Four months after announcing that the Australian Aboriginal flag will get a permanent berth atop the country's most famous man-made structure — the Sydney Harbour Bridge — the New South Wales Government has committed to making that promise a reality by the end of 2022. A third flagpole will be added to the structure, giving the Aboriginal flag its own place to fly every single day of the year — instead of the current situation, where it is only on display for 19 days annually, for Australia Day, Sorry Day, Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week. The NSW Government will commit $25 million in the 2022–23 NSW budget to installing the third Harbour Bridge flagpole, and will do so before the year is out. The bridge's flagpoles stand around 20 metres high — the same height as a six-storey building — while the flags themselves measure around nine metres by four-and-a-half metres, which means they need a strong attachment that's able to hold in all weather conditions. "Our Indigenous history should be celebrated and acknowledged so young Australians understand the rich and enduring culture that we have here with our past," said NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet in a statement. "Installing the Aboriginal flag permanently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge will do just that and is a continuation of the healing process as part of the broader move towards reconciliation." [caption id="attachment_841961" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mary and Andrew via Flickr.[/caption] Back in February, when the Premier first revealed that a third flagpole would be erected, he advised that it'd happen "as soon as possible". On exactly what date before 2022 is out that'll become a reality hasn't been announced, however, but there's now a concrete timeframe. The Sydney Harbour Bridge currently has two flag poles, with one flying the Australian flag and, when the Aboriginal flag isn't on display on its allocated days, the other flying the NSW state flag. The move to fly the Aboriginal flag permanently follows a five-year-long campaign by Kamilaroi woman Cheree Toka, who also launched a Change.org campaign in 2020 to continue to call on the NSW government to make this exact move. "The Aboriginal flag is a reminder that the country has a history before European arrival," Toka said two years ago. "I think it's really important to have a symbolic gesture on the bridge that identifies the true history of Australia, which is a starting point for conversation around greater issues affecting the Indigenous population." After the first three years of Toka's campaign, she had amassed more than 157,000 digital signatures and the required 10,000 paper-based signatures to bring the issue to NSW parliament. However, when it was debated in the final NSW parliamentary session of 2019, the result then was that it would cost too much to construct a third flagpole to see the Aboriginal flag flying daily — which was what sparked her crowdfunding campaign to raise the $300,000 quoted by the government to 'fund the flag'. Also in Aboriginal flag news this year, the Australian Government unveiled a copyright deal at the end of January with Luritja artist Harold Thomas, who designed the symbol, to make it freely available for public use. The Aboriginal flag will start flying permanently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge by the end of 2022 — we'll update you when further details are announced. Top image: Boyd159 via Wikimedia Commons.
South Yarra's Forrest Hill precinct continues to boom, with the announcement of a lofty, openair atrium to sit at the base of Claremont Street's new luxury residential development, Yarra One. Drawing inspiration from Melbourne's famed laneway culture, the ambitious project will see the thoroughfare between Daly Street and Yarra Lane transformed into a vibrant community hub, and a lifestyle destination in itself. Designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects (MONA), the ground floor space is nothing short of stunning, boasting sprawling, sun-dappled interiors and a soaring timber trellis entwined by lush foliage. Not only will it feature a diverse collection of cafes, restaurants, and retailers, but also rows of tiered seating overlooking a small stage area, marking the space's potential as a cultural hub. Counting favourites like Zumbo Patisserie and Two Birds One Stone as neighbours, this dynamic addition is on track to becoming one of Melbourne's new wave of large-scale lifestyle destinations. Construction for the Yarra One project, including the atrium, will be completed by 2020.
Dancing in your lounge room: everyone's doing it, and it seems that almost every musician around is happy to provide the soundtrack. Hot on the heels of virtual dance party Room 2 Radio and Aussie live-streamed music festival Isol-Aid comes Courtney Barnett and Lucius & Friends — and it comes with quite the lineup. Clearly, both Courtney Barnett and Lucius will be playing sets — and, like everyone involved, will be doing so live from their own respective lounge rooms. Joining them is a lengthy list of musos, including Nathaniel Rateliff, Lukas Nelson, Fred Armisen, Sheryl Crow, Sharon Van Etten, Emily King, Bedouine and Jonathan Wilson, with more set to pop up on the day. Live-streaming on Monday, March 23 Down Under — at 8am AEST, 9am AEDT and 11am NZDT — the online gig aims to raise money for Oxfam's COVID-19 Relief Fund. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9-o8PWBFn6/ To watch along, head to Lucius' Instagram Live feed. Top image: Bruce via Wikimedia Commons
If you haven't yet forked out the krónas to head to Iceland, you might have only hypothesised about that mystical phenomena known as the Northern Lights (or Aurora Borealis) through Philip Pullman's pageturner. But after this little gem of a new project, you'll be booking flights before you can spell Reykjavík. Created by three independent filmmakers from Reykjavík and a web developer from Azambuja, Portugal, and co-produced by Design Studio Borgarmynd and TrailerPark Studios, Iceland Aurora takes timelapse next level. There's been a fair few amateur timelapse videos cranked out featuring the Northern Lights, like this and this, but this new project is just out of control. Scored by Pétur Jónsson, the non-narrative film was shot in more than 50 different locations around Iceland and put together from over 100.000 individual RAW High Res images. Turning Iceland into Hogwarts meets The Riddler's weird mindreading machine from Batman Forever, the Northern Lights get a whole new round of applause in this stunning new film. Iceland Aurora will be available in full HD and 4K resolution, on DVD and digital download in July 2014. Via Fubiz. Images by Iceland Aurora.
Throw those GoPros, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. As usual, speculation has run wild in anticipation of the lineup announce — will Childish Gambino be on the lineup (and actually show)? Will there by more than three females? — but the details for Splendour 2019 are finally here. And we're happy to report that some of the rumours were true. Childish Gambino — AKA Donald Glover — himself, will be Splendouring. Well, we hope. Childish Gambino recently cancelled his Spilt Milk appearance and Australian tour due to an ongoing injury, but the lineup also doesn't state that Splendour is his only show — so stay tuned for news of a replacement national tour (hopefully). The other huge names are Chance the Rapper and Tame Impala, the former who is American rap royalty, the latter homegrown Aussie talent who were recently been announced as one of the headline acts for this year's Coachella. There's also a big female contingent — that is kick-ass but still nowhere near as big as the pool of male performers — which includes SZA, Santigold, Courtney Barnett, Thandi Phoenix, Hatchie, Meg Mac and all-female indie rock band Warpaint. Also doing their only Australian shows at Splendour will be Santigold and Slaves. The lineup seems to go on forever, including Foals, The Streets, The Lumineers, James Blake, Friendly Fires, the list goes on. Anyway, we know what you're here for. We'll cut to the chase. SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2019 LINEUP Chance the Rapper Tame Impala Childish Gambino SZA Foals Catfish and the Bottlemen James Blake Santigold The Lumineers The Streets Russ What So Not Courtney Barnett Warpaint Mystery Oz Act Matt Corby Wolf Alice Friendly Fires Broods Dean Lewis Fidlar Cosmo's Midnight Meg Mac Ziggy Alberts Hayden James Dave Dope Lemon Dermot Kennedy Allday & Friends Little Simz The Rubens Maribou State Winston Surfshit Tycho Pond The Teskey Brothers Jacob Banks Wolfmother Tropical F*ck Storm Kyle Hall Local Natives Mansionair Odette Ruby Fields Mike Servito Last Dinosaurs Thelma Plum Trophy Eyes Harvey Sutherland (DJ set) K.Flay Sam Fender Slaves Pub Choir Seb Wildblood The Beths Set Mo Hatchie Honne Kwame The Nude Party Nathan Micay Slowly Slowly Pychedelic Porn Crumpets Kian Kenji Takimi Dear Seattle Charly Bliss Kaiit Phony Ppl A. Swayze and the Ghosts The Midnight Channel Tres Pist Idiots Mormor Suzanne Kraft Erthlings Telephones Moaning Lisa Thandi Phoenix DJ Jnett Wax'o Paradiso Andy Garvey Tyne-James Organ Lastlings Merve Jennifer Loveless Noise in my Head Skin on Skin Rebel Yell Nina Jirachi Body Promise Donald's House Casual Connection DJ Klasik Close Counters Merph Dameeeela Lex Duluxe Splendour will return to North Byron Parklands on Friday 19, Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July. Onsite camping will once again be available from Wednesday, July 17. Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 11 at 9am sharp AEST through Moshtix. For more info, head to the official Splendour In The Grass site. Image: Bianca Holderness.
Joan Jett. Jane Fonda. Kathleen Hanna. These are just some of the awesome women in the spotlight at Melbourne's newest film festival. Held over three days at the Northcote Town Hall, the inaugural Girls on Film Festival will screen ten feminist-themed flicks, showcasing some of the most memorable female protagonists from the past 35 years in film. It's an eclectic blend of titles that includes the likes of Heavenly Creatures, Nine To Five and the brilliant anti-teen movie, Heathers. Younger audiences can enjoy Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo or Niki Caro's Whale Rider. Eye-popping burlesque documentary Exposed, on the other hand, should probably be restricted to the adults. GOFF will also be hosting a special afternoon social event, complete with music, cosplaying, DJ lessons, a unisex nail-bar and the chance to shoot the shit with women in the Melbourne media scene. Naturally, it's called Girl Germs.
You've worked all week. You've earned your thirst. And this Sunday you will be rewarded with a big cold beer. Make tracks to your local pub this weekend because Victoria Bitter is shouting a round all across Australia. The free beer giveaway will go down at over 280 venues around the country this Sunday, May 26 from 2–4pm, including 50 venues across New South Wales, over 80 venues across Victoria and a whopping 120 Queensland venues. A few things you should know: the free brews will be limited to one per person and only while supplies last, so you can't count on a completely free afternoon out. The pub will decide the size of the beer, so it could be a pint, pot or schooey — you'll just have to rock up and see. If you're in Sydney, you can head to the New Brighton in Manly, Pyrmont's Harlequin Inn, and the Crows Nest, Kirribilli and Greenacre hotels — and a heap more locations up north and out west. In Melbourne, punters can go along to Young and Jacksons in the CBD, Elsternwick Hotel, Brunswick's Moreland Hotel, the Royal Oak in Richmond and Essendon's Royal Hotel. Up in Brisbane, the CBD's Victory Hotel is slinging the freebies, as is the Valley's Brunswick Hotel, and the Newmarket, the Breakfast Creek, the Stones Corner and Sunnybank hotels. VB's Our Shout giveaway will run from 2–4pm on Sunday, May 26 at venues across the country. Check NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, SA and ACT venues here, and Queensland and WA venues here.
The distinction between American and Australian cop dramas is about as close to black and white as you can get before literally stripping them of colour. Thematically, the US genre is driven by 'heroism' — brave (and usually maverick) police officers who go above and beyond the line of duty to save anything, from a family member to an entire city. Not so in Australia. Here, it is 'corruption' that most frequently forms the basis of plot lines, reflecting either a sorry state of confidence in our law enforcement agencies, or acceptance that action films don't really work in Australia (ie: Mission Impossible II). The latest offering, Felony, takes place in Sydney's inner west and was written, produced and starred in by Joel Edgerton. Edgerton plays Malcolm Toohey, a hero cop whose near miss during a drug raid (he's shot by a fleeing suspect in the film's frantic opening scene) leads to a heavy night of drinking alongside the other officers involved. Later, as he drives home (narrowly avoiding an RBT arrest thanks to a 'cop to cop' password), he accidentally knocks a young boy off his bike and makes the split-second decision to lie about how he came to be first on scene. From that moment on Felony becomes a story about the toxicity of deception and its capacity for infecting all those who are touched by it. It's one of those films that almost immediately registers in that part of your brain where uncomfortable truths reside, refusing to let you dismiss the story as 'mere fiction'. It's all very real, and human and confronting in its simplicity. One lie builds upon another so quickly that you soon find yourself gasping for air on behalf of the characters, and you can never shake the feeling that it will all eventually come crashing down. Worse, you can't quite decide if you want it to. Edgerton managed to pull together an impressive cast to star alongside him, including Tom Wilkinson as the senior cop spearheading the coverup, Jai Courtney as Wilkinson's eager young partner and Melissa George as Edgerton's wife; however, it's Edgerton who most impresses. He neatly captures his character's confusion, fear, conflict and self-loathing without ever threatening to overplay any of it, and his performance is strong enough to rise above the occasional misteps in the script. The ending is unnecessarily symmetrical, certainly, and there's a subplot that goes confusingly AWOL somewhere in the third act, but overall it's a solid film with an excellent turn from its lead. https://youtube.com/watch?v=qjHvfnB8SRI
It's been a decade since Open House began opening up some of Melbourne's most delightful buildings to the public. In honour of their tenth anniversary, this year's Open House Weekend just announced a huge program, featuring over 200 buildings across wider Melbourne. It's all going down on the weekend of July 29 and 30 with a series of talks in the weeks leading up to the open weekend itself. Some highlights of the program include a screening of Citizen Jane: Battle for the City at ACMI (a doco about a Jane Jacobs, a pioneering but untrained American city planner who championed sustainable activism, and whose work is seminal today in planning blueprints), a panel talk on 'high density happiness' discussing pedestrianising our cities, and a screening of Modern Melbourne, a series of interviews with and archival material from some of Australia's most prominent designers and architects. Also on the program is the Living Cities Forum, featuring award-winning architects and urban planners from around the world, and a free walking tour exploring the CBD's currently under construction metro tunnel. Not to mention the buildings. It might be a good idea to start planning your weekend now because it'll take some military precision to get around to all your favourites. You can plan you itinerary on the Open House website but here are our not-to-miss selections. Hassell Studio — a converted 1880s loft for the architectural firm. Old High Court of Australia — an art deco interior and Beaux-Arts exterior makes the old court very pretty indeed. RMIT Design Hub — designed by famous architect Sean Godsell, the unique façade of this alone makes it worth a visit. SIGNAL — the last surviving signal box of Flinders Street Station is now a creative arts studio for young people. State Library of Victoria — get up in the library's nooks and crannies before its big renovation starts. Substation 'J' — although it's been converted into a residential apartment, large elements of the substation remain. They're offering guided tours, but be warned: there's limited mobility access (meaning no prams, children under 14 or wheelchairs, unfortunately). Council House 2 — a world famous building, known for its sustainable functionality. The tour includes views from the rooftop. Cox Architecture Studio — it's the workspace of a premiere architectural firm, so you know it's going to be good. And while there's too many to list, don't forget to check out a few residential buildings as the weekend is probably the only time you'll be able to play house in someone else's beautiful, architecturally ambitious home. The Open House Weekend will take place across Melbourne from July 29-30. For more info, visit openhousemelbourne.org. Image: Earl Carter.
Stephen Hawking is an extraordinary individual. The problem with that — with all extraordinary individuals — is that over time they come to be viewed not as people but as the sum of their accomplishments. The greater the endeavour, the less we tend to know about the beating heart and restless mind behind it. Often it's not until they're visited by tragedy or professional disgrace that we're reminded of their humanity, and yet, in Hawking's case, not even the onset of motor neurone disease or an extramarital affair could detract from his almost super-human status. The Theory of Everything, then, serves as a fitting reminder that beyond the maths lies a man, brilliant — yes — but still just a man: mortal, flawed and confounded by love. Adapted from the book Travelling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen, The Theory of Everything offers us a portrait of Hawking from the perspective of his first wife, Jane (Felicity Jones), and it is, in effect, a love story. Two love stories, rather: the conventional tale between a pair of enamoured Cambridge students, and the stranger yet better known one of Stephen’s infatuation with the universe. Both are heartwarming, exhilarating and profoundly complicated. In the role of Hawking’s wife, Jones is sublime. Her performance is an accomplished blend of fierce determination to see her husband survive, and private frustration at the professional sacrifices that selflessness wrought. As for Redmayne, perhaps the most fitting compliment is that it is now impossible to look at him and not see the professor. It is an extraordinary example of transformation, both physical and performative. Redmayne, like the man he portrays, is robbed of that which most actors find essential: movement, first, then sound. Yes, there is the iconic digital voice to accompany the performance, but voiceover is no more useful to an actor at the time of recording than a ping pong ball affixed to a green screen to denote what will eventually come to be. With the disarming smile of Redford and the ‘everyman-ness’ of Hanks, Redmayne is the acting equivalent of an unputdownable book, almost daring you to try to look away. For a film entitled The Theory of Everything, the story is, in the end, almost infinitesimal. Ours is a galaxy of some 400 billion stars in a universe roughly 13.8 billion years old. On such a scale, humanity is scarcely perceptible, an insignificant evanescent blip of history in which a single, unsettled romance between two people is as close to nothing as science will permit. And yet it is also everything, because it contains within it some of the finest qualities that define the human existence — that showcase the unconquerable spirit and boundless possibilities of the mind. Hawking’s accomplishments almost defy belief, even if they’d been achieved without disability, and while they’re acknowledged in this film, the focus is not on the ‘what’, but the ‘who’ and the ‘how’. Moving, astounding and, perhaps most of all, enlightening, The Theory of Everything is a sensitive yet unsentimental engagement with genius and the actualities of love.
When spending your days vacationing around the world is a genuine lifestyle choice, how do you follow up a chaotic Hawaiian getaway at a swanky resort? With a jaunt to Italy to stay in the same chain's just-as-exclusive Sicilian abode. That's the reality for Tanya McQuoid-Hunt, aka the character that newly minted Emmy-winner Jennifer Coolidge was born to play in The White Lotus — and you'll be able to start watching what happens during her latest trip before October is out. Mark Monday, October 31 in your diary, as that's when HBO's biting satire will return for its second season, including via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand. Yes, we know that that's the same date as Halloween, but prepare for something twistier, more scathing and more playful than trick-or-treating — at least based on The White Lotus' exceptional first go-around, which just swept Hollywood's TV night of nights earlier in September. Coolidge returns as McQuoid-Hunt, this time travelling to another White Lotus hotel with her husband Greg (Jon Gries, Dream Corp LLC) and assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson, After Yang) in tow. HBO hasn't dropped a trailer for the show's second season yet, so exactly what Tanya's latest vacation will entail — and how it'll turn sour — hasn't even been teased yet. But based on a couple of brief Twitter clips, the level of opulence seen at the Hawaiian outpost remains. Also present: a new twist on the series' still-unnerving theme song. While The White Lotus season one also starred Murray Bartlett (Physical), Connie Britton (Bombshell), Steve Zahn (Where'd You Go, Bernadette), Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), Fred Hechinger (Fear Street), Brittany O'Grady (Little Voice), Kekoa Kekumano (Aquaman), Alexandra Daddario (Songbird), Jake Lacy (Mrs America) and Natasha Rothwell (Insecure), a new cast of faces is joining Coolidge and Gries this time around. Checking into season two: F Murray Abraham (Mythic Quest), Michael Imperioli (The Many Saints of Newark) and Adam DiMarco (The Order) as three generations of one family; Aubrey Plaza (Best Sellers) and Will Sharpe (Defending the Guilty) as a newly wealthy couple vacationing with pals played by Theo James (The Time Traveller's Wife) and Meghann Fahy (The Bold Type); Tom Hollander (The King's Man) as an English expat away with Leo Woodall (Cherry) as his nephew; Beatrice Grannò (Security) and Simona Tabasco (The Ties) as locals; and Sabrina Impacciatore (Across the River and Into the Trees) as this White Lotus' manager. Once again, creator/writer/director Mike White (Brad's Status) is behind the series — and also once again, the social satire will follow a week in the lives of titular resort's guests and employees. Season two will span seven episodes, however, prolonging the holiday fun/mess. The White Lotus' second season doesn't yet have a trailer, but you can check out HBO's teaser tweets so far below: Reservations are required. Check in to the second installment of #TheWhiteLotus October 30 on @hbomax. #HBO50 pic.twitter.com/cqjqiOB623 — HBO (@HBO) September 23, 2022 We're waiting for you. Experience pure luxury at #TheWhiteLotus Sicily. Join us this October on @hbomax. pic.twitter.com/2CupyaTZ0i — HBO (@HBO) August 30, 2022 The second season of The White Lotus will be available to stream Down Under via Binge in Australia and Neon in New Zealand from Monday, October 31. Read our review of season one.
At last year's Melbourne International Film Festival, Perth-set apocalypse film These Final Hours beat out high-profile competition, including The Turning and Mystery Road, to snag The Age Critics Award for Best Australian Feature. Now, almost 12 months later, the film has finally arrived in theatres. Trust us when we tell you that this movie, blending heart-pounding thrills with character-driven drama, is well worth the wait. By the time the story gets going, the end has already begun, courtesy of a devastating meteor strike somewhere in the North Atlantic. Europe is reduced to a cinder in an instant, while a rolling wall of fire promises to annihilate everywhere else. We're never deluded into thinking that survival is even remotely an option. The only question that remains is what to do with the time that's left. Nathan Phillips, most easily recognisable as one of Mick Taylor's ill-fated victims in the original Wolf Creek, plays James, a self-absorbed screw-up with no intention of going out sober. But life, even in its last few moments, has a way of messing with your plans. So it is that on the way to an end-of-the world blow-out, James becomes the reluctant protector of a 12-year-old girl named Rose (newcomer Angourie Rice). After James rescues her from a pair of would-be rapist, she asks him to help her find her family. Perhaps sensing a chance to atone for his squandered life, our dubious hero agrees. In his first feature outing, writer-director Zak Hilditch seems remarkably assured. His native Perth provides a unique and unsettling backdrop for the film, the haunting images of forsaken Australian suburbia striking eerily close to home. Visuals like that contribute to a suffocating sense of bleakness that hangs over the film like a scorching summer heat. But These Final Hours is not entirely devoid of hope. Fundamentally, in fact, it's a film about redemption — about a single act of kindness in the face of common fear. Phillips' performance is one of resounding emotional honesty, while Rice displays a maturity that far exceeds her years. An unlikely pairing, both James and Rose bring out the strength and humanity in the other. In the face of imminent extinction, it's a surprisingly comforting thought. https://youtube.com/watch?v=QaoF6byFQFU
It wouldn't be Midsumma without a good old-fashioned drag show. That being said, there's nothing old-fashioned about this immersive virtual reality production from artists Allison Bennett, Megan Beckwith and Mark Payne. Using their combined skills in photography, digital media, choreography and animation, the trio have produced 3D scans of local drag performers. Plug in and prepare yourself. This probably isn't exactly what the creators of the Oculus Rift had in mind — but to be honest, we don't really care. One week only at the Testing Grounds in Southbank.
Google's just made life a whole lot easier for people across the world, this week launching a new wheelchair-friendly transit feature for its Maps app. While Google Maps has been helping users get around their cities on public transport for years, a lack of information about important things like wheelchair accessible trains and elevator locations has made the app way less user-friendly for those with limited mobility. But that's set to change, with Google Maps in Sydney, Tokyo, New York, London, Boston and Mexico City now featuring wheelchair accessible route options. When getting directions for public transport, users in these cities can simply hit 'options' and select 'wheelchair accessible' under 'routes' to access a list of suggested courses that take mobility needs into consideration. It's not only a huge (and overdue) win for travellers with physical disabilities, but it's also useful for those getting around on crutches or pushing prams. Google's been enlisting the help of people across the globe to improve this part of its services, gathering accessibility information from individuals and groups of Local Guides for over 12 million places. Plenty more cities are expected to add these wheelchair accessible routes in the coming months — let's hope Melbourne and Brisbane are among them.
Since a US remake of Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's vampire sharehouse mockumentary What We Do in the Shadow was first hinted to back in 2017 — then confirmed in May the following year — three brief teasers have dropped. Now, finally, us mere mortals have been blessed with a full two-minute trailer. The ten-episode American version is set to air in the US this March, and has been written by Clement and directed by Waititi. It follows three vampire flatmates living in New York City. Despite being written and directed by Clement and Waititi, the duo won't be starring in the new-look series (but may make guest appearances — we hope), instead it'll feature Toast of London's Matt Berry, Four Lions' Kayvan Novak, British stand-up comedian Natasia Demetriou, The Magicians' Harvey Guillen and The Office's Mark Proksch. Unfortunately for Aussie fans, an offical release date has not yet been announced — but it's looking like we will get to see the series. According to ads aired frequently during Foxtel's Golden Globes broadcast, the show is headed to the pay TV network's Fox Showcase channel at a yet-to-be-revealed date. In New Zealand, the ten-episode mockumentary will air on Sky TV's SoHo2 in March. Here's the first full What We Do in the Shadows trailer in all its glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWUiU3t5udM The US remake is just the latest addition to the What We Do in the Shadows universe, too. A follow-up, We're Wolves, is in the works, focusing on the undead bloodsuckers' Rhys Darby-led lycanthrope enemies. And television spinoff Wellington Paranormal, following the movie's cops (Mike Minogue and Karen O'Leary) as they keep investigating the supernatural, debuted its first season last year and has a second season in the works. What We Do in the Shadows will debut in America on FX on Wednesday, March 27, with a New Zealand screening scheduled on SoHo2. We'll update you as soon as further release dates have been announced.
It's only been a few months since Polyester Records closed their CBD store, but we're already feeling the withdrawls. Where else are we supposed to go while killing time before a coffee date? As Flinders Lane makes its final transformation into a Bonsoy latte and Pieface dispensary, where can we turn for quality vinyl, books and CDs? Luckily Polyester Records still has its smaller Fitzroy store, but now they need your help to make it great. Polyester have long been champions of the local music scene. Hosting a series of live in-store gigs, their CBD store was always buzzing with the latest talent. Now they want to replicate that energy in their Brunswick Street abode. Though the store's been standing for 30 years now, it's always been too small to accommodate such events and they've launched a Pozible campaign to help crowdfund the renovation. As you can see, the store's already a tight fit — you'd be hard-pressed to fit a drum kit beside the bulky vinyl shelves let alone a whole band and audience. So, with a target set at $12,000, co-owners Simon Karis and Nathan Nott are planning to build new compact racks for the LPs, create a smaller sales counter and move it to the front of the store, then set up an appropriate performance space down the back. "Times have been really tough for us — and all record stores," Karis recently told Tone Deaf. "We definitely don’t just want to come off us as ‘hey, poor us’ and ‘give us money’. We want turn the money into something we can all share." As always, pledgers to the Pozible campaign will get a few perks of their own. Mid-range rewards include Polyester Records' t-shirts, vouchers and CD prize packs. Some big spenders have already snapped up the iconic neon smoking man sign and original screen-printed posters, but if you spend more than $1,000 you can commission your very own oil painting from Melbourne artist Tracy Ellerton! That being said, the main prize will be what you're getting back from the store. Think of your donation as a down-payment on those free gigs you'll be getting. This is a store who got Best Coast to perform an all-ages, in-store gig. They're pretty unlikely to let you down. The Pozible campaign ends Monday, July 21. Head over here to read more and make your pledge.
What will open with the Australian premiere of one of this year's Sundance hits — an Aussie movie that won one of the prestigious fest's audience awards, no less — and also feature a huge music celebration right at its centre? The 2023 Melbourne International Film Festival. Just under three months out from the Victorian capital's annual cinema showcase, MIFF has revealed its first two titles for this year, both with strong local connections. Launching the festival for 2023 is Noora Niasari's Shayda, which is set and shot in Melbourne, marks the Tehran-born, Australian-raised writer/director's feature debut and tells an autobiographical tale. Seeing Niasari leap from participating in the MIFF Accelerator Lab for short film helmers to opening the fest, the movie follows an Iranian woman and her daughter who seek refuge at a suburban Melbourne women's shelter. Cate Blanchett's Dirty Films executive produces, while 2022 Cannes Best Actress-winner Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider) and Australian great Leah Purcell (The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) star. Since returning to in-person fests after two pandemic-affected virtual-only years in 2020 and 2021, this is MIFF's second homegrown opener in succession. In 2022, Goran Stolevski's coming-of-age feature Of an Age did the honours. Of course, Shayda will have ample company when it comes to local titles in 2023, including the also just-announced Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story. The documentary will enjoy its world premiere at MIFF, as the festival's first-ever gala screening from its regular Music on Film program. Celebrating the late Australian record executive and promoter, who passed away in 2021, Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story steps through its namesake's life and career. Unsurprisingly, it has plenty of well-known names joining in to pay tribute, with featured interviewees spanning Kylie Minogue, Dave Grohl, Sting, Ed Sheeran, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Jimmy Barnes. And, when the Paul Goldman (Suburban Mayhem)-directed doco plays MIFF mid-fest, it will score red-carpet events across multiple Melbourne venues. As for what else will screen in the festival's 71st year, the rest of the program will start being revealed in early June, ahead of the full 2023 MIFF lineup drop in July. Whatever ends up on the bill after Shayda and Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story, they'll join a fest that'll continue its 2022 format of playing in cinemas in Melbourne (from Thursday, August 3–Sunday, August 20) and at regional Victorian locations (from Friday, August 11–Sunday, August 13 and Friday, August 18–Sunday, August 20), and also once again expand its audience by bringing back online platform MIFF Play (from Friday, August 18–Sunday, August 27). Shayda's opening-night session will screen on Thursday, August 3, with tickets for MIFF members available from 8am on Tuesday, May 23 and general public sales from 10am on Thursday, May 25. If you're keen to see Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story, it'll premiere on Thursday, August 10, with tickets available at the same times as Shayda. The 2023 Melbourne International Film Festival runs from Thursday, August 3–Sunday, August 20 at a variety of venues around Melbourne; from Friday, August 11–Sunday, August 13 and Friday, August 18–Sunday, August 20 in regional Victoria; and online nationwide with MIFF Play from Friday, August 18–Sunday, August 27. For further details, including the full program from Tuesday, July 11, visit the MIFF website.
The omnipresence of satellite imaging, thanks particularly to our friends at Google, has meant we have become increasingly desensitised by the awesomeness that is mankind's ability to take detailed photographs of our neighbour's backyard from thousands of kilometres up into space. However, every so often we stumble upon images that reignite our wonder in our seemingly endless technological capacity and the epic majesty that is the natural world. These satellite photographs from John Nelson, a mapping manager at data visualisation company IDV Solutions, capture hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires across the globe using colour coding and cutting edge data visualisation technology to beautifully and innovatively map some of the most devastating storms throughout history. 11 Years of Major US Fires After devastating fires blazed across Utah and Colorado earlier this year, Nelson gathered satellite imagery from NASA to visually map the spread and intensity of wildfire across the US over the last 11 years. The differing colours represent the intensity of the fire as compared to the average output of a nuclear power plant during Summer. The bright yellow spots, spread primarily across the West Coast, represent fires burning at a heat and intensity of roughly three or more nuclear power plants, with the hottest recorded at approximately 14 nuclear power plants in June, 2005. Every Hurricane and Tropical Storm Over the Last 150 Years With the help of a plethora of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration including wind speeds, dates and names, Nelson was able to map every hurricane and tropical storm over the last 150 years. Using this data along with some educated predictions about the movements of 19th Century storms, Nelson "slapped it on a polar projection" and added some colour coding depicting storm intensity to create these incredible images. The maps however serve much more than an artistic purpose, with Nelson creating them in the wake of Hurricane Isaac in order to assist meteorologists in analysing storm trends and even allowing us to detect storms before they have occurred. The World's Earthquakes Since 1898 This map provides an awe-inspiring view of the tectonic boundaries of the Earth's surface. The yellow and green glow represents every earthquake over the last century that measured 4.0 or over on the richter scale, with the more luminous the glow the higher the magnitude of the earthquake.
Love a good dinner party? Well, this March, you can put on a feast that does a whole lot more than just impress your mates and sate your need to play host with the most. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre's (ASRC) annual Feast for Freedom is back for its 2022 edition, giving Aussies the chance to put on a sumptuous banquet for an excellent cause. Now in its fourth year, the fundraising event invites locals to host their own dinner parties across one dedicated weekend, cooking to home-style recipes supplied by folks seeking asylum. By hosting a Feast for Freedom, you'll not only be celebrating Australia's cultural diversity but also helping to raise important funds for the not-for-profit ASRC, to assist with its work supporting and empowering refugees. The ASRC is Australia's largest human rights organisation providing support to people seeking asylum. You'll also get some cracking new recipes to add to your repertoire, each with a story behind it. And this year's lineup is a very tasty one, featuring dishes like Persian jewelled rice, parvardeh (olive dip), green chilli chicken, gheymeh bademjan (a lamb and eggplant stew) and sago pudding. Cooks who've shared their cuisines and recipes for this year's Feast include Iranian culinary instructor Mahshid and Malaysian-Indian chef Manel. A couple of familiar names will be joining the ASRC's efforts, too, with Darren Purchese (Burch and Purchese) and 2021 Masterchef alumni Kishwar Choudry in the role of ambassadors. Anyone who's keen to get involved can register to host a Feast for Freedom by signing up online. Participants will be sent a hosting kit complete with recipes and all the nitty-gritty fundraising details, before the official Feast for Freedom weekend sees dinner parties happening across the country from Friday, March 25 to Sunday, March 27. Feast for Freedom's 2022 fundraising will go towards supporting the ASRC's Foodbank and its many other services which assist people in the community seeking asylum. The ASRC's Feast for Freedom 2022 is open now for registrations — sign up at the website. The official dinner party weekend will then run from March 25–27, with donations open until April 30.
Just when you thought your smartphone might have reached it's multitasking limit, it’s about to take on a job usually left to the law enforcers: breathalysing. That’s right, soon it will be easier than ever for designated drivers to eliminate the risky guesswork involved in decided whether to knock back a sneaky last drink. The initial batch of the world’s first smartphone breathalyser, ‘Alcohoot’, has sold out, and will be ready for shipping in September this year. Keen socialisers can reserve one of the second lot for $75 and expect to have it in their hands by October. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and Android, Alcohoot is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which means that the device can handle at least 150 tests. Not only can you use it on yourself, you can also pass it around among friends. The accuracy of the testing system, which is reliant on platinum grade fuel cell sensors, is similar to that of a breathalyser used by police. If you’re interested in developing a detailed understanding of how your body responds to alcohol consumption, you can track your blood alcohol level throughout the course of any given night. If it turns out that you’re over the limit, you can use the app to contact local cabbies, or to find details of nearby restaurants and cafes. [Via Lost at E Minor]
If there's one way to forget that you're still in your own city, staycationing within a short drive from home rather than heading further afield, it's splashing around up high while peering down on familiar sights from a completely different angle. Sydneysiders, another place to do just that is in your future, with TFE Hotels set to launch its first Collection property in the Harbour City in early 2024 — complete with a rooftop infinity pool. The new Collection by TFE Hotels property will be a big feature of the in-development Surry Hills Village, sitting on Baptist Street as part of a precinct that'll also include shops, apartments, event spaces, work spaces and dining. The Sydney spot joins the brand's Savoy Hotel on Little Collins in Melbourne, Hotel Kurrajong in Canberra, Calile Hotel in Brisbane and Hotel Britomart in Auckland. That's impressive company, and the new boutique hotel will continue the same design-led, individual-focused approach. When it comes to slumbering, there'll be 102 rooms. While exactly what they'll feature, and what other amenities guests can expect, hasn't yet been revealed, the hotel will boast curved brickwork and stone pathways as part of its design — and greenery aplenty. Also set to be a highlight: the Cloister, the hotel's restaurant and bar space. And, yes, that sky-high pool with scenic views, of course. "Surry Hills is home to one of the city's premier restaurant, dining, and boutique precincts," said TFE Hotels CEO Antony Ritch, announcing the new hotel. "This Collection property will become a destination in its own right." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Surry Hills Village By TOGA (@surryhillsvillage) Within the 1.2-hectare mixed-use development that is Surry Hills Village itself, Sydneysiders can also look forward to a new 517-square-metre public park, plus up to 12,000 square metres of retail and commercial tenants. There'll also be a new public pedestrian thoroughfare linking Marriott Street and Baptist Street — and, as part of the hospitality offering, a new restaurant from Fink Group, the team behind Quay, Bennelong, Otto and newly anointed third-best steak restaurant in the world Firedoor. And yes, new hotels are sprouting up thick and fast around Sydney, with the new Collection by TFE Hotels site joining the soon-to-launch Porter House Hotel; the just-launched Ace Hotel, Australia's first outpost from the chain; and none other than the Waldorf Astoria, which'll also opening its first-ever Australian hotel in Sydney in 2025. That's obviously excellent news not just for staycationers, but for folks visiting the city from interstate as well. TFE Hotels' new Collection property at Surry Hills Village, on Baptist Street in Surry Hills, is due to open in 2024. Head to the Collection by TFE Hotels and Surry Hills Village websites to keep an eye out for further information.
The idea behind theme parks is simple. If someone loves something enough — superhero movies, TV shows, video games, animation studios, a huge entertainment brand or Italian food, for example — they'll be willing to pay money to indulge that affection. And, they'll be particularly keen to roam around an entire site dedicated to their favourite thing, celebrating it all day long. With that in mind, if you're someone who simply can't get enough bubble tea, you'll want to head to Japan's latest theme park. There are no prizes for guessing what patrons will be drinking at Tokyo Tapioca Land; however, that's not all they'll be doing. Attendees will also be able to work their way around various tapioca-themed photo booths, and try different tapioca foods and beverages, including from some of the country's big brands. Based on sketches on the theme park site, as well as a report by Sora News 24, they may also be climb onto tapioca-themed rides. Just what most of above will entail is being kept rather vague — and yes, it sounds a more than a little like the incredibly Instagram-friendly food-focused sites that've been popping up around the place, such as Australia's Sugar Republic. Tellingly, Tokyo Tapioca Land is a temporary attraction, setting up shop outside of the station in Harajuku train station from August 13 to September 16. [caption id="attachment_707444" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Gotcha Tea[/caption] If you're going to be in Tokyo at the time, pre-sales have already sold out, but there will be tickets available on the day for 1200 yen (around AU$16) — if you're willing to brave what'll likely be some significant queues. For those who don't have a trip to Japan on the cards, perhaps trying to drink away your envy by indulging in a bubble tea or several will help. Tokyo Tapioca Land will be open at jing, outside the Harajuku train station at 6-7 Jingumae Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, from August 13 to September 16. For further details, visit the website. Via PR Times / Sora News 24.
2018 is off to a pretty stellar start in the love arena. Dozens of same-sex couples have already said "I do" following the historical marriage equality bill finally passing through Australian parliament in December, and there will be countless more to follow. Indeed, in Sydney, Sydney Festival held one heck of a wedding reception to celebrate. Unsurprisingly, many wedding vendors are probably rubbing their hands together in glee, excited at the prospect of all of the impending nuptials. In Carlton North, a generous bunch are having a different reaction. Putting their expertise to good use — and their happiness about the fact that all lovebirds can now get hitched — Park Street Dining has enlisted a number of local vendors to give away a free wedding. The giveaway, valued at $20,000, is open to all couples in Victoria. The wedding will take place on August 25, 2018, as a five-hour event for up to 70 people with all the trimmings. Celebrant Megan Thompson will make things official, while floral designer Pomp & Splendour and rental business SAS Events will help jazz up the space. As well as the venue, Park Street Dining will provide canapes, an open bar (with selected wine, beer and bubbles) and share-style dining — here's hoping the cicchetti and handmade pastas it's known for make an appearance. Finally, photographer Georgia Verrells will be on-hand to capture all of the special moments, and printing company Thirds Studio will turn six snaps into high-res prints. Really, all the lucky couple need to do is get dressed and turn up. Who said planning a wedding was stressful? Winners will be announced on March 15. To enter the giveaway, visit psweloveweddings.com.au. Make sure to also like Park St's Facebook page and follow the other vendors on Instagram (you'll want to simply for the killer wedding inspo). Images: Georgia Verrells
If you've been perplexed, provoked or just plain pissed off by Shia LaBeouf's antics, you can now gain some insights. In an exclusive interview with Dazed, artists Luke Turner and Nastja Rönkkö open up about collaborating with the Nymphomaniac star on #IAMSORRY. "At its core, the most fascinating part of the performance was whether people would see Shia as a person, flesh and bones and soul, or as an object, a celebrity," says Nastja. "I also find it quite revealing that whereas in the past everyone wanted to become celebrities, today everyone wants to be an artist. For me, this opens up questions of whether our value systems are moving towards something more meaningful." Shia copped quite a bit of flak last year when Daniel Clowes fans made plagiarism accusations. As far they were concerned, LaBoeuf's new film Howard Cantour.com (2012) was far too close to Clowes' comic Justin M. Damiano (2007) for comfort. Previously, in an inflamed letter to Alec Baldwin, he'd passed off several paragraphs written by Tom Chiarella as his own. As if that wasn't attention enough — or perhaps because he sought to shift the focal point of the public eye — he turned up to the Berlin Film Festival wearing a paper bag bearing the statement, 'I am not famous anymore', quoted Eric Cantona at the Nymphomaniac press conference, and vanished. Some people were sympathetic; others expressed outrage. Either way, the stunt swamped arts headlines all over the globe. Then, like any good Matthew Arnold scholar, he sought refuge in art. For six days, a Los Angeles gallery hosted Shia's performance #IAMSORRY, which involved the either beleaguered or exceptionally publicity-hungry actor donning a tuxedo and paper bag and crying in public. Visitors reacted by losing their temper, taking selfies or offering congratulations. It was a multiplatform project that also played out on Shia's Twitter, in skywriting and a university seminar in which he read Guy Debord to students. In Nastja's view, Shia "made a genuine mistake during the process of trying to find his directorial feet" and has "undoubtedly regretted it deeply ever since". The actor approached the pair while the plagiarism controversy was going on. "Right from our very first meeting, I had been convinced of his commitment to his art and the trueness of his aim," Luke says. The artists both indicate that they intend to keep working with Shia, so expect to feel that vague annoyance towards him for some time yet. Read more about the history of Shia's new art form in our feature on ten crazy things done in the name of performance art.
On the scale of personal injustices, there are few more contemptible or infuriating misdeeds than taking credit for another person’s work. In the artistic world it’s considered a violation of such repugnance that it’s said to offend one’s very ‘moral rights’, being both ’the right of Attribution’ (the right to be recognised as the creator of an original work) and ’the right against False Attribution’ (the right to prevent someone else from saying your work is theirs). Big Eyes, the latest film by director Tim Burton, is a true story based on one of the most egregious example of that violation in living history. Beginning in the late 1950s, it chronicles the decade-long deception perpetrated by the artist Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) and his iconic ‘big eyes’ paintings. The key word there is ‘deception’, because in reality they weren’t his paintings at all; they were painted by his wife, Margaret (Amy Adams). With millions of dollars made from sales and celebrities the world over seeking their own originals, Big Eyes is a fascinating study in sexual politics and the exponential toxicity of deceit, particularly in an age when the status of a divorced single-mother was tantamount to both social and professional exile. In the leads, Adams and Waltz are both perfectly cast. Adams brings a wonderful sensitivity to the role, capturing the irrepressible passion of an artist and the burgeoning guilt of a woman who chose financial security over artistic integrity. Opposite her, Waltz is pure charisma: a salesman with a cheshire cat grin and an undeniable talent for marketing. The man could sell sand to a desert, then convince himself he invented the sand. ‘Delusional Disorder’ is the medical term for his condition, and its destructive powers are neatly showcased here. This is by far one of Burton’s most understated films, eschewing most of his traditional quirkiness and cartoonish aesthetic in favour of a picture most reminiscent of Ed Wood. Even the score, provided almost inevitably by Danny Elfman, opts for the subtle touch with hardly a whole-tone scale to be heard. That’s not to say there isn’t fantastic design at play, with the set, costuming and even colour choices wonderfully recreating '50s and '60s kitsch. It’s all very pretty, but just like its subject matter, Big Eyes is something of a masquerade: a fetching and uncomplicated visual that belies a much darker truth.
Having a proper feed at Lucas Restaurants' Kisume and Society will inevitably come with a hefty bill — for these fine-diners are all about luxury offerings. But throughout summer, the crew is welcoming folks into the venues' adjoining bars to sample $15 cocktails and discounted snacks — on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4–6pm. [caption id="attachment_621812" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kisume's Chablis Bar[/caption] You can pair your sips with bites like angus beef tataki and tempura snapper at Kisume's Chablis Bar, or jambon and gruyere tarts and angus beef crostini at Society's The Lounge. Either pick one and get as many cheap bevs as you can within the two-hour window, or try to hit both venues — which are only a seven-minute walk away from each other. If you haven't been to either spot before, this is a great affordable way to see if you want to return for the full dining experience another time. [caption id="attachment_928266" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Society's The Lounge[/caption]
Keeping you up-to-date with the best and most unique happenings in art, culture, design and technology is what makes us tick. And now we want to celebrate some of the people making these exceptional things happen — so we've partnered with Miller Genuine Draft to create the Miller Design Lab. Across six special nights, the Miller Design Lab will showcase projects from a bunch of creatives at Chapel Street's SoHigh Gallery, with food, Miller Genuine Draft and live music also on offer — and it's all completely complimentary. Taking the reins on Friday, March 22 is Australian artist Buff Diss. Despite touring his work around the globe at a host of international galleries and art festivals, he remains a street artist at heart. And his large-scale geometric murals come with an unexpected twist — they're meticulously created with tape. For the Miller Design Lab, Buff Diss will be using tape and linear mesh to create his artwork in real time. You can watch as he works in response to music and builds to a 'big reveal' moment. DJ Paz and Alice Q will be providing the tunes for the evening, there'll be complimentary food and drink and after-party will kick off at The Emerson Rooftop Bar and Club from 10.30pm — what more could want? You can RSVP to the after-party here. The Miller Design Lab x Buff Diss will run from 7–10pm on Friday, March 22. To RSVP for complimentary ticket for you and three mates, enter your details below. And if you want to check out the rest of the Miller Design Lab events, head this way. [competition]709882[/competition] Follow @millergenuinedraftaus for more details. Images: Kate Shanasy.
When Interface asked Francois Chambard what kind of art he could devise from carpet tiles, these critters were his response. He and 29 other designers and architects put their carpeted creations up for auction, raising $16,000 for Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA). Interface organised the auction to mark the official opening of its new showroom in New York City, an 8,000 square foot space that looks over the Empire State Building. Other designers invited to contribute included David Ling, Harry Allen, Russell Groves, Joey Shimoda and D.B. Kim, and over 400 prominent industry members comprised the crowd. Peter Greene, the Vice President of marketing of Interface’s American arm, expressed the company’s enthusiasm. “The galvanizing impact that DIFFA brings to our design community is overwhelming, and Interface is excited it could join with the organization as we put out the welcome mat to our new Big Apple showroom . . . We’re delighted the proceeds of this event could help swell DIFFA’s coffers a bit more and at the same time let us welcome architects and designers into our new space with a fun occasion that also gives back in a meaningful way.” Interface is not only the world’s largest supplier of carpet tiles, but also one of the most socially conscious corporations on the stock exchange. Anyone who’s seen Canadian documentary The Corporation may remember the role played by then CEO Ray Anderson in representing the potential for an ethical approach to business. When Anderson passed away in August 2011, headlines proclaimed him ‘the greenest CEO in America’. Images: gBlog [Via boing boing]
There's a lot that's good about summer: barbecues, beach days, frozen cocktails and festivals almost every weekend. But after all that endless partying, sinking into a comfy beanbag and enjoying a good flick outdoors sounds pretty good. And if there's one thing better than sipping on beers and bubbles as the sun goes down at an outdoor cinema, it's doing it while also celebrating fierce females of the movie world — and doing it for free. Nothing screams 2019 louder than strong female leads defying the patriarchal confines of the society they inhabit. We are so on board. So, because we're loving all the tough women gracing the screens at Sunset Cinema at the moment, we've managed to get our hands on some double passes to help you celebrate them, too. You and a mate will be boogying in your beanbag as Emily Blunt takes over the role of much-loved Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns on Saturday, February 16, at Commonwealth Reserve. To get your paws on a double pass, enter with your details below so you can raise a glass to these leading ladies in the glorious summer air. [competition]706476[/competition]
Melbourne Chef Joe Grbac (Saint Crispin, The Press Club, Il Fornaio) has worked at Michelin-starred restaurants under the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Philip Howard. His first solo project Saxe has picked up hats and stars and become CBD favourite since opening in 2017. Now, the beloved chef has revamped his restaurant — well, half of it. What was a casual downstairs bar has been relaunched as the two-storey venue's second dining experience, separate from the polished dining room upstairs. Dubbed Saxe Kitchen, the space now boasts dim, moody lighting, timber communal tables and a few bar stools — which together create an intimate and relaxed space for family-style meals. Here, you'll feel like you're dining at Grbac's house, rather than in his lauded restaurant. From the open kitchen, Grbac is serving up produce-driven fare with a European sensibility. Seasonal is the name of the game here. Expect pancetta and green tomato flat bread, comté crumpets and beef tartare with jerusalem artichoke and macadamia. Plus, pork ragu gnocchi, beef cheek noodle soup and coq au vin. You can also get a chef's menu for a very reasonable $65 a head (compared to upstairs's $85 or $105 degustation). Leading the front of house is Nathan Matthews (Pt Leo Estate, Bistro Elba, Mr Wong). Meanwhile, the drinks list has been created by Alice Williams, who was previously a manager and sommelier at Brae. Expect a focus on minimal intervention, single vineyard wines, along with aperitif cocktails — like the Franco-Américain (Lillet Blanc, bitters, anise liqueur and soda) and the Edinburgh Calling (scotch, sherry and lemon). Fans of the refined dining room upstairs will be glad to know that it hasn't changed one bit. But, next time you go to book, if you're looking for something a little more casual (and a bit cheaper) we recommend trying Saxe Kitchen on for size instead. Saxe Kitchen is now open at 211 Queen Street, Melbourne. Opening hours are Tuesday–Friday, noon–3pm and Tuesday–Saturday, 5pm–late.
You know when you're trying to read on a train but you just can't tune out that other passenger's borezo conversation? Or when you're at a festival and you want to turn up the base? It's these times that you wish you could just flick a switch in your ear and change the levels, but laugh the thought away because we're humans, not robots, and we don't have switches anyway. Well that may be true, but a Silicon Valley start-up have developed wireless earbuds which, when placed in your ear, can give you control over what you hear — and what you don't. It's called the Here Active Listening system, and it's basically a fancy add-on to your actual, working ear. The earbuds are controlled by a smartphone app and, once in your ear, can be used to modify the sounds around you. What does this mean? Well it would allow you to eliminate sounds (say, a crying baby), increase the bass and amplify sounds, such the voice of the person you're talking to — which would be great in loud environments, like gigs and festivals. This last point is probably why creators Doppler Labs have decided to release the product at Coachella this year. Here will be fully integrated into the festival, and will give punters the opportunity to access exclusive 'listening experiences' and audio filters. There will even be presets optimised for each stage. It will be the first opportunity for people to purchase the earbuds since the project raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter last year. There's no set date on when the rest of the us not attending Coachella can try them out, but the price point is set to be around $200-300. Via Mashable.
After drip-feeding us film announcements, the final program is out and the 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival will kick off on Thursday, July 28. To celebrate their 65th birthday (whatta milestone!), MIFF will be holding their annual Opening Night Gala. This year, they've partnered with Grey Goose to throw one hell of a party at Hamer Hall, complete with a 'blue' carpet, cocktails, canapes and world premiere of Aussie sci-fi film The Death and Life of Otto Bloom. The film follows Otto Bloom, played by Xavier Samuel as he experiences his life in reverse. Neuropsychologist Dr Ada Fitzgerald (Rachel Ward) is called in to determine if he's a psychic, time traveller, madman or living proof of Einstein's theory of relativity. Sure, it all sounds a little like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, however don't expect the first feature from Melbourne writer/director Cris Jones to simply rehash its Brad Pitt-starring predecessor. In fact, 2014's The Infinite Man and Predestination already proved that Aussie filmmakers can handle intriguing concepts like time travel and multiple versions of the same person with the best of them, so consider The Death and Life of Otto Bloom the latest effort in a growing local group of science fiction-leaning content. After the film, you'll want to stick around — that's when the festivities really kick off. Indulge in a post-film debrief with canapés, music, a dance and Grey Goose Le Fizz cocktails in the surrounds of the Hall. It's the best way to celebrate the festival before you sit in a cinema for the next two and a half weeks. [competition]580253[/competition]
He has filled the National Gallery of Victoria with silver bikes, thrown paint over his pals, had quite the public fight with Lego and set up a studio in Lesbos to draw attention to the refugee crisis. And, before he heads to Australia again for the 2018 Sydney Biennale, Ai Weiwei is continuing to contemplate and challenge the way that immigration and security are handled in his latest New York installation. It'll be his largest and most ambitious public exhibition to date, and he's asking for help to make it happen. Due to be unveiled in October, Ai Weiwei's next project is called Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, as presented by the city's Public Art Fund. To assist in the massive effort — which will feature site-specific pieces, plus 2D and 3D artwork, spanning more than 300 outdoor sites in all five boroughs — the Chinese artist has launched a Kickstarter campaign. At the time of writing, it has passed the halfway mark towards his US$80,000 goal. Given the exhibition's title, as well as Ai Weiwei's ongoing political activism, it's far from surprising that Good Fences Make Good Neighbors addresses the plight of migrants and refugees, immigration and border control policies, and the current global rise in nationalism. Drawing upon his own experience in detention, as well as his visits to refugee camps around the world, the project will adapt security fencing in a number of different ways, and in unexpected places, in order to make a statement about division and separation. New Yorkers can expect pieces at street level, on rooftops, between buildings, on lampposts, attached to frame bus shelters and elsewhere in the urban landscape, as well as site-specific installations in the likes of Central Park and Washington Square Park. With the project running through until February 2018, the artworks are designed to act "as powerful metaphors in a city that has long served as a gateway to the United States for millions of immigrants," according to the Public Art Fund website. For those unable to see the end result in person, it's not the only thing the always-busy Ai Weiwei has been cooking up of late. Human Flow, his new documentary about the global refugee crisis, has just premiered at the Venice Film Festival. It'll have its Aussie debut at the Adelaide Film Festival in October, before reaching cinemas around the country on December 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP5F7-RwVgM Images: Ai Weiwei studio via Kickstarter.
Being The Drums means being one of the most hardworking bands around at the moment – since they skyrocketed in hype in 2009, The Drums haven't slowed down, incessantly touring and releasing two LPs in that time. They've visited antipodean shores before, working the festival circuit and are about to do it for the third time – this time around for St. Jerome's Laneway Festival in Australia. Singer Jonny Pierce took some time out to talk to Kirstie Sequitin about the rise and rise of the band, recording Portamento in their kitchen and getting lost in translation in Poland. Hi Jonny, how are you? Hey there, how you doin'? I'm good thank you, how's your day going? It's going pretty good, I'm down in Puerto Rico right now, just wrapping up my first real holiday since we started the band and heading back to wintery New York City tomorrow morning. It's a little fast to be leaving but I'm also ready for it – I'm having a really hard time actually relaxing. My mind is constantly reeling so I think it'll actually feel better to sort of, do something creative again. This is the first time, actually, that we've had time for a break… we've had just under a month off. That's the longest time that we've had off since we started three years ago. Because we've just been going going going, even a month feels like a very long time. I feel like we all feel somewhat refreshed and excited to come to Australia, which is a change from sort of the, the, how we were feeling a few months ago when we were wrapping up a very long three-year tour. So Australia will kind of be the first stop after your holidays then? It will, absolutely, yeah. It'll be nice to continue this warm weather, actually. I really didn't like warm weather as a child - I was always drawn towards the cold winters but uh, getting older, so, things change I suppose. You've been coming to Australia every year basically since you started – doing the festival circuit and your sideshows and tours and whatever – how do you feel about coming here so often? Do you like it here? Well, we've always had a really warm reception in Australia so it is a place that we look forward to going… and you know there are some places that we've gone a few times and every time it feels the same but there's always this… it feels like every time we've been to Australia there's been this mounting electricity in the air. It's that sort of thing that keeps you on the road. It seems that the fans there are a bit more rowdy than most of the places which really gets us through the show and makes us excited and makes us sort of play the best show possible. And it's nice to go somewhere where people speak English, to be quite honest (laughs). We spend a lot of time sort of, pointing at venues, and… a lot of sign language. So it's sort of nice to just be able to talk to people. Yeah. "We… like… being… here…" Yeah, exactly. Or like, memorising the words Thank You in every language. It seems that I think I know it and I walk up on stage confidently and it completely slips my mind. I end up asking my guitar player how to say thank you in Polish and he tells me – he gives me an answer that's almost right but just wrong enough to make me look foolish and for the entire set I'm saying thank you wrong… (laughs) Oh, that's awesome. Literally happens non-stop. You were saying before that you being in Puerto Rico is the first holiday that you've had since you guys have started – so how does it feel to be on the road for three years? Do you feel like you've enjoyed those three years or do you feel like it's a bit of a burden? Well, when we first started writing songs for this band and recording, we were living in the middle of nowhere in Florida and it was just Jacob and I – we wrote the Summertime EP and then we recorded most of the first album and that whole time we thought we'd be the only two people who would ever hear it. And out of nowhere, we were asked to play a show in New York City – you know, we had a MySpace page and that was it – so we went off to New York and played the show and the next day we were getting calls from record labels and managers and booking agents. Right from the very first show that we played it was a non-stop whirlwind up until a month ago. At the beginning everything is exotic and exciting and surreal and there's nowhere to really feel like you can put your feet down because the whole time it just felt like we were floating and being hyped up as we were. You don't even really feel anything: we didn't have time to feel excited, we didn't have time to feel angry, we didn't have time to feel anything which is just so, so wild. And then about a year into it, the dust starts to settle a little bit and our feet started touching the ground and you sort of have a clearer vision of what you are as a band and we realised where we had landed. It was really exciting, we felt really grateful for everything – and we still do – but, you know, the reality was… none of us were home, ever, and we were always all together and you don't think about those things when you start a band. You think, 'Oh, we'll play a couple of shows here and there, and I'll keep my bartending job and you'll keep your retail job and that will be enough…' you just jump into it because it's exciting. It's very simple - we just spent too much time together and things started to get a little bit ugly. To me, when things get dramatic and ugly, to me it's a really exciting time to be creative, because I think the best art comes through hardship, and that sort of anger and bitterness really gave Portamento a darker texture that I think we were hoping for. So I think, without really saying it, we were all welcoming the drama. Since then, when we finished Portamento and released it, I think we all felt something break… it was just a unifying experience and I think what we all really learned from the whole thing was to give each other space and to respect each other's opinions. Jacob, Connor and I are all really stubborn, bull-headed people and I don't think this band would exist or be able to survive if we weren't that way. I think it's those three dynamic, clashing heads all the time that… that's where the ideas come from. I'm grateful for all of that and I wouldn't want this to be easy and comfortable because I think that's the number one way to lose your creative spark. Yeah, definitely. (And then the line gets cut and Kirstie's heart breaks a little bit. But he calls her back!) Hello! I don't know what happened there. Alright, so I always read the fact that you guys produced Portamento in your kitchen – is that true? Mmhmm. Do you think that for your next efforts you'll go into the studio? Or do you think you'll continue this kind of, very DIY sensibility. Um, I don't know. We didn't do things DIY because we thought we should – we did things DIY because it was the only option when we started. We were completely broke – we didn't have cars, we didn't really have friends, we were living in this small apartment complex in Kissimmee, Florida, riding my bike to work, a 36-mile round trip every day, that sort of thing. We were really broke. So we just downloaded recording software illegally (laughs) and borrowed our friend's guitar and used an old synthesizer that Jacob's mum gave him and bought a $25 microphone from RadioShack and just recorded things that way. With Portamento we just decided that we were really happy with how the first album turned out. We were trying to record things as professionally as we possibly could but because we didn't have the right gear and the right know-how to do it, we sort of landed on a certain sound by accident but we really learned to love it and call it our own. For Portamento we didn't want to stray from that. We kept it the same way and didn't buy any new equipment or any new recording gear, we just decided to make another record how we made the first. And The Drums, I think so far our heart has been into doing it on our own, but that's just because that's sort of how it happened and I think however we go about the next album – whether we get a producer or we do it ourselves again, or we co-produce, I'm not really sure – whatever it is, you can bet that it's because that's what we want to do. That's the number one thing for us, to never look back and feel like we've made a long list of compromises. So if we work with a producer it's because we feel like we should for the next album and not because someone tells us we should. It's about feeling really natural about everything. Alright, I think that's all I've got for today – thank you so much for your time Jonny and thanks for calling me back after I dropped out there. No problem at all, thank you. Have a great time in Australia, et cetera et cetera. Oh, and have fun in Puerto Rico! Oh, thank you, I will - we have had a really nice time. I lied to this man and told him I had a boating license so I've been taking his boat out every day. So, so far you know that I've been downloading illegal software and lying to people in Puerto Rico – it's not all bad, I swear. The Drums will be playing at St. Jerome's Laneway Festival in Australia. This interview was originally conducted for Scene Magazine.
It's usually where you head to for a culture fix, but this autumn the Immigration Museum is doubling as a wellness destination, too. It's launching a new series of Wednesday offerings aimed at rejuvenating your body and mind. Running from Wednesday, April 5–May 31, Wellbeing Within is set to serve up a weekly program of wellness activities, spanning everything from mindfulness to movement. You might fancy a hump day reset in the form of a guided morning meditation led by experts in areas like First Peoples wellness practices and forest therapy. You can train in tai chi under the renowned Professor Lily Sun, who's got more than four decades of teaching experience under her belt, or experience the anxiety-releasing wonders of a meditative sound bath, guided by an expert lineup of practitioners. There's also a series of 45-minute lunchtime yoga sessions, plus movement workshops hosted by Wala Connections, drawing on Indigenous culture and traditions. The best part? All classes and sessions come in at either $10 or $15, with museum members able to book for free. Online bookings are required. Images: Eugene Hyland
What can Disney say except... yes, "you're welcome", Moana fans? A sequel to the 2016 animated hit is on its way to cinemas before 2024 is out, as announced earlier in the year. Now, the movie's first teaser trailer is here to make a splash, and to confirm that Auli'i Cravalho (Mean Girls) is back voicing Moana and Dwayne Johnson (Fast X) is also returning as demigod Maui. When Walt Disney Animation Studios had Johnson sing a ridiculously catchy tune that was penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda in the first Moana, it clearly gave itself the perfect response to all the love thrown the film's way. Adore the movie? You're welcome. Can't stop crooning its songs? You're also welcome. Excited about the sequel that'll hit cinemas on Thursday, November 28 Down Under? You're welcome for that as well. Story-wise, Moana 2 will see its namesake take to the seas of Oceania to answer the call from her ancestors, which is where new characters will come in. While eight years have passed for viewers, only three have elapsed within the film when Moana and Maui set off on their new — and dangerous — adventure. In the director's chair: Dave Derrick Jr, who was a storyboard artist on the original Moana. And on music duties this time are singer-songwriter Abigail Barlow, composer Emily Bear (Dog Gone), Opetaia Foa'i (returning from the first film) and Mark Mancina (also back from the initial movie). "This was originally developed as a series, but we were impressed with what we saw and we knew it deserved a theatrical release," said Disney CEO Bob Iger when he announced the sequel in the company's first-quarter earnings call for 2024. "The original Moana film from 2016 recently crossed one-billion hours streamed on Disney+ and was the most streamed movie of 2023 on any platform in the U.S." Moana 2 is one of two new Moana movies in the works, with a live-action adaptation of the first Moana also on the way — and with Johnson starring. "Along with the live-action version of the original film that's currently in development, Moana remains an incredibly popular franchise," continued Iger. Check out the first teaser trailer for Moana 2 below: Moana 2 will release in Australian and New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, November 28, 2024. Read our interview with Jemaine Clement about Moana. Images: © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
As was the case with recent release The Walk, Lance Armstrong scandal pic The Program is a film burdened by having the documentary that preceded it set a near-impossible standard for anything better. Comprehensive, compelling and absolutely exasperating, Alex Gibney's The Armstrong Lie was an exceptional piece of honest and meticulous journalism in which Lance Armstrong’s own performance proved to be a breathtaking piece of dramatic fiction. What The Program does offer, however, is a peek inside the conversations and moments that not even Gibney could record – despite his unprecedented access. Why? Because even Armstrong knew better than to let his own videographer record all the actual doping sessions and illegal deals. How the steroids were obtained, how they were snuck into France, how the cyclists took possession, used and then disposed of them - all of this is covered in great detail in The Program, as are as the methods used to defeat the drug testing that followed. As Armstrong, Ben Foster is note perfect. Beyond his remarkable physical similarity to the disgraced cyclist, Foster absolutely nails the camera-ready smile and rehearsed laugh used by Armstrong to mask both his rage and unrestrained ego. Practising in front of a mirror, we see Foster repeating again and again that he “has never tested positive for steroids”, a technical truth amidst a monumental lie that perfectly demonstrates the semantic and psychological art behind what officially became “the most successful doping program the sport [had] ever seen”. Perhaps the only great disappointment with The Program is the lack of time given to the largely unheralded role played by David Walsh – the Sunday Times sports journalist who doggedly and almost single-handedly pursued the Armstrong deception amid unbelievable resistance from every imaginable corner. Played by Chris O’Dowd, Walsh endured manifold lawsuits, professional humiliation and even abandonment by his closest friends and colleagues for investigating a fairytale that was plainly too good to be true. But while O’Dowd receives far too little screen time, The Program still does a good job of explaining why few were eager to question Armstrong’s mythic success. Given his contribution to the global expansion of the sport and the inspiration he provided for cancer sufferers via the Live Strong foundation, it's not hard to understand why we were all so keen to believe the lie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXfp859pcM0
If you drink much coffee (or have ever been to a cafe, worked in an office or looked through other people's rubbish), you've probably realised that Australia's cafe culture produces a huge number of wasted takeaway cups. But what you may not know is that these cups are not recyclable. Though coffee cups feature paper on the outside, the liquid-proof inside lining is made of plastic, which means the cups cannot be recycled like other cardboard items. It also means they take on average 50 years to decompose in landfill. There is currently no facility in Australia that is able to recycle takeaway coffee cups, but Closed Loop hopes to change that. The Australian company — which offers waste management and environmental solutions to a range of companies, including Noma when it was in Sydney — just completed a trial to help make the case for their proposal. The trial, which received a $17,500 grant from the City of Sydney, introduced standalone bins for takeaway coffee cups into three office buildings across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. 12,000 cups were collected over four weeks, successfully demonstrating that people would be willing to use such bins. And after they've been collected? Closed Loop has worked with researchers from the UK, where they already run a similar cup collection and recycling program, to develop technology that combines the materials in the cups with a polymer to produce a plastic-fibre compound. It can be used to make placemats, coasters and outdoor furniture. Based on the success of the pilot (that is, people using the bins correctly), Closed Loop is proposing to set up a dedicated facility to recycle them. Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore estimates that if the program were to go ahead, more than 25 million coffee cups could avoid ending up in landfill per year from the City of Sydney area alone. Given that around one million disposable coffee cups end up in landfill per minute worldwide, it's good to know there are people trying to tackle the issue. We'll keep an eye on this one to see where it goes. Image: Tim Wright.
The Icelandic Government ushered in the new year with a legal first when, on January 1, it became the first nation in the world to outlaw unequal pay for women. Any company or government agency that employs 25 people or more must prove their equal pay policies through government certification or face hefty fines. "[They] evaluate every job that's being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they are paying men and women equally," Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, told Aljazeera. Even before the passing of the law, which was announced on International Women's Day 2017, Iceland was ranked number one in the world for gender equality according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2017. (In case you're wondering, Australia came in at 35, while New Zealand took out 9th spot). Iceland's current leader, Katrin Jakobsdóttir, who was elected in November 2017, is the nation's second female Prime Minister — and since 2016, women have held 48% of parliamentary positions. "I think that now people are starting to realise that this is a systematic problem that we have to tackle with new methods," said Aradottir Pind. "Women have been talking about this for decades and I really feel that we have managed to raise awareness, and we have managed to get to the point that people realise that the legislation we have had in place is not working, and we need to do something more." The Icelandic Government is hopeful that the gender pay gap won't exist beyond 2020. Here's hoping other countries around the world start to follow their lead.
When 2025 hits, 20 years will have passed since Oasis last toured Australia, but that's where the lengthy gap between the band's Down Under shows is ending. There's comeback tours and then there's Britain's most-famous feuding siblings reuniting to bring one of the country's iconic groups back together for a massive world tour — and when Liam and Noel Gallagher start taking to the stage together again, they'll do so at gigs in Sydney and Melbourne. Oasis' reunion tour has been huge news for months, ever since Liam and Noel announced in August that they would reform Oasis — and bury the hatchet — for a run of shows in the UK and Ireland. Since then, they've been expanding their tour dates, also locking in visits to Canada and the US. From London, Manchester and Dublin to Toronto, Los Angeles and Mexico City, the entire tour so far is sold out. [caption id="attachment_975205" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Oasis Knebworth 1996, Photo by Roberta Parkin/Redferns[/caption] That's the story, morning glory — and expect Australian tickets to get snapped up swiftly for Oasis' two announced concerts, one apiece in Sydney and Melbourne. The Manchester-born band is kicking off their Aussie visit on Halloween 2025 at Marvel Stadium in the Victorian capital, then heading to Accor Stadium in the Harbour City a week later. "People of the land down under. 'You better run — you better take cover ...'. We are coming. You are most welcome," said the group in a statement. [caption id="attachment_975206" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Oasis Knebworth 1996, Jill Furmanovsky[/caption] Oasis broke up in 2009, four years after their last Australian tour, and following seven albums from 1994's Definitely Maybe through to 2008's Dig Your Soul — and after drawing massive crowds to their live gigs along the way (see: documentary Oasis Knebworth 1996). If you're feeling supersonic about the group's reunion, you can likely expect to hear that track, plus everything from 'Live Forever', 'Cigarettes & Alcohol', 'Morning Glory' and 'Some Might Say' through to 'Wonderwall', 'Don't Look Back in Anger' and 'Champagne Supernova' when they hit Australia. Oasis Live '25 Australian Dates Friday, October 31 — Marvel Stadium, Melbourne Friday, November 7 — Accor Stadium, Sydney Oasis are touring Australia in October and November 2025. Presale ticket registration runs until 8am AEDT on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, with Melbourne tickets on sale from 10am AEDT and Sydney tickets from 12pm AEDT on Tuesday, October 15. Head to the tour website for more details. Top image: Simon Emmett.
They have toured extensively throughout the US, Canada and Europe, now Australia will again be able to revel in the sonic bliss that is The Black Keys. The 2-piece garage rock heroes have rocked festivals all over the world on the back of some massive success with their latest albums, Brothers and El Camino, which have firmly set the duo at the top of the rock music heap. This will sure to be a highlight on the live music calendar - be sure to get your tickets before they go. The Black Keys will be supported by Australian garage-soul rock upstarts, Royal Headache, who are quickly gaining a massive following of their own.
Following in the very bright and joyful footsteps of Taylor Square in Sydney, Melbourne's St Kilda will soon splash a 35-metre-long flag down Jackson Street. The colourful road and pedestrian crossing will be painted towards the end of this month and will remain for at least two years. The road will be a public display of the City of Port Phillip's support for marriage equality and a celebration of the area's LGBTQI community, as well as a way of injecting a little colour and joy into the days of everyone who treads across it. Jackson Street makes up part of the busy Fitzroy Street precinct in St Kilda, and is considered to be highly visible to those walking, riding, tramming or driving. It's also located also right next to the site of the proposed Victorian Pride Centre, the first of its kind in Australia, which is expected to open in 2010. Acting Mayor Cr Dick Gross said the area's long-standing history with, and commitment to, the LGBTQI community makes it the perfect spot for the rainbow road. The area has hosted the annual Midsumma Pride March for 23 years. Sydney's rainbow crossing near Oxford Street was removed in 2013 after a stoush between local council and state government – but the move spawned hundreds of DIY rainbows by locals, and the news last month that it will be reinstated this October. Here's hoping this one sticks around for good — and that the colour spreads elsewhere, too.
Flick through the pages of any issue of National Geographic and the planet comes to life in all of its natural glory, particularly the colour, movement and all-round splendour of the animal world. Indeed, the magazine has been taking eye-catching wildlife photographs since 1888, and first featured one such image — a snap of a reindeer — on its cover back in 1903. From that huge 130-year history, the publication has picked out the absolute best photos in its archive for a brand new exhibition, which will make its world premiere at the Melbourne Zoo from September 8 to November 30. 50 Greatest Wildlife Photographs will showcase exactly what it sounds like — 50 breathtaking snaps of the earth's animal inhabitants, as curated by famous nature picture editor Kathy Moran, and featuring the work of iconic National Geographic photographers such as Michael 'Nick' Nichols, Steve Winter, Paul Nicklen, Beverly Joubert and David Doubilet. If last year's Photo Ark exhibition has you staring in wonder, then this promises that and more as patrons not only view the stunning sights captured, but the way that photography has evolved over the course of more than a century. Displaying as an outdoor gallery in Melbourne Zoo's Carousel Park, 50 Greatest Wildlife Photographs will be accompanied by augmented reality experience Air, Land & Sea. The interactive installation transports viewers to a watering hole where animals — hailing from Africa, the Arctic and more — graze, drink and interact with the environment around them. As well as giving patrons a glimpse at wildlife photography at its finest, Melbourne Zoo hopes the exhibition will bring attention to the plight of animals around the world. "Our hope is that, after viewing these stunning images and connecting with the wildlife at Melbourne Zoo, visitors will be compelled to remember that all animals deserve our greatest respect, awe and preservation," says Melbourne Zoo director Kevin Tanner. National Geographic's 50 Greatest Wildlife Photographs will be on display at Melbourne Zoo from September 8 to November 30. Entry to the exhibition is included in the zoo admission price. For more information, visit the website. Image: Gray Whale Hands by Thomas P. Peschak, San Ignacio Lagoon, Mexico, April 2015.
If you've ever been (or tried to be) vegan, you'll know there's a certain bliss that comes with having a whole smorgasbord of plant-based products at your disposal. So we expect squeals aplenty at the news that the Big Vegan Market is expanding, and will grace the sprawling interior of Carlton's Royal Exhibition Building, on Saturday, May 13. Kicking off at 10am, the event pulls together a dizzying, all-vegan array of food, drinks, craft, beauty and fashion, with as many as 131 vendors signing up to showcase their cruelty-free wares. Head in to snack on treats from the likes of Fitzroy dessert bar Girls & Boys, vegan dude food masters Wings of Glory and Vietnamese eatery The Pham Sisters, while indulging in some guilt-free retail therapy. You'll spy sustainably-crafted threads from Velvety, snazzy vegan watches from Time IV Change, cosmetics from Little Vegan Makeup Shop, and Wildbag's superfood protein blends, to name just a few. Jump on the Facebook page for the day's full lineup of vegan vendors. Image: Girls & Boys.
By this point in 2020, the year has served up all manner of challenges and surprises. But in one area at least, it's rolling on as planned. Because the world can't last too long without delivering multiple new film and/or television adaptations of Stephen King's work, viewers are about to score another one — a new miniseries version of the author's 1978 novel The Stand. Hitting Amazon Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand from Friday, January15 — after debuting in America in December — The Stand joins HBO's The Outsider as the two new TV shows bringing King's work to our eyeballs over the past 12 months. Of course, as avid fans will know, this isn't the first time this particular book has made the leap to the screen. Back in 1994, it aired as a big-budget, star-studded, four-part miniseries featuring the likes of Gary Sinise, Miguel Ferrer, Rob Lowe, Ruby Dee, Laura San Giacomo, Molly Ringwald and Ed Harris. Plenty of well-known names are onboard this time around, too, because there's quite the sprawling story to tell. And, quite the timely one, although that's obviously pure coincidence. The Stand is set in a world devastated by a plague. Here, the devasation is caused by a bioengineered super flu strain, which has wiped out 99 percent of the global population. Among those that survive, a battle between good and evil plays out — with the character of Randall Flagg, a common figure in King's work (see: The Eyes of the Dragon and The Dark Tower series), featuring prominently. Alexander Skarsgård plays Flagg, while the rest of the cast includes James Marsden, Whoopi Goldberg, Amber Heard and Heather Graham, as well as Watchmen's Jovan Adepo, Paper Towns' Nat Wolff, IT: Chapter Two's Owen Teague, Arrow's Katherine McNamara, and Australian Shirley and The Daughter actor Odessa Young. Behind the lens, The Stand is the latest project from filmmaker Josh Boone — whose latest movie, The New Mutants, hit cinemas in mid-2020 after years of delays. Check out the trailer for The Stand below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytkZJSzeg7A The Stand will start streaming in Australia and New Zealand on Friday, January 15 via Amazon Prime Video, airing new episodes weekly.
Everyone deserves a hefty dose of Steve Buscemi in their lives and, across five seasons and 56 episodes, Boardwalk Empire delivers just that. The beloved actor plays Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson, a corrupt politician who is also a gangster kingpin in Atlantic City during America's prohibition era. The character is fictional, but it's based on non-fiction book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City, which focuses on comparable real-life figure Enoch L. Johnson. Created by The Sopranos alum and The Wolf of Wall Street screenwriter Terrence Winter — and executive produced by Martin Scorsese, with the iconic filmmaker also directing its pilot — Boardwalk Empire charts Nucky's ups and downs, including the government investigation into his activities. While Buscemi is the obvious star of the show, both Michael Shannon and Kelly Macdonald are top-notch, as is this weighty drama all-round.
They're the pieces of plastic no one can leave home without — if you want to catch a bus, train, tram or ferry. Sydney has Opal, Melbourne has Myki and Brisbane has the Go Card, aka the main way to pay for public transport in today's increasingly cash-less society. For now, that is. News Corp's Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane papers are all reporting the looming end of the current ticketing cards, in favour of smartphone, smartwatch and tap-and-go bank card payments. It's one of those obvious leaps in technology that was always going to happen at some point soon. If there's a more convenient, contactless way to pay that don't rely upon everyone remembering to stuff yet another card into their wallet, then it's hardly surprising that the New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland governments are looking into it. In Sydney, a trial began on the Manly ferry last year, with patrons tapping their Mastercards instead. It's expected to expand to other forms of transport according to The Daily Telegraph, although it's worth noting that Opal multi-trip benefits don't apply to other payment systems. Melburnians can expect to scan on with a credit or debit card in trials due to start this year, focusing on Routes 11, 86 or 96, The Sunday Herald Sun notes. And in Brisbane, The Sunday Mail reports that a trial will commence either later in 2018 or sometime in early 2019, starting with the Airtrain. Moving away from dedicated transport cards — or adding other payment options — will make things easier for tourists and travellers, who shouldn't have to buy a new piece of plastic just to catch a bus or train (or pay extra for a paper ticket if they don't) when they're visiting. Ensuring the new system remains accessible for anyone that doesn't have a smartphone, smartwatch or bank card remains a concern, however. And, there'll always need to be a backup option in case someone forgets their phone, watch or wallet. Via The Sunday Mail / The Sunday Herald Sun / The Daily Telegraph. Images: Beau Giles / Binayak Dasgupta / Andrew Thomas.
Four Australian female composers. Four singers. Four dramatic operatic works inspired by mythology, literature and rare Australian birds. World premiering on one night. Streaming on the Carriageworks Facebook page at 7.30pm AEST on Saturday, April 25, the four-part Breaking Glass was meant to be performed inside the physical arts precinct from March 8–April 4, but its temporarily closure forced the show's premiere online. Presented by Sydney Chamber Opera and Carriageworks together with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Composing Women Program, Breaking Glass is broken into four one-act operas by female composers. There's Commute by Peggy Polias, which combines Homer's Iliad with a modern women's uneasy walk home at night; Josephine Macken's terrifying The Tent inspired by Margaret Atwood's writing; The Invisible Bird by Bree van Reyk, telling the true tale of a rare Australian parrot; and Georgia Scott's Her Dark Marauder, which uses Sylvia Plath's poetry to explore a women's battle for identity. If you can't already tell, these aren't your typical operas. Expect electronic music, "abstract aural soundscapes", smoke surrounding performers, kaleidoscopic digital projections and stories firmly planted in the 21st century. Breaking Glass world premieres on Carriageworks' Facebook page at 7.30pm. Images: Daniel Boud
