With the FIFA World Cup kicking off shortly, Nike Football has released part three of its #riskeverything campaign. The film – "The Last Game" – is a five-minute animated feature starring some of the world's greatest footballers, on a mission to save football from the hands of a villainous mastermind, The Scientist. Let the games begin.
Happiness is contagious. If you've ever had a bad day, and let's face it we all have, then you know that simply being around uplifting and optimistic people can turn a frown upside down. One small random act of kindness or a few words of encouragement, even if from a complete stranger, can change the way we feel about ourselves, how we treat others and how we approach life each day. The San Francisco Mirrors Project aims to put an extra spring in everyone's step by doing just that, spreading a little happiness. If kickstarted, creator Akin Bilgic will form a public art installation by hanging 3 x 1.5 foot mirrors on walls and buildings throughout the city, each with a single sentence message of inspiration, hope, encouragement or positivity on them. "Track down your favorite teacher and thank them for getting you where you are today" and "Looking good. Ask him/her out for coffee today" are just a couple of the feel-good phrases that will be inscribed on the mirrors. Bilgic's goal is to get passersby to take a moment to look in the mirrors, take the messages to heart and walk away feeling confident and happier, ultimately spreading that happiness to the people they interact with. Although the Mirrors Project will only take place in San Francisco, with a pay-it-forward attitude the installations could easily be spread worldwide.
We've all been there at one time or another — in front of that iconic view, the one we've seen a thousand times or more in encyclopaedias, atlases, on the back of postcards, on the television and in our wildest dreams. When it happens, you feel a flutter in your heart and you remember what it felt like to make mud pies as a child; you're elated, carefree and enraptured, all for the most fleeting moment. That's when it happens. You reach into your pocket/handbag/knapsack and pull out your camera. You must remember this moment (that feeling!) forever and ever. The flash goes off once, twice, three times. No, no, that one's blurry. Delete. Take it again! You stand over there. Jump on the count of three! Yes, all of you! At once! OK, here we go one, two... Corinne Vionnet, in an astute observation into the perception of the 'tourist' experience, has made some amazing art out of that moment - that second of pure happiness that is superseded by crazed, paparazzi style photography, leading the sanest of us into a blinding, bulb flashing fury. Sourcing images of some of the world's most iconic sights from the internet, Vionnet's project Photo Opportunities layers hundreds of such images upon each other to create haunting landscapes of profoundly significant earthly wonders. Drawing on the abject, the images appear almost painted, begging questions about reality of experience and perception and our collective cultural consciousness.
This week Art/Work sits down for a cuppa with artist Keg de Souza. Keg is one cool little lady who never fails to have her fingers in every pie. From social activist to book binder to screen printer to Rizzeria handler to tour guide to pun maker to home brewer - how she manages to fit in her day job, we don't know... Most days you'll find me starting my day by walking our snowdog to get a coffee, (for me, not him) reading the paper then I begin my 'working' day by checking emails and whittling away at whatever project I'm working on at the time - sometimes it's exciting like building a boat to paddle across the harbour, sewing a giant inflatable igloo or binding a book but most likely it's life administration which usually takes up the better part of my day! When I am not there I am at the Bookbinding Guild making books, if it's a Wednesday. I also often work collaboratively so sometimes I'm working or meeting with the various groups I'm in; SquatSpace, You Are Here or the Rizzeria. Basically I'm usually scheming about something. My day job is working as an educator at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The rest of the time I do odd bits of illustration, run workshops and whatever casual paid work I can muster up. At the moment I am working on researching a project based around the Rocks area, continuing my interest in neighbourhoods. It's just the beginning of the project but I have already found some pretty great stories from the area and I am excited to create a new work there. Also, I'm collecting broken umbrellas for it - so if you have any send them my way! If money wasn't an issue I'd just do more making and less of the other odd jobs. Being an artist in Sydney can be a struggle, just living in Sydney can be a struggle but I find that often inspires me to make stuff about that very thing. My neighbourhood is Waterloo, right next to Redfern Park which is a pretty great. In 2005 due to the anxiety we were feeling about the area's mysterious and rapid changes, SquatSpace - one of the collectives I work with, developed the Redfern/Waterloo Tour of Beauty. The tours take people on bike and bus tours of the area with various local speakers. We've been running these since then so I feel pretty connected to the area. The area has, and continues to change a lot. The rapid gentrification of the area is pretty intense - there is a fast spreading new-café rash across the park on Redfern Street and then there's Danks Street to the East but don't even get me started on that. All I can say is thank goodness for the Public Housing so we have a little diversity still, at the moment… My favourite spot in Sydney is listening to the bats in the Botanic Gardens, which unfortunately is all about to change with the plans that are already in place to evict them…wah. For a full rundown on all of Keg's projects click here or for her blog click here.
In the decade since her gone-too-soon death in 2012, Whitney Houston has proven one of filmmaking's greatest loves of all. No fewer than five movies have told her tale, including documentaries Whitney: Can I Be Me and Whitney. And, that's without including a feature about her daughter Bobbi Kristina, a miniseries focused on her ex-husband Bobby Brown and dramas clearly based on her story. If she was still alive, a movie like Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody would've still reached screens at some point, though. Hollywood adores music biopics, especially lately, with Houston's latest stint in the celluloid spotlight following Elvis, Respect, The United States vs Billie Holiday, Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody in recent years alone. I Wanna Dance with Somebody even shares screenwriter Anthony McCarten with the latter — formula and inevitability combining, as is this genre's repeated refrain. All of that attention has been echoing around Houston for obvious — and patently well-documented — reasons. Her mezzo-soprano voice, which earned her the nickname "The Voice", soared to stratospheric and literally breathtaking levels. She still holds the record for the most consecutive number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, which she took from The Beatles and the Bee Gees, as her career zoomed skyward as well. Houston's list of hits is massive and varied, spanning ballads such as 'Saving All My Love For You', dancefloor-filling pop like 'How Will I Know' and the anthemic 'I'm Every Woman', to name a mere few tracks. That swift rise from New Jersey church choir member to one of the biggest bestselling music artists ever was matched by tabloid-fodder lows, however, and that tragic passing — and I Wanna Dance with Somebody charts it all. Taking its name from one of Houston's most exuberant singles isn't just a music biopic 101 move, although it's definitely that. Director Kasi Lemmons (Harriet) follows the standard Wikipedia entry-like genre template, piecing together all of the requisite details, but she wants those titular words to constantly make a statement. Houston does want to dance — one of the strengths of that 80s tune has always been how genuine it feels — with the phrase used here to reflect how Whitney (Naomi Ackie, Master of None) just wants to be herself, to be loved as such, and openly be with Robyn Crawford (Nafessa Williams, Black Lightning). While still dreaming of success, Whitney and Robyn meet and sparks fly, but the times, attitudes and the demands of fame don't treat their romance kindly. I Wanna Dance with Somebody doesn't shy away from their relationship, or from the disapproval of Whitney's gospel singer mother Cissy Houston (Tamara Tunie, Cowboy Bebop) and stern father John (Clarke Peters, The Man Who Fell to Earth). Whitney just wants to keep her hair short and wear jeans, too, but being a young Black woman in the 80s shooting for music stardom comes with demands. I Wanna Dance with Somebody is never so simplistic to equate having to don dresses and wigs with not being able to be true to her sexuality, but it paints a picture of a woman consistently forced to put others' expectations of her first. So, after being signed to Arista Records at 19 by producer and executive Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci, The King's Man), Whitney becomes America's princess next door. I Wanna Dance with Somebody doesn't ignore her willingness to play the game, either — to perform the part she's told to if it means she'll keep rocketing higher, as a scene recreating the 'How Will I Know' music video shows — but the film's thesis is plain: made to be someone she wasn't, and stripped of the support she always wanted, this tale was unlikely to have a happy ending. Joining the list of Lady Macbeth actors going on to huge things — the other: Florence Pugh — Ackie gives a commanding, multi-layered performance as the conflicted Houston. I Wanna Dance with Somebody is more concerned with attitude and emotion than strict physical resemblance, and it works. That the film is raw, heartfelt and moving in conveying Whitney's plight, including through her criticism for being too white, tumultuous relationship with Brown, moving into cinema with The Bodyguard, battles with her dad over his management and her substance-abuse troubles, all comes down to that pivotal portrayal. Indeed, such is the power in Ackie's efforts, she's still a tour-de-force while she's lip-synching. Smartly, Lemmons uses Houston's own vocals. When you're making a movie about "The Voice", you need to let your audience hear said voice. Visibly, is Ackie singing herself — the feature just dubs in the star she's playing over the top — and, unsurprisingly, the scenes where Whitney is on a stage or behind a microphone are high among I Wanna Dance with Somebody's standouts. In a film that's impassioned, too, serving up electrifying performance recreations is a wise move. Baz Luhrmann's Elvis turned concert scenes into a dizzying, multi-sensory, like-you're-there art, helping demonstrate why its subject had such an impact — an approach Lemmons and her cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (The Old Guard) apply to expressing Houston's immense vocal talent. Among the key Whitney moments restaged: singing 'Home' during her 1983 stint on The Merv Griffin Show shortly after being signed by Davis, her slowed-down version of the American national anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl, busting out 'I Will Always Love You' at The Concert for a New South Africa in 1994 and her American Music Awards medley of 'I Loves You Porgy', 'And I Am Telling You' and 'I Have Nothing' that same year. Throughout the script, talk turns to breathing, challenges and the mechanics of crooning — belting out that above trio is dubbed "climbing Mount Everest without oxygen" — but seeing is believing. Spying Ackie's arms outstretched, spreading far and wide as Houston reaches for those high notes, is a potent and understandably repeated sight. Still, unlike the singer at its centre, I Wanna Dance with Somebody is content with staying in expected territory. That makes for a rousing yet routine addition to the music biopic canon — and, because Lemmons and McCarten are committed to covering as much as possible, a rushed one as well despite its 146-minute running time. As proves the case of many famous figures who earn dramatisations of their lives, there's so much to include here that multiple movies could've easily eventuated. Again, plenty of other films about Houston have already. This jam-packed on-screen dance wants to have it all and show where Houston's broken heart went, but it doesn't burn deep enough to last.
It isn't often that Americans seek inspiration from Australia; our humble shores are prone to mimicking rather than leading by example. And yet, just last week, Melbourne boys Chris McPherson and Chris Rendell launched Flinders Lane, a New York eatery inspired by their home city. "Most of the Australian restaurants in the city are like Outback Steakhouse or the Crocodile Dundee sort of vision," McPherson told the Village Voice. "We wanted to bring back what's actually there." Their venue, which opened on February 3, is full of the cross-section of cultures and cuisines that is so unique to Australia. McPherson and Rendell met a few years back, quickly agreeing on the need to plot a restaurant that would pay homage to modern Australian food. Predominately driven by a serious case of homesickness, the Aussie expats quickly set to work, establishing a spot for contemporary Australian cooking, a long way from home. The result? A delicious array of fresh seafood and Australian fruit and veg, from chef Rendell. Many dishes also sport an identifiable Asian influence — highlights include tandoori rabbit, steamed snapper in sesame broth and a chicken san choy bau. Drinks-wise, the boys aim to offer a boutique selection of domestic and international wines, as well as a seasonal cocktail list, steering away from the heavy Shirazes that characterise many stereotypical perceptions of an Australian drop. Three tap beers, including the classic Coopers Green, are also available to accompany your grub. The 40-seat eatery isn't covered with Melbournalia; its sleek, pared-back look is a more subtle nod to the city. There is, however, a stunning collection of Melbourne photography, including a massive print of namesake Flinders Lane on the back wall. Flinders Lane New York is located in the East Village: 162 Ave A, 212-228-6900. Via Fork in the Road.
Pull of the Moon is a joint exhibition by Elisa Jane Carmichael and Ellie Anderson that explores and draws inspiration from the natural world — specifically, the effect of the moon. Their works mix together and stand alone singularly to create a truly unique set of art that adheres to a theme and creates a tonal vibe that encompasses lunar power and earthly wonder. Based on and inspired by her recent travels in Mexico, Ellie Anderson has created works that look at the effect of the moon on aquatic life, using the pacific coast of Mexico as her focus. Ellie works with large canvases, ink drawings, and silkscreen prints on fabric and wood for her work, all of her work is incredibly detailed and visually striking. Elisa Jane Carmichael creates art by painting, drawing, weaving, sculpting. In addition to this, certain works have been made with marine debris from the Quandamooka waters. Her work in this exhibition will focus on the moons effect on the tides, and the flotsam and jetsam those tides leave behind.
UPDATE: July 6, 2020: Seberg is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. Sorry, fans of Twilight — the most fascinating thing about the terrible vampire franchise is the haunted look in Kristen Stewart's eyes. If you were being particularly unkind to the blockbuster saga that catapulted her to superstardom, you might incorrectly call that expression boredom, but the same gaze has lingered in much of the actor's work since she stopped cuddling up to a fanged Robert Pattinson. It's the look of someone grappling with deep-seated uncertainty and conflict — that is, the type of character that has marked Stewart's superb post-Twilight roles in Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper and Certain Women. And, after a big-budget detour through Charlie's Angels' average action antics, plus dismal Alien ripoff Underwater, it's an expression she once again sports with purpose and potency in biopic Seberg. Jean Seberg, the American actor plucked from a talent search by director Otto Preminger when she was still a teenager, then cast in the starring role of Joan of Arc in her very first film, also had that same look. It's evident in her famed debut performance in 1957's Saint Joan, in her melancholy turn in Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse, and in French new wave masterpiece Breathless, the movie that cemented her place in cinema history. As Seberg shows through Stewart's dynamic yet quietly anguishedportrayal, however, that gaze became a constant off-camera as well. Focusing on a mere sliver of her career, rather than charting its eponymous figure's birth-to-death story, this engaging, intriguing thriller illustrates why a star who was acclaimed and adored across two continents came to brandish such inner sorrow — and why that, and not her career highlights, has earned this involving film's attention. Charting scandals of both the political and personal kind, infuriating government espionage and America's heated racial divisions, this twisty true tale was always going to make it the big screen. Set against the backdrop of Hollywood's fading heyday — the same period that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood chronicled so well so recently — it's the story of a woman punished, like the causes she fought to support, for refusing to remain in her place. Seberg is already an international star when the movie that bears her surname begins. It's 1968 and, following her first big roles, she has spent almost a decade setting up a life in Paris. At the urging of her agent (Stephen Root), she flies back to the US to make a few undemanding genre movies, only to fall afoul of the FBI as soon as she steps onto the tarmac. Seberg's crime? Being sympathetic to Black Power activist Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie) while they're in the air, joining him in a raised-fist salute when they hit the ground and — despite the fact that she has a husband (Yvan Attal) and Jamal has a wife (Zazie Beetz) — falling into bed with her new friend as well. Already surveilling Jamal, the FBI starts bugging Seberg too, tasking tech-savvy newcomer Jack Solomon (O'Connell) and heavy-handed veteran Carl Kowalski (Vince Vaughn) with listening in on her every move. As she donates to Jamal's civil rights efforts, using her status to draw attention to his cause, the government decides that she's an enemy. Through the tabloids, she's also easy to torment, discredit and destroy publicly. As the FBI's tactics ramp up, Seberg understandably reacts, while Solomon questions the morality of this state-sanctioned persecution. It's by no means a criticism of O'Connell that his storyline proves Seberg's weakest link. Whether his character is eavesdropping on his target or arguing with his medical student wife (Margaret Qualley) about his long hours, the Skins breakout turned '71 and Money Monster star is reliably excellent — but his part of the narrative always feels superfluous. In a tale about law enforcement secretly and maliciously harassing a real-life famous actor because the powers-that-be dislike her political affiliations, it's the victim that's of far greater interest, not the agony felt by one of the fictionalised perpetrators. That's doubly the case with an iconic figure such as Seberg and with such a tragic true story, something that screenwriters Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse (The Aftermath) occasionally seem to forget. That said, O'Connell's character does serve an important purpose, anchoring the film's visual approach. By giving Solomon's work-mandated spying such prominence, Australian filmmaker Benedict Andrews (Una) and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Mudbound) give their movie an observational air, like it's surreptitiously peering at Seberg's most intimate moments as well. And that look and feel is essential. Helped by top-notch production and costume design — Seberg's hilltop Los Angeles house is all windows, boxing her into a glass cage above the world, for example — Seberg steals a meaningful glimpse at the woman behind the celebrity, smears and scrutiny. It stares deeply and carefully, seeing that haunted look that Stewart wears so commandingly, and demonstrating why that tortured gaze says everything about Jean Seberg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANJZWxsQ8Ag
Just like Australian television's 80s golden couple Scott and Charlene — aka Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue — everyone heads back to Ramsay Street at some point. It's true of viewers who tuned in to watch Neighbours wrap up its 37-year run earlier in 2022, and it's now true about the TV show itself, too. After that big star-studded farewell midyear, complete with the return of Donovan, Minogue and fellow big-name past stars Margot Robbie and Guy Pearce, the Australian soap opera will now make a comeback in 2023. Because everybody needs more Neighbours, Amazon is behind the revival via its free, ad-supported Amazon Freevee streaming service (which was formerly known as IMDb TV). That's where the series will air in the UK and US from the second half of next year. But it'll be available via Network Ten and Prime Video in Australia, and on the latter in New Zealand as well. 🚨 Breaking News from Erinsborough! 🚨 Neighbours will return for a brand-new series next year exclusively on @AmazonFreevee, alongside thousands of episodes from previous seasons to stream as you please. 🎉 pic.twitter.com/1Qq2fIPgog — Neighbours (@neighbours) November 17, 2022 Amazon will pick up the show after more than 9000 past episodes, and also stream thousands of those instalments from prior seasons before the new season premieres. While Neighbours previously ran five days a week — helping notch up that hefty number of eps — whether the revival will do the same hasn't yet been confirmed, although Amazon's announcement does note that it'll be a "continuation of the long-running daily drama series". Something that is definitely locked in: the return of Stefan Dennis as Paul Robinson, Alan Fletcher as Karl Kennedy, Jackie Woodburne as Susan Kennedy and Ryan Moloney as Toadie Rebecchi. The fan favourites will all star in the new Neighbours, in the show's first casting announcement. Whether any fellow past cast members will make a comeback and who any knew faces will be also hasn't been revealed as yet. "Neighbours is a unique series with a powerful connection with its fans across the world. We cherish the show and all those who have been part of its incredible story over many decades, so we are thrilled that we have found a new home with Amazon Freevee. Thanks to the innovative Amazon Freevee platform, many classic episodes will be available to fans, and Neighbours will go back into full production in Australia early next year, providing our fans with new episodes," said Jennifer Mullin, global CEO of Neighbours' production company Fremantle. "This partnership with Amazon Freevee marks an exciting new chapter, and we look forward to collaborating with them, along with our long-term and valued partner in Australia, Network 10." Neighbours was originally cancelled after being dropped by its UK network, Channel 5, leaving local backer Network Ten without enough funding to continue the series. As seen in the show's swansong, the list of well-known faces who've graced the series since its 1985 debut is hefty, all playing characters either living in or connected to the show's cul-de-sac in the fictitious Melbourne suburb of Erinsborough. As well as Minogue, Donovan and Pearce, 80s-era Neighbours boasted a four-episode stint from Russell Crowe. In the 90s, Natalie Imbruglia got her start there. Liam Hemsworth was a regular in the 00s, as was Robbie, and Chris Hemsworth popped up in one 2002 episode before moving over to rival Aussie soap Home and Away. Also just as sizeable: the show's 37 years of twists, amnesia spells, shock returns from the dead, and other Ramsay and Robinson family dramas. Indeed, it's fitting that Neighbours itself is being resurrected after being killed off. And yes, as Amazon's announcement video shows, the iconic Neighbours theme tune remains part of the series — because good Neighbours songs become good friends, naturally. Neighbours will return for a new season in 2023, airing via Network Ten and Prime Video in Australia, Prime Video in New Zealand, and Amazon Freevee in the UK and US. Images: Fremantle.
If you tend to do all your best thinking in the shower, then pay attention. We know it's difficult to keep track of all those deep thoughts as you lather, rinse, repeat; but never fear, AquaNotes are here. Shower-thinkers can now write down their genius ideas on AquaNotes, a waterproof notepad that can be hung in the shower. The paper is made from soy-based ink, so it can absorb water and still be written on when it gets wet. Accompanied by a cedar wood pencil, this revolutionary piece of stationery will never let a good idea be forgotten. Whether you have a revelation about how to stop world hunger or just remember what you meant to buy at the grocery store, AquaNotes will be just a few feet from the soap dish to save the day. Bubble bath thinkers are not excluded, as AquaNotes are durable enough to be used all the way underwater. To boot they're recyclable and environmentally friendly. https://youtube.com/watch?v=p-7zABpEN3E [via Whathecool]
Don't just eat your way through 2025's Lunar New Year celebrations, as the Year of the Snake slithers in. Obviously, do mark the occasion with ample bites, including at Sunnybank Plaza and Sunny Park — but there's more than just meals on offer at the two spots between Tuesday, January 28–Sunday, February 2. The program of events spans tai chi, calligraphy sessions, Chinese silk embroidery demonstrations, making lanterns and a huge balloon maze. The AusOriental Orchestra will be picking up its instruments, and cultural handcrafts and plants will be for sale as well. Lion and dragon dances are a given, naturally. On the culinary side, daily food discovery tours are also on the agenda from Wednesday, which cost $50 to attend — and require bookings. And a week after the main celebrations, on Saturday, February 8, the annual rooftop party is back from 5pm, complete with fireworks.
If you tend to take out your stress and anxiety on your innocent writing utensil, then it's about time you chomped on something a little less plastic-flavored and a lot more delicious. Feast your eyes upon the edible pen. Dave Hakkens was one of those nervous pen-chewers, leading him to invent this tasty ballpoint. He wanted a pen that he could chew on without making it dirty or, for lack of a better word, gross. After realizing that the only essential part of any pen was the ink, Hakkens set about designing a pen that he could entirely eat, and that he did. The body of the pen is made out of 22 pieces of sugary candy, similar to those in candy necklaces, which enclose edible ink. The only part that cannot be consumed is the small tip, which can be thrown away or transferred to another refill once the whole pen is eaten. The best part? The candy is made so it won't melt in your hands or stick to anything. Hakken's first prototype was peppermint flavoured, but the edible pen now comes in five other fruity flavours. As well as being a treat for your sweet tooth, an edible pen makes ecological sense when you consider all the ballpoints that get binned every year.
Album artwork, gig posters, band t-shirts, on-stage theatrics — music is mainly about the sound, but it’s also about the look. From endless highways snapped from the window of a tour bus to Capybaras that look like Rafael Nadal, Concrete Playground rounds up ten Instagram accounts that give you a look inside the intoxicating life of a modern muso. 1. ED DROSTE OF GRIZZY BEAR Username: @eddroste If you want to believe that rock stars survive solely on beer, passion and leftover pizza, look away now. According to his Instagram feed the frontman of indie rock band Grizzly Bear halts the tour bus to capture isolated beaches, sundrenched city skylines and pretty pink Peonies. Droste’s mastery of digital filters makes the Brooklyn Botanic Garden look like a scene from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and he’s one of the few people who can Instagram his lunch without you wanting to poke him in the eye. 2. BENJAMIN CURTIS OF SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS Username: @benjamincurtis Benjamin Curtis’ spacey, psychedelic guitar sound is echoed in his trippy Instagram shots. Capturing everything from dead birds to dilated pupils and blurry neon signs, this futuristic photo feed is the antithesis of Ed Droste’s comparatively tranquil digital scrapbook. Not recommended for pregnant women or sufferers of motion sickness. 3. CATCALL Username: @catcallmusic Catcall’s Instagram feed confirms everything you thought you knew about her — she’s cute, funny and hangs out at cool spots. She’s also a huge fan of tennis, which is a fact you might not ascertain just from listening to her music, and has posted photos of Capybaras that look like Rafael Nadal on more than one occasion. 4. AZEALIA BANKS Username: @azealiabanks A life it would be particularly enjoyable to steal is the life of Azealia Banks. In between rubbing shoulders with Karl Lagerfeld and Kanye West at Chanel parties Banks hangs out with bottles of Veuve Clicquot and Prada handbags, but shots of funny cats and novelty condoms show she’s really just like us. Sometimes. 5. GROUPLOVE Username: @grouplove Grouplove’s Hannah Hooper is a painter as well as a singer and has a BFA from New York’s Parsons School of Design, so she’s probably overqualified for the post of managing her band’s Instagram feed. Her sharp eye has given Grouplove’s Instagram account a pleasantly consistent, colourful aesthetic, kind of like an action-packed hippie convention with less dried kale and more Texas BBQ. 6. BIG SCARY Username: @bigscarymusic Big Scary’s unique blend of indie pop has provided the busy duo with travel opportunities aplenty, and with touring around California comes In-N-Out Burger and Jimmy Dean’s meal sized breakfast biscuits. Big Scary have Instagrammed only 23 times to date, which isn’t great in the fast-paced world of social media, but in this case it’s a matter of quality over quantity. 7. THEOPHILUS LONDON Username: @theophiluslondon Theophilus London’s Instagram bio warns that the feed contains “emotional photos”. The emotion he’s referring to is probably jealousy because the photos are primarily of amazing sneakers, but Instagram’s most stylish rapper also has a penchant for gig posters and his equally stylish friends. 8. TWERPS Username: @twerps “We’ll get drunk, we’ll get stoned, we’ll get high, we’ll get drunk…” A satisfying mix of gig shots, scenery, alcohol and delicious/hilarious food, Twerps have got the workings of a great Instagram feed down pat. The jangly Melbourne quartet might sing about getting sauced, but their digital album is surprisingly coherent (and munchies like Klondike’s frozen Choco Tacos do make for great photographs). 9. PEAKING LIGHTS Username: @peakinglights The Wisconsin duo with an eight-and-a-half minute song called “Marshmellow Yellow” has an equally psychedelic and sun-drenched Instagram feed filled with highway scenery, neon signs and old motorcycles. There’s even a picture of a miniature leather motorcycle jacket for baby Mikko’s birthday present. Cute! 10. SOULJA BOY Username: @souljaboytellem “thanks for liking my pictures if you have time sign up on sodmg.com”. Grammar might not be Soulja Boy’s forte, but he’s incredibly skilled at taking selfies while flexing his muscles, pulling gangsta signs and wearing copious amounts of bling. Instagram is available via the Apple App Store or Google Play
Byron Bay Bluesfest returns for the first time since 2019 over the Easter long weekend with more than 170 performances. With international borders reopening, festival organisers have secured a stellar lineup of musicians from home and abroad. There are local draws like Midnight Oil, Crowded House, Paul Kelly, Jimmy Barnes, The Teskey Brothers, Amy Shark, Briggs and Hiatus Kaiyote, as well as the final performance of The Cat Empire with the original lineup. Plus, get excited for international stars such as George Benson, Morcheeba, The Wailers and Amadou & Mariam. The numbers tell their own story — five days, 170-plus performances, and over 70 food and market stalls mean that Bluesfest has more than enough to keep you entertained and make sure your trip north was well worth the drive. Marking its return in a big way, this year's Bluesfest runs from Thursday, April 14–Monday, April 18 at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm. And if you're wondering who else is on the huge bill, other acts include John Butler, Xavier Rudd, Pete Murray, Ian Moss, Mark Seymour & The Undertow, Kate Ceberano, Kasey Chambers, The Waifs, The Church and Kate Miller-Heidke — as well as Fat Freddy's Drop, Josh Teskey and Ash Grunwald, John Williamson, CW Stoneking, The Tea Party's Jeff Martin playing the songs of Led Zeppelin and Rockwiz Live. [caption id="attachment_661844" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Joseph Mayers[/caption] Top image: Andy Fraser
When it comes to an island filled with dinosaurs, humanity just won't learn. Since Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park hit bookstores in 1990, spawning not only Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster film, but two direct sequels and the recent Jurassic World spin-off trilogy, people just keep clamouring to share the same landmass as re-animated prehistoric beasts. Now they're about to do so all over again in a just-announced animated Netflix series. Headed to the streaming platform in 2020, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous will hail back to the events of 2015's initial Jurassic World flick — and to the franchise's familiar setting, Isla Nublar. This time, six teenagers have been chosen to attend a new adventure camp on the other side of the remote deathtrap. If you've seen the movie, you already know that the dinos break loose (of course they do), which'll leave the plucky youths fighting to survive. Executive produced by Spielberg — as well as Jurassic World executive producer Frank Marshall, plus two-time series director Colin Trevorrow — the show will help fill the gap until the live-action Jurassic World 3 releases in 2021. It's being overseen by Scott Kreamer (Pinky Malinky) and Lane Lueras (Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny), and forms part of Netflix's family slate, so you can probably expect less scares than usual (although the teaser below is a little creepy). Given that it's aimed at all ages, you can probably expect more (albeit friendlier) dinosaurs, however. Just who'll be voicing Camp Cretaceous' characters has yet to be revealed. The same remains true for everyone's two burning questions: whether a few familiar Jurassic World talents will pop up, and if any of the old-school Jurassic Park gang will lend their vocals. Our wish, and it's an obvious one, is for more Jeff Goldblum. If you're keen for the briefest of sneak peeks of Camp Cretaceous, check out the first teaser below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkFrNm5M_Ck Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous doesn't have an exact release date as yet, but it's expected to hit Netflix in 2020. We'll keep you updated with specific timing when it comes to hand.
iPhone photography apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic recreate a Polaroid-feel in our piccies. We can Lomo-fi and Poprocket our way to nostalgia-town, but still, there's something not quite right. According to the creators of Instaprint, a location-based photography booth launched last Monday, "deep down we all still miss the uniqueness of those square little photos you'd hold comfortably in your hand." Created by Breakfast, a New York interactive agency, Instaprint is the modern day equivalent of a photo booth, but with all the digital mobile perks modern technology has to offer. The device automatically detects and prints photos marked with a particular location or hashtag using old-school inkless printing techniques developed by Zink. Two Instaprint machines will be showcased at the SxSW conference in Austin this week, where tech enthusiasts can road-test the device. It's still in beta-stage, but will be officially available by March 18. That's not the only way to get your Instagrams in ink. StickyGram turns your miniature masterpieces into delightful magnets, perfect for jazzing up shopping lists, menus and notes living on the door of your fridge. The service is currently limited to select UK and US users, but as the website assures us, StickyGram will be open to the public soon.
With all of its crushing, heartbreaking weight, grief is rarely far from cinema screens. Still, even in the most thoughtful and personal film, it's an emotion that can be difficult to convey. There's such an immense difference between watching characters going through the process of mourning and actually coping with intense sorrow yourself that, when a movie gets it wrong, it's noticeable. When a movie gets it right, however, it hits with the force of a sledgehammer. Foxtrot is one of those elusive pictures: inventive, immersive and absorbing from start to finish, and so accurate in its portrayal of loss that the story feels as though it has been ripped from reality. Although inspired by writer-director Samuel Maoz's own experience in a tangential way and confronting the very real situation in Israel, it's in fact a work of fiction. It's also an astonishing piece of cinema. When a knock at their Tel Aviv door interrupts an otherwise ordinary day, Michael (Lior Ashkenazi) and Dafna Feldmann (Sarah Adler) automatically expect the worst. With their son Jonathan (Yonaton Shiray) currently completing his compulsory military service, they've been dreading this moment — and when officials deliver the news that no parent ever wants to hear, their world falls apart. The Feldmanns' shock is only the beginning of Foxtrot's story, with Maoz exploring the situation across three separate parts. After first riding the wave of grief, the film jumps backwards to spend time with Jonathan as he conducts border patrols at a remote desert outpost, before returning to the family's apartment some time latter. True of this movie perhaps more than most, where Foxtrot heads is best discovered by watching. The film's title refers to a dance as well as a military codeword, and as appropriate as the latter obviously is, it's the former that proves an apt description of this fluid foray into devastating territory. Like the fleetest of footsteps, every move Maoz makes shapes the movie's overall rhythm and keeps viewers enthralled, with actual dance sequences, surreal interludes, and eye-catching animation all part of the show. They mightn't sound like standard ways to explore bureaucracy, mourning and the many difficulties of living in a state of perpetual conflict — or to make plain the film's clear anger about life in modern-day Israel — but, in an extraordinary feat of cinematic choreography, absolutely nothing is wasted or unnecessary. The same description applies to Foxtrot's trio of central performances, for what's a dance without skilled performers moving to a beat? When Michael is riddled with deep-seeded fury, Israeli veteran Ashkenazi makes every glare in the character's eyes as explosive as his actual outbursts. When Dafna is so overcome with sadness that she can barely even speak, French talent Adler expresses a world of hurt in even the slightest of gestures. And, while newcomer Shiray could've just played Jonathan as a regular youth in a tricky situation, his portrayal is every bit as affecting and textured as the work of his older co-stars. Painting a portrait of a young man grappling with forces beyond his control and troubles of his own, Shiray serves up a disarmingly naturalistic turn that's crucial to the movie's shattering impact. Indeed, Foxtrot asks the audience to stare at its main cast harder than most films; to feel their aching hearts, to dive into their despairing minds, and to experience their unshakeable sorrow. Maoz doesn't just call upon his actors to attract attention, though, but ensures that every meticulous shot reflects the characters' internal states. Through camera placement, composition, colouring and every other visual tool in the filmmaker's arsenal, the movie's images sear themselves into viewers' brains as well. While this is only Maoz's second picture, that's his modus operandi — intimacy, intricacy, heightened emotions, awe-inspiring images and topical issues, all intertwined. It has been nearly a decade since he drove a tank through the international cinema scene with his gripping debut Lebanon, which was set during the country's 1982 war and confined its view of the conflict to the inside of a tank. But this exceptional follow-up was well worth the wait. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6o5WPcCgT0
To hear the latest new tunes by Flume, you'll need to make a date with the Art Gallery of New South Wales' Volume music series when it returns for 2024. The Australian talent won't be performing at the event. There's no word of him popping up with Tkay Maidza, who is already on the festival's bill, following their 2023 single 'Silent Assassin'. But he has composed the soundtrack for a world-premiere installation in AGNSW's old Second World War oil tank that's been turned into a performance and art space. Featuring sound, projections, lighting and lasers, Every dull moment (EDM) hails from Flume and multidisciplinary artist Jonathan Zawada, and shows its inspiration right there in its name — EDM festivals, specifically. It has been designed for the unique site in Naala Badu, AGNSW's $344-million extension that opened in late 2022. Comprised of sequences spanning between ten and 90 seconds, the piece goes on continuously and randomly without repeating, paired with Flume's new compositions. It's also on the free portion of Volume's lineup. Not just Zimbabwean Australian singer-songwriter Maidza, but also André 3000's Australian-exclusive shows with his experimental jazz project André 3000 New Blue Sun LIVE, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Ghanaian Australian talent Genesis Owusu were previously announced as the event's headliners — all at ticketed gigs. Now comes the rundown of events that won't cost you a cent to enjoy between Friday, July 5–Sunday, July 21. Every dull moment (EDM) has company from a heap of excuses to see live tunes for free, featuring more than 30 local and international artists in total. Another huge highlight: Blak Country, a celebration of Aboriginal country music which will take place during 2024's NAIDOC Week. On the bill: Roger Knox, Kyla-Belle Roberts, Loren Ryan, Frank Yamma, Jarrod Hickling and Kathryn Kelly, as well as a playlist from musical talents from incarcerated First Nations communities as part of the Songbirds project. [caption id="attachment_957075" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matt Day[/caption] Volume is devoting another night, dubbed Extasis, to experimental sounds curated by Lawrence English, with Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi and Hand to Earth among the artists featured. And, at Future Tilt, it'll spend an afternoon getting creative with salllvage, Lydian Dunbar, DeepFaith and more in experimental pop and electronic drone. Fennesz, amby downs, Jules Reidy, Seaworthy and Matt Rösner will be world-premiering new compositions across both AGNSW buildings — the new north building Naala Badu and the OG south building Naala Nura — in a program called Threshold, while Play on, play again, play forever will see musicians from Asylum Seeker Centre play tunes in response to the site's artworks each weekend. Volume initially premiered in 2023 with Solange and Sampa The Great taking to its stages. As the above lineup shows, the fest is using its 2024 program to build upon its first-year successes — and to give everyone plenty of motivation to experience the blending of music and art this winter. [caption id="attachment_957076" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Emma Luker[/caption] [caption id="attachment_957077" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jim O'Rourke [/caption] [caption id="attachment_957078" align="alignnone" width="1920"] James Hadfield[/caption] Volume 2024 Lineup: Headliners: Friday, July 5–Saturday, July 6 — Genesis Owusu Saturday, July 13 — Tkay Maidza Thursday, July 18–Friday, July 19 — Kim Gordon Saturday, July 20–Sunday, July 21 — André 3000 New Blue Sun LIVE Free program: Saturday, July 6 — Future tilt Saturday, July 6—Sunday, July 21 — Threshold Sunday, July 7—Sunday, July 21 — Every dull moment (EDM) Wednesday, July 10 — Blak Country Wednesday, July 17 — Extasis Dates TBA — Play on, play again, play forever [caption id="attachment_954053" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dexter Navy[/caption] [caption id="attachment_954055" align="alignnone" width="1920"] @trippydana[/caption] [caption id="attachment_954056" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bec Parsons[/caption] Volume 2024 runs from Friday, July 5–Sunday, July 21 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, with general ticket sales from 11am on Wednesday, May 22 — head to the festival website for further details.
Fancy getting an early start on a big citywide festival? And, while you're at it, celebrating Vietnamese Lunar New Year? Before BrisAsia Festival takes over Brisbane for ten days from Friday, January 31–Sunday, February 9, filling as much of this town of ours with as many events as it can — as it does every year — it's marking the changing of the lunar calendar at the Hội chợ Tết Vietnamese Lunar New Year Festival. Your destination: Richlands. Running from 5.30–10pm on Friday, January 24, this LNY celebration is organised by the Queensland Chapter of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, takes place at CJ Greenfield Complex Park, and includes food stalls, lion dances, music performances and a traditional costume parade. Drop by for Vietnamese cuisine aplenty, arts showcases and possibly even learning a new skill — calligraphy is on the lineup, too. Also on offer: firecrackers, fireworks, a martial-arts performance and an official festival photo booth to snap some memories while you're there.
Parking in Sydney is, well, a bit of a nightmare. There are some 10,483 council parking spaces available to share between a population of over 4 million. The average price for the privilege of plonking your vehicle in the CBD for two-hours is up around the $40 mark. That's if you even manage to find a spot. It's double that for a parking infringement, unless of course you avoid getting caught thanks to geo-location app Park Patrol. Other cities resort to stacking cars vertically, while privately-owned spaces can be crowd-sourced on sites like YourParkingSpace. Perhaps we should take a leaf from San Francisco's book. Recently launched SFPark is a website and mobile app which uses sensors, new meters, and real-time parking data to improve parking in eight test neighbourhoods in the inner city. Around 7,000 of San Fran's 28,800 metered spaces and 12,250 public garage spaces are covered in the program. Accessing real-time information about the availability of parking, drivers can quickly zip into open spaces. Parking meter pricing gets adjusted according to supply and demand, which helps balance availability of popular spaces while subtly encouraging commuters to opt for more sustainable travel options, like a bike or a bus. https://youtube.com/watch?v=bzUGs02Zy40 [Via Fast Company]
When a film is called Dope, you really hope that it is. Telling a hip hop-infused high school tale complete with a '90s-leaning soundtrack to match, writer/director Rick Famuyiwa's movie comes close — and when it's not quite hitting the titular mark, it is having a rather good time trying to. Malcom (Shameik Moore) acts as the feature's guide through his teenage antics, geek-style. He's from a poor, crime-filled part of Los Angeles, and he's a straight-A student in a school where being so isn't cool, but he always has best pals Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) for company. Their movement up the social ladder comes on account of a drug dealer (A$AP Rocky), who demands that Malcolm passes on a message to a neighbourhood girl, Nakia (Zoë Kravitz). Attraction springs, and so do adventures of the drugs, delinquency and coming-of-age variety. Welcome to this decade's latest version of a 'nerds on top' comedy, as filtered through the pop culture ephemera of the past 30 years. The formula of '80s teen movies, the sounds and clothing of the '90s, and the style and interconnectivity of '00s efforts combine in a film that not only relishes each element but obviously and overtly adores stringing them all together. Indeed, Dope screams enthusiasm, be it for its episodic storyline or for its gleeful mix of genres. Laughs abound, yet so does a caper, a heist and ample race-relations drama, as well as nostalgia. In fact, there's more to Dope than amalgamating its influences: there's also both cultural specificity and ambiguity. Famuyiwa creates a movie that attempts to express both a realistic and exaggerated version of what living in crime-ridden Inglewood as the Harvard-aspiring son of single mother is really like; realistic in showing the many shades of experiences evident, and exaggerated in heightening the complexities, contradictions and differences between seemingly typical inhabitants to stress the film's point about diversity. Malcolm may seem straight outta the Bottoms, but he also likes BMX riding and playing in a punk band — or as he puts it, "white stuff". His friends prove just as multifaceted and stereotype-defying, with Jib (aka The Grand Budapest Hotel's lobby boy) refusing to identify his ethnicity, and Diggy celebrating her sexual and aesthetic androgyny. Accordingly, Dope aims high with its statement, and skews fun in its packaging. Alas, the latter sometimes lessens the former, as enjoyable as the movie proves. Chaotic is the nice way to put it; however, messy and cartoonish also fit, even though the film is always sleek, fast-paced and energetic. It's an offering where the vibe reigns, and the overall sharpness and smartness of its message and dialogue often gets swept up in it.
Australian fashionistas no longer have to pay a fortune in shipping (or travelling) if they want to get their hands on COS — representatives of the Swedish fashion retailer have confirmed they'll be opening their first store in Australia. The chosen spot? That would be Melbourne, again, with the The Strand on Elizabeth Street the locale du jour. COS is the slightly higher-end arm of the more well-known retailer H&M, but with a simpler, more stripped-back aesthetic. As yet, they haven't announced an opening date for the COS store, but H&M is set to open their flagship Australian store later this year in Melbourne's GPO building, taking over three floors. H&M and COS are joining the Australian high street market at an extremely competitive time. In the past couple of years, a lot of big-name retailers have started to realise that not only do Australians want to buy their clothes but we also came out of the GFC looking pretty good. Sydney currently boasts the recently opened Topshop and Zara, and overseas brands H&M, Uniqlo (Japan), Marks & Spencer (UK) and Forever 21 (US) are all on their merry way over. Via Vogue.
There is no denying Brisbane is going through somewhat of a beer renaissance period. Breweries are popping up left right and centre, and the punters are embracing them with a schooner in each hand. The birth and growth of small bars has changed the way we think, and the craft beer revolution is making us view beer as an artform with the same respect that coffee gains. Brewsvegas is here to celebrate the joys of better beer and to deeper carve Brisbane’s unique identity on the brew scene. Embrace Brewsvegas, let beer serve its purpose — bringing people together — and let the good times roll. We’ve rounded up a rough guide to the six-day fiesta. Better hops to it. Pick your fight As the founding fathers of beer discovered, the best brews are made on hops, sweat and testosterone. In somewhat of Brewsvegas trend, The Scratch are pitting themselves against Tipplers Tap in a battle of bars, beer and barbecue pork ribs (not once, but twice). Also entering the boxing ring will be 10 of Brisbane’s best brewers for Untapped. The brews are coming together to put the city of map, but there can only be one winner. Learn something new So you think you know your beer? Think again. Newstead Brewing Co are letting punters dive into the science behind brewing at Get Flawed. Using professional craft brewer sensory kits, Newstead Brewing will be spiking beer with the major flavour compounds and flaws found in brewing. Learn about why beer tastes that way and sharpen your craft tasting skills. Or, if coffee and craft beer are your two true loves, join this degustation event and explore the similarities in practice of tasting and appreciating these two artisan beverages. Mix four beers, two coffees and five courses for an excellent Saturday afternoon. Beer is a food group Beercaroons: You guessed it – limited edition Beard and Brau beer-flavoured macaroons. Beerkary are selling them in four-packs with a Golden Paw (Malt and Hop Biscuit with a Lemon, Malt Cream and Lychee Jelly), Red Tail Ale (Hops Biscuit with a Bitter Caramel filling and a Chocolate and Passionfruit core), Bon Chiens (Honey, Beer biscuit with Honey, Hops, Orange cream, Crystal malt and Champagne Jelly) and Black Snout (Stout and Dark Malt biscuit with Milk Chocolate, Vanilla, Coffee Cream and Caramelised milk core). Look out Adriano Zumbo. Eau de Beer When a man decides it’s time he upgraded from a trusty spray of Lynx for the ladies to a more unique scent, it opens a dangerous world of possibility and who better to turn to than his trusty friend, beer. You heard. Brewski have teamed with Damask Perfumery to create Eau de Brewski. A four-part collection of single-hop infused colognes, choose to smell like Riwaka, Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy or Saaz. When in Brewski, match your fragrance to one of four single-hop pale ales by Bacchus Brewing Co and come home smelling like your favourite brew. Beer cocktails Whoever said cocktails were girly drinks was wrong. Super Whatnot is making cocktail drinking more socially acceptable for men by using Green Beacon beer. Some of Brisbane’s best bartenders at Super Whatnot are stepping up to challenge and are inviting you to come test them out. There will be a judging panel, but will you agree with their top pick? And will your taste buds be able to accept a beer cocktail? Broga, beer, bacon The Mill on Constance knows what boys want, they know what boys like. And so, they’ve taken the best things that start with ‘B’ and invite you start your Sunday with a stretch, brew and feed. Broga is yoga for bros, by bros, and beginners and newbies are welcome. Finish off your session with a craft beer and bacon sandwich – if only exercise always concluded with a nice brew. Craft night And here you were thinking Broga, beer and beards were all the man things Brewvegas cared about. This one’s for the ladies (and men who aren’t scared to macrame). Drink Craft Make Craft is a hands-on craft night at The Mill that will teach you how to make beer crate coffee tables, bottle top art, and other crafts. Your $15 ticket includes all craft material, a tap beer, cider, ginger beer or wine on arrival and nibbles throughout the evening. No previous hot glue gun experience required. Floristry smackdown If you prefer to sit back and let the magic happen around you, head to The Scratch for the inaugual Scratch Hop Floristry Smackdown. Some of Brisbane’s finest florists will go head-to-head for a live, in-house arrange-off. Beer and flowers? Their challenge is to use harvested hops as the floral centrepiece. The Scratch will also be offering “Hoptical Infusions” – four different beers each infused through four different varieties of fresh hop flowers. The great outdoors Sports and beer go hand-in-hand. What is backyard cricket without a coldie in one hand and a bat in the other? Brewsvegas are realising the dream a mighty Table Tennis Battle at Archive. It’s brewers and reps Vs punters, your move. Alternatively, for a day on the green join brisbane’s Chicks With Ales and Tipplers Tap for an afternoon of croquet and bocce. Brewsvegas is on March 23-29.
If you've read much of Stephen King's work, then you'll agree with some of the first words spoken in the just-dropped debut teaser trailer for HBO's new IT prequel series: "anywhere but Derry". That's a great motto if you're keen to avoid unnerving and supernatural events, which have frequented the fictional town's streets in the author's pages for decades — and in their screen adaptations, too, including the hit 2017 IT movie and its 2019 sequel IT: Chapter Two. HBO and its streaming service HBO Max are in franchise mode of late, adding The Penguin to the world of The Batman, expanding the Game of Thrones realm with not only House of the Dragon but also the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, announcing a new drama series set in The Conjuring universe and locking in a Harry Potter series that readapts the books. As first revealed in 2023, IT: Welcome to Derry falls into the same camp. It'll arrive in your streaming queue sometime in spring 2025. If you're not fond of clowns, find yourself scurrying past sewers and simply can't stand red balloons, there's probably one big reason for your phobias. Maybe you read King's horror tome IT, which first made its way to bookshelves back in 1986. Perhaps you saw the 1990 miniseries, which turned Tim Curry from The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Frank N Furter into the transdimensional evil entity known as Pennywise. Or, you might've caught the recent two IT flicks. Whichever fits, your fears are about to get another workout. King's go-to Maine town is clearly the setting, with the series stepping through the locale's scares before the terror that viewers have already seen and experienced. And yes, Pennywise does indeed feature. So does a spate of missing children, more kids seeking answers, a new family moving in, uncaring police, eerie smiles and cackles, voices in the pipes and a crimson balloon. Returning to oversee the show is filmmaker Andy Muschietti, who helmed the most-recent two IT movies and last directed DC Extended Universe flick The Flash. He's also behind the camera here on multiple episodes, expanding his Derry-set vision from his two features. "As teenagers, we took turns reading chapters of Stephen King's IT until the thick paperback fell to pieces," said Muschietti and his sister Barbara Muschietti, who is also working on IT: Welcome to Derry, back when the show was first revealed. "IT is an epic story that contains multitudes, far beyond what we could explore in our IT movies. We can't wait to share the depths of Steve's novel, in all its heart, humour, humanity and horror." "I'm excited that the story of Derry, Maine's most haunted city, is continuing, and I'm glad Andy Muschietti is going to be overseeing the frightening festivities, along with a brain trust including his talented sister, Barbara. Red balloons all around!" added King at the time. If you've somehow missed all things IT so far, it follows the exploits of maniacal clown Pennywise, as well as the folks he's rather fond of terrorising. In the 2017 and 2019 movies, Bill Skarsgård (Nosferatu) put on the demonic makeup. In the first of those films, his targets were all kids. In the second, those teens — the Losers Club — were all grown up and still getting spooked. Skarsgård is back as Pennywise in IT: Welcome to Derry, with Taylour Paige (Brothers), Jovan Adepo (3 Body Problem), Chris Chalk (Feud), James Remar (Megalopolis), Stephen Rider (What Lies Under the Tree), Madeleine Stowe (Soundtrack) and Rudy Mancuso (The Flash) as his co-stars. Watch the initial IT: Welcome to Derry teaser trailer below: IT: Welcome to Derry is set to stream via Max in Australia and Neon in New Zealand sometime in spring 2025 — we'll update you with an exact release date when it is announced. Images: HBO.
Five years ago, a new addition to St Lucia asked Brisbanites a crucial question: why did the fried chicken fan cross Hawken Drive? The answer: to eat all the greasy chook they could handle at poultry buffet restaurant KaiKai Chicken. Since then, the eatery has helped solve another crucial query faced by hungry chook fiends, aka whether to have one finger lickin' good piece, several, or more than anyone should actually admit to. It serves up an endless array of poultry in a dozen different flavours, plus all-you-can-eat fries, rice, other sides and desserts to round out the meal. A la carte orders are also available, but who wants that when there's bottomless fried chicken at arms reach? To indulge in all of the above, likely while wearing your stretchiest outfit, you've needed to head to Brissie's inner west — but now, thanks to the chain's second venue, you can also venture south. Now open and serving customers, KaiKai has launched its second yellow-hued store in Springwood, complete with its beloved all-you-can-eat fried chicken buffet. That means that you currently have twice as many spots to hit up for the chain's affordable — albeit hardly healthy — $24.95 bottomless package, which includes those 12 flavours of chicken, six types of loaded fries, steamed rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, bread rolls, and cinnamon jelly doughnut sandwiches for dessert. Also on the menu at the new Kaikai spot: a $75 option that also includes a 90-minute alcohol package spanning bottled beers, mimosas and soju jugs. If it sounds too good to be true, we're here to tell you that it's a clucking reality — as it has been in St Lucia for half a decade now. That said, visits to Kaikai do have a time limit. Just like sipping that aforementioned bottomless booze, flocking customers are asked to get their chicken fix within 90 minutes due to the demand — and, let's be honest, after an hour and a half of seeing how much chook you can feast upon, you're probably be ready to fly the coop anyway. [caption id="attachment_640449" align="alignnone" width="1620"] Atlanta Bell[/caption]
Escaping to Tasmania has long been a popular way to get away from it all, especially if you're keen to swap the Australian mainland's hustle and bustle for the Apple Isle's stunning surroundings for a brief spell. Vacationing in a tiny house has also become a beloved way of leaving the daily grind, your usual routine and everyday stresses behind — so a tiny house in Tassie is clearly a holiday dream. Make that two tiny houses, actually, thanks to eco-friendly tiny house company Tiny Away. Good things definitely come in small packages here — and in scenic locations, too, with the accommodation network making its first leap to Australia's southern-most state. The two new spots join Tiny Away's 120-plus tiny house lineup, with each small-scale home architecturally designed, set on private land in rural and regional locations, and available for short bookings. If you're keen for a getaway in a fishing village around 45 minutes from Hobart, then Quirindi in Dunalley is your ideal destination. It sits on an eight-acre property, in the middle of wildlife-filled bush and grassland, that's been in the same family for three generations. The small abode even comes with its own nine-hole putting course — which, yes, you can use amid warming up by the fire pit, cooking on the barbecue or exploring the area. Nearby drawcards include the coastline at Eaglehawk Neck, plus seafood joints The Cannery and Bangor Wine & Oyster Shed. If you're eager to venture to Launceston — well, around half an hour away — then Cottesloe in the small town of Hagley is for you. This tiny house sits among a small farming operation on the edge of Meander Valley, which means that green pastures and farm animals come with the territory. Here, local highlights include Georgian and Victorian buildings in the town of Deloraine — and bakeries for a snack — plus the Western Tiers Distillery and the limestone caves at Mole Creek Karst National Park. With not only getting back to nature but respecting the natural environment a key part of Tiny Away's ethos, each of the company's homes is fashioned out of sustainable materials, and also includes waterless compost toilets, rainwater collection tanks for showers, plus solar panels. Checking that leave balance already? Scouring your calendar for a free weekend getaway slot? We understand. Tiny Away's new Quirindi and Cottesloe tiny houses are available to book online. For more information, head to the company's website.
The name might not ring a bell, but his creations would certainly be familiar. Yoram Gross is the man behind classic cartoons such as Blinky Bill and Dot and the Kangaroo. Now, rather than telling the tale of a mischievous koala, he is publishing his own memoirs. As is often the case, fact can be more interesting than fiction. As a Jewish boy in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II, Gross was forced to move between over 70 hideouts, even passing himself off as a séance host. After the war he settled in Israel, where he became an award-winning film maker, and in 1968 he was on the move again, this time heading to Australia with his family where he would eventually create some of the country’s most iconic cartoon characters. Looking back on the films — if you need a recap Blinky Bill has his peaceful bush home destroyed by invading humans and must rescue his mother from captivity, Dot is lost in the bush and must rely on her new animal friends to find her way home — it is enlightening to see the stories with adult eyes, recognising that the light-hearted adventures that entertained us as children have much more serious layers with their roots in Gross’ own experiences. As his life, and his films show, you can always make the best of a bad situation. And you should enjoy the kangaroo rides while you can! My Animated Life is published by Brandl & Schlesinger.
If you've looked at a television lately or headed in search of the golden arches to get a feed, then you've probably already realised that 2021 marks 50 years since McDonald's first started serving burgs in Australia. To celebrate, the fast food chain has been splashing advertisements all around the place, and whipping up specials — including 50-cent cheeseburgers and new McFlurrys so far. Up next: Macca's PJs. Obviously, you'll be lovin' them. Teaming up with Peter Alexander, McDonald's has launched a collection of sleepwear that features burgers, fries, golden arches, the chain's red and yellow colour scheme, and its famous figures such as Ronald, Grimace, Birdie and the Hamburglar. Do people wearing burger-covered pyjamas dream of Big Macs? That's the question you can now put to the test. You can clearly expect a big dose of nostalgia as well and, thanks to Ronald and company's presence, to have a fierce hankering for happy meals. Given that McDonald's opened here in the 70s, there's a huge retro feel to the entire range. If, while wearing them, you wake up and start watching cartoons, that's understandable. Ten different items are available now at Peter Alexander stores and via the sleepwear brand's website until stocks last — including PJ pants and sweaters for men and women, and four different matching sets for the latter. Prices start at $69.95 for kids, and span up to $129.95 for long-sleeved women's flannelette pyjamas covered in Macca's well-known characters. The McDonald's x Peter Alexander sleepwear collection is on sale now via Peter Alexander stores and the sleepwear brand's website.
Audible is the world's largest creator and retailer of audiobook content, so you can be sure they know a thing or two about great stories. During Vivid Sydney, Audible is hosting three separate events with some of the city's best names in audio entertainment. On Wednesday, June 1, former MasterChef Australia champion Adam Liaw will be speaking about how the food we cook and eat shapes the world around us. Wednesday, June 8, sees TV presenter Melissa Doyle examine how the world handles – or rather, doesn't handle – the concept of women ageing. Finally, on June 15, writer Laura Nagy and journalist Marc Fennell uncover some of pop culture's more unusual and niche trends.
This suburban gem has been keeping Tarragindi locals in breakfast, brunch and lunch since October 2016, but since they launched their dinner menu it's given us a whole new reason to venture southside. An imaginative menu greets diners every Friday and Saturday night from 5pm, where new dishes meet the classics. Creamy pumpkin rotolo ($14) rubs shoulders with that omnipresent dinner stalwart, the beef burger — except Bruno's is served with a twist: with Korean BBQ beef, radish and slaw on a brioche bun ($18). If you're the sharing kind you'll find plenty to keep you happy; an inspired mushroom bibimbap comes with kale, lentils and kimchi ($25), or maybe pork belly tacos and guacamole ($28) are more your bag. Heck, you might even want to settle in for the night and try everything on the menu, because the buttermilk calamari and haloumi hot dog (both $14) are both hard to say no to. Oh, and be sure to save room for dessert — they whip up a pretty mean Turkish delight panna cotta ($14).
We've all heard the term 'airport novel', which refers to fast-paced, easy-to-devour fiction that's perfect to read when you're on a long flight and you've watched everything on the onboard entertainment system — or, to flick through while you're waiting to hop on the plane. If you're the kind of traveller who always starts your trip with a visit to the airport newsagency to pick up new reading material to help while away the hours, then you probably have a stash of paperbacks that fit the bill. And, because its name and premise are oh-so-perfect for the genre, you might even have The Flight Attendant on that pile. Chris Bohjalian's novel was first published in 2018. Two years later, at a time when we'd all love to be flying far more than we've been able to of late, it makes the leap to the screen as an eight-part miniseries. On the page and on streaming platform Binge, The Flight Attendant unfurls a pulpy, twisty tale that starts high in the sky, bounces around the globe and delivers a hectic murder-mystery — all with the eponymous Cassie Bowden (The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco) at its centre. Cassie likes sipping mini bottles of booze as much as she likes pouring them for the travellers on her flights — and she also loves her jet-setting lifestyle. When she's at home in New York between trips, she parties away her time in bars and via her vodka-packed fridge. When she's stopping over in overseas cities between legs, she's known to do the same. In Bangkok, though, she does something that she's not supposed to. After flirting with first-class passenger Alex Sokolov (Game of Thrones' Michiel Huisman) throughout the flight, she makes an excuse to ditch drinks with her coworkers and takes up his dinner offer. The next morning, she feels the repercussions. Also, she finds herself confronted by a dead body, trying to outsmart the authorities both in Thailand and back in the US, and endeavouring to work out just what's going on. The Flight Attendant's many ups and downs are best discovered by watching, of course, with the series aligning viewers with Cassie as she embarks upon a very turbulent ride. Her life in general fits that bill — it's chaotic and, in depicting that reality as Cassie slowly begins to explore why she's so drawn to her job and to boozy benders, the show itself is as well. Think sudden revelations and reversals, multiple points of interest playing out across a split-screen setup, and cliffhangers to end every episode (and keep viewers keen to watch more). Also noticeable, and crucial: the fact that Cassie is unreliable in general, and was blackout drunk on the night in question so she can't remember what happened. This is a tightly and glossily made whodunnit; however, it's also a thorny thriller that tasks its key figure with scrambling around not only trying to investigate the case, but also to work out her role within it. In topic, themes and tone, Cuoco leaves The Big Bang Theory far behind. She's still engagingly erratic as Cassie, though — but in a different and deeper way. As the character's personality, background and present situation calls for, she finds the fine line between messy and likeable, and poignant and even slapstick on occasion. Cassie makes so many terrible decisions that they become her defining trait but, thanks to Cuoco in career-best form, she never feels like she's just being driven by the plot's many machinations. The always-charming Huisman gets more screen time than viewers might initially expect, too, and the series is better for it. Plus, post-Girls, Zosia Mamet is also a welcome inclusion as Cassie's steely, no-nonsense best friend and lawyer Annie, who eventually calls out her pal on her baggage. Airport novels frequently require readers to simply go with the flow. As a slick, swift-moving TV series that knows exactly the kind of story it's telling and goes for broke, The Flight Attendant is no different. The fact that it's filled with intrigue, often of the implausible and even ridiculous yet still instantly addictive type, will surprise no one — it's what such tales are supposed to serve up, after all. But there's darkness, weirdness, pathos and plenty of twisty comedy on offer here as well. It's easy to get immersed in, and to be entertained by. And, it'll help vicariously indulge your wanderlust and plunge you into a bingeworthy mystery at the same time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rWnlXbnQLk&feature=youtu.be The Flight Attendant is available to stream via Binge — with the first seven episodes online now, and the series finale available from the evening of Thursday, December 17. Images: Phil Caruso, HBO.
Originally, Scarlett Johansson (Asteroid City) and Chris Evans (Pain Hustlers) were set to reteam for Fly Me to the Moon, sans Marvel heroes but with championing America — the country rather than the Captain — still on the itinerary. Every movie can play the "what if?" casting game, whether through attached stars that left for various reasons (scheduling conflicts after the director changed here) or via audiences simply offering their own picks, yet this one isn't helped by the shadow of what might've been. On paper, Johansson and Channing Tatum (Magic Mike's Last Dance), who are also reuniting after the Coen brothers' Hail, Caesar!, are a winning pair. One succeeds more than the other in this 60s-set space-race screwball rom-com that's also about selling US exceptionalism, and joins Operation Avalanche and Capricorn One among cinema's fake missions into the heavens, too. The picture's entertaining-enough fate runs in parallel to its plot: there, for the shadowy government operative who pushes Johansson and Tatum's characters into each other's orbits, a good-enough approximation of the moon landing over the real thing will do. A delight as ever in comic mode with depth, Johansson turns in the type of charming performance that Hollywood could build a series around, on screens either big or small. She's Kelly Jones, a Manhattan advertising executive with the gift of knowing how to pitch whatever she needs to get the client, and then to also get the masses to consume. Director Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon) and first-time screenwriter Rose Gilroy, working with a story by Bill Kirstein (Mean Girls circa 2024's cinematographer) and Keenan Flynn (a producer on Beyoncé's Lemonade), introduce her putting on the whole show. Kelly has dismissive and misogynistic automotive executives in her sights, who think that she's present for refreshments. Aided by a baby bump that augments the act, she has soon convinced them on the merits of spruiking seat belts in sports cars. With backing from the very top of the country, aka Nixon, Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson, Suncoast) has other plans for Kelly: serving her nation by gifting NASA her spin. Fondness for the fat stacks of cash being spent on all things astronomical are falling out of favour with politicians and the public alike, hence the request — a demand that she can't refuse, really — for Kelly's services. Johansson gleams in Fly Me to the Moon, nailing the boldness that keeps driving her character forward and the banter no matter who she's talking to, while also ensuring that impact of Kelly's shady backstory feels genuine. With Party Down, Hacks and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia alum Anna Garcia as supportive assistant Ruby Martin, she scores her best double act of the movie. But even when he's not breaking into the tune that everyone has stuck in their head just from reading this feature's title, Harrelson is having a ball, far more so than Tatum. As Cole Davis, the straight-arrow hero war pilot-turned-mission commander at Cape Kennedy as the Apollo 11 launch nears, Tatum is instantly in a more-serious register than his co-stars. The job on-screen is literally rocket science — and Cole too has baggage, the details of which crib from actuality with a near-flippancy that borders on tasteless. Sincerity shimmers when Cole initially crosses paths with Kelly at a diner, telling her that she's the most-beautiful woman he's ever seen, and also that she's on fire (again, literally), but there's little room for it when they start butting heads as new colleagues with different agendas. Tatum plays his part like he'd be far happier in a romance without the comic battle. In contrast, Johansson relishes channelling Doris Day against Rock Hudson in the repartee. If this was a TV series, there'd be time for Cole to warm up and settle in; however, the film doesn't boast it even clocking in at a lengthy-and-feels-it 132 minutes. Thankfully, there's still an inherent spark just by getting Johansson and Tatum in the same frame, which keeps Fly Me to the Moon rolling although never soaring. If the idea by Berlanti, Gilroy and company was to make the plot busy to compensate for anything that doesn't fully ignite, they've committed to the concept with thruster-level gusto as the narrative unfurls. Kelly doesn't just have to weave her PR wonders with Cole zipping between glowering and flirting — a gig that's filled with faux engineers and astronauts stepping in for interviews (Henry Smalls, played by Bupkis' Ray Romano, is one scientist who's replaced) and product placement galore — or merely help schmooze naysayers who might scrap the space agency's budget. In secret, in a ploy that she's told to keep that way from Cole, she's also tasked by Moe with the stuff that conspiracy theorists' fantasies have been made of for 55 years: going all Tinseltown, complete with the egomaniacal "Kubrick of commercials" Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash, Loot), to stage the events of July 20–21, 1969 in case history doesn't happen the way it's meant to. It's clear why the movie has magicked up a movie-magic angle, and not only because cinema loves paying tribute to itself. Without it, there's no tension in a will-it-won't-it riff on Apollo 11. Viewers know how the attempt to make one giant leap for mankind eventuated, so whether or not Kelly can retain NASA's funding isn't a suspenseful section of the story. With its showbiz farce, Fly Me to the Moon does more than add drama beyond Kelly and Cole's own will-they-won't-they, though — it has a blast executing the chaos that springs. That said, Berlanti also cements the sensation that he's smashing together competing tones, and also making huge jumps between them. It's easy to see how Fly Me to the Moon would've fared solely with an inside-filmmaking spoof vibe, as 2024's Down with Love or just following opposites-attracting affairs of the heart against a shooting-for-the-moon backdrop, for instance, but its array of elements are haphazardly duct-taped to each other. There's a dream at the heart of the film, of course, which Kelly knows that she's slinging and the feature's dialogue isn't afraid to utter with frequency: the dream of hope, of aiming high and even of dreaming itself, given the realities of the era's wars and political situation. Half a century later, in a world just as uncertain, these notions aren't relics of the past. To those watching, Fly Me to the Moon tries a similar feat as it peers upwards with plenty of Dariusz Wolski's (Napoleon) glossy cinematography — and as Johansson's outfits prove a sight to behold, and also her Saturday Night Live-star husband Colin Jost pops up briefly — by asking audiences to buy into the dream of being affably swept away. While saying that something is so isn't the same as making it so, as the narrative is well-aware, Johansson's efforts come closest to securing liftoff.
If you're a fan of watching smart, rewarding, deep-thinking science fiction, then you're probably a fan of Alex Garland's. Originally an author, he initially came to fame as the writer of 90s bestseller The Beach, before moving into screenwriting with the script for 28 Days Later. More screenplays followed, including Sunshine, Never Let Me Go and Dredd — but it was his 2014 directorial debut Ex Machina that showed the extent of his filmmaking prowess. Annihilation proved a highly worthy addition to his resume in 2018, too, even after it was shuffled onto Netflix rather than screening in cinemas in much of the world. Given his track record so far, any new project by Garland is cause for excitement. In 2020, direct your enthusiasm towards new eight-part series Devs. The writer/director is making the leap to television with a cast led by Nick Offerman — and with Ex Machina's Sonoya Mizuno, Love's Karl Glusman, American Horror Story's Alison Pill and Bad Times at the El Royale's Cailee Spaeny also featuring. Due to start streaming in the US in March — with availability Down Under yet to be confirmed — Devs begins with a premise that doesn't sound all that different from Ex Machina. At a quantum computing company called by Amaya, which is run by an unnerving CEO called Forest (Offerman), things don't seem quite right. That especially seems the case to computer engineer Lily Chan (Mizuno), who believes that Amaya is responsible for the disappearance of her boyfriend. The more she investigates, the stranger and more sinister it all appears, as seen in the show's first trailer. Expect conspiracies, futuristic tech thrills, dark yet vivid images and Offerman sporting a long-locked hairstyle that Ron Swanson surely wouldn't approve of — plus, as the series' sneak peek demonstrates, killer set design. Naturally, the bulk of Devs' mysteries are being kept close to Garland's chest until the show premieres, but the initial teaser still paints an immensely intriguing picture. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8klax373ds Devs starts streaming in the US on March 5 via Hulu, with the series' air date Down Under yet to be revealed. Image: Miya Mizuno, FX Networks.
In multiple different web-slinging franchises across multiple decades, everyone's favourite friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man has been on quite the on-screen journey. He's been played by different actors, faced a whole heap of different foes, and spun his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, too — and in Spider-Man: No Way Home, all this chaos is set to converge. The third Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland (Chaos Walking) in the role, Spider-Man: No Way Home already teased plenty of multiverse madness in its first teaser trailer. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog) plays a pivotal part this time around, too, ahead of the character's own dedicated next flick — Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — which is set to arrive in 2022. But the just-dropped new Spidey sneak peek shows just how far the movie is willing to go when it comes to all those other Spider-Man films that've reached screens over the years. No, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield don't show up, but some of the villains they fought make an appearance. Get ready to get reacquainted with Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin from 2002's Spider-Man, as well as Alfred Molina's Otto Octavius from 2004's Spider-Man 2 and Thomas Haden Church's Sandman from 2007's Spider-Man 3. Also re-emerging: Rhys Ifans' the Lizard from 2012' The Amazing Spider-Man and Jamie Foxx's Electro from 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. If you're wondering how this all works, it stems from the big reveal at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Peter Parker's secret identity was unveiled to the world. No Way Home picks up with Parker struggling to deal with the fact that everyone now knows who he is, and that he can't now just be an ordinary high schooler when he's not acting the hero. So, he asks Doctor Strange to spin a time- and space-twisting spell, which tears a whole in the world and sparks all of this multiverse mayhem. So far, there's still no sight of Maguire or Garfield — but that could be the kind of surprise that's being saved for cinemas. And, whether the film gets playful as the phenomenal animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is obviously still yet to be seen. No Way Home will feature a heap of other familiar faces, including Zendaya (Space Jam: A New Legacy), Marisa Tomei (The King of Staten Island) and Jacob Batalon (Let It Snow). Behind the lens, Jon Watts returns after previously helming both Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home as well. In a nice piece of symmetry, when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness does hit cinemas next year, it'll be directed by Sam Raimi — who also directed the Maguire-starring Spider-Man movies in 2002, 2003 and 2007. Check out the full No Way Home trailer below: Spider-Man: No Way Home opens in Australian cinemas on December 16. Images: ©2021 CTMG. All Rights Reserved. MARVEL and all related character names: © & ™ 2021 MARVEL.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe's phase four is so 2022, and earlier. In 2023, the comic book-based blockbuster screen saga is all about phase five. And, to begin with, it's 100-percent focused on the MCU's tiniest superhero: Ant-Man, as adorably played by Paul Rudd. Here, entertaining things come in small packages, as the character's two solo big-screen outings have shown. Yes, those past flicks have also wavered between charming and familiar, but whenever the ageless star himself pops up — and wherever, given that he hasn't just been confined to his own franchise within the franchise — he's always proven a treat. So, of course a third Ant-Man movie is on its way, because who doesn't want to give the world more Paul Rudd more often? The MCU clearly does, and that new film is Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which dropped its first trailer in 2022 and will buzz into cinemas this February. This time, the MCU's insect-sized superheroes — including both Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Rudd, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) and Hope van Dyne aka The Wasp (Evangeline Lily, Crisis) — are thrust into a secret universe beneath the one they already know and inhabit, and also face a new enemy. The chaotic space? The quantum realm, hence the Quantumania part of the upcoming movie's title. The adversary? Kang the Conqueror, as played by Lovecraft Country and The Harder They Fall's Jonathan Majors. And yes, both pop up in just-released new trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, too, where the story gets dark quickly. Also part of the movie is the return of Hope's parents Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer, French Exit) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method), plus Scott's now-older daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton, Freaky). Viewers of 2015's Ant-Man and 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp will know that Janet spent decades stuck in the quantum realm, so it's unsurprising that she's a key part of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. But, she hasn't told her family and friends everything about the place — as the film is set to explore. When it hits cinemas, the movie doesn't just spark Marvel's fifth phase — it also notches up the MCU's 31st film. Of course, if you're reading this, you know that, and you're ready for the company's latest silver-screen adventure after 2022's Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Check out the new Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania trailer below: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hits cinemas Down Under on February 16, 2023. Images: courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
"We are nothing without stories, so we invite you to believe in this one." So goes The Wonder's opening narration, as voiced by Niamh Algar (Wrath of Man) and aimed by filmmaker Sebastián Lelio in two directions. For the Chilean writer/director's latest rich and resonant feature about his favourite topic, aka formidable women — see also: Gloria, its English-language remake Gloria Bell, Oscar-winner A Fantastic Woman and Disobedience — he asks his audience to buy into a tale that genuinely is a tale. In bringing Emma Donoghue's (Room) book to the screen, he even shows the thoroughly modern-day studio and its sets where the movie was shot. But trusting in a story is also a task that's given The Wonder's protagonist, Florence Pugh's nurse Lib Wright, who is en route via ship to an Irish Midlands village when this magnetic, haunting and captivating 19th century-set picture initially sees her. For the second time in as many movies — and in as many months Down Under as well — Pugh's gotta have faith. Playing George Michael would be anachronistic in The Wonder, just as it would've been in Don't Worry Darling's gleaming 1950s-esque supposed suburban dream, but that sentiment is what keeps being asked of the British actor, including in what's also her second fearless performance in consecutive flicks. Here, it's 1862, and 11-year-old Anna O'Donnell (Kíla Lord Cassidy, Viewpoint) has seemingly subsisted for four months now without eating. Ireland's 1840s famine still casts shadows across the land and its survivors, but this beatific child says she's simply feeding on manna from heaven. Lib's well-paid job is to watch the healthy-seeming girl in her family home, where her mother (A Discovery of Witches' Elaine Cassidy, Kila's actual mum) and father (Caolan Byrne, Nowhere Special) dote, to confirm that she isn't secretly sneaking bites to eat. Lib is to keep look on in shifts, sharing the gig with a nun (Josie Walker, This Is Going to Hurt). She's also expected to verify a perspective that's already beaming around town, including among the men who hired her, such as the village doctor (Toby Jones, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) and resident priest (Ciarán Hinds, Belfast). The prevailing notion: that Anna is a miracle, with religious tourism already starting to swell around that idea, and anyone doubting the claim — or pointing out that it could threaten the girl's life and end in tragedy — deemed blasphemous. But arriving with experience with Florence Nightingale in the Crimean War behind her, the level-leaded, no-nonsense and also in-mourning Lib isn't one for automatic piety. A local-turned-London journalist (Tom Burke, The Souvenir) keeps asking her for inside information, sharing her determination to eschew unthinking devotion and discover the truth, but the nurse's duty is to Anna's wellbeing no matter the personal cost. Lelio's opening gambit, the filmmaking version of showing how the sausage is made, isn't merely a piece of gimmickry. It stresses the power of storytelling and the bargain anyone strikes, The Wonder's viewers alike, when we agree to let tales sweep us away — and it couldn't better set the mood for a movie that ruminates thoughtfully and with complexity on the subject. Is life cheapened, threatened or diminished by losing yourself to fiction over fact? In an age of fake news, as Lelio's movie screens in, clearly it can be. Is there far too much at stake when faith and opinion is allowed to trump science, as the world has seen in these pandemic-affected, climate change-ravaged times? The answer there is yes again. Can spinning a narrative be a coping mechanism, a mask for dark woes, and a way to make trauma more bearable and existence itself more hopeful, though? That's another query at the heart of Alice Birch's (Mothering Sunday) script. And, is there a place for genuine make-believe to entertain, sooth and make our days brighter, as literature and cinema endeavours? Naturally, there is. Keeping that tale-spinning interrogation going — adding to its layers, too — The Wonder takes cues from the 19th-century 'fasting girls' phenomenon. Some children did indeed claim not to need earthly nourishment as the angel-faced Anna does, and so Donoghue's novel, Birch's screenplay and Lelio's direction now use that chapter of history to muse on far more. All three are well-experienced at using fiction to speak to humanity's needs, wants and deepest yearnings, and their efforts simmer with raw potency when combined. The Wonder is patient and pensive, and also a film of immediate weight and emotion. Birch's winning ways with adaptations, and with dialogue loaded with feelings, continue after the also Pugh-starring Lady Macbeth, plus dual Sally Rooney-based TV series Normal People and Conversations with Friends. When Lady Macbeth cemented Pugh as an on-screen force to be reckoned with only six years ago, it also established the confidence, passion and vigour that's been an essential element of her work since. Those traits shine through again here in a complicated and commanding portrayal, as they have in a stellar list of parts in-between. Once again, Pugh plays challenging with aplomb, as she did so masterfully in The Little Drummer Girl and Little Women. Once more, she wrestles with grief and pain so grippingly that it seems real, as seen in Midsommar. One of the joys of watching Pugh is tracing the lines connecting each entry on her ever-growing resume, and witnessing how an instantly assured and powerful talent keeps building and growing. Another is knowing that nothing — not Marvel movies like Black Widow or wrestling dramedy biopics such as Fighting with My Family, either — ever gets anything but her very best. Even so, seeing her search so unflinchingly for the truth in The Wonder is high among her career standouts. This is an exquisitely led picture, and cast all-round, including the younger Cassidy as the girl finding meaning, having it ascribed to her and navigating life's burdens through her own story. As it follows Lib attempting to unravel Anna's mysteries, The Wonder is also strikingly shot and staged, looking and feeling earthy, aching, haunting and sumptuous. Indeed, Oscar-nominated Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner serves up painterly lensing of both sweeping landscapes and mesmerisingly lit interiors, doing so again after the also-phenomenal The Power of the Dog. As for Lelio, he keeps showing his knack for making every moment land with movie after movie, and his deft touch with his leads. When he ends The Wonder as it begins, back on that film set after a deeply felt emotional crescendo, he also brings another reminder: that being transported by spellbinding tales like this is fleeting but unforgettable. The Wonder screens in Australian cinemas from November 3, and streams via Netflix from November 16.
If spending a day listening to Porter Robinson, Gang of Youths, Peking Duk, Hockey Dad and Alex Lahey at This That was on your agenda for this spring, the festival comes bearing bad news — again. After cancelling its 2022 end-of-year events, the Newcastle and Brisbane fest has now done the same for 2023. "It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce This That Sandstone Point (Qld) and Newcastle (NSW) festivals will no longer be going ahead," the festival team announced in a statement on its website and social media. "This difficult decision was reached due to the challenging economic conditions we have been working within this past year, and the many factors that have been impacted by this. It has left us feeling that the This That experience you have come to know and love, and that we pride ourselves on offering, would only be dampened if we were to forge ahead," the This That crew continued. View this post on Instagram A post shared by THIS THAT (@thisxxthat) This That's November dates — on Saturday, November 4 at Sandstone Point Hotel in Sandstone Point and Saturday, November 11 at Wickham Park in Newcastle — were set to mark the coastal festival's return for the first time since early 2022. When the event pulled the plug last year, it was "due to a combination of issues", organisers advised; however, it promised that it'd be back in 2023. Also on the first This That 2023 lineup announcement: Slumberjack, Set Mo and The Presets doing a DJ set, plus Lola Scott, Trophy Eyes, Dear Seattle, Chillinit, Hooligan Hefs, Jesswar, Sophiya, Godlands, Kinder, Alice Ivy and more. [caption id="attachment_910563" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Zagexma via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Some of the acts on this year's now-shuttered bill were also on the roster last year's scrapped, such as The Presets, Winston Surfshirt, Chillinit, Hockey Dad and Jesswar. Ticketholders for 2023 will be contacted by Oztix about refunds, which will be returned to the card that tickets were purchased with automatically. This That will no longer return in November 2023 at Sandstone Point in Queensland and Newcastle in New South Wales. For more information about the festival's cancellation, head to the event's website. Images: Jordan Munns / Mitch Lowe.
If you're in Byron Bay right now, looking forward to this year's Splendour in the Grass — or you're on your way — then you'll already know that it's mighty wet in the region at the moment. In fact, it has been so soggy that campsites have been flooded, lines to get in have taken all night, there's even more mud than usual and the past 24 hours have been filled with chaos. And with more rainy weather due for the rest of the day, the fest's organisers have pulled the plug on all main stage gigs today, Friday, July 22. "A significant weather system is currently sitting off the east coast and may reach land later today bringing more rainfall. In the interest of patron safety and in consultation with all relevant emergency services, we have decided to err on the side of caution and cancel performances on the main stages today only — Amphitheatre, Mix Up, GW McLennan and Park(lands) stages," said the Splendour crew in a statement. "All of our destination spaces (Global Village, Tipi Forest, Forum, Comedy and Science tents, etc) will remain open today for patrons who are already onsite as well as those at our satellite campground at Byron Events Farm. Please relax and enjoy what is open." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Splendour in the Grass (@splendourinthegrass) From the fest's hefty lineup, Gorillaz, The Avalanches, DMA's, Dillon Frances, Kacey Musgraves and Orville Peck are among the acts that were due to perform today, but won't now. Organisers also advised that SITG looks forward "to Saturday and Sunday programming moving ahead as planned". So, fingers crossed that The Strokes, Glass Animals, Jack Harlow, Violent Soho, Tim Minchin and more will hit the stage on Saturday — and Tyler, The Creator, Liam Gallagher, Bad//Dreems, Mura Masa and others on Sunday. More rain is forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology for Byron Bay today, with showers and wind expected on Saturday, plus possible showers on Sunday. Affected ticketholders will be contacted by Moshtix in the coming week, via the email address you used to buy your ticket, with further information on refunds. Today's cancellation comes in Splendour's big comeback year, after two winters without live tunes at North Byron Parklands due to the pandemic. Splendour in the Grass runs until Sunday, July 24 at North Byron Parklands. For further information, head to the festival's website and Facebook page. Images: Ben Hansen.
Mark your calendar: if you like free ice cream, as everyone should, then you have a date with a Ben & Jerry's store in April. Each year, the dessert brand chooses one day per year to give everyone a treat without paying a cent. In 2024, that day is Tuesday, April 16. If there's one thing this chain loves above all else, it's the obvious: ice cream in a huge array of ridiculously named flavours. It's the brand behind Chunky Monkey, Cherry Garcia, Phish Food and The Tonight Dough — and has been responsible for Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yoghurt, Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream and Schweddy Balls, too. But, to the delight of your sweet treat-loving tastebuds, on Free Cone Day it loves giving away free scoops just as much. The occasion is exactly what it sounds like: a day where your ice cream is on the house. It ran annually since 1979 until the pandemic, then took a break for obvious reasons — returning in 2023 for the first time since 2019, and now backing it up in 2024. Here's how it works: if you adore ice cream as much as Ben & Jerry's adores ice cream, then you just need to hit up your local participating store (which is most stores) between 12–8pm. You can choose whichever flavour you like, and you can also line up for a free cone as many times as you like within that eight-hour period. Free Cone Day is happening Australia-wide — worldwide, too, in more than 35 countries — at both Ben & Jerry's Scoop Stores and its Hoyts outlets. In Queensland, head to South Brisbane for starters — as well as Burleigh Heads, Mooloolaba, Noosa Heads and Hoyts Sunnybank.
For most people, waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee is one of life's simple pleasures. Soon, waking up in bedding made from coffee grounds might be as well. Forget using caffeinated leftovers in the garden or around the house — Australian outfit Ettitude wants to reuse the parts that don't make it into your cuppa, infusing them into their new sheets range. It seems that they're not the only ones keen on the idea, with their Kickstarter campaign fully funded, and the first sheets due to ship in November. Their range includes the whole bedding kit and caboodle — aka flat and fitted sheets, quilt covers and pillow cases — in double, queen and king sizes, as available in a range of packs of combinations. And while they don't actually smell like everyone's favourite hot beverage, they do supposedly reap plenty of rewards. So, how does it work? The company's bamboo coffee bedding collection uses coffee yarns sourced from S.Cafe, who repurpose coffee grounds from cafes around the world, blend them with a polymer made from recycled plastic drink bottles, and turn the mix into fabric. At Ettitude, the yarns are then woven through their own sustainable bamboo lyocell textiles, ready to bring some coffee goodness to bedrooms everywhere. It's not just the environmentally friendly aspect of their new creation that Ettitude is getting all frothed up about, either; their sheets apparently offer a range of other benefits. It's unsurprising that material made out of something as heavy-scented as coffee grounds can block out other odours, but it can also wick away moisture faster, ensuring that bedding stays fresher for longer. Ettitude also state that hypoallergenic, thermoregulating bamboo-based linen doesn't irritate hair and skin as much as other fabrics, helping you wake up feeling refreshed — before you even roll out of bed and grab a coffee. For more information about Ettitude's bamboo coffee sheets, head to their Kickstarter campaign.
To be a character in a Luca Guadagnino film is to be ravenous. The Italian director does have a self-described Desire trilogy — I Am Love, A Bigger Splash and Call Me By Your Name — on his resume, after all. In those movies and more, he spins sensual stories about hungry hearts, minds and eyes, all while feeding his audience's very same body parts. He tells tales of protagonists bubbling with lust and yearning, craving love and acceptance, and trying to devour this fleeting thing called life while they're living it. Guadagnino hones in on the willingness to surrender to that rumbling and pining, whether pursuing a swooning, sweeping, summery romance in the first feature that put Timothée Chalamet in front of his camera, or losing oneself to twitchy, witchy dance in his Suspiria remake. Never before has he taken having an insatiable appetite to its most literal and unnerving extreme, however, but aching cannibal love story Bones and All is pure Guadagnino. Peaches filled with longing's sticky remnants are so 2017 for Guadagnino, and for now-Little Women, Don't Look Up and Dune star Chalamet. Biting into voracious romances will never get old, though. Five years after Call Me By Your Name earned them both Oscar nominations — the filmmaker for Best Picture, his lead for Best Actor — they reteam for a movie that traverses the American midwest rather than northern Italy, swaps erotic fruit for human flesh and comes loaded with an eerie undercurrent, but also dwells in similar territory. It's still the 80s, and both hope and melancholy still drift in the air. Taylor Russell (Lost in Space) drives the feature as Maren, an 18-year-old with an urge to snack on people that makes her an unpopular slumber-party guest. When she meets Chalamet's Lee, a fellow 'eater', Bones and All becomes another sublime exploration of love's all-consuming feelings — and every bit as exquisite as Guadagnino and Chalamet's last stunning collaboration. First seen newly arrived in a small Virginia town, Maren sneaks out to attend that aforementioned sleepover, which there's zero chance her strict single dad (André Holland, Passing) would've allowed her to attend. Following a swift, grisly chomp on a freshly manicured finger, it's clear why, and evident why Maren's exasperated father doesn't want to stay around in the aftermath. He moves her to Maryland first, leaving her with a cassette spouting backstory, including that her bloodthirsty tastes date back to her toddler days, and to munched-on babysitters — plus a birth certificate bearing her mother's (Chloë Sevigny, Russian Doll) name. So springs a road trip to Minnesota, searching for that estranged mum and more answers. Then, travelling through Ohio brings Maren to the creepy yet earnest Sully (a memorable Mark Rylance, The Phantom of the Open), who shares her hankerings and says he could smell her from blocks over. Next, in an Indiana supermarket, she crosses paths with Lee. Sporting confidence aplenty — "when you weigh 140 pounds wet, you gotta have a big attitude," Lee tells Maren — Chalamet makes an imprint from his first scene. Indeed, that initial moment with Russell leaves an imprint itself, too, resembling Andrea Arnold's American Honey as much of Bones and All does. Inverting the dynamic that worked so well for him in Call Me By Your Name, the internet's boyfriend isn't the thirsty newcomer. Instead, he's the seasoned hand, one half of Bones and All's dreamy but dangerous couple, and always second to Russell's astonishing work as Maren. Both actors turn in subtle, evocative and rousing performances that sting with rawness, naturalism and deeply stomached pain while soothing through their chemistry amid the gristle. As a result, whenever they're together, they're as inviting a treat as the feature serves up. Still, in yet another powerful performance, Russell repeatedly shows why her exceptional breakout turn in Waves wasn't a one-off. As Guadagnino and his now three-time screenwriter David Kajganich (A Bigger Splash, Suspiria) adapt Camille DeAngelis's award-winning 2015 novel, Russell and Chalamet also navigate a coming-of-age search for belonging — an outsider story with actual teeth, and one that isn't afraid to use them. When Maren first gets chewing, she's making a rare friend, only for her world to dissolve by being herself. After her meat-cute with Lee, then seeing his unapologetic approach needing to eat, she finally starts to feel like she fits in. Yet whether she's facing the reality of killing to feed or getting queasy over a fireside encounter with a perturbing eater (Call Me By Your Name's Michael Stuhlbarg) and someone who has willingly chosen the cannibal life (Halloween Ends director David Gordon Green), she keeps grappling with who she is. Maren yearns to connect — and does with Lee, although unsurprisingly shies away from Sully's too-keen offer of companionship — but also has to learn to deal with her appetite, the stark realities of her situation, and the line between predator and prey, none of which she can ignore. If 70s classic Badlands met teen vampire tale Let the Right One In while driving across middle America under the magic-hour sky — and with Duran Duran, Joy Division and New Order as a soundtrack — Bones and All would be on that exact road. Visually, it adores the former, as gorgeously and expressively lensed by cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan (Beginning). The atmospheric score by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and his film-composing partner Atticus Ross (Academy Award-winners for The Social Network and Soul) has a nervy and layered feel reminiscent of the latter, however. Combining such sumptuous imagery with the affecting score might seem like a stark contrast. Mixing the feature's aesthetics with the narrative's innate horrors, because there's no escaping the gruesome subject matter, blood and all, might appear the same, in fact. But Bones and All's pieces always swirl together in a vivid, affecting, like-you're-there fashion. That's another Guadagnino trademark, as seen most recently in his teens-in-Italy series We Are Who We Are. Bones and All's precise premise hardly matches anyone's lived experience but, even with the film rippling with a tense and disquieting air that never subsides at its headiest and most lyrical of moments — yes, a movie can be tender, a thriller and queasy at once — its underlying feelings couldn't be more relatable. Guadagnino and his committed cast consistently make their decisions with that in mind, tearing into the universal, unavoidable truth that to be human is to wrestle with primal needs and wants. Raw, Fresh, Yellowjackets and The Neon Demon have all sunk their gnashers into cannibalism on-screen in recent years, and well, but Bones and All proves the kind of picture that truly makes you understand the term haunting. Intense, impassioned, frantic and fragile all at once — because teenage love always is, and life in general — it's a flick so rich, lingering and piercing in its emotions, characters and ideas that it gnaws on you after viewing.
When Burger Urge isn't in quarrels over its cheekily named burgers, the team here is churning out some of Brisbane's finest comfort food. While its angus beef burger selection is truly exceptional (especially the Big Boppa, with melted cheese, fried egg, pineapple and beetroot), we also love the fact that these guys cater to a wide variety of dietary needs. We're talking keto buns, plant-based burger patties, vegan sides, plus standout salads. Plus, we've got nothing but love for a business that throws a 'Mullets Eat Free Day' for anyone sporting the iconic hairstyle (a temporary Southern Cross tattoo is the prize). Images: Hennessy Trill
Whatever happens to be gracing its walls, the Museum of Brisbane is always filled with dazzling displays. From Friday, June 18–Sunday, November 6, the Brisbane City Hall venue is positively sparkling, however. For almost five months, the work of Margot McKinney is in the spotlight — and given that the Brisbanite is a world-renowned jeweller, the items on show will gleam brighter than the museum's normal wares. World of Wonder: Margot McKinney focuses on McKinney's work and history, and also the five generations of luxury jewels that have become synonymous with the McKinney family name. The exhibition is split into four sections: 'Family History', 'World of Pearls', 'World of Opals' and 'World of Colour'. Yes, that gives you a great idea of exactly what's on offer. Expect to peer at opals, pearls, and rare gems such as tanzanite, lilac amethyst and pink tourmalines, all to get a picture of how McKinney has cemented her place among the jewellery greats — not only through her own brand and flagship store here in Brissie, but also via being stocked in the US in Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. Expect to get a glimpse of one-of-a-kind pieces, too, and up close as well. A ticketed showcase, with adult entry costing $15, World of Wonder: Margot McKinney is the latest in MoB's series of exhibition's focusing on creative greats who reside in our very city — including Mao's Last Dancer the Exhibition: A Portrait of Li Cunxin, Pattern & Print: Easton Pearson Archive and High Rotation, which focused on the Brisbane music scene. Keen to head along? For more information and to book, visit the website. Images: Claudia Baxter.
Melbourne's fashion fiends are in for a serious treat, with the NGV International kicking off its dazzling new exhibition — The Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Fashion Gift. A treasure trove of sartorial delights, the free showcase features over 150 haute couture pieces from some of the world's most iconic fashion houses. Prepare for wardrobe envy to hit hard as you take in this intriguing collection, which has been gifted to the NGV by leading philanthropist Krystyna Campbell-Pretty. There are a swag of legendary designs on show, from Le Smoking Suit — the avant-garde Yves Saint Laurent women's tuxedo, circa 1967 — to that tartan Alexander McQueen creation made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker at the 2006 Met Gala. Taking a style trip through the ages, the exhibition also showcases Madame Grès gowns, a rare collection of little black dresses from the one and only Chanel, and Dior designs from as far back as the label's 1947 debut. On display daily until Sunday, July 14, the threads are backed by a curation of original sketches and workbooks, rarely seen early-edition fashion magazines, embroidered samples and a suite of fashion photography. And for those keen to dive in further, The Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Fashion Gift is accompanied by a program of talks, including an International Women's Day chat about women's fashion in the 20th century. Images: Tom Ross.
A good night's sleep is one of life's pure joys and what better way is there to enhance your new year with a new set of bed sheets or a new mattress. Melbourne-designed Eva Mattress is here to help up your comfort level with its end-of-year Boxing Day sale. Think half-price sheets and hundreds of dollars off mattresses — and that's just the start. For its 13 day sale, running from 10am, Wednesday, December 23 until 10am, Tuesday, January 5, the local Aussie retailer is offering big end-of-year discounts. Expect $150 off its Eva mattress, $40 off the Eva pillow, $50 off Eva hemp linen and $50 off timber bed-frames. The award-winning mattress-in-a-box has been engineered as a hybrid, which means it combines the comfort of memory foam with the support of pocket springs. The memory foam pillow uses activated charcoal to keep you cool and dry throughout the night. The timber bed frame, winner of a 2020 Good Design Award, has been certified by the Forrest Stewardship Council meaning it's made from sustainably sourced timber. If you do spring for the mattress, sheets, pillow or bed frame, they come with a 120-night free trial, so you can be sure they'll help you get a good night sleep before you commit. All mattress orders come with free next-day delivery to metro areas and a 12-year warranty, ensuring you'll be sleeping pretty for years to come. Browse the store and pick up a discount. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
Why just eat one regular old sweet treat when you can feast your way through a glorious hybrid of two beloved desserts? That's long been Gelato Messina's unspoken motto. So, last year, the chain delivered a tastebud-tempting creation that took its delicious take on the trusty Viennetta and mixed it with its version of Golden Gaytimes. The result: the Have a Gay Old Messinetta tub, or the Gayinnetta as Messina has also dubbed it. And, in great news for your tastebuds this winter — because yes, you can still eat gelato when it's frosty outside — this limited-edition treat is making a comeback. If you've tried a scoop of the brand's popular Have a Gay Old Time flavour already but didn't tuck into any Gayinnetta last time around, just imagine that flavour turned into Viennetta. This dessert combines layers of caramel and milk gelato, then covers it with chocolate-covered biscuit crumbs, and finally tops it all with ripples of vanilla and caramel chantilly cream. And yes, the end result looks like the dessert you know and love, but in a caramel colour for a change. If you're keen to get yourself a Gayinnetta — which'll cost you $40 — they're available to preorder online on Monday, May 30, for pick up between Friday, June 3–Sunday, August 5 from all stores. And, because Messina's specials always prove popular, the brand is now staggering the on-sale times. Accordingly, folks in Queensland and the ACT are able to purchase at 9am, Victorians at 9.30am, and New South Wales customers split across three times depending on the store (with pies from Circular Quay, Surry Hills, Bondi, Randwick and Miranda on sale at 10am; Brighton Le Sands, Tramsheds, Parramatta and Darlinghurst at 10.30am; and Darling Square, Newtown, Rosebery and Penrith at 11am). Gelato Messina's Have a Gay Old Messinetta tubs will be available to order on Monday, May 30, for pick up between Friday, June 3–Sunday, August 5 from all stores. Head to the Messina website for further details.
If behind every great man there is a great woman, then consider Charles Dickens marked by two: his wife and mistress. The speculative The Invisible Woman tells the tale of the latter, wooed by the author despite their 27-year age difference, yet the former is inescapable. History remembers their imperfections, but understanding reigns in their screen incarnations. One stayed in the shadows as his lover and muse; the other stood on the sidelines as the mother of his ten recognised children. Treading the boards as a fledgling actress with her mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) and sisters (Perdita Weeks and Amanda Hale), Ellen 'Nelly' Ternan (Felicity Jones) catches the eye of Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) as he stages The Frozen Deep. Social decorum frowned upon divorce and threatened to keep them apart, but their love lingered, the open secret of their affair gaining traction before becoming untenable. Years later, Nelly looks back on their tumultuous relationship. Dickens is the high-profile figure in the handsomely staged and sumptuously expressed period drama, yet his presence is secondary to the women at the mercy of his emotions. As a writer, he remains as prominent as his many novels; in his personal life, his flitting from his wife, Catherine (Joanna Scanlan), to Nelly makes him the least interesting character. Instead, the pains suffered by both drive a film that skirts the melodrama inherent in its content. Troubled and tenacious in their individual ways, each could earn the description of the feature’s title. The intrigue elicited by Catherine and Nelly over Dickens is by design, and not indicative of any failings in the film’s performances or construction. Adapting Claire Tomalin's book The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, Fiennes does double duty as director in a deftly delicate addition to his filmmaking resume (and a stark departure from his last effort, the brutal modernising of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus). Underplaying his lead role but always attracting attention, Fiennes is similarly subtle and deliberate on screen as he is off; however, again it is his surrounding players that rise to prominence. Tackling Nelly’s uncertainty in her younger years as well as her guarded exterior as she ages is no easy feat but one that Jones portrays admirably, building upon her stellar turns in Like Crazy and Breathe In. Scanlan is given less time to impress but makes the most of her moments, conveying the devastating mood that trickles through the entire production. As The Invisible Woman progresses towards its fated conclusion, of course the air thrums with contemplation. Abi Morgan’s screenplay and the film that results makes audiences feel but also think: about life, love, social convention and struggling with normality amidst bright minds and great expectations.
Pressing a few buttons and having food magically appear at your door is probably one of our most beloved modern inventions. Nothing beats the feeling of ordering from your favourite restaurant and then being giddy with excitement as you track the order till it arrives on your doorstep. This pleasure is particularly heightened when you're coming off the back of a wild night, and your ability to cook for yourself is a little bit lacking, at best. Park yourself on the couch, get yourself a big glass of water (or a hair-of-the-dog cocktail) and get ready to scroll. No matter how delicate you're feeling, DoorDash has a wide range of comfort food to soothe even the shakiest of spirits.
As one half of creative duo Frank & Mimi, Emily Devers has spent years exploring the artistic nooks and crannies of Brisbane — and left her mark on several of them as well. The artist, who trained at QUT, has been making large-scale murals with signwriter Rick Hayward since 2011, and their works can now be seen splashed across the bridge of the Pillars Project gallery as well as Doomben Station, Newstead Brewing Co and the Golden Pig. In partnership with Pullman Hotels and Resorts, we're helping you explore more on your next holiday and make sure you get those experiences that the area's most switched-on residents wouldn't want their visitors to miss. In Brisbane, we've called in Emily, whose favourite spots range from a gallery that's helped uncover the the state's best street artists to the second-hand bookstore that's a joy to explore. A stay at Pullman's King George Square hotel in Brisbane — located in the centre of the city and just a stroll over the Victoria Bridge from South Bank — will not only put you in the thick of all this action, it will let you contemplate all you've seen in five-star luxury at the end of the day. Read on for Emily's top Brisbane art and design hot spots in her own words, and check out the rest of our Explore More content series to hone your itinerary for some of Australia's best holiday destinations. WANDERING COOKS What feels like a secret warehouse tucked away down Fish Lane, Wandering Cooks houses some of Brisbane's most exciting food ventures. They're a beaut community of like-minded entrepreneurs, celebrating locally sourced produce, local kitchen legends and an impressive low-intervention drinks menu. It's my pick for a low-key Friday night, followed by a wander to the river under the lights down Fish Lane. THE PILLARS PROJECT The Pillars Project is Brisbane's largest outdoor gallery, curated by Dan Brock. It's a great collection of large-scale artworks covering the pillars of Merivale Bridge in South Brisbane, showing visitors to Brisbane what our local artists are made of. It started in 2014 with nine artists painting under eight rail pillars, and the project has now grown to include a few more, including a Frank & Mimi piece. You can give it a wave coming along Montague Road! JUGGLERS ART SPACE A handful of prominent global street artists were born out of little ol' Brisbane, some of who (including Anthony Lister, Fintan Magee, Guido and Shida) spent their formative years exhibiting at Jugglers. We grew Frank & Mimi out of a small corner room in this iconic building. Brisbane's longest-running artist-run initiative (15 years now!), Jugglers addressed a serious shortage of exhibition, performance and studio spaces in Brisbane when it opened in 2002, and continues to provide an inclusive community space for cultural enquiry through art. QAGOMA The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) is located across two adjacent buildings in Brisbane's South Bank. Celebrating the contemporary art of Australia, Asia and the Pacific, it is a must-see for anyone visiting Brisbane. Sydney-based architects Architectus are responsible for the incredible building design, a huge part of the reason why you should visit. If it's your first time, try and get to a GoMA Up Late evening, so you can view the art with a drink in your hand and some local music in your ears. Also be sure to check out the gallery stores — they feature a lot of Brisbane makers. ARTISAN Artisan is a gallery space and design store on Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley. They support design creatives from emerging talent to established Australian legends, and they also run regular workshops in everything from spoon carving to textile design and life drawing. Drop by to see the latest exhibition, but make enough time to do a full lap around the store — it shows off our city's best designers and makers. THE BRISBANE FINDERS KEEPERS MARKETS Currently on twice a year, Finders Keepers is a design market featuring the work of independent makers and designers from across Australia. We love keeping up with who's making what by visiting the Brisbane chapter. Walking through the stunning Old Museum rooms overflowing with beautiful hand made things has always been a weekend treat, though the market it soon to move to a new, bigger location at the Brisbane Showgrounds, The Marquee. ANALOGUE GALLERY Analogue Gallery is a creative-led exhibition space in Fortitude Valley.Run by a powerhouse crew including Brisbane Curator Holly Riding, Grace Dewar of First Coat Festival and Matt Haynes of The Design Conference, this unassuming little space is tucked under dive bar Greaser in the heart of the Valley. It has a regular pop-up exhibition program and provides a professional platform for local, regional and interstate artists to show their work to a dedicated crowd — rent and commission free. This one's a really easy way to support Brisbane' creative community on the first Thursday of every month. BENT BOOKS Bent Books on Boundary Street in West End is probably the most adorable second-hand bookshop in Brisbane. They've been around for over 20 years and some of our favourite art and design books (including a rare, early edition sho' card painting book) have come from there. The staff are always friendly and will take down your name and notes if you're seeking something specific. BRISBANE POWERHOUSE The Brisbane Powerhouse is a contemporary, multi-arts centre reborn out of an old power station from the 1920s. It's a one-stop shop for high-quality theatre, performance, visual art and music, and you'll always be able to find something to suit your creative mood. I recommend starting with an afternoon picnic at New Farm Park, taking a walk along the river and entering the building from there — that way you can see our addition to the permanent art collection on the way in! PADDINGTON ANTIQUE CENTRE The Antique Centre in Paddington is perhaps the most overstimulating place you could visit in Brisbane. Housed inside the heritage-listed Plaza Theatre on the main strip of Paddington, it was originally open for business in 1930. Since then, it's collected a whole bunch of Brisbane-based antique and retro stores and sells everything from flamingo light fittings to top hats and ball gowns. I recommend coffee and breakfast at Naïm around the corner before a wander through on a lazy Sunday morning. Explore more with Pullman. Book your next hotel stay with Pullman and enjoy a great breakfast for just $1.
