So it was great to be able to explore that. And that music has a has a very close relationship with the macabre, so to speak, with the supernatural. You hear stories about Tommy Johnson and Robert Johnson selling that souls to be able to play the guitar the way they do — the deals being struck. It was called the devil's music — and the dichotomy of these incredible singers, even still to this day, they learned how to make music in the church, but yet they chose to make music that maybe was frowned upon." On the Catharsis of Making Movies for Coogler "I'm blessed to have been able to have found this medium. I found it out by accident. But where I can work out deep, philosophical, existential questions that I may be struggling with, I get to work them out while contributing to an artform that that means so much to me and my family. Watching movies for us was a pastime, and it was a way to connect, it was how we travelled. So I feel like the luckiest person on the planet — but yeah, it is a form of therapy. Each film brings me closer to understanding myself and the world around me, I think." On Jordan Portraying Twins — and Why Twins Feel Supernatural "These are guys who there's nothing supernatural about them outside of them being identical twins. Now, when you dig into the research on twins, it is pretty strange. We still don't totally understand how we have specific identical twins, because it's not something that can be inherited. It's an anomaly. What we did on this was I hired a couple friends of mine who are filmmakers, Noah and Logan Miller — we hired them as twin consultants. They're about the same age as me and Mike, and they were able to talk to Mike and myself while we were working on the script, and he was working on prepping the characters, on what it is like to have an identical twin. Some of that work was just fascinating — like this idea of ever since you achieved consciousness, there was another version of you, right there, right there in front of you, sharing space. And how they see the world — how they see the world as 'us versus everybody else'. The other aspect of it is the fact that they're not totally different. They're actually are quite alike. They're different in subtle ways that Mike found. But it's an absolutely brilliant performance — both performances. I can't wait for folks to see him. It's Mike unlike I've ever seen him before, and I know him pretty well." On Why the Time Was Right for Coogler to Tell an Original Story "I think in terms of timing — and timing is everything, it can really make or break a project, now more than ever. But for me, in being a writer/director, the timing first has to start with me. And it felt like I was at a point in my life where I did want to try to do something original. And I realised I had been working on things that were based on pre-existing things, maybe a real-life situation, maybe a pre-existing franchise and cinema, a pre-existing comic-book franchise, and so I felt the itch to want to try. I could kind of feel like the kids are growing up, I'm getting older, I can feel time on my on my backside. So it turned out to be the perfect timing for me, personally. And at terms of looking around at the world and where we are, those two things seem to be lining up. But at the same time, you don't have any control over that one. You've got to kind of start with yourself. Even then, I did want to still play with archetypes. I guess it's original, but I'm dealing with a lot of archetypes — not just a vampire, but the supernaturally gifted musician, the twins. When I was coming up, every neighbourhood would have those twins who were well-known, sometimes notorious, just had a reputation as local celebrities. That idea is something that we're exploring in this, and a lot of other ideas. So I'm still digging into pre-existing things and culture as best I can, but synthesising them through my own personal lens." Sinners releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
Don't go asking for a cuppa at Paddington's new hangout. Despite its name, King Tea is all about tapas, not warm brews. Inside the dining hall-like space, visitors will find classic snacking dishes and Spanish wines — and, thanks to its moniker, a dose of local history. The latest venture from co-owner Dane Huitfeldt, also known for Remy's and Hai Hai Ramen, King Tea references a popular Queensland tea brand that was once advertised all over Brisbane. In fact, one of its signs once adorned the space above 100 Latrobe Terrace, which was then a tea and tobacco bar near the tram depot. Accordingly, when it came to opening a new place at the site, the label struck a chord. "We just liked the idea of a name that didn't try to reflect a particular style of venue and was also a nod to the history of the building, and the local area in general," he explains. Huitfeldt hopes King Tea will remain a social space in its new iteration. "It's intended to be as comfortable for groups having a large shared meal as it would be for a couple of people having a quick drink and bite on the way home," he says. Currently open evenings from Wednesday to Sunday, the bar is still a work in progress, with the rear of the building still being completed, and plans in the works for the shared laneway with Hai Hai Ramen. In the interim, eager diners can expect made-to-share servings of croquettes and other tapas staples, as well as a free snack happy hour from 5–6pm every Friday afternoon. Nodding to its Spanish influences, it's the nibbles that are on offer for nothing. Free tapas while you drink Spanish wine — a pretty great incentive to check out the Latrobe newcomer. Find King Tea at 100 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington. Check out their website and Facebook page for further information.
For every series of dime-a-dozen ladies boutiques there's a trailblazer or two at the front of the pack, and while Brisbane may still have a lingering reputation as a big country town, the local fashion scene is nipping at the heels of its southern neighbours. Whether it's uber-talented Australian designers or enlightened buyers helming these boutiques, their wares will have you headlining your own catwalk show in no time. Blonde Venus Blonde Venus has honed its reputation for cutting edge fashion for over 20 years, and isn't stopping any time soon. Stocking innovative designs in clothing, shoes and accessories from the likes of Karen Walker, Provensen, Lover and Antipodium, Blonde Venus is a must-see for every Brisbane fashionista. 707 Ann Street, Fortitude Valley 4006; www.blondevenus.com.au Maiocchi These charming dresses, designed and manufactured here in Brisbane, will flatter the figure and warm the heart with their handmade detailing and creative touches. With stores now also open in Paddington and the CBD, this quirky company has taken Brisbane by storm. 715 Ann St, Fortitude Valley 4006; www.maiocchi.com.au Haut Boheme The brainchild of designer Chantelle Cox, Haut Boheme focuses on unique styling and bucking the trends. Clean lines, a neutral palette and extravagant accessories reign supreme in this cosy Winn Lane store. 5C Winn St, Fortitude Valley 4006; www.thehautboheme.tumblr.com Side Street Home to one of Brisbane's best $20 racks, Side Street stocks a wide range of pieces to suit any occasion (and budget), from casual maxi dresses to fabulous kaftans and evening gowns. You're bound to find something just perfect for your own wardrobe. 1/237 Given Tce, Paddington 4064; www.sidestreet.com.au Jules & Roc Manning Cartel, Natasha Gan, Life With Bird, Alice McCall — Jules and Roc showcases some of Australia's brightest design talent. Also stocking shoes and accessories, the in-house stylists will make sure you never leave the house looking less than perfect. Shop 12, 65 James Street, Fortitude Valley 4006; www.julesroc.com.au The Soot. Concept Store The Soot. Concept Store stocks its own Brisbane-based label, Soot, as well as the wares of other local designers, including Ash to Gold. The bright palette and unique pieces will have you lingering for far longer than your wallet would like. Shop 7, 65 James Street, Fortitude Valley 4006; www.soot.com.au Fallow You could walk past the entrance to Fallow a million times without noticing. Do keep an eye out though, because this darkly inviting boutique is packed with avant-garde clothing and accessories from both Australian and international designers with a nose for the more curious things in life. 1, 354 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley 4006; www.fallow.com.au
Here at Concrete Playground, we're big proponents of the night-time economy. Cities that keep things moving after dark often offer the best in food, beverages and culture. And while Australians are notorious morning people (who love their 8am flat whites), data from Visa has shown that we still find a lot of value in getting out in the evening. The Visa Australia Night-time Economy Index 2025 is a new in-depth analysis measuring data such as spending, vibrancy, venues open and even the number of nightworkers who are boosting the economy after dark. According to the data, Melburnians are getting off the couch the most frequently and spending their hard-earned dollars on bars, restaurants, and late-night feeds. Sydney and its surrounding metro areas also nabbed 12 of the 20 top night-time hotspots, proving that the city is slowly bouncing back from its lockout laws. Of course, it's not exactly surprising that the two most populous East Coast cities are ruling the after-dark economy. However, there are also several regional areas, such as Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, that are tapping their cards once the sun sets. Canberra is also increasing its evening spending, thanks to tourists and the opening of more eateries. To learn more about the future of the night-time economy and what's trending after dark right now, Concrete Playground's Managing Editor, Eliza Campbell and Staff Writer Alec Jones shared their insights. CP: Melbourne was named the number one night-time hotspot in Australia according to data from Visa. Does this surprise you? Eliza: It doesn't surprise me at all. This city has an inherent underground nature that invites you to always be exploring and looking beyond the surface — particularly after dark. And nightlife isn't limited to weekends, either. Between gallery exhibitions, secret music gigs and speakeasy bars, there's something to get lost in at all hours, any day of the week. CP: 12 out of 20 of the night-time hotspots were in Sydney and its metro areas. What's your favourite thing about Sydney after dark? Alec: This began to pick up in late 2023 after we all shook off the last of lockdown fever, but it's that feeling of merriment in the air. It's like static electricity. Walking past busy bars and restaurants in suburbs like Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, and Newtown, hearing the chatter and seeing people share food and drinks with their friends and family, it never fails to make me smile. CP: What's one trend you're seeing emerge in the night-time economy that excites you? Eliza: The resurgence of secret gigs and DJ sets. I love the idea of last-minute announcements to see some of the world's best artists in intimate settings — first-come, first-served. There's less of a distinction between going to a live gig and going to a bar now. We want once-in-a-lifetime cultural experiences that blend seamlessly into the fabric of our city's nightlife, and I'm so here for it. Alec: Venues in Sydney that are really performing are the ones with a loyal audience, but also a hook. Something you can't find anywhere else, whether it's on the menu or just in the space. People aren't going out just to get drunk or have a feed; they're doing it to go to these specific places. [caption id="attachment_885691" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Above Board[/caption] CP: What's your top tip for planning the perfect night out? Eliza: Have a rough outline of the kind of evening you want to have — but leave room for spontaneous adventures. There's nothing worse than not knowing where to go or what to do next, but equally, some of the best nights are all about the memories you make getting from point A to point B. CP: What's a venue or precinct that gets the night-time experience right? Alec: YCK Laneways in the Sydney CBD has actually done a great job of revitalising an area that doesn't really scream "nightlife." The bars in that area are some of the most interesting venues you'll find in the city and are all within walking distance of one another (and your bus or train home). Eliza: One of my favourite Melbourne venues that absolutely nails the night-time experience is Collingwood's Beermash — and its (somewhat secret) adjoining speakeasy bar, Above Board. Beermash spotlights independent craft beer and wine producers and lets you take-away or drink-in at bottleshop prices. Al fresco drinks on the Smith Street terrace can be followed by award-winning cocktails upstairs in what's, in my opinion, one of Melbourne's most unique hidden bars. From casual and fun to cosy and intimate — the perfect evening trajectory. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Beermash (@beermash) [caption id="attachment_1025682" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Hyde Park[/caption] CP: How is nightlife intersecting with other parts of culture (like art, fashion, live music) in interesting ways right now? Eliza: What's interesting about the intersection of nightlife and culture right now is that there's less separation than ever before. With the rise of low- and no-alcohol trends, nightlife in 2025 isn't just about partying or bar-hopping anymore. People still want to experience their city after dark — but that now spans the full spectrum of the arts: galleries and museums staying open late, fashion infiltrating the food and drink scene, and live music spilling out from bandrooms into public (and often free-entry) spaces across the city. CP: Where's your favourite after-dark venue? Eliza: An after-dark venue needs good music, good drinks and just the right amount of grunge. For me, that's Heartbreaker in the CBD. Catch me screaming post-punk revival with a negroni in hand in the early hours of the morning. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Heartbreaker Bar 💔 (@heartbreakerbar) Alec: Crows Nest on the lower North Shore has exploded since the Metro station opened, Parramatta is packed with great venues, and love it or hate it, Bondi continues to be iconic without trying very hard. Ask a local who lives in a different part of Sydney from you and follow their advice. [caption id="attachment_994726" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Carriageworks[/caption] CP: What do you hope to see more of in our after-dark spaces from both venues and councils? Eliza: I'll always scream and shout about supporting the Arts. Free entertainment like live music, performance and exhibitions not only supports our incredible local arts community but also helps people stay connected to the endlessly inspiring, exciting and thought-provoking creative industries — especially in tough political and economic climates. The more we can bring people together, the better. Alec: Regular events like night markets consistently draw big crowds from locals, but what if instead of the same old gozleme and chips-on-a-stick stands, we got famous restaurants from around Sydney to get involved? That'd help connect communities with food and drink they can't usually find on their side of whatever the closest bridge is (we don't cross any of them enough). CP: For people who say, "There's nothing to do after 9pm anymore", what would you tell them? Alec: You're not trying very hard. You can find something really cool if you just look a little bit harder. Eliza: I'd say, "Where are you? Obviously not in Melbourne." Discover the vibe near you. Lead image: FG Trade Latin / Getty
One of Brisbane's historic sites is enjoying a new life. Since 1889, the building at 271 Grey Street in South Brisbane has been a police station, a squatter's den and a Spaghetti House, as well as a Ship Inn and, most recently, Little Big House. In its latest guise, the two-level Queenslander remains a watering hole. It's still benefiting from the significant spruce up that the building received as Little Big House, in fact. But head by now for a drink, a bite or to while away an afternoon doing both and you'll be hitting up a London-inspired gastropub. Alex Derrick has taken over the heritage-listed spot, renamed it The Rose & Crown and gleaned inspiration from more than two decades spent in Britain — including working in pubs, and winning awards for doing so. Drop in for a drink and you can get a brew of cask beer, with The Rose & Crown the only place in Queensland pouring it straight from the cask. In digs decked out by the aforementioned Bella Derrick, an interior stylist — complete with nods to the UK, of course, and a new three-metre olive tree taking pride of place in the garden — you can also sip your way through the 40-selection wine list, which includes pudding wine. Or, there's the pub's house lager, a heap of other beers on tap and by the bottle, two types of spritzes, and classic cocktails such as margaritas and gimlets. The food menu owes a debt to Britain, naturally. Expect to tuck into scotch eggs, homemade steak and ale pies, pork scratchings, grilled sardine and tomato tarts, beer-battered fish with mushy peas, and Cumberland sausages with mashed potato and onion gravy. Every Sunday, roast dinners are available all day — in beef, chicken and nut varieties, complete with Yorkshire puddings — while dessert options span sticky date pudding and treacle tart. The Rose & Crown also hosts a weekly pub quiz. Prefer belting out a tune instead (whether or not it is by a British artist)? Make a date with the karaoke room. Screens around the place show sport, while live music is on the bill. Also, soaking in a London vibe here comes far cheaper than an airfare to the other side of the world. Images: Axis Productions.
When decorations surround you everywhere you look, carols (and Mariah Carey and Wham!) are the standard soundtrack no matter where you happen to be and tinsel keeps glittering in your line of sight, festive season can feel like an all-encompassing maze of merriment. Head to South Bank from mid-December 2024 and you'll experience that sensation at its most literal. In an all-ages-friendly addition to Brisbane CBD's usual end-of-year shenanigans, the riverside precinct is hosting a Christmas maze, where you'll get wandering and get into the spirit of the season all at once. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around town already, but that'll ramp up from Friday, November 22 through till the end of January 2025. Brisbane City's festive fun for this year also features a free light and sound experience at Queen's Wharf, markets, an openair cinema by the water, carols, parades, tiny doors and more, mixing new ways to get jolly with old favourites. With the maze, a variety of experiences will be on offer right up until Friday, January 31, 2025 in South Bank Piazza, changing depending on whether you have kids in tow or are excited about kidulting. While that's a fresh addition to the lineup of Christmas events, South Bank will also welcome back its popular openair Christmas cinema from Saturday, December 14–Sunday, December 22, and its Christmas markets on Little Stanley Street from Friday, December 13–Sunday, December 22. Across Saturday, December 14–Sunday, December 22, the nightly parade will mosey down Little Stanley Street, too, and carols will be sung on South Bank's Riverside Green. Festive-themed performers are set to do the rounds of the precinct as well, photos will be available with Santa and Mrs Claus — by the beach — and there'll also be Christmas workshops for both kids and adults (think: making cookies, wreaths and decorations, for starters). This year's Christmas in Brisbane celebrations will kick off at Roma Street Parkland, however, with the return of The Enchanted Garden with its lights, lasers and soundscape. Before November is out, King George Square's Christmas tree will also be lit. Then, once December kicks in, it's time for the Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols at Riverstage — with a satellite event at Victoria Park / Barrambin — and lights decking out City Hall. The BrisStyle twilight Christmas market is also back. Queen Street Mall's portion of the lineup includes pop-up performances, Uptown's windows will get a makeover for the occasion and, as for the tiny doors, they're all handmade and will be scattered throughout the city from Sunday, December 1–Tuesday, December 24, ready for you to find and marvel at their cuteness. For its first year in existence, Queen's Wharf's contribution to the joy comes courtesy of Sono Lumo — Festive Nights of Sound & Light. Expect an audiovisual show to dazzle the city at dusk across ten nights between Wednesday, December 4–Sunday, December 15 (except for Monday, December 9–Tuesday, December 10), accompanied by DJs and live performances. Brisbane City Council's 2024 Christmas program will take over the Brisbane CBD from Friday, November 22, 2024–Friday, January 31, 2025. Head to the Visit Brisbane website for further details.
Recently, a wave of international hotel chains have been choosing Melbourne as the first spot to drop their luxury accommodations in Australia — Lanson Place and The StandardX. And the latest to join the fold is 1 Hotels, which is preparing to open a luxury hotel at the newly revitalised Northbank Precinct in May 2025. Located right on the Yarra River, the pet-friendly hotel will be home to 277 guest rooms and 114 hotel-branded residences, a slew of drinking and dining destinations, a resident-only rooftop and a lavish day spa. The level-five spa will have a large sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and swimming pool, plus its own gym with in-house trainers. As with 1 Hotels in London, Hollywood and New York, this Melbourne site will include swathes of reclaimed and recycled materials as well as stacks of plants and other natural elements. All in all, you'll find over 2000 plants scattered throughout 1 Hotel Melbourne, plus there'll be direct access to a 3500-square-metre riverside park. This park is part of the new Seafarers Rest precinct, which sits within the broader Northbank Precinct. This oft-forgotten wedge of land between Flinders Street and the river — located opposite Southbank and accessed via the Seafarers Bridge — is preparing for a massive glow-up. And 1 Hotel will be one of its main attractions. 1 Hotel Melbourne is slated to open in May 2025, and will be found at 9 Maritime Place, Melbourne. For more information, you can check out the hotel's website.
It added booze to bowling, turned mini-golf courses into bars, and gave mashing buttons and hitting the arcade an alcohol-fuelled makeover as well. That'd be Funlab — and, if you like indulging your inner kidult over a few drinks, odds are that you've hit up its venues such as Strike, Holey Moley, Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq, and B Lucky and Sons over the past few years. That's the company's remit, after all: taking the kinds of activities that you enjoyed back when you weren't old enough to knock back cocktails, then adding the hard stuff. And, that's exactly what it's doing at Hijinx Hotel, its next venture. No, you can't stay there — but the world-first concept will see you hanging out in a space that's been decked out like a hotel, and then solving mental and physical puzzles as you wander through it. Funlab has dubbed Hijinx Hotel a 'challenge room hotel'. So, each of its 15 rooms will be filled with challenges for you to work through — with points awarded for how well you do within four minutes. Some rooms will see you play Twister or The Floor is Lava. Others will be decked out like the Titanic. There's one called the cereal ball pool room as well, which sounds chaotic. Basically, if you're a bit of a sleuth or you're never known to turn down a dare, you'll be in luck. Set to open in Alexandria in Sydney on June 3, Hijinx Hotel aims to riff on the escape room concept — but serve up fun that's far less stressful. Design-wise, it will look still like a hotel, even if you can't slumber there. There'll be a faux hotel reception and all, and the venue will take its aesthetic cues from the likes of The Grand Budapest Hotel and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Based on the renders so far, there's also a bit of an Overlook Hotel vibe — but sorry, The Shining fans, this new hangout isn't meant to be sinister. And yes, obviously there's a bar. Actually, there'll be three. Exactly what'll be on the menu hasn't yet been revealed, but expect booze and bites to eat. Whether you're a Sydneysider now planning your next stint of kidulting or you live elsewhere and you're making plans for a trip to the Harbour City, Hijinx Hotel visitors will find the venue alongside a huge new Holey Moley that'll feature 27 holes — including some that are ten times the size of those at other spots. And if you're wondering exactly where both newcomers will sit, they're joining the location that currently boasts Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq. Usually, Funlab launches its new concepts in one city, then shares the love across other east coast capitals. So Melburnians and Brisbanites, cross your fingers that Hijinx Hotel will eventually pop up closer to home. Find Hijinx Hotel at 75 O'Riordan Street, Alexandria, Sydney, from June 3 — we'll update you with further details when they're announced. For further information about Funlab, head to the company's website.
As temperatures soar over the summer, it can be hard to keep fit. No matter how early you go, your morning jogs are stifling. You hardly feel like moving. And it's way too hot for your usual weekend hike. More often than not, you'll find that you just want to head indoors and stay cool — but that doesn't mean your workouts need to take a hit. From team sports to solo workouts, there's a tonne of options in Brisbane for keeping fit over the summer. Check out how you can beat the heat with these eight indoor workouts — and not one of them takes place at a traditional gym. URBAN XTREME, HENDRA Bet you didn't know you could go skiing in Brisbane. At Urban Xtreme, you can try your hand at snowboarding or skiing, and brush up on your skills without having to brave the cold or even leaving the city. The slopes features full-length mirrors so you can check out and improve your technique, and its suitable for all levels of experience. As if this isn't enough, Urban Xtreme also features parkour, climbing, a ninja warrior course, trampolining and laser tag. That should just about fill out your summer with midweek active activities. URBAN CLIMB, MILTON, NEWSTEAD AND WEST END Urban Climb has a number of climbing gyms in Brisbane. Milton and Newstead are bouldering-only gyms (short, unroped climbs that don't require a partner), while West End is the flagship location with both roped climbing and bouldering facilities, and heaps of fitness and technique classes. Or mix it up and combine the powerful movements of climbing with the intuitive flow of yoga in a single workout — there are heaps morning and evening yoga classes at West End, and Urban Milton even has a self-serve yoga booth if you can't make the classes. Once you're there, staff will have you sending routes like Alex Honnold in no time. It's an extremely popular climbing gym, so you'll never be in want of a belay partner. STAFFORD SKATE CENTRE, STAFFORD Roller skating is both a charming old-school blast from the past and a novel way to exercise. If it's been a while since you've tied up your skates, head into Stafford Skate Centre for a session on the weekend or a Friday evening. The evening sessions are an especially good option for avoiding the sweltering temperatures — but, whenever you go, the centre's huge fan will be keeping you cool with you skate. If you're serious about getting fancy, the rink also holds learn to skate classes on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings, which means you'll be scooting around South Bank like a pro in no time. So, don your most flamboyant duds and get rolling — admission is only $13. ICEWORLD, ACACIA RIDGE AND BOONDALL When you really need to beat the heat, there's nothing as ice-cold as ice skating. It's fun with friends or a date, but you can also zoom around solo and still have a great time. Iceworld boasts Olympic-sized rinks at both of its locations. And, if you're a little wobbly, classes are available. You can also try your hand at ice hockey, curling, speed skating, synchronised skating, and figure skating. Which is enough to keep anyone occupied all year round. Wear your gloves and a warm coat and, if you really want to pretend it's winter, you can even get a hot chocolate at the cafe afterwards. CRANK INDOOR CLIMBING, MACGREGOR If you're an Australian Ninja Warrior fan, you have to pop into Crank for your next workout. Crank has produced several of the show's top performing ninjas, and you can even get some training from them at Crank's in-house ninja warrior course on Wednesday nights. Crank also boasts a small traditional gym, a parkour gym, as well as yoga classes, a ceiling rope and, of course, climbing and bouldering — so it's really a one-stop shop for anyone into alternative fitness. With huge industrial fans throughout the venue, it's also nice and cool throughout summer. BOUNCE, TINGALPA Trampolining is a high intensity activity and a great choice for ramping up your cardiovascular fitness. It's also a total throwback to your childhood, which is reason enough to hit Bounce for a session the summer. Bounce features several specialised trampolines, so whether you want to jump high, do an obstacle course, shoot hoops or whack people with beams, there's something for you. Even 10-30 minutes of jumping has huge health benefits, so it's a good post-work activity for a quick heart rate lift. SKYZONE, MACGREGOR Having trouble deciding between rock climbing and trampolining? There's no need to at Skyzone in Macgregor. Loosen up with an hour on the tramps, then finish with an hour of concentrated climbing for around $34. The climbing section of the gym is less serious than other climbing gyms and is more about novelty than anything else — you can climb up a giant twisting plant like Jack and the beanstalk, try your hand at a maze climb or compete for glory on a two-person speed climb. It's open until 9pm throughout the week, so you can do an after-work summer session. And if you're on a budget, Skyzone has cheap as chips unlimited trampolining on Monday nights for just $10. ROCKSPORTS INDOOR CLIMBING, FORTITUDE VALLEY Rock climbing is a full-body workout that's becoming more popular by the day — probably because it feels more like play than fitness. And even if you don't have a climbing buddy on-hand, it's suitable for a solo session, too — just ditch the rope for a bouldering pad. Rocksports was Brisbane's first climbing gym and has a chill and welcoming atmosphere — and it offers technical classes and yoga sessions to complement your climb. Once you get good, you also have the option of taking things outdoors with lead climbing trips taught by qualified instructors.
John Malkovich took time off from being John Malkovich to be Everyone Else for a change. Shot by Sandro Miller in Los Angeles, a new series of photographs dubbed Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich recreate some of the most iconic portraits in recent history — from John and Yoko to Che Guevara, Dorothea Lange's Migrant Woman to Andres Serrano's Piss Christ. According to the exhibition statement, Miller decided to undertake the project in 2013, wanting to honour the photographers whose work had inspired him and shaped his career. After selecting thirty five images to recreate, Miller got in touch with his ol' mate Malkovich — who apparently immediately agreed. "John is the most brilliant, prolific person I know," says Miller. "His genius is unparalleled. I can suggest a mood or an idea and within moments, he literally morphs into the character right in front of my eyes. He is so trusting of my work and our process… I'm truly blessed to have him as my friend and collaborator." All at once creepy and genius with Malkovich rocking an excellent Marilyn and a spot-on Dali, the series is actually less about Malkovich than it is an homage to the photographers responsible for the portraits themselves: Dianne Arbus, Annie Leibovitz, Art Shay, Dorothea Lange, Alberto Korda. That being said, it's supremely satisfying to see Malkovich in dress-up like this — his Jack Nicholson and Albert Einstein are top notch. Sandro Miller, Albert Watson / Alfred Hitchcock with Goose (1973), 2014 Sandro Miller, Philippe Halsman / Salvador Dalí (1954), 2014 Sandro Miller, Alberto Korda / Che Guevara (1960), 2014 Sandro Miller, Andy Warhol / Green Marilyn (1962), 2014 Sandro Miller, Andy Warhol / Self Portrait (Fright Wig) (1986), 2014 Sandro Miller, Annie Leibovitz / John Lennon and Yoko Ono (1980), 2014 Sandro Miller, Arthur Sasse / Albert Einstein Sticking Out His Tongue (1951), 2014 Sandro Miller, David Bailey / Mick Jagger "Fur Hood" (1964), 2014 Sandro Miller, Herb Ritts / Jack Nicholson, London (1988) (A), 2014 Sandro Miller, Andres Serrano / Piss Christ (1987), 2014
After a year that saw the deaths of Mitch Lucker and Tony Sly rock the Californian music world, the appearance of The Story So Far on Australian shores is a welcome sight indeed. Currently working on album number two with New Found Glory rhythm guitarist and lyricist, Stephen Lee Klein, The Story So Far are far from being a conventional pop-punk band. With honest, sincere and emotional songs infused with catchy and melodic tones toeing the line between hardcore and hard rock, the Bay Area band have been making waves since they broke into the limelight and are expected to do great things. The band's trip to The Zoo will be just one of two stops in Brisbane on a tour that will take them to Australia's biggest cities. Fans can expect to hear favourites from Under Soil And Dirt, as well as classics from While You Were Sleeping and their split EP.
It has been more than two decades since Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone first brought its magic into our lives, and muggles still share one particular dream: to attend Hogwarts. Yes, it's a fictional setting. Yes, we all know that. But that still hasn't stopped all manner of places trying to make the school an enchanting reality, from HP-inspired wizarding schools to huge brunches held in Great Hall-like spaces to activewear decked out in house colours. London's Warner Brothers Studio Tour is going one step further as part of its The Making of Harry Potter exhibit: it's letting visitors try on authentic Hogwarts robes. Short of casting a spell to go back in time and star in one of the eight Harry Potter films — or somehow finding your way onto the Fantastic Beasts' set — that's as close as you're going to get to some actual Hogwarts action. The specific tour wizard obsessives will want to take is the Behind the Seams experience, which dives into the costumes created for the movie franchise — all 25,000 of them. Sketches, finished outfits and stories about their creation are all part of this wander through a workshop-like environment, with threads worn by Cedric Diggory, Professor Sprout and even Voldemort on display. That's all great and bewitching, but the main attraction is the chance to pick your house colours and pop on a robe that featured in one of the movies. We'd tell you to BYO wand, but you've probably already thought about that. Anyone finding themselves in London over the next few months can take the Behind the Seams tour between May 23 and July 22, with sessions running daily until June 2 and then every weekend afterwards. Tickets cost £65, which includes the one-hour costume frenzy — but no, you can't wear your Hogwarts garb for the whole hour, sorry — as well as the standard studio tour, complete with a walk through the Forbidden Forest and a wait on Platform 9¾. For more information, visit the Behind the Seams website.
Following in Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's footsteps isn't easy, but someone had to do it when What We Do in the Shadows made the leap from the big screen to the small. New format, new location, new vampires, same setup: that's the formula behind this film-to-TV series, which is now streaming its fifth season via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand. Thankfully for audiences, Matt Berry (Toast of London and Toast of Tinseltown), Natasia Demetriou (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) and Kayvan Novak (Cruella) were enlisted as the show's three key bloodsuckers in this US spinoff from the New Zealand mockumentary, all in roles that they each seem born for. The trio play three-century-old British aristocrat Laszlo, his 500-year-old creator and partner Nadja, and early Ottoman Empire warrior Nandor, respectively, who all share an abode and the afterlife in Staten Island. In cinemas, the film version of What We Do in the Shadows already proved that the concept works to sidesplitting effect. Vampire housemates, they're just like us — except when they're busting out their fangs, flying, avoiding daylight, sleeping in coffins, feuding with other supernatural creatures and leaving a body count, that is. On TV, What We Do in the Shadows has been showing that there's not only ample life left in palling around with the undead, but that there's no limit to the gloriously ridiculous hijinks that these no-longer-living creatures can get up to. Based on every season so far, including season five, here's hoping that this vampire comedy continues forever. It was true as a movie and it's still true as a television show: What We Do in the Shadows sparkles not just due to its premise, but when its characters and cast are both as right as a luminous full moon on a cloudless night. This lineup of actors couldn't be more perfect or comedically gifted, as season five constantly demonstrates. Berry's over-enunciation alone is the best in the business, as is his ability to play confident and cocky. His line readings are exquisite, and also piercingly funny. While that was all a given thanks to his Toast franchise, Year of the Rabbit, The IT Crowd, Snuff Box, The Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace history, What We Do in the Shadows is a group effort. Demetriou and Novak keep finding new ways to twist Nadja and Nandor's eccentricities in fresh directions; their characters have felt lived-in since season one, but they're still capable of growth and change. Some ensemble comedies only shine when their talents combine. Some let one or two stars do all of the heavy lifting. As stellar as Berry, Demetriou and Novak each are, What We Do in the Shadows is the sharehouse ideal of a TV comedy: everyone contributes no matter if they're together or alone. That includes Harvey Guillén (Werewolves Within) as Nandor's long-suffering and ever-dutiful familiar Guillermo, and Mark Proksch (The Office) as energy vampire housemate Colin Robinson. At the series' outset, Guillermo could've just been a tagalong offsider and Colin that exhausting friend everyone has, but with vampire-centric spins. Guillén and Proksch are now not only scene-stealers — especially the former's looks to-camera and the latter's deadpanning — but the source of some of the show's savviest jokes and the subjects of a few of its best episodes. With its game cast making everything they touch a comic gem, TV's iteration of What We Do in the Shadows has never been afraid to take risks as its episodes have soared by. In season four, that meant watching Colin grow up again from a baby — and it was hilarious. Over its run, the show has also seen Guillermo discover that he descends from the undead-hunting Van Helsings, a precarious history given his usual companions. He still desperately wants to be a bloodsucker himself, however. Indeed, that continuing conflict is season five's starting point, with a bitten Guillermo not quite sinking his teeth into anyone yet, worrying about why and also struggling with keeping his possible transformation a secret from Nandor. If Nandor finds out that Guillermo has been turned by his convenience-store cashier pal Derek (Chris Sandiford, Moonfall), wounded pride and a fractured friendship won't just be the end result. As the familiar discovers, being given the chomp by anyone other than the vamp he serves is a faux pas punishable by death — his own, and his master's out of deep shame — in otherworldly circles. This plot strand is season five's new direction for Laszlo, too, as he commits to helping understand why Guillermo isn't feasting on necks like a typical bloodsucker. As he experiments and assists, Nadja endeavours to battle a hex. She also learns that a Little Antipaxos neighbourhood exists right there in Staten Island, gaining a tonic for her frequent homesickness. Season five's storylines get Colin draining souls on the local campaign trail, running for the borough's comptroller purely to feed during debates and other political events. Plus, The Guide (Kristen Schaal, The Bob's Burgers Movie) makes her presence known — more than that, she'd like to be seen as one of the gang — after her time as an envoy to the Vampiric Council, then aiding Nadja with running her vampire nightclub. Visits to the mall and to space, staging a pride parade with perennially clueless neighbour Sean (Anthony Atamanuik, Little Demon), trying to get Nadja's ghost laid: that all happens in early episodes across this latest season. So does What We Do in the Shadows' best staple, aka this supernatural crew bickering, bantering and roasting each other. Case in point: season five finds occasion for Laszlo and Nandor to squabble over whether wit and charm or hypnotism is the best way to bend humans to a bloodsucker's will. What We Do in the Shadows' characters are so well fleshed-out now, and so delightfully performed, that having two of them argue and attempt to one-up each other remains gleaming comedy. The show's writers aren't slumbering. Sharpness and silliness still combine in gags everywhere — about Laszlo learning that he's Kim Cattrall in a Sex in the City quiz, just for starters, and in having Nadja's spirit ask speed-daring partners "how do you feel about taking the virginity of a dead ghost?" as well. Spending eternity with someone, or a quintet of seasons to-date, means loving hanging out with them, though, and this show is understandably mesmerised. Check out the trailer for What We Do in the Shadows season five below: What We Do in the Shadows' fifth season streams via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand.
Already home to everything from raindrop cakes to Nutella gyoza and salted caramel gyoza — and known to experiment with lemon meringue dumplings and marshmallow dumplings as well — Harajuku Gyoza clearly likes getting creative with its sweet treats. The chain is also fond of trying out new things with its savouring dumpling range, too, as its mac 'n' cheese and pepperoni pizza versions showed; however, it obviously has a soft spot for the kind of desserts that you won't find on any old menu. From Thursday, September 1, that includes Japanese air cheesecakes, the latest addition to the Australian gyoza brand's dessert lineup. You might've seen them online. Afterwards, you might've tried to whip them up yourself as well. The viral recipe hails from the back of a cream cheese packet in Japan, and has won fans thanks to its simplicity — but getting someone else to make it is even easier, naturally. Harajuku Gyoza now has its own two takes on the dessert available, both for $6. One comes dusted with kinako powder and paired with a pot of brown sugar syrup for you to pour over the top. Or, you can opt for the matcha variety of the fluffy air cheesecake, which features a white chocolate and matcha sauce. Whichever you choose, you'll find them at the chain's four stores — two in Brisbane, one on the Gold Coast and one in Sydney. And if you fancy tucking into the new gyoza after devouring two old favourites — cheeseburger gyoza, which is stuffed with burger pieces, aged cheddar, onion, pickles, mustard and tomato sauce; and mozzarella gyoza, which is filled with the obvious, then deep-fried and sprinkled with Twisties salt — that's up to you. Harajuku Gyoza's Japanese air cheesecakes are available at all Australian stores — at Darling Harbour in Sydney; at South Bank and the CBD in Brisbane; and in Broadbeach on the Gold Coast — from Thursday, September 1.
In The Accountant 2, Christian Wolff is back, as is Ben Affleck (Air) in the role. Jon Bernthal (Daredevil: Born Again) returns as the numbers-whiz character's killer-for-hire brother Braxton, too. The first film's Cynthia Addai-Robinson (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) and JK Simmons (Juror No 2) also reprise their parts. Behind the camera, director Gavin O'Connor not only helms the follow-up to his own 2016 release, but makes his third movie in a row — including The Way Back, which isn't part of the franchise — with Affleck starring. Screenwriter Bill Dubuque (Ozark) is among the familiar folks backing up for another The Accountant flick as well. With so many tried-and-tested talents onboard, this thriller sequel's return to the world of its titular figure — a forensic accountant with autism who started the initial picture fixing the books for criminal organisations — could've just taken rinse-and-repeat approach. That wouldn't have meant making a movie that's as much an odd-couple buddy comedy, however, by playing up the chalk-and-cheese relationship between Affleck and Bernthal's characters. Balancing intense action scenes with line dancing likely wouldn't have been in the mix, either. Also, Addai-Robinson's Marybeth Medina, who is now a Deputy Director in the Treasury Department, may not have been so central — indeed, Affleck calls her "the lead in the movie". No one involved in The Accountant 2 was interested in making a comeback just to do what they've already done. That's particularly true for Affleck, who so rarely steps into a character's shoes twice — except as Batman and Bruce Wayne in the now-defunct DC Extended Universe, and also as Holden McNeil in the View Askewniverse. Boot scootin' to 'Copperhead Road' as a way of flirting is also a brand-new development for him, and one that not everyone was convinced would make the final cut. "I was like 'this scene will never work'," advises Bernthal. "I was like 'there's no way that's going to work. Like, why is he? Like, what? How is this — what does this scene have to do with anything?'. And as soon as I saw him go out there, I was singing that song. I love that song. I love that. It was so good." "If you asked Jon before we shot that scene, he was saying 'this is going to get cut from the movie'," adds O'Connor. "There's no way. I was like 'why are we even here?'," responds Bernthal. The moment does hit its mark, and also perfects what The Accountant 2 is shooting for character-wise with Christian and Brax. One is trying to connect with others, including romantically — this isn't the only sequence in the film about Christian's love life — and finds that his penchant for numbers and patterns is an unexpectedly ideal fit for line dancing. The other is attempting to assist his brother to embrace more than just his routine. Together, the siblings are also endeavouring to repair their long-fractured relationship. [caption id="attachment_1001142" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eric Charbonneau/Amazon MGM Studios via Getty Images[/caption] When The Accountant 2's team get together to chat about it at a press conference for the movie — returnees Affleck, Bernthal, O'Connor and Addai-Robinson, plus franchise newcomer Daniella Pineda (Cowboy Bebop) — they're animated and enthusiastic. The film benefits from their passion, even as it combines its comic turns, dancing and brotherly bonding with the fact that it's still an action-thriller that plunges into dark territory. This time, Christian's skills are needed, as are Brax's, after an acquaintance's murder. In a narrative that involves human trafficking, Marybeth is on the case, enlisting the brothers' assistance as she searches for the culprit, and also investigating how the situation connects to a family from El Salvador. Why was Affleck keen to return? When did O'Connor start thinking about which elements of the first film he wanted to pick up in a second flick, and where things would be different? How did humour work its way in — and what was Bernthal's response to the buddy-comedy aspect? The group answered these questions, too, while also digging into why Affleck sees Addai-Robinson's Cynthia as the movie's protagonist, the movie's action scenes and emotional arcs, and, yes, the line dancing. On Why Affleck Was Keen to Add a Very Rare Sequel to His Resume Ben: "This is a movie where, after the first one, it was successful and I was really proud of it, but it had a longer life in terms of the just real-life feedback that I get from people, what movies they would mention when they come up to me. And so I definitely was aware 'oh wow, that movie seems to still be being watched'. I think it's also a function of the fact that streaming really started to take off after this movie, so people had the opportunity to pick what movie they're going to watch, that sort of thing. And also I just love this character. I really enjoyed playing it. Gavin and I both very much were drawn to the idea of bringing Jon back and expanding on that, because we both really were like 'this guy's fabulous and we love it' — and I think we both felt like there was a lot more to do. And the only thing that I think, that I would rephrase from your question, is they really brought me back. Bill and Gavin spent a lot of time in the intervening years developing and putting together, in a quite typical-of-Gavin, meticulous, patient, detail-oriented, character-driven way, what it could be. Because both were quite mindful of not wanting to repeat it, not wanting to just 'oh hey, they like the first one, let's just figure something out and do another one'. So everything about it was appealing to me." On When O'Connor Started Thinking About Which Aspects of The Accountant He Wanted to Bring Back for a Sequel — and What to Change Up Gavin: "Just a lot of conversations with Bill in regard to — there's certain DNA that it was important to preserve. And then after that, it was a lot of left turns and just try to refill the tank in a very different way. And I in no way wanted to recycle the same thing that we did in the first film, so it was it was just a matter of 'how do we just start recreating the character in a way that is putting them on a different journey, integrating Brax, wanting to bring Cynthia back?'. We knew the key in the ignition was to kill Ray, because I wanted it to be personal for both of these guys. And most importantly, and we had these conversations, I just want to make a movie that was fun and entertaining — and put people in the seats, and go to a movie theatre and the lights come down, and have a communal experience where they can walk out of the theatre and go 'man, that was a fucking ball. That was just a great. That was a great time at the movies'. And that's really what we were going for." On Playing Up the Odd-Couple Buddy Comedy — and When Bernthal Found Out That That Would Be the Case Jon: "I don't know that I was ever really told that. I don't know that." Ben: "It was bait and switch." Jon: "Look it was — it was, yeah, little bit, a little bit. I was like 'what?'. But Bill's writing is so unbelievably strong. And Gavin and I, we're very close. And you work with Gavin, he's always going to whittle it down and try to get to the truth of the character, and there's no stone left unturned. It was a real thrill for me to get back. And I think with Ben, it just kind of happened that way. I mean it's there, it was very much supported by Gavin to let moments linger and let it exist naturally, and play the moments in between the beats. He's unbelievably funny and he has such a — it sounds corny, he's just mastered this character in such a way that there's just so many little moments of truth that are going on that you love, but can also drive you crazy from the right point of view. And I feel like we were really — I was really — let off the leash to have a real opinion about that." [caption id="attachment_1001143" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eric Charbonneau/Amazon MGM Studios via Getty Images[/caption] Gavin: "I don't think we ever said like 'oh, it has to be funny', when I say I wanted the movie to be fun and entertaining. Jon and I had so many sitdowns were we would just be dissecting the character, and 'what's the intention of this scene?' — but once you just put these guys together, they both have specific wants. And if you're not getting your wants — and both these guys are slightly, the characters are slightly bonkers, right, in certain ways, so if they're not getting their wants, if you just let them do their thing, it was such a fertile environment for them just in the scenes that it just created. They weren't trying — the reason I think it works is because they weren't trying to be funny. No one was trying to be funny. They were so engrained in their characters and they had very specific wants. And if you're not getting that, it's like banging your head against the wall." Ben: "And also Jon took pleasure in torturing me. So that was really just funny." On What Addai-Robinson Was Able to Explore in Her Role the Second Time Around Cynthia: "I think I always viewed Marybeth as the entry point for the audience, because she's observing and seeing all these things unfold around her and reacting in kind. And myself as an actor, same thing. I think back to working on the first movie: I was nervous and I was kind of out of my depth in a way, just trying to present as if I wasn't, which I think, for Marybeth, it was a similar type of situation. And here we are, eight years later, when we started on the sequel — and Marybeth has evolved, grown. She's in this elevated position within the Treasury Department. And for myself as a person and an actor, I felt like I had also grown, and it was like 'all right, I'm going to be returning to a situation that's familiar. I feel a little bit more comfortable, a little bit more confident'. And so that was really nice for me to feel like 'okay, I'm feeling like I can handle what I'm now getting thrown at me' — which is, again, this dynamic with Ben and Jon's characters. And just again being, for the audience, that point of entry. So all of their shenanigans, I also got to just bear witness to and be like 'all right, these guys are kind of crazy and they're also kind of challenging my view of how to serve justice', really." [caption id="attachment_1001144" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eric Charbonneau/Amazon MGM Studios via Getty Images[/caption] Ben: "The secret of this movie is that Cynthia is the protagonist, really. She's the lead in the movie — she's the entree for the audience, which means we get to play character parts. And there is a kind of relief from not having to carry a certain — there a whole bunch of expectations and stuff that go with being the lead in the movie, because as Cynthia says, the audience is really projecting themselves onto you. And so we're like a dual aggravant in some ways to her. And if you look at the math of the story, it's about her being brought into this, seeing this person be killed, trying to find out what it was and what she has to go through to get there, and the resolution of her story. And that's something that I find very artful and interesting, where this person is the lead of the movie and you have these dual character actors in there. So that affords Jon and I the luxury of doing this two-hander odd couple. " On Bringing a Heightened Level of Female Action to the Film Daniella: "I would say this is definitely next-level. I mean, it's not necessarily a character you see all the time. I feel like it's kind of changing a bit. I saw a video the other day of these two American eagle chicks in a nest, and one of the siblings just takes out the littler one, takes out the nest, and I was like 'oh hey, I know that girl. That's all nice'. But at the same time, you want to see that eagle hunt and you want to see that eagle fly — and there is something really compelling about watching a predator do their thing. At the same time, I felt like there's more to her. There's more layers there. So she's not just a stone-cold killer. It's the type of role that I would like to see more women get to play. They're certainly here in the real world. And I love to beat the shit out of Cynthia — but we were hugging, we were hugging in-between takes, and it was nice. I got really lucky. I had a good partner. It was fun, it was fun — but as she'll tell you, it was brutal." Cynthia: "It is pretty good — and what's very satisfying is we've now had opportunities to see the movie with audiences, and when you hear an audience audibly gasp, then you know you're doing something right. Because it means that the stakes and how invested people are in these characters, they are literally leaning forward, and with each blow, each hit, it's like 'aaaahhh'. So I think that's a nice vote of confidence to hear those gasps." On How The Accountant 2's Action Stands Apart From Affleck and O'Connor's Past Projects Ben: "To me, what makes it interesting, and what made me think that we could do something that would actually connect with an audience in the sense that they feel something for what's happening, is because Gavin's approach is not about 'this is a shot where visually it looks cool because of XY and Z elements, and we're going to construct it in such a way', and then you have to reverse-engineer why in the world you would be doing something that would lead you to that place. It's always driven from 'what does each character want? Why are they doing this?'. There's a grounded reason for it. And then his gift is to take that and make that visually compelling." Gavin: "Yeah, and not try to make it feel stunt-y — or some of these, we can cite action movies that are great, but it just feels like the action is in front of the characters. And for us, and the same with the girls, we were always coming from character. So what we were always tracking when we got to the third act was like 'how were these guys working together? How are they now united?'. We knew what the stakes were. We knew what they wanted. So inside of the action and the choreography, really, it was about the emotional line between the two brothers and how are they going to try to accomplish this together? And that was really what the conversations were about. The action is like dance, right? It's just doing it in beats. But action isn't emotional — and disposable violence, who cares about it, right? So it was really evoking emotion because you care about the characters." On How Bernthal Approached His Character's Emotional Arc — and Balanced It with the Demanding Action Sequences Jon: "You can't lie in a fight. You just can't lie — it's all, what you want is right there. And so if you're going for it, you've just got to know what you're going for and why you're going for it. I think more than any director I've ever worked with, Gavin has an appetite and an availability, and a hunger, to go back and to really get into what makes these guys tick. He'll talk to you as long as you want to talk to him about where these guys came from. And what's so beautiful about this being a second film — I think for me with Braxton, he's really shrouded in mystery in the first one. There was a point, you really don't know too much about him, but you have these amazing flashbacks to see how these two boys were raised and what their relationship was with their dad. And it really is the crux of what is really bothering both of them, and what's really bothering Brax: the roles that we've always filled for each other, getting each other's back, having to be there for each other, the lack of being there for each other. So then for it to culminate — it just doesn't culminate just in a gunfight, it culminates in 'hey, I'm there for you. I'm getting your back. You're getting mine. We're joined forever'. And it's a way, for lack of a better word, of showing how much you love somebody — and violence can actually be that sometimes." On Affleck's Line-Dancing Scene Ben: "That was one of the fun things about this thing, was the idea that here's a guy who's trying to figure out — he wants to have a relationship with a woman, he's trying to figure out how to do that, how to put yourself out there. He's not comfortable extending himself. He doesn't really know how to flirt exactly. He's not comfortable, like so many of us — it's not easy for anyone figuring out relationships, particularly the very early part where you're trying to gauge 'what does this signal mean? Is this person looking at me? Do they like me? Am I going to humiliate myself if I go over there?'. And what he does is kind of a lovely thing, which is he uses something that he's comfortable with — which in that case is the ability to recognise and identify the pattern of line dancing, because it is so structured and patterned — to participate in this. And it's the perfect way that he's comfortable to stand next to this woman who he's attracted to and wants to connect with, because it's kind of like parallel play with little kids. You don't have to look at somebody and engage them, but you get to be with them and do something next to them, and he finds a way that he's comfortable doing that. And it required, yeah, a lot of me. I probably am not going to get a lot more demands for my line-dancing work. I don't know. The phone hasn't rung yet. But it was really fun to — I think what's charming about it is when somebody puts himself out there to do something, at least I hope, that they're not necessarily great at, but they're trying. And I mean, really at the end of the day, that's sort of all any of us can do. Some of us are great at things — like Jon, the fighting comes easy to him. The action scenes with him are like playing in a basketball movie and this guy, you're like 'oh, you played professional basketball — okay, great'. And whereas these women of action, like you said then Danielle, they trained like crazy and brought incredible aptitude. Those fight scenes are a function of tremendous commitment and dedication and emotional perseverance that was astonishing. And for me, I'm coming at this line dancing thing like 'I don't really have the natural gifts but I'm willing to try.' I would say they did a hell of a lot better with the action I did with the line dancing. Luckily for me, it wasn't supposed to be good." Gavin: "The other thing about the scene that we were trying to accomplish, that was really important, is obviously there was that happening but we just left the plot of the movie. It was like 'we're going to leave the plot for a while', because that whole scene is really about the brothers. They've been in all this conflict driving up to that scene, and then at the end of the scene on the Airstream he says 'let's go get drunk'. And then that scene became 'they're still kind of in conflict trying to figure it out' — but once he goes to dance, Brax is like, that started to unite the two brothers, and it was just baby steps to get these guys there. So that was the other thing." Ben: "And it anchors the audience, having him celebrate for his brother, like that's who you're connecting to." Gavin: "Totally. Totally, yes. 'Yeah, 'that's my big brother up there'. It's beautiful." The Accountant 2 opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Film stills: courtesy of Warrick Page, Amazon MGM Studios / Prime Video © Amazon Content Services LLC.
It's been a big year for Brisbane's hospitality scene, with one particular group having a highly successful run of opening new and exciting venues. The French Exit marks the third venue opening in 2025 for the Anyday group, whose stable of beloved restaurants and bars now totals a whopping eight. The French Exit is Anyday group's ode to Paris. A dimly lit, romantic and inviting space, classic French dishes and a standout wine list go a long way to making you forget you just strolled off the street in Brissy. "The French Exit will transport you to a classic Parisian bistrot in the heart of Brisbane CBD. The dishes will have that classic familiarity for those who have travelled to the city but focused through the lens of Brisbane. Expect classic executions of timeless dishes designed to awaken nostalgia and excite the palate," says Anyday Culinary Director, Ben Williamson. This latest opening sees Anyday group's foray into CBD dining, with The French Exit occupying the ground floor of the heritage corner site at 169 Mary Street. Tamsin Johnson, a renowned interior designer, has expertly reimagined the space to evoke feelings of comfort and decadence. "Not only is she a close friend, but she also has an incredible ability to blend elegance with character in a way that perfectly suits the atmosphere of a French bistro. Tamsin has this knack for creating spaces that feel equally timeless and welcoming, with just the right amount of playfulness. Having her involved made the whole process feel collaborative, personal, and a lot of fun, and the result is a space that truly reflects her talent and our shared vision." The kitchen, led by John-Paul Fiechtner and Ryan Carlson, under the direction of Ben Williamson, pays homage to classic French techniques while also allowing space for creativity to flourish. Local and seasonal produce provides the foundations for the menu, which showcases the best of Brisbane's growers, makers, artisans and producers. Images: Parker Blain.
It's official: we Australians really love our coffee. None of that Starbucks swill for us; we know the real thing when we taste it and we aren't willing to settle for anything less. In even better news, coffee snobbery is no longer a Melbourne-centric thing. Brisbane's caffeine scene has spent the past few years growing up, and we reckon our humble city now boasts some of the best coffee in the business. Check out our top 10 picks and see if you agree. Ltd Espresso In less than two years, Ltd Espresso has reached lofty heights in Brisbane's coffee scene. A humble A-frame located outside Ltd's front door has gained near cult status for its daily jokes, puns and pearls of wisdom (which are also broadcast over social media) and the smooth Cleanskin coffee blend keeps customers coming back. Grab a bottle of cold press coffee to keep in the fridge for later. 362 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley Death Before Decaf This new coffee hub offers something that sets it apart from all other entries on this list: 24 hour caffeination. That's right; whether your cravings hit at 3pm or 3am, you'll find an open door and a hot coffee at Death Before Decaf. You can take your Bellissimo coffee with you or take five in the comfy leather sofa or milk crates out front. Shift workers, musicians and other creatures of the night have never been so awake. 3/760 Brunswick St, New Farm Dandelion & Driftwood Husband and wife team Peter and Penny Wolff have created a coffee-lover's dream at this Hendra cafe. Peter is a roaster with over 30 years experience, while Penny has judged at the Australian International Coffee Awards, and these credentials shine through with the two signature blends (aptly named 'Dandelion' and 'Driftwood'), tasting notes, rotating single origin options, and a 'Brew Bar' of opportunity. Shop 1, 45 Gehler Rd, Hendra Reverend's Fine Coffee When the owner of your coffee local is a former pastor, you come to expect a divine brew, and cappuccinos topped with real grated chocolate sure do fit the bill. The house blend is as appealing as the rustic interior, and a cafe menu is also available for those who don't want to caffeinate on an empty stomach. 372 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley Elixir Coffee Taking superb coffee further into the Northern Suburbs is Elixir, a hugely popular café and roastery in Stafford where you can watch coffee beans being roasted as you enjoy breakfast and a cuppa. Owners Jason and David Narciso practically have coffee running through their veins, such is the quality of their caffeine pedigree, and they have recently inked a deal with Paleo Cafe that will see award-winning Elixir coffee served up in Paleo Cafes around Australia. 10-12 Hayward St, Stafford Bunker Coffee Talk about hole-in-the-wall…Bunker Coffee is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it coffee hub (located in an real WWII bunker!) serving up espresso, filter coffee, iced coffees and authentic hot chocolate. Open from Monday to Friday and located a hop, skip and a jump from Milton Train Station, Bunker is a hit with weekday commuters. Bunker’s brother, John Mills Himself, has also recently opened in Brisbane’s CBD. 21 Railway Terrace, Milton Gramercy Espresso This semi-hidden cafe oasis is located just inside the Edward St entrance to the Wintergarden. The coffee is sourced from Sydney’s Reuben Hills roasters, and is a delight whether hot or cold. And bonus points, the folks at Gramercy make their own almond milk. A mouth-watering selection of cakes and pastries are also on offer, so don’t leave your sweet tooth at home. Wintergarden, 219 Queen St, Brisbane Blackstar Coffee Hailed as kings of the cold-press, Blackstar don’t take short cuts when it comes to providing their rich and earthy blend. In a story that has become a Brisbane legend, the Blackstar boys returned from a coffee-excursion in New Zealand, and with little more than flavour memory tried to replicate the finely crafted coffee they left overseas. Needless to say, success ensued and these days you can you can grab a brew from Blackstar in West End, Contessa in the City, or at the Queen Street markets. 44 Thomas St, West End Fonzie Abbott Espresso The Fonzie Abbott crew are serious about their beans, roasting their own blend at the Fox Street Factory in Albion. You’ll taste Fonzie’s brew if you order a coffee at establishments including Bitter Suite, Papa Jack’s, Noosa Chocolate Factory and Primal Pantry, as well as at the Fonzie Abbott café in Hamilton. While you’re there, grab a fresh croissant or a slice of banana bread to enjoy while you soak up the rustic surroundings and the goings on of Racecourse Rd. 1/30 Racecourse Rd, Hamilton Spring Hill Deli Spring Hill Deli is another fine establishment that has realised that using real chocolate on top of cappuccinos makes them approximately 1000% better. We probably don’t need to say much more, but if you still need convincing, the beans come from celebrated locals Cup Coffee Roasters and the moreish food menu is the perfect accompaniment. 537 Boundary St, Spring Hill View all Brisbane Cafes.
Located on Boundary Street in West End, Archive is the people's pub. There are couches for snuggling, pool tables for those wanting a challenge, outdoor seating for the Vitamin D deficient, and there's Next Door Cellars where they serve a range of high-end craft beers for the beer aficionado. Living up to its name, the walls are lined with shelves of books and covered in old comic strips. With live music and large (but pleasant) crowds, Archive is the perfect location for catching up with a group of friends on any day of the week. Archive offers daily specials and events including bingo on Mondays, trivia on Tuesdays and $10 chicken schnitzels on Sundays. Classed as a beer boutique, they offer a range of local and imported craft beers on tap including White Rabbit, Stone and Wood Pale Lager and Babbs beers like the Cherry Poppin Blonde. The food menu is standard pub fare with a twist. They serve delicious, large pizzas to fill a grown man like the Three Cheese, which comes with ham and chilli pineapple salsa. There's also the tomato and goats cheese cannelloni, which is hearty and perfect for warming the soul on a cooler evening (or comforting you when you are hungover).
Auckland is a city built on stories. Some are told in theatres that once hosted Bette Davis and Bob Dylan. Some on the slopes of former volcanoes. The rest, you'll have to find for yourself in the city's cobbled streets and galleries. Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland's) charm blooms beyond the tourist stops. Past the Sky Tower and steeple of St Patrick's Cathedral, you'll spot an unassuming vintage facade. Here, at 53 St Patrick's Square, The Motor House forms the foundation of Hotel Indigo Auckland. Once a showroom for Cadillacs and motorcycles, it now acts as your key to the city. Inside midtown's tallest building, warm wood panels, Māori art, and leather touches make an unexpected home out of the building's industrial bones. [caption id="attachment_1037197" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Hotel Indigo Auckland[/caption] But the best part? The hotel's position puts you at the heart of the city. Here, your neighbours are indie bookstores, laneway bars and suburban swimming spots. Here's how to plan a weekend getting lost in the hills, islands and laneways of Tāmaki Makaurau. [caption id="attachment_1037201" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Maungakiekie[/caption] Wide Open Spaces Auckland was built around the valleys and ridgelines of 53 ancient volcanoes. You can see it in the sprawling, green knolls of Maungakiekie. Also known as One Tree Hill. These Teletubbyland-esque hills act as Auckland's best viewing platform. Back in the city's heart, find Khartoum Place. Shady trees and a fountain's trickle make it a pocket of calm that locals retreat to. Check out the tile artwork in honour of the Women's Suffrage Movement in New Zealand and have a break to caffeinate. Take a short stroll and you'll find yourself at the wharf. Catch a ferry 40 minutes off the coast and you'll land a world away on Waiheke Island. Sundrenched vineyards, shaded olive groves and your footprints on white sand beaches await. Or, dive right into the harbour at the Karanga Plaza Tidal Steps: a totally free swimming area on the shores of the city. Take Notes on the Culture Follow any street in Auckland, and you'll find yourself at a crossroads of culture. Here, Māori culture threads through so much of the city, linking with European history in the wharves, cafes and museums. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is home to the world's largest collection of New Zealand art. Enter through majestic kauri tree columns to spend a day working through four levels of exhibitions. Plan your visit to Aotearoa in November, and you'll catch the Elam School of Fine Arts annual graduate show. Take a stroll through midtown and you'll find a slew of independent bookshops like Unity Books, Time Out Bookstore, and Hard To Find Books. Read local stories spun into poems or get lost in the whodunnits of local crime author legend Ngaio Marsh. [caption id="attachment_1039738" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hotel Indigo Auckland[/caption] Dine Like the Locals Vulcan Lane was once an unnamed and muddy track. Today, it's a meeting point of some of Auckland's best bars, cafes, restaurants and boutique shopping. The Queensferry Hotel was one of the first to move in over 200 years ago. It's Auckland's oldest pub, but its menu is modern and best enjoyed al fresco while people-watching. Each Thursday, the laneway comes alive with free jazz performances from local music schools and seasoned pros. Follow the warm cathedral light down St Patrick's Square and you'll find Bistro Saine. Here, beyond the art-filled lobby of Hotel Indigo, you'll find this modern take on the classic European bistro is a destination in its own right. Leather banquette seating, antique tableware and perfectly cooked steak makes it easily to forget you're not in Paris. [caption id="attachment_1037203" align="alignleft" width="1920"] The Civic Theatre[/caption] Read the Stars The 1930s were Auckland's golden age. Theatres, cinemas and music halls were soundtracked by Māori soprano Ana Hato and The Beatles. Legendary spots like Everybody's, The Roxy, and Peter Pan Cabaret may be gone, but their legends live on in the feel of the streets. The Civic Theatre is perhaps the magnum opus of Auckland's golden age. Inside, giant, golden elephants and carvings of Buddha line the walls alongside gaudy chandeliers. Above it all—for no reason other than opulence—is a replica of the Auckland night sky at 10pm on Saturday, April 20, 1929. Bette Davis, The Rolling Stones, Nick Cave, Bob Dylan, and even the Dalai Lama have visited. Nowadays, you can catch a musical or comedy show there. [caption id="attachment_1037204" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Hotel Indigo Auckland[/caption] The Perfect Base When your step count is nearing new heights, Hotel Indigo Auckland makes for the perfect place to rest your tired feet. The hotel's historic home, The Motor House, plays the role of muse. In each corner, you'll find nods to the past. From the scaffold-inspired wardrobes and vintage fixtures to the factory facade still bearing the names of its former owners, you can feel the stories of Auckland past in each inch of the hotel. Step out from the lobby and you'll be met with a view of the Sky Tower and Auckland at your feet. Want to stay in the thick of it? Find out more about Hotel Indigo Auckland here. Lead image: Hotel Indigo Auckland
Peering at Yayoi Kusama's work doesn't just mean being surrounded by dots, pumpkins and tentacles; stepping inside her infinity rooms; and spying mirrors, balls, flowers and rainbow hues aplenty. It also means relishing every moment with her immersive art. One trip to a Kusama showcase, whether at her own Tokyo museum or elsewhere, is never enough. However long an exhibition's season runs for, it's not long enough, either. Melbourne's NGV International, the host of Australia's largest-ever Kusama retrospective, understands this — and it is giving art lovers more chances to enjoy the artist's wonders. Yayoi Kusama, as the current exhibition is called, opened on Sunday, December 15, 2024 and runs until Monday, April 21, 2025. That end date isn't being delayed, sadly, but the gallery is extending its hours instead across the showcase's final weeks. Revealed on Friday, March 21, the news was unveiled a day before a significant occasion: Kusama's 96th birthday on Saturday, March 22. Of course, this'd be exciting no matter when it was announced. From Saturday, April 5–Wednesday, April 16, the exhibition will operate from 8am–6pm. Melburnians, if you fancy exploring Kusama's work before or after the nine-to-five grind, this is your chance. Over the Easter long weekend, you'll have even longer to head by, which is also great for visitors from elsewhere making the trip to Melbourne for the break. From Thursday, April 17–Monday, April 21, the exhibition will be open from 8am–midnight daily. The National Gallery of Victoria's spectacular tribute to Kusama includes the Japanese icon's brand-new Infinity Mirrored Room–My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light among its ten immersive installations, breaking the world record for the number of such pieces by the artist assembled in one spot. In total, there's 200 pieces on display, taking over the St Kilda Road gallery's entire ground floor with a childhood-to-now survey of its subject's creative output. Across the eight decades of art on display, some pieces have never been seen Down Under until now. Some are sourced from private collections, and others from Kusama's own personal stash. Here's yet one more drawcard: the NGV is throwing Friday-night parties as part of the exhibition, too, running until Friday, April 18. Kusama's five-metre-tall dot-covered Dancing Pumpkin sculpture in NGV International's Federation Court, the artist's Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees wrapping the trunks of 6-plus trees in pink-and-white polka-dotted material: they're also key elements of one of the most-comprehensive retrospectives devoted to the artist to be staged globally. Other highlights include NGV International's glass waterwall going pink, but with black rather than white dots; Kusama's new version of Narcissus Garden, which dates back to 1966 and features 1400 30-centimetre-diameter silver balls this time around, sitting in front of the waterwall and in parts of Federation Court; and the yellow-and-black spheres of Dots Obsession hanging over the Great Hall. Then there's the artist's sticker-fuelled, all-ages-friendly The Obliteration Room, where audiences young and old pop coloured dots everywhere — 'obliterating', as Kusama calls it — to cover an apartment interior that's completely white otherwise. Flower Obsession is another participatory piece, returning from the 2017 NGV Triennial. Again, you're asked to add to the work. Here, red flowers are applied to a domestic space — and again, obliterating it is the mission. If you adore the artist's way with mirrors, you'll want to see 2016's Chandelier of Grief, which features baroque-style chandelier spinning within a hexagon of mirrors; 2013's Love Is Calling, where tentacles in different colours spring from both the floor and the ceiling; and 2017's The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens, which gets viewers peering at glowing pumpkins as far as the eye can see through a small peephole. In Invisible Life, convex mirrors line a twisting and multi-hued corridor. With its six-metre-tall tendrils — which are covered in polka dots, naturally — the yellow-and-black The Hope of the Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally Cover the Universe from 2019 is striking without using a looking glass (or several), and has made its Australian premiere. Prefer flowers instead? Set within a dotted space, All My Love for the Tulips, I Pray Forever from 2013 sees a trio of giant tulips loom over audiences. Overall, Yayoi Kusama steps through the artist's 80-plus years of making art via a thematic chronology. While a number of pieces hail from her childhood, others are far more recent. Her output in her hometown of Matsumoto from the late 30s–50s; the results of relocating to America in 1957; archival materials covering her performances and activities in her studios, especially with a political charge, in the 60s and 70s; plenty from the past four decades: they all appear. Yayoi Kusama displays at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne until Monday, April 21, 2025 — including from 8am–6pm between Saturday, April 5–Wednesday, April 16, and from 8am–midnight between Thursday, April 17–Monday, April 21. NGV Friday Nights: Yayoi Kusama runs each Friday until Friday, April 18, 2025. Head to the NGV website for more details and tickets. Images: Visitors and artworks in the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at NGV International, Melbourne until 21 April 2025. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Photos: Danielle Castano, Sean Fennessy, Tobias Titz and Kate Shannassy.
Coffee fans, the future of grabbing a cuppa is here. Get sci-fi-like visions of technological brews out of your head, though. Nothing can replace the real thing just yet. At Pablo & Rusty's first Brisbane store, the Sydney-based roaster is committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure its black, caffeinated liquids really are the best they can be. And that means more than offering a stellar range of beans and blends — though you'll find those on the menu, including a single origin offering that rotates weekly, and comes as a double shot, batch-brewed or nitrogen-infused and chilled. In fact, it's the act of paying for your hot beverage that'll get you talking, particularly if you try to hand over notes and coins. Whether you go for the strong stuff, opt for a tea or tisane, prefer a 35% blend hot or iced chocolate, or want a pastry or treat with your drink, Pablo & Rusty's Mary Street cafe is a cash-free zone. Grab your own reusable Frank Green mug, and then swipe it each time you drop by. Because cups aren't actually a form of currency, it'll be linked to your credit card — and it'll remember your preferred coffee order as well.
Bar Francine looks like it should be a secret, but it's long since become a West End institution. Housed in a weatherboard cottage that's been standing for close to 70 years, the venue was once a neighbourhood milk bar. During the fit-out, original tiles were uncovered beneath layers of concrete, then carefully chiselled back by hand, setting the tone for a space that feels lived-in, personal and deeply local. Inside, timber floors, simple furniture and a compact bar create a room that rewards sitting close, talking longer and letting the evening unfold. Windows swing open to the laneway, music hums softly, and the atmosphere feels more like being welcomed into a friend's place than stepping into a restaurant. The food offering is deliberately fluid. The menu changes as it needs to, shaped by season, instinct and what the kitchen is excited about cooking. Influences lean European without being rigid or nostalgic, with dishes moving easily between small plates and more substantial options. Wednesdays are reserved for "Neighbourhood Night", a set menu that shifts in style and influence, while the rest of the week runs à la carte, built for sharing and lingering. On Fridays and Saturdays, Golden Hour brings bar snacks and simple cocktails into the mix, setting the tone for an easy start to the evening. Wine plays a central role, with an all-Australian list built around small producers and genuine relationships. The focus is on people as much as place, with particular support for women-led wineries and independent makers. Wines are poured at the table, encouraging conversation and discovery, and the list rotates frequently to reflect season, availability and what's tasting best right now. Bar Francine succeeds because it's confident in its scale, relaxed in its service and thoughtful in everything it does. Come for a casual drink, stay for dinner, or do both. Either way, it's proof that great dining doesn't need spectacle – just care, intention and a room that feels right.
Stages graced with international acts? Check. A hefty lineup led by Lizzo, Flume and Mumford & Sons? Check again. Gumboots aplenty, everyone from Pussy Riot to Tony Armstrong, and three wild days at North Byron Bay Parklands? Tick them off the 2023 Splendour in the Grass checklist, too. A graveyard, though? No one had that on their Splendour bingo card, but it's part of this year's fest thanks to ABC series War on Waste, which is drawing attention to fast fashion. Sometimes, you need to see a problem to truly grasp it. That's an approach that folks have been applying to the vast piles of textiles that end up in landfill for some time — in 2022, Joost Bakker filled Melbourne's Federation Square with 3000-plus kilograms of fashion waste, for instance. A cemetery symbolising discarded clothing items is another eye-catching away to get everyone thinking about the issue, with this pop-up gracing Splendour for its full 2023 run from Friday, July 21–Sunday, July 23. "Fast fashion has exploded! We've moved to ultrafast fashion, even though 30 percent of clothing in the average wardrobe has not been worn in the last year," said War on Waste host Craig Reucassel. "We're throwing out ten kilograms of fashion per person each year. To make only the cotton clothes that we throw out each year would take as much water as there is in Sydney Harbour. Meanwhile, over 60 percent of our clothes are made from plastic derived from fossil fuels." "Through this activation, we hope to engage the festival community in meaningful conversations about the impact of fast fashion and inspire them to embrace more sustainable and ethical practices. Buy less and wear it longer!" Reucassel continued. Splendour attendees will spot the graveyard opposite the Forum and Comedy Club, acting as a commentary on the 227 million kilograms of clothing that goes to Aussie landfills every year. The site's tombstones jokingly pay tribute to items bought and scrapped quickly, yet won't decompose for hundreds of years, and offer facts about the problem. Everything featured has been recycled or repurposed, and all materials used will be recycled or repurposed again after Splendour is over. As well as getting festivalgoers thinking about their outfits, the cemetery pop-up is timed to promote War on Waste's third season, which hits the ABC from Tuesday, July 25. Splendour in the Grass runs from Friday, July 21–Sunday, July 23, 2023 at North Byron Bay Parklands — head to the festival website for further details and tickets. Images: Georgia Jane Griffiths.
Google's innovation in geo-location tools and imaging has significantly changed how we view and interact with our world. What with Street Art View, allowing users to tag their favourite street art; People Finders connecting friends and loved ones in times of disaster; and artists capturing incredible images from Google Earth, Google blurs physical existence with digital presence to connect us in amazing ways. Whether you want to check out a destination before hitting the road or travel to the other side of the globe without leaving your seat, Google Street View can take you there. With the launch of an all new look and enhanced interactivity, real-world navigation from your net browser has never been so awesome. When you load up Google Maps, areas outlined in blue highlight where Google Street View is available. Google's loveable stick-figure Pegman will light up yellow too. Drag him onto your desired location to view the 'hood, and click on the arrows on the ground to take a little stroll. Back in 2007 at Street View's inception, only select major cities had the feature. Since then, teams of photographers have worked tirelessly to compile incredible images from around the world. Stitched together, the images form 360 degree panoramas which afford gorgeous glimpses of far away places - so good it feels like you're really there. https://youtube.com/watch?v=MwCrjfmCgO0 [Via Mashable]
Who hasn't gone on vacation, soaked up their idyllic temporary surroundings but felt pangs of envy towards a few specific fellow travellers who seem to be having a better time than everyone else? That's how Speak No Evil begins — and it's meant to be relatable. The situation that Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis, Station Eleven) and her husband Ben (Scoot McNairy, Invincible) find themselves in while travelling to Tuscany with their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler, Dead Boy Detectives) is a classic grass-is-greener setup. When the American couple look at the brash but charismatic Paddy (James McAvoy, His Dark Materials) and his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi, Stopmotion), and as they get to know them over dinners and drinks, they wish that they too were that happy, that carefree and that relaxed. Hopefully no one has endured IRL what comes next in this Blumhouse horror movie directed by Eden Lake and The Woman in Black's James Watkins, which remakes 2022 Danish film Gæsterne, also called Speak No Evil in English. Reluctantly on Louise's part but eagerly by Ben, the Daltons accept an invitation to spend a weekend with Paddy and Ciara, plus their son Ant (Dan Hough, Hollyoaks), at their rural property back in Britain. Actually, we've all been in a scenario where passive-aggression simmers behind smiles and plastered-on friendliness, social discomfort flavours every interaction and toxic masculinity festers. For the Daltons, however, this second getaway turns particularly grim when they discover what lurks behind the blissful facade that their hosts were such experts at projecting in Italy. Both versions of Speak No Evil take viewers on an unsettling trip — but only the do-over boasts powerful performances by McAvoy and Davis. While no one in the cast puts a foot wrong, including Davis' Halt and Catch Fire co-star McNairy, The Nightingale standout Franciosi and the feature's youngest actors, its two leads are tasked with encapsulating the film's clashing sides. Paddy presents himself as earthy and approachable, packaging up his ideas of manhood — notions that can be called traditional at best and outdated if you're still being polite — with a seemingly wholesome, laidback vibe. Louise is understandably constantly anxious and worried, and yet just as persistently eager not to cause a scene. The more time that she spends in Paddy's farmhouse, the more that she realises that she's being forced to ignore her every instinct about him. Speak No Evil also unpacks why that reaction also feels so familiar. These are complicated and layered roles to play, and a balancing act on both McAvoy and Davis' parts. That's one of the things that attracted them each to the movie, the two tell Concrete Playground. For McAvoy, he's back in the darker psychological terrain that he traversed in Split and Glass for M Night Shyamalan — chatting with us back in 2017, the filmmaker called the actor's work in the former "fearless; he was just very fearless about the whole thing" — and also in the unrelated Filth before that. He credits his excellent, can't-look-away efforts both in Split and Speak No Evil to great writing first and foremost. "I was lucky enough on those two particular jobs, this one as much as any other, to be able to feel really strong going into it and make strong choices," he explains. For Davis, she adds another complex portrayal to a resume teeming with them (see: the aforementioned Station Eleven, Black Mirror's 'San Junipero' episode, Blade Runner 2049, Tully, Happiest Season and more), all while ensuring that she's never repeating herself. "Not retreading footsteps that I've already walked in" is what gets her excited about any new role, she advises. "That's a weird mixed metaphor. Honestly, I read so many scripts and I barely like any of them, and then one comes and you're like 'oh, maybe this is a fucked-up little thing to do'." Davis sums up Speak No Evil perfectly, as audiences Down Under can experience in cinemas from Thursday, September 12, 2024. We also chatted with the film's lead pair about the rollercoaster ride that the movie takes viewers on, where inspiration came from to flesh out their parts, being able to see themselves — or aspects of them — in their characters, digging into what it means not to speak up, ensuring that the movie's emotional journey feels logical and more. On McAvoy Having No Fear When Diving Into Dark Roles, Such as in Split and Speak No Evil James: "I think when you've got a good text and you've got a good character drawn well with a good arc, you've got a solid foundation from which to jump. And that was definitely the case with Split, and that was definitely the case with Speak No Evil. And they both happen to be Blumhouse movies, which is great because they're underpinned by something — not just pieces of entertainment, which they are, which they deliver upon, but they've also got something interesting to say socially. So it was a really strong foundation that it jumped from. I think when the text isn't so strong, maybe I'm not so fearless and maybe a bit more fearful. But I was lucky enough on those two particular jobs, this one as much as any other, to be able to feel really strong going into it and make strong choices." On Davis' First Reaction to the Script, and What She Saw That She Could Bring to the Role Mackenzie: "I loved it. I hadn't seen the original, and I knew it existed but wasn't really familiar with anything else other than the title. So this is my first exposure to the conceit — and I just love things that feel as dangerous as being hunted and killed, being placed on that same plane. Because committing, not like a social faux pas or a gaffe, but like really offending someone or hurting somebody's feelings in a really meaningful way, you can get kind of the same adrenaline response as you do when you're trying to save your life. And they do feel like mortal dangers at the time, and I liked how it how it dealt with that. I wasn't sure at first, honestly, because there's a lot of Louise looking to her husband to act, and that worried me a little bit. But I had lots of long, really meaningful chats with James Watkins, the director, and he assured me that he was really interested in Louise's experience of being silent. Like, it's one thing to not speak, and it's another thing for the camera to be interested in why they're not speaking and what they're thinking while they're not speaking. And as long as that was part of it, then I thought it was a really interesting role. I think James [Watkins], before we started making the movie, convinced me that that was important to him. Then in the movie, I really see that, that he's interested in how Louise is feeling and it's not always through a monologue." On Working Through Speak No Evil's Many Layers James: "I was just so glad that I was getting to be involved in something that could be entertaining, could make people laugh, could make them jump, give them the horror experience or the scary experience that you want in the cinema in a communal, sitting-down environment — but at the same time, it had stuff to say as well, which elevates it. Blumhouse do that time and again, and they do it so so well. So it's a privilege to be a part of something like that because you get to do two things at once. Also part of it was about a conversation about masculinity, which I feel is quite timely as well — and what men are attracted to at the moment in terms of looking for answers. Somebody like Ben, who's really drifting, really lost, really hurt, really damaged, he's looking for answers. And here comes along this sort of totem of toxic masculinity, but he seems to have the answer to one of the questions in life, which is how to be happy. He seems really happy. In fact, I would argue he is really happy. As much as he's rage-filled and anger-filled, he's also capable of great joy and happiness, and he really enjoys his life. And that's an attractive quality, but it's also a scary thing in somebody who's also got such worrying doctrine." On the Film's Relatable Situation, Including the Balance Between Trying to Keep the Peace and Recognising Your Instincts Mackenzie: "What's important to me is that I can see myself in that situation. I relate to the choices she makes, even when they're stupid. I can understand why she's doing the thing that might feel wrong to an audience, because you get that there are other things at play other than the right thing and the wrong thing. There's the marriage and keeping that intact. And then there's 'oh my god, did I just make some sort of enormous, grievous misunderstanding of a situation where I thought I was saving my family, but actually I was villainising myself and really offending these lovely people who are hosting us?. And am I being a snob?'. There's so many currents of thought that are going on all the time, and you kind of have to choose one to follow. And I get why, for a lot of the movie, she's prioritising, with difficulty, keeping the peace — and then at a certain point the dam breaks and she just cannot do it anymore. I think that's really, really relatable, trying to be all things at once." On the Balancing Act Required for McAvoy to Play Someone Who is Charismatic, Earthy and Seemingly Free-Spirited, and Also Angry, Reckless and Unsettling James: "The whole film is a balancing act, and the whole performance for me is a bit of a balancing act, because you can't go too far one way or the other. You can't go too scary or too safe. You've got to be right in the middle, until the end anyway, because you dissipate the tension of horror or a scary movie if you just go full bore too quickly. And that's the same either side. Too safe, too dangerous. Too masculine, too not masculine. Too safe masculine, too toxic masculine. Too politically correct, too politically incorrect. You have to ride this line so that both versions of him are possible at all times without ever jumping down and nailing your colours to the mast on one side or the other. So it's a bit of a balancing act that was orchestrated by myself and by the director definitely on the day, James Watkins. He did a lot of that on the page, but even then on the day, it was about getting shades, colours and levels so that when he was in the edit, he had the opportunity to calibrate as he went in that environment as well." On Acting Opposite McAvoy's Powerful Performance Mackenzie: "There's a moment in the movie where he has this sort of smile and then his eyes go dead, but then his mouth twitches a little bit still, and it's so unsettling. And he's playing three different things in like one second. And that's what it feels like to work across from him. He's really surprising. He's enjoying what he's doing so much, which is so fun, because you shoot one scene for like six hours. You're hearing the same lines over and over, and what you want is an actor that's finding a new way into it every time so that it feels exciting and stimulating to engage with it, and he just does that in spades. He's a wonderful person and a really great actor." On What McAvoy and Davis Each Drew Upon to Help Flesh Out Their Complex Characters James: "I've got a friend who will look into my eyes and sing me an entire song, and there's something weirdly sort of threatening about it — because I don't know the song and I'm not singing it back with him, but he's singing it like he's singing some old favourite that we both know. I drew on that, because that's a kind of masculinity. That's a kind of 'I'm dominating you right now'. And I actually do that in the film with Scoot — and my mate will watch this and be like 'you're totally doing me right now'. He's nothing like Paddy, by the way. What did I draw upon? I guess, weirdly, myself. I'm not like Paddy, but I could be, and I could be if I'd made different decisions or indulged different parts of my personality and animal instincts when I was younger, or if different things had happened to me and I reacted to them differently. So those parts of Paddy that are objectionable or even attractive that aren't immediately apparent or inflated in me, they're still in me. So it's about imagining them growing. It's imagining them into your mind, and imagining them into your soul and into your heart, and then letting them out on camera. They'll never become a part of me properly, but if you just quite imagine who you would become, who you would be if your life had been different and things had changed in different ways. I think the parts of Paddy that we find objectionable and frightening are in us all. We all have the capacity to kill, and we all have the capacity to steal and to hurt others, to be selfish and to put ourselves before everyone else. And that's kind of what he does. And I think we all have that in us. It's just we've had different experiences or made different decisions to get us there. But you can look at yourself and recognise Paddy, I think." Mackenzie: "For me, I just want things to make sense. I'm almost a bit mathematical about it in going through the script and being like 'okay, well, why does she do this and how does that make sense, and if she does this, then what does this mean?'. And as long as I can make the math — and everybody has their own particular math, there is not one unifying, it's just the logic of that person — as long as her logic feels believable and at least consistent enough, to me, that the inconsistencies are exciting and surprising, then I'm great. It's when things just feel random and I can't find the throughline that I'm like 'meh, probably I'm not the right person to play this part'." On What Davis Would Do If She Was in the Same Situation as Louise Mackenzie: "I think you'd be charmed by dreams. I think it would be fun. I think were I in the situation, I can see myself being like 'I don't want to spend two days at their house, we don't even know them'. And then being like 'you know, you've got to have adventure in your life. At the very least, it'll be like a good story'. And it was. So maybe I would make the same decision. I keep saying I wouldn't, but now I guess I've kind of convinced myself it'll be fun to do something weird." Speak No Evil opens in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, September 12, 2024.
As Alfred 'Paper Boi' Miles in Atlanta, Brian Tyree Henry has been given plenty to utter. Across the hit Donald Glover-created series' three seasons so far, his rapper character has soared from up-and-comer to global star touring Europe, as chronicled with the show's banter-filled dialogue. But there's one thing that hasn't ever fallen into his remit in his best-known role, and is highly unlikely to in the fourth and final season that's set to arrive this September: obsessing over Thomas the Tank Engine. Henry might be as synonymous with Atlanta as Glover, complete with a 2018 Emmy nomination for his stellar performance, but his resume spans far further than the acclaimed series. In movies as varied as Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Joker, Godzilla vs Kong and Eternals — and shows such as Boardwalk Empire, The Knick and This Is Us as well — he's kept proving a compelling presence. There's no Thomas the Tank Engine fixation among them either, though. Instead, waxing lyrical about blue British locomotives is the domain of Henry's part in action-comedy Bullet Train. He plays blonde-tressed assassin Lemon, half of a chalk-and-cheese killer duo with Aaron Taylor-Johnson's (The King's Man) Tangerine. Dubbed "the twins" but clearly brothers in friendship rather than blood, they're just two of the movie's many killers, as led by Brad Pitt (The Lost City) — all of which, fittingly for Lemon, find themselves speeding across a neon-drenched vision of Japan via the titular shinkansen. In other films, it's easy to predict how Henry's part would go. But, working with John Wick and Atomic Blonde filmmaker David Leitch, Henry was determined that Lemon would transcend tropes — and be a hitman that viewers cared about, even as he's using Thomas the Tank Engine to decide whether people are trustworthy or not and, obviously, as he's hopping around the train killing people. Ahead of the movie's local release on August 4, we chatted to Henry about Bullet Train, childhood favourites, busting tropes, gravitating towards banter, and a shoot that felt like "a bloody summer camp". ON 'THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE' AND CHILDHOOD FAVOURITES "Is anyone really a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine? It has always been a part of our childhood, right? He's just always been there… I think what's really great is that with this movie, we get to really go into the characters' details, because Lemon truly studied and loves Thomas the Tank Engine. And he's right about it. Every time that he says that somebody is a Percy or an Edward or a Diesel, he's right. So there is a little truth to the characters of Thomas the Tank Engine, for you to tell if somebody is trustworthy or not. But, when I was a kid, it came on after the good stuff. Like Thomas the Tank Engine kind of wrapped your day, and you were like 'where are the explosions? I want to see more stuff with candy.' I didn't do an in-depth Thomas the Tank Engine study when I got this part, but I did play the theme song on set though to really piss everybody off. I was like 'come on guys, we need this levity, let's listen to Thomas the Tank Engine'. Care Bears was my thing. Fraggle Rock, anything Muppet-related, I was all about it. I was a huge Jim Henson head, I mean anything that had Jim Henson on it, I was there for it. And I'm not going to lie, I still do, I still care a lot about anything Jim Henson-related." ON GOING BEYOND THE COMEDIC BLACK GUY TROPE "I got a call from David Leitch who said that he was making this movie, and my jaw kind of fell on the floor because I know David Leitch's repertoire and I was really excited — and I was also very suspicious. I loved Deadpool 2. I know he produced all the John Wicks which I love as well. I remember loving Atomic Blonde and these universes he created, but I was very much like 'where am I going to fit in this?'. And then he told me that there was a character named Lemon that was one half of a duo called Lemon and Tangerine. I read the script, and I did love it, but there were some parts that I really wanted to delve a little deeper into — because the first draft kind of seemed like Lemon was there to just be there for laughs, and I didn't want him to just be the comic foil. I wanted him to be cared about. There's usually a trap that happens sometimes when you're Black and doing action movies or any kind of certain genre, that you're the funny person and usually the first person that dies — you know all these weird, terrible, microaggressive tropes that are put on Black people. I didn't want that for this movie, and I pled this to him. I was like, 'look, if you are putting me in this atmosphere, being on Japan on a bullet train, I want people to care that I'm there — it's not like I can hide anywhere, it's not like people won't notice when I'm there'. This is also during 2020 when shit was hard. It was really hard in America, it was really difficult. We didn't know what this virus was, there was social injustice going on outside of our door, we were dealing with an election that would change our fate, and I was angry — and I hate saying that I was an angry man, but I was. And I was also very fearful of what was going on, and I had to find some trust to take this movie, and David reassured me, he was like 'we really want your voice in this'." ON PLAYING A KILLER PEOPLE WOULD CARE ABOUT "When I was paired with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, I was like 'this can play a few ways', because it says we're twins and we're clearly not. A sense of brotherhood can be there and that can be authentic, and I let David know that. Aaron and I both wanted to find the heart of who both of these characters are. Whenever we see these movies, where the tropes are a black man and a white guy coming together, it's all different kind of hijinks — and look these tropes have a place, and I admire them and the actors who played them, they have their own place in history. But if we were going to add to that, we wanted it to come from a different place. With most of these duos, you see these men coming from two different sides of the world, or two different walks of life, they come together and they form a partnership. But with our duo, we literally grew up together. And part of me was like 'maybe we were passed around in the foster care system together, maybe we were used to having each other to protect each other, to care about each other, and that just went on until we grew up?'. So that brotherhood was what was really important, because we wanted the audience to really believe that there was a brotherhood between the two of us. David heard that, and really allowed us to play with that — because I wanted the audience to care, I really did. I know that we're sociopathic killers, and yes we're funny and we have this banter that goes back and forth, but I wanted you all to care if we got separated. I wanted you all to care if one made it and one didn't. I wanted the audience to really care about these brothers, because they're the only assassins on the train that are a duo, that's a partnership — and I wanted people to care because I needed to figure out how to care again. I needed to figure out what a brotherhood meant with someone who didn't look like me, someone who wasn't from where I was. I needed to really find a way to feel a connection with somebody, and Aaron just brought his heart and brought his soul to this thing‚ and we instantly hit it off. And we gave David Leitch no choice but to kind of like accept that. Most of the things that we were doing were improv. Most of the things that we said, that we volleyed off one another were just off the top of our heads, and David Leitch was like, 'yeah, let's keep going with that' because he saw how close we were. It restored a kind of faith in me again when playing this role because I cared about Lemon so much, and I wanted people who were watching Lemon so much… I owe a huge thanks to David Leitch for hearing me out, hearing me say that I wanted these things and I wanted to play with Lemon this way, because he let me." ON ALL OF THOSE STUNTS — AND A SHOOT THAT FELT LIKE "A BLOODY SUMMER CAMP" "I remember going to Dick's Sporting Goods, and I was like 'kneepads, gloves, shorts, everything, because I'm going to do it all'. I was so ready to get ready for this movie. I really wanted to do all these crazy stunts that I'd seen David Leitch choreograph throughout his career. I really wanted to do wire work. I wanted to find different ways to kill somebody with a tray table. I wanted to really get in there. We couldn't go to studios like you would if you were trying to learn fight choreography, so they had to improvise and made this makeshift fight playground, basically, on the rooftop of a parking deck on Sony's lot. And it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. So you've got padded floors, boxes are that are the walls of the train, tables, fold-up chairs — and with the help of Greg Rementer, who is the stunt coordinator for 87 North [David Leitch's production company], we had the time of our lives. The collaboration that David Leitch has in his work is really fun. Especially, I think about the fight between Brad and I that is taking place on a quiet car. My character tells him that he needs to keep his voice low because it's the quiet car, and all the while I'm going to do what I can to kill him on this quiet car. So doing the fight choreography, to map out how we're going to do that, was like taking me to like a bloody summer camp. You're signing up to just go bash each other's faces in, but how how many different ways can we do that on a quiet car? How many ways are Brad and I going to be in a headlock and punching each other in the nuts? How many ways are you going to avoid a snake that's now loose on this train? It was some of the most therapeutic scene work I've ever done in my life, and it was incredibly fun." Bullet Train screens in Australian and New Zealand cinemas from August 4. Read our full review.
For most of us on the morning after a big night out, our time is generally spent lounging around complaining, taking painkillers, drinking sports drinks, filling the bottomless pit that is your stomach with truckloads of the greasiest foods you can find and generally just waiting out the torture of the self-inflicted pain you have forced upon yourself. While this may seem like the only option of how to handle your hangover at the time, there are actually a plethora of natural methods which will rid you of that dreaded ill feeling or at least make you feel slightly more bubbly. Rather than just avoiding hangovers altogether by stopping at the second drink — which let's face it isn't going to happen at those big celebrations — Good.is suggests a few fresh and healthy ways to cure the hangover and get you back on your feet and functioning like a normal human being again. Miso Soup and Eggs Despite what you may be thinking by looking at the picture, this funky combination of miso soups and eggs is actually a great Japanese-inspired hangover cure because of the nutrients that it replenishes you with, which you lost from the previous night of drinking. Stacked full of sodium, water and electrolytes as well as probiotics to subdue that queasy stomach, this trick will be sure to get you charging for the rest of the day. Omega-3 Omega-3 is a fantastic nutrient to take to alleviate hangovers as it helps clear the free radicals produced when alcohol is broken down. Omega-3 also helps fight the dry, blotchy skin on your face, which alcohol causes. Have a cuddle To dim your stress levels and get yourself feeling better just have a 20 second Oxytocin-releasing hug. Studies have shown that after a 20 second embrace with someone, oxytocin will be released, which helps relax and repair your body. Inconclusive evidence has also shown that having sex is a great hangover cure - probably largely due to the hormones released, but also cause it will simply take your mind off the pain. Get a Massage Massages are very helpful the morning after a night out, not only because of the release of happy hormones such as oxytocin but also because they have been proven to help your body produce more white blood cells and thus boost your immune system. So if you're looking for an excuse to treat yourself, simply have a few more shots. Take a Dip One of the most effective (and nice) ways to cure a hangover is to submerge yourself is some refreshingly cool water and have a swim around. Find yourself a body of water - preferably a beautiful white sandy beach with a radiant, shining sun - and have a dunk to wake yourself up, clear the head and rejuvenate yourself for the day ahead. Go Bananas Bananas are a great source of potassium and vitamin B, which help replenish your body's lost nutrients, and they also rehydrate your dehydrated body. And what better way to consume them than by making a delicious smoothie. Alternatively, a berry smoothie would also go down a treat because of the antioxidants within them. Mix it up with almond milk to make it twice as effective as the healthy fats, oils and vitamins in the almonds will help get you back on your feet. Drink Some Coconut Coconut water can be extracted from coconuts while they're still very green and not mature enough to produce milk. This wonder fluid has been used intravenously in medical emergencies for rehydration, so it's pretty safe to say it'll do wonders for your hangover. It also has no fat, is low in calories and is lower in sugar than most other juices — it's a win-win! Kombucha Tea Despite it's not-so-delicious looking floaties and somewhat sour apple cider vinegar flavour, Kombucha tea is a fermented miracle drink which is great for liver stimulation or detoxification, blood purification and even euphoria. So to replace your vacant look of pain and regret with a beaming smile, simply get yourself some Kombucha tea. Pickle Juice Although this last one is somewhat disputed, pickle juice is the cure of choice in Poland and has been shown to be highly effective in quelling the effects of the hangover. The sodium of the juice helps you bring your electrolyte levels back up in order to help you rehydrate. Honey is also a great addition not only to lessen some of the awful taste, but also because the glucose and fructose assists the rehydration process.
In the initial two episodes of Scenes From a Marriage, Mira (Jessica Chastain, IT: Chapter Two) and Jonathan (Oscar Isaac, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker) brush their teeth in front of their ensuite mirror. It's an everyday task in a familiar place, spanning something we all do in a space we all use, but this powerful five-part HBO miniseries turns these two scenes into a complex snapshot of its central couple. It takes not just skill but feeling and understanding to turn such a mundane activity into a must-see; however, that's this weighty show's remit. Scenes From a Marriage gets viewers engrossed in cleaning teeth because it's ordinary, and because everything within its frames fits the same description. Its central relationship careens from happy to heartbroken, comfortable to distraught, and assured to messy, but it also charts a path that countless others have before it. When they first pick up their toothbrushes, Mira and Jonathan attend to their dental hygiene side by side. They chat between foamy mouthfuls. They're relaxed. They've had an unusual day, after talking to a researcher about their nuptials and then hosting a tumultuous dinner with friends, but they're settled in their usual regime. Seconds afterwards, they'll discuss significant news, but they approach that, too, with a sense of unthinking security. But just one episode later, when they brush again, everything has changed. Mira returns from a work trip to share a bombshell revelation, Jonathan doesn't take it well, and he stands back and stares at they each clean. She can't meet his eyes. He won't look away. Their tension, pain and sorrow fills the entire room, as does their uncertainty — and it's a case of two moments, two people, two vastly different pictures of their relationship. Dedicating each episode to a significant day over the course of several years — hairstyles change, and the couple's daughter ages (primarily off-screen) — Scenes From a Marriage is filled with these routine moments. It's a show about patterns, cycles and echoes, how they ripple through relationships and, when broken or changed, how their absence is felt. Much of the series takes place in the same domestic space, too, as the pair rove around the house they've made their home. So, viewers see the duo walk through the same rooms, sit in the same chairs and recline in the same bed. They have variations of the same discussion over and over as well. Every romance is an ongoing conversation that loops, sprawls and repeats, but Scenes From a Marriage pushes this notion to the fore. Mira and Jonathan are always talking, in some way, even when they're not. Their dialogue continues whether it seems like it's just another evening in the bathroom, or it's a terse morning after everything has disintegrated — and as a whirlwind of love, sex, heartbreak and chaos whips through their relationship again and again. It shouldn't be easy, peering into a romance as its bliss fades, and stepping into its ongoing conversation. That idea isn't Scenes From a Marriage's alone, and it wasn't new in 1973, when iconic film director Ingmar Bergman ran with it in his Swedish TV miniseries of the same name. But as penned and helmed here by The Affair's Hagai Levi, HBO's take on the concept turns the familiar and complex into the raw and the riveting. It breaks a relationship down into pivotal moments to strip away the blissful front that couples build for themselves, and the image they project to the world, and it refuses to look away as things turn difficult. Sketching out anything this complicated via just a few scenes is a gimmick, obviously, as the series even nods to in opening scenes that follow Chastain and Isaac getting into character. Still, in the right hands, and with the right tale of a marriage's minutiae, it's also devastating and powerful. Scenes From a Marriage circa 2021 is shot and scored to ramp up that intensity, that simmering uncertainty, that seesawing between two extremes. Cinematographer Andrij Parekh, a veteran of Blue Valentine and its similarly haunting exploration of a romance in decline, prowls carefully and patiently around comfortable spaces adorned in neutral tones — places The White Lotus' characters might've gone home to post-Hawaii — but lets both light and darkness visually clash and compete for attention. Composers Evgueni Galperine and Sacha Galperine craft a score that also rides an emotional rollercoaster, setting the tone as precisely as they previously did with fellow HBO miniseries The Undoing. Each element of Scenes From a Marriage is fine-tuned to amplify the highs, the lows, and the constant to-and-fro between them. That said, this tale of an ambitious tech industry executive, her ex-Orthodox Jewish philosophy professor husband and their fraying nuptials was always going to live and thrive via its two lead performances. Chastain and Isaac, welcome additions to any on-screen project, have played a married couple before. In fact, 2014's A Most Violent Year also saw them navigate a stormy union — and it, like its main duo, was exceptional. The pair certainly know how to project intimacy on the red carpet, as they did at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Scenes From a Marriage. They don't falter in the series itself, even with a concept that could've played like an acting exercise. Again, the conceit is highlighted in those opening seconds of the duo as themselves; however, as Chastain and Isaac walk across the set that swiftly becomes their Mira and Jonathan's home — doing so with masks and distancing, because this was shot during the pandemic — they also help viewers step into their characters with them. When the camera is rolling rather than flashing, Chastain and Isaac are both experts at unpacking someone's entire emotional journey in just their gaze and stance. Accordingly, when the series flickers from the pair as actors to the duo as Mira and Jonathan, it feels seamless even though the artifice is being called out. They take the plunge, the audience does with them, and we all explore what's happened after Scenes From a Marriage's protagonists did just that. On-screen, opposites attracted, then this pair combined their lives and marched forward towards the future, and now everyone weathers the fallout. Chastain and Isaac are also masterful at responding to each other, and at letting those reactions tell as much of the story as the dialogue they're speaking. It's been done before, and will be again — officially and in everything else that's taken cues from the original Swedish series — but here and now, this series works as grippingly and movingly as it does because of its stars. No one can look away as they brush their teeth, share long looks and fling all manner of words at each other. They don't want to themselves, and neither do we. Check out the trailer below: The first two episodes of Scenes From a Marriage are available to stream via Binge, with new instalments dropping weekly. Images: Jojo Whilden/HBO.
Today, Eric Bana is a world-renowned film and TV star with a resume that spans Australian and Hollywood fare. Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Troy, Munich, Star Trek, Hanna, Aaron Falk movies The Dry and Force of Nature: The Dry 2, US television shows Dirty John and Untamed: they're all on the Aussie actor's resume. At the beginning of 2000, however, he had a part in The Castle as his sole big-screen appearance, alongside his small-screen sketch comedy work in the likes Full Frontal, plus a few episodes of medical drama All Saints. Then came Chopper. Ever since Bana portrayed Mark 'Chopper' Read in the exceptional Andrew Dominik (Blonde)-directed flick, it's been one of the first roles that springs to mind whenever anyone thinks about the Australian talent. Well-deserved accolades came his way, including Best Actor at the Australian Film Institute Awards (which have since become the AACTAs). If you need a reminder of why his performance demanded such praise — and the film, too — catching a 25th-anniversary cinema screening of the iconic feature will do the job. To celebrate a quarter of a century since Chopper first hit Aussie picture palaces, the film is returning to local big screens for a limited season from Thursday, August 21, 2025. As well as the movie itself — one of the finest Australian entries in the true-crime genre, and a stunning feature debut from Dominik — audiences will also see 13 minutes of bonus behind-the-scenes footage, chats with Bana, Dominik and Read among them. How does Bana look back on the role that made him an international movie star, and tells one of the most-infamous crime tales in Aussie history? "Chopper was an incredibly unique and distinctive character. Getting the chance to play someone like him is rare. It's always a treat if a film holds up over time, and I'm proud of its space in the Australian film landscape," he advises. This isn't Chopper's first return to the big screen — it also enjoyed 20th-anniversary sessions, pops up on retrospective programs and received the Hear My Eyes treatment at MIFF 2022 — but it's always worth watching in cinemas. Marking the leap from making music videos to features, the movie also helped catapult Dominik's career, too, with The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly and Blonde all following, plus episodes of Mindhunter, and Nick Cave-focused documentaries One More Time with Feeling and This Much I Know to Be True. Check out the 25th-anniversary trailer for Chopper below: Chopper is returning to Australian cinemas from Thursday, August 21, 2025.
If you've ever wandered into Heartbreaker at midnight, or were lucky enough to perch at The Everleigh or Bar Margaux, you've felt the Madrusan effect — fastidious drinks, generous service and a belief that the right cocktail can change the temperature of a night. Zara and Michael Madrusan's new book, The Madrusan Cocktail Companion, is that ethos on paper: a sprawling, meticulously organised reference designed to be used, dog-eared and returned to again and again. [caption id="attachment_854881" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Madrusan's iconic rock 'n' roll dive bar in Melbourne's CBD.[/caption] Originally designed as an in-house guide for their own teams, the Companion has evolved into what Zara describes as "the definitive reference guide for classic cocktails, young and old" — the result of years of collecting, perfecting and categorising recipes from across the globe. The finished product is a bible that is equal parts accessible and technical (and looks pretty chic on the coffee table, too). We caught up with the Madrusans to talk about their cocktail philosophies, the summer drink everyone will be sipping, and why aperitivo culture will never go out of style. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bartender's Choice Consultancy (@bartenderschoiceconsultancy) CP: Let's talk summer drinks — if you had to pick one cocktail as the drink of this Australian summer, what would it be and why? Zara: The Pepino: a Blanco tequila sour with cucumber. It's light, clean and fresh. Tequila is thriving and we're here for it. CP: What trends are you noticing right now in the way Australians are drinking — either in bars or at home? Zara: Agave spirits are more popular than ever with our guests, and for good reason. There are so many amazing products available to us now. With more emphasis on health and wellbeing, low sugar, savoury cocktails are also very popular with ingredients like ginger, chilli and tomato. The martini is still having a moment (which is also music to our ears). This ongoing trend is pushing the industry to experiment with the classic formula, as well as creative garnishing, and scale — we love a half-size Hoffman House directly from the freezer, lemon twist, personally. CP: Spritzes and lighter aperitivo-style drinks have been huge over the past few years. Do you think that momentum will continue, or is something else about to take its place? Zara: The thing about aperitivo drinks is that they were deeply embedded in [Italian] culture long before they were popularised in modern culture. To so many people around the globe, they're not just drinks — they're a moment in time. Aperitivo culture connects people. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Concrete Playground Melbourne (@concreteplaygroundmelbourne) CP: For readers who want to impress friends at home this summer, which recipe from the book would you recommend they start with? Zara: Five-star cocktails don't have to be big, fancy-looking drinks. Some of the best reactions we've received from guests have been when we've offered simple, creative tweaks to well-loved classics — like adding a few dashes of absinthe to the negroni to make a 'Quill' or 'Ritz Negroni'. A subtle change that transforms the flavour profile, giving a crisp, dry finish to the bittersweet classic. Start with a base that people already know and love. This is where The Madrusan Cocktail Companion works wonders — if you know they love Gimlets, head to the Gimlet branch and you'll find a whole chapter of variations to explore. CP: The book draws on cocktail history dating back to the 1800s. Do you see any "forgotten classics" making a comeback this season? Michael: There are so many forgotten classics that are worthy of a resurgence, and we really hope this book brings them out of the shadows. I'm a big fan of blending base spirits — gin and Cognac go well, especially in refreshing drinks like the "Stay Up Late" from 1951. Zara: There are age-old cocktail categories included in the book that we don't see enough of currently. Simple drinks like the Sherry Cobbler from the 1860s deserve a renaissance this summer. CP: Non-alcoholic and low-ABV options are now firmly part of the drinking culture. How did you approach including those in the book, and what's exciting in that space for summer? Zara: Non-alcoholic cocktails deserve to be interesting and complex. The rise in their popularity is no surprise and shows no sign of slowing. Similarly, low alcoholic cocktails are a no-brainer. People are drinking differently, and it's exciting. We pushed our peers around the globe particularly with this category and included two distinct chapters in the 'By Popular Request' section of the book — 'Aperitivo and Spritz', which contains various low-ABV options, and a separate 'Non Alcoholic' collection with drinks spanning all styles. Don't skip past 'La Piña' by Jessica Gonzalez of Nomad NYC for sober summertime sessions — a Piña Colada riff spiked with jalapeño and lengthened with soda. CP: The scale of this book is staggering — but how do you personally like to drink when you're off-duty at home? Zara: We like a simple frozen Martini. It's truly a poem in a drink. 'The Madrusan Cocktail Companion' is out now — available via Murdoch Books. Prefer to have your cocktails made for you? Check out Melbourne and Sydney's best bars. Images: Supplied
Decking out your house with budget-friendly homewares and furnishing your abode with meaningful items aren't mutually exclusive. A case in point: Kmart's First Nations program. The retailer highlights Indigenous talents by creating collections in collaboration with artists — and, crucially, making their work accessible en masse. The latest creative teaming up with the brand: Dharug and Darkinjung artist Kyralee Shields. As Wiradjuri artist Judith Young did in 2023, Shields has overseen her own range with the department store, which hits shelves — and online — on Thursday, April 4. Called Mudyin Ngurrawa, it takes its name from the Dharug term for "family on Country". As featured on bedding, candles, servingware, candles, wall art and more, the theme comes through in the designs, the use of colour and the tales told via her art. One pink-, green- and brown-heavy pattern spans bottlebrush and gum leaves, native flowers and yam daisies, and representations of the tides and mountains. Another splashes a pale pink hue around prominently, using circles, arcs, dots and drawings of message sticks to link to Shields' ancestors, her maternal grandmother in particular, her mother and her three children, and also represent the space between Shields and The Dreaming. Clearly, when Shields makes art, she's taking her cues from her Indigenous heritage while conveying her own identity, and also aiming to both express and inspire cultural pride. Her pieces tell a story, then, including about her family and her mother's experience as part of the Stolen Generations, with Shields working closely with Kmart's design team in Melbourne to ensure that it came through authentically and accurately in the Mudyin Ngurrawa collection. To witness the results, and fill your home with them, you can shop the range's 13 items, with prices starting at $5. For that amount, you can get a four-pack of napkins. From there, a two-pack of Mudyin Ngurrawa mugs costs $10, while $12 gets you a three-pack of tea towels, a plant pot or a serving board. A tablecloth costs $14 — as do two types of candle, a mountains and a wildflowers version, as sold separately. Or, opt for the enamel bowl for $18 or enamel tray for $25. The quilt set comes in two sizes, queen and king, for $20 and $24, respectively. And, a canvas to hang is priced at $29. "Collaborating with Kmart is a dream come true. It's allowed me to work with a brand I grew up with who provide quality, on-trend products that are accessible to a wide demographic. It has enabled me to share my art with a wider audience while working with a forward-thinking chain," said Shields about the range. "Having a brand like Kmart support First Nations artists provides broad exposure to our culture and heritage through art and storylines within the evolving contemporary style, which is important to me," she continued. "It's been so gratifying to work on this project with such a wonderful team of people. It's also been enlightening to see all the different aspects that took my original painting through to the completion of this incredible range that now line Kmart's shelves." Kmart and Kyralee Shields' Mudyin Ngurrawa collection is on sale online and in-store from Thursday, April 4, 2024.
Whenever Kmart drops a new homewares range — be it beachy and boho or colourful and cosy — it inspires a Pokémon-style response. If there's new linen, trinkets and furniture to buy, you've gotta deck out your house with them all. The Australian department store's latest must-buy pieces will spark the same reaction, too, all while heroing Wiradjuri artist Judith Young. She has teamed up with the retailer on the just-dropped Waluwin collection, the latest in the company's First Nations program. Waluwin is the Wiradjuri word for healing and good health, which Young is keen to highlight in the range of wooden bowls, serving platters, eucalyptus-scented candles, cotton quilt sets and more. Customers can also purchase other pieces of serving ware, tea towels, candles, decorative pots and a canvas art print. On sale since Monday, March 6 online and in-store, the collection keeps everything affordable — $10 gets you a reusable stainless steel tumbler, while queen bedding tops the price list at $65. Whatever you opt for, you'll see a leaf design that's "symbolic of the Waluwin way, and each leaf represents something different," Young explains. "Many Aboriginal people around this country will all have different varieties of plants and trees that they use to make them well, and that is part of the diverse story we have as Aboriginal people." We are all different, our artwork and stories are different, and each has deep significance, just as my markings have meaning to me and my family." For the Waluwin collection, Young drew upon her family's history, with her parents growing up along the Murrumbidgee River in Narrandera in New South Wales. Her mother Judith Williams (nee Johnson) was a watercolour artist, while her father Kevin Williams was a boomerang and artefact maker. Accordingly, watercolour painting and burning techniques both feature. So do lines representing tree carvings, dots that are all about mob coming together, circles that symbolise water holes, and plants such as wattle and tea tree. The collaboration with Kmart appealed to Young because "a lot of our mob positively connect and shop at Kmart around Australia," she notes. "So to have the opportunity to work with them on this collection will have an impact on family across Victoria, regional NSW, Sydney, Darwin and Adelaide. The deeper reason is that I felt that it was the right thing to do, from the first meeting the atmosphere in the head 0ffice with the design team set the flow for the entire collection." Together, Young and Kmart's design team worked through themes and topics within her artwork, including family traditions, and what various colours and markings mean. The aim: to ensure that each design has a story that connects to the land, and that exactly that came through in the finished products. "It was a new experience for me, working with a big company, and a challenge at first. The design team had respect not just for the image but the story and helped make it an easier process, as I did have some challenges with trust and getting out of my comfort zone — but to see how they were really careful when considering each marking, colour and every component was incredible. I felt respected and know that my story and that of my family has been honoured," Young continued. "From this collection, I want people to know my work is about health, healing, joy and peace, speaking to the importance of healthy minds, bodies and spirit. This comes from connecting with Country, eating well and listening to your surroundings. The collection is about covering yourself in a healthy way of living, from what you eat, drink, wear, and sleep under." Kmart and Judith Young's Waluwin collection is on sale online and in-store now.
If you're fond of cats big and small — fluffy, hair-free, scampering, sleeping and the like — then you'll know one golden rule: every day is better when there's meowing mousers involved. And, maybe you've secured that sweet situation thanks to your own purring pet. Or, perhaps you're just the kind of person who makes a beeline to any kitten they see, tries to become its best friend and can't focus on anything else while it's in the vicinity. Whichever fits, adding more cats to your day is something that every feline fan wants — and it's definitely a part of the Cat Protection Society of Victoria's new dream gig. It's a volunteer job, spanning a three-month stint in Melbourne, but it'll 100-percent bring kittens your way. The role: CPSV's official 'cat cuddler'. Yes, that's really what it's called. Obviously, what it entails is rather self-explanatory — because the lucky person who scores the position will be tasked with providing love, affection and enrichment to the cats and kittens in the society's care as they wait to be adopted. The word you're looking for? "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww". This is the organisation that offered cat cuddling gift vouchers as Christmas gifts last year, after all — but this is even cuter. The caveats: you'll need to be in Melbourne to take the gig, and you'll need to have a minimum of three hours per week — on one weekday each week, and during normal operating hours — to head to CPSV's adoption centre to give its kitties all those snuggles. If that sounds like you — or if you've got a pussy-loving pal that you know would love it — all applicants have until Friday, June 4 to apply to temporarily join the society's team of around 40 volunteers. To throw your name in the ring, you'll want to head to the CPSV website and upload a short video (up to two minutes max) that explains why you should be the official Cat Protection Society Cat Cuddler, and also complete the online application form. To apply for the Cat Protection Society of Victoria's 'cat cuddler' position before Friday, June 4, head to the organisation's website.
If you've been to Eagle Farm or Eat Street markets, you've likely lined up for Miss Claudes Crepes. They're not considered among the best in the city without good reason. In fact, the ravenous demand for their sweet treats has seen proprietors Naima Hughes and Justin Knudson open up their own New Farm cafe. At the slice of Paris on Brunswick Street, family recipes handed down from Naima's grandmother and mother — the eponymous Miss Claude — are cooked up for Brisbane's hungry masses. That includes salted caramel, chocolate, lemon meringue, banoffee, apple cinnamon pie and Nutella varieties. Nutella fans be warned: there's also a milkshake filled with your favourite hazelnut spread on the menu. Sticking with authentic French Normandie crepe tradition, savoury options are available as well. For anyone happy to forgo the fruit and ice cream-topped varieties, the famous brekkie crepe with bacon, scrambled egg, cheese, caramelised onion and our creamy homemade hollandaise, or lunch and dinner-appropriate servings of any meat and batter combination you desire are a must. Or, perhaps enjoy them as a main meal before a chocolate sauce-covered dessert.
Given the moment Asian street food is currently having in Australia, Westfield Garden City's new 8 Street food precinct could not have arrived at a more opportune time. The indoor food court, inspired by the hawker-style street markets found across Asia, houses 13 different food vendors. The fit out demonstrates an admirable commitment to concept. Wooden facades mimic East Asian architecture, specially imported tables and chairs lend consistency to the space, a beaten up old bicycle (plucked directly from the streets of China, we’re told) leans against a support pillar. The attention to detail is such that even the rubbish bins look like mini pagodas. It is certainly a surprise to find such an establishment inside a Westfield shopping centre and indeed, 8 Street is the first precinct of its kind. Though it's difficult to feel completely transported, the hustle and bustle (the place was crammed on our Thursday night visit) helps the atmosphere along, as of course does the food. The exuberant and eclectic (and affordable) Asian culinary culture of nearby Sunnybank is an easy point of comparison. In fact, if you frequent Sunnybank you will recognise the names of some of 8 Street’s stall holders. BBQ by Burlington carves up a selection of Chinese BBQ meats, but the roast duck pancake (house-made pancake filled with roasted duck, cucumber, spring onion, peanut and hoisin sauce) is just about an unbeatable eat and run meal at just $7.90. A close second would be any of the gua bao (Asian style burgers) from Grill n Bao, also priced at $7.90. For those who like to keep their hands and clothing clean while eating, Noodle 8 serves up tasty Malaysian noodles, including the Special Singapore fried rice noodle at $10.90 – far less messy than the aforementioned options. If you’re keen for some Japanese, head to Teppanyaki Lovers or Okonomi House; if you'd rather Korean, try Madtongsan; Taste Gallery specialises in Shanghai dumplings; Asian wonton soup is served at WON TON TON; skewered meats and vegetables get the BBQ treatment at Crazy Wings. BUN Vietnamese has a fairly extensive menu and Congee Master and Rice Town each offer a surprising number of topping variations. Sit back with a beer in one of two dedicated beer gardens (or grab one from a cart going past — just $5!), or grab a bubble tea from Gong Cha. 8 Street presents an unlikely food experience with pretty fine far — much more than just a novel convenience.
When someone spots a giant spider, they take notice, even when it's simply a tall metal piece of art. Seeing one of Louise Bourgeois' towering arachnids is indeed a stunning experience; however, so is watching people clock her lofty works. Her Maman sculptures demand attention. They're the type of public art that audiences just want to sit around, soak in and commune with. They're photo favourites, too, of course — and one is coming to Australia. This will be the first time that Maman has displayed Down Under, with the world-famous work heading to Sydney as part of Sydney International Art Series returns for 2023–24. As previously announced, Bourgeois is one of three hero talents scoring a blockbuster exhibition during event, alongside Wassily Kandinsky and Tacita Dean. And, the nine-metre-high, ten-metre-wide sculpture that she's best known for will be catching Aussie art lovers in its web. [caption id="attachment_914565" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Louise Bourgeois' Maman, located outside the National Gallery of Canada. Radagast via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] That said, there won't be any physical strings of silk — but Maman is that entrancing. The sculpture hails back to 1999, and boasts its name because it's a tribute to Bourgeois' mother. The artist described her mum as "deliberate, clever, patient, soothing... and [as] useful as a spider". If you're keen to see Maman on home soil, it'll sit on the forecourt of the Art Gallery of New South Wales' South Building from Saturday, November 25, 2023–Sunday, April 28, 2024 during Louise Bourgeois: Has the Day Invaded the Night, or Has the Night Invaded the Day?'s run. And if it sounds familiar, that's because you might've seen permanent installations of the bronze, steel and marble work outside the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo — or at the Tate Modern in the UK, National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville in Arkansas or the Qatar National Convention Center in Doha. [caption id="attachment_914560" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Louise Bourgeois 'Clouds and Caverns' 1982–89, metal, wood, 274.3 x 553.7 x 182.9 cm, Collection The Easton Foundation, New York, courtesy Kunstmuseum Den Haag © The Easton Foundation, photo: Christopher Burke.[/caption] "We are proud that the subject of our first major solo exhibition in our new SANAA-designed North Building, almost one year since opening, is the great Louise Bourgeois. We are honoured to introduce this deeply influential artist to new generations, and to have the opportunity to share the strange beauty and emotional power of her art with Sydney,' said Art Gallery of New South Wales director Michael Brand. "The scale of this exhibition, which is one of the most extensive ever dedicated to an international woman artist in Australia, demonstrates our commitment to revealing the depth and complexity of the artistic careers we explore and our commitment to celebrating the work of women artists in our collection and exhibitions." "We are proud to bring Maman, the largest spider sculpture ever made by Bourgeois, to Sydney for the very first time, and to be showcasing the extraordinary breadth of the artist's practice, which includes fabric sculpture, works on paper, bronzes, works from her series of Cells, mechanised sculpture, and more." [caption id="attachment_914563" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Louise Bourgeois 'Twosome' 1991, steel, paint, electric light, 190.5 x 193 x 1244.6 cm, Collection The Easton Foundation, New York © The Easton Foundation, photo: Elad Sarig.[/caption] A collaboration with The Easton Foundation in New York, Louise Bourgeois: Has the Day Invaded the Night, or Has the Night Invaded the Day? will showcase more than 150 works. It's the largest survey of Bourgeois' work ever displayed in Australia — and, as Brand mentioned, one of the most comprehensive ever devoted to a female artist in the country. The Bourgeois exhibition will display 13 years after the Paris-born artist passed away in New York in 2010, and after she stamped her imprint upon the art of the 20th century. Visitors to will see her Personage sculptures from the 1940s, textile works of the 1990s and 2000s, and plenty in-between, with the showcase playing up the duelling themes and ideas in her work by taking over AGNSW's major exhibition gallery and 'the Tank'. Other highlights include The Destruction of the Father, which is among the pieces that've never been displayed in Australia before; Crouching Spider, and one of the biggest works ever to grace the Tank; Clouds and Caverns, which is rarely seen in general; and the mirrored piece Has the Day Invaded the Night, or Has the Night Invaded the Day?, which shares the exhibition's moniker. [caption id="attachment_889027" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Louise Bourgeois, The destruction of the father 1974-2017, archival polyurethane, resin, wood, fabric and red light, 237.8 x 362.3 x 248.6 cm. Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland. Photo: Ron Amstutz. © The Easton Foundation.[/caption] Louise Bourgeois: Has the Day Invaded the Night, or Has the Night Invaded the Day? runs from Saturday, November 25, 2023–Sunday, April 28, 2024 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney, with tickets on sale from Wednesday, September 6. Sydney International Art Series runs from November 2023 — head to the AGNSW and MCA websites for further details. Top image: Louise Bourgeois 'Maman' 1999, installed during the exhibition 'Louise Bourgeois: To Unravel a Torment', Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, 3 December 2020 – 20 June 2021 © The Easton Foundation, photo: Filipe Braga.
At the moment, a visit to Victoria Park / Barrambin includes mini golf, picnics, walking dogs, pop-up outdoor cinemas and green fairs. In the future, it'll involve roving around a 64-hectare parkland, which'll feature a tree house lookout, water play gully, high-ropes course, mountain bike track, reinstated water holes and wetlands, and a community edible garden, too. That's the proposal for the Herston site, one that's now locked in thanks to Brisbane City Council's just-revealed master plan. Yes, this patch of Brisbane is about to look a whole lot different. Change is coming to the entire city of Brisbane over the next decade — hosting the Olympics will do that — but revamping Victoria Park / Barrambin has been in the works long before that news. First announced in mid-2019, the new vision for the inner-city spot received a draft master plan back in 2022, with BCC confirming the final details after community feedback. Plenty has happened with the revamp over the past few years. The council first undertook a months-long community consultation process, with more than 5400 people tendering submissions and over 3500 folks showing up to an open day back in September 2019. Then, it unveiled an overview of the best suggestions in December that year, which it combined with advice from local and international design experts to come up with a new draft proposal that it also asked for feedback on. In 2020, it released another plan — and in 2021, it closed the golf course and opened up a heap of parkland, too, as an early step. Now arrives confirmation of what's in store, much of which is familiar from past iterations. Crucially, both the draft and finalised master plan take into consideration that future works will need to cater for Victoria Park's temporary equestrian cross-country course, and its role as the host of BMX freestyle events, during the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. So, moseying through wetlands, riding along rainforest mountain-bike trails, peering out from a treehouse lookout to take in views of the city skyline and mountain ranges, and climbing a high-ropes course — they're all included, all on the edge of Brisbane's CBD. Also on the agenda: a cafe as part of the lookout, an entire 'adventure valley' including the bike track and high-ropes setup, another water play area alongside the nature water play gully, and an adventure playground. The existing pedestrian and bikeway bridge will get an upgrade, and there'll be a community sports precinct as well. And, an Education Hub, too, as well as a dog park. Ample shady foliage, including revegetated forests and pockets of native bushland, will also feature. Indeed, regarding all that greenery, tens of thousands of trees will be a huge highlight, creating 60-percent canopy cover. "Victoria Park represents a unique opportunity to deliver a new destination for Brisbane that is loved by residents and visitors alike," said Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, announcing the master plan. "Restoring the natural landscape, wetlands and watering holes, massively increasing tree cover and introducing nature-based play spaces, including a tree house, are all part of the exciting final plan." A completion date for the complete revamped park is yet to be set, other than after the Olympics. When the full makeover is done, the transformed Victoria Park will become Brisbane's biggest new park in five decades, and one that'll alter the face of the inner city. "What Expo 88 did for South Bank, the Brisbane 2032 Games can do for Victoria Park," said Schrinner. "Those parts of the park that will host venues will be transformed after the Games, which is common sense." Find Victoria Park / Barrambin on Herston Road, Herston. For more information about the overall transformation, visit the Brisbane City Council website.
From a 140-year-old watering hole on Lutwyche Road to a spot to sip brews on Bribie Island — and including a Bald Hills mainstay, too — plenty of Brisbane pubs have been getting big makeovers over the past few years. Actually, be precise, a heap of Brissie pubs owned by Australian Venue Co have been undergoing facelifts, and the Salisbury Hotel in the city's south is one of them. This Toohey Road spot reopened in April 2022 after a hefty revamp to the tune of $1.6 million. The big change: a huge new beer garden, so you've now got somewhere leafy to sit while you're knocking back beverages. Filled with picnic-style tables topped with striped umbrellas, and sprawling out over a scenic stretch of grass, the beer garden caters to 108 people in two sections, with one for the bistro and the other for the sports bar. Accordingly, whether you're heading by just for a drink or for a meal, sunshine awaits — or, at night, hanging out beneath the strung-up fairy lights. Both the bistro and sports bar have also undergone a refresh, with the former offering up a family-friendly space for bites to eat and the latter decked out with big screens. Menu-wise, the bistro is going heavy on pub classics; think: parmigianas, schnitzels, burgers and pizza, plus pork belly, cob loaf, fried pickles and loaded wedges. Other highlights include prawn linguine, mushroom gnocchi and spiced pumpkin fritters, plus steaks from the grill, a Thai-inspired beef salad, and sticky date pudding, rocky road and baked cheesecake for dessert. If you're looking for a reason to drop in on a particular night, the Salisbury is dedicating Tuesdays to $16 parmigianas and schnitties, doing trivia nights on Wednesdays, and hosting live music on Fridays and Sundays. For those eager to spend the night, the Salisbury also does accommodation — and its 16 rooms, both internal and external, have been refurbished as well.
Got some old vintage lying around? Stop, drop and SWOP it. This West End clothing exchange is here to encourage unique and original sustainable fashion. The store is a hive for finding that one-off piece your wardrobe simply needs. Buyers are big on inclusivity as well as promoting anti-waste, so most of the clothing you'll find is affordable, and there tends to be plenty of options for all body types. Plus, the racks are sorted into colour-coded sections, so you'll be able to sort through a rainbow of clothes when choosing your next preloved selection.
They say everything in moderation but not this season. How can you keep things in check when Brisbane's throwing a cheese festival, an ice cream festival and not one, but three festivals dedicated to beer? You can't. So lean in and get amongst it. Have your cake (and your camembert and chocolate gelato) and eat it, too.
UPDATE: JULY 21, 2020 — At the moment, the Winston Quinn gin tasting room is available for pre-booked, ticketed sessions only. The 90-minute sitting includes a four-gin tasting paddle, accompanied by tonic, soda, garnishes and tasting notes, all for $30. For more information on future ticket releases, head to the distillery's website. Step inside Winston Quinn's Fortitude Valley warehouse, and you'll find one type of beverage on the menu: gin. That's all the Brisbane distillery makes and, in its freshly launched tasting room, that's all it sells as well. "We joke if people would like a gin, a gin or a gin," explains founder Megan Donsky. Of course, there are plenty of varieties of the beloved juniper-based spirit, as every gin lover knows — and plenty of ways to serve it, too. Winston Quinn whips up four types: Dry Cut, a citrus-flavoured tipple made with fresh lemon, orange rind and lemon myrtle; Skinny Jeans, a blue-hued gin with floral flavours; Pink Fit, which is infused with elderflower, grapefruit, wild apple and strawberry; and Slim Crop, which heroes cucumber. And, it offers tasting paddles ($30) featuring all four, cocktails made with each ($18–35), and gin and tonics ($12.50) boasting whichever one you choose. If you're eager for a cocktail, highlights include the Skinny Martini ($18), the Dry Cut Negroni ($20) and the Winston Jug ($35), with the latter featuring both Skinny Jeans and Pink Fit gins. Mocktails are also on offer for those eager to enjoy the taste but not the booze, and all drinks can be paired with a cheese board ($25) or a meat and olive tasting plate ($25). Customers can also purchase both 200-millilitre ($30) and 700-millilitre ($85–89) takeaway bottles — and you'll receive $10 off the latter if you book in for a tasting. Also included in those 90-minute sessions: either the aforementioned tasting paddle and a G&T (for $30), or a cocktail (for $20). Now open in a 60s-era brick building on Prospect Street, Winston Quinn Gin's tasting room was originally slated to launch earlier in the year. In fact, it was just one week away from opening when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The site has a cosy yet light and airy feel, decor-wise, and it's only open to 20 people at a time at present, in line with Queensland's current restrictions. And if you're wondering about the distillery's moniker — and its dog logo, which is prominent both on its bottles and in the tasting room — Donsky named the place after her two golden retrievers.
Getting to Howard Smith Wharves just got easier, especially travelling to the revamped space beneath the Story Bridge via the very thing it peers out over: the Brisbane River. While the site's ferry terminal opened in December 2021, and the CityHopper and Cross River Ferry Service have been servicing it since, the CBD spot is only now becoming part of the CityCat route. From Monday, May 27, 2024, you can cruise into and out of Howard Smith Wharves all day each day. The first services start at 6.10am daily, and the last run at around 11.30pm on weeknights and midnight on weekends. So, there's no more needing to get off at Riverside and walk up to HSW — even if that stroll does come with a nice riverside vantage. If you're thinking "finally", that's understandable. Any new riverside precinct in inner-city Brisbane was always going to need to be part of the CityCat network — and 45,000 people per year have already been getting to Howard Smith Wharves via the CityHopper and Cross River Ferry Service. "Howard Smith Wharves is not only one of Brisbane's most beloved entertainment areas, but directly linked to the iconic Fortitude Valley precinct, so a permanent CityCat stop at the wharves makes perfect sense," said Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. "The introduction of these daily services will mean that more people can easily travel between Howard Smith Wharves, the city and South Bank, as well as a host of other terminals along the river as they see the best of Brisbane." The CityHopper and Cross River Ferry Service will keep running as they have been, giving folks a heap of ways to get to HSW via the river, but the CityHopper will move its timings by three minutes. Howard Smith Wharves started opening in late 2018, giving Brisbane a riverside brewery in the heart of the city — plus everything from Japanese, Greek and Cantonese restaurants to an overwater bar. Since then, it's been making the most of its perch by the water in every way except one; however, that's changed now that it's part of the now-19 stop CityCat network. Getting there and back via CityCat from Monday, August 5 will also only cost you 50 cents per journey for six months, when the Queensland Government slashes all Translink public transport fares to half a dollar for half a year. CityCat services to and from Howard Smith Wharves, which is located at 5 Boundary Street, Brisbane, commenced on Monday, May 27, 2024. Head to the Translink website for timetables and further details. Top image: Reuben Nutt.
The predictably sole stay available in the Zig-Zag-occupied Republic of Zubrowka, Wes Anderson's mighty Grand Budapest Hotel is quietly killing it over at Trip Advisor. With its own page up for user reviews, photos and generous applause for its cable car access, mountaintop location, satisfying concierge and significant amount of available rooms, the fictional hotel is now rated higher than Paramus, New Jersey's Holiday Inn Express. Seems the marketing team have pulled one humdinger of a stunt, celebrating the UK DVD/Blu-ray release of The Grand Budapest Hotel. If only Trip Advisor had been around for The Shining, they might have pulled a few more winter guests. The official description, as provided by the 200-room 'hotel' reads as follows: Located in the mountainous Republic of Zubrowka and reached by funicular railway The Grand Budapest Hotel has all the advantages of being secluded amongst nature, while having attractions including the Kunst Museum and Mendl’s Patisserie close at hand. Famed for its staffs’ meticulous attention to detail and commitment to the wellbeing of its residents this hotel proves to be the perfect retreat — you’ll never experience anything quite like the Grand Budapest Hotel. True to Trip Advisor form, the comments section is the best bit. Whether fuelled by fans or the marketing team themselves, there's some chortleworthy digs in there for fans of Anderson's wonderfully whimsical hotel: "I am a lady in my 80s and I had the pleasure of staying in this wonderful hotel. Charming, luxurious, soothing, breathtaking... these are just some of the words I'd use to describe the concierge. Simply put, Gustav blew my mind. The hotel wasn't bad either." "Its best days may be behind it, but it's at least quiet, and you never have to wait for a table at dinner time." "As much as I enjoy the solitude, though, it's not perfect. The elevator has the odor of some strong cologne that just won't dissipate, and every so often a VERY creepy old man wanders around and sleeps in the servant's quarters. I'm sorry, but somebody like that has no business amongst the classes that would be staying in a grand hotel." "One of the few genuinely historic buildings remaining in Zig-Zag-occupied Zubrowka. The concierge is lazy, but also quite accommodating." Marketing teams for The Exotic Marigold Hotel, Bates Motel and Hotel Transylvania are face palming right now. Via Indiewire and IWATCHSTUFF.
Brisbane has long been partial to a party boat. The Island did the honours from the 80s through until early last decade, Seadeck has cruised the river over the past couple of years, and Yot Club been sailing into the city's waters for a while now, too. The latter has been making quite a big splash, in fact — as you'd expect from a huge yacht with two bars, a stage, a dance floor and, in normal times, a 400-person capacity. Floating down the river again 2022, Yot Club's shindigs pop up in batches — and there are plenty in store until the end of the year. The glamorous, custom-built vessel calls itself "the world's first super yacht entertainment venue", and it's certainly something that southeast Queensland hadn't seen before it hit our waters. Sprawling over two levels, it measures nearly 40-metres long and over 22-metres wide, and blends a licensed floating club and a luxe function space. With lounges across an open deck and undercover, a VIP room in the hull, and the promise of bands and DJs on its lineup, Yot Club wants to be the region's one-stop watery hangout. It serves up more than water, of course, thanks to a menu of classic and creative cocktails, plus brews chilled in the 45-keg-capacity cool room. Yot Club sets off from City Botanic Gardens River Hub, with tickets prices varying depending on the day and time you're planning to hop onboard. For its current run of dates, you can pick winter-themed sessions in both daytime (12.30–3.30pm) and evening slots (6–9pm) until the end of August, and spring fiestas at the same times once the season changes. There are also Sunday lunch (11.30am–2pm), or you can your weekend with some Sunday arvo R&B tunes (4.30–7.30pm). Images: Richard Greenwood / Yot Club. Updated August 19.
Paddington's newest cafe calls itself "the friendly place on the terrace", and with the food and the vibe they're serving up, it's hard not to agree. Or, just take at look at their surroundings for starters. A cosy courtyard filled with wooden outdoor furniture and ample greenery — who doesn't want to eat breakfast, brunch, lunch or a daytime snack there? So, there's no doubting that Cafe Bema looks the part, and feels it too. Luckily, the meals and snacks whipped up by Chef Benny Loh promise to send your tastebuds into the same territory. Encrusted macadamia snapper with orange creamy sauce is his signature dish, if you're feeling decadent. Or, try the blueberry pancakes with caramel ice cream if you're looking to start the day well. There are plenty of other options where they came from: a Singapore-style breakfast of nasi lemak, beef burgers on black brioche buns, chicken curry and the old fave that is avo, fetta and poached eggs, for example. Drinks wise, if you're after something other than Genovese coffee, a lamington, charco choc or muddy caramel milkshake should hit the spot.
Earlier in 2021, Wildflower Gin grabbed everyone's attention in a very tasty way: by releasing a limited-edition lamington-flavoured tipple. Now, the Gold Coast distillery has launched something else that'll tempt fans of a stiff drink, opening a bar at its Varsity Lakes base. Originally, the Scottsdale Drive spot operated as a cellar door; however, now you can do more than just pick up a bottle. Since Saturday, March 13, it has been pouring cocktails to eager drinkers, who can sip its regular range and try its one-off specials while sitting on antique leather chairs. Heading the menu is Wildflower Gin's lineup of cocktails, including the 'Honeycomb' ($18) and a pink gin sour ($18) — both of which use honey from the distillery's bees. The venue's version of a negroni ($18) uses barrel-aged oaked gin, as well as dehydrated honey-soaked orange, while the lamington espresso martini ($18) heroes the aforementioned lamington vodka, alongside coffee liqueur, fresh coffee and honey. You can also build your own G&T ($10), if that's the type of cocktail you prefer. Just pick from three kinds of gin, four tonics and seven garnishes — and four different types of glass. Decor-wise, vintage collectibles including a piano, typewriters and antique phones are a feature, as is a chandelier made from the old rim of a Ford Model T. The latter has personal significance for Wildflower Gin founder James Greig, as it used to hang in the house he grew up in. Wildflower's gin-making and gin-tasting classes will continue, too. If you're feeling peckish over a drink, though, it's strictly a bring-your-own-food affair — or you can order in while you're there. Booking a table is recommended, and can also bring your pooch in with you.
Love pastries? Work, live or otherwise spend your daylight hours in the Brisbane CBD? As obsessed with Lune Croissanterie as every other croissant fiend is? Then, much to the delight of your tastebuds, Lune's second Brissie location in Burnett Lane is here to satisfy all your croissant cravings. The store came a year after the brand launch its first Brissie store in South Brisbane back in August 2021, which marked its first-ever outpost beyond its Melbourne base. The Burnett Lane spot is Lune's second location beyond Melbourne, too, with Brisbane scoring two shops before Sydney even got one. On the menu from 7.30am on weekdays and 8am on weekends: all those baked goods that Lune fans know and love — traditional French croissants which take three days to prepare, of course, as well as everything from lemon curd cruffins and morning buns to its rotating range of monthly specials. The laneway shop is a satellite store, mirroring the brand's two-location setup down south. Indeed, if you've been to Lune's Melbourne CBD venue, you'll know how the Brisbane setup will run. Pastry production isn't part of the Burnett Lane outpost, with Lune's wares made raw back over on Manning Street before being driven over to the city via refrigerated van. Then, they're proven overnight onsite in the CBD, and baked fresh throughout the day. If you're yet to experience the chain's wares and you're still wondering why everyone is always talking about them, Lune's croissants have been described as "the finest you will find anywhere in the world" by The New York Times. Plus, founder Kate Reid is an ex-Formula 1 aerodynamicist, and brings scientific precision to her craft. That includes the climate-controlled glass cube that Lune croissants are made and baked in, and the time-consuming process used to perfect each flaky pastry.
