Finding yourself smooshed between a shove-happy tween and a dirty ponytail-touting brick wall at the front of the mosh could be a thing of the past — virtual reality concerts are here, from Coldplay's Ghost Stories concert to Paul McCartney's VR concert app and a brand new Opera House VR experience, released today. If you didn't nab tickets to Future Classic's 10th anniversary concert at the Sydney Opera House this past May, you can now experience part of the sold-out Vivid concert through a cheeky new virtual reality experience. Samsung, principal partner of the Opera House, put their tech to work on the day, recording sets for virtual reality, specifically made for YouTube’s new 360° video service. The recently unveiled YouTube app allows you to watch VR videos, including Future Classic and Samsung's brand new recorded Opera House performance of Flight Facilities’ ‘Heart Attack’ performed with Melbourne’s Owl Eyes and Julian Hamilton of The Presets. Samsung created the video from more than 20 remote-controlled cameras, shot from three vantage points to capture this 360° x 180° immersive view — in Ultra High Definition, of course. The team-up was an experiment by the Opera House to let more than ticketholders experience Future Classic's sold-out show long after the date. This isn't the first time an Australian organisation has used virtual reality to create a new audience experience, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra put 3D goggles on audience members this July and let them watch an entire concert from the perspective of the musicians. The technology has also been used by the Sydney Opera House before, also at this year's Vivid, by UK drum and bass artist Squarepusher. Dubbed the Stor Eiglass Virtual Reality Experience, Squarepusher worked with artists, artistic studio Marshallow Laser Feast, BAFTA-winning animators Blue Zoo and illustrator Rob Pybus to create a a fully immersive 2D and 3D virtual reality experience in the Main Box Office Foyer. But this new Flight Facilities video, shot from three different vantage points, is the first time we've seen a virtual reality concert experience like this. Watch the video here (if you've got a VR viewer like Google Cardboard, it's even better): Then watch the behind the scenes making of here: Image: Daniel Boud.
Lamingtons. Vegemite. Barbecued Sausages. Listening to the nation's biggest song countdown. Maybe one or some of these are part of your yearly Australia Day tradition — or maybe you just go wherever the occasion takes you. Either way, Brisbane will be buzzing with options, ensuring that your public holiday certainly won't be boring. Here's our pick of the best ways to spend the day, featuring hipsters, pineapples, cockroaches, Greek sporting contests and good ol' '90s Aussie rock. Of course, it's a day of great contention in Australia, often called ‘Invasion Day’, ‘Day of Mourning’, ‘Survival Day’ or ‘Aboriginal Sovereignty Day’ (since 2006). Be mindful on Tuesday.
Music, as with any art form, can serve as a means to escape; therapeutic and magical, infectious and addictive. For Adit Gauchan of Horrorshow, making music is a labour of love — actually, it's his every waking moment. "I love and breathe music so heavily that it's all I can do," he says. Horrorshow is an Australian hip hop duo from Sydney's inner west. The band is made up of producer, Adit Gauchan, and Nick Bryant-Smith (or MC Solo) on vocals. The two met at high school and released their first album in 2008 through Sydney label, Elefant Traks. Adit explains, "we started out making music in our dad's houses. We'd write and record in our bedrooms and I guess that way of working has never really stopped for us". In partnership with Sonos, we've been delving into some of our favourite artist's home studios – here is where the Horrorshow magic happens. THE MAGIC HAPPENS IN A CONVERTED BEDROOM Three years ago, Adit moved in with Sarah Corry, his partner in life, love and music (she's one half of Sydney electronica duo, Left). They soon converted the second bedroom of their Newtown house into a studio space. "One of the best things about having a home studio is the creative people that come through regularly", he says. "Every couple of months we'll have a party, and what happens when you get a bunch of musicians in the same room, dancing and drinking? They want to record some demos in the studio". His second-bedroom home studio serves as a safe, creative space for many of the other musicians the pair work with (Left and the One Day project, to name just two). "This is where we write a lot of the music". 'Sleep', a song by Hau (the solo project of Hau Latukefu, formerly of Koolism) was worked out at one of Adit's parties. "Capturing that kind of energy, it's a real positive for me". Of course, music is played at parties and music gets heard at parties. If you create the right environment, music can be created at parties. He continues, "Luckily we have some very lovely neighbours who support us and don't mind the noise". THEIR HOUSE IS NEVER, EVER SILENT I ask him what's it's like living with another creative - after all, Sarah is a successful vocalist and musician herself. "It brings an interesting dynamic. Creatively, there's an understanding", he says. Music pulsates through their house almost constantly, through his Sonos speakers. Good sound is important to him. Especially, Adit says, when the pair (or anyone that happens to visit their house) are recording. Our conversation continues and he voices a well-humoured frustration with Bluetooth. "Like most people, I don't have the best relationship with Bluetooth. It's just so unreliable, which is why I'm so pumped that Sonos speakers connect with Wi-Fi". FIGURE OUT WHAT WORKS FOR YOU AND RUN WITH IT After almost a decade, Horrorshow's method of writing and recording hasn't really changed. Adit's home studio functions as a writing space where he crafts and layers beats, usually on his own. Once he feels he's onto something good, Solo will come over and the two will jam out the direction the song will take. "We'll work on songs together, but Solo might go and chill in the back yard and work on raps and melodies for beats I've already laid down". Like many musicians, Horrorshow started out with home recording and stresses how important it is to figure out what works for you. "I would love to have a studio at my place of residence, but not necessarily inside the house. If one day, I had a bigger back yard and there was a bit more space, I'd love to house a recording space in a different building", he says. Everyone works differently and there are certainly challenges to working from home - concentration, motivation, loneliness. WORK EVERY DAY, UNTIL YOU LOSE YOUR FLOW. THEN GO TO THE BEACH There are few things more frustrating than a creative block, when the pace slows and your fingers are giving you nothing. For Adit, his creativity suffers when he loses momentum. "When I've been writing a lot, the ideas will flow. Shooting videos, going on tour - these things get in the way. I really find routine is the most important thing when it comes to creativity", he says. "Create a space that you want to spend time in and work on something everyday. That's how you'll make great stuff and get better". What about when the dreaded creative block hits? "Just stop. Go outside, have a meal, go to the beach, enjoy the sunshine". Yes, sir. SWITCH OFF, AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO When it comes to switching off, Adit doesn't struggle too much. "Being in the studio is never work to me. Sure, there is work relating to what I do — meetings, tour rehearsals, that sort of stuff — but when I'm in the studio, that's a whole different thing. It's important to have a space that encourages your creativity, that you're happy to use regularly". Naturally, when you spend every waking minute practicing your art, it can be difficult to switch off. "Even when I'm doing my tax, it's related to music in some way. Switching off can definitely be a problem, but it's not insurmountable. It doesn't make me want to change the way I do things, it's something I'm happy to put up with", Adit continues. "With music, it's fun and all that, but if you want to make a living out of it, you have to live and breathe it. But, if you love what you do, it's worth it right?" Get studio-level sound in your home with Sonos. Walk from one room to another and hear the same song in perfect quality – speakers are powered by wifi and tune automatically. Horrowshow are pumped for their thirteen date national tour. It's their first time on the road in nearly a year, and they're promising new tracks alongside old favourites.
With all due respect to them, the cast of Patti Cake$ don't look your average movie stars. And they certainly don't look like your average rappers. There's Cathy Moriarty as a pack-a-day smoking grandma, Mamoudou Athie as an awkward would-be anarchist, Siddharth Dhananjay as a smooth-talking pharmacy worker and, finally, Sydney's own Danielle MacDonald as Patricia Dumbrowski, aka Patti Cake$ aka White Trish aka KILLA P, a downtrodden woman who dreams of becoming a hip hop sensation. Of course, it's precisely because the film focuses on such an unconventional set of protagonists that this inspiring indie drama works so well. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Geremy Jasper, who workshopped the film with his cast at the Sundance Directors Lab, Patti Cake$ is a classic underdog story — one that will have audiences cheering for its misfit heroes at every turn. "I think we all want to be represented," says MacDonald, her Aussie accent sounding nothing like Patti's New Jersey drawl. "We see what normality is on screen, but that's not really true to real life. I don't know any one person who would say that they're normal, quite honestly. And I think now that we're seeing different stories and different people on screen, it's really cool." After screening at the Sydney Film and Melbourne International Film festivals, Patti Cake$ is now in Australian cinemas. We spoke to MacDonald about how she went from Sydney's northern beaches to suddenly being the talk of LA. That, as well as the importance of on screen diversity, and what it's like being cast as a rapper when you have literally no idea how to rap. A STAR ON THE RISE Since Patti Cake$ premiered to a standing ovation at Sundance in January (prompting a bidding war between five major production companies — Fox Searchlight came out on top), critics have been singing MacDonald's praises — and rightfully so. But while it might seem like she appeared out of nowhere, the actor has been putting in the hard yards for quite some time. "I grew up in Clareville [a small suburb in Sydney's northern beaches]," she tells us. "I did acting classes in Sydney at the Australian Institute for the Performing Arts. I did some tours to America, just to learn about the industry out there, and one of the casting directors I met introduced me to my managers. My managers got me an audition, I moved to the States, and I've been there for seven years, working my way up." It was MacDonald's small part in indie thriller The East that caught the attention of Patti Cake$ director Jasper, who invited her — along with Dhananjay and Bridgett Everett, who play's Patti's alcoholic mother Barb — to help develop the project at the Sundance Labs in 2014. "That was kind of my audition process," MacDonald says. "It was really cool, because Geremy hadn't finished the writing process yet, and I feel like his writing was influenced by myself and Sid and Bridget. We all workshopped with him and kind of figured out who these characters were, based off this time that we got." HIP HOP 101 MacDonald displays phenomenal talent in the film, but even she admits her casting was a bit of a gamble. After all, it's one thing to teach an Aussie girl a Jersey accent, but it's another thing entirely to teach her how to rap. "I was terrified," she admits. "And I could tell [Jasper] was terrified as well." "It was a lot of repetition," MacDonald says of her hip hop training. "I listened to a lot of different artists, a lot of different songs and styles of music. On top of that I worked with a rap coach for a month before we started shooting. He really helped me sit in the beat nicely, and just relax into it and not stress about it, which you do when it's not a natural skill. He helped me find that." "I feel like so much of rapping is just confidence, and I had no confidence. Trying to get over that was very mentally challenging." When asked if rapping is now a skill she'll possess forever, MacDonald laughs. "I only know how to rap as Patti — I learnt how to do these songs in her voice and in her head. I would never be able to do it as me. With my voice and my no swag, it would go very badly." CONNECTING ON A HUMAN LEVEL Of the all the elements in Patti Cake$, it's the diverse characters that make the film so gratifying. "[They] reflect society," MacDonald remarks. "These are people of all different shapes and sizes and ethnicities and religions and genders, that all come together and connect just on a human level. Connecting "through their weirdness", MacDonald observes they're all outcasts in a way. "It's special. They find their own way of doing things," she says. "My small town in the northern beaches is very different to this small town in Jersey," MacDonald continues. "It's cool to be see something different and be able to play something different, but something that I can still relate to. And that's the thing. I think when you see these films and you can go, 'Oh I can relate to that person, even though they're so different from me', I think it really helps bring people together."
Two professional Aussie cricketers sporting an insatiable love of coffee start their own coffee pod company. Boom. It's true, meet Tripod Coffee. Cricketers Steve Cazzulino and Ed Cowan were perpetually on the road playing state cricket, and brought along a Nespresso machine with them for much-needed cups of coffee in the morning before matches. Seeking a local, sustainable alternative to the George Clooney-fronted pod giant proved difficult, so the pair saw a glimmering niche in the coffee-obsessed Aussie market. Steve and Ed decided to create their own small company making pods filled with high-quality coffee that fit perfectly in the Nespresso machine. "On a rainy day we thought, why don't we have a crack and take on the big boys?" says Ed. "We could fill the capsules with coffee that we really enjoy drinking". With Steve and Ed touting a pretty gutsy attitude to take on the pod monopoly, they cooked up a bit of clever naming ('tri' for their three foundation coffee blends and 'pod') and Tripod Coffee was born. You'll find a lot of Central and South American and African (namely Ethiopian and Kenyan) coffees in their store because "the coffees from those areas really suit the [capsule] extraction process." After their coffee has been ethically sourced, it's given the special treatment by a local award-winning roaster, packed and shipped. During the process, all oxygen is vacuumed from the pod so when you pop it in your machine, it'll be like it was freshly ground. The best bit? The capsules are recyclable. Sustainable, local coffee — yep, that's music to our ears. Ed and Steve started the business in order to provide a green alternative to the aluminium pods of Nespresso. Ed and Steve's sense of humour comes through the product names, using of different hats for different blends and strengths — Grey Gaucho, Red Fedora, Blue Beret, Black Panama, Gold Sombrero. The reason is pretty damn simple. "When you turn the capsule upside down, they look a little bit like hats." Aside from their mainstays, like the Red Fedora which works as a great citrus-y espresso, they're keen to run special edition capsules and expand their single origin series. Yes, with Tripod Coffee, single origin Panamanian might be coming to your Nespresso machine soon. So where can you find Tripod? As well as being stocked in every single QT Hotel across Australia, Tripod Coffee is available online or Harris Farm, IGA, and independent grocers across NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. Learn more about Tripod Coffee on their website.
What are you doing right now? No, stop. Whatever it is, it most likely doesn’t compare to what you could be doing at this exact time next year. Sea N Beats, Australia’s first ever music festival at sea, is on March 5-8, 2016 — and if you’re into electronic dance beats and/or super chilled-in-a-chilla-way cruises through aquamarine waters (and isolated island paradises to boot), it's probably going to float your boat. The Sea N Beats ship will boast seven stages (so we know this is ain’t no dinghy), and a huge pool deck, where you’ll dance till the wee hours in the middle of the deep blue sea sea sea (hey, there’ll be no noise complaints here). Plus, included in your ticket is entry to an exclusive mystery island festival on an exclusive mystery island, somewhere off the exclusive mystery Queensland coast. After the seafaring shenanigans that went down at It’s the Ship — Singapore’s inaugural festival on a boat — last November, plus the fact that SS Coachella and the Weezer cruise are actual things that exist, it was high time we got one of these boat-fests of our own. Those festivals attracted sailors like Basement Jaxx, Lil John, Toro y Moi, Pulp and Hot Chip. No word on who’s going to be (literally) onboard for ours yet — but it’s safe to say this is going to be one hull of a party. Now's probably a good time to start training yourself out of your sea sickness. But it sounds well worth stocking up on those ginger tablets for; Sea N Beats reckon there's no other experience like this in the southern hemisphere. The ship sets sail from Brisbane on March 5 next year, and the festival runs till March 8. You know your psych-up music, crank it. Via Pedestrian. Image: Falls Festival.
Jameson, the legendary distillers of one of Ireland's most famous whiskeys, are calling on eager filmmakers from around the world to pick up a pen and finally write out that short film script they've been thinking about. Now in its sixth year, Jameson First Shot is fostering the creative endeavours of young filmmakers — giving those who may find it difficult to break into the film industry a shot at the big time. It's a stepping stone for filmmakers who don't quite have their foot in the door yet — for those who want to break into the industry, but haven't had the chance to. It's a platform that gives talented individuals an opportunity to realise their ambition and potential, and a way for them to tell their stories. If you're an aspiring filmmaker, head to the First Shot website and submit a seven-page short film script. If your script is chosen as the winner, your film will be produced by a team of professionals that includes Dana Brunetti — he's the man responsible for Captain Phillips and The Social Network, and the brains behind getting House of Cards onto Netflix, something the world should be endlessly grateful for. Dominic West (best known for his role as Detective McNulty in The Wire) will also be the star of your film, taking the lead acting role. Winning First Shot gives filmmakers an opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in show business. Last year's winner, Jason Perini, had the opportunity to direct and work with Maggie Gyllenhaal. "The most exciting part of the filmmaking process was just watching Maggie act — her face was a special effect," he says. "What had the biggest impact on me was the result of really creative and collaborative people working together. All the crew and cast were so dedicated to making the film I had envisioned in my head. I don't think I will ever experience such ease and dedication again." Since filming wrapped, Perini has gone on to direct his debut feature film, Chasing Comets. "I never anticipated that within less than a year of winning, I'd be directing my own feature film," he says. [caption id="attachment_568922" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Trigger productions.[/caption] To enter the competition, write an original piece of work, with the final draft being no more than seven pages in length. Base your script around the great, unexpected things that can happen when you get rid of your fear and invite life in. For a complete set of guidelines and a script template, head here. It isn't everyday you get the chance to have your passion project turned into a reality, so sit yourself down with a delicious whiskey and get writing. Entries close at 5pm on Monday, June 1.
Puffy shirts and cereal bowls at the ready. It's been 17 years since Jerry Seinfeld shut the door to his New York apartment, but for just five days lucky New Yorkers can relive the finicky glory of Larry David's immortal sitcom. There's a Seinfeld pop-up museum opening for just five days in New York City, featuring a replica of Jerry's apartment 5A, the gang's favourite diner booth, a Festivus Pole, a host of original props and scripts, yada yada yada. Held at New York's Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District, the pop-up is a publicity stunt by Hulu — US users (or sneaky VPN-wielding fiends) can stream all 180 episodes of the series online from today. Actor Patrick Warburton (Elaine's boyfriend David Puddy) told the New York Daily News it was "like the Smithsonian of Seinfeld." Larry Thomas (who played the formidable Soup Nazi) instead said, "It’s like Disneyland for Seinfeld fans." We get the drift, schmoopies. Set around an eight season replica of Jerry's apartment, the museum is brimming with niche props only real fans would genuinely squeal over: Jerry's Superman figurine (lurking in the background of almost every single episode), George's Frogger arcade game, Bachman pretzels — "These pretzels are making me thirsty." You can sift through Jerry's VHS collection (featuring a copy of Pretty Woman), check out the Bryan Cranston-signed wall logo from the taping of the final episode, and there's even a couch where you can recreate George's highly erotic pose from 'The Package' episode. Of course, super fans have already picked out the one fatal flaw in Hulu's installation — Jerry's computer. Mashable pointed out that Jerry's beloved Apple computer has been traded for a dastardly retro PC. No dice. Eh, computer schmomputer, at least the Soup Nazi's endorsing it: The Seinfeld pop-up museum is open June 24–28 from 10 am–7pm at Milk Studios, 451 West 14th Street, NYC. Via New York Daily News and Gothamist. Images: Tod Seelie.
A stretch of the iconic Route 66 in Missouri is getting a major upgrade — and an environmental one at that. As part of its 'Road to Tomorrow' initiative, Missouri's Department of Transportation is joining forces with an Idaho-based startup called Solar Roadways to repave with state-of-the-art solar panels. These specially engineered panels are made of tempered safety glass and are super strong — as they'd have to be to sustain constant use by heavy vehicles. Apart from the whole 'harnessing the power of the sun' bit, the panels also come with LED lighting, which can efficiently replace road lines and signage. Basically, they're a badass piece of technology. The installation will no doubt be pricey, but Solar Roadways is prepared for it — the group raised more than $2.2 million through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. In addition to these funds, initiative leader Tom Blair received a $100,000 prototype grant from the Federal Highway Administration and two $750,000 research grants from the US Department of Transportation. Yep, that's federal funding for solar. The other good news is that their modular design allows for easy and cheap repairs by just swapping out broken panels for new ones. These bad boys are sustainable, ethical and eco-friendly — a seriously awesome invention that we hope to see more of on our own highways. Missouri may not be the first to experiment with solar roads — we wrote about the possibility of a crowdfunding campaign to pave American parking lots with the things back in 2014 and the recent plans to create solar roads in France earlier this year — but it sounds like Route 66 will be the first of its kind to actual get to the finish line. The Solar Roadways panels are expected to be completed by the end of 2016. This achievement is, almost inconceivably, awesome and hopefully will pave the way for the rest of us. Images: Solar Roadways.
It has been nearly two years since Bruce Munro's spectacular Field of Light started illuminating Uluru, with more than 200,000 people flocking to the Red Centre to see its ocean of colour. In fantastic news for anyone who hasn't made the trek yet, or anyone keen to view its beautiful, multi-hued splendour again, the eye-catching installation's season has been extended. The gorgeous piece will now keep shining all the way through until December 31, 2020. This is the second time that Field of Light's run has been lengthened. Initially set to remain in place until March 2017, it was first expanded until March this year. In total, the artwork's 50,000 glass lights will twinkle across an area of 49,000 square metres — the size of nine football fields — for just shy of five years. As well as casting Australia's sacred rock in a whole new light, the Uluru display marks the latest (and largest) incarnation of artist Bruce Munro's project, which previously illuminated the grounds at the likes of London's Victoria & Albert Museum and the Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Run on solar power, and named Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku — which translates to 'looking at lots of beautiful lights' in local Pitjantjatjara — for its Northern Territory stint, the installation took 40 people six weeks to set up. The British-born Munro, who first came up with the idea for Field of Light while visiting Uluru back in 1992, said he is "greatly moved and humbled by the enormous response to the artwork." He continued, "it's obvious the combination of the exhibition and a canvas as visceral as this — flourishing from red dirt and tufts of spinifex, in the shadows of nature's biggest shape-shifter, Uluru — is immensely powerful to people." Keen on making the trip? Check out out Weekender's Guide to the Red Centre During Field of Light. By Tom Clift and Sarah Ward. Image: Field of Light: Bruce Munro. Photo by Mark Pickthall.
Apple's first wearable computer, the Apple Watch, is almost here. After months of furious pub debates, Android-loving naysaying and know-it-all speculation, Apple finally announced the release date for its next 'must-have' device at its 'Spring Forward' event in San Francisco — and the price tag for its sold gold version. Starting at AU$499 and running all the way up to AU$14,000 for their ultra-hard 18-karat gold version, the shrunken, wearable computer fits into a watch body and runs a modified version of iOS — the system running your iPhone and iPad right now. Available in two sizes (38 and 42mm height) the Apple Watch comes in three different 'collections' including the Apple Watch Sport Collection — with 60 percent stronger anodised aluminium case, though not completely waterproof — and the pretty, pretty AppleWatch Edition made from 18-carat yellow or rose gold, sapphire crystal glass (and costing that cheeky $10K). Not as baller as these watches, but a good first model. Preorders for the Apple Watch start April 10, available in the US, UK, China, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong. The watch will be available from April 24, but if you wander into a Genius bar you'll be able to try one on from the 10th. Analysts are predicting Apple could up to 60 million shipments within a year of its release — perhaps not if Pebble Time has anything to do with it. So, how does the Apple Watch work? Behold, the 'digital crown' controls all The primary joystick of the whole device, you can go all James Bond by using the rotating dial on the side of the watch to navigate (something many smartwatches leave out for aesthetics). Even so, the display is also used as a touch screen classic smartthing style. For all you constant screencrackers out there, that face is made from a super hard-as-nails single line sapphire material. Your watch can tell you to run faster Using four sapphire lenses on the back of the watch and the mighty, custom-designed S1 chip, the watch can detect your pulse rate (along with an epic amount of other info). Combine this with the accelerometer measuring body movement and the GPS tracking your distance, the watch can figure out how hard you're exercising and suggests fitness goals. What a beneficial jerk. 'Glance' at your most important info The Glances feature is where you make the watch all about you. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and your custom-selected screen of notifications pops up. Weather, dirty messages, calendars of events you're avoiding; it's all on your wrist. You can charge wirelessly No winding here. To charge up, the Apple Watch fuses MagSafe and inductive charging — you just hold the back of the watch near the charging connector and let the magnets pull everything together. Apparently the battery lasts 'all day', which could be anywhere from a probably 18 hours to 72 hours in Power Reserve mode. Siri runs the show Because the Apple Watch is so mini in screen size, Siri comes into play for a significant amount of commands. Yep, you'll feel like a spy. An awesome, awesome spy. You can send doodles to your mates Using the newly revealed app Digital Touch, watch wearers can create little animated drawings and send them to other watcheroos. Cute. App developers will be able to create Apple Watch versions, we're thinking Snapchat is particularly made for this. You need an iPhone for it to work And there's the catch. The Apple Watch needs an iPhone 5 or 6 nearby in order to function, feeding from the web or GPS info to work. Music, photos and contacts come across, sure, but this makes the device one of Apple's most you-need-that-to-get-this products ever, even the iPad stood on its own little stand. The Apple Watch will be available for purchase in Australia from April 24, pre-orders open from April 10. Via Mashable, TIME and PC Advisor.
In an inspiring display of hospitality — one that you’d rarely associate with anyone in the moneymaking tourism industry — a new hotel in Vienna has been set up to provide accommodation to both tourists and refugees forced to flee their native countries. Recently opened just a stone’s throw away from the centre of the Austrian capital, the magdas Hotel boasts 78 furnished rooms for visiting tourists, right alongside two residential units providing housing for up to 25 young asylum seekers displaced by persecution and war. The hotel is an initiative of the Austrian arm of the international Catholic aid collective Caritas. In addition to providing temporary accommodation, magdas Hotel also offers employment opportunities, with a majority of the staff being refugees. No two guest rooms are the same, with most of the furnishing having been donated or purchased from second-hand stores. Don’t let the ramshackle set-up fool you though. This place looks nice. Basic rooms start from around €60 a night, although you might well be tempted to upgrade to a suite. Amenities include a breakfast buffet and a fully-stocked bar, while the front door is located just a few minutes away from the Praterstern Transportation Hub as well as the Prater Recreation Park. Fingers crossed that the magdas Hotel does well. It’s always nice to see social enterprises like this succeed, especially when you’re in a country whose own track record with refugees is a little... uh... less accommodating. That being said, certain Australian entrepreneurs have been taking steps in this regard, such as the recently opened migrant-run clothing manufacturer Social Outfit in Sydney and Melbourne. In the mean time, if you’re going to be in Vienna any time soon, you can book at room at the magdas Hotel via their website. Via Design Milk. Images: AllesWirdGut Architektur/ Guilherme Silva Da Rosa.
Whether by chance or the greatest promotional tie-in for a movie release in recent history, a glorious full moon shone over the First Man premiere in Sydney. An impressive enough sight going in to the cinema, it held a near-magical allure on the way back out. Even now, some 50 years since the first manned lunar landing and a lifetime of technological advancements beyond, to look up and consider the deed still feels unreal; an impossibility requiring far too much luck, daring and genius for anyone to even consider it. And yet…the Eagle did land. Directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land), First Man is at once the story of mankind's greatest ever technological accomplishment and the enormous sacrifices required to achieve it. Set against the backdrop of extreme US/Soviet tensions, First Man chronicles the NASA side of the infamous space race and highlights the extraordinary challenges precipitated by such a Herculean task. How, for example, do you come up with a list of requirements for something that's never been done before? Who is the right person for the job when your greatest understanding of what that job is is little more than a guess? This was precisely the challenge facing the newly established space agency in 1958 as it set out to find seven willing, qualified and extraordinarily capable candidates to undertake the first ever manned flights into space. One of those individuals was, of course, Neil Armstrong, whose portrayal in First Man by Ryan Gosling conveys an introverted and emotionally repressed family man possessed of unyielding skill and determination. Inevitably, films based on real world events at once benefit from, and are challenged by, an audience's knowledge of what ultimately happens. The inevitability of catastrophe in disaster films, for example, contributes to a powerful and compounding tension that can become almost unbearable. The key to maintaining drama in these films is to focus on the human stories at their core and shine a light on the details lesser known. How, though, do you find an unknown detail in perhaps the best-known story of the last century? That humans landed on the moon is far from a surprise twist, and that the first man to do it was Armstrong is such a given it's used as the title of the film. And so First Man, penned by Josh Singer (Spotlight), spans the eight physically and emotionally gruelling years of Armstrong's life prior to his iconic small step, beginning with an excruciatingly tense and near-fatal solo test flight into the earth's upper atmosphere. Singer's screenplay is tantalisingly layered, offering little by way of dialogue yet enormous scope for nuanced performances in the hands of an accomplished ensemble. Chazelle's direction is likewise sublime, especially during the film's more kinetic scenes where you feel just as drained and challenged as those on screen. The claustrophobia of the tiny capsules, the relentless g-forces of an out-of-control gyroscope, and the deafening silence of space, combine to assault the senses in the best possible way, aided by a level of sound design that will surely prove the frontrunner come awards season. On the performance front, The Crown's Claire Foy grounds the tale (as much literally as symbolically) as Armstrong's wife Janet, reminding us of the significant sacrifices made on all sides of this story. Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll and Ciarán Hinds round out the impressive troupe, with Stoll's performance in particular painting Armstrong's eventual co-pilot Buzz Aldrin in a surprisingly blunt and unlikeable light. Gosling's scenes with Clarke, too, prove some of the film's best; a meaningful friendship borne of fierce competition, and a closeness that permitted acknowledgements of extreme grief, fear and uncertainty without ever giving voice to the words. In the end First Man is, despite its scale and subject matter, an intimate character portrait rather than a history lesson. It eschews the traditional pomp and grandeur of NASA control room scenes for dimly lit kitchens and moonlit walks, yet remains every bit the space odyssey such a tale commands. Filmed for IMAX, it should be seen the same way – an honest, tense and compelling picture that reminds us exactly why we love going to the movies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k
FOMO — Australia's clash-free, one-day summer festival — is back for a third year. After a Brisbane debut in 2016, this time, the event is hitting Melbourne for the first time too, with a new evening edition called FOMO by Night, as well as making a return to Sydney and Adelaide. Leading the program is California's RL Grime, who's been headlining festivals all over the world with his experimental, high energy mash-ups of sound, colour and texture. Hot on his heels is Montreal's Kaytranada, who was here last year and bass lines have had him topping hip hop and dance charts (that is, when he's not collaborating with Alicia Keys or Chance the Rapper). Meanwhile, New Jersey-based neo-soul singer SZA is making her Australian debut on the back of debut album CTRL, and Texan rapper-singer Post Malone is coming back, after winning a lot of love during his Australian tour earlier this year. Also on the schedule is Grammy nominee ZHU with a brand new show and a live band, performing tunes from his dark and mesmerising EP Stardustexhalemarrakechdreams, along with London-based Grammy winner Tourist, and LA's Drezo, whose underground house has won admiration from Diplo, Destructo and Porter Robinson, among others. As always, FOMO is lining up homegrown talent up next to international stars. Representing Australia are The Kite String Triangle, Nina Las Vegas and Sweat It Out signee Dena Amy. Plus, there's an Australia-wide competition on the boil, which will see four emerging local artists join the bill. FOMO will kick off on Brisbane's Riverstage on Saturday, January 6, before moving to Parramatta Park in Sydney, on Saturday, January 13. Melbourne will get a slightly smaller lineup at their FOMO by Night, which will take place at Festival Hall on Thursday, January 11. Pre-sales start at 10am on Tuesday, September 5 and general sales on Wednesday, September 6. $1 from every sale is going to music charity Heaps Decent and, if you can't afford your ticket in one fell swoop, you can opt for a payment plan, which lets you pay it off via monthly instalments. Here's the full lineup. FOMO 2018 LINEUP RL Grime Kaytranada ZHU Post Malone SZA Tourist The Kite String Tangle Drezo Stööki Sound Nina Las Vegas Dena Amy FOMO BY NIGHT 2018 LINEUP Kaytranada Post Malone SZA The Kite String Tangle Dena Amy Mimi FOMO 2018 DATES Saturday, January 6 — Riverstage, Brisbane Sunday, January 7 — Elder Park, Adelaide Thursday, January 11 — Festival Hall, Melbourne Saturday, January 13 — Parramatta Park, Sydney FOMO will take place in January 2018. Tickets go on sale this week. For more info, visit fomofestival.com.au. Image: Mitch Lowe.
The only way is up for Bella BBQ, Brisbane's favourite purveyors of slow-cooked meat seasoned with American-style rubs. You’ve enjoyed their barbecue treats at markets since mid 2014. You’ve been following their new food truck around town since January. Now, you can help them set up a permanent base to sell more tasty meals, more often. Less than a year after bursting onto the street food scene and taking Brisbane's tastebuds by storm, Bella BBQ is looking to set up their own takeaway shop. Their newly launched crowdfunding campaign will hopefully make that dream a reality, complete with mouthwatering incentive rewards — food of course, but there's also merchandise and a chance to attend your own private BB masterclass. Indeed, Bella BBQ's story so far is the type delicious dreams are made of, and one made possible by south-east Queensland's insatiable appetite for barbecued meat. Owner Steve Hellyer had no idea that his efforts as a backyard chef would lead him to looking at opening his own store. "It has taken me by surprise, the popularity of it all," he says. "It has all happened so quickly." Hellyer always wanted to spend his days cooking good food, but was uncertain about making the leap from amateur to professional. Instead, he would go to markets with his wife, and followed his nose to stalls cooking up chorizo and smoked sausage. He decided to look into making his own at home, which inspired further research into flavour profiles for rubs for other types of meats — and an idea was born. "It turns out that I'm pretty damn good at a lot of cooking in the backyard, and a lot of eating some pretty crappy food to start with — and then just perfecting it," Hellyer explains. "I always say to people that I'm living the dream. You wouldn't put this much time and effort into cooking meat for so long unless you had a passion for it." Bella BBQ's products — brisket, pork, ribs and wings — are cooked low and slow for 18 hours, which explains the taste customers know and love. "There has to be a lot of love put in at the start, in order to have the equal amount of love come out at the end," says Hellyer. "I've always loved cooking. I've always loved creating dishes and creating tastes, and that shows." Some of Bella BBQ's best sellers actually came about because of Hellyer's overwhelming affection for his job as pitmaster — and his tendency to cook too much in an effort to perfect his smoke-infused, slow-cooked barbecue skills. "The pulled pork nachos are a dish that I used to serve because I cooked that much at home practicing cooking pulled pork, we had that much left over. Nachos were just something that I started making for myself. Then I introduced them to the markets, and they're one of our highest selling products." The demand doesn't stop there, with other additions to the menu — and offshoots with other stores — stemming from his success. Customers can even order a container of pulled pork to make their own meals, and buy Bella BBQ rubs from Barbecues and More to try to recreate the magic of American-style meat at home. Hellyer, an electronics engineer by trade, also created an app to help fans follow the van around Brisbane for their barbeque fix. Though Bella BBQ is seeking a permanent home, those addicted to rushing around town needn't worry — the food truck will still operate as a satellite store once the shop is up and running. To stay up-to-date with Bella BBQ, download their app or visit their Facebook page. Throw the BB team some dosh for their permanent takeaway joint here. Images: Bella BBQ.
Common wisdom tells us that, if you really want to innovate, you need to think outside the box. But it turns out thinking inside the box can sometimes be just as effective. Case in point: Freight Farms, a shipping container farm company aiming to revolutionise urban agriculture. It's the brainchild of owners Jon Friedman and Brad McNamara, and the result of some out-of-the-figurative-box, inside-the-literal-box thinking. As the name suggests, the American company specialises in sustainable farm systems built inside portable shipping containers. The so-called Leafy Green Machines (LGMs) are outfitted with LED lighting that replicates sunlight, a drip irrigation system that uses just ten gallons of water a day, and sensors that balance temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels. Crops such as lettuce and kale are grown in vertical towers to avoid wasted space and ensure the maximum possible yield. "Freight Farms is just a much more efficient use of land," Friedman told The Huffington Post. "You're talking about growing vertically in a very condensed footprint." Apparently, the farms can yield the equivalent of two acres of conventional farmland. "The cost to get a farm right now is right around $80,000" says McNamara. "But the operating cost is going to be under $20,000 a year. We have farmers who are clearing revenue anywhere from $60,000 a year growing certain crop, all the way to $90,000 and above." And according to the pair, the farms don't require a great deal of expertise or in-depth training to run. "We focused a lot on creating a platform that people can use with only motivation — not requiring advanced degrees or advanced schooling or long training." Anyone up for growing their own kale? Freight Farms Allow You To Grow Food AnywhereThis portable vegetable garden's growing inside a 320-square-foot shipping container that can yield as much as two acres of farmland. Posted by The Huffington Post on Friday, January 8, 2016 Via The Huffington Post.
The National Gallery of Victoria is wrapping up this wild year in style, hosting the blockbuster second edition of its much-hyped NGV Triennial. Taking over the gallery from Saturday, December 19, the exhibition looks set to be the biggest art event to hit the city in three years, featuring works from over 100 artists, representing 30 different countries. Among them, you can expect a diverse response to this year's themes of illumination, reflection, conservation and speculation. With a lineup like this — and many months of missed art appreciation to make up for — it's hard to know where to even start. You'll wander through the halls and discover a large-scale, neck-tilting celebration of light and movement; a layered, shimmering sphere of used lenses; and even a giant octopus crafted from hand-felted cigarette butts; and a life-size, mirror-polished stainless steel sculpture based on an 18th-century porcelain figurine. The exhibition is huge, we've offered up a sneak peek here, but, if you'd like to delve deeper, we've also pulled out five must-see artworks over here. Start plotting your art gallery debut now. The NGV Triennial 2020 will be on show at NGV International from Saturday, December 19 until Sunday, April 18, 2021. For more info and to see the full program, visit the NGV website.
In a piece of news we're filing under 'how is this just happening now?', New York City is getting ready to host its first ever Donut Fest. Taking over Verboten, a music venue and bar in the heart of Williamsburg, the festival will see the finest bakers in the city gather for a day of deep-fried, sugar-glazed, sprinkle-coated goodness. It's all set to go down on Saturday January 23... giving you just over two weeks to sort out a plane ticket. Vendors in the lineup include The Doughnut Project, whose far out flavours include pineapple with habenero and salted chocolate with buttered pretzel; Erin McKenna's Bakery, whose doughnuts are egg, dairy and gluten free; and Dun-Well Doughnuts, who boast a range of more than 200 flavours including Peach Cobbler, Raspberry Pistachio and Pina Colada. A number of New York's specialty coffee outfits, including Cafe Grumpy and Brooklyn Coffee Roasters, will also be on hand for dunking purposes. Now that's all very well and good, but technically speaking Melbourne actually beat NYC to the punch with Day of the Donut in June last year. Classic New York... always two steps behind. Each vendor at Donut Fest 2016 will submit their favourite creation to compete for the title of New York's Best Donut. All entry fees will be donated to Food Bank for New York City, an organisation that helps combat food poverty in the five boroughs. Via The Gothamist. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Breakups are usually associated with loss (and copious amounts of wine and Meg Ryan). But they can be profitable, too. And we’re not talking about ‘whatever-doesn’t-kill-you-makes-you-stronger’, new age, Facebook-meme kind of profit. We’re talking about cold, hard cash. Well, that’s the idea behind a brand new service called Never Liked It Anyway, anyway. Dubbed ‘eBay for breakups’, it’s a platform that lets you sell everything that reminds you of your ex – without feeling bad, guilty or ashamed about it. The range of products on sale is mind-boggling, maybe even slightly unsettling. There are wedding dresses, engagement rings, mink shawls and even a bracelet with a coin from 35 B.C — all relics of past love ready for new owners. Because, out of sight, out of mind, right? It’s tough to forget your ex when your home is littered with his/her gifts. And, why burn them on a bonfire when you can turn them into your next shopping spree or dinner out or (depending on your ex’s generosity levels) holiday? Rather than just being any old online shopping platform, Never Liked It Anyway sees its job as bringing relief to the broken-hearted. “We started [it] to make moving on easier. It’s a place to shed the stories and the stuff,” founder Bella Acton told The Atlantic. Not only can you buy and sell on the site, you can tell your story, read the site's highly useful blog for tips on moving on, and read other tales of heartbreak. The site isn't just about making cash money out of closing a chapter, it's about looking forward to the next. The nicest bit of the whole site? The 'Break-Up Services' section, where you can procure a a 'Bounce Back Stack' (50 cards of warm fuzzies and advice to help mend your broken heart) or a 'Bounce Back Box' filled to the brim with things meant to 'get you back to fabulous': lip gloss, nail polish and a whole host of treat yourself goodies. Via Refinery29. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
One of Australia's most redeeming qualities is its ability to give good afternoon sun. There's something about its familiar glow that almost demands casual drinks — whether it's cracking open a cold beer after a day out, heading to the pub after a long day of work, or deciding on a whim that your backyard is perfect for having friends over. When you have friends this summer, heed our advice and take it to the next level by implementing a killer theme. We've spoken to a few of our favourite chefs, musicians and artists, to get their insights on creating the perfect balmy afternoon. On this adventure we've spoken to Luke Lucas — uber talented, Sydney based typographer, creative director and co-creator of the now defunct Lifelounge magazine (may it rest in peace). Each issue of Lifelounge was themed, so we thought Luke was the perfect person to ask for some tips. Read these, and get creative the next time you have friends over. THEME COMES FIRST, IDEAS COME SECOND The first step in throwing a next-level summer party is choosing the theme. No exceptions. You'll probably have a million ideas, but they'll most likely be unrelated to each other. Having a theme is a great way to bring everything together in a cohesive format. You could be really into the idea of having a pinata in your backyard. Once you've decided that your party is going to be all about food, you can make it into the shape of a burger. "Coming up with the theme was the very first process we went through for each edition of the magazine," says Luke. "I think if you try to retrofit content to suit a theme then it can feel a little contrived or forced so for us the theme had to come first. For the most part curating content or designing within the bounds of a them gives you the ability to connect concepts and ideas that don't naturally go together but when presented within the theme are perfect partners. It can be lot of fun." IF YOU DON'T LIKE SOMETHING, CHANCES ARE OTHERS WON'T EITHER Everything in Lifelounge made it in because it was something Luke liked — not what he thought other people would like. "We were mostly creating the magazine for ourselves," he says. "It was a way of expressing thoughts and ideas about things we were passionate about. There wasn't a great deal of thought put into how appealing it might be to others." When you're thinking of a party theme, make sure it's something you're into. Don't go for a double denim theme just because you know your friends will like it. Pick something your passionated about — that could be a 90s theme. You're much more likely to get people hyped up. "I think if you are passionate about something then the way you present that passion is naturally infectious," Luke says wisely. DON'T COPY YOUR FRIENDS Trying to one-up your mates with a better 90s party than they threw last year isn't going to work. You won't be able to do anything new, and everyone's costumes or activities will most likely be the same as last year. Instead, use last year's raging party for inspiration. If they did 90s, shy away from decades and try for something else – a clothing related double denim theme for example. As Luke says, "there needs to be enough of a point of difference between themes so we can create unique content and design treatments for each edition." WHERE TO GET YOUR INSPIRATION "We're influenced by everything we see, hear, touch and experience. Inspiration can come from any combination of those sources but for me it rarely presents itself if I'm searching too hard for it. Ideas present themselves when my mind is clear or I'm doing some kind of activity that involves little thought — like taking a shower or waiting in between sets in the surf." In the words of Mad Men's Don Draper, "think about it deeply, then forget it. An idea will jump up in your face." Enjoy your summer afternoons with the new low-carb Heineken 3 — we're helping you make the most of them. Images: Luke Lucas.
It's the news Australian film and television fans have been dreading ever since they signed for a geododging service and a Netflix account. The streaming media behemoth might've taken your cash and looked the other way for years — even when they launched here in 2015 — but now that they're operating in 190 countries around the globe, it seems like they're gearing up to stop users accessing overseas libraries. In a post that appeared on the Netflix blog overnight, Vice President of Content Delivery Architecture David Fullagar advised, "Those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are." Exactly how they'll shut out everyone using VPNs, proxy servers and smart DNS services hasn't been disclosed, though the statement does mention that "technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it." So, if your account is almost permanently logged into the US service, your viewing options could be about to take a bit of hit. While Netflix-produced fare like House of Cards, Master of None, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, BoJack Horseman, Jessica Jones, Making a Murderer and A Very Murray Christmas are available everywhere, the American library currently has almost three times the number of titles than its Australian counterpart. Plus, plenty of content varies between the two; local comedy is quite popular on the Aussie version — or Netflix sure hopes it will be, seeing that their library is packed with it — for example. If you're a bit puzzled by this turn of events, particularly given that Netflix only recently trumpeted their plans to make sure everyone who subscribes to the service can access the same content regardless of the country they're in, that's understandable. They haven't really changed their tune — it's safe to assume that they're working towards that goal, which involves complex rights negotiations in each territory, by first locking down any loopholes that currently allow customers to circumvent geographic restrictions. Of course, just what will eventuate in the long- and short-term is anyone's guess, because Netflix has promised to stamp out geododgers before and then promptly done nothing about it. All Aussie customers can really do for now is watch this space — and maybe start thinking about signing up to Stan or Presto. Via The Sydney Morning Herald.
Variety might be the spice of life, as the saying goes, but we’re pretty certain that it’s a necessary seasoning for comedy, too. Being the diverse bunch that we all are, an eclectic array of things can make each and every one of us dissolve into fits of giggles. Like the range of options showcased at an event dedicated to tickling our funny bones, you’re probably thinking. For Brisbanites, that’d be the annual Brisbane Comedy Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse’s yearly showcase of humour and hilarity. In 2016, they’ve selected the best local and international talent for an amusing onslaught of more than 45 performers over 26 days. If you like those stats, we have one to add: expect the resulting laughter to cause thousands of sore stomachs, or so we're guessing. BCF has also had the smarts to put these ten performances on the bill, aka our picks of the entire fest. Because one good turn deserves another, we think you should return the favour by checking them out.
As if Melbourne's laneways weren't ace enough already, they're going green — well, four of them are anyway. Meyers Place, Katherine Place, Guildford Lane and Coromandel Place will be transformed into little sustainable metropolitan Gardens of Eden with new designs released by the City of Melbourne as part of their Green Your Laneway initiative last week. The City of Melbourne announced their plans to transform four laneway spots in the CBD back in October of last year, and opened up the nominations to Melburnians to help them choose which ones they would give the green treatment. With more than 200 laneways in the city centre, picking the spots was no easy feat. But after collating over 800 public nominations as well as advice from engineers, landscape architects and sustainability professionals, and taking environmental factors — such as the amount of sunlight the laneways receive and their exposure to wind — into account, the council has settled on the four laneways as the ones that would most benefit from the added greenery. The draft designs show the laneways filled with planter boxes, vertical gardens, climbing plants and trees. Among the proposed additions, there are plans to give Katherine Place a mini tree-lined boulevard and an ivy-covered archway, and Guilford Lane (which is largely residential) could score a community garden. All up, the City of Melbourne is investing $1.3 million in the project. "Melbourne's laneways are internationally renowned for their quirky and eclectic culture and feel," Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said. "We can add another layer to their attraction by enhancing the sustainability of our laneways and making them 'green' and therefore more efficient at cooling the city, intercepting and cleaning stormwater and improving air quality and ambience." If you'd like to check out the designs in more detail, they'll be on display in Meyers Place from November 3-14. There's also some pretty detailed info on their website. Plus, to further warm you to the idea, Meyers Place will also host gardening workshops and live music on Saturday, November 12 from 2pm. Green Your Laneway is on trial as one arm of the City's Love Your Laneway program. Meanwhile, the Urban Forest Strategy is striving to address climate change and reduce Melbourne's summer temperatures by four degrees Celsius. Green days ahead. By Lauren Vadnjal and Jasmine Crittenden.
This spring, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia will host an extensive retrospective by renowned South African photographer David Goldblatt, as part of the Sydney International Series. Running from October 19 until March 2019, David Goldblatt: Photographs 1948–2018 will dive deep into the life and work of one of recent history's most legendary photographers, covering a career of more than sixty years. Goldblatt is best known for his portrayal of South Africa's tumultuous history, especially surrounding apartheid. As the photographer's first major retrospective in the southern hemisphere, the exhibition will feature Goldblatt's most famous photo series, along with early vintage prints, never-before-seen footage from his personal collection and a new feature-length documentary. As MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE explained, "visitors will discover an extraordinary artist whose documentary eye has not strayed from the complexities of his country of birth, but resonates with other global histories (including Australia's own) through narratives of race and racism, and industry and the land." The Sydney-exclusive exhibition is the first major retrospective of Goldblatt's work in the southern hemisphere. The exhibition was also the Goldblatt's final project before his death earlier this year. Images: David Goldblatt, A plot-holder, his wife and their eldest son at lunch, Wheatlands, Randfontein. September 1962 (3_4907), 1962. Image courtesy the artist and Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg © the artist; David Goldblatt, Shop assistant, Orlando West, 1972. Image courtesy Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg and Cape Town © The David Goldblatt Legacy Trust.
Lost Paradise is back for the fourth year in a row, after selling out its past three incarnations. Returning to Glenworth Valley from December 28 to January 1, the event will host 76 local and international artists, including local electronic goalkickers RÜFÜS, Sweden's Little Dragon, Aussie folk favourites Matt Corby and Meg Mac, Sydney lads DMAs, dynamic Melburnian duo Client Liaison and more. There'll be two new stages this year, My Mum's Disco, where, in between retro beats and '80s kitsch, you'll be playing bingo and banging out karaoke, and K-Sub Beach Club, to be run by Kraken, a collective dedicated to all things Victorian. Main stage Arcadia will host what's been designated as 'indie', while techno and dance will settle into the Lost Disco stage. Meanwhile, the Paradise Club will take care of late night shape-throwers with DJs and surprise guests. If you've blissed your way through previous New Year's Eves at Lost Paradise's Shambala Fields, you'll be glad to know they're making a return, with their cornucopia of yoga classes, dance workshops and meditations. Teachers on the schedule include Ana Forrest, Jose Calarco, Mark Whitwell, Simon Borg Olivier, Nicole Walsh and Mark Breadner. In between dancing and getting mindful, you can fuel up in Lost Village, where a herd of food trucks will be dishing out all sorts of tasty morsels. Look out for Eat Art Truck's hot smoked pulled pork buns, Agape's organic goodies, The Dosa Deli's handmade samosas, Maverick Wings' crispy chicken and kimchi coleslaw, Harvest Life as Tsuru's poke bowls and Cuba Cantina's street food from Havana. Here's what you're in for this year: LOST PARADISE 2017 LINEUP: RÜFÜS Little Dragon Matt Corby Meg Mac DMA's Client Liason Cut Copy San Cisco Tourist Stephen Bodzin Cigarettes After Sex Patrick Topping Jon Hopkins (DJ Set) Jackmaster FKJ Middle Kids Âme (Live) Skeggs Palms Trax Apparat Nadia Rose Sampa The Great Koi Child Mall Grab Dean Lewis B.Traits Roland Tings My Nu Leng Cut Snake Human Movement Billy Davis & The Good Lords CC:Disco GL Tiny Little Houses Alex The Astronaut Nyxen Sloan Peterson Mammals The Ruminators Motorik Vibe Council Robongia Krankbrother Thunderfox Gypsys of Pangea Uncle Ru Ariane Ben Nott Brohn Dibby Dibby Soundsystem DJ Gonz Elijah Something Foreigndub Inner West Reggae Disco Machine Kali and more... Lost Paradise returns to Glenworth Valley from December 28 to January 1. Tickets are on sale now from the festival website. Image: Dave Anderson and Boaz Nothham.
The National Gallery of Victoria's Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei double bill is the exhibition to lock in this summer. A show dedicated to just one of these artists would be a blockbuster in its own right, but the two of them together side by side, will undoubtedly see this international exhibition reach epic proportions. Max Delany, senior curator of contemporary art at the NGV, sees the exhibition as a great opportunity to explore the work of two artists from two very different times. “It is an opportunity to present one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century — the century of modernity and what is often referred to as 'The American Century' — alongside one of the most significant artists living today, an artist from what is often said to be the 'Chinese Century' to come," Delany says. "It's actually a very interesting opportunity to consider the role of both artists and art of their time." The exhibition will draw out some of the untapped connections between these two artists. For instance, both artists have transformed the concept of the artist's studio, building highly interdisciplinary spaces. Both have radically reconsidered notions of artistic value, turning against the prevailing aesthetic trends of their time. And both are highly attuned to new modes of communication; Weiwei uses virtual networking and the internet to produce his work, while Warhol might be thought of as a social media artist working before his time. In the midst of a busy installation period, Delany took some time to speak about his five favourite works featured in the exhibition — five you should make no mistake to miss when the exhibition opens this Friday, December 11 in Melbourne. [caption id="attachment_551750" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Ai WeiweiChinese 1957–Forever Bicycles, 2011, installation view at Taipei Fine Arts MuseumImage courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio© Ai Weiwei[/caption] 1. AI WEIWEI — FOREVER BICYCLES (2011) "We are going to be installing a new version of Ai Weiwei's Forever Bicycles. This will be a major installation – it's made from almost 1500 bicycles. On the one hand, the bicycle wheel engages with Marcel Duchamp and the whole idea of the readymade. On the other hand, it's quite Warholian and is engaged with repetition. There is an intensely spectacular effect from the repetition of these objects. It also has an important biographical relevance to Ai Weiwei because Forever was the brand of a very popular mass-produced bicycle in China. It's something Weiwei would have desired as a child. The nice thing about these bicycles, which are all linked together, is that the bicycle is related to the individual, but there's also a connection to the multitude. It's very much about collective energy and social progress." [caption id="attachment_551761" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Steve SchapiroAndy Warhol Blowing Up Silver Cloud Pillow, Los Angeles 1966© Steve Schapiro[/caption] 2. ANDY WARHOL — SILVER CLOUDS AND COW WALLPAPER (1966) "Upon arrival to the exhibition, you will encounter Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds from 1966, which will be presented alongside his Cow Wallpaper. This is a fascinating work, which was first shown in 1966 at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York. Basically, these silver floating pillow forms float through space and are propelled by the bodies of viewers and air currents. It's an immersive experience, very much coinciding with the idea of 'the happening' during the '60s. It also introduced participation into artistic practice. Cow Wallpaper is significant because it is the very first or several designs Warhol did in wallpaper." [caption id="attachment_551740" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Ai WeiweiChinese 1957–Coloured Vases, 2006 Neolithic vases (5000-3000 BC) and industrial paintdimensions variable Image courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio© Ai Weiwei[/caption] 3. AI WEIWEI — COLOURED VASES (2006) "I'm excited to be showing Ai Weiwei's Coloured Vases, which is a newer work. These are painted Neolithic pots which really do enact an uneasy confrontation between cultural heritage and tradition on the one hand, and modernity on the other. One is mapped onto the other in quite a violent or iconoclastic way, kind of obliterating history. On the other hand, it also signals new beginnings and possibilities." [caption id="attachment_551739" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Andy WarholElectric Chair, 1967 synthetic polymer paint screenprinted onto canvas137.2 x 185.1 cm National Gallery of Australia, CanberraPurchased 1977© 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ARS, New York. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney.[/caption] 4. ANDY WARHOL — ELECTRIC CHAIR (1963) "Quite often people think of Warhol as quite superficial. However, if you look at some of his depictions of violence and tragedy in American society, he's really quite an epic history painter. One of the most profound and striking works in the exhibition is Warhol's Electric Chair from 1963. It's an example of his innovations in silkscreen painting from that time., but it's also a very stark and austere image. It puts the relationship between the state and the individual into sharp relief. This is also an important subject for Ai Weiwei, whose work really does address some of the critical issues of our time, such as human rights and freedom of expression." 5. AI WEIWEI — STUDIES IN PERSPECTIVE (1994) "This is a very cheeky body of work, but it is also very considered. You're probably familiar with Studies in Perspective where he raises his middle finger to various buildings representing state authority, from the White House to Tiananmen Square. On the one hand, this is a playful work about measuring the distance between the artist and his subject. On the other hand, it sets up an interesting relationship between the individual and the state. These works were made from 1994 onward and they remind me very clearly of that extraordinary image from Tiananmen Square in 1989 — that lone demonstrator standing in front of a Tank and the asymmetrical relationship between the individual and an authoritative figure." Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei will run at the National Gallery of Victoria from December 11 until April 24. For more information, visit the NGV's website.
A 3D printed house? Ten years ago, we would have thought this a mere pipe dream. But since we're printing everything from office blocks to bikes tailored to your body these days, this shouldn't come as a shock. Chicago-based architecture firm WATG has unveiled solid plans to turn this lofty idea into reality, proposing the world's first freeform, 3D printed house. Winning first prize in the Freeform Home Design Challenge, a competition sponsored by Branch Technology, the WATG design, entitled 'Curve Appeal', consists of two structural components: an interior core and an exterior skin. The living spaces are all open and include a kitchen, bath, living area and one bedroom. Stunning 360-degree glass walls are meant to give the sense of being directly connected to the natural surroundings of the house — so you might want to keep some distance between you and your neighbours. The whole futuristic, spaceship-like envelope is connected with carefully calculated archways that are said to "establish an organic presence" — whatever that means. The design, while clearly pushing the envelope of possibility, also uses economical methods for building — as well as sustainable, with solar panels hidden within the design. This world-first house is not only unconventional, but has previously been wholly inconceivable. This type of work from WATG is no surprise — the firm is internationally renowned for their innovation, with previous designs including a few Four Seasons, a Saudi Arabian city called 'King Abdullah Economic City' and a SkyPark in the Gulf. All of their designs look like structures from an incredibly well-funded sci-fi film, not buildings that will, and do, actually exist. Construction on 'Curve Appeal' is expected to start as soon as 2017 and Bonnaroo Festival-goers will be happy to hear the first site is in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While the public has been given no indication of how much the house will cost to build, we can only imagine how epic this would be if future iterations are made affordable to the masses. With 3D printing becoming more accessible by the day, this future may not be too far from reality. Via Design Boom. Images: Daniel Caven, WATG.
The sun is staying out longer, and it's time to start utilising all our glorious parkland again — Moonlight Cinema is back for another year. From December until March, this local favourite is the place to be for the most explosive action-packed blockbusters, the latest comedy releases and even the odd sing-a-long. Going on sale today, the December–January portion of the program is basically a hit list of the summer's biggest flicks. Guardians of the Galaxy and Interstellar will make for perfect viewing under the vast night sky. Ladies will be taking a leading role for a fair portion of the action with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 1, Lucy, and the controversial Gone Girl. Then the latest comedy will be lightening the mood with Dumb and Dumber To, Horrible Bosses 2, and The Interview which sees Seth Rogen and James Franco basically going to war with North Korea. There are a few lesser known titles to watch out for too. The yet-to-be-released Birdman will see Michael Keaton poking fun at his days as the caped crusader alongside a stellar supporting cast, the heartbreaking Still Alice has Julienne Moore tipped for a Best Actress nomination, and The Gambler sees Mark Wahlberg front an adaptation of a '70s classic. Like every year, the gates open at 7pm and screenings kick off at 8.30pm when the sun goes down. Make sure to bring your own picnic blanket — and a full picnic while you're at it. While the cinema is totally BYO, there will also be an LA-style food truck on site boasting burgers with pulled pork brisket or Southern fried chicken. You can even go all out and get a New York-style chilli cheesedog. If that sounds too good to be true, check it out for yourself — in celebration of the launch, Moonlight Cinema are hosting a free pop-up picnic in Sydney's Martin Place right now. Run! Check out the full program at the Moonlight Cinema website. Tickets are $15-35 depending on whether you opt for the 'Gold Grass' option (where you are given the best spots and beanbags in the house).
One of New York's initially best and eventually worst kept secrets is coming to Melbourne for one of the most squealworthy pop-ups we've seen in an age. East Village's Please Don't Tell (or PDT) is locked in to take over Fitzroy's Black Pearl this August, with legendary PDT bar team Jim Meehan and Jeff Bell at the helm. Ever found your way to PDT? Hidden behind a secret wall in a vintage phone booth, inside Crif Dogs hotdog joint on St Marks Place in the East Village, PDT is one of NYC's most beloved speakeasies — and the cocktails are seriously next level. Bell, who was crowned 2013 Diageo World Class US Bartender of the Year, is one of the best in the game, with marvels like the Bulleit Bourbon Sweet Tea Smash. But you won't just be sampling Bell's world-famous cocktails, Bell and Meehan will join forces with Bluebonnet Barbecue chef Chris Terlikar for an Australian version of PDT's menu — featuring two hot-dog variations: 'The Spicy Redneck' (house dog, bacon wrapped, with chilli, coleslaw and jalapenos) and a yet to be announced local adaptation. Locked in for August 6 to 9 in The Attic at Black Pearl, PDT's trailblazing cocktail aficionados will have three sittings available at Black Pearl: 6-8pm, 8-10pm and the last at 10pm-12am — and it goes without saying, you're strongly advised to make reservations to avoid disappointment. PDT pops up at Black Pearl (304 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy) Thursday 6 – Sunday August 9. Sittings are 6-8pm, 8-10pm or 10pm-12am, Reservations through Eventbrite. Image: PDT.
Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei: both superstar artists, both groundbreaking Damn The Man-ers, both crazy cat ladies (really). And now, in one of the best team-ups we've seen in ages, they're both the focus of the National Gallery of Victoria's next epic summer exhibition, Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei. This is going to be quite the retrospective. Two of the most significant artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, Warhol and Weiwei have left their mark on global modernity, whether flipping the bird to American art or dropping a Han vase on Chinese tradition. The NGV will present over 200 of Warhol's most celebrated works — including the Campbell’s Soup Cans, Three Marilyns, Mao, Elvis, Flowers, Electric Chairs, Skulls and Myths series and sculptures like Brillo Boxes , Heinz Tomato Ketchup Boxes and Silver Clouds. If you've got a spare eight hours, kick back and watch Warhol's wildly influential films Empire, Blow job and Screen Tests and pore over early commercial drawings and '50s advertising illustrations. There's even going to be over 500 Polaroids documenting Warhol’s friends, colleagues, and artistic and social milieux. Now, Weiwei. The famously controversial Chinese artist has had his fair share of Warhol influence, having lived in the US from 1981 to 1993 — and taken a photographic self-portrait in front of Warhol's multiple self-portrait. The first book he bought in NYC? The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again). “I believe this is a very interesting and important exhibition and an honour for me to have the opportunity to be exhibited alongside Andy Warhol," said Weiwei. "This is a great privilege for me as an artist.” For the NGV exhibition, Weiwei will premiere new major commissions, including an installation from the Forever Bicycles series and a monumental addition to Chandelier. Of course, glimpses of Weiwei's colossal catalogue will also be on display — from his early 1970s drawings to 1980s readymades, and provocative painting, photography, film and social media of the last four decades. If you're wondering why we called two of the greatest artists in history 'crazy cat ladies', it's because it's true. According to the NGV, Warhol apparently lived with a herd of Siamese cats in the '50s, all of whom, except for one, were named Sam. He photographed and ink blotted them often. Weiwei's studio is home to over 30 cats, who have free reign and constantly pop up in the artist's social media. There's going to be a special part of the exhibition dedicated to this shared feline love, a bit of trivia we won't get over for quite a while. Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei comes to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne from December 11 to April 24, in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. For info and tickets, head to the NGV website.
It's a sad day for Soulfest ticketholders, this year's festival has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Due to kick off for Australia/New Zealand dates with the likes of Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Miguel on Saturday, October 24, Soulfest 2015 will no longer be hitting Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne, or bringing sideshows to Brisbane, Mebourne and Sydney. Soulfest International posted this statement on their website and Facebook page this morning: "It is with a heavy heart and great regret that Soulfest International advises that it has become necessary to cancel Soulfest and the subsequent sideshows, due to poor ticket sales. Soulfest was scheduled to take place in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney, with sideshows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and was due to commence on October 20th. "Soulfest was launched with the intention of promoting genres of music that are often overlooked commercially in this country, specifically Neo-Soul, RnB and Hip-Hop, and Soulfest 2014 successfully delivered some of the most exciting talent within these genres. Despite a stellar line-up of artists and the best promotional endeavours on Soulfest’s behalf, the event has simply not received the support via ticket sales, and the financial loss that would be incurred by the event if it were to go ahead as planned would be devastating. "There have been many people working behind the scenes, including media partners, artists, sponsors, sub-contracted promoters, communication managers, agents and suppliers who live, breathe and support this incredible genre of music and have worked tirelessly to try and make this event a success. The promoter sincerely apologises to all involved who have dedicated 7 months of their lives to work on this festival, and to the supporters of the event who purchased tickets." Soulfest has confirmed tickets will be refunded. For tickets booked online or by phone, credit cards used to book will automatically be refunded. Soulfest have said refunds could take up to 14 days. Bookings made at outlets will also be refunded, with ticketholders told to return to the box office where they bought the tickets with the credit card they used and photo ID. Soulfest's sideshows, sadly, are also cancelled. Via Music Feeds. Image: Soulfest.
It's been 11 years since Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio decided to fill a Melbourne alleyway with tunes in 2005. Heading back to their collection of unconventional venues for another year, Laneway Festival has announced its 2016 lineup. Returning to Singapore, Auckland and the five established Australian Laneway go-to cities, Laneway will raise a plastic cup to the middle of summer with one heck of a killer lineup. Following the previously leaked Hudson Mohawke and Purity Ring headliner announces, Laneway will see one heck of a crew on their unconventional stages. Odd Future's super outfit The Internet will be here, alongside Ninja Tune's bass monarch Thundercat and the return of Grimes (start losing your collective shit). Epic Scottish electronic crew CHVRCHES are headed back to Australia, with a few fellow return trippers — Baltimore dreamboats Beach House, American math rockers Battles are back with their new album, as well as Brooklyn's atmospheric foursome DIIV. Plenty of love for the onstage return of Big Scary after Tom Isanek finished up with #1 Dads, and there's sure to be a big ol' ruckus for Sydney wonderkid Flume back on stage. You'll be hard pressed to find a spot at Las Vegas hypecard Shamir's set, watching young Washington rapper GoldLink or the pretty, pretty Beatles-y Tobias Jesso Jr. Odd Future's Vince Staples is headed here too, following his OFWGKTA bud Tyler the Creator's ban from Australia. With beloved local artists like Hermitude, Violent Soho, The Smith Street Band and DMA's, this year's lineup is more eclectic than a Jenny Kee jumper. Enough talk, here 'tis. LANEWAY FESTIVAL 2016 LINEUP: Ali Barter* Banoffee Battles Beach House Big Scary Blank Realm** Chvrhces DIIV DMA’s East India Youth FIDLAR Flume GoldLink Grimes Health Hermitude High Tension Hudson Mohawke Japanese Wallpaper Majical Cloudz Methyl Ethel METZ Purity Ring QT Shamir Silicon Slum Sociable** Sophie The Goon Sax*** The Internet The Smith Street Band Thundercat Tobias Jesso Jr. Vince Staples Violent Soho * Exclusive to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne only ** not playing Fremantle *** Exclusive to Brisbane only ST JEROME'S LANEWAY FESTIVAL DATES AND VENUES FOR 2016: Saturday, January 30 — SINGAPORE (THE MEADOW, GARDENS BY THE BAY) Monday, February 1 — AUCKLAND (SILO PARK) Friday, February 5 — ADELAIDE (HARTS MILL, PORT ADELAIDE, 16+) Saturday, February 6 — BRISBANE (BRISBANE SHOWGROUNDS, BOWEN HILLS, 16+) Sunday, February 7 — SYDNEY (SYDNEY COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, ROZELLE) Saturday, February 13 — MELBOURNE (FOOTSCRAY COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE (FCAC) + THE RIVER’S EDGE) Sunday, February 14 — FREMANTLE (ESPLANADE RESERVE AND WEST END) Tickets on sale September 30 at 9am from Laneway Festival. Image: Andy Fraser. Here's one for getting psyched up.
Board rooms are so done. Stockholm-based artist duo Bigert and Bergström have built a modal, stainless golden steel, reflective, egg-shaped sauna with a heart-shaped wood burning stove, named the 'Solar Egg'. Why? Commissioned by Swedish economic and real estate association Riksbyggen, the egg is a "social sculpture" according to the artists, providing a communal space for the residents of Kiruna to discuss their town's problems. Kiruna is the northernmost town in Sweden with a population of just under 20,000. In 2003, they realised that due to adjacent iron ore mining activity (activity which provides thousands of jobs for locals), the ground beneath the town was becoming unstable. The solution? Move the whole town three kilometres away. The relocation has been underway ever since and will continue to trudge along, piece by piece, for many more decades supported by the government and the mining company responsible. So, the residents of Kiruna have a lot to talk about while enjoying a sauna together. And, like the town itself, the golden egg can be disassembled and relocated. As far as interactive art installations go, it's both acutely beautiful and functional, with stainless golden mirror sheeting reflecting the fragmented, changing scenery of the surround mountains and tundra. Inside, the sauna's interior is made of pine wood panelling and decks, and aspen benches, with an iron and stone stove in the centre. Temperature varies between 75 and 85 degrees Celsius in the egg. Images: Riksbyggen and Futurniture.
Think juice is just for cooling your body temperature on those stinking humid days that Queensland prides itself on? Think again. A good blend of citrus and ginger of can be quite useful to shoo away sniffles (yep, you can even get 'em in spring time). Presenting Brisbane's top five delicious, flu-fighting, body-rejuvenating juices, freshly squeezed at market stalls, juice bars and cafes around our health-kickin' city. THIRST BUSTER: QUEEN STREET MARKETS For those that drink with their eyes, feast on this bad boy blend of watermelon, pineapple and orange. But really, can you go past that elaborate display of fruit on top of your drink? We think not. This is an instant teleport to your favourite summer spot. Queen Street Mall, Brisbane (every Wednesday 10am-6pm). THE QUEENSLANDER: RAW JUICERY While the above green juice will help you detox, we're after something a little more adventurous: The Queenslander. For those that 'ick' at the though of beetroot, the pineapple and orange complement it so well, you won't be able to taste it (the bright red colour of the aftermath might be a dead giveaway though!). 4/280 Adelaide Street, Brisbane. THE CLASSIC FRESH OJ: JAMIE'S ESPRESSO If you feel a bit fancypants trying out all these liquid fruit salads, you can't go wrong with a classic OJ. Watching Jamie do his thing with that old school juicer is totally worth the trip out to New Farm. 49 James Street, New Farm. FLU BREAKER: QUENCH JUICE BAR Orange, pineapple and ginger. Goes without saying that this one is great for a sore throat. You can find Quench at the Valley's James Street Markets, the Ferry Road Markets in Southport and Gasworks. James Street Markets, 22 James Street, Fortitude Valley. THE TIGER BALM: FAT CARROT A West End institution. If you feel the flu coming on, give this one a try. Nothing like the pungent ointment you used to smother on toilet seats at school muck-up day, this cold-fighting juice is packed with papaya, orange, lemon, pineapple and mint. Yum! 179 Boundary Street, West End. Top image: Dollar Photo Club.
For the next twelve months, visitors to Uluru will get the chance to see the sacred rock in a whole new light, thanks to a massive installation transforming the surrounding desert into a spectacular ocean of colour. Incorporating 50,000 glass lights across an area of 49,000 square metres, it is the latest (and largest) incarnation of artist Bruce Munro's Field of Light, which has previously illuminated the grounds at the likes of London's Victoria & Albert Museum and the Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Run on solar power, the installation took 40 people six weeks to set up. The British-born Munro first came up with the idea for Field of Light while visiting Uluru back in 1992. "Field of Light was one idea that landed in my sketchbook and kept on nagging at me to be done," the artist told the ABC. "I now have the honour and privilege of returning to create an iteration of this artwork for the place that inspired it." The new incarnation is named Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku, which translates to 'looking at lots of beautiful lights' in local Pitjantjatjara. It will remain in place until March 31, 2017. Via Traveller and ABC Online. Images: Bruce Munro.
Inventive Philadelphia-based company La Colombe Coffee Roasters has developed coffee on tap, pulling cold draught lattes from nitro kegs. They're claiming their new device as the world's first tap coffee, although it goes without saying this isn't your regular, purely extracted, traditional espresso. More "naturally sweet milkshake" than actual latte, La Colombe's draught is apparently like cold-press with frothed cold milk, according to Daily Coffee News. Company founder Todd Carmichael is pretty proud of the new taps, which took six months to invent with his rum distillery engineer buddy in his underground Philly coffee lab. Carmichael assures consumers that this is the first time tap coffee has made its way into your mouth. "The draught latte combines the simplest coffee beverage ingredients and creates a revolutionary drink," he said in a media announcement. "It’s the process we use to pull the drink from the keg that creates a textured milk that doesn’t exist anywhere else.” Wielding his iced invention, seems Carmichael has a pretty hardcore plan to destroy Starbucks, and he's not keeping it to tap coffee. The Philly coffee fiend also just announced the launch of La Colombe's low-calorie canned coffees — a product Starbucks has been doing pretty well with in American supermarkets for some horrific, god-forsaken reason. If you're keen to try draught coffee, you'll have to pop over to the US. La Colombe is planning to roll out the taps to its 12 venues in Philly, NYC, Chicago and Washington D.C. in July. Via Daily Coffee News.
Gone are the days when Australians were left to wonder about the precise genealogy of their toast. Following the trend set by the boutique coffee and chocolate industries, artisan bakers Brasserie Bread are upping their foodie street rep with the launch of their new single origin bread. Touted by the bakery as an Australian first, Brasserie's Single Origin Sourdough and Single Origin Sprouted Wheat will be made exclusively from wheat grown in the Southern Flinders Ranges in South Australia, allowing consumers to track the journey of their bread from field to mill to sandwich. Brasserie co-founder Michael Klausen apparently spent five years searching for the perfect wheat, before finally forming a partnership with Flinders Ranges Premium Grain. "I wanted to buy flour straight from the farmer," says Klausen. "It took five years, but I finally found them and being part of the harvest this year was like a dream come true... This flour is an expression of the soil and climate it was grown in." Whether or not consumers can actually taste the difference, you've got to give Klausen credit for tapping into the zeitgeist. It's certainly not hard to imagine single source bread popping up on brunch menus around Sydney and Melbourne, probably with a little single source smashed avo on the side. Brasserie Bread is available in various restaurants around Sydney and Melbourne, as well as the Brasserie Bakery Cafe in Banksmeadow and the T2 Cafe in Sydney Airport. And if you're not yet sold on single origin bread, check out Brasserie's promotional video below. It’s inspiring stuff.
From naturally-occurring wonders to marvels of architecture and design, this great nation of ours has no shortage of photo-friendly locations. Year after year, tourists and locals alike flock to Australia's most famous destinations, looking to capture that picture-perfect shot. Now, with just a few weeks left in the year, Traveller have revealed a list of the most snapped places in Australia. And while none of the locations are particularly surprising, they do serve as a reminder of just how goddamn crazy beautiful this country is. 5. MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUND (MCG) A photo posted by artinayar (@artinayar) on Aug 16, 2015 at 1:03am PDT The most iconic sporting ground in Australia, when you consider how many people are regularly packed into the MCG throughout the year, its inclusion on the list makes a lot of sense. That said, we can't help but wonder if it would have appeared even higher if Instagram had waited until after the Boxing Day Test to release their rankings. 4. BONDI BEACH A photo posted by Adam Bull (@bulladam) on Dec 3, 2015 at 3:12pm PST Synonymous with Australian beach culture, Bondi offers Instagrammers the perfect opportunity to casually show off their tans against a backdrop of crystal waters and sandy shores. With an oceanside cinema, food pop-ups and a brand new dining precinct on the way, we don't expect to see Bondi drop off this list anytime soon. 3. SURFERS PARADISE BEACH A photo posted by Sharon Lewin | Australia (@thenomadictraveller) on Dec 1, 2015 at 12:52pm PST Pipping their NSW rivals to the proverbial post, Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast beat out Bondi as Australia's most Instagrammed beach. And with photos like these, it's rather hard to argue. Paradise indeed. 2. DARLING HARBOUR, SYDNEY A photo posted by Nimesh Yadav (@nimeshnimze) on Dec 3, 2015 at 5:37pm PST A bustling harbourside hub smack bang in the centre of Sydney, Darling Harbour has long been one of the city's biggest tourist destinations – and that was before they opened up their giant new urban playground. Just make sure you don't get your eye taken out by an errant selfie-stick. 1. SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE A photo posted by Tom Rex Jessett | Australia (@trex.photography) on Dec 1, 2015 at 1:01pm PST What a shocker! To the surprise of absolutely no one, the top spot on the most Instagrammed list goes to the most famous landmark in the country. From the dazzling displays seen during Vivid Sydney to the sobering site of the sails lit up in the colours of the French flag, the Sydney Opera House remains the number one place in Australia that inspires visitors to whip out their camera phones. And frankly, it's hard to imagine that changing any time soon. Via Traveller. Top image: Alan Lam via Flickr
Back in 1982, Melbourne played host to one of China's most important ancient artworks: a collection of statues known as The Terracotta Army. Crafted between 221–206 BCE and first discovered in the Shaanxi province in 1974, it made its international debut at the National Gallery of Victoria — and now, 37 years later, it's returning for the NGV's 2019 Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series. Dubbed Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality, the five-month exhibition will feature eight warrior figures and two life-size horses from The Terracotta Army, alongside two half-size replica bronze chariots that are each drawn by four horses. They were created during the reign of China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang and were buried near his tomb more than 2200 years ago. The pieces coming to Melbourne only represent a fraction of the entire work, which numbers more than 8000 figures in total. If you're wondering how big of a deal the statues are, the answer is very. The Terracotta Army is considered one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century and has also been described as the 'Eighth' Wonder of the World. Displaying at the NGV from May 24 to October 13, 2019, the selected pieces will be accompanied by more than 150 other ancient Chinese treasures sourced from museums and Shaanxi archaeological sites. Expect to rove your eyes over priceless gold, jade and bronze artefacts that date back more than 3000 years, charting China's artistry across the country's formative period. Looking to the present as well as the past, the NGV's winter season will also celebrate acclaimed Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang. His work is no stranger to Australia — in 2014, Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art hosted its own showcase — however, his Melbourne exhibition will feature all new pieces. With Cai known for his large-scale installations, The Transient Landscapewill include 10,000 porcelain birds suspended in a spiral formation, in an artwork that links to The Terracotta Army. Specifically, it'll create a 3D version of a calligraphic drawing that depicts Mount Li, which is where Qin Shi Huang and his terracotta warriors were buried. Another of Cai's new works will feature a porcelain sculpture of peonies placed in the middle of a 360-degree gunpowder, with his entire show taking inspiration from Chinese culture and philosophy. The world-renowned talent will also help design Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality, making the two concurrent exhibitions as immersive as possible. 'Terracotta Warriors: Guardians of Immortality' and 'Cai Guo-Qiang: The Transient Landscape' will exhibit as part of the NGV International's Melbourne Winter Masterpieces presentation, running from May 24 to October 13, 2019. For further details or to buy tickets, visit the NGV website. Exhibition images: Sean Fennessy and Tobias Titz photography. Images: The terracotta army, Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE), Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum, Xi'an.
Many a poor traveller has ventured to Germany in hope of culinary enlightenment, only to binge on pretzels and bratwurst, thinking that was it. Don't be like those suckas. German cuisine is more than just carbs and cream — it's carbs and cream cooked and combined better than anywhere else in the world. Ignore the recent meat vs. health studies, forget about your fat RDI and jump on the nearest jumbo to Frankfurt and chow down. MAULTASCHEN Imagine a thick pasta skin that's filled with a smoked meat and then fried in butter — kind of ravioli on steroids — and you've got maultaschen. It's a German specialty that tends to be a menu staple in most southern restaurants. The only thing better than how tasty these pockets of flavour are, is the story behind them. The common folklore is that during Lent, when Catholics and other Christians were encouraged to refrain from eating meat, German monks would make the maultaschen. They figured the meat was concealed under the pasta dough and what they couldn't see, neither could God. Where to find it: Some of the best (and most famous) maultaschen in Germany can be found Zum Hasenwirt, a small restaurant in Stuttgart. [caption id="attachment_556573" align="alignnone" width="1280"] conticium via Flickr[/caption] DAMPFNUDEL Dampfnudel is a southern German specialty that you might be hard pressed finding in the big cities. That means your best chances of nabbing one of these fluffy, sweet buns is trekking to some of Germany's quaint little villages. Dampfnudel is a like a sweet unfilled Chinese bun, about the size of a fist, that's steamed in sugared milk and fried in butter to give it a crispy bottom. It's most often served with berries, vanilla sauce and jams. Where to find it: Dampfnudeln-Uli is a Bavarian restaurant in Regensburg that specialises in this sweet buns and have done so for over 70 years. [caption id="attachment_556577" align="alignnone" width="1280"] stu_spivack via Flickr[/caption] SPÄTZLE Spätzle is to the Germans what pasta is to the Italians. Made with eggs and flour and boiled till it firms up, the almost rubbery pasta-like pieces are eaten as is, or fried up in oil or butter. Its texture is similar to that of gnocchi, though its taste is rather bland — so it's best partnered with meat and gravy. It's one of those foods you'll have a little gag over eating the first time, then wake up in cold sweats craving a week later. Where to find it: You'll find the best spätzle in small, German villages as it one of those foods that Oma makes best. But if you're in Berlin, check out Repke Spätzlerei. They're pros at the stuff. [caption id="attachment_556580" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Benjamin Vander Steen via Flickr[/caption] SCHWARZWÄLDER KIRSCHTORTE That's black forest cake to you. We're not talking The Cheesecake Shop variety (no offence) or your lazy one-tiered Coles attempt either (offence intended). Germany pulls out all the stops to make the chocolate cake thick and dense, the cream is fresh from the cow and the cherries just-picked from tree (FYI: cherries grow in Germany like eucalyptus leaves grow in Australia). As such, this cake is quite seasonal, and is best purchased and eaten in the German summer, aka cherry season. Where to find it: If you're going to eat this cake, do it properly at at one of the few cafes that holds the original recipe. We recommend Cafe Schäefer in Triberg, a town in Baden-Württemberg, which is actually located in the literal Black Forest. [caption id="attachment_556612" align="alignnone" width="1280"] jay.tong via Flickr[/caption] SCHWEINSHAXE This is what German dreams are made of. Succulent, slow-roasted porn knuckle with a thick, crispy, drool-inducing layer of crackling around the lot. Done well, the meat should fall of the bone once its crackling cloak has been consumed, and it's best served with something simple like a bread roll to soak up the juices. This is a Bavarian specialty, and makes a popular appearance at Oktoberfest. Where to find it: Munich is home of the schweinshaxe, and is best eaten after consuming two litres of beer at Oktoberfest. For that reason, do yourself a favour and have your first schweinshaxe at one of the many beer tents at Munich's Oktoberfest. [caption id="attachment_550692" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Jeremy Keith via Flickr[/caption] FLÄDLE SUPPE On paper, flädle suppe sounds like an absolute nightmare: chopped up pancakes in a beef broth. But somehow — for some absurd reason that only the Germans know — it works. The flädle are plain crepe-style pancakes, tightly wrapped and cut into thin ribbons, while the suppe is the soupy broth. This dish is traditionally served as the first course of a wedding, but as it's so tasty and has quite a German fan-base, it's moved past special occasions and onto mainstream menus. Where to find it: This soup is prevalent in both southern Germany and Austria, so if you're looking for the perfect taste, hover around the border. We suggest Weinstube zur Traube in Stuttgart. [caption id="attachment_552489" align="alignnone" width="1280"] cyclonebill via Flickr[/caption] FLEISCHKÄSE This is one of those nasty, kebab-equivalent foods that for some reason most Germans eat sober, but probably shouldn't. It doesn't take a fool to realise fleischkäse is processed to the nines, as it resembles something that makes spam look like a free-range chicken leg. And for that reason — and probably that reason alone — it's delicious (in a salty, fatty, indigestion-y kind of way). It tastes like hot dog meat, but is served as a thick slice on a bread roll with ketchup and mustard. Try it the day before you leave Germany so you have a geographical barrier between yourself and any more of them. Where to find it: In Germany, a carvery or snack bar is called an Imbiss. Most hot ones will serve fleischkäse mit brötchen (with a bread roll). [caption id="attachment_552488" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Oliver Hallmann via Flickr[/caption] WILDSCHWEIN Game in Germany tends to hit dinner plates towards the beginning of winter, when it's hunting season. Wild boar (a nice way of saying feral pigs), deer, rabbit and pheasant all become a staple for those who can both afford and stomach it. Wildschwein (the aforementioned wild boar) is probably the gateway meat into eating German game. While it tastes like normal pork meat, it's also a lot richer, leaner and has that earthy taste that's common with wild animals. It's the most free-range form of meat you can eat — so regardless of your squirms, give it a shot. Where to find it: Naturally, the culinary crux of Germany, Munich, homes many great traditional German restaurants that specialise in traditional hunting dishes. Restaurant Johannas at Hotel Neumayr is our hot pick. They serve wildschwein year-round, as well as deer, rabbit and pheasant seasonally. [caption id="attachment_550695" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Katrin Morenz via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] MARMORKUCHEN We know what you're thinking. That marmorkuchen is just a rainbow cake without the strawberry bit. Wrong. It's the softest, sweetest, most delicious cake this side of Europe — and lucky children all over Germany get to eat it everyday. Paired perfectly with a tea or coffee, marmorkuchen is kind of a like a butter-heavy tea cake that has the sweet tang of chocolate and, if you're lucky, an aftertaste of rum. It literally translates to marble cake, which every Aussie is probably already well familiar with. But it's different in Germany. It's better. But don't ask questions — just try for yourself. Where to find it: Naturally, Germany homes some of the best bakeries in the world, and it's in these you'll find the best marmorkuchen. If you're in Berlin, Konditorei Buchwald makes undoubtedly one of the best — and have done for over 160 years. [caption id="attachment_550693" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Oliver Hallmann via Flickr[/caption] RINDERROULADE Rinderroulade just screams German farming food. Normally served with potatoes and cabbage, the actual roulade is a thin piece of beef steak that's spread with hot mustard, bacon and pickles, then rolled up and cooked in a thick beef sauce. It's kind of like a really intense burger, minus the bread and cheese. The roulade is cooked in the sauce for a good hour or so to get that melt-in-your-mouth texture. Fillings for rinderroulade are endless, ranging from Asian to Mediterranean varieties, but if you're chasing the best, stick to the original German mustard filling. Where to find it: You'll find this meal at most traditional German restaurants. In Berlin, Kurhaus Korsakow is one of the most authentic, non-touristy German restaurants in trendy Friedrichshain, and happens do do a killer roulade. Top image: Dollar Photo Club
It's only been a couple of months since Doughnut Time brought their hand-dipped delights into our lives — and golly, what a few months it's been. The hole in the wall between Alfredo’s Pizzeria and Kwan Brothers on Alfred Street in Fortitude Valley still attracts lengthy lines in peak times, but as anyone who has devoured one of their artisan creations can attest, they're worth the wait. The days of standing in a queue to get your hands on these tasty morsels might be over though. In a reversal of the trend that is currently sweeping Brisbane and seeing everyone's favourite food trucks and market stalls opening permanent homes, Doughnut Time is going to take their deliciousness on the road. Within two weeks, you'll be able to greet the Doughnut Time Van as it traverses the city's streets in all its green glory. Where it will head is anyone's guess, but expect Brisbane's food truck events to start boasting a whole lot more sweet treats with names like Crème De La Crème, Ya Bacon Me Crazy, The Salty Dog and The Russell Crowe. If you're anything like us, your tummy is probably already rumbling at the thought of more iced, fried, doughy bliss. In the interim, you can keep an eye on the van's progress — and drool over some seriously top notch food porn — via Doughnut Time's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds.
Often stereotyped as the beverage of choice of sleazy drunken pirates and pina colada-sculling schoolies (in its coconut-flavoured form), rum is enjoying a bit of a renaissance at the moment. Even Scottish post-rockers Mogwai have jumped on board, crafting their own limited edition single cask Demerara variety. Frankly, for a beverage literally made from distilled sugar, we’re surprised it’s taken this long to catch on. Now, a clever team of bartenders from Australia’s largest rum bar Substation No. 41 have announced the launch of their own craft blend. Named for its electricity substation origins, Substation No. 41 is an expansive paradise for aficionados of the golden spirit. Housed within the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Queensland, it carries over 400 varieties of the stuff. In a matter-of-fact, very Queensland fashion, its new golden dark masterpiece takes the name Substation No. 41 Rum, and is made from local sugarcane molasses. “We wanted to use natural Queensland ingredients to create a high-quality Australian rum with an exceptional taste,” says Stuart Griffith, one of the creators and senior bartenders. No one’s disputing the sunshine state’s rep as the rum capital of the country, so it all seems like a logical step for these subject matter experts. Aged for a minimum of two years in oak barrels, the Substation blend reportedly carries floral aromas, with a butterscotch-slash-oaky flavour and hints of spice, vanilla and caramel. You can pick up a bottle from your local Dan Murphy’s now. As far as consumption goes, you’ve got three options: shake it up in a cocktail, mix it with ginger beer, or make like Jack Sparrow and chug it from the bottle sip it neat.
Every year in May, the biggest names in cinema descend upon the French Riviera for the Festival de Cannes. The glitziest and most prestigious film festival on the face of the planet, the 12-day event is a maddening mix of art, commerce and fantasy, where auteurs rub shoulders with A-list celebrities and masterworks light up the screen. This year's Cannes Film Festival featured a number of notable titles, including new efforts by some of the most fascinating filmmakers working in the medium today. Below, we've assembled a list of five exciting features we hope to see in Australian cinemas before too long. It's an eclectic mix, ranging from social realist dramas to violent thrillers set in the world of high fashion. And no, there's not a single superhero in sight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLEPQ9FYU0U I, DANIEL BLAKE When making a list of must see movies out of Cannes, the winner of the Palm d'Or seems like a pretty good place to start. The award for the best film in competition this year went to I, Daniel Blake, an unaffected drama about working class people caught in the dysfunctional British welfare system that reportedly reduced much of Cannes to tears. Of course, even if it hadn't won, the fact that was directed by master filmmaker Ken Loach would be enough to earn it a spot on this list. The 79-year-old's movies are notoriously depressing, so consider yourself forewarned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH-srjX2H1c THE NEON DEMON Nobody shoots violence with quite the same lurid style as Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. The man behind Drive and Only God Forgives, his latest film is being sold as a similarly bloody thriller about an aspiring model caught up in the cutthroat world of LA fashion. The cast is absolutely stupendous, with Elle Fanning supported by Jena Malone, Christina Hendricks, Bella Heathcote and Keanu Reeves. The trailers and promotional images, meanwhile, make the whole thing look utterly insane. Basically we're expecting either a work of genius or a hot mess. Either way, we can pretty much guarantee it won't be dull. IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD Anyone who saw Mommy knows that a new movie from Xavier Dolan is definitely worth getting excited about. It's Only the End of the World follows a terminally ill young writer as attempts to reconnect his family before he dies. The reviews out of Cannes have not been particularly strong. Actually, they've been kind savage. Still, after a run of great films that also includes Laurence Anyways and Tom at the Farm, we're willing to give the 27-year-old director the benefit of the doubt. Plus with a cast that includes Vincent Cassel, Lea Seydoux and Marion Cotillard, how bad could it possibly be? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Rxj9-RfRs THE HANDMAIDEN The Handmaiden is the new film from South Korea's Park Chan-wook, the genre-bending genius behind Oldboy, Joint Security Area and Thirst. After making his English-language debut with Stoker, Park returns to his native tongue with this stylish sapphic thriller set in 1930s Korea, about a pickpocket posing as an heiress' maid in order to steal her fortune. As with Neon Demon, the film's trailer is both gorgeous and nuts, which of course just makes us want to see it more. Here's hoping we'll get the chance before too long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-o5I5UWBh0 THE SALESMAN The final film on our list shapes up as rather more subdued, but that doesn't mean we're looking forward to it any less. The Salesman is the latest effort from Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, who won an Oscar for A Separation before travelling to Paris to shoot the similarly exquisite The Past. His new film sees him return to Tehran, and follows a couple whose lives are thrown into chaos after a seemingly random assault. Capable of weaving unbearable suspense from the simplest and most relatable of domestic situations – while at the same time shining a critical eye on issues of social inequality in modern day Iran – Farhadi is for our money one of the most gifted directors alive. Keep your eyes peeled for an Australian release date.
Maya Newell has joined the Tropfest judging panel on the eve of the 2016 festival. The director of the critically acclaimed documentary Gayby Baby will join actors Mel Gibson, Simon Baker and Rebecca Gibney, The Dressmaker director Jocelyn Moorhouse and Moulin Rouge! cinematographer Don McAlpine. Together, they will help decide the winner of the world's largest short film festival, which will take place this Sunday in Sydney's Centennial Parklands. Newell is the second last minute inclusion to the judging panel, following the surprise addition of Gibson – who is of course best known for his career as an actor and director as well as this long list of horrible public statements. Newell and her film were in the spotlight last year when the NSW government banned schools from screening the movie during class time. Jerks. Gibson, meanwhile, said he was "thrilled" to be joining Tropfest. "I know what it’s like to be starting out in this industry, in Australia, and what a big difference a break can make to a career," he said. "Tropfest has been doing an incredible job over the last 23 years as a platform for young filmmakers, and I’m absolutely delighted to support the great work Tropfest is doing." The panel of local actors and filmmakers will decide which of 16 short filmmakers takes home the festival's top prize, which includes $10,000 cash, a trip to Hollywood to meet with industry executives, a Nikon D800 digital camera along with $2000 worth of accessories, and a Hyundai Tuscon for a year. The festival also revealed its live music slate, featuring rock duo Winterbourne, DJ and singer KLP and The Preatures' vocalist Gideon Bensen. The announcement comes following a period of uncertainty for the iconic festival, which had a brush with death late last year after founder and festival John Polson discovered what he called "a terrible and irresponsible mismanagement of Tropfest funds" by a third party agency. The festival was briefly cancelled before receiving a financial lifeline from CGU insurance, although there are still some questions over the event's long term future. Polson recently announced that he had started a Pozible campaign to help ensure the festival remains free, although it has so far only raised a fraction of its intended $100,000 target. Maybe Mel can help. Tropfest will take place on February 14 in Centennial Parklands, with gates opening from 3pm. It will be broadcast around the country from 9pm AEDT. For more information go here. Updated: Saturday February 13.
The best thing about being an adult is that your Guess Who, Trivial Pursuit and Jenga sessions now come with a side of booze. While board games may seem like a 'night-in' option, it's sometimes nice to get out of the living room and head out — where someone else can pour the beers and hand-deliver the snacks. So gather a crew and roll the dice on Brisbane's best bars that include board game action (if you have no shame about throwing Monopoly-induced tantrums in public). ESCOBAR BAR & KITCHEN Pablo Cafe's younger and boozier brother is a favourite for New Farm locals, who know its courtyard is the best place to settle in for some craft beer and gourmet jaffle appreciation. Escobar's game collection is as extensive as its beer list, with plenty of old favourites piled onto a barrel in the centre of the room. There are $5 drink specials and live music on Sunday afternoons — a good time to relax for a few hours and embarrass everyone around you with that particularly disgusting Cards Against Humanity combo. 154 Merthyr Road, New Farm; (07) 3254 0788; www.escobarkitchen.com.au DUTCH COURAGE OFFICERS' MESS Tuesdays are 'Beer and Board Games' nights at this super classy specialty gin bar. Gather a crew to enjoy beer specials and Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Jenga, Taboo and more. The menu features bite-sized dishes such as cheese arancini, pork belly bites and buttermilk fried chicken — easy to pick up with one hand while rolling the dice in the other. Stick to the maritime theme with a James Squire Stowaway IPA, or delve into the bar's famously extensive gin list. 51 Alfred Street, Fortitude Valley; (07) 3852 4838; www.dutchcourage.com.au THE FLYING COCK This relative newcomer to the Valley has cemented its place as somewhere you can pretty much guarantee a good time. Alongside its trivia nights and events, you'll find a decent selection of games to play on the pub's huge wooden dining tables. The Cock's food menu is an homage to the humble chicken in burger, parmy, wings and barbeque form, with a well-priced beer and cocktails list to match. 388 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley; (07) 3172 6109; www.theflyingcock.com.au SOUTHSIDE TEA ROOM One of Brisbane's best suburban secrets, Southside Tea Room has grown from its cake-and-coffee roots into a multi-venue venture that also includes Death Valley Bar and the Red Robin Supper Truck. A round of Pictionary in the homely kitsch of the tea room can become a Yahtzee match in the craft beer garden, with a BBQ dog or Buffalo wings to keep you going into the night. 639 Wynnum Road, Morningside; (07) 3899 5859; www.southsidetearoom.com THE SCRATCH Milton's self-proclaimed dive bar really does feel like a friend's living room with its comfy retro furniture and rugs, so it's no surprise that Brisbanites flock here for a relaxed board game fix. The local craft beers on tap change regularly, with plenty of specialty and international bottled brews as well. The winning part is their BYO food policy — so you can create your own spread or even order in pizzas to enjoy alongside rounds of Uno. 8/1 Park Road Milton; (07) 3107 9910; www.scratchbar.com
A members-only cafe? Really? You've got to be bloody joking. TRIPE. Nope, it's a Thing — London's opened its very first members-only cafe, SL28, a Holloway coffee shop at which you pay a monthly membership fee to hang out. But it's not as ridiculously shut-the-front-door as it sounds, it's actually a pretty great concept for co-working. Pioneered by and located inside the HQ of a British working environment specialist company called Net.Works., SL28 is indeed a members-only cafe. It's £10 (about $14) a month for full membership, with which you're both allowed in the space and able to order unlimited £5 batch brew coffees — they even give you three free cups a month (which kind of makes the membership fee a little less flabbergaster-inducing). There are baked goods from Aux Pains de Papy, as well as soups, sandwiches and teas, which you can take to fixed-desk spaces, couches and armchairs. If you're still scoffing and ready to whip up an angry social media storm, there's a pretty good intention behind the whole members-only schtick. Basically, the crew want to provide a space for freelancers and collaborative workers to be able to stay for hours on end, whittling away at their projects — without getting shamed for lingering too long. Freelancers, you feel this? If you've ever worked purely from your laptop, you've been shooed away from free wifi cafes after a few hours, death stared from the counter, asked to pay for more bevs or get out. So this is a pretty great alternative; it's almost like a hot desk set-up that happens to be a cafe. The best bit? You'll have company, like this genius Hoffice concept. Hooray for friends! Surrounded by co-freelancers, students, laptop-bound creatives and general coffee enthusiasts, SL28 members have the warm fuzzy advantage of having active minds around them — as opposed to your ever-tempting PS4, loudly mowing neighbours and indifferent axolotl. We'd pay cash money for that. Via Sprudge. Images: Net.Works.
Sleeping under the stars on holiday is a romantic notion of old, taking us back to the days of our ancestors and bringing us closer to nature — that is, until nature finds its way into your campsite and rummages through all of your Tim Tams. Hotels and resorts around the world are finding creative ways to bring the open-air to you in style, allowing guests to embrace their surroundings in pure luxury. If you love glamping, you're going to go nuts for these five-starry retreats. [caption id="attachment_582573" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Atelier für Sonderaufgaben.[/caption] THE ONLY STAR IS YOU WHERE IN THE WORLD: Swiss Alps, Switzerland WHAT IT WILL COST: $310AUD per night Making headlines for the last couple of weeks, this brand new hotel in the Swiss Alps lets travellers experience a roofless, door-less and even wall-less night's stay — the luxury double bed is all that makes up this hotel 'room'. Be prepared to really immerse yourself in your surroundings, since the great outdoors will act as your bathroom and shower. This project comes as the antithesis to Null Stern Hotels' 2008 project, Zero Star Hotel, which was built in a nuclear bunker. THE LOISABA STARBEDS WHERE IN THE WORLD: Loisaba Conservancy, Kenya WHAT IT WILL COST: $300AUD per night Among Loisaba Conservancy's 56,000 acres of wildlife lies their Starbeds — handcrafted, four-poster beds which are wheeled onto raised wooden platforms. These are built into the rock face and offer unrestricted views of the African night sky, as well as the illusion of being suspended in mid-air. The communal area includes brass-fitted bathrooms, wooden decks and dining rooms, all overlooking the Kiboko Waterhole which is frequented by hippos and other wildlife. AMANGIRI WHERE IN THE WORLD: Canyon Point, Utah WHAT IT WILL COST: $3000AUD per night Open-air hotels don't get more glamorous, or pricier, than Amangiri. The 600-acres of protected desert is approximately two hours from the Grand Canyon. The resort is built into the rock-face for maximum exclusivity, with each suite offering indoor and outdoor sleeping arrangements. Travelling with friends? The four-bedroom mesa home includes a 15-metre private pool, fireplace, underfloor heating and personal bar, and will cost you a cool $12K per night. CABRIOLET ROOM WHERE IN THE WORLD: L'Albereta Resort, Italy WHAT IT WILL COST: $550 AUD per night If you're looking for romantic star gazing, nothing beats the Cabriolet room at L'Albereta, where a push of a button reveals a retractable roof and the gorgeous Italian night sky beyond. The plush canopy bed is only out-luxed by the marble-clad bathroom, which includes a hydro-massage tub. The views aren't limited to the stars, either — the balcony faces the resort's vineyards, as well as Lake Iseo. VIEW WITH A ROOM WHERE IN THE WORLD: Bangkok, Thailand WHAT IT WILL COST: $285 per night Bangkok Tree House is an eco-conscious, 12-room boutique located on the island of Bang Krachao, just outside the smog of Bangkok. The hotel takes us back to the basics, allowing visitors to sleep in a seven-metre-high, bamboo floored treehouse which is open to both the sky and surrounding mangroves. The showers are heated by the sun, and free homemade fruit ice cream is available 24/7. In this case, living out your childhood will also do some good — the hotel removes one kilogram of rubbish from the nearby Chao Phraya River with every booking made, having removed over 3000 kilograms of trash to date.
We've all heard tales of scaling Mount Everest – of the resilience and fortitude it takes to reach the highest point on Earth. But like so many other epic stories of man versus nature, it turns out the truth is a little bit more complicated. For every climber to make it to the summit, a team of Sherpa guides haul gear, food and oxygen up and down the treacherous terrain, risking their lives to help foreign visitors tick an item off their bucket list. Australian documentarian Jennifer Peedom is no stranger to the mountain or the Sherpa community, having worked as a camera operator on numerous Everest documentaries including the Discovery Channel's critically acclaimed Everest: Beyond the Limit. But in 2014 she returned to make a different kind of Everest movie, one that explored the growing tensions between the Sherpas, their employers and their wealthy Western patrons. Of course, Peedom couldn't have foreseen was what took place that year on April 14. An avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall claimed the lives of 16 guides in a single day — and suddenly all that resentment boiled over. The footage Peedom captured makes for some of the most incredible and uncomfortable viewing you'll experience in cinemas this year: a tense, troubling doco about industrial action at more than 17,000 feet. After considerable attention on the international festival circuit, including a win for Best Documentary at the BFI London Film Festival, Sherpa is now screening in select cinemas around Australia. In the lead up to the release, we spoke to Peedom about her intentions in making the film, delved into the uncomfortable whitewashing of Everest narratives, and discussed what needs to change on the mountain going forward. SHERPA ISN'T A FILM ABOUT CLIMBING EVEREST "I had access to the Sherpa community, and when you're a filmmaker, access is everything," explains Peedom. "When you're looking at what stories you want to tell, you often look in your own backyard, and I was looking right under my nose at a story that I knew pretty well, and felt needed to be told. It wasn't about going back to Everest — that was the last thing I felt like doing. But I felt really motivated to tell this story." "Ultimately it's an industrial dispute film. I never set out to make a climbing film. It was always a film about a people, and a culture, and an inherent conflict within a relationship. Everest was the backdrop. The ascent of Everest formed the spine of the story through which we could explore those tensions. And then when the avalanche happened, that became a different vehicle to explore those tensions." DISRUPTING THE HERO NARRATIVE For all the movies made about Everest, it's rare to see the Sherpa depicted as anything other than bit players. "It doesn't suit our ego," says Peedom. "It doesn't suit that hero narrative to say that someone carried all my stuff through the icefall, my oxygen was carried all the way to camp three, and I only had to carry the one bottle I was using, and blah blah blah. So much of the work, and so many of the risks, are taken by somebody else." "I spoke to this American guy who said that on average, five or six people are employed to get one person to the summit. That's kind of embarrassing to admit. People don't want other people to know that. And maybe it's a female perspective, but I just got sick of all these men taking credit for what other people had done." WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE? "David Michôd — the guy who directed Animal Kingdom, who is a really good friend of mine — said that what he loved about the film is how morally complex it is, and that was something that we worked really hard to achieve," says Peedom. "It would have been much easier to make goodies and baddies, but it just didn't feel honest. It would be wrong for me to say that everyone who goes to climb Everest is an idiot, because it's not the truth. Not only that, but it would be irresponsible, because the Sherpa community rely on that income." "One of the Sherpas says at the beginning of the film that everyone used to do the work together, the foreigners and the Sherpas. But now the Sherpas do all the work, and I guess that's what needs to change. Foreigners need to go with their eyes open. Don't bury your head in the sand about the fact that you're asking other people to take risks on your behalf. Be cognisant of that, and put pressure on your expedition leader to make sure they have proper insurance, and to make sure they're not carrying triple loads. And if the worst does happen and a Sherpa is killed, you probably do have a responsibility for his children's future and his family." https://vimeo.com/139654857 Sherpa is in cinemas now. Read our full review here.
After last week dropping a couple of new tracks from his forthcoming album Starboy, The Weeknd again has fans hopping with excitement, announcing the locations for four new pop-up stores around the world. The Canadian musician took to Twitter to reveal the locations of four more Starboy merch pop-ups: Tokyo, Toronto, Berlin and our very own Melbourne. They follow a round of stores that popped up in Miami, LA, New York, and London earlier this month. SEE YOU IN TORONTO pic.twitter.com/kF42jdlQXn — The Weeknd (@theweeknd) November 21, 2016 The Australian outpost will pop up in Melbourne Central this weekend, from November 25-27. Of course, if this retail venture proves to be anywhere near as insanely popular as Kanye's Pablo pop-ups, you'd best start lining up now. Find The Weeknd's Australian pop-up shop from November 25-27 at shop 239, level 2, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, 211 La Trobe Street, Melbourne. It will be open from 10am - 8pm on Friday, 10am - 6pm on Saturday and noon - 6pm on Sunday.
The sun is shining, your out of office is set and you've already spent a good amount of time curled up streaming tv shows. Now's the chance to catch up on your reading — so, find a shady spot on a beach, next to a pool or by a waterfall and start making your way through our favourite ten books of 2018. It's a mixed bag this year, we've been turning the pages of the latest brain-contorting Murakami novel, a chilling — real — look inside American prisons, a witty retelling of the Illiad and a homegrown memoir that's both moving and educational. Some of them are immersive, some of them knotty and uncomfortable, which makes them perfect for mulling over during the holidays, and provide flavourful fodder for otherwise bland Christmas dinner conversations. Take your pick. MILKMAN BY ANNA BURNS In search of a cerebral workout? Anna Burns' Milkman is just the ticket. The novel made her this year's Man Booker Laureate and continues the prize's trend of riving audiences into seemingly irreconcilable factions with its dense prose and no-easy-answers-given plot. There is its 18-year-old female protagonist, its undeclared always opaque setting (Belfast, in the 1970s), and its dearth of habitual interpretative signposts including paragraph breaks, dialogue and punctuation. But such a formalist echoing of the narrative's own syncopated and lacerated content (sexual harassment, the IRA, civil unrest and bombings) is meant to confound our ordinary ways of apprehending narratives, since these mechanisms fail or risk misconstruing tales of trauma. To truly enjoy the book, one must simply give oneself up to its paranoid, relentless cadence; its rules (or lack thereof). As Harriet Baker of the Times' Literary Supplement puts it, "Burns doesn't write about fear so much as create the experience of it." NORMAL PEOPLE BY SALLY ROONEY Sally Rooney's writing will make you feel lots of things. First, it will make you feel under-accomplished — she's just 27 and her new novel Normal People is not only her second, but is also so commended that it's been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Then, it will make you feel uncomfortable, empathetic, frustrated, hopeful and heartbroken. The Irish story follows Marianne and Connell's relationship from high school through to their mid-twenties, and, from each of their perspectives, explores the nuances of the power dynamics between them. From a literary point of view, it's easy to get through, but sometimes hard to digest — its relatability for anyone who's ever tried to navigate love and relationships can be, at times, exposing and confronting. Like her first novel Conversations with Friends, the book hinges on its excellent dialogue, which is fluid and effortless, and includes some of the most real and 'millennial' conversations in contemporary literature. Would recommend if you liked Girls but wished it was elevated to the standards of The New Yorker. KILLING COMMENDATORE BY HARUKI MURAKAMI You know you're reading a Murakami when a seemingly mundane situation — say, a recently divorced man painting a portrait — suddenly isn't so mundane anymore, and now you're asking an invisible man to help you save a young girl, probably a mental manifestation of your dead sister, who's lost in another dimension. And Killing Commendatore is a typical Murakami novel: the unnamed protagonist is a lonely young man and the book is filled with scenes that are both routine and brain contorting. While it can feel like a bit of a slog at 704 pages, there's enough Murakami mind-boggling to keep you interested — and a hilariously bad sex scene (which was shortlisted for a Bad Sex in Fiction Award) thrown in for good measure. And what better time to while a way a day with a lengthy novel than during the summer holidays. EGGSHELL SKULL BY BRI LEE The mark of a good book, in my opinion, is that it makes you either learn or feel something. This does both. Eggshell Skull is a memoir from Bri Lee tracking her year spent as a judges associate in the Queensland District Court, working mostly on sexual assault cases. Lee details the legal process and her experience within it, both professionally and personally, with brutal candour. In 370 pages, expect to feel a wide range of emotions — sadness, confusion, rage, shame — at how bafflingly unjust our legal system can be, particularly for women. ENIGMA VARIATIONS BY ANDRE ACIMAN If, like me, you only discovered André Aciman last year with the release of the film adaptation of his first novel Call Me By Your Name, you too may find yourself itching, or indeed aching, to read more of his work. Though its title appropriates the name of Edward Elgar's famed suite, Aciman's latest effort bears a rather 'enigmatic' relationship to those glorious pieces of music (they are never mentioned in the text, but without saying too much, there are a number of textured thematic coalescences). As was assuredly the case with Call Me By Your Name, the estival settings of a number of Enigma Variations' sections make it the perfect companion for a lazy sun-dappled afternoon beneath a tree, cider or other appropriate beverage in hand. CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN BY SAYAKA MURATA Best-selling Japanese author Sayaka Murata's English-language debut is a quietly brilliant critique of late-capitalist culture and society. In particular, it addresses the conformism that this system often demands and perpetuates. Her novel never moralises nor condemns the choices of those who do conform in order to get by, but it certainly penetrates its subject with fluorescent lighting of a convenience store. Told through the eyes of its 36-year-old protagonist Keiko Furukura who, realising at an early age that society has only disdain for figures of alterity, has pursued anonymity by working at the same convenience store for the last 18 years. And so Convenience Store Woman performs that rare literary art of de-familiarisation: what Keiko finds at the store, appositely named Smile Mart, are purpose and a place of belonging. Her boss furnishes her with a manual (more of a script, in the theatrical sense, actually) and a uniform. Keiko's humble hard-working existence then is neither to be transcended nor deified. Instead, it offers her a vantage point from which to call into question the arbitrary rules of society: she is the social misfit who aspires to, and in her perfection thereof, defamiliarises the coordinates of conformity. This de-familiarisation is also achieved through Murata's fabulous characterisation of Keiko as someone to whom society's mores seem impenetrable and amusing ("Good, I pulled off being a 'person,'" she says). At this time of the year, this novel invites us to recognise the ways in which convenience is almost always a chimera of ease made possible by the invisible labour of others. THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS BY PAT BARKER With a title that speaks volumes, Pat Barker's retelling of the Iliad is the summer must-read book for all of us out there who sat through Classical Studies wondering, and what about the women? (Not just the regal Helens, mind you, the other women). Barker (re)narrates The Trojan Wars from the perspective of a female slave, Briseis. (In Homer's original, Briseis is less a character than a plot point; a princess-turned-trophy). This is of course an 'impossible' history, since such a woman as Barker's protagonist would have been deprived of all means of inscribing her voice into history. She acknowledges this, saying: "We need a new song." In this the novel gets right to the heart of the matter that history's structure and shape often exclude women 'before the fact,' since 'feminine' expression is often understood to be subjective, unreliable, and the like. But why do we deem 'masculine' modes more objective? Barker has to imagine — and does so admirably well — what the idiom of a woman whose body is fought over by two Greek soldiers would have looked like. And so from the beginning of her narration, Briseis deconstructs masculinist history: "Great Achilles [...] Brilliant Achilles, shining Achilles, godlike Achilles…How the epithets pile up. We never called him any of those things; we called him 'the butcher.'" AMERICAN PRISON: A REPORTER'S UNDERCOVER JOURNEY INTO THE BUSINESS OF PUNISHMENT BY SHANE BAUER Like the collocation of the words 'business' and 'punishment' in its title, Shane Bauer's fascinating book-length work of investigative journalism should unsettle you. Yes, it's about American prisons, one if we're to be as objective as possible, but in case you should naively believe that we in Australia live in some antipodean paradise, let us remember that private for-profit prisons exist here too and continue to treat inmates appallingly. Bauer's perspective is all the more fascinating when we turn to his biography: he was imprisoned for two years in Iran, and wrote about this elsewhere (A Sliver of Light, 2014). Now, in American Prison, he writes about his four months tenure as a guard in a private prison (he infiltrated Louisiana's Winn Correctional Center). Understaffed, underpaid, with cut-throat budgets for inmates and prison guards alike, such institutions ensure anyone who wasn't a fully fledged criminal when they went in, will almost certainly be one when, or if, they get out (setting a prisoner is free is almost always detrimental to a prison corporation's bottom line). Bauer notes how insidious the late-capitalist mechanisms that wear down bodies are, writing that "to treat everyone as human takes too much energy. More and more I focus on proving I won't back down." This book will likely leave you feeling enraged — I for one believe that's a good thing. SMALL FRY BY LISA BRENNAN-JOBS Steve Jobs has been firmly deified by society, not least of all by predominantly young male techies. It seems we're always willing to excuse behaviours in a 'genius' that would be immediately recognisable elsewhere as rather sociopathic. Sometimes these behaviours even receive the euphemistic title of 'eccentricities'. In her controversial memoir Small Fry, Lisa Brennan-Jobs supplements the public persona of her father with that of the private one she knew (or hardly knew, he denied he only recognised her as his own daughter when sued by the government for failure to pay child support). It would be too forgiving, though, to say that this somehow humanises the godly Jobs. But nor is Small Fry a tell-all work of scandal or revelation. As one reviewer put its, "Brennan-Jobs's book seems more wounded than triumphant; it can feel like artfully sculpted scar tissue." To say more here would be to spoil this enthralling work of autobiography. NO FRIEND BUT THE MOUNTAINS: WRITING FROM MANUS PRISON BY BEHROUZ BOOCHANI Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani has been detained on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, which was, until last year, one of Australia's offshore refugee detention centres — or as Boochani calls it "a prison" — for five years. While he's been there, he's written damning articles for The Saturday Paper and The Guardian, among others, and a book: No Friend But the Mountains. He wrote it, not on paper or a computer, but "thumbed on a phone and smuggled out of Manus Island in the form of thousands of text messages". The book is blistering in its condemnation of Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and, at the same time, poetic. Boochani weaves together, and juxtaposes, lyrical verse describing another time and place with disturbing scenes from the present: attempted suicides, violence, hunger. Boochani gives a voice, and a face, to the refugees that Australia's government tries so hard to silence. Words by Leah Lynch, Lauren Vadnjal, Melanie Colwell and Samantha Teague.
