Got a passion for fashion? Specifically of the sneaker variety? Then head to Stockland Wetherill Park for House of Kicks — a must-do fashion event featuring music, workshops and New York-inspired photo ops. Running from Monday, April 19–Sunday, May 2, this two-week takeover is the ideal hangout for all things sneakers. Ever imagined having your own personalised pair? You can make it a reality by booking into a sneaker customisation workshop. Use stencils and paints to design your dream shoes on a 2D render, or bring in your own kicks to customise. There'll also be street styling and street art workshops to explore your creative side. While you're there, grab some free nail art and then elevate your socials with a pic of you having your very own moment on a quintessential New York stoop. Plus, if you spend $150 during the House of Kicks campaign, you can enter a competition via Stockland's event page to win one of six new season sneakers from JD Sports. House of Kicks will run from April 19–May 2 at Stockland Wetherill Park. To secure your place at a sneaker customisation, street styling or street art workshop, head this way.
Feel like scoring a dose of da funk on a Saturday night, losing yourself to dance and getting lucky? Of course you do. You'll be burnin' up the floor, getting derezzed and giving life back to music in no time at Home the Venue from 8pm on Saturday, April 24 — and if you do so harder, better, faster and stronger, you'll be doin' it right indeed. If you haven't guessed just who is in the spotlight at One More Time — A Daft Punk Celebration, then you probably need to take your helmet off and prepare to give some of the best albums of the past two decades a spin just as the event title suggests. There'll be robot rock, plenty of digital love and you might even think you've been around the world while you're throwing shapes. Yep, indulging your instant crush on the electronic duo best known as Daft Punk is easy as the Darling Harbour venue works its way through the French headpiece fans' discography. The dance music-fuelled party will help you work through your feelings about the duo recently calling it quits, too — and more than 25 DJs and performers will be helping you pay tribute. It's also the first time that Home the Venue is reopening after a 15-month pandemic hiatus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmi60Bd4jSs
For the past year, watching a movie has felt a bit weird. Everyone has been doing it, and frequently — but seeing huge crowds of people in one place on-screen, or life going on as normal in a film, has felt more than a little like science fiction. Fantastic Film Festival Australia knows all about cinematic weirdness. The returning fest is all about it, in fact. The flicks on its lineup don't just feel odd, out-there, OTT or mind-bending because of the last 12 months, though — they've been programmed as part of the 2021 fest because they're purposely offbeat, weird, wonderful, strange and surreal, and in the best possible way. Screening at the Ritz Cinema in Randwick from Friday, April 16–Friday, April 30, this year's FFFA kicks off with a match made in movie heaven, with Prisoners of the Ghostland seeing Nicolas Cage team up with iconic Japanese auteur Sion Sono on a futuristic, post-apocalyptic western. From there, the standouts just keep coming, including documentary A Glitch in the Matrix, which ponders whether we are all really channelling our inner Keanu and living in a simulation. Other highlights include cam girl thriller PVT Chat, starring Uncut Gems' Julia Fox; French charmer Jumbo, where Portrait of a Lady on Fire's Noémie Merlant falls in love with an amusement park ride; and Siberia, with Willem Dafoe collaborating with filmmaker Abel Ferrara yet again and descending into a subconscious nightmare. Or, there's Get the Hell Out, a relentless Taiwanese zombie movie that serves up a non-stop onslaught of action, blood, chaos and literally biting political commentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IvTKnqnOck
Newtown's Delhi 'O' Delhi is serving up a feel-good feast for your stomach and your conscience this Wednesday, March 17, with its Good Korma dinner. The multi-course meal is filled with the best offerings the Erskineville Road restaurant has to offer and will set you back $69 per person, with 50 percent of ticket sales being donated to The Kids' Cancer Project. On the menu for the night, you'll find mutton mince parcels and fried prawns with Kashmiri chilli for entree; chicken korma, diced garlic lamb and lentils as your mains; avocado raita, kumbh pulao and cheese naan for sides; and, finally, coconut and saffron panna cotta for dessert. A vegetarian menu is also available, which includes a kofta korma with potatoes and cottage cheese dumplings, and cauliflower florets with fenugreek and mustard seeds. The Kids' Cancer Project helps to fund childhood cancer research, and has raised over $50 million for the cause over the past 27 years. [caption id="attachment_803399" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Leigh Griffiths[/caption] Good Korma has various reservations available between 5.30–10pm.
The New South Wales Government is putting free trees up for grabs — in a very 2021-esque way. To encourage residents to help reach the a target of planting one million new trees by 2022, you'll need to head online to register, with trees available for 13,500 households in Greater Sydney's 33 Local Government Areas. At 9am on the first of each month, you'll need to hop onto the NSW Government website. That's when the trees for that month will be listed, spanning different varieties in different quantities. Once you've placed your order, you'll head to La Perouse Public School on Yarra Road in La Perouse to collect them within seven days, all thanks to Aboriginal-owned and -run not-for-profit Indigi Grow. That's how the scheme operates in March, April and May; however, it'll also keep running later in the year. How it'll work and who'll be partnering with the government then will be announced in June. You can only apply once after February 28, 2021, so you can't fill your yard with freebies each and every month. Still, both edible and non-edible types of trees will be available, so you could be adding some food to your garden.
If you're looking to add some bite to your Friday and Saturday night trip to the flicks — and a few stellar films that include plenty teeth, too — let Golden Age Cinema and Bar's latest lineup take care of your viewing. During its new movie season Bite Marks, the Surry Hills venue is screening features that are all about gnawing, gnashing and ravenous creatures. Yes, Jaws is on the lineup, because of course it is. Steven Spielberg's creature feature blockbuster kicks off the series on Friday, November 12, but five other films will swim in its slipstream. They include 80s classics such as An American Werewolf in London, drama White Dog and Ozploitation gem Dark Age. Plus, from 2016, there's French standout Raw — which focuses on a young woman who starts exploring her cannibalistic urges, and is also the first film by this year's Palme d'Or winner Julia Ducournau. Or, if you'd like to get giggling while you watch, there'll be a Comedians Talk Over showing of Anaconda as well. That's the kind of session where chatting is allowed — all while checking out (and being amused by) the hugely unsubtle Jennifer Lopez-starring 90s flick.
Remember when Aussie comedians Aunty Donna told us all that everything's a drum? Well, that sentiment can be adapted to other spheres. Everything's a doughnut, too, according to the increasingly inventive array of baked goods that keep dropping at various eateries around town. The latest example: lemon meringue pie sourdough doughnuts at Sonoma Bakery. This culinary hybrid is as straightforward as it sounds. As tangy as well, naturally. Sonoma has taken its signature sourdough doughnuts, filled them with lemon curd, then topped them with toasted meringue and zesty lemon. Yes, your mouth should be watering just reading about them. This Frankenstein's monster of a tasty bakery mashup has been unleashed to mark Lemon Meringue Day — yep, that's a real thing — on Sunday, August 15. You'll find it at Sonoma's various Sydney and Bowral Sonoma bakeries for more than just one day, however, with the $6-a-pop dish available from Wednesday, August 11–Sunday, August 15, and then again from Friday, August 20–Sunday, August 22 and Friday, August 27–Sunday, August 29. Obviously, you'll need to pick up this little beauty for takeaway only — and while adhering to lockdown restrictions.
If you've spent much of the past two years escaping into science fiction movies — and yes, that includes flicks about pandemics, aka everyone's recent go-to for obvious reason — then you'll want to make a beeline to Sydney's very own film festival dedicated to the genre. It's all there in the name, with the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival all about one type of movie. So much falls under sci-fi, though, that you'll still be spoiled for choice. The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will run across four days, from Thursday, November 11–Sunday, November 14, screening a lineup of features and shorts from all around the world. To get transported to another realm — something we could all use this year — you'll need to head to the Actors Centre Australia in Leichhardt. And you can pick and choose the movies that interest you, or opt for a festival pass and watch your way through every session. Highlights include Aussie zombie sequel Wyrmwood: Apocalypse; Sundance hit The Blazing World, which opens the fest; and an entire session devoted to the obvious, aka pandemic movies. Or, there's also B-movie style creature feature Jaws; Glasshouse, about a family trying to survive a neurotoxin outbreak; and meteor disaster flick Risen — and yes, the list goes on from there.
She's tussled with dinosaurs and been serenaded by Nicolas Cage. She's played a glue-huffing delinquent and an actor pushed to her limits, too. She's the kind of star who completely changes every film she's in with her inimitable presence. Yes, we're talking about the one and only Laura Dern. A constant delight on our screens for more than four decades now, Dern has experienced quite the career — the type that it's always worth celebrating, in fact. So, between Friday, January 14–Saturday, January 22, Golden Age Cinema and Bar is doing exactly that as part of a seven-film season it's calling Wild at Heart: The Films of Laura Dern. With a name like that, Wild at Heart obviously features on the bill — and, because Dern has multiple collaborations with David Lynch to choose from, so does Inland Empire. Or, you can feast your eyes on her early work in Ladies And Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains and Smooth Talk, jump to the 90s with Citizen Ruth, or see Dern's turn as a determined lawyer in Certain Women. Yes, Jurassic Park is on the lineup as well — because that film, like life and Laura Dern, always finds a way.
BIGSOUND, the huge music industry conference and festival that usually takes over Brisbane each year, isn't happening in 2021. Newcomer BLAKSOUND is definitely forging ahead, however. And, due to the pandemic, the 100-percent First Nations youth-led music conference is rolling out virtually — so you can watch a heap of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talents share their thoughts about the music and arts industries all from the comfort of your couch. This three-day fest not only celebrates First Nations artists, but champions their voices and viewpoints about all things creative. The online conference a bit like a series of TEDx talks crossed with Sydney Opera House's Antidote Festival, and it's jam-packed with engaging folks. You'll hear veterans and up-and-comers alike dive into issues that affect First Nations communities, and also chat about how to push the next generation of Indigenous talents to the fore. Between Monday, September 6–Wednesday, September 8, BLAKSOUND is streaming speeches and workshops featuring everyone from Christine Anu and Ziggy Ramo to Baker Boy and both Troy and Jem Cassar-Daley. Also on the bill: GLVES, Kobie Dee, Alice Skye and Marlene Cummins, as well as journalist Rachael Hocking and broadcaster Rhianna Patrick. Broadcast from Meeanjin (Brisbane), BLAKSOUND is free to watch, too — or you can make a donation if you're able.
Sometimes, the name says it all. That's certainly the case with Series Mania. This television festival's moniker sounds like humanity's reaction each and every time a new season of a TV show arrives on a streaming platform — and also aptly describes how we've all been spending the 18 months or so. After first hitting Melbourne back in 2017 and making two repeat visits before the pandemic, Series Mania is returning again in 2021 from Thursday, October 14–Sunday, October 17. This time, like many things at the moment, it's jumping online. You've been streaming your way through much of your life lately, and now you can do the same with the only Australian leg of the world's biggest TV festival. On the bill this year: four days of free sessions all dedicated to new and exciting television shows, including returning favourites and upcoming must-sees. Eleven series will have episodes available to stream via ACMI's digital platform Cinema 3, including the second season of Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths-starring drama Total Control; Netflix's Hellbound, the first live-action series from South Korean Train to Busan and Peninsula director Yeon Sang-ho; L'Opera, which is set in a Parisian ballet company and stars The Lobster's Ariane Labed; and Aussie doomsday prepper comedy Preppers, as starring and co-written by Nakkiah Lui. Watching along won't cost you a cent, but you do need to book in for each session in advance.
Eventually, Denis Villeneuve's version of Dune will reach cinemas. Thanks to the pandemic, it's been a long time coming — but those sand worms and spice wars will hopefully be worth the wait. Until then, Dendy Newtown has a very fitting way for film buffs to pass the time, all thanks to a retrospective focusing on Villeneuve's past flicks. One of the reasons that this new take on Dune has everyone so excited is because the filmmaker behind it has quite the impressive resume. You've likely already seen and loved Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, because Villeneuve has dived into sci-fi before. You may have done the same with Sicario and Prisoners as well. Now, you can watch them again on the big screen between Thursday, November 18–Tuesday, November 30 — and check out Oscar-nominee Incendies, too. The lineup also spans two movies few folks in Sydney will have had the chance to see in a cinema before: the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring Enemy, which is a weird and dark delight, and the stunning Polytechnique, which is based on shocking real events. And, rounding out the program are August 32nd on Earth and Maelstrom, so you'll truly be getting the full Villeneuve treatment.
Sydney startup beer company Bowlo Draught is celebrating Sydney's reopening. Specifically, Sydneysiders returning to the green at their local bowls club will be offered free beers at a range of bowlos around NSW. To encourage fully vaccinated patrons to have their first beer out at their local bowlo, the team is shouting the first 50 people to hit up selected bowlos with a free Bowlo Draught. Bowlo Draught launched in April 2021 and has partnered with an array of NSW bowlos to offer schooners and tinnies inspired by a day on the green. On Monday, October 11, if you head to a heap of bowling clubs including Bondi Bowling Club, Harbour Bowling Club, South Coogee Bowling Club and Leichardt Bowling Club you can get a free beer courtesy of the local brewery to enjoy while you have a throw on the greens. Similarly, you can make the most of the deal at Bronte Bowling Club on Tuesday, October 12; Picnic Point Bowling Club on Wednesday, October 13; and Milton Ulladulla Bowling Club on Saturday, October 16. "A lot of bowlos were already struggling to stay afloat, even before COVID reared its ugly head. With a total ban on bowls in NSW these past few months, as well as zero customers walking through the doors, it's been an especially tough time for the smaller, non-profit clubs," Bowlo Draught co-founder and Vice President of Bondi Bowling Club Matty Graham said.
Someone somewhere has dressed up as one of IKEA's coveted blue bags for Halloween, or fashioned an outfit out of them for the eerie occasion. This year, in the lead up to spooky day, you can do that too if you like. Or, you can just wear whatever frightening threads you prefer, or even your normal getup, to the Swedish chain's three-course Halloween dining experience. Yes, two faves are joining forces: IKEA and Halloween. No, you won't just be eating those Swedish meatballs (take children along with you, however, and that is indeed what they'll be tucking into). Happening at the brand's Tempe, Marsden Park and Rhodes stores in Sydney, the Halloween feast costs $30 for adults and $25 if you're an IKEA Family member. On the menu: mac 'n' cheese, crispy fried chicken and veggie burgers, as well as pancakes with berry compote and vanilla soft serve for dessert. You'll want to book tickets ASAP — IKEA's food events are always popular — for 5.30pm on Friday, October 28 at Tempe and Rhodes, and the same time on Saturday, October 29 at Marsden Park. The furniture and homewares giant is also hosting kids' activities around the dinner at some locations, complete with trick-or-treat sessions, face painting, treasure hunts, craft workshops and costume contests, if you feel like being a favourite aunt or uncle for the night.
With over 500 shows under their belt, the Japandroids are known for being something special on stage. Rumours circulated about their electric vibe at Laneway earlier this year, where the band hinted at a subsequent Australian tour. The time has come for this high-energy duo from Vancouver to fulfil that pledge with a series of intimate shows in August and September. in 2009 they almost disbanded following the release of Post-Nothing. Revived at the last minute by a sudden surge in popularity, they have gone on to produce another album, titled Celebration Rock in 2012, which further bolstered their reputation for pumping out an engaging style of garage rock. After being saved by their fans, the Japandroids seem bent on repaying each and every one with as many good vibrations as they can muster in a show. The guitarist Brian King has even said he consciously writes in the first-person-pluralto further engage the audience.
If banana knitted jewellery (yes, they exist, get exited), funky oh-so-out-there tights or anything cat-related is your thang, you might be interested in Lonely Hunter. No, it's not a dude roaming around all by himself looking sad; it's a new monthly craft market scenario for lovers of the handmade. Created by two gal pals, Claire Ward and Courtney Johnson, while hungover one morning (we've all been there), it's about the zine, fashion, art, and everything in between. They're 'crafters' themselves, so the stalls will only be proper handmade stuff. Even Claire's label, Bless Your Cotton Socks, is enough of a reason to check out the markets, though also present will be Whiskers Lane, Craft Vader, Roger and Peach, Uptights, Ena & Albert, Antipastel and more. And it's at a bar, so browsing with a drink in hand is a must (for those over 18 of course), hunter-style hat optional. And who knows, Claire might even tell you a story about her cat. Image: Antipastel
Mono are coming. No, I'm not referring to the kissing disease here; I mean the Japanese post-rock legends Mono. Duh. The band are in the country to perform at Hobart's DARK MOFO festival but were kind enough to arrange a few sideshows for their adoring Australian fans. The band have been performing and releasing material since the early 2000s, and their career has risen in profile every year. Their latest effort, For My Parents, was released in 2012, so their performance will surely contain a set list of new material as well as numerous soaring epics from previous albums. The band will be heading up and down the east coast to play shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane before jetting off into the sunset. I can't emphasise how important it is that you get a ticket; these guys might not be back for a while. Curious about what the band sounds like? Have a listen to this 15-minute epic, 'Yearning'. https://youtube.com/watch?v=zAleQ79UlT8
"Coffee's the best." A sentence often uttered by any sane individual. So if you are one of those who appreciate cups of happiness, then perhaps The Rocks 16th annual Aroma festival on Sunday, 21 July, is an event to check out. Officially the entire month of July is being dedicated to coffee, as The Rocks cafes and baristas go cup to cup in a public vote to be crowned as the best and the week leading up hosts an array of activities. Coffee makers will display the art of coffee to the general public, who can warm up with $2 coffee samples. Over at the Overseas Passenger Terminal Forecourt watch as artistic baristas create a mosaic out of 8000 brewed cups of coffee — their aim, to create the face of somebody famous. The day's offer ranges vastly — from Reuben Hills holding a cupping session that focuses on regional coffee differences to workshops on how to make pour-over coffee using the V60. As well, the festival now also includes other interesting workshops — learn from professional chocolate makers or discover the ancient brewing techniques of the Ottoman Empire. So extend your coffee knowledge, hang with professionals and drink lotsa coffee. Want more Aroma? Check out these five great coffee events they're holding over five days. Plus, enter our giveaway for tickets.
This article is sponsored by our partners, Stolen Rum. Call up four of your strongest, shiftiest friends and deliver the following instructions. This Thursday, March 27, at 3pm, turn up at Work-Shop, 80 George Street, Redfern. Why? Because Stolen Rum is inviting you to steal sofas from them. No strings or rum bottles or even nips attached. All you have to do is rock up early enough to number among the first 50 thieves and voila! You’ll have a brand new addition to your living quarters. The only tricky part is that Stolen won’t be doing any delivering, so you’ll need either a bunch of gym addicts or a mate with a pick-up truck or a crane. Or lots of shopping trolleys tied together. Stolen Rum founder Jamie Duff is the comfort-loving brains behind the initiative. As an undergrad at Otago Uni, Dunedin, he spent plenty of time loving his couch. In fact, he was so taken, he’d occasionally carry it to a live sports game, where it would serve as seating. Duff wants everyone to have access to such opportunities, so he’s taking action and giving sofas away to the world. Indeed, Sydneysiders won’t be the only lucky recipients; another 100 lounges will be donated to strangers in Dunedin and Miami. Stolen Rum, a new drop on the market, has been winning over hearts in bottle shops across Australia, New Zealand and the States. The company’s inspiration is a rebellion against the “tedious existence of work and pay”. “We cannot buy our lives back, nor can we beg them back,” writes the vagabond theorist on their site. “Our lives will only be our own when we steal them back — and that means taking what we want without asking permission.” Starting with furniture.
For most Australians, Queenstown is synonymous with black runs, half-pipes and spectacular mountainscapes. But it’s also one of New Zealand’s premier food and wine destinations. And the locals want Sydney to know it. So, for the first week of April, they’ll be transforming The Winery Surry Hills into a mini-Queenstown. There’ll be an alpine-esque makeover, passionate producers and a handpicked selection of wines and gastronomic specialties. Special events include Wine 101 with expert sommelier Sarah Limacher (Tuesday, April 1); a ‘Trust the Chef’ laneway dinner, designed and delivered by Amisfield Bistro head chef Jay Sherwood (Wednesday, April 2); and a Cheese Gorge Board night (Thursday, April 3). The ‘Break Out Menu’ will be available all week, showcasing Sherwood's signature creations, matched with wine from several Central Otago wineries, including Amisfield, Mount Edward, Gibbston Valley, Two Paddocks, Peregrine and Valli. If that’s not enough to inspire a visit to The Winery, how does the chance of winning a $10,000 foodies’ holiday to Queenstown sound? Just head along at any point during the week, take a snap of yourself sampling one of the drinks on offer and you’ll be in the running.
At times it seems baffling that in a city of 4.6 million people we’re struggling to keep our live music industry afloat. With the recent demise of the Annandale Hotel, there’s a gaping hole in Parramatta Road, once an inner west institution and home to Australia’s foremost musicians. Capped off with the new lockout laws, there’s now some gloom hanging over Sydney’s nightlife. However, beyond the parameters of the CBD entertainment precinct, fresh meat is stewing in the inner west. The Roller Den is a spanking new venue that will occupy the basement of the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville. With an emphasis on hosting local and international acts of a variety of genres, this promising space is already creating some serious buzz. "The Imperial Hotel have committed to a live music project throughout the entire venue,” says venue's booking agent Laurie Mahon from Kingdom Sounds. The next few weeks ooze with home-grown musical talent, such as Stonefield and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. The fast-selling launch party will be headlined by boisterous blues-rockers and proud inner westies The Snowdroppers. There's also a swag of Sydney outfits, such as Born Lion and The Dead Love, giving the event a strong local thrust. The folks at the Roller Den have massive plans for this year. Read all about it in our feature on the venue.
Get ready, folk-rock fans, for a little something to spice up your musical repertoire from Okkervil River. The Texan-indie rockers have released their seventh full-length studio album, and you could hear it live this summer when they make their sixth tour of Australia. A nostalgic ode to the days of his New Hampshire-spent youth, The Silver Gymnasium is the autobiographical creation of frontman Will Sheff. Since the band members grew up in the 1980s, it's only fitting that the album stays true to the times with lots of pop influences. You probably wouldn't think of '80s pop and southwestern folk rock as a match, but Okkervil River makes it seem completely natural. Tracks like 'Stay Young' and 'Deep Down the Deep River' could be soundtrack-worthy of cult classics like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles with their catchy tunes and reflective lyrics. You'll find yourself humming along, fondly (or not so) reminded of the glory days of your high school years.
This editorial is sponsored by our partners, The Rocks. The only way to find out what's behind the red curtain concealing the Village Bizarre's famed Cabinet of Curiosities is to join the queue and see for yourself. With its constantly-changing contents kept secret until the event, we can only tell you that they're bound to vary from strange to supernatural to seductive to side-splittingly funny. We also know that its mysteries are 'small but perfectly formed' and 'not human'. Located in Foundation Park, which is entered via Cleland Bond, the Cabinet will be spilling its secrets every Friday during the Bizarre, between 6.30pm and 10pm. The Rocks' shadowy lane ways will also be hosting an array of unexpected events and quirky surprises. A wander down Greenway Lane will carry you into a magical, theatrical micro-universe. On November 1 and December 20, you're likely to find yourself face-to-face with the charming Magician Neo and his mesmerising sleight-of-hand, or The Great Gandini, presenting his medical marvels. On November 8 and 29, look out for the Rhinestone Cowgirl - 'Veteran Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, ex-pat Aussie and self-made D-grade celebrity'. Other evenings will see Convict Cabaret, a sur-reality show hosted by For Eva After, performances by a heart-broken Spanish diva, some tricky untangling with escape artist 'The Great Heidini', and The Cave of Wonders. To watch the teaser video, click here. https://youtube.com/watch?v=nv9-R9V7Uoo
What is ‘capital’? It’s social, economic, personal. Yet, it’s also intangible and invisible. You might say that we intuit capital the way we intuit gravity. But what we do know for sure is, it's a force that controls almost every decision we make. Set in a post-GFC world, Isaac Julien's acclaimed seven-channel video installation, accompanied by large still images in this Roslyn Oxley9 exhibition, investigates that mysterious non-substance called capital. The work drew worldwide attention when it was projected on the billboards of New York's Times Square at midnight last year. It didn't hurt publicity that among the six characters featured is one James Franco, he of the many puzzling art cameos. In a hybrid of fiction and documentary, the Turner Prize-nominated Julien presents a series of narratives that explore the impact of capital on the art world and the individual. In Dubai, exponential growth is juxtaposed with the financial circumstance of a lonely and isolated Filipina maid (Mercedes Cabral). As she mechanically fulfils her duties, her own image is rebuffed by the hard gloss of untouched furniture and steel structures, depicting the sterility of this foreign wealth. At times, her narration is even delivered through these reflections, reinforcing her as a ghostly and detached presence. Where one economy booms, another flounders. North in Reykjavik, an Icelandic artist paces throughout the abandoned interior of his modernist dream house, in an image of lament and decay. Framed by snow-capped mountains and steaming geysers, the architecture offers some very striking images, such as the silhouette of the artist against a circular window, yellowed by the sun. Slipping up and down staircases, under beams and between rooms, the artist generates an optical elusiveness that is reminiscent of something M.C. Escher might sketch. Unlike the artist and the maid, the third chapter features a host of characters who have managed to control capital. “It’s a game!” announces Franco's art dealer, oozing self-assuredness, as he delivers a monologue praising the market and citing collector’s fairytales. As the camera circles Franco, it is as if Julien is driving home the idea that capital is constituted through social relations, and is only enhanced by a dose of charisma. This is followed up by an interview with the art auctioneer Simon de Pury, who plays a version of himself. These internally focused capitalists are much less subtle than the external longing of the maid and the artist. The way they are scripted seems to hit quite deliberately on the academic concepts Julien wants to convey. Although the last segment is engaging, it probably doesn't need to try so hard, particularly as the accompanying work, Kapital, fleshes out a deeper reading of capital and its representation, via an interview with Marxist scholar David Harvey. Nevertheless, Julien offers up a rich visual experience that is both topical and technically accomplished. This global portrait of the ever-present nature of capitalism and its grasp on humanity is sometimes quite frightening. Whether you deify or demonize money, it's a reality that governs our existence.
Three Blokes Telling Jokes is exactly what it says on the wrapper, so says their Sydney Comedy Festival page. But to be honest, it's hard to see how Three Blokes Telling Jokes could be anything other than, well, exactly that. Andrew Barnett, Matty B and Scott Dettrick are three such blokes. But their humour doesn't seem to be as low brow as you might have expected. Three Blokes Telling Jokes is set to be an hour of stand-up comedy from educated white blokes who explore the ridiculousness of middle-class Australia. Three Blokes Telling Jokes packed out this year's Adelaide Fringe Festival, and it's likely that their shows at the 10th Annual Sydney Comedy Festival will go the same way.
Improv comedy duo The Bear Pack are back with a brand new show at the equally new venue Giant Dwarf (formerly Cleveland Street Theatre). The Bear Pack is made up of Steen Raskopoulos (Sydney Fringe, Sydney Comedy Festival Best Newcomer 2013) and Carlo Ritchie (ComedySportz, One Man Yarns). The show consists of two halves of improvised storytelling. The first half is The Pitch, which sounds a bit like The Gruen Transfer on acid. Three improvisers/comedians have to pitch an idea to 'The Board' with a slideshow presentation and various props; the catch is, they have no idea what they're pitching until they're up on stage doing the presentation. The second half is where it gets crazy (well, crazier). The Bear Pack will be taking suggestions from the audience and turning them into one unscripted, surreal yarn that could go absolutely anywhere.
It should go without saying, but make sure you dedicate a good slab of your January to basking in the fading sunlight harbourside. Providing you with even more reason to do so is Sydney's Backyard at Opera Bar, a summer season filled with stacks of musical and culinary delights. The Circular Quay favourite is getting a botanical fit-out. Drenched with native plants and plenty of picnic tables, Opera Bar have fashioned the perfect backyard sanctuary to complement the annual Summer at the House festivities. You can take the heat off with a range of icy beverages, such as homemade lemonade and Frosty Fruit-inspired slushies. There's also a mouth-watering special menu, including classic corn on the cob, juicy lamb rolls and prawn skewers. You can wash down these barbeque bites with James Squire's 150 Lashes, celebrated as the backyard booze of choice. The entertainment program will be curated by one of Australia's foremost music companies, Modular People. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, as well as Sunday afternoons, will feature local and upcoming talent, such as Elizabeth Rose, Slowblow & Softwar, Bad Ezzy and many more. There's also plenty of family friendly activities, such as a life-size version of Connect Four, as well as a few other surprises along the way.
It may not feel like it, but it's been seven years since these iconic indie poppers first bopped onto the scene. In that time, tracks such as 'A-Punk' and 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' have provided soundtrack to every sun-drenched house party and most feel-good hits at the movies; their self-titled debut album has been inducted as both a staple to your summer roadtrip playlist, and a classic in the indie hall of fame. Now, a few years and two albums later, Vampire Weekend are on their way down under to bring some infectious summer fun to both Falls Festival and Melbourne's Festival Hall. On tour for their latest album Modern Vampires of the City, the boys from NYC are showing off a slightly more grownup side — the songs are no longer about drearily walking to a class at college, but about the impending troubles of adulthood. But don't worry, there will no doubt be some throwbacks to their vibrant early days, and the songs still shine as bright as ever. This is a band that will always just sound like summer.
From a young age we experience the physical manifestation of our emotions in our stomachs. Anxiety is often presented as an uncomfortable tumbling sensation, intense rage or worry can be enough to make us sick and the nerves before a performance can flutter around our tummies for days. Every mother drums it into their child to 'follow their gut' as a source of intuition and Brisbane artist Sarah Hickey has done just that in her latest exhibition, Viscera. In her exhibition, Viscera, Hickey presents her fascination with the powerful connection between physical and emotional. Her beautiful and captivating series of female idols present a unique insight into each individual's connection between their soul and intuition. The showcase includes women from varying cultures yet all exude a unique femininity and power. This established artist has not only completed bachelor degrees in fine arts and education, she has taught students her skills at Queensland high schools. The exhibition is available for viewing from 10am – 6pm. Head along to the opening night, Friday 13 December 5pm-8pm and become immersed in this intriguing aspect of humanity.
2013 has not been a good year for big music festivals. But one festival that seems to be doing just fine is the NOW now Festival, a Marrickville-based, artist-run event that's been around since 2001. The festival features over 60 local and international artists, but not the kind you'd see on your average Big Day Out or Soundwave bill. There's 'sonic terrorist' Lloyd Honeybrook, performance art and comedy collective Internet, experimental jazz musician Clayton Thomas and large-scale electro-acoustic ensemble The Splinter Orchestra, to name a few. Held every January, the festival runs over five days, with day passes, three-day passes and festival passes available if you plan on checking out multiple acts. There'll be live performances at The Red Rattler, a group show at Marrickville gallery SNO, instrument building and sound recording workshops at Addison Road Markets, artist conversations at Marrickville Bowling Club and even a NOW now zone.
This article is sponsored by our partners, Flickerfest. Just because the films are short, doesn't mean the festivities have to be. Or at least not when you're talking about this year's Blues Brothers-themed opening night party for 2014's Flickerfest. The event is a chance to see some of the best shorts to come out of this year's festival, such as the Danny DeVito-starring Today's the Day; a backpacker's Argentinian adventures in Tango Underpants; and the little-known story of what happened the day the Nazis were shown Chaplin's The Great Dictator, Great. After the screening it's your chance to schmooze with film industry insiders, as you scarf down exquisite handmade rice paper rolls. Catering comes courtesy of Misschu, with Rosnay Organic Wines, Little Creatures, Crystal Head Vodka and Phoenix Organic Juices on drinks duty.
There's the Breakfast Club and there are breakfast clubs. And while not all of them can make a virtue of Molly Ringwald's dandruff, most of them are pretty good for ensuring that children can concentrate on the learning business and not on their daily meal. Major Raiser donates to run one for getting kids in Laos fed at school via the World Food Program. They've been running the Givva Fork campaign, where each $6 fork you buy (online or as 'forkage' at some willing restaurants around town) has gone towards feeding a child in Laos at school for a month. The campaign concludes with a Major Raiser's Givva Fork Party (each ticket donates a fork by itself), with music from Elizabeth Rose, Polographia and local stars Van She.
An ancient NASA flag from the future, Madonna dancing Gangnam Style, two guys in masks eating steak with books under their armpits and a wall-mounted house made out of white Lego are just some of the things you will see at MOP's 10 out of 10. Since 2003, MOP has acted as a career springboard for local emerging and mid-career artists. MOP was originally located in a rag trade warehouse in Redfern. The sleek, white-walled Abercrombie Street gallery that now houses up to 35 exhibitions a year is testament to the dedication that's been poured into 'The Little Independent Gallery That Could'. Now it's 10 years old. Whilst most kids these days may get high on Coke Zero, ask for the latest smart phone and play "pin the nearest adult store on the Google Map" on their 10th birthdays, MOP, as usual, is ahead of the pack. Looking to their elders, this 10-year anniversary celebration is happening as part of Art Month and showcases 10 established artists with strong ties to the gallery, including Mitch Cairns, Newell Harry, Emma White, Christopher Hanrahan, Gemma Smith, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Ms&Mr, Adam Norton and Rob McHaffie. The exhibition traverses the aesthetically pleasant (the handmade paper used for Harry's Diptych: Indifference and Circularity is laden with the character, mystique and the softness of a grandma's wrinkled cheeks) to the downright strange (why is there a video collage of a woman wearing braces and underpants singing the scandalous 1984 French pop song 'Lemon Incest' to her son/ husband?). Some questions are better left unanswered, but in answer to the question, should you go see it? It's an easy yes.
Jumping from suburban garage to main stage in the space of a few months is no common feat, but Ash Flanders and Declan Green, the alarmingly talented duo behind Sisters Grimm, are not common. The Melbourne indie theatre heroes write fast and on the fly, put on their melodramatic genre mash-ups in whatever space they can lock down and find the finished product is so good that critics and audiences fall at their feet in adulation. This critic/audience member is no exception. Little Mercy is so effortlessly funny and so riveting that you have no perception of 90 minutes having passed. The high-camp ode to 'evil child' movies, originally staged in a Collingwood car park in 2010, takes you into the Summers home, where ambitious theatre director Roger (Luke Mullins) and his lovely wife, Virginia (Flanders), long for a child. Upon finding an acceptance letter from an orphanage to which they don't remember applying, they gratefully receive Mercy (Jill McKay). By the time the child begins to show her not-so-sweet side, Roger is tied up directing blockbuster musical Bon Voyage Susan and Virginia finds her only options for help are the nanny (Mullins again), a gypsy seer, her mysterious friend Gladys (phone voice by charismatic sound designer Steve Toulmin) or her own self. Evil child horror movies have something of a reputation for ruining the lives of their young stars. But Sisters Grimm have come up with a clever way to avoid saddling their actor with the self-belief that she's demonic and wrong. You know that Jill McKay can handle it. She's a delight in the role of little Alice in Wonderland-skirted Mercy. Mullins is po-facedly hilarious throughout, but this is really Flanders' show. He is a superlative drag performer. Where other Little Mercy performers are men in dresses, and instantly comical in the panto way men in dresses are, Ash has to do comical things to earn laughter, because as a woman — a glamorous, statuesque woman — he's believable. There's a lot of subtleness in what he brings to a show you could otherwise readily call 'over-the-top'. Flanders spoke to us about the process of adapting their "aesthetic of failure" for the Sydney Theatre Company stage, and it's safe to say the Sisters have succeeded. There are a few winks and nods to low production values, but it's not something they dwell on, and the overall look is creatively handmade rather than broke. Like a Michel Gondry movie. And truly, there's a lot to enjoy in Little Mercy for film fans. Greene, with designers David Fleischer and Verity Hampson, has spun a host of effects that recall cinematic conventions while being idiosyncratically theatrey. A spectacular running-while-losing-one's-mind sequence is a prime example. Unfortunately, Little Mercy is basically sold out, so perhaps you should run on ahead and book for Sisters Grimm's second Sydney appearance, of Summertime in the Garden of Eden for Griffin Theatre. Or you can follow the lead of Little Mercy's precocious star and start whacking those smug ticketholders.
Electronic musicians have always had a thing for mystery. Sometimes the shroud is visible: Holy Other performs under a cloak of darkness, and SBTRKT hides his face behind that wooden mask. But while those things are done to separate the music from the person creating it, Moodymann is rather the opposite. He famously refuses interviews and press shots, but he’s uncompromisingly upfront about his origin (the black techno epicenter of Detroit) and how inseparable that is from his sound. Though, while he’s committed to keeping the music true to its black roots, his shows are anything but exclusive. Moodymann has developed a reputation for interacting with the crowd even when he’s hidden behind some sort of screen, taking the room on a journey of soaring and slowing tempos while injecting classic soul and jazz into the typically steely Detroit sound. Try listening to this while keeping still.
There's been a lot of talk lately surrounding Sydney's first ever cultural policy. Sydney's already a great city, but what would make it even better, culturally speaking? The City of Sydney Council wants to get a big, city-wide conversation going with as many different voices as possible during the drafting process. To this end, Belvoir St Theatre in Surry Hills is holding a forum led by their artistic director Ralph Myers about the Creative City Discussion Paper released by the council. If you're an artist or general creative type, it's a great opportunity to have a chat over some drinks and nibbles about what you need to be able to produce work and what kind of lifestyle the city should foster. The forum's not just for artists, either — if you're someone who loves art and culture and you've got some thoughts about what you'd like to see as an audience member, come along and have your say. Can't make it along? Follow the hashtag #creativecitysyd.
Catch psych-rock girl group Beaches as they hit up Goodgod. The Melbourne-based band have been causing quite the stir after their self-titled 2008 debut album was released and are eager to share their latest musical offering, She Beats, with you. Their '60s pop mixed with '70s psych sound earned them a place in the 100 Best Australian Albums, which is not an easy feat. The quintet of friends have collaborated with guitar genius Michael Rother of New/Harmonia, who features on two tracks on She Beats. One track is 'Distance', and this impressive kaleidoscope of psych-rock has clocked up nearly 30k Soundcloud plays. It's the kind of music that makes late Sunday mornings all the more enjoyable and takes on a life of its own after a couple of listens.
The thing about aerial archaeology - first pioneered with perilous balloons and now easily supplemented by idle glances at internet maps - is that you need to take photos from an angle. Angles give you shadows, bumps and other reliefs of landscape that help you understand the curves of the earth and what strange things might be buried beneath. Zoe Wetherall’s Aerial Albuquerque photos, by contrast, are taken mostly from directly above Albuquerque’s systems of freeways and fields. And the effect is stunning in its detail and expressiveness. Her lens takes in still countryside, quiet roads, an abundance of cracked asphalt and tracks eroded more by feet than by water. Suburbia is particularly stunning, taking in a flat-roofed city block replete with parked cars, autumn-dead trees and irregular spots of colour. Simon O’Dwyer — an Age photojournalist — has put together a combination of reportage and collage for B Side of O'Dwyer. His digital collages seem to be strung stylistically between early Sandman-era Dave McKean and Blade Runner. It’s a tried approach, but remains mostly a true one here. Some of his straight reportage photos seem to lack social context, especially Egypt 2008, which shows a toothless man in front of the step pyramid at Saqqara. Though this isn't the case with the Story of Private Lachlan Grodo (and accompanying text by Garry Tippet), which focuses on Grodo’s twin loves of bench presses and international relations. O'Dwyer's stylised landscapes are moody, but, again, are at their best when context is dropped alongside. As we're still in the throws of Head On this month, Gaffa is fill to the gills with shows, making for an unprecedented five concurrent photography exhibitions. As well as Wetherall and O'Dwyer, John Slaytor fakes silent sea photographs for the Silent Sea, using rubbish adrift in pale blue ocean tints to comment on marine contamination. Cordelia Beresford’s Prudence shows adults and children at play across Cockatoo Island, at their best when her strong cinematographer’s eye converts the odd double exposure into playful movement. And downstairs in the arcade, Tony Sernack's A World of People captures beautiful coastal and human vistas. Image: Suburbia by Zoe Wetherall.
Once upon a time, a man's beard represented the ultimate in raw masculinity and virility. Alas, these days beards have come to be worn by city dwellers as a kind of ironic badge of honour, much like a daggy old jumper or high-top Converse shoes. But fear not, Adelaide's favourite facially furry friends, The Beards, are claiming it back. The quartet are taking their bearded odyssey to the world with the launch of their first global tour across North America, Europe and Australia. The Beards see themselves as more than simply hairy entertainers but also as prophets of the immortal message proclaimed in their most recent album that "having a beard is the new not having a beard". Call them a one-joke concept if you will, but The Beards have found themselves a pretty bloody funny joke. And they have the sort of indie success to prove it as well. With over 2 million hits on their YouTube channel, a spot on the 2011 Triple J Hottest 100 and sold-out shows across the country, The Beards have fashioned the sort of cult following that many a clean-shaven artist can only dream of. So head to The Metro on June 29 for the gritty soulfulness, anthemic choruses and beard porn that have transformed The Beards into social media superstars.
This year, Groovin' the Moo announced its line-up a day early after a Music Feeds source discovered a leak via Moshtix. And after reading through the list of acts appearing at the festival, it's little wonder those involved got so prematurely excited. International acts hit double digits this year, with USA heavyweights The Bronx and The Amity Affliction, the UK's Frightened Rabbit and The Kooks and Canadian twins Tegan and Sara all set to strap on their gumboots and distribute their fresh sonic goods across five regional locations. Local heavyweights on the bill include Tama Impala, Flume, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Blue Mountains beatmaker Urthboy, Melbourne sextet Alpine, electronic trio Midnight Juggernauts and the awesomely named Yolanda Be Cool. Even dubstep gets a repping courtesy of Shockone. Besides music, the festival will provide local food stalls with fresh produce of the culinary variety, markets filled with knickknacks, licensed bar facilities, slingshot rides, and plenty of spacious chill-out areas.
Western contemporary art is slowly emerging from an existential crisis, from the black hole of post-modernism, to embrace art that serves a political and social as well as an aesthetic purpose. But whilst we are all busy congratulating ourselves for remembering that artists aren't just weirdos who question whether or not squares exist, China has jumped miles ahead in the art of political art. Serve the People goes some way in justifying this sweeping generalisation. Impressively curated by 'retired' Art Gallery of NSW director Edmund Capon, the latest exhibition to grace the walls of Judith Neilson's White Rabbit Gallery surveys the best artworks of China’s 21st-century cultural revolution. It was at the height of the initial 1974 Cultural Revolution that Capon made his first trip to China and there witnessed the rapidly changing relationship between artist and society: from the iron rule of the Mao era, where art didn't legally exist beyond Soviet-style socialist realism, to the increasing freedoms experienced by artists in today's global, tourism-driven market. The title Serve the People is ironically taken from the eponymous 1966-76 Maoist slogan urging artists to serve the cause of socialism, but here opens up the role of the artist to serve people ideas that lie outside the prescribed government agenda, ideas that critique, challenge and satire society and politics. Exhibited works span the human psychological and emotional spectrum, exploring fear, anarchy and hope through rich personal and public lenses. Capon has chosen from Neilson’s 700-strong collection to present a survey of starkly diverse but equally affecting works with both conceptual depth and technical proficiency par excellence. The rigour and the methodology in works like Jin Feng's A History of China’s Modernisation Volumes 1 and 2 (2011) pay tribute to China's socialist roots, where the boldness and humour in Invasive Species – Vegetables (2010) by Chen Hangfeng and Shi Jinsong’s Baby Stroller – Sickle Edition (2007) (a child’s stroller made to look like a Viking chariot with metal spikes — for parents with a competitive spirit!), reflect the increasing freedom artists have to reinterpret the world and serve us new visions, some hilarious, some confronting, some tantalising. Other highlights include Nibbling Up – Tomb Figures (2008), a humorous and haunting work by Sun Furong. The artist, a former seamstress, decided to stab at 100 Mao suits with a pair of scissors and then present them like a headless ghost army. Just think about how much cathartic energy it would have taken to stab even one suit, let alone 100. Also keep an eye out for the meticulous craftsmanship in Wang Lei’s Fabrications (2009), the silk 'dragon robes' worn by Chinese emperors, here recreated by twisting chopped-up bits of paper from a Chinese-English dictionary into yarn. It seems we've been served quite a treat. Image: Jin Feng, A History of China’s Modernisation Volumes 1 and 2, (2011).
A hundred years ago, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring premiered at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees to public outrage and a near-riot in the streets of Paris. The story of a young girl, chosen as a sacrificial victim in a series of rituals celebrating the arrival of spring, who eventually dances herself to death was brought to life by pioneering choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. Exactly a century later, the avant-garde chaos of Stravinsky's ballet and orchestral work lives on in iTMOi (in the mind of igor), created by internationally renowned British choreographer Akram Khan. In collaboration with boundary-pushing composers Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost, who have imagined a powerful original score, iTMOi is an innovative dance work that brings together the talents of performers from Europe, Asia, the UK and the US. Coinciding with the arrival of an Australian spring, iTMOi will be gracing the Sydney Opera House between Wednesday, 28 August, and Sunday, 1 September.
Monday, March 3, will see The Necks return to the Opera House's Joan Sutherland Theatre, in the finale to their first Australian tour for 2014. Since last visiting home shores, The Necks have released their 17th studio album, Open, to rave reviews. The Music said it was a "living masterwork" and Spin described it as "one of the most mesmerising records of the year: an hour-long, labyrinthine, uninterrupted dream." What's more, Open is the first of The Necks' albums to have had a release in the US, via label Northern Spy. In 2014, the group also celebrates 25 years in the business, having released debut album Sex back in 1998. Since then, their jazz-meets-ambient minimalism sound has developed a cult following all over the world. Their live shows are truly hypnotic experiences, unbound by conventional limitations and driven by a commitment to never playing the same thing twice. The Necks' appearance is part of Music at the House, a special program featuring contemporary music. Other artists on the bill include Neil Finn, Iron & Wine, Neko Case, Flying Lotus, Grizzly Bear, The National, Bonobo, Buddy Guy and Ludovico Einaudi. Tickets for The Necks at the SOH go on sale to the public on Friday, December 13, at 9am. Photo credit: Camille Walsh https://youtube.com/watch?v=CGkXjdzzrPg
Brash and irreverent rock outfit Future of the Left have announced that they will be playing a string of shows down under in January 2014. Formed following the dissolution of the beloved post-hardcore band Mclusky, Future of the Left is a Welsh quartet that emerged in 2005. They have since gained a sturdy reputation for the sprawling energy and raw power of their live sets. With a knack for fusing together melody and groove, the band will be sweeping up the eastern seaboard, rewarding their loyal Aussie fan base with raucous performances filled with biting wit and musical mayhem. From their wry song titles to lyrics such as, "I have seen into the future/ Everyone is slightly older" and "Civilised people don't fuck bears/ Civilised people don't play fair", Future of the Left showcase an offbeat, slightly cynical sense of humour armed with heavy riffs. Prepare for a meaty slice of rock 'n' roll and a welcome dose of cheeky laughs. Future of the Left's forthcoming album, How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident, will be released on October 25, 2013. Update 18 Dec: There has been a venue change to the Factory from the Annandale, which will be undergoing renovations. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1_XbYz9J4W0
One would be hard-pressed to find an outing more quintessentially 'Sydney' than the Bondi-to-Bronte Coast Walk, its length punctuated by winding markers that give the impression that it may well be endless. Instead, it is merely endlessly beautiful, particularly now that the decking has been extended and refurbished. There is perhaps one time of the year when this coastal stroll manages to outdo itself, during the much loved Sculpture by the Sea which stretches from Tamarama to Bondi, and there are many delights to see. Each sculpture responds to the landscape in which it is situated, offering a kind of site specificity that one doesn't often get to engage with in such numbers. Sculpture by the Sea has been steadily growing in each of its thirteen years, and this year features over 100 works to consider. So winning is this event, that it needs to be prefaced with a warning: it gets BUSY. Go early!
Sydney lovers of slick contemporary design, listen up. Sydney is getting its very own Monocle Shop, albeit in pop-up form. Launching at The Stables in Surry Hills next weekend, it's the second time the impossibly dapper brand has taken up a temporary address in Australia; after a similar pop-up in Brisbane’s Scrumptious Reads last year. If that venture was anything to go by, put aside your money now. After beginning life as a global affairs and lifestyle magazine before spinning off into the world of radio, retail and even coffee, Monocle currently owns stores in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Toronto, Singapore and New York. Here, the brand sells must-have products designed to make you look roughly one thousand percent cooler — luxury travel luggage, designer furniture and high-end fashion. Basically, it’s where you want to direct all of your wealthiest friends about a week before your birthday. The Sydney pop-up appears to have been strategically timed to coincide with Vivid Sydney 2015, where Monocle founder and international man of mystery Tyler Brule will appear as part of the Vivid Ideas Game Changers series, which features talks by leaders in global creative industries. No word on exactly what items the Sydney store will be selling, although we’ve got a wish list that’s about three miles long. Image: Monocle, New York.
Fond of Betty's Burgers and its Shake Shack-style burgs? Keen to share the love with someone you love? On Thursday, October 24, the chain of eateries wants Sydneysiders to come in for a bite — and to bring their besties in as well. To mark the first ever Betty's Bestie Day, the brand's new Sydney joint will be serving up two-for-one burgers. Pay $10 for a Betty's Classic — which stacks angus beef, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and Betty's special sauce on a soft bun — and you'll score a pair of them. The two-for-one offer also applies to the $11 crispy chicken burger — with southern-fried chicken, lettuce, tomato and special sauce — and Betty's new limited-edition lobster roll, which'll set you back $19 for two. If you're can't wait till Thursday to snag a burg, head to head to one of Betty's six Sydney stores in Bondi Junction, Castle Towers, Darling Harbour, Manly Wharf, Mount Street and the new Market Street store. The two-for-one deal is available from 11am until 10pm (or sold out), so if you and your favourite fellow burger fiend are especially eager, you could always hit up one for lunch and another for dinner.
Temperance is a strangely old-fashioned word. It’s like the lone priest that struts into a do-hick town, shaking things up, pouring precious booze down dusty drains, squeegeeing the hookers, and teaching the men how to be real men. In general it means moderation, but it’s come to be spelt with a capital T and slapped onto all wagons from which the moon don’t shine. The Temperance Movement even had a brief heyday in Australia, resulting in the six o’clock swill if not all-out prohibition. It’s rather ironic then that one of the pop up bars setting up shop in Sydney’s back lanes this summer is in Temperance Lane. Wedged between two pearly towers, like a zesty chunk of lemon shoved between your teeth after tequila, this location was chosen for the permanent offspring of the summertime Seven Metre Bar due to its “old world” charm. Do crims love old world too? Because it’s also been chosen to host a pop up gallery run by the UTS Designing Out Crime Research Centre on Tuesday February 16. Mark Titmarsh, one of the inner city artists behind the initiative, says the aim is to create templates for cultural activity in the dark and shadowy corners of the city. Tagging and petty crime will be replaced with live painting by Deb & Bridge, interactive digital works from artists like Bert Bongers, video from Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Mitch Cairns and more, plus some ‘acceptable’ street art. That’s the theory anyway — we’re sure if Mr. Temperance rolled in he’d consider all that ribald drinking and fun-making verging on criminal. The swilling starts from six.
Australia’s leading documentary photography festival, Reportage, have joined forces with Vivid Sydney this May. Developed from impromptu snapshot exchanges in a Bondi apartment, Reportage is now gaining exposure as a national and global photography event worthy of focus. In a flash, it seems, the depth of the photographers fielded at the festival has zoomed to dizzying heights. Shutterbugs such as distinguished Magnum photographer Alex Webb (USA), Contact Press co-founder David Burnett (USA) and Italian camera-king Franceso Zizola (co-founder of NOOR Agency in Amsterdam and 10B Photography in Rome) will grace Sydney with their pictorial prestige for the duration of the snapfest. Reportage will debut works by these (and over fifty other) photographers through large-scale outdoor projections and indoor exhibitions around Sydney from May 25 to June 13. With themes ranging from Cuba to Bob Marley, to the American Presidents and to Peace, Reportage 2013 will inspire tears, laughter, deep thought and people scratching their chin as they pretend to be in deep thought. If that doesn’t make your shutter flutter, though, perhaps the next paragraph will. For their 11th season, with the power of Vivid behind them, the festival will feature intimate workshops, insightful talks and open Q&As for the closet Canon kid and the professional paparazzo alike. In fact, if you’ve never even taken an auto-everythinged snapshot on a friend’s DSLR, Reportage has opened up these free (and ticketed) events to anyone interested in social issues as explored through visual narrative. Title Image: ©Alex Webb, Bombay, India, 1981 from 'The Suffering of Light'
Fast and furious, wet and wild. No, it’s not an ad for a summer roller-coaster ride; it’s the frantic dash in a 12m-long painted boat known as the Dragon Boat Races. Dating back 2000 years, the race was traditionally held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the Chinese Calendar to encourage rains for prosperity — the dragon, the symbol of water, was the object of worship for the ancient Chinese. Today, it’s a heart-thumping sport boasting crews of roughly 20 rowers. Grab a waterside seat and watch some of Sydney’s best dragon boat teams battle it out in this highly competitive, thrilling sport.
