There has been plenty of talk about how Victoria is going to score its own container deposit scheme — finally — since vague plans for the program were first announced back in February 2020. And, while the scheme isn't set to kick off officially until 2023, a few more details have been revealed, with the Victorian Government confirming exactly how it will work. Off the back of extensive public consultations, as well as research into lots of interstate and overseas models, it has been decided that the system will run fairly similarly to what was suggested by the government last November. People will be able to exchange their empty bottles, cans and cartons for ten cents a pop, with the scheme accepting containers between 150 millilitres and three litres in volume (that is, those that tend to become litter rather than bigger and smaller sizes that are typically consumed at home). You'll be able to drop those containers off at a variety of different collection points, including automated reverse vending machines in public places, drive-thru depots, over the counter in shops, at bag-drop points, and at pop-up collection points at events and festivals. The return points will be run by recyclers, small businesses, and charity, community and sports groups — the latter of which will be able to use the scheme for extra fundraising. Again, don't expect the above to come to fruition until 2023, after operator contracts have been awarded and the legislation is developed and approved. The move has already been a long time coming, with Victoria the only Aussie state that hadn't already committed to one — Queensland's Containers for Change program launched in late 2018, while South Australia led the charge by introducing its version way back in 1977. The container deposit scheme is just one of the Victorian Government's grand plans to overhaul the state's waste and recycling system, with a $300 million suite of initiatives to be rolled out across the next few years. One of the key initiatives will see homes switch from three to four different colour-coded bins, in an effort to better sort waste. A purple lid bin would be used for glass recycling; a green lid for food and garden organics; a yellow lid to recycle plastic, metal and paper; and a red lid for all other household waste. But, it's predicted the bins won't be rolled out to most households until 2030. Victoria's container deposit scheme is set to come into effect sometime in 2023. For more information about, visit the Victorian Government website.
By this point in the year, a certain three words have been overused and then some. That trio? 'Tis the season. That said, it truly is the season for booking in cheap holidays for the year ahead, starting with Black Friday sales and now going into Boxing Day sales. If you're after discounted flights to a heap of places — including around Australia and the globe — yes, Virgin is getting into the post-Christmas spirit and slashing prices again. For Boxing Day — starting at 12.01am AEDT on Monday, December 26 and running till midnight on Thursday, December 29, or earlier if sold out — there's a hefty 800,000 discounted domestic and international fares up for grabs. Sticking with home turf, you can head to Byron Bay, Cairns, the Gold Coast, Darwin, Hobart and more. And, if you're eager to journey overseas, you can hit up Bali, Vanuatu and Tokyo. With discounts of up to 30-percent off, one-way domestic fares start at $55, which'll get you from Sydney to Byron Bay. As always, that's cheapest route. Yes, we say that every time one of these sales drop, but it's genuinely always the case. Other cheap flights include Brisbane to Cairns for $89, Melbourne to Hobart from $79, Adelaide to Darwin from $139 and Perth to Sydney from $209. Internationally, return deals include Brisbane to Vanuatu from $539, the Gold Coast to Denpasar from $479 and Cairns to Tokyo from $699. If you're wondering when you'll need to travel, there's a range of dates across 2023, all varying depending on the flights and prices. As usual when it comes to flight sales, you'll need to get in quick. Actually, given how much everyone loves a Boxing Day sale — in-person or online — setting an alarm to make your New Year's travel resolutions come true isn't outlandish. Virgin's Boxing Day sale runs from 12.01am AEDT on Monday, December 26 until midnight on Thursday, December 29 — unless sold out earlier. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
This post is presented by the All New Toyota Corolla Sedan. There's plenty of fun to be had in this city each week, but there's only a small handful of truly fresh urban adventures to be had. We've partnered with Toyota to bring you a series showcasing the very best of these shiny-new experiences in Melbourne. Presented by the All New Toyota Corolla Sedan, these are our picks to put you on the road to a lifetime of goodtimes. Now your only challenge is getting to them all. This week we recommend you visit Texas, Louisiana and New Orleans without getting on a plane; discover the significance of Cuban baseball; and make friends with a contrarian Hungarian. Eat: Le Bon Ton Le Bon Ton, from the American brothers behind Chignon, is the latest to jump on the southern-style bandwagon. As soon as you step inside you'll be hit with the smell of the meat smoker that lives in the courtyard, supplying luxuriously tender beef, pork and sausages. The meat is smoked as if in Texas, fish is prepared with thoughts of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, and there's an underlying ode to the French-influenced city of New Orleans. There's a sophisticated authenticity here that other venues lack. Also a saloon, cocktail bar and absinthe house — with a 24-hour license, no less — Le Bon Ton is a real all-rounder. 51 Gipps Street, Collingwood Drink: Los Barbudos Think Cuba. Loud, warm, filled with rum and bound to result in good times. This small space boasts a wall of framed pictures which make you feel as though you've stepped into a place rich of history, and the bar is stocked to the brim with great booze. Well-known rum cocktails like the mojito ($10) and the daiquiri ($16) mix in with others like the Nacional ($16) or the Amor y Sabor, a combination of kaffir lime leaf, guava, rum, campari and lime ($16). Baseball is the theme here — staff are decked out in outfits reminiscent of baller uniforms, harking back to baseball's popularity in Cuba and the fact that members of Castro's army were once invited to a Havana Sugar Kings game. These men were called barbudos — the bearded ones. Hence the name of the venue. 95 Smith Street, Collingwood See: Neighbourhood Watch Neighbourhood Watch, the newest production from the Melbourne Theatre Company, is first and foremost a character study. Firstly, there's Catherine (Megan Holloway), a struggling young actress and altogether flimsy stereotype of the troubled millennial. Then Ana (Robyn Nevin), a headstrong Hungarian migrant who lives alone with her ravenous German Shepherd, Bella, after surviving a World War and outliving two husbands. No prizes for guessing who steals the show. Based on a real-life friendship of the playwright, Lally Katz, this endearing story is a masterful creation of unlikely friendship and strong character. Nevin's bittersweet and fierce portrayal of Ana is undeniable — a show unto itself. March 17 - April 26; The Sumner, Southbank Theatre, 140 Southbank Boulevard Do: Meet the Makers When curator Bernadette Alibrando travelled to New York in 2006, she discovered an amazing non-profit organisation, TOAST, that started discussions between emerging artists and the general public. Meet the Makers is a Melbourne version of that same event. From March 27-30, artists from Fitzroy and Collingwood are inviting you into their studios and working spaces to talk about art, free of charge. A simple booking via email gets you a VIP ticket into the heart of spaces like Strange Neighbour, Fehily Contemporary and SLOPES to talk to makers as diverse as iPad artist Rebecca Jones and stencil painter Ha Ha. Discover some new and exciting work straight from the source. March 27 - 30; Various locations around Fitzroy and Collingwood
Not long ago, a friend of mine described a serious medical treatment they were taking. They'd had to pick out the best drug for this, out of a bewildering range of medicines and wide ranges of side effects. To work out which would be most effective, they'd had their DNA sequenced. The normality of that seemingly sci-fi procedure briefly blew my mind. In fact, this is not only a relatively normal thing, but it won't be too long before it'll be routine for you to, say, grow thousands of tiny batches of your own body tissue in a lab and actually test those specific drugs on your specific biology. For now, the hard bit is convincing those tissue batches to grow. Enter the tissue engineer, who can corral cells in tissue into some kind of order. Someone like Nina Tandon. In her book Super Cells: Building with Biology, written with Mitchell Joachim, Tandon surveys what we can already build in the lab with cells: bricks, clothes, computer games, biodegradable coffins and Western Australian bioart. For her PhD, she grew heart cells. Then she took an electric current and ran it through them to make them beat. This is what we can do now, but Tandon sees growing your own tissue as something that will touch pretty much every part of ours lives before too long. And not just in medicine. Talking to her, it's hard to disagree. Growing Which Where With What Now? Despite the fact that this is stuff that's happening now, it seems like future tech. But it's really just building on some old ideas. Half her work is to "build the housing" that allows the cells to do their job. That "housing" for the cell that persuades it to do what you want is called a 'bioreactor'. Tandon works with cutting edge tech in her work, sure. But a bioreactor is actually old school. It can be as simple as an oven. "Baking is a bioreactor. You’ve got yeast. There are so many bioreactors. I mean, people eat yoghurt. That’s bioreactors too." Tandon, founder of startup Epibone, was in Sydney this week as a keynote speaker at Sydney's Vivid Ideas. And, as she put it in her keynote "there’s an element of market research in this: if I was a heart cell, what would I want out of life?" Much of the work in one of these bio reactors is in getting cells comfortable. She described it all as a bit like managing a fish tank, where, instead of worrying about fresh water for freshwater fish, you're wondering what sort of hospitality you’ll have to roll out to keep heart tissue happy or liver cells growing the way you want. This bioreactor hospitality already let us do all sorts of interesting things in the lab. Like cloning batches and batches of your breast cancer tumour to see what drugs kill your tumour best. Or growing relatively simple replacement tissues, like bone. We're getting there with bone. We're up to animal bones, like horses or pigs. What Can't We Make? It's hard to imagine what we'll soon be able to build this way. But not for Tandon. "I think it’s almost a better question to say what can’t we build?" What might seem normal in 15 or 20 years could be something like vegetarian* ham. "I bet we are going to see people’s croissants with ham and cheese where the ham is engineered. They’re going to be munching on ham that was never in a pig." Or more advanced organic lighting: "I can see a day where we have electric eels that are making light. Not as electric eels, but if we take the cells that make electricity from those eels and grow them in bioreactors…" While writing Super Cells, Tandon tried to imagine fields that aren't likely to be radically changed by biotech advances. She counted four: "aerospace and railway transportation and banking and accounting." And even those, on deeper thought, seemed to her to have tech or fuel backbones "very likely to be disrupted by biology". * Maybe. Closer to the Worm So, what do you become when you start being able to grow and implant your own spare parts? "If I can grow my own cells outside the body, and if there are more non-human cells than human cells in my body, what does it even mean to say the human body?" Tandon adds, though, that this is actually a quandary we've lived with all our lives. It's a bit like that question about some worms: "You can cut it in half and it’ll grow two new worms. But are those two different worms?" As human beings, she points out, we've already grown out of what were originally our parents' cells. "We were all one cell big at one point. We don’t know when we began to be an individual. And individuals are birthed from other individuals. In a way it’s a lot closer to that worm than not." This is a challenge though, not an enigma. After all, "we got through this with blood transfusions." Rather, in the absence of more scientifically informed politicians, the community at large just needs a little education in order to start puzzling out the ethics. "Everyone should be in that debate. And the only way that everyone can be in that debate is if everyone is familiar with the processes." You Can Start Young Early, hands-on education is what worked for Tandon. As a child she had a chemistry set and disassembled her vacuum tube TV ("those were the days"), though it also didn't hurt that she came from a science-friendly family. Her father was an engineer, while her mother, Judith, having had some time on Wall Street and with a masters in education, would teach both her siblings ("my first scientific collaborators") and Tandon "all this kind of fancy math and stuff". Judith would reward the question 'How tall is that building?' by making her kids calculate the answer themselves, using triangles and sight lines. Years later, educating the wider public and at university and a community biolab, is this the sort of experience Nina is trying to create for her own students? "Yeah, you know. I think I want to pass that on." Your Local Biology Gym A 'community biolab' is where a place like biolab Genspace comes in. Genspace is a biohacking space in Brooklyn, New York that Tandon helps out at. "Basically, like a gym membership applied to biology. So it’s like a hackerspace, but where people can use biological techniques without being bound by the scientific method." A board monitors ethics and safety, "but, really, there’s quite a lot of freedom". You don't have to be following a particular grant priority, you don't have to be a scientist. You don't even need to be a particular age. In fact, that's the point. "People can learn how to decode DNA if they’re 12 or if they’re 85." One of their go-to activities for newbies is extracting the DNA from strawberries. Once, a school student extracting DNA for the first time piped up, "Oh my gosh! DNA, it looks like boogers!". Says Tandon, "He was so happy. And I never forgot that he said that. And, you know what? It really did." For so much of this you don't even need a biolab. Tandon was first taught the procedure at a friend's place. By her toddler. You can follow the space's instructions if you want to extract your own strawberry DNA at home. Tandon would love it if an Australian wants to set up a local biolab. Prospective local biohackers are welcome to contact her for inspiration. She'll put you in touch with the right people at Genspace to get you started. In her keynote, Nina saw the need for similar spaces in biotech to the sort of spaces to where Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos started their companies. And that's what a Genspace is for, too. "It’s basically like the garage where information technology began, but for biology." Image of a moss photobioreactor by Eva Decker. Image of Earthworms (not actually the kind of worms that can grow back both halves) by Jack Hynes. Image of Genspace by .dh. Croissant by Stu Spivack. Pointing child at Sears Tower by Vincent Desjardins.
Sometimes it feels as though all the weeks blend into one. With the leftover winter chill still in the air, it's easy to let the start of spring pass us by from the comfort and warmth of our own beds. The only problem here is that Melbourne has too much on offer to miss, including a banging nightlife and plenty to do during the day, too. And we guarantee you'll have a much better time exploring what's going on in this concrete jungle than curling up in a ball in front of a glowing Netflix screen. So, to help you carpe diem, we enlisted our mates at Mitsubishi, and its new Eclipse Cross, to put together a list of places for you to discover Monday to Sunday. From story slams and Indigenous design to fish and chips dumplings, it's time to put on some non-track pants and get exploring. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17: INDIGENOUS DESIGN Catch Australia's first national survey of Indigenous design before it finishes at the end of the month. Start your week off with a good dose of Aboriginal culture at Blak Design Matters at the Koori Heritage Building in Federation Square. Here, at the first national survey of Indigenous design, you'll find many extraordinary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, among them Lyn-Al Young, a Gunnai, Wiradjuri, Gunditjmarra and Yorta Yorta fashion designer and artist whose garments are soon to appear in David Jones, and TJ Cowlishaw, who specialises in sustainable, upcycled streetwear with her brand Aarli. Learn from, be inspired by and celebrate the oldest culture in the world with this remarkable walk through modern design pieces. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18: LIVE STORY SLAM Share your story to take down (or, better yet, make peace with) your nemesis. Head down to The Moth on Johnston Street in Collingwood for one of this month's story slams. Sit back and listen to some heart-wrenching stories, or get up and tell your own. This month it's all about your rival — you know, the Draco, or worse, Voldemort in your story. Digging deep into the depths of hearts, each storyteller will have five minutes on stage to share their feelings. It's a safe space, an inclusive one, and one that will leave you with some deep, deep feels. Get writing or prep your listening skills, as this month's going to be a good one. Just make sure to get there early as seating is on a first in, first serve basis — these events can bring a large crowd (and for a good reason). WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19: WEIRD, DELICIOUS DUMPLINGS Fill up on doughy parcels filled with the likes of laksa and fish and chips at Drumplings. For a midweek treat — or some gastronomic experimentation — head to Bourke Street and step inside Drumplings for a twist on the classic dumpling filling. While the classic char sui pork bao, xiao long bao and pork and chive can be found on the menu, you should really set your sights on the signature d(r)umplings like cheeseburger, beef rendang and chilli con carne. And make sure to leave enough room for dessert — we're talking Nutella and apple crumble d(r)umplings with cream and caramel sauce on the side. Plus, this lively venue won't break the bank, so you can wolf down a few serves of those laksa d(r)umps without a care. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20: END-OF-WEEK KARAOKE Let out any stresses from the week that was by belting out your best rendition of We Belong Together. It's a day after hump day and two away from the weekend — the end of the week is in sight. Celebrate another workweek (almost) finished by taking the mic at Benjy's Bar. Whether Celine Dion is your jam, or you're more of a Mariah Carey kind of person, there's a song just waiting for you to let all your work stresses out on. Choose from one of the 30,000-plus songs on offer and prep yourself for a performance, because at Benjy's there are no private rooms. You'll be singing for the whole venue, so you may want to prep some dance moves, too. We'd suggest booking a table. Thursday night also offers a $6 happy hour so you can surely expect an audience for your big show. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21: ELEVATED FRIDAY NIGHT See a jazz gig and ogle an Andy Warhol after hours at the NGV. Until October 5, Friday nights at the NGV will pair international and local jazz acts presented by the Melbourne International Jazz Festival with iconic works from the current MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art exhibition. This week's lineup features Melbourne-based Let Them Eat Cake and is headlined by acclaimed Australian group Speedball. Channel those Big Apple vibes and elevate your usual Friday night with a bit of jazz and a little catch-up with your mates Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22: SATURDAY FLYING Road trip to the Great Ocean Road to soar down a five-kilometre-long zipline. Saturdays are not for wasting, so get out of the city and take on the open road on none other than the chief of them all: the Great Ocean Road. It's all in the name really. Drifting along where the ocean meets the road, you'll eventually reach Live Wire Park in Lorne, home to a five-kilometre-long zipline. The off-the-grid aerial adventure park also offers a suspended 120-metre walking circuit and even a "super circuit" of 53 physical and mental activities that test park-goers while suspended in mid-air. And all of these activities take place among the native blue gums. From hands on the steering wheel to holding onto your harness for dear life, this is an adventure you'll want for the memory book. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23: VR CINEMA See a round of shorts in virtual reality. The weekend may be fleeting, but there's still time to make the most of it with a trip to the Virtual Reality Cinema in Collingwood. You get what the label says with the newly opened digs encompassing a 12-seat theatre, supplying you with a VR headset and sending you on your merry way to another reality. The seats spin 360-degrees, too, so you can get a good look at everything going on around you — including your fellow cinemagoers thanks to the special Group VR system. Each session shows four to six back-to-back shorts in a seamless 20 to 30-minute experience. And there's a whole load of shorts lined-up by the cinema, which will take you right out of your chair on Johnston Street and make you feel you're somewhere else entirely. The future is now, people. Where to next? Make the most of every week with Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and navigate to your next destination here. Top image: Kate Shanasy.
No one can ever accuse Adam Driver of not living up to his name. He's played a bus driver in Paterson, piloted a spaceship in the Star Wars sequel trilogy as well as 65, and will next zip through the Italian streets in his latest film Ferrari. For none other than Heat and Collateral director Michael Mann, Driver slips into the eponymous racing driver and sports car entrepreneur's shoes, in one of the most-anticipated new movies of the next few months. As the just-dropped first teaser trailer for Ferrari shows, Driver is indeed seen behind the wheel, although the film focuses on its namesake when he's an ex-racer. As adapted from Brock Yates' book Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Cars, The Races, The Machine, Mann's movie hones in on specific chapter of Enzo Ferrari's life: 1957, as potential bankruptcy looms over his factory, his marriage is struggling after a heartbreaking loss and his drivers approach the Mille Miglia race. Accordingly, Ferrari promises to peer behind the Formula 1 facade, into Enzo's relationship with his wife Laura (Penélope Cruz, Official Competition), the death of their boy Dino, and the son Piero with Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley, Robots) that he doesn't want to acknowledge. If you know your racing history, you'll also know that 1957's Mille Miglia — which spanned 1000 miles across Italy — was its last due to multiple deaths during the event. So, that race won't be an insignificant part of the film. As well as Driver, Cruz and Woodley, Ferrari stars Patrick Dempsey (Disenchanted), Jack O'Connell (Lady Chatterley's Lover), Sarah Gadon (Black Bear) and Gabriel Leone (Dom). Set to release at Christmas in the US and on January 4, 2024 Down Under, Ferrari marks the first (and long-awaited next) film for Mann since 2015's Blackhat — although he did direct an episode of Tokyo Vice's first season in 2022, as well as executive producing the series. Check out the trailer for Ferrari below: Ferrari releases in cinemas Down Under on January 4, 2024. Images: Lorenzo Sisti / Eros Hoagland.
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image has announced its program for White Night 2016. The cinema and exhibition space in Federation Square will once again host a number of film screenings and activities, as visitors flood to the city for the annual after dark arts festival, which is set to take place on Saturday, February 20. And everyone knows that, when you need a White Night disco nap, the cinema is the place to go. One of the biggest items among this year's ACMI lineup is the Internet Cat Video Festival, the general content of which you can probably guess for yourself. The centre will also screen Tracy Moffatt's acclaimed short film Night Cries and Don Featherstone's Babakiueria, both of which offer distinctive takes on race relations in Australia. Rounding out the film program is Shane McNeil's Girt by Sea, which mixes archival footage with an original score by The Panics, in what is described as "a cinematic love letter to the coastline of Australia". Those looking for something a little more interactive can also check out the Next Level Games Lounge in the ACMI Lightwell, where you can try your hand at a number of recent and retro video games while listening to music from live DJs and sipping drinks from a pop-up bar. There'll also be the chance to experience virtual reality, with the centre stocking up on cardboard VR mounts. Finally, ACMI's exhibition spaces will remain open all night long, as will the ACMI Cafe & Bar. Of course, the biggest draw of ACMI's White Night Program might not be anything on the program itself, but the simple fact that the cinemas are comfortable and air conditioned – making it an ideal spot to recharge your art-lovin' batteries during the early hours of the morning. The full White Night program is expected to drop in late January, although several major commissions have already been revealed. Standouts include Lisa Roet's Golden Monkey, featuring a 10m-high monkey climbing Melbourne Town Hall, as well as a new collaboration with the Portuguese multimedia group whose projection piece at the Royal Exhibition Building was one of the highlights of White Night last year. For more information about White Night 2016, visit whitenightmelbourne.com.au.
2019 is flying by, and if the year's hectic pace is getting you down, here is some small solace for you. Melbourne's Boho Luxe Market (their words, not ours) is determined to make you remember those times when you could dip your toes in the ocean without a care in the world, and take you to a sun-dappled place of dreamcatchers and flower crowns. This year, it'll be split into two sections: one getting into the regular boho spirit, and another that'll only sell 100-percent vegan products. For the 2019 festive run, you can treat yourself to a day of Christmas wanderlust — including of the plant-based kind — in the Atrium and at Deakin Edge at Federation Square from 10am on Sunday, December 1. As well as the usual array of fashion, jewellery, art and design items, there'll be heaps of stalls featuring ethical activewear and accessories, skincare products and lots of yummy things that will keep you sustained over a vegan Christmas. Expect snacks, live music and festive vibes.
Summer is officially over. We know that not just because it's March, but because, as has become custom at this time of year, Vivid Sydney has this morning announced its program for 2019. Get ready to be ensconced in projections once again — the festival of light, music and ideas is returning for 23 days and nights from May 24 to June 15. The first couple of tidbits from this year's program were handed to us a few weeks ago, with the announcement that The Cure will do four shows at the Sydney Opera House from May 24–28 — their only Australian shows this time round. Tickets have already been allocated via ballot, so we hope you jumped on that already. Carriageworks announced its first headline music act, too, with Rüfüs Du Soul taking over the arts precinct for three nights of electro bangers on June 13, 14 and 15. The most overt (and unavoidable) aspect of the program is the lights, and for the second year running their glow will head across the bridge to light up Luna Park. It will extend the reach of the CBD's Light Walk from Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and Barangaroo with a collection of 50 large-scale projections stretching along the walk's three kilometres. Should make good viewing from the ferry. Some of the immersive light installations you'll encounter throughout the precincts include a pop-up 'winter camp' in Barangaroo, a 'robot spaceland' in Darling Harbour, 300 large-scale animal sculptures in Taronga Zoo, a playable cascading harp in Chatswood and an immersive field of 500 fireflies in the Royal Botanic Garden. Pixar is also jumping on board this year, and will be projecting characters from its classic animated flicks onto the façade of the Argyle Cut in the Rocks. The Sydney Opera House's sails will this year be lit up with hypnotic images of Australian flora from LA artist and video maker Andrew Thomas Huang (who has previously created music videos for Björk), and Customs House will be transformed into an underwater wonderland — covered in neon projections of creatures found under the Harbour it overlooks. Vivid Music is once again in fine form. Joining The Cure for the Vivid Live component of the program at the Opera House will be folk rock singer Sharon Van Etten, performing hits of her poignant new album Remind Me Tomorrow, American singer Maggie Rogers and Perth up-and-comer Stella Donnelly, who's heading to the harbour city fresh off the back of the release of her new album Beware of the Dogs. Jónsi, from Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, and Alex Summers (known as Jónsi & Alex) will be performing an ethereal show complete with a 21-piece orchestra and 12-member choir in the Concert Hall. The Opera House's super popular Studio Parties will also make their return. Last year's music lineup throwback came in the form of 90s hits Ice Cube and Cat Power. This year, British electronic group Underworld, best known for the house and techno hits they released in the 90s, will be flying the nostalgia flag. If the name is a little unfamiliar to you, you'll definitely recognise their single 'Born Slippy (Nuxx)'. Famed jazz musician Herbie Hancock, who started his career in the Miles Davis Quintet back in the 60s, will also be taking to the stage, performing hits from across his five-decade career. Another big one is a performance from FKA Twigs who's bringing her experimental dream pop to Carriageworks, and the City Recital Hall has a solid program this year, including a performance by Paul Kelly and James Ledger. Live music gigs will also be held across the city as part of the program, including at the Lansdowne, Ziggy's hairdresser and 107 Redfern. Vivid Ideas is, of course, back for those keen to delve into creativity, science and technology — and this year it's scored Spike Lee as its big-ticket speaker. Lee will be in town to chat about his personal political views as well as his award-winning 2018 flick BlackKklansman. There's plenty more where that came from, check the Vivid Sydney website for more details. Vivid Sydney returns from May 24–June 15, 2019. Images: DNSW and Hamilton Lund.
If you haven't dreamt of quitting your job, turning off your phone, packing your bag with nothing more than a pair of thongs and some swimmers and jetting off to make a life on a tropical island, you are truly living a blessed life. But for everyone else who holds on to a skerrick of the island life dream, this next bit of news is either going to make you smile or turn you insanely jealous. A guy from NSW has just scored his own entire resort on a private island in the Pacific for the grand sum of 65 bucks. The man, identified just as Joshua, was one of the tens of thousands of people who decided to put a few dollars down to go into the draw to win the 16-room luxury Kosrae Nautilus Resort that sits on the Micronesian island of Kosrae. It was put up for grabs by Australian couple Doug and Sally Beitz, who built the resort back in 1994. After 20 years on the island, they've decided to come back home — but instead of selling the island to an investor, they wanted it to go to someone who maybe couldn't afford to buy it outright, but would give it as much love as they have. Joshua was announced as the winner last night via a post on the resort's Facebook page. So, yeah, now he owns a resort. Not bad for the cost of approx. three espresso martinis. Via ABC News. Image: Kosrae Nautilus Resort.
Acclaimed Aussie artist Callum Preston has shown off plenty of his nostalgic side, having delighted audiences when he recreated a 70s-style milk bar — complete with painted timber chocolate bars, magazines and soft drink cans — back in 2017. Before that, he was responsible for a life-sized replica of a DeLorean for 2015 artwork Bootleg to the Future. But now, fresh from helping to bring to life Rone's acclaimed Empire work last year — which saw a deserted art deco mansion transformed into a multifaceted, immersive art experience — Preston is switching up the pace for his latest solo exhibition, titled Everything Is Borrowed. The exhibition is part of a five-week residency at the Rialto's KSR Art Bar. The space has also become Preston's studio — and while the show doesn't officially open until Thursday, November 21, from today, you can drop by the bar to see him working on pieces for the show. These pieces will be a hand-crafted collection of mixed-media works, canvases and Preston's signature painted timber panel piece — and everything will be made on-site. The diverse collection — which will be constantly updated — will be a homage to the multitude of items we humans accumulate throughout our lives. [caption id="attachment_746105" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Callum Preston.[/caption] Everything Is Borrowed is a reference to The Streets' song of the same name, and, taking inspiration from it, Preston will capture the changing value we place on those everyday treasures and trinkets. "We live in a material world, but most of the time it's about what an item means to a person, more than its monetary value," explains Preston. The studio itself is made entirely from recycled materials, with an eclectic assembly of notes, sketches, offcuts, photos, tools, and other bits and pieces gracing its walls. It's worth taking a stickybeak at over a drink one night after work — then head back between Novembre 21 and December 21 to see the exhibition in its entirety. Callum Preston's 'Everything Is Borrowed' will run from Thursday, November 21, to Saturday, December 7 — but you can drop by and see him at work from today. It's happening at the KSR Art Bar, ground floor, Rialto Piazza, entry via 525 Collins Street, Melbourne, and will be open from 4–11pm Monday to Friday.
Having said au revoir to the French Film Festival, it's now time to slip over the border into Spain. Returning to Palace Cinemas around the country, this year's Spanish Film Festival will once again showcase some of the biggest and most critically acclaimed Spanish and Latin American films from the past 12 months. How's that for a cinematic siesta? The festival — which will feature at The Astor, Chapel Street's Cinema Como, Northcote's Palace Westgarth and Kino in the CBD — begins with the highest grossing film at last year's Spanish box office: rom-com sequel Spanish Affair 2. Other comic standouts include espionage spoof Spy Time, madcap ensemble My Big Night, and dark domestic comedy Happy 140. Of course, not everything on the program is quite so light and breezy. Critically acclaimed drama Much Ado About Nothing confronts legal and political corruption in modern day Chile, while Ma Ma stars Penelope Cruz in one of her most nuanced roles to date, as a put-upon single mother diagnosed with breast cancer.
Vegans, here's a question for you. Obviously, wearing animals is out of the question. But what's your take on a 100% plant-based material that mimics leather? As in, it looks and feels so much like leather that, were you not to know it's an imitation, you'd be organising a rally against it. One school of thought says Yes! That's exactly what we're after. We don't have a problem with the qualities of leather - appearance, durability, flexibility and so forth - so long as their acquisition doesn't involve the slaughter of any living creatures. The other school of thought says, No. That would be sending the wrong message. Carrying a 'pretend leather' bag around is a bit like wearing faux fur. It might not cause harm directly, but the implication is that animal hide is useful. A truly ethical product should appear as though it came from a plant. The Netherlands-based Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven has recently developed a new vegan textile from the Areca palm. The plant's leaves are soaked in a specially concocted biological solution, increasing their flexibility, and enabling the creation of a biodegradable material that is striking similar to leather. Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven has used it to manufacture a range of stylish products, including journal covers, sandals, and tote bags. The innovation comes with the potential for social benefit. The Areca palm is native to South India, where local artisans possess sophisticated knowledge and understanding of manipulating the leaves. Interest in palm leather products may well translate to increased employment opportunities. Images: Tjeerd Veenhoven [Via Ecouterre]
It's with a wink and a nod that Ladj Ly names his Cannes prize-winning, Oscar-nominated crime-thriller after one of the most famous French works there is: Les Misérables. And it's with the same irreverent spirit that the first-time feature director lets audiences literally hear the people sing in the movie's opening moments, even though this definitely isn't a musical. Set in 2018, the film's early crowds are belting out 'La Marseillaise'. France has just won the FIFA World Cup, Avenue des Champs-Élysées is alive with soccer fans waving flags and celebrating, and everyone is chanting the national anthem with beaming pride. Shot documentary-style, the city's residents couldn't be more joyous, including when the movie's moniker — literal translation: the miserables — is humorously splashed across the screen. But, despite the ecstatic scenes that kickstart Ly's feature, this is still a rousing cinematic song of angry Parisians. Nearing 160 years since Victor Hugo immortalised the Montfermeil commune, using the Paris district as a key setting in his well-known work, this Les Misérables heads there to tell a different story. Or, to be exact, to explore comparable themes in contemporary France — and to interrogate the reality of life in Les Bosquets housing estates in one of the capital's banlieues. The latter and their communities have featured in the likes of 1995's La Haine and 2014's Girlhood before, two hands-down French movie masterpieces, but the approach here is especially inspired. Drawing parallels with a globally known, much-adapted, long-popular classic to shine a spotlight on modern-day class and cultural clashes is smart and savvy and, in the hands of a filmmaker from the area who is already known for making documentaries about the area, results in a particularly compelling and confronting piece of cinema. Every neighbourhood bubbles with stories. So, focusing on Les Bosquets, Ly relays as many tales as he can. With propulsive and fittingly restless energy, his film flits between the locale's cops, kids and gangs — with struggles between all three groups reaching boiling point over the course of two summery and eventful days. The catalysts: familiar prejudices, long-held beefs, a stolen lion, a wrongful shooting and some controversial drone footage. Anti-crime brigade officers Chris (The Eddy's Alexis Manenti), Gwada (C'est tout pour moi's Djebril Zonga) and the newly transferred Stéphane (Dunkirk's Damien Bonnard) are never far from the trouble, sometimes causing it, sometimes trying to stop it. But two local adolescents also play pivotal parts, with young Issa (debutant Issa Perica) responsible for the jungle cat missing from a visiting circus troupe and shy teen Buzz (fellow newcomer Al-Hassan Ly) the owner of the highly sought-after drone. While Les Misérables takes place just two years ago, Ly, actor and scribe Manenti, and their co-screenwriter Giordano Gederlini (Mother's Instinct) use events from a decade earlier as their basis, with Montfermeil one of the sites of the 2005 French riots. Ly's documentary short 365 Days in Montfermeil chronicled the chaos and the police brutality from the inside, as shot at the time — but here, he dramatises it. It's no wonder, then, that Les Misérables proves unrelentingly terse and always on edge, as well vehemently unafraid to filter real-world unrest through every frame. It's just as unsurprising that it isn't always subtle, but given the complicated terrain that it traverses, it needn't be. As a portrait of social tensions drawn from real-life situations, this is a film of explosive emotional and visceral power even when it's clearly lacking in nuance. Les Misérables makes a range of statements, including pondering the powder-keg banlieue environment, as well as the similarities between the film's cops, children and thugs — all of whom, in their own ways, are trying to get by. Ly contemplates how one event can escalate, detonate and spark a chain of chaos, and, Hugo-style, how insurrectionary acts come about. There's a message in the simple act of calling upon the riots the filmmaker lived through for a movie set years later, too, and it's one of Les Misérables' most potent. The idea that Ly's fictionalised story doesn't just lift details from reality, but that its ins and outs have never stopped being relevant to or reflective of life in Les Bosquets, purposefully hits hard. Also having an impact, and by design: the jittery on-the-ground camerawork that conveys tension, terror and heartbreak in equal measures; and the sky-high, bird's-eye drone footage that reminds viewers visually about perspective and the bigger picture. Indeed, Ly and his cinematographer Julien Poupard (Divines) ensure audiences feel like they're traversing Montfermeil's streets, and that they've seen every corner of the area from every angle as well. The urgent electronic score by Pink Noise does a cracking job of setting the mood, as does the brisk pace set by editor Flora Volpeliere (The Hookup Plan). And, cast-wise, Les Misérables' experienced actors and fresh faces alike all impart a sense of authenticity. By the time all of the above has worked its magic, no one is singing 'La Marseillaise' exuberantly, of course, but viewers have witnessed a stunning film with revolution at its heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIsEZ2tTavU&t=6s
The City of Melbourne has unveiled a new plan for an ambitious project which would see the northern bank of the Yarra overhauled with boardwalks, elevated pedestrian bridges and a stack of extra green space. The proposed revitalisation project, Greenline, pulls inspiration from New York's High Line — an elevated public park built atop a former freight rail line — and spans a four-kilometre section of riverside stretching from Birrarung Marr to the Bolte Bridge. If approved, Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Greenline would deliver one of the biggest transformations of the city since the opening of Fed Square back in 2002. The makeover details a series of high walkways the Lord Mayor says would help "provide a continuous green link throughout Northbank," and offer "new perspectives of the city". Various park upgrades and native foliage plantings are also in the works, as well as elements designed to better recognise the spiritual and historic significance of the Yarra Rivier — Birrarung — to First Nations people. "Greenline would tell stories of Melbourne's history and increase visibility and understanding of the area's Aboriginal culture and heritage," the Lord Mayor said. It's hoped that the Greenline plans would transform this underused pocket of land into a world-class waterfront precinct, attracting more visitors, locals and businesses. The project is expected to cost up to $300 million. If approved, the council would seek funding from both the government and the private sector to bring the vision to life. According to forecasts by the City of Melbourne, Greenline could attract $1 billion in economic activity and create up to 1,000 jobs. [caption id="attachment_810336" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Greenline's proposed transformation of the Batman Park precinct.[/caption] The implementation plan released last week is set to be considered by councillors on Tuesday, May 4. While the Greenline project is in proposal phase, Northbank does have a confirmed new addition heading its way, with final plans for Seafarers Rest unveiled last month. The new 3500-square-metre public park is set to be completed by 2024, featuring grassy lawns, event spaces and its own urban forest. You can check out the full Greenline Implementation Plan here. It's being considered by City of Melbourne Councillors on Tuesday, May 4. We'll keep you posted as to what happens next.
It's fair to say everyone's had a challenging year in 2020, and if you run a small business in Melbourne it's been an especially tough time. We don't need to reiterate why, but we are going to remind you of how you can help those independent shops and not-for-profits who are still peddling their handmade, locally grown, lovingly wrapped items, which would all make for perfect stocking fillers come December 25. And, because we know you don't always want to splash out on big-ticket items at Christmas, we've also kept this gift guide to present ideas that come in under $50. In partnership with Square, we've picked out nine affordable pressies — from jumbo scrunchies to handmade ceramics and classic bottled cocktails — that you can purchase online in time for the big day. Not only will you be ticking off your Christmas shopping list, but you'll also be supporting the hardworking and resilient businesses that make Melbourne such a cool place to live. If you are a small business owner, Square has the tools you need to take payments and maximise your sales, including an ebook with tips to help you get started this holiday season. JUMBO SCRUNCHIE, SECOND STITCH ($15) Social enterprise Second Stitch employs refugee and asylum seeker workers in its Coburg studio. During lockdown, it was pumping out cotton face masks, which helped keep all its talented seamstresses busy. Now that we've got drawers full of reusable face masks, add another accessory to your shopping list, this time to give to a friend. We think the jumbo scrunchies, available in six colours, are lots of fun. The 100 percent cotton scrunchies are oversized, machine washable and made to stand out. Add in $8 for shipping, or pick up in store. [caption id="attachment_780486" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Abigail Varney[/caption] COFFEE CLUB SUBSCRIPTION, MARKET LANE (FROM $20) We're sure you're familiar with the Melbourne coffee roaster Market Lane, who came to the rescue of Brunswick East residents earlier this year with its coffee bean vending machine. And perhaps you already have a favourite flavour from its range of espresso and filter beans, available online. Well, have you considered how much your loved ones might also enjoy receiving a bag of fresh coffee on the regular? You can give Market Lane's Coffee Club Subscription as a gift, either as a three-month ($120), six-month ($240) or 12-month ($480) present. Or, start small with a $20 gift card to get them started on their own biweekly deliveries. MILK MADE: A BOOK ABOUT CHEESE, MOULD CHEESE COLLECTIVE ($25) Victorian dairy fiends the Mould Cheese Collective collate and ship boxes of cheesy goods across the country. It sells gift cards from $25, as well as gourmet boxes of Bruny Island's The Saint, Coal River Farm's triple cream brie and Grandvewe's pinot paste, from $85. When you have someone on your gift list who has eyes only for the cheese platter come Christmas party time, buy them something that speaks to their greatest pleasure. Milk Made: A Book About Cheese is written by Bruny Island Cheese's Nick Haddow, and in it the cheesemaker tells of his experiences making, serving and storing cheeses, as well as sharing a few recipes. Add it to your cart with shipping at a flat rate of $10. YUMIKO CUP, LOVE TEA ($45) Just the idea of wrapping our mitts around this handmade ceramic cup gets us in the mood for a cuppa. Each Yumiko Cup is made in Japan and they're designed with simplicity in mind. Love Tea has a variety of colours, from warm brown (above) to spring mint green and winter night grey. As you'll need to spend $65 to be eligible for free shipping across Australia, we suggest going ever so slightly over budget and throwing in some certified organic tea from the Melbourne-based store. There's chai, traditional, herbal and wellness teas available from $13 a box. One for you, one for a friend. [caption id="attachment_701671" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gareth Sobery[/caption] BOTTLED COCKTAILS, THE EVERLEIGH ($18–36) Award-winning cocktail bar The Everleigh has kept many of us well sauced through the long nights in lockdown, and no doubt you're already familiar with its bottled cocktail packs — we're here to remind you they make for excellent gifts, too. Take your pick from a negroni, old fashioned, martini or manhattan, which are all $18 for a single-serve, back-pocket, pre-made cocktail. You can level up to $36 for a double serve, or go all-out on the Famous Four gift set for $72. Delivery is $14.99, or $9.99 if you spend over $50. FOCACCIA PACK, MOUNT ZERO OLIVES ($45) Family-owned company Mount Zero Olives has an olive grove three hours' west of Melbourne on the northern edge of the Grampians National Park. You can shop many of its organic olive oils, dressings, salts and gift hampers online, but our pick is the Focaccia Pack, which gives you all the ingredients you need to make your own olive, rosemary and pink salt focaccia at home. The recipe is courtesy of British-born pastry chef Michael James, author of The Tivoli Road Baker. It also comes gift wrapped in a hamper box, making for a ready-made gift for your baking buddies. NOVELTY TOILET PAPER, URBAN FARM COLLECTIVE ($5) Melbourne's Urban Farming Collective helps people grow their own food by offering advice and selling planter kits. It also has a cheeky sense of humour. Alongside white button, swiss brown and oyster mushroom growing kits, it also sells toilet paper with certain political faces printed on each sheet. It's a collaboration with The Real Shit Co, and at the moment you can wipe your arse with Scott Morrison's or Daniel Andrews' faces. You can also order from anywhere in Australia. MELBOURNE CBD TOTE, VICINITY STORE ($25) If you have a mate who couldn't be prouder to live in Melbourne, get them a present that matches their love of the city, like this tote featuring landmarks Eureka Tower, Flinders Street Station and Melbourne Town Hall. It's illustrated by a local designer who sells her hand-printed totes in a store dedicated to all things Melbourne. The lightweight cotton bag measures in at 38 x 42 centimetres, so large enough to carry veggies back from the markets. And, for a flat rate of $6 for shipping across Australia, you could send it to your homesick friends and fam who've made the terrible mistake of moving interstate. MORNING WOOD BEARD OIL, THE GROOMED MAN CO ($35) Melburnian man Daniel Mahony launched The Groomed Man Co in 2014 after spending time in the US discovering the power of essential oils for an itchy bearded face. Four years later, the Australian grooming business is booming, selling organic argan, jojoba and almond oils to beardy folk up and down the country. When you're shopping for a facially hairy friend, consider the lightweight and non-greasy Morning Wood Beard Oil. It's 100 percent Australian made and shipping is free of charge with no minimum order. Find out how Square is supporting small businesses with the tools they need to grow, here. If you are a small business owner, Square has guidance on how best to maximise sales in the run up to the Christmas holiday period in its ebook, found here. Top image: Second Stitch.
Buying and supporting local projects is a proud badge worn by many a Sydneysider. You like buying Marrickville-made jam from Eveleigh markets, you support emerging Sydney psych bands at FBi Social every other week, so why wouldn't you also support Sydney's best local innovators online? Pozible have launched a Sydney-specific page, dubbed The Sydney Edit. Previewed at Vivid Ideas' hugely popular Stand Up, Stand Out event, The Sydney Edit puts local innovations under their own spotlight — making it easier for community-loving backers to find the crowdfunding projects in their own backyards. During Pozible's event at Vivid Ideas last week, the crowdfunding heavyweights asked current project instigators to live pitch to a physical audience. Sydney creators behind AKIO, The Right Foot, The Human Sound Project and the Flute Handbag Collection had five minutes to pitch their crowdfunding ideas, then a further ten to present their work. The audience then pledged $30 of their ticket price to their favourite project in a kind of real life Pozible backing. Sydney's DirtyFeet and their project The Right Foot took out the top spot and will soon see $4050 put into their Pozible campaign (just over a grand more than their own $3000 target). The Right Foot offers creative contemporary dance workshops for young people aged 14-26 with and without disability. Nice one guys. Sydney has already proved supportive of local Pozible ventures in the past, with the successful funding of Newtown motorbike workshop-meets-ramen cafe Rising Sun Workshop. The rev-enthusiasts raised $38,500 on the site and opened in April 2014 to much backer applause. In Pozible's Sydney Edit Collections section, Pozible works with a number of local organisations across the arts sector and creative industries, as well as government, community and non-profits. This is where you'll find 'collections' of Pozible campaigns under the likes of Vivid Sydney, Sydney Fringe Festival, Underbelly Arts, Alaska Projects and many more locally-based legends you can get behind. So throw in some spare cashola and crowdfund your own city's Pozible projects at The Sydney Edit. Top image credit: Rising Sun Workshop.
Soon your canine companion could be the envy of his naked four legged friends, thanks to an unusual and highly adorable collaboration between a pair of local fashion labels and Guide Dogs Australia. On sale from today, Elk and Gorman have created an exclusive dog range of coats and accessories, to help keep your pooch looking on point. For their part, Elk have designed a range of durable high end leather collars and leads. Gorman's contribution, meanwhile, comes in the form of four distinct winter coats in four different sizes and print styles. And yes, before you ask, they've also designed matching coats for dog owners. 100 percent of proceeds from the sale of these new items will go directly to Guide Dogs Australia. "We're proud to be working with such progressive and innovative designers whose great sense of social responsibility will enable us to raise funds for breeding, raising and training more Guide Dogs," said Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Karen Hayes in a statement. "There have been many requests over the years for Gorman to do dog coats in our prints," said Gorman founder and creative director Lisa Gorman. "But this cause gave us very good reason to put it into action." You can pick up some new threads for your pupper at Elk and Gorman shopfronts, or from their respective online stores. Find their websites here and here.
Perhaps it isn't the most groundbreaking piece of literature, but the D.O.Double G's fans will certainly find inspiration in Snoop Dogg's new book: Rolling Words: A Smokable Songbook. The aptly titled literary work features pages of Snoop's lyrics which double as (what else?) rolling papers. The pages are conveniently perforated and bound by hemp material. Even the book's spine comes in handy, functioning as a match-striking surface. "This thing can also be smoked with some of your finest, where you at or however you at," Snoop says in his promo video. Looks like Snoop still has his mind on his money, and his money on his mind. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HkfC2dfNHGM [via Gawker]
Early in Certain Women, lawyer Laura (Laura Dern) sits in a meeting with two men. One is a difficult client, Fuller (Jared Harris), who's trying to get worker's compensation despite the fact that Laura has spent the past eight months telling him that he has no case. The other is another lawyer she has asked to assess Fuller's prospects in the hopes that reality might finally sink in. Within seconds, it does. "Okay," Fuller replies meekly when he hears the news that Laura has already told him again and again. The fact that he'll quickly accept his fate from a man but not from a woman isn't lost on her. In her sixth feature film, writer-director Kelly Reichardt gives Laura a sliver of time to vent her frustration, but it's just that: a sliver. She's soon driving Fuller home and listening to his complaints, and later that night, she's forced to get out of bed and head to his former place of employment after he takes a security guard hostage. Laura doesn't ever literally grit her teeth as she bears what life throws her way, but as she wears the weight of a lifetime spent living in men's shadows (and cleaning up their messes), you can be damn sure that that's how she's feeling inside. The first of three loosely connected vignettes set in rural Montana, the first chapter in Certain Women may be brief, but it certainly leaves an impression on the audience. The same can be said of the subsequent segments, each of which unfolds in Reichardt's signature, understated way. The middle chapter tells the tale of Gina (Michelle Williams) and her husband Ryan (James Le Gros) as they attempt to secure a pile of sandstone from their elderly neighbour, while the third explores the unexpected connection that's formed when rancher Jamie (Lily Gladstone) wanders into a class on school law taught by Beth (Kristen Stewart). Each part of the film focuses on different women in different scenarios, yet there's never any question that they form part of a complete package. The same tensions arise, even if they manifest in a variety of ways. So too do the same feelings simmer, ensuring that every masterfully-composed frame seethes with thoughts left unspoken but sentiments still made plain. Certain Women mightn't overflow with dialogue, but it says plenty. That's Reichardt's modus operandi. Since making her debut with 1994's River of Grass, she has proven a patient but probing filmmaker, as subsequent efforts including Wendy and Lucy and Night Moves ably demonstrate. Whether she's lensing in on rugged terrain or weather-beaten faces, the act of looking is an empathetic and revelatory experience in her films. And fortunately, the cast of Certain Women is more than up to the scrutiny. Gazing at Dern, Williams, Stewart and the particularly entrancing Gladstone, we see entire stories unfold in looks and glances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Lznehy2-s
Inspired by real-life events, David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method delves into the corrupt relationship triangle between aspiring psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), his renowned mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and their unbalanced patient, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Studying psychiatry under Freud in pre-WWI Zurich and Vienna, Jung becomes seduced by both Spielrein's unique case and her beauty. He takes her into his care, initially utilising the methods of his master, who also proves to be intrigued by Spielrein's erotically disturbed case. Increasingly, however, the mindsets of the two men become divided, with Spielrein cast in between. Jung struggles with the sexually focused methods of his master, while Freud urges Jung towards a more defined line of psychological analysis. Tension escalates as the three come together along a dark path of erotic and intellectual exploration. Their discoveries result in the birth of modern psychoanalysis, polarising the two men and forever altering the world of today's psychology. Dark and seductively unsettling, A Dangerous Method will take you into recesses of the psyche that you may not have been ready to face. This twisted story line and impressive cast make for a can't-miss mind-boggle of a film. To win one of twenty double passes to see A Dangerous Method, just make sure you are subscribed to Concrete Playground then email your name and postal address through to hello@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=P_y_oW2S65w
The world won't end in April, but video game and television fans will be whisked off to an irradiated wasteland just by sitting on their couches. Here, living inside luxe vaults has been the way of life for two centuries; however, it's no longer a reality for Lucy (Ella Purnell, Yellowjackets). So goes the plot for the new Fallout streaming series that's following 2023's The Last of Us from mashed buttons to TV. This one comes via Prime Video, dropped its first teaser last year, and has now unveiled a full look that shows that it's sticking closely to its source material. The streaming platform has also announced that Fallout will arrive earlier than initially planned, by a day — so you'll be watching on Thursday, April 11, 2024. It's been almost three decades since Fallout first hit computers back in 1997, with three released sequels, a fourth on the way and seven spinoffs all following. The live-action television take doesn't just star Purnell, but also a swaggering Walton Goggins (I'm a Virgo) as bounty hunter The Ghoul, plus Kyle MacLachlan (Lucky Hank) as Overseer Hank. Here, it's a post-apocalyptic future, where everything went pear-shaped 200 years back. Hence living in vaults, because a hellscape filled with mutants, wild west vibes and plenty of violence awaits outside those cosy confines — as the optimistic Lucy, daughter of Hank, who oversees Vault 33, is about to find out. On the surface, Goggins' The Ghoul has a secret past — and Aaron Moten (Emancipation) also has a pivotal part as Brotherhood of Steel soldier Maximus. The retrofuturistic dystopian series features Moisés Arias (Samaritan), Sarita Choudhury (And Just Like That...), Michael Emerson (Evil), Leslie Uggams (Extrapolations), Frances Turner (The Boys), Dave Register (Heightened), Zach Cherry (Severance) and Johnny Pemberton (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) as well — plus Rodrigo Luzzi (Dead Ringers), Annabel O'Hagan (Dear Edward) and Xelia Mendes-Jones (The Wheel of Time). For The Last of Us, HBO enlisted a creative force from one of the US premium cable network's past hits in Chernobyl's Craig Mazin. Prime Video has done the same with Fallout, but with Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy — who also executive produced Prime Video's own The Peripheral. As well as executive producing with Joy, Nolan directs the first three episodes. Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (Silicon Valley) are similarly among Fallout's executive producers, as well as the series' writers and co-showrunners. And yes, Bethesda Game Studios has a hand in finally bringing the games to the screen. Check out the full trailer for Fallout below: Fallout will start streaming via Prime Video from Thursday, April 11, 2024. Images: courtesy of Prime Video.
After stealing every scene that he was in in Sex Education, playing a Ken in Barbie and dancing at the 2024 Oscars, Ncuti Gatwa has a date with the TARDIS from May. The first full season of the long-running British franchise starring the Rwandan Scottish actor will hit screens on Saturday, May 11, including Down Under — with Disney+ and the BBC releasing the first two episodes of the Fifteenth Doctor's run simultaneously worldwide. That timing means that it will have been two years between Gatwa being announced as the new Doctor Who and series 14 arriving; however, this isn't the first time that viewers are seeing the Fifteenth Doctor. Gatwa made his debut as the time lord in 2023, in both 60th-anniversary special episode The Giggle and Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road. Now that he police box-loving, time-travelling, Dalek-fighting character has regenerated into a new incarnation — which is how the series writes in its casting swaps — Gatwa has become Doctor Who's first Black lead. In a way, he takes over from two actors: Jodie Whittaker (Time), whose run came to an end in 2022 with series 13, after becoming the first-ever female lead back in 2017; and also David Tennant (Good Omens), who was the Tenth Doctor in three seasons from 2005–10, then also the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023's specials. In a season that also features Millie Gibson (Coronation St) as the Fifteenth Doctor's companion Ruby Sunday, Gatwa joins a long list of other British actors who've stepped into the part — 11 other than Whittaker and Tennant, including OG Doctor William Hartnell back in 1963; 70s favourite Tom Baker; and Christopher Eccelston (True Detective: Night Country), Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) and Peter Capaldi (Criminal Record) since the show made a big comeback in 2005. And yes, the fact that it took 54 years for the character to become a woman and six decades for a Black actor to play the part is clearly far too long. "At last, it's my great delight to unleash a whole new season of the Doctor and Ruby's adventures together. Monsters! Chases! Villains! Mysteries! And a terrifying secret that's been spanning time and space for decades. Don't miss a second!" said Doctor Who showrunner, executive producer and writer Russell T Davies (Nolly, It's a Sin, Queer as Folk) about the new season. Fans can look forward to jumps to England's Regency era and into the future, as well as a guest cast that includes Aneurin Barnard (1899), Anita Dobson (Murder, They Hope), Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper), Michelle Greenidge (Mandy) and Jonathan Groff (Knock at the Cabin), plus Bonnie Langford (EastEnders), Genesis Lynea (Death in Paradise), Jemma Redgrave (The Beekeeper), Lenny Rush (Haunting of the Queen Mary), Indira Varma (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One) and Angela Wynter (EastEnders). Check out the teaser trailer for Doctor Who series 14 below: Series 14 of Doctor Who will start streaming via Disney+ Down Under on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Top image:
On a recent research trip Down Under, The Daily Show reporter and comedian John Oliver interviewed ex-Prime Minister John Howard regarding the gun reform laws he successfully instated during his leadership term in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. In a discussion that followed with right-wing American gun lobbyist Philip van Cleave, Oliver pointed to the success of Howard’s policy as a rebuttal to Cleave’s infuriating, repeated insistence that "gun control laws just don't work". With that old American worldliness, Cleave answers by likening Australia to a mythical "Planet X", with an operating system that cannot be seen as indicative of America's "real world" with "human beings". Much like the ninny at a dinner party who chastises vegetarians for wearing leather shoes, Cleave goes on to argue that where Australia might not have mass shootings, it still suffers from murders, rapes and robberies. Touché. In short, he makes Howard look like the second coming, which is no easy feat. Although life isn't always peachy on Planet X, we're grateful for the small things, like not living in America. Whoop-de-doo!
The year that was 2012 will be remembered in popular music circles as the year in which The Stones Roses reformed their trippy, stadium-shaking odyssey, Pussy Riot turned political songwriting into actual political action and a quirky little Korean man conquered the world with his taste for tuxedos and obscene dance moves. Yet beyond the headline-grabbing stories, 2012 also saw the release of some truly awesome and at times groundbreaking new music. 20-year-old Flume became an icon for every pill-popping teenager with his slick beats and razor sharp production, Tame Impala broke the second-album curse in emphatic fashion with their fresh set of psychedelic riffs and Frank Ocean proved that kick-ass hip-hop does not necessarily have to come with a Kanye-West-sized ego. Independent music website, Pitchfork have their own take on 2012, with a "Best Of" list that includes some chart-topping juggernauts along with a bunch of unsung success stories. Here is Concrete Playground's take on Pitchfork's top five albums of 2012. 1. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city Californian local, Kendrick Lamar is a far-cry from the sort of arrogant, chest-beating and studio-polished rappers that we have come accustomed to hearing come out of the US of A. On his second solo album, "good kid, m.A.A.d city", Lamar rejects the misogynist rhymes of his West Coast peers in favour of a deeply personal and at times painfully raw exploration of his childhood growing up on the fringes of gang life in Compton, California. The album however is never overwhelmed by its emotional intensity, as Lamar's lyrical virtuosity is equalled by the album's sumptuous, beat-laden soundtrack, making "good kid, m.A.A.d city" not only one of the most personal but also most accessible records of 2012. 2. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange Having lent his considerable songwriting and vocal talents to the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, John Legend and even Justin Bieber, Frank Ocean was not exactly an unfamiliar voice even if he may have been an unfamiliar name prior to the release of his highly acclaimed debut album "Channel Orange". The mass of industry and social media hype that preceded its release turned out to be entirely justified with Ocean delivering an album full of silky vocals, Prince-flavoured melodies and touching word paintings that has had critics everywhere drooling and all other R&B artist clutching at his heels. 3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! Fusing anarchist politics with metal-like riffing an unreal string section and spine-tingling vocals, "Godspeed You! Black Emperor" have carved themselves a cult-like following a million miles away from the mainstream. "Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!" as such is part political manifesto and part soundtrack to the apocalypse, with beautiful guitar riffs building and crescendoing into euphoric explosions of raw power and noise. "Godspeed You! Black Emperor" is the sort of once-in-a-generation band that is able to effortlessly straddle the seemingly irreconcilable boundaries of brooding yet joyous, bombastic yet simple, epic and yet distinctly personal all at the same time sounding like they are having themselves a pretty unreal fucking party. 4. Grizzly Bear - Shields Shields is the fourth and most critically acclaimed album from the Brooklyn's indie darlings, Grizzly Bear. In this intricately layered album, the quartet have moved away from the dreaminess of their previous work in favour of a fuller sounding collection of songs which take the listener on a melancholic journey of loneliness tampered by moments of profound human connections. Grizzly Bear's melodies are self-consciously ''in your face'' demanding the listener to stop, listen closely and notice the beauty that exists in our otherwise fast-paced world. A woody concoction of lulling vocals, nimble guitar riffs and consistently evocative lyrics, Shields will resonate with you long after the final notes are heard. 5. Beach House - Bloom The Baltimore-duo's fourth offering is an enticing cocktail of dreamy vocals, tender guitar lines and breathy male-female harmonies that hits the listener in waves of sonic and ethereal bliss. For Beach House's devoted collection of fans this is everything they have come to expect of these dream-pop pin-ups, yet "Bloom" has the band taking their distinctive and deceptively complex sound to new levels of summery warmth, carving a near-perfect album of lush, bittersweet soundscapes. "Bloom" is perhaps the most beautiful album of 2012 and should be the soundtrack to anyone whose idea of the perfect Summer involves curling up with a bottle of white wine and a view of the sunset.
There are many reasons first-time restauranteurs often fail. It might be that their management lets them down. Sometimes they're just not so great with the money side of it all. But occasionally their failure can be due to something much more simple. Take for instance, Brooklyn's forthcoming all-Nutella restaurant Nutelleria. They've timed their exciting culinary venture perfectly with a worldwide shortage of their primary ingredient. Good job, guys. Of course, we may be speaking prematurely. The restaurant hasn't even opened yet, and it's being met with considerable hype from local media — who wouldn't want a dedicated Nutella creperie around the corner from their house? And, a couple of weeks ago, we would have been totally on board too. On their upcoming menu, there's supposedly a sandwich made out of waffles crammed full of Nutella and bacon. You'd have to be either a dietician or a diabetic to be against such a heavenly creation. But all this was before the tragic news that hazelnuts will be in short supply for the foreseeable future. Due to devastating weather in Turkey — the product's main producers — most of the season's hazelnut crops were completely decimated. Now, hazelnuts are the most expensive they've been in the past 10 years and people all over the world are hoarding Nutella like the gooey, liquid gold it really is. Jamming an extraordinary 50 hazelnuts into every jar, Nutella in fact uses 25 per cent of the world's hazelnuts and would no doubt be hit hardest by the alleged shortage. And, although Ferrero has invested considerable money to ensure there are no halts in their hazelnut supply, Nutella fans are understandably sceptical. Even with a full global stock of the product, prices are expected to rise. While this is bad news for everyone, it's sure bank-breaking for the planned Nutelleria. Especially when that's combined with the fact its owners don't have any legal permission to launch a store around the copyrighted product. "[We're] simply Nutella® enthusiasts that decided to share our love for Nutella® with the rest of the world," their website states. All in all, we hope it works out for them. A world where everyone has access to Nutella and bacon waffle sandwiches is a world we want to live in. But if their new store and copycats like it end up being responsible for a worldwide Nutella shortage, we predict a riot. Via Grub Street. Photo credit: PG.NETO via photopin cc.
As the world stops to watch the World Cup, which kicked off a long haul of criminally early mornings today, it seems even those hundreds of miles beyond the Earth will be tuning in. NASA has released a video of astronauts based at the International Space Station bidding all World Cup competitors good luck, promising they will be watching the matches from space and throwing down some mad football skills. American astronauts Reid Wiseman, Steve Swanson and German astronaut Alexander Gerst filmed a short message for "all the teams and fans on the ground in Brazil." On tape, Gerst implores everyone participating in or attending the World Cup to have "peaceful games". All this, while laptops and their microphone float in zero gravity. After Wiseman wraps up the speech with, "Have fun, play hard, and we'll be watching on the International Space Station," Swanson executes a slow-motion flip and kicks a hovering ball midair. No biggie. What follows is perhaps the most spectacular video sequence ever taped in celebration of a World Cup: the three astronauts are shown playing soccer in their gravity-defying lodgings. They kick, dive and float in mid-air. The footage inspires the starry-eyed possibility of a what a World Cup in space could look like. Though the three astronauts — posted to work on Expedition 40 together — won't have the opportunity to watch the games live, NASA has promised to upload the matches for their viewing as soon as they are broadcast. Let's just hope there are no spoilers in space. Check out the video below: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sLwW3pdXkFo Via Fast Company and BBC.
Ask pretty much any of your friends what their idea of an out-of-town jaunt involves and we bet you'll hear some of these words in response: food, wine, art and road trip. Well, lucky for you, we've found a tour that ticks all the boxes — and has the added bonus of celebrating some pretty rad female producers, too. Leaving a Legacy is a luxury two-day tour around Bendigo. Designed by the owner of restaurant Masons of Bendigo, Sonia Anthony, this interactive experience will introduce you to the stories of a bunch of women who've done a lot of good for the local community. You'll start with lunch at Oak Forest in Harcourt prepared by Jane Grylls, a food stylist who also runs a kitchen garden program at a nearby primary school. Over the next few hours, you'll take part in a workshop on indigenous plants run by elder Aunty Julie; sample bready treats by baker Jodie Pillinger; attend a wine tasting at Sutton Grange Winery with Melanie Chester; and finally, enjoy a Slovenian dinner prepared by Sonia herself. After spending the night in The Residence of MacKenzie Quarters, a gothic revival-style family estate run by Rhianwen Seiter, you'll nab an exclusive tour of the Bendigo Art Gallery the next morning, hosted by curatorial manager Tansy Curtin. It's a two-day affair with a good measure of girl power. Leaving a Legacy tours will run on Thursday, March 21, Thursday, May 16, Thursday, September 19 and Thursday, October 24. Tickets cost $425 per person and include all food, wine tastings, tour costs and accommodation. To make a booking, visit the Bendigo Tourism website.
These days, most design markets let you peruse their goods with a drink in-hand. The Design and Drink Market, however, goes one step further — it's held inside a pub. So you know running out of alcohol won't be a problem. The pub in question is The Rochester on Johnston Street. It will transform from boozer to boutique design market from 11am–4pm on Saturday, December 15 to host some local designers and artists. They'll be hawking things like ceramics, custom t-shirts, local honey, art and indoor plants. Basically all the things you (and hopefully your family and friends) want for Christmas. The pub has this year had a menu makeover, so it's worth sticking around for some of Mischa Tropp's South Indian nosh, too.
A 30-year retrospective of one of the most dazzling pioneers of multimedia installations and experimental video art has opened at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art with Pipilotti Rist: Sip my Ocean. In what's being heralded as the most comprehensive exhibition of the Swiss artist's work ever held in an Australian gallery, you'll get to see pieces right from the start of her practice (including her early single-channel videos created during the 1980s) up to her most recent immersive environments and large-scale audio-visual installations. A truly unique artist whose practice explores the connection between the human body, nature and technology, Rist creates colourful, enchantingly sensual worlds for viewers to lose themselves in – such as 4th Floor to Mildness, where you'll get comfy on one of 18 beds and gaze upwards at a hypnotic underwater world projected onto massive abstract panels. It's not often you lie down on a gallery floor amongst strangers to soak up some art — and its this particular atmosphere of community and togetherness within the way you experience Rist's work that cements its charm. Taking place as part of the Sydney International Art Series, Sip My Ocean runs until February 18. Images: Courtesy of Pipilotti Rist / Ken Leanfore for the MCA.
Feeling a little frosty? Can't find the motivation to leave your couch? Huddled under every blanket in your house? No, you're not just particularly susceptible to the wintry season — the mercury is plummeting, and Australia's east coast capitals look set to endure their coldest weekend of 2018. In fact, according to Weatherzone, Sydney hit just 6.2 degrees early today — which is the frostiest morning it has had so far this year. Suburbs such as Richmond and Penrith dropped even further, down to -2.2 degrees and 0.4 degrees. In other parts of New South Wales, records that have stood for decades are falling, with Dubbo's low of -5.8 marking the regional town's coldest night for a whopping 78 years. In Queensland, it's a similar situation. Brisbane Times reports that Brisbane has indeed just shivered through its coldest morning of 2018, with temperatures dipping to 6.7 degrees. That's just chillier than the previous coldest morning of the year, with the city hitting 6.9 degrees back on June 16. Elsewhere across the state, areas such as Applethorpe, Amberley and Toowoomba experienced their iciest climes in several years. For Victoria, widespread frost was predicted across the state by the Bureau of Meteorology, with temperatures dropping to 4.4 degrees in Melbourne and 2.4 degrees at the airport. The city didn't reach the low of three degrees that was forecast, however, which would've made it the coldest morning of the year. Alas, the colder temperatures aren't going anywhere for a few days — News.com.au reports that the east coast will be rather chilly until Monday. BOM's forecasts have Sydney hitting lows of five degrees on Sunday morning and then four degrees on Monday (with maximums of 17 and 18 respectively); Melbourne wavering between five and 13 on Sunday; and Brisbane will get down to six degrees again on Sunday as well. Via news.com.au / Brisbane Times / Weatherzone.
Your 2023 getaways just got cheaper — and you'll have a new way to fly off on holidays, too. First announced in 2021, Australian airline Bonza will finally take to the skies in 2023, after securing regulatory approval. The soon-to-launch carrier's aim: opening up routes to more of the country's regional destinations, flying 27 routes to 17 locations, and offering low-cost fares in the process. Today, Thursday, January 12, Bonza CEO Tim Jordan announced that the airline received its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). "This is an historic moment for Australian aviation as we get ready to launch the first high-capacity airline in more than 15 years, and the country's only independent low-cost carrier," said Jordan. "With the approval from CASA, 2023 is set to be the year of seeing more of your own backyard for less." With the required tick of approval now in place, Bonza can put flights on sale, starting with fares from its Sunshine Coast base — with flights from Melbourne, where it'll also have a base, set to follow. Passengers will hit the air in planes given names as Aussie as the airline's itself: Bazza, Shazza and Sheila. The airline hasn't yet announced when you'll be able to book, other than soon, but to do so you'll need to download the airline's app. One of Bonza's points of difference will be app-only reservations, unless you're booking via a registered local travel agent. Another: a previously announced all-Australian in-flight menu, spanning both food and craft beer. When it hits the air, the airline will service locations such as Bundaberg, Cairns, Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton, the Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Townsville and the Whitsundays in Queensland; Albury, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour, Newcastle and Port Macquarie in New South Wales; and Melbourne, Avalon and Mildura in Victoria — with a big focus on regional destinations. The carrier's network will see it take passengers to places they mightn't otherwise been able to fly to, with Bonza advising that 93 percent of its routes aren't currently served by any other airline — and 96 percent of them don't presently have a low-cost carrier. Bonza is launching with the backing of US private investment firm 777 Partners, which also has a hand in Canada's Flair Airlines and the Southeast Asian-based Value Alliance. Its fares won't include baggage and seat selection, which'll you need to pay extra for — and it'll be cheapest to do so when you make your booking, rather than afterwards Bonza is set to start flying sometime in 2023 — we'll update you flights go on sale. For more information, head to the airline's website, or download its app for Android and iOS.
'Poison Tree' inspired by William Blake While many a great writer have been inspired by the clothes on our back, few have attested to the efficacy and functionality of our second skin with such style and grace as that most eminently quotable of authors, Mark Twain, who famously (and accurately) stated that: "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." It seems however, that the shoe (if you'll excuse just one more clothing-related pun) is on the other foot as pioneering fashionistas The Affair have transformed their love and passion for literature into a unique and compelling range of men's T-shirts. From cult favourites to undisputed classics, from Macbeth to cyberpunk, and from Wilde to Animal Farm, these UK-based Australians have combined the language and imagery from the litany of literary greats with their own captivating designs to create an awesome range of clothing that is "fashioned by literature". The boys have just arrived back in Sydney for the Australian launch of The Affair, and in celebration Concrete Playground is offering you the chance to get your hands on one of three free T-shirts that not only is sure to turn heads but also evokes all the passion and beauty of the written word. To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter (if you're not already) and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. 'Mountains of Madness' inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and 'Crime and Punishment' inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The great streaming service rush, when new platforms seemed to appear every few weeks or so, is a few years in the past. Australia might still be scoring another spot to watch TV shows and movies, however — and it's a hefty one. It looks like Max, HBO's own dedicated streamer, is exploring launch Down Under, and soon. In fact, you might be watching The Last of Us, The White Lotus and Euphoria on it when they return for their next seasons. All three HBO hits are due to make a comeback in 2025, which is also when it's suspected that Max will arrive in Australia. At present, the US network's shows largely screen and stream to Aussie viewers via Binge and Foxtel. When the former launched, boasting HBO's catalogue was one of its big selling points. The deal between Binge, Foxtel and Warner Bros Discovery — which owns HBO — was extended in 2023, but it was reported at the time that Max might debut in Australia from 2025. That timing is now popping up again, with Bloomberg noting in early March that "Max will expand into new markets, including France, Latin America and Australia, in the next 18 months". Speaking at the Morgan Stanley 2024 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference also in early March 2024, Warner Bros Discovery CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games JB Perrette mentioned Max expansion plans, naming Australia as a market. "If you think about other markets, like two big Anglo markets — UK and Australia — our content travels extremely well," he said. "We know how well our content does on both existing legacy platforms, and it drives a significant amount of the viewership." "So the demand is there, and there's unquestionably easy access, because ultimately we don't have a huge amount of local originals we have to invest in. There's not a lot of other costs. And so those are markets where we are very confident — we have high confidence we can actually meet the criteria of being successful in a relatively short period of time after we launch," Perrette continued, without referencing a timeframe. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that sources advise that Max could launch in Australia 2025's first three months. Originally named HBO Max, Max debuted in America in 2020, and has been rolling out through Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Europe since. Moving HBO's catalogue away from Binge and Foxtel would impact a huge number of shows, with the network also behind House of the Dragon and any other Game of Thrones spinoffs that make it to fruition, True Detective, And Just Like That..., The Rehearsal, upcoming The Batman spinoff The Penguin and the also-on-the-way IT prequel series that's currently called Welcome to Derry — to name just a few series that are on their way either back or for the first time. HBO's past original programming spans everything from The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Oz, Deadwood, Big Love, True Blood, Big Little Lies, Westworld and Succession to The Larry Sanders Show, Sex and the City, Flight of the Conchords, Bored to Death, Girls, Veep, Barry and Enlightened. Check out HBO's 2024–25 roundup trailer below: Max doesn't yet have a launch date in Australia — we'll update you when any details are announced. Via Bloomberg / Sydney Morning Herald. Top image: Macall Polay/Max.
In Australia, January means warmth, more warmth and heading to the movies to watch Oscar contenders to escape it. In Park City, Utah, it means snow, a celebration of cinema started by none other than Robert Redford, and the first big international film festival of the year. Yes, the Sundance Film Festival has just played its slate of 2017 flicks — or, as we like to look at it, the titles that will hopefully be heating up Aussie big screens in the near future. Last year, number one on our Sundance wish list was Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Thankfully, that turned out to be pretty majestical. Plenty of our other 2016 picks have shown up at local festivals around the place too, such as Werner Herzog talking about the internet in Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World; singing Polish mermaids in The Lure; and Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern and Michelle Williams at their best in Certain Women. And, speaking of Williams, her Oscar-nominated performance in Manchester by the Sea from last year's choices is about to open in Australian cinemas. Enough looking backwards, though — 2017's lineup delivers a massive new list of movies to get in front of your eyeballs. First, the good news: from Sundance's latest batch, plenty are already coming our way. To name a few, they include US Dramatic competition winner I Don't Feel At Home in This World Anymore, which will drop on Netflix worldwide in February; Berlin Syndrome, the third feature from Australian Somersault and Lore director Cate Shortland, which is already slated for an April cinema release; and all-female horror anthology XX, which Monster Fest is championing. Plus, Netflix strikes again with documentary Casting JonBenet from Aussie filmmaker Kitty Green, environmental doco and audience award favourite Chasing Coral, and anorexia drama To the Bone by former Buffy writer turned UnREAL showrunner Marti Noxon. As for the rest? Here's the ten we're crossing our fingers and toes to see in our local cinemas (and a few others as well). CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Most actors wouldn't want to walk in the footsteps of the inimitable Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes, but that's just what Armie Hammer does in the film that became the talk of the fest, Call Me By Your Name. Set in 1983, the queer coming-of-age drama is the latest effort from Italian I Am Love and A Bigger Splash director Luca Guadagnino, which virtually guarantees how good its summery images will look. Bound to be more powerful than that, though, is the underlying tale of desire, as well as the accompanying performances. Also watch out for: Mudbound, which delves into the stories of two families in America's south post-World War II with an all-star cast of Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Mary J. Blige, Garrett Hedlund, Jonathan Banks and Jason Mitchell. THE BIG SICK If you've watched Silicon Valley or Portlandia (or caught 2016 flicks Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates or Central Intelligence), you'll recognise Kumail Nanjiani — though his list of credits runs much longer than that. In fact, with his wife Emily V. Gordon, he has added feature film screenwriter to his resume with The Big Sick, and turned their own culture-clash dating story into an amusing and insightful film in the process. Michael Showalter of Wet Hot American Summer fame directs, with the pair re-teaming after Nanjiani featured in his last ace movie, My Name is Doris. Also watch out for: Aubrey Plaza in everything, always — or, specifically, in Ingrid Goes West. Here, her titular character befriends an Instagram lifestyle guru played by Elizabeth Olsen, because that's a thing. Next-generation actors O'Shea Jackson Jr. (who played his dad, Ice Cube, in Straight Outta Compton) and Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt) also star. LANDLINE There have been plenty of comedies about pregnancy, but when Obvious Child took on the topic back in 2014, it showed the world what a frank, funny, empathetic and earnest look at unexpectedly discovering you're expecting could turn out — and helped show just how great a talent Jenny Slate is in the process. Three years later, the actress reunites with writer/director Gillian Robespierre for a trip to the '90s. Yes, it's set at a time when people chatted on the phones that you couldn't take with you, and it makes for a darkly amusing effort that's certain to bring the same honesty and hilarity to exploring family troubles. Also watch out for: Jenny Slate again, this time in The Polka King opposite Jack Black. They play husband and wife, with the former scamming his way to a polka music empire. Jason Schwartzman and Australia's own Jacki Weaver are among the cast. BEACH RATS Pay attention to the name Eliza Hittman. She received the US Dramatic comp's best director prize, and if her sophomore feature is anything like her moody, evocative debut It Felt Like Love, she's a certain talent to watch. In Beach Rats, the filmmaker charts the efforts of Brooklyn teen Frankie to brighten up a thoroughly unhappy summer — and explore his own wants and needs — when he simultaneously starts hooking up with guys at a beachside cruising spot and dating a young woman. Also watch out for: After featuring in 2015 flick People Places Things, The Daily Show's Jessica Williams once again joins forces with writer/director Jim Strouse in The Incredible Jessica James, this time taking the lead as an aspiring playwright who forges a new bond to cope with a breakup. I DREAM IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE Talk may be the focus of the Mexican-set I Dream in Another Language — getting the two last native speakers of a dying language to speak after a 50-year feud, to be exact — however this thoughtful love story says just as much with images as it does with words. Think deeply-felt cinematic poetry that leans towards the lyrical, patient style of filmmaker favoured by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (the director behind Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Cemetery of Splendour). Also watch out for: Carpinteros (Woodpeckers), an engrossing romance that introduces viewers to a world they've probably never thought of and a form of communication they likely haven't heard of — neighbouring prisons in the Dominican Republic and the form of sign language their inmates use to communicate. A GHOST STORY Don't you just love secret films? We're talking about the type that just spring up out of nowhere, made without anyone knowing. A Ghost Story fell into that camp when it first made headlines in November, and the talent involved with the movie makes it all the more exciting. After working together on 2013's Ain't Them Bodies Saints, director Dave Lowery (Pete's Dragon) re-teams with Rooney Mara and likely future best actor Oscar winner Casey Affleck (for Manchester by the Sea) to examine death and grief — and, yes, the spiritual presence you're expecting based on the title. Also watch out for: With Jon Hamm and Tim Robbins among the cast, Marjorie Prime similarly broods over mortality, focusing on the last days of an 86-year-old — spent with a computerised version of her dearly departed hubby. STEP They don't just give any old film a Special Jury Award for inspirational filmmaking, the gong Step took out in Sundance's US Documentary field. Treading the same turf that 2016 festival hit The Fits made its own with such style and skill, the doco follows three high-schoolers trying to chase their step dance team dreams. Expect more than just the usual formula as first-time director Amanda Lipitz peers inside the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, the ladies striving for a better future and the crowd-pleasing journey that results. Also watch out for: Tokyo Idols, which joins the growing ranks of factual efforts trying to understand just what makes Japanese girl bands, pop music, its stars and their fans tick. PATTI CAKE$ Does the road to rhyme-slinging rap success start in New Jersey? And is the rags-to-riches path paved with assistance from a goth-metal muso named Basterd? For the wannabe hip hop artist who calls herself both Killer P and Patti Cake$, it just might be. For Aussie actress Danielle McDonald, the energetic underdog effort that shares Patti's name could also be her stepping stone to broader acclaim — and, for music video director turned first-time feature helmer Geremy Jasper, his as well. Also watch out for: Roxanne Roxanne, a biopic about a big hip hop beef known as the Roxanne wars — aka a series of songs answering the last, with 14-year-old emcee Roxanne Shanté in the middle. Playing Shanté, newcomer Chanté Adams won a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance. AXOLOTL OVERKILL And the prize for best title goes to…actually, German drama Axolotl Overkill won a jury award for cinematography in the World Dramatic comp, but it'd have a fair shot if the other contest was a real thing. The feature debut of writer/director Helene Hegemann is based on her own semi-autobiographical novel, which she wrote when she was 17. Not only does it take the coming-of-age genre into partying and nightlife territory — which, yes, you've seen before — but the stylistic exploration of teen excess promises to traverse contemplative and surreal terrain as well. Also watch out for: A fellow contender in the great name stakes, Don't Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl! brings professional and non-professional actors together to tell a fairytale-like story of teenage love, colonial oppression and gang struggles in three languages. 78/52 Every film festival has one: a movie that cinephiles just won't be able to contain their excitement about. 78/52 takes the honours at this year's Sundance, with its moniker referring to the number of setups and edits it took to film the most iconic shower scene in cinema history. Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho fans will be in their element as the doco breaks down this famous sequence, and explores just how it changed filmmaking as we know it. And, the likes of Guillermo del Toro, Bret Easton Ellis, Karyn Kusama Eli Roth and Peter Bogdanovich are all on hand to help. Also watch out for: The Nile Hilton Incident, a Cairo-set corrupt cop flick charting an investigation into a murdered singer — and the film that took out the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic competition.
Man of the moment Matt Bax is fresh from opening his cocktail concept bar Bar Exuberante and ready to teach you a thing or two about mixology at this Melbourne Food & Wine Festival Essentials Masterclass. For an hour on Saturday, March 7 Matt Bax is yours, and he'll teach you how to make a killer cocktail. Remember, this is the guy who started Der Raum; he's a cocktail legend (and all-round interesting dude), so come with a few questions ready. Can't promise that he'll teach you how to make that Hot Cold Pina Colada, but you can damn well ask. Image credit: Carmen Zammit
A new online ‘dating’ app bears the slogan “Threesomes made easy”. Titled 3ndr (threender), it’s made for anyone who’s always longed to meet a stranger (or two) via the internet and get naked. 3ndr is the latest offshoot of popular hook-up apps Tinder and Grindr. Although Tinder is proving itself as a conduit for all kinds of dating (it's even clocked up a few marriages now), 3ndr is very much about sex. “A service that works for singles and couples,” the site reads. “It’s the easiest way to satisfy your human needs and spend some fun time with other people.” Users can request pretty much any configuration of bodies — double couples, MMF, FFM, MMM, FFF and so on. The imagination is the limit. Plus anyone’s welcome: “swingers, newbies, curious and experienced”. Anonymous searching means that “you can easily hide yourself from friends and family, so you can browse freely”. 3nder’s creators assert that not only are they about facilitating fantasies buy they’re also on a crusade to “make society more open about sexual desires”. In their view, individuals with non-traditional sexual urges face discrimination in much the same way that “gay people did 15 years ago”. Via the Independent.
High-rises aren't the most ideal set-up for making new buds. It's not every apartment-dwelling crew that's lucky enough to undertake wacky antics in the hall, eat from each other's fridges and bond over Ugly Naked Guys across the way. You're more likely to encounter your neighbours through the wall — outlandishly vocal bedroom activity, raging Avicii-fuelled parties, World Cups. It's all pretty negative, fist-shaking stuff, usually moderated by your tired, tired landlord. But what if some friendseeking architecture firm just wanted us to all get along, even design friendships between neighbours? It all has do to with space. Dense, high-rise housing can be an isolating place to live, even though you're surrounded by hundreds of people and their better-than-yours cooking aromas. Vertically-stacked apartment living often lacks those common areas where you can bump into your (often hundreds) of neighbours and hang out — courtyards, gardens, front porches; Actual House areas — resulting in the whole nod-and-smile, awkward silent elevator ride and subsequent, perpetual avoidance of eye contact. But you might have more in common than you think with mean old Mr Macgillycuddy downstairs. Tired of these missed, loneliness-curing opportunities and taking cues from corporate setups, a presumably friendly Belgian design firm has come up with an inspired solution. C.F. Møller Architects and Brut Architecture and Urban Design have made social interaction the main goal of their new mixed-use high-rise design in Antwerp. That's right, an apartment tower designed to help you make friends. C.F. Møller's 24-story plan is all about mini-communities. Grouping together similar apartment types (family homes with other family homes, raucous students with other raucous students), the plan throws together residents with typically matching day schedules and increases the chance of bumping into each other for mad chats, recipe swaps and sugar borrowing. Cooking and eating alone's definitely another opportunity for buddying up in apartment living — nothing like a sad, tear-dressed Caesar for one. So the team have included a communal dining area in the design, perfect for post-work vents and cheap pot luck dinners, as well as a roof terrace for those beer-fuelled new friend-making chats. Nothing sparks a new friendship faster than similar interests. Cyclists can event meet other veloheads in the bike repair repair facility. Pet owners can let their four-legged friends roam free all year long in the triple-height indoor garden and students can compare notes from outdoor study sessions in the massive balcony space. While C.F. Møller haven't released a completion date yet, estimates look toward 2017 for the building's red ribbon ceremony. Until then, why not give your neighbours a chance instead of a passive aggressive note? Could be an everyday Ryan Gosling on every floor. Via Fast Company.
The moment we heard that marine scientists had 'undiscovered' the Pacific isle known as Sandy Island late last year, our trust in cartography was violently undone. Now, any inch of soil we had not personally traversed was suspect. "But if we can't trust Google Maps," we cried, "who can we trust?" It was at this point that we realised something powerful. Something profound. Something relevant to the headline of this article. The art of map-making, for all its shortcomings, shapes our worldviews and communities. Which is why we're excited to hear about the eco-cartographical vision of Grow It Local. The sustainability gurus (famous for the success of Garage Sale Trail) are teaming up with the folks at City of Sydney to, quite literally, put homegrown produce on the map. Throughout the month of April, they are inviting growers across Sydney to jump onto the Grow It Local website and register a garden space on Australia's first crowdsourced e-atlas of urban farms. The campaign is all about harvesting the Sydney community that has grown around the explosion of local food production across the world. "With a lot of people getting involved in growing food, there's a little bit of a barrier in 'I couldn't do that, I don't know what I'm doing'" says Grow It Local co-founder Andrew Valder. "One of the things that creating the Grow It Local community does is welcome someone who doesn't feel confident about what they're doing to give it a crack." Fresh food lovers can update their patch with pictures and share growing tips with green gardeners. Plus, Grow It Local members will be invited to attend exclusive foodie events where local produce will be shared through intimate meals like this one. Seven hundred and fifteen gardens have already been registered on the website (with over 50 of those in the City of Sydney area), covering a total cultivation area of 6890 square metres, and the Grow It Local gang anticipate that Sydney's CBD will increase its involvement tenfold. But what does this mean for your average urban gardener? Beyond giving people easy access to their closest urban farms, Redfern resident Kevin Bathman says that this mapping project could give Sydney growers the sense of community that they've been craving for years. "Most times, you need to know that you're not alone in this," stresses Kevin, "[because] that's what I thought for the longest time, "Am I the only gardening nerd? ... When you see more and more of your neighbours getting involved, it is the fastest way to start a 'real food' movement." Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore is an ongoing advocate for the transformation of balconies, courtyards and windowsills into flourishing green spaces. "Most food travels huge distances to reach our dinner plates. Growing your own simply makes sense and means you can enjoy healthy food and save money," she said in a press release. For Andrew, the whole enterprise can be enjoyed for simpler reasons. "Growing your own food, no matter how big or small, is a big step toward sustainable living," he remarks, "[but] the serious stuff aside, it's fun and makes you feel good." Hero image: Rooftop garden at Signature Apartments, Redfern. Image courtesy of Signature Pallets. Second image: Courtesy of Richard Payne Photography and City of Sydney
If a drive down St Kilda Road is part of your daily commute, you could soon be pushed to opt for pedal power instead, as the Labor Government announces plans to ban cars from the two centre lanes of the perpetually busy, inner-city strip. If re-elected in November, the Andrews Labor Government has its sights set on boosting cyclist safety along the notoriously dangerous road, with plans to install two different bike lanes. One would see St Kilda Road's existing middle lanes, next to the tram, transformed into a cyclist 'safety zone', running from St Kilda Junction up to Linlithgow Avenue, across from the NGV. The second kind, riffing on the bike lanes used in Copenhagen, would run kerbside from the Junction to Carlisle Street, with a physical barrier protecting cyclists from cars. The proposed $27 million project seems like a big win for the pedalling population, given 196 crashes involving a pedestrian or cyclist occurred on St Kilda Road between 2000 and 2015, and that the stretch has purportedly played host to more reported doorings than anywhere else in the state. Labor is also promising minimal impact on those who prefer to stick to four wheels, confirming that clearways, in place during peak time, would allow for three lanes of car traffic. If the project goes ahead, it's slated for completion by 2025, coinciding with the opening of Melbourne's new metro tunnels.
The future of a Melbourne icon is today looking a whole lot less shaky, thanks to a decision by the Heritage Council of Victoria (HCV). Having clocked up just 17 years in its current form, Federation Square has finally scored itself a place on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Council made the decision at a meeting overnight, deeming the Swanston Street site to be "of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria" and should be included in the Victorian Heritage Register for its "historical, aesthetic, technological and social significance". The decision follows an initial hearing in April and the consideration of 754 submissions from from members of the public, of which 751 supported the inclusion of the 3.8-hectare site on the Register. Inclusion on the Register provides new legal protection for the famed site, and means it can't be significantly altered without a permit or permit exemption from Heritage Victoria. [caption id="attachment_708126" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mark Chew for Visit Victoria[/caption] While the Square is relatively new in comparison to other Victorian heritage-listed locations (254 of them pre-date 1850), the decision comes after much debate about the site's future. Controversial plans to build Apple's first Australian global flagship store smack bang in the middle of Federation Square were announced last year and eventually — and rather loudly — opposed and scrapped in April. The Victorian Government first announced the divisive project in December, 2017, copping considerable community backlash when people learned it would see the existing Yarra Building torn down and public land sold off to a commercial retailer. Temporary heritage protection was then granted to the site in August 2018, putting a hold on any works taking place on the site until December that year and suggesting that permanent protection could soon be sought. After 18 months of controversy, the Apple project was canned in April this year, after Heritage Victoria officially refused the tech giant's application to knock down an existing building. Famed Federation Square resident ACMI is currently closed as it undergoes a multimillion dollar upgrade, slated to reopen in mid-2020. Image: David Hannah for Visit Victoria
In 2022, McDonald's coveted Szechuan sauce finally became a reality in Australia, and Rick and Morty fans across the country were grateful. Here's something even better: new episodes of the hit animated series, which'll arrive worldwide in September. Everywhere across earth where television is screened and streamed — interdimensional cable, too — Rick and Morty will return in spring. US network Adult Swim has announced that the show's sixth season will hit on Sunday, September 4 in America, which is Monday, September 5 Down Under, where it beams into your queue via Netflix. Yes, that's the way the supremely great news goes today. Yes, you can get schwifty if you want to. And if you're wondering what kinds of chaos are in store this time around, Adult Swim advised that the new season will pick up with its titular pair "where we left them, worse for wear and down on their luck". "Will they manage to bounce back for more adventures? Or will they get swept up in an ocean of piss! Who knows?! Piss! Family! Intrigue! A bunch of dinosaurs! More piss!" the network also teased. Anything can happen in Rick and Morty — but you probably expect that Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith (both voiced by show co-creator Justin Roiland, Solar Opposites) will keep wreaking havoc, and that the series will keep zipping between as many universes as it can. And, it's likely that Rick and Morty's hijinks will still draw in Morty's mother Beth (Sarah Chalke, Firefly Lane), father Jerry (Chris Parnell, Archer) and sister Summer (Spencer Grammer, Tell Me a Story). Ripped and ready - Season 6 coming September 4th pic.twitter.com/RfvA1x5ELj — Rick and Morty (@RickandMorty) July 27, 2022 Also still certain to be present: the fact that the show clearly gleaned inspiration from Back to the Future, but has taken that whole setup — a genius scientist going on wild adventures with a high schooler — in a zillion out-there directions. If you're keen to rejoin the smartest Rick and Morty-est Morty in the universe, start getting excited for September — unless you're a total Jerry, that is. There's no trailer for Rick and Morty's sixth season yet, but you can watch an old clip below: Rick and Morty's sixth season will premiere globally on Monday, September 5 Down Under. It streams via Netflix in Australia and New Zealand.
After 12 days, around 300 films and more hours spent sitting in cinemas than anyone might like to admit, the Sydney Film Festival wrapped up their 64th fest by naming On Body and Soul as the winner of this year's Sydney Film Prize. The Hungarian feature took home SFF's $60,000 cash award for 'audacious, cutting-edge and courageous' filmmaking, topping a 12-movie competition filled with an eclectic and interesting array of features — ranging from We Don't Need a Map's exploration of what the Southern Cross means to Australians, to The Untamed's blend of social realism and erotic sci-fi, to Sofia Coppola's Cannes best director winner The Beguiled. "It's a film that shows us that even in this divided world we are capable of sharing the same dreams, that amongst the ugliness of a slaughterhouse, kindness, gentleness can be found," said 2017 jury president Margaret Pomeranz. The unconventional romance follows two lonely workers in a Budapest abattoir who not only share the same employer and same sense of malaise, but drift into same animal-filled world when they slumber. It's the movie's second prestigious award this year, after picking up the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in February. That's not a bad haul for writer/director Ildikó Enyedi, particularly given that On Body and Soul is her first film in 18 years. She's also the first female filmmaker to win the competition in its ten-years — she joins Sofia Coppola in making history, who was this year the first female to win Best Director at Cannes in the festival's 56 years. The feature joins the hefty list of previous official competition winners, with Aquarius (2016), Arabian Nights (2015), Two Days, One Night (2014), Only God Forgives (2013), Alps (2012), A Separation (2011), Heartbeats (2010), Bronson (2009) and Hunger (2008) emerging victorious in the past. But it's not the only effort that picked up a gong at this year's closing night — SFF also awards the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary, with $10,000 going to The Pink House's portrait of Kalgoorlie's last original gold rush brothel. Then there's the fest's short film prizes — the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films — which have been running for a whopping 48 years. To date, the shorts awards have helped launch the careers of Warwick Thornton (2017 opening night flick We Don't Need a Map), Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome), Jane Campion (Top of the Lake) and Ivan Sen (2016 opener Goldstone), among others. In 2017, Dendy Live Action Short Award recipient Mirene Igwabi (Adele), and dual winner Daniel Agdag (Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director and Yoram Gross Animation Award, both for Lost Property Office) will be hoping to follow in their footsteps — plus Michael Cusack, who won the Event Cinemas Australian Short Screenplay Award for his stop motion animation After All. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B4hCzq7H70
It's the question that Sydney Film Festival asks every year: how can you make this massive cinema celebration even bigger once the full lineup has dropped and closing night's pick has been unveiled? Add a heap of flicks that'll be making their Australian debuts straight from world-premiering at Cannes. In 2024, eight such titles have just been added to the SFF bill — and if you can't wait any longer to see Megalopolis, which iconic filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola first conceived back in 1977, you won't have to. Starring Adam Driver (Ferrari), it's one of the big newcomers to this year's SFF selection. Also set to play from Wednesday, June 5–Sunday, June 16: Black Dog, a tale of a stunt motorcyclist from Guan Hu (The Sacrifice) that won Cannes' Un Certain Regard award for 2024; Rumours, which gives the fest a dose of Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson behind the lens (reteaming after Accidence, The Rabbit Hunters and Stump the Guesser), plus Cate Blanchett (The New Boy) on-screen; and The Seed of the Sacred Fig, the latest film from 2021 SFF winner Mohammad Rasoulf (There Is No Evil). The latter is particularly significant, given that its place on the Cannes lineup saw Rasoulof forced to flee Iran after being sentenced to flogging and imprisonment. SFF has also added Best Documentary-winner Ernest Cole: Lost and Found from I Am Not Your Negro's Raoul Peck, Caught by the Tides from Jia Zhangke (Ash Is the Purest White), the post-World War One-set adoption drama The Girl with the Needle and revenge-thriller Ghost Trail. And, after body-horror The Substance sold out its closing night slot, the also straight-from-Cannes flick has scored extra screenings. "We're thrilled to unveil an extraordinary selection of eight new films, direct from Cannes, to complete the final lineup of the 71st Sydney Film Festival," said Festival Director Nashen Moodley about the expansion to the 2024 program. If you weren't already thinking "normal life can wait, there's movies to watch", then you should be now. Also on the bill already: hundreds of movies, spanning everything from a Midnight Oil documentary to open this year's fest, a Bondi Icebergs doco, Hellraiser with a new live score and a retrospective that pays tribute to Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène through to Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things follow-up Kinds of Kindness, Hunter Schafer (Euphoria)-starring thriller Cuckoo, Sundance hit I Saw the TV Glow from We're All Going to the World's Fair's Jane Schoenbrun and Indigenous Aussie horror via The Moogai. Sydney Film Festival 2024 takes place from Wednesday, June 5–Sunday, June 16 at various cinemas and venues around Sydney. For more information — and for tickets — head to the festival's website.
New show, same squabbles: that's it, that's upcoming Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. A month out from starting to hit screens, the eagerly anticipated jump back into Westeros' past has just dropped its full trailer. Yes, it's as obsessed with fighting over the Iron Throne as its predecessor. Of course, that was always going to prove the case with HBO's push to keep all things Game of Thrones alive and flickering across our televisions and streaming queues. House of the Dragon's ten-episode first season is set 200 years before the events of GoT, and focuses on House Targaryen — and if it wasn't already evident that history always repeats itself in Westeros, it looks like that point will be hammered home in the new series. This time around, Paddy Considine (The Third Day) plays King Viserys — and it's exactly who should be his heir that sparks all the Succession-style fuss. He has a daughter, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy, Misbehaviour), who is also his first-born child. But because putting a woman on the throne isn't the done thing, the King's younger brother Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith, Morbius) considers that spiky iron chair his birthright. Battling it out over who'll take the seat will fuel House of the Dragon's storyline, with Rhys Ifans (The King's Man) playing Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King; Olivia Cooke (Slow Horses) popping up as Alicent Hightower, Otto's daughter; and Steve Toussaint (It's a Sin) playing Lord Corlys Velaryon, aka 'The Sea Snake', a nautical adventurer from a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen. The cast also includes Eve Best (Nurse Jackie) as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, plus Sonoya Mizuno (Devs) as Mysaria, Prince Daemon's paramour. To answer the other obvious question — other than "will everyone still be fighting over the Iron Throne just like in Game of Thrones?" — yes, dragons do pop up. Flame-breathing scaly creatures and Targaryens go hand in hand, after all. To answer another question, as the trailer's very first words advise, yes "war is afoot" as well. This dance with dragons will arrive on Monday, August 22 Down Under (releasing in winter Down Under, when else?), if you don't already have it in your calendar. Foxtel and Binge in Australia and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand will be doing the honours, if you're wondering where to direct your eyeballs. When it starts airing, following Game of Thrones' eighth-season run, it'll be the culmination of years of planning to extend the GoT franchise by HBO. Firstly, the American cable network announced that it was considering five different prequel ideas. It then green-lit one to pilot stage, scrapped it and later picked a contender to run with: the upcoming House of the Dragon. It has also opted to give novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg the TV treatment, too, and to work on an animated GoT show. And, it's been reported that another three prequels are also under consideration — plus a Jon Snow-focused sequel series. Throughout all of this, GoT fans have been told one thing over and over, even without it being explicitly said. Our days of watching fiery fights between famous Westerosi names — and games over who gets to sit on the Iron Throne — are far from over, clearly, and won't be for quite some time. And, now that House of the Dragon is getting nearer, including dropping several teasers and now this full trailer, that's glaringly apparent. Based on a George RR Martin book, Fire & Blood, this tale harks back to Aegon I Targaryen's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms — which is what started the hefty 738-page first volume in Fire & Blood's planned two-book series — and then works through the family's backstory from there. Aegon I created the Iron Throne, hence the returning favourite's prominence. Also, you don't have to be the Three-Eyed Raven to know that fighting, battles for supremacy and bloodshed are always a part of every GoT narrative. Behind the scenes, Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal are acting as the series' showrunners. Sapochnik has a hefty GoT history, winning an Emmy and a Directors Guild Award for directing 'Battle of The Bastards', helming season eight's 'The Long Night', and doing the same on four other episodes. As for Condal, he co-created and oversaw recent sci-fi series Colony, and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2018 film Rampage. Check out the full House of the Dragon trailer below: House of the Dragon will start airing on Monday, August 22 Down Under via Foxtel and Binge in Australia and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand. Images: Ollie Upton/HBO.
Weird food museums have plenty in common with everyone's favourite doughy Italian dish — there's a type for everyone, and no one can resist their charms. Quite a number exist around the world, celebrating everything from ramen to currywurst to jell-o, but the latest will revel in the deliciousness that is pizza. Who doesn't want to while away a few hours in a pizza cave, pizza fun house or at the pizza beach, then play some pizza games? No one, that's who. They're just some of the attractions on offer at the pizza-themed space, which is is popping up in New York at a yet-to-be-disclosed location. Like the city's other over-the-top ode to a food that everyone loves, aka the Museum of Ice Cream, it's a short-term affair, running from October 13 to 28. Other highlights include an artist's gallery, presumably showcasing plenty of ace pizza-making; an interactive exhibit exploring the history of pizza, as well as promising to tell the dish's untold story (if it reveals that pizza also tastes great cold, well, that's something that everyone knows); and something called 'pizza zen', which, if it's meditation involving pizza, we're sure everyone will be onboard with. There'll also be a pizza screening room — if you'd like to watch clips of pizza, perhaps? So far, few concrete details about what any of these attractions actually entail have been revealed, but they sure will involve pizza somehow. The Museum is being called an "artistic tribute to pizza", according to its website, while the event's ticketing listing describes it as "a place to take amazing photos" and "a space to bask in multi-sensory, psychedelic pizza joy." Expect Instagram to be overrun with pizza photos, basically. If you're wondering about actually eating pizza, yes, attendees will also get a slice with their $35 ticket, from a vendor outside the venue. But, as every pizza fiend knows, one piece is never enough, so "the Museum will do its best to make additional pizza available." Via Eater.
This time last year, everyone was watching one thing — and talking about it too. Now, twelve months since Netflix's '80s-set sci-fi/horror series Stranger Things became everyone's favourite new show, the streaming platform has released the full-length trailer for its second season. In the words of Hawkins police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour), "nothing is going to go back to the way it was." Managing to dose up on even more nostalgia and find a clever way to work the ultimate '80s horror-themed track into the mix — yes, we're talking about Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', complete with Vincent Price's iconic voiceover — the trailer shows that the Upside Down isn't done with this band of bike-riding kids yet. Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) can't stop seeing all things creepy, everyone is definitely on edge, and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is reaching out to find her way home. Throw in some '80s arcade games, the expected unsettling vibe, that instant-classic theme tune and Winona Ryder, of course, and the scene is set for quite the second run. The trailer premiered as part of San Diego Comic Con's current explosion of pop culture, with the full series due to drop on Netflix on October 27 — just in time for Halloween, naturally. Watch it and try not to get goosebumps.
It was true of the first Dune film from Denis Villeneuve. It's been accurate of the Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival filmmaker's sci-fi spectacles in general. And it definitely applies to Dune: Part Two. That fact: that these movies look best on the big screen. But if you haven't had time to visit the cinema since Villeneuve's second trip to Arrakis arrived in February 2024, or you're keen to see it again on your couch, this Timothée Chalamet (Wonka)- and Zendaya (Euphoria)-starring sequel has now hit digital. Dune: Part Two is still showing in picture palaces. You just have options now when it comes to checking it out, such as streaming via YouTube Movies and Prime Video at home. Either way, you're in for oh-so-much sand, plus a continuation of Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049) adapting Frank Herbert's work, following in David Lynch's footsteps and managing what Alejandro Jodorowsky sadly couldn't (see: excellent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune). Villeneuve's debut Dune flick scored ten Oscar nominations and six wins (including an Academy Award for Australian cinematographer Greig Fraser); however, it only told part of Dune's story. So, Dune: Part Two keeps the tale going. War has arrived on the franchise's spice-laden planet, and Paul Atreides (Chalamet) and the Fremen are ready to fight. The former doesn't just want to face off against the folks who destroyed his family, but for the sandy celestial body, with Chani (Zendaya) at his side. In the prior flick, Paul had to head to Arrakis because his dad Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight) had just been given stewardship of the planet and its abundance of 'the spice' — aka the most valuable substance in the universe — and then got caught up in a bitter feud with malicious forces over the substance. It also saw Paul meet the population of people known as the Fremen, including Chani, plus Javier Bardem's (Lyle, Lyle Crocodile) Stilgar, which is who he and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson, Silo) are with in Dune: Part Two. Expansive desert landscape, golden and orange hues (again, Villeneuve helmed Blade Runner 2049), sandworms, the director's reliable eye for a spectacle and Hans Zimmer's (The Son) latest likely Oscar-winning score: they're all accounted for again. So are fellow returning actors Josh Brolin (Outer Range), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) and Charlotte Rampling (Benedetta). Among the new cast members, Austin Butler ditches his Elvis locks as Feyd Rautha Harkonnen, the nephew of Stellan Skarsgard's (Andor) Baron Harkonnen. Christopher Walken (Severance) and Florence Pugh (The Wonder) also join the saga as Emperor Shaddam IV and his daughter Princess Irulen — and Léa Seydoux (Crimes of the Future) is another newcomer. More Dune is on the way after this, too, with a third film locked in, even if it doesn't yet have a release date. Check out trailer for Dune: Part Two below: Dune: Part Two is still screening in Australian cinemas, and is also available to stream via YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our review and our interview with cinematographer Greig Fraser.
Diaries out: Good Things, the Australian music festival that's boasted the reunited TISM, Bring Me the Horizon, The Amity Affliction, NOFX, Millencolin, Devo, Fall Out Boy, Limp Bizkit, Corey Taylor and Pennywise on its lineup across its past two years, will return to the east coast in December 2024 to kick off another summer. There's no word yet on who'll be taking to the stage, but you can save the date, with the fest again playing Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Good Things runs over a single weekend even though it hits up three cities, and that's remaining the same in 2024. First up is a Melbourne stop on Friday, December 6, before heading to Saturday, December 7 and Brisbane on Sunday, December 8. Venues haven't been revealed yet either, so whether Good Things is again taking over Centennial Park, Flemington Racecourse and Brisbane Showgrounds is yet to be confirmed. Wherever it sets up shop in 2024, both its past rosters and the parts of town that it has popped up in demonstrate that this isn't a small affair by any measure. 2023's fest also featured Bullet for My Valentine, Taking Back Sunday and I Prevail, plus Enter Shikari, Pvris, Behemoth and Sepultura — and, on the local front, Spiderbait, Frenzal Rhomb, Jebediah and Eskimo Joe. Accordingly, whoever does the honours in 2024 is following in some mighty hefty footsteps. There's no word yet as to when more details will be unveiled, so watch this space. 2022's lineup dropped in June, while 2023's arrived in August. Good Things follows fellow touring fest Listen Out and Brisbane-only event Sweet Relief! in locking in a 2024 return in what's been an immensely difficult year for music festivals, with Groovin the Moo announcing its dates then cancelling, and Splendour in the Grass sadly doing the same. Good Things 2024 Dates: Friday, December 6 — Melbourne Saturday, December 7 — Sydney Sunday, December 8 — Brisbane Good Things will hit the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in December 2024. We'll update you when the lineup is announced and tickets go on sale — head to the festival website for more information and to sign up for the event's mailing list in the interim. Images: Kane Hibberd.
Have you ever promised yourself an ice-cold beer at the pub as motivation to workout? Well, the minds behind The Beer Run are on the same wavelength. They are quite literally combining brews with a five-kilometre fun run that stops at five Melbourne breweries along the way. And, because they're doing it in October, they're theming it after Oktoberfest. The run will kick off at noon on Sunday, October 13, making its way between yet-to-be-announced Melbourne breweries . Punters will enjoy a beer at each location before running on to the next, with the whole event expected to take around two to three hours. The $55 ticket price includes the five brews, a novelty medal and a numbered bib for the run. Tickets are on sale now — and given that the last Melbourne events sold rather quickly, you'd be best to get in quick.
