21st Century Fox have taken their sweet time with this one. After 26 years of The Simpsons, the supreme rights owners of the show are teaming up with an a brewery to create an actual, officially-licensed Duff Beer. This news comes as particularly bittersweet to Ausralians, who enjoyed blissful years of novelty drinking with Woolworths' unofficial version of Duff — until it was tragically banned in 2014 for being too appealing to children. We're not the only ones to tried to live the dream, Colombia, Mexico and Germany are just two other starry-eyed Simpsons-loving countries who also created bootlegged Duff. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was this heaving market of fake Duffs and their inevitable lawsuits which pushed Fox to start brewing their own. Basically, if Fox had an official Duff on the market, they'd have a stronger legal foot to stand on and there'd be less of this: But don't get your hopes up too quickly. Outside Universal Orlando's Springfield theme park, the official Duff Beer will only be available in Chile for now (where Fox has been fighting a huge rise of unauthorised versions of the beer). But apparently a worldwide release is being considered, so you could be smashin' Duffs in the near future. Now, let's finally address the elephant in the room — what's Duff going to taste like? Let's be honest, Duff isn't exactly celebrated for being a top quality brew; it's the VB of Springfield. So Fox has been working with British brewmaster Paul Farnsworth to create a recipe to make fans and beer drinkers happy. “It’s a premium lager,” he told WSJ. “It’s got a very good balance of flavor and refreshment to it. It’s fairly deep golden in color. It’s got a hint of fruit to it. It’s got a caramel aromatic to it.” Caramel? We're not sure Moe would stock anything with "a caramel aromatic" but we'll go with for now. Via WSJ.
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 no-guarantees creative career you've always had in the back of your mind? 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. Who doesn't want to watch movies all day, and get paid for the privilege? That's not all Kate Jinx does as the director of programming at Sydney's Golden Age Cinema and Bar; however finding challenging features you wouldn't see elsewhere and championing under-appreciated classics really is how she has made a living since the boutique theatrette opened in September 2013. It's what Kate herself calls "a ridiculous job", and given that she previously studied graphic design then lectured in the field, worked for record labels as well as triple j and FBi Radio, it almost didn't happen. Of course, you don't give up the great gig of designing album covers, start chatting about movies on the radio, and then score the dream position of programming an indie cinema without channelling a little Sine Metu. LISTEN TO YOUR INNER CHILD, EVEN IF SHE'S SKIPPING SCHOOL "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is a question all kids are asked, but when Kate was a child, it was a fondness for skipping school that provided her with the best answer. Whenever she could, she would miss class to indulge in her cinema obsession — aka watch Bill Collins' midday film on TV. "I was always coming down with something so that I could stay home and watch a movie," she says. Kate didn't quite take heed of her younger self straight away, though — and, let's face it, who really thinks they're going to be able to make watching movies their actual job? Instead, she leapt into graphic design, worked for triple- j and forged the kind of career others might be envious of, until she recognised that something was missing. MAKE YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITIES — AND ANSWER THE PHONE WHEN IT RINGS Kate realised that graphic design was work for her, and that her out-of-hours film pursuits were her real passion. hosting a movie-focused show on Sydney's FBi Radio — initially called Too Much, and then Picture Show — was filling up all of her free moments, while her designer peers were spending "all their time reading about it [graphic design] and researching, and going to conferences, and talking to other designers about what they were doing and the best new typeface. "Every hour I wasn't being a designer at triple j, I was putting into this radio show that I wasn't being paid for. And who knew if there was anyone apart from my dad listening to it? But I just found myself always doing those other things, and eventually I decided to transition into doing that full time." Changing course from the career you went to university for — particularly when you've been enjoying more than a small amount of success in your chosen field — is a big, bold, bad-ass move. Not only did Kate put her nose to the grindstone and turn her FBi Radio experience into a regular gig — something that would see her interviewing everyone from Miranda July to Steven Soderbergh — but she paved the way for more opportunities to come — everything from film criticism, to DJing to working on her PhD on archival cinema. Indeed, it was Kate's pursuit of film not just as a hobby but as a full-time profession, that lead her to Golden Age. "It was through doing that radio show that I got into film curation," Kate recalls. "I just got a phone call out of the blue one day asking if I wanted to curate a cinema that was about to open. And you know, I thought it was a prank call at first. It's not every day that you get a call like that." REMEMBER, IT'S CALLED DIY CULTURE FOR A REASON Kate's determination to chase her dreams was less of a choice and more a culmination of a life spent challenging the norm and going after whatever she set her mind upon.. In fact, that's just how she has handles everything. If she wants to make something happen, it's under way. Anyone that has glimpsed over her Golden Age programming choices over the years — including showing Aussie punk flick Dogs in Space on the venue's opening weekend, and hosting Sydney's only screenings of Iranian feminist vampire western A Girl Who Walks Home Alone At Night — can see how that attitude influences her professionally. "I was so inspired by DIY culture," says Kate. "I wanted to be a writer, so I made zines. And then I wanted to be involved in music, so I put on a night and DJ-ed and learnt to DJ. It was just that sort of idea of just going after what you want. And trying really hard not to feel like an imposter or feel too scared to voice your opinion if it's a bit different." With an approach like that, it's little wonder that Kate has scored not just her fantasy job, but everyone else's (if you're not jealous of how she spends her days, then we think you're fibbing). That's what a DIY ethos and a willingness to stray away from the safe path can achieve, as Kate has demonstrated in everything from selling her own zines in record stores, to putting on film-based performances, to screening Ukrainian sign-language drama The Tribe, a movie that Golden Age's audiences both loved and were left speechless by. She may have had "about four careers" by now, as she freely acknowledges, but they've all lead her to doing what she loves. In fact, the only fear she has about her decisions to date is of "one day not having a job that I love this much." [embed]https://vimeo.com/161925203[/embed] 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.
Songwriting legend Paul Kelly's Making Gravy tour is becoming a bit of an Aussie Christmas tradition. Back for a second year in Sydney, the outdoor concert is kind of the perfect opener to the festive season — time to start thinking about getting the tinsel and ugly jumpers out of storage. As in 2018, you can expect to hear a stack of songs from Kelly's four-decade long career. Listen out for all the hits, from 'Dumb Things', from the album Live, May 1992, to 'Love Never Runs On Time' from Wanted Man (1994). Of course, the Christmas classic 'How To Make Gravy', first released in 1996 on an eponymous EP, is on the menu, too. The tour will coincide with the release of Kelly's new greatest hits album Songs From The South (1985–2019), his collaborative avian-inspired album 13 Ways To Look At Birds and a book of poetry he's curated, called Love Is Strong As Death. Kelly won't be hitting the road alone, either — he's inviting a bunch of special guests. He'll be joined by ARIA Award-winning rocker Courtney Barnett, Aussie Eurovison finalist Kate Miller-Heidke, NZ singer Marlon Williams and Gamilaraay songstress Thelma Plum. Image: Cybele Malinowski.
Art has prevailed in the battle to fill a Melbourne rooftop with naked people. Spencer Tunick has staged his latest mass nude photography work on the top of a car park in Melbourne's inner southeast. Seventeen years after assembling 4500 naked volunteers for a snap near Federation Square as part of the 2001 Fringe Festival and eight years after he photographed around 5000 nude people in front of the Sydney Opera House during the 2010 Mardi Gras, the polarising artist amassed another contingent of naked (and pretty brave — it was less than ten degrees in Melbourne this morning) folk for a new work titled Return of the Nude. The shoot saw a few hundred Melburnians grace the rooftop covered in nothing by sheer red sheets — from a distance, the participants looked like a little like hooded handmaids. Footage from the shoots shows the subject standing underneath the sheet and lying naked on top of it. This is what it looked like: A post shared by Will Pristel (@wpristel) on Jul 8, 2018 at 3:43pm PDT A post shared by C A R L (@car.carrr) on Jul 8, 2018 at 7:05pm PDT A post shared by Chapel Street (@chapelprecinct) on Jul 8, 2018 at 8:10pm PDT A separate shoot over the weekend saw people painted blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink and purple. Tunick's newest work has had quite the tumultuous journey — first the New York artist was given permission to hold a mass nude photoshoot on top of the Prahran Woolworths car park as part of Chapel Street Precinct's Provocaré Festival of the Arts. But then the store said that it wouldn't like to participate. The supermarket then reversed its decision a week later after a petition spearheaded by the Chapel Street Precinct Association (CSPA), the festival's host organisation, gained some momentum in the community. The official photographs of the shoot is yet to surface, but are expected to be be released by Tunick soon. Images: Munich by Spencer Tunick; Melbourne by Provocaré Festival.
It's Australia's longest and biggest international film festival, spanning 18 days and 358 titles, and it's quite the cinephile endurance test. Yes, we're talking about the annual Melbourne International Film Festival — the place where scampering rodents, a deadly game of picking family favourites, making fun of Jared Leto and giant faces pasted across historic French buildings all came together. David Lynch waxing lyrical about a tortoise, teenage terrorists roaming around a department store and not your usual type of superhero flick all made an appearance too. They're just some of the standout moments from this year's program, the ones that stuck with our film critics Sarah Ward and Tom Clift after they stepped out of the festival's cinemas (and, most likely, just before they stepped into another one). Thanks to bleak Russian dramas, mind-bending time loop trickery and harrowing real-life retellings, there's more where they came from — including our rundown of the best, strangest and most surprising movies of MIFF 2017. (And if you're wondering why Call Me By Your Name, Good Time, Ali's Wedding, A Fantastic Woman, Brigsby Bear and The Square didn't make our MIFF picks, that's because we saw and loved them at the Sydney Film Festival. These are ten newbies.) BEST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFdGfwChtw THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER Greek weird wave pioneer Yorgos Lanthimos follows up his first English-language feature The Lobster with this equally bizarre offering — an uneasy, unpredictable, darkly funny moral thriller that will make viewers laugh and then feel awful for doing so. Colin Farrell stars as a cardiologist with skeletons in his closet, who is forced to make an impossible decision after his family finds itself plagued by a mysterious affliction. Make no mistake: the stilted line delivery, not just from Farrell but also Nicole Kidman as his wife, is very much by design. Lanthimos' films are designed to make you feel unsettled, and none have done it better than this one. — Tom Clift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9chFxUNB7o NOCTURAMA If consumerism and nihilism often sit side by side, then so do anarchy and apathy — in Nocturama's view of the world, at least. Indeed, if writer/director Bertrand Bonello achieves one thing with his mesmerising and provocative film, it's forcing the viewer to question, well, everything. With a simply stunning command of his visceral visuals and unnerving mood, he charts the actions of seemingly ordinary Parisian students who care about everything and nothing, who want to improve the world around them and see it all burn, and who are driven to act in a devastating way and then happily frolic through their department store hideaway. Here, painstaking tracking shots through the streets, the most unexpected use of 'Whip My Hair' you're ever likely to come across and a calculated kick of a final act all come together to make for a movie that won't be forgotten easily. — Sarah Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KLLkj84GAo LUCKY As well as being the best thing to reach screens this year, Twin Peaks has gifted viewers with the joys of plenty of Harry Dean Stanton and David Lynch. Don't worry, there's more where that came from, and it's just as wonderful. The veterans — one a 91-year-old actor with 199 credits on his resume, the other the inimitable filmmaker who has directed him five times — join forces again in Lucky, which thrusts the former to the fore as a small-town loner forced to face his mortality. The landscape of Stanton's face pairs perfectly with the arid dessert surroundings, while his specific brand of cantankerous charm finds its match in Lynch (who acts, rather than directs) as his monologue-spouting, tortoise-loving pal. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLegoO4NdD8 LOVELESS Dissecting a society infected by oppressive politics, Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev captures modern life in his homeland in bleak slices, whether exploring brothers reunited with their absent father in The Return, a woman forced to do whatever it takes for family in Elena, or a family taking on a corrupt mayor in Leviathan. Stark and stunning from start to finish, Loveless is no different. Here, a squabbling couple on the brink of divorce discover that their largely neglected 12-year-old son has gone missing — and there's no one like Zvyagintsev at taking an already tense and heartbreaking situation into formally composed, emotionally brutal, absolutely astonishing territory. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFVDyWBBiuA LET THE SUNSHINE IN Love and loneliness are two sides of the same coin in Claire Denis' light but insightful Let the Sunshine In, which finds empathetic comedy in the romantic escapades of Juliette Binoche's newly divorced 50-something artist. A sophisticated and seductive look at the ups and downs of dating and desire it may be, but as the film flits through a series of affairs, it's never afraid to reveal both the disarming delights and devastating lows of putting yourself out there. Laughs follow, and so does a smart, spirited and soulful exploration of affection and intimacy — as driven by Binoche's enigmatic candour — that cuts deep. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvWwnZeUHeI ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL You wouldn't have thought that a film set in the shadow of the global recession would make you root for a bank. And yet, that's exactly what viewers will find themselves doing during Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. The latest film from Hoop Dreams director Steve James, this compelling documentary follows the legal struggles of the only financial institution to be charged by the US Government in the wake of the GFC. But it wasn't a giant multinational. Rather, New York prosecutors went after, a small, family-owned bank with deep connections to the Chinese immigrant community. Abacus interrogates questions of responsibility, scapegoating and prejudice, while doubling as a thrilling courtroom drama. — TC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fybwL9tY9qY FACES PLACES If everyone in the world looked at strangers in the same manner as Belgian-born filmmaker and French New Wave icon Agnes Varda, we'd be living in a much, much happier and kinder society. The almost 90-year-old's empathy, enthusiasm and understanding drives Faces Places in two ways: in the photographs that she takes with street artist JR, and in the film that chronicles their snapping — which is then followed by printing out giant versions of their pics, and plastering them on the walls of rustic, historic buildings. In fact, her attitude towers over the film in the same way her artworks loom over villagers below, and the impact is just as enchanting. Accordingly, love, life, creativity, connection, accepting others and acknowledging that nothing is permanent are all a part of this charming documentary. Oh, and goats as well. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw1NwnFXaVk THAT'S NOT ME Some of the best comedies find their laughs from relatable drama. And, while we all haven't watched our twin sister live out our wildest dreams of becoming a successful actor (and date Jared Leto), we have seen hopes and wishes fall by the wayside, taken leaps of faith that haven't paid out, and had to redefine our idea of a happy ending. That's the tale of low-budget Aussie comedy That's Not Me, the first feature from writer/director Gregory Erdstein and writer/star Alice Foulcher, and an earnest, astute, insightful and thoroughly amusing exploration of making it, faking it and the fact that life usually exists somewhere in between. — SW THE WEIRDEST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-EMPii8TCQ RAT FILM There are few movies out there like Rat Film. Plenty of other animals have clucked, purred, barked, splashed and scurried their way through cute critter-focused documentaries, but not in this fashion. Trust us. Taking on the creatures humanity usually kills rather than celebrates, director Theo Anthony wanders from filming a rat trapped in his own rubbish bin, to exploring society's ways of dealing with rodents, to stepping from their prevalence on Baltimore's streets to a whole host of class, racial and economic divisions — and throwing more than a few existential musings in as well. It sometimes comes across as disjointed, but it's never less than fascinating and illuminating, complete with Werner Herzog-like observations as narration. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXB0DK3upGY THE ENDLESS On paper, The Endless might sound like the sum of its intriguing but far from unusual parts, with creepy cults, temporal trickery and sibling struggles all fairly common film fodder. On the screen, however, the latest film from director/actor duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead proves anything but standard. In fact, it's the kind of sci-fi/horror flick that will floor you with its ingenuity, make you want to watch it again immediately afterwards, and inspire you to check out the filmmaker's first effort, Resolution. Imaginative, enthralling, astute with its aesthetics and atmosphere, and insightful in contemplating both human and supernatural drama, this account of two brothers returning to the close-knit camp they used to call home is the whole weird and wonderful package. — SW THE MOST UNEXPECTED https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc7m7lpSbkE DEATH IN THE TERMINAL On October 18, 2015, a gun-toting terrorist stepped inside a bus terminal in the Southern Israeli city of Beersheba. 18 minutes later, three people were dead as the authorities reacted, people on the ground turned into an angry mob and blood soon smeared white surfaces. Watching these events unfold through security video and mobile phone footage is as unsettling as it sounds, with to-camera chats from people who were there helping to fill in the gaps. Directors Tali Shemesh and Asaf Sudry immerse viewers in a situation that's both horrifying and harrowing — not to mention confrontingly revealing about human nature in times of extreme crisis, as well as in the current international political climate. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H8AK4FtLQ8 JUPITER'S MOON Religious allegory meets arthouse flick meets action movie meets cry for compassion in Jupiter's Moon, a strange, vaguely satirical, occasionally stunning film about a Syrian refugee who is shot by a twitchy border cop only to discover he can fly. Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó has crafted an incredible-looking piece of work, full of breathtaking long takes that recall Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men (as does some of the subject matter). Not everything about the movie is a success — it's fairly heavy-handed, and runs more than a smidge too long. But went it works, it soars. — TC By Sarah Ward and Tom Clift.
If gorgeous, achingly tasteful objet d'art and interior design is your weakness, prepare to be overwhelmed at Avalon store-cum-showroom Composition. The brainchild of interior architect Claire Perini, Composition offers a meticulously curated selection of modern antiques and contemporary brands assigned to one of three categories: Artefact (unique vintage), Object (new product) and Print (design literature both vintage and new, and lithographic works). The showroom itself is a lovely environment to simply be present in, with something beautiful to catch the eye at virtually every inch. A pair of Art Deco-period French cane and walnut armchairs might find themselves propping up a Matisse lithograph or an original artworks by Danish painter Egil Jacobsen, and could be sitting alongside candy-coloured decorative glassware by Helle Mardahl (of which Composition is the exclusive stockist for New South Wales). [caption id="attachment_944545" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Art Deco 1940s chairs on display[/caption] Brands featured in the store include established Australian lines by Maison Balzac, Corey Ashford, INBED, as well as exclusives like plates created by multidisciplinary fine artist George Raftopoulos. Initially, Perini's focus for Composition was almost entirely on Australian product and brands, but since setting up shop in the Avalon space in 2020, she has evolved the mix to include covetable international brands like French cutlery label Sabre Paris and Swedish jeweller Sara Robertsson. For those customers with a particular yen for Claire's design sensibility and aesthetic, she also offers services as an interior consultant so you can just hand over the keys and let her work the magic. You can stay up to date on new items and sales by following Composition on Instagram. Image credit: Sage Hammond.
We don't know if you've noticed this, but Australians seem to really enjoy their cooking shows. Whether we're having an anxiety attack over a stubborn souffle on MasterChef, or scoffing about menu use of Comic Sans on The Hotplate, we're a nation who likes their telly cooked to perfection, ideally served by a photogenic or crazy, crazy chef. Luckily for us, the cordon bleu team at SBS have taken note of our gluttonous viewing habits, and are gearing up to launch Australia's first ever free-to-air food channel. We're already drooling. "The channel will take one of our strongest and well-known genres to new heights," said SBS managing director Michael Ebeid. "We know how much audiences love to be taken on a journey of culinary and cultural discovery with our food shows every Thursday night. This new channel is an opportunity to extend that offering with a world of food programming available all day, every day, for free." The new channel will launch in November on SBS 3, and will become the network's fourth free-to-air channel behind SBS, SBS 2 and NITV. According to their website, the lineup will include a mix of "food, cooking and travel programs inspired by food handpicked from around the world, alongside some of the networks much-loved, locally made shows." Key to the new channel's success is a licensing deal SBS has inked with American company Scripps Networks Interactive, whose portfolio includes high profile media and lifestyle brands such as Food Network, Cooking Channel, Asian Food Channel, HGTV, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Travel Channel and Great American Country. The current lineup of culinary programming on SBS includes Nigella Express, Luke Nguyen's France and Kriol Kitchen. More information about SBS's new food channel, including a name, launch date and programming schedule, is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Image: Luke Nguyen. UPDATE OCTOBER 22, 2015: SBS's new 24-hour food channel is called Food Network and will launch on November 17. Programming will include Destination Flavour, Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook, the Luke Nguyen series, several of celebrity chef Curtis Stone's shows like Kitchen Inferno and Surfing the Menu, Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals, Giada at Home, Reza: Spice Prince of Vietnam, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Diners, Drive Ins & Dives, Chopped by Ted Allen and more. The channel will air 24 hours a day and also through SBS On Demand. For more info, head to SBS's website.
As if the fruits of the crowdsourcing revolution weren't clear already (hello Uber, hello Tinder) the new 'land-sharing' service, Hipcamp, is going even further and actually adding value to our environment — while finding you the perfect camping spot. Currently operating in the US (with eventual worldwide aspirations), Hipcamp is a service that connects campers with private land owners, meaning previously inaccessible, beautiful plots of land probably once flanked with "Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot again" signs are now available to camp on. You can camp on ranches, farms, vineyards and land preserves. Think of it as Airbnb for people who don't mind pissing in the woods. While campers are an important cog in the Hipcamp machine, it's actually the landowners who are the crux of the thing. Over 60 percent of America is privately owned and Hipcamp aims to make undeveloped land useful, even profitable, by facilitating back-to-nature style camping on private land. The site operates just like Airbnb, providing you with plenty of information on amenities and activities, photos, prices, reviews, availability and (most importantly) lots of S'mores recipes. As well as giving campers access to remote, previously private camp sites, Hipcamp lets you experience these locations with someone who's both got your back in an emergency and will make sure you leave the land as you found it — the environmentally-conscious land stewards. In order to sign up, Hipcampers have to read and engage with a Leave No Trace agreement, the main point of which is obviously to leave no trace of your trip at the camping spot (duh). So if you're planning a road trip around America and you don't want to spend your nights in a murder motel, this is the app for you. Images: Matt Lief Anderson. Via Lost at E Minor.
Curious about contemporary art from the Philippines? Then hightail it to AGNSW for Passion and Procession, a feast of installations, videos, sculptures and paintings that reflect the rich past and dynamic present of the country's artistic history. You'll see works exploring religion, ancestral traditions, the relationship between the individual and the community, and the ongoing artistic influence of India, China, Spain and Mexico. The show is part of the Bayanihan Philippine Art Project, a series of exhibitions and programs designed to celebrate the art and culture of the Philippines. It's an exhibition full of contrast, from Santiago Bose's oil and collage works exploring the intersection between faith and science, to Nona Garcia's striking light box installations, to Geraldine Javier's delicate silk organza and thread octopus-like creatures creeping out of wooden frames. And there's a definite Diego Rivera quality to the colourful acrylic-on-canvas visions created by Rodel Tapaya. While you're at AGNSW, mosey on over to the Mervyn Bishop exhibition too. Image: Rodel Tapaya, 'Do you have a rooster, Pedro?,' 2015-16.
Animal lovers take note: New York’s JFK Airport is getting a new state-of-the-art animal terminal named the ARK. But unlike Noah’s lame prototype which could only take two of every animal, JFK’s ARK can handle more than 70,000 animals per year – and handle them in style. Fully decked out with a lap pool, veterinary services, salon and spa services and flat screen TVs, your pet’s accommodation will likely be far superior to your own. Current import and export services available to pets aren’t particularly streamlined – and the resulting stress can increase the chance of injury or illness for our high-flying furry friends. The ARK has been designed to reduce animal stress during their mandatory quarantine period (that it makes us awwwww is simply an added bonus.) The US$40 million, 16,500 square metre facility includes stalls for cattle and horses, pens for goats, sheep and pigs, an aviary for birds and even a special space for penguins – complete with private mating area. Its the dogs and cats that get the best of the deal though. They’ll be housed in a hotel-like facility run by Paradise 4 Paws, a national pet boarding service that provides insane levels of pet care including hot oil or mud baths, pawdicure (with colour pawlish), peanut butter kongs, treadmill sessions, outdoor hikes, massages and personal snuggle times. For a cool US$100 a night, your pet can stay in a room with a full-sized human bed, chandelier lighting and doggie furnishings, flat screen and a nightly tuck-in service. And while your pet is crapping all over the $100-a-night suite, you can watch them resentfully over webcam. But in all seriousness, good work America. Air travel is traumatic enough for humans; imagine the stress a pet must go through. It’s fantastic to see an investment that will benefit our animal pals. Australia, please follow their example – and if possible, provide a viewing platform so we can watch the animals frolic and gambol. via The Guardian. Image via Paradise 4 Paws.
Having run The Newport since March 2016, Merivale decided it was about time to add something new to the sprawling northern beaches venue. And so, in early 2018, it opened Bert's, a brasserie and bar brimming with oysters and lobster. As we've come to expect from Merivale, Bert's hasn't done anything by halves. Getting its inspiration from the 1930s — when hotel dining rooms were grand destinations — the restaurant is an extravaganza of colour and elaborate furnishings, with an open kitchen as its centrepiece. The menu aims to transport you to a fancy European seaside resort. Look out for a dedicated raw bar crowded with oysters, mud crab and brioche fingers, and a larder loaded with charcuterie and salads. Among the decadent mains are lobster (straight from the tank, mind you), a few steaks and delicious king prawns in brown butter and smoked chilli. [caption id="attachment_890315" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Walking in, you won't be able to miss the cellar of several hundred wines. Its contents include a selection of European drops, an array of rose, plenty of Aussie classics and a bunch of left-field bottles from creative labels. Meanwhile, the cocktail team is hard at work mixing new versions of old classics using seasonal produce. Needless to say, Bert's comes with gob-smacking views, of both The Newport's expansive outdoor area and stunning sparkling Pittwater.
If you're keen to score good deals on flights and accommodation, then it's never too early to start planning next year's international adventure. Chances are, though, that between Christmas shopping and hitting the beach, you don't have a lot of spare time on your hands. So, we've done some research for you. Here are ten spots around the world that are definitely worth a visit in 2018. For spectacular scenery, head to the Azores Islands off Portugal; for incredible colonial architecture and watery sunsets, try Cartagena in Colombia or Valletta in Malta; for world-class cocktails and Gordon Ramsay-defeating laksa, make tracks to Singapore; and for a live music marathon, there's New Orleans, which is gearing up to celebrate its 300th anniversary. NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, USA New Orleans turns 300 this year, so prepare for the shindig of all shindigs. Official tricentennial events include gigs, art exhibitions, parties, film screenings and more. There's a block party dedicated to Martin Luther King, a burlesque opera celebrating Tabasco sauce and a concert telling the story of jazz history, among loads of other happenings. 2018 will also mark 13 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, but rebuilding has been extensive and tourist numbers have recovered to pre-2005 numbers (about 10 million visitors annually). In between anniversary parties, head to Bourbon Street for a 24/7 music festival, St Claude Avenue for jazz bars and Royal Street for art galleries. MEXICO CITY, MEXICO With a population of more than 21 million, Mexico City is one of the biggest cities in the world. Once considered a place to avoid, on account of its high crime rate and even higher pollution levels, the metropolis has transformed over the past few years. Public spaces have opened up to emphasise majestic architecture; restaurants and cantinas are flourishing; art exhibitions, live gigs and museum are countless. Be sure to visit the Palacio Nacional, famous for the Diego Rivera murals which convey Mexico's history from the moment the Quetzalcóatl (a serpent god of the Aztecs) arrived to the 1910 Mexican Revolution. CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA Like Mexico City, Colombia was once struck off many travellers' lists for fear of kidnappings, guns and cocaine deals. However, it too, has gone through a bit of a renaissance. The country's most beautiful city is Cartagena, which you'll find on the northern coast, overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Expect dreamy sunsets, stunning 16th century architecture, brightly-coloured flowers and old-fashioned horse and cart. A short boat ride away are the Rosario Islands, part of a national park that offers exceptional snorkelling and diving. Other spots for underwater aficionados include the Providencia and Santa Catalina islands: the gateway to the world's biggest coral reef system. [caption id="attachment_650530" align="alignnone" width="1920"] SDSU[/caption] AZORES ISLANDS, PORTUGAL The extraordinarily beautiful Azores Islands lie in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,360 kilometres west of Portugal. They form one of the nation's two autonomous regions, the other being Madeira. If you're looking for a nature-centric holiday, this is the place to go to. You'll be wandering along calderas covered in greenery and filled with sparkling lakes, lazing about on subtropical beaches watching out for whales and dolphins (year-round), diving among loggerhead turtles and blue sharks, and walking through intricate cave systems. Even though the Azores are becoming more popular with visitors, the natural environment continues to be well protected by the locals — only 5% has been developed. VALLETTA, MALTA Valletta is the capital of Malta, an island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, about 80 kilometres south of Italy and 284 kilometres east of Tunisia. Described by locals as "the city built by gentlemen for gentlemen", it was created in just 15 years from 1566 — entirely by hand. Not only the complex architecture — dotted with forts, churches, palaces, fountains, sculptures, hidden gardens and narrow alleyways — is spectacular, but the location, too. Valletta covers the rugged Mount Sceberras peninsula, which is flanked by two deep, steep harbours. [caption id="attachment_651184" align="alignnone" width="1920"] John Robinson[/caption] SHEFFIELD, UK Sheffield? You're probably thinking gloomy weather, industrial cityscapes and, of course, steel. While all these things are or have been true of this Northern English city, there's a lot more to it. Firstly, Sheffield is the happiest city in the UK, according to a 2013 survey. Secondly, there's a happening arts scene, which has given rise to several big bands, including Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and Def Leppard. The theatre complex is also the largest outside of London. Thirdly, extensive redevelopment during past few years has added loads of greenery and, if you're keen to get deeper into nature, the Peak District National Park is just next door. [caption id="attachment_651175" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Göran Höglund[/caption] LAYA, BHUTAN While we're on the topic of happiness, let's talk about Bhutan. This tiny Himalayan nation, which lies just east of Nepal, is famous for measuring progress in terms of Gross National Happiness (GNH), instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On top of meeting lots of friendly people, you'll find yourself surrounded by dramatic mountain scapes, ancient monasteries and prayer flags. If you can, venture to Laya, Bhutan's highest settlement — and one of the highest in the world — at 3,800 metres. It's home to just 3,000 indigenous Layap people and every October hosts the Royal Highlander Festival, a celebration of their unique culture. [caption id="attachment_651085" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jasmine Crittenden[/caption] SINGAPORE Have you always struck Singapore off your list because it's "boring" and "sterile"? Such things are often said of this island city found just south of Malaysia, but, get beneath the surface, and you'll discover some diverse, dynamic neighbourhoods — as well as the best laksa on the planet. A good way to start is with a ramble around Little India, which should include curry at Banana Leaf Apollo and chilli crab at Wing Seong Fatty's. After that, head to Katong, home to Singapore's Peranakan population, whose culture combines Chinese, Malay, Indian, Arabic and European influences. Finally, be sure to end a hot day with a stop at one of Singapore's many new cocktail bars, such as the Tippling Club, which came 31st in the 2017 World's Best Bars Awards. More tips are in our Less Obvious Guide To Singapore. [caption id="attachment_651178" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arian Zwegers[/caption] GEORGIA Georgia is smack bang in the middle of the Caucasus, with the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and Turkey to the south. So, on one side, there's beautiful coastline, and the other, rugged mountains. In between, you'll pass flower-dotted meadows, rushing rivers and enchanting villages, with tavernas full of welcoming, carousing locals. Yes, they'll probably expect you to sing. Although tourism is growing, Georgia still has a wild, undiscovered feeling to it. The best way to travel is with an openness to adventure and surprises, rather than a strict itinerary. [caption id="attachment_651191" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Vahid Yarmohammadi[/caption] IRAN Speaking of adventure and surprises — if you're a fan of them, then book a ticket to Tehran, the buzzing, colourful capital of Iran. For a shopping experience you're unlikely to forget, spend a morning getting lost among the mazes of The Grand Bazaar, poring over spices, gold jewellery and handwoven carpets. At the Golestan Palace, you'll get an insight into Iran's royal history; it was here that the Qajars, the country's second to last dynasty, had their seat of power. Think marble fountains, blinding mirror halls and magnificent furniture. The city also has a strong contemporary art scene. Check out Aaran Gallery for work by young artists and A.J for photography.
After almost two decades in the political wilderness (and also briefly prison), ultra-conservative politician Pauline Hanson has once again been elected to the Australian Federal Parliament. Thanks a bunch, Queensland. While we can't say we're looking forward to having Hanson back in the public arena, we think we may have at least found a bit of a silver lining to the whole shemozzle, in the form of a new Pauline Hanson-styled poutine at Belleville in the Melbourne CBD. Fittingly inspired by the flavours of her less-than favourite meal, the Halal Snack Pack, the 'Pauline Hanson' consists of beer battered chips topped with cheese, chilli sauce, mint yoghurt and rotisserie lamb. According to a post on Belleville's Facebook page, the dish will be available from this week until it finishes with a Royal Commission. So there you go. At least now you've got something delicious to eat as you watch the country collapse around your ears. Democracy, hurrah!
Need a bit of a break and love your music? Sure you could leave it all behind and head up to Splendour, if you were lucky enough to get tickets. You didn't? Why not look a little further afield for your music festival fix? Festival season is about to kick into action in the Northern Hemisphere. With a plane ticket in your hand, you need never quit the dancefloor. Take a coffee break and take a scroll through some of the world's most incredible music festivals. We've teamed up with NESCAFÉ to help you take the desk break you, as a hardworking human being, deserve. They're events we'd nab an airfare for just for the festival itself — from big name-driven classics like Glastonbury to boutique gatherings in extraordinary settings, like Japan's mountaintop festival The Labyrinth. The lineups are a bonus. [caption id="attachment_569154" align="alignnone" width="1280"] littlebreadtoast.[/caption] PRIMAVERA SOUND, BARCELONA, SPAIN If you were championing Courtney Barnett before anyone else was listening and spend more than your fair share of hours searching YouTube for undiscovered artists, you'll love Primavera Sound. Just a few of the acts to have made their Spanish festival debut here are LCD Soundsystem, Franz Ferdinand, Wilco, Arcade Fire and Bon Iver. Primavera is all about giving stages to indie and alternative music. When the show's over, hang around for a few days at least to explore Barcelona's winding alleyways, sparkling coastline and late, late (lockout free!) nightlife. This year, Primavera's scheduled for June 1-5. [caption id="attachment_569179" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The Labyrinth.[/caption] THE LABYRINTH, JAPAN Lovers of mountains and electronica, add this one to your bucket list. Held among the spectacular peaks of Japan's Niigata Prefecture, The Labyrinth is famous for its amazing surroundings, as well as its hours and hours of uninterrupted music. DJ sets run back-to-back, so you'll have to bring a deckchair to catch your breath. Acts to have made previous lineups include Peter van Hoesen, Donato Dozzy, Svreca and Petar Dundov. The only catch is that only 5 percent of tickets are sold outside Japan, so you need to get smart to get hold of one. Labyrinth 2016 is yet to be announced, but you can expect it to happen in September. [caption id="attachment_569170" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Love International.[/caption] LOVE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, CROATIA Started in 2006 as Garden Festival, this event has morphed into the Love International Festival. Lesser known than many listings here, it's a week-long, boutique affair, set in a magical garden in Tisno, Croatia, right on the edge of the Adriatic Sea. In fact, there's even a private beach, so you can cool off after sweating it out on the dancefloor. You have a choice of six stages, including one on the sand, one in an olive grove and two on wooden boats. The program is mainly electronica, with a smattering of live acts. Get to Love International 2016 between June 29 and July 5. [caption id="attachment_569144" align="alignnone" width="1280"] SXSW.[/caption] SXSW (SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST), AUSTIN Back when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister and shoulder pads were boss (we're talking 1986), a bunch of music-loving folks in Austin, Texas, got together to talk about the future. What bothered them most was that so many stupendously talented local musicians were struggling to attract interstate — let alone international — attention. So, they decided that if Austin couldn't get to the world, they'd bring the world to Austin. And in 1987, the first ever South by Southwest Festival was held. 29 years on, the event is one of the planet's most influential tastemaking music happenings, featuring more than 2000 acts, 200+ workshops and over 100 stages. The 30th edition is programmed for 10-19 March, 2017. INTO THE VALLEY, SWEDEN Sweden's Into the Valley might be the only festival in the world held in a limestone quarry, which was formed by a meteorite. Not only does such a setting make for infinite Instagramming opportunities, it's also means cracking acoustics. The organisers get the best out of both, with a solid house and electronic lineup booming through super powerful sound systems, as well as fantastical light shows. Plus, there's a brilliant, turquoise swimming hole. Into the Valley takes place in Rättvik, 280 kilometres north of Stockholm. This year, it'll be on July 29-31. [caption id="attachment_569150" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Douglas Mason/Jazz Fest.[/caption] NEW ORLEANS JAZZ AND HERITAGE FESTIVAL, LOUISIANA Jazz makes up just one chunk of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (aka Jazz Fest). You can also count on blues, soul, R&B, rock, Latin, rap, country and bluegrass. Take 2016's program, for example — it's spearheaded by Stevie Wonder, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Neil Young and Snoop Dogg. Running for eight days, the extravaganza takes over New Orleans' every nook and cranny. To keep you fuelled up between sets, there are more than 70 food stalls, serving up soulful nosh — from crab po' boys and boiled crawfish to fried green tomatoes and oyster patties. 2016's Jazz Fest is running April 22 - May 1. [caption id="attachment_569167" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Meadows in the Mountains.[/caption] MEADOWS IN THE MOUNTAINS, BULGARIA If smaller crowds are more your thing, book a ticket to Bulgaria's Meadows in the Mountains. Set high in the Rhodopes Mountains, this four-day festival offers a blend of live acts and DJs — and loads of time to settle into a hammock and relax. There's also a dedicated 'healing field', where you can partake in yoga lessons, meditation sessions, tantra workshops, cacao ceremonies, sound baths and wholesome food. Stay in a genuine Bulgarian rustic mountain hut or a teepee or carry your own tent with you. Meadows in the Mountains 2016 is on June 10-13. [caption id="attachment_569168" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Nat Urazmetova.[/caption] GLASTONBURY, UK Should Byron Bay's Bluesfest fail to deliver your annual quota of mud, you can always try again at Glastonbury. Held every June on a farm in Somerset, this legendary event often cops a good ol' British deluge — but that only doubles the fun. What's more, if you've just hit sunny Primavera, it's a refreshing sequel. Glastonbury's lineup is always littered with massive names — this year, Muse, Adele, Coldplay, Disclosure, PJ Harvey make up just a sprinkling of them. Needless to say, the tough bit is getting your mitts on a ticket — they sell out faster than Usain Bolt can smash 100 metres. Glastonbury 2016 is coming up June 22-26. [caption id="attachment_569176" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Matias Garabedian.[/caption] MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, CANADA After Glastonbury and a couple of days at Love International, jump the Atlantic for a change of scene. Like New Orleans Jazz Fest, the Montreal Jazz Festival isn't only about jazz, but also covers its close musical relatives. 2016 headliners include Rufus Wainwright, Ben Harper and Noel Gallagher, alongside jazz stars like Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea and Christian McBride. All in all, you can prepare to see 3000 musicians, representing more than 30 nations, across 650 shows (of which 450 are outdoors and free!). The 35th Montreal Jazz Festival is on June 29 - July 9 2016. [caption id="attachment_568795" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Geoff Stearns.[/caption] BURNING MAN, NEVADA Each year, as the Northern Hemisphere's summer draws to a close, tens and thousands of people gather in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, to take part in Burning Man. It's the only festival on this list to create itself as it happens. In other words, all attendees are participants — rather than followers of a neatly organised, timetabled plan. Over the course of seven days, they build art installations, themed camps, mutant vehicles and performances, thereby creating a temporal and ever-changing metropolis named Black Rock City, which vanishes when the event finishes. If you're travelling solo, you can hook up with others by volunteering. Burning Man 2016 is on August 28 - September 5 (and you'd better go soon before Silicon Valley suits eat it up. Top image: The Labyrinth.
Stars, street dancing musicals and plenty of Spanish-language cinema treats: yes, it's that time again. 21 years since the Spanish Film Festival first showered Australian audiences with its filmic delights, it's celebrating the occasion in its usual vibrant style. That means 25 movies showcasing the best the country has to offer, from recent crowd-pleasers to beloved classics, side-splitting comedies to gothic fables, and beloved talents to new up-and-comers. The list goes on, spanning Oscar winners, international hits and fresh discoveries alike as this year's event tours Australia until May 13. Whether you want to see two of Spain's biggest stars share the screen at two different points in their careers, revisit one of the biggest animated movies of the past six months or delve into the works of acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Bigas Luna, it's on the bill — including these five must-sees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzRjIMt2Wl8 LOVING PABLO From its titular drug baron subject, to its acclaimed Spanish director, to its high-profile stars, Loving Pablo comes to the Spanish Film Festival stacked with highlights. Here, Javier Bardem stars as Pablo Escobar opposite Penélope Cruz as journalist Virginia Vallejo — and while there's no shortage of movies telling the Colombian kingpin's tale, this one explores their romance. Helmed by A Perfect Day's Fernando León de Aranoa and based on Vallejo's memoir, it's an account of charisma, crime and trying to come out the other side in a world where violence and death threats are commonplace. Both leads were nominated for Spanish Academy Awards for their efforts, which shouldn't come as a surprise given their talents. Plus, if you're keen on another dose of the duo at the fest, they also feature in retrospective title Jamón Jamón. THE TRIBE There just aren't enough movies about cleaners turned street dancers, let alone cleaners turned street dancers who shoot to fame while strutting their stuff with the son they once put up for adoption. That's the story at the centre of The Tribe, and it's a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction scenario. Sure, it all sounds like something out of a feel-good, crowd-pleasing flick — which is exactly what this lively song-and-dance effort aims to be — however the film is based on a real-life dance troupe. There's more twists and turns to the on-screen tale, which features Spanish stars Carmen Machi and Paco León, but it isn't a spoiler to say that the actual group became a Spain's Got Talent hit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaLeUkqNfnE JULIA IS It's a scenario that everyone can relate to: you arrive in a new city with huge hopes and plenty of enthusiasm, but your new surroundings just don't match your dreams. In Julia Is, that's how the Catalan architecture student's arrival in Berlin starts; however, as anyone who has faced the same situation knows, sometimes you just have to persevere. In the directorial debut of filmmaker and star Elena Martín, the feature tracks Julia's efforts to do just that as she finds her place in the German capital. The film won best feature and best director at last year's Málaga Film Festival, and it's certain to achieve something unusual at the Spanish Film Festival — instead of inspiring a trip to Spain, it'll make you want to go to Germany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVLnw6PScuU ABRACADABRA The last time that director Pablo Berger teamed up with actress Maribel Verdú, the enchanting Blancanieves was the end result. For their second collaboration, they're not dabbling with a different take on Snow White, but with ghosts. Expect something just as out-of-the-ordinary as their initial team-up, however, courtesy of a comedy that's also filled with horror flourishes, insightful commentary and an all-round offbeat air. That's what happens when Verdú's housewife attends a wedding with her husband, who then get possessed by the spirit of a murderous waiter. Unsurprisingly, the experience drastically alters his behaviour — and inspires plenty of laughs as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFbJrR7XBQ8 GOLD No matter how many films chart treacherous treks through jungle landscapes, more keep coming. That's not a bad thing. As everything from Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo to The Lost City of Z and Jungle have demonstrated, there's something particularly alluring and fascinating about this sub-genre of movies, mirroring the obsession and passion of their protagonists. Gold is Spain's latest addition to the fold, not to be confused with the very average Matthew McConaughey flick of the same name from last year. Set in Central America in 1540, this adventure epic follows Spanish deserters trying avoid capture or death in their quest for freedom, with El Dorado their destination. The Spanish Film Festival tours Australia from April 17, screening at Sydney's Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona and Palace Central from April 17 to May 6; Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Brighton Bay, Kino Cinemas and The Astor Theatre from April 19 to May 6; and Brisbane's Palace Barracks and Palace Centro from April 26 to May 13. For more information, visit the festival website.
The Grounds of Alexandria-inspired Flower Child Café has been open in Chatswood, inside Westfield, for just over a year and the team has already expanded to a second location at Westfield Warringah. Co-founders Chris Lu (Bondi Hardware, Happy as Larry Pizza Truck) and Adam Choker (ex-manager at The Grounds of Alexandria) are taking their same philosophy and holistic approach to the northern beaches, this time with a venue that doesn't just seem outdoors, but actually is. While Flower Child Chatswood acts as a indoor garden that naturalises an otherwise typical shopping mall, Flower Child Warringah is actually located outdoors. The large windows allow for a flood of sunlight into the restaurant, which sits in the open mall's ground floor courtyard. The space was again design by ACME & Co (The Grounds, Archie Rose, Fred's, Charlie Parker's) and features an open plan kitchen, whitewash timber, custom tiles, and a colourful, floral-textured interior, all of which are meant to give the venue a "beachy and tropical" feel that acts as a nod to their northern beaches location. The freestanding circular structure is surrounded by a sprawling water feature that encompasses the venue and is accompanied by planter boxes which will be used to grow a variety of tropical plant species. Like the Chatswood venue, the all-day menu will focus on breakfast, brunch and lunch, including favourite dishes from the original location —like ex-Merivale chef Nik Jovicki's French toast with banana mascarpone, dark chocolate crumb, fresh berries and salted toffee — as well as new dishes like a pumpkin gypsy toast and Japanese pancakes that will be exclusive to Warringah. Flower Child Warringah will also feature more extensive takeaway options and they'll be introducing a venue-specific dinner menu in the coming weeks. As with the first location, The Grounds Roasters will provide single origin and seasonal blend coffees and The Grounds Bakery will deliver fresh bread, cakes and pastries each morning. Flower Child Warringah is located within the Warringah Mall at Condamine Street and Old Pittwater Road, Brookvale. Open Monday through Wednesday 8am to 5pm, Thursday 8am to 9pm and Saturday to Sunday 8am to 5pm.
As difficult as is it to name more than a handful of sequels that improve upon their predecessor, it's almost impossible to name a trilogy that gets progressively better from the first film to the third. After much contemplation, only two contenders spring to mind: Richard Linklater's Before trilogy, and Disney Pixar's Toy Story – each of which began from an incredibly strong position and yet somehow built upon and enriched each subsequent experience rather than draw out, repeat or simply ruin that which came before. Now, however, we can add a third series to the list. Beginning in 2011 with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and followed up by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes three years later, this remarkable and consistently surprising franchise has saved its best entry until last with the thoughtful and deeply moving third installment: War for the Planet of the Apes. And it is a war film, although not in the conventional sense. With soldiers' helmets emblazoned with slogans like 'Bye Bye Bonzo' and 'Monkey Killer', there's a definite Full Metal Jacket vibe among the human characters. Yet this is a war film more in the vein of Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line. Emphasising visuals over dialogue and backed by a sumptuous orchestral score, the movie largely eschews combat sequences in favour of exploring internal conflicts, as well as the absurdity of observing 'rules' to govern the means by which two peoples might slaughter one another. It is at once a summer blockbuster and a poignant tragedy, which is no mean feat given it involves machine-gun wielding apes that can talk and ride on horseback. There's not a moment in this film, from the opening frame to the last, where you question what you're seeing. The very name for what makes that possible, 'special effects', seems entirely insufficient to capture the extraordinary wizardry at play here. Pile all the transforming robots and world-destroying aliens together and you'll still get nothing as remotely impressive as what writer-director Matt Reeves and his team have delivered with this film. "My god, your eyes, they're almost human" exclaims Woody Harrelson's antagonist. Whatever flaw he sees, the audience cannot. These apes aren't simply special effects; they're characters, as real and as complex as any human standing opposite or beside them on screen. This brings us to Andy 'Who Needs A Face To Act?' Serkis. Truly, the man could play a dilapidated gate on an abandoned farm and still imbue it with more pathos than most of his contemporaries. To say he's overdue for an Oscar is an entirely overplayed record, but until it happens or he stops turning in performances of such astounding nuance and tenderness, we'll keep on resetting the needle. Alongside his fellow motion-cap actors Terry Notary, Karen Konoval and Michael Adamthwaite, Serkis's Caesar is the heart of the film. He's the reluctant general; a gentle soul whose only reason for fighting is to save his fellow apes and family from extinction. Like Pacino's Michael Corleone in Godfather Part III, Caesar's efforts to secure peace instead find him drawn further into darkness, imperilling those he loves and condemning his own soul to ruin. On the human front, each film in the Apes trilogy has featured fewer than the one before it, and in War there are only two of note: Harrelson's ruthless Colonel and an orphaned girl named Nova played by the captivating Amiah Miller. They are, in many ways, the best and the worst of us – tormentors and saviours whose interactions with Caesar shape his every decision throughout the film. We are unquestionably compelled to side with the apes in this, the final stage of the trilogy, which is an intriguing sensation given we're barracking for the very creatures responsible for wiping us out. Again, it's down to the remarkable work of the team behind the film, whose storytelling and performances have given us a Shakespearean tale full of heartache, betrayal, courage and redemption. War for the Planet of the Apes is an instant classic and a fine conclusion to a spectacular saga. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDcAlo8i2y8
A team of truly conscientious Italian cleaners will be toning down their enthusiasm this week, after accidentally cleaning up an entire art installation at the Museion, Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art in Bolanzo, Italy. Thinking the museum had really gone overboard with their opening night party, the cleaners painstakingly put Milanese artists Goldschmied & Chiari's installation Where Are We Going to Dance Tonight? in the bin; a wildly colourful work that consists of 300 empty champagne bottles, a disco ball, confetti, streamers and cigarette butts. The artists found a guide to the clubs of the Italian peninsula written in 1988 written by the then foreign minister Gianni de Michelis, sharing the name of the artwork Where Are We Going to Dance Tonight? According to artnet, the work is inspired by the hedonistic, consumerist period of '80s Italy and the "socialist politicians and their neverending parties". *whipcrack* IN THE BIN! The best part of this terribly awkward and tragic art tale? Because these cleaners were particularly meticulous in their job, they sorted the different elements of the work into their appropriate recycling receptacles, particularly the glass and paper elements. This means the museum will probably be able to rescue and reinstall the work. The museum's Facebook page says the work will be reinstalled as soon as possible. Eep. Via artnet. Images: Museion Bozen-Bolzano/Facebook, @MarleneP_/Twitter. UPDATE OCTOBER 29, 2015: Goldschmied & Chiari's installation has been restored and reopened in the Museion Bozen-Bolzano. "We greatly regret what happened to the artists' work: it was the result of a misunderstanding with the staff of the cleaning company," the museum said in a statement on its website. Party's back on! Happy friday?? #GoldschmiedChiari #doveandiamoaballarequestasera#2015 #Museion#alberodellacuccagna#Bolzano A video posted by Goldschmied & Chiari (@goldschmied_chiari) on Oct 23, 2015 at 10:15am PDT
Come summertime, we coffee lovers still need our daily cup o' joe. Yet the thought of your ritualistic long black or soy latte at 11am can sometimes be too hot to handle on a steamy summer's day. And dunking bucketloads of ice in it isn't going to do the trick, oh no. Times have changed and the coffee world is — as we know — getting fancier and fancier. Move beyond the outdated whipped cream and syrupy concoctions, and follow our lead to a cool caffeinated brew. THE CLASSIC ICED COFFEE Okay, disregard what we just said about the antiquity of this classic beverage, we still love it. The traditional components of this drink are an espresso shot, milk and a scoop of ice cream to sweeten it up. Some places may embellish it with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa on top, though why take the focus off what lies beneath? If you've got a real sweet tooth, ask for some sugar syrup in it or turn it into an iced mocha: lashings of chocolate syrup swirled down the sides of the glass. Alternatively, if you're not a fan of the sweet, ask for an iced latte: literally a shot of espresso with cold milk and ice. Many places offer this classic concoction, but our favourite is The Wedge in Glebe ($5.50): you can always rely on these guys for a decent brew, cold or hot. Three Williams also offer a memorable one — espresso with or without sweet milk, plus coffee ice cubes to keep the flavour balance right while you're slow slipping. For a kickass Vietnamese iced coffee? Head for Great Aunty Three or Cafe 86. For a tasty Thai version head to Boon Cafe for the iced coffee with caramelised milk. THE AFFOGATO Literally translated from the Italian word for 'drowned', an affogato is cold ice-cream 'drowned' in hot, strong, espresso coffee. It's most commonly served after dinner as a post-meal treat; however, cafes are bucking this trend and it's on the menu all day long. And who are we kidding? Of course, we won't say no to ice cream after brunch. Heck, is 6.30am too early? Not if you head to Single Origin. These folks have teamed up with Cow & the Moon gelataria in Enmore for an affogato project that could see a hazelnut gelato drowned in their house blend Sugar Plum espresso ($6.50). For something more insane, The Lab in the CBD do theirs with soft serve, or for one of the very best affogatos in Sydney do a double coffee combo at Ciccione and Sons. And if that's not a great start to the day, head to Gowings Bar & Grill later on in the evening for the ultimate buzz of choice. Their dark chocolate affogato is extravagantly wicked: espresso, jersey milk gelato, chocolate pearls, organic prunes, a shot of Patron XO tequila, then delicately garnished with a grated mocha log. It's a melting, creamy, caffeine-rich dessert worth every $16 of its boozy wonderment. [caption id="attachment_558149" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Paramount Coffee Project.[/caption] THE COLD DRIP Ever seen a scientific-looking apparatus sitting on the back bar counter at a cafe and wondered whether your barista is doubling up as a chemist between lattes? Well, not quite. However, the 'ice-drip brewer' — as it is better known as — is another way for a barista to flaunt the theatrics of coffee brewing. The device infuses coffee in cold water for a period of 6-12 hours, and at glacial pace, it drips down to the bottom vessel. This method of removing heat from the process means the natural state of the coffee is preserved, hence locking in flavour. The result is a naturally sweeter taste due to its lower acidity — and a different caffeine hit. In fact, a different taste altogether. Unless you're hiding one of these contraptions in your cupboard at home, our favourite places for a cold drip dose are Something for Jess in Chippendale, Paramount Coffee Project, Campos Alexandria, Artificer, Mecca, Sample Coffee, Reuben Hills (with their house blend), Brewtown Newtown (also house blend) and Fine Food Store Coffee Bar on Oxford Street has a whole selection to choose from. Luxe Bakery in Newtown were doing a cold brew using coconut water last year, super refreshing. And Brewristas in Glebe have a bunch of cold coffee options (all served up in recycled beer bottles). THE COFFEE FRAPPE (STAY WITH US) By definition, a frappe is a Greek foam-covered iced coffee drink made from instant coffee. These days, there seem to be many variations, mostly sans coffee (for example, with fruit). We like the original version best, however: espresso with ice, milk and a touch of sugar syrup — all blended into a smooth oblivion. Our favourite is at Four Ate Five. This $6 treat will knock your socks off. A thick-walled glass holds the icy drink and will take some time to get through — but hey, if it's hot outside and you're inside sipping away with a chiller to cool the core, why rush? For something more devilish, visit Reuben Hills. The espresso & white chocolate thickshake (it's thick) is an $8.50 beverage that is chilled to kill. THE POUROVER ON ICE This Japanese method is perhaps more approachable, should you endeavour to make this at home. It's brewed like any other pour-over, only half of the hot water is replaced with ice cubes, which the coffee drips directly onto. The melting cubes not only dilute the concentrate but lock in the delicate flavours and ultimately cool the coffee enough for instant drinking. The pay-off is a fragrant, refreshing drink with subtle, floral flavours. Or, if you head to Paramount Coffee Project and have the Konga brew pour-over on ice ($5), it's like "being hit on the head with a fruit basket". THE BREW ON TAP As if we didn't need an excuse to come here anyway; Coffee Alchemy never lets us down with their fantastic brews. The Sparkler is no exception: a cold drip coffee with carbonated water injected. Oh, and did we mention the brew is actually on tap? That's right, it's not beer being poured out of the nozzle: it's Alchemy's cold, fizzy, caffeinated beverage. Mecca Alexandria do an awesome nitro cold brew poured from the tap, and Reuben Hills have just started doing their own carbonated coffee. For draught coffee on tap, head to Pablo and Rusty's or Bennet St Dairy for their supply of Harbourside. [caption id="attachment_545497" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Minor Figures.[/caption] THE ON-THE-GO KIND We like Salvage Specialty Coffee's idea of bottling up their cold brew ($5). Similarly to the cold-drip idea, the grounds are steeped in cold water for 6-8 hours, and then bottled into small brown bottles, ready to sip on as you board the train. Alternatively, if you notice people leaning on a posing bar, chortling as they knock one back, they've taken note of the cheeky serving suggestions on the back label. There's also Melbourne company Minor Figures, whose cold brew poppers are available around the country, and also Melbourne-founded cold brew bottlers First Press Coffee. [caption id="attachment_555485" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: Assembly.[/caption] THE SPIKED VERSIONS Lest we forget the incredible espresso martini: the ultimate finale to our cold coffee adventures. One theory about its origin suggests it was created by a cocktail guru for a lady who requested a drink that would 'wake me up, then (insert-blasphemous-word here) me up'. And indeed it has all the requested ingredients for such a demand: vodka, Kahlua, a double shot of espresso, sugar syrup and a garnishing of coffee beans — it's a stimulating beverage to say the least. Moreover, this form of catalyst requires a suitable bartender who not only knows how to shake (or stir?) the martini, but also is an expert in the bean. The best place to find such a great combo is at Top Hat in Clovelly, and now that they're trading later on some nights, let them impress you with one of their espresso martinis ($18) or cold-drip Negroni ($17). Barrio Cellar, Red Lily, The Botanist, Peg Leg and Assembly's new restaurant in the CBD all do a mean spiked coffee cocktail. Images: Dollar Photo Club unless specified.
Hold onto your paper plates, Sydney — there's another Night Market coming to Carriageworks. This time it's curated by Porteño's Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate and will feature lots of smoke, spice and fire, reflecting this year's theme of 'Burning Love'. A slew of 55 stallholders will take over the carriageway from 5pm on Friday, July 27. You can expect to once again sample goods from New South Wales' top tier of restaurants, winemakers, breweries and providores, alongside cooking demos — including Aboriginal fire making and cooking techniques, and a woodfired whole lamb — and live music. Menu highlights, curated by the aforementioned Porteño boys, will include shellfish cooked over coals from Rising Sun Workshop, smoked fish from seafood genius John Susman, whole charred pumpkin from No. 1 Bent Street and smoked mushroom toasties from food rescue charity OzHarvest. Joining the night markets for the first time will be Belles Hot Chicken, Spice Temple, Mamak and Buffalo Dining Club. Plus, beer will be supplied by Newtown's Young Henrys and Grifter Brewing Co; cocktails will be mixed by Archie Rose, Earl's Juke Joint, and Jacoby's; and there'll be wine from the likes of P&V Wine and Giorgio de Maria Fun Wines. Tickets are $10 — head to the Carriageworks website to book ahead. Images: Jacquie Manning.
It's been over two decades since the Paradiso brothers opened up Fratelli Paradiso — the award-winning Italian restaurant and Potts Point institution. The Fratelli family has grown substantially since then, even taking up residence in Tokyo. Still, the family always manages to make you feel like you've stumbled upon a local secret when you come to this Challis Avenue for lunch or dinner. With relaxed yet flawless service and a small, fool-proof menu, Fratelli Paradiso remains at the top of its game, serving up whipped roe and bottarga pretzels as well as timeless crowd-pleasers like its lasagnetta — the all-time best takeaway meal if there ever was one. Highlights from the antipasti menu include the cured sardines with Dutch creams, mandarin and black olives or the fried calamari with paradiso sauce. For a main, try Fratelli Paradiso's tagliatelle with hand cut egg pasta and beef ragu, or the 250gm roasted sirloin with pepper sauce and friend onions. Appears in: The Best Italian Restaurants in Sydney for 2023
Take a John Bell-directed tour of Nazi-occupied Rome in the 1940s. Get a better understanding of House of Cards with a new take on Richard 3. See a Helpmann Award-winning 'murder ballad' return to the stage. Or brush up on your geopolitics and US-China relations before things start to get interesting in the South China Sea. Autumn wields quite a hefty stash of theatre for Sydneysiders, so we've picked the shows you should focus your attention on. They're not light, they're not cruisy, but they're the best on stage this month. By Matt Abotomey, Kelly Pigram, Tom Clift and James Whitton.
With soups based on a century old recipe, you know that at Dragon Hot Pot in Burwood you are getting only the finest and most authentic Chinese flavours. The soup is a fusion of over twenty traditional Chinese herbs as well as marrow bones cooked for over twelve hours — all combining to create a soup as memorable as any you're likely to find in Sydney. Its signature Ma La Tang soup combines 24 wild herbs from Mount Emei in China and produces a fragrant, thick and golden soup. Vegetarians can enjoy the vegan soup with vegan herbs, spices and ingredients. For a richer flavour, try the pickled mustard concoction that's been fermented for six hours or the collagen bone broth that's includes only the highest quality marrow bones and is extremely flavourful. Flesh out your hot pot with meat slices including pork, wagyu, beef tongue and chicken or seafood options such as fresh squid, sea cucumber and raw fish. For something more adventurous, opt for the porcine brains, the bullfrog or the ox aorta. Vegetarians aren't forgotten here either, which can be rare at a hot pot, with an array of options including Chinese cabbage, potato slices and soybean sprouts. The atmosphere in here is bustling and the decor suggests a thriving Chinese market. The service is fast and friendly but the hot pot is the main focus. With a huge array of options, Great Dragon Hot Pot Burwood is bound to be a joint you return to over and over again. Top image: Griffin Simm
We're only just now wrapping things up for this summer, but already the NGV has us anticipating the next one with its most ambitious exhibition yet. Descending on the gallery this December, and then every three years after that, the NGV Triennial series will present a smorgasbord of art and design, plucked from all corners of the globe and representing established artists, emerging talent, and plenty else in between. Each blockbuster lineup will highlight the ever-blurring lines between art, fashion, architecture, design, and performance. Kicking off with a bang, plans for this year's inaugural event are nothing short of grand, with the NGV announcing the free exhibition will take over all four levels of the gallery and host exciting works by over 60 artists and designers. But where it's really upping the ante is in the audience experience, with visitors invited to present their own ideas through cross-platform content, and the exhibition's participatory works designed to engage like never before. Legendary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, best known for her obsessive patterning and vibrant representations of the infinite, will invite glimpses into the artist's mind with a work titled Flower obsession. Created especially for the NGV Triennial, the interactive exhibition will have visitors unleashing some creativity of their own, as they help plaster a furnished space with an array of colourful flower stickers and three-dimensional blooms. Kusuma joins other international names like Germany's Timo Nasseri and Canada's Sascha Braunig, alongside an Aussie billing that includes the likes of Ben Quilty, Louisa Bufardeci, and Tom Crago. There'll be an installation from Chinese haute couture fashion guru Guo Pei, designer of Rihanna's canary-yellow Met Ball gown, and an epic display of 100 oversized human skulls created by Australian artist Ron Mueck. Chemist and odour theorist Sissel Tolaas will create the 'scent of Melbourne' exclusively for the Triennial. And Alexandra Kehayoglou will be creating one of her monumentally-sized, lushly illustrated carpets, spanning over eight-metres-long. UPDATE JANUARY 19, 2018: From January 19–28, the gallery will stay open from 6pm till midnight with DJs, dance tours, talks and a pop-up Japanese restaurant as part of its ten-day Triennial Extra program. Image: NGV/Sean Fennessey.
People in New Zealand's South Island are generally an active bunch. There is so much adventuring to do that your visit to the Christchurch region will most likely be packed with hikes, fishing trips, seal swims and mountain biking trips. After all of that, you're going to want to wind down, soothe your nerves and relax a little. Luckily the Christchurch region has just as much to offer to those who want to take life a little slower, and enjoy the creature comforts. Whether you're soaking in the warmth of the region's natural hot springs, glamping in luxurious nature at Lavericks Bay or sampling a couple of cheeky vinos at Black Estate, it's easy to kick back and relax in Christchurch. We've shouldered the heavy burden and picked five of the region's most relaxing activities — so you can take it easy. RIDE THE SCENIC TRANZALPINE TRAIN If you're looking to relax and explore at the same time, board the TranzAlpine train at Christchurch and wind your way through towering beech forests, over the Southern Alps and across the sweeping Canterbury Plains. You'll feel at ease in the comfort of the on-board cafe and cabins which are fitted with wide wall and ceiling windows, through which you can enjoy the views of majestic snow-capped mountains. Take the day trip returning from picturesque Arthur's Pass to Christchurch, or ride the whole way and several hours later you'll arrive at unspoiled Greymouth on New Zealand's West Coast, the ideal base from which to explore the world-renowned Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, or perhaps hide away and relax somewhere beautiful and isolated. TASTE TEST LOCAL WINE AT BLACK ESTATE Black Estate has rustic, locally-sourced food, wine made on-site and good times guaranteed, all in a picturesque vineyard setting. Less than an hour drive from Christchurch's city centre, you'll know you've arrived when you see Black Estate's minimalist, black barn cellar door. It's set at the foot of a burnt orange hill covered in dry grass and bordered by acres of lush vines. All wine is made on-site by a fella named Nicholas, who believes in simple winemaking using organic locally sourced ingredients free of unnecessary additives. Nicholas's wife Penelope takes care of the business and restaurant, where they serve rustic country cuisine like Canter Valley duck and organic greens, or Akaroa salmon caught just down the road. Pop in, stay a while and indulge in the best cuisine, wine and hospitality that the Canterbury region has to offer. WARM UP AT THE HANMER SPRINGS THERMAL POOLS A quick 90-minute drive from Christchurch you'll find Hanmer, a small alpine town rich with character. This little region is like the setting of an adventure film, with old Victorian cottages set against a backdrop of rugged mountains and towering pine trees. The town's main attraction is Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa — the ultimate in slow paced, remote relaxation. Dip your tired body into naturally heated water and soothing rock pools, or perhaps treat yourself to a day of pampering at the premium on-site spa. SPEND THE NIGHT IN A PRIVATE GLASSHOUSE If you fancy spending a night stargazing and surrounded by nature in your own private glasshouse, then the completely isolated, sustainable PurePods that are scattered around New Zealand are perfect for you. Each PurePod has walls, a floor and ceiling made of heavy-duty glass, so you can see everything from the stars above you to the nature beneath your feet. The PurePod in Little River (just over an hour out of Christchurch) is a ten to 15 minute bush walk away from reception, so you're sure to get some peace and quiet for a night. Food packages can be ordered when you book, so you won't need to leave for a whole 24 hours — you'll only need to sit back and immerse yourself in the 360-degree views of the beautiful New Zealand landscape. CANOPY CAMP IN LAVERICKS BAY Under the clean white folds of a spacious tent, look out over the lush farmland and rolling waves of Lavericks Bay. This is glamping how it should be, with your own private black sand cove to relax in that's only an hour and 40 minute drive from Christchurch. Bathe and sunbathe at the same time in the outdoor bath on the campsite, or relax with a book on your own private deck. There are exposed rockpools at low tide and the appearance of Hector's dolphins and seals is not uncommon around your 'campsite'. Maybe you've been to New Zealand's North Island, but have you ever ventured down South? Christchurch, and New Zealand's surrounding Canterbury region, is the perfect place for a quick holiday. Use our planning guide to book your trip, then sort out your itinerary with our food, adventure and nature guides. Top image: Black Estate.
Vivid will score not one, but two, closing nights this year, with art-rock legends TV on the Radio smashing out two concerts in a row in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. Since forming in Brooklyn 14 years ago, the four-piece has created six albums. These shows will cover the entire songbook, from Staring at the Sun (2004) to Seeds (2014). Chronologically, theses releases cover a decade, but the music represents hundreds of years of history; drawing together gospel, post-punk and everything in between.
If you love sashimi, you really love sashimi. And if you love sashimi and live in Sydney, chances are you've had a piece or two from Zushi at some point. They've had restaurants in Surry Hills and Darlinghurst for a while now, and now the Zushi family has just unveiled a sleek new Japanese joint at Barangaroo's burgeoning dining precinct, The Streets of Barangaroo. The third venue for the group has gone full designer, with their new digs rock a striking fit-out courtesy of the acclaimed Koichi Takada Architects. The waterfront space boasts a semi-open kitchen, a dedicated sushi bar and a stunning, all-weather outdoor dining area with room for 106 people — it's bound to be red-hot property over the coming summer months. There's also a walk-up bar space, where Zushi's resident sake expert can hook you up with a few drops from the extensive range while you're waiting for that table. In true Zushi style, the modern Japanese fare here strikes a balance between innovation and authenticity, with this latest menu a mix of favourites, specials, and seasonal dishes unique to the Barangaroo restaurant. You'll find specialty sushi and sashimi, alongside an assortment of Izakaya-inspired share plates. The seared tuna steak coated in quinoa and sesame with wasabi mash is a must-order. Backing it up, there's that hefty range of sake, some clever sake cocktails, and a NSW-led wine list, which has plenty of love for biodynamic and organic labels. Zushi joins a slew of other eateries that have opened down at Barangaroo over the last few months, including Belles Hot Chicken, Lotus, Cirrus and The Rabbit Hole. Zushi Barangaroo is now open for lunch and dinner seven days a week at 10/33 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo South. For more info, visit zushi.com.au. Images: Kurt George Photography.
First-rate CBD cocktail bar Since I Left You is giving Sydneysiders even more to love with the return of its music and art-filled brunch series. Brunch With... features a different artist each month, who not only brings the beats, but also helps curate the food and drinks. This month, on Saturday, March 13 it's Brunch With Cabu, aka Billy Cabusas, a Sydney producer known for his electro and R&B music. While sitting in the courtyard listening to his tunes, you'll be digging into guacamole and corn chips, barramundi ceviche tostadas and a trio of tacos (lamb barbacoa, sweet and spicy chicken and sweet potato jerky). You'll get all of this as part of your $75 ticket price — plus, you'll be able to pair all this with 90 minutes of free-flowing drinks, too — expect many margaritas and mojitos made using Del Maguey mezcal. The brunch series will continue on Saturday, April 10 and Saturday, May 8, with artists and food and drink lineups still to be confirmed. Keep an eye on the SILY website for more info. Brunch With... runs from midday–3pm and tickets are $75 a person.
Celebrate the way of the flip-flop this Australia Day with the annual Thong Challenge down at North Bondi Beach and help break the world record for the longest line of giant inflatable Havaianas in open water. With the challenge intensifying in a state-by-state 'thong off', the stakes seem even higher in this, the challenge's tenth year. Don't let 2014 champions Cottesloe Beach, WA take out the title for the third year running. Further creating a thong-lovin' environment, Havaianas have organised a giant sprinkler and thong, along with a pop-up retail stall and numerous events throughout the day such as a Tug-O-War, Thong Toss and Thong Grab, all with prizes to be won. Online registration is $30, which includes a $10 donation to North Bondi SLSC’s Nippers program as well as your necessary giant Havaianas inflatable.
March can often arrive with a pang of seasonal realisation — summer's done. But there are some who resist the change, especially those intent on creating an entire beach festival in Coogee. You'll quickly forget any farewells to the sunnier months at the Coogee Foreshore Festival, a seaside celebration transforming Coogee Pavilion into a burgeoning marketplace. It's just one tasty, beachy adventure amongst the annual March into Merivale festival. Head along to the Coogee Pav on March 20 for a day of foreshore frivolity — and you'd be well-advised to leave your self-consciousness behind. Want to get your face painted, tie an animal balloon to your wrist or get your pic taken with a roving entertainer? Do it already. Just in case you're finding it hard to let your hair down, there'll be summery drinks a-plenty, courtesy of Veuve Clicquot, and oodles of food, from not only Coogee Pavilion and Coogee Rooftop, but some of our favourite Merivale restaurants including Papi Chulo, El Loco, Mr. Wong and sushi e.
Swipe right to find your perfect match – and no, we're not talking about the pit of despair and poor decision making that is Tinder (who are we kidding, we're on there too). This is Tender, which as you can tell from the cleverly substituted vowel is a totally different thing. Like its namesake, this newly launched app shows users a photograph and lets them swipe right or left to indicate whether they like what they see. But unlike Tinder, this isn't about looking for a casual hook-up. This is about serious, long-term relationships. With food. Developed by a group of college roommates now working in Boston, Tender is available in both the Apple App Store and on Google Play, and works on the same basic principals as Tinder – only with recipes instead of people. Users can tap on a food pic to get a list of ingredients and a link to the full recipe, which is then saved to the cookbook section of your app if you decide to swipe right. The recipes come from food blogs all over the internet, and you can filter them by different categories, such as vegetarian, vegan, seafood, dessert and so on. They're also planning on adding an allergy filter and an undo button for people who regret swiping left. You've got to hand it to them: in terms of capturing the zeitgeist, this feels pretty on the money. Basically they've combined food porn with snap judging things based purely on their appearance, which, as millennials, are basically our two favourite pastimes. Plus a lot of the recipes actually look really delicious – although if Tinder has taught us anything, it's that what you get in real life rarely lives up to the pics. It seems like Tender won't be entirely free of these kinds of issues either. Suuure you're a barbecue turkey meatloaf. Honestly, who is this pile of capsicums trying to fool? Looks like Tender still has a few bugs to sort out. Still, we're pretty excited to give it a try. At least here we won't have to worry about matching with an awesome looking spicy coconut risotto only for it to turn out to just be a bot spamming your account with links to a website featuring lots of 'sizzling hot Asian dishes'. And unlike real people, chocolate cake will never swipe you left. Top Image via Dollar Photo Club.
There are few better ways to spend a warm afternoon than by grabbing your mates for a few summer sundowners. In a city spoilt with beautiful vistas, you don't need to be by the ocean to enjoy the glow of the setting sun while sipping on a few refreshing ales or cocktails. From restaurant decks on suburban streets to hidden rooftops, these are our favourite spots in Sydney for watching the evening roll in — with a drink in one hand and snacks in the other.
It's been 11 years since Danny Rogers and Jerome Borazio decided to fill a Melbourne alleyway with tunes in 2005. Heading back to their collection of unconventional venues for another year, Laneway Festival has announced its 2016 lineup. Returning to Singapore, Auckland and the five established Australian Laneway go-to cities, Laneway will raise a plastic cup to the middle of summer with one heck of a killer lineup. Following the previously leaked Hudson Mohawke and Purity Ring headliner announces, Laneway will see one heck of a crew on their unconventional stages. Odd Future's super outfit The Internet will be here, alongside Ninja Tune's bass monarch Thundercat and the return of Grimes (start losing your collective shit). Epic Scottish electronic crew CHVRCHES are headed back to Australia, with a few fellow return trippers — Baltimore dreamboats Beach House, American math rockers Battles are back with their new album, as well as Brooklyn's atmospheric foursome DIIV. Plenty of love for the onstage return of Big Scary after Tom Isanek finished up with #1 Dads, and there's sure to be a big ol' ruckus for Sydney wonderkid Flume back on stage. You'll be hard pressed to find a spot at Las Vegas hypecard Shamir's set, watching young Washington rapper GoldLink or the pretty, pretty Beatles-y Tobias Jesso Jr. Odd Future's Vince Staples is headed here too, following his OFWGKTA bud Tyler the Creator's ban from Australia. With beloved local artists like Hermitude, Violent Soho, The Smith Street Band and DMA's, this year's lineup is more eclectic than a Jenny Kee jumper. Enough talk, here 'tis. LANEWAY FESTIVAL 2016 LINEUP: Ali Barter* Banoffee Battles Beach House Big Scary Blank Realm** Chvrhces DIIV DMA’s East India Youth FIDLAR Flume GoldLink Grimes Health Hermitude High Tension Hudson Mohawke Japanese Wallpaper Majical Cloudz Methyl Ethel METZ Purity Ring QT Shamir Silicon Slum Sociable** Sophie The Goon Sax*** The Internet The Smith Street Band Thundercat Tobias Jesso Jr. Vince Staples Violent Soho * Exclusive to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne only ** not playing Fremantle *** Exclusive to Brisbane only ST JEROME'S LANEWAY FESTIVAL DATES AND VENUES FOR 2016: Saturday, January 30 — SINGAPORE (THE MEADOW, GARDENS BY THE BAY) Monday, February 1 — AUCKLAND (SILO PARK) Friday, February 5 — ADELAIDE (HARTS MILL, PORT ADELAIDE, 16+) Saturday, February 6 — BRISBANE (BRISBANE SHOWGROUNDS, BOWEN HILLS, 16+) Sunday, February 7 — SYDNEY (SYDNEY COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, ROZELLE) Saturday, February 13 — MELBOURNE (FOOTSCRAY COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE (FCAC) + THE RIVER’S EDGE) Sunday, February 14 — FREMANTLE (ESPLANADE RESERVE AND WEST END) Tickets on sale September 30 at 9am from Laneway Festival. Image: Andy Fraser. Here's one for getting psyched up.
For one magnificent spring day, Surry Hills will turn itself over to its beloved annual festival this Saturday, September 26. You can expect the usual explosion of creativity and music, with pop-up spaces, laneway experiments and hidden pop-up bars complementing all-day live music and markets in Shannon Reserve and Ward Park. And it's all free, free, free. Heading the music lineup are triple j favourites I Know Leopard, who'll be bringing their '70s inspired, celestial pop to Shannon Reserve at 9pm. Preceding them is quite the epic, eclectic programme, including the reggae-soul sounds of Lyre Birdland, indie-rock from The Civilians, The Stiffys and acoustic-folk from Sons of the East. When you're not kicking back to the music, you can get active on a self-guided tour of the Surry Hills creative trail, along which you'll meet all kinds of local artists and creatives. Or check out performance art piece Soapbox, inspired by the Speakers' Corner tradition.
The crispy, greasy food of the gods and the cornerstone of any self-respecting carnivorous diet, bacon nabbed itself an entire dedicated festival last year at Cuckoo Callay. Now, Sydney's bacon worship is taking over a bigger warehouse-sized venue, with Sydney's best culinary minds at the helm. Brace yourselves, Sydney's biggest ever bacon party is coming. Bacon, Brunch & Bubbles is the creation of Luke Mangan and his team at MOJO. After the success of their SENSASIAN event a few months ago, the team are taking things to the next level with Sydney's biggest bacon party to date. This one-off brunch extravaganza will bring together Sydney's foodie elite: cake queen Katherine Sabbath, pastry commander-in-chief Andy Bowden, the makers of Australia's most 'grammed cake Black Star Pastry, ice cream wizards N2 Gelato, tea artisans Tippity Tea and the guys from Cuckoo Callay, who brought you Sydney's original Bacon Festival. "It's amazing to bring together such a diverse yet talented group from all around Sydney," says Mangan. Prepare to descend (or ascend depending on how you look at it) into a euphoric haze of porky goodness. Feast on dishes like bacon and egg brioches with chorizo jam, bacon empanadas and bacon and egg cupcakes (really). The best part? A pig on a spit, rotating slowly enough for you to become mesmerised (and reason to strongly dissuade your vegetarian friends from even trying to come). Chase it all with smokey bacon Bloody Marys and bacon bellini mimosas. If cocktails aren't your thing, Tippity Tea will have a selection of sparkling teas for you to choose from. For all the bacon in Sydney, it's not technically a warehouse party without some tunes. Sydney DJ Duncan Bell will be perched on top MOJO's industrial fridge and providing the backbeat to your bacon dreams. Bacon, Brunch & Bubbles is happening on Saturday, August 29 at 8 Danks Street, Waterloo. Entry to the event is $5. Food is $10-15 and drinks are $10. Doors open 10.30am. Top images: Cuckoo Callay.
As if Melbourne's laneways weren't ace enough already, they're going green — well, four of them are anyway. Meyers Place, Katherine Place, Guildford Lane and Coromandel Place will be transformed into little sustainable metropolitan Gardens of Eden with new designs released by the City of Melbourne as part of their Green Your Laneway initiative last week. The City of Melbourne announced their plans to transform four laneway spots in the CBD back in October of last year, and opened up the nominations to Melburnians to help them choose which ones they would give the green treatment. With more than 200 laneways in the city centre, picking the spots was no easy feat. But after collating over 800 public nominations as well as advice from engineers, landscape architects and sustainability professionals, and taking environmental factors — such as the amount of sunlight the laneways receive and their exposure to wind — into account, the council has settled on the four laneways as the ones that would most benefit from the added greenery. The draft designs show the laneways filled with planter boxes, vertical gardens, climbing plants and trees. Among the proposed additions, there are plans to give Katherine Place a mini tree-lined boulevard and an ivy-covered archway, and Guilford Lane (which is largely residential) could score a community garden. All up, the City of Melbourne is investing $1.3 million in the project. "Melbourne's laneways are internationally renowned for their quirky and eclectic culture and feel," Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said. "We can add another layer to their attraction by enhancing the sustainability of our laneways and making them 'green' and therefore more efficient at cooling the city, intercepting and cleaning stormwater and improving air quality and ambience." If you'd like to check out the designs in more detail, they'll be on display in Meyers Place from November 3-14. There's also some pretty detailed info on their website. Plus, to further warm you to the idea, Meyers Place will also host gardening workshops and live music on Saturday, November 12 from 2pm. Green Your Laneway is on trial as one arm of the City's Love Your Laneway program. Meanwhile, the Urban Forest Strategy is striving to address climate change and reduce Melbourne's summer temperatures by four degrees Celsius. Green days ahead. By Lauren Vadnjal and Jasmine Crittenden.
For the past 65 years, Sydney Film Festival has delivered two things: a heap of films for cinephiles to devour while sat in darkened rooms in the middle of winter, and plenty of conversation fodder afterwards. Attendees sit, watch, think, talk, drink, debate, rush between venues, try to avoid the chaos on George Street and start to wonder what a decent meal tastes like — and they ponder it all for the 12 months afterwards. In its usual fashion, this year's SFF delivered all of the above, including a feast of flicks that everyone will be chatting about for some time to come — and, if they're not, they should be. From empathetic dramas about life on the margins and single-setting thrillers to lurid dance party horrors and silent nature documentaries, our film critics Sarah Ward and Tom Clift saw it all. Emerging from their 12-day movie marathon, here's their picks for the best, weirdest and most unexpected movies of the fest. BEST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_07ktacEGo8 LEAVE NO TRACE The Heiresses might've won SFF's competition this year, but Leave No Trace won plenty of hearts with its tale of a father and daughter trying to live life on their own terms. Military veteran Will (Ben Foster) and teenager Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie) are comfortable in their cosy hidden camp in a public nature reserve — free of mod cons, expectations, boundaries and attitudes — but when they're forced to move, and to adjust to society's idea of normality, it upends their existence in more ways than one. That the movie that tells their tale is so thoughtful, quiet, assured and compelling shouldn't come as a surprise given that it's the long-awaited next effort from Winter's Bone writer-director Debra Granik, and nor should the striking observational cinematography that makes the film a visual treat as well. Indeed, eight years after the feature that catapulted Jennifer Lawrence to fame, Granik's latest is no less exceptional, and nor is its young female lead: New Zealand actress McKenzie, a certain talent to watch. — Sarah Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrB0Xbx1YCg&t=13s THE RIDER All Brady Blackburn wants to do is hop back onto a horse. As a rodeo cowboy and gifted trainer, it's what he's compelled to do. Watching him struggle with life without his only passion makes for one of the year's most empathetic, soulful and heart-wrenching efforts, as Brady wades through the aftermath of an in-ring incident that almost killed him. Shot with lyrical images that find tenderness in Brady's story, suffering and situation, The Rider is also a case of art imitating life, with actor Brady Jandreau going through the same scenario himself after meeting writer-director Chloé Zhao back in 2015. Also starring members of Jandreau's family, the result is a contemporary western with a heart as big as America's sweeping plains — told with devastating intimacy, and making certain stars out of both the quietly-spoken, captivating Jandreau and second-time feature filmmaker Zhao. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpxJIWz8MNQ&t=1s BLACKKKLANSMAN The latest joint from Spike Lee may be set in the 1970s, but it could hardly be more relevant today. And boy does the writer-director make damn sure that you know it. The story of an African–American police detective who spearheaded an operation to infiltrate the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, BlacKkKlansman is a fierce, funny, stylish film featuring standout performances from John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace, the latter of whom is positively repulsive as organisation head David Duke. Some viewers will take issue with Lee's less-than-subtle allusions to contemporary US politics — at times, you can practically feel his contempt radiating from the screen. But, honestly, can you blame him? — Tom Clift BlacKkKlansman will be released in Australian cinemas on August 16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw1ITWSjwSQ BURNING Burning couldn't have come to SFF with bigger expectations. Acclaimed South Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine, Poetry) makes his first film since 2010, a Haruki Murakami short story inspired the script and it was the critical hit of Cannes — even more so that Palme d'Or winner Shoplifters. And while this 148-minute film isn't going to be for everyone, if you're on its wavelength then it's a ruminative mystery, a fine-tuned character study and an intricately observed examination of human relationships. The narrative revolves around delivery man Jongsu (Yoo Ah-in), the former neighbour Haemi (Jong-seo Jun) he reconnects with and her wealthy new guy (The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun) on the scene. Lee doesn't hold back in exploring class, gender, community and modern Korean society, but he does so in such a meticulous and gradual way that this slow-burn film eventually catches fire (metaphorically, although expect a few literal flames on screen). — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztp6J4tLyN0 SHOPLIFTERS Hirokazu Kore-eda has long been fascinated by questions of family. From Our Little Sister to Like Father, Like Son, the Japanese writer-director has probed and prodded at the indelible connection between siblings, spouses, parents and grandparents, crafting exquisite, often heart-wrenching dramas in the process. His latest film, Shoplifters, concerns an unconventional Tokyo family who must resort of petty theft in order to survive. We won't reveal where the story goes from there, but suffice it to say there's a good reason this funny, moving, quietly provocative film won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival. — TC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t1WNVfgvKo SEARCHING It's a great year for films unravelling solely on computer screens, with Searching joining Profile among 2018's most interesting — and rousing, immersive and thought-provoking — features. They share a common element, along with Unfriended from 2014 (and forthcoming sequel Unfriended: Dark Web): Russian-Kazakh filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov. In producing mode here, with first-timer Aneesh Chaganty in the writing and directing chairs, Bekmambetov's latest screen-based flick first charts the Kim's family's usual ups and downs, then plunges into tragedy when now-teenager Margot (Michelle La) doesn't come home one evening. That leaves dad David (a never-better John Cho) to try to track down his daughter not only with the police's help, but using every online tool at his disposal. Chaganty throws in both foreseeable and unexpected twists and turns, but in accurately reflecting and smartly dissecting the impact of humanity's constantly online status within the confines of a missing person thriller, it's an absolute winner. — SW Searching will be released in Australian cinemas on September 13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXeeVRazqFM THE GUILTY You heard it here first: if The Guilty gets an English-language remake, which this tense Danish thriller likely will, then it should cast Tom Hardy. We've already seen — or rather heard — Hardy nail the single-setting, talk-based scenario in Locke, and The Guilty is a great companion piece, this time set in a police call centre. When Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) answers his next emergency call, he's ill prepared for the events that follow. Talking to a distressed woman who says she's been kidnapped, is worried about her young kids left at home and seems in danger of imminent violence, his cop instincts kick in, with the demoted officer doing whatever it takes to help his caller. An intense debut from writer-director Gustav Möller, this gripping effort commits to its concept from start to finish, particularly in its claustrophobic visuals and uneasy mood — as well as Cedergren's stellar performance. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URZ8WZMXP-0 COLD WAR When Cold War won the Best Director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, it really didn't come as a surprise, even to those who hadn't seen it. Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski's last movie was the meticulously shot, Oscar-winning Ida, so expecting another piece of sumptuous black-and-white mastery was a fairly safe bet. And the writer/director hasn't just delivered on those expectations — he has blown them out of the water. Set over 15 years and taking inspiration from his own parents' relationship, this sweeping European romance proves an utterly devastating exploration of love, loyalty, politics and survival set against the backdrop of its titular period. While the feature looks astonishing in every perfectly-lit frame, it also boasts exceptional performances from stars Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig, with the latter radiant even in moments of deep sorrow. — SW WEIRDEST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNp0jlfbgqM CLIMAX How do you follow a divisive relationship drama full of gratuitous 3D sex scenes? If you're writer-director Gaspar Noe, with a mesmerising cocktail of carnage, music and sangria. A late addition to this year's Sydney Film Festival line-up, Climax takes place at a dance rehearsal after-party, where petty squabbles and personal baggage spin violently out of control when somebody spikes the punch. Those who are familiar with Noe's previous films such as Irreversible, Enter the Void and Love will recognise all of his trademarks: a pulsating soundtrack, floating camerawork and sequences of exhilarating beauty that make subsequent moments that much more disturbing. Love it or hate it, you certainly won't forget it in a hurry. — TC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye5sYJq_pX8 THE ANCIENT WOODS Whether you're a nature documentary fan with all of Sir David Attenborough's series bookmarked in your streaming queue, or someone who prefers to stare at the real thing rather than seeing it captured on screen, The Ancient Woods is a unique, atypical and utterly essential big-screen viewing experience. Biologist turned filmmaker Mindaugas Survila points his camera at various spots of old growth throughout a Lithuanian forest and simply records nature doing what it does — sans music, commentary or any human interference. Capturing everything from thickets of trees swaying to wolves stalking to owls flying as the seasons pass, Survila took nearly ten years to make the film, which might sound weirdly committed. But as this patient, contemplative and meditative effort washes over you, it's the effect that The Ancient Woods has on its audience that's truly something unusual and different. You could hear a pin drop in the cinema, such is the peaceful, attentive vibe. Cinematic bliss doesn't get any better than this. — SW MOST UNEXPECTED TYREL Seven features into his career, Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Silva has established one thing: he doesn't want audiences to be comfortable while watching his films. Polarising is the term usually applied to his work, which often takes on topical subjects while pushing boundaries — think Magic Magic's before-its-time depiction of a woman's unravelling and Nasty Baby's queer adoption drama. In Tyrel, race and masculinity are pushed to the fore in a incisive and unsettling fashion when a group of buddies head to a cabin for a boys' weekend. Tyler (an excellent Jason Mitchell) is the lone newcomer, and he's the only African-American among the crew. Silva takes a fly-on-the-wall approach to watching the group's behaviour and Tyler's increasing discomfort, in a film that's all-too-relatable in its exploration of being an outsider at a party, all-too-believable in its dissection of today's climate of toxic white masculinity, and will ensure you never hear REM's music the same way again. — SW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUb_GE1trBE FILMWORKER Whether you're a film tragic or just a casual festival goer, everyone has heard of Stanley Kubrick, the visionary behind such masterpieces as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. His righthand man for 30 years, Leon Vitali, doesn't enjoy the same recognition — a fate Filmworker aims to redress. The documentary's title gives an indication of the many roles its subject played in Kubrick's life, with Vitali inspired to work with the filmmaker after seeing A Clockwork Orange, then scoring a pivotal acting part in Barry Lyndon, and finally taking on any task he could to assist his mentor over the rest of Kubrick's career. The many behind-the-scenes clips on the likes of The Shining are a joy to behold, but it's Vitali's frank recollections of his time spent helping someone else's genius — and the corresponding ode to all the folks that toil away behind the scenes — that makes this movie such an astonishing film about filmmaking. — SW For more Sydney Film Festival highlights, check out our mid-festival round-up.
Newtown's independent legends Repressed Records have handpicked a must-see array of Aussie bands you should already be following. Just for Vivid Sydney, the crew have curated one incredible night at the Sydney Opera House — headlined by the long-absent gods of Sydney garage, Royal Headache. Two years having passed since their last rabid hometown gig and with claims that this will kick off their final tour, their cult following of mad devotees will be out in force. An impressive, eclectic supporting lineup includes Brisbane's Blank Realm, Melbourne psych band Exhaustion paired with jazz veteran Kris Wanders, dream pop duo Superstar, Al Monfort (of Dick Diver) as Snake, and solo pianist Monica Brooks. To a punk fan baffled by the allocated seating of the Joan Sutherland Theatre, Repressed Records has responded, "You'll be right Tim. I'm excited by the prospect of sitting."
Latin American cooking and a top shelf name? Paddington's newest restaurant, Tequila Mockingbird, already ticks multiple boxes for us. Opening this week on Heeley Street in Paddington, this cheeky bird is the brainchild of ex-Sake staffer Michael Fegent, who's thrown his lot in with Riley Street Garage chef Regan Portenous. Together, they've nicked all the best dishes from Mexico to Argentina — along with a healthy assortment of spirits to wash them all down. The menu at the 110-seat eatery is a seasonal affair, and is split into a number of distinctive sections. In the 'raw' section you'll find ceviche tacos and kangaroo tartare nachos, while the standout of the 'street' section looks to be the alpaca and mozzarella empanada. Just make sure you leave ample room for something from the chargrilled 'flame' section, be it barbecue lamb shoulder with red chimichurri, or dry aged rib eye with garlic jalapeno butter. Of course, with a name like Tequila Mockingbird, you know that booze will be a big part of the equation too. Their drinks list begins with a glossary of tequila terminology, in order to help newbies feel at home. In total they offer more than 40 different tequilas and mezcals, along with a dozen signature cocktails and a massive selection of wines. Find Tequila Mockingbird at 6 Heeley Street, Paddington. For more information visit www.tequila-mockingbird.com.au.
Still trying to get your head around artist Tracey Moffatt's bold, brave (and sometimes obscure) legacy? The good folks at the Art Gallery of New South Wales are giving you a helping hand this winter with a free exhibition titled Tracey Moffatt: Laudanum and other works, finishing up in a mere two weeks on September 4. As the holders of the largest collection of Tracey Moffatt pieces in Australia, the Gallery has handpicked some of the legendary Australian artist's key works for display. The selected artworks explore Moffatt's interest in melodrama and cinema through film and photography. Laudanum (1998) and Plantation (2009), two popular works that explore fear, desire and high drama linked through the motif of colonial architecture, are on show at the exhibition alongside others. These two notable works were created more than 11 years apart. In between working on them, Moffatt was furiously productive, notably joining forces with Gary Hillberg to come up with a significant collection of video montage masterpieces including Love (2003) and Other (2009), which also feature in the exhibition. The former follows the turbulent journey from romantic love to cruelty, while the second records powerful chemistry erupting between races, sexes and genders. You always get more out of an art exhibition if you know a little bit about the artist. So we've come up with a little cheat sheet for you to study before you go - you can be the one to explain the depth behind the exhibition to your confused friends. [caption id="attachment_580361" align="alignnone" width="1800"] Yasujiro Ozu, Tokyo Story[/caption] WHAT TO EXPECT? There's a surreal quality to Moffatt's work which comes from her interest in Japanese and international cinema, including German Expressionism. She uses unconventional framing and camera angles - both techniques that revel in artificiality as opposed to realism. These techniques shatter a sense of realism and dimensional depth – they unhinge our perception of the world. Both German Expressionist and Japanese film often use similar techniques to disorient the viewer. If you're an avant-garde cinema buff and and know what dislocating, rhythmic film narratives are, you'll most likely enjoy this exhibition. [caption id="attachment_580669" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Tracey Moffatt, Laudanum 13 (1998) from the Laudanum series, Art Gallery of New South Wales. © Tracey Moffatt. Courtesy of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.[/caption] SHE DOESN'T BELIEVE IN ACTING Moffatt studied visual communication in Brisbane in the '80s, and although she pursued film, her strength and interest remained in the actual composition and framing of shots. Her film work is often viewed a four-dimensional extension of her still work. When working on films she, essentially, worked as a director of photography in the director's seat. This priority, combined with the assertion that she doesn't believe in acting, informs the most idiosyncratic characteristic of her films — a limited script with very little dialogue. The Montage films, featured in the Laudanum exhibition, are made up of found footage from mainstream cinema which are tacked together to tell a story. In her 1999 still series Laudanum, the same economy is reflected. A series of eerie images in the exhibition tell a story about race, power and sex, relying on subtle compositional cues to convey the deep underlying themes and messages rather than explicitly laying out intent. Moffatt doesn't spoon-feed her audience. This exhibition will force you to analyse and investigate your personal response to viewing her work, potentially seeing yourself reflected in the meaning of the film. [caption id="attachment_580671" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Tracey Moffatt, Plantation (Diptych no 2) (2009) from the Plantation series, Art Gallery of New South Wales. © Tracey Moffatt. Courtesy of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.[/caption] SHE'S A VISUAL ARTIST, THEN A FILMMAKER Moffatt is, at her core, a visual artist with a passion for photography, this is essentially what a lot of her film work is based around. Her films are a series of slow-moving stills and her photographs are the reverse — energetic frames, frozen in time, that hint at a deeper narrative in play on either side of the moment that tie narrative together in non-traditional ways. As narrative falls into place behind form, Moffatt's work, both film and photographic, jumps all over the place, back and forth between the past, present and future. Visual art, after all, exists mostly outside of the fourth dimension. The choppy narrative and editing rhythm of Moffatt's feature films have been likened to other Aussie film greats, such as Picnic at Hanging Rock by Peter Weir and My Brilliant Career by Gillian Armstrong for their strong consideration of the visual elements. [caption id="attachment_580668" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Tracey Moffatt, Love (2003), Art Gallery of New South Wales. © Tracey Moffatt. Courtesy of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.[/caption] SHE'S FASCINATED BY B-GRADE MOVIES Over her career, Moffatt frequently references B-grade films as a huge influence on her work. It may be that, as previously pointed out, we regard realism in film as A-grade quality, but what makes a film B-grade — the trashiness, obvious emotion, garish sets, unsubtle expression — are all elements greatly enjoyed and valued by Moffatt and other non-traditional film makers. She grew up watching a broad range of cinema, from arthouse films to Hollywood blockbusters, and her broad, formative appreciation is echoed in the complex range of influence in her films. Her work hides powerful depths below superficially simple facades. [caption id="attachment_580672" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Tracey Moffatt, Laudanum 16 (1998) from the Laudanum series,Art Gallery of New South Wales. © Tracey Moffatt. Courtesy of Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney.[/caption] HER WORK IS SUBTLY POLITICAL Building on the show-not-tell theme, Moffatt addresses political issues with a subtle hand. Although her work deals with Indigenous identity and struggle, drawing on her own life experiences as an Indigenous woman and Indigenous histories, she approaches political commentary in a roundabout way. Laudanum is an opiate primarily prescribed to women in the 19th century for its relaxing, if hallucinatory, effects. The story in some photographs featured in the exhibition (a vague tale of a Caucasian master and an Asian servant) brushes upon themes of race, dominance, and sexuality but draws conclusions about none. That's the classic Moffatt style - you make up your own minds. Tracey Moffatt's Laudanum and other works is in its final weeks. See the exhibition until September 4 at the Art Gallery of NSW. Entry is free.
Whether you're on a date, catching up with your friends, or just looking for a way to kill a few hours on a Tuesday night, there are few modern indulgences that beat settling into a dark cinema and letting your worries escape you as you slip into another world. Spies, superheroes, lovers, musicians, presidents, dictators, robbers and cops: you'll encounter them all as the lights go down and the projector begins to whir. There's plenty afoot a the pictures this month, so we're here to give you a little bit of help with choosing tonight's movie. See you at the candy bar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA6hldpSTF8 AVENGERS: ENDGAME What our critic said: Where Infinity War wrought intergalactic devastation and destruction, Endgame delivers intimacy and an examination of grief, loss and very private regret. Read the full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ5X75F1YJw LONG SHOT What our critic said: Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen make a relatable pair in this heartfelt and hilarious political rom-com. Read the full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k38zjD2QVSg GLORIA BELL What our critic said: While the plot is straightforward — a woman and a man meet, connect and try to work out if their messy lives fit together — every character, scene and moment is gloriously layered, ensuring that nothing about the picture is simplistic. Read the full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI9UYcEwUYA BURNING What our critic said: This South Korean drama is a ruminative mystery, a fine-tuned character study and an intricately observed examination of human relationships all in one. Read the full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw5LfaKTKoI 1985 What our critic said: 1985's black-and-white visuals overflow not only with visible texture, but with meaning and emotion — as seen in its loaded shadows, inky contrasts and jittery flecks. Read the full review.
Listen up: Listen Out is back for its 11th year and, after first announcing its dates and venues, it isn't slouching on the lineup front. The just-dropped bill for the touring festival boasts 21 Savage, Skepta, Tyla and Flo Milli among its hip hop and R&B names. On the electronic side, John Summit and Sub Focus feature. Yes, the list goes on from there. Fans of 21 Savage, Tyla and Flo Milli — and of Teezo Touchdown, Jessie Reyez and Jazzy, too — should be especially excited. When they each take to Listen Out's stages this spring for the fest's 2024 trip around Australia, they'll be hitting the country for the first time. Among their company, Lil Tjay, Lithe, Folamour, The Blessed Madonna, Cassian and Disco Lines are just some of the fellow acts that'll have festivalgoers in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth dancing. With Groovin the Moo announcing its dates then cancelling, and Splendour in the Grass sadly doing the same, everyone's plans for 2024 have been missing a few music festivals. But Listen Out is aiming to buck the trend, locking in its return for September and October. Adelaide's Listen In is also taking place this year, and has similarly just unveiled its lineup. 2023's fest was Listen Out's most successful in terms of ticket sales ever, and the crew behind it are hoping to continue that trajectory. Something that might help: turning the fest into a 16-plus event, age-wise, which is a first for 2024. As the roster of names on the lineup demonstrates, the festival's focus is staying true to its niche, filling its stages on electronic and hip hop artists — both international and local talents, too. Four stops are on the Listen Out agenda: Caribbean Gardens in Melbourne, HBF Arena in Perth, RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane and Centennial Park in Sydney. If you've been worried about missing the NRL final in Sydney and the AFL final in Perth thanks to Listen Out's dates, the fest has news there: at both legs, there'll be screens showing the football. Listen In, the condensed version of the fest with a smaller lineup, is headed to Ellis Park in Adelaide. It'll feature 21 Savage, Folamour, Jessie Reyez, John Summit, Lil Tjay, A Little Sound, Skepta and Theodore Kittens. Listen Out and Listen In 2024 Lineups: Listen Out: 21 Savage Skepta Lil Tjay Tyla Flo Milli Jessie Reyez Teezo Touchdown Lithe John Summit Sub Focus Folamour The Blessed Madonna Cassian Disco Lines Jazzy Koven Conducta A Little Sound Ben Gerrans AK Sports Foura B2B Tom Santa Miss Kaninna Djanaba Soju Gang Melbourne: Yo! Mafia Sixten Kelly T J-OK Perth: Sammythesinner Janeethevirgin Dr Pepper Bodie Brisbane: Trance Mums Jacob Tompkins Mikalah Watego Melanin Mami Sydney: Dayzzi Malfunkt x Banno Bodego Collective Bella Backe Listen In: 21 Savage Folamour Jessie Reyez John Summit Lil Tjay A Little Sound Skepta Theodore Kittens Triple J Unearthed winners + more [caption id="attachment_957218" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jordan Munns[/caption] Listen Out and Listen In Australian 2024 Dates: Friday, September 27 — Listen Out Melbourne, Caribbean Gardens, Wurundjeri Land / Melbourne Saturday, September 28 — Listen Out Perth, HBF Arena, Mooro Country / Joondalup Sunday, September 29 — Listen In Adelaide, Ellis Park / Tampawardli (Park 24), Kaurna Country / Adelaide Saturday, October 5 — Listen Out Brisbane, Brisbane Showgrounds, Meanjin / Brisbane Sunday, October 6 — Listen Out Sydney, Centennial Park, Gadigal Country [caption id="attachment_957226" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jordan Munns[/caption] [caption id="attachment_957221" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sam Venn[/caption] [caption id="attachment_957224" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mitch Lowe[/caption] [caption id="attachment_957228" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anna Warr[/caption] Listen Out and Listen In's 2024 season tours Australia in spring 2024. For more information — and for tickets from midday local time in each city on Thursday, June 6 — head to the festival website. Top image: Sam Venn.
With over 45 million visitors globally, Body Worlds is one of the world's most visited health and wellness exhibitions. It's also frequently described as a "life changing experience" — visitors can expect to leave with an understanding of the marvel that is the human body. Now, after its popular Australian premiere in Melbourne, the original exhibition of real human bodies is coming to Sydney for the first time. Body Worlds Vital — which is different to the Real Bodies exhibition that, earlier in the year, garnered protesters amid claims the bodies were of executed Chinese political prisoners — will be on display at Sydney Town Hall from December 3 until March 2019, taking attendees on an intricate journey of the workings of the human body, through an authentic, visual display of over 150 donated specimens. The human bodies and body parts, donated for the benefit of public education, have gone through a meticulous process of plastination, and demonstrate the complexity, resilience and vulnerability of the human body in distress, disease and optimal health. The exhibitions were founded by anatomist and scientist Dr Gunther von Hagens and physician and conceptual designer Dr Angelina Whalley. And all the specimens displayed at the exhibitions are from an established body donation program with consenting donors — so far 17,000 bodies from around the world have been donated to Dr von Hagens' Institute for Plastination. The Australian tour specifically focuses on contemporary diseases and ailments and how everyday lifestyle choices can improve health and wellness, to live with vitality. The 150 specimens on display stem are preserved through a scientific process that replaces body fluids with polymers. Interactive elements include the Anatomical Mirror, where visitors will see how organs are positioned in their own body, a photo display that showcases longevity and healthy ageing, and healthy organs shown in direct comparison with diseased organs. The exhibition will be open seven days a week, and until 9pm on Thursday if you're keen to go after work.
Warehouse parties are great. Secret Mexican holiday-inspired, neon-drenched, immersive warehouse experiences are even better. Curated by a group of Mexican visionaries and artists, Day of the Dead 3.1. promises to be one heck of a Burning Man-channeling spectacle you'll want to lock down tickets for — on sale this Saturday, August 15 at 12.30pm. And with the demand already high, this event is expected to sell out within hours, so your crew had better be ready. For hundreds of years, El Dia de los Muertos has been one of the biggest parties in Mexico honouring the dead. The 4000 year-old tradition's history can be traced back to Mexico's indigenous beliefs of the afterlife — that death is only the beginning. Now it's Australia's turn to delve into the underworld, as The Day of the Dead finds its way to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane this spring, in secret locations within each city. Expect interactive art installations, light projections, extravagant costumes, murals created by renowned street artists and an exclusive lineup of local and international DJs and musicians — including one big ol' festival favourite headliner. The lineup will be released closer to the day, so stay tuned. Pop-ups by a handpicked bunch of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane's go-to local Mexican eateries, like Playa Takeria, have been selected to create Dia de los Muertos menus. Plus, there'll be Mexican cervezas and tequila/mezcal cocktails to provide you with enough sustenance to dance the night away. With instructions being sent to ticket holders just one week before the event, this is secret warehouse party business at it's best. Each city's locations are more closely guarded than an abuela's special mole sauce ingredient and will only be released one day before the party. Get ready to nab a ticket and start preparing your best Dia de los Muertos outfit. Day of the Dead will visit Sydney on October 24, then Melbourne on October 31 before ending in Brisbane on November 7. Tickets are $75 and go on sale here on Saturday 15 August at 12.30pm and are expected to sell out super fast. Don't stall on this one, it'll be the death of you.
Sydney's newest urban farm and eatery, Camperdown Commons, has had the city buzzing since opening in June 2016. What was once the Camperdown Bowling Club has become an accessible, green community hub, composed of Pocket City Farms and Acre Eatery. Surrounded by vegetable patches, the 350-seat restaurant is all clean lines, blonde wood and lofty ceilings. And it was furnished by the guy who did the same for The Matrix. Really. To complete Camperdown Commons' earthy and elegant space, the team called on local designer Rory Unite, who not only specialises in wooden furniture but has worked as a film set designer for Hollywood blockbusters like The Matrix and The Great Gatsby. Made primarily from reclaimed materials, Unite's furniture complements Acre's vegetable-patch-to-table ethos, providing the perfect frame for the restaurant's healthy, colourful meals. So how did Unite find his way from Neo to Acre? A sculptor by training and big time Hollywood film set designer, Unite followed a winding path to furniture design. "It was all a bit accidental," he laughs. When Unite was working on the set of The Great Gatsby, his in-laws asked him for help renovating their Palm Beach home. "I took on the project and ended up getting very involved," he says. After working on the initial renovation, Unite began to create custom furniture for the house, turning the project into a much bigger one than he had initially anticipated. It wasn't long before Unite fell in love with the furniture design process. "I enjoyed creating pieces my in-laws would be interacting with on a daily basis," he says, "The idea that I would build something that would literally affect the way they lived their everyday lives was an exciting one." While the leap into furniture was a daunting one, Unite says it was also a somewhat natural progression. "When you're into materials and processes, it's all the same language, whether you're working on a film set, a sculpture, or a piece of furniture," he explains. "It's just the context that changes." Unite soon set up a small workshop in Sydney's northern beaches, and it wasn't long before Andrew Goldsmith, of the Boathouse restaurants, discovered him. "I designed a range of furniture for the restaurants and, as the Boathouse empire expanded, I started looking abroad for workshops that would help create the amount of product Goldsmith required," Unite explains. He eventually settled on Indonesia, and moved to Java to set up a workshop. The move was a challenge — not least because Unite did not speak a word of the local language. Yet he found that, despite the language barrier, he was able to connect with local craftsmen through their shared passion for design. "Design is a language," Unite says. "Materials communicate, they tell stories about their origins, and that of their maker as well." At Camperdown Commons, Unite hopes his furniture will communicate a sense of the natural, and the handmade. "I just love the textural quality of these pieces," he says running a hand over the table surface. "You can literally feel and see the hand of the maker in this piece." Indeed, Unite's furniture — and the food prepared with fresh produce from the gardens — transports guests to a simpler past, when you actually knew the people who built your furniture and harvested your food. Go on, try it out, pull up a Unite-made pew at Camperdown Commons this week. Find Rory Unite's designs at Camperdown Commons and The Boathouse venues, including Shelly Beach, Palm Beach and Balmoral Beach.
Since Tinder took the dating world by storm, its interface has been adopted for increasingly weird and wonderful reasons. If it's fluffy company you're after, Twindog lets you swipe right to find pups – and their owners – in your vicinity. If you're looking for a new job, jump on Switchapp and get chatting with hiring managers in seconds. Meanwhile, Tender has worked out that food is often a way more satisfactory remedy for loneliness than a date. Now the swipe right generation has an app for falling in love with art: wydr. With just a few quick motions and a little bit of disposable income, you can fill your house with paintings. Searches are available according to price categories and, so far, about four hundred artists have signed up. It's also a way for artists to receive community feedback on their work, with users able to submit likes, which are added up to produce a rating of between one and five hearts. The app is the creation of Swedish duo Matthias Dörner and Timo Hahn, and started as an assignment for their MBAs. But things got more serious after they won Startup Weekend in Zurich. "Why does it have to be so difficult to be original and to find affordable but still unique art for our homes?" asks the wydr site. "Most people are tired of generic posters from furniture stores and the intimidating way that you are treated in classic galleries with only little money in your pockets. At the same time artists have problems with getting exposure for their work. The question art lovers and artists are confronted with is why does it need to be so hard to find each other? The answer is wydr – the open art-trading platform, and your easy access to the art world." The app isn't aiming to compete with expensive galleries, but to get more affordable, original art to more people. After all, the average transaction at this point is a (relatively) scant US$430. "Wydr isn't for the art collector, but for the casual art lover," Dörner told artnet. "Art galleries are for the 1%, wydr for the 99%."
Only a few years ago, virtual reality seemed like a foggy, far distant dream that would probably, like most new technology, take a few decades to become readily accessible and genuinely user-friendly. We've come a long way since the halcyon days of computers the size of a room and, in no time at all, we have the first generation of virtual reality headsets at our fingertips, all vying for our attention. Today, Oculus has officially announced that Rift, arguably the VR headset with the most recognisable name, is available for purchase to anyone with a spare suitcase of cash schmackos lying around — it's retailing for AUD$792.88 plus shipping. It's not cheap as chips, but it's not tens of thousands either. The eager beavers who pre-purchased their headset from the Oculus kickstarter will receive their headsets soon, and the rest are back ordered until July. It's slightly more expensive than the Playstation VR which retails at AUD$549.95 (available in October) but much cheaper than the HTC Vive which will set you back AUD$1226.98 (available in April). As a few savvy bloggers have pointed out, the cost of the Rift itself is a little deceptive as the real VR magic happens in the power PC you'll have to have hooked up to the device to render the graphics. If you already have a high-powered gaming computer with a hefty, dedicated graphics card and a fair whack of RAM, great! You're good to go. If not, a basic make PC is going to set you back another $1000. But we wouldn't be too quick to jump in straight away. Buying first generation technology can be a gamble, as we learned from the great iPhone 6 Plus Bendgate of 2014 and they're definitely still working out the kinks of VR technology (nausea caused by motion sickness is still a biggie). We're still a while away from full immersion but at least it's progressing quickly. Images: Oculus.
Leaving the safety net of university life can be daunting. Taxes, health insurance, budgeting and eating greens are all tricky requirements of adulting, not to mention trying to get a job ("Graduate position, minimum two years of experience required..." what is this madness?). But fear not, there is hope. We've profiled five young go-getters who hit the ground running after uni and achieved their success through unconventional means. They did it and you can too (stop that, yes you can). [caption id="attachment_562120" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: @sedgebeswick.[/caption] SEDGE BESWICK, 26, GLOBAL SENIOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND COMMUNITY MANAGER AT ASOS For most of us, using social media is just that a social activity. For others it’s a way of life and a strategic marketing tool; when wielded properly can elevate a start-up and polish a personal brand no matter how small. Sedge Beswick is one such social media maven and part of a young generation of digital natives that are coming up through volunteer positions and internships to absolutely kill it at the media game for big companies. That playful tone you adore on ASOS social media? That’s Beswick. And while managing the global social media for ASOS, she’s also racked up a neat little 11k on her personal Instagram, written a book about using Twitter strategically and designed a line of t-shirts emblazoned with social media slogans. She’s literally #killingit. BECKY SUI ZHEN, 31, MUSICIAN Sui Zhen is one of the many monikers of Melbourne-based musician Becky Sui Zhen who has risen through the ranks of the music scene to be hailed as a 'social media musician' due to her pristine and eye catching artistic vision. She’s put in the hard yards over the years, studying graphic design and Japanese, winning grants, releasing EPs in Japan and doing overseas residencies and all while playing prolifically around Australia. She also produces and edits the iconic film clips for Sui Zhen and has collaborated with artist and photographer Phebe Schmidt. She’s poised to take over the world in 2016 following the late-2015 release her first Australian LP ‘Secretly Susan’. The LP caught the attention of FADER who clocked her as one of 25 international artists to watch and she’s supported Toro Y Moi in Melbourne on his 2016 Aussie tour. We imagine 2016 is only going to get better for this kawaii gem. GERMAINE STATIA, JAMAL OULEL + AYOUB AOURAGH, 23, 25 + 24, FOUNDERS AND DEVELOPERS AT REFUGEE HERO When the Syrian refugee crisis peaked in 2015, Dutch trio Germaine Statia, Jamal Oulel, and Ayoub Aouragh, responded with a contemporary and altruistic solution. Refugee Hero, hailed as the Airbnb for refugees, is a platform that allows people to offer their spare room up to refugees who have just arrived in their country. “We want to give back humanity to mankind,” says Statia. The service is 100 percent free and mobile-friendly. It allows individuals or institutions to offer help and shelter whether or not their government is pro-refugee. The team hopes the service can one day expand to cover all elements of resettling, from applying for passports to finding a new school for children and is a shining example of how modern technology can be used for good in the face of adversity. EMMA MULHOLLAND, 27, DESIGNER There’s something about Emma Mulholland that Australia is crazy for. The young designer hit the ground running after graduating from TAFE in 2010 and hasn’t stopped since. Her latest project, a collaboration with iconic Aussie label Mambo, proves that in a few short years, she’s explored, honed in on and defined exactly what makes her work so popular. The garish '80s and '90s themed prints and icons of our childhood combined with a(h)ctivewear references hit the nostalgia nail right on the head and the collection has resonated with Aussie kidults who grew up wearing bike shorts and climbing trees. Far away from the catwalks of Paris and Milan, Australia often struggles to define itself outside of a European reference and it’s no easy feat to export a uniquely Australian line, but Mulholland has done so with aplomb, straight outta TAFE. [caption id="attachment_562121" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: @louislazarus.[/caption] LUKE HAMPSHIRE AND ALEXANDER ROBINSON, 28 AND 32, AVIATION ENTERPRENEURS AT AIRLY In January, the Australian aviation scene had a sorely need shake up. Two young guns, 28-year-old Luke Hampshire and 32-year-old Alexander Robinson announced their airline company Airly which completely turns air travel on its head. Airly members pay a fee of $2550 (minimum) per month to fly as much as they like on the company’s private jets which operate between Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. For frequent fliers, the minimum waiting time and luxury service is a tasty drawcard. Hampshire, a former Air Force pilot, recognised a gap in the marketplace and despite the pair’s youth, turned an insight into an industry shake-up and paved the way for more options and versatility in air travel. Top image: Sedge Beswick.
The bond between Italians and their food and wine is a sacred one, and with the Sydney Italian Wine and Food Festival, Sydneysiders are invited to partake in this holy combination. Get ready to abandon any carbless aspirations and embrace gloriously hearty nosh as this festival returns to Sydney for the fourth time. With it comes the promise of produce that will dance upon your tastebuds in a merry cheese and basil-infused tarantella. Setting up shop for the day in Sydney Town Hall, some of the best names in Italian cuisine have banded together to bring us the good stuff, with cooking demonstrations and talks going on all day. Want to see mozzarella being freshly made? You can! Want to watch fettuccine be churned out from scratch? Go for it! As well as watching the creation of Italian food, you can also, of course, eat some. There'll be fresh produce to purchase, with everything from gelato to coffee, pasta to pizza on offer. Pair that with 200 of Italy's finest wines and you've got yourself a damn good feast. Not to mention a casual negroni stand featuring Vasco's Max Greco. Once you've eaten yourself silly, you can loll around in a semi-food coma in the wine garden while enjoying some live Italian jazz. Once the day transitions into night, expect a full DJ set of Italian vinyl and European tracks until 9pm.
