We have come a long way from segregation, but there are still lessons we have to learn about racial prejudice, even if it comes in comedic form. Delectable Shelter is a “black comedy about white terror”. It looks at five fortunate survivors of the apocalypse, each of whom is privileged and white. Their plans for the future go awry when they realise they may not be the only ones to survive, and that they may be sharing the earth on equal terms with those they thought were inferior. This play is a reportedly hilarious production that takes aim at the prejudices of Western society and provides an all-too-real look into the future. Brought to you by The Hayloft Project (Thyestes and Critical Stages and featuring the 1980s pop/classical music mash-ups of the inimitable Benny Davis (The Axis of Awesome), Delectable Shelter is a comedy that makes you think about a serious issue — one that isn't simply black and white.
Adrenaline junkies, meet your new action sports go-to: a massive three-level skateboarding, BMX, snowboarding, skiing, rock climbing and bouldering facility that'll also mark an Australian-first. Come late 2024, American chain Woodward is making its Aussie debut, and also opening its first-ever international site, with a 3650-square-metre venue in Castle Hill in Sydney. If it gets your blood pumping, odds are that there'll be a space for it at Woodward Sydney, which'll set up shop adjacent as part of Castle Towers Shopping Centre. Think: climbing and bouldering walls, a skate park, mini ramps and a mega ramp, foam pits, a pump track, a spring floor, trampolines and a gym. And, whether you're a professional, an Olympian, aspiring to make action sports more than just a pastime or a complete beginner, the purpose-built centre promises to cater to all ages and abilities. That includes hosting individual classes, programs that span for multiple weeks, competitions, birthday parties and events — and having casual-access passes for folks who just want to give it a go. Plus, for winding down after getting sweaty, there'll be an onsite cafe and bar. "Sydney is the ideal city for our first expansion overseas given its history as a destination that embraces sports and commitment to the action sports lifestyle," said Woodward President Chris 'Gunny' Gunnarson, announcing the Castle Hill venue. "Woodward Sydney will be our most innovative concept to date — and a model for future Urban Centres. Woodward has historically been known as the place to go if you are an aspirational professional athlete, and we want all Woodward locations to be focused on empowering athletes of all abilities and ages to safely progress on a clear path at their own pace using our unique blend of innovative environments, dynamic programming, and passionate staff. Woodward Sydney will epitomise that mission." Also set to be a big focus: encouraging women to get more involved and feel more empowered in action sports, one of the brand's key missions. Woodward started out in 1970 in central Pennsylvania, and now boasts eight venues across the US, including in California, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Vermont. The New South Wales Government is putting $1.8 million towards the company's first Australian action sports centre, via a grant from the Greater Sydney Sports Facility Fund, with an aim to both increase opportunities for Sydneysiders to get active and support athletes. "Investing in new and existing facilities to improve the quality and quantity of sports infrastructure across Greater Sydney was a priority for the NSW Government," said Minister for Sport Alister Henskens. "The NSW Government recognises the critical role sports infrastructure plays in keeping communities healthy and active. Woodward Sydney will provide an indoor action sports facility which will improve participation and pathway opportunities for emerging and elite athletes." Woodward Sydney will open at Castle Towers Shopping Centre, 22 Showground Road, Castle Hill, in late 2024. Keep an eye on the Woodward website for further details.
Mike Meyer has long been a legendary name in the sign business. But it was after his appearance on internationally acclaimed film Sign Painters that he started to receive stacks of calls asking for lessons, tips and advice. Given that there's only a few schools in the whole world teaching the traditional art of hand-painted lettering, he decided to set up a travelling workshop. After a round of successful workshops last year, Meyer is once again set to leave his home in Mazeppa, Minnesota to visit us here down under. He'll be hosting workshops in Melbourne and Sydney, but unfortunately the Melbourne one is all sold out. But you can still hear what the man has got to say in this one-off talk at Work-Shop. Engage in a night of discussion, see a Mike Meyer demonstration IRL and have a drink with him afterwards. Tickets are $30.
The humble doughnut has long outgrown its stale reputation as a snack reserved for Homer Simpson, police-folk and school kids. The treat has gained widespread popularity in recent years, with vendors exploring unique and, at times, outrageous flavour combos. And of course, Melbourne's sparked a special appreciation for the holey creations in this era of COVID-19 — the term 'doughnuts' has quickly come to represent the big fat zeros joyfully flooding the daily tally of new case numbers. And as of today, Friday, November 6, the state has celebrated seven days in a row of 'em. But while demand is at an all time high, you can bet there's no shortage of decent doughnuts in Melbourne. You'll find them stuffed with Nutella, topped with fairy floss, handmade with seasonal ingredients and bearing all sorts of other creative twists. So, here's our list of the city's best and most extravagant doughnut offerings — proof that this indulgent treat's 'day in the sun' is not quite done. Go forth and celebrate Victoria's streak with one of these bad boys.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the alternative music scene that came before is unquestionably better than the scene right now. It's something we've all grown up crowing (no matter if we said the same thing a decade ago). So we know that the tendency towards nostalgia and a willingness to make heroes out of drunken twenty-year-olds who only released two records is damn near irresistible. For the semi-autobiographical film Lucky Them, this kind of nostalgia is both the target and the appeal. Loosely based on the experiences of screenwriter Emily Wachtel in the New York music scene, the film is set in Seattle, the birthplace of grunge, and spends equal time exposing nostalgia and falling right into its trap. Lucky Them tells the story of an aimless music journalist, Ellie Klug (Toni Collette), as she searches for an acclaimed Seattle musician, who supposedly died years earlier. Ellie is initially reluctant to uncover the whereabouts of her former lover and music idol, and she struggles to find closure, while her ex-boyfriend Charlie (Thomas Haden Church) films an amateur documentary about her efforts. While the film supposedly runs close to Wachtel's own personal experiences, in taking on the mythology behind Seattle's music history (where director Megan Griffiths lived for many years), the film manages to feel like a broader story of music nostalgia. The character of the lost musician, Matthew Smith, makes references to the early deaths of Pacific Northwest music idols Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith, and the whole film is layered with Seattle alt-rock nostalgia. The soundtrack that plays over the sweeping shots of the wet, dreary landscape hints at riffs from Nirvana's 'All Apologies', and memorabilia lent to the film by the iconic local record label Sub Pop line the walls of almost every scene, from original Mudhoney posters to gold records from the Shins and Postal Service. These pleasant hometown references make Seattle feel like an extra character in the film. Alongside this, Church gives an excellent comic performance as the eloquent but music-illiterate Charlie and the fantastic Oliver Platt appears as Ellie's editor Giles, the surprisingly patient, ageing pot-smoker forced to deal with shareholder demands that he boost circulation in a fading print music journalism industry. All this makes it easier to stick with Ellie, whose relentlessly immature decisions, alongside the uncomfortably petulant tone Collette uses, make it difficult to connect with her. Although there's a surprise cameo that manages to be charming rather than distracting from the story, it's a shame that Lucky Them finishes in almost rom-com cliche terrain. It's enough to make you wish you were watching Charlie's fictional documentary instead, like the real nostalgia junkie that you are.
Get a video game-to-television adaptation right and viewers will come flocking. It worked for The Last of Us in 2023. It's now proving the case for Fallout, too. In fact, Prime Video's initial take on the button-mashing favourite has become the streaming platform's most-watched season of TV since its The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power's first season, as well as one of its top three most-watched titles of all time so far. Accordingly, it's no surprise that Fallout has just been renewed for a second trip to the wasteland. Debuting its initial eight episodes on Thursday, April 11 Down Under, Fallout takes its cues from the games that first hit computers back in 1997, with three released sequels, a fourth on the way and seven spinoffs all following. The live-action television iteration stars Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets) as Lucy, a lifelong vault-dweller who leaves her cosy underground digs to navigate the irradiated wasteland that earth has remained for two centuries after the nuclear apocalypse. Crossing her path: bounty hunter The Ghoul (Walton Goggins, I'm a Virgo), who has ties to life before the devastation; and Maximus (Aaron Moten, Emancipation), an aspiring soldier with the Brotherhood of Steel, who don giant robotic suits. [caption id="attachment_950363" align="alignnone" width="1920"] JoJo Whilden/Prime Video ©Amazon Content Services LLC[/caption] In this nightmarish future, a hellscape filled with mutants, wild west vibes and plenty of violence awaits beyond the bunker that the optimistic Lucy, daughter of Hank (Kyle MacLachlan, Lucky Hank), who oversees Vault 33, has always called home. Bringing the chaos to life is a behind-the-scenes team featuring Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, as well as Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (Silicon Valley) as writers and co-showrunners. And yes, Bethesda Game Studios has a hand in it as well. There's no word as to when the retrofuturistic dystopian smash will return for season two, but its first season ended with plenty of questions and routes forward — aka, much for fans who've been hooked on the show, whether or nor you played the games first, to get excited about. "Jonah, Lisa, Geneva and Graham have captivated the world with this groundbreaking wild ride of a show. The bar was high for lovers of this iconic video game and so far we seem to have exceeded their expectations, while bringing in millions of new fans to the franchise. The cast led by Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Walton Goggins and Kyle MacLachlan have knocked it out of the park," said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, announcing that Fallout will return. "We'd like to thank Jonah and Lisa, and our friends at Bethesda, for bringing the show to us, as well as Geneva and Graham for coming aboard as showrunners. We are thrilled to announce season two after only one week out and take viewers even farther into the surreal world of Fallout." [caption id="attachment_950393" align="alignnone" width="1920"] JoJo Whilden/Prime Video ©Amazon Content Services LLC[/caption] "Praise be to our insanely brilliant showrunners Geneva and Graham, to our kick-ass cast, to Todd and James and all the legends at Bethesda, and to Jen, Vernon and the amazing team at Amazon for their incredible support of this show. We can't wait to blow up the world all over again," said Nolan and Joy. "Holy shit. Thank you to Jonah, Kilter, Bethesda and Amazon for having the courage to make a show that gravely tackles all of society's most serious problems these days — cannibalism, incest, jello cake. More to come!" added Robertson-Dworet and Wagner. Check out the full trailer for Fallout below: Fallout streams via Prime Video. Season two doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when one is announced. Read our review of season one, and our interview with Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten. Images: courtesy of Prime Video.
Fancy a refreshing beverage to cool down this summer... on the house? Well, if you're in Victoria, you're in luck – these bars and pubs are offering a complimentary garden spritz on arrival on Friday, February 28. From beachside bars and pubs to inner-city drinking holes, enjoy a (refreshingly free) Chandon Spritz, and your summer will never be over. Chandon's Garden Spritz is a natural ready-to-serve blend of sparkling wine handcrafted with navel and blood oranges, dried orange peel and natural herbs and spices. All the way from the Yarra Valley, it's not too bitter, but not too sweet and has half the sugar of most spritzes thanks to its natural ingredients. For the perfect serve, just add ice and an orange slice, and top with a sprig of rosemary if you're feeling fancy. Republica St Kilda It's hard not to feel like a spritz when you're in St Kilda. With the ocean as your backdrop, sand on your feet and good vibes all around, it's always spritz o'clock at Republica St Kilda Beach. With endless views out towards the water, live music and classic pub feeds, the only thing to make your time here better is a complimentary spritz in hand. [caption id="attachment_817250" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Julia Sansone[/caption] The Fifth Province, St Kilda Also in St Kilda, The Fifth Province Irish Bar & Restaurant brings a touch of Irish charm to the waterfront. But unlike Galway and the hearty dark ales, a Chandon Spritz wouldn't go astray. The menu is also a standout, with the likes of beef and Guinness stew or the roast chicken, leek, and mushroom pie also hitting the spot. The Bay Hotel, Mornington Only an hour from Melbourne's CBD, Mornington is a calm, beachside haunt that's perfect for those days you need to escape the hustle and bustle. And once you arrive, one of the best spots in town has to be The Bay Hotel. With its waterfront location, heritage facade and killer menu, serving up pub classics and seafood, you can't get much better than this. Perch at the bar or grab a table and order yourself a complimentary spritz for the ultimate summer arvo. [caption id="attachment_680532" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Giulia Morlando[/caption] Emerson, South Yarra Two words. Rooftop bar. This ritzy South Yarra institution is a club and cocktail bar with private booths and a rooftop lounge with panoramic views over the city. This is definitely the place to come if you want a dance and a good time. Plus, there's a selection of yummy little bites to keep you going all night long, along with drink options including cocktails, beer and (free) Chandon Garden Spritzes, of course. Baby, Richmond Richmond's neighbourhood Italian restaurant, Baby, is a laid-back spot perfect for indulging in wood-fired pizzas and pasta any time of the day. And no matter what time of the day those Italian cravings strike, there's always a good vibe here—Baby is never not buzzing with people. There is also a quaint outdoor area ideal for enjoying a Spritz or two. Half Moon Set on busy Church Street, Half Moon is a much-loved pub that has been pouring pints for Brighton locals since the 1960s. And now you can enjoy a spritz here too. Head to the beer garden or grab a spot at the rustic bar and enjoy some of the very best the beachside locale has to offer. Head into these venues around Australia on the last day of summer to receive a complimentary Chandon Spritz on arrival. First in best dressed and T&C's apply. Enjoy Chandon Responsibly. Images: Supplied.
It's hard to imagine, but the advent of new live-broadcasting services like Periscope and Meerkat could see the demise of YouTube’s dominance as the go-to place for self-made video confessionals. In the meantime, Ash Flanders and his co-creators have spent three years developing Meme Girls, turning YouTube trash into theatrical gold. The selection of the stories on display for this absurd, music-heavy assemblage flits between the sublime and the ridiculous — from the home workout demonstrator addressing "the haters" to a 68-year-old homeless woman with fused vertebrae; from a girl live tweeting her abortion to Jill Cooper teaching us how to perfectly fold fitted sheets. At some points the voice Flanders brings to remediating these videos is definitely his own; in others (especially this highlight) it’s unclear whether he’s miming along to the original video itself or just mimicking it perfectly. Meme Girls is a triumph of design. GHGHG’s elegant, vortex set (pictured above), which transfigures the Looney Tunes’ classic motif into the deepest well of the Web, just as Eugyeene Teh’s costumes transform Flanders from an overconfident, top hat-and-tailed Astaire into a postmodern Peter Allen. The sound design from THE SWEATS is masterful, Pete Goodwin’s slick recorded covers of pop and rock hits forming the creative spine of the work (five of the songs from the show, featuring Flanders’ vocals, are available online). Singing Kylie’s 'Confide in Me' subtly positions Flanders as an embodiment of the internet itself, a confessional booth that broadcasts to the world, while the by-now more obscure 'I’m A Man' by Jobriath (the first openly gay rock star in the US) asserts the work’s inherent queerness. The show raises some fascinating dilemmas for 21st century theatremakers: what are the ethics of revoicing these women’s lives and stories, and does the fact they uploaded them for the world to see abrogate their rights over those stories? The muteness of Flanders’ only onstage companion, drag queen Art Simone, seems to partially acknowledge the complex interplay of personal and private politics on the stage. Simone’s only 'speech' consists of mouthing along to flashes of lyrics, or robotically filtered voices; a device that hints at the empowering possibilities of self-definition and expression that YouTube offers its users. While some of Meme Girls implicitly questions whether or not the confessions the site offers are all that genuine, the work is brave enough to resist a definitive answer. If some of Stephen Nicolazzo’s previous work has perhaps relied too heavily on gaudy, affectless surface, in Meme Girls his ability as a director shines through, in a show whose controlled, dynamic unraveling of hyperactive song and text confidently illustrates the Internet’s murky architecture in all its trashy glory. Malthouse Theatre are giving away free tickets to Meme Girls, provided you have 5000+ followers on Twitter. Really. Read more over here. Image by Pia Johnson.
This year, Northcote Social Club is celebrating two decades of beers, bands and big nights on High Street — and it'll be throwing an appropriately massive party to usher in its third decade. From Monday, June 30, the northside hotspot is kicking off a stacked birthday program dubbed 20 Gigs for 20 Years, with two months of shows and parties featuring some of the artists and communities who have helped to shape the venue's story so far. Since opening in 2005, the sister venue to Richmond's iconic Corner Hotel has transformed from an if-you-know-you-know neighbourhood bandroom to a bona fide Melbourne music institution. It's played host to everything from debut sets to secret shows (Pixies and Lady Gaga are among the acts to have graced the High Street stage), and also been a launching pad for headline Australian acts like Courtney Barnett and Camp Cope, among a heap of others. For its 20th birthday, the Club is inviting back old and new mates to light up the stage once more. Expect live sets from favourites like Kingswood, Nai Palm, Augie March (pictured below), Alice Ivy, Jazzparty, Briggs' new band Big Noter (pictured above) and a bunch more, as well as curated takeovers by PBS, Northside Records, Collective Artists and Poison City Records. The celebrations will conclude with a huge closing party on Friday, August 29 — the lineup for that night is still under wraps, but it'll feature a number of special guests. And because Northcote Social Club has always been about community as much as chords, it's inviting anyone who's enjoyed a drink or a dance floor moment to drop a note or a photo into its front-bar letterbox. Include your contact details with your memory and you could score a free double pass to the 20th birthday show of your choice, a $100 food and bev voucher or a merch pack. You don't just need to submit a memory to score a prize, though — buy a ticket to any of the 20th anniversary shows and you'll go in the running to win the NSC Golden Ticket: 12 double passes to any shows over the next 12 months. "A friend once told me that walking into the NSC feels like a big warm hug — and that's exactly the kind of place we've always strived to be," says Venue Manager Emily Ferris, who joined the team at Northcote Social Club in 2005. "I'm so excited to see familiar faces returning to the venue — artists and punters alike — to celebrate what this place has meant to so many of us over the years." Northcote Social Club's 20 Gigs for 20 Years is on from Monday, June 30–Friday, August 29 at 301 High Street, Northcote. For the full lineup and to buy tickets, head to the venue's website. Top image: Ian Laidlaw.
Heading to Collingwood's Museum of Desire is one way to turn up the heat this winter, with this immersive playhouse's after-dark fun treading the line between art and eros. With demand on the rise, the museum has now extended its season through to the end of 2025, with late-night sessions from Wednesday—Sunday keeping the suggestive vibe going until as late as 10.30pm. Featuring all-new permanent provocations, the Museum of Desire is stacked with even more spicy encounters. The Little Vegas Love Chapel offers an irreverent elopement booth for cheeky wedding snaps. Plus, two newly unveiled Cabinets of Curiosities feature rare and risqué artefacts, from vintage erotica catalogues to taboo-bending objets d'art. With more than 20 attractions spread throughout this seductive space, the venue's exotic experiences include an orgasmic laser harp, flirtatious installations created by world-renowned artists, an alluring room filled with infinity mirrors, and even a boob-filled ball pit (yes, really) that you're welcome to dive into. As for the rest of the winter season, the Museum of Desire is hosting a series of special events, with Burlesque & Bites taking place on Wednesday, July 30. Offering a pleasure-seeking evening filled with creativity and performance, expect an enthralling burlesque show by the ever-glamorous Evana De Lune, alongside debut photography exhibitions, costume displays, indulgent nibbles and more. Images: Marcus Kiely
When Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi invited the world to experience the vampire sharehouse mockumentary genre, one of the best comedies of the decade wasn't the only result. Every film seems to spawn sequels, remakes, spinoffs and the like these days, but no one's complaining about spending more time in the What We Do in the Shadows universe. A follow-up, We're Wolves, is in the works, focusing on the undead bloodsuckers' Rhys Darby-led lycanthrope enemies. So is six-episode television spinoff Wellington Paranormal, following the movie's cops (Mike Minogue and Karen O'Leary) as they keep investigating the supernatural, and expected to air in New Zealand mid this year. Add a US TV remake of the original flick to the pile as well, but withhold any "do we really need a remake?" judgement. First revealed by Waititi last year and now moving ahead, the pilot has been written by Clement, and is expected to shoot this year. He won't appear on camera, however; speaking to Indiewire as part of the Television Critics Association press tour for Legion, which he stars in, Clement said the series will be about a documentary crew in America. With What We Do in the Shadows actually starting its life as a short back in 2005, the concept of flatting members of the undead arguing about bloody dishes has taken quite the journey since those early beginnings. If any idea was going to come back in multiple guises, it's this one. Of course, so have Clement and Waititi. Clement also revealed that he'll be filming a Flight of the Conchords TV special for HBO later this year to coincide with their new US tour, while Waititi just directed a little superhero-filled box office blockbuster called Thor: Ragnarok. Via Indiewire. Image: Kane Skennar.
Middle-earth is about to sprawl across your TV screen — or whichever other screen you use to access your streaming queue. And, after five years of talking about it, Amazon has finally given Lord of the Rings fans what they've been waiting for: a first look at its new JRR Tolkien-inspired fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Elves, dwarves, epic cities, leafy landscapes — yes, 2022's new Lord of the Rings streaming series ticks all of those expected boxes so far in its just-dropped first teaser trailer. A young Galadriel (Morfydd Clark, Saint Maud) climbs ice, and a young Elrond (Robert Aramayo, The King's Man) features as well. Also packed into the 61-second clip: elves catching arrows, humans stuck on rafts on stormy seas, cave trolls, raging fires and orc battles. If you're new to The Rings of Power, Amazon first announced the show back in 2017, gave it the official go-ahead in mid-2018 and set a premiere date of Friday, September 2, 2022 back in 2021. In-between, it confirmed that it wouldn't just remake Peter Jackson's movies. Rather, the series will spend time in Middle-earth's Second Age, bringing that era from the LOTR realm to the screen for the very first time. According to show's official synopsis, it'll follow "the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history," with the action set thousands of years before the novels and movies we've all read and watched. The series will also "take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness." If you're a little rusty on your LOTR lore, the Second Age lasted for 3441 years, and saw the initial rise and fall of Sauron, as well as a spate of wars over the coveted rings. Elves feature prominently, and there's plenty to cover, even if Tolkien's works didn't spend that much time on the period — largely outlining the main events in an appendix to the popular trilogy. Naturally, you can expect Sauron to feature in the new show, and to give its main figures some trouble. "Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth," the official synopsis continues. "From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone," it also advises. In terms of stars, The Rings of Power will feature an unsurprisingly large cast — and some impressive talent behind the scenes. Among the other actors traversing Middle-earth are Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Undoing) as Arondir, Nazanin Boniadi (Bombshell) as Bronwyn, Owain Arthur (A Confession) as Prince Durin IV, Charlie Vickers (Palm Beach) as Halbrand and Sophia Nomvete (The Tempest) as Princess Disa. There's also Tom Budge (Judy & Punch), Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (The Accountant), Maxim Baldry (Years and Years), Peter Mullan (Westworld), Benjamin Walker (The Underground Railroad) and comedian Lenny Henry. And, the series is being overseen by showrunners and executive producers JD Payne and Patrick McKay, while filmmaker JA Bayona (A Monster Calls, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) directs the first two episodes. Check out the first teaser trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power below: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be available to stream via Amazon Prime Video from Friday, September 2, 2022.
Usually when a festival dedicated to espresso martinis pops up, it takes over one place. Such boozy fests only tend to run for a day or so, or a weekend, too. But one of Australia's big hospitality chains is ditching both of those norms, because this drink needs a whole week and more than 200 pubs countrywide to truly get buzzing. Who needs sleep when there's caffeinated cocktails to sip and celebrate? The event: ALH Hotels' Espresso Martini Festival, which'll take over venues in a heap of states including Victoria from Monday, March 13–Sunday, March 19. If you're wondering why, the reason is the same that most food- or drink-themed fests pop up. Yes, there's an occasion dedicated to the beverage in question, with World Espresso Martini Day upon us on Wednesday, March 15. For the week around the espresso martini-fuelled date, ALH Hotels will pour $14 Grey Goose espresso martinis no matter what time you drop by. Fancy a pick-me-up over lunch? After-work bevvies with your colleagues? A cruisy weekend session giving you some extra perk? They're all options — just don't expect to be tired afterwards. Among the venues taking part in Victoria, Melburnians can hit up Young and Jacksons, Moreland Hotel, Elsternwick Hotel, The Croxton and Balaclava Hotel.
UPDATE, December 16, 2020: Richard Jewell is available to stream via Netflix, Binge, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. All it took was a concert and a backpack for Richard Jewell's (Paul Walter Hauser) life to change forever. It's the summer of 1996, and the aspiring cop is thrilled to be working as a security guard at a gig during the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games. But as songs like the Staple Singers' 'I'll Take You There' fill the city's Centennial Park, Jewell spots an unattended bag under a bench. He swiftly informs the police on duty, who figure he's overreacting but evacuate the area anyway. As the crowd begins to disperse, the bomb explodes. While one person is killed, another suffers a fatal heart attack and 111 others are wounded, the toll would've been much higher if Jewell hadn't sounded the alarm. That's the real-life story that monopolised news headlines 24 years ago. It's also the tale that Jewell, with his desperate desire to work in law enforcement, was overjoyed to have attached to his name. And, it's the narrative that Richard Jewell tells, although Clint Eastwood's involvement should make it obvious that it doesn't end there. As demonstrated with gusto in the latter years of his five-decade directorial career, Eastwood is drawn to heroes. He's not just fascinated by people acting bravely, but by true tales of fortitude in the face of pressure, scrutiny, admonishment and even contempt by society, authorities and bureaucracy. American Sniper's flag-waving tribute to the deadliest marksman in US military history, Sully's recreation of the Miracle on the Hudson and subsequent investigation, and The Mule's account of an octogenarian forced to become a drug courier to make ends meet — they all fit the profile, as does Jewell's swift slide from saviour to suspect. Played with equal parts zealousness, assertiveness, awkwardness and friendliness by I, Tonya and BlacKkKlansman's Hauser, Jewell fit the FBI's profile, too. With no other real leads to chase, agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) becomes certain that the security guard's demeanour, portly physique and obsession with cops makes him the culprit. That Jewell lives with his mother (Oscar-nominee Kathy Bates) doesn't help. Nor does the arsenal of guns in his bedroom ("it's Georgia," Jewell notes). So when Shaw slips his theory to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) — a woman happy to trade sex for tips and just as dubious in her ethics in general, the movie intimates, a perspective that's been refuted by those who knew her — Jewell's transformation from hero to accused perpetrator becomes official. With Jewell, his devoted mum and no-nonsense attorney Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell) on one side and Shaw, Scruggs and the institutions they represent on the other, Richard Jewell becomes an us-versus-them battle — between an ordinary guy vilified instead of celebrated for doing an extraordinary thing, and the forces conspiring against him. With his threshold for subtlety waning over his past few films, Eastwood's feature is that blunt, as is the worldview that comes with it. His conservative politics are well-known, so lambasting the over-reaching government and decrying fake news should come as no surprise. Still, the lack of nuance with which Eastwood tells this tale — working with a script by Billy Ray (The Hunger Games, Captain Phillips and Gemini Man), and adapting a 1997 Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner — casts a shadow over the movie. Jewell went through something that no one should have to endure. Eastwood doesn't downplay that ordeal, including the fact that Jewell's status as a suspect was widely publicised — even though he was never charged — but the clearing of his name wasn't. And yet, when it comes to portraying the FBI and media, Eastwood does exactly what they both did to his protagonist. Law enforcement and the press are treated so simplistically in Richard Jewell, especially Scruggs, that Eastwood slants the film in one direction and doesn't care to look elsewhere. You could read the filmmaker's version of Scruggs as another of his celebrated working-class characters doing whatever it takes to get by. Wilde's brash, committed portrayal of the now-deceased journalist certainly aims for that interpretation. But there's just not enough depth, balance and empathy on Eastwood's part to support it. Scruggs is a clear villain here — so much so that Eric Rudolph, the actual perpetrator of the attack, barely rates a mention. If Richard Jewell proved bombastic across the board, then its treatment of Scruggs mightn't stand out as much as it does. But Eastwood takes great care to show the complexity of Jewell's situation, laying out the details in a manner befitting any weighty police procedural or 'wrong man' thriller. His staging of the bombing is as tense, gripping and superbly crafted as anything in his 38 films behind the lens — and he smartly anchors the movie around Hauser's multifaceted performance as a man teeming with contrasts. What lingers, though, is the glaring contradiction at the heart of the feature. Richard Jewell advocates against one-note judgements while flaunting its own. It champions the truth about someone unfairly pilloried by the media, yet spins its own questionable story about a real-life figure. Yes, this is a film about a hero, but it didn't need to be a movie about a cartoonish villain as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpbKh4FqR2g
Cadbury, stahp. Cadbury, please staaaahp ruining everything we hold dear. We don’t know who keeps telling Cadbury that we want new, exciting and messed-up chocolate flavours, but they’ve released three new grotesque creations to the coveted Milk Tray lineup and it truly is a sign of the end times. Introducing Kale Crème, Wasabi Crunch and Beetroot Jelly, the next generation’s equivalent of Top Deck, Snack and Caramello. Let’s have a moment of silence to mourn simpler times. Apparently, Beetroot Jelly is meant to cater to health nuts (who will not be eating chocolate anyway, so why ruin it for the rest of us?), while Wasabi Crunch will capitalise on the popularity of "Asian flavours" (because there are apparently no more dessert-appropriate flavours in all of Asia to choose from). Then there's Kale Crème, the most vulgar flavour of them all, which is a response to a demand for savoury tastes. You guyyyys, we meant peanuts. Salt. Maybe chilli. These are the savoury flavours we want, and of all the savoury flavours you had to choose from kale was the winner? It’s not even tasty in its natural form (and don’t you dare pretend it is, health nuts) Unsurprisingly, it was reported that testers found the wasabi too sharp and the kale too bitter, although beetroot did pass (still doesn’t mean it should take up a whole pocket in a Milk Tray though). News.com.au were brave enough to see what lies beneath the new Milk Tray additions, here's their snap: Dramatics aside, Cadbury have been getting fairly… experimental with their flavours lately (need we remind you of Vegemite chocolate?) and this is not the first time the Milk Tray has been changed (RIP lime cordial). But after 100 years, the international confectionery giants are still trying to appeal to a younger audience who apparently can’t get enough of gimmicks. Well, you know what, they’re probably right. We need to try that Kale Crème. Goddammit, you’ve got our number Cadbury. Via The Vine. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Inside a revitalised 1907 heritage bank, Fargo and Co has established itself as a go-to inner-city spot for a quick drink after work or a leisurely weekend wind-down session. Thankfully, you won't have to overdraw your account to enjoy a good time here, as the Richmond venue is known for opening up the vault and offering some killer deals. Every Saturday and Sunday, you can enjoy a windfall of bellini during Fargo's beloved bottomless brunch for $65 a head. With bagel towers, a build-your-own bellini bar and music all brunch long, it's hard to go wrong with a mid-morning meal at Fargo. Should brunch not be on your radar, the bar also hosts Luxe Thursdays, where evening diners on the penultimate weeknight can tuck into freshly shucked oysters for just two bucks each, plus $8 prosecco and roving caviar bumps. If the weather is less than ideal, nab a spot indoors beside the sleek art deco-style bar. But when the sun is shining, you'll want to soak it up on the rooftop terrace. Appears in: The Best Bottomless Brunches in Melbourne for 2023
Since arriving in 2020, The Great has served up the satirical take on Russian history that no one knew they needed. On-screen, everyone said "huzzah!" a whole lot — and, off-screen, viewers shared that sentiment. But all that cheering at this delightfully dark (and Emmy-nominated) twist on the past has now come to an end, with Hulu, the American streaming platform behind the series, cancelling the Elle Fanning (The Girl From Plainville)- and Nicholas Hoult (The Menu)-starring favourite. The Great made it to three seasons, all fittingly great, with the third dropping in May this year. From now on, however, anyone keen to dive into Catherine the Great's story will need to hit up the history books. Across its run, the nuptials between Catherine (Fanning) and Peter III (Hoult) were in the spotlight, alongside affairs, pregnancies, obsessions over heirs, grappling for power, bloody coups, assassination plots and very little wedded bliss. Attempted murders, mass imprisonments, oh-so-much backstabbing (sometimes literally), hallucinations, couples therapy, plenty of drinking and tumbles in the sheets: that all popped up as well. The show's all killer, no filler concept since season one: following Catherine's rise and reign, with a heavy focus on what that means for her marriage to Peter. The Great stuck to that mission with only the slightest regard for the actual facts and with a big reliance upon hilarious wit, which is one of the reasons that it was such a delicious watch from the get-go. While The Great was supremely confident in its blend of handsome period staging, the loosest of historical realities and a savage sense of humour (it does spring from Oscar-nominated The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara, after all), it felt even more comfortable in its skin the longer that it kept going. And smoother, too, yet just as biting, all while seesawing tonally and proving as sharp as a shot of vodka — or several. As well as Fanning and Hoult, Phoebe Fox (The Aeronauts), Adam Godley (Lodge 49), Gwilym Lee (Top End Wedding), Charity Wakefield (Genius), Douglas Hodge (I Hate Suzie Too), Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who), Bayo Gbadamosi (War of the Worlds), Florence Keith-Roach (Juliet, Naked), Freddie Fox (House of the Dragon), Grace Molony (Mary, Queen of Scots) and Belinda Bromilow (Doctor Doctor) are all among the cast. And, in season two, The Great even found room for Gillian Anderson (The Crown) as Catherine's mother. What's the opposite of "huzzah!"? That's all that's left to be said. Check out the trailer for The Great season three below: The Great streams in Australia via Stan and in New Zealand via Neon. Read our reviews of season one, two and three. Via Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
A decade ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find an accessible dining experience of a similar calibre and philosophy as those you saw in shows similar to Chef's Table. Lucky for us in present day, eco-friendly dining is no longer limited to small pockets of artisanal growers and eco-conscious chefs. Restaurants all over Australia are proving time and time again that taste and sustainability aren't mutually exclusive. Sourcing produce from their own 80-acre working farms, creating closed-loop dining experiences with micro rooftop worm gardens and growing heirloom varieties with the help of trusted friends — chefs are honing in eco-friendly practices all while delivering gourmet menus. With that in mind, we've teamed up with Stoneleigh Wild Valley, whose hands-off winemaking philosophy lets nature do its thing to create a 'natural expression' of Marlborough wines, to highlight six innovative eateries across the country with strong connections to nature. [caption id="attachment_677793" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To.[/caption] QUAY — SYDNEY Quay has always been one of the shining beacons of Australia's fine dining scene, but what you might not know is that it's now one of the country's most sustainably minded restaurants, too. World-renowned chef Peter Gilmore has been gardening for over a decade at home, becoming addicted to the lifecycle of plants and herbs. His interest has carried over to the Quay kitchen where produce from trusted farms, like Palisa Anderson's Boon Luck Farm, inform the menu. Specially grown red speckled peas are served with aged Maremma duck; newly created heirloom purple corn is set against a rich oxtail broth; crystallised caramel is punctuated with both a prune jam and a prune cream; and well, you get the picture. It's nature-inspired food at its best. ATTICA — MELBOURNE Long before sustainability was the trend on everyone's lips, Attica's owner-chef Ben Shewry was foraging with his family for mussels and shellfish along the coast of Taranaki, New Zealand. And with one look at Attica's menu, it's obvious those early ideas of hyperlocal eating have stayed him. The menu reveals his respect for eco-friendly seafood such as hand-caught crab and native ingredients like black and green ants sourced from Indigenous farmers. Deliciously gooey whipped emu eggs and honey-laden finger limes also demonstrate his devotion to Australia's homegrown flavours. Then there's Attica's garden. Boasting over 100 varieties of herbs (there's apparently 16 different types of basil) and other flora that makes its way onto dinner plates, it's the cherry on top of an already exceptional commitment to taste, Australian cuisine and, of course, the environment. [caption id="attachment_704269" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould.[/caption] PAPERBARK — SYDNEY If inventive and exciting meat-free cooking sounds right up your alley then it's time to pay a visit to Paperbark. Opened in June 2018, the relative newcomer has quickly made waves in Sydney's already exceptional vegan dining scene. There's no simple way to explain the cuisine here, except to say it's all tied together by a commitment to native Australian ingredients. There's wattleseed and finger lime atop pumpkin tostadas, strawberry gum mole mopped up with doughy rye from eco-friendly bakery Iggy's Bread and mango and lemon myrtle meringue. It's all delicious, all the time. THREE BLUE DUCKS — BRISBANE Three Blue Ducks is no stranger to the eco-friendly dining scene. Ever since the three original owners opened their small paddock-to-plate eatery in Bronte, Sydney in 2010, they've been proving that sustainability doesn't mean sacrificing on flavour, it means improving it. Now, almost a decade later, they have three additional partners and four new locations. Set inside the W Brisbane hotel and open breakfast, lunch and dinner, the latest restaurant sources much of its produce from Three Blue Ducks' own 80-acre working farm in Byron Bay, as well as other local ethical growers. Expect wood-fired proteins with season veg like porchetta with smoked parsnip purée, beetroot and apple salad, fennel granola and mustard jus or the fish of the day with corn, smoked eggplant chilli, cucumber, heirloom tomato and preserved lemon. MESA VERDE — MELBOURNE Meaning 'green table' in Spanish, Mesa Verde brings fresh Mexican dishes to level six at Curtin House. The cantina serves smaller plates from the sea and land, like market fish ceviche or zesty heirloom zucchini tostadas, as well as larger plates of braised lamb shoulder, cauliflower tlayuda and mushroom entomatadas. Then there's the full taco menu with fillings ranging from cochinita-style roasted eggplant to beer-battered fish tacos to braised beef cheek. All of these dishes are peppered with fresh herbs and spices grown in the roof's vegetable gardens. There's even a rooftop worm farm to help fertilise the vege patch. In a feat of small-scale closed-loop cooking, chef Kathy Reed and her team use vegetable off-cuts to feed the worms and create fertiliser, which in turn helps grow the rare Mexican ingredients that pack an irresistible punch on the restaurant's menu. FLOCK EATERY — REDCLIFFE Featuring a winning combination of picturesque views across Moreton Bay and a farm-to-plate dining experience that caters to all your dietary needs, it's no surprise the Flock Eatery in Redcliffe is a closely guarded secret by those in the know. Breakfast favourites like the smokey king brown mushrooms and eggs benny paired with seasonal greens are both delightfully tasty and ethically sourced from nearby farmers. The best part? Any leftovers are composted at the wonderful LOOP.Growers farm so that nothing is wasted. Make sure to try the coffee; Tim Adams Specialty Coffee roasts it locally. Connect to nature through food at the above eateries and through drink with Stoneleigh Wild Valley, whose 2017 sauvignon blanc recently won gold at the New York International Wine Competition 2019. Top image: Paperbark by Trent van der Jagt.
When Good Beer Week returns to send Melbourne craft beer fiends into a frothy tailspin each May, it also coincides with the globe-trotting flavour fest that is Pint of Origin. Every year, this fan-favourite event sees bars and pubs across the city turn over their taps to spotlight top-notch beers from different corners of the world. 2023's instalment runs from Friday, May 12–Sunday, May 21, to shake up taplists at much-loved venues like Carwyn Cellars, the Local Taphouse, Beermash and Westside Ale Works. Each one will spend the ten days heroing brews from a different regional, interstate or international destination, giving punters the chance to broaden their horizons while scoping out some stellar new sips. [caption id="attachment_900291" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mr West[/caption] Each tap takeover will span a range of beer styles from a stack of different breweries — many of which aren't readily found in Melbourne. You can hit The Catfish for a taste of New Zealand's beer scene, explore a rotation of UK brews at Whitehart and raise a few pints to the beers of South Australia with a visit to the Palace Hotel. Also in the 20-strong lineup, Mr West is showcasing Canadian brews, The Lincoln is spotlighting Tassie drops, and Fitzroy's Near & Far is diving into some full-blown appreciation for Brisbane-born beers. Many of the venues are also doing guided tastings and meet-the-brewer sessions throughout the duration. Plus, if you keep track of your wanderings with a Pint of Origin digital passport, you'll be in with a shot at some great prizes. [caption id="attachment_761608" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Carwyn Cellars[/caption] Top images: The Lincoln, Beermash
Game, set, match, music: when the Australian Open returns in January 2024 with two jam-packed weeks of Grand Slam tennis action, it'll also be serving up a few aces for fans of live tunes. In 2023, the annual Melbourne sports event launched the AO Finals Festival, which gets a heap of talents taking to the stage. Unsurprisingly proving a hit, the fest is returning next year. Attendees will be treated to a program of live acts on three of the event's final four days, all in John Cain Arena. 2024's AO Finals Fest will start on Thursday, January 25, on AO Pride Day. Then, it's back for both the women's final on Saturday, January 27 and the men's equivalent on Sunday, January 28. A stellar lineup awaits, including Tash Sultana, Peach PRC and Yaeji on the Thursday; DMA's, Ruel and The Jungle Giants on the Saturday; and Groove Armada, Rudimental and Sunshine & Disco Faith Choir on the Sunday. Just like in 2023, the stacked bill doesn't come as too much of a surprise, given that it has again been curated with help from the respected music heads at Untitled Group — the brains behind Pitch Music & Arts, For The Love, Grapevine Gathering and more. "The Australian Open is one of the most loved events on Melbourne's calendar, so there is no better time to bring together tennis and some of the best global music to the stage, right in the heart of summer's favourite tennis tournament. Untitled Group are proud to return to the Australian Open in 2024, giving tennis and music fans alike an amazing day out, full of forefront artists across three jam-packed days of music festival entertainment," said Pia Del Mastro, Untitled Group's music programmer. "Can't wait to return to the iconic Australia Open. See you on the court!" added DMA's. Expect plenty of company, with the 2023 event selling out. Accordingly, 2024's AO Finals Festival has moved venues, shifting to John Cain Arena to take advantage of its 10,000-person capacity. Tickets can be bought individually per day, or matchgoers can upgrade their tennis tickets to head to the festival. As always, there'll be scores of food and drink pop-ups scattered throughout Melbourne Park, as well as big screens showing all the on-court action. AO FINALS FESTIVAL 2024 LINEUP: Thursday, January 25: AO Pride Day Tash Sultana Peach PRC Yaeji Anesu Djanaba DJ Luv You Saturday, January 27: Women's final DMA's Ruel The Jungle Giants Tia Gostelow Mell Hall Sunday, January 28: Men's final Groove Armada Rudimental Sunshine & Disco Faith Choir Latifa Tee Cooper Smith The 2024 AO Finals Festival hits John Cain Arena, Olympic Boulevard, Melbourne, from Thursday, January 25–Sunday, January 28. For tickets from Wednesday, December 13 and more information, head to the festival website. Images: Ash Caygill.
The idea that arts and sports don't mix was never going to hold up in Melbourne, a place where standing in line at the city's annual film festival often means hearing a chat about AFL scores filtering down the queue. Eclipse Cinema is another case in point. When it opens in August 2025, it will launch the Victorian capital's newest boutique and independent movie theatre at an address that was previously home to the Sherrin factory. Aussie rules footballs are no longer manufactured at 32 Wellington Street in Collingwood. Soon, big-screen delights via digital projection and high-definition sound will be the site's main creation. Set to start welcoming in film lovers by the time that winter is out, Eclipse nods to cinema history, too, by taking the name of a picture palace that once stood on the suburb's Smith Street from 1913 to around 1917. Expect a blast from the past among the 64-seater spot's movie range as well, balancing new releases with retrospective flicks, with a particular focus on indie, queer, First Nations and gender-diverse filmmaking. Melbourne-made fare will also be in the spotlight, and so will titles that you mightn't have caught on their limited general-release runs. This is the type of venue where a Pedro Almódovar (The Room Next Door) picture will grace the screen each Wednesday, for instance, and where the likes of 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival Bright Horizons Award-winner Universal Language will also get a spin. Eclipse Cinema hails from owner/operator Mark Walker, who boasts 15-plus years working at MIFF, was a projectionist at both Yarraville's Sun Theatre and Carlton's Cinema Nova, and also co-founded Pivotonian Cinema in Geelong, running it for nearly ten years. "It is so exciting to be launching a new boutique cinema in this culturally rich neighbourhood, and I'm truly confident locals will embrace the independent and cutting-edge cinema that the Eclipse will offer," says Walker For snacks and sips during the silver-screen show, Eclipse Cinema will dish up popcorn and homemade choc tops, as well as wine. Before the theatre opens its doors — in fact, to help it finish its build and do just that — you can also show your support via its Pozible crowdfunding campaign. Until the end of July, Walker is aiming to raise $25,000. Rewards include a three-year founding membership, which will see your name featured on-screen at every session and score you discounted tickets; private-screening packages; and big-screen advertising options. And no, Melbourne can never have too many cinemas — with FoMo in East Brunswick and Palace Penny Lane in Moonee Ponds among the city's other openings in the past few years. A new IMAX at Village Cinemas Fountain Gate is also on the way before the end of 2025. Find Eclipse Cinema at 32 Wellington Street, Collingwood sometime in August — keep an eye on the venue's Instagram and Facebook pages in the interim, and head to its Pozible campaign before Thursday, July 31, 2025 to lend your support.
As if the shorter days and cooler evenings weren't already reasons enough to turn to comfort foods, these strange times are causing us to do so now more than ever. And up there with the ultimate belly-warming bites are those from Taco Bell. The Tex-Mex giant now boasts two stores in Melbourne, so if you're a big fan of Mexican-inspired food, chances are you've already started to make your way through its extensive menu. And, in some very good news, you can keep the flavour fiesta going while stuck at home in isolation. Yep, Taco Bell has teamed up with Menulog to offer free delivery for a limited time from its South Yarra and Hawthorn outposts. That means you and your housemates can get stuck into its signature tacos, cheesy quesadillas and the fan favourite Crunchwrap Supreme, which is stuffed with your choice of meat, nacho cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato and crunchy tostada shell, without being stung with delivery fees. And don't worry if you live alone or nobody else is hungry as there's no minimum spend — not that we'd judge you for ordering all of those tasty items mentioned above solo anyway. So, if you're all tucked up in your blanket burrito and suddenly get a craving for an actual burrito, you can stay cosy and warm inside your home while the food comes to you. All you need to do is head to Menulog and find out the closest Taco Bell store to you to place your order. Not within the delivery radius? The stores are still open and offering contactless takeaway. Taco Bell is offering free delivery across Melbourne via Menulog with no minimum spend for a limited time only. To place your order, head here. https://youtu.be/kaqlWl0DKxM
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
The next time that you catch a tram in Melbourne, you might be stepping onboard a mobile artwork showcasing designs by First Nations talents. Each year, including as part of the city's winter arts festival RISING since 2021, the Melbourne Art Trams take to the streets. They're an eye-catching way to revamp public transport and a stunning display of art all in one, and they're back for 2024. Also since 2021, the initiative has focused on First Nations artists, putting their pieces on a massive and widely-seen canvas. Six trams get the works each year, with 2024's talents including Dr Destiny Deacon, Milla Morgan, Kait James, Iluka Sax-Williams, Thomas Day and Ellen José. And while everyone has come up with their own unique works, each piece now doing the rounds responds to the theme 'Blak on track'. Jarra Karalinar Steel (Boonwurrung/Wemba Wemba) — an alumni of the 2021 trams — has curated the moving exhibition, with Deacon's (Ku Ku/Erub Mer) contribution particularly meaningful given that the artist passed away in May. In fact, called Arrears Windows, Deacon's work graces the first train on the tracks. Prepare to see digital snaps of residents of Melbourne's public housing from 2009's Gazette series rolling around town. "It's impossible to overstate the impact that Dr Destiny Deacon has had on art in this country, on a generation of First Nations artists and on me personally. This is why being able to present her work as the first to roll out this year as part of the First Peoples Melbourne Art Trams program is such an immense honour," said Steel. "Growing up inspired by the incredible artists of the Melbourne Urban Indigenous Art movement, Destiny's raw, tongue-in-cheek style of social commentary has always resonated deeply." "The title of this years' series Blak on Track would literally not have been possible without her. Her iconic Blak dolls capture the essence of her powerful message and are a perfect tribute to her legacy. Curating this project for my final year and including Destiny's work feels like the culmination of my journey with the Art Trams. I hope it inspires passengers to learn more about her and other brilliant artists who have shaped our culture." To see Deacon's work, you'll need to catch the 1, 6 and 19 routes. Morgan's (Wiradjuri/Yorta Yorta) I Just Wanted to Say Sorry is also sharing the same journeys, showing Melbourne her exploration on the way that First Nations art can shape perceptions and forge connections. You'll find Hung Out to Dry by Kait James (Wadawurrung) on routes 3, 64 and 67, as filled with pop-culture nods in a bid to probe colonial narratives and challenge stereotypes. On the 70 and 75 routes, Kulin Woora Liwik — Kulin Sky Ancestors from Iluka Sax-Williams (Taungurung) puts Songlines to the fore — and Yarkeen — Dreams by Thomas Day (Gunditjmara/Yorta Yorta/Wemba Wemba) ponders the link between the physical and spirit realms on the 5, 6, 16, 58 and 72 routes. Then there's Reach Out and Touch — Distance and Time by Torres Strait Islander artist Ellen José on the 48, 78 and 109 routes, which puts the impact of war at its heart. Melbourne's 2024 art trams are hitting the tracks from Thursday, June 13. For further details, head to the RISING website. Images: James Morgan.
Ethical and sustainable womens label Kowtow is popping up in Melbourne for one month this winter. Founded by art director Gosia Piatek, the New Zealand label's clothing is made entirely from certified fair trade, ethically-sourced organic cotton, making it a real champion among local boutique producers. The brand creates six collections per year and their newest collection, Dreamscape, focuses on figurative elements from folk tales and traditional fisherman workwear. The pieces feature quilting, textured knitwear and a natural colour palette that aims to accentuate the versatility of cotton without compromising on ethics or sustainability. All fabrics are also exclusively designed in-house and packaged with sustainable material — and, we must say, look incredibly comfy. Kowtow's international presence spans showrooms in New York, Copenhagen, Venice, Melbourne and Auckland, with Dreamscape available online and across 200 retailers worldwide. The pop-up will kick off with a launch party on Thursday, May 18 and, following that, will be open Monday to Saturday from 10am–6pm and Sunday from 11am–5pm until June 18.
On every weekend, you'l be constantly impressed by the emerging creative talent of Melbourne at this Fitzroy market — and you can support them by buying some of their creations. This well-known market in Rose Street is where you can pick up one-of-a-kind artworks, fashion items, collectables, hand-bound books, screen prints and more. And once you're all marketed-out, have coffee or brunch in one of the many fine eateries nearby. Or if you are after more, be sure to drop by the neighbouring Fitzroy Mills Market.
If you're the type of traveller who chooses their hotels for the perks and extra inclusions, then you'll be particularly excited about an upcoming new addition to Melbourne's accommodation offerings. Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne on Spencer is set to launch sometime this May, marking the Swiss brand's second site in Australia, after Mövenpick Hotel Hobart opened earlier in the year — and if either the chain's name or its country of origin have you thinking of sweet treats, yes, they're part of the hotel's menu. For starters, Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne will be celebrating chocolate hour every afternoon. Going on the Hobart setup, that's when you'll receive a free dessert — such as an eclair, brownie or truffle — when you purchase a chocolate-flavoured cocktail, mocktail or affogato. Mövenpick's hotels all serve the brand's line of food and beverages as well, which means that Mövenpick ice cream is also available. The menu doesn't just cater to your sweet tooth, though. At breakfast, guests can choose to enjoy juice-blended energy shots, along with a range of health-focused and nutritious options available to eat in or grab-and-go. One of more than 80 of the brand's accommodation sites worldwide and run in collaboration with Accor, Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne will boast 172 guest rooms housed within the new 78-storey Premier Tower development on Spencer Street. It's decked out with boutique interiors, and comes complete with a 25-metre swimming pool, sauna and gym. The new hotel will also be home to a southeast Asian restaurant and bar, which'll rock a contemporary fitout courtesy of design agency Greymatters. It's slated to plate up traditional Asian grill and barbecue dishes, and will open daily for lunch and dinner. Find Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne on Spencer at 160 Spencer Street, Melbourne, from May 2021. Head to the Accor website for bookings and other information. Images: artists impressions of Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne on Spencer.
Exploring the sprawling, popular metropolises of Tokyo and Osaka undoubtedly makes for a great holiday, but your visit to Japan isn't complete until you escape the crowds and experience the countryside. The stunning vistas are the perfect antidote to the hectic buzz of the major cities, and give you the chance to explore sacred mountaintops, luminous lakes and soaring waterfalls. Located just a couple of hours north of Tokyo via shinkansen (bullet train), the region of Tohoku — which literally means 'northeast' — is an ideal escape for your next visit to Japan. It makes for a special destination all year round with some of the nation's most striking landscapes dotted throughout six prefectures: Aomori, Akita, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata. So, to provide you with some inspiration, we've picked out five unbeatable nature trails that won't have you missing the city anytime soon. GOSHIKI-NUMA It might come as a surprise to learn that a place as beautiful as Goshiki-numa can be just 100 years old. Also known as the Five Coloured Lakes, they sprung to life in 1888 when the nearby Mount Bandai erupted, spewing aluminium and silicon into the water and resulting in the clear, turquoise lakes that are a a major attraction for locals and tourists today. A four-kilometre path that links the lakes is a relaxing walk, with plenty of elevated viewing platforms to snap some great shots. There's also the chance to rent a rowboat and live our your Studio Ghibli dreams as you push across Bishamon-numa, the largest of the lakes on offer. LAKE INAWASHIRO In the shadow of Mount Bandai, Lake Inawashiro is another picturesque spot that offers visitors some incredible outdoorsy opportunities. Throughout the warmer months of the year, the lake is a popular spot for locals to carve up the water on a jet ski, while winter brings a raft of snow sports enthusiasts out of the woodwork. If the weather's nice and clear, take the 3.6-kilometre path on the north side of the lake for some of the best views of Mount Bandai. And, once you've taken a dip in the pristine waters and dried off on the sandy lake beach, your next stop has to be the nearby Morohashi Museum of Modern Art. It has the third largest collection of Salvador Dali artworks in the world, with around 330 of his pieces on display. TATSUZAWA FUDO FALLS As you explore Tohoku, you'll quickly realise that the region is home to many of Japan's most epic waterfalls. Located deep in the forests east of Lake Inawashiro, the Tatsuzawa Fudo Falls provide a tranquil pit stop during your trip. The short walk to the falls is surrounded by steep hillsides with trees clinging to the side, and, as you make your way to the end of the trail, you'll be welcomed by a free-flowing stream coming over the rocks from high above. These hidden falls are particularly special to visit during the warmer months, as the thick treetops provide a great escape from the humidity of the countryside. MOUNT HAGURO Considered one of the most sacred mountains in the region, Mount Haguro is one of the must-do hikes in Tohoku. The walk starts at the Zuishinmon Gate — from there, you'll delve into this ancient forest of cedar trees and climb up 2446 stone steps that have been designated a Japanese national treasure. Along the serene two-kilometre path that winds its way through the forest, there are some fascinating sights to explore. But the Five-Storey Pagoda is certainly the most impressive. Constructed in the iconic Kokerabuki-style over 600 years ago, it's especially notable due to its earthquake-proof design, which features an ingenious wooden pendulum that counterbalances the structure as it sways. [caption id="attachment_751830" align="alignnone" width="1920"] ChiefHira via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] MOUNT GASSAN For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have climbed to Mt. Gassan's 1984-metre summit. The tallest of the Dewa Sanzan, Yamagata's three sacred mountains, it's not uncommon to catch the Yamabushi mountain monks scaling its hillsides to this day. While Gassan might be the toughest climb in the region, it's well worth the effort once you witness the views from the top. While there are loads of ways to get to the peak, the four most popular routes range from nine to 15 kilometres, making for a very achieveable sunny day out on the mountainside. Note that it's only opened from July to September due to the weather. Need more reasons to visit Japan's stunning Tohoku region? For more travel inspiration and to start planning your adventure, head this way.
2015 was a good year for movies. We shifted our love of all things fast and furious to the latest entry in the iconic Mad Max series (although Fast & Furious 7 also hit the high-octane spot), and cried buckets when Inside Out told us that emotions have emotions. We followed Joaquin Phoenix's Inherent Vice stoner detective around in a daze, delved into N.W.A's history thanks to Straight Outta Compton, accompanied Emily Blunt through the drug war in Sicario, and reignited our love of boxing movies with Creed. And the list goes on. That was then, though, and this is now. Well, almost. 2016 is swiftly approaching, bringing with it a fresh batch of potential cinema treasures. Superheroes and sequels feature as always — which is good news if X-Men: Apocalypse or Zoolander 2 sound like your kind of thing. Awards contenders such as '50s-set romance Carol, journalism drama Spotlight and harrowing holocaust effort Son of Saul arrive on Australian screens, alongside a few others that release overseas in 2015, such as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's comedy Sisters, Quentin Tarantino's western The Hateful Eight and star-studded GFC effort The Big Short. Basically, it's all shaping up to be another great twelve months for film buffs — and anyone who heads to the cinema every now and then. To help stoke your excitement, we've found ten movies you should add to your 2016 must-see list. They'll be on a big screen near you before you know it. ANOMALISA If you've seen Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you'll agree that a new Charlie Kaufman film is cause for celebration. Eight years after making his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York, the writer turned helmer delivers his second stint behind the camera in the form of the animated Anomalisa. The tale of a man struggling with his mundane life might sound routine, but if there's one thing Kaufman doesn't do, it's ordinary. Don't expect the usual CGI fare either, with the movie using puppets made with 3D printers. In Australian cinemas February 4. HAIL, CAESAR! The latest Coen brothers flick sounds like the stuff that dreams are made of, with Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, '80s action heroes Dolph Lundgren and Christopher Lambert all starring in the '50s-set throwback to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Here's hoping that it lives up to everything we're all already hoping for and fantasising about. Given that the Coens' resume includes Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?, No Country For Old Men and Inside Llewyn Davis, we're pretty optimistic. In Australian cinemas March 3. KEANU No, Keanu isn't a film about a certain Mr Reeves — although we would watch out the hell out of that. Instead, it’s a movie about two friends who decide to pose as drug dealers to retrieve a stolen cat. Stay with us though, because it stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Yep, their brilliant sketch comedy series might've come to an end, but that just means they have more time for other things. Will Forte also features, should you need any more convincing. In Australian cinemas April 21. THE NICE GUYS Even if you don't recognize the name Shane Black, we're guessing you're a fan of at least one of his movies. He wrote Lethal Weapon, directed the Robert Downey Jr comeback that was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and now pairs Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe together in The Nice Guys. The former plays a private detective, and the latter an enforcer turned his unlikely partner on a murder investigation. Expect them to spout plenty of smart, wisecracking dialogue, in keeping with Black's style — and expect to have fun watching them. In Australian cinemas May 26. GHOSTBUSTERS Admit it: a certain Ray Parker Jr song just popped into your head. The catchy tune isn't the only thing that's memorable about the 1984 film — or its 1989 sequel — but the 2016 instalment looks set to add its own impressive elements to the mix. Case in point: the all-female cast of Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are taking over from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. They'll play the next batch of New Yorkers dallying with the paranormal, and one thing's certain — they ain't afraid of no ghost. In Australian cinemas July 21. DOCTOR STRANGE If you've been suffering from superhero fatigue, one of Marvel's two 2016 films might provide the antidote. After the third Captain America movie reaches cinemas in April, the company that kickstarted the current wave of caped cinematic crusaders gets magical and mystical with Doctor Strange. Everyone's favourite otter lookalike, Benedict Cumberbatch, stars as a former neurosurgeon who learns the supernatural arts and becomes the Earth's primary protector against otherworldly threats. Mads Mikkelsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams and Tilda Swinton join him, in an effort that looks a little more offbeat than usual, like Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy. In Australian cinemas October 27. ASSASSIN'S CREED Film adaptations of video games haven’t had a stellar run. But with Warcraft also releasing in 2016, Assassin's Creed isn't the only movie trying to change that — however, it is the only one that re-teams the main on- and off-screen talent behind one of 2015's best efforts, Macbeth. Yep, after adapting the bard into something moody and brooding, director Justin Kurzel, actors Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, reunite for something completely different. Even if you've never played the game — which focuses on the rivalry between two ancient secret societies — the team behind this is reason enough to be excited. In Australia cinemas December 26. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE It's been more than two decades since we first met the self-indulgent duo of Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone, but those champagne-swilling London ladies are still kicking on. After five series, a few specials and a handful of 20th anniversary episodes, they're making the leap to the big screen in an effort that's certain to earn its moniker. Yes, the alter egos of Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are back, accompanied by the other characters — Eddy's long-suffering daughter Saffy, her dotty mother, and eccentric assistant Bubble, for example — you know and love. In keeping with the TV series, they'll be bringing a host of famous names along with them, and inspiring ample laughs in the process. Australian release date to be confirmed. JULIETA After taking to the skies but not quite flying high with 2013's I'm So Excited!, Spain's premier auteur gets back on track with Julieta. Chronicling the life of a woman across two time periods — now, and thirty years prior — might seem like familiar territory for Pedro Almodóvar, but he never really does the same thing twice. The movie is set to release in the filmmaker's homeland in March, so fingers crossed that it heads to Australian shores without much delay. And if you'd been looking forward to the director's latest but don't recognise the title, that's understandable — until less than a month ago, it was called Silencio. However Almodóvar changed the name to avoid confusion with Martin Scorsese's forthcoming effort, Silence. Australian release date to be confirmed. A STORM IN THE STARS Forget Victor Frankenstein, and make note of the James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe-starring reimagining of Mary Shelley's classic text that looks set to head straight to DVD in Australia. A Storm in the Stars tells the tale behind the iconic tale, and is a film gothic horror fans should be looking forward to. Elle Fanning stars as the author, The Diary of a Teenage Girl's Bel Powley plays her sister Claire Clairmont, and Romeo & Juliet's Douglas Booth features as poet Percy Shelley. That the movie also marks the English-language debut of Wadjda's Haifaa Al-Mansour is the icing on the cake. Australian release date to be confirmed.
A long-time fixture of Fitzroy North, family-owned Dench has been winning over northsiders with its natural artisan loaves for over 15 years. It's even opened up a bakehouse in Abbotsford to keep up with demand — both of which are on our list of the best bakeries in Melbourne. The bakery is known for its freshly baked cakes and popular pastries, including escargot, croissants and puffy Italian bomboloni. But the breads are the reason you'll want to go back again and again. Here, you'll find a bunch of organic sourdoughs, with everything from light rye to white, seeded, olive and rosemary and a grain loaf. You can also pick up a baguette, raisin loaf, some brioche and ciabatta. The onsite cafe is serving a selection of those freshly baked goodies, alongside coffee, brunch plates and sandwiches heroing the signature breads. And dietary issues aren't a drama thanks to Dench's swag of vegan and gluten-free options — it's even got a dedicated gluten-free room for whipping up coeliac-friendly fare. Appears in: The Best Bakeries in Melbourne for 2023
Kewpie (formerly Bimbo) officially closed its doors for good in 2024, with locals sadly bidding farewell to the site's legendary cheap pizzas and late-night parties. Fortunately, the site wasn't empty for long, as a new group of owners moved in to quickly gut the space and transform it back into the Punters Club — a pub and live music venue that previously occupied the building throughout the 90s. The new Punters Club isn't an exact replica, but more of an homage. Local musicians will once again take centre stage here, with a stacked lineup of DJs and bands always on the cards. Food, on the other hand, is a significantly more elevated and playful affair. Head Chef Dylan Marshall is running the kitchen here, plating up classic pub fare with an Aussie twist. Get your tuna tartare served with a bag of Smith's Salt & Vinegar Chips, kangaroo schnittys with mashed potatoes and pepper sauce and a fillet of fish with brown butter and capers. South Melbourne market dim sims even make an appearance on the menu alongside a Lune croissant bread and butter pudding served with Pidapipo pistachio gelato. It doesn't get more local than that. Pair this all with tap wines (sold by the glass or in half-litre carafes), the venue's own draught beer, a selection of local and international brews, and classic cocktails. The team behind the bar says the renovation was a "labour of love," sourcing artwork, a pool table, vintage lighting, dart boards, an old-school jukebox and memorabilia from all over Melbourne to start a new era for the legendary venue. Let's just wait and see if it lives up to its former glory.
Bistro Morgan has officially set foot outside of Prahran. Following its transition from a successful pop-up to a bricks-and-mortar staple, the wildly successful bakery has expanded its reach, setting up a second outpost on Brunswick Street. The Fitzroy locale has settled into an intimate eatery seating up to 15 customers. Its casual fitout, designed by Studio Esteta, boasts an inviting and relaxed atmosphere with timber furniture, soft lighting and an eye-catching marbled stone bench. This eatery maintains its flagship venue's ethos, keeping takeaway at the core of its operations, hence its compact space. Swing by the store and you'll be met with familiar favourites, including its handcrafted doughnut range. Indulge in the popular creme brûlée, naughty tella and cookie monster flavours, or opt for the mamma jamma (a classic jam doughnut rolled in sugar) or the hole lotta cinnamon (as generously coated in cinnamon sugar) for timeless, no-fuss classics. If you prefer Bistro Morgan's cookies, you can take your pick from four decadent flavours: a good-old choc-chip cookie, a gluten-free double chocolate and pecan cookie, a red velvet flavour, or the gold chocolate and cookie butter option. And for those who enjoy surprises, you can also opt for either the cookie or doughnut flavour of the month. Rounding out the offering of sweet treats is the bakery's lightly-coated scrolls — there's a Nutella scroll, a cinnamon scroll and a Biscoff scroll to choose between. Struggling to make a decision? Opt for a six-pack instead. Whether it's doughnuts, scrolls or cookies you're after, you can take home half a dozen and indulge in all of the flavours on offer — or simply the ones that catch your eye. For those with a preference for savoury treats, the toastie range spans five varieties. Crowd favourites include the tomato and pesto-forward melt, plus the sauerkraut and pastrami-filled reuben — or opt for your own creation. And, you can wash down your selection of Bistro Morgan goods with a milkshake or a fresh brew from the curated variety of coffee on offer.
UPDATE, November 20, 2020: Cargo is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. The ravenous undead have been chomping their way across screens for decades. Still, if it seems like their appetite has kicked into higher gear in recent years, that's because it has. Or, perhaps more accurately, the viewing public's hunger for zombie fare has ramped up considerably. Undead thrillers, zombie comedies, long-running TV shows about the brain-eating hordes — we just can't get enough. It's a zombie feast, not a zombie famine, although don't go thinking that you've seen it all before. Australian film Cargo sinks its teeth into the undead basics, and yet still manages to carve out its own territory rather than mindlessly following the masses. With people scarce and zombies shuffling, the movie begins in a standard-enough fashion, plunging into an outbreak that transforms the living into the living dead in 48 hours. Andy (Martin Freeman) and Kay's (Susie Porter) solution is to stick to their houseboat and float down an outback river, which is the best thing they can do to keep their infant Rosie safe. Unfortunately, their sense of security is short-lived, leaving Andy scrambling across the dusty landscape to protect his baby. Also trying to cope with the new dystopian status quo is young Indigenous girl Thoomi (Simone Landers), with Cargo examining more than one fraught father-daughter relationship. Updating their 2013 Tropfest short of the same name to feature length, co-directors Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke know that less is more. A good zombie film doesn't need complicated scenarios or elaborate explanations, so the duo keep things simple. A great example of the genre puts more focus on the humans than the undead, so that's how the filmmakers approach their movie. You won't find heaving throngs of walking corpses here — but you will find a variety of folks handling the life-or-death crisis in different ways. Andy desperately searches for someone to look after Rosie. Ex-fracking worker Vic (Anthony Hayes) plans for the future in a far more insidious manner. And while Thoomi has managed to keep her zombified dad (Bruce R. Carter) around, her elders, lead by their cleverman Daku (David Gulpilil), have their own methods — and their own ideas about the source of the pandemic. If it's rare for a zombie flick to dive so deeply and thoughtfully into its characters, then it is rarer still for such a film to also ponder various kinds of death and destruction. Writing as well as co-helming, Ramke weaves both humanity's impact upon the environment and white settlers' treatment of Australia's aboriginal people into the narrative — and Cargo is all the better for it. While there's plenty that's familiar, especially if you're an undead connoisseur, the movie smartly and astutely plays up the many real-life parallels that come with its premise. These days, contemplating the end of existence as we know it goes hand-in-hand with contemplating our ecological footprint. Similarly, exploring a world where one part of the population terrorises another provides a timely exploration of race relations. Previous zombie stories have also drawn comparable conclusions, but where George A. Romero highlighted racism in Night of the Living Dead half a century ago, Cargo reclaims a space for Indigenous culture in the fight for survival. Amongst all of the above, and amidst the gorgeously shot South Australian backdrop, Freeman and Landers stand front and centre. The former might be a veteran and the latter a newcomer, but the movie wouldn't work quite as well without either. Freeman's recognisable everyman persona comes in handy, even if it makes you remember his trek across greener terrain in The Hobbit trilogy. Landers' naturalism couldn't be more buoyant, even in such a bleak film. One gets more screen time than the other, but together they embody Cargo's distinctive take on its well-worn genre. This involving, moving zombie drama initially ambles along a reliable path, yet isn't afraid to find its own direction — and isn't shy about blending the expected and the fresh in the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_SiHPtwQ7s
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS Somewhere in the multiverse, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is terrific. In a different realm, it's terrible. Here in our dimension, the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe teeters and twirls in the middle. The second movie to focus on surgeon-turned-sorcerer Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog), it's at its best when it embraces everything its director is known for. That said, it's also at its worst when it seems that harnessing Sam Raimi's trademarks — his visual style, bombast, comic tone and Evil Dead background, for instance — is merely another Marvel ploy. Multiverse of Madness is trippy, dark, sports a bleak sense of humour and is as close as the MCU has gotten to horror, all immensely appreciated traits in this sprawling, box office-courting, never-ending franchise. But it stands out for the wrong reasons, too, especially how brazenly it tries to appear as if it's twisting and fracturing the typical MCU template when it definitely isn't. Welcomely weirder than the average superhero flick (although not by too much), but also bluntly calculating: that's Multiverse of Madness, and that's a messy combination. It's apt given its eponymous caped crusader has always hailed from Marvel's looser, goofier and, yes, stranger side since his MCU debut in 2016's plainly titled Doctor Strange; however, it's hard to believe that such formulaic chaos was truly the plan for this follow-up. Similarly, making viewers who've long loved Raimi's work feel like their strings are so obviously being pulled, all for something that hardly takes creative risks, can't have been intentional. It's wonderful that Multiverse of Madness is clearly directed by the filmmaker who gave the world Army of Darkness and its predecessors, the Tobey Maguire-starring Spider-Man movies and Drag Me to Hell. It's fantastic that Raimi is helming his first feature since 2013's Oz the Great and Powerful, of course. But it's also deeply dispiriting to see the filmmaker's flourishes used like attention-grabbing packaging over the same familiar franchise skeleton. Multiverse mayhem also underscored Multiverse of Madness' immediate predecessor, for instance — aka 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home. That's the last time that audiences saw Stephen Strange, when he reluctantly tinkered with things he shouldn't to help Peter Parker, those actions had consequences and recalling Raimi's time with Spidey came with the territory. Strange's reality-bending trickery has repercussions here as well, because Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen, Sorry for Your Loss) isn't thrilled about her fellow super-powered pal's exploits. Yes, Multiverse of Madness assumes viewers have not only watched all 27 past MCU movies, but also its small-screen offshoots — or WandaVision at least, where the enchantress that's also Scarlet Witch broke rules herself and wasn't still deemed a hero. Multiverse of Madness begins before its namesake and Wanda cross paths after their not-so-smooth moves, actually. Strange's latest escapade kicks off with monsters, moving platforms, a shimmering book, and a girl he doesn't know and yet wants to save. It's a dream, but said teen — America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez, The Babysitters Club) — is soon part of his waking life. Hailing from another dimension and possessing the ability to hop through the multiverse, she's still being chased. Interrupting Strange's brooding at his ex-girlfriend Christine's (Rachel McAdams, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) wedding, rampaging critters reappear as well, while a sinister tome called The Dark Hold also factors in. The mission: save the girl and all possible worlds, aided by Strange's old friend and now-Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong, Nine Days), and via a run-in with nemesis Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Locked Down). Read our full review. PETITE MAMAN Forget the "find someone who looks at you like…" meme. That's great advice in general, and absolutely mandatory if you've ever seen a Céline Sciamma film. No one peers at on-screen characters with as much affection, attention, emotion and empathy as the French director. Few filmmakers even come close, and most don't ever even try. That's been bewitchingly on display in her past features Water Lillies, Tomboy, Girlhood and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, any of which another helmer would kill to have on their resume. It's just as apparent in Petite Maman, her entrancing latest release, as well. Now 15 years into her directorial career, Sciamma's talent for truly seeing into hearts and minds is unshakeable, unparalleled and such a lovely wonder to watch — especially when it shines as sublimely and touchingly as it does here. In Sciamma's new delicate and exquisite masterpiece, the filmmaker follows eight-year-old Nelly (debutant Joséphine Sanz) on a trip to her mother's (Nina Meurisse, Camille) childhood home. The girl's maternal grandmother (Margot Abascal, The Sower) has died, the house needs packing up, and the trip is loaded with feelings on all sides. Her mum wades between sorrow and attending to the task. With melancholy, she pushes back against her daughter's attempts to help, too. Nelly's laidback father (Stéphane Varupenne, Monsieur Chocolat) assists as well, but with a sense of distance; going through the lifelong belongings of someone else's mother, even your spouse's, isn't the same as sifting through your own mum's items for the last time. While her parents work, the curious Nelly roves around the surrounding woods — picture-perfect and oh-so-enticing as they are — and discovers Marion (fellow newcomer Gabrielle Sanz), a girl who could be her twin. The Sanz sisters are identical twins IRL, and why they've been cast is right there in Petite Maman's name. Spelling out anything further would be saying more than is needed going in; flitting through the story's intricacies alongside Nelly is one of its many marvels. Like all kids, she's naturally inquisitive about her parents' upbringings. "You never tell me about when you were children," she complains to her dad, who counters that, actually, he and her mother do. Like all kids, she's also keenly aware of the special alchemy that comes with following in your mother and father's youthful footsteps, all just by being in the house and roaming around the woods where her mum grew up. There's nothing as immersive in helping to understand why one of the people that brought you into the world became who they are. Indeed, it's no surprise that Sciamma and her cinematographer Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Spencer) shoot the film in golden and glowing autumnal hues. Nelly has questions for Marion, too, and vice versa; however, spending time in each other's company, watching the connection that springs and embracing every emotion it evokes is Sciamma's plan for the quickly thick-as-thieves pair. Explanations about what's happening are unnecessary; only the experience itself, the mood and the resonance it all holds are what matters. So, the girls do what kids do, whether amid all that ethereal greenery or inside Marion's home, decked out in vintage decor as it is, where Nelly meets her new pal's mother. The two girls play, including in a teepee-like hut made out of branches. They write and perform their own play, costumes and all. They share secrets, talk about their dreams for the future, make pancakes, bust out boardgames, and also float through their new friendship as if they're the only people who matter — in that intimate, serious and earnest way that children do with their friends. Read our full review. THE DROVER'S WIFE THE LEGEND OF MOLLY JOHNSON Leah Purcell's resume isn't short on highlights — think: Black Comedy, Wentworth and Redfern Now, plus Lantana, Somersault and Last Cab to Darwin (to name just a few projects) — but the Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri actor, director and writer clearly has a passion project. In 2016, she adapted Henry Lawson's short story The Drover's Wife for the stage. In 2019, she moved it back to the page. Now, she brings it to the big screen via The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Only minutes into her searing feature filmmaking debut, why Purcell keeps needing to tell this 19th century-set tale is patently apparent. In her hands, it's a story of anger, power, prejudice and revenge, and also a portrait of a history that's treated both women and Indigenous Australians abhorrently. Aussie cinema hasn't shied away from the nation's problematic past in recent times (see also: Sweet Country, The Nightingale, The Furnace and High Ground); however, this is an unforgettably potent and piercing movie. In a fiery performance that bristles with steeliness, Purcell plays the eponymous, gun-toting and heavily pregnant Molly. In the process, she gives flesh, blood and a name to a character who wasn't allowed the latter in Lawson's version. In this reimagining, Molly is a 19th-century Indigenous Australian woman left alone with her four children (and one on the way) on a remote Snowy Mountains property for lengthy stretches while her husband works — and that situation, including the reasons behind it and the ramifications from it, causes ripples that shape the course of the film. Two of the key questions that The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson asks couldn't be more obvious, but something doesn't have to be subtle to be potent and perceptive. Those queries: what impact does being marginalised twice over, as both a woman and a First Nations Australian, leave on the feature's protagonist? How has it forged her personality, shaped what she cares about and cemented what she's capable of? It's during her spouse's latest absence that the film unfurls its story, not with a snake but rather strangers trotting Molly and her children's way. New sergeant Nate Clintoff (Sam Reid, The Newsreader) and his wife Louisa (Jessica De Gouw, Operation Buffalo) decamp from England — both well-meaning, and the latter a journalist who even protests against domestic violence, but neither truly understands Molly's experience. Also darkening her door: her husband's pals (Dead Lucky's Anthony Cogin and Wakefield's Harry Greenwood), who make the male entitlement and privilege of the time brutally apparent. And, there's no shortage of other locals determined and downright eager to throw their might, morals and opinions around, be it the resident judge (Nicholas Hope, Moon Rock for Monday), the minister (Bruce Spence, The Dry) or his unwed sister (Maggie Dence, Frayed). As Purcell impresses in her stare and stance first and foremost, Molly doesn't let her guard down around anyone. The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson has the parade of supporting characters to show why, and to illustrate the attitudes its namesake has been forced to stomach silently her entire life. She sports physical markers, too; from the outset of this moody and brooding film, there's no doubting that violence is a familiar and frequent part of Molly's existence. But Aboriginal fugitive Yadaka (Rob Collins, Firebite) is one of the few figures to venture in her direction and earn more than her ferocious gaze. He's on the run from murder charges, although he states his real crime bluntly: "existing while Black". Around the Johnson property, he strikes up a warm camaraderie with Molly's eldest boy, 12-year-old Danny (newcomer Malachi Dower-Roberts) — and, in another of the script's point-blank strokes, he's soon the closest thing to an ally his wary host has ever had beyond her children. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on February 3, February 10, February 17 and February 24; and March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24 and March 31; and April 7, April 14, April 21 and April 28. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Belfast, Here Out West, Jackass Forever, Benedetta, Drive My Car, Death on the Nile, C'mon C'mon, Flee, Uncharted, Quo Vadis, Aida?, Cyrano, Hive, Studio 666, The Batman, Blind Ambition, Bergman Island, Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, The Souvenir: Part II, Dog, Anonymous Club, X, River, Nowhere Special, RRR, Morbius, The Duke and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore, Ambulance, Memoria, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Happening, The Good Boss, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Northman, Ithaka, After Yang, Downton Abbey: A New Era and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy.
2024 will be a year of many things, including the year that hitting the skies Down Under means travelling on the three safest airlines in the world. As it does every January, safety and rating website AirlineRatings.com has released its latest ranking of the best carriers to fly with. Coming out on top: Air New Zealand, closely followed by Qantas and Virgin Australia. Air NZ returned to first place after also doing the honours in 2022, taking over from 2023 winner Qantas. The latter has a long history of topping the list, doing so for eight years in a row from 2014–21. Virgin Australia has also proven a mainstay on the full rundowns each year, with the top 25 carriers named in 2024. "Our top 25 safest airlines are all standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety, innovation and launching of new aircraft. In fact, the safety margins between these top 25 airlines are very small," said AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas. "Between Air New Zealand and Qantas there is only 1.5 points. It's incredibly close." Wondering how Air NZ topped the list, then? The website called out the airline's "firm focus on safety", while also advising that it "has excelled across a broad safety spectrum right down to the smallest detail, and its pilots operate in some very challenging environments". The highly sought-after accolade chose its safest airlines for 2024 from a pool of 385 carriers from around the world. Factors that influence a carrier's placement on the list include crash and incident records, safety initiatives, fleet age, profitability, training assessments for expert pilots, and audits by aviation governing bodies, industry bodies and governments. Bird strikes and turbulence injuries aren't take into consideration, however, and neither are weather diversions and lightning strikes, given that airlines have no control over these issues. If you're a budget-conscious flyer, the website also outlines the 20 safest low-cost airlines. The winner this year also came from Down Under, with Jetstar emerging victorious. TOP 25 SAFEST AIRLINES FOR 2024: Air New Zealand Qantas Virgin Australia Etihad Airways Qatar Airways Emirates All Nippon Airways Finnair Cathay Pacific Airways Alaska Airlines SAS Korean Air Singapore Airlines EVA Air British Airways Turkish Airlines TAP Air Portugal Lufthansa/Swiss Group KLM Japan Airlines Hawaiian Airlines American Airlines Air France Air Canada Group United Airlines TOP 20 SAFEST LOW-COST AIRLINES FOR 2024: Jetstar easyJet Ryanair Wizz Norwegian Frontier Vueling Vietjet Southwest Volaris flyduba AirAsia Group (AirAsia, AirAsia X, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia India) Cebu Pacific Sun Country Spirit Westjet JetBlue Air Arabia Indigo Eurowings For the full AirlineRatings.com list, visit the airline safety and product rating review outfit's website.
It's amazing what you can do with a butter cake mix, vienna cream icing and some lollies. Indeed, if you grew up in Australia or New Zealand in the past four decades, it's highly likely that you've eaten that above combination many a time. You probably also begged for it to be served in various creative shapes and configurations at all of your childhood birthday parties. And, even when you were months and months away from next blowing out your candles, we're guessing that you pored over pictures of cakes made using those ingredients for hours and hours, studiously planning which one you wanted next. Yes, we're talking about the cake recipes that line the pages of the best kids' book there is: The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. If you didn't live in a house with one of these beloved tomes on its shelves when you were young, then you turned mighty green-eyed with envy at your friends who did — and now this source of so many happy cake memories is turning 40. That's reason enough to bake a cake, naturally. If you need some help, The AWW is releasing a new hard-cover anniversary version of the classic text, too. From Monday, August 17, the limited-edition book will return to newsagents and supermarkets (and, from Tuesday, August 18, to bookstores as well), complete with over 50 of those recipes you loved and obsessed over way back when. [caption id="attachment_778934" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The original 1980 cover[/caption] That includes the famed train cake, which graces the book's cover as it always has for all these years. In case you didn't commit the entire recipe collection to memory when you were a kid, other highlights span the swimming pool cake filled with green jelly, as well as the duck cake with a beak of potato chips. Or, there's also the liquorice-heavy witch cake, plus the meringue-covered towering castle cake (and if you've ever been lucky enough to have someone spend hours making the latter for you, you'd remember it). Whether you're isolating or quarantining, or just spending more time at home cooking like everyone has been in 2020, consider that your next baking project — or several — taken care of. The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book 40th Anniversary edition hits newsagents and supermarkets from Monday, August 17 — and will be available in bookstores, too, from Tuesday, August 18.
We take travelling seriously at Concrete Playground. Whether you're planning luxury getaways abroad, interstate camping trips, weekend jaunts to a city or bathing beachside, our team of avid travellers and destination-obsessives like to think we've got all the necessary tips for where to eat, drink, stay and hang out to get your itineraries in the best possible shape. But it has come to our attention that we've lapsed in our advice when it comes to what to put in your luggage. So, what must-have travel essentials should you be bringing with you on your next trip to make packing for your holiday a simple and stress-free task? In partnership with the folks at Kmart, we're going to share our top tips for packing, depending on what kind of adventure you are about to embark on. Carry-on Connoisseurs If you are attempting to eschew those ever-increasing checked luggage bag fees but aren't quite keen on stuffing a pillowcase with all your belongings, it might be time to assess what you are actually packing. If you've committed to confining yourself to cabin baggage alone, pack items that can do multiple jobs. A simple button-up shirt can be casual with jeans and a tee, a throw-on layer over swimwear, or be dressed up by buttoning it up and tucking it into your pants. Dresses are the ultimate outfit saviour if you favour a single-item outfit. With a simple hairstyle or accessories, a dress can take you from chill brunch to a luxe wine-tasting or fine-dining experience. Don't put yourself out, and ensure you are always looking your best, whether you are sipping on sparkling next to the Riviera or exploring food markets in Japan. Luxury Lovers There's nothing more luxurious than having options for everyday activities on your five-star getaway. But with all your outfit choices, how can you keep tabs on your belongings? Easy, get yourself organised with luggage organisers. Packing cubes are excellent for all kinds of travellers, whether you're hiking the Great Dividing Range or booking yourself into a relaxing retreat. Keep your items organised, from your electronics to your toiletries, your swimwear to your evening wear. With the right travel accessories, you'll never have to worry about where your perfect evening outfit or super luxurious sunhat is. International Explorers If you're that person who is constantly returning from an overseas trip and planning the next one, you probably need new luggage. All that travelling plays havoc on your baggage. From the usual wear and tear of being pulled through the terminals to the stress of being chucked around on baggage chutes, bus racks, taxi boots and more. Before you start planning your next vacation, make sure your bags are in good nick for overseas travel. You don't want to have to be scouring local supermarkets for duct tape. Get yourself sorted with a stylish new set, and you're basically halfway ready for your next adventure. Weekend Warriors Do you keep your eyes peeled for budget-friendly interstate flights or car hire sales for your next weekend escapade? Much like the Carry-on Connoisseurs above, you're only going for the weekend, so make sure you pack lightly (so you can fill your car/suitcase with all the local goodies you can). Whether you're heading for the hills or journeying to a dense metropolis, walking shoes are a must. No matter if you are a guy planning a luxe trip to the south Pacific or a gal heading to the mountains, the ratty trainers you've been rocking to the gym simply won't do (and neither will that stylish new pair you're yet to break in). Get comfy, versatile walking sneakers or boots that match your fave 'fit for city exploring or countryside wandering and wear them on the way to your weekend destination. Adventure Seekers If you love spending your weekends exploring the bush or hiking up mountains, it's important to be prepared and get your camping gear in order. A sturdy shoe, head torch and waterproof pack can make or break a weekend — so be prepared for every kind of weather and dress for the elements to change. Remember: it's cold at night, even during an Aussie summer. If you're a keen camper, stock up on gas fuel for your stove and a first aid pack (with sunscreen and bug spray). It's the times that you need it that you don't have it. Don't put yourself in that position and get prepped for adventure. Foodie Fanatics Do you spend your holidays sampling wines, tasting local produce and snagging the best dinner reservations in town? Dress to impress and pack a skirt that can bring you from the market to the restaurant in an instant. Whether you're more of a mini, midi, or maxi skirt kind of person, a stylish skirt can elevate your outfit for the perfect look for embarking on your epicurean adventure. Discover more of your must-have travel essentials over on Kmart's website.
UPDATE: June 10, 2020: Honey Boy is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. A Vietnam veteran and ex-rodeo clown who treats his pre-teen son more like a buddy than a child, James Lort is the role that Shia LaBeouf was born to play. He has certainly studied it more closely and carefully than any other part — more than his time befriending shape-shifting aliens in Transformers, undoubtedly — because he spent his whole childhood watching it in action. That's what kids do with their fathers. They don't usually write screenplays about the experience, then step into their own dad's shoes themselves, but that's the situation that LaBeouf is in. Basing Honey Boy on his years as a child actor, and on his father's involvement, the result is an astonishingly personal and revelatory film that continues the American Honey and The Peanut Butter Falcon star's recent stellar streak. The names have been changed — LaBeouf's real-life father is called Jeffrey Craig LaBeouf, and the actor's 12-year-old on-screen surrogate (A Quiet Place's Noah Jupe) goes by Otis — but Honey Boy smacks of emotional authenticity. Even if LaBeouf and first-time feature director Alma Har'el didn't show an older Otis (Ben is Back's Lucas Hedges) being coaxed by his counsellor (Laura San Giacomo) to talk about his dad, the whole film would resemble a therapy session. Honey Boy is that introspective, but it isn't indulgent or needlessly navel-gazing. Rather, this piece of catharsis delves into one rather famous figure's demons while recognising that his experiences have universal resonance. Although we haven't all become Disney TV stars before puberty, we've all had our lives shaped by complicated influences. 'Complicated' may be an easy catch-all term for anything that isn't straightforward; however it definitely applies to Otis and James. As the latter constantly reminds the former, he's the hands-on parent that takes Otis to work, helps him learn his lines and oversees his career. But he's also erratic, haunted by his regrets and struggling with his four years of sobriety. One day, James is regaling everyone with his stories and gags on the set of Otis' TV series. The next, he forgets to pick him up once shooting is done. He also frequently leaves Otis alone in the Los Angeles motel room they call home, argues over just who's the boss — Otis' earnings support the family and he pays James to be his manager, so that's a thorny question — or gets envious over the volunteer mentor (Clifton Collins Jr) who wants to take Otis to a baseball game. LaBeouf frames these incidents as memories, flickering in and out after 22-year-old Otis crashes his car, causes a scene, gets sent to rehab in lieu of prison and is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In the process, LaBeouf drenches the whole film in the confused emotional state of someone who's scarred by his upbringing (hence the PTSD), yet also appreciates his dad's own problems and just loves his father like every kid does. This isn't an idealised, nostalgic look backwards, or a work of unfettered anger. Honey Boy, like LaBeouf himself, pinballs between multiple extremes. It should come as no surprise that this frank and sincere movie was written while LaBeouf was in rehab himself, and that it always feels like he's confronting issues he knows will never completely be resolved. That's LaBeouf's recent career in a nutshell, both on and off the screen. Growing up in the spotlight, he has acted out his pain in reckless, risky and very public ways — and also channelled it into his art. When he wore a paper bag over his head, declaring "I am not famous anymore", he told the world he was more than just a celebrity. When he live-streamed himself watching a marathon of all of his own movies, he signalled his need to interrogate his history. Both received countless headlines, many dismissing LaBeouf as attention-seeking and vain; however they each exist on the same ruminative and purgative continuum as playing his own dad in a film about his childhood. It's no wonder that LaBeouf's raw performance as James feels so lived-in, whether the character is manic or melancholy, testing his son's love or baring his secrets at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It's a portrayal based not just on fact, but on a lifetime of feelings — and it's the centrepiece of an emotionally heavy, unwaveringly honest and touchingly heartfelt feature that welcomes viewers into LaBeouf's traumas. That intensity isn't just his alone, though. Jupe and Hedges, two of the best actors in their respective age groups, potently capture Otis' conflict and turmoil. In bit parts, Collins, San Giacomo and FKA Twigs (as a "shy girl" who befriends the young Otis when James is out) also flesh out his volatile world. And, at every turn, Har'el finds an evocative and kinetic way to bring Otis' experiences to the screen, including by giving the whole film a dreamlike, hyperreal look and feel. The movie's first transition between the older and younger versions of the character, blasting each backwards while they're shooting — and while Jupe and Hedges both stare directly into the camera — immediately sets Honey Boy's reflective and expressive tone, and this intimate wander through LeBeouf's heart and soul doesn't let up from there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hroo3-sKc0w
Fitzroy's new specialty food store is getting into the summer spirit, teaming up with the folks from PB's Bar & Eatery to transform its kerbside seating area into a pop-up prosecco bar primed for the balmy afternoons to come. Gertrude Grocer's new-look footpath terrace will be open daily through the summer months, helping you ease into the new year with a selection of grazing boards piled high with your pick of cheese, charcuterie and vegan delights. Mix-and-match options start from $30 for a two-person spread, with accompaniments like paté, quince paste, lavosh and freshly baked bread showcasing top picks from the Gertrude Grocer shelves. To match, you'll find fizzy delights from King Valley prosecco pioneers Dal Zotto (by the glass and bottle), easy-drinking tinnies from Brick Lane Brewing and Willie Smith, and a tight selection of other wines to suit any lazy summer grazing session. This one's open from 2pm until late Monday–Wednesday and from noon until late across the rest of the week.
Taking over the lush grounds of the Heide Museum of Modern Art sculpture park once a month, the Heide Market always makes for an idyllic Saturday session of shopping, eats and tunes. But this month, the pop-up marketplace is turning on the festive charms, hosting a special Christmas edition on Saturday, December 11. As always, there'll be a broad-ranging lineup of stallholders making an appearance, so you can put a big dent in your Christmas gift shopping all at once. Expect everything from fashion to food products, ceramics to art, and homewares to jewellery. There'll be coffee and food stalls to help fuel your shopping adventures, and as always, pooches are allowed to come along. You'll even spy some pet treats and doggy items among the lineup, should you wish to spoil a very good boy or girl. It all kicks off at 10am.
UPDATE: APRIL 27, 2020 — Since it was released at 6pm on Sunday, April 26, over one million Australians have downloaded the COVIDSafe app. The government has previously said for it to be effective, it needs 40 percent of the population — around 10 million people — to download it. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison outlined seven conditions under which Australia's social distancing and public gathering restrictions could be relaxed, at the earliest, in mid May. One of those was significantly expanding testing, which was rolled out on Friday, and another was a contact tracing app. The latter has been launched tonight, Sunday, April 26, by the Australian Government. Called COVIDSafe, the voluntary app is now available for Australians to download for Android and iOS. It works by keeping an encrypted log of the people you have been in close contact with, aiming to help health authorities more quickly trace potential positive COVID-19 cases and contain community outbreaks. To do this, the app, once downloaded, asks you to input four pieces of information: your mobile phone number, your name, your age range and your postcode. Then, if you're in contact with someone else who has the app for more than approximately 15 minutes and within less than 1.5 metres, it will via a 'bluetooth handshake' collect that person's encrypted app user ID, the date and time of contact and their bluetooth signal strength. Nothing happens to this data unless you're diagnosed with COVID-19. If you are, you'll be contacted by a state or territory public health official and you'll have to consent a second time before the data is sent to a national data store, which can only be accessed by health officials. If you're not diagnosed with COVID-19, the data on your app is deleted after 21 days. If you come into close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 21 days, and they consent to sharing their app data to the national store, a state or territory health official will give you a call, so you can self-isolate and get tested [caption id="attachment_768682" align="alignnone" width="1920"] COVIDSafe[/caption] According to Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, the information on the app is protected both physically and by law. It's encrypted and Hunt has "already signed into law on behalf of the government a biosecurity act and determination, which prevents access and ensures the data has to be kept on an Australian server". "It cannot leave the country. It cannot be accessed by anybody other than a state public health official," Hunt said in a press conference today. "It cannot be used for any purpose other than the provision of the data for the purposes of finding people with whom you have been in close contact with, and it is punishable by jail if there is a breach of that." The app also does not use geolocation and the Australian Government has also published a privacy policy statement for the app on its website. But there are some still some concerns about the app's privacy and security. In a joint statement released this afternoon, the Digital Rights Watch, Human Rights Law Centre and Centre for Responsible Technology urged the Australian Government to "fill in obvious gaps in the development of the tracing technology". "The tracing app will only be effective if enough Australians feel confident downloading and using it," the joint statement said. "However the alliance believes that won't happen unless the Morrison Government answers outstanding questions about the safety and privacy of Australians' information." Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously stated that the app would be effective if at least 40 percent of Australian downloaded it, while Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy today said he considered "a good uptake" as well over half of Australians. COVIDSafe is now available to download for Android and iOS. To find out more head to the Australian Government Department of Health website.
When Skyfall initially hit cinemas back in 2012, it did so in a big way. The 23rd film in the Bond franchise — and handily releasing on the 50th anniversary of the series' first movie — the flick not only became the first in the saga to make more than a billion dollars at the box office, but ranked as the second highest-grossing title of the year after The Avengers. It also picked up two Oscars, two BAFTAs, a Golden Globe, two Grammys and a wealth of critical acclaim. The response was understandable. As well as the usual espionage antics, shaken-not-stirred martinis, suits and new standout theme song — all Bond trademarks — Skyfall ranked among the long-running franchise's best films so far. And if you've been hankering to revisit it again on the silver screen, it's returning to Sydney and Melbourne with a live score. Following in the footsteps of the Star Wars and Harry Potter films, as well as Bond's own Casino Royale, Skyfall will grace the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne's Hamer Hall, with help from both the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Audiences will relive Daniel Craig's third stint as 007, as well as Javier Bardem's memorable turn as the resident villain, all while hearing the music behind the movie as they've never heard it before. For those in need of a bigger refresher on the flick, it steps into Bond's backstory as he battles Bardem's ex-MI6 operative-turned-cyberterrorist. After the disappointing Quantum of Solace, the film welcomed director Sam Mendes to the series, who would also helm Spectre. And, given its billion-dollar-plus haul, it became the biggest Bond film, box office-wise, ever released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozgZvg3cggE Both the SSO and MSO will perform composer Thomas Newman's award-winning score — the former across two shows this November, and the latter in a duo of screenings in April 2020. Obviously, the classic theme track that's served the franchise so well for more than half a century now also features. And, for folks in Melbourne, the timing couldn't be better, with the latest Bond flick due to hit regular cinemas in early April as well. Skyfall in Concert plays the Sydney Opera House on Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23 in 2019, then heads to Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4 in 2020. Tickets for the Sydney shows go on sale on Monday, July 29, with pre-sales from Monday, July 22, with further details available via the SSO website. Tickets for Melbourne are on sale now via the MSO website.
They topped Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2002. They've featured Dave Grohl on drums. Their third studio album Songs for the Death is one of the all-time-great 00s records. They're Queens of the Stone Age, of course, and now they're bringing their latest tour Down Under in 2024, with the band heading our way for the first time in six years. The Josh Homme-fronted group's The End Is Nero tour is their first trip to Australasia since 2018, and comes after their eighth album In Times New Roman... released in June 2023. Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita and Jon Theodore are giving their latest shows an apocalyptic theme, which fans can look forward to seeing in Melbourne on Monday, February 19. [caption id="attachment_923130" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andreas Neumann[/caption] Concertgoers can look forward to a setlist that steps through QOTSA's 27-year history, including their Hottest 100 winner 'No One Knows', plus everything from 'Go with the Flow' and 'Make It Wit Chu' to 'Emotion Sickness' and 'The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret'. In support at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl: Pond and Gut Health. Queens of the Stone Age formed in Seattle in 1996 after Homme's prior band Kyuss split up, is linked to the Palm Desert music scene and have seven Grammy nominations to their name. Despite the long gap since their last trip Down Under, they're no strangers to playing Australia, including a joint tour with Nine Inch Nails back in 2014. Top image: Wünderbrot via Wikimedia Commons
Experience the fusion of music, dance and circus as Velvet Rewired hits Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre for a strictly limited season of just 15 shows from Wednesday, April 26. First launched at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2015, this sparkling production features an international lineup of circus performers, dancers and vocalists led by the talented Marcia Hines in the aptly named role of 'The Diva', Joe Accaria as 'The DJ', plus the dazzling dancer and choreographer Marc 'FullOut' Royale. With a fresh new vision from director Craig Ilott, whose credits include B-Girl, L-Hotel and Amadeus, Velvet Rewired is a fantastical journey into a world of dreams, life and fulfilment. Be enthralled by the non-stop disco hits and flawless glamour of this big, bold and beautiful production. Don't miss your chance to experience Velvet Rewired in Melbourne, with just 15 shows to catch this resplendent spectacle. Book your tickets now and get ready to be transported to a world of sequins, glitter, and non-stop entertainment. Velvet Rewired is showing in the Athenaeum Theatre for 15 shows only from Wednesday, April 26—Sunday, May 7. Book tickets online at velvetrewired.com.au
The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival is currently in full swing, with a program packed with stellar documentaries about issues of global importance. We've already weighed in with our picks of the litter, highlighting films about everything from poverty to political corruption. But if you'll indulge us, we'd like to submit one more entry for you to consider: a critically acclaimed portrait of the European refugee crisis that is being presented at the festival with live musical accompaniment. Nominated for Best Documentary at this year's Academy Awards, Fire at Sea takes place on a small island off the coast of Italy, one that has become a refuge for thousands of displaced people attempting to reach mainland Europe. The film will screen at ACMI on Thursday, May 11 complete with a live score performed by Evelyn Morris. She'll be joined by the band Music Yared, whose members will perform on traditional instruments from Ethiopia.
The next time you go out dining and drinking and get that warm, fuzzy feeling, it might not be because you've had one too many. Hopefully, it'll be because the money you spent on your meal and beverage is being used to support an extremely important cause. That's one of the aims of Scarf's regular dinners, with the proceeds used to provide migrants with training, mentoring and employment in the hospitality industry. The social enterprise works to help refugees, asylum seekers and recent migrants find work by raising awareness and funding barriers to employment. To date, 182 young people have been supported through this program. Running on Tuesdays between March 20 and May 15, the series kicks off in line with Cultural Diversity Week, and it's Stomping Ground Beer Hall's turn to play host. Each dinner features a two-course set menu for $45 a head, complete with meals such as grilled Cone Bay barramundi with spinach, fennel and burnt butter, and Black Angus short rib with pearl onions and black cabbage. A dinner that is sure to inspire the community to do some good, this campaign by Scarf will leave you with a full stomach and heart.
Every year, the Japanese Film Festival, presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney, takes over cinema screens across Australia. But, thanks to the global pandemic, the annual cinematic event will look a little different this time around, returning for its 24th year as a digital festival called JFF Plus. So, warm up the popcorn and get ready for ten days of Japanese flicks that you can catch from the comfort of your couch. If there's one thing that Japanese cinema is known for, it's variety. So, expect everything from heartfelt anime to time travel adventures and geisha-inspired musical comedies. Overall, there'll be more than 25 films in this year's online program, covering feature-length flicks, documentaries and shorts, with a mix of new titles and cult classics. Highlights include quirky rom-com Tremble All You Want, family drama One Night, a documentary on the on the world-famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo and legendary director Yasujirō Ozu's 1952 film The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice. Oh and did we mention it's free? [caption id="attachment_788623" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Tsukiji Wonderland', 2016 Shochiku Co., Ltd.[/caption] To check out the full program, head to the Japanese Film Festival website. Top images: 'One Night', 2019 'One Night' Film partners; 'The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice', 1952/2017 Shochiku Co., Ltd.; and 'Tremble All You Want', 2017 'Tremble All You Want' Production Committee.
There's something special about escaping to the country for the weekend. We're talking fresh air, a slow pace and loads of delicious local produce to sample. This year, however, it's been a bit trickier to achieve the booze and food-fuelled weekend of our dreams. So if you, like us, are craving a weekend getaway, we've got just the thing to fill the mini break-shaped hole in your heart. This spring, the high country is coming to your home thanks to our pals at Reed & Co Distillery — a family-owned gin distillery based in the Victorian Alpine region town of Bright. Across two Thursdays in September, you and your mates could experience the interactive at-home gin tasting class High Spirits with head distiller and owner of Reed & Co Distillery, Hamish Nugent. Throughout the class, Nugent will guide you through a gin tasting session, teach you how to make the perfect gin and tonic and even take you on a virtual tour of where the magic happens in the distillery. Sound like something you want to sign up to? You can. Just make sure you register at least a week before the session date so the tasting kit will get to you in time. There's nothing sadder than a gin tasting session without gin. Inside the kit you'll find five 100ml spirits, 200ml of Fever-Tree tonic water, a gorgeous garnish pack, creative recipe cards and helpful tasting notes. High Spirits by Reed & Co Distillery will kick off at 7pm on Thursday, September 9 and Thursday, September 16. To get yourself all set for a big night in sampling gin and to book, visit the website.
UPDATE: MAY 2, 2019 — Whether you have made Willow Wine your new local or have yet to pay it a visit, we suggest scheduling in an after-work session on an upcoming Friday. The wine bar cafe has just launched a Friday happy hour, which includes wines, spritzes and toasties — all for $9 each. It kicks off at 6–8pm this Friday, May 3. The inner west's ever-booming booze scene continues its charge, with the arrival of Kingsville newbie, Willow Wine Cafe. The charming 20-seater marks the first solo venture for local, Ellen Turner, whose hefty hospitality resume includes stints at Gin Palace, Collins Quarter, Seddon Wine Store and even Shanghai's Glamour Bar. Most recently home to a cricket shop, the Williamstown Road building now sports a comfy mix of recycled timbers and repurposed fittings, all warm, natural finishes and cheery glow. Open from 8am until 7pm, Tuesday through Sunday, it's a space that slips easily from morning coffees to those after-work wines. You'll find the early crowd tucking into Five Senses lattes, brekkie boards and crumpets, while loaded toasties and a range of milk bun rolls — perhaps filled with hot smoked trout, crème fraîche and dill — are the stars come lunchtime. Local produce is the focus and the glass cake cabinets filled with treats from the likes of Brasserie Bread, Candied Bakery and Söt by Mörk. The wine list also flies the flag for locality, with a solid crop of Victorian labels backed by a careful curation of drops from further afield. An ever-rotating by-the-glass selection is primed for post-work drop-ins, best enjoyed alongside some of the locally sourced cheese and charcuterie. You'll find a range of wines available to take away, too, while a program of seasonal dinners, tasting events and a Willow wine subscription service are also on the cards. Images: Michelle Matthews
