If you've partied on the Mornington Peninsula sometime in the past couple of decades, chances are you'll know 'The Conti' — the big limestone boozer overlooking Sorrento's Main Street, that has played host to many a sweaty, smoky late-night dance floor sessions, especially in those summer months. But the The Continental Hotel's future is steering down a very different path. Melbourne developer Steller plans to transform the heritage site into an $80 million luxury accommodation, entertainment, wellness and dining destination. Work has already kicked off on what will be Sorrento's biggest ever tourist investment, with the 140-year-old hotel set to score some impressive restorations helmed by Six Degrees Architects, as well as three new interconnecting buildings. The Continental 2.0 will be unveiled in two stages, with the first slated to be up and running by September 2019. This initial offering will include a marble-clad Champagne bar, a new public bar and bistro — named Coppin's, after the building's famous founder George Coppin— and a fine dining restaurant dubbed 1875, in a nod to the year the building opened. They'll be followed by a wellness centre, with a day spa and gym, five-star hotel, cafe and wine bar, and assortment of event spaces — all yet to be approved, but with a forecast launch date somewhere in spring 2020. The Continental Hotel is located at 1/21 Ocean Beach Rd, Sorrento. Its bar, bistro and fine diner are slated for opening in September 2019.
It's only had the doors open for a few short weeks, but Holmes Hall — the latest venture from The Ascot Lot crew — has big plans for ringing in the new year. The Moonee Ponds bar and restaurant invites you to let your hair down and farewell the crazy year that was with an evening of eats, drinks and party tunes. On Thursday, December 31, the kitchen will be offering its regular dinner menu from 6 to 9pm — we're talking top-notch gastropub dishes like the chicken parma served with buttery mash and green beans, and a scotch fillet with wattleseed butter — followed by a snack lineup from 9 to 11pm. Meanwhile, local DJ Fragile Future hits the decks from 6pm, spinning you through until after midnight. And at the bar, you'll find the usual range of tap brews, local-leaning wines and seasonal cocktails, all at the regular prices. Cool down with a Peachy Summer Spritz, or perhaps embrace some New Year's fizz with a prosecco from the Murray Darling's Zilzie Wines.
So you might remember that the Keystone Group — the sprawling empire behind Australia's Jamie's Italian restaurants, Sydney's The Winery, Gazebo, Manly Wine, Cargo Bar, Bungalow 8, alongside multi-city venues Kingsley's and Chophouse — got into a real jam recently after being unable to settle on their financial structure with lenders of their multi (multiiii) million dollar hospitality empire and went into receivership. Then, earlier this week, Melbourne-based Dixon Hospitality swooped in and bought up a bunch of their properties. Well, even if you don't (it can be hard to keep up with the wheelings and dealings of hospo hotshots), that's about where we were all up to. But in the latest twist in the story, Jamie's Italian (which was one of the venues not saved by Dixon), has been bought by the man himself: Jamie Oliver. Yep, he has bought back his own restaurant chain, which includes six restaurants across Australia, including Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide and Parramatta. He'll manage the Australian venues under his Jamie Oliver Group, which are, despite the receivership, reportedly going quite well. So, it's okay everyone: Jamie's back to set it all right and cook us a nice, creamy pasta. Via The Sydney Morning Herald.
nThere really is a festival for everything, and come July at Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image, that includes television. Not content to let film monopolise the big screen fest space, ACMI is playing host to the world's biggest TV festival, with Series Mania heading to Australia for the first time. With a name that could also describe humanity's reaction each and every time a new season of a TV show hits a streaming platform, Series Mania comes to Melbourne from July 20 to 24 for five days of television-focused fun. The program won't be announced until July 3, but you can expect it to include more than 40 screenings of premiere seasons of some of the best new drama, narrative comedy and web-based series from around the world. Workshops, panel discussions, masterclasses and Q&A sessions will also be on the agenda, with the fest catering for both industry and the public. In case you're wondering just how exciting this is, Series Mania's Paris festival gives a great indication of what might be in store. In 2016, it attracted more than 40,000 attendees to see 80 shows from 20 countries, and has previously showcased Aussie efforts such as The Kettering Incident, Cleverman, The Family Law and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. The 2017 fest — aka season eight of the event — takes place from April 13 to 23. It's set to include discussions with Lost and The Leftovers writer/producer Damon Lindelof, and The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies; a tribute to Buffy the Vampire Slayer; a marathon on new TV comedies from the UK, US, Canada and Australia; and the world premiere of the Melbourne-made drama Seven Types of Ambiguity, which stars Hugo Weaving, Xavier Samuel and Suzie Porter. "We are experiencing a golden age of television around the world right now, as this medium rapidly expands into new platforms," says ACMI CEO and Director Katrina Sedgwick. "We're delighted to partner with Film Victoria to bring Series Mania to Melbourne. Our audiences will preview some of the best series coming to our screens in the year to come — and discover stunning international TV that we might not ever see otherwise." If that all sounds like your idea of a great way to spend a day or several, then prepare for an epic binge session, but out of the house and not in your pyjamas. In even better news, Series Mania will be free. Image: Nathalie Prèbende.
If Vincent van Gogh can do it, and Claude Monet and his contemporaries like Renoir, Cézanne and Manet as well, then Frida Kahlo can also. We're talking about being the subject of huge, multi-sensory art exhibitions — the kind that takes an artist's work and projects it all around you so you feel like you're walking into their paintings. First came Van Gogh Alive, which has been touring the country for the last few years. On its way next is Monet & Friends Alive, launching at Melbourne's digital-only gallery The Lume at the end of October. And, after that, Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon is heading to Sydney as part of the hefty Sydney Festival program for 2023. Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon will make its Australian premiere in the Harbour City — and display only in the Harbour — from Wednesday, January 4, 2023. For two months, it will celebrate the Mexican painter's life and work, taking over the Cutaway at Barangaroo Reserve with holography and 360-degree projections. The aim: turning a biographical exhibition about Kahlo into an immersive showcase, and getting attendees to truly understand her art, persistence, rebellion and skills — and why she's an icon. Visitors will wander through seven spaces, and get transported into the artist's work — including via virtual reality. That VR setup will indeed let you step inside Kahlo's pieces as much as VR can, although the entire exhibition is designed to cultivate that sensation anyway, with digital versions of Kahlo's paintings expanding across every surface. The showcase hails from Spanish digital arts company Layers of Reality, alongside the Frida Kahlo Corporation, and will feature historical photographs and original films as well — and live performances of traditional Mexican music. As part of the interactive component, attendees will also be able to make their own flower crowns, and turn their own drawings into Kahlo-style artworks. And, you'll be able to immortalise the experience in souvenir photos, too.
Celebrate Chinese New Year with a feast fit for an emperor, as some of Melbourne's best Asian food trucks descend on Queensbridge Square. The Hungry Panda, White Guy Cooks Thai, Nem N' Nem Vietnamese Street Food, Flying Wok, the Korean Fried Chicken Truck and Caliko BBQ are just some of the tasty vendors who'll be on hand for Southbank's New Year festivities. In addition to the food, visitors will be able to see performances from members of Melbourne's Chinese community, and marvel at various illuminated installations, including the four-metre high Monkey Arch Corridor and the Chinese lanterns set up along Sandridge Bridge.
In Wunderkammer, acrobats catapult themselves from one side of the stage to the other in fantastically creative and awe-inspiring ways. Human bodies become skipping ropes, hands become just another pair of feet to walk on, and the physically impossible looks effortless. All at once you feel wooden and inflexible in your theatre chair, realising that, for all your wishful thinking, your flesh is fundamentally unwilling to bend, flex and twist in on itself like a pretzel. The Circa troop are circus 'freaks' in the truest sense, fizzing with effervescent energy and carnivalesque camaraderie, flipping from hula hoop hijinks to high-voltage tumbling to aerial striptease to burlesque routines. They tease and titillate the audience, gleefully flaunting their phenomenal bodies and shared fetish for spike-heeled red patent heels. They will make you believe that they can fly as they flirt with aerial suspension — and hey, why limit themselves to flight alone; why not explore aerodynamics while they're up there? A 'wunderkammer' is, according to Wikipedia, a cabinet of curiosities or a chamber of rarities, a collection of wonders whose categorical boundaries have yet to be defined. This description fits the Circa crew perfectly. While you may feel corporeally frustrated after the show and think 'damn, my neck is sore', it's a staggeringly sexy display of strength and skill that is simply unmissable. https://youtube.com/watch?v=pbY9yvWsmHc
This review is of the Sydney run of this production in December 2013. If you listen to many theatre reviewers, you'll believe there's something wrong with you if you enjoy the opening act of Oedipus Schmoedipus, apparently the Sydney Festival's most divisive work. But I'm here to say it's bloody brilliant (emphasis on the bloody — it's basically writer-performers Zoe Coombs Marr and Mish Grigor killing each other and themselves in numerous vivid ways). The comedic timing, the ingenious weapon concealment, the improbable wailing of 'Love the Way You Lie' — the whole thing really comes together as a surreal mash-up of comic-book violence and a celebration of the craft of stage blood. There are other highlights in the hour that follows, as the women of post riff on the death scenes from some 2500 years of drama, from Aeschylus to Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen and Wilde. The ensemble has a gift for making layered, surprising shows out of seemingly novelty premises — in Who's the Best? they tried to empirically determine which one of the group was the best all-round human, and in Everything I Know About the Global Financial Crisis in One Hour they intentionally plunged into socioeconomic analysis without doing any research. Following Oedipus Schmoedipus's gory opener, the group attacks the death question with an arsenal including absurd comedy monologues, wordplay, group dancing, frenetic kabuki drops and two dozen fresh volunteers each night, squirming on stage while following carefully choreographed directions. It's fun to watch all this smash together — there's a strain of modern Dada to post's comedy, as randomness, nonsense and juxtaposition play their parts. The crazy experiments of durational performance artists are felt too. Perhaps the problem is that the methods don't quite match the mission this time around. Although their previous works allowed the audience glimpses of poignancy, in the face of a big subject like death — the biggest subject, some might say — most of what post fling at us seems pointless. Unless the only point that can be made about death is that it's pointless, in which case, everything is perfect. What can be said for sure is that the show seems to throw up more obstacles than aids to the audience's engagement. Though the entertainment value falls rather than climbs in Oedipus Schmoedipus, it's great to see the spirit of experimentation grip the Upstairs Belvoir arena. Post are one of the most exciting forces in devised performance in Sydney, and they deserve to be up here. Oddly enough, considering the show's whole premise is playing on the theatrical canon, it's fans of said canon who will likely hate the result. Intrepid arty genre-hoppers, your presence is required.
Melbourne's inner north is set to score another new independent brewery, only this one's got Brunswick in its sights. Local label CoConspirators has announced plans to build a 195-seater pub and full 12-hectolitre brewery. Set to launch by mid-2020, it'll be the brand's first permanent brewery, after three years spent contract brewing out of various other local breweries. Known for the bold, playful portraits adorning its cans, CoConspirators is the work of two couples: Maggie and Deon Smit, and Jacqui Sacco and Tim Martin. Launched back in 2016 and now with a slew of familiar core beers under its belt, the label is taking the next big step with plans to create and collaborate on even more unique brews in the future. Fan favourites including The Matriarch New England IPA, The Salesman XPA and The Editor passionfruit and guava sour will all be available onsite, along with new release drops and even a few exclusive brews you won't be able to get your hands on anywhere else. Full details about the new Victoria Street venue are yet to drop, although we do know it's being imagined by the crew at architect studio Humble and will align with CoConspirators' environmentally conscious leanings. Not only is the team looking into incorporating both solar energy and thermal dynamic insulation, but it's also keen to pull a Melbourne-first move by installing aerobic digestion technology to process the brewery and food waste into grey water. CoConspirators is slated to open at 377 Victoria Street, Brunswick, by mid-2020.
You've gotta love a garage sale brimming with great goodies for unbelievable prices. And the creators of Rag Trade feel the same way. Matilda and Lil, friends who both previously had stalls at the Camberwell market and collectively ran the Carlton Eclectic Vintage & Design Market for one year, decided to start Rag Trade to essentially re-create the Camberwell market in the city of Melbourne. Held on the first Saturday of every month from noon-5pm at the Clyde Hotel, Rag Trade brings together drinking, music and a little bit of treasure hunting, and who doesn’t want to spend a Saturday doing all three of those things? Stalls feature a wide variety of vintage clothing from the '50s-'80s as well as the wares of local emerging Melbourne designers. With the new beer garden and lounge that was finished in early 2013, the Clyde has become the perfect spot for a market. Rag Trade is on at the Clyde Hotel on the first Saturday of every month. You can also check it out on the third Saturday of every month at 1000 £ Bend.
First Nations filmmakers from around the globe will be in the spotlight at ACMI in April as part of the inaugural Birrarangga Film Festival. Taking its name from the Woiwurrung word for 'river location', and curated by Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) / Yorta Yorta writer and actor Tony Briggs, the festival will showcase more than 40 feature and short films from Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Mexico, Russia, Greenland, Peru and, of course, Australia, as well as panel discussions, filmmaker Q&As, industry events and more. The festival kicks off on Friday, April 26 with opening night feature Sgaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife), the first film made entirely in the Native American Haida language. The screening will be accompanied by a Welcome to Country with a special performance by the Djirri Djirri dance group, as well as the official afterparty. Other highlights over the course of the weekend-long festival include Toyon Kyyl (The Lord Eagle), a drama made by an Indigenous cast and crew from the Sakha Republic in Russia, Akornatsinniitut (Among Us), a sci-fi adventure film from Greenland, and a program of short films celebrating Victorian Indigenous stories on screen.
Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) comes across Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), lying broken and beaten in the street. She refuses an ambulance, so he takes her back to his house, where she tells him the story of lifelong obsession with sex. Nymphomaniac is, in many territories around the world, released in two separate parts. In Australia, we are getting the whole thing in one massive four-hour go, albeit with some of the more extreme material cut. Although it's hard to imagine they cut much, given what's left in. There's a good chance that Nymphomaniac will confirm your preconceived notions of director Lars von Trier. To his fans, it is a bold, funny, challenging film that dives headlong into a difficult subject. To his detractors, it is further evidence that von Trier's idea of provocative cinema is a rote combination of mental illnesses and genital close-ups. I should confess at this point that I am traditionally a von Trier detractor, but one who claimed his previous work, Melancholia, to be one of 2011's best films. Nymphomaniac, however, is a litany of his worst tendencies. He seems terrified of sincerity; every moment that comes dangerously close to a human emotion is immediately undercut with a cynical aside as we cut jarringly back to the 'present -day' story. What should be a clever framing device becomes a get-out-of-jail free card for von Trier. Joe and Seligman fall over themselves to acknowledge the extraordinary coincidences in Joe's story, as if von Trier thinks this makes up for lazy writing. Or is winking at us to show us the lazy writing is deliberate. Either way, he seems to believe a veil of self-aware cynicism insulates him against potential criticism. It does not. Now, it must be acknowledged that making fun of Shia LaBeouf these days is like shooting fish in a barrel, and must only be attempted when the situation absolutely calls for it. This is one such situation. Casting LaBeouf as one of the 'English' characters feels like von Trier's biggest prank, and LaBeouf enters each scene as if he was asked to try some sort of Britishy accent moments before 'action!' was called. I'm not saying it's bad; I'm saying nobody's allowed to make fun of Dick Van Dyke ever again. There's an adage in filmmaking that if you have a great ending, audiences will forgive any trespasses. And Nymphomaniac, I must confess, has a great ending. It went out on such an impressive note, it almost made me forget my problems with the proceeding four hours. Almost. Ardent fans of von Trier will find much to enjoy in this film, as he continues exploring the themes and styles of works such as Breaking the Waves, Dogville and Dancer in the Dark. If you do not count yourself as a fan, then I suggest you stay well away. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Gdxzno5Xp2Y
In news as certain as Han Solo's swagger, C-3P0's disapproval and Leia Organa proving the fiercest princess in the entire galaxy, another round of orchestra-scored Star Wars screenings is making its way across Australia — and this time, Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi will be unleashing the force. What was originally the final flick in George Lucas' space saga is headed to Sydney's ICC Sydney Theatre on Saturday, September 7, 2019, and Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019. While Brisbane details have yet to be announced, we'd expect them to arrive soon. If you've been hiding out on Tattooine and aren't quite sure what's in store, this climactic instalment features a second Death Star, a tribe of Ewoks on Endor, Han Solo imprisoned by Jabba the Hutt, plenty of family baggage and one heck of a father-and-son battle — so, classic Star Wars thrills. And, it's all set to John Williams' iconic score, which each city's symphony orchestra will recreate right in front of attendees' eager eyes and ears. As always, we've got a good feeling about this mix of movies and music, which should help fill the gap between this year's Solo: A Star Wars Story and next year's Star Wars: Episode IX. Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi will screen at Sydney's ICC Sydney Theatre on Saturday, September 7, 2019, with tickets now available — and Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019, with tickets on sale from Wednesday, September 26. Details of a Brisbane session have yet to be announced.
We hate to break it to you Australia, but there’s yet another reason to lament the current dominance of the fun police. As of March 7, drinking in the street in New York City's Manhattan will no longer be a criminal act. Start spreading the news. Yep, whether you’re lazing about in Central Park, strolling through Harlem or reliving the '60s in Greenwich Village — that is, anywhere on the island of Manhattan — you can crack open a cold one and enjoy it at your leisure, without fearing arrest or a criminal record. That said, drinking’s been decriminalised, not legalised — and only in the borough of Manhattan. In practice, decriminalisation usually means you can expect the police to turn a blind eye to minor offences, and to give warnings rather than make arrests. Strictly speaking, you could still cop a fine and/or summons. So, if you’re contemplating kicking back with a glass of champagne or two on a SoHo stoop, don’t go making any trouble. The idea behind the policy change is to redirect New York City’s resources towards weightier and more dangerous matters. "Using summonses instead of arrests for low-level offenses is an intuitive and modern solution that will help make sure resources are focused on our main priority: addressing threats to public safety,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a media statement. “Today’s reforms allow our hardworking police officers to concentrate their efforts on the narrow group of individuals driving violent crime in New York City. This plan will also help safely prevent unnecessary gaol time for low-level offenses.” If this news has you booking a one-way flight to NYC, you might be interested to know that drinking’s not the only pastime to have been decriminalised. Others include littering, riding between subway cars, taking up more than one subway seat and — wait for it — urinating in public. Via The Observer. Image: Ben Duchac.
My yoga studio has a basketball court below it. During a calming session of yoga, it is not uncommon to hear the piercing screech of a whistle, frequent cheering and the intermittent shrieks of "Great shot Mike!". One time, I kid you not, there was a marching band procession going down, and the instructor had to calmly try and talk over the incessant drumming. Quite un-zen. Flow After Dark Silent Disco Yoga seeks to give yoga enthusiasts the exact opposite experience. How exactly does one silent disco yoga? Quite easily with the introduction of wireless headphones. These bad boys give participants a one-on-one with instructor, Flow Athletic co-founder Kate Kendall, while simultaneously pumping out beats from Sydney DJ James Mack. Also, they're neon. This one-off, 90-minute Vinyasa yoga session will see a whopping 700 yogis come together at Melbourne Park Function Centre. It's probably your best (possibly only) chance to show off your best warrior pose while simultaneously jiving to some seriously smooth music. Silently.
Arts House in North Melbourne Town Hall is a venue mostly associated with the hectic weeks in spring when it becomes the Fringe Festival hub, but it's worth a visit at other times of the year too. If you had any questions on that score, take a look over the freshly released program for the second season for 2013. There'll be dance, from the fury of Whelping Box, in which theatricalised aggression takes place in a boxed off arena, to the elegant intricacy of A Small Prometheus, a work from Chunky Move regulars Stephanie Lake and Robin Fox, in which dancers perform alongside fire-driven kinetic sculptures. There'll be song, too, with a musical dedicated to murderess Jean Lee, the last woman hanged in Australia, featuring a former member of the Bad Seeds (who better for a murder ballad?) and '90s indie pop star Max Sharam as Lee. The limits of theatrical form will be challenged. The Confidence Man invites audiences to take part in the performance, wearing masks and receiving directions by headset, while in PROMPTER, a semi science fictional take on the world of online journalism, onstage actors interact with performers online, beaming in from Argentina, Britain, France and the USA. Closer to reality, indeed as close to reality as theatre gets, two compelling documentary theatre pieces from Belvoir's 2012 season will be having their Melbourne debuts. Beautiful One Day tackles the issue of Aboriginal deaths in custody through interviews with members of the Palm Island community, performed verbatim by actors. The verbatim theatre approach is also used to delve into the hidden side of competitive boxing in the exhaustively researched I'm Your Man. So don't wait til Fringe time to get down to Arts House. The cutting-edge theatre is already there.
UPDATE, July 16, 2021: Blade Runner 2049 is available to stream via Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Do sci-fi fans dream of immersive future worlds, neon visuals scored by dark synth notes, and existential musings on what it means to be human? Yes, and they dream of Blade Runner 2049. The sequel to Ridley Scott's influential 1982 film comes to cinemas with a task that's harder than spotting a replicant — or, more accurately, a task that's quite comparable. Directed by Arrival's Denis Villeneuve, and written by the original's Hampton Fancher with Logan's Michael Green, can this follow-up deliver the real deal, or just a convincing copy? The answer, in fitting Blade Runner style, isn't as simple as that. Audiences won't spend decades arguing about it; rather, they'll lap up a movie that's every bit as spectacular as its predecessor, largely because it's built from similar pieces. Taking its cues from the other Harrison Ford behemoth that recently received a long-awaited next instalment — aka Star Wars — Blade Runner 2049 finds the right balance between venturing forward and nodding to the past. With a noir-ish, detective-focused narrative, and plenty of time spent pondering the difference between artificial and flesh-and-blood life, the film proves both a bold second chapter and a loving pseudo-remake. Set 30 years after the events of the first feature, Blade Runner 2049 follows Los Angeles cop K (Ryan Gosling), a blade runner charged with finding and "retiring" old androids. In the intervening period, replicants have fallen out of favour, then come to the fore again in newer, more compliant models, and ultimately found something of an equilibrium with humanity, with tech tycoon Niander Wallace (an ill-placed Jared Leto) leading the charge. Alas, K's latest case threatens the fragile harmony between man and machine, while also leading him to someone who once had his job: an older but far-from-friendlier Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). That description might seem sparse on details, but the 164-minute film itself is anything but. In soaring overhead shots of crumbling urban sprawl, grey-hued storage facilities, and orange-tinted landscapes, cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall) serves up a masterclass in making every image look like it belongs in an art gallery. In each thrum and drone of the score from Benjamin Wallfisch (It) and Hans Zimmer (Dunkirk), moodiness and mystery intertwine with a rollercoaster of emotion. And, in Gosling's stoic turn at the centre of it all, a look over the top of an upturned collar, and a pause during a slow walk, say much more than the dialogue. Playing a hologram that embodies the next technologically assisted step in the quest for connection, Ana de Armas (War Dogs) proves similarly effective. For a film that overwhelms with its extraordinary sights and echoing sounds, Blade Runner 2049 revels in the little things, and in the potent cumulative toll that they can have. Accordingly, it paints a broad, bleak picture of the past dictating the future that's vivid and convincing because it takes the time to soak in the minutiae — be it the glow of a busy street, the texture of a dead tree or the sorrow in a grizzled face. Again, it's apt — as adapted from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the franchise's dystopian vision started with Deckard checking for incriminating glimmers in replicants' eyes, with a tiny flash telling a much bigger tale. Villeneuve achieves the cinematic equivalent, making each moment resound with meaning while honouring the legacy of the original. Oh, and if you thought that every sci-fi flick over the past 35 years took its cues from Blade Runner — and they did — prepare for three further decades of new movies doing the same with Blade Runner 2049. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGa3M0hfTCo
Sydney's Poernomo Brothers are taking a road trip this February, bringing their wildly popular dessert bar and it's sister restaurant to Melbourne's newest foodie destination. KOI Dessert Bar and Monkey's Corner will combine forces to act as one of the grand opening vendors at the new Asian-style HWKR Food Centre, set to hit the Melbourne CBD on February 8. The trio will run the three-month pop-up daily through the end of April, alongside three additional hawker-inspired food stalls launching in HWKR's four permanent kitchens. This is the first collab the two venues have done outside of Sydney, giving them the chance to showcase their Japanese-inspired small plates with KOI's incredibly pretty desserts. Patrons can expect the venues' signature dishes on offer, including ox tongue from Monkey's Corner and mango, yuzu and 'nomtella' cakes from KOI, along with dishes created exclusively for the pop-up. MasterChef's Reynold Poernomo will manage the stall for the first weeks, so fans should join the rush if they want to catch a glimpse of the dessert master at work. The HWKR Food Centre will be open from February 8, seven days per week; Sunday through Wednesday from 7am to 11pm and Thursday through Saturday from 7am to 1am. Images: Tery Gunata.
Sculpture by the Sea is a landmark event in Sydney's cultural calendar each year, drawing huge crowds to the two-kilometre Bondi-Tamarama coastal walk every October to gaze at the larger-that-life artworks. Unfortunately, as with many events, 2020 wasn't the exhibition's year. Plans for the event were forced to be abandoned, although Sydneysiders were treated to Milan Kuzica's towering fluro sculpture Green Life on the Tamarama foreshore as a consolation. When organisers originally announced there would be no 2020 edition of Sculpture by the Sea, an early 2021 date was floated. Sadly, this date has been pushed back again and large-scale art fans will have to wait until spring for the event's latest iteration, with October 2021 being announced as the new, pandemic-pending date for the exhibition. Organisers were optimistic an early 2021 event could be achieved but failed to secure an exemption from NSW Health Department last October. The event will instead go ahead in October with the same lineup of artists originally planned for 2020, plus two or three new additions scheduled to join the roster. Sculpture Rocks, a collaboration between Sculpture by the Sea, Place Management NSW and the Ports Authority of NSW that was set to see Japanese sculpture take over Campbells Cove in The Rocks this January, has also been postponed. The smaller-scale sculpture event is now planned for mid-2021. It has been a turbulent couple of years for the team behind the beloved Sydney art exhibition. In 2019, organisers clashed with Waverley Council over the design of a new path, threatening to move the event out of the council area. The planned upgrades to the area were completed in October 2019 before Sculpture buy the Sea came to an agreement with Waverley Council to remain in Bondi until at least 2030. Sculpture by the Sea is currently aiming to take place in October 2021. Stay up to date with the latest announcements at sculpturebythesea.com. Images: Trent Van der Jagt
After introducing its cookie pies to the world earlier this year — and serving up an OTT red velvet version, a gooey choc-hazelnut-filled one and a peanut butter and jelly variety as well — Gelato Messina is bringing the decadent dessert back yet again. This time, though, it's quite the Frankenstein's monster of a dessert. If you like fairy bread, cookie pies and Messina's gelato, prepare to get excited. Hang on, a cookie pie? Yes, it's a pie, but a pie made of cookie dough. And it serves two-to-six people — or just you. You bake it yourself, too, so you get to enjoy that oh-so-amazing smell of freshly baked cookies wafting through your kitchen. Now that you're onboard with the overall cookie pie concept, the fairy bread version really is exactly what it sounds like. That crunchy, crumbly cookie dough is filled with vanilla custard, then topped with more 100s and 1000s than you've probably seen since your childhood birthday parties. On its own, the indulgent pie will cost $20. But to sweeten the deal, the cult ice creamery has created a few bundle options, should you want some of its famed gelato atop it (vanilla is recommended for this particular pie). You can add on a 500-millilitre tub for $28, a one-litre tub for $36 or a 1.5-litre tub for $39. If you're keen to get yourself a piece of the pie, they're available to preorder from Monday, July 27 — with pick up between Friday, July 31 and Sunday, August 2 from your chosen Messina store. Once you've got the pie safely home, you just need to whack it in the oven for 25–30 minutes at 165 degrees and voila. You can preorder a Messina fairy bread cookie pie from Monday, July 27, to pick up from all NSW, Vic and Queensland Gelato Messina stores (except The Star). Melburnians are currently instructed to only visit their local cafe or shop, with Messina's Melbourne stores located in Fitzroy, Richmond, Windsor and, as a pop-up, in Brunswick East.
If you're partial to a soothing dip in some steamy natural hot springs, it looks like you'll soon have another local destination to add to your pamper hit-list. The Mornington Peninsula is set to score another premium wellness hub next year, with the launch of Alba Thermal Springs & Spa. The expansive bathing retreat is on track to open to the public in June 2022. Located just a stone's throw from the long-running Peninsula Hot Springs, Alba is vying to become the state's "most sought-after bathing and wellness experience". It's set to deliver a suite of luxurious offerings within a low-impact development that remains sensitive to the natural environment. Spread across a generous 15 hectares of natural bushland, the property is expected to feature 25 pools, a series of treatment rooms and various other experiences across a mix of indoor, outdoor and open-air spaces. The design of those spaces comes courtesy of landscape architects Mala Studio and award-winning architectural design firm Hayball — the same one behind Brisbane's West Village and Library at The Dock in Melbourne's Docklands. Expect lofty, light-filled structures with windows onto idyllic views that celebrates the property's "unique surrounds". Both Mala Studio and Hayball have posted recent progress shots of the build to their Instagram accounts if you want to take a sticky beak. View this post on Instagram A post shared by MALA studio (@mala_studio) For now, you'll have to leave the rest up to your imagination — full details of Alba's offerings and facilities are set to be unveiled in the coming months. Alba Thermal Springs & Spa is slated to open at 282 Browns Road, Fingal, from June 2022. Stay tuned and we'll share more information as it drops.
Earlier this year, Melburnians scored another excuse to hit the water, with GoBoat splashing into town. After launching its eco-friendly picnic boats in cities all over Europe, the Danish company made the leap to Australia, giving punters a fun new way to cruise the Yarra. And, thanks to a new move, you now can hop onboard from the CBD. When GoBoat's vessels first arrived, the company was setting sail out of Docklands. If you're keen for a day on the river, you can now grab a boat from Banana Alley near Flinders Street Station. GoBoat has just secured a ten-year berthing arrangement with Parks Victoria, which means that it won't be shifting again anytime soon, either. Aimed at making the whole boating caper more accessible for everyday folk, the outfit's Scandinavian-designed vessels are slow-moving, a breeze to operate and don't require a boating licence, making for fuss-free sailing sessions. In a win for the planet, they also run on silent, pollution-free, electric engines, and are crafted from a mix of reclaimed timber and recycled PET bottles. Each of the contemporary GoBoats clocks in at 18-feet long, boasting a central picnic table with room for eight people (and all the necessary snacks and booze). And despite what you might be thinking, they're even affordable enough to fit your post-holiday budget — simply BYO food and drinks, find enough eager sailors to jump aboard and a GoBoat session will cost you less than $15 per person, per hour. That's $109 hourly in total, or $189 for two hours, $269 for three hours, $349 for four hours, $429 for five hours and $509 for six hours. Yes, you can really make a whole day of it. Bookings are currently available until the end of March, with timeslots available in 15-minute increments from 11am. The boats required to be returned by sunset, with the specific time obviously changing with the seasons. Oh, and did we mention they're pet-friendly? Surely you've got a very good boy who deserves a river jaunt. For more information about GoBoat, or to make a booking, visit the service's website. Images: Lean Timms.
Underground, garage-rock royalty don't come much royaler than King Tuff. With a CV that includes stints with psych-folk pioneers Feathers, Sub Pop's Happy Birthday and the melodic metal of Witch, the man born Kyle Thomas has made a career out of crafting awesomely dirty and scuzzy guitar licks. Having decided to go it alone, King Tuff's debut solo album Was Dead showcases a performer who knows a thing or two about them blues. Sitting somewhere between a lo-fi version of The Black Keys and Wolfmother on an acid trip, the album is a filthy cocktail of straight-up guitar rock, stoner vocals and shout-along choruses. Then there's the man himself. With his matt of unkept hair and that middle-finger-to-the-system attitude, King Tuff is a beguiling and charismatic stage presence, with the ability to rouse a crowd into rabble and mayhem with little more than one of his Zeppelin-esque solos.
After years of hype, Australia's first surf park is finally set to to open this summer — and its bringing some of Sydney's top chefs with it. Urbnsurf Melbourne has teamed up with Darren Robertson, Andy Allen and Mark LaBrooy to bring the fifth instalment of their farm-to-table eatery Three Blue Ducks to our city. "We all love Melbourne and we all surf, so when [the Urbnsurf team] met with us about this space, we felt it was well suited, and was also quite different from our other venues," says Robertson, who co-owns the current Three Blue Ducks in Sydney, Byron Bay and Brisbane. Located around the corner from Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport, the all-day restaurant will built inside the two-hectare surfing lagoon. The two-level venue will boast high ceilings, a big open bar and an expansive, greenery-filled deck out front — so diners can watch the surfers in action. As with other Three Blue Ducks outposts, the open kitchen will feature a woodfired pizza oven, a rotisserie grill and a charcoal pit, all helping to prepare a signature menu of sustainably and ethically sourced eats. Seasonal ingredients will be sourced from local farms, wineries, craft breweries and other artisans around Victoria. A dedicated kitchen garden will also grow herbs and native Aussie plants, including lemon myrtle and salt bush. [caption id="attachment_591172" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Three Blue Ducks Rosebery[/caption] "We'll move down to Melbourne in the coming weeks and just get to know suppliers through farmers markets and visits to the farm — then write the menu based on what we find," says Roberston. Many of the venue's favourite dishes will make an appearance, though the exact details are still in the works. We're hoping for the the corn fritters with guacamole, fermented cabbage, herb salad, labneh and poached eggs for brekkie; and the coal-roasted lamb with parsnip purée for dinner. Other likely contenders include whole steamed fish and roasted chook served with salads, ferments and pickles. For drinks, Sydney's Single O has again signed on for the coffee side of things. And beer, wine and kombucha will all be served on tap. The tap drinks tie in with the team's ongoing commitment to sustainability, with an onsite composting facility and limited use of plastic also in the plan. Three Blue Ducks and Urbnsurf are due to open in summer 2019 along Airport Drive, Melbourne Tullamarine. Keep an eye on this space for updates closer to. Top Images: Three Blue Ducks and UrbnSurf's founder Andrew Ross; Wavegarden San Sebastian by Ed Sloane (courtesy of Urbnsurf); and Three Blue Ducks Rosebery.
Melbourne cinephiles, prepare to spend plenty of time in yet another picture palace. Come 2019, Swanston Street's Capitol Theatre will reopen its doors and once again host cinema screenings. The RMIT-owned building will become a home-away-from-home for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), which is closing down for a major refurbishment between mid-2019 and mid-2020. While ACMI's Federation Square base is completing its revamp, the organisation will partner with RMIT to bring its screenings to the Capitol. Festivals that usually use ACMI as a venue, such as the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Human Rights Arts & Film Festival and the Japanese Film Festival, will also make the temporary move. In readiness for getting the projector whirring, the Capitol is also undergoing a revamp of its own. The theatre's foyer will be restored, seats and carpet will be replaced, and upgrades will be made to its cinema projection, lighting and sound facilities. As well as revitalising a space that dates back almost a century, RMIT is eager for the Capitol to regain its place as one of Melbourne's cultural hubs. The university expects the venue to host more than 500 events and to welcome more than 100,000 visitors through its doors every year. RMIT will also use the space as a research and innovation hub in fields such as film, digital media, virtual reality, augmented reality and animation, for both educational purposes and for the broader industry. "We're creating a cultural and educational destination," said RMIT Pro Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President Professor Paul Gough in a statement. "A thriving centre where the creative community can interact, connect and collaborate." The news comes after the university launched a crowdfunding campaign to restore the Capitol and put it back into use, noting the building's significant historical value. First opening in 1924 — and initially hosting silent films that were preceded by live theatre productions before each screening, as well as being accompanied by Australia's first large Wurlitzer organ — the site was designed by architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, who also designed the city of Canberra. The Capitol's geometric-shaped light-filled ceiling is quite the striking sight, but one that's been seen intermittently by audiences over the past few decades. After initially closing in the 60s, being renovated to turn its stalls-level seating into the Capitol Arcade, and then undergoing remodelling again when RMIT took over in 1999, The Capitol has remained shut since 2014. We're looking forward to seeing it open once more. The Capitol Theatre is located at 113 Swanston Street, Melbourne and will reopen at a yet-to-be-revealed date in 2019. Image: RMIT.
Two decades after Hae Min Lee's murder, the Baltimore high school student's horrific plight continues to dominate the true crime landscape. After featuring on the first season of Sarah Koenig's grimly addictive podcast Serial, it's now the basis for a new documentary series, The Case Against Adnan Syed. The four-part HBO series picks up where everyone's 2014 obsession left off — the trailers below promise to reveal 'a new chapter' — not only exploring 18-year-old Lee's death in 1999 and her ex-boyfriend Syed's conviction in 2000, but the latter's ongoing quest to have the extremely complex legal matter reassessed in the years since he was found guilty. Everything from Lee and Syed's relationship, to the original police investigation and trial, to the developments up until now will feature, with the film gaining exclusive access to Syed, his family and his lawyers. The series couldn't come at a more crucial time for Syed, who was convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life in prison, and continues to fight his case through the courts. While he was granted a new trial in 2016, that ruling was subsequently appealed by the State of Maryland — only for the Court of Special Appeals to agree to vacate Syed's conviction and finally give him that retrial last March. A date for the actual retrial hasn't yet been set, however. Splashed across the small screen, it's certain to make for compelling viewing — but if you think you've spent too much time mulling it all over across the past five years, filmmaker Amy Berg has you beat. Unsurprisingly given how complicated the matter is, the director has been working on the project since 2015. And, with her excellent doco background — with Berg helming 2006's Oscar-nominated 2006 Deliver Us from Evil, about molestation in the Catholic Church; examining the West Memphis Three's quest for freedom in 2012's West of Memphis; and tackling the sexual abuse of teenagers in the film industry in 2014's An Open Secret — her new venture is certain to be thorough. Mere weeks out from launching the series, which airs weekly on HBO from Sunday, March 10, US time, the network has dropped a full trailer. It comes hot on the heels on the first sneak peek earlier this month, which mentioned the investigation of other suspects and new evidence — saying, "the closer you look the more you see". Watch them both here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQaTa5eTxnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA1qzo2WEew As they did for West of Memphis, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis will provide the score. 'The Case Against Adnan Syed' will air on HBO from Sunday, March 10, US time — and then hit Foxtel for Australian viewers later this year. It's not clear yet if the show will air or stream in New Zealand. We'll update you as soon as further release dates have been announced. Image: Adnan Syed via Syed Family / Courtesy of HBO.
There aren't many protagonists in modern theatre much like Arty, the subject of the Melbourne Theatre Company's new production, Beached. Lazy and living at home, but with grandiose visions of one day becoming an explorer or even a movie star, Arty is a perfectly average hero. He's the sort of character Seth Rogen might play in a Judd Apatow film, with one one large difference — he weighs 400 kg, a fairly unsubtle metaphor for a man who is literally going nowhere. Written by Melissa Bubnic and directed here by Petra Kalive, Beached (yes, as in whale), takes the well-worn cliche of a man who has lost his way and gives it a decidedly modern twist by having him compete in a reality television competition to win life-saving surgery. Under the watchful eyes of the camera and with the help of his doting mother JoJo, Arty makes an extreme physical transformation, but at what cost? Cleverly incorporating puppetry and multimedia, Beached is a biting satire of the vacuousness and inhumanity of celebrity culture and reality TV. Much like Arty himself, this is one production that cannot be missed. Image via mtc.com.au
Created by French artist, designer and master of audience interaction Antonin Fourneau, this Treasury Gardens experience is one for the creatives, young and old. The enchanting Waterlight Graffiti features a wall made up of thousands of LED lights, which illuminate when touched by water and revert to darkness once dry. White Night punters of all ages are invited to experience the mystical sensation of using water to draw light — scrawl a glowing message to that special someone, or have some fun with environmentally friendly graffiti. It's said that the lights shine brighter the more water is thrown on them, so pack a poncho and some gumboots and get ready to make a big of a splash. Hot tip? Rainy nights make for some pretty spectacular Waterlight Graffiti fireworks — we suggest keeping an eye on the weather forecast. Waterlight Graffiti is open Thursday–Friday 7pm–midnight and Saturday 7pm–2am.
Every film festival has its highlights, and its events that make each specific fest special. For the Melbourne International Film Festival, its Hear My Eyes gigs are one such standout. With movies such as Drive, Girlhood, Suspiria and Two Hands, MIFF has brought beloved and classic flicks back to the big screen, accompanied by a live — and all-new, completely original — score that's played while film lovers sit, watch and listen. It's as unique a movie-going experience as you can get, even if you've seen the feature in the spotlight countless times before — and for MIFF 2022, another exceptional film is getting the Hear My Eyes treatment. Get ready to revisit the role that made Eric Bana an international movie star, and to dive back into one of the most infamous crime tales in Australian history. In other words, get ready for Chopper. Twenty-two years after it first hit cinemas, the exceptional Andrew Dominik (This Much I Know to Be True)-directed flick will grace The Astor Theatre's big screen for one night only, on Wednesday, August 17, with sessions at 6.15pm and 9pm. It'll also pair its visuals with a brand-new original live score, as spearheaded by Mick Harvey, member of the Bad Seeds, and the musician who originally gave Chopper its soundtrack. As well as composing the new score, Harvey will be joined by supergroup Springtime — featuring Gareth Liddiard from Tropical Fuck Storm and The Drones, Jim White from Dirty Three and Chris Abrahams from The Necks — to play it live. Tickets to this big-screen date with Uncle Chop Chop go on sale from 10am on Thursday, June 16.
If you missed out on a seat at Heston Blumenthal's highly acclaimed Fat Duck, fear not. There's a new duck in town and he's ready for a party. (A party that won't cost you a week's salary, mind you.) The Sorrento Catering Company are setting up the cheekily named Skinny Duck for one night only on January 30 at St Kilda Town Hall. For $120 you will get 14 courses of decadent canapes from five of Melbourne's best chefs, including Jacques Reymond (L'Hotel Gitan), Adam D'Sylva (Coda, Tonka) and Scott Pickett (Saint Crispin, Estelle). Plus, you'll also get wine, beer and champagne to match. You'll be sharing an evening with like-minded people, listening to great music and comedian Dave O’Neill will be there to get you laughing. And the best thing? All proceeds will go to FareShare, an innovative organisation that provides over one million free, tasty, nutritious meals a year to Victoria's hungry using donated food not needed by supermarkets, markets and farmers. It'll feed your charitable nature, as well as your tummy.
Near the end of the degustation at Momofuku Seiobo, you receive a dish of steamed grouper endives, celeriac puree and bonito dust — and a glass of onion juice. It’s part of the restaurant’s juice pairing, an alternative to matching wines where you get a different juice with each course. Momofuku Seiobo was the first restaurant in Australia to offer anything like it. “We had plenty of customers who are coming and they don't drink alcohol, and it's sort of ripping their experience a bit,” says assistant sommelier Ambrose Chiang. “So we worked out with the chefs what's in season and what's available.” That’s how it started, simply juice. It has since evolved to be a much more creative and nuanced way to pair food and drink. “People think it's just apple, orange and pineapple ... Things you could usually get out of a bottle. Sometimes it blows their mind a little bit.” Ambrose says. “It's the same way we approach the wine pairing. Certain flavour profiles, how we serve it, serving temperatures. Whether we strain the juice or not to give it more texture.” HOW MOMOFUKU DISCOVERED THAT ONIONS HAVE LAYERS Ambrose’s ‘onion water’ is the best example. As Momofuku’s menu is based around light and savoury flavours, Ambrose wanted to experiment with creating a savoury juice. “One problem with doing savoury juice — I don't want it to be a broth, I don't want it to be a sauce,” he says. Having something too heavy would offend the dish and that’s the last thing any sommelier wants to do. So he came up with an idea for, not onion juice or onion sauce, but onion water. Brown onions, spring onions and eschallots are cooked in a steaming hot pan until burnt and caramelised. Smoky and slightly sweet in flavour, they’re placed in bags of water and steamed overnight at 65 degrees. In the morning, Ambrose strains the onion and freezes the flavoured liquid. Still oily from the infusion, the ice block is left to drip through a fine muslin bag for two days. It looks like black tea and tastes, at first, like a nothing but a hint of savoury. Then, before it sinks down your throat, you get a burst of charred onion flavour. Ambrose describes the accompanying steamed fish course as “very savoury, slightly smoky but light”. To match it he needed something that was equally light but “with a slight sweetness, smokiness and savouriness” — exactly what you get from his onion water. EMBRACING MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY IN LIQUID FORM With the help of similar pioneering restaurants overseas, Momofuku’s innovation has helped the idea of non-alcoholic pairings to be taken more seriously in Australia. Sydney's Bentley and newcomer nel. are the most recent of a small but growing number of restaurants to test the idea of juice pairings. “My reaction was probably similar to others — sceptical to say the least,” says Bentley sommelier Nick Hildebrandt. “But with our new bar manager and drinks guru Phil Gandevia we actually started to put some thought and effort into it and came up with something that I believe is unique and very good.” Bentley’s first dessert — coconut sorbet, desert lime and honeyed melon — is now available with a pineapple, aloe vera and basil juice. “The idea was not only to match the dessert but to in a way add to it by having another component in liquid form sitting to the side.” Melbourne’s Attica runs a juice pairing based on the produce from their 1200 square metre garden. Banjo Harris Plane, the head sommelier, says one of his favourites is a cold smoked Granny Smith apple juice that’s paired with a King George whiting that’s been torched in a paperbark wrapping. “The harmony between the aroma of the dish and the juice is incredible.” Even with the success they’ve achieved at Attica, Banjo says they’re still scratching the surface of what could be done. “Next for Attica is to experiment with non-alcoholic fermentations, carbonation and thickening. We have also been looking at a scientific device called a homogeniser that incorporates liquids into each other, resulting in better consistency.” TAMING THE SWEET AND THE ACIDIC Joshua Picken, sommelier at Orana in Adelaide, told us they’re working on something similar for their juice pairing using native ingredients. “I have been playing with structural elements like tannin and tartaric acid. We explore non-alcoholic fermentations as I don't want every juice matching to taste sweet.” It’s a sentiment shared by many top sommeliers. “When you think about the juices that are available to us, they're quite sweet," says Ambrose. "If you're just offering juice by the glass, it's fine, but if it’s a pairing, it has to be working with the menu.” He says some other pairings he’s had served great juices, but they’ve been too sweet or overpowering to match the food. After being surprised by a customer request for a non-alcoholic pairing, Quay’s head sommelier, Amanda Yallop, was inspired to create a matching of mocktails and tea. “I am not a fan of only juice being presented. I’m a very big fan of acid in my wines, but to chase an entire meal with only juice is simply too much acidity.” Similarly, Vue de Monde and Brae in Victoria offer entire tea matchings from specialised tea sommeliers. THE NON- (OR LESS-) ALCOHOLIC FUTURE “I think that an evolution is on its way," says Amanda. "Chefs, bar staff and sommeliers are playing and testing with these pairings on a pretty serious level. There is enormous potential as to how far and how extreme it can become.” Despite that, she thinks non-alcoholic matches will never be treated with the same level of passion as wine. Considering both the range of flavours available to juice and the fact that high quantities of alcohol dampen your ability to taste, it could be argued that a non-alcoholic pairing is ultimately more appropriate for degustation-style eating. For one of the best sommeliers in the country, that doesn't quite fly. “I’d argue that there’s still more variety in wine than there is in juice, but I don’t really see it as either or,” says Banjo. “Different occasions for different things.” So perhaps a drink pairing is the best solution? Instead of juice or wine pairings, you’d simply get a different drink matched to each course; some will be wine, some will be juices and some will be something new. “What a fun idea," says Amanda. "I’m not sure how it would go down with guests expectations ... I might try it at Quay’s next food and wine training with our floor team and gauge the reception.” Images: Bodhi Liggett.
Imagine a towering, 16-metre-high spherical structure with a breathtaking 41-performer acrobat show playing out in, on and around it, and you'll see why dramatic live performance Globe has proved such an international hit. Acclaimed Dutch performance company Close-Act is bringing its extraordinary show to Australia for the first time, debuting at Birrarung Marr across three nightly shows for White Night Reimagined. You'll step into an OTT fantasy, as Globe creates the world as seen through a child's eyes. Expect a cast of over-sized otherworldly characters starring in a riot of circus, music, dance and projection. After this one, the idea of humans flying is sure to feel that little bit closer to reality. Globe runs for 40 minutes and will kick off on Thursday and Friday at 7.15pm, 9pm and 11pm; and Saturday at 7.15pm, 9.30pm and midnight. Image: Gerard Dubois
The bourbon maestros at Woodford Reserve are inviting Aussies to raise their glass to a cocktail classic as Old Fashioned Week returns with a generous twist this November (and we're not talking about the garnish). Extending the celebrations from seven days to an entire month, Woodford Reserve is offering complimentary cocktails at its participating bars nationwide so lovers of Kentucky's finest dram can enjoy an expertly crafted drink without worrying about their wallet. Melburnians should head to Whisky & Alement or White Oaks Saloon in Prahran, where they can enjoy their first round of Old Fashioneds on the house, courtesy of Woodford Reserve. The celebrations don't stop with a quick cocktail. Woodford Reserve will be bringing in international expertise in the form of Master Distiller Elizabeth McCall. During her visit, she will lead a series of bourbon masterclasses, offering bartenders and enthusiasts alike the chance to learn from her insights on the art of distilling and how Woodford Reserve has been crafted to be the perfect bourbon for an Old Fashioned. To add to the international flair of this year's Old Fashioned Week, the bourbon maker is also bringing back its Global Bar Exchange program. Florence's Locale Firenze — one of The World's 50 Best Bars — has put its own unique spin on drink service at Melbourne's Society. From Tuesday, November 12 to Thursday, November 14, Locale's world-class bartenders will collaborate with Society's award-winning team to bring visitors a cocktail-making experience that combines the best of Australian and Italian techniques. "We're thrilled to be bringing Old Fashioned Week back to Australia once again this year," says Richard Dredge, Woodford Reserve Senior Brand Manager at Brown-Forman. "And this time, we're making it even bigger and better than ever."
At the heart of Japanese hospitality there seems to be something so culturally inherent that, when you come face to face with it, you just can't grasp what 'it' is. The gracious interactions, the gentle presence — the exchange of goods using both hands. It's meticulous, considered and downright beautiful. Ocha has been bringing a slice of this generosity to Melbourne for over 15 years and, with it, has built a name synonymous with some of the best Japanese fare in town. Recognised as a one-hat restaurant for thirteen years by The Age Good Food Guide, Ocha focuses on a traditional Japanese offering with a contemporary twist. With the height of popularity forcing them out of their old digs in Kew (now home to Ora) the restaurant sits within the Bee Hive Hotel building in Hawthorn. For all good reasons the space is larger, with chic shimmering curtains creating private dining areas, while the white fit out brings a sense of modernity. Despite more tables bookings are still essential. Ocha's menu runs as a homage to shared dining. Traditional techniques are combined with sublime imaginative touches to make for a truly memorable meal. Don't be surprised if your sushi (starting from $16.50 for eight pieces) arrives at your table like it's been turned inside out or upside down. This playfulness extends to crowd favourites including the beef tataki ($18.50) and vegetable tempura ($22), with the gyoza ($15) finishing off a list of delectably light dishes. This aesthetic sensibility is what separates Ocha from the crowd; Japanese cuisine demands high quality ingredients and scrupulous attention to detail. For this, Ocha remains acutely serious, culturally relevant and as contemporary as ever. The restaurant also runs a ten-course degustation menu ($120 per person) on the last Monday of every month. For more casual occasions, little sister Ocha2Go (at 64 Burwood Road, Hawthorn) offers the full Ocha experience within Japanese canteen surrounds. Ocha offers a fine dining experience that is both lively and unforgettable. Handled with absolute ease of control but nowhere close to resting on its laurels, Ocha will impress with its finesse and modernity. Elegant Japanese fare never looked so good.
Each and every time that Melbourne has gone into lockdown — yes, all six instances — we've all given our streaming queues a hefty workout. There's still nothing like seeing a film in a cinema, though. Twitter doomscrolling and all of those Slack notifications can't bother you when there's nothing but the glorious cinema screen in front of your eyeballs. That's exactly what awaits Melbourne movie lovers from 6pm on Friday, October 29, which is when the city will launch into its next phase of eased restrictions. Outdoor cinemas were allowed to open when lockdown ended last week, but this'll mark the first time since the beginning of August that their indoor counterparts can get the projectors whirring. Expect picture palaces around town to return to their popcorn-munching business quite quickly, even with density and patron caps in place. One such spot that's opening the moment it can is Carlton's Cinema Nova, with a whopping 37-movie lineup — yes, 37 different flicks — that spans new titles that haven't yet played big screens in Melbourne (such as Icelandic thriller Lamb, free-climbing documentary The Alpinist, the Mads Mikkelsen-starring Riders of Justice, Nicolas Cage playing a truffle hunter in Pig, and the spectacular and surreal musical that is Annette) as well as movies that were screening when lockdown started (like the contemplative Nine Days, comedy Shiva Baby, Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and fab music doco The Sparks Brothers). Also letting film fans back into darkened rooms on the same date are the Classic, Lido and Cameo cinemas, with the three sites showing some of the aforementioned titles, too. Other flicks on their lineups include new releases Halloween Kills and Ron's Gone Wrong, Anthony Bourdain documentary Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, and the likes of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Candyman and Free Guy. And yes, the Lido and Cameo have actually already been playing a few of these movies already, since they all reopened their outdoor and/or rooftop cinemas last week. [caption id="attachment_799282" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Charlie Kinross Photography[/caption] And, joining the relaunching bonanza on Friday night, too, are Reading's Victorian sites. They'll be among some of the state's cinemas that'll be screening flicks such as The Suicide Squad, Black Widow, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Malignant and The Last Duel. On that same date, Village Cinemas will reopen its Victorian venues as well — other than the Coburg Drive-In, which has already relaunched — and so will Hoyts and The Sun Theatre. Also jumping back into action that evening are Palace's Victorian sites. They'll do so with a lineup of new and recent movies — including horror movie Antlers, Port Arthur massacre drama Nitram, and plenty of the flicks already mentioned above. The Astor Theatre is reopening as well, starting with sessions of Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) — which'll make quite the big screen treat. Plus, IMAX Melbourne will relaunch on Saturday, October 30 — if you like seeing blockbusters such as Shang-Chi and The Suicide Squad on the biggest screen you possibly can. As everyone knows from the last few lockdowns, heading to the pictures during the pandemic comes with a few changes. Just like at plenty of other businesses that are reopening in the time of COVID-19, the movie-going experience now includes online bookings, allocated seating, capacity limits, gaps between patrons, contactless payment, social-distancing requirements and extra cleaning. For more information about what's screening in Melbourne from 6pm on Friday, October 29, or to book tickets, visit the websites for Cinema Nova; the Classic, Lido and Cameo cinemas; Reading; Village; Hoyts; The Sun Theatre; Palace and The Astor Theatre; and IMAX Melbourne.
Six decades after West Side Story first hit Broadway, the acclaimed musical returns to the Australian stage, set to play at both Arts Centre Melbourne and the Sydney Opera House next year. Headed up by two-time Tony Award nominated choreographer Joey McKneely, the award-winning production reimagines the famous tale of rival street gangs in 1950's New York City. It's a Romeo and Juliet-style classic, that's enchanted audiences in countless iterations over the years. And now it's set to be retold at two of the country's most iconic venues, the musical featuring all the hit songs — including 'I Feel Pretty', 'A Boy Like That', 'Something's Coming', 'America' and 'Maria' — along with Jerome Robbins' (the Broadway show's original creator) ground-breaking choreography. And, if you've always dreamt of being a West Side Story star, now's the time to start practicing those moves and warming up those vocal chords — audition submissions are now open, in the hunt to find the musical's leading talent. If you'd like to get a double dose of West Side Story, you can also attend an operatic production of the show in March next year, as it heads to Sydney's floating stage, Handa Opera. West Side Story will play at the Arts Centre Melbourne from April 6–28, 2019, and at the Sydney Opera House from August 16 to October 6, 2019. Head over to the website to jump on a waitlist for tickets. Image Credit: Nilz Boehme and Johan Persson
If seafood and wine is your idea of a perfect culinary pairing, then drop by South Melbourne's Lamaro's Hotel on Mondays to enjoy as many mussels as you can stomach for $30. The stuff-your-face food event may not be a Harry Potter or Willy Wonka-themed brunch, but hot and fresh mussels is a pretty great way to help cure the start-of-week blues. The Cecil Street pub is piling plates high with steamed Spring Bay mussels every Monday from 12pm. And you can keep ordering (endlessly) until you're full. Well, until the kitchen closes. But 12 hours should be more than enough time for you to get your mollusc fix. The endless molluscs are available for $30, which also includes a pot of beer or a glass of house wine. If you like cheap things, you'll be happy to know Lamaro's also does $5 rosé all day on Wednesday, burgers and pots for $20 on Tuesdays and steak and shiraz for $30 on Thursday.
Jackalope — the Mornington Peninsula's surreally luxe hotel — has declared Friday, June 13–Sunday, June 15 as Jackalope Weekend. This means three days of drinks, dishes and experiences that will transport you to some other, far-flung reality. The action kicks off at 6pm on Friday with a Starward whisky tasting beside a roaring bonfire. For a couple of hazy hours, you'll sip your way through several of the South Melbourne distillery's finest drops while watching the sun set over the neighbouring LL vineyard. Leading the adventure is Tanguy Charbonnet, Jackalope's Food and Beverage Director and top 100 World Class Bartender in 2024–25. Once you've tried all the whisky on the menu, he'll make you two bespoke cocktails. Tickets for the masterclass are $80 a pop. Keen to stay for a couple of nights and experience Jackalope Weekend in full? All-inclusive packages start at $3,099.
If Cottesloe starts to feel a little too sharky for your liking, take a break from the beach and head to AGWA for Heath Ledger: A Life in Pictures before it wraps up at the end of January. Celebrating the Perth-born actor's charisma, exemplary career and passionate creativity, it's a must-see for all Ledger fans. Put together by AGWA, the WA Museum and guest curator Allison Holland, the exhibition follows Ledger's career from his teenage years up to his final role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). You'll get to see costumes — including the Joker suit from The Dark Knight and the shirts he wore as Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain — alongside research journals (on display for the first time) that grant an insight into how Ledger developed his roles. Also included in the show are photographic portraits by the likes of Karin Catt and Bruce Weber, Ledger's Best Supporting Actor Oscar and BAFTA, and a chronological narrative of his career — including his own experimentation with image making and creative projects as a director. Promises to be a bittersweet reminder of just how talented Ledger was, and what even greater heights he would have gone on to achieve. Image: Brokeback Mountain, 2005, © Kimberley French, photographer.
Back in the 2000s, if you weren't listing to Interpol and Bloc Party, were you really in the 2000s? No, no you weren't. The former arrived out of Manhattan in the late 90s, then helped define the city's turn-of-the-century indie music scene with The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio and The National. Hailing from Britain and also coming together just before Y2K, the latter initially scored some hefty approval in 2003 via Franz Ferdinand's lead singer Alex Kaprano. From those beginnings, both bands became indie rock greats. Next, they're heading to Australia to remind music lovers why. Busting out everything from 'Slow Hands' to 'She's Hearing Voices', the two groups will share the same bill on a co-headlining tour of the country's east coast in November, starting at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, then hitting Sydney's Hordern Pavilion and finally playing the Brisbane Riverstage. For Interpol, it'll be their first visit Down Under since 2019, plus their debut chance to play 2022 album The Other Side of Make-Believe in Australia. Tracks from past records such as Turn on the Bright Lights, Antics and El Pintor will also feature. Bloc Party are making the trip after last rocking Aussie stages in 2018, and will perform songs from Silent Alarm, A Weekend in the City, Intimacy and 2022 LP Alpha Games. "We are so happy to be hitting the road with our friends Bloc Party in Australia. Come on down!" said Interpol, announcing the tour. "The histories of Bloc Party and Interpol are intertwined at various stages of our careers. It made perfect sense to us to solidify that by playing some massive shows together in one of our favourite countries on earth. We can't wait to get back to Australia in November," added Bloc Party's Kele Okereke. INTERPOL AND BLOC PARTY AUSTRALIAN CO-HEADLINE TOUR 2023: Thursday, November 16 — Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Saturday, November 18 — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Wednesday, November 22 — Riverstage, Brisbane Interpol and Bloc Party are touring Australia's east coast in November 2023, with presales from 9am on Wednesday, July 5 and general sales from 9am on Friday, July 7. Hit up the tour website for further details. Bloc Party images: James Kellegher. Interpol image: Ebru Yildiz.
We all have a family story to tell, but we can't all tell it like Sarah Polley. The actor known for such films as Dawn of the Dead and Splice and director of quietly acclaimed features Take This Waltz and Away From Her has turned her hand to documentary with Stories We Tell, and it's been demanding attention from festival audiences around the world. Unfortunately, it's one of those films that it's best to know as little of as possible when you go in, so there's going to be little in the way of synopsis here. Suffice to say, Polley's primary interest is her mother, Diane Polley, a casting agent, thwarted actress and extrovert who relished the escape from home life that came with roles on the stage. She died in 1990, when Sarah was 11, leaving behind a web of secrets that lay hidden for many years — until her daughter grew up and started to pull at the threads. How a film with such an ostensibly narrow focus can be so compelling to so many viewers is one of those wonders of cinema. It just is. Polley has a great cast of characters in her life to work with (every member of her family is interviewed, at length), but the magic of this movie is ultimately in her storytelling. The film is wittily edited, warm and sensitive to all parties. It has a lightness of touch as might be expected of a distant observer, but all the unguarded reflection that comes from being intimate with her subject. There's a lot of technique to it. Polley reminds us of her own directorial presence constantly: Her father Michael is also the narrator, and we see her barking commands at him in the audio booth. The grainy '80s Super 8 footage that runs throughout cannot be trusted. The nature of 'truth' is being examined, and not just because it suits postmodern obsessions — in this case, it matters to people's lives. And yet (thankfully) these intellectual enquiries don't crowd out the human drama. The result is simply the most enthralling, idiosyncratic and entertaining family memoir around. https://youtube.com/watch?v=ytq4VZ2Nyxg
Winter has well and truly settled in, and what better way to embrace it than with a trip to the snow? Not only do you get to try out your moves on the slopes, if you're at the winter haven of Thredbo, you can match it with time lounging about the fire or in the hot pools, watching your mate go for glory in a snowboarding comp and savouring a few delectable mulled ciders. Rekorderlig are offering you the chance to win this winter dream vacay — including flights, accommodation and ski hire — for a group of six, just by entering their Facebook comp. Sweetening your weekend away even more, the Swedish giants of cider have a little something extra and exclusive lined up. They're hosting an intimate winter forest picnic, Swedish style, on Thredbo's golf course on Saturday, September 13. What's 'Swedish style' you ask? Well it's not this. Rather, think an al fresco four-course meal of Swedish-inspired recipes (not this) eaten from beneath warm blankets while you overlook a striking skyline of snow stretching as far as the eye can see. Then add in a whole bunch of Rekorderlig to complete your magical Swedish stopover. Will there be reindeer? You'll have to enter via the Rekorderlig Facebook page to find out.
UPDATE, MAY 2, 2020: The Australian Lockdown Comedy Festival has announced its full lineup and its premiere date. This article has been updated to reflect these changes. When COVID-19 started having an impact on Australian events, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival was one of the first to scrap its plans for 2020. The Brisbane Comedy Festival, which was already underway, also cancelled its final week — and in New South Wales, the Sydney Comedy Festival completely shuttered its event for this year, too. That means that the country's funniest folks now have some extra time on their hands — indoors, while social distancing, of course. And, they still have plenty of jokes to tell, which is exactly what Stan's new Australian Lockdown Comedy Festival is aiming to capitalise upon. Heading to the platform weekly from 7pm on Saturday, May 9 — dropping four episodes in total — the streaming-only laughfest will feature lockdown sets from comedians such as Wil Anderson, Cal Wilson, Nazeem Hussain, Dave Hughes and Zoe Coombs Marr, who'll all share material from their planned 2020 gigs. Also on the lineup: Tommy Little, Geraldine Hickey, Dilruk Jayasinha, Steph Tisdell, Aaron Chen, Sam Campbell, Michelle Brasier and Nath Valvo, as well as Tom Ballard, Randy Feltface, Claire Hooper, Becky Lucas, Sam Taunton, Nikki Britton, Demi Lardner and Tom Walker. Yes, it's a hefty list, and also features Lauren Bonner, Oliver Twist, Blake Freeman and Bec Charlwood. Each comedian has recorded their set from their homes, so expect jokes told in their kitchens, bedrooms, lounge rooms and even bathrooms. They've also be handled all the tech requirements themselves, such as setting up and operating their own cameras, in order to abide by social-distancing requirements. That said, they did have access to a director via video conferencing. Every Australian Lockdown Comedy Festival episode will feature at least six different comedians performing short standup comedy spots — including one MCing the episode. And if you're looking for some local laughs before the fest starts streaming, Amazon Prime Video has just dropped ten comedy specials from MICF stars, too. The Australian Lockdown Comedy Festival hits Stan weekly for four weeks from 7pm on Saturday, May 9.
If you thought that the White Lotus resorts in Hawaii and Sicily were luxe, Thailand's counterpart has news for you: "our hotel is the best in the world," guests are told upon checking in, as viewers can see in the just-dropped full season-three trailer. A new batch of travellers is making the chain their temporary home away from home, and a new round of chaos is certain to ensue. Also exclaimed in the latest sneak peek: "what happens in Thailand stays in Thailand". The acclaimed series returns for its third run in mid-February 2025 — and while a vacation at an opulent hotel is normally relaxing, that isn't what folks find in this show. It was true in the first season in 2021, then in season two in 2023, each with a largely different group of holidaymakers. Based on the various glimpses at season three over the last few months, that's of course set to be accurate again in the eight-episode run that arrives from Monday, February 17 Australian and New Zealand time. Walton Goggins (Fallout), Carrie Coon (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Jason Isaacs (The Crowded Room), Michelle Monaghan (MaXXXine), Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale) and Parker Posey (Mr & Mrs Smith) are among the vacationers hoping to enjoy a White Lotus stay this time, alongside Sam Nivola (The Perfect Couple), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Gen V), Sarah Catherine Hook (Cruel Intentions) and Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education). Families, couples and friends on getaways: they're all covered by the above cast members. From season one, Natasha Rothwell (How to Die Alone) is back Hawaii spa manager Belinda, who advises that she's there on an exchange program to take some knowledge back to Maui. Season three also stars Lisa from BLACKPINK, Lek Patravadi (In Family We Trust), Tayme Thapthimthong (Thai Cave Rescue), Nicholas Duvernay (Bel-Air), Arnas Fedaravičius (The Wheel of Time), Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest), Scott Glenn (Bad Monkey), Dom Hetrakul (The Sweetest Taboo), Julian Kostov (Alex Rider), Charlotte Le Bon (Niki), Morgana O'Reilly (Bookworm) and Shalini Peiris (The Ark). Bad feelings, seeking pleasure but finding pain, threatening to drink oneself to sleep, wanting to always live like this, family reunions, angry rich men, possible prison sentences, protecting the hotel: alongside guns, dancing, judgemental pals, missing pills, snakes, swims, monkeys, ambulances, complaints about gluten-free rice and a body bag, they're all featured in the clips from season three, which takes place over the course of a week. Where the Mike White (Brad's Status)-created, -written and -directed satire's first season had money in its sights and the second honed in on sex, eastern religion and spirituality is in the spotlight in season three. What'll be in store after this? While the third go-around is 2025's must-see viewing, HBO has already renewed The White Lotus for its fourth season. Check out the full trailer for The White Lotus season three below: The White Lotus returns on Sunday, February 16 in the US, which is Monday, February 17 Down Under. At present, the series streams via Binge in Australia and on Neon in New Zealand. Images: HBO.
If you thought Rathdowne Records' $2 Garage Sale was a good deal, you'll love its latest gig. The Northcote record store is offering up a whole heap of vinyl for just 50 cents each. Head in any day until August 5 (during opening hours from 11am–6pm) and you can nab a wild variety of records for just a silver coin. A total of 5000 records will sold for this price, with 180 on the floor each day and stock rotating daily — meaning you could head in every single day and keep finding something new. You'll find everything from jazz and pop records to classics, movie soundtracks and folk records all on sale. This insane deal may sound too good to be true, but it is indeed a reality — so stop pinching yourself and get down there already.
Are you a big shot professional with no time for trams and trains? Do you scoff at the mere mention of Myki or cringe whenever a commoner has the audacity to breathe on your Armani suit? Well, you're in luck. Melbourne's first business-class commuting service is here. No longer will you have to associate with our city's unwashed riff raff. Officially launched yesterday, SuitJet is a startup bus service for white-collar workers to commute to and from the city. Set to start operating next month, SuitJet offers its users a seat on a customised Mercedes-Benz coach and allows them more space and comfort in which to complete their Very Important Work en route to the office. "[It's] a club for people who wish to leverage modern transport and technology to upgrade and simplify their weekday travel," their website reads. Importantly, "Membership is open to all corporate dress city commuters." With a return ticket to the city setting you back $30, riding with SuitJet will cost significantly more than any Myki fare. However, with roughly an hour more time to work on board per day, they claim the long-term benefits will greatly outweigh the initial expense. "That's an hour of work you don't have to do after having dinner with the kids and a cup of tea with your wife," SuitJet co-founder Darren Heiberg told The Age. Many of the finer details are yet to be decided, with the pick up and drop off points to be dictated by consumer demand. However, registrations so far have elucidated something unexpected. Most members seeking entry to this exclusive club are not disgruntled suits seeking respite from the perils of the train lines from Brighton or Toorak, but those who have been overlooked by the public transport system entirely. Most registrations have reportedly come from suburbs without train stations at all. Despite outwardly naming it a 'business class' service, founders of the company reportedly deny the accusation that their service would create a class divide. Though Mr Heiberg is apparently considering changing the name to something that doesn't include the word 'suit'. Good idea. Via The Age.
If you are ordering pizza for home delivery, there is generally one mood you are in: a lazy one. There's nothing like laying on the sofa after a hard day at work, turning on some trashy TV, and sinking your teeth into slice after slice of your favorite pizza. But, folks, pizza delivery just got better. Red Tomato Pizza in Dubai has introduced one-button pizza delivery. Simply press the button on your Red Tomato fridge magnet, and your favorite order will be delivered to your door. Impressed yet? Each magnet can be synced to your smartphone via Bluetooth and set up with your order. Every time you push the button, your phone will notify the pizza company. You do still have get up and answer the door when the delivery guy arrives, unfortunately. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AU0KYo8_9Zs [via Gizmodo]
This article is sponsored by our partners, Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinemas. With music by day, movies by night and all of the ice cream you could possibly inhale, St Kilda beach will be your go-to hangout all the way up until Christmas, thanks to the folks at Melbourne's most buzzworthy outdoor cinema. From a solid lineup of live gigs to your favourite Hollywood musicals, here are three ways to enjoy music at Ben and Jerry's Openair Cinema. LIVE MUSIC PROGRAM While the screen doesn't flicker to life until sundown, there are plenty of reasons to head down to the esplanade during daylight hours. Get there early for a kickass music program headlined by Melbourne's own Husky, who'll kick off the season's opening night on November 30 with a show in aid of WWF - Australia. Other must-see artists on the lineup include Sierra Jane, Iris, Reuben Stone and more. RETRO CLASSICS Dust off your spandex for a pair of '80s music-fuelled classics. David Bowie's codpiece stars in Jim Henson's Labyrinth on December 2, although in terms of sex appeal, the Diamond Dog might just be outdone by Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing on December 16. Either way, as movie soundtracks go, you can't get more iconic than these. SING-A-LONG SESSIONS Of course, true music lovers aren't content to just sit back and listen. Belt out your best rendition of 'Greased Lightning' at a sing-a-long session of Grease, and then 'Let It Go' with Frozen the weekend after. Just remember: we make no apologies for the musical 'talents' of the Idina Menzel imitator sitting next to you. Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema runs from November 30 to December 21 at South Beach Reserve, next to the St Kilda Sea Baths. For the full program see their website.
