Thanks to your long-suffering folks, beach umbrellas were one of those childhood perks you enjoyed without any effort on your own part, like an endless supply of free snacks or piggybacks on demand. It meant you could spend the whole day at the beach in comfort rather than leaving, red and blistery, after two or three hours when endless dips in the ocean are no longer effective. Basil Bangs' beautifully designed beach umbrellas will allow you to spend a sensible day at the beach while still looking hip. The ‘Calypso’ and ‘Princess and the Pea’ umbrellas have pretty white fringing, or if you want yours a little more masculine, the ‘Chaplin Stripe’ is a classic black and white. If you're struggling to find something for Christmas for that fashionable friend with discerning taste, the umbrella that Missoni designed in collaboration with Basil Bangs will be sure to win brownie points. Concrete Playground caught up with Lauren Boyce and Mike Durante, the two talented halves of Basil Bangs, to find out what makes them and their business tick. Tell us about the name, Basil Bangs. We’re always being asked, “Who is this Basil Bangs character!??”. Well, Basil Bangs is the mysterious dude behind our loud and proud range of premium sun umbrellas. We joke that he’s related to James Boags (they’re cousins). We’re often revealing little clues to our Facebook fans about Basil’s world & who he is with his favourite gigs, dining experiences and of course his favourite places to hang out poolside or with sandy toes. What would be Basil’s perfect day in Sydney? Basil starts his perfect day in salt water. He rides his cruiser to the beach for a surf check. If the surf’s on, he’s out there. If it’s really perfect, no wetsuit’s required, it’s offshore & no-one’s out!! Basil loves the farmers markets at Bondi so he’ll often pick up some breakfast ingredients. Then it’s brunch and coffee time with papers and a picnic rug at the park, sharing the shade cast by a BB Mr Huckabee with his lady and his border collie. After that, there might be a BBQ with mates on the cards, or a cruise into town to check out the latest books, or pop into an exhibition at Object. A snack at Bourke Street Bakery is always on the cards if he’s in the neighbourhood (he’s got a sweet tooth that one!), otherwise a favourite spot to shoot the breeze or have a relaxed meal with mates is The Commons in Darlinghurst. For evening entertainment he’d catch The National playing at The Enmore or an emerging act at The Basement, or perhaps the end of the Bicycle Film Festival down at Bondi. Basil’s arm can always be twisted for a nightcap somewhere cosy…he’s currently enjoying a nice Cognac. Where do you get your inspiration from? We’re passionate travellers and really admire how Europeans do beach. So chic. We love the Slim Aarons’ work, how he captured the incredible summers in the 1960s and 70s is truly inspirational. That period was a time of such optimism and risk taking. Our friends and family are a happy and very funny bunch who always give us new ideas. It’s awesome to see the little-ies start to enjoy the shade these brollies offer. The sandcastles are going to get epic. It’s a much easier way to be sun smart than the beach tents – and let’s face it, far more beautiful! Our goal is to surpass the beach tent as the shade of choice this summer. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when starting out? Hmm, well, you can easily underestimate how long it takes to do things, especially when you’re doing everything yourself and sometimes learning from scratch. We also launched during the GFC, which was interesting timing! It made us really work hard to ensure value and quality so in the end it was a good thing. Basil Bangs isn’t about being the cheapest thing around. What we do want is to be long lasting, to be easy to use, and to wear with you. Everyone loves the vintage brollies you see at markets or the back of garages that have such personality. In 30 years we hope our brollies are a collector’s item too. We are really passionate about what Basil Bangs is and stands for, so when we see one of our brollies being used on the beach, or hanging out in a park, it makes all the hard slog worthwhile. How do you choose your materials? We choose our materials for durability, quality, the job they’re meant to do, and equally important, how great they look. How did the collaboration with Missoni come about? As massive fans of Missoni, we bandied around the idea of doing something with them when we first started. In the end we just approached them, and here we are. I think that having a high quality, design-led product that they don’t currently have in their range already was the trick. And how gorgeous is it? They make all the fabric in Italy in their own mills. We would love to keep on revealing a different Missoni Brolly each summer but we’ll see…. Can your umbrellas be used in places apart from the beach? Yes absolutely, anywhere you need some shade. We’ve seen them being used on little balconies above a small table and 2 chairs, in backyards, on patios and decks. They’re ideal for people in apartments because they’re not too big and can be easily stored away. We take ours pretty much everywhere we go; it’s always in the car for 'just in case'. The Chaplin Stripe has even been used for daytime weddings where some chic shade was required but they didn’t want a marquee. So many options : ) Any words of wisdom for people thinking of starting their own brand? Do your research, do your sums, make sure you have clear goals, and most importantly: HAVE FUN! How will you spending your summer? Morning swims and surfs, twilight dinners, on our bikes, at the markets, enjoying all the amazing exhibitions that come to town, eating…lots, seeing some of the many great gigs, cruising around Sydney Festival First Night… and of course we’ll be reading Concrete Playground for any ideas! What is the best thing about summer in Sydney? What a question! Hmm the best thing about summer is Sydney! It’s…that the ocean stays brisk…eating gelato from Messina or Pompei’s on a steamy evening… smiley, happy people around town…drinking shandies…the fireworks…barbeques…holidays… What’s your favourite Sydney beach? Well, we’re based in Bondi so of course we think North Bondi is pretty great. That said, we can’t narrow it down to just one beach. Our pick for harbour side swims are Parsley Bay Reserve and Redleaf, and for beaches it’s Bronte, Freshwater, and Palm Beach. Honestly though, there are just too many stunning spots to choose from. We’re pretty blessed here in Sydney!
When Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson made his movie debut back in 2005 with the excellent Brick, he did so with a mystery. That's a genre he hasn't strayed far from since, as Looper, Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery have all shown. Accordingly, it should come as no surprise that his new TV show Poker Face is also a whodunnit — this time getting Natasha Lyonne sleuthing. In not one but two seasons of Russian Doll, Lyonne has tried to solve mysteries, too. As the Netflix show's sweet birthday baby, she's stalked around various time loops, periods and cities endeavouring to work out why she's reliving the same night over and over again — or how and why she can head into the past. Of course, one show featuring the Orange Is the New Black star getting playing detective is all well and good, including over multiple seasons; however, two is even better. There's a feeling of déjà vu about Poker Face for multiple reasons, clearly, and has been since its first sneak peek dropped in 2022. And, as the new full trailer for the ten-part series also demonstrates, that happens in the best possible way. Solving mysteries is 100-percent the focus here, with Lyonne playing Charlie Cale, who works her way through resolving a series of crimes — a mystery of the week each week, in fact — while she's on the road in a Plymouth Barracuda. Cale has an uncanny ability to tell if someone is lying, a skill that's going to come in handy as she encounters a hefty roster of other familiar faces. Adrien Brody (See How They Run), Chloë Sevigny (The Girl From Plainville), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Pinocchio) and Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley) are all set to pop up in Poker Face as well, and that's just the beginning of the show's stacked guest cast. Also on the list: Benjamin Bratt (DMZ), Ellen Barkin (Animal Kingdom), Nick Nolte (The Mandalorian), Cherry Jones (Succession), Judith Light (The Menu), Lil Rel Howery (Deep Water), Jameela Jamil (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) and Danielle MacDonald (The Tourist). Again, there's more where they came from. Australian audiences will be able to stream the end result via Stan from Friday, January 27. And yes, Stan did also release a Russell Crowe- and Liam Hemsworth-starring movie in 2022 called Poker Face that's unrelated to this — so keep that in mind while you're scrolling through its catalogue. Check out the full trailer for Poker Face below: Poker Face streams in Australia from Friday, January 27 via Stan.
You might have been to a few five-year-old birthday parties in your time, but we don't think any will be quite as lush as Innocent Bystander's upcoming celebrations. Marking five years since the launch of the winemaker's Healesville cellar door and restaurant, you're invited to a chic garden party on Sunday, March 13. Taking over the site's Garden of Innocence from 3pm, the festivities will feature fifth birthday classics like lolly bags and cake. Granted, this particular cake is a boozy one, crafted on Innocent Bystander's much-loved moscato. Other more grown-up party favours include free wine tastings of the signature range and discounted prices on back-vintage wines should you fancy some take-home tipples. Plus, an exclusive moscato-infused fairy floss cocktail is being shaken up especially for the occasion, promising to add some hot pink energy to your day. Meanwhile, you'll be able to feast your way through the restaurant's usual menu of share boards, pizzas and paella, as well as a crop of birthday specials. And, since it wouldn't be a party without some music, there'll be live tunes playing throughout the afternoon. [caption id="attachment_845087" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wine tastings at Innocent Bystander[/caption]
There's no better place to sample a region's top drops than at the wineries, breweries and cideries making them. So lovers of Victorian booze will be very pleased to know that the Peninsula Vinehop Festival is set to return for its second year, having been awarded a Regional Events Fund grant by the Victorian Government and Visit Victoria. It'll showcase the best of the Mornington Peninsula this November 17 and 18, featuring 22 local beer, wine and cider producers, across 11 different venues. Imagine a local version of Rutherglen's long-running Winery Walkabout, only with equal emphasis on craft beers and ciders, and it's not hard to see why Vinehop's 2017 debut proved so darn popular. This year, the first day of the event runs to the same concept — on November 17, affordable shuttle buses will allow visitors to cruise between a stack of participating breweries and wineries, experiencing the best of each along the way. Punters have the option of jumping on a set tour, or taking things at their own pace. Best of all? There's no need for a designated driver. Announced yesterday, the exciting lineup of Vinehop 2018 venues includes the likes of Kerri Greens' stunning hillside cellar door at Red Hill South, Main Ridge's Bayview Estate, and Mock Red Hill cidery, with the ever-popular Red Hill Estate running its festival hub from the Briars in Mount Martha. As well as the opportunity to sample premium libations just metres from where they were crafted, there'll be a program of food trucks, live music and DJs setting the mood at each location. And on November 18, guests can settle in for the more relaxed PostHop Sunday Session — a degustation picnic held at Hickinbotham of Dromana, featuring live tunes from Bamboos leading lady Kylie Auldist, along with some cracking food and drink pairings. The full program of venues for Saturday's Vinehop event includes: Bayview Estate, Main Ridge Blue Range Estate Wines, Rosebud Dromana Estate, Tuerong Hickinbotham Estate, Dromana Kerri Greens, Red Hill South Merricks General Wine Store at Baillieu, Merricks North Mock Red Hill, Red Hill Old Apple Shed, Boneo Phaedrus Estate, Moorooduc Red Hill Estate at the Briars, Mount Martha Stumpy Gully Vineyard, Moorooduc And thanks to a series of onsite pop-ups, you'll also have the chance to sample drops from these guys along the way: Bass and Flinders Distillery Dainton Brewery Hix Beer Hop Nation Jetty Road Brewery Mornington Peninsula Brewery Mr Banks Brewery Portsea Estate Red Hill Brewery St Andrew's Beach Brewery Ten Sixty One Cider Vinehop 2018 will run across November 17 and 18. Grab tickets from August 3, via the website.
Does Bradley Cooper wish he worked in music, rather than cinema? If the Nightmare Alley and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 star's work as a director is any guide, perhaps. When he first jumped behind the camera just a few years back, it was for the latest take on A Star Is Born, in which he also cast himself as a rocker and sang with Lady Gaga. Now, he's following that up with Maestro, a biopic about famed American composer Leonard Bernstein. Yes, Cooper also plays the conductor, as well as helming — and co-writing the screenplay with Spotlight, The Post and First Man's Josh Singer. The focus isn't just on Bernstein's immense career, but also on his relationship with his Costa Rica-born actor wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. Slipping into the latter's shoes: Carey Mulligan (She Said). As the just-dropped first trailer for Maestro shows, audiences can look forward to Cooper picking up the baton, as well as a snapshot of all the acclaim that came Bernstein's way. There's certainly plenty to cover — seven Emmys, two Tonys, 16 Grammys, the music for West Side Story, and being considered one of the greatest conductors of all time all included. But scenes of the Bernstein making music magic aren't the main part of this first sneak peek. Instead, moments that navigate Leonard and Felicia's romance dance prominently through the teaser. Maestro hails from Netflix, with the film hitting the streaming service on December 20. Given that it's being poised as a prime awards contender for the 2024 Oscars, it'll also get a run in select cinemas from November 22, as the streaming platform tends to do with its starry end-of-year flicks. Before all of that, it'll premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September. As well as Cooper and Mulligan, Maestro's cast includes Maya Hawke (Asteroid City), Matt Bomer (Magic Mike's Last Dance), Sarah Silverman (The Bob's Burgers Movie) and Michael Urie (Shrinking). And among the producers? Just a couple of folks who know a thing or two about grand, lavish filmmaking: Martin Scorsese (The Irishman) and Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans). Check out the trailer for Maestro below: Maestro will release in select cinemas on November 22, and hit Netflix on December 20. Images: Jason McDonald/Netflix.
He's famous for a series about nothing. He's now heading Down Under to share something: Jerry Seinfeld, that is, with the comedian just announcing Australia and New Zealand dates for his latest stand-up show. Instead of rewatching old Seinfeld episodes for approximately the 75th time, you can catch the iconic talent on a seven-city trip that marks his first visit since 2017. Those gigs sold out faster than a Seinfeld character can say "what's the deal?", and expect tickets to his 2024 trip to get snapped up quickly as well. Mark June in your calendar, as that's when Seinfeld will be going all "yada yada yada" in Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne in Australia, plus Auckland and Christchurch in Aotearoa. So far, every city scores one show except Melbourne, where Seinfeld will take to the stage for two nights. Back in 1998, he called the Victorian capital the "anus" of the world — but perhaps his feelings have now changed. In NZ, Seinfeld's Christchurch stop will mark his first ever in the city — with Auckland a return to the spot where he played his debut New Zealand gig in 2017. [caption id="attachment_925505" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Raph_PH via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] "I can't wait to bring the laughs Down Under once again," said Seinfeld about his next trip our way, which comes 43 years after he initially appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and 35 years since Seinfeld — which was co-created by its namesake and Larry David — premiered. His career also spans everything from web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, films such as Comedian and Bee Movie — with a new flick Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story on the way — and books Is this Anything? and Seinlanguage. And yes, we're assuming that he won't be stepping behind the microphone wearing a puffy shirt. JERRY SEINFELD AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR 2024 DATES: Saturday, June 15 — RAC Arena, Perth Sunday, June 16 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Wednesday, June 19 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Thursday, June 20 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide Saturday, June 22–Sunday, June 23 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Monday, June 24 — Spark Arena, Auckland Wednesday, June 26 — Wolfbrook Arena, Christchurch Jerry Seinfeld is touring Australia and New Zealand in June 2024, with Telstra presales from 12pm local time on Tuesday, November 14 TEG Dainty presales from 1pm local time on Thursday, November 16 and general sales from 12pm local time on Friday, November 17 — head to the tour website for further details. Top image: Raph_PH via Wikimedia Commons.
If you grew up in the 90s, odds are that you tried to memorise every single word to Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire'. Every 90s kid did. That's a skill that probably hasn't been called upon much since — other than while watching one specific episode of Parks and Recreation, and all of The Boys — but it's about to get its time to shine. Yes, the Piano Man himself is coming Down Under to sing us a song or several. Making his first trip to Melbourne in the longest time — well, in 14 years — Joel will only play one Aussie gig. He's hitting up the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, December 10, in an Australian exclusive thanks to the Victorian Government's Always Live program. That's the blockbuster live music program that's designed to attract international acts to the state, and kicked off earlier in 2022 with the Foo Fighters playing in Geelong. When Joel takes over the MCG, the sounds of AFL club tunes will be replaced with everything from 'Uptown Girl' and 'It's Still Rock and Roll to Me' to 'You May Be Right' and 'Only the Good Die Young' — plus 'Tell Her About It', 'Big Shot', 'River of Dreams' and, yes, 'The Longest Time' and 'We Didn't Start the Fire'. Joel hasn't been our way for a while, but the six-time Grammy-winner has been playing one show a month at New York City's Madison Square Garden since January 2014 — and became the venue's first-ever music franchise in the process. Before he makes the trip to Melbourne, he'll notch up his 84th monthly and 130th show at The Garden. Obviously, that's just one of his achievements. Joel has sold over 150 million records, making him the sixth best-selling recording artist of all time and the third best-selling solo artist. If you're now keen to see the Piano Man in what's promising to be one huge gig, tickets go on sale at 10am AEST on Monday, July 4, with pre-sales from 11am AEST on Thursday, June 30. Billy Joel will play the MCG on Saturday, December 10. Tickets go on sale at 10am AEST on Monday, July 4, with pre-sales from 11am AEST on Thursday, June 30. Images: Myrna Suárez.
Red Gum BBQ's pit master, Martin Goffin dreams about meat and wood nightly, such is his obsession with all things barbecue. A far cry from what he envisaged growing up in Great Yarmouth, on England's east coast, Goffin and his wife Melissa own and run a barbecue joint of epic proportions in Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula. It was a visit to a barbecue restaurant just out of Melissa's hometown of Miami in 2005 that sealed Goffin's fate. And from the first bite, he was hooked. But it wasn't till 2012 that Goffin took his low-and-slow cooking on the road. "I was on paternity leave with my son in 2011 and got bored, and had a real think about what was going on in my life, what I enjoy doing and what I wanted to do," Goffin says. "Essentially, it was barbecue." He then started working markets and local events with a three-by-three metre marquee and a trailer with a Texas offset smoker. A couple of years later, in 2016 — just before they signed the lease on the Red Hill venue — Goffin went back to the States and did a week at Southern Soul Barbeque in Georgia. Here, he learnt how to take what he had been doing to the far-larger scale of a restaurant. Red Gum BBQ has just celebrated its second birthday in a space that used to be a truck mechanics, and is now filled with recycled wooden picnic-style tables and bench seats, a bar, and, down the far end, three massive smokers built specifically for Goffin."A guy called Paul, over at Silver Creek Smokers, built them for me," says Goffin. "They're old, five-metre-long LPG tanks, and they all have date stamps from when they were originally built — so there's one from 1982 and another one from 1970. They're magic, and I love them." Red Gum BBQ is, according to Goffin, the largest barbecue restaurant in the country, and it implements a range of sustainable practices, including sourcing free-range and grass-fed meats from exclusively ethical and local producers. Drinks are from the area, too, with all the wines and most of the beers coming from the Peninsula. Hop fans can try a selection of local brews (five to be exact) on a beer and cider taster paddle ($25). As for the food itself, the concept is simple. As at most American barbecue joints, you choose your barbecued meat: fall-off-the-bone beef rib with a salt and pepper crust (market price); beef brisket ($19); slightly spicy, slightly sweet pulled pork ($18); pork ribs (market price) or half or quarter chicken ($19 or $10); add your sides: coleslaw, mac 'n' cheese, broccoli salad, fries, potato salad or cornbread (all $8–12); and dig in. Even the wood used to cook the meats — which, for most, is between twelve and sixteen hours — is local: red gum. Goffin explains his local-is-best mantra by comparing it to barbecue in the States. "Barbecue in America is traditional. It's traditional in the sense that everything is local," Goffin says. "I'm trying to recreate what they've done in the States, but by using what we have available here."
Here's your latest excuse to pretend that it's the late 90s and 00s: The Offspring and Simple Plan are teaming up for a heap of 2025 Australian shows. After playing an Aussie gig late in 2024 as part of Victoria's Always Live music season — their only concert on that trip, which sold out in 30 seconds — the band is returning to hit up arenas in four cities. In Melbourne, they have two dates with Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, May 7–Thursday, May 8. It's been a quarter of a century since The Offspring earned a claim to fame that every music fan Down Under should know: topping Triple J's Hottest 100 with 'Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)', a win that still ranks as the annual countdown's most-controversial result to date. 2024 marked four decades since the band first formed in the early 80s, and more than 30 years since it came to mainstream attention with hits like 'Come Out and Play' and 'Self Esteem' — and the Californian outfit isn't done belting out its catchy brand of punk just yet. While the band released albums Let the Bad Times Roll and Supercharged in 2021 and 2024, respectively, you can still expect to hear their famous tracks — including 'Gotta Get Away', 'Why Don't You Get a Job?', 'The Kids Aren't Alright' and the song that's forever cemented in Australian radio history, obviously. Still led by frontman and guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland — the group's only remaining member from its initial 1984 lineup, so you can definitely call him the original prankster — The Offspring will have company in the form of Canada's Simple Plan. From The Offspring alone, you'll get the words "gunter glieben glauchen globen" stuck in your head for another couple of decades. Images: Daveed Benito.
Peer into a world of moral murkiness and deception, with a series of films about surveillance at ACMI. Timed to coincide with the Melbourne Festival premiere of the critically-acclaimed stage adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, Eyes Without a Face: Surveillance in Cinema is the perfect program for people who like to watch. The two-and-a-half-week program spans more than six full decades of filmmaking, beginning in 1954 with the quintessential voyeuristic thriller: Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Jumping forward to the early '80s, Brian De Palma and John Travolta channel post-Watergate paranoia in Blow Out, while English director Michael Radford sinks his teeth into the Orwell novel that started it all. Moving into the new millennium, Michael Haneke's Cache and Andrea Arnold's Red Road use video surveillance as a means of unsettling their audience. The program is rounded out by a pair of documentaries, with We Live in Public recounting the disastrous attempts of artist Josh Harris to broadcast his every waking moment to the internet, and Citizenfour providing a timely look into the actions of government whistleblower Edward Snowden. For more information and session times, visit the ACMI website.
According to Dean Sewell — Moran Prize winning photographer and part of the Oculi collective — there was this duffel bag. Inside it was a banner a hundred foot long, decorated with two words. This was on the maiden voyage of the Sydney to Hobart ship, the Spirit of Tasmania. There was strict security. Four passengers waited to get on as that security looked at the huge lump of canvas inside their bag. It was a spinnaker for a yacht, claimed the four men, and time consuming to fold back up. The security guards considered if it was worth unrolling for a closer look, squeezed it a little, and let it through. As the ship pulled out, most passengers and security wandered upstairs. Amid empty decks, the four men clipped themselves onto the boat, jumped over the side and unfurled their banner. The four had spent months preparing for the stunt, doing photo recon on the boat and practicing abseils down the side of a car-park at the University of New South Wales. They had even made sure the banner's font matched the writing on the side of the ship. And as they unrolled the result, Dean Sewell was across the harbour on a water taxi taking photos for the Sydney Morning Herald. He had been covering these men, part of the activist group the Lonely Station, since the previous year. A highly-skilled successor to BUGAUP, the group would meticulously rework ads into satire, leaving a much more political message in their place. As time went on Sewell became involved in the group's actions, and his photos form the basis of a new exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, Culture Jammers. Dean recently sat down with Concrete Playground to talk about the Lonely Station, photography and the usefulness of good rope skills. What happened after the banner dropped? They ripped the four Lonely Station guys off the boat. A police launch met up with the pilot launch, took 'em back and processed them. They wore a $6,000 fine for it. Who were they? The Lonely Station was a pretty loose collective of artists, environmental activists and legal minds, about 2004 to 2007. I think it was really born out of the environmental movement. A couple of them were arborists, highly skilled abseilers. So that allowed them to pull off all these actions. You can search globally for culture jamming, you'll be hard pressed to find anything the size of the works these guys were doing: they were hanging off building tops, off boats, all sorts of things. I think they were just looking at giving people a moment of pause. Being that circuit breaker. The spin cycle was in overdrive and they just really wanted to stop it, if only just for a moment in time, to let people recalibrate. Did you have a go at it? I did partake in some things. I think there were times when I was behind the camera, and other times I was taking an active role in producing work. What sort of things were done? One my favourites was a Vodafone billboard at Kingsford Smith Airport. They used that now infamous image from Abu Graib. They climbed up in early hours of morning, abseiled off, put it on, even had ropes dangling off the fingers. It looked very authentic. There was a sub quote under the main slogan, How are you? Underneath that they wrote "Liberated!" They got to hammer the telco company, and at the same time send a message straight to Canberra. It was on the evening news on Channel Ten. Vodafone got hauled over the coals. Vodafone had pulled a stunt, maybe twelve months earlier, where they'd had a guy arrange secretly to run onto a football match naked in New Zealand. It was great. So, the question put to them was "Is this a stunt you guys did? Because if so, it's in really poor taste." You've said that, as a photographer you look for 'the extraordinary in the ordinary.' For me that's the challenge in photography. Exacting something special out of the mundane, ordinary situations. A lot of people think that photographers chase around incredible things. We do sometimes, fantastic and incredible situations. But also it's the ordinary that attracts us. So becoming a full time paparazzo doesn't appeal? The interesting people are real people. The people living out in the middle of nowhere. Living quite humble lives, just in suburbia. Mostly no-one ever hears of these people. You go sit in a pub in outback Queensland or go up to the Corner Country. That's where you find really interesting people. They're normally not in front of you walking a red carpet. One of the images I got, I was just coming back from Cockatoo Island with my friends. We went to the Biennale on Cockatoo Island. And I took a picture on a the ferry. I won the Moran photographic prize with that. You'll see a lot of photographers take flight, chasing this and that. "Oh, it's too boring here, nothing happens here." And they want excitement or thrills or something. I just think I have a certain level of responsibility to document the issues here. You got these interesting, cosmopolitan suburbs of bustling, thriving places. They've got character. You know, you go to Auburn: where all these enclaves of culture exist. And for me, the most interesting cultural scene here is the Inner West, Marrickville, those areas. All the artists collectives. Underground stuff. It's thriving. Leading image of Dean Sewell (c) Tamara Dean. Images Spirit of Tasmania and Helping You Communicate Better (c) Dean Sewell.
Trends come in cycles. That's a fact that everyone has not only heard but experienced, and it's also a reality that helps us travel back in time. Missed the grunge era? Fashion revived it in 2023. Love 80s synth sounds? They're not hard to find among pop tunes recently. Wish that you could deck out your home with 60s and 70s decor? In comes IKEA, which is making peering backwards its focus right now. The reason that the Swedish retailer is feeling nostalgic is the same reason that plenty of us do: a big birthday. In 2023, IKEA celebrated 80 years of operation. To mark the occasion, it unveiled the Nytillverkad collection, which scours the company's design archives to hero pieces that've proven a hit in the past, and also riff on its prior highlights in general. That wasn't just a once-off, either. Accordingly, the range keeps dropping new pieces, including a big dose of 60s and 70s items earlier in 2024, and now another batch that's especially fond of the period's flower power. The latest homewares will hit IKEA stores in Australia in April, focusing on bright colours, bold designs and retro florals. Sure, it's autumn here at the moment, but that doesn't have to be the theme of your interior decor. Highlights include floral patterns first introduced in the 70s by designer Göta Trägårdh, including on quilt covers and cushions; a pendant lampshade that initially hit IKEA in 1964; and plant stands and coffee tables that also debuted in the 60s. Or, there's the ÖNNESTAD armchair, which reincarnates the brand's GOGO chair that first arrived in stores in 1972 and remained on offer at the time for more than a decade. It's made out of steel tubes, with updating the piece seeing the chain cutting back from 6.8 kilograms to 3.3 kilograms of the material — and now using high-strength steel — so that it can create twice as many. Prices range from $8 for cushion covers to $199 for chairs, with everything from vases ($19) to mirrors ($99) — available in-between. If all these blasts from IKEA's furniture and homewares past has you thinking about its history, there's a reason that almost everyone can't remember a time before the chain was a homewares go-to. Started by Ingvar Kamprad, aka the IK in IKEA's moniker, it began in 1943 and moved into furniture in 1948. The company then opened its first store in Sweden a decade later — and came to Australia in the 70s. The latest pieces in IKEA's Nytillverkad collection will hit Australia, in store and online, from April 2024 until stocks last. Head to the IKEA website for further details.
Melbourne's love affair with the negroni may be a relatively new phenomenon, but the cocktail has actually been around for a full century. Legend has it that it originated in Florence's Cafe Casoni, when Count Camillo Negroni requested the concoction for the first time — that's one part gin, one part vermouth and one part Campari, garnished with an orange peel. For the cocktail's 100th anniversary, Campari is doing up its annual Negroni Week celebrations in style and venues all over the city are once again getting involved. Apart from all the negronis, the week doubles as a huge fundraiser, with most participating venues donating proceeds to a charity of their choice. It'll all go down from June 24–30, with some spots keeping the party going all month long. Here's our picks for the best ways to get your negroni fix this year. There's a Wes Anderson film night, a Four Pillars pop-up bar, magnums of negroni and a whole heap of specialty cocktails on offer — created by the best bartenders in the city, of course. And if you can't choose between them, our negroni finder will pick a place for you.
Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves is a work of moral and technical greys. A measured, minimalistic environmental thriller about a small group of activists planning to blow up a dam, it's a tale that creeps along with low, silent tension, propelled by the work of its three primary actors and the morally ambiguous actions of the characters that they play. What it lacks, however, is a sustainable sense of momentum. Without it, the film struggles to stay afloat. Reichardt's eco-warriors aren't the most original of characters, but she's able to get away with it thanks to the calibre of her cast. There's paranoid loner Josh (Jesse Eisenberg, jumpier than usual), rebellious trust-fund kid Dena (a dressed-down Dakota Fanning) and burnt-out ex-marine Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard, disaffected and acerbic). Together they hatch an act of environmental terrorism as a means of upsetting the consumerist status quo. As in her previous films Meek's Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy, Reichardt's directorial approach is one of dispassionate observation. The camera follows the anarchist trio without any undue flair or sense of judgement. As such, the suspense becomes increasingly interwoven with questions of audience culpability. Viewers will go back and forth as to whether the group's actions are in any way justifiable. But after observing every step of the mission's meticulous preparation, it's difficult not to feel invested in its success. In one sequence, for example, Dena must try to convince a supplier to sell her 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertiliser without providing proper identification. It's a simple scene, entirely dialogue driven. And yet it's as riveting as watching a time-bomb tick backwards down to zero. Where Night Moves begins to falter is in its handling of the fallout from the attack. It's not a spoiler to say that things don't go the way the group expects, and soon cracks in their solidarity begin to appear. There's tension to be mined here, in the fear and mistrust, but Reichardt seems unable to really exploit it. The narrative and visual minimalism, initially such an asset, eventually leaves the audience feeling numb. By the time the movie stumbles to its unconvincing conclusion, the atmosphere has entirely disappeared. https://youtube.com/watch?v=s7-VqKLYZks
Barossa Valley has a new winemaker in town and they're classing up the humble goon sack. Tote Wines is taking a distinct turn from the cheap plonk receptacles we're used to and introducing premium bagged wines into the Australian market — picked, produced and packaged in the Barossa Valley, no less. Developed for "active Australians", Tote Wines is geared toward those who love to bring a bit of wine on an outdoor adventure, but don't want to bring glass bottles along for the ride. Their lightweight and break-proof packaging acts as a practical alternative to accompany a hiking, camping or boating trip. Each 1.5L pouch comes complete with a tap (not of the lay-back variety), has a shelf life of up to twelve months prior to opening and remains fresh for four weeks once opened. Positioning themselves as an eco-friendly, high quality alternative, the recyclable pouches also produce one fifth the carbon footprint during the manufacturing process than glass bottles. For now, they're only producing a Barossa Valley Shiraz and Eden Valley Sauvignon Blanc out of their brand new facility in the heart of the Barossa Valley. Their wine specialists are focused on sourcing the best grapes for each wine, so drinkers should be getting a much tastier experience than one would usually associate with drinking wine from a bag. All Tote Wines are available purchase the on their website, but only by the carton of six ($179.70) — so some commitment to the idea is a must. Tote Wines are supremely confident though and promise a 100 percent discount (minus shipping) for any unsatisfied customers. While drinking wine from a plastic tap still brings back some fond and somewhat deplorable uni memories for us, it will be interesting to see how these wines hold up in a market of such world-class winemakers and to see if the goon bag mentality can be replaced by this classed-up affair.
Kaiju: Japanese word meaning, literally, 'strange creature'. Jaeger: German word for "hunter". Del Toro: Spanish for "of the bull"; a creative visionary and comic-book-loving movie director. Pacific Rim is a big movie. Really big. Big across the board. As a blockbuster it had a budget of just under $200 million, and as an experience it's practically off the scale. It's one of those films where IMAX almost seems too small a screen. That's because Pacific Rim is, in simplest terms, a giant battle royale between robots (Jaegers) and monsters (Kaiju) that in size both easily dwarf earth's largest structures. To give an example, during one especially destructive rock 'em sock 'em session, a Jaeger uses something akin to the Exxon Valdez as a baseball bat. Written and directed by by Guillermo del Toro, this is a film far closer to his Blade II and Hellboy days rather than his dark, art-house fantasy pieces like Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone. Set in the 2020s, earth finds itself united against a common enemy: an alien race known as the Kaiju. Instead of coming from the skies, the Kaiju have opened a portal deep within an ocean trench and periodically emerge from within to lay waste to our cities. In response, humans built the Jaegers: enormous weaponised robots standing 100m tall — an unwieldy juggernaut not unlike Iron Man, except, well, 100m tall. They're Robert Downey Jrs with some serious platform lifts and, just like the Iron Man, are piloted from Rangers within. The difference is that two (and sometimes three) pilots are required to handle the enormous strain placed on the brain, with each pilot responsible for one of the Jaeger's cerebral hemispheres. They're literally 'left brain/right brain' people and, to complicate things further, must 'meld' their minds so that they act as one. That's why the best teams are comprised of relatives: brother to brother, father to son. Del Toro openly acknowledged that he wanted Pacific Rim to be more of a fun spectacle than the recent spate of dark and gritty blockbusters, but in this case that's an explanation not an excuse. Yes, it's more pop than penetrating, but unlike Transformers there's some substance behind the pop. Chiefly responsible for this is The Wire's Idris Elba, whose performance as the Jaegers' commander Stacker Pentecost imbues the film with a touch of class and a touching backstory. The film's hero is played by Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy fame, and while he seems a little out of his depth as the lead, he's surrounded by a strong supporting cast that includes Ron Perlman, Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi — the latter bringing some much needed gender equality to end-of-the-world heroism roles. There are also two Australian pilots, played by British actor Robert Kazinsky and American Max Martini. Apparently in Hollywood, Aussie actors represent the Kaiju and everyone else has to band together to defeat them with accents so laughable even the Simpsons cast would wince. Visually, Pacific Rim packs a massive punch and the design of both the Kaijus and Jaegers is spectacular. It does at times suffer from the Transformers 1 problem of frenetic action to the point of confusion, with the entangled scrappers merging into a singular incoherent mess of metal and skin. On the other hand, though, the direction of the action is far more consistent than Michael Bay's epileptic-fit-inducing approach, allowing you to at least track where the action's going even if you can't immediately see who's got the upper hand. And when the clarity does find its way into the battles, the experience is surprisingly exhilarating. Seeing a giant lizard get an upper-cut from a skyscraper-sized happy meal toy is far more satisfying than you'd think. This is a big, fun (and pretty dumb) movie, but it's hard not to feel that the most compelling part of Pacific Rim is dispensed with during the film's prologue, detailing how, when the first Kaiju arrived, earth's conventional military might was exposed as blunt and ineffectual. Because of this, the entire film feels like the climactic final battle of a story that's yet to be told. It's perfect fodder for a prequel, but begs the question why Del Toro skipped the 'pre' and jumped straight to the quelling. https://youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag
Joining vinyl records and 8-track tapes on the dusty shelf of obsoleteness, CDs have fallen by the wayside. In 2011, the number of people in the US who downloaded their music had far surpassed that of people who bought physical albums. In an era when our grandchildren won't know what a Walkman is, what are we to do with our now-digitised CD collections? As it turns out, Amazon wants them. Beginning last week, Amazon launched alterations to its Trade-in Program, which allows customers to swap their old stuff for Amazon store credit. Amazon has previously accepted pre-loved items such as Kindles, textbooks, and DVDs in exchange for credit but hasn't accepted used CDs until now. The store credit can be used to buy new, downloadable albums, or any product from the site. We can't decide which we are more excited about: an extra buck or two, or forever banishing our questionable '90s music decisions.
Victoria's newest luxury spa destination doesn't require a jaunt down the coast or a road trip all the way out to Daylesford. In fact, full-body bliss now awaits you just 10 kilometres from the CBD, at Ivanhoe's new urban retreat and spa Relinque. It's the brainchild of osteopaths Dr Michelle and Dr Adam Wilson, who set out to create a holistic wellness destination specialising in tailored experiences. The space itself is the kind of serene, soothing setting you'll happily escape to for a few hours of indulgence, decked out with modern interiors by Richmond's Studio Tate. Relinque's treatment offering is built on the founders' decades of osteo experience, carefully tuned to help refocus, rebalance and restore that pandemic-weary body. Guests can choose from four signature 'journeys' or treatment packages, sitting at between 80 and 170 minutes of pampering. In the mix, there are body scrubs, massages, hand and foot treatments, wraps and facial therapies, with individualised combinations also available. If you're seeking some additional rejuvenation, you can soak up the benefits of hot and cold contrast therapy here in Melbourne's only privately-owned steam and ice room. The gig involves alternating between a steamy 45-degrees and the frosty temperatures of an ice fountain, to take advantage of the practice's healing, regenerative properties. Products used at the retreat include the full line of organic, botanically-charged products from leading Aussie skincare brand LaGaia, whose experts have personally trained all Relinque staff. And if you'd like to make this your new one-stop wellness shop, there's also a calendar of regular yoga and pilates classes to come. Find Relinque Urban Retreat and Spa at 19 Upper Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe.
Every now and then the opportunity comes your way that you just simply can't say no to. You find yourself coming up with all the excuses in the world into why you shouldn't take it, only to get slapped across the face and kicked in the shins by your mates asking how stupid you actually are. All the facts and figures point towards the only option. Pick up your nuts and go for it. The opportunity? I've been nominated as one of five international bloggers undertaking one of the latest regional tourism engagement campaigns, this time from Destination NSW. The campaign is called The Unmapped Roadtrip. The locals are asked to recommend where we should be going in NSW, who we should see and what we should do throughout the entire month of March. Someone has recommended already that we dive with sharks. Sceptic Kiwi right there. Anyway, I'll be on a bus, with 4 other strangers who will no doubt become good friends, travelling around the great state. This is all I know at this point. I leave on Thursday 1 March at 6am for Sydney and I believe we're heading along to the infamous Mardi Gras for our first weekend, with none other than Kylie Minogue headling. Stop it! I should be so lucky alright. https://youtube.com/watch?v=haoCgGzS0wY To be clear, I'm not really a sceptic Kiwi, but in light of the recent Air New Zealand campaign, I thought I would take this approach in order to lay down the challenge to all New South Welsh Men and Women, and say "come on, show us what you got". I arrive back on Sunday 1 April, where I will ultimately arrive at my conclusion of the Ten Best Things to do in New South Wales. In the meantime, you can follow me on our Twitter page (@PLAYGROUNDNZ) and for those that are that way inclined, I'll also be regularly posting via the Concrete Playground Instagram account. I promise to be entertaining and represent New Zealand responsibly. Is that possible? I guess you will have to find out.
Nothing in pop culture every truly dies, and that includes teen-oriented late 80s and early 90s-era sitcoms about high schoolers. Yes, more than three decades since it first hit the air, Saved by the Bell is returning to screens. Sure, you're now past the point of being able to watch it after school each day — but if you want to stream it when you get home from work, that'd be fitting. After initially running from 1989–1993, Saved by the Bell has actually popped up in several guises since. Two spinoffs arrived shortly after the original show, thanks to 1993–94's Saved by the Bell: The College Years and 1993–2000's Saved by the Bell: The New Class. And, it also gave rise to two TV movies: 1992's Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style and 1994's Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas. Now comes a new series that's simply called Saved by the Bell, and also features some of the show's original cast members. That makes it a revival and a sequel, rather than a reboot or remake — although there's a new bunch of teens navigating high school, obviously. And while the likes of Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Mario Lopez, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tiffani Thiessen all reprise their characters, they're either the parents or teachers of the series' new kids. Comedy veteran John Michael Higgins also features as Principal Toddman and, if you saw his last sitcom appearance, that's particular good news. Actually, it's a reunion with his Great News costar and that show's creator Tracey Wigfield, who is also doing the latter on the resurrected Saved by the Bell. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0uCr5-5p5Q&feature=emb_title Saved by the Bell starts streaming via Stan in Australia from Thursday, November 26. Details for New Zealand are still to be announced.
When John Carpenter gave the world the exceptional slasher flick that is Halloween, the iconic filmmaker also gave us all something to watch each and every October 31. No one wants to limit themselves to just one scary movie on the spookiest day of the year, though. And while the Halloween franchise has plenty of entries (some excellent, some terrible, some average), it's not the only thing worthy of your eyeballs while you're carving pumpkins, eating candy and dressing up in the most frightening costume you can conjure up. While 2020 has been unsettling all round for everyone, it has also served up a heap of unnerving flicks — especially (and fittingly) via streaming platforms. So if your idea of a perfect Halloween this year involves getting reacquainted with that groove on your sofa and binging your way through the latest and greatest horror movies that are currently offer, we've rounded up a ten-movie viewing list that'll do the trick. You'll need to supply the treats, obviously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZHg9xcK83s THE MORTUARY COLLECTION When The Mortuary Collection begins with a kid on a bicycle making his way towards a creepy multi-level mansion in a remote part of a small town — a mortuary, as the title makes plain — you can be forgiven for thinking that it's about to step into Goosebumps or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark-style territory. That firmly isn't the case, even though this horror flick serves up an anthology of unnerving tales all framed by an overarching narrative. In the bigger picture, as set in the 80s, Raven's End mortician Montgomery Dark (Clancy Brown, Billions) finds a young woman called Sam (Caitlin Custer, Teen Wolf) hovering around the house. She says she's enquiring about the 'help wanted' sign outside and, as they chat, he starts talking her through the histories of folks who've died in the town. Cue four separate segments that feature everything from tentacled monsters and sleazy frat boys to creepy corpses and escaped asylum patients. Each story within the bigger story tells a tale about bad choices leading to bad outcomes, and they're so richly staged that even the briefest still keeps viewers interested. Writer/director Ryan Spindell might be making his feature debut, but from his handling of the movie's equally ominous and entertaining mood to its well-executed lashings of gore, he has crafted himself quite the calling card. The Mortuary Collection is available to stream via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atqf47wM5Gg RELIC It's a recognisable setup: a remote house, a family haunted by decades-old troubles, a murky history that's still leaving an imprint and tension levels rising when, naturally, strange things start to happen. But Australian horror movie Relic has more than a few surprises up its sleeves as it follows three generations of women in a Victorian-based family. In fact, while the slow-burning affair is set in a nerve-shatteringly creepy house that's up there with many a horror great, and it serves up well-executed jumps, bumps and unnerving sensations, this smart, thoughtful and constantly disquieting film also uses its concept and plot to ponder the physical and emotional impact of ageing, including dementia. It all starts with the disappearances of the widowed and elderly Edna (Top of the Lake's Robyn Nevin). Her daughter Kay (Mary Poppins Returns' Emily Mortimer) arrives from Melbourne to join the search, with her own offspring Sam (Bloom's Bella Heathcote) in tow, but then Edna reappears suddenly without any explanation for her absence. In the assured feature directorial debut of Japanese Australian filmmaker Natalie Erika James, Kay and Sam still need to try to ascertain just what happened, though, and work out why Edna's house — and, increasingly, Edna too — seems so sinister. Relic is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNZQ2GG833o SHE DIES TOMORROW When She Dies Tomorrow splashes Kate Lyn Sheil's face across the screen, then bathes it in neon flashes of pink, blue, red and purple, it isn't easily forgotten. It's a vivid, visceral, even psychedelic sight, which filmmaker Amy Seimetz lingers on, forcing her audience to do the same as well. Viewers aren't just soaking in trippy lights and colours, though. They're staring at the expression beneath the multi-hued glow, which seethes with harrowing levels of shock, fright, distress and anxiety. That's understandable; this is the look of someone who has just had the most unnerving realisation there is: that she is going to die tomorrow. Yes, that's the film's premise, with Sheil's Amy believing that her life will end the next day. But it's how the on-screen Amy copes with the apocalyptic news, and how it also spreads virally from person to person, that fuels this gloriously smart and unsettling thriller. Toying with surreal Lynchian moments yet always feeling disarmingly astute, She Dies Tomorrow follows the spread of that potentially paranoid, persecution-driven delusion like a contagion, with the haunting feature's cast also including Katie Aselton (Bombshell), Chris Messina (Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)), Josh Lucas (Ford vs Ferrari), Tunde Adebimpe (Marriage Story) and Jennifer Kim (Mozart in the Jungle). She Dies Tomorrow is available to stream via VOD on Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ8CCg1tOqc #ALIVE Train to Busan and Peninsula aren't the only recent films to wonder how South Korea might cope with a sudden zombie outbreak. The unrelated #Alive also explores the concept, focusing on a video game streamer as an unexplained disease turns most of Seoul's residents into members of the guts-munching undead. Holed up in the seeming safety of his family's apartment, Oh Jun-u (Burning's Yoo Ah-in) doesn't initially take the situation well. As shuffling hordes lurk outside, his dismal food supply rapidly declines, and he worries about the safety of his parents and sister, he attempts to survive — and to fight off the gnawing feeling that perhaps his struggle is futile. A box office hit when it released in South Korean cinemas this year, #Alive never feels as formulaic as its premise might suggest. In fact, this horror-thriller proves constantly tense, and not just because pandemic films have that effect at the moment. Making his first feature, writer/director Il Cho handles the zombie scenes with urgency and makes ample room for quiet moments; however, his best decision is casting the ever-watchable Yoo. #Alive is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlfooqeZcdY THE PLATFORM Set in a series of confined spaces, stressing the immense disparities between the haves and the have nots, and watching as people fight over everyday items — food, in this case — The Platform couldn't be more relevant to 2020. That's a coincidence, of course, with this twisty Spanish thriller first screening at film festivals in 2019 before hitting Netflix this year. It all starts when Goreng (Iván Massagué) wakes up in a prison cell. He's on level 48 and, as his cellmate Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor) explains, there are 47 storeys above and who knows how many below. He can see this for himself, however, because the concrete room has a hole in the centre of both the ceiling and floor. Through this opening, their daily meal descends on a platform, before moving to the lower levels. For the folks at the top, that means that a huge feast awaits. Alas, as the platform makes its way down level by level, each cell is faced with leftovers, scraps, bones and eventually nothing. Funny, furious, grim and violent all at once, The Platform is also impeccably staged and shot, stressing the claustrophobia of its setting as well as the dog-eat-dog mindset that quickly develops among its characters. The Platform is available to stream on Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNlKbqHqGcY HOST Not to be confused with Bong Joon-ho's creature feature The Host, nor with the terrible sci-fi romance of the same name based on a novel by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, Shudder's engaging horror flick Host is relevant to the absolute minute. Indeed, it could've only been made this year. The setup: bored in COVID-19 lockdown, a group of British friends (Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward and Edward Linard) decide to spice up their weekly Zoom catchup by enlisting a medium to conduct an online seance. Obviously, anyone who has ever seen a scary movie before knows that this is a bad plan, and that things won't end well. It's not so much what happens here that serves up the film's thrills, however, but how director Rob Savage (Strings) unfurls this creepy, timely premise. Frightening and tense features solely set on computer and mobile phone screens are by no means new — see Unfriended, Searching and Profile, just to name a few recent examples — but this is a savvy, cleverly managed and suitably spooky addition to the genre. It'll also turn you off trying to summon the dead next time you jump on Zoom yourself. Host is available to stream via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auVZKcxV7XQ SWALLOW Some films boast a stellar lead performance, so much so that you couldn't imagine the movie without it. Some find their strength in a clever, astute and engaging premise. Swallow ticks both boxes — and combines them with a mood and look that instantly make an imprint. In the feature debut of writer/director Carlo Mirabella-Davis, young housewife Hunter Conrad (Haley Bennett, The Devil All the Time) seems to have it all. She has married into a wealthy family, her husband (Austin Stowell, Fantasy Island) has a high-flying job, they've been gifted a lavish house surrounded by countryside and she's now expecting. But, when she isn't being left home alone day in, day out, she's expected to be dutiful and doting by her controlling new family. So, to regain a sliver of power over her life, Hunter starts swallowing strange objects. Bennett is phenomenal as a woman slowly awakening to her restricted reality, fighting to break free and coming to terms with her past, putting in a quiet, nuanced yet potent performance. And the film itself walks confidently in the footsteps of masterpieces such as Safe and Rosemary's Baby, while always following its own path. Swallow is available to stream on Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeYWT7CnFK0 SCARE ME Written and directed by Josh Ruben, and starring him also, Scare Me doesn't just like scary movies — it flat-out loves scary stories. Indeed, this pared-back horror film understands that sometimes all that's needed to keep an audience on the edge of their seats is a great tale told well. Its characters, both writers, are all about unfurling creepy narratives. Fred (Ruben) falls into the aspiring category, while Fanny (You're the Worst and The Boys' Aya Cash) has an acclaimed best-seller to her name. With each taking time out in the mountains to get some work done, these two strangers end up in Fred's cabin telling each other disturbing stories when the power goes out (and trying to one-up each other, naturally). For its first two-thirds, Scare Me makes the most of that basic concept. Fred and Fanny perform their tales, sound effects and ominous lighting kicks in — it's a stormy night, of course — and the mood is suitably perturbing. The film also demonstrates its self-awareness, namedropping other genre titles with frequency and sending in a pizza from the Overlook. When this Sundance-premiering feature decides to ponder real-life horrors as part of its layered stories, however, it proves especially potent. Scare Me is available to stream now via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJvKDp54YjM SPIRAL It shares its name with the next movie in the Saw franchise, which'll hit cinemas next year. But this Spiral gives a familiar premise a smart, topical and resonant twist. In the mid-90s, Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, UnREAL) and Aaron (Ari Cohen, IT: Chapter Two) move to a small town with the latter's teenage daughter Kayla (Jennifer Laporte, iZombie), seeking a quieter, happier life away from the city. They're initially greeted warmly by neighbours Marshall (Lochlyn Munro, Riverdale) and Tiffany (Chandra West); however, in general territory traversed by many a horror film before this, things aren't quite what they seem. Indeed, when Malik comes home one day to find a homophobic slur graffitied on their living room wall, he starts to get suspicious about the cliquey community they're now calling home — fears that Aaron doesn't share. There is clearly much about Spiral that fits a template, but director Kurtis David Harder and writers Colin Minihan and John Poliquin do an shrewd job of moulding this unsettling movie into a timely statement. The result: a feature that's as much about spooky terrors as societal ones, and that possesses a considerable bite. Spiral is available to stream via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj6JIzrIzxk BLACK BOX Blumhouse, the filmmaking company started and run by producer Jason Blum, has quite a number of horror flicks to its name. It's responsible for Get Out, Happy Death Day, the latest Halloween and this year's version of The Invisible Man, with that list only continuing — and in 2020 it has launched a movie anthology series on Amazon Prime Video as well. Black Box is one of the flicks in the Welcome to the Blumhouse franchise, and it's the best of the four released so far. Written and directed by feature first-timer Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr, the Black Mirror-esque sci-fi/horror hybrid focuses on photographer Nolan Wright (Mamoudou Athie, The Front Runner), who is struggling to regain his memory after a traumatic car accident. Then he's given the opportunity to try an experimental new treatment by brain specialist Dr Lilian Brooks (Phylicia Rashad), and this film starts toying with identity, loyalty and ethics. There aren't all that many surprises, narrative-wise, but Athie is excellent, Osei-Kuffour Jr maintains a sense of intrigue and, more often than not, the movie hits an emotional note, too. Black Box is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video.
Wake up, Prime Video viewers: in 2023, your streaming queue is getting nostalgic. If The Wiggles can top the Hottest 100, take their rainbow-hued skivvies to Mardi Gras and make a date with Falls Festival (and maybe Little Nas X), then of course they can be the subject of a new documentary that'll hit the online service next year. Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles will tell exactly the tale you think it will, following the group's career over more than three decades, including the new levels of fame and popularity that 2022 has thrown their way. Sure, Dorothy the Dinosaur mightn't need an origin story, but OG Wiggles Anthony Field, Murray Cook, Greg Page and Jeff Fatt are getting one, with Sally Aitken (Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks, David Stratton: A Cinematic Life) directing. Prime Video is promising never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage, too, as part of the feature-length film. "When we first formed The Wiggles more than three decades ago, our aim was to educate and inspire children through music, and that continues today," said Field. "Looking through the archives has brought back so many incredible and emotional memories, from our first shows for 30 children to touring America and the world, playing to arenas. It's been such an incredible and evolving journey and we can't wait to share our story with everyone." Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles forms part of Prime Video's 2023 slate of original Australian content, with the streaming platform running through all the Aussie-made efforts you'll be able to watch next year — some newly revealed, others already announced. Sitting in the latter category but certain to be a must-see is Deadloch, the latest series from The Kates. This time, The Katering Show and Get Krack!n's Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney are writing, executive producing and showrunning a mystery-comedy starring Kate Box (Stateless) — yes, another Kate — as a Tasmanian cop. When a local man turns up dead on the beach, the sleepy titular town is thrown into chaos. (And no, it won't be by accident that Deadloch subverts the usual dead girl trope that's such an engrained part of these kinds of TV series.) Also on Prime Video's 2023 list: five-part doco series Dance Life, following students at Brent Street; plus movie The Defenders, a documentary about Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi's arrest while honeymooning in Thailand, and former Socceroos captain Craig Foster's efforts in response. And, similarly among the highlights, there's Class of '07, about the mayhem that follows when an apocalyptic tidal wave hits during an all-girls college's 10-year reunion; and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, an adaptation of Holly Ringland's debut Australian novel starring Leah Purcell (The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson), Asher Keddie (Nine Perfect Strangers), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Fear the Walking Dead), Tilda Cobham-Hervey (Hotel Mumbai), Alexander England (How to Please a Woman) and none other than Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters: Afterlife). Comedians Joel Creasey, Rhys Nicholson, Dave Hughes, Tommy Little and Lizzy Hoo will score specials, too. And if you're wondering exactly when you can get watching, release dates for the whole slate still to be revealed. The just-announced titles Prime Video's 2023 Australian slate don't yet have exact release dates. Keen an eye out on the streaming service itself for further details.
It's official: Melbourne now has its own rooftop brewery bar overlooking the city skyline, and you can thank former Aussie Rules football player David Neitz for making it happen. He established Brewmanity back in 2015, alongside fellow brewery lovers Jamie Fox and Paul Hopgood, to not only bring great craft beer to Melburnians but to also raise money to fight motor neurone disease — which Neale Daniher, Neitz's friend, fellow ex-footballer and coach when he was playing for Melbourne, has. To date, Brewmanity has raised nearly $970,000. And now, the trio behind it are taking things to the next level by setting up a huge 400-person, three-storey, 34-tap brewery bar in South Melbourne. The venue opened its doors on Friday, March 22, ready to fill your autumn with beers with a view. The ground floor houses the beer hall, where visitors can drink the team's craft brews surrounded by stainless steel tanks in which new creations are slowly fermenting. Head up the stairs to find another bar with a large terrace overlooking the city. But when the sun is shining, we're pretty sure punters will be racing for the rooftop, where they'll find even better vistas across Melbourne's skyline. And if Melbourne does decide to throw a surprise shower (which will inevitably happen), the venue has retractable awnings ready and waiting. Each level has a bar pumping out Brewmanity beers alongside some local independent wines, spirits and cocktails. Food comes courtesy of Chef Suman, who's serving up a selection of share plates and bar bites to hungry beer drinkers. This includes a beer braised lamb shoulder that feeds up to six people, DIY taco platters, cheeseburger sliders and mushroom arancini. There'll be no need to scale the stairs to go get a feed — just order and wait for it all to come to you. "We are proud with what we have achieved so far and there is so much more to come. We have proved that you can make a good beer that does good deeds and we hope to pour out the goodness for many years to come," said Neitz. Find Brewmanity at 44–50 Tope Street, South Melbourne. For more information, head to the venue's website.
If you've been spending every weekend hitting up Australia's reawakened music festival lately, then you might have noticed two clear trends. Firstly, live music is well and truly back. Secondly, blasts from the pasts are back, too — and the just-dropped Beyond The Valley lineup has Nelly Furtado on the bill to prove it. At other events this year, you can catch everyone from TISM and Groove Armada through to Sophie Ellis-Bextor and TLC — and now, at the three-day end-of-year fest that is Beyond The Valley, the Canadian singer behind 'I'm Like a Bird', 'Turn Off the Light', 'Maneater' and 'Promiscuous' is taking to the stage. She's doing a one-off Australian-exclusive performance at fest, as well as her first show in over five years. The Beyond The Valley bill isn't all about getting retro, of course. Also on the eclectic lineup: Denzel Curry, Dom Dolla, Kaytranada, BENEE, Yeat, Flight Facilities, Honey Dijon, Lime Cordiale, Patrick Topping, Charlotte De Witte, Diplo and more. That includes Bicep, which'll come as no surprise if you saw the video earlier in the year announcing the fest's return, which was set to the sounds of 'Glue'. This year's Beyond The Valley will take place from December 28, 2022–January 1, 2023, marking a nice dose of normality given that the beloved camping music festival has been on hiatus during the pandemic. It hosted a city-based spinoff in to see out 2021, aka Beyond The City, but is now back in its original guise to take care of New Year's Eve plans. There is one big change on the agenda: a move of venues. In past years, Beyond The Valley has typically taken place in the regional Victorian town of Lardner, but for 2022 it'll sprawl across at site at Barunah Plains. So, music festival fans will be headed 90 minutes outside of Melbourne, to a spot on Wentworths Road in Hesse that comes compete with a 100,000-square metre-natural amphitheatre. [caption id="attachment_866661" align="alignnone" width="1920"] @ladydrewniak[/caption] That's where Beyond The Valley will set up its three usual stages, the main stage, dance tent and multilevel dance spot Dr Dan's, as well as a new podcast stage featuring live and interactive recordings. The 2022 fest will also include a beach club for swims; a small space that's only accessible via secret entrance called Schmall Klüb; the Poof Doof 'pride patrol'; and speed dating, yoga, pilates, meditation, open mic sessions and a fortune teller. And, if you only want to head along for a single day — or you aren't keen on camping — Beyond The Valley is introducing a daily entry ticket. BEYOND THE VALLEY 2022 LINEUP: BENEE Bicep (live) Charlotte De Witte Denzel Curry Diplo Dom Dolla Flight Facilities Honey Dijon Kaytranada Lime Cordiale Nelly Furtado Patrick Topping Yeat Aitch Budjerah Cloonee Confidence Man DJ Boring Folamour HAAi Heidi Jay1 Jnr Choi Job Jobse Or:la Palms Trax Partiboi69 Remi Wolf Sally C San Cisco SG Lewis Shygirl Tkay Maidza Vera Blue X Club. Yung Lean Aroha Benson Caitlin Medcalf Cassettes For Kids Denim Foura Hatchie Jesswar JK-47 Jordan Brando Joy. Juice Romance Kee'ahn Laura King Memphis LK Merci, Mercy Mia Rodriguez Ninajirachi Rest For The Wicked Sam Alfred Sofia Kourtesis STÜM SWIM Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers The Illustrious Blacks Willo Yarra Beyond The Valley will run from December 28, 2022–January 1, 2023. Ticket presale registrations are open now, closing at 3pm AEST on Wednesday, August 31 — with presales starting that same day at 6pm AEST. General sales kick off at 12pm AEST on Thursday, September 1. For more information, head to the fest's website. Top image: Mackenzie Sweetnam.
Get caffeinated for a cause at Collingwood's latest coffee spot. From February 4, Pace of Collingwood's display suite on the corner of Wellington and Langridge Streets will play host to a pop-up cafe, as part of a partnership with homegrown charity Co-Ground. Together, they'll be fighting to bring positive change to the developing world, one steaming hot cup of coffee at a time. Located out the back of the nine-storey apartment block, the pop-up will feature coffee by the crew from Five Senses, from a serious coffee machine donated by La Marzocco, and will be open Wednesday through to Sunday from 7am to 3pm. The space will be provided by Pace Development Group free of charge, allowing Co-Ground to max out on profits. That money will, in turn, be used to fund the charity's latest project, a school in Vanuatu, alongside additional education and livelihood projects in the Philippines and further Asia-Pacific region. "We are absolutely thrilled to be working with Co-Ground," said a spokesperson from Pace. "Not only because they make spectacular coffee – although that's obviously a bonus – but also because of the important work they do with communities to improve education in developing nations." The Co-Ground pop-up café will be open from 11am on Saturday February 4, and 7am to 3pm Wednesday to Sunday thereafter. Find it at 51 Langridge Street, Collingwood.
First, in its initial fourth-season sneak peek back in May, Westworld called upon Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day'. Now, dropping the full trailer for the dystopian drama's next batch of episodes, it enlists Nine Inch Nails' 'The Day the World Went Away'. Big things are coming in the hit HBO series, clearly — and if those music cues mean anything, so is quite the eventful day, or several. Also leaving an impression in the new Westworld trailer is a chilling statement: "we're not here to transcend, we're here to destroy." Actually, the entire glimpse at the upcoming season — which finally starts arriving from Monday, June 27 via Foxtel, Binge and Neon Down Under — is filled with eerie and creepy pieces of dialogue and images. Here's another: "maybe it's time you questioned the nature of your own reality." That's classic Westworld for you. Since it first hit HBO back in 2016 — and made its way to Australia and New Zealand as well — the series has been unnerving from the get-go. It's all there in the concept, which first unfurled on-screen back in 1973 thanks to the Michael Crichton-directed movie of the same name. Here, in the eponymous android amusement park, humans pay to live out their fantasies while surrounded by supremely realistic-looking androids. What could go wrong? Everything, obviously. Across its second season in 2018 and third batch of episodes in 2020, the TV version of Westworld has built upon this premise, twisting in wild, strange, violent and surreal directions. Naturally, when season four hits, that's only going to continue. Neither trailer so far is particularly big on plot, but they do set a huge mood — or reinforce the tone that Westworld fans already know and love, to be more precise. While narrative details are scarce, the show is bound to keep wading through the fallout that's been shaping its story from day one, after some of the robot theme park's electronic hosts started to break their programming, make their own decisions and question their creators. What the show's season four trailers lack in plot specifics, they make up for in atmosphere and recognisable faces, including Evan Rachel Wood (Kajillionaire), Thandiwe Newton (All the Old Knives), Ed Harris (The Lost Daughter), Jeffrey Wright (The Batman), Tessa Thompson (Passing), Luke Hemsworth (Young Rock), Aaron Paul (Truth Be Told) and Angela Sarafyan (Reminiscence). Joining them as a newcomer this season: newly minted West Side Story Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose. If you feel like you've been hanging out for new Westworld for years, that's because the show always seems to bring its android dramas back in two-year intervals. Still, it's worth remembering that the first season of the show arrived 43 years after the Michael Crichton-directed movie that it's based on, and 40 years after the film's sequel Futureworld. If you haven't done so already, both are worth viewing while you're waiting for the TV series to return. Check out the full trailer for Westworld's fourth season below: Westworld's fourth season will start streaming via Binge in Australia from Monday, June 27 — and via Neon in New Zealand. Images: Photograph by John Johnson/HBO.
It's a war that's been waged for decades among regional bakeries the country over: who's dishing up Australia's best pie? Whose pastry comes closest to perfection? Which filling reigns supreme? Well, this year's top dog has officially been named, with Victoria's Country Cob Bakery taking out top honours at the 2020 edition of Australia's Best Pie and Pastie Competition. While you might have your own thoughts about which pie makes the best road trip accompaniment, this nationally recognised contest is run by the experts at the Baking Association of Australia. The 2020 competition saw professional judges sample a thousands of pies from more than 300 bakeries, across three days. And for the third year in a row, Country Cob claimed the top title, this time winning over tastebuds with a pepper beef pie creation loaded with local ingredients. Last year, it won for its caramelised pork and pepper pie, and its satay seafood pie took out the top gong in 2018. It's an impressive run for baker brothers Ryan and Chan Khun, who've owned and operated the bakery for the past four years. [caption id="attachment_726906" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The award-winning pie.[/caption] The two backed up their big win with a slew of other awards, including taking out the title of Best Plain Mince Beef Pie, Best Vegetarian Pie (for its curry cauliflower, chickpea, lentil and pie number) and Best Gourmet Pie (for an American barbecue whiskey pork and quail egg creation). And if you fancy sampling Country Cob's primo pie for yourself, thankfully, the bakery is offering home delivery to all of metropolitan Melbourne and some regional areas from its stores in Kyneton and Boronia. Other winners included JoJo's Gluten Free Goodies vegetable pastie for Best Pastie, which is located in the Bass Coast Shire. Further afield, Queensland's Maleny Bakery took out Best Chunky Beef Pie, the Best Seafood Pie went to WA's Four Seasons Patisserie and Bels Gordon St Bakery in NSW's Port Macquarie snagged both Best Vegetarian Pastie and Best Poultry Pie (for its chicken cajun pie). Country Cob Bakery is located at 130-132 Mollison Street, Kyneton and 951 Mountain Highway, Boronia, Victoria. It's currently offering home delivery across metropolitan Melbourne and to some regional areas.
Less than two weeks after their animated tribute to The Simpsons went viral on YouTube, a pair of Melbourne animators have confirmed their video will be featured on the show. Creator Al Jean even high-fived the pair on Twitter. Created by roommates Ivan Dixon and Paul Robertson, the two minute pixel art animation (below) recreates the program's iconic opening sequence in the style of classic video and arcade games. Full of clever references to both old games and classic Simpsons moments (Mr. Sparkle makes a late appearance), the video has amassed more than two million views since it hit the internet on February 1. After catching wind of the video, The Simpsons team emailed Dixon and Robertson, asking them to call as soon as they could. While the pair initially assumed the message was a hoax, they got in contact. Now the video is set to open the show's next episode, which airs in the United States this Sunday at 8pm. Both Dixon and Robertson work in animation. Dixon is one half of independent animation studio Rubberhouse, while Robertson has worked on episodes of Disney's Gravity Falls. The announcement sees the pair join an exclusive group of people who have been invited to retool the show's famous titles. Cult animator Bill Plympton had Homer fall in love with the couch... ... while Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro provided this creepy take for Halloween. British graffiti artist Banksy raised the eyebrows of Fox executives with his scathing take-down in 2010... while last year's effort by Oscar nominee Don Hertzfeldt is amongst the weirdest things the show has ever put to air. Via The Age.
Gorman. Oh, Gorman. The source of literally everyone's fancy first date outfits has just gone and announced that, this Friday, August 25 they'll be giving out thousands of free t-shirts to anyone who proves they've registered to vote. And while you can vote however you feel, the initiative is proudly and loudly in support of the 'yes' vote. In their own words: "Love is love. All people are equal". Damn right. To share in the love, make sure you've verified and updated your enrolment details today — you have until midnight to do so. Then head to your local Gorman store tomorrow and flash the Gormie staff a screenshot of your verified enrolment details to receive a limited edition (and cute as heck) 'love is love' tee for free. The design is based on an earlier collaboration with Monika Forsberg and there are only 5000 of them. Gorman fans are Gorman fans, so we presume you'll have to get in early to nab one. Most importantly, you can check your enrolment details here.
Brisbane's Eat Street Northshore is following in the footsteps of culinary big-wigs like Brae, Biota and Dunkeld's Royal Mail Hotel, now boasting its very own onsite kitchen garden. Thought that was a little unlikely, given the precinct's lack of free space? Well, it's all thanks to Canada's Modular Farms Co, which has chosen the precinct as the first Australian location to host one of its state-of-the-art vertical hydroponic farms. With inner-city space at a premium these days, this little beauty is a bit of a game-changer, able to grow food cleanly and sustainably no matter where it's placed or what the climate might be. Eat Street's new addition will allow market vendors to tap into a consistent supply of fresh herbs and veggies from right there on site, minimising food miles and wastage in the process. It doesn't get much fresher than that. What's more, the farm's modular design fits right in with the rest of Eat Street's vibe, working perfectly against that backdrop of repurposed shipping containers. The new vertical farm will supply produce to both Eat Street Northshore and OzHarvest. Images: Chris Jack
However you identify, we hope your feed is filled with rainbows and eco glitter this week as we gear up to celebrate Mardi Gras on Saturday, March 6. Whether you're going to events in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane — or staying home to watch the parade on SBS — you can share the love and pride with the LGBTQIA+ community on TikTok. We've teamed up with the social media platform to bring you these six pride-filled videos to help get you pumped for the parade. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@itsbybrandon/video/6921305046323842306[/embed] Epic transformations are par for the course on TikTok, so how do you stand out from the crowd? @itsbybrandon does it time and time again with their colourful, creative and often unexpected makeup transitions. And, they lip sync like a pro. Take inspiration from this rainbow effect eyeshadow for your Mardi Gras celebrations this weekend. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@dom.skii/video/6930381557991542017[/embed] Proving that exceptional makeup talent isn't in short supply, @dom.skii brings us a second inspirational transformation clip full of pride. As Lady Gaga puts it, "Don't be a drag, just be a queen." [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/foryou?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v2#/@emmahorn/video/6929595838914186497[/embed] Emma Horn jumped on the Domino Lovers TikTok Challenge with her girlfriend, and how can you not beam with pride watching them dance together? Emma's TikTok is full of hilarious reaction videos and relatable content, so if you're in need of a pick-me-up, check out her channel. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@the_dancing_farmer/video/6928677043387272450[/embed] Bretty G, aka @the_dancing_farmer, says they're here to spread love and positivity. Here they do it with an enviable pair of pins and a fabulous strut in the countryside dirt. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@tomi.queen/video/6930570843546209538[/embed] In one of our favourite videos in the 'I'm So Pretty' makeup transition trend, Sydney drag queen Tomi shows us how it's done. If Reyanna Maria isn't on your Mardi Gras playlist for this weekend, rectify that now. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@kevininthecity/video/6931856237550193921[/embed] Sydney's Glitter King, @kevininthecity, isn't afraid to shine like a mirror ball. Here, they give us a masterclass in standing out from the crowd in one bold block of colour. Look out for Kevin in the City at this year's Mardi Gras Parade, as their face will be part of TikTok's official float alongside singer-songwriter G Flip. Download TikTok to watch more, and use the hashtag #JoinOurFloat to be part of TikTok's Mardi Gras float. Top image: Jeffrey Feng; Destination NSW
Don't already have a date with Taylor Swift's Eras tour booked when it hits Australia in February 2024? Perhaps it won't be a cruel summer after all: more tickets are releasing on Friday, November 10. When Sydney and Melbourne stops for Swift's career-spanning showcase were announced back in June, it sparked a rush for seats. Before general sales even started, the 'We Are Never Getting Back Together', 'Shake It Off' and 'Bad Blood' musician had announced an extra gig in both cities. And, the Victorian Government even declared her Melbourne stint a major event so that anti-scalping legislation would apply to tickets. So, the response has clearly been huge — and now Swifties will have another chance to head along. Tour promoter Frontier Touring has announced that additional tickets will drop across all Aussie concert dates, with the Sydney shows releasing their extra tickets at 10am and the Melbourne shows doing the same at 4pm — all AEDT. Included among the new batch will be seats with a partially obstructed side view, with prices starting at $79.90. There'll still be limited tickets in the new release, but accessibility options will also be on offer. Expect another busy Ticketek day, obviously, with the singer-songwriter's Australian shows already garnering "historically unprecedented demand". Swift is playing the MCG in Melbourne across Friday, February 16–Sunday, February 18, and then heading north to hit the stage at Sydney's Accor Stadium from Friday, February 23–Monday, February 26. At all gigs, she'll have Sabrina Carpenter in support. [caption id="attachment_907314" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ronald Woan via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] That blank space in your calendar that you were hoping to fill with Swift working through her entire career so far, playing tracks from each of her studio albums in a three-hour, 44-song, ten-act spectacular? You now have another attempt to do so. Sadly, Swift still hasn't added concerts in any other cities across Australia — as Frontier has previously advised, "no further dates will be added for the Australian tour". This'll be Swift's first tour Down Under since 2018, when she brought her Reputation shows to not only Sydney and Melbourne, but Brisbane and Perth, too. And if you're wondering what's in store, then you clearly haven't seen Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour as a movie, aka a concert film of her latest shows that's been screening in cinemas Down Under since October. TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR AUSTRALIAN DATES 2024: Friday, February 16–Sunday, February 18 — Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Friday, February 23–Monday, February 26 — Accor Stadium, Sydney Taylor Swift will bring The Eras Tour to Australia in February 2024. Additional seats will go on sale on Friday, November 10 — at 10am AEDT for Sydney shows and 4pm AEDT for Melbourne shows. Head to the tour website for further details.
When a musician announces a big Australian and New Zealand leg of their world tour, then postpones just two weeks out, then doesn't set new dates, you can be forgiven for wondering if they'll be making it Down Under at all. In the case of Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye, the answer is no for now. His Aussie and NZ trip has been cancelled for the moment, with ticketholders to receive refunds. The artist was due to hit the stage across both countries in November and December 2023, but rescheduled at the beginning of November without revealing when he'd arrive instead. Since then, there's been no news until now. If you have a ticket, you'll get your funds back in full automatically via whichever method you used to pay. "The Weeknd After Hours Til Dawn Tour for Australia and New Zealand is still in process of being rescheduled," says the statement on the Ticketek website, leaving hope that the tour might be announced again in the future. "Whilst we continue to work through the rescheduling process with the artist, tickets for the existing 2023 tour will be cancelled. All purchased tickets will receive a full refund," the message continues. Back in November, Australia and Aotearoa was advised that the postponement was "due to unforeseen circumstances", in an announcement credited as a statement from The Weeknd to his fans. "New dates will be announced next year and current tickets will be valid for the new shows," said the message at the time. "Refunds will be available for those unable to attend the new dates. Deeply disappointed but can't wait to be there with you!" it went on. The Canadian singer-songwriter and The Idol star was due to play two shows at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, then head to Sydney for three gigs at Accor Stadium. After that, he had four shows locked in for Marvel Stadium in Melbourne — and then it was meant to Eden Park in Auckland's turn. An arena spectacular, The Weeknd's global tour has notched up soldout shows far and wide when it has been taking place. In the UK, The Weekend saw 160,000 folks head to London Stadium across two nights, smashing the venue's attendance record. And in Milan, he became the first artist to sell out the Ippodromo La Maura for two nights. Those feats are just the beginning. In Paris, the 'Starboy', 'I Feel It Coming', 'Can't Feel My Face', 'The Hills' and 'Blinding Lights' artist scored Stade de France's biggest sales this year — and in Nice, the 70,000 tickets sold across his two shows are the most in the city's history. The reason for the whole tour, other than just because, was to celebrate The Weeknd's 2020 record After Hours and its 2022 followup Dawn FM. Obviously, he has been playing tracks from 2013's Kiss Land, 2015's Beauty Behind the Madness and 2016's Starboy as well. The Weeknd's 'After Hours Til Dawn Tour' 2023 — Cancelled Dates: Monday, November 20–Tuesday, November 21 — Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Friday, November 24–Saturday, November 25 + Monday, November 27 — Accor Stadium, Sydney Friday, December 1–Saturday, December 2 + Monday, December 4–Tuesday, December 5 — Marvel Stadium, Melbourne Friday, December 8–Saturday, December 9 — Eden Park, Auckland The Weeknd is no longer touring Australia and New Zealand. The shows have been cancelled, with refunds set to be issued — head to the tour ticketing website for more information.
Google are very cunning. They have a plan for you and I. They know that we have been ruining our eyesight for years by reading Buzzfeed lists in tiny font on our phones. They know that non-prescription glasses are the trademark of the much-maligned hipster. So they've done the inevitable and finally released a range of new Google Glass styles which, though no Ray Bans or Warby Parkers, are at least vaguely wearable, and can actually help you see. What are the new options? There are four titanium frame styles with slick names (Bold, Curve, Split and Thin), five colours, clear lenses and shades in two tints. We also have a lookbook full of languidly beautiful girls and boys wearing these things like it's completely natural. Wear prescription Google Glass down to the cafe, wear them on your bike, wear them to the opera — no one's going to laugh at you. Hopefully. Another insidious advantage of prescription Google Glass? We will be less jarred by the sight of smart-glasses on the face of someone who we know wears glasses anyway — at least, this is the fervent hope of Glass product director Steve Lee. So what's the price tag? The $225 prescription is small fry on top of the $1500 entry fee for accessing the Explorer program. It takes a specially trained optometrist to fit the prescription, and currently qualified optometries can only be found in LA, San Francisco and New York. Limitations exist for prescriptions beyond a certain range (+4 and -4). Once you add the complexity of bifocals and trifocals to the mix, prescription Google Glass has some way to go. Public availability is slated for late 2014, when Glass will finally become a customisable lifestyle tool. What's annoying is knowing that by 2020 or sooner, Google Glass won't look nearly so clunky; you probably won't even know someone's got a computer hidden in their lenses. Meanwhile, we who favour Dame Edna cat-eye vintage frames purloined from street stalls and optometrists' back rooms will have to wait a bit longer for our perfect Glass moment. Via Dezeen.
If there's one place we're gagging to get to right now, its the pub. There's nothing quite like that first sip of a freshly poured froth monster on a warm day with your mates. But, since we're bunkering down at home for a little while longer yet, our pals at Bridge Road Brewers are bringing the beer to your house, instead. On Thursday, September 23, you can take part in Sour Times, a one-hour virtual sour beer tasting session with Bridge Road Brewers founder Ben Kraus and head brewer James Dittko. These two beer brainiacs will take you on an exploration of the sour beer style, highlighting brewing techniques, recipe development and sampling some of Bridge Road Brewers delicious sours, of course. To make sure you're all kitted out for this sampling session, the folks at Bridge Road Brewers will send you a sour beer tasing pack filled with tasty treats. Inside the pack you'll find a Belgium table beer named Hoppy Sour, a raspberry sour with passionfruit for extra tang and a tropical sour that'll take your palate poolside. Want to make your next virtual work drinks a little more brew-tiful? You can. Sour Times Virtual Tasting with Bridge Road Brewers will kick off at 6pm on Thursday, September 23. For more information and to book, visit the website.
When Chloé Zhao adds her contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe later this year, the history-making Oscar-winner won't merely be leaping into a blockbuster franchise. With Eternals, the Nomadland filmmaker will unveil Marvel's next crew of superheroes — ancient and immortal alien beings who've been working in the shadows for thousands of years after arriving on earth via an eye-catching spaceship. Led by Ajak (Salma Hayek, Like a Boss), these heroes are now forced to band together again to save the world from an evil threat. The catalyst: the events of a little film called Avengers: Endgame. So, it's standard MCU stuff, at least on paper. But with Zhao the helm, the film doesn't look or feel like your average Marvel movie — at least based on the very brief sneak peek at the flick a few weeks back, as well as the movie's just-dropped first trailer. Also battling it against an enemy called The Deviants: Ikaris (Richard Madden, Game of Thrones), Sersi (Gemma Chan, Captain Marvel), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani, Stuber), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff, Sound of Metal), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry, Godzilla vs Kong), Sprite (Lia McHugh, Songbird), Gilgamesh (Don Lee, Ashfall), Druig (Barry Keoghan, Calm with Horses) and Thena (Angelina Jolie, Those Who Wish Me Dead). One GoT star is never enough for any movie, so Kit Harington also features, presumably knowing little. Ajak and her pals might've spent much of their past trying to blend in — "throughout the years, we have never interfered," she notes in the trailer's voiceover — but when they're not disguising themselves as humans, they certainly don superhero outfits and unleash quite the array of superpowers. Eternals is one of four MCU movies set to drop in 2021, alongside Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the latest Spider-Man flick. It's also Zhao's first feature after the vastly different film that's been winning her so much praise this year, as well as her first leap into the blockbuster realm. And, the filmmaker's visual sensibilities definitely shine through so far — even though she's working on a far bigger scale than seen in her first three movies. Check out the trailer below: Eternals opens in cinemas Down Under on November 4.
Horse Bazaar knows what you need this winter, maybe even before you knew it yourself: dumplings and massage. If you haven't thought about pairing those two things together before, think again, because there's nothin' like dumpling time while someone massages the knots out of your shoulders, right? If your answer is "sure, I guess", then you'll be pleased to know Horse Bazaar runs this successful little syndicate each Tuesday night from 6pm. You'll pay $15 for a ten-minute massage (by an actual masseuse, not just the bar staff) and a three-piece dumpling snack. Choose from pork, vegan, crispy fried cheese, an egg/bacon/Vegemite package, or a sweet Nutella option. You'll probably want more than three — if so, it's $5 per extra serve of dumplings and $10 for an extra ten minutes of massage. You'll need to call or email ahead to pre-book your massage time — if stressful things are happening at work on Tuesday, this might be a blessing for you (both the massage and the dumplings).
Every quarter, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology releases its climate outlook for the coming season, signalling to the country just what type of weather might be in store. For winter 2020, for example, it advised that we were in for hotter and wetter-than-average conditions. And for the spring just gone — and for the warmer portion of the year in general — it predicted plenty of warm-weather rain. While BOM has already forecast summer's conditions as part of its severe weather outlook in October, it has now released its actual climate outlook for the season — given that summer officially started this week. The organisation noted two key points. First, it advised that temperatures are likely to be warmer than average in much of the country. Secondly, it noted that there's a high likelihood of above-average rainfall between December–February. Expect to feel the heat starting from December, especially if you live in southeast Australia, far west Western Australia and along the Queensland coast — where BOM is forecasting maximum temperatures above the long-term average between December 7–20 with a likelihood of at least 70 percent. Looking more broadly at the three-month period, it also expects the same temperature trend to play out across the entire summer along the coast of Queensland and the Northern Territory, in most of Victoria, and in Tasmania, far west WA and southeast South Australia. [caption id="attachment_793395" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Bureau of Meteorology[/caption] Another key indicator of warmth: how low — or high — the minimum temperature gets to overnight. To end November, Sydney reported its highest overnight minimum since temps started being recorded, for instance. BOM expects minimum temperates to exceed the long-term average this summer for the majority of the nation, and predicts there's more than an 80-percent chance that'll happen everywhere but the eastern interior of WA and adjacent parts of NT and SA, where it's touting a 60-percent likelihood. So, you know that it's going to be toasty. Summer always is, of course; however, again, BOM is predicting temps higher than average. In terms of how wet it'll be, December–February is expected to be wetter than usual with higher-than-average rainfall across most of Australia, especially the northwest of the country, eastern Queensland and along the New South Wales coast. It says there's more than a 75-percent chance that'll be the case in those aforementioned places, while the everywhere else except Australia has a 60-percent possibility. [caption id="attachment_793396" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Bureau of Meteorology[/caption] The predicted extra rain is influenced by La Niña, which is underway in the tropical Pacific — and usually increases the chance of above-average rainfall over eastern Australia during summer. BOM's Head of Operational Climate Services Dr Andrew Watkins advised that large parts of eastern Australia have an increased risk of flooding as a result, too. "Our climate outlook is the opposite of what we experienced last year in Australia. This summer, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are expected to see above average rainfall, meaning we face an increased risk of widespread floods," he said And yes, even with the wet conditions, heatwaves are still likely. "This summer's heatwaves may not reach the extreme temperatures of recent years, but may be longer duration and more humid," noted Dr Watkins. In other words, staying cool and dry has just become your number-one mission for summer. For further details about the Bureau of Meteorology's forecast for summer 2020–21, check out its summer climate outlook.
With 64 days until the lights are on, Vivid has announced its 2013 lineup. And as the festival turns five it's vastly extending its brightly coloured reach to cover more physical ground and generate more creative ideas. In 2013 Fort Dennison, Walsh Bay and the Inner West will also get a heavy splattering of neon light and artistic innovation as the festival adds more precincts to the Vivid family. Sydney's own Spinifex Group will be the artists behind the Lighting of the Sails, the jewel in Vivid's dazzling crown, with the rest of the foreshore welcoming a global assemblage of lighting designers to the walkable stretch spanning Campbells Cove to Walsh Bay. Interactivity is key this year, with Customs House featuring a dance floor so visitors can make the building move. The festival's LIVE section will celebrate the Opera House's increasingly enthusiastic approach to popular music, populating the Kraftwerk-headlined lineup with homegrown and international acts. Empire of the Sun are premiering their second album Ice on the Dune, which was announced in true theatrical style with a bizarre video last week. Other acts include legendary soul crooner Bobby Womack, Underworld's Karl Hyde, the Sunnyboys, Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon, folk-rock tribute Sounds of the South and the 45-piece Heritage Orchestra — performing the Bladerunner score. More will be announced in the upcoming weeks. And hosting a mammoth 136 events this year is the Jess Scully-curated Vivid Ideas. Level six of the MCA will be taken over by 100 of them, with further talks and workshops spread through the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Seymour Centre, Sydney Museum and more. Semi-Permanent, Sydney Writers’ Festival and the Australian International Design Festival are getting involved in 2013, along with a slew of events supporting this year's film and photography motif. Reportage and Sydney Film Festival are two exciting additions, and a talk by Chris Ying of Momofuku-McSweeney's foodie mag Lucky Peach should give discerning ramen enthusiasts plenty to get psyched about. Check out the Vivid website for the full lineup.
If there's been a big, White Night-shaped hole in your social calendar since the famed Melbourne after-hours fiesta wrapped up its last edition in February 2018, you'll be happy to know it's making a return this August. Just be prepared for a very different experience, as the immersive festival makes some serious changes to its programming and farewells part of the late-night fun. As well as making the move from summer to the deep of winter, White Night Reimagined has swapped its previous one-night format for an expanded three-night affair. Interestingly, it's also scrapped the all-nighter aspect in the process. Instead of the usual 7pm–7am program, which has been in place since the festival's inaugural 2013 edition, White Night is this year running from 7pm until midnight on Thursday, August 22, and again on Friday, August 23, followed by a 7pm until 2am session on Saturday, August 24. The new curfew means punters will no longer get to experience what some might argue is one of White Night's biggest pulls — the adventure of roaming around town soaking up art and installations, right through until the wee hours. Although, frosty August probably isn't the best time of year for pre-sunrise wanderings, anyway. The new-format event has also expanded in scope, held across three key precincts with each boasting its own distinct theme. Treasury Gardens will take the form of the 'Sensory Realm', showcasing dazzling projections, lighting and audio installations, and interactive artworks inspired by the five senses. Here, you'll find British artist Michael Pinsky's immersive Pollution Pods, which represented the different environments of global cities; a musical and calming SongCloud; a colourful light and audiovisual installation called Cluster; as well as a giant floating Cocoon made from 1000 lights tied together by ropes. Carlton Gardens will be transformed into the mystical 'Spiritual Realm', featuring a huge ten-metre lion puppet by Melbourne artist Joe Blanck, along with illuminations sharing the stories of Indigenous Australia. And the 'Physical Realm' descends on Birrarung Marr, showcasing the Aussie debut of internationally acclaimed street theatre performance Globe, from a troupe of 41 acrobats, aerialists, singers and actors. Other famed Melbourne spots coming to the party include the Melbourne Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria and the State Library Victoria, all hosting their own programs of art, food and music. The rest of White Night Reimagined's extended program, including the music component, is set to be revealed in the coming weeks. Starting from 2020, White Night will also form part of a new and bigger winter festival, in conjunction with the Melbourne International Arts Festival (MIAF).
Australians love a spot of Flume on their Spotify playlists, with the Sydney producer taking out the most streamed spot on the music streaming giant, narrowing stealing the party crown from NZ neighbour Lorde. Celebrating its second birthday today in Australia, Spotify has released a bucketload of stats in one super scrollworthy infographic. In a staggering display of dazzle-by-numbers, Spotify Australia some nifty stats to brag about on its second anniversary since launching in 2012. Over 100 lifetimes or 8,200 years of music has been streamed on Spotify locally in last two years, with 27 million playlists created by Australians. Most of these — over 500k — have been made about love (mostly made by Victorians too). Big ol' saps. We also made more playlists about relaxing than exercise, with New South Wales picking up the Most Laidback State award and choosing to sit on their butts and bliss out rather than pumping up the jam. Australians (awesomely enough) love to stream local music, with Flume beating out international artists Avicii, Eminem and Daft Punk for top streamed artist, as well as the Crowded House of contemporary music, Lorde , who we'll inevitably claim as Australian. The top local artists after Flume were triple j explosion Vance Joy, falsetto dreamboat Matt Corby, hip hop heavyweights Bliss and Eso and the internationally-acclaimed The Temper Trap. Check out the rest of Spotify's Aussie stats below in a scroll happy wonderland of infographics and stream your guiltiest pleasure to wish the team a bon anniversaire.
Seltzer brand Part Time Rangers has arrived with a new line of summer-ready drinks that are helping make a difference. The Peach Penguin is a flavour-packed addition to the brand's range and, as the name suggests, it has an affinity for one of the world's cutest creatures: the penguin. If you pick up a four-pack of these fruity vodka and peach juice drinks, you can feel a little better about your latest boozy purchase than usual. For every seltzer sold, Part Time Rangers donates to conservation initiatives around the world — and this time, a portion of the profits from the peach flavour are going directly to the Conservation Council of Western Australia and penguin expert Dr Erin Clitheroe. WA's Little Penguin has seen an 80-percent population decline since 2007 due to warmer ocean conditions and increased air temperature. It's species like the little penguin that the Conservation Council is working to save. On top of donating these proceeds to help provide assistance with the penguin population of Penguin Island, Part Time Rangers also wants you to get involved directly. After conducting a survey that found only five percent of young Australians consider the Little Penguin a conservation concern, the seltzer brand has launched a competition to try and raise awareness for these fluffy little animals. The seltzer brand is giving away an all-expenses-paid trip to Western Australia to help Clitheroe with her conservation efforts. The winner of this major prize will get to spend three days with the scientist, in what Part Time Rangers has described as a "scholar-sip". They'll also get return flights to Perth, four nights accommodation, $1500 to spend on food and transport, $2000 prize money and a case of seltzer. There will also be ten runner-ups who will each win a hat and a four-pack of seltzer. To enter, just head to the Part Time Rangers website and explain in 25 words or less why you want to fly to Perth and hang out with Dr Erin Clitheroe. Applications for the competition close at 5pm on Monday, February 20. Outside of the Peach Penguin flavour, you'll also find other drinks in the range — like the Pink Rhino, with proceeds going to Rhinos Without Borders, plus the Black and Yellow Elephant flavours, which both raise money for the Big Life Foundation. For more information on Part Time Rangers and the competition head to the brand's website. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
Self-described "Larry Bird of pubs", the Prince Alfred Hotel is committed to doing simple things really well by mastering the fundamentals of what makes a good pub experience. It promises a wide wine list with vinos that are interesting but not intimidating, crisp cold beer — there are 12 rotating taps of independent craft beer alongside Carlton Draft of course — and food that looks as good as it tastes served by a welcoming and efficient team. The kitchen is open every day of the week from 12–9pm and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Like any good neighbourhood gastropub, they have a schedule of events to suit everyone. Join them for Happy Hour from Monday—Friday from 3–6pm. Tuesday is burger day, Wednesday is steak night, Thursday is Parma Disco with $20 parmas and disco tunes from 6–9pm, and Sunday is roast lunch day from 12–9pm (or until sold out) where you're served beautifully cooked roast (cut rotates weekly) served with seasonal sides and house-made gravy. Not to be outdone, there's also live acoustic music every Sunday from 3.30–6.30pm, line up a roast dinner and you've got an ideal Sunday arvo in Port Melbourne. During the winter months, Prince Alfred Hotel opening hours vary during winter: Monday–Thursday 12–10pm, Friday–Saturday 12–1am, Sunday 12–10pm
From South Melbourne Market to Coventry Street and Albert Park, South Melbourne offers visitors some remarkable destinations when it comes to appreciating great design, homewares and fashion. Undoubtedly one of the most refined hubs around Melbourne, the area's leafy green streets are a wonderful place to explore before dipping into some of the grungier backstreets to rest up alongside a coffee or two. We've teamed up with American Express to create a guide to the best local boutiques and hidden away shopfronts to shop small at — so that you know precisely where to look when you want to support the businesses in your community. These ten independent stores are a must-visit when you're next in the area — and they all accept your American Express Card.
Childhood snaps aplenty are filled with Australia's big things, including pictures with The Big Pineapple as a backdrop if you've ever visited the Sunshine Coast. As an adult, there's another way to make memories at the famous Woombye site: hitting up The Big Pineapple Festival, which is finally returning in 2024 after a three-year absence and has just dropped its jam-packed lineup. The Queensland fest announced its comeback earlier this year, and also its 2024 date: Saturday, October 19. Now comes who'll be taking to the stage while you dance in the shadow of a giant piece of tropical fruit. The Amity Affliction, Bliss n Eso and Peking Duk lead the bill, alongside Tones and I, Golden Features, Vera Blue, Thornhill and Dune Rats doing a DJ set. There's a heap more acts where they came from, too, on what's set to be a massive spring day in the Sunshine State. [caption id="attachment_964826" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Tom Barnes[/caption] 2024's event will also add a World Eats and Beats precinct, which is where you can grab a bite and listen to global tunes; the Lantern Parade lighting up the site, aka pineapple fields; the Skate Jam, where top Aussie skaters will on their decks; and Burlesque L'amour doing a festival stint. Or, you can enter the Best Dressed at the Fest contest, with prizes for both solo and team attire — and likely a range of pineapple-inspired outfits getting a workout — or try your stuff at The Great Australian Pineapple Toss competition. On the nation's list of big things, The Big Pineapple is among the most famous. It's big. It's a pineapple. It's heritage-listed Queensland icon. It's surrounded by those pineapple fields. It now has a new cafe and viewing platform. Basically, what's not to love? Since 2013, however, it's no longer merely a reason to go to Nambour to gawk at over-sized fruit — because that's when it also became home to a music festival, which ran annually until its current three-year break. As well as live music, the fest includes two days of camping. Accordingly, if you hadn't already, start looking forward to an event that'll take over its iconic location's natural amphitheatres, get folks pitching a tent at the 4000-person campground, and also span workshops and art installations in a relaxed setting, too. The Big Pineapple Festival's return is welcome news at a time when the Australian music scene has been seeing cancellations, rather than comebacks. Tasmania's Mona Foma said farewell forever after its 2024 event, both Splendour in the Grass and Groovin the Moo scrapped their 2024 festivals mere weeks after announcing their lineups, Falls Festival took summer 2023–24 off, Summergrounds Music Festival at Sydney Festival was cancelled and This That hasn't gone ahead for a couple of years now. The Big Pineapple Festival 2024 Lineup: The Amity Affliction Tones and I Bliss n Eso Golden Features Peking Duk Vera Blue Thornhill Dune Rats (DJ set) The Dreggs Drax Project SLUMBERJACK Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers Ocean Grove Kinder South Summit No Money Enterprise Day We Ran Betty Taylor Toby Hobart Hellcat Speedracer Raw Ordio Ishan Larynx Karlou Rhino Tess Fapani Earth Sign Unearthed winner [caption id="attachment_964825" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Billy Zammit[/caption] [caption id="attachment_944026" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Big Pineapple, Alpha via Flickr[/caption] The Big Pineapple Festival will return on Saturday, October 19, 2024. Ticket presale signups start from 8am on Monday, July 8, with presales beginning at 8am on Wednesday, July 10 and general sales from 8am on Thursday, July 11 — head to the fest's website for more information. Images: Claudia Ciapocha / Charlie Hardy.
While the Lunar New Year doesn't officially kick off until February 1, the Albert Park Hotel is getting into the Year of the Tiger spirit a little early. You're invited to celebrate the start of the lunar calendar with one of its sumptuous banquets, available from Friday, January 28–Tuesday, February 1. The pub's modern Chinese restaurant Happy Valley is serving an 11-course feast fit for a beast. Or at least, a very hungry tiger. You'll sit down to dishes like a new-world spin on peking duck pancakes starring smoked leeks, compressed cucumber and mandarin caramel; scallops matched with a flavour-packed mushroom XO sauce and duck crumble; and of course, plenty of house-made dim sum. You can book the elaborate banquet for lunch or dinner throughout the five-day period, though if you visit on February 1, you'll get to pair your feed with a traditional Chinese dragon dance being performed in the venue at 1pm. The feast clocks in at $110 per person, with bookings made here. [caption id="attachment_772309" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Simon Shiff[/caption] Images: Simon Shiff
Nick Cave, skateboarding? Nick Cave, skateboarding? NICK CAVE, SKATEBOARDING? Any way you say it, it sounds more like a metaphor than something that happens in real life. But according to Aussie skateboarding company Fast Times, the 57-year-old singer-songwriter is a "good friend and customer". And so, the poet and the skater have teamed up for a next level (and rather odd) merch project: the official Nick Cave skateboard. Rock art illustrator Chuck Sperry, who hails from San Francisco, is the man behind the design. Drawing on 'Nature Boy' for inspiration, a song from Cave's 2004 album Abattoir Blues, Sperry has created a female figure with wild blonde hair surrounded by flowers. Cave's lyrics are included: "She moves among the flowers, she floats upon the smoke, she moves among the shadows, she moves me with just one look." If you've been too busy sitting at home poring over poetry to learn to skate, you could always use it as a pretty striking wall hanging. And the good news for art collectors is that it's a limited edition. Alternatively, you could just settle for the t-shirt. By way of spreading the word on their collaboration, Cave and Fast Times have released a promo video, soundtracked by 'Nature Boy' and featuring some super-slick moves. Via Pitchfork.
2023 might've been a Game of Thrones-free year, but 2024 won't be, and neither will 2025 if current plans hold. House of the Dragon will be back this winter Down Under, and it has the trailer to prove it. Then, next year, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is set to become HBO's latest addition to the franchise. When the OG TV series based on George RR Martin's books came to an end in 2019, the American cable network behind it was as keen as Tyrion Lannister is about wine to keep the series going on the small screen. Cue exploring spinoffs, spinoffs and more spinoffs, with plenty rumoured over the years, including focusing on Jon Snow and devoting a second new series to the Targaryens. But A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is the next to get the official go-ahead, which happened in 2023. Now, it has a 2025 release date. [caption id="attachment_794086" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Game of Thrones[/caption] You don't need your diary just yet, because only the fact that it's slated to hit streaming queues late next year has been revealed — no month, no date, no other specifics. But the 2025 timing, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, means that the Game of Thrones realm is back to being an annual part of HBO's viewing calendar, at least for these two years in a row. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight will get everyone saying its mouthful of a moniker as part of a 2025 lineup that also includes the return of The White Lotus, The Last of Us and Euphoria. In general, HBO are currently going big on TV shows that fall into franchises, too, given that Harry Potter, The Conjuring, IT and The Batman are all getting television offshoots. A century before @GameofThrones, there was Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg. Executive produced by George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker, Ryan Condal, and Vince Gerardis, A Knight of the #SevenKingdoms: The Hedge Knight has received a straight to series order. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/MRPUke5Upt — HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is a prequel, and boasts George RR Martin as a writer and executive producer. It comes to the screen from the novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg, and has been rumoured for a few years now. The story follows knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg as they wander Westeros a century before the events of GoT, when the Targaryens remain on the Iron Throne and everyone still remembers dragons. Yes, there's an odd-couple vibe. No casting has been unveiled for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight so far. Also, production hasn't yet started, but is expected to kick off before 2024 is out. There's obviously no trailer yet for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, either, but you can check out the first teaser trailer for House of the Dragon season two below: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is set to premiere in 2025 — we'll update you with exact details when they're announced. Via The Hollywood Reporter. Images: HBO.
It's been an icon of Melbourne's cultural scene for decades, established as a pioneering creative hub by the legendary John and Sunday Reed in 1934. Now, Heide Museum of Modern Art is set to make a few culinary waves, too, with the launch of new produce-driven onsite eatery Heide Kitchen. Reimagining the space formerly home to Heide Cafe, the sustainability-focused daytime diner boasts a strong pedigree of its own, as the brainchild of celebrated hospitality crew The Mulberry Group (Hazel, Dessous, Liminal, Common Ground Project). Not only does the glass-walled restaurant leave guests feeling fully immersed in the verdant landscape, but those natural surrounds also play a huge role in what's being showcased on the plate. An oft-rotating lineup of breakfast and lunch fare centres on organic ingredients plucked from Heide's onsite kitchen gardens, as well as produce from the regenerative agriculture farm at Common Ground Project. That might mean breakfasting on the likes of hot-smoked salmon and saltbush crumpets, a BLT-inspired tartine, or the smoked barramundi scramble with crispy kale before a visit to the gallery. Or perhaps diving into the wagyu burger or niçoise salad after a trip around the grounds. A risotto comes singing with garden-fresh ingredients, the scotch egg is paired with romesco sauce for a primo snack, and Mulberry Group's signature hotcake also gets a well-deserved run. Meanwhile, Heide Kitchen's coffee cart is slinging takeaway sips and sangas. And it won't be too long before you can also grab a curated picnic basket to enjoy outdoors while wandering the famed sculpture park. Lots more local goodies star throughout the restaurant's drinks offering, with quality coffee pouring alongside beer, local vino — perhaps a Heathcote vermentino or the Underground Pinot Noir from the Mornington Peninsula — and a curation of booze-free sips. Find Heide Kitchen at Heide Museum of Modern Art, 7 Templestowe Road, Bulleen. It's open from 9am–4pm Tuesday–Sunday. Images: Samantha Schultz.
Drive two hours northwest of Melbourne and you'll arrive in the town of Lexton. Perched in Victoria's Pyrenees region, this tiny township is surrounded by outstanding wineries and outdoor adventures, ensuring a visit here will be jam-packed with unforgettable experiences that'll live long in the memory. Whether you prefer to roam grand pictorial gardens or scale the Pyrenees mountains, finding the experience you crave is almost guaranteed. To give you a head start, we've teamed up with Wild Turkey to highlight the activities that'll keep the good times flowing for you and your crew on your next out-of-town adventure. [caption id="attachment_846008" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arianna Leggiero[/caption] STAY IN A CONVERTED CHURCH Considering the immense beauty of Victoria's Pyrenees, booking yourself into some suitably snug accommodation is the best way to spend the night. Arguably the top spot in the area is Grayling's Gift, an immaculate 19th century church rejuvenated with luxurious furnishings and amenities. Inside, the antique decor includes an elegant clawfoot bathtub, a vintage chesterfield lounge and a wood fireplace that elevates the cosiness factor to the extreme. While breakfast is provided during your stay, there's also a compact kitchen to use — we suggest using it to put together a grazing platter with local produce to enjoy during a star-gazing session in the expansive fields on your doorstep. [caption id="attachment_844023" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Elliot Kramer[/caption] TREK THROUGH THE RAINFOREST Situated on the edge of the Great Dividing Range, Lexton is home to mind-boggling natural beauty. To experience the variety of landscapes in one place, a 30-minute drive to Mount Buangor State Park is your best bet. With its 15 kilometres of interconnected trails, this is the place to explore mountain peaks or delve deeper into the valley floor. If you're looking for a low-intensity hike, the Waterfalls Nature Walk trail should be at the top of your to-do list. Taking just 45 minutes to complete, this return journey sees hikers wander through blue gum forests on their way past three waterfalls, including the stunning Ferntree Falls and the Cascade Falls. [caption id="attachment_844026" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] EXPLORE WINE COUNTRY It might seem a little on the nose, but this part of Victoria does indeed get its name from the Pyrenees region stretching between France and Spain. Our Pyrenees wine region dates back to the 1960s, so expect your visit to this thriving food and wine country to be overflowing with delicious flavours. More than 40 cellar doors provide ample opportunity to sample the local varieties, and Blue Pyrenees Estate is considered one of the best. Head to this sprawling estate on the outskirts of Avoca for tasting tours and a refined cafe that overlooks the vineyard. In nearby Moonambel, Summerfield Wines offers an equally delectable experience, featuring world-class vino and woodfired pizzas. ROAM HISTORICAL GARDENS AND HARVEST FRESH PRODUCE Despite its location in the heart of the Goldfields region, Lexton didn't quite have the same luck as its neighbours when it came to buried treasure. However, that didn't stop several great estates from being established in the area. For example, the Mount Mitchell Homestead serves as a lasting symbol of Victoria's pre-federation history. Founded in 1838, this sprawling home offers ten acres of pristine gardens from which to admire the Pyrenees Mountains that rise to the west. Stop in to stroll through the beautiful gardens and working farm, where you can pick up fresh produce like eggs from the resident hens, catch yabbies and fish from the property's lake and pick your own fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs from the orchard and kitchen garden. [caption id="attachment_844028" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matt (Flickr)[/caption] HIT UP PARMA PALACE When you roll into any country town, a good pub meal is often one of the first things to seek out. Lexton's Pyrenees Family Hotel isn't afraid to put its reputation on the line, with the self-appointed nickname of the 'Parma Palace'. There are 12 plate-sized varieties of the pub classic to choose from here, with each one bound to leave you very satisfied. The pub also features the hallmarks of any classic country pub: there's a top-notch beer garden where you can enjoy a crisp lager beneath the shade of a mulberry tree, a pool room and jukebox. Plus, if you stop by on a Friday night you can even try your luck at winning a meat tray. [caption id="attachment_844031" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Elliot Kramer[/caption] TEST YOUR BUSHWALKING SKILLS There's stellar bushwalking to be found all over the Pyrenees region, but you can quickly access some of the best with a short drive to Beaufort. Here, you'll find the challenging Ben Nevis Walk – a 9.6-kilometre circuit that kicks off with a seriously steep climb up an old 4WD track. As the terrain levels out, you'll have the energy to admire the wildflowers and panoramic views that adorn this landscape. Although this adventure will definitely put even the fittest bushwalkers through their paces, the views from the peak make this journey supremely worthwhile. [caption id="attachment_844032" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Francesco Vicenzi (Flickr)[/caption] EXPERIENCE A NEXT-LEVEL BUSH DOOF Bush doofs don't come much bigger, or more colourful, than the annual Rainbow Serpent Festival. Launched in 1998 in the dusty fields surrounding Lexton, this hedonistic playground presents a global showcase of electronic music, ranging from psytrance to minimal techno. With the pandemic and bushfires quashing recent years, a return is on the cards for Easter 2023. Alongside the mind-melting tunes and sparkling outfits, the festival invites you to explore your spiritual side through immersive art installations, workshops and otherworldly experiences. If that sounds up your alley, get your pals together for a metaphysical reawakening. Just be sure to take a few days off to guarantee your recovery. Find out more about Wild Turkey's Discovery Series at the website. Top image: Elliot Kramer
