Back in 2019, the thought of spending August in Melbourne doing anything other than sitting in a darkened room watching movie after movie would've sounded like flat-out cinephile blasphemy. Thankfully, after two pandemic-affected years that put Melbourne International Film Festival's in-person plans on hold not once but twice, that idea won't be a reality in 2022. Yes, the city's major cinema celebration is back in its best guise this year — and it'll have you making grooves in your favourite ACMI, The Capitol, Forum, Hoyts Melbourne Central, IMAX, Kino Cinema and Cinema Nova seats for most of the month. You'd better stock up on healthy mid-film snacks now, given you'll soon have a massive 371 features, shorts and extended-reality titles to watch. You'd best start training for all that time spent sitting down, too. Hitting cinemas for the first time in three years after pivoting online in 2020 and 2021 out of lockdown-fuelled necessity, MIFF is returning to Melbourne's picture palaces with a bang between Thursday, August 4–Sunday, August 21. That's already been obvious since back in June, when the fest unveiled its first 33 flicks for this year, its 70th event — and now that the full 2022 lineup has dropped, it keeps proving accurate. Among the just-announced new highlights, MIFF will boast the Australian premiere of The Stranger, a true-crime thriller starring Joel Edgerton (Obi-Wan Kenobi) and Sean Harris (Spencer), as directed by Acute Misfortune's Thomas M Wright; the local debut of Aftersun, another straight-from-Cannes pick led by Normal People's Paul Mescal; a big session of Three Thousand Years of Longing, the Tilda Swinton (Memoria)- and Idris Elba (The Harder They Fall)-starring latest from Mad Max: Fury Road's George Miller; and also David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future, the iconic filmmaker's first feature since 2014's Maps to the Stars. Also massive: the Aussie premiere of documentary Moonage Daydream. As the title instantly makes plain to fans of David Bowie, it's all about the music icon, with Cobain: Montage of Heck and Jane filmmaker Brett Morgen creating a collage that steps through the singer's life using restored and never-before-seen footage. Or, there's also Decision to Leave, a noir romance that saw Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Stoker, Oldboy) win Cannes' Best Director gong — and documentaries by Ethan Coen (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), making his solo directing debut by surveying Jerry Lee Lewis; and Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), about shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo. In 2022, MIFF is debuting a new competition, too, which'll boast a $140,000 Best Film Award. Called Bright Horizons, it'll feature 11 movies vying for the prize — including the aforementioned The Stranger and Aftersun, Mexican drug trade drama Robe of Gems, cyber-musical Neptune Frost, Sundance Special Jury Award-winner Leonor Will Never Die, and Aussie filmmaker Alena Lodkina's (Strange Colours) second feature Petrol. The list of MIFF highlights also covers Palme d'Or winner Triangle of Sadness, which satirises the mega rich, is directed by Force Majeure's Ruben Östlund, and marks his second Palme win after The Square; and Broker, the latest from acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, who won the Palme d'Or back in 2018 with the sublime Shoplifters. This time, the latter has made a movie in Korea — his first Korean-language film, in fact, starring Parasite's Song Kang-ho, who won Cannes' Best Actor Award — with Broker again exploring the ties that bind and the connections of family. Other Cannes award-recipients in MIFF's program include joint Cannes Grand Prix-winner Stars at Noon, which sees Claire Denis (High Life) direct Margaret Qualley (Maid) and Joe Alwyn (Conversations with Friends) in an erotic espionage tale; Tori and Lokita, which nabbed the Cannes 75th Anniversary Prize for Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Two Days, One Night); Holy Spider, an Iran-set true-crime serial killer thriller by Ali Abbasi (Border), and the recipient of Cannes' Best Actress Award for star Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Tehran Taboo). And, the lineup of must-sees also spans Blaze, a mix of live-action, puppetry and animation directed by acclaimed Aussie artist Del Kathryn Barton; Mass, which follows the aftermath of a school shooting; Australia's own Seriously Red, a SXSW hit about a Dolly Parton impersonator; and One Fine Morning, from acclaimed French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve (Bergman Island). Or, there's Shadow by theatre company Back to Back; War Pony, which scored Zola actor-turned-filmmaker Riley Keough and co-director Gina Gammell Cannes' Camera d'Or; and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, the stop-motion comedy based on the shorts and books of the same name, which screens just before Jenny Slate hits town for Melbourne Writers Festival. MIFF's genre selection is always a treat, and 2022 is no different. That's where you'll find standouts such as Bodies Bodies Bodies, the A24 horror-comedy starring Rachel Sennott, Amandla Stenberg and Pete Davidson; Canberra-shot social media-skewering delight Sissy; and Something in the Dirt, the latest mind-bender directed by and starring Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (The Endless). The fest is also dedicating its filmmaker retrospectives to Hungarian auteur Márta Mészáros and French-Bosnian writer/director Lucile Hadžihalilović — and, obviously, all of the above and more joins the heap of already-announced flicks, such as opening night's coming-of-age feature Of an Age, a Hear My Eyes session of Chopper, the Aubrey Plaza (Best Sellers)-starring thriller Emily the Criminal, and horror-comedy Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night's Ana Lily Amirpour. Also, in fabulous news both for Melburnians and for movie buffs interstate, MIFF will still keep its online program in 2022 — an unsurprising move given that in 2020, when it first made the leap to streaming the fest in a big way, it enjoyed its biggest audience ever. This year, MIFF Play will be available from Thursday, August 11–Sunday, August 28, making the festival run for almost a month in-person and digitally, and will show 105 features and shorts. And, during its in-cinema stint, MIFF is going suburban, too, with sessions at Melbourne cinemas The Astor, Lido, Pentridge and Sun Theatre from Friday, August 12–Sunday, August 21 as well. It'll also hit up regional Victorian venues in Bairnsdale, Bendigo, Bright, Castlemaine, Echuca, Geelong, Mildura,Sorrento and Warrnambool during the same dates. The 2022 Melbourne International Film Festival runs from Thursday, August 4–Sunday, August 28 at a variety of venues around Melbourne and Victoria, and online. For further details, including tickets from Friday, July 15 — and MIFF member pre-sales on Wednesday, July 13–Thursday, July 14 — visit the MIFF website.
At festivals all over the UK this summer, Vodafone has been trialling the new 'Power Pocket'. Built into either a 'Recharge' sleeping bag or a pair of 'Power' denim shorts, the device draws on body heat to charge mobile phones. Vodafone developed the Power Pocket in conjunction with the University of Southampton's Department of Electronics and Computer Science. 'We've been working on printed smart material since the late 1980s,' Professor Stephen Beeby explains on the company's blog. 'But that was high-temperature stuff designed to be used on ceramics. We got into the topic of energy harvesting in the late 1990s, and we brought the two together to make smart materials for harvesting energy. We started on thermoelectric materials in 2003, but our printed thermoelectric material work has only been the last few years.' The smart material is made up of 'thermocouples', a whole bunch of which form a 'thermoelectric module'. One side of this is cold and the other is hot. The introduction of heat creates both a voltage and a current, which, in unison, give rise to electric power. In other words, the warmth generated by sleeping or dancing contrasts with the external cold air. Technically, this reaction is known as the 'Seebeck Effect'. At the moment, eight hours' time in the sleeping bag produces enough energy for 24 minutes of talking and 11 hours on stand-by, while a day's worth of activity in the shorts provides four hours of smartphone charge. [via Inhabitat]
It's that time again, film fans. Cannes time. The red carpet has been rolled out on the French Riviera, everyone from famed Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar to famed fresh prince Will Smith are sitting on the jury, and one of the biggest film festivals of the world is officially underway. That means one of two things between May 17 and 28: if you're actually there, lines, more lines, even more lines, star-spotting and seeing a heap of eagerly anticipated movies. If you're not, you're crossing your fingers and toes, and praying to whichever filmmaker you consider your own personal cinema deity, hoping that all of the flicks showing will make it to Australian screens sooner rather than later. Some are already headed our way — thank the Sydney Film Festival for bringing us Happy End, Sofia Coppola's anticipated remake of The Beguiled, Okja, Wind River, Napalm, In the Fade and Sea Sorrow in June, for example. One, in the form of documentary David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, has already released in cinemas here. As for the rest, here's our wishlist of the movies we can't wait to see on our screens as soon as possible. THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER Whether you loved The Lobster or didn't, one thing is certain: the absurdist, dystopian look at romance and coupling isn't the kind of movie that the likes of Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and John C. Reilly star in every day. Actually, scratch that for Farrell, as he's in director Yorgos Lanthimos' next effort too, and this time he has Nicole Kidman and Alicia Silverstone for company. The Killing of a Sacred Deer tells of a charismatic surgeon, a teenage boy and sacrifices — and if that sounds mysterious, that's because most of Lanthimos' films do. Come for the cast. Come for the concept. Come for a director riding the Greek New Wave to make movies (and soon, TV shows) like no one else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYzSXWukOWA WONDERSTRUCK The last time Todd Haynes made a film, he directed a love story for the ages in the form of Carol. The last time one of Brian Selznick's books was adapted to the screen, the cinematic love letter that was Hugo was the end result. Combine the two, and you get Wonderstruck, a tale of two children longing for different lives that sounds like a match made in movie heaven. Pete's Dragon's Oakes Fegley and first-timer Millicent Simmonds play the kids, while the adult cast includes Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE Did We Need to Talk About Kevin unnerve you? It has been six years since director Lynne Ramsay made everyone think twice about procreating, and now the Scottish filmmaker is back with something completely different, subject-wise, in You Were Never Really Here. Joining forces with acting powerhouse Joaquin Phoenix, the film dives into the weighty subject of sex trafficking. It's Ramsay's fourth feature, and also her fourth film to premiere at Cannes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVyGCxHZ_Ko GOOD TIME He has played a quidditch captain, a sparkly vampire, Salvador Dali, a snapper of James Dean and someone who might've played a hand in the fictionalised rise of fascism. Next up, Robert Pattinson turns bank robber in Good Time, and is forced to flee dangerous criminals on the streets of New York. RPatz isn't the only attraction though, with the film also starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Captain Phillips' Barkhad Abdi, and marking the latest effort from brothers Benny and Josh Safdie. The latter were responsible for festival hit Heaven Knows What back in 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04U_qUJkZG0 THE DAY AFTER AND CLAIRE'S CAMERA It's safe to say that no filmmaker today works harder than Hong Sang-soo. In the past year, the South Korean director has premiered four — yep, four — new features, with Cannes boasting two. With that in mind, we're not cheating by including both in our list. We just can't separate them. Competing for the Palme d'Or, The Day After follows a woman starting work for a publishing company, while the Isabelle Huppert-starring Claire's Camera is set at Cannes itself. Expect amusing slices of life filled with plenty of booze, as is Hong's custom. And as for the other two flicks we mentioned, Yourself and Yours popped up at the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival last year, and On the Beach at Night Alone screened at the Berlinale. Image: Honourable mention — The Beguiled.
Boy, do we have a giveaway for you. To celebrate the release of the stunning new documentary film Dancer, we're giving away a trip for two to Auckland — return flights and accommodation included. When you get to Auckland, you'll also get to see Sergei Polunin, one the world's most gifted ballet dancers, perform a rare, special guest appearance at the Auckland Arts Festival. From Oscar-nominated director Steven Cantor, Dancer takes a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the life of the magnetic bad boy of ballet, Sergei Polunin. He was the youngest principal dancer in the history of London's prestigious Royal Ballet, and he shocked the world by quitting just two years later and giving up dance entirely. If you're unfamiliar with the ballet world, Polunin was the guy that featured in the beautifully dance-heavy video clip for Hozier's song Take Me to Church. Dancer, by Oscar-nominated director Steven Cantor, is set for national release in Australian cinemas on December 1. Enter your details below and you're in the running. [competition]600295[/competition]
Bluesfest has lifted the lid on its second artist announcement for 2018, adding 16 more names to the already hefty lineup. Heading this latest stampede is Senegalese artist Youssou N'dour, who will be bringing his 20-piece band to the five-day Easter long weekend festival just outside of Byron Bay. If the name isn't ringing any bells, you'll probably be familiar with this '90s classic. Other artists joining the lineup include greatest hit-bearers Jackson Browne and Seal, Bluesfest regular Michael Franti, and British band Gomez will return to the fest for their first tour in six years. They'll place alongside two huge headliners: Lionel Richie and Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, who will play with his band The Sensational Space Shifters. Plant's performance at Blues will mark 50 years since he first performed with Led Zeppelin, so the gravity of the performance is sure to be pretty huge. Other acts taking to the stage Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm over the weekend include Aussies Tash Sultana and John Butler Trio, Swedish duo First Aid Kit and what will be a captivating set by José González. Bluesfest returnees Joe Louis Walker, Dumpstaphunk and Eric Gales are on there too. Anyway, here's the full lineup. Better start making Easter plans — and deciding what to eat — because tickets are already on sale. BLUESFEST 2018 LINEUP SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT Youssou N'dour Seal Michael Franti & Spearhead Jackson Browne Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Gomez Rag 'n' Bone Man The Original Blues Brothers Band Jimmy Cliff The Wailers Benjamin Booker Hurray for the Riff Raff Canned Heat Walter Trout André Cymone The Teskey Brothers FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters Lionel Richie The John Butler Trio Tash Sultana The New Power Generation Chic Featuring Nile Rodgers First Aid Kit Jose Gonzalez Morcheeba Gov't Mule Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real The California Honeydrops Eric Gales Bobby Rush Dumpstaphunk Joe Louis Walker Rick Estrin & The Nightcats Bluesfest 2017 will run March 29 to April 2 at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay. More details and ticket info here. Image: Andy Fraser.
What's Melbourne's nightlife culture like for you? That's the question that VicHealth addressed to over 150 locals across the streets of Southbank, St Kilda and Prahran. Those answers have been transformed into three interactive light installations for What's Your Story? — a project which seeks to understand the drinking culture among young people and to change any risky behaviour associated with it. The two-year-long project explored the social norms and expectations of Melbourne's 18 to 24-year-olds. Through the conversations based on their most memorable nightlife experiences, three central narratives emerged. And now, poignant quotes from those interviews form the basis for the large-scale, colourful lighting displays, designed by creative studio John Fish. The first of the three installations, Music Is All I Need, uses 1600 LED pixel tubes in a double semi-circle signboard. The second, Savour it, Remember it, is an interactive LED dancefloor and stage, which visitors can be photographed on. The third, Drinking Isn't Centre Stage, displays nine mirrored pillars, among which visitors can take selfies. These roaming installations will take over four entertainment precincts — namely St Kilda's Acland Plaza, Prahran's Grattan Gardens Plaza and Southbank's Queensbridge Square and Southbank Spillway — on three consecutive Fridays, spanning February 15, 22 and March 1. For the full schedule, head this way. What's Your Story? is in partnership with City of Port Phillip, City of Stonnington and City of Melbourne, plus research body Turning Point and social enterprise Humankind Enterprises. Image: David Hannah
If you've been contemplating a little summer romance, you're in good company. The folks at Melbourne's Immigration Museum have the same idea. To celebrate the coming of warm days, they're swinging open the doors of their next exhibition, LOVE. Kicking off Saturday, December 1, this show is as simple — and as complex — as it sounds. After all, "the course of true love ne'er did run smooth," according to Mr William Shakespeare. In collaboration with the Heide Museum of Modern Art, the Immigration Museum has brought together multiple stories of love, desire, friendship and longing within one swoon-worthy room. Whether you're brokenhearted or deep into a marriage, you'll find one for you. LOVE will run concurrently with two other exhibitions. Kahlil Gibran: The Garden of the Prophet, which opened on Wednesday, November 28, tells the story of the Lebanese poet whose 1923 work, The Prophet, has sold millions of copies around the world, while Grow, Gather, Share is a celebration of food and gardening in Victoria. Special events spanning all three shows are planned throughout summer, beginning on Sunday, December 2 with Summer of Love. This afternoon shindig features Melbourne-based DJ MzRizk, gardening workshops run by Cultivating Community, curator talks and Gather & Share picnic hampers, with tickets costing $15. Image: Museums Victoria.
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
Aunty Donna have been busy over the past few years. Since 2020, they've brought both Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun and Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe to the small screen. They've played corpses in Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, and also dropped a $30 bottle of wine that's literally called $30 Bottle of Wine, too. The Australian comedy troupe embarked upon a world tour in 2023 as well, selling 90,000-plus tickets. If you're keen to see Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane live, your next chance in Melbourne happens in 2025. Aunty Donna are hitting the stage again — and in the Victorian Capital, the Palais Theatre is their destination, playing nightly between Friday, December 12–Sunday, December 14 and Wednesday, December 16–Saturday, December 20. This time, audiences will enjoy the Drem experience, with Aunty Donna unveiling their brand-new live sketch show. Will everything be a drum again? Will morning brown get a tribute? How much room should you leave for Christmas pud? If you're instantly thinking about these questions, you're clearly already a fan. In the trailer for the tour, Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane are promising big things in their comedic usual way. "In 2025, Aunty Donna will be touring the greatest live comedy show ever seen by human beings," the trailer advises. "You have asked 'is it funny?'," it continues. "Leading experts in the field have made it perfectly clear that it is the best comedy show ever made."
Last year's food calendar had a big ol' hole where the Night Noodle Markets would usually be, with its smoky scents and the happy sounds of people feasting on a menu of Asian delights both absent from Birrarung Marr. But now, the wait is almost over, with the food festival set to make its much-anticipated return for 2021 — albeit in a slightly different format than Melburnians are used to. Running right through June, the new Night Noodle Markets At Home edition will bring all the flavour and fun straight to your house. Every night from Tuesday, June 1–Wednesday, June 30, the reimagined festival will see a lineup of eight Asian-inspired eateries offering their cult dishes — and some new hits — for home delivery. At a pop-up kitchen in Fed Square, festival favourites including Hoy Pinoy, Wonderbao, Indomie Mi-Goreng and Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart will be cooking up their finest eats and sending them to your door, so you can recreate the Night Noodle Market magic in the comfort of home. The food is being delivered via Doordash and, since the restaurants are all sharing one kitchen, you'll be able to pick and mix food from multiple menus in the one order. The offering is set to change regularly throughout the month, though you can get excited for bites like Hoy Pinoy's glazed pork belly and chicken skewers, Puffle's signature cheeseburger puffle, mi goreng-crumbed chicken ribs from Indomie, Thai Tide's tom kha mussels, Kariton Sorbetes' boozy trifle, Flying Noodles and Twistto's eponymous dishes. Puffle's signature cheeseburger puffle is on the menu, alongside Korean fried chicken and plain cheese versions. Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart will have seven different tarts on offer, including yuzu, salted caramel, chocolate and popcorn butterscotch. You'll even find two weekly rotating banquets, too — a vegetarian feed for two named 'Broc 'n Roll', and the 'I Love You Soy Much' date-night feast. Longtime festival partner Citi is offering its cardholders a tidy $20 off their Night Noodle Markets At Home order, while Doordash has some cheeky deals of its own in store for new users, including 25 percent off and free delivery. Plus, there's a strong chance you'll score a little something extra packed in with your food order, with giveaways like Ayam sauces and fortune cookies planned for throughout the month. Organisers have revealed a bunch of the suburbs that'll be able to take advantage of Night Noodle Markets At Home delivery, spanning Fitzroy, Collingwood, North Melbourne, Cremorne and South Melbourne, as well as the CBD, Southbank, West Melbourne, East Melbourne, Parkville, Carlton, Docklands and South Wharf. Parts of Abbotsford, Richmond, South Yarra, Albert Park and Port Melbourne will be covered, too, with more suburbs set to be announced soon. The Night Noodle Markets will run as part of Good Food Month, which takes place across the entire month of June, too, and announce its full program on Monday, May 3. Melbourne's edition of Night Noodle Markets At Home will run from Tuesday, June 1–Wednesday, June 30, with orders made exclusively through the Doordash delivery app. For more details, see the website. Top image: Night Noodle Markets by Bec Taylor
If you're like us, you've probably excitedly hummed along to the theme song at the start of every Game of Thrones episode (yep, all 73 of them). Now, you can do just that again, but you'll be joined by a live orchestra, a choir and tens of thousands of other spectators when the internationally renowned Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience finally hits Australia. Having toured North America and Europe, the grandiose musical show will head to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide in early 2020. The immersive show sees Emmy Award-winning composer Ramin Djawadi's emotive scores — from all eight seasons of the HBO show — brought to life with an international cast of soloists, an orchestra and a choir, and accompanied by the equally dramatic footage. Over in the States, according to MTV, the show featured 360-degree stages (designed to replicate locations throughout the Seven Kingdoms), 800 feet of video wall, an 80-piece orchestra and custom-made instruments, such as a 12-food Wildling horn. Expect things to be equally large and OTT Down Under, too. Expect, also, to relive some of the season's most dramatic moments — SPOILERS (if you somehow haven't watched it already) — such as Hodor's sacrifice, Arya's conquering of the Night King, Joffrey's (brilliant) death, the Battle of Winterfell, the Red Wedding and so much more. Pack the tissues, folks. What's more, the show will coincide with a series of 'VIP experiences' that we can definitely get around. These include a pre-show medieval banquet (hopefully without any Freys), the chance to sit on a Iron Throne and a dedicated butler, who'll deliver food (hopefully pies) and drinks (hopefully wine in goblets) to your seat. While you're waiting for the show to arrive next summer, you can re-listen to all eight seasons' scores on Spotify — including the nine-minute epic that is 'The Night King Theme' (we've handily embedded that below). If that's not enough to fill your time, you can also listen to some of Djawadi's other scores. He has created the music for Westworld, Prison Break, Pacific Rim and Iron Man, too. Get ready, winter is coming (back) to Aus. GAME OF THRONES LIVE CONCERT EXPERIENCE 2020 DATES Brisbane — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, February 7 Sydney — ICC, February 9 Melbourne — Rod Laver Arena, February 12 Adelaide — AEC Theatre, February 15 Perth — RAC Arena, February 17 Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience pre-sale tickets are available from 9am on Tuesday, August 13 with general sale starting at midday on Friday, August 16 via Live Nation. Images: Ralph Larmann
Last decade, when Disney started snapping up companies like Pixar, Marvel and LucasFilm, it clearly had huge plans. Not only is the mouse house now home to many of the biggest movie releases each and every year, but to enormously popular properties that it can spread across multiple avenues — its forthcoming streaming platform, for example, and its theme parks. Both are beginning to ramp up, with Disney+ due to release in America this year and the first Star Wars-themed zone now open at Disneyland in California (with a second due to launch at Florida's Walt Disney World in August). Indeed, in the theme park space, Disney also has both Toy Story and Marvel hotels in the works. And, it's planning to add a dedicated Marvel area to Disneyland as early as 2020. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the company has just received permits to begin the necessary building works to bring its first Marvel area to life — and, like the initial Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge attraction, it'll pop up at Disney's Anaheim site. While few official details have been revealed as yet, it's expected to include a microbrewery, a character meet-and-greet area and a 192-square-metre merchandise store. Plus rides, of course, including a Spider-Man attraction that'll sit alongside the existing Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout ride. [caption id="attachment_726218" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout via Disney Parks Blog[/caption] With a heavy focus on the Avengers, the zones have been in the making for a couple of years, and will also join Disney's other parks, too. Both California's Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris will jump into the Marvel fun in 2020, Florida will suit up in 2021 and Hong Kong Disneyland will unleash its superpowers in 2023. Via Los Angeles Times.
From high speed car chases across the post-apocalyptic outback to heartbreaking tales of love and loss, 2015 was a pretty great year for Australian cinema. Films like Mad Max and The Dressmaker hit it big at the box-office, while Holding the Man and Last Cab to Darwin had people reaching for their handkerchiefs. Throw in a couple of strong documentaries in the form of Gayby Baby and That Sugar Film, along with crowd-pleasing family fare like Oddball and Paper Planes, and it seems like local audiences are finally coming around to the idea that movies made in Australia can be every bit as good as those made overseas. Of course, in order to keep up that positive perception, the local film industry needs to keep making great films. Luckily, it looks like they're up to the challenge. We've already given you our list of our most anticipated international efforts, but now, here are the ten Australian films you need to see in 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSse2RIapEA THE DAUGHTER The debut film from theatre director Simon Stone (adapted from his own critically acclaimed stage play), The Daughter arrives in cinemas following great reviews at a number of local and international film festivals last year. A reworking of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck, this nuanced family drama concerns a man, played by Paul Schneider, who returns to the small logging town where he grew up, only to uncover a secret that could tear the lives of his friends and family apart. With Geoffrey Rush, Ewen Leslie, Miranda Otto and Sam Neill, it might have the best cast of any Australian film this year. The Daughter is due in cinemas on March 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn2vfS6bbK0 SHERPA Anyone who saw Everest might think they have an idea of what it's like to climb the world's tallest mountain. But as this eye-opening documentary from filmmaker Jennifer Peedom reveals, you only know a fraction of the story. Sherpa shows the efforts of the native mountain guides, who risk life and limb in order to get foreign visitors to the summit. Over the course of a season, tension begins to brew between the locals, the tourists and the companies that facilitate the climbs, before finally boiling over in the wake of a deadly avalanche. A powerful, troubling film — it's of the best things we caught at last year's Sydney Film Festival, and an absolute must see in 2016. Sherpa is due in cinemas on March 24. DOWN UNDER A comedy about the Cronulla race riots? It's safe to say Down Under could either be brilliant or a total disaster. Director Abe Forsythe appears to be deliberately courting controversy — not that there's anything wrong with that, per se. With racism and Islamophobia still major issues in this country, a dark comedy that tears into good old Aussie jingoism could be exactly what the doctor ordered. Of course, satire is a tricky thing — and easy to muck up. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Down Under is due in cinemas on August 4. 2:22 Between Predestination, The Infinite Man and the recent remake of Patrick, it's been a good few years for homegrown science fiction. Continuing this trend (we hope) is Paul Currie's 2:22, an American-Australian co-production in which a man is forced to relive the same day over and over, always ending when the clock hits — you guessed it — 2.22pm. Game of Thrones actor Michiel Huisman stars alongside Australia's own Teresa Palmer. Imagine Groundhog Day remade as a psychological thriller, and you'd be roughly on the right track. 2:22 is due in cinemas in 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-98kUEnkxHM DOWNRIVER Writer-director Grant Scicluna's feature film debut was one of the most buzzed about local films at last year's Melbourne Film Festival. Reef Ireland (Puberty Blues) plays James, a young man recently released from prison after serving time for his involvement in the drowning of a small boy. Looking for redemption, James sets out to recover the boy's body, only to find himself in danger when it becomes clear that his accomplices would rather the past remain buried. Downriver looks grim and compelling in equal measure, and could well mark the emergence of a promising new Australian film talent. Downriver is due in cinemas in 2016. THE FAMILY This upcoming documentary, from director Rosie Jones, promises to pull back the curtain on Australia's most notorious cult. For three decades between the 1960s and 1990s, Anne Hamilton-Byrne led a group of devoted followers as the head of a sect known as The Family. Controlling her disciples, including a host of "adopted" children, through a mix of physical abuse and mind-altering drugs, Hamilton-Byrne convinced cult members she was the reincarnation of Jesus, before their compound was eventually raided by police. It's a story made all the more troubling for having taken place in our own backyard. The Family is due in cinemas in 2016. GOLDSTONE Actor Aaron Pedersen and filmmaker Ivan Sen are reuniting for a sequel/spin-off to their masterful outback thriller Mystery Road. Pederson returns as Indigenous detective Jay Swan, who finds himself in the eponymous town of Goldstone while investigating a missing persons case, only to find himself caught up in a web of crime and corruption. He'll be joined in front of the camera by two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver, veteran Indigenous actors David Gulpilil and Tom E. Lewis, and Hong Kong martial arts star Cheng Pei-pei. If it's half as good as Mystery Road it'll be a contender for best film of the year. Goldstone is due in cinemas in 2016. JASPER JONES The new film from Bran Nue Dae director Rachel Perkins, Jasper Jones is an adaptation of Craig Silvey's award winning novel, described by at least one reviewer as Australia's To Kill a Mockingbird. Set in the fictional WA town of Corrigan in the mid 1960s, the film tells the story of 13-year-old Charlie Bucktin who befriends the eponymous Jasper Jones, a half-white, half-indigenous boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Toni Collette, Hugo Weaving and Dan Wyllie are set to co-star, although it's the younger cast members who will ultimately make or break the film. Jasper Jones is due in cinemas in 2016. LION Adapted from Hobart man Saroo Brierley's best-selling memoir, Lion stars Dev Patel as a young man who was adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) as a child, who travels to India to try and track down his biological family. Rooney Mara co-stars, along with a number of high-profile Indian actors, giving this cross-cultural drama a real shot at international success. The film marks director Garth Davis' first feature film, following on from strong work on Top of the Lake. Lion is due in cinemas in 2016. NEST We've got two words for anyone who thinks Australian films are serious and boring: giant bloody spiders. Okay, so that's technically three words, but you get what we're trying to say. A Chinese-Australian co-production directed by Kimble Rendall — the same guy behind the wonderfully schlocky sharks in a supermarket movie Bait — this 3D creature feature stars Kellan Lutz, Kelsey Grammar, Shane Jacobson and Li Bingbing as a group of scientists who become lost in a labyrinth full of enormous, man-eating funnel web spiders. Leave your scaredy-cat friends at home. Nest is due in cinemas in 2016.
UPDATE: APRIL 30, 2018 — In news that is really not that surprising, Kendrick's Melbourne and Sydney shows sold out in less than an hour this morning. To meet demand, two more shows have been added — one in Melbourne on July 14 and one in Sydney on July 25. Tickets go on sale at 2pm today, and will no doubt sell out as quickly as the first batch. We had a feeling this might happen. Off the back of an appearance at an already sold-out Splendour in the Grass, Kendrick Lamar will also headline four Australian shows in support of his fourth album DAMN.. Lamar is one of the most critically acclaimed and successful hip hop artists of our generation. The Compton rapper most recently became the first ever artist to take out the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for contemporary music. He's also the beholder of 12 Grammys, has clocked up more than six million album sales worldwide, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine. Lamar will return to our shores for Splendour on the weekend of July 20–22 and four headline shows: one in Perth on July 10, one in Melbourne on July 13, one in Adelaide on July 15 and one in Sydney on July 24. Having recently taken the DAMN. tour across the UK and Europe, set lists included his extensive catalogue, including good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) and his most recent effort DAMN.. DAMN. AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES 2018 Tuesday, July 10 — Perth Arena, Perth Friday, July 13 and Saturday, July 14 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Sunday, July 15 — Entertainment Centre, Adelaide Tuesday, July 24 and Wednesday, July 25 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Kendrick Lamar will visit Australia in July. Tickets will go on sale at local times on Monday, April 30 here.
Simply walking into Mr Wares brings a sense of hygge. The Block Arcade store is filled with well-crafted homewares and accessories from Australia and across the globe (we're looking at you Denmark). This is the place to come when you're looking for something nice for your home, a gift for a friend or just something that's well-made and unique. Here, you can pick up everything from a designer towel to a leather notebook or a sleek backpack. The store values contemporary heirlooms over fast fashion, any piece from this city store is bound to enrich your everyday life in some way or another. Image: Robert Blackburn/Visit Victoria.
There are two major joys to a good whodunnit: the puzzle and the journey. Whichever intriguing narrative is being thrust their way, audiences want to sleuth along with the characters, piecing clues together in their heads. They want to enjoy each and every one of the story's many ins, outs, twists and turns as all the details unravel, too. The greats of the genre, both on the page and the screen, understand this. It's what made Agatha Christie the queen of suspense, and what kept viewers glued to the screen during 2019's stellar mystery flick Knives Out. The makers of The Translators get this concept as well, and embrace it heartily. In fact, writer/director Régis Roinsard (Populaire) and his co-scribes Romain Compingt and Daniel Presley go a little heavy on convoluted minutiae and attempts to keep everyone guessing, but still mostly serve up an entertaining thriller. The Translators' premise is killer — in a film that doesn't shy away from a body count, but is actually more concerned with stolen pages from the yet-to-be-released last book in the bestselling The Man Who Did Not Want to Die series. The latest novel has only been seen by its secretive author, who refuses to reveal his identity to the world; arrogant French publisher Eric Angstrom (Lambert Wilson, The Odyssey), who made his entire fortune by releasing the first two hit instalments; and the nine translators the latter has assembled to prepare the text in multiple languages for a simultaneous worldwide debut. The enlisted team of experts are only being given 20 pages at a time, however, and they're all living and working in a lavish, highly secure, internet-free and heavily guarded underground bunker beneath a remote chateau for the duration of their two-month contract. Accordingly, when Angstrom receives an email threatening to leak the new book unless a huge ransom is paid, he's both perplexed and angry. Fleshing out its main players isn't high among The Translators' priorities, with Angstrom a cookie-cutter publishing sleaze and his sequestered translators all fitting clearcut types. The Lisbeth Salander-esque Portuguese twenty-something Telma (Maria Leite) arouses immediate suspicion, for example, while Italian Dario (Riccardo Scarmarcio, John Wick: Chapter 2) is dashing and enigmatic, German Ingrid (Anna-Maria Sturm) is a stickler for procedure and Chinese employee Chen (Frédéric Chau) always takes a practical approach. The film attempts to be a tad more furtive about Katerina (Olga Kurylenko, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote), a Russian who purposely dresses to resemble the fated heroine in the book the group is working on, and Englishman Alex (Alex Lawther, The End of the F***ing World), who is noticeably young — but casting choices, with the two ranking among the film's most recognisable faces, already tell the audience that these characters will stand out. Including beleaguered mother Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen, In Fabric), stuttering Spaniard Javier (Edouardo Noriega) and cynical Greek Konstantinos (Manolis Mavromatakis), The Translators treats everyone on-screen like pawns, all in service of its twisty mystery. That's standard for the genre, though — if you're going to quickly strip a group of suspects down to their underlying motives in intriguingly heightened circumstances, it often helps if there's not too much padding on top. And while that whole tactic is glaringly apparent here, The Translators endeavours to keep proceedings humming along by zipping between new developments at a frantic pace. The movie takes time to establish its concept, naturally, and to explain everything that's relevant about the locked-in situation its titular figures find themselves in (complete with tours of gleaming subterranean pools and bowling alleys). After the groundwork has been laid, it then hurtles forward like someone furiously thumbing through an airport novel. At times, it gets a little too carried away with the exaggerated drip-fed clues, surprise reveals and reversals, but this is still a slick, swift-moving affair that ticks all the whodunnit basics. Sometimes, and usually entertainingly so, it navigates through plenty of heist flick staples as well. As a result, The Translators is understandably a story and style-driven film rather than an actor showpiece; however Roinsard has amassed a considerable group of talent. Ensuring that a mystery's characters demand the audience's attention, even if they're little more than archetypes, is another crucial aspect of the genre — and, thanks to the convincingly slimy Wilson, the slippery Lawther and the melodramatic Kurylenko especially, that's achieved. Also generally hitting the spot while remaining as overt as possible: the movie's contemplation of art versus commerce, and of literary fandom. Nothing new is spouted or revealed, particularly given the obsessiveness that some books garner in real life, but tussling with these ideas gives the feature a bit of extra bite nonetheless. That doesn't make The Translators an overly memorable whodunnit, but that's the thing with page-turners and their filmic equivalent — if you enjoy the game and the ride enough once, it doesn't matter if you won't be clamouring for a second helping. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THXebxAFCzY
The black parade is coming back to Australia — eventually. After their last attempt to head to our shores in 2020 was thwarted due to the pandemic, the reunited My Chemical Romance announced earlier in 2021 that they'd tour the country's east coast in 2022. However, those gigs have now been pushed back to 2023 — but extra shows have also been added. Hopefully the third time will prove the charm for Gerard Way and co, and for music lovers eager to grab their eyeliner, don every black piece of clothing in their wardrobe, relive their angsty emo teenage years and let out three cheers. The new tour will mark more than a decade since MCR last came to our shores for the 2012 Big Day Out — and comes after the US group went their separate ways in 2013, then reformed in 2019. Fans will be pleased to know that MCR are headlining their own shows on this tour, too, rather than leading a festival bill as they were slated to do in 2020. And, they'll now be playing two gigs at each of their stops in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney — with their rescheduled 2023 tour doubling down on stints at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Rod Laver Arena and Qudos Bank Arena. While waiting an extra year to see MCR isn't quite the end-of-2021 development anyone wanted, being able to snap up tickets to new shows if you missed out in the first round is clearly much better news. Back in late 2019, when MCR announced that they were literally getting the band back together, they sold out their first reunion gig in Los Angeles quick smart — and tickets to their Australian gigs have already proven mighty popular. The group has been trying to take its new show on the road ever since they reformed, but, thanks to the pandemic, that has obviously proven much trickier than anticipated. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE 2023 AUSTRALIAN TOUR: Monday, March 13 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane — NEW SHOW Tuesday, March 14 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane — SOLD OUT Thursday, March 16 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne — NEW SHOW Friday, March 17 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne — SOLD OUT Sunday, March 19 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney — SOLD OUT Monday, March 20 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney — NEW SHOW My Chemical Romance will tour Australia's east coast in March 2023. For further information — and for pre-sale tickets for the just-announced new shows from 3pm on Tuesday, December 14, and general tickets from 12pm on Wednesday, December 15 — head to the tour website. Top image: My Chemical Romance performing by NBSTwo via Flickr.
Get ready to toss a coin to your witcher, again — but they'll look more than a little different. For two seasons so far, Henry Cavill (Zack Snyder's Justice League) has played monster hunter Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's hit fantasy series The Witcher, and he'll be back again in season three when it arrives in 2023. After that, however, The Hunger Games, The Dressmaker and Independence Day: Resurgence's Liam Hemsworth will don the character's icy locks. The Witcher has indeed been renewed for a fourth season before its third even airs — something that happened with season three before season two dropped as well, and with season two before season one debuted before that — but a huge change is afoot. Netflix has revealed that Cavill is stepping away from the show, with Hemsworth replacing him. The two actors also shared the news on social media. "My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for season four," said Cavill in a statement. "In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam's take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find." It's official: The Witcher is returning for Season 4, and Henry Cavill will be handing his swords to Liam Hemsworth as the new Geralt of Rivia after Season 3. Welcome to the Witcher family, @LiamHemsworth! Read more: https://t.co/ABQMdqkzXX pic.twitter.com/xyIaRBbiRT — The Witcher (@witchernetflix) October 29, 2022 As for Hemsworth, he added that "as a Witcher fan I'm over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia". He continued: "Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I'm honoured that he's handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf's blades for the next chapter of his adventure. Henry, I've been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character. I may have some big boots to fill, but I'm truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world." Need a refresher on the story so far? Haven't watched the first two seasons yet? If The Witcher's name sounds familiar, that's because it's based on the short stories and novels of writer Andrzej Sapkowski — and, as well as being turned into comics, it was adapted the video game series of the same name. A Polish film and TV show also reached screens in the early 2000s, although they were poorly received. [caption id="attachment_875705" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Liam Hemsworth in upcoming film Poker Face. Image: Brook Rushton.[/caption] In the Netflix show, Cavill plays the witcher of the title, aka the part that Hemsworth is taking over. Geralt of Rivia is a monster hunter who prefers to work — aka slay beasts — alone in a realm called The Continent. But life has other plans for the lone wolf, forcing him to cross paths with powerful sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra, Netflix's Wanderlust) and young princess Ciri (newcomer Freya Allan). The Witcher franchise doesn't just include the show itself, but also animated flick The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which hit Netflix in 2021. And, there's upcoming prequel series The Witcher: Blood Origin, too — which'll take place 1200 years before Geralt's time, span four episodes, star Everything Everywhere All At Once's Michelle Yeoh and arrive this December. There's no sneak peek at the OG series' fourth season yet, or season three, but here's the trailer for season two in the interim: The Witcher's third season will hit Netflix sometime in winter 2023 Down Under. The show's first and second seasons are currently available to stream.
If you love classic cocktails, you probably enjoy knowing a bit about the intriguing stories behind them. And one cocktail with a long, star-studded history is the martini. To honour the legacy of this iconic drink, Melbourne cocktail bar Eau de Vie is launching a bespoke martini service — that doubles as an alcohol-fuelled history lesson. The Star of Bombay Martini Trolley combines the classic martini service — a tradition in old-school ritzy hotel bars — storytelling of the cocktail's history and the dramatic crafting of drinks using liquid nitrogen. The four martinis from the new Star of Bombay menu will be made theatrically on the trolley in front of you, and include the sweet-noted Edwardian, a twist on the hanky panky from the Savoy Hotel in 1903, a James Bond-inspired Magda Martini (we'll assume it's shaken) and the Captain Ritz — an ode to the Ritz Paris's famed side car cocktail. You'll also have the chance to experiment with bitters, brines and garnishes to create your own personalised martini. The Star of Bombay Martini Trolley is located inside Eau de Vie, Melbourne and is open 6pm–midnight, Monday to Sunday. One martini costs $24 and a sample board of all four costs $50. Reservations are essential, to make one, head to the website.
Make the start of the cold season a little brighter by getting down to the Riviera Winter Wonderland. Presented at Elwood's Riviera Beach Club, in partnership with the Happen Group, until Sunday, August 3, this prime coastal setting features a myriad of kid-friendly activities by daylight. Head out onto the custom-made ice-skating rink, complete with real ice, snow blizzards and skate aids. When it's time to warm up, consider booking a private igloo and catering package. Meanwhile, a charming market will feature festive snacks, from popcorn to snow cones. Yet as sunset hits, it's time for the kids to depart, as this upbeat beach club returns to its roots for nightly adult-only fun. Think DJs and disco skating, alongside private igloos flowing with premium alcohol packages. And the market? Those snack stalls now feature mulled wine and cocktails. "We are really excited to transform this iconic venue into a winter wonderland experience," says Happen Group Director Daniel McFadyen. "We have ensured that we have catered to both families with young children and the adults so that everyone can enjoy this event by the bay in Melbourne."
We all know Britain's iconic red phone booths — they're as British as Queen Lizzie or a chicken tikka curry. So what happens when the service they offer becomes redundant? You turn them into smart phone repair workshops. British phone repair company Lovefone is in the process of renovating 35 phone booths across Britain, transforming them into stations where people can get their smartphones and tablets fixed. The results of their efforts are going to come in very handy after you've drunk a pint too many and dropped your electronic goods into the loo. The revamped booths will also offer free charging stations and wifi, as well as an underfloor safe that protects electronic goods while they await pick-up. A similar but definitely not as cool idea has been in place in Australia for a while, with Telstra equipping their pay phones with routers to give their customers wifi access when they're nearby. Unfortunately, this service is only available to certain Telstra users — but it does pave the way for other networks to run with the idea in the future. Other countries around the globe have come up with their own novel ideas for repurposing phone booths. One phone booth in New York has been revitalised with the addition of shelves, converting it into a library. Citizens donate unwanted texts, with the book exchange working on a honesty-based policy. We're thinking that there has to be a market for this in Australia. Back in the UK, the Red Kiosk Company allows you to rent and run your own business from a phone booth. A number of cafes now lease phone booths as their cafe shopfronts — and one guy even opened up his own phone booth salad store. So take note entrepreneurs: your dreams of opening up your own quirky cafe might be just around the corner, literally.
If you've ever had a sneaky little go with some small person's Lego blocks once they're all tucked up in bed, Legoland sees you, tips you their hat… and raises you an adults-only night at its Melbourne Discovery Centre. With no children to get in the way (or outdo your creations), you'll be able to have free rein of Legoland to check out the 4D cinema and rides, take a factory tour, and build to your heart's content in the brick pits. Challenge yourself by taking on the master builder or a speed build and vie for the prizes up for grabs — there'll even be a scavenger hunt so you can go full inner child mode. This adults-only evening also doubles as a preview for Lego's new augmented reality sets, which promise haunted worlds and plenty of ghosts. It all takes place from 6–9pm on Thursday, August 1 — and BYO shameless excitement, taste for glory, and creativity to enter the model of the month competition. It'll be a fierce one.
Much about this last week of March has felt like history repeating itself — initially for Brisbanites, and now for anyone with an Easter date with Bluesfest. For the second year in a row, the Byron Bay festival won't be going ahead, with NSW Health announcing that a public health order has been signed that cancels the 2021 event. The long-running festival was set to return to Byron Events Farm (formerly Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm) just outside Byron Bay from Thursday, April 1 — for the Easter long weekend, headlined by Jimmy Barnes, Tash Sultana, Ocean Alley, Ziggy Alberts and The Teskey Brothers. But, as happened last year, COVID-19 has gotten in the way. NSW Health has advised that the move has been made "to minimise the risk of the highly infectious COVID-19 variant of concern being transmitted in the local area, as well as across states and territories." Over the past weekend, between Friday, March 26–Sunday, March 28, Byron Bay was visited by two people who later tested positive to COVID-19 as part of Greater Brisbane's current cluster. Today, Wednesday, March 31, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that one person in Byron Bay has since tested positive as well. And, the Premier also advised that from 5pm AEDT today until at least 11.59pm on Monday, April 5, the Byron, Ballina, Tweed and Lismore shires will reinstate a number of social distancing restrictions. So, they'll be in effect exactly when Bluesfest was due to run. The north coast regions will revert back to 30-person caps for at-home gatherings, and will reintroduce the one person per four-square-metres rule at all indoor public settings, including hospitality venues. Folks in the area will also have to sit, not stand, while having a drink. And, masks will be compulsory on public transport, in retail settings and indoors in public places. [caption id="attachment_800519" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Andy Fraser[/caption] "Infectious Queensland travellers attended a number of venues in the Byron Bay area and the new locally acquired case was infected at one of these venues," said NSW Health in its statement. "NSW Health acknowledges that the cancellation of Bluesfest is disappointing for ticket holders and event organisers; however, while urgent investigations and contact tracing are ongoing, NSW Health is adopting a cautious approach to keep everyone safe." Minister for Health Brad Hazzard noted that "while the cancellation of Bluesfest is disappointing for music lovers and the local community, I hope that ticket holders would support Bluesfest and hold on to their tickets as I understand Bluesfest will be working on a new date as soon as possible." At the time of writing, Bluesfest hasn't made a statement about the cancellation. Via the festival's last social media posts earlier today, event organisers said that an update was coming soon. NSW Health advised that it wished "to acknowledge the outstanding cooperation of Mr Peter Noble and his organising team, who were working hard to ensure Bluesfest would be conducted in a COVID-safe manner." For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: Joseph Mayers
Did Hollywood have a disagreement with its past, get a fortune cookie predicting the future, feel an earthquake shudder, then wake up back in the 80s and 00s? Based on two new flicks heading to cinemas, yes, it must've. Because everything old is always new again in Tinseltown — a trend that's bringing Cruel Intentions, Twilight and Harry Potter back, too — both Freaky Friday and Beetlejuice are scoring sequels. Unlike those big-screen sagas and their upcoming TV versions, this pair of films is getting movie follow-ups — and they're set to feature members of their original casts as well. For Freaky Friday 2: Freak Harder (which won't be its actual name), that means reuniting Everything Everywhere All At Once Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis with Lindsay Lohan (Falling for Christmas) two decades later. With Beetlejuice 2: Electric Boogaloo (again, not its actual name), Michael Keaton (Morbius) and Winona Ryder (Stranger Things) are back with the poltergeists. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the Freaky Friday news, noting that Elyse Hollander will pen the script. Story details haven't been revealed, but body-swapping is bound to feature given that's what Freaky Friday has always been about. Drinking, dancing, getting angry that your mum won't let you go to your band's big audition, eating those enchanted cookies — perhaps that'll all get worked in as well. For this franchise, it all started with 1972 book by Mary Rodgers, then the 1976 Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian)-starring first movie adaptation, and also a 1995 remake with Gaby Hoffman (C'mon C'mon). After 2003's beloved Curtis- and Lohan-led take, horror flick Freaky gave the idea a spin in 2020. Freaky Friday 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but Beetlejuice 2 does: September 6, 2024 in the US. It'll continue the story started in Tim Burton's 1988 hit Beetlejuice, with Wednesday favourite Jenna Ortega playing the daughter of Ryder's Lydia Deetz. As Variety reports, Justin Theroux (White House Plumbers) is also among the cast. You don't need a Handbook for the Recently Deceased in your ghostly hands to get excited, but you might spend time with folks with one, which is what happened with the original flick's Barbara and Adam Maitland (GLOW's Geena Davis and Dr Death's Alec Baldwin). In the first film, viewers also saw what happened when that pair started to suspect that they're no longer alive, a new family moved into their house (including Schitt's Creek's Catherine O'Hara) and they decided they needed a 'bio-exorcist'. The Freaky Friday sequel doesn't yet have a release date, while Beetlejuice 2 will release in September 2024 — we'll keep you updated as more details are announced. Via The Hollywood Reporter / Variety.
Before Christmas, after two lockdowns throughout the year, Victoria had settled into its version of what Premier Daniel Andrews has repeatedly dubbed a 'COVID-safe summer'. Then a cluster of cases in Sydney spilled over to the state, and caused harsher restrictions to come back into effect just before 2020 wrapped up. And, earlier in February, another rise in cases linked to Melbourne's Holiday Inn saw a five-day snap lockdown implemented. In other words, Victoria's coronavirus rules have tightened and eased several times in recent months, with the last set of changes coming into effect back on Tuesday, February 16. On that date, Premier Andrews did flag that more rules could ease on Friday, February 26 if case numbers remained low. That latter day is now here, and the Premier has indeed announced that Victorians will be able to do more things in more places with more people from 11.59pm this evening. Those settings that were in place before Christmas? They're coming back. So, the state will revert to the rules that everyone was abiding by before restrictions were implemented in the lead up to New Year's Eve. That means that Victorians can host more people in their houses, with the cap going up to 30 folks from any number of other households. That's a daily limit, so you can only have 30 people over across one whole day, even if they come at different times in different groups — and your home also includes your front and back yards. Fancy heading outdoors with your nearest and dearest elsewhere, beyond your own patch of land? In good news, public outdoor gatherings will increase back to 100. So your next trip to the beach or the park with your mates can now feature quite the crowd. https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1365100784828837888 After AFL fans watched the bulk of the 2020 men's season take place either outside of the state or without crowds in Victoria (including the AFL Grand Final), the news that the MCG and Marvel Stadium will both be able to increase to 50-percent capacity will also be welcome. Also, from midnight tonight – but more realistically coming into effect on Monday — 75 percent of both public and private sector workers will be able to head back to their offices. If you're wondering about masks, the rules are changing there as well. You'll need to keep wearing them only in certain situations, such as large and busy indoor indoor shops, and on public transport. You will always need to carry one with you, though. Rules for hospitality and retail businesses aren't changing at the moment. For restaurants, cafes, bars and eateries, the one person per two-square-metres rule remains in effect both indoors and outdoors, but only once 25 people are onsite. And, for shops, the one person per two-square-metres rule applies, with no other caps. At entertainment venues, more folks will be allowed in the door. Seated indoor venues, including cinemas, can now max out at 75-percent capacity — up to a total of 1000 people. Indoor non-seated venues such as galleries will have a 50-percent cap up to 1000 people, as well as the one person per two-square-metres rule if they're using electronic record keeping to track attendees (and one person per four-square-metres otherwise). Both seated and non-seated outdoor venues can continue to host 75-percent crowds, with the same rules on density and record keeping applying. As always, the usual hygiene and social distancing practices remain in place, as does the request to get tested if you exhibit even minor COVID-19 symptoms. Victoria currently has 17 active coronavirus cases, as at midnight on Thursday, February 25. Restrictions in Victoria will change again at 11.59pm on Friday, February 26. For more information about the rules moving forward, head to the Victorian Department of Health website.
No one went to Splendour in the Grass in 2024, after the Australian music festival announced its dates and lineup, then ditched its plans. No one attended Groovin the Moo this year, either, after it went through the same cycle of reveals and cancellations. Harvest Rock hadn't gotten to the stage of unveiling its bill, but it is now the latest Aussie fest to pull the plug on its event for this year, also joining Spilt Milk, Summergrounds Music Festival and Dark Mofo. "After two years of eating, drinking and dancing in Adelaide, we've made the difficult decision to postpone Harvest Rock 2024," announced the festival team in a statement on both the event's website and its social media channels. "This decision was made to ensure that Harvest Rock continues to deliver the experience that our local, national and international fans have come to know and love into the future," the message continued. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Harvest Rock (@harvestrockfest) If you're wondering when Harvest Rock will be back, there's no confirmation of that as yet. "We look forward to delivering another amazing Harvest Rock in the future," the statement also advises. It was back in 2022 that Secret Sounds, the crew behind Splendour in the Grass, gave Australia another massive multi-day music festival. The big aim: to get everyone dancing in a park in Adelaide each spring, including interstaters heading to South Australia to enjoy the fest's travelworthy lineups. The first year welcomed Jack White, Groove Armada, The Avalanches, Crowded House and Courtney Barnett, for starters. 2023's second spin featured Jamiroquai and Beck doing Australian-exclusive shows, plus everyone from Sparks and Nile Rogers & Chic to Bright Eyes and Paul Kelly. [caption id="attachment_969733" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ian Laidlaw[/caption] A two-day blend of music, food and wine — well, it is in SA — Harvest Rock has also spanned Adelaide's top restaurants and eateries serving up dishes, a culinary-focused stage and wine tastings in the two years that it has taken place. Upon debut, it instantly proved a success, attracting 15,000 attendees per day; however, that hasn't made it immune to Australia's spate of recent music festival cancellations. While Harvest Rock hadn't revealed its 2024 lineup, it did make tickets available for this year in 2023. If you snapped some up, you'll receive an automatic refund via however you purchased them within 14 days. Harvest Rock 2024, which was set to take place at Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka and King Rodney Park / Ityamai-itpina, Adelaide, is no longer going ahead. Head to the festival's website for further details.
A staple of Melbourne's cultural calendar for 80 years and counting, the Sidney Myer Free Concerts are back for another year. Held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the latest of this long-standing favourite will, as always, feature a trio of performances from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Whether you're a classical music buff or just want to stretch out with a picnic on the grass, there's a good reason these concerts have become a summertime tradition. After kicking off on Friday, February 8, and keeping the fun going on Saturday, February 16, Melburnians can enjoy the last evening in the series on Wednesday, February 20. The first night will feature a series of famous songs by American composer George Gershwin, while Tchaikovsky and Debussy will star on the Saturday. A Symphonic Celebration will round out the free performances with fantasy-themed pieces, such as Dukas' 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice'. Drinks and snacks will be available to purchase, but you can also BYO — just make sure you pack plastic cups. Performances begin at 7:30pm; however, gates are open at 4:30pm so be sure to arrive promptly with your picnic basket in hand.
Good Beer Week, the yearly celebration of all things hoppy and frothy in Melbourne since 2011, has announced that it won't be running in 2024. It's taking the year off to step back and reassess how it can keep hosting the annual event as running costs keep rising. Announcing the news, the team noted how 2023 has been tough for independent brewers, and that it is looking for better ways to support them through the beer festival and other events. [caption id="attachment_894583" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Carmen Zammit[/caption] "As an avid beer fan, you'll understand the industry's challenges right now. We get it, times are tough, and prices have climbed but our Australian independent beer industry is at risk," the crew said in an email to its mailing list. "So instead of being able to support Good Beer Week, we really need you to act now, seek out your local brewery or beer venue, and to look for the independent seal when buying your next beer." [caption id="attachment_621653" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Simon Shiff[/caption] But it's not all bad news. Good Beer Week usually partners with two other beer festivals around the same time of year, the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular (GABS) and Pint of Origin, and these will still take place in May 2024. Exact dates for Pint of Origin haven't been released yet, but GABS has already confirmed that it will be running from Friday, May 17–Sunday, May 19. Good Beer Week has also teamed up with The Crafty Pint to support Local Beer Day in 2024, an independent brewery festival that takes over pubs, bars and bottle shops all over the country. This will be running on Saturday, February 24. So, even though you won't be able to hit up Good Beer Week in Melbourne next year, beer lovers still have stacks of opportunities to sample local beers and support independent brewers. [caption id="attachment_806494" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ryan Wheatley[/caption] Good Beer Week won't take place in 2024. To keep an eye out for future plans, head to the festival's website.
Humanity's love for Nutella truly knows no bounds. We've had Nutella deep-fried ice cream, frozen custard, arancini, jaffles, calzones and doughnuts, among other edible items. There's a day dedicated to it, as well as a festival, food truck, dessert bar and restaurant. Here in Australia, we've even caused a country-wide shortage of the good stuff. And now, McDonald's in Italy is selling Nutella burgers. Given that burgers are one of the only others food items that are as popular as everyone's favourite hazelnut spread (alongside doughnuts and pizza), this really is the culinary mashup we had to have. And Maccas isn't messing around. Their Sweety con Nutella only features two ingredients: Nutella and a burger bun. In the words of the McDonald's Italy Facebook page, it's "soft bread with a creamy, indulgent centre". We can understand their thinking. Why complicate something as amazing — and simple — as the delectable substance we all love on bread? We can also understand why you might be contemplating an overseas trip right about now. Alas, as yet, there's no news of a local launch for this must-have addition to Maccas' menu.
When we take that first sip of our barista-brewed coffee on a workday morning, a lot of us can't actually imagine living without coffee. But what about living without a roof over your head or a guaranteed meal? Unfortunately, this is what many homeless people around Australia face each day, but on Friday, August 9, you can help your fellow Aussies out simply by buying a coffee as part of CafeSmart. CafeSmart is an annual event from StreetSmart that raises money and awareness for the homeless and is back for its eighty year running. This year over 700 cafes will aim to raise as much as they can, with totals reaching more than of $1 million over previous years. So how does it work? From every coffee purchased on August 9 at a participating cafe around Australia, $1 will be donated towards local projects. So if your go-to local isn't participating, shake things up for a day and head to one that is. Prefer a hot chocolate? You can also donate at the counter. Simply by aiming for a bighearted cafe, you'll be helping some of our country's most in-need humans, so treat yourself to a third or fourth coffee guilt-free. There are a heap of cafes participating across the city — head to the event's website to find your closest.
He's been hailed as the king of documentaries, known for his fearless deep dives into the boldest of subjects, from sex trafficking to religious extremists and just about everything in between. And now, Louis Theroux is stepping out from in front of the camera and onto the stage, venturing Down Under for his second Aussie speaking tour this summer. In January, the intrepid BBC filmmaker will hit Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, here to share his secrets in new show Louis Theroux Without Limits. The fearless journalist will be joined by local media personality Julia Zemiro for a two-hour on-stage adventure, dropping insights into his extraordinary life and behind-the-scenes secrets from his impressive catalogue of work. With more than two decades of filmmaking experience and multiple awards under his belt, Theroux has a knack for digging deep and getting people to spill the beans, telling it exactly how it is. From the opioid epidemic and the San Fernando Valley porn industry to the Church of Scientology, his work has given him countless fascinating stories to dish up on this latest speaking tour. "Australians are obviously connoisseurs of the weird side of life," Theroux said in a statement. "I look forward to coming back to share even more memorable moments and extraordinary stories from the people I have encountered in my films." He was last here in 2016, when he took his (sell-out) speaking tour to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. While you wait for Louis to head Down Under, you can catch his new series of documentaries on BBC Knowledge from Thursday, June 27. You can check out a teaser for the new show Louis Theroux Without Limits here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bcgv0S4Wj8&feature=youtu.be LOUIS THEROUX WITHOUT LIMITS 2020 DATES Sunday, January 12 – Riverside Theatre, Perth Monday, January 13 – Convention Centre, Adelaide Wednesday, January 15 – Brisbane Convention Centre, Brisbane Thursday, January 16 – Royal Theatre, Canberra Friday January 17 – State Theatre, Sydney Sunday, January 19 – Plenary Theatre, Melbourne Tickets to Louis Theroux Without Limits go on sale at 9am on Monday, June 24. You can sign up for pre-sale on the website.
Releasing her debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim at the impressive age of 18, Laura Marling has held the world in her palm over the past decade with her contemporary, understated take on folk music. From the uptempo songs of her debut LP to the rich and inventive tracks peppering her latest album — Semper Femina, which was released earlier this year — Marling has demonstrated a true mastery of her craft. Multiple Mercury Prize nominations during her career can't be wrong. Marling will do a single performance at The Forum before heading to Sydney for a special appearance at the Opera House as part of Vivid Sydney. And, as one of the UK's best current songwriters, she's sure to make them both gigs to remember.
2023 ain't nuthing ta f' wit: it's the year that Wu-Tang Clan are returning Down Under, after all. After the hip hop legends kicked off their NY State of Mind tour with Nas in 2022, they're bringing the 2023 leg to Australia and New Zealand — and it's still a joint affair. Two of the biggest names in the business since the 90s — with Wu-Tang Clan first making a splash with their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), and Nas doing the same with 1994's Illmatic — will play four shows in total on their Aussie and Aotearoa visit. They're the first gigs in the 2023 tour, too, and all in May, kicking off in Auckland before hopping across the ditch for stops in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The 2022 leg hit up more than 25 cities, and 2023's is just as epic — after its stint Down Under, it heads through Europe and then back to the US. Along the way, fans can enjoy Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, U-God, Masta Killa, Inspectah Deck and Cappadonna taking to the stage three decades after they first came to fame — and Nas sharing the mic as well. Over that time, Wu-Tang Clan have dropped seven further albums from a fill discography that, including solo records by its members, notches up more than 85 full-length releases. Their tours pull from the whole lot, as set against that ever-present Wu-Tang 'W' — and honours the deceased Ol' Dirty Bastard as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Wu Tang Clan (@wutangclan) WU-TANG CLAN AND NAS 'NY STATE OF MIND' TOUR 2023: Tuesday, May 9 — Spark Arena, Auckland Friday, May 12 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Saturday, May 13 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Sunday, May 14 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Wu-Tang Clan and Nas tour Australia and New Zealand in May 2023, with pre-sales from 11am local time on Friday, March 3, and general sales from 12pm local time on Monday, March 6. Head to the Live Nation website for tickets and further details.
2023 was the year of the Matildas. Here's hoping that 2024 will be as well. Australia's national women's soccer team made history on the pitch and on TV screens at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, and inspired the word 'Matilda' to be chosen as the Australian National Dictionary Centre's 2023 Word of the Year. The squad's current aim: making it to this year's Paris Olympics, with two matches standing between them and playing at the games. The Tillies competed in three qualifiers in Perth in October and November 2023, winning all three. The next step is a two-match fixture against Uzbekistan, which will determine whether the Aussies score one of the Asian Football Confederation's two places in Paris. First up, on Saturday, February 24, the Steph Catley-led squad will play at Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent. Then, they're coming home to take to the pitch at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Wednesday, February 28. If you'll be in Melbourne on the second date and you don't already have tickets, you've missed your chance to head along live. But, as always, 10Play and Paramount+ are your destinations — plus Network 10 on regular TV — to watch from home. As for the squad, Sam Kerr won't be playing after injuring her ACL at a training camp for Women's Super League team Chelsea, which is why Catley will wear the captain's armband. Familiar names abound from there, including Mackenzie Arnold, Mary Fowler, Alanna Kennedy, Ellie Carpenter, Caitlin Foord, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Katrina Gorry, Hayley Raso, Emily van Egmond and Tameka Yallop. Cortnee Vine will sit out the games for personal reasons, while Michelle Heyman rejoins the squad for the first time in six years. The Matildas are hoping not only to get through to the Olympics, but to best the 2020 games' fourth placing, which is the team's best result yet. In the qualifiers, Japan will play North Korea in two matches on the same February dates, with the winner securing the other Asian Football Confederation spot. Whatever happens against Uzbekistan, the Tillies will hit the turf again in April, thanks to a friendly against Mexico in San Antonio in the US. Matildas Final Paris Olympics Qualifying Matches vs Uzbekistan: Saturday, February 24 — kickoff at 8pm AEDT / 7pm AEST / 5pm AWST Wednesday, February 28 — kickoff at 8pm AEDT / 7pm AEST / 5pm AWST The Matildas' final Olympic qualifiers take place on Saturday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 28 — and you can watch via 10Play and Paramount+. Images: Tiff Williams.
It was a small step for man and a giant leap for mankind. But what if the moon landing didn't actually happen? As far as conspiracy theories go, that line of thinking is up there with Elvis surviving his last date with his bathroom. Now, after decades of wondering, we finally have the incriminating vision. Okay, so not exactly. After toying with the found footage genre in their debut film The Dirties, writer-director-actor Matt Johnson and his regular co-star Owen Williams bring the same faux-documentary approach to the world of outlandish government coverups in Operation Avalanche. Playing fictionalised versions of themselves several decades before they were actually born, Johnson and Williams make the leap from college whiz kids to new CIA recruits to undercover operatives at NASA. Remarkably, that's the easy part. Once they've talked their way through the door of the space agency, pretending to be a documentary film crew but actually looking for a Russian spy, they discover that the space agency can't make it to earth's natural satellite as planned. And so a new secret scheme is hatched, drawing upon their background as filmmakers. But it also attracts some unwanted attention. Operation Avalanche unfolds as a movie within a movie — with the added bonus of yet another movie within that movie, too. In essence, the filmmakers are making a film about pretending to make a film, while at the same time recreating the historic footage of the actual lunar landing. Grainy images ensure that the movie fits its '60s setting to a tee, while shooting the whole thing in handheld style, often through windows or from various other unlikely hiding spots, helps sell the underlying premise. Sounds like a bit of cheeky fun, right? Seesawing between comedy and edge-of-your-seat thrills, that's exactly what Operation Avalanche delivers. At the same time, this paranoia-riddled satire couldn't feel more timely, despite the fact that it first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival a full year ago. Not being able to believe everything you see in the media isn't exactly a new sentiment, nor is thinking twice before trusting the words spoken by those in power. Still, imagining a modern version of this story given the current global political climate certainly isn't hard. Apart from the initial concept, perhaps Johnson's greatest trick is doing something different with both the found footage medium and the cold war thriller genre. This isn't the kind of shaky horror flick you've seen countless times before, or the type of USA versus USSR effort that has been pumped out since the 1960s. That's great news if you're a film buff, for whom Operation Avalanche feels tailor made. Indeed, with one of the most common moon landing conspiracies centred around 2001: A Space Odyssey director Stanley Kubrick, it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of the greatest filmmakers in history earns more than a couple of mentions.
If you're a Melburnian heading interstate for the holidays — and to a part of the country that hasn't mandated mask-wearing this year — you might be planning to leave your facial covering at home. But, if your trip involves flying, you'll need to make sure you're still donning a mask when you're at a Victorian airport. The Department of Health and Human Services has advised that wearing a fitted face mask is now mandatory at Victorian airports — from today, Saturday, December 19. It has also stated that it's "strongly recommended you wear a mask while on your flight" as well. https://twitter.com/VicGovDHHS/status/1340072414504476678 Although Victoria's mask rules have changed several times over the past month or so, you could've safely assumed that wearing a mask at the airport was required anyway — it is a busy indoor space where you can't guarantee that you'll be able to maintain social distancing. But, with Sydney now experiencing a growing cluster of COVID-19 cases in its northern beaches area, and the Christmas travel period upon us, DHHS is making mask-wearing at airports official. As a reminder, donning faces masks in general was made compulsory in Victoria back in mid-July, with the the mask rules loosening in outdoor situations in mid-November. Since Sunday, December 6, they've no longer been mandatory in all indoor circumstances — but you do need to wear them in specified crowded spots, such as indoors at shopping centres, in retail stores inside shopping centres, at indoor markets, on public transport, when using ride shares or other commercial passenger vehicles, and when you're in a large crowd of people you do not know or where QR codes for contact tracing haven't been used. And, if you've been diagnosed with COVID-19, are suspected of having it, or you're a close contact of someone with it, you must wear a face covering if you're leaving the house, even if you're going to the doctor. If you're still wondering where to grab a mask, we've put together a rundown of local companies making and selling them. For more information about the status of COVID-19 and the current restrictions, head over to the Department of Health and Human Services website.
It’s no big secret that Melbourne is full of hidden treasures, what with our street art down unsuspecting laneways, hidden bars and tucked-away cafes. All too often have we stumbled around the city and wanted to know what was behind closed doors, or what certain buildings must be like on the inside. Melburnians, here’s your chance to enter some of the city’s most iconic venues and find out. Open House Melbourne has been running since 2008, allowing people to appreciate the city’s best design and architecture. The free weekend includes access to various houses, buildings, infrastructure and landscapes that have shaped Melbourne into one of the most liveable cities in the world. Alongside the highly anticipated reveal of Flinders Street Station's secret ballroom, a few places that will be open for your perusal include The Myer Mural Hall, State Library of Victoria, Parliament House and the Hotel Windsor, among many others that can be seen here. It's time to get reacquainted with your city in a whole new way.
If you were planning to start your hot girl summer by catching Megan Thee Stallion's first-ever live shows in Australia, Festival X comes bearing bad news: the American rapper is no longer heading Down Under. Mere days out from the event's first 2022 stop, organisers have announced that the performer is no longer on the bill, and that she won't be replaced. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Megan Thee Stallion will not be able to travel to Australia to perform at Festival X," the Festival X team advised in a statement. "Whilst our goal is to present the best experience for fans, despite our best efforts, it will not be possible to find a replacement at such short notice. However, with over 30 artists making up this year's line-up — including Calvin Harris, Don Toliver, Boys Noize, Green Velvet, Nina Kraviz and so many more — we are looking forward to catching you on the dancefloor for Festival X and officially kicking off summer 2022!" View this post on Instagram A post shared by Festival X (@festivalxworld) The lineup change comes after a chaotic few years for Festival X, which debuted back in 2019 with Calvin Harris leading the bill, but hasn't been able to return since until now due to the pandemic. The Scottish DJ headlines the 2022 fest again, joined by Don Toliver. Festival X has five stops in its sights between Saturday, November 26–Sunday, December 4, all huge outdoor gigs — playing Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast, Bonython Park in Adelaide, Sydney Showground and Perth's Claremont Showground. Anyone with ticketing concerns due to Megan Thee Stallion's cancellation is advised to submit a request to Moshtix customer service before 5pm on Friday, November 25. Tickets are still available for all five Festival X dates around the country — and you can check out the current lineup below: FESTIVAL X 2022 LINEUP: Calvin Harris Don Toliver Boys Noize Green Velvet John Summit Luude MaRLo Nina Kraviz Sub Focus (DJ set and ID) Tchami Wilkinson (DJ set) Anna Lunoe Babyface Mal Badrapper Blastoyz Choomba Cosmic Gate Franky Rizardo Haliene Key4050 featuring John O'Callaghan and Bryan Kearney Laura King Len Faki Nifra Nora En Pure Prospa Sunset Bros Taglo Tyson O'Brien FESTIVAL X 2022 DATES: Saturday, November 26 — Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne Sunday, November 27 — Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast Friday, December 2 — Bonython Park, Adelaide Saturday, December 3 — Sydney Showground, Sydney Sunday, December 4 — Claremont Showground, Perth Festival X 2022 tours the country from Saturday, November 26–Sunday, December 4. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the festival website.
You never can predict what Thom Yorke will do next. He seems to be constantly popping up from out of nowhere yelling "Surprise! Look what I've done this time!" Dropping in to London radio station Rinse FM for a chat this week, he casually announced, and then proceeded to premiere, his new collaboration with electronic producers Burial & Four Tet. The Radiohead frontman has made a bit of a habit of announcing things last minute lately, what with the spontaneous release of King of Limbs last month. Yorke has been at the cutting edge of electronic music for a long while, and so coming together with Four Tet & Burial is an electro marriage made in heaven. The tracks are being released as a 12" split single, entitled 'Ego' and 'Mirror.' Fans didn't even have time to get themselves a copy before the official release date on March 21, with pre-orders inexplicably selling out before the announcement of its release. Thom Yorke has previously produced amazing work outside of Radiohead, with his chart-topping solo album Eraser, incredible collaborations with artists such as PJ Harvey, and 2010's launch of new band Atoms For Peace, alongside members of Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Forro In The Dark. This collaboration with Burial and Four Tet follows the trend, with the ethereal sounds and haunting vocals prompting something close to sensory overload. https://youtube.com/watch?v=MOwD67BIPMA [Via One Thirty BPM]
There's a reason this exhibition's title references a whole different world. Once you step inside the signature blue and white striped archways of the entry, you become enveloped in an alternate reality. Like stepping inside the mind of the infamous designer, you are now in the realm of spectacle, ferocity, drama and glamour. No matter what you're wearing, prepare to feel wildly underdressed. Featuring 140 garments, this exhibition is both a celebration of the ornate and original craftsmanship of the legendary French designer as well as a celebration of his outlandish philosophy in style. Separated into seven sections including The Boudoir, Muses, and Metropolis, The Fashion World gives you a thematic history of Gaultier's iconic work and his varied influences. You don't need to be a fashionista to appreciate it either. The world of JPG is entrenched in pop culture, film, celebrity, humour and eroticism. Because of this diversity, the exhibition feels a lot more like a regular art exhibit than a fashion show. There are fairytale dresses made out of nothing but pink silk ribbon. There's a tartan and leather clad section dedicated to the punk scene of Paris' outer suburbs. One dimly lit room is even set up as Amsterdam's infamous red light district — all velveteen and dirty. With such stark differences striking you on each section of the journey, the experience is much less didactic than you might imagine. There's a lot of history to be gleaned, of course, but the story is not so much about the man who made the clothes, but the worlds he created. Even if you know nothing of the fashion, you'll find significant touchstones in the way of celebrities. As you enter the space, you'll be greeted by wall-scale portraits of Cate Blanchett, Kylie Minogue, Andreja Pejic and Gemma Ward by local street artist Rone — some of the designer's most influential Australian muses. A chorus of 32 custom mannequins are among the first works on display. Using incredible projection technology, the faces speaking to you are recognisable as JPG himself and Melissa Auf der Maur of The Smashing Pumpkins. Drawing on his friends in the art world, some of the photography on display also includes work by Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol. "I think the way people dress today is a form of artistic expression," reads a Warhol quote on display. "Art lies in the way the outfit is put together. Take Jean Paul Gaultier. What he does is really art." Like always, Warhol is right. JPG is a master. But, instead of oil paints and landscapes he deals in feathers, cone bras, and bejewelled pubic hairs.
Bombay Sapphire's annual sit down dinner, Project Botanicals, is returning to Melbourne for another year, celebrating the obsessive and continual love affair that we all have with pairing food and gin. Held at Taxi Riverside in Federation Square, a $49 (plus booking fee) ticket will include a two hour dining session where you'll be served two dishes and two gin cocktails to match. The option to purchase more delicious gin cocktails outside the ticket price is there as well. Head chef of Taxi Riverside, Tony Twitchett, has specifically designed a menu that enhances and complements the ten botanicals in Bombay Sapphire gin. Expect creative combinations like tempura mussels with salt and vinegar sesame paired with a gin, ginger and cucumber cocktail, and fresh cocktails like the Lemon Collins, with lemon juice, sugar syrup and soda water. In its third year, Project Botanicals will feature a 'True Artistry' collaboration to engage all five of your senses in a gin tasting. International DJ duo Yolanda Be Cool have created a 'Songs to Drink Gin To' Spotify playlist, featuring a compilation of tracks sampling local sounds from the exotic locations where Bombay Sapphire source their ten botanicals. Along with that, Samantha Taylor, fragrance expert from The Powder Room, has created a gin-inspired perfume. The unisex fragrance is a blend of all ten botanicals in Bombay Sapphire gin – including orris from Italy and lemon peel from Spain. Project Botanicals runs for two weeks, from September 8 to 18. Tickets are available via Bombay Sapphire.
Keeping you up-to-date with the best and most unique happenings in art, culture, design and technology is what makes us tick. And now we want to celebrate some of the people making these exceptional things happen — so we've partnered with Miller Genuine Draft to create the Miller Design Lab. Across six special nights, the Miller Design Lab will showcase projects from a bunch of creatives at Chapel Street's SoHigh Gallery, with food, Miller Genuine Draft and live music also on offer — and it's all completely complimentary. On Saturday, March 23, Sydney-based designers Dreamcatchersdreamtime will transform the Miller Design Lab into a colourful and experimental spectacle. The team thrives off exploring novel ideas and collaborations with like-minded designers to create unique clothing and accessories awash with vibrant colour. And for this showcase, Dreamcatchersdreamtime has teamed up with Think Positive Prints, a direct to fabric textile design company that specialises in colour and design. Together they've developed two large-scale textile pieces that will be integrated into the immersive SoHigh Gallery space. These works will bring the gallery to life alongside light projections and music for an evening of 'heightened simulation'. DJ Nick Murray, one-half of Melbourne duo Otologic, will be on hand to provide the soundtrack, while Dreamcatchersdreamtime's George Barnes will also perform his own funky set. The Miller Design Lab x Dreamcatchersdreamtime will run from 7–10pm on Saturday, March 23. To RSVP for complimentary tickets for you and three mates, enter your details below. And if you want to check out the rest of the Miller Design Lab events, head this way. [competition]709913[/competition] Follow @millergenuinedraftaus for more details. Images: Kitti Gould.
For many, it felt like 2020 was the year that time stood still. So, you won't have any trouble relating to the works showcased in the TarraWarra Biennial 2021 exhibition, Slow Moving Waters. Running from Saturday, March 27, to Sunday, July 11, the show centres on ideas of slowness and drift, and the way these concepts are mirrored in the winding Yarra River, which curves its way near the museum's grounds. Here, 25 Australian artists present new works embracing slowness, bucking against the accelerated rush that can be all too present in today's modern world. Among them, you'll spy pieces embracing the scale of time, or exploring the idea of idleness, with many works designed to change and evolve over the course of the exhibition. [caption id="attachment_803585" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Megan Cope, 'Currents II' 2018, courtesy the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.[/caption] You'll catch a live art installation by Quandamooka artist Megan Cope featuring slowly melting plant extracts, and an ever-moving sculpture work by Robert Andrew, which pens the same word over and over again in cursive script. Needlepoint designs by Louisa Bufardeci show some of the ways that a place can stick to us, while Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones shares the story of how the Birrarung (Yarra River) came to be, using a series of sound recordings and installations spread throughout the whole exhibition. [caption id="attachment_803586" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Robert Andrew, 'Continuing Depths of Connection' 2018–19, courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane. Photographed by Louis Lim.[/caption] Top image: Yasmin Smith, 'Seine River Basin' 2019, (commissioned for Cosmopolis #2 - Rethinking the Human, Centre Pompidou, Paris) courtesy of the artist and The Commercial, Sydney. Installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, photographed by Elle Fredericksen.
The World's 50 Best has just unveiled its long list, ranking the best restaurants in the world from 51 to 120 (expanding, for the first time, beyond 100). And there are quite a few dramatic changes. Melbourne's Attica — which was last year's top ranking Aussie restaurant at number 20 — has dropped 64 places, coming in at 84. Fellow Victorian Brae, which last year ranked 58, has this year missed out on the top 100, coming in at 101. The surprising changes don't seem to have just affected Australia's entries, either, with Eater noting that Thomas Keller's famed NY restaurant Per Se had dropped 35 places, down to 115 from last year's 81. This could mean, in seemingly sad news for Australia, that no national restaurants will feature in the top 50. But, hope is not completely lost. Seeing as it hasn't made an appearance in the long list, the 50 could, possibly, feature Sydney fine-diner Quay. This year will be the first time the restaurant, which has previously featured in the top 100 list nine years in a row between 2009 and 2017, has been reviewed by the World's 50 Best since its extensive renovations in 2018. [caption id="attachment_677791" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Quay by Nikki To[/caption] While the World's 50 Best is exceedingly popular, it's not without controversy. The awards have copped much criticism for prioritising "expensive European-esque tasting-menu restaurants run by men", as stated by Eater, and for its separate 'Best Female Chef' award. Famed chef Dominique Crenn, of the acclaimed Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, won the award in 2016 and has long been critical of the list's lack of diversity. Crenn slammed the female-specific award in an interview with the Washington Post, saying, "It's stupid. A chef is a chef." The late and great Anthony Bourdain also questioned the award's modern-day relevance — way back in 2013. https://twitter.com/Bourdain/status/319441022688051200 The World's 50 Best will be announced at a ceremony in Singapore next Tuesday, June 25. Get ready for some big changes here, too — this year, there will be an equal gender balance across the award's 1000-plus global voting panel for the first time. Plus, the awards have this year barred any former winners from being on the list, so there'll be no Eleven Madison Park nor Osteria Francescana. You can check out the full list of the World's 50 Best top 50–120 restaurants here. The top 50 will be announced on Tuesday, June 25. Top image: Attica
Usually, for one week each September, Brisbane becomes Australia's live music capital — even if a Melbourne survey generally claims otherwise. When BIGSOUND hits the city, it typically seems like every venue in Fortitude Valley is packed to the rafters with bands, industry folks and music-loving punters, all enjoying the latest and greatest tunes and talent the country has to offer. There's nothing usual about 2020, though. And, yes, that applies to this beloved music-fuelled celebration. In fact, after announcing back in July that it would still forge ahead this year as a physical — but socially distanced, COVID-safe and scaled-down — event, BIGSOUND has just revealed today, Thursday, September 3, that it'll now proceed as a virtual-only affair. Rather than four days of conferences, live festival showcases, secret shows and official parties, music fans can look forward to keynote addresses, online workshops, panels, discussions and an Australian artist showcase called The BIGSOUND50, all across a condensed two-day online program. The lineup wont be revealed until the end of September, but the event will still happen next month — having already moved from its normal timeslot to Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22, the digital-only BIGSOUND is keeping the latter dates. Announcing the change in an emailed statement, BIGSOUND management advised that the shift in direction stems from "ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and domestic border closures"; however the festival will adjust. It'll also address the challenges of 2020 and what that means for the industry moving forward by focusing on three specific themes: community, survival and re-futuring. [caption id="attachment_636254" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Waax, BIGSOUND 2017. Image: Bec Taylor.[/caption] Overseeing the virtual program are Janne Scott, BIGSOUND's creative director (and Splendour In The Grass' senior creative manager); Alethea Beetson, the event's First Nations producer and programmer; and conference programmer Tom Larkin. Beetson, as well as festival co-programmers Dominic Miller and Ruby-Jean McCabe, will select the artists featured in The BIGSOUND50. Past BIGSOUNDs have showcased everyone from Gang of Youths, Flume, Tash Sultana and Courtney Barnett to San Cisco, Violent Soho, Methyl Ethel and The Jungle Giants, so its program is usually a very reliable bellwether of current and up-and-coming talent. BIGSOUND 2020 will run virtually on Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22, with further details set to be announced in late September. For more information — or to obtain a free online delegate pass — visit bigsound.org.au. Top image: Keynote speaker Mo'Ju at BIGSOUND in 2019
After attracting hordes of art lovers to its Sydney editions for two years in a row, The Other Art Fair is making its way to Melbourne for the first time. The four-day fair, which started in London in 2011 as an alternative to commercial art market giants like the London Art Fair, will land at The Facility in Kensington on Thursday, May 4. As it has done in London and Sydney, The Other Art Fair will present works by more than 100 emerging and unrepresented artists, which have been handpicked by a dedicated bunch of experts. Those on the panel include artists Patricia Piccinini and Kathy Temin, plastic surgeon and art patron Dr Terry Wu, Mossgreen Gallery director Lisa Fehily and Australian Centre for Contemporary Art curator Annika Kristensen. "The Other Art Fair is unique in its approach to supporting artists, providing a platform to make original art accessible by directly connecting emerging artists with galleries, companies and individual collectors," said The Other Art Fair's director Zoe Paulsen. On top of the exhibition — from which you can purchase works directly from the artists — Melburnians can expect four days' worth of workshops, talks, and food and drinks. The full program includes an opening night performance by crochet artist Chilli Philly (complete with a new costume), a music performance from The Harpoons and a series of workshops from The School of Life. Try your hand at life drawing Frida Khalo, mix watercolours with wine, or give flower arranging a go. Since launching almost six years ago, the Other Art Fair has been incarnated 16 times — in Sydney, London and Bristol. Last year's Sydney fair saw 15 artists sell out their entire shows, five artists each sell over $20,000 worth of works and eight artists each sell over $10,000 worth. Image: Julian de Lorenzo.
Do you struggle with the basic task of ordering in restaurants? Do you sometimes wish there was some kind of elaborate computer program that could just decide on a menu item for you? If your answer to both those questions is "yes", then consider paying a visit to a KFC in Beijing's financial district, where facial recognition technology is being used to pick meals for customers based on their age, gender and mood. According to a press release put out by Chinese tech giant Baidu, who collaborated with Colonel Sanders on the technology, customers stand in front of a machine which scans their face and then makes recommendations as to what they might like to order. For example, a male in his 20s would likely be recommended "a set meal of crispy chicken hamburger, roasted chicken wings and Coke," while a woman in her fifties would be encouraged to purchase "porridge and soybean milk." Already, this jumps out as pretty sexist/ageist — after all, who is this robot to say that I, a male in his 20s, wouldn't also like to order a delicious bowl of KFC porridge? Mmm... appetising. Perhaps more promising is the fact that the machine can recall the faces of returning customers, along with their favourite menu items. That's the theory at least, although it didn't remember Amy Hawkins, a reporter for The Guardian who tried the machine twice but failed to leave an impression. Hawkins also noted that a vast majority of people in the Beijing restaurant seemed to prefer ordering the old-fashioned way. According to one customer she spoke to, "if it knows in future what I want to eat that's great, but at the moment it's not very smart." Perhaps they're scared off by privacy concerns? Personally, I don't know that I want there to be a digital paper trail of how frequently I visit KFC, or how much I order when I do (spoiler: it's a lot). Nevertheless, KFC is reportedly planning to roll out the technology to 5000 stores across China. It's a brave new world we're living in folks. A brave, greasy new world.
Since 1983, a bestselling book about a young boy, his grandmother and a powerful witch with an evil plan has been delighting readers of all ages. And since 1990, fans have not only been rifling through the pages of Roald Dahl's The Witches, but watching the Anjelica Huston and Rowan Atkinson-starring film based on the novel. Because just about everything gets remade these days, viewers will soon have another screen version of the book to watch, too. Yes, a new film is on its way, this time featuring Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch. If you can't remember the story or you just need a refresher, The Witches focuses on a boy who finds himself in the same hotel as a convention of witches — who happen to seriously, strongly and viciously hate children. This time around, the tale is set in 1960s-era Alabama, where its protagonist (Jahzir Kadeem Bruno, Atlanta) and his gran (Octavia Spencer) face off against Hathaway's seemingly glamorous villain and her coven of similarly child-despising followers. Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit) from a script cowritten by the filmmaker with Kenya Barris (Girls Trip) and Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), The Witches also stars Stanley Tucci — and features the voice of Chris Rock as the film's narrator. And, based on the just-released first trailer, the above cast and crew have combined for quite the dark and funny all-ages-friendly battle between humans and the occult. Roald Dahl's work is rarely far from our screens for long — it has only been a few years since The BFG hit cinemas, plus Netflix is currently making a heap of animated series based on the author's books, including several Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-related shows by Taika Waititi — but just when The Witches will be available Down Under is yet to be announced. In the US, it was just revealed overnight that the movie will no longer release in cinemas, and will be heading to streaming service HBO Max instead; however, the movie's Australian distributor Roadshow also tweeted afterwards that it'll release in cinemas here soon. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nlhmJF5FNI The Witches doesn't yet have a release date Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced.
