When Australia's international borders reopen to the world in November — and when Aussies are permitted to fly overseas for holidays again from Monday, November 1 — that'll only fix one problem when it comes to travelling the globe. Obviously, being allowed to leave the country for a getaway is a big step, especially after more than 18 months of doing exactly that being banned. But being permitted to enter whichever destination you're heading to is obviously just as important. Different countries have different rules about who can visit — and, crucially, the requirements also vary regarding vaccination status. Also, once you've made it into your destination, the conditions might also vary regarding showing you're vaxxed to step inside venues and attend events. Accordingly, proving that you've been double-jabbed isn't something you'll only need to do at home — in New South Wales and Victoria under their reopening roadmaps, for example. So, the Australian Government is launching an international travel certificate that shows if you've been double-vaccinated. It'll become available for use from Tuesday, October 19. As announced on Sunday, October 17, the 'International COVID-19 proof of vaccination' certificate will be provided to Aussies and Aussie visa holders — as long as you have a valid passport, and also your COVID-19 vaccination has been recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR). You will still need to request one, though, which you can do either by accessing your Medicare account through My Gov or using the Medicare Express app. If you're wondering how it'll work when you're travelling, the new certificate includes a secure QR code that border authorities around the world can access, letting them confirm your COVID-19 vax status. It'll also be marked with a visible digital seal for security purposes, and has been designed to meet the new global standard for these types of passes — as specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization and conforms with World Health Organization guidance. For more information about showing your vaccination status for international travel, visit the Services Australia website.
There's a reason the suburbs are such great fodder for writers. The suburban street is a meeting point of public and private. It's a place where we recognise faces, but don't remember names; a place where new picket fences, flaking weatherboards, and unkept gardens work to keep our stories separate but end up uniting us in small and incidental ways. Neighbourhood Watch is grounded in these dual ideas — a story of lives once lived parallel colliding in small, incidental, and often meaningful ways. Understandably, Neighbourhood Watch is first and foremost a character study. Once the barricades of suburban isolation are broken with a few awkward trips to the curb for bin night, we're let into the private lives of two purposefully opposing protagonists. There's Catherine (Megan Holloway), a struggling young actress and altogether flimsy stereotype of the troubled millennial. Then Ana (Robyn Nevin), a headstrong Hungarian migrant who lives alone with her ravenous German Shepherd, Bella, after surviving a World War and outliving two husbands. No prizes for guessing who steals the show. Ana, based on a real acquaintance of the playwright Lally Katz, is a spectacularly loveable character. Always giving advice and sharing stories, her broken English and obtrusive confidence give dark humour to a character with a sad and familiar story. Ana is the neighbour we have all had at one time. The old lady across the street that wants to have "just one" coffee with you. As Catherine deals with her own personal trauma she forms an unlikely friendship with Ana, becoming the child (or grandchild) she never had. Tales of Ana's past are then told expertly through the aid of minimal sets or props and a revolving stage which is utilised for dynamic shifts between scenes and great tension in one particular moment of conflict. More so, the lighting design by Damien Cooper is superb, creating both intimate moments of focus, and surreal looming shadows that linger above the figures as reminders of Ana's past oppressors. In comparison to such grandeur, Catherine's back story seems underdeveloped and, due to no real fault of Holloway, the young character gets lost alongside the magnificent presence cast by both Nevin and her feisty alter-ego. Nonetheless, the relationship between the women feels both genuine and unique and the story is rich with the injection of Ana's stories. The remainder of the cast, too, add various forms of comic relief and authenticity through their varied portrayal of characters past and present. The main problem, if you are going to have one, is with the obvious trajectory Katz shoots for here. The unlikely friendship of the main characters and the obvious focus on lesson learning will be heartwarming to some, and overwhelmingly twee for others. Though, even if you leave unsatisfied with the story, the masterful creation of character will make up for it. Nevin's bittersweet and fierce portrayal of Ana is undeniable — a show unto itself.
White Night's hustle and bustle is back again — and, because one evening isn't enough, it's tripling its duration. Called White Night Reimagined, the revamped festival will take over the city with installations, music, performances and other one-off cultural happenings, including a subterranean bar underneath Federation Square. Fancy joining in the fun, but avoiding the huge crowds? From Thursday, August 22 to Saturday, August 24, you can climb down to Fed Square's depths, all as part of its second Sensory Underground pop-up. The first one, an immersive restaurant scheduled for the end of July, has proven such a hit that it'll return as a bar. Think futuristic lights, sensory installations and plenty of drinks, all beneath street level. With its feast of sights, sounds, scents, textures and tastes, the White Night Reimagined Asahi After Dark Bar also forms part of Fed Square's Anything But Square Festival, so you won't be lacking in things to do over the jam-packed three days. To find the space, you'll need to enter through Platform 13 at Flinders Street Station. Then, once inside, you'll sip brews surrounded by light installations by artist Kit Webster, listen to music by English electro musician Rival Consoles, watch performances by Paul Findlay and immersive yourself in a virtual reality wellness spa by local tech studio Phoria. Tickets cost $20 per person for a two-hour visit, with the White Night Reimagined Asahi After Dark Bar running three sessions each evening: from 7–9pm, 9–11pm, and 11–late. Images: courtesy Kit Webster.
The King is dead, but his voice lives on. Presented by SPARC Theatre, an ensemble made up of adults living in unstable housing around the City of Port Phillip, Are You Lonesome Tonight? mixes songs with personal stories about loneliness and love in a show inspired by the music of the one and only Elvis Presley. This unique show will run for just three nights, starting Friday, November 20, at St Kilda's Greyhound Hotel. With more than a touch of Vegas cabaret glamour, members of the company will draw on personal history throughout the performance, showcasing their diverse range of experiences and talents. According to artistic director Katie Lockett, SPARC helps to "celebrate and give voice to people who are not often seen or heard...connecting our ensemble to their community, and allowing their creativity to shine". Image: Danny Quinlivan, photo by Rachel Edward.
When the ABC announced that Spicks and Specks would return in 2024 after sitting 2023 out, it was big news, as anything to do with the hit Australian take on the UK's Never Mind the Buzzcocks always is. IRL, here's something just as exciting: the Brisbane-born and -based Not On Your Rider is also back for this year, although it didn't take a year off. On the agenda: playing a music quiz show filled with well-known faces live — and yes, the audience gets to play, too, including in Melbourne in April. You'll be peering at a stage, rather than a screen. You'll be answering questions, of course. And if it has you thinking about pub trivia nights, they don't include The Creases' Aimon Clark — who is also behind Isolation Trivia — hosting, or Patience Hodgson from The Grates and Jeremy Neale from Velociraptor captaining the two teams, let alone a heap of entertainment-industry guests. At past events, guests have included Murray Cook from The Wiggles, Broden Kelly and Mark Samual Bonanno from Aunty Donna, Boy Swallows Universe author Trent Dalton, Agro, Cal Wilson, Ben Lee, Steven Bradbury, Kate Miller-Heidke, Robert Irwin, Ranger Stacey, Craig Lowndes and Tim Rogers. Among the other musicians who've featured, Powderfinger, Dune Rats, DZ Deathrays, Ruby Fields, Ball Park Music, The Jungle Giants and The Go-Betweens have all had members take to the stage. Melburnians can join in on one 2024 date: Thursday, April 18 at Brunswick Ballroom. The event is coming to town for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Here's how it works: Not On Your Rider takes something that everyone loves — showing off their music trivia knowledge — and dials it up a few notches. While the two on-stage teams are always filled with musos, comedians, drag queens and other guests, anyone can buy a ticket, sit at a table and answer questions along with them. The quiz element is accompanied by chats about the music industry, plus other mini games involving attendees. Images: Dave Kan / Bianca Holderness.
Ever watched a film, then wanted to spend more time with the characters? Maybe there’s more to their story you’d like to glean, or events you’d like to see fleshed out. Perhaps you’d prefer one person’s point of view over another. In deconstructing a relationship tinged with tragedy, that’s a choose-your-own-adventure experience The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby can offer. That, and getting a certain Beatles’ song stuck in your head, even though it doesn’t feature on the soundtrack. Writer/director Ned Benson’s first feature is actually three features, with fitting subtitles: Them, Him and Her. The individual parts came first, showing love consumed by grief in a he-said, she-said fashion. Combining and condensing them into one movie was an attempt to make the project more mainstream-friendly. Benson has advised that they can be watched in any order, but only Them is screening in Australian cinemas, with Him and Her available on video on demand. The tale the films tell is that of Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) and Conor (James McAvoy), a couple whose happy days seem long gone. To escape their troubles, she disappears from their apartment, moves in with her parents (Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt) and goes back to college. He searches for her then tries to win her back, while struggling to keep his bar open. Though shot and edited like memories of the past rather than living in the present, it’s a simple, emotional story of fading romance and misfortune seen many times before — “all the lonely people, where do they call come from?” and all that. Them works fine as a standard, standalone relationship drama, its mood of melancholy leaving a firm imprint, and its excellent lead performances by Chastain and McAvoy — both close to their career-best — lifting the well-worn material. What’s missing is anything more than broad strokes, in the narrative and about the characters. Them tells us very little, other than the obvious: she’s unhappy, he’s lost without her, they love each other but can’t find a way to move forward together. Supporting players such as Eleanor’s sister (Jess Weixler) and college professor (Viola Davis) and Conor’s best mate (Bill Hader) and father (Ciarán Hinds) also seem flimsy, each just someone to lean on. The merged film sketches an outline of everyone and everything, leaving Him and Her to fill in the gaps. Also absent in the abridged package are differences in perception and perspective. Here, more is more; it is difficult to see Eleanor and Conor’s varying takes on their marriage and its downfall when it’s all smashed together. Not the broad strokes, of course, but the detail. Showing how they each view the same events, exchanges and conversations in distinctive ways isn’t just a gimmick — it’s crucial in understanding the characters and the scenario. In that respect, perhaps Them does exactly what it is designed to do: whet the appetite, spark fascination and inspire viewers to seek out the rest of the story. That’s certainly our recommendation. There’s a familiar tale told well, shot stylishly and acted with aching insight in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, as long as you get the whole picture.
Summer has finally arrived — and Melbourne Museum is set on making the most of those warm days and long, balmy nights. From Saturday, December 24–Sunday, February 26, its Plaza will come alive for Summer of Play, complete with a jam-packed program of fun for young and old. You can take a nostalgic trip back to childhood with a ride on the dazzling Light Seesaw or the luminous swings emblazoned with the words 'I Believe'; both the work of art and technology studio ENESS. Challenge your mates to games of handball and ping pong, with equipment available from the Plaza Play Concierge. And once you've worked up a sweat, hit the ice cream truck, which is scooping museum-inspired treats from 11am Wednesday to Sunday. Meanwhile, weekend evenings are kicking on late for Plaza Nights (January 6–28). From 5pm Friday and 2pm Saturday, nab a spot in the al fresco lounge to enjoy pop-up bars, DJs, food trucks and plenty more ping pong matches. You can also score after-hours access to the museum's Tyama exhibition, book a twilight tour of the newly revamped Dome Promenade (atop the Royal Exhibition Building) and hit a late-night IMAX screening of Avatar: The Way of Water. [caption id="attachment_864171" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Tyama', by Eugene Hyland[/caption]
The animals at Victoria's Werribee Open Range Zoo haven't had a whole heap of visitors of late, with zoos some of the many venues forced to shut their doors as the state raced to contain the pandemic (twice). But, in the not-too-distant future, the zoo's giraffes, ostriches, rhinos and bison will have plenty of two-legged folk gawking at them, as the venue prepares to undergo an $84-million makeover in a bid to make it Australia's leading open range zoo. Located 35 kilometres southwest of Melbourne's CBD, Werribee already offers a heap 'animal experiences', including giraffe feeding, bus safaris and sleepovers, but none are quite as fancy as what it's about to get: a treetop Sky Safari gondola. The 1.6-kilometre tour will have 360-degree views of the zoo and the You Yangs. [caption id="attachment_788817" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Werribee Open Range Zoo by Visit Victoria[/caption] The zoo's makeover will also include a 22-hectare home for the six Asian elephants currently located at Melbourne Zoo, a new rhino and bison site, and a waterhole precinct for humans. Construction on the zoo is expected to kick off this year. In the meantime, it remains open to those who live within 25 kilometres — and, from November 9, hopefully everyone in Victoria. To encourage local to visit, both Werribee Open Range Zoo and Melbourne Zoo are keepings their doors open until 8pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So, you can head there for a socially distanced picnic and watch the animals at sunset. With limited capacities, bookings are essential and can be made at the zoos' websites. Find Werribee Open Range Zoo at K Road, Werribee South. We'll let you know when the new features open.
So you missed out on one of the free Love Is Love tees. And one of those bloody adorable pup raincoats. But all hope of fulfilling your Gorman dreams is not lost. This weekend, the Aussie brand is holding a huge two-day sale at Fitzroy Town Hall. That means you'll be able to nab a massive 80 percent off those instantly recognisable prints and geometric patterns. There will be pieces, accessories and shoes from previous seasons — apparently starting at as little at five bucks. Here's hoping you can nab a hard-to-find human polka-dot raincoat or a dress that's been hanging around from the Atelier Bingo collab. The sale will run from 8am–6pm on Saturday, June 23 and 9am–4pm on Sunday, June 24.
For the dessert fiends at Gelato Messina, it isn't enough to sit in the chain's brand-new Marrickville headquarters in Sydney and dream up every kind of wild and delicious ice cream flavour that anyone could possibly think of. The Messina crew do that, and often, of course. But they also apply their sweet treat-loving minds to creating next-level limited-edition specials, often taking a beloved dish, adding gelato and then giving it another twist. Here's the latest: Messina's Vovovroom, aka its frosty version of Iced Vovo biscuits, which it has indeed made before. This time around, it's adding mango. Why? The better question is: why not? So, first everyone's favourite childhood biscuit is getting the gelato treatment — again. But because that's already been on Messina's menu, it's now adding in a flavour that most folks love just as much. Wondering what exactly the end result entails? It comes filled with layers of toasted coconut and mango gelato, plus mango salsa and shortbread. Then, it's topped with piped Italian meringue and desiccated coconut. Yes, the end result looks like the bikkies you know and love — but in a mango hue, obviously, and in a scoopable form. Messina's mango Vovovroom gelato tubs can only be ordered online on Monday, April 17 for collection between Friday, April 21–Sunday, April 23 Messina now opens its orders at various times for various places, so you'll want to hop online at 9am for Queensland and Australian Capital Territory stores, 9.15am for Victorian shops, and at either 9.30am, 9.45am or 10am depending on where you are in New South Wales. Gelato Messina's Mango Vovovroom gelato tubs will be available to order on Monday, April 17, for pick up between Friday, April 21–Sunday, April 23 — head to the Messina website for further details.
Even if you know Bendigo inside out, you'll experience it in a whole new light during Bendigo Uncorked Week. For ten delicious days, the town's historical buildings will host an array of creative events dedicated to foodies and winos looking to try something new. Bendigo is known for its robust shiraz and cabernet sauvignon drops thanks to deep soil and high sun exposure. But the festival seeks to highlight the region's full and distinct offering which also includes chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc and sangiovese. Get started at Bendigo Heritage After Dark on Friday, October 12. This intimate experience will see you head into the Fortuna Villa's Gold Crushing Room to try 40 wines from the Bendigo region to the sweet sounds of live music. The following day, you can spend a few hours wandering through seven heritage buildings in central Bendigo, where several local vineyards will be serving boutique drops alongside a selection of tasty bites. After dark, settle in at Burnt Acre Vineyard for a six-course banquet with matching wines, including the sold-out 2015 Burnt Acre shiraz. Once you sip it, you'll know why it sold out (and won best shiraz at last year's Bendigo Uncorked Week). Other escapades planned across the festival include an evening of traditional north Italian fare and a night at the movies hosted by Sandhurst Ridge Wines. Check out the rest of the program here. To discover more events and spring experiences in regional Victoria visit: Your Happy Space.
Unfolding over 200 kilometres, the country's largest outdoor gallery will soon play host to the new Silo Art Hotel — a luxury, street art-themed pop-up getaway located in Sea Lake, near the northwest corner of the art trail's looped route. Announced today, Monday May 17, the Silo Art Hotel will give visitors an opportunity to spend the night just a short hop away from the trail's many spectacular visual offerings. Located beside the vivid pink waters of Lake Tyrrell, the hotel is crafted from three repurposed shipping containers, two of which have been transformed into luxe suites. The third has been reimagined as a heated open-air swimming pool, ideal for weary travellers after a long day spent exploring the region. It's all appearing for just one month, from June 11–July 12 this year. A joint effort from Visit Victoria and street art collective Juddy Roller, the Silo Art Hotel will offer some visual splendours of its own with the Matt Adnate Suite and Drapl & Zookeeper Suite each kitted out with never-before-seen artworks from their respective namesake artist. Adnate concepted and created the mural on the Sheep Hills silos in 2016, while Drapl & The Zookeeper are behind the collaboration that has graced the Sea Lake silos since 2019. A colourful mural by Rosebery silo artist Kaff-eine will adorn one side of the pop-up swimming pool. [caption id="attachment_812361" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Sea Lake silos, featuring artwork by Drapl and The Zookeeper.[/caption] The Silo Art Hotel design is the work of Contained — the same crew behind The Wine Down pop-up winery hotels. The two self-contained hotel rooms boast high-end features including fancy Cultiver linen and robes, Australian-made toiletry products and a mini bar stocked with local goodies. Each room will also boast a private deck, ensuite bathroom and reverse cycle heating and cooling. The Silo Art Trail has been slowly and steadily expanding since its conception in 2016. It currently features 10 large-scale artworks, painted onto towering silos dotted across the state's Wimmera Mallee region. The Silo Art Hotel will pop up at Sea Lake from June 11–July 12. Rooms are $275 per night Sunday through to Thursday, and $375 per night from Friday to Saturday. Head to the website to book your stay.
Charming contemporary Babu Ji shook up more than a few people's perceptions of Indian food when it landed in St Kilda in late 2016. Sibling restaurant Piquancy has done much the same for Hawthorn since opening its doors in April last year. And now, the bayside suburb of Black Rock is set to score a taste of something similar, with newest family member Elichi arriving on the scene next month. Named after the Punjabi word for cardamom, Mani Wariach's third venture will again focus on heroing top local ingredients and big-flavoured fare. The seasonal menu embraces both the modern and the traditional, with long-held family recipes carefully revamped, often with ingredients that don't normally pop up in Indian cooking. Mumbai-raised Head Chef Punit Fernandes is bringing the philosophy to life through dishes like brussels sprouts with roasted coconut and curry leaf, Otway pork vindaloo crafted with sugarcane vinegar and red masala, and a new-school Tandoori chicken teamed with baby sprouts, young carrot and yoghurt emulsion. Naan bread gets the truffle treatment, a Jangalee mushroom kebab teams wild mushroom, goat's cheese and a parmesan pappadum, and India's go-to gulab jamun dessert is reimagined as a tart. Of course, that's not to say the purists won't feel equally at home, tucking into classics like butter chicken, dal makhani and warm, homemade naan. Elichi is slated to open at 6/8 Bluff Road, Black Rock, in mid-August.
Take the rocky road down to the Yarra Valley or the Great Ocean Road and get ready to stuff your face. Yes, the fiends behind the annual month-long sugar extravaganza are taking your tastebuds on a trip all over again, with sweet, nutty, marshmallowy rocky road in the spotlight. By the way, to any dentists who are reading, go ahead and put down a deposit on that beach house you were looking at. We have a feeling your financial situation is going to be juuuuuuuuust fine. The Rocky Road Festival of Flavours will run through the entire month of May — and this time round it's taking place at two chocolateries: in Yarra Glen and Bellbrae. That's 31 days, which means 31 different flavours. And it doesn't just stop at blocks and bars, either. There'll also be rocky road hot chocolate, rocky road ice cream, rocky road waffles and rocky road croissants too. Both chocolateries will also be hosting Rock Around the Block tasting sessions throughout the day and on weekends, which can be booked via their website. You will need to book tasting sessions at the venues — check out times for the Yarra Valley and the Great Ocean Road.
Your novelty festival gumboots are going to get a big ol' workout this summer. Returning for its fourth year to the banks of the Murray River at Echuca-Moama, Riverboats Music Festival has announced their 2015 lineup — with Sarah Blasko, Dan Sultan and Tex Perkins at the top. One of Australia's most laidback riverside festivals just 2.5 hours from Melbourne, Riverboats is a three-day camping, indulging and dancing affair running February 13–15. Melbourne's Dan Sultan and Sydney's Sarah Blasko headline a super rootsy local lineup: Tex Perkins and The Dark Horses will showcase their new album, legendary Sydneysiders The Whitlams follow up their 2013 sold-out national orchestra tour while unmissable festival favourites The Bamboos are sure to be a Riverboats highlight. Also on the Australian artist-only bill is Adalita, Mick Harvey, Diesel, Fraser A Gorman, Matt Walker and The Lost Ragas, Sal Kimber and The Rollin' Wheel, Stella Angelico and The Switch and Raised by Eagles. Snuggled within the natural amphitheatre of Echuca's Aquatic Reserve, Riverboats is one of the Murray River's most anticipated music festivals. Festival producer David Frazer sees the event as a more chilled-out alternative for festival enthusiasts and hardcore foodies alike. "Riverboats provides festival-goers with an opportunity to experience a truly beautiful part of Australia without the queues, ticket prices and hassle of larger events," he says. "We are particularly proud of the fact Riverboats has remained boutique in both its size and philosophy, yet continues to attracts artists of the calibre of Dan Sultan, Sarah Blasko, Tex Perkins and the Whitlams." Riverboats isn't contained to the river bank; there's also a bunch of side quests you can buy tickets for alongside the main festival. If you're keen to get entirely thematic with the festival's name, punters can hop on a two-hour river cruise aboard a century-old paddle steamer — with locally-sourced brunch and live music from Sal Kimber and The Rollin' Wheel. One of the best (and tastiest) bits of Riverboats will also return for another year: the Beechworth Bakery will host Sunday's Official Festival Breakfast on the top floor of their bakery with a live set from alt-country Melburnians Raised by Eagles. Break out the picnic rugs and cheese platters, Riverboats is a solid summer option for punters wanting the camping music festival experience without the drunken drongos. RIVERBOATS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2015 DATES AND LINEUP: FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY Raised by Eagles Stella Angelico and The Switch Diesel SATURDAY 14 FEBRUARY Fraser A. Gorman Mick Harvey The Whitlams Adalita The Bamboos Dan Sultan SUNDAY 15 FEBRUARY Sal Kimber and The Rollin’ Wheel Matt Walker and The Lost Ragas Tex Perkins and The Dark Horses Sarah Blasko Riverboats Music Festival runs February 13 - 15 at Echuca-Moama on the Murray River. Tickets are on sale now from the festival website or call the Echuca-Moama Visitor Information Centre on 1800 804 446. Images: Riverboat Music Festival.
New locally-focused bar Yarra Falls not only takes name and inspiration from the Yarra River/Birrarung; it's devoting its first booze takeover event to producers located along its watery reaches. Running Wednesday to Saturday nights, from July 6–16, River Weeks invites you to sip your way through a takeover showcase of locally-made goodies — from sherry-casked Napoleone cider, to Mac Forbes wine, to botanical-based delights from Melbourne Gin Company, to craft beers from Westside Ale Works. Pop by at your leisure to try drops like the IDA Pruul Wild Mango Sour, Mac Forbes' lush Big Willy nebbiolo, and even cocktails like the Greenstone, featuring gin, strawberry gum, green chartreuse and vermouth. To match, the usual menu of bites will be amped up to include a rotation of cheese from the Yarra Valley. What's more, you'll be drinking for a great cause. As part of Yarra Falls' commitment to the land that supplies all of its produce and libations, the bar's donating 7% of revenue from all River Weeks menu items to the Yarra Riverkeepers Association. You'll also have the chance to chat with some of the producers, with a series of evening Meet the Maker sessions. Catch the folks from Mac Forbes on July 6 and 7, Melbourne Gin Company and Marionette on July 8, Westside Aleworks and Ida Pruul on July 13, and Napoleone on July 14. [caption id="attachment_860277" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yarra Falls' warm mulled cider[/caption]
Love quirky facts? Spent your life amassing the kind of details that will probably never come in handy? Consider yourself a whiz at every trivia night around town? If so, you're probably a QI fan — and an avid listener of No Such Thing As a Fish. The former is, of course, the long-running British comedy panel quiz. The latter is the popular, award-winning podcast hosted by four of the show's researchers, aka the folks putting in the hard yards to come up with amusing pieces of information you didn't know you needed to know. Series staffers Dan Schreiber, James Harkin, Anna Ptaszynski and Andrew Hunter Murray aren't just finding tidbits for a raft of English comedians, or spending their spare time sharing the most bizarre facts they've come across over the last seven days, however. Come May 2018, they're also coming to Australia to shower our shores with trivia morsels. The live version of the podcast will include a live recording, so your laughter might be immortalised forever, plus a round up of the most astonishing things the team have discovered from the year's news. It has been a busy couple of years for the group, with their last UK and European tour proving a sell-out, and their 187 episodes to date scoring more than 55 million downloads. As Schreiber explains, "we started as four dorks sitting around a single microphone trying to make each other laugh. Things have changed a bit since we started — we now have four microphones — but it's a thrill to know there are hundreds of thousands of other people who love the same wild and hilarious facts that we do."
Under the light of a full moon, the Queen Vic Gardens will come alive with a fusion of music, dance and experimental art. Curated by Unconscious Collective along with HTRK vocalist Jonnine Standish, prepare yourself for a (free!) nocturnal arts party where the lines between technology and magic aren't as rigid as they might seem. Running from 9pm on Sunday, January 24 until 4am the next morning, M*SYNC will see a number of DJs and musicians perform under the MPavilion canopy. Move to the rhythms of Lisa Lerkenfeldt and Karli White, before sinking into a moon-age bean bag that syncs up your pulse with those of your fellow party goers. There'll also be a witching hour dance ritual from local dancers Benjamin Hancock, James Andrews and Lauren Langlois, plus a Tea Bar which will be open all night.
Since first unleashing its specific flavour of festival fun back in 2014, Lost Paradise has become an end-of-year staple — and the Glenworth Valley event returns from December 28, 2018 to January 1, 2019 for another packed year. The fest's fifth annual lineup will see more than 50 acts take to the stage across a huge five days, with artistic experiences, talks, workshops and classes also part of the camping festival. Of course, it's the music that'll tempt festival-goers to make the journey an hour out of Sydney. With The Kooks, Tash Sultana, Joey Bada$$, Pnau, Dune Rats and M.I.A. leading the charge — the latter in her only New South Wales show — there's plenty to get excited about. Attendees will dance their way between four stages, all returning from 2017. Arcadia is where the main action is, Lost Disco will focus on bass, techno and dance music (and eye-catching visuals by 3D mapping artists), and Paradise Club will party on right into the night with DJs and surprise guests. Then there's My Mum's Disco, which not only features a digital jukebox pumping out 15,000 nostalgic beats and guilty pleasures, but sing-alongs and more to accompany the tunes. Think bingo, karaoke and the general feeling that you're hanging out at a mighty huge Aussie backyard shindig. In-between catching live sets and making shapes, Lost Paradise offers patrons a heap of other activities, including three days of chats and sessions at the fest's Shambhala Fields. Everything from African dance and forest bathing to hula hooping and massage is on the agenda, as well as a dedicated yoga and meditation tent. Or, hang out in Hammock Haven, find something to read at the Lost Library, take a ride on an art car, go shopping at the Lost Bazaar bohemian fashion markets or head to the new Holy Cow Chai Tent. It's a carnival-themed space that's all about chilling out over breakfast bowls and — as the name suggests — brewed chai, plus other beverages. Still on the food and drink front, Lost Village boasts communal tables for dining and an array of cuisines for feasting upon. On-site craft beer container bars will serve up craft booze, while Milky Lane and Cold Rock are on the culinary lineup menu alongside dim sum, pizza, Japanese and Southern-Indian street-food, and more. Camping-wise, there's two options: The Glamping Gypsy Fields or The Eco-Tent Village. The former includes luxury toilets and showers, a breakfast cafe, cocktail bar, furnished hangout spaces and a grooming parlour, while the more budget-friendly latter lets you take your pick from tents made out of recyclable cardboard, basic canvas tents and reusable canvas tents with foam mattresses. Here's what you're in for this year: LOST PARADISE 2018 LINEUP: The Kooks Tash Sultana M.I.A Joey Bada$$ Pnau Bicep (Live) Dune Rats Ball Park Music Vera Blue Kink (Live) Winston Surfshirt Peggy Gou Foals (Dj Set) Willaris. K Young Franco Bob Moses Sg Lewis Lime Cordiale Chaos In The Cbd Furnace & The Fundamentals Anna Yotto Human Movement Dom Dolla Cut Snake Cc:Disco! Psychedelic Porn Crumpets Groove City Flava D Genesis Owusu Klp Bontan Krystal Klear Loods Young Monks Pacific Avenue Wallace Thunderfox Milan Ring Clews Majun Bu The Jim Mitchells Rackett Shantan Wantan Ichiban Clypso Motorik Vibe Council Ebony Boadu Lex Deluxe Sportsuncle Ru Matt Ringrose Dibby Dibby Soundsystem Lost Paradise returns to Glenworth Valley from December 28 to January 1. Tickets are on sale now from the festival website. Images: Boaz Nothman, Cai Griffin, Jordan Munns and Nathan Bonnici.
If a critic's role is to truly explore their chosen field, not only examining the obvious and popular but also unearthing the new and unknown, then consider Jonathan Gold the king of Los Angeles cuisine. Sure he knows all the regular haunts, but he's more interested in the venues less visited. He sees the city as a hotbed of tastes and textures, with the eclectic eateries off the beaten path more vibrant and varied than their well-known, well-heeled counterparts. Indeed, Gold's penchant for smaller, harder to find establishments that reflect their respective communities is what has endeared him to LA restaurateurs and readers alike, while also catapulting him to broader fame and recognition. He freely admits that he became a food writer completely by accident, and yet he's been plying his trade for more than two decades. In 2007, he became the first and only food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize. City of Gold tells his tale, though Laura Gabbert's documentary doesn't just take the standard biographical route. There are no shortage of friends, or thankful chefs and owners, willing to sing his praises — and Gold himself doesn't shy away from sharing his own upbeat anecdotes. But the movie's real focus mirrors its subject's true quest. As his humble beginnings – munching his way along the 15-mile Pico Boulevard from downtown LA to Santa Monica – demonstrate, the Los Angeles Times scribe is more concerned with the experience than the ingredients. Gabbert's skill is in doing the same, honing in on Gold's travels around town in his trusty Dodge truck more than she does the minutiae of the menus he consumes. Accordingly, City of Gold ambles along with a relaxed air, lurching from one topic to another while its images roam around the city. Thankfully, even when delving into his childhood, background as a music writer and notorious reputation for procrastination, the film doesn't suffer from its sprawling approach and casual attitude. Insights into the history of LA, the art of criticism and the advent of online consumer review sites also earn a mention, but never do they distract from the feature's main thread. Instead, they flesh out the 96-minute look at a guy uncovering the flavours of his hometown with a commitment to authenticity — and not just because it's his job, but because it's his passion. His enthusiasm, though delivered in his particularly unflashy fashion, proves infectious, with the film sharing that same tone of celebration. That adoration doesn't just extend to its portrayal of Gold, but to the places he champions, with his negative opinions glaringly absent. As Gold reads his own reviews of gastronomic gems, it's easy to believe that his is a life of devouring only the tastiest culinary creations. Basically, if you think being a food critic sounds like the perfect job, this documentary will do very little to change your mind.
Brisbane's King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are one of the country's best garage psych bands out right now. The seven-strong dude crew have just announced the release of their exquisitely-titled fifth album I'm In Your Mind Fuzz out on Friday, October 31 through Flightless/Remote Control Records. The first track off the album 'Cellophane' dropped at the beginning of September and if you're a fan of fuzzy, fast psychedelia you'll be spinning this one right off the table. The King Gizz lads haven't just settled for local snaps. Over the last few months, the crew have snavelled some seriously impressive international handshakes — the new album will be released by Thee Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer on his label Castle Face Records in the USA and in the UK and Europe on Heavenly Recordings. Big. Stuff. Though many have tried, no one quite nails the Gizz sound like their new friend John Dwyer of Castle Face Records: "This Australian beast of a band with a bear of a name and a thick herd of band members delivers many things to us on this warped song cycle — a skeleton of propulsive kraut-beat fleshed out with a liberal dose of citric sweetness, flutes and harmonicas bleeding through the mix often and welcomingly, tons of wah and a hero's journey/heavy metal early '80s fantasy sort of vibe, and many lovely left turns into psychedelic mellowing, both groovily and sometimes with just a dash of DMT dread. The whole thing is just gooey with tape manipulations, phase shifts, and saturations, but there are clearly many tasty tidbits that bubble to the top, and they're sticky." Epic. The 'sticky' sounds of King Gizz have been meandering through their Sino-Australian tour dates, with massive, rambunctious shows already in the bag from Sydney and Perth, as well as the crew's debut festival performance in Beijing this year. Get amongst the Mind Fuzz before the lads head over to Europe — after their US East Coast tour with White Fence, alongside NYC's CMJ and a special Terminal 5 show supporting Mac De Marco. Supported by The Murlocs. https://youtube.com/watch?v=s8azlP-FgHs
A familiar face on panel shows like Would I Lie To You? and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Paul Foot is one of the most unique voices on the stand-up circuit today. His strange, ranty, stream-of-consciousness comedy has made him a favourite with festival audiences around the world. An Evening With Mr Paul Foot at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival features highlights from some of his best shows in years gone by, making it a perfect primer for those unfamiliar with his work, and a must-see trip down memory lane for his fans.
International headline acts are fun and all, but if you like your festivals with a little more adrenaline, this one's for you. The inaugural Seal Rocks Adventure Festival is crashing onto the mid-NSW coast later this month. Descending on Seal Rocks Treachery Camp, about 90 minutes north of Newcastle, it's set to deliver a weekend of hands-on blood-pumping fun over the weekend of May 17–19. The program of this boutique BYO camping festival is jam-packed full of activities, balancing out an after-dark schedule of live tunes and film screenings. By day, you'll have the chance to battle your mates in an interactive game of Archery Attack, learn some new moves in a circus skills workshop, go deep with a free-diving short course, and flit between rock climbing, surfing, slacklining, yoga and zorbing — yep, this one involves crashing around a field in a giant bouncing bubble. There'll be a disco-themed 'doofercise' workout class to kick things off each morning, classes to teach you how to start fire with just a couple of sticks, and an ongoing challenge to see who can fit the most humans on a giant stand-up paddleboard. Booze is BYO, but vendors like The Perfect Paella, Dr Drool and Tim's on Treach will have pop-ups to help fuel your adventures — and a restaurant will pop-up on the Saturday night for a four-course Saturday feast. Or, you can boost your own cooking skills at a pizza making class. By night, there'll be moongazing tours and campfires, while the stage heats up with local acts like Thunder Fox, The Regime, Elaskia and Belle Badi. And if you're after more inspiration, there's the Adventure Film Festival, emceed by Alice King in the Talking Tent each night. Adult camping tickets clock in at $340, which gets you an entry pass, a campsite and access to as many of the weekend's activities as you can handle. Groups of mates and families are welcome, and capacity is capped at 500. There are glamping and cabins options, too, for those who want a little more comfort at the end of a long day of adventuring (and have extra cash to spare). Seal Rocks Adventure Festival will take over Seal Rocks Treachery Camp on May 17–19. Tickets start at $340 and can be bought over here.
If life has you travelling regularly between Melbourne and Geelong, here's a little win for you: you'll soon be able to do so via ferry. After trials in July 2018, Port Phillip Ferries will run a regular service between the two cities from December this year. Transporting commuters between Central Geelong, adjacent to the Cunningham Pier, and Victoria Harbour, the ferries will run twice daily. While times haven't yet been announced, the test runs ran departed Corio Bay for Docklands at 6.15am, then made the return trip to Geelong at 5.30pm. Last year's trip took around one hour and 45 minutes, aka a bit longer than the train journey, which typically takes an hour and a half. That said, it might be quicker than driving in peak hour traffic — especially if you work in or near the harbour. Thanks to a new 'fast ferry', it could be speedier still — although those details haven't been revealed either. Built by Tasmanian-based company Incat, the new route will be sailed by a purpose-built Geelong Flyer catamaran, which'll boast indoor and outdoor spaces, and can seat 400 people. Either way, with the added bonus of free wifi, phone charging stations, bike racks and an on-board licensed cafe (perfect for that post-work tipple), the ferry ride sounds a whole lot more picturesque than the train journey — and much more tempting than a peak-hour crawl over the West Gate Bridge. If you don't get seasick, that is. Committing to the route continues the expansion of Port Phillip Ferries' commuter services. It has already been running a daily service between Portarlington and Melbourne, the Bellarine Express, for the past three years, and promised that the Geelong route would be considered for a permanent fixture if trials proved successful. Port Phillip Ferries' new Geelong Flyer will hit the water from December 2019. For further details, visit the Port Phillip Ferries website.
What a difference Mads Mikkelsen can make. What a difference the stellar Danish actor can't, too. The Another Round and Riders of Justice star enjoys his Wizarding World debut in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, taking over the part of evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald's Johnny Depp — who did the same from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them's Colin Farrell first, albeit in a scripted change — and he's impressively sinister and engagingly insidious in the role. He needs to be: his fascist character, aka the 1930s-set movie's magical version of Hitler, wants to eradicate muggles. He's also keen to grab power however he must to do so. But a compelling casting switch can't conjure up the winning wonder needed to power an almost two-and-a-half-hour film in a flailing franchise, even one that's really just accioing already-devoted Harry Potter fans into cinemas. Capitalising upon Pottermania has always been the point of the Fantastic Beasts movies. Famously, this series-within-a-series springs not from a well-plotted novel, where the eight Boy Who Lived flicks originated, but from a guide book on magical creatures. That magizoology text is mentioned in the very first HP tome, then arrived IRL four years later, but it was only after the Harry Potter films ended that it leapt to screens. The reason: showing the Wizarding World's powers-that-be the galleons, because no popular saga can ever conclude when there's more cash to grab (see also: Star Wars and Game of Thrones). For Fantastic Beasts, the result was charming in the initial movie and dismal in its followup. Now, with The Secrets of Dumbledore, it's about as fun as being bitten by a toothy textbook. Nearly four years have passed since The Crimes of Grindelwald hit cinemas, but its successor picks up its wand where that dull sequel left off. That means reuniting with young Albus Dumbledore, who was the best thing about the last feature thanks to Jude Law (The Third Day) following smoothly in Michael Gambon and Richard Harris' footsteps. Actually, it means reuniting Dumbledore with Grindelwald first. And, it involves overtly recognising that the pair were once lovers. The saga that's stemmed from JK Rowling's pen isn't historically known for being inclusive, much like the author's transphobic statements — and it's little wonder that getting candid about such a crucial romantic connection feels cursory and calculating here, rather than genuine. The same applies to The Secrets of Dumbledore's overall message of love and acceptance, which can only echo feebly when stemming from a co-screenwriter (alongside seven-time HP veteran Steve Kloves) who's basically become the series' off-screen Voldemort. Referencing Dumbledore and Grindelwald's amorous past serves the narrative, of course, which is the real reason behind it — far more than taking any meaningful steps towards LGBTQIA+ representation. Years prior, the two pledged not to harm each other, binding that magical promise with blood, which precludes any fray between them now. Enter magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and his pals. Well, most of them. Newt's assistant Bunty (Victoria Yeates, Call the Midwife), brother Theseus (Callum Turner, Emma), No-Maj mate Jacob (Dan Fogler, The Walking Dead), Hogwarts professor Lally (Jessica Williams, Love Life) and Leta Lestrange's brother Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam, Stillwater) are accounted for, while former friend Queenie (Alison Sudol, The Last Full Measure) has defected to Grindelwald. As for the latter's sister Tina (Katherine Waterston, The World to Come), she's spirited aside, conspicuously sitting Operation Avoid Muggle Genocide out. Dumbledore's plan as the movie hops from New York and Hogwarts to Berlin and Bhutan: to stop Grindelwald via Newt and company, and also stop him seeing the future to rig an election. To put his new world order into effect, Grindelwald needs to become the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, but a fantastic beast just might foil his chances. The Secrets of Dumbledore is largely a grey-hued, grimly serious political thriller that frequently feels like it just happens to take place amid wand-waving folks (its nods to actual history are that blatant), but it occasionally remembers to include the critters mentioned in its moniker. That said, courtesy of a cute but mostly superfluous scene with Newt, Theseus and a hip-wiggling scorpion dance, it fares better at acknowledging mythical animals than spilling many Dumbledore secrets. A villain swap, a half-hearted queer romance, past protagonists shunted off or playing second exploding tuba to fan favourites, a prequel series that doesn't recall what it was originally about, a title that's barely fulfilled: these aren't the ingredients for a great or even average movie, let alone an entrancing one. While some of the above occurs for sound reasons — Law swiftly outshining Redmayne in the last picture, for instance — The Secrets of Dumbledore is the filmic equivalent of throwing whatever's at hand into a cauldron and expecting a life-changing potion to bubble up. It's stitched together from shards of ideas, glimmers of possible good intentions and heavy sprinklings of nostalgia (quidditch and all), but the most it manages to be is perfunctory. Helming his seventh Wizarding World instalment, director David Yates retains a knack for setpieces at least — but even with plenty of chases and duels, and with his technical team doing much of the feature's heavy lifting, the visual wonders are still few and far between. Two more Fantastic Beasts entries are currently slated; you don't need Grindelwald's sorcery to know HP won't leave screens anytime soon. But as The Secrets of Dumbledore demonstrates over and over, this saga struggles with purpose. That isn't surprising given that keeping the series going by any means necessary, and trying to keep everyone who grew up loving all things Potter in the late 90s/early 00s happy as well, remain its chief aims. Those kids are now adults, which is why the Fantastic Beasts movies focus on fully grown witches and wizards rather than Hogwarts students. Little else here has matured with them, though, or been fleshed out — despite obvious World War II parallels and nods to today's divided times playing key parts. Call it arrested franchise development, call it a floundering spell, call it an exercise in disenchantment: they all fit, and The Secrets of Dumbledore doesn't have the elixir, incantation or even ambition to magic up anything else.
The rest of the year, it's a champion of movies and television, but for nine days this November, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) will be all about those tunes, as it transforms into the official hub for Melbourne Music Week 2018. This year's festival is set to deliver even more immersive experiences, making the most of ACMI's Gallery One, its event space The Lightwell and its primo audio and video tech. Following in the footsteps of previous MMW hubs, including St Paul's Cathedral (2017) and the State Library of Victoria (2016), the precinct will be dishing up some pretty incredible musical celebrations, with a swag of free and ticketed MMW events happening from November 16 to 24. It all kicks off with a bang with the wild Opening Night party, curated by legendary LGBTQI+ party people Heaps Gay. Expect a smorgasbord of dancing, drag and music, with must-see performances from the likes of The Cocoa Butter Club, The Huxleys and LGBTQI+ artists including Kira Puru and Maribelle. Other events set to fire up the ACMI gallery include a performance from Detroit techno boss Jeff Mills, a label showcase serving up the best of Rice Is Nice, and a high-energy dance floor session guided by London producer Rival Consoles and house legend Leon Vynehall. Aussie songstress Renee Geyer will host a celebration of disco and there's even talk of a family-friendly, mid-arvo rave. Elsewhere in the MMW lineup, the Immigration Museum nods to African roots with a night of soul and R&B headlined by REMI, Brittain's Leon Vynehall makes another appearance, taking on the Melbourne Recital Centre backed by a 10-piece string ensemble, and Aussie rockers You Am I have their first taste of the MMW stage, alongside festival favourite The Grand Organ. Melbourne Music Week 2018 runs from November 16 to 24, at various venues across the city. Tickets are on sale now, with the full program set to drop on October 2.
For a Saturday session with plenty of sparkle, you'll now find a winning destination in CBD Italian haunt Marameo. The Russell Place bar and eatery has kicked off a fresh series of weekend parties — and these ones feature bottomless bubbles. Running every Saturday throughout February and March, these Secco Sessions promise to have you sipping through the weekend in style. Book a table for between 12–2.30pm and, for $49, you'll get to wet your whistle with two hours of free-flowing prosecco. Make a lunch date of it by adding on a few plates from Marameo's lively Italian menu — think, wagyu tartare cannoli, the signature crispy fried quail, spanner crab and saffron linguine, and spaghetti cacio e pepe with shavings of black truffle. Meanwhile, the tunes will be flowing just as easily as the wine, with a DJ spinning disco beats right through the afternoon. Images: Kristoffer Paulsen.
Borders are finally open, interstate travel is firmly back on the cards and holiday-planning feels a whole lot less sketchy than it has for the past two years. And, in a show of fitting timing, you've just scored an extra excuse to cross the Bass Strait for that long-dreamt-of Tassie getaway. Namely, the sprawling new-look cellar door expansion unveiled at Devil's Corner. The renowned winery sits on around 180 rolling green hectares in Apslawn on the Great Eastern Drive, around one hour and 45 minutes southeast of Launceston. A major seven-month expansion to the site's award-winning cellar door has recently upped the ante, cementing its status as one of the region's must-visit wine-sipping destinations. The cellar door has more than doubled in size and scored a refreshed look by celebrated Tasmanian architects Cumulus Studio. Visit and you'll discover an assortment of indoor-outdoor spaces that pay homage to the property's rugged, natural surrounds; all offering sweeping views across the vines and down to the Moulting Lagoon wetlands. It's been designed and built using a similar approach to that of the winemaking here, embracing the natural elements this pocket of the world's been gifted with. On the upper level, the new Hazards Tasting Room is your spot for sipping, swirling and immersing yourself in Devil's Corner's vast catalogue of cool-climate drops. It's named after the mountain range that towers over the region; the vistas of which you can admire while partaking in one of the guided tastings, happening from 10am daily. Onsite eateries The Fishers and Tombolo both have new and improved homes within the cellar door precinct. What's more, punters can choose from various indoor and openair dining areas to enjoy their woodfired pizzas, fresh local oysters and loaded bowls of chilli mussels. Matched with a few glasses of Devil's finest pinot noir or a self-guided tasting paddle, of course. Downstairs, set into the hill, sits the Devil's Den — a cellar, events space and bar, where private functions, and food and wine masterclasses will take place overlooking the neat rows of vineyard. And for some of the site's most breathtaking vistas, head to the top of the lookout tower, where you can experience the winery's grand scale like nowhere else. Time for an interstate wine-sipping adventure? Yes, we think so. Find Devil's Corner Cellar Door at 1 Sherbourne Road, Apslawn, Tasmania. It's open daily from 10am to 5pm.
UPDATE Monday, July 18: This In Good Company event has been postponed until later in the year. We'll let you know the new date once confirmed. See the website for further details. Congress really lives up to its name with its collaboration dining series, teaming up with some well-known hospitality mates for a meeting of minds — a forum of flavour and congress of culinary delights, if you like. And for the next instalment of In Good Company, the Collingwood wine bar is heading over to Carlton's Lagoon Dining for a border-tripping lunch feast to remember. On Sunday, July 24, these two acclaimed kitchens will combine their talents to deliver a share-friendly lineup of snacks, mains and sides, cleverly incorporating flavours from across China and Europe, with a sprinkling of Japanese influence for good measure. Diners are in for an adventurous, yet considered ride — a Sichuan riff on kangaroo pastrami featuring smoked cultured cream and yuba (dried beancurd skin); whipped prawn teamed with witlof, finger lime and chilli jam; and a Cantonese-style revival of Congress' legendary pig's head sanga. Oh, and some yuzu and sourdough miso bon bons to finish. Tickets are $120, which includes a spritz on arrival.
Celebrate 60,000 years of Indigenous art and culture at Melbourne's inaugural Yirramboi First Nations Arts Festival. Running from May 5-14 at more than two dozen venues around town, this multi-disciplinary festival will feature a mix of music, dance, theatre, film and visual art by First Nations people from all around Australia, as well as New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Scotland, Wales, Taiwan and the Pacific Islands. The festival begins with a welcome ceremony at Meat Market in North Melbourne, followed by an opening night party described by organisers as "an evening of queer, gender-bending pop-up live arts". Other standout events include a full moon dance party in Federation Square featuring Kulin Stories by Uncle Larry Walsh, a large-scale sound and art installation at Birrarung Marr, and a panel discussion about the history of Aboriginal ballet dancers. For the full Yirramboi program, visit yirramboi.net.au.
Electronic whiz kids don't come more stylin' than Sydney's multitalented Caitlin Park. With her 2011 debut album Milk Annual applauded Australia-wide and the 2012 Qantas Spirit Of The Youth Award under her belt, Park inked a deal with Create/Control in February this year (home to fellow Aussies Oliver Tank, Feelings, Go Violets and internationals Parquet Courts and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros). Marking the team-up with the release of her second album The Sleeper, the smoky-voiced Sydneysider will bring her brand new tunes to Bella Union on Friday, August 1. Disarmingly catchy singles like 'Lemonade' are sure to get table-sitters up and toe-tappin'. (She's releasing a just-announced EP of instrumental tracks and spoken word on July 11, so she's a busy lady.) Park toured recently to promote the album's first single, 'Hold Your Gaze', but we're certainly not objecting to more of her brand of dreamy folktronic. Park has been cranking tunes aroundaboutown of late, dominating East Coast stages as well as the UK's Great Escape, New York's CMJ conference and support slots for Butterfly Boucher. Headlining her own tour aptly dubbed 'The Sleeper Tour', Park is proud to present her super slick electro-meets-acoustic album to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane crowds. The Sleeper is a sharpening of everything her first album, Milk Annual, was about — slick production, soothing sounds and deep vocals that make me wish I could use the word husky without feeling like a creep. Listen out for 'Lemonade', the album's second single. The video is a woozy, aesthetically and sonically-pleasing journey through the main character's gender identity that should appeal to anyone who appreciates good-looking people in technicolour garb dancing in slow motion (that's everyone, surely?). "I am so proud and excited about this release!" said Park. "It's louder, more rhythmic, more energetic and more complex than anything I have written before. It was made in a quiet place, so I felt like we had to fill the space. It was made with love and light and darkness. I can't wait for people to hear it." Words by Jessica Surman and Shannon Connellan. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AS1htl7smnk
When The Simpsons first found its way into viewers' hearts, it also made its way to the top of the charts. Yes, back in 1991, 'Do the Bartman' hit number one in Australia. Both before and since, the hit animated sitcom hasn't shied away from crooning a tune or two — and if you've now got "Dr Zaius, Dr Zaius, ohhhhh Dr Zaius" or "Who holds back the electric car? Who made Steve Guttenburg a star?" stuck in your head, then you know what we're talking about. The show has sung many a song, and also released many an album — and it's 1997's Songs in The Key of Springfield that's in the spotlight at this Melbourne show of the same name. One night. One huge record. So many catchy songs. That's what's on the agenda from 9pm on Saturday, June 4. Sing along to everything from 'Can I Borrow a Feeling?' to 'See My Vest' to 'We Put The Spring in Springfield' as they're performed live by Boadz. Actually, sing along to a whole heap more — because the Melbourne-based guitarist and singer is promising to sing every song from The Simpsons live. Tickets cost $17.35 online, with the tunes going down at Fitzroy's Bar Open.
If you've seen our round-up of the best places to glamp around Melbourne, you'll know camping is no longer just for nature-loving adventurous types. And this latest pop-up proves just that. For the month of April, outdoor experience experts Under Sky will set up a temporary glamping hotel just next to the Grampians National Park. It's a chance to immerse yourself in one of Victoria's most picturesque regions and enjoy all the great outdoors has to offer without any of the rough aspects of camping. The hotel will be set up on the family-run Mount Zero Olives property, right next to the base of Mount Zero in an olive tree grove. $250 will score you a night in a bell tent, with many of the luxuries you could expect from a top hotel, including a comfy queen bed, linens and towels, toiletries and even a couple of deck chairs. Spend the night stargazing and fall asleep to the sounds of the rustling olive trees. There is a communal kitchen area and barbecue if you want to cook your own food, but the Mount Zero cafe will be reopening just for the pop-up. Come breakfast, you can stroll over for a hot meal or have a homemade breakfast hamper for two delivered to your door (for $45). If you're looking to explore the area, have a look at our 48-hour guide to the Grampians. You can also have a good night's sleep knowing that Under Sky takes environmental responsibility very seriously. When the pop-up is over, all traces of the campsite will be removed to allow Mother Nature to do her thing in peace. Image: Charlie Kinross.
We're the country that gave the world Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, to name just a few renowned Australian actresses owning the silver screen in recent years. Accordingly, we're no stranger to celebrating formidable women in cinema. It tracks, then, that Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image has curated a world-premiere exhibition dedicated to femininity across screen history — which is running from Wednesday, April 5–Sunday, October 1. Six-month-long showcase Goddess: Power, Glamour, Rebellion declares its affection for ladies of the screen right there in its name. Examining how women are represented in cinema and television, it pays tribute to standout ladies, how depictions and expectations of femininity have changed, and what female talents have symbolised — and been forced to deal with — about and from the society around them. It's both a massive and a landmark exhibition. More than 150 original costumes, objects, artworks, props and sketches are now gracing the Federation Square venue's walls and halls, all championing oh-so-many women and their impact. Launched in-person by the one and only Geena Davis, who is also the exhibition's lead ambassador, Goddess fittingly includes outfits worn by her and Susan Sarandon in 1991's Thelma & Louise — and that's just the beginning of its treasures. Among a lineup that spans threads that've never been displayed before, various cinematic trinkets, large-scale projections and other interactive experiences, attendees can check out odes to Marlene Dietrich in 1930's Morocco, Pam Grier's spectacular Blaxploitation career, Tilda Swinton in 1992's Orlando and the aforementioned Robbie via 2020's Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Plus, there's Mae West's sky-high heels from 1934's Belle of the Nineties, as well as Michelle Yeoh's fight-ready silks from 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The list goes on, clearly, covering Anna May Wong, Marilyn Monroe, Laverne Cox and Zendaya as well. And, everything from Glenn Close's Cruella de Vil in 102 Dalmatians to the Carey Mulligan-starring Promising Young Woman also gets time to shine. As it does with its big exhibitions, ACMI is pairing Goddess' wide-ranging display with soundscapes by Melbourne-based composer Chiara Kickdrum, and also hosting a sprawling events program complete with late-night parties, performances and talks — and film screenings, of course. Fancy taking an in-depth curator tour of the exhibition after hours? That's on the bill monthly. There's also a music program called Goddess Nights from late May, which'll focus on three femme-centric live music lineups with performances by DJ JNETT, CD, POOKIE and Ayebatonye — and a curated range of food and booze put together just for each evening. For film buffs, movie series Divine Trailblazers will focus on contemporary actors at the height of their powers, while the Goddess Sundays is all about on-screen personas. So, the first includes Angela Bassett's Oscar-nominated performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Academy Award-winners Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Cate Blanchett conducting a masterpiece in Tár, Viola Davis in warrior mode in The Woman King, Filipino actor Dolly De Leon stealing every scene she's in in Triangle of Sadness, and Leah Purcell writing, directing, producing and starring in The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson. Images: Eugene Hyland Photography.
The government's restrictions and regulations for COVID-19 containment are changing at a rapid pace. But there are two words we're all hearing on repeat: stay home. As much as is possible within each person's specific set of circumstances (including their job and requirements around food, exercise and health), every Australian is being encouraged to avoid leaving their homes unless absolutely necessary. We're being told that minimising the time spent outside is vital in getting through this crisis. As a result, many of the services that contribute to the lifestyles of city dwellers have been temporarily suspended, including cultural institutions, cinemas, clubs, pubs and gyms. But we still need to be able to access the essentials: household essentials, booze and, of course, food. Up until now, delivery services have been viewed as merely a convenience or something to facilitate laziness. Now, they're more important than ever. IT'S ONE OF THE SAFEST WAYS TO GET FOOD Supermarkets are still open to purchase food and other household items, but we'd rather avoid them as much as possible right now. The stories of stockpiling — and subsequent product shortages and buying restrictions — paint a pretty dire picture of a simple visit to the shops. Plus, with many of our favourite activities currently on hiatus, we have to find fun where we can. Yep, you may not be able to go to a gallery or play team sports, but you can still shirk your cooking and cleanup duties and let someone else prepare dinner. In the wake of the restrictions on public gatherings, many restaurants and cafes have shifted their operations to takeaway and delivery, so you can eat well in the comfort of your own home. And, to put your mind at ease, it's worth remembering that commercial kitchens are held to extremely rigorous food safety and hygiene practices, and most have upped their cleaning and sanitation procedures as the COVID-19 situation unfolded in Australia. For Domino's, this means daily audit checks and no human contact with the pizzas after they leave the 265-degree ovens. IT'S KEEPING PEOPLE INDOORS Obviously, the increased availability of delivery services means there are fewer people out on the streets, which can only be a good thing right now. But some places have taken it one step further. For example, Domino's has introduced a zero-contact delivery for all delivery orders place through the app or over the phone. The person delivering your meal will leave it on your doorstep and call or text you to confirm it's there — and they'll wait until they can see you've picked it up, too. This is just another simple step, facilitated by technology, to limit person-to-person contact with those outside your household. It also means you don't need to leave your house for too long and miss that live-stream of furry koalas, a theatre show or a gig. IT'S KEEPING PEOPLE EMPLOYED As the restrictions continue in an effort to manage the COVID-19 outbreak, huge job losses are occurring over many sectors, including hospitality. Maintaining (and supporting) delivery services is vital to ensuring this number does not continue to grow. In fact, it could help minimise the issue. Some companies, including Domino's, are currently seeking out temporary workers to keep up with increased demand for delivery services. The company is also supporting other essential workers with its Feeding the Frontline efforts, which delivers pizzas to those working tirelessly to support the community during this time — think healthcare, supermarket, government, education and emergency workers — to keep morale up and more people in jobs. Domino's is now offering zero-contact delivery across Australia. To order, head here.
UPDATE, November 26, 2020: Diego Maradona is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Football god? Addict, scoundrel and swindler? Diego Armando Maradona has been called all of the above. From champion to crook and superstar to scum, he's been labelled better and worse, with his status as a walking contradiction rarely lost on anyone in his orbit. The famed Argentinian soccer player himself recognises it. During his playing heyday in the 80s and 90s, he was known to tell people that he was Maradona on the field but Diego away from the spotlight. In Asif Kapadia's probing documentary about the sportsman, Maradona's career is further summarised by another juxtaposition: "a bit of cheating and a lot of genius". While that sentiment applies broadly, the line refers specifically to his "hand of god" moment in the 1986 World Cup. During a quarter-final against England, he scored a pivotal goal by illegally using said appendage. Argentina won the game and went on to claim the entire tournament, all with Maradona as team captain. He knew what he'd done, as he admitted years later and again explains in Diego Maradona. Anyone under the misapprehension that sports players always stick to the rules — and never do whatever they can, testing the limits to see what they're able to get away with — might well be shocked. But that's Maradona, especially when he was the world's most acclaimed and expensive player, an international headline staple, and a hero not only on home soil, but in Naples where he ruled the turf for seven seasons. He describes his chosen sport as "a game of deceit", after all. In setting his sights on the polarising footballer, Oscar-winner Kapadia does what he's always done so expertly in his other celebrity-centric documentaries. In Senna and Amy, the British filmmaker trawled through a treasure trove of archival material to tell his subject's stories, knowing that their own words — and their own actions at the height of their respective success — will say more than anything else can. The same overall approach applies to Diego Maradona, but three crucial differences distinguish the director's latest picture. Maradona is still alive, firstly. His voice, not just from then but now, features prominently in the film as a result. Lastly and most importantly, his isn't a gone-too-soon tale of tragedy. If they were still here today, Ayrton Senna and Amy Winehouse's own contrasts might've become more evident, however their deaths gave their lives a recognisable narrative. Still kicking, even if he's long, long past his prime goal-scoring days, Maradona can't follow the same distinct trajectory. Faced with this predicament, Diego Maradona leans into the inescapable truth. It doesn't seek to celebrate, condemn, lionise or lament, but to present Maradona as he's been perceived by the world — both as one of the greatest soccer players of all time (if not the greatest player of all time), and as a womaniser, drug abuser and crony of the Italian mafia. Although the film focuses primarily on the decade surrounding his SSC Napoli stint, he's also seen as a stocky kid who grew up in absolute poverty, then a multi-millionaire living the life of luxury. He's the breadwinner from his teenage years onwards, and a man quick to squander a fortune. Colleagues, coaches, trainers and other industry folk lavish praise on Maradona's immense speed, skill and football smarts, then call out his arrogance, selfishness and swagger. He adores his family, but happily turns his back when scandal wafts through the air. In both his personal and professional lives, the list goes on; in fact, the doco can't cover it all. If his story was fiction, the endless incongruities would seem like overkill. If it was a soccer match, a commentator would dub it a game of two halves. As Senna and Amy have so grippingly demonstrated, there's something equally fascinating and relatable about famous figures whose plights have ended sorrowfully — stars who've soared and then crashed in the most final way, all while chasing their dreams. The same applies to someone as contradictory as Maradona, who embodies humanity's competing, fighting urges in one incredibly well-known package. Whether you're a diehard soccer fan, you flinch at the thought of calling the world game 'football' or you couldn't care less about sport at all, it's this truth that holds viewers' attention in Diego Maradona. As the movie delves into the eponymous Argentinian's life for two hours, it lays bare Maradona's labyrinthian nature. And, while his highs and lows have reached far beyond the levels that most will ever experience, who doesn't feel like they're multiple things all at once? Mirroring the grainy footage at his disposal, Kapadia doesn't smooth out Maradona's edges. The footballer is never a sympathetic hero in this entertaining and insightful film, nor a clear-cut villain. If maintaining that balance sounds like a significant feat given all that's known about Maradona and all there is to his tale, it's one that the director handles with his usual storytelling and technical prowess. Corralling the same crew that worked on his past two docos (particularly editor Chris King and composer Antonio Pinto), he weaves his audio and visuals together with silkiness reminiscent of Maradona's own on-field best. With revealing interview snippets heard rather than seen, and the picture steadfastly maintaining its gaze on its main man through both media clips and home videos, Kapadia crafts a jam-packed yet nuanced and thoughtful portrait. Yes, that's a juxtaposition again. Even decades after his career triumphs and subsequent fall from god-like standing, Maradona will never shake them, as Diego Maradona unpacks with aplomb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjfeSdHP2ZQ
Finding a designated driver on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve is not an easy feat — nan is stuck into the boozy pud, dad has pulled a dusty one out of the cellar and you don't really want to carpool with that weird uncle. And no one's putting their hand up to find a park near the fireworks on December 31. Public Transport Victoria understands, and is easing the pain of commuting on the two big days (slightly) by offering all public transport for free. Over Christmas Day, all trains, trams, buses and V/line services will be free from 3am on Tuesday, January 25, till 3am on Wednesday, January 26. Most public transport services will be running to a Sunday timetable, and there will be limited V/Line coaches to regional cities. There will, however, be no Night Buses, Trams, Trains, so if you do spend too much time sipping sherry with your aunt, you might have to try your luck with a taxi or Uber. A few days later, over New Year's Eve, the same public transport services will be free from 6pm on Monday, December 31 until 6am on Tuesday, January 1. As there will most likely be hordes of people flocking to get home after the fireworks, metro trains will be running every ten minutes from midnight till 1.30am, trams running every five-to-ten minutes until 2am and 905, 906, 907 and 908 buses every 15 minutes till 2am. You can check out a comprehensive rundown of New Year's Eve services at the Public Transport Victoria website. For those located regionally, the first V/Line service to each regional destination on New Year's Day will also be free. If you do want to check out the midnight fireworks, they'll be four spots to catch them: Docklands, Flagstaff Gardens, Treasury Gardens and Kings Domain. The City of Melbourne has created this handy map pinpointing the closest train stations, too: To use the free public transport you just need to rock up, and you don't need to be carrying a valid Myki. Find more information on the free travel periods here and check for updates on the PTV website.
Looking to unleash your creative side? This August and September, head to Ferdydurke to get arty at a life-drawing class — with a twist. The CBD bar is hosting more of its candlelit Drag 'n' Draw sessions (August 9 & 23, September 6 & 20), this time featuring none other than the newly-confirmed star of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under Season 2, Aubrey Haive. There won't be any nudity, but there will be artistic fun in abundance. The drag legend will model two different custom couture gowns on the night, created in collaboration with local fashion designer Bryn Meredith. Participants can show off their art skills as they sketch the dazzling costumes — while sipping a spot of vino, of course. Artists are encouraged to BYO their own gear if they've got some, otherwise, basic art materials will be provided. You'll also get a glass of wine on arrival, to help loosen those creative muscles.
It's named after an Italian dog breed that's famed for its truffle-hunting abilities. So it's only fitting that Carlton North eatery Lagotto is embracing truffle season with a series of Italian feasts dedicated to the famed fungus. Held across four Thursday nights (July 14, July 28, August 4 & August 11), each of the Truffle With Friends dinners will serve up a generous shared spread centred around seasonal produce and premium fresh truffles. They'll also offer an insight into Lagotto's new winter menu. [caption id="attachment_860811" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anson Smart[/caption] Expect to tuck into some clever reworkings of classic Italian dishes, courtesy of Head Chef Matteo Fulchiati (ex Osteria Ilaria). We're talking, fermented potato bread matched with malted truffle butter; eye fillet done with egg yolk and a truffle jus; fried potatoes in wagyu fat and thyme; and tortellini starring fontina, chestnuts and truffle foam. You'll even find a truffle and amaretti tiramisu for dessert. Tickets to the dinners come in at $125, with bookings available from 6.30pm each night. Top Image: Jana Langhorst
Inner West Sydney brewery Philter is coming to town this week with a special treat for its local fans, launching a brand-new brew made in collaboration with late-night rock bar Heartbreaker. And the duo is celebrating with just about the most fitting party you can imagine — a rock 'n' roll prom featuring DJ tunes and plenty of Philter beer. From 5pm on Wednesday, May 25, Heartbreaker will be firing up for a raucous evening, complete with a Philter tap takeover pouring popular drops like the original XPA, the Old Ale and the recent birthday release dubbed the Cold IPA. Star of the show, however, will be the new collaboration, All Hearts Break Loose — a classic American-style pale ale that'll only be pouring at Heartbreaker. Alongside the beers, you'll catch heavy-hitting sounds from DJ Stevie Whatever (Clowns), plus a few cheeky giveaways and prizes. They'll even be crowning a Prom King and Queen, so be sure to dress in your rock 'n roll finest. [caption id="attachment_854878" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Philter's XPA[/caption]
When your nine-to-five plays out like a well-oiled machine, it can sometimes feel like each week is a little same-same. But Melbourne is brimming with a fine bounty of things to experience and explore each and every day. So aside from casual laziness and a little lack of inspiration, there's really nothing stopping you from squeezing some adventure and spontaneity into your schedule. We've teamed up with Mazda3 to celebrate the landmark 40th anniversary of their iconic small cars, and in turn, help you celebrate the little things that bring that sense of adventure to life. Shake things up, as we give you seven different detours to take each week in Melbourne. From Monday to Sunday, enrich your everyday with one completely achievable activity that inspires you to take the scenic route as you go about your daily routine. This week, treat yourself to an opulent, choc-peanut butter dessert you won't want to share, meet the creative practitioners of Melbourne and dabble in some Friday night culture with Van Gogh. Plus, we've got your future detours sorted for the new few weeks here. All require no more effort than a tiny break from the norm — what's your excuse for not trying them all?
UPDATE, August 12, 2022: Drive My Car is available to stream via Stan, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. More than four decades have passed since Haruki Murakami's debut novel reached shelves, and since the first film adaptation of his work followed, too; however, the two best page-to-screen versions of the author's prose have arrived in the past four years. It's easy to think about South Korean drama Burning while watching Drive My Car, because the two features — one Oscar-shortlisted, the other now the first Japanese movie to be nominated for Best Picture — spin the writer's words into astonishing, intricately observed portraits of human relationships. Both films are also exceptional. In the pair, Murakami's text is only a starting point, with his tales hitting the screen filtered through each picture's respective director. For Drive My Car, Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi does the honours, taking audiences riding through another of the Happy Hour, Asako I & II and with Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy helmer's layered, thoughtful and probing reflections on connection. Using Murakami's short story from 2014 collection Men Without Women as its basis, Drive My Car's setup is simple. Yes, the film's title is descriptive. Two years after a personal tragedy, actor/director Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima, Silent Tokyo) agrees to bring Chekhov's Uncle Vanya to the stage in Hiroshima, and the company behind it insists on giving him a chauffeur for his stay. He declines— he'd asked to stay an hour away from the theatre so he could listen to recorded tapes of the play on his drive — yet his new employers contend that it's mandatory for insurance and liability reasons. Enter 23-year-old Misaki Watari (Tôko Miura, Spaghetti Code Love), who becomes a regular part of Yūsuke's working stint in the city. Drive My Car doesn't hurry to its narrative destination, clocking in at a minute shy of three hours. It doesn't rush to get to its basic premise, either. Before the film's opening credits arrive 40 minutes in, it steps through Yūsuke's existence back when he was appearing in a version of Uncle Vanya himself, married to television scriptwriter Oto (Reika Kirishima, Japanese TV's Sherlock) and grappling with an earlier heartbreak. His wife is also sleeping with younger actor Takatsuki (Masaki Okada, Arc), which Yūsuke discovers, says nothing about but works towards discussing until fate intervenes. Then, when he sits in his red 1987 Saab 900 Turbo just as the movie's titles finally display, he's a man still wracked by grief. It's also swiftly clear that he's using his two-month Hiroshima residency as a distraction, even while knowing that this exact play — and Oto's voice on the tapes he keeps listening to — will always be deeply tied to his life-shattering loss. This prologue does more than set the scene; there's a reason that Hamaguchi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Takamasa Oe (The Naked Director), directs so much time its way. Where tales of tragedy and mourning often plunge into happy lives suddenly unsettled by something catastrophic or the process of picking up the pieces in the aftermath — typically making a concerted choice between one or the other — Drive My Car sees the two as the forever-linked halves of a complicated journey, as they are. The film isn't interested in the events that've forever altered the plot of Yūsuke's life, but in who he is, how he copes, and what ripples that inescapable hurt causes. It's just as fascinated with another fact: that so many of us have these stories. Just as losing someone and soldiering on afterwards are unshakeably connected, so are we all by sharing these cruel constants of life. The reality that anyone can have a history as complex and as coloured by pain is a lesson for Yūsuke to learn. Although he makes a living plumbing the depths of human emotion through art, and cathartically so, reading those same feelings into the people around him — recognising the same highs and lows in their experiences, as in his own — is a thornier path to chart. But in his daily treks to and from his theatre rehearsals, he starts making the trip towards that realisation as Misaki sits behind the wheel of his trusty Saab. Initially, neither speaks, with Oto's line readings via cassette breaking the silence. Yūsuke saves his words for the International cast he auditions and then directs, each relaying Uncle Vanya in their native tongues (or, in one instance, by an actor who is deaf and signs her dialogue). Slowly, though, the drives find their own language, as Misaki opens up about her past and vice versa. Forget Green Book and Driving Miss Daisy, American Oscar-applauded films similarly about drivers, passengers and unexpected camaraderie — Drive My Car is in a lane of its own, and not just because it isn't a simplistic and saccharine attempt to weave a heartwarming story out of racial reconciliation. Hamaguchi takes his central pair and his audience on a patient, engrossing and rewarding trip that cuts to the heart of dealing with life, love, loss, pain, shame and despair, and also sees how fickle twists of chance — a recurrent topic in the director's films — unavoidably dictate our routes. Another thing that the filmmaker does disarmingly well: ponder possibilities and acceptance, two notions that echo through both Yūsuke and Misaki's tales, and resonate with that always-winning combination of specificity and universality. Drive My Car is intimate and detailed about every element of its on-screen voyage and its character studies, and also a road map to soulful, relatable truths. Sitting — while driving and during rehearsals — is a recurrent sight in Drive My Car. It's fitting; this is a film to sit with. The movie's lengthy duration lets viewers take in its gorgeously shot visuals as they might revel in landscape spied from a car window, whether cinematographer Hidetoshi Shinomiya (Ju-on: Origins) is lensing the road as it winds by the Seto Inland Sea, spending time with the feature's core duo or chronicling Yūsuke's efforts at the theatre. Crisp, poetic and revealing even in a visit to a waste treatment facility, Drive My Car's naturalistic imagery provides a striking canvas for its affecting performances, too, with Nishijima and Miura as quietly expressive as any film — and any Murakami adaptation — could hope of its actors. In one of the picture's most stunning sequences, they chat by steps near the ocean, and the camera sees everything about their characters, and simply existing, and also tussling with life's pain, in each emotionally loaded closeup and sweeping, waterside wide shot. These are moments that drive a movie to greatness, and this moving and perceptive masterpiece is filled with them.
Lighting up the Goldfields region this spring is Town Folk Festival — a one-day music bonanza taking over Djaara/Castlemaine, on Saturday, November 15. Now entering its fourth edition, this year's event is presented across three dynamic venues — The Bridge Hotel, Boomtown Winery and Shedshaker Brewery — alongside the main stage situated amid the green expanse of Sunken Oval. In 2025, the top-billed act is Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory. Returning to Australia for the first time since 2022, the much-loved singer-songwriter will perform her recently released seventh album, this time made in collaboration with her backing band, alongside a host of her crowd-pleasing indie hits. Also on the lineup is genre-defying phenom Meg Washington, Yolngu surf-rock powerhouse King Stingray, and cult Zambian psychedelic rockers WITCH. For a special treat, legendary Indigenous Australian band The Pigram Brothers will journey from Broome to Victoria for their first shows in the state in 15 years. Meanwhile, Dan Kelly's Regional Crisis, JAZZPARTY, and Jenny Don't and the Spurs serve up everything from narrative-driven grooves and eight-piece soul-psychedelic bangers to rowdy honky-tonk tunes. With all stages within close proximity, catching all the music is simple. Heading to Town Folk Festival is also hassle-free from Melbourne, with the festival operating express bus services from Thornbury, Richmond or Brunswick to Castlemaine and back again. If the late-night ride home doesn't appeal, you're welcome to pitch a tent amid the scenic surrounds of Campbells Creek Recreation Reserve or book a local hotel for the night. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday, May 30, so don't wait to get your crew organised.
Melbourne cake and pastry lovers are spoilt for choice when it comes to 2024's Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. For one, last year's hugely popular Baker's Dozen is back, showcasing some of Melbourne's best bakeries and patisseries in Federation Square across two days. Plus, there are a heap of other dessert-centric events to join, including Desserted at Stokehouse. From 6.30pm on Monday, March 18, the teams from Stokehouse and Tokyo Lamington will serve a one-off five-course degustation that's all about desserts. Diners will head to the seaside restaurant just before sunset, nabbing a welcome drink to sip on while the sun goes down at St Kilda Beach. This restaurant has one of the best views in Melbourne, and going to this event is one great excuse to experience it for yourself. Following the bevs, Stokehouse Group Pastry Chef Ash Smith (ex-Aria, Rockpool Bar & Grill, Spice Temple) and Eddie Stewart (ex-Black Star Pastry) of Tokyo Lamington will plate up and chat through each of the five dessert dishes they have created for the sweet night out. The exact lineup of desserts is a surprise, but will feature innovative interpretations of classic cakes and pastries of the past. The menu will start with a somewhat savoury dessert and then get right into sweet decadent creations that will surely look as good as they taste. Tickets are going for $148 per person and include the drink on arrival as well as the five-course feast. Those wanting to pair wines and other bevs with the meal can easily do so on the night.
Pots of gold and leprechauns are one thing, but if you'd rather find a rainbow with bottomless seltzers at the end of it, just head down to the Provincial Hotel. The Fitzroy pub has teamed up with Moon Dog Brewing for its new rooftop pop-up Over the Rainbow. And yes, it's as colourful as it sounds, rocking vibrant florals, a giant neon rainbow and even a rainbow swing for happy snaps. What's more, the venue's installed a self-serve tap station pouring Moon Dog's famed Fizzer seltzer in a rainbow of varieties — think, Piney Limey, Pink Flamingo and Lemon Squeezy. And you can enjoy two hours of bottomless seltzer for $49, at any time right through summer — book here. Free-flowing Fizzers also now star in the Provincial's weekend bottomless brunch, which runs from 11am and 2pm every Saturday and Sunday. For $60, you'll get your choice of brunch dish — think, espresso martini waffles, maple-glazed bacon and egg burgers, and lobster and prawn rolls — teamed with two hours of free-flowing drinks. Go for the self-serve seltzers, or a swag of other options including spritzes, tap brews and prosecco.
To the German monks who started brewing beer in the Middle Ages: we wholeheartedly salute you. Without those first monastery based breweries, we would all be living in a world without our favourite golden nectar. Dark times, indeed. Luckily, those wily monks started tinkering with wild hops around 1150, and as a result we have the beer that we know today. History lesson aside, you can sample the best of brews at the European Bier Cafe. Soaring high on the east side of the CBD, this triple-level bar is conveniently located just a short walk from Parliament train station. Best of luck trying to narrow down your first pint: these guys have 40 local and international beers on offer. For non-beer drinkers (we've heard they exist) there is an impressive cocktail list available, with share-style carafes also popular. The all-weather rooftop is ready for Melbourne's inclement weather, with a roaring fire in the winter and water misters in the summer. The entertainment roster is similarly impressive, with comedy nights, trivia comps and plenty of live sport. Prost! Images: Giulia Morlando.
Vanfest is a solid reason to road trip into the outback for the first weekend of summer. The outback festival is only in its fourth year, but it's quickly become one of NSW's best regional music events. Set against a backdrop of cows and countryside, the lineup will rival that of a city festival; Amy Shark, Tash Sultana, Dune Rats, Thundamentals, San Cisco and Cosmo's Midnight are just several of the 13 huge names performing this year. There will also be rides, pop-up bars, market stalls and VIP areas. There will also be a Van City at the festival offering a good variety of accommodation, ranging from the affordable, six-man, 'lights off'-style tent to a luxurious, double-bed-and-doona glamping option — and pretty much everything in between. There's 'freestyle camping' where you bring your own tent, or you can save yourself the potential embarrassment of looking like a tent-pitching fool and book pre-pitched tents for a little extra.
Fitzroy's Rose St Artists' Market has been teaming up with the Heide Museum of Modern Art for regular instalments of the Heide Makers' Market for almost two years now. This Saturday, May 12 will be the last market for the season — and, conveniently, it's the day before Mother's Day. Taking over the lush surrounds of the gallery's sculpture park, the market will once again celebrate talented local makers. It'll showcase a broad range of handmade goodness, across art and design, jewellery and homewares. Visitors will get the chance to chat one-on-one with stall holders, or just saunter through the gallery's grounds with a cup of coffee in hand. If you're looking for something to do that afternoon, the gallery is running a crafternoon tea at 2pm.
UPDATE, December 4, 2020: The Grudge is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video, Foxtel Now Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. In its final frames, the latest version of The Grudge peers menacingly at an ordinary small-town house. Absolutely nothing else happens in this long, lingering shot, other than the film's end credits rolling over the image — but the static picture serves up the movie's biggest scare. That's not a compliment. Even though it ties into an earlier plot point, it's not a spoiler, either. Because everyone knows how franchises work in this time of undying sagas, constant reboots and remakes, and sprawling cinematic universes, you can easily guess why this visual is so unnerving. It's a warning that, even after sitting through this bland, by-the-numbers instalment, The Grudge's curse hasn't ended yet. As long as this flick makes enough money or Hollywood wants to merely keep the series alive, it'll keep hexing audiences in future movies. As one of J-horror's huge international hits, alongside Ringu, the thought of more movies in this franchise shouldn't instantly make horror fans cringe. But two decades after the first Japanese Ju-On hit screens — and after seven sequels, one Ring crossover and four average-at-best, awful-at-worst American versions all called The Grudge — this series has very little life left in it, based on its latest film at least. Other big horror titles have survived excruciating chapters and returned with a splash, such as Halloween, but it's hard to see why anyone will want to keep watching US-made The Grudge flicks after this painfully dull and derivative effort. Of course, the fact that some curses just won't die, especially when long-haired Japanese spirits are involved, is this supernatural saga's whole premise. You might be familiar with the Sarah Michelle Gellar-starring 2004 version of The Grudge, the first Hollywood iteration — even though it wasn't particularly good. In fact, it was so unmemorable that you might not have bothered with its sequel in 2006, or with the direct-to-video third American movie in 2009. Luckily, 2020's take on The Grudge doesn't need you to recall much. While this new follow-on starts with American nurse Fiona Landers (Tara Westwood) in Tokyo, standing outside the abode that sparked all the drama in the 2004 film, it quickly shifts the action to Cross River, Pennsylvania two years later. When detectives Muldoon (Andrea Riseborough) and Goodman (Demián Bichir) start investigating a strange corpse with links to an old case in an eerie house, it's clear what's happening: moving back to the town, Landers brought the franchise's enraged ghost, Kayako Saeki (Junko Bailey), with her — and so the spirit's reign of vengeance lives on. While the Ju-On and The Grudge flicks have always traded in creepily effective imagery — Kayako, like Ringu's Sadako, has become a genre icon for a reason — a decent horror movie needs more than just a few scary visuals doled out with bumps and jumps in mind. Writer/director Nicolas Pesce knows that, as seen in his thrillingly unsettling 2016 debut The Eyes of My Mother. And yet, his version of The Grudge offers up little more than repetitive glimpses of gory sights wrapped up in multiple intersecting but still repetitive storylines. In addition to following Muldoon, who is also a grieving widow with a primary school-aged son (John J. Hansen), and a newcomer to town, too, the film flashes back to various different tales, all connected to Landers' Cross River home. John Cho and GLOW's Betty Gilpin play realtors selling the property, and expecting their first baby. Jacki Weaver pops up as an assisted-suicide consultant, enlisted to help an elderly resident (Frankie Faison) with his terminally ill wife (horror stalwart and Insidious franchise standout Lin Shaye). Thanks to the case that brought the whole mess to the US, Goodman's old partner (William Sadler) also has links to the address. Sadly, no matter how many characters The Grudge throws in its malicious spirit's path, it's always apparent how each segment will turn out. And, no matter how hard this impressive roster of actors tries to breathe life and depth into their slim, vignette-style stories — Riseborough, Bichir and Cho, particularly — the whole thing is about as frightening as watching someone manically shouting the movie's most obvious plot points. Yes, that actually happens. Pesce does bring an inescapable sense of unease to the film — a bleakness that not only infects his visibly wearied characters' backstories, or their otherworldly encounters, but the feature's grey-tinted vision of life in general. Indeed, with cinematographer Zack Galler (The Act) and production designer Jean-Andre Carriere (J.T. Leroy), he ensures that feeling of grim, unshakeable dread is present in every frame, as well as in the house that sits at centre of all the chaos. When a movie sticks to the most boilerplate of templates and well-worn of tropes otherwise, though, a disquieting look and mood doesn't go very far. That's The Grudge circa 2020's curse, and one this creatively fading franchise will undoubtedly dredge up again whether audiences like it or not. Talks of a sequel are already bubbling, because of course they are, as is chatter about an American crossover with The Ring series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3cjWaZf_LE
The espionage antics. The shaken-not-stirred martinis. The suits. The theme song. Think James Bond, and all four come to mind. Indeed, they've all played a part in the long-running franchise, which first started back in 1962 — and they're all now coming to Hamer Hall with a live score. Following in the footsteps of the Star Wars and Harry Potter films, Bond is bringing one of its spy instalments back to the big screen with help from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. It's the first time in Australia that the franchise has been shown in this way, and it'll hit Melbourne on Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24. Audiences will relive Daniel Craig's 007 debut while hearing the music behind as they've never heard it before, all as part of Casino Royale in Concert. For those in need of a refresher on the 2006 flick, it takes the franchise back to the beginning of Bond's career. He's newly licensed to kill, and he's soon falling in love with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) while trying to hunt down terrorist financier Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). Directed by Martin Campbell, it was a huge hit — the biggest Bond film, box office-wise, ever released at the time, a mantle that was later overtaken by 2012's Skyfall. As the film hops from the Bahamas, to Montenegro to Venice's Grand Canal, the MSO will perform composer David Arnold's music. Yes, the classic theme track that's served the franchise so well for more than half a century now also features.
