Forget about the upcoming movie. Fans of Goosebumps need to get their butts to London, where a live, immersive theatre show based on R.L. Stine's popular children's stories will have its world premiere in April next year. Written and directed by acclaimed participatory theatremaker Tom Salamon, the show is a collaboration between London-based arts and theatre venue, The Vaults, and the book series' publisher, Scholastic. Audience members will be taken deep into the abandoned tunnels beneath Waterloo railway station, where performers will recreate bloodcurdling scenes from some of the series' best-known titles — including Night of the Living Dummy, Say Cheese and Die! and One Day at Horrorland. Just as long as there's nothing from Monster Blood. We don't need those childhood nightmares coming back, thank you very much. The series' original illustrator Tim Jacobus will create artwork for the production, while cult London music trio The Tiger Lillies will provide the score — the show they did at the Biennale of Sydney a few years back was creepy enough. Goosebumps will run for an initial six-month season and is aimed primarily at older audiences, although there will also be a child-friendly version that runs on weekends and during the school holidays. "Immersive events have become the lifeblood of London culture... and Goosebumps is perfectly suited to the genre," The Vaults' director Kieron Vanstone told The Guardian. "These stories were made to be experienced up close, with every shiver, sound and unsettling sight." Via The Guardian. Image: jozerC (Flickr CC).
Arts festivals courting controversy isn't anything new. Arts festivals weathering a backlash when their shows stir up a range of responses isn't, either. However, Edinburgh Festival's reaction to its planned staging of Così fan tutte might just be a first: they're offering patrons refunds before it even opens. The strange situation, reported by The Guardian, is a result of the fest's organisers programming Christophe Honoré's take on Mozart's and da Ponte's famous opera sight unseen and then checking out its world premiere at France's Aix-en-Provence festival. With the director setting his updated version in east African Eritrea during the 1930s — which was still colonised by Italy at the time — a layer of racial tension was always going to be evident. That it would be labelled a "brutal, shaming experience" with "a volatile, violent racism" by New York Times critic Zachary Woolfe obviously wasn't as expected. Woolfe's comments partially stem from Honoré's decision to use actors wearing blackface makeup to dress up as African mercenaries to try to test their lovers' faithfulness, as well the inclusion of a rape in its opening scene, plus other graphic depictions of violence and abuse. He certainly isn't alone in highlighting the tough nature of the performance — though his and other reviews have found positives as well. Opera Today's critic called it a "witty comedy" while noting that he overheard "offense expressed at the in-your-face exposition of racism". Opera News described it as "a dense exploration of desire and violence" that alerted the audience "to its own uncomfortable prejudices". In fact, Edinburgh's programmers used terms like "provocative", "sexually explicit", "stark" and "challenging" in their own synopsis, but obviously feel that wasn't warning enough. And the tale of Così fan tutte has always been considered a little problematic given its sexual politics. It is about a couple of guys donning disguises and trying to trick their fiancées into cheating on them to win a bet about the nature of women, after all — and its title does translate as "women are like that" as well. Pre-emptively giving customers their money back before they even get a chance to see what all the fuss is about seems a little extreme — then again, so does putting a clearly tricky piece in the festival without really knowing how it is going to turn out. Of course, arts festivals are designed to champion material that tests the limits — but whether Honoré's Così fan tutte is as boundary-pushing as suggested, Edinburgh is certainly charting new territory when it comes to apologising before the curtain has even been raised. Via The Guardian. Image: Aix-en-Provence.
Just days after the ol' crumbling sign sold for over a cheeky $100K raising money for Wayside Chapel on eBay, the iconic, restored Kings Cross Coca-Cola sign has switched the lights back on. Snapped by dinky di Sydney local Bridie Connellan (yeah, we're related), the sign was switched on this evening in full tacky blue, purple and yellow glory. Just look at it: IT'S BACK. #sydney #concreteplayground 🎥: @bridieconnellan A video posted by Concrete Playground Sydney (@concreteplayground) on Sep 15, 2016 at 1:37am PDT Funny time to turn on the very shining beacon of the ol' Kings Cross days, but there you have it.
Cat cafes around the world are about to get some prickly competition. Located in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment district, a recently opened cafe lets customers get up close and personal with as many as 30 adorable hedgehogs. Named Harry after the Japanese word (harinezumi) for hedgehog, the cafe opened for business in February and has seen customers queuing up for the chance to play with its pint-sized residents. 1000 yen (AU$12) gets you 30 minutes of (extremely delicate) cuddle time, which goes up to 1300 yen on the weekend. The hedgehogs come in four varieties: "pied", "cinnamon", "salt n pepper" and "albino." Visitors who can't stand to be separated from their spiky new friends can even take home a baby hedgehog as a pet, with Harry's website featuring extensive (and adorable) instructions on hedgehog care. "We wanted to show people the charm of hedgehogs, which give the impression of being hard to handle," staff member Mizuki Murata told Reuters. "We wanted to get rid of that image by letting people touch them." Incidentally, when she's not working at the hedgehog cafe, Murata works in a bunny cafe in the same building and must basically be the happiest person on the face of the planet. Now, since you've been good and read this entire story, here's a picture of a tiny hedgehog in an even tinier bowl. You're welcome. Harry is located at Minato-ku, Roppongi 6-7-2 IWAHORI Building 2F Via Reuters/The Guardian.
In June last year, the Alexandria Hotel, known affectionately as 'The Alex' was facing the wrecking ball. Now, after apartment development proposals were denied for the space, this historic pub has been granted a second life as exactly that — it's the latest pub project of Sydney hospitality empire Merivale. In 2015, a company owned by Centennial Property Group snapped up the inner west icon with plans to redevelop the site as an $8 million four-storey apartment building, with 29 new residences and commercial ground floor space. This didn't go down well with Sydneysiders, and was met with protest from locals and political players alike (including Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore), who made a concerted effort to save the 145-year-old Alexandria pub, which sits on the corner of Henderson Road and Garden Street. In a huge win for the Sydney hospitality scene, the City of Sydney Council overturned the development application, partly as a result of these protests. This opened up the doors to Justin Hemmes' ears-to-the-ground hospo conglomerate Merivale Group, which own more than 50 bars, hotels and restaurants across the city. This morning, Merivale has announced the purchase of the Alexandria Hotel. "Institutions like this must be preserved, they reflect our history and help shape our culture — especially when they mean as much to their local community as The Alex does." says Justin Hemmes, Merivale CEO. "This outcome is a great reward for the passion and character of the community who fought so hard to save this property where a hotel has stood for almost 150 years". The acquisition of the Alexandria Hotel is Merivale's second foray into the inner west after buying the soon-to-be Enmore's Queen Victoria Hotel in 2015. Previously, Merivale has stated their aim to dominate all points of the Sydney compass, after transforming Coogee Pavilion in the east and the Newport Arms to the north. Interestingly, Merivale has put out the call for local creatives who are keen to help redevelop and reinvigorate the historic heritage listed pub. The chosen creatives will then have the chance to work alongside Hemmes and architect Kelvin Ho to develop the final design concept. Budding creatives are invited to register their interest at ouralex.com. "This hotel has and will always be Alexandria's pub, so I want the community to help create the next stage in its vibrant life," says Hemmes. Images: Alexandria Hotel.
Things are set to get feisty and fearless at the Opera House when the fourth All About Women Festival takes over on Sunday, March 6. Leading the prodigious, 30-speaker-strong program? None other than the inimitable Miranda July, Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein, Orange Is the New Black memoir author Piper Kerman and former US State Department director of policy planning Anne-Marie Slaughter. If you’ve ever wondered what makes July tick, here’s your chance. The celebrated writer, filmmaker, actor, artist, app maker, handbag wizard and bona fide enigma will be presenting an epic, autobiographical journey through her inner world, combining readings, film and interactive performance. July’s debut novel, The First Bad Man, was published in January this year. Sleater Kinney and Portlandia's legendary Brownstein will be talking about her October-released book Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, a candid look at life and music — and if you're a super fan, Sleater Kinney are playing the same night at the Opera House. Kerman, whose memoir inspired the insanely popular TV series Orange Is the New Black, will be chatting about women she’s met in American prisons and her ongoing battle to increase prisoners’ rights. And Anne-Marie Slaughter, who worked as the director of policy planning at the US State Department when Hillary Clinton was running the show, will be arguing that we can’t have it all — well, at least not all at once, anyway. Meanwhile, Amelia Telford, the Indigenous coordinator of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, will be talking about climate change and resource extraction with Crystal Lameman, a climate change activist living in Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Canada. Other speakers on the lineup include Hyeonso Lee, a refugee from North Korea whose memoir, The Girl With Seven Names, was published in July 2015 in more than 20 nations; Masha Gessen, an American-Russian journalist, writer and LGBT activist; Jennifer Clement, an American-Mexican journalist, who’ll be covering her investigation of the impact of the drug war on thousands of stolen Mexican women and girls; and French novelist Muriel Barbery, who’s just published her first book in nine years. Multipack tickets will go on sale on Monday, December 7, with single tickets becoming available on Wednesday, December 9. Find them and rest of the program on the website.
Get ready for a whole buttload of hard-hitting news blasted directly into your eyeholes. Satirical news organisation The Onion is about to launch EDGE, a brand new web series lampooning the sensationalist style of VICE Media — and if the early teasers are anything to go by, it looks like they've absolutely nailed it. Naturally we're a little hesitant to report on any so-called news stories coming out of The Onion, given that their entire business model is based on elaborate lies. Still, from what we can tell, this time it's actually legit. The series is set to premiere online on Monday, August 3 and will, according to The Hollywood Reporter, consist of short, documentary style videos less than four minutes in length. A twitter account has been set up for the series, promising to "throw acid in the face of ignorance" and asking anyone who has witnessed or participated in global horror worth reporting on to call "the EDGE Atrocity Tip Line." A couple of their correspondents, aka "news warriors", are also on the platform, as you can see below. Let's get fucked on truth. — Nic Moss (@NicMossEDGE) July 28, 2015 Nobody points a camera at dark-skinned people like @EDGEtv. Nobody. — Chase Vaughn (@ChaseVaughnEDGE) July 28, 2015 This teaser video, meanwhile, does a pretty perfect job of capturing the guerrilla aesthetic that has made VICE so popular with the young people, what with their short attention spans and virtual reality headsets and so forth. "VICE is wrought with a distinct self-confidence, which of course gets our writers salivating," Onion VP of Production George Zwierzynski Jr. told THR. "The Onion team is highly competitive when it comes to other companies and publishers, so it's only natural we would take a stab at VICE as a whole." EDGE arrives a little more than a year after The Onion launched ClickHole, an online spoof of BuzzFeed where you can find such thought-provoking articles as 6 Heads You Never Realized Are Also On Mount Rushmore and How Many Of These Creatures From Greek Mythology Do You Believe In? The Onion has also previously produced content for television, albeit with limited success. Onion News Network, a parody of cable new shows, ran on IFC for two seasons, while Onion SportsDome on Comedy Central was cancelled after six months. Hopefully EDGE fares a little better on the web. Via THR. Top image via Dollar Photo Club.
Sweets, lollies, cakes, dessert and all things sugary run the show at this year’s Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month, with the 2015 program announced today. The toothache begins with Sweetfest, a mini-festival of sugary delights at Chippendale's aMBUSH Gallery featuring cake monarch Katherine Sabbath, boss of the layer cake Andrew Bowden, Brickfields, Flour and Stone and more. There are no less than 15 high teas on this year’s program, including a special edition by Katherine Sabbath, a Prohibition-style high tea at The Print Room, a three-way dessert high tea at The Choc Pot, a high tea at sea, a New York-inspired version at Dolton House and a ridiculous amount more. But of course, there's savoury adventures afoot, from Sydney's first ever 'ramen rave', to a growers' market solely dedicated to brunch, an openair long table dinner at the old Darlinghurst Gaol (now National Art School), a Barbecue Biennale, a three-course dinner on a ferris wheel, to the ever-popular, returning Night Noodle Markets. Adelaide superchef Jock Zonfrillo (Orana) will be teaming up with Silvereye's Sam Miller for a one-off dinner at the shiny new, soon-to-open Old Clare Hotel in Chippendale. Peter Gilmore's teaming up with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to pair a special Bennelong menu with classical performance, and the chefs from Franklin, Igni and Biota are creating a wild picnic in the Southern Highlands. Around town, each venue is throwing down the gauntlet this year. There are so many street food festivals and eat-your-way-through markets we can't even keep up. Pinbone and Young Henrys are throwing a Feral Party — "wild animals, wild weeds and crazy wild messed-up beers". Foodstagrammers will love the Kepos brunch and photography masterclass at OzHarvest, alongside a slow and steady six-course dinner from the Slow Food movement. Breakfast enthusiasts will find the 'Cafe Collective' of breakfasting Sydney venues a delight. Pork lovers will chomp at the bit for a five-course pork dinner at Bishop Sessa. There's Goros' Japanese Halloween party, Archie Roses's epic dinner in the distillery, there's a three-course dinner in the Sydney Opera House Green Room and there's a particular focus on Sunday dining around the city. Plus, Opera Bar is bringing back the Golden Gaytimes. Good Food Month is happening all over Sydney from October 1 — 31. There's so much more to feast on, so head over to the website to get stuck into it.
Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei: both superstar artists, both groundbreaking Damn The Man-ers, both crazy cat ladies (really). And now, in one of the best team-ups we've seen in ages, they're both the focus of the National Gallery of Victoria's next epic summer exhibition, Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei. This is going to be quite the retrospective. Two of the most significant artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, Warhol and Weiwei have left their mark on global modernity, whether flipping the bird to American art or dropping a Han vase on Chinese tradition. The NGV will present over 200 of Warhol's most celebrated works — including the Campbell’s Soup Cans, Three Marilyns, Mao, Elvis, Flowers, Electric Chairs, Skulls and Myths series and sculptures like Brillo Boxes , Heinz Tomato Ketchup Boxes and Silver Clouds. If you've got a spare eight hours, kick back and watch Warhol's wildly influential films Empire, Blow job and Screen Tests and pore over early commercial drawings and '50s advertising illustrations. There's even going to be over 500 Polaroids documenting Warhol’s friends, colleagues, and artistic and social milieux. Now, Weiwei. The famously controversial Chinese artist has had his fair share of Warhol influence, having lived in the US from 1981 to 1993 — and taken a photographic self-portrait in front of Warhol's multiple self-portrait. The first book he bought in NYC? The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again). “I believe this is a very interesting and important exhibition and an honour for me to have the opportunity to be exhibited alongside Andy Warhol," said Weiwei. "This is a great privilege for me as an artist.” For the NGV exhibition, Weiwei will premiere new major commissions, including an installation from the Forever Bicycles series and a monumental addition to Chandelier. Of course, glimpses of Weiwei's colossal catalogue will also be on display — from his early 1970s drawings to 1980s readymades, and provocative painting, photography, film and social media of the last four decades. If you're wondering why we called two of the greatest artists in history 'crazy cat ladies', it's because it's true. According to the NGV, Warhol apparently lived with a herd of Siamese cats in the '50s, all of whom, except for one, were named Sam. He photographed and ink blotted them often. Weiwei's studio is home to over 30 cats, who have free reign and constantly pop up in the artist's social media. There's going to be a special part of the exhibition dedicated to this shared feline love, a bit of trivia we won't get over for quite a while. Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei comes to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne from December 11 to April 24, in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. For info and tickets, head to the NGV website.
Redfern's 107 Projects is about to be turned into a technological dreamland thanks to Electrofringe. Thirty experimental electronic artists are going to unleash hypercolorful blobs, virtual sculptures and coloured smoke into the space — art you can use to wrap your head around the concept of transhumanism and experience synaesthesia. It's sure to be a doozy. Specialists in unearthing next-level electronic art, Electrofringe have unleashed one heck of a program. There's some pretty intriguing pieces on display this year like NODE's Paul — an interactive animatronic eye that depicts human emotion — and Frolic and Gambol's Unlocked Melody — an audiovisual projection of passwords harvested from various sources. There will also be free workshops running throughout the day covering topics from women's coding to privacy. To wrap the whole thing up, there's a big party happening from 7.30pm (tickets are just $10 +BF). There'll be sets from Net Daddy, Body Promise and other awesome Sydney DJs. EF15 kicks off at 107 Projects from 1pm, with an interactive exhibition, performances and workshops. Entry is by donation. The Party takes place at 107’s Performance Space and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets on the door or pre-purchase here.
It's hard to say where Sydney's dining scene is headed at the moment, but one thing's for sure — fine dining is fading. While the opening of swanky-but-casual eateries like Restaurant Hubert, Mercado and Bistrot Gavroche in Sydney and Ôter and Entrecôte in Melbourne suggest an era of European bistros, the latest to flick away the fine dining title is Neil Perry's Rockpool Est. 1989, reopened this week as the more 'casual' Eleven Bridge. July saw Neil Perry and Trish Richards announce that it was the end of an era for their flagship restaurant. After 28 years, according to Perry, the decision was made to close the highly awarded restaurant after he became fatigued with the fine dining scene, stating, "We're moving away from that traditional concept of fine dining but maintaining all the elements that are crucial to great dining: excellent produce and service, and a contemporary style." The proximity of their second Sydney venue, Rockpool Bar & Grill, which is located just around the corner, has also been spouted as a reason for the change. In a rather quick turn around, the venue saw its final dinner service on Saturday, 30 July, and has reopened in just one week as Eleven Bridge. It's been marketed as a more casual reincarnation of the Rockpool brand. Don't be fooled though, this is not the kind of place where you can roll in wearing ugg boots and an oversized tee. A $42 chestnut and Jerusalem artichoke pie isn't your regular casual nosh. "Evoking the traditions and glamour of the great dining rooms at the turn of last century, we will be stepping away from the degustation model and returning to a restaurant ideal that puts the diner back in charge," says Perry. Following Perry's long-celebrated lead, Eleven Bridge's menu is described as 'Modern Australian' and features some interesting, bold concoctions — think chicken and scallops with bacon and coffee dashi ($49), or tea smoked lamb pastrami with eggplant and raisin salad ($59). It's Perry, so seafood constitutes a fair chunk of the menu with a plate of 'fish and chips' going for a cool $49 — it's snapper with tartar hollandaise. For the adventurous, there's Chinese roast pigeon with fried Brussels sprouts and black mushroom pickle ($72). Some of the Rockpool classics also make an appearance on the new menu, including the much-celebrated date tart with its original recipe from 1984. And Perry's emphasis on local and sustainable produce continues on the Eleven Bridge menu, keeping to as much organic produce as possible. In terms of staffing, nothing has changed much, with executive chef Phil Wood and sommelier Sebastian Crowther still running the show (with an award-winning, 1200-strong wine list), and the front-of- house team is lead by Silvio Brentan. Eleven Bridge might just be the perfect place to experience food from one of Australia's most lauded chefs, without emptying your wallet completely (sort of). Eleven Bridge sits at, you guessed it, 11 Bridge Street, Sydney. Lunch is served Monday to Friday from 12-3pm and dinner Monday to Saturday from 6pm. Bookings (02) 9252 1888 or via Rockpool's website. By Tegan Reeves with Lauren Vadnjal.
There is nothing quite like saluting the sun from a Sydney rooftop. Taking full advantage their own high-flying, inner city oasis, Chippendale's The Old Clare is hosting a series of Saturday yoga sessions, to be held beside the hotel's coveted rooftop pool. Beginners and well-practised yogis alike are invited to get bendy at the Vinyasa classes, under the expert guidance of certified instructor Kristy Da Silva. In case you're not across it, this particular style of yoga focuses on the connection between the breath and the body, so expect long-held stretches and strength-building poses. Following each class, Da Silva will lead a chat on the benefits of meditation, blogger and health coach Stef Jung will share some of her best tips and tricks for a healthy life, and Vie Active will be on hand for anyone wanting to round out the session with some activewear retail therapy — all with that sweeping city skyline as your backdrop.
One of the most important donations in years for Australia's contemporary art scene, a millionaire Melbourne property developer has endowed Melbourne University with a $26 million gift of his epic private collection — and a place to exhibit them all. The Michael Buxton Centre of Contemporary Art (or the rather awkward sounding MBCOCA) is a brand new, purpose-built museum set to open in 2017 at the University of Melbourne's Southbank campus. An entrepreneurial developer with a keen interest in contemporary art, Buxton has collected more than 300 works in a variety of media over 30 years. "Our acquisition policy has… focused squarely on supporting living artists and working alongside them to foster and support their careers," he told ArtsHub. The collection provides valuable insight into the stylistic development of the 53 artists it includes; from the paintings of Howard Arkley and Mike Parr, to the photography of Tracey Moffatt and Bill Henson as well as the sculpture and installation work of Ricky Swallow and Patricia Piccinini, among others. By donating such a showstopper collection to an institution like the University of Melbourne, Buxton hopes to ensure its longevity. The new museum will serve as a major resource for students as well as the public in general. "We are educating future generations of students and serving as a resource for all Australians aspiring to understand or collect challenging contemporary art," he told The Australian. Plus, building the new museum opposite the National Gallery of Victoria and next to the Victorian College of the Arts will well and truly cement Southbank's reputation as the city's premier arts precinct. The Buxton family will remain involved, providing funds for the museum's construction and maintenance over the next 20 years. New works will also continue to be collected, ensuring the museum remains a dynamic, evolving collection of works by the biggest and brightest contemporary artists of today. See more of the collection on the Michael Buxton Collection website. Via ArtsHub and The Australian. Image credit: From the ABC, Stephen Bush, Shout on the hills of glory, 2008.
To understand why Brisbane-based, extreme acrobatics circus troupe Circa has gained such a dedicated global following, look no further than their new show Humans. In this world premiere, Circa's award-winning director Yaron Lifschitz fuses jaw-dropping acrobatics with contemporary dance and theatre in a joyous celebration of what it means to be human. See amazing poses like the one above, as performers explore the physical limits of their bodies and push themselves to the extreme, as they question how much we can take as humans. This is a world premiere show at Sydney Festival 2017. Check out more world firsts coming to the festival over here.
In the latest show of the Australian hospitality scene's support for marriage equality, the owners of Brisbane bar The End are ramping up production of their Rainbow Beer through a $100,000AUD Pozible campaign, with 50 percent of all profits supporting initiatives run by Australian Marriage Equality. The campaign will enable large-scale production of the brew, which, at its core, aims to bring the conversation of LGBTQI+ rights to the forefront. "We have lots of friends and family that identify in that community and the marriage debate is just a blatant beacon of unfairness, so if we can do anything to help we feel we have the responsibility to do it," says owner Nick Goding. "We want to encourage as many people to get on board as possible and I'm currently on the campaign trail in Melbourne to get more bars involved." The 'pro-love' beer has been on tap in small batch quantities at their West End bar since 2011, but, along with Goding, owners Timothy Lovett and Ben Johnston have been feeling lately that this quiet contribution isn't enough. Their plan is to make the simple, hand-painted brand louder and stronger by expanding it past their local community. "We were having a general chat about the Cooper's boycott controversy and how terrible the marriage equality debate is, then had a look in front of us at our Rainbow Beer and thought we could make it a larger force for positive change," says Goding. The beer itself is a crisp, easy-drinking German-style pilsner. The gents collaborated on the recipe with a Queensland microbrewery to make it a solid craft brew but also a sessionable one. If successful, the Pozible campaign will allow Rainbow Beer to be offered in cartons and wholesale for bars and consumers around Australia. Pledges range from $15 to $4000, with the latter a pledge to become a 'Rainbow Bar', which includes 12 kegs and the option for an ongoing contract. "We hope that having a bunch of bars with Rainbow cans in their fridge will help keep the conversation going," says Goding. ""As great as it is to be able to make the beer and do the donations, the message of equality is by far the most important part of the campaign." Apart from the donated portion, the pledges will cover beer production and canning as well as packaging and distribution. The Pozible campaign is only running through May 12, though, so the time to check it out is now. The debate around marriage equality has been continuously escalating in recent months, with Airbnb's incomplete rings, Skyy Vodka's Cheers to Equality and Smirnoff's We're Open campaigns also recently launched. According to Galaxy Research polls, 64 percent of Australians support marriage equality, so it's likely more brands will herald their support for the cause.
Often stereotyped as the beverage of choice of sleazy drunken pirates and pina colada-sculling schoolies (in its coconut-flavoured form), rum is enjoying a bit of a renaissance at the moment. Even Scottish post-rockers Mogwai have jumped on board, crafting their own limited edition single cask Demerara variety. Frankly, for a beverage literally made from distilled sugar, we’re surprised it’s taken this long to catch on. Now, a clever team of bartenders from Australia’s largest rum bar Substation No. 41 have announced the launch of their own craft blend. Named for its electricity substation origins, Substation No. 41 is an expansive paradise for aficionados of the golden spirit. Housed within the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Queensland, it carries over 400 varieties of the stuff. In a matter-of-fact, very Queensland fashion, its new golden dark masterpiece takes the name Substation No. 41 Rum, and is made from local sugarcane molasses. “We wanted to use natural Queensland ingredients to create a high-quality Australian rum with an exceptional taste,” says Stuart Griffith, one of the creators and senior bartenders. No one’s disputing the sunshine state’s rep as the rum capital of the country, so it all seems like a logical step for these subject matter experts. Aged for a minimum of two years in oak barrels, the Substation blend reportedly carries floral aromas, with a butterscotch-slash-oaky flavour and hints of spice, vanilla and caramel. You can pick up a bottle from your local Dan Murphy’s now. As far as consumption goes, you’ve got three options: shake it up in a cocktail, mix it with ginger beer, or make like Jack Sparrow and chug it from the bottle sip it neat.
A 3D printed house? Ten years ago, we would have thought this a mere pipe dream. But since we're printing everything from office blocks to bikes tailored to your body these days, this shouldn't come as a shock. Chicago-based architecture firm WATG has unveiled solid plans to turn this lofty idea into reality, proposing the world's first freeform, 3D printed house. Winning first prize in the Freeform Home Design Challenge, a competition sponsored by Branch Technology, the WATG design, entitled 'Curve Appeal', consists of two structural components: an interior core and an exterior skin. The living spaces are all open and include a kitchen, bath, living area and one bedroom. Stunning 360-degree glass walls are meant to give the sense of being directly connected to the natural surroundings of the house — so you might want to keep some distance between you and your neighbours. The whole futuristic, spaceship-like envelope is connected with carefully calculated archways that are said to "establish an organic presence" — whatever that means. The design, while clearly pushing the envelope of possibility, also uses economical methods for building — as well as sustainable, with solar panels hidden within the design. This world-first house is not only unconventional, but has previously been wholly inconceivable. This type of work from WATG is no surprise — the firm is internationally renowned for their innovation, with previous designs including a few Four Seasons, a Saudi Arabian city called 'King Abdullah Economic City' and a SkyPark in the Gulf. All of their designs look like structures from an incredibly well-funded sci-fi film, not buildings that will, and do, actually exist. Construction on 'Curve Appeal' is expected to start as soon as 2017 and Bonnaroo Festival-goers will be happy to hear the first site is in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While the public has been given no indication of how much the house will cost to build, we can only imagine how epic this would be if future iterations are made affordable to the masses. With 3D printing becoming more accessible by the day, this future may not be too far from reality. Via Design Boom. Images: Daniel Caven, WATG.
It's been delightful to see the queer programming around Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras extend beyond parties and parades, with the 2024 Mardi Gras highlights covering more mediums and performance styles than we've ever seen. Comedy — a scene that has long been catnip for the queer community — is strongly represented this year, and highly recommended is Big Queer Talent Quest. Hosted and produced by comedian, actor, DJ, drag king and general-purpose polymath Natali Caro AKA Papi Chulo, the Big Queer Talent Quest will take to the hallowed floorboards of the Factory Theatre for an exploration of the (potentially dubious) talents of some of Sydney's most entertaining queer personalities. So what exactly can one expect? Nat Caro explained to Concrete Playground: "We know what these artists do to pay the bills, but I want to know what makes them tick! What inspires and brings them joy outside of the hamster wheel that is hustle culture, and who did they used to be..? Like, we all know Gen Fricker is an incredible stand-up comedian but what if she was really good at playing the oboe? Or really bad. Either way I'd pay money to see that. I think people want to see these prominent Sydney queers pull back the curtain!" The prominent queers in question do indeed include include stand-up star Gen Fricker, as well as podcaster and self-love prophet Kath Ebbs, and musician and Dólar Rosa mastermind Chela ETC, among others. The Big Queer Talent Quest is produced by GAG, Caro's ongoing comedy event series by QTPOC for QTPOC — their own effort to up the diversity and representation across Australia's comedy community. "I think for the better half of this century, and still amongst white feminists today, the conversation about diversity in comedy has been hyper-focused on making room for women in the industry. But I'm more preoccupied with putting a spotlight on queer people in comedy," Caro recently told Concrete Playground. "Specifically on trans people of colour trying to take up space and exist in rooms and stages that were never created for us. That's why GAG is such an important and unique safe space, not only for the queer comedians that perform, but for our queer audiences as well. We don't just cater to the white LGs, but the entire LGBTQIA+ community."
It's been three decades since Sydney institution Golden Century opened its doors in Haymarket. The late-night Chinese restaurant is famed for its unbeatable midnight feasts and the queues of chefs, celebrities, hospo workers and everyday diners that line up to partake into them — and now, 30 years later, the Golden Century Group has announced it will be opening a new restaurant in Darling Square next year. Along with The Century, which opened at The Star in 2012, this will be the group's third restaurant. The new restaurant will be helmed by Billy Wong — son of original owners Eric and Linda — who will develop a more contemporary dining concept that he's hoping will speak to a whole new generation of diners. It won't be the same as Golden Century in Chinatown, but you can expect to see a few nods to the OG restaurant — here's hoping a few familiar dishes (like the pippies in XO) get a token spot on the new menu. That's about all we know at the moment — there's no word yet on how big the restaurant will be, what the menu will look like or if it will be open till 4am every night of the week. But we do know that the venue will be located within Darling Square's striking new six-storey Exchange building designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, so we're sure the design will be extra impressive. The Golden Century Group's yet-to-be-named restaurant will open in Darling Square mid-2019. Stay tuned and we'll let you in on more info and an opening date as it's announced. CORRECTION: SEPTEMBER 5, 2018 — The original article incorrectly stated that the new restaurant was to be the Golden Century Group's second, but it will be its third. The group has a another restaurant, The Century at The Star, which opened in 2012. Images: Katje Ford and Parker Blain.
When a year ends, it's easy to pick what to watch. Just work through the best films of the past 12 months, the best movies that went straight to streaming over the same period, and the top new and returning TV shows. Or, catch up with flicks and series you might've missed — and others that are worth revisiting. When a new year begins, it's also easy to choose where to point your eyeballs. Awards season kicks into gear, bringing with it more recommendations — all newly minted recipients of shiny trophies. So, now that the Golden Globes have taken place for 2024, as held on Monday, January 8 Australian time, there's a new batch of winners to spend time with on both the big and small screens. To see some of this year's Golden Globe-recognised movies, you'll need to head to a cinema. For others — and for TV's best, too — you can get comfy on the couch to watch. Either way, here are eight of the Globes' top winners that you can check out right now. (And if you're wondering what else won, you can read through the full list, too.) MOVIE MUST-SEES OPPENHEIMER Cast Cillian Murphy and a filmmaker falls in love. Danny Boyle did with 28 Days Later and Sunshine, then Christopher Nolan followed with Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception and Dunkirk. There's an arresting, haunting, seeps-under-your-skin soulfulness about the Irish actor, never more so than when he was wandering solo through the empty zombie-ravaged streets in his big-screen big break, then hurtling towards the sun in an underrated sci-fi gem, both for Boyle, and now playing "the father of atomic bomb" in Nolan's epic biopic Oppenheimer. Flirting with the end of the world, or just one person's end, clearly suits Murphy. Here he is in a mind-blower as the destroyer of worlds — almost, perhaps actually — and so much of this can't-look-away three-hour stunner dwells in his expressive eyes. As J Robert Oppenheimer, those peepers see purpose and possibility. They spot quantum mechanics' promise, and the whole universe lurking within that branch of physics. They ultimately spy the consequences, too, of bringing the Manhattan Project successfully to fruition during World War II. Dr Strangelove's full title could never apply to Oppenheimer, nor to its eponymous figure; neither learn to stop worrying and love the bomb. The theoretical physicist responsible for the creation of nuclear weapons did enjoy building it in Nolan's account, Murphy's telltale eyes gleaming as Oppy watches research become reality — but then darkening as he gleans what that reality means. Directing, writing and adapting the 2005 biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, Nolan charts the before and after. He probes the fission and fusion of the situation in intercut parts, the first in colour, the second in black and white. In the former, all paths lead to the history-changing Trinity test on July 16, 1945 in the New Mexico desert. In the latter, a mushroom cloud balloons through Oppenheimer's life as he perceives what the gadget, as it's called in its development stages, has unleashed. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Drama, Best Director — Motion Picture (Christopher Nolan), Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama (Cillian Murphy), Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Robert Downey Jr), Best Original Score — Motion Picture. Where to watch it: Oppenheimer streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. POOR THINGS Richly striking feats of cinema by Yorgos Lanthimos aren't scarce. Sublime performances by Emma Stone are hardly infrequent. Screen takes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein couldn't be more constant. For Lanthimos, see: Dogtooth and Alps in the Greek Weird Wave filmmaker's native language, plus The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Favourite since he started helming movies in English. With Stone, examples abound in her Best Actress Oscar for La La Land, supporting nominations before and after for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Lanthimos' aforementioned regal satire, and twin 2024 Golden Globe nods for their latest collaboration as well as TV's The Curse. And as for the best gothic-horror story there is, not to mention one of the most influential sci-fi stories ever, the evidence is everywhere from traditional adaptations to debts owed as widely as The Rocky Horror Show and M3GAN. Combining the three results in a rarity, however: a jewel of a pastel-, jewel- and bodily fluid-toned feminist Frankenstein-esque fairy tale that's a stunning creation, as zapped to life with Lanthimos' inimitable flair, a mischievous air, Stone at her most extraordinary and empowerment blazing like a lightning bolt. With cascading black hair, an inquisitive stare, incessant frankness and jolting physical mannerisms, Poor Things' star is Bella Baxter in this adaptation of Alasdair Grey's award-winning 1992 novel by Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara (The Great). Among the reasons that the movie and its lead portrayal are so singular: as a character with a woman's body revived with a baby's brain, Stone plays someone from infancy to adulthood, all with the astonishingly exact mindset and mannerisms to match, and while making every move, choice and feeling as organic as birth, living and death. In this fantastical steampunk vision of Victorian-era Europe, London-based Scottish doctor Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe, Asteroid City) is Bella's maker. Even if she didn't call him God, he's been playing it. But curiosity, the quest for agency and independence, horniness and a lust for adventure all beckon his creation on a radical, rebellious, gorgeously rendered, gloriously funny and generously insightful odyssey. So, Godwin tries to marry Bella off to medical student Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef, Ramy), only for her to discover masturbation and sex, and run off to the continent with caddish lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law). GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Emma Stone). Where to watch it: Poor Things is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon quickly. Death comes to Killers of the Flower Moon often. While Martin Scorsese will later briefly fill the film's frames with a fiery orange vision — with what almost appears to be a lake of flames deep in oil country, as dotted with silhouettes of men — death blazes through his 26th feature from the moment that the picture starts rolling. Adapted from journalist David Grann's 2017 non-fiction novel Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, with the filmmaker himself and Dune's Eric Roth penning the screenplay, this is a masterpiece of a movie about a heartbreakingly horrible spate of deaths sparked by pure and unapologetic greed and persecution a century back. Scorsese's two favourite actors in Leonardo DiCaprio (Don't Look Up) and Robert De Niro (Amsterdam) are its stars, alongside hopefully his next go-to in Lily Gladstone (Reservation Dogs), but murder and genocide are as much at this bold and brilliant, epic yet intimate, ambitious and absorbing film's centre — all in a tale that's devastatingly true. As Mollie Kyle, a member of the Osage Nation in Grey Horse, Oklahoma, incomparable Certain Women standout Gladstone talks through some of the movie's homicides early. Before her character meets DiCaprio's World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart — nephew to De Niro's cattle rancher and self-proclaimed 'king of the Osage' William King Hale — she notes that several Indigenous Americans that have been killed, with Mollie mentioning a mere few to meet untimely ends. There's nothing easy about this list, nor is there meant to be. Some are found dead, others seen laid out for their eternal rest, and each one delivers a difficult image. But a gun fired at a young mother pushing a pram inspires a shock befitting a horror film. The genre fits here, in its way, as do many others as Killers of the Flower Moon follows Burkhart's arrival in town, his deeds under his uncle's guidance, his romance with Mollie and the tragedies that keep springing: American crime saga, aka the realm that Scorsese has virtually made his own, as well as romance, relationship drama, western, true crime and crime procedural. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama (Lily Gladstone). Where to watch it: Killers of the Flower Moon is currently screening in Australian cinemas, and streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Martin Scorsese. THE BOY AND THE HERON For much of the six years that a new Hayao Miyazaki movie was on the way, little was known except that the legendary Japanese animator was breaking his retirement after 2013's The Wind Rises. But there was a tentative title: How Do You Live?. While that isn't the name that the film's English-language release sports, both the moniker — which remains in Japan — and the nebulousness otherwise help sum up the gorgeous and staggering The Boy and the Heron. They also apply to the Studio Ghibli's co-founder's filmography overall. When a director and screenwriter escapes into imaginative realms as much as Miyazaki does, thrusting young characters still defining who they are away from everything they know into strange and surreal worlds, they ask how people exist, weather the chaos and trauma that's whisked their way, and bounce between whatever normality they're lucky to cling to and life's relentless uncertainties and heartbreaks. Miyazaki has long pondered how to navigate the fact that so little while we breathe proves a constant, and gets The Boy and the Heron spirited away by the same train of thought while climbing a tower of deeply resonant feelings. How Do You Live? is also a 1937 book by Genzaburo Yoshino, which Miyazaki was given by his mother as a child, and also earns a mention in his 12th feature. The Boy and the Heron isn't an adaptation; rather, it's a musing on that query that's the product of a great artist looking back at his life and achievements, plus his losses. The official blurb uses the term "semi-autobiographical fantasy", an elegant way to describe a movie that feels so authentic, and so tied to its creator, even though he can't have charted his current protagonist's exact path. Parts of the story are drawn from his youth, but it wouldn't likely surprise any Studio Ghibli fan if Miyazaki had magically had his Chihiro, Mei and Satsuki, or Howl moment, somehow living an adventure from Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro or Howl's Moving Castle. What definitely won't astonish anyone is that grappling with conjuring up these rich worlds and processing reality is far from simple, even for someone of Miyazaki's indisputable creative genius. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Animated. Where to watch it: The Boy and the Heron is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. BARBIE No one plays with a Barbie too hard when the Mattel product is fresh out of the box. As that new doll smell lingers, and the toy's synthetic limbs gleam and locks glisten, so does a child's sense of wonder. The more that the world-famous mass-produced figurine is trotted through DreamHouses, slipped into convertibles and decked out in different outfits, though — then given non-standard makeovers — the more that playing with the plastic fashion model becomes fantastical. Like globally beloved item, like live-action movie bearing its name. Barbie, the film, starts with glowing aesthetic perfection. It's almost instantly a pink-hued paradise for the eyes, and it's also a cleverly funny flick from its 2001: A Space Odyssey-riffing outset. The longer that it continues, however, the harder and wilder that Lady Bird and Little Women director Greta Gerwig goes, as does her Babylon and Amsterdam star lead-slash-producer Margot Robbie as Barbie. In Barbie's Barbie Land, life is utopian. Robbie's Stereotypical Barbie and her fellow dolls (including The Gray Man's Ryan Gosling as Stereotypical Ken) genuinely believe that their rosy beachside suburban excellence is infectious, too. And, they're certain that this female-championing realm — and the Barbies being female champions of all skills, talents and appearances — has changed the real world inhabited by humans. But there's a Weird Barbie living in a misshapen abode. While she isn't Barbie's villain, not for a second, her nonconformist look and attitude says everything about Barbie at its most delightful. Sporting cropped hair, a scribbled-on face and legs akimbo, she's brought to life by Saturday Night Live great Kate McKinnon having a blast, and explained as the outcome of a kid somewhere playing too eagerly. Meet Gerwig's spirit animal; when she lets Weird Barbie's vibe rain down like a shower of glitter, covering everything and everyone in sight both in Barbie Land and in reality, the always-intelligent, amusing and dazzling Barbie is at its brightest and most brilliant. GLOBES Won: Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, Best Original Song — Motion Picture (Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell, 'What Was I Made For?'). Where to watch it: Barbie streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Issa Rae and America Ferrara chatting about the film. SMALL-SCREEN STANDOUTS BEEF As plenty does, Beef starts with two strangers meeting, but there's absolutely nothing cute about it. Sparks don't fly and hearts don't flutter; instead, this pair grinds each other's gears. In a case of deep and passionate hate at first sight, Danny Cho (Steven Yeun, Nope) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong, Paper Girls) give their respective vehicles' gearboxes a workout, in fact, after he begins to pull out of a hardware store carpark, she honks behind him, and lewd hand signals and terse words are exchanged. Food is thrown, streets are angrily raced down, gardens are ruined, accidents are barely avoided, and the name of Vin Diesel's famous car franchise springs to mind, aptly describing how bitterly these two strangers feel about each other — and how quickly. Created by Lee Sung Jin, who has It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dave and Silicon Valley on his resume before this ten-part Netflix and A24 collaboration, Beef also commences with a simple, indisputable and deeply relatable fact. Whether you're a struggling contractor hardly making ends meet, as he is, or a store-owning entrepreneur trying to secure a big deal, as she is — or, if you're both, neither or anywhere in-between — pettiness reigning supreme is basic human nature. Danny could've just let Amy beep as much as she liked, then waved, apologised and driven away. Amy could've been more courteous about sounding her horn, and afterwards. But each feels immediately slighted by the other, isn't willing to stand for such an indignity and becomes consumed by their trivial spat. Neither takes the high road, not once — and if you've ever gotten irrationally irate about a minor incident, this new standout understands. Episode by episode, it sees that annoyance fester and exasperation grow, too. Beef spends its run with two people who can't let go of their instant rage, keep trying to get the other back, get even more incensed in response, and just add more fuel to the fire again and again until their whole existence is a blaze of revenge. If you've ever taken a small thing and blown it wildly out of proportion, Beef is also on the same wavelength. And if any of the above has ever made you question your entire life — or just the daily grind of endeavouring to get by, having everything go wrong, feeling unappreciated and constantly working — Beef might just feel like it was made for you. GLOBES Won: Best Television Limited Series of Motion Picture Made for Television, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Ali Wong), Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Steven Yeun). Where to watch it: Beef streams via Netflix. Read our full review. SUCCESSION Endings have always been a part of Succession. Since it premiered in 2018, the bulk of the HBO drama's feuding figures have been waiting for a big farewell. The reason is right there in the title, because for any of the Roy clan's adult children to scale the family company's greatest heights and remain there — be it initial heir apparent Kendall (Jeremy Strong, Armageddon Time), his inappropriate photo-sending brother Roman (Kieran Culkin, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off), their political-fixer sister Siobhan (Sarah Snook, Pieces of a Woman), or eldest sibling and presidential candidate Connor (Alan Ruck, The Dropout) — their father Logan's (Brian Cox, Remember Me) tenure needed to wrap up. The latter was always stubborn. Proud, too, of what he'd achieved and the power it's brought. And whenever Logan seemed nearly ready to leave the business behind, he held on. If he's challenged or threatened, as happened again and again in the Emmy-winning series, he fixed his grasp even tighter. Succession was always been waiting for Logan's last stint at global media outfit Waystar RoyCo, but it had never been about finales quite the way it was in its stunning fourth season. This time, there was ticking clock not just for the show's characters, but for the stellar series itself, given that this is its last go-around — and didn't it make the most of it. Nothing can last forever, not even widely acclaimed hit shows that are a rarity in today's TV climate: genuine appointment-viewing. So, this went out at the height of its greatness, complete with unhappy birthday parties, big business deals, plenty of scheming and backstabbing, and both Shiv's husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen, Operation Mincemeat) and family cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun, Cat Person) in vintage form — plus an early shock, at least two of the best episodes of any show that've ever aired on television, one of the worst drinks, a phenomenal acting masterclass, a The Sopranos-level final shot and the reality that money really can't buy happiness. GLOBES Won: Best Television Series — Drama, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Kieran Culkin), Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Sarah Snook), Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Matthew Macfadyen). Where to watch it: Succession streams via Binge. Read our full review. THE BEAR The more time that anyone spends in the kitchen, the easier that whipping up their chosen dish gets. The Bear season two is that concept in TV form, even if the team at The Original Beef of Chicagoland don't always live it as they leap from running a beloved neighbourhood sandwich joint to opening a fine-diner, and fast. The hospitality crew that was first introduced in the best new show of 2022 isn't lacking in culinary skills or passion. But when bedlam surrounds you constantly, as bubbled and boiled through The Bear's Golden Globe-winning, Emmy-nominated season-one frames, not everything always goes to plan. That was only accurate on-screen for Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, Fingernails) and his colleagues — aka sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Bottoms), baker-turned-pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce, Hap and Leonard), veteran line cooks Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas, In Treatment) and Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson, Fargo), resident Mr Fixit Neil Fak (IRL chef Matty Matheson), and family pal Richie aka Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings). For viewers, the series' debut run was as perfect a piece of television as anyone can hope for. Excellent news: season two is better. The Bear serves up another sublime course of comedy, drama and "yes chef!"-exclaiming antics across its sizzling second season. Actually make that ten more courses, one per episode, with each new instalment its own more-ish meal. A menu, a loan, desperately needed additional help, oh-so-much restaurant mayhem: that's how this second visit begins, as Carmy and Sydney endeavour to make their dreams for their own patch of Chicago's food scene come true. So far, so familiar, but The Bear isn't just plating up the same dishes this time around. At every moment, this new feast feels richer, deeper and more seasoned, including when it's as intense as ever, when it's filling the screen with tastebud-tempting food shots that relish culinary artistry, and also when it gets meditative. Episodes that send Marcus to a Noma-esque venue in Copenhagen under the tutelage of Luca (Will Poulter, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), get Richie spending a week learning the upscale ropes at one of Chicago's best restaurants and jump back to the past, demonstrating how chaos would've been in Carmy's blood regardless of if he became a chef, are particularly stunning. GLOBES Won: Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jeremy Allen White), Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Ayo Edebiri). Where to watch it: The Bear streams via Disney+. Read our full review.
The National Gallery of Victoria is wrapping up this wild year in style, hosting the blockbuster second edition of its much-hyped NGV Triennial. Taking over the gallery from Saturday, December 19, the exhibition looks set to be the biggest art event to hit the city in three years, featuring works from over 100 artists, representing 30 different countries. Among them, you can expect a diverse response to this year's themes of illumination, reflection, conservation and speculation. With a lineup like this — and many months of missed art appreciation to make up for — it's hard to know where to even start. You'll wander through the halls and discover a large-scale, neck-tilting celebration of light and movement; a layered, shimmering sphere of used lenses; and even a giant octopus crafted from hand-felted cigarette butts; and a life-size, mirror-polished stainless steel sculpture based on an 18th-century porcelain figurine. The exhibition is huge, we've offered up a sneak peek here, but, if you'd like to delve deeper, we've also pulled out five must-see artworks over here. Start plotting your art gallery debut now. The NGV Triennial 2020 will be on show at NGV International from Saturday, December 19 until Sunday, April 18, 2021. For more info and to see the full program, visit the NGV website.
On the lookout for a dope new denim jacket? Or do you want to be rid of that weird-looking lamp taking up space in the living room? Then, by golly, you're in luck. The Garage Sale Trail works with local council partners Australia wide to get as many trash-and-treasure troves happening on the same day as possible. Last year, more than 8000 garages opened their doors to bargain hunters, and they're doing it for the sixth time on October 24. Aside from the retro goodies up for grabs, the Trail is all about sustainability. Instead of ending up in landfill, unwanted clutter becomes a fantastic find. So get that tight pair of sunnies for peanuts and help the environment at the same time. The Garage Sale Trail began humbly in Bondi in 2010 and is growing bigger every year. Register online to make a quick buck from your old junk and hang out with the friendly folks in your hood.
As if the furore generated by the Vivid Sydney 2019 announcement wasn't enough to stir your loins, Fuzzy Events has announced a banging lineup for its 2019 instalment of Curve Ball. Taking over Carriageworks on Saturday, June 8, the live electronic music event will a tight little lineup with a hefty side of visual arts. The lineup is fronted by Sydney's own Hayden James and Touch Sensitive. They'll be joined by Brissie's Mallrat, DJ duo Set Mo, FlexMami and more. It's basically a who's who of Australia's up-and-coming artists. Carriageworks is bringing the fire with an immersive audio and visual experience to accompany the tunes as well as large scale art installations. First release tickets have already sold out, so make sure you snap up some final ones soon.
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, or quit your desk job and open that business you've always wanted to give a red hot go? 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 ten 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. No stranger to the idea of taking a massive risk and steering one's life on to a completely new path, founder and co-owner of Sydney's Ramblin' Rascal Tavern Charlie Lehmann had a completely different plan before opening his own bar. We had a chat to Charlie about his own business of taking chances. You can read the interview here. Want to experience a little bit of 'Sine Metu' yourself? Charlie's being a total legend and helping us give away a cocktail masterclass for you and three mates, so you can see for yourself what happens when bold humans take big creative chances with big payoffs. Enter here to win.
Spectrum Now Festival is back. And this time, they’re creating an undercover, vintage circus themed venue right in the middle of the city – and have hired some of the best curators in town to sort out the music program: Paul Piticco and Jessica Ducrou of Secret Sounds (Splendour, Falls). Headlining the 11-day gig extravaganza, which is happening between March 3 and 13, and will be taking place in a 2500-capacity Big Top in The Domain, are Scottish post-punk legends The Jesus and Mary Chain. They’ll be playing their seminal debut album Psychocandy in full on Saturday, March 5 as part of a ‘festival-within-the-festival’ called Divine Times, presented by Popfrenzy in collaboration with Yours and Owls. Also on the bill are Seekae, lo-fi poppers U.S. Girls (US), Canada’s Alvvays and Sydney’s favourite multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Boulet. Just announced, Aussie legends Something for Kate will be playing a greatest hits show on March 12 for the festival. Another one to get your tix-buying mitts on is Perth’s Birds of Tokyo, scheduled for Friday, March 11. They’ve been busy working towards their new album, but will take an evening off recording to deliver some of their classics, including ‘Lanterns’, ‘Anchor’ and more recent hit, ‘I Go With You Anywhere’. Plus, Missy Higgins is playing Closing Night in the Big Top in the Domain following her hugely popular sold-out shows at Twilight at Taronga. Meanwhile, on Sunday, March 6, jetting in from the US are Arizona-based rockers Calexico, who’ll be supported by Augie March. The day following, Monday, March 7, catch Canada’s post-rockers Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Then, on Thursday, March 10, watch RocKwiz Live, featuring a slew of talent and personality, including Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis, RocKwiz Orkestra, James Black (Mondo Rock), Peter Luscombe (Paul Kelly), Mark Ferrie (Models), Ashley Naylor (Even) and Vika and Linda Bull. And if a dance party is more your scene, you'll want to catch Hot Dub Time Machine back from his world tour and bringing you decades of hits on March 4. For those who want to make the music themselves, head to the Marie's Crisis festival bar for a good ol' fashioned New York City-style musical theatre singalong. What good is sitting alone in your room? Line yourself up for tickets at the Spectrum Now site.
Nakkiah Lui's comedy Black Is the New White was nothing short of a smash hit when the Sydney Theatre Company debuted it last year — and now it's returning to Walsh Bay for a second Sydney run. Charlotte Gibson is a lawyer and going places, fast. Her parents are stoked, but they don't know that Charlotte's also procured herself a fiancée. He's white and unemployed, a composer. His upper-middle class parents are at the stuffier end of conservative and they're headed over for Christmas dinner. But Lui says the idea came from somewhere else entirely. "I just wanted to write something for Aboriginal actors that didn't have death in it. I wanted to write something that didn't come from a place of sorrow…This was actually something that had hope, that had happiness in it." Director Paige Rattray has the helm for this one with a cast that includes Shari Sebbens, Luke Carroll and Geoff Morrell. Christmas may be ten months away, but there's enough cheer in Lui's work to make you forget all about that. After a short season at Roslyn Packer Theatre, the show will then travel to Parramatta's Riverside Theatre for four shows between March 21 and 24. Image: Rene Vaile.
Georgia O'Keeffe, the artist often described as the mother of American Modernism, along with her Australian contemporaries Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith, will be the subject of a four-month exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. Running from July 1 to October 22, O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism has been curated by the team at AGNSW, along with Santa Fe's Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Melbourne's Heide, and the Queensland Art Gallery, and will feature more than 30 works by each of the three women created across the length of their respective careers. In doing so, it will showcase both the distinctive styles developed by the artists, as well as the similarities in their subject matter, technique and the ways in which they viewed the world. Image: Georgia O'Keeffe, Ram's Head, Blue Morning Glory 1938, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, gift of The Burnett Foundation © Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
December's arrival means the silly season is here. Christmas time is the best excuse for party time so why not start off early with the brand new Rosebery Block Party — a free collaboration between some home and hosed locals who've been around the block and know how to have a good time. First things first, nosh. Koskela Kitchen will be serving up sticky turkey legs, brioche prawn buns and cones of kurobuta ham to fuel your summery evening. Their dining room will also be transformed into a giant ping pong parlour. Black Star Pastry is taking care of all your sugary needs, offering up the usual favourites. They're also hosting kitchen tours to show you how to make that beautiful watermelon cake and to teach you how to tie a Christmas pudding. The guys at Archie Rose will be making a daytime appearance and serving cocktails in the Cannery's courtyard. It may be a family friendly party, but there's always time for gin. You can take a tour of their distillery and learn how they make those glorious spirits. In what could be the best thing we've heard today, they'll also be making gelato cocktails with Messina. That's not all; Messina will have a DIY soft serve sundae bar and fairy floss paddle pops amongst other delightful things. Koskela will also be hosting a drawing workshop for the little ones and letting them turn the carpark into a huge streetscape. For the adults, the shop is offering a ten percent discount so you can do your Christmas shopping. The School will be showing The Night Before Christmas and will have a festive photobooth. All hail Rosebery, new realm of block parties and general deliciousness. Rosebery Block Party will be happening on Thursday, December 10 from 4-9pm at 85-113 Dunning Ave, Rosebery. Image: Archie Rose.
Contemporary art fans are in for a treat this March. Sydney Art Month is returning for another year with a stellar line-up of talks, tours, and exhibitions across the city. The fun doesn't end when the sun goes down — quite the opposite, actually. Art at Night gives you after-dark access to the city's premier galleries and creative spaces, followed by some epic after-parties. So, clear your calendar, grab your mates, download an Art Month precinct map, and get ready for some artsy adventuring. The Art at Night program kicks off in Redfern and Chippendale on March 1, then it moves on to East Sydney on March 8 and finishes up in Paddington and Woollahra on March 15. Coinciding with International Women's Day, in East Sydney the evening will focus on the work of female performance and visual artists. Don't miss Jodie Whalen's site-specific performance at the National Art School, which will highlight the under-representation of women in the arts world. Another epic work will come courtesy of Kelli Jean Drinkwater, a radical feminist artist and activist who explores the complex relationship many females have with their bodies. For Art at Night, Drinkwater will perform a durational suspension show with Mistress Tokyo. You'll also get to catch the boisterous Bad Bitch Choir perform in their characteristically bad-ass, infectious style. Galleries on the trail include the New Standard Gallery, Australian Design Centre, and Firstdraft. Round out the evening with music and drinks at the Cake Wines Art Bar at the National Art School. The East Sydney Art at Night trail will run from 6-8pm, followed by the Cake Wines Art Bar at the National Art School 7.30-10.30pm. Don't miss Art at Night in Paddington/Woollahra.
We've all heard of touring bands, but touring eateries? Sign us up now. Sydney legends Young Henrys, Knafeh, Happy As Larry, Sol Invictus Motorcycle Co and The Stables have banded together for Beast Feast, a pop-up travelling from Sydney to Melbourne. A travelling party has to start somewhere. In this case, it starts at the Young Henrys Brewery with a launch party featuring craft beer, coffee, Napoli-inspired pizza and Palestinian baked sweets. We all know the delicious wares they're each famous for, but when was the last time they've all been in one place? It may be a Monday but head on down, raise a bev and see off these beloved institutions before they pack up and head down the Aussie east coast for a (very long) week.
Remember jumping around sleepovers to 'Say My Name', attempting early Beyoncé moves and getting all up in the 'yeh-yeh-yeh-yay's? Were you already old enough to know better but did this anyway? This special Vivid edition of Sydney's go-to '90s nostalgia rave The Rhythm of the Night is for you. Taking over Plan B Small Club, TROTN is throwing a special '90s Dance Pyjama Party where you can get well comfy — if you happen to have Space Jam pyjamas, we're dancing with you — and dance the night away to classics from the likes of Madison Avenue, Aaliyah, Mary J Blige, Backstreet Boys, Vengaboyz and Darude — you know which song. Both rooms of Plan B will be taken over by Levins, Ariane, G Coo, Matka and guests playing all your old favourite dance and R&B anthems. Since it's a '90s party, all dancefloor disputes should be settled with a voguing battle. Go on, bring four friends and pretend to be one of the best boy bands of all time. Pyjamas are mandatory.
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, but Taylor Swift just took a massive step up in our book after coming to the rescue of a Sydney theatre production, who were told they wouldn't be allowed to use one of the pop star's songs just days before their opening night. Opening today, Belvoir Theatre Company's Seventeen stars veteran Australian actors Peter Carroll, Maggie Dence, John Godden, Genevieve Lemon, Barry Otto and Anna Volska as a group of seventeen year olds on their last day of school. The play was meant to include a scene where the cast dance to Swift's 2014 hit 'Shake It Off,' but those plans were apparently scuppered on Friday after they were denied the right to use the song. In a last-ditch effort, director Anna-Louise Sarks took to twitter and petitioned Swift directly. Hey @taylorswift13 I'm a big fan and I'm facing an artistic emergency I hope you can help with 1/7 #greygrey4taytay — Anne-Louise Sarks (@annelouisesarks) August 3, 2015 .@taylorswift13 I'm a theatre director from Sydney, and we have a big show opening tomorrow night @belvoirst 2/7 #greygrey4taytay — Anne-Louise Sarks (@annelouisesarks) August 3, 2015 .@taylorswift13 It's about the last day of school - only the 17yrolds are all played by 70yrolds 3/7 #greygrey4taytay pic.twitter.com/t3i1JPdZn2 — Anne-Louise Sarks (@annelouisesarks) August 3, 2015 . @taylorswift13 (including Barry Otto from Strictly Ballroom which maybe you've seen) http://t.co/cBOHzj4vdp #greygrey4taytay — Anne-Louise Sarks (@annelouisesarks) August 3, 2015 .@taylorswift13 there's this great moment where they Shake It Off, and they know all the words and have amazing moves 5/7 #greygrey4taytay — Anne-Louise Sarks (@annelouisesarks) August 3, 2015 .@taylorswift13 But we've just at the last minute been told we can't have the rights to the song! 6/7 #greygrey4taytay — Anne-Louise Sarks (@annelouisesarks) August 3, 2015 .@taylorswift13 Is there anything at all you can do?!! Thanks for reading! 7/7 #greygrey4taytay pic.twitter.com/pdL1TW1Bv9 — Anne-Louise Sarks (@annelouisesarks) August 3, 2015 She also sent tweets to Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and former federal arts minister Tony Burke in the hopes that they could help her get in touch. A number of celebrities, including Tim Minchin and Orange Is the New Black star Yael Stone also got on board, and before long the hashtag #greygrey4taytay was trending around Australia. Then, yesterday afternoon, the pop star with over 61 million followers responded. Permission granted, @BelvoirSt. Good luck with your opening night :) — Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 4, 2015 Yes! The reaction from the cast and crew was understandably ecstatic. BuzzFeed Australia was on hand when the news came through, and later tweeted the following Vine. "WE LOVE YOU TAYLOR!" We were on hand as @taylorswift13 granted @BelvoirSt its wish http://t.co/L0szMLegFV https://t.co/QuD1aS1Kiy — BuzzFeed Australia (@BuzzFeedOz) August 4, 2015 Anyone who has ever said a bad word about Taylor Swift and/or twitter should be eating a massive slice of humble pie right now. Now let the players play. Seventeen is at Belvoir Street Theatre from August 5 – September 13. For more information, visit their website. Via BuzzFeed Australia.
There is a theatre work so famous in New York City that it has inspired plots on both Law & Order: SVU and Gossip Girl. It's not a Broadway show full of catchy songs and film stars. In fact, it's pretty experimental. The work, Sleep No More, is the most well known example of a medium known as immersive theatre, and it's been running in a disused warehouse in Chelsea for three-and-a-half solid sold-out years. Immersive theatre is having a moment in the world's cultural capitals, but we've seen little of it in Sydney (or Australia, for that matter). Out to change that is Mongrel Mouth, a production company whose second show, The Age of Entitlement, is taking over a 166-year-old mansion in The Rocks. It will be the most ambitious and whole immersive work in this city to date; a show about love, growing up and political corruption that audiences explore and influence through their own actions. "I've worked in festivals and things for quite a while as well as theatre, and what always excited me is the way that people move freely throughout a festival," says Mongrel Mouth director Duncan Maurice. "They go to this tent and that tent, and though they have a program, which you don't have in our show, it's up to you. It's your responsibility to see, to walk out, to leave whenever you want." But for Maurice and his collaborators, there's more to the form than just injecting some fun and spontaneity into your night. It's about speaking up, if that's what you want to do, or choosing another part of the performance to watch, or Instagramming that irresistible slice of mise en scene. It's about not sitting passively, in the theatre or otherwise. "Metaphorically what it says is we are not bystanders in our life," he says. "That's why I want to make theatre where the audience is in control, to a certain extent. Essentially [proscenium arch theatre] is a really tyrannical form. You're told when to sit, you're told when to clap, you're told when to laugh, and I think that the way that we make entertainment now is much more dynamic than that." As well as taking inspiration from the active and interactive spirit of social media, Maurice is driven to immersive theatre by something quite different: the participatory theatre culture of Latin America. Having spent years working in Peru and Argentina documenting the biographies of political refugees and dissidents, he saw that theatre there was integral to people's lives, forwarding public discourse and dealing with trauma. "The art is in the street, the protest is the celebration, it is the fiesta," he says. "It's very different." Australia is not lacking for trauma — just perhaps the will to talk about it. Maurice and The Age of Entitlement writer Saman Shad, who when she's not writing plays is a columnist for the Guardian and SBS, were united by the desire to put politics front and centre. They do it through the character of Lara, a 20-year-old, left-wing activist who's also a 40-year-old conservative party leader with good intentions that have fallen by the wayside. The 19-member cast acts out Lara's journey across two levels of the historic mansion. It's a space that has become deeply ingrained in the work following the team's three-month residency. "There's a dark energy there I think, in terms of if you look at what was going on in Australia when that was built [in 1848]," says Maurice. "The house represents a time when white people weren't doing such great things in this country, and I think that has informed our work." Mongrel Mouth's last work, The Silence Came, which told the inter-connected stories of the residents in an other-worldly apartment building, was set across several floors of atmospheric Darlinghurst bar The Commons. It sold out almost before the season had even started — sure evidence of the appetite for this kind of unusual theatre experience in Sydney (several nights of The Age of Entitlement are also fully booked). Immersive theatre already has its committed fans (we at Concrete Playground among them), but Maurice has his eyes on the newcomers. "I think the ideal [experience] would be to know very little about the content, to be dragged along by a friend," he says. "Maybe your friend's read something about it, and you just turn up at this address that you've never even known about before, and you find a doorway that's got some lights in it, and you allow yourself to not fully understand everything." So having read all this information, you know your duty: bring along an unsuspecting friend and pull them down the rabbit hole. The Age of Entitlement is on from December 5-20 at Merchants House, 43-45 George Street, The Rocks, as part of a partnership with The Rocks Pop-up and The Rocks Village Bizarre. Performances commence at 8pm, Wednesday-Saturday, and tickets are $25/30 via mongrelmouth.com.
Carriageworks is bringing back About an Hour for Sydney Festival with seven fantastic shows at the even more fantastic price of $35. Each performance will run around 60 minutes, and the showcase will include both local and international acts, from classical music and theatre to hip hop and acrobatics. Our must-see on the list is the international show from Japan's Okazaki Art Theatre, +51 Aviación, San Borja. Directed by Yudai Kamisato, this peculiar and eccentric portrayal of life in Japan is not to be missed. Check out more of the best Sydney Festival events under $50 here.
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 runs from 10.30am – 3.30pm. Food is $10-15 and drinks are $10. Doors open 10.30am. Bacon images: Cuckoo Callay.
Sydney Festival's in full swing, with sell-out crowds filing into festival venues citywide, from Carriageworks to Riverside Theatres and back to the Festival Village and the mighty Spiegeltents. After heartily feasting on Messina's carnival delights, we're heading into the last legs of the festival for 2016. Don't get to the end of January and miss the whole damn thing, these five shows are some of the most talked-about events of the program — there's just a few tickets left. Get 'em. Top image: Prudence Upton.
Extinction isn’t permanent, apparently. Sydney’s Night at the Museum-like party, Jurassic Lounge is being resurrected for a one-off after-hours event to celebrate Halloween. Returning to the Australian Museum for one night only, following their last Halloween Dia de los Muertos event and highly successful Mardi Gras party, The Festivalists’ beloved after-hours event will once again take over the entire museum on Friday, October 30. Creating a playground for grown-ups in the hallowed museum halls, Jurassic Lounge’s Halloween edition plans to transform the Australian Museum into the freaky, freaky establishment we always knew it could be. The one-night-only resurrection of Jurassic Lounge is most excellent news from The Festivalists, the Sydney-based, non-profit company who just took over Madame Tussauds again with their after-hours night, Hijinks. On Halloween night, there'll be plenty of creepy critters scuttling around the Australian Museum, with live taxidermy (oh god), big old bats at the specimen table, live reptiles, and Creepy Crawlies micro-talks by Australian Museum scientists. Between beers, avoid zombies in the Surviving Australia gallery, curse your enemies at the Misfortune Cookie crafts table, DIY gashes and wounds with The Makeup Wardrobe, watch comedians recreate cult horror films from memory, then learn how to actually do the Monster Mash with Diesel Darling's giant dance lesson. Of course, the ever-popular Jurassic Lounge staple Silent Disco will be there for all your scarily quiet shuffling. But in true Festivalists style, there’s sure to be plenty of happenings and Easter Eggs planned for the night. Just be careful if you're thinking of unlocking the secret Trick or Treat room. Be warned. Jurassic Lounge returns to the Australian Museum on College Street on Friday, October 30 from 6.30 to 9.30pm. Tickets are $19 presale or $22 on the door — although last Halloween tickets sold out weeks in advance, so get in early. Find more information and tickets here. Dress-ups encouraged.
RAW is an independent organisation connecting artists all over the world. It's run by artists, it's for artists and it now has branches in more than 60 nations. Creatives of all types are invited to get on board — including painters, sculptors, filmmakers, writers, actors, dancers, musicians and the rest. On July 24, RAW Sydney will host GLIMPSE, an event at Manning Bar, Sydney University. When we say event, we basically mean a mini-festival. Each RAW extravaganza features a handpicked selection of talents. So, in one night, for one ticket price, under one proof, you get film screenings, fashion shows, exhibitions, gigs, performance art, hairstylists and make-up artists. The upcoming shindig will feature the work of fashion designers Georgia Wolff and Marky Dong (who lists his influences as Lady Gaga and his mum), artists Ruby&Wolf and Natalie Verriest, photographer Teigan Blackshaw, filmmakers Bradley Murnane and Richard Clifford, and loads more. To bring a dash of glamour to the occasion, you're asked to dress cocktail-style and bring along some cash to splash at the onsite cocktail bar. Image: RAW NYC, Emma McDonald.
It's a problem anyone with a Netflix, Stan or Presto subscription can relate to: scrolling through a lengthy list of titles but still having trouble finding something to watch. It's a problem that gets worse if you're looking for homegrown content; however a new Aussie-focused streaming option is trying to fix that. Meet Ozflix, the first video-on-demand service dedicated to Australian films. It wants to become a one-stop-shop when it comes to local movies, with everything available to audiences on a pay-per-view basis. Packages grouped by themes and directors will also feature. The service is aiming to get things started with a catalogue spanning 250–400 titles, but that's just the beginning of Ozflix's plans. Eventually, it wants to house every Australian movie ever made, including the first works crafted in the 1900s, the newest releases, and everything from Newsfront to Strictly Ballroom, The Castle, Ten Canoes, Wolf Creek and The Dressmaker. Given that cinemagoers have been flocking to Aussie films en masse in 2015, giving the industry its most successful year at the local box office ever thanks to the likes of Mad Max: Fury Road, The Water Diviner and Paper Planes, the timing is right. The high-profile roster of talent who has voiced their support already — actresses Deborah Mailman and Claudia Karvan, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert director Stephan Elliott, and Animal Kingdom producer Liz Watts among them — certainly agree. Now all Australian movie fans need to do is wait until Ozflix launches in 2016. For more information on Ozflix, visit their website.
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.
Celebrating the valiant crusaders of vinyl worldwide, Record Store Day is remarkably still a staple in the international music calendar. It's an entire day meant to champion the little guys and the people who still believe vinyl is an artform worth preserving; for those who fear the independent music store is being replaced by bigwig streaming services. But it's also a day for music lovers get their mitts on rare Record Store Day special edition vinyls. For live sets by local legends instore. For remembering what it's like to flip through section after section of CDs and carry your little stash to the counter, instead of having a Spotify playlist curated for you. It's a global day of festivity for music fans, and these Sydney stores are rocking out this Saturday for the cause. Check out these neighbourhoods for a day — and night — of killer music and new finds. Damn the Man. Save the Empire. CBD UTOPIA RECORDS The 'Home of Metal' does it big for Record Store Day — they're not simply getting in the Metallica demo tape, Slayer 7" single and Northlane double LP reissue (all much anticipated). Utopia is also inviting Sydney heavy metal band No Life Til' Leather and the DJs from Frankie's to perform instore, and will be giving out prizes galore. Century Venues will be giving out a Willy Wonka–type golden ticket hidden in a specially selected vinyl (then using a raffle to draw a second ticket). Metropolis Touring is also donating concert vouchers for online customers on the day. Along with their wall of rare records and impressive stock of metal and rock albums, Utopia will surely hold one of the best headbanging parties on RSD. Lower ground floor/511 Kent Street, Sydney RED EYE RECORDS For this go-to CBD shop, Record Store Day is the biggest day of the year; with people often lining up overnight (sometimes in the rain) to get first dibs on exclusive reissues and limited editions. This Saturday, they're guaranteed to have both Courtney Barnett and the Red House Painters boxsets instore — the latter is printed on gold vinyl and is among only 1500 copies. Overall, there's guaranteed to be a great vibe in Red Eye for RSD, but that always tends to be the case for this long loved store. With expert staff and well-catalogued stock, Red Eye makes it easy to find what you're looking for; whether it be new or old, Aussie or international. 143 York Street, Sydney FISH FINE MUSIC For the first time, Fish will sell vinyls on Record Store Day. That's right, the popular classical music shop has finally began to stock more records — something both staff have been fighting for and patrons are excited about (they've had limited stock here and there in the past). Fish's starting stock, including Richard Strauss's Salome, Dvorak's From the New World, and Philip Glass's Mad Rush, will be available on the day. The QVB's top level is sure to be bustling more than ever, with 15 percent off across the board. Check the recommended section and be sure to chat with the super knowledgeable, helpful and friendly staff. Shop 40/42, Level 2 QVB, 455 George Street, Sydney MOJO RECORD BAR It's all 'booze, tunes, rock 'n roll' at Mojo, as the slogan goes. Mojo is both a bar and record shop, one of the few you can drink at while you browse. On Record Store Day, they'll be open from 8am – late, and they're getting in all the big titles across any genre you can think of. Mojo is a true record store by definition, selling vinyl only, and both the bar and the shop have a commitment to 'good music'. On Saturday, their House Blues Band and special guest DJs will keep the party going, while Young Henrys rocks the bar with a tap takeover. 73 York Street, Sydney INNER WEST EGG RECORDS For Record Store Day, Egg went international. Manager Baz travelled to Japan and individually purchased 500+ Japanese pressings, including special releases of mainly western music. Along with these, the limited edition of Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift's 7" vinyl collaboration will be on sale. Egg both buys and sells used LPs and CDs, as well as restored vinyl players, T-shirts and action figures. The Australian vinyl section sits next to sections for independent, Afro, world and comedy. On Saturday, the new stock will be welcomed by three local bands — Ego, Hunch and Mack The Knife — playing live in store. 3 Wilson Street, Newtown HUM Vinyls and disco balls hang from the ceiling in one of King Street's most beloved record shops. Selling all new records across genres, the store is well-stocked and well-organised. Tony Bennett and Lady Gagas' collaboration album Cheek to Cheek, Led Zeppelin's 1969 re-release, Chet Faker's Talk is Cheap and Foals' Holy Fire are all instore now. On Record Store Day, they'll also have new, re-released and limited editions on the shelves. With listening stations and turntables for sale, Hum is sure to be buzzing on Saturday. 271 King Street, Newtown; second location on Oxford Street SOUNDS ESPRESSO This coffee bar/record store has only been open a year this Sunday, so Record Store Day will be a bit of an anniversary celebration for owner Anthony Skapetis. By Saturday, the shop will be completely revamped, ready to serve up espresso and welcome customers with great music. There will be giveaways and DJs, along with the usual record and CD sales and turntable repairs. The shop has a good mix of '90s vinyl, including Nirvana and Madonna, as well as hip hop and Latin albums. Sounds is a truly 'mom and pop shop' of record stores. 268 Victoria Road, Marrickville REPRESSED RECORDS In the real spirit of Record Store Day, Repressed is dedicated to independent music and culture. On Saturday, they'll be celebrating this music community by stocking up on interesting and different artists, not just limited editions and mainstream releases. Both local and international talent will be represented on their shelves, including the reissues of Australian soundtrack composer Brian May and the reissue of Mark Kozelek's 12" vinyl. The shop itself sells new and used vinyl including a 7" 'unlucky dip bucket' — bacon paper wrapped vinyls for $2 each. They also sell t-shirts, DVDs and used books. The impressive punk and 'Oz and NZ' sections are especially worth a peruse, and look out for the handwritten staff picks on select vinyls. 413 King Street, Newtown NSW DARLINGHURST/SURRY HILLS THE RECORD STORE This Darlinghurst shop has its stuff together. With a newly released Diggin' Sydney booklet that helps navigate Sydney's vinyl stores and a full day and night of parties planned for Saturday — these guys are truly dedicated to keeping independent record stores alive in Sydney. During the day, they'll have six DJs in store, including Kato and Ben Fester, along with Briggs and Hau promoting their new releases. Beside the re-pressed, Stephan Gyory will also be putting out new releases that won't have a hefty price tag. After all, Record Store Day is all about opening a community's eyes to new music, not about spending big bucks. At night, they're co-hosting events with Movement at Cafe Lounge and Ching-A-Lings, which will host Inkswell and Cloud Control DJs, respectively. Late night, the DJs will keep rocking on at PLVY Bar. In this neighbourhood, the music will be blasting from 9am – midnight. 255 Crown Street, Darlinghurst TITLE The Surry Hills shop for all things music, literature and film is gearing up for Record Store Day with an exclusively sold Erases Tapes RSD release of Kiasmos. Apart from this awesome grab, Title is stocking the usual limited editions and independent releases, so Saturday will be all about the vinyl. Door prizes will accompany the always-eclectic music and existing $10 sale bin. Another great vinyl to grab here is Steve Martin's Comedy is Not Pretty. Apart from the music, Title is well known for art and coffee table books. Stop by and browse your heart out. 499/501 Crown Street, Surry Hills Head to Record Store Day's official site for more details, special releases and events.
For the fifth year running, Bondi comes alive with the sounds of roaring crowds and grinding boards. Roping in an ensemble cast of pro skaters from around the globe, the 2016 General Pants BOWL-A-RAMA promises two days of heart-racing thrills and spills — and skating legend Tony Hawk. For the first time, retailer General Pants has jumped on board to take this year’s festivities to the next level. Across February 20 and 21, Bondi Skate Park will be bringing fans the biggest meet of pro skateboarders in the Southern Hemisphere. Kick back between skates with live music sets (soon to be announced), and grab some tasty Mexican nosh from the crew at Guzman y Gomez. With an additional 1250-seat stadium, large Hill Stand and expanded Car Park Stand, you’ll be guaranteed a killer view of the action below. As for the talent on show, expect appearances from none other than Steve Caballero, Omar Hassan, Pedro Barros, Eddie Elguera and defending Masters Title winner, Tony ‘The Birdman’ Hawk. Throw in ripping girl and junior AM jams, plus afternoon Masters, Pro and open skates, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a cracking weekend of non-stop entertainment.
Flap your wings and fly into Cake Wines' new cellar door in Redfern, where they're celebrating not one, but two of our all-time favourite things in life: fried chicken and wine. Sydney is home to a tonne of top-notch poultry chefs, whose hot 'n' greasy bits of bird would make Colonel Sanders embarrassed. Now they're flocking together at Cake's urban cellar door for Sydney's first-ever fried chicken and wine festival. Set for Sunday, July 24, Birds of Redfern has been curated by the Cake Wines team along with food writer, DJ and podcaster Andrew Levins. The lineup features some of the biggest cluckers in town, including several nicked straight from our list of Sydney fried chicken favourites. These include Hartsyard — home to Southern-style fried chicken with hot sauce, ranch and pickles — and Moon Park, whose Korean-style shrimp-brined fried chicken comes with soy and sweet pickled daikon. Also on the menu are chicken burgers from the gang at the The Lord Gladstone, chicken sangas from recent addition Henry Lee's, and a selection of wings served extra crispy or buffalo-style courtesy of Levins and his podcast co-host Mitch Orr from ACME. Of course, you'll probably want a little liquid refreshment to wash down all that chook. Good thing this is all happening at a wine cellar. Cake will pop the cork on a number of their locally-made wines, including their 2016 Pinot Gris, their NV Adelaide Hills sparkling and their small batch natural Pinot Noir. There'll also be beer available from White Rabbit and Little Creatures.
New exhibition The Distance continues Tony Lloyd's fascination with cinematic imagery and its capacity to create anticipation and suspense. This series embraces the apocalyptic film genre (Lloyd is typically influenced by science fiction and film noir) and its heightened drama, with unsettling paintings of asteroids illuminated by car headlights mere moments before they hit earth. "We are all travelling through space. Earth is our vehicle, the orbital path is our highway," Lloyd explains of these asteroid works. Driving at night is an inherently cinematic experience for Lloyd, who says watching an external landscape unfold out of the darkness always reminds him of being at the movies. Despite the foreboding subject, there is also a quiet stillness and spooky level of beauty to the paintings, which place the viewer in the drivers seat, suspending them in what Lloyd describes as "the narrow instant before the distance between present and future is erased." Image: Tony Lloyd, Near Earth asteroid with highway (Ida) (2017).
Confetti cannons up, we've got something bloody huge to celebrate. Concrete Playground has been nominated for a 2016 Webby Award, in the category of General Website - Cultural Blog/Website. Look, we're not pulling your leg, here we are, with fellow nominees VICE, Nowness, Jazz at Lincoln Centre and Polygraph. So we're drinking prosecco for afternoon tea, what of it? Celebrating their 20th year, The Webbys have seen the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences handing out top tier awards since 1996, celebrating "excellence on the internet including websites, interactive advertising, online film and video and mobile content." Along with our mates and website designers Canvas Group, Concrete Playground is now celebrating our first ever Webby nomination. Concrete Playground founder and director Rich Fogarty was understandably excited. "FUUUUUUUUUCK!" he said in a statement. Fellow Australian/NZ nominees include triple j's Hottest 100 site for Music (they're up against Beyonce's official site, kudos), and Trusted Housesitters — based in Australia as well as globally — for the Community category. Best part of the Webbys? Once the nominations have been announced, the winners are internet-voted. So you can give us a hand! Used CP to find your never-fail date spot (with BYO)? Chase more waterfalls nowadays? Look, we told you what nap desks are, so show us some love and vote for us. How about some ol' fashioned incentive? We know you're short on time (and that you love transparent nudges like this one), so to sweeten the deal we're giving one reader a $1000 dinner at the restaurant of their choice. To enter, all you have to do is vote for us on the Webby's website, email us a screenshot of the vote confirmation screen to cpftw@concreteplayground.com. That's it. Get on it. VOTE FOR CONCRETE PLAYGROUND HERE
The co-founder of Sydney’s The Barber Shop is taking his whizz-bang bar-creating talents to Byron Bay. As of this summer, the north coast’s busiest hang-out will have a brand new drinking and feasting establishment, The Bolt Hole, thanks to one Mr Chris Mills. But there won’t be a tap or a beer bottle in sight. Instead, the bar’s craft beer offerings will be delivered in classic Aussie fashion — via tinnie only. Why? Well, to start, Chris sees tinnies as far more environmentally friendly than bottles. As for taps, the avoidance is more about aesthetics than being green. As anyone who's frequented The Barber Shop knows, Chris likes to keep his bar sleek and uncluttered. “Bottles have six times the carbon footprint of a can, when you consider volume, weight, production and transport — all those things add up,” says Chris. “We can fit 100 cartons of tinnies on a standard palette, versus 65 cartons of 330ml bottles, so it takes a lot less fuel to transport them.” Aluminium is lighter than glass, while a can’s tidy shape means more efficient packing and stacking. Second up, Chris points out that tinnies make beer taste better. “Canning is better because bottling lets in UV light, which affects the taste of the beer," he says. UV has a habit of breaking down the organic compounds that give a beer its unique flavour profile. Even though using brown-tinted glass can help reduce the damage, it’s no substitute for the light-impervious fortress that is an aluminium can. And thirdly, Chris adds, "Bottles let in more oxygen, which shortens the beer’s shelf life.” Then, of course, there's the can's total lack of smash-ability. As far as we know, The Bolt Hole will be the first bar in Australia to serve cans exclusively. But, more generally, the humble tinnie has been making a comeback — both here and in the US. Once the domain of drops like Tooheys and VB, it’s now being embraced by craft beer labels all over the world, including locals like Sydney’s Young Henrys and Melbourne’s Mountain Goat. This resurgence is in least part due to cans' lower carbon footprint, awareness of which has been growing for a while. Not everyone's on board though. David Suzuki's Queen of Green blog, for example, argues that beers shipped over long distances are better in tinnies, but when it comes to locally made brews, bottles win out, while others are pushing for all tap, all the time. With the Bolt Hole’s opening six weeks off, we can’t yet reveal exactly which craft beers will make the menu. But we can tell you that Chris has been chatting with some of Australia’s most talented operators. In addition to a stack of tasty brews, the drinks list, designed by Jason Crawley (The Drink Cabinet), will offer signature cocktails, vintage gins, artisanal spirits, boutique Australian and European wines, plus a whisky list to incite Dylan Thomas’s envy. Meanwhile, Jordan (Beans) Brannan (former sous chef at Bondi’s Panama House) will be producing dishes to match. A student of globe-trotting pit master Pete Daversa (London’s The Big Easy, New York City’s Pride and Joy, Hong Kong’s Blue Smoke), Jordan will be smoking up an American barbecue storm on a specially imported woodfired smoker, all the way from the US of A. He’ll be delivering a stateside culinary tour for carnivores, with grass-fed Angus brisket, Texas beef short ribs, Memphis BBQ pork ribs, Carolina pulled pork shoulder and maple glazed chicken. The American theme will continue in the fit-out, which is promising a dimly lit refuge from Byron Bay’s sun-dazed, crowded streets. Entering via a vintage church door, visitors will find themselves in a cosy, vintage haven, with references to hunting, steam trains and nautical escapades. There'll be green Chesterfields, handmade furniture, antique light fittings and a tarnished copper bar, supported by recycled railway sleepers. Tinnie image: Dollar Photo Club. Other images provided.
We hate to break it to you, but if you haven't yet spent an evening with Donny Benet, you haven't lived. Donny's undeniable sex appeal is the stuff of Sydney legend. Don't let his reputation fool you, though. His shows ride on more than his moustache and irresistible charisma. He's also a cracking singer and bassist and, in the Vivid Lounge, will be spending the evening with his equally genetically-advantaged brothers Dan (saxophone, cowbell) and James (drums), as well as friends Harry Sutherland (keyboards) and Ben Hauptmann (guitar). Donny has smashed out performances at Mona Foma, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Secret Garden and, in 2013, won FBi Radio's SMAC Award for Best Live Act. His fourth album is on its way.
Mercado takes homemade to a new level, a brand new Spanish-inspired restaurant that's opened in Sydney's CBD this week. It's the newest addition to the Ash Street laneway in Angel Place, right beside newcomer Indu. The 'everything from scratch' mentality is no surprise from head chef Nathan Sasi (ex-Nomad), who just opened Potts Point's Good Times Ice Cream with the same motto earlier this year. Inspired by Barcelona's La Boqueria market, Mercado is focused around preserved and smoked smallgoods — think rows upon rows of cured meats, photos of which have been acting as mouthwatering teasers on the Mercado Instagram for weeks. "We're trying to implement the hustle and bustle visual aspect of these markets at our restaurant," says Sasi. "When you go to these markets you see meat hanging on stands, cheese everywhere, so we're trying to do the same thing with our restaurant and menu," he adds. To name a few, Mercado is making breads, preserves and cured and smoked meats all in house, along with condiments like house-made 'everything' vinegar and salt cod lemon mayonnaise. They're even wheeling around a cheese trolley of both homemade and imported varieties. The house-made aspect is something Sasi has been focused on as a chef for quite some time. "We're not trying to be arrogant, we just want to have a point of difference and be able to customise the ingredients we use at the restaurant", says Sasi. "At Mercado, we have control over every product in our recipes," he adds. The custom-made rotisserie is the star of the Moorish-inspired menu and is serving up whole cooked meat over charcoal and wood fire, including spit roast whole suckling pig and lamb ($50 each). "We work with a lot of small farms to source top quality produce and cook the meat for at least eight hours," says Sasi. That's some serious, succulent meat love right there. If you can pry your eyes away from the rotisserie menu, the share plates are decadent to say the least — think foie gras parfait ($29), truffle mortadella ($19) and smoked wagyu tongue on brioche ($14). Mercado is tucked away down the Ash Street laneway. Located a block behind the George Street chaos via Angel Place, this little district is becoming more of a foodie haven by the day. The construction on the heritage building may have delayed Sasi's planned 2015 opening, but it seems 2016 is proving to be a lucky year for the rising chef. Mercado is located at 4 Ash Street, Sydney. Open Monday to Friday (lunch from noon to 3pm, dinner from 5.30pm to 10pm), and Friday to Saturday from 5.30pm to 11pm.
You guys, the future is here. The future that has been rendered so many times in Tom Cruise sci-fi movies and '90s music videos is finally here. Although Marty McFly is not the prophet we once believed him to be and the hoverboard is still only a prototype, a new UK-based project will let us have electric cars that charge via the road as they go. Although electric cars in the UK are currently becoming more common, they can be tricky to charge if you live in a densely populated city and are bereft of a private parking garage. Electric cars can only be charged from home/special charging stations, so if you're an electric car owner with only on-street parking facilities, you might have to hang around for hours at designated charging spots. Annoying. Enter charging lanes, to save the day. Highways England have announced an 18-month plan to trial the feasibility of charging lanes before bringing them to public roads. Charging lanes are exactly what they sound like — lanes that charge your electric car as you drive along it. How? With black magic, of course (or electric cables installed under the road surface which generate electromagnetic fields, funnelled into a coil in the car and converted into useable electricity). And a nice little bonus for eco-warriors driving electric cars is the ability to zip up a dedicated lane, charge your car and skip traffic all at once — no regular cars are allowed in this lane. Charging lanes have already been implemented to great effect in South Korea, to charge electric buses in the public transport system, and — if the popularity of 'Gangnam Style' is anything to go by — it’s only a matter of time before electric charging lanes become standard across the world. We haven't been this excited about roads since this solar-powered genius. Via Mashable.
