Reaching the ripe old age of 42 years is no mean feat for an Australian music fest. But beloved bayside celebration St Kilda Festival is doing just that when it returns in February to deliver its bumper 2023 instalment. And yes, it's dishing up a hefty lineup of musical guests to mark the occasion. Already confirmed to be heading along to join the free festivities from Saturday, February 18–Sunday, February 19: big-name Aussie acts Hoodoo Gurus, Confidence Man and Christine Anu. Now, it's confirmed that they'll be joined by Genesis Owusu, Yothu Yindi, Alice Ivy and a whole lot more. [caption id="attachment_885347" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mackenzie Sweetnam[/caption] St Kilda Festival's refreshed 2023 format is set to include the new First Peoples First program celebrating Indigenous music and culture on the Saturday. Anu will take the stage alongside acts like Jem Cassar-Daley, Jungaji, Lady Lash and Dean Brady, while the late Archie Roach is to be honoured with a dedicated musical tribute featuring Emma Donovan, Bumpy, Sally Dastey and others. The following day will fire up for Big Festival Sunday, with multiple stages playing host to artists like ARIA award-winning hip hop star Genesis Owusu, legendary Aussie outfit Yothu Yindi, singer-songwriter Hatchie, electro darling Alice Ivy and longtime Nick Cave collaborator, the multi-talented Mick Harvey, just to name a few. Throw in more live sounds from the likes of Jen Cloher, THNDO, JK-47, Ashwarya and Phoebe Go, plus roving entertainment, dance performances, community activities, market stalls, and scores of food and drink pop-ups, and it's safe to say this fest is celebrating its 42nd birthday in style. [caption id="attachment_839020" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nathan Doran[/caption] [caption id="attachment_839022" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nathan Doran[/caption] St Kilda Festival will take over the St Kilda Foreshore and surrounds from Saturday, February 18– Sunday, February 19. Check out the full program over on the website. Top images: Nathan Doran and Andy Swann.
As the city kicks back into gear after a long Lockdown 6.0, we're set to see plenty of venue makeovers and some bold new additions to Melbourne's food and drink scene. Including the latest iteration of QT Melbourne's rooftop hideout, the Secret Garden, which has been reimagined as a vibrant, Italian-inspired oasis complete with colourful artworks and top-notch local vino. Embodying the motto of la dolce vita, the new-look Secret Garden will open its doors from Friday, October 22, for walk-ins until the end of summer. While its sights and sounds are wholeheartedly Italian, the food and drinks are set to be an all-Victorian affair, led by a collaboration with King Valley's Dal Zotto Wines. The celebrated winemaker will be pouring a selection of its Italian-leaning signature drops — sí, that includes plenty of prosecco — alongside a special appearance from the exclusive reserve list it usually keeps for its wine club members. It'll be the first time an Aussie venue gets access to creations like the 2015 Limmigrante Barbera and early 2000s vintages of the Riesling. [caption id="attachment_828903" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hayden Dib[/caption] Backing up the vino, you'll find beers from Beechworth's Bridge Road Brewers, gin and limoncello courtesy of Bass & Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula, and salumi from The Meat Room in Kilmore, Central Victoria. While you're sipping and snacking beneath the festoon lights, you'll also soak up the artistic offerings of artist Rowena Martinich, and rounding out the vibe, there'll be bocce, plus a soundtrack heavy on 1920s Italia from QT's music collaborator Andrew Lewis. Secret Garden launches at 3pm on Friday, October 22, at 133 Russell St, Melbourne. It's set to stick around until the end of summer, open for walk-ins only, 2pm–late, Thursday–Sunday. Images: Hayden Dib
Parties, art, music, performances, food, stripping bare for a swim to celebrate the winter solstice: that's the Dark Mofo way, and so is weaving its anything-can-happen vibe, its beloved regular highlights, and its array of expectation-exploding shows and events into a ritual as much as a festival. The Tasmanian winter arts fest is a place to commune, with attendees and with its boundary-pushing program alike. Challenge, confrontation, evoking a strong response: Dark Mofo is a place for that, too. The festival sat out 2024, spending the time to regroup for the future ahead instead. Late that year, it announced its return for 2025, however. The full program will be unveiled at the beginning of April, but organisers have already announced the first new work. When attendees look at Nathan Maynard's We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep, they won't forget it. Set to premiere at Dark Mofo 2025 — which runs from Thursday, June 5–Sunday, June 15, 2025, except for the Nude Solstice Swim on Saturday, June 21 — the new commission by the multidisciplinary Trawlwoolway artist will take over a Hobart CBD basement. Inside, expect a commentary on cultural theft and erasure via Maynard's mass installation, using sheep heads to make a statement. "Languishing in museums and their storerooms are the remains of ancestors of First Nations people from all around our globe. They have been stripped of identity and, without consent, treated like specimens for study and scientific inquiry," explains the artist. "We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep speaks to the sadistic power white institutions flex when they deny First Nations people the humanity of putting our ancestor's remains to rest in the physical and the spiritual." When Dark Mofo's 2025 comeback was first revealed, so were the returns of a number of its beloved festivities: the aforementioned Nude Solstice Swim; Night Mass, which fills downtown Hobart with art and music; culinary highlight Winter Feast, which popped up in 2024 despite the festival around it taking a break; and the Ogoh-Ogoh. If you're wondering if the world missed Dark Mofo, the response to Night Mass alone so far says it all. When 6000 pre-release tickets were made available late in 2024, they were snapped up in less than four hours. "Taking the year off in 2024 was a difficult decision, but Dark Mofo is back with renewed energy and focus, ready to deliver an enormous program spanning two packed weeks this June," notes Dark Mofo's new Artistic Director Chris Twite. "It was encouraging to sell over 6000 Night Mass tickets in less than four hours during our pre-release late last year, indicating that demand for the festival remains strong. We are hoping for a similar response when we release the full program on the 4th April." Back in November, Twite gave a few more hints at what's in store this year. "Dark Mofo is back. For our 11th chapter, once more we'll bathe the city in red and deliver two weeks of inspiring art, music and ritual," he advised when announcing the event's 2025 dates. "Night Mass is a beast, and this year it will evolve once more — worming its way through the city with new spaces, performances and experiences to dance, explore or crawl your way through." Dark Mofo returns from Thursday, June 5–Sunday, June 15, 2025 and for the Nude Solstice Swim on Saturday, June 21. Head to the festival's website for further details — and check back here on Friday, April 4, 2025 for the full lineup. We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep images: Jesse Hunniford, 2025. Image courtesy of Dark Mofo 2025. Night Mass images: Jesse Hunniford and Andy Hatton, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023. Winter Feast images: Jesse Hunniford, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023. Nude Solstice Swim images: Rémi Chauvin, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023.
Who doesn't love a pie? These flaky, buttery shells full of thick soupy goodness come in infinite forms. They can be sweet or savoury, meat-packed or vegan, and the fillings can be inspired by just about any cuisine. Finding the best pie in Victoria is almost impossible, but the city of Ballarat is spending an entire month trying to find its greatest local pie. From now until the end of August, 28 local chefs, restaurants, cafes and bakeries are gunning for the top spot, and you, dear readers, can try each and every one of them. [caption id="attachment_969123" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 1816 Bakehouse[/caption] Fans of the classic meat pie can sample 1816 Bakehouse's beef filet mignon pie, and traditional sweet tooths can score a slice of Aussie Oggie Pasty Co's apple crumble pie. But most spots are flipping the script, creating altogether wild and unusual fillings. Hope Bakery at Sovereign Hill has a Vegemite and cheese pie, Hot Temple has cooked up a green chicken mole version, The George Hotel has filled its with beef rendang, and Flying Chillies has gone all out with a curry laksa pie. The organisers have also been gracious enough to draw up an official Ballarat Pie Trail for those seeking to try as many creations as possible when visiting this regional city. Just make sure you stop by Itinerant Spirits — the winner of Ballarat's Best Pie competition — which is serving up a moreish sweet apple and vodka pie served warm with creamy pine nettle ice cream. [caption id="attachment_969126" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Itinerant Spirits[/caption] Top images: Grainery Lane and Beechworth Bakery.
In the on-screen sea that is the never-ending list of films and television shows constantly vying for eyeballs, Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby have frequently proven gem-dappled treasure islands. When the immensely funny New Zealand talents have collided, their resumes have spanned four of the most endearing comic hits of the big and small screens in the 21st century so far, aka Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows, Wellington Paranormal and Hunt for the Wilderpeople — and now, with HBO Max pirate parody Our Flag Means Death, they've given viewers another gleaming jewel. The brainchild of writer, showrunner and executive producer David Jenkins (People of Earth), this show was always going to swashbuckle its way into streaming must-see lists — and into comedy-lovers' hearts — based on its concept alone. The inimitable Darby stars as Stede Bonnet, a self-styled 'gentleman pirate' and a great approximation of Flight of the Conchords' Murray if he'd existed centuries earlier. Meanwhile, Waititi dons leather, dark hues aplenty, an air of bloodthirsty melancholy and a glorious head of greying hair as Edward Teach, the marauder better known to the world as Blackbeard. While the latter is a household name — pop culture has been inserting him into stories for decades: Ian McShane played him in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Hugh Jackman did the honours in Pan, for instance — Bonnet will be a new discovery to most of Our Flag Means Death's audience. Also a real-life figure, he left his life of wealth, privilege and comfort to rove the oceans. That's a scenario that this ten-episode comedy has plenty of fun with, complete with Bonnet's onboard library decked out with classics and summer linens-filled auxiliary wardrobe. In its first three episodes, Our Flag Means Death establishes its fish-out-of-water situation — or its tale about a ruffled shirt-wearing aristocrat seemingly out of his depths while sailing across treacherous waters, to be more accurate. Bonnet is not one for the usual pirate stereotypes, and that takes some adjusting to by his crew. Among those with him on the Revenge: Lucius (Nathan Foad, Bloods), his righthand man and official scribe; Buttons (Ewen Bremner, First Cow), a seasoned seafarer and source of advice; Black Pete (Matthew Maher, Marriage Story), who constantly claims to have worked with Blackbeard; the fire-obsessed Wee John Feeny (Kristian Nairn, aka Game of Thrones' Hodor); and the initially secretive Oluwande (Samson Kayo, Truth Seekers) and Jim (Vico Ortiz, The Sex Lives of College Girls). Scene-setting and ensemble antics abound in the series' opening instalments, including a run-in with a British navy captain (Rory Kinnear, No Time to Die) with ties to Bonnet's past, and another a fellow pirate captain-turned-bar owner (Leslie Jones, Death to 2020) and one of her husbands (Fred Armisen, Los Espookys). But then Blackbeard arrives, taking over the Revenge with his first mate Izzy (Con O'Neill, The Batman) — and Our Flag Means Death starts becoming a rom-com. From the outset, it's already a gloriously inclusive and emotionally astute comedy. Bonnet wanting his crew to be in touch with their feelings, rather than simply solve everything with swords and violence, is one of the aforementioned ways that he bucks expectations. But that trend deepens and grows as its two key swashbucklers gravitate towards each other, riding the waves from adversaries to co-captains to potentially something more. From its first trailer, Our Flag Means Death delivered answers to questions that no one knew they had, such as "what'd happen if Waititi and Darby played pirates?" and "what if Waititi and Darby played pirates alongside Spud from Trainspotting and Hodor?". Now that the results have played out across an entire season — all of which is available to stream in Australia via Binge and in New Zealand via Neon — it's sweeter than a bottle of rum to a buccaneer (or oranges to fend off scurvy, which definitely get a mention in the show). Smartly, Our Flag Means Death doesn't just satirise pirate archetypes. It isn't content with finding easy laughs at the whole 'gentleman pirate' caper, either. Instead, it's a comedy about plundering one's own depths to find out who you really are, where you truly belong and who should comprise your chosen family — whether you've been set up for a life of luxury, you're the world's most fearsome scourge of the seas or you're simply roving the oceans with them. When Waititi's Blackbeard steps into the story, meet-cute and all, less of its focus resides upon its other supporting characters. When you've got comedic greats such as Waititi and Darby bouncing off of each other — as they do from episode four onwards, and with pitch-perfect comic chemistry — you let them have the spotlight. Still, subplots that flesh out the remainder of the Revenge crew's histories wholeheartedly link in with Our Flag Means Death's focus on reinvention and rediscovery, and its open heart. Relationships are laid bare, and secrets, too. In the process, cliches are dismantled, correct pronouns are used, and everyone helps build a thoughtful and sincere comic caper. Indeed, add Our Flag Means Death to the list of delightful sitcoms that beam with warmth, even when it's soaking cat flags (yes, that's a pirate banner adorned with a feline) with blood. Stellar talent doesn't always equate to a must-see, something special or both, of course; however, Our Flag Means Death ticks all of those boxes — and the who's who that is its guest and supporting cast also includes fellow Conchords alum Kristen Schaal, Big Mouth's Nick Kroll, Arrested Development's Will Arnett, and Aussies Claudia O'Doherty (Sarah's Channel) and Angus Sampson (Bump). With Waititi also helming the pilot and executive producing, his winning ways with TV comedies continue, too, after a top-notch few years that've included the What We Do in the Shadows television spinoff and Reservation Dogs as well. Ahoy, streaming lovers — let Our Flag Means Death sail into your queue right now. Check out the full trailer for Our Flag Means Death below: Our Flag Means Death's first season is available to in Australia via Binge and in New Zealand via Neon. Images: Aaron Epstein/HBO Max.
There's nothing like watching a film at the planetarium, but it's something most of us don't do all that often. Daytime sessions cater to school groups — and in the years that the Melbourne International Film Festival has hosted a fulldome program, it's only been for a few sessions. Thankfully, Scienceworks' late-night series changes that. Every Friday evening in September and October 2024, once the planetarium's usual working day is done, adults can have some after-hours fun in the venue's impressive space. That means sitting in the reclining chairs, looking up at the 16-metre domed ceiling, listening to the 7.1 surround-sound system and soaking in the best the fulldome video projection system has to offer. In September, the Planetarium's Friday-night program is exploring the relationship between humans and frosty climes during the 7.30pm session, thanks to a fulldome film called Worlds of Ice. Then, at 9pm, it's time to get lost in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, which is back by popular demand. October's lineup features Black Holes — Journey into the Unknown in the early slot, and the MC Escher-style XYZZY in the late timing. Making things even better is the fact that the whole thing is boozy, so you can grab a drink from the bar, take it into the auditorium and sip while you watch.
Last week, Robert Pattinson popped up on our screens in the trailer for upcoming Netflix movie The Devil All the Time. At present, he's also starring in cinemas in Tenet, which is finally earning a release. And, right this instant, he's stepping into a very well-known character's shoes (and cape and mask) — as seen in the just-dropped first trailer for The Batman. Yes, as well as featuring in a Christopher Nolan-helmed movie, Pattinson is playing a character that Nolan helped bring back to cinemas 15 years ago. This time around, Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves is in the director's chair, overseeing a new take on Batman that actually stands completely apart from the most recent Ben Affleck-starring DC Extended Universe version of the character. Basically, what DC Films and Warner Bros. Pictures did with Joker in 2019 — serving up a grimmer, grittier iteration of the infamous figure that has absolutely nothing to do with the rightfully hated Jared Leto version — they're doing for Batman now, too. Also following the same playbook: enlisting a top-notch star in the lead role. Remember, it was only earlier this year that Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for playing the clown prince of crime. The Batman isn't slated to hit cinemas until more than 12 months away — at the end of September 2021 in Australia — however, as this first sneak peek shows, it's shaping up to be a suitably dark and brooding affair. And, as well as Pattison as the titular character and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne, it stars Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon and Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth. For those keeping count, Pattinson is the third actor to play the Dark Knight on the big screen in the 21st century, after Christian Bale and Ben Affleck. He also joins a long list of actors who've donned the outfit, including Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney. Check out The Batman trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLOp_6uPccQ The Batman is currently due to release in Australian cinemas on September 30, 2021.
If you're bored of holidays spent idling by a pool, sunbaking on a beach and ambling in a park, step up your holidays with these next-level adventures. With Intrepid Travel, we have selected six adventures that will take you to the planet's most extreme corners, from Antarctica's pristine icy beauty to the Himalayas' rugged peaks. Whether you seek the roar of cascading water or the silent majesty of remote landscapes, prepare to be immersed in experiences that redefine the meaning of epic. Antarctica There's nowhere on the planet quite like the extreme icy desert that is the unspoiled Antarctic wilderness. Spy penguins, whales and seals (oh my), snowshoe to the best viewpoints and learn from the talented expedition team. Start your adventure at the world's southernmost city, Ushuaia, Argentina, before boarding a vessel to the ends of the earth. Cross the infamous and unpredictable Drake Passage — it can be calm as a lake or rough and turbulent. Experience the temperature falling as you reach the Antarctic Peninsula. Daily excursions will take you to Anvers Island, Deception Island and the South Shetland Islands. Explore the icy wilderness, with backdrops of towering icebergs, impressive glaciers, imposing snow-capped peaks, and waters dotted with ice flats. Mt Everest If bushwalking and hiking are your usual weekend activities, take your excursions up a notch (or 50) with a trek to the highest peak on our planet. Tick the mighty Mt Everest off your bucket list with an expedition to Base Camp. This trip of a lifetime to Mt Everest Base Camp will take you past unfathomably high peaks, stunning alpine lakes, icy glacial plains, unforgettable vistas and to the limits of your strength. Hiking the mighty Himalayas is no walk in the park. This trip includes 12 days of hiking for up to eight hours a day, reaching altitudes of over 5000 metres. Are you up for the challenge? Iceland What's more extreme than a hike to the highest mountain? How about an island created by volcanic eruptions? Iceland is a geographical marvel — but there's more to this island than ice (and Björk). This Nordic island nation is defined by its dramatic landscape of actively rumbling volcanos, scenic fjords, natural hot springs, gushing geysers, massive glaciers and gigantic waterfalls. Iceland is frequented by volcano-loving tourists who love to take a dip in the famous Blue Lagoon, gasp at the giant Skogafoss and Detifoss waterfalls and spy the aurora borealis as they circumvent this North Atlantic island. Madagascar Madagascar isn't just a lush jungle island overloaded with cartoon characters who like to move it, move it. This lush island nation has white sand beaches, steamy, humid jungles and numerous lemur species. Connect with nature as you travel down bumpy roads bordered by baobab trees and explore the national parks, reserves and lush rainforests. This adventure isn't for those who love to watch wildlife from the comforts of sleek bedsheets and spa baths. This is for wildlife lovers who want to get up close and personal with local animals in the rainforest. Scotland Embarking to the Orkney Islands promises a captivating adventure through untamed landscapes and rugged beauty. Located off the tip of Scotland in the North Sea, these islands boast an otherworldly charm, where ancient history collides with the raw forces of nature. The Orkneys are a haven for wildlife enthusiasts, offering a sanctuary for diverse bird species, seals, and other marine life. As you traverse the untamed terrain, be prepared to witness dramatic sandstone cliffs, windswept beaches and ancient Neolithic sites, all contributing to the untamed allure of the archipelago. From the mysterious standing stones of the Ring of Brodgar to the ancient village of Skara Brae, the Orkneys tell a story of a wild, resilient landscape shaped by natural forces and its inhabitants' resilient spirit. Central Asia Kyrgyzstan's rugged mountainous terrain, including the formidable Tian Shan range, beckons adrenaline seekers with challenging trekking opportunities and high-altitude landscapes. Uzbekistan captivates with its ancient mosaic-tiled ancient cities and arid deserts. Explore both on the trip to these contrasting landscapes, encountering nomadic traditions in Kyrgyz yurt camps and exploring Uzbekistan's historic cities like Samarkand and Bukhara. Witness where the past meets the present, offering an unforgettable journey for those seeking a blend of adventure and history. Get out, explore, dive into adventure and find your WOW with Intrepid Travel. Find out more on the website.
Several years in the works, a brand-new green space is ready to make Melbourne's central riverfront a little more lush. Opening on Thursday, June 19, Seafarers Rest is set to become the city's first new riverfront public park in over two decades, bringing 3500 square metres of greenery to Birrarung, aka the Yarra River. Forming part of North Wharf's revitalisation — a $600 million project led by developer Riverlee in partnership with the City of Melbourne — this stretch between Spencer Street and the Charles Grime Bridge is buoyed even further with the addition of this vibrant, accessible public space. Designed by landscape architecture and urban design practice Oculus, the team's highly integrated approach marries history, ecology and community. So, what can you expect? Seafarers Rest spans an immersive array of native plantings and generous lawns, bringing a vivid sense of nature to this once-industrial area. Supported by vegetated walking and cycling paths, kids' play areas, rope swings and shipping-inspired seating, there's also space for markets, live music and community gatherings throughout the day and night. Seafarers Rest dovetails directly with 1 Hotel Melbourne, serving as a green gateway to the luxury hotel's lounge and bar. You might also notice design details that pay homage to the area's Indigenous heritage and rich maritime history, like timber benches inspired by shipping crates alongside curated artefacts hand-picked from the Offshore & Speciality Ships Association. [caption id="attachment_1010719" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Credit: Mikkel Vang[/caption] "A vital piece of Northbank, Seafarers Rest's green infrastructure promotes wellbeing through connection to place and a celebration of community and culture," says Oculus Associate Director Claire Martin. "The outcomes we will deliver draws heavily on the relationship to the river and the site's maritime history which define the unique character of this part of the city and remain important to Melburnians." As for the broader North Wharf precinct, it's a mixed-use wonderland, with the 277-room hotel and 114 apartments set to breathe plenty of atmosphere into the area. Plus, there's a new function centre set to occupy the heritage-listed former cargo shed, Berth 5. Carefully conceived to harmonise with the waterfront and promote round-the-clock communal activities, this largely forgotten part of Melbourne is now looking a whole lot more impressive. Seafarers Rest will open on Thursday, June 19, at 68 Siddeley Street, Docklands. Head to the website for more information on the park and the surrounding precinct.
For eight decades, the space at Hawthorn East's 225 Camberwell Road served up all sorts of pre-loved treasures. Now, the heritage building across from the Rivoli cinema is slinging all manner of local and international wines. Taking over half of the shop front, East End Wine Bar transforms a 1930s auction house into a old-meets-new hangout — one where sitting and sipping is the main attraction, but where browsing the racks and taking a bottle home with you is also on the cards. Whichever you choose, you'll be doing so among timber and steel finishings, with the decor influenced by English pubs as well as modern-day Melbourne. Combining a cosy indoor space with an outdoor courtyard — complete with a retractable awning to make the most of the weather, when appropriate — the new watering hole can hold 130 people for drinks and a bite to eat. Small plates, charcuterie boards and pizzas are on the food menu. Among the latter, the 'Gawny', is a tribute to one of East End's owners: Melbourne Demons footballer Max Gawn. He's teamed up with Saint James' Rich Donovan and Craig Tate, plus Burnley Brewing operator Phil Gjisbergs, with their venture now open seven days a week — from 4pm on weekdays and from midday on weekends. Drinks-wise, wine lovers will find a 21-strong wine list spanning reds, whites, sparkling, rose and orange tipples, plus beer and cider as well — including three brews on tap. The aperitif selection is small but stacked with favourites, including Aperol spritzes, Pimm's cups, negronis and old fashioneds. And, on the takeaway front, vino aficionados can pick from the bottle shop's selection, which highlights low yielding wine producers as well as established masters.
How many times have you walked through Federation Square, whether rushing to Flinders Street Station, hopping on or off a tram, checking out a sporting event on the site's big screen or hitting up a nearby venue? How well do you know the public space in your mind, then? It's up there with the MCG as one of the first places that anyone thinks of when they think about Melbourne, but both locals and visitors alike will see it as they've never seen it before when June hits and RISING 2024 arrives. The Victorian capital's annual winter arts festival — because Vivid Sydney doesn't have a monopoly on citywide cultural celebrations at this time of year — will run from Saturday, June 1–Sunday, June 16. One of its centrepieces is a spot that everyone is bound to go to anyway, but turning Fed Square into a showcase of First Peoples' art and politics. The free exhibition and public program is called The Blak Infinite, and will boast Richard Bell's EMBASSY as its centrepiece. Inside the work, which is inspired by the original Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in the 70s, talks will be held every Saturday, while films will screen daily. Make sure that you spend time looking up at Fed Square during RISING 2024, too; each evening, projections will take to the heavens, telling tales of Sky Country and the cosmos. On the site's big screen, Ellen Van Neerven's speculative fiction will feature. And keep an eye out for Kait James and Tony Albert's contributions, with one digging into and subverting souvenirs via collage, and the other going big and colourful with large-scale installations. The Blak Infinite leads the highlights on RISING's full program for this year, which has been unveiled after a couple of past announcements for the June fest. So, audiences should already be excited about Counting and Cracking and Communitas. The first brings the acclaimed Sri Lankan-Australian stage saga to Melbourne finally, and the second involves 'Love Tonight' talents SHOUSE throwing a music party that'll fill Melbourne's St Paul's Cathedral with hundreds of people making tunes as part of a choir. There's 105 events featuring 480-plus artists all up — including 23 newly commissioned works, plus six that are making their world premiere — with tunes also at the heart of the newly revealed Day Tripper, a festival within the broader festival over the King's Birthday long weekend. Melbourne Town Hall will be its hub, but the event will take over an entire block, including the Capitol Theatre and Max Watt's. And, you'll only need one ticket to hit it all up. Music-wise, Yasiin Bey, who was formerly known as Mos Def, leads the Day Tripper bill with a tribute to MF Doom. The rest of the lineup includes almost every genre that you can think of from hip hop and disco to post-punk and acid house. There'll be dance works, video pieces and brass bands as well — and Bar Italia, Asha Puthli, HTRK, Richard Youngs and more taking part. Love music films? Make a date with 24 Hour Rock Show, which British Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller first staged in Finland in 2015. It'll play rock documentaries back to back for a whole day and night, and for free. If you're up for it, catching the full 24 hours will be a wild cinema endurance test. Bey isn't only appearing at Day Tripper, but also at PICA to perform his 2009 album The Ecstatic. On the rest of RISING's music roster, ONEFOUR, Fever Ray, The Dirty Three playing their home town for the first time in 14 years, Sky Ferreira, Tirzah, Blonde Redhead, Snoh Aalegra and Moktar also pop up. For trance fans, UK producer Evian Christ has an exclusive show for the festival — and, for something complete different, Deller's Acid Brass is staging free public concerts. Once more linking tunes with the big screen, Hear My Eyes is back with a screening of Hellraiser. Hieroglyphic Being aka Jamal Moss is doing an all-new score for the horror classic, while visual artist Robin Fox will add a live laser performance. RISING attendees will also be able to enjoy The First Bad Man by Ireland's Pan Pan Theatre, which is based around Miranda July's novel and described as "a performative book club" — and ILBIJERRI Theatre Company's Big Name No Blankets, which dives into the Warumpi Band's history. Or, there's the first chapter of The Cadela Força Trilogy, examining sexual violence in art history; First Peoples' futuristic drag show ECLIPSE; inclusive club night CRIP RAVE THEORY; and eight hours of 8/8/8: REST, the second part in a triptych that began at RISING 2022 with 8/8/8: WORK. At a festival that's all about showing folks something that they won't see every day, SONG HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉ TRE IV certainly fits, too: as conjured up by Flemish artist Miet Warlop, it involves musicians playing just one song over and over, all while partaking in an obstacle course featuring trampolines, treadmills and balance beams. So does FOOD, which is set at an illusionist's dinner party, and has audiences sat around the stage-sized table to dive into the history of its namesake. Also on the program: the return of The Rivers Sing, the Melbourne Art Trams unveiling their latest First Peoples' works, Bell's Pay the Rent making a Melbourne comeback over a decade since debuting in the city, plus nightly social club Night Trade. [caption id="attachment_945445" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brett Boardman[/caption] RISING 2024 runs from Saturday, June 1–Sunday, June 16 across Melbourne. Head to the festival's website for further information and tickets, with latter on sale from 12pm on Tuesday, March 12 for subscribers and 12pm on Thursday, March 14 otherwise. Top image: Damian Raggatt.
It's about to get a whole lot harder for any Victorian driver to get away with using their mobile phone while driving — and it's thanks to new state-of-the art safety cameras being installed to detect the illegal behaviour. This Wednesday, July 29, the Victorian Government is launching a three-month trial of the phone detection cameras and then, if the trial is successful, hopes to roll them out across the state. So, how will they work? Well, the cameras will take high-resolution images of the front seat of the car, and those images can then be viewed in real time to detect folks using their phones while they're behind the wheel. The cameras can apparently operate in all conditions, day and night, and regardless of the weather. The new technology will be tested across several metro and regional locations, according to the government, and will be managed by Acusensus — the same Australian company that helped launch the world-first cameras in NSW. During Sydney's six-month trial of the cameras in early 2019 — before they were rolled out permanently in late 2019 — the cameras spied more than 100,000 drivers illegally using their phones. [caption id="attachment_742763" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A photo taken during the NSW camera trial[/caption] The Victorian Government will not be handing out any fines during the trial and says it will delete all photos captured, except for "a limited number of de-identified images". From 2017–2018, 30,000 Victorians were fined for illegally using their phones while driving. According to research conducted by Monash University, a mobile phone camera program — such as this one being trialled — could prevent 95 casualty crashes per year. Victoria's three-month trial of safety cameras starts on Wednesday, July 29. To find out more, head to the Victorian Government website.
School's back — and so is the escalating battle between humans and folks with superpowers, no shortage of chaos and gore, and nothing being quite what it seems at Godolkin University. Also returning at the centre of all of the above, as seen in the just-dropped full trailer for Gen V season two: the blood-bending Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair, Please Baby Please), her size-changing roomate Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway, Kinda Pregnant), gender-shifting Jordan Li (Never Have I Ever's London Thor and Shining Vale's Derek Luh), the persuasive Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips, Overcompensating), super-strong Sam Riordan (Asa Germann, Monsters) and superhero Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas, High Potential). This college-set spinoff from The Boys — which takes the latter's caped-crusader satirising to the next generation — first debuted in 2023 and was quickly renewed for a second run. Season four of The Boys arrived in 2024, and now it's time for Gen V's comeback from Wednesday, September 17, 2025, ahead of the Vought Cinematic Universe's OG series wrapping up with its upcoming fifth and final season. What if dealing with possessing superpowers turned higher learning into absolute mayhem? That's one of the concepts at the heart of Gen V — although the impact of part of the population having extraordinary abilities has always been at the core of the entire franchise. As the VCU's characters cope with the fallout from Homelander's (Antony Starr, G20) actions in The Boys, what if the Godolkin gang could rival him in strength? That's where Gen V is heading, too, the new sneak peek teases. As also seen in an earlier teaser for season two, there's a new uni head, Cipher (Hamish Linklater, Nickel Boys), on the scene with a far-from-trustworthy vibe. Indeed, he wants his pupils to be more powerful than ever. Marie's stint at the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Centre, her home since the events of season one — and for some of her friends, too — comes to an end as well; however, going back to class isn't the same as it once was, including in a "Make America Super Again" world. Then there's the discovery of a secret program dating back to God U's founding. For those who missed Gen V 's initial season, Godolkin University is the college for superheroes that's meant to help prepare the best of the best for caped-crusader life — until exploding classmates, creepy secret facilities and unnerving professors complicate matters, that is. Season one spent its time with Marie, who knows that attending God U is a pivotal opportunity. After a traumatic experience when her powers kicked in, this is her chance to completely change her life, as well as achieve her dream of becoming the first Black woman in The Seven. Then, nothing turns out as planned. Also, things on campus (and underneath it) get shady, fast. The pair of glimpses at season two so far also dive into how the show is addressing an off-screen tragedy, after season-one talent Chance Perdomo (After Everything), who portrayed the magnetic Andre Anderson, passed away in 2024. Familiar faces from across the franchise feature in the new footage as well, alongside Ethan Slater (Wicked) joining the cast as Thomas Godolkin. Check out the full trailer for Gen V season two below: Gen V streams via Prime Video, with season two releasing from Wednesday, September 17, 2025. Read our review of season one.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from March's haul of newbies. (Yes, we're assuming that you've already jumped on A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong already.) BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW FRESH Finally, a film about dating in the 21st century with real bite — and that's unafraid to sink its teeth into the topic. In this hit Sundance horror-comedy, Normal People's Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa, and once again gets entangled in a romance that'll leave a mark; here, however, the scars aren't merely emotional. Swiping right hasn't been doing it for Fresh's protagonist, as a comically terrible date with the appropriately named Chad (Brett Dier, Jane the Virgin) demonstrates early. Then sparks fly the old-fashioned way, in-person at the supermarket, with the curiously offline doctor Steve (Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy). Soon, he's whisking her away to a secluded spot for the weekend — a little too swiftly for Noa's protective best friend Mollie's (Jojo T Gibbs, Twenties) liking, especially given that no one can virtually stalk his socials to scope him out — and that getaway takes a savage and nightmare-fuelling twist. If Raw met Ex Machina, then crossed paths with American Psycho and Hostel, and finally made the acquaintance of any old rom-com, Fresh still wouldn't be the end result — but its tone stems from those parts, as do some plot points and performances, and even a few scenes as well. First-time feature director Mimi Cave doesn't butcher these limbs, though, and screenwriter Lauryn Kahn (Ibiza) doesn't stitch them together like Frankenstein's monster. As anchored by the excellent Edgar-Jones and Stan, there's care, savvy, smarts and style in this splatter-filled, satirical, brutal, funny, empowered and sweet film. Its twists, and its cutting take on predatory dating, are best discovered by watching, but being turned off apps, men and meat in tandem is an instant gut reaction. Fresh is available to stream via Disney+. OUR FLAG FLAG MEANS DEATH In the on-screen sea that is the never-ending list of films and television shows constantly vying for eyeballs, Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby have frequently proven gem-dappled treasure islands. When the immensely funny New Zealand talents have collided, their resumes have spanned four of the most endearing comic hits of the big and small screens in the 21st century so far, aka Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows, Wellington Paranormal and Hunt for the Wilderpeople — and now, with pirate parody Our Flag Means Death, they've given viewers another gleaming jewel. This show was always going to swashbuckle its way into streaming must-see lists — and into comedy-lovers' hearts — based on its concept alone, but it more than lives up to its winning idea and winsome casting. Come for the buccaneering banter and seafaring satire, stay for a thoughtful and sincere comic caper that's also a rom-com. The inimitable Darby stars as Stede Bonnet, a self-styled 'gentleman pirate' and a great approximation of Flight of the Conchords' Murray if he'd existed centuries earlier. Meanwhile, Waititi dons leather, dark hues aplenty, an air of bloodthirsty melancholy and an eye-catching head of greying hair as Edward Teach, the marauder better known to the world as Blackbeard. The two real-life figures eventually cross paths after Bonnet leaves his life of wealth, privilege and comfort to rove the oceans, captains a ship staffed by a motley crew to end all motley crews, and initially gets captured by Blackbeard — or Ed, as he calls him. As these two opposites bond, riding the waves from adversaries to co-captains to potentially something more, Our Flag Means Death truly and gloriously opens up its warm heart. The first season of Our Flag Means Death is available to stream via Binge. Read our full review. ASCENSION Ascension may not be an Oscar-winner, losing out to Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), but it'll always be one of 2022's nominees. More than that, this two-time Tribeca Film Festival winner will forever remain one of the most arresting documentaries of the past year as well. Helming her first feature-length doco, filmmaker Jessica Kingdon turns her gaze to the Chinese dream — and what she sees, while situated in a very specific cultural context by design, is a clear and easy sibling to its American counterpart. That's part of the statement her film makes, all just by watching on patiently but meticulously as people go about their lives. Starting with factory recruitment on the streets, then stepping into mass production, then climbing the social hierarchy up to the rich and privileged, Ascension explores employment and consumerism — and what they mean in an everyday sense in modern-day and modernised China. It's a portrait of the needs that make working on assembly lines a necessity, and of the dreams that inspire every step up the societal ladder. Some folks build sex dolls, their uncanny valley-esque forms adding an eerie mood. Others take lessons on etiquette for service jobs, including about not letting your face betray your emotions, and the tone is also unsettling. Observational to a mesmerising degree, Kingdon's exceptional film lets its slices of life and the behaviour, attitudes and patterns they capture do the talking, and they all speak volumes. Indeed, what a clever, telling, incisive and surreal story they unfurl. Ascension is available to stream via Paramount+. TURNING RED What'd happen if the Hulk was a teenage girl, and turned into a giant, fuzzy, super-cute red panda instead of going green and getting ultra-muscular? Or, finding a different riff on the ol' werewolf situation, if emotions rather than full moons inspired a case of not-quite-lycanthropy? These aren't queries that most folks have thought of, but writer/director Domee Shi certainly has — and they're at the core of Pixar's Turning Red, her debut feature after winning an Oscar for 2018 short Bao. As many of the animation studio's movies do, the film takes its title literally. But, it also spins the usual Pixar question. Turning Red does indeed wonder what'd happen if red pandas sported human-style emotions; however, the Disney-owned company has been musing on people becoming other kinds of critters of late, with particularly astute and endearing results here. The movie's focus: 13-year-old Chinese Canadian Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang, also making her film debut). The year is 2002, and she loves meeting her strict but doting mum Ming's (Sandra Oh, The Chair) expectations, hanging out with her pals and obsessing over boy band 4*Town. And while her mother doesn't approve of her friends or her taste in music, Mei has become accustomed to juggling everything that's important to her. But then, after a boy-related mishap, the red panda appears. Mei goes to bed feeling normal, albeit angsty and upset, only to wake up looking like a cuddly creature. Like werewolf tales about teenage boys tend to be, Turning Red is all about puberty and doesn't hide it — and whether it's tackling that head-on, pondering generational trauma or showing its rampant love for boy bands, it sports sweetness, soul and smarts. Turning Red is available to stream via Disney+. Read our full review. UPLOAD In its first season in 2020, Upload gave The Office and Parks and Recreation writer/co-creator Greg Daniels his own existential-leaning comedy. Think: The Good Place meets virtual reality, which is basically the premise. After a car accident at the age of 27, computer programmer Nathan (Robbie Amell, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City) is uploaded to a luxurious digital afterlife called Lakeview, which takes more than a little adjusting. Following his troubles with his still-breathing girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards, Briarpatch), as well as his growing bond with the IT employee, Nora (Andy Allo, Pitch Perfect 3), who works as his virtual handler or "angel", the series found plenty of ways to interrogate its concept. Indeed, while clearly a satire of capitalism, technology and their combination, it also inched towards unnerving Black Mirror territory. In season two, Upload dives deeper — and those Black Mirror comparisons only grow, too. Just like with that dystopian hit, it's plain to see how this reality could come true in a not-so-distant future, which no one watching this could ever want. Nathan now knows that all isn't well in Lakeview, or with the profit-hungry tech company behind it. Nora is well aware also, starting off the new batch of episodes by immersing herself with the anti-tech anarchists the Ludds. And Ingrid has spotted that Nathan isn't as enamoured with their relationship or his new virtual abode, so she decides to join him. Upload is still a comedy, but it knows that getting dark and being smart couldn't be more crucial given its concept. This season cleverly dives deeper, and only disappoints by being just seven half-hour episodes long. Consider your appetite whetted for season three, though. Season two of Upload is is available to stream via Prime Video. LUCY AND DESI Icons celebrating icons: when Amy Poehler directs a documentary about Lucille Ball, as she does here, that's the end result. It's fitting that Lucy and Desi includes a letter read mere days after Desi Arnaz's death, about his ex-wife and longterm professional partner, that included a touching line: "I Love Lucy wasn't just the name of the show". Poehler loves Lucy, too, understandably. Watching the compilation of clips curated here — spanning Ball's movie career in the 30s and 40s, as well as her TV shows such as the pioneering I Love Lucy, follow-up The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, and later sitcoms The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy — it's impossible not to see Ball's influence upon the Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation star, and upon the generations of female comedians that've followed Ball. Lucy and Desi loves Arnaz as well, though, and truly adores the pair's tumultuous love story — one that changed the course of comedy history. Forget Being the Ricardos, the average-at-best Aaron Sorkin film that inexplicably earned Oscar nominations — including for its one-note performances — and doesn't even dream of being funny. A deeper, meatier, far more interesting dance through Ball and Arnaz's life comes from Lucy and Desi, which benefits not just from Poehler's affection and her eagerness to ensure that her subjects' personalities shine through, but also from previously unreleased audio tapes of the pair talking about their ups and downs. Recent interviews pepper the film as well, including with daughter Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, and both Bette Midler and Carol Burnett. Still, this doco's points of focus truly do speak best for themselves, whether chatting frankly or seen in all of those wonderful sitcom snippets. Lucy and Desi is is available to stream via Prime Video. WINDFALL Films can arrive at the perfect time, but usually they're actually products of their time. With Windfall, the former feels true, but this twisty thriller couldn't have been made at any other moment. It's an account of the haves and the have nots, and the widening gap between them — and it's told now, after years of that chasm growing visibly, the privileged largely lapping it up while hardening their disdain for anyone less fortunate, and the latter increasingly refusing to accept such inequality. The setting: a sprawling vacation home owned by a CEO worth billions and his wife. The setup: a break-in interrupted by said couple. The showdown: between two sides of the income divide (struggling versus obscenely comfortable), as brought to the screen by director Charlie McDowell (The One I Love, The Discovery). In a story credited to the filmmaker, star Jason Segel, McDowell's regular screenwriter Justin Lader and Seven scribe Andrew Kevin Walker — and also earning all the above either producer or executive producer billing, and fellow on-screen talents Lilly Collins and Jesse Plemons as well as — talk is largely the name of the game. Nobody (Segel, Dispatches From Elsewhere), as the movie's burglar is dubbed, argues with the CEO (Plemons, The Power of the Dog) and his other half (Collins, Emily in Paris) after taking them hostage at gunpoint, and their conversation is constantly revealing. He's initially bought off by the small stack of cash secreted away in the well-appointed abode but, after leaving then returning when he spies security cameras, he wants more money for his mercy. What follows is a perceptively shot and compellingly performed dissection of having it all (the CEO), grasping for some of it (Nobody) and realising that riches can't buy happiness (the wife). Windfall is available to stream via Netflix. NEW SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK MOON KNIGHT Marvel's knack for casting is one of its superpowers, and it flexes those talents in Moon Knight. Enlisting Oscar Isaac fresh from the phenomenal 2021 trio that is Dune, Scenes From a Marriage and The Card Counter is as shrewd a casting move as the behemoth responsible for the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made, especially given that he plays two roles in one. The series starts with Isaac as Steven Grant, who works in the gift shop of a British museum, wishes he could lead tours instead, studies Egypt and sports a broad English accent. Oh, and chains himself to his bed every night, even though he has trouble sleeping. But as gaps in his days lead him to learn, Steven is also American mercenary Marc Spector — or, to be exact, vice versa. Complicating matters further, he's the on-earth conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu as well. Even within franchise confines, Isaac is mesmerising in Moon Knight, playing a man grappling with dissociative identity disorder — as complex a character as the MCU has delivered so far — who's also drawn into a continent-hopping mystery-adventure. Also complicating matters: shadowy cult-like figure Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke, The Good Lord Bird), who has unfinished business with Khonshu and big plans of his own. Welcomely, the Marvel formula feels fresher here. Also pivotal: that, because it branches off with a previously unseen protagonist rather than the sprawling saga's usual heroes, this is the first MCU Disney+ series that doesn't feel like homework. Having filmmakers Mohamed Diab (Clash) and Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Synchronic) also leaves an impression, in what's easily the most intriguing small-screen Marvel effort so far. The first episode of Moon Knight is available to stream via Disney+, with new instalments dropping weekly. Read our full review. MINX When home video, the internet and mobile phones with inbuilt cameras each arrived, six words could've been uttered: get ready to look at dicks. New HBO comedy Minx is set the early 70s, so before all three, but the same phrase also applies here. It's true of the show itself, which isn't shy about displaying the male member in various shapes and sizes. It also stands tall in the world that Minx depicts. When you're making the first porn magazine for women — and, when you're making an ambitious, entertaining and impeccably cast The Deuce meets Mrs America-style series about it, but lighter, sweeter and funnier (and all purely fictional) — penises are inescapable. Also impossible to avoid in Minx: questions like "are erections consistent with our philosophy?", as asked by Vassar graduate and country club regular Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond, Trying). Idolising the magazine industry and unhappily working for the dispiritingly traditional Teen Queen, she has long dreamed of starting her own feminist publication — even penning a bundle of articles and making her own issues — but centrefolds splashed with male genitalia don't fit her ideal pitch. No one's buying what Joyce is selling, though; The Matriarchy Awakens, her dream mag, gets rejected repeatedly by the industry's gatekeepers. Only one is interested: Bottom Dollar Publications' Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson, Ride the Eagle), but he's in the pornography business. The first four episodes of Minx are available to stream via Stan, with new instalments dropping weekly. Read our full review. THE DROPOUT Dramatising the Theranos scandal, eight-part miniseries The Dropout is the third high-profile release in the past two months to relive a wild true-crime tale — following not only the Anna Delvey-focused Inventing Anna, about the fake German heiress who conned her way through New York City's elite, but also documentary The Tinder Swindler, which steps through defrauding via dating app at the hands of Israeli imposter Simon Leviev. It also dives into the horror-inducing Dr Death-esque realm, because when a grift doesn't just mess with money and hearts, but with health and lives, it's pure nightmare fuel. And, it's the most gripping of the bunch, even though we're clearly living in peak scandal-to-screen times. Scam culture might be here to stay as Inventing Anna told us in a telling line of dialogue, but it isn't enough to just gawk its way — and The Dropout and its powerful take truly understands this. To tell the story of Theranos, The Dropout has to tell the story of Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley biotech outfit's founder and CEO from the age of 19. Played by a captivating, career-best Amanda Seyfried — on par with her Oscar-nominated work in Mank, but clearly in a vastly dissimilar role — the Steve Jobs-worshipping Holmes is seen explaining her company's name early in its first episode. It's derived from the words "therapy" and "diagnosis", she stresses, although history already dictates that it offered little of either. Spawned from Holmes' idea to make taking blood simpler and easier, using just one drop from a small finger prick, it failed to deliver, lied about it copiously and still launched to everyday consumers, putting important medical test results in jeopardy. The first six episodes of The Dropout are available to stream via Disney+, with new instalments dropping weekly. Read our full review. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2021, and January and February 2022 — and our top new TV shows of 2021, best new television series from this year that you might've missed and top straight-to-streaming films and specials as well. Top image: Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.
We've passed the winter solstice and the temptation to hibernate is growing ever stronger — so, you probably need a little something extra to tempt you off the couch. Handily, online reservation platform The Fork has a winning idea up its sleeve: it's offering a huge six weeks of dining specials nationwide. Kicking off on Monday, July 1, The Fork Festival will see over 250 top restaurants across the country offering sit-down meals for half the usual price. Yep, 50 percent off your total food bill, folks — think of it as the proverbial carrot luring you out of the house. To snag a half-price meal, you just need to make a reservation through The Fork website or app at one of the participating eateries for any service (breakfast, lunch or dinner) during the six weeks. [caption id="attachment_574140" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Comuna Cantina[/caption] There are some great venues coming to the party, too. In Sydney, you'll find discounted eats at the likes of Pilu at Freshwater, Queen Chow Manly, Potts Point wine bar Monopole, Din Tai Fung (Chatswood, Central Park, Miranda), waterside spot Berowra Waters Inn, Fratelli Fresh (Alexandria and Crows Nest) and Surry Hills' Caffe Bartolo. Melbourne spots include Prahran's Casa NOM, Burma Lane in the CBD, South Yarra's Abacus and Pretty Boy Italian Steakhouse. Brisbane folk can score discounts at the likes of Comuna Cantina, River Quay Fish and The French Bistrot, and Perth diners should put Angove Kitchen & Espresso Bar, Prince Lane and Street Eats Eatery on their radar. You might want to revisit an old favourite or you could get a little adventurous and road-test somewhere new. Either way, there's ample time to squeeze in a fair few discount feasts before the festival wraps up on August 11. The Fork Festival runs from July 1–August 11. The full list of participating restaurants will be released on the website on June 30. Top image: Caffe Bartolo by Kitti Gould; Casa Nom by Griffin Simm.
Already dreaming of warmer days? The annual Tesselaar Tulip Festival is set to feature close to one million tulips planted across five acres of farmland, offering the perfect excuse to wander through endless fields of flowers to celebrate the start of spring. The tulip farm will come alive for its famous festivities from Saturday, September 16–Sunday, October 15, with a calendar of themed weekends promising something for all. Running September 16–17, Turkish Weekend will dish up a program of live art, music and food in honour of the country that played host to the first tulip festival over 400 years ago. Then, Dutch Weekend (September 22–24) will transport you straight to Holland, homeland of the festival's founders Cees and Johanna Tesselaar. Get set for clog dancing, sjoekbak (Dutch shuffleboard) and, in a recreation of Amsterdam's famed Alkmaar Cheese Market, a host of traditional eats — last year this included oliebollen (Dutch dumplings), bitterballen (meatballs), poffertjes and Tesselaar's signature Double Dutch ice cream. More great eating awaits at Food, Wine & Jazz Weekend (September 29–October 1), where you'll enjoy local drinks and gastronomical delights among the tulips. Also on the bill: a couple of Children's Weeks, a weekend devoted to retro rock 'n' roll, and an Irish Weekend filled with craic. Tickets are available at the farm, but you can buy them online in advance from August 1 to skip the queue.
In 2020, Brisbane made history, becoming the only city outside of Melbourne to ever host an AFL Grand Final. This year, the Queensland capital looks poised to land another huge sporting event — although it won't happen for another 11 years. That'd be the 2032 Olympic Games, with Brisbane named the preferred host for the Games of the XXXV Olympiad back in February. Now, overnight, that quest has progressed. Following a meeting on Thursday, June 10, the International Olympic Committee Executive Board has announced that it is recommending that the Queensland capital gets the official nod. The IOC Executive Board's proposal now moves to the broader International Olympic Committee itself, which will vote on the matter at its next session on Wednesday, July 21. So, in just over a month, Brisbane will likely be named as the actual host of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games — not just the preferred host. The move follows a recommendation by the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad, as happened when Brisbane was named the preferred 2032 host earlier this year. This time, the commission has put together a detailed report, which just earned the Executive Board's unanimous support. Announcing the news and outlining why the city has won its endorsement, the Executive Board listed eight core strengths identified in Brisbane's bid. They include the fact that Australia is apparently a "sports-loving nation"; the use of either existing or temporary venues to cover 84 percent of the Games; the support of the government, the public and the private sector; a commitment to sustainability; and the social and economic benefits — US$6.1 billion in value to Queensland and US$13.4 billion to Australia, according to commission's impact study. https://twitter.com/iocmedia/status/1403007957424611328 If Brisbane is officially named next month, the 2032 Games will be the first held in Oceania since 2000 — when Sydney did the honours — and will mark just a 32-year gap between Australia's most recent hosting slots. The Games were first held on our shores back in 1956, in Melbourne. It'll also mean that southeast Queensland will host the Olympics just 14 years after hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Brisbane has staged the Commonwealth Games, too, back in 1982. Brisbane's bid includes three clusters of venues — in Brisbane itself, on the Gold Coast and on the Sunshine Coast — and proposes that the Games take place between July 23–August 8, 2032. As revealed in April, the Gabba will also undergo a huge revamp if the city hosts the Games, which'll basically involve tearing the stadium down and rebuilding it again. After Tokyo holds the postponed 2020 Games in July and August — without overseas spectators — Paris is on hosting duties in 2024. Then, in 2028, Los Angeles will take the torch. For further details about the International Olympic Committee's announcement, and about Brisbane's bid for the 2032 Olympics, head to the Games' website. Top image: Tokyo 2020 and TMG.
Winter might still be months away, but the final series of Game of Thrones is set to air on April 14. If the show's comeback will have you spiralling into an all-consuming GoT hole, then you will probably want to get in on Melbourne's latest themed event. Call your banners and get ready for an immersive medieval-style banquet reminiscent of the series. Prepare for a meal that not only replicates the fascinating and often terrifying world of GoT that so many have come to depend on for meaning in life, but will include a brunch feast, lots of ale, and some murderous entertainment. Many details of the event are still shrouded in mystery (much like the eventual outcome of the series), including the date and price. The location hasn't been announced, but will be somewhere in the inner city. But we can guess the specific theme. Taking its cues from a particularly notorious episode of HBO's hit series, this immersive banquet will surely be styled after the Red Wedding. Yes, you can assume there'll be some recreations of scenes from George R. R. Martin's saga — although here's hoping there's no regicide at this one. If, like Jon Snow, you know nothing, then you're in for an entertaining feast. Costumes are welcome, but no pretend (or real) weaponry. The banquet will happen in Melbourne later this year. Further details — and tickets — will be released soon via email. We'll let you know when they are.
Victoria's current lockdown won't be ending today, Tuesday, July 20, after Premier Daniel Andrews flagged yesterday that the stay-at-home conditions would need to continue due to rising case numbers. Something has been changing during this current outbreak, however, and fast. That'd be the list of exposure sites — which, just a few days back on Friday, July 16, included 125 venues, but now reaches 320. The Victorian Department of Health has been updating the register as new places are identified, as it does during all outbreaks. Late on Monday, July 19, it announced a number of new Tier 1 exposure sites — including one big and familiar venue. As happened back in June, too, South Melbourne Market is once again on the list. If you visited the site on Sunday, July 11, you may need to get tested immediately and then self-isolate for 14 days, which is the standard procedure for Tier 1 venues. That requirement applies between the hours of 9.30am–12pm to folks who went to The SuperCool, Spin South Melbourne and Create tBt Toys and Games. South Melbourne's Panette Eatery on Cecil Street was also named as a Tier 1 site, between 8–11am the same day. Also just joining the list: Coles Glenferrie in Hawthorn from 6.45–7.10pm on Wednesday, July 14, Ichi Ni Nana Izakaya in Fitzroy from 6.35–9.15pm on Thursday, July 15 and Upton Girl cafe in Windsor from 8.30–9.05am on Wednesday, July 14. Obviously, given the lengthy number of sites now named, the list goes on. Some venues date back to Thursday, July 8, while the most recent exposures date to Saturday, July 17. https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1417105020802064386 Other notable venues that've newly joined the roster, but as Tier 2 locations — which requires getting tested urgently, then self-isolating until results are received — include the visitors hub at Queen Victoria Market (from 12.15–1pm on Thursday, July 15), Daniel's Donuts on Collins Street (from 3–3.30pm on Thursday, July 15), Bunnings Dandenong (from 7.45–8.15am on Tuesday, July 13), Richmond's Cheeky Monkey Cafe (from 8.10–8.55am on Friday, July 16), Woolworths Fitzroy (from 12.20–1pm on Friday, July 16), and a number of Metro Train and Yarra Trams routes. As always, Melburnians can keep an eye on the local list of exposure sites at the Department of Health website — it will keep being updated if and when more sites are identified. For those looking to get tested, you can find a list of testing sites including regularly updated waiting times also on the Department of Health website. And, has remained the case throughout the pandemic, Melburnians should be looking out for coughs, fever, sore or scratchy throat, shortness of breath, or loss of smell or taste, symptoms-wise. For further details on the latest exposure sites and updated public health advice, see the Department of Health website. Top image: Google Maps.
If you like croissants and ice cream, as everyone should, then we've just found the four tastiest words in the English language: Lune ice cream sandwich. Lune Croissanterie serves up limited-edition treats each month, and has just added to its February 2024 range with the ultimate special to see out summer. These $15 sandos are even made with croissant ice cream. There's three forms of croissant worked into Lune's latest Frankenstein's monster-esque pastry mashup, providing the outside of the sandwich and featuring in the filling. Wrapped around the ice cream is a pain au chocolat, which has been sliced open. And inside, that croissant ice cream is made using pastry-infused milk and caramelised croissant pieces. How do you whip up croissant ice cream? Lune takes its croissants, soaks them in milk, then uses that as a base. As it's churning, the caramelised croissant pieces are added. Yes, it just reading about it should make you hungry. "When we first opened Lune in Fitzroy, one day an ingenious staff member cut a pain au chocolat in half and filled it with some gelato we happened to have in the freezer. It became a mainstay staff snack (with a rather naughty nickname)," explains Lune owner and co-founder Kate Reid. "We've decided that it's far too good to keep in-house as a staff secret. My inner child is so stoked that it's making a public debut!" [caption id="attachment_735735" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Josie Withers[/caption] The Lune ice cream sando is only on the menu from Saturday, February 10–Wednesday, February 28, and only at the chain's the chain's stores in Armadale in Melbourne and South Brisbane. There's no online pre-orders, either, so you will need to lineup to get your hands around this special. While you're there, you can also treat yo'self to something else in the February lineup. The twice-baked finger bun croissants are back, alongside cherry ripe pains au chocolat, tiramisu puddings, berry juniper cruffins, and harissa and goats' cheese escargots. Lune's ice cream sandwiches are available until Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at the chain's Armadale and South Brisbane stores only. Images: Lune.
If you like celebrating October German-style, a trip to Europe at the right time of year is likely on your must-do list. For those who can't take a boozy overseas holiday this year, Oktoberfest in the Gardens has you covered. There'll be steins. There'll be schnitties. There'll be lederhosen-wearing revellers — and if you're keen to dress the part as well, that's up to you. The Australian Oktoberfest event has been in the Bavarian-themed game for 14 years now, with its 2024 run in seven cities solely taking place in October. Clear a Saturday, whether you live in Perth or Adelaide, where the fest will kick off on Saturday, October 5; on the Gold Coast or in Melbourne, where it's time to say "prost!" on Saturday, October 12; Brisbane or Newcastle, which'll be downing brews on Saturday, October 19; or Sydney, where the tour wraps up on Saturday, October 26. This series of German shindigs isn't small, with 65,000 people expected to attend across the full slate of events this year. At each, the kind of beer- and bratwurst-fuelled shenanigans that Germany has become so famous for at this time of year are on offer. So, if you have a hankering for doppelbock and dancing to polka, it really is the next best thing to heading to Europe. Oktoberfest in the Gardens boasts a crucial attraction, too: as well as serving a variety of pilsners, ciders, wine and non-alcoholic beverages, it constructs huge beer halls to house the boozy merriment. When you're not raising a stein — or several — at the day-long event, you can tuck into pretzels and other traditional snacks at food stalls, or check out the hefty array of entertainment. Live music, roving performers, a silent disco, rides and a sideshow alley are all on the agenda. "We say it every year, but this year's Oktoberfest celebrations will be bigger than ever before. It's amazing how this event has continued to grow across the country," said Ross Drennan, co-founder of Nokturnl Events, which runs Oktoberfest in the Gardens. "Last year, we added additional cities to the tour and introduced even more fun activations. The response was overwhelming, with record-breaking sales." Oktoberfest in the Gardens 2024 Dates and Venues: Saturday, October 5 — Langley Park, Perth Saturday, October 5 — Pinky Flat, Adelaide Saturday, October 12 — Broadwater Parklands, Gold Coast Saturday, October 12 — Catani Gardens, St Kilda, Melbourne Saturday, October 19 — Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane Saturday, October 19 — The Station, Newcastle Saturday, October 26 — The Domain, Sydney Oktoberfest in the Gardens tours Australia in October 2024 — head to the event's website for further details, plus tickets from Wednesday, July 31.
If you're looking for a way to get inspired by exceptional women and witness some live talent for International Women's Day this year, check out the happenings at Melbourne Quarter between Monday, March 6 and Friday, March 10. This year's International Women's Day theme is Embrace Equity, encouraging us to imagine a fair and impartial world and to see how gender equality can benefit communities everywhere. Melbourne Quarter will be home to a series of free events to commemorate all the inspirational women in our lives. From live music, guest speakers and art installations — there is so much to discover this March. To start, there will be a free (but ticketed) event – a conversation with Sarah Davidson. The commercial lawyer turned entrepreneur (founder of Matcha Maiden, host of Seize the Yay podcast and bestselling author) will speak of her own experiences and invite additional surprise panellists from the tech and education fields to discuss the theme of IWD and how we can all embrace equity. You can book your spot to the panel here. You can also check out other interactive and limited-time experiences, like a fashion installation from Tuesday, March 7 displaying female First Nations Creatives' fashion designs, curated by local label and retailer Ngali, or a free masterclass on Thursday, March 9 on the art of perfume making from The Powder Room. Bookings are essential, so make yours here. Be sure to visit the Gunpowder Walk at any point during the week, because local Melbourne artist Justine McAllister will be painting a mural inspired by this year's theme. You can also enjoy a bite to eat from local retailers and live music from an exciting lineup of Melbournian musicians on Monday, March 6, Wednesday, March 8 and Friday, March 10 between 12pm-2pm. Check out the full lineup for International Women's Day at Melbourne Quarter at the website.
There are few things in this life as uniquely satisfying as lounging in a hotel room. The sheets are softer and straighter and somehow cleaner than you can ever achieve at home. That fluffy robe inscribed with the hotel's initials elicits an overwhelming sense of contentment as soon as you throw it on. The kettle always works. And if it doesn't? Call reception and someone will magically spirit one onto your door step. Whether it's on a work trip, a sneaky staycation, or a blowout weekend away with your bestie or beau, if you're in the market for the next hotel to put on your list, we have the stay for you — no matter your budget — with our Hotel Hitlist 2024. BUDGET: Holiday Inn Express Southbank If Melbourne is on your travel list in 2024, you can't beat the location of this Holiday Inn Express — or its budget. Located in the Southbank arts hub, where you can count the National Gallery of Victoria, Arts Centre Melbourne and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art as next-door neighbours. Experience this hotel's smart rooms that include a pillow menu, complimentary grab-and-go express breakfast (as well as a breakfast buffet), and free wifi. Ink Hotel Melbourne Another spot along the Melbourne Southbank is the stylish Ink Hotel. Designed to suit all kinds of travellers, the chic hotel offers guest rooms from pocket-size (just there to sleep) through to spacious suites. You don't have to go far for a good cup of coffee (it's Melbourne, after all) but breakfast and brunch are available from 7.30am until 3pm daily, and the cafe is open from 7am until 11pm. There's also an on-site bar serving drinks and bar snacks every day until late — there's even a daily happy hour from 5–8pm. Holiday Inn Sunshine Coast If the Sunshine Coast is calling, this Holiday Inn Express and Suites is another can't-beat stay when you're travelling on a budget. Located in Maroochydore, it's an ideal spring-off point for exploring one of Queensland's most popular regions. Each morning, sit down to a complimentary breakfast buffet or choose a grab-and-go option. Whether you're here for work or play, the hotel offers all the essentials and some fun extras, like the pillow menu, guest-only rooftop pool and shopping hub at the ground-floor level. Waters Edge Port Macquarie The once-sleepy town of Port Macquarie is now a popular vacation location for hikers, kayakers and beach lovers (there are eighteen beaches in the area to choose from). The picturesque spot is now home to plenty of Gen X and millennials who left city life for more scenic shores. Explore the area for yourself while staying at Waters Edge Port Macquarie. Perched on the banks of the Hastings River and only a short stroll from beaches, retail hubs and all the sites. BOUTIQUE: Kimpton Margot Sydney If a city stay is on your trip list for 2024, head to Sydney's CBD and stay in one of the city's iconic Art Deco buildings, reinvented as a stylish boutique hotel: Kimpton Margot Sydney. This hideaway heritage hotel boasts a great location, a recently opened rooftop bar (the biggest in the city), and restaurants and bars helmed by legendary Australian chef Luke Mangan. It's pet-friendly, too. Hotel Indigo Potts Point If Sydney is calling, you could stay in the cosmopolitan inner east suburb of Potts Point at this just-opened retro hotel tucked behind the iconic Kings Cross Coca-Cola sign. Only officially open on January 29, Hotel Indigo Potts Point celebrates the area's famed cabaret scene with homages to the locale's entertainers and musicians. The lobby features artist portraits, lush velvet red curtains, digital NFT artwork projections, and a vintage vinyl collection you can play on the lobby's turntable. In your room, you will find similar artwork, retro phones and an in-room cocktail station to get you in the party mood. VOCO Brisbane If BrisVegas is your destination in 2024, get involved in the hustle and bustle of Queensland's sun-drenched capital city from your comfy stay at voco® Brisbane City Centre. It is located along the city's waterfront, close to many of the city's top sights, including King George Square, the Museum of Brisbane and the South Bank Art Precinct. Enjoy some sips at Kraft & Co. restaurant and bar, take a dip in the rooftop pool or borrow a bike (for free) and explore the city on two wheels. Hotel Indigo Melbourne If you're looking for a creative haunt in the heart of Melbourne's CBD, you can't get better than Hotel Indigo Melbourne on Flinders. You'll be ideally located in the culture hub of Flinders Lane from hole-in-the-wall bars, fresh street art, museums, galleries, and excellent eateries and cafes. Situated close to photographer Helmut Newton's studio (whose artistry inspired the hotel's kit-out), this hotel is a celebration of fashion photography. Explore its large collection of artworks by local artists or take your own Newton-esque selfie at the on-site photo booth. BLOWOUT: Next Hotel Melbourne Located in Melbourne's CBD east end district, Next Hotel Melbourne is a super chic city stay next to hospitality and high-fashion hot spots and footsteps away from the city's theatres. Relax in the hotel's guest-only Club — with an aperitivo hour every evening with local wines by the glass, local spirits and snacks to graze on — or dine at the on-site restaurant La Madonna. It encompasses the entire third floor with a cocktail bar and Italian-Asian-inspired restaurant run by chef Paul Turner. Southern Ocean Lodge This local favourite on Kangaroo Island was damaged during the Black Summer bushfire of 2019, leading to its closure. It has been lovingly restored and reopened in late 2023, making it a must for luxury lovers heading to Kangaroo Island in 2024. Its guest suites now point southeast so guests can enjoy uninterrupted views of the Southern Ocean. All suites have private decks, an EcoSmart fireplace and a sink-in bathtub. There's even an ultra-premium Ocean Pavilion, where guests can stay in a single four-bedroom owner's residence; or two separate two-bedroom suites, an on-site spa, and a wet-edge pool at The Great Room terrace. Intercontinental Sorrento Mornington Peninsula Forget heading to Sorrento, Italy, for a luxe summer; instead, head down to Victorian wine country and sip on some local sangiovese at the luxury seaside hotel Intercontinental Sorrento Mornington Peninsula. It's got a Mediterranean-inspired guest-only pool deck you won't want to miss, Aurora Spa & Bathhouse to relax in, and a suite of food and drink venues from the dapper speakeasy Barlow, the terrazzo-floored public bar and lofty, glass-ceilinged beer garden to the light-filled Atrium with all-day wining and dining. [caption id="attachment_936260" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Diah Lateri[/caption] W Sydney Sydneysiders had long awaited the opening of this luxury hotel in Darling Harbour. The hotel has 588 stylish rooms and a bevy of world-class amenities, including an openair infinity pool, a restaurant and dessert bar, two cocktail bars and a luxe spa. Footsteps away from Friday fireworks, the ICC, Imax cinema, and the waters of the iconic Sydney Harbour, W Sydney is definitely one hotel that should be on your list for 2024 — maybe even more so if you're based in Sydney and are keen on a budget blowout staycation.
South Melbourne's got lots got cafes and lots of pubs, but now it's got a new all-day neighbourhood haunt to call its own, with the launch of Eastern Road Larder. A cafe and deli by day and wine bar at night, the intimate 18-seat space is Renton Carlyle-Taylor's eighth venue. It joins a stable of wine-focused gems that includes Collingwood's The Moon, The Alps in Prahran and Malvern's Milton Wine Shop. Making its home beneath property developer Tim Gurner's luxury Eastern Road development, the new venture evidently want to become a part of residents' day-to-day. It'll be a pitstop for Allpress coffee and bagels of a morning, deli offerings at lunch, and a vino after work (on Thursdays and Fridays only though). The wine list is a celebration of the most exciting things happening in Victorian winemaking, with a focus on bold drops and minimal intervention creations from the owner's favourite local labels. On top of that, you'll find a considered selection of Italian wines, plus drinking fare from international cheese and meat producers Savour & Grace, with wine and cheese plates also available for takeaway feasts. Those sitting in can enjoy a polished fit-out of warm timbers and bronze accents. Rounding out the offering in May will be a neighbouring 50-seat pizzeria and bar called Eastern Road Bar. It'll showcase a range of beers from new craft brewery Burnley Brewing Co — another recent project from Carlyle-Taylor and partners. Eastern Road Larder is now open at 74 Eastern Road, South Melbourne. It'll be open Monday to Wednesday from 7am–4pm and Thursday to Friday from 7am–9pm. For more info, visit easternroadlarder.com.au.
Taking to the skies soon? The food might be a little more delicious than you remember. That's because Virgin Australia has just launched new winter menus in both its economy and business classes, so you can embark on a culinary journey at 35,000 feet. Made fresh daily, those in the cheap seats can now tuck into Italian and Aussie dishes crafted by St. Food Co., with options ranging from creamy spinach and ricotta tortellini to savoury sausage rolls. Plus, you can now pair these satisfying flavours with an Archie Rose Gin & Peach Soda. As for business class travellers, a new globally inspired menu is being served from Wednesday, May 28. Think Japanese-style soba noodles with grilled chicken, a three-bean Mexican quesadilla with sour cream and salsa, and an Indian-inspired chickpea masala with herbed jasmine rice. Whether you're flying first thing in the morning or catching the red-eye, the business class menu also features fancy rotating options for breakfast and dessert. Start the day with a blueberry pancake stack topped with mascarpone and boysenberry, blackcurrant and apple compote, or round things out with strawberry cheesecake or sticky date cake. "At Virgin Australia, we believe flying should be as enjoyable as the destination, right down to what's served onboard. Our new winter menu embodies our passion for bringing personality to the skies, featuring fresh, flavour-packed options designed to add value and delight at every bite," says Kyler Chong, Virgin Australia's General Manager Product & Customer Strategy. That's good news if you're a white-knuckled flyer looking to distract yourself, or just someone keen to pass the time with food that doesn't make you regret your life choices. Featuring a thoughtful balance of variety, value and flavour, these winter menus mean your next departure date just got better. Virgin Australia's new winter menu is now being served in economy class, while the business class menu launches on Wednesday, May 28. Head to the website for more information.
Premier Daniel Andrews has taken to Twitter this morning to announce the decided names for Melbourne's five new Metro Tunnel stations. But if you were gunning for some of the more lighthearted options, like Shane Warne, Vegemite or Bunnings Sausage, we're sorry to tell you you're about to be a tad disappointed. Sydney might have managed to pass in the name Ferry McFerryface for their new ferry earlier this month, but the naming game has proved a little more serious down here in Melbourne, after an eight-week competition which saw the general public throw over 50,000 suggestions into the ring. The results? The station beneath City Square will be named Town Hall Station, the one under St Kilda Road and by The Shrine of Remembrance will be dubbed Anzac Station, and below Franklin Street in the CBD we'll have State Library Station. Further north, Parkville has been picked for the station near Melbourne Uni and the one at Arden is being called North Melbourne, with the original North Melbourne station set to be renamed West Melbourne. Which is sure to be a little confusing at first. Everyone who had a submission selected as one of the new station names will this week go into a random draw, with a winner from each station scoring a behind-the-scenes tour of the worksites and tunnels. To catch you up, the Metro Tunnel will see two new nine-kilometre twin tunnels and five underground train stations added to Melbourne's inner city. These new stations will create a new path into the city that doesn't rely on (but connects to) the City Loop. The idea is that it will ease congestion in the City Loop and allow more trains to be getting in and out of the city. Construction on all this is expected to begin next year and the target completion date is 2026.
Mörk has been kicking around since 2012, showing Melburnians just how good a hot chocolate can taste. Taking their cues from Melbourne's coffee culture, owners Josefin Zernell and Kiril Shaginov have grown this drinking chocolate brand to include three stores and a chocolate foundry — Mörk's own chocolate factory out in North Melbourne. You'll also see its drinking chocolate powders and pastries stocked at some of Melbourne's best cafes. But the owners aren't stopping there. They've spent the past two years creating the Mörk Looking Glass concept store on Centre Place — one of the graffiti-clad laneways near Degraves Street. Here, you'll find Mörk's classic drinking chocolate blends, cinnamon and cardamom buns, chocolate spreads and morsels, pre-mixed cocktails, and its famous Campfire Hot Chocolate — served with smoke, charcoal salt and a freshly toasted marshmallow (that's also made in-house). Coffee from Patricia is also available for those needing a caffeine fix instead of chocolate. Zernell and Shaginov have even dreamt up a new drink for Mörk Looking Glass: The Layered Chocolate. For this, a dark hot chocolate base is topped with caramelised banana, saffron custard and freshly grated lime zest. This team is using this site to showcase just how fun and experimental the humble hot chocolate can be. And while some of these new and experimental creations will make their way into the main storefront, most of them will only be available upstairs in the tasting room. Experimental chocolate bars, elaborate drinking chocolates that never made it onto the menu, chocolate cocktail pairings and creative desserts will all be on show during themed tastings in this space. Mörk Looking Glass will also be hosting collaborations at the new CBD store, which will be announced later. If you consider yourself a chocoholic, this new spot best be on your hit list. You'll find Mörk Looking Glass at 13 Centre Place, Melbourne, open 7.30am–5pm on Monday–Friday, and 8am–5pm on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit the venue's website. Images: Kristoffer Paulsen
Chocoholics and fans of Sydney's resident macaroon maestro Adriano Zumbo will no doubt be titillated to learn that the popular patissier has created three limited edition Tim Tam flavours about to hit stores. The collaboration celebrates the 50th birthday of Australia's iconic biscuit (which, incidentally, we as a nation consume over 45 million packets of annually). The new Tim Tam flavour combinations are pretty tame for Zumbo, but they're exciting in supermarket-aisle terms: salted caramel, choc brownie and raspberry white choc. Coles, Woolies and selected independent grocers will start selling "treat packs" of them in March. For those who just can't wait till then, Zumbo will be holding two preview tasting events in Sydney and Melbourne. It's a first-in, best-dressed kind of thing, so get in early if you want the chance to sample the new Tim Tams and try some Tim Tam-inspired treats (Tim Tam Zonut?) “It was an honour to personally develop my own range of Tim Tam biscuits. I grew up on the iconic Aussie bikkie and it’s a joy to be able to put my own twist on it,” said Zumbo. Sydney preview tasting: Wednesday, February 19, 4-8pm, Shop 1, Cafe Court, The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont Melbourne preview tasting: Thursday, February 20, 7am- 7pm, Zumbo Patisserie, 14 Claremont Street, South Yarra
When Winnie-the-Pooh moseyed into a slasher movie in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, the film endeavoured to prove that there's room in the pop-culture honeypot for multiple takes on AA Milne's beloved bear. More horror flicks are coming, because of course they are. But, embracing the usually cuddly figure's sweet and innocent side, so is a supremely nostalgic, family-friendly stage musical from Disney. Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation debuted back in 2021 Off-Broadway, then took the Hundred Acre Wood and its famous felt residents to Chicago, back to New York, on a tour of the US and to London. The next stop on the Mouse House-created show's itinerary: Australia, starting this winter, and playing capital cities and regional towns alike. Hailing from American Australian producer, writer and director Jonathan Rockefeller, Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation brings Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Owl and Tigger to life with puppets — life-sized versions, which look as cuddly and fuzzy as anthropomorphic stuffed toys should. Also joining them is Christopher Robin, in a production that brings together a heap of songs from past Winnie-the-Pooh movies. "The music, the spectacular life-size puppets and the charming performances are the perfect way to introduce (or re-introduce) audiences to live theatre, and this is a must-see show for Winnie-the-Pooh fans," said Rockefeller, announcing the show's Australian run. "We are excited to bring the Hundred Acre Wood to Australia so that audiences of all ages can join us for this heartwarming production." Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation will play Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart, and also has dates booked in everywhere from Dandenong and Bunbury to Launceston and Geelong. Again, this is a firmly all-ages affair, so expect plenty of young Winnie-the-Pooh devotees in attendance. For those keen to see a childhood favourite in a new format, Australia's stages have been delivering blasts from the pasts with frequency over the past few years, spanning Frozen the Musical, Shrek the Musical, Cinderella, Mary Poppins and the upcoming Beauty and the Beast musical in Sydney, just to name a few. WINNIE THE POOH: THE NEW STAGE ADAPTATION AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2023 DATES: July 7 — Drum Theatre, Dandenong July 12–16 — Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane July 20-23 — Sydney Opera House, Sydney July 26–27 — Princess Theatre, Launceston August 3–6 — Theatre Royal, Hobart August 9–10 — Hopgood Theatre, Noarlunga August 16–20 — Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide August 23–24 — Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, Mandurah August 25–26 — Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, Bunbury August 29–September 3 — Regal Theatre, Perth September 7–9 — Canberra Theatre, Canberra September 14–17 — Riverside Theatre Parramatta, Parramatta September 21–25 — Comedy Theatre, Melbourne September 27–28 — Geelong Arts Centre, Geelong September 30–October 1 — Albury Entertainment Centre, Albury Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation tours Australia from July — for more information, and for tickets from Thursday, June 15, head to the production's website.
Come October, the $20 notes you'll be stuffing in your wallet will look a little different — a new design for the lobster has just been release, and it's hitting tills around the country in just eight months. Australia's banknotes have been getting a makeover since September 2016, when a different $5 note started doing the rounds. It was followed by a revamped $10 in 2017, then $50 in 2018 — and now a sparkling fresh $20, which will hit the streets in October 2019. The upgraded design will celebrate Mary Reibey, an Australian convict-turned-merchant, shipowner and philanthropist, as well as John Flynn, the founder of what is now known as the Royal Flying Doctor Service. They're both recognised in several ways on the new notes, with not only their portraits displayed prominently, but with images one of Reibey's Port Jackson schooners and Flynn's aircraft leaving a Broken Hill homestead, as well as microprint featuring an excerpt from Flynn's book The Bushman's Companion. As well as changed artwork (albeit keeping the same colour scheme and same celebrated Australians as old notes), the new $20 boasts the same improved security features as the new $5, $10 and $50 notes, which are largely aimed to stop counterfeiting. A clear window running from top to bottom is the most obvious, and contains a number of features such as a reversing number and flying kookaburra. And, in great news for the vision-impaired, the new series of legal tender has a tactile feature to help distinguish between different denominations. As happened with the other denominations, the rollout will happen gradually, as will the withdrawal of old $20s — which you can obviously still keep using. And as for the final Aussie banknote yet to receive a revamp, the new $100 is due to be released in 2020.
For 50 years, Australia's contribution to music, theatre, opera, circus and dance has been catalogued and preserved, and sometimes exhibited, all thanks to the Australian Performing Arts Collection. At Arts Centre Melbourne, more than 850,000 objects sit within this repository, the nation's largest dedicated to hitting a stage. That's a collection worth putting on display permanently, even if every single item obviously can't always be in the spotlight. From December 2025, the new Australian Museum of Performing Arts at Hamer Hall will do just that — aka showcase the country's performing arts legacy, successes and history for the public to enjoy. The new museum is launching in two phases in the Victorian capital: the first, arriving before this year is out, will span nearly 500 square metres, all devoted to performing arts exhibitions; then the second, which doesn't have a launch date as yet, will expand the space to around 800 square metres. AMPA will both put its own items on display and host touring international showcases. Which exhibition it'll open with in December is set to be revealed in September. The Australian Performing Arts Collection truly is a treasure trove, featuring costumes and objects from the likes of Kylie Minogue, Hugh Jackman, Nick Cave, Peter Allen and Chrissy Amphlett, plus dames Nellie Melba, Joan Sutherland and Olivia Newton-John. The Australian Ballet, Circus Oz, Melbourne Theatre Company and Opera Australia are among the Aussie arts institutions also featured. Again, while exactly what will be on display come December 2025 hasn't been revealed, the collection includes items such as Minogue's gold hot pants from the 'Spinning Around' music video, threads worn by Jackman in The Boy From Oz, Cave's visual journal aka the Handmade Book, maracas shaken by Allen, a tunic worn by Amphlett and the leather jacket of AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott. In addition, it boasts a Jean-Philippe Worth cloak donned by Melba in Lohengrin more than a century ago, a costume worn by Sutherland in 1972's Lucrezia Borgia for the Vancouver Opera, Helen Reddy's Grammy Award for 'I Am Woman', a set model for the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert stage musical — and much more. [caption id="attachment_1003659" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Corset worn by Kylie Minogue, Intimate and Live tour, 1998. Designed by William Baker. Gift of Kylie Minogue, Cultural Gifts Program, 2004. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.[/caption] Historically – and until AMPA opens — the collection's pieces are usually seen in Hamer Hall and the Theatres Building's foyer displays at Arts Centre Melbourne, the Australian Music Vault, on behind-the-scenes Collection Store Tours at Hamer Hall, and if they're on loan to other institutions. "I'm so pleased to be bringing to life the long-held vision to make the riches of the Australian Performing Arts Collection more accessible to the Victorian community through new and expanded spaces," said Arts Centre Melbourne CEO Karen Quinlan. "Through treasured objects, iconic performers and a rich theatrical legacy, AMPA will enable us to share with the world the incredible performing arts history and stories of the stages of Australia and beyond." [caption id="attachment_1003660" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photograph of band Divinyls performing at Subiaco Oval on Australian Made Tour, 1987. Photograph by Bob King. Gift of The Age, 1995. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1003661" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Costume worn by Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz, 2006. Designed by Roger Kirk. Gift of BFO Arena Pty Ltd, 2009. Donated in memory of Ben Gannon. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1003662" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Set model bus for Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Australian production, 2006. Designed by Brian Thomson. Gift of Brian Thomson, Cultural Gifts Program, 2015. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1003663" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shoes worn by Dame Nellie Melba. Gift of Pamela, Lady Vestey, 1977. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Photo: Narelle Wilson Photography.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1003664" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photograph of Dale Woodbridge-Brown, TWENTYSIXTEEN, Circus Oz, 2016. Photograph by Rob Blackburn. Gift of Circus Oz, 2023. Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne.[/caption] The Australian Museum of Performing Arts will open at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Southbank, in December 2025. Head to the venue's website for more details. Renders: Scharp.
Whatever else the past couple of years have served up, it has been an impressive time for folks who like staring up at the sky. 2016 ended with a huge supermoon that had everyone looking to the heavens, then 2018 began with an extremely rare super blue blood moon (a supermoon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse all at once). Next, at the end of July, an epic lunar eclipse will mark the next notable celestial happening. In fact, the Saturday, July 28 event will be longest lunar eclipse of this century — with the penumbral eclipse lasting just shy of four hours (236 minutes, to be exact) and the total lunar eclipse spanning 103 minutes. If you're wondering what the difference is between the two (because we're all more familiar with The Mighty Boosh's take on the moon than actual lunar terms, aren't we?), a penumbral eclipse is when the earth's outer shadow falls on the moon's surface, while a total lunar eclipse involves the moon passing directly into the earth's actual shadow. During the main event, which is expected to kick off at 5.30am local time, the moon will also turn a blood-red shade thanks to sunlight that's filtered and refracted by the earth's atmosphere. So yes, as well as a total lunar eclipse and a full moon, it'll be a blood moon as well. Australians will be able to spy the penumbral eclipse from 3.14am and the partial eclipse from 4.24am, before the full thing at 5.30am, with the maximum eclipse occurring at 6.21am. We won't be able to see the end of it, however, as the moon will be below the horizon when the full, partial and penumbral eclipses end (at 7.13am, 8.19am and 9.28am local time, respectively). While it's a great excuse to go stargazing, the 103-minute total eclipse only just pips the 100-minute event that took place on June 15, 2011 — and falls just short of the 108-minute event on July 16, 2000. Still, when the super blue blood moon did come around earlier in 2018, its full eclipse only lasted 72 minutes. If you miss it, 102-minute total lunar eclipses are expected in 2029, 2047 and 2094 — but nothing this long will occur again this century. Via Space.com and timeanddate.com.
Few Australian actors just starting out — not even half a decade into their resumes, in fact — have enjoyed the jump into the spotlight that Eliza Scanlen did between 2018–2020. After a 15-episode run on Home and Away in 2016, Scanlen made her international debut on HBO's Sharp Objects, so in a miniseries based on a novel by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, and starring Amy Adams (Nightbitch) and Patricia Clarkson (She Said). Her initial role in a US film came next as one of the March sisters, Beth, in Greta Gerwig's (Barbie) adaptation of Little Women, with Scanlen starring alongside Saoirse Ronan (Blitz), Florence Pugh (We Live in Time), Emma Watson (The Circle), Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Laura Dern (Lonely Planet) and Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building). Then, for her first Aussie movie, she earned a well-deserved AACTA Best Actress Award for Babyteeth, where she played a 16-year-old navigating a cancer diagnosis; Essie Davis (Apple Cider Vinegar) and Ben Mendelsohn (The New Look) portrayed her parents. Amid those impressive television and film parts, Scanlen also hit the stage at home, featuring in Sydney Theatre Company's 2019 production of Lord of the Flies with Mia Wasikowska (Blueback), Yerin Ha (Dune: Prophecy, and soon to be seen in Bridgerton's fourth season) and Daniel Monks (Kaos). On Broadway that very year, she did the same, but in To Kill a Mockingbird with Ed Harris (Love Lies Bleeding) and Nick Robinson (Damsel). 2025 sees the screen and stage sides of Scanlen's career collide. After past movies The Devil All the Time, Old, The Starling Girl and Caddo Lake, plus TV's Fires, The First Lady and Dope Girls, Scanlen is back in Australian cinemas thanks to her theatre work. From late November 2024–late January this year, the Aussie actor trod the boards in London in National Theatre's glorious new staging of The Importance of Being Earnest. Down Under, viewers can now watch Scanlen as Cecily Cardew in the Oscar Wilde-penned farce via NT Live. The British theatre company's love of recording its productions and beaming them around the world has long been an initiative to celebrate, and the reason that stunning works such as Danny Boyle's (Yesterday) version of Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch (Eric) and Jonny Lee Miller (Guy Ritchie's The Covenant) alternating between Victor Frankenstein and his monster, the Carey Mulligan (Spaceman)- and Bill Nighy (That Christmas)-starring Skylight, and Jodie Comer (The Bikeriders) in Prima Facie have been accessible to audiences who couldn't attend the live shows in the UK. Add The Importance of Being Earnest to NT Live's must-sees and sparkling gems, with Scanlen joined by Ncuti Gatwa (Doctor Who) as Algernon Moncrieff, Hugh Skinner (Wicked Little Letters) as Jack Worthing, Sharon D Clarke (Wicked) as Lady Bracknell and Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ (Alex Rider) as Gwendolen Fairfax. Director Max Webster — who also helmed National Theatre's Macbeth, Life of Pi and Henry V, all of which enjoyed the NT Live treatment — couldn't be having more fun with Wilde's now 130-year-old work. Neither could Scanlen and her co-stars, visibly so from the moment that this iteration opens with Gatwa in a hot pink dress. The last play by its author, premiering mere months before his imprisonment for homosexual acts and clearly drawing upon Wilde's own experiences as it tells of living double lives, The Importance of Being Earnest has always possessed queer subtext. Webster pushes that further forward, alongside the search for identity, plus what it means to be your own person and break free of expectations. This is still "a trivial comedy", as its originator himself dubbed it. It remains a story about impersonation and romance, too. No one has brought it to the stage like this before, however. Of course, the narrative still charts Jack's attempts to be an upstanding custodian to his ward Cecily in his country existence, only to live it up in town under a different name with his friend Algernon — and the latter's own similar scheme, aka "Bunburying", aka making up a fictitious ailing friend that often needs his attention as an excuse to ditch the city. And, this The Importance of Being Earnest remains the tale of two young women, Cecily and Gwendolen, with their sights set on married futures, but the reality of their hopes and dreams impacted by Jack and Algernon's duplicity. What's Scanlen's take on Cecily's journey? When the character falls in love with Jack's made-up brother Ernest, "I think she knows that deep down that he might not exist, but she's so invested in this imaginary world that she's built for herself to escape the boredom of her life in the country that she's willing to do anything to will this person into existence," she tells Concrete Playground. "And so when Algernon shows up at her home, she assumes him to be Ernest, her fiancé. I guess he represents to her freedom, an escape from the boredom of her life, and a promise of wealth and fun. I think she's a kindred spirit with Algernon in the play." Asked if her path to here, to acting on the London stage in a famous farce that's now screening in cinemas afterwards, was something that she could've imagined when she booked her stint in Summer Bay almost a decade ago now, and Scanlen notes that "never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd be onstage playing Cecily at the National Theatre. I think that is pretty special". She continues: "I don't think I was looking that far ahead. I knew that my heart was in films and television, and I knew that I wanted to make films, too. But I did find acting through theatre originally, so theatre has always had a special place in my heart — and I returned to theatre when I was 19, I think, at Sydney Theatre Company." "I guess with this career, it's not really something that you can plan. You just have to give yourself up to whatever happens, and I'm really lucky to find myself here," Scanlen also advises. "I can't see myself doing anything else. I've been doing it for so long now that the idea of pivoting careers seems crazy to me. I can't really see my life without acting and film and TV and theatre. I've just followed my curiosity along the way, and I don't really know exactly where I'm going, but I think that's how it works. You just have to stay inspired and stay curious. And I've been lucky enough that it's taken me to some just some wonderful places and I've met some wonderful people along the way." One of those people: Gerwig. Taking inspiration from her Little Women director is part of the reason that Scanlen is in The Importance of Being Earnest at all — and Gerwig came to see her in the production during its London stage season. The actor-turned-filmmaker's influence on Scanlen's career; the excitement of playing Cecily; Webster's vision for the play; being part of such a phenomenal cast; what she looks for in roles; the experience of that whirlwind Sharp Objects, Little Women and Babyteeth run: we also dug into them all with Scanlen, among other topics. On What Excited Scanlen About Being Part of The Importance of Being Earnest Onstage "It didn't take much — it didn't take anything for me to audition for this. When I heard that the National Theatre was putting on The Importance of Being Earnest, I was so excited to take a crack at it. And I auditioned and it was quite daunting, because it's such a well-known play and the language is quite challenging. And physically, too — the physical comedy is quite specific. So going into the audition, there was a lot I was thinking about. And I think also this play can be interpreted in a number of different ways, depending on what lens you're looking at it through, so I didn't really know what Max, the director, wanted to do with it at that point. So I was just taking a shot and I just gave it my best, and it worked out." On Getting Into Cecily's Mindset in Webster's Version of the Play "I guess Oscar Wilde wrote Cecily as this farcical character. Cecily is based on this farcical character of the time, which was this bloomer-wearing, cigarette-smoking, bicycle-riding, independent woman. And I guess in this play, all the characters in the play are based on tropes and stereotypes of characters at the time, and he sets them up to subvert them. So Cecily is illustrated as this young, innocent woman, but she's actually very much in charge of her own destiny and makes all the decisions. To get into character, it felt like to get into the head of Cecily, I had to do a lot of mental gymnastics — because Cecily, she doesn't feel real sometimes. And her way of seeing the world is quite convoluted because of her diary. I think Cecily is usually seen as a fantasist, but I don't think that's the most-helpful way for an actor to access the character. So I did a lot of mental gymnastics trying to understand what Cecily wanted, and why she is so attached to her diary. And she spent so much time with her diary that now her diary is the compass for truth and reality, so anything that diverges from what she's written in her diary is false. She's got a very specific worldview, I suppose. I think a lot of getting into character for this play, though, was just having fun and enjoying the surface-level nature of the play. And also interacting with the audience. The audience is really important for this play and we had very direct contact with them whilst we were performing. So just getting comfortable acknowledging the audience and getting the audience onside. It was a huge learning experience for me." On Working with the Rest of The Importance of Being Earnest's Cast "It was such a joy to come in every day and be onstage with this group of people. It's a very special time that I know I won't get back. And I think that the beauty of theatre is that it's all so temporary, but what we created together was beautiful. Honestly, I don't really know any other way to describe it other than pure joy. It was just a joy to be onstage with the company every day. Obviously, there's days where you're tired and maybe you didn't sleep well or someone's sick, but you can't really do this play without having fun. So even if you rocked up in a bad mood, you're bound to come out of it in a good mood." On NT Live Bringing the Production Beyond London and Broadening the Show's Audience "I think it's incredible. I think it's the closest thing to being there and the technology has improved so much that what NT Live is bringing out to the world is incredible and hugely impactful, too. I think theatre can feel inaccessible at times, and what NT Live does is make it really accessible, and people from all around the world can watch this play. I also think that this play has a really important message to share about being yourself and expressing yourself. And queer pride, queer joy, all of those things, I think are really important for younger audiences, and it makes me really excited to know that this play can be seen by so many school kids around the world, too. This play, it's been done many, many times before, but it's for a reason, and I'm really happy that it's been immortalised. It's really cool." On Digging Into the Play's Interrogation of Identity and Breaking Free of Expectations "I think that was a really important theme to our interpretation of the play. In the past, other versions of this play feel quite stuffy, and it is more about the snobbery of high society than it is about identity and expression and queerness. And we wanted to make it feel fresh and use the queer lens more than anything. This play is about young people inventing themselves in virtuosic expression.The opening of the play, too, the dance sequence that we put in the opening of the play, I think really represents that. It's the dream. We wanted it to be feel like an empowering play rather than weighed down by the satire of it." On the Experience of Starring in Sharp Objects, Little Women and Babyteeth in Such Short Succession at the Start of Scanlen's Career "It was pretty overwhelming. I'm aware that most people, it doesn't happen in such quick succession, usually. And I did find it quite overwhelming and felt the urge to withdraw from it all, but knew that I couldn't — and was very aware that the opportunities I was getting were really special and it would be silly not to ride the wave. But I was very young, and I think I handled it as well as I could've. But now that I'm older and I have a bit more experience and am probably a bit more mature, I can look back on that time and think to myself 'how did I do that?'. I would say that now I feel a bit more robust and in control. I think I'd be more prepared if something like that happened again. But I wouldn't change it for the world, though." On Scanlen's Trend of Starring in Adaptations, Screen and Stage, of Classic Works "It's not something that's intentional, but I feel really honoured that I'm a part of these incredible classic texts. I did To Kill a Mockingbird onstage as well, and I studied To Kill a Mockingbird in high school, so it's really cool to be able to return to these texts as an actor — and there's still so much to be learnt from these texts. I guess I'm really lucky." On What Being Cast in Little Women Meant to Scanlen — and the Influence It Still Has "It was pretty life-changing being a part of that film. Looking back now, I realise that getting roles like that are few and far between, and to be that excited about a role is pretty rare. And to get no-brainer roles as well, it's very rare. Again, I was so young, and spent a lot of time watching other people and learning. And obviously that's a text that most young women have read and have a relationship with. I think Greta, in particular, was a huge inspiration for me, because I really am inspired by the way she's moved into writing and directing, and that's something I want to keep exploring. I remember being on set on that film and thinking about going into theatre, and she was super encouraging. And so I went on to do that. I think she had a huge part to play in how I made decisions on my career and made decisions on what I wanted to do. And she actually came and saw The Importance of Being Earnest, and it felt like a really special full-circle moment." [caption id="attachment_997124" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Max[/caption] On What Else Inspires Scanlen's Choice of Roles — Other Than Gerwig "My choices on roles are informed by a few different things, but usually the question I ask myself 'is have I done this before?'. I think that's a question that most actors ask themselves. And I know I'm in a privileged position to be able to ask myself that question and not have to take every job, but I think that I'm at a stage in my career where I feel like I'm having to resist, a bit, falling into stereotypes or falling into typecasting. And I'm constantly looking for things that push myself as an actor. I felt like, for example, The Importance of Being Earnest was a huge challenge for me. I'd never done a comedy before. And I had never been entrusted with a character as substantial as Cecily and as iconic as Cecily onstage. So I felt like I was really stretched as an actor in the rehearsal room, and I guess that's the kind of thing that I'm looking for. But it's hard. It's really hard, especially in film and TV. There's so many things that need to fall into place for a film or a show to happen, and it's really hard for all of those things to be right. But I guess that's how I see things." On the Joy of Making Babyteeth in Scanlen's Home Town, and What She Looks for in Australian Projects "I love making things at home. It's an incredibly special experience. And what I loved about Babyteeth was that we shot it in my home town, so it was an incredible experience seeing a city I know so well become a set for a film. And there's parts of Sydney that I now look at in a completely different way because of it — and I just think that's really amazing. But I'm not looking for anything in particular. I think the script is obviously incredibly important, and I would love to make a film here next. But I guess I'm just waiting for the right thing to come along — but I'm desperate to work in Australia again." NT Live's The Importance of Being Earnest opened in Australian cinemas on Thursday, March 27, 2025. The Importance of Being Earnest images: Marc Brenner.
Maybe you jumped on the Saltburn bandwagon early, catching Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell's second feature when it was in cinemas. Perhaps you saw the Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)- and Jacob Elordi (Euphoria)-starring thriller when it hit streaming over Christmas. Either way, once you watched the movie, you were probably as obsessed as Oliver Quick is about Felix Catton — and after you've ordered your Jacob Elordi's bathwater candle, you can hit up a party that's all about paying tribute to the instant cult-favourite flick. A series of shindigs is touring Australia, including to Melbourne. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 3, when you'll be heading to Ballers Clubhouse from 10pm. What does celebrating one of 2023's best movies at a boozy party entail? Dressing like it's Oliver's birthday party, for starters. From there, you'll enjoy a 'Murder on the Dancefloor' sing-along — even though you won't be dancing naked around a mansion — as well as crooning karaoke and hearing 'Mr Brightside', all while sipping Bathtub Brew, Grave Grinding Gulp and Felix's Fangirl Fizz drink specials. If you're keen to add some sparkle to your look while you're there, there'll be a free glitter bar. And the best-dressed attendee at each shindig will win a prize. Tickets start at $26.74.
Wes Anderson is partial to a few things. Bill Murray. Primary colours. Owen Wilson. Folk music. Natalie Portman's bottom. And overhead shots, to name but a few. Here, all of the auteur's beautifully crafted bird's eye views have been compiled into one stylish montage, featuring scenes from films including The Royal Tenenbaums, The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. [Via Best Week Ever]
Like her relatives, Morticia Addams (voiced by Charlize Theron) is supposed to be creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky — but in the latest version of The Addams Family, she's just creaky. Unleashing tiny spiders to build a bridge over a bottomless pit (in the family's basement, naturally) in one scene, the vampish matriarch coughs up a cringe-worthy line that everyone can see coming: "we call this surfing the web". Morticia's dad joke would prove a grim omen for this new animated take on America's most macabre family, except that it's sadly preceded by plenty of others. By the time the above dialogue is uttered, a groan-inducing town called Assimilation has already sprung up down the hill from the Addams' imposing mansion. And, within said house, sentient, unattached hand Thing has also been seen wearing a watch with an eye on it. To be honest, the pain starts in the prologue, which doubles as an obligatory origin story. As Morticia and Gomez (Oscar Isaac) tie the knot 13 years before the movie's main narrative, Fester (Nick Kroll) tells them to put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up. That's how things are done "in the old country", apparently. This opening gag doesn't nod to the 1930s New Yorker cartoons that first introduced the Addams clan, or the 60s live-action TV series that followed, or 90s big-screen favourites The Addams Family and Addams Family Values. Rather, it references Harry Nilsson's 1971 novelty song 'Coconut' and serves no one — unless this iteration of The Addams Family is aimed at fans of a singer from half a century ago, Quentin Tarantino aficionados who know the tune from Reservoir Dogs, or anyone familiar with Dannii Minogue's 1994 cover (again: no one). The track is hardly obscure; however, even as a throwaway line, non sequitur or piece of absurdist humour, it leaves audiences scratching their heads instead of laughing. Really, it just smacks of the filmmakers giggling among themselves at a bad joke, without considering whether it's relevant to the story they're telling, its characters or their viewers. Alas, as the rest of the flick shows, that seems to be directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and screenwriters Matt Lieberman (Playing with Fire) and Pamela Pettler's (Corpse Bride) approach overall. Flimsy from the outset, The Addams Family charts the predictable clash when Assimilation's residents — and celebrity interior designer Margaux Needler (Allison Janney), who financed the town — aren't happy about their odd neighbours. This revelation coincides with Pugsley's (Finn Wolfhard) swordplay-heavy coming-of-age ceremony, which brings the extended Addams crew to visit and scares the locals even further. Cue life lessons about accepting those around you, being yourself, not judging spooky-looking people by their appearances and other similar clichés. Margaux and her mob attempt to bully the Addams family out of the area, Gomez stresses over Pugsley's fondness for bombs over blades, and Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz) shocks Morticia by befriending Margaux's daughter Parker (Elsie Fisher) and daring to fit in. The fact that the Addams clan stands out has always been their point, ever since their cartoonist namesake created the weird and wonderful figures. In their aesthetics, interests and behaviour, Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday, Pugsley, Fester and Grandma (Bette Midler) are clearly the opposite of the stereotypical American household, and the resulting juxtaposition — and the horrified reactions to their monster-like appearance, as well as their strange and supernatural ways — makes a satirical statement. But, even bringing social media, lifestyle gurus and a few other bits of modern technology into the mix, The Addams Family circa 2019 doesn't have anything new to say. It doesn't have much to say in general, really. Given that the family-friendly film also lacks in story, jokes and creativity, the result is ghoulish, and not in a manner that'd do the fictional characters proud. It doesn't help that, although inspired by Charles Addams' original drawings, the animation is dull — including the character design. Creepy, kooky and the like can look delightful on the screen (and all-ages appropriate), as Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline and ParaNorman have all shown; however, this has more in common visually and tonally with the broad and bland Hotel Transylvania movies. The picture's celebrity voices can't fill in the gaps, either. Mostly, hearing Isaac as Gomez makes you wish that someone had made a new live-action version starring him instead. That would've required more effort, though, which is something this thin, generic and not-at-all offbeat film shows few signs of. Rather, it features Snoop Dogg as Cousin Itt purely so that it can play 'Drop It Like It's Hot' when he's first seen on screen, a level that even abysmal 1998 direct-to-video threequel Addams Family Reunion (no, no one remembers it) didn't stoop to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFnn4fNsB64
Docklands' culinary offerings are nothing if not diverse. The area plays host to a broad lineup of cuisines and has a restaurant or bar to suit just about every mood, occasion and palate. Trek through the regions of Asia, chow down on European favourites or take the opportunity to revel in a classic Aussie-style fish 'n' chips. Best of all, there's waterfront dining aplenty, inviting long, lazy lunches and romantic date-night dinners alike. Head to these spots for a good feed and some bevs to go with. BANOI Sister to the popular CBD outpost, Banoi Docklands brings fresh, fun Vietnamese fare to the western tip of Bourke Street. Its menu blends tradition with a contemporary edge. You'll sense a respect for time-honoured, homestyle family recipes, but also a taste for adventure. Regional favourites like steaming bowls of pho, vermicelli salads and crispy Hoi An-style crepes are the kind you'll want to linger over, while grab 'n' go options like fresh rice paper rolls and loaded banh mi prove a huge win for the area's lunchbreak set. Don't miss the proper Vietnamese coffee, sweetened with a lug of condensed milk. TAP831 Tap831 is an all-day operation that skips easily from work lunches to knock-offs to dinner feasts on the upper balcony, proving to be a winner at just about any time of day. Championing Victorian produce, the kitchen plates up a lively mix of contemporary pizzas, house-made pastas and globally inspired mains, while an array of great weekly specials will inspire you to make plenty of regular return visits. The beer fridge features a considered range of crafty gems from both near and far, and the wine list celebrates locality. Don't miss happy hour, running 4–7pm Wednesday through Friday. POK POK Plating up a contemporary riff on Thai street eats, Pok Pok has cemented its status as a much-loved Docklands dining destination. Packed with flavour and big on vibrancy, the food offering trips across all regions of Thailand while mixing in top local ingredients. Current highlights include the tender beef cheek curry, a seafood-laden fried rice and Pok Pok's signature green papaya salad. This spot even has the goods come knock-off time, with happy hour specials on Thai beer and local wines from 3–6pm on weekdays. WATERMARK A restaurant, tapas bar and events space, Watermark has an offering to suit every occasion, whether you're hunting a few after-work drinks by the water or throwing an elegant cocktail do. From the kitchen flies a selection of gourmet pizzas, hearty share platters and contemporary bites, like angus beef meatballs and slow-cooked pork ribs. The tap rotation is a roll call of international favourites, the wine list is equally well travelled and cocktails celebrate the classics. Fancy a dance? Check out Thursday night's weekly Timbalero sessions, where you can let your hair down to salsa, bachata and zouk tunes courtesy of DJs Alberto and Truongy. BLACK COD You simply can't have a waterfront dining precinct without some top-notch fish and chips, which means Black Cod is a no-brainer addition to the Docklands area. Helmed by fourth-generation fishers, this spot is your go-to for ocean-fresh goodies served in classic combo packs that'll have you reminiscing about childhood holidays to the beach. Also on offer is a solid range of burgers, including an Asian-style soft shell crab number and a good old-fashioned steak sanga. Team your feed with some sunshine and good vibes out on the restaurant's waterfront terrace. A25 PIZZERIA For a sexy take on a globally loved Italian classic, see the young, fun A25 Pizzeria on Collins Street. Here, tradition meets innovation in the most delicious way, producing a cracking range of handcrafted pizzas built on stand-out seasonal ingredients. Breakfast time also offers Euro-inspired dishes like frittata and pancetta bruschetta, while at lunch, those pizzas are backed up by a range of salad bowls and generous Italian sandwiches. It proves extra great value each Monday when all pizzas are slashed to just $14.50. ROSETTA — SOUTHBANK The brainchild of acclaimed chef Neil Perry, Rosetta — just over the Yarra in Southbank — is your destination for stand-out Italian fare with a sophisticated edge. Here, plush designer interiors provide a backdrop for a culinary tour of Italy. Pasta is the unquestionable hero, made fresh each day by the kitchen's own resident sfoglina (pasta specialist). Meanwhile, wine sourced from all corners of the homeland has been carefully chosen to complement the menu's various regional influences. LUME — SOUTH MELBOURNE Renowned for its creativity and theatrical edge, South Melbourne's esteemed fine diner Lûmé serves up a multi-sensory dining experience. Head chef Shaun Quade's technique-driven menu invites you on a journey of flavour and texture with dishes that are sure to impress. There are two dining options: a seven-course menu called An Incitation and an even more extensive experience of about 14 courses dubbed The Road. The drinks offering is every bit as considered and innovative, running from seasonal cocktails through to a stellar crop of wines. Opt for one of three beverage pairings and leave the decision-making to the professionals. SMALLS — SOUTH MELBOURNE This South Melbourne wine bar is as small as its name suggests — the room fits 24 — though it's big on personality. The focus here is on small producers from across the globe, with a food and drink offering that changes up on the regular. The wine list champions the interesting, so a night here might find you sipping the likes of an orange wine from Georgia or something adventurous from closer to home. To match, expect a seasonal array of share plates, both big and small. BANGPOP — SOUTH WHARF For punchy, vibrant Thai fare overlooking the Yarra, it's hard to beat South Wharf's BangPop. A festival of colour, the bright decor here works as an upbeat setting for any meal, and the dishes prove every bit as lively. Nab a table in the lofty dining hall, or opt for a sunny spot on the riverside terrace and prepare to feast. The menu's a tantalising spread of modern creations and old favourites, featuring share-friendly small bites, noodle dishes and spice-driven salads, along with hearty curries and stir-fries. Look out for the Aussie-led wine list and range of Asian-inspired signature cocktails. Surround yourself with everything Docklands has to offer at the new 883 Collins Street development. Top restaurants, cafes, bars and activities are just a stone's throw away.
It's been an unusual year for Melbourne's music scene across the board, but one of its most iconic live music venues now looks set to face its biggest change yet. The legendary Festival Hall has been snapped up by Christian superchurch Hillsong, earmarked to become the new city location for Hillsong Melbourne. As reported by The Age, the new owners forked out a cool $23 million to acquire the historic site, whose stage has played host to a roll call of musical greats including The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Hillsong announced the new via YouTube video over the weekend, with Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston telling viewers: "by God's grace, we've been able to purchase Festival Hall." He explained that a new entity called Community Venues had been set up to acquire the site and that Hillsong would be the anchor tenant. "In other words, every Sunday night, or Sunday morning, or whenever we have church, to be honest, it will be our venue," he says. "But we're going to continue running it as a community venue, it's to reach the community." According to Houston, the purchase had been in the works for a while and was made using designated funds that were planned ahead of the pandemic. Hillsong also revealed plans for a complete renovation of the inner city building in the near future, though it won't have free rein. Any future works would have to be keeping with Festival Hall's permanent heritage protection status, which was granted back in 2018. Originally constructed in 1915, then rebuilt after a fire in 1955, the hall has enjoyed a colourful history. As well as its many famed musical guests, the space has hosted its fair share of significant boxing matches over the years, and even held a number of events during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Festival Hall is located at 300 Dudley Street, West Melbourne. We'll let you know when more dates and details of the renovation are announced.
If you didn't see The Fall Guy, Twisters, Deadpool & Wolverine, Challengers, Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, The Substance, Kneecap, It Ends with Us or Despicable Me 4 on the big screen already in 2024, here's the perfect way to catch up with them: under the stars, while sprawled out on a picnic blanket or sat on a bean bed, at the latest season of Moonlight Cinema. And if watching Christmas films is one of your festive traditions, here's a scenic way to do that, too, with this annual opportunity to enjoy a movie outside packing its just-dropped first lineup for this year with seasonal flicks. As it does every summer, Moonlight Cinema is returning for another run of films in the open air, locking in its dates, venues and first program details for its 2024–25 stints in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth. While the outdoor picture palace is synonymous with the warmest season of the year, it kicks off at the end of spring in most cities, and runs through to the end of the first month of autumn in some as well. The projector will start rolling in Brisbane first, with the River City's season taking place across Thursday, November 21–Sunday, February 16 in Roma Street Parklands. Next up is Sydney, in Centennial Parklands from Friday, November 22–Sunday, March 30. Then comes Adelaide and Melbourne a week later, the former from Thursday, November 28–Sunday, February 16, 2024 in Botanic Park and the latter across Friday, November 29–Sunday, March 30 in Royal Botanic Gardens. Perth movie lovers can get their fix in Kings Park and Botanic Garden from Thursday, December 5–Sunday, March 30. Lineup specifics always vary per location, so not all of the aforementioned titles — or the ones below — show in every city. But the program still gives patrons a mix of recent, new and classic fare wherever they're sitting on the grass while soaking in the evening, the fresh air and a movie. Among the brand-new titles, Gladiator II and Wicked are also on the bill, as are advanced screenings of the Hugh Grant (Unfrosted)-starring horror film Heretic and Robbie Williams biopic Better Man. When Paddington in Peru gets the same treatment, you'll want marmalade sandwiches in your picnic basket. The OG version of Mean Girls will grace Moonlight Cinema's screens, too, as will 2023's smash-hit Barbie. And for a merry time at the movies — a jolly one as well — the roster of Christmas fare spans the new Red One, as well as classics Elf, Love Actually, The Holiday, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and How The Grinch Stole Christmas. If you're wondering what else Moonlight will show across its full season, it now drops its program month by month, so watch this space for more announcements. As always, the films and the setting are just two parts of the cinema's experience. Also on offer: the returning Aperol spritz bar. Nosh-wise, the event will again let you BYO movie snacks and drinks (no alcohol in Brisbane, though), but the unorganised can enjoy a plethora of bites to eat onsite while reclining on bean beds. There'll also be two VIP sections for an extra-luxe openair movie experience, a platinum package with waiter service in Sydney and Melbourne only, and a beauty cart handing out samples. Plus, dogs are welcome at all sites except Perth — there's even special doggo bean beds. Moonlight Cinema 2024–25 Dates Brisbane: Thursday, November 21, 2024–Sunday, February 16, 2025 in Roma Street Parklands Sydney: Friday, November 22, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Centennial Parklands Adelaide: Thursday, November 28, 2024–Sunday, February 16, 2025, 2024 in Botanic Park Melbourne: Friday, November 29, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Royal Botanic Gardens Perth: Thursday, December 5, 2024–Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Kings Park and Botanic Garden Moonlight Cinema kicks off in November 2024, running through until March 2025. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the cinema's website — and we'll update you with further program details when they're announced.
How much does Netflix love British royalty? If five seasons of The Crown so far and its Harry and Meghan specials are anything to go by, the streaming platform is more than a little fond of the monarchy. Or, to be more precise, it knows that its subscribers feel that way thanks to all our binge-watching — so expanding its focus on the UK's sovereigns and their families via new Bridgerton prequel series Queen Charlotte was always bound to happen. Initially announced in 2021, now slated for a May 4 release and just unveiling its first teaser trailer, too, this upcoming show was always likely for another reason: Bridgerton's huge success. And while the hit page-to-screen series focuses on a firmly fictional aristocratic family in the 19th century — set in the Regency era, it's a work of imagination as well as alternative history — Queen Charlotte was indeed real. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story will delve into the figure's backstory within the Bridgerton realm, including her rise to power and prominence, and the importance and impact of her reign. Also covered: her relationship with King George, as well as Violet Bridgerton and Lady Danbury's early years. The prequel series will chart how the Queen's marriage to George also created a societal shift, in fact, sparking the world of the ton as seen in Bridgerton — and it's being called part of "the Bridgerton-verse" by Queen Charlotte and Bridgerton executive producer (and Grey's Anatomy and Scandal creator) Shonda Rhimes. So yes, as well as the already-announced third and fourth seasons of Bridgerton itself, you can probably expect more spinoffs to arise. After releasing a first-glimpse clip from the show in 2022, Netflix's debut trailer for Queen Charlotte offers further glimpses at its young titular figure (India Amarteifio, The Tunnel) and George (Corey Mylchreest, The Sandman). Queen Charlotte will also feature Golda Rosheuvel (Dune) as the older version of its namesake, as well as Ruth Gemmell (Deep State) as Violet Bridgerton and Adjoa Andoh (The Witcher) as Lady Danbury. They'll be joined by Connie Jenkins-Greig (Solitary) as young Violet, Arsema Thomas (Redeeming Love) as young Lady Danbury, Michelle Fairley (Gangs of London) as Princess Augusta, Sam Clemmett (Cherry) and Hugh Sachs (Bridgerton) as the young and old Brimsley, Richard Cunningham (The Witcher) as Lord Bute, Tunji Kasim (Nancy Drew) as Adolphus, Rob Maloney (Coronation Street) as the Royal Doctor and Cyril Nri (The Witches) as Lord Danbury. Check out the first teaser trailer for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story below: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story will stream via Netflix from May 4. The first and second seasons of Bridgerton are available to stream now. Images: Liam Daniel/Netflix.
Because you're reading this, we know you're not someone who received a pet for Christmas, only to decide it wasn't for you. We know you're one of the good folks. You're probably wishing that you did receive a loveable animal as a gift, even if you already have one — or several — that you adore. And now more than ever. We understand your yearning, and so does the RSPCA. And, to find permanent homes for pups, cats, bunnies and guinea pigs surrendered into its care, it's calling out to the community to help look after its many animal during this tough time. While more of us are working from home and practising social-distancing (and increasingly wanting a four-legged friend as a comforting companion), the RSPCA is encouraging Australians to foster or adopt. So, if you've been thinking about adding a pet to your fam (and have considered it thoroughly), now might just be the time. Last year, the RSPCA found new homes for 2654 pets Australia-wide. Right now, RSPCA NSW has 2577 animals in its care, ready for new homes full of love and pats — temporarily or forever. In a statement, RSPCA NSW CEO Steve Coleman said, "As this pandemic escalates, we are asking for your help to find forever homes for the animals in our care." The Victorian and Queensland branches echo this sentiment, with one website saying, "our foster program is now more important than ever". If you're keen to foster a furry friend, you can register in NSW, Victoria and Queensland as usual; however, for adoption, the process has changed a bit in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As of today, Friday, March 27, you must make an appointment before visiting one of the RSPCA NSW's locations, which can be done by filling out this form. Once that's done, they'll arrange a time for a meet-and-greet with your potential new family member. A similar process is in place at RSPCA Queensland's locations — you'll need to fill out this pre-adoption form before heading in — and in Victoria, you must submit an application before you can set up a time. According to the RSPCA, at present there is no evidence that you can contract COVID-19 from a companion animal or that they can become sick if exposed to the virus. If you're thinking about adopting, you can check out all the good boys, kittens, bunnies and birds looking for new homes in NSW, Victoria and Queensland. For details about adopting and fostering animals, head to the RSPCA NSW, Victoria and Queensland websites. If you are going out to meet a potential new family member, have a look at the latest COVID-19 advice and social-distancing guidelines from the Department of Health.
Pick a genre, any genre, and the following statement will always prove true: no one does it like Steven Soderbergh. Now 36 years on from his Cannes Palme d'Or-winning narrative feature debut Sex, Lies, and Videotape, he's long been one of Hollywood's most-reliable filmmakers. The word 'reliable' can't capture the spark of a Soderbergh project, though — whether the ever-prolific director, cinematographer, editor and screenwriter is in heist mode in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen and Logan Lucky; predicting the COVID-19 pandemic via Contagion and then diving into its daily reality (and technology's hellscape) in Kimi; spinning a franchise out of Channing Tatum's IRL origin story with Magic Mike and Magic Mike's Last Dance; reimagining medical TV shows in stunning fashion courtesy of The Knick; or telling a haunted-house story from the ghost's perspective in Presence. Spies battling spies: as familiar as that setup is on screens big and small, no one does that as Soderbergh has with Black Bag, either. With his second cinema release of 2025 after Presence, and his third film out of his past four that's penned by fellow veteran David Koepp (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) — kicking off with Kimi, and again including Presence — he's in Mr and Mrs Smith and True Lies territory, but this take is a particular gem. Black Bag is a twisty and witty espionage thriller filled with secrets, interrogations, surveillance, polygraphs, redirected satellites and not knowing who is on the level. It's as much a smart and sexy relationship drama as well, however. How can any romance work, even a long-established marriage, when either party can explain away anything as part of their clandestine jobs — and when deceit is what each does for a living? Aptly, the picture's title references spy code for confidential missions and details that can't be shared. An especially great line of dialogue also sums up the scenario: "when you can lie about everything, how do you tell the truth about anything?". In Black Bag's opening scene, courtesy of a sublime tracking shot lensed by Soderbergh himself — who directs, shoots and edits the film, as he regularly does on his flicks — George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender, Kneecap) winds from London's streets to an underground club to receive a new task. A well-experienced and highly regarded operative at the National Cyber Security Centre within Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, he now needs to ascertain who has betrayed the country by stealing a cyberworm called Severus, which can destabilise nuclear facilities. There's five names on his list, all his colleagues: Kathryn St Jean (Cate Blanchett, Disclaimer), Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela, Back to Black), Colonel James Stokes (Regé-Jean Page, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves) and Dr Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris, The Man Who Fell to Earth). Among the six NCSC employees, George included, there's three couples; Kathryn is his wife. The quest to ascertain who's behind the betrayal starts with a dinner party at George and Kathryn's home — one that's really an interrogation, aided by not just food and wine but truth serum. Clarissa is the youngest of the bunch and the newest to the job, with her relationship with the older, fond-of-a-drink Freddie already chaotic. Zoe is everyone's psychiatrist at NCSC, and the fact that James is both her patient and her lover is patently complicated. George and Kathryn seem to enjoy the ideal marriage, one revered by their co-workers and friends, yet he's suspicious of movie ticket stubs and sudden trips. Loyalties aren't just tested over the course of Black Bag's snappy 93-minute running time; so is love's resilience. For George, choosing between his wife and his nation threatens to become a real possibility. [caption id="attachment_995111" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Dettmann/StillMoving.Net for Universal Pictures[/caption] Soderbergh and Fassbender first collaborated on 2011's Haywire, another sinuous (and ace) thriller with intelligence ties. Take that, mix it with Out of Sight's slinkiness and the filmmaker's long-established love of a caper, then throw in a bit of The Agency — Fassbender's recent and also-excellent TV series set in the spy realm, where personal and professional crises equally overlap — and that's Black Bag's wheelhouse. This is a fun film, too, and often very funny, as its guiding force perfects its balancing act with style, skill and supreme precision. (Part of the picture's sense of humour: casting former Bond Pierce Brosnan among its agents.) It puts Fassbender into another high-stakes workplace situation as well, as is clearly the case with The Agency. While Industry, aka one of the best shows the 2020s, plunges into the world of finance, it too dwells in cut-throat employment circumstances, so Abela is in somewhat familiar terrain herself. Again, of course, whenever Soderbergh is making a film or TV show, similarities elsewhere are superficial. Any parallels across the 12 Years a Slave and Steve Jobs Oscar-nominee's resume of late — after the Hunger, Fish Tank, Inglourious Basterds, Shame, Macbeth, two-time Alien saga and four-time X-Men franchise star's absence from acting from 2020–2022, as broken by 2023's The Killer — is "just the way it sort of fell", Fassbender tells Concrete Playground. For Abela, adding Black Bag to a filmography that also includes Cobra, Rogue Agent and Barbie began with being hooked by and "whizzing through" Koepp's entertaining screenplay, she advises. Fassbender jumping back in front of the camera for Soderbergh, the "I need to be in this" moment for Abela, the importance of this being a relationship drama as much as a spy flick, interrogation scenes, back-and-forth banter for a director supremely skilled at bringing it to the screen: we also chatted with Fassbender and Abela about it all. On Whether There's Something That Draws Fassbender and Soderbergh Together for Twisty Thrillers with Espionage Ties Michael: "No, it just happened that way. It was such a joy for me to get to work with him, especially so early on for me. And just to see that knowledge of film, and how to have an all-encompassing understanding of what a film is, how to make it, what makes a good film, the architecture of it all — that was clear from the first time when I was working with him. How he enters a room and scans the room, it's almost birdlike. His precision and the confidence. And now internally, he might have that, but it definitely permeates on set. You can see that all the other crew members love working with him as well — that's not exclusive to actors. [caption id="attachment_995112" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Dettmann/StillMoving.Net for Universal Pictures[/caption] It's a very relaxed atmosphere, and he just lets you do whatever you're going to do. And it's quite intimidating at first — you're thinking 'I hope he, is he happy with this? We're moving on after two takes. Does he think that he's just not going to get anything better?'. But that's how he likes to go, I think — to find that first freshness of whatever was given, and what was captured in that fresh one or two or three takes. I'm so happy that we got together to work on it on something like this, with an ensemble cast. It's kind of like a play in certain respects — certainly the dinner table scenes." On How Abela Knew That She Wanted to Add Playing the Strong, Determined But Also Sensitive Clarissa to Her Resume Marisa: "I think that it was honestly with the script at the very beginning. It's quite rare, I think, to get a script where you're just whizzing through it and it's kind of reading itself — and you just feel by the end of it how much fun it would be to be a part of a project like that. And when I realised who else was involved — and obviously I knew that Steven was directing, but when I heard about Michael and Cate and everyone attached — I was just so excited to be a part of it. [caption id="attachment_995110" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Dettmann/StillMoving.Net for Universal Pictures[/caption] And I think that Clarissa really spoke to me on the first read of the script. As you say, I think that she's incredibly, she cuts through anything that's going on because she's able to speak honestly from a place of strength — but also, I think from a place of innocence and wanting to find out what is at the heart of this world for all of these people. I think she's still figuring out, at the beginning of this movie, whether this is a world that she wants to be a part of or not — whereas I think everyone else is quite entrenched into it. So I think that that discovery is an interesting place to come to from her." On How Important It Was That Black Bag Is a Relationship Drama as Much as a Spy Film Michael: "It's all about the relationships. That's why it always makes me think of a play as well. You're watching these relationships play out, and each of them are connected to one another, whether they want to be or not. He says early on 'this isn't necessarily the dinner party that you would choose'. These people aren't necessarily going to go out and socialise with one another, but they've been brought together — and then through the course of the movie, you start to figure out how they're all entangled in one another and how messy it is. And it's so right what Marisa is saying about the character of Clarissa, is that she's looking at it as the new person coming in, the youngest person in the room, going 'this is bullshit — can't you all see it?'. And they're looking at her going 'give it time, you'll see'. And it's all those dynamics going on, which make it interesting. But for sure it happens to be set, which also makes it interesting, in the espionage world. But it's just about relationships." On Black Bag's Commonalities with Fassbender and Abela's Other Recent Roles Michael: "That just happened to me on the same week, Black Bag and The Agency came, actually. And it wasn't — that's just the way it sort of fell, and there were two interesting projects that I wanted to do. I didn't sit down and go 'okay, I'm going into spy territory now for the next few years'. It just happened that way, as it often does. And it's just about finding material that stimulates — and you feel like 'okay, this is for an adult audience that would enjoy sitting down, going on this journey'." Marisa: "I guess it's the same with Industry in a sense, in that it is kind of in a workplace environment,, but you probably couldn't get two more different places of work. Especially for my character, for Yasmin in Industry. I think she would make the world's worst spy, probably. It's quite interesting to play two young women in probably what are quite male-dominated environments. I've never had an office job, but neither of them are particularly regular jobs anyway, so maybe I'm just enticed into that world in some way." On the Keys to Making an Interrogation Scene Sing Michael: "I think the setup. A certain form of repetition. Humour. And then, of course, somebody in the room is lying and everybody knows that, so the tension builds from that." Marisa: "Steven is so brilliant at building the tension in those moments. And what's nice is that then that gives you the freedom, as the actors, to just play your reality of the scene. Obviously every character is playing to win in that moment, which is playing to tell the truth or to find out the truth — or to cover up a lie. But they should all hopefully be as good at looking like they're telling the truth as one another, no matter who is telling the lie, because it's what they do for a living. So you have this built-in tension into it, but we're just focused on playing to win. And then it's up to Steven to linger on whoever for however long and make the audience think whatever it is that they think in those moments." Michael: "And the foreplay to the actual interrogation itself. The rigging up of the equipment, increasing pressure on the blood-pressure armband. The fact that sweat is being read. The pulse in the fingers. The machine is scribbling constantly. And the camera's set on a particular face, where the camera goes for reaction — then it's the camera placement and what Steven does." On Bringing Back-and-Forth Banter to Life for a Director Who Has Made It a Hallmark of His Films Marisa: "I think he's really great at casting. That is a massive part of it. I think that he knows each of these individual six characters are so different and so distinctive, but there's a real chemistry when we're all together — and having a scene like that, or two scenes like that in our movie, where everyone actually does get the opportunity to play together, I think the chemistry just speaks for itself in that moment. We're really lucky that that happened. And then I think in terms of, like I said, you're just really playing those moments. I think something that, in that first scene, lends a hand for all of us is that we've taken this truth serum. So there's a freedom in that conversation. Especially with, that was my first scene with Clarissa, where she's able to be quite brazen with George specifically at that table. I think there's a freedom in knowing that she's taken this serum and she's intoxicated and she's not quite adhering to social norms and boundaries, as she should do. So there's a freedom that comes with that." Black Bag released in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, March 13, 2025. Film stills: Claudette Barius/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.
Get ready for battle: House of the Dragon is returning in 2024 and, based on the just-dropped first teaser trailer for the Game of Thrones spinoff's second season, things are getting even more fiery. "There is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin — and no war so bloody as a war between dragons," Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best, Nurse Jackie) tells her niece Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy, Mothering Sunday) in the just-dropped sneak peek. Also glimpsed in the debut look at the Targaryen-focused show's next eight episodes: dragons, obviously, plus Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke, Slow Horses) going head to head — and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith, Morbius) looking brooding while suiting up in armour. Troops preparing to fight, burning soldiers and the Iron Throne (also obviously) all pop up as well, as do serious words about what's to come. Set to arrive in winter 2024 Down Under — because, yes, winter is always coming — House of the Dragon's second season will arrive two years after the first premiered in 2022. Game of Thrones was always going to spark spinoff shows. Indeed, when HBO started thinking about doing a prequel five years ago, before the huge fantasy hit had even finished its run, it was hardly surprising. And, when the US network kept adding ideas to its list — including a Jon Snow-focused series with Kit Harington (Eternals) reprising his famous role, novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg and an animated GoT show, to name just a few prequels and spinoffs that've been considered, but may or may not actually come to fruition — absolutely no one was astonished. So far, just House of the Dragon has hit screens, which jumps back into House Targaryen's history. When it initially roared into streaming queues, it became an instant success. Accordingly, as it delivered more complicated GoT realm relationships, flowing long blonde hair, dragons, stabbings and fights for power — and plenty to fuel a drinking game, as we created — it was quickly renewed for season two. The series kicked off 172 years before the birth of Daenerys and her whole dragon-flying, nephew-dating, power-seeking story, and gave HBO its largest American audience for any new original series in its history when it debuted. If you're thinking that House of the Dragon is basically a case of new show, same squabbles, as it was easy to foresee it would be, you're right. It's pretty much Game of Thrones with different faces bearing now well-known surnames — and more dragons. If you haven't yet caught up with the show so far, it dives into the battle for the Iron Throne before the one we all watched between 2011–19. Paddy Considine (The Third Day) started the series King Viserys — and it's exactly who should be his heir that sparked all the Succession-style fuss. The words "succession" and "successor" (and "heir" as well) got bandied around constantly, naturally. Also, Australian actors Milly Alcock and Ryan Corr were among the stars. House of the Dragon's returning season two cast includes Rhys Ifans (The King's Man) as Ser Otto Hightower and Steve Toussaint (It's a Sin) as Lord Corlys Velaryon, plus Fabien Frankel (The Serpent), Ewan Mitchell (Saltburn), Tom Glynn-Carney (Rogue Heroes) and Sonoya Mizuno (Shortcomings). HBO has also announced new faces for the show's comeback, with Clinton Liberty (This Is Christmas) as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna (Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew (Warrior) as Hugh, Tom Bennett (Black Ops) as Ulf, Tom Taylor (Love at First Sight) as Lord Cregan Stark and Vincent Regan (One Piece) as Ser Rickard Thorne. They join Abubakar Salim (Napoleon) as Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin (Perry Mason) as Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox (The Great) as Ser Gwayne Hightower and Simon Russell Beale (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Ser Simon Strong among the season two newcomers. This latest adaptation of George RR Martin's popular fantasy books — based on Fire & Blood, specifically — is bound to continue on for more than just two seasons, but that's all that's confirmed for the moment. Check out the first teaser trailer for House of the Dragon season two below: House of the Dragon streams Down Under via Foxtel and Binge in Australia and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand, with season two arriving in winter 2024 — with an exact release date yet to be announced. Read our full review of season one. Images: HBO.
Back in 2020, the Hella Mega Tour tour was meant to come to Australia, bringing Green Day, Weezer and and Fall Out Boy our way all on the same bill. Dates were announced, tickets went on sale, but then the pandemic hit, so the event didn't go ahead. Now, three years later and within the space of mere days, both Weezer and Fall Out Boy have either locked in or teased trips Down Under. Weezer have made everything official, unveiling dates for three shows along the east coast in October. Fall Out Boy, however, are just dropping hints at the time of writing. But you don't post an Aussie flag, a kangaroo emoji and a clip from The Simpsons' Australian episode if you're not going to follow through — we hope. 🇦🇺🦘🔜 pic.twitter.com/34YUSb2dr8 — Fall Out Boy (@falloutboy) August 14, 2023 So far, the above tweet is all that fans have to go on — so watch this space for actual tour details when they're announced. If you haven't heard the name Fall Out Boy for what seems like ages, the Chicago-formed band weren't just big in the 00s — they reformed in 2013, complete with both new music and new live gigs. [caption id="attachment_913087" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Rufus via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] If Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump, Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman do make the trip Down Under sometime soon — adding dates to a tour that's also taking them to Japan this weekend, then to Europe until November — they'll do so of the back of their eighth studio album So Much (for) Stardust, which released in March this year. And, of course, they'll treating audiences to everything from 'Sugar, We're Goin Down' and 'Dance, Dance' to 'Uma Thurman' from their couple of decades together. Fall Out Boy haven't announced Australian tour dates yet, but we'll update you if/when they do. Keep an eye on their website and social media in the interim. Top image: Drew de F Fawkes via Wikimedia Commons.
It has been two short weeks since Banksy pulled what might be the artist's greatest prank yet — ripping one of his own paintings to shreds the very moment it was sold at auction. And if you just can't get enough of the stunt, Banksy has released a new extended video that peers behind the scenes as it all goes down. Called Shred the Love: The Director's Cut, the nearly three-minute clip is available on the artist's website, and reveals not only what went down when Banksy's Girl with Balloon artwork self-destructed as the hammer fell on the winning bid, but what was supposed to happen. Alongside the bidding at London's Sotheby's auction house, footage of someone pressing a button on a remote to start the shredding process, and the shocked mayhem afterwards, Banksy reveals that the entire painting was supposed to be cut to pieces. "In rehearsals it worked every time," the video notes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxkwRNIZgdY Understandably, the stunt has sparked plenty of chatter both in the art world and in general over the past fortnight, including suggestions that the work has now gone up in value. The Telegraph reports that the collector with the winning £860,000 (AU$1.6 million) bid has decided to keep the piece, which has been retitled Love is in the Bin — although if Banksy had gotten his way, only torn strips of the painting would remain. The new video expands upon the original clip that Banksy posted in the immediate aftermath of the October 5 prank, showing a shredder being secretly built into the artwork, with an explanation that this was done a few years ago "in case it was ever put up for auction". Sotheby's has repeatedly advised that it had no knowledge of the prank before it happened. "It appears we just got Banksy-ed," Alex Branczik, head of contemporary art for Europe, told The Art Newspaper. Of course, whether Banksy is building the world's most depressing theme park, crafting a dark tourism ad for Gaza, opening a Bethlehem guesthouse with a view of the Israeli-Palestinian border or spray painting his pieces all over the globe, the artist's work tends to make a statement. The latest stunt certainly does continue Banksy's fascination with both creation and destruction, which has long been a theme at the centre of the street artist's work. Images: Olga Rozenbajgier, The Art of Banksy / Banksy.
If you, like us, have been cooking at home much more frequently since the pandemic hit, you've probably also become more aware of your food-related waste. Luckily for us — and the environment — though, more and more companies are focusing on sustainability in the kitchen. Next on that list: Great Wrap, a compostable alternative to cling wrap that's made from 100 percent plant-based material. The Australian-owned, family-run business was co-founded by Julia and Jordy Kay, who spent 18 months developing the Great Wrap formula. While many compostable plastics can take ages to decompose, Great Wrap is made from plants and breaks down into non-toxic molecules in less than 180 days — faster than an orange peel. If you're already a sustainability warrior, you know that's an impressive feat. The cling wrap is (of course) food safe and durable as well. Each roll is 30-metres long and perforated in 30-centimetre intervals for easy tearing. And, most importantly, it's another way for home chefs to enjoy cooking while minimising their environmental impact. Apart from the cling wrap, the company also produces pallet wrap for businesses — something that's especially useful in breweries, bottle shops and other venues. It's currently out of stock, but will be back in September, so keep an eye out. For domestic use, you can buy three rolls for $29.90 or six rolls for $49.90, with free shipping on all orders — and a ten percent discount currently on offer for all new accounts too. Great Wrap has also garnered the support of online natural wine shop Drnks. If you're interested in trying the product out on a smaller scale, you can grab a single-roll order on the Drnks website for a tenner. To find out more about Great Wrap and order a three- or six-pack, head over to greatwrap.co.
The Victorian Government has only just outlined its plans to facilitate an outdoor dining boom for Melbourne, in an effort to help the city's bars and restaurants recover post-lockdown. But, one local business started preparing for the al fresco-focused hospitality scene early, with Sister of Soul already unveiling its parklet plans. The St Kilda eatery has announced plans to transform a stretch of its streetside car parking into an outdoor dining zone, complete with table dividers, roof panels and planters filled with greenery. Owner Daniel Clerici approached the City of Port Phillip Council with the bones of this idea a few months ago, predicting there'd be extra demand for outdoor dining as Melbourne's hospitality industry navigated future pandemic restrictions. In the case of his own venue, Clerici wanted to minimise the impact of potential density limits and improve pedestrian access between Acland Street and the beach, alongside the restaurant. After a speedy response from the Council, the two groups got busy plotting a solution for the site. And, with some design work by Jon Lyons from Rightside Creative Solutions, the parklet plans were born. The project scored official Council approval this week, with construction expected to kick off in the coming days. [caption id="attachment_710001" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sister of Soul by Kate Shanasy[/caption] While the 21-metre-long seating platform is designed to free up footpath space so passersby can maintain social distancing, there are further plans to install extra bike racks and to boost pedestrian safety by widening part of the adjoining Acland Street and Shakespeare Grove intersection. Rightside's parklet design is set to be built from a mix of ply and cypress timbers, featuring a row of eight booths separated by 1.2-metre-high dividers. There'll be artificial grass along the floor, planter boxes around the sides and angled roof panels providing some shade. All up, the structure has capacity for 50 people, which would help Sister of Soul counter any strict caps imposed on its indoor dining space. Previously, the restaurant could seat up to 90 patrons inside, with capacity for another 30 outside. The parklet build is expected to cost around $25,000, which'll be covered by Sister of Soul. The council will pay for the bike racks, protective bollards and expanded pedestrian zone. Construction of Sister of Soul's new parklet is expected to begin late-September, to be completed in time for the restaurant's anticipated October reopening. Find it on the Shakespeare Grove side of 73 Acland Street, St Kilda.
As far as cocktails go, mimosas rank among the easiest to whip up, even if you'll never give Australia's best bartenders a run for their money. But maybe you just never get the quantities of sparkling and orange juice right. Perhaps you always find either champers or OJ in your fridge, but not both. Or, you could love sipping mimosas at brunch picnics and aren't so fond of lugging around multiple different bottles. Whichever fits, new Australian brand mYmosa has a solution. It serves up mimosas in a can, all ready for you to enjoy without doing any mixing yourself. Pick up one of the label's tinnies and you'll be drinking Australian dry white wine paired with natural orange flavours, then carbonated — and you won't be doing any pouring yourself. If it sounds like the kind of tipple you now wished you'd thought of, you won't be surprised to hear that it came about after mYmosa founders Amanda Goddard and Bec Pini went on a work trip to New York City in 2017, found themselves sipping sparkling rosé out of cans — and mimosas at breakfast — and had a brainwave. The two Brisbane marketing and communications professionals then spent five years pursuing their mimosa-in-a-can idea, aided by a lull in work that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. Clearly, we now know how the duo spent lockdown. "Bec and I have always been known as the first to start a party and last to leave a party, so it just feels like a natural progression to create a beverage that can be enjoyed at any time of the day, anywhere and at any occasion," explains Goddard. "We are a classic start-up story, where the kitchen bench, a soda stream, ample variations of wine and orange became our laboratory," adds Pini. "Fast forward, and we have worked with a formulation team, a winery and a manufacturer to create our 'little darling'." mYmosa's 250-millilitre cans are vegan and gluten-free, and currently available via online bottle shop SIP'ER, retailing for $10 a tin or $34 for a four-pack. Or, you can nab cases of 16 via the mYmosa website for $128.40. While the brand has launched with one variety, Goddard and Pini are working through new formulations — so your canned drinks list might soon be growing. There's something to say cheers to, over an Aussie tinned mimosa of course. Find mYmosa cans on sale now via online bottle shop SIP'ER, retailing for $10 a tin or $34 for a four-pack.
