Something to Do Every Day in Melbourne This Week

Prepare to step inside the mind of a cinematic genius. It’s a big call, sure, but when it comes to David Lynch, it’s true. No one makes movies or TV shows quite like the man who brought us Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and a little series called Twin Peaks, and we mean no one.

Don’t just take our word for it, however. Experience his movie marvels for yourself as part of The Astor’s celebration of his work. The Chapel Street cinema is diving deep into his distinctive audiovisual catalogue, screening every feature he has ever made on Monday nights — with Mulholland Drive doing the honours tonight.

When Toko closed in Prahan, Tokosan took its place — with a focus on cocktails, karaoke and a casual Japanese snack menu. It also brought with it something to make both your stomach and your wallet happy. On Tuesdays, it hones in on sushi of endless supplies for just $20.

There’s a selection of rolls and temaki — and options for vegetarians, too — so gather the gang for a cheap feast. And if you haven’t been to the venue before, Tokosan’s outdoor lounge courtyard is a pretty good place to make your debut. Doors open at 5pm and, to sweeten the deal, a happy hour with $10 cocktails and $5 beer and wine runs until 7pm.

Until the end of July, Melbourne’s newly minted hawker-style market is home to an ace savoury-sweet combo, with Gelato Messina making its CBD debut alongside bun aficionados Wonderbao. Patrons can devour a special collab dessert called Duck a L’orange — a decadent duck fat and caramel-filled bao doughnut served with orange gelato.

Plus, Messina has done away with the simple scoop model for this pop-up, serving a plated menu of five gelato cake creations in single-serve miniature form. On the Wonderbao side of things, the eatery’s famed steamed buns are front-and-centre, of course, in a menu exclusive to HWKR — complete with three DIY bao kits, including crackling pork belly, crispy roast duck with XO sauce and spicy green chicken curry.

Writing a memoir in one’s 20s — not an unprecedented move. What with a majority of Australians participating in the mass autobiography project known as social media, it’s a move that also might be written off as millennial brattiness. It’s not that Natalie Yang, the protagonist of new play Going Down by writer Michele Lee, doesn’t have a good story to tell, it’s just not the one rural Victoria was expecting — or particularly wants to hear. Natalie’s book Banana Girl is kind of about her migrant experience, but it’s mainly concerned with her many and varied sexual experiences. It’s also not selling particularly well.

Originally conceived as a culturally diverse riff on Sex and the City, Going Down is also Lee’s attempt to deepen our understanding of what it’s like to leave one country for another. But the show is foremost a comedy in the vein of Girls or Broad City, and it’s taking over The Malthouse until Sunday, June 3.

There’s nothing like watching a film at the planetarium, but it’s something most of us don’t do all that often. Or, it wasn’t until now. Thanks to Scienceworks’ late-night series, once the planetarium’s usual daytime Friday program has finished, adults can have fun in its impressive space.

That means sitting in the reclining chairs, looking up at the 16-metre domed ceiling, listening to the 7.1 surround sound system and soaking in the best the full-dome video projection system has to offer. Making things even better is the fact that the whole thing is booze-friendly, so you can grab a drink from the bar, take it into the auditorium and sip while you watch.

When Lewis Carroll first sent Alice down the rabbit hole back in 1865, he couldn’t have guessed just where she’d end up. Like in Melbourne, where the Australian Centre for the Moving Image is paying tribute to all things Alice in Wonderland. The centre’s major exhibition for the year, it’s a world-premiere event crafted and curated by ACMI, and it’s on display until October 7.

Proving a date you don’t want to be late for, fans can follow Alice on her voyage through more than 40 cinema and 30 television versions, as well as through popular culture in general. Spanning her first big screen appearance in 1903 to 2016’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, the exhibition steps through her different guises and the technologies that have brought her story to life — all in an interactive, experiential way. This includes animation, puppetry, live-action cinema, video games, CGI, 3D and more, as well as playful environments, digital activities and behind-the-scenes glimpses.

For the third year in a row, the Australian Red Cross has partnered with Uber for its annual Uber x Red Cross clothing drive  — and you’d best take the drive part literally. The ride-sharing service will actually drive to your house, pick up your unwanted clothes and deliver them to the nearest Red Cross. Even better — it’s not only super easy to take part, but it’s free as well.

If you’re a resident of Melbourne’s CBD and surrounding suburbs, just make sure you’re ready between 12pm and 4pm on Sunday, June 3. Once you’ve bagged up all of your old bits and pieces (items you’d happily give your best friend, but no toys, books, furniture or electrical objects), it’s all incredibly simple. Open the Uber app during that four-hour window, find the Red Cross Clothing Drive card, tap ‘request’ and confirm your pickup location. An Uber driver will then stop outside your house, meaning that you just need to take your preloved goods out to their car. Voila, you’ve cleared out your closet and you’ve helped folks in need, all with the tap of a button.