You may have already noticed, but Brendan Cato of The Farmed Table cooked us up an entire barbecue spread in under an hour. He cooked up a flank of steak, some grilled eggplant and some leeks, and a killer grilled peaches and mascarpone dessert. It was delicious. As well as that, Brendan was full of great tips on how we can learn to throw an epic barbecue with limited time, and advice on how to get the most flavour out of your produce. Brendan created The Farmed Table, those secret dinners that started off in a tiny café and now pack out warehouses. He's all about fresh, organic, sustainable eating. Our mates at Work-Shop are turning our article into real life, with a barbecue masterclass in Sydney's Prince Alfred Park. At the masterclass you'll learn all the tips and tricks to creating the perfect barbecue spread. You'll also get free lunch (it'll be a barbecue, obviously) and beers to match by Heineken 3. Bring your appetite, and if you feel like it, a wacky apron. There will be prizes for the best one. If you're available from 1-3pm on Sunday, November 20, fill in your details below. There are limited spaces, so you'll go on the list to be part of the masterclass. We'll get in touch if you've made the cut. [competition]595355[/competition] Enjoy your summer afternoons with the new low-carb Heineken 3 — we're helping you make the most of them. Image: Michael Wickham.
If you're a fan of author, comedian and NPR humorist David Sedaris, then you'll know that he's a frequent visitor Down Under. Missed him on his last trip in 2023? 2025 is your next chance to experience his snappy wit, as well as his discerning and astute ability to observe life's moments — both trivial and extraordinary — in both an observational and unique way. This will be Sedaris' seventh trip Down Under, spanning stops in both Australia and New Zealand — in Auckland, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane — across January and February. If you haven't seen Sedaris live before, his shows are part of the reason that he's built up such a following. Onstage, he regularly weaves in new and unpublished material, too — and the satirist will throw it over to the crowd for a Q&A as well, and also sign copies of his books. Sedaris has more than a few tomes to his name, so you have options for him to scribble on, including Happy-Go-Lucky, Calypso, Theft by Finding, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Holidays on Ice, Naked and Barrel Fever. [caption id="attachment_862850" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anne Fishbein[/caption] Sedaris is equally celebrated for his constant This American Life appearances and must-read pieces in The New Yorker, and boasts everything from the Terry Southern Prize for Humor and Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor to the Time Humorist of the Year Award among his accolades. If you've been searching for a supportive environment to use the phrase "how very droll", this is it. [caption id="attachment_862851" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Prudence Upton[/caption] An Evening with David Sedaris 2025 Australia and New Zealand Tour Dates: Friday, January 31 — Auckland Town Hall, Auckland Saturday, February 1 — Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra Sunday, February 2 — Regal Theatre, Perth Tuesday, February 4 — Norwood Concert Hall, Adelaide Thursday,February 6–Friday, February 7 — Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Saturday, February 8 — Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle Tuesday, February 11 — Sydney Opera House, Sydney Thursday, February 13 — Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane David Sedaris is touring Australia and New Zealand in January and February 2025. For more information, or for general ticket sales from 9am on Thursday, June 27, 2024, head to the tour website. Top image: Anne Fishbein.
When Brooklyn's Oneohtrix Point Never jumps on stage, there ain't no messing around. Inspired by the likes of Squarepusher, Amon Tobin, Chris Cunningham and Nine Inch Nails this Warp Records-signed ninja takes electronica to its illogical extremes. Just lately, he's been working with Anohni (formerly known as Antony Hegarty) and composing Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring. So, strap in and prepare for a rock-driven sonic feast during Vivid this year. We're talking shredding bass lines, messed-up malfunctioning machines and cutting synths. At the Sydney Opera House, Oneohtrix will taking matters next level, thanks to the live accompaniment of guitarist Nate Boyce, and an extravagant visual adventure. Want to see him twice? He'll be performing with Anohni too.
When news broke last month that Dominos had invented a $30,000 delivery robot, we thought we'd reached the apex of pizza-related technology. Turns out we couldn't have been more wrong. In a development that threatens to shatter the very fabric of existence, a pizzeria in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has invented...a pizza box. No, not a pizza box. A pizza box. A pizza box. Made from pizza. Behold. Introducing The PIZZA BOX PIZZA! A pizza box made entirely out of pizza! No waste, 100% pizza and 100% delicious. pic.twitter.com/2KxxndlK4Z — Vinnie's Pizzeria (@vinniesbrooklyn) April 27, 2016 Rendering all other modes of food transport and storage obsolete, this glorious edible container is the brainchild of Vinnie's Pizzeria owner Sean Berthiaume, who might actually be Thomas Edison reincarnated as a guy who really, really likes pizza. Having previously caught our attention after photos of his pizza with pizza topping went viral online, Berthiaume came up with this new creation while trying to think of ways to reduce waste. "I thought 'what if you can make something that you can eat every part of,'" he told NBC 4 New York. The pizzeria is still working out the finer points of delivery – for the time being, anyone who orders one will have it delivered to them wrapped in foil. A pizza delivered in a pizza box will run New Yorkers up a bill of around $40. Unfortunately we suspect that even if they did deliver internationally, both the box and its contents might go a bit stale in the time it takes to get to Australia. Via NBC. Header image via Dollar Photo Club.
For a good 14 years, the City of Sydney's Art & About program has been committed to bringing the very best of Sydney's art scene into the public eye, taking carefully curated exhibitions out of the normal gallery setting and placing them outside, smack bang in the middle of our daily lives. Now they want your contributions. Expressions of interest to produce an artwork or performance event for the program open in January, when the city will start calling for artists from around the world to bring forward ideas they've been sitting on. They're looking for something unique, something especially creative that draws art out of the realm of museums and galleries, and surprising and delighting an audience as they experience the work inside their own comfort zone. They want artists to use the unexpected spaces around town as their blank canvas. Once expressions of interest open next year, the good folks at Art & About won't be able to discuss potential works or offer advice, but they can now. So it's a good time to get in contact and discuss your ideas. The selection criteria is pretty liberal. Basically, come up with a sweet idea that can be implemented in one of the many unusual spaces around the City of Sydney's local government area. Something that jumps out at an unsuspecting audience, disrupts daily life and brings joy. The City of Sydney, who lovingly produce Art & About, will open their generous coffers and shell out the cash to make the idea actually happen — up to $85,000 is up for grabs. Art & About has had an absolute belter of a year in 2016, showing off some of the coolest aspects of the city. To give you a little inspiration, we've rounded up our four favourites. If you're an artist, creative producer, musician, composer or know any of the above, now would be the time to get your brain going and get in touch. What are you waiting for? Go make an art! [caption id="attachment_602089" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Zan Wimberley.[/caption] NICK CAVE: HEARD·SYD American artist Nick Cave made rainbow-coloured horses romp through Pitt Street Mall and the industrial halls of Carriageworks with HEARD·SYD. Embodied by 60 local dancers, 30 colourful, life-size horse suits (also known as 'soundsuits') disrupted the daily life of Sydneysiders with an exuberant explosion of performance art. Set to a booming soundtrack of live percussion by Matavai Pacific cultural arts from Liverpool, the performance was surreal and enthralling. HEARD·SYD was a chance for those caught up in their daily routine to escape the bustle of the city for a moment. Each performance was free for the public to watch — Cave knew that a lot of us don't have time to visit art galleries, so he made it easier. [caption id="attachment_562757" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Nikki To[/caption] KONSTANTIN DIMOPOULOS: THE BLUE TREES By Egyptian-born, New Zealand-raised, Melbourne-based artist Konstantin Dimopoulos, The Blue Trees transformed Pyrmont's leafy Pirrama Park into an ultramarine utopia with the help of a team of community volunteers. Using a biologically safe water-based colourant, Dimopoulos coloured the trunks of the park's living trees blue to highlight the impact of deforestation on old growth forests. By rendering our local environment uncanny, Dimopoulos encouraged us to consider the global impact humans have on the environment. Having been shown at the prestigious Vancouver Biennale last year and being an ephemeral work with an unknown duration, this was an installation not to be missed. HIDDEN SYDNEY: THE GLITTERING MILE Hidden Sydney was an immersive cabaret experience depicting the outrageous stories and characters of Kings Cross in the '50s, '60s and '70s. Starting in a back alley of the Cross, Hidden Sydney lured audience members through four storeys of The World Bar, once a notorious brothel known as The Nevada. Each room revealed new scenarios and new characters, from Virginia Gay as the Shakespeare-sprouting Bea Miles, to madams, crooks, drag queens and crooners. The sinfully good show proved so popular it returned for a second season. A MILLION THINGS THAT MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN American artist Megan Geckler's current installation in the atrium at Customs House will make you feel like you're inside a real-life rainbow (minus the pot of gold at the end). Geckler creates her art using thousands of metres of hyper-coloured, translucent flagging tape — the kind you'd normally see used by surveyors on construction sites – and a highly mathematical technique that essentially produces "drawings in space". Hovering from the ceiling, her installation has been described as a cyclone of string art. Stand in the vortex, look up and the result is spectacular. If that's got you all inspired, get in touch with the City of Sydney with your grand ideas. You can email them at artandabout@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. Top image: Nick Cave: HEARD·SYD by Anna Kucera.
Are you the kind of person who loves surprise parties? Or, are you the first to run when someone even mentions the words? There are few events that divide public opinion more than the surprise party. Maybe you think they're a little passé, or maybe you've developed negative associations from memories of being crouched in a dark lounge room for half an hour longer than you wanted to be. But when they're done right, everyone will agree that a surprise party is always something worth doing. There's a reason this type of party has stood the test of time – it's exciting, exhilarating, and it makes the surprisee oh-so happy that all their friends have come together just for them. In partnership with Rekorderlig, here's our guide to getting all your friends together and throwing the ultimate surprise party. THE SURPRISE The key to a great surprise party is making sure the big surprise moment is one to remember. You can do this by doing a double down on your surprise by having a room full of the nearest and dearest surprise first, but then bring out a secret interstate guest or family member as a secondary surprise. Otherwise, you could throw them a party when it's not their birthday. Pick a date a month or week prior and get the jump on them. General rules for a good surprise are handing out glitter or streamers, having people hiding in all sorts of random places and leaping out, and having loads of balloons drop from on high as they arrive. [caption id="attachment_589828" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Wendy's Secret Garden.[/caption] THE LOCATION Make the location as special as the surprise itself by hiring a really incredible waterfront venue in the city, a rooftop bar, or throwing the party on a beach. You could hire the penthouse of an awesome Airbnb (providing parties are permitted, of course) or have a party in Wendy's Secret Garden, one of Sydney's finest hidden parks. The venue could make your party one to remember, so be sure to give it plenty of thought. THE DECORATIONS Having a theme will make things easier for you. Give a gentle nod in the direction of a cuisine or idea, and choosing food, drinks and décor will become a whole lot easier. If you have a backyard, a failsafe option is to turn it into a garden-party wonderland by winding fairy lights around trees, popping tea light candles into mason jars and having lots of outdoor seating. Lighting is integral to a good party, and can't be forgotten. Too bright and people will feel like they're getting drunk in a 7-11. Too dim and they won't be able to find the chips and dip. Get it right. THE FOOD Make sure that there's plenty to eat and plenty to drink. Head to the deli and lay out a few cheese boards or antipasti platters, and don't forget fairy bread (it's a classic for a reason) and and party pies and sausage rolls. For party drinks, make sure you're catering to all tastes – so cider for those who aren't partial to beer, wine, and soft drink for those who don't drink. Getting creative and making punch is a nice little twist, or you could grab a few Rekorderlig Cocktail Cans to keep it interesting. Make sure you have ice, plenty of eskies and plenty of fridge space. [caption id="attachment_592224" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Parlour Gigs.[/caption] THE UNEXPECTED EXTRAS Why not go all out and throw a live gig in your backyard? You can, thanks to Parlour Gigs. This live music initiative from Melbourne musician Matt Walters came about after playing a house concert where he had such a great time that he started up Parlour Gigs to share the love. With over 800 musicians signed up and available to perform you can pretty much be guaranteed of finding the perfect musical act for your party. Other notable mentions for fun things to do are: hire a karaoke machine and sing a bunch of 80s hair metal, have your friend with good music taste DJ for the night, have a bouncy castle (they're surprisingly affordable), or just play a massive game of pass the parcel.
Prior to meeting with Marina Abramovic, artist Christian Thompson was struck down by a ghastly flu. However, in a true Marina-style overcoming of mental and physical adversity, he pushed forward and managed to bring his A-game to the Kaldor Residency Program. As part of a lucky handful of promising artists, Thompson had the privilege of working with the performance art powerhouse earlier this year ahead of his current show at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. "It was amazing to have access to her," Thompson says. "She was incredibly generous. We had these one-on-one tutorials and I was developing this video work called Dead Tongue. I was trying to work out whether I wanted to pursue music in my work and Marina was like: ‘No. Get rid of music. We don't use music in the art world. No need.' " "So I don't use music anymore," he laughs. "Coming from 70 years of experience, she has this precise vision of your work. She sees the strengths and disregards everything that is unnecessary. She even told me what I have to do for my retrospective." ON THE ABRAMOVIC METHOD Stepping out of his comfort zone has been somewhat familiar territory for Thompson. A ceaseless globetrotter, he has been researching and making art between Europe and Australia for the best part of 15 years. He is currently the inaugural recipient of the Charles Perkins Scholarship, and will be the first Indigenous Australian to earn a doctorate from Oxford University. Thompson also completed his Masters in performing arts at DasArts in Amsterdam, which taught an on-the-spot process of making performance. Although Thompson has a solid theatrical background, jumping into the Abramovic Method was not necessarily a smooth transition. "Marina comes from a very different school, that '60s and '70s tradition of durational performance," he says. "I think a lot of contemporary performance art is more like theatre. My projects are like a series of visual scenes that have a performative gesture inside them, whereas Marina is testing the liminality of the body and what it is capable of. On the whole, performance is hardcore and I think you have to have a certain constitution as a person to be able to do it." ON HIS NEW SYDNEY SHOW While the Marina experience has enriched Thompson's performative palette, his new show at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation is a bit of everything. The gallery is filled with a broad range of media, from sculptures and textiles through to films and photography. In the centre of the space, there is a 3D printed sculpture entitled All revolutions are led by the young: a curling mass of shiny black resin. On the other side of the room are photographs of Aboriginal scholar Marcia Langton modelling Thompson's well-known woollen jumpers with comically elongated arms. "It's interesting to see this show through the curator's eyes, rather than how I would represent myself," says Thompson, reflecting on the freshly installed exhibition. "I can see the potential of what a big survey show might look like. It's certainly an unexpected rendition of my practice." Many of the works featured in the exhibition have been borrowed from cultural institutions and private collections. Working within a framework of cultural ownership and appropriation, curator Alana Kushnir has chosen to preserve the original framing of these works, playing off different modes of presentation. For instance, one of Thompson's woolly jumpers is allowed to drape onto the floor in soft folds while another near identical jumper is safely – and strictly – confined within a glass box. ON BLENDING FASHION WITH ART Although Kushnir pulls together a number of disciplinary threads, fashion seems to hover on the surface of the show. "During my undergraduate years, I was really inspired by textiles and wearable sculptures," says Thompson. "People like Eva Hesse and Louise Bourgeois really informed my early work. There's always been a sartorial aspect to my practice, but I also grew up in the 90s, which was all about remixing — no-one wanted to be pigeonholed or defined by one thing. I also had my nose buried in things like NME, The Face, and Cue. I suppose that fashion sensibility stayed with me through art school — it was kind of already programmed in." Leaping from one big thing to the next, Thompson seems to have an insatiable capacity for pushing boundaries. "I guess being creative tends to be a constant process," he says. "I'm a bit like a bowerbird in that way — I'm always picking and choosing, hunting and gathering. I think I'm always cross-referencing myself too. Hopefully the evolution of a person growing from one phase to the next is visualised in my practice." Collection+: Christian Thompson will be showing at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation until Saturday, December 12.
If you're a Francophile or a landscape photography fan you won't want to miss HÔTEL HÔTEL, the debut exhibition from National Geographic multi-award winning travel and documentary photographer Yasmin Mund, in association with Head On Photo Festival. During a travel-filled 2015, the Sydney-based Mund found herself enchanted by the scenery of Agay, nestled between St Tropez and Cannes on France's glamorous Cote d'Azur. Over three summer weeks Mund captured the landscape and subtle changes of this quaint town overlooking the Mediterranean, and the result is a series brimming with light, symmetrical composition and a colour palette that deliciously recalls '70s pop art. Prints will be available for purchase in limited editions, with 10 percent going to a Kaarmic Education Photography program for girls in rural India that Mund has been closely involved with for several years. Head along to Ravesis, grab a rosé and let the exhibition transport you away from Bondi's late-autumnal chill and into a balmy Provencal summer. Image: Yasmin Mund, Hôtel Hôtel (2015).
Drop whatever it is that you're doing: the ticket ballot for the 26th Meredith Music Festival is officially open. Running from December 9-11, the latest edition of the much-loved dickhead-free music festival will take place at its usual digs, Meredith's Supernatural Amphitheatre, which has gone and gotten itself a brand new sound system "tailor-made for the dynamic undulations of the Amphitheatre at all times of Magic O'Clock". Other changes for this year's festival include additional camping space, hundreds of new trees planted as part of Uncle Doug's Native Planting, and – perhaps most importantly – extra dunnies in the campground. Aunty, meanwhile, has been working hard on the lineup, which she promises will be announced "soonish". Standouts from last year included Father John Misty, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Ratatat, The Thurston Moore Band, Tkay Maidza, Neon Indian and Big Daddy Kane. The Meredith Ballot will be open from now until 10.26pm on Monday, August 8. Head on over to the festival website to sign up.
This Easter long weekend, there's a damn good new reason to ditch the road trip plans. Glebe is set to host the inaugural Coloursound Festival, a brand new music, craft beer, food and culture festival happening from March 24-27. Yup, that's one big mouthful of awesomeness. The four-day event is being organised by local Glebe resident and event manager Joshua McBeath, in partnership with The Record Crate. In an effort to bring the community together with independent bands, artists and local businesses, McBeath has curated one serious lineup of live acts, performances, exhibitions and craft beer events. The Record Crate has long been a champion of the live music and craft beer combo, so their involvement is a no-brainer. With 70+ performances across 13 Glebe spaces, the suburb will be rocking nonstop for the entire weekend. Local Sydney bands like Dead Radio and Suixx will be joined by Victorian imports Terrible Truths and Contrast, among many, many others. That's just the music side. Staves Brewery will also play a major role, including the 'world record tankard challenge', a craft beer showdown, tastings and giveaways from the likes of Merchant, Feral, Badlands and Nomad brewing companies. These events will run alongside an Altairzine photography exhibition, zine fair, and Mug and Kettle comedy festival. Markets and live art installations will also be popping up throughout the weekend. Discounts and special offers will be available across upward of 10 popular Glebe Point Road joints, including Flying Fajita Sisters, Badde Manors, and one of Glebe's newer favourites, Thievery. Tickets range from $5 one-day passes to $75 all-access — which includes access to, well, everything, but most notably to all 25 bands that will play at The Record Crate's upstairs live room. For a lineup this jam packed, it's some serious bang-for-your-buck action. Coloursound Festival will run from 8pm on Thursday, March 24 through Sunday, March 27. Checkout Eventbrite for the full program. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Woolloomooloo institution Artspace has unveiled their secretive summer-long revamp, the first in 20 years. And straight off the bat, you can expect 'a lot of sorrow'. Artspace is now home to a bigger, more beautiful exhibition space, as well as a suite of lush, contemporary studios where 42 Sydney-based artists will take on residencies over the next six years. To celebrate the opening, Artspace is hosting an epic exhibition, An Imprecise Science, comprised of works from 13 international artists and curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor with Talia Linz. The biggest drawcard is a divisive video piece by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, somewhat literally titled 'A Lot of Sorrow'. It captures The National playing 'Sorrow' from High Violet for six hours in a row, while wrapped in swirls of ice machine smoke. The performance was recorded in May 2013 at New York's MOMA PS.1 Gallery, in front of a live crowd. The song is three-and-a-half minutes long, so yep, you can settle in and watch it 105 times in a row. Here's the setlist from the day: Here's a teaser. Artspace isn't stopping at six hours of National sorrow. One of the most important new additions to the space is the 'Ideas Platform', a collaborative spot for the combining of exhibitions, performances and lectures. Its inaugural show will feature the works of Los Angeles-based artist Eve Fowler, who has exhibited at MOMA in New York and San Francisco, and ACMI in Los Angeles. Her bold, colourful pieces look like enormous band posters but feature quotations from Gertrude Stein poems. Recently, they filled a series of billboards along the Interstate 10, which runs between Florida and California. The other artists included in the exhibition are Walead Beshty (UK/USA), Nina Canell (Sweden/Germany), Natalya Hughes (Australia), Biljana Jancic (Australia), Alicja Kwade (Poland/Germany), Bridie Lunney (Australia), Rob McLeish (Australia/USA), Kate Newby (New Zealand/USA), Isabel Nolan (Ireland), Shinro Ohtake (Japan) and Daniel von Sturmer (New Zealand/Australia).
Sydney, we know you love a burger pop-up. The news that Vivid was setting up an arcade game burger bar in Martin Place went nuts, the announcement that Hashtag Burgers is running In-N-Out-inspired pop-up was warmly received (to say the least), and 10,000 of you clicked attending to Sydney's first burger festival earlier this year. Now, Gelato Messina has got on board, with their own two-day burger and ice cream pop-up, aptly named Messina Eats. Fortunately, Messina hasn't created a pizza gelato (although we wouldn't put it past them). Instead they've lured one Melbourne's best burgermeisters, Huxtaburger, up north to flip some seriously delicious burgs over two days. They'll also be joined by their lobster roll counterparts Mr Claws, who'll be dishing out buttery beacons of goodness alongside some seriously good looking cremino choc tops from Messina. The whole thing will go down over two days on Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18 in the carpark at Messina's Rosebery HQ. They'll be open from noon for lunch and dinner until sold out. And considering how popular the Huxtaburger pop-up at Harpoon Harry was last year, it's a real possibility. Messina Eats will run from noon until sold out on June 17 and 18. Find more information here.
One of Sydney's solid locals could be calling last drinks. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Alexandria Hotel has been earmarked for demolition after changing ownership just last week. Standing at the corner of Henderson Road and Garden Street in Alexandria, the Alexandria Hotel has been a modest, unpretentious Sydney watering hole for about 145 years — the original building was erected in the late 1870s, NSW brewers Tooth and Co. took over in the '20s. Owner Ray Masters bought the pub in 1988 and just last week handed over the deed to a company owned by Centennial Property Group. According to SMH, these new owners are planning to demolish the pub to make way for a $8 million four-storey apartment building, with 29 new residences and commercial ground floor space. It'd be a real shame to lose this Sydney gem; there's so much history here (and one of the best beer gardens in Sydney). One of the key game pubs for Sydney Swans fans, the Alexandria has been leased for the last 15 years by former Swans player Darren McAsey. The pub's seen its fair share of AFL finals and State of Origin matches, but it's not without its music history — Future Classic's regular Sunhaze Sundays saw the beginning of the now bigtime Sydney label. But the pub's history goes way, way back; SMH points out the pub is also Henderson Road's last remnant of Alexandria's pre-war industrial heritage (and that workers would hang their singlets on the pub's own clothes line). Whether the Alexandria's history will save it remains to be seen, apparently the building's '20s/'30s-style architecture is 'common' and the heritage value has been lessened by the redevelopment of the surrounding area (something we don't really get, someone please explain this to us kthnx). If you're keen, you can see the Centennial Property Group company's Alexandria development application on public display at the City of Sydney council. It'll be there until July 14. In the meantime, have a schooner and a bistro dinner at the Alexandria Hotel while you can. Look, it's so part of the Sydney furniture, it's even in this VB ad: And this (admittedly sexist) ad for Smith's chips: Via SMH. Images: Alexandria Hotel.
Hailing from Melbourne Camp Cope have only been kicking about together for the last couple of years after bonding in a friend's kitchen. After gaining significantly gargantuan hype in Australia and overseas, they're about to play one of the world's most hallowed stages: Sydney Opera House. No pressure. The trio's debut, self-titled album was released last year, and goes to show how much can really be achieved in two days, which is how long the album took to record. The LP harks to good ol' garage indie rock, but there's a real authenticity in the album, especially coming from the sharp lyricism and emphatic vocals from singer-guitarist Georgia McDonald, alongside bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich and drummer Sarah Thompson. Unafraid to tackle topics others might avoid, Camp Cope should bring a killer live show to their Vivid Sydney debut.
For all its chilling prescience, George Orwell's 1984 made us believe that loving Big Brother would be horrifying. That just like the protagonist Winston, we'd all be dragged kicking and screaming into Room 101 for conversion. Not so. It took some time, but as apps became less and less coy about asking to root through our messages and contacts, we became less wary of them. The rebellion never had a chance. Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan aren't so sure. The pair adapted Orwell's novel for the West End production and are now directing the Australian season at STC which opens in June. 1984, which imagines a world where all citizens are under constant surveillance and the government has a ministry dedicated to fake news, seems to be gaining relevance as it ages. If things keep going Orwell's way, though, it's unlikely you'll get another chance to experience it in a theatre. Or in any form, for that matter. So what'll it be — freedom or happiness?
What would you do if you were a little less freaked out by consequences? Would you talk to more new people, fear a bit less, dance a little more like FKA Twigs, quit your desk job and dedicate yourself to the hobby or interest you've always wanted to turn into a career? Some sparkling young Australians are already flinging their inhibitions into a ziplock bag and seizing this little ol' life with both hands. Concrete Playground has teamed up with the Jameson crew to give you a sneak peek into the lives of bold characters who took a big chance on themselves. They've gone out on a limb and rewritten their path, encapsulating 'Sine Metu', the Jameson family motto which translates to 'without fear' — getting outside your comfort zone and trying something new. After all, we only get one shot at this. Take notes. Every kid fills their schoolbooks with sketches, but few actually consider turning their doodling into a career. In fact, Sydney-based illustrator Barry Patenaude certainly didn't think that his squiggles and scribbles could take him into the hectic freelance world of illustrating for big brands — even Concrete Playground (thanks Barry) — let alone illustrating his highly popular series Beers in the Sun. Instead, he followed the same path most of us do, progressing from high school to university, studying architecture and drafting, and then getting an office job. But sometimes, our true passions just can't be ignored; in fact, that's what embracing the 'Sine Metu' mindset is all about. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU TOILETS TO DRAW, DRAW THEM WELL There's a reason most job choices — the ones that stem from a couple of years at uni, then lead to the 9-to-5 grind — are considered sensible choices. They're the kind of careers that provide security, as well as a clear plan for the future. If you'd met Barry when he was a child, he wouldn't have mentioned being an illustrator. "I did draw a lot," he says. "I did art at school, but I never really thought illustration could be a career path." There's such a thing as being too sensible, however — and if you ever find yourself using your artistic talents to sketch toilets, you might just come to this realisation. After pursuing all the practical options, Barry worked in an architecture office, designing buildings and delving into the ever-fascinating task of drawing toilets. That he found it a bit monotonous is stating the obvious. But, breaking away from the path you're already on is easier said than done, of course. And sometimes you need to experience all the boring stuff to shatter that mindset and discover what you really want to do. As Barry explains, "I finished school and was like, 'So the path is: you study, you get a job and then you work.' That's the mindset I had for ages, but over time it just didn't appeal to me. I didn't want to be an office jockey." SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOT TO SKIP TOWN FOR AN INTERNSHIP Like many big life decisions, it was a change of scene — and a change of city — that helped alter Barry's perceptions about just what his chosen profession should be. He had spent a few years travelling overseas and enjoying working holidays, but it was the move from Brisbane to Sydney that proved the true catalyst, or at least got the ball rolling. Not that that's actually what he was thinking about when he headed interstate with his girlfriend so that she could secure an internship. Sometimes, though, you just have to go where the moment takes you. As Barry started calling New South Wales home, "that's when I started drawing a lot more in my spare time," he advises, "and it was something I didn't realise that I had missed until I started doing it again". Illustrating became the thing he did on the side for a few years, leading to an art show in 2011, as well as paid freelance opportunities. Then, three years ago, his regular job switched from full to part time. It's the kind of news most employees dread, but he took it as an opportunity and royally bit the bullet. "I wouldn't have thought that I'd be in this position six years ago when I moved here, but it has worked out for the best I think," he says. "Like a lot of people, I was questioning what I was doing with my life. Now, I do have a path and I like where it is going, and it is definitely better than drawing toilets." ILLUSTRATE, INSTAGRAM, THEN LET THE BUSINESS COME TO YOU Today, Barry's decision to give illustrating a proper go might seem-like a no-brainer, but trying to make a living doing what you love is tricky, particularly when that involves a creative field, cultivating a gig-based resume, and never knowing what's going to come next. While his artwork is now featured on everything from bar walls to websites, getting to this stage wasn't an easy — or quick — process. Starting with a safety net — his part-time drafting job — certainly helped. So did just going for it; as Barry puts it, "you don't really have anything to lose. I mean, apart from your finances." He doesn't shy away from just how tough making his mark has been, but he also recognises the importance of self-belief and perseverance. "The first year was super hard. I was so poor. I just kept at it, and that's what I'm doing now — keeping at it. But it's definitely an evolution and a slow process. You've just got to have patience, and believe in your work, and let people realise that it's good." Take the project he has probably become best known for, Beers in the Sun. It actually started as a hobby and a way to unwind — and the fact that it combined two of his biggest passions certainly made it plenty of fun. It seems that people quite like pictures of their favourite beverages, with a flock of Instagram followers leading to media attention, more interest in his illustrations, gigs with booze brands, and yes, a few free brews to drink as well. When it comes to what will help kick your career into gear, "you just never know," says Barry. Want to experience a little bit of 'Sine Metu' yourself? Thanks to Jameson and The Rewriters, one extremely fortunate Concrete Playground reader (and their even more fortunate mate) will get the chance to 'fear less' and go on a big ol' adventure to Ireland. In addition to two return flights departing from your choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, this epic giveaway comes with five night's accommodation and $500 spending money you can use to paint the Emerald Isle red. ENTER HERE. For more about how 'Sine Metu' influenced John Jameson's journey visit Jameson's website. Images: Andy Fraser.
In 1677, the French found out about ice cream and totally lost their minds. In the same year, the English found themselves equally gobsmacked by The Rover, a play about a band of English rogues stumbling into Naples during a carnival. Penned by Aphra Behn, a royal spy who turned playwright when the king wouldn't pay her wages, The Rover tore up London, playing to packed houses and eventually spawning a sequel. 300-odd years later, Belvoir's Eamon Flack and a rogue's gallery including Toby Schmitz, Nikki Shiels and Gareth Davies are going roving into the Restoration once more. "This is a sexy, dangerous play" says Flack. "Its honesty about the battle between men and women for power is striking given it is over three and a half centuries old." Whether you're trying to figure out how to avoid being sent to the convent by your crazy brother, been hoodwinked by love, or simply fancy yourself a scoundrel, The Rover's got you covered. So get your britches on and book — this one will see a fair few sold-out nights. Image: Daniel Boud.
Get the bacon and whisky ready, and start making your own canoe — Nick Offerman is coming to Australia in mid-2019. After last venturing to our shores in 2016, the Parks and Recreation star is headed back for with his all new All Rise show. Yes, Ron effing Swanson will be in the country again from June 2–21. All Rise sees Offerman do what he does best, other than star in beloved sitcoms and whip up items in his woodshop. Here, here'll be comedically contemplating life in a show that's described as "an evening of deliberative talking and light dance". If you've just started thinking about drunk Ron Swanson letting loose, that's understandable; however expect plenty of witty, reflective chatter as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrLZgP-OR6s It's been a big few years for the actor and comedian, with Offerman popping up in everything from Fargo, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Curb Your Enthusiasm to The Founder, Hearts Beat Loud and the forthcoming The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part since Parks and Rec ended. If you're a dedicated fan of not only Offerman, but his wife Megan Mullally, you might've noticed that his tour of Australia coincides with hers. With her band Nancy and Beth, Mullally is hitting up a spate of venues across the country between June 6–19, typically within days of Offerman's stops in each city. ALL RISE DATES June 2 — Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide June 5 — Crown Theatre, Perth June 8 — Palais Theatre, Melbourne June 12 — Canberra Theatre, Canberra June 14 — Wrest Point Casino, Hobart June 18 — State Theatre, Sydney June 21 — QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane Tickets go on sale at 2pm on Thursday, February 7, via Live Nation.
One of Australia's most redeeming qualities is its ability to give good afternoon sun. There's something about its familiar glow that almost demands casual drinks – whether it's cracking open a cold beer after a day out, heading to the pub after a long day of work, or deciding on a whim that your backyard is perfect for having friends over. We love summer afternoons, and we've partnered with Heineken 3 so you can get the most out of them. We've spoken to a few of our favourite chefs, musicians and artists to get their insights on creating the perfect balmy afternoon. Having colourful paper backyard decorations may not be essential, but it's sure to take your casual backyard gathering to the next level. We asked the incredible paper engineer Benja Harney to help us out with some tutorials for easy backyard decorations. The first is a burger piñata, the second is a lantern covered in colourful streamers, the third is a string of sandwich bag bunting. Harney has done some incredible work in the past, so these simple projects are maybe a bit of an insult to his skills. He's worked on window installations for Hermès, he's made paper versions of Adidas shoes, and makes paper vegetables, grass and furniture for clients on the regular. His studio space is Surry Hills is filled to the brim with coloured paper and intricate paper sculptures. Not only is he good at his job, he's also really good at teaching. Follow the instructions below and make your backyard a little more fancy (and fun) the next time you have people over for a Heineken 3. BURGER PINATA When was the last time you whacked a piñata? It's fun, and even more fun when your piñata is shaped like a novelty version of your favourite food. This one is a little more tricky, so Benja has kindly drawn up some templates of the shapes you'll need to cut out to make your burger ingredients out of coloured cardboard. Print off the PDF in A3 and trace. Easy. You'll need: Thin cardboard (in the colours of your burger ingredients, and A3 size), thin corrugated cardboard, tape, scissors, glue, lollies, string. Method: Cut out your coloured cardboard into the shape of lettuce, tomato, burger bun and any other ingredients you want to pop in your burger. Use four strips of corrugated cardboard (about 15cm wide) and tape to make a square frame. Place a large piece of corrugated cardboard over the top, so it resembles a shallow open box. Glue your pieces of coloured cardboard to the box — it should now look like a burger. Flip the box over and fill it with lollies. Then, cover the box with a piece of thinner cardboard and tape it together. If you want to make it a little easier on your guests, you could glue this piece down instead of taping it, so it comes apart easier when you start to smash. Pop a piece of string onto the top and hang. SANDWICH BAG BUNTING This brown paper bag bunting is the easiest backyard decoration you'll ever make. Who knew that some scissors and string could turn the humble sandwich bag into a classy decoration for your backyard? You'll need: PVA glue, scissors, string, brown paper sandwich bags. Method: Grab yourself some brown paper sandwich bags from your local supermarket (they'll set you back a maximum of $2 — cheapest project you'll ever do). Cut each bag into a triangle shape like the one above, making sure that the 'seam' of the bag isn't at the triangle's point. Place a long piece of string inside the fold and glue it there. Repeat, repeat and repeat until your bunting has reached the length you want it to be. A LANTERN OF STREAMERS This is a simple way to spice up those cheap paper lanterns most people have in their backyards. It's colourful, looks like a jellyfish and blows in the wind. Make multiples and hang them in a row for maximum effect. You'll need: A cheap lantern from a discount store, string to hang it up, glue, scissors, three colours of streamers. Method: Cut the three colours of your streamers into pieces, all different lengths. Glue the top of each piece of streamer around the lantern in layers, starting from the bottom and repeating until the whole lantern is covered. Enjoy your summer afternoons with the new low-carb Heineken 3 — we're helping you make the most of them. Images: Kimberley Low.
In concurrence with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum, The National Gallery of Australia, in partnership with Wesfarmers Arts, is hosting its 3rd National Indigenous Art Triennial. This major exhibition, titled Defying Empire, will run from May 26 through September 10 and brings together both established and emerging Indigenous artists from across Australia in a showcase that focuses on themes of identity, racism, displacement and country. Among the 30 participating artists are Brenda L. Croft, whose art looks at themes of home, Fiona Foley, who focuses on race relations, Tony Albert, who examines war and its aftermath and Brook Andrew, who explores themes of ancestry. Other artists delve into heavy issues of nuclear testing, sovereignty and the stolen generations, using a mix of media from canvas painting, video and photography to weaving, sculpture, metalwork and glasswork. The exhibition reinforces the significance of Indigenous art in Australia's cultural identity and the ongoing struggle for equality. Image: Daniel Boyd by Nikki To, Megan Cope by Pat Scala/Fairfax Media.
Every February for the last ten years, Secret Garden Festival has taken over a forest outside Sydney, turning it into a magical natural wonderland with a 48-hour extravaganza of music, drag, food and art. It's always a banger. If you've been, you might have found yourself dancing on a cosmic suspended flying saucer dance floor, partying with drag queens at Camp Queen, getting a smooch at the kissing booth or even getting married. But, like all good ones, the party has to come to an end sometime — and, as announced by festival founder Clare Downes last month, 2019 will be Secret Garden's last. So grab your diary, call your mates and reserve your horse. Because the final Secret Garden will take place over 48 hours, across Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23. And the team behind this grassroots by-mates-for-mates festival has just released the lineup. It reads like a roll-call of local legends, including The Preatures, Ali Barter, Mojo Juju, Mildlife, Laura Jean, Harvey Sutherland, Handsome and Genesis Owusu. And that's just the music side of things. There are a whole heap of other goodies to discover, including a whole stage for drag queens, lots of DJs and party starters, a brass band and even Disney karaoke. While you never really know what to expect until you get there, we can tell you that, as always, Secret Garden will bring you an immersive experience in a magical out-of-the-city setting transformed into a natural wonderland. You'll find yourself wandering through a forest maze, getting lost in massive installations, discovering unexpected pop-up performances and coming across tucked-away parties in custom-made rave caves. Maybe even getting married. All we know for sure? As always, you're invited to wear your craziest costumes — the Friday theme is disco on a spaceship. Start planning. So scrape your cash together. Tickets are on sale now and there aren't many left. Updated: February 13, 2019.
You know those wildly decadent Tella Ball milkshakes from Foodcraft Espresso and Bakery everyone lost their minds about last year? The ones with the spherical doughnut oozing with Nutella, sat proudly atop a Nutella milkshake? These ones. Well, if you'll recall the hoo-ha that happened last year, and the fact that Sydney is getting a dedicated Tella Ball Nutella dessert bar, you'd better clear your calendar. Originally planned to open in November 2015, the dessert bar is finally opening in Dulwich Hill on February 29 — they've officially locked in the date on Facebook. The general aim is to direct every scrap of Nutella in the known universe into our bodies, via all manner of indulgent treats. The Nutella-fuelled menu structures meals just the way we like it. Mains: coffee. Desserts: Nutella cruffin, Nutella cheesecake, Nutella crepes, Nutella waffles, Nutella pancakes, Nutella pizza, Nutella ice cream, Tella Ball Milkshakes (of course) and no doubt many more Nutella creations as yet unimagined by mankind. 44 days to go! You may now die in peace! Nutella soft serve coming soon to Tella balls dessert bar Dulwich Hill! #nutellasoftserve #nutella #nutellalove #nutellalover #softserveicecream #nutellaicecream #dessertporn #sydneydesserts #tellaballsdessertbar #dulwichhill #innerwestsydney #sydneycafes #sydneycommunity #sydney #australia #franchising A photo posted by Foodcraftespresso&bakery (@foodcraftespresso) on Jan 15, 2016 at 5:25pm PST Coming soon to Tella balls dessert bar! #nutella #nutellaicecream #dessertporn #tellaballsdessertbar #innerwest #dulwichhill #sydneydesserts #sydney #australia #thenextbigthing A photo posted by Foodcraftespresso&bakery (@foodcraftespresso) on Oct 7, 2015 at 2:51am PDT In the meantime though, you can just buy a commercial tub of Nutella and start applying it to everyday food stuffs (lettuce, bran, Panadol etc.) or just plain go at it with a spoon. Our only concern with this venture, a concern that’s vague and hard to concentrate on in midst of our excitement, is the dreaded Nutella shortage that once swept over our nation. We’ll have to learn our lesson and build a little emergency stockpile to get us through the inevitable shortages. But for a Nutella-themed dessert bar, it’s totally worth it. Tella Ball Dessert Bar will open in Dulwich Hill on Monday, February 29. Location TBC. Check the Facebook page for updates. Image: Foodcraft Espresso.
Can you feel a tingling in your toes as your feet start to defrost? That’s the feeling of winter slipping away (or maybe you’ve been sitting cross-legged for too long) and with its demise comes the return of the 20th season of Australia's beloved Moonlight Cinema. Ahhh balmy nights on the grass, we have missed you. Heralding the coming of the warmer months, Moonlight Cinema is a summertime tradition and they always nail the balance between new releases and cult classics. While the film program is yet to be announced, the team have revealed they're bringing back one of their favourite, adorably novelty events. Moonlight Cinema fully understand that while your pooch may not be able to recite Mean Girls the way you want him to, you still want to bring him to the flicks with you. Now you can! The puntastically-named Doggie Nights is a night you can bring pooch along (ideally dressed as Regina George). Nosh-wise, Moonlight Cinema will again let you BYO movie snacks and drinks, but the unorganised can also chow down on a plethora of US style food trucks — the perfect, messy treat made for reclining on bean beds. Bean beds, doggies and snack trucks, is there anything better? This season includes screens in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, running through December to March. Get your pens out and jot down these dates. MOONLIGHT CINEMA 2016 DATES: Sydney: Dec 3 – Mar 27 (Belvedere Amphitheatre in Centennial Park). Adelaide: Dec 3 – Feb 14 (Botanic Park) Brisbane: Dec 16 – Mar 6 (New Farm Park at Brisbane Powerhouse) Melbourne: Dec 3 –Mar 27 (Central Lawn at the Royal Botanic Gardens) Perth: Dec 5 – Mar 27 (Kings Park and Botanic Garden) The Moonlight Cinema kicks off on December 3. For more information and bookings here.
You may have heard that Chinese artist and political commentator Ai Weiwei's work will be hitting Australia for the huge blockbuster summer exhibition Andy Warhol Ai Weiwei at the National Gallery of Victoria in December. But in a bizarre twist, the artist's work and freedom of speech is being threatened by none other than Lego, the Danish toy company that has brought delight to kids dads everywhere for generations. In a move that shocks nobody who’s ever stood barefoot on a tiny plastic brick, Lego have revealed themselves to be pretty damned villainous. Weiwei announced via Instagram on Saturday that Lego refused his studio’s order for bulk bricks on the grounds that Lego “cannot approve the use of Legos for political works”. The order was going to be used to build a room-sized installation of portraits of Australian activists who fight for human rights and free speech. Weiwei sardonically adds that Britain is opening a Legoland in Shanghai as a direct result of the special political relationship between the UK and China, which most definitely falls under the category of 'political works'. In September Lego refused Ai Weiwei Studio's request for a bulk order of Legos to create artwork to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria as "they cannot approve the use of Legos for political works." On Oct 21, a British firm formally announced that it will open a new Legoland in Shanghai as one of the many deals of the U.K.-China "Golden Era." A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 23, 2015 at 6:04am PDT As expected, the resultant internet furore has been A+. One plucky Twitter user @dgatterdam astutely reused an Ai Weiwei quote “Everything is art. Everything is politics.” to generate debate while others proceeded to give in to their baser instincts and gave the (in some cases literal) middle finger to Lego. @aiww Uh oh, no one tell @LEGO_Group I used my Legos to make a political statement! #legosforweiwei pic.twitter.com/euOyW86xrP — Mila Johns (@milaficent) October 25, 2015 Both approaches worked in spreading the word however and it wasn’t long before the good people of the internet were offering up their own Legos for Weiwei's use instead. Weiwei made a statement yesterday that his studio will be collecting donated Lego in different cities to create the exhibition anyway (suck it, Lego, may you walk on a sea of thousands of your jagged blocks for eternity). He also said that he would be changing his exhibition piece to reflect the events and defend (more fervently) the tenants of free speech. In September 2015 Lego refused to sell Ai Weiwei Studio a bulk order of Lego bricks for Ai's artworks to be exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne on the basis of the works' "political" nature. Ai posted this notice on his Instagram on Friday, October 23rd. Lego's position triggered a torrent of outrage on social media against this assault on creativity and freedom of expression. Numerous supporters offered to donate Lego to Ai. In response to Lego's refusal and the overwhelming public response, Ai Weiwei has now decided to make a new work to defend freedom of speech and "political art". Ai Weiwei Studio will announce the project description and Lego collection points in different cities. This is the first phase of the coming projects. A photo posted by Ai Weiwei (@aiww) on Oct 25, 2015 at 10:37am PDT So how can you stick it to Lego and send your own blocks to the cause? We expect the Weiwei studio to announce collection points in the coming weeks and we’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, follow Weiwei's tweets, check the studio website and collect up all your old Lego pieces because soon enough they’ll be going down in history. Via New York Times/NPR. UPDATE OCTOBER 28, 2015: National Gallery of Victoria has been announced as the first international Lego collection point for the Ai Weiwei project. The artist today confirmed that the NGV will become the first Lego collection spot outside of Beijing. From Thursday, October 29, a car will be placed in the NGV sculpture garden in Melbourne as a repository for the Lego blocks. Donors are encouraged to bring in their Lego blocks and drop them through the sunroof of the vehicle.
After a successful 2013 collaboration between Dion Lee and angel-voiced Sarah Blasko on the killer show De Novo, the Sydney Dance Company is once again bringing to the stage a fusion of music, choreography and high fashion. This year the talent comes from costume designer Toni Maticevski and soprano Katie Noonan, who will weave their magic around a trio of dances by Rafael Bonachela, appropriately titled Triptych. Maticevski is better known for his red-carpet gowns than anything, but he’s turned his considerable talent towards interpreting the mood and music of the three pieces of choreography, and his designs range from pale nude chiffon twists for Simple Symphony to black and mesh for the “darker, sexier and more suggestive” mood in Les Illuminations. Rafael’s world premiere work, Variation 10, will feature the entire ensemble of the Sydney Dance Company swathed in shades of grey and silver, sheer ruffles, frayed edges and outlined cut-outs. Maticevski describes the look as “distressed ballerina”. It’s not the first time Maticevski has collaborated with the Sydney Dance Company. He crafted the costumes for the premiere 2013 season of Les Illuminations, which has been reimagined for the 2015 season. The images above are some sneaky shots of the as-yet-unfinished products in action. Triptych plays at the Roslyn Packer Theatre from September 25 – October 10. Book tickets via the Roslyn Packer Theatre website.
One of Australia's most redeeming qualities is its ability to give good afternoon sun. There's something about its familiar glow that almost demands casual drinks — whether it's cracking open a cold beer after a day out, heading to the pub after a long day of work, or deciding on a whim that your backyard is perfect for having friends over. We love summer afternoons, and we've partnered with Heineken 3 so you can get the most out of them. We've spoken to a few of our favourite chefs, musicians and artists, to get their insights on creating the perfect balmy afternoon. For a summer playlist, who better to ask for advice than Ned East, a.k.a Kilter? His genre-spanning tropical electronic beats scream summer, and he's been making waves playing his tunes around Australia — performing at Falls, Field Day and Southbound. This year he followed the sun into European waters, playing shows and festivals across France, Germany, Malta and the UK. We asked him for some tips on how to create the perfect party playlist for a summer afternoon. Because he's a nice guy, he provided one of his own. It's good. Listen to this and get inspired, then follow his tips in creating your own. YOUR PLAYLIST NEEDS TO BE CAREFULLY CURATED It's important to remember that your playlist should be delicately crafted — it shouldn't just be a bunch of tracks thrown together. It should be designed to be listened to in one fell swoop, just like Kilter's. That means no skipping, no jumping and absolutely no shuffling (tracks, that is). TAKE YOUR LISTENERS ON A JOURNEY There needs to be an effortless flow. Kilter's playlist has a strong dance tinge to it, cruising through a few downtempo tracks, moving into a house-centred, upbeat party vibe. Things get a bit crazy towards the end, but what else can you expect from a summer session? PICK A FEW BANGER TRACKS TO GET STARTED Kilter tells us to "start with the tracks you really want to play, then think about their order and how they'll be consumed". Choose a few of your favourite tracks that you know you'll definitely want to include, and use those as your base. That way, it's easy to get inspired, ensure you get a variety of music and make sure your playlist has some direction. Kilter's starting point tracks were Kwesta's 'Ngud' (featuring Cassper Nyovest), as well as 808INK's 'Suede Jaw' and Hayden James' 'Just a Lover' (Karma Kid remix) — he recommends if you're in need of some inspiration. CONSIDER YOUR SITUATION, AND LEARN TO LIFT THE VIBES Music has the magical ability to dictate someone's mood. It's essential to a summer afternoon when you're throwing back a Heineken 3, because it'll lift the vibes. "If it's a rainy day and you're playing summertime jams, it's going to make you feel a little bit better," Kilter says. "If it's a sunny day and you've got sunny music on, it's really going to take your vibes to another level". In his own words: "Get some friends over and have some beers in the sun. Let the music do its thing while you do your thing." Enjoy your summer afternoons with the new low-carb Heineken 3 — we're helping you make the most of them.
One of Melbourne's specialty coffee go-to's, Dukes Coffee Roasters, has landed in Sydney, last week unveiling its new home within The Streets of Barangaroo. With its focus on environmental and social sustainability, and broad range of impeccable caffeine offerings, Dukes has been making a solid name for itself down south, since launching its first café back in 2008. The team are committed to supporting both the planet and every one of the communities involved in their coffee's production. Each bag of coffee beans has been ethically traded and can be traced right back to the farm from which it came. Now, three years after moving into its current Flinders Lane digs, Dukes has added another store to the family, launching South by Dukes in the lobby of Barangaroo's Tower One. The blond timber and smooth curves here mimic those of Dukes' Melbourne store, though the new space is bigger, lighter, and brighter than its southern sibling. Brewing from 7am every weekday, the Sydney store offers a caffeine hit for every kind of palate, alongside a tidy selection of sandwiches, pastries and sweet treats. Dukes is not the Barangaroo precinct's first Melbourne blow-in, joining fellow southerners Belles Hot Chicken and Shortstop Donuts. Find South by Dukes at Tower One International Towers Sydney, Shipwright Walk/100 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo. Open Monday to Friday 7am to 4pm.
White knuckle thrillers, sun-dappled love stories and fish out of water comedies — you'll find them all in the lineup at this year's Spanish Film Festival. Taking over the screens at select Palace Cinemas around the country, the latest edition of this much-loved festival features 39 titles in total, including a loose remake of a recent Australian effort that will double as the opening night film. A kinky, sex-positive comedy inspired by Josh Lawson's The Little Death, Paco Leon's Kiki, Love to Love should get things off to a smoldering start. Other standouts on the program include crime thrillers such as The Bar and Smoke and Mirrors, and a retrospective stream dedicated to the works of iconic actor and singer Ana Belen. The festival will conclude with an early screening of The Trip to Spain, the much anticipated third chapter in the big screen travels of comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Below, check out our list of the five must-see films of this year's Spanish Film Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ywx8kAviZA MAY GOD SAVE US The title of Rodrigo Sorogoyen's new film is a little on the ominous side, but then from all reports that's rather fitting. Set in Madrid during a fiercely hot summer against the backdrop of anti-austerity protests and a visit by the pope, May God Save Us tracks a pair of veteran cops on the trail of a violent serial killer. A classic cat-and-mouse thriller, the picture won Best Screenplay at last year's San Sebastian International Film Festival, and has been compared by critics to the blood-spattered films of David Fincher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm9QiTqOUdI SUMMER 1993 This year's centerpiece film arrives at the Spanish Film Festival on the back of considerable critical acclaim. Directed by Carla Simon Pipó, who won Best First Feature at the 2017 Berlinale, Summer 1993 follows six-year-old Frida, who after the death of her parents is swept from Barcelona to the Catalan provinces to begin a new life with her aunt and uncle. A simple, sensitive coming-of-age story, the film is a must-see for cinephiles, and might well be our number one pick of the entire festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f5La9q2_k8 THE DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN The latest effort from directorial double act Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, The Distinguished Citizen earned major plaudits at last year's Venice Film Festival, including a Best Actor gong for its leading man Oscar Martínez. A familiar face to Argentinean audiences, here Martínez plays Daniel Mantovani, a taciturn novelist who returns to his tiny hometown in order to accept an award and maybe find some inspiration. What follows has been billed as a biting big screen farce about jealousy, creativity and the perils of success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B2x5XLbQhk THE QUEEN OF SPAIN In terms of star power, this sumptuous period piece from Oscar winner Fernando Trueba is likely the biggest title on this year's Spanish Film Festival program. Reprising her role from Trueba's 1998 film The Girl of Your Dreams, Penelope Cruz plays Macarena Granada, a Hollywood movie star who returns to her native Spain for a film shoot, only for the production to run afoul of Franco's regime. Both a send-up of fascism and a loving tribute to 1950s Spanish cinema, with supporting turns by The Princess Bride co-stars Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin, The Queen of Spain shapes up as a surefire crowdpleaser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSDZ7IiYb_A THE TRIP TO SPAIN After touring the finest restaurants that England and then Italy had to offer, comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are back for their latest gastronomic adventure. Directed once again by Michael Winterbottom, The Trip to Spain promises more of the same for fans of the previous two Trip films, with charming vistas, mouthwatering food and free-flowing banter. Although it's due to receive a theatrical release later in the year, closing night is your chance to see one of the year's funniest films before any of your friends. The Spanish Film Festival tours Australia from April 18, screening at Sydney's Palace Norton Street and Palace Verona from April 18 to May 7; Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth and Kino Cinemas from April 20 to May 7, and Brisbane's Palace Barracks and Palace Centro from April 27 to May 14. For more information, visit the festival website. Image: Summer 1993.
If you only get stranded on one island this year, make sure to make it this one. After the colossal success of the previous two years, Wine Island is returning to Sydney Harbour this November for another long weekend of fun, food and sweet, sweet wine. For those who missed out in the past, Wine Island is more or less what it sounds like, in that it's an island where you drink a lot of wine. More specifically, it's a three-day mini festival on Clark Island in Sydney Harbour, where you can spend your time knocking back glass after glass while feasting on mouth-watering cuisine. Similar to last year's lineup, there will be a range of activities to enjoy – think masterclasses, silent discos and treasure hunts. Yes, treasure hunts. And, just to add a little extra grandeur in 2017, they've added the Wine Island Superyacht into the mix, so you can ditch the crowd and instead sail to the island on a really big yacht, taking a detour to enjoy the harbour, of course. Once ashore, your ticket gets you access to private masterclasses and exclusive culinary experiences. Wine Island 2017 is set to run from Friday, November 10 to Sunday, November 12. Tickets will go on sale to members (you can sign up here) on Monday, August 28. In the past, general admission tickets included vintage ferry transport to and from the island with a glass of sparking on board, five wine tastings, masterclasses and your own wine glass — so even standard ticketholders can expect pretty luxe treatment. Images: Jack Toohey.
Fans of Marcel Duchamp are in for a serious treat, with the Art Gallery of New South Wales named as the sole Australian stop for a huge exhibition celebrating the acclaimed artist's life and work. Kicking off in Tokyo on October 2, to mark the 50th anniversary of the artist's death, it's set to be the most comprehensive Duchamp exhibition to ever hit the Asia-Pacific region. The Essential Duchamp will open in Sydney in April 2019, showcasing an impressive 150 works and related documentary materials from throughout the art legend's 60-year career. It'll offer a rare glimpse at Duchamp's seriously fascinating life and a body of work that's considered one of the 20th century's most artistically influential. Some pieces, like Chocolate Grinder (No 2) from 1914 and 1910's Portrait of Dr. Dumouchel, have never before been seen in this part of the world. The exhibition's on loan from, and organised by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which boasts the definitive collection of Duchamp artwork. Director Dr Michael Brand said the Art Gallery of NSW's excited to be part of this important collaboration. "The Philadelphia Museum of Art is an encyclopedic museum of the highest order with a grand tradition of both research and innovative exhibitions," he explained. "The Gallery is delighted to introduce to Australian audiences for the first time, the full creative accomplishment of this maverick artist who changed the way we look at art." The Essential Duchamp will be on show at the Art Gallery of NSW from April 2019 to August 2019. For more info, visit the AGNSW website. Image: Gary Stevens via Wikimedia Commons.
One wrote novels that explored the loves and lives of well-to-do Britons during the 18th century. The other makes films that provide sharp, humorous looks at specific, highly interconnected sections of society. And yet, while Whit Stillman took inspiration from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park for his 1990 debut feature Metropolitan — which the filmmaker himself notes is considered "a stealth adaptation" by some Austen fans — it has taken him 26 years and five features to craft an official screen version of one of the author's works. Based on Austen's unfinished epistolary novella Lady Susan, the end result is Love & Friendship, a comedy of manners, match-making and possible marriages. Kate Beckinsale plays the recently widowed Lady Susan Vernon, who won't let rumours about her romantic entanglements get in the way of securing her next husband — or finding a suitable paramour for her teenage daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark). When she's not trying to win the affections of the young and handsome Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel) and setting up Frederica with the buffoonish Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett), she's confiding her schemes to her close friend Alicia (Chloë Sevigny). A sparkling satire of societal expectations ensues — and from the witty banter between characters to the light yet insightful way the story unravels, Love & Friendship feels like the film Stillman was destined to make. In the lead up to the movie's Australian release, we spoke with the writer/director about taking the time to see the project come to fruition, balancing his own sensibilities with the source material, and reuniting with after Beckinsale and Sevigny after his 1998 effort The Last Days of Disco. ON ADAPTING JANE AUSTEN "I happened upon the material, the story of Lady Susan Vernon — which her nephew, when he published it a century after her death, gave it the title Lady Susan, which is not Jane Austen's title. I thought it was really funny and different. And I had sort of not entirely admired all the Jane Austen adaptations because a lot of them lost the humour and her true perspective, and so I thought this is a way of having something very funny and very entertaining — a sort of pre-Oscar Wilde sort of comedy by Jane Austen and in her world. It intrigued me. "I wanted to take my time on it, and work on it when I didn't have paying jobs and could just do it at my own pace, just exactly as slow as it needed to be done. This kind of thing is like cooking — when you have a thing that is going to take a lot of time, it is going to take 12 hours of simmering something down. And so I knew that this was the 12 years of simmering something down. Well, maybe not that many years. But I knew it would take an amount of time." ON TACKLING A LESSER-KNOWN AUSTEN STORY "It was hugely liberating. Hugely liberating. A real benefit. But I also noticed that the film adaptations I liked best were often of non-masterpieces. So flawed novels sometimes make really, really good adaptations. And I was hopeful that this would fall into that category where there's enough things to be done to give the people working on the film a canvas to work on. What's really challenging and frustrating is to take a masterpiece and reduce it to a film, because it is an issue of reduction." ON CHANGING THE TITLE FROM LADY SUSAN TO LOVE & FRIENDSHIP "For me, it was a big thing. It was the first decision I made. I wouldn't have done the film as Lady Susan — it was the first thing I thought of. I hated the title Lady Susan, it wasn't Jane Austen's title. And I know that these character name titles don't work in most translation territories. "I really think that Love & Friendship is a wonderful Jane Austen title that she thought of herself, and she wasted it on a story I don't take seriously at all. There was a good title on an unimportant story, so let's put the good title on the good novella." ON BALANCING AUSTEN'S TRADEMARKS WITH STILLMAN'S OWN STYLE "Everything is tricky. Everything is a balancing act to the very end. When we were putting in the sound, at the very end, the laughter in the dancing scene, it's like, 'Do we have too much of James Martin laughing? Are we making this too broad, too ridiculous?' And we actually dialled that back. And so, yeah there's always this balance. I had been so immersed in this novel for so long, so immersed in the period — it's a lifelong interest — that it sort of felt that we could handle that and do that balancing." ON CASTING AUSTRALIAN ACTOR XAVIER SAMUEL "Woody Allen and other directors have talked about this — it is almost impossible to find good romantic leading men and this sort of classic mould, and Xavier was a godsend when we found him. "We almost lost him to a competing Australian film — his agent wanted him to take this higher-paying job in Australia. And, my gosh, I was so upset at the possibility of losing him that I told him that I didn't want to make the film if he wouldn't be in it. He is really important for the film." ON REUNITING KATE BECKINSALE AND CHLOË SEVIGNY AFTER THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO "That was really inadvertent. Chloë was actually in the film before Kate Beckinsale. I started so far back that I was actually in touch with Elizabeth Hurley, I think, about this when I first started thinking of it. Kate was far too young then, she was still in her twenties. But I always thought it was a lovely idea for Kate Beckinsale, but at the very start she was too young. And then, I think Sienna Miller was attached to the film as Lady Susan for a while. And then the clouds parted, the sun came out, and we were able to get Kate to play the part — and it is the part for which she was destined, and she was actually wonderful in it, and she was great to work with." Love & Friendship opens in Australian cinemas on July 21.
If you, like us, have been struggling to maintain your bank balance this Christmas (the shopping, holiday plans and festival tickets all take their toll), we feel ya. To help you out, we've teamed up with Melbourne's biggest and best inner city festival, Sugar Mountain, and V MoVement, to give you the chance to win an epic festival experience. The stress of the festive season will melt away when you're grooving to Blood Orange with an 8bit burger in one hand and a beer in the other. Bliss. Up for grabs here are two VIP Sugar Mountain passes (yes), return flights to Melbourne from any major capital city (yessss) and we'll even put you up for two nights at QT Melbourne (a thousand times yes!). Prepare yourself for fluffy-robed luxury. But that's not all. Thanks to our buds at V MoVement, you'll be their VIP too with two side of stage passes to get up close and personal with the line-up on their own personal stage. V MoVement, just FYI, is an initiative by (you guessed it) V energy drink that aims to support grass roots dance music so it's no surprise they're popping up at the weird and wonderful Sugar Mountain. If you're a fan of EDM, this is the prize for you. Check out the line-up and read up on last year's Sensory Lab to yourself excited. We're even throwing in a year's worth of V energy drinks to bolster your energy levels after such an intense weekend. Damn. Not sure if anything under the tree can top this present. Head here to enter.
Cinderella horrifically mangled in a pumpkin car crash. Dodgem cars run by the Grim Reaper. Model boat ponds filled with dead bodies. Welcome to Banksy's Dismaland. Banksy has unveiled his biggest show to date, a family theme park that's highly unsuitable for children, a festival of "art, amusement and entry-level anarchism". Opened on a 2.5 acre site on the Weston-super-Mare seafront in the UK, Banksy's largest project has been kept under wraps for months, until today. According to the Guardian, locals and tourists were convinced the disused '30s lido space was being used for a Hollywood film set — fake crime thriller Grey Fox. Wander through cardboard airport security and you'll find a frankly terrifying theme park — a huge flip of the bird to Disneyland, even though Banksy banned any imagery of Mickey Mouse on site. Banksy personally selected 58 artists including Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, Julie Burchill, Jimmy Cauty (former KLF) and more, most of whom never met the elusive legend. The theme park's 'attractions' are another world of messed-up. Banksy's own ten works include Cinderella's pumpkin crashed in a large castle, a grisly recreation of the death of Princess Diana, surrounded by paparazzi (and you get a souvenir photo on the way out, lovely). The Grim Reaper rides the dodgems. There's a Punch and Judy show, rewritten with a nod to Jimmy Saville. Yeesh. There's a model boat pond, filled with dead bodies and overcrowded asylum seeker boats. There's cute little model village, swarmed by 3000 riot police following civil conflict. There's a Jeffrey Archer Memorial Fire Pit, locked in for daily book burnings, and an armour-plated riot control car used in Northern Ireland, with a slippery dip. For the kids, there's a 'pocket money loans' shop, handing out sweet sweet junk change with a 5000% interest rate to land them in debt for life. There's an 'advice bureau' where you can buy tools to break into bus stop ads and replace them with propaganda. "Are you looking for an alternative to the sugar-coated tedium of the average family day out? Or just somewhere a lot cheaper?" says Banksy. "Then this is the place for you. Bring the whole family to come and enjoy the latest addition to our chronic leisure surplus." #Dismaland #dismaland_park #banksy #streetart #dismalanbeamusementpark # A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 6:21am PDT #dismaland #banksy A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 8:39am PDT Dismaland Park #dismaland #banksy #dismaland_park #streetart #banksyart #disney #ladydi #paparazzi A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 11:56am PDT Banksy's dismaland park #dismaland #banksy #dismalanbeamusementpark #disney #england #streetart A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 5:20am PDT #streetart #dismaland_park #dismalanbeamusementpark #dismalandpark #dismaland #banksy #fuckthepolice A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 5:53am PDT #dismaland #banksy @dismaland_park A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 6:33am PDT Dismaland park #dismalandpark #dismaland #banksy #dismalanbeamusementpark #disney @dismaland_park A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 5:36am PDT Dismaland bemusement park @banksy @dismaland_park A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 5:02am PDT #dismaland #banksy A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 6:47am PDT #dismaland_park #dismalanbeamusementpark #dismalandpark #Dismaland #banksy #england A photo posted by Banksy (@dismaland_park) on Aug 20, 2015 at 5:42am PDT Banky's Dismaland is open until September 27. There'll be 4000 tickets available each day at £3 each at dismaland.co.uk. Via Guardian, Huffington Post, NY Daily News. Top image: Yui Mok.
Grab yourself a damn fine coffee and a slice of cherry pie. With the return of Twin Peaks just a few short weeks away, Golden Age Cinema is embracing the dark, disturbing world of David Lynch. To mark the cult series' long-awaited revival, Golden Age will host two free catch-up screenings of the first and last episode from the '90s. They'll also be showing the prequel film Fire Walk With Me alongside two other Lynch pictures: the dark romance Wild at Heart and his haunting debut Eraserhead (the film sessions are ticketed). The bar, meanwhile, will be serving an array of Twin Peaks-themed treats, including (damn fine) filter coffee, espresso martinis and a cold-brew coffee Negroni, plus custom-made cherry pie from Daisy's Milkbar and sheriff-approved doughnuts from Shortstop. There'll also be a photobooth, Twin Peaks trivia, and live music by Phanosland.
Started making those Christmas pressie lists yet? If it seems like a hectic task, remember where you live, y'lucky thing. All throughout December, you can head to one of Sydney’s many village centres, grab a coffee from your favourite barista and mosey around a bunch of local independent shops, scoping out beautiful, handmade and bespoke presents. Whether your local hangout is Paddo or Pyrmont, Glebe or Green Square, you’ll discover all sorts of unique, interesting treasures. In Paddo, for example, there are books galore at Ariel and Berkelouw, gorgeous millinery at Neil Grigg and Hatmaker, and items dreamt up by Australian designers at The Intersection — think Ellery, Josh Goot and Rachel Gilbert. Meanwhile, head to Glebe for a rummage at the Saturday morning markets, to Sappho for books (and a glass of vino shopping break!) and artwork at the Glass Artists’ Gallery or the Inner City Clayworkers Gallery. While you’re at it, you’ll have a chance to win a $2000 shopping voucher. The City of Sydney is running its annual Best Window Competition again, all you have to do is photograph the best-dressed shop window you see on your travels and post it on Instagram, using the tags #sydxmas and #bestwindow. A judging panel, made up of Megan Morton, Jules Sebastian and a City of Sydney Business Precincts rep, will decide the winning photo, the criteria being creativity, photography quality and authenticity. Meanwhile, the business with the best window will score a $2500 voucher courtesy of Red Balloon. Entries close at midnight on Tuesday 22 December, so get shopping.
Want to spend your birthday with lions and tigers and bears? The folks at Taronga Zoo have got you covered. As part of their centenary celebrations, the zoo is offering $1 entry tickets to visitors on their birthday, so you can enjoy your special day with friends on two legs and on four. "We want to say thank you to the amazing public that has supported our wildlife conversation work for the past 100 years," said Taronga CEO Cameron Kerr. "Every ticket to Taronga, even your $1 birthday entry, helps us continue to work towards a shared future for wildlife and people. In the next 100 years we want wildlife to not only survive, but thrive." Animal lovers can register for a $1 voucher to use on their birthday via the zoo's website. Be warned though: you may be expected to share your cake with the monkeys*. You'll also receive a Taronga birthday badge as a souvenir. The zoo is planning a number of special centenary events and fundraising initiatives over the next 12 months, including a massive birthday party on October 7. Tickets for the birthday bash aren't available to purchase, however you can win them via online ballot. Taronga is also encouraging people to share photos of their favourite zoo memories on social media using the hashtag #IGrewUpWithTaronga. Everyone who does will go in the running to win a number of prizes, including a Zoo Friends family membership every week. *just kidding. Please don't feed the monkeys cake.
The adverse effects of climate change have already been well-documented. Rising sea levels. An increase in extreme weather events. Hundreds of millions of people potentially displaced. Yet the most disturbing cost of environmental degradation is only now being driven home. We don't mean to alarm you, but the verdict is in: global warming is going to change the taste of your beer. Commissioned by Earth Hour and produced by the good sports at Willie the Boatman craft brewery, Drought Draught is a brand new beer brewed under drought-affected conditions. Made using poor quality barley and hops, along with artificial supplements standing in for cost prohibitive natural alternatives, the result has been described as "average tasting beer," one that lets beer lovers "actually taste the effects of climate change." Lucky for Sydneysiders, the intentionally sub-par brew will debut at Feather and Bone in Marrickville this Saturday, as part of Earth Hour's Save the Ales campaign. The event is part of a broader Earth Hour initiative that draws attention to the impact of global warming on Australian farmers. People are also being encouraged to upload their #NoBeerSelfie to social media, with the best entries winning a beer tasting event in Sydney, Adelaide or Perth, along with a bunch of other prizes courtesy of craft brewers Young Henrys. More than 500 community events are expected to take place around the country this Saturday March 28 as part of Earth Hour 2015, in the lead-up to the annual 'lights out' at 8.30pm. For an event near you, visit the Earth Hour website.
Just a cheeky heads up for local legends like Liquorun, Jimmy Brings, Friday Beers, LiquorDrop, Dial-A-Drink, QuickBottle and WineRun — the big guns have jumped on the booze delivery bandwagon. Online shopping behemoth Amazon is trialling one-hour alcohol delivery, starting in Seattle. Announced by Amazon this week, Prime Now will take human laziness and demand for things now to the next level, dropping wine and beer at your doorstep within 60 minutes. From burger delivery by drone to ordering pizza with one emoji, humans just want things faster, faster, faster now. The Prime Now service, which is Amazon's fastest yet, will be exclusively available to members of Amazon Prime — and it's not just for booze. Tens of thousands of items will be available for one-hour delivery, from wine and beer to milk and ice cream, televisions, Kindles, paper towels, you name it. Throwing a last minute party or treating yourself to one heck of a night in just got pathetically easier. Local startup booze delivery crews, don't freak out just yet. Prime Now is currently only available Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland in the States, but the company has plans to expand the service to localities across the country and worldwide, eventually. Via CNET. Images: Dollar Photo Club and Walnut Studio.
The city's oldest green space is set to be transformed into a lit-up wonderland when the sun goes down and Vivid Sydney kicks off its 2018 edition this Friday, May 25. The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney will this year play host to a bigger Vivid set-up than ever before, featuring 16 captivating installations and — for the first time ever — a swirling, illuminated facade for Government House. Peppered throughout the site will be a colourful assortment of characters, from giant plant species and moving forests to exotic birds. And you can expect plenty of food and drink options to fuel your after-dark adventures, including fruity cocktails served in light bulb-shaped glasses from two bars, a series of performance-filled Enlightenment Feasts, and sweet treats a cupcake ATM (yes, a cupcake ATM). Here's a peek at some of what you can expect to encounter on a Botanic Gardens jaunt during this year's festival. Take a stroll along the swirling, light-up pathways of the interactive Aqueous installation, as it morphs into a variety of shapes. In the background here, you'll cop a glimpse of Government House, lit up with a colourful montage of Aussie animals and iconic destinations that's been created by TAFE NSW students. Another bold TAFE NSW creation features a collection of brightly-lit totem poles, titled Light Houses. Meanwhile, artists Adrienn Lord, Richard Neville and Nick Sheen have used over 40,000 individually-controlled RGB pixels to create a forest of spiralling, colour-changing trees. And this installation Midnight Sun will leave you captivated by the hundreds of shimmering, fluttering discs across its surface. Vivid Sydney will run from May 25 until June 16, and the Royal Botanic Garden will be open and lit up every night of the festival until 11pm. Image credit: Steve Christo.
What would you do if you were a little less freaked out by consequences? Would you talk to more new people, fear a bit less, dance a little more like FKA Twigs, quit your desk job and start that independent photography career? Some sparkling young Australians are already flinging their inhibitions into a ziplock bag and seizing this little ol' life with both hands. Concrete Playground has teamed up with the Jameson crew to give you a sneak peek into the lives of some bold characters who took a big chance on themselves. They've gone out on a limb and rewritten their path, encapsulating 'Sine Metu', the Jameson family motto which translates to 'without fear' — getting outside your comfort zone and trying something new. After all, we only get one shot at this. Take notes. From a very young age, we're all asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" We're told to pick one path, one profession, to neatly label the rest of your life. Our responses change as we grow up, from astronaut to engineer, princess to PR, and for Sydney-based Cole Bennetts, from Penguin Boy to renowned photographer taking the Prime Minister's portrait. Now he's shot the likes of Sticky Fingers, Hermitude, Horrorshow, One Day and more, and you can find his work published in TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Irish Times and Rolling Stone to name a few. Not bad for a Penguin Boy. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU PENGUINS, BECOME THEIR KING Cole's origin story reads like a Mark Twain book, a tale from a time before life happened on the screen and people went out to seek their fortunes. Initially for Cole, the end goal was never photography. His start in the industry came from a pretty unlikely place — as a way to weasel out of participating in the swimming carnival. "I'd never been the most athletic of people but I discovered that if I had a camera in my hand I didn't have to swim in the swimming carnival. I was like 'there's something to this'." A self-proclaimed science nerd, Cole's formative years were spent studying biology at university and eventually found him monitoring the behavioural patterns of seagulls and penguins in Bass Strait. The documentation process again stirred his interest in photography and, strangely, penguin care. "When that wound up [at Bass Strait] I found myself in Canberra with the zoo there. I spent about 18 months within the zoo as a penguin keeper. I managed to get the nickname 'Penguin Boy'. I can't believe I'm saying this." SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOT TO SPEND SIX MONTHS IN THE WILD The antics of Penguin Boy became an attraction at the zoo, from lining up the penguins for feeding time to putting them to bed. Eventually, the prestigious title wore thin and Cole stumbled across an opportunity that would make most of us hurtle in the opposite direction. "I got offered a job on a really remote island… There was no water, there was nothing. We'd have to have supplies brought in by shark fishermen. It was a six-month stint living like a wild man." Just after quitting his role as Penguin Boy, Cole found out funding for the project had been cut and he was without a job. After a series of fortunate events, he founded a music business in Canberra and set about promoting. But Cole didn't have the budget for a photographer, someone you're kind of going to need for promo. So, having 'made do' in those six-months on the island, he improvised. "I bought a cheap camera set up and quit my job and told people I was a photographer. And I was awful. I was so bad. Within four weeks of doing it, I had $2.20 and half a loaf of bread to my name. "If you're going to do something, you throw yourself into it. I'm a big believer in sink or swim. And fake it till you make it. There's no better situation to learn than when you have no option; it's do or die." FAKE IT TILL YOU TAKE THE PRIME MINISTER'S PORTRAIT There's not a lot to do in Canberra outside of politics and partying, so Cole had a lot of fodder to snap. A crash course in how to work a camera when there's no natural light and your subjects are swaying was just what he needed to get a start in the world of photography. Fast forward a few years, he's made a name for himself as a portrait photographer and has jacked a gig taking the PM's portrait. "It's a fine line when you're shooting... Your subjects may be celebrities, they may be artists but you've got to stand in front of them with a camera […] and do them right," he says. "So I was down on my knees in front of Julia Gillard's desk and I was having trouble getting the right feel and I was starting to panic and I was like 'OK, Prime Minister, what I need you to do is close your eyes and I want you to go to your happy place'. That was crazy." He got the shot in the end though and, true to form, bossing the PM around becomes just one of his weird work stories to tell. CHANGE THE GAME — NOT EVERY HIP HOP ARTIST NEEDS TO RAP SQUAT Cole soon moved from Canberra to Sydney, the land of creative opportunity, to try and break into music photography. One day while working in his Camperdown studio, he left to pick up some lunch and walked smack bang into Omar Musa, his friend and collaborator, and Morgan Jones of the Thundamentals. "A couple of weeks later I bumped into Morgs in the cafe and he had this new group called Jones Jnr. I said I'll do your pictures, I'll do them for free but if you go anywhere and you become successful, then I'm your guy," he says. It was a smart gamble, as Morgan was in the process of writing Step On Sleep, Jones Jnr's successful debut album. From this handshake agreement, Cole has built a career photographing Australian musicians including Sticky Fingers, Hermitude, Horrorshow, Hilltop Hoods, One Day, Spit Syndicate, Tuka, Jackie Onassis, The Rubens, Angus Stone, Left and more, alongside international stars like The 1975. His proclivity for shooting hip hop royalty has changed the game and shifted music portraiture away from the cheesy and the cliché. "These guys are super intelligent, they've got good stories to tell," he says. "It's not doing rap squats in front of graffiti walls." And who better to tell someone else's tale than a guy with a killer story to tell? When you wake up a Penguin Boy one day, unemployed the next, Kirribilli House soon after, you stop fearing change and start to embrace a Sine Metu mindset because it might lead to the best shot of your life. "It doesn't matter if I'm shooting the biggest name in Australian music or I'm shooting someone having a dance, if I get the frame that captures that moment… I get just as excited. It's about storytelling." Want to experience a little bit of 'Sine Metu' yourself? Thanks to Jameson and The Rewriters, one extremely fortunate Concrete Playground reader (and their even more fortunate mate) will get the chance to 'fear less' and go on a big ol' adventure to Ireland. In addition to two return flights departing from your choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, this epic giveaway comes with five night's accommodation and $500 spending money you can use to paint the Emerald Isle red. ENTER HERE. For more about how 'Sine Metu' influenced John Jameson's journey visit Jameson's website.
Grab your wetsuit and hightail it to California, the not-so-secret home to Kelly Slater's game-changing wave pool. Surf fans have been scrambling to uncover the location of the facility since Saturday, when Kelly posted a video on Facebook (below) that showed him surfing what he called "the first truly world class, high performance, human-made waves." The world champion surfer was coy about the pool's precise coordinates, even as the video racked up more than four million views. In the end, it was Sydney-based surf writer Craig Brokensha who channelled his inner Miss Marple and cracked the case. Brokensha, who writes for Swellnet, began his investigation on Reddit, where numerous other amateur detectives had already begun cobbling together clues. Cross-referencing photos from Google with telltale landmarks visible in Kelly's video, Brokensha soon narrowed the location down to an old water ski lake near Leemore, around 50 kilometres south of Fresno. "With all the tools freely available to us in this day and age (Google, Google Earth, Google Streetview) it only took an hour or so to confirm the likely location of the test facility," wrote Brokensha. Well isn't someone a bit of a clever pants? Assuming the new technology is everything Slater claims it to be, its impact on the surf world could be enormous. There have been other attempts to create consistent, cost-effective waves in the past, but success has to this point proved elusive. Slater has promised to reveal more information in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the World Surf League have released a statement declaring that "the ramifications of this reveal are immeasurable at this point, but certainly will change the face of surfing as we know it." Here's hoping Slater opens the pool up to the public... although that's probably still a ways off yet. Now that the world title has been decided and events for the year have finished, I’m excited to show you what I’ve been... Posted by Kelly Slater on Friday, 18 December 2015 Via SMH.
A drama released in 1989 that saw its premiere cut short because of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A tale of corruption in the sporting arena. A documentary about perhaps the greatest German director that ever lived. A lengthy father-daughter comedy that no one can stop talking about (us included). Yes, they're all part of the 2016 German Film Fest's 36-title lineup, which roams around Australia from November 15 to 30. In a nutshell, it's a great year to get your fix of the country's cinematic offerings. In fact, there's so much packed into the festival's heaving program that the aforementioned movies haven't even made our must-see list, which is a great indication of the wealth of choices available. So, just what should you ensure you get in front of your eyeballs? Here's our top tips, spanning everything from beloved filmmakers to movies made by ordinary people. EVERY THING WILL BE FINE We've said it before, and we'll say it again: James Franco really will pop up everywhere he can, even when you least expect it. Like in a German film. This time, he's starring in the latest one from iconic director Wim Wenders, alongside Rachel McAdams and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Every Thing Will Be Fine tells the tale of a writer faced with a life-changing experience; transformation is a common theme in the filmmaker's works. And don't go thinking Wenders' trademark fondness for breathtaking visuals will be sidelined in his first dramatic film in seven years; here, the Buena Vista Social Club, Pina and The Salt of the Earth helmer explores both the heartbreaking tragedy at the centre of the story and the aftermath via 3D visuals. DER NACHTMAHR It takes confidence to call your film Der Nachtmahr, or The Nightmare in English. Other horror movies have boasted about their terrifying dream-like status in their names to mixed results, aka the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Director and visual artist Achim Bornhak aims for a more consistent scare rate in an effort ten years in the making. Given that the feature explores a teenager blighted with visions of a grotesque creature, here's hoping it hits the mark. GERMANY IN A DAY Back in 2011, Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland filmmaker Kevin Macdonald took on another ambitious project. Life in a Day endeavoured to capture just what everyday existence is like by crowdsourcing its footage, accruing more than 80,000 clips submitted via YouTube. Five years later, Germany in a Day is the Deutschland-focused equivalent, as overseen by director Sönke Wortmann. If you've ever wondered what life was like for residents of the European nation on June 20, 2015, as captured by ordinary folks, this is your chance to find out. GOODBYE BERLIN In Goodbye Berlin, Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin says hello to the road. Adapting Wolfgang Herrndorf's coming-of-age story Tschick (or Why We Took the Car in Australia), it's a feature filled with friendship, discovery, scenic sights and striking revelations after two unlikely pals steal a car one summer. And if it sounds like you've seen this before, Akin's previous filmography should convince you otherwise. Head On twisted the usual mid-life malaise drama, Soul Kitchen did more than cook up delicious-looking food and The Cut found insights in a portrait of resilience and endurance. VARIETÉ Step back in time thanks to 1925 film Varieté. Not only is it a circus fairytale of the kind that isn't often made these days, but it reportedly features the first documentation of unicycle hockey. Other claims to fame come thick and fast for the '20s film, partly due to its enchanting tale of a trapeze artist, the dancer he leaves his wife for, and the artist his lover then has an affair with — and partly due to the fact that the silent feature's score was lost long ago. In its place, The Tiger Lillies have a new soundtrack in their very own style to accompany the new digitised restoration. The German Film Fest Australia tours the country from November 15, screening at Sydney's Chauvel Cinema and Palace Norton Street from November 15 to 29, Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Kino Cinemas and Palace Westgarth from November 17 to 30, and Brisbane's Palace Barracks from November 25 to 30. For more information, visit the festival website.
From twerking workshops to breathable art, it's been an outstanding 12 months for the ARTBAR at the Museum of Contemporary Art – and from the looks of things, that strong form is set to continue next year. The museum has just revealed the names of the artists who'll curate the first three editions of ARTBAR in 2017, with each expected to bring their own unique vision to the MCA's after-dark shindig on the final Friday of every month. The first event of the year, set for January 27, will be curated by Louise Zhang, a Chinese-Australian artist whose plan is to combine Chinese New Year celebrations with horror films. "I love horror!" said Yang in a statement. "Celebrating something dark can be alluring especially when explored in a topic like diaspora. The seriousness of this topic is often (and unfortunately) skimmed over rather than discussed." ARTBAR will open again on February 24, under the direction of interdisciplinary artist Reko Rennie. Perhaps best known for his public art installation Always was, always will be at Taylor Square in Darlinghurst, Rennie's work combines Indigenous iconography with street art to explore notions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity in an urban environment. Finally, on March 31, ARTBAR will welcome Jess Johnson and Simon Ward, from New York and Melbourne, respectively. Their turn behind the wheel will pay homage to apocalyptic movies and DIY culture, transforming the space into a Dead End Drive-In. ARTBAR takes place at 7pm on the last Friday of every month at the Museum for Contemporary Art. Find it at 140 George Street, The Rocks. For more information visit ARTBAR'S website.
The best of the best of local interior design has been announced by the judges at this year's Australian Interior Design Awards. Held in Sydney on Friday June 10, the 2016 ceremony – co-presented by the Design Institute of Australia and Artichoke Magazine – once again celebrated the most innovative new design projects in the country, from a waterfront apartment in Sydney to a boutique hotel in WA. Regardless of where they're located, however, all of this year's winners have one thing in common: we want to go to there. Taking home the Premier Award for Australian Interior Design was Darling Point Apartment (pictured below), a wood-panelled apartment overlooking the Sydney Harbour that was described by the jury as "an inspirational piece of interior design." The apartment also won an award for Residential Design, along with the Fitzroy Loft in Melbourne. The gong for Sustainability Advancement went to the North Shore Office fit out by Nielsen Workshop and Morgan Jenkins Architecture; the offices also won for Workplace Design. The award for Public Design, meanwhile, went to Our Lady of Assumption Primary School in Sydney, with the space having found new life from its original use as a Telstra training centre. Among the remaining winners were Sydney butcher shop 1888 Certified for Retail Design, and Perth's Alex Hotel for Hospitality Design. For the full list of Australian Interior Design Award winners, go here. Header Image: Alex Hotel, WA.
The mercury is rising and things are getting steamy, with the hotly anticipated return of World Movies Summer of Sin. Featuring only the most scandalous and salacious titles that the international film world has to offer, this four-week-long, adults-only program is sure to get pulses racing. Here listed are five of our favourite films from the lineup. From critically acclaimed French melodramas and German erotic comedies to James Franco making a documentary about his favourite BDSM porn site, these are the titles that consenting adults simply can't afford to miss. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR (2013) The winner of top honours at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Blue Is the Warmest Colour gained notoriety for its extremely graphic lesbian sex scenes, as well as director Abdellatif Kechiche's tyrannical behaviour on set. Controversy notwithstanding, the sex is actually the least interesting part of this film, a devastating portrayal of the lifespan of a relationship featuring absolutely phenomenal performances from actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. Friday, December 19, at 9.30pm KINK (2013) Produced by James Franco (because of course he did), Kink takes viewers inside the daily workings of Kink.com, one of the world's leading producers of BDSM-themed pornography. Through interviews with directors and models, documentarian Christina Voros dives into the ins and outs of the adult entertainment world, exploring both the appeal of bondage pornography and the practical considerations involved in shooting it. Tuesday, December 23, at 9.30pm EMMANUELLE (1974) Yuletide revellers, ring in the festive season with this Christmas Eve screening of a classic soft-core porno. Marketed to mainstream moviegoers as an arthouse flick, Emmanuelle follows the Bangkok sexual odyssey of its titular heroine, the young, naive wife of a French diplomat. The film helped turn Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel into a sex symbol, and spawned dozens of sequels and spinoffs, a number of which will also be screened as part of the Summer of Sin program. Wednesday, December 24, at 9.30pm IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976) Hugely controversial upon its release both in its native Japan and around the world, Nagisa Oshima's In the Realm of the Senses dramatises the violent sexual affair between a hotel manager and a maid in 1930s Tokyo. The film is inspired by the real-life case of Sada Abe, a woman who sparked a media sensation in Japan after strangling her lover and cutting off his penis. You'll have to watch the film yourself to see how closely it sticks to reality. Friday, January 2, at 9.30pm WETLANDS (2013) Although it's just a graphic as anything on this list, it's hard to think of a recent film less sexy than David Wnendt's Wetlands. Adapted from Charlotte Roche's novel of the same name, the film is a punk-rock feminist satire about 18-year-old Helen, a self-described "living pussy hygiene experiment", who falls in love with her attractive male nurse after landing in the hospital with haemorrhoids. Gleefully disgusting, it's sinful in a whole other kind of way. Monday, January 5, at 9.30pm
Americans afraid of a Donald Trump presidency are using websites and apps in order to trade votes with people in other states, in an effort to keep the Republican candidate out of the White House. Websites like Trump Traders are aimed at Republicans in so-called swing states, such as Florida and North Carolina, who are opposed to Donald Trump but don't wish to vote directly for Hillary Clinton, so intend to vote for a third party candidate instead. "We get it. Secretary Clinton is not your favourite," explains the website. "But at this point she is the only one standing between Trump and the White House. If you are #NeverTrump but want to support Gary Johnson or another third party candidate in a swing state, don't do it. You may toss the election to Trump. Instead, find a friend in a state that's safely blue or red — they'll vote for your third party candidate in exchange for your vote for Clinton." According to Trump Traders co-founder John Stubbs, more than 15,000 people had enrolled to swap their votes on the site. Apps such as NeverTrump functions in a similar fashion, allowing voters in swing states to swap votes with those in states that are considered safe. Vote trading is perfectly legal, although it does rely on the honour system — that is, you have to trust that the random stranger that you're trading votes with will actually vote for who they say they will. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTUe04et4EQ Via ABC.
In case you needed more proof that Hollywood is scraping the bottom of the barrel, audiences will soon be getting not one but two Uber-themed comedies. Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox will be racing to see who can get their flick into theatres first, after both studios unknowingly purchased Uber-centric scripts within 24 hours of each other. Honestly, this is just like Antz and A Bug's Life all over again. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal Pictures threw down a seven figure sum on an untitled pitch from Bad Neighbours screenwriter Brendan O'Brien, with Will Ferrell set to produce and star. The script isn't actually finished yet, but sources say it will concern an unfortunate Uber driver (Ferrell) whose fare turns out to be an escaped convict. Fox, meanwhile, purchased Tripper Clancy's completed script Stuber, which in an amusing twist of fate follows an Uber driver whose passenger is a cop, working what THR calls "the most dangerous case of his career." Is it just us, or does it sound like these two films are ripe for an Avengers-style crossover? No word yet on when either film will be released. It does make you wonder whether movies based on apps could be the next big thing, especially with The Angry Birds Movie hitting cinemas in the next few weeks. Surely it's only a matter of time before we get a romantic comedy and/or serial killer film based on Tinder. Via THR.
You've schlepped it all the way to the beach, through public transport, epic crowds and 40 degree heat. Towel down, muumuu off, you're ready to dig into that juicy pageturner... wait. No. NO. You left your book at home. You'd immediately crush the beachball of that offensively happy family beside you, but luckily, Coogee Beach has your back. Ready for a literature-fuelled summer, Sydney's very first summer-long beach library has opened in Coogee. Free of charge and open 7am to 7pm daily, the six-metre timber pop-up library will sit on the lower promenade until the end of February 2015. As reported by the Daily Telegraph, you'll be spoiled for choice; the shelves are packed with over 1000 reads — from must-read fiction novels to magazines, non-fiction books to kids books, and even a non-English language section for visiting beachgoers. Borrowing is free and you can take the books home, with an honour system imposed — bring it back when you're done, so someone else can spend beach time with Katniss. Inspired by similar European projects like France's pop-up beach library, the freestanding bookshelf is a welcome addition to Coogee — with Randwick mayor Ted Sang calling it Randwick's unofficial fourth library. "European countries have trialled similar initiatives before, but we’re not aware of any beach libraries of this scale and capacity in Australia," he told the Tele. "Modern libraries are thriving educational and social centres and the beach library will bring our resources to even more members of our community." Bondi locals have seen this type of bookery before. In 2010, Bondi Beach saw a one-day installation of the world's largest outdoor bookcase by IKEA — but with the summer-long timeframe and borrowing capabailities, Coogee gets to officially claim the title of Sydney's first beach library. Beach reads, ahoy. The Coogee Beach Library will be open during lifeguard patrol hours of 7am to 7pm and will be at Coogee Beach until end of February 2015. Via Daily Telegraph. Image: Reddit.
