Since airing a year ago, The Handmaid's Tale has become the most watched series in the history of SBS On Demand, with over 26-million chapter views. It has also nabbed eight Emmy and two Golden Globe awards, including one for Best Television Series and Best Actress in a Television Series Drama. Now, the wildly popular and horribly disturbing series is back for season two. The 13-episode season will premiere on Thursday, April 26 at 8.30pm with a special double episode airing on both SBS and SBS On Demand. Thankfully, this is only hours after season two hits Hulu in the US. For those who somehow managed to avoid binge watching season one, here's a bit of background — but beware, there are spoilers ahead. Created by Bruce Miller (Eureka, The 100), the series is based on the award-winning novel by Margaret Atwood. It follows a dystopian near-future New England where a totalitarian Christian theonomy has overthrown the US government, now called the Gilead. The series centres around the life of Offred (Elisabeth Moss), who, along with the country's few remaining fertile women, is forced into sexual servitude as a 'handmaid' to the ruling elite. The end of season two sees Offred falling pregnant and being dragged off to the back of a van — quite the nail-biting cliffhanger. This season will focus on Offred's pregnancy and her ongoing fight against the Gilead. The provoking and disturbingly relevant series explores themes of women's rights and governmental control, which are all too timely and downright believable for comfort right now. If you haven't managed to watch season one yet, it's currently available to binge on SBS On Demand. Get watching.
Google are very cunning. They have a plan for you and I. They know that we have been ruining our eyesight for years by reading Buzzfeed lists in tiny font on our phones. They know that non-prescription glasses are the trademark of the much-maligned hipster. So they've done the inevitable and finally released a range of new Google Glass styles which, though no Ray Bans or Warby Parkers, are at least vaguely wearable, and can actually help you see. What are the new options? There are four titanium frame styles with slick names (Bold, Curve, Split and Thin), five colours, clear lenses and shades in two tints. We also have a lookbook full of languidly beautiful girls and boys wearing these things like it's completely natural. Wear prescription Google Glass down to the cafe, wear them on your bike, wear them to the opera — no one's going to laugh at you. Hopefully. Another insidious advantage of prescription Google Glass? We will be less jarred by the sight of smart-glasses on the face of someone who we know wears glasses anyway — at least, this is the fervent hope of Glass product director Steve Lee. So what's the price tag? The $225 prescription is small fry on top of the $1500 entry fee for accessing the Explorer program. It takes a specially trained optometrist to fit the prescription, and currently qualified optometries can only be found in LA, San Francisco and New York. Limitations exist for prescriptions beyond a certain range (+4 and -4). Once you add the complexity of bifocals and trifocals to the mix, prescription Google Glass has some way to go. Public availability is slated for late 2014, when Glass will finally become a customisable lifestyle tool. What's annoying is knowing that by 2020 or sooner, Google Glass won't look nearly so clunky; you probably won't even know someone's got a computer hidden in their lenses. Meanwhile, we who favour Dame Edna cat-eye vintage frames purloined from street stalls and optometrists' back rooms will have to wait a bit longer for our perfect Glass moment. Via Dezeen.
When Wine Machine and Snow Machine first popped up, pairing vineyards and alpine settings with live tunes, one of each event's big drawcards was right there in their names. Dream Machine's moniker isn't quite as descriptive; however, it still sets the scene. Fancy hitting up a music festival in a tropical setting? That's on the bill at this dream event — including in 2023. Dream Machine first took place early in 2022, at a secluded beachside resort in The Whitsundays, after initially planning to go ahead in 2021 but getting waylaid by the pandemic. For its next event from Thursday, June 8–Monday, June 12, it's still going tropical, this time in Nusa Dua in Bali. If you've been longing to hear your favourite tunes while surrounded by your friends and while taking a trip to a beachside resort in Indonesia, this fest has you covered. 2023's dest will take place over a five-day, four-night run again, too, and bring together a hefty lineup of must-see talent. On up the party-forward bill: 1300, Boy & Bear, Client Liaison, Girl Talk, San Cisco, Spacey Jane, Sycco and Vera Blue, as well as Harvey Sutherland and Peking Duk hitting the decks for DJ sets. Yes, the list goes on. If the simple activity of grooving to tunes in tropical surroundings, including by the pool and ocean, isn't enough motivation for you, festival-goers will have a range of resorts to choose from in the fest's ticket package options. Keen to treat yo'self to a beachfront stay? You can add that to your itinerary. At the 2022 event, you could also enjoy other activities, such as kayaking, paddle boarding, jet skiing and waterside cocktails — fingers crossed they're on the roster as well. [caption id="attachment_873059" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sam Hendel[/caption] Unsurprisingly, this isn't a cheap festival to attend, but accommodation, transfers and festival tickets are all included in the fest packages. Folks feeling particularly flush can also upgrade their tickets to gain VIP access to the festival's compound to watch the main stage shows, where there'll be a cocktail bar, chill zone, table service, fancy toilets and sit-down dinner options. And, you'll score luxury airport transfer upgrades and access to an exclusive pool party at Manarai Beach Club, complete with special guest DJs. DREAM MACHINE 2023 LINEUP: 1300 Boy & Bear Client Liaison Girl Talk (USA) Groove City Harvey Sutherland (DJ Set) Holy Holy Hot Dub Time Machine Illy Jimi The Kween Ldru Mell Hall Northeast Party House Peking Duk (DJ Set) San Cisco Sideboob Spacey Jane Stace Cadet Sycco Tori Levett Tyson O'brien Vera Blue Winston Surfshirt Dream Machine takes place from Thursday, June 8–Monday, June 12 at Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, with pre-sales from 6pm AEDT on Tuesday, October 18 and general sales from 12pm AEST on Wednesday, October 19 via the festival's website. Dream Machine images: Brittany Long / Pat Stevenson. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world. That includes a Bali escape surrounded by nature, if you're keen to extend your stay around Dream Machine,
When the long-awaited sequel to Black Panther hits cinemas, one thing will obviously be different, with star Chadwick Boseman sadly passing away in 2020. Just what that means for the series is yet to be announced — but Disney, the company behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has revealed that it'll be returning to Wakanda more than once in the near future. It's very likely that Black Panther II will be another enormous hit, and that more movies will follow. But the Mouse House's latest announcement actually involves broadening the Black Panther world, rather than just continuing it. That's slated to happen via a just-announced new spinoff series for Disney+, which'll be based in the Kingdom of Wakanda. What it'll be about, which characters will feature and who will star in the show all haven't been revealed. Neither has a name for the series, in fact. Still, the new program will hail from writer/director/producer Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed the original Black Panther film — and will do the same on the upcoming follow-up flick. All three of Coogler's movies to-date — Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther — have featured Michael B Jordan, so you have reason enough to start dreaming about his involvement in the new Wakanda series. Of course, the events of Black Panther might seem to preclude that, but the MCU has been known to get playful when it wants to bring its star talent back (see also: WandaVision). Interestingly, Jordan told People magazine in late January that he'd be open to returning to the franchise if he was asked. Coogler's company, Proximity Media, has signed a deal with Disney to develop multiple new television series, so you can look forward to more than one new project with his involvement — although only one linked to Black Panther has been announced. Whenever it joins your streaming queue, the Wakanda show will join a growing list of new TV series set within the MCU. The aforementioned WandaVision is streaming now, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier launches in March, Loki is set to follow in May, and others about Hawkeye, Ms Marvel, She-Hulk and more are also on Disney+'s upcoming slate. For now, while you're awaiting your return trip to Wakanda, you can check out the trailer for the original Black Panther film below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU Disney+'s new series set in Wakanda doesn't yet have a release date — or a title. We'll update you when further details are announced. Via Marvel. Images: Marvel Studios.
When it starred Lindsay Lohan (Falling for Christmas) making her film debut in dual roles in the late 90s, and when Hayley Mills (The Wheel of Time) was doing double duty back in the 60s as well, The Parent Trap told of identical twins who were separated at birth when their mother and father divorced. Each parent gained custody of a baby, then raised the child separately. Never did the sisters cross paths until a summer camp years later, where they realised their connection, then hatched a plan to reunite their family by posing as each other back home. The tale springs from the page, with German novel Lisa and Lottie also inspiring adaptations in its homeland, Japan, the UK, India and Iran. The Olsen twins' It Takes Two owes it a debt, too. But there's never been a version of this story like Josh Sharp (Search Party) and Aaron Jackson's (Broad City) iteration, as first seen onstage in Fucking Identical Twins and now in cinemas as Dicks: The Musical. So absurdly its own ridiculous, raucous, irreverent and raunchy thing, calling Dicks: The Musical exuberantly unhinged — or anything, really — doesn't do it justice. Before this A24 release brought its sibling antics to the big screen with singing, dancing, Megan Mullally (Party Down) and Nathan Lane (Beau Is Afraid) as its long-split parents, Borat and Brüno director Larry Charles behind the camera, Brisbane-born Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang as drama-loving gay God and Megan Thee Stallion busting out a mid-movie tune, Fucking Identical Twins was a two-man production that premiered in 2014 to must-see success. Created at Upright Citizens Brigade, which was co-founded by Amy Poehler (Moxie), the then half-an-hour affair first filled a basement and now rises to share its delirium with the film-watching world. Leading the way in every guise: Sharp and Jackson, who definitely aren't twins let alone brothers, don't look a thing alike, yet know how to take audiences on a helluva wild ride. Sharp's Craig and Jackson's Trevor do have plenty in common in Dicks: The Musical's narrative, however, with both slick salesman slinging Vroomba vacuum parts who could slide into American Psycho, dripping with toxic alpha-male pride, bragging about their heterosexual prowess and, despite their professional successes and ample posturing, plagued by loneliness. As the feature kicks into gear, they're also new colleagues after their respective offices merge, which they're not initially happy about. Then the instant jostling to be seen as the company's top seller gives way to recognition when they glean that they're actually identical twins. Both yearning for the childhood with two parents and a brother that they missed, they plot to bring their mother Evelyn (Mullally) and father Harris (Lane) back together. But when Craig poses as Trevor, he doesn't know that their dad is obsessed with two creatures that he calls Sewer Boys, and has also recently come out. And when Trevor pretends to be Craig, he no idea that their mum doesn't leave the house or has a lusty penchant for inanimate objects. From the moment that Dicks: The Musical begins with a title card explaining that its two gay writers and stars are playing straight men in the movie, and also espousing their bravery for doing to, there's no room for mistaking Sharp and Jackson's film for anything but a gleefully OTT satire. Subtlety has no room when the first image that the feature shows is the faces of its orgasming protagonists. Nuance has no place when the picture's initial musical number is about having massive penises, as well as separate mansions for sex and masturbation, either. While writing both Fucking Identical Twins and Dicks: The Musical, if Sharp and Jackson — plus composers Karl Saint Lucy (returning from the stage) and Marius de Vries (Navalny) — were trying to one-up each scene, tune and joke with the next, it wouldn't come as a shock. Before the flick is out, there'll be genitals kept in a handbag, other than when they're flying, for instance. And those diaper-wearing mutants from below that even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would run from? Resembling demonic gremlins, with one voiced by SpongeBob SquarePants' Tom Kenny (so, yes, SpongeBob himself), they're fed regurgitated food from Harris like baby birds. Performative masculinity might be the obvious target, and a worthy one, but barbs are clearly and eagerly fired in other directions. Dicks: The Musical's own distributor isn't safe. Neither is queer culture, the film's second main subject for parody; "Lube is the word," one of the feature's gag posters for faux Broadway shows states (My Queer Lady and The Gay Odd Couple are others) in what might be the movie's tamest joke. There's a throw-it-all-in vibe to Dicks: The Musical, then, where that one-upping quest frequently seems as if it's driving the flick above all else. Dicks: The Musical only spans 86 minutes, but even viewers unfamiliar with Fucking Identical Twins will be able to spot how well the material would've worked at a third of that length — and, as a result, how forceful much of the movie can be, and not just because that's exactly what Sharp, Jackson and their cast are giving in every single moment. That said, when a comedy turns its outrageousness up to 111, it needs one thing first and foremost: committed players. Dicks: The Musical's actors don't even dream of holding back and couldn't have if they wanted to — that version wouldn't have made it to fruition. There was no chance of Sharp and Jackson not investing their all in their film debut, of course, or in bringing their creation to cinemas, just as they've done with the script's constant array of off-kilter and iconoclastic gags. Megan Thee Stallion not only steals her office-bound scenes, but also ensures that her tune 'Out Alpha the Alpha' is the highlight of the musical numbers. Yang is perfection. Lane and Mullally expectedly prove genius casting moves, because who else would anyone want to sing about critters from the deep drinking blood for fun and winking nipples — and with feeling? Surreal, silly, aiming for scandalous, always throwing another provocative surprise the audience's way, emphasising loving people (and Sewer Boys) for who they are above all else: that's the Dicks: The Musical approach. Still, it's apt that Charles energetically splashes an artificial look across the screen. Making the bit seem genuine might be the tactic with most of his Sacha Baron Cohen-led fare (not The Dictator), and while helming episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it would've seen this film plummet down a grate. Accordingly, with its blatant sets and puppetry, at no point does Dicks: The Musical try to hide that this is a spoof world. There's a fabricated air overall, though; even when you're laughing, it's impossible not to spy the effort being expended like twins endeavouring to make a ploy a reality, this time on courting cult status.
Before getting a glimpse into everyone else's lives was as simple as logging into your social-media platform of choice, a game arrived that let its players do something similar with computerised characters. A spinoff from SimCity and its city-building follow-ups, The Sims allows whoever is mashing buttons to create and control virtual people, then step through their existence. First hitting in February 2000, it has spawned three sequels, plus a whole heap of expansion and compilation packs for each — and online, console and mobile versions as well. A quarter of a century since its debut, The Sims still keeps dropping new releases. To mark its 25th birthday, there's now The Sims: Birthday Bundle. That's one way to celebrate the game's latest anniversary. Here's another: stepping inside a three-day Australian pop-up dedicated to the beloved life simulator, which is heading to Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image from Friday, February 21–Sunday, February 23, 2025. Despite The Sims' more-recent titles, thinking about the game usually means thinking about the 2000s. So, this pop-up is taking that truth to heart by celebrating the Y2K era, too. Going along involves entering inside a 2000s-era pre-teen bedroom that's been decked out by Josh & Matt Design with all of the appropriate touches. Yes, it'll be nostalgic. Yes, there'll be CD towers and blow-up couches, just to name a few decor choices. The pop-up will also feature free stations where you can play The Sims: Birthday Bundle, if the best way for you to commeroate the occasion is by diving into the franchise virtually. In addition, there'll also be a free panel about the game on the Saturday, with speakers including Josh & Matt Design's Josh Jessup and Matt Moss — who are big The Sims fans — and EA/Firemonkeys' Simulation Division General Manager Mavis Chan. "As Australia's home of videogames, ACMI is so chuffed to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Sims! For 25 years, The Sims has provided a platform for so many kinds of imaginative play for multiple generations, allowing them to achieve great feats of digital architecture, guide their Sims to dizzying success — or cruelly remove their pool ladders. With each new expansion and sequel, The Sims has expanded its complex social world, reflecting changes to real-life society, and facilitating even more forms of self-expression in its passionate player base," said ACMI Curator Jini Maxwell, announcing the pop-up. "As a long-term Sims player myself, I'm so thrilled to celebrate the game's cultural legacy and personal significance in this event and free talk hosted by ACMI." EA Presents The Sims 25 is popping up from Friday, February 21–Sunday, February 23 at ACMI, Federation Square, Melbourne — head to the venue's website for more details.
International hotel brands that ooze that cool industrial aesthetic naturally choose to set up shop in Melbourne before other Australian cities. We just got the first Australian StandardX in Fitzroy, and now The Hoxton has announced it will launch in Melbourne sometime in 2027. It's still a long while away, but The Hoxton will take up residence within Cremorne's Matchworks Precinct and have the same open-door lobby atmosphere that the group has become well known for. The original hotel in London's Shoreditch has always been a thriving hub for creatives and start-ups, with the lobby regularly packed out with folks working and networking late into the night. The Hoxton team will endeavour to emulate that in Melbourne by setting up a whole host of drinking and dining destinations, including an all-day diner, cafe, bar and restaurant. [caption id="attachment_930497" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Hoxton Williamsburg[/caption] Beyond that, there'll be a generous 198 rooms spread out over several floors, ranging in size and amenities. There'll also be a special events space called The Apartment, which is centred around a communal pantry. Setting up in Cremorne also make a lot of sense for the brand, as the warehouse-laden suburb is booming right now, with offices, wine bars and galleries popping up all over the place. The Founder and Co-CEO of Ennismore Sharan Pasricha shared, "We are delighted to bring The Hoxton to Australia for the first time. As free-spirited as it is sophisticated, Melbourne has been in our sights for a long time for The Hoxton, and Cremorne is a perfect fit for the brand. "Our guests and brand followers have long been asking for a Hoxton in Australia, and we're thrilled to finally make it happen in a brilliant building steeped in history and started life as a matchstick factory. We look forward to making our guests feel at home while discovering the very best of our new neighbourhood." [caption id="attachment_903148" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Hoxton Shoreditch[/caption] The Hoxton Melbourne is slated to open in 2027, and will be found at 560 Church Street, Cremorne. For more information, you can visit the group's website.
From FernGully: the Last Rainforest to Moana — and including everything from Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke to Pixar's Wall-E, too — many an animated movie has combined stunning frames with a stirring message about the environment. Add new Irish film Wolfwalkers to the list, with the gorgeous feature heading to Apple TV+ this year and likely to become your next favourite animated flick. Story-wise, the film follows a young wannabe hunter by the name of Robyn Goodfellowe (voiced by Honor Kneafsey). In a tale set centuries ago, she moves to Ireland with her father Bill (Sean Bean) when he's hired to eradicate the last wolf pack lurking in the woods. The locals, as overseen by an English Lord Protector (Simon McBurney), want to wipe out the wolves so that they can tear down the forest in the name of progress. But, after sneaking out to go exploring, Robyn befriends a girl called Mebh (Eva Whittaker) who just might be a member of a mythical tribe that's able to shapeshift into wolves while they're dreaming. As well as a rousing eco-conscious narrative, Wolfwalkers serves up distinctive, eye-catching animation — as its first teaser trailer makes plain. Expect earthy, natural colours, with greens, browns, oranges and yellows dancing across the screen. Expect a line-heavy animation style, too, which is almost reminiscent of woodblock prints. None of the above should come as a surprise given the film's roster of talent — including Tomm Moore, director of Oscar-nominated and equally stunning duo The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea. He co-directs with a veteran of both movies, with Ross Stewart working as the art director of the former and a concept artist on the latter. Wolfwalkers is also the latest feature produced by the Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon, which also has the similarly Academy Award-nominated The Breadwinner on its resume. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, just when Wolfwalkers will hit Apple TV+ is yet to be revealed, other than it'll drop sometime later in 2020. And, obviously, whether Game of Thrones star Bean will survive in his latest role is something that you'll only find out by watching. Check out the teaser trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj72cf3x5KM&feature=youtu.be Wolfwalkers is set to hit Apple TV+ sometime later in 2020 — we'll update you with an exact release date when one is announced.
Please allow us to introduce Australia's next big pop culture exhibition: Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Exhibit. Firmly focused on the British rockers that are still starting things up 56 years after first forming, the touring showcase makes its Aussie debut at the Sydney International Convention Centre. After premiering in London, then heading to New York and Nashville, it'll bring more than 500 Stones items to our shores between November 17, 2018 to February 3, 2019. Attendees will be able to get some satisfaction thanks to an enormous array of objects and memorabilia, including a vintage guitar gallery, a number of rare instruments, the band's lyric books, plus all kinds of backstage and touring paraphernalia, album art. If you've ever wanted to read Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and company's personal diaries and letters, they'll feature as well, alongside Stones photography and examples of their stage design. Given the group's considerable longevity, one section of the exhibition will focus on five decades of their outfits — and yes, you can expect more than just Jagger's leather pants. On display will be articles from designers such as Alexander McQueen, Prada, Dior, Gucci, Hedi Slimane, Ossie Clark and L'Wren Scott, not only charting Stones history but fashion over the same period. Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Exhibit also includes 190 original artworks, with everyone from Andy Warhol to Shepard Fairey to Robert Frank involved with or taking inspiration from the band over the years — and doing more than just painting things black. Because no huge music exhibition is complete unless it makes you feel like you're at a gig in some way, Stones aficionados will get what they want (and what they need as well) thanks to interactive sound mixing decks and a recording studio, videos throughout the displays and a screening cinema with narration by Martin Scorsese. Also featured is an immersive backstage recreation, which leads visitors to a 3D concert finale. If you're a fan of the band, wild horses probably wouldn't drag you away from a showcase that Jagger describes as both an event and an experience. "It's about a sense of The Rolling Stones — it's something we want people to go away talking about it," he explains. For Richards, "while this is about The Rolling Stones, it's not necessarily only just about us. It's also about all the paraphernalia and technology associated with a group like us". Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Exhibit displays at the Sydney International Convention Centre (ICC) from November 17, 2018 to February 3, 2019. For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.stonesexhibitionism.com.
For many, the rise in cost of living has made fancy dinners out a thing of the past — or at least a thing on hold, until things improve. Pinchy's, the CBD's pink paean to lobster rolls, has decided to offer a helping hand. Throughout autumn and winter, the eatery is bringing you affordable seafood specials every night of the week. Head in on Monday for all-you-can-eat mussels and chips for $30, or on Tuesday for half-price tacos packed with your choice of king crab, tuna, fish, or spicy chicken. Come Wednesday, you'll be chowing down on half-price lobster rolls, before returning on Thursday for more lobster in the form of linguine at 25 bucks a plate. Between 4–7pm on Friday, there'll be half-price oysters, wine and cocktails soundtracked by DJs, while Saturday is dedicated to surf 'n' turf. That means half-price wagyu and lobster burgers, alongside half-price cocktails. Finally, if you want to put cooking firmly off the agenda on a Sunday, swing by for half-price fish and chips. Pinchy's regulars will know that whichever night you go and whatever you order, the servings will be generous and the seafood fresh and tasty.
While Australia pushes back the prospect of a high-speed rail (presumably for infinity), Elon Musk has been doing his usual incredible genius thing and has come up with his own high-speed transport system. Although it's not a train — it's a large, human-fitting pneumatic tube. And it looks like it's about to become a reality. After first proposing the high-speed, compressed air-powered Hyperloop back in 2012 and establishing a headquarters in March last year, the Tesla, PayPal and Zip2 cofounder has now announced his plans to start erecting a five-mile test track in California. Their building company, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, has filed for construction permits in the Quay Valley. And if all goes to plan, the Hyperloop could be taking passengers as early as 2018. That means 2018 could officially be the future. Described by Musk as a “cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table,” the proposed Hyperloop system would consist of a long route of elevated vacuum-sealed steel tubes, through which pressurised capsules ride cushions of air at speeds of up to 1220km/h. Just like Futurama. Designed to transport both freight and brave human passengers, Musk’s first proposed route would run from LA to San Francisco, cutting the roughly six and a half-hour drive time to just 35 minutes. If you think that this idea sounds awesome, then you’re right — it’s straight-up awesome. There are however still a few small details to work out. Despite Musk’s initial assertions that the project would cost a ‘mere’ US$6 billion to complete, several economists have put the price tag closer to ten times that, if not more. There’s also the possibility that people might be a little reluctant to seal themselves inside a windowless metal pod travelling at breakneck speeds through the desert — although if the proposed US$20 ticket price holds true, it may be a preferable alternative to flying. We're sure anyone who's taken a delayed flight from Melbourne to Sydney lately will most probably agree. Via TechCrunch. By Tom Clift and Lauren Vadnjal.
Ever pondered what the human body might be like a couple more decades into the future? What sort of weird and wonderful things it'll be able to do by the time next century rolls around? Award-winning Aussie-born, Los Angeles-based artist Lucy McRae sure has, and she's offering a peek at her most captivating musings in a new free exhibition at NGV Australia, titled Lucy McRae: Body Architect. As a designer, science fiction artist, filmmaker and 'body architect', McRae's on a constant journey of contemplation, her work reflecting on the future of human existence through collaborations with everyone from scientists, to pop musicians. Kicking off today and running until February 2020, this survey of her work — which has strong The Fifth Element vibes — dives deep into these questions, showcasing a body of work that will not just pique the interest of art lovers, but sci-fi fans and philosophers, too. [caption id="attachment_739784" align="alignnone" width="1920"] You can play with your own face with the 'Biometric Mirror' installation. Image: Eugene Hyland.[/caption] For Lucy McRae: Body Architect, you'll see the artist's filmmaking skills at play in seminal work Institute of Isolation: an observational documentary exploring the concept of isolation and the impact it might have on people when experienced for decades at a time. It's questioned through the lens of space travel and how human resilience might be tweaked in order to better handle it. Meanwhile, immersive work Future Day Spa will see you hanging out in a vacuum pressure chamber, which mimics the feeling of being hugged tightly, boosting relaxation levels in the process. You can also get your own face up on the gallery's walls — and tweak it — with Biometric Mirror. [caption id="attachment_739777" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The image used for Robyn's 'Body Talk'. Image: Tom Ross.[/caption] Elsewhere, you'll spy the series of bold and ethereal digital images McRae created alongside Dutch textile artist Bart Hess. The pair's work imagines high-tech, futuristic body functionalities — like colour-excreting skin — captured in striking lo-fi imagery using things like pantyhose, balloons, grass and bath foam. Then, there are the pieces from McRae's many collaborations with musicians, both local and international. The iconic image created for pop-star Robyn's Body Talk album cover is on show, as are the artist's music videos for bands including Architecture in Helsinki and Reptile Youth. For a quick intro to her work, watch this TED Talk. As one of the youngest ever TED Fellows and having earned a spot on Fast Company's list of people shaping the future, McRae's an exciting pull for the NGV's next season of solo exhibitions, which is set to feature the work of Aussie photographers Polixeni Papapetrou and Petrina Hicks later this year. Lucy McRae: Body Architect will run from Friday, August 30 until February 9, 2020 at NGV Australia, Federation Square, Melbourne. It's free to attend but further details can be found here. Images: Installation shots by Tom Ross; Lucy McRae portraits by Eugene Hyland; © Lucy McRae.
When you scroll through Netflix's menu, everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton might catch your eye. Over on Disney+, you could make a beeline to The Mandalorian and WandaVision, while Amazon Prime Video may pique your interest if you're keen on The Boys or Tales From the Loop. But, if you're fond of homegrown films and television programs, you might've noticed that the huge range of streaming platforms on offer Down Under don't typically fund, create and make available all that much new Australian content. The current situation is somewhat better than it was. When Netflix officially launched in Australia back in 2015, its buffet of streaming movies and TV shows noticeably lacked new original local content (indeed, it took more than two years for the popular platform to finally announce that it was making its first Aussie series, Tidelands). It still doesn't overflow with Aussie fare, although it did give Aunty Donna its own delightful comedy. Fellow streamer Stan has been beefing up its catalogue with Aussie movies and shows, though, with the likes of No Activity, Wolf Creek, Bloom, Bump, After the Night, A Sunburnt Christmas, Relic and True History of the Kelly Gang among the local titles joining its ranks. If a group of Australian creatives has anything to do with it, however, there'll be much more local content added to streaming platforms in the future. High Ground's Simon Baker, Hungry Ghosts' Bryan Brown and Justine Clarke, and Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt)'s Marta Dusseldorp are all part of the Make It Australian campaign, which is lobbying the Australian Government to implement quotas. The proposal: that all streaming services operating in Australia that have at least 500,000 subscribers are required to spend 20 percent of their local revenue on new Aussie dramas, documentaries and content for children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVoYKwTc4E If the idea sounds familiar, that's because it has been under consideration before, and for some time — with a green paper on the topic published in late 2020, and a consultation period currently open — but nothing has come to fruition as yet. This time around, the group behind the move put forward their case at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday, March 16, particularly noting the importance of Australian audiences being able to watch local stories as streaming platforms grow in popularity. Similar quotas are in place regarding Australian programming on both commercial free-to-air television and pay TV — although requirements were altered in 2020 due to the pandemic. And if you're thinking that the Aussie screen industry seems to be in good shape at the moment considering that a huge number of Hollywood titles are being filmed here at present — including everything from Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder to Nicole Kidman-starring TV series Nine Perfect Strangers, plus new movies directed by Ron Howard and starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts soon to shoot — the current situation isn't the norm. Big productions have been coming to our shores during the pandemic given that Australia's COVID-19 case numbers are low, protocols are in place and it's safe to film here as a result, but that isn't guaranteed to continue once life returns to normal in the US. For more information about the Make It Australian campaign, head to its website. For more information about the media reform green paper, head to the Australian Government website.
Vampires might live forever, but one of the best TV shows that's ever been made about them won't be enjoying the same fate. A spinoff from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's big-screen sharehouse mockumentary of the same name, What We Do in the Shadows has been a small-screen treat since first sinking its fangs into streaming queues in 2019. After it airs its sixth season, however, it'll be doomed to eternal rest. As first reported by Vulture, the television take on What We Do in the Shadows will finish after its next slate of episodes. For now, that'll bring an end to the What We Do in the Shadows universe, which doesn't just include the movie and TV show, but NZ television's Wellington Paranormal — although the latter does have a newly released companion podcast. When Waititi and Clement decided to don fangs, embrace the undead and make a film spoof about vampire housemates, the end result was sidesplittingly funny, as has proven the case for the TV version for five seasons so far. That US television offshoot also boasts a killer cast, all playing an ace roundup of vamps. For the uninitiated, this iteration of What We Do in the Shadows is set in Staten Island — but no, Pete Davidson doesn't show up. Instead, the series focuses on a household where Nandor (Kayvan Novak, Cruella), Laszlo (Matt Berry, Toast of London and Toast of Tinseltown) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) all live. Energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch, The Office) and Nandor's familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillen, Blue Beetle), the latter of which comes from a family of slayers, have also staked a claim in the story. Consistently one of the best returning shows of every year, including in 2022 and 2023, plenty of supernatural mayhem has followed Nandor and company over their run — and Matt Berry yelling "bat!" has never stopped gushing with gloriousness. Exactly when What We Do in the Shadows' last season will arrive hasn't yet been advised, but new seasons have dropped annually since the show debuted, so saying farewell in 2024 seems likely. There's no trailer for the sixth season as yet, but check out the sneak peek for What We Do in the Shadows season five below: What We Do in the Shadows streams via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand, with the show's sixth and final season yet to announce its return date. Read our reviews of season four and season five. Via Vulture.
Don’t have anything planned for New Year’s Eve yet? Well you can stop stressing out because we've got you covered. Sure, Melbourne may not have a Harbour Bridge to light up with every firework and light-emitting device known to man but there are a whole range of parties, dinners and events to bring in the New Year with style. Remember, you have to spend your last few hours of the year letting loose before starting that dreaded New Years resolution. Fireworks and live entertainment at Fed Square If you are looking to start the New Year with a bang (sorry) then get down to Fed Square with thousands of other partygoers. True, nobody likes a crowd, but Fed Square is big enough to always find a little nook to call your own while still feeling like part of the action — and action there will be. There's going to be African drumming, funky tunes, DJs and dancing. If you have little people with you, the City of Melbourne family festival has a 9.30pm firework show, and for the rest of us Fed Square is a prime spot to watch the midnight firework show. Unfortunately it's an alcohol free zone, but fear not, there are heaps of bars nearby that will welcome you with open arms. Lets face it, what’s more exciting and romantic than making out on NYE under fireworks? Federation square events go from 8pm - 1am; Free; Firework show details here. Image via That's Melbourne Elevation at the Eureka Skydeck Are you sick of that friend in Docklands talking about their amazing balcony view of the fireworks? Well go one better on them and witness the show from the highest vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere. The Eureka Skydeck is usually the spot to take your out of town relatives but on NYE they will be holding an appropriately named party: Elevation. There will be DJs, roving entertainment, food and arguably the best fireworks view in Melbourne. Canapés and drinks are included with your ticket too, because when you’re up that high you shouldn’t have to worry about a thing. Eureka Skydeck, 7 Riverside Quay, Southbank; 8pm - 2am; Tickets $195 - $270; Image via Eureka 89 Gypsy New Year’s Eve warehouse party Not everyone gets off on being packed like a sardine into a club or spending your NYE countdown in line for the bar. Beer Gypsies Matt Bywater and Dan Cerra thought that sounded awful too and will be setting up shop at the Second Story Studios warehouse with a great selection of craft beers and ciders on tap and plenty of room to move. You won’t have to drink those delicious craft brews in silence either because musicians Owl Eyes, City Calm Down, Set Sail and Tully on Tully will be playing all night. Lots of craft beer, wine and cider will be provided from Napoleone and Co. Cider, Mildura Brewery and Six Foot Six Winery. Second Story Studios, 159 Sackville St Collingwood; 6:30pm - 1am; Tickets $98 including drinks; Image via Beer Gypsies Eau de Vie Are sick of waiting in line for the bar? Maybe you don't want drunk strangers spilling drinks on you? Does the idea of queuing for a port-a-loo make you feel queasy? Eau de Vie have your back. This NYE you could be sampling a carefully curated degustation menu of cocktails, all delivered to your table with matching food created by head chef John-Paul Fiechtner. Known for their impeccable service, Eau de Vie are sure to deliver a New Years to remember (and brag about to everyone that missed out). 1 Malthouse lane, Melbourne; Tickets $175 per person; Image via Eau de Vie Pure Silk at Silk Road Opening its doors way back in 2008, Silk Road has made a name for its self as an opulent, indulgent club of the rich and famous. Beyoncé, Jason Statham and Jay-Z are just some of the celebrities that have hung out here while in Melbourne. But after five years, Silk Road's doors are now closing, possibly to become something new entirely. If you are a fan of the venue or have just always wanted to try it out, NYE will be your final chance to sit in a booth once occupied by Queen Bey herself. This is a big operation. All eight themed bars will be running over the venue's three levels while roaming dancers and performers entertain the crowds. As you would expect from Silk Road, opulence and glam is the name of the game. Entry tickets include drinks and substantial canapés and you should dress to impress. 425 Collins St, Melbourne; 7:30pm – 5am; Tickets $160; Image via Indesign Live Old Hollywood glam party at World bar “Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and 50 cents for your soul, I’m still holding out for the 50 cents” — Marilyn Monroe. It’s time to unpack that diamond studded ball gown, faux-fur jacket or tux and bow tie because World Bar and Restaurant are holding an old Hollywood glam party at their Yarra River facing bar. Step into Tinsel Town for the night as Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, or Bette Davis. This riverside party package includes drinks, canapés, a live pop and soul band and DJ. Don’t be that guy who doesn’t make an effort — go on and dress up. 2 Riverside Quay, Southbank; Tickets $65 - 230; Image via AP The Emerson Rooftop Party One of Melbourne’s newest destination clubs is showing off what it can do with a massive NYE party. Open over three exapansive levels with luxurious bars, a big dance area and one of the best rooftops south of the river this will be a perfect spot to bring in the New Year. Each level of the complex has something going for it though our pick is to make your way to the rooftop well in advance for a great view of the midnight firework show over the city skyline. Tickets include cocktails, drinks, and canapés so the only thing you have to worry about is which cocktail to choose. 145 Commercial Rd, South Yarra; Tickets $250; Image via The Emerson Stokehouse Beach Party Australians have it good. While our Northern brothers and sisters have to rug up from the cold and watch awful Christmas episodes of Doctor Who, we get our peak run of music festivals, outdoor parties and plenty of trips to the beach. It only makes sense that someone combined the best of Australian summer into one amazing night. Stokehouse are hosting a party at their beach front bar and restaurant. The beachfront stage will be blown away by favourites Miami Horror DJs and Flight Facilities with support from some great Australian artists: Elizabeth Rose, Client Liaison and Graz. Tickets include an open bar of beer, wine, cocktails, oysters and other delicious canapés. 30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda Beach; Tickets $250; Image via CP Ding Dong Lounge NYE If paying hundreds of dollars seems a bit excessive for one night of antics or you have already blown that Christmas money at Boxing Day sales then check out the very affordable Ding Dong Lounge NYE party. Ding Dong know their live music so rest assured that seven piece psychedelic group with the best name in town, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard will bring in the New Year properly. Hearty support will be coming from other Melbourne kids The Murlocs who have made some big splashes lately on the festival scene at Meredith and Harvest. Coming all the way from Adelaide and Perth respectively, Bad//Dreems and The Love Junkies are set to warm the night up too. 18 Market Lane, Melbourne; Tickets $25; Image via band. Cosparty at Brown Alley Did you get a new Pokémon onesie for Christmas? Well you are in luck because this NYE all Melbourne cosplayers will be converging on notoriously loose club Brown Alley for Cosparty 2013. The night will be full of interesting costumes and with a tag line of “rock out with your cosplay out” you know it doesn't take its self too seriously. For those unsure about what to wear, you are advised to dress up as your favourite character from anything – the more elaborate the better. Maybe you'll find your own Nurse Joy or Sailor Moon; a Hermione Granger to your Ron Weasley or some new Adventure Time comrades. Cosparty will be one of the few places (only place?) you'll have a chance of making out with Princess Peach at midnight. 585 Lonsdale St, Melbourne; 8pm-1am; Tickets $55; Image via Cosparty
Sleek and chic, Shadowboxer makes for a pretty fine post-work destination. It has a succinct list of local wines by the glass, fancy cocktails — including negronis aged in French oak — and refined bar snacks. Settle in with rabbit and pork terrine, kangaroo tartare and charcuterie. Or, head in between 3-6pm to catch the daily aperitivo hour.
It might long be remembered as one of Star Wars' most cringeworthy come-on lines, but to give Anakin Skywalker a break, he did have a point when he told Padme, "I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." Two New York-based summer surfers by the names of Charlie and Spike know what he's on about. Even if they wouldn't have used such reasoning to get fresh with Natalie Portman. Instead, they've invented a sand-solution, of sorts: the Shake Tote. It looks, pretty much, to be the mother of all beach bags. And here's why. Not only is it water-repellent, it's also fitted with a mesh bottom, which means that you simply have to give it one almighty shake and the sand falls right through. So, it's actually a bag that doubles as a giant sieve. Welcome to a grit-free summer. No more jiggling each item individually while blowing grains into your neighbour's face (or your own, for that matter). No more having to unpack your bag outside because you've inadvertently carried half the beach home with you. At 42.6 x 14.7 x 15.2 cm, the Shake Tote provides you with loads of room for your swimmers, towel, read-of-the-week and sundry beachy needs. There's also a zippered pocket for stowing your valuables. The neutral, natural-coloured canvas (with dashes of black and neon orange) goes with most get-ups and the plastic shoulder straps are anti-slip. The Shake Tote came into being thanks to Quirky, a platform dedicated to unusual inventions. Users are able to put forward their own innovative ideas and/or vote on those of others. They can also earn money by supporting successful pitches and helping out with branding and style decisions. The Quirky team gets behind the manufacturing process and provides international distribution online. Order your very own Shake Tote online for US$39.99 and watch every face on the beach gaze in awe. Via PSFK.
With 64 days until the lights are on, Vivid has announced its 2013 lineup. And as the festival turns five it's vastly extending its brightly coloured reach to cover more physical ground and generate more creative ideas. In 2013 Fort Dennison, Walsh Bay and the Inner West will also get a heavy splattering of neon light and artistic innovation as the festival adds more precincts to the Vivid family. Sydney's own Spinifex Group will be the artists behind the Lighting of the Sails, the jewel in Vivid's dazzling crown, with the rest of the foreshore welcoming a global assemblage of lighting designers to the walkable stretch spanning Campbells Cove to Walsh Bay. Interactivity is key this year, with Customs House featuring a dance floor so visitors can make the building move. The festival's LIVE section will celebrate the Opera House's increasingly enthusiastic approach to popular music, populating the Kraftwerk-headlined lineup with homegrown and international acts. Empire of the Sun are premiering their second album Ice on the Dune, which was announced in true theatrical style with a bizarre video last week. Other acts include legendary soul crooner Bobby Womack, Underworld's Karl Hyde, the Sunnyboys, Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon, folk-rock tribute Sounds of the South and the 45-piece Heritage Orchestra — performing the Bladerunner score. More will be announced in the upcoming weeks. And hosting a mammoth 136 events this year is the Jess Scully-curated Vivid Ideas. Level six of the MCA will be taken over by 100 of them, with further talks and workshops spread through the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Seymour Centre, Sydney Museum and more. Semi-Permanent, Sydney Writers’ Festival and the Australian International Design Festival are getting involved in 2013, along with a slew of events supporting this year's film and photography motif. Reportage and Sydney Film Festival are two exciting additions, and a talk by Chris Ying of Momofuku-McSweeney's foodie mag Lucky Peach should give discerning ramen enthusiasts plenty to get psyched about. Check out the Vivid website for the full lineup.
As autumn deepens, it's hard not to think about ramen. Luckily, Melbourne has loads on offer – from the creamy tonkotsu number at Ippudo QV in the CBD to the eight-hour cooked chicken broth at Yoku Ono Ramen and Sake in Prahran, or the cult favourite at Shop Ramen in Fitzroy. Now, Suupaa, Cremorne's Japanese convenience-inspired eatery, is tempting you to try a new one, with the the introduction of a wagyu beef miso ramen to the evening menu. This steaming dish comes crowded with wagyu beef short rib, chargrilled wombok, egg, garlic and fermented chilli oil, for $26. Plus, to make a real night of it, you can order it as part of Suupaa's Salaryman Special. This gets you the ramen plus 400mls of Orion beer on tap for 38 bucks. That's not bad for a mid-week feast to get you through to the weekend. Both the ramen and the special are available every Thursday and Friday night from 5pm. There's no end date, so hopefully you'll have at least a few months to make the most of it.
It's been just a few days since the Victorian government proposed new legislation in an attempt to even the playing field between taxis and ride share services. And now it looks like Sydney's ride-sharing industry could also see its own boost in competition, with Uber rival Taxify set to launch in the city by the end of the year. The Estonian company made headlines last month when licensing issues forced it to stop services in London just days after its UK launch. According to operators, Taxify's recent Paris launch saw it become the most downloaded app in France. Now with about 30 international cities under its belt, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Taxify is slated to hit Sydney streets by Christmas. The company is promising to charge drivers a 15 percent commission on fares, a figure that's much more attractive than the company's main competitor Uber, which currently takes around 20 to 25 percent from each fare. In theory, that could see Taxify offering cheaper rides and luring customers (and drivers) to jump ship from their usual ride-share service, though Uber's domination of the market since launching in 2012 has proven impossible to crack so far. As Morningstar analyst Gareth James told The Sydney Morning Herald, Taxify doesn't have an easy ride ahead. "To have a competitive advantage, you need to have a network effect whereby everyone uses your website," he said. "What will be difficult for new entrants is competing with Uber's network effect. Taxify might get some market share but they are going to have to spend a lot of money to do it." Pending success in the Sydney market, Taxify has its sights set on Melbourne and Brisbane in the near future. Taxify is set to launch in Sydney by the end of the year. For updates, check the company's Facebook page. Via The Sydney Morning Herald. Image: Taxify.
When Dirty John and The Case Against Adnan Syed leapt from audio to television, it was a floodgates moment. The true-crime genre definitely isn't new, but more shows based on grim real-life stories — and inspired by the podcasts that cover them, to be specific — were always going to follow. Dr Death is the latest, sporting a moniker that speaks volumes from the outset. Even if you know nothing about Christopher Duntsch going in, and you've also never heard the Wondery podcast that shares the series' name, that title really doesn't bode well for the surgeon's patients. Working in Dallas during the past decade, Duntsch was originally a rising neurosurgery star. Then, as the series charts, his patients started leaving the operating theatre either permanently maimed or dead. If you've ever faced going under the knife, this is pure, unfettered and deeply disturbing nightmare fuel — and it all really happened. Joshua Jackson plays Duntsch, and is bound to shed any lingering Dawson's Creek-era affection audiences might have for him in the process (and fondness from The Mighty Ducks and Fringe, too). He's joined by Alec Baldwin (Pixie) and Christian Slater (Dirty John) as fellow surgeons who raise the alarm, and also by AnnaSophia Robb (Words on Bathroom Walls) as the Dallas prosecutor who takes the case. As the just-dropped first trailer for the series show, this is quite the bleak story. Whether you already know how it all turns out or you'll be discovering the details fresh, you'll be able to watch Dr Death on Stan sometime this year — although exactly when it'll start streaming hasn't yet been announced. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYWEAWFONSw Dr Death will be available to stream via Stan sometime in 2021 — we'll update you with a release date when further details are announced.
When you're spending a night or several away from home, it's often the small things that matter. On a beach getaway, being able to wander directly from your hotel to the sand — without crossing roads and walking down the block — is one such tiny luxury. And, it's exactly what'll be on offer at The Langham Gold Coast, with the new five-star spot opening its doors to holidaymakers in mid-June. Joining the brand's existing Australian hotels in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as a worldwide portfolio that dates back to 1865 in London, The Langham Gold Coast will boast direct beachfront access — a rarity for new towering places to stay in the tourist spot. It's also the chain's first beachfront property, and it's pairing that oh-so-close proximity to sun, surf and sand with everything from a pool bar and cocktails upon arrival to 17 different types of rooms and suites to slumber in. Obviously, gorgeous ocean views are a big feature — although, if you find yourself in a room on the other side of the building, you'll be peering out over the Gold Coast hinterland instead. There'll be 339 rooms and suites in total, all decked out in coastal hues, and with a huge emphasis on luxury. When it launches on Thursday, June 23 — with bookings open from Monday, May 16 — The Langham Gold Coast will also include a range of food and beverage venues in addition to the aforementioned pool bar. So, when you're not enjoying afternoon tea at Palm Court, which goes big on pastries and pool views, you'll be hitting up all-day dining spot Akoya, a casual eatery serving meat, fish and poultry over cocktails (and seaside vistas). Or, there's the lobby bar, for more tipples; Coral Moon, another openair bar; and 26 & Sunny, which'll sit on the beach and offer sandwiches, coffee and deli options. Come spring, T'ang Court will also start serving up Cantonese dishes, giving the hotel a sister venue to the brand's Michelin-starred restaurants overseas. Between zipping into the waves and knocking back beverages, guests can also hit up Chuan Spa, The Langham's wellness centre. There, traditional Chinese medicine will guide the treatment selection — and leaving you feeling blissed out is the number-one aim. A health club with a gym, plus yoga, pilates and meditation sessions will be onsite as well, and — as the pool bar makes plain — places to swim besides the ocean. There'll be two pools, in fact, one indoors and the other outdoors. You'll need to be outside for those lagoon-style swim-up drinks, though. Artwork by Australian sculptor and artist Camie Lyons will feature around the hotel, and the chain's Ginger Flower fragrance will help set the mood. And if you're wondering where to head, The Langham Gold Coast will make its home inside the Jewel towers between Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. Find The Langham Gold Coast at 38 Old Burleigh Road, Surfers Paradise, from Thursday, June 23. For more information or to make a booking, head to the hotel's website.
This vibrant Indian restaurant is the new kid on the block in Fitzroy's outrageously trendy Brunswick Street. Masti, by owner and head chef Manpreet Sekhon (aka the 'Curry Queen', of Eastern Spice fame in Geelong), brings a light-hearted and laidback approach to Indian dining. With a classic wooden bar to lean on over a bowl of lamb vindaloo and dim lighting to set the mood, this is the kind of place to stay a while, not just dine and dash. Exploring the tantalising flavours of all of India, Masti offers up a selection of appetisers including papdi chaat, their own unique take on nachos, alongside classics like tandoori chicken. There are 17 curries on offer, almost half of them vegetarian, like the fig and pomegranate kofta, with three exclusively vegan. Carnivores among us can tuck into a boneless goat curry, a tangy prawn curry with secret spices or a good old butter chicken, cooked just how you remember it. Savour with a side of masala fries and finish the night with a bit of sweet talk – feasting on Indian donuts, carrot pudding and the unmissable mango lassi. Sommelier Riley Schwartz has constructed a short but sweet wine list, with drops that work perfectly with all the spices. The cocktail menu features house concoctions such as a Tea-Groni, an orange peel tea- infused gin with Campari and sweet vermouth, plus classic sours, martinis and spritzes. Masti is not just a great Indian restaurant, it's also a fun place to hang out and down a few drinks at the bar – which makes it perfect for this part of town. Images: Leigh G
UPDATE, September 27, 2023: Nile Rodgers & Chic have now added a Melbourne headlining show on Sunday, October 29 at the Forum, with tickets on sale at 11am on Thursday, September 28. This article has been updated to reflect that change. Good times are coming to Australia and New Zealand in October, and disco-soul hit 'Good Times', too. After already locking in spots at 2023's Harvest Rock in Adelaide and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Nile Rodgers & Chic have announced their own headline tour. Ah, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle and Auckland, get ready to freak out. The disco greats will hit up all five cities with their own shows, on top of their already-announced festival dates. Fans in Adelaide, you'll need to make a plans to see Rodgers and his band in a fest environment, because they're not doing solo gigs in SA. [caption id="attachment_916215" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Marshall via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] "The pandemic had kept us away from our fans in Australia and New Zealand for too long but now we are coming back to kick off the summer with good times!" said Rodgers, announcing the tour. Not only 'Good Times' but also 'Le Freak' is certain to get a whirl when the one and only Rodgers takes to the stage with the group that he co-founded more than five decades ago. Also on their recent setlists: Chic tracks 'Everybody Dance', 'Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)' and 'I Want Your Love'. Mention Chic and Rodgers instantly springs to mind; however, as a guitarist, the latter is in a league of his own. You'll also know his work on Daft Punk's Random Access Memories, including single 'Get Lucky'. And as a writer and producer, he's had a hand in everything from David Bowie's Let's Dance album to Madonna's 'Like a Virgin'. Accordingly, Nile Rodgers & Chic gigs are known to bust out tracks from across Rodgers' career beyond Chic. Cue 'Get Lucky' and its earworm of a guitar riff, both 'Let's Dance' and the always-delightful 'Modern Love' by Bowie, and also a Madonna double of 'Like a Virgin' and 'Material Girl'. Because Rodgers and late, great fellow Chic member Bernard Edwards were involved in writing, composing and/or producing them, Diana Ross' 'I'm Coming Out' and 'Upside Down' also get a spin, plus Sister Sledge's 'He's the Greatest Dancer' and 'We Are Family'. NILE RODGERS & CHIC AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND TOUR 2023: Wednesday, October 18 — Civic Theatre, Auckland Friday, October 20 — Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane Saturday, October 21 — Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Melbourne Monday, October 23–Wednesday, October 25 — Enmore Theatre, Sydney Friday, October 27 — Fremantle Prison, Fremantle Saturday, October 28 — Harvest Rock, Adelaide Sunday, October 29 — Forum, Melbourne Nile Rodgers & Chic are touring Australia and New Zealand in October 2023, with pre-sale tickets to their headline shows on sale from 10am local time on Wednesday, September 6 — and general sales from 11am local time on Thursday, September 7. Head to the tour website for further details.
No one loves choosing between two of their favourite foods. Also, everyone likes pies. They're two of the truths behind Banjo's Bakery Cafe's range of culinary hybrids, and it has just come up with another: the spaghetti bolognese pie. After introducing Australian tastebuds to the lasagne pie and the double cheeseburger pie — plus Tasmanian scallop pies, bangers and mash pies, and chicken parmigiana pies, too — the Banjo's team has launched another Frankenstein's monster of a snack. Pastry is a feature, as usual. This time, though, it encases angel hair spaghetti and meaty bolognese sauce, and is then topped with melted cheese and parsley. Yes, they're exactly what they sound like. Yes, your tastebuds now want to devour them ASAP. Yes, being unable to think of anything else until you eat one of these creations is completely understandable. The aim: to satisfy your cravings when you just can't bring yourself to pick between a pie and some spag bog, obviously. If you're a little indecisive when it comes to choosing what to eat in general, you're probably already a big fan of food mashups that find ways to combine two popular dishes — so this is an easy must-try. The spaghetti bolognese pies have joined Banjo's signature range, alongside the aforementioned other creative varieties — but only for a limited time. They'll be available from the company's stores from today, Wednesday, June 8, as well as via online click-and-collect orders and delivery services. In NSW, you'll need to head north to Glendale to get your fix. In Victoria, stores are located in Mornington, Traralgon and Mildura. Queenslanders can pick from ten spots, including Darra, Cleveland, Park Ridge and Redcliffe, while pie-loving SA residents can hit up Glenelg — and there's 27 stores in Tasmania. Banjo's Bakery Cafe's spaghetti bolognese pie is on the menu at the chain's stores nationally from Wednesday, June 8. To find your nearest location, visit the company's website.
Saying goodbye to 2025 at Lost Paradise means farewelling the year with a jam-packed lineup of tunes. Ben Böhmer, Chris Stussy, Confidence Man, Duke Dumont, I Hate Models, KETTAMA, Marc Rebillet, Maribou State, Underworld, X CLUB: they're all headlining the annual end-of-year music festival in Glenworth Valley on the New South Wales Central Coast this year. So, mark Sunday, December 28, 2025–Thursday, January 1, 2026 on your calendar — and prepare for a huge few days. Other acts on the bill include Anna Lunoe, BIG WETT, Channel Tres, Fcukers, DJ Heartstring, Hot Dub Time Machine, Omar+, VTSS and plenty more. Some people love last-minute New Year's Eve plans, going wherever the mood takes them. Others can't start planning early enough. If you fall into the latter category, this December is for you. For Lost Paradise newcomers, the multi-day event turns a slice of its setting — which is located an hour out of Sydney — into one helluva shindig, complete with live music and DJ sets spanning both international and Australian talents. This year, organisers are promising newly reimagined versions of the festival's Arcadia, Lost Disco and Paradise Club stages. Tunes are just one part of the Lost Paradise experience, though. Here, art, culture, wellness, and food and drink also get a look in. And, at Shambhala Fields, you can hear talks and take part in workshops — so that's where you'll find the likes of Dr Karl, Eric Avery, Deano Gladstone, Lara Zilibowitz, Kath Ebbs, Sez, Tom Carroll, Simon Borg-Olivier, Gwyn Williams and others. Since first unleashing its specific flavour of festival fun back in 2014, Lost Paradise has become a go-to way to wrap up one year and welcome in the next — including if you're keen to camp for its duration. Lost Paradise 2025 Lineup Ben Böhmer Chris Stussy Confidence Man Duke Dumont I Hate Models KETTAMA Marc Rebillet Maribou State Underworld X CLUB Anna Lunoe Baby J Bad Boombox & Mischluft Balu Brigada Bella Claxton BIG WETT Blusher Bullet Tooth Cassian Channel Tres Dameeeela DJ Heartstring Dombresky presents Disco Dom Dr Banana Fcukers Folamour Heidi Hot Dub Time Machine INJI Jazzy Josh Baker Juicy Romance Kilimanjaro Luke Alessi Merci, Mercy Narciss Notion Odd Mob Omar+ Pegassi Prospa Riria Ross From Friends presents Bubble Love Sex Mask Silva Bumpa Sim0ne Sumner Swim (live) Two Another VTSS Wolters Alex Dowsing Badassmutha Bella Backe Caleb Jackson Couch Mechanic Cricket Dayzzi B2B Daug Disco Dora Elijah Something GMOZ Grooveworks Kai Kawai Large Mirage LAYTX Lily FM Lost Soundsystem Madame Reve Maina Doe Mash Middle James Mina Tonic Oscill8 Pamela Penelope People's Party Roxy Lotz Salarymen Selve Siila Silly Lily Sim Select Tia Lacoste Tokyo Sexwale Tseba Waxlily Yasmina Sadiki Shambhala Fields: Benny Holloway Catriona Wallace Chanel Contos Deano Gladstone Dr Karl Eric Avery Gwyn Williams Kath Ebbs Lara Zilibowitz Plastic Free Mermaid Sez Simon Borg-Olivier Tom Carroll Lost Paradise mages: Jess Bowen, Jordan K Munns, Byravyna and Amar Gera.
American artist James Turrell is known for his manipulation of light, colour and physical space in large-scale art installations. His new exhibition See! Colour! has opened in Järna, Sweden, and features five key works which use intense combinations of colour and real-world light phenomena to create a mind-blowing visual spectacle, specific to locations in space and time. Light sways between the red/blue spectrum in Ganzfeld; while Skyspace (best viewed during twilight or dawn) includes illuminated walls which transform the sky with programmed lighting elements. Bindu Shards transports a single observer on a 15-minute journey of light and sound. Provided with headphones and a panic button, you are situated inside a sphere. The experience triggers "Behind the Eye Seeing," which Turrell explains to be the sensation of having your entire field of vision extended through to 360 degrees. [Via Cool Hunting]
Mountain Goat Beer has been around since 1997 — right back near the start of Australian craft beer. Emerging from Dave Bonighton and Cam Hines' backyard, it's now one of the industry's largest players and its dedication to the craft has stayed the same over the last 22 years. Featuring many old-favourite drops, the large-scale brick warehouse also has a selection on tap that you can only taste out here. The North Street IPA is a fine choice with its fruity aroma and earthy hints, while the Fancy Pants Amber Ale makes for an easy-going drink — a good one to kick off the day's festivities. The Richmond brewery also has a handpump serving dark beer the old English way and an infuser that lets you add different flavours to your freshly brewed beer. Food comes in the form of simple but tasty pizzas (vego and gluten free options available) and the occasional food truck parked out the front. While the space is only open to the public three days a week (the beer has to get brewed sometime), there are free brewery tours every Wednesday at 6.30pm, and you can book out the whole space for private functions on Thursday nights and Saturdays.
Australian beaches are pretty damn beautiful whichever way you look at them, but the scene on Tasmania's northwest coast at the moment pretty much takes the cake. Not content with just being the only place in Australia to catch a glimpse of Aurora Australis, Tassie has had another inexplicably luminescent natural phenomena appear — but this time, in the sea. An appearance of bioluminescent phytoplankton (otherwise known as sea sparkle, which is much more fun to say) have caused parts of the ocean to light up in an otherworldly bright blue on parts of the coast. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the sparkle was spotted near the town of Penguin over the weekend, while this shot was taken by Leanne Marshall a few beaches west at Rocky Cape. A post shared by Leanne Marshall (@leannemarshall) on Mar 13, 2017 at 12:35pm PDT Apparently the phytoplankton turn bright blue when threatened, so it's hard to say how long they'll stick around for. If you can't go algae-chasing on the Tassie coastline, here's some photos of the phenomena. A post shared by Brett Chatwin (@brett.chatwin) on Mar 12, 2017 at 9:50pm PDT A post shared by Sarah Kubank (@sarah_the_explorer_76) on Mar 13, 2017 at 6:34am PDT Via The Sydney Morning Herald. Image: Leanne Marshall via Instagram.
What happens when a shared love of hip hop and Vietnamese fare inspires four young homies to open a restaurant? Well the result looks a lot like Queen Street's just-launched Homi Noodle Bar, a bold new venture from friends Thomas Ho (Richmond's Tho Tho), Brian Taing (Workshop Brothers), Jason Ngo and Hung Huynh. Having each grown up eating real, honest Vietnamese cuisine, the quartet were keen to show Melburnians a taste of Vietnam beyond the basic pho and rice paper rolls. And so was born the team's neon-clad, street art-heavy, hip hop-pumping noodle bar, Homi. Here, the menu nods to traditional flavours from both northern and southern Vietnam, tossed through with a few modern, Melbourne influences. That means treats like cornflake-coated prawn patty buns, chicken mien noodles and an amped-up beef trio pho, alongside the boys' riff on that Hanoi cult classic, bun cha. See also, a very sexy serve of potato gems, here laced with sesame mayo, tobiko and 'crack salt'. Things get even funkier come dinnertime, with dishes like coffee caramel beef ribs and a spicy steak tartare livening up a pre-noodle nibbles selection. While Homi is already trading, help welcome the restaurant to the neighbourhood by celebrating its official launch next Monday, September 18. The store will be handing out 50 free brioche rolls and 50 free noodle bowls between 11am-2pm. Now that's a lunch break situation to get excited about. Find Homi Noodle Bar at 2/190 Queen St, Melbourne, Monday to Saturday, or visit the eatery's website for further details.
UPDATE, APRIL 4: Paramount Pictures has announced a new release date for A Quiet Place Part II, with the film now hitting cinemas on September 3, 2020. UPDATE, MARCH 13: Due to concerns around the coronavirus, Paramount Pictures has announced that A Quiet Place Part II will no longer release on its initially scheduled date of Thursday, March 19, 2020. At present, a new release date has not been announced — we'll update you when one has been revealed. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. In 2018, the biggest horror movie of the year leaned heavily on silence. A Quiet Place tasked a young family with staying soundless, lest they be heard and then killed by giant spider-like monsters — and their efforts to survive became a huge box office hit. Indeed, A Quiet Place was so successful that it had a flow-on effect. When you watched it in a cinema, you probably glared whenever someone near you crunched popcorn, crinkled a packet of chips or started talking. Your ears keenly listened out for any noise that could put Lee (John Krasinski), Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe) Abbott in jeopardy, and you didn't want some loud person in the next row ruining that viewing experience. The frightful aliens, the hushed tones and Emily Blunt in kick-ass mode — it's all back thanks to sequel A Quiet Place Part II. So, too, is hoping that your fellow cinema-goers don't make a sound while you soak in every second of expertly calibrated stillness. Like the first film, this follow-up is directed and written by Krasinski, with Blunt, Simmons and Jupe all returning on-screen. The sequel's cast also welcomes franchise newcomers Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) and Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy). And if you're wondering why Krasinski isn't mentioned among the actors, then you need to go back and watch the original movie again. As the just-dropped first trailer shows, A Quiet Place Part II picks up where its predecessor left off. The suitably unsettling sneak peek starts with a flashback to the day the monsters initially made their presence known, before jumping to Evelyn, Regan and Marcus' latest attempts to avoid the fearsome creatures. Expect plenty of bumps, jumps and — naturally — silence. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7qxYOpy9Ms After being delayed from its original release date of March 19, 2020, A Quiet Place Part II will now open in Australian cinemas on September 3, 2020. Image: © 2019 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved
A shadowy old house. A strange little boy. An unexplained object that won't go away. There's nothing particularly revolutionary about The Babadook; it's simply a matter of execution. Taking time-honoured plot points that in lesser hands would seem cliched, Queensland director Jennifer Kent has managed to craft a film that feels both entirely original and utterly terrifying. Featuring both a gripping lead performance by Essie Davis and one of the most creepifying monsters to ever stalk your dreams, The Babadook sets a bar by which future local horror films will be measured. Davis plays Amelia, the overwhelmed, widowed mother of a seven-year-old problem child named Samuel (newcomer Noah Wiseman). A maladjusted and volatile lad with a penchant for producing homemade weapons, Sammy is quite the handful for his mum, who's still haunted by the trauma of losing her husband in a car-wreck while driving to the hospital on the night of her Samuel's birth. One evening, while putting Samuel to bed, Amelia finds a mysterious new book on the boy's bookshelf. Written in Dr Seuss-style rhymes, the story it tells is of a strange, spindly-fingered creature named Mr Babadook. Although innocent at first, the stanzas grow steadily more menacing. Of course, by the time Amelia clues on to the fact that this might not be suitable bedtime reading, the damage has already been done. In an age when 'scary' is so often mistaken for 'bloody', Kent gives us a reminder of the power of anticipation. With next to zero onscreen violence, The Babadook is the kind of slow-burn horror movie that gets under your skin and raises the hairs on your neck; the kind of horror movie that has you bracing yourself for the next scare yet still catches you off guard when the monster finally rears its ugly head. A stop-frame creation that lurks in the shadows, the eponymous Babadook moves with a slithering unreality that seems to freeze the blood vessels in your brain. You know he can't exist. And yet he does. The terror comes also from our empathy with Amelia and Sam. Present in just about every scene, Davis is phenomenally good as Amelia, a worn-down figure who becomes increasingly erratic, and then monstrous herself, as the Babadook's presence grows stronger. More than once, the film implies that the creature may just be a product of Amelia's frazzled mind, pushed to the brink by the death of her husband and the constant demands of her son. In truth, that might be the most frightening suggestion of all. Kent doesn't quite stick the landing, unfortunately. Ambiguity is one thing, but the ending here is just plain unclear. Even so, an unsatisfying coda doesn't undo what came before. To anyone who can handle their heart in their throat, consider The Babadook highly recommended. To anyone who can handle their heart in their throat, consider The Babadook highly recommended. https://youtube.com/watch?v=IuQELNFtr-g
If you can hold on tight for one teeny, tiny minute longer, the long weekend will be with us. We know you have all sorts of awesomeness planned, so to get you in the mood (and help you through this final, painful hour or two), we'd like to treat to you a little visual relaxation. These gorgeous, dreamy cinemagraphs (the technical word for GIFs that are partly animated but don’t qualify as video) are the creation of a Strasbourg-based photographer by the name of Julien Douvier. He’s a 24-year-old freelancer who studied design and is now making inroads into the visual world via various creative projects. On his Tumblr, Douvier says, "As you can see, I attach a great importance to quality and details in my work. I will never release something I'm not satisfied of [sic.], even if I have to spend a lot of extra time on it. The meaning is very important too; I could create a lot of personal projects, but I don’t want them to be meaningless." Douvier isn't in too much danger of that with this collection. Every carefully composed image is just begging you to take a moment out of your day and pause to meditate. And that would be Friday. Just. About. Over. Via PetaPixel. Image credit: Cinemagraphs by Julien Douvier
The grassy headland fringing the delightful blue waters of Bronte, with tribes of surfers bobbing on the waves and tanned sunbathers lining the beach, is the perfect setting for Perrier mixologist Tomas Vikario to re-create summer’s best cocktail for sharing: The Perrier Summer Punch. It's the fourth delectable concoction in Perrier’s series of cocktails tailor made for Concrete Playground, and on a perfect Sydney summer day, it couldn't be more welcome. "Did you know that the origins of punch can be traced back to seventeenth century British sailors?" asks Tomas, explaining how citrus fruits were added to the sailors' ration of rum to prevent scurvy. It’s a quirky historical flashback, but Vitamin C deficiencies aside, today's punch comes with a 'Tomas' twist on the classic. By replacing the traditional rum with a smooth vodka and adding Perrier, Tomas has created a beverage that's as light and refreshing as a Sydney summer is sizzling and steamy. "This is the perfect no-fuss drink for casual summer get-togethers or when friends turn up unexpectedly,” says Tomas as he expertly dices fruit for the punch. “You don’t need any special equipment and you can also use whatever fruit you have on hand.” As Perrier’s beverage innovation manager, Tomas has his pulse on international trends and says there's a move towards lighter, cleaner flavours and drinks that have a bit of 'fizz'. With its long-lasting bubbles and low mineral content - which means it doesn’t inhibit other flavours - Perrier certainly injects this refreshingly delicious punch with a zingy edge, making it an invigorating treat on hot summer days. To re-create the Perrier Summer Punch you'll need: 700 ml vodka 500ml iced tea 200ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (roughly three lemons) 200ml freshly squeezed orange juice (roughly two oranges) 2 oranges 2 lemons 10 strawberries 750 ml Perrier Step 1 Prepare the fruit: take the oranges, limes, lemons, and strawberries and halve or quarter into bite-sized pieces. Combine in a glass punch bowl. Step 2 Add the freshly squeezed lemon and orange juices or substitute with bottled juice if you're out of the fresh stuff. Then add 500ml of iced tea — store-bought or a homemade brew, whichever is on hand. Tomas uses a peach iced tea but says you can try other flavours like mango or lemon. Step 3 Measure out 700ml of good-quality vodka — you can go heavier or lighter depending on your taste — and pour over the fruit. Belvedere is Tomas's vodka of choice on the day, but he adds that you can use others like Grey Goose. Want to mix it up a bit? Experiment with liqueurs like Grand Marnier or Cointreau in place of the vodka. A tip from Tomas: if you have the time (and the patience), start steps 1-3 the night before — or a few hours in advance — to allow the fruit to soak up the alcohol, intensifying its flavoursome goodness. Stir together slowly. Step 4 If you can get your hands on it, add a large chunk of ice. According to Tomas, a block of ice takes longer to melt than cubes and helps to prevent diluting the light, fruity flavours of the punch. Don’t have an ice maker nearby? Tomas suggests using a plastic container, like an old ice cream tub (make sure it’s clean first), to make your own ice blocks at home. Step 5 Finally, to add that extra fizz, slowly pour one 750ml bottle of chilled Perrier into the punch. Stir gently and serve in glass cups or demitasses, as Tomas has used in this recipe, with generous helpings of fruit. Variations Fancy some punch alternatives? Replace the strawberries with 20 fresh cherries and the vodka for 300ml of white rum, add in a bottle (750ml) of champagne (or sparkling wine) and some Perrier, and omit the lemon and orange juices for two tins of canned peaches or apricots (along with their juice) to create a chic white sangria Perrier punch.
Lego Camera is a 3-Megapixel camera made entirely out of its namesake. It is a new go-to gadget for any shelf that’s looking a little bare and any hands that are feeling a little bored because, being Lego, you can add extra pieces to build a totally customised camera. Fortunately, it can't be pulled apart, which means you won’t find yourself scrambling on all fours looking for that missing piece. The camera, available online at Urban Outfitters, has pretty simple features: fixed focus, digital zoom, in-built flash and a 1.5 inch colour-screen with memory to store 8 shots. This may be marketed to the younger generation, but for those who never outgrew their childhood Lego fixation to operate this is certainly a fun option. [Via Desktop Mag]
UPDATE, July 29, 2020: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. Sharing his name with six live-action films in 16 years, Spider-Man is no stranger to the big screen. Since 2002, he's saved New York from disaster again and again, kissed his sweetheart while hanging upside down, and turned evil and danced down the sidewalk. The friendly neighbourhood web-slinger has ripped off his mask to reveal the faces of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, gotten cosy with Kirsten Dunst, Emma Stone and Zendaya, and eventually joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And yet, the best Spider-Man movie doesn't involve most of the above. It's not just about Spider-Man, but spider-men. It also features a spider-woman, spider-robot and spider-pig, as well as Nicolas Cage as a 30s-era spider-vigilante. In other words, it's the animated delight that is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Returning Spidey to his cartoon roots — his first screen appearance came via the animated 60s TV series with that catchy theme tune — this addition to the fold isn't your regular take on Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's iconic character. Rather, it recognises that a wealth of different spider-figures have swung through the comic book realm, because Spider-Man really could be anyone. Radioactive arachnids don't discriminate. They just sink their fangs into whoever's in their path. In Into the Spider-Verse, it's Brooklyn high-schooler Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) who's on the receiving end of a tiny but monumental bite. When he's not feeling like he's disappointing his cop dad (Brian Tyree Henry) and wishing he could spend more time with his outcast uncle (Mahershala Ali), Miles is also a rather big fan of the established Spider-Man, Peter Parker (Chris Pine). Two people donning the famous red and blue costume? With nefarious crime kingpin Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber) tearing a hole through multiple universes using a supercollider, two are just the beginning. The uncertain Miles is soon buddying up with Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), who's more than a little over being Spider-Man — consider him an on-screen avatar for spider-fatigued audiences. Like filtering all things Spidey through an episode of Rick and Morty, they're joined by other web-slingers, including Peter Porker (John Mulaney), Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Cage), and Peni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and her mechanical offsider SP//dr. The fate of several worlds is at stake, and the futures of several spider-people (and spider-animals) too. Arriving at a time when superhero movies (let alone Spider-Man flicks) are no longer a special event, Into the Spider-Verse offers what so few caped crusaders can muster these days: an endless array of surprises. It also serves up jokes about whether Spidey could or should wear a cape, although it's the film's ability to astonish that sticks firmer than Spider-Man's web. Who knew that a character who's been seen on screen over and over again for decades — and one who sports a 56-year history on the page as well — could seem so vibrant, thrilling and fresh? That's not a knock on the various live-action iterations, which have each boasted their own appeal, even if some fare better than others. But in embracing the entire big, bustling and diverse spider-world, Into the Spider-Verse genuinely feels new. In recent years, only Black Panther has bounced through cinemas with the same kind of vibe, feeding viewers' eagerness to finally watch something different. Into the Spider-Verse ramps that idea up a few notches, not only showcasing the first Afro-Lantino Spider-Man alongside a number of other interpretations, but playing with superhero and storytelling conventions. While good-versus-evil plots and coming-of-age themes are engrained in Spidey lore, neither notion bows to formula in the hands of filmmakers Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians) and Rodney Rothman. Instead, this adventure spins tales upon tales at a mile-a-minute pace — with a healthy dash of irreverence and amusement, ample nods to past comics and flicks, plus a warm-hearted willingness to make fun of the whole spider-shebang. That Rothman co-wrote the script with The Lego Movie's Phil Lord, and that Lord produced the picture with his usual directing partner Christopher Miller, partly explains Into the Spider-Verse's immense charms. Led by the soulful Moore as Morales, and peppered with hilarious work by Cage and Mulaney, the excellent voice cast also plays a part in making this the new high point for Spider-Man films. That said, Into the Spider-Verse could've dispensed with dialogue altogether and it'd still mesmerise. We mean that literally, because the standard and style of animation on display, and the action scenes and sight gags that go with it, resembles nothing else that's been beamed into cinemas before. Fast, bright, imaginative and often even abstract, it blends a hand-drawn feel with the most inventive visuals that computer-generated imagery can deliver. In this vivid, kaleidoscopic world, Spider-Ham's Looney Tunes aesthetic, Peni Parker and SP//dr's anime look, and Spider-Man Noir's dark approach all fit in perfectly. So too does a new plucky school kid who embodies the most important spider-fact of all: that everyone can do whatever a spider can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbfIIGRfRJg
UPDATE Monday, July 26: Along with its CBD sibling Di Stasio Citta, Cafe di Stasio is currently offering a special-edition menu of goodies for takeaway and delivery. Call or jump online to order dishes like the creamy oven-baked ricotta ($12), hearty serves of handmade crab pasta ($35) and a cracking old-school fish and chips ($32). For more details on Victoria's current restrictions, see the Department of Health and Human Services website. If we're talking about institutions, Cafe di Stasio is right at the top of the list. After more than three decades on Fitzroy Street, the restaurant and bar still exudes elegance, sophisticated service and decadent Italian food. Here the lunches are long, the wine is expensive and the atmosphere is right on point. There's a place for old-school, classy dining and this is it. The food here is the kind you'll want to linger over, the menu filled with carefully executed classics and seasonal ingredients in abundance. Start off with small plates like the delicate beef carpaccio ($23), cloud-like ricotta and spinach gnudi ($22), and scallops baked in a crust ($25). Top-notch pasta offerings might include the likes of paccheri bolognese ($32) or a tagliatelle spiked with guanciale and roast tomatoes ($28), while Italian-style mains run to a Milanese veal cotoletta ($34) and slow-cooked beef paired with polenta ($39). An expansive selection of vino sourced from near and far rounds out the fun, including a healthy offering of drops by the glass.
In Zola, the swooshes and whistles have it: when a character utters a line of dialogue taken directly from the movie's famous 148-tweet source material, filmmaker Janicza Bravo pairs it with the right noise. That's one way that the second-time filmmaker tackles the formidable task that is adapting a lengthy social media thread into a feature. And she wasn't working with any old tweetstorm; when Aziah 'Zola' King let her fingers do the talking back in October 2015, it trended under the hashtag #TheStory. Charting a gal-pal getaway to Florida that swerved from exotic dancing to sex trafficking, crime and violence, King's Twitter thread had social media users hanging on its every word. Six years later, it remains an iconic piece of internet history — King deleted it swiftly, but nothing ever truly disappears in the online world. The challenge for Bravo in turning those posts into Zola: remaining true not only to King's rollercoaster ride of a tale, but also to the entire reason that everyone knows about it. Cue those telltale sounds, which keep Zola's origins firmly in viewers' minds. Cue a big swerve away from text on-screen, too, because a story this wild deserves an in-the-moment approach that plastering a phone screen across the big screen just can't evoke. And, cue a brilliant urination scene that instantly tells the world everything it needs to about the titular Detroit waitress (played by Taylour Paige, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) and the fellow dancer, named Stefani here (Riley Keough, The Lodge), who invites her on the road trip to end all road trips. When it debuted at Sundance in 2020, Zola became one of the buzziest premieres of the festival. Due to the pandemic, it has taken more than 18 months for the movie to make it to Australian cinemas, but its candy-hued, neon-lit, dreamy-meets-dazzling glow hasn't dimmed. With Zola now showing locally, we chatted to Bravo about those tweets, getting the gig over James Franco and, yes, that glorious pissing scene. "YOU WANNA HEAR A STORY? IT'S KIND OF LONG, BUT IT'S FULL OF SUSPENSE." One tweet, 22 words, one helluva impact: that's how King's Twitter thread started. Its first two sentences couldn't set the scene better: "You wanna hear a story about how me and this bitch fell out? It's kind of long, but it's full of suspense." Bravo didn't read those words as they were tweeted but, when she did, she knew that she had to turn them into a film. "At this point, I hadn't even made a first movie, but I've decided this will be my second movie — and I'm glad I was right," she explains. "I'm not Twitter and I wasn't on Twitter — lucky me. It's just not for me. I think it's super valuable and there's a lot of deliciousness that I've gotten from that space, but overall it's not a vibe for me," Bravo notes. "So I read it on Twitter at the end of that day. It was up for about 24 hours before she deleted it. I didn't get to participate in the live experience, meaning I didn't get to see her writing and responding and the sort of subtweet thing that happens inside of it or the reposts. I didn't get to see all that. But I got to sit with it right after, and it was radical. I knew right away that it was going to be my second movie." THE TWEETSTORM THAT HAD HOLLYWOOD TALKING When a Twitter thread gets this much attention, everyone wants in. Bravo wasn't originally the only filmmaker inspired to bring King's story to the screen — didn't originally get the job. "I go after it right then. I'm nodding when I'm reading it, and I'm sending it to both my agent and my manager and saying that I want this," she says. "I don't know how Twitter IP works, but I really want to make this. They get back to me three days later and say there is a Rolling Stone article, and then there's her life rights, and that's an entry point into being able to have access to the story." "And so I go 'yes, put me in!'. To which they reply that of the five people going after it, three of them are studios and two of them are independently wealthy. And I was like, 'well, I have no cash, so I'm not making the shortlist'. Clearly, that isn't the end of the story. "I find out a year later, though, that Killer Films — that I'd made Lemon [Bravo's first feature] and a short film with — were one of the producers were on it. And, James Franco was directing it," Bravo advises. "So I just wrote them and was like, 'hey' — because I understand how things work, and sometimes a director is no longer on a project. I was like 'if for some reason James is not directing this, remember me, think of me'. Then I found out in the spring of 2017 from an actress who was friendly with him that he was no longer directing it, so I reached out to my reps again and was like 'I want this'. And then I got it." THE BIG QUESTION: HOW TO ADAPT 148 TWEETS INTO A MOVIE? Peppered with emojis and all-caps, King's tweets don't simply describe a wild ride — they take readers on one. Bringing them to the screen put Bravo in uncharted territory but, writing Zola's script with playwright Jeremy O Harris, she didn't see it that way. "A lot of people did. My producers did. It was like, 'how do you adapt this?'," she explains. "But I'm a child of theatre, and I saw it as adapting a long poem. It was adapting a short story. It was adapting a sonnet and making a whole world out of it." "And this, for me, I felt it had so much more in some ways. I printed the tweets, cut them out, put them into a first act, a second act, a third act… and not only was there the outline, but the dialogue was in the outline," Bravo notes. "For me. it felt pretty seamless." "I think the thing that becomes curious, that allowed myself some room to explore, is okay, so there's a road trip to Detroit to Florida, from home to Florida, that is a 19–20-hour drive. That's only one tweet. Now does that become one scene, or three scenes, or five scenes, and how do you tell the story of that drive? Multiple tweets can be in a scene, or some can just be standalone, or one can be five — and figuring out the math on that, that's a part of writing, that's part of drafting." ADDING DETAIL — AND THAT KILLER BATHROOM SCENE As evocative as #TheStory is to read — as gripping and addictive, too — it didn't cover everything that Bravo envisaged for the film. Enter the bathroom scene. "I would happily talk about it forever. It's one of my favourites in the film," Bravo says. "When I was auditioning for the movie, I had come to the table with a handful of things I wanted to try that were not in the film. And then when it came to writing, once I get it and I'm writing with Jeremy, one of our first assignments is what are the five things you definitely want to make sure arrive in this script, and what are these three ideas outside of the world that you want to bring to this?" "And for me, one of those ideas, I just really want this piss scene. I've been thinking about wanting to put something like this in my work for a while. And this is a film about this love story between these two women — this seduction that happens between these two women — how they fall in love and out of love, and I couldn't recall being able to have a window into a character like this without there being a good deal of dialogue to tell me who they were. So I had this idea about a bathroom scene in which you got to see the interior of each of those characters," Bravo explains. "The audience can always go back to that as to who is reliable or not reliable — or who's hydrated or not hydrated, basically. It's meant to be so much about who they are. How they treat themselves in the bathroom is how they move through the world. And I know it seems kind of small, but I thought it did that." Zola is now screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. Images: A24 Films.
When the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras arrives each year, it fills the Harbour City with LGBTQIA+ celebrations, including in the New South Wales capital's cinemas. Queer Screen's Mardi Gras Film Festival doesn't just confine its movie love to the big screen, however. And, when it hits streaming as well, it isn't solely about Sydney audiences. That's the case again in 2024, with 161 titles showing both in picture palaces and via nationwide small-screen sessions. In its 31st year, MGFF is running in two parts: as a physical fest from Thursday, February 15–Thursday, February 29 at venues around Sydney, then online across the country from Friday, March 1–Monday, March 11. The IRL component has a date with Event Cinemas George Street and Hurstville, Ritz Cinemas Randwick, Dendy Newtown, the Bearded Tit, Hayden Orpheum Cremorne, the Sydney Opera House, the State Library of NSW and Westpac OpenAir Cinema. The at-home section is headed to your couch, of course. Attendees venturing out of the house can kick off MGFF with opening night's Femme, which stars Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Culprits) and George MacKay (1917) in a British neo-noir thriller about a drag performer seeking revenge after an attack. Then, after launching in 2023 with Australian director Goran Stolevski's coming-of-age film Of an Age, the fest will close in 2024 with the filmmaker's Housekeeping for Beginners. Other in-person highlights include All of Us Strangers, as led by the internet's boyfriends Paul Mescal (Foe) and Andrew Scott (Fleabag), which screens at Westpac OpenAir Cinema; a night at the Sydney Opera House dedicated to music from queer flicks, spanning tunes from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Moonlight and Portrait of a Lady on Fire; and the Billy Porter- (Big Mouth) and Luke Evans (Good Grief)-starring Our Son, about a long-term marriage disintegrating. Documentary A Portrait of Love, focusing on Archibald award-winning artist Craig Ruddy and directed by My Name Is Gulpilil's Molly Reynolds, will enjoy its world premiere at the fest. So will Australian feature In the Room Where He Waits and Argentina's Blue Lights, the first about a theatre actor in hotel isolation for seven days upon returning Down Under for his dad's funeral, and the second exploring friends and family members who get together for a 70th birthday party. From the retro titles, John Waters' 1974 classic Female Trouble gets a 50th-anniversary spin, 1984's Another Country with Rupert Everett (Napoleon) and Colin Firth (Empire of Light) will mark its 40th birthday, and 1995's When Night Is Falling scores a 4K restoration. The Ritz will be alive with The Sound of Music, too, via a sing-along session with the Order of Perpetual Indulgence and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir. Elsewhere at the fest, other standouts range from the Australian premiere of Filipino animation The Missing and Gena Marvin-focused doco Queendom to France's Along Came Love and Noёl Coward exploration Mad About the Boy: The Noёl Coward Story. Or, there's Melbourne-set Aussie coming-of-age film Sunflower, Hacks star Meg Stalter in Cora Bora, Japan's I Am What I Am about the expectations placed upon an asexual woman, Hilma af Klint biopic Hilma from director Lasse Hallström (The Nutcracker and the Four Realms), another Sydney stint after SXSW for The People's Joker and Sundance-winning documentary Kokomo City. "The theme focuses on films that start conversations. People will be keen to discuss and dissect them as soon as the credits start to roll," said Festival Director Lisa Rose about the 2024 lineup. "There's so much to sink your teeth into, including several that will inspire lively debate." For cinephiles watching on from home, choices include All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White, the Berlinale Teddy Award-winning love story about two men dealing with Nigeria's anti-gay laws; Mexico's All the Silence, centring on a CODA (child of deaf adults) and her girlfriend who is deaf; F.L.Y., which sees two exes living under the same roof during the pandemic; and Mutt, which won Lio Mehiel a Special Jury Award-winner at Sundance for their performance. Or, opt for drama Old Narcissus about getting older in Japan, with a 74-year-old children's author finding connection with a sex worker. You'll also be able to stream several shorts packages online, including sessions dedicated to Asia Pacific, comedy, gay, non-binary and gender diverse, queer horror, queer documentaries, transgender and sapphic films. The My Queer Career short film fest will hop online as well, featuring seven films competing for $16,000-plus in prizes. Queer Screen's 31st Mardi Gras Film Festival 2024 runs from Thursday, February 15–Thursday, February 29 at venues around Sydney — and online nationally from Friday, March 1–Monday, March 11. For more information, visit the festival's website.
Lorde is back — but she won't be back doing live gigs for a bit longer. After five years away from music, the New Zealand pop sensation returned this year with a third studio album, with Solar Power releasing back August. Back in June, she also announced a massive 2022 tour of Australia and New Zealand; however, those shows have now been delayed until 2023. The tour has been postponed due to New Zealand's current COVID-19 outbreak and the uncertainty surrounding what'll be permitted next February and March, which is when Lorde's gigs were originally set to take place. "I am beyond devastated to be postponing these shows. Starting the tour in New Zealand was always really important to me, and would have been a huge high," Lorde said in a statement. "I fought this decision for a long time, but the truth is that touring internationally through a COVID outbreak has a ton of unforeseen moving parts, and I'd much rather play for you when we're all confident it will go smoothly. I want to apologise wholeheartedly to the fans. I'm so gutted to let you down, but so grateful for your understanding." [caption id="attachment_816623" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Come Up Show[/caption] When it kicks off in 2023, the tour will now run from Tuesday, February 21 through till Saturday, March 18. Australians are scoring eight dates across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, while New Zealanders can choose from seven shows. The Australian and New Zealand tour will begin at Days Bay at Lower Hutt on Tuesday, February 21 and Wednesday, February 22. From there the 'Royals' singer will make her way around New Zealand throughout late February and early March, and arrive in Australia on Tuesday, March 7 for two shows at the Brisbane Riverstage. Australia's east coast will be treated to two more shows each at Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl and the ICC's Aware Super Theatre in Sydney, before the tour wraps up with a couple of gigs at Perth's Belvoir Amphitheatre. The last time either country was treated to Lorde's live set was her headline set at Splendour in the Grass 2018, a full circle moment for the singer as she returned to the stage of one of her first ever performances as a last-minute replacement for Frank Ocean back in 2013. A year prior, in 2017, Lorde also toured some of Australia's largest and most iconic outdoor venues including the Sydney Opera House Forecourt. Existing tickets will remain valid for the new dates, while tickets to newly announced gigs in Lower Hutt, Brisbane and Perth start pre-sales on Wednesday, November 17 ahead of general ticket sales on Friday, November 19. LORDE 'SOLAR POWER' 2023 TOUR DATES Tuesday, February 21 – Days Bay, Lower Hutt Wednesday, February 22 – Days Bay, Lower Hutt — new show Saturday, February 25 – Electric Avenue, Christchurch Monday, February 27 – Neudorf Vineyards, Upper Moutere Wednesday, March 1 – Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North Friday, March 3 – TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth Saturday, March 4 – Outer Fields Western Springs, Auckland Tuesday, March 7 – Riverstage, Brisbane — new show Wednesday, March 8 – Riverstage, Brisbane Friday, March 10 – Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Saturday, March 11 – Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Monday, March 13 – Aware Super Theatre, Sydney Tuesday, March 14 – Aware Super Theatre, Sydney Friday, March 17 – Belvoir Amphitheatre, Perth — new show Saturday, March 18 – Belvoir Amphitheatre, Perth Lorde's Solar Power Tour will now take place between Tuesday, February 21–Saturday, March 18, 2023. Head to the Frontier website for all info on tickets. Top image: Liliane Callegari via Wikimedia Commons.
The first WorldPride to ever be held in the southern hemisphere is upon us, boasting more than 300 shows, gigs, exhibitions and parties, and taking over Sydney across 17 days from Friday, February 17–Sunday, March 5. On the program: everything from art exhibitions and film festivals to dance parties and big-name international headliners, in one helluva jam-packed festival. We've pulled together a list of ten events popping up throughout the festival that feature once-in-a-lifetime lineups or celebrate LGBTQIA+ pride in their own unique way. From the long-awaited return of the annual Mardi Gras parade to its spiritual home through to multi-day party programs, these are the cream of the crop that will have you considering last-minute flights to Sydney. Explore our picks for the best WorldPride events this massive program has to offer. LIVE AND PROUD: SYDNEY WORLDPRIDE OPENING CONCERT Who else to open the Southern Hemisphere's first WorldPride than Australia's pop princess Kylie Minogue? Sydney shall be so lucky, with the iconic hitmaker taking to The Domain for a blockbuster concert kicking off the festivities on Friday, February 24. But, it doesn't end with Kylie. Live and Proud will also feature appearances from Charli XCX and Jessica Mauboy, with local legends Casey Donovan and Courtney Act on hosting duties. If you can't be there in person, the performance will be broadcast live nationwide on the ABC as well. [caption id="attachment_749877" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jeffrey Feng[/caption] MARDI GRAS PARADE One of Sydney's biggest nights of the year is returning in a massive way in 2023. Not only is this Mardi Gras parade the event's 45th anniversary, as well as its return to Oxford Street, but it's also part of WorldPride. It's all happening on the streets of Darlinghurst on Saturday, February 25. The theme: gather, dream, amplify. All of the colourful floats and community groups the parade is known for will begin to march from 6pm, with the parade continuing until 11pm. Expect more than 12,500 marchers and 200 floats throughout the five-hour celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community. DOMAIN DANCE PARTY Two days after Kylie takes to The Domain, another megastar will arrive, with Kelly Rowland headlining DJ Dan Slater's Domain Dance Party. DJ Suri and DJ Isis Muretech will also be on the decks, but the big star is clearly the former Destiny's Child member, who'll work through tracks from across her career. Fancy getting sweaty on the dance floor with 10,000 people? That's what's on offer on Sunday, February 26, with Rowland, the DJ lineup, onstage dancers and surprise acts all providing good times. MARDI GRAS FAIR DAY Fair Day is traditionally one of the first events of Mardi Gras each year, but in 2023 it's going one better: happening on Sunday, February 19, it's also the first major event of WorldPride. Get ready for a family-friendly, pup-friendly, eco-glitter-friendly day in Camperdown's Victoria Park that's inclusive, relaxed and free. This year's Fair Day will feature a fancy dress competition for dogs, over 300 market stalls, pop-up bars, a main stage with leading queer performers in Australian music, plus the chance to shine brightly with your nearest and dearest chosen family. Highlights from the performance lineup include Eurovision champion Conchita Wurst, a Sissy Ball vogue showcase, The Buoys, Nana Miss Koori, Carla Wehbe, Jamaica Moana and Latifa Tee — plus pop-up bars from the likes of Archie Rose and Squealing Pig. RAINBOW REPUBLIC: SYDNEY WORLDPRIDE CLOSING CONCERT While we'd love the celebrations to continue year-round, nothing lasts forever, and WorldPride will be coming to an end on Sunday, March 5 — but not before one last pop-filled party. Wrapping things up will be Rainbow Republic, another hit parade in The Domain featuring German pop star Kim Petras. Joining the 'Unholy' and 'Coconuts' hitmaker is MUNA, G Flip, Peach PRC, Alter Boy, BVT and Vetta Borne. Keiynan Lonsdale (Love, Simon, The Flash, Eden) will also be performing and taking to the stage between acts on hosting duties. MARDI GRAS FILM FESTIVAL The annual Mardi Gras Film Festival returns with a bumper edition celebrating both WorldPride and its own 30th anniversary. Fans of queer cinema, rejoice: this annual Sydney film fest is screening 166 films at eight venues around the city, running from Wednesday, February 15–Thursday, March 2. MGFF highlights include All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, 2022's Venice Film Festival Golden Lion-winning documentary about queer artist Nan Goldin, her life and career, and her battle against the billionaire Sackler family — plus closing night's The Venus Effect, with the Danish movie about two young women in love enjoying its Aussie premiere. The full fest program includes 100-plus sessions in cinema, outdoors and on-demand, alongside panel discussions, workshops, networking events and parties. Plus, there's an online component showing 21 movies nationwide. [caption id="attachment_887917" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Davies[/caption] DAY FOR NIGHT: THE PLEASURE ARC Festivalgoers should prepare their endurance for The Pleasure Arc, a 24-hour party packed with incredible talent set to immerse attendees in an extravagant queer utopia. Enjoy some of Australasia's best queer artists including House of Sle, House of Silky, Marcus Whale, Basjia Almaan and imbi during the opening weekend of the festival across Saturday, February 18–Sunday, February 19 at Carriageworks. In charge of keeping the tunes rolling during the overnight extravaganza will also be the Your Pleasure DJs, meaning there won't be a dull moment across the non-stop party. [caption id="attachment_887907" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Boud[/caption] MARRI MADUNG BUTBUT Also at Carriageworks is Marri Madung Butbut (Many Brave Hearts): Sydney WorldPride First Nations Gathering Space. This six-day program from Thursday, February 23–Tuesday, February 28 celebrates Indigenous LGBTQIA+ artists and communities. Kicking off the festivities is a free-to-attend opening night party, the Djarraba Disco, featuring some of Eora and Naarm's best performance artists lighting up the dance floor. From there, you can head along to 11 different free events and several ticketed pop-ups ranging from variety shows to heartfelt plays. "Marri Madung Butbut is a place where everyone is welcome to experience the rainbow heart of the oldest surviving culture on the planet," explains Festival Creative Director Ben Graetz. ALL THE SEX I'VE EVER HAD We've all heard of the saying "the older you are, the wiser you are" — and in this case it stands true. It is common knowledge that we can glean so much from our elders with their breadth of experience. So when it comes time to learn about experiences pertaining to love, romance and sex, who better to ask than the ones with the most expertise? Strap in — or on — for a wild ride, as All The Sex I've Ever Had returns to Sydney completely revamped for WorldPride. The Darlinghurst Production Company has teamed up with Canada's Mammalian Diving to bring an LGBTQIA+ edition of the hugely successful, 90-minute tell-all production back to Sydney. From Tuesday, February 21–Friday, February 24, plus a 5pm show on Sunday, February 26, you can draw upon the wisdom of queer local senior citizens at the Eternity Playhouse Theatre. You'll also experience the climaxes of truly raw storytelling as these generous elders recount some of the highest highs and lowest lows when it comes to dating, relationships and sexuality. THE ABERCROMBIE WORLDPRIDE PROGRAM Following years of lockouts and lockdowns, the dance floor has finally made an emphatic comeback in Sydney. Part of this return is the reopening of storied nightclub The Abercrombie, which is making full use of its 24-hour license and multiple dance floors for WorldPride by rolling out a stacked program of parties. Curated by DJ Kate Monroe and party-starter Xander Khoury, the program runs from Friday, February 17–Sunday, March 5, and enlists the help of party crews like Heaps Gay, Kerfew, Fur Ball and the Queer House Collective to bring together three weeks of packed dance floors, thumping bass and joyous energy. From full-venue takeovers and post-parade kick-ons raging until 8am to rooftop recovery brunches, this lineup has packed in as much dance music and good times to WorldPride as possible. The entire program features plenty of free events as well as a few ticketed nights — and all events are free for drag performers and First Nations attendees. Sydney WorldPride runs from Friday, February 17–Sunday, March 5 — for information, or for tickets, head to the event's website.
UPDATE: MAY 28, 2020 — Since publication of the below article, the Japan Tourism Agency has clarified in a Tweet that the subsidy scheme, called the Go To Travel Campaign, is to "stimulate domestic travel demand within Japan after the COVID-19 pandemic and only cover a portion of domestic travel expenses". The scheme is still under consideration by the Japanese Government. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global tourism as we once knew it virtually disappeared overnight, with borders closing, flights grounded and overseas holidays off the cards for months now. But with Australia, New Zealand and other nations around the world gradually beginning to loosen their coronavirus restrictions, that might eventually change — and if you're wondering where to venture to first, the Japanese government wants to help fund your next getaway. As reported by The Japan Times, the Japan Tourism Agency has announced a tourism subsidy scheme that'll pay a portion of travel expenses for visitors coming into the country. If the idea sounds familiar, that's because the Mediterranean island of Sicily is doing the same thing, as it revealed a few weeks back. JTA's chief Hiroshi Tabata told a press conference that the program would come into effect when Japan's COVID-19 case numbers subside and the country subsequently reopens its borders — which he said could be as early as July. Few other details have been revealed as yet, including exactly what costs the scheme will reimburse (such as flights, accommodation and venue tickets). Still, if strolling across Shibuya's scramble crossing, visiting the Studio Ghibli museum, wandering through a kaleidoscopic maze of digital art, singing karaoke in a ferris wheel and eating Godzilla-themed desserts next to a building-sized Godzilla statue are all on your must-do travel list (and they all definitely should be), this is welcome news. The Japanese agency expects to spend a massive ¥1.35 trillion — approximately AU$19 billion — on the tourism initiative, a move designed to help revive the struggling sector. As The Japan Times also notes, Japan's visitor numbers for January–April 2020 are down 64.1 percent compared to the same period in 2019. And, with the Tokyo Olympics rescheduled from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID-19, there's no longer a guaranteed influx of travellers expected this year. Japan has been under a state of emergency since early April, but it was lifted on Monday, May 25 by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, with infection numbers — especially in Tokyo — continuing to fall. While lockdowns have been loosening in some regions around the country in recent weeks, the latest move also includes Tokyo, where restrictions on restaurants, bars, libraries and museums are also starting to ease. For further details about the Japan Tourism Agency tourism scheme, keep an eye on the agency's website. Via The Japan Times.
Blockbuster effects can't mask bland storytelling, as the execs at Disney dip back into their classic library with less than impressive results. An alternate take on the tale of Sleeping Beauty, the studio's latest sees the cackling, leather-clad sorceress recast as a figure of sympathy. Hard to pronounce and harder to sit through, Maleficent is a movie very much in the same vein as Oz the Great and Powerful or the recent Alice in Wonderland — which is to say that it's heavy on expensive-looking digital wizardry and light on just about everything else. Clumsy voiceover sets the scene, in a run-of-the-mill fairytale forest home to pixies, trolls and a curious winged girl named Maleficent (Isobelle Molloy). Although wary of the human kingdom that exists beyond the forest borders, when Maleficent catches an orphan boy named Stefan trespassing, a fledgling romance seems destined to ignite. But humans are a fickle bunch, and so as Stefan grows older he becomes swept up with ambition, culminating in a brutal betrayal in which he cuts off Maleficent's wings in order to secure a place on the throne. Devastated, a now adult Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) embraces her dark side, swearing vengeance on Stefan and placing a curse on his newborn baby, Aurora — spinning wheel, eternal sleep and all. The idea of a Wicked-style reversal on a classic Disney villain is an interesting idea, but first-time director Robert Stromberg — better known for the production design on films like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland — botches the execution. The sporadic voiceover and muddled editing makes the film seem oddly lacking in structure; much of the first half feels like a prologue, setting up what turns out to be an incredibly short and perfunctory climax. The CGI is admittedly pretty immaculate, but none of the designs are in the least bit distinctive. If one the creatures from Maleficent popped-up in The Hobbit or Snow White and the Huntsman, you wouldn't bat an eye. Angelia Jolie is enjoyable as the eponymous spell-crafter, especially in the one or two scenes where she gets to really lay the villainy on thick. On the other hand, the talented Elle Fanning is seriously underutilised as the teenaged iteration of Aurora, whose insipid purity melts Maleficent's heart while putting audience members to sleep. You could argue that the film deserves some credit for its empowered female characters, although the fact that Maleficent's arc is catalysed by a man does somewhat muddy those credentials. On a sidenote, one could also potentially read the film as a kind of PG rape-revenge narrative. The rawest emotional moment in the film comes when Maleficent awakens from a drug-induced sleep only to realise that her lover has forcibly removed her wings. The allegory is obvious, and Jolie completely sells the agony of violation. Ultimately though, any and all subtext is either mishandled, squandered or lost under a wave of glossily rendered pixels. In other words, it's business as usual for the folks at the Mouse House, who apparently don't even respect their own canon enough to get a reboot right. https://youtube.com/watch?v=w-XO4XiRop0
When Palace launched its 15-screen Pentridge Cinema in the revamped Coburg prison site back in 2020, it didn't just give Melburnians a new spot to see films indoors. Thanks to its pop-up outdoor setup, it also gifted the city another space to watch movies under the stars while the weather is warm. That sibling venue, aka Pentridge Open-Air Cinema, returns for its 2022–23 season from Thursday, December 15 with quite the lineup. Launching the program is what's set to be one of the biggest films of the year, even though it only opens in mid-December, with James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water screening alongside a trivia session and a best-dressed — read: blue-heavy — contest. It'll show for three nights in a row, in fact. but only the first one will feature the extra festivities. The season runs Sunday, March 26, with the lineup also including Golden Globe-nominated Irish comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, the Cate Blanchett-starring Tár, 1920s Hollywood-set Babylon and the certain-to-be-steamy Magic Mike's Last Dance. As we predicted before the cinema opened, this is clearly a great spot to watch prison flicks, with The Shawshank Redemption also on the new roster. Also either celebrating a theme or turning a night at the pictures into a party — or both — Moonage Daydream is screening on David Bowie's birthday, a session of Aliens includes sci-fi trivia, Titanic plays on Valentine's Day and the Isle of Dogs session is pet-friendly. Among the throwback titles, a heap are scoring best-dressed contests, plus more trivia. Start planning your outfits for Die Hard, Romeo + Juliet, Twilight, Grease, Clueless, Friday the 13th, Pulp Fiction, Scream, The Princess Bride, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Labyrinth now. Whatever you head along to see, you'll sit outside on a deck chair in the grassy courtyard, stare up at a big screen, soak in the summer evening air, and be surrounded by the precinct's 1850s-era walls. Palace will run a pop-up bar outdoors each night, selling snacks and drinks. You can also BYO picnic if you'd rather, but not booze.
Finally, 2020 is delivering the right kind of surprise: an unexpected sequel to 2006 mockumentary Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. If at any point in 2020 you've wondered what Borat Sagdiyev might make of both COVID-19 and the upcoming US election — and what he might coax unsuspecting interviewees to admit about those topics, too — this 14-years-later sequel is here to deliver the answer. Even better, it'll be available to stream in just a few weeks. Sacha Baron Cohen returns as the fictional Kazakh journalist, of course, in a film that no one knew existed until recently. Baron Cohen was seen shooting in mid-2020, but only in the past month has it emerged that he was secretly working on Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. (Yes, this out-of-the-blue follow-up was always going to have a lengthy and silly title.) Streaming globally via Amazon Prime Video from Friday, October 23, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm sees its eponymous character make another trip to the US, this time with his daughter (Irina Nowak) in tow. After the first film apparently brought "great shame to Kazakhstan", as Borat tells us in the new movie's just-dropped first trailer, he's on a secret mission. But he's famous in America now, so that sparks a few challenges — and requires a few disguises. If you're wondering what Borat's mission is, he's planning to give his daughter as a gift "to someone close to the throne" — aka current US Vice President Mike Pence. Along the way, he tries to kill the coronavirus by hitting it with a frying pan, dresses up like Donald Trump, dances more than once, exposes plenty of unpleasant viewpoints among those he meets and finds an unusual way to wear a face mask. So, typical Borat antics — and that's just in this first sneak peek. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rsa4U8mqkw&feature=youtu.be Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will be available to stream via Amazon Prime Video from Friday, October 23.
As part of her first headlining tour of Australia, Solange (also known as Solange Knowles, aka Beyoncé’s baby sister) has announced Falls Festival sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne. This will be the first time the Texan-born Knowles has ever treated fans Down Under to a live performance of her 2012 dance-friendly EP, True. This comes in the context of eager anticipation of her long-coming third studio album, on which she apparently collaborated with Aussie dudes Midnight Juggernauts. It's due for release sometime next year. Perhaps as famous for being the offspring of the fabulous Mrs. Carter as for her music, Solange has steadily been earning cred as a singer-songwriter in her own right. She certainly can churn out a catchy pop hit, as her successful single 'Losing You' proved last year. Recalling her elder sibling vocally, it managed to step away from her stylistically and embraced a much splashier, synthy '80s pop feel. The sideshows should be a fun choice for anyone craving a night of uncomplicated, playful, upbeat music. Pre-sale tickets for the Melbourne show go on sale at 10am on Wednesday, 9 October, at the Prince Band Room. Sydney tickets go on sale at 10am, Wednesday, 9 October, at Metro Theatre and Ticketek. Tour dates: Melbourne: January 7 – Prince Band Room Sydney: January 8 – Metro Theatre
If you feel like Melbourne's getting busier and busier, well, you're not just becoming a grumpy ol' adult. New numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed that the city's had the largest and fastest population growth in the whole country. Having welcomed more than 125,000 extra people between June 2016 and July 2017, Melbourne's now looking at hitting the five million resident mark before the end of 2018. By comparison, Sydney grew by 100,000 people, which has brought its population up to 5.1 million. The ABS found that the increase in population is largely due to migration, with 80,000 foreigners making up 64 percent of the Melbourne's recent growth in 2016–17, and seven percent attributed to people moving interstate. It you average it all out, there's around 350 people moving to the city each day, with Cranbourne East booming larger than any other Aussie suburb. Interestingly, Sydney lost more people to other parts of Australia than it gained. Population growth is mainly concentrated in the three major east coast cities — Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane — though, as Perth, Darwin and Adelaide all saw no more than one percent growth. The revelations have prompted calls for improved infrastructure and public transport across the city — some of which is already underway, but really can't come soon enough.
Celebrating Japan by actually heading to the country is back on the agenda, with the Asian nation's strict border rules finally relaxing. Can't make the trip ASAP? Fancy getting your Japanese thrills in a cinema instead — or until you can hop on a plane? Then Australia's annual touring Japanese Film Festival has timed its return well. As it does every year, this year's JFF has compiled a selection of must-see recent and retro Japanese movies, and will bring its lineup Melbourne in November and December. There's two parts: a rundown the latest and greatest flicks the country has to offer, screening from Wednesday, November 30–Sunday, December 4 at The Kino; and a classics series, showing iconic films on 35mm from Friday, December 2–Sunday, December 4 at ACMI. The 2022 fest will open with historical drama Dreaming of the Meridian Arc, which hops between present-day Japan and the Edo period to tell the tale behind the man who completed the first-ever map of Japan. Also a huge highlight: the retro season's focus on filmmaker Mikio Naruse, with 1954's Sound of the Mountain, 1960's When a Woman Ascends the Stairs and 1964's Yearning on the bill — and showing for free. Back to the recent titles (and the paid part of the program), standouts include psychological thriller Lesson in Murder, which starts when a college student gets a letter from a serial killer on death row; drama In the Wake, about the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011; and the animated Blue Thermal, with the world of competitive gliding soaring onto the screen. Anime Supremacy! is unsurprisingly focused on characters who live and breath anime production; Baby Assassins gives battling the yakuza (and being hitmen) a kawaii spin, and culinary documentary The Pursuit of Perfection follows top Tokyo chefs Takemasa Shinohara (Ginza Shinohara), Natsuko Shōji (Été), Yōsuke Suga (Sugalabo) and Takaaki Sugita (Sushi Sugita). Top image: Baby Assassins Film Partners.
Walking and Facebooking saves you time but severely angers fellow strutters you've meandered into with your nose in your status update. In a bold attempt to make the city's infrastructure suit the times (and save some pedestrian lives), the Chinese city of Chongqing has opened a dedicated lane for smartphone walkers, separate from their regular walking path. Inspired by Washington D.C. — the smartphone-heavy capital worked with National Geographic's Mind Over Masses show to open the first version of the footpath in July — the design sees with one lane for smartphone using pedestrians (or 'phubbers', the technical term made for 'phone snubbers') and the other for people actually paying attention on their walk. Installed as another safety experiment for NatGeo, the 'Foreigner Street' lane is drawing attention to the high risk texting pedestrians pose to themselves and their fellow commuters. Australian cities could benefit from this not-so-ridiculous-sounding idea, with smartphones and tablets increasingly discovered as causing a significant number of pedestrian injuries and deaths around the country. After the Pedestrian Council of Australia conducted spot tests in specific Sydney areas, they found one in ten pedestrians were using their mobile while wandering — sometimes not even looking up. You've done it. We've done it. This woman did it. Via Gizmodo and Tencent. Images: Tencent.
