Baked Patisserie is one for the south Sydney folks. Nestled in the industrial area of Kirrawee, this family-run business is the type of cake shop every Sydney suburb wishes it had. Baked Patisserie was an early adopter of the 'cronut' craze. It occasionally sells them, including a lamington version for patriotic sugar fiends. Filled doughnuts are also on offer, and they are everything you want in a sweet treat: pillowy-soft dough with a creamy filling (in classic flavours like cookies 'n' cream, Nutella and vanilla bean custard) and covered in sugar. Bring on the sugar high and immediate crash. Baked Patisserie makes cakes to order, too, so next time your four-year-old nephew wants a Hulk-themed cake for his birthday, you know who to call.
The end of winter is finally within sight, but that doesn't mean the weather isn't still ripe for a comforting midweek feast. With this in mind, much-loved bakery Fabbrica Bread Shop is indulging your carb-loaded dreams, hosting a brand-new weekly Lasagna Night across three locations every Wednesday throughout August. Perfect for those chilly evenings where the last thing you want to do is cook, pasta lovers are invited to pre-order a selection of house-made lasagne, salads and sides from Fabbrica locations in Rozelle, Coogee and Sydney CBD. With the team taking care of all the prep, just collect your food before heading home to enjoy. The menu is teeming with Italian delights, with the classic lasagne — layered with Fabbrica's signature pasta sheets and slow-cooked beef ragù — an obvious choice. Meanwhile, the 'nduja alla vodka lasagne with a spicy, vodka-infused tomato sauce, or a veggie spinach and ricotta lasagne with house-made cacio e pepe sauce, makes an easygoing Wednesday night just a little special. With each lasagna available in serving sizes for two or four people, letting the crew at Fabbrica take care of your dinner plans is a wise decision, whether you're catering for the family or putting together a stress-free date night. Of course, there are sides to elevate your feast further, with sourdough garlic bread and two salads — a zesty mixed leaf option and a hearty chickpea and feta number — ensuring your home feast leaves you zonked on the couch. Did we mention there's tiramisu, too? Yet this feast isn't just aimed at home-diners. Fabbrica Bread Shop in Rozelle is welcoming walk-ins from 4–6.45pm, giving guests the chance to relish an early feast and make it home with time to spare before bed. Just know, if you're planning to pre-order, the cut-off time for each Wednesday night session is 11.55pm on the Monday prior, with collection time slots available at the three locations from 4pm–6.45pm on Wednesday afternoons. Founded in the CBD by the brains behind spots like Ragazzi and Love, Tilly Divine in 2020, Fabbrica's blue-and-white hue has spread across Sydney. With pasta bars rolled out in Newtown, Darlinghurst and Chatswood, the Fabbrica Bread Shop offshoot has also made waves, with Rozelle and Coogee stores brimming with classic and inventive baked goods. Swing by to pick up your lasagne, and don't forget to say ciao. Fabbrica Bread Shop's Lasagne Night is on every Wednesday throughout August. Pre-orders must be placed the Monday prior by 11.55pm, while the Rozelle location is open for walk-ins on Wednesdays from 4–6.45pm. Head to the website for more information.
Saying that M. Night Shyamalan's latest film offers an improvement over his most recent efforts isn't really saying much. After impressing with The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and a little less so with Signs and The Village, the likes of Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender and After Earth won the writer/director few kind words. The Visit seems to fall somewhere in the middle; however, in plodding towards his usual twist and doing so with a clumsy blend of shocks and laughs, it soon proves closer to his latter work than his former. Fifteen-year-old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her thirteen-year-old younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) take the trip of the movie's title, leaving their single mother (Kathryn Hahn) for a week with the estranged grandparents they've never before met. Upon arriving at the remote farm their Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) call home, the siblings find their elders a little odd, but are reassured that their eccentricities stem from their advanced age. When even stranger occurrences start happening at night, Becca and Tyler are convinced that something else is going on. To complicate what becomes little more than kids simply being spooked by creepy old people, pseudo fairytale-style, Shyamalan throws the current horror movie trend — found footage — into the mix. Accordingly, The Visit is presented as a documentary being shot by wannabe filmmaker Becca, with Tyler assisting with the camerawork when he's not rapping in front of the lens. Shyamalan's found footage effort is not a slapdash attempt to capitalise upon the current fondness for a certain subgenre of film — at least as far as the actual found footage conceit is concerned. The director never abandons his approach, and even weaves the consequences of a constantly rolling camera into the story. Expect bit players performing because they know they're being watched, just as Tyler does. Don't expect shots from angles that can't be justified in the narrative, just because they look cool. Alas, around the well-executed and committed stylistic gimmick sits cliche and a veering tone that colours everything that happens. Attempted frights are easily foreseen in the shadowy Hansel and Gretel-like offering, though thankfully Shyamalan's love of the supernatural never rears its head. The predictability of the script certainly inspires much of the guffawing that will echo around the cinema, though many of the feature's gags are intentional. Making a good horror-comedy is as difficult a feat as mastering found footage, but The Visit doesn't succeed in the first instance. Giggling at, not with, the film, feels like the more frequent outcome as bodily functions are mined for humour alongside the naked elderly form. And with the jump scares few and far between, comic moments aren't quite being used to diffuse tension. Australians DeJonge and Oxenbould try hard to wade through the wavering mood, turning in playful performances that brighten up the standard story, but being asked to spout dialogue about filmmaking technique doesn't do their characters any favours. Still, to say that the duo ranks alongside Shyamalan's handling of found footage as the feature's highlights is accurate — although, in the context of the complete movie, that's once again not saying much.
This post is sponsored by our partners, lastminute.com.au. People don't know much about Western Australia. For something that's the combined size of Texas, Ireland, New Zealand, Japan and the UK, we should really know more than the fact Little Creatures is brewed there, and sometimes they have sharks. But this could be a blessing in disguise. Now you have an entire new land to discover out west, and all for the small price of a domestic flight. Here's our guide of where to go once you touch down. Perth and surrounds The first place people can think of in WA, Perth is not only the sunniest capital city in the world, but also one of the top ten most liveable. It may be pretty isolated from the rest of the country, but that creates a kind of camaraderie among its citizens that Melburnians and Sydneysiders can only dream of. Oh, you're trapped in peak-hour traffic on Parramatta Road? Perth locals are taking a weekend jaunt to Rottnest Island via ferry. What's that? You're in a packed train carriage staring at the filthy brown Yarra? People in Perth are having picnics next to the beautiful, dolphin-dotted Swan River. While visiting, we recommend Cottesloe Beach for some surf, this small bar tour for some culture, and the Swan Valley for some local vino. Also, Fringe World Festival is happening at the moment! Why aren't you there already? Where to stay: Esplanade River Suites if you're on a budget, or Crown Metropol Perth or Best Western Premier The Terrace Hotel Perth if you're splashing out. South West South of Perth lie even more treasures, including the renowned wine region, Margaret River. While just a 50-minute flight from the capital, we recommend you hire a car and drive. It will take about three hours, but as WA has 12,000km of the most beautiful coastline in the world, we're sure you won't be disappointed. Once there, it's all about leisure. Spend all day eating and drinking, then cycling off a few meals around the Margaret River. Where to stay: Kalbarri Edge Resort if you're on a budget, or Smiths Beach Resort or Injidup Spa Retreat if you're splashing out. Broome and the Kimberley To venture even further into the unknown, take a trip up north to these great, sunburnt plains. Here, you can expect camel rides along the beach, cheeky and profitable trips to Broome's pearl farms, and endless hours spent on Cable Beach (with sunscreen, because oh lord, you're much closer to the equator up there). This one is a bit more of a hike from Perth, at either a 2-hour 30-minute flight or 24-hour drive, but it's probably worth it. Taking in the entire Coral Coast could be just the first of your exciting experiences. Where to stay: Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa or The Pearle of Cable Beach. Exmouth and Coral Coast This place is like a real-life Seaworld, but you'll need a few days to see it all. A two-hour flight out of Perth, Ningaloo Marine Park and Cape Range National Park will be your first stops on this trail of aquatic wonder — world-heritage listed prime sites for snorkelling, diving with whale sharks and swimming with dolphins. In fact, every morning at Monkey Mia, wild bottlenose dolphins freely come to the shallows for no more than a pat hello. It's surely some kind of magic. Where to stay: Novotel Ningaloo Resort. Golden Outback Of course, most of this big, sprawling state is desert — the wild outback that our country is known for around the world. If you get sick of being greeted by dolphins every morning and visiting wineries in the afternoon (as unlikely as it may be), the outback could serve as the perfect getaway. First stop: wave rock. This natural anomaly is roughly 2,700 million years old and a true wonder to behold. Alternatively, if you don't like the idea of nature looming over you, you can get on top of it. Hot air ballooning is really popular over the Avon Valley, or you can get an unhindered view of the red terrain with a 14,000-foot skydive. Why not get a little dangerous in our most wild state? Where to stay: Black Wattle Retreat or The Grandhouse York. For more information on flights and accommodation in Western Australia, check out lastminute.com.au.
When Thomas Weatherall was in high school, that he'd eventually spend his days pretending to be back there wasn't his plan. Until his final year, neither was acting. Dancing was the dream, and he had no awareness of Heartbreak High, which aired its seven 90s seasons before he was born. Now, he's one of the stars of Netflix's revival of the show. For his performance as Malakai Mitchell in the 2020s take on Australia's most-beloved teen series — which itself has become a huge hit that's rocketed up the streaming platform's viewership charts with both its first and second seasons, and has a third and final season locked in — he's now an AACTA- and Logie-winner. Weatherall's acting career started with ABC miniseries Deadlock back in 2018, when he was finishing high school. So, it didn't kick off with Heartbreak High. Next came short film Shed, short-form comedy series All My Friends Are Racist, the detective-driven Troppo and RFDS, which was also follows on from a past series — The Flying Doctors — that aired in the 90s. Onstage, his playwriting debut Blue premiered in Sydney, and now heads to Brisbane, with Weatherall also starring. But Heartbreak High and Malakai have been life-changing by his own account ("it feels cliched to say," he tells Concrete Playground about how that description rings true). Next up: two very different TV series, with Exposure a thriller led by Alice Englert (Bad Behaviour) that's bowing at the 2024 Sydney Film Festival and The Narrow Road to the Deep North a page-to-screen drama with Jacob Elordi (another on-screen high schooler in Euphoria). Weatherall knew that Malakai, the sporty Bundjalung student who is new to Hartley High in season one, was a standout role from the get-go. "I just hadn't seen a character like this," Weatherall tells us. The depth of the writing in fleshing him out on the page, the fact that he was an Indigenous teen pushed to the fore and never a token inclusion, that his culture wasn't what defined him: they all left an impression. After getting cast, so did the script for season one's fourth episode — the unforgettable instalment that sees Malakai experience police brutality — which he read in one sitting in his car. He was then willing to do whatever it took for the part. Again, his performance earned him Australia's top TV accolades. That episode had a title that means something in Heartbreak High history: 'Rack Off'. Utter the phrase to anyone familiar with the 90s iteration and they'll instantly think of Hartley High's first run on-screen. Weatherall didn't go back to watch the OG show when he got the gig, but there's no escaping the legend of those two words, and that they were as strong as a free-to-air series could get in its language. "It is funny, I forget — I read the script sometimes and the things that we're allowed to say, I just imagine if we had that same network TV censorship, you're probably cutting about 80-percent of the show. So we're probably lucky in that regard," he advises. In season two, as Hartley's students keep expressing themselves in not-safe-for-90s-Aussie-television terms — and also getting caught up in an ideological battle about toxic masculinity, and terrorised by a mystery figure they dub Bird Psycho — Malakai's journey takes him from stairwell hookups with Amerie (Ayesha Madon, Love Me) to connecting with the latest newcomer in Dubbo export Rowan (Sam Rechner, The Fabelmans). A love triangle, exploring both his sexuality and his identity, and yearning to connect all follow. It's another complicated path for the character, as for each of Heartbreak High's main figures. Crucially, it also satisfies one of Weatherall's aims as an actor. "It can feel like quite a selfish career a lot of the time, because you're often on your own, and you have to put a lot of time and effort into breaking down characters, and spending time on your own and things like that — but for me, I never want to just be playing the one character. That's the beauty of Malakai, it feels like you're playing several different characters and notes in one person," he says. From how the response to the first season felt through to the way its second season ended for Malakai, we chatted with Weatherall about all things Heartbreak High — choosing not to check out the original, what excited him about stepping into Malakai's shoes in the first place, how he sees the character's story across the two seasons so far and making the leap to acting from dancing all included. On the Massive Success of Heartbreak High's First Season "Very surreal. Very unexpected. It's a funny thing, I think you never know how a show's going to come out while you're making it — and while we were making it, and once we wrapped, you knew that we had something special. It felt really good. I think that was pretty unanimous across the board. There wasn't any real stress. Sometimes, I think you can also finish a job and know if it's a dud. But for it to then get picked up the way that it did, and for people to care about it in the way they did, was pretty shocking. And it's very flattering and humbling to be in that position. I was having dinner with Bryn [Chapman Parish, Mr Inbetween], who plays Spider, and we were chatting about that. Because it's your job, it's a great job to have, but you do get used to it and it becomes a normal part of the career. You forget that it means as much as it does to some audiences — and I think that's the special thing. It's lovely that it had a big reach and that it was successful, but when you get to actually talk to an audience member who really identifies with Malakai, or one particular storyline, or the show as a whole, that's — I've been very lucky that I've got to do quite a few shows now and all I'm very proud of, but none have landed in that way and built that connection with an audience. And for it to kick off in the awards and things like that, it really, it feels cliched to say, but it is pretty life-changing once that conversation starts and you find yourself in that world professionally and artistically. It opens you to a lot more professional opportunities. It then does make the second season a bit more terrifying, because there's something to, I guess, try to live up to and match. But it's a very lucky position to be in at the same time." On Starting the Show as a Heartbreak High Newcomer Off-Screen — and Not Going Back to Watch the Original "I was at drama school at the time when I got cast, and the only reason I knew about the show was the head teacher at my drama school played one of the teachers in Heartbreak High. And so it was this whole thing always that she'd mention Heartbreak High — and all of us, it was a bit of an eye roll. We were like 'okay, we get it'. But it wasn't something that I had seen before. It was before my time, and I didn't even, with my older siblings, I didn't really have any gauge on it. When I got cast, initially I was going to go back and watch the show. That felt like the right thing to do, and it would be helpful. But once the scripts came through, it felt as if it was going to be quite different, and much more obviously rooted in today's climate and what's going on for young people now — it became too scary and intimidating to go back and watch it. Because you also don't want to try to recreate something. That show was great and did everything that it did, but it is a product of that time. I think there's still similarities between the two versions. We're speaking to a lot of the same truths. But for me, I didn't want to confuse those contexts, and try to not have any anticipation or idea of trying to replicate anything — and just stay true to what we're trying to say in this show." On What Excited Weatherall About Playing Malakai When He Was First Cast "I'm still quite early on in my career, but it was very early on back then. I'd been up for a few things and I'd done a little bit of work. I was getting good auditions, but I just hadn't seen a character like this. I had never been sent a role like this, obviously, for a show with this scale or anything like that. But to see — he was just a really well-written character, and that was it for the self-taped scenes before the audition, and that was exciting to be seen for that. It wasn't till when I got offered the role and was sent the scripts, they sent me episode four of season one, which is a very significant episode for Malakai. And I finished that episode and just called my agent straight away and went 'I'll do anything to play that'. I think back to when I was 16 and the sort of the shows that were being made. There were some for young people that I felt were doing a pretty decent job and honestly depicting what it's like to be a teenager, but it always felt like they were holding the punches a little bit. And this show was just not afraid to do that at all. And then to have that lens of this young Indigenous character not just being a side plot point but being one of the lead characters — and being one of the main lead romance arcs as well, and then having a very dramatic storyline. A lot of the scripts that I'd seen and read, or a lot of the shows that I had watched growing up and even lately, often those characters, they're one little subplot. They're one little mention. They serve one capacity or another. And suddenly you had this young Indigenous kid, one of the leads of the show and getting to do a bit of everything, and that was really refreshing. He's part of the massive ensemble, but I hadn't read anything like that. He wasn't ashamed of his culture, but it also wasn't the most-important thing in his life, and he was going through the same experience as every other kid from every other culture and every other gender and every other experience. And for me, that was a really refreshing take, rather than trying to tokenise it in any way. Then, as I said, pretty much I'm in credit to the writing team. The moment episode four landed in my emails, I read it in one sitting on my phone. I didn't even get out of my car. I just read the whole thing and went 'yep, okay, anything for that'." On Stepping Back Into Malakai's Shoes for Season Two — and What Changes, and What Gets Easier and Harder "I was shooting the second season of this other show I do called RFDS, and I had four days off between wrapping that and starting the second season of this. I flew in from Broken Hill, where we shoot the other show, and it was just four days of existential crisis because I was going 'do I still remember how to play this character? How does he sound like? What does he look like?', you know, and trying to tap into that again. I think it's a credit to the writing on this that all of the characters are fully formed. Really, the writing does all the work for you. You don't have to bring much to them and they kind of jump off the page. But I also noticed the difference, as we get to know the writing team and the producers, I think they tend to tweak little things to match you and your sensibilities as well, which is nice. The moment you shave and you go into makeup, and they do that Malaki haircut, and they put the colourful jumpers on me. Music's a big thing for this character, back to those playlists — it really was muscle memory and just kicked in, which was nice to still feel that that was there. So the actual transforming and getting back into the character was quite easy and swift, which was a relief, frankly. But that first few weeks of filming, it was that voice in the back of your head going 'you've got to make sure that you're staying to that same level as last season'. I'm very grateful for the recognition it got and the success that I received from the show, and that the show was a whole received, but it definitely did put that pressure on trying to go 'well if you don't get nominated for an AACTA again, did you do your job?' sort of thing. It was lovely that audiences responded well to Malakai, but you want to make sure that you sustain that throughout the second season. But the more days on shoot and the more I get to spend time with this cast — we have a lot of group scenes that we tend to load at the top of the show as well, and once that dynamic creates — all that concern sort of falls away and you can just get the job done." On Weatherall's Take on Malakai's Journey in Season Two "Once I read the whole show and knew the entire arc, it was really bittersweet. I don't mean it in a rude way, but I don't tend to get too attached to the characters. I sort of go 'whatever services the story, that's the job'. But I really felt for him, and I don't know if it was just a reflection of where I was in my life. I often think back to myself at 16 and there's a few similarities between us, but we are very different. But really at the heart of it, he's just searching for contentment and he's trying to find his people in a romantic sense, but in just a friendship and community sense as well. I think he's this charming and charismatic guy, but underneath all of that, there's this real search for belonging, which I can definitely relate to at 16. I mean, I can relate to it at 23. I noticed that. It was hard, because he's charming and he knows how to have fun, and there's all the romance and things like that — that was a big thing that stuck with me this entire season, that journey and never quite getting it right, or the times where he thinks he is and something changes, and the indecision of being 16 and not knowing what the right choice is but also desperately attempting to make that decision. When you're 16, everything feels like the most important thing in your life, and then you leave high school and you go 'yeah, life goes on'. I definitely I felt for him a lot this season. I think he's crammed a lot of a self-discovery journey into a term of high school. I don't know how I would have held up if I was 16 doing that." On Balancing Malakai's Charm and Outgoing Nature with His Interiority, Uncertainty and Being Caught in a Love Triangle "That's kind of the best — it's a blessing as an actor, is that you've always got that in the back of it. So it's the question of when he is being that charming, charismatic, loud, funny, whatever it is, that he's using the persona that he's putting on, how much of that is a facade to cover up either that insecurity or that questioning or discomfort? Again, Malakai and I are quite different, but I remember at 16, that's exactly how I coped with those questions or with whatever was happening in my life — that facade that you can put on. As I said, for an actor, it's wonderful that you get to play both sides of that. And in this show particularly, you have one scene where you're on the top of the world and it's this beautiful romantic moment, and it's all about love and the joys of being a 16-year-old, and being ignorant and free. And then the next scene, you're crying on an airplane, because you know you also have very little control over a lot of the things that happen to you at that age. Because you're still a minor. You're still figuring things out. And you're at the mercy of your peers in school and your parents, and all of those bigger concepts. As an actor, that's the best thing to do, rather than just having to be the funny guy or be the heart of the show or the introspective one. He fluctuates between all of them." On the Acting Dream When Weatherall First Made the Leap From Dancing "There wasn't one, to be honest. I'm still just holding on for dear life and seeing where it goes. I was certain to be a dancer. That was the be-all and end-all of my life. And I got interested in acting through writing. I was really interested in writing and filmmaking towards the end of high school, and got cast in this ABC series in year 12 and that was just it. My first day on set, I just went 'this is it. I want to do this'. I remember telling my mum after 11 years of 40-hours-plus dance training a week, I was like 'I'm going to be an actor, no more dancing' — and just quit on the spot and made that decision. And to her credit, she completely supported that. I think I've always been interested in creativity in a larger sense, with writing, and the thought of maybe directing or producing one day and creating work. And I think acting is a part of that, and it's a part that I love and I hope I can do for as long as people keep giving me jobs. I like to think of it in a bigger sense in creating a bit more work. If you had told 17-year-old Tom who's getting his first audition that he'd be on a Netflix show or doing some of the other work I've been doing recently, I wouldn't have believed a word of it. I've been very lucky, again, to be on a show like this and have the reach it has. I've been able to work with actors I really admire, and creatives that I've sort of genuinely dreamt of working with. So yeah, it's been very surreal." Heartbreak High streams via Netflix. Read our reviews of season one and season two. Images: Netflix.
Two things to say up front. Firstly, Drive is the coolest film of 2011. Backed by an ultra cool soundtrack (think Bladerunner meets TRON), it's the story of a cool guy (Ryan Gosling) who wears cool clothes, says cool things and — perhaps most importantly — drives cars (which are, in general, cool). Secondly, you must not watch the trailers. None of them. Without exception they reveal every single plot point for the entire movie. Whoever produced them should be dragged out back and made to watch The Last Airbender on repeat. They're basically what the trailer for The Sixth Sense would've been had it opened with the kid declaring: "I see dead people. Oh and Bruce, while we're on the subject…" That's not to say Drive is a 'twist movie', but its suspense rests heavily on the periodic revelations and plot turns that throw the ever-in-control protagonist into an increasingly out of control predicament. Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn whose previous films include Valhalla Rising and Bronson, Drive is an ode to the classic loner-hero movies of Eastwood and McQueen, coupled with the desolate crime tales of Michael Mann and Scorcese, then rounded out with some ultra-stylised Tarantino violence. In short: it's a genre film where the genre is constantly changing. Drive is part chase movie, except that the most exciting example is the opening scene in which Gosling's character deftly evades the police with guile and subtelty rather than speed and aggression. It's also part romance, except that the love interest, played with beguiling tenderness by Carey Mulligan, is already married and mother to a young boy. The performances are fantastic across the board, with Gosling and Mulligan in particular achieving an extraordinary chemistry despite having very few lines of dialogue between them. Strong supporting roles are also provided by Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks, with Brooks almost certainly enjoying the lion's share of witty one-liners throughout. As the film throws to the final credits the repeated lyric of 'real human being and a real hero' offers an interesting perspective on the story that's preceded it. Drive is heavily stylised but it somehow remains altogether personal and even relatable. It's a very human story about very real people. Whether Gosling's character is also a 'hero' or not, though, depends on your understanding of the term. There's no doubting his courage and selflessness, but his methods are far removed from the kind of stoic acts you'd tell your grandchildren as bedtime stories. The result is a somewhat emotionally ambiguous transformation from sympathetic nice guy to violent avenger that might seem out of place were it not just so impossibly, impossibly cool. https://youtube.com/watch?v=eAc23x2JJG0
Randwick has a new kid on the block. Taking its name from the opening lines of Hunter S. Thompson's cult classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Bat Country adds a touch of cool to The Spot's bustling hub of tapas and Thai restaurants. Opposite the beloved, golden-age Ritz Cinema, this sharp new drinking hole brands itself as a local's bar, aiming to create an atmosphere that bridges the gap between restaurant and watering hole. Or, as owner Collin Perillo puts it, "the kind of place where Raoul Duke would go to write copy." The decor of the raw brick interior reeks of Beat Generation swagger. Wander through and you'll find a cluster of cosy booths and a sweet little nook by the kitchen that feels just like hanging out in your grandma's living room. There's also a spread of '60s Americana paraphernalia and some kickass antler chandeliers. The overall effect is a stylishly outdated but authentic atmosphere. It's also refreshing not to be overpowered by the music. Looping through the likes of Johnny Cash and the Rolling Stones (testament to a committed theme), this small bar has achieved the perfect balance of tunes and chatter. Bat Country offers a tight cocktail list of innovative concoctions, served by very competent bartenders in Hawaiian shirts (if you're lucky). From the happy-go-lucky Junkie George Fizz (Wild Turkey Bourbon, honey, orange and mint, $16) to the slightly formidable-sounding God's Own Prototype (Havana 7 year rum, Chartreuse, Maraschino, lemon, Angostura, $16), there's a bright array of sweet and sour that will tickle your tastebuds well into the night. Also, The Best Drink in the World (Flor de Cana Extra Dry Rum, lime, sugar, $18) is bound to strike your attention. Whether it is or not is disputable, though it's darn refreshing. Onto beer. There's a steady flow of Young Henrys on tap, a handful of craft brews from Western Australia, and a hearty Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA ($11), which is probably kingpin of the beer list. Bat Country also caters a luscious range of tasty share plates, such as the Bloody Chunk'a Rump ($15), served strictly medium rare. Or, if you're hankering for a seafood fix, Kitchen Chef Tim's Salt and Pepper Squid with wasabi mayo and dressed greens ($16.50) is sure to sort you out. This nifty addition offers a friendly and relaxed vibe. It's a much-needed diversification of The Spot's dining scene, and it's already a buzzing success. Swing by around 8pm on a Friday or Saturday, and you'll struggle to get a seat. It is a touch pricey, which may not fly with the student demographic, but you get what you pay for. On the whole, Bat Country is bound to make you feel like a local. Here's hoping it's the leader in a burgeoning Randwick bar scene.
An absolute monster of a lineup and a special treat for anyone who missed out on Laneway tickets, with three of 2013's hottest hip hop acts set to tear the roof off the Enmore. Earl Sweatshirt came into the spotlight as part of the Odd Future crew but missed much of the group's huge first year of tours and releases, and no one knew quite why — was he in prison? At boarding school in Samoa? At a military academy? Whatever it was, Earl has been making up for lost time with his debut album, Doris, both a critical and commercial smash hit, and featuring on countless end-of-year lists. Danny Brown also had a big year with the release of his third album, Old, a throwback album that wears its love for old-school hip hop proudly on its sleeve. Brown's first successes as a musician came from very 'now' styles and sound like trap and electronica, but with this album Brown says he wanted to return to a sample-based, 'classic' sound that borrows most from J Dilla and Wu-Tang. The result somehow sounds both fiercely new and groundbreaking as well as immediately familiar. Run the Jewels is a new name, but the two names behind it are anything but. El-P and Killer Mike joined forces in 2013 after featuring on each other's albums the year before, and they somehow found the perfect balance between Mike's aggressive Southern flow and El-P's tense, hyper delivery. There have been lots of high-profile collaboration albums in hip hop, but it's been a long time since anything was released that is this cohesive and this wholly developed. And as anyone who saw El-P at Laneway this year will know, he's a tireless, frenetic live performer who never lets the intensity drop even for a moment. https://youtube.com/watch?v=anRkutaPS9w
Time doesn't quite fly when you're setting up Australia's newest airline, with low-cost carrier Bonza first announced in 2021 but only securing regulatory approval to hit the skies at the beginning of 2023. Still, just weeks after receiving its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), aka the official go-ahead, Bonza has just put its first-ever fares on sale — and will take to the sky from Tuesday, January 31. Yes, your 2023 getaways just got cheaper — and you now have a new way to fly off on holidays, too. The soon-to-launch carrier's aim: opening up routes to more of the country's regional destinations, flying 27 routes to 17 locations, and offering low-cost fares in the process. In its first batch of flights, one-way fares start at $49, with tickets available to 12 destinations on 15 routes. In this initial batch of fares, most routes leave from the airline's Sunshine Coast base, with the $49 options getting passengers to Coff's Harbour, Port Macquarie and Rockhampton. Legs to the Whitsunday Coast, Mackay and Newcastle come in at $59 from the Sunny Coast, while the $69 fares include trips to Albury and Townsville. The most expensive? $79 to get to Victoria's Avalon airport, Mildura and Cairns. Departures from Cairns to Mackay cost $49, and to Rockhampton costs $59. Bonza's just-dropped first fares also include Rockhampton to Townsville for $49 and Newcastle to the Whitsunday Coast for $79. The number of flights per route varies, ranging from two to five — with the Sunshine Coast to Cairns getting the most each week. When its full range of flights hits the air, the airline will also service locations such as Bundaberg, Gladstone and Toowoomba, in Queensland — plus Tamworth in New South Wales — as part of its big focus on regional destinations. Bonza's second batch of fares is expected to drop in a few weeks, covering flights from its second base in Melbourne To book, you'll need to download the airline's app. For travellers who have already done so, the carrier advises that you will need to delete it and then reinstall the latest version to get access to reserve flights. App-only reservations are one of Bonza's points of difference, unless you're booking via a registered local travel agent. Another: a previously announced all-Australian in-flight menu, spanning both food and craft beer. Passengers will get soaring in planes given names as Aussie as the carrier's itself: Bazza, Shazza and Sheila. The trio will take passengers to places they mightn't otherwise been able to fly to, too, with Bonza noting that 93 percent of its routes aren't currently served by any other airline — and 96 percent of them don't presently have a low-cost carrier. The airline is launching with the backing of US private investment firm 777 Partners, which also has a hand in Canada's Flair Airlines and the Southeast Asian-based Value Alliance. Bonza's fares don't include baggage and seat selection, which you need to pay extra for — and it is cheapest to do so when you make your booking, rather than afterwards. Bonza is set to start flying from Tuesday, January 31 , with flights on sale now. For more information, and to buy fares, head to the airline's website, or download its app for Android and iOS.
One pair of Aussie pastry chefs are on a mission to make the humble lamington famous. Well, famous outside of Australian borders — just how Iranian-born jalebi and Italian cannoli are now found the world over. To do this, Min Chai and Eddie Stewart, founders of Australia's N2 Extreme Gelato, have launched Tokyo Lamington. While the duo initially focused on piquing the interest of overseas tastebuds — selling the lamingtons in Singapore and Tokyo — the chefs have now brought the international brand Down Under. After popping-up in Koko Black stores in Sydney and Melbourne for one day in June, Toyko Lamington opened its flagship Australian store in Market City. The dessert brand doesn't just make traditional takes on the quintessentially Aussie chocolate- and coconut-covered cake. Instead, the sponge gets an international makeover with iterations in pandan, ube, lemon myrtle, black sesame, matcha and milk tea. Nikki To The Sydney outpost of Toyko Lamington will serve some Aussie-as flavours, too, such as fairy bread with popcorn butter and Ferrero Rocher — plus the OG chocolate and coconut version, of course. Each lamington costs $7 a pop and can also be ordered online (for pickup only). The shop's fit-out is loud with black walls and brightly coloured geometrical shapes, timber furniture and hanging greenery. The open space has a few booths and table seating, but will function mainly as a takeaway joint — selling nothing but lamingtons and a few canned drinks.
Rooftop bars are so last season. If you're still heroically bracing a trembling Aperol Spritz against a fifth-floor autumn wind on one of Sydney's dying summer days, here's an alternative for you: a new way to get high and party, and this one's much more spectacular. From May 26 to June 17 as part of Vivid Sydney, the Sydney Tower Eye is launching Eye Live Project — a program of live music nights, 250 metres above the city, against a jaw-dropping 360-degree view. Sydney label Etcetc, propelled by ex-Ministry of Sound talent Aden Mullens, will kick things off on May 26 with a lineup featuring infectious sun-soaked house from POOLCLVB, as well as the badass, vintage electro-funk of Luke Million, who caused a stir with his take on the Stranger Things theme. The same weekend will also see The Eye unveiled as a neon Tron-like playground for Discovery — Australia's Daft Punk Tribute show. Touch Sensitive, with his cult-favourite cosmic beats, headlines the rollover into June, alongside electronic DJ sets from vocalists Elizabeth Rose and Annie Bass. An all-nighter with Dr Packer — remix-king of old-school soul, disco, hip hop and reggae — follows on June 3, and sets the vibe for intoxicating club pop DJ KLP's set the following weekend. There'll also be raw, electronic R&B from Thandi Phoenix and beats from one of Australia's biggest names in getting down, Ministry of Sound's DJ Samrai, to see in the final weekend, before Heaps Gay take the wheel for a massive sky-high finale. Headliner Brendan Maclean will perform a live set alongside a host of Sydney DJs and vibrant performers, sending off the Eye Live Project in a whirlwind of glitter and spectacle. Adding to Vivid's already formidable events program, the Eye Live Project is the first of its kind at the Sydney Tower Eye. With a strict venue capacity of 200 and a secret headliner still to be announced, tickets are set to sell fast. The Eye Live Project takes place on Friday and Saturday nights between May 26 and June 17.
First there was Bondi Hardware. Then there was The Botanist in Kirribilli. And now Applejack Hospitality have expanded their near-water empire to SoCal. It's time to slip into something a little more comfortable. Grab those large dark sunnies, your best dressed-up beach chic and head on over to the growing bar area of Neutral Bay. Sit back and allow Cali to introduce herself. This is for the good-looking North Shore crowd who have been calling out for more stylish drinking venues. And it's not just for booze. There are great things to munch on; in fact, you could call it a dinner venue just as much as a drinking den. The space use to be a 'gentlemen's karaoke bar' (although how much singing went on is questionable), which might explain the long staircase as you ascend into the bar. Once at the top you're greeted with a palette of bright yellows, including the large Cerveza Pacifico Claro sign in the courtyard area, pink flamingos, white timber, sky blue cushions and a stack of plants. The bar area with its large 'bar' sign (so there's no mistaking it for anything else?), old crates acting as shelves for the booze, adds a slightly different aesthetic to the mix, and the tunes, well, they're perfect for chilling out to. Then there's the staff. There's something about a bearded barman that just screams knowledgeable about liquor. Especially when paired with a Hawaiian shirt. There are three options for jugs of cocktails at $35 each, including the Caliente Punch — Ketel One Vodka, elderflower and pomegranate liquors, strawberries, lime, orange and ginger beer. They're very drinkable, though don't look for high alcohol content return on your investment. The Salted Caramel Espresso Martini ($16) could do with a dash more of salted caramel to the mix, but is a great espresso martini if that's what you're after. Other cocktails are classics with a twist like the Momma's Moonshine ($17) or the Muscle Beach Mai Tai ($18). To eat there's a MexiCali-inspired share plate scenario, with a focus on fresh flavours and seafood. The pulled pork, black bean, rosemary and grilled eggplant quesadillas ($20), served with cheese and salsa on flour tortillas, are the pick to go with a drink — perfectly crispy on the outside, yet soft and squishy on the inside. There's also the usual suspects like chilli dogs and pintxos, as well as a raw section including the likes of kingfish tiradito ($19). But you just can't go past the value-for-mulla tacos, even if they're a little bit drippy on the sauce side of things. You get three large ones for $20 — choose from Baja fish, shredded beef and Sriracha chicken. From the share section of the menu, the seared salmon with zucchini, coriander and walnuts ($20) is also worth trying out. A table inside is perfect for a hot date (there's no way anyone at any other table will be able to hear your conversation), or there's outside for large groups. The half-covered courtyard is great for warm-weather weekends, and if you squint really hard you could be mistaken for thinking you're in California. One of the best parts? The 2am licence, which means ol' Maisy's down the road has some competition. Okay, not really. SoCal wins hands down. Here's hoping more inspired venues spring up around the area. The younger locals are clearly dying for it — based on how packed it was. Yes, my booking for an outside table on my birthday was messed up, but it was rectified a few hours later. Hopefully any small issues like this are just teething issues. Get your white-toothed smile ready and pair with a laidback attitude for some serious drinking and chowing down in the sun.
If money is truly no object for you, then look no further than New Year's Eve at Quay. Dinner at this award-winning harbourside restaurant generally goes for $290, so it's no surprise New Year Eve's on the doorstep of the Harbour Bridge isn't cheap. A reservation will set you back $2000 or the price of a 1999 Nissan Pulsar. Included in the price is an unforgettable view of the fireworks, champagne and canapés on arrival, plus a seven-course menu from Executive Chef Peter Gilmore with paired wines by Head Sommelier Shanteh Wong. Maybe $2000 a head feels a bit excessive to you. If so, you can head up to Quay's level four Green Room, where you'll be treated to a five-course meal from Gilmore, as well as the complimentary champagne and harbourside views. The Green Room's $1400 price tag still makes it one of the year's pricer New Year's affairs, but if you're looking to splurge after the year that has been, this might just be what you're looking for. Images: Nikki To
Whether you're puffed out from tackling City2Surf or just seeking a different kind of cool down on a Sunday morning, Gelato Messina has teamed up with New Balance and the Unofficial Run Club for a one-day takeover in Bondi. This post-run recovery is sweeter than usual, featuring 2000 free scoops of gelato in two limited-edition flavours inspired by New Balance's high-performance footwear. Specifically, that'd be on-trend colourways of the New Balance FuelCell Rebel v5. With the same dedication as a world-class athlete, Messina's ice cream chefs have created a pair of winning flavours just for the occasion. You've got creamy choc malt gelato swirled with nougat gelato or the earthy notes of matcha gelato combined with swirls of dulce de leche. Scooping from 10am on Sunday, August 10, don't wait to make tracks to Gelato Messina Bondi. With these exercise-inspired flavours available on a first-come, first-served basis, plan a pitstop on the way home after the main event or treat it as motivation to embark on a mid-morning power walk.
Whatever she's in, and whether she's the star of the show or a supporting player, Chloë Sevigny's face always tells a tale of its own. That's been true in everything from Kids and Boys Don't Cry through to Big Love and We Are Who We Are, and it remains that way in The Girl From Plainville — the new eight-part true-crime miniseries led by The Great's Elle Fanning that's based on the death of Massachusetts teenager Conrad Roy III in 2014. Here, Fanning plays Conrad's long-distance girlfriend Michelle Carter. It's due to the her actions that the situation has been known as "the texting suicide case" for almost a decade — garnering not just local but international attention, and earning a HBO documentary, I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs Michelle Carter, back in 2019. Fanning is fantastic in what proves an eerie character study, but the looks that Sevigny, as Conrad's mother Lynn, shoots her way scream rather than simply speak volumes. If you've ever wondered what facial expression could sum up grief, horror, sorrow, anger, disbelief, hurt, despair and utter bewilderment all at once, the always-excellent Sevigny frequently has the answer. Inspired by Jesse Barron's Esquire article of the same name, The Girl From Plainville tells a tough tale. Streaming in Australia via Stan, with three episodes available now and the rest following weekly, it starts with Conrad's (Colton Ryan, Dear Evan Hansen) suicide in his truck in a Kmart parking lot. It was his second attempt to take his life, although he'd promised Lynn that he wouldn't do it again — and when his death was investigated, police discovered text messages sent to him by Michelle, including a plethora of words encouraging him to take his own life. In 2015, she was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter for "wantonly and recklessly" assisting the suicide. In 2017, her trial took place. The outcome is now a matter a history, which The Girl From Plainville builds up to while also unpacking Michelle and Conrad's relationship. Accordingly, in two intertwined narrative threads, Michelle is a bereaved girlfriend who inserts herself into the Roy family's mourning wherever she can, even though Lynn and her ex-husband Co (Norbert Leo Butz, another Bloodline alum) didn't know she existed until after their son's death — and she's also a lonely high-schooler who meets a boy from a neighbouring town while vacationing in Florida, then keeps up a romance afterwards via text. In both, she's clearly a troubled young woman with body-image issues, struggles making and keeping friends, and a yearning for attention, which The Girl From Plainville unpacks without excusing her actions. Indeed, Sevigny's piercing gaze aside, this is a show about questions rather than answers, because some things can't ever truly be resolved. It's a series about feelings, too, including the many faces we wear to weather them. Michelle sports plenty: devoted, manipulative, heartbroken, rebellious, insecure, domineering and needy being a mere few. The Girl From Plainville's first episodes are full of jaw-on-the-floor moments, all stemming from Michelle's behaviour. The way that she ingratiates herself into the Roys' lives is disturbing and infuriating in equal measure — and a scene where the Glee-obsessive mimics one of the show's big emotional numbers is nothing short of chilling. The more details that are revealed, the more perturbing her conduct proves, including the fact that she was playing the victim and claiming that Conrad had been missing for days to her friends while she was actually texting him encouragement to go through with his suicide. That's what sparks local detective Scott Gordon (Kelly AuCoin, Billions) and then assistant district attorney Katie Rayburn (Aya Cash, The Boys) to dig deeper, even though they're in unprecedented territory legally. When the show turns into a courtroom drama, it still weaves through blasts from Michelle and Conrad's relationship past. In the former, the tone is understandably stark and grim; in latter, which includes reimagining the onslaught of text messages the pair shared as face-to-face conversations, it's almost dreamy. Creators Liz Hannah and Patrick MacManus know that they're making another entry in the ever-growing scandal-to-screen canon — Hannah also executive produced The Dropout, and MacManus did the same on Dr Death — but their focus on inner turmoil is both compassionate and haunting. And, it does what a straightforward retelling might've missed, giving Conrad a space to be himself and to be a main character, rather than just a casualty in someone else's story. Ryan might be playing his second suicidal adolescent in as many projects, but he's heartbreaking here as Conrad navigates unshakeable social anxiety and the traditional expectations placed upon masculinity. There's nuance in Ryan's every scene, and layers to each aspect of his sensitive performance — traits that Sevigny and Fanning also display, all to The Girl From Plainville's benefit. In fact, it's that texture, subtlety and complexity that makes Fanning's portrayal something exceptional, especially when tasked with inhabiting such a difficult character. Whether she's playing Michelle as seemingly sweet but desperate to be liked and loved, overbearing and demanding in her determination to be the centre of Conrad's death, or solemn and shaken during her trial, she's always a whirlwind of competing — and compelling-to-watch — aims and emotions. Giving room to all these shades, and to the unanswerable queries they inspire, is what gives this ripped-from-the-headlines series weight and depth beyond its attention-grabbing premise. True-crime dramas are firmly having their moment right now — see also: Pam & Tommy, Inventing Anna, The Dropout and WeCrashed in the first quarter of 2022 alone — but The Girl From Plainville is complicated, captivating and gripping. Check out the trailer for The Girl From Plainville below: The first three episodes of The Girl From Plainville are available to stream via Stan, with new instalments dropping weekly. Images: Steve Dietl/Hulu.
One of the country's premier film events, the Melbourne International Film Festival, has released a sneak peak of 2013's programming. Artistic director Michelle Carey admits that she is "especially excited about the MIFF 2013", and after a glance we can see why. Three years ago Wentworth Miller's Stoker was voted one of 2010's best unproduced screenplays, and now the rest of us finally have a chance to see what all the fuss is about. The unnerving tale is centered on 18-year-old India, who, fresh from burying her father, meets the mysterious uncle her mother has invited into the family home to fill their void. The cast includes a trifecta of Australian talent, with Nicole Kidman, Jacki Weaver and Mia Wasikowska breathing life into the Stoker family. To add to the hype, it is also the English language debut of celebrated South Korean director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy). Other movies on the radar include Tim Winton's The Turning (starring Cate Blanchett); festival patron Geoffrey Rush's turn as an eccentric art auctioneer in Italian box-office smash The Best Offer; Shane Carruth's highly anticipated follow-up to cult time-travel puzzler Primer, titled Upstream Color; and US gore-fest of a horror flick You're Next. The documentary contingent looks set to more than hold its own this year as Australia's almost-rock legend Jeremy Oxley's battle with schizophrenia and alcoholism takes centrestage in The Sunnyboy, and UK director Ken Loach looks to the England of old in The Spirit of '45. Loach's exploration of British domestic policy pre- and post-Thatcher is a rallying call to UK politicians to reject austerity and remember that great 20th-century experiment, the welfare state. What would a film festival be without something to call the next Woody Allen? MIFF fills that category with the black-and-white comedy Frances Ha. Star Greta Gerwig (To Rome with Love) co-wrote the film with director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale). It contains dialogue like this: Guy: What do you do? Frances: It's kind of hard to explain. Guy: Why, is what you do really complicated? Frances: Because, I don't really do it. So it looks like they are onto a good thing. An annual event, the MIFF runs from July 25 to August 11. For more information, head to the website and keep an eye out for the full program, which will be released on July 2. Image: Festival patron Geoffrey Rush as Virgil Oldman in The Best Offer
Everyone knows that, in 2016, the lowest thing you can do is spoil Game of Thrones for a poor soul first-thing Tuesday morning. Usually the spoiling is an honest mistake (and the result of too many feels) — but what if it was actually something more sinister? Well, someone's created a service that is just that. Inspired by this story of a woman who sought revenge on her ex-boyfriend by sending him GoT spoilers, Spoiled will text your unsuspecting friends all the main plot points after each new episode airs. Because people are jerks. All this amazing but truly horrifying new service needs to get spoilin' is the mobile number of the friend you want to never speak to you again and your credit card number. Then, straight after the episode airs, your mate will be sent spoilers — images included. Each spoiler sent will cost you a mere $0.99 USD, and can be sent to any mobile number around the world. It truly doesn't cost much to ruin someone's day/week/year these days. We definitely do not endorse signing up your friends to this service. That guy who spoiled Breaking Bad for you though? Go right ahead.
Waking up and hearing the rain cascade over your roof, drizzle down your windows and water your plants sounds like heaven to most of us. To the cyclists among us, on the other hand, maybe not so much. Riding in the rain isn't the most desirable (or safe) way of getting to work, but for some it's the only way. So various bike umbrellas have been developed over the years (including this shocker), but here's one that might actually work. LEAFXPRO is a brand new leaf-style umbrella for your bike, looking for funding on Kickstarter. Designed with aerodynamics and ergonomics in mind, the windscreen-shaped umbrella hopes to keep you nice and dry on your way to work.You can even pick the colour from 'storm colours' to 'advanced colours'. Yep, deep breaths. The LEAFXPRO aerodynamics work to pull the water away from your body as you ride, and can be installed on any bike. We're a little worried about the visibility factor with that frontal shield, but we'd have to take it for a test run to make the call. And from the looks of the promo video, you'll need to unclip from the umbrella when you're locking up your bike — so you might get pretty wet anyway. Available for pre-order on Kickstarter, the umbrellas are going for about £99 — about $195AUD, pretty steep stuff when you add shipping. But with the amount you're likely to drop on Uber every time in rains, it might pay for itself. Maybe. Via Cycling Weekly.
Point yourself at dance floor and throw yourself in as Melbourne-based musician Kira Puru (of 'Tension' and 'Molotov' fame) is performing a free gig at Public House Petersham car park next month. The afternoon set on Saturday, December 7 is the final 2019 event in a series of female-led concerts called She Sessions. Also performing on the outdoor stage will be Triple J Unearthed artist Moody Beach with her indie-electronic tracks like 'Slave', and Sydney's Erthlings, who recently supported Amy Shark on tour, with their bright and poppy 'Bridges'. You can RSVP on the website if you want to tell all your friends about it. And you should — it's a chance to catch three of Australia's best female-led acts without paying a cent. As always, Public House chef James Elliott fires up the spit and there are Wild Yak beers for sale (Wild Yak are the main supporters of this event, helping make it all possible).
Perhaps Tony Irving was born a little too late. His current exhibit, Are we there yet?, at Eva Breuer Art Dealer in Woollahra, feels like an homage to modernism. Irving is a perfect fit in Eva Breuer's stable of artists. The works shown in the Eastern suburbs gallery are unfailingly conservative and pretty, but that's cool. Not everyone wants to look at drawings of Tracey Emin's vagina. Irving cites Canaletto (Italian guy. Painted slightly insipid portraits of 18th Century Venetian life.) as one of his favourite artists. Unsurprisingly, Irving's works are incredibly staid. That said, they're also lovely. The paintings are like Edward Hoppers but without the darkness. Giorgio De Chiricos but without the creepiness. There is a quietness and stillness in them but he uses symbolism terrifically well and it adds a fantastic surrealist flavour to the works. Each painting is a snapshot of urban life – cars, vistas, streetscapes - primarily Italian but there are a handful of American scenes in there just to mix it up. "The street is the starting point for most of my paintings", Irving explains, "but in recent years as I've started travelling more again, that has moved from Australia's urban environment to a wider world. That world is often surprising or inspirational, but the street is still there, people still go about their business and as an artist, my imagination conjures a narrative that might be playing out." Several studies and smaller versions of the paintings are included in the exhibition. Usually when galleries throw these into the mix it's to show the artist's creative process or somehow enhance the viewer's engagement with the final product. It's meant to be enlightening but in the Irving show it feels like filler. There are also a few little drawings included. They seem to serve no purpose other than to cover space on the wall and they're hung over a desk, so you can't pass by them easily. They feel like an afterthought. The works are beautiful, and you will enjoy seeing the exhibition. Even if your taste is more Munch than Monet, it's worth a visit. Just don't expect them to set your world on fire. Image by Tony Irving, care of Eva Breuer Art Dealer.
For most creative types, the dream is to create whatever one wants, whenever one wants and somehow make a living out of it. In reality, though, a professional creative career often involves some form of compromise — be that financial (i.e. I'll make the art I want to make and earn money some other way) or artistic (i.e I'll live off my art, but I accept that, every now and again, I'll have to accept commissions). This is true of architecture as of any other field. So, a bunch of high-flying designers are getting together at the Golden Age Cinema to discuss the matter. They include Domenic Alvaro (director, Woods Bagot's global studio), Kelvin Ho (founder, Akin Creative) and Isabelle Toland and Amelia Holliday (founders, Aileen Sage Architects — recent brains behind The Pool at Venice Biennale's Australian Exhibition). Their chats will cover balancing commercial demands with the drive to innovate, the characteristics of Australia's design identity and its impact internationally, the meaning of success and the latest changes in visual languages. The event is presented by The Office Space and is part of Sydney Architecture Festival.
In the long list of things we need to do to help the environment, cutting down on the amount of plastic that end up in landfill is right up there. Many countries including France, Italy, Ethiopia and South Africa have already banned single-use plastic bags, but France has just passed legislation that goes one step further. The European country will place a ban on plastic plates, cups and cutlery from 2020. Yep, all those Parisians picnicking at the Tuileries will see themselves dining differently in the park over the next four years — under the new rules, all disposable dinnerware will have to be made of biologically-sourced materials and have the ability to be composted. This includes plastic plates, plastic cutlery, plastic glasses, plastic dishes for takeaway meals, and even plastic cups in coffee machines. They're the first country in the world to introduce such a ban. Naturally, packaging and plastic manufacturers are none to happy with the French government's decision to implement the ban, claiming that it violates European Union's rules on free movement of goods, according to The Associated Press. They're also arguing that there's "no proof" bio-sourced disposable cutlery is any better for the environment. Either way, France — who also hosted last year's Paris Climate Change Conference — is doing its bit in making legislative changes to help the environment. By contrast, in Australia only Tasmania, South Australia, ACT and the NT have bans on single-use plastic bags in place at the moment — the bigger states are yet to commit to one. Via The Associated Press.
South Dowling Sandwiches make some of the best value-for-money sandwiches in Sydney — just ask the regulars overflowing from this pocket-sized Darlinghurst alcove. For you see, once you've sampled 'Dowlo', you'll keep coming back, and while there are many reasons to return, the most compelling is their generosity. Dowlo don't just fill your sandwich; they overload it to the point where you won't need to eat again for the remainder of the day, no matter which sandwich you order. Simply choose between brown or white bread, then pick your filling and watch it crafted before your eyes in record time. While you can design your own sandwich, don't. The artists here have provided eight delicious options — tuna, vegi, leg ham, chicken schnitzel, chilli chicken, poached chicken and smoked salmon — that will satisfy any palate. And the best thing is they cost just $8. While the chicken schnitzel sandwich attracts something of a cult following, having tasted each and every one on offer, I can confidently say there are two standouts: chilli chicken and vegi. The former uses minimal ingredients to pack a delicious punch, with just lettuce, rocket, chilli chicken and red pesto cooperating to make your lunch break the highlight of your day. The vegi is built on the opposite, containing more vegetables than a farmers market. Forget everything you ever knew about vegetarian sandwiches, because this is all you need to know. The bold and hungry can add 'The Special' to their sandwich. For $5 extra, you can super-size your filling with potato salad, avocado, caramelised carrots (words cannot describe how delightful these are), boiled egg, tomato and cheese. If just one or two extras pique your interest, then you can add those instead, and they vary between 50 cents and $2 each. While the sandwiches are the heroes, Dowlo also do a number of generous salads, priced between $11 and $14 (with vegi, chilli chicken, poached chicken, chicken schnitzel, tuna and smoked salmon the available options). Plus, if you've still got room for it, grab yourself one of their muesli cookies. You might not taste a better cookie in your life. So whether you're a sandwich, salad or snack person, South Dowling Sandwiches has you covered. See you there for (every) lunch. Images: Cassandra Hannagan
If your partner or mates have been begging you to go on a weekend camping trip but the thought of spending a winter's night in the wilderness sends literal and metaphorical shivers down your spine, we have the perfect compromise. A watering hole inspired by the outdoors is popping up in the CBD, where you can sip on bourbon and snack on delicious treats by a campfire, all within an Uber-ride's distance from home. Wild Turkey is bringing the wilderness to the city with Spirit of the Wild. Set at a secret location, the pop-up bar will feature an overgrown rooftop and enough outdoors-y features for you to forget about the hustle and bustle of big city life (momentarily, at least). The chefs from Continental Deli have designed a nostalgic menu inspired by campfires and Wild Turkey's rich bourbon flavour. The two-course meal will be coupled with cocktails made with Australian native ingredients and presented in camping-chic hip flasks and bamboo cups. Tickets to this hidden sanctuary cost $69 per person and include a Wild Turkey drink on arrival plus the two-course menu with paired cocktails. It's cheaper than a two-man tent — and warmer to boot. Walk-ins are also welcome to come for cocktails and Continental Deli eats on Sundays from 12pm to 10pm. Spirit of the Wild runs Saturday, July 14 to Sunday, August 12. Dinners will be held from 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome on Sundays 12–10pm. Bookings are essential for dinner and can be made here.
Continuing the trend of ingenious bike accessories, the MAMA bike rack allows your two-wheeler to literally stand above the rest. A collaboration between furniture designer Matt Elton and graphic designer Matteo Baldarelli, this neat device has two smooth hooks for you to hang your bike on. The rack also has three holes where locks and cables can be looped through and secured. The powder coated finish means that this rack can be secured to walls both inside and outside. Impressively, the rack's simple and compact design also provides a small shelf above the two hooks. This leaves an ideal platform for you to place your morning flat white. The MAMA bike rack will ensure that your bicycle stands in style, and are available for purchase from designer Matt Elton.
When it comes to history's legendary painters, Claude Monet's name stands out above most. Now, for the first time ever, Australian audiences are invited to experience the painting that the entire Impressionist movement was named after as the National Gallery of Australia exhibits Monet's world-famous masterpiece, Impression, sunrise. As well as a striking collection of other Monet paintings — including the instantly recognisable Waterlilies and On the Beach at Trouville — the exhibition features works by an array of artists who inspired or followed Monet into leaving behind the studio and painting 'en plein air'. From JMW Turner to James McNeill Whistler and Eugène Boudin, other contemporaries of Monet featured at the NGA include Alfred Sisley and Berthe Morisot, one of the few female painters among the Parisian Impressionists. With their visible brush strokes and incredible depictions of light and its subtle changes, many of these works have been gathered from the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, which almost never loans its collection. Running until Sunday September 1, Monet: Impression Sunrise is undoubtedly worth taking a wintertime road trip to Canberra for, so grab your pals and hit the road. Images: Claude Monet, Impression, sunrise (1872), courtesy Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris and Christian Baraja SLB; Claude Monet, Waterlilies (1914–17), courtesy NGA; Claude Monet, On the beach at Trouville (1870), Courtesy Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris and Bridgeman Images.
From piecing together messages or wondrous discoveries hidden among the stars, to using the constellations as a guiding force for navigation, or simply sitting back and admiring the view, stargazing has proven to be an enduring hobby. To honour this, Vivid Sydney is taking to the skies with the return of its stunning annual drone shows, in partnership with the Australian Traffic Network. Across six nights from Sunday, May 28, you'll be able to look up and witness over 1000 drones lighting up the night sky to create the biggest drone show the Southern Hemisphere has seen to date. Written in the Stars will take audiences on a visual exploration of space, delving into the natural world of our solar system by featuring awe-inspiring landscapes from the Sun through to Jupiter — along with some unexpected stops and visitors. A rework of Gustav Holst's 'The Planets' by Peewee Ferris will soundtrack the shows, available via the Cinewav app (which you can download here), to heighten the experiential journey. And you'll be able to marvel at these sights for free. Catch the recurring light shows from 9.10pm from your vantage point of Circular Quay or The Rocks. This event will only light up Sydney Harbour for six nights throughout the duration of Vivid Sydney 2023. Written in the Stars is running from 9.10pm on Sunday, May 28 and Wednesday, May 31 then June 4th, 7th, 12th and 14th. For more information, visit the website.
Break out the martinis and prepare for a shaken but not stirred couch session: Bond, James Bond, is coming to your lounge room. Just in time for wintry binge-viewing marathons, the famed espionage franchise has hit Prime Video, spanning every flick in the series from the now 60-year-old Dr No through to 2021's No Time to Die. Sean Connery smouldering his way through everything from that first-ever Bond instalment through to Diamonds Are Forever, Roger Moore stepping into 007's shoes between Live and Let Die and A View to A Kill, Timothy Dalton's two-film run in The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill — they're all included. So is Pierce Brosnan's stint as the secret agent between GoldenEye and Die Another Day, and Daniel Craig's five contributions from Casino Royale onwards, wrapping up with what might be the best Bond film yet. Aussie actor George Lazenby's one-movie appearance as Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service is also on the bill. That's all 25 official movies in total covered, but there is also a 26th movie, Never Say Never Again, that you might want to watch. Made in 1983, it stars Connery as the suave spy. But, because it was made by a different company from the rest of the Bond movies, it's not considered part of the franchise itself. If you're a completist, it's also on Prime Video now. Exceptional Bond flicks, terrible ones, everything in-between: if 007 is involved, it's now in this one spot. For everything other than No Time to Die, this isn't the first time the franchise has all sat on one streaming platform, and we've all seen various flicks hop between different services over the years. That said, the Bond movies aren't likely to move from Prime Video moving forward given that Amazon recently purchased MGM, the nearly century-old film studio that's behind all things 007. That deal will see the platform access MGM's 4000-plus films and more than 17,000 TV episodes, spanning the likes of the Rocky and Legally Blonde franchises, as well as other classics such as Thelma & Louise, The Silence of the Lambs, The Magnificent Seven and Raging Bull. For now, though, the focus is on a certain Aston Martin-driving spy — and the villains, women, gadgets, songs and stylishing opening credits sequences that go with him. If you want to don a tuxedo while you watch, well, that's up to you. The entire Bond franchise hit Prime Video on Wednesday, May 11 — and is now available to stream.
Ever wondered what it'd be like to listen in on a chat between known besties Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer? Well, wonder no longer. The latest edition of Dunham's Lenny Letter features an interview between the two, touching upon everything from tramp stamps to body image to boundaries in comedy. Their discussion is timed to coincide with the release of Schumer's new memoir, The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo, which is currently rocketing to the top of best-seller lists. Because they're the power pals we all know and love, both prove frank and funny as they also compare experiences at this year's Met Gala ("I attempted to grind my ass on Michael B. Jordan," Dunham notes), and talk about Schumer's gun control campaign following the tragic shooting during a screening of her film Trainwreck last year ("You know, that is actually when I felt the closest to Jennifer Lawrence, because that day she texted me, 'It's your fault.' And in times like that only jokes make you feel a little better", Schumer shares). Plenty of other tidbits also come up during the piece, including something Girls fans might be particularly interested in. In the lengthy introduction, Dunham reveals that the two first met when Schumer auditioned for the role of Shoshanna. We'll give you a minute to imagine how that version of the show could've turned out. Yep, it's the kind of reading your weekend needs — and the next best thing to managing to become the third musketeer in their best friendship. And sure, it's the type of affectionate, amusing chat you'd expect from the two; but hey, if these two talented ladies want to share their banter with the world, you won't hear us complaining. Via Lenny Letter.
We've almost made it to the end of this chaotic year. Holidays are looming ever closer, and it's time to hang out with friends and fam, recharge and reflect — potentially doing so at beaches, in ocean pools, while hiking or chilling out in parks — and maybe logoff from social media for a bit. And Pantone is suggesting we do so surrounded by 'life-affirming' coral. Living Coral (PANTONE 16-1546) has just been named as Pantone's 2019 Colour of the Year. The energising — and appropriately summery — shade was chosen by Pantone's colour experts not only because it "provide[s] comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment", but because it encourages lighthearted activity and pursuit of fun — exactly what we're all hoping to do over the next couple of months (and, ideally, throughout the New Year). Of course, coral is associated with nature, too, in animals (like flamingos) and in Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef. While we doubt it was on the minds of Pantone's colour experts, the colour is timely due to the recent, reinvigorated fight for emergency action on climate change in Australia. Hundreds of school students, just this Wednesday, descended on Canberra's Parliament House to demand action on climate change and to stop the Adani coal mine — a proposed Queensland mine, which, if it goes ahead, could have huge impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. Then there's Living Coral's reinvigorating nature — it's said to energise and enliven. So paint your room in it, cover your body in it or just buy some snazzy coral socks — it might help you get through this crazy messed up world in 2019.
Attention all uni students: give those fingers that have been tap-tap-tapping away at your end-of-semester assignments a rest. Instead, get those thumbs moving because it's time for a huge party that you'll want to swipe right on. At Thredbo x Tinder Uni Week, you'll spend six whole days of shredding — first on the snow, then the dance floor. Thredbo has taken pity on those surviving on the humble Mi Goreng toastie and is offering all uni students a five-day lift pass at a discounted rate of $379 — with some sweet themed parties to boot. The week kicks off on Sunday, July 22 with a traffic light-themed party at the Thredbo Alpine Hotel's Keller Bar, where DJs will soundtrack your night from start to finish. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, it's the Ski, Swipe & Party events where DJs like Indian Summer will take to the stage. Monday night will require you to wear 'anything but clothes', Tuesday is a good old ugly sweater party and Thursday's theme is 'I can't believe you wore that'. Wednesday brings Jye's Jam, an urban rail comp at the Friday Flat stairs, followed by an after-party where you'll don your best headwear (the theme is 'party hats'). And if all that snow has you dreaming of somewhere more tropical, the week will be capped off with a Fireball Full Moon Party on Friday night to transport you to (an admittedly very snowy) Koh Pha-ngan. Grab your glow sticks and get partying. To discover more of Thredbo's winter program, head to thredbo.com.au.
The McFly's window Scenery Channel 'scene screen' from Back to the Future Part II could become a reality — and not just as a projector screen. Google's just landed the patent for technology that turns your walls into projection screens, so you could be able to fake the weather outside in your kitchen, make your lounge room into King's Landing, or make a Yayoi Kusama installation of your bedroom. Sure, it sounds like your regular ol' projector set-up or even Google's own existing Chromecast technology, but the difference lies in Google's super high-res photoreactive paint. According to Quartz, Google landed a patent today from the US Patent and Trademark Office, one that turn-around-touch-the-ground bagses the technology behind a projection system that uses photoreactive paint to display chosen images on a wall. Sure, it sounds like your regular ol' projector set-up or even Google's own existing Chromecast technology, but the difference lies in Google's super high-res photoreactive paint. So how does it work? After choosing a 'theme' (similar to choosing for your phone/tablet/computer), the projector shoots a laser at the painted wall, which in turn changes from its current boring old wall colour to an image not dissimilar from a desktop wallpaper. Controlled by a smartphone or computer, the projected image would stay put on the wall until changed or switched off. Suggested themes from the Google patent include either mimicking or rejecting the weather outside (we're talking full-on sunshine and palm trees for today), holiday themes (imagine how quickly you could put up Christmas decorations), or scoreboards when it's finals season. Apparently Google's hoping to take their proposed technology from still images to videos — now we're getting to full McFly window status here. Google's photoreactive paint projection technology is not on the market right now, they've just secured the patent. Google told Quartz not to treat this as a product announcement though, saying “We hold patents on a variety of ideas—some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patents.” Eh. We can dream. Via Quartz.
Come Friday, May 5, 2023's Archibald Prize winner will be unveiled. Whoever emerges victorious, the award's just-announced finalists have already made history. This is Australia's most prestigious portrait prize, is now in its 102nd year and hands out $100,000 to its annual winner. And, it took until this year for more women than men to be make the final list of contenders. In total, 949 entries were received, with 57 artists named as finalists. They include 30 by women and 27 by men. One such piece: Packing Room Prize recipient Clown Jewels, a portrait of New Zealand-born comedian Cal Wilson painted by Perth-born, Cairns-based artist Andrea Huelin — who picked up the gong with her first Archibald Prize entry. [caption id="attachment_898390" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Packing Room Prize 2023 winner, Andrea Huelin 'Clown jewels', oil on board, 120.2 x 120.1 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter. Sitter: Cal Wilson.[/caption] The Packing Room Prize is picked by three members of the Art Gallery of New South Wales' packing room team, hence the name: Timothy Dale, Monica Rudhar and Alexis Wildman in 2023. "Andrea's work jumped out at us as soon as it arrived. The bright colours really popped, and we immediately recognised Cal as a familiar face," said Wildman. "Cal's been such a mainstay on Australian television for two decades. We love the interesting pose and unique headwear and, in the tradition of the Packing Room Prize, Andrea's painting looks like Cal! This is a great, joyful portrait of someone who has brought so much laughter to Australia." [caption id="attachment_898395" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Packing Room Prize 2023 winner Andrea Huelin 'Clown jewels', featured with prize judges (left to right) Tim Dale, Monica Rudhar and Alexis Wildman, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Diana Panuccio.[/caption] "Being a finalist is everything I could have hoped for. Winning the Packing Room Prize is simply gobsmacking," advised Huelin. "I was inspired to paint Cal because her Instagram posts modelling her brilliant homemade headpieces on her makeshift stage made me laugh out loud. Her poses reminded me of my sister and me making ourselves laugh by pulling funny faces in the mirror as kids and I could tell we share a similar sense of humour. I posted a congratulatory comment and Cal wrote back and admired my paintings, so I asked if she'd sit for a portrait." "Cal brought her creativity and imagination to the sitting, as well as a suitcase full of headpieces and outfits. Because I'm a still life painter, I thought the headpieces were a great way for me to incorporate a still life element into the portrait. The formal portrait mocks the 19th-century style in which women were once painted, while capturing her cheeky expression and sparkly headpiece, which is actually just arts and crafts," Huelin continued. [caption id="attachment_898394" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Matt Adnate 'Echoes of a teenage superstar', spray paint and acrylic on linen, 198 x 198 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter. Sitter: Daniel Johns.[/caption] Alongside Clown Jewels, 2023's finalists include portraits of plenty of famous faces, Claudia Karvan, Sam Neill, Archie Roach, Noni Hazlehurst and Daniel Johns included. The latter comes courtesy of muralist Matt Adnate, and also marks his first Archibald entry. If you'd like to see all of the above, and the rest of 2023's finalists, they'll all be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney from Saturday, May 6–Sunday, September 3. And, they'll have company from works shortlisted for the venue's similarly coveted Wynne and Sulman prizes. The Wynne received 726 entries, with 41 named as finalists, while the Sulman received 673 entries, naming 45 as final contenders. [caption id="attachment_898396" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Anh Do 'Seeing Ruby', oil on linen, 240.4 x 200.3 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter. Sitter: Archie Roach.[/caption] In total, 2348 works tried their luck across the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes, making this year's pool the second largest ever, beaten only by 2020's. And, 2023 notched up another history-making stat: the highest-ever total number of entries by Aboriginal artists across the three prizes. Speculation about who will be awarded the coveted Archibald Prize — and, more often than not, the Archibald winner itself — usually causes much-heated debate. From 2018's five-time Archibald finalist Yvette Coppersmith's first win to Tony Costa's 2019 victory with his painting of fellow artist Lindy Lee — the first portrait of an Asian Australian to pick up the prize — it's hard a prize to pick. All that's really assured is that it'll be a portrait of a person by an Australian-based artist. [caption id="attachment_898397" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, Laura Jones 'Claudia (the GOAT)', oil and acrylic on canvas, 198.2 x 152.6 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter. Sitter: Claudia Karvan.[/caption] In 2020, Vincent Namatjira's portrait of Adam Goodes did the honours, and also marked the first time the award has gone to an Indigenous artist. In 2021, Peter Wegner's portrait of fellow artist Guy Warren nabbed the gong. And in 2022, it was Blak Douglas' portrait of artist Karla Dickens in the Lismore floods that came out on top. Whoever earns the nod for 2023's Archibald, there's still another award up for grabs afterwards. If you don't agree with the judges, you can cast your own vote for People's Choice, which will be announced on Wednesday, August 9. [caption id="attachment_898398" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archibald Prize 2023 finalist, James Powditch 'Sam I Am', acrylic on paper and board, 200 x 240 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter. Sitter: Sam Neill.[/caption] ARCHIBALD PRIZE 2023 DATES: Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW — May 6–September 3, 2023 Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria — September 15–November 5, 2023 South East Centre for Contemporary Art, Bega, NSW — November 18, 2023—January 7, 2024 Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, NSW — January 19–March 10, 2024 Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, NSW — March 15–April 28, 2024 Tamworth Regional Gallery, NSW — May 11–June 23, 2024 Glasshouse Port Macquarie, NSW — July 5–August 18, 2024 If you can't make it to any of the above dates, you can check out the award winners and finalists of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes on the Art Gallery of NSW website. Top image: Excerpt of Packing Room Prize 2023 winner, Andrea Huelin 'Clown jewels', oil on board, 120.2 x 120.1 cm © the artist, image © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter. Sitter: Cal Wilson.
The current true crime craze has filled our ears with acclaimed podcasts and packed our streaming queues with must-watch TV programs. Now, it's turning a former teen idol into a serial killer. After singing his way through high school, playing frat pranks at college and saving lives on California beaches, Zac Efron is swapping teen musicals, Bad Neighbours flicks and Baywatch remakes for a stint as notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. The end result is Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which focuses not only on the horrific string of killings that would eventually lead to Bundy's arrest and execution (he confessed to 30 homicides, but is suspected of committing more), but also on his relationship with single mother Liz Kloepfer (Lily Collins). How did the infamous figure charm his victims? How did Kloepfer fall in love with a psychopath? Both questions sit at this heart of this crime thriller. The movie's first trailer, which dropped in late January, showed us that it's quite the change of pace for Efron, who has been garnering impressive reviews for his performance. Also starring John Malkovich and Haley Joel Osment, the film screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year, debuting 30 years after Bundy's execution on January 24, 1989 — almost to the day, a case of gruesome timing that obviously isn't a coincidence. Now, a second eerie trailer has dropped for the film (below). This time round, Efron is a lot less charming and whole heap more unsettling — which, you know, is appropriate (since he's a serial killer and all). True crime fiends will be happy to know that a release date has also dropped — and you only have to wait 30 days until the thriller hits your Netflix queues. Yep, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile will be hitting the streaming service on Friday, May 3. Maybe schedule in a long weekend. In the meantime, you can watch (or rewatch) the equally chilling Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, which are also on Netflix. And watch the new unsettling new trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdMtnvMJcDA&feature=youtu.be Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile will hit Netflix on May 3, 2019.
Jackson Pollock's Blue poles (1952), Sol LeWitt's Wall drawing No. 380 a-d (1982) and Jon Schueler's The first day (1956), as well as works by Andy Warhol, James Turrell, Yoko Ono and Mark Rothko will all be available for your viewing pleasure this spring. The world-famous works will take over Canberra's National Gallery of Australia for American Masters 1940–1980, a free blockbuster exhibition showing more than 150 works by over 70 artists. Every piece comes from within the NGA, which impressively holds one of biggest collections of post-war American art outside of the US. Most purchases were made back in the 1970s and 80s, under inaugural director James Mollison — before the gallery's 1982 opening — and, at the time, were considered rather controversial. The show takes you on a chronological journey, beginning with abstract expressionism, which spawned Pollock, Rothko, Willem De Kooning and Frank Stella, before moving onto its many progeny, from colour field and pop to photo-realism and conceptual art. Images: Jackson Pollock, 'Blue poles' (1952), oil, enamel, aluminium paint, glass on canvas, National Gallery of Australia, © Pollock-Krasner Foundation; Installation view.
When global media giant Condé Nast Traveler releases its annual Readers' Choice Awards lineup, it's usually guaranteed to instantly have you dreaming of far-flung holiday destinations. But one of this year's award winners might just foster a newfound appreciation for what's in your own backyard, with Sydney ranking among the world's top ten in the Best Cities in the World list for the third year in a row. The awards are significant as they always pull a high number of votes — this year, more than 600,000 readers participated. As happened last year, they scored so much feedback that the Best Cities list was once again split into two, separating the the top ten small cities, as well as their top ten 'big city' counterparts. Unlike the 2018 result, Sydney chalked up a win in the indulgent age-old battle with Melbourne, with the New South Wales capital earning a spot on the list over Victoria's capital. Moving up from tenth place last year, and sixth the year before that, Sydney ranked fourth in 2020. The Condé Nast team once again described the city as "an ideal getaway no matter the season", praising its al fresco dining, outdoor lifestyle and cultural calendar. The magazine specifically suggests visiting Redleaf, dining out in Paddington and catching a ferry over to Manly, which it calls "Australia's answer to Montauk". [caption id="attachment_702755" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Manly Beach by Paros Huckstepp[/caption] While Melbourne came in third in 2018 — three spots above Sydney — it hasn't made the 2020 list at all. Topped by Kyoto, Lyon (France) and Singapore — coming first, second and third, respectively — this year's selection also includes Vienna, Tokyo, Porto, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Lisbon in the bottom six. If, rather than basking in Sydney's glory, you're looking for holiday suggestions around Australia, the Top Trains list includes The Ghan (which travels between Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin) and The Best Islands in the World list stars Kangaroo Island and Tasmania. Want to start dreaming of holidays even further afield? While overseas travel may be off the cards for a little while, there's nothing stopping you dreaming of international sojourns. The Top 20 Country list might help as well. Italy came in first, followed by Sri Lanka, Portugal and Japan. You can check out all the winners of Condé Nast's 2020 Readers' Choice Awards over here.
The Albert is one of the key sites in Surry Hills position as the craft beer epicentre of Sydney, stocking a rotating roster of some of the tastiest and most interesting local brews. Perched on the corner of Commonwealth and Reservoir Street the homley venue offers a heart pub menu alongside its impressive tap list. While the brews are a big drawcard for The Albert, many patrons are merely passing through to get to Bamboo Dumpling Bar. If you've been tasked with organising an after-work hang-out with your mates and you want chill pub vibes, but you're also sick of schnitties and steaks, Bamboo Dumpling Bar has you covered. Order siu mai, pork and chive dumplings and veggie gow gee — all $12 for five serves — for the group. Or, roll the dice and get the mixed dumpling plate ($13 for six serves). There's also chilli prawn spring rolls ($10), char siu pork buns ($12) and Chinese broccoli ($9.50).
Sofia Coppola has made her career by highlighting that being young or famous (and often both) does not protect anyone from existential crisis, no matter how blessed their life may outwardly seem. While previously Coppola has mocked this up in stylised versions of other times and places, her newest feature, The Bling Ring, picks at the designer threads of youth and celebrity in a city very close to her heart: Los Angeles. As the film opens, a circle of Hollywood teenagers are charged with breaking and entering the homes of TMZ royalty, including Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, and sashaying away with millions of dollars worth of luxury goods, clothing and cash. The seeds of their downfall are found one year earlier, when Marc (Israel Broussard) arrives at his new school with adolescent awkwardness slung over his otherwise fashionable shoulders. It is here that he casually befriends Rebecca (Katie Chang) and her posse of light-fingered, self-absorbed pals (including Emma Watson and Taissa Farmiga). Though based on actual events (Coppola has changed the names), The Bling Ring does not feel like a true crime film. It is dream-like, with Rebecca and Marc skipping through empty mansions in the hills, tossing diamonds and shoes at one another in an hour-long montage. Details of the characters' lives — and of the real identities behind these characters — are lost in the glitter, and as a result the plot unspools to hit certain moral milestones before the end credits roll. There are no twists and, ultimately, if you want a good story, you should seek out details of the real teenagers (and the Vanity Fair article that inspired the film) online. The Bling Ring then is a film essay on the experience of desire and lack of privacy in the fame economy. It is hard not to want everything that appears within the 90 minutes of the film, as clothing, money, drugs, young bodies and modernist mansions are showcased beneath a heaving soundtrack of Azealia Banks, Phoenix, M.I.A and Kanye West. By the end, when the teens' spree is brought to a halt, their only unforgivable mistake is the hubris of being so boastful about their crimes in a world of security cameras and social media. Most people otherwise would happily take a punt were they to know that Paris Hilton kept her keys under the doormat. https://youtube.com/watch?v=r4c6hmrwba0
In Melbourne the World's 50 Best Restaurants award ceremony has just wrapped up. We can only imagine (and dream of) how delicious the Neil Perry-supplied canapés would have been, how many recipes were swapped with slurred handwriting, and how cheery (read: boozy) all those chefs are right now. But we assume two of the most cheeriest will be Ben Shewry and Dan Hunter, as their restaurants — Attica and Brae, respectively — have just been named in the top 50 in the world. With the ceremony having just taken place at Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building this evening (the second time the awards have been held outside of London), the two Australian chefs have had the honour of being placed in the world's best 50 restaurants while on home turf. Attica's ranking is pretty consistent with last year's results, with the Melbourne restaurant moving up one spot to 32 from 2016 (and regaining its 2015 ranking in the process). However it was Brae, which is located in regional Victoria, that was the biggest mover this year — it moved up 19 spots to land at number 44 this year, cracking the top 50 for the first time. It was announced that last week Sydney's Quay placed at number 95, so it's a huge deal for Australia to have three restaurants in the top 100. The top trio of restaurants for 2017 aren't staunchly different from previous years, but have been shuffled around a little. Last year's number one spot-holder, Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana, has been moved back to second place, to make way for last year's number three, Eleven Madison Park, to take the top spot. This sees Spain's El Celler de Can Roca move back to third place.
For some, friendly banter with whoever happens to be behind a car's wheel is a regular part of booking a ride. For others, the obligatory bout of awkward conversation with the driver is the most dreaded part of the trip. Or, maybe you're just having a bad day and don't feel like chatting. Perhaps you're usually happy to talk away, but you're stressed, have too much on your mind, and have emails to check while you're getting from point A to point B. Whether you like a good chinwag with your driver or prefer riding in silence, Uber has introduced a new feature that lets customers choose their level of conversation. It's called quiet mode, and it lets you choose if you want a chatty ride or a quiet one. The catch: it's only available for Uber Comfort trips, which are about 20 percent more expensive than regular UberX trips. But, according to the Uber website, the ridesharing service's Comfort offering also comes with a range of additional benefits, including requesting a specific temperature within the car (warm, hot, cool or cold) and giving passengers a bit of extra time to make their way to the vehicle (up to ten minutes). Drivers will also have a minimum rating of 4.85 and will have clocked at least 500 trips, and cars will be at least a 2013 model. It's certainly a sign of the times that ordering a conversation (or lack thereof) can now be done at the touch of a button, rather than in person. That said, pre-selecting quiet mode will stop the dreaded, always uncomfortable "I don't feel like chatting" convo before the uncomfortable silence, as well as awkward small talk. Uber Comfort is now available across Australia.
Navigating the early morning, peak hour commute via train can only be made bearable by one thing. Coffee. Just a groggy stumble up the escalators of Wynyard Station is a caffeinated light at the end of the tunnel: York Lane. Taking the name of the laneway it sits on, York Lane provides everything you need to wipe the sleep out of your eyes in the AM right through to your night-time Negroni. The breakfast menu has all the usual suspects, Shukshuka baked eggs ($12), corn fritters ($10.80) and eggs on toast ($8.50). For empty stomachs there's the gluttonous Kerry Packer's breakfast; eggs, tomato, bacon, sausage and mushroom with toast ($17) will fix you right up. Takeaway specials are also available and the toast and coffee combo ($5.50) is a quick and cheap choice for those who hit the snooze button three too many times. After dark York Lane transforms into a trend setter's bar all set to whet your whistle after a tough day at the office. The wine list is small but varied and the list of craft beers will entice both hipsters and beer snobs alike. If you need something with a little more edge, there's a short cocktail list including the classic Negroni ($16) and the refreshing Dark and Stormy ($12). Nibble on something from the tapas menu with Asian flavours such as duck pancakes ($12) or crispy pork belly ($12) or European favourites like the antipasto platter ($22) or cheese-stuffed polenta rounds ($10). With a capacity of just 30 people, York Lane also offers itself as an intimate nook for a small function. The multi-level wooden interior is the perfect platform for the occasional live music featured. Otherwise vinyl records play all the classic crooners and the beautiful wooden lamps, 70s style tiling and warm, eclectic interior, transport you to a vibrant, vintage world. The concrete jungle you've just escaped will remain miles away for the entirety of your visit. York Lane is just the place to rectify your early morning blues with decent coffee and easy brekkie. And of an evening you'll replace the caffeine for some well deserved booze. Just do it.
Pixar certainly has a formula, but much like Coca-Cola, they won't share what it is. Nevertheless, whatever creative ingredients they are putting into their delicious movie soda is working — with their 13 major features to date averaging 89 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes. The company continues to make creative, moving and visually stunning family-friendly films that allow us to unashamedly enjoy a children's movie. The animation entrepreneurs have recently come under scrutiny, though, from critics who argue that the tried and tested formula is beginning to tire. They point to Pixar's production of sequels such as the Toy Story franchise, Cars 2 and the announcement of Finding Dory to contend that the company is no longer reaching for infinity and beyond. What they are neglecting, though, is that the magic of Pixar derives from their great storytelling that children and adults across the globe can relate to. And the newest addition to this Pixarpedia is Monsters University, the company's first foray into the prequel world, and this brilliant film will silence whoever wants to argue that this is an example of filmmaking fatigue. It tells the tale of how Monsters Inc. stars Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) became friends and went on to be employed together at Monsters Incorporated. Whilst audiences who saw the original may know the final outcome, the getting there certainly serves up some unexpected and enjoyable twists right up until film's end. The focus is on some typically university-centred life lessons, such as defining oneself and sustaining friendships in the face of unforeseen roadblocks. They've sidestepped the other, more adult content of college life; this is a clever, G-rated version. Then again, who needs alcohol when you have friendship, right? Of course, being a Pixar movie, it is largely about the aesthetics and Monsters University expertly showcases the company's stellar attention to detail. From the monstrous architecture of the campus buildings to the fang zips on students' backpacks, no stone is left unturned. There is also an incredible variety of monsters — with the visual standout being Art — and this vast populous ensures that the film never stagnates as new monsters appear throughout as well as some excellent cameos from the original. As the old saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it, and there is certainly nothing broken at Pixar. If they continue making visually beautiful, surprising and compelling stories like Monsters University then I will happily see robot Billy Crystal voicing Monsters Retirement Home in 100 years time. Also, stick around until the cinema lights come on for the most entertaining post-credits scene in Pixar history.
UPDATE, October 29, 2020: Paterson is available to stream via SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Who knew that watching the ebb and flow of an ordinary life could be so illuminating and soothing? Jim Jarmusch, that's who. If ever there was a movie that's destined to become contemplative comfort viewing, it's the new effort from the director of Dead Man, Coffee and Cigarettes and Only Lovers Left Alive. In Paterson, the daily grind of waking, working, talking with friends and loved ones, walking the dog and hanging out in a bar offers plenty of food for thought, particularly for anyone keen to peer beyond the surface of seemingly average, expected occurrences. In one of the movie's numerous instances of mirroring and symmetry, the film's title refers to many things. It's the name of a bus driver (Adam Driver) in New Jersey, as well as the name of the town where he was born, raised and still lives. It adorns the vehicle he steers from Monday to Friday, and the weighty tome by one of his favourite poets that sits on his desk. Paterson has a way with lyrical turns of phrase, too, which he jots down as he follows his usual schedule. Sometimes he takes inspiration from snippets of chatter he overhears between bus passengers, or interactions with strangers as he walks home from work. Sometimes he reflects upon his modest but happy relationship with his enthusiastic wife, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), who styles their house in black and white patterns, bakes cupcakes and decides to learn the guitar. Jarmusch's features have always flirted with the poetic, preferred minimalism and intimacy, and frequently found beauty in the commonplace. In that way, Paterson is the latest example of the writer-director doing what he's done best for more than three decades. However it's also an astute, insightful ode to everyday creativity and contentment. Over the course of eight days, Paterson's waking hours appear to repeat the same cycle and yet also reveal crucial slivers of difference. While many movies try to paint their protagonist as an everyman, this one goes a step further. Even when he's noticing twins all around him, trading verse with children or chatting with strangers about great writers, everything feels purposefully warm and familiar. Indeed, Paterson proves the kind of movie that overflows with recognisable details, and immediately resonates for that very reason, while also gazing deeper into existential matters. It brims with grace, affection and solace, but avoids sugarcoating the reality it depicts. Oozing gentle emotion, the work of Driver, outstanding Iranian actress Farahani, and scene-stealing Cannes Palm Dog-winning canine Nellie is pivotal in perfecting that balance. Often ranging from soulful yet commanding, energetic yet yearning, and cute yet probing in turn, the trio offer an engaging glimpse of the colour and quiet contrasts inherent in an ordinary life. Add Jarmusch's fondness for evoking the literary art form at the film's centre wherever he can — in the visual harmony evident in every image, in the rhythm of the movie's pacing, and including text on screen — and Paterson couldn't be more meditative or more moving. The film is a revealing character study, a reminder to recognise the small stuff that comprises much of our existence, and an appreciation of the ups and downs of living, all in one.
The last time that Black Mirror released new episodes, no one had ever heard the terms COVID-19 and ChatGPT, the world hadn't been through a huge lockdown due to a pandemic, Succession was only one season in and Twitter had a far less chaotic owner. They're just a few ways to answer the show's new question, with Charlie Brooker's dystopian sci-fi hit getting tweeting for the first time since 2019 to start teasing its upcoming sixth season. That social-media query: the very apt "what have we missed?". Obviously there are plenty of ways to respond, which Black Mirror creator quickly Charlie Brooker did. 🤔 — Charlie Brooker (@charltonbrooker) April 25, 2023 Those four words from the official Black Mirror Twitter and that one emoji from Brooker is all that's been pumped out into the ether about the show's return, but it's enough to get excited about given that it breaks the series' four-year silence. Wondering when you might be staring at your own black mirror again to watch Black Mirror? That still hasn't been announced. News about Black Mirror's next go-around isn't new, of course, and has been doing the rounds since 2022. Last year, Variety also named a heap of cast members, including Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), Paapa Essiedu (Men), Josh Hartnett (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), Aaron Paul (Westworld), Kate Mara (Call Jane), Danny Ramirez (Stars at Noon), Clara Rugaard (I Am Mother), Auden Thornton (This Is Us) and Anjana Vasan (Killing Eve). Back when the sixth season was confirmed, how many more grim dystopian tales were on their way hadn't been revealed, however, and that's still the case now. That said, it's expected that the new season will run for more than season five's mere three episodes — and apparently each new instalment is being treated as an individual film. Black Mirror fans will know that the series has also released a direct-to-streaming movie, aka the choose-your-own-adventure-style Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, back in 2018 between seasons four and five. How exactly will the series manage to be even more dispiriting than reality over the past few years? That's increasingly been one of its dilemmas — and noting that something IRL feels just like Black Mirror has become one of the cliches of our times — but this'll be the mind-bending effort's first round of episodes following the pandemic. No one has ever watched the Brooker-created series for a pick-me-up, though. Since first hitting the small screen in 2011, Black Mirror has spun warped visions of where technology may lead us — and, no matter what tale the show has told so far across its 22 instalments (including that interactive movie), the picture has usually been unnerving. So, imagine what the program will cook up after what we've all been living through since it last aired. Brooker has already riffed on COVID-19 in two Netflix specials, actually: Death to 2020 and Death to 2021, which offer satirical and star-studded wraps of both years with mixed success. For something completely different, he also jumped back into choose-your-own-adventure content with animated short Cat Burglar, which hit Netflix back in 2022, has viewers play through it as a thieving feline called Rowdy and gets you to answer trivia questions to advance the story. While you're waiting for Black Mirror's sixth season to arrive — and a release date for it — check out a trailer for season three episode San Junipero below: Exactly when Black Mirror season six might hit Netflix is yet to be revealed. We'll update you when further details are announced.
Last year, Pat Brassington’s survey show, A rebours was exhibited at Dark Mofo in Tasmania. Curated by Juliana Engberg, the title could have been a nod to the morbid decadence of JK Huysman’s 19th-century aesthete and antihero Des Esseintes. Although similarly “against the grain,” Brassington’s style is significantly less lavish. Over the past three decades, her body of work has danced to a slightly sinister tune. Ethereal and enigmatic, her photographs seem to stand just on the brink of normalcy, gradually tipping into strangeness. If we’re talking art history of the early 20th century, in search of the marvellous at Stills Gallery feels like a natural transition from A rebours. This exhibition takes its cue from surrealist writer Louis Aragon’s description of the marvellous as “the eruption of contradiction within the real”. Many of the works are set on two planes, creating different levels of depth. For example, in Gifted, there’s a blurred vase and a hazy pink bouquet with a few individual flower in focus. It’s almost like a sensory division — tactile petals hovering in the foreground while the backgrounded bouquet is more vague, like a wafting perfume. There’s a lot of doubling in this exhibition. For instance, there’s a pair of profile silhouettes in We meet in Bruges, the layered tapestry patterns of the paradoxically titled Asphalt, and the half portraits of Parasite 1 and 2. These latter works, a single face spread across two canvases, feel ever so slightly out of sync with the rest of the series. Up close, they almost look like a couple of Lichtenstein paintings. With bold outlines and rough textures, a lacy mask and a large insect appear to be stamped quite decisively on top. On this note of doubling, it should be noted that Brassington has mastered the double-take. Comprehension comes slowly as an arm and a leg seem a little too long and a little too straight. There's also a shiny pink bow obscuring a featureless head that seems more shapeless than it should be, almost like an enlarged thumb. These works are arresting in their ambiguity, stranded somewhere between real and unreal. in search of the marvellous dispenses with big and brash juxtapositions. It’s a subtler take on surrealism. And probably a more accurate one. There’s a sense of displaced beauty to these works, full of suggestive textures and narrative holes. With her considered compositions and deft use of colour, Brassington is restrained as always. Her style is more contemplative than communicative, making her exhibitions an inviting place to be.
If one tried to chart Michael Winterbottom's films by genre, a labyrinthine map would emerge. From comedic road movie The Trip to notoriously, violently graphic The Killer Inside Me; postmodern comedy A Cock and Bull Story; meditative, quiet Genova; and absorbing war films A Mighty Heart and Welcome to Sarajevo, Winterbottom is defined by his chameleon-like ability to consistently, effortlessly shift. Loosely adapted from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Trishna is set in contemporary India rather than late 19th-century England. If you're turned off the movie because you haven't read the book, I have one piece of advice: shelve that notion. I know only the basic plot line of Tess, and yet I was won over from the beginning. Trishna is a rich film in its own right. Starring the inimitably beautiful Freida Pinto as the titular character, the film chronicles her growing relationship with a young, wealthy British transplant in India to look after his father's hotels. Prefacing his responsibilities with a jaunt through the country with his friends from home, he meets Trishna, a poor, hardworking Indian girl living with her family on the desert fringes of Osian, an ancient town in Rajasthan. The romance develops slowly but commences with a sweeping gesture — Jay organises Trishna a job at his father's hotel in the hills around Jaipur. Her defection from the desert to the city is representative of emerging social migratory trends in the country. Indeed, the social and economic backdrop of India was ripe with adaptive potential for Winterbottom. As he has said, "Hardy was describing a similar moment in English life. A moment when, in the nineteenth century, the conservative rural communities were being transformed by the agricultural and industrial revolutions, when fewer and fewer people were being employed on the land, so people moved to the local towns or cities." The young couple's emerging relationship is fraught with external pressures and untimely occurrences. Soon, their idyllic romance, set against the backdrop of Mumbai after Jay defects from his designated role in Jaipur for business opportunities, begins to falter. Drawn back into the familial duties he so hates after his father has a stroke, the two move to another hotel where they resume their previous roles of owner and maid, but this time with devastating consequences. Shot beautifully and devoid of Bollywood kitsch, this is one to watch. https://youtube.com/watch?v=gdFiV9yDHG4
This is a worrying show if art galleries and/or rule-breaking makes you nervous, and probably not a fun one if you hate reading catalogue essays. The view above is what confronts you on entering the gallery space, and sure enough a yellow line demarcates the entire exhibition space as off limits and you have to disobey it to get to see the other works. This piece is an experiment with the viewer: does he or she see a sign or an artwork? And will they go against an instruction that's so close to the gallery golden rule of "Do not touch the art"? The viewer is thus made into an element of the artwork, and is in fact part of the exhibition for the time they spend looking at it. Involvement is key to the other works in the show, too, with the viewer needing to invest time and thought into the nature and meaning of each piece in terms of the concept and process of its making, and how it 'works' in relation to the other pieces in the show and the space itself. The show, which might look like a jumble of videos and of stuff, rather than some more coherent exhibition, comes together as something meaningful and involving with the application of a little time and, to be honest, a little theory. Just a little, though, and the title gives you a fairly heavy hint in that 'social sculpture' is what Joseph Beuys called his work.
In much of The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she pulls up a chair in the basement of the orphanage she calls home and demands that janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, The New Mutants), she plays whenever she's able, earning a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you're a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part Netflix miniseries firmly proves that you should never judge a show by its brief description. Based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Logan), and dripping with lavish 50s and 60s decor and costuming to reflect its period setting, The Queen's Gambit doesn't expect that all its viewers will be chess aficionados. But it's made with a canny awareness that anything can be tense, suspenseful and involving — and that every different type of game there is says much about its players and devotees. The series doesn't lack in creative and inventive ways to depict chess on-screen, whether projecting imagined matches onto the ceiling or peering down on competitive bouts directly from above. It knows when to hang on every single move of a pivotal game, and when to focus on the bigger story surrounding a particular match or Beth path through the chess world in general. And it's especially astute at illustrating how a pastime based on precision and strategy offers an orphaned girl a way to control one lone aspect of her tumultuous and constantly changing life. Indeed, from its very first moments, the series peppers all that chess gameplay throughout a knotty coming-of-age tale — because, while this is definitely a show about chess that serves up an underdog sports narrative, it's really a story about Beth's journey. After a family tragedy, she arrives at a Kentucky orphanage as a defiant slip of a girl. Forced to navigate a stern and strict environment, she finds solace in the tranquillisers that are handed out to the children like lollies, and in the game that instantly piques her curiosity from the moment that she spies Mr Shaibel playing it. Both will change her life, not only during her stint in institutionalised care, but when she's later adopted by the lonely Alma Wheatley (Marielle Heller, who is best-known for directing The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood) and her frequently absent husband (Patrick Kennedy, Peterloo). By the time that Beth is busing around the US and jetting around the world to compete with the game's most formidable players, however, she's also leaning on alcohol as a coping mechanism. Taylor-Joy has had a busy 2020 — or, to be more accurate, audiences Down Under have been spoiled for opportunities to see her on-screen this year. The New Mutants finally reached cinemas after hefty delays, Radioactive just arrived locally after debuting overseas in 2019, and Emma released back before the pandemic changed 2020 forever. But The Queen's Gambit is her best role of the year and, alongside 2014's The Witch, her best work yet. Playing a teen and then a young woman who is constantly changing from moment to moment, and making that reality feel authentic and relatable, she's one of the key reasons that the series is so compelling. She's also crucial to all those chess scenes, with her determined stare and the gleam in her eyes the source of much of the show's weight and tension. She's in excellent company, too, not only thanks to Heller and Camp but also first-timer Moses Ingram as Beth's fellow orphanage resident and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones, Love Actually) as the cowboy hat-wearing reigning US chess champ; however, she's always the most pivotal piece on the board. Before his death in 2008, Heath Ledger had been preparing to bring The Queen's Gambit to cinemas. It would've marked his directorial debut, and he would've co-starred alongside Ellen Page as Beth. We'll never know how that might've turned out, but this tale works exceptionally well as a miniseries, with the longer duration giving it room to breathe and affording its central character and the themes she's grappling with the space they need to ferment. The Queen's Gambit also benefits from arriving post-Mad Men, a show that it shares a time period with, and visually resembles again and again. And it now reaches viewers at a time when more stories about women fighting their way through male-dominated realms are being made; Frank himself was also behind Netflix's seven-part western Godless, for example. When you start dreaming about chess after watching a single episode, you'll know you're hooked. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI The Queen's Gambit is available to stream via Netflix. Top image: Phil Bray/Netflix.
The 32nd annual Taste of Manly is a weekend celebration of all things food, drink and culture in the northern beaches suburb. The festival takes over Manly Beach along The Corso for a two-day extravaganza where patrons can enjoy the iconic surroundings while soaking in this indulgent cultural event. Local restaurants — like The Herring Room, Manly Wine and Fika Swedish Kitchen — will put on special menus while NSW wineries and northern beaches breweries — like 4 Pines, Nomad and Dad & Dave's Brewing — will showcase their artisan booze. The festival also includes special pop-up restaurants, wine and beer stalls, live music and activities, as well as a sustainability hub. It will run from 11.30am until 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
