This past year has been one of the toughest for big music festivals. With the cancellation of Future Music, Soundwave and Stereosonic, it seemed like big festivals couldn't catch a break. So it comes as somewhat of a surprise that The Falls Music & Arts Festival this morning announced they're expanding their much-loved New Year's Eve musical romp, adding Fremantle to the Australian festival's touring schedule this summer. Here's the second surprise though: this new Western Australian incarnation of Falls (named Falls Downtown) isn't going to be held in the standard east coast format. Firstly, it won't be held over New Year's. And while Falls has always famously run the festival simultaneously in the three cities — Lorne, Marion Bay and Byron — the two-day Freo fest is slated to take place over the weekend of January 7-8. The second point of difference (as you may have noticed) is the location. It's in the city. Instead of setting up in a rural festival site, Falls Downtown will take over streets and "forgotten" buildings a short walk from the Fremantle beachfront. That means this won't be a camping situation (sorry, folks), but makes it more akin to inner-city festivals Laneway and Sugar Mountain. While the lineup for this year's Falls is still under wraps, they've got us pretty pumped about the location alone. The main stage will be set up in Freo's town square, while an old-world ballroom and a stone-walled church will house the smaller ones. They'll also be taking over the abandoned Myer building, turning it into a creepy crib for art installations, "unexpected performance areas", markets and "bunkered basement danceterias". There'll even be a small number of glamping tents on the roof. It sounds similar to some of Melbourne Music Week's activations of abandoned spaces, and it sounds insane. It's another win for Falls, who sell out their Lorne event basically every year. Since its inception in Lorne back in 1993, the festival has grown to span three cities, which include the original site on the Great Ocean Road, Marion Bay in Tassie and, since 2013, Byron Bay. There's no word on how much tickets will cost, when they go on sale or who'll be playing at the festival — yet. We're expecting that to come in the next month or two. Falls Downtown is happening in Fremantle on January 7 and 8. To keep updated lineup and ticket announcements, check their Facebook page.
When summer comes around, the Adelphi Hotel's rooftop pool deck is the coolest place in the CBD. After scoring an extensive reno in 2017, the Flinders Lane space is bigger and better than ever. That famed pool has been amped up to a length of 13.5 metres — and yes, one end still extends impressively over the laneway below. With space for about 70 guests, the new-look deck's been styled by the team at Gloss Creative, with chic al fresco furnishings from the likes of Grazia & Co. chosen to complement those sweeping city views. While there's no bar up there, you can order eats and drinks from On Nom downstairs, and have them delivered right to their deck chair. The best part? You don't even need to be staying at the hotel to enjoy this little slice of poolside paradise. Non-guests can access the pool outside of events for a tidy $35, including towel hire. Which is really not that huge of a price to pay when the world is burning at street level. Keep it in mind for Melbourne's next 40-plus-degree day.
Similar mechanics, new skin: when It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day branched out from their cult-hit sitcom back in 2020, that was the approach. Co-creating what was then known as Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet alongside fellow It's Always Sunny writer Megan Ganz — and with McElhenney also starring — they took a comedy formula they knew, loved and excelled at, then swapped out the specifics. If this Apple TV+ series was a video game, rather than being set in the industry that creates them, it'd be the latest workplace-comedy expansion pack. Whether watching The Office, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Mythic Quest's platform stablemates Ted Lasso and Loot, laughing at the ups and downs of working life means spotting familiar elements, after all, because much about nine-to-five grind is universal. Now streaming its third season, with new episodes dropping weekly since mid-November — and also going by a shortened name since season two — Mythic Quest slots smoothly into its genre. Far more conventional than It's Always Sunny, which smartly and savagely satirises despicable behaviour in, around and tangentially related to a Philly bar, McElhenney and Day's second series unpacks its gaming-industry setting and the attitudes that come with it. Still, the Mythic Quest crew isn't afraid to blow things up and respawn, as it virtually has between season two and three. At the end of 2021's batch of episodes, the eponymous studio fractured, with guru-like founder Ian Grimm (McElhenney) and his Australian lead engineer Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao, Content) chasing new challenges by starting another company. Since episode one, Ian has been Mythic Quest's visionary, with Poppy as his righthand woman. And, since the first season charted their troubles with the latest expansion pack for their massively multiplayer online role-playing hit, that relationship has ebbed and flowed. Sometimes, Mythic Quest HQ's general mayhem has been the cause, including the pressures of keeping their popular game profitable and its fans happy. Sometimes, it's been a battle of egos, wills and personalities between Ian, Poppy and their colleagues. In its first few episodes, the show took time to find its groove, but it has kept shining and brightly since it did. The key, including through season two, is that central dynamic. McElhenney plays Grimm as someone drunk on his own idea of himself, not to mention the celebrity and status that's come with his game, as well as the adoration and power. Meanwhile, Nicdao's Poppy barely manages to cope, especially with her confidence in such a male-dominated industry. By sending the pair out on their own at GrimPop, where they're now endeavouring to launch a new title called Hera that's Poppy's creation rather than Ian's, season three doubles down on that contrast between the duo — and, in the process, on the struggle for women in gaming to be given the room they deserve to thrive, lead and shatter the glass ceiling. A gifted coder, as well as the technical force behind Mythic Quest the game, Poppy has always wanted recognition and respect. That's been a running theme in Nicdao's roles over the past few years, in fact, given that the also-excellent ABC iView short-form series Content had the Aussie talent playing a wannabe influencer who desperately hoped her online antics would bring her fame. Nicdao's career dates back almost two decades now, including past roles on The Slap, Please Like Me and Get Krack!n, but she's certainly catapulted to stardom herself after her #Flipgirl days thanks to Mythic Quest. On-screen, though, Poppy's version of seeking the spotlight involves having her own success rather than just always being stuck in Ian's shadow. So, branching away from the title that made their careers but still remaining together, the pair are now meant to be in a true 50/50 partnership. Thanks to that big season-two finale move — which could've doubled as an overall farewell if the show wasn't renewed for both a third and a fourth season — Mythic Quest's current stint contemplates breaking out of comfort zones, embracing new challenges and welcoming fresh voices. Like most of the series' comic stylings, that thematic thread aims to call out the insular nature of gaming and its many imbalances, widening its scope to examine getting something new off the ground rather than toiling for an existing hit. Within the storyline, though, Ian and Poppy are just on a different floor of the same building as Mythic Quest's regular crew. Encounters with neurotic executive producer David Brittlesbee (David Hornsby, Good Girls), his brusk assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis, The Flight Attendant), disgraced ex-finance head (Danny Pudi, Community), and former testers Dana (Imani Hakim, Cam) and Rachel (prolific voice actor Ashly Burch) are still a regular part of their days, and a source of chaos. While a new level awaits for Mythic Quest's characters — including goodbyes to some — the series itself isn't completely in the same situation in season three. It shakes things up in a narrative sense, but understands what has always made the show power up: its well-written and wonderfully cast characters. Indeed, by focusing on Ian and Poppy's relationship, as well as plenty of other pairings within the series, McElhenney, Day and McElhenney still keep finding new depths to explore. Unlikely couples are an old workplace-comedy favourite, and not just because it's easy to wring humour out of stranding opposites together. In a genre already so steeped in the everyday regardless of the kind of business its on-screen figures get their paycheque from, navigating clashing personalities isn't just relatable — it's reality. Rounding up a motley crew, watching them bounce around, seeing how they change and grow — if the characters in It's Always Sunny were actually capable of significant change and growth (and if it suited the show for them to evolve and mature, which it doesn't), then McElhenney and Day's two series would have plenty in common. They still do, of course, including an incisive ability to parody and play around with the whole workplace setup. As Mythic Quest keeps going, it too gets sharper and funnier, and more aware of the flaws that make all of us who we are. It mightn't end up breaking records as the longest-running live-action sitcom ever made, as It's Always Sunny has after 15 seasons (and counting), but pressing play for another astute and amusing round keeps proving easy. Check out the trailer for Mythic Quest below: Mythic Quest streams via Apple TV+.
Sit down for a drink at Amsterdam's Vesper, and your cocktail just might contain more than just alcohol, garnish, ice and mixers. As part of a waste-reducing initiative called Trash the Place!, the Dutch bar is recycling all food-related items that it can, finding imaginative ways to use them, and throwing it all in their beverages. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is the fitting line of thinking behind it, which sees Vesper's bartenders recovering and re-using food offcuts that were otherwise destined for the garbage pile, particularly where fruit is involved. As the bar's Julian Bayuni told MUNCHIES, "for example, we use strawberries to make our own strawberry Campari.. [then] we filter the fruit out of the Campari and mix it with some mango, fresh tomato, cilantro, and onion to make a fermented salsa, which we serve with our tortilla chips." While operating in a more sustainable fashion is an ongoing focus, Vesper are specifically showcasing their creative, environmentally conscious concoctions until the end of September, with not only their staff getting in on the task, but guest bartenders from other Amsterdam establishments as well. In an industry that creates as much waste as hospitality, it's an inventive and inspiring step — and joins the likes of fellow Dutch venue De Fruithaven, who run on power generated by food waste, plus New Zealand-based vodka company 42BELOW, who've been turning leftover bar garnishes into hand soap. Via MUNCHIES. Image: Vesper.
When Succession roves over New York's skyline — in its opening credits, as set to that bewitching theme tune, or just during its episodes — it gleams with wealth and privilege. Depiction doesn't equal endorsement, however, with the stellar HBO satire sharply cutting into its chosen world at every chance it gets. As one of the show's supporting cast members, Dasha Nekrasova slides into that realm, too, but that's not her only dalliance with the city's architecture, power brokers and all that both represent. The Scary of Sixty-First, the Red Scare podcast host's feature directorial debut, also savages the rich and seemingly consequence-free. It clasps onto a real-life story that's made that case inherently, abhorrently and monstrously. There's no gentle way to put it, but the fact that Nekrasova plays a woman investigating if a bargain Upper East Side duplex was one of Jeffrey Epstein's "orgy flophouses" says much about this purposefully provocative conspiracy thriller horror-comedy. College pals Addie (Betsey Brown, Assholes) and Noelle (the film's co-screenwriter Madeline Quinn) can't believe their luck when they find the cheap property, even if it does visibly need a clean — and have mirrored ceilings, as well as some questionable lock choices — and even if they don't appear completely comfortable with committing to live together. But from night one, the literal nightmares begin. Soon they're spying blood stains, scratched walls and eerie tarot cards, and feeling unsettled in a variety of ways. Enter Nekrasova's stranger, who comes sporting a dark-web rabbit hole's worth of paranoia and bearing the Epstein news. Addie and Noelle take the revelation in vastly different fashions, with the former seeming possessed by one of Epstein's child victims, and the latter diving deep into potential theories with her unnamed new friend. Letting a headline-monopolising sex offender loom large over the plot is an instant attention-grabber — and, while The Scary of Sixty-First doesn't lunge straight down that path, it feels like Nekrasova and Quinn's starting point. Their movie smacks of conjuring up a controversial premise, then fitting parts around it; thankfully, they have more than one target in their sights, plenty to ponder, and Nekrasova's bold vision bringing it all together. From the outset, there's much to mine about the hellishness of finding somewhere to live in your twenties, and in NY especially. The things you'll settle for in that situation clearly also earns the feature's focus. The same rings true of post-college life and its intrinsic awkwardness in general — and being expected to act like a fully functioning adult, and make pivotal decisions, without yet amassing the experiences to match. By contemplating the hostile real-estate market and the ordeal that is trying to find your place in the world (emotionally, intellectually and physically), The Scary of Sixty-First immediately unpacks power, money and privilege. If Addie and Noelle could afford somewhere else or had other support at their disposal, there wouldn't even be a story. When Nekrasova appears and drops Epstein's name, that excavation digs down several levels. Again, there's no shortage of ideas, directions or tangents to explore, and the script explodes as many as possible. This is a movie about a dead billionaire paedophile, the wealth of theories that've sprung up around him and the 24-hour news cycle that's made his tale inescapable. It's also about how doomscrolling has become routine, the grim routes incessant web searches can take you down, the normalisation of true-crime obsession, the proliferation of conspiracy-driven rhetoric and relentless chaos as the natural state of the world. Addie has an interminably unpleasant boyfriend, Greg (Mark Rapaport, Pledge), who also sparks an array of questions — because even when he's turned off by her descent into inappropriate baby talk during sex, he still sees his own needs as more important than anything else. Indeed, while The Scary of Sixty-First is messy by choice, and also lets its 16-millimetre frames frequently look the part, nothing here is accidental. That's true of outdoor masturbation scenes and out-there theories alike, all of which make a statement. Usually, the movie isn't coy; as the possessed Addie gets more forceful with every action, her sloppy kissing of Prince Andrew's photo couldn't be more overt. Repeatedly, though, the film sends multiple messages at once; when her glistening fingers, fresh from a stint of self-pleasure, caress Epstein's initials outside his apartment building, The Scary of Sixty-First also comments on how taboo such feverish displays of female sexuality still prove on-screen. It's still easy to see the influences coursing through Nekrasova and Quinn's screenplay, and in Nekrasova's directorial choices. If the movie itself was haunted, it'd be by 70s and 80s horror flicks and thrillers, Italian giallo cinema, every picture that's probed New York's underbelly and, quite pointedly, by Eyes Wide Shut and Rosemary's Baby as well. Making his feature debut, too, cinematographer Hunter Zimny synthesises that hefty list of touchstones into a visual style that takes little bits from everywhere, but also fittingly makes it all feel like a dreamy swirl, jittery onslaught and tormented experience. Aesthetically, The Scary of Sixty-First just keeps spiralling from the uncertain and the otherworldly to the uncontrollable, mimicking another of the script's strong observations about 21st-century life. Careening wildly is one of The Scary of Sixty-First's key traits, intentionally so, as also seen in its central performances — Brown, Quinn, Nekrasova and Rapaport all turn in committed portrayals — and its sense of humour. There's no shaking the pitch-black comedy of it all, again by design, but even the film's most absurd moments and farcical touches are steeped in reality in one way or another. Its most nightmarish inclusions are as well, and that's part of the feature's knowing, winking seesaw ride. Yes, a global paedophile ring among the elite sounds like the sickest kind of fiction and an unhinged conspiracy. Yes, there's elements of truth to such horrendous sex-trafficking. The Scary of Sixty-First doesn't always completely come together, but Nekrasova has crafted an uncompromising and compelling movie that acknowledges both, plays like a slap in the face and isn't easily forgotten.
The State Library's new café, dubbed Guild, has gained an operator, with the announcement that local business Almond Milk Co. will helm the space. Part of the library's $88m 2020 Vision redevelopment, Guild will open its doors on Friday, September 21. It will sit inside the Library's new Russell Street entrance space, Welcome Zone, a collaborative area that will also contain an expanded Readings bookshop. On the menu at Guild will be lunch staples: salads, sandwiches, Sensory Lab coffee and – of course – almond milk, both plain and flavoured. The cafe will also have coffee "day passes" for those ensconced in the Library, giving them the important lifeblood of caffeine via filter coffee — all day. As well as being Melbourne's largest distributor of almond milk, Almond Milk Co. has two cafes already running in Melbourne: one in Country Road, Brighton, and another in Husk, Toorak. This will be its first CBD digs and non-retail based outlet. And, that's not all for the State Library's facelift. In addition to Guild, the Library will also see two new entrances, new reading rooms and an event space with a kitchen. One of the redone entrances will be on Russell Street and the other will be an accessible entrance, on La Trobe. Both will be the main access points, upon opening, as the Swanston Street entrance will close temporarily for the second phase of the redevelopment – due to be finished by spring 2019. Guild will open its doors from 10am, Friday, September 21 at 285 Russell Street, Melbourne. Images: Lisa Crooke
For the next three months, the Sydney Opera House will not be home to any operas, Vivid Live performances, thought-provoking talks or podcast recordings, with all public performances suspended until at least June 17. But you will be able to relive many of the highlights from its 47-year history on the Sydney icon's new digital program, 'From our House to yours'. The program will see full-length performances, talks, long-form articles, podcasts and behind-the-scenes content brought to your screens. As well as a heap of footage that's never been seen by the public before. You'll also be able to access a bunch of free content on demand, plus new videos, recordings and articles will be released daily every Wednesday through Sunday, with each week's schedule announced on Tuesday. Kicking things off was award-winning Aussie musician Missy Higgins, followed by a conversation from this year's All About Women with writer Chanel Miller about her new memoir Know My Name on Thursday; footage of last year's Dance Rites; Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; and a recording of The Writers Room with Celia Pacqoula (Rosehaven), Josh Thomas (Please Like Me), Luke McGregor (Rosehaven) and Dan Harmon (Rick and Morty, Community). Other highlights include the premiere screening of All About Women's panel discussion with fierce journalist Clementine Ford and DJ Flex Mami; world-renowned philosopher and author Alain De Botton discussing love; culinary legend Nigella Lawson talking about the joys of home cooking;Bangarra Dance Theatre's Bennelong; and Yotam Ottolenghi discussing simple cooking with Adam Liaw. For its fifth weekly season, the Opera House is streaming a recording of WikiLeaks whistleblower and trans activist Chelsea Manning at 8pm AEST on Thursday, April 30. Part of ANTIDOTE 2018, the recording features Manning in conversation with award-winning journalist Peter Greste via satellite, direct from LA. [caption id="attachment_768842" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Prudence Upton[/caption] Then, you can catch a recording of Bach's Golberg Variations on Friday, May 1 at 8pm AEST; a never-before-seen edit featuring musicians Glen Hansard, José González, Poliç, Conor Oberst and Nai Palm at 8pm AEST on Saturday, May 2; and celebrated author Fran Lebowitz on cultural nostalgia and leading a panel on women in the age of Trump, and Tarana Burke, the US-based founder of the #MeToo movement at 3pm AEST on Sunday, May 3. Its on demand content includes an interview with British comedian, actor and musician Noel Fielding, a video on first-wave feminism, a podcast featuring intimate interviews with First Nations artists and leaders, and an article on the Opera House staff's most memorable moments. From our House to yours will run from Wednesday, April 1 till at least mid-June, 2020. Each week's schedule will be announced on Tuesday.
Positioned in the heart of New Zealand's North Island, Mt Ruapehu is best known for its pristine developed ski fields. On the southwestern Turoa slopes it features natural pipes, steep chutes and a vertical drop of 722 metres, while the Whakapapa village leads to breathtaking snow-capped landscapes and the largest ski area in the nation. And that's only what happens in winter. Many people don't think of the mountain as a summer destination, but in the warmer months it comes to life with the country's largest high-speed gondola, panoramic views across a dual world heritage site and a range of dining options in the clouds. And while it may be summer, there's still a chance you'll spot some of the cold white stuff. [caption id="attachment_757146" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism New Zealand.[/caption] RIDE NEW ZEALAND'S NEWEST, LONGEST AND FASTEST GONDOLA Riding Mt Ruapehu's newly opened Sky Waka will take you on a journey into the clouds. Called New Zealand's largest and most technically advanced gondola, the high-speed Sky Waka travels 1.8 kilometres in just five minutes above the rugged terrain of Whakapapa. From the Top of the Bruce base station you'll traverse over waterfalls and ancient lava flows and catch a glimpse of Ruapehu and its neighbouring volcanoes, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, through the floor to ceiling windows. Touch down will bring you to the award-winning Knoll Ridge Chalet where a selection of dining options await. DINE AT NEW ZEALAND'S HIGHEST RESTAURANT Sitting pretty at 2020 metres above sea level, Mt Ruapehu's The Pinnacles (Ngā Tohu) restaurant puts the sky-high eateries of Auckland to shame. The highest restaurant in New Zealand allows guests to enjoy their meal alongside breathtaking views of the valley below. The menu offers a rotating selection of locally sourced meats, from Awhi Farms marinated sirloin to Waihi Pukawa roast rolled lamb and venison from the Central Plateau below. Pair that with roasted carrots by way of Ohakune and a cheese and pastry selection sure to rival anything back on earth. The restaurant is open in summer for buffet lunch, afternoon tea, plus dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings. Also on offer in the Knoll Ridge Chalet is classic New Zealand cafe-style cuisine. VISIT A DUAL UNESCO HERITAGE SITE While shredding powder is sure to get your blood pumping, a visit to Mt Ruapehu in the summer is enough to prompt a few jaw-dropping moments. The mountain just happens to sit within Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's oldest national park and a dual UNESCO World Heritage site. The status recognises the park's important Maori cultural as well as geological significance. Visitors to Ruapehu and the surrounding region can expect to see some of the most rugged terrain in the North Island, including panoramic views across the Central Plateau and as far as the perfectly formed stratovolcano, Mt Taranaki. VISIT FAMOUS SCENES FROM THE 'LORD OF THE RINGS' At Mt Ruapehu you can visit the spectacular scenery of J.R.R Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-Earth without tackling the great writhing tangled brambles or bypassing the lair of the giant spider. Several key scenes of the trilogy were filmed in Tongariro National Park, and varied levels of trails will have you positioned in Ithilien where Gollum caught a fish, at the very location Isildur cuts off Sauron's finger and standing in the spot where Frodo and Sam met the Gates of Mordor. New Zealand's Department of Conservation has kindly done all the legwork and put together a list of coordinates for a self-guided Lord of the Rings tour. See where the magic was made while experiencing some of the most beautiful short hikes in the country.
If your adventures have taken you to Melbourne's Westgate Park in the past few weeks, then you might've noticed something a little unusual. The lake has turned a pretty shade of pink. And, before you ask, no, it's not a Mother's Day thing. Nor is it fairies. In fact, the change in colour is due to a bunch of factors all happening at once, namely: lots of salt, lots of sunlight, hot temperatures and a lack of rain. The lake bed is covered in salt crust and, when matters get extra salty, the algae growing there creates beta carotene during photosynthesis. Beta carotene is a red-orange pigment, contained in carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, mangoes and papayas, among other fruits and veggies. The pink salt water lake at Westgate Park (6 May 2018). . . #pinklake #saltwaterlake #saltwater #westgatepark #pink #pinkwater #algalbloom #melbourne #australia A post shared by Isaac Borthwick (@isaac.b.photo) on May 15, 2018 at 4:42am PDT In the case of Westgate Park Lake, the beta carotene has seeped into the water, giving it a somewhat magical look. This is not the first time the phenomenon has happened — you've probably seen it pop up on Instagram before — but it has stuck around for longer than usual this year. Given that the pinkness is a natural event, neither Parks Victoria nor we can tell you how long it's going to last, but it will probably start to fade as winter hits. If you're keen to take a peek, then find it on the eastern banks of Yarra River at Fishermans Bend. It's closest to Port Melbourne on one side and Yarraville on the other, and is most easily accessed by car or bus (take the 235 from the city or 606 from Elsternwick/St Kilda). Just note that Parks Victoria asks that visitors stick to official paths and avoid poking around the lake's edge. Although it might look tempting in these images, definitely do not swim in the water. Unlike the water, it will not be pretty.
As warmer weather starts to make its presence known, including an unseasonably hot September patch in Sydney and Brisbane, we're all clamouring for our favourite cooling devices. Fans, air conditioners, pools, any patch of water you can find, frozen drinks, boozy icy poles, all the ice cream you can handle: if it can combat the heat, even for a brief instant, it's a spring and summer staple. Imagine, however, just slapping on a temperature-regulating smartwatch rather than camping out under your aircon or getting comfy in a paddling pool with an esky filled with cold beverages. Or, in addition to all of the above. That's the idea behind the Aircon Watch, a device two years in the making. It claims to offer a reprieve from feeling too warm — or, in winter, too cold — by sending hot or cool signals to the wearer's brain through its special pulsating wrist strap. If you're a little skeptical, that's understandable, though the folks behind the watch point to the instant cooling effect that running an ice cube over your wrist can have — as well as a 2012 research study by Stanford University, which used a cooling glove to indicate that heat exchange can occur through the extremities. And if you think it sounds like a winning idea, you're not alone. Currently running a Kickstarter campaign, the Aircon Watch has already reached its funding goal more than 26 times over. At the time of writing, it's still accepting backers for 18 more days, with the watches expected to start shipping in December. Image: Aircon Watch.
Everyone loves travelling overseas. No one loves the actual travel part. From airport queues to uncomfortable plane seats to lost baggage, getting from A to B is the ordeal you have to endure before the fun begins. Enter Elon Musk, and a plan to change that. In Adelaide for the International Astronautical Conference, the South African entrepreneur advised that he foresees next-generation spacecraft not only ferrying people beyond the earth, but across it as well. With his SpaceX company currently readying a rocket-powered trip around the moon in 2018, and preparing to head to Mars in 2022 and 2024, he wants to be able to use the same types of vessels to journey between continents. It all hinges upon the BFR — or "Big Fucking Rocket" — that's currently in development, and is being designed for multiple uses. Musk said that he envisions the system taking both crew and cargo into space, and then helping folks hop around the globe at 27,000 kilometres per hour. In an Instagram post after his speech, he explained that it would take 30 minutes to fly to most places and 60 minutes at most — all for the same full-fare price as current economy airline tickets. https://www.instagram.com/p/BZnVfWxgdLe/?hl=en&taken-by=elonmusk As futuristic as it might sound now, if anyone can make it a reality, it's probably Musk. He has already promised to revolutionise journeying between cities and across continents thanks to his Hyperloop system, a high-speed vacuum transport setup that'll never stop sounding like a sci-fi movie come to life. And, in preparation for SpaceX's rocket jaunts, he has also sent a zero gravity espresso machine to space. Travel and caffeine go hand-in-hand, after all. Via the ABC / Dezeen. Image: SpaceX.
No trip to Tokyo is complete without a visit to Shinjuku's Godzilla head, which towers down on the popular district from Hotel Gracery Shinjuku. If you're a fan of the King of the Monsters, you'll now need to add another stop to your next Japanese itinerary once international travel resumes: amusement park Nijigen no Mori, on Awaji Island in Hyogo prefecture. First announced in 2019 and open for business since October 10, 2020, the theme park has just become home to a life-sized version of the scaly creature — even if Godzilla's actual size has changed over the course of its 65-year history. The kaiju was 50 metres tall in the 1954 Japanese classic that started the long-running monster franchise, and measured nearly 120 metres in the most recent US film. In 2017's animated Netflix flick Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, it even spanned a whopping 300 metres. At Nijigen no Mori, good ol' Zilly measures 120 metres, and that's in length. You'll find Godzilla on its stomach, mouth open and presumably roaring, with amusement park patrons able to zipline into it. Usually folks are trying to avoid the huge creature and his fire-breathing gob, but that's obviously not the case here. https://www.instagram.com/p/CGCs7IWHRNu/ Called Godzilla Intercept Operation National Godzilla Awajishima Research Centre, the attraction is part of a 5000-square-metre zone dedicated to the famed critter, asking attendees to take on the role of island scientists. In that guise, the ziplining occurs in the name of science, because the huge beast has become trapped in the earth. Shooting games are also part of the Godzilla zone, and so is Zilly-themed food. If you haven't tucked into hot dogs, curries, burgers and cream puffs shaped like Godzilla, Mothra and their fellow kaiju, well, you clearly can't really call yourself a true Godzilla fan. Nijigen no Mori also now boasts a Godzilla museum, which is the world's first permanent exhibition dedicated to the scaly creature. Here, you'll find dioramas, props from the films and over 80 monster figures, as well as prototypes, artwork and other movie materials. And yes, there's merchandise for sale, naturally. Also, if you're wondering which Zilly this giant one resembles — Godzilla's appearance has often changed from film to film, too — it's the version of the lizard-style gargantuan from 2016 Japanese movie Shin Godzilla. If Godzilla Intercept Operation National Godzilla Awajishima Research Centre is now on your post-pandemic must-visit list, entry costs ¥3800, which equates to just over AU$50. For more information about Godzilla Intercept Operation National Godzilla Awajishima Research Centre, which is now open, visit the Nijigen no Mori website. Via Nijigen no Mori. Images: Nijigen no Mori.
Just as hearts will go on, so will everyone's fascination with the Titanic: the ill-fated vessel and the film of the same name. Where the latter is concerned, it has been two decades since Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet stepped onboard James Cameron's Oscar-winning behemoth, danced, flirted, fell in love and fell afoul of an iceberg, but cinemas aren't done with the box-office hit yet. To be fair, however, the movie's latest outing isn't exactly in your usual picture palace. In November, Beyond Cinema will screen Titanic in the way you never thought you'd see it: on a ship in Sydney Harbour as part of a live event that not only lets you pretend you're on the real thing, but re-enacts the feature. They're calling it a unique cinema experience designed to take you into the movie, aka Titanic cosplay. If you're a fan, you'd best hold onto your necklaces and maybe bring your own door to use as a raft. The Titanic Experience is the maiden voyage in a planned series of similar events, with screening The Shawshank Redemption in a jail one of the next on the agenda according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Of course, they're not the first to jump into the immersive, interactive cinema space — Underground Cinema and World Movies Secret Cinema are just some of the organisations that have done the same thing, and Brisbane has had its own pop-up prison cinema as well. Still, Titanic on a boat sounds like a watery treat. Information regarding specific dates and prices is also yet to be announced; however anyone interested in pretending they're the king of the world can sign up for pre-release details on the Beyond Cinema website. Beyond Cinema's Titanic screening will take place in November. For more details, keep an eye on their website and Facebook page. Via The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF) has announced its program for 2017 — and, well, we hope you're hungry. Come March 31, the festival will take over the city for ten days of delicious dinners, long lunches, wine weekends, parties, masterclasses and more. And while it's their 25th year, they haven't just rolled out a program of the same old thing. For the first time ever, MFWF will have their own House of Food and Wine, a more concrete answer to the pop-up hub they've had down at Queensbridge Square in the past. When they call it a house, they mean that very literally — the CBD space will be styled to feel like a home, featuring a dining room (the main event space), a lounge room (the bar) and garden in the laneway. Deviating slightly from your average house, it will also feature a gallery of illustrations by Anna Vu (from Good Food Crap Drawing) of some of the city's favourite MFWF dishes from the last 25 years. The lounge room bar will be open every day of the festival and feature a curated list of artisan Victorian wines, while the dining room will play host to a number of special events. Spend opening night (Friday, March 31) at an Italian disco and dining party and closing night (Sunday, April 9) at the Burger Block Party, which will bring together Australia's best burger-makers — think Marys from Sydney, Short Order Burger Company from Perth, and Rockwell & Sons and Beatbox Kitchen from Melbourne. There's also a whole host of exciting events happening outside the House. This year MFWF will coincide with the World's 50 Best Restaurant Awards, which are being hosted by Melbourne for the very first time. They've managed to nab some of the world's best chefs to run some masterclasses at the festival — which is a pretty big deal. Among them will be classes from sensory chef Grant Achatz from Chicago restaurant Alinea (ranked #15), Jorge Vallego from Mexico City's Quintonil (ranked #12) and Australia's David Thompson, who runs Bangkok's Nahm (ranked #37) and is set to open Long Chim in Melbourne next year. On Friday, March 31 the Bank of Melbourne is hosting the annual world's longest lunch on Melbourne's iconic Lygon Street. 1600 diners will sit along a 580-metre tables to enjoy an autumnal Italian menu from Antonio Carluccio. Unfortunately it's already sold out, but if you still want to enjoy a long lunch and don't mind spending it in a vineyard or along a riverbank, there are another 20 happening in regional Victoria. On Saturday, April 8, get armed with a myki and take tram route 72, which will become Melbourne's answer to Burgundy's Route Nationale 74 for the day. It will take you on a tram-crawl of three of the southeast's best wine bars: Milton in Malvern, Toorak Cellars in Armadale and The Alps in Prahran. On Friday, April 7, they're also hosting a culinary tour of the Melbourne General Cemetery. With many of Melbourne's best chefs and wine makers and merchants buried here, chef Allan Koh — from Springvale Botanical Cemetery's cafe-flower shop hybrid Cafe Vita et Flores — will recreate the deceased's signature dishes for guests to sample at notable grave sites. The festival will also host usual favourites like their Crawl 'n' Bite food tours, lunch specials, wine tastings and masterclasses. You can check out — and buy tickets for — the full program here. The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival will run from March 31 to April 9, 2017. For more information, visit melbournefoodandwine.com.au.
Renovating a house is stressful, as no shortage of television shows keep stressing. Trying to flip a house when you've been hexed for snatching back a $100 bill from a child? That sounds disquieting, and it also looks eerie and sinister in the just-dropped full trailer for The Curse. Forget the usual series about household makeovers, buying real estate, blitzing backyards and building dream houses — even though it's about a couple who hosts their own home reno program, this isn't that kind of show. Indeed, no one has watched an entry in bricks-and-mortar genre quite like this spoof, which gets Emma Stone (Cruella) and Nathan Fielder (The Rehearsal) playing a focusing on home improvement on-screen — and having some bad luck. An initial teaser arrived in September, and now a full trailer has hit for the A24 effort, which looks like far from your average series on this topic. Unsurprisingly, Fielder doesn't just star but also co-created, co-writes and co-directs. In the first sneak peek, the Safdie brothers' collaborator Oneohtrix Point Never set the unsettling mood — and yes, not just the talent that made Good Time and Uncut Gems sound so unnerving but the sibling filmmakers behind both flicks are also involved in The Curse. Benny Safdie (Oppenheimer) co-stars, co-created, co-writes and co-directs, with Josh Safdie an executive producer. Fielder and Stone play Asher and Whitney Siegel, who host a show on HGTV — American pay TV network Home & Garden Television — called Fliplanthropy. Newly married, they're trying to have a baby, but find their plans disrupted after that incident with a kid in a carpark. Cue The Curse's title, obviously. Benny Safdie plays their producer, with Barkhad Abdi (Little America), Corbin Bernsen (White House Plumbers) and Constance Shulman (Search Party) also featuring. Like everything almost everything of late, it seems — Close, Beau Is Afraid, You Hurt My Feelings, Past Lives, smash-hit Australian horror movie Talk to Me, fellow TV series Beef, the return of iconic Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense to cinemas, the Nicolas Cage-starring Dream Scenario, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, wrestling drama The Iron Claw — The Curse hails from A24. In Australia, it'll stream from Saturday, November 11 via Paramount+. Check out the trailer for The Curse below: The Curse will stream from Saturday, November 11 via Paramount+. Images: Beth Garrabrant and John Paul Lopez/A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
The McFly's window Scenery Channel 'scene screen' from Back to the Future Part II could become a reality — and not just as a projector screen. Google's just landed the patent for technology that turns your walls into projection screens, so you could be able to fake the weather outside in your kitchen, make your lounge room into King's Landing, or make a Yayoi Kusama installation of your bedroom. Sure, it sounds like your regular ol' projector set-up or even Google's own existing Chromecast technology, but the difference lies in Google's super high-res photoreactive paint. According to Quartz, Google landed a patent today from the US Patent and Trademark Office, one that turn-around-touch-the-ground bagses the technology behind a projection system that uses photoreactive paint to display chosen images on a wall. Sure, it sounds like your regular ol' projector set-up or even Google's own existing Chromecast technology, but the difference lies in Google's super high-res photoreactive paint. So how does it work? After choosing a 'theme' (similar to choosing for your phone/tablet/computer), the projector shoots a laser at the painted wall, which in turn changes from its current boring old wall colour to an image not dissimilar from a desktop wallpaper. Controlled by a smartphone or computer, the projected image would stay put on the wall until changed or switched off. Suggested themes from the Google patent include either mimicking or rejecting the weather outside (we're talking full-on sunshine and palm trees for today), holiday themes (imagine how quickly you could put up Christmas decorations), or scoreboards when it's finals season. Apparently Google's hoping to take their proposed technology from still images to videos — now we're getting to full McFly window status here. Google's photoreactive paint projection technology is not on the market right now, they've just secured the patent. Google told Quartz not to treat this as a product announcement though, saying “We hold patents on a variety of ideas—some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patents.” Eh. We can dream. Via Quartz.
Lately Tasmania has been at the top of our list of destinations where food, wine, spirits and scenery are at the heart of the holiday. It is, after all, home to many of Australia's finest producers and makers. In fact, we've been so inspired that we've curated a special travel package to Hobart that's dedicated to culinary indulgence — and you can snap it up now at Concrete Playground Trips. Alternatively, you can just win your way there. All you need to do is enter below right now. We're giving away this fantastic holiday for two in beautiful south Tassie and its many wineries, distilleries and farms (flights excluded). The itinerary includes a tasting experience at Ewenique Tasting House, a signature wine, cider, beer and whiskey tour of the Huon and Coal River Valleys, and a full-day tour sampling your way around Bruny Island, known for producing world-class seafood, cheese, honey and spectacular views. You'll also score four nights' accommodation at the impressive Vibe Hotel Hobart, as well as all-inclusive car rental to make getting around a breeze. Want to win a holiday in Tasmania for you and your best mate, partner or parent? Enter below. [competition]873504[/competition]
It's a movie no film-lover has forgotten over the past 12 years — and wouldn't even if their memories were erased, we're pretty certain. Soon, however, fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind won't just have to give their DVDs a workout to get their mind-bending romance fix. Like so many other big screen hits of late, the Michel Gondry-directed, Charlie Kaufman-written, Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey-starring effort is making its way to television. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that a TV remake is in the works, from one of the folks who produced the original film. Of course, the project is in its very, very early stages, so little other information is available as yet — although one of the writers of spy series Chuck is reportedly in talks to write the script. He'll have big shoes to fill; the original screenplay won Gondry, Kaufman and their co-scribe Pierre Bismuth an Oscar, a BAFTA and a Writer's Guild of America award, among other gongs. That trio won't be involved in the new series, and we're guessing Winslet, Carrey and co-stars Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood and Mark Ruffalo won't either — but the show is being made by the company behind True Detective and Mr. Robot. And if the small screen version of Eternal Sunshine doesn't work out, we can just hope that eradicating bad memories really does become a reality. Basically, it's a good time to be a film fan and a TV viewer, given how frequently television takes on movie classics are being announced. Just last week, we learned that What We Do in the Shadows is getting a NZ TV spinoff. Because everyone loves nostalgia, other flicks either currently getting or slated to receive the TV treatment include (get comfy, it's a long list): The Lost Boys, Varsity Blues, Let the Right One In, Heathers, She's Gotta Have It, The Departed, Snatch, Get Shorty, Jack Ryan, Taken, Underworld, Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, Lethal Weapon, The Exorcist, Westworld, and even Aussie efforts Wake in Fright and Picnic at Hanging Rock. Via The Hollywood Reporter.
This October, your regular commute will turn into an immersive experience when Melbourne Art Trams return for the sixth year, running as part of the 2018 Melbourne International Art Festival. Eight trams will be transformed into public artworks, comprising seven new commissions and a reproduction of a classic 80s piece. The project is a revival of Transporting Art, a program which, between 1978 and 1993, saw 36 hand-painted trams launch across Melbourne. Among the most memorable was a W-Class tram by the late expressionist artist David Larwill, created in 1986 as part of the United Nations International Year of Peace. This year, it's to be faithfully reproduced, with the help of digital photography and adhesive. On top of that, look out for seven brand new concepts. Gunditjmara woman Hayley Millar-Baker, who hails from southwest Victoria, will explore personal and collective connections to country, land, flora and fauna, while psychedelic street artist Oli Ruskidd will be drawing on bright colours and swirling patterns, inspired by Melbourne's powerful creative energy. Other street artists in lineup include Valerie Tang (a Year 9 high school student) ,Nick Howson (best known for Richmond's Tigerland mural) who'll be depicting a tram full of myriad folks and Stephen Baker (creator of Fitzroy's Pool Parade), who'll be interpreting Melbourne as a geometric mosaic. Carrying you from the land-bound to the aquatic will be Oslo Davis, whose weekly cartoon Overheard has been amusing readers of The Age for longer than a decade. His tram will reimagine Melburnians travelling trips the city as swimmers moving through water. Finally, taking things into another dimension will be artist and academic Troy Innocent, whose interactive design will become animated when viewed through a mobile phone with an augmented reality app. The first of the 2018 Melbourne Art Trams will take to the tracks on 4 October, with the others following hot on its heels. Expect to be riding them until early 2019. Images 1-2: David Larwill's 1986 W-Class tram; 3: Valerie Tang; 4: Troy Innocent; 5: Stephen Baker; 6: Oslo Davis; 7: Oli Ruskidd; 8: Nick Howson; 9: Hayley Millar-Baker
What happens when AFC Richmond's assistant coach Nathan 'Nate' Shelley (Nick Mohammed, Intelligence) walks out on the club, and on his perennially optimistic American senior coach and mentor Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis, Saturday Night Live), for a rival team? Apple TV+ viewers, you're about to find out. After a year gap, sitting on the bench in 2022, award-winning hit soccer sitcom Ted Lasso is finally set to return in 2023 — and it now has a March release date and a first trailer. Get ready for a hefty rivalry, given that the Ted-versus-Nate clash is set to be quite the focus for the show's long-awaited third season. This 12-episode run, which will start streaming from Wednesday, March 15, will explore AFC Richmond's promotion to the Premier League — and the predictions that it'll come last as a result — plus Nate's move over to West Ham United. Also, Ted has both work and personal struggles to deal with, Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein, Uncle) leans into his assistant coach role, his partner Keeley Jones (Juno Temple, The Offer) is managing her own PR firm, and AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham, Hocus Pocus 2) is all about defeating West Ham United (and her ex Rupert Mannion, played by Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Anthony Stewart Head, who owns it). While Ted Lasso has felt like streaming's biggest warm hug across its first and second seasons, it wasn't afraid to skew darker in the latter, including as Nate felt pushed aside, ignored and unloved by Ted. Viewers will know that the last batch of episodes culminated with Nate's defection — but as seen in the first teaser trailer for season three, the rest of the AFC Richmond crew still has plenty to believe in, taking one of Ted's favourite words to heart. Also part of the team, whether on or off the field: recent hotshot player Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster, The Devil's Hour), his teammates Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh, The French Dispatch) and Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernandez, Spider-Man: No Way Home), Ted's laconic second-in-charge and long-time friend Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt, Bless This Mess), and AFC Richmond Director of Football Operations Leslie Higgins (Jeffrey Swift, Housebound). As the sitcom's first two seasons have shown, viewers definitely don't need to love soccer or even sport to fall for this series' ongoing charms — although if you obsessed over the 2022 World Cup, it might help fill the gap until the 2026 version arrives. Kind-hearted in the way that Parks and Recreation, Wellington Paranormal, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Abbott Elementary have also proven, Ted Lasso will be in for a significant obstacle in 2023, thanks to Ted and Nate's battle. Usually, this series celebrates people who support each other, are always there for each other and form close bonds as a result. Indeed, that's what has made it so instantly likeable. But with Nate now working for the competition, change is afoot — don't expect to see the show mess too much with its winning formula, though. Check out the trailer for Ted Lasso's third season below: Season three of Ted Lasso will stream via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, March 15. Read our full review of season two.
It'd be easy to be cynical about The Zookeeper's Wife. If it wasn't based on a true story, setting a World War II tale in a zoo could seem like an obvious attempt to wring cheap sentiment out of a tragic situation — we've already seen humans ravaged by combat, so we'll throw animals into the mix instead. Thankfully, that's not actually the case here. The drama might feature cute creatures big and small, but it's firmly concerned with the human impact in times of conflict. To be specific, The Zookeeper's Wife explores how people cope when their lives and livelihoods are threatened, and how they band together to help others subjected to unspeakable horrors. When war hits and Hitler's head zoologist Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl) arrives, it doesn't take long for Warsaw zookeeper Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain) to switch their focus. If they can't run their usual operation — their best animals are shipped to Germany, while others meet a bleaker end — then they'll do everything they can to help rescue the Jewish people that have been rounded up in ghettos and treated worse than cattle by the Nazi regime. Schindler's List might've just popped into your mind, as well as a plethora of other movies based upon tales of courage and sacrifice during the Holocaust. That's perfectly understandable. Familiarity isn't always a bad thing — there's a reason that filmmakers are drawn to similar stories, particularly when they demonstrate people displaying their best possible traits at a time when civilisation as a whole is doing the opposite. There's much about The Zookeeper's Wife that follows the expected path. Whale Rider director Niki Caro brings the non-fiction book of the same name to the screen with handsome images and a solemn tone. There are grim scenes of cruelty and carnage, although the darkest deeds are alluded to rather than shown. The movie charts acts of hidden resistance that saved lives, and paints its otherwise ordinary protagonists as extraordinary heroes. Not unlike the recent Their Finest, it also provides an unmistakably female-aligned view of war, from the nurturing urge that sees Antonina shelter as many escapees as she can, to the clear threat of sexual violence that lingers every time Brühl's villainous character makes his intentions known. Of course, that's where the reliably excellent Chastain comes in. After proving so ruthless and defiant in Miss Sloane, she's softer and kinder here, yet no less compelling. Indeed, there mightn't be much nuance in the film's melodramatic storytelling, but Chastain herself brings plenty. That applies whether she's saving a baby elephant, helping her secret house-guests, conveying a world of dismay in a glance, or rallying against oppression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ibf46kh2Ec
A staple for Melbourne comedy lovers, Quick Bites Comedy is the go-to night for checking out some of the best local, interstate and international comedians around — and it's free. Taking turns in a rapid-fire night of laughs, each comic delivers five-to-seven minutes of their funniest material, guaranteeing an evening crammed full of both up-and-coming and established performers across a variety of acts, styles and topics. Personalities and writers from many of Australia's most-loved TV shows are regularly in attendance and you're bound to discover someone who cracks you up. Held on Monday evenings at popular late-night spot Boney, the Little Collins location is perfect for getting some belly laughs in at the start of the week, ensuring the rest of your working week is just a little bit easier.
It's Australia's most prestigious portrait award, it's now in its 101st year and it hands out $100,000 to its annual winner. Also, like the rest of us, it adores the one and only Taika Waititi. That'd be the Archibald Prize, which just unveiled its finalists for 2022, as well as its latest Packing Room Prize recipient. And yes, a 3D-style portrait of the Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok filmmaker by Sydney-based artist Claus Stangl falls into both categories. Is there anything that Taika Waititi can't do? "He's the light in the dark and the levity we so often need," said Stangl, collecting the Packing Room Prize at a ceremony today, Thursday, May 5, at Sydney's Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Archibald Prize's hosts. In the process, he shared his excitement for the Waititi's upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder — again, like the rest of us — and chatted about how the portrait came to fruition. Waititi "just basically performed and did his Taika thing," Stangl noted. If you'd like to see the Packing Room Prize-winning work — which is chosen by the packing room team, hence the name — it'll be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney from Saturday, May 14–Sunday, August 28. Of course, it wasn't the only portrait in the spotlight at the finalists announcement. From 1908 entries, with an even 50/50 split between male and female artists, 52 works have been shortlisted for the Archibald, 34 for the Wynne and 29 for the Sulman (with the Wynne Prize recognising the best landscape painting of Australian scenery or figure sculpture, and the Sulman Prize awarded to the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project). [caption id="attachment_852690" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archibald Prize 2022 finalist, Natasha Bieniek, Patricia Piccinini, oil on wood, 13.8 x 18.5 cm © the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling. Sitter: Patricia Piccinini.[/caption] Among the Archibald highlights: a portrait of artist Patricia Piccinini by Natasha Bieniek, Vincent Namatjira's self portrait with a dingo, Felix von Dallwitz's portrait of Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, and Natasha Walsh's Dear Brett (the blue room), which references Brett Whiteley's 1976 Archibald-winning self-portrait. Other finalists include Avraham Vofsi's John Safran as David and Goliath, Paul Newton's portrait of Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness, Courtney Act and Shane Jenek painted by Kim Leutwyler, and Jordan Richardson's portrait of Benjamin Law. Across all three fields, 2022's shortlist also made history. This year's batch includes the highest number of Aboriginal finalists in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes — with 27 overall. [caption id="attachment_852691" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archibald Prize 2022 finalist, Vincent Namatjira, Self-portrait with dingo, acrylic on linen, 136.5 x 121.5 cm © the artist, image © AGNSW, Mim Stirling. Sitter: Vincent Namatjira (self-portrait)[/caption] Speculation about who will be awarded the coveted art award — and, more often than not, the Archibald winner itself — usually causes much-heated debate. From 2018's five-time Archibald finalist Yvette Coppersmith's first win to Tony Costa's 2019 victory with his painting of fellow artist Lindy Lee — the first portrait of an Asian Australian to pick up the prize — it's hard a prize to pick. All that's really assured is that it'll be a portrait of a person by an Australian-based artist. In 2020, Vincent Namatjira's portrait of Adam Goodes did the honours, and also marked the first time the award has gone to an Indigenous artist. In 202, Peter Wegner's portrait of fellow artist Guy Warren nabbed the gong. 2022's Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize winners will be announced at 12pm on Friday, May 13. If you don't agree with the judges, you can cast your own vote for People's Choice, which will be announced on Wednesday, July 27. [caption id="attachment_852692" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archibald Prize 2022 finalist, Jordan Richardson, Venus, oil on canvas, 122.3 x 183.4 cm © the artist, image © AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins. Sitter: Benjamin Law.[/caption] ARCHIBALD PRIZE 2022 DATES Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW — May 14–August 28, 2022 Bunjil Place, Melbourne, Victoria — September 2–October 16, 2022 Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, NSW — October 22—December 4, 2022 Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW — 17 December, 2022–29 January, 2023 Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, NSW — 10 February–26 March, 2023 Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, NSW — 8 April–21 May, 2023 Western Plains Cultural Centre, NSW — 3 June–30 July, 2023 If you can't make it to any of the above dates, you can check out the award winners and finalists of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes on the Art Gallery of NSW website. Top image: Packing RoomPrize 2022 winner, Claus Stangl, Taika Waititi. Acrylic on canvas, 245 x 195.1 cm © the artist, image © AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins. Sitter: Taika Waititi.
Group hangs have just got a little more interesting, thanks to a couple of new entertainment experiences that have landed at Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq's Docklands outpost. In the heart of The District, Funlab's 'hospo-tainment' hub has unveiled two new immersive games that promise to tempt you and your crew off the couch this winter. First up, there's the Zero Latency Virtual Reality experience — a heart-pumping free-roam VR game that's built on the latest zero-latency tech, boasting 5K resolution graphics and 3D spatial audio to really mess with your sense of reality. Pop on a headset and take on one of eight different immersive game scenarios, using your controller to battle killer robots ('Singularity'), fight off zombies ('Undead Arena') or even defy gravity ('Engineerium'). Developed in conjunction with Taiwan-based tech giant and international VR masters HTC, and played in an arena the size of a tennis court, it's a gaming experience that's destined to impress. [caption id="attachment_694069" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archie Brothers Docklands[/caption] For some slightly more reality-based thrills, you can hop around to the precinct's new laser tag, where you'll need to duck and dive away from your mates' laser attacks while maneuvering around an arena that's decked out like an abandoned carnival. The two new experiences join Archie Brothers' existing offering of arcade games, ten-pin bowling, bumper cars and other indoor entertainment. And if fending off all those virtual zombies leaves you in need of a refuel, there's a menu of sandos, burgers and riotous circus-themed cocktails to keep you going. Play the new Laser Tag and Zero Latency Virtual Reality games at Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq, The District, 440 Docklands Drive, Docklands. Book online via the website. Images: Eugene Hyland
Staring at the sea while eating the ocean's finest bounty is one of life's simple pleasures, and the coastal haven of Apollo Bay has an entire fest dedicated to it. At the Apollo Bay Seafood Festival, you'll eat lobster rolls, drink with sailors, listen to blues by the bay and hear about the town's fishing history — while learning to how to make pans of paella, listening to sea shanties and shopping at the market. That's how you mark the 80th anniversary of the Apollo Bay Fishermen's Co-Op — one of only three remaining operational fishing co-operatives in the state. Taking place from February 16 to 18, the 2018 event expands its fun over three themed days, with Friday dedicated to a decadent four-course feast, Saturday taking the festivities to the harbour, and Sunday all about chatting (and, yes, eating). Prices vary from free entry to the pop-up bar (BYO fish and chips and to catch a sea-themed openair cinema session, to $150 for the long-table shared meal with Movida's Frank Camorra. More than 8000 people are expected to attend, enjoying highlights that also include whisky tastings with tapas, a dinner combining food from the ocean and the bush, and beach sculptures for the littlies.
When you plaster giant, ornate portraits of beautiful women across the walls of nine-storey buildings, you're bound to get a name for yourself. Accordingly, Melbourne street artist Rone has become quite the sensation. Since bursting onto the local scene in the early 2000s, his work has been shown in London, New York, San Francisco, Miami and Hong Kong. Now, he's returning to where it all began for his first Australian show in two years. From October 24, Rone will present 11 new, large-scale portraits in — and on — an abandoned office building on Little Collins Street. The exhibition, Lumen, will be created with the help of lighting designer John McKissock, as the artworks will be illuminated from the building's decrepit, black walls. The artist will also create a 12-metre high mural on the building's ventilation tower. Adding to the creepy feel of the whole thing, the building has actually been slated for demolition, and it will presumably still be knocked down once the exhibition is over. Rone has an ongoing interest in transforming these kind of derelict and forgotten places. He's initiated similar projects in Mexico, Louisiana and New Orleans in the past. "Each of these places have, in recent times, been deeply affected by natural disaster, crime or debilitating economic situations," said the artist. "There is a genuine sense of community in these places, people embrace and appreciate what I'm doing." While Little Collins Street is a far cry from the Mexican city of Juarez, it's just as easy to understand Rone's fostering of local community in this latest Melbourne project. His mural at Rue & Co is still a much-loved icon of the CBD; people converge on it to take photos, drop their jaws in awe and meet friends for delicious Korean fried chicken. This support for the artist is evident in his other projects too. He's just been hand-selected by Jean Paul Gaultier himself to create installation works for the NGV's latest exhibition, and the Melbourne Festival has just plastered his art across one of the city's trams. Make sure you get a chance to check out this epic exhibition while it lasts — this guy's in high demand. Lumen will be on show on Level One, 109 Little Collins Street, Melbourne from October 24 to November 9. For more information, see the website.
With its award-winning barrel-aged, bloody shiraz, rare dry, spiced negroni, Christmas and overproof gins, Four Pillars has won plenty of fans — and as of today, one big buyer. If you're keen on creative takes on juniper spirits, you might've snapped up plenty of the brand's coveted tipples, but only beer giant Lion has become the distillery's new partner. It's the first foray into the craft spirit market for the huge beverage company, which is owned by Japan's Kirin Holdings and boasts beer labels such as James Squire, Little Creatures, Furphy, White Rabbit, Hahn, Tooheys, James Boag's and XXXX to its name. Picking up a 50 percent stake in Four Pillars, it's clearly hoping to capitalise upon the gin outfit's growing popularity. According to the Australian Financial Review, the Healesville-based boozemakers are expected to sell half a million bottles this year. The sale comes little more than five years after Four Pillars was established by Stuart Gregor, Cameron Mackenzie and Matt Jones — and Gregor say it's "the start of a really exciting new chapter for our business". It's not the first time the trio has been approached by potential buyers, but when it came to pairing up with Lion, they liked "the fact we will be their first and most important craft spirit brand". Gregor, Mackenzie and Jones will still be running the show, and they'll still keep their existing Yarra Valley digs as their base. But Four Pillars aficionados can look forward to a few changes — including more small batch gin experiments, more attempts to push boundaries, when it comes to both distilling and botanicals, and more collaborations with renowned bartenders, chefs and other creatives. The company will also build a new hospitality and production space next to its current location, which'll give it the capacity to make and bottle more than one million bottles of gin a year. And, in good news for anyone who considers Bloody Shiraz Gin day the best day of the year, a new website that doesn't crash when each new batch goes on sale is also on the cards. If you're wondering, as it has previously, the much-loved variety will go on sale on June 1.
One of India's most celebrated contemporary artists will be the subject of a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. Running from May until October at NGV International, Subodh Gupta: Everyday Divine will feature numerous works by the eponymous sculptor, painter, photographer and performer, whose works imbue everyday items with spiritual meaning. Born in one of the poorest and least developed parts of India, Gupta's art explores the significance of simple items in the lives of everyday Indians. Some of his most well known pieces include a bronze and aluminium sculpture of a bike, and an installation made up of dozens of stainless steel pots and pails. The NGV will also program numerous events around the exhibition, including curator talks and panel discussions about the state of contemporary Indian art.
When the eighth season of Game of Thrones finished its run a few months back, bringing the highly popular series to a conclusion, everyone knew that it wasn't really the end. The world created by George RR Martin will live on in his books, whenever the author finally publishes the long-awaited next instalment of his A Song of Ice and Fire series. And, because HBO likes both ratings and advertising dollars, it will keep the GoT-related TV shows going as well. Like residents of Westeros hoping that summer (or at least autumn) will last for ever, the US network isn't ready to let go of its highly successful commodity. For years, there's been plenty of chatter about what it'll do next, with HBO first announcing that it was considering five different prequel ideas, then green-lighting one to pilot stage, and then pondering adapting Martin's House Targaryen-focused Fire & Blood for the small screen. Now, the channel has finally decided what GoT fans will be watching next. Sorry, everyone who was keen to explore Westeros thousands of years before the events we all just agonised over for this entire decade. That series — which was set to star Naomi Watts, Miranda Richardson and John Simm — has officially been scrapped. While that's disappointing news, HBO has softened the below with some flame-breathing scaly creatures and the family that adores them, ordering ten episodes of the Fire & Blood-based House of the Dragon. If you thought the Targaryens were chaotic already, we're guessing that delving into their history — and their love of using dragons to wage wars and claim power — is only going to cement that idea. We all know what happened to the last surviving members of the family in GoT, aka Daenerys, her brother Viserys and her boyfriend/nephew Jon Snow; however, House of the Dragon, like Fire & Blood, jumps back 300 years earlier. Published in November 2018 and coming in at a whopping 738 pages, the first volume in Fire & Blood's planned two-book series starts with Aegon I Targaryen's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms — and then works through the family's history from there. He created the Iron Throne, so you'll probably get to see one returning favourite. And you don't have to be the Three-Eyed Raven to know that this tale involves plenty of GoT's staples: fighting, battles for supremacy and bloodshed. If you're wondering when you'll be able to feast your peepers on House of the Dragon, or who'll be starring in it, those crucial details haven't been revealed just yet. But, as well as announcing that House of the Dragon is definitely happening, HBO has unveiled the key folks behind the scenes, with Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal acting as the series' showrunners. Sapochnik has a hefty GoT history, winning an Emmy and a Directors Guild Award for directing 'Battle of The Bastards', helming season eight's 'The Long Night', and doing the same on four other episodes. As for Condal, he co-created and oversaw recent sci-fi series Colony, and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2018 film Rampage.
New season of True Detective, new cops, new case: since 2014, that's been the setup for this HBO hit, as viewers will enjoy again in January 2024. When True Detective: Night Country arrives, Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis, Catch the Fair One) are in the spotlight, investigating an icy mystery in Alaska. Eight men on an arctic research station disappear without a trace — and it's up to the franchise's latest duo to discover what's going on. Whether or not you believe that time is a flat circle — and everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over and over again, too — watching new episodes of this sleuthing series is indeed about to become a reality again. When True Detective returns for a six-episode fourth season after a five-year absence, it'll head to the town of Ennis, spend time with a pair that's hardly happy to be working together, and serve up plenty of chills and darkness. In both True Detective: Night Country's initial teasers and its just-dropped full trailer, Danvers and Navarro team up to discover why the Tsalal Arctic Research Station staff have gone missing. In the latest sneak peek, a potential supernatural angle is teased, too — ice zombies, anyone? When it hits Down Under on Monday, January 15 — via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand — True Detective: Night Country will also feature Finn Bennett (Hope Gap), Fiona Shaw (Andor), Christopher Eccleston (Dodger), Isabella Star LaBlanc (Long Slow Exhale) and John Hawkes (Too Old to Die Young) in front of the camera. Behind the lens, every one of the series' episodes is written and directed by Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López, with Moonlight's Barry Jenkins an executive producer. Each season of True Detective tells its own tale, so there's no need to catch up on past chapters if you watched the Matthew McConaughey (The Gentlemen)- and Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers)-led first season in 2014 — as everyone did — but didn't keep up from there. Taylor Kitsch (Painkiller), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret) starred in season two, while Mahershala Ali (Leave the World Behind) and Stephen Dorff (The Righteous Gemstones) took over in season three. Check out the full trailer for True Detective: Night Country below: True Detective: Night Country will stream in Australia Monday, January 15, 2024 via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand.
Since first appearing on our screens in an uncredited role in 1995's Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, Charlize Theron has proven to be one of cinema's most versatile talents. She won an Oscar for playing real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster, then nabbed two more nominations for dramas North Country and Bombshell. She's a delight not only in dark, existential comedies (Young Adult, Tully), but also in irreverent rom-coms (Long Shot). And, over the past decade, she's proven particularly formidable in action flicks — as Prometheus, Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde and The Fate of the Furious have all demonstrated. Staying in kick-ass mode, Theron will next hit the screen on July 10 in Netflix film The Old Guard — and this time she's playing a warrior. Specifically, her character Andy leads a secret group of mercenaries who've been protecting the world for centuries. As she explains in the just-dropped trailer: "let's just say we're very hard to kill". Yes, that basically puts Theron in superhero territory, with the film based on Greg Rucka's graphic novel of the same name — and with the scribe himself writing the screenplay. The Old Guard also boasts a great director behind the lens, marking the latest film by Beyond the Lights' Gina Prince-Bythewood. Also strutting their immortal stuff are KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk), Matthias Schoenaerts (Kursk), Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin) and Luca Marinelli (TV's Trust), with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil's Chiwetel Ejiofor among the cast as well. And, story-wise, the straight-to-streaming film charts Andy and her crew's exploits when their special abilities are exposed during an emergency mission, which pits them against forces eager to cash in, copy and capitalise upon their extraordinary skills and power. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK-X2d0lJ_s The Old Guard hits Netflix on July 10. Top images: Aimee Spinks/Netflix.
UPDATE, Friday, February 7, 2025: Blur: To the End and Blur: Live From Wembley Stadium are both available to stream via DocPlay. In Blur: To the End, headlining London's famous Wembley Stadium is the pinnacle of Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree's careers so far. For two nights in July 2023, the Britpop band played their biggest-ever gigs to a crowd of 150,000 — shows that had been a dream not just since the group initially formed in 1988, but when high-school friends Albarn and Coxon watched 1985's iconic Live Aid concert on TV. Blur enjoyed no shortage of highlights in 35 years beforehand, of course; thinking about British music in the 90s means thinking about the foursome instantly. Still, in the latest documentary to turn the camera their way, which is playing big screens in Australia thanks to the 2024 British Film Festival, there's no doubting what standing on Wembley's stage at this point in their journeys, after reinventions, hiatuses, reunions, solo projects and more, means to the band. If the feeling that's written across Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree's faces when To the End finishes could be summed up by a snippet from one of their songs, the "woo hoo!" chorus from 1997 hit 'Song 2' would actually work nicely. That sensation — that immense emotional reaction, too — is evident not only in the intimate doco from Transgressive record label co-founder, filmmaker and lifelong Blur fan Toby L, however. It's also clear in accompanying concert film Blur: Live From Wembley Stadium, which captures the first night's show in like-you're-there detail (including largely sticking close to the band, so that viewers can truly witness what the gig means to them as they work through a two-hour set filled with everything from 'Popscene', 'Girls & Boys', 'Parklife' and 'Country House' to 'This Is a Low', 'To the End', 'Tender', 'The Universal' and 'The Narcissist'). Asked about what that pure joy was like to witness — Albarn comments in the film that the moment was as good as it gets — Toby L stresses how it genuinely did feel like the pinnacle for the band. "I can honestly say yes. And I know that if all four of them were asked that question, they would all agree. Which is amazing, because what must be it like to be at this point in your lives where you feel you've done one of your best albums, and you've done your best and biggest gigs?" he tells Concrete Playground. "I think just on a completely subconscious level for any performer, even if they pretend they don't want to get to that level, I think there's that sense of attainment and achievement that is the zenith of possibility. To not only play it, but to headline it and sell it out, I think it is the bucket list for every artist, potentially, that wants to get to a certain level." "And the feeling in the stadium both nights was so electric. I've been through a lot of big gigs and a lot of stadiums and a lot of festival shows, and they're always fun but, truthfully, sometimes the scale is just hard to make it feel personal and intimate. But somehow those gigs were. And anyone that was there — people that work in the music industry, everyone has recounted how something happened that was next-level in terms of the emotional connection," Toby L continues. "So yeah, it really was what the film portrays, that sense of it being a bit magic, and Damon being quite rarely open about the fact it's kind of the pinnacle, that was the truth. And I feel honoured and privileged to have been part of that in a small way." [caption id="attachment_980200" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Reuben Bastienne-Lewis[/caption] Toby L's own Blur journey also began decades back, as a fan since he was a kid. He has an early tie to Wembley, too, but at the indoor Wembley Arena, which sits next to the stadium. In the 90s, he saw his first-ever live gig at the venue — and yes, at that show when he was at age of ten, he was watching Blur. From his mid-teens, a career linked to music beckoned. He's blogged, founded music sites, organised live events, hosted TV, started his label 20 years back, and directed Olivia Rodrigo's Sour Prom, Rihanna's 777, Liam Gallagher: Knebworth 22 and more. Collaborations Albarn and Coxon first came through Transgressive, before he heard word about Blur's Wembley Stadium shows. That connection didn't mean that Toby L was a sure thing behind the camera when the idea of immortalising the gigs arose. His plan was always exactly what audiences can experience now, though: the full concert experience in one film — plus the path to it, through Blur reuniting in Albarn's country house in Devon to make their first album in eight years, then doing warm-up gigs, playing other festival sets and finally hitting Wembley, in another. The latter eschews the biodoc treatment for the here and now, for four men musing on their twists and turns together and apart, and for diving into friendship and mortality as well. Live From Wembley Stadium and To the End make a helluva pair, which Melburnians can see in a double feature at The Astor Theatre for one night only. How did the band respond to the two-movie plan? How did Toby L carve out a space for To the End when past documentaries such as No Distance Left to Run and Blur: New World Towers exist? How open were Albarn and company to such a close-up approach? We also chatted with the filmmaker about the above — as well as how being a fan shaped his role as a director, ensuring that the concert film felt equally intimate, and the longevity of both Blur and Oasis. ("Let's put it this way: I think Blur were my first band, and working with Liam was also a completely wonderful experience. Totally different. But a wonderful thing," he advises.) On the Pitch to Make Two Films About Blur's Wembley Gigs — and the Band's Reaction "It all stemmed back from me discovering about the gigs on the d-low, as it were. I was with Damon talking about a completely different project, and Wembley came up in discussion. I think he might have cheekily brought it up with that cheeky glint in his eye and his shining gold tooth, probably he was quite excited about the surprise element of it about to hit the newswires. I'd already done some filming with Damon around his second solo album, so he knew that I was in that world slightly. I think I probably quite embarrassingly and tritely said 'I'd love to throw my hat in', quite literally that basic. And I remember him just saying cryptically, both supportively but then also very vaguely, 'I would like that, too'. Then that was it. It wasn't spoken about for with him probably for another six months, during which time I felt that that was enough latitude for me to put a treatment together of what I would do with the documentary and the concert film. The original treatment and proposal that I put together, which was the written treatment, it was quite extensive, it was quite specific, and it stipulated that I felt there were two films. I felt that people would want to see a concert film, almost eternally as an evergreen Blur piece of memorabilia or document of that moment. But then I felt there was an opportunity for a wider story, hence the documentary, which was about getting older and growing up, and reconciling friendship, and mortality, and I guess some deeper human themes. And I just thought that'd be interesting to transpose into the situation Blur were finding themselves in, where they were getting back together for the first time in almost a decade, and they were that much older and about to undertake their biggest challenge yet, which was their biggest-ever gig. So it felt like to me there was a really cool story there that wasn't necessarily predicated on 'and then this album came out in this year, and then they had this fight with Oasis' and all the shit that most people can find on a Wikipedia page. So that was the premise of it, really. It was that — and then me waiting for months and hearing nothing. I thought I might have disgraced myself or embarrassed myself. Then suddenly, quite out of nowhere, I had a breakfast with the band's manager. I thought she was going to let me down because I hadn't heard anything. We're talking about other things and other projects, and then about an hour and a half into two-and-a-half hour breakfast, that's when she dropped the bombshell that they'd gone through the treatments and they thought mine was the strongest, regardless of relationships, which was really flattering. Then I had to have a meeting with all four of them the following week or so to convince them I could do it. Ten days later, we were filming in Devon." On Making To the End to Complement, Not Repeat, Past Documentaries About Blur "In a weird way, there was a relief that No Distance Left to Run had come out. Because that film did the job of 'if you don't know who Blur are or even if you do, here's their story'. It was the legacy story, if you will. It talks the viewer beautifully through how they came to be, and some career highs and lows, and key eras in their career, and the initial downfall. I thought that film did that job, so it was a relief that I didn't have to retread that old ground. But the one thing I felt that was completely up for opportunity was 'where are Blur at now?'. They're mid-to-late 50s, they're about to do, again, genuinely their biggest-ever gigs. There's nothing bigger than doing Wembley Stadium, in a way. So it just felt like this was a pivotal moment to reflect on their present state of being rather than reflecting on their career as a whole. Inevitably there are moments and flashbacks to their career, but really it's all in the context of the here and now. And I guess I wanted to do a bit more of a philosophical, emotional character portrait of the four of them, which I felt hadn't necessarily been done in the other documentaries. The other documentaries, even though this has a specific journey of sorts, they had more of a clear function than an emotional character study. Ultimately, I was lucky that the band were up for going there. Because I could have had this in my head and then, understandably, they might have been like 'fuck off, that's a bit personal'. Thankfully, they didn't respond that way. They understood what the essence of the project was — that my intent wasn't to expose them or show them up, it was to unveil a perspective that many people don't often see in a stadium band, which is the vulnerability and the drive and the motivation behind what it takes to be that kind of individual. And also what it takes to maintain a relationship after such a long time, which isn't easy. A lot of people have this entitlement that bands can and should live forever but, I don't know about you, how would you like it if you were stuffed in a tour bus for years on end even with your closest friends or family, and being forced to smile for the media and perform on no sleep? I think it's going to drive anyone a bit bananas. So I think that's kind of where I was coming from with the project. I was wanting to show something that could create a real bridge between the viewer and the subject, and hopefully a totem of empathy in this fractured age of ours." On the Band's Openness to To the End's Intimate Approach "We all agreed that was the way it was going to be best. That was the way I portrayed it in my treatment, and that was the way they were comfortable with it being captured. I think they had maybe moments before where they've been filmed for other projects and television, where they were just a bit — they're at this point in their career where they don't need to do this, right. It's like they don't need to do any of it. Their career is set. They don't necessarily need to reunite at all. They don't necessarily need to come back with a great album. They don't even necessarily need to make a documentary of any of that activity. But the reason they're doing it is because they want to, and they feel that there's a purpose to it. So equally the filmmaking had to have that element to it. It needed to not be interruptive to the point that the band couldn't do what they needed to do. And it needed to be an honest portrayal and a mirror to their activities. I actually think that's way more interesting than 'let's get the lighting up, let's sit them down, let's ask them the same questions — oh, retake that answer because we didn't get audio'. I just think it's so much more exciting to be in the present. It's technically quite a hard thing to do as a documentary crew because on the one hand, you're trying to be invisible and fly-on-the-wall — but then on the other, you need to also make sure you're guiding the viewer at points so it doesn't just feel like complete empty, vapid voyeurism with no purpose. So it's this tightrope you're walking between being sensitive to what's going on, but then also making sure that you're getting the insights that will contextualise the moment in real time. It's a tough thing to get right, and there are many famous examples of filmmakers being barked out by artists to 'get the eff out of the dressing room'. And that's always the risk, that you go too far or, equally the other way, you don't go far enough and then you haven't really got much to work with. Thankfully, the band were open to that way of working, and I think it's hopefully to the film's credit that the viewer gets that level of intimacy and access that is probably increasingly uncommon in these sorts of projects." On How Seeing Blur at Age Ten and Being a Fan Since Childhood Shaped Directing Two Films About the Band "I think being a fan is really useful, actually, because you just got that knowledge. It's quite an embarrassing, hilarious thing to say, but occasionally there'd be moments where they're trying to recount a song title from 1992 that was the B-side to a single — and being a massive nerd, you can go 'oh, was it this one?'. And then they all look at you and go 'yes, that's what it was'. And the irony is, apart from being vaguely helpful in moments like that, there's also just that sense of trust. You're not there to do a hatchet job. You're not there to trip them up. You're not there to be secretly a dissenting voice that's trying to throw them down. You are a fan. So you're coming at it from a pure place. So then the challenge becomes, in terms of credible filmmaking and documentary-making, how do you straddle that fandom with telling the truth and making sure you're being as objective as any one person can be objective? So that then is probably the other tightrope to walk, ensuring that your enthusiasm and your passion and your love for your subjects doesn't contaminate the need to extract truth, and to make sure that there's an honesty to the whole thing. Because otherwise it could just fall into being sycophancy or just a PR puff piece. And that was another thing we said when we all got together, that we hated documentaries that were too clean and too 'and isn't life perfect'. To that end, I think I really made sure that the enthusiasm of being a fan of the band didn't cloud my judgment. And hopefully anyone that watches it will agree that it's rare to see a band this vulnerable on-camera of their level, and so hopefully people will appreciate the fact that this is definitely a real account of who they are." On Finding Intimacy in Live From Wembley Stadium, Too, to Convey the Experience of Being There to Cinema Audiences "I love the way that you picked up on that approach because that was definitely, again, conscious. I just thought that the worst way to capture this gig was going to make it just be 'look, it's the Wembley Stadium gig, let's have fucking loads of wides and let's make it just look big, and yeah!'. It just felt naff. I also just feel that the art of Blur live is the emotion and the chaos, and then countered by the beauty and the ballads, so the only way to really portray that for me is to have cameras quite close to them. The idea of just dotting the cameras at some distance — obviously we've got lots of dynamic shots at various ranges in the stadium, but most of the cameras, over 50 percent of them, are just in and around the stage, and all on the audience, really close-up on the audience. Because I just thought the story is going to be on stage and the story's going to be in the moshpit. That's going to be where this magic happens. And yeah, we're going to have some big shots at the stadium, yada yada yada, but that stuff's fairly generic to me. You could put those in any concert film of any stadium shoot and it could just apply to stock footage for any artist. But the bit that was special for me was going to be the reactions of the band playing this environment and the excitement of it all — and, again, the audience and their adulation for the moment." On Where You Land on What Gives a Band Longevity When You've Made Films About Both Blur and Oasis "I think obviously it's the songs. I think songs have to permeate not just in the era in which they're conceived, but most truthfully resonate with periods beyond that. A great folk song that was written probably in the 1700s or whatever travels around the hills and finds its way to become a traditional song all around the world, and then eventually becomes blues music. Good songs travel and they last, and I think songwriting is at the core. I think then beyond that, obviously the performance of the song, the recording and the way in which it becomes indelibly linked to people's lives. If you capture the zeitgeist, which both Blur and Oasis did, as examples, it brings people back that were there first time round — or even people that weren't there, they feel that essence of connectivity and culture just resonate in the chords and in the performances and in the vocals. And that's what is effectively bottling magic. That's what music is, it's trying to find magic and it's bottling it, really, either in performance or in recording. Both bands just had that essence of reality. They came at writing and culture in completely different ways, but totally valid respective ways. And they just endured. I know for a fact that you could play most Blur songs to a small child and they're going to enjoy them because the melodies are good. And then most adults are going to connect to them because the themes lyrically still resonate to this day. The album Modern Life Is Rubbish by Blur, that could have been released last week, sadly. And that's ultimately what makes great art: stumbling across something that in the moment feels real, but then for decades onwards still manages to resonate. That's the art of it all, really: trying to find something eternal in the moment. " On What You Learn About Blur When You're Making Not Just One But Two Documentaries About Them "I think you learn that everyone, even if we've all got our own personalities, our own characteristics, we're all kind of the same person really. We all have our own needs and vulnerabilities, and strengths and weaknesses, and really that's what binds us all as a human race. And that's why I think it's so harrowing, the state of the world that we find ourselves in right now. Because I think that there are forces that are trying to falsely attribute disparity to our state of being, when actually we're all fucking similar and that's what we should be focusing on, our common ground, not our points of distinction. I think what I learned was that the fallibility and the brilliance in them is eminently what unites us all. It's kind of in all of us and in all of them. So in that way, it was very grounding. As the ten-year-old fan, what did I learn? I just learned that my favourite band were a great band to get behind. They were really complex in many ways, in terms of their unique quirks and things. They were very, very entertaining and very funny. They were very sweet and emotional people. And, ultimately, there's no other band like them to go on the stage. They really tear it up in a way that I don't think anyone before or since them has been able to do. And so for me, what I learned was, yeah, it was a great band to fall in love with at the age of eight years old or whatever it was." The 2024 British Film Festival tours Australia in November and December, wrapping up on Sunday, December 8. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website. Both Blur: To the End and Blur: Live From Wembley Stadium are playing at the festival's stops across the country, with the Blur double feature showing at Melbourne's Astor Theatre on Saturday, November 16, 2024. Images: Altitude.
The City of Darebin has been transformed into a playground of creativity and performance, with multi-arts festival Fuse kicking off its long-awaited autumn edition. Descending on streets, parks, venues and galleries across the inner north region from Friday, March 11–Sunday, March 27, the fest will serve up a sparkling program of music, art and more. After two years relegated to the online realm due to COVID restrictions, it's Fuse's time to shine IRL. For the duration of the festival, street exhibition Made in Rezza will see 15 Reservoir shopfronts come alive with commissioned works by local artists paying homage to their 'hood. Meanwhile, for Live in Hi Rez, up to 40 of the suburb's emerging young musicians and performers will host ten days of free pop-up gigs across its streets and landmarks. Elsewhere, catch Joel Bray's immersive, tongue-in-cheek performance piece at the Northcote Social Club; enjoy sounds from a compelling lineup of First Nations song people for We Are Song, We Are Dreaming, We Are Country; and settle in at TW Andrews Reserve for an openair screening of Whale Rider (March 18). The fun wraps up on Sunday, March 27, with the Out of the Park Picnic — a free outdoor fiesta featuring food trucks, plus live tunes and performances from acts like Kylie Auldist, Kwame Tosuma, DJ Maya Vice and electro-soul trio Belove.
No fancy metaphors, clever pop culture references or humorous double entendres here — just an exclamation of something to which most Melburnians can relate. I Love Dumplings is certainly not trying to be coy, and if you do indeed love the steaming hot morsels of flavour, then this is the place for you. Sure, there are a myriad of dumpling houses in this city. But it's not often you find one this good beyond the CBD with a BYO license to boot. This little gem, tucked inconspicuously on the Kensington-Flemington border that is Racecourse Road, is relatively new to the fairly unexciting strip, but already proving to be a neighbourhood favourite. It strikes a great balance between the no-frills, frenetic-paced, plastic plates style of some dumpling houses and the high-end, high-price style of others. The pan-fried pork option is always a winner, and the steamed prawn in a rice paper casing offers some freshness to the table, but if you want a bit of variety, the menu holds all the regular Chinese dishes, as well as traditional Liao Ning-style cuisine. Push the boat out and try the stewed preserved Chinese cabbage with sliced pork belly in umami flavour soup or the stir-fried pork liver with carrot, capsicum and onion if you're feeling adventurous. There's more to love here than just the dumplings, but they are worth the trip alone. A solid, well-priced local haunt for the inner west, I Love Dumplings is consistently busy (always a good sign), so book a table to ensure you're not left out in the cold, staring longingly at the steaming hot plates of food flooding out of the kitchen.
The Bridge Hotel is all about raising the standards of what a typical pub experience should be. With its European-inspired interior complete with a cobblestoned laneway and refined twists on pub grub, the Bridge Hotel has been a favourite for locals and visitors alike for years. Made up of a collection of distinct, but interlinked, spaces across two levels, a night out here can be an intimate affair with friends or a partygoer's ideal spot for a dance and a few drinks. The pub has been mixing things up a little of late with $13 espresso martinis all day on Fridays, a new weekday happy hour and its host of Saturday offerings. To celebrate, it's giving away a special Absolut Vodka cocktail experience to seven lucky duos. In one of the pub's private spaces, you'll take a memorable cocktail making class with the Bridge Hotel's resident mixologist. Here, you'll learn to make three different cocktails using Absolut, including the much-loved Skipping Girl Sour — a tangy blend of Absolut Citron, Coco Lopez, pineapple juice and a mint garnish. Obviously, you'll get to drink them, too. Through all this, you'll be snacking on a special selection of canapés and charcuterie boards (it's always important to keep the stomach lined). And after the class is done, each duo will be able to invite friends in for drinks and complimentary nibbles. So grab your cocktail-loving pal and enter — you'll find all the details below. [competition]665986[/competition]
Your next Australian streaming obsession is on its way — and it's set to tell a story so wild that it can only be true. The tale of Australian cult The Family always falls into that category, as seen in the excellent and supremely creepy 2016 documentary that shares the cult's name, plus the 2019 series The Cult of the Family, both by filmmaker Rosie Jones. Now, the sinister Aussie sect is also providing inspiration for Disney+'s new eight-part series The Clearing, which will hit the service globally in May. First announced in 2022, this new show is a drama and based on a novel — but The Family is clearly an influence. If you're new to these details, then strap yourself in for quite the story. The Family was very real, forming in the 1960s around Melbourne, with charismatic yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne at its head. A cult run by a woman is already extremely rare, but this tale also includes adopting kids who looked identical, dressing them in matching clothing, claiming that Hamilton-Byrne was a living god and, because that's not enough, a lot of LSD. Police raided the sect's Lake Eildon compound back in 1987, all those children were removed from the property, and Hamilton-Byrne and her husband fled Australia, but were arrested in the US in 1993. There's more to this story, which inspired JP Pomare's book In the Clearing alongside other cults around the world — and that's what The Clearing adapts. The show steps into the fictionalised but still chaotic details by following a woman who starts to confront her nightmarish past to stop a secret cult that's gathering up children to serve its master plan. Unsurprisingly, the mood is tense in the psychological thriller's just-dropped first teaser trailer, which arrives ahead of the series premiering its first two episodes on Wednesday, May 24. Cast-wise, almost every famous Aussie acting name possible is involved, or so it seems, including Teresa Palmer (Ride Like a Girl), Miranda Otto (Wellmania) and Guy Pearce (Mare of Easttown), as well as Claudia Karvan (Bump) and Mark Coles-Smith (Mystery Road: Origin). Also set to appear on-screen: Hazem Shammas (The Twelve), Kate Mulvany (Hunters), Xavier Samuel (Elvis), Anna Lise Phillips (Fires), Harry Greenwood (Wakefield) Erroll Shand (The Justice of Bunny King), Doris Younane (Five Bedrooms), Miah Madden (Dive Club), Julia Savage (Blaze), Gary Sweet (Wentworth), Alicia Gardiner (Offspring), Matt Okine (The Other Guy) and Jeremy Blewitt (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart), plus Lily La Torre (Run Rabbit Run) and Ras-Samuel Welda'abzgi (Neighbours). We told you it was a hefty list. Behind the lens, Jeffrey Walker (Lambs of God) and Gracie Otto (Seriously Red) are on directing duties, with Elise McCredie (Stateless) and Matt Cameron (Jack Irish) creating and writing The Clearing — with help from co-writer Osamah Sami (Ali's Wedding). And if all of the above information doesn't have you ready to watch ASAP, the trailer will — complete with blonde-haired kids everywhere, Otto at her most unnerving, Palmer looking frantic and a police investigation heating up. Check out the first teaser trailer for The Clearing below: The Clearing will stream via Disney+ from Wednesday, May 24.
This month Alex Steinweiss, the inventor of the album cover, died at the age of 94. In the 1930s his simple idea revolutionised the marketing of music, and although the digital revolution hasn't killed off the music industry in the way many predicted, perhaps the marketing and consumption of music is due for another shake up. We look at three ways artists are using new tech to grab their fans' attention and beat the pirates. 1. Make it collaborative. Many a young band has called on friends and fans to help make their first film clip. British band The Vaccines have taken the idea to their entire fanbase, inviting them to provide images of their summer festival experiences via instagram to make the clip to their new song 'Wetsuit.' Other artists like Imogen Heap have gone a step further and asked fans to pitch in with creating the lyrics and music. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ur-y7oOto14 2. Make it interactive. By and large, music is now consumed digitally, either online or via a portable device that probably starts with 'i'. In the same way that Steinweiss used the medium of the record sleeve, artists are using the web and digital devices to express their creativity and involve the 'listener' on more levels. The Polyphonic Spree's latest single Bullseye is available as an interactive, video-game-like app. OK Go have released their latest song, 'All Is Not Lost', online with a dedicated website where, thanks to the magic of HTML5, viewers can generate a customised, kaleidoscopic video featuring their own message spelled out by the Pilobolus dancers. https://youtube.com/watch?v=o8AELvVUFLw 3. Make it immersive. Going one step further, Bjork has released her entire album Biophilia as a free app. Within the app you can purchase the tracks, each of which comes with its own game, video, musical score and sleeve notes. The volume and variety of material on offer demonstrates that there is a world of possibilities for artists to deliver far more than just an audio file, and change the way we consume music. [via PSFK]
Every December, the Geminids meteor shower lights up our skies. Considered to be the most spectacular meteor shower of the year, it's caused by a stream of debris, left by an asteroid dubbed the 3200 Phaethon, burning up in Earth's atmosphere. The shower is expected to be visible from around 11pm in Sydney, midnight in Melbourne and 9pm in Brisbane on Friday, December 14 through to the early morning on Saturday, December 15. The best time to catch an eyeful will be after midnight, when the moon has set and its light will not interfere. At that time, you could catch as many as 120 meteors every 60 minutes — each moving at about 125,500 kilometres per hour. To catch the spectacular shower, get as far away from bright lights as possible — this could be a good excuse to head out of the city to a clear-skied camping spot — and pray for no clouds. If there are, NASA will be live streaming from its Marshall Space Flight Center via its Facebook page. The shower's name comes from the constellation from which they appear to come, Gemini. So that's what you'll be looking for in the sky. To locate Gemini, we recommend downloading the Sky Map app — it's the easiest way to navigate the night sky (and is a lot of fun to use even on a non-meteor shower night). If you're more into specifics, Time and Date also has a table that shows the direction and altitude of the Geminids. The Geminids meteor shower will take place during the night on Friday, December 14. Image: NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Jeff Dai. Updated: December 14, 2018.
As a filmmaker, he co-created the Saw and Insidious franchises, and has since been tackling iconic horror tales with The Invisible Man and 2025 release Wolf Man. As an actor, he popped up in The Matrix Reloaded. Before all of that, he was a film critic on beloved late-90s Saturday-morning music TV show Recovery. That's a helluva career so far — and next, Leigh Whannell is heading to AACTA Festival to chat about it. In 2024, the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards launched a festival to sit alongside its accolades, and to celebrate the latter's move to the Gold Coast. That event is returning in 2025 in a bigger guise, running for five days between Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, and hosting more than 100 sessions. The initial program details were revealed in November 2024, but a few more high-profile names have just been added. AACTA Festival will also welcome Australian The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey, who has been earning some love from the academy of late. Better Man, his unconventional Robbie Williams biopic, topped the 2025 AACTA nominations — and attendees will hear all about the film at his festival session. Equally huge news is enlisting Paul Kelly to perform at the live How to Make Gravy concert, which also features Meg Washington, Brendan Maclean and Beddy Rays — and yes, it's easy to predict what the Australian icon will be singing. Plus, Late Night with the Devil is in the spotlight via filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes getting talking, while Netflix's upcoming Apple Cider Vinegar series will score a behind-the-scenes look. [caption id="attachment_926549" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Moshcam[/caption] Featuring 20-plus new sessions, the expanded lineup builds upon a roster of events that already boasted plenty of highlights. One such drawcard: the Working Dog team, aka Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Michael Hirsh and Rob Sitch, coming together for an in-conversation session that's bound to touch upon everything from The Castle, Frontline, Thank God You're Here and Utopia to The Dish, The Hollowmen and Have You Been Paying Attention?. The Dish is also the screening program, and the Working Dog team will receive the prestigious AACTA Longford Lyell Award. Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser, who won an Oscar for Dune and is highly tipped for another one for Dune: Part Two, is another big-name inclusion, chatting about his Hollywood work. Also in the same category: John Seale, who took home an Academy Award for The English Patient, and was nominated for Witness, Rain Man, Cold Mountain and Mad Max: Fury Road. Everyone can also look forward to authors Trent Dalton and Holly Ringland returning from 2024's lineup, chatting about Boy Swallows Universe and The Lost Flowers of Alice on the small screen, respectively; a dive into the Heartbreak High soundtrack; a panel on queer storytelling with RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under season two winner Spankie Jackzon and Deadloch's Nina Oyama; and a session with First Nations filmmakers. And if you're keen to watch movies, Gettin' Square followup Spit will enjoy its Queensland premiere, complete with star David Wenham (Fake) chatting about the feature's journey; Looney Tunes: The Day The Earth Blew Up will make its Australian debut, at Movie World, of course; and upcoming action film Homeward with Nathan Phillips (Kid Snow) and Jake Ryan (Territory) will take viewers behind the scenes. [caption id="attachment_985262" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Courtesy of Netflix © 2024[/caption] [caption id="attachment_927965" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Netflix © 2023[/caption] AACTA Festival will run from Wednesday, February 5–Sunday, February 9, 2025 at HOTA, Home of the Arts, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise Gold Coast. For further details, head to the fest's website.
We enjoyed the tenth annual Bicycle Film Festival last year, and the 2011 instalment is already brewing. But obviously, there can be no film festival without films – that’s where you, dear cycling-and-film-making reader come in! BFF want you to make a bike film and be a part of the global event. Submitting an entry is free, and films can be of any style, as long as they’re bike-related. With the festival travelling to over 25 cities worldwide, successful entries are guaranteed some great exposure, and being an entrant will give you a great excuse to attend the screenings, parties and other events that make up the festival itself. If you’re in need of some inspiration check out the BFF trailer below, or consider using your bike in the film-making process. Entries close on April 1 so get your camera and get on your bike!
If you find yourself in the mood for some world-class pizza this week and you happen to be in Melbourne, you won't have to travel very far at all to get it. Simply head to 48h Pizza e Gnocchi Bar in South Yarra, where you'll experience the Best Pizzeria in the Asia Pacific, as decided by the experts for this year's 50 Top Pizza awards. The Victorian spot took out the prestigious title earlier this week at an awards ceremony in Bangkok, where the annual international pizzeria guide named its top 50 picks for the Asia Pacific region. The awards judge venues not just on the merit of their slices, but on each pizzeria as a whole, rating the food, drinks, service and overall ambiance. Running for the last five years, the 50 Top Pizza awards are chosen by around 1000 experts across the globe, who visit the pizzerias anonymously to judge and rank their offerings. 150 pizzeria 'inspectors' took on the task for the Asia and Oceania area specifically. With this new regional crown, 48h now scores an entry in the worldwide ranking, the 50 Top Pizza World 2022 competition, which will be announced in Naples on September 7. Of course, the southside pizzeria is no stranger to international praise, having claimed the title of Best Pizzeria In Oceania in last year's 50 Top Pizza awards. The chain's pizzas themselves, which are on offer at its Elsternwick and Spotswood venues as well, have also nabbed a stack of awards, including being crowned #1 Pizza in Australia at the Pizza World Championships in 2019. A handful of other Aussie venues were also named in this year's Asia Pacific top 50, including Sydney's Al Taglio (14), Bella Brutta (25), Gigi Pizzeria (27), Lucio Pizzeria (43) and Via Napoli (49); fellow Melburnians A25 (35), SPQR (37), Mozzarella Bar (39) and La Svolta (40); and Adelaide's Etica Pizza (42). Find 48h Pizza e Gnocchi Bar at 373 Malvern Road, South Yarra; 15 Gordon Street, Elsternwick; and Grazeland, Spotswood. For the full 50 Top Pizza Asia Pacific awards list, jump over to the website. Craving a slice, Melburnians? Check out our top picks for pizza in Melbourne.
When you've already announced Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay as one of your keynote speakers, what comes next? At the 2024 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, the conversation will flow from being a serial dissenter to the smartphone backlash, propaganda and censorship, giving kids the right to vote and taking on the one percent, then also cover tackling inequality, the myths surrounding women's health and humanity's need to find meaning through god-like figures. The just-dropped program for the Sydney fest, which will take over Carriageworks for two days from Saturday, August 24–Sunday, August 25, is filled with exactly what an event dedicated to crucial and complex topics demands: a wide-ranging lineup of boundary-pushing talks where hopping from one session from the next means jumping between a vast array of subject matter. [caption id="attachment_962706" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Reginald Cunningham[/caption] Under Festival Director Danielle Harvey, FODI has curated its 2024 roster around the theme of 'sanctuary'. For Harvey, this also means giving attendees a place to dig into sometimes-weighty, sometimes-provocative matters. "At a time when we are surrounded by bad ideas and bad faith, where information is cheap and shallow, we need a place people can come and be curious together and be inspired. A space safe from hype. Safe to listen and ask questions. A space with real experts from all disciplines," Harvey said, announcing the event's 2024 program. "Festival of Dangerous Ideas is here to be that space. The lineup won't please everybody (it never does!) and nor does it aim to. But it will be good for everyone. What FODI offers is a precious moment in real time with 87 thought leaders and creatives who will bring you next-level discussion, likely some disagreement and definitely some hope. Learning more about the world we are making and unmaking is a thrill, and I can't wait for you to discover new ideas and thinkers over one massive weekend of danger." [caption id="attachment_963054" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Damon Winter/ The New York Times[/caption] Joining Gay among the 16 international guests presenting keynotes are US psychologist Jean Twenge, which is where diving into the impact of handheld devices comes in; journalist and writer Masha Gessen, who'll explore the ways that narratives about conflicts are controlled; and David Runciman to give the Christopher Hitchens Oration on the topic "votes for six-year-olds". Plus, Megan Phelps-Roper of Unfollow fame will team up with Andy Mills from The New York Times' The Daily and Rabbit Hole to dig into the impact of their podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling — and Jen Gunter has her sights set on the poor medical care women can be subjected to. Elsewhere, academic Saree Makdis will examine the west's response to the conflict in the Middle East, economists John N Friedman and Richard Holden will chat through ideas for increasing upward social mobility, The Next Frontier academic Todd Fernando will hone in on Indigenous excellence and The End of Race Politics' Coleman Hughes will be a guest on Josh Szeps' Uncomfortable Conversations. Attendees can also hear sustainability professor Jem Bendell step through how civilisation is already collapsing, philosopher David Benatar dive into the ethics of having children and comedian David Baddiel deliver the first John Caldon Provocation on how the need for god to give life substance disproves the deity's existence. [caption id="attachment_963055" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times[/caption] The lineup goes on, whether you're keen for a session featuring Jordan van den Berg, aka renter advocate Purple Pingers, on why the one percent should be afraid — or chats about the new breed of world leaders, the price of democracy, public forgiveness, artificial and transplanted wombs, positive masculinity, peer pressure making us sick or individualism. If you can't attend or won't be in Sydney, some sessions will be livestreamed. For those heading along in person, perhaps you'd like to hear from Talk to Me's Danny Philippou about his favourite horror film and why we're all fascinated with fear, then crawl through a tape installation by Austrian and Croatian artists and designers Numen / For Use, then watch a jailbreak experiment by performance collective re:group, too? Yes, across what promises to be a busy weekend, they're all also on the program as well. The 2024 Festival of Dangerous Ideas runs from Saturday, August 24–Sunday, August 25 at Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, with select sessions livestreamed. To peruse the full program, and to buy in-person festival tickets from 7am on Wednesday, June 26 — with livestream tickets available in August — visit the festival website. Festival of Dangerous Ideas images: Jodie Barker, Ken Leanfore and Yaya Stempler.
When it first hit the small screen between 2007–12, Gossip Girl didn't just introduce the world to Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Chace Crawford and Penn Badgley, and make everyone want to sit on the steps of The Met. Across its initial run, the series spun a lavish, soapy, usually OTT but always watchable teen-focused drama filled with secrets and scandals — and gossip, obviously. When its titular figure said "you know you love me", as she did often, everyone watching knew she was right. Because we live in a world where a big Friends reunion just hit streaming, Sex and the City is getting a television sequel and Saved by the Bell has returned to the screen as ell, Gossip Girl was always going to make a comeback in some shape or form. So, come Thursday, July 8, you'll be saying XOXO to the series once again. HBO's streaming platform HBO Max is reviving the series, and Binge will screen it in Australia. If you're wondering what you're in for, it has been billed as both a reimagining and an extension. So, that means that Gossip Girl circa 2021 will take place in the same world as its predecessor, but it'll focus on different characters. An early sneak peek back in May teased what that'll look like, and now a just-dropped new trailer offers fans a bigger glimpse of all the dramas to come. Set nine years after the eponymous and anonymous blog went dark, the new series sees its namesake return, too — otherwise the show wouldn't have a premise. This time, a new bunch of New York private school-attending teenagers are at the ever-present, seemingly all-knowing gossip blogger's mercy, with their Upper East Side lives captured and dissected via an Instagram account. Whether any familiar faces will pop up is yet to be revealed; however, in the most important news there is regarding this revival, Kristen Bell is returning to voice the titular figure. She'll narrate the comings and goings of a group played Jordan Alexander (Sacred Lies), Eli Brown (Wrath of Man), Thomas Doherty (High Fidelity), Tavi Gevinson (Halston), Emily Alyn Lind (Every Breath You Take), Evan Mock, Zion Moreno (Control Z), Whitney Peak (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Savannah Lee Smith. The cast has changed, but the social-climbing chaos is bound to be familiar. If you were a particular fan of the threads worn by Lively, Meester and company back in the day, you'll be pleased to know that costume designer Eric Daman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) is back for a second go-around. The creators of the initial show, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (The OC), have nabbed executive producer credits on the revival as well — so they'll have a hand in yet another adaptation of Cecily von Ziegesar's books. And the new series' showrunner Josh Safran (Smash) was a writer and executive producer on the original series. Check out the latest Gossip Girl trailer below: Gossip Girl will start streaming via Binge from Thursday, July 8. Top image: Karolina Wojtasik / HBO Max.
Melbourne sneakerheads can geek out over some of the rarest sneakers, streetwear pieces and apparel on the market when Australia's largest sneaker convention, Sneakerland, descends on the city this spring. On Saturday, November 19, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre will be filled with over 3000 sneakers from different 52 vendors. Expect lots of rare footwear in the mix, including the Jordan 1 OG Chicago (1985) and Nike SB Dunk Low Paris. But this event isn't just for cashed up collectors — there'll be stacks of more affordable sneakers available from both local and international sellers, and the sneaker museum promises to be a huge drawcard, no matter your budget. Sneakerland will also feature a heap of entertainment, setting the vibe as you peruse — and maybe purchase — all that footwear. In addition to the live sneaker auctions, and exclusive sneaker and streetwear drops, visitors will be able to get around some basketball competitions, try their luck in the day's raffles, hit up the tattoo station and listen to DJs. Guest appearances from local celebrities and sporting icons are also on the cards. While general tickets cost $40, if you nab a $100 VIP ticket you're in for some extra swag. You'll score early access to the event, food and drinks, and a private lounge to relax in. There'll also be special live auctions featuring the most sought-after items — so if you're looking to beat all others on the trading floor, this is for you.
Across the past eight years, Sydney's All About Women festival has featured sessions on everything from hip hop and toxic masculinity to the post-#MeToo era — and, for its ninth iteration in 2021, it's once again presenting an exciting and eclectic program. When the event returns on Sunday, March 7, it'll feature talks, panels, workshops and films about the evolution of the feminist movement, its limitations, the gendered nature of household responsibilities, misogynistic online communities and the judgements built into artificial intelligence. There's also a session about coping with doomscrolling, because that topic couldn't be more relevant after the past 12 months. Once again, the fest will take place around International Women's Day — happening the day before, though, so it can still be held on a weekend. And while AAW has always covered a huge array of bases each and every year, there is a particular focus on power structures that limit the female experience in 2021. That subject will come through in sessions about identity, sexuality and resilience, and others that explore technology, entrenched inequalities and feminist futures. Talks about sex work and mindfulness are also on the bill, too. Leading the lineup of speakers is writer Isabel Allende, who'll be discussing her 2021 memoir The Soul of a Woman — which explores her role in the feminist movement across continents, cultures, and centuries. She's joined on the program by How to Be A Woman and More Than a Woman author Caitlin Moran, who'll examine the realities of of middle-aged life; Koa Beck, the ex-Jezebel editor-in-chief who penned White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind; and Laura Bates, author of Everyday Sexism and Men Who Hate Women and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project — with the ways in which the individual is often valued over the community and the corners of the internet swaying the mindsets of boys and young men all on the agenda. [caption id="attachment_797616" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Isabel Allende. Image: Lori Barra[/caption] For folks interested in AI, researcher and professor Kate Crawford will chat about machine classification and its role in entrenching inequality. Covering completely different subjects, one panel session will examine the often-complicated relationship between sex work and feminism, too, while another talk will help participants learn to cope with uncertainty in today's COVID-afflicted world. Or, attendees can head to workshops about making zines, weaving baskets — as led by Yorta Yorta woman Tegan Murdock and her mum Margaret Murray — and using music to help let go of the past. Unsurprisingly given the state of Australia's international borders, speakers from overseas will appear via video, rather than in-person. For those who can't attend AAW in person — including those located outside of Sydney — some sessions will be live-streamed as well, and made available to watch on-demand afterwards. The jump to online also includes AAW's film component. Two documentaries, Brazen Hussies and Coded Bias, will screen at the Opera House — and they'll also be available to stream online, alongside a lineup of short documentaries from female Australian filmmakers. All About Women 2021 will take place on Sunday, March 7 at the Sydney Opera House. Livestream tickets and event multipacks are on sale from 9am on Wednesday, January 20, with single-ticket pre-sales starting at the same time — and general public tickets available from 9am on Friday, January 22.
UPDATE: April 15, 2020: Aladdin is available to stream via Disney+. Let's get the obvious reference out of the way: in remaking the 1992 classic, Disney's live-action Aladdin doesn't venture to a whole new world. Instead, the company's latest rehash of its back catalogue adds literal, visible flesh to everyone's favourite makeover concept (Blue Eye for the Street Rat Guy, basically), as well as a few minor twists and an extra song. Relaying the same tale again isn't necessarily an issue, on paper. Storytellers have been doing the same thing since time began, as have filmmakers for more than a century, with re-interpreting familiar narratives, adapting them to different contexts and seeing them afresh all part of human nature. But what Aladdin lacks is a purpose beyond the obvious. It's a glossy new version with actors instead of animation; a shiny, nostalgic replica that's definitely entertaining enough. However it never tries to soar on its own magic carpet. One line of thinking, of course, is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Another is that faithful do-overs of beloved hits (including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast and Dumbo, plus the forthcoming The Lion King) are just Disney's safety-driven success strategy. These are risk-averse filmmaking times, so the latter approach is understandable. When fans mobilise online en masse to cry about women with lightsabers and demand that a television show be remade because it didn't end the way they personally wanted, simply giving viewers what they already like is the all-too-sensible option. Accordingly, Aladdin circa 2019 is exactly what it was always going to be, with all of the expected ups and downs that entails. Yes, it'll make you want to revisit the original. No, Will Smith can't match Robin Williams, but he doesn't always try to. Surprisingly, while there are no geezers spouting Cockney rhyming slang (and no Jason Statham, sadly), director Guy Ritchie's penchant for energetic spectacle generally fits. The story, for those who didn't spend their childhoods rewatching the animated flick endlessly and committing the details to memory, charts Agrabah urchin Aladdin (Mena Massoud), his newfound love for Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) and the lamp-dwelling Genie (Will Smith) who can make dreams come true. Aladdin is merely a kind-hearted petty thief with a cheeky monkey for a best friend, with Jasmine only able to marry royalty — and her sultan father (Navid Negahban) is hardly fond of breaking tradition. Complicating matters even further is nefarious advisor Jafar (Marwan Kenzari), who exerts his own influence — with the help of his all-seeing parrot Iago (voiced by Alan Tudyk) — to try to seize the throne. With Genie's wish-granting assistance, Aladdin pretends to be a prince to secure Jasmine's hand, but securing the kingdom becomes just as pressing a concern. There's a timely female empowerment thread to this version to Aladdin, as seen in its new song, as well as Jasmine's rallying against her lack of agency. Barely tinkering with the initial flick's script, Ritchie and co-scribe John August (Frankenweenie) aren't trying to break the mould — or enchanted lamp — yet it's a welcome albeit fairly obligatory touch. Where the director best exerts his influence is in teaming with cinematographer Alan Stewart (Mary Poppins Returns) to bring Agrabah to vivid, jewel-toned life, watching Aladdin sneakily parkour himself around the city and giving the musical numbers the requisite bounce. Where the tunes are concerned, established crowd-pleasers such as 'Prince Ali', 'Friend Like Me' and 'A Whole New World' prove the high points they're meant to be, which sums up the film's fortunes perfectly: its hits are already known, and making sure they don't crash compared to the original is the primary plan. That could sum up Smith's tactics also, or at least that's how it initially seems. He's less comfortable and convincing when he's overtly mimicking Williams at the outset, but serves up an engaging and amusing Genie once he makes the character his own (and when he isn't sporting a distracting shade of blue). Indeed, if viewers had three wishes for the Aladdin remake, and one of them was for a great cast, that has largely been granted. Crucially, Massoud makes a suitably charismatic rapscallion, and Scott brings poise and radiance to a star-making performance, helping you forget that she was in the awful Power Rangers movie. The true scene-stealer, though, is ex-Saturday Night Live star Nasim Pedrad as Jasmine's handmaiden Dalia. It's a move that'd never happen, but if this adequate yet never arresting Aladdin revival sparked a spin-off about its two main ladies just being great and taking on the world, it'd justify its existence several times over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foyufD52aog
Plenty of music polls have claimed to name the best songs ever made and, whatever they've chosen, they've sparked a heap of debate in the process. It's a tough, tricky and supremely subjective task, of course. But if 'Lick My Love Pump', 'Sex Farm' and 'Hell Hole' isn't on these lists, can you really trust them? If you're a This Is Spinal Tap fan, then no. Come 2024, those tunes just might have some more company — because the team behind the iconic 1984 music mockumentary is getting the band back together. Get ready to spend more time with David St Hubbins (Michael McKean, Better Call Saul), Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer, The Simpsons), and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest, Mascots), aka the loudest, most explosive band in the world — at least according to their original movie outing. If you're new to all things Spinal Tap, the fictional English heavy metal band first debuted on American TV in 1979; however, it was This Is Spinal Tap that made them legends. With this trio, there is indeed a fine line between stupid and clever — and turning it up to 11 is a must. They've reformed IRL a number of times, too, and released albums. As reported by Variety and Deadline, filmmaker Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride, A Few Good Men) is returning to direct this four-decades-later on-screen followup, which'll release in 2024 to mark the OG flick's 40th anniversary. He'll also resume his role on-camera in Spinal Tap II as well, playing fictional filmmaker Marty DiBergi. The plot will follow the band as they reunite yet again to do one last in-film concert. They contractually owe it to their manager, who has passed away but his widow is insistent. This Is Spinal Tap isn't just an 80s comedy gem that everyone needs to see at least once, and actually several times more than that. Every music documentary since for the past four decades has followed in its footsteps, straightforward and satirical alike. Also, Spinal Tap's name has become shorthand for OTT bands who take themselves too seriously. Like all sequels made oh-so-many years later, Spinal Tap II is the kind of film that you'll believe is actually, genuinely, really happening when you're sitting in a cinema watching it, though, and coming up with your own two-word review. Still, best mark March 19, 2024 in your diaries now. And, in the interim, you can check out the trailer for the OG This Is Spinal Tap below: Spinal Tap II is set to release on March 19, 2024. We'll update you with further details when they're announced. Via Variety/Deadline.
A film so light on its feet, yet so insightful in every frame, Let the Sunshine In could only be the work of one filmmaker. Never one to avoid trying new things, the great French writer-director Claire Denis makes her first romantic-comedy, but it's also an anti-romantic comedy of sorts. Love may be the movie's subject, and a long line of lusty encounters might await its lonely protagonist, however Denis understands one thing that upbeat on-screen amorous affairs tend to ignore. While connecting intimately with someone can feel like the most fulfilling thing in the world (even when it only lasts mere moments), everything involved with chasing that sensation — and it's always a constant chase — rarely inspires the same emotions. Giving a straightforward story more heft and depth than most labyrinthine plots, Denis' sophisticated and soulful take on love follows the romantic escapades of Parisian artist Isabelle (Juliette Binoche). In her 50s and freshly divorced, she has no shortage of suitors — from the banker (Xavier Beauvois) she's in bed with when the film starts, to an actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle) who crosses her path, to the ex (Laurent Grévill) that she's not quite done with. The list goes on, with Isabelle's affairs of the heart sharing much in common with the movie's sex scenes, and with sex in general. Limbs tangle and so do lives, as each of her rendezvous veers back and forth between the messy and the sublime. Conversation helps fill in the gaps, in a film overflowing with honest and authentic dialogue. In fact, candour proves Let the Sunshine In's driving force as it dissects the ups and downs of dating and desire. Co-writing the screenplay with novelist Christine Angot, and loosely taking inspiration from Roland Barthes' A Lover's Discourse: Fragments, Denis lets her movie move with the moment. It glows with the story's disarming delights in one scene, then fades with Isabelle's devastating lows in the next. But this isn't a portrait of yearning. It's not about searching for 'the one', or only feeling complete in someone else's arms. It's a frank account of a mature woman trying to find someone she's truly happy to share her time, heart, body and mind with, and working out what she really wants out of life in the process. Both defiant and vulnerable, there's no one better to play Isabelle than Binoche. The acclaimed actor is as vivid, magnetic and complex as she's ever been on screen, willingly embracing the many conflicts and contradictions evident in a character who always feels like flesh and blood. Astonishingly, Let the Sunshine In marks Binoche's first collaboration with Denis. It went so well that they quickly paired up again for a film that's just as stellar yet couldn't be more different: the soon-to-be-released dystopian sci-fi picture High Life. Binoche's performance in the latter movie is something else entirely, but there's a potency and freedom to her work with Denis in general, as if they're opening the floodgates to a world of women at once. Perhaps surprisingly for a romantically inclined film, though not for Denis' oeuvre, Let the Sunshine In is also visually striking. Always one for showing as much as telling — even in a movie with plenty of chatter — the director ensures her frames are as multifaceted as the protagonist within them. Indeed, it's possible to sense Isabelle's internal state just by soaking in the distinctive auteur's stylistic choices, as lensed with intimacy and empathy by her regular cinematographer Agnès Godard. Across a filmography that includes military exploits in Beau Travail, erotic horror with Trouble Every Day and immigration drama courtesy of 35 Shots of Rum, Denis has seared many an image onto the retinas of her viewers. The rich and resonant Let the Sunshine In is no different. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w_thDNw8Ww
Everyone has fond memories of their first trips to the flicks, back when the big screen seemed even bigger because you were a pint-sized cinemagoer. For the Barton brothers, aka Barrie, Bob and Chris Barton, some of those treasured recollections involve Lorne Theatre when they were kids holidaying from Geelong. The fact that the trio will now be helping movie lovers burn new film-watching dates in their minds at the same venue from December, when the Surf Coast spot reopens under their ownership and guidance, is a full-circle twist of fate, then — and cinephiles are set to benefit. The Barton siblings have added Lorne Theatre to a portfolio that has also spanned Melbourne's Rooftop Cinema, and includes Sydney's beloved Golden Age Cinema & Bar. They'll get the projector whirring on Mountjoy Parade from Friday, December 1 for a special summer season, and will then extensively restore and refurbish the site in conjunction with Heritage Victoria for a late-2024 relaunch. "As a family, some of our fondest summer memories were formed within the walls of the Lorne Theatre," said Chris. "It has always been a special place for us, and we're deeply aware of the space this building holds in the hearts of generations of local and visiting movie lovers." "This shared personal history with the space is why we jumped at this opportunity. It's a huge legacy to take on, but it's one that we're very excited to uphold and build upon." This summer, that means that that the 550-seat cinema that dates back to the 1930s will screen picks curated by Cinema Manager Jessa Shields (ex-Palace Cinema Como, Lido Cinemas and Golden Age Cinema & Bar) with help by Golden Age Director of Programming Kate Jinx. Highlights include classics and new titles alike — so you can see The Birds, Home Alone, The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Muppet Christmas Carol ('tis the season for those last three), as well as the newly restored Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense and Bradley Cooper's latest Maestro. As part of a lineup that will run until Easter 2024, Lorne Theatre will also join forces with magazine Monster Children to screen flicks across a series called Surfside. "After ten years in its historic Surry Hills home and across numerous pop-up locations, it's a thrill to see Golden Age continue to grow," said Jinx. "The vision has always been to provide an inclusive social experience that both recalls the classic cinemagoing of yore but celebrates new voices, too, and I'm excited for Jessa Shields to nurture that ethos in beautiful Lorne." The revamp plans for Lorne Theatre are just as exciting as the movies soon to grace its screen. Movie buffs can look forward to the installation of a new licensed bar, heroing the structure's existing art deco touches everywhere possible and new snack bar menus. "Our plans for the building are not to reinvent the wheel, but to add some love and polish and restore the Lorne Theatre to its original splendour," advises Chris. "We want to accentuate that same charm and sense of grandeur that has captivated visitors for more than 80 years and help ensure the theatre's future as a truly special cultural experience into the future." Find The Lorne Theatre at 76–80 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne. Head to the cinema's website for tickets to its summer program, which kicks off on Friday, December 1. Images: Annika Kafcaloudis.
