There's another wine festival hitting Sydney — but this one's shining the spotlight on the lesser-known colours and varieties. For Wine De Jour's first event on Saturday, December 2, there's going to be a focus on rosé and skin-contact wine. By bringing together producers from around Australia, the festival's organisers hope to quell some of the misconceptions often made about these special drops. Sweeping claims and assumptions about these varietals will be challenged, such as 'the darker the rosé, the sweeter the flavour' or that 'all orange wine must be bitter, astringent or cidery'. It's run by Glen Cassidy, founder of Cake Wines, and Sydney sommeliers and wine writer Samantha Payne. Over 30 winemakers will join in on the conversation, including Vinteloper, Swinging Bridge, Raidis Estate and Captains of Trade. And due to this huge gathering of different production methods, colours and ethoses you'll walk away more confident and with a well-rounded knowledge of these up-and-coming varieties. Wine De Jour will take place in the carpark out the back of the Cake Wines Cellar Door in Redfern with DJs Boogie Monster and Tom Studdy mixing the music and food provided by neighbours Bart Jr. There are two three-hour sessions on the day: at 3.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are $46 and include wine tastings.
If you've always wanted to follow in the footsteps of Rasputin, but just couldn't find the right Contiki tour, we're here to help. There's a certain stigma that, in order to travel through Russia, you need to simultaneously wield a knife and be prepared to denounce democracy at any moment. There's some weird idea that it's filled lunatics, haters of English-speakers and that every street peddler possesses a stare of death. Well, take it from our experience — that's a total load of rot. Russia is home to some of the world's most incredible architecture, highest fashion and interesting people, and flights are on par with the cost of a trip to London. English isn't widely spoken — and you might have to adopt a diet of carrot cake and Cornettos to avoid attempting the language — but if you're chasing great experience over a great tan, lock in Russia for your summer vacay. [caption id="attachment_554510" align="alignnone" width="1280"] farhad sadykov via Flickr[/caption] WHERE TO GO If it's your first time in Russia and you're strapped for time, stick to the Western side — that is, St Petersburg, Moscow and Sochi. St Petersburg is an artist's dream, Sochi is the adventurer's city and Moscow is the New York of Russia (though they'd never admit it). Each city has every scene you can imagine — dive bars, high-end food precincts, live music venues, and a cathedral on every corner. If you want to experience a less hectic and clustered Russia — but still want to survive as an outsider — travel around the small towns outside Moscow, commonly known as the Golden Ring. It's a great route if you're chasing the peaceful life in the Russian province, beautiful countryside views and ancient architecture. [caption id="attachment_554526" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Kyle Taylor via Flickr[/caption] HOW TO GET A VISA Nothing great comes without at least one hurdle — and this one is a toughy. You're going to have to print some forms, post them off and pay some cash money for a little piece of paper to stick in your passport. Normally you have to apply for a Russian visa in person, but the Sydney consulate kindly allows you to post your application in. Check out their guidelines here. On your application form, you'll have to make sure you list every single country you've visited before. Seriously, if you forget that brief stopover you had once in Singapore, there'll be no visa for you. Oh, and you'll need an invitation from the hotel or hostel you're staying at during your stay in Russia. If you're Airbnb-ing it, you will have to obtain an invitation online. Stress Free Visas is a reliable, UK-based company that will help you obtain an invitation compatible with your visa within a day (for $40). [caption id="attachment_554509" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Chao Mama Hostel[/caption] WHERE TO STAY Hostels in Russia are seemingly some of the cleanest and cheapest in the world, but, of course, you're always at risk of getting a flea-ridden dud. In St Petersburg, Chao Mama hostel should be your go-to — seriously, work your trip around their availability so you can stay here. Its location is walking distance to St Isaac's Cathedral and a bed in a six-bed dorm is around a stupidly affordable $9AUD a night. They have homemade Belgian waffles for breakfast and the entire place is slick, clean and modern. If you're willing to empty your bank account on a luxe stay, then W Hotel is by far the trendiest, most convenient stay this side of the Baltic. In Moscow, just Airbnb it. The best hostels are on Airbnb anyway, and there are truly some pretty remarkable, not-too pricey views you could be waking up to. It's pretty easy to sort the reliable hosts from those looking to lend their dirty couch out for some quick cash. Use your know-how and, for God's sake, don't take a chance on a place that only shows one pixelated photo of a kettle. And if the listing is written in Cyrillic, steer clear — purely because making contact is going to be more hassle than it's worth. [caption id="attachment_550676" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Severyanin[/caption] WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK Unfortunately, not all Russian cuisine isn't something to get excited over. It seems all the time they spent building cathedrals, museums and invading different countries meant they simply forgot to forge an interesting cuisine. Most meals are meat and potato based, and farm-fresh fruit and vegetables are somewhat of a myth. So you can either eat cheap Chinese (of which there is plenty of) or take our advice on where to find meat and potatoes done not so bad. The traditional, must-try Russian dishes are stroganoff, borsch (beetroot soup), meat dumplings and honey cake. You can order delicious interpretations of these meals in St Petersburg's Severyanin. Their honey cake is famous (with good reason), and every Sunday from 2-5pm they host a Russian tea ceremony, complete with the homemade pies, jams, bagels and sweets pictured above. Other great restaurants in the area include Zoom Cafe (for breakfast), Pelmenya (for dumplings) and Macarena (for seafood). [caption id="attachment_550687" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Cafe Pushkin[/caption] In Moscow, head to the Novokuznetskaya District for a great bite. You can grab anything from a Japanese curry from Tanuki to a croque madame from Paul French Bakery — and of course there's some great Russian restaurants around too. Cafe Pushkin is one of the more famous, pricey restaurants in Moscow with renowned borsch, a dining room as posh as a museum and service that will have you feeling as royal as Catherine II. They're open from breakfast for dinner, and we recommend booking a table a few days in advance. On the drinks front, here's a serious don't: don't drink homemade vodka. If you're a traveller that has a tendency to make friends with locals and hence accept their invitation for a meal in their cabin in the woods, then this is your hot tip. Stay away from the moonshine. It'll probably kill ya. Just stick to the store-bought spirits, beers, illegally-imported Moldovan wine and rooftop bars (of which, there are many). [caption id="attachment_554517" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Larry Koester via Flickr[/caption] WHAT TO DO St Petersburg is a marvel of a city, made of more colours than Faber Castell HQ. Its architecture is incredible — the kind of exotic avant-garde structures, alien sensibilities, and strict Stalin-era designs you really won't find in any other country. St Isaac's Cathedral, The State Hermitage Museum and The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood are all must-sees. You could easily stay here a week and still not have done everything in and around St Petersburg, but the necessary out of town stops include heading to Pushkin to visit Catherine Palace and Peterhof State Museum Preserve. If you're a solo traveller, make a hearty attempt at catching public transport there, but if you're in a group of three or more, a taxi is affordable (and makes the trip a lot easier). [caption id="attachment_554524" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Ana Paula Hirama via Flickr[/caption] In Moscow, allocate a good, sunny day to Gorky Park (pictured). Then another good, sunny day to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. Hire skates or a bike (not a Segway) at both places as each are enormous and almost impossible to see properly without a set of wheels. If you're looking for more galleries and museum, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Tsarytsyno Open-Air History and Architectural Museum and Lenin's Mausoleum (where you can see Lenin's embalmed body) all deserve top rungs on the to-do list. [caption id="attachment_550679" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Adam Baker via Flickr[/caption] OTHER TIPS Bite the bullet, and learn to read Cyrillic as well as basic phrases and words.This isn't Bali. Most everyone speaks Russian exclusively, with perhaps a smidgen of German or English. Spa-see-ba is thank you. Stras-voot-yeah is hello. Make sure you have the Google Maps app on your phone. It gives the correct metro lines and stopovers right down to the minute. Use Uber, and always put your address in before you head out in case you don't have internet — it's much easier to have the address stored than having to pronounce a Russian street name. You might find yourself in a traffic jam with an Uber driver who is about to crack it because he's being dolled by the mile, not the minute. That's a good time to say spa-see-ba. He'll probably call you a prostituka. Don't lose your passport. That visa inside is the most important thing you have in Russia. If you lose it, you'll be detained in our embassy, promptly kicked out of the country and dished out a five-year ban from returning. No ifs, no buts — and don't even bother with the waterworks. These guys have dealt with more international disputes than you have Instagram followers. The empathy card is about as useless as a Georgian flag in South Ossetia. There's so much to see and do in Russia, and this is really only a snapshot of what this country has on show. It's a place everyone should venture to at least once — and there's no riskier/better time then now. Here's some Boney M to get the ball rolling. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yTVWXYctoY[/embed] Top image: haylee via Flickr
A new designer cupcakery has quietly opened up in the backstreets of Darlinghurst. It’s impossible to walk past Black Velvet Sydney without stopping to stare at the extravagant window display — tier upon tier of cupcakes, lavish wedding cakes, prettily bowed boxes, and pots of crisp, white orchids. BV Sydney isn’t a mere cupcake shop; it’s a 'concept store' that offers a luxe bakery and cafe experience. The voguish veneer of the store is no surprise, as the owner Orlando Sanpo has a background in interior design. The Chanel-inspired interiors have a tasteful black-and-white colour scheme, elegant wall-mounted lampshades, Parisian-style marble and intricate wrought iron tables and simple Bentwood chairs. Cupcakes are gracefully arranged on tiered stands, and a range of sophisticated products are presented in a way you might expect from an upmarket perfumery. The assortment of frou-frou includes scented soy candles, reed diffusers, soaps and bath salts, jars of chocolate hazelnut or salted caramel spreads, cocoa-dusted sundried cherries, boutique coffee beans and a cabinet neatly ornamented with fancy chocolates. Black Velvet Sydney is the result of two years dedicated to understanding the art of cupcakes. After trialling copious recipes from renowned international bakers (such as the acclaimed Magnolia in New York and Hummingbird in London), in addition to French patisserie techniques for the buttercream frosting, Orlando eventually created what he considered a flawless cupcake. His endeavour was rewarded when pastry wunderkind Adriano Zumbo endowed BV Sydney the top three prizes at the Annual Bake Off awards this year. In case you’re wondering: the Lemon Vodka, the Italiano (coffee and chocolate) and the Black Velvet (double chocolate), respectively. The cupcakes are baked daily on site and we’d have to agree with Zumbo; the cake is wonderfully moist and fluffy, while the buttercream frosting is smooth, sweet and melts in your mouth. Orlando has created more than 100 flavours to rotate, so there will always be a new flavour to discover. The readily available signature flavours include the Lemon Vodka, Salted Caramel, Black Velvet and Passionfruit Velvet ($3.50/cupcake). Specialty seasonal flavours are introduced regularly, and be prepared for curious savoury combinations such as Bacon, Egg and Cheese; Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese; and Hot Dog. For those watching their waistline, Orlando’s cupcake recipe has is 40 percent less sugar than most. There is a cupcake to suit everybody’s needs, even sugar-free, vegan and gluten-free options. Despite the impeccable interior, there’s still a playfulness in the form of the mismatched crockery. They have a range of organic teas and also make a decent flat white ($3.5), which is quaintly served in an old-fashioned teacup. BV Sydney take their coffee seriously, collaborating with Melbourne-based roaster Single Estate to craft boutique batches of The Designer Blend coffee beans. For something more decadent, the rich 70 percent dark cocoa Madagascar blend (small $3.5) is one of our favourite hot chocolates in Sydney. For sunny days, top picks include the ice-blended drinks ($5.95) such as the cafe mocha made with silky Java chocolate ($5.95) or the bestselling salted caramel. Sydney's days of cupcakes aren't over yet; Black Velvet shows the bijou dessert trend is just hitting its stride. Words and images by Eddie Hart.
Collaboration is a fleeting thing. Gunning the creative engine so both muses fire to the same rhythm doesn't always catch, even if you have all the right parts in the right place. In the shadow of the city-wide laneway art projects around town, six street artists have braved joint artistry to fill up one of the laneways down the side of the Galeries. The narrow corridor will become a permanent home to art under the moniker of Lane Four, with its first show, Transient, an aMBUSH curated mash up of Sydney artists. Three oversized panels along the wall of Lane Four's airy hanging space each mix the styles of two matching artists. A calm Beastman creature is paired with a Phibbs three-colour face, Numskull's cellular geometry with Jumbo's leaky bird men and Max Berry's floating figures to complement Mark Alsweiler's naturalistic renderings. The results are large-scale works that seem to expand with dreams of colour, fauna and open plains. Lane Four is far from Sydney's only micro-gallery, but sitting on top of Town Hall station and easily discovered by a stray glance, it may prove to be the most accessible. Image by Jumbo and Numskull.
Bummed that you missed out on Splendour In The Grass tix? Luckily, Secret Sounds, the guys behind the Byron Bay music festival, have announced a stellar line-up of Sydney sideshow gigs in July and August. Get in quick - it's anticipated that tickets will literally self destruct like a mission impossible audio tape if you wait too long. Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but you get the gist - book now or forever miss out. Tickets go on sale on at 9am on Friday, May 4. THE AFGHAN WIGS In Australia for the first time, the recently reformed Wigs are one of the most acclaimed alternative bands of the early '90s. They'll be at The Factory Theatre on July 26 with material from across their back catalogue including Congregation and Gentlemen. BAND OF SKULLS Also playing at The Factory, the UK trio Band Of Skulls will be back on July 27, fresh from performances at Coachella, a UK tour and a mass of North American shows. This will be the first taste of their new album Sweet Sour, live for Australian audiences. COMMUNION: Michael Kiwanuka with Ben Howard London label Communion is presenting a series of special Splendour sideshows featuring artists Michael Kiwanuka, Ben Howard and Australia’s Tim Hart. As the brainchild of Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, this show on July 24 at The Factory Theatre is part of Communion's first fully curated tour. DJANGO DJANGO On August 1 at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory, art-rockers Django Django will be joined by The Cast of Cheers for their first performance down under. No doubt they'll be the happiest, clappiest East Londoners in town following the buzz they created at South By Southwest recently. HOWLER with ZULU WINTER From both sides of the Atlantic - Howler from Minneapolis and Zulu Winter from the UK - come two indie rock bands with a strong following from fellow artists like Arcade Fire and the Kaiser Chiefs. They play Oxford Art Factory on July 25. FRIENDS After blazing out of Bushwick in 2011 with singles ‘I’m His Girl’, ‘Friend Crush’ and a reputation for turning live gigs into spontaneous DIY parties, Brooklyn’s Friends will be coming to Australia for the first time, playing at The Standard on July 26. ELECTRIC GUEST Electric Guest have been working with the likes of Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, The Black Keys, U2) to produce their debut album Mondo. They'll be bringing their seamless fusion of Motown, indie rock and '60s French pop to Oxford Art Factory on July 31. FATHER JOHN MISTY Having departed Fleet Foxes in 2011, Joshua Tillman celebrates the release of his debut album Fear Fun under the new moniker of Father John Misty. Come and experience the playful melancholy and soulful musings at Oxford Art Factory on July 27. YOUTH LAGOON Youth Lagoon, the moniker of 22-year-old Trevor Powers, return with a full band for an intimate gig on July 28 at The Factory Theatre.
Overwater dining, meals and sips with a waterside view, taking dinner and drinks up a few levels: around Brisbane, none of these are new experiences. That said, grabbing a bite or a beverage at a restaurant that's not only perched over the water — ten metres above the Brisbane River, in fact — but is also part of one of the city's bridges is something that the Queensland capital has never seen before. Meet Stilts, which is now open on the Kangaroo Point Bridge. The modern-Australian eatery is not just Brisbane's first-ever restaurant on a bridge, but also Queensland's first of its kind — even if it's the second that hospitality company Tassis Group has launched with ties to the River city's newest river crossing. Mulga Bill's Kitchen & Bar, which is sat at the foot of the structure on the Alice Street side, opened before it. Where that venue is a casual all-day diner, Stilts is all about an elevated experience (including literally) in unique surroundings. "Stilts is more than just a restaurant — it's a destination in itself, where guests can experience firsthand the things that make our city so unique. I wanted to create a place where every last detail celebrated the spirit of our community, from the people, culture and lifestyle to our access to some absolutely incredible produce," said Tassis Group's Michael Tassis. "Not only is it raised to capture the stunning views, it's designed to share with loved ones, create memories, and to enjoy the best produce and talent Queensland has to offer." If the 100-seater restaurant's design looks familiar, that's because it takes inspiration from a Sunshine State staple: Queenslander homes. Of course, most such structures around Brisbane don't boast a 180-degree vantage peering out over the Story Bridge, Kangaroo Point Cliffs and Brisbane City Botanical Gardens, including through floor-to-ceiling windows. Also key elements of Stilts: an alfresco balcony, a casual bar area and an indoor dining room that allows ample light in, as well as a 12-person private dining room. Under Head Chef Dan Hernandez (formerly of fellow Tassis venture Fosh, and also ex-Restaurant Dan Arnold and Agnes), the Queensland-focused menu starts with beef tartare in cannelloni shells and potato pavé, serves up caviar three ways — in blinis and beef tartlets among them — and then spans everything from Australian wagyu dumplings and Moreton Bay bug linguine to pistachio gelato and yuzu curd. If you're keen on a surf-and-turf option, Stilts' version features 28-day aged sirloin and swordfish steak, and will set you back $135. Diners can also treat themselves to angus and wagyu steaks from the grill, charcoal or miso-yuzo glazed lobster, and a wagyu tasting experience with three cuts of meat. For those feeling spoiled for choice, three different banquets will make your picks for you, ranging from $155–240 in price — the latter with the three caviar options. Drinks-wise, more than 180 drops are on the wine list, alongside beer, spirits and non-boozy sips. As well as Mulga Bill's, Stilts joins Tassis Group's growing lineup of Brisbane restaurants; see also: Opa Bar + Mezze, Yamas Greek + Drink, Massimo Restaurant and Bar, Longwang, Fatcow on James St, Fosh Portside, Rich & Rare, Pompette and Dark Shepherd. Find Stilts Dining at 147E Alice Street, Brisbane CBD, on the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge — open from 11am–9.30am Sunday–Thursday and 11am–10pm Friday–Saturday. Head to the venue's website for more details. Images: Allo Creative / Markus Ravik / Brisbane City Council.
Diamond Head Campground lies in the sheltered southern corner of Dunbogan Beach, on the watery edge of Crowdy Bay National Park. There's plenty to do, from swimming in the calm, aquamarine water to exploring spectacular Split Rock. Walkers will be keen to conquer one of the nearby hiking trails, which take in swamp mahogany and paperbark forests, as well as coastal panoramas aplenty. Just check NSW National Parks website first, as some are still closed because of the bushfires. The campground has 75 pitches for tents, but you're welcome to pull up in your caravan or motor home, too. Among the facilities are showers, toilets, barbecues and picnic tables, so you're fully covered here. [caption id="attachment_770660" align="alignnone" width="1920"] National Parks NSW[/caption] Top image: National Parks NSW
You could say that humans and space got fairly chummy in 2012 as they reconnected in many new and exciting ways. It was a fantastic year for NASA. As many new discoveries and advancements were made with the planet Mars, we have extended our view of space and said goodbye to a space legend. Through highs and lows, Earth has become but a dot in our ever-increasing knowledge of the universe, and these moments have significantly increased potential for space exploration in the future. Perhaps the worlds of Futurama, Star Trek, or Total Recall are really not that far away after all. Here are 10 of the most remarkable space moments from BBC News that occurred in 2012. 10. The Supermoon Once a year, a cosmic event occurs in which the full moon appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than in other months. 2012's 'Supermoon' occurred in May and produced some truly spectacular photographs. 9. First Triathlon in Space NASA astronaut Sunita Williams became the first person to run, bike, and swim her way through a triathlon - in space. The US commander of the Expedition 33 crew on the space station 386km from Earth completed the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in California along with her fellow athletes. She completed the course using exercise equipment: a stationary bike, a treadmill, and a strength-training machine specially formulated for weightlessness. 8. 26 New Alien Planets in 11 Solar Systems In January 2012, NASA announced that its Kepler telescope discovered 11 previously unknown solar systems, within which there were 26 alien planets, known as exoplanets. The size of these planets ranges from 1.5 times larger than Earth to even bigger than Jupiter, with their orbital periods ranging from 6 to 143 days and all of them located closer to their stars than Venus. This find almost doubled the quantity of planets discovered by Kepler in its two-year history and reinforces the exponential number of planets, particularly exoplanets, that exist in our universe. 7. The Earth Sings The Earth really gained a voice as NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission managed to capture radio waves emitted by energetic particles of the Van Allen belts in the magnetosphere and rendered them into an audio recording. This 'chorus' apparently sounds similar to a whale's song. 6. Space Shuttle Endeavour's LA Trek Endeavor was the fifth and final spaceworthy shuttle to be used in NASA's space shuttle program. The retired orbiter conducted 25 space missions during its 19-year career from 1992 to 2011. In October, the 155,000 pound Endeavor made its final mission, trekking the 12-mile journey from the Los Angeles International Airport to the Californian Science Centre, avoiding trees, utility poles, and the mass of stunned onlookers. 5. SpaceX Dragon attaches to the ISS The Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX, a private American space transportation company, that in May became the first commercial spacecraft to be successfully attached to the International Space Station. The Dragon delivered a series of cargo shipments, which brought 20 metric tons of supplies into space. This advancement brings the possibility of private space flight significantly closer to reality. 4. Space Jump Breaking the world record for not only the highest jump from a platform (128,100 feet), the longest distance freefall (119,846 feet), and the maximum vertical velocity (833.9 mph), stuntman Felix Baumgartner also broke the YouTube record for the most concurrent views ever on livestream (8 million viewers). This Austrian daredevil really took record-breaking to new heights. 3. Farthest Ever View into the Universe This view captured by the Hubble Space Telescope depicts thousands of galaxies within the constellation Formax, billion of light years away. The composite image from 10 years of telescopic views shows planets so far away that they don't even exist anymore. The title eXtreme Deep Field feels highly appropriate here. 2. Goodbye to a Space Pioneer and Legend The end of an era arrived when the world bid farewell to Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon in 1969. The world renowned astronaut passed away at 82 after complications from a heart bypass surgery but will forever be remembered for his incredible feat. 1. Curiosity Rover Makes History on Mars The most impressive advancement to occur in the space arena in 2012 was the Curiosity Rover's incredible experiences on the red planet. Since making her landing on August 5 — an event so tense it was deemed 'the seven minutes of terror' — the rover has discovered an ancient streambed where water once flowed, analysed soil, rock and atmospheric samples on the planet, been the first machine to 'check in' on Mars, and snapped an incredible self-portrait that would leave even MySpace users flabbergasted. And her trip has only just begun, with 20 more months to go before her return.
Giant fluorescent orange fluffy birds, 30 ft high dogs shooting lasers from their eyes, costumes made entirely of marijuana leaves and onstage fake fellatio on a man wearing a Bill Clinton mask. Whatever you think of pop's favourite shock poppet, Miley Cyrus' Bangerz tour has been one of the global Tickets To Have. Now the Wrecking Baller is bringing Bangerz to Australia this October. Kicking off in Melbourne on Friday, October 10 at Rod Laver Arena, Cyrus will embark upon a five-date tour of epic visual proportions. Incapable of being able to stop, Cyrus will then head to Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth for what will most likely be Australia's most 'grammed tour since Beyonce's recent run. Tickets are going for $99.90 to $149.90, plus booking fees. Dainty Group presale tickets kicks off at 10am local time on Friday, June 20. General public tickets via Ticketek go on sale Monday, June 23 at 10am. Miley Cyrus Bangerz tour dates: Melbourne - Rod Laver Arena, Friday, October 10 Brisbane - Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Wednesday, October 15 Sydney - Allphones Arena, Friday, October 17 Adelaide - Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Monday, October 20 Perth - Perth Arena, Thursday, October 23
Bondi is no stranger to a multi-faceted all-day venue. The suburb's sunny demeanour, famous beach and vibrant nightlife mean that cafes, bar and restaurants can thrive serving up early-morning post-surf coffee, hearty lunches or late-night drinks — so why not create a venue that can do them all? The latest east Sydney spot to emerge as a culinary triple threat is Makaveli. This pocket-sized Glenayr Avenue spot comes from Jacob Hill and Phill Cooke. The pair link up after both cutting their teeth at ever-expanding Sydney hospitality groups. Hill has been at the helm of Cali Press' eastern suburbs venues, while Cooke has been managing the Milpa Collective's Bondi outposts (Taqiza, Calita, Carbon). Together, Cooke and Hill have created a sleek and inviting neighbourhood haunt. The interiors have been designed by Milpa collaborator Imogen Reed, with the team opting for a minimalist Italian-style fitout that hopes to place the emphasis on flavoursome bites, quality coffee and top-notch drinks. Joining the duo and heading up the kitchen is Head Chef Jessica Young. The accomplished chef has mastered her craft in Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe before hitting Sydney to lead Makaveli's food offerings. Together, all three have created a menu inspired by Italian classics and popular modern Australian dishes. And yes, there's burrata and kingfish crudo. At its core, the eats revolve around quick and easy breakfast options, plus tasty share plates at night. From 8am, you can score freshly baked slices of loaded focaccia topped with roasted zucchini and mozzarella, or ricotta, chilli, garlic and fennel broccolini. The brekkie options and Will & Co coffee keeps rolling until midday, with other early-morning feeds including granola bowls and banana bread with strawberries and icing sugar. Following the morning rush, Makaveli shuts its doors before emerging from hibernation at 5pm Wednesday–Sunday. The By Night menu traverses a range of bread and bite-sized options, as well as larger share plates, centred predominantly around vegetarian dishes done right. Cooke also takes on the role of Head Bartender, whipping up elderflower spritzes and the menu's four unique negronis. As for the wine list, things have been kept simple with a couple of whites, a couple of reds, a couple of sparkling and a rosé from the team's favourite Australian producers. Makaveli is now open at Shop 2/179 Glenayr Avenue, Bondi Beach — operating 6am–midday Monday–Sunday and 5–11pm Wednesday–Sunday.
When it was announced that Fiji was planning to open its borders to Australian tourists back in November, you could almost hear the collective woosh of laptop lids opening as everyone went straight to travel booking websites. After a long two years without island escapes, it seems like everyone is suddenly posting pics of boarding passes and palm tree-lined pools —and we simply love to see it, as our close island neighbours need our tourism and support more than ever. Airlines have ramped up their offerings in response — when the border opening was announced, Virgin Australia was quick to restart its twice-daily return flights to Nadi from Sydney, daily return flights from Melbourne and thrice-weekly return flights from Brisbane. These days, Jetstar, Fiji Airways, Virgin and Qantas are offering direct return services. So yes, get ready for some beach pics to fill your feed. But it's fair to say we're a little out of practice with international travel, and things have changed a lot since the last time we whisked away. Whether you're heading off for some sunshine or you're considering booking in a much-needed holiday, we chatted to the crew at Tourism Fiji to find out everything you need to know about testing requirements, currency conversion, and what happens if you test positive for COVID while you're away. What are the testing requirements for travelling to and from Fiji? For fully-vaccinated travellers, there is no need to complete a pre-departure test. Instead, Fiji requires all tourists aged 12 and over to confirm they have a pre-booked RAT test to be taken anytime within 72 hours of arrival in Fiji. This can be done at a hotel or nearby testing facility — you can find more information about that here. You'll need to provide proof of your vaccine status when checking in at the airport – digital or paper certification will cover you — and for holidaymakers, medical travel insurance with international coverage that includes COVID-19 cover is required. Before returning home to Australia, you'll need to complete a Digital Passenger Declaration, which can be found here. What happens if I test positive for COVID-19 when I'm in Fiji? So, the nightmare has happened. But don't stress — there are worse places to recover from COVID than a Fijian resort. You'll be placed in isolation, where possible remaining in the room you are already in. Tourism Fiji says that occasionally resorts will put people up in a room with a private pool to wait out their isolation in their own space, while still being able to swim and relax. If travel companions are testing negative, they can choose to join the positive person in isolation or stay in their original accommodation separately — that's a fight waiting to happen if we've ever heard one. If you're still testing positive after the seven-day isolation, a medical certificate will be provided by health officers in Fiji confirming that you are no longer infectious so you can travel home freely. What are the mask-wearing protocols in Fiji? Wearing a mask is optional in Fiji but it's recommended to protect yourself and the locals – especially when in indoor spaces, on public transport, or in taxis. You'll also need to wear your mask in the airports and on the plane, except when eating or drinking. How long is the flight and do I need to prepare for jet lag? Flying from Brisbane is the quickest way to get to Fiji — the flight time is only around two-and-a-half hours. The flight time from Sydney to Nadi is approximately four hours, while Melbourne to Nadi is closer to five — have a snooze on the flight and you'll be sipping a cocktail poolside in no time. Fiji is two hours ahead of Australia (AEST), so there shouldn't be major jetlag issues. Besides, you're on island time now, so turn off those alarms. Where can I stay in Fiji? Across Fiji's 333 islands there is a range of accommodation offerings from bougie to budget. Whether you're choosing a five-star resort on a private island or a family-friendly apartment, the island nation is famous for its hospitality, so you're bound to have a great time. If you're keen to splash out, check out Concrete Playground's guide to luxe Fijian stays to splash out on. For stays a little more off-grid, check out this guide to a "less obvious" Fijian holiday. Do I need cash in local currency? What's the exchange rate? Most retailers and tourism providers take card payments and have paywave, so if you're travelling on a package tour with transfers included it's unlikely you'll need cash. But Tourism Fiji says that if you are planning on travelling by taxi you're best to keep some Fijian cash on you as most don't take a card. ATMs at Nadi airport are the best place to get cash out on arrival — you will be charged a transaction fee, so be aware it's best to get all the cash you'll need at once. And the most important question for any traveller… Do I need to bring an adapter for my wall plugs? Nope! In Fiji, the plugs and sockets are type I – the same as here in Australia. One less thing to think about when heading away. Top images: Sofitel Fiji, Six Senses Fiji
The combination brewery and bar is a staple in Sydney's Inner West with the area sporting dozens of quality venues brewing their own craft beers on-site. While you can find a wide array of these beer-loving haunts scattered around Newtown and Marrickville streets — from quaint independent operations to expansive King Street spots — they're much less common in Sydney's east. Curly Lewis is looking to change this and pioneer a new wave of brewpubs in the eastern suburbs, opening a 120-seat Campbell Parade venue that will be bringing freshly brewed craft beers and top-notch eats to Bondi. "We felt there was a gap in the market for beer-lovers in the eastern suburbs. You have to go to the inner west or northern beaches for a brewery experience," Curly Lewis co-founder Oli dos Remedios said. Easing into things, the bar will begin by producing two highly drinkable signature beers — the Curly Lewis Clean Cut Larger and the Bondi Hazy Ale. Two taps at the bar will be dedicated to these in-house beverages, while the rest will showcase a rotating selection of wildcard beers sourced from breweries near and far. Head Brewer Scotty Morgan says: "The brief for the beer was simple. We are brewing a stone's throw from the beach – our core beers needed a clean and easy drinking approachability, made for those baking hot beach days. We are confident that our range of beer will appeal to the average Aussie classic beer drinker through to an avid craft beer lover." As with all good bars, there's also a bank of spirits behind the bar ready to whip you classic cocktails and a wine list featuring local Australian drops with some funky skin-contact varieties on offer. In the kitchen, the co-owners of nearby Frank's Deli, Sammy Jukubiak and Ben Kelly have pulled together a menu that draws from modern Australian favourites and European classics. There are meatballs, croquettes and deli plates to start, Reuben sandwiches for your main, and basque cheesecake to finish it all off. Once you get a taste for the Curly Lewis brews, you can also find them at local venues and bottleshops including Bondi Beach Cellars, Beach Road Hotel, Neighbourhood, Salty's and Bondi Liquor Co. Curly Lewis is located at 102-106 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach. It's open 11am–11pm Tuesday–Saturday and 11am–10pm Sunday.
From an elevated 11-course spin on KFC and Disney degustations to nostalgia-driven menus themed around great British memories, Surry Hills fine-diner NEL continues to push the boundaries of creativity and invention with its contemporary takes on any theme it sets its attention toward. The restaurant's Executive Chef and Owner Nelly Robinson is leading the charge on these inventive degustations, assisted by a team of chefs with expert craftsmanship and a knack for inventing. Each time you venture to the Wentworth Avenue venue, you can expect something different — and something exceptional. When you opt to dine in this time, however, you'll have the chance to experience a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creative process with the return of the NEL test kitchen. The limited lunch series will pop back up on Saturday, September 30th, offering an exclusive sneak peek into the inner workings of the venue's creation process. NEL's test kitchen will return for a single instalment, offering a nine-course set menu of seasonally-inspired dishes dedicated to "all things spring". The acclaimed restaurant's chefs will build new, exciting dishes, some of which may feature on NEL's future menu — and you'll be among the first to trial them. On this particular journey, you'll be met with a stunning kaleidoscope of colour paired with flavours that'll lead you on a sensory exploration of the season. Keep up to date with the event's details at NEL's official website.
Australia's states have been known to serve each other some pretty stiff competition when it comes to world-class boozing and bartending. We've usually got a handful of cocktail haunts vying to take the top Aussie spot in the annual World's 50 Best Bars list (last year, that was Sydney's Maybe Sammy coming in at number 22) and innovative new venues are emerging on the scene all the time. In May, global bartending competition Diageo World Class ignited even more of that interstate drinks rivalry when it named its Top 100 Australian Bartenders for 2022, who would go on to compete for the coveted title spot. And now, after a few rounds of fierce contest and some exceptional mixology, we have a winner — Nick Tesar from Melbourne's Bar Liberty has been crowned this year's Diageo World Class Australian Bartender. Held in Sydney overnight, the final stage of the annual drinks competition saw five Aussie finalists battle it out behind the bar, as they showed off their skills across three whisky-focused challenges. Joining Tesar in the ring were fellow Victorian, Black Pearl's Kayla Saito, as well as Maybe Sammy's Sarah Proietti, Eduardo Conde from Glebe's No.92 GPR and Samuel Cocks from Western Australia's Bar Rogue. The night's challenges included a mystery box-style task centred on Talisker Scotch, which Tesar owned with a cumquat-based cocktail creation, and a speed round during which the winner managed to smash out 12 show-stopping drinks in just five minutes. [caption id="attachment_623310" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bar Liberty, by Brook James[/caption] The newly-crowned bartending king will now go on to compete in the Diageo World Class global final in September, where he'll shake and stir up a storm alongside 55 other international hopefuls in a bid to be named World Class Global Bartender of the Year. He'll have a home-field advantage, too, with the competition to be held in Australia for the first time ever. It'll descend on Sydney as part of the World Class Cocktail Festival, from September 9–18. For full details on the Diageo World Class Australian Bartender competition and more info on Diageo World Class, check the Diageo Bar Academy website.
The restaurant bar is a curious beast. In recent times, it's gone from being something of an afterthought — at best, a prelude to the main event — to a considered part of the experience in many a restaurant. At its best, a restaurant bar is a destination in its own right. To shine the light on these spots, we've lined up some of the best restaurant bars in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for when you want to elevate your next night on the town. Round up your crew, get the booze flowing and your night is set.
Next time that someone hands you a $100 note, you can be forgiven for thinking that it looks a little different — because a new range of the green-hued currency will be released into circulation from Thursday, October 29. Australia's banknotes have been getting a makeover since September 2016, when a different $5 note started doing the rounds. It was followed by a revamped $10 in 2017, a sparkling fresh $50 in 2018 and a brand new $20 in 2019. For the upgraded $100 note, the design still celebrates engineer, soldier and civic leader Sir John Monash, as well as internationally famed soprano Dame Nellie Melba. They're both recognised in several ways on the new notes, with not only their portraits displayed prominently, but with microprint featuring excerpts of a letter written by Monash, as well as text from Melba's autobiography Melodies and Memories. As well as changed artwork (albeit keeping the same colour scheme as old notes), the new $100 boasts the same improved security features as the revamped $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes, which are largely aimed to stop counterfeiting. A clear window running from top to bottom is the most obvious, and contains a number of features such as a reversing number and flying bird. As mentioned above, the note also includes microprint, plus a patch with rolling colour. And, in great news for the vision-impaired, the new series of legal tender has a tactile feature to help distinguish between different denominations. As happened with the other denominations, the rollout will happen gradually. The existing $100 banknotes are still considered legal tender, so you can still keep using them. Australia's new $100 notes will start circulating from Thursday, October 29. For more information about the banknotes, head to the Reserve Bank of Australia website. Images: Reserve Bank of Australia.
Pre-work swims and afternoon picnics are better thanks to Petersham Park's friendly neighbourhood cafe that's reinventing the classic pool canteen. Splash Coffee took over the food and drink offering at the Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre in late 2023, setting up shop with standout coffee, loaded sambos, fresh salads and a freezer stocked full of ice creams. Splash is the second Inner West opening from the team behind Newtown's always-pumping Soulmate — an accomplished crew also boasting the minds behind northwest Sydney favourites The Tuckshop and the now-closed Baron. Open seven days a week, Splash begins to stir from the early hours, swinging open its doors from 6.30am each morning. That means pre-work swims paired with a hearty brekkie and Single O coffee are well and truly on the cards. The all-day breakfast section of the menu spans granola, smashed (or splashed) avo and B&Es (or V&Es — vego and egg rolls). If you're after something bigger, picks include fish and chips, a selection of sandwiches and a loaded Bradman burger. The fish sandwich is a certain summer hit, packing thin pieces of fish schnitzel, American cheese, house-pickled beetroot, white onion, shredded lettuce and a signature sauce between two ultra-fluffy pieces of white bread. Summer swimmers can head to the takeaway window inside of the pool in order to elevate their dips with a heap of nostalgic treats on offer at the cafe — including a chip butty (with optional curry sauce), milkshakes, smoothies and your classic ice cream selections. Splash's proximity to the park also opens it up to servicing leafy picnics under the nearby trees. The team has even supplied picnic blankets, which you can borrow when you order a coffee or a feed. A bloody lovely neighbourhood spot.
Remember the good ol' days, when American teen flicks depicted gangly teens with real problems and real teeth? When high school misfits preferred to swap witty anecdotes at detention to sing-alongs at the glee club? When a vampire was only a vampire once he donned wayfarers and a leather jacket? And when we were all pretty certain we'd be riding hoverboards to work by the time we hit 30? Those days may be gone, but they are not forgotten. In honour of the late Corey Haim, that movie guy Marc Fennell (Triple J, The Circle, Hungry Beast) is hosting an '80s flick-fest of the greatest cult classics the decade had to offer. His stellar selection includes After Hours (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), Blue Velvet (1986, RIP Dennis Hopper), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), The Blues Brothers (1980), Back To The Future (1985), The Breakfast Club (1985), Sixteen Candles (1984) and Die Hard (1988). And to squeeze a little more '80s-geek out of us all, He-Man, She-Ra and Voltron cartoons will feature in between movies. Entry to three movies as well as The '80s Are Back exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum will set you back $30. Attendees are invited to get into slumber-party spirit by wearing their best PJs — with prizes for best dressed (bedhead mullets are highly recommended). I'll be in attendance with my good friends Heather, Heather and Heather. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hsv_NQFbQzo
"I will find you. No matter what it takes." So promises Squid Game protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae, Deliver Us From Evil) in the clip that fans of the Netflix sensation have been waiting for for years: the first proper glimpse at what's in store when the series finally returns for its second season. One of the best new TV programs of 2021, Squid Game was such a huge smash that Netflix confirmed at the beginning of 2022 that more was on the way, and also dropped a teaser trailer for it the same year — but, it didn't include any footage of what's to come. The platform then announced new cast members in 2023, which came with a video; however, again, it wasn't a real sneak peek. To help start 2024, the service has finally unveiled a scene from the show's upcoming return, which it has already confirmed will stream sometime this year. The snippet of Squid Game season two is brief, arriving in a broader trailer for Netflix's slate for the year — as it releases every 12 months. In the footage, Seong Gi-hun, aka player 456, answers a phone call while at the airport with his newly crimson locks. He's soon told "you're going to regret the choice you've made". Cue his statement of vengeance; Squid Game meets John Wick, anyone? There's no other new information on season two right now — including no exact release date — but Netflix has also dropped a few images from the forthcoming episodes, complete with neon hues, those pivotal red outfits and familiar symbols. As already revealed, Lee Byung-hun (The Magnificent Seven) is also back as the masked Front Man. With Lee Jung-jae, he's joined by Wi Ha-joon (Little Women) as detective Hwang Jun-ho, plus Gong Yoo (Train to Busan) as the man in the suit who got Gi-hun into the game in the first place. A show about a deadly competition that has folks battling for ridiculous riches comes with a hefty bodycount, which means that new faces were always going to be essential in Squid Game season two. Yim Si-wan (Emergency Declaration), Kang Ha-neul (Insider), Park Sung-hoon (The Glory) and Yang Dong-geun (Yaksha: Ruthless Operations) have all joined the series. New photos from Squid Game Season 2 -- coming this year. Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), Recruiter (Gong Yoo) and Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), and a new character played by Park Gyu-young. pic.twitter.com/8xRC1EvQPr — Netflix (@netflix) February 1, 2024 If you somehow missed all things Squid Game when it premiered, even after it became bigger than everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton, the Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning series serves up a puzzle-like storyline and unflinching savagery, which unsurprisingly makes quite the combination. It also steps into societal divides within South Korea, a topic that wasn't invented by Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's excellent Oscar-winning 2019 thriller, but has been given a boost after that stellar flick's success. Accordingly, it's easy to see thematic and narrative parallels between Parasite and Squid Game, although Netflix's highly addictive series goes with a Battle Royale and Hunger Games-style setup. Here, 456 competitors are selected to work their way through six seemingly easy children's games. They're all given numbers and green tracksuits, they're competing for 45.6 billion won, and it turns out that they've also all made their way to the contest after being singled out for having enormous debts. Netflix turned the show's whole premise into an IRL competition series as well, which debuted in 2023 — without any murders, of course. Squid Game: The Challenge has already been picked up for a second season. Check out Netflix's teaser for Squid Game season below: Introducing the very first look at SQUID GAME SEASON 2. Coming this year. pic.twitter.com/fzRzdtHRDY — Netflix (@netflix) February 1, 2024 Squid Game season two will stream via Netflix sometime in 2024. We'll update you when an exact release date is announced. Images: Netflix.
Rich, magnificent and a little bit fancy are all things that come to mind when truffles are on the menu. But do we know anything about them, really? Long-time favourites of fine dining restaurants, truffles are now popping up on cafe menus too, having entire festivals thrown in their honour — they've even been added to beer, for goodness sake. In order to dispel the air of mystery surrounding truffles (and just so we can stop pretending we know what we're talking about), we've called upon truffle aficionado Bernadette Jenner from Madame Truffles to set us straight about where to find them, how to eat them, and what makes them so magical. What are truffles? Truffles are a type of fungi, and are part of the genus tuber. While there are many different types of truffles, only a few are edible; the white truffle (tuber magnatum) and the black Perigord truffle (tuber melanosporum) are the most highly sought after. Truffles range in size from as small as a marble to as big as your fist and retail for around $2,500 per kilogram. They're found underground surrounding the roots of a host tree, which is often either oak or hazelnut. Currently only the black Perigord truffles are harvested in Australia. Originally pigs were used to sniff out truffles; however, most farmers use dogs these days, as pigs were notorious for eating their discoveries. "Fighting a pig for a truffle is probably not worth your life," says Jenner, and we believe her. Interestingly, the truffle has a pheromone in it that smells like a male boar, so the female pigs are actually searching for a mate, rather than a fine-dining delicacy. "In pig world it's actually the smell of the male that speaks to its dominance. It's not about how pretty it is or how much money it earns; the better smelling the pig, the higher up in the pecking order he is." Weirdly enough, the pheromones in male pigs are actually similar to that found in male humans. Figure that one out. Where do they come from? Australia is actually the fourth largest black truffle producer in the world, following closely behind Italy, France and Spain. Black truffles can be found all over the country. So where can you get the best ones? "As a general rule, there's a great truffiere in Pemberton, WA," explains Jenner. "Truffles from Braidwood in NSW are smoky and gorgeous, and you can also get good truffles from Tassie." So how do our truffles compare? Jenner says that Australian truffles are strong competitors in relation to their European counterparts. "About 95 percent of the truffles from WA are exported to Italy and America, and they fill up the Michelin star restaurants." When are truffles in season? In Australia, peak truffle season is from the end of May through to the end of August. One great thing about truffles is their unpredictability and the variety you can have from one harvest, as Jenner explains. "Each harvest is different and even truffles from the same tree can taste and smell different." This is the fourth year Jenner has run her pop-up shop Madame Truffles during the peak season, and she has noticed a definite increase in interest in truffles. Bernie puts this down to two reasons: "The truffieres know much more about what they're doing so not only are they producing more truffles, but the quality is great." The second reason comes down to us: we're craving something new and special. "People are feeling more confident and adventurous with food," she says. How do you cook with truffles? The possibilities here are nearly endless. Truffles love heat, which make them lovely additions to pasta or risotto, where you can either mix it in while cooking, or shave some on top to add depth to your meal. Jenner's hot tip is to keep things simple. "The truffle is the diamond," she explains. "I love a decadent breakfast, so I love putting heaps of the truffle in scrambled eggs and pop a little bit on top when I serve it." A little bit goes a long way with truffles, and it’s important not to overcook as that can decrease their flavour. Where can you get them? Truffles are purchased by weight and are most often ordered online through various truffieres around Australia. Part of the thrill of buying truffles is inspecting them yourself, and most importantly, smelling them. That's what makes going to Madame Truffles such an experience. "The truffles that you buy here, you would have smelled them, we don’t sell it to you without smelling it first," explains Jenner. As well as buying truffles whole you can also by them as products such as truffle pasta, truffle butter, truffle ice cream, and Madame Truffles is even making truffle Monte Carlos for the adventurous sweet tooth. Where to enjoy truffles in Sydney Sydney is home to a raging truffle scene, not just limited to restaurants with French words splattered around the menu and a wine selection that would cost more than the average weekly rent. Devon cafe in Surry Hills is known for their inexpensive approach to the truffle — the ultimate toastie with egg, gruyere, mushroom and truffle has become a locals' favourite in winter months. Bishop Sessa in Surry Hills takes pride in their truffle offerings (so much so that once a year in June they organise an all-truffle menu), while Mr Wong in the CBD puts an intriguing Asian twist on the humble truffle with black truffle and wild mushroom dumplings and poached pork, prawn and black truffle dumplings (all under $15!). Want to play chef? You can take home some of that sweet, sweet fungus-y goodness from food markets like Pyrmont Growers Market (but remember that truffles are seasonally dependent). If you are searching for truffles all year round, grocery Gourmet Life in Darling Point imports them from Europe. By Hannah Valmadre with Natalie Freeland. Feature image courtesy of ulterior epicure via photopin and ultimate truffle sandwich via @nutellasum. Other images thanks to Madame Truffles.
Popcorn, choc tops and cinema under the stars — it's all coming to Woolwich's Clarkes Point Reserve for the first time. Between Friday, September 28 and Monday, October 1, the Woolwich Open Air Cinema will crank up the projector and play four films over four nights. Get a dose of Pixar nostalgia with Finding Nemo, go over-the-top with Crazy Rich Asians, snuggle up to your nearest and dearest with a rewatch of Notting Hill and remember how young Matt Damon looked 21 years ago — and how great an actor the late Robin Williams was — thanks to Good Will Hunting. Gates open at 4pm each day, with the movies kicking off at 6.15pm — so if you arrive early, you have plenty of time to soak in the lower north shore surroundings. Picnics are welcome, but you can't bring your own alcohol; however, there's a bar selling not only snacks, but wine, beer, spritzes, and gin and tonics, as well as cheese and charcuterie platters for two, porchetta rolls, vegetarian baguettes, and chicken and chorizo paella. Image: Mary and Andrew via Flickr.
When Jetstar launched a big domestic flight sale in mid-June, it sold 70,000 seats in just five hours, with Australians keen to travel when and where they can in this pandemic-afflicted year. Today, Tuesday, November 17, the airline is kicking off another one — so get your clickers ready. The Return for Free sale kicks off at 3pm AEDT today and runs until 11.59pm AEDT on Thursday, November 19 — if it doesn't sell out prior. In the sale, you'll find cheap flights across 51 routes from destinations right across the country. And, as the name suggests, it's doing return flights for free. So, you buy your ticket to your destination and then Jetstar will cover your trip home. Of course, before you book one of the 400,000 return trips available, we suggest you check on the status of interstate borders wherever you'd like to visit. As everyone should know by know, border restrictions are still changing quite frequently depending on COVID-19 cases around the country. The NSW and ACT borders are currently open to everyone except those from Victoria, for instance, although that'll change come 12.01am on November 23 when the two regions reopen in full. As for Victoria itself, it is currently open — as it didn't shut its border, even during the state's recent lockdown. Queensland is still shut to Victorian and Greater Sydney residents, and will close to folks from Adelaide at 4pm on Tuesday, November 17. The Northern Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia are all open to parts of the country — with restrictions in the NT on folks arriving from metropolitan Melbourne and South Australia; in Tasmania on people from Victoria and SA; and in WA on those heading in from Victoria, NSW and SA. And in SA, it's open to everywhere except Victoria, with inhabitants of the latter allowed to visit from December 1. [caption id="attachment_773285" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] Now you know where you can and can't go, here are some of the deals — because, again, 51 routes are include in the sale. Sydneysiders can snag return tickets to Victoria for $65, Launceston for $89, Brisbane from $92, the Sunshine Coast for $96 and Hamilton Island for $151. Melburnians can book trips to Uluru for $165 and Darwin for $205. And Brisbanites can head to the Whitsundays for $89 and Hobart for $159. Yes, the list goes on. Tickets in the sale are for trips from February–August 2021, with exact dates varying in each region. So, if you're keen to get away, book some now and start planning. Jetstar's Return for Free sale runs from 3pm AEDT on Tuesday, November 17 until 11.59pm AEDT on Thursday, November 19, or until sold out.
In addition to making films, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street director Martin Scorsese loves films — and, like most folks who adore movies, he's not afraid to tell people. A few years back, the acclaimed American filmmaker named his scariest flicks of all time, which makes for quite the viewing list. The folks at the Hayden Orpheum obviously agree, because they've turned it into a film festival. From June 27, the Sydney venue is hosting the Martin Scorsese's Scariest Ever Films Festival. It's presented by David Stratton, and also features a retrospective of movies from producer Val Lewton as well. Most weeks until August 25, screening twice on Thursdays (at around 1pm and 7pm) and again on Sundays (with times varying), the beloved cinema will spook you out with a double of retro horror classics. Leading the charge are well-known titles such as The Shining (timed nicely, given sequel Doctor Sleep drops later this year), The Exorcist, and an Alfred Hitchcock double of Psycho and Rear Window. You can also get scared by Scorsese's top frightening flick, aka Robert Wise's 1963 version of The Haunting; Jacques Tourneur's satanic cult effort Night of the Demon, from 1957; and Jack Clayton's 1961 masterpiece The Innocents. Including the Lewton-produced Cat People, The Leopard Man and Isle of the Dead as well, there's 14 films on the full lineup, with full-price tickets costing $19 per double feature.
This week, Sydney welcomes Melbourne-based artist Ash Keating for a live install of Gravity System Response, his first public project in Sydney. Keating has shown around Australia and internationally, including at the National Gallery of Victoria and in Tokyo, Seoul and Jogyakarta, but it's a rare chance to see him in action. Especially to watch his unique process of using the high-pressure force of fire extinguishers to spray paint metres into the air. Part outdoor mural, part performance art, Gravity System Response draws on Keating's background in graffiti, video, conceptual work and performance art to create "camouflage paintings" in response to the colours and energy of the space around them. The name of the work is a reference to the gravity effect of working with paint so high up. Keating plays with gradient and drips, making decisions on the fly as he lets the work "build itself". As well as an exploration of energy, abstraction, gravity and colour, Gravity System Response is a celebration of the place of art and public space in cities; it aims to support a vibrant, open city full of art, music and culture. The work is set to be a timely piece as Sydney debates how (and when and how late) we use public spaces and the role that art has to play in the life of a city. Keen to see it all come to life? The live-action artmaking is taking place at The Domain from Wednesday, December 5–Thursday, December 6, between 11am–2pm. Keep an eye on the Facebook event to find out more details, including the exact location. This new work is presented by the City of Sydney's Art & About program and curated by Billie and Elliott Routledge of Funstudio.
If regular documentaries are boring you, banish the yawns and have a peek at what Jon Rose has been up to lately. Ghan Tracks is the master new-music maker's latest documentary that is part radio play, part installation and part musical performance — plenty to keep your eyes and ears focused. Inspired by the famous train line that stretches from Adelaide to Darwin, Rose (30 Ways with Time and Space) includes original film footage of the Afghan Express and dwells on ideas of progress within an Australian perspective. With help from Sydney's Ensemble Offspring and Melbourne's Speak Percussion, Ghan Tracks combines video projections, live instrumentation and experimental sounds that will see some everyday objects take a musical change of vocation. Ghan Tracks nestles in comfortably as part of Performance Space's Score season, a five-week festival bursting at the seams with sound, dance, music and live art. https://youtube.com/watch?v=jrsX12HXAT0
First, the glorious news: since Thursday, August 5, all has been right in Melbourne's cinema scene again. For the first time 2019, the Melbourne International Film Festival has been taking over the city's picture palaces, filling them with the best movies it can find and letting film lovers live their most joyous lives. Yes, it's as wonderful as it sounds. Now, the sad news for Melburnians: come Sunday, August 21, this year's in-person MIFF comes to an end. Thankfully, MIFF Play, the festival's online platform, is sticking around for another week. That's a wonderful development for cinephiles located well beyond Melbourne, too, with the digital program showing nationally. Finding something to stream is never difficult these days, but until Sunday, August 28, your usual queue can wait. It'll still be there when you're doing MIFFing on your couch — after popping your own popcorn, pouring a glass of wine, and politely asking your partner or housemate to turn their phone off, to complete the cinema-at-home experience. But when that date rolls by, MIFF Play's impressive lineup won't still be there at the touch of a button. It's the MIFF you can hit up when you can't be at MIFF, and these are our ten must-see picks. Happy watching. HIT THE ROAD How fitting it is that a film about family — about the ties that bind, and when those links are threatened not by choice but via unwanted circumstances — hails from an impressive lineage itself. How apt it is that Hit the Road explores the extent that ordinary Iranians find themselves going to escape the nation's oppressive authorities, too, given that the filmmaker behind it is Panah Panahi, son of acclaimed auteur Jafar Panahi. The latter's run-ins with the country's regime have been well-documented. The elder Panahi, director of Closed Curtain, Tehran Taxi and more, has been both imprisoned and banned from making movies over the past two decades, and was detained again in July 2022 for enquiring about the legal situation surrounding There Is No Evil helmer Mohammad Rasoulof. None of that directly comes through in Hit the Road's story, not for a moment, but the younger Panahi's directorial debut is firmly made with a clear shadow lingering over it. As penned by the fledgling filmmaker as well, Hit the Road's narrative is simple and also devastatingly layered; in its frames, two starkly different views of life in Iran are apparent. What frames they are, as lensed by Ballad of a White Cow cinematographer Amin Jafari — with every sequence a stunner, but three in particular, late in the piece and involving fraught exchanges, nighttime stories and heartbreaking goodbyes, among the most mesmerising images committed to celluloid in recent years. Those pictures tell of a mother (Pantea Panahiha, Rhino), a father (Mohammad Hassan Madjooni, Pig), their adult son (first-timer Amin Simiar) and their six-year-old boy (scene-stealer Rayan Sarlak, Gol be khodi), all unnamed, who say they're en route to take their eldest to get married. But the journey is a tense one, even as the youngest among them chatters, sings, does ordinary childhood things and finds magic in his cross-country road trip, all with zero knowledge of what eats at the rest of his family. WE WERE ONCE KIDS A wide array of movies first hit silver screens in 1995, as they have every year since the advent of the medium. It was the year of Clueless, Before Sunrise, Billy Madison, Empire Records and Casper — and of Casino, Apollo 13, Babe, Showgirls and Seven, too. But only one is the subject of excellent documentary We Were Once Kids, which sees Australian filmmaker Eddie Martin (All This Mayhem, Have You Seen the Listers?) peer back at perhaps the most controversial movie of the 90s. That's the era's judgement, as archival news clips make plain from the outset. When Larry Clark's Kids reached cinemas, the mainstream press was scandalised at its portrait of New York City, the teens who live in it, and the drugs, sex, parties and violence that's shown to be an everyday part of their lives. Even if any of that was actually shocking, it'd have nothing on the tale around the tale — one about a tight-knit group of friends growing up in poverty, meeting Clark and a then 19-year-old Harmony Korine, finding their existence turned into a movie, and getting little more than some screentime and $1000 to show for it. Hamilton Chango Harris is one such Kids alum, aka a skater who temporarily became a movie star. He and his pals enjoyed Clark and screenwriter Korine's attention, and the break from their routines — with skating and partying already a break from their troubles, including parents struggling with addiction, at home. Harris is We Were Once Kids' key subject, but Martin understandably focuses on Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter, who had the biggest hopes for post-Kids fame but tragically aren't here now to tell their own stories. This is a gripping and damning doco about filmmakers who catapulted to success on the back of exploiting the working class, and about the complete lack of care they had for the lives they co-opted and the fallout. One story, from Harris, Pierce and Hunter's friend Highlyann Krasnow, says oh-so-much. She opted out of featuring in Kids when she saw how Clark and Spring Breakers' Korine had sexualised their group. That didn't change the film at all; instead, Chloë Sevigny (Russian Doll) and Rosario Dawson (DMZ) were cast, and are now household names. YUNI Again and again in Yuni, a heartbreaking clash echoes. Its sounds stem from schoolyard gossip, superstitious tut-tutting, ultra-conservative demands and reminders that its titular character shouldn't steal anything purple that she sees. In the third feature from Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini (The Seen and Unseen), Yuni (Arawinda Kirana, Angkringan) is a 16-year-old in a Muslim society where agreeing to an arranged marriage is the only thing truly expected of her. When the movie begins, a proposal from construction worker Iman (Muhammad Khan, Memories of My Body) already lingers. After she declines, her classmates chatter. Then another offer comes from the much-older Mang Dodi (first-timer Toto ST Radik), who is looking for a second wife. Yuni knows the accepted myth that any woman who refuses more than two proposals will never wed, but she's also keen to make her own choices. She has a crush on teacher Mr Damar (Dimas Aditya, Satan's Slaves), and spends time with the younger and infatuated Yoga (Kevin Ardilova, Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash). She's also the smartest student at her school, with dreams of attending university. Andini's film is full of specifics, diving into the minutiae of Yuni's life — surveying Indonesian society and its customs, the roles thrust upon women from their teenage years, and enormous gap between the path that she's supposed to follow and the yearnings of her heart. This is a movie where scenes of its protagonist hanging out with her friends, whether kicking back on the grass talking about boys or dressing up with her beautician pal Suci (Asmara Abigail, Satan's Slaves 2: Communion), could be scenes from almost any teenage girl's life. Of course, then the reality sinks in, whether in discussions about husbands, babies and virginity tests, or in the teary worries about horrific power imbalances. The ability of poetry to capture everything that can't be easily uttered otherwise also floats through Andini's deeply moving picture, so it should come as no surprise that Yuni is both naturalistic and lyrical. It's precise and universal, follows an easily foreseeable path and yet proves full of surprises, and is astutely directed as well — and Kirana is a star. MASS Two couples, one church, six years of baggage and two absent children. That's one of the equations at the heart of Mass. Here's another: four phenomenal performances, one smart and affecting script that tackles a difficult subject in a candid and thoughtful way, and one powerful directorial debut by actor-turned-filmmaker Fran Kranz. Best known for on-screen roles in Dollhouse, The Cabin in the Woods, Homecoming and Julia, the latter guides gripping portrayals out of Reed Birney (Home Before Dark), Ann Dowd (The Handmaid's Tale), Jason Isaacs (Operation Mincemeat) and Martha Plimpton (Generation) — and crafts a harrowing yet cathartic drama out of the aftermath of a far-too-familiar tragedy, too. The reason that Richard (Birney), Linda (Dowd), Jay (Isaacs) and Gail (Plimpton) are in the back room at a place of worship, discussing their kids with heartbreak etched across their faces? Richard and Linda's son Hayden was a school shooter, killing Jay and Gail's son Evan in his spree, then turning the gun on himself. What can anyone say in that situation? Kranz, who both writes and directs, keeps his screenplay simple — but as loaded with emotion as the scenario obviously requires. He keeps his filmmaking flourishes just as restrained as well; that's a craft in itself, but the cast rather than the technique is the focus here. At first, they utter loaded lines with weighty awkwardness, aka the kind that fills and silences a room. Then, each in their own way, they unleash the hurt, anger, regret, sorrow, misery and more that's festering inside their characters, and that no amount of talking can ever completely capture. Mass is a musing on that very fact, too: that even the most spirited of dialogues, slinging about both carefully chosen and heatedly spur-of-the-money words, can't fix, explain or do justice to the pain that Richard, Linda, Jay and Gail are going through. The end result would make an exceptional, albeit unshakeably distressing, double with We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Fallout or Vox Lux, or even Elephant or Polytechnique as well. LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE To create is to become immortal. Write something that's hopefully committed to print or pixels forever, or direct a film that'll ideally keep reaching eyeballs in some format year after year, and a part of you — the part you've invested in time, sweat, tears and creativity — lives on eternally. That notion haunts playful and perceptive Filipino genre-bender Leonor Will Never Die, which understands the power that making a movie has both for the talents involved and the audiences watching. The eponymous Leonor Reyes (Sheila Francisco, Gulong) is an action-film director, albeit one whose heyday is behind her. She stopped stepping behind the camera after a tragedy, and her family has suffered in the aftermath. With her husband Valentin (Alan Bautista) gone and her favourite son Ronwaldo (Rocky Salumbides and Anthony Falcon) dead, only her other offspring, the concerned, discontent and constantly critical Rudie (Bong Cabrera), remains at her side. But Leonor still types away her ideas, and fantasises about how they'd turn out — including when she's knocked unconscious in an accident, only to wake up inside one of her scripts. To create something, such as a film, its screenplay or both, is also to become a deity in a way. That concept also lingers over Leonor Will Never Die, too, because we're all gods over our own existences. When first-timer feature writer/director Martika Ramirez Escobar has her protagonist thrust into a space that should only dwell in the character's head and pages, this constantly twisting feature ponders agency, control and the power of our choices — and, often, the lack thereof. It explores escapism and wish fulfilment as well, all while proving an inventive and pulpy action flick itself, a thoughtful family melodrama, a rumination on life and regrets, a musing about grief and, frequently, an absurd comedy. Case in point re the latter: Leonor, the cinema-obsessed filmmaker, is knocked into her coma by a falling TV. Once you've seen the film, you'll realise that that sounds like something she'd dream up herself. THE HUMANS If you're the kind of cinephile who likes to theme their viewing around the relevant time of year — holiday-related, primarily — then you're clearly always spoiled for choice. Christmas movies, horror flicks at Halloween, Easter-relevant films: you can build a binge session out of all of them (several in fact, depending on the occasion). The same applies to Thanksgiving, all courtesy of the US, and The Humans is the latest addition to the November-appropriate list. But while it ticks a few easy boxes, including bringing a family together to celebrate the date, steeping their get-together in awkwardness, and having big revelations spill out over the course of the gathering, this A24-distributed release is far creepier and more haunting than your usual movie about America's turkey-eating time of year. Based on Stephen Karam's Tony-winning play, and adapted and directed for the screen by Karam himself, it's downright unsettling, in fact, and for a few reasons. There's the tension zipping back and forth between everyone in attendance, of course; the bleak, claustrophobic, rundown setting, in a New York apartment close to ground zero; and the strange sounds emanating from other units. As a result, seasonal cheer is few and far between in this corner of Manhattan, where the Blake family congregates in Brigid (Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart) and her boyfriend Richard's (Steven Yeun, Nope) new abode. Also making an appearance: parents Deirdre (Jayne Houdyshell, Only Murders in the Building) and Erik (Richard Jenkins, Nightmare Alley), Brigid's older sister Aimee (Amy Schumer, Life & Beth), and their grandmother Momo (June Squibb, Palmer), who has dementia. No one is happy, and everyone seems to have something that needs airing — but there's always the feeling that, in any other location, this might've truly been a joyful affair. Discussions about dreams and nightmares prove revealing, but The Humans points out the thin line between both, whether we're slumbering or waking, several times over in its talky frames. MILLIE LIES LOW A scene-stealer in 2018's The Breaker Upperers, Ana Scotney now leads the show in Millie Lies Low. She's just as magnetic. The New Zealand actor plays the film's eponymous Wellington university student, who has a panic attack aboard a plane bound for New York — where a prestigious architecture internship awaits — and has to disembark before her flight leaves. A new ticket costs $2000, which she doesn't have. And, trying to rustle up cash from her best friend and classmate (Jillian Nguyen, Hungry Ghosts), mother (Rachel House, Cousins) and even a quick-loan business (run by Cohen Holloway, The Power of the Dog) still leaves her empty-handed. Millie's solution: faking it till she makes it, searching for ways to stump up the funds while hiding out in her hometown, telling everyone she's actually already in the Big Apple and posting faux Instagram snaps MacGyvered out of whatever she can find (big sacks of flour standing in for snow, for instance) to sell the ruse. There's a caper vibe to Millie's efforts skulking around Wellington while endeavouring to finance her ticket to her dreams — and to the picture of her supposedly perfect existence that she's trying to push upon herself as much as her loved ones. Making her feature debut, director and co-writer Michelle Savill has imposter syndrome and the shame spiral it sparks firmly in her sights, and finds much to mine in both an insightful and darkly comedic manner. As she follows her protagonist between episodic efforts to print the legend — or post it one Insta picture at a time — her keenly observed film also treads in Frances Ha's footsteps. Both movies examine the self-destructive life choices of a twentysomething with a clear idea of what she wants everyone to think of her, but far less of a grasp on who she really is and what she genuinely needs. While some framing and music choices make that connection obvious, the astute delight that is Millie Lies Low is never a Wellington-set copy. WE ARE STILL HERE It begins with stunning animation, shimmering with the rich blue hues of the sea. From there, everything from lush greenery to dusty outback appears in its frames. The past returns to the screen, and a vision of the present finds a place as well — and crossing the ditch between Australia and New Zealand, and venturing further into the South Pacific, is baked into the movie's very concept. That film is We Are Still Here, which makes an enormous statement with its title, responding to 250 years of colonialism. Of course, filmmakers in the region have been surveying this history since the birth of the medium, because the topic is inescapable. Combining eight different takes from ten Indigenous filmmakers instantly makes We Are Still Here stand out, however — and this Pacific First Nations collaboration, which opened Sydney Film Festival before coming to MIFF, isn't short on talent, or impact. Australian filmmakers Beck Cole (Here I Am), Danielle MacLean (Carry the Flag), Tracey Rigney (A Chance Affair) and Dena Curtis (Back to Nature) add their parts, as do New Zealand directors Tim Worrall (Head High), Richard Curtis (Nanakia), Renae Maihi (Waru), Miki Magasiva (The Panthers), Chantelle Burgoyn (short Tatau) and Mario Gaoa (Teine Sa). Some of their chapters explore heated discussions about whether to fight back, others find understanding in unlikely places, and another heads into the First World War. The same passion — the same determined survey of what it means to live in countries forever changed by James Cook's landing — beats within each, whether peering at the animated stars, trying to survive in the trenches or pondering what might come is earning attention. Understandably, it makes for not just potent but sincere, weighty and moving viewing. PIGGY Hell is other people in Spanish horror film Piggy, an observation that's been made countless times on-screen. Hell is also today's always-online world, another familiar statement. Still, a movie doesn't need to trade in completely new observations to stand out — which this bullying-revenge film definitely does in a plethora of ways. Sadly, its title stems from the taunt slung in its protagonist's direction much too often. A resident of a small, sleepy Spanish village close to the Portuguese border, Sara (Laura Galán, Unknown Origins) is called other names, too, none of them kind. She's also almost drowned by her tormentors during a trip to the local pool, where they're as cruel as anyone can be about her body. That experience comes with consequences, however, when a kidnapper strikes. Sara is a witness, the three mean girls that've made her life miserable go missing, and the right next step isn't straightforward. Galán is astonishing in Piggy, reteaming with writer/director Carlota Pereda after also starring in her 2018 Goya Award-winning short of the same. This full-length expansion is a vicious marvel, too — and it isn't afraid to get brutal either thematically or physically, or to plaster gory sights across its imagery. Indeed here, seeing a murdered corpse weighted down at the bottom of a public pool isn't a pretty vision, unsurprisingly. That said, it also pales in comparison to the nastiness continually thrust Sara's way, and to everything the film sinks a knife into about being a woman today in the process. Piggy is also astonishingly stylish, using its Academy-ratio frames to ramp up the sense of claustrophobia to an immersive degree. Pereda has enjoyed stints behind the lens since 2008, spanning television, shorts and features, but this immediate must-see deserves to put her on the path to a great genre career. LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES There's no doubting that MIFF loves Melbourne. In the festival's 70th year, it's celebrating that fact in a huge way, too, courtesy of a Melbourne on Film program strand. That's the part of this year's overall festival lineup that surveys the way that the Victorian capital has been seen on the big screen over the years, complete with 25 examples — spanning everything from The Story of the Kelly Gang, aka the world's first full-length film, through to the original Mad Max. One absolute must-see, in general and as part of this MIFF showcase, hails from the 90s. The tale it tells couldn't be more relatable, even if you weren't a uni student navigating all of life's chaos three decades back. Indeed, if you only watch one movie from MIFF's Melbourne love-in, Love and Other Catastrophes is that pick — as well as a stellar 1996 debut by writer/director Emma-Kate Croghan, who was only 23 when she made this micro-budget gem. The focus: two film students, Mia (Frances O'Connor, The End) and Alice (Alice Garner, Jindabyne), who've just moved into a new place. They're in need of another housemate, and — as the title makes plain — they do indeed have love and other catastrophes to weather. For starters, while Mia's girlfriend Danni (Radha Mitchell, Girl at the Window) is keen to join them, that'd take their relationship to another level. Then there's Alice's romantic woes, involving both the resident university ladies' man Ari (Matthew Dyktynski, Offspring) and the quiet, besotted Michael (Matt Day, The Unusual Suspects). Yes, as well as being an astute and amusing rom-com, Love and Other Catastrophes is also a who's who of Aussie talent — and the picture that helped put O'Connor and Mitchell on the road to everything from AI: Artificial Intelligence and The Conjuring 2 to Pitch Black and Man on Fire. MIFF Play, the 2022 Melbourne International Film Festival's digital fest, runs from Thursday, August 11–Sunday, August 29. For further details, visit the MIFF Play website.
"You know you're like the tenth guy to try this, right? It never works out for the dipshit in the mask." So scolds TV reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox, Shining Vale) in the latest trailer for Scream VI, saying what everyone that's ever watched this slasher franchise has long known. But, if bad past outcomes for fellow Ghostfaces were going to stop the next killer in the horror-film saga from getting stabby, there wouldn't even be a new flick to begin with. If you like scary movies, then you've likely watched a Scream film or five over the last quarter of a century. And, across that period — ever since the OG feature became a box-office smash in 1996, then delivered 1997's Scream 2, 2000's Scream 3, 2011's Scream 4 and 2022's Scream, plus TV spinoff Scream: The TV Series — you've seen the saga's mask-wearing killer Ghostface slash his way through the fictional Californian town of Woodsboro multiple times, as well as a college in Ohio and then Hollywood. This time, however, he's following in The Muppets' footsteps and making a date with Manhattan. In both the initial Scream VI teaser trailer from back in 2022 and the just-dropped full sneak peek, New York City has an unwanted guest — and the current person donning a Ghostface mask is more than a little obsessed with their task. Early in the clip, there's even a shrine to the franchise so far, taking a trip down memory lane through the saga's history. There's also another familiar face: Hayden Panettiere (Nashville), returning to the fold as Kirby Reed following Scream 4. She joins Cox as Weathers, the last Scream's Melissa Barrera (In the Heights) and Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) as sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets) as the siblings' film-obsessed pal Mindy among the existing franchise players making a comeback to get stalked by Ghostface once again. Or, make that Ghostfaces. In the two trailers so far, it's clearly Halloween, and costumes abound on a NYC subway. Among all that spooky attire: more than one black-clad person in a Ghostface mask, making Sam, Tara and Mindy more than a little distressed. Ghostface also whips out a gun in a convenience store, slinks around New York's streets and gets Gale on the phone. Does the latter signal an end to one of the series' original characters? Amid references to other horror movies, and to the franchise's own past, that's how those kinds of scenes usually play out. Whatever's in store for Gale, Kirby and company — and whether Kirby might be the killer this time around, because this series does love links when it comes to Ghostface's identity — will be revealed in early March, when Scream VI hits cinemas. Ready or Not's Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett return to direct, as they did with 2021's Scream. Also involved, featuring on-screen: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and The Other Two's Josh Segarra, Servant and The Grand Budapest Hotel's Tony Revolori, and Australian Nine Perfect Strangers and Ready or Not star Samara Weaving, plus Dermot Mulroney (Umma) and Henry Czerny (another Ready or Not alum). Check out the full Scream VI trailer below: Scream VI releases in cinemas Down Under on March 9. Images: Philippe Bossé.
The warmer months are here, and our bodies are ready to take our indoor fitness routines to the outside world. Think yoga. Think nature. Think combining the two for the perfect summer activity. As well as mixing up your usual vinyasa routine, doing yoga in natural environments has great benefits for mental health since it combines the benefits of exercise with the restorative effects of being in nature. But where can you realign those chakras outside? We're here to point you to a few golden outdoor spots to practice your asanas. We've also found a few teachers who'll help you through the moves, but these spots are also excellent for when you need a solo session with just you and nature. Either way, make sure to be sun safe and do your sun salutations from the shade when that fiery ball you're saluting is at its strongest (11am–3pm). A sunrise or sunset yoga practice is prime for avoiding peak UV time and for ensuring you aren't a total sweaty mess by the end of class. Whatever time of day you practice, though, make sure to apply that SPF 30+, wear some protective clothing and lay your mat in the shade. NARRABEEN SURF CLUB, NARRABEEN BEACH Nestled halfway up the Northern Beaches, Narrabeen Beach is one of the most consistently clean beaches in Sydney, partly due to local conservation efforts aimed at protecting the ecosystems where Narrabeen Lagoon meets the sea. Slop on that sunscreen, plonk your mat right down on the sand with Louise Kelly of Surfside Yoga, breathe in the fresh air and flow to the calming sound of the waves rolling in. As a bonus, you can often spot dolphins here, giving you the full David Attenborough yogi experience. Corner of Ocean and Albert streets, Narrabeen BONDI BEACH A sweeping view of Bondi Beach, the splash of salt spray, an outdoor lap pool on hand and an outdoor yoga sesh makes an ideal start to any day. Yoga By The Sea runs sunrise classes at the southern pocket of the world-famous beach on Tuesday and Friday mornings, with sessions focusing on strength, fitness and flexibility. Can't make it to Bondi? Classes also take place at Bronte, Manly and Freshwater. 1 Notts Avenue, Bondi Beach [caption id="attachment_852734" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Joppe Spaa (Unsplash)[/caption] MANLY BEACH So, you've mastered yoga on land and you're looking for a new challenge? Look no further: Manly's Flow Mocean has just the ticket with its weekend stand-up paddleboarding yoga classes. Paddle out to the floating studio for a 60-minute class that promises a lighthearted yet challenging practice that caters to just about any fitness and experience level. Prefer to stay on land? Flow Mocean also offers kayak yoga — no, it's not yoga on a kayak, but rather taking a kayak from Manly Kayak Centre Wharf to a secluded beach where you'll have a class on sand before taking a refreshing ocean dip afterwards. [caption id="attachment_852737" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hopefilmphoto (Unsplash)[/caption] YOGA IN THE PARK Health, happiness and community are at the heart of the mission of registered charity Live Life Get Active. Its online and IRL fitness workshops welcome people from all walks of life to stay healthy and active, with classes led by professional trainers. The charity offers regular yoga classes in parks throughout Sydney, from Cronulla to Castle Hill, offering yogis of all experience and fitness levels a chance to practice outdoors. The best part? All classes are absolutely free. If you are looking for more places to feel a sense of connection in New South Wales, head to visitnsw.com.
After attracting more than 15,000 visitors last year, Blak Markets' National Indigenous Art Fair is back for a third run. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from all over Australia will take over Circular Quay's Overseas Passenger Terminal for two days with a visual feast of paintings, sculptures, textiles and accessories. Expect to see artworks representing a huge number of remote centres — from Amata's (South Australia) Tjanpi Desert Weavers to Babbarra Women Centre of Arnhem Land's community of Maningrida women. Throughout the weekend, stalls will be peddling artworks, jewellery, gifts, homewares and Indigenous food and drinks. In between wandering the stalls, try some authentic bush tucker from Indigenous food stalls. You can also immerse yourself in the creative process at one of many workshops and demos. There'll be cooking with Australia's first hatted Indigenous chef Clayton Donovan and Melbourne's catering wiz Mark 'Black' Olive, mesmerising weaving collaborations with some of Australia's most skilled weavers as well as some shellwork workshops. The 2019 NAIDOC theme is 'Voice. Treaty. Truth. Let's work together for a shared future' and the art fair's many hands-on workshops and demonstrations highlight this. The market will be soundtracked by live musicians, too. Listen out for Maddie Lyn, pop-folk duo Microwave Jenny and Rebecca Hatch (2017 Triple J Unearthed High Indigenous Initiative Winner). Plus, there will be performances by Wagana Dancers and Jannawi dance clan. The National Indigenous NAIDOC Art Fair will take place between 10am–6pm on Saturday, June 29 and between 10am–4pm on Sunday, June 30. Free entry for all visitors. For more info, visit the website. Images: Destination NSW and Warlukurlangu Artist.
It's been a long time between drinks for Sydney dance floors and, if you regularly parked yourself in front of the DJ in your pre-COVID-19 life, you might be on the hunt for a dance-filled night now that restrictions have been rolled back. The Lansdowne has you covered with its weekly indie dance nights courtesy of party collective All My Friends. In recent years, All My Friends has hosted club nights across Sydney. Most recently, it had found its home at The Bank's upstairs space Waywards for weekly nights — pre-pandemic, that is. Now, the club night has now found a new berth at The Lansdowne. To kick things off, it returns this weekend for eight hours of good music and even better dance moves. Expect to hear tunes from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Tame Impala, Robyn, Glass Animals, Phoenix and Rufus. Obviously, that list goes on. The dance floor will be open and tunes will be blaring from 9pm–5am on Saturday, April 3 — and entry is free. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J294A-R1Cjk
It's ten years since Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio decided to fill a Melbourne alleyway with tunes in 2005. Since then, a relatively unknown Gotye played in a basement, Chk Chk Chk ran across the Sydney College of the Arts rooftop, Lorde happened and Laneway became the very first Australian festival to migrate overseas. This year, the once quiet achiever of the Australian festival scene, Laneway Festival blows out the candles with one of its biggest (but not necessarily commercial) lineups yet. Kicking off in Singapore on Saturday, January 24 in The Meadow, Gardens by the Bay, Laneway will run through seven dates, including Sydney's Sydney College of the Arts on February 1 and Melbourne's Footscray Community Arts Centre and River's Edge on February 7, finishing up at its new home in Fremantle's Esplanade Reserve and West End on Sunday, February 8. But where did Laneway all start (in case you're in the dark)? What did The Avalanches and a dare have to do with it? How did they manage to survive the festival circuit in the face of common Australian festival crash-and-burnery? Let's take a little saunter through the alleyways, warehouse lots and overseas ventures of Laneway — the Australian festival who settled into the country's infrastructure from the smallest of veins. Where it all hatched. St. Jerome's Laneway Festival was born in 2005, when Danny Rogers helped Jerome Borazio book music for his Melbourne laneway bar, St. Jerome's. The every-Sunday 'Summer Series' was born (where The Presets and Architecture in Helsinki played small sets) and the two decided to expand the idea into a Saturday night residency for their mates, The Avalanches. Said Avalanches challenged Rogers and Borazio to make a big ol' birthday shindig for St. Jerome's bar, which would have to close the whole lane. "We said ‘Why not throw a first birthday party for the bar?’ We got excited and then thought ‘Well why don’t we try and close this Laneway down?" recounts Borazio on the Laneway site. "After a few drinks with The Avalanches one night we asked, ‘If we closed this lane down would you guys play? They said ‘You won’t be able to close this lane. So if you do, we’ll play.’ About 1400 showed up and watched Architecture In Helsinki, Art of Fighting, Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set, The Dears, Eskimo Joe, Gersey and Ground Components and those jokey dare-makers The Avalanches play the very first Laneway. Sydney's turn. Keeping the fire stoked in Melbourne, the Laneway crew decided to expand the concept to Sydney after a chance meeting with super promoter Michael Chugg. "I bumped into Michael Chugg at a health retreat and said to him, 'We have this festival in Melbourne. Check it out, see what you think. He called the next day and got us up to Sydney," says Jerome Borazio on the Laneway website. Thanks to Chugg and his team, Sydney got the green light. Snuggled amongst Circular Quay's Macquarie Square, Reiby Place and The Basement, Laneway saw a rainy but successful run in Sydney that year. Headliners Broken Social Scene were the squealworthy element of the time, alongside Art of Fighting, Augie March, Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set, Cut Copy, Dane Tucquet, Darren Hanlon, Decoder Ring, Faker, Gersey, Jens Lekman, Les Savy Fav, Mercy Arms, Mountains in the Sky, New Buffalo, Pivot, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Pop Frenzy Sound Unit, The Posies, The Raveonettes, The Temper Trap, Wolf & Cub and Youth Group over the two cities. Brisbane joins the crew. With Melbourne and Sydney's Laneway chapters under control, Brisbane's first Laneway was held in '07 behind the city's beloved venue, The Zoo. The lineup saw the likes of The Walkmen, Yo La Tengo, Camera Obscura, Peter Bjorn and John, Snowman, Archie Bronson Outfit, Bumblebeez, Casino Twilight Dogs, Dan Kelly, Dappled Cities Fly, Expatriate, Fionn Regan, Gerling, Gersey, Ground Components, Holly Throsby, Love Is All, Macromantics, Midnight Juggernauts, My Disco, The BellRays, The Crayon Fields, The Shaky Hands, The Sleepy Jackson, The Temper Trap and Youth Group play in the teeny laneway out the back — as well as Sydney and Melbourne's laneway set-ups. The Laneway Empire was growing. Oh hey, Adelaide. Heading south-west, Laneway 2008 saw Feist, Gotye, Dan Deacon, The Presets, Stars, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Panics, The Vasco Era and Okkervil River all smooshed themselves into Fowler's Live, all up in the North Terrace. They were joined by Violent Soho, The Cool Kids, The Holidays, Via Tania, Batrider, Bridezilla, Devastations, Little Red, Rudley Interrupted and The Brunettes. Meanwhile, the Melbourne festival expanded — out of Caledonian Lane to Drewery Lane and Londsdale Street. The times were a-changin'. Perth, you're up. Heading to Western Australia for the first time, Laneway 2009 found a new, additional home in the Perth Cultural Centre. Beats were the dominant force this year, with Girl Talk, Stereolab, Buraka Som Sistema, Pivot (with the vowels intact) and Four Tet sharing the stage with Tame Impala, Architecture In Helsinki, Born Ruffians, Canyons, Cut Off Your Hands, Daedelus, El Guincho, Holly Throsby, Jay Reatard, John Steel Singers, Mountains In The Sky, No Age, Port O’Brien, Still Flyin, Tame Impala, Tim Fite, The Drones, The Hold Steady and The Temper Trap. The Laneway crew talk of 2009 as the year of visible expansion in Perth of course, but particularly in the other citie. According to the Laneway website, "a rapidly expanded site, shifting regulations, wild hype and high temperatures contributed to the Melbourne show very suddenly (and publicly) outgrowing itself. Overcrowding and long queues soured an otherwise strong musical showing. And while a realignment of stages in Adelaide was deemed a success by the growing crowds, Sydney’s Macquarie Park location also began showing signs of its limitations." Woah, things got a little turbo-charged in 2010. With one of its biggest lineups yet, Laneway expanded their venues in several cities. Melbourne moved from its hallowed home to the riverside Footscray Community Arts Centre, while Sydney farewelled Circular Quay for Rozelle’s historic Sydney College of the Arts. With Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine, and The xx all making their Australian debut at Laneway (not too shabby), the venues were upsized to accommodate Bachelorette, Black Lips, Chris Knox and The Nothing, Cut Off Your Hands, Daniel Johnston, Dappled Cities, Dirty Three, Echo & the Bunnymen, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Hockey, Kid Sam, N.A.S.A., Midnight Juggernauts, Radioclit, Sarah Blasko, Street Chant, The 3Ds, The Middle East, The Naked and Famous, The Very Best, Warpaint, Whitley and Wild Beasts. But Laneway also made its first venture overseas, launching its first instalment in Auckland. According to Laneway, the crew teamed up with Chugg and New Zealand locals Ben Howe, Manolo Echave and Mark Kneebone to create the first Kiwi chapter of Laneway in Auckland's warehouse-dotted Britomart Quarter. And I mean, look at that bloody lineup, no wonder they had to find a bigger boat. Singapore, what's up. Held at Fort Canning Park, the first Singapore Laneway Festival was drenched in torrential rain — but that didn't douse the spirits of thousands of punters. Lineup-wise, goals were kicked yet again by the Laneway team: !!!, The Antlers, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Beach House, Bear in Heaven, Blonde Redhead, Cloud Control, Cut Copy, Deerhunter, Foals, Gotye, The Holidays, Holy Fuck, Jenny & Johnny, Les Savy Fav, Local Natives, Menomena, PVT, Rat Vs Possum, Stornoway, Two Door Cinema Club, Violent Soho, Warpaint, World's End Press and Yeasayer made their way to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Singapore and Auckland (who moved their camp from the Britomart Quarter to Aotea Square in 2011). Auckland finally bunkers down in Silo Park in the Wynard Quarter — its present home. This was a pretty big year for Laneway, steering the lineup toward top-of-the-alternative headliners: M83, SBTRKT live, John Talabot, Feist, Active Child and Jonti joined Anna Calvi, Austra, Bullion, Chairlift, Cults, The Drums, DZ Deathrays, EMA, Geoffrey O’Connor, Girls, Givers, Glasser, The Horrors, Husky, Laura Marling, Oneman, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Pajama Club, The Panics, Portugal. The Man, Toro y Moi, Total Control, Twin Shadow, Washed Out and Yuck. Detroit ahoy. Heading over to the US for their very first Detroit Laneway at Oakland University, the team capitalised on previously successful showcases as the likes of SXSW to bring in an American audience — making them the first Australian festival to migrate to the US. The likes of ADULT., AlunaGeorge, Beacon, Chet Faker, CHVRCHES, Deerhunter, The Dismemberment Plan, Flume, Frightened Rabbit, HAERTS, Heathered Pearls, Icona Pop, Matthew Dear, My Brightest Diamond, The National, Phosphorescent, Run the Jewels (El-P & Killer Mike), Savages, Shigeto, Sigur Ros, Solange, Warpaint, Washed Out and Youth Lagoon cranked out sets in Detroit — a huge undertaking for the Laneway crew. In Australalasia, the likes of alt-J, Flume, Jessie Ware, Chet Faker, Bat For Lashes, Divine Fits, El-P, Japandroids and Nicolas Jaar played alongside Alpine, Cloud Nothings, Henry Wagons & The Unwelcome Company, High Highs, Holy Other, Julia Holter, Kings of Convenience, MS MR, Nite Jewel, Of Monsters and Men, Perfume Genius, Poliça, Pond, Real Estate, Shlohmo, Snakadaktal, The Men, The Neighbourhood, The Rubens, Twerps and Yeasayer. A big ol' year. The year of our Lorde. Hitting #1 in the US, the NZ teenager cranked out memorable Pure Heroine sets at Laneway's most veering-toward-commercial year yet. The soon-to-be Grammy winner was joined by the likes of HAIM, Earl Sweatshirt, James Blake, King Krule, Warpaint, Run the Jewels (El-P & Killer Mike), Jaguar Ma and Vance Joy alongside Adalita, Autre Ne Veut, Cashmere Cat, Cass McCombs, CHVRCHES, Cloud Control, Danny Brown, Daughter, Dick Diver, Doprah, Drenge, Four Tet, Frightened Rabbit, GEMA, Ghost Wave, Jamie xx, Kirin J Callinan, Kurt Vile, Mount Kimbie, MT WARNING, Parquet Courts, PCP Eagles, Rackets, Savages, Scenic, The Growl, The Jezabels, The Observatory, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Vandetta, Watercolours, XXYYXX and Youth Lagoon. Epic. Here we are, ten years later and Laneway's making big moves to remain closer to the up-and-coming pulse than the superheadliners. As of this week, Laneway 2015 is upon us and the lineup is predictably kickass. Returning to the Australian touring circuit is UK on-repeat outfit Jungle, festival jaw-droppers Future Islands and Melbourne's lives-up-to-the-hype queen Courtney Barnett. Two of the biggest hypecards of the bunch, FKA Twigs and BANKS, will fight for the midnight hushed vocal crown. Then there's the ever-epic St. Vincent, punk-as-fuck UK band Eagulls, smooooooth king Flying Lotus, Harlem's top-of-the-game hip hop outfit Ratking and the triumphant returns of Rustie, Jon Hopkins, POND and crisp-as-blazes Caribou, alongside Andy Bull, Angel Olsen, Benjamin Booker, Caribou, Connan Mockasin, Dune Rats, Eves, Flight Facilities, Highasakite, Jesse Davidson, Jon Hopkins, Little Dragon, Mansionair, Perfect Pussy, Peter Bibby, Raury, Royal Blood, Seekae, Sohn, St Vincent and Vic Mensa. And last but not least, Mac DeMarco and his mum, Agnes. What a legend. Happy tenner, Laneway. Cheers to showing punters where the Good Music at, avoiding slapdash, off-brand superheadliners, keeping a finger on many overseas pulses and making onsite attention to detail a colossal priority. We're raising a plastic cup to another ten. Images: Laneway Festival - Simon Fergusson, Daniel Boud, Adrianna Polcyn, Alvin Ho, Nina Sandejas, Chris Schwegler, Annette Geneva, Yael Yaya Stempler.
Today, Eric Bana is a world-renowned film and TV star with a resume that spans Australian and Hollywood fare. Black Hawk Down, Hulk, Troy, Munich, Star Trek, Hanna, Aaron Falk movies The Dry and Force of Nature: The Dry 2, US television shows Dirty John and Untamed: they're all on the Aussie actor's resume. At the beginning of 2000, however, he had a part in The Castle as his sole big-screen appearance, alongside his small-screen sketch comedy work in the likes Full Frontal, plus a few episodes of medical drama All Saints. Then came Chopper. Ever since Bana portrayed Mark 'Chopper' Read in the exceptional Andrew Dominik (Blonde)-directed flick, it's been one of the first roles that springs to mind whenever anyone thinks about the Australian talent. Well-deserved accolades came his way, including Best Actor at the Australian Film Institute Awards (which have since become the AACTAs). If you need a reminder of why his performance demanded such praise — and the film, too — catching a 25th-anniversary cinema screening of the iconic feature will do the job. To celebrate a quarter of a century since Chopper first hit Aussie picture palaces, the film is returning to local big screens for a limited season from Thursday, August 21, 2025. As well as the movie itself — one of the finest Australian entries in the true-crime genre, and a stunning feature debut from Dominik — audiences will also see 13 minutes of bonus behind-the-scenes footage, chats with Bana, Dominik and Read among them. How does Bana look back on the role that made him an international movie star, and tells one of the most-infamous crime tales in Aussie history? "Chopper was an incredibly unique and distinctive character. Getting the chance to play someone like him is rare. It's always a treat if a film holds up over time, and I'm proud of its space in the Australian film landscape," he advises. This isn't Chopper's first return to the big screen — it also enjoyed 20th-anniversary sessions, pops up on retrospective programs and received the Hear My Eyes treatment at MIFF 2022 — but it's always worth watching in cinemas. Marking the leap from making music videos to features, the movie also helped catapult Dominik's career, too, with The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly and Blonde all following, plus episodes of Mindhunter, and Nick Cave-focused documentaries One More Time with Feeling and This Much I Know to Be True. Check out the 25th-anniversary trailer for Chopper below: Chopper is returning to Australian cinemas from Thursday, August 21, 2025.
Whatever Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz happen to be selling — and whenever, and in whichever films — audiences should always be buying. It isn't quite right to liken the acclaimed filmmaker's long-running collaboration with one of his favourite leading ladies to commerce, though, so another comparison fits better: whatever this duo birth into the world, viewers should embrace as a parent does a child. Across four decades now, the Spanish pair has gorgeously and soul-stirringly made cinematic art with the utmost understanding of how to make people feel. They know how people feel, too, and have the combined resumes best exemplified by Live Flesh, All About My Mother, Volver, Broken Embraces, Pain and Glory and now Parallel Mothers to prove it. Their shared filmography also constantly demonstrates another essential insight into human existence: that life is emotion, whether facing its beginning, end or both. Now helming his 22nd feature, Almodóvar has long filled his works with other recurrent inclusions and fascinations, many of which also burst onto the screen again here. When he initially united with Cruz on 1997's Live Flesh, she gave birth on a bus; in their second pairing, the Oscar-winning All About My Mother, she played a pregnant nun; with their most recent collaboration before this, Pain and Glory, she was mum to the writer/director's fictionalised surrogate — so that she's one of his titular matriarchs now is vintage Almodóvar. He brings back another of his veteran stars in Rossy de Palma (Julieta), paints with the vibrant-toned costume and set design that make his movies such a blissful sight for colour-seeking eyes, and focuses on mothers of all shades navigating life's many difficulties as well. Yes, Parallel Mothers is classic Almodóvar, but nothing about that description ever simply unfurls as expected. As the movie's moniker indicates, Janis, the almost-40 photographer that Cruz (The 355) inhabits with the quiet force and fragility that's second nature whenever she's directed by Almodóvar, is just one of Parallel Mothers' mums. Teenager Ana (Milena Smit, Cross the Line) is the other and, despite the feature's title, their stories keep converging. The two first meet in a Madrid hospital, where they share a room, give birth simultaneously, chat about how they're each going it alone with no father in the picture and quickly form a bond — as different as they otherwise appear, down to contrasting sources of support (Janis' brightly attired magazine-editor best friend Elena, which is where de Palma pops up, versus Ana's self-obsessed and distant actress mother Teresa, played by Estoy vivo's Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). Janis and Ana descend separately into motherhood afterwards, but twists of fate keep bringing them back together. Soapiness, aka the kinds of narrative developments characteristic of daytime TV, is another of Almodóvar's touches. But while his career has spanned films light and camp, dark and serious, and almost everything in-between, he inherently recognises that the line between what's dismissed as melodramatic contrivance and what people do truly experience is thinner than a blue slash on a positive pregnancy test. He unravels Parallel Mothers' story with that notion beaming underneath, and while also tackling a real and grim chapter of his country's history that he's never overtly confronted in his work. Before Janis and Ana can meet again and again, their lives and those of their infant daughters' forever intertwined, Janis gets in the family way to anthropologist Arturo (Israel Elejalde, 45 rpm) — who she snaps at a job, then asks to unearth the mass grave in her village that she suspects has housed her great-grandfather's body since he went missing in the Spanish Civil War. A lesser filmmaker would fail to convincingly stitch together Parallel Mothers' past and present, and wouldn't turn the picture into a missive of hope for the future as well — an ode to the ways in which women have weathered the ills, woes, wars and heartbreaks of oft-absent men, and a musing on how acknowledging that reality is a key step to reshaping it. Almodóvar is an exceptional filmmaker, of course, and so every bold move he makes here excavates multi-layered complexity, emotion and, to borrow his last release's name, pain and glory. His embrace of soap opera-style twists and the lingering shadows of Spain's recent history in tandem is chaotic, but his film never sports that air because it accepts it all as truth. There's no heightened histrionics — just the awareness that life is emotion because it's a state of ongoing trauma, as peppered with snatched moments of happiness and learning to appreciate what you can so that you can keep going on. Warm and radiant, and as great as she's ever been for Almodóvar or in any feature, the magnificent Cruz internalises this concept — of enduring and persevering, whether in tirelessly striving to finally exhume her family's past, in lucking into becoming a mother, or when faced with a certainty that's the stuff of maternal nightmares — so completely and sensitively that she's sheer on-screen perfection. There's nothing thin about her performance, but you can see right into it, gleaning the whirlwind of complicated factors that push, pull, swirl, sway and motivate Janis' every choice. She's amply matched by Smit, who turns in a far more internalised portrayal, but one that's still a revelatory portrait of resilience and resolve in its own way. That said, Almodóvar may love his strong female leads, but he also adores flaws; in his movies, no one is faultless, and his characters and the performances behind them are all the more powerful for it. Also potent: Almodóvar's style, rampant as it is, and what it conveys about the tale he's telling. His work is never just about what happens, but how — and with his players, the same rings true in their actions — so all of the colours, deep-focus shots, close-ups of Cruz and Smit's faces, mirrored images featuring the pair and sometimes-sudden edits that bring this picture to fruition are pivotal pieces in Parallel Mothers' puzzle. The mastery of the director's returning technical talents (cinematographer José Luis Alcaine, composer Alberto Iglesias, editor Teresa Font, costumer Paola Torres and production designer Antxón Gómez, all back from Pain and Glory) helps shape the film into a haunted Hitchcockian thriller at times, for example, as well as a clear-eyed look at Spanish history. It's as visually arresting as an Almodóvar movie can be, too, and interweaves its seemingly disparate approaches as commandingly as it does its chalk-and-cheese narrative threads. Sensual and savvy and always sublime, Parallel Mothers sells everything within its immaculate frames — and surrendering to its emotional, visual and thematic pull is as natural as life and death.
Bondi is already a hub for top-notch cuppas and smashed avo, but that didn't stop the Sydney suburb from scoring a second outpost for North Sydney's Glory Days located within the revamped Bondi Pavilion. The new beachside spot has rolled out an expanded menu designed for both a quick takeaway bite or a relaxed long lunch. "When the spot at the Pav came up, my mind instantly went to Venice beach in Los Angeles, and the amazing food culture and community around the neighbourhood with loved places like Gjelina," says Glory Days Bondi founder Aaron Crinis. Boasting a fresh white and wood-panelled interior that plays off Bondi Pavilion's redesign, the dining spaces bring together European touches — another influence for Crinis — with hallmarks of Australian cafe culture including a red travertine bar and Australian photographer Adrian Mesko's images of Euro beach culture. Damien Hyde (Cafe Sydney, Watsons Bay Hotel) heads up the kitchen, pulling together a lineup of cafe favourites. Before midday, there's a seasonal fruit plate ($16.50), acai bowls ($16), dutch pancakes ($23) and the Glory Days big brekkie ($27). Once lunchtime hits, the eats extend to oysters ($5), kingfish ceviche ($23) and a soba noodle salad ($23) topped with whipped tofu, soy-pickled cucumber, avocado, edamame and a soy and ginger dressing. More sizeable lunch options include the steak sandwich ($23), which loads up sourdough bread with black Angus rump, beetroot, onions and lettuce; or a classic prawn linguine ($28) with chilli, parsley and pangrattato. As you order, take note of the staff's uniforms. The specially designed gear was created by local brand Double Rainbouu whose beach-rave aesthetic is unmistakable (and can be yours to purchase if you're after a Glory Days cap, silk shirt or beach robe). Appears in: Where to Find the Best Breakfast in Sydney
For wannabe wizards and witches, the most magical place in Australia right now is located in Victoria. After boasting the country's only run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, then playing host to a natural history exhibition based on the Fantastic Beasts films, the state is now temporarily home to a new Harry Potter-themed experience. This time, you can walk around an illuminated woodland filled with nods to the Wizarding World, with Harry Potter — A Forbidden Forest Experience finally arriving Down Under. Accio joy, clearly. Think: Lightscape, which is returning to Melbourne in 2024, but all about the world that's sprung up around the Boy Who Lived on the page, screen and stage. So, with Harry Potter — A Forbidden Forest Experience taking over The Briars Community Forest in Mount Martha until mid-July, attendees can enjoy a nighttime stroll an hour out of Melbourne. Entering the Forbidden Forest is clearly the big attraction, as lit up with dazzling lights, all while also spying creatures from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies. A hippogriff features, as do nifflers and unicorns. You also have the chance to pose for a photo mid-wand duel, and to summon up a patronus spell as well. Accordingly, visitors here aren't surrounded by all things Wizarding World after dark in a forest; they can be join in like every aspiring Hogwarts student has always wanted to. Sounds and special effects also help bring the experience to life, as aided by award-winning behind-the-scenes folks. Expect to spend around 90 minutes being immersed in the all-ages event — plus however long you need at the onsite shop afterwards buying merchandise. That's part of the village at the end of the trail, where you'll also be able to grab a bite and something to drink. Wands crossed for butterbeer, obviously. Harry Potter — A Forbidden Forest Experience has hit Australia after seasons in the UK, Europe, the US and Singapore, with Warner Bros behind it just like the films and upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
As the latest venture from hospitality heavyweight Andrew McConnell (Cumulus Inc, Supernormal, Marion), elegant bar and bistro Gimlet has been causing quite the splash down in its hometown of Melbourne. And come Sunday, April 18, Sydneysiders are being invited in on some of that magic, as the venue's cocktail bar heads north for a one-night appearance at Icebergs Bar. Across two 90-minute sittings (6–7.30pm and 8–9.30pm), guests will score an all-encompassing taste of Gimlet via a menu of snacks and signature sips — all courtesy of McConnell, Head Chef Allan Doert Eccles and Bar Manager Cameron Parish. You'll find yourself tucking into sophisticated bites like the rock oysters done with seaweed butter and rye, fried cheese morsels, and dainty yellowfin tuna sandwiches with pickled rock samphire and salted onion. Meanwhile, in the drinks corner, expect the likes of a mai tai reworked with green almond and macadamia, and a riff on the gimlet (of course) featuring moscato and Geraldton wax. To nab a spot on the night, you'll need to book one of the limited tickets for $60. It's a pay-as-you-go affair, so that $60 will be taken off your evening's final bill. [caption id="attachment_806769" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gimlet's signature Gimlet by Jo McGann[/caption]
Amid wondering how everything and anything would cope with feelings — elements such as water, fire, air and earth being the current example — Pixar also enjoys venturing to infinity and beyond. The Disney-owned animation studio first became famous and beloved thanks to the Toy Story franchise, and a space ranger figurine who loved spouting an intergalactic catchphrase, but the company is no stranger to heading into the heavens in its movies. With 2022's Lightyear, Pixar left earth for obvious reasons. When you're making a film about said space ranger toy — well, about its inspiration, to be exact — space is part of the package. With 2024's upcoming Elio, the studio is instead playing with aliens and putting earth on trial. Oh, and hanging out with a kid who says he's the planet's leader. That child is the movie's namesake, who isn't short on imagination, but could never have dreamed up the adventure that awaits. In the feature's just-dropped first teaser trailer, Elio goes on an out-of-this-world journey when he's beamed up to the Communiverse. That's an interplanetary organisation that looks after galaxies far and wide — and it mistakes the kid for earth's ambassador. How does an otherwise ordinary child cope with being in space, meeting alien lifeforms and being put through a number of challenges? What does he learn about himself along the way? Cinemagoers will find out on February 29, 2024, with Pixar's next flick after Elemental arriving on leap day — a date that no one should forget. Adrian Molina, screenwriter and co-director of the gorgeous Coco, helms the movie, while the cast includes Yonas Kibreab (Sweet Tooth) as Elio, America Ferrera (Superstore) as Elio's mom Olga, Jameela Jamil (Poker Face) as Ambassador Questa and Brad Garrett (High Desert) as Ambassador Grigon. While 2023 will only see one Pixar movie hit screens, Elio is one of two slated for 2024. Also on the lineup next year: Inside Out 2. Check out the teaser trailer for Elio below: Elio will release in cinemas Down Under on February 29, 2024.
What helps a formerly active person who has lost both their legs find the will to keep on living? It's rarely a guy like Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), who fights in illegal bouts, hits his kid, kicks dogs, disrespects women, does dodgy things for cash and is all-round one of the least likeable characters to ever appear on screen. And yet the journey Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) goes on through him makes just enough sense to be believable — powerful, actually — in Jacques Audiard's feature film Rust and Bone. Stephanie is an orca trainer at a Cote d'Azur equivalent of Sea World. One day, to the poetically dissonant backing of Katy Perry's 'Firework', a public performance goes wrong and Stephanie wakes in hospital to find her legs amputated. After weeks of depression, she calls Ali, a nightclub bouncer she met briefly before the accident and thought little of at the time. His company turns out to be relaxed and matter of fact; he does not handle her with kid gloves, and it's just what she needs to begin to figure out her new sense of self. When he starts out on his underground boxing career, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn in. The film is quite a big departure from the source material, Canadian writer Craig Davidson's collection of short stories by the same name. The book is filled with disparate men dealing with masculinity, corporeality and violence (an adaptation at Sydney's Griffin Theatre earlier this year adhered more closely to the original). In condensing the eight short stories to two lives, Audiard's Rust and Bone seems even more brutal, if that's possible, and the drawing of explicit intersections and connections between characters turns out to be satisfyingly meaningful. The most visible and effective change is gender: Cotillard's Stephanie was originally a womanising dude. As such this Rust and Bone is no longer about men and their relationship with their bodies but humans and their relationship with their bodies — relationships that are in some ways different and in others the same. Audiard says something altogether new and intriguing with Stephanie, who previously enjoyed the power she held over men through her sexuality and appearance. She'll eventually find there's a new, untapped power over men she can exert, and it has nothing to do with prettiness. Rust and Bone is an unsentimentally lyrical triumph, unexpected in every way from its narrative to its mise en scene. Cotillard is a sensation. Need it be said? This film about fighters packs a punch. https://youtube.com/watch?v=x3leZNzz6N8
Goodgod is teaming up with Vivid LIVE this year, transforming the Northern Foyer of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall into the Soft Future Piano Bar — a 'sustainable concept bar' that focuses on a zero waste philosophy and laid-back vibes. This new space will build on the successful Deep Purple Pool Hall of the previous two years and offer a little festival paradise that invites patrons to enjoy a chilled out space away from the Vivid mayhem outside. The nightly soundtrack will include minimal synthwave, ambient jazz and Balearic sunset vibes, as well as special guest DJs and performers. What really makes this bar standout, though, is its minimal footprint mentality. The furniture will be custom-made from recycled tyre inner tubes and selected to be repurposed after the pop-up is done. For food and drink, think natural wines on tap and slow-cooked meats and charcuterie served in reusable tableware. All food waste will be naturally composted in collaboration with Events by Aria, with the end goal of no more than one bag of food going to landfill. Of course, the bar also has the added benefit of being located front and centre in the world's largest festival of light, music and ideas, boasting panoramic views of Sydney Harbour. The space will be open daily for Vivid LIVE from May 26 through June 4, 6pm until late. Image: Zak Kaczmarek. Feature image: Sydney Opera House.
November's Paint17 at Artereal showcases three solo installations from artists Lionel Bawden, Gary Smith and Teelah George, revealing a variety of approaches to contemporary painting. Known for his sculptural works, Bawden's The Kandinsky has two sides continues his penchant for transforming commonplace everyday materials — in this case, the humble cereal box. Painted on the two large sides with common phrases often exchanged between Bawden and his loved ones (from "it's bin night" to "we need milk") the cereal boxes appealed to him for their "squishy fragility" and "promise of exhaustion." You may have caught Teelah George at this year's Primavera 2017. With Reclining suite her background in textiles is again evident, as the series of paintings expresses the sensation of a languid layering and museful weaving. You'll also see Gary Smith's Alchemy, a collection of intensely colourful, viscously textured paintings inspired by a rush of musical improvisation suggesting a return to the abstract for the artist.
Maybe you think there's too many superhero movies and TV shows monopolising screens these days. Perhaps you just can't get enough. You could adore the sight of spandex everywhere, or you could feel like you're doing pop-culture homework with each new flick, franchise and series. Wherever you land on caped crusaders, there's one glaring issue with their live-action domination: they're bound by whatever flesh, blood and special effects are able to come up with. Special effects can conjure up plenty, of course, but when 2018's stunning — and Oscar-winning — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrived, it showed how inventive, imaginative and creative a superhero film can be when it can do whatever it likes thanks to the wonders of animation. Five years later, it's finally getting a sequel in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — and the movie's just-dropped new trailer, its third after a first sneak peek in 2021 and a second in 2022, does whatever a Spider-Verse trailer can. Initially set to release in 2022, but now arriving in June 2023, Across the Spider-Verse is the first of two follow-ups in the Miles Morales (Shameik Moore, Wu-Tang: An American Saga)-focused franchise. And, it isn't holding back on its spider-people. How many spider-men is the optimal amount of spider-men? All the spider-men, clearly. Sure, 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home messed with multiverse madness, complete with Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland's versions of the titular character — but Spider-Verse not only got there first, but topped that first. Now, Across the Spider-Verse is here to up the ante again. Where the initial film gave us a spider-woman, spider-robot and spider-pig, as well as Nicolas Cage as a 30s-era spider-vigilante, this one has another whole onslaught of Spideys heading Miles' way. The new trailer makes that plain in a heap of ways, including in its latest staging of the pointing Spider-Man meme — and, like everything in the previous film proved, it's glorious. This time around, the movie's Brooklyn-based friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man is slightly older, and also faced with a spider-team who are keen to protect the multiverse's existence. When there's that many Spideys, agreeing on how to handle things — including a new threat — isn't easy. That's how the clash between Miles and his fellow spider-folk comes about, as animated in the series' usual dazzling onslaught of colour and movement. Also included amid all the spider-alternatives: Miles reuniting with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld, Hawkeye). And, there's Spider-Woman (Issa Rae, Insecure), the Spider-Verse version of The Vulture (Jorma Taccone, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) and the return of Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight). (If you're wondering about Isaac's character, he first turned up in the post-credits section of Into the Spider-Verse, and he's an alternate version of Spidey from a specific Marvel Comics imprint.) The voice cast spans Daniel Kaluuya (Nope) as Spider-Punk and Jason Schwartzman (I Love That for You) as The Spot as well, and Jake Johnson (Minx) is also back as Peter B Parker — alongside Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train) as Miles' dad and Luna Lauren Velez (Power Book II: Ghost). Expect to see Miles head into other Spidey realms, too, in a franchise that made every single live-action Spidey film pale in comparison to its initial instalment. Once again produced by The Afterparty's Phil Lord and Christopher Miller — and this time co-written — Across the Spider-Verse will be followed by third film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse in 2024. There's also a female-focused spinoff in the works as well. Check out the latest Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer below: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will release in cinemas Down Under on June 1, 2023.
Parties, art, music, performances, food, stripping bare for a swim to celebrate the winter solstice: that's the Dark Mofo way, and so is weaving its anything-can-happen vibe, its beloved regular highlights, and its array of expectation-exploding shows and events into a ritual as much as a festival. The Tasmanian winter arts fest is a place to commune, with attendees and with its boundary-pushing program alike. Challenge, confrontation, evoking a strong response: Dark Mofo is a place for that, too. The festival sat out 2024, spending the time to regroup for the future ahead instead. Late that year, it announced its return for 2025, however. The full program will be unveiled at the beginning of April, but organisers have already announced the first new work. When attendees look at Nathan Maynard's We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep, they won't forget it. Set to premiere at Dark Mofo 2025 — which runs from Thursday, June 5–Sunday, June 15, 2025, except for the Nude Solstice Swim on Saturday, June 21 — the new commission by the multidisciplinary Trawlwoolway artist will take over a Hobart CBD basement. Inside, expect a commentary on cultural theft and erasure via Maynard's mass installation, using sheep heads to make a statement. "Languishing in museums and their storerooms are the remains of ancestors of First Nations people from all around our globe. They have been stripped of identity and, without consent, treated like specimens for study and scientific inquiry," explains the artist. "We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep speaks to the sadistic power white institutions flex when they deny First Nations people the humanity of putting our ancestor's remains to rest in the physical and the spiritual." When Dark Mofo's 2025 comeback was first revealed, so were the returns of a number of its beloved festivities: the aforementioned Nude Solstice Swim; Night Mass, which fills downtown Hobart with art and music; culinary highlight Winter Feast, which popped up in 2024 despite the festival around it taking a break; and the Ogoh-Ogoh. If you're wondering if the world missed Dark Mofo, the response to Night Mass alone so far says it all. When 6000 pre-release tickets were made available late in 2024, they were snapped up in less than four hours. "Taking the year off in 2024 was a difficult decision, but Dark Mofo is back with renewed energy and focus, ready to deliver an enormous program spanning two packed weeks this June," notes Dark Mofo's new Artistic Director Chris Twite. "It was encouraging to sell over 6000 Night Mass tickets in less than four hours during our pre-release late last year, indicating that demand for the festival remains strong. We are hoping for a similar response when we release the full program on the 4th April." Back in November, Twite gave a few more hints at what's in store this year. "Dark Mofo is back. For our 11th chapter, once more we'll bathe the city in red and deliver two weeks of inspiring art, music and ritual," he advised when announcing the event's 2025 dates. "Night Mass is a beast, and this year it will evolve once more — worming its way through the city with new spaces, performances and experiences to dance, explore or crawl your way through." Dark Mofo returns from Thursday, June 5–Sunday, June 15, 2025 and for the Nude Solstice Swim on Saturday, June 21. Head to the festival's website for further details — and check back here on Friday, April 4, 2025 for the full lineup. We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep images: Jesse Hunniford, 2025. Image courtesy of Dark Mofo 2025. Night Mass images: Jesse Hunniford and Andy Hatton, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023. Winter Feast images: Jesse Hunniford, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023. Nude Solstice Swim images: Rémi Chauvin, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023.
UPDATE Thursday, August 5: Josh Niland's Take One Fish Butchery Masterclass has been postponed until Monday, October 25. Saint Peter and Fish Butchery's Josh Niland has spent the past half-decade spreading his love for sustainable seafood around Australia. The neighbouring Sydney spots have grown a cult following since opening and built Niland a reputation that landed him on the list of the world's top 50 next-generation hospitality leaders. With a new charcoal fish restaurant set to open next month, Niland is going on tour to preach the benefits of cooking with sustainable seafood. The masterclass will cover the how-tos of preparing, storing and cooking with fish, in support of his new book, Take One Fish. It's the follow-up to his The Whole Fish Cookbook, which snagged the James Beard Book of the Year award. Niland was the first Australian author to win the converted award last year. "I am looking forward to the evening and offering complete transparency around our work and to unpack all that we have learnt to date. I hope that people will leave having enjoyed a great night out, and take away practical solutions for how we can approach fish differently, not just at home but when ordering fish on a menu or in a market," Niland said. Hosting the evening is author and ABC Culinary Correspondent Alice Zaslavsky who is kicking off her new series of 'in conversation' events with acclaimed culinary professionals, dubbed Here's One I Prepared Earlier. The tour is beginning at the Sydney City Recital Hall on Monday, October 25, before moving on to Melbourne's Hammer Hall on Monday, November 15 with each evening running two 45-minute sessions and a short intermission. Pre-sale tickets are on sale now. [caption id="attachment_739656" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Fish Butchery[/caption]
Kids have all the fun. Always covered in craft supplies, shimmering with the remains of runaway glitter, primary schoolers are treated to a pretty luxurious life. They spend all their day running around, making art and eating. It's the dream. Now, one element of your amazing childhood is becoming acceptable for adults — the colouring book. Inspired by the work of the art world greats, illustrator Marion Deuchars has created a colouring book for grown ups. Schooling you on the styles of Dada, pop art and surrealism to name a few, Draw Paint Print Like Great Artists runs through the life and work of artists such as Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Jasper Johns and Joan Miro. Full to the brim with beautiful illustrations, interesting facts and surprisingly fun activities, the book effortlessly combines your long lost primary school craft time with some of the art history you missed in high school. Alternatively, if you're up to date on your modern art theory, you could use the book as a little creative kickstart. "Every artist learns by looking at the work created by others, and then picks up bits of that and makes their own art in their own way," Deuchars said. "It may be something as simple as using scissors rather than a pencil, or being fascinated by a new shape or a playful exercise to take your imagination somewhere unfamiliar." Once regarded as child's play, creative exercises like this have been gaining prominence recently. In a simlar style, MOMA's Art Lab app offers its users an opportunity to unwind and experiment with digital technologies. Keri Smith's Finish This Book was packed full of outlandish tasks and artsy activities to complete, and it was a bestseller! This is definitely a trend we can get behind. Now we just need to get some quality crayons and convince our boss that nap times are a valid way to spend the afternoon. Draw Paint Print Like Great Artists is available via Laurence King. It's approximately $23 plus shipping. Via Huffington Post.
Sydney Harbour's about to host some pretty big beats. Kicking off on Friday, September 29, Tinder, Tropicool Events and UNDR Ctrl are bringing back the hugely popular electronic music series to Sydney's floating stage, The Island LIVE. The Island has played host to some seriously big names, from Charli XCX to Royal Blood. Previously, The Island LIVE has hosted the likes of Hayden James, Touch Sensitive, Bag Raiders, and Motez — nights have sold out in under 48 hours. This time around, it's all beats. Kicking off the series, Australian dance legends and triple j Friday Night Shuffle hosts The Aston Shuffle will be cranking out a huge DJ set. They'll be joined by Bag Raiders, Polographia and Annie Bass. That's just the first event in The Island LIVE series — there'll be more events announced down the track. Tickets ($59–69) include a return water taxi from the Man O' War Steps and two complimentary drinks on arrival. Pretty excellent deal.
Marrickville's gin distillery Poor Toms has been turning out some of the best locally-made drops since 2015 — it's so good, in fact, that they crowdfunded over $25,000 of the stuff in one day. Now, owners Griffin Blumer and Jesse Kennedy are finally ready to share their gin hall with the inner west masses. The mates have just opened the doors to their Chalder Avenue digs and there's some serious excitement in the air. Located just around the corner from Sauce Brewing and the soon-to-be-open Stockade, as well as a quick walk from Batch, Grifter and Wildflower, the gin hall is nicely situated within the suburb's craft booze haven. All this beer in one vicinity warrants another alcoholic option, and Poor Toms is ready to oblige. To celebrate the opening, the team is throwing an extra special launch party that will (hopefully) one-up their garbage bin gin raves of old. Head on in on Saturday, April 28 from noon, and they'll be slinging six buck gin and tonics and $12 martinis, along with a sausage sizzle and tunes by local DJs.
Circular Quay is ushering in the Year of the Rat with the unveiling of 12 lanterns in its annual Lunar Lanterns exhibition, which runs from January 31 to February 9. Each larger-than-life illuminated artwork symbolises one of the signs of the Chinese zodiac, with the free exhibition spanning from the Sydney Opera House all the way to The Rocks. This year's new additions include a tower of nine 2.8-metre-tall gold robotic rats by artist and author Claudia Chan Shaw at First Fleet Park, Lauren Tan's fiery ox on a scholar rock in The Rocks, a rooster made from hundreds of egg-shaped glowing lights by Valerie Khoo at East Circular Quay, and Louise Zhang's eight-metre-tall tower of monkeys at Cadman's Cottage. Other glowing animals to look out for include Qian Jian Jua's impressive pink pig; a slithering, suspended snake; an origami-like rabbit; and a small herd of electric sheep inspired by Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. To help you navigate the animals, the City of Sydney has put together the handy map below. If you visit the lanterns from Thursday–Sunday, make sure to stop by The Rocks Lantern Markets, too, for live music, lion dancing, savoury snacks and colourful dessert. Images: Katherine Griffiths/City of Sydney.
Mud, moss and murky waters mightn't sound like dream Airbnb features, but they couldn't be more exciting if you're a fan of pop culture's favourite solitude-loving ogre. To celebrate Halloween with a fairy tale theme, the accommodation booking platform has added a unique Scottish Highlands stay that'll turn you green with envy if you don't score the reservation — and have you spending the weekend at Shrek's Swamp IRL if you do. Hey now, this is the nostalgic all-star of Airbnb listings, aka a recreation of a spot straight out of the Shrek movies. And the host? Donkey, although it's unlikely that that means that either Eddie Murphy or a domesticated equine will be there to greet you. Here's what is definitely included: two nights for up to three guests in a stumpy structure that goes rustic inside and out, all for free. You'll enjoy a parfait, fireside stories, waffles in the morning, "earwax candlelight" to set the mood (the listing's words, not ours), and having the whole place to yourselves behind the "danger" and "stay out" signs. Oh, and absolutely no torches and pitchforks. Whether onions are included hasn't been revealed. "Shrek's Swamp is lovely. Just beautiful. The perfect place to entertain guests," said Donkey, announcing the stay (well, said Airbnb giving the statement the appropriate themed spin). "You know what I like about it? Everything. The overgrown landscaping, the modest interiors, the nice boulders, all of it. I can't wait for guests to experience this muddy slice of paradise for themselves." If you're keen, you'll need to try to nab the booking at 4am AEDT / 3am AEST / 6am NZDT on Saturday, October 14 — and, if your wish comes true, you'll be off for a stay across the weekend of Friday, October 27–Sunday, October 29. As always, whoever gets the reservation is responsible for their own travel, including if they have to get to and from Scotland. This listing is also helping a good cause, with Airbnb making a one-off donation to the HopScotch Children's Charity, which helps vulnerable and disadvantaged children in Scotland, as part of the Shrek's Swamp promotion. Somebody once told us that the platform loves offering up once-in-a-lifetime spots to slumber, as its recent history shows. In the past, it has had nights at Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse, the Ted Lasso pub, the Moulin Rouge! windmill, Gwyneth Paltrow's Montecito abode, Hobbiton, the Bluey house, the Paris theatre that inspired The Phantom of the Opera and the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine up for grabs. Also on the list: The Godfather mansion, the South Korean estate where BTS filmed In the Soop, Japan's World Heritage-listed Suganuma Village and the House of Sunny studio. Last Halloween, it similarly went with a movie theme, listing the Sanderson sisters' Hocus Pocus cottage. For more information about the Shrek's Swamp stay on Airbnb, or to book at 4am AEDT / 3am AEST / 6am NZDT on Saturday, October 14 for a stay across Friday, October 27–Sunday, October 29, head to the Airbnb website. Images: Alix McIntosh. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
If the individual movies a director makes can be seen as chapters from an ongoing book, then consider Noah Baumbach the author of a sharp, sweeping coming-of-age chronicle. Whether dissecting mature malaise in Greenberg, the attempts of a twenty-something to find her place in life in Frances Ha or the clash of the two in While We're Young, he remains fascinated with the process of growing up at any stage. In Mistress America, Baumbach offers another instalment on his beloved topic, all while re-teaming with Greta Gerwig. Almost by design, their previous collaboration — both co-writing, him directing and her starring in Frances Ha, as remains the case here — looms large over their latest effort. Consider Frances Ha the fate that could've befallen Mistress America's teenager Tracy (Lola Kirke) after college if she hadn't crossed paths with her stepsister-to-be Brooke (Gerwig), or the past that might've delivered 30-year-old Brooke to her current predicament. The two are brought together by their parents' impending marriage, with Tracy seeing Brooke as the big sis — and guide to life, both in New York and in general — she's never had. They're opposites: Tracy is quiet, lonely and wants to be a writer; Brooke is confident, constantly talks about herself and has an endless array of future plans. As they spend more time together, the seeming differences between the two become less pronounced. That fact isn't lost on Tracy, who starts to imagine Brooke as 'Meadow', the deeply flawed character in her new short story. While finding commonality in Baumbach's films has become unavoidable, that doesn't make his work any less enjoyable or astute. There's a level of comfort to Mistress America's return to the filmmaker's well-traversed terrain, as well as his trademark intelligence and energy. Here, as in the rest of his efforts, he's fleshing out recognisable ideas and anxieties, but done so with slightly different parts. And while the overall message is starting to sound a little repetitive even as it remains accurate, the individual elements still have plenty of charms. The feature is at its best in its wonderful midsection, where it plunges into a superbly executed farce. When a series of circumstances sends the not-quite-siblings plus some of Tracy's friends (Matthew Shear and Jasmine Cephas Jones) on a road trip to Connecticut to visit Brooke's former boyfriend (Heather Lind) and BFF (Michael Chernus), Baumbach takes his favourite themes into shrewd, smart and incisively funny screwball territory. In some of the best sequences the director has committed to the screen, infectious laughter ensues, as does insight and urgency that the rest of the film can't quite match. Of course, that plays into Baumbach's usual oeuvre: what is a coming-of-age story, and his entire output, if not an examination of how to keep going after pivotal moments and turning points?
It's the fun side of Wednesday, you've settled in at your favourite bar, and a couple more whisky sours wouldn't hurt. But when the lights come on at midnight you've got limited options this side of Elizabeth Street. Until Saturday, when a new neighbourhood bar and boutique music venue opens for business. The Soda Factory, located in the old home of Tone nightclub, is the latest venture from Graham Cordery of Experience Entertainment and his partner Michael Chase. They've stripped the place back to its industrial bones and, armed with a late-night trading licence, are aiming to bring something different to the 2010 postcode. "I'll go to a bar and what I really enjoy about it is the quirky features of the decor, or the really great service where they'll make me a cocktail customised to my taste," says Graham, "but what I don't enjoy is having to walk out the door at midnight." His solution has been to combine high-end cocktails, restaurant-quality food, and great entertainment under the exposed beams of one lofty roof. As for quirky features, you get that before you're even technically inside. To get in you first walk through Bobby's Boss Dogs, a fully legit fast food joint with neon sign, checkerboard floors, and a shiny chrome bar top. Pull up a stool and eat in, or pull on the handle of the coke machine to reveal the grungier Soda Factory. All the furnishings precede the year 1960, from comfy booths and mid-century furniture to tin chairs and wooden crates that can be moved out the back when things necessitate a dance floor. To have a fully functioning business with a secret door is, as Graham says, "absolutely a first" in the area. So what will you be drinking once you're in? The boys have brought Mitchell Warters over from London, where he spent the last two years mixing drinks at Richard Branson's members-only Roof Gardens to curate a cocktail menu in keeping with the old-school factory theme. Groups can go for share siphons like The Seabreeze Spritz ($35), a mix of cranberry, ruby red grapefruit, and fresh lemon with Ketel One Vodka served sparkling from a real '50s seltzer bottle. There are also ice cream-topped floats ($14) and a 12-strong list of specialty cocktails, including Graham's personal favourite, the Chocolate Passion Martini ($17) with Mozart dark chocolate liqueur, passionfruit, Tuaca liqueur, and Kettle One. Michael is also a trained chef and the guys are planning to make use of the full restaurant kitchen by rolling out a 1950s-inspired Italian share plate menu in April. It's "the kind of place where you can get a feed and a cocktail, as opposed to a purely music venue where you’ve got your standard fare of a VB lager or a vodka soda". Until then, nine gourmet dogs are on offer for $10 each, including the Frank Sinatra (a classic New York street dog with frankfurter, American mustard, pickles, and onion rings) and the Johnny Drama (beef sausage, bacon, sour cream, avocado, and tomato salsa). The entertainment has a slightly more contemporary flavour. Graham has spent over two years curating line-ups at Ivy and has a wealth of electronic music knowledge. He's already locked in Brooklyn's DJ Spinna, influential Manchester producer Greg Wilson, and hip-hop DJ pioneer Grandmaster Flash, but don't expect to only see stuff that requires turntables or softsynths. Michael used to scout talent for MGM Distribution and has already roped in a couple of exciting live acts including Australia's own Electric Empire, and during the week it might be local DJs or up-and-coming indies. "Anything that we feel to be cool [is going to get some airtime], whether it's Grandmaster Flash or a nu-disco DJ or a live band or an indie set," says Graham. "It could be jazz, could be blues, could be soul." But The Soda Factory is "first and foremost a bar", meaning there's only a cover charge when something really exceptional is on. Grandmaster Flash is only $20 and Greg Wilson just $15 on the door. Settle in early and you don't have to pay a thing. And on school nights there's plenty of low-key and free stuff to keep the locals satisfied. "Every Monday is movie Mondays. We're starting off with Ferris Bueller's Day Off on the twenty-fifth, so that should be pretty cool. Tuesday is Dollar Dogs, so just one dollar for a hot dog every Tuesday. Wednesday we're going to do a night with local talent; anything and everything that's on the more relaxed side of things. It could be an acoustic session or soul, but it will be definitely live. After that things get a little more upbeat." Says Graeme, "Anyone's welcome to drop by at any time, but we also have great gigs." Sounds good, guys. We'll see you Saturday. Mon - Wed 5pm - late, Thurs 5pm - 2am, Friday 5pm - 5am, Saturday 5pm - 5am; 16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills 2010. Update: The Soda Factory has finished its fit-out. Check out the pictures below.
