Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue in December. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery opens with a puzzle box inside a puzzle box. The former is a wooden cube delivered out of the blue, the latter the followup to 2019 murder-mystery hit Knives Out, and both are as tightly, meticulously, cleverly and cannily orchestrated as each other. The physical version has siblings, all sent to summon a motley crew of characters to the same place, as these types of flicks need to boast. The film clearly has its own brethren, and slots in beside its predecessor as one of the genre's gleaming standouts. More Knives Out movies will follow as well, which the two so far deserve to keep spawning as long as writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi) and Benoit Blanc-playing star Daniel Craig (No Time to Die) will make them. Long may they keep the franchise's key detective and audience alike sleuthing. Long may they have everyone revelling in every twist, trick and revelation, as the breezy blast that is Glass Onion itself starts with. What do Connecticut Governor and US Senate candidate Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision), model-slash-designer-slash-entrepreneur Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr, The Many Saints of Newark) and gun-toting, YouTube-posting men's rights activist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista, Thor: Love and Thunder) all have in common when this smart and savvy sequel kicks off? They each receive those literal puzzle boxes, of course, and they visibly enjoy their time working out what they're about. The cartons are the key to their getaway to Greece — their invites from tech mogul Miles Bron (Edward Norton, The French Dispatch), in fact — and also perfectly emblematic of this entire feature. It's noteworthy that this quartet carefully but playfully piece together clues to unveil the contents inside, aka Glass Onion's exact modus operandi. That said, it's also significant that a fifth recipient of these elaborate squares, Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe, Antebellum), simply decides to smash their way inside with a hammer. As Brick and Looper also showed, Johnson knows when to attentively dole out exactly what he needs to, including when the body count starts. He also knows when to let everything spill out, and when to put the cravat-wearing Blanc on the case. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery streams via Netflix. Read our full review. KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF Not once, not even jokingly, does Annie Murphy utter the words "ew, David" in Kevin Can F**k Himself. She's never ever just a little bit Alexis, either. Murphy is just as exceptional and awards-worthy here, however, in a superb show that's a clever and cutting dark comedy — and, perhaps more accurately, offers a clear-eyed unpacking of what sitcoms usually mean (Schitt's Creek excluded, obviously) for women. In its first season in 2021, Kevin Can F**k Himself cast its star as Allison Devine-McRoberts, wife to the manchild of a titular figure (Eric Petersen, Sydney to the Max), and clearly in the kind of TV show about obnoxious husbands and their put-upon spouses that've been a small-screen mainstay for far too long. In those segments of the series, the lights glow, the McRoberts home looks like every other abode in every other program of its ilk, multiple cameras observe the action and viewers can be forgiven for expecting Kevin James to show up. Also, canned laughter chuckles — always unearned. Consider the above setup Kevin Can F**k Himself's starting point, though, because the show itself does. From there, creator Valerie Armstrong (Lodge 49) exposes what life is truly like for Allison — who is considered Kevin's wife first and foremost by almost everyone around her — including by switching looks, hues and camera arrangements whenever its namesake isn't around. The visible change is smart and effective, with this two-season show keeping digging into Allison's bleak situation from there. In the spirit of the series' title, she's trying to rid herself of her horrible marriage, including with help from neighbour Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden, The Righteous Gemstones). Alas, as this second and sadly last batch of episodes shows — as its first did as well — nothing is ever that easy. In a better world, Kevin Can F**k Himself would've had more time to unfurl and interrogate its story, but in this world it doesn't put a foot wrong with the time it's been given. Murphy and Inboden make one of TV's best duos, too; fingers crossed that someone reteams them again sometime soon. Kevin can F**k Himself streams via AMC+. Read our full review of 2021's season one. LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER Neither Emma Corrin's nor Jack O'Connell's resumes lack past highlights — The Crown for the former, and Skins, Starred Up, '71 and The North Water among the latter's — but the two actors scorch up the screen in Lady Chatterley's Lover. There'd be a problem if they didn't, given that the film adapts DH Lawrence's famously steamy and even banned 1928 novel. (In Australia, even a book about the British obscenity trial that the tome inspired was censored.) To tell this tale about an upper-class wife, her unfulfilling marriage to a Baronet injured in World War I, and the sexual and emotional yearning she quenches with the family property's gamekeeper, chemistry has to drip from the images, sparks need to fly so furiously that the movie's frames almost ignite, and a feverish and all-encompassing mood is a must. Along with actor-turned-director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (The Mustang), Corrin and O'Connell bring all of the above to the latest take on Lady Chatterley's Lover, and help the sumptuous erotic period drama itself not just bubble but boil. As lensed with a sensual eye by cinematographer Benoît Delhomme (At Eternity's Gate), this achingly romantic film sees its titular Lady Connie (Corrin, My Policeman) meet her also-eponymous paramour Oliver Mellors (O'Connell, Seberg) following the war, after Clifford Chatterley (Matthew Duckett, A Confession) has returned paralysed and moved his bride into his stately estate. Talk of an heir remains — pre-injury, it was the first thing mentioned in their wedding toast — but Clifford's condition, as well as his focus on writing a novel and then modernising the local mine, prove obstacles. Connie could have a discreet affair for the sole purpose of getting pregnant, however, as Clifford suggests. But it isn't just a head-over-heels clandestine love that springs with Mellors, who's also a veteran. Connie and Oliver are bowled over by the kind of adoration, affection and lust that inspires frolics in the fields and stripping down in the rain, all while their romance also helps interrogate class clashes. As well as woozily heady, vibrantly performed and handsomely shot, Lady Chatterley's Lover also enjoys eating the rich; yes, that's sexy, too. Lady Chatterley's Lover streams via Netflix. NANNY In Nanny, Aisha (Anna Diop, Us) is haunted, both when she's asleep and awake. Her slumbers are disturbed by nightmares, but seeing rising waters and unwelcome spiders isn't just relegated to when the Senegalese woman in New York closes her eyes. A gut-wrenching sense of unease also lingers while she works, after securing a childminding job for rich Upper East Side residents Amy (Michelle Monaghan, Echoes) and Adam (Morgan Spector, The Gilded Age). Their five-year-old daughter Rose (Rose Decker, Mare of Easttown) adores Aisha — more than her parents, it often seems. And, the nannying gig helps Aisha distract herself from missing her own son, who she's desperately trying to bring over to the US. She's haunted by his absence, too, and by the stolen snippets of conversation she gets with him on the phone, constantly juggling the time difference. The supernatural disturbances plaguing Aisha and her feelings about leaving her child in Senegal to chase a better future for them both are clearly linked, although Nanny is atmospheric and insightful rather than blunt and overt. The first horror film to win Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize, this evocative effort hails from writer/director Nikyatu Jusu, who makes her feature-length debut with quite the calling card. 2022 isn't short on affectingly moody and evocative female-focused thrillers with a maternal bent — see: Resurrection, which also debuted at Sundance — but Nanny's addition to the fold is deeply steeped in Aisha's immigrant experience. Thanks to all that otherworldly water, it feels like it's always steeping, in fact, soaking in the troubles and struggles of trying to snatch even a piece of the American dream when you're not wealthy, white and originally from the so-called land of the free. Also prominent: the dispiriting minutiae of Aisha's day, aka exactly what she has to endure to even have a chance of gaining what comes easily and obliviously to her employers. Like its central figure, Nanny is haunted several times over, too. Nanny streams via Prime Video. COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS A girl, a guy and a meet-cute over an adorable animal: that's the delightful and very funny Colin From Accounts' underlying formula. When medical student Ashley (Harriet Dyer, The Invisible Man) and microbrewery owner Gordon (Patrick Brammall, Evil) cross paths in the street one otherwise standard Sydney morning, they literally come to an impasse. He lets her go first, she flashes her nipple as thanks, then he's so distracted that he hits a stray dog with his car. As these circumstances demonstrate, Colin From Accounts isn't afraid to get awkward, much to the benefit of audiences. There's a syrupy way to proceed from the show's debut moments, intertwining sparks flying with idyllic dates, plus zero doubts of a happy ending for humans and pooches alike. If this was a movie, that's how it'd happen. Then there's Dyer and Brammall's way, with the duo creating and writing the series as well as starring in it, and focusing as much on ordinary existential mayhem — working out who you want to be, navigating complex relationships and learning to appreciate the simple pleasure of someone else's company, for example — as pushing its leads together. Just like in the Hollywood versions of this kind of tale, romance does blossom. That Dyer and Brammall are behind Colin From Accounts, their past chemistry on fellow Aussie comedy No Activity and the fact that they're married IRL means that pairing them up as more than new pals was always going to be on the show's agenda. It's how the series fleshes out each character and their baggage — including those who-am-I questions, Ash's difficult dynamic with her attention-seeking mother Lynelle (Helen Thomson, Elvis), and the responsibility that running your own business and committing to care for other people each bring — that helps give it depth. Colin From Accounts lets Ash and Gordon unfurl their woes and wishes, and also lets them grow. Sometimes, that happens by peeing and pooping in the wrong place, because that's also the type of comedy this is. Sometimes, it's because the show's central couple have taken a risk, or faced their struggles, or genuinely found solace in each other. Always, this new Aussie gem is breezy and weighty — and instantly bingeable. Colin From Accounts streams via Binge. Read our full review. DREAMING WALLS: INSIDE THE CHELSEA HOTEL Part of Manhattan since the 1880s, the Chelsea Hotel is as much a New York City icon as the Statute of Liberty or the Empire State Building, and as influential over the cultural landscape as well. It's where 2001: A Space Odyssey was written by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, where Janis Joplin and Allen Ginsburg have resided — Patti Smith, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Leonard Cohen as well — and a key factor in the Andy Warhol co-directed 1966 film Chelsea Girls. It's the last place that poet Dylan Thomas stayed, and where Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious, was found dead. All of these details could fuel a documentary, or several, but that's not the approach that the Martin Scorsese-produced Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel takes. As the building undergoes extensive renovations that've been happening for years, upending long-term inhabitants and transforming historic apartments, filmmakers Amélie van Elmbt (The Elephant and the Butterfly) and Maya Duverdier spend time with the people determined not to leave. Everyone who still calls the Chelsea home knows the ins and outs of its past; "the ghosts who haunt it," as one puts it. But Dreaming Walls considers those everyday dwellers — most linked to creative fields in one way or another, of course — the life and soul of the current joint. That might be easy when so much of the place, and its gorgeous gothic architecture, is a construction site in the documentary's frames. The contrast between stripped-bare walls and jam-packed apartments that've been occupied by the same people for decades is haunting as well. It's no wonder that this ethereal and evocative film is largely content to loiter, to listen and to bear witness to the folks who've been there, seen it all, heard what they didn't personally experience and aren't willing to simply move just because a boutique spot is poised to take over. Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel streams via DocPlay. BUMP Time-jump alert: when Bump returns for its third season, four years have passed in this supremely bingeable Aussie dramedy's on-screen world. Oly (Nathalie Morris, Petrol) and Santi (Carlos Sanson, Sweet As) are no longer high schoolers, or even teenagers. They're also no longer the couple that took a big leap at the end of season two by moving into their own apartment, away from both of their chaotic families, while Oly finished her HSC, Santi started working full-time and both juggled all of the above with caring for baby J. Indeed, this new batch of Bump episodes begins with its central pairing taking the now almost five-year-old Jacinda (Ava Cannon) to her first day of kindergarten. All three are both excited and nervous amid the awkward co-parenting energy between the now-split Oly and Santi — and as Oly's mother Angie (Claudia Karvan, Moja Vesna) surprises them en route. Times and ages may have changed, and situations and appearances as well, but the warmth this series feels for its characters — and the complexity it works through in well-worn scenarios — steadfastly remains. We said it when the first ten-episode season dropped at the end of 2020, and we still stand by it today: Heartbreak High fans, Bump is for you, too. That isn't just because Karvan starred in The Heartbreak Kid, the movie that the OG Heartbreak High spun off from, but due to its dedication to chronicling the ins and outs of growing up and parenting in Sydney — yes, with school a focus as well. Bump has matured as Oly and Santi also have, however, even if the same can't always be said about Angie, Oly's dad Dom (Angus Sampson, The Lincoln Lawyer) and her older brother Bowie (Christian Byers, Between Two Worlds). A key theme in season three: what it means when life already hasn't turned out as planned when you still have so much of it left ahead of you. The show is called Bump, after all, and finds plenty of them paving everyone's paths. With the series also devoting its time to Santi's stepmother Rosa (Paula Garcia, Thirteen Lives) and best friend Vince (Ioane Saula, Preppers) among its broader look at Oly and Santi's support network, it also finds an array of ways to contemplate hopes, dreams, loves, losses, joys and disappointments. Bump streams via Binge from December 26. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK ABBOTT ELEMENTARY The Office did it, in both the UK and US versions. Parks and Recreation did so, too. What We Do in the Shadows still does it — and, yes, there's more where they all came from. By now, the mockumentary format is a well-established part of the sitcom realm. Indeed, it's so common that additional shows deciding to give it a whirl aren't noteworthy for that alone. But in Emmy-winner Abbott Elementary, which is currently streaming its second season, the faux doco gimmick is also deployed as an outlet for the series' characters. They're all public school elementary teachers in Philadelphia, and the chats to-camera help convey the stresses and tolls of doing what they're devoted to. In a wonderfully warm and also clear-eyed gem created by, co-written by and starring triple-threat Quinta Brunson (Miracle Workers), that'd be teaching young hearts and minds no matter the everyday obstacles, the utter lack of resources and funding, or the absence of interest from the bureaucracy above them. Brunson plays perennially perky 25-year-old teacher Janine Teagues, who loves her gig and her second-grade class. She also adores her colleague Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ray Donovan), the kindergarten teacher that she sees as a mentor and work mum. Actually, Janine isn't just fond of all of the above — she's so devoted to her job that she'll let nothing stand in her way. But that isn't easy or straightforward in a system that's short on cash and care from the powers-that-be to make school better for its predominantly Black student populace. Also featuring Everybody Hates Chris' Tyler James Williams (also The United States vs Billie Holiday) as an apathetic substitute teacher, Lisa Ann Walter (The Right Mom) and Chris Perfetti (Sound of Metal) as Abbott faculty mainstays, and Janelle James (Black Monday) as the incompetent principal who only scored her position via blackmail, everything about Abbott Elementary is smart, kindhearted, funny and also honest. That remains the case in season two, where Janine is newly single and grappling with being on her own, sparks are flying with Williams' Gregory and James' Ava can't keep bluffing her way through her days. Abbott Elementary streams via Disney+. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Is every vampire film destined to become a television series? Where Buffy the Vampire Slayer, What We Do in the Shadows and Interview with the Vampire have already tread — the latter just this year, too — Let the Right One In now follows. Originally a devastatingly haunting Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, then an entrancing 2008 film in its original language, then an American big-screen remake called Let Me In, this one just keeps drawing audiences in. In its present guise, it takes its tale to New York, where Mark Kane (Demián Bichir, Godzilla vs Kong) and his daughter Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez, Selena: The Series) are trying to live as normal a life as they can when the latter is a member of the bloodsucking undead. Other changes abound, including the fact that Ellie has been blighted by her condition for just a decade; that NYC is being plagued by a series of brutal but strange killings; and that former pharmaceutical executive Arthur Logan (Željko Ivanek, The Last Duel), his estranged daughter Claire (Grace Gummer, Dr Death) and afflicted son Peter (Jacob Buster, Colony) factor into the narrative. Because everything is a murder-mystery of late — see: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery above, and fellow recent streaming hits Only Murders in the Building, The Afterparty, Bad Sisters and Black Bird — so is Let the Right One In circa 2022 in its way. When Ellie befriends a boy, as has happened in every version of this tale so far, his mother happens to be a police detective investigating those aforementioned deaths. So, while the show chronicles Ellie and Isaiah Cole's (Ian Foreman, The Holiday Switch) affinity as outsiders, with the magic-loving neighbour kid bullied at school, it also charts his mum Naomi's (Anika Noni Rose, Maid) time on the job. And, this Let the Right One In is also a survival quest, chasing a cure for Ellie's predicament. In other words, creator and writer Andrew Hinderaker (Away) has taken the source material, filtered it through thoroughly 2022 obsessions, conjured up there requisite moody vibe and filled it with weighty performances. Sinking your teeth in is recommended. Let the Right One In streams via Paramount+. 2022 CINEMA HIGHLIGHTS WORTH CATCHING UP WITH AT HOME FLUX GOURMET Flickering across a cinema screen, even the greatest of movies only engage two senses: sight and hearing. We can't touch, taste or smell films, even if adding scratch-and-sniff aromas to the experience has become a cult-favourite gimmick. British director Peter Strickland hasn't attempted that — but his features make you feel like you're running your fingers over an alluring dress (In Fabric), feeling the flutter of insect wings (The Duke of Burgundy) or, in his latest, enjoying the smells and tastes whipped up by a culinary collective that turns cooking and eating into performance art. Yes, if you've seen any of his movies before, Flux Gourmet instantly sounds like something only Strickland could make. While it's spinning that tale, it literally sounds like only something he could come up with as well, given that his audioscapes are always a thing of wonder (see also: the sound-focused Berberian Sound Studio). And, unsurprisingly due to his strong and distinctive sense of style and mood, everything about Flux Gourmet looks and feels like pure Strickland, too. The setting: a culinary institute overseen by Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie, Wednesday), that regularly welcomes in different creative groups to undertake residencies. Her guests collaborate, percolate and come up with eye-catching blends of food, bodies and art — hosting OTT dinners, role-playing a trip to the supermarket, getting scatalogical and turning a live colonoscopy into a show, for instance. Watching and chronicling the latest stint by a 'sonic catering' troupe is journalist Stones (Makis Papadimitriou, Beckett), who also has gastrointestinal struggles, is constantly trying not to fart and somehow manages to keep a straight face as everything gets farcical around him. Asa Butterfield (Sex Education), Ariane Labed (The Souvenir: Part II) and Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed play the three bickering artists, and their time at the institute get messy and heated, fast — but this is a film that's as warm as it is wild, and stands out even among Strickland's inimitable work. Also crucial: riffing on This Is Spinal Tap. Flux Gourmet streams via Shudder. Read our full review. STREAMING HIGHLIGHTS FROM EARLIER IN THE YEAR WORTH CATCHING UP ON THE LAST MOVIE STARS Filmmakers adoring filmmakers is basically its own on-screen genre. Six-part documentary limited series The Last Movie Stars gives that idea a different spin: actors loving actors. Here, Ethan Hawke turns director, not for the first time — see: films Blaze, Seymour: An Introduction, The Hottest State and Chelsea Walls — to show his affection for the inimitable Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Unsurprisingly, he has a wealth of company, some chatting through their fondness for two Hollywood talents like no other and some contributing by giving voice to interview transcripts. For a memoir that didn't eventuate, Newman and Woodward compiled chats by a who's who of showbusiness during their careers; however, they also had the tapes destroyed. Cue George Clooney voicing Newman's chats, Laura Linney doing Woodward's, and everyone from Oscar Isaac, Sam Rockwell and Mark Ruffalo to Rose Byrne and Zoe Kazan also subbing in for other famous names. That's where The Last Movie Stars' audio comes from, echoing with insightful discussions given the emotion they deserve. Hawke also includes new zoom chats with his players, as well as with Martin Scorsese, his daughter and Stranger Things star Maya and more, but his engrossing and probing series is head over heels for pairing those recreated interviews with archival footage. Staring at Newman and Woodward is easy, as is celebrating them and their relationship. This isn't just a case of deserved worship, though, but shows its subjects as real people rather than just stars — all while exploring Hollywood at the time, stepping through their careers and contemporaries, and overflowing with clear-eyed warmth. Hawke doesn't avoid tricky traits or truths, and this in-depth doco is all the more enlightening and compassionate for it. Whether you already treasure Newman and Woodward or you've always wanted to know more about the two legends, this is a movie buff's pure and utter dream. The Last Movie Stars streams via Binge. MO For three seasons on Ramy, Mohammed Amer has played Mo, the diner-owning cousin to the show's namesake. For those three seasons, including 2022's batch of episodes, he's also been part of one of the best and most thoughtful shows currently streaming, especially when it comes to the immigrant experience and telling Muslim American stories. Instead of just co-starring in an art-imitates-life dramedy inspired by someone else's existence, however, Amer has taken a leaf out of Ramy Youssef's book with Mo — a show with the same underlying concept, as co-created by Amer and Youssef. This time, the pair draw upon Amer's background rather than Youssef's. So, Amer's on-screen alter-ego is a Palestinian living in America. He's a refugee, in fact, who fled the Middle East when he was a child and sought asylum with his family. His US home: Houston, Texas. IRL, every one of these points is drawn from Amer's existence, as fans of his Netflix standup specials Mo Amer: The Vagabond and Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas will recognise. That's the history behind Mo, with the series' eight-episode first season honing in on its protagonist's attempts to gain US citizenship. Mo Najjar (Amer, Black Adam), his mother Yusra (Farah Bsieso, Daughters of Abdul) and brother Sameer (Omar Elba, Limetown) have been waiting two decades to have their cases heard — another detail ripped from reality — and trying to forge new lives while remaining in legal limbo has long since taken a toll. Spanning losing jobs, trying to find a new one as an undocumented American resident, the Najjars' family dynamic, pain from back home they haven't processed, the weight of cultural traditions and expectations, and Mo's relationship with Mexican and Catholic mechanic Maria (Teresa Ruiz, Father Stu), there's no shortage of detail and drama to Amer's passion project. Indeed, every second of the series feels as personal and authentic as it clearly is, and does far more than merely give Amer his own Ramy. Mo streams via Netflix. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November this year. You can also check out our running list of standout must-stream 2022 shows as well — and our best 15 new shows of the year, top 15 returning shows over the same period, 15 shows you might've missed and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies of 2022.
American artist Roy Lichtenstein is one of the key players in the Pop Art movement of the '60s and '70s. His innovative artwork and trademark colourful benday dot imagery, which parodied the comic strip, cemented his place as an iconic artist alongside the likes of other influential pop artists, such as Andy Warhol. Pop Remix showcases Lichtenstein's classic pieces as well as revealing a different side to the artist and showing a glimpse at how he developed his artwork through newly restored candid photography and film. Roy Lichtenstein inspired a generation through his tongue in cheek artwork that shook up all previously established 'rules' regarding what should be classified as art. Now it's your turn to be inspired. Pop Remix is held at the QUT Art Museum, in the middle of our city and the icing on the cake is that the event is absolutely free.
Bringing the outdoors in, greening up tiny city apartments, eating farm-fresh food, growing your own edible morsels: noble aims, all of them, but they're not always easy to achieve. A lack of room and a need for ongoing effort can hinder even the best laid inside gardening plans; however O Garden aims to make cultivating your own indoor veggie garden as simple as buying a new — and eye-catching — piece of furniture. Designed and manufactured in Canada, O Garden is a round, rotating cylinder specially designed for growing organic goodies in small spaces, and with as little need for human intervention as possible. Seeds are planted in soil placed on top of coconut matting, then automatically fed with organic liquid fertiliser while the wheel slowly spins around a central light source. All you need to do is water them once a week, then wait 30 to 40 days until harvesting time. Overall, the O Garden can produce around 100 plants in about half a square metre of space, making it quite the compact indoor greenhouse. As for just what you can grow within its circular confines, expect to munch on herbs like basil, rosemary, mint and parsley; greens such as spinach, lettuce and chives; and even celery, cherry tomatoes and strawberries. Alas, homegrown fresh food fans, the O Garden doesn't come cheap — though its US$1397 price tag doesn't factor in what you'll save if you put it to good veggie-growing use. At present, it only currently ships to the US and Europe, but here's hoping that changes soon. Via inhabitat.
When Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or in 2019, it became the second movie in as many years to nab the coveted prize for exploring class and wealth inequality through a tale of family. The year prior, when Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters scored the same gong, it too examined the ties that bind, plus the societal circumstances that conspire against and complicate such bonds. Indeed, that's the Japanese filmmaker's favourite subject. In a career spanning over three decades, he keeps being drawn to people who are drawn together, sometimes by biology and sometimes because that's simply the hand that fate has played in shaping a makeshift brood. It's fitting, then, that Kore-eda's latest Broker — his second feature since that big win — stays true to his go-to topic while also starring Parasite's Song Kang-ho. This is Kore-eda's first South Korean film, following 2019's French and English The Truth, which was his first non-Japanese picture. This is vintage Kore-eda, in fact, and it's warm, wise, wonderful, canny and complex. No matter how his on-screen families come to be, if there's any actual blood between them, whether they're grifting in some way or where in the world they're located, the Japanese writer/director's work has become so beloved — so magnificent, too — due to his care and sincerity. A Kore-eda film is a film of immense empathy and, like Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister, After the Storm and The Third Murder also in the prolific talent's past decade, Broker is no different. The setup here is one of the filmmaker's murkiest, with the feature's name referring to the baby trade. But showing compassion and humanity isn't up for debate in Kore-eda's approach. He judges the reality of modern-day life that leads his characters to their actions, but doesn't judge his central figures. In the process, he makes poignant melodramas that are also deep and thoughtful character studies, and that get to the heart of the globe's ills like the most cutting slices of social realism. It isn't just to make a buck that debt-ridden laundromat owner Sang-hyun (Song, Emergency Declaration) and orphanage-raised Dong-soo (Gang Dong-won, Peninsula) take infants abandoned to the Busan Family Church's 'baby box' — a chute that's exactly what it sounds like, available to mothers who know they can't embrace that part for whatever reason — then find good families to sell them to. There's a cash component, of course, but they're convinced that their gambit is better than letting children languish in the state system. In Kore-eda's usual kindhearted manner, Broker sees them with sensitivity. Even if blue hues didn't wash through the film's frames, nothing is ever black and white in the director's movies. The same understanding and tenderness flows towards mothers like So-young (Lee Ji-eun, Hotel Del Luna, aka K-Pop star IU), whose decision to leave Woo-sung (debutant Park Ji-yong) isn't easily made but puts Broker on its course. It's on a rainy night that So-young farewells Woo-sung, placing him gently in the hatch packed with blankets and soundtracked by lullabies, and leaving a note to say that she'll be back to claim him. She's nervous and tentative, peering around to see if anyone is watching — astutely so, because two groups are waiting on her significant choice. The traffickers have their plan to enact, while detectives Su-jin (Doona Bae, The Silent Sea) and Lee (Lee Joo-young, Rose Mansion) are keen to catch them. Muddying matters for both: unlike what usually happens in this situation, So-young does genuinely return for her baby. So sparks a road trip with Sang-hyun, Dong-soo and football-loving seven-year-old Hae-jin (first-timer Seung-soo Im), a runaway orphan, to meet Woo-sung's prospective adoptive parents, all with the cops on their trail as part of a six-month investigation. Broker's plot is never straightforward, nor are the questions it incites — questions about what family truly means, what governments say it's supposed to and why a ragtag group of outsiders can find a greater sense of belonging together on the run than anywhere else. Without offering any simple justifications, answers or solutions, Kore-eda ensures that the factors that lead So-young to the baby box, and Sang-hyun and Dong-soo to the illicit adoption market, constantly demand the audience's attention. "This car is filled with liars," Dong-soo says mid-trip, but it's the why behind that statement that sits at Broker's core. Like in Shoplifters before it, Kore-eda queries the forces that've made his characters who they are, brought them to this juncture and meant that the choices they're making feel like the only ones they can. Here, that includes pondering expectations placed upon women whether or not they're mums, the baggage attached to motherhood, the alternatives to baby boxes, and the stark truth that bringing life into the world and having a family aren't the same things. If he'd decided that literature rather than cinema was his medium of choice, there's no doubting that Kore-eda would've made an excellent novelist. His plots are that layered, perceptive, generous, emotional and involving. Also, in his TV adaptation The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, one of 2023's streaming delights, he showed that he's equally as skilled at bringing tales from the page to the screen. But filmmaking is clearly Kore-eda's calling — and he's such a masterful visual storyteller, not to mention an affectionate movie craftsman, that it's forever plain to see why. Enlisting the great South Korean cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, a veteran not just of the aforementioned Parasite but also Bong's Snowpiercer and Mother, Na Hong-jin's 2016 standout The Wailing and Lee Chang-dong's sublime Burning from 2018, he gives Broker an earthy, lived-in, clear-eyed and yet eternally hopeful look. Falling rain, cramped rooms, cosy car rides, sprawling countryside, everyday phone calls: this film, and Kore-eda and Hong, make each one stun and say, well, everything. Broker's score by Jung Jae-il (another Parasite alum, and also Squid Game's composer) — plus the movie's spectacular use of Amy Mann's 'Wise Up' on its soundtrack, nods to Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and all — are just as impressively and attentively fashioned. Nothing quite makes a Kore-eda feature what it is like his way with casting, though, pairing his empathetic stories with actors who gracefully live and breathe the same trait under his gaze. Accordingly, Kore-eda and the always-exceptional Song are a match made in cinematic heaven; it's no wonder that the latter deservedly earned Cannes' 2022 Best Actor prize for his latest phenomenal performance as a complex patriarch-type. Kore-eda and Bae is just as sterling a duo, too, especially when it comes to conveying yearning within this already bittersweet tale. Every heartfelt portrayal in Broker gets its audience feeling, however, including the scene-stealing Lee as a woman facing impossible choices, and pivotal baby Park.
Since opening in 2006, the Eleanor Schonell Bridge has been known as Brisbane's 'green bridge'. That moniker has nothing to do with its colour. Instead, it reflects the fact that, spanning the river to connect Dutton Park and St Lucia's University of Queensland, the roadway is only open to buses, bicycles and pedestrians — but, soon, it won't be the only bridge worthy of the nickname. First announced earlier this year, and now moving to the community consultation stage, Brisbane City Council is planning to build five new green bridges. They don't have exciting names just yet, but their locations have been revealed. One will connect Kangaroo Point to the CBD, while West End will be home to two, linking to Toowong from Orleigh Park and to St Lucia from the end of Boundary Street. Yet another will span Albion and Newstead at Breakfast Creek, and, well downriver, the last will reach from Bellbowrie to Wacol. The proposed bridges won't use exactly the same model as Eleanor Schonell Bridge, however. Running from Scott Street over to Alice Street in the city, the Kangaroo Point Pedestrian Bridge will be for cyclists and folks walking on two feet only, as will the bridge over Breakfast Creek at the Kingsford Smith Drive Riverwalk. The remaining three bridges all will cater for walkers, bikes and public transport. [caption id="attachment_750033" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Brisbane City Council[/caption] A preliminary business case has also been put together for the Kangaroo Point Pedestrian Bridge, forecasting that the structure could carry up to 5300 trips per weekday — and reduce bus trips by 300, as well as car journeys by 230, each day. While just when you'll be able to start strolling across it, or the other bridges, hasn't been revealed, you can have your say on the proposed structures. Either head online before Friday, December 6, or attend a community information session between Thursday, November 14 and Tuesday, December 3. And yes, Brissie already has a few other bridges that are solely dedicated to bikes and pedestrians, including the Goodwill Bridge and the Kurilpa Bridge in the CBD. We sure do love our bridges. The new Neville Bonner Bridge is also currently in the works, connecting South Bank with the Queen's Wharf development, while Indooroopilly has the Jack Pesch Bridge (which runs parallel to the famed Walter Taylor Bridge, aka the bridge with apartments built into it). For more information about Brisbane City Council's five new proposed green bridges, or to provide your feedback, visit the BCC website. Top image: A render of the Kangaroo Point Pedestrian Bridge.
I knew Simon Kean Hammerson’s name was a familiar one. When Googling his name for information on his upcoming exhibition, I happened upon a bunch of links for The Greens political party. At first glance it seems strange that an artistic photographer leads a double life in politics and the environment (and vice versa) but upon reading further, it becomes obvious; Hammerson’s passion for the environment shows in his work – with a mastered sense of light, colour and space, his photographs exhibit a certain appreciation for the subtleties of the form and shape in a landscape. In particular, Hammerson has a keen interest in the impact of time and climate on nature and man-made objects, and the beauty and emotion that is created when the two forms are introduced. Showing at the Alliance Francaise de Brisbane is Back Roads, a body of Hammerson’s work that best showcases his ability to capture the natural world through the lens of a camera. Image credit: Simon Kean Hammerson
When most folks think about Queensland, locals included, they think about the enticing coastline. The Sunshine State is known for its surf and sand — and, obviously, sun — after all. But if you're looking for an escape into nature that doesn't involve the sea, southeast Queensland is also home to more than a few rocky, towering peaks. They're perfect for scenic hikes and, when you walk along them, they'll have you feeling like you're on top of the world. Even better: if you're eager for a mountainous trek but you're also keen to spend more time on your feet than driving, plenty of spots sit within a short distance from Brisbane. And if you're not quite sure where to head, we've rounded up five epic locations for you to add to your must-walk list. [caption id="attachment_784273" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Mount Barney National Park Queenslanders can thank a volcanic eruption 24 million years ago for this mountainous patch of the state, which boasts several peaks. There's Mount Barney, of course, as well as Mount Maroon, Mount May, Mount Lindesay, Mount Ernest, Mount Ballow and Mount Clunie. Accordingly, the Mount Barney National Park offers up a choose-your-own-adventure-style roster of treks, all slightly south of Brisbane and all best for experienced bushwalkers. Among the plethora of trails awaiting your footsteps, you can pick between two types: walking tracks or, for those experienced with rock scrambling, summit routes. Our suggestion: the Cronan Creek Falls trail, where you'll mosey along the rugged mountainous landscape and also see tumbling water, as the name suggests. It spans 12 kilometres, and will take you around four hours. Glass House Mountains Sometimes, it's easy to overlook things that are virtually in your own backyard. For many Brisbanites, the Glass House Mountains fall into that category. We all know that they're there, sitting between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast — but, because they are always there, you mightn't have taken the time to visit them. Redressing that quick smart is recommended, because this range is simply stunning, even if you just decide to peer up at its peaks from the ground. We definitely encourage putting on some comfy shoes and making your way along one or several of the walking trails, though, with options available for both first-timers and experienced hikers. Most are quite short, so you could climb up to the Mount Ngungun summit in two hours, circumnavigate Mount Tibrogarga in 90 minutes and trek to the top of Mount Beerburrum in another 90 minutes — walking 10.4 kilometres in total, and making quite the day of it. [caption id="attachment_784278" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Do Japan via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Lamington National Park Part of the Gold Coast hinterland, Lamington National Park is another spot south of Brisbane that serves up many mountainous hiking options. Here, you'll be walking along, through and atop the McPherson Range — and peering out over the park itself, as well as the Gold Coast, southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales. If you're fond of ogling waterfalls and valleys, take the day-long, 21-kilometre Ships Stern circuit in the Binna Burra section of the park. If you're particularly enthusiastic about making your trek at a high altitude (and possibly even through some mist), opt for the 18-kilometre Wagawn track and its impressive vantage from the Garragoolba lookout. You could also choose the 18.2-kilometre Mount Hobwee circuit, which branches off from it. For something a bit shorter, the 12-kilometre Daves Creek circuit serves up scenic views, rainforest sections and the eye-catching Surprise Rock, a volcanic dyke. [caption id="attachment_784274" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland/Larissa Dening[/caption] Mount Coolum The walk to the top of Mount Coolum isn't particularly long, spanning 1.6 kilometres and taking around an hour (plus an hour to get back down, of course). It is a bit steep, rather rocky and can be challenging, though, so you'll want to work your way up to it by getting in some experience on other tracks first — and it's recommended for fit walkers only. Once you decide that you're ready to tackle this Sunshine Coast spot, you'll reach a site that's perched 208 metres above sea level — with 360-degree views of the coast, the Glass House Mountains, Blackall Range and even Noosa once you get there. Yes, that's 100-percent worth making the effort. Make sure you only walk Mount Coolum in dry conditions, however, because it can get immensely slippery. And, if you fancy hanging around for more than just a day, you can camp nearby: at Mudjimba and at Coolum Beach. [caption id="attachment_784272" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Springbrook National Park By now, while perusing this list, you've probably sensed a trend. Yes, Brisbanites can basically choose their preferred location either north or south of the city, then pick between several walks branching off rom any one spot. Springbrook National Park is no different, although most walks here are rather short and easy — which means that you can cram in a few and make the absolute most of your trip to the Gold Coast. Obviously, given its moniker, you want to try the 600-metre, 30-minute walk to the Best of All lookout, which'll let you peer down into New South Wales. If you like chasing waterfalls, the Twin Falls circuit will take you two hours across four kilometres. Those eager to make a day of it on the Springbrook plateau should opt for the 14-kilometre Warrie circuit, which is the longest track here and also casually climbs up a gorge. Top image: Mount Ngungun by Tourism and Events Queensland
Who doesn't love a good dining hall? Done right, they offer a distinctive restaurant experience: a big room, a menu to match, and a busy, buzzing atmosphere. You don't need to take our word for it, given that cafeteria-like establishments are popping up all over town. Metropole Eatery is the latest — and if you're dining out in the CBD, the new haunt from the folks behind Bar Pacino just might become one of your favourites. Metropole's shiny modern digs on the first floor of the just-opened Daisho Brisbane building offers a choice of booth, communal and outdoor terrace seating (the latter with views of the heritage-listed former School of Arts next door). There's also the hefty selection of meals — tf you're after a whole host of food choices, served buffet-style, you'll find it here. Think East meets West with all the international cuisine that comes with it: sushi, banh mi, satay chicken and Caesar salads among them. There'll be a number of different types of beverages at various drinks stations, from the caffeine fix you need at 7am to the beers, ciders and cocktails that'll make your night. Metropole isn't just a dining hall — it's a bar as well, after all.
Over the past few years, Gelatissimo has whipped up a number of creative flavours, including frosé sorbet, ginger beer gelato, Weet-Bix and fairy bread varieties, hot cross bun gelato and even gelato for dogs. For its latest offering, the Australian dessert chain is taking inspiration from an extremely popular drink: bubble tea. Yes, bubble tea is now a thing you can eat, not just drink, thanks to Gelatissimo. Launching this Friday, July 24, the brown sugar bubble milk tea flavour is made from a combination of organic assam tea and black tea, which are infused in creamy gelato and mixed with a swirl of brown sugar syrup. As it wouldn't really be a bubble tea without pearls, each cup or cone comes topped with chewy brown sugar tapioca pearls. If you order a takeaway tub, pearls come packed separately. Prefer sipping on your bubble tea rather than scooping it? Gelatissimo is also whizzing the limited-edition flavour into gelato shakes. As Victoria is in lockdown and NSW residents have been advised against non-essential travel, Gelatissimo is bringing the gelato to you and offering delivery through UberEats, DoorDash and Deliveroo. Gelatissimo's brown sugar bubble milk gelato flavour is available from all 43 stores nationwide for a limited time.
"I think if someone like Bong says 'I'd like to work with you' once and then again, you just say yes," Daniel Henshall tells Concrete Playground. In the past decade, Bong Joon-ho has directed three films: Parasite, picking up the Palme d'Or at Cannes and four Oscars in the process, plus two pictures featuring an Australian actor who initially came to fame in Snowtown, aka one of the nation's most-haunting movies. In Okja, Bong and Henshall's first collaboration, the former tasked the latter with playing an animal-rights activist in a sci-fi action-adventure about battling the meat industry. Reteaming with the writer/director for Mickey 17, Henshall now portrays the righthand man to a wannabe dictator — an egomaniacal politician with clear real-life parallels — who is attempting to set up his own space colony, and cares little for the lives, human and other, that are lost in doing so. "I think I read it after I'd already said yes," Henshall continues. "So I was already on my way to doing it before I got to really appreciate how brilliant and bizarre and epic and fun this film is. I think it's really funny, this one." He's right: while there's darkness in every Bong picture, and the filmmaker's career-long cinematic exploration of exploitation in its many guises continues in Mickey 17, this is a comedy as much as it's a science-fiction flick. Adapting Edward Ashton's novel Mickey7, Bong ensures that humour flavours what's otherwise a bleak premise, with the movie's namesake (Robert Pattinson, The Batman) unwittingly signing up to die again and again and again — enough so he's lived at least 17 lives, hence the title — to assist the sinister Kenneth Marshall's (Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things) designs on an intergalactic empire march forward. This is a tale about expendables — a term that applies literally in Mickey 17, but could've been used to describe much else across Bong's filmography, be how a serial killer regards his victims in Memories of Murder, the way people considered lower-class in Snowpiercer and Parasite are treated, or the animals in the food chain in Okja. Mickey's job, which he didn't read the paperwork for before agreeing, is basically a human guinea pig and crash-test dummy. Death comes with the gig, as does being cloned each time that he says farewell. There's one key rule, however: there can only be one of Mickey, or of any expendable, at a time. Multiples are expressly forbidden. When the 17th Mickey is left for dead on Niflheim, the icy planet that Marshall is endeavouring to make his own, but survives, Mickey 18 is generated. Keeping the fact that there's two of them a secret; navigating his other self's different personality; fighting with himself over his security-agent girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie, Blink Twice); feuding with frenemy Timo (Steven Yeun, Beef); avoiding scientists Dorothy (Patsy Ferran, Miss Austen) and Arkady (Cameron Britton, The Umbrella Academy); being stuck at the whims of Marshall and his sauce-loving wife Ylfa (Toni Collette, Juror No 2); communicating with Niflheim's indigenous creatures, which are nicknamed 'creepers': that's all now on Mickey's plate. Rarely far from Marshall's side, Henshall's Preston is the type of person who'll do anything for the man that he's pledged his allegiance to, including helping to shape his boss' image as fervently as he's constantly stroking his ego. Unlike Mickey of any number and his job, Preston is participating willingly. How did Henshall respond when Bong thought of him for the part? "The first reaction was 'this is more bonkers I'd ever experienced of his work'," he advises. "Parasite is proper bonkers, but this film was bizarre and excellent and unique and funny and humane and violent and scary, and all within this genre. And it was all the things that he brings to his work, all the commentary and the satirical nature of his work. I thought 'oh man, this is such a wonderful, delicious soup'. And Preston is a wonderful ingredient in that soup. What a strange character in this world, right? And from what he had said briefly about the character, it just seemed like a lot of fun — a lot of fun." [caption id="attachment_994744" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Vaughn[/caption] Henshall can thank Snowtown for plenty in his career. His performance as John Bunting in his first-ever film role — beforehand, single episodes of All Saints and Rescue Special Ops, plus a main part in soap Out of the Blue are on his resume — is that unforgettable, and everything from fellow Aussie movies These Final Hours, The Babadook, Acute Misfortune, Measure for Measure, A Sunburnt Christmas, The Royal Hotel and How to Make Gravy (which we chatted with him about in 2024) through to international productions Ghost in the Shell and Skin have followed. So too have TV roles at home in Bloom, Lambs of God, Clickbait, Mystery Road: Origin, Savage River and The Newsreader, and overseas in TURN and Defending Jacob. He can directly credit Justin Kurzel's debut crime drama based on the real-life South Australian murders for being cast in both Okja and Mickey 17, though, after Bong was on the Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or jury in 2011 when Snowtown played at the prestigious festival, then approached Henshall after seeing the movie. How did that first meeting with the filmmaker lead to not one but two performances in front of Bong's lens? Having collaborated with him twice now, why does Henshall think that the South Korean director is so drawn to digging into humanity's penchant for exploitation? What energy did acting alongside Mickey 17's cast, with many of his co-stars turning in such distinctive portrayals, give him for his own performance? Alongside what gets him excited about a new project, what he makes of his career so far and more, our conversation with Henshall spanned all of these topics. On How Snowtown Led to Okja, and Then to Mickey 17 "So Bong was the head juror of the Camera d'Or back in 2011, which is a prize given to the what the jury deem is the best first film by a debut filmmaker at the Cannes Film Festival — and Snowtown played there. And so after the first screening of Snowtown, Bong waited around and he was very sweet, and came up and said hello, and gave me a card and said 'yeah, it'd be great to work with you'. There's a bit of protocol there that says they can't say much about the film or howthey responded to it, just because of the secrecy of the ballot at the end of the week and who wins what, but he said 'I'd like to work with you, very lovely to meet you' — and then he went on his way, and it was very lovely. I went back to an event at Screen Australia, I think, and Jennifer Kent — the writer/director of The Babadook and The Nightingale — was there. She with there with her producer, as she was selling The Babadook to get some international money before making it. And she taught me at acting school. She came up to me and she said 'I heard you met someone today'. And I said 'oh yeah, yeah' — and I was going through my mind who I may have met that she was so excited about. And I said 'oh yeah, there's this beautiful man from Korea'. And she was like 'yeah, I know who he is: director Bong Joon-ho'. And I was like 'oh yeah, yeah'. And she's like 'you don't know who he is, do you?'. And I'm like 'oh, no, no' — and she's like 'you're an idiot, you need to watch this, this, this, this, this and this'. And I was like 'okay, I will, I will'. [caption id="attachment_994759" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Okja, Netflix[/caption] So I went home when Cannes finished and I watched the films. And I was very happy that I didn't know who he was when I met him, because I think I would have been very shy because the films were incredible. Anyway, I was a bit naive. It was the first thing I'd ever been to outside of Australia to do with work, and I thought it was a nice gesture and nothing more. So years go by and we get a phone call, and he'd like to meet for me to work on Okja. I was on a plane the next day. He said 'I'm in LA, I'd love to meet you. I've got this film. I think you'd be great in it'. I'm like 'can I get there quicker?'. So I got on a plane and we met, and I think he'd already cast me in his mind, but he just was doing an energy check. He wanted to see, just to see, I think — he doesn't just cast the people he thinks are going to be great in the film, I think energetically he wants to put together an ensemble of people, not just in front of the camera but behind the camera, who are going to work best to make the film come to life. And I think he knew from meeting me that that might be a good thing. So, obviously you don't know until you do it, but I guess he trusted his intuition. And not long after that I got offered Okja. And then, I get a call out of the blue while I haven't had much work — it's 2022, I haven't had much work or I'm in-between jobs, and I think a couple of things have been pushed, and I'm about to go to start a job on a film. And I get this call from his American producer Dooho Choi, who was a friend of mine because we worked together on Okja, and he says 'hey, Bong wants to work with you again'. I thought he was joking and just having a laugh, and he was like 'no, no, I'm in London and you need to get here'. And I was like 'oh'. So then that happened, and I went to London a couple of months later and I got to do the thing — again. So I'm feeling very blessed and very grateful that I that I got to do it, not just once but twice, because I felt a lot more comfortable the second time working with him in the way that he works. And, of course, with the brilliant people that he brings together to make his very unique, excellent films. So I felt like part of the family the second time. There's a lot of co-collaborators that he worked with again, so I got to be part of that family again and we got to reunite and work together again, and I felt a lot more comfortable in my skin this time." On the Theme of Exploitation Continuing to Recur Across Bong's Career, Including in Okja and Mickey 17 "I think he's a very socially aware guy. I can't speak to what his reasons are, really — he's a very open and lovely human, but I haven't talked in-depth with him about how he came to do [this], because, as you say, there are themes that he, in every one of his films, these themes sort of show up. And I haven't really had a chance to talk in depth about that with him. So that, I couldn't speak to that, other than I think he sees the absurdity in humanity, and while it moves him to, I assume, sadness at times, he just sees the hilarity in the indifference. And I think what he's trying to do — and again this is my take on it — I think what he's trying to do is to show us there's a better way through the absurdity. I think that means a lot to him. I mean, he came out of — again, you'd have to speak to him, but this is my assumption knowing a little about the history — he came out of a military dictatorship, like in 1988 that was thrown over in Korea, and Korea came into this sort of industrial boom, which made people start having a bit more equity across the board and more finances to consume things. And he is the result of that, in that he can now comment on his experience through his art. And he does it so uniquely and so brilliantly. But I think the thing is, it's a lofty goal, but I think the hope when you make something and you spend so long doing it and you commit your life to doing it is to show people that there is a better way. That we can — because there are good people in every one of his films, right? And a lot of the darkness, he shows through absurdity. And you're right, there are some really dark moments in this film in the way that we treat the original habitants, the aliens, of this planet Niflheim, and the way that we treat the expendable, Rob Patterson's characters — character or characters — and the class system within this this spaceship. He's constantly making fun, not just of the people who are being awful, but the people down the scale. So I think that's the goal. Again, this is just me surmising. But that's what I receive when I see his work outside of the work that I've been involved in myself, is that you're pointing out to us that there's a better way — and look how silly we are as a race when ego and hubris and self-interest gets involved. And community is much better together rather than at odds." On Being Part of Such a Stacked Cast — and the Energy That His Co-Stars' Committed Performances Gave Henshall for His Own "It's so much fun, because those guys are so committed to what they're doing and what they're being asked to do by Bong, that it helps inform what you're supposed to do and where you're supposed to be as the character, and how you're supposed to respond to something — whether that be physically, emotionally or verbally. And so when people are giving you so much; I mean, Rob gives so much, Mark gives so much, Toni gives so much, Naomi gives so much. Everybody was coming to work wanting desperately to make this work. And everybody has such a different energy level. Everybody is such a unique, standout character for their moments. The scientists with Cameron Britton and Patsy Ferran, at odds with each other, that classic dynamic. Steven Yeun — Steven Yeun blew me away. Again, everybody's giving their personal story so much value. And our commitment that when you step into that soup or that mesh, you feel it, the energies are pushing and pulling you, and you know what you're there to do, what you're supposed to do there, what you've been asked to do and your intentions. So to play those intentions within that sort of tête-à-tête coming at you and you're responding to it, it's so much fun. You're in such good hands with the crew and Bong behind the camera. I can only speak positively about it. It's just so much fun. Even though he's very prescriptive and he has the film in his head — he only shoots the frames that he's going to use in the edit. So that might interrupt your speech or that might interrupt the dialogue. You only might get a chance to respond at one certain moment. You don't get to play the whole scene out on camera. And he knows exactly what he needs for that, so he might direct you in a certain fashion, and he'll show you the storyboard, and so you get an idea of what you're supposed to be physically — but within that he wants you to play and find something that's not within the storyboard, but you have to just hit those mark physically. And when you're getting the response from that you're getting from Rob — I just remember when doing the read-through and Rob was doing that voice, and I'm like 'this is so great, this is going to be so much fun to work opposite'. And then Mark was finding his voice, and I'm like 'these energies are just wild and within the Bong universe — I can't wait'." On What Excites Henshall About Getting to Skew in a Lighter Direction, Even If There's Still Darkness Evident, Than Projects Like Snowtown, The Royal Hotel and Acute Misfortune. "It doesn't have to be a dark turn for me to get excited to do the work, to flesh out of character. I think that's just the stuff that I've been lucky enough to have been thrown, and I really enjoyed investigating why men like those roles from those films that you mention, to question and investigate why these guys are the way they are and then try to portray that as best I can. But anything on any spectrum excites me. The thing with Preston in this film, Bong's world, there's always a sense of playfulness and absurdity and commentary, and you don't necessarily play that but you lean into the idea of it — and that's really exciting. And I cherish to be able to flesh something like that out in his world. Anything that comes along that is lighter or more comedic, too, that's a different type of challenge and a different type of investigation and curiosity. That's really fun to do, too, depending on who you're working with and the story and the context of the character within that story. But working with him — and his characters are arch at times, and you're fulfilling certain tropes within the story for him, but there's a menace to Preston. And an underlying nastiness, an ugliness that I think comes from an ideology that's dark, but it's portrayed in this sort of very humorous observation of people who can be like that, that end up working for or being part of a belief system. In Preston's terms, it's in with this sort of corporation church, and there are some uglier elements there that we don't delve into but are quite obvious if you look at them hard enough. And that's really fun and it's zany — you know, he's wearing a £2000 suit on a spaceship. Why does he look like that? Where did that come from? Who is he? Bong said to me, the first time we met and talked about this film and this character, he said 'I want you to be shiny and smell like shampoo. You've got no hair, but I want you to be shiny and smell like shampoo'. So that excites me. What does that mean? That's very fun, and inspires the imagination and your curiosity. And then at one point, he said to me 'you think you're Mick Jagger. Nobody knows this. You don't show it. But that's what's happening internally for you'. And again, whatever that means, that's a really fun, exciting thing to play within the context of the dynamics between Mark's character, my character, Toni's character, Rob's character. What a fun direction. What a fun note to give. And then there's the intentions, I think he's trying to influence heavily without offending someone who is obviously very intimidated and insecure but has a great deal of power. And I think he's trying to get in the ear of Marshall as best he can by inflating his ego so as to serve his own mission, which I think is to further his position. So there's a menace and a malice there, and an intention that isn't very light — especially when we're talking about the loss of life, whether it be creeper or human, to get to a certain place. And then you justify that because you have a certain belief in a certain, in god, but it's done in this very sort of absurd way. So all of that excites me." On What Henshall Looks for in a New Project at This Stage of His Career "Well, the people, really. I've been very fortunate to work with some really great people — not just incredible artists or practitioners or craftspeople, but good humans. And I've been taken to some really exciting places that, had I not been in this industry, had I not chosen this career, I wouldn't have gone to. And also the people that are in these places, I wouldn't have met. It's not just fellow film and TV folks — it's people that you meet on the ground wherever you are. So that's been incredible. What excites me about a new project is the possibility of new friendships and new collaborations, and also the possibility to apply everything that you've learnt from the past experiences. Every job is similar in context in many ways and you can rely on those things, but the variables are different — it's a different crew, perhaps, or different people that you don't know yet how they work, what makes them tick, how best to fit into the job, how best to form a relationship with them to get the best out of you and them. That's all very exciting and terrifying. Is it going to work? Who knows? We don't know until we're doing it and then when we're doing it, you can't really go back and do it again. I know you get the time to do multiple takes, but to really know someone you have to sort of do the time with them, whether it be a director or cinematographer, a crew member, or an actor, writer, producer. Many things. [caption id="attachment_983107" align="alignnone" width="1920"] How to Make Gravy, Jasin Boland[/caption] So that's all exciting. And to employ all the things that you've relied on in the past and then push yourself into new challenges — that could be location, that could be many things. The role, the people you're working with, opposite, as an actor, it's all new and exciting. So I enjoy that challenge. Also, obviously, the depth of the scripts and the role that you get to play — and what part of your experience do you get to employ or get to use? Hopefully it's something fresh. And as you grow, you have new experiences and new perspectives, so you get to play things differently, I suppose. [caption id="attachment_994760" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Okja, Netflix[/caption] And the opportunity to be working. Just working. It doesn't happen for all actors, as you know, and it's a very fickle thing. And you can be working a lot and then you don't work for a while or you don't work at all. So there's the joy of working, which I adore. And I adore what I do, so I really love all that. The chance to play something different, as you sort of intimated. Some of the stuff that I've done in the past has been very dark. I think more recently, I've done stuff that's been less dark. I've played less-troubled people or people who have exorcised some of the darker parts of themselves, have been better human beings, I'd say — or more-loving human beings. So that's been really fun. I played something quite comical recently, that's been really fun. I'm just enjoying the different parts of myself that I get to peruse, too, then put in place with whatever character presents. But yeah, the people and the challenge of the work and all the different variables, that's what excites me. I think it's a multi-faceted answer." [caption id="attachment_994745" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Vaughn[/caption] On What Henshall Makes of His Journey as an Actor So Far "I think I'm incredibly fortunate to have worked with the people that I've worked with and worked on some of the projects I've worked on. I've been taken all around the world. I've met some of the great, really great people, not just as practitioners but as humans. I've gotten to work on projects with director Bong. I've gotten to work with Justin Kurzel. I've gotten to work with Emma Freeman. Kitty Green. I've gotten to work on a television show in America for four years. I've gotten to play some really sinister people with some major issues, both mentally, physically and emotionally, and that's been an incredible exploration of perspective. And I've learnt a lot from that. I've learnt a lot from the people that I've worked with, young and old. It's just been brilliant. I feel very fortunate. I feel very fortunate that I can continue to do it. I feel very lucky. And I hope it continues, because I really enjoy it." Mickey 17 opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
Watch Red, White & Brass and you'll never see the pre-game or half-time entertainment at a big sporting match the same way again. Of course, if Rihanna, or Beyoncé with Destiny's Child, or a heap of hip hop and rap legends are taking to the stage at the Super Bowl, you won't question it — but if there's a community band on the turf, you might start wondering when they first picked up their instruments, why and if it was only four weeks ago to make it to this very gig. Are they just out there because they were that desperate to see their team play? And, because they missed out on expensive and instantly sold-out tickets? Were they so eager, in fact, that they bluffed their way into a gig by claiming to already be a musical group, then had to speedily do anything and everything to learn how to get melodic, and obviously not embarrass themselves, in a passion-fuelled whirlwind of pretence and practice? A band solely forming to score access to a rugby game sounds like pure screenwriting confection. Often enough, though, when tales like that make it to the silver screen, it's because they're so wild that they can only be true. Such is the case with Red, White & Brass' premise, as it notes at the outset. Back in 2011, New Zealand hosted the Rugby World Cup, which was a source of particular excitement to Aotearoa's Tongan population, and especially to avid aficionados at a Wellington church. The kind of fans that were showing their devotion by decking out their homes in the Tongan flag top to bottom, hitching the red-and-white cloth to every free space on their cars and carrying around the symbol on their phone cases, they were determined to see Tonga play France in their own home city, and willing to whatever it takes to do so — wholesomely, in the type of underdog story about fervour, ingenuity, self-belief and luck that engagingly makes for an easy and warm-hearted cinema crowd-pleaser. On-screen, the dynamic Maka (NZ Popstars personality and film debutant John-Paul Foliaki) first thinks that he'll simply raise enough in donations for his congregation to attend the big game, aided by his dancing while the choir sings. When it ends up taking too much money to make money that way, that plan hits a bum note. So does a too-good-to-be-true offer that's exactly that. But sports fandom and a love of one's country are just like life in frequently finding a way. Handily, Aroha (Hariata Moriarty, Cousins) from the city council is looking for a brass marching band to perform before the match, asking at Maka's father Pita's (Tevita Finau) church for local talent. They don't have what she's searching for, and have never been anywhere near even thinking about having a brass marching band; however, that doesn't stop their resident born entertainer from saying otherwise when he hears that free Rugby World Cup tickets are involved. It may spring from reality, with co-writer Halaifonua (Nua) Finau scripting the story with first-time feature director Damon Fepulea'i from his very own experiences — yes, this happened to Finau — but there's a touch of Brassed Off meets Pitch Perfect meets Cool Runnings to Red, White & Brass. Although some films bring others to mind because they're that generic, often lazily as well, that isn't what's occurring here. Whether or not you know the IRL outcome going in, you know the outcome. You know that there wouldn't be a movie unless exactly what you think will happen happens. Stepping through this real-life quest makes for infectious viewing because it does follow the expected narrative pattern so lovingly, with such heart and so satisfyingly, especially when it comes to celebrating NZ's Tongan community. Maka has plenty of convincing to do, including friends like Veni (Dimitrius Shuster- Koloamatangi, Upright), who has largely lost touch with his Tongan heritage; Irene (Ilaisaane Green, The Commons), who is sceptical about this new brass-playing scheme; and his disapproving father and wary mother Elisiva (Valeti Finau). In the process, with help from Samisoni (Michael Falesiu), the only person Maka knows with any brass marching band experience, the Tongan word "māfana" is mentioned more than once. It means an overwhelming feeling of warmth and emotion, so it happily fits his mission, and it's also what Red, White & Brass itself is revelling in. This is an affectionate and joyous film that doesn't just pay tribute to events that clearly begged for the big-screen treatment from the moment that they happened, or to the feeling and energy behind them, but to the community and culture goes all-in when it comes to national pride. Even when they're disagreeing, disparaging or doubting — and when the familiar sports-film training journey sees Maka and his pals start out with plastic bottles, then join a school band for lessons, and also become the unhappy stars of a viral fail video — Red, White & Brass' persistent group of Tongan rugby superfans don't waver in their māfana. Nor does the cast that Fepulea'i has assembled to portray them, as led by Foliaki bouncing around the movie with a larger-than-life vibe that plays as pure zeal. That the Finaus, Nua's parents and both first-time actors, basically step into their own shoes is a nice touch, as is including some original members of the Taulanga Ū Brass Band, who started it all. Red, White and Brass is directed with inescapable fondness as well, which flows through to its sunny frames (as shot by Andrew McGeorge, The Panthers), upbeat editing (including by Fepulea'i) and mix of marching-band tunes with tracks from Three Houses Down. In music, hitting every expected note is usually pivotal. When that skill is perfected, creativity and experimentation can echo, which Red, White & Brass acknowledges and embraces. In cinema, movies that stick to the sheet before them can be blandly cliched, and many do, but the best of them swell with reassurance and comfort. Everyone watching wants this film to turn out the way it does, which it does, sticking to reality and offering a soothing bit of solace in a hectic world. That's what loving a sport, your culture or anything that you're passionate about can be, too, and Fepulea'i, Finau and executive producer Taika Waititi (Thor: Love and Thunder) know it, feel it and let it resound.
Brisbane's luxe accommodation scene has yet another new addition: The Westin Brisbane, the first location in Queensland for the Marriott-owned international brand. Years in the works, and transforming the literal hole in the ground that has long been a blight on Mary Street, the decadent resort-style hotel doesn't just offer another indulgent place to stay — it also features a swim-up bar. The in-water boozy spot is the first in Brisbane, giving The Westin quite the point of difference at a time when new hotels like The Calile, W Hotel Brisbane, the Ovolo Inchcolm Hotel in Spring Hill, the Novotel in South Bank, the new Emporium and the revamped Ovolo in Fortitude Valley have been opening with astonishing frequency. From Thursday, November 8, folks can splash their way up to Nautilus in the 300-square-metre swimming pool, grab a beverage and gaze out over views over the city skyline. The three-tiered bar will initially open to hotel guests only, but will host weekly ticketed Sunday hangouts for the general public from December. Other Westin dining highlights include Eden's Table, the hotel's 150-capacity signature restaurant that'll serve up bottomless bubbly brunches each week, as well as degustation dinners and whiskey pairing nights. Then there's the jazz bar next to the hotel lobby named The Charles' (yes, with an apostrophe on the end) after two Brisbane-born pilots. It'll sling coffee by day and cocktails and tapas by evening. For Brisbanites looking for a staycation, the Westin boasts 299 rooms and suites, all with a stellar vantage across the CBD. And for those staying and chilling poolside, you'll be able to while away the day in a cabana or on a sun lounge, or otherwise take yoga and pilates classes on the deck. If you forget to pack your gym gear, you can just borrow some from the fitness studio. The Westin Brisbane is also home to its first 'Heavenly Spa by Westin' in Australia. It's a super-lush day spa that overlooks the pool, and also features five treatment rooms and hushed relaxation pods. Find The Westin Brisbane at 111 Mary Street, Brisbane from Thursday, November 8.
RAISE Rooftop is taking Brisbane's cafe game to new heights. The New York-style cafe and event space is perched on the top floor of 157 Ann Street, removed from the hustle and bustle of the CBD. The new spot provides a laidback energy for people to chill out with a coffee and a pastry to break up the busy days. Sweet treats are provided by I Heart Brownies, which happen to all be gluten-free, and pastries come from Banette. RAISE Rooftop then transforms into a lively event space come evening. With 180-degree skyline views, the flexible space can play host to corporate functions, workshops, networking events, celebrations and private parties. The co-founders of the new venue, Laura Campion and Alex Afflick, say they set out to create a space that combines a New York rooftop atmosphere with the warmth of a local hang-out to bring the community together. They "saw the potential to create a really unique experience up here with all this beautiful sky, fresh air and a blank canvas to work with…Whether it's coffee in the sunshine, a networking opportunity, or a private rooftop celebration, RAISE is here for it." Images: Nelson Zambrano.
One of the world's most acclaimed galleries is coming to Australia, and it's bringing more than 70 works that chronicle the past 200 years in art history with it. For a five-month season from mid-June, the UK's Tate will take over Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image with a hefty exhibition that'll span everything from painting, photography and sculpture through to drawing, kinetic art and installations — and, of course, the moving image. Given the time period covered by Light: Works from Tate's Collection, the list of artists that'll be on display is a varied one — as drawn from pieces in the Tate's four separate sites in Britain. Art lovers will be able to see works by famed English romantic painter and watercolourist Joseph Mallord William Turner alongside the light- and space-focused efforts of American artist James Turrell, plus pieces by impressionist Claude Monet and Japanese favourite Yayoi Kusama. Running from Thursday, June 16–Sunday, November 13, the unifying theme is light, as the exhibition's name makes plain — and if you're wondering how this connects to ACMI's remit as a museum for the moving image, light is obviously crucial to all recorded vision. While Light: Works from Tate's Collection will step through art history, ACMI will further put its pieces into broader artistic context by presenting it alongside its permanent The Story of the Moving Image exhibition, which examines the origins and genesis of film and television. From the impressive roster of art and artists, Turner's 1805 painting The Deluge will make its Australian debut, while Kusama's characteristically kaleidoscopic 2005 sculpture The Passing Winter gets viewers peering into a mirrored cube. Turrell's Raemar, Blue, from 1969, is an immersive spatial environment that surrounds visitors in infinite and immersive light. And among the other highlights sits paintings by John Constable, Wassily Kandinsky, Bridget Riley and Joseph Albers; more impressionist pieces from Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley; and rotating crystalline sculpture Stardust Particle by Olafur Eliasson. The ticketed exhibition will be accompanied by talks, performances, workshops and late-night events, as well as film screenings. Although the events lineup hasn't yet been revealed, masterclasses with cinematographers, artist discussions, and magic lantern and 16mm presentations will all be on the bill, as will two free exhibits — from Australian artist Mikala Dwyer in ACMI's lightwell and by Lis Rhodes in Gallery 3, with the latter's Light Music also coming from the Tate Collection. [caption id="attachment_858887" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Raemar, Blue, 1969, James Turrell. Tate: Presented by the Tate Americas Foundation, partial purchase and partial gift of Doris J. Lockhart 2013. © James Turrell. Photo: Phoebe Powell[/caption] [caption id="attachment_858889" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Passing Winter, 2005, Yayoi Kusama. Tate: Purchased with funds provided by the Asia-Pacific Acquisitions Committee 2008. ©Yayoi Kusama. Tate. Photo: Phoebe Powell.[/caption] Top images: Installation view, 'Light: Works from Tate's Collection', showing at ACMI, 2022. Photos by Phoebe Powell.
With COVID-19 cases numbers continuing to rise in both Victoria and New South Wales — with Melbourne just over two weeks into its second lockdown and three Sydney local government areas identified as hotspots by the Queensland Government — the Sunshine State has tightened some restrictions for licensed venues in an effort to maintain social distancing. In an announcement made on Friday, July 24, Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said that patrons will now need to stay seated while eating and drinking in pubs, clubs, hotels and nightclubs — a return to the previous rule that was in effect until the beginning of July. "For the last three weeks, patrons have been allowed to stand, although we've still asked them to maintain the one person per four square metres," Dr Young first noted, then explained that the government now needs "to send a very, very clear signal out there to everyone" about adhering to social distancing. "So I do ask that everyone, when you go into a facility, that you take a seat — because that reminds you to keep your distance from other people." In effect immediately, the compulsory restriction still enables folks to go to the bar to buy a drink, order food, and collect both meals and beverages; however you'll then need to take your drink and/or food back to your seat, whether at your table or to your chair along the bar, before you tuck in. And, while you're sitting and either knocking back your beverage of choice, eating a meal or both, the existing density rules (one person per two square metres for smaller venues below 200 square metres, one person per four square metres otherwise) still apply. https://twitter.com/qldhealthnews/status/1286539042515951616 "We have seen what has happened in Victoria and NSW with just a few cases. We really need to be prepared for if we get a case in Queensland, so that we can manage it," Dr Young advised. As at midday on Saturday, July 25, Queensland has five active cases of COVID-19, from a total of 1076 since the pandemic began. The new restrictions for Queensland pubs, clubs and hotels are now in effect. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in the state, head to the Queensland Government website. Top image: Atlanta Bell
We've all had days that can only be salvaged by hurling an axe at a wooden target — and, from Saturday, August 11, Brisbanites can enjoy this very specific form of stress relief. Already offering both casual and competitive axe throwing on the Gold Coast, Lumber Punks is bringing its distinctive sporting antics to West End. Yes, moseying on down to Montague Road from Thursday to Monday, picking up actual bladed weapons and then chucking them across the room is about to become a very real thing. "It's kind of like darts, but with big axes," explains co-owner Tyson McMillan, who started Lumber Punks with Sam Hay. The idea came to the pair after a stint of throwing axes in the backyard, which is where the sport has traditionally been practised. Commercial outfits started popping up around the world about a decade ago, but this is just Australia's second joint — with Maniax operating in Sydney and Melbourne. Patrons can simply gather the gang and start throwing across a 90-minute session, or take part in the axe throwing league. The game is comprised of five rounds, each with five throws, with everyone flinging their axes towards a pattern of concentric circles. Get inside the outer blue ring and you'll score one point. Make it into the middle red ring and you'll nab three. A bullseye — aka inside the black ring — is worth five points, although you can earn a whopping seven if you hit an adjacent green circle on your fifth throw. For those worried about safety, Lumber Punks advises that their activities are "as safe as we can make it", with everyone using self-contained lanes to minimise the risk of wayward axes. Only the thrower is allowed into the lane, those watching and waiting have to stand behind a barrier, and everyone gets a tutorial before they are allowed to take part. You will have to sign an online waiver before you can get to chucking, however, and you definitely won't be able to drink alcohol. While Lumber Punks is all about blowing off steam in a fun and unusual way, it really is best for everyone that throwing axes and booze don't mix. Find Lumber Punks at 2/427 Montague Road, West End from Saturday, August 11.
Venturing out of inner-city Brisbane is often fraught with danger for foodies and caffeine junkies alike. For a long time the inner-city has laid claim to the best food and coffee venues with little challenge from the surrounding 'burbs. Wilston's Willow and Spoon (former residents of Alderley — the cafe relocated in 2014) is leading the suburban invasion of venues offering quality caffeine and inventive and delicious dishes. On a busy Sunday morning guests are escorted from the overflowing front area, through the kitchen and out into the back dining area, which carries a homely backyard feel. The menu greets with some interesting dish titles, complete with a smattering of odd pop culture quotes, but further inspection reveals an imaginative collection of breakfast options. Opting for The Stranger ($18) — poached eggs, brioche, halloumi, pumpkin, vierge, spinach and green olive cheeks — is a wise decision. The eggs are poached well, the brioche is the right balance of sweet and savoury and the pan-fried halloumi, roast pumpkin, wilted spinach and olive cheeks meld perfectly together in a mediterranean feast. The drizzle of vierge offers a detailed finish both on the plate and on the palate. For a twist on a breakfast classic, The Willow (bacon, eggs, wholemeal grain sourdough and Woodside cultured butter; $17) is a well-executed staple for the less adventurous. A small selection of kid's menu options is evidence of the family vibe of the back dining area especially. Most weekends will find parents enjoying breakfast or a coffee while children roam the garden area. Willow and Spoon's blend of Blue Sky Coffee offers a substantial kick while maintaining a smooth finish and like the food, even on a busy Sunday morning, the coffee feels well crafted. The mid-morning weekend rush doesn't seem to affect the pleasant service either, a huge plus for those perhaps inclined to opt for a sleep in and a leisurely brunch over an early breakfast. Reservations are recommended for the weekend and on weeknights, but even without one you would be unlucky to be turned away. Willow and Spoon offers a friendly environment that's not only a great place for a caffeine fix but also a dining option truly up there with anything the inner-city has to offer. Updated: April 26, 2016.
Spanish feasts are on the menu at Burnett Lane's newest restaurant — and it's serving up dishes all day long. El Matador serves Iberian-inspired breakfasts, plenty of tapas for lunch, dinner and everything in-between. And all come with drinks, naturally. Drop by first thing for Spanish tortillas with cheese and onion crisps; corn fritters paired with wood-roasted cherry tomatoes and smashed avocado; and coal-smoked king fish topped with shaved San Simon smoked cheese. If you're looking for something sweeter, you'll find house-baked traditional Spanish breads and pastries, such as traditional shortbread and chocolate and cinnamon meringues. Cava-filled bloody marys with paprika are also on the morning lineup, should you need something stronger than a coffee. For those heading along later in the day, expect a huge range of bite-sized selections — there's a sizeable tapas and pintxos menu, which spans everything from four types of shellfish with salmorejo, alioli and lemon; to sticky pork ribs with smoked paprika; three-cheese tarts with baby figs and honey; and Spanish favourite patatas bravas. Larger meals are also on offer, including a lamb shoulder that's smoked overnight and served with preserved lemon, sherry and rosemary, plus half a confit suckling pig that you have to order 24 hours in advance. With the bar designed around an open kitchen, jamón and other cured meats from the humidor are also a highlight, as well as six types of Spanish cheese. As for drinks, you can tuck into one of three sangria jugs to share, pick from classic cocktails, or opt for an array of Spanish, local and international wines and beers. Decked out with booths and banquettes, and capable of welcoming 80 patrons at once, El Matador is the latest venture from Leo Castelluccio, who's known from Melbourne venues Cato, Graffiti Club and Bakers Gallery. He's planning to further his expansion into Brisbane, too, with a cocktail and karaoke bar in the works directly across the lane.
During this last week of April there's been a bit of good news about Australia's battle to contain coronavirus. Queensland and NSW both announced the easing of some restrictions from this Friday, May 1, South Australia has had seven days in a row of no new cases and the ACT, as of today, has zero active cases. Also unveiled today was the Northern Territory's Roadmap to the New Normal, which includes the reopening of restaurants, bars and cafes — in just two weeks. Announced today by Chief Minister Michael Gunner, the roadmap is broken into three parts. From midday tomorrow, May 1, some "simple and safe" outdoor activities are allowed — including weddings and funerals, outdoor sports where physical distancing can be maintained (so tennis is OK, but not basketball) and fishing, boating and sailing with other people — and public swimming pools, water parks, playgrounds and campgrounds (outside biosecurity areas) can open. Stage two, set to start from midday on Friday, May 15, allows "safer" indoor activities for "less than two hours". Places of worship, public libraries, gyms, beauty therapy salons (for non-facial services), shopping centre food courts and restaurants, cafes and bars can all have customers for short bursts. So, you can go and have a couple of pints at a bar or a bowl of pasta and a wine, but not sit down for an eight-course degustation. The venues wanting to reopen as part of this second round of eased restrictions must submit a "simple COVID-19 safety plan checklist" to prove they're operating within physical distancing and hygiene guidelines, but these do not need to be approved. At present, the Chief Minister has not outlined exactly what these physical distancing guidelines are, but the checklist will be made public on May 5. [caption id="attachment_714483" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sydney's Cantina OK is currently closed. Image by Kimberley Low.[/caption] If the guidelines include the Federal Government's previous one person-per-four-square-metre limit, it's possible it won't be viable for all hospitality venues to reopen. When this restriction was first introduced back in March 20, many hospitality spots — including tiny Sydney mezcal bar Cantina OK — chose to close. Some closed even earlier, when the government introduced a ban on indoor gatherings of more than 100 people. Part three of the NT government's plan is set to be rolled out on June 5, and includes the removal of the two-hour limit and the commencement of more indoor and outdoor activities, such as going to a football game and the opening of cinemas, theatres, concert halls, nightclubs and entertainment venues (in an "approved configuration"). The territory's 14-day forced quarantine rules for all non-essential interstate travellers does not have an end date as part of the plan — so, no, don't expect to go on a holiday to the Top End anytime soon. The NT has had significantly less cases compared to other states and territories, with a total of 27 — as of 6am on April 30 — compared with 1034 in Queensland, 1354 in Victoria and 3016 in New South Wales. But the two-month plan could be an example of what the road out might look like for the rest of the country, albeit a little later on. You can find out more about the Northern Territory's Roadmap to the New Normal here.
While it feels like it was only yesterday that we were eating boozy Christmas pud with nan, it's somehow already December (again) — which means, yes, we're almost at the end of 2019. And Brisbane's bar scene has continued to grow at an impressive (alarming?) rate. Not only have new drinking holes popped up across the city — opening everywhere from on top of the Brisbane River to inside historic 1824 buildings — these libation stations are multi-faceted, doubling as breweries, micro-wineries and karaoke joints. So, here are our favourite ten bars to throw open their doors in 2019. Add them to your list. Tick them off. Just as Santa's doing now.
Dom Dolla just keeps making history. Back in December 2023, the Australian DJ and producer notched up a hefty achievement, playing his biggest-ever hometown show in Melbourne at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Then, come 2024, his national tour became the largest ever by an Australian electronic artist, selling 170,000-plus tickets in four cities. What does 2025 hold, then? Oh, only the Grammy-nominee doing his first-ever Aussie stadium show and biggest headline gig ever. He's played Coachella, Lollapalooza, Wildlands, Spilt Milk and more — including soldout Madison Square Garden gigs with over 30,000 attendees, plus Ultra Miami and EDC Las Vegas. When Europe's summer hits, he's doing a ten-week residency at Hï Ibiza. Then, on Saturday, December 20, 2025, Dom Dolla will head home in a massive way, headlining Sydney's Allianz Stadium. The three-time ARIA-winner (and 16-time ARIA-nominee) also has something else sizeable to add to his resume in 2025: with 'No Room for a Saint' featuring Nathan Nicholson, he's making his film soundtrack debut. The movie: the Brad Pitt (F1)-starring F1. Also this year, Dom Dolla has released two other tracks: 'Dreamin' featuring Daya and 'Forever' with Kid Cudi. On his 2024 Aussie tour, the venues weren't small, given that he played Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse, Sydney's Domain, Brisbane's Riverstage and Perth's Wellington Square. But making the leap to a headline stadium gig is no minor feat. Only the sole Allianz Stadium show has been announced, so if you're keen to head along and you're outside of the Harbour City, you'll also want to make travel plans. Dom Dolla is playing Allianz Stadium, Sydney on Saturday, December 20, 2025. You can sign up for ticket presales from 11am AEST on Monday, May 19, then buy presale tickets from the same time on Thursday, May 22, with general sales from 12pm on Friday, May 23. Head to Dom Dolla's website for more details. Images: shevindphoto / Beyond the Valley, Chloe Hall.
Next time that you're keen to escape your routine with a few beverages in a bar that does more than serve up drinks, Brisbane has a new haven for boozy games and activities: Westfield Mt Gravatt, where Holey Moley and Hijnx Hotel are both opening their doors on Friday, July 26, 2024. Together, the duo will form a shared 350-person hub featuring 18 holes of putt putt and ten challenge rooms, as well as karaoke in three function rooms across the site, and two bars slinging cocktails and food. Hit up the precinct and you won't be able to say that you're bored. Funlab, the company behind the two brands — and Strike, Brothers Cirque Electriq, and B Lucky and Sons — first announced its Mt Gravatt plans in May. Now, it has unveiled a peek at what's to come. At Holey Moley, you'll be tap, tap, tapping your way around holes themed around space, The Simpsons, art, music, other games and more. And at Hijnx Hotel, there'll be a ball pit, UV basketball and a claw machine quiz, plus other spaces. Among the mini-golf courses: the already-popular Moon & Pars and 742 Evergreen Tce, which have become favourites at fellow Holey Moley locations, alongside everything from Vincent Van Golf, The Great Holedini and A Pineapple Under The Tee to Draw Fore, Super Mega Mini Golf, and Skate or Golf. And among the challenge rooms, Zig-a-Zag ah Ball Pool, Poke-The-Dot, The Lodge, Abandoned Arcade and Rubix Cube will also feature. This new arrival is more fuel for the notion that anything Brisbane's northside can do, the city's south can as well — at least when it comes to kidulting spots that let you putt your way around pop culture-adoring mini golf, then puzzle through an OTT challenge room bar with an accommodation theme. In 2022 and 2023, Chermside got there first, welcoming its own Holey Moley and Hijnx Hotel to the Gympie Road shopping centre. This will be Brisbane's fourth Holey Moley, joining not just the Chermside venue, but also the brand 's OG Fortitude Valley digs and its Brisbane CBD spot in the Wintergarden. For Hijinx Hotel, this'll mark the River City's second site. Holey Moley also has two locations on the Gold Coast and one on the Sunshine Coast, while the Goldie similarly boasts a Hijinx Hotel. At Mt Gravatt, the Caddyshack bar will also keep the theming going — and the drinks. Sipping a cocktail out of a bathtub, anyone? That's one beverage that's on the brand's menu. If you're new to Hijinx Hotel, it isn't for vacationing and staycationing in. Instead, it mixes The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shining's Overlook Hotel and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, all with puzzles and games to play inside its doors. Throw in cocktails and it too is aiming to serve up an adult-focused spin on childhood activities, as Holey Moley does — but this time sleuthing your way through various spaces with a beverage or several in your hand. Find Holey Moley and Hijinx Hotel at level two, Westfield Mt Gravatt Shopping Centre, Kessels Road, Upper Mount Gravatt, from Friday, July 26 — open from 10am–9pm Sunday–Wednesday, 10am–10pm Thursday and 10am–11pm Friday–Saturday. Head to the Holey Moley and Hijinx Hotel websites for further details. Images: Markus Ravik.
Before getting a glimpse into everyone else's lives was as simple as logging into your social-media platform of choice, a game arrived that let its players do something similar with computerised characters. A spinoff from SimCity and its city-building follow-ups, The Sims allows whoever is mashing buttons to create and control virtual people, then step through their existence. First hitting in February 2000, it has spawned three sequels, plus a whole heap of expansion and compilation packs for each — and online, console and mobile versions as well. A quarter of a century since its debut, The Sims still keeps dropping new releases. To mark its 25th birthday, there's now The Sims: Birthday Bundle. That's one way to celebrate the game's latest anniversary. Here's another: stepping inside a three-day Australian pop-up dedicated to the beloved life simulator, which is heading to Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image from Friday, February 21–Sunday, February 23, 2025. Despite The Sims' more-recent titles, thinking about the game usually means thinking about the 2000s. So, this pop-up is taking that truth to heart by celebrating the Y2K era, too. Going along involves entering inside a 2000s-era pre-teen bedroom that's been decked out by Josh & Matt Design with all of the appropriate touches. Yes, it'll be nostalgic. Yes, there'll be CD towers and blow-up couches, just to name a few decor choices. The pop-up will also feature free stations where you can play The Sims: Birthday Bundle, if the best way for you to commeroate the occasion is by diving into the franchise virtually. In addition, there'll also be a free panel about the game on the Saturday, with speakers including Josh & Matt Design's Josh Jessup and Matt Moss — who are big The Sims fans — and EA/Firemonkeys' Simulation Division General Manager Mavis Chan.
Sure, going back to the office has its perks — you get to catch up with your work pals and help yourself to the free coffee. But, for some, it can also be a bit of a drag. After all, we've just spent months gussying up our WFH offices, spending more time with our pets and, let's face it, not having to commute was pretty dreamy. And sometimes you just want to be living your best working life in track pants, we get it. To help get you excited about being back in the physical rat race, we've teamed up with Australian Cocktail Month to bring you seven after-work activities that'll get you through the nine to five. From knock-off drinks to cheese-making workshops and letting lose in a dance class, these are sure to beat any back-to-office blues. SIP A-CLASS TIPPLES Enjoy a well-earned drink after work? Then head to the inaugural Australian Cocktail Month to support local bartenders and bars who've had it pretty rough over the past year. Running throughout May, the event is taking over 72 bars across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide — you can find out your locals over here. Australian Cocktail Month is partnering with liquor brands to serve up speciality cocktails for $14 a pop, plus non-alcoholic drinks for a tenner. But first you must get yourself a $20 ticket, which unlocks the entire month of offers. Then, head on down to a participating bar and show your ticket. After that? Well, bottoms up and cheers to Australia's hospitality industry. [caption id="attachment_791359" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Omnom[/caption] LIVE OUT YOUR WILDEST CHEESE DREAMS WITH A CHEESE-MAKING CLASS If you're a hardcore cheese lover, no doubt you've tucked in to a wheel of brie or stinky gorgonzola after a hard day's work. Instead of simply buying — and eating — your one true cheesy love, why not book yourself in to a cheese-making workshop? With help from experts, you'll get your hands into the dairy and learn the basics, such as how to prepare and curdle the milk, cut the curd and salt the cheese. In Sydney, Rosebery's Omnom hosts regular classes on making ricotta, haloumi and a standout burrata and bocconcini one. The aptly named Cheesemaking offers intensive workshops around the country and will show you how to make various gourmet dairy delights. And, in Melbourne, CERES runs a heap of workshops throughout the year, including classes where you'll make vegan, cheddar and blue cheese. [caption id="attachment_723106" align="alignnone" width="1920"] MYST Escape[/caption] BOND WITH YOUR COWORKERS IN AN ESCAPE ROOM What could bring coworkers closer together than solving puzzles to escape to your freedom? These interactive experiences will transport you through films, history, space and time — and it's up to your team to make it back to reality. So, we'd say it's a pretty good bonding experience. If you're a Sydneysider, you can check out our top nine picks here or make a beeline to Glebe's MYST Escape, which claims to be 'Australia's largest escape room complex'. In Brisbane, the CBD's Fox in a Box is home to themed rooms like prison cells, war bunkers and zombie labs. Or, you can become a spy, pirate or detective at Escape Hunt Brisbane. For Melburnians, head to TRAPT Bar & Escape Rooms to find your way back to Kansas in a Wizard of Oz game, or enter the school of magic at the Harry Potter-inspired Mystery Rooms, with locations in Fitzroy and Collingwood. [caption id="attachment_689129" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cork & Chroma[/caption] CHANNEL YOUR INNER ARTIST AT A PAINT AND SIP SESSION Yes, we've seen the trend of painting while sipping wine grow in the past few years — and it looks like it's here to stay. After all, who doesn't want to channel their inner Picasso? Plus, it's a great way to unwind and forget about the day that's been. Cork & Chroma has locations across Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and is one of the more popular studios around. Or, attempt your own rendition of Gogh's 'The Starry Night' at Life with Paint, which also has studio spaces across Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. [caption id="attachment_785738" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Crossover Dance[/caption] SHAKE OFF THE WORK WOES BY DANCING Make like Taylor Swift and shake off any work stresses by heading to an after-work dance class. Not only will you cut some serious shapes, but you'll also get some sweet endorphins from all that moving and shaking. If you'd rather bust moves in your own home, we recommend 80s-themed online dance workouts from Retrosweat — just be sure to put on your leotard and leg warmers. Sydneysiders are lucky enough to be able to attend Retrosweat's IRL classes, too. Or, you can head over to inner city K-pop studio Crossover Dance. In Brisbane, get your hips moving in a 50-minute class at Rio Rhythmics or give ballet a go at Mad Dance House. Melburnians can get down with a casual jazz or hip hop class at the Dance Factory or try some burlesque at Bottoms Up studio. HAVE A SUNSET PICNIC For those who like the great outdoors, picnics are no doubt a favourite pastime. And, in our opinion, there's no better time to have one than at twilight. So pack the snacks and a few cold ones, grab your mates and head to a picturesque spot to watch the sun go down — just be sure to bring some cosy clothes. There are plenty of good picnic spots no matter what city you live in. In fact, we've rounded up our go-to spots in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, should you need any inspiration. CATCH A LOCAL COMEDY SHOW They say laughter is the best medicine, so why not catch a local comedy show? Whether you're a fan of watching live comedy or dabble in stand-up yourself, it's likely to cure those back-to-office woes. In Sydney, you can check out Underground Comedy Club at queer-friendly pub The Imperial Hotel, or hit up comedy-centric theatre Giant Dwarf at its new Surry Hills digs. In Brisbane, catch regular improv and sketch comedy nights at Big Fork Theatre or head to Sit Down Comedy Club to see some big names in the stand-up game. And Melburnians can catch some late-night laughs at Spleen Bar, stand-up at Lido Comedy or comedic quizzes at Comedy Republic. Australian Cocktail Month is taking over top bars across the Australia from May 1–31. To buy your ticket, and for the full list of participating bars, head here. Top image: Double Deuce Lounge, Kimberley Low
What features a bruised and bloody Man of Steel (David Corenswet, Lady in the Lake), plus his dog Krypto dragging him home? The first teaser trailer for Superman did when it dropped in December 2024. What builds upon that scene, showing how the superhero canine first wants to play, then takes his human companion back to the Fortress of Solitude? The new almost five-minute sneak peek at the film that initially premiered at CinemaCon 2025, and has now been released online by writer/director James Gunn. Gunn hasn't just penned, helmed and produced Superman. He's also overseeing the new DC Universe in his role as co-CEO and co-Chairman of DC Studios. His take on Krypton's most-famous figure is the debut film in the new franchise, and it has a date with cinemas in July 2025 — but you can now see a bit more of it in advance, before much of what was in the first teaser follows. Alongside Corenswet as the flick's eponymous character, Superman boasts Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult (Nosferatu) as Lex Luthor, plus Gunn regular Nathan Fillion (Deadpool & Wolverine) as Green Lantern and Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho. Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) also co-stars Supergirl, as part of a cast that spans Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus), Frank Grillo (Tulsa King), Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) and Wendell Pierce (Elsbeth), too. As always in the Super, The Suicide Squad, and three-time Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker's work, Gunn's brother Sean (Creature Commandos) is among the ensemble as well. If it feels like Superman has been missing for cinemas for a while — well, in these superhero movie-heavy days, that is — that's because it's been eight years, since Justice League. That's when Zack Snyder's film initially arrived in its theatrical version (Zack Snyder's Justice League, aka the Snyder Cut, debuted on streaming in 2021). In the DC Universe, Superman will be followed by Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow in 2026, as directed by Dumb Money's Craig Gillespie. Clayface will also release in the same year, working with a script from Doctor Sleep and The Fall of the House of Usher's Mike Flanagan. As for Superman's story, the trailers aren't big on narrative detail, but Gunn's take on the character is set to be a superhero who believes in humanity's goodness — even if presumably Lex Luthor tests that idea. Check out the latest sneak peek at Superman below: Superman releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
There are many delightful tidbits and details about Sparks, aka "your favourite band's favourite band" as they're often described, including in Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver filmmaker Edgar Wright's exceptional documentary The Sparks Brothers. One of the latest: that siblings Russell and Ron Mael currently begin their live sets with 'So May We Start'. The song kicked off Annette first, the second of the two films that had everyone talking about the duo in 2021. In the Adam Driver (65)- and Marion Cotillard (Extrapolations)-starring movie, it ushers in as distinctive a big-screen musical as you'll ever see, marionette children and all, as helmed by Holy Motors' Leos Carax and penned by Sparks with the director. At the band's gigs since, it commences an onstage dance through more than 50 years of bouncily, giddily, deeply influential tunes, each one of them gloriously infectious classics. "All pop music is rearranged Sparks," offers Jack Antonoff in Wright's doco. He isn't wrong. Australian concertgoers can experience the truth behind that statement live this spring, when 'So May We Start' no doubt begins Sparks' first visit to Australia in more than two decades. As part of their biggest world tour ever — a feat aided by The Sparks Brothers and Annette introducing them to new fans — they're playing four Aussie dates: solo shows at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne's Palais Theatre and Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane; and as part of the packed roster at Adelaide's Harvest Rock II festival alongside Beck, Jamiroquai, Nile Rodgers and Chic, and more. Beck was another of Wright's gushing interviewees, because the list of people singing Sparks' praises is as huge as their back catalogue. The Maels didn't write 'So May We Start' with that prestigious spot on their setlist in mind. "It just seemed like a really cool touch for the story to have something that was outside of the actual story that was about to happen, but with all the cast and characters, but not yet in their roles that they're going to assume," Russell tells Concrete Playground ahead of Sparks' arrival in Australia. "They were just mere actors assembling before the production starts. So we really like that as a conceit." "We like starting a set — I mean, it just seems perfect, obviously, lyrically — but also starting with a song that isn't even from a Sparks album, in a certain way, that it is from an outside source," adds Ron. "Even though it's a film that we wrote — and so it's really fun for us to do it." [caption id="attachment_818979" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Focus Features[/caption] Fun has always been an apt term for Sparks' genre-hopping songs and vibe from their late-60s beginnings through to their latest release, with 2023's The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte their 26th studio album. This is the art-pop duo with an album named Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, an earworm of a song called 'Dick Around' and another track that largely repeats the words "my baby's taking me home", after all — and a band that once staged a 21-night spectacular to play their then 21-album discography in full as well. It's also the group that has worked with everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Faith No More and Franz Ferdinand. And, Sparks now have Cate Blanchett starring in the video for their newest record's eponymous single, fresh from earning her eighth Oscar nomination for Tár. How did that latest collaboration come about? After half a century of ace tunes, what has the renewed attention of the last few years, including their tunes soundtracking everything from Yellowjackets to Justified: City Primeval, been like? Where do they keep finding inspiration for such smart, witty tracks that are both ace as songs and cleverly amusing? Are more movies in their future? Who would they most like to collaborate with? Russell and Ron chatted with us about all of the above and more. [caption id="attachment_923022" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shot for Dive In Magazine.[/caption] ON GAINING NEW FANS THANKS TO THE SPARKS BROTHERS AND ANNETTE — AND PLAYING BIGGER SHOWS AS A RESULT Russell: "In a certain way, it's just really pretty unique that a band with 26-album-long history is now finding this kind of new and diverse kind of audience after this long of a career. It's not the typical career path for someone to take, where a band that's had a long history now finds itself in the position where things are more on the upswing, and we're playing the bigger audiences. Australia will be the last stop on world tour that we've done through Europe and North America and Japan, and now Australia. And the shows have been bigger and bigger. We've played the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. We did a couple of nights at the Royal Albert Hall in in London, and Glastonbury. And now to be able to come to Australia and play places like the Sydney Opera House, for us it's really special, but it's also really kind of mind-boggling that, at this late stage in a career, to have this kind of acceptance and re-examination of what Sparks is." Ron: "Even the movie thing is strange because we've tried for decades to get a film musical made. Then to have two films, and they both, just by happenstance, came out around the same time — the Edgar Wright documentary, but also Annette, the musical. So it became a concentrated thing even with the films that we were involved in." ON AGREEING TO A SPARKS DOCUMENTARY Ron: "We were really thrilled because he isn't the first director that's approached us, it's happened from time to time earlier, but we were always really hesitant to do a documentary. We always felt that what we were doing as a band really spoke for how we wanted ourselves to be represented in a biographical way, and we felt that it was needless to have a documentary. But then Edgar came along, and part of it was just his enthusiasm, but also our respect for him as a director — and then the fact that within the documentary, he said that he felt personally that all of our different eras were equal in a creative sense, if not necessarily, obviously, in a commercial way. But it wasn't like there was a golden age. So we immediately said yes. We were hoping that the documentary wouldn't just be a dry 'and then this happened' kind of documentary. We wanted it to be like an Edgar Wright film, even though he had never really done a documentary before — and we were thrilled at how it turned out." [caption id="attachment_923021" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gavin Ross[/caption] ON SPARKS SONGS POPPING UP EVERYWHERE ON-SCREEN SINCE THE SPARKS BROTHERS AND ANNETTE Russell: "I think it has opened up the perception of the band, especially for people in television and in the film world — maybe they've been there all along, but now they've been given more permission to speak out and actually take a stance by putting a Sparks song in their TV series or films. It is really something that's opened up a lot more avenues for us, and even to the point that we're working on another movie musical now because we had such a great experience with Annette. For us, that's something that's really special, showing that Sparks songs aren't just for a certain niche audience — that they can be utilised in ways that are accessible if you want them to be accessible. Just by exposing them to more people, they become accessible. I think that's what Edgar helped to do with the documentary. He just said, 'well, what Sparks is doing needs to be heard by a bigger audience'. And he said, 'if no one else is going to do it, I'm going to be the one that's going to do that for the band'." ON MAKING ANNETTE WITH HOLY MOTORS DIRECTOR LEOS CARAX Ron: "We originally had thought of it as being our next album, and we were going to present it live on stage with just Russell and myself, and then a soprano — just the three of us on stage, and that would be the next Sparks project, and it would be an album. Then just by circumstance, we were at the Cannes Film Festival a little over ten years ago for other reasons, and we were introduced to Leos Carax. We were just chatting with him, and we got along with him really, really well, just in a general sort of way. So we got back to LA and Russell thought, 'why don't we just send Leos the Annette project?' — never having thought that this was a film. And so he read it and listened to all the music and all that was done. He said, 'let me think about this, I really think I might want to direct this'. We were stunned, because we have really great respect for him as a director, but we had never considered this to be a film project. Then couple weeks later, he said 'I would like to direct this'. So it did take eight years from that point to have the film made, but we were more than willing to go through that process because we felt so strongly about it. And to Leos' credit, he was totally committed to making that film. Hollywood directors always have ten, 20 other projects going along at the same time, but he doesn't work that way. It's only one thing, and so for him to focus on, and put just everything that he had, just taking a chance on that one project, it meant so much to us." ON MAKING ANOTHER MOVIE MUSICAL Russell: "Well, we can't really talk too much about the content of it. But the distribution company Focus Features, that released the documentary, approached us and asked if we had anything new that we were working on because they liked Annette a lot. So we told them we did have a new project, and they told to go away and do the screenplay, do all the music for it, and they'd be excited. It's not giving you too much of a clue, but they said that it's an epic musical. Whatever that elicits in in your mind, that's what they're saying it is. We're just really excited to have another project, because we think that the perception of the band, like we just talked about, is seen differently when Sparks music, for whatever reasons, we've had periods that have been commercially successful and less commercially successful. But then we found out that having these other ways of exposing what Sparks does, that it's really helped then to reflect back on Sparks music itself. Doing a movie musical, people that saw it that didn't know the band, then they were curious to examine what Sparks is. And the same with the documentary, the people that weren't aware of the band to that degree, then they went back and rediscovered our back catalogue of music. So it's a way for us to channel what we're doing musically, but in other ways — and then in turn, it helps to also put Sparks in a bigger picture." ON FINDING SONGWRITING INSPIRATION ACROSS HALF A CENTURY OF MAKING MUSIC Ron: "At the beginning, you get some inspiration from outside sources — not so much in a general way, but from musical outside sources. We were influenced by British bands that were the more flashy ones, like The Who and The Kinks, and The Move and all. That was really the source of the inspiration for us, even when we were in Los Angeles before moving to London in the middle 70s. But since that time, the inspiration is just hard to pinpoint where that comes from. I think we're just inspired knowing that we're doing things that we want to hear, and so we haven't kind of reached the point where we run out of those ideas. Things don't just come to us. You have to pursue them. So there has to be just that motivation to do things where there might not be a payoff that particular day, but that you have the faith that at some point it will." ON MAKING MUSIC THAT YOU CAN DANCE TO, AND ALSO LAUGH WITH Russell: "Obviously it's always a challenge, and the more the more albums you have, it becomes more of a challenge to come up with stuff that both excites you and that you think isn't kind of rehashing what you've done in the past. To have humour in a song, but where it's not the sole element of the lyrical slant, that it's just funny — we like to think that things can have humour, but also have a balance to them where there's another side to it that might be deeper or more emotional, too. Things don't have to be black or white, or 'ohh it's funny' or 'it's serious'. There could be some other shade to it. That for us is really exciting — to be able to come up with stuff that that is in that grey area." ON GETTING CATE BLANCHETT TO STAR IN VIDEO FOR 'THE GIRL IS CRYING IN HER LATTE' Russell: "We met her at the César Awards in Paris two years ago. We were there performing and nominated for a bunch of awards for Annette, and we performed 'So May We Start' at the César Awards as well. We were the only act doing a live song performance at the Césars, which was really exciting on its own. And then it turned out we also won for best music, and the film won a whole bunch of awards as well. Cate had come to our dressing room and introduced herself, and were floored that Cate Blanchett would even know who Sparks was, let alone say that she was a fan of the band since she was growing up in Australia. And we remained in touch, and we've become friends. So it came time to do the first video for this album, and so we thought 'let's call Cate' and 'surely Cate will have an idea' where we didn't know exactly where we wanted the video to be heading. Then she heard the song. She really responded to the song — really, really loved it, and said 'yes, I would like to be in the video'. We didn't even discuss what she would be doing. We just said just 'do what you want to do and we're sure it'll be great.' That's open-ended, but she came up with that dance that she does, and the thing of it, her just being immobile for a lot of it, and then all of a sudden kicking into her dance during the chorus parts of the song — that was all 100-percent Cate." [caption id="attachment_923020" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gavin Ross[/caption] ON THE DREAM COLLABORATION THAT SPARKS WOULD LOVE TO DO NEXT Ron: "We played a festival in Spain probably about eight years ago, and Public Enemy were playing there. We were bold enough to go up to Chuck D and then shyly drop the idea, 'you know, if you ever wanted to collaborate on anything, we're definitely open to it'. I'm not sure whether he was just being polite, but he seemed to show some interest and gave me the telephone sign. So we're hoping at some point that could happen. It might not be obvious from our music, but we're both huge fans of Public Enemy, and just their live show is in incredible, just the sound of their music and the intensity of it. So we're hoping at some point — I mean, that would be a dream collaboration for us." Sparks tour Australia in October and November 2023, playing solo shows at Melbourne's Palais Theatre (on Thursday, October 26), the Sydney Opera House (Tuesday, October 31), and Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane (Thursday, November 2) — and as part of the packed lineup at Adelaide's Harvest Rock II festival (on Sunday, October 29). For more information and tickets, visit the Harvest Rock website and the Secret Sounds website. Top image: Munachi Osegbu.
Drop everything, it's time to book a holiday for next year. At this time of year, every dollar counts, and when else can you book a return flight (domestic and international) and only pay for half the fee? Jetstar — ever the patron saint of affordable getaways — has just announced its latest special offer: three days of deals that offer essentially two flights for the price of one. From midnight tonight (or midday today if you're a Club Jetstar member), customers who purchase an outbound starter fare on select flights will get their return flight completely free, until 11.59pm on Sunday, November 30, or until the 90,000 available fares sell out. As mentioned, the offer is available across both domestic and international trips. Sydneysiders could skip the eight-hour drive to Byron and instead book a flight to Ballina from $42, or to Cairns from $102. Brisbane travellers can book a Whitsundays flight from $63, and Perth locals looking to go cross-country can fly to Melbourne from $199. If you're going out of the country, you're spoilt for choice. Sydneysiders looking for a quick and easy trip to Bali can do so from $249, Melbournians can immersive themselves in the cultural melting pot that is Singapore from $209, and if you're part of the Aussies that have yet to visit the 'it' destination of 2025: you can fly from Brisbane to Tokyo from $373 and Sydney to Osaka for the same price. Just next door is South Korea, which has gone underappreciated for too long — but Brisbanites can fly to Seoul from $309 in 2026. In terms of dates, the availability varies per route, but the offer is open for domestic flights between early February and late October 2026, and for international flights between early February and mid-September 2026. The Jetstar Return for FREE Black Friday sale runs from 12pm AEDT on Thursday, November 27 for Club Jetstar members, and from 12am AEDT for the general public. The sale will run until 11.59pm AEDT on Sunday, November 30, or until fares sell out. Visit the Jetstar website for more information.
I know what you're probably thinking. At Concrete Playground, we're very transparent about the awesome work we do with brands. So it might be reasonable to conclude that I'm going to fill the next 600 words or so with unadulterated praise about Milklab's new oat milk. But you'd be wrong. The first time I, a stubbornly exclusive drinker of full-fat dairy milk, tried oat milk, I made a face that made my walking buddy think I'd stepped in a big pile of dog shit. My next thought: immediate regret. You see, I'd challenged myself to make the switch to oat milk. I discovered while reading up about it, of the various plant-based milks that are now widely available in cafes, oat is supposed to be the closest in taste and creaminess to dairy. So, I thought, why not give it a go? I decided to commit to the oat for a whole week and document my experiences. But, after my first sip, I was immediately overcome with regret. A whole week on this was all of a sudden starting to look like it could be a long one. Was I going to make it? Was I going to cave? Or was I — perhaps unthinkably — actually going to enjoy it? Here's what happened. THE TASTE My first sip of an oat milk coffee was definitely a bit of a shock. For the uninitiated (as I was just a couple of weeks ago), there's a sweet, nutty, almost malty taste — as well as an undeniably oat-y one — that I knew was going to take a bit of getting used to. I don't take any sugar in my coffee, either, so I realised from that first sip that some adjustment (mainly of my own expectations) was going to be required. One almost immediate effect the sweetness did have was that it forced me to slow down, and to savour every sip. There was also a surprising richness to the milk that meant each sip just went that little bit further. I also tried different types of oat milk coffee: hot and cold, frothy and flat. I was surprised by the full flavour and roundness in the latte — especially an oat cap (more on that below). Meanwhile, the iced oat lattes I had were also very, very drinkable. Not only did these not leave me feeling bloated like a dairy version would, but it seems that not heating the milk neutralised some of the immediate nuttiness and sweetness. And while I could tell it wasn't dairy, it tasted pretty close to it. THE MOUTHFEEL This was, to be honest, the part that I was probably the most nervous about. One of the main reasons that I have stubbornly insisted on full-fat dairy milk is because I've found the alternatives either too watery for my liking, or far too overpowering in taste. The warm internal hug that a perfectly made latte with full-fat dairy milk provides is hard to replicate with the alternatives. One drink, though, changed my mind from the first sip: the oat cappuccino. While I am firmly of the belief that cappuccinos should remain in the 90s alongside sundried tomatoes and focaccia, the full velvety goodness of an oat cap was, to quote Jessica Simpson, irresistible. This is likely because oat milk stretches similarly to dairy, effectively resulting in a smaller margin of error on the part of the espresso puller and also creating that fuller mouthfeel. Another thing it took drinking oat to realise — especially on days I drank both oat and dairy to compare a little more directly — is the film that dairy can leave around the mouth, which is honestly... not okay. There was no such residue with oat, hot or cold. THE EFFECT Remember that warm internal hug I mentioned earlier? As pretty much any drinker of dairy milk can vouch for, it's not uncommon for your stomach to start to play dubstep after, or even during, that milk-induced inside-out embrace. Mercifully, no such beats were created after an oat beverage. Another thing I found interesting was that the post-caffeine crash I would usually experience — especially following my afternoon brew — did not come when I'd had my oat drink. This is surprising given that oat has less protein and more sugar than full-fat dairy, but what is undeniable is that an oatey boy seemed to keep me going for longer. The same can be said for the fullness factor. While its bloat factor means that dairy usually fills me more quickly, the fullness seems to be both more subtle and more sustained with oat. [caption id="attachment_824628" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rachel McDermott (Unsplash)[/caption] THE VERDICT Full disclosure: I'm writing this while drinking a full-fat dairy latte. But I'm not enjoying it as much as what I might have done a couple of weeks ago. I actually came to not only enjoy the taste of oat milk, but also crave it. Am I converted? Truth be told, I'll still be ordering dairy when the mood hits. But what I have discovered is that there is another option that does the job just as well — and, in some cases, even better. For more information on Milklab's new oat range, head to the website.
Make some room in your budget for a new streaming service: soon, HBO's lengthy list of must-see TV shows will have their own platform in Australia. The network's dedicated streamer Max debuted in America in 2020, and has been rolling out through Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Europe since — and newly in Japan as well. Now, Aussie viewers will be able to subscribe sometime in the first half of 2025. Earlier in 2024, it was rumoured that Australia was on Max's list in the next 18 months. At the APOS media and entertainment conference in Bali between Tuesday, September 24–Thursday, September 26, Warner Bros Discovery's President for the Asia-Pacific James Gibbons confirmed the Aussie launch, as well as the 2025 timing. Exactly how the rollout will work across the Asia-Pacific region is yet to be revealed, and it won't be the same Max model everywhere. But Australia will have a direct-to-consumer setup, which means signing up directly for Max. "We will be flexible and diverse as to how we go about it. There will be a mixture of direct service and partnership models. Our goal is to reach the fan base," said Gibbons, Variety reports. The great streaming service rush, when new platforms seemed to appear every few weeks or so, might be a few years in the past; however, HBO bringing Max to Australia is huge news. Depending on exactly when in the first six months of 2025 that it hits, that's where you might be watching The Last of Us, The White Lotus and Euphoria when they return for their next seasons. At present, the US network's shows largely screen and stream to Aussie viewers via Binge and Foxtel. When the former launched, boasting HBO's catalogue was one of its big selling points. The deal between Binge, Foxtel and Warner Bros Discovery — which owns HBO — was extended in 2023, but it was reported at the time that Max might debut in Australia from 2025. Moving HBO's catalogue away from Binge and Foxtel would impact a hefty number of shows, with the network also behind House of the Dragon, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and any other Game of Thrones spinoffs that make it to fruition — and True Detective, And Just Like That..., The Rehearsal, The Penguin, on-the-way IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, soon-to-arrive Dune spinoff Prophecy and much, much more. HBO's past original programming spans everything from The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Oz, Deadwood, Big Love, True Blood, Big Little Lies, Westworld and Succession to The Larry Sanders Show, Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, Bored to Death, Girls, Veep, Barry and Enlightened. Max is launching in Australia sometime in the first half of 2025 — we'll update you when more details are announced. Via Variety / The Hollywood Reporter. Top image: Macall Polay/Max.
Thanks to Victoria Park's upcoming makeover, plus Northshore Hamilton's and also South Bank's as well, Brisbane's green spaces are expanding. Many of these are long-term projects, and based around the 2032 Olympics. But in the Archerfield area, the River City will score a new wetlands park from in early 2024. When the $22-million Archerfield Wetlands District Park starts welcoming in Brisbanites next year, it'll do so with a big focus on nature just 12 kilometres outside of the CBD. And, it's taking over what might seem to be an unlikely location. The spot that the park will sprawl across used to be a sewage treatment plant. Located off Bowhill Road in Durack, Archerfield Wetlands District Park itself will take up four hectares. That said, it forms part of an overall transformation of the site called Archerfield Wetlands that spans over 150 hectares. The entire space also includes the Archerfield Wetlands Discovery Trail, a walking and cycling path that stretches over three kilometres. Across the whole setup, there'll be also be eucalypt forests, open grassland, freshwater wetlands and creeks. The Archerfield Wetlands project isn't new — it was first announced in 2019 — but Brisbane City Council has revealed that Archerfield Wetlands District Park is now officially underway. "The transformation of Archerfield Wetlands District Park is particularly special because it will see a beautiful nature-based park created at the site of an ugly former sewage plant," said Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner. "It will include a large adventure play space and water play area, a youth hub with basketball court, a bush foods garden and a catchment centre, with a native plant nursery to support the environmental rehabilitation of the Oxley Creek catchment," the Lord Mayor continued. "The establishment of the park at this location is restoring and transforming the site as an environmental and recreational destination where people can slow down and connect with nature." Thanks to the Discovery Trail, Archerfield Wetlands will also be home to more than 150 different bird species. So, expect birdwatching to be a feature. The full makeover sits between the Ipswich Motorway, Archerfield Airport and Bowhill Road, and falls under $100 million, 20-year Oxley Creek Transformation initiative — which is set to give Brisbane's southwest a 20-kilometre-long corridor of green space stretching from Tennyson to Larapinta. Archerfield Wetlands District Park is set to open in early 2024. Head to the Brisbane City Council website for further details about the overall project.
When you're playing tourist in a city, be it your own or somewhere far from home, there are two tried-and-tested ways to get a great glimpse at your surroundings. If you're fine with heights, head up. If you're comfortable with hitting the water, get cruising. A new Sky Deck is on its way to Brisbane to help with the first option — and, with the second, so is the return of glamorous floating venue Seadeck. This three-level vessel is no stranger to joining the Queensland capital's list of things to do near, around, in or on its very own river, but it hasn't made its way to Brisbane for six years. That drought breaks from Saturday, August 10, when Seadeck is doing both brunch and sunset cruises on weekends. Then, come Brisbane Festival time for 2024, it'll become the fest's Art Boat for this year. It's actually thanks to that Bris Fest berth that Seadeck is making a comeback until the end of September, after the event was keen for fellow floating venue Oasis to do the honours for its on-the-water art experience. With Dave Auld, Managing Partner for both vessels, organisers came to the conclusion that 42-metre Seadeck with its two bars, loungers aplenty and retractable awning would be a better fit, however. Sydney's first permanent floating venue, Seadeck initially debuted in the Harbour City in October 2016, then made trips to Brisbane in both 2017 and 2018. When it launched, it was designed to be the epitome of handcrafted luxury — from the handmade tiles and custom-designed brass bar to the bespoke furniture from every corner of the glove, everything you see was tailored for floating. Each of the three decks is connected by sweeping staircases and cast iron lace railings, an homage to Hollywood's golden age of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Yes, the word "swank" should come to mind. For its third stint in the River City, Seadeck is doing both brunch and sunset cruises each Saturday and Sunday between August 10–25. At the first, which costs $150 per person, you'll tuck into canapes over beer, wine and bubbles — plus either a bloody mary or a mimosa to start — while scoping out the city. At the second, you'll pay for what you want to eat and drink on top of your $30 ticket.
Theatre lovers rejoice, because Sydney is about to bear witness to a Broadway debut: Waitress is coming to town. The long-awaited Australian debut of the production is confirmed for a premiere at Sydney Lyric Theatre in July 2026. Sara Bareilles, the creative force behind the musical's original score, expressed her excitement about the Australian premiere. "It's been a dream of mine to see Waitress (finally) find its way to Australia," she stated. "This story is about dreams, friendship and the courage needed to learn to love oneself, which feels so universal, and so timely." The musical, inspired by Adrienne Shelly's beloved film, tells the story of Jenna, a small-town waitress and expert pie maker trapped in a difficult marriage who dreams of escape. When a baking contest and unexpected romance present new opportunities, Jenna discovers that change might be closer than she imagined, supported by her fellow waitresses in a tale of resilience and self-discovery. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2N_svvx-uA[/embed] Producer John Frost from Crossroads Live highlighted the production's impressive credentials, noting its four Tony nominations and six Drama Desk nominations during its original Broadway run. Waitress became a huge hit on Broadway where it played for almost four years," Frost explained. The musical has since enjoyed successful runs in the West End, multiple US tours and international productions, establishing itself as a global phenomenon. The production holds particular significance in theatre history, having made Broadway history with women filling all four top creative positions. Alongside Bareilles' music and lyrics, the creative team features Jessie Nelson's book, Lorin Latarro's choreography and Tony winner Diane Paulus's direction. This groundbreaking achievement occurred when the musical opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on April 24, 2016, running until January 5, 2020. Original producer Barry Weissler acknowledged the lengthy journey to bring Waitress to Australian audiences, stating: "Collaborating with our longtime partner John Frost and his team at Crossroads Live, we are thrilled to finally have the chance to share this story 'baked from the heart' with audiences in Oz." Critics have consistently praised the musical's blend of humour, heart, and memorable music. The Times called it "5 Star musical pie," while New York Magazine described it as "sweet, sassy, passionate & delightful!" The Washington Post praised it as "simply delightful! A glorious reminder that life is messy and wondrous!" Tickets go on sale later this month. Join the waitlist to get yours as soon as they're available.
With so many beauty products floating around, it's hard to know if your current ten- (or one-) step skincare routine is making any kind of difference. It might seem obvious, but Carla Oates, founder of The Beauty Chef, recommends starting with what's on the inside — with products that work on improving your gut and skin microbiome. The Beauty Chef first saw success with its GLOW®️ Inner Beauty Essential: a probiotic supernutrient powder that features powerhouse ingredients such as vitamin C, biotin, niacinamide, prebiotics and zinc to give your skin a serious glow-up, while supporting healthy hair, nails, digestion and energy. The entrepreneur has since spent the past 15 years creating a line of innovative inner beauty products for skin, gut and whole-body wellness that are now sold at David Jones, MECCA and Sephora — as well as beloved by people across the globe. In partnership with Klaviyo, we caught up with Oates to uncover her path into the industry, her advice for fellow entrepreneurs and the importance of listening to your gut. How did The Beauty Chef come about? As a child, I suffered from eczema and allergies. My mum took me to see a naturopath who dramatically changed what I ate, removing processed foods and allergens like gluten and dairy. My allergies and eczema subsided, so I experienced firsthand that what we eat can affect our skin and health. My daughter also experiences eczema and allergies. With the assistance of health professionals, we removed specific trigger foods from her diet, and I began researching the link between gut and skin health. As I explored this link more closely, I decided to put my family on a gut-healing protocol, which included eliminating certain foods and introducing lots of lacto-fermented whole foods with beneficial bacteria into our diet. Friends and family took notice and I realised I was onto something. Why focus specifically on inner beauty? Inner beauty is so important. When people start to delve deeper into understanding what makes skin healthy, it's not so much about what they're putting on their skin but how they're nourishing it from within. I focus on inner beauty because so many benefit from it. I've spoken to people who have tried all sorts of concoctions to remedy their skin on the outside, but it's only once they look to support their skin and health from the inside that results become abundantly clear. Can you break down the gut-skin connection for us in simple terms? The simplest way is to use the analogy of our gut as a garden. If the soil in the garden isn't healthy, balanced and thriving with a good array of nutrients and bacteria, then the plants that grow within its soil will struggle to blossom. The gut is where 70 percent of our immune system lies. It's where we make nutrients, regulate hormones, detoxify enzymes, neutralise pathogens and make neurotransmitters, so it's super important to get your digestive health in check. For someone just discovering The Beauty Chef, where should they start? GLOW®️ Inner Beauty Essential or GLOW AGELESS™ Inner Beauty Essential are five-star probiotic supernutrient formulas that promote healthy glowing skin, hair and nails, energy and gut health. From there, you can target any other specific skin, gut health or wellbeing concerns with products from the rest of our range — all our products are designed to work together for enhanced results. What challenges did you have to overcome as a woman establishing her own business? When I launched in 2009, ingestible beauty was a foreign concept. Pioneering the category wasn't easy because retailers didn't have a category for it. One of the hardest things was convincing manufacturers to support our low volumes. I had to find my CEO voice and seriously hustle to help them see my vision and understand the product. In the beginning, I was wearing every single hat, from product development to marketing and even HR. Now, we have 30 full-time staff at our head office. A key learning for me has been understanding and accepting that I can't be and do everything all the time. And, as the business expands, it's imperative to support that growth with leaders who are specialists in what they do. Networking with other female founders is also very important for me, both professionally and personally. No matter how different our businesses may be, we face similar challenges. When you connect, you can relate to each other and share learnings. How has Klaviyo helped your business? Klaviyo email and SMS have helped The Beauty Chef streamline our communications with our customers. We now have one central platform for key communications to our customers and can effectively personalise and segment to ensure long-term retention. Do you have any advice for other budding entrepreneurs? Do what you love because success requires hard work, so you might as well spend the hard work doing something you wholeheartedly enjoy. Plus, you are bound to be more successful doing something you have fire, passion and drive for. Try not to get caught up in trends and make sure you're creating products that serve a purpose and provide a solution that is unique. And be gutsy and follow your gut instinct. Discover The Beauty Chef's full range of products at the website, and find out more at the Klaviyo website.
As if your boyfriend needed another reason to stay glued to sport. The Allphones Arena and Lingerie Football League, LLC (LFL) have announced a partnership that will bring the 'explosively popular' lingerie football sports league to Australia. Dubbed the “fastest-growing sports league in the US” by BusinessWeek, the sport is played just like it reads. All-female teams don their scanty bra-and-panties sets and get rough out on the football field. It’s no wonder the LFL touts itself as “True Fantasy Football”. The game is played as a modified version of American NFL football, and began as an alternative half-time show for the NFL Superbowl. In 2009, the LFL was created and drew sell-out (surprisingly male-dominated) audiences and millions of primetime TV viewers. The 2012 LFL All-Star Game will be held in Brisbane at the Entertainment Centre on June 2 and at Allphones Arena in Sydney on June 9, and will feature 32 of the best women across the league as the Western and Eastern Conference teams clash. The two cities have been pointed to as potential homes for franchises in 2013. Is the world's single most sexist sport doomed for failure in Australia?
Brisbane-based adventurers, this one's for you. Over the last little while, we've been going on about pristine waterfalls right outside the city, we've pointed you to unusual swimming holes, and we've sent you valiantly exploring on Brisbane's very best walks. Haven't done it all? Haven't found your perfect perfect camping spot? Yet to stake your claim on the ultimate Brisbane outdoor barbecue spot? Fill up your canteen with water (wink), pack a little lunchbox and get going this weekend. Here's a little guide to help you.
When Marc Grey and Steve Maiden launched their first venue in Fortitude Valley's California Lane, they leaned into Grey's fondness for comic books, theming 22-seater 1st Edition around caped crusaders in its decor and menu. Less than two years later, they've added a second venue to the same stretch of pavement off McLachlan Street, and have also gone all in on a concept. Indeed, Viva La Cali couldn't be in the more perfect location. California Lane was always going to welcome a California-inspired joint at some point, and Viva La Cali is that place. It sees Grey (Destino Sanctuary Cove) and chef Maiden (Baja Fortitude Valley) team up with fellow hospitality figure Morgan Webster to celebrate the cuisine and vibe of southern California — and, reflecting the region, to mix dishes from Central and South America into the menu as well. At this bar and restaurant, diners can chase an endless summer to match Brisbane's usually sunny climate. The palm tree-heavy artwork by Steen Jones, which wraps around one side of the venue including under the bar, heartily champions that mood. So does the setup in the 80-square-metre space, thanks to an openair and undercover abode that caters to 50 folks seated — including at a sizeable communal high table — or 70 cocktail-style. The menu unsurprisingly heroes tacos while also getting creative. A banh mi-inspired taco made with pulled chicken, pickled veg and chicken pate tops the must-try list, alongside pork jowl with fermented cabbage, apple wild rice and smoked yoghurt; fish ceviche with cucumber, pickled jalapeño and pomegranate; and beef carnitas with pineapple habanero salsa. Diners can also pick snacks such as Peruvian empanadas, beef tartar with egg yolk and Viva La Cali's take on popcorn chicken with chimichurri. Short ribs, wagyu smoked in-house with cherry and apple wood (then paired with cactus salsa), and spiced eggplant with cacao mole are highlights among the bigger dishes, while the dessert options include picarones, aka crispy fried Peruvian doughnuts. To wash all of the above down, margaritas are Viva La Cali's signature sip from a tequila-centric drinks list. Whether you go with the classic sip whipped up with house-made orange bitters, a version with coffee lime agave or a Tommy's, you'll be picking from a range featuring tipples that require a comprehensive gastro process to come to fruition — a source of pride for the venue's team. Among the standouts: the Watermelon Margy Hiiiii, made with house-made watermelon cordial and a natural watermelon rind sour strap; the Bugs Bunny Margarita, which uses house-made sour carrot juice; and chilli mango coconut slushies. Operating Wednesday–Sunday, Viva La Cali will also do $79 two-hour bottomless margarita and bottomless taco sessions on Sundays, and host California Lane laneway parties with live music, and local chef and kitchen takeovers.
Life has been a cabaret for one of the world's inimitable designers since 2018, when Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show first premiered in Paris. Couture, colour, flair, excess, passion, a larger-than-life attitude: they're all channelled into this fashion show-meets-musical revue that steps through its namesake's career and promises a time at the theatre like nothing else. More than 200 original Gaultier pieces feature. His 50 years making threads are in the spotlight. Unsurprisingly, the whole thing also plays out like a party. So far, London, Tokyo, Munich, Porto, Lisbon, Milan, Barcelona and Osaka have also revelled in the Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show experience. Next, it's Brisbane's turn. The River City will welcome the Australian debut of the show — and the Aussie-exclusive season, too — during Brisbane Festival 2024. Donning attire that Gaultier would approve of isn't a prerequisite of attending the production, but you know that you want to dress the part if you're heading along. Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show will kick off with Brisbane Festival itself, starting on Friday, August 30. The Australian season runs until Sunday, September 15, taking over the South Bank Piazza — which forms part of the Festival Garden for the duration of Brisbane Festival. "I am pleased and honoured that my Fashion Freak Show will be presented in Australia, as part of the Brisbane Festival," said Gaultier about the production's trip Down Under. "I could never imagine that it would travel this far and I hope that the Australian audiences will enjoy the show as much as I enjoyed making it with the fantastic team that you will see in Brisbane. It's the story of my life told through music and dance and fashion. The story of a boy from the suburbs who dreamed of being a couturier — who lived his dream with all the highs and lows of his destiny." Of course Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show emphasises its titular figure's boundary-pushing work, his focus on individual expression, and his championing of queer aesthetics and LGBTQIA+ causes. Alongside the hefty range of outfits, it also features a suitable genre-defying soundtrack of disco, funk, pop, rock, new wave and punk tunes as actors and dancers — plus circus artists as well — take to the stage. The diverse cast of faces bringing the show to life spans even further, too, with celebrities and other special guests filming cameos that play during the production. [caption id="attachment_960525" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jean-Paul Gaultier: Freak & Chic[/caption] In another highlight of Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show's Brisbane visit, a couture piece by Queensland Indigenous designer Grace Lillian Lee has been chosen by Gaultier to feature for the season. "The coming together of Grace Lillian Lee and Jean Paul Gaultier will forever be one of my proudest moments and the epitome of Brisbane Festival as local and global," said Brisbane Festival Artistic Director Louise Bezzina. "And in an Olympic year when eyes will turn from Paris to Brisbane, the festival is perfectly placed to host this shining blockbuster event that brings together superstar talents from Europe and First Nations Australia." [caption id="attachment_960526" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Grace Lillian Lee[/caption] Lee is no stranger to Brisbane Festival thanks to 2021's First Nations Fashion: Walking In Two Worlds, and will debut her first solo exhibition The Dream Weaver: Guardians of Grace from Friday, August 30–Saturday, September 21 during this year's fest. For more of Brisbane Festival's ode to Jean Paul Gaultier, the event has also included a screening of documentary Jean-Paul Gaultier: Freak & Chic on its 2024 lineup. Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show will play the South Bank Piazza, Festival Garden, South Bank, Brisbane from Friday, August 30–Sunday, September 15 as part of Brisbane Festival 2024. Head to the festival website for tickets and more details.
Next time you have a great idea while making a cup of coffee, it could spark a hit comedy flick. That's what happened to Jackie van Beek, New Zealand comedian and one half of the writing/directing/acting duo behind The Breaker Upperers. "I was literally just wandering aimlessly around my kitchen, and I was just thinking about all those conversations that we've all had with friends about that horrible moment when you realise that you have to break up with your partner, and that feeling of dread," she explains. "And I just thought, "gosh, how much money would somebody pay to not have to do that themselves?". And I thought it'd be quite a lot of money, and I know a lot of people that would pay to get out of that responsibility." To answer the obvious question, van Beek never considered setting up a business to end other people's relationships for cash. Instead, she called fellow NZ comedian and actress Madeline Sami, and they started working on what would become 2018's best comedy. That was back in 2013. The script took years to perfect between other jobs, and the film shot across 22 days in 2017, with a cast that included Boy's James Rolleston and Rosehaven's Celia Pacquola. This year, The Breaker Upperers premiered its tale of best friends Jen (van Beek) and Mel (Sami), their love-busting business, their various life woes and their Celine Dion karaoke singalong at SXSW, and then opened the Sydney Film Festival. "It has been a whirlwind few months," Sami observes. "I didn't really have any expectations on how it would do. You spend so long editing the film, making it, and then you're just kind of relieved to have finished it. Then it comes out, and then all of these other people see it and take it into their hearts, and it's just overwhelmingly lovely." Indeed, while The Breaker Upperers is all about helping others when love has faded, there's plenty of love blossoming for this smart, funny film, with audiences both overseas, in New Zealand and in Australia reacting warmly. With the movie now releasing around Australia, we sat down with van Beek and Sami to chat about real-life break-ups, smashing rom-com conventions and working collaboratively in a Kiwi comedy scene that also includes the film's executive producer, Taika Waititi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-phMlkRiWIg ON CREATING ROLES FOR THEMSELVES THAT DIDN'T EXIST OTHERWISE Sami: "We wanted to write characters that were fucked up women in their thirties, and that didn't have to settle down. That was the big, big point for us. Otherwise it's so unrealistic and so much pressure for women, and I hate that." van Beek: "And so exclusive. We've of course got so many friends that are single, in their early forties and are not going to have a baby now. What about happy endings for those guys? So it was very important that — we love rom-coms, but it was very important for us that we buck the convention and that we didn't end with a double church wedding with two women and two men tying the knot and talking about children." Sami: "We definitely thought about it in drafts and played with the idea, and it just never sat right. And we were just like, this is really a story about being okay with who they are, and accepting that and not having to bow to society's expectations — and the movies' expectations — of what your life should be like. It's really the movies. The movies tell us that we need to have all this shit together, especially for women. I think the pressure on women in movies — just the damsel in distress thing, it goes right back to Snow White. Or in all the Disney stuff. There's a princess who's stuck in a tower or she's in a coma, which is fucking dark, and she needs to be saved. And that same thing is in rom-coms today — a woman who's…" van Beek: "All befuddled." Sami: "And needs to be saved. And it's like, no we don't. We're cool. Just chill." van Beek: "We can figure out our own mess. It doesn't have to involve a man." Sami: "And also, a happy ending doesn't have to be what we've always been told what a happy ending is. It doesn't always have to be that conventional, settle down thing. It can just be 'well you're just not as dark and fucked up as you were at the beginning of the movie'." ON DECIDING TO NOT ONLY WRITE AND STAR IN THE BREAKER UPPERERS, BUT TO DIRECT IT, TOO van Beek: "It was always on the table." Sami: "We were scared." van Beek: "Were we scared? I wasn't scared." Sami: "There was a fear that it would take the fun away from the acting, which is what the whole reason we wanted to do it. It wasn't like scared to do it — it was just whether we were going to give ourselves too much of a workload." van Beek: "Yeah that's right. We knew that if we got too stressed, and we're on screen doing improvised comedy, it's just not going to be fun for us or the audience — so the stakes were quite high in making that decision." Sami: "And then we just like, we can't think of anyone who could fulfil this vision for us that we are planning in our own heads, so why don't we just do it? Take the gamble, and make sure we surround ourselves with really talented, experienced people so that we're supported. And that's what we did." van Beek: "People who are confident at improvisation, so we could all get there. And Taika was helpful." Sami: "Taika, we've worked with a lot — and he would've been a wonderful director for this film. But we knew that we were never going to get Taika because he was on Thor and was committed to that for years. But he shares our sensibility, we've worked with him — he directed the first series of a TV show that I'd made in New Zealand called Super City, and we had a lovely time when we worked together in that way. And he'd definitely get it. But he wasn't available, so we were the ones." van Beek: "But we got Jemaine Clement, who is an old friend of ours as well, he came up for three or four days of pre-production when we wanted to stand up and start exploring the characters ourselves. He'd come into the rehearsal room, and we'd do rewrites with him, and so it was all really..." Sami: "Collaborative." van Beek: "Supportive." Sami: "We've got so much amazing talent around us in New Zealand. There's so many amazing comedians coming up, and writers, that it was just really important for us to be energised by them. So we'd just keep them around us all the time, just everyone 'come in, add a joke in here if you want, yeah that's a good idea.' Just keep it fresh for ourselves, especially because we'd been writing for four-five years, so at a lot of points in that time, when you're right in it — especially towards the end, towards pre-production — you can't see. You're really close to it." ON SEEING NEW ZEALAND COMEDY FINALLY GET RECOGNITION OVERSEAS van Beek: "With Taika's films, and Flight of the Conchords and Rhys Darby having done so well internationally — we were over at SXSW with our film, and people were saying after the screening 'that's New Zealand' humour. They were identifying it. 'We love New Zealand humour! We love you guys.' It was quite exciting that people identify it, and many thanks to Taika who brought that New Zealand comedy voice into the mainstream with Thor." Sami: "When there's a bunch of people, and when there's support — the New Zealand Film Commission have really made an effort to get in behind New Zealand comedy over the last ten years probably. And because we've had success internationally, then there's more support back home. And it's kind of like with the Danish thrillers. All of a sudden the world loves Danish thrillers, and it's just the people making them are making them really well. I guess coming out of New Zealand right now, we've got a lot of great comedy, and it's just a time where it's just being recognised for what it is." van Beek: "Long may it last." Sami: "It's exciting. It's really just, I think, the world getting to know that New Zealand comedy a bit — and it started with Flight of the Conchords. There's an awkwardness to the comedy we make. So yeah, who knows how long that will last. But it's exciting that we don't have to explain our accent any more. People can start to tell the difference a little bit [between Australian and New Zealand accents]. We'll see Americanss try to do a Kiwi accent rather than just going 'oh, I can do a Kiwi accent — g'day mate'." van Beek: "Now they do Flight of the Conchords." Sami: "Yeah, 'Brett'. Or they do, 'oh hi, I'm Korg,' [from Thor: Ragnarok] or stuff like that. They're showing that they know the difference." van Beek: "By mocking us in a different way." Sami: "I loved being mocked." ON FINDING INSPIRATION FOR THE FILM'S MANY BREAK-UP SCENES Sami: "I've never been two-timed by someone, and then found out that... aah, I think I have." van Beek: "You have?" Sami: "Maybe I have." van Beek: "There's always going to be a bit of crossover." Sami: "There's just a bit of subconscious stuff — for me, the break up scenarios, everything you see in the film, nothing is specific to anything but everything is influenced by stories we've heard or things we've experienced. But there's no one like, 'yeah, I had this terrible breakup and this is exactly how the story went'." van Beek: "Or 'yeah, my boyfriend pretended to be in a coma and then died.' That all came from our imagination, but it was more like — definitely I've been through phases in my life when I've been a bit more like Jen, and just been in denial. I've been heartbroken and not wanting to grow up." Sami: "We did have a lot more scenarios and they got a lot more extreme. Obviously some were cut for time, and we didn't shoot all of them — a lot of them we just weren't going to be able to. To shoot someone falling off a speedboat in the middle of Auckland of harbour and taking an underwater scuba to an island and then sailing off, that would've been the whole budget of our film probably, just for that one day." van Beek: "We spent a bit of time writing it though." Sami: "It was a lot of fun writing and thinking out the ways people might choose to break up with each other." The Breaker Upperers is now screening in Australian cinemas.
Every ten-year-old's birthday party always boasts one thing in abundance: sugar. And yes, that proves true even when Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art is blowing out the candles. GOMA's latest free exhibition, Sugar Spin: You, Me, Art and Everything, doesn't hand out bags of lollies that you can take home with you (sorry) — but it does bring together more than 250 contemporary artworks exploring light, space, architecture and the senses. Expect plenty of sweetness as the collection of pieces contemplates the connection between humanity and the natural world. And, because there's always a flipside, expect a showcase that recognises the many challenges that go hand-in-hand with out beautiful environment as well. Taking over the gallery until April 17, 2017, one the major drawcards is Nervescape by Icelandic-born artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir a.k.a. Shoplifter, which is a multi-coloured landscape of synthetic hair. Yes, really. Attendees can also enjoy the return of Left/Right Slide by Carsten Höller — and of sliding and spiralling from the top floor of GOMA to the bottom.
From a 140-year-old watering hole on Lutwyche Road to a spot to sip brews on Bribie Island — and including a Bald Hills mainstay, too — plenty of Brisbane pubs have been getting big makeovers over the past few years. Actually, be precise, a heap of Brissie pubs owned by Australian Venue Co have been undergoing facelifts. The latest: the Salisbury Hotel in the city's south. This Toohey Road spot reopened its doors on Tuesday, April 19 after a hefty revamp to the tune of $1.6 million. The big change: a huge new beer garden, so you've now got somewhere leafy to sit while you're knocking back beverages. Filled with picnic-style tables topped with striped umbrellas, and sprawling out over a scenic stretch of grass, the beer garden caters to 108 people in two sections, with one for the bistro and the other for the sports bar. Accordingly, whether you're heading by just for a drink or for a meal, sunshine awaits — or, at night, hanging out beneath the strung-up fairy lights. Both the bistro and sports bar have also undergone a refresh, with the former offering up a family-friendly space for bites to eat and the latter decked out with big screens. Menu-wise, the bistro is going heavy on pub classics; think: parmigianas, schnitzels, burgers and pizza, plus pork belly, cob loaf, fried pickles and loaded wedges. Other highlights include prawn linguine, mushroom gnocchi and spiced pumpkin fritters, plus steaks from the grill, a Thai-inspired beef salad, and sticky date pudding, rocky road and baked cheesecake for dessert. If you're looking for a reason to drop in on a particular night, the Salisbury is dedicating Tuesdays to $16 parmigianas and schnitties, doing trivia nights on Wednesdays, and hosting live music on Fridays and Sundays. And, if you make the trip between Friday, April 29–Sunday, May 1, the pub is putting on a number of reopening specials, including an hour of free chicken wings from 5–6pm on the Friday and all-day pizza deals on the Sunday. For those eager to spend the night, the Salisbury also does accommodation — and its 16 rooms, both internal and external, have been refurbished as well. Find The Salisbury Hotel at 668 Toohey Road, Salisbury — open 10am–3am Sunday–Tuesday and 10am–4am Wednesday–Saturday.
Who is Gertie? Going by the ever-changing chalkboard messages out front of Gertie's Bar and Lounge in New Farm, she's a bit of a scallywag. The kind of gal who'd rather totter all night long in her high heels than opt for sensible flats, loves a healthy smattering of sequins, and can always be found with a dirty martini in one hand... and probably a Manhattan in the other. In other words, she's our kind of lady. As for the bar itself? Well, it's our kind of place. Located on the corner of Brunswick and Barker Streets, the best seats in the house are at the open windows. From there you'll get a fantastic outlook over Brunswick, Barker and Annie Streets, and if you sit rather still and avoid loud noises, you might even spot some New Farmers in their natural habitat. With nearby neighbours including Chouquette, The Continental, Taj Mahal, Anise, Francie May's and the soon-to-open New Farm Cinemas, Gertie is in good company, and there's always plenty to see from the comfort of your barstool. Turn your attention back inside and you'll find a relaxed, warm ambience thanks to lovely low lighting, plenty of polished wood furniture and music over which you can hold a conversation. Follow the stairs down and there's a sunken dining room, which is wallpapered with book pages and photos and is a great place to have a party. If you’re too hardcore to take Mondays off drinking, then you’re in luck, because Monday is mussels night at Gertie’s. Get a bowl of mussels, chips and a glass of wine for $20 and kick off your week the right way. Pay a visit on a Tuesday night and reap the rewards of 2-4-1 tapas: choices include pork and beef meatballs with napoli sauce and ciabatta ($15), and chorizo with chickpeas ($15). The weekly specials don't stop there; keep an eye on the Gertie’s Facebook page to stay in the know. Add the beers on tap and a cocktail list of over 45 concoctions, and we think Gertie's is the place to be just about any night of the week.
Few Australian actors just starting out — not even half a decade into their resumes, in fact — have enjoyed the jump into the spotlight that Eliza Scanlen did between 2018–2020. After a 15-episode run on Home and Away in 2016, Scanlen made her international debut on HBO's Sharp Objects, so in a miniseries based on a novel by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, and starring Amy Adams (Nightbitch) and Patricia Clarkson (She Said). Her initial role in a US film came next as one of the March sisters, Beth, in Greta Gerwig's (Barbie) adaptation of Little Women, with Scanlen starring alongside Saoirse Ronan (Blitz), Florence Pugh (We Live in Time), Emma Watson (The Circle), Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Laura Dern (Lonely Planet) and Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building). Then, for her first Aussie movie, she earned a well-deserved AACTA Best Actress Award for Babyteeth, where she played a 16-year-old navigating a cancer diagnosis; Essie Davis (Apple Cider Vinegar) and Ben Mendelsohn (The New Look) portrayed her parents. Amid those impressive television and film parts, Scanlen also hit the stage at home, featuring in Sydney Theatre Company's 2019 production of Lord of the Flies with Mia Wasikowska (Blueback), Yerin Ha (Dune: Prophecy, and soon to be seen in Bridgerton's fourth season) and Daniel Monks (Kaos). On Broadway that very year, she did the same, but in To Kill a Mockingbird with Ed Harris (Love Lies Bleeding) and Nick Robinson (Damsel). 2025 sees the screen and stage sides of Scanlen's career collide. After past movies The Devil All the Time, Old, The Starling Girl and Caddo Lake, plus TV's Fires, The First Lady and Dope Girls, Scanlen is back in Australian cinemas thanks to her theatre work. From late November 2024–late January this year, the Aussie actor trod the boards in London in National Theatre's glorious new staging of The Importance of Being Earnest. Down Under, viewers can now watch Scanlen as Cecily Cardew in the Oscar Wilde-penned farce via NT Live. The British theatre company's love of recording its productions and beaming them around the world has long been an initiative to celebrate, and the reason that stunning works such as Danny Boyle's (Yesterday) version of Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch (Eric) and Jonny Lee Miller (Guy Ritchie's The Covenant) alternating between Victor Frankenstein and his monster, the Carey Mulligan (Spaceman)- and Bill Nighy (That Christmas)-starring Skylight, and Jodie Comer (The Bikeriders) in Prima Facie have been accessible to audiences who couldn't attend the live shows in the UK. Add The Importance of Being Earnest to NT Live's must-sees and sparkling gems, with Scanlen joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who) as Algernon Moncrieff, Hugh Skinner (Wicked Little Letters) as Jack Worthing, Sharon D Clarke (Wicked) as Lady Bracknell and Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ (Alex Rider) as Gwendolen Fairfax. Director Max Webster — who also helmed National Theatre's Macbeth, Life of Pi and Henry V, all of which enjoyed the NT Live treatment — couldn't be having more fun with Wilde's now 130-year-old work. Neither could Scanlen and her co-stars, visibly so from the moment that this iteration opens with Gatwa in a hot pink dress. The last play by its author, premiering mere months before his imprisonment for homosexual acts and clearly drawing upon Wilde's own experiences as it tells of living double lives, The Importance of Being Earnest has always possessed queer subtext. Webster pushes that further forward, alongside the search for identity, plus what it means to be your own person and break free of expectations. This is still "a trivial comedy", as its originator himself dubbed it. It remains a story about impersonation and romance, too. No one has brought it to the stage like this before, however. Of course, the narrative still charts Jack's attempts to be an upstanding custodian to his ward Cecily in his country existence, only to live it up in town under a different name with his friend Algernon — and the latter's own similar scheme, aka "Bunburying", aka making up a fictitious ailing friend that often needs his attention as an excuse to ditch the city. And, this The Importance of Being Earnest remains the tale of two young women, Cecily and Gwendolen, with their sights set on married futures, but the reality of their hopes and dreams impacted by Jack and Algernon's duplicity. What's Scanlen's take on Cecily's journey? When the character falls in love with Jack's made-up brother Ernest, "I think she knows that deep down that he might not exist, but she's so invested in this imaginary world that she's built for herself to escape the boredom of her life in the country that she's willing to do anything to will this person into existence," she tells Concrete Playground. "And so when Algernon shows up at her home, she assumes him to be Ernest, her fiancé. I guess he represents to her freedom, an escape from the boredom of her life, and a promise of wealth and fun. I think she's a kindred spirit with Algernon in the play." Asked if her path to here, to acting on the London stage in a famous farce that's now screening in cinemas afterwards, was something that she could've imagined when she booked her stint in Summer Bay almost a decade ago now, and Scanlen notes that "never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd be onstage playing Cecily at the National Theatre. I think that is pretty special". She continues: "I don't think I was looking that far ahead. I knew that my heart was in films and television, and I knew that I wanted to make films, too. But I did find acting through theatre originally, so theatre has always had a special place in my heart — and I returned to theatre when I was 19, I think, at Sydney Theatre Company." "I guess with this career, it's not really something that you can plan. You just have to give yourself up to whatever happens, and I'm really lucky to find myself here," Scanlen also advises. "I can't see myself doing anything else. I've been doing it for so long now that the idea of pivoting careers seems crazy to me. I can't really see my life without acting and film and TV and theatre. I've just followed my curiosity along the way, and I don't really know exactly where I'm going, but I think that's how it works. You just have to stay inspired and stay curious. And I've been lucky enough that it's taken me to some just some wonderful places and I've met some wonderful people along the way." One of those people: Gerwig. Taking inspiration from her Little Women director is part of the reason that Scanlen is in The Importance of Being Earnest at all — and Gerwig came to see her in the production during its London stage season. The actor-turned-filmmaker's influence on Scanlen's career; the excitement of playing Cecily; Webster's vision for the play; being part of such a phenomenal cast; what she looks for in roles; the experience of that whirlwind Sharp Objects, Little Women and Babyteeth run: we also dug into them all with Scanlen, among other topics. On What Excited Scanlen About Being Part of The Importance of Being Earnest Onstage "It didn't take much — it didn't take anything for me to audition for this. When I heard that the National Theatre was putting on The Importance of Being Earnest, I was so excited to take a crack at it. And I auditioned and it was quite daunting, because it's such a well-known play and the language is quite challenging. And physically, too — the physical comedy is quite specific. So going into the audition, there was a lot I was thinking about. And I think also this play can be interpreted in a number of different ways, depending on what lens you're looking at it through, so I didn't really know what Max, the director, wanted to do with it at that point. So I was just taking a shot and I just gave it my best, and it worked out." On Getting Into Cecily's Mindset in Webster's Version of the Play "I guess Oscar Wilde wrote Cecily as this farcical character. Cecily is based on this farcical character of the time, which was this bloomer-wearing, cigarette-smoking, bicycle-riding, independent woman. And I guess in this play, all the characters in the play are based on tropes and stereotypes of characters at the time, and he sets them up to subvert them. So Cecily is illustrated as this young, innocent woman, but she's actually very much in charge of her own destiny and makes all the decisions. To get into character, it felt like to get into the head of Cecily, I had to do a lot of mental gymnastics — because Cecily, she doesn't feel real sometimes. And her way of seeing the world is quite convoluted because of her diary. I think Cecily is usually seen as a fantasist, but I don't think that's the most-helpful way for an actor to access the character. So I did a lot of mental gymnastics trying to understand what Cecily wanted, and why she is so attached to her diary. And she spent so much time with her diary that now her diary is the compass for truth and reality, so anything that diverges from what she's written in her diary is false. She's got a very specific worldview, I suppose. I think a lot of getting into character for this play, though, was just having fun and enjoying the surface-level nature of the play. And also interacting with the audience. The audience is really important for this play and we had very direct contact with them whilst we were performing. So just getting comfortable acknowledging the audience and getting the audience onside. It was a huge learning experience for me." On Working with the Rest of The Importance of Being Earnest's Cast "It was such a joy to come in every day and be onstage with this group of people. It's a very special time that I know I won't get back. And I think that the beauty of theatre is that it's all so temporary, but what we created together was beautiful. Honestly, I don't really know any other way to describe it other than pure joy. It was just a joy to be onstage with the company every day. Obviously, there's days where you're tired and maybe you didn't sleep well or someone's sick, but you can't really do this play without having fun. So even if you rocked up in a bad mood, you're bound to come out of it in a good mood." On NT Live Bringing the Production Beyond London and Broadening the Show's Audience "I think it's incredible. I think it's the closest thing to being there and the technology has improved so much that what NT Live is bringing out to the world is incredible and hugely impactful, too. I think theatre can feel inaccessible at times, and what NT Live does is make it really accessible, and people from all around the world can watch this play. I also think that this play has a really important message to share about being yourself and expressing yourself. And queer pride, queer joy, all of those things, I think are really important for younger audiences, and it makes me really excited to know that this play can be seen by so many school kids around the world, too. This play, it's been done many, many times before, but it's for a reason, and I'm really happy that it's been immortalised. It's really cool." On Digging Into the Play's Interrogation of Identity and Breaking Free of Expectations "I think that was a really important theme to our interpretation of the play. In the past, other versions of this play feel quite stuffy, and it is more about the snobbery of high society than it is about identity and expression and queerness. And we wanted to make it feel fresh and use the queer lens more than anything. This play is about young people inventing themselves in virtuosic expression.The opening of the play, too, the dance sequence that we put in the opening of the play, I think really represents that. It's the dream. We wanted it to be feel like an empowering play rather than weighed down by the satire of it." On the Experience of Starring in Sharp Objects, Little Women and Babyteeth in Such Short Succession at the Start of Scanlen's Career "It was pretty overwhelming. I'm aware that most people, it doesn't happen in such quick succession, usually. And I did find it quite overwhelming and felt the urge to withdraw from it all, but knew that I couldn't — and was very aware that the opportunities I was getting were really special and it would be silly not to ride the wave. But I was very young, and I think I handled it as well as I could've. But now that I'm older and I have a bit more experience and am probably a bit more mature, I can look back on that time and think to myself 'how did I do that?'. I would say that now I feel a bit more robust and in control. I think I'd be more prepared if something like that happened again. But I wouldn't change it for the world, though." On Scanlen's Trend of Starring in Adaptations, Screen and Stage, of Classic Works "It's not something that's intentional, but I feel really honoured that I'm a part of these incredible classic texts. I did To Kill a Mockingbird onstage as well, and I studied To Kill a Mockingbird in high school, so it's really cool to be able to return to these texts as an actor — and there's still so much to be learnt from these texts. I guess I'm really lucky." On What Being Cast in Little Women Meant to Scanlen — and the Influence It Still Has "It was pretty life-changing being a part of that film. Looking back now, I realise that getting roles like that are few and far between, and to be that excited about a role is pretty rare. And to get no-brainer roles as well, it's very rare. Again, I was so young, and spent a lot of time watching other people and learning. And obviously that's a text that most young women have read and have a relationship with. I think Greta, in particular, was a huge inspiration for me, because I really am inspired by the way she's moved into writing and directing, and that's something I want to keep exploring. I remember being on set on that film and thinking about going into theatre, and she was super encouraging. And so I went on to do that. I think she had a huge part to play in how I made decisions on my career and made decisions on what I wanted to do. And she actually came and saw The Importance of Being Earnest, and it felt like a really special full-circle moment." [caption id="attachment_997124" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Max[/caption] On What Else Inspires Scanlen's Choice of Roles — Other Than Gerwig "My choices on roles are informed by a few different things, but usually the question I ask myself 'is have I done this before?'. I think that's a question that most actors ask themselves. And I know I'm in a privileged position to be able to ask myself that question and not have to take every job, but I think that I'm at a stage in my career where I feel like I'm having to resist, a bit, falling into stereotypes or falling into typecasting. And I'm constantly looking for things that push myself as an actor. I felt like, for example, The Importance of Being Earnest was a huge challenge for me. I'd never done a comedy before. And I had never been entrusted with a character as substantial as Cecily and as iconic as Cecily onstage. So I felt like I was really stretched as an actor in the rehearsal room, and I guess that's the kind of thing that I'm looking for. But it's hard. It's really hard, especially in film and TV. There's so many things that need to fall into place for a film or a show to happen, and it's really hard for all of those things to be right. But I guess that's how I see things." On the Joy of Making Babyteeth in Scanlen's Home Town, and What She Looks for in Australian Projects "I love making things at home. It's an incredibly special experience. And what I loved about Babyteeth was that we shot it in my home town, so it was an incredible experience seeing a city I know so well become a set for a film. And there's parts of Sydney that I now look at in a completely different way because of it — and I just think that's really amazing. But I'm not looking for anything in particular. I think the script is obviously incredibly important, and I would love to make a film here next. But I guess I'm just waiting for the right thing to come along — but I'm desperate to work in Australia again." NT Live's The Importance of Being Earnest opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, March 27, 2025. The Importance of Being Earnest images: Marc Brenner.
After spending the summer focusing on play, Museum of Brisbane has turned its attention to clay, heroing pottery and ceramics in all their forms. Moving from getting active to appreciating earthy objects, the seasonally appropriate switch has arrived courtesy of the site's new Clay: Collected Ceramics exhibition — its latest free excuse to wander around level three of City Hall in King George Square. Premiering as part of Brisbane Art Design 2023, but gracing the museum's walls and halls until Sunday, October 22, Clay: Collected Ceramics isn't just showing an age-old art form some love (or endeavouring to appeal to fans of Patrick Swayze film Ghost). It's also celebrating Brisbane's clay, pottery and ceramics community, specifically 60 years of clay-based practise in the River City, all via more than 300 pieces. If that sounds like a lot of clay, it is — and there's a vase by Bonnie Hislop decked out not only in colour, but with the words "a bit much" that irreverently sums up the massive showcase. The Yeerongpilly-based ceramicist's works sit among the exhibition's range of newly commissioned, never-before-seen contemporary pieces from local artists, which also includes contributions by Nicolette Johnson, Jane du Rand, Kenji Uranishi and Steph Woods. A big focus: mould-breaking uses of the medium. Other highlights include leaning into the colour often associated with clay — brown — by grouping together works by Carl McConnell, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott, Milton Moon, Lyndal Moor, Kevin Grealy and more that showcase the tone in a variety of shades. And, the private collection of author, poet and Paper Boat Press founder Kylie Johnson features heavily, capitalising upon her lifetime love of collecting pottery. There's also exhibition-within-the-exhibition Commune, with hundreds of memory vessels lent by Brisbane's ceramics community — marking the biggest-ever artist-sourced display in MoB's history, in fact — and an evolving installation by artist-in-residence Jody Rallah. Clay: Collected Ceramics also spans functional pieces dating back to the 70s, plus items that were only ever going to sit on someone's shelves from a range of talents, encouraging a conversation about the plethora of ways that the tactile material in the spotlight can be used. Although a screening of the aforementioned Ghost isn't on the bill, MoB has commissioned a film for Clay: Collected Ceramics, letting attendees see inside ceramics' intimate spaces — and also getting makers chatting about why they adore sinking their hands in. Clay: Collected Ceramics is on display at Museum of Brisbane, Level 3, City Hall, Brisbane CBD until Sunday, October 22. Head to the exhibition website for further details. Images: Claudia Baxter.
It is shocking to think that there is only one holiday a year that truly cries out for a French-themed party. Why don't we have Croissant Day? Or Baguette Day? Romance and Cheese Day could easily be a thing. Still, we do have Bastille Day, and that isn't going anywhere, despite Russell Crowe proving that he absolutely cannot sing. Bastille Day is important because it celebrates the beginning of the French Revolution — that bloodthirsty struggle for freedom, equality and fraternity. When "the people" stormed the Bastille and seized the military stores, an entire decade of idealism, savagery and carnage started. So why celebrate such a heady (and often headless) period? Because it's about seizing control and brandishing baguettes and bringing about the end of feudalism. Being independent and being proud and well, being French, basically. Along with the start of a new nation, the revolution also saw the explosion of French culture — a culture that Sydney has continually adapted and played with. Compiled here is a list of Sydney's best and most fun French. Carpe diem at one of them this weekend. 1. Claude's Claude's, Woollahra's fine dining stalwart, has ditched the whole grown up thing. When it comes to the space, that is. This Oxford Street veteran has been reborn as a chic, vibrant and airy restaurant; an almost unrecognisable transformation from the proper white table-clothed eatery it once was. Downstairs you'll find a compact bar offering a finely tuned wine list and a selection of smaller dishes such as the souffle a la suissesse, hot and sour mussels and a black fungus relish sandwich. Upstairs is where the serious degustation is at. French culture bonus: Stop in at Palace Verona for the Dans la Maison (In the House), the latest darkly comic French drama from high-profile director Francois Ozon (8 Women, Swimming Pool) 2. Felix If Felix was in a Paris arrondissement rather than the Sydney CBD, no one would blink a perfectly curled eyelash. From the (sometimes) French waiters bustling around the tiled floors to the decadent crustacean bar and elaborate murals on the ceiling, Felix is the bistro the city deserved. It’s a humming, buzzing, people-watchers delight: all beautiful wooden finishes, crisp white table cloths and intricate tiling. All the classic French cues are here: the ever-changing ‘Plat du Jour’, the rotisserie section and that incredible oyster bar. Bastille Day: Felix is celebrating La Fete Nationale by offering three courses with a glass of Ruinart champagne for $100pp for lunch or dinner. They'll also host live entertainment. Bookings call (02) 9240 3000. 3. Ananas An interesting mix of old-school French cuisine and new-world glamour, this sultry restaurant will wow even the most apprehensive amongst us. Contrary to the area's out-of-date pubs populated by tourists, Ananas is a cocktail, champagne and oyster bar extravaganza with an art deco-inspired restaurant and late-night supper club. It's time to join us in indulging what's on offer here, because it's all just brilliantly joie de vivre. Bastille Day: Ananas is celebrating the Bastille Day weekend with a party on Saturday, 13 July, from 6pm until late with free entry. Held at Bar Ananas, guests can enjoy all things French, including canapes, special champagne offers, DJs and live entertainment. Then on Sunday there's a Bastille Day lunch, where a special a la carte menu created by new head chef Paul McGrath will be served. To make a reservation for either call (02) 9259 5668 or email reservations@ananas.com.au. French culture bonus: It's just a hop and a skip over The Rocks to Sydney Theatre for The Maids, the famous French play by Jean Genet about two maids (Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert) dreaming of killing their mistress (Elizabeth Debicki). 4. Absinthesalon Absinthesalon has been around for a while now, and it doesn't really get old. It's still like stepping into another world. This is not only because of the absinthe itself, as we hear that this bohemian drink-of-choice doesn't quite possess the hallucinogenic qualities that it once did. Tucked away in an unassuming corner building in Surry Hills, the interior is dressed to a T as an authentic 'Parisien' cafe. In the middle of each table sits a fountain, surrounded by the various accoutrements of the spirit — silver spoons and cubes of fine French sugar. Absinthe, clearly, is more than just an aperitif, and this salon is its Utopian home. Bastille Day: The Absinthesalon is going all-out with an Off with Their Heads Bastille Day Soiree on Saturday, July 12. Bookings advisable. 5. Le Petite Creme No revolution before breakfast. The French have a reputation for being, how do you say, outrageous? Le Petit Creme fits the genre perfectly: it has a reputation and it is most certainly outrageous. If it's service you're after, this tiny cafe might not be your first pick — the waitstaff tend to be casual at best. However, if you're searching for an absurdly luxurious breakfast feast, you've found the right place. The Eggs Benedict is the star attraction — deliciously runny eggs, rich hollandaise and your choice of ham or salmon on freshly toasted brioche. 6. Le Pelican On Bourke Street sits this quaint French restaurant. A stone's throw from Taylor Square and the flurry of hipsters hanging at Lo-Fi, Johnny Wong's, or nearby Beresford, it's hard to believe that one could experience something so removed from the familiar. Le Pelican offers a unique experience marked by authentic French cuisine in only the most delightful of settings. Ditch the Hills' common haunts for a night and try the road less trodden. The Coorong Angus onglet with potato mille-feuille (layered pastry) and sauce vierge (olive oil, lemon, tomato, and basil) was almost like the stuff of our dreams. Bastille Day: Le Pelican is offering a special Bastille Day menu for lunch or dinner, for $75pp or $105 with matching wines. 7. Le Pub Le Pub is one of those confused places that's somehow just right for Bastille Day. Le Pub still has "le pokies room" and the appearance of a traditional basement pub: no windows and darkly lit. But then there's the pleasant tiled back area, with Scrabble-like words connected to the French theme, and a gastro menu. There's not a huge indicator that the theme of the bar is anything Gallic related outside of the menu, really, which may explain the simplicity of the name, as almost to say to customers, "look, it's slightly Frenchie but you can get a pint here too." Bastille Day: Le Pub is throwing a soiree on Friday, July 12, and will have meal specials all weekend long. They also promise can-can dancers and a Parisien discotheque. 8. La Banette If you just want a slice of France rather than a whole feast, stop by La Banette. The Glebe patisserie-cafe oozes with French charm right from the baked goods to the delightful 'petit miams' in the glass cabinets. Even the provincial-like striped awning out front is indicative of a boulangerie and the wooden furnishings and baskets holding baguettes add a rustic touch. But it's not the decor that you're here for. No, no. It's the flaky pastries and intense chocolate slices of opera sitting alongside the chocolate eclairs that are filled with the creamiest of custards. It's the almond croissants and pain au chocolats that have been handcrafted with passion. 9. La Croix Given that the walk down Greenknowe Avenue into Elizabeth Bay looks faintly Parisian, it's a suprise there aren't more French establishments in the area. La Croix is a goodie, though. There is a strong adherence to classical decor, with white marble Hellenic sculptures and tables, and you can pick up a croissant, an artwork, and a large clay pot for your olive tree in one fell swoop, as they're also a gift shop. Their specialty is the 'tartine', which literally means 'a slice of bread' but it is more like an open sandwich with a sweet or savoury topping. Many kinds are available, from smoked trout to roast beef. Bastille Day: A special menu awaits, as well as a free glass of champagne upon arrival. Look out for French toast and beef bourguignon and tarte tatin. 10. La Grillade Tucked away in a quiet corner of Crows Nest is a cheap alternative to a holiday in Provence. An unassuming cottage on the outside, inside La Grillade is both Gallic hominess and sober modernity. From the same people who brought you the new Vicinity Dining in Alexandria, La Grillade is the North Shore equivalent to Ananas, if less show-offy in appearance. By the Concrete Playground team.
Australian brothers Mike and Scott Norrie are onto a winner. While traveling through Africa, they were inspired to create a way to share music sustainably, and came up with Tembo Trunks. These silicone speakers integrate with your earphones, amplifying the sound to 80 decibels. Foldable, stackable, washable and virtually indestructible, they are the ultimate in sustainable speakers as they require no power, are made up of one material and are designed to last. The speakers are meant for use in a casual setting. "Don't expect to bust an eardrum or feel the ground shake when you're playing your music," say the Norrie brothers, "that's kinda the point." They're a great addition to any traveller's suitcase, and will soon be available in a range of bright colours. As a clever way of raising seed funding, the team allow you to pre-order a set of speakers by backing Tembo Trunks on Kickstarter. For a lazy ten grand you can even become the 'Chief of Colour' and the brothers will fly you to Sydney and cook you a beach-side BBQ. https://youtube.com/watch?v=IU2NVxN6zck [Via PSFK]
You've watched her on television. You've cooked her recipes. Her books might sit in your kitchen. You could've even heard her culinary tips live and in-person. The next way to take your cues from Nigella Lawson? Eat where she did, and then raved about, during her recent trip to Brisbane. Fortitude Valley's Agnes is no stranger to attention — we named it Brisbane's best restaurant — and the latest comes from Lawson. The author of How to Eat: Pleasures and Principles of Good Food, Nigella's Cook, Eat, Repeat and more — the star of Nigella Bites, Nigella Feasts, Nigella Kitchen, Nigellissima, Simply Nigella, Nigella: At My Table, Top Chef, MasterChef Australia and My Kitchen Rules as well — took to the stage at QPAC Concert Hall on Thursday, March 14, 2024 for An Evening with Nigella Lawson. Around that speaking engagement, she also headed to the restaurant that recently welcomed in Adam Wolfers as Group Chef (alongside Biànca, sAme sAme and hôntô). And, she couldn't have more praise for Agnes. "Ever since I found out that Adam Wolfers was opening Agnes Restaurant, I'd been longing to go, and lo, the food gods looked favourably upon me and made sure it came to pass. What a cave of delights!" Lawson said on social media. In a lengthy post, the celebrity chef then went on to call out the "fabulous space", Skull Island tiger prawns with fermented chilli butter that she says are now "imprinted on my taste-memory", plus the rock oysters with coal mignonette that she dubbed "an extraordinary experience". She also had kind words for Agnes' raw beef with dripping toast and Bangalow pork chop. "But the dish that quite spun my senses was the chicken skewer with fenugreek: chicken oysters brined in onion juice, flamed and brushed with toum, along with turmeric and fresh fenugreek. Still reeling with pleasure," Lawson advised. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nigella (@nigellalawson) Lawson's visit came just after Wolfers, Gerard's Bistro's former Head Chef, took on his post at hospitality group Anyday — which is behind Agnes, Biànca, sAme sAme, hôntô, LOS (sAme sAme's cocktail bar) and Agnes Bakery (Agnes' woodfired pastry offshoot). Located in a three-level space in an old brick warehouse on the street that shares its name, Agnes focuses on woodfired cooking, and features not only a main dining room — which overlooks the open kitchen and its two charcoal pits — but a wine bar and a rooftop bar as well. Also boasting Ben Williamson as Executive Chef and a co-owner, it's been worth stopping by since opening in 2022. Now, however, it officially comes with Lawson's glowing adoration and tick of approval. Find Agnes at 22 Agnes Street, Fortitude Valley — open for lunch from 11.30am Friday–Sunday and for dinner from 5.15pm Monday–Saturday. Head to the restaurant's website for further information. Top image: Cathy Schusler.
It's no overstatement to describe Neil Perry — the restaurateur, chef and revered doyen of Australian cooking — as an icon. Now, however, it's official. On Thursday, June 6, Perry was announced as the winner of the Woodford Reserve Icon Award at a glitzy ceremony in Las Vegas for The World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2024, one of the culinary scene's most prestigious gongs. The achievement, which is voted for by an international panel of 1080 industry experts, recognises an outstanding contribution to the hospitality industry that's deemed worthy of global notice. "Throughout my career, I've been incredibly lucky to work with some of the finest hospitality professionals in the world, doing what I love and creating memorable experiences for people to enjoy," said Perry of his accomplishment. "I hope this award inspires everyone in our industry to keep going and to never give up." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Neil Perry (@chefneilperry) For more than four decades, Perry has been a guiding light of Sydney's restaurant scene. Cutting his teeth in some of the city's top kitchens, including Sails in Rose Bay, he first made his mark in 1986 when he launched the Blue Water Grill in Bondi. However, it was his next major venture — and arguably his most famous — that would catapult him to global stardom. Opened in 1989, Rockpool quickly asserted itself as not only one of Sydney's top fine-diners, but also one of the nation's — and in 2002, it was ranked the fourth best place to eat on the planet by The World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards. Today it has grown to be a cherished brand, with sister venues in Perth and Melbourne. Despite Perry stepping down as the group's Culinary Director in 2020, it continues his storied legacy, ranking as the eighth best steak restaurant in the world in May 2024. [caption id="attachment_960466" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] One of Perry's defining traits is his ability to project his love and understanding of food through many cultural lenses. From Asian to Italian and even burgers and aeroplane food, Perry's menus are a fusion of top-tier produce and craftsmanship with an accessible attitude and a belief that cooking doesn't need to be gastronomically pretentious to be exceptional. Take, for example, his most recent venture Margaret, a deeply personal "neighbourhood restaurant" named for Perry's deceased mother. Despite its humble billing, the judging panel noted that at Margaret, diners experience "a veteran bringing together his love of super-fresh seafood and Asian flavours to outstanding effect". It also currently ranked as the third best steak restaurant in the world. Since opening Margaret in 2021, Perry has extended his presence on Double Bay's Guilfoyle Avenue to the Baker Bleu bakery next door, and he has two more venues preparing to open in the area in late August: Asian-inspired diner Song Bird and cocktail bar Bobby's. [caption id="attachment_961054" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Petrina Tinslay[/caption] The only other Australian to be recognised by this year's The 50 Best Restaurants Awards was Josh Niland, whose revolutionary low-to-no waste seafood diner Saint Peter placed 98th on the 100-venue longlist. Perry is one of Australia's most-decorated chefs, having earned more Good Food Chef's Hats (Australia's answer to Michelin stars) than any other individual in the country, as well as numerous other accolades. However, this latest laurel makes the point most definitively: if you're someone with even a glancing interest in eating well, you need to experience a dish crafted by Perry at least once in your life. [caption id="attachment_961135" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Petrina Tinslay[/caption] For the full rundown of The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2024, head to the list's website. Top image: Petrina Tinslay.
Whatever holiday plans you already have for 2023, you might want to change them — or add another getaway to your itinerary. As part of its efforts to kickstart its pandemic-era tourism industry, Hong Kong has announced a massive airfare giveaway to entice visitors to make the trip. You know what to do: clear your calendar, check your annual leave balance and dust off your suitcase. From March–May, the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Airport Authority Hong Kong will team up with three local airlines — Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong Express and Hong Kong Airlines — to hand out 500,000 free airline tickets. While many of the specifics are still to be revealed, the giveaway is being called 'World of Winners' and will focus on tickets from southeast Asia in March, then from mainland China in April, and finally from northeast Asia and the rest of the world in May. That's when the fares will be up for grabs. When you'll need to travel is still to be confirmed. To nab tickets, you'll need to hop over to either the World of Winners website or each airline's designated page — and each carrier might do their giveaways differently. So, some free tickets might be available via a lucky draw and others on a first-come-first-served basis, or a buy-one-get-one-free arrangement could apply. [caption id="attachment_887782" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hong Kong Tourism Board[/caption] Free flights are just one aspect of an overall global promotional campaign named 'Hello Hong Kong'. Another: free drink, dining, shopping and transport vouchers, with at least a million up for grabs from 16,000-plus outlets. Dubbed 'Hong Kong Goodies', these freebies will be available to folks visiting Hong Kong for 90 days or less — and you'll have to pick just one offer. So, you can choose between a welcome drink valued at more than HK$100 at one of more than 100 bars, restaurants and hotels; a HK$100 cash voucher to use at 140-plus restaurants, shops or attractions; or a gift worth more than HK$100 at a heap of Hong Kong attractions and museums. With the current exchange rate, whichever of these three goodies you pick equates to around AU$18 / NZ$20 — but it's still a freebie. [caption id="attachment_887783" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hong Kong Tourism Board[/caption] There are caveats for these vouchers, of course. First, you have have to have a non-Hong Kong mobile number to obtain them — and, at the moment, they have to be collected from a Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Centre once you're there. That said, more redemption methods are set to be added. Visitors to Hong Kong have until December 31, 2023 to collect their goodies — and once you have chosen your coupon, you can't swap it. "Hong Kong is back on the map for global travellers, with more excitement to offer than ever before. We are extending a biggest welcome to the world through the 'Hello Hong Kong' campaign, inviting friends from everywhere as they return to one of the world's greatest tourism destinations," said Hong Kong Tourism Board Chairman Dr Pang Yiu-ka. "I am confident that Hong Kong's vibrant east-meets-west culture, together with our iconic and brand-new attractions and immersive experiences will attract travellers back for an epic, unforgettable journey." For folks living in Hong Kong, the Tourism Board's new promo scheme will also include additional free flights to locals holidaying outside of the country, but not until July. In total, more than 700,000 airfares will be handed out to overseas visitors and Hong Kong residents. For more information about Hong Kong's World of Winners flights giveaway, head to the initiative's website. For more information about the 'Hong Kong Goodies' vouchers, head to that scheme's website. Top image: Hong Kong Tourism Board. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
There is indeed a bell in one of The Belvedere Hotel's bars. When most folks at the northside pub say "The Bel", though, they're referring to the watering hole itself. A Woody Point mainstay since 1901, this waterside bar is back open and pouring drinks after a hefty makeover. If sips with an ocean view take your fancy — and with shimmering sunsets part of those vistas, too — then this grand old establishment has you sorted in its new guise. Parent company Lewis Land Group has put more than $10 million into revitalising the historic spot, with the results now on display for patrons to enjoy. To make the most of its location, the vibe and setup alike are breezy and open. And all that space? It means being able to cater for 1000 people. Perched on Bramble Bay, The Bel now features revamped dining spaces and terraces, plus a new first-floor bar area with shimmering sunset views. Expect a shady time if you're keen to have a beverage outside. On level one, there's also a new dining spot — and the public bar is also all new. Fans of the venue's outdoor Pavilion bar and bistro will be hanging out in refreshed surroundings, and now sitting in booths. "The Belvedere is a generational favourite, deeply entwined with the community spirit and the blissful outdoor lifestyle that defines Queensland," said Lewis Land Group's Queensland Regional Manager Chris Allison. "Our redevelopment has been meticulously planned and executed to enhance and preserve historic elements while elevating the experience for today's patrons." For those stopping by for a bite, you'll definitely have company. Allison advises that "more than 20,000 people come through the doors each week" and that the venue is "on track to sell approximately 270,000 schooners of beer and 40,000 parmys this year". The Bel's all-day food menu now benefits from a pizzeria and gelato bar onsite, serving up everything from squid ink truffle salami slices to mango scoops. Elsewhere, the culinary range includes chilli scrambled eggs and lemon crepes for breakfast, salt and vinegar calamari and sticky chicken wings among the lunch and dinner starters, and hot and cold seafood platters to share as a highlight among the mains range. Or, tuck into lobster three ways — in a pie, with prawns over pasta or as part of a surf 'n' turf special — as well four steak choices and a steak sandwich. There's also three types of oysters, fried chicken burgers, pork knuckles and crispy noodle salads on offer. For dessert, if you're keen for more than gelato, banana split parfait, a chocolate tart, deconstructed blueberry cheesecake and Biscoff crepes await. And for entertainment beyond a meal, a drink, the mood and the view, trivia nights take place on the deck each Wednesday. Find The Belvedere Hotel on the corner of Woodcliffe Crescent and Oxley Avenue, Woody Point — open from 8am–12am Sunday–Thursday and 8am–1am Friday–Saturday. Images: Zennieshia Butts.
