Long-deprived vegetarians, today's your day to high five a stranger, hug a disinterested cat, throw flowers from your shitty morning bus, dance merrily to your 9am. Today, IKEA Australia announced the launch of its long-awaited veggie Swedish meatball, consisting only of vegetables. AW. YEH. That's right, vegetarians can now partake in the glorious Swedishery that is IKEA's famed meatballs. The new ball is called GRÖNSAKSBULLAR, which sounds like a demon the Charmed sisters once battled — but this long-awaited IKEA newcomer deserves one mighty title. The new veggie balls will be rolled out (heh) in Australian IKEA store restaurants from April 27. Carnivores, if you're freaking out, don't think for a second the original meaty meaty meatballs are going anywhere. The veggie orbs of goodness will set you back $8.99 for a serving size of 10 and $3.69 for the kids’ serving size of five (plus you'll probably be able to take frozen balls home with you). “Our iconic IKEA meatballs are much loved in Australia — last year Aussies enjoyed nearly 8.5 million of them," said IKEA Australia food manager Simone Fowler. "The new veggie balls are a healthy, more sustainable option and form part of a move to decrease the impact of our food offering on the environment. Producing this meat free product will help cut our carbon emissions by half.” Overall, IKEA's aiming for a more sustainable food offering, acknowledging the lower environmental impact veggie-only balls have in comparison to their ambiguous meatballs. As Fowler said, the newbies will lower IKEA's carbon footprint too. It's part of their new campaign to promote for more environmentally-friendly, healthy and more ethically-produced food products — called the 'IKEA People and Planet Positive Strategy'. So IKEA's not only producing sweet veggie balls, but taking a long hard look at all their instore food. Meat-eating haters gonna hate. This is a victorious day for IKEA-lovin' veggos who've watched their buds enjoy dollar hot dogs and sweet, sweet meatballs on every furniture run.
What do you get when you take a southeast Asian-style hawker market, give it fresh, neon-lit designer digs and throw in some modern technology? Well, Melbourne is about to find out, when HWKR opens its doors in the CBD this February. Taking over a contemporary space beneath A'Beckett Street's Eq. Tower, HWKR is set to deliver a dining experience pretty unique to Melbourne. Its four permanent kitchens will play host to a rotation of Asian food vendors, with residencies from some of the world's top chefs already in the works for the opening year. Tenants will take over the kitchens for three months at a time, each plating up a menu of signature fare alongside one exclusive HWKR dish. Meanwhile, on-site cafe ManyMore — run by local not-for-profit group the MAI Foundation — will be slinging coffees daily, with all its profits heading to charity. The space will feature loads of seating options throughout, including a stacked staircase along one wall, where you can soak up all the hawker buzz while chowing down on your food. Best of all, HWKR's tech-savvy setup means there'll be no scrounging for change when it comes time to pay. Diners simply download the venue's app to order their food, either from their table or before arriving, and pay via their device using the cashless and cardless systems. Among the first to give the concept a workout will be 2017 Masterchef winner Diana Chan, delivering her own riff on hawker fusion fare. She'll kick things off with the likes of traditional satay, and a lobster brioche roll oozing Singapore chilli crab sauce. HWKR will open at 137 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne in February 2018. For more info, keep an eye on hwkr.com.au. Image: Jayden Oswald.
Maybe you're old enough that you can remember where you were when you heard the news of his death 21 years ago. Maybe you grew up only ever knowing of his loss and his legend. Either way, Nirvana fan or not, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is essential viewing. This isn't your usual music documentary, or the standard package of talking heads, childhood photos and backstage pics — though they're all there in some shape and form. As the name suggests, this is a mosaic of his tumultuous life as it happened, drawn from the most intimate resources and largely spoken in his voice. Filmmaker Brett Morgen uses art, music, journals, home videos and audio montages provided by Cobain's family to journey, step by step, from the birth to the death of the rock icon. First he's a bright child, then a disaffected teen, a creative genius, a reluctant star, a drug-addicted celebrity and a doting father. What he rarely seems, though, is happy. Indeed, think of Montage of Heck less like a portrait of Cobain and more like his thoughts and emotions being allowed to roam free. Biographical information is included, but this is about who he really was, rather than interesting trivia. Things get dark, clearly; however, the fleshed-out image the film composes of the troubled musician is probably the most complex audiences have ever seen. Examinations of tortured artists rarely come across as quite so honest, or so genuine in peeking behind the veil of their public personas, or so willing to embrace the complications of their subjects. Morgen's style has much to do with the movie's air of authenticity, the writer, director and co-editor piecing everything together with a lived-in mood and a stitched-together look unlike the bulk of similar offerings. From animation that brings Cobain's drawings to life and scrawls his handwritten lyrics, lists and love letters onto the screen, to footage of his brand of wedded bliss with Courtney Love, to revealing chats with those who knew him best (Love, Cobain's parents and sister, his ex-girlfriend Tracey Marander and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic), it never feels anything less than hand- and home-made. The wealth of content the feature has at its disposal is certainly astonishing, both in providing much more than a glimpse Cobain's most personal moments, and in allowing fans a few opportunities to really geek-out — such as spying his sketches for Nevermind's album cover and his suggestions for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit''s music video. That Montage of Heck is the first effort made with the support of his loved ones shows, though this is as far from a glossy tribute as you can get. It might be light on performances, but the film also has an amazing soundtrack, obviously — and the way Morgen weaves Nirvana's music into the mix is so well done, it causes goosebumps. That's the kind of reaction Montage of Heck inspires. By the time it makes it to the MTV Unplugged clips from what turned out to be one of the band's last major performances, expect your eyes to get misty. With so much said about Cobain for the past two decades, it feels fitting that a compilation of his own words actually says the most. Never basking in the cult of his fame, nor wallowing in his demise, this is Cobain being Cobain. It's not just a montage: it's a haunting, heartbreaking cinematic poem about a lost icon — and perhaps the finest music documentary of its generation.
Talking seesaws, live hypnosis and a water ballet about the menstrual cycle. Yup, Melbourne Fringe is well and truly upon us, and there's a hell of a lot to take in. Running from September 14 through to October 1 at venues all around Melbourne, this year's festival program is packed to the brim with a mix of cabaret, comedy, circus, dance, installation, music and more. Cassandra-Elli Yiannacou's play The Last Journalist on Earth explores the madness of the modern day news industry, while punters after something a little more outrageous need look no further than Betty Grumble's latest burlesque show, titled Sex Clown Saves the World. Further highlights include Completely Improvised Potter, an improv show set in the wizarding world of J.K. Rowling, and The Children's Party, a participatory art project featuring aspiring pollies between the ages of eight and 12. There'll also be a number of works from emerging Indigenous artists courtesy of the Deadly Fringe Artist Development program. For the full Melbourne Fringe program visit melbournefringe.com.au.
Beers with ramen. Beers with music. Beer with burgers and board games and bowls. Yes, Good Beer Week is upon us, and, as always, our stein runneth over. Bookended by free parties on opening and closing night, this year's boozy brouhaha features more 270 events at venues all over town. Hope your boss doesn't mind you coming into work with a hangover. Foodies will be enamoured with an array of gastronomic options, including dinners and degustations at such culinary institutions as Le Bon Ton, Fancy Hanks, Babu Ji and Milk the Cow. As it turns out, there isn't much that doesn't go well with an ice-cold beer. Or, preferably, several ice-cold beers. You'll also find plenty of ways to keep yourself entertained, from trivia nights to block parties to a circus show at Hawkers Brewery. We just hope the acrobats stay off the piss. Image: Simon Shiff.
Eating actual food from the World's 50 Best Chefs can come with a pretty hefty price tag, but this April, you'll have the opportunity to feast on their words of wisdom for a whole lot less. This year, the prestigious World's 50 Best Restaurants awards are set to take place on Aussie shores and, while most of the associated culinary fun will be reserved for industry folk, absolutely everyone's invited to catch the globe's top chefs take the stage for #50BestTalks. Hosted by commentator and ABC presenter Annabel Crabb, there are just two of these foodie events planned, happening at the Sydney Opera House on April 1 and Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena on April 3. Sydney's lineup includes appearances from Dominique Crenn (2016's World's Best Female Chef and mastermind of San Francisco's Atelier Crenn), Massimo Bottura (of 2016's World #1 Restaurant, Osteria Francescana), and our own Peter Gilmore, whose restaurant Quay ranked #98 in last year's awards. On sale from tomorrow, February 15, tickets for both events start at a tidy $30. That said, if you fancy splashing out, $119 VIP tickets will also nab you entry to a post-event canapé function and the opportunity for a meet and greet with some of the chefs.
To get a sense of Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr Stephen Strange, first picture in your mind Hugh Laurie's character from House. Tall and lanky, with a gravelly voice begging to be coughed into clarity and an unyielding arrogance that offends all who meet him, House is the super surgeon whose primary demon is his crippling fear of failure. To get, then, from House to Strange, just add a pinch of traumatic injury, mix in some eastern healing and meditation, and serve it up with a magical cape and the ability to manipulate space and time. Okay, yes, that's quite a leap, but as a departure from the last thirteen superhero flicks from Marvel Studios, Doctor Strange is as refreshing as it is successful. Strange's transformation from surgeon to sorcerer is an altogether conventional one – a Matrix-style 'forget everything you know' sequence comprised of training, studying and martial arts under the guidance of a mystical Tibetan monk named The Ancient One (a fantastic turn by Tilda Swinton). Driven by a solipsistic determination to heal his wounded hands, Strange's focus slowly shifts to larger matters – chiefly, saving the world – as his psychadellic journey of discovery reveals a multiverse of infinite possibilities and supernatural threats that only sorcerers can repel. As one character explains, the Avengers deal with threats on earth, but threats to the earth? That's where these guys come in. Like Ant-Man before it, Doctor Strange offers a more intimate, individual tale compared to the ensemble juggernauts of The Avengers and Captain America. That's not to say it's a small-scale production, however. Visually, this is Inception dialled up to eleven, a world-bending, shape-shifting and time-distorting Escher painting filled with heroes and villains duelling over the possibility of immortality. As always, there are Marvel's well-timed comic touches, as well as a pair of end-credit scenes (so do stay through to the very end for a hint as to Strange's next villain). A solid supporting cast boasts Rachel McAdams as Strange's love interest, Chiwetel Ejiofor as his sparring partner and Mads Mikkelsen sadly under-utilised as something of a two-dimensional villain. Wordier and more offbeat than the standard Marvel fare, Doctor Strange nonetheless rightly and proudly earns its place in the franchise's extraordinary universe, offering a visual feast unlike anything else seen this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSzx-zryEgM
You've seen the TV series, following an incredibly relatable tale of trying to balance work, life, love and the like. Now, see the play that inspired the show. Before Fleabag was winning TV awards all over the UK, including a BAFTA for best female performance in a comedy for writer/creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, it was a similarly applauded one-woman stage piece. And it's headed to Melbourne. Actress Maddie Rice takes on the lead role as Fleabag hits Malthouse Theatre from March 28 until April 22, stepping through the story of its titular character. Fleabag's existence is perhaps best described as chaotic. Friends, family, job interviews, keeping a guinea pig-themed café afloat...they're just the beginning. The idea behind it came at one of Waller-Bridge's pal's storytelling nights, as a challenge to create a character for a ten-minute slot. If you're a fan, you'll want to see where it all began — and fill in the gap until the TV show's second season, which is expected in 2019. If you've just heard everyone talking about Fleabag, and haven't watched it yet, here's your chance to jump on board.
There were short-lived rumours that Melbourne's art and hospitality scene had reached peak saturation, but the city quickly put those to bed when its cultural ecosystem grew and flourished once again. It was a year of innovative new restaurants and bars — bigger and taller than ever before — forward-thinking events and bold spaces, pubs and cafes. And they're not all from the big players — independent ventures are flourishing. At Concrete Playground we encourage exploration and showcase innovation in our city every day, so we thought it fitting to reward those most talented vanguards pushing Melbourne to be a better, braver city. And so, we are very pleased to announce Concrete Playground's Best of 2017 Awards. As we continue to attempt to define Australian cuisine, chefs continue to push the boundaries. We've seen (and tasted) fermented calamari noodles and cod roe in choux pastry, we've climbed three levels to find some of the city's finest Japanese fare and we've eaten duck smoked by our favourite pasta experts. Bars continue to offer immersive, imaginative experiences that take you beyond their drinks lists — and late into the night, with some now serving inventive bar snacks til 3am. The cafe culture is stronger than ever, too, with new cafes not only guaranteeing a stellar cup of Joe, but also innovative lunch snacks and sleek interiors that'll really make you reconsider that desk sandwich. Pubs are now more likely to brew their beer in-house than not, and they continue to champion other local brands, artists and events. The bringing together of the art and food scene has expanded beyond pubs, with venues spending more time on their appearances, collaborating with local designers, architects and street artists to create stunning spaces. This prompted the creation of our new category, Best New Space. We've searched far and wide to find our favourite, visually stunning, innovative and sustainable spaces that are accessible to you — including shops, hotels, co-working hubs and public spaces. Event organisers have created smart and clever new events, celebrating the city's cultural ecosystem and bringing people together to dance in museums, look at innovative art and to support each other in times of hardship. This year, we will be awarding a People's Choice and Overall award in each of the following five categories: Best New Restaurant Best New Bar Best New Cafe Best New Pub Best New Event Best New Space These 36 outstanding Melbourne ventures have been handpicked by Concrete Playground for their combination of originality, innovation, creativity, approachability and sustainability. We straight-up love them. And the winners are... BEST NEW RESTAURANT OVERALL WINNER: OSTERIA ILARIA Backing up a wildly successful first restaurant with another cracker is never an easy feat, and yet the names behind cult favourite Tipo 00, have managed to hit it out of the ballpark with their new wine bar, Osteria Ilaria. Taking over the Little Bourke Street space next door to its legendary pasta bar sister, this chic newcomer complements rather than competes, steering away from Tipo 00's pure Italianness to take an even bigger bite out of Europe. The warmly-lit space nails that modern rustic feel; it's all white-painted exposed brick, with an open bar and kitchen down the length and a suave private dining room sitting up the back. And then there's the menu. It's clever enough to pitch this newbie among the Melbourne's contemporary wine bars, yet there's an easiness to the delivery that's primed for that more casual, snack-happy, after-work crowd. You don't have to dig too deep to realise that Osteria Ilaria's got all the makings of another instant classic. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: KISUMÉ The simplest way to describe Kisumé, the luxe Japanese restaurant from lauded restaurateur Chris Lucas, may be this: three storeys of considered grandeur. Its design is impressive — a Chablis bar, a Kisumé Winewall, avant-garde art — and considered attention to detail travels throughout the three levels, from the menu down to the nifty coin-sized refreshment towels that entertainingly expand when you open them. In the kitchen, there's acclaimed Korean-born chef K. S. Moon. Known the world over for his innovative flair. Moon arrived fresh from his Singapore restaurant, Mikuni, armed with some serious certifications including as an international sake sommelier. And his knife skills are impressive. Raw fish dishes are all elegant and mostly restrained, allowing the quality of the (well-sourced) produce to speak for itself. BEST NEW BAR OVERALL WINNER: LONGSONG If you believed the hype, Longsong was on track to being one of the year's best new bars long before it opened. Venture in to experience the final product and you'll be hard-pressed to disagree. A long time coming (it was first rumoured to open in November 2016), it's the latest venture from David Moyle of Hobart's Franklin. He has teamed up with Melbourne restaurateurs Lisa and John van Haandel to create a sibling venue, and upstairs neighbour, to their iconic mod-Thai haunt, Longrain. The kitchen offering is a celebration of simplicity — unfussy, but cleverly executed and more affordable than you might expect. The drinks situation proves just as tempting, whether you're in for a feed or not. Alongside all-Victorian lineups of both craft beer and wines by the glass, there's a handful of classic cocktails. There's no doubt that this one was well worth the wait. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: TOKOSAN Neon lighting, a 16-metre-long street art mural, a DJ and a karaoke room. Tokosan, an offshoot of top Sydney and Dubai fine dining establishment Toko, is more than just a bar. The pub-style Japanese menu features sticky grilled pork ribs with a jacket potato, Japanese-style chicken burgers and popcorn shrimp with spicy aioli. Ramen and udon noodle soups also make an appearance, as does sushi, and $20 all-you-can-eat Temaki Tuesdays (a type of hand-rolled sushi). Tokosan's cocktail list, named after Kill Bill characters, includes the gin, cucumber and passionfruit O-Ren Ishii, the Boss Tanaka with bourbon, apricot brandy and ginger ale, and the sake-infused Sofie Fatale. BEST NEW CAFE OVERALL WINNER: AU79 Au79 is the symbol (and atomic number) for gold on the periodic table, and it's the name of Abbotsford's new cafe. When you name your cafe after such a covetable metal, you're making quite the statement — and the team behind this ambitious eatery have certainly gone for gold in every aspect of its production. Previously an auto mechanic's garage, the 200-seat space has been radically transformed by Mim Design and now feels more like a large-scale conservatory or botanical garden fern house — it's loft and bright and filled with greenery. Executive chef Stephen Hogan worked closely with his kitchen crew to create a menu that reflects his imaginative approach to food. In addition to the kitchen there's also a bakery and patisserie run by ex-Rustica head baker Isaac Kane, and a roastery that looks after all the Au79 coffee. So you know that the cakes, tarts and breads are made in-house, as is house blend of beans from Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: BAD LOVE CLUB Just like chocolate and peanut butter and croissants and coffee, cakes and cocktails seem like a match made in sweet-tooth heaven. Boozy bakery Bad Love Club certainly thinks so. The bakery has a pretty simple concept. During the day the focus is on coffee, bagels and oozy jaffles. When the sun goes down, the sugar levels go up with alcohol-infused desserts and dessert-inspired cocktails. The owners, Sarah Ryan and Damien Shaw, split the shifts according to their strengths. Shaw caters to the AM crowd serving up Profile Coffee, 5 and Dime bagels and experimental jaffles. Ryan takes over at night, serving up sweet treats and booze until the wee hours. The team is committed to using local produce with suppliers such as Zeally Bay Sourdough, Cobb Lane Bakery and Saint David Dairy on the roster. They also make the majority of the syrups and spirit infusions in-house. BEST NEW PUB OVERALL WINNER AND PEOPLE'S CHOICE: WATERSIDE HOTEL The CBD's historic Waterside Hotel is in a new phase of its life in the hands of prominent pub group Sand Hill Road, who are behind the relaunches of Melbourne's Garden State, Prahran and Bridge hotels. The Waterside Hotel has been reimagined by the new owners as a multifaceted drinking and dining destination that nods to the past. A considered array of antiques, art and furniture sourced from across Europe lend plenty of personality. The ground floor spaces is the Ale House, a sprawling public bar with a focus on crafty American beers. It sits alongside the Doghouse, a US-inspired dive bar slinging hot dogs, tinnies and bottled cocktails, and an old-world dining space dubbed the Chophouse. The Waterside's crowning glory is a rooftop bar known simply as the Roof, boasting sprawling CBD views. This corner of the city is currently a little bereft of quality drinking dens, but the Waterside Hotel changes that. BEST NEW EVENT OVERALL WINNER: MAJESTIC HAWKER Taking over an Abbotsford warehouse for two nights in July, Hank's Majestic Hawker pop-up saw an array of Singaporean dishes — including soy marinated chicken wings with chilli vinegar, sambal stingray served in banana leaf, rice noodles with Chinese sausage, fishcake and egg, and fried banana fritters with pandan coconut ice cream. Turns out Americans aren't the only ones who know their way around a charcoal grill. The chef in charge of the pop-up was none other than Alicia Cheong, who previously ran Hank's kitchen when they were based at the Mercat Cross Hotel. The pop-up was so successful that Fancy Hanks is bringing its stoveless concept back to Bourke Street permanently in the new year. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: NOCTURNAL This pop-up isn't at a pub, an underground club, or even some repurposed warehouse space. Nope, this event series is happening at a venue you've probably only ever seen in the light of day: Melbourne Museum. Launched in July, the first Friday of each month sees the museum's exhibition spaces transformed into after-dark playgrounds, as Nocturnal swaps the school-uniformed tour groups for crowds of music-loving partygoers. It has pop-up bars slinging cocktails, roving entertainers and spot talks from some of the museum's curators. Plus, plenty of killer tunes, with a main stage set up in front of the Forest Gallery. BEST NEW SPACE OVERALL WINNER: JACKALOPE This Victorian boutique hotel takes a weekend on the Mornington Peninsula to a new level of luxury. Jackalope Hotel is smack-bang in the middle of the Peninsula's wine region in Merricks North, just next to Red Hill. The hotel is the 'passion project' of 28-year-old entrepreneur Louis Li, who worked with architecture firm Carr Design Group and Fabio Ongarato Design studio to design the hotel, which is his first. At the entrance to the hotel, guests are greeted by a seven-metre-tall sculpture of a Jackalope, the mythical horned rabbit of North American folklore the hotel is named after. The 46 rooms offer terrace or vineyard views, with their double-the-size 'lair' suites offering the best views in the house. Each room boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, private terraces and hand-crafted bespoke furnishings. If you're one for a good bath, the deep-soak, black Japanese tubs and exclusive Hunter Lab bath products will keep you utterly relaxed while you admire your fabulous self in the double vanities. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: KISUMÉ Kisumé, the luxe three-storey Japanese restaurant from lauded restaurateur Chris Lucas, is impressive. So impressive, you voted for it twice. The space, conceived by Australian firm Wood Marsh, unites sophisticated clean lines and a monochromatic palette of buffed metal and leather banquettes. The design doesn't scream Japanese restaurant, just cleverly hints at it, from the touches of red to Nobuyoshi Araki's provocative photographs of Japanese women. It has a Chablis bar, a wine wall, a sushi bar, restaurant and the Table — a 12-person dinner hosted by head chef K. S. Moon.
Smith Street rejoice! The universe has heard your cry for more meat, cheese, wine and all things deli and has answered with an ambitious new butcher shop and eatery named Meatsmith (and politely asks if you would stop sending letters about the matter). Meatsmith is a collaborative effort between chef and restaurateur Andrew McConnell (of Cumulus Inc., Supernormal amongst many) and butcher Troy Wheeler, once of Peter Bouchier. Meatsmith, which is slated to open next week, features an in-house deli with a fine dining twist. Alongside the standard deli fare, you’ll find pre-prepared, take-home versions of fancy Cumulus dishes, like the whole slow-roasted lamb shoulder and other mouthwatering cuts (hello, braised beef cheeks) that ensure you’ll never eat McDonalds on the run again. The eatery will also serve up a divine selection of charcuterie, pates, house-made preserves and mustards, homemade terrines and lots of French and European style cold-cuts and smallgoods. If this Cumulus roast is any indication of what to expect, we're on board. Wheeler says the point of difference for the Meatsmith butchers is the expertise of the staff, who all have extensive practical knowledge (and more than a little charm) from working in hospitality, as opposed to the classic brusque butcher stereotype. “If you walk in not knowing what you want for dinner or if you want to impress at a dinner party, our staff can help," he says. "We would like to think we're accessible to people who know good food and want good food, as well as people who want some confidence in the staff and want clear information. The design of the shop reflects this idea; we don’t have the big high butchers counters and the barrier between us and the customer, so we’re accessible”. Find Meatsmith at 73 Smith Street, Fitzroy, meatsmith.com.au. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
It's not uncommon for Aussie pubs to be named after famous lords and statesmen. A new bar in Prahran, on the other hand, is named after one of their pets. Opening this week on Greville Street, Rufus takes its name from Winston Churchill's beloved poodle, a faithful friend so adored by his master that it's said that no-one at the PM's table ate until the butler had served Rufus his meal. Visitors to the pooch's new namesake can expect similarly sophisticated service. Open from 4pm daily, Rufus is billed as a champagne parlour and terrace, with the intimate space ideal for groups of 2-4 people. The swish interior includes mirrors along the walls and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, giving the impression that you are enjoying a tipple in Sir Winston's private parlour. Drinks include dry martinis mixed at the bar's special pink martini station, and a selection of spirits which sit proudly on display in the Rufus' drawing room cabinet. Melbourne, we will be mixing martinis from our pink martini station until 1am. #rufusprahran #martinipleasejeeves A photo posted by Rufus (@rufusmelbourne) on Apr 29, 2016 at 5:30am PDT Rufus is located at 143 Greville Street, Prahran. Their operating hours are 4pm-1am, seven days a week. For more information find them on Facebook or visit www.rufusbar.com.au.
People love free stuff. But what’s better than a free burger delivered by a drone straight into your cake hole? It's not a mere pipe dream. The wacky scientists at Monash University have teamed up with Mr Burger to bring you Future Burger, the new delivery service powered by drones and your insatiable love of burgers. If you’re interested in receiving a burger that flies majestically through the air as if by magic and flutters delicately into your lap, oozing with cheese and relish (actual experience may be sloppier), you can sign up via the Future Burger website. A few caveats though. You have to be at the Monash campus at Clayton on August 2 (a Sunday on campus) and you'll have to actually be picked by the Monash Future Burger overlords as the chosen burger recipient. You have until July 28 to enter your details and be considered for this esteemed honour. We haven't been this excited about novelty food delivery since parachute jaffles. This seems to be an experiment coming out of Monash's drone department (or, more correctly Monash's Faculty of Information Technology, but we like 'drone department') and as such, we will strive do all in our power to help science — by stuffing our faces. Future Burger is brought to you by Monash University and Mr Burger. To be in the running for drone burger delivery, enter your details here.
Your mates at Concrete Playground know how much you guys love Nutella. Sydney lost its collective shit (and rightfully so) over those damn Tella Ball milkshakes, and Melbourne eats so much of the stuff they caused a temporary nation-wide shortage. As addictions go, we suppose it could be worse. Point is, when we heard there was going to be a toaster-shaped Nutella food truck rolling around the country, we figured you'd want to hear about it. Especially since all the goodies on board will be free. The food truck menu has been devised by Alistair Fogg, the man behind Sydney's Nighthawk Diner. Think stewed winter berries with Nutella and toasted coconut, raisin toast with Nutella and berries, and a crepe stack with Nutella and crispy bacon. It's only one item per customer per day, unfortunately. Let's just say at this stage, we're not ruling out the possibility of trailing the truck from town to town like the insatiable groupies we so clearly are. The road trip begins in Sydney's Wynyard Park on Wednesday, June 15. Other stops in the Harbour City include Centenary Park (June 16), Sydney Uni (June 17) and Glebe Markets (June 18), before the long haul down the Hume Highway via Lithgow (June 19), Goulburn (June 20), Wagga Wagga (June 21), Albury (June 22), Bendigo (June 23) and Ballarat (June 24). In Melbourne they'll hit St Kilda (June 25-26) and Southbank (June 27), before wrapping up their journey in Geelong (June 28). As for Brisbane, we've got our fingers crossed you might be added to the itinerary. If not, we'll send you a Nutella-smeared postcard. Find the complete list of dates, times and locations for the Nutella Road Trip at the official Facebook page.
It's that time of year again. When Melbourne throws open its doors and says, "Come and have a legal snoop around." Yep, Open House is back for 2023, and they've just released the full program: over 180 individual buildings, 12 private Melbourne homes, 23 guided walking tours, 10 exhibitions, and 26 panel discussions. It's a lot. Organisers are expecting over 70,000 punters through the gates this year. Most of your favourite buildings are back 2023, but there are several new faces too. Gantry House in Newport. The Justin Art House Museum in Prahran. Melbourne Uni's slick new Student Precinct. Morris Moor in Moorabbin. And new social housing project, Markham Avenue. There will also be tours of the Holocaust Museum's soon-to-be completed new interior, the new Preston Tram Depot, and the Ukrainian Catholic Church in North Melbourne. [caption id="attachment_905036" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: University of Melbourne[/caption] The theme for this year's event is 'Collective City', and the program curators will be exploring how Melbourne is going to cope as we expand to a projected population of 8 million by 2050. That's a lot of people for a city currently sitting at 5 million people and 38 parking spaces. The questions for the future will be: how can we maximise our resources? How can we better share what we have? And just how early will we have to get up to get a croissant at Lune? This year's program also includes several special events, such as the Making Home Series, Designing With Country (July 26), This Is Public, an ongoing speaker series (July 28) and the Heritage Council of Victoria's annual Heritage Address (July 31). Most of these are held at RMIT, but check the full program for all the details. Honestly, 2023 might be the year of the walking tour. Open House is running food tours of Footscray Market, led by local foodie Joyce Watts, an architect-guided tour through Melbourne's history of apartment living (called 'Flat Life'), and an interactive walk-through of projected designs from the Future Homes project. Special shout out to Plant Swap: an exhibition for gardening communities at the Emely Baker Centre in Fitzroy North, with plant-swap meets and several green thumb workshops. Open House is running from July 29–30, and ticket prices vary. Top image: Canning Street, Eve Wilson, supplied.
Butterbeer was all well and good before we reached legal drinking age, but as time marches on and the scars left by departed friends refuse to heal (I'm looking at you, Ghost Dobby), we find ourselves searching for something a little stronger. It's not the keen sting of love that Dumbledore remembered, but it is a keen sting. We're talking about Firewhisky. Lots of it. In Melbourne. This weekend. If you've always fancied yourself a decent chance of drinking Igor Karkaroff under the table, point the Ford Anglia toward South Yarra – Good Things, which delivered the pop-up Butterbeer Bar last year is at it again, but this time they have the key to Hagrid's liquor cabinet. Firewhisky Inn will run from 7-10pm this Friday, giving all who attend another chance to plunge back into Harry's universe (and to drink your memories of The Cursed Child away while you're at it). Entry is free, with custom-made Firewhiskey glasses on offer for those who get in quick. Fair warning, though – anyone who can't handle a broom by 10pm will be expected to catch the Knight Bus home.
It would be fair to say the number of plant sales popping up around town right now is as luscious as the leaves on the greenery on offer. This Saturday, May 14 is no different, with the Windsor Plant Sale giving southsiders their much-awaited dose of leafy goodness in one of the first events of its type this side of the river. You'll find a range of low maintenance popular indoor plants — including rubber plants, ferns, palms and fiddle leaf figs — at warehouse prices, as well as beautifully crafted, handmade dip-dyed plant hangers by local talent Scout Gathers. Of course, it wouldn't be a Melbourne pop-up without coffee, so there'll be some of that too (courtesy of a Touchwood barista, we might add). A portion of the sale's proceeds will be donated to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, so there's no excuse not to pick up some foliage this weekend. You can follow them on Instagram for sneak peeks at the plants here.
Whether or not you were one of the Rubenthusiasts who voted 'Hoops' into the number one spot of triple j's Hottest 100, Australia has spoken on another Hottest 100. The GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year have been voted, counted and announced — and Stone & Wood's Pacific Ale is right where it should be: bang on the top. The poll began in 2008 as a little spot of merriment for the staff and crew frequenting Melbourne and Sydney's go-to craft beer pub The Local Taphouse. What does GABS stand for? The 'Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular', one heck of a craft beer event first held at the Taphouse(s) in 2011. Now voted by thousands of craft beer lovers, the other Hottest 100 sees punters vote for their five favourite Australian craft beers and await the countdown on Australia Day at The Local Taphouses, official events around the country, live podcasts and on social media. So here it is, the punter-voted GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of 2015. Head for your nearest craft beer pub — in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane — or your nearest craft beer bottle shop — in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane — to take a six-pack home (or fill up your growler). GABS HOTTEST 100 AUSSIE CRAFT BEERS OF 2015 1 ‘Pacific Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW) 2 ‘Hop Hog’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) 3 ‘IIPA’ Double American-style IPA (Pirate Life, SA) NEW 4 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Pirate Life, SA) NEW 5 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Little Creatures, WA) 6 ‘150 Lashes’ Australian-style Pale Ale (James Squire, NSW) 7 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (4 Pines, NSW) 8 ‘Kolsch’ (4 Pines, NSW) 9 ‘Former Tenant’ American-style IPA (Modus Operandi, NSW) 10 ‘Karma Citra’ Black IPA (Feral, WA) GABS (2011) 11 ‘Throwback’ Specialty IPA (Pirate Life, SA) NEW 12 ‘Hop Thief 7’ American-style Pale Ale (James Squire, NSW) NEW 13 ‘Taco Beer’ Specialty Beer (Two Birds, VIC) GABS (2013) 14 ‘Milk and Two Sugars’ Sweet Stout (BrewCult, VIC) NEW / GABS (2015) 15 ‘Beechworth Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Bridge Road, VIC) 16 ‘Golden Stout Time’ Sweet Stout (Big Shed, SA) NEW / GABS (2015) 17 ‘War Hog’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) NEW 18 ‘Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Coopers, SA) 19 ‘Summer Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC) 20 ‘Steam Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC) 21 ‘Dark Ale’ Dark Mild (White Rabbit, VIC) 22 ‘Ramjet 2014/15 (Whisky Aged)’ Russian Imperial Stout (Boatrocker, VIC) NEW 23 ‘Three Sheets’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Lord Nelson Hotel, NSW) 24 ‘Red’ American-style Amber Ale (Nail, WA) 25 ‘India Red Ale’ American-style IPA (Prancing Pony, SA) 26 ‘777’ Double American-style IPA (Riverside, NSW) 27 Noisy Minor ‘Admiral Ackbar’ American-style Amber Ale (Fortitude, QLD) 28 ‘The Chancer’ Blonde/Golden Ale (James Squire, NSW) 29 ‘Cloud Catcher’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW) 30 ‘Newtowner’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Young Henry’s, NSW) 31 Noisy Minor ‘ANZUS’ American-style IPA (Fortitude, QLD) 32 ‘Fat Yak’ American-style Pale Ale (Matilda Bay, VIC) 33 ‘Bright Ale’ Blonde/Golden Ale (Little Creatures, WA) 34 ‘Small Ale’ Specialty IPA (Colonial, WA) 35 ‘Indian Summer Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 36 ‘Hangman’ American-style Pale Ale (Rocks, NSW) 37 ‘Copy Cat’ American-style IPA (Mash, WA) 38 ‘XPA (Extra Pale Ale)’ American-style Pale Ale (Wolf of the Willows, VIC) 39 ‘Vale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Vale, SA) 40 ‘Dog Days’ American Wheat (Little Creatures, WA) NEW 41 ‘Imperial West Coast Red Rye IPA’ Specialty IPA (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 42 ‘Praline’ Belgian Specialty Ale (La Sirène, VIC) GABS (2014) 43 ‘Return of the Dread’ Foreign Extra Stout (Little Creatures, WA) NEW 44 ‘Roger Ramjet 2015 (Bourbon Aged)’ Russian Imperial Stout (Boatrocker, VIC) NEW 45 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Hawkers, VIC) NEW 46 ‘Tusk 2015’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) NEW 47 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Little Creatures, WA) 48 ‘Australian Pale Ale’ (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 49 ‘Fred’ American-style IPA (Murray’s, NSW) 50 ‘Growler’ American-style Brown Ale (2 Brothers, VIC) 51 ‘Fancy Pants’ American-style Amber Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC) 52 ‘Windjammer’ American-style IPA (Green Beacon, QLD) 53 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Hawkers, VIC) NEW 54 ‘Watermelon Warhead’ Berliner Weisse (Feral, WA) GABS (2012) 55 ‘Californicator’ American-style IPA (Big Shed, SA) NEW 56 ‘Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Kosciuszko, NSW) 57 ‘Citrus IPA’ Specialty IPA (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 58 ‘Golden Ale’ Blonde/Golden Ale (Two Birds, VIC) 59 ‘Temptress’ Porter (Holgate, VIC) 60 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Hawthorn, VIC) 61 ‘Calypso’ American-style Pale Ale (Odyssey, VIC) 62 ‘Two to The Valley’ American-style IPA (Newstead, QLD) 63 ‘F-Yeah’ American-style Pale Ale (Big Shed, SA) 64 ‘Kung Foo’ Pale Lager (2 Brothers, VIC) 65 ‘Garden Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW) 66 ‘Pale Ale’ Belgian Pale Ale (White Rabbit, VIC) 67 ‘Sunset Ale’ American-style Amber Ale (Two Birds, VIC) 68 ‘Dark Red IPA’ Specialty IPA (Six String, NSW) 69 ‘Atomic Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Gage Roads, WA) 70 ‘Angry Man Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Murray’s, NSW) 71 ‘Winston’ American-style Pale Ale (Shenanigans, NSW) 72 ‘Hopsmith’ American-style IPA (Akasha, NSW) NEW 73 ‘Clout Stout 2015’ Russian Imperial Stout (Nail, WA) NEW 74 ‘Grizz’ American-style Amber Ale (2 Brothers, VIC) 75 ‘#010 West Coast IPA’ American-style IPA (Exit, VIC) NEW 76 ‘Draught’ Kölsch (Colonial, WA) 77 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Mornington Peninsula, VIC) 78 ‘ESB’ Extra Special Bitter (4 Pines, NSW) 79 ‘Yenda Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Australian Beer Co, NSW) 80 ‘Rogers’ American-style Amber Ale (Little Creatures, WA) 81 ‘Splice of Heaven’ Specialty IPA (Moon Dog, VIC) NEW 82 ‘West Coast IPA’ American-style IPA (Batch, NSW) 83 ‘Vanilla Milk Stout’ Sweet Stout (Thirsty Crow, NSW) 84 ‘Barrel Breed Barley Wine’ UK-style Barleywine (Mountain Goat, VIC) NEW 85 ‘Bling’ American-style IPA (Bridge Road, VIC) 86 ‘The Fox’ Vienna-style Lager (Rabbit & Spaghetti, SA) NEW 87 ‘Session Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mismatch, SA) 88 ‘Crankshaft’ American-style IPA (BentSpoke, ACT) 89 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Mornington Peninsula, VIC) 90 ‘28’ American-style Pale Ale (Burleigh, QLD) 91 ‘3 Quarter Time’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Newstead, QLD) 92 ‘White Ale’ Witbier (White Rabbit, VIC) 93 ‘Sly Fox’ American-style Pale Ale (Feral, WA) 94 ‘ESB’ Extra Special Bitter (Hargreaves Hill, VIC) 95 ‘55’ American-style Pale Ale (3 Ravens, VIC) 96 ‘Metamorphosis’ American-style IPA (KAIJU!, VIC) 97 ‘Sparkling Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Coopers, SA) 98 ‘Zoo Feeder’ American-style IPA (Modus Operandi, NSW) 99 ‘Hopped Out Red’ American-style Amber Ale (KAIJU!, VIC) 100 ‘Hazelnut Brown’ UK-style Brown Ale (Bad Shepherd, VIC) NEW NEW – First released in 2015 GABS– A ‘Festival Beer’ made especially for a previous GABS festival Head to the GABS website for more info.
Dark and debaucherous banquets from Bompas and Parr, immersive art sleepovers at Cradle Mountain and all the demon purging and ceremonial death dances you could want in a festival. Dark Mofo has announced its 2015 program. Centred around the winter solstice and running June 12-22, MONA's annual June festival celebrates the Neolithic-started tradition over ten days of weird and wonderful art, performance, music and happenings around Hobart. Last year's festival attracted more than 130,000 Mofos, and with this year's lineup, they're looking at a lot more pilgrims. Coinciding with MONA's huge Marina Abramovic retrospective Private Archaeology, this year's Dark Mofo is deeper, creepier and darker than ever before — with art, food, music and performance pioneered by 250 artists from around the world. For one of the biggest events of the festival, the brave and adventurous at heart will want to lock in June 15-17 for a two-night immersive art experience sleepover within Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. That's right. Immersive art sleepover. It's called Wild At Heart and is curated by the Unconscious Collective (Motel Dreaming). British jellymongers and universally applauded food artists Bompas and Parr are hosting a full-on, debaucherous banquet. Huge. And Melbourne contemporary artist Ash Keating will open an exhibition called Remote Nature Response as part of the whole WAH shebang. Music-wise, Dark Mofo is as brooding and gloomy as ever at Hobart's historic Odeon Theatre, with already-leaked, heartbreaking headliners Antony and the Johnsons leading the charge with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. British art-pop collective The Irrepressibles are also locked in, alongside Arkansas experts in doom metal Pallbearer. Seattle's 'horror-country' rocker King Dude will be there, as well as German industrial dance outfit Oake. There's plenty of Australians in the bunch too, from The Drones' brooding folkster Gareth Liddiard to Melbourne's '60s-inspired crooner Brous and performance vocalist Kusum Normoyle, modern day Divinyls-like Sydneysiders The Preatures, Hobart's eclectic pop group Tiger Choir and Melburnian chillwave must-see Klo. Also hailing from Melbourne, gloomy electronica artist Jake Blood and frenetic rock outfit My Disco. Then there’s Japan's electro-conducting EYE, who will be premiering new work CIRCOM, especially for Dark Mofo, presented by Red Bull Music Academy. Immersive art and experimental theatre fans, you'rve got plenty to look forward to. Dark Mofo set to unveil a brand new festival precinct dubbed 'Dark Park' at Hobart's Macquarie Point. Huge public artworks will invade the park, from a high-octane Fire Organ by German chemo-acoustic engineer Bastiaan Maris with producer Duckpond, to a Night Ship cruising around the river, and a full-body sonic massage immersion of Bass Bath by Melbourne’s Byron J. Scullin in collaboration with Supple Fox. Virginia Woolf’s Orlando will be performed by Victoria’s THE RABBLE theatre company at the Theatre Royal (Australia’s oldest theatre) and you'll find a dark take on Roald Dahl's The Witches at Salamanca Arts Centre’s Peacock Theatre. Plus, you won't want to miss Dark Mofo's new late-night ceremonial death dance Blacklist curated by Supple Fox. We don't even know what that means. Those keen to lose themself in a dark, dark cinema have plenty of Nordic dark folkloric films to sink their teeth into. North Hobart’s century-old State Cinema is presenting a super niche series featuring A Second Chance, A Spell to Ward off the Darkness, Down Terrace, A Field in England, Partisan, Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America, Valhalla Rising and more, curated Nick Batzias and James Hewison. Dark Mofo Films will also see the red carpet world premiere of Tasmanian-filmed Foxtel adult drama series The Kettering Incident at the Odeon. Last but not least, we feast. Dark Mofo's annual bacchinalian food festival returns to Princes Wharf Shed 1 — the ever-anticipated Winter Feast. Guest chefs Jake Kellie, Martin Boetz, Sean Moran, Mike McEnearney and O Tama Carey and the Mona Source restaurant team head five nights of feasting and performance, culminating in a Balinese ogoh-ogoh parade to purge all those demons and burn all those fears. Really. Then there's the annual Nude Solstice Swim — nothing like an early morning swim in Tasmanian water to cure your Mofo hangover. Dark Mofo runs June 12-22 in various locations across Hobart, Tasmania. Tickets are on sale from 10am Monday, April 20 from here. Registration for tickets for Antony and the Johnsons with the TSO over here. Images: Beth Evans, Matt Glastonbury.
Ever wished you could have watched Zeppelin perform at the Sydney Showground in 1972? Has it ever ruined your day, just knowing you never got to see Talkings Heads at CBGB? Do you ever feel like you never get to see music history made, man? Well, now's your bloody chance, because rock legend Patti Smith is making her way to Melbourne after a stint at Bluesfest in Byron Bay. Among songs from her 1975 debut album, Horses, Smith and her band will play a selection of songs and covers from a long and fabulous musical repertoire. Smith's sophisticated lyricism adds a new edge to the raw, punk genre that had only just begun to rise up in London and New York in the 1970s. Name any modern punk band — they probably wouldn't be the way they are without this Patti Smith. She's continued to make her mark on rock music in the ensuing years, leading the punk movement from the ground up. She's also an awarded poet, human rights activist, and generally and all round bloody hero. You can see Patti Smith at Bluesfest in Byron Bay or at Festival Hall on Thursday, April 20 where she'll play alongside very special guest Courtney Barnett — not a show or combination of talent you want to miss. Just so you know, her six other shows in Sydney and Melbourne have all sold out, so this is the very last chance you have to grab a ticket. Image: Ferial.
The legendary, controversial performance artist who does 'nothing' is finally making her way to Australia, set to perform a brand new artwork. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the beloved and equally criticised 67-year-old artist, Marina Abramovic, has been invited by arts heavyweight John Kaldor to Sydney to perform a yet-to-be-revealed, shiny new work in June 2015. Famous (and the topic of furious debate) for her iconic 2010 work at NYC's Museum of Modern Art, The Artist is Present, Abramovic's work was last seen in Australia for Kaldor Public Art Project's applauded group exhibition 13 Rooms at Pier 2/3 — the work, Luminosity, which saw a naked artist wall-mounted on a bicycle seat for long periods of time (and didn't star Abramovic herself). For her mysterious new Sydney work, Abramovic will use the Pier 2/3 space herself, in one of the most squealworthy announcements for performance art lovers this side of the equator. But this isn't the first time Abramovic has been to Australia; before presenting Gold found by the artists with partner in crime Ulay at the 1979 Biennale of Sydney, the artist spent a cheeky five months with an Aboriginal community in central Australia in the '80s (and raised a baby kangaroo and cuddled this sheep). According to Fairfax Media, there's also a whole Abramovic exhibition planned for David Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art next year — quite honestly, why she hasn't made MONA's acquaintance baffles us. To be fair, she's been pretty busy doing zilch for a total of 512 Hours at London's Serpentine Gallery, hangin' with Jay-Z and backing a new online school for girls with Sia, Pussy Riot, Kim Gordon, Yayoi Kusama and Yoko Ono. The artist is busy. Via SMH. Images: Complex.
UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 18, 2018 — As MoMA at NGV gets closer to wrapping up, the NGV has announced that it will extend opening hours so you have a few more chances to see the exhibition (if not for the first, for the second or third time). The gallery will move its regular 10am opening time up to 8.30am from September 22 until October 7, and, in the final week, it will stay open until 10pm from Thursday, October 4 until Sunday, October 7. The exhibition will also be extended for an extra day, and will now close on Monday, October 8. Not going overseas this winter? Luckily, you'll still have the chance to take a bite out of some Big Apple arts and culture, as the National Gallery of Victoria plays host to an exclusive exhibition showcasing works from New York's prestigious Museum of Modern Art. Set to run until October 7, MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art will feature over 200 modern and contemporary masterpieces, many on their first ever visit to Australia. Taking over the entire ground floor of NGV International, it's certifiably huge. The exhibition will present pieces from all six of MoMA's curatorial departments, meaning the works will span Photography, Film, Architecture and Design, Painting and Sculpture, Drawings and Prints, and Media and Performance Art. You'll catch works from all of the big names of the 19th and 20th century art world, including Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Georgia O'Keeffe, Diane Arbus and Andy Warhol. Capturing the spirit of more recent times, will be pieces from the likes of Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker, Olafur Eliasson, Rineke Dijkstra and Camille Henrot. Examining over 130 years of innovation, MoMA at NGV sets out to explore all the major art movements, with the exhibition spread across eight themed sections. Here are a few of the big-name works on display. Needless to say, the partnership with MoMa is a pretty huge coup for both the NGV and Australian art lovers. "The collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria provides a unique opportunity to see extremely important works from nearly every area of our collection in an exhibition that simultaneously explores The Museum of Modern Art's history as well as the history of modern and contemporary art in general," said MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry. As an added bonus, NGV members who are hitting New York while the exhibition is running will score free admission to MoMA, and vice versa.
The doors to QT Melbourne have been thrown open. You've seen it by now – it's an artisan playground. There's an interior filled with quirky spaces, lots of colourful lighting, mountains of creative furniture and loads of confronting wallpaper. As always, the most exciting thing about anything is the food. All the restaurants are now open for business, and here's what you can, and should, be eating. Pascale Bar and Grill (on the first floor) is designed to pay homage to the 'Paris-end' of Collins St. That means it's industrial chic, with a French-inspired all day bistro menu courtesy of QT Melbourne's creative food director Rob Marchetti and chef Paul Easson. Easson used to work at Rockpool, so you know the food will be good, and you'll be able to see him utilising his very own wood-fire oven courtesy of Pascale's open kitchen. Cocktails at Pascale's are inspired by the French Quarter of New Orleans – our favourite option for a cheeky drink is the Spiced Pear, made with pear-infused cognac. Pastries in The Cake Shop on the ground floor are made fresh, and served alongside 5 Senses Coffee, Tippity Teas, Mork Hot Chocolate and bottled cocktails. They're colourful and pretty as you would expect, especially because QT say that The Cake shop is made for a modern day Marie Antoinette. Finally, the cosy Hot Sauce laneway bar seats 60 people and serves Korean and Japanese inspired dishes and drinks (try the fried chicken bao). Background music will be hip hop, and you can expect rare Japanese liquors and artistic, Asian-inspired cocktails. Neighbouring Hot Sauce is Tanto, a Japanese knife store that sells expertly crafted knives made by 10th generation sword makers, and will skilfully sharpen your knives should you choose to bring them with you. Visit QT Melbourne at 133 Russell Street, Melbourne, 3000. Words: Kat Hayes and Kelly Pigram. Images: Alexandra Anderson.
When the sun is up and the daylight lasts longer, why not take the opportunity to learn a new skill on your own terms? Whether you want to focus on something you're passionate about, leap into an undiscovered opportunity or loosen up when you've got more time on your hands, Melbourne has plenty of learning opportunities on offer over the summer months. Stimulate your brain (and head back to work or uni feeling extra accomplished) with these classes and short courses you can take in Melbourne. Keen to master flaky pastries? There's a class for that. Finally want to get to work on that novel? No problem. Need to practice for your debut on Broadway? This will help. Take the Christmas break to relax and then get stuck into some new skills this summer. MAKE SUMMER SALADS WITH THE HEAD CHEF OF HUXTABURGER If you've ever eaten at Huxtaburger, you'll probably be familiar with burgers Kylie, Britney and Justin, along with their palate-pleasing desserts. But head chef and owner Daniel Wilson is also a pro at putting his own twist on seasonal salads. Join him in a masterclass at the South Melbourne Market and learn to make a full salad medley, including a classic Caesar, Chinese-style duck roast with glass noodles, chilli-infused Vietnamese, and Italian-style fresh fruit salad. Includes dinner and a recipe pack. When: March 14, 6.30–9pm Where: The Neff Market Kitchen, Stall 90, South Melbourne Market, Cecil Street, South Melbourne Cost: $140 START AN EDIBLE GARDEN AT HOME Live in a shoebox? Don't have the gift of a green thumb? No problem. This quick lunchtime class is designed to help you learn how to maximise your gardening space, with an emphasis on food-based plants that grow well in small containers. Save on those grocery bills and DIY your own fruits and veggies this summer. And, hey, this knowledge would go great with that summer salad masterclass, just to tie things all together. When: January 20, 12.30–1.30pm Where: Kathleen Syme Library, 251 Faraday Street, Carlton Cost: Free BAKE YOUR OWN SOURDOUGH FROM SCRATCH Wish you could bottle the smell of freshly baked bread to take home? Well, sorry, you're just going to have to learn how to bake your own loaf. In this all-day class suitable for beginners, learn how to make sourdough bread and pizza bases in a domestic oven (BYO pizza toppings). The class is led by Ken Hercott, a CERES Saturday market regular, and includes some bread and leaven to take home for more baking at the end of the day. When: February 25, 9am – 5pm Where: CERES Community Kitchen, Stewart Street, Brunswick East Cost: $180, or $165 if you bring a friend LEARN HOW TO BUILD THINGS WITH CLAY Wheel throwing and building things with clay isn't just for the likes of Demi Moore. It can also be a fun way for you to make something from scratch and get creative with home accessories. This six-week course run by Northcote Pottery Supplies will take you through everything from fundamental hand building techniques to applying the glazes for final decoration on your creations. For the cost of this course, you get your own bag of clay, use of the pottery wheel and tools and the opportunity to explore the pottery shop during business hours if you'd like to find any other materials that you can put to use. When: Every Wednesday from February 7 to March 14, 6–8.30pm Where: Northcote Pottery Supplies, 142-144 Weston Street, Brunswick East Cost: $370 MAKE YOUR OWN DUMPLINGS Close that Menulog tab and learn how to make dumplings from scratch instead. This class, with fourth-generation dumpling maker Angie Chong, will show you how to source the best ingredients, prepare your own dough and fillings, roll, wrap, cook and — of course — eat those delicious creations. BYO bottle of wine or beer and a friend — not only for the booking discount, but also because food is better enjoyed when shared in the company of your favourite people. When: February 2, 6–9pm Where: Work-Shop Melbourne, 195 Argyle Street, Fitzroy Cost: $90, or $80 if you bring a friend LEARN THE ART OF JAPANESE BOOK BINDING You may have cleaned out the stationery aisle at Muji earlier this year, but maybe 2018 could be the summer of suminagashi (Japanese marbling) and book binding. Give it a go, at least. At this half-day workshop based in Work-Shop's Fitzroy HQ, Michelle Lackenby (of Paperazzi Design Studio) will guide you through the process of creating your own notebook, using Japanese binding and paper marbling techniques. No prior experience necessary, and all materials will be provided on the day. Watch a couple of Suminagashi art lessons on Youtube to get inspired before booking a spot. When: February 3, 10am – 1pm Where: Work-Shop Melbourne, 195 Argyle Street, Fitzroy Cost: $90, or $85 if you bring a friend MASTER THE ART OF FLAKY CROISSANTS Be the object of affection in the eyes of all your pastry-loving friends by mastering the art of making perfectly delicious croissants, danishes and brioche. In this weekend class suitable for beginners, you'll learn how to make laminated dough with an electric roller, figure out brioche making techniques, as well as proofing and baking. There'll also be some downtime to chat – and sample! – all things pastry with your co-bakers. It's an expensive course so it's probably only for those planning on putting their new skills into use. Lunch, refreshments, a detailed recipe book and apron will be provided to you on the day. When: January 13 and 14, 9am – 4pm Where: Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School, 22 Wilson Avenue, Brunswick Cost: $536 PRACTICE FOR YOUR BROADWAY DEBUT Maybe you're a Lion King fan, or perhaps you're more into Book of Mormon. Either way, if the thought of Broadway makes stars light up in your eyes, why not make a whole summer dancing to musical theatre soundtracks? Available all year, this class is suitable for beginners. Don't stress if it's new to you — it's less about dance technique (there are separate jazz classes if you're serious) and more concerned with getting you moving and having fun. When: Every Thursday from January 28, 7.30–8.30pm Where: Dance Habit, 16B, 77-79 Ashley Street Braybrook Cost: $18 for a single class, $30 for a package or unlimited classes for a fortnight from $136 [caption id="attachment_589423" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] GET A GIN TASTING AND COCKTAIL MAKING MASTERCLASS Run by the Nordic-influenced Henry and the Fox, this one-day sessions offers a two-fold experience: learn how to make seasonal cocktails and do a gin masterclass. Also included: a cocktail on arrival and three canapés to complement your drinks. Sounds like the perfect way to spend a summer afternoon. When: February 10, 2.30–4pm Where: Henry and The Fox, 525 Little Collins Street, Melbourne Cost: $65 TAKE A STEP CLOSER TO PITCHING YOUR NOVEL These days, everyone's a writer, but not everyone can say they've spent their summer honing their craft. Whether you're an emerging, established, or somewhere in-between writer, Writers Victoria has something to benefit everyone over their Summer School program in 2018. You can choose from over 15 classes that look at novel writing, breaking into the industry, fiction, nonfiction and craft. A host of award-winning writers and industry professionals are here to guide you on your path to prose-related expertise. When: January 12–25. Where: Writer's Victoria, 176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Cost: $135–195
Handpicking some of the globe's best new artists for yet another glorious year, Sugar Mountain Festival has one heck of a 2016 lineup, with homegrown boss Courtney Barnett, British electro crew Hot Chip and beats king Julio Bashmore at the top. Returning to Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts on January 23, 2016, Sugar Mountain has balanced international drawcards with local talent this year, from Australian rockers Dirty Three to New York-based, Honduran-American synth pop artist Empress Of. From across the seas, expect NYC rapper Le1f, Canadian post-punk band Viet Cong, Washington electronic R&B artist Kelela and more. From around the traps, Sydney garage rockers Royal Headache will burl out their latest album, alongside dream poppers Alpine, sharp-as-blazes groove outfit Total Giovanni, beatsmith Roland Tings and more. The Boiler Room stage will also return, live streaming around the world with a yet-to-be-announced lineup. Music isn't the only thing on the menu for Sugar Mountain this year. There'll also be local visual artists on the bill, including Melburnian Nic Hamilton, Japan’s NONOTAK, and SIBLING taking over the main stage design. Nosh-wise, don't just expect your regular festival fare — Sugar Mountain recently announced the opening of an immersive restaurant onsite called Sensory, a collaboration between Bomba, Tin & Ed and Cut Copy. Enough chatskies, here's that lineup you're after. SUGAR MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL 2016 LINEUP: Hot Chip Dirty Three Courtney Barnett Julio Bashmore Kelela Le1f Royal Headache Viet Cong Empress Of Dâm-Funk Tim Sweeney Tom Trago Kate Tempest Alpine Roland Tings Harvey Sutherland & Bermuda Total Giovanni Jnett City Calm Down Sampa the Great Pearls Kate Miller Laila Sakini Research & Development ARTISTS: NONOTAK (Japan/France – world premiere) Daniel Askill (Aust. exclusive) fuse* (Italy – Aust. exclusive) Nic Hamilton SIBLING Yahna Fookes x Martha Zakarya Prue Stent x Honey Long x Clare Longley Sugar Mountain Festival is happening at Victorian College Of The Arts, Melbourne on Saturday, January 23 2016. Tickets on sale 12pm local time Monday, October 19 via Moshtix.
The next time you go out drinking and feel that warm, fuzzy feeling, it might not be because you've had one too many. Hopefully, it'll be because the money you spent on your beverage is being used to support an extremely important cause. Starting next week, more than two dozen bars across Melbourne are teaming up with social enterprise Scarf for a campaign to help refugees, asylum seekers and recent migrants find work. Running December 1-12, Scarf's Do More Than Drink initiative will help raise awareness and funding for young migrants facing barriers to employment. Participating venues — including many Concrete Playground favourites such a Nieuw Amsterdam, Bomba Rooftop, The Beaufort, Belleville, Lily Blacks, Neighbourhood Wine and Gerald's Bar — will put out donation jars and encourage patrons to dig deep. Proceeds will be used to provide migrants with training, mentoring and employment in the hospitality industry. In addition to the donation jars, participating venues will reach into their tills and donate $1 from each drink sold on the final weekend (December 11-12) of the campaign. Basically, this means you're duty-bound to buy a drink. A move that's assured to give you the aforementioned warm and fuzzies across the bar. Scarf are also encouraging people to post photos of themselves at the bar tagging @scarfcommunity and using the #domorethandrink hashtag. At the end of the campaign, the three most liked photos will pick up a Scarf prize pack that includes vouchers for one of their regular charity dinner events, plus a couple more bottles of booze. We'll drink to that. For more information about Do More Than Drink campaign, including the full list of participating bars and information on which day they'll be donating, go here. Image: Gerald's Bar
The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is back for its 26th year and with 49 feature films to be screened at cinemas across eight cities, you'd best prepare yourself for everything from the flirting, whimsy, mishaps and misunderstandings that come with French comedy to the passion, ennui, coming-of-age rebellion, thrilling crime and non-conformist romance that come with French drama. Highlights include: gala opening night feature Gemma Bovery, an endearing comedy starring Gemma Arterton that drops the characters of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary into a small Normandy town; the Saint Laurent biopic exploring the inspirations and struggles of the acclaimed designer Yves Saint Laurent at the height of his career; and Samba, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and star of The Intouchables Omar Sy in a cross-cultural romance that looks at the hardships faced by French immigrants. See more of our highlights in this list of top five films to see at the French Film Festival. The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is on around Australia in March. Catch it in Sydney from March 3-22, Melbourne from March 4-22 and Brisbane from March 13 – April 1. Thanks to the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, we have ten double passes to give away in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The passes are valid for one festival session of your choice (excluding opening/closing nights, special events and public holidays). To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter and then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
There's a great anecdote behind Big Poppa's. It's three guys sitting around, eating cheese and drinking wine while listening to hip hop and deciding that their current activity was a) costing them too much money — they were literally spending thousands of dollars on cheese — and b) a great concept for a restaurant. And so, Big Poppa's was born from Lewis Jaffrey, ex-operations manager at The Baxter Inn, Frankie's and Shady Pines, and Jared Merlino, owner of The Lobo Plantation and Kittyhawk. It's a two-floor ode to Biggie Smalls that plays hip hop until 3am, and serves cheese, wine and Italian food until the doors close. The restaurant is upstairs, the bar is downstairs — it has bare brick walls, candles, dark blue leather booths and the face of Biggie Smalls is tiled on the floor. It's an unpretentious space, and it's worth the wait for a table. We've partnered with KitchenAid to celebrate the launch of the KitchenAid Mini, and we asked two chefs from two of our favourite restaurants to throw a Mini Dinner party (and create a Mini Moment) for their friends. Liam O'Driscoll, head chef at Big Poppa's, former Sydney hip hop DJ (although he probably won't enjoy us calling him that) obliged. He cooked us up a three-course dinner of the simple, rustic Italian food he serves at Big Poppa's, and told us what he loves about cooking at home. He reveals his menu in advance — it's so beautifully Italian I have to research it so I know what we'll be eating. There's salsa salmoriglio, parmigiana-reggiano, pangrattato, flat iron tagliata and potato al forno. This appears on the table as globe artichokes, pasta sprinkled with cheese, a thinly sliced flat iron steak, potato with rosemary butter and a simple semifreddo nougat dessert. [caption id="attachment_592755" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flat iron tagliata with confit garlic and rosemary butter, and potato al forno.[/caption] O'Driscoll adores Italian food. "I love pasta," he says specifically, "if I was on a desert island and there was one food I could take, it would be pasta." With Italian food, he explains, less is more — it's about the quality of the produce over anything else. "It's not like French food where there are so many ingredients and complicated techniques to learn. Some Italian dishes only have three to four ingredients, so the produce is left to stand for itself." Big Poppa's isn't fine dining, it's casual dining. Produce is sourced from quality suppliers, and the food is presented in its simplest state. Despite having a background in fine dining (he just came from Pendolino in the Strand Arcade), this is how O'Driscoll chooses to cook. The preparation at his dinner party is simple, as is the service. Food is served in the pan, and friends help themselves to steak and potatoes. [caption id="attachment_592851" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Torrone Semifreddo, dulce latte.[/caption] "One of the beauties of cooking is being able to share food with the people you love," he says. "There's a communal feeling in everyone being able to dig into a dish that's on the table, as opposed to everyone having their own particular meal". Liam pulls his tub of semifreddo straight from the freezer and starts to scoop it out and serve. "When you're home cooking you just slap it on a plate," he says. "If this was a nice restaurant, I'd shape it into something. But this is rustic cooking — everyone agrees that they would like it better like this." What he says doesn't really have an impact until the next morning, when I'm sitting in a café and I look down at my breakfast. It's piece of toast that's been delicately scattered with edible flowers. While beautiful, they don't really add anything to the dish in terms of taste. "It's not about it being pretty," I remember Driscoll said. "It's about what it is." Images: Samantha Hawker.
The adverse effects of climate change have already been well-documented. Rising sea levels. An increase in extreme weather events. Hundreds of millions of people potentially displaced. Yet the most disturbing cost of environmental degradation is only now being driven home. We don't mean to alarm you, but the verdict is in: global warming is going to change the taste of your beer. Commissioned by Earth Hour and produced by the good sports at Willie the Boatman craft brewery, Drought Draught is a brand new beer brewed under drought-affected conditions. Made using poor quality barley and hops, along with artificial supplements standing in for cost prohibitive natural alternatives, the result has been described as "average tasting beer," one that lets beer lovers "actually taste the effects of climate change." Lucky for Sydneysiders, the intentionally sub-par brew will debut at Feather and Bone in Marrickville this Saturday, as part of Earth Hour's Save the Ales campaign. The event is part of a broader Earth Hour initiative that draws attention to the impact of global warming on Australian farmers. People are also being encouraged to upload their #NoBeerSelfie to social media, with the best entries winning a beer tasting event in Sydney, Adelaide or Perth, along with a bunch of other prizes courtesy of craft brewers Young Henrys. More than 500 community events are expected to take place around the country this Saturday March 28 as part of Earth Hour 2015, in the lead-up to the annual 'lights out' at 8.30pm. For an event near you, visit the Earth Hour website.
Just a cheeky heads up for local legends like Liquorun, Jimmy Brings, Friday Beers, LiquorDrop, Dial-A-Drink, QuickBottle and WineRun — the big guns have jumped on the booze delivery bandwagon. Online shopping behemoth Amazon is trialling one-hour alcohol delivery, starting in Seattle. Announced by Amazon this week, Prime Now will take human laziness and demand for things now to the next level, dropping wine and beer at your doorstep within 60 minutes. From burger delivery by drone to ordering pizza with one emoji, humans just want things faster, faster, faster now. The Prime Now service, which is Amazon's fastest yet, will be exclusively available to members of Amazon Prime — and it's not just for booze. Tens of thousands of items will be available for one-hour delivery, from wine and beer to milk and ice cream, televisions, Kindles, paper towels, you name it. Throwing a last minute party or treating yourself to one heck of a night in just got pathetically easier. Local startup booze delivery crews, don't freak out just yet. Prime Now is currently only available Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland in the States, but the company has plans to expand the service to localities across the country and worldwide, eventually. Via CNET. Images: Dollar Photo Club and Walnut Studio.
You might recall That's Amore Cheese's online class back in lockdown days, showcasing the Mornington Peninsula's best wines and cheeses over a night dubbed Virtual Aperitivo. Now, That's Amore Cheese is bringing Melburnians' love of vino and cheese together with an IRL event set to transport guests to Puglia. From 6pm on Tuesday, September 19, That's Amore Cheese is bringing a four-course, Pugliese-style dinner with matched wines to its Thomastown cheesery. Across the indulgent four-course feast, you can expect fresh, handmade mozzarella, burrata, baby octopus and caciocavallo. Each course will be paired with a matching wine from the team at Menhir Salento Winery, situated in the south-east area of Puglia. These speciality wines are lovingly produced utilising the native grapes of the area, including primitivo, negroamaro, susumaniello and more.
The clocks have ticked forward, and we all know what that means: the outdoor cinema season is almost here. Movie lovers in Melbourne are spoiled for choice when it comes to openair screens — and from the looks of things that doesn't appear to be changing any time soon. Joining old favourites like Moonlight in the Botanic Gardens, Rooftop in the CBD and Shadow Electric at Abbotsford Convent, Sunset Cinema is the city's latest pop-up picture house — and we can't wait to check it out. Sunset ran outdoor cinemas in North Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong last year, but this is their first Victorian venture. Located at the Gasworks Arts Park in Albert Park, Sunset Cinema kicks off on Friday, November 4, before running Wednesdays through Saturdays until November 26. The program skews towards more recent films including Captain Fantastic, The Magnificent Seven, Bridget Jones's Baby and The Girl on the Train, although they have squeezed one retro title in there: Dirty Dancing on November 23. They've also put together a top-notch food and beverage offering, in order to keep your stomach from grumbling during the film. Dinner will be taken care of by some of Melbourne's food trucks, including Mamma Van, Boeri Bros and Greek Street Food. As for liquid refreshment, the site will have a fully licensed bar, serving 4 Pines craft beers and MadFish wines. For more information about Sunset Cinema, including the full program, visit sunsetcinema.com.au/melbourne.
What would you do if you were a little less freaked out by consequences? Would you talk to more new people, fear a bit less, dance a little more like FKA Twigs, quit your desk job and start that independent photography career? Some sparkling young Australians are already flinging their inhibitions into a ziplock bag and seizing this little ol' life with both hands. Concrete Playground has teamed up with the Jameson crew to give you a sneak peek into the lives of some bold characters who took a big chance on themselves. They've gone out on a limb and rewritten their path, encapsulating 'Sine Metu', the Jameson family motto which translates to 'without fear' — getting outside your comfort zone and trying something new. After all, we only get one shot at this. Take notes. From a very young age, we're all asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" We're told to pick one path, one profession, to neatly label the rest of your life. Our responses change as we grow up, from astronaut to engineer, princess to PR, and for Sydney-based Cole Bennetts, from Penguin Boy to renowned photographer taking the Prime Minister's portrait. Now he's shot the likes of Sticky Fingers, Hermitude, Horrorshow, One Day and more, and you can find his work published in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Irish Times and Rolling Stone to name a few. Not bad for a Penguin Boy. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU PENGUINS, BECOME THEIR KING Cole's origin story reads like a Mark Twain book, a tale from a time before life happened on the screen and people went out to seek their fortunes. Initially for Cole, the end goal was never photography. His start in the industry came from a pretty unlikely place — as a way to weasel out of participating in the swimming carnival. "I'd never been the most athletic of people but I discovered that if I had a camera in my hand I didn't have to swim in the swimming carnival. I was like 'there's something to this'." A self-proclaimed science nerd, Cole's formative years were spent studying biology at university and eventually found him monitoring the behavioural patterns of seagulls and penguins in Bass Strait. The documentation process again stirred his interest in photography and, strangely, penguin care. "When that wound up [at Bass Strait] I found myself in Canberra with the zoo there. I spent about 18 months within the zoo as a penguin keeper. I managed to get the nickname 'Penguin Boy'. I can't believe I'm saying this." SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOT TO SPEND SIX MONTHS IN THE WILD The antics of Penguin Boy became an attraction at the zoo, from lining up the penguins for feeding time to putting them to bed. Eventually, the prestigious title wore thin and Cole stumbled across an opportunity that would make most of us hurtle in the opposite direction. "I got offered a job on a really remote island… There was no water, there was nothing. We'd have to have supplies brought in by shark fishermen. It was a six-month stint living like a wild man." Just after quitting his role as Penguin Boy, Cole found out funding for the project had been cut and he was without a job. After a series of fortunate events, he founded a music business in Canberra and set about promoting. But Cole didn't have the budget for a photographer, someone you're kind of going to need for promo. So, having 'made do' in those six-months on the island, he improvised. "I bought a cheap camera set up and quit my job and told people I was a photographer. And I was awful. I was so bad. Within four weeks of doing it, I had $2.20 and half a loaf of bread to my name. "If you're going to do something, you throw yourself into it. I'm a big believer in sink or swim. And fake it till you make it. There's no better situation to learn than when you have no option; it's do or die." FAKE IT TILL YOU TAKE THE PRIME MINISTER'S PORTRAIT There's not a lot to do in Canberra outside of politics and partying, so Cole had a lot of fodder to snap. A crash course in how to work a camera when there's no natural light and your subjects are swaying was just what he needed to get a start in the world of photography. Fast forward a few years, he's made a name for himself as a portrait photographer and has jacked a gig taking the PM's portrait. "It's a fine line when you're shooting... Your subjects may be celebrities, they may be artists but you've got to stand in front of them with a camera […] and do them right," he says. "So I was down on my knees in front of Julia Gillard's desk and I was having trouble getting the right feel and I was starting to panic and I was like 'OK, Prime Minister, what I need you to do is close your eyes and I want you to go to your happy place'. That was crazy." He got the shot in the end though and, true to form, bossing the PM around becomes just one of his weird work stories to tell. CHANGE THE GAME — NOT EVERY HIP HOP ARTIST NEEDS TO RAP SQUAT Cole soon moved from Canberra to Sydney, the land of creative opportunity, to try and break into music photography. One day while working in his Camperdown studio, he left to pick up some lunch and walked smack bang into Omar Musa, his friend and collaborator, and Morgan Jones of the Thundamentals. "A couple of weeks later I bumped into Morgs in the cafe and he had this new group called Jones Jnr. I said I'll do your pictures, I'll do them for free but if you go anywhere and you become successful, then I'm your guy," he says. It was a smart gamble, as Morgan was in the process of writing Step On Sleep, Jones Jnr's successful debut album. From this handshake agreement, Cole has built a career photographing Australian musicians including Sticky Fingers, Hermitude, Horrorshow, Hilltop Hoods, One Day, Spit Syndicate, Tuka, Jackie Onassis, The Rubens, Angus Stone, Left and more, alongside international stars like The 1975. His proclivity for shooting hip hop royalty has changed the game and shifted music portraiture away from the cheesy and the cliché. "These guys are super intelligent, they've got good stories to tell," he says. "It's not doing rap squats in front of graffiti walls." And who better to tell someone else's tale than a guy with a killer story to tell? When you wake up a Penguin Boy one day, unemployed the next, Kirribilli House soon after, you stop fearing change and start to embrace a Sine Metu mindset because it might lead to the best shot of your life. "It doesn't matter if I'm shooting the biggest name in Australian music or I'm shooting someone having a dance, if I get the frame that captures that moment… I get just as excited. It's about storytelling." Want to experience a little bit of 'Sine Metu' yourself? Thanks to Jameson and The Rewriters, one extremely fortunate Concrete Playground reader (and their even more fortunate mate) will get the chance to 'fear less' and go on a big ol' adventure to Ireland. In addition to two return flights departing from your choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, this epic giveaway comes with five night's accommodation and $500 spending money you can use to paint the Emerald Isle red. ENTER HERE. For more about how 'Sine Metu' influenced John Jameson's journey visit Jameson's website.
The annual Melbourne International Film Festival might boast more movies than most people see in several years — 248 features and 91 shorts in 2016, to be exact — however only two count now that the event is all over for another year. They're the couple of flicks festival-goers have deemed the best of the bunch — the winners of MIFF's audience awards. In the feature film realm, Swiss animated effort My Life as a Courgette took the top honours for its stop-motion tale about a blue-haired orphan making friends in a children's home. The gorgeous movie is as charming as it sounds, and not just because it makes the most of every one of its brief 65 minutes. It also follows in the footsteps of other crowd-pleasing childhood-themed audience faves, with Irish animation Song of the Sea, Richard Linklater's twelve-years-in-the making Boyhood and Laos-set Aussie feature The Rocket emerging victorious over the past three years. The MIFF audience also anoints their pick of the fest's docos, too, with Australian filmmaker Aaron Petersen taking out the award for his debut effort, Zach's Ceremony. Offering an insight into the coming-of-age of an Aboriginal boy approaching his 16th birthday, the film has clearly proven a hit with viewers around the country — it also won the same gong at this year's Sydney Film Festival. Okay, so we know we said that only two films count; however a host of others festival highlights also made MIFF's top ten feature and documentary lists. Narrative fans loved The Handmaiden's erotic thrills, EMO the Musical's homegrown high school amusement, Toni Erdmann's lengthy laughs and all 317 minutes of Japanese drama Happy Hour, among others. True tale aficionados warmed to The Eagle Huntress' inspiring account of Mongolia's first female eagle hunter, Servant or Slave's harrowing chronicle of Australia's history of domestic servitude, Tickled's has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed peek inside the world of competitive enduring tickling and Life, Animated's sweet look at the power of Disney movies. The 2016 Melbourne International Film Festival ran from July 28 to August 14. For a complete list of audience award winners, visit the MIFF website.
Grab your wetsuit and hightail it to California, the not-so-secret home to Kelly Slater's game-changing wave pool. Surf fans have been scrambling to uncover the location of the facility since Saturday, when Kelly posted a video on Facebook (below) that showed him surfing what he called "the first truly world class, high performance, human-made waves." The world champion surfer was coy about the pool's precise coordinates, even as the video racked up more than four million views. In the end, it was Sydney-based surf writer Craig Brokensha who channelled his inner Miss Marple and cracked the case. Brokensha, who writes for Swellnet, began his investigation on Reddit, where numerous other amateur detectives had already begun cobbling together clues. Cross-referencing photos from Google with telltale landmarks visible in Kelly's video, Brokensha soon narrowed the location down to an old water ski lake near Leemore, around 50 kilometres south of Fresno. "With all the tools freely available to us in this day and age (Google, Google Earth, Google Streetview) it only took an hour or so to confirm the likely location of the test facility," wrote Brokensha. Well isn't someone a bit of a clever pants? Assuming the new technology is everything Slater claims it to be, its impact on the surf world could be enormous. There have been other attempts to create consistent, cost-effective waves in the past, but success has to this point proved elusive. Slater has promised to reveal more information in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the World Surf League have released a statement declaring that "the ramifications of this reveal are immeasurable at this point, but certainly will change the face of surfing as we know it." Here's hoping Slater opens the pool up to the public... although that's probably still a ways off yet. Now that the world title has been decided and events for the year have finished, I’m excited to show you what I’ve been... Posted by Kelly Slater on Friday, 18 December 2015 Via SMH.
A drama released in 1989 that saw its premiere cut short because of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A tale of corruption in the sporting arena. A documentary about perhaps the greatest German director that ever lived. A lengthy father-daughter comedy that no one can stop talking about (us included). Yes, they're all part of the 2016 German Film Fest's 36-title lineup, which roams around Australia from November 15 to 30. In a nutshell, it's a great year to get your fix of the country's cinematic offerings. In fact, there's so much packed into the festival's heaving program that the aforementioned movies haven't even made our must-see list, which is a great indication of the wealth of choices available. So, just what should you ensure you get in front of your eyeballs? Here's our top tips, spanning everything from beloved filmmakers to movies made by ordinary people. EVERY THING WILL BE FINE We've said it before, and we'll say it again: James Franco really will pop up everywhere he can, even when you least expect it. Like in a German film. This time, he's starring in the latest one from iconic director Wim Wenders, alongside Rachel McAdams and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Every Thing Will Be Fine tells the tale of a writer faced with a life-changing experience; transformation is a common theme in the filmmaker's works. And don't go thinking Wenders' trademark fondness for breathtaking visuals will be sidelined in his first dramatic film in seven years; here, the Buena Vista Social Club, Pina and The Salt of the Earth helmer explores both the heartbreaking tragedy at the centre of the story and the aftermath via 3D visuals. DER NACHTMAHR It takes confidence to call your film Der Nachtmahr, or The Nightmare in English. Other horror movies have boasted about their terrifying dream-like status in their names to mixed results, aka the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Director and visual artist Achim Bornhak aims for a more consistent scare rate in an effort ten years in the making. Given that the feature explores a teenager blighted with visions of a grotesque creature, here's hoping it hits the mark. GERMANY IN A DAY Back in 2011, Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland filmmaker Kevin Macdonald took on another ambitious project. Life in a Day endeavoured to capture just what everyday existence is like by crowdsourcing its footage, accruing more than 80,000 clips submitted via YouTube. Five years later, Germany in a Day is the Deutschland-focused equivalent, as overseen by director Sönke Wortmann. If you've ever wondered what life was like for residents of the European nation on June 20, 2015, as captured by ordinary folks, this is your chance to find out. GOODBYE BERLIN In Goodbye Berlin, Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin says hello to the road. Adapting Wolfgang Herrndorf's coming-of-age story Tschick (or Why We Took the Car in Australia), it's a feature filled with friendship, discovery, scenic sights and striking revelations after two unlikely pals steal a car one summer. And if it sounds like you've seen this before, Akin's previous filmography should convince you otherwise. Head On twisted the usual mid-life malaise drama, Soul Kitchen did more than cook up delicious-looking food and The Cut found insights in a portrait of resilience and endurance. VARIETÉ Step back in time thanks to 1925 film Varieté. Not only is it a circus fairytale of the kind that isn't often made these days, but it reportedly features the first documentation of unicycle hockey. Other claims to fame come thick and fast for the '20s film, partly due to its enchanting tale of a trapeze artist, the dancer he leaves his wife for, and the artist his lover then has an affair with — and partly due to the fact that the silent feature's score was lost long ago. In its place, The Tiger Lillies have a new soundtrack in their very own style to accompany the new digitised restoration. The German Film Fest Australia tours the country from November 15, screening at Sydney's Chauvel Cinema and Palace Norton Street from November 15 to 29, Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Kino Cinemas and Palace Westgarth from November 17 to 30, and Brisbane's Palace Barracks from November 25 to 30. For more information, visit the festival website.
Tear into warm injera and mouth-watering stews at Northcote's new home of Ethiopian cuisine. Opening last month on High Street, MESOB takes its name from the traditional straw-woven containers that serve as both bread basket and communal dining table. And if you've ever eaten Ethiopian before, you'll know that the communal element is half the fun. Forgoing cutlery, diners at MESOB instead use the injera (a traditional Ethiopian gluten-free flatbread made with teff flour) to shovel their food directly from share plate to mouth. It's perfect for messy eaters, or anyone who enjoys licking their fingers clean at the end of a meal. Start with dips and sambosa (pastry stuffed with spiced beef or fish) before moving onto a selection of stews made with chicken, beef or lentils. One main in particular that grabs our attention is the doro wot, described on the menu at the national dish of Ethiopia: mildly spiced chicken simmered with onions, ginger and spices, topped with a whole hard-boiled egg. They also offer a number of colourful chef's platters, for customers who can't make up their minds (or just want to try a bit of everything). Ethiopian cuisine doesn't typically feature dessert, but keep your eyes on MESOB's specials board for the occasional sweet treat. Of course MESOB isn't the northside's only new Ethiopian joint, with Saba's Ethiopian Restaurant opening in Fitzroy late last year. We're already on record as being big fans of their work, so here's hoping their Northcote compatriot is up to scratch. Find MESOB at 213 High Street, Northcote. For more information visit mesob.com.au. Image: avry via Flickr.
When last year's Dark MOFO program dropped, House of Mirrors immediately rocketed to the top of everyone's must-do list. Created by Australian installation artists Christian Wagstaff and Keith Courtney, it's exactly what it sounds like: a walkthrough space filled with reflective surfaces that will not only strands you in a maze of your own image, but turns your likeness into a kaleidoscope. Since then, the installation has made its way to Brisbane, Sydney and Bendigo. And now, eager Melburnians will soon get the chance to wander through the disorienting, perception-altering, panic-inducing, optical illusion-based labyrinth for themselves. From October 5 for Melbourne Festival, the mirror maze will take over the Arts Centre Melbourne for 18 days of reflective roaming, with the modern, minimalist twist on the fairground classic featuring 40 tonnes of steel and 15 tonnes of mirrors — and no added gimmicks, no special effects, no special lighting, no soundtrack or soundscape. It'll be the first time House of Mirrors has come to Melbourne, and it will be open 4–10pm Monday to Friday and 10am till 10pm Saturday and Sunday. Tickets will be $10 on the door. We suggest going at sunset so you can see it while the sun's still up and when it's lit up after-dark — or, if you have a pet pooch, heading along between 2pm and 4pm on October 15 as part of their special Dog Day. Yep, art-loving canines love kaleidoscopic installations too. UPDATE OCTOBER 24, 2017: Melburnians can't get enough of mirror mazes. So the Arts Centre has extended the House of Mirrors opening date till November 19 and opening hours to 10am – 10pm each day.
The best of the best of local interior design has been announced by the judges at this year's Australian Interior Design Awards. Held in Sydney on Friday June 10, the 2016 ceremony – co-presented by the Design Institute of Australia and Artichoke Magazine – once again celebrated the most innovative new design projects in the country, from a waterfront apartment in Sydney to a boutique hotel in WA. Regardless of where they're located, however, all of this year's winners have one thing in common: we want to go to there. Taking home the Premier Award for Australian Interior Design was Darling Point Apartment (pictured below), a wood-panelled apartment overlooking the Sydney Harbour that was described by the jury as "an inspirational piece of interior design." The apartment also won an award for Residential Design, along with the Fitzroy Loft in Melbourne. The gong for Sustainability Advancement went to the North Shore Office fit out by Nielsen Workshop and Morgan Jenkins Architecture; the offices also won for Workplace Design. The award for Public Design, meanwhile, went to Our Lady of Assumption Primary School in Sydney, with the space having found new life from its original use as a Telstra training centre. Among the remaining winners were Sydney butcher shop 1888 Certified for Retail Design, and Perth's Alex Hotel for Hospitality Design. For the full list of Australian Interior Design Award winners, go here. Header Image: Alex Hotel, WA.
The mercury is rising and things are getting steamy, with the hotly anticipated return of World Movies Summer of Sin. Featuring only the most scandalous and salacious titles that the international film world has to offer, this four-week-long, adults-only program is sure to get pulses racing. Here listed are five of our favourite films from the lineup. From critically acclaimed French melodramas and German erotic comedies to James Franco making a documentary about his favourite BDSM porn site, these are the titles that consenting adults simply can't afford to miss. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR (2013) The winner of top honours at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Blue Is the Warmest Colour gained notoriety for its extremely graphic lesbian sex scenes, as well as director Abdellatif Kechiche's tyrannical behaviour on set. Controversy notwithstanding, the sex is actually the least interesting part of this film, a devastating portrayal of the lifespan of a relationship featuring absolutely phenomenal performances from actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. Friday, December 19, at 9.30pm KINK (2013) Produced by James Franco (because of course he did), Kink takes viewers inside the daily workings of Kink.com, one of the world's leading producers of BDSM-themed pornography. Through interviews with directors and models, documentarian Christina Voros dives into the ins and outs of the adult entertainment world, exploring both the appeal of bondage pornography and the practical considerations involved in shooting it. Tuesday, December 23, at 9.30pm EMMANUELLE (1974) Yuletide revellers, ring in the festive season with this Christmas Eve screening of a classic soft-core porno. Marketed to mainstream moviegoers as an arthouse flick, Emmanuelle follows the Bangkok sexual odyssey of its titular heroine, the young, naive wife of a French diplomat. The film helped turn Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel into a sex symbol, and spawned dozens of sequels and spinoffs, a number of which will also be screened as part of the Summer of Sin program. Wednesday, December 24, at 9.30pm IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976) Hugely controversial upon its release both in its native Japan and around the world, Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses dramatises the violent sexual affair between a hotel manager and a maid in 1930s Tokyo. The film is inspired by the real-life case of Sada Abe, a woman who sparked a media sensation in Japan after strangling her lover and cutting off his penis. You'll have to watch the film yourself to see how closely it sticks to reality. Friday, January 2, at 9.30pm WETLANDS (2013) Although it's just a graphic as anything on this list, it's hard to think of a recent film less sexy than David Wnendt's Wetlands. Adapted from Charlotte Roche's novel of the same name, the film is a punk-rock feminist satire about 18-year-old Helen, a self-described "living pussy hygiene experiment", who falls in love with her attractive male nurse after landing in the hospital with haemorrhoids. Gleefully disgusting, it's sinful in a whole other kind of way. Monday, January 5, at 9.30pm
Americans afraid of a Donald Trump presidency are using websites and apps in order to trade votes with people in other states, in an effort to keep the Republican candidate out of the White House. Websites like Trump Traders are aimed at Republicans in so-called swing states, such as Florida and North Carolina, who are opposed to Donald Trump but don't wish to vote directly for Hillary Clinton, so intend to vote for a third party candidate instead. "We get it. Secretary Clinton is not your favourite," explains the website. "But at this point she is the only one standing between Trump and the White House. If you are #NeverTrump but want to support Gary Johnson or another third party candidate in a swing state, don't do it. You may toss the election to Trump. Instead, find a friend in a state that's safely blue or red — they'll vote for your third party candidate in exchange for your vote for Clinton." According to Trump Traders co-founder John Stubbs, more than 15,000 people had enrolled to swap their votes on the site. Apps such as NeverTrump functions in a similar fashion, allowing voters in swing states to swap votes with those in states that are considered safe. Vote trading is perfectly legal, although it does rely on the honour system — that is, you have to trust that the random stranger that you're trading votes with will actually vote for who they say they will. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTUe04et4EQ Via ABC.
The team behind cult burger joint 8Bit is back — and they're about to shake up the Footscray food scene once again. Thursday, January 28 will mark the first day of business for Up in Smoke, a brand new 60-seat barbecue restaurant, beer garden and specialty grocery store helmed by chef and co-owner Shayne McCallum. Melbourne, of course, has its fair share of American-style barbecue joints, although less so out west. McCallum acknowledges a degree of American flavour, but tells us to expect something a little more accessible in terms of the decor. "We're not in Texas," he laughs. "A lot of places around town really try to capture that feel of Texas or whatever...I'm not trying to diss people, but I think if we did that we'd be trying to be something that we're not. I don't think I'd be able to pull it off so well. I won't be in the kitchen wearing a cowboy hat and overalls." Even so, the influence of American cooking on the menu is fairly clear. Starters and sides include ham hock and cheddar croquettes, mini smoked kransky dogs, smoked hot wings with ranch dressing, and barbecue rub fries. They also offer a number of sandwiches and tacos stuffed with brisket burnt ends and pulled pork, as well as a smoked gin and beetroot salmon salad. But the main drawcard on the menu will likely be their slow-cooked meats. Available from 6pm after a day in the restaurant's massive Yoder Frontiersman competition smoker, choices include brisket, beef and pork ribs, and jalapeno and cheddar sausage. Just don't mess around — because once they're sold out for the evening, that's it. In addition to the food, Up in Smoke will offer a variety of craft beer options, with a rotating selection of ten local brews on tap and plenty more available by the bottle. The beer garden should be up and running soon. Also in the works is a grocery store of sorts. "We're going to have everything from charcuterie, cheeses, antipasto stuff, coffee, ready-made sandwiches, [as well as] a lot of the products we use within the restaurant, like barbecue sauces and rubs and mustards and pickles," says McCallum. "We're also going to have some smoking accessories, like wood chips. So you can buy the brisket and the pulled pork, whole, and you can smoke it at home." Up in Smoke will open at 11am on Thursday, January 28 at 28 Hopkins St, Footscray. For more information check them out on Facebook or at upinsmoke.net.au. Images: Renee Stamatis
In case you needed more proof that Hollywood is scraping the bottom of the barrel, audiences will soon be getting not one but two Uber-themed comedies. Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox will be racing to see who can get their flick into theatres first, after both studios unknowingly purchased Uber-centric scripts within 24 hours of each other. Honestly, this is just like Antz and A Bug's Life all over again. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal Pictures threw down a seven figure sum on an untitled pitch from Bad Neighbours screenwriter Brendan O'Brien, with Will Ferrell set to produce and star. The script isn't actually finished yet, but sources say it will concern an unfortunate Uber driver (Ferrell) whose fare turns out to be an escaped convict. Fox, meanwhile, purchased Tripper Clancy's completed script Stuber, which in an amusing twist of fate follows an Uber driver whose passenger is a cop, working what THR calls "the most dangerous case of his career." Is it just us, or does it sound like these two films are ripe for an Avengers-style crossover? No word yet on when either film will be released. It does make you wonder whether movies based on apps could be the next big thing, especially with The Angry Birds Movie hitting cinemas in the next few weeks. Surely it's only a matter of time before we get a romantic comedy and/or serial killer film based on Tinder. Via THR.
Two of our favourite things — good food and fantastic film — are coming together at Caulfield Racecourse in March. For five consecutive nights starting on Wednesday, March 2, five of Melbourne's top restaurants will serve up a mouth-watering menu, each specially paired with a critically-acclaimed film. Bring your picnic blankets, but leave the baskets at home – at Gourmet Cinema, dinner is taken care of. Each film on the program has been matched to a corresponding restaurant. The Grand Budapest Hotel should go quite nicely with high-end European cuisine from Epocha, while The Big Lebowski seems better paired with Le Bon Ton's Southern-style brisket. Take a decadent trip around Rome in The Great Beauty while munching on pizza from Baby, watch Jon Favreau cook up a storm in Chef with a feast from Mamasita, or journey back to the Belle Epoque with Midnight in Paris as you eat French fare from The European. While each restaurant will present a specific screening, you don't have to worry about picking your favourite, since all five will be operating stalls throughout the entire five-night season. You'll also be able to purchase coffee from St Ali and sweet treats courtesy of LuxBite. Picnic rugs and deck chairs will be available to hire on the night, although patrons are also welcome to bring their own blankets it they prefer. Gates open at 6pm with screenings set to commence at 8.30pm. Tickets are $19.50 (plus booking fee) for adults, and don't include food. You'll have to purchase that separately. For more information and to book tickets, visit gourmetcinema.com.au.
“Will you be ready for THE CATCH?" This is the intriguing question posed by Heineken just one week out from the release of the 24th James Bond film SPECTRE, and it’s referring to something pretty darn special. To celebrate Heineken's 18-year partnership with the iconic 007 franchise, they're offering a select group of lucky fans a chance to experience the intriguing and prestigious world of James Bond. Sure, that could technically mean you have to infiltrate villain lairs and have various tuxedo scuba suits on hand for 24 hours, but we’re pretty confident it’s referring to the fun stuff: parties filled with glamour, prestige, special guests and VIP performances. Throughout November and December, Heineken will be hosting exclusive SPECTRE 007 events that are so mysterious participants won’t know what’s in store until they’re suddenly whisked away and thrown right into the middle of the action right as it happens. You won’t know where. You won’t know when. Will you be ready? To be in the running, fans need to sign up via the Heineken's The Catch website and have your mates locked, loaded and ready to move at a moment’s notice. Helipads and jet skis aren’t essential, but they’ll certainly come in handy...
We know you guys are probably tiring of the food truck trend, but hear us out on this one. Now, we're not entirely sure how to feel, so we're just gonna lay out the facts. There's a new food truck doing the rounds that specialises in… gourmet dog food. The Canine Wellness Kitchen (heh) is Australia's first food truck for dogs — which, honestly, is a sentence we never thought we'd write. Founders and 'canine chefs' Katie Crandon and Laura Yeomans aren't new to this game — they founded 'dog superfood' (apparently a thing) label Because I Luv My Dog, specialising in healthy pooch snacks for on-the-go doggos. It'll be the first food truck of its kind in Australia, offering a range of dog-friendly goods including dehydrated snacks, raw food, chicken necks and organic bone broth. And… again, not sure how to take this… a beer for dogs. It's named Freddie's Froth and it's not actual beer guys, it's bone broth, geez. The whole venture is a little tongue in cheek and pokes fun at the food truck revolution. This is a little snippet from the menu: "Forget the super smoothies, our bone broth is the ultimate detoxifier. Get your active wear on, this is all the warm up you need for a workout." Look, in your heart of hearts, you know this is one business that'll go incredibly well. We're on board. Canine Wellness Kitchen will be making their first appearance on September 24 at the Hank Marvin Markets in St Kilda.
With the recent launch of the Lido's first ever rooftop cinema, Moonlight Cinema's announcement of their huge summer program today, and the continuing reign of the likes of Rooftop Cinema, Shadow Electric, Coburg Drive-In et al, Melbourne's furiously enthusiastic love for cinema under the stars isn't waning anytime soon. There's a new outdoor cinema in town: QV Cinema. Yep, usually the realm of hectic shopping sprees, QV Melbourne is launching its own openair cinema, with summer screenings every Thursday to Sunday night from December to February. It's an intimate 80-seat deckchair cinema on the astroturf outside the Queen Victoria Women's Centre, and the whole program is curated by Melbourne filmmaker and film programmer Gus Berger, who runs Red Hot Shorts at ACMI. Expect festive films in December (think Home Alone, Bad Santa, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Elf), Australian films around Australia Day, a focus on Melbourne independent films, alongside '80s favourites and selected special event films with pre-film live performances (there'll be a dog costume parade before Best in Show on December 12, and an Australian Shakespeare Company performance before Romeo + Juliet on December 10). With tickets at $12 each, it's a pretty budget-friendly date option for the summer. Opening night is happening on Tuesday, December 1, and it's pretty fittingly fashion-themed: The Devil Wears Prada. Best bit? Opening night is completely free, you just have to register on the QV Cinema website. 'Acrobatic elves' will be performing roving tricks to hurtle you face first into the Christmas spirit, and Melbourne DJ Chiara Kickdrum will be on the decks. QV Cinema screenings are happening at QV Melbourne on Thursday to Sunday nights, December 2015 to February 2016. Opening night is happening on Tuesday, December 1 and is free with registration. Tickets for all other screenings are $12. Tickets and full program available from November 23 via the QV Cinema website. Check out Melbourne's best outdoor cinemas over here.
Each of Australia's capital cities has a different shtick. Melbourne's just happens to be a 24-hour culture — or, at least, the closest Australia has to it. It's got all-night public transport on weekends, late-night opening hours for the National Gallery of Victoria's new Triennial and the city's White Night festival will return for its annual all-nighter in 2018. If you haven't been down to White Night before, here's how it works. From 7pm, much of Melbourne's CBD is closed to cars. From then on, the streets give way to pedestrians, who are free to wander between temporary installations, live music and on-street projections — as well as in and out of galleries and cultural institutions — up until the sun comes up at 7am the next day. It's the Australian version of Nuit Blanche, which was founded in France in the 80s. Next year's festival — which will shut down the city for 12 hours on the evening of Saturday, February 17 — features work from a tonne of both local and international artists. Expect to see neon pups, two Burning Man installations and one laneway covered in snow. There are far too many works to list, but here are a few highlights you'll want to look out for. A giant shimming silver net that will hover above Federation Square for White Night (and two weeks afterwards). Drag queens singing from balconies above Collins Street. A laneway filled with virtual neon 'dogs' and another filled with falling 'snow'. A tree that lets you write temporary messages on it with the light from your phone Two installations straight from Burning Man: a fire-breathing serpent outside Melbourne Museum and a giant mechanical insect that doubles at a DJ booth. Mini gigs performed from multiple balconies above Swanston Street. A 360-degree dome in Alexandra Gardens that will feature mesmerising projections. Stories from Australian detention centres projected onto the NGV's façade. White Night will also head out to Victoria's regional centres. It will return to Ballarat on March 17 for a second year, and will take to the streets of Bendigo and Geelong for the first time later in 2018.
Watching cat videos online is about to get a whole lot more intense, with Google revealing plans to enable virtual reality content on YouTube. The announcement, made at the Google I/O 2015 developer conference, is one of a slew of new innovations the global tech giant has in the works, as it slowly furthers its plan for total world domination. Your move, Bing. According to the announcement made in San Francisco overnight, YouTube will be able to host specially-created, immersive VR videos as early as this July, viewable through any virtual reality headset including Google’s own budget option, Google Cardboard. In order to ensure there’s plenty of VR content to choose from, Google will supply select YouTube partners with its new 360° Jump camera rig, developed in partnership with GoPro. The extreme sports-friendly camera company has actually been developing and selling multi-directional camera rigs for some time now, and recently acquired a company that specialises in panoramic video software — so the partnership certainly makes sense. Check out GoPro's VR demo video posted yesterday. Use the top left directional buttons to peruse: As they did with Google Cardboard, Google will be making the blueprints for the Jump rig public, meaning that anyone can theoretically build one. The rig will be compatible with consumer grade cameras, although you’ll need 16 of them to get the full effect. Google also announced upgrades to its cardboard VR headset, which can now be assembled in just three steps and fits phones up to six inches in size. The low-tech hardware, which offers an inexpensive alternative to the likes of Oculus Rift, has already racked up more than one million users since debuting at I/O last year. Between Google Cardboard and the new Jump platform, Google is clearly trying to push VR content into the mainstream. Next up: hoverboards! (Fingers crossed.) Via Gizmodo. Images: Google.
Each year, the Berlin International Film Festival premieres a treasure trove of flicks that movie buffs will be talking about for months to come, and longer, including when said titles make their way to Australia. It also understandably goes big on new German cinema, which often heads Down Under via the German Film Festival — and that touring event now has the 2023 program to prove it. Heading to Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Byron Bay throughout May, this year's German Film Festival sees Palace Cinemas team up with German Films, which is devoted to promoting the nation's movies internationally, on an impressive lineup. Here, recent and retro features sit by side, including five new efforts that debuted at Berlinale back in February, all of which are now making their Australian premieres. Film lovers can look forward to The Teacher's Lounge with Babylon Berlin's Leonie Benesch, which follows a teacher struggling over a series of thefts at her school; Sisi, the latest take on Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary after Corsage, this time featuring Toni Erdmann's Sandra Hüller as her lady-in-waiting; and Ingeborg Bachmann — Journey into the Desert, as led by Corsage star Vicky Krieps as the titular writer. And, there's also the 1990-set Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything, which stems from the page — plus crime-thriller Till the End of the Night, which won actor Thea Ehre Berlinale's Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance. The German Film Festival kicks off with A Thousand Lines, hailing from Balloon filmmaker Michael Herbig, and diving into the IRL 2018 fake news scandal involving a journalist disgraced from Der Spiegel. At the other end, it'll close with Over & Out, Germany's addition to the spate of flicks about women reuniting with their old pals years later (see also: Off the Rails). Another hefty highlight: big focuses on the glorious city that is Berlin and also music, both via retrospective picks. So, add Christiane F, which follows the eponymous 14-year-old through 70s-era West Berlin and features David Bowie as himself, to your must-see list on the big screen. Add Wim Wenders' stunning Wings of Desire, about angels observing daily life but unable to interact with it, too. And, B-Movie: List & Sound in West Berlin 1979–1989 belongs in the same category with its archival footage and interviews, complete with Nick Cave, Joy Division and '99 Luftballons' band Nena. Other standouts include In a Land That No Longer Exists, as based on director Aelrun Goette's experiences in the 80s; documentary Merkel, about Germany's first female chancellor; crime comedy The Peacock; and body swapping in sci-fi Skin Deep. The German Film Festival is also celebrating Austrian and Swiss films, such as World War II drama The Fox and Vienna-set love story First Snow of Summer from the former, as well as And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead, about two Swiss citizens held hostage by the Taliban, from the latter. GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2023 DATES: Tuesday, May 2–Wednesday, May 24 — Palace Norton Street, Chauvel Cinema and Palace Central, Sydney Wednesday, May 3–Wednesday, May 24 — Palace Electric, Canberra Wednesday, May 3–Wednesday, May 24 — Palace James St and Palace Barracks, Brisbane Wednesday, May 3–Wednesday, May 24 — Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas, Adelaide Thursday, May 4–Wednesday, May 24 — Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, Palace Westgarth and The Astor Theatre, Melbourne Thursday, May 4–Wednesday, May 24 — Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Palace Raine Square, Perth Thursday, May 4–Wednesday, May 24 — Palace Byron Bay The German Film Festival Australia tours the country from throughout May 2023. For more information, visit the festival website.
