Ever shy away from a misshapen tomato? How about a three-legged carrot? Chances are rare that you've ever encountered them at your local Coles; larger stores tend to reject these products based on appearance. Now the Youth Food Movement is hosting CropFest in order to teach young adults how to effectively use the imperfect produce they encounter. CropFest will host a night of activities incorporating unloved produce. There will be meals prepared by local chefs, talks from farmers, live music, farm-direct produce stalls and cooking masterclasses. Youth Food Movement started in 2011 with the purpose of teaching and inspiring young Australians to make more sustainably conscious and locally based food choices. Their aim is to reduce food waste in Australia and to increase food literacy in young adults. The Environmental Protection Authority's Love Food Hate Waste program, Green Villages, and the City of Sydney support CropFest. All leftover food from the event will be donated to OzHarvest. photo credit: MTSOfan via photopin cc
A ride in one of London's famous black cabs is on every tourist's must-do list, but for locals and visitors alike, they're about to get a whole lot busier. Five years after obtaining a license to operate in the UK capital, ride-sharing alternative Uber has been told that its permit won't be renewed when it expires at the end of September. In a statement, transport regulator Transport for London has announced that they will not be granting the company a new private hire operator licence after concluding "that Uber London Limited is not fit and proper" to operate according to its regulations. Specifically, "TfL considers that Uber's approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility in relation to a number of issues which have potential public safety and security implications." The government body raised particular concerns about Uber's approach to background checks and reporting serious criminal offences, as well as its use of "software that could be used to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to the app and prevent officials from undertaking regulatory or law enforcement duties." Uber, which boasts more than 40,000 drivers in London, has 21 days to appeal the decision. The company will be allowed to continue operating until the appeals process has been completed. Unsurprisingly, in a city where the ride-sharing app is used by more than 3.5 million passengers, Uber hasn't taken the news lightly, responding that "London is closed to innovative companies who bring choice to consumers," according to the ABC. No stranger to regulatory woes, the current situation follows in the footsteps of similar troubles in other places around the globe — from withdrawing from Denmark and having its apps blocked in Italy, to struggling with the necessary reforms in the Northern Territory following an earlier ban and facing tougher legislation in Queensland. Via the ABC.
The Fortune of War has pumped out pints for almost 200 years in The Rocks, but it looks better than ever as its significant refurbishment reaches completion. At Sydney's oldest pub, visitors can now expect a 60-seat bistro, while its boutique accommodation will also reopen with a refreshed sense of comfort and hospitality. While there's no shortage of heritage pubs that have undergone somewhat drab modern makeovers, the Fortune of War's owners prioritised the essence of the venue's old-world look and feel. At the same time, they've raised the standards with several quality-of-life improvements that put the pub in good stead for the future. "We're very much a food and beverage pub, but due to the small size of the kitchen, we haven't been able to provide our dream dining experience for guests, until now," says WDS Hotels owner Steve Speed, who took over the leasehold with his wife Fiona and a group of investors in 2013. Leading the revamped kitchen is Executive Chef Mark Williamson (Bistro Moncur). He's been hard at work shaping a new menu brimming with elevated Aussie pub classics. However, regulars will be happy to know the pub's signature dishes – namely, its fish and chips, and beef and Guinness stew – aren't going anywhere. Also on the agenda is a brand-new breakfast offering, served daily from 7am. With the venue expected to fully reopen in May, visitors can still enjoy food, drinks and live entertainment in an expansive alfresco area or the neighbouring Fortune of War Lock Up. As for the rest of the revival, the century-old red oak bar will look better than ever following a careful restoration, while a fresh coat of paint and new carpet give the space a necessary lift. The soul of the venue still firmly in place, the Fortunate of War remains much the same, with its updates ensuring the building's longevity. "We're a country pub in the heart of the city. Everything from the service to the style and character is reminiscent of what you'd find in a regional area," he explains. "It's one of our core values and when we open the hotel, it will operate in the same way – you'll still be able to open the windows." Accompanying the relaunched pub is the Russell Boutique Hotel. Situated upstairs, warmly decorated rooms offer a timeless charm and even a partial view of Sydney Harbour, if you're lucky. Yet a few quirks still remain. With the 19th-century building once used as a hospital, none of the rooms are in sequential order. Says Speed: "I've been here almost 13 years and I still get confused as to where each one is, but it's those little authentic things that enhance someone's stay." The newly renovated Fortune of War Hotel is expected to reopen in May 2025 at 137 George Street, The Rocks. Head to the website for more information.
Back in July, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia will tie its efforts to manage COVID-19 to vaccination rates moving forward. As the country reaches certain jab milestones — 70 percent of Aussies over the age of 16 receiving two doses, and then 80 percent — the way that Australia handles the pandemic will evolve. Restrictions will start to ease, lockdowns will be less likely, international travel will open back up and people who've been fully vaxxed will live life under loosened rules. As both New South Wales and Victoria have dealt with COVID-19 outbreaks over the past few months, vaccination rates have continued to be thrust into the spotlight. Both NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and her Victorian counterpart Daniel Andrews have highlighted specific jab thresholds, and announced that lockdown rules will begin to change when they're met — at 70-percent fully vaxxed in NSW and 70 percent with at least one dose in Victoria. So, that means that we're all now paying extra attention to those vaccination figures. They're mentioned at each state's daily COVID-19 press conferences, of course, but you can also check out how your state is going and how the nation overall is faring thanks to a heap of online resources. Wondering why you might be interested in the Aussie rate, and not just vax numbers in your own state or territory? As part of that plan announced by the PM — the National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response — vaccination rates have to reach the 70-percent and 80-percent fully jabbed marks across the entire country before an individual state or territory can start easing the rules. That state or territory also has to reach those thresholds itself before it can do anything, of course, but that isn't the only important figure. This daily infographic provides the total number of vaccine doses administered in Australia 🇦🇺 as of 6 September 2021 📅 💻Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccine information here: https://t.co/lsM33j9wMW pic.twitter.com/XTydxJH0sK — Australian Government Department of Health (@healthgovau) September 7, 2021 For Australia-wide data, the Federal Government Department of Health issues several daily reports on the vaccine rollout, complete with handy infographics if you like looking at diagrams more than numerals. You can see the total doses administered, how many people are fully vaccinated, and the breakdown state by state — and, nationwide, also a breakdown of doses by age group and gender. Vax rates among Indigenous Australians, people with disability and the disability workforce, and in residential aged care are also singled out. Or, there's also the COVID Live website, which collates information on new cases, tests, hospitalisations and vaccinations, and lets you dive further into each. With jabs, it gives a breakdown by state and then by day, and also counts down how many days remain until the country and each state and territory hits 60-percent, 70-percent, 80-percent and 90-percent first doses and fully vaxxed, as based on the seven-day average. [caption id="attachment_824786" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] COVID Live as at Wednesday, September 8.[/caption] Each state and territory also has its own online resources, with different details on offer depending on the state. In NSW, for instance, you can access a COVID-19 vaccination dashboard that highlights the number of doses that've been given, or you can check out a nifty map that breaks down jabs by postcode and Local Government Area. Victoria's COVID-19 vaccine data portal lists doses given over the past 24 hours, and also links to a weekly report that tracks the state's progress. Here, you'll find overall and weekly rates, a breakdown via vaccine type and dose — so listing first and second doses of AstraZeneca and of Pfizer — and also breakdowns by age and gender. For Queensland, the overall stats can be found on Queensland Health's COVID-19 page, with further detail on offer if you click through to its statistics summary. Vaccinations are then listed by vaccine site area, including both overall and hospital/vax hub-specific figures. You can see how many doses were administered the day prior and in total so far. Queensland #COVID19 update 7/09/21 Today we have recorded 0 new cases of COVID-19. Detailed information about COVID-19 cases in Queensland, can be found here: https://t.co/kapyXpSIAP pic.twitter.com/G4J57unlPc — Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) September 7, 2021 In Western Australia, there's a vaccination dashboard filled with infographics about doses, rates and age breakdowns. In South Australia, you'll find an overall daily vaccination figure on the state's overall COVID-19 dashboard. Tasmania has a statistics section on the government's COVID-19 website, and includes both a cumulative tally and the daily increase — and both the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory have their own COVID-19 dashboards with relevant figures. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
If you've been to Eggslut in the States, you'll understand the hype. Lines that snake around LA's Grand Central Market — or Las Vegas's Cosmopolitan — from the moment the stores start frying up eggy burgers and jars of 'slut' (coddled eggs with potato). Now, the hype is heading Down Under, with founder Alvin Cailan coming to Sydney for a one-day burger festival. Cailan (who also hosts The Burger Show) is teaming up with Aussie burger-finding app The Burger Collective for The Burger Expo, which will take over Moore Park's Entertainment Quarter on Sunday, August 11. Six of Australia's top burger makers will be collaborating with Cailan to make one-off meaty sangas — that'll only be available at the expo. Expect stacked creations from Loaded by BL, a possible fried chook option from Penrith's Burger Head and juicy a beef number from Mondaze in Brisbane. Sydney's Happy Ending Burger and Burger Point and Melbourne's Monroe's will also be plating up limited-edition numbers on the day. And if Cailan's penchant for eggs is anything to go by, expect to find many fried, scrambled and coddled ones between your burger buns on the day. As well as savoury burgers, there'll also be gelato-stuffed buns from Cremeria de Luca, barefoot lawn bowls, lots of chilli sauce from Tabasco, live music and burger masterclasses. And, best of all, tickets are just $12 — or $6 if you snag 'em early. The Burger Expo has two sessions: midday–4pm and 5–9pm. Images: Loaded by BL by Kimberley Low; Burger Head by Jason Denison.
Explore the works of eight highly lauded 20th-century designers in the Powerhouse's upcoming Graphic Identities exhibition, part of Sydney Design Week 2021. The long-running exhibition will bring together archived work from pre-digital designers who've shaped modern Australian culture through advertising, publishing, fine arts and textiles — and whose designs led to the creation of brands like David Jones, National Trust of Australia, Dri-Glo, Tourism Australia and the Reserve Bank. It'll include artworks that spans pre-digital commercial and graphic design, typography, collage, illustration, printmaking and painting. Featured designers include Douglas Annand, Frances Burke, Gordon Andrews and Arthur Leydin, all of whom were crucial to the history of Australian design. Image: 'Currency' magazine covers, Reserve Bank of Australia, designed by Alistair Morrison, 1690–66, Powerhouse Collection
As Sydney's temps continue to drop, venues across the city are finding ways to warm you up. Darlinghurst's East Village is following suit and has transformed its rooftop terrace into a winter wonderland. The fairy light-lit, pink-hued winter garden opens today, Thursday, June 6, offering an inner-city oasis where you can rug up, sip hot cocktails and eat European fare. The charming surrounds take inspiration from Europe's winter night markets and feature hearty eats from Germany, Switzerland and France. Expect Berlin-style currywurst (bratwurst topped with sauerkraut, fries and curried ketchup gravy); a take on the French coq au vin (wine-braised chicken pie served with mash and smoked rosemary camembert); and a four-cheese fondue, spiked with maraschino liqueur and served with assorted veg, cured meats and bread for dipping. You can also heat your insides with a spiced mulled wine, warmed mead, mulled cider by Young Henrys or a Tasmanian gin toddy. All of these specialty cocktails are available as two-for-one during daily happy hour from 5–7pm, along with select beer and wine. While entry is free, bookings are recommended. East Village's Pink Winter Garden is open from 5–11pm, Tuesday through Sunday. Images: Kitti Gould.
The further we move away from the wild, it seems, the more we bring the wild to us. From adding rooftop gardens to buses to cultivating bioluminescent plants that replace light bulbs to the opening of the world's first fully algae powered building, the past two years have seen a surge in the green-ifying of our urban environments. The most visually dramatic movement of all has been the spread of the vertical garden. Of course, it's not necessarily a new thing. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (or Nineveh), after all, were at least imagined, if not built, in 600 B.C., and back in 1938, Stanley Hart White, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois, employed hydroponics to invent the first green wall. However, Patrick Blanc is the man behind the scattering of the seeds of "living architecture" all over the world. His vertical gardens have been planted in more than 25 cities, including San Francisco, Berlin, Tokyo and New York. As most Sydneysiders already know, he's just installed the tallest one on the planet right here, at One Central Park, Broadway. Twenty-one panels, filling 1,120 square metres of area, comprise its expanse. One hundred thousand seedlings, including exotic and native species, were established at nurseries all over New South Wales and Queensland. THE STORY STARTS BELOW SEA LEVEL Blanc first became passionate about plants at the age of 12, due to an obsession with his fish tank. "My first aim, forty years ago, was to filter the excess nutrients out of my aquarium by way of using plants," he explains. For such a child, a career in botany was inevitable. It was in the 1980s that he first became interested in training plants to defy gravity — the perfection of which is crucial to the success of any vertical garden. Now that he has the process worked out, he insists that it's technically straightforward. What can be trickier is attaching the plants firmly enough to the wall to protect passersby from an unexpected botanical deluge. They (the plants, not the passersby) are attached to mesh-covered felt, around which their roots cling as they grow, creating a secure stronghold. Mineralised water, rather than soil, provides a source of nutrients. ART MIRRORS NATURE When asked whether he's encountered any opposition to his projects, Blanc replies with a calm self-assuredness that his "living artwork" involves a mere mirroring of nature. "Some people have objections because they think it's a manipulation of the way nature intended plants to grow," he explains. "But this is not the case, well, not always. For a local example, at Wentworth Falls in New South Wales's Blue Mountains, rock-clinging plants are everywhere." At the Australian Garden Show, Blanc will be giving a lecture on how soilless plants survive in their natural habitats — cliffs, caves, waterfalls and tree branches. IT LOOKS GREEN, BUT DOES IT ACT GREEN? And what about the environment? Vertical gardens certainly help to lessen the burden of some of our more regrettable architectural decisions, but how do they score when it comes to cleaner air and reducing energy use? Some of the installations found in fancy hotels and the like are often dependent on energy-intensive lighting. They might promote an impression of environmental awareness, but they're actually doing damage if the carbon harnessed by the plants is less than that necessary to their growth. On this issue, Blanc states that making wise botanical choices is essential. "When planting indoors, it's a matter of choosing plants that are not full-sun," Blanc says. "So that lights are not required for many hours of the day." Stephen Collis, of Victoria-based business Wallgarden, agrees. He sells DIY vertical garden systems for household use that are light on resource consumption. "All the products needed are very low cost ... With its patented irrigation system, [the Wallgarden] uses one-seventh of the water that a plant uses in the ground and it also has massive insulation. Plants grow best on north western facing walls (because they get the most heat). They insulate in summer and also in winter, by keeping the heat in." BEATING BACK THE WINTER BLUES Both Blanc and Collis point out that vertical gardens can play a role in promoting mental and emotional health."Having a garden has a calming effect," says Collis, "especially in offices." "Indoor vertical gardens can bring a world of colour to the depths of winter," argues Blanc. "Given indoor spaces are climate-controlled. This provides an opportunity for plants from warm countries to grow in cold countries." He works with diverse flora, the origins of which often lie in some of the planet's most obscure locations. Recently, on a visit to the Philippines, he even discovered a new Begonia species, which has been named after him. Blanc has plenty of freedom to partake in international botanic and artistic escapades because his creations are really low on maintenance. As long as the watering system is functioning, pruning is required just once every few months. They can be expected to live for at least 31 years — Blanc planted one at his place in 1982 and it's still growing. Patrick Blanc will be appearing at The Australian Garden Show, to be held in Centennial Park, Sydney, between September 5 and 8. He'll be speaking as part of the "Seeds of Wisdom" Lecture Series. On Thursday, September 5, at 5.45pm, he'll deliver "Cliffs, Caves, Waterfalls, Tree Branches: the Natural Habitat for Soilless Living Plants", and on Friday, September 5, at 4.15pm, he'll discuss "The Vertical Garden: A Forty Year Innovation". Each 45 minute lecture will be followed by a 15 minute Q & A. Wall Garden will be exhibiting a vertical garden and conducting DIY demonstrations.
In one of the many audio clips that comprise One to One: John & Yoko's impressive array of 70s-era archival materials, the documentary's two namesakes are asked how they want to be remembered. John Lennon's answer: "just as two lovers". It's an apt description, and one that applies in multiple senses in the latest film by Kevin Macdonald — a doco that joins the likes of Oscar-winner One Day in September, plus Touching the Void, the crowdsourced Life in a Day, and the also music-focused Marley and Whitney on the Scottish director's resume, as well as features such as The Last King of Scotland, State of Play, How I Live Now and The Mauritanian. Standing out in the the well-populated realm of Beatles movies, factual and dramatised alike, One to One: John & Yoko steps through Lennon and Yoko Ono's love for each other and for music, and also for doing what they can to make the world a better place. As much as that "two lovers" quote resonates in the movie, that idea wasn't one of the lenses through which Macdonald, a lifelong Beatles fan and someone who considers Lennon his first pop-culture hero, approached the film. "Not specifically, actually, the kind of love affair between them," he tells Concrete Playground. "I think that comes across as between the cracks, in a way." Instead, in a film that explores a marriage, a milestone concert that also gives the doco its title, and a moment — that's as fascinated with the reality that greeted John and Yoko when they moved to the US from Britain in 1971, how the couple witnessed the era through American TV and their activist efforts to make a difference IRL — he was keen to show Lennon and Ono's romance as a union of equals. [caption id="attachment_1010512" align="alignnone" width="1920"] © Bob Gruen / www.bobgruen.com[/caption] "I was very interested, though, in trying to give Yoko a bit more of a voice and get her perspective on this period, and on the immediate aftermath of this breaking up of The Beatles and the influence she had on John. And for the audience to see, I think, what to me was very clear as I looked at all this material — is that this is a real marriage of true partners, love partners but also creative partners, and the respect that they have for each other comes across in the film," Macdonald continues. "I think it's a very mature kind of love, I suppose, as in it's not the kind of usual movie romantic, tweeting-birds kind of love. It feels like love that is part of a profound relationship of respect. I think that's what's so striking about it." "And I'm particularly struck always by, when I watch the film, by seeing John go to the International Feminist Conference at the end — and thinking in early 1973, which other massive rockstar of that period would do that, would be the only man in the room with a bunch of very hardcore feminists, and be open to that, those ideas and that experience, and giving the platform to their partner in such a way? I think that even today, that would be quite rare with a male star." Macdonald's latest documentary started its life with the One to One concert footage, which was John's last full-length gig — and also his only one after The Beatles. An interview that the filmmaker heard with John speaking about how all he did was watch TV when he arrived in the US, which is quoted at the beginning of the movie, was just as crucial. So began a project with a tricky task, given how frequently cinema's focus falls upon John and The Beatles still. The job: when Sam Mendes' (Empire of Light) four films starring Harris Dickinson (Babygirl), Paul Mescal (Gladiator II), Barry Keoghan (Bird) and Joseph Quinn (Warfare) are on the way — and the Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)-produced Beatles '64 arrived in 2024, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week from Ron Howard (Jim Henson Idea Man) came out in the last ten years and The Beatles: Get Back by Peter Jackson (The Shall Not Grow Old) isn't even half-a-decade old (and that's without thinking about Nowhere Boy and Backbeat and so much more) — how do you come up with something that feels new? The answer here: fleshing out One to One: John & Yoko not only around the Madison Square Garden benefit concert for children with intellectual disabilities at Staten Island's Willowbrook institution, and not even just through the pair's music, either, but also by using their television viewing to give context to what was happening in America at the time. Also, by giving the movie the vibe — with home movies, plus unheard tapes of John and Yoko's phone calls, too — of hanging out with the pair. Accordingly, Macdonald pairs restored 16mm footage of the pivotal gig with personal clips, archival news, TV snippets and commercials, and even a recreation of John and Yoko's Greenwich Village apartment from the era. The duo's presence in the political and social movements of the time is in focus as well, as is simply revelling in their presence together. Sean Ono Lennon has said that it's the first film that's truly captured who his mother was as an artist and a person, Macdonald has shared. That's one of many striking elements to the doco. How clearly it highlights the similarities between the 70s and now, how it embraces John and Yoko's fondness for creative experimentation in its approach, its collage-like structure that the director likens to TikTok: they're others. We chatted to Macdonald about the above, plus what it means to him to make One to One: John & Yoko as such a Beatles and Lennon fan, his career journey and more. On Sean Ono Lennon Saying That This Is the First Film He's Seen That Has Truly Captured His Mother as an Artist and a Person "I was really happy with that, obviously, because first of all, you make anything about The Beatles or about The Beatles solo and there's so many films and so many books, and so much has been said and written. So to try to do anything that's new, that was my starting point. I don't want to make a film like every other film that's been made. I want to show something different. But I'm not going to factually show you much that's new — there are probably some things up here that the real Beatles fans can go 'oh that, I didn't know this little fact, that little fact', but it's not really about that. To me, it's more about the experiential thing of being with these people in a very domestic, everyday setting for a lot of it. I mean, just hanging with them. And I wanted people to have the sense of hanging out on the bed with John and Yoko. So naturally, of course, that means that you, because you're seeing Yoko not always in her public persona, I think you feel closer to her. And I think there's something about the phone calls, the phone calls that she's on — particularly the one where she talks about how The Beatles treated her, and how people sent her dolls with pins in them and things, which I think give you a great deal of empathy for her, which then is redoubled when you hear the story of her daughter Kyoko. Which, by the way, I thought I knew quite a lot about The Beatles — I didn't even know about Kyoko. And I think that says an awful lot about how her perspective has not been taken in terms of telling the story in the past. Because John and Yoko went to New York largely because they were looking for Kyoko. They were escaping from what they perceived as the unwelcoming attitude in Britain for Yoko, but they were primarily there because they were trying to find Yoko's daughter. And that drove them through all of this period, and yet that's not something that's talked about. So I as soon as I started to learn about that story and learn about how that was really the emotional driver for the concert being put on in the first place — this sense that both of them had for the terrible conditions that these kids were being brought up in, which was particularly raw for them because they both undergoing this sense of loss of Kyoko — I think once I put all that together, that gave a perspective on Yoko emotionally, which I think changes the way you feel about her. Because when you empathise with someone, you tend to like them more." On the Importance of Giving One to One: John & Yoko a Tangible Element Through a Detailed Recreation of Lennon and Ono's Greenwich Village Apartment "When I got involved in the film, as I said, I was thinking first and foremost about 'how can I open up a different kind of window on them and give people a sense of getting to know them on a deeper, more immediate level?'. And I heard this comment that John made, very early on in my research, where he talked about how television was his window on the world, and how he spent most of his time when he first arrived in America watching TV and learning about the country through the TV. And I thought — that's a light-bulb moment, I thought 'well, that's how I should structure the whole film, is around that concept. And we should see them watching TV or feel like we're with them, feel like they just left the room and they left the TV on and the cigarettes still in the ashtray'. And so, as I said earlier, to have the feeling that we are on the bed with them, watching what's going on in America — and I like the idea that we're understanding history through shards, in the same ways we do in everyday life. We don't have a perfect knowledge or understanding of what's going on around us. We pick up little bits and pieces, and we create a narrative in our heads. And that's I wanted to reproduce, that experience, which is the experience of how human beings pass through the world. We don't have perfect narratives that are presented to us and everything coheres and makes sense. We are taking these imperfect little moments and giving them meaning and putting them together in narratives." On Whether Macdonald Anticipated the Parallels Between America in the 70s and Today That Are Evident inthe Documentary "No, I actually didn't. I didn't. We started this, I guess, in early 2023, and the legal situation, the political situation in the world, was very different. And it did feel at times — still does feel — like the world is copying our movie. Things keep happening that we're like 'oh my god, that's like the scene where such and such happens in the film'. And I did for a long time wonder about whether, is this kind of echoing, is this something? I've since read quite a lot about it, actually, and I'm not the only person to have noticed it — it is something which quite a lot of historians have commented upon. And I think even if you go back in time, there's even earlier periods in American history which have a similar rise of populism, demonstrations, economic turmoil. I think a lot of those things come back in some cyclical way in America every 50–60 years. And I think that they'll probably come back in different ways in other countries. I think it's something I'd be very curious to find out more about. But I was struck, as we were making the film, that all these echoes and similarities just arose around me. Because it really was — we didn't know that Donald Trump was going to have an attempted assassination. We didn't know that Kamala Harris was going to be the first Black woman to stand for presidency. And we had Shirley Chisholm, who was trying to get on to that ticket [in 1972]. All these many, many connections, they weren't there when we started cutting the film, even. So it was peculiar. But I think that why I find it comforting in a way, is that we all like to think that our period is a particularly catastrophic, apocalyptic period. It's a kind of vanity, I suppose, we all have as human beings — you think 'oh my god, we're living through the worst of times'. But actually, to see that things were pretty bad before, passions were very high, and then we had Jimmy Carter and things. We had sort of boring presidents and stabilisation in the world, and things did get a little better. I suppose I took some comfort from that. But I guess you can read it also the other way around. You can read it as 'oh my god, why don't we learn anything?'." On Making One to One as a Lifelong Beatles Fan and Someone Who Considered Lennon His First Pop-Culture Hero "I think I — maybe in common with other people, I don't know — the passions that you have when you are in your early teenage years, or between the ages of 11 and 16 or whatever, you never feel passion for anything quite as much again in the way that you did for those things. Whether they be movies or songs or artists, whatever it is, I think you're more open and raw, and everything is new to you and it's super exciting. And so to be able to go back to one of the people who really was my great hero of that [age]. I think I was aware of The Beatles in 1979 when I was 11 or 12, and then John was shot, and then that confluence of those two things is what made him such a focus of attention for me. But I think that to be able to revisit that period of your life is real pleasure — from an adult perspective, from a more cynical, seen it all, been-there-done-that perspective. Because it reminds you of who you are and the passion that you had. And you can see how right you were in some ways, to love those things. And it reawakens that love that maybe you were a bit cynical about it. So yeah, I think I find myself, interestingly, in a lot of films and documentaries I've done, going back to this period in the 70s — which is, I guess, the formative period for me. I had an American grandmother and I used to go to stay with her all my holidays in America and watch TV. I remember the Nixon hearings and things like that being on TV. And I remember my grandmother supporting Nixon. I remember her vividly saying 'oh, that poor man, Mr Nixon, why don't they leave him alone?'. So maybe we're all revisiting our childhood experiences." On Whether One to One Was Actively Aiming to Match Lennon and Ono's Creative Experimentation with Its Own Approach "No, not so much. I was looking at what remains of them and what it says. I thought it would be an interesting process to just say 'I'm not going to take any extraneous information, very little extraneous information, in the film, except that which exists in archive footage and audio and whatever. I'm going to see what I can make, how I can create an experience, but also somewhat of a story'. And it's always a balance in this sort of film. I wanted it to be something that when you experience narrative, you feel like things move forward and change, but for it to also feel moment to moment like it's chaos and anarchy, and you don't know where it's going to go. But actually, I want the audience to feel that, as they watch it, like 'oh, the filmmakers do have an idea — they are taking me somewhere. This is going somewhere. There is a progression. There is a narrative'. So it's trying to finely balance the chaotic and the structured. And there is a very thought-out structure to it. But it just seems to me like it's interesting to use the crumbs that have been left down the back of the sofa. You can put it like that. It's like you live your life and most of it vanishes with you when you're gone, and those times are gone, but certain crumbs are left down the back of the sofa, and a few coins that fell out of your pocket — and what do they say about you? And they're not the whole truth. They can't be. Because we can never reconstruct the whole truth of the past. And then, not to get too pretentious, so that's what different documentary forms which are about the past are trying — different ways to evoke and describe that which you know can't be fully brought back to life, can't fully be understood, in an hour and a half or two hours or whatever it is. And so there's a joy for me in the experimentation, and in the trying to find a different way to bring this period to life, to bring these characters to life, to mix their personal lives with the bigger political scene, and the bigger cultural scene, without trying to explain it all too much. I've had younger viewers watch the film and say 'this is like the TikTok experience'. This is basically how young people experience the world, watching TikTok, where you just see people, characters, situations appear, and you are very rapidly are making calculations in your head about 'who are they? Where they from? What's the purpose of this? Are they selling me something? Are they just trying to be funny?'. And I think that's the way I want be able to experience this film — that you're making all these connections. You're not being totally passive in it. You have to bring your own mind, bring your own sense of narrative to it." On Macdonald's Three-Decade Career So Far, Including Jumping Between Documentaries and Dramas "I feel, on one level, just really lucky to continue to be able to make films and continue to be able to make them in the way that I want to make them. And I have to give thanks to Mercury Studios, who let me make this film — sort of a mainstream experimental film, if we call it that. And to get the opportunity for people to give you money to be able to make a film is always a privilege. To get a make a film which is idiosyncratic and personal is really an exceptional thing. So after 30 years of making documentaries and films, yeah, first of all I just feel lucky to have been able to do that and to have supported myself and made a living out of doing it. And I love doing something which you can never perfect. You're always having to realise what did and didn't work in what you last did, and try to do something new — and I think that's maybe the defining feature of my work, which is that it's very varied and I'm always excited to try something different, try something new and go with my own passions for the most part. Although sometimes, obviously, we do things for money — but for the most part we do things for passion. And also, I'm very happy that I've continued to do both documentary and fiction — and the breathing space that each one gives me and renews in me, that gives me the time to renew my passion for the other one. So when I make a documentary, I'm at the end of it and I'm like 'oh my god, I really want to work with some actors who give me exactly what I asked them to so I don't have to find it in all this footage' and vice versa." One to One: John & Yoko opened in Australian cinemas on Friday, June 20, 2025 — and streams via DocPlay from Monday, July 21, 2025. Images: Magnolia Pictures.
Fine dining institution Nel is known for its next-level set menus, with its always-popular Disney degustations taking beloved animated films and turning them into mind-blowing dishes. As the year comes to an end, the CBD venue is bringing some festive delight to its menu, this time, with an 11-course Christmas degustation. Available from Tuesday, November 16–Thursday, December 23, the cheery Christmas menu features dishes like Buddy the Elf's candy spaghetti, made with spinach linguini and Murray cod instead of marshmallows and chocolate syrup; plus Christmas crab; a turkey stuffing brioche; a coconut, black sesame and puffed rice dessert (inspired by the coal naughty children get); and Chrissy pudding. And if all that isn't enough, you can also opt for a drinks package, which includes paired cocktails and wines for $105. Though the menu is inspired by the childhood whimsy of this time of year, you'll need that adult salary to enjoy it, with the food menu setting you back $145 per person. The Christmas degustation menu is available for dinner Tuesday–Saturday, plus lunch on Saturdays in November and both Fridays and Saturdays in December.
If you're into an early morning workout, this week offers an opportunity to do things a little differently. Instead of heading to the gym or out for a jog, make your way into the CBD where Daybreaker is popping up. This part-yoga class, part-morning dance party will take over the Sydney Tower Eye (located 250-metres above the city) on Thursday, May 9 from 5.30–8.30am. The sunrise workout will begin with either a one-hour yoga class — that's accompanied by panoramic views of the city — or one hour of barre under a shower of flower petals in the sky-high 4D cinema. At 6.30am, DJ Veda and MC Mirrah will turn the party vibes up on a high energy dance floor. Apart from all of the exercise, expect healthy morning snacks to get you going — including kombucha, bliss balls and hot cuppas of mocha, cacao, espresso and chai. BYO yoga mats.
Kogarah will be transformed into a bustling outdoor art space as part of a new three-day festival. Un[contained] is set to take over Belgrave Street from Friday, June 4 until Sunday, June 6 with art, performances, food, drinks and music. From Friday, a series of shipping containers will be situated around Kogarah cotaining pieces from local and international artists, including new artworks from Vivid collaborators ANL Designs, and multi-dimensional light artist Kit Webster. Ariel performers will also take to the sky each night to perform their sky-high acrobatics. When it comes to food and drink, cult Sydney pop-up eatery Knafeh Bakery will bring its team of bearded bakers and their Jerusalem-style street food to the festival. Knafeh's food trucks are known for drawing huge crowds due to the music and performances from the chefs as much as the food itself. Gelato Messina will also be on hand serving its fan-favourite teats, alongside Noma's Burgers and drinks from Archie Rose. If you want to get in on the art, Pinot and Picasso paint-and-sip classes will be run across both Saturday and Sunday from 2pm. Tickets for the wine and art classes are $42.50 and pre-booking is recommended. Festivalgoers sensitive to loud noises or large crowds can attend the festival for a Quiet Hour on Sunday, June 6. The specially reserved hour will run as usual but with less sound, softer lighting and a smaller crowd from 1–2pm. Top image: Axiom by Kit Webster
Here we go again indeed: with the George Clooney- and Julia Roberts-starring Ticket to Paradise, a heavy been-there-done-that air sweeps through, thick with the Queensland-standing-in-for-Bali breeze. The film's big-name stars have bounced off each other in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Money Monster before now. Director Ol Parker has already sent multiple groups of famous faces to far-flung places — far-flung from the UK or the US, that is — as the writer of the Best Exotic Marigold flicks and helmer of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Enough destination wedding rom-coms exist that one of the undersung better ones, with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, is even called Destination Wedding. And, there's plenty of romantic comedies about trying to foil nuptials, too, with My Best Friend's Wedding and Runaway Bride on Roberts' resume since the 90s. Hurriedly throw all of the above into a suitcase — because your twentysomething daughter has suddenly announced she's marrying a seaweed farmer she just met in Indonesia, if you're Clooney and Roberts' long-divorced couple here — and that's firmly Ticket to Paradise. As The Lost City already was earlier in 2022, it too is a star-driven throwback, endeavouring to make the kind of easy, glossy, screwball banter-filled popcorn fare that doesn't reach screens with frequency lately. It isn't as entertaining as that flick, and it certainly isn't winking, nodding and having fun with its formula; sticking dispiritingly to the basics is all that's on Parker's itinerary with his first-timer co-scribe Daniel Pipski. But alongside picturesque vistas, Ticket to Paradise shares something crucial with The Lost City: it gets a whole lot of mileage out of its stars' charisma. A quarter-century back, David (Clooney, The Midnight Sky) and Georgia (Roberts, Gaslit) were the instantly besotted couple impulsively tying the knot (if Ticket to Paradise is successful enough to spawn more movies, a prequel about the pair's younger years will likely be on the list). Alas, when this film begins, they can't stand to be anywhere near each other — room, city or state — after splitting two decades back. With their only child Lily (Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick) graduating from college, they're forced to play faux nice for a few hours, but squabble over the armrest, then get publicly competitive about who loves their daughter more. This wouldn't be a rom-com led by Clooney and Roberts if schoolyard teasing logic didn't apply, though: they fight because sparks still fly deep down. And they keep verbally sparring when Lily announces a month later that she's met Bali local Gede (Maxime Bouttier, Unknown) on a getaway before she's supposed to put her law degree to its intended use, and that she'll be hitched within days. If another template that Ticket to Paradise happily follows is to be believed, parents don't respond well to their kids plunging into matrimony, especially without notice. David and Georgia are no different, desperately wanting to stop Lily from repeating their own mistakes and willing to zip halfway around the world to do so — hence the feature's airfare moniker. They attempt to unite over sabotaging the wedding, but old habits die hard amid tussling with biting dolphins, stealing rings and putting up with Paul (Lucas Bravo, Emily in Paris), Georgia's younger, deeply infatuated boyfriend. Amid drunken beer pong matches and daggy dances to 90s tracks, plus getting stuck in the Balinese jungle overnight as well, older feelings die harder still, of course — and a ticket to surprises or fresh material, this clearly isn't. While Clooney and Roberts' parts were written for them, Ticket to Paradise's creaky script really could've been trotted out with any well-known duo, character-wise. It's a far better film with this pair in it, though, and the sole reason to visit this sunny-enough but hardly paradisiacal slice of cinema. Everything they're both known for works a charm, from his silvery suaveness, reflective finesse and reassuring twinkle in the eye through to her megawatt smile and ability to ground cookie-cutter romantic-comedy contrivances — and their collective way with flinging barbed words back and forth. Ticket to Paradise is really a ticket to watching its leads and they deliver, by-the-numbers roles and all. The fact that Clooney and Roberts have become big-screen rarities somewhat, regardless of whether they're together, helps (his only film since they last combined in 2016's Money Monster is 2020's aforementioned The Midnight Sky, while she just has 2017's Wonder and 2018's Ben Is Back to her name). It's hardly astonishing, then, that the rest of the cast is largely left among the scenery — although Dever and her sparky Booksmart co-star Billie Lourd (American Horror Story), who plays Lily's hard-partying best friend Wren and steals scenes like her mother, Carrie Fisher, also has in the genre, do the best they can with supremely thinly written characters. If filmmakers want to keep popping them in movies together as well, that's always welcome. They fare better than anyone representing Bali is allowed to, including Bouttier. Infuriatingly, Hollywood hasn't grown out of ignoring or oversimplifying those who aren't white and privileged in many vacation-centric affairs, or going the comic-relief route (see: Agung Pindha as Gede's father Wayan), or ramping up the supposed exoticism of other cultures while making jokes about their languages and traditions — Emmy-winning TV series The White Lotus pointedly excluded lately. There's a self-consciousness to Ticket to Paradise's excited postcard-style mentions of how stunning Bali is, too, at least for everyone watching Down Under. Cinematographer Ole Birkeland (Ali & Ava) gives the movie the requisite wanderlust-courting sheen, including traversing beaches and mountains, but not knowing it was filmed in Australia is virtually impossible thanks to wall-to-wall media coverage during the late 2021–early 2022 shoot. That forced feeling doesn't gel with how hard the feature wants to be laidback and jaunty, as Clooney and Roberts' rapport genuinely is — even with David and Georgia's overt friction. This pair have done many things in their careers, jointly and apart, and making Ticket to Paradise anything more than standard isn't one of them. Seeing them team up in their first rom-com together is still worth watching for that alone, but consider this the cinema equivalent of an average package tour with great company.
Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, Fingernails) has more meals to cook, and streaming audiences are getting more kitchen chaos to consume. In delectable if hardly surprising news — and a development worth exclaiming "yes chef!" about, obviously — TV obsession The Bear has been renewed for season three. The hit series will dish up a third serving after season one proved best new shows of 2022 and season two ranks among the best returning series of 2023. So, expect more ins and outs at the titular restaurant, formerly sandwich shop The Original Beef of Chicagoland, as Carmy and his team navigate the hospitality industry's ups and downs. Exactly when The Bear will return hasn't been revealed, and neither has the number of episodes that'll be on the plate. The show's first season spanned eight instalments, while its second featured ten. Here's hoping that whenever it drops, it arrives in Australia and New Zealand at the same time as in America — it streams via FX in the US and Disney+ Down Under — which hasn't been the case for either season one or season two. If you missed The Bear's first season, it jumped into the mayhem when Carmy took over the diner after his brother's (Jon Bernthal, We Own This City) death. Before returning home, the chef's resume featured Noma and The French Laundry, as well as awards and acclaim. In season two, Carmy worked towards turning the space into an upscale addition to his hometown's dining scene, with help from the restaurant's trusty team — including Ayo Edebiri (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) as fellow chef Sydney, plus Ebon Moss-Bachrach (No Hard Feelings) as Richie, aka Cousin, aka Carmy's brother's best friend. Also key to The Bear: truly conveying what it's like to work in the hospitality industry and weather a restaurant kitchen's non-stop pressures. In both of its seasons so far, The Bear's creator Christopher Storer (who also has Ramy, Dickinson and Bo Burnham: Make Happy on his resume) has expertly balanced drama and comedy — and, in season two, he also delivered spectacular self-contained episodes that featured everyone from Olivia Colman (Heartstopper) and Will Poulter (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) to Bob Odenkirk (Lucky Hank) and Jamie Lee Curtis (Haunted Mansion). Guest stars aside, The Bear's regular roster of talent also spans Abby Elliott (Indebted) as Carmy's sister Natalie, aka Sugar — plus Lionel Boyce (Hap and Leonard), Liza Colón-Zayas (In Treatment) and Edwin Lee Gibson (Fargo) among the other Original Beef staff. "The Bear, which wowed audiences in its first season only to achieve even greater heights in season two, has become a cultural phenomenon," said Nick Grad, President, FX Entertainment, announcing the renewal. "We're so proud to partner with Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Josh Senior and the rest of the creative team, as well as the brilliant cast led by Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. What they and the crew have done is truly remarkable, and we and our partners at Hulu and Disney+ join fans in looking forward to the next chapter in the story of The Bear." There's no trailer for season three yet, of course, but you can check out the trailer for The Bear season two below: The Bear streams Down Under via Disney+. Season three doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when one is announced. Read our review of season one and review of season two. Images: Chuck Hodes/FX.
Bumps and jumps can happen at any time, but they feel extra eerie when October rolls around each year. So, when it comes to unleashing its spooky tales upon horror-loving Melburnians, acclaimed West End hit Ghost Stories has obviously chosen the exact right part of the calendar. Coming to Australia for the first time, Ghost Stories will bring its thrills and chills to the Athenaeum Theatre from this October. Exact dates are yet to be announced, but the season will run for eight weeks. And, it'll be doing so with the team behind a couple of other unsettling recent experiences: Melbourne-based Realscape Productions, who've been responsible for shipping container installations Seance, Flight and Coma, plus a number of horror audio experiences since 2020. Created, written and directed by Andy Nyman (Derren Brown) and Jeremy Dyson (The League of Gentlemen), and first staged in the UK back in 2010, Ghost Stories offers exactly what its name suggests. Leading the charge is fictional Professor of Parapsychology Phillip Goodman, who takes audiences through three of his cases. If it sounds familiar even though the production hasn't ever made it to our shores as yet, that's because Ghost Stories was turned into a film with The Office, The Hobbit and Sherlock star Martin Freeman a couple of years back — and also featuring Nyman as Goodman. This is the type of show where the less you know going in, the better. You want to experience those frightening tales afresh, after all. Audience members have been known to physically jump in their seats while they're watching, too, which is part of the point. "If people are paying their hard-earned money to see the show, we have a responsibility to give them more than they pay for," said Dyson in a statement. "We knew that we wanted to craft a play that would deliver something of substance to an audience, some solid ground underneath the fun, that would leave a deeper, darker residue and be harder to shake off," continued both Dyson and Nyman. Yes, the show has been likened to watching a horror movie play out on stage — so if you that sounds like your ideal way to spend 80 minutes, prepare to be in your element. If you're easily scared, you probably already know to stay away. Check out Ghost Stories' Australian trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfabPFfTm6g Ghost Stories will hit Melbourne's Athenaeum Theatre sometime this October, with exact dates yet to be announced. For further details, and to sign up for the ticket waitlist, head to the production's website. Top image: Chris Payne.
The National Indigenous Art Fair will return to the Sydney Harbour foreshore this July to showcase creations from First Nations artists, designers and makers for its fourth annual art market. And, it's arriving just in time for NAIDOC Week 2023. Over Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2, the Overseas Passenger Terminal in The Rocks will be filled with art by Indigenous creatives from some of the nation's most remote places. Arrive just before 9:45am to witness the Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony, before the fair officially kicks off at 10am. Along with the visual art, there will be live performances, panel discussions, bush food and a communal weaving circle, all aligned with this year's NAIDOC Week theme — For Our Elders. [caption id="attachment_903679" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Basket weaving with May Grace Johnson, Destination NSW[/caption] At the ethical marketplace, there'll be stallholders aplenty from remote art centres and Sydney's Blak Markets, where you can purchase art, handmade jewellery, homewares, food and more. Even better: all proceeds go directly back to the artist and First Nations communities. You can also check out cooking demonstrations (with a celebrity guest chef or two), participate in workshops and enjoy the live music and dance performances. Check out the lineup here. Entry is via gold coin donation to support remote artists attend the event. And you can expect to have company, with more than 10,000 people heading along over the two days in 2022. [caption id="attachment_903682" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Djiriba Waagura Dance Group[/caption] The National Indigenous Art Fair will take place from 10am–5pm on Saturday, July 1 and Sunday, July 2. For more information, visit the NIAF website. Top images: Edith Richards, Walkatjara Art (third); Elvis, Anindilyakwa Arts (fourth); Kaltukatjara Arts Workers, Beryl Bell and LeonieBennett, Rosie Frecheville courtesy of Tjarlirli Art (sixth); Artists of Ampilatwatja, Betty, Minnie, Colleen and Beverley (seventh); Gabadu Music, Djina Yilaga Choir, Destination NSW (eighth).
There's a moment in Jane Campion's (The Piano, In the Cut) latest film Bright Star, wherein Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) lays on the bed, light streaming through the window, a summer breeze gently rushing up her long voluminous skirt. The camera lingers almost a little too long, and one is left feeling slightly dizzy from Fanny's romantic and rather chaste, adolescent longing. It's a nice summation of the relationship that carries the film.Written and directed by Campion, Bright Star tells the too-short story of an all enveloping love found between the eighteen year old Fanny and her penniless poet and neighbour, John Keats (Ben Wishaw). We know Keats today as one of the foremost of the literary Romantics, a renowned and beloved poet, but as the film unfurls in the 1818 Regency period in England, Keats is, at twenty-three, receiving ill reviews for his work, slaving away in dire shabbiness. As much, however, as Keats or the idea of him is found lingering in every frame, this is the film of Fanny, eldest sister to a younger brother and sister, and daughter to a widowed mother (Kerry Fox). Strong-willed and creative though her love and talent with dress design, Fanny is immediately drawn to Keats and his slightly brooding, troubled artist persona. Their romance takes a long time to take hold, and continues to burn slowly throughout the film, as it did in life. Likewise, it is constantly fraught with danger, threatening to be unhinged by Keats' best friend and writing partner, Brown (the excellent Paul Schneider) and the underlying knowledge that Keats' financial situation does not allow him to pursue Fanny in a respectable fashion. Though Fanny speaks of and defends the importance of amusement, she is a muse to Keats, whose writing flourishes when she is near. Brown, who occupies some of the best scenes, mistakes Fanny's ardent distaste for him as flirty banter, and seeks to both elevate the work of his friend whom he sees (rightfully) as a genius and keep him confined, but is ultimately unable to do so.A languid tale of love and intimacy found within inspiration and affection, it unfolds slowly and beautifully, much like Keats' very prose, and Fanny's burgeoning feminine sexuality (a common thread throughout many of Campion's films). The new, suffocatingly tender feelings of romance are tempered by formal restraint. Kerry Fox as Fanny's mother is both nervous and understanding, knowing of the relationship that is building and its slim chance of survival. Keats, as history states, died criminally young for such a tremendous talent, aged just twenty five. Equal parts a lovely daydream and heaving, lovelorn sobs, Bright Star is something of an intimate masterpiece. Though there seems too few scenes of Fanny and John alone together â€" at least, enough for the viewer to be able to understand the devastating gravity of their feelings as written in their letters â€" it's a sad thing to realise that their time together was actually that scant, away from prying, concerned eyes. As if pulled from the very poem the film is named for, Bright Star is almost "in lone splendour" at the tail end of the year's cinematic releases. The only other film to capture the life and habits of an artist so accurately in recent years was the French film Seraphine from earlier in 2009, both with their moments of ecstasy and tragedy. With Bright Star, it is that rather precise ratio and the combined talent of Wishaw and Cornish, that makes the film such a lingering, resonant delight.https://youtube.com/watch?v=EP4Kn1P8CFw
Plato imagined Atlantis as a city of concentric rings: of land within water, water within land. Thomas More created a Utopia that occupied strange laws and a crescent island. And when Marco Polo sat with Khublai Khan, the emperor of China, and described his empire to him town by town, Italian author Italo Calvino imagined these towns as Invisible Cities of story and coincidence. Taking its cue more roughly from Calvino's dream cities than his predecessors' yen for a perfect one, Penguin Plays Rough is re-imagining their December evening of contact fiction into Your Cities Re-Imagined. Each of the evening's authors will be re-working a metropolis in their mind's eye, offering up a new vision of geography. Melbourne Comedy Festival star Luke Ryan will be reshaping his native Perth, Elena Maria Gomez will put Brisbane in its place and Sonja Dechian will say words for Melbourne. Standing in for Sydney will be Annaliese Constable, while Nick Sun will pull London into Aussie orbit. There are still four state capitals left, and space for five extra wildcard readers. You can be content to listen, or bring a page of story, sign up on the night and see what city-making springs from your imagination. Image by Steve Swayne.
UPDATE: May 1, 2020: Ad Astra is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube and iTunes. When humanity soars into space, what do we hope to find? Every mission beyond the earth has considered this question, as has almost every movie on the subject. Now, it bubbles inside James Gray's Ad Astra. Initially in this thoughtful and thrilling near-future set film, the answer seems simple. A dedicated astronaut whose calm nature earns him ample praise, Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) has been tasked with literally following in his long-lost father's (Tommy Lee Jones) footsteps. But this quest couldn't be more complicated, with Roy trying to stop a threatening series of interstellar power surges, working through his issues with the assumed-dead dad he's always tried to emulate, and grappling with his place in a mysterious, expansive universe. In his earthbound but also stellar 2016 film The Lost City of Z, Gray contemplated a comparable conundrum, telling the true tale of British explorer Percy Fawcett's trek through the South American jungle. Focusing on another adventurer on both an external and internal journey, it couldn't have been a better precursor to Ad Astra, with the two movies sharing aching parallels. Wherever humankind is stranded, we're just trying to make sense of it all, the filmmaker posits — and whether we're stuck in lush tropics or desolate space, we're holding a mirror up to our souls. Seemingly sparse yet filled with endless intricacies, space suits Ad Astra's protagonist. While Pitt's measured narration gifts viewers a window into his character's head, Roy isn't forthcoming about his feelings otherwise. Again and again, he takes mandatory psychological evaluations, utters what he knows he's supposed to and passes with flying colours. In flashbacks, he's distant with his wife (Liv Tyler), and when he's joined on his new mission by one of his father's old friends (Donald Sutherland), he's unfazed. That said, Roy is unsurprisingly unsettled to learn that his dad might still be out there, and still trying to find extraterrestrial life instead of reclaiming the life he left behind. The fate of the world may be at stake, but a sea of internal turmoil accompanies his venture via the moon to Mars, all to beam his father a government-approved message. Co-writing Ad Astra's script with Ethan Gross (TV's Fringe), Gray paints Roy as someone equally fixated and haunted. Conflict rages both around and within him, as a man so accustomed to control faces existence's many uncertainties. Sometimes, the film launches physical obstacles into his path, as seen in expertly staged scenes involving rampaging moon pirates and savage space travellers. Often, of course, the hurdles are intellectual, psychological, ideological and emotional. Forty years ago, Apocalypse Now depicted a similar struggle, which won't be lost on Ad Astra's audience — but as exceptional as Francis Ford Coppola's war epic is, the comparison doesn't quite do Gray's feature justice. Ad Astra also shows signs of 2001: A Space Odyssey's influence, as all sci-fi flicks have for the past half-century; however its vision of space — complete with rampant capitalism and ol' fashioned human ruthlessness — is definitely its own. The movie also possesses its own weight and texture, as firmly entwined with its leading man. Turning in sublime performances in consecutive films, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor (and also one of Ad Astra's producers) proves a commanding choice to navigate Roy's journey. Pitt's ability to simultaneously eat and emote has long been noted but, here, it's his talent for conveying so much through a silent, searching stare that ripples across the galaxy. Enlisting the ever-excellent talents of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (Dunkirk), Gray gives viewers plenty of time to gaze at Pitt's increasingly weary face and its quiet depths. Always a detail-oriented director, he peers just as intently at distant planets, gleaming spaceships and empty nothingness, these entrancing visions speaking volumes as well. Indeed, Ad Astra is a patient and exacting movie. It never lets a moment — or a frame or a plot development — go to waste. When it sends Roy hurtling from a towering space antenna early in the piece, for example, the sequence serves multiple purposes. As well as showing the astronaut's immense grace under pressure, it astutely illuminates the tenuous nature of his and all existence. Breathtaking, tense and gripping, the huge plummet couldn't better encapsulate this mesmerising and moving film, too — a movie that reaches for the stars, grasps them, but knows that every leap comes with a fall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsCNKuB93BA
Three Blue Ducks' popular Sunday barbecue banquets have returned, offering a feast of epic proportions. Head down to the farm-to-table eatery's Rosebery outpost each Sunday and you'll be treated to roasted meats and veggies as well as live music and a few drinks. Each week the $50 per person menu is slightly different, but you can always expect a tasty entree, a drink on arrival and a succulent barbecued main that is sure to have you on the couch nursing a food baby come Sunday night. For example, on Sunday, November 28, guests will be treated to salt-baked beetroot with goats cheese cream to start, before choosing between a spit roast pig (crackling and hot sauce included, of course) or butter-roasted celeriac. Both dishes will be accompanied by a baked jacket potato fitted out with all the trimmings and celeriac remoulade. Bonus goodies like fresh sourdough with chicken skin butter, Sydney rock oysters and Skull Island prawns can be added on for an additional charge, and kids can enjoy a pint-sized barbecue meal for just $15.
Want to get the crew together to enjoy a long, leisurely lunch with harbour views and rosé aplenty? Head to The Glenmore's top-notch rooftop for its series of bottomless lunches, taking place on the first Sunday of every month from 12pm. Kick back in the sunshine as you feast on a share-style lunch with the crew. Food-wise, the menu changes regularly but, to give you an idea, think prosciutto with onion cream, hazelnut and lavosh, sumac-crusted salmon with kohlrabi and apple salsa, and roast potatoes dressed in parsley, capers and horseradish. Of course, no bottomless lunch is complete without two hours of free-flowing rosé. To top it off there will be live music all day, completing the stunning rooftop vibe. The Glenmore's bottomless rooftop lunches kick off at noon on the first Sunday of the month. To book a table, head to the website.
"Everything they told you about severance is a lie." Those words might ring true in the world of Severance, the Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller that debuted in 2022 and proved one of that year's best new shows, but it isn't accurate about the series itself. Based on its first season, this mindbender deserves all the praise that it gets and more, and it's all 100-percent correct. If the teaser trailer for the upcoming second season is anything to go by, it'll be serving up more work-life nightmares — and twists, tension and must-see viewing — from January. Thinking about how to best balance your professional and personal spheres, and the time you dedicate to them, is an annual tradition when each new year starts. The Christmas break has been and gone, everyone is making resolutions for the 12 months ahead, and better dividing your time between work and everything else becomes a goal for most. Come Friday, January 17, 2025, however, the subject will get a bigger push via this hugely anticipated TV return — and so will how work-life balance can weigh on your mind, or not. Capitalising on perfect timing, Apple TV+ is finally ending the wait for more Severance, the series where disconnecting from your job come quittin' time — and giving your gig every ounce of your focus during your daily grind — has become literal in a hellish way. At Lumon Industries, employees agree to undertake the titular procedure, which splits their memories between work and home. But as Macrodata Refinement division employee Mark S (Adam Scott, Loot) start to discover, nothing about the situation is what it seems. Severance's comeback calls for a waffle party, an egg bar or a melon bar — or at least a big bunch of blue balloons with the face of Mark S on them. The latter have popped up in sneak peeks at the new season so far, including the date announcement clip and the just-released teaser trailer. If you missed season one, its dive into the kind of scenario that Black Mirror might've dreamed up, and technology that could've been used if Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was about punching the clock instead of romance, saw Mark S willingly sign up for severance, all to help process his grief over the death of his wife. And he's happy with the situation until his work BFF Petey (Yul Vazquez, The Outsider) leaves suddenly without saying goodbye, then new staff member Helly (Britt Lower, American Horror Stories) comes in to replace him — and instantly starts questioning the insidious setup, the rules and restrictions needed to keep it in place, and why on earth her "outie" (as the outside versions of Lumon employees are known) agreed to this in the first place. In season two, Mark and his work pals will attempt to dig deeper into the consequences of the severance procedure, and trying to escape it. They'll also learn the ramifications of messing with the system — and Lumon isn't just filled with the same familiar faces. Tramell Tillman (Hunters), Zach Cherry (Fallout), Jen Tullock (Perry Mason), Michael Chernus (Carol & the End of the World), Dichen Lachman (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), John Turturro (Mr & Mrs Smith), Christopher Walken (Dune: Part Two) and Patricia Arquette (High Desert) all return — with new cast members including Gwendoline Christie (Wednesday), Bob Balaban (Asteroid City), Merritt Wever (Memory), Alia Shawkat (The Old Man) and John Noble (Twilight of the Gods). Ben Stiller (Escape at Dannemora) is back as a director on five episodes, and executive producer across the whole season, with ten episodes on the way. Apple TV+ will drop instalments through until Friday, March 21, 2025. Check out the teaser trailer for Severance season two below: Severance returns for season two on Friday, January 17, 2025 via Apple TV+.
The current shows at the ACP present the diversity of contemporary photographic practice. In Francesca Rosa’s Interior Disaster we see still-life compositions that provide documentation of a decomposing household. Familiar things like mattress quilting, linoleum and dated kitchen tiles make a delicate contrast to the devastating effects of Cyclone Larry.Gallery 3 holds Christopher Ireland’s portrait series, Breathe. The Sydney-based photographer captures the faces of women who have lost their husbands to asbestos-related diseases, creating poignant images full of loss, sadness and hope. Finally, a dramatic counterpoint to the domestic and intimate is provided by the jaw-dropping, large-scale aerial mining landscapes by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. While you’re aware that you’re looking at the massacred landscape of Western Australia, their beauty is undeniable.Image: Edward Burtynsky, Otter Juan Coronet Mine #1 Kalgoorlie, Western Australia 2007.
This month, Gallery 9 is welcoming back Israel-born artist Tonee Messiah for A New Famine, her ninth solo exhibition with the Darlinghurst gallery. A painter uniquely skilled in gentle observation, Messiah is known for her intuitive ability to aesthetically represent emotion, to mysteriously capture the fleeting, poetic and interior moments in life that are often challenging to pin down. Likening painting for her to another form of thinking, she describes her latest series in A New Famine as "landscapes of the mind". Building surfaces with both soft and hard forms that merge and overlap in an "archaeological drift", the paintings offer up soft, unfurling shapes and blooms alongside denser areas of pastel and crayon. Placing agitation alongside a floating weightlessness, the series conveys both a sense of movement and mystery. It's the type of show where you'll stare deeper and deeper into a painting until you feel at risk of falling in. Fun fact: Messiah has been described as one of the most collectible young artists in Sydney by industry folks. Why not go along and fantasise about where you'd hang your very own? Image: Tonee Messiah, Terrarium Ecology [cropped], 2017.
One must admit that when it comes to our import/export trade-off with Britain, we trump them every time. I mean, we’ve donated Neighbours, Violet Crumbles, the Minogue sisters, and the list goes on. Meanwhile, what have they given us in return? The Queen? And what has she done for us lately? But now, in what can only be considered a noble attempt at evening out the score, the UK brings us the iconic international electro music festival Creamfields. A virgin to our shores, Creamfields, coupled with the Totem Onelove Group, will be pulling out all stops for this inaugural affair, with a lineup to rival any inflated superclub in the peak of European summer. Headliners include the Bloody Beetroots, who will debut their live show; one third of Swedish House Mafia group Steve Angello; MSTRKRFT, who we all know from their nifty remixes of other peoples music; and oh so many more. Now in its 12th consecutive year, the Creamfields mothership docks in over 17 countries around the world and will commence its tour of Oz on Saturday, May 1, at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion and surrounds, before jetting off to Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. With the first and second release tickets already hoovered up by hungry festival fanatics, be sure to jump on the third and final opportunity to revel in the frothy fields of cream for what promises to be a first-class fiesta.
Winter has well and truly arrived in Sydney, which means it's time to bust out your warmest winter woollies once again. If you're a fan of frostier climates, you'll want to celebrate with some mates over a mulled wine. To celebrate the start of winter (and the reopening of restaurants, bars, cafes and pubs), a heap of private igloos are popping up across Sydney, so you can get your winter escape without even having to leave the city. Dubbed the Winter Igloo Garden, the pop-up winter wonderlands have taken over Surry Hills bar The Winery and Darling Harbour's Cargo, with one slated to open at King Street Wharf's Bungalow 8 in late July. Each igloo can fit between two and eight people and come with twinkly fairy lights. At The Winery, you'll be chilling out in your wintry bubble with up to seven of your mates. For $69 per person, you'll get a cocktail (mulled wine or Adams Apple) on arrival and be tucking into a heartwarming three-course feast with pumpkin arancini, pork cotoletta and tiramisu. Want to take things up a notch? You can add on two hours of booze for an additional $39 a head. And you can get extra toasty by purchasing a $5 fleece blanket, which you can then take home, too. You can book your spot over here. If you're keen to kick back in a waterfront igloo, then head to Cargo instead. Here, two hours in your own transparent dome will cost you $59 a head — and includes four tasty dishes and endless drinks, with a choice of beer, bubbles, white and red wine. For food, you'll be feasting on crumbed and fried jalapeños, pulled wagyu sliders, fish 'n' chips and a mini margherita pizza. To book, head to Cargo's website. Private igloos are available to hire at The Winery and Cargo, with one coming to Bungalow 8 next month — we'll be sure to keep you updated.
Lock in for summer, as Finely Tuned presents six high-end warehouse events at Carriageworks. Bringing together some of electronic music's biggest and brightest names, each event fuses industrial aesthetics, precision lighting and cutting-edge tunes. Held across multiple dates from Monday, December 29–Friday, January 16, 2026, Finely Tuned aspires to create a ritualised dance music fixture on Sydney's cultural calendar. Think London's Printworks, Manchester's The Warehouse Project or Berlin Atonal, where ambitious curation leads to larger-than-life club experiences. Headlining the opening event on December 29, British electronic icons Underworld serve up generation-defining anthems, while cult favourite Ross From Friends presents his club-pop project Bubble Love. Next, on January 2, French industrial artist I Hate Models brings frenetic energy, with support from Polish techno maximalist VTSS and emerging Scottish DJ Sim0ne. Meanwhile, on January 3, German house heavyweight Ben Böhmer will deliver his euphoric audiovisual show, joined by Melbourne's rising star Pretty Girl and a b2b set from PARIS and Juno Mamba. [caption id="attachment_1017760" align="alignnone" width="1920"] John Gorrigan[/caption] Looking ahead, essential Dutch DJ Chris Stussy hits Carriageworks on January 10, supported by a rousing b2b set from UK breakouts Josh Baker and Prospa. Then, January 16 sees Grammy-nominated house icon CamelPhat joined by melodic house star Samantha Loveridge and deep house selector OLIIV. Finally, rounding out THE WORKS' debut season on January 25, Ibiza mainstay Michael Bibi, performing on the back of huge shows at Glastonbury and Coachella. "We're very excited to bring this new curated event series to one of Eora's most exciting creative venues," says Finely Tuned founder Simon Beckingham. "THE WORKS takes inspiration from the globe's best electronic music spaces, combining a world-class lineup with an exceptional level of production to create a series of warehouse events unlike anything previously seen in Sydney."
Purple Sneakers — a Sydney-based crew dedicated to emerging club music — turns 13 this year and, to celebrate, the team is taking over every nook and cranny of The Landsdowne Hotel. Happening as part of Vivid Sydney, this epic one-night shindig will host a stack of artists, who'll be keeping the party going for seven hours on Saturday, June 15. The lineup is jam-packed. Gracing the stages a verious points between 8pm and 3am will be Kota Banks, Mickey Kojack, Din, Rebel Yell and Close Counters, among others. There'll also be DJ sets from new Triple J House Party host Ebony Boabu, plus appearances by local favourites Nectar's Merph, Lex Deluxe and Ayebatonye, as well as the next generation of Purple Sneakers DJs. Since kicking off in 2006, Purple Sneakers has given career-launching gigs to the likes of Flume, Rüfüs du Sol, Alison Wonderland, Cloud Control and Nina Las Vegas, as well as hosting Melbourne premieres for both Disclosure and Flosstradamus. These days, the team runs a website, radio show and regular parties around Australia.
Recreating a neighbourhood stalwart in a suburb with no real community heart is a tough task. The flurry of suits that blow in and out at lunch time, the tourists tracking back from Circular Quay hungry for an arvo snack, and the Friday after-work cheese and wine crowds all are a far cry from the loyal locals you see at Newtown's Continental Deli. But, even so, the boys behind the neighbourhood deli-cum-bar — Head Chef Jesse Warkentin, General Manager Mikey Nicolian and Porteno's Joe Valore and Elvis Abrahanowicz — have managed to successfully transplant a bit of their neighbourhood charm to Continental's new Phillip Street location in the CBD. "Since we opened Newtown, we've continued to hear that the only problem is that there isn't one in every neighbourhood," says Nicolian. "So, we wanted to bring it to as many people as we could." Menu-wise, much remains the same. You'll still find artisanal cheeses, an outrageous list of charcuteries, the steak tartare with Parmigiano-Reggiano and some sandwiches at lunch. And although pasta dishes such as the rigatoni with broccolini, cuttlefish and sausage have been added, it's not the main focus. "Having pasta is not that big a difference," insists Nicolian. "It's something that we love and it fits our identity but we're definitely not a pasta joint." And of course, Continential Deli CBD is a champion of conservas, particularly seafood. Offering everything from anchovies to canned clams and Continental's own tinned Fremantle occy. "It's a pretty cool world to explore once you get into them," says Nicolian. "It can be as approachable as you like, with sardines for example or you can go as extravagant as you like with something like baby eel at $87. It's not cat food." The drinks are a little daintier (although Continental's still play on classics) with elegant glassware to match. Canned cocktails such as the famed Mar-tinny, Can-hattan and Cosmopoli-tin are still very much available with a new one in the works, the Ameri-can-o. Plus, the wine list's six times the size. The fit-out, designed by co-owner Sarah Doyle, has a refined Euro bistro touch with the New York accents of Art Deco posters and dark wood and leather chairs. Round tables fill the restaurant section by the open deli and kitchen with a 16-seat marble top bar on the other side of what Nicolian calls "the wall of wine." Sure, the one-level, open-plan space is different to Newtown's split-level terrace, but it echoes the same familial sentiment. "It's a different environment [to Newtown] but the backbone of the place is still very closely linked," notes Nicolian. "It's a homely environment. You want people to feel at home." Continental Deli is open at 167 Phillip Street, Sydney from noon till midnight Monday to Friday, and 6pm till midnight on Saturday. Images: Kitti Smallbone.
Ever wondered what words taste like as they roll off the tongue? From the delectable to the putrid, James Wannerton has compiled a smorgasbord of the London Underground. For him, winding through the Tube is a visceral, gastronomic experience. For example, Bond Street is the acidic bite of hair spray, Euston Square is the meaty sweetness of caramelised lamb and Willesden Junction is the translucent texture of evaporated milk. The specificity is astounding. However, it's not just when Wannerton is rocketing through the underground that he is plagued by different tastes, but in daily life as well. For example, he reveals on his website, "If you are called Virginia, Denise, Donna, Helen or Christine, my brain unfortunately places you at a disadvantage. Sorry. I can't help it." Wannerton has lexical-gustatory synaesthesia, a condition characterised by the involuntary taste testing of words; it is the conflation of senses that are normally experienced separately. Though his map may come across as fun and eclectic, Wannerton's process of creating it was a meticulous operation that took 38 years. According to him, some stations required revisiting as tastes and textures change with the general ambience of the station. Further, the flavour map can actually have a pragmatic purpose. Researchers can use resources like this to study links between taste synaesthesia and word formation. You have to admire Wannerton’s commitment to accuracy. However, apparently the London underground is just an appetiser; he has now turned his taste buds towards creating similar diagrams of the New York subway and Toronto network. Via Fast Co.Design.
The Love Tilly Group has been championing small bars for years now, including via the tiny Love, Tilly Devine, which is hidden in a Darlinghurst back street; the CBD's Ragazzi, a haven for pasta and wine; and newer additions such as Spanish vermouth and snack bar La Salut. The accomplished hospitality crew has won over Harbour City hearts with its intimate and singular venues, and also landed several spots on our lists of Sydney's best bars and restaurants. But now, the group has outgrown the cosy settings of its previous ventures, opening its most ambitious space yet: the 120-seat Palazzo Salato on Clarence Street. Announced back in March and now open within the YCK Precinct, this inner-city spot for all things pasta and wine is located in the heritage-listed former Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe building, and pulls inspiration from New York's Gramercy Tavern and the trattorias of Rome. The expansive restaurant and bar features multiple spaces that are slowly being unveiled, starting with a walk-in-only bar overlooking Clarence Street, a lavish dining room and a 20-seat space dedicated to private bookings. Later in the year, you can expect a large bar and outdoor dining space to open underneath the current space with a separate entrance off Kent Street. Food-wise, handmade pasta is at the core of the menu, as also proves the case with previous Love Tilly openings like Ragazzi and Fabbrica. Potato-stuffed scarpinocc, spanner crab mafaldine, and bottarga and egg yolk spaghetti alla chitarra each grace the menu alongside other less carb-focused highlights like blue-eye trevalla with pipis, flat-iron steak topped with salato butter, and raw black and white garlic tri-tip. An impressive 600-bottle wine list has been curated to compliment the classic Ragazzi-style pasta menu, pulling together drops from across the world. Expect a wide span of varieties and blends, ranging from the expected through to vintage 60s and 70s amari, plus rare Italian wines, with 30-plus drops available by the glass at any one time. "While we've previously focused on a single country's wines at each venue — for example Australian at Love, Tilly Devine and France at Dear Sainte Éloise — this one will, excitingly, be a lot more international," said Love Tilly Group's Matt Swieboda when the venue was first announced. Inside, the heritage-listed space has been transformed with brass pendants, leather banquettes and luxe velvet backrests. Framed artwork and silk prints add a burst of colour, while the branding featuring otherworldly characters injects a playful touch to the restaurant. The team has worked with an all-star team of designers and tastemakers to bring Palazzo Salato's lavish interior to life with illuminated signs, ceramic tiles, wine maps guiding you through what you're drinking and a Louis Wayling mural at the bar. All of this combines into the logical next step for the award-winning venue group as it continues to expand without losing its charm. Palazzo Salato is now open at 201 Clarence Street, Sydney. It operates 12pm–12am Monday–Friday and 4pm–12am Saturday. Images: Nikki To for Buffet Digital.
Since mid-August, residents of Sydney's Local Government Areas of concern haven't just been under stricter lockdown restrictions than folks across the rest of the city — they've also been under a nighttime curfew that's limited movement even further between the hours of 9pm–5am. But from tonight, Wednesday, September 15, that'll no longer be the case, with New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announcing that the curfew will be ditched. "Pleasingly, after receiving advice from both police and [NSW] Health, given we've hit the 80-percent milestone across the state, we're able to lift the curfew in those areas of concern from tonight," said the Premier, who made her second appearance at NSW's daily COVID-19 press conferences this week (after announcing last week that she'd only be fronting up when there was significant news). "This is a whole-of-government decision based on a number of factors, but I want to send this strong message: we can't move on anything else just now. We need everybody to hold the line. Please make sure that if you live in those Local Government Areas of concern that you stick to every other rule that's in place," the Premier continued. Accordingly, people who live in the Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta and Strathfield LGAs, as well as 12 suburbs in the Penrith, can now leave their homes at any time — as long as they're abiding by the other lockdown rules. That includes the two-hour rule around outdoor recreation, the strict five-kilometre rule when it comes to venturing away from your home, and all of the other stay-at-home conditions around what is and isn't permitted under lockdown. NSW recorded 1,259 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. Two new cases were acquired overseas, and 36 previously reported cases have been excluded following further investigation. pic.twitter.com/BADIDtqn2Z — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 15, 2021 The news came as Berejiklian announced 1259 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24-hour reporting period, and also revealed that aforementioned 80-percent milestone — with 80 percent of eligible NSW residents having received a single dose of a coronavirus vaccine. That mark is notable as it means the government can reasonably expect the state to get to the 80-percent double jabbed threshold, because if someone has had one dose of the vax then they're likely to get the second dose. At the 70-percent fully vaxxed mark, NSW's roadmap to easing restrictions will kick in, with more rules then relaxing again when 80 percent of eligible people in NSW have been fully jabbed. Asked why other restrictions aren't yet loosening in hotspot LGAs as yet, the Premier said that "the best advice we have is that it's too early and too risky to do anything further today. But as a token of our appreciation for reaching the 80-percent milestone, given feedback from police, who suggest that compliance is improving in many areas where perhaps previously it was not, plus the health advice about mental health challenges and the risks of not providing people a little bit of relief, all of that was balanced up and has been balanced up over some time. We review those restrictions, we review what we're imposing on the community matched against the data every single day and it's just not feasible at this time ahead of any further health advice to move on anything else." As always, Sydneysiders are also asked to continue to frequently check NSW Health's long list of locations and venues that positive coronavirus cases have visited. If you've been to anywhere listed on the specific dates and times, you'll need to get tested immediately and follow NSW Health's self-isolation instructions. In terms of symptoms, you should be looking out for coughs, fever, sore or scratchy throat, shortness of breath, or loss of smell or taste — and getting tested at a clinic if you have any. The curfew in Sydney's 12 LGAs of concern will lift from tonight, Wednesday, September 15. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: Stilgherrian via Flickr.
Think Apple gives the most visionary tech demos? The man whose 1968 'Mother of All Demos' showed us computer technology we'd still be using today passed away this week at the age of 88. Douglas Carl Engelbart was an inventor and engineer best known for creating the mouse. But he and his team at the Stanford Research Institute (now known as SRI International) actually showcased an eerie amount of still-familiar technology at their oN-Line System presentation in 1968. Video still exists of the entire 1 hour, 40-minute of it, but perhaps the coolest moment is this, in which he demonstrates the basics of word processing, copy-and-pasting, hypertext and something of a graphical user interface. In the next video, you can see the mouse in action. ("I don't know why we call it a mouse, I apologise. I started that way and we never did change it.") Theirs is a boxy thing with two wheels. In patent terms, an "X-Y position indicator control for movement of the hand to move a cursor over the display on a cathode-ray tube." Later, he demonstrates video conferencing. Seriously. It's like he made up the future, and then it all went ahead and happened. Engelbart's inventions never made him particularly rich — SRI didn't really realise the value of the mouse when they patented it — but he's regarded as a visionary in the industry.
A new restaurant inspired by French cuisine is set to open in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the team behind the Watsons Bay Hotel, The Farm in Byron Bay and The Imperial. The Sydney Collective has unveiled plans for Whalebridge, a new waterfront French restaurant that's on its way to Circular Quay with an expected opening date of later this month. The menu at Whalebridge has been crafted by Executive Chef Will Eliot who has worked across Cumulus Inc, London's St John and Restaurant Hubert. Elliot says they've created a fresh take on French dishes for Sydney. "What's exciting about Whalebridge is the opportunity to design a menu which is entirely new to Sydney. These are produce-driven dishes rooted in traditional French technique and the articulation of those flavours," he said. "I love good produce treated simply, that's why I love French cooking. It has very humble origins, but it's been refined over so many years to bring out the best in something, without masking what made it good in the first place." On the menu, you'll find house specialties that celebrate French cooking and fresh local seafood including bouillabaisse de Marseille and lobster thermidor. An array of tinned goods reminiscent of Newtown's Continental Deli and an expansive selection of caviar will be on offer to start you off, as will mains like stuffed zucchini, duck confit and steak or mussel frittes. Accompanying the dishes will be a 150-strong wine list pulling from renowned regions in both France and Australia. "We're honoured to be awarded the leasehold at Sydney Cove by Sydney City Council and hope to create something truly spectacular with Whalebridge worthy of the breathtaking landmarks which surround us," says The Sydney Collective Founder Fraser Short. [caption id="attachment_849458" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brett Sergeant, Fraser Short and Will Elliot[/caption] Whalebridge is set to open in Circular Quay in late April.
Another year, another buzz-worthy Adam Driver movie, another Sydney Film Festival. It's becoming quite the trend. With 307 titles on its 2019 program, this year's SFF boasts plenty of other movies to look forward to, hailing from more than 55 countries — but you'll also definitely want to see Adam Driver and Bill Murray battling zombies in Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die. Like 2018's BlacKkKlansman, The Dead Don't Die heads to SFF straight from the Cannes Film Festival in May, and it has company. While the festival typically announces a whole swag of Cannes titles closer to the fest, it has already bagged a few, including Pedro Almodóvar's Pain and Glory, starring Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz; Parasite, the latest satire by Okja filmmaker Bong Joon-ho; and Kleber Mendonça Filho's fiercely political Bacurau, his first film since 2016 Sydney Film Prize winner Aquarius. Running from Wednesday, June 5 to Sunday, June 16 at a plethora of Sydney venues including the State Theatre, Event Cinemas George Street, Dendy Opera Quays and Newtown, the Hayden Orpheum and the Randwick Ritz, SFF will also feature 23 world premieres. In fact, it's starting with one, opening with the Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Richard E Grant, Greta Scacchi and Jacqueline McKenzie-starring Palm Beach. Other local flicks making their debut at the fest range from Hearts and Bones, featuring Hugo Weaving as a war photographer; the Sydney-shot Standing Up for Sunny, with Breaking Bad's RJ Mitte; and Indigenous Australian horror anthology Dark Place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJcnsg4FHEA The homegrown highlights keep coming, with Michael Hutchence doco Mystify, the Mia Wasikowska-starring Judy & Punch, Vietnam War era-flick Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan, dystopian sci-fi I Am Mother and Jennifer Kent's exceptional The Nightingale also on the bill. They sit alongside the previously announced Animals, with Alia Shawkat; The Final Quarter, a documentary about Adam Goodes' battle against racism; and David Stratton's retrospective of films by pioneering female Aussie filmmakers. The overall highlights just keep coming, too, so prepare to spend plenty of time in a darkened room. Sundance standout The Souvenir (starring Tilda Swinton and her daughter Honor Byrne Swinton) and Berlinale Golden Bear winner Synonyms are among the 12 titles competing for SFF's $60,000 prize, as are German Oscar contender Never Look Away and Macedonian satire God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMlHDNdLGU8 Elsewhere, Blinded by the Light spins a coming-of-age tale around Bruce Springsteen's music, High Life sends Robert Pattinson into space, documentary Apollo 11 follows the real moon landing, and Skin sees Jamie Bell try to shake off white supremacy. There's also Her Smell, featuring Elisabeth Moss as a Courtney Love-style alt-rock singer; Kursk, a submarine disaster drama with Matthias Schoenaerts and Colin Firth; dance drama The White Crow, which is directed by Ralph Fiennes and follows Rudolf Nureyev's defection; and Come to Daddy, taking Elijah Wood worlds away from the Lord of the Rings. If that's not enough, SFF's usual program strands return — including a wealth of Aussie docos, a huge international documentary slate, a lineup of music flicks (such as long-awaited Aretha Franklin concert flick Amazing Grace and Martin Scorsese's Bob Dylan doco Rolling Thunder Revue), a showcase of female European directors, a feast of genre flicks and a focus on accessibility. Plus, Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish will join SFF's family slate, for a screening of The Secret Life of Pets 2; New Zealand filmmaking is thrust into the spotlight; and SFF pays tribute to Agnes Varda with a retrospective, complete with her final feature, Agnes by Varda. And if you're wondering how the fest will wrap up, that's being left a surprise for now. In a change from previous years, closing night's flick is set to be announced at a later date. Of course, there are plenty of SFF 2019 films to obsess over until then. The 2019 Sydney Film Festival runs from June 5 to 16. To check out the full program and to buy tickets, head to the festival website.
Harry's has had a few incarnations now. It has evolved from convenience store to coffee bar, swallowing the neighbouring laundromat and emerging as a fully fledged cafe involving the designer behind White Rabbit Gallery's dumpling and tea room. But it's not until sunset that Harry's latest mode comes into view — a full-blown restaurant by Chris Karvelas and chef Bryan O'Callaghan. Together, they've taken the fine-tuned cheffy sensibility of O'Callaghan's former workplace, The Tilbury in Woolloomooloo, and trickled it into the beachy, open surrounds of the eastern suburbs. If the new dinner get-up is anything to go by (we haven't tried the new brekkie menu yet), the combination is working, and though the liquor licence is pending, the BYO vibes right now are working, too. Each plate is like a small garden — unfussy but utterly beautiful, and perfectly balanced. A salad of heirloom tomatoes and goat's curd ($16) has none of the overly sharp bite of many chevres, and is finely seasoned and dressed. Grilled sourdough alongside the tuna carpaccio with mayo and capers ($18) has just the right touch of garlic. Four to a serve, plump and sweet and creamy, the seared scallops ($18) are among the best we've tried. They appear alongside an even creamier parsnip and turmeric puree and pomegranate dressing, with the parsnips reappearing as crunchy slivered chips. The house-made gnocchi ($22) is purely, insanely delightful, and a textural marvel — a melting comfort food shiny with porcini butter and blanched kale. The desserts ($12 each) are winners too — interesting spins on chocolate mousse with blueberries and cake crumbs and tiny lemon balm leaves, and a silky coconut panna cotta with delicate raspberries and strawberries bringing the last bites of summer — but really, it's all about the house-made pasta and super-fresh seafood. Everything is done with care, and easily shareable. Harry's is a reminder of how lovely and generous cooking can be; a feat of skill and inventiveness that can brighten a guest's day and night. Many of the dishes are nominally Paleo, low-sugar, vegetarian and low-carb (it's Bondi, after all), but they don't feel it. The emphasis is just on the best local produce. Karvelas and his team have forged relationships with suppliers of eggs, fruit and veg, dairy, meats and seafoods, and the menu will change depending on what's around and good. After all, beautiful produce needs little done to it, and the food coming out of this kitchen is a testament to that. Like Harry's, Sydney's dining scene has endured many a permutation. Here's hoping that local and organic food isn't one such trend; it really should be the affordable standard, and Karvelas is slowly aiming to get the whole operation using it within the first year or so. Karvelas is such a kind host and O'Callaghan such a creative and skilful chef, Harry's could become a real Bondi institution.
Darlinghurst is already famously home to a rainbow crossing. In Surry Hills, the City of Sydney has just implemented a lengthy path in Prince Alfred Park decked out in the same multicoloured stripes, too. And now, Coogee has also joined the brightly hued celebration of Sydney's LGBTIQA+ community, turning part of the suburb's beachfront into a rainbow walkway. First announced in December, and unveiled to support this year's Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, the vibrant pathway stretches along a 200-square-metre patch of the promenade — right by the sand, at the bottom of the existing steps. It's a great spot for it, given that the area already bends around in a circular fashion. So, it's not only rainbow-hued, but also coils around in a rainbow-shaped curve. Unsurprisingly, the path stands out — as you'd expect given that it spans approximately 4.2 metres wide and 47 metres long. It's also certain to become a favourite photo backdrop, as Instagram is already demonstrating. When the walkway's lively makeover was approved by the Randwick City Council at its December 2020 meeting, Randwick Mayor Danny Said noted that "this proposal enhances that tradition and makes a strong public statement of support for our wonderfully diverse local community". The pathway is a temporary addition to Coogee, however, although it will stay in place for a number of months. Exactly how long it'll remain — and when it'll stop sharing its radiant beachside colours — is yet been revealed. Coogee Beach's rainbow walkway is now on display, and will remain in place for a number of months — although just when it'll be removed hasn't been announced. For further details, visit the Randwick City Council website.
Spring is as good an excuse as any to don some fancy threads and get out into the sunshine. And if there's one day that Aussies do both in droves, it's Melbourne Cup Day. If you and your mates or colleagues are looking for somewhere to spend the big day, Cruise Bar definitely has its perks. For starters, it's situated right on the water at Circular Quay, making it the perfect escape from the confines of the office and endless emails. And, because Melbourne Cup Day is about more than just a race on television, the bar's also got a pretty sweet afternoon of entertainment lined up. For $89 per person, you will receive a glass of Veuve Clicquot on arrival, three hours of roaming canapes and access to a fully stocked station of Australian oysters. Live music from an acoustic trio and giveaways throughout the afternoon will keep spirits high and then, after 3pm, a DJ will take over for all your dancing needs. What better excuse is there to step away from the desk chair and enjoy the Sydney sunshine? Tickets are limited, so to secure your spot, visit the website.
Get ready to meet your dream tail-wagging pal at BrewDog South Eveleigh, as the crew partners with Greyhounds As Pets NSW (GAP NSW) for a Greyhound Adoption Day on Saturday, July 26. Running from 11am–2pm, this is your chance to take a greyhound from shelter to snuggles. About 30 adorable greyhounds will be up for adoption on the day. These rapid couch potatoes make dog ownership a breeze, with their gentle, affectionate and sleepy personalities perfect for apartment dwellers and families. Plus, you won't have to worry about huge piles of hair, non-stop barking or doggy smell taking over your space. Best of all, the adoption process is super simple. Just head along to the pub to meet-and-greet the doggos. If there's a match to be made, the team can approve an on-the-spot adoption, complete with a discounted rate. A standard adoption is $150 (down from $250), while a sweet senior of seven years or older is half the usual rate at $75. Just realise that saying no will be almost impossible. Bringing the winter vibes, each greyhound will be styled in colourful Kazoo pyjamas, ensuring a cuteness overload. Meanwhile, BrewDog South Eveleigh is offering ten percent off food and drink to anyone who arrives in their own PJs. By the time you're heading home, you might just have someone new to cuddle on the couch.
A huge milestone birthday, a homecoming, and a stacked lineup filled with top talent from the creativity, design and technology fields: that's what's on Semi Permanent's agenda this May. A go-to event for all things design-related, the festival will return to Sydney's Carriageworks for three days between Wednesday, May 25–Friday, May 27 — and while impressive lineups always go with the territory here, this year's bill stands out in plenty of ways. Firstly, it's the event's biggest program ever. The theme for Semi Permanent's 2022 fest, which also marks its 20th anniversary, is 'perspective'. As founder and executive creative director Murray Bell explains, "2022 is a demarcation in the evolution of both our purpose and our organisation." Bell continues: "a milestone like this triggers a moment of reflection, imploring us to look back on our achievements and mistakes as the things that helped shape where we are today. It begs us to look forward, too, challenging us to think about where we might be in another 20 years' time. And after two years in which our lives were disrupted by the pandemic, so too have perspectives on the future completely shifted." [caption id="attachment_843324" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dick Sweeney[/caption] To help sort through the theme, more than 25 speakers have been announced — spanning everything from journalism and film through to art and typography. Attendees will be able to hear from the folks behind The Betoota Advocate; learn more female-driven on-screen storytelling from Dollhouse Pictures co-founders Gracie Otto, Krew Boylan and Jessica Carrera; and glean insights from British visual-data journalist Mona Chalabi. Or, you can also look forward to listening to furniture and textile designer Jonathan Saunders, typographic designers Jazlyn Fung and Tony Wong, and That Sugar Film and 2040 filmmaker Damon Gameau. The hefty lineup of talent will anchor Semi Permanent's talks program, of course, but the fest is keen to expand its format even further in its big birthday year. That includes the launch of the Permanent Art and Design Book Fair, which'll bring together more than 30 leading publishers, artists and designers showcasing — and, for your reading pile, will showcase hundreds of books, magazines, zines, posters and digital editions, spanning both new and previously unseen works. [caption id="attachment_843326" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Toby Peet[/caption] The festival's lineup isn't finished yet, either, with more talent set to be announced in late March when the event's daily schedule is released. The southern hemisphere's biggest and longest-running creativity and design fest, Semi Permanent certainly has plenty to celebrate — such as hosting 50-plus events in 13 cities with more than 800 speakers so far over its 20-year run, all with more than 300,000 people in attendance. As usual, it'll unleash its festival-slash-birthday party during Vivid, which makes a comeback in 2022 after a two-year pandemic-enforced hiatus. [caption id="attachment_843322" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Toby Peet[/caption] Semi Permanent will run from Wednesday, May 25–Friday, May 27 at Carriageworks. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the Semi Permanent website.
Aussie brick enthusiasts, get excited. Sydney will join the likes of New York, London, Hong Kong and Copenhagen on the list of cities boasting a flagship LEGO store very, very soon. The Harbour City is set to welcome the world's largest official LEGO store to Sydney Arcade, overlooking Pitt Street Mall, on Saturday, November 11. Announced earlier this year, the massive two-storey, 900-square-metre Sydney LEGO store will officially swing open its doors at 9.30am next Saturday morning and promises to be your one-stop shop for all things colourful plastic bricks. "Every new store contributes to the LEGO Group's global mission of inspiring and developing the builders of tomorrow," Vice President and General Manager of LEGO Australia and New Zealand Troy Taylor says. LEGO fans can expect an interactive storytelling table that will give them behind-the-scenes looks at their favourite sets and designs; Australia's first Minifigure Factory, where visitors can create LEGO versions of themselves or their loved ones; and a pick-and-build wall boasting an enormous catalogue of different pieces. Official Brick Specialists will be on hand to help guide you through everything the superstore has to offer — and if you're after a challenge to get your creativity flowing, there will be in-store builds and monthly events. Basically, you'll have everything you could need to bring your wildest imagination to life. There will also be Australia-specific elements of the store with large-format sculptures of Australian and Sydney cultural touchstones decorating the new Sydney LEGO store's space. "The world's largest LEGO Store will stand as a must-see destination for LEGO fans across the globe whilst bringing a world-class retail experience to Australia," says Executive Chairman of the store's retail partner Alquemie Group Richard Facioni. The flagship Sydney LEGO store will open at Sydney Arcade, Pitt Street, Sydney on Saturday, November 11.
Among the many thoughts that Only Murders in the Building has caused viewers to ponder across 2021's season one, 2022's season two and 2023's season three, the misfortune that comes with living in its eponymous spot is right up there. Exactly why is in the show's name, too. Each season, a new murder has taken place in the Arconia, the New York apartment complex that its main sleuthing trio call home. Here's another takeaway from this hit mystery-comedy series so far: famous faces are rarely far from its halls. Only Murders in the Building stars Selena Gomez (The Dead Don't Die), Steve Martin (It's Complicated) and Martin Short (Schmigadoon!) as neighbours and podcasters Mabel Mora, Charles-Haden Savage and Oliver Putnam, and has enlisted a heap of other well-known talents. Sometimes they play themselves, as Sting (The Book of Solutions) and Amy Schumer (IF) have. Sometimes the show gets Meryl Streep (Don't Look Up), Paul Rudd (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Tina Fey (Mean Girls) and more into character. In season four, which starts streaming via Disney+ Down Under from Tuesday, August 27, 2024, all of the above notes still prove true. There's another murder to investigate. There's more big-name cast members as well. Some of the latter appear as versions of themselves, while some play fictional parts. Being aware that there has again been a killing in the Arconia doesn't mean knowing what's in store in the show's return, though. Indeed, something different is afoot this time around, taking Only Murders in the Building to Hollywood. But as the just-dropped full trailer for the new season demonstrates, no one is completely saying goodbye to the series' main setting. Also, Los Angeles isn't the only fresh surroundings that beckon for Mabel, Charles and Oliver. The crew's latest investigation and the cinema business both beckon in Tinseltown. A studio wants to turn their podcast — which is also called Only Murders in the Building — into a film. Cue the arrival of Molly Shannon (The Other Two), Eugene Levy (Schitt's Creek), Eva Longoria (Tell It Like a Woman) and Zach Galifianakis (The Beanie Bubble), with season four's new cast members also including Melissa McCarthy (Unfrosted), Kumail Nanjiani (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire) and Richard Kind (Girls5eva). Alongside Short, Gomez and Martin, fellow long-running Only Murders in the Building regulars Michael Cyril Creighton (American Fiction), Da'Vine Joy Randolph (a newly minted Oscar-winner for The Holdovers) and Jane Lynch (Velma) are also back. Check out the full trailer for Only Murders in the Building season four below: Only Murders in the Building streams Down Under via Star on Disney+, and will return for season four on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. Read our reviews of season one, season two and season three.
As far as fine-dining experiences in Australia go, NEL Restaurant is among the most imaginative. Guided by renowned British-born chef Nelly Robinson, the restaurant and its team are celebrated for their delicacy, originality and precision in bringing flavour and meaning to every dish. For their latest trick, NEL is focusing inwards, creating the 'Native Australia' menu to showcase locally sourced, sustainable and unique native ingredients. With the restaurant admired for its creative degustations, this immense feast is no different. Featuring a 12-course journey through Australia's native pantry, diners can expect a diverse assortment of inventive dishes that push seasonal produce and culinary boundaries to their limits. Available for $195 per person, with an optional wine pairing for $165 or $95 for non-alc options, the menu is being served from Wednesday, January 14–Saturday, April 25. Among the dozen dishes served, highlights include the lemongrass prawn kebab, presented dramatically over a mini campfire bowl to evoke a sense of cooking in the bush. There's also lamb crusted with hummus, combining tender meat with earthy beetroot, silky garlic yoghurt, and fragrant anise myrtle to balance familiar and native ingredients harmoniously. Meanwhile, the honey pavlova offers a sweet treat, with this classic dessert reimagined using warm lemon myrtle curd. Designed to introduce guests to the abundance of native ingredients available on Country, NEL Restaurant has shaped a menu that fuses these fascinating elements with a touch of modern culinary flair. Says chef Robinson: "Each course pays homage to our oft misunderstood and underrepresented native ingredients. At NEL, we embrace and celebrate them."
Overworked? Jet lagged? Hung over? Desperate for a nap, with nowhere to run? Kickstarter is your new best friend. Without crowd funding, the 'Ostrich Pillow' might well have been just another designer's castle in the air. But with 1,846 backers having provided support to the tune of $195,094, it's become every dreamer's reality - in airports, offices and parks all over the world. Architecture and design studio Kawamura-Ganjavian (also known as Studio KG) ran their Ostrich Pillow campaign last year. Not only did they met their initial $70,000 target, they nearly tripled it. 'Ostrich Pillow is a revolutionary new product to enable easy power naps anytime, anywhere,' they explained. '[Its] unique design offers a micro environment in which to take a cosy and comfortable power nap at ease . . . Its soothing soft interior shelters and isolates your head and hands (mind and body) for a short break, without needing to leave your desk, chair, bench or wherever you may be.' It's not difficult to understand why weary travellers and office workers might have rushed to pledge support. Made of 'Flexible Fabric' and filled with 'micro balls', the pillow measures 45cm x 28cm x 15cm, with a 70cm round opening, which means that pretty much any human head should be able to find its way in. Studio Banana Things is selling it online for $US99. [via Kickstarter]
Beloved local spirits producer Four Pillars is known for innovation. Its inventive collaborations and tasty creations like the rare dry and bloody shiraz gin ranges have earned it the title of World's Best Gin for two years running now. The distillery is now looking to elevate your sunny days with an esky in hand with a new range of ready-to-drink gin and tonic cans. In an effort to take the RTD game to the next level, Four Pillars is squeezing all the goodness of its rare dry gin into a convenient can. The RTD is made using a special rare dry gin that is hyper-concentrated using twice as many botanicals as its bottled gin. The Melbourne distiller also created its own tonic for the cans in order to get the mix just right and ensure the flavour is just as good as a G&T you'd make using a bottle of Four Pillars. "We set out to make a gin and tonic, not a tonic and gin, so the ratios were really important," distiller Cam Mackenzie said. With summer on its way and restrictions beginning to roll back for states that have been in lockdown over winter, Four Pillars has launched the cans just in time for all your future picnics and trips to the beach. Each 250-millilitre can will be 5.1-percent alcohol and will come in four-packs for $27.99. If you want to get your hands on some, you can expect to see them begin to pop up throughout October and they'll be available from Four Pillars' Healesville and Surry Hills outposts, plus all the classic bottle shops you'd expect like Dan Murphy's, BWS, Liquorland, and independent sellers. Head to the Four Pillars website to read more about the new G&T RTDs. Images: Benito Martin
Looking for a mid-week pick-me-up? Fancy filling your Thursday with the joy of pizza from some of Sydney's best pizzerias, free of charge? That's right, free pizza. The promotion comes courtesy of at-home pizza oven company Gozney, which is teaming up with Grifter Brewing Co to celebrate doughy rounds for World Pizza Day. If you want to get your hands on some complimentary pizza, you'll have to head down to one of four local venues as they swing open their doors on Thursday, February 9. Two of the pizzerias featured on our list of Sydney's best pizza — Dimitri's and Pizza Madre — as well as Pizza Bros at Grifter's Marrickville brewery, will each be giving away full-sized pizzas to the first 50 customers that arrive on the day. Similarly, brand-new pizza-by-the-slice outpost City Oltra will be making the day of 100 lucky customers, giving out free slices to the first 100 people through the doors of its new Eddy Avenue eatery. As part of the festivities, Grifter is also unveiling its new pizza-inspired beer. Named Birra Quattro, the new brew is an Italian-style pilsner that celebrates the shared similarities behind the creation of both pizza and beer. "The inspiration behind Birra Quattro started when my co-founder, Glenn and I started cooking pizzas at home with the Gozney Roccbox. We saw the similarities between pizza and beer, both being made from fermented cereal grains," says Grifter's co-Founder Matt King. All of the participating venues will have Birra Quattro available for purchase if you'd like to pair your cheesy meal with a can of the new drop. Rounding out the day's excitement is the chance to win a huge pizza-themed prize pack. Three punters will be served a 'lucky slice' which entitles them to everything they need for a home pizza party — a Gozney portable pizza oven and a slab of Grifter's Birra Quattro. Dimitri's will be opening for lunch from 1pm, with the first 50 tables booked each getting a free pizza. City Oltra will be opening at 3pm with free slices for the first 100 customers, and both Pizza Madre and Pizza Bros will have free pizzas available on a first-come, first-served basis from 5pm. [caption id="attachment_888094" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alana Dimou[/caption]
Stare at The False Mirror at Magritte, one of the Art Gallery of New South Wales' big summer exhibitions for 2024–25, and the masterpiece of a painting from 1929 will peer right back. Among the Belgian surrealist René Magritte's most-famous creations, the piece features a giant eye looking at the viewer, while also filled with a cloudy blue sky. It's an unforgettable work, and it's one of the stars of the latest showcase as part of Sydney International Art Series. Another striking painting that's on display in the Harbour City from Saturday, October 26, 2024–Sunday, February 9, 2025: Golconda, Magritte's 1953 work that brings two other pieces of popular culture to mind. Just try not to think about Mary Poppins and The Weather Girls' song 'It's Raining Men' while you feast your eyes on the sight of bowler hat-wearing men streaming down from the heavens. At Magritte, which is exclusive to Sydney, The False Mirror, Golconda and 1952's The Listening Room (La Chambre d'Écoute) — which shows an oversized apple — have ample company at AGNSW's south building Naala Nura. In total, 100-plus works are on display. This is not only a huge retrospective dedicated to the artist, but also Australia's first retrospective dedicated to Magritte. More than 80 of the pieces are paintings, demonstrating why Magritte is considered one of the most-influential figures in 20th-century surrealism; however, archival materials, photographs and films also feature. Sydney International Art Series isn't just about one major exclusive showcase, of course. From Saturday, November 30, 2024–Sunday, April 13, 2025, AGNSW is also hosting Cao Fei: My City. Over at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia from Friday, November 29, 2024–Sunday, April 27, 2025, Julie Mehretu is on display as well. Images: installation view of the 'Magritte' exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 26 October 2024 – 9 February 2025, artworks © Copyright Agency, Sydney 2024, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mim Stirling.
Earlier this year, we introduced you to Unyoked, an Aussie startup that lets you stay in your own tiny house in the wilderness. Now we'd like you to meet Redleaf, a 280-acre property in the Southern Highlands where you can sleep in an 1890s train carriage surrounded by gumtrees and birdsong. "We wanted a way of sharing this beautiful life we've created — to give people an opportunity to spend a weekend in fresh air, enjoying nature," says Katrina Sparke, who's lived at Redleaf for nine years with her partner Sam and their four children. While the Sparkes were contemplating how to do just that, they stumbled across a disused train carriage in a collector's junkyard in Sydney's northwest. Two cranes and a truck later, it was delivered to their property, which was already operating as a free-range farm, supplying suckling pigs and eggs to some of Sydney's best restaurants, including ARIA and Chiswick. Katrina set about restoring the carriage, now called #343, to its former glory. "It was pretty old and derelict, and needed a huge amount of work," she says. "But much of the original timber, silky oak, was still inside." That meant a whole lot of sanding, polishing and patching up with local river oak. To that backdrop, Katrina added a tin-pressed ceiling a la the 1890s, premium linen, lush cushions, a velvet couch and a marble-tiled bathroom. The aim was to capture the carriage's history, but also to provide touches of luxury. Outside, there's a barbecue and a fire pit to keep you warm on cold nights. The set-up is entirely off-grid and solar-powered. If you'd like something a little more modern, there's a second carriage, born in the 1920s and now known as #1238. "It's quite stylised — a bit like something out of Harry Potter," says Katrina. "The main room is entirely taken up by the bed." At the other end, there's an original train seat, a kitchenette and a deck with a barbecue, overlooking rolling paddocks. When you're not relaxing in your carriage of choice, there's a creek, swimming hole and waterfall to explore, as well as nearby trails for walking and mountain biking. You can also find out a bit more about how the Sparkes run their independent farm. "I want people to come to Redleaf and experience a unique break," says Katrina. "There's no TV and no wifi. It's about getting back to the things that are important in life." Redleaf Farm is located 20 minutes south of Bowral, off Redhills Road in Fitzroy Falls. The carriages start at around $280 per night — #343 can be booked here and #1238 here. For more info on the farm, visit redleaf-farm.com.
Bondi welcomes a new drinking, dining, and hang-out spot, just in time for the summer months, as Pavilion Social opens on level one of the Bondi Pavilion. When you need a break from the sand but don't want to go far, head upstairs to Pavilion Social, located right behind Bondi Beach, for ocean views, refreshing drinks, tasty bites and feel-good vibes. For sunny afternoons that turn into long, warm nights, Pavilion Social offers leisurely lunches, sunset drinks, relaxed dinners, live music and more, all with unmatched sweeping views of iconic Bondi Beach. The menu is snacky and straightforward, think bread and dips, freshly shucked oysters, prawns with cocktail sauce, marinated olives and kingfish crudo. Sea salt crisps with mortadella and peppers, or charcuterie with pickles, are the perfect accompaniment to a round of Bondi Breezers with vodka, pineapple, lime, agave and soda. If you're hungry after a big day in the surf, go for a prawn roll with yuzu koskō mayo, or a cheeseburger with sea salt fries. A range of frozen cocktails, such as the Coastline Marg, or the Peachy Frosé with rosé, peach liqueur and grapefruit soda, are sure to be the perfect antidote to a scorching summer's day. Images: Supplied.
If you missed seeing Hamilton during its Australian runs in Sydney in 2021, Melbourne in 2022 and Brisbane in 2023, you didn't throw away your shot to catch Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash-hit musical Down Under. The Aussie production of the show went to New Zealand after its Brissie season, and has trips to Manila, Abu Dhabi and Singapore slated next. Then, come July 2024, it'll return to the Harbour City. If you're a fan of the biggest thing in musical theatre in the 21st century — and a game-changing, award-winning, rightly raved-about sensation — then you'll be excited whether you've already been in the room where it happens or not. Hamilton's homegrown production will hit Sydney Lyric Theatre next year, opening at the venue on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. In its local run so far, the Broadway blockbuster's Aussie production has boasted a cast that includes Jason Arrow as Alexander Hamilton, Chloé Zuel as Eliza Hamilton, Lyndon Watts as Aaron Burr, Akina Edmonds as Angelica Schuyler, Matu Ngaropo as George Washington, and Victory Ndukwe as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson — plus Shaka Cook as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, Marty Alix as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, Elandrah Eramiha as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds, and Brent Hill as King George III. Who'll return to Sydney in 2024 hasn't yet been revealed, with the cast for next year's season to be revealed at a later date. Still new to this song-and-dance take on 18th-century American politics? Not quite sure why it has been the most-talked about theatre show of the past decade? The critically acclaimed hip hop musical, for which Miranda wrote the music, lyrics and the book, is about the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, as well as inclusion and politics in current-day America. In addition to its swag of Tony Awards — 11 in fact, which includes Best Musical — it has nabbed a Grammy Award and even a Pulitzer Prize. Until 2021, Australians eager to see the show had to be content watching the filmed version of its Broadway production, which started streaming via Disney+ in 2020 (and yes, it's as phenomenal as you've heard). If you're not feeling financial enough to nab a seat, cross your fingers that the $10 ticket lottery, which offers Hamilton tickets for less than the cost of lunch, will return as well. There's no word yet whether Hamilton will also play new seasons in Melbourne or Brisbane, so cross your fingers for that, too. In March 2023, Miranda came to Australia to see the local production, calling the cast "so fantastic". "I remember seeing Jason Arrow's audition — it had to have been April or May of 2020, and it was around the time that we were watching and editing Hamilton for [the Disney+] release. So they were really stacking up against the originals in a very tangible way, and so we were really proud of the incredible company that we were able to put together from there locally," he said at a press conference in Brisbane "Every original cast is like a four-minute mile," Miranda continued. "They said scientists proved you couldn't run the mile in under four minutes, and then someone did it, and then suddenly everybody's running it — and I feel like original casts are like that. It's impossible to find that first cast, and then it attracts the people who know they can do it." Hamilton's 2024 Sydney season will play Sydney Lyric Theatre from Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Head to the musical's website for further details, or to sign up for the waitlist for tickets when they go on sale — with pre sales from Monday, November 27 and general sales from Monday, December 4. Production images: Daniel Boud.
