This pandemic mightn't have dampened your appetite for fresh, chewy bagels, but with social distancing, it's sure made things a little more hectic at your local farmers market — which is where folks normally flock for a weekend haul of 5 & Dime's bagel creations. The legendary bagelry is still hitting markets across town, but Melburnians with a singular, hole-y focus can now visit 5 & Dime's new takeaway-only pop-up shop in Caulfield North. While the brand's Collins Place store takes a hiatus, it's more than making up for it with this temporary venue on Hawthorne Road, which will be dishing up the goods until the start of September. Boiled and baked bagels head up the menu here, with fan favourites like the sesame, salty garlic and cinnamon raisin available as is,= or jazzed up with one of the signature schmears. And yes, the famed bacon maple cream cheese is indeed getting a run. [caption id="attachment_776964" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kate Shanasy[/caption] You'll also find a slew of other baked goods, with a range of house-made sourdough breads and pastries rounding out the lineup. Loaves run to the likes of a spiced fruit loaf, a jalapeño and cheese creation, and another sourdough modelled on 5 & Dime's popular everything bagel blend. There's the all-new selection of pastries, too, many a first-time foray for the bagel brand. Dessert is sorted with goodies like escargot, babka, plain and flavoured croissants, and danishes. The latter's filings will vary, made using fresh fruit the team's traded for bagels at that week's farmers markets. And, if you're lucky, there'll be a slice or two left of the kitchen's new Basque-style cheesecake — an on-trend way to use up some of those extra stocks of cream cheese. The pop-up's also slinging coffee to match its menu of baked treats, courtesy of small local roastery Rosso. There are both single origin options and a rotating filter coffee on offer. Melburnians are currently instructed to only visit their local cafe or shop — no trekking 30 kilometres for butter chicken — so if Caulfield North isn't in your immediate vicinity, check if the bagelry stocks any of your local farmers markets. Find 5 & Dime's bagel pop-up at 261 Hawthorne Road, Caulfield North until at least early September. It's open from 7am–3pm Monday–Friday and 9am–2pm Saturday–Sunday. Images: Kate Shanasy
Poor old East Melbourne is a bit of a hospitality dead zone, so locals are surely jumping for joy at the arrival of the suburb's newest addition, Square and Compass. The three folks at the helm this one are some of the same names behind cafe favourites Touchwood, Barry and Pillar of Salt, and all that experience tends to show. The production feels tight, the kitchen's turning out a menu full of colourful crowd-pleasers, and the Seven Seeds coffee is on point. Refreshingly, the decor here stands out from the rest of today's cafe crowd, with block pastels and black edging giving the space an understated art-deco feel. Out the back, you'll find a semi-enclosed, heated courtyard space that looks set to be a coveted hot spot even throughout our chilly winter. Fans of the owners' other endeavours will be familiar with some elements of the menu, though this new kitchen's lending a fair splash of its own creativity too. It's a big nod to fresh produce and flavours, so you can expect to find kale aplenty, a few nourishing salad options and that increasingly popular raw zucchini pasta. Breakfast-style dishes and lunch offerings are mingled together, with everything available from open until close. If you're after a morning savoury hit, go for Square and Compass' version of an avocado smash. Here, it tops a wedge of pumpkin loaf, alongside goats' cheese, heirloom tomatoes and a raw beetroot relish ($16.50) — and you can add a poached egg for a couple of dollars extra. Working just as hard at breakfast as it is at lunch, is the ancient grains salad: piled on top of creamy, avocado labne, it's mixed with cauliflower rice, toasted sesame seeds and fresh herbs, and laced with tangy barberries. Crown it with a poached egg ($16) or a generous chunk of melt-in-the-mouth, seared cured trout ($20). Further down the menu, dishes like housemade gnocchi with lamb shoulder ($18) and a herb and parmesan schnitzel ($19.5) are sure-fire winter favourites, while the S.A Rock lobster roll with sriracha mayo and green papaya is already causing a stir. There are plenty of fresh drink options to back up the food offerings, with chai from Chai Boy ($4.5), 70% cocoa hot chocolate from Mork ($4.5), Ayamo cold pressed juices ($8) and a housemade smoothie ($9). This 60-seater is already buzzing on a daily basis, but looking around, there seems to be a pretty solid crew in place; with affable, unpretentious floor staff that know the menu inside-out, an air of smooth efficiency emanates from the service area and open kitchen. The East Melbourne of past years may have boasted much more in the way of hospitals than hospitality, but with any luck, this new offering — along with other East Melbourne venues, Persillade and Hard Pressed — will start to point things in the opposite direction.
Whether you're a Marshmallow or just a soul naturally curious about one of the most high-profile Kickstarter success stories around, you'll be happy to learn that the new Veronica Mars movie will be made available to rent or buy online on March 14 — the same day it hits cinemas in the US. Usually, there's at least a 90-day window between theatrical and DVD or VOD releases, but Warner Bros. is in a position to bypass it this time around, since they don't have a standard distribution deal and are instead renting the theatres that will screen the movie. They see a big market in couch-dwelling non-cinemagoers for this TV-to-film crossover, and they're tapping it. It's just one more way Veronica Mars is doing things differently. After becoming the most widely supported Kickstarter campaign in history with more than 91,000 backers, it has kept fans involved in the process throughout and will make its world premiere at SXSW on March 8. The Australian digital release date has not yet been confirmed, but it seems possible it'll be March 14 here too, and Moviehole is reporting it as so. You can preorder the movie on iTunes, or wait for a definite date before you plan your downloading strategy. As for whether anyone else is listening to consumer requests for timely, legal, convenient access to content, it's not looking so good. https://youtube.com/watch?v=wq1R93UMqlk
The Abbotsford Anglers are a lousy, Saturday morning, suburban cricket team, led by Ted (Stephen Curry), a sweet but kinda hopeless guy who lives in a mate's garage and works at a sports store. When his best mate, Rick (Brendan Cowell), announces his plans to marry and have children (which, to the boyish Ted, amounts to no less than treason), Ted can see his beloved cricket team will be overtaken by nappies, wives and all the other dreadful trappings of manhood. Oblivious to the inevitable fact that the times and the nature of his friendships are a-changing, Ted leads his D-grade team into the depths of India for a tour of glorified park cricket. It’s here that tensions arise, friendships are frayed, life lessons are learned and Ted must finally man up, grow up and fondly leave his teenage dreams behind. Save Your Legs! is about as blokey and Strayne, and silly as you’d expect a cricket bromance penned by Brendan Cowell to be. There's alot of toilet humour and alot of Channel Nine's "Wide World of Sports" theme music going on. Admittedly, I’m not the film’s target audience member (in other words, I’m not a cricket-obsessed, "nice Aussie bloke"), but it’s lovely to see a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Until it does, when the cricket metaphors start coming thick and fast (“There’s only one innings in life. You only get once chance” and so forth). Underlying all the beer and bravado, Save Your Legs! is about mateship and coming of age, with an affectionate portrait of everyday Aussie battlers that puts it in the same cinematic bracket as The Castle and Kenny. If the idea of a crew of drink-addled guys swanning around stoking chaos sounds familiar, it's because the film is also a bit of an Australianisation of The Hangover. Cowell and Curry give endearing performances as man-boys who are forcefully and finally shoved out of adolescence and into adulthood at the ripe old age of thirty-five. As a lighthearted, nostalgia-drenched film, Save Your Legs! hits a six.
No one likes it when their phone rings from an unknown number, whether "no caller ID" or digits that you don't recognise flash up on your mobile's screen. Telemarketers isn't going to change that response. It won't dampen the collective ire that the world holds towards the pushy people on the other end of the line, either. HBO's thrilling three-part docuseries doesn't just reinforce what viewers already feel about the nuisance industry that thinks it can interrupt your day and life with a spiel that no one wants, and impact your bank balance in the process. In addition, it spins a true tale that demonstrates why a deep-seated dislike of telemarketing is so well-founded, and also why cold-calling operations can be so insidious. This true-crime story about the New Jersey-based Civic Development Group surpasses even the most call centre-despising audience member's low expectations of the field — and it's gripping, can't-look-away, has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed stuff. "Every other telemarketer who drives you crazy in the whole world is because of CDG," advises one of the series' interviewees. That might seem like a big claim, but co-directors Sam Lipman-Stern (Live From the Streets) and Adam Bhala Lough (The New Radical) step through its truth. The former knows the outfit's approach from experience, working there for seven years from the age of 14 after dropping out of high school, while the latter is the filmmaker cousin he wasn't aware of. Lipman-Stern is Telemarketers' on-screen guiding hand, too, but his ex-colleague Patrick J Pespas is its heart and soul. As seen early — with the show streaming its trio of chapters weekly via Binge since Monday, August 14 — Pespas is called a "telemarketing legend". Although he's happy snorting heroin on-camera in 2000s-era footage, he's switched on to CDG's shonkiness; more than that, he's determined to expose it even if it takes two decades. When Lipman-Stern began earning $10 an hour convincing ordinary Americans to donate to charities represented by CDG, he found himself at a place where anyone could get hired with few questions asked. The only requirement: bringing in funds while hitting the phone. As long as the company's employees kept making money, anything went. Those workers are a motley crew of vulnerable misfits in Lipman-Stern's low-res fly-on-the-wall footage, spanning not just dropouts and addicts but also ex-cons recruited directly from halfway houses and folks who didn't fit the usual nine-to-five grind. And their work environment? It "was like you was just going to a big-ass cookout every fucking day," one past staff member notes. Drinking, drugs, sex, nodding off on the phone, getting tattoos in the office, baby turtles crawling over keyboards, general seediness and raucousness that even telemarketing sitcom Workaholics didn't dream up: that was all a part of cashing a CDG cheque, as Lipman-Stern captured at the time, then uploaded to YouTube. Telemarketers' main pair and their boiler-room colleagues were paid to ring their way through the organisation's sales lists, rustling up financial support for police officers, their widows, veterans, firemen, dying children and cancer survivors. When it's the cops they're touting — typically under the Fraternal Order of Police, which is akin to a law-enforcement union — they also send out stickers emblazoned with the particularl lodge's logo. It usually goes unspoken, but those decals come with shifty promise: if you display them on your car, house or shop because you've slung some funds towards the police, you might get favourable treatment if an officer ever has cause to cross your path. Yes, that's dodgy. If only it was the most dubious aspect of CDG's gambit. Everywhere that Lipman-Stern and Pespas look, this tale gets worse. It's no wonder that Uncut Gems and Good Time filmmakers Benny and Josh Safdie are among Telemarketers' executive producers, plus Eastbound & Down's Danny McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. Barely giving any of the money raised to any of the charities represented? Tick. Using underhanded and forceful tactics, flat-out lying and adopting voices resembling a "cartoon caricature of police officer", all to con people into donating? Check there, too. Unsurprisingly attracting legal attention across several states, and multiple levels of government, yet managing to keep operating? Tick again. Slippery founders — two sets of brothers, one of which includes the member of a Christian rock band — who aren't fussed about CDG's ongoing legal troubles? Check once more. Turning nonprofit fundraising into a complete sham? Keep on ticking. Constantly devolving, whether by letting fear-inducing convicted murderers loose on the phones, using artificial intelligence to keep calls going without needing staff or capitalising upon America's increasingly polarised political landscape? That's all part of this story as well. Making for jaw-on-the-floor viewing, Telemarketers is a wild portrait of greed, exploitation and corruption — and while screens aren't short of those of late, this isn't a Succession or Squid Game-style eat-the-rich effort. There's nothing luxurious or stylish here. All that's on display is pure predatory behaviour from CDG's owners and their cronies towards everyone below them, employees and folks picking up the phone alike alike. Lipman-Stern and Pespas are as much scam victims as the people they called. But, when a disguised player in the industry notes that "it's not the telemarketers you should be worried about", Telemarketers gets even more sinister. When the strikes end, expect Hollywood to pounce on a dramatised remake. The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach could easily slip into Lipman-Stern's shoes, and Saturday Night Live and Mr Mayor's Bobby Moynihan into Pespas'. Fantasy casting aside, any future retelling of CDG's exploits needs Lipman-Stern and Pespas at its centre — because Telemarketers wouldn't be what it is without them, or even exist. As much as HBO's series is a takedown of a horrific swindle, it's also an ode to guerrilla journalism by a couple of average guys fighting back, and a character study of the pair as well. As the show jumps across 20 years, it surveys who Lipman-Stern and Pespas are, what changes in their lives, their evolving friendship, their commitment to exposing their old workplace and why they took up this battle. It also doesn't shy away from the fact that they're plucky amateurs doing what they feel compelled to. The Safdies were approached to direct Telemarketers, only to glean what audiences can now see: that authenticity couldn't be more crucial. When 2022 became a banner year for true-crime deceptions on-screen, unravelling real-life stories through Inventing Anna, The Dropout and more, polish reigned supreme. Getting an inside view from everyday sleuths taking on the crooks who gave them a gig, as chronicled through rough-around-the-edges footage and scrappy chats — that's a raw, like-you're-there experience, and it's both powerful and electrifying. So too is Lipman-Stern and Pespas' transformation as they get immersed in their investigation over the years. Initially, Lipman-Stern just wants to film office pranks, while the ever-earnest Pespas has his own personal tussles. Before our eyes, they become the tenacious duo revealing a billion-dollar fraud and bringing this stunning whistleblower documentary to the world. Check out the trailer for Telemarketers below: Telemarketers streams via Binge from Monday, August 14.
What's better than an annual ice hotel that lets frost-loving travellers stay in snowy surrounds every winter? A chilly accommodation provider that offers all of the above all year round. After falling into the former category since 1989, Sweden's Icehotel has made the leap to the latter. Yes, that means that you can now head to the village of Jukkasjärvi, check into rooms moulded from snow and ice, and enjoy keeping cool — in several senses of the word — every day of the year. Unsurprisingly, it's the world's first permanent place to stay of its kind, and there's more in store for anyone visiting the not-so-humble abode on the banks of the Torne River 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. The new venture covers 2,100 square metres and features 20 ice suites, a champagne ice bar and an ice art gallery. Among the sights you'll see within the appropriately named Icehotel 365's frosty -5°C walls: private saunas and spas for an added touch of warmth in such cold surroundings, and artist, architect and designer-fashioned rooms inspired by everything from fairy tales to dancing — and featuring ice chandeliers and winding ice staircases, too. Plus, the gallery also boasts the largest permanent art exhibition north of Stockholm. Stopping the year-round attraction from turning to slush is when summer comes and near-constant daylight hits is a solar-powered undulating roof that achieves a particularly impressive feat: harnessing the warmth from above to maintain the requisite cold state below. That makes the venue sustainable as well as icily spectacular, in case it needed any more drawcards. Icehotel's seasonal section will continue as normal, with the non-permanent part of the site built when the weather starts to cool each year and then melts when the sun comes out. And with good reason: in previous years, artists have crafted rooms that riff on Tron: Legacy, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, 1920s cult horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, UFOs and giant sea monsters, to name a few previous themes. For more information about Icehotel, visit www.icehotel.com. Images: Asaf Kliger.
They're the team behind 2020's multimillion-dollar refurb of inner-city boozer Public House. And now, the De Fraga Group are at it again, unveiling their makeover of fellow Richmond pub, The Kingston. It's taken just over a year of construction and a reported $1.5 million, but the 168-year-old Highett Street boozer has barrelled into a new phase of life with a refreshed public bar and parlour, and sophisticated new dining room dubbed Marble & Pearl. The historic front bar has been stripped right back to basics, then reworked with plenty of timber panelling and dapper leather banquettes, with a deck overlooking the new-look beer garden. Here, you're in for elevated public bar fare — yellowfin tuna niçoise, a wagyu beef burgundy pie, pork or duck bangers with mash, and a grilled cauliflower steak with capers and oregano. Oh, and maybe some caviar, or a retro-leaning prawn cocktail to start. Down the stairs sits the light-filled Marble & Pearl, with its chic pops of marble and sea-green tones — this isn't your average pub restaurant. A dry-aging cabinet and the kitchen's charcoal parrilla grill hint at the meat focus that awaits you on the menu; the work of Head Chef Yallambar Bantawa, who trained in South America with Argentinian master Carlos Lopez. A caviar cart is doing the rounds, offering beluga and oscietra varieties, and with caviar bumps paired with chilled Grey Goose for $25 a pop. You'll find some carry-overs from the upstairs menu, such as the miso-glazed bone marrow, crispy fried Brazilian pastéis and a rich seafood chowder. Meanwhile, Marble & Pearl exclusives include both a classic Peruvian red snapper ceviche and a vegan take done with king browns and silken tofu, plus a hand-cut steak tartare. Premium seafood options abound, with the likes of southern rock lobster (grilled, or done mornay-style), a pan-fried whole flounder and buttery Alaskan king crab legs. But it's the steak fiends who'll really be in heaven, choosing between no less than 11 cuts, all done on the parilla, and served with a housemade red and green chimichurri. If you're feeling glam, there's a swag of luxe add-ons, too; from sliced foie gras to grilled lobster tail. Find The Kingston and Marble & Pearl at 55 Highett Street, Richmond. It's open 12–11pm Wednesday and Thursday, and 12pm–12am Friday to Sunday.
You would think that for a country girt by sea, comprising a shitload of bewilderingly great beaches and a population who love a good bevvy, we'd have more opportunities to drink by the ocean (you know, outside of a sneaky goon sack stroll down the shore on NYE). But we haven't, legally, until now. Fremantle's Bathers Beach House has been granted Australia's first liquor license for alfresco beach dining (and drinking). The WA establishment is currently the only place in Australia where you can (legally) drink on the beach. Of course, they've arranged sun lounges in their newly licensed sand and will be serving a range of food and drinks from their beachside menu, delivered straight to your sunbathing face. General erosion, gradual ecosystem destruction and environmental impact aside, generally speaking, it could be the impetus the rest of Australia needs to start amending the laws that forbid the pairing of our nation's two strongest assets: a hot beach and cold beers. The Gold Coast toyed with the idea in 2015 but to no avail. Come on local Australian councils, legalise beach beers. Think of the boom in sales of those fold-out chairs with in-built drink holders. We can't afford not to follow suit on this one. Via Hospitality Magazine.
Northcote's High Street is worlds apart from the dusty expanse of Burning Man. But after this month, they'll share something in common: both will have played host to interactive neon art installations by renowned Aussie artist Carla O'Brien. You might be familiar with O'Brien's signature work, Neon Angel Wings, which shot to global fame after Katy Perry posed for a snap with them installed at the US festival back in 2016. Now, the artist's taking over the Northcote stretch affectionately dubbed The Rise, for a two-weekend pop-up installation celebrating diversity. From December 9–12 and again from December 16–19, Northcote Rise Neon Art Park will see a swag of playful neon pieces grace Civic Square at the Northcote Town Hall. Expect hot pink poodles, vibrant flowers and interlocking hearts, on show as the sun dips each night. And yes; those angel wings will be making an appearance so you can have your own little Burning Man moment, right here on home soil. [caption id="attachment_837854" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Melanie Desa[/caption] Images: Melanie Desa
Victoria has fully reopened to the entire country, and Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia have all announced when they'll relax their border rules, too. Now, it's Western Australia's turn. Today, Friday, November 5, WA Premier Mark McGowan revealed that the state will start welcoming back travellers sometime early in 2022, once it hits the 90-percent double-vaccinated mark. That means that there's no exact reopening date right now, but McGowan said he expects it to occur sometime in late January or early February. Once WA hits the 80-percent double-dose threshold, the Premier will announce exactly when folks from other states will be able to head west again at that 90-percent mark. And, people travelling from overseas destinations, too — because the reopening will apply to both WA's domestic and international borders. There'll be different rules in place depending on where you're entering from, and other health measures such as wearing face masks in high-risk settings and requiring proof of vaccination at large events and nightclubs will also be put into effect statewide. Today we can announce Western Australia's Safe Transition Plan to ease our controlled border. It sets out an approach which will allow us to safely ease our border controls with other States and resume international travel - while limiting the impact of COVID when it reaches WA. pic.twitter.com/z8mSPlppsf — Mark McGowan (@MarkMcGowanMP) November 5, 2021 Now planning a trip to WA from elsewhere in Australia? You'll need to be double-vaccinated to enter, and also to get a negative PCR test result within 72 hours of departing. At first, there'll be tests upon arrival as well, but they will eventually be phased out. For those making the journey from an international location, there'll be no quarantine for double-vaxxed arrivals — and the same testing requirements will be in place for both domestic and overseas travellers. If you haven't had two jabs, you'll still need to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days. "The decision to target a 90-percent vaccination rate is based on extensive modelling which shows us the rates of community infections, hospitalisations and deaths are far lower if we make this change at 90-percent, when compared with an 80-percent target," said the Premier. And, while that 90-percent threshold will apply statewide, "if there are regional areas with low vaccination rates, then pending the health advice at the time, restrictions on travel within WA to protect these specific regions may need to be introduced," McGowan continued. [caption id="attachment_770353" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Western Australia[/caption] The just-announced plan will see WA reopen while having no COVID-19 in the state's community, too. "This plan sets out how WA will transition in a safe manner and provides a soft landing, with minimal impact on WA's unique way of life," said the Premier. "Transitioning with zero COVID in the community has never been done before and that's why our transition is unique and will require us to all work together." Western Australia has had a hard border and strict quarantine requirements in place for much of the pandemic, meaning that people who don't normally reside in WA have only been able to visit the state if they're classified as an exempt traveller, apply for a G2G Pass and, if approved, then self-isolate for 14 days. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Western Australia, and the state's corresponding restrictions, visit its online COVID-19 hub.
If you want to learn to dance, you may as well learn from the masters. And now the Australian Ballet can get you Nut-Cracking, even if you're not a trained dancer. The organisation is running drop-in classes at the Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre in Melbourne. And it's not just ballet that's on the agenda. Sure, you can don your tutu and get a-pirouetting if that's your calling. But there are lessons in pretty much every other genre too, including contemporary and Broadway-style dancing. Also on the program is Pilates and yoga, so you can keep yourself stretchy and calm in-between dance sessions. All classes are casual, cost $15 per pop and run the year through. So, you can turn up — or not — at your leisure. Right now, there's even an intro offer that scores you a week's worth of lessons for free too. Don't forget to send us a vid if you manage to master that curbside scene in Singin' in the Rain or score a role in La La Land Vol. II. The Australian Ballet runs casual classes Monday to Thursday at the Primrose Potter Australian Ballet Centre, 2 Kavanagh Street, Southbank. For more info or to book-in to a class, visit australianballet.com.au.
A boat sails across the ceiling, down the wall and across the crisp white hotel bed, into the carpet. This is no projection, no Photoshop and no witchcraft, but the aquarium-like effect of acclaimed photographer Robyn Stacey's recent experiments with a 5th-century BC technology: camera obscura. During a residency at Melbourne's Sofitel on Collins Street and visits to hotels in other cities, Stacey photographed scenes of exterior cityscapes imposed onto hotel interiors using tools from opposite ends of the technological spectrum, a simple camera obscura and a high-tech Hasselblad DSLR. The result is Guest Relations, a new series on show now at Sydney's Stills Gallery. What can you expect to see? Mysterious people, supposedly guests of the hotel, caught in moments of contemplation while the city hangs suspended above their heads or washes over the walls around them in startlingly sharp definition, suggesting a collision of public and private life. During her residency, Stacey recognised that just a photo of the hotel's famous views would constitute nothing more than a postcard. So she turned to camera obscura to solve the creative problem. "I like layers in work," she says. "The room sort of reveals itself to you." Because of the technical constraints of camera obscura — sometimes there'd only be a 40-minute window to shoot a long exposure of a motionless, torch-lit human subject while the sun was in the right spot — surprises would emerge. For example, in one image, there's "the way the war memorial comes in, the angle it comes in, and how [the female subject] is lying under it. So there's all that thing about, what does a war memorial signify, and what about the fact that she's female? It's open then, for people to read into it how they might." Stacey likes the film-still sense of narrative in the tableaux, raising questions of "What's happened in that room, or why are [these people] there?" The beauty of camera obscura, which she's only been working with since February this year, is that "it's magical. Turn on the light and it’s not there. It only happens in the dark." While hers required a laser-cut hole and a diopter lens, she points out that anyone could make one with black cardboard and a pen to punch the hole through it. She hopes to progress to filming these interiorscapes. "What you get in the room that you don’t get in a still image is movement. Sometimes you get these fantastic cloudscapes. They’re just rolling toward you, and they go all over the bed and the floor. It's like you're in the clouds." Stacey's advice to aspiring artists? She cites the quote often attributed to Goethe: Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. "[There can be] too much thinking and not enough doing. But they have to come together. If you have an idea, don't wait, do it now. It might not come out how you wanted, but it will open into something else. The work will lead you, but you've gotta go into it. You can't stand back from it." Robyn Stacey's Guest Relations is on at the Stills Gallery in Sydney until November 9. See more of her photography in her online portfolio.
Misty mornings, roaring waterfalls, verdant Ireland-green meadows and a top-notch cheese collection — welcome to Robertson. This unassuming, 2000-person village found two hours drive southwest of Sydney feels a bit like it's on top of the world. Maybe that's why so many creatives live and work here, among them Ben Quilty, Carlos Barrios Miriam Margolyes and Anne Judell. Here's your guide to spending a couple of days in their neighbourhood. [caption id="attachment_615785" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Robertson Hotel.[/caption] STAY The Robertson Hotel is cause enough to visit the area in and of itself. Any chance you're a Babe die-hard? It's here that the vego-promoting film was shot. Built in 1924 in a spot chosen for its panoramas, the hotel nabbed the 'Most Luxurious Hotel in the Commonwealth' award in 1925. Since then, it's served as a WWII RAAF base, hospice and monastery (thanks, monks, for adding the glorious stained glass windows). New owner Con Kotis took over in 2015 and has been busy restoring the 40 rooms to their former heavenliness. Wandering around the 14 acres of fantastical, sculpture-dotted landscaped grounds, you'll feel like you're in a film that's part-Greek myth and part-Secret Garden. There are dreamy swimming pools, ancient rainforest groves, a pathway to the hotel's private (and working!) railway station and a statue of Mary from the Vatican (the actual Vatican). Inside, you'll be sinking into a goose down doona draped across a hand-crafted Egyptian bed and freshening up in a black-and-white mosaicked bathroom. There's also a bunch of shared spaces, including a lovely bar beside a crackling fire (where high tea can be served on request) and a high-ceilinged dining room. EAT AND DRINK If you find the willpower to leave the hotel, a myriad of adventures await. Make your first stop the Robertson Cheese Factory. Hang around the counter with a hungry face and the on-duty maitre fromager will treat you to a tasting, covering boutique creations from all over NSW and Victoria. Robertson's surrounding pastures were once prime dairy country. The gelato cabinet promises more milky goodness, whipped up on the spot. Next door, the emporium is packed with vintage objects, pre-loved clothing and second-hand books. Just 300 metres west — just past the Big Potato, which was recently saved by a Robertson local from being turned into a car park — is Robertson Inn. It's one of the last 100 percent wooden hotels in Australia. Head chef Jeff Henry, who trained in double-hatted establishments, is behind the quality gastropub offerings. The menu covers "share" dishes, such as the signature cured plate, and "don't share" options, including grilled crispy skin salmon with sweet potato, asparagus, saffron lime and mussel salsa. Another pub to pop into — mainly for its stunning beer garden — is Burrawang Village Hotel, a ten-minute drive west. [caption id="attachment_609536" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Peter Saw.[/caption] While you're in the area, you'd be a mug not to check out some local wineries. The Southern Highlands, being 600+ metres above sea level, is all about cool climate varieties, such as Pinot Noir and Riesling. To avoid driving, ask Highlands Chauffered Hire Cars to pick you up from your hotel. While you sit in the back of an air-conditioned Merc, James Halliday-ing over various drops, your driver will take you wherever you'd like to go. Our tour covered multi-award winners Tertini and Artemis, as well as Sally's Corner, a friendly little operation, where local couple Allen and Dawn Davies do everything, from growing the grapes to making the wines. Looking for a lunch stop on the way? At tranquil, leafy Bendooley, there are lots of books (it's Berkelouw's HQ) and innovative dishes driven by local produce, such as broccolini and asparagus, crispy kale, saffron emulsion and Avruga caviar. Meanwhile, at Centennial Vineyards, you'll get creative dishes, such as Highlands beef fillet with kipfler hash brown, pea puree, Centennial Merlot sauce and onion jam, and idyllic vineyards. Feel free — if not obliged — to sneak in a wine tasting at either. [caption id="attachment_609538" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Bjenks.[/caption] DO Robertson is all about getting into the great outdoors. And, around here, they're great, indeed. A driving tour, taking in a trio of spectacular waterfalls, namely Fitzroy, Belmore and Carrington, is a good place to start. Should you be visiting in steamy weather, go for a dip at Nellies Glen or in Carrington Falls Pools. Given that you're more or less surrounded by national parks, hikes abound. For views and a decent workout, conquer the six-kilometre Clover Hill trail in Macquarie Pass National Park. For an easy saunter through rainforest, there's the 1.6-kilometre Rainforest Loop in Budderoo National Park. And to walk through a canopy — 50 metres above the ground — while soaking up extraordinary scenery, swing by the Illawarra Fly, where you can also terrify yourself on Australia's highest zipline. Keen cyclists will like the 24-kilometre Budderoo Track, which meanders through wildflowers and bloodwood forests. If you're a towny type, stick to wandering among the Southern Highland's many pretty villages, drinking coffee, perusing art and browsing in cute, independent shops. All the tips you need are in our guides to Bowral, Berrima and the Southern Highlands. Jasmine Crittenden travelled to Robertson as a guest of Robertson Hotel and Destination NSW.
In US, the middle of 2024 has been dubbed the "summer of Shyamalan". The seasons don't fit Down Under for such a catchy alliterative term to apply, but it's still a big time for the Shyamalan family on the big screen. In August, M Night Shyamalan's Trap, his 16th feature, has a date with cinemas. One of its stars: Saleka, aka M Night's eldest daughter, with the IRL R&B singer playing a musician in the serial-killer thriller. Cinephiles needn't wait until then for a Shyamalan-driven horror movie, though, with the Ireland-set and Dakota Fanning (Ripley)-led The Watchers marking the film directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan. Ishana isn't new to the genre that's clearly in her genes — she says that working in it "felt very inevitable", she tells Concrete Playground — after initially making an imprint as a director and writer on TV's Servant, which M Night was the showrunner on. But this is her first feature, and it both continues the family tradition and champions her own interpretation of eerie screen stories. Based on the novel by AM Shine, The Watchers embraces the gothic side of horror as it unfurls its story in an expansive forest that's a beacon for stray souls. Fanning's American-abroad Mina finds much among its trees, including Madeline (Olwen Fouéré, The Tourist), Ciara (Georgina Campbell, Barbarian) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan, We Are Lady Parts); a bunker called The Coop that's their only form of shelter; and the titular creatures who observe their every movement each night. When the woodland won't let you leave, no one can escape it by daylight and danger lurks at night, however, Mina and her new roommates risk being consigned to remaining lost. If Mina's moniker seems like a clue that there's a twist coming — another Shyamalan trait — it springs from Shine's pages. The character has a sister called Lucy, though, a change that Ishana did make in adapting the book for the screen. Yes, there is indeed a surprise at the film's core as it charts its characters attempting to work out why they're stranded, what's watching them and how to leave the remote thicket peppered with warning signs about points of no return, and also darkened burrows in the ground, but nods Bram Stoker's way are an illustration of how Ishana has taken her influences from far beyond her dad's filmography. "It was actually a very unintentional thing," she explains of the names. "I didn't think about Dracula until much later, and I think it's one of those things where you're subliminally inspired by various things. I realised I had named the sister Lucy later, and I was like 'oh my god, those are the two names'," she notes. "But gothic literature and just gothic art in general was a big, big influence and driving factor of this particular movie. It's a style that I love, and I think it's just so, so wonderful and fun. So I very much structured the story to feel like a gothic piece — so I think it's all just intertwined in that way." [caption id="attachment_961260" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marion Curtis / Starpix for Warner Bros.[/caption] Still, viewers can be forgiven for spying what Ishana has inherited from M Night on The Watchers, and where a lifetime of having a father making horror movies has shaped her as a filmmaker. The writer/director behind The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, The Visit, Split and Glass is also one of the picture's producers. Supernatural horror movie? Tick. An inescapable sense of tension as suspense drips? Tick again. Audiences waiting for the pieces of the film's puzzle to fall into place? Tick once more. Narrative-changing revelations? A haunted feel to the feature's lead performance? A strong visual command? Just keep ticking. One thing that Ishana, who was a second-unit director on her dad's Old and Knock at the Cabin, definitely hasn't continued is M Night's fondness for popping up on-screen in his own movies. "Absolutely not. I'm very afraid being in front of the camera. There was one thing I was thinking I could do as a joke, but then I was like 'that's not me — I can't, I can't cameo'," she says. She was keen to give her father a part, but it didn't pan out. "I wanted to put him in the movie actually, but I didn't get to do it." What did Ishana learn from being surrounded by filmmaking from birth? From working on Servant, too? Was getting behind the lens always her path? Why did Shine's book strike a chord? Also, how was Studio Ghibli great Hayao Miyazaki an influence? With The Watchers opening in Australian cinemas on Thursday, June 6 and in New Zealand on Thursday, June 13, we spoke with Ishana about all of the above and more, including about this Shyamalan-heavy period at the flicks, telling original tales and the expectations that come with her surname. On How Writing and Directing Episodes of Servant Prepared Ishana for Making Her First Feature "It was such a wonderful, wonderful experience for me. I think coming right out of film school and going to Servant, I was very much able to treat that as a second film school. And I think just the style of the show, being so restrained and limited, gave all the filmmakers on that project the ability to play with form and technique as your main languages there. So I really felt throughout each episode that I was able to think very specifically about those base elements of filmmaking, like shot-making and what specifically I wanted to get out of these performances. That was very much, I think, an archetypal film experience for me." On Ishana's Initial Response to AM Shine's Book "The book was brought to us by a producer to read it for consideration. I had no context to know what it was about, just had the cover and the synopsis on the back, and just started reading it — and it was just something that I felt incredibly locked in on. I thought it was just such masterful storytelling within the book, and had all of these tonal elements that I was interested in playing with in my exploration of the genre space as well. And then by the end of the book, it becomes this really masterful depth-specific world. And I just fell in love with it, so it felt inevitable in that way." On the Shared Feeling of Claustrophobia That Simmers in Both The Watchers and Servant "I think the process has been very much about leaning into my own fears — which, yeah, I'm afraid of finding myself in situations like that. As a human being, your mind just goes to those places of 'what if I was trapped somewhere? What if I couldn't get out?'. So those ideas I think all felt very, very, quite real and and relatable to me. I haven't thought too much about if that's something that's specific to me or just what I feel. Overall, I think I often have anxiety of being stuck in various forms of my life. One of my main fears as I navigate the world is being trapped in some feeling or with people that I'm scared of. So that is definitely something that I feel quite personally in my life — always the feeling of needing to get out of a place and the ability to move." On Ishana's Approach to Cultivating a Mood and Vibe in Horror "To me, I think the guiding principle was always to just lean into the visuals and energies that I felt love for, that I felt seduced by. A lot of times, horror or survivalist pieces like this have a very similar aesthetic, which is bleak and stripped down. So I was really interested in exploring that same feeling, but in much more maximalist, grandiose visual language. So that was one of the most-interesting things about it to me — how do you create a tone that feels completely fresh in this experience that we've seen a lot in film?" On Playing with Shadows and Light Visually in The Watchers — and Using Imagery to Reflect the Film's Themes "It became very clear to me early on that the movie hinges on daylight and darkness, and that contrast between between light and dark, which is obviously a very classical painterly technique to use — that chiaroscuro approach to the work. But it very much was embedded into the concept of the movie. Even on the book, on the novel itself, the tagline is 'stay in the light' there. So I was really interested in playing with that element of it. I had talked a lot with my DP [Eli Arenson, Lamb] and my production designer [Ferdia Murphy, The Last Girl] about creating this very classic, literal. stage-like approach to our hero space in the movie, which is The Coop, which you see as where they've been trapped. So that was very much something that we went in and wanted to do, where it was distinctive pools of light that our characters are moving in and out of, and it feels like they have that feeling when you don't really control the space that you're in." On Considering Hayao Miyazaki a Source of Inspiration for The Watchers "I grew up watching the Miyazaki films and they, throughout my life, have been a very spiritual thing for me. So I'm always aspiring to mimic that feeling that I feel when I watch them, which is one of wonder and innocence. I felt when I read the book that it had exactly that thing, which is this sense of a character going on an adventure and experiencing a new world. That was very, very exciting for me and gave me a lot of peace to know that I could enter the filmmaking space with something that felt really wondrous to me — so more in the vibe of what I'm trying to achieve with the movie, which I think just carries you into other worlds and hopefully, hopefully has that same feeling." On Deciding to Go Into the Family Business of Filmmaking "It was something that came to me much later in life as I was about to go to school and deciding what I wanted to do as my future. I'd always move through different art forms and known that I had wanted to be an artist in some way — and then it was only later in my life when I was able to even visualise the possibility of myself being a filmmaker. It came very much as a product of all the various things that I love doing going up. And so it felt very much like a surprise to me that this was the thing I was interested in." On What You Learn When Making Movies Is All Around You From Birth "My whole life has been a process of watching and listening to my dad as he's moved through his creative journey, and that's been just so wonderful, I think, to see the morals that he's built and the preciousness with which he regards the art form. So I really think I could've come into filmmaking already with that emphasis on technique and approach to the art-making process. So it was really wonderful, I think. I tried to honour his approach to filmmaking, which is respecting it as much as possible, and that it takes an incredible amount of emotional stability and persistence and work. I really am lucky that I have that visual to touch base with when I'm struggling with the experience myself." [caption id="attachment_961268" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marion Curtis / Starpix for Warner Bros.[/caption] On The Watchers and Trap Forming a Season of Shyamalan It's very interesting. He and I talk about it all the time because it is so anomalous, I think, that there's these two movies are coming out so close to each other. They're very, very different movies. They exist in completely different spaces, which I think is quite cool that they're not of the same world. All things happen for a reason, so my hope is that they can both artistically speak to each other and can communicate. But overall it's just a wonderful thing that we have this space within a giant summer to put out two original movies — I think that's just a wonderful, wonderful thing." On the Shyamalans Making Original Movies at a Time When Existing Intellectual Property and Long-Running Franchises Dominate "It's a different world for sure, and I'm definitely pondering it all the time. I think both he and I value that classical experience of going into theatre with a bunch of people who are different than you and watching something very specific that you didn't know anything about, and feeling the same way about it. I think we both believe that there is this power of a collective original experience where you're seeing some fresh cutting-edge stuff. It's definitely something that I will try to preserve that space as well. And I see a lot of other young filmmakers doing the same, so it makes me quite hopeful for the future of movies, that we can have all different flavours of things." On the Expectations That Come with Ishana Following in M Night's Footsteps — Especially in Horror "The genre for me felt very inevitable. It's just always the art that I've been drawn to and that I've made has played in this slightly darker space. So that felt there was no other option for me than to enter a similar space to him. There's definitely opinions and expectations — and I think I love that feeling. There's something to prove, and having to cut my own space into the creative spirit is a really intriguing challenge for me. So I'm just trying to do the best I can and be as creatively honest as possible, and then I hope things things will go as they should." The Watchers released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, June 6 and hits New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, June 13. Read our review.
UPDATE, May 5, 2021: Willy's Wonderland is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. If you've ever wondered how Nicolas Cage might've fared during cinema's silent era, Willy's Wonderland has the answer. A horror film about killer animatronic restaurant mascots, it's firmly a 2021 feature. It wasn't made a century ago, before synchronised sound forever changed the movie business, so it's definitely a talkie as well. Cage doesn't do any chattering, however. He groans and growls, and often, but doesn't utter a single word. The actor's many devotees already know that he's a talent with presence; whether he's cavorting in the streets under the delusion that he's a bloodsucker in Vampire's Kiss, grinning with his locks flowing in the wind in Con Air, dousing himself with vodka and grunting in Mandy or staring at a vibrant light in Color Out of Space, he repeatedly makes an imprint without dialogue. So, the inimitable star needn't speak to command attention — which is exactly the notion that Willy's Wonderland filmmaker Kevin Lewis (The Third Nail) put to the test. First, the great and obvious news: Cage doesn't seem to put in much effort, but he's a joy to watch. Playing a man simply known as The Janitor, he glowers like he couldn't care less that furry robots are trying to kill him. He swaggers around while cleaning the titular long-abandoned Chuck E Cheese-esque establishment, dances while hitting the pinball machine on his breaks, swigs soft drink as if it's the only beverage in the world and proves mighty handy with a mop handle when it comes to dispensing with his supernaturally demonic foes. Somehow, though, he's never as OTT as he could be. Cage plays a character who doesn't deem it necessary to convey his emotions, and that results in more restraint on his part than the film demonstrates with its undeniably silly premise. Accordingly, cue the bad news: as entertaining as Cage's wordless performance is — even without completely going for broke as only he can — Willy's Wonderland is often a ridiculous yet routine slog. The Janitor finds himself locked in Willy's Wonderland in the sleepy Nevada town of Hayesville courtesy of an inconveniently placed spike strip. Driving over the device trashes his tyres, which local mechanic Jed Love (Chris Warner, Machete) can replace, but The Janitor doesn't have cash, credit isn't accepted and there's no working ATM within a handy distance. So, he's offered a deal. If he spends the night cleaning the shuttered children's eatery for owner Tex Macadoo (Ric Reitz, Finding Steve McQueen), Jed will fix his car. The Janitor agrees and gets a-scrubbing, but animatronics Willy Weasel, Arty Alligator, Cammy Chameleon, Tito Turtle, Knighty Knight, Gus Gorilla, Siren Sara and Ozzie Ostrich (no, not Ossie Ostrich from Hey Hey It's Saturday) have him in their sights. Willy's Wonderland could've opted for a stripped-back, action-heavy approach, solely focusing on Cage's clash with the critters after the movie's obligatory setup scenes. The film clearly only exists because he's in it, after all. And, the idea of seeing Cage in a John Wick-style flick that's built upon relentless fights for survival is a concept made in cinematic heaven — if Charlize Theron (in Atomic Blonde) and Bob Odenkirk (in Nobody) can do it, he can as well. But first-time screenwriter GO Parsons opts for a different template. The horror genre's fondness for offing meddling teens comes into play, and Willy's Wonderland is a worse movie for it. Hayesville high schoolers Liv (Emily Tosta, Party of Five), Chris (Kai Kadlec, Dropouts), Kathy (Caylee Cowan, Incision), Aaron (Christian Delgrosso, School Spirits), Bob (Terayle Hill, Judas and the Black Messiah) and Dan (Jonathan Mercedes, Cobra Kai) know that something isn't right at Willy's. They're aware that folks have gone missing there before, too. And, after the rest of the group helps Liv escape the handcuffs her guardian and local sheriff Eloise Lund (Beth Grant, Words on Bathroom Walls) uses to try to keep her safe, they all head to the condemned building to stop The Janitor from becoming its next victim. When it wallows in by-the-numbers slasher territory, just with homicidal puppets and not maniacal humans picking off pesky teens, Willy's Wonderland delivers the least-engaging version of its premise. That's when it resembles the video game Five Nights at Freddy's mixed with terrible sequels to 80s fare like Friday the 13th, and blandly so. Lewis and Parsons might intend to wink and nod at the decades-old pictures that started their chosen subgenre, rather than lazily ape them — as the retro animatronic designs appear to indicate — but when their film happily embraces every cliche it can, it's neither fun or funny. The flick's disposable adolescents make the usual range of stupid choices, including having sex in the doomed space, and whenever they open their mouths, they rarely do the movie any favours. Indeed, the dialogue is so thin, clunky and unconvincing that you can be forgiven for desperately wishing that, like Cage's unnamed drifter, no one in the feature spoke. It isn't hard to squander Cage's talents in a lacklustre-at-best movie, though. Lewis can take solace in the fact that plenty of directors have, and their star has let them. Of late, the actor's resume overflows with films that've only garnered attention because he's in them — see also: the tedious Jiu Jitsu and Primal in just the past two years — and Willy's Wonderland easily joins them. He's nowhere near his best here, but he's still the best thing about the picture. Jittery editing, oversaturated visuals and oh-so-much formula can't dampen his noiseless performance, although, conversely, he can't help Willy's Wonderland overcome its many struggles. 2021 has already let Cage completists see him drip profanity and wax lyrical about the origins of curse words in History of Swear Words, so perhaps this dialogue-free affair is just his way of retaining a sense of cosmic Cage balance. It's never anywhere near as goofy, wacky or out-there as it seems to think, however, and it's positively dull whenever its leading man is out of sight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE5-hkHIZF4
I've always thought of Utah as just another landlocked American state — a puzzling enigma of deep conservatism and desert monuments. Little did I know that a recent visit to America's most underrated state would unearth a skiing and mountain community steeped in beauty, history and epicurean experiences that wouldn't feel out of place in Australia. You'll find Park City — the ski town you've probably never heard of — a short 45-minute drive from Utah's capital. After leaving Salt Lake City International Airport, it's not long before the lights of the city's historic Main Street (as well as the headlights from the army of snowcat groomers on the hill) emerge on the horizon, as if glints of silver have been etched from the bowels of a mine shaft. [caption id="attachment_893649" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Park City, Utah.[/caption] In fact, it was rare minerals like silver which first had people rushing to these mountains in the 1860s in the first place. At one point, there were more than 300 mines in the Park City area. But the industry's collapse catalysed its rebirth as a skiing and tourism destination, and thus was born the allure of some of the greatest snow on Earth. In fact, the phrase: 'The Greatest Snow on Earth' was officially registered by the state in 1975. But geography and science help lay a solid claim to back this up. Giddy up, because this is America's most remarkable ski town. [caption id="attachment_893650" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Salt Lake City, Utah.[/caption] What makes it the Greatest Snow on Earth? Utah's geography to the mountains in the west makes it an arid state compared to its northern neighbours. The typically dry conditions, cool winters, and high altitudes (Park City's altitude is over 2,000 metres) allow the snow crystals that fall in the region to be thicker and more symmetrical in their structure; therefore, they accumulate fluffier powder. [caption id="attachment_893663" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Park City, Utah.[/caption] What's it like skiing at Park City Mountain? It's brisk at the top of the Super Condor Express chair lift (a balmy minus 24 degrees celsius), and while my face is frozen, I can't help but smile. "That was awesome. Do we go again?" I ask our guide Halle from Park City Mountain Resort. "Absolutely!" she replies, and within a few seconds, we're hurtling down Upper and Lower Boa for a second time. I'm not cold anymore because my legs are burning from another three-kilometre, nine-minute journey and nearly 550 metres of vertical descent. [caption id="attachment_893648" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Deer Valley Resort, Park City, Utah.[/caption] The terrain at Park City Mountain Resort is enormous. Technically made up of two individual ski areas of, Park City Mountain and Canyons Mountain, which were merged by Vail Resorts in 2014 and subsequently were joined by a gondola in 2015. With almost 3,000 hectares of terrain, there are 43 lifts, six terrain parks, and ski-in-ski-out access to Main Street. There are 330 named trails, but chatting to Halle (once a former Ski Patroller), that number is closer to 800 if you're in the know. There is a required proximity between 'resort' and 'town' when it comes to North American ski destinations. And that distance is what defines the culture of the town itself. Park City manages the balance of both on and off mountain activities better than anyone. Whether you ski down to Mountain Village for brunch and espresso at The Bridge Cafe or, carve your way right to the bar at High West Saloon, the only ski-in-ski-out distillery in the U.S. [caption id="attachment_893639" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Deer Valley Resort, Park City, Utah.[/caption] Where you also sleep matters. The new YOTELPAD Park City in Canyons Village is as Instagram-able, a hotel as they come. The reception and common spaces are filled with neon, and as the newest mid-range option on the mountain, it comes with all the expected mod-cons: spa, sauna, games room, and heated outdoor patio for afternoon Apres-ski. But the most significant novelty is the retractable Murphy beds in each room, which are a welcome addition on a luggage-heavy ski holiday. [caption id="attachment_893647" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Salt Lake City, Utah.[/caption] What about Deer Valley, Park City's quieter cousin? Like an expensive, out-of-reach necklace dangling just over a ridge is where you'll find the exclusive Deer Valley Resort (still technically within Park City.) It's one of only three resorts in the United States that does not permit snowboarders, often considered the riff-raff of the snow sports world. Both old money and the nouveau riche choose Deer Valley over Park City Mountain, not just because the skiing is quieter (lift ticket sales are regularly capped) but because the on and off-mountain service is exceptional. Skiers at Deer Valley are referred to as "guests" and not "customers", plus there's complimentary overnight ski valet for your gear. [caption id="attachment_893640" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Deer Valley Resort, Park City, Utah.[/caption] The Resort also offers a complimentary service with 25 luxury Cadillac Escalades. Don't be fooled; this is well and truly earned in your $500 daily lift pass. As a snowboarder, I'm used to being looked down upon by skiers at most other U.S. mountains. But here, I have no choice but to don a pair of skis for the first time in 20 years and set off with Uros, my Slovenian personal guide, for the next 48 hours. We ski together for hours through untracked Aspen tree runs. We wait only minutes in lineless lifts while ogling together from above at his favourite gated community. He points out to me the house where he was invited to a dinner with Steve Jobs and Al Gore after a day on the slopes. [caption id="attachment_893662" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Park City, Utah.[/caption] On the deck at the prestigious Stein Eriksen Lodge, the final pieces of the Deer Valley puzzle are assembled once inside their temperature-controlled Alpen Globes. It's only 3 pm, but in the fading afternoon sun, Après-ski well and truly has begun, and I'm handed a wine list by the Lodge's Sommelier with a cost price of over $4,000,000. Pioneers, distillers, hunters, snowboarders, paddlers, and mountain bikers. Like their world-class ski resorts, Utahns are in a class of their own. They're genuine outdoor people who personify a bygone and future America, and I'm happy to confirm them as the rightful custodians of the Greatest Snow on Earth®. Images: Jeremy Drake, Park City Chamber/Convention & Visitors Bureau & Deer Valley Resort. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
UPDATE, December 23, 2022: The Batman is available to stream via Netflix, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. When The Batman begins (not to be confused with Batman Begins), it's with the slaying of a powerful Gotham figure. A shocking crime that scandalises the city, it leaves a traumatised boy behind, and couldn't be more influential in the detective-style tale of blood and vengeance that follows. But viewers haven't seen this story before, despite appearances. It isn't the start of pop culture's lonesome billionaire orphan's usual plight, although he's there, all dressed in black, and has an instant affinity for the sorrowful kid. Behold the first standout feat achieved by this excellent latest take on the Dark Knight (not to be confused with The Dark Knight): realising that no one needs to see Bruce Wayne's parents meet their end for what'd feel like the millionth time. The elder Waynes are still dead, and have been for two decades. Bruce (Robert Pattinson, Tenet) still festers with pain over their loss. And the prince of Gotham still turns vigilante by night, cleaning up the lawless streets one no-good punk at a time with only trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis, Long Shot) in on his secret. As directed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes' Matt Reeves, and co-scripted with The Unforgivable's Peter Craig, The Batman clocks something crucial about its namesake and the audiences that watch him, however. The caped crusader's every move stems from his inescapable grief as always, but no one has to witness its origins yet again to glean why he's become the conflicted protector of his anarchic city. Instead, here he's overtly anguished, upset, broken, broiling with hurt and working his way through those feelings in each affray — a suave, smooth and slick one-percenter playboy in his downtime, he isn't — and it's a more absorbing version of the character than seen in many of the past Bat flicks that've fluttered through cinemas. Why so serious? That question is answered quickly. Also, badging Pattinson's turn in the cape and cowl 'emo Batman' is 100-percent accurate. It's meant to be, because violence isn't just about experiencing or inflicting pain, but also about processing the emotions stirred up. Apply the label to The Batman's unrelentingly dark and rainy aesthetic as well and, once again, it suits. Lensed with such an eye for the absence of light by Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser (a Dune Oscar-nominee) that he's painting with the shadowiest of shadows, this is a grimmer Batman than Christopher Nolan's trilogy, moodier than Ben Affleck's stint, and gloomier than the Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney-starring movies (not to mention the upbeat and campy 60s TV series that gave us the Batusi). Like teen shows, the tone of any given Batman entry reflects the surrounding times, and the tenor here is bleak, bruised and battered. Call the prevailing batmosphere cinema's own bat-signal and that's oh-so-fitting, too. Batman is bruised and battered himself in The Batman. He flinches when jumping from skyscrapers in his winged batsuit, grimaces upon impact and sports contusions beneath his mask before that. In spurts of Taxi Driver-style narration — where he could be one of screenwriter Paul Schrader's lonely men wrestling with the world (see also: The Card Counter) — he seethes about his self-appointed task, past and the state of Gotham, exposing his psychological scars as well. That doesn't change when a serial killer who dubs himself The Riddler (Paul Dano, Okja) and must love David Fincher movies (Seven and Zodiac especially) commits The Batman's opening murder, the first in a chain targeting the city's elite. This other angry mask-wearing vigilante is also waging a war on Gotham's corruption, and leaving puzzles to be solved along the way — with Batman assisting police lieutenant Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright, The French Dispatch), and being aided by nightclub waiter-cum-cat burglar Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz, Kimi) in turn. What makes one man's angst-riddled quest noble but the other's deranged? As The Batman broods over that conundrum, the line between its titular figure and The Riddler is the finest it has perhaps ever been. Reeves isn't interested in another hero-with-a-sob-story spin on Batman, but in surveying the tragedy that seeps through his grimy and dank rendering of Gotham — yes, even dimmer than in Joker — and plotting the choices that spirit its abandoned residents towards either improving or destroying the city. The longer he chases The Riddler, via altercations with crime kingpin Carmine Falcone (John Turturro, Severance) and club-owner Oswald 'The Penguin' Cobblepot (Colin Farrell, The North Water), the more that Bruce/Batman flies parallel to his new foe. Selina slinks along a similar route, too, as coloured by her own history — plus the missing friend she's desperate to find, which is what connects her with Batman to start with. This many different Batman films and shows in, it isn't easy to make the Dark Knight an entrancing and surprising character again — Christian Bale did, Affleck didn't — but Pattinson's casting is exceptional. Since he stopped visibly sparkling in the Twilight saga, his role choices have been near-impeccable as Cosmopolis, The Rover, Maps to the Stars, The Lost City of Z, Good Time, High Life and The Lighthouse have shown, and The Batman slides seamlessly into his enviable recent resume. There's soulfulness and tension to his portrayal of the Gotham crusader's inner turmoil, not just matching the Nirvana's 'Something in the Way'-meets-'Ave Maria'-soundtracked mood of melancholy, but also rippling in every glance, glare, step, jump and thrown fist. There's also a deep-seated intensity; a willingness to play both Bruce and Batman as weird, awkward and unsettled; and a welcome lack of boundaries between his character's two personas. Reeves hasn't just scored a pitch-perfect lead, though. At just a batwing's flap shy of three hours, his film comes packed more convenient plot developments than necessary, but it has time to cement the savvy Kravitz among the most memorable versions of Catwoman — and to refreshingly play up her sexual tension with Batman. It also ensures that the quietly commanding Wright, hypnotically unhinged Dano and prosthetics-laden Farrell all have room to shine, though The Penguin is hardly a big player. It gives the latest Batmobile a helluva revved-up entrance and breathlessly thrilling car chase, and lets wide-framed, rhythmically choreographed action scenes roll long so that viewers feel the toll they wage on the movie's main man. Spotting everything that influenced The Batman isn't an enigma, of course, and The Riddler would be thoroughly disappointed. But the way that everything is spliced and shaken together, and the mood — and it's definitely a mood — makes this weighty, heavy, sublimely shot, excellently cast, always-engaging blockbuster feel new, and all things Batman with it.
An actual romp through the wilds of Africa isn't exactly a low-budget adventure. But this summer, you can experience a taste of that safari magic right here on home soil, all thanks to the return of Werribee Open Range Zoo's after-hours wildlife adventure. Running Saturday evenings (5.30–9pm) from January 14–February 25, the Sunset Safari sessions will see you exploring the zoo's savannah as the sun dips, copping a peek at resident critters including zebras, giraffes, ostriches and lions along the way. This year, a brand-new route includes a special focus on the zoo's beautiful hippos and their behaviours. While you travel, zoo guides will talk you through the various species that call this habitat home, and teach you all about current conservation efforts aimed at helping them thrive. Also designed to transport you is a program of traditional African performances, featuring drums, dancing and songs. And if you fancy extending the adventure, you'll find a range of food and drink options available to add on, spanning from picnic hampers to an authentic, African village-style 'braai' (barbecue). Best of all, a portion of ticket profits go towards supporting Zoos Victoria's international partners, including the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre.
Sydney has no shortage of history, both owned and borrowed, to learn about this summer. From the long cultural history of the First Nations custodians of the land to the colonial bones of Sydney's architecture to the modern-day melting pot of cultures and stories, every era leaves its mark. We've combed through the Harbour City and found some historical gems that deserve your attention, whether you're a local or a visitor, starting with a new and exciting opportunity that will only be in the city for a few months. RAMSES & THE GOLD OF THE PHARAOHS — THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM The Australian Museum is always a top choice for history in Sydney, and this exhibit running until May 2024 is unlike anything the museum has ever hosted before. Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs is a multi-sensory, immersive experience for all ages and is exclusive to the Australian Museum. The exhibition explores the life and reign of the late Ramses the Great, Egypt's second longest-reigning Pharaoh, and is comprised of over 180 objects, each dating back approximately 3000 years. Ramses II lived well into his 90s, old even for a monarch, and each object captures important details of the era and his life. Items on display include jewellery, ceramics, small mummified animals, royal masks, and even the actual sarcophagus that Ramses was entombed in in 1213 BC. You'll also find an optional multisensory VR experience that will transport you virtually to two of the era's most significant monuments, the tomb of Queen Nefertari and the temples of Abu Simbel. [caption id="attachment_923966" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] QUEENSCLIFF TUNNEL AND HOTEL STEYNE — MANLY Sydney's own history spreads well beyond the centre of the city, from bush to coast. On the coastal side of town is a suburb that is one of the most well-known to the culturally, coastally and historically inclined — Manly. On the north side of Manly Beach, on the border of Queenscliff, is the Queenscliff Tunnel. It could easily be dismissed as a detail in the rocky headland, but it is actually a manmade tunnel, supposedly carved in 1908 by local fishermen to act as a shortcut between Freshwater and Manly Beaches. It's open to visitors but on an elevated cliff face, so remain cautious. Back on flat ground is another historical highlight, Hotel Steyne. Originally built in 1859, the pub has been destroyed by two mysterious fires, but the current building dates back to 1923 and is one of the best pub feeds in Manly. ILLOURA RESERVE AND THE FENWICK — BALMAIN EAST Among some of the lesser-known harbourfront historical areas, specifically in Balmain East, is Illoura Reserve. Before the arrival of European settlers, the area was a swamp, only established in land purchases in the early 19th century as a part of a 222-hectare grant to colonial Surgeon Dr William Balmain. Seeing the connection? Since then, the area has been used as a harbourside industrial precinct and a tip. One building that has stood since the 1880s is The Fenwick. Originally a store for harbour tugboats, it evolved alongside Illoura Reserve and is now a stunning waterfront cafe and art gallery. The menu stars local and seasonal produce, and the second-floor gallery showcases a range of local and international artists, with everything available for purchase. [caption id="attachment_923971" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tim Downey via Flickr[/caption] PADDINGTON RESERVE GARDENS — PADDINGTON Away from the harbour, in the inner east hub of Paddington, we find a historical site that holds great significance to the city. More than just a public park, these are the Paddington Reservoir Gardens. This was where most of Sydney's water was pumped from its construction in 1866 to its closure in 1899. In its prime, it had a hefty capacity of just over 9000 megalitres. Still, it was closed and repurposed into a storage yard until 1934, when it was partially converted into a service station. When the roof collapsed twice in the 1990s, the station was again closed. Following a major restoration, the site was reopened as a park in 2009, combining elements of its history with overland reserves that had been constructed prior. Now, it's known for its beautiful but eerie appearance, almost like post-industrial Roman undercity ruins, but on Oxford Street. [caption id="attachment_826667" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] CREMORNE RESERVE AND MACCALLUM POOL — CREMORNE POINT Across the city and harbour is the suburb of Cremorne, one of the most disputed shorelines of Sydney Harbour's history. Once a site of great significance to the Cammeraygal people, the land was acquired by Europeans in 1833. Over the following years, it would be a public amusement park, residential development, and even almost a coal mine in the early 1890s. Thankfully, the point and reserve are now protected as a heritage conservation area. One of the gems of the location is MacCallum Pool, a harbour swimming pool originally constructed by local residents. It was maintained by locals until hygiene concerns of harbour swimming prompted North Sydney Council to take over maintenance in 1930. Renamed to MacCallum in tribute to one of its most loyal civilian carers, Hugh J MacCallum, the council has since restored the pool and added decking, landscaping and fencing to secure the pool and its visitors. [caption id="attachment_827016" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Anna Kucera[/caption] FOUNDATION PARK, FORTUNE OF WAR AND THE DOSS HOUSE — THE ROCKS The Rocks precinct is synonymous with Sydney's history, being one of it's oldest and most iconic heritage precincts. One hidden detail, an unmarked alleyway off Argyle Terrace, is Foundation Park. At first glance, it looks like a collection of discarded furniture, but it's actually a living museum designed to recreate the space and feel of Sydney's oldest homes. The history of The Rocks extends to some of its extremely popular venues, such as Fortune of War and The Doss House. Fortune of War is regarded as Sydney's oldest pub, originally built by a former convict settler in 1828. The name comes from its regulars, sailors and soldiers who were leaving and arriving in Sydney for (or from) war. The Doss House is equally historic, a heritage-listed underground whiskey bar with rooms that pay tribute to the building's many past identities, from a bootmaker workshop to a cheap accommodation for the desperate and even an illegal opium den. [caption id="attachment_923973" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Ryan Frank via iStock[/caption] BADU MANGROVES AND HOMEBUSH BAY — HOMEBUSH When you think of Homebush, history and nature might not be the first thoughts that come to mind. But one of the best-kept secrets of Sydney can be found in Homebush. Badu Mangroves is a 56-hectare slice of wetland between Homebush Bay and Bicentennial Park. Overlooked for most of Sydney's history, this haven of local wildlife was choked by pollution for decades but is now thriving again thanks to a restoration program and can be explored via an elevated boardwalk. The mangroves, as mentioned, are adjacent to Homebush Bay, and from the boardwalk, you can spot the famous 'floating forest', the wreck of the SS Ayrfield. Originally built in 1911 and part of a fleet of cargo ships that ferried coal, oil and wartime supplies, it survived WWII but is now being slowly broken down by a mangrove forest. A small slice of history, forever locked in the waters of the Parramatta River. For more information on Ramses & The Gold of the Pharaohs, or to book tickets, visit the website. For more experiences in Sydney, keep exploring Concrete Playground.
If you experienced lauded director Barry Jenkins' last film Moonlight, then you would know that he's able to load his movies up with an emotional punch like no one else can. And if you believe the early reviews for his latest production If Beale Street Could Talk, this time around could possibly be even more powerful. Starring Kiki Layne as Tish and Stephan James as Fonny, this adaptation of James Baldwin's acclaimed novel is a love story set within the bustling world of 1970s New York. As the leading couple fall in love and come to expect their first child, their promising future is left in tatters when Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. Elegantly adapting Baldwin's celebrated portrayal of black America, the three-time Academy Award-nominated Jenkins offers up a cinematically stunning masterpiece that considers the power of love and family alongside a razor-sharp social commentary. Currently sitting at a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems like Jenkins has produced yet another massive success. You can catch his latest flick nationwide from Thursday, February 14 — be sure to check out the trailer here beforehand. But if you can't wait until Thursday, we've got our hands on a bunch of double passes to the preview screening at Palace Como Cinemas on Wednesday, February 13. To be in with a chance, enter with your details below. [competition]707676[/competition]
Sydney Airport's next public art installation is a colourful reminder of Australia's roots, in a place where cultures and people from all across the globe converge daily. The work United Neytions by Kamilaroi artist Archie Moore will set a pretty striking scene, hung from the 17-metre-high ceiling of T1 International Terminal's Marketplace. Featuring 28 distinctive flags to represent the diversity of our country's Aboriginal cultures, the piece was chosen by The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) and Sydney Airport for their latest art commission, edging out works from seven other leading Aussie artists. According to MCA Director Elizabeth Ann Macgregor OBE, the work, by "one of our nation's most important contemporary artists", is a fitting one to be shared with the 15 million passengers that flow through this part of the airport annually. "Archie Moore has approached this exciting opportunity with great flair and his visually striking installation will no doubt intrigue, engage and capture the imagination of the millions of passengers passing through the airport's International terminal every year," she said. Moore himself explained that the flags would help draw attention "to the histories, voices and presence of local Indigenous people on which land the airport – an international zone/'no man's land' – lies, but also the passages of cultures, pasts, territories, ages and cultural knowledges that airports foster." United Neytions is set to be completed and unveiled at Sydney Airport in 2018.
South Melbourne Market is bringing the heat for ten days this April with A Chilli Affair. In a spectacular showcase of our fiery friends, vendors will be incorporating chillies from Australia and abroad into special dishes exclusively available to try in a self-guided food tour. Starting off in the expert hands of Georgie Dragwidge, of Georgie's Harvest, you'll learn of the nuances between chilli species and the historic origins of the fruit — as well as receive your map and stamp card. After consolidating your knowledge, make your spicy pilgrimage however leisurely you like (stopping for massages, retail breaks or to simply enjoy the wonder of the flavour-filled space). You'll be stamping off each stop as you go. At Bambu, the resident masters of Asian street eats, you can slurp delicate chilli prawn dumplings with ginger and soy; and at Simply Spanish, where curbside paella reigns champion, there will be chilli con carne empanadas. Ensuring you sip the spice too, a Habanero Mule (which can be made sans-booze if you fancy) is on offer from the plant-powered kingdom of Marko. And for sweet offerings, there's boundary-pushing scoops of chilli chocolate gelato from Fritz, and dark chocolate and chilli cannoli from That's Amore Cheese's Cannoleria. Not a fan of the fire? No fear, the exciting eats have been made to suit all tastebuds. This is the foodie tour that's sure to ignite newfound pepper-appreciation — and at-home recipe experimenting — in all who attend. There's plenty more eats included in your $70 ticket too, plus a goodie bag stocked up with recipes, chillies and a jar of Melbourne hot sauce from the South Melbourne Market Grocer. A Chilli Affair will run from Friday, April 22 to Sunday, May 1, with an 11am and 2pm time slot each day. To kick start your chilli expedition, head to the website.
Spending more time at home is much easier to stomach with a hefty rage of desserts on hand, or at least that seems to be Gelato Messina's pandemic motto. Over the past year, the gelato chain has served up plenty of tasty specials, including cookie pies in choc chip, red velvet, choc-hazelnut, and peanut butter and jelly varieties; 40 of its best flavours; and full tubs of Iced VoVo gelato. It also whipped up its own take on that vanilla and chocolate-layered ice cream cake everyone considered the height of extravagance as a child — and now it's bringing its version of Viennetta back for another round. If you've been indulging your sweet tooth as a coping mechanism — frozen desserts were subject to strict item limits last March, so plenty of folks clearly went big on sugary comfort food — then consider your tastebuds primed for this super-fancy take on the nostalgic favouritte. It's another of Messina's limited releases, with tubs of the rippled gelato creation available at all its stores for a very short period. Wondering what exactly Messina's Viennetta — or Messinetta, as it has been dubbed — entails? It combines fior di latte gelato with choc chips and chocolate fudge, then covers it all with piped vanilla chantilly as well as a chocolate velvet spray. And yes, the end result looks like the dessert you know and love. If it didn't, it just wouldn't be as exciting. The latest release in Messina's new 'Hot Tub' series, Messinetta gelato can only be ordered online on Monday, February 22, with a one-litre tub setting you back $30. You can then go into your chosen Messina store to pick up your tub between Friday, February 26–Sunday, February 28. Gelato Messina's Messinetta gelato tubs will be available to order on Monday, February 22, for pick up between Friday, February 26–Sunday, February 28 — keep an eye on the Messina website for further details.
A thriving garden of fruits and vegetables in the middle of a city isn't something you come across very often. Thornton Budgens supermarket in North London argues that this shouldn't be so, and is taking steps towards a more sustainable future with produce. Thornton Budgens along with project leader Azul-Valerie Thome has created Food From The Sky, a rooftop permaculture garden of organic fruits, vegetables and herbs. The ultimate goal of the project is to prove that produce can be grown in cities and sold locally in a manner that is efficient and not wasteful. The grocery store began the project in May 2010 with only 10 tons of compost and 300 recycling boxes, but with care from employees and over 20 volunteers the garden now yields enough produce to sell every Friday. Any fruits or vegetables that are not sold, instead of simply being thrown away at the end of the day, become compost that will enhance the soil for the next batch of produce. What makes a rooftop garden a great idea? The warmth from the store's heating and lighting systems heat the floor of the roof, preventing the plant seeds from freezing during the colder months, and is free of the slugs and snails that cause pigeons to dig up the soil during vital growth periods. Why didn't we think of this before? In addition, the grocery store is offering courses about this alternative approach to food production in order to instill the power in others to sustain produce gardens in the city while being conscious of the planet. The Food From The Sky project aims to extend its influence to other supermarkets and be a template for other rooftop permaculture gardens in cities. "One day, I want to see supermarket roof-gardens all over the country," said Thome.
At this point, it's natural to be apprehensive about any show which examines frustrations with the digital age. Though modern crises of identity are fair ground for artistic exploration, the topic so often comes off as trite or contrived. Something about its enormity or self-evidence attracts navel-gazing from young philosophers and eye-rolling from everyone else. I'm just as guilty as anyone; it was the subject of my major work for Year 12 Visual Arts. But, despite this initial skepticism, Complexity of Belonging delivers an engaging and thought-provoking take on this completely groan-worthy topic. A co-production between MTC, Chunky Move and German director Falk Richter, this half-dance, half-theatre, live-art inspired show delivers surprisingly earnest insight and above all, entertaining performances from its cast. Performing upon a surreal desert backdrop of what appears to be rural Australia, five dancers and four actors appear on stage through vignettes, monologues, and outright confessionals. Partially connected by the storyline of a French artist completing a "human installation" (Eloise Mignon) these characters are united by their shared frustrations and sense of restlessness. Throughout the course of the show we see a businessman snap under pressure, a young couple separated by failing Skype calls, and a gay couple who traverse the barriers of distance to create a life for themselves. All the while, the entrancing almost hypnotic choreography of Anouk van Dijk simmers on stage, setting the ominous tone and adding a sense of camaraderie aside each character's frequent moments of vulnerability. Of course, there are still elements of pretension. The same navel-gazing I was guilty of in my VCE are still there in Mignon's character of the artist. If you weren't already cringing at the term "human installation" you will be by the time she reels off huge slabs of philosophical texts or tarnishes a somewhat affecting final scene by emblazoning an awkward heavy-handed moral on a large screen above the stage. It's no fault of the actor, but in lieu of a primary narrative, these sweeping theories and thoughts are a necessary evil to tie meaning to each small element of the work. Though these moments of heavy intellectualism threaten to bog down they work, they are perfectly offset with humour. Most characters we meet are relatable, witty and downright charming. Karen Sibbing interrogates Aussie colloquialisms with a heavy European accent and Joel Bray and Josh Price offset each other perfectly as respectively upbeat and neurotic partners. But it's actually one of the primary dancers who steals the show. Lauren Langlois' rambling monologue about "the perfect man" is exquisite comedy, perfectly written and bravely performed. Combining rapid-fire delivery with beautiful expressive dance, this moment was so good it elicited rapturous applause from an otherwise stiff opening night crowd. Scattered with small moments like this, it may not be conventional or easy watching, but in many ways Complexity of Belonging is the quintessential Melbourne Festival show. It's ambitious, collaborative, and jam-packed with big industry names. And, whether you view it as theatre, dance, art or some combination of all three, it's certainly beautiful to watch. This event was chosen as one of our top ten things to see at the Melbourne Festival 2014. See the full list here.
Yeah, we're thinking he's back — John Wick, that is. Five years after Keanu Reeves introduced everyone's favourite assassin (and dog owner) to the world, and two years after the film scored its first sequel, the action-packed franchise is bringing its third instalment to the big screen in 2019. Entitled John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum and due to hit cinemas in May, the series' latest follow-up picks up where the last flick left off, aka with Wick being hunted down by his fellow killers. With a $14 million price tag on his head, plenty of hitmen and women are out to collect the bounty. And all of this because, in the first film, he became the proud owner of an adorable puppy. If you're not up on your Latin, parabellum means 'prepare for war', which is just what a kick-ass Keanu looks primed to do. This time, he'll have Halle Berry in his corner — and he's not adverse to brandishing some firepower while riding a horse. As for the rest of the cast, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Jason Mantzoukas all return from the previous flicks, as does Reeves' The Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne, while Anjelica Huston ranks among the new additions. Check out the first trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v2P3cpPOXY&feature=youtu.be John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 16.
Are you the type to spend hours and days before a meal studying the menu and mentally preordering? Us too. So, it can be a nice change of pace to commit to a night out without knowing any details — even where it's happening. Enter The Signet Speakeasy. Maker of mighty smooth whisky, Glenmorangie, is collaborating with fine dining restaurant Vue de Monde and its in-house cocktail joint, Lui Bar, to create an immersive pop-up bar this June. This speakeasy will celebrate the fine amber liquor (which is the first in the world to use roasted chocolate malt barley) in a very Melbourne way — via a secret warehouse transformation. The location will remain a secret until a few days before the event begins. Head along to the swingin' speakeasy to sample Glenmorangie Signet — neat or in cocktail form courtesy of Lui — alongside some pretty lavish snacks by the Vue De Monde crew. Also on the agenda are smooth jazz vibes and 'theatrical surprises', so bring an open mind, an empty stomach and perhaps some sensible shoes, just in case. Hosted by Glenmorangie's head of maturing whisky stock, Brendan McCarron, the event will lead you on a physical journey through the different spaces of the warehouse, from a candlelit lobby to the speakeasy bar, then onto a decadent mandarin grove. Each space will represent one of the signature notes of Signet: chocolate, espresso and mandarin. Tickets cost $85 per person and include one neat Signet, three cocktails and three different food offerings, alongside your guided wander. The tour should take you about an hour to complete, but you're welcome to hang out in the mandarin grove afterwards — there'll be more drinks, snacks and acoustic music to enjoy. The Signet Speakeasy will run from 6–10pm across Thursday, June 27–Saturday, June 29. To purchase tickets, head this way.
This is about the time of year we start to really miss the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF). Remember those nights you'd hop from show to show? The plump dumplings you'd wolf down in-between? There was that guy who serenaded you with a ukelele outside Town Hall, he pleaded for you to come to his show... What does he even do with the rest of his year? Well, he may feature at Trades Hall this weekend. There's always a bubbling undercurrent of comedic talent in our fair city, and it doesn't always take a full-blown festival to figure it out. From October 5-11, Princess Pictures and SBS2 are putting together a showcase of young Australian comics at Trades Hall. With 30 comedians performing over just five days, there will be a diverse selection of talent on show including Nazeem Hussain and Aamer Rahman from Fear of a Brown Planet, Dan Ilic from Hungry Beast and Can of Worms, and exciting newcomers such as Khaled Khalafalla and Demi Lardner. It may not be a full month like MICF, but it could be just the thing to tide you over, and with every night costing just $15, you'll have leftover money for dumplings too. Check out the full lineup here.
Oh bother! After Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey arrived in cinemas in early 2023, turning AA Milne's loveable bear into a horror-movie villain, the great public-domain rampage through everyone's beloved childhood stories is only beginning. That flick sparked so much interest before it even hit screens that a sequel was always inevitable — and that locked-in followup will also have plenty of company. Screens big and small — most likely small — aren't quite set to boast enough slasher takes on classic stories to fill the Hundred Acre Woods, but more than a few are on their way. While Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey's second effort hasn't yet started shooting or unveiled its plot, it has already locked in distribution Down Under, as per The Hollywood Reporter. So, viewers in Australia and New Zealand will get to see what happens after the first film sent its titular character and Piglet on a serial-killer rampage, slicing and dicing whoever crossed their paths because they'd been left behind by Christopher Robin after he grew up. The initial film was exactly the one-note movie it was always bound to be — a feature that exists purely because of its premise — and couldn't be further away from the cartoon iterations of the usually cuddly bear, or recent films like Goodbye Christopher Robin and Christopher Robin. It'll now also always be known for fuelling a low-budget trend, whether or not that's a welcome development. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey director Rhys Frake-Waterfield will also turn his attention to a certain flying boy thanks to Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare, as part of a whole universe of movies that'll massacre their way through typically family-friendly stories. Bambi: The Reckoning has also been discussed — and, yes, so has teaming up this cinematic realm's various characters Marvel Cinematic Universe-style. Then, as Variety reports, UK horror production outfit Red Shadow Studios is jumping in, including giving some of the aforementioned figures its own spin. That's where Winnie-the-Pooh: Death House comes in, which will apparently be The Strangers meets The Purge — plus slasher flick Peter Pan Goes to Hell. Fancy getting gory with Cinderella? Cinderella's Curse from ChampDog Films is making that a reality as well, as per Bloody Disgusting. None of these upcoming titles have sneak peeks yet, but you can check out the Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey trailer below: Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey's sequel, Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare, Bambi: The Reckoning, Winnie the Pooh: Death House, Peter Pan Goes to Hell and Cinderella's Curse don't yet have release dates Down Under — we'll update you when that changes. Via Variety / The Hollywood Reporter / Bloody Disgusting. Images: Jagged Edge Productions.
UPDATE: JULY 30, 2020 — From 11.59pm on Sunday, August 2, face masks will be mandatory for all of Victoria. Find out more here. In Melbourne, the humble face mask has quickly become the number-one accessory, after the Victorian Government announced the protective coverings will soon be compulsory for residents of metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire. At a press conference on Sunday, July 19, Premier Daniel Andrews advised that everyone over the age of 12 in the Stage 3 lockdown zones now must wear a face mask whenever they leave home for one of the four allowed reasons: for work or school (if you can't do this from home), for care or care giving, for daily exercise, or for food and other essentials. With the state's daily number of new COVID-19 cases continuing to rise — including 275 new cases reported on Monday, July 20 — it's hoped that the new measures will help minimise community transmission and avoid the need for further restrictions. The new face mask rules come into effect from 11.59pm from Wednesday, July 22, with a potential $200 fine handed out to anyone who doesn't comply. And, while Premier Andrews has okayed the use of scarves, bandanas and other fabric pieces as alternatives to actual face masks, people across the city are scrambling to stock up on both disposable and reusable options. Right now, you can pick up affordable, one-use face masks from major retailers like Officeworks, Chemist Warehouse, Kmart and Bunnings. Some are offering delivery and click-and-collect options, though you'll need to check individual stores to see what's available and who's got stock. Meanwhile, crafty folk Australia-wide are whipping up a variety of reusable cloth masks that you can buy online. Some may be experiencing slower manufacturing and delivery times thanks to the rush in demand, but most are restocking regularly. If you want to level-up your face mask game, here are a few local options to check out. [caption id="attachment_776560" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Heroes Wear Masks[/caption] HEROES WEAR MASKS An Aussie fabric signage manufacturer launched a side-hustle crafting reusable face masks in a range of funky prints — and the result is Heroes Wear Masks. All designed, printed and sewn at the brand's Carrum Downs HQ, the one-size-fits-all coverings come with adjustable tie fasteners. They're also especially affordable, starting from $30 for a pack of four. Heroes Wear Masks' four-packs are available for $30–45. YARLI CREATIVE Madison Connors, the artist behind Yarli Creative, has repurposed some of her contemporary Aboriginal art designs into a series of custom-printed, triple-layer, breathable face masks. There are four different prints to choose from, available in the one adult size. And 40 percent of pre-sale profits go to Indigenous community organisation Elizabeth Morgan House. Yarli Creative's masks are available for $35. SISTERWORKS Melbourne-based, female-focused social enterprise SisterWorks has created a trio of reusable fabric face mask options, including a Department of Health and Human Services-compliant version made with three different layers — cotton, poly-cotton and a water-repellent outer. You'll also find a range of muslin-lined masks, in various colours and patterns. SisterWorks' masks are available for $18–25. CULTURE KINGS Yep, even famed online streetwear retailer Culture Kings has some skin in the face mask game. The online store is slinging a hefty lineup of designs, from logo-adorned statement pieces to your standard disposable versions. There are plenty of sizes across the range, with some masks even available for in-store pick-up. Culture Kings' masks are available for $19.95–59.95. [caption id="attachment_776559" align="alignnone" width="1920"] By Kinsman masks[/caption] BY KINSMAN Melbourne couture fashion label By Kinsman has expanded its collection to include a series of triple-layered, all-cotton face masks, as handmade to order. The washable coverings come in either a black or neutral colour, and are available in packs of four for adults and two-packs for kids. Orders will reopen from 4pm on Wednesday, July 22. By Kinsman's masks are available in $30 two-packs for kids and $60 four-packs for adults. THE ECO MASK This Aussie company is slinging an assortment of face masks through its online store, starting from just $15 a pop. You'll find options here for both kids and adults, with designs ranging from bold block colours to lively prints. They're made with two layers of cotton and feature a wire nose bridge for minimal face squishing. The Eco Mask's masks are available from $15. THE SOCIAL STUDIO The Social Studio's fashion retail arm has started making reusable cloth face masks featuring three breathable layers and adjustable elastic ties. They come in a range of reversible designs, with both small and large sizes available. Currently, the online store is being restocked at about 9am each morning. The Social Studio's masks are available for $11–12. For more information about wearing face masks, and the Victorian Government's advice for metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire residents, head to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services website. Top images: designs by Heroes Wear Masks
Already one of the country's go-to spots for sand, surf and sun, the Gold Coast now boasts another reason to plan a visit this summer: Sandtunes, a massive two-day beachside music festival. Debuting this year across Saturday, November 30 and Sunday, December 1, the new event will take over the Coolangatta Beach with a jam-packed lineup of live tunes, with Travis Scott, Logic, Chvrches and Carly Rae Jepsen leading the bill. The festival will mark Scott's only Australian performance this year, so if you're keen to see the Texas-born rapper play tracks from his 2018 album Astroworld, this is the place to be. If you're a fan of fellow US hip hop star Logic, you'll also be treated to his first-ever Aussie show. While Scottish trio Chvrches are no strangers to our shores — they're on this year's Spilt Milk lineup as well — Sandtunes will also welcome Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen for her debut performance in Australia. When you're not singing along to 'Call Me Maybe' live, you can also check out the rest of the just-announced first lineup, which spans Juice WRLD, Dean Lewis, Sampa the Great, Tkay Maidza, Cub Sport, Kait, Kwame, WAAX, Kian, Alice Ivy,Genesis Owusu and Saint Lane. A word of warning: while you'll be partying on the sand right by the ocean, the festival dates do overlap with part of Schoolies — although, thankfully Coolangatta is never as hectic with revelling school leavers as Surfers Paradise. Sandtunes Music Festival takes place on Saturday, November 30 and Sunday, December 1 on the Coolangatta Beach at the Gold Coast. Tickets go on sale at 12pm on Wednesday, July 31, with a Telstra pre-sale from 10am on Friday, July 26 — visit the festival website for further details.
Well, folks, Melbourne's hitting 24 degrees this week for the first time since we can even remember — and what better time for a cheeky springtime wardrobe refresh? This Saturday, September 15, your pals at 91Vintage are coming to the party, hosting the fourth edition of their ever-popular vintage sportswear market. Head along to Fitzroy pub The Evelyn to check out this hefty haul of retro threads, sneakers and accessories, with 15 stallholders slinging old-school gems from the likes of Adidas, Fila, Nike, Fubu, Dada, Sergio Tacchini and Juicy Couture. This time around, the market's running from 10am to 5pm, with prices starting at a neat $5 and both racks and tubs filled with plenty of pieces for every budget. Grab a $1 raffle ticket at the door and you could even win a $200 voucher to spend at any stall on the day. Head over to the 91Vintage Instagram page for a sneak preview of some of the gear that's set to make an appearance and start plotting some bangers for the festival season to come.
Ningaloo Reef is the only large reef in the world that you can access straight off the shore. Whether you’re lazing on the sand in Exmouth or Coral Bay, all you have to do is slip on your snorkelling gear, paddle out a few metres and, within minutes, you’ll be hanging out in dazzling coral gardens, along with dolphins, turtles and manta rays. You’ll find the UNESCO heritage-listed wonder 1,200 kilometres north of Perth, from where it runs north along the coast for 260 kilometres, between North West Cape and Red Bluff. Like the Great Barrier Reef, its fragile environment is under constant threat — from both development proposals and excessive tourism. Here's your eco-friendly guide to spending time in Ningaloo, while treading carefully. For the best prices on flights and accommodation on the WA Coral Coast, check out Wotif.com. SWIMMING WITH WHALE SHARKS Ningaloo is most famous for the hundreds of mammoth-sized visitors that come around once a year — between April and July. Even though they’re called whale sharks, they’re so gentle you can swim alongside them. And they also happen to be the biggest fish in the world. In few places do they gather in big crowds, but when you have 18 metres of body to feed, Ningaloo’s plankton feasts are hard to pass by. To swim, snorkel or dive with whale sharks, book yourself into a day tour. Needless to say, we don’t want to bombard them with strangers, so tours are tightly controlled, with only ten people allowed to hang about each creature at a time. If you happen to be in Exmouth between 21 and 24 May 2015, you’ll be right on time for the Whale Shark Festival. HUMPBACKS, TURTLES AND DUGONGS Whale sharks aren’t the only underwater life seeking out Ningaloo’s culinary abundance. Where other habitats have been over-fished and stripped of their diversity, Ningaloo is still thriving (so far). 30,000 humpback whales breach and spout their way past between June and November, on their 11,000 kilometre journey from Antarctica to the warm breeding grounds just off the Kimberley. Minke, southern right and blue whales pop by frequently, too. Excellent spots for whale watching include Exmouth’s main beach, Bundegi Beach and Vlamingh Head, but if you’d like to get closer, join a whale watching tour. Then there are dolphins, manta rays, one thousand dugongs and Jacques Cousteau knows how many fish. Six of the world’s seven marine turtle species call Ningaloo home, four of them vulnerable or endangered, and the reef is one of the most important nesting grounds on the planet for green and loggerhead turtles. To watch hundreds of hatchlings making their dangerous dash to the sea, you’ll need to visit between November and February. The breeding process is incredibly delicate, so you’re asked to follow the guidelines outlined in the Ningaloo Turtle Watchers’ Code of Conduct, which you can pick up from the Exmouth Visitor Centre, or join a tour. PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION Back in the 1960s, the WA branch of the Australian Marine Sciences Association recommended that Ningaloo be turned into a marine reserve, but it wasn’t until May 1987 that their suggestion was realised, and not until November 2004 that the park boundary was expanded to incorporate the entire reef. At present, 34% of the reef is made up of protective sanctuary zones. Regardless of such legislation, however, Ningaloo hasn’t been immune to threat from developers. In 2003, a plan to build a 2,000-bed resort at Mauds Landing was rejected, largely thanks to the Save Ningaloo Reef Campaign. Then, in 2010, sustained opposition successfully defeated a proposal to develop a salt mine in Exmouth Gulf. Now, the focus is on ensuring that development of, and tourism in, the area happens along sustainable lines. If you’re visiting, be sure to opt for eco-friendly activities and choose ethical tour operators.
Like furniture-filled playgrounds for adults, IKEA's warehouse-style stores aren't just a shopping space — they're the place where we all go to dream about our ideal homes. Who hasn't wandered through the Swedish retailer's showroom setup, felt inspiration strike and suddenly known exactly what you want your house to look like? We all have, and that's often why visiting the chain isn't a short trip. Fancy decking out a specific part of your home, but without also conjuring up plans for every other single room in your house, then picking up three throw cushions, realising you need a new lamp, somehow buying another Billy bookcase and also eating all of the Swedish meatballs? In other words, fancy solving a particular home-design problem without indulging in the full IKEA experience? That's where the brand's Plan and Order Point concept stores come in — a place, as the name suggests, where you can simply plan out what you need, then order it, all while getting advice from IKEA experts (and, yes, without having to wander through the chain's warehouses). IKEA has been rolling out its Plan and Order Point locations around the world for a few years now, but not in Australia — until Thursday, September 29. The first Aussie version of the concept store will launch at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne and focus on the brand's more complex home solutions and products, such as kitchens and wardrobes. Know that you want to give your kitchen a makeover, but daunted by the IKEA options? Desperate to organise your clothes, but looking for some advice about what'd work best for your bedroom? That's the kind of one-on-one service that'll be on offer — after which customers can order whatever they've decided upon while they're still at the Plan and Order Point, and then either get it delivered or pick it up at your chosen IKEA warehouse. "IKEA already has a strong presence in the Melbourne market, but with the IKEA Highpoint Plan and Order Point we can engage with new Melbourne customers in a more personalised and bespoke way than ever before," said Julian Pertile, Manager of IKEA Richmond and the new Plan and Order Point. "We hope to welcome customers that have never shopped with us before, as well as existing customers that may have found creating complex solutions, such as a kitchen or wardrobe system, too daunting to tackle alone." IKEA's debut Australian Plan and Order Point comes just months after it also launched its As-Is Online Australian marketplace nationwide, allowing customers to search for and purchase discontinued, ex-display and pre-loved products. Although Highpoint's new Aussie-first store doesn't open till the end of September, it's taking bookings for planning appointments via the IKEA website from Thursday, September 15. And if this sounds like your ideal IKEA experience but you're not in Melbourne, there's still good news — if the Highpoint outpost proves a success, IKEA may look to open other Plan and Order Point locations around Australia in 2023. IKEA's Highpoint Plan and Order Point will open on Thursday, September 29 at Highpoint Shopping Centre, 120–200 Rosamond Road, Maribyrnong, Victoria. Bookings for appointments can be made via the IKEA website from Thursday, September 15.
It's been 13 years since Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio decided to fill a Melbourne alleyway with tunes in 2005. Thankfully, Laneway Festival has just confirmed it will be heading back to its collection of unconventional venues for another year, revealing it's 2018 dates and first two headliners. Returning to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle, Auckland and Singapore next January and February, Laneway will raise a plastic cup to the middle of summer with what looks to be one heck of a lineup. Following on from the announcement of two of 2018's headliners — California's inimitable Anderson .Paak with his live band The Free Nationals, and Canada's Mac DeMarco — the festival has dropped the full lineup. On it is a slew of exclusive sets, which will see you get down to BABADNOTGOOD, Odesza, The Internet, and sway along to The War on Drugs and Father John Misty. The full lineup was initially slated to be announced tomorrow, but has been brought forward after it was leaked online this morning. Visa pre-sale tickets go on-sale this Thursday, September 14 and the rest of the tickets going on sale at 9am on September 18. But, enough chit-chat — here's the full 2018 lineup. LANEWAY 2018 LINEUP Aldous Harding Alex Cameron Amy Shark Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals BABADNOTGOOD (exclusive to Laneway) Billie Eilish Bonobo (exclusive to Laneway) Cable Ties City Calm Down Dream Wife Father John Misty KLLO Loyle Carner Mac DeMarco Miss Blanks Moses Sumney ODESZA (exclusive to Laneway) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (Sandy) Alex G Shame Slowdive Sylvan Esso The Babe Rainbow The Internet (exclusive to Laneway) The War On Drugs TOKiMONSTA Wolf Alice (exclusive to Laneway) Image: Andy Fraser.
Imagine a space bustling with bartenders creating new drinks and learning innovative techniques. Then, imagine a space where you can pull up a stool to be whisked away on a tasting journey. This is the scene Orion Leppan Taylor and Mitch Bloomfield are envisioning with their new Cocktail Lab in Wollongong. The 26-year-old south coast locals pitched the concept to Idea Lab — an initiative run by Beam Suntory, which awards grants to change-making hospitality ventures. The pair won $20,000 to help turn their plans into reality. The pair currently work at Wollongong's Breakout Bar and Escape Rooms, which is where they're planning to build the new Cocktail Lab. "It'll be a space where we can educate the bar scene of Wollongong from an industry perspective," says Leppan Taylor. "But also, where we can run classes, educate and broaden [the public's] palates." While Leppan Taylor is now the bar manager at Breakout, he was brand new to hospo when he joined the venue three years ago. "As a bartender, I've had to self direct. But a big part of that has been [being connected to] the great community we have here," he says. "There are people I can reach out to if I'm hitting a wall, or running into problems, who are very open with volunteering their time and expertise." Bloomfield was also a fresh face behind the bar when he first came to Breakout. With a background in entertainment, he was more familiar with the escape room side of the business. "I got thrown straight into a Christmas hospitality period, which I had never experienced before. So it was very much the deep end," he says. A previously under-utilised space at Breakout will become the new Cocktail Lab, which will be fitted out with sleek prep benches and storage cages filled with bar equipment like centrifuges. With a little luck, Bloomfield says the Cocktail Lab should be open by March 2021. "We're familiar with the idea of Heston Blumenthal going very technical and science-y to try and do interesting things with ingredients," says Leppan Taylor. "At the end of the day, flavours, aromas and everything that goes into a drink is just a different series of chemical compounds," he says. When the lab opens, the pièce de résistance will be a rotary vacuum — a tool for redistilling liquids, which can infuse drinks with exciting new flavours. During the week, bartenders will be able to come in and use the space and equipment for research and development. "Or, to create ingredients they can take back to their own bars," says Leppan Taylor. However, for those who don't work in the industry and just want a fun, new place to go come Friday night, the public will be able to come to the Cocktail Lab for spirit tastings, cocktail classes and well-made tipples. "The goal is also to broaden the customers' vocabulary a little bit. So when they see something on a menu that has 'centrifuged' it doesn't look intimidating. It'll be something they're excited to try." The team hopes the venue will attract interest from bartenders further afield, too, as the local bar scene evolves. "There's a bit of an underdog mentality in the community," says Leppan Taylor. "Part of the reason we all like to support and help each other is because we have this feeling we're all in it together. We want to show we have the knowledge, expertise and experiences comparable to anywhere else in Australia." Top image: Mitch Bloomfield (left), Orion Leppan Taylor (right) in the new Cocktail Lab space in Wollongong.
The legacy of the legendary blues musician Muddy Waters runs deep, from influences on Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love and ACDC's You Shook Me All Night Long, and even to Westmont Pickles—an Australian picklery named after the town where Muddy died. His deepest influence, however, can be seen in his son, Mud Morganfield, and his career that carries the blues-rock torch that Muddy held aloft for over three decades. Although Morganfield was raised away from his father, he's been following in his footsteps for his whole adult life. Morganfield started out in life hauling trucks across the USA, just like his old man did before he found his music. When his father passed in 1983, Morganfield picked up the old familiar instruments and took to creating his own soulful blues ballads, and has been at it ever since. Despite the soulful style and rich vocal timbre Morganfield shares with his father, Mud's sound contributes to the intersection of Chicago Blues and Delta Rock in his own right. With the benefit of intervening decades of musical progression since Muddy Waters left the blues, Mud's sound incorporates modern styles into his oeuvre, but never strays too far from the track his old man beat before him. Catch Morganfield at Bluesfest 2017 in Byron Bay, or at his Melbourne sideshow at Northcote Social Club on Monday April 10.
Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye is swapping screens for stages, and ditching playing a sleazy nightclub owner on HBO for his usual music superstar beat. Fresh from starring in The Idol, the Canadian singer-songwriter has locked in Down Under dates for his After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour, heading to Australia and New Zealand in November and December this year. The 'Starboy', 'I Feel It Coming', 'Can't Feel My Face', 'The Hills' and 'Blinding Lights' artist will hit up arenas in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, as part of a tour that's been notching up soldout shows far and wide. In the UK, The Weekend saw 160,000 folks head to London Stadium across two nights, smashing the venue's attendance record. And in Milan, he became the first artist to sell out the Ippodromo La Maura for two nights. Those feats are just the beginning. In Paris, he scored Stade de France's biggest sales this year — and in Nice, the 70,000 tickets sold across his two shows are the most in the city's history. Will his Down Under dates add to his record-breaking run? Australia in particular has been loving the return of huge international tours. See: the Taylor Swift frenzy. The reason for the Aussie and Aotearoa gigs, other than just because, is to celebrate The Weeknd's 2020 record After Hours and its 2022 followup Dawn FM. Obviously, he'll be playing tracks from 2013's Kiss Land, 2015's Beauty Behind the Madness and 2016's Starboy as well. In support across The Weeknd's four Down Under shows: Mike Dean and Chxrry22. The tour will help a good cause, too, other than your need to see The Weeknd live. The artist has been contributing funds for his shows to the United Nations World Food Programme's XO Humanitarian Fund, as one of the organisation's Goodwill Ambassador, raising over $1 million from his Europe run alone. THE WEEKND'S 'AFTER HOURS TIL DAWN TOUR' 2023: Monday, November 20 — Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Friday, November 24 — Accor Stadium, Sydney Friday, December 1 — Marvel Stadium, Melbourne Thursday, December 7 — Eden Park, Auckland The Weeknd is touring Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2023. For more information, and for pre-sale tickets from Friday, August 25, then general tickets from Friday, September 1, head to the tour website.
If you love classic cocktails, you probably enjoy knowing a bit about the intriguing stories behind them. And one cocktail with a long, star-studded history is the martini. To honour the legacy of this iconic drink, Melbourne cocktail bar Eau de Vie is launching a bespoke martini service — that doubles as an alcohol-fuelled history lesson. The Star of Bombay Martini Trolley combines the classic martini service — a tradition in old-school ritzy hotel bars — storytelling of the cocktail's history and the dramatic crafting of drinks using liquid nitrogen. The four martinis from the new Star of Bombay menu will be made theatrically on the trolley in front of you, and include the sweet-noted Edwardian, a twist on the hanky panky from the Savoy Hotel in 1903, a James Bond-inspired Magda Martini (we'll assume it's shaken) and the Captain Ritz — an ode to the Ritz Paris's famed side car cocktail. You'll also have the chance to experiment with bitters, brines and garnishes to create your own personalised martini. The Star of Bombay Martini Trolley is located inside Eau de Vie, Melbourne and is open 6pm–midnight, Monday to Sunday. One martini costs $24 and a sample board of all four costs $50. Reservations are essential, to make one, head to the website.
If simultaneously puffing and munching away is your idea of a meal, we have some bad news for you. Falling into line with neighbouring Australian states, Victoria has enacted new anti-tobacco legislation that bans cigarette smoking in all outdoor dining areas and some outdoor drinking areas. Announced in 2015, but only coming into effect on August 1, smoking is now prohibited in all outside spaces where food is available for consumption — and the list of spots impacted is hefty. Stubbing out is now on the menu at restaurants, cafes, take away shops and licensed premises, and spans both courtyard dining areas and footpath dining. The new laws also apply to food fairs and festivals, street and community events, and other organised outdoor gatherings where food is on offer. In addition, the legislation places restrictions on outdoor drinking areas too. Puffing away with a pint outside is now banned if the space is within four metres of an outdoor dining area — whether at the same venue or a neighbouring one. There's also a stipulation about actual versus notional wall surface area. Given that no one wants to be doing maths while they're enjoying a drink, checking each venue's rules is going to become a regular part of every smoker's routine. If you're wondering what separates a dining area from a drinking area, the former involves food that requires preparation prior to serving, while the latter is primarily for knocking back tipples — though pre-packaged nibbles such as nuts, chocolates and packets of potato chips are allowed, but not sandwiches, hot chips or anything more substantial. There are exceptions to the new legislation, however, including venues that boast at least four metres of space to separate diners and smokers, and places that install 2.1-metre-high cafe blinds to do the same. Individuals caught breaching the new laws will face a fine of five penalty units, or $792.85 for the 2017-18 financial year — and venue fines are heftier. To put the long-awaited changes in national context, New South Wales made the same move in July 2015, while Queensland did so back in 2006.
Last week, KFC offered 25 percent off its entire menu for three days. Not one to be outdone, Korean fried chicken joint Gami has just launched its own finger licken' good offering. From now until 11.59pm on Wednesday, May 20, it's offering 20 percent off all orders of $20 or more. To get your hands on its tasty fried chicken morsels — RSPCA-approved and rocking Gami's signature blend of 17 herbs and spices — you'll need to download its app (available for both Android and iOS) and enter GAMIATHOME at checkout. And it's also offering free delivery, too, from participating venues through DoorDash. With 26 stores across Australia — including 17 in Melbourne and four in Sydney — Gami has secured its status as one of Australia's go-to fried chicken joints. As well as its signature Korean-style chook, it's serving spicy seafood soup, chicken katsu burgers, kimchi pancakes, tteok bok ki and cheesy corn. Gami's 20 percent off deal is available until 11.59pm on Wednesday, May 20. Use GAMIATHOME at checkout. You can use the code five times.
As plant-based eating has become increasingly normalised (just ask these top chefs), it can be difficult to begin when it comes to incorporating more plant-based meals into the home. This probably shouldn't be all that surprising — with so much to work with, rather than just the standard protein and three veg many of us grew up with, there really is a whole world of delicious, nutritious and, yes, even indulgent ingredients that can easily be transformed into meals that are as good for you as they are for the planet. To make things a little easier for you, we've teamed up with Vegkit to showcase seven easy-to-make plant-based dishes that'll please even the pickiest of eaters, from entrée right through to dessert. HERBED MUSHROOM AND LENTIL SAUSAGE ROLLS Whether it's a playful entrée or a game-night staple, sausage rolls are always a no-brainer when you've got guests over. This plant-based version is an umami-laden treat, packed with mushrooms, lentils and a host of fragrant herbs and spices. They're a cinch to make, too — especially when you let a food processor do the heavy lifting — but also make it look like you've gone to more effort than you probably have. That's what we call a win-win, folks. ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS, CRANBERRY AND ALMOND SALAD Take the humble brussels sprout from supporting player to headline act with this delicious salad. This hearty dish is just as good as part of a lazy weekend spread as it is to elevate a quick weeknight dinner, thanks to its minimal prep time and abbreviated list of ingredients (most of which you probably already have on hand). Less definitely means more in this case, though, with well-balanced flavours that seriously pack a punch. One more reason to add this dish to the rotation: with the cooler months approaching, brussels sprouts are back in season. TOMATO FILO TART WITH PESTO This golden, flaky tart looks more difficult to make than it is — and when it looks this good, that's really saying something. We reckon this all-rounder would go down well at any time of the day, whether it's for a plant-based brunch or an easy weeknight dinner. You can use any tomatoes you like, and the recipe also calls for a homemade pesto, so it's a great fridge-clearer that you can graze on all day. EASY CHEESY CAULIFLOWER BAKE The clue is in the name with this one, folks (maybe not the 'cheesy' bit though, to be fair) — it's an easy-as, warming AF bake that we think could become a new weeknight favourite. Think of this like mac and cheese's sophisticated sibling, with florets of cauliflower topped with a creamy (in consistency only, we assure you) garlicky cashew mix and crunchy golden breadcrumbs. Your favourite comfort dish just got a wholesome upgrade. MUSHROOM AND LEEK PIE Pie time to upgrade your baking game? Start here. This very doable — and very smashable — plant-based pie is comfort food at its finest, with a golden filo ceiling giving way to a luxuriously gooey mushroom and leek filling that's lifted with onions, garlic and a hum of cracked pepper. You can also add a whack of protein by adding cubed tofu (smoked tofu works particularly well here) to the white sauce when you stir the veggies through it. APPLE BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE What looks like a pie, smells like a pie, even tastes like a pie, but is a whole lot easier to make than a pie? This fragrant, colourful beauty. Just ten minutes' prep and 15 minutes of oven time is all you need to serve up this rustic, indulgent apple blueberry crumble. While the cinnamon-laced fruit is an umami-packed delight, the real highlight here is the homemade crumble, a buttery, toasty mix of oats, wholewheat flour, maple syrup and coconut oil. Top with a generous scoop of vegan ice cream or thick vanilla-flavoured coconut yoghurt to take this dessert to the next level. MANGO, LIME AND COCONUT SWIRL POPSICLES The only difficult thing about making these summer-ready mango, lime and coconut swirl popsicles will be waiting for them to set. These sticks feature all your favourite summer flavours, and are the perfect treat at any time of the day — and surely one of these would count as one of your five-a-day, right? The recipe for these bad boys calls for just four ingredients, but we'd suggest a cheeky fifth if you're making them for grown-ups: a splash of rum. Piña colada popsicles, anyone? To discover even more plant-based dining and recipe inspiration, head to the VegKit website, or check out MasterChef Australia's Simon Toohey's three favourite plant-based breakfasts to get your day started. Don't feel like cooking tonight? Try our picks of the best date spots with plant-based menus in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
With social distancing and public gathering rules in place across the country, Mother's Day is going to look a little different in 2020. While the annual celebration of mums isn't usually associated with fried chicken, KFC is, this year, bucking the trend and launching a 'mum-umental' celebration of chook. This Mother's Day weekend, KFC is slashing 25 percent off its entire menu — and delivering it to your door. So, order some finger lickin' good chook and Zoom your mum to tell her you love her (and maybe send her a gift, if you haven't already). The limited-time offer is available from select KFC stores nationwide and runs from Saturday, May 9 till midnight on Monday, May 11. To get your hands on some cheap 11 secret herbs and spices, head to Menulog's website or use the Menulog app and enter KFC4MUM at checkout. The deal is only valid when you spend $30 or more. While your food is on its way, you can meditate with KFChill, a wellness website that lets you unwind to the sound of chicken frying, gravy simmering or bacon sizzling away in a pan. Yes, it'll make you hungry. You can't road trip to the world's first drive-thru-only KFC or marry your loved at the famed chicken chain this weekend, but 25 percent off a Zinger Burger, Original Recipe Chicken and potato and gravy is sure to lift your spirits. Plus, Popcorn Chicken is a pretty good snack for when you're binging Tiger King or streaming this year's Oscar-winning flick. KFC is offering 25 percent off its entire menu via Menulog from Saturday, May 9 to 11.59pm on Monday, May 11. To order, head to the Menulog website and enter KFC4MUM at checkout. The deal is only valid for orders of $30 or more.
We don't know what you have to do to be considered a 'beach expert', but after Australia's best beaches were revealed over the weekend, we're sure we need to become one. The 2017 list details 101 of the country's most stunning beaches, but the beach that's come out as number one isn't Bondi or Jervis Bay — it's Cossies Beach. Where the bloody hell is Cossies Beach, you say? It's located on Direction Island, which is part of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands about a four and a half hour flight from Perth. It's closer to Jakarta than Perth, which makes the logistics of your escape to the exquisite blue water paradise extremely difficult — but perhaps that's why it's so coveted. Now, the 'best' beach is obviously a hard one to quantify, but Brad Farmer has done a pretty thorough research job. He's the aforementioned beach expert, and for the release of the first edition of 101 Best Beaches he visited, documented and rated a whole heap of beaches alongside coastal geomorphologist Professor Andy Short, who has personally visited every single beach in Oz (there's 11,761 of them, by the way). Eventually the pair landed on the remote Cossies Beach as number one. It's so remote in fact that it didn't even have a name — while conducting his research, Farmer named it after after Australia's 26th Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, after seeking permission from locals. It's obviously insanely beautiful, and the pair have noted it as the best beach of them all due to its shallow water creating a brilliant blue colour, its 300-metre white sand strip, great snorkelling and shade from coconut palms. Other top beaches are ones you probably haven't heard too much about either — Moonee Beach on the Coffs Coast, Turquoise Bay in WA and Dolly Beach on Christmas Island all make the list. Tourist spots Burleigh Heads and Apollo Bay get a look in as well. Have a look at the top ten below. BRAD FARMER'S BEST BEACHES IN AUSTRALIA 2017 1. Cossies Beach, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Indian Ocean 2. Nudey Beach, Fitzroy Island, Far North Queensland 3. Moonee Beach, Coffs Coast, NSW 4. Turquoise Bay, Coral Coast, WA 5. Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Queensland 6. Maslin Beach, Adelaide, SA 7. Dolly Beach, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean 8. Shelly Beach, Nambucca Coast, NSW 9. Boat Harbour Beach, North West Coast, Tasmania 10. Apollo Bay, Great Ocean Road, Victoria Images: Rik Soderlund via 101 Best Beaches.
Semi-anonymous street artist JR has won the 2011 TED Award (we highly suggest listening to him speak here), and is appealing to you, the public, to help him turn the world inside out using street art as a medium for social and political change. Appreciating that the world is sometimes an ugly, always volatile place, JR believes in the power of the public — 'the curators', who walk past his iconic images on a daily basis — as a vehicle for worldwide upheaval. For JR, "that is where we realise the power of paper and glue." JR's mission is simple, and it's based on his existing body of work — "we didn't push the limit, we just showed that it was further than anyone thought." Now, JR is asking you to explore the boundaries of limit in order to imprint your better world upon the flawed one we already have. While the artist doesn't believe that art can change the world in a tangible sense, he holds firmly to the philosophy that art can be harnessed to change perceptions. The Inside-Out project urges you to "stand up for what you care about, by participating in a global art project... Because when we act together, the whole thing is more than the sum of its parts." Inside-Out asks participants to have their photo taken in this travelling booth (rumoured to hit New York next), or upload their picture to the projects website. JR's team will then mail you a giant poster that you'll paste up within your community. Both the romanticism and the practicality of the Inside-Out project is inspiring, with a certain poignancy bred from the physical joining together of people from across the world for a common cause.
Now open on Hardware Street, White Mojo is serving up one of the most insane menus we've seen in quite some time. Do things like vacuum sealed watermelon and croissant burgers float your boat? In that case, you're looking in the right place. Open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, the options at White Mojo's city location are enough to make even the most journeyed Melbourne brunch-o-philes take note. Their signature burger is filled with tempura soft shell crab, pickled cucumber, chipotle mayonnaise and a fried egg, and did we already mention that it's served in a croissant!? Other standout menu items include waffles with lemon curd, meringue and freeze-dried berries, nutritionist approved coconut smoothie bowls, and cauliflower pannacotta with Canadian scallops, potato popcorn and black pudding dust, served in a smoke-filled glass kalosh. Your caffeine fix at White Mojo is a Sumatran blend, with the baristas using different grinders for milk and black coffee. Alternatively you can get a Matcha latte served hot or cold, or stock up on Vitamin C with a glass of fresh pressed OJ.
Armadale cafe Moby 3143 now has an Albert Park sister venue — and though Lenny 3206 opened back in June, it's just nabbed a liquor license ad new menu for the start of summer. The bright, heritage-listed corner cafe has beachy vibes with pastel hues and an airy fit-out. Moby's executive chef Stephen Svensen (Pillar of Salt) has designed Lenny's new spring brunch menu, which spans from healthier options — like the mandarin juice-soaked bircher ($18) with stone fruit and toasted almonds — to the rather rich sounding cookies 'n' cream ricotta hotcakes ($21), which come topped with a white chocolate glaze, peach gel and vanilla ice cream. Other newcomers include a house-cured salmon omelette ($21) with crispy capers, green pesto and whipped lemon ricotta; a green poke bowl ($21) with broccoli and avocado, wasabi peas and edamame on a bed of wakame salad and brown sushi rice; and a falafel plate ($19) with spicy hummus, beetroot labneh, cucumber gel and a quinoa and zucchini salad. Signature dishes haven't lost their place on the menu either, with the superfood salad ($19), chilli scrambled eggs ($21.5) and cafe-requisite smashed avo on toast ($19) still on offer. But now you can enjoy these with an Aperol spritz or glass of wine in hand — as brunch is meant to be enjoyed. Images: Simon Shiff.
When autumn rolls around, the sweet fiends behind Victoria's hot chocolate and ice cream festivals run a month-long sugar extravaganza dedicated to sweet, nutty, marshmallowy rocky road. That'd be the Yarra Valley Rocky Road Festival, as hosted by the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery, Mornington Peninsula Chocolaterie and Great Ocean Road Chocolaterie — and it's back in-person in 2022. Take the rocky road down to the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road throughout the entire month of May, and get ready to stuff your face. By the way, to any dentists who are reading, go ahead and put down a deposit on that beach house you were looking at. We have a feeling your financial situation is going to be juuuuuuuuust fine. Because the fest takes place over 31 days, that means there's 31 different flavours on offer — including rocky road inspired by cocktails, fresh produce available in the three sites' kitchen gardens and wild ingredient pairings. This year's offerings include the return of Golden Gaytime, espresso martini, mint and licorice varieties, plus new black forest, Biscoff, pineapple and pistachio praline versions. And it doesn't just stop at blocks and bars, either. There'll also be rocky road hot chocolate and rocky road ice cream as well. All three chocolateries will also be hosting Rock Around the Block tasting sessions throughout the day and on weekends, which give attendees a 45-minute rocky road workshop experience. And, if you can't make it along in the flesh, the at-home version is still running this year, too — because this dessert isn't afraid of travelling.
The war on waste isn't just about banning plastic shopping bags, recycling plastic drink containers, phasing out plastic straws and finding alternatives to disposable coffee cups. That's a great start, but humanity's reliance upon single-use plastics includes cutlery, plates, stirrers, cotton buds and more. Europe has committed to stop using such items by 2021, building upon similar decisions in the UK and France, while Australia is working towards banning all non-recyclable packaging by 2025 — but one Aussie state is now taking matters into its own hands. As originally revealed earlier this year, the South Australian government has been exploring the possibility of implementing its own ban on single-use plastic items. After a consultation period — which followed the initial proposal by SA Environment Minister David Speirs, who released two discussion papers and called for for public feedback — the plan is progressing towards legislation. The government will now draft applicable laws for further community input, with the aim of introducing them to parliament in 2020. If they're enacted, it'll become the first Australian state to take the step. SA Premier Steven Marshall has outlined the proposed ban, which'll occur across multiple phases. At present, the government is trialling plastic-free precincts. When the legislation comes into effect, plastic straws, cutlery and stirrers will be phased out immediately, then takeaway polystyrene containers and cups will follow 12 months later. As for takeaway coffee cups, plastic bags and other takeaway food service, further investigation and consultation will be undertaken before eradicating them from circulation. https://www.facebook.com/StevenMarshallMP/photos/a.334019693384086/2240955376023832/?type=3&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCgQEDNSaeZW-ix7RSmoon8MNPIMnKTQMdJynEovfagvk0Qc8FeIer17xgDJjo8GTsDkxiNJUMPUPgHPbwasO3fOkX2xwSuybsGzBQZOLx5UOxsgTghfVz4pOfoZ68issh_w_1scmiE6bNXV0QAATbBw8cQplg2d5CzUuCV7b9Ebh_j2toAPshn-xQpP4n76zaucK56WXfhmv58JzY-6HT4HzBgw5Et3NJo2Mg48O0BwM11PwniCfX4tEXlrSEvjnC_vRFqnNsYLNtyHP8KAUwGmKeqdbm8GzM8KaRu05zf-g8NHef-7Bg2Tf78LsmaweIMPp_lceUvUMOY-Qme8bp5qQ&__tn__=-R SA was the first state in the country with a container refund scheme, introducing its 10-cent refund for eligible items back in 1977 — and causing an entire generation of interstate dwellers to grow up making jokes about driving a haul of cans and bottles to Adelaide to collect some cash. It was also the first state to phase out lightweight plastic bags, a move that came into effect in 2009. In comparison, New South Wales only brought in container refunds in 2017 and is yet to commit to banning single-use plastic bags. Victoria doesn't have a container refund scheme on the horizon, but will phase out plastic bags this November. And Queensland enacted both container refunds and a plastic bag ban in 2018. While action at a government level continues to take its time across the country — apart from in Hobart, where takeaway containers will be banned either late this year or early next year — companies and venues have been stepping in themselves. McDonalds will remove plastic straws from its packaging by 2020, IKEA is phasing out single-use plastics by the same year, Melbourne's Crown Casino is cutting down its plastic usage, the Queen Victoria Market is banning plastic bags and straws and Coca-Cola Amatil is also getting rid of plastic straws from 115,000 Aussie venues. In the skies, Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly is committed to becoming the world's first single-use plastic free airline by the end of 2019, while Qantas is eradicating 100 million single-use plastic items from its flights and lounges each year from 2020 onwards.
National Reconciliation Week is an opportunity for all people of Australia to learn and acknowledge the nation's shared history, to celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and to reflect on how we can each contribute to reconciliation. Reconciliation requires more than listening, learning and reflecting, which is powerfully summarised in this year's theme: More than a word. Reconciliation takes action. So, from Thursday, May 27 to Thursday, June 3, heaps of events will take place across the country to promote discussion and a commitment to reconciliation. We've handpicked 11 events to attend IRL and online during NRW 2021 — but keep in mind that there's a huge lineup of unique events, panel discussions and workshops to explore, no matter where you are in Australia. For the full calendar of events, check out the National Reconciliation Week website. WARRANE (SYDNEY) POLITICS AND ACTIVISM: THE FIGHT FOR ONGOING CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM Professor Larissa Behrendt AO (Eualeyai and Gamillaroi) and Australia's first Aboriginal Senior Counsel, Tony McAvoy (Wirdi) will discuss the history and legacy of activism in Australia, as well as the need for ongoing constitutional reform at the Australian Museum Theatre. The discussion will cover the 1967 Referendum, and key achievements of activist and educator, Dr Evelyn Scott AO (Warrgamay), who was pivotal to Australia's reconciliation journey through the 1960s and 70s. WEAVING WORKSHOPS For the arty people in the room, come and sit with Lee Carr (Wiradjuri) to learn about Aboriginal weaving practices. Under the guidance of Carr, participants will create their own raffia fibre basket or bracelet using traditional weaving styles, while learning about the significance of weaving techniques and practices. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved, with Carr hosting workshops every second day from Thursday, May 27 through Saturday, June 5 at The Bankstown Arts Centre. NAARM (MELBOURNE) RECONCILIATION GATHERING Hear, watch and participate in the living culture of Wurundjeri peoples on a site of ongoing significance for the community. The event begins with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony from Wurundjeri Elders, and is followed by a Djirri Djirri Dancers sharing ceremony, and talks by Elders and leaders of the Wurundjeri community in Coburg. Update: New restrictions for Victoria were announced on Thursday, May 27, but you can check out the online events below. MEANJIN (BRISBANE) MURRI TRIVIA Test your knowledge about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander facts at Murri Trivia at Saint Lucy Caffe e Cucina, hosted by author Professor Anita Heiss (Wiradjuri). Open to all, this is a fun way to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander topics, plus you can try to win some prizes along the way. BOORLOO (PERTH) NYIN, NI, KOORLINY: SIT, LISTEN AND WALK For those on Noongar Boodja (Noongar Country) — this event is a great opportunity for reflection and a chance to revisit your personal commitment to reconciliation. The event starts with a Welcome to Country by Noongar Elder Aunty Marie Taylor, followed by a discussion with Shaun Nannup (Whadjuk Noongar) about reconciliation. Visitors will also be invited to take a reflective walk on Noongar Boodja, starting from Dyoondalup (Point Walter Reserve). TARNDANYA (ADELAIDE) RECONCILIATION WEEK PLANTING Roll up your sleeves, grab your trowel and get ready to get your hands dirty. Suitable for all ages, you're invited to help Kaunra Elder, Uncle Tamaru, plant some bush tucker back while learning about Aboriginal culture. Plus, everyone gets their own bush tucker plant to take home. KAMBERRA (CANBERRA) AUSTRALIAN NATION UNIVERSITY'S NRW PANEL Hosting a panel discussion on this year's theme, More than a word. Reconciliation takes action, Australian National University is bringing together both First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians for a vibrant chat that welcomes all, as reconciliation is the responsibility of all peoples. Guests include Hon Linda Burney MP (Gunni and Gunditjmara), Geraldine Chin Moody and Professor Rae Frances, led by ABC Radio National Breakfast host Fran Kelly at ANU. NIPALUNA (HOBART) LUNCHTIME TOWN HALL FORUM WITH PROFESSOR MARCIA LANGTON AO Professor Marcia Langton (Yiman and Bidjara) is speaking at a number of locations in lutruwita/Trouwunna (Tasmania) about the National Reconciliation Week theme More than a word. Reconciliation takes action. Come along early to this free event to enjoy a complimentary light lunch with tea or coffee at Hobart Town Hall. GARRMALANG (DARWIN) NRW AT CITY OF DARWIN LIBRARIES City of Darwin Libraries are hosting a number of events across their branches to celebrate the week. Along with film screenings including Storm Boy and Charlie's Country, there will be special storytime and toddler time sessions with guests. ONLINE YOU CAN'T ASK THAT: MORE THAN A WORD. RECONCILIATION TAKES ACTION Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit Academic Director, Professor Tracey Bunda (Ngugi Wakka Wakka); Anthropology Museum Director, Michael Aird; and artist Gordon Hookey (Waanyi) come together for a special Q&A to confront stereotypes, prejudices, bias and discrimination during this online panel. THE JOURNEY HOME: RECONCILIATION THROUGH REPATRIATION Hosted by the University of Sydney online, join host Professor Larissa Behrendt AO (Eualeyai and Kamillaroi) and panellists Laura McBride (Wailwan and Kooma), Matt Poll, and Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker (Alyawarra) for a deep-dive discussion on the significance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage material. As part of the online chat, the panel will also explore the importance of returning Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestral remains back to Australia—outlining how this forms a meaningful step towards reconciliation. National Reconciliation Week runs from Thursday, May 27–Thursday, June 3 nationwide. You can find an event near you — or register your own — via the National Reconciliation Week website. Top image: Celine Cheung.
