Splendour in the Grass is back this July, but not as we know it. The blockbuster Byron Bay music festival is packing its bags and road tripping down to Sydney to launch a new nine-day festival at the city's Overseas Passenger Terminal. Splendour in the City will run from Saturday, July 10–Sunday, July 18 in the lead up to Splendour's virtual festival Splendour XR, which will kick off the following week. Across the lineup, music fans will find an array of beloved Australian artists — plus two stacked nights of stand-up comedy and a whole heap of extras that are aiming to recreate as much of the OG Splendour in the Grass experience as possible. While you won't get caught knee-deep in mud or have to climb North Byron Parklands' heartbreak hill to reach the main stage, you'll still find art installations, a range of dining options and food trucks, specialty bars from the likes of The Winery and The Strummer Bar, markets, a Little Splendour kids program and a VR pop-up at Splendour in the City. Taking over the 900-person Customs Hall and 400-person Cargo Hall, the lineup ranges from Splendour in the Grass mainstays such as Violent Soho, Illy, Vera Blue, Dune Rats and Tash Sultana to fresher faces like Spacey Jane, Masked Wolf, Ziggy Ramo and Triple One. Some local Sydney and Wollongong artists will also be popping up including Big Twisty, A.Girl and The Lazy Eyes — with the latter launching their second EP at the festival. Then, across at the Comedy Club, you'll find the likes of Nazeem Hussein, Nikki Britton, Tom Ballard, Nath Valvo and Triple J's Michael Hing and Lewis Hobba. 2021 will be the second year in a row that Splendour in the Grass won't welcome patrons come July. The full-sized Byron Bay edition of the music festival is currently scheduled for November with headliners Tyler the Creator, The Strokes and Gorillaz; however, that's reliant upon COVID-19 restrictions allowing the event to take place. [caption id="attachment_788985" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ocean Alley[/caption] SPLENDOUR IN THE CITY Customs Hall Saturday, July 10 — Spacey Jane Sunday, July 11 — Tash Sultana Wednesday, July 14 — Ocean Alley and Clews Thursday, July 15 — Illy, Masked Wolf and A.Girl Friday, July 16 — Running Touch Saturday, July 17 — Vera Blue and Cxloe Sunday, July 18 — Violent Soho Cargo Hall Saturday, July 10 — Nikki Britton, Tom Ballard, Michael Hing and more Sunday, July 11 — Nazeem Hussein, Nath Valvo, Lewis Hobba and more Monday, July 12 — Big Twisty and the Funknasty Wednesday, July 14 — The Southern River Band and Vast Hill Thursday, July 15 — Ziggy Ramo and Alice Skye Friday, July 16 — Triple One Saturday, July 17 (Early) — The Lazy Eyes Saturday, July 17 (Late) — Ebony Boadu Presents Sunday, July 18 — Dune Rats and Totty Splendour in the City will run from Saturday, July 10–Sunday, July 18 at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday, June 18.
French Fripe Group is bringing its affordable, European-style clothing hauls to Sydney once more. The sustainability-minded Vintage Kilo Sale aims to help combat waste within the fashion industry by finding new homes for a heap of pre-loved items. Whether you opt to upcycle, thrift or keep the item as is is up to you. Following the success of its 2023 event in Sydney, which drew in a crowd of over 5,000 shoppers, the fashion event is now offering another round of imported vintage items for sale — and this time, it's embarking on a tour across the state. How the event works is pretty straightforward — take your pick from the hundreds of secondhand pieces up for grabs, then weigh your haul on the scales provided. Each kilogram of clothing is priced at $50, so you could opt for up to two whole kilos of clothes for $100, or five for $250 and so on. The selection on offer is handpicked and includes a wide-spanning range of high-quality and mainly imported fashion. If you're in Sydney, you have two chances to get your hands on some pre-loved gems. If you don't want to risk missing out on the best loot, get priority access by booking a $5 ticket to the VIP drop, on Friday, June 28 from 5pm at 29 Smith Street in Marrickville. Alternatively, try your luck on Saturday, June 29. The sale will kick off at 8am and run until 4pm, so you'll want to get in early for your pick of the lot — although racks will be replenished throughout the day. If you want to plan ahead, you can also opt to book yourself into the priority lines for $2.75 to ensure you don't miss out. After Sydney, the sale then heads south for a full weekend. If you're a Wollongong local or are keen on a road trip, a VIP drop will be available from 4.30pm to 6.30pm on Friday, July 19, ahead of a two-day general access pop-up on July 20–21. The sale then heads to Newcastle, which'll score a VIP drop on Friday, August 2, before a weekend-long sale on August 3–4.
Sat in the newly minted fitout of a recently opened venue, the afterglow of a successful launch still buzzing in the air, talk of imminent closure seems needlessly pessimistic. It's a Wednesday night and the bar I'm in is more than half full with lively punters chatting, laughing, sipping cocktails — a respectable midweek crowd. And yet, such a turnout is far from a certainty, David Spanton, owner of Kings Cross oyster joint The Hook, tells me. "Someone who might have gone out three nights a week is now going out just once a week. And if the weather's bad or there's a festival on, that makes a dent in the number of people we see too," explains Spanton, who also operates Potts Point classics Piccolo Bar and Vermuteria. "Everyone's still going out at the weekend — Fridays and Saturdays are still generally strong. But you can't run a business on just two decent days. This is the worst I've seen things in my 25 years working in hospo and certainly in the five years I've been running businesses. The industry is on the edge — you can have an extra-quiet Wednesday and then it rains on the Saturday, and you're finished." [caption id="attachment_947276" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Spanton[/caption] Since the beginning of 2024, Sydney has lost an alarming number of hospitality venues of every scale. Beloved community institutions like Cornersmith in Annandale, Donut Papi in Darlinghurst and The Unicorn Hotel in Paddington; high-profile operations like Kylie Kwong's Lucky Kwong and Matt Whiley's Re, both in South Eveleigh, Josh Niland's fast-casual concept Charcoal Fish in Rose Bay and Maybe Group's Sammy Jnr in the CBD; revered stalwarts like Bentley Group's multi-award-winning Cirrus and the 35-year-old Tetsuyas; and much-lauded newcomers like Raja in Potts Point, have all succumbed to a closure crisis driven by the city's soaring living costs. This is not the first time Australia's hospitality industry has suffered a drop in consumer spending. Our dining scene has had plenty of experience weathering economic headwinds in the past, most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns and the gruelling periods of trading restrictions that followed, but also during recessions in the 1990s and a decade later during the Global Financial Crisis. Throughout those fiscally fraught moments, restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars were among the first business casualties, but the shocking rate at which hospitality ventures are shuttering today sets the present moment apart. The hospitality crash is by no means contained to Sydney — the rate of insolvencies for hospitality venues nationwide is at a five-year high, according to financial reporting bureau CreditorWatch. Another of its forecasts grimly predicts that as many as one in 13 hospitality businesses in Australia could go under within the next year — a sobering 5000 venues across the country. However, the breadth and stature of the businesses failing in Sydney is unmatched. The Race to the Bottom The challenges facing Sydney's hospitality operators might appear straightforward enough: soaring interest rates have forced consumers to tighten their belts and when discretionary spending begins to shrink, luxuries like dining out are typically the first expenses cut. Such a seemingly simple problem might imply an equally simple solution, but as Spanton points out, the reality is far more complex. "It's not just hitting consumers — our costs are higher too. Rent is higher, wages are higher, produce is more expensive. We have to be so careful with the way we operate to make sure our costs are in line and that wages are in line, while we also try to make sure we're delivering the best product possible. You just can't get into a situation where you're playing catch-up for a bad week, trying to make it up the following week. "We understand that when people go out they are looking to spend less, but you end up in a situation where venues are in this race to the bottom — and that's not great and it's not sustainable. Ultimately, it hammers quality of experience and your customers' confidence in what you do as a venue." Notwithstanding the risk of eroding customer satisfaction, merely slashing overheads is unlikely to be enough to stave off the threat of closure for most Sydney establishments. Where the current crisis differs from previous moments of economic uncertainty is the confluence of compounding factors — financial, behavioural, generational and environmental — whipping up a perfect storm that is proving increasingly difficult to endure. While lockdowns are now a distant memory for most business owners, the more insidious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to put the hospitality sector under pressure. For example, in the CBD, the WFH revolution that took root during the lockdown era has gutted the influx of white-collar workers coming into the city which has in turn impacted takings at inner-city venues formerly reliant on the lunchtime and after-work crowd. [caption id="attachment_976968" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nick White | Daryl Kong[/caption] "The whole model has shifted so much," Nick White, owner of YCK Laneways small bar stalwart Since I Left You, shares. "Fridays were always when we made our money. Really reliably, every Friday, by 5.30pm we'd be at capacity. Now we don't get anywhere near that until at least 7.30–8pm, and sometimes not even then. The whole culture of after-work drinks has just seemingly dried up." Another unforeseen pandemic hangover is Gen Z's diminished interest in traditional nightlife, as documented in a World Finance report that found Gen Z'ders on average consume 20 per cent less alcohol than Millennials. A rise in conscious consumption combined with the pandemic restrictions that forced this generation into isolation at an age when they would typically be partying has seen non-alcohol-centric activities replacing an evening out in a bar or a pub. Ironically, one of the brightest silver linings of the pandemic's immediate aftermath has now turned into one of the greatest challenges faced by long-established venues. Two years on, the surge in openings driven by the enthusiasm for dining out that followed the lifting of stay-at-home orders has barely slowed despite the economic downturn, with businesses banking on Sydneysiders' near-Pavlovian response to the word "new" to ensure success. Meanwhile, existing venues have struggled to hold onto punters whose dwindling going-out budgets have been reserved for the latest openings. Add to these issues Sydney's skyrocketing rental market — the nation's most expensive, which set a new all-time-high median price of $750 per week in 2024, according to Domain's annual Rental Report — plus extreme weather conditions impacting al fresco dining and the cost of climate-sensitive fresh produce, and the uniquely multi-layered conundrum facing Sydney's service industry comes into focus. Helping the Bottom Line Much as they did during the pandemic, hospitality businesses are now searching for solutions to this knot of challenges. Some operators are even innovating opportunities to reduce overheads that not only avoid compromising their offering but also deliver benefits beyond mere cost-cutting. YCK Laneways — a cooperative of 23 service, entertainment and accommodation businesses spread over York, Clarence and Kent Streets in the CBD — is working with another similar business cohort in Surry Hills at Hollywood Quarter, supported by the City of Sydney, to develop more eco-minded operations that can save money as well as the enviroment. "The goal is to create a framework that businesses can follow to make themselves more environmentally sustainable. But obviously that only works and people are only ever going to adopt it if it also means helping the bottom line as well," Nick White of SILY shares. Amongst the green initiatives being explored are plans to centralise food prep and waste management. "There's a lot of things that all of the venues do that punters probably never even think about. Like juicing limes and lemons. There's a huge amount of waste from that that generally doesn't get properly sorted and if you're paying a bar manager to spend hours doing that kind of task, it isn't really financially sustainable," White adds. Centralising this type of common prep to service multiple businesses through one production space also creates opportunities for expanding the hospitality workforce, White says: "Whether it's people living with disability, refugees or young people, this type of program can employ these folks and bring them into the industry with lots of opportunity to progress." [caption id="attachment_976934" align="alignnone" width="1920"] (L–R) Rebecca and Rosie O'Shea[/caption] A boom in happy hours and meal deals across Sydney has also gone some way to coaxing back consumers. Some operators are going a step further, making bolt-on bargains a cornerstone of their business. Sisters Rosie and Rebecca O'Shea, who co-own Bar Nina in Darlinghurst and Arms Length in Potts Point, have leant into a broad-spectrum day-to-night concept at both venues, offering breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, nightcaps and late-night eats to capture the widest possible range of punters, with bottomless deals that diners can choose to add to their order at any point available throughout the day. "I feel like we've 98 per cent perfected the art of bottomless," Rebecca says. "At Bar Nina in particular, we have a very loyal clientele that come back for our bottomless deals time and time again, whether that's for a birthday or celebrating a hen's or whatever. I think the key factor is, that people want to have a good time without worrying about their wallet. Here, they know the price they're going to pay upfront, so they can relax." A few doors down from Arms Length on Kellett Street, Teddy is similarly tooled to meet the current economic moment, but this wasn't always the case for this site. Hospitality duo Nick and Kirk Mathews-Bowden opened mod-Indian fine diner Raja at the same address in July 2023 to much critical acclaim. Yet despite these plaudits and even a handful of Best New Restaurant gongs, a dearth of customers forced the Mathews-Bowdens to close Raja in May 2024, less than a year after its launch. "We put a lot of creativity and heart into making a venue that three or four years ago would have really thrived, but things changed very quickly — that was quite a rude awakening for us," Kirk says. "We opened Raja in the most challenging market we've ever seen and we've been in this industry for 20 years. The venue just wasn't right for the current market and it's disappointing that we had to close but at the same time, we feel incredibly lucky that we get the chance to try again." [caption id="attachment_971718" align="alignnone" width="1920"] (L–R) Kirk and Nick Mathews-Bowden[/caption] Rather than letting Raja's failure defeat them, Kirk and Nick rapidly developed an alternative concept — one that fit perfectly with the new normal of Sydney's dining scene. Teddy is a kitsch, laidback, nostalgia-fuelled neighbourhood diner and bar with an affordable offering, generous daily happy hours and a relaxed vibe that diners can return to regularly without blowing their budget. "It's quite rare in this industry to get another bite of the apple," Nick adds. "Closing Raja when we did gave us the chance to collect ourselves, reflect and really make peace with the fact that we can't control the market that we're playing in but we can control our actions within that market." Reinventing a venue's offering has been a similarly successful tactic for several other Sydney business owners. These include Bentley Group's Nick Hilderbrandt and Brent Savage, whose CBD stalwart Monopole was transformed from a pan-European wine bar into a classical French restaurant in June, and brother-sister team Kenneth Rodrigueza and Karen Rodrigueza-Labuni, who closed down their popular Filipino bakery Donut Papi in July, relaunching in September as House of Papi, a broader-spectrum meryenda concept showcasing Filipino flavours beyond merely the sweet. The power of this strategy is twofold, not only allowing businesses to tailor their overheads to fit with customer demand but also tapping the reliably attention-grabbing hype of bringing something new to Sydney diners. Getting to the Other Side Revered chef and restaurateur Neil Perry is also navigating the choppy waters of Sydneys dining decline, having recently opened two new ventures in Double Bay: Song Bird, a sprawling three-storey Cantonese fine diner and chic basement martini lounge Bobbie's. However, the hospitality veteran is no stranger to operating restaurants in less-than-ideal economic conditions. "Developing an idea for a new restaurant can take two to three years of planning and of course, you never plan to open in economically difficult times. I didn't plan to open Rockpool in the middle of a recession in 89 and I didn't plan to open Spice Temple during the GFC, or for COVID to close Margaret on the day we were supposed to open. But these things happen and it's how you respond to those challenges that counts," Perry says. "As a business owner, you've got to be prepared for some level of uncertainty. It comes down to playing the conditions in front of you — start the restaurant and figure out what your niche is, why people are going to come back and how you're going to keep up some level of continuity and consistency of business so that you can flourish and function. Then, when you do get to the other side of the crisis and times are good again, you're in a great position to be able to take advantage of that." [caption id="attachment_961055" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Neil Perry | Petrina Tinslay[/caption] With more than three decades of experience at his back, Perry has seen similar periods of turbulence come and go, but he also believes that diners need to play a key role in supporting a vibrant dining scene through tough times. "Without diners, we're nothing," he explains. "Whether it's having a coffee and a baguette in the morning or a bite before going to a movie or splashing out on a great celebration and a fantastic meal at a brilliant restaurant, diners need to remain supportive of the hospitality industry if they want it to survive. "It's then our responsibility, as restaurant operators, to make sure that when people do go out and they spend their hard-earned money, that they feel good about that decision. When guests dine with us we want to create a great memory for them and a great experience so that they feel like it's a night they're going to remember for a long time and that they can't wait to come back. That's what we have to leave people with every time they engage with us." Top image: Christopher Pearce
2025 is going to be the year when Australia gets to see Oasis live again. And, after already announcing two Down Under shows on their reunion tour now that Liam and Noel Gallagher are happy to take to the stage together once more, the Manchester-born band has doubled their upcoming Aussie gigs. They're still only playing two cities, however, doing a couple of shows apiece in Sydney and Melbourne. Next year marks 20 years since Oasis last toured Australia, but that's where the lengthy gap between the band's Down Under shows is ending. There's comeback tours and then there's Britain's most-famous feuding siblings reuniting to bring one of the country's iconic groups back together live — aka the biggest story in music touring of 2024 since Liam and Noel announced in August that they were reforming the band, and also burying the hatchet. [caption id="attachment_975202" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Simon Emmett[/caption] Initially, Oasis locked in a run of shows in the UK and Ireland. Since then, they've been expanding their tour dates, also confirming visits to Canada and the US. From London, Manchester and Dublin to Toronto, Los Angeles and Mexico City, the entire tour so far is sold out. That's the story, morning glory — and expect Australian tickets to get snapped up swiftly for Oasis' four announced concerts. The Aussie tour starts on Halloween 2025 at Marvel Stadium in the Victorian capital, and now will also return to the same venue on Saturday, November 1. It's Sydney's turn in the Harbour City a week later, at Accor Stadium across Friday, November 7–Saturday, November 8 . [caption id="attachment_975205" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Oasis Knebworth 1996, Photo by Roberta Parkin/Redferns[/caption] Oasis broke up in 2009, four years after their last Australian tour, and following seven albums from 1994's Definitely Maybe through to 2008's Dig Your Soul — and after drawing massive crowds to their live gigs along the way (see: documentary Oasis Knebworth 1996). If you're feeling supersonic about the group's reunion, you can likely expect to hear that track, plus everything from 'Live Forever', 'Cigarettes & Alcohol', 'Morning Glory' and 'Some Might Say' through to 'Wonderwall', 'Don't Look Back in Anger' and 'Champagne Supernova' when they hit Australia. Oasis Live '25 Australian Dates Friday, October 31–Saturday, November 1 — Marvel Stadium, Melbourne Friday, November 7–Saturday, November 8 — Accor Stadium, Sydney Oasis are touring Australia in October and November 2025, with Melbourne tickets on sale from 10am AEDT and Sydney tickets from 12pm AEDT on Tuesday, October 15. Head to the tour website for more details. Top image: Batiste Safont via Wikimedia Commons.
Among the Hunter Valley's many, many vineyards, Tyrrell's Wines is one of the region's big names. But it's still an independent, family-owned wine company that's been making excellent tipples since 1858. It's a hefty award-winner, too, nabbing more than 5650 gongs from various bodies over the past five decades alone. When it comes to Tyrrell's vinos, variety is the key. It's perhaps best known for its Vat 1 semillon, as well as its other timeless drops in the prestigious Winemaker's Selection range; however the brand's overall selection is particularly sizeable. For fans of a fruity red, the Old Winery pinot noir is not only known for its cherry and strawberry scent, but also for a mushroom aroma. Yes, it goes nicely with meat dishes. Located at Pokolbin, Tyrrell's cellar door operates seven days a week — and you can book in for a 45-minute tasting for $10 per person.
When owners Giorgia and Brittany opened this Mediterranean-inspired boutique hair salon in 2021, they did it with one thing in mind — creating effortless, lived-in hair. Since then, the salon has quickly grown into the premier destination for all things blonde and specialise in creating quintessential beach-blonde locks. You'll find this bright yet cosy salon in Collaroy on Sydney's beautiful Northern Beaches. Here, the team use top-tier brands including LAKME and Olaplex to ensure your colour lasts long after your visit. But don't worry if you aren't looking to go to the lighter side. The Blonde Cartel has you covered with a range of colour, cut and styling services suitable for all hair types. Haircuts range from $45-$116 or, if you need to tame that seaside frizz, book in a Keratin treatment for $250. No matter your tress treatment, the team will make sure you feel confident and relaxed from start to finish.
Not that we need it, but here's the perfect excuse for enjoying a cheeky springtime G&T this Friday afternoon: the Fever-Tree Gin & Tonic Festival is taking over Centennial Park's Rose Garden this Friday, September 27. So, after you knock off from work, you can head here to sample more than 100 different gins from more than 40 distillers, paired with tonics from the Fever-Tree range. Plus, you can score $20 off your entry ticket — read on for more details. And, if you want to keep the fun going right across the weekend, the festival will be sticking around right through till Sunday, September 29 (although Saturday's session is now sold out). But this massive tasting event isn't just dedicated to the classic tipple, either. Alongside the pop-up Gin Village, the festival offers live music, masterclasses and Sydney's best food trucks. Here's exactly what to expect from the opening night and beyond. FIND YOUR NEW FAVOURITE GIN First, wander through the Gin Village, where you'll have the chance to sample from 40 distillers. The ticket alone includes a whopping six mini G&Ts, with local fan favourites like South Australia's award-winning Never Never Distilling Co, Victoria's Four Pillars and local favourite Archie Rose all in tow. But there'll be heaps more boutique distillers that you might not have heard of, including Central Coast's Distillery Botanica, Tasmania's Hartshorn sheep whey distillery and international drops like the Pink Pepper Gin from French distillery Audemus Spirits. And each will, of course, be matched with Fever-Tree tonics. HAVE A BOOGIE Once you've tasted a gin or two, there is a full lineup of live entertainment to enjoy each day of the festival. Expect DJ sets from the likes of London's DJ Chopper Reeds (Fat Freddy's Drop) on Friday and a special set by Mike Dotch, with percussion by Paul Chennard, on Sunday. For live acts, the festival has nabbed Melbourne-based electronic producer and vocalist Milan Ring (Saturday) and jazz-disco musician Loure (Sunday). And this is to name just a few. The stage will host acts from 4–10pm on Friday, 2–9pm on Saturday and 2–8pm on Sunday, so you can groove along at any point with a G&T in hand. LINE YOUR STOMACH Now, considering it's a minimum six G&Ts you're looking at throwing back, don't forget to line your stomach for the day. The festival has you covered there, too, with a wide range of food trucks on site to assuage a tipple-induced hanger. You'll find everything from hearty tacos and burgers to organic, vegan and gluten-free options from the likes of The Nighthawk Diner, Taco Hawk and Agape Organic. Keeping with the theme, Four Pillars Gin will be hosting Sydney's first Gin Pig sausage sizzle. If you'd rather someone else make the tough choices for you, nab a gourmet picnic hamper packed with seasonal and locally sourced produce. There are plenty of desserts on the docket as well, including a limited-edition G&T-infused frozen treat from Mr Goaty Gelato — it'll use Distillery Botanica gin and Fever-Tree's tonic flavours. HONE YOUR NATIVE BOTANICAL SKILLS To delve deeper into the wonderful world of gin, a range of masterclasses will also run alongside the Gin Village. We're especially keen to check out 'The World of Native Australian Ingredients', which will run on Friday from 4.30–5pm and Sunday from 4.10–4.40pm. This masterclass is led by Brookie's Gin head distiller Eddie Brook, who will explore the finest bush food and native ingredients used by Australian producers. The $25 ticket includes one gin and tonic and a Brookie's jam jar to take home. Each session must be pre-booked, which you can do when securing your festival entry here. HONE YOUR GIN AND CHEESE PAIRING SKILLS Another masterclass that you cannot miss is 'Cheese and Gin and Tonic — A Match Made in Heaven', hosted by Melbourne's Caroline Childerley, also known as The Gin Queen. She will demonstrate how to pair cheese and other pre-dinner bites with summertime G&Ts — two mini cocktails and cheese nibbles are included in the $25 ticket. Luckily there are three chances to catch this one, as it's running Friday from 7.50–8.20pm, and 2.30–3pm on Sunday. Alongside the ticketed masterclasses, the festival is throwing in a complimentary discovery series so you can level up your gin and tonic knowledge without splashing extra cash. The short and sweet sessions are run throughout the festival on a first-in, best-dressed basis, so be sure to check out the on-site timetable early. The Fever-Tree Gin & Tonic Festival will be at the Centennial Park Rose Garden from 4–10pm on Friday, September 27; 2–9pm on Saturday, September 28;and 2–8pm on Sunday, September 29. For more information and to purchase tickets, head this way. Fever-Tree is also offering Concrete Playground readers $20 off the ticket price for Friday night tickets — just use code: CPFRI.
Sydney's very own fine-dining Willy Wonka, chef extraordinaire Nelly Robinson, has carved out a singular niche in the city's culinary scene with his whimsical degustations inspired by all manner of surprising muses from Disney movies to Colonel Sanders. His latest gastronomic magic show celebrates the cuisine of Great Britain and in classic Robinson style, the 11-course menu is a feast for all the senses. At NEL — Robinson's Surry Hills restaurant — theatricality and storytelling are as integral to a meal as the food itself. Take, for example, a dish from the Great British menu titled A Monarch at Rest, conceived as a touching tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II via a reimagining of one of her favourite meals — salmon with asparagus. Combining a lightly spiced confit salmon served with a warm asparagus and leek soup and topped with smoked salmon roe and puffed barley, the dish is completed with an elegant garland of edible flowers, echoing a funeral wreath. Other dishes are more playful, such as a chicken tikka tart, nodding to the UK's obsession with Indian curry. The flavours of the classic chicken tikka masala — a dish supposedly invented in Glasgow in the 1970s, especially for British palates — are captured in a turmeric-spiced rye tart filled with tikka-marinated chicken thigh and puffed wild rice, finished with a refreshing burst of smoked mint yoghurt at its centre. The timeless summer dessert of Eton Mess gets a gourmet glow up with the usual smash of meringue, cream and strawberries brought into refined order. This delicate confection combines meringue shards, toasted marshmallow, strawberry nectar, melon herb and lemon balm with such artful grace, diners will be left with an ironic conundrum over whether to mess up such a beautiful plate. This is Robinson's second epicurean romp through the UK's culinary history, following last year's Great British Memories menu which included spins on gammon and eggs, beef wellington, fish and chips and even Paddington Bear's favourite snack, marmalade sandwiches. Other British crowd-pleasers getting the Nel treatment in this latest British-inspired menu include fish-finger sandwiches; the humble leftovers dish bubble and squeak; and the afternoon tea staple, the eccles cake. "By incorporating modern techniques and high-quality native ingredients, we've created a dining experience that respects tradition while offering something fresh and exciting," Robinson says. "The Great British menu is a heartfelt homage to the culinary staples that have defined British cuisine." The 11-course menu costs $165 per person with matched wines and themed signature cocktails for an additional $155.
It's official: silly season is here once again. And while it's always fun to give (and receive) gifts, the amount of people you're buying for can quickly stack up. Particularly if you're partaking in more than a few Kris Kringles and Secret Santas this year. Whether you scored your work bestie in your office pressie pool or got the formidable task of drawing your mum's name in the fam Kris Kringle even though she insists she doesn't want anything, you want to give great gifts. You also have to adhere to strict budgets, which can be both a blessing and a curse. In partnership with Cashrewards, we've tracked down some A-class items that will suit just about everyone on your gift list — and any budget. Better yet, if you're an ANZ cardholder, you could be eligible for even bigger cash back deals and extra benefits* as part of its Cashrewards Max program. All you have to do is sign in to your Cashrewards account (or sign up for one for free) and link your eligible ANZ debit or credit card. Once you've got your Cashrewards Max all set up, you can score a heap of cash back deals, including at all the retailers on this epic list. $20 AND UNDER Desktop Ping Pong Table ($15.75) A great shout for the office KK, this easy-to-assemble table tennis kit is available via Booktopia. It can be set up anywhere and easily tidied away when the boss walks past, too. Or, if you've got the balls (yes, pun intended), set up an office tournament and leave the memory of awkward Friday afternoon Zoom drinks far behind. This is an affordable, fun and easy option for your work bestie (or the office newbie) that offers just the right level of silliness for your end-of-year workplace festivities. Gingerbread Man Dig Toy ($19.99) There's bound to be at least one proud dog parent in your life — or maybe you want to bypass them and celebrate their adorable pooch directly. Either way, this festive chew toy is the perfect option for fur babies and their parents. Grab one from Petbarn for less than a lobster and voila! You're a thoughtful gift giver and bound to score some appreciative snoot-boopin' time with the pup. $50 AND UNDER Night Rescue Skincare Kit ($30) Got a skincare-obsessed friend? Or someone who just appreciates a good beauty regime? Surely after months spent in lockdown, we can all appreciate the relaxing indulgence of some self-care in the form of a face mask and a glass of wine. If you've got someone deserving of some TLC for Secret Santa, then nab this Laneige Night Rescue Skincare kit from Sephora. It includes three different types of nighttime face masks all designed to leave skin looking clean, refreshed and hydrated. Linen Napkins ($50) Chances are if you're in your late 20s or early 30s, you're already obsessed with Bed Threads. So, surely someone on your Christmas list is into it, too. If you're buying for a foodie then look no further than these lovely flax linen napkins. They're delicate, reusable and sustainable, plus they add a lovely touch of rustic elegance to any table setting. They also come in 11 different colours, so you can pick a hue that you think best suits your giftee's style. $80 AND UNDER Thumbs Up Retro Dance Mat ($60) We've all got that one mate who crushes DDR (that's Dance Dance Revolution for the uninitiated). So, you already know they'll be absolutely stoked with this gift. Essentially a light-up floor mat that lights up for you to follow a dance routine, the Thumbs Up Retro Dance Mat is always a hoot — and retro to boot. To make your life as simple as can be, the game is available from ASOS, too, so you can skip the Christmas shopping crowds all while knowing perfect gift is on the way. C&M James Nylon Cap ($80) There are some major normcore vibes going on with this C&M cap from Stylerunner, so if you know someone who loves Aussie-made minimalist designs, look no further. Lightweight, comfortable and stylish, this not-so-basic basic is perfect for beach days, bushwalks and brunches with the crew, making it a brilliant gift idea for pretty well anyone (including you). $100 AND UNDER [caption id="attachment_814550" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Smash Splash[/caption] Red Balloon Experiences ($99–100) If you're going all out and dropping a bit of cash for that special someone, then why not give them a gift they're sure to remember — an epic experience. Red Balloon has all sorts of great gift experience ideas lined up for thrill-seekers, or that person in your life who already has everything. Check out this Splash Room experience in Sydney or Melbourne, where they'll be covered in goggles and overalls, put in a room and given free rein to hurl paint balloons at the walls and create some amazing artistic explosions. If you're in Perth or Brisbane, why not check out one of Red Balloon's scenic helicopter tours so they can see some of the most beautiful parts of their city from way up in the clouds. Or, if you've picked out a wine lover, you can get them a Taste Your Birth Year winery tour in the Barossa (plane ticket's on them, naturally). For more information on Cashrewards Max and its current deals, head to the website. *Cashrewards Max is offered by Cashrewards, not ANZ. A Cashrewards account is not an ANZ account. T&Cs apply.
Sydney's south may be better known for its beautiful beaches and slow-living lifestyle, but it's also home to a bustling hotspot filled with food, fashion and entertainment. Since the surge in Chinese migration to Sydney in the 90s and 00s, Hurstville has been considered a hub for Chinese — and, more broadly, Asian — culture with a wealth of quality Asian groceries, yum cha joints and herbal medicine stores to check out. And that's just the start of your shopping adventures — scattered between these Asian shops, you'll find more small businesses dedicated to other cultures and distinct interests. We've teamed up with American Express to showcase a selection of awesome local businesses to shop small in Hurstville and its surrounding suburbs. When you're next searching for that obscure ingredient for a recipe, a gift, or a really good feed, this list is here to help — and you can shop small at all of these spots with your American Express Card.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7eZEZHRrVg PENGUIN BLOOM Nature is healing in Penguin Bloom, but not in the way that 2020's most famous meme has taught us all to expect. This Australian drama tells the story of Sam Bloom (Naomi Watts, The Loudest Voice), a nurse who becomes paralysed from the waist down due to a tragic accident during a Thailand vacation. Then, while adjusting to being in a wheelchair upon her return home, she finds solace in the company of an also-injured magpie chick. Her three young sons Noah (Griffin Murray-Johnston), Rueben (Felix Cameron) and Oli (Abe Clifford-Bar) name the bird Penguin. They're keen to look after it until it recovers, something they're unable to do with their mother. But the strongest bond between human and magpie forms between Sam and Penguin, albeit reluctantly at first. Traumatised by her experience, pushing her husband Cameron (Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead) away, subjected to her mother Jan's (Jacki Weaver, Never Too Late) fussing, and struggling with the changes from her old life — so much so that she's barely able to look at photos from the past — Sam is angry, upset and unhappy. She's hurt, and not just physically. As enjoying the presence of and caring for a pet is known to do, however, she finds hope, purpose and perspective via her new feathered friend. Describing Penguin Bloom's plot is bound to make anyone think that it's a piece of fiction conjured up by a screenwriter, but the Glendyn Ivin (Last Ride)-directed movie is based on real-life events — with scribes Harry Cripps (The Dry) and Shaun Grant (True History of the Kelly Gang) adapting the book by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive. Still, overcoming that manufactured, formulaic, sentimental feeling is the movie's chief obstacle, and one that it can't completely manage. In her first homegrown role since 2013's Adore, Watts puts in a film-lifting effort. The several exceptionally trained birds by her side all do too, vying with their high-profile co-star for the feature's best performance. And the rapport between human and magpie is as touching as it should be, ensuring that you don't need to have sat in Sam's exact seat or seen the world through the picture's wheelchair-height cinematography to understand the impact that Penguin has on her emotional and mental wellbeing. But, as most Australian films that that focus on a human-animal connection have been (with 2014's Healing a rare exception), Penguin Bloom is firmly a family-friendly affair. Movies that are suitable for all ages should genuinely earn that term, engaging adults as much as children; here, though, chasing that feat involves sticking to a noticeably easy, straightforward and simplistic template even when the film does strike a chord. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5Fr1M2fjY0&t=26s ONLY THE ANIMALS Murder-mystery Only the Animals starts with a killer opening image, featuring a live goat being worn like a backpack. The animal is slung over the shoulders of a cyclist as he rides through the streets of the Côte d'Ivoire city of Abidjan, and the unique picture that results instantly grabs attention — for viewers, even if it doesn't appear to interest anyone in the vicinity on-screen. This involving French-language thriller doesn't explain its attention-grabbing sight straight up, though. Instead, it jumps over to the Causse Mejean limestone plateau in southern France, where snow blankets the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site and — unrelated to the weather — a number of locals are icily unhappy. Indeed, farmer Michel (Denis Ménochet, Custody), his insurance agent wife Alice (Laure Calamy, Call My Agent!) and Joseph (Damien Bonnard, Dunkirk), one of her clients, are all far from content before word arrives of a shock death in the area. Doing house calls is part of Alice's job in the small, close-knit community, and it sees her embarking upon an affair with the awkward Joseph, who has shut himself off from everything beyond his property after his mother's passing a year prior. The surly Michel barely seems bothered about his marriage, spending all his time in the office attached to his cattle-feeding shed ostensibly working on the farm's accounts. When the grim news spreads, it has implications for all three. Adapting the novel Seules Les Bêtes by Colin Niel, writer/director Dominik Moll (News from Planet Mars) and his frequent co-screenwriter Gilles Marchand switch between Only the Animals' characters and relay the details from their perspectives. First, Alice's take on the situation graces the screen. Next, it's Joseph's turn. Waitress Marion (Nadia Tereszkiewicz, The Dancer) earns the third chapter, which charts her hot-and-heavy rendezvous with Evelyne (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Let the Sunshine In), the woman who'll turn up dead — while the final and longest segment belongs to Armand (debutant Guy Roger 'Bibisse' N'Drin), without the goat, as he tries to catfish his way to riches, success and the girl of his dreams. A whodunnit, Only the Animals tasks its audience members with sleuthing their way through its fractured tale, all to discover who is responsible for Evelyne's demise and why. Thanks to its multiple parts, it also gets viewers guessing about events that initially appear unrelated, and how they'll end up linking into the broader story. But the suitably cool-hued film is filled with other questions, too, ruminating on the primal nature of love and pondering the ways in which pursuing it — or chasing a mere moment, however fleeting, with someone else — can lead down immensely complicated paths. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5xoxzO9bRQ&feature=youtu.be DAWN RAID When Danny 'Brotha D' Leaosavai'i and Andy Murnane set up their own record label in the late 90s, they took its title from a bleak chapter in New Zealand's history. During the 70s and 80s, early-morning round ups were deployed by the government to locate and detain Pacific Islanders who had overstayed their visas — a racially motivated tactic that left a strong imprint in South Auckland, where Leaosavai'i and Murnane grew up. Accordingly, by using Dawn Raid as moniker for a venture that supported Polynesian artists, the duo were reclaiming and repurposing a problematic term. Their clothing line, also under the same name, was filled with slogan-heavy apparel that did the same thing with other words. And, as their business empire grew quickly to also encompass stores, bars and even a barber shop, the pair employed the same irreverent, enthusiastic, passionate but carefree approach at every turn. The local impact was considerable, launching careers, giving aspiring musicians a pathway and inspiring hope throughout the local community as well. But, as the new documentary that's also called Dawn Raid makes clear, Leaosavai'i and Murnane's entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude sent them on a complicated rollercoaster ride. Their rise was meteoric; their struggles, when they came, were just as significant. Filmmaker Oscar Kightley details Dawn Raid's tale, paying tribute to the label's influence and the artists that it brought to the public's attention as well — including hip hop group Deceptikonz; its members Savage, Mareko and Devolo, who have each pursued solo careers; singer Aaradhna; and R&B duo Adeaze. The filmmaker may have already been well-acquainted with Leaosavai'i and Murnane after the pair oversaw the soundtrack to Kightley's big 2006 hit Sione's Wedding, but he still takes a warts-and-all approach to their ups and downs. It'd be impossible to do justice to their story otherwise and, as the movie's main interviewees, Leaosavai'i and Murnane are just as frank and willing to discuss both the good and the bad. They need to be, of course; it's their experiences after meeting in business school, overcoming troubled childhoods, lucking into some of their success and making as many fortunate choices as mistakes that makes the documentary particularly compelling. Indeed, Kightley doesn't need to amass much more than talking heads, archival footage and music videos to unfurl Dawn Raid's history, or to keep viewers interested. Still, he not only skilfully weaves together this engaging and comprehensive chronicle, but also knows when to give particular incidents from the company's past — like Savage's surprise viral hit when his single 'Swing' was used in the movie Knocked Up — the spotlight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_T0F36YEi0&list=PLB5pxwdW-CtP4EVTJe_bHhQ-iBR8mBeBS THE MARKSMAN If film stars are ever able to digitise their likenesses, then let CGI versions of themselves do the acting for them, Liam Neeson could end up with an even longer list of forgettable action flicks on his resume. That idea for that kind of technology stems from the 2013 movie The Congress, which didn't feature Neeson — but, perusing much of his recent output, you can be forgiven for wondering if letting a computer insert him into however many Taken ripoffs that Hollywood seems to need would be any different. For now, Neeson keeps performing the usual way. And, he keeps making movies that call upon his particular set of fist-throwing, villain-dispensing skills more than the talents that saw him receive an Oscar nomination for Schindler's List. The good news with The Marksman is that it's an improvement on 2020's Honest Thief; however, it's also yet another thoroughly by-the-numbers movie that only seems to exist so that it can star Neeson. This time around, he plays a retired marine-turned-Arizona rancher who lives near the Mexico border, has spent his time since his wife died reporting illegal crossings, and earns a drug cartel's bloodthirsty interest after he helps the fleeing Rosa (Teresa Ruiz, Narcos: Mexico) and her 11-year-old son Miguel (feature debutant Jacob Perez). Neeson's character, Jim, isn't the type to let murderous thugs hunt down a boy — or to trust that they won't still get to Miguel in police custody, even with his own stepdaughter Sarah (Katheryn Winnick, Vikings) on the force. So, in an inversion of the role that cemented Neeson as a 21st-century action star, Jim takes the kid on the run in an effort to deliver him safely to relatives in Chicago, all while both assassins and the cops try to hunt them down. Unsurprisingly, The Marksman trades in routine action scenes, but it thankfully does so in an unflashy way. It's far less subtle about its patriotic imagery; when Jim is told that the bank is selling off his house, the cringeworthy scene sees him deliver a speech about serving his country and working hard all of his life while grimacing sternly and wearing an American flag slung over his shoulder. It's the type of dialogue you might expect Clint Eastwood deliver and, in case you weren't thinking about him during the film, writer/director Robert Lorenz even has Jim and Miguel watch a clip from the actor's 1968 western Hang 'Em High. The filmmaker has a history with Eastwood, actually, directing him in 2012's Trouble with the Curve and working on a long list of Eastwood-helmed movies. Lorenz doesn't have ties to John Wick, but that doesn't stop him borrowing a little from that franchise as well — and stranding Neeson in a passable-enough but always derivative movie several times over in the process. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on July 2, July 9, July 16, July 23 and July 30; August 6, August 13, August 20 and August 27; September 3, September 10, September 17 and September 24; October 1, October 8, October 15, October 22 and October 29; and November 5, November 12, November 19 and November 26; and December 3, December 10, December 17, December 26; and January 1, January 7 and January 14. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Craft: Legacy, Radioactive, Brazen Hussies, Freaky, Mank, Monsoon, Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt), American Utopia, Possessor, Misbehaviour, Happiest Season, The Prom, Sound of Metal, The Witches, The Midnight Sky, The Furnace, Wonder Woman 1984, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles, Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig and The White Tiger.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Sydney hospitality legends Kenny Graham and Jake Smyth (of Mary's, The Lansdowne, The Unicorn, P&V Wine and Liquor, Mary's Pizzeria) were taking over historic jazz venue The Basement and transforming it into a live gig space, a wine bar and a new harbourside Mary's — and the latter is opening tomorrow. Yep, on Wednesday, May 1, when you knock off work, you'll be able to stroll on down to Circular Quay and dig into a juicy Mary's burger and fried cauliflower. Wait, what? Yep, this new Mary's will, for the first time ever, have a vegan menu. Plant-based peeps, rejoice — you'll now be able to get your fill of the famed burgers and fried 'chicken'. The 'chicken' will be fried cauliflower and the burgers made with vegan patty, cheese, bun and a vegan take on Mary's sauce. As an added bonus, there'll also be no chance of contamination with the kitchen having its own vegan-only cool room, grills and fryers. If you were lucky enough to head along to Mary's Newtown's one-off all-vegan collab with Shannon Martinez (of Melbourne's Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli), you'll know that the boys do vegan well. Very well. As co-owner Smyth said in a statement, "it's fucking delicious plant based food, designed to make your carnivorous mates jealous." [caption id="attachment_706829" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham by Leyla Muratovic.[/caption] Those carnivorous mates who do prefer their burgers and fried chicken the traditional Mary's way — made with juicy beef and poultry — fear not, you'll find all the meat-filled classic here, too. As well as Mary's classic loud tunes, natural wines, local beers and raucous service. And, if there's not already graffiti in the bathrooms when the 100-seat venue opens, we're sure it won't be long till there is. In a change of direction for the duo, though, you'll also be able to eat your burgers outdoors (in the sun) at the 30-seat Mary's Alfresco. And there's more to come from the new Mary's digs, too. While the upstairs restaurant — fittingly called Mary's Circular Quay — is opening tomorrow, Mary's Underground, the live music venue and full-service restaurant, is slated to open by the end of the month. We'll let you know when it does. Find Mary's CQ at 7 Macquarie Place, Sydney from Wednesday, May 1. It's open from midday–12am Monday–Wednesday, midday–1am Thursday–Saturday, and midday–10pm on Sunday. Top image: Mary's Newtown.
When searching for great weekend getaway destinations near Sydney, Lake Macquarie is always high on the list. To the east, you've got 167 kilometres of shoreline and a bunch of quaint coastal towns. And out west, you'll find dramatic mountains and waterfalls within Watagans National Park. To help get you and a bunch of your mates to the most lavish parts of Lake Macquarie, we teamed up with the wonderfully opulent 8 at Trinity to create the ultimate weekend travel package that's worth over $2,700. It includes an $800 voucher to spend on food and drinks at 8 at Trinity as well as a two-night stay at Luxe Terrace for up to eight guests. Grab a seat within the grand pavilion that looks out over the Trinity Point Marina and the surrounding lawns and enjoy an extra special lunch or dinner out with your favourite people. This place is next-level glam, feeling as if it's been plucked right from The Great Gatsby. There really is no place like it in Australia. Use the voucher to splurge on premium seafood platters (adding a few lobsters for good measure), wagyu beef steaks and all manners of cocktails and champagne. And once you've finished treating yourselves to a proper feast, wander on over to your luxury terrace — conveniently located right next to 8 at Trinity — to fall into a deep food coma. During the rest of your stay, you and your mates will also get complimentary use of the accommodation's electric bikes and canoes, so you can explore as much of the area as you can. Alternatively, head just outside the restaurant to hire flight boards or even organise a scenic sailing trips around Lake Macquarie at your own expense. To enter, simply watch this exciting video of 8 at Trinity and answer the question below correctly. [embed]https://youtu.be/-3n8WCHwE84[/embed] Not the lucky winner? Worry not. You can still book yourself a table via the 8 at Trinity website. [competition]898983[/competition]
Since 2016, the British royal family's ups and downs haven't just played out across newspaper headlines. They've also fuelled Netflix's hit drama The Crown. If you're fond of the streaming platform, regal intrigue and combining the two, then you're obviously a fan of the series — and you can now lock Wednesday, November 9 in your diary for your next date with the show. If this sounds familiar, that's because it was announced a year back that viewer would need to wait until November 2022 to watch season five of the series; however, Netflix has now revealed the exact premiere date. In focus in this batch of episodes: the royal family in the early to mid-1990s, including the breakdown of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's marriage. As the series is known to, it's shaking up its cast with this leap forward. After starting out with Claire Foy (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) as Queen Elizabeth II, Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) as Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret (Pieces of a Woman) in its first two seasons, which aired in 2016 and 2017, the series returned in 2019 with Olivia Colman (Heartstopper), Tobias Menzies (This Way Up) and Helena Bonham Carter (Enola Holmes) in those roles. Plus, it added Josh O'Connor (Mothering Sunday) as Prince Charles — and, in season four in 2020, Emma Corrin (Misbehaviour) and The X-Files icon Gillian Anderson joined the cast as Lady Diana Spencer and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, respectively. When season five premieres in a few months, Downton Abbey, Maleficent and Paddington star Imelda Staunton will don the titular headwear, while Game of Thrones and Tales from the Loop's Jonathan Pryce will step into Prince Philip's shoes — and Princess Margaret will be played by Staunton's Maleficent co-star and Phantom Thread Oscar-nominee Lesley Manville. Also, Australian Tenet, The Burnt Orange Heresy and Widows star Elizabeth Debicki plays Princess Diana, with The Wire and The Pursuit of Love's Dominic West as Prince Charles. Netflix also dropped its first sneak peek at The Crown's fifth season as part of Tudum: A Netflix Global Fan Event — the streaming platform's big unveiling of everything set to hit your queue in coming months. The first teaser does indeed focus on Charles and Diana, and the tension between them as their separation is announced. Season five will arrive two months after Queen Elizabeth II's death in early September, and following a pause in the show's production afterwards. News around the show's fifth and sixth seasons, which'll follow the monarch into the 2000s, has changed a few times over the past few years. At the beginning of 2020, Netflix announced that it would end the royal drama after its fifth season. Then, the streaming platform had a change of heart, revealing it would continue the series for a sixth season after all. The first teaser for The Crown's fifth season is only available as part of Tudum: A Netflix Global Fan Event, at around 20 minutes in — you can check it out below: The Crown's fifth season will hit Netflix on Wednesday, November 9. Images: Keith Bernstein / Alex Bailey / Netflix
Thanks to Keith Courtney, Australians have already enjoyed a walk through a huge house of mirrors in the past few years. And, also with his help, moseying through an eerie and endless labyrinth of doors became a reality, too. The Melbourne installation artist isn't done setting up massive mazes just yet, however — and his latest, which is designed to resemble a huge human-sized kaleidoscope, is finally coming to Sydney in 2023. Called Kaleidoscope, fittingly, this installation isn't small. It's a 700-square-metre expanse of glass, steel, mirrors and moving prisms that features a labyrinth of corridors decked out in a revolving showcase of lights and colours. Originally debuting in Melbourne in 2022, then hitting Brisbane and Geelong among six Australian stops so far, it'll start shimmering and luring Harbour City residents at Powerhouse Ultimo for just over a month between Saturday, July 29–Sunday, September 10. Like both House of Mirrors and 1000 Doors, Kaleidoscope has been crafted to be immersive as possible. From 2–9pm Wednesday–Sunday, expect to have your senses disoriented while you're strolling through, including both motion and gravity. Expect to see plenty of shifting illusions among the ever-changing array of light and colour as well, and to be drawn in by the installation's soundscape in the process. "No two people will have the same experience in Kaleidoscope. This is a multi-sensory and physical experience where the visitor is completely submerged in sound and light — a vortex of serenity," explains Courtney. "Their experience is entirely personal, and I think that's what I'm most proud of with this artwork. It makes my heart sing knowing that each person can walk through and create their own feeling of magic." In bringing the massive piece to life, the artist has teamed up with visual artist Ash Keating, composer Tamil Rogeon and artist Samantha Slicer, plus a team of highly skilled technicians. [caption id="attachment_858144" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Ian Laidlaw[/caption]
Australia's best interiors for 2025 have been revealed — and a theatrical Brisbane restaurant has nabbed top honours. Central, the subterranean restaurant by J.AR Office, claimed the prestigious Premier Award for Australian Interior Design at this year's Australian Interior Design Awards. Celebrated for its moody, immersive atmosphere and inventive use of constraints, the venue also won the Hospitality Design Award and Best of State Commercial for Queensland. The annual awards, now in their 22nd year, recognise excellence across residential, hospitality, retail, installation, public and workplace design, as well as achievements in sustainability and emerging practice. The program is a collaboration between the Design Institute of Australia and Architecture Media's InteriorsAu, with this year's entries honouring aesthetic impact and user-centred thinking. [caption id="attachment_1010109" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Central by J.AR Office[/caption] The jury praised Central as a "highly inventive project" that's "executed with a level of cleverness that uses constraints to its advantage". In a year defined by refined aesthetics and clear design narratives, the 80-seat, Hong Kong-inspired Central stood out for its emotive interiors, with low lighting and cleverly juxtaposed accents of granite, timber and exposed rock, which all set the stage for a singular experience. Elsewhere, southern states swept the residential awards — Montage Apartments by Studio Prineas in Sydney's Double Bay received both the Residential Design and Best of State Residential for New South Wales accolades, commended for its "strong and nuanced colour palette and detailing", while the "joyful, sophisticated and colourful" Panorama House by Sally Caroline won the Residential Decoration Award and Best of State Residential for Victoria. Design Office claimed Retail Design honours for Vic's Meats in Chatswood Chase, Sydney — the project was also awarded Best of State Commercial in NSW for its "bold and highly distinctive design" that "honour[s] the tradition of the butcher's craft through a contemporary expression". [caption id="attachment_1010110" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Coopers Brand Home by studio gram[/caption] In the Public Design category, Studio SC was recognised for its moving and detailed interior at the new Australian War Memorial entrance in Canberra, which also took home Best of State Commercial in the ACT. The jury was split down the middle for the Workplace Design award, with top honours shared by both Cox Architecture's Adelaide Studio (which also won Best of State Commercial for South Australia) and the Arup Workplace Perth/Boorloo by Hames Sharley with Arup and Peter Farmer Designs — the latter also received the Sustainability Advancement Award for its conscious use of resources and sensitivity to human interaction. The jury noted that this year's awards represented "an opportunity for our industry to stand back, take it all in and genuinely celebrate the quality of interior design being produced in Australia today". And they're confident that the future is in good hands, too: "We can give ourselves a collective pat on the back as we continue to produce work that is inventive and sophisticated." [caption id="attachment_1010111" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Good Luck Restaurant Bar by Akin Atelier[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1010112" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Good Luck Restaurant Bar by Akin Atelier[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1010113" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Melbourne Place by Kennedy Nolan[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1010114" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Melbourne Place by Kennedy Nolan[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1010115" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Melbourne Place by Kennedy Nolan[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1010116" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Palace Coffee by Kerry Kounnapis Architecture Practice[/caption] For more information on the Australian Interior Design Awards 2025 and the full list of winners, head to the awards' website.
It's hard not to be tempted by the prospect of international and local artists convening for your art-loving pleasure at the Sydney Biennale's 36th year. This year's festival of art seems to be zooming in to a human scale, but navigating the mammoth program can still lead to a minor crisis. To help you decide, Concrete Playground has put together this list of ten stand-out attractions at the current incarnation of our local biennial. 1. Cockatoo Island Cockatoo Island, as always, is the largest single slab of the Biennale's art. Artworks are arranged from the lower levels up the hill, progressing by the artistic directors' design, from mostly white below to colourful above. This year's island is flush with ice-like chains, paper cuts, spiral landscapes and a creeping fog. In a room to one side sits Maria Fernanda Cardoso's Museum of Copulatory Organs — a collection of spiky insect genitalia — which brings a surprising grace to its base, exhibitionist humour. The artist herself will give you a more verbal piece of her mind in July and August. 2. The Galleries This year's gallery offerings are divided between the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The Art Gallery offers a grinding icebreaker from Guido van der Werve, staggering cariboo photography from Subhankar Banerjee and Nipan Oranniwesna's City of Ghost room-spanning ur-city made from powder filtered through stencils of urban streets. The MCA's contribution this year focuses on threads and the body. Alwar Balasubramaniam's Nothing From My Hands cleaves organic lumps out of the wall dappled in shades of grey, Maria Laet's Untitled (Dialogue Series. Ballon and Body) graces movement onto photography and Nicholas Hlobo's Inkwili spreads fine tendrils with watercolours and tea stains. 3. The Mending Project Artist Lee Mingwei wants to fix you up. as part of his artwork the Mending Project. He'll lurk in the MCA's lighted corners waiting for you to bring in over- or under-loved garments in need of repair and fix it while you wait. Part of the bargain is that you pay Lee with talk (or by being teased) while he stitches your pieces anew. Resurrected clothes will hang on the cavernous walls on MCA level one until the end of the Biennale. Leaving it probably best to bring your summer threads along to hang out in public until September. Lee will be providing his services on a drop in basis during the Biennale. The MCA also suggests you arrive early in the day for Lee's performance, in case he runs out of thread. 4. Carriageworks Laying claim to another link in the Biennale's chain of industrial architecture, Carriageworks is taking its first year as a venue for the festival. And its participation runs to dance as well as art. Belgian dance ensemble Rosas bring their serious style to the Carriageworks bay with En Atendant and Cesena. Meanwhile fellow Belgian Ann Veronica Janssens, whose set design features in Rosas' work, will fill the Carriageworks' foyer with her sculpture for the duration of the Biennale. 5. The New Biennale Ferry This year's Biennale lets go of its attachment to the heave and yaw of a rickety yellow and red ferry from previous years going out to Cockatoo Island. Modern ferries have taken over the commute this year. While you might not capture Moran-winning photo fodder, whether this is considered a good thing or bad is something that depends whether your view of nautical paradise is a rickety ambience or a chunder-free upper deck. And while you hop to the island on a smoother ride, Khadija Baker will let loose her talking hair in her performance piece My Little Voice Can’t Lie across the early days of the festvial. Khadija Baker will be onboard 12-3pm Jun 27-July. 6. MCA Clothing Exchange It wasn't long ago that the MCA wore no clothes at all. But for the duration of the Biennale, with Lee Mingwei's Mending Project in-house, it's taking a closer interest in the stitched article. And one of its approaches is to take on what was a new idea not too long ago, but is now standard: find a group of like-minded fashion-lovers, bone them up on the value of recycling over consumption and get them together for an orgy of swapping stuff they have already. For the Biennale, the MCA is throwing its hat in the ring. To swap for said hat, you're encouraged to bring up to ten nice-enough and no-longer loved articles of clothing for the MCA Clothing Exchange, for swapping with other like-minded cohabiters of art and fashion. Will you find the cast-offs of swish fashionistas, or will art lovers' choice of clothes be the strangest cut of all? The clothing exchange runs 11-5 on July 22. 7. Sydney Students Speak There's been a lot of experiment across Sydney lately in the short, sharp talk. TEDx and its many local varieties do it for ideas, Bright Club did it for science and Pecha Kucha has some fast words as well. Everyone wants in, with the focus now on younger speakers. The MCA already has regular unfurling of the art ideas of teenagers and the Art Gallery of NSW has had its focus on young polemics. For the Biennale, it's drawing out the easily digested ideas of Sydney's older art students at Sydney Students Speak. Each will deliver a spiel a bare two minutes longer than a regular TED talk, honing in on why you should care about their favourite Biennale artwork. And down in Casula, other young Sydney art students will have frenzied work on display in Casula for 8x8 as well. Students speak at the Art Gallery Wednesdays between August 1 and September 12. 8x8 is at Casula from July 21 to August 26. If you're an art student interested in your chance to speak, auditioning starts here. 8. The Biennale Bar FBi is descending on the Biennale's stay at Pier 2/3 in the Rocks. For Fridays during August, the Biennale Bar will be packed with entertainment via FBi Radio, the Thousands and dLux Media Arts. The bar is downstairs at the wooden nub of the art spread across the interior of the pier. Sip among Tiffany Singh's cacophonous wind chimes in Knock On The Sky Listen To The Sound, which invite the public to ring them and later take them home, or run into the Sydney Theatre Company as they invade Honore D'O's Air and Inner during earlier hours. Note: The STC's Biennale invasions have since been cancelled. The Biennale bar runs 6.30-9.30 pm Fridays during August. Line-ups are now up on the Biennale site for the evenings curated by dLux (August 3), the Thousands (August 10), FBi (August 17), the Biennale team (August 24) and the Sydney Chamber Opera (August 31). 9. Mystery Tours What's better than spending the day on an island covered in art and dilapidated industrial detritus? Topping said detritus and art with an unexpected encounter with a celebrity art lover. Surprise is de rigour for Cockatoo Island's Mystery Tours, which pair the general public with art lovers from a more public background, the identity of the tour guide remaining a mystery until the tour itself assembles. Tours are free, but need to be booked via Eventbrite, (02) 8484 8718 or bookings@biennaleofsydney.com.au Mystery Tours run Saturdays at 11.30 from July 7. 10. Canvas Presents: Music, Art and You! There are a few great arts shows on local Sydney radio: Something Else and Arts Tuesday on Eastside, Talking Through Your Arts on 2SER and FBi's contribution to the genre and the Sydney arts scene is the Sunday show Canvas. Canvas normally gets a word in with visiting and local art celebrity, but during the Biennale they're taking their low-key art loving to their elevated FBi Social salon space in Kings Cross. For two nights in July running Canvas Presents will chat with artists live on stage while you sit back and contemplate art with a drink close to hand. Canvas presents is on July 3 and 31. Leading image shows Gravitas Lite by Peter Robinson. Living Chasm – Cockatoo Island by Fujiko Nakaya. Installation view of the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012) at Cockatoo Island. Courtesy the artist. Nummer Acht: Everything is going to be alright by Guido van der Werve. Courtesy the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. Photograph: Ben Geraerts. The Mending Project by Lee Mingwei. Courtesy the artist and Lombard-Freid Projects, New York. Photograph: Anita Kan. Photo of Cesena by Anne Van Aerschot. Small Business: Karaoke by Jin Shi. Courtesy White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney. Image for Biennale Bar shows Knock On The Sky Listen To The Sound by Tiffany Singh.
Kent Street is set to gain a new Japanese fine diner this September when Kuro opens its doors. Here, guests can enjoy a casual meal or book into a ten-person-only degustation that's served by a chef who's worked at Michelin-starred restaurants. The latter offering, dubbed Teramoto by Kuro, will be run by Executive Chef and Co-Owner Taka Teramoto, who has spent time in the kitchens at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris and Tokyo — Restaurant Pages and Florilège, respectively. Each night, ten lucky diners will be seated at a kitchen-side counter for the degustation, so they can watch the action while they feast. Teramoto will personally serve each tasting menu alongside sommelier Wanaka Teramoto (116 Pages, Paris), the offering changing regularly, based on seasonality and availability. While menus are still in the works, you can expect the likes of wagyu tartare seared over binchotan (white charcoal), then crumbed in charcoal panko and sprinkled with Tasmanian pepper (pictured below); fresh stracciatella topped with warm peas and lovage oil; and one-week-aged squid sashimi in a broth of lemon myrtle, tomato dashi and sliced taro stem. [caption id="attachment_729358" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Megann Evans[/caption] For more casual fare, Kuro Bar & Dining will offer seasonal share plates in a 40-seat, à la carte setting. Here, the food will be created by Head Chef Nobu Maruyama of Surry Hills' now-closed Bar H. This menu is still under wraps at the moment. In this space, there'll also be a bar with a drinks list featuring cocktails using Japanese produce and flavours, plus heaps of Japanese spirits — including whisky, gin, shochu and sake — and draught beer. All of these can be enjoyed alongside bar snacks, too. And, if you come by in the morning, the espresso bar will offer coffees, teas and brekkie. Potts Point's Henderson & Co architects will be looking after the fit-out, which will transform the heritage-listing building into a space inspired by Japanese architecture and craftsmanship. A major element of the space will be the dynamic lighting, which will create an ever-changing ambiance throughout the day and into the night. Kuro will open in September at 364–368 Kent Street, Sydney. It'll be open six days per week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Images: Megann Evans
"Nature holds us all to account" is one of Force of Nature: The Dry 2's trailer-friendly lines. Even for those who didn't see the film's sneak peeks in the months between its arrival and the feature's release — a period stretched by Hollywood's 2023 strikes, pushing the picture's date with cinemas from August to February 2024 — it sounds primed for promo snippets when it's uttered in the movie itself. But this Australian detective franchise has earned the right to occasionally be that blunt and loaded with telling importance in its dialogue. And, it makes it work. In 2021's The Dry and here, in a flick that could've been called The Wet thanks to its drenched forest setting, the Aaron Falk saga uses its surroundings to mirror its emotional landscape. Nature holds its characters to account not just in a narrative sense, but by reflecting what they're feeling with astute specificity — so much so that the parched Victorian wheatbelt in the initial movie and the saturated greenery in Force of Nature are as much extensions of the series' on-screen figures as they are stunning backdrops. Chief among this page-to-film realm's players is Falk, the federal police officer that Eric Bana and his Blueback director Robert Connolly treat like terrain to trek through and traverse. His stare has its own cliffs and gorges. His life upholding the law and beyond has its peaks and valleys as well. In The Dry, it was evident that the yellowed, drought-stricken fields that monopolised the frame said plenty about how much Falk and everyone around him was holding back. In Force of Nature, all the damp of the fictional Giralang mountains — Victoria's Otways, Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley IRL — speaks volumes about what's streaming through the movie's characters inside. Cinematography is one of this franchise's strengths, and that Andrew Commis (Nude Tuesday) lenses the second picture's location just as evocatively and meticulously as Stefan Duscio (Shantaram) did the first is crucial: these features make their audience see every detail that envelops Falk and company, and therefore constantly spy the parallels between their environs and their inner turmoil. As adapted from author Jane Harper's bestselling books, the two Falk films so far understand one of the basic aspects of being human that's also rarely grasped so convincingly: that there's no escaping the fact that who we are and what we've experienced colours how we see what's in front of us. As Connolly keeps exploring both as a director and a screenwriter — he penned Force of Nature's script solo — this truth rings accurate whether a person has spent decades trying to ignore something or if they're drawn into territory linked to a matter that's always cascading in their heart and mind. The latter is the second flick's scenario, with Falk on a missing-person investigation in a place that connects to his history. The Dry used a similar setup, but it only comes across as neat and repetitive if you can't see how closely art is aping life and how everyone inherently views the world. New locale, scenery, weather conditions, colour palette, case, involved parties and reasons that Falk is pondering his past: they're among Force of Nature's departures from its predecessor. Same protagonist, flashback-heavy structure, emotional approach, revealing use of topography, star, filmmaker: so goes the returning elements. This is a movie that combines new shoots with old foliage, then, and compellingly. The Dry was a solid twisty Aussie mystery aided by Bana at his best in the lead and thematically meaningful imagery, as Force of Nature is now. Its most-unsuccessful part is its title, blatantly stressing the relationship between the features as if viewers wouldn't pick it anyway. (If Harper's third and final Falk book gets the cinematic treatment as well, which likely depends on how well Force of Nature backs up The Dry's $20-million-plus in Aussie box-office takings, presumably that picture will be clunkily dubbed Exiles: The Dry 3.) Sodden ranges beckon one of Australia's rare whodunnit sagas due to a corporate hiking retreat for the Melbourne-based Bailey Tenants, where Alice Russell (Anna Torv, The Last of Us) works. After setting off with just her boss Jill (Deborra-Lee Furness, Blessed) and three colleagues — Lauren (Robin McLeavy, Homeland), who has a daughter (debutant Matilda May Pawsey) the same age as her own (Ingrid Torelli, Five Bedrooms); and sisters Beth (Sisi Stringer, Mortal Kombat) and Bree (Lucy Ansell, Strife) — for company, plus one map between them and only basic supplies, she isn't with the group when they re-emerge. None of the remaining women have answers about Alice's whereabouts. They've all visibly been through an ordeal. And Alice's absence isn't deeply mourned, as Falk and his partner Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie, Ruby's Choice) are soon diving into with the returnees, plus Jill's husband Daniel (Richard Roxburgh, Prosper). This isn't the detective duo's introduction to Alice. This isn't Falk's first time at this spot, either. So spreads Force of Nature's branches (and so gives the editing a workout, with Alexandre de Franceschi back from The Dry and and Penguin Bloom's Maria Papoutsis joining). The film tracks the search for Alice in the present, what happened leading up to her disappearance, Falk and Cooper's attempts to get her to be a whistleblower against her employer before that, and Falk's childhood (with The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart's Jeremy Lindsay Taylor returning as Erik Falk, his father, and Preacher's Archie Thomson playing the younger Aaron). Force of Nature isn't short on plot — and thankfully it also isn't lacking in weight and texture in Connolly's hands, just as atmosphere, tension and intrigue aren't an issue. It was a masterstroke to enlist Bana as Falk — a choice that, aided by his fine-tuned mixed of charisma and intensity, continues paying off in his second spin in the part. This is a contemplative performance with gravitas again, including in probing the ethics of his on-screen alter ego's actions. As the headstrong Alice, Torv is equally exceptional, especially as someone who is far from the dutiful informant or likeable potential victim. Indeed, the casting all round is spot on, with Furness dynamite in her first feature beyond voicework in a decade and a half, McLeavy putting in another complicated portrayal in an Aussie movie 15 years after making a helluva debut in The Loved Ones, Roxburgh as excellent at playing cunning as he was in Prosper, and Stringer and Ansell commandingly digging into their sibling characters' layers. Their efforts match the rain in the forest, the unease among the traipsing women and the thrall of this franchise as it grows — because all three keep soaking in.
Ever so slightly east of central Sydney, Darlinghurst blends the hustle and bustle of busy Sydney life with refined urban charm and the occasional flair of extravagance, making it a mecca for style, cuisine and culture. It's easy to spend a day getting lost wandering through the suburb, and it's even easier to indulge a little while you're doing it. From bars with funky natural wines and hard-to-find craft beers to vintage stores filled with preloved (but very luxe) designer gems, Darlinghurst is packed with ways to treat yourself — and perhaps a lucky mate, too, since its always more fun to splash out with someone by your side. We've teamed up with craft beer haven Bitter Phew to put together a list of top spots to go in the neighbourhood when you want to spend that hard-earned cash on something a little bit special.
At the end of a long day, there's something so alluring about indulging in a cool glass of champagne with some fancy canapés on the side. But as nice as it would be to live the Mad Men life on the regular, the old budget often makes it tricky to turn those luscious daydreams into reality. It's no secret that life in Sydney is often mighty hard on the bank balance but, luckily, there are a good number of places in the city where you can live the high life without maxing out your credit card limit. To guide you on your merry way, we've teamed up with our mates at American Express to bring you a list of top spots where you can enjoy your champagne tastes on a beer budget. From sophisticated aperitif hours with surprisingly low prices to totally reasonable set menus that let you dine at some the city's finest establishments without breaking into your savings account, indulging your elevated palate doesn't always have to mean a headache-inducing bill at the end of the night. Plus, these places all accept American Express so you can stock up on points for future splurges at the same time. Got yourself in another dining situation and need some guidance? Whatever it is, we know a place. Visit The Shortlist and we'll sort you out.
Sydney's got a brand-new free festival to tempt night owls, culture vultures and everyone in between. Set to light up Macquarie Street East for 24 hours from 6pm on Saturday, February 4, the inaugural Mopoke fest will deliver a luminous program of art, music, food and creativity well worth staying up late for. Named after Australia's smallest owl variety, the 24-hour celebration of arts and culture will transform the inner-city precinct into a playground for inquisitive souls and curious minds, sprawling from Shakespeare Place through to Hyde Park Barracks. The eastern stretch of Macquarie Street will become pedestrian-only for the festival's duration, playing host to a smorgasbord of pop-ups, activations and artistic offerings, all linked by black-lit paths. Wander through to discover theatre performances, gigs, live art, magic shows, a 10-strong multicultural rotation of food trucks and more. You can unleash your own creativity in a glow-in-the-dark Playdough Garden, while Hyde Park Barracks is set to keep the gates open all night long, playing host to an art and design market featuring everything from ceramicists to tattoo artists. The Mint and its surrounds will light up with a glowing after-dark garden, as well as a native flower market showcasing blooms by some of the city's best-loved florists, set to a soundtrack of classical music. Meanwhile, the Sydney Eye Hospital courtyard will be reimagined as an artists' plaza filled with magicians, theatre shows and live art, its fountain glowing in the dark and its building facades lit up through the night. Also shrouded in black light will be Hunter Lane, where you'll catch a DJ and silent disco jamming long into the evening, while the rest of the State Library of NSW grounds will feature an art installation, live jazz and a pop-up bar. You'll want to venture up to the new-look Library Bar for cocktails, spoken word poetry and astronomy chats, too. And in The Domain, a fiery affair awaits visitors, with a luminous white piano soundtracking a troupe of fire-twirlers, which you can watch from the comfort of your own picnic lounge. Sticking to the theme, the site will also host a pop-up bar slinging smoke-forward sips and cooking stations dishing up an array of flambéed desserts. Mopoke Sydney will run from 6pm on February 4–6pm on February 5, along Macquarie Street East, Sydney CBD. For more info, see the website.
Vivid Ideas and Vibewire have decided to join forces to produce some creative good in the world. Well, at least for one of seven young social innovators who are the finalists in this competition. What’s the deal you ask? These young guns will pitch their creative project idea to the judging panel in the hope of scoring $1000 in seed funding, 6 months of workshop space at the Vibewire Hub, workshops and mentoring. All those important things needed for a startup. And they will get the title of Vivid Ideas Fellowship winner (hopefully with some kind of pagent style tiara). There will be rapid fire pitches presented by the finalists to the panelists and the audience (you – if you’re there). Will you choose Joanna Bayndrian and her Suburban Heritage Project, or Sabrine Elkhodr’s The Paper Bag which provides the homeless with handmade stationery items made from recycled materials. The other entries are Joshua Davey’s Owl, Nathan Li’s Young Entrepreneurs of Australia, Ryo Ishii’s Urban Myth Sydney, Jesse Cox’s Driveway and Jordan Bryon’s Turf. If you love competitions and getting to vote on a crowd favourite (and who doesn’t?) this might be one to mark in your diary. There will also be some nibbles and beverages, and it’s all free. Tick. Just remember to do that rsvping thang.
Perhaps the rarest thing in Hollywood is the producer who says, “You know what? That was great, so let’s just leave it there”. As a result, we get sequels. Lots of sequels. Prequels, too, and spinoffs. One need only look at American food portions to recognise it’s not a nation possessed of the ability to know when enough is enough. The application of restraint (at least in the entertainment world) seems a decidedly British trait, sparing us from horrors like Love Actually 2: The Re-Loving or Slumdog Billionaire, and allowing gems like Faulty Towers to end after a mere 12 episodes, before there was any risk of overstaying its welcome. It’s not that sequels are bad, but there’s a grace to knowing when something should become a sequel (or even a franchise) and when something that’s both critically acclaimed and financially successful should nonetheless stand alone and untouched, forever. It’s not hard to see why 2012’s surprise hit Ted found itself a challenge to that notion of restraint. The film took in over half a billion dollars worldwide and, despite its often controversial content, proved one of the funner comedies of the year. It’s the kind of movie where you hear they’re making a sequel and you think, "yes, I laughed quite a lot in the first one, and I like laughing, so I’ll welcome more of that, thank you." Even the plot of the sequel offered a genuine extension of the original, with the living, breathing, foul-mouthed and pot-smoking teddy bear ‘Ted’ (voiced by writer/director Seth MacFarlane) told that his marriage to Tami-Lyn (Jessica Barth) has been nullified on account of him being deemed ‘property'. TED 2 hence finds itself a civil rights story that literally (and repeatedly) compares a teddy bear’s struggle to adopt a human baby with the plight of African slaves being considered human in the eyes of the law. Seth MacFarlane, ladies and gentlemen. Seth MacFarlane. Is it funny? Absolutely. MacFarlane is a clever and talented comedian who knows how to extract laughs from a variety of different setups, be they gross-out, shock value or pop-culture referential. But is it consistently funny? Not even close, and the quantity over quality approach means a lot of the film is rendered uncomfortably dull (or worse, offensive) as a result. The latter is particularly concerning, with racism, sexism and homophobia all rearing their heads over and over again in Ted 2, as though somehow MacFarlane has completely lost sight of the distinction between ‘confronting' and straight-up ‘wrong’. Drenching Mark Wahlberg’s character, John, in a shelf load of semen is a tough sell at the best of times, but suggesting his plight is made all the worse because it’s “black guy’s cum” demonstrates just how far off the mark Ted 2 consistently lands. When it gets things right, of course, the film shines. The opening titles are a delightfully choreographed musical number straight out of the golden age of cinema, and Liam Neeson’s brief cameo as a gravely serious man concerned about the purchase of cereal marketed strictly for children is terrifically funny. Amanda Seyfried, too, puts in a nice turn as both Ted’s lawyer and John’s love interest, even enduring constant barbs about her Gollum-esque eyes. But overall the film leaves a bad taste in your mouth and regret in your heart that the bottled lightning of the original couldn’t have just been left alone and untouched, forever.
When we say that Vivid is dishing up a taste of London in 2025, we mean it literally: chefs from two of the English capital city's top restaurants are on this year's Vivid Food lineup. From Lyle's, James Lowe is heading Down Under. From Josephine, so is Claude Bosi. One is spending three nights joining Mat Lindsay at Ester, the other has a two-evening date with Brent Savage at Eleven Barrack — and both are serving up must-try menus. Lowe and Bosi are part of the festival's 2025 Vivid Chef Series, which brings famed culinary names to the Harbour City for bucket list-style dining experiences. If you're keen on the Lowe and Lindsay combination, they're reteaming after the latter went to London for the former's game series, this time joining forces in Sydney to showcase Australian produce — fish and shellfish included — over eight courses. From Bosi and Savage, expect a mix of French gastronomy and Aussie creativity across six courses, complete with Bosi's camembert soufflé with winter black truffle, plus duck liver choux au craquelin from Savage. "I'm really excited to bring the food from my hometown in France to a new country. This is the first time Bistro Josephine has been outside the UK, and it means a lot to share something so personal with a new audience," said Bosi about his component of the Vivid Food lineup. "The dishes we serve are inspired by the flavours I grew up with, and I'm looking forward to seeing them reach beyond where it all started. I hope people here connect with the heart and simplicity of what we do." Neither Vivid Chef Series experience comes cheap. Taking place across Tuesday, May 27–Thursday, May 29, the Ester x James Lowe menu starts at $250 per person, with wine pairings $150 on top. You'll pay $185 for lunch and $285 for dinner — plus either $90 or $180 for vino — for the Eleven Barrack x Claude Bosi collaboration on Tuesday, June 10–Wednesday, June 11. Vivid Food has also locked in the return of Vivid Fire Kitchen, which will be easier on bank balances given that it's free to attend (but, of course, you will pay for what you eat). Running across 23 nights from Friday, May 23–Saturday, June 14 — so for the full festival dates — this celebration of fire-based cooking will again take over The Goods Line in Ultimo. Expect pop-ups from a range of eateries and food trucks, including Ogni, Brazilian Flame, Plate It Forward, Flyover Fritterie, Hoy Pinoy, Burn City Smokers, Pocket Rocketz, Mapo Gelato, Mr Spanish Churro and Miss Sina Korean Donuts, alongside live fire cooking demonstrations. Jess Pryles and Nyesha Arrington are among the chefs on Vivid Fire Kitchen's program, as are The Apollo Group's Oscar Solomon, Firedoor's Lennox Hastie, Viand's Annita Potter, Aalia's Paul Farag, Sunday Kitchen's Karima Hazim and more. Barbecued seafood will score its own stand, a dedicated wine bar will hero New South Wales vino — and host Mike Bennie-led masterclasses — and First Nations nights will see Indigenous chefs take centre stage. Elsewhere, Vivid's edible spread for 2025 also spans Neon Dreams, with Shannon Martinez paying tribute to American diners of the 1950s with a plant-based menu and a roller rink; Hollywood Dreaming, a 23-night roster of events in the Hollywood Quarter in Surry Hills; and Nigella Lawson curating dinners in the Muru Giligu pedestrian tunnel. Vivid Sydney 2025 runs from Friday, May 23–Saturday, June 14 across Sydney. Head to the festival website for further information.
Sibling rivalries and scandalous family secrets come bubbling to the surface following the death of a Moroccan business man, in this amusing and insightful (if mostly predictable) comic drama set at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea. Heavily indebted to the collected works of Jane Austen, the new film from writer-director Laila Marrakchi distinguishes itself via a purposeful sense of cultural specificity within a more broadly relatable story. Rock the Casbah offers some shrewd observations into a society caught between the Islamic world and the West, particularly in regards to the role of women. At the same, Marrakchi's portrayal of familial dysfunction feels so maddeningly familiar that you'd swear it all took place around your parents' dining room table. Born in Casablanca but educated abroad, one imagines that Marrakchi feels a certain connectedness with her protagonist Sofia (Morjana Alaoui), the youngest daughter of wealthy Tangier businessman who now works as an actress in Hollywood. She's the only member of her family to have left Morocco, and as such, finds herself feeling decidedly out of place when she returns home to attend her father's funeral. Amidst the gossip and judgements of her sisters Miriam (Nabine Labaki) and Kenza (Lubna Azabal) and the cold stoicism of her mother Aicha (Hiam Abbass), Sofia is forced to confront her strained relationship with her late father, as well as the demons surrounding the suicide of her other sister, Leila, under mysterious circumstances years before. The film's opening titles established the contradiction of Tangiers, as women in conservative religious garb relax on the beach alongside others in bikinis. Although still governed by long-standing patriarchal traditions, there's a sense that the country's value structures are becoming increasingly outdated. Marrakchi, an outspoken feminist, laces her mannered domestic comedy with no shortage of scathing social criticism, including a contemptuous portrait of a deadbeat uncle who stands to inherit the family fortune simply because he's a man. Nor does she show any qualms in calling out the exaggerated assumptions many westerners have about the Muslim world: one of the great recurring jokes of the film revolves around Sofia's inability to find an acting job playing anything other than a terrorist. The film is at its best when poking fun at cultural stereotypes such as these. Even as religious men prepare the deceased man's body for burial, his crotchety old mother-in-law chows down on a McDonald's value meal in the other room. We watch the sisters drink like fish, joking and giggling about sex. Likewise, we watch them argue, bitterly and without any sense of decorum. In other words, they're a family, probably a lot like your own. Loud. Judgmental. But mostly brutally, agonisingly honest. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zud2_-im5aM
In Stay of the Week, we explore some of the world's best and most unique accommodations — giving you a little inspiration for your next trip. In this instalment, we go to KU Villas in Lombok, Indonesia, where you can live that glamorous island life without breaking the bank. We've teamed up with the KU Villas team to bring our readers one massive island holiday deal. Book here to get a three-night stay, hour-long massage, personal chauffeur, $200 food and beverage voucher for the nearby SIWA Clubhouse and daily breakfast for only $455 — an absolute bargain by anyone's standards. WHAT'S SO SPECIAL? Get that luxe Indonesian island experience on the cheap. It's incredible just how little you will spend to stay in these stylish Lombok villas — with private pool included. THE ROOMS This small resort has a few different accommodation types, ranging from individual rooms and suites (either with or without a plunge pool) to larger villas with private gardens and larger pools. Modern simplicity is key when it comes to design and amenities — expect large open rooms with classic wooden furniture and crisp white linens. You'll get the essential aircon and wifi, too. Plus, almost every room has double doors that open onto the gardens and pools — indoor and outdoor living spaces are seamlessly woven together. FOOD AND DRINK KU Villas has its own little restaurant onsite, offering a range of Western and traditional Indonesian dishes. Locally sourced, healthy cuisine is the aim of the game here. The chefs get produce from the property to create super fresh and light dishes from breakfast through to dinner. But, these guys are aware that you're on holiday — so you can get pizzas, chips and gelato too. Beers, wine and cocktails flow freely, and are brought out to the pool for those long days spent dipping in and out of the water while getting some well-needed vitamin D. [caption id="attachment_883655" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tom Bixler (Unsplash)[/caption] THE LOCAL AREA KU Villas is located on the island of Lombok, east of the ever-popular Bali. Stay on Lombok to get the full Bali experience, but with fewer crowds. There are quaint villages full of character, countless beachside restaurants and bars, nearby islands for day trips (the trio of Gilis) and rainforests ripe for exploring on hikes or 4WD adventures. KU Villas even has its own mountaintop bar and pool, SIWA, with stunning views across the island — the intel: our Concrete Playground Trips package includes a $200 voucher to spend at this picturesque spot. THE EXTRAS When visiting these parts, a rejuvenating spa day should be firmly on the cards. Thankfully, you'll find one on the property. KU Day Spa offers up a series of massages alongside other treatments — there's coffee and chocolate scrubs and a special magnesium pool experience. Once you're done relaxing, roll over to the pool to hold onto that new-found peace and glow for as long as you can. We're all chasing that feeling — and this ain't a bad place to find it. Feeling inspired to book a truly unique getaway? Head to Concrete Playground Trips to explore a range of holidays curated by our editorial team. We've teamed up with all the best providers of flights, stays and experiences to bring you a series of unforgettable trips in destinations all over the world.
Looking to book your next getaway with that special someone? Don't look past Vaucluse, where Nielsen Park's Steele Point Cottage has reopened to the public. Set within Sydney Harbour National Park, the waterfront property offers a rare mix of sweeping harbour views combined with a true bushland getaway — all without leaving Sydney. Built in 1880 as a gunners' barracks and located on a headland that overlooks Sydney Harbour, the historic cottage has been recently restored. The refurbished one-bedroom has timber floors and furniture, white linens and pale yellow hues. There's a master bedroom with four-poster bed and a gold-trimmed bathroom with a freestanding ceramic bathtub — plus, separate kitchen, lounge and sun rooms. Outside, there's an expansive private terrace with a barbecue and dining table that overlooks the harbour. [caption id="attachment_712179" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gareth Pickford[/caption] Once you're ready to leave your comfy surrounds, there's plenty of coast and bushland to explore, all within walking distance. Start with a harbourside walk along the Hermitage Foreshore Track — a 1.5 kilometre trail along the harbour foreshore which offers views of Shark Island, the Harbour Bridge and the grounds of the heritage-listed Strickland House. Then, once you're ready for a dip, head to Shark Beach, which is only 100 metres from the cottage. If you're keen for a meal out of the house, Nielsen Park offers plenty of private picnic spots to choose from, along with The Nielsen cafe, which overlooks Shark Beach. Bookings for Steele Point Cottage are now available via the National Parks website. Prices range from $380–580 per night. Images: Gareth Pickford and John Spencer.
While he may not have donned one of these to wander down the street in Arles, Vincent Van Gogh is the creative trigger behind designers Viktor & Rolf's newest collection. Throwing back to their Dutch roots, the Amsterdam-based designers' 'Van Gogh Girls' collection makes haute couture of the post-impressionist master's work — and it's just so pretty. Making its debut in Paris this week at Viktor & Rolf's Spring 2015 haute couture show, the collection is a flurry of straw headresses, open lace structures and structured babydoll dresses, embellished with both 3D flowers and printed batik-dyed patterns inspired by the flowers of Van Gogh. Van Gogh's little straw hat — or the hats of his country-dwelling sitters — has never looked so Bjork. Viktor & Rolf's designs have been considered artworks in themselves, as Fast Company points out, three of the 'works' have been bought by art collector Han Nefkens for Rotterdam's Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen — which makes it one of the most epic realisations of Van Gogh's work as high fashion; a level above Rodarte's Sunflowers-inspired ready-to-wear range for Target in 2011. Via Fast Company.
They topped Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2002. They've featured Dave Grohl on drums. Their third studio album Songs for the Death is one of the all-time-great 00s records. They're Queens of the Stone Age, of course, and now they're bringing their latest tour Down Under in 2024, with the band heading our way for the first time in six years. The Josh Homme-fronted group's The End Is Nero tour is their first trip to Australasia since 2018, and comes after their eighth album In Times New Roman... released in June 2023. Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita and Jon Theodore are giving their latest shows an apocalyptic theme, which fans can look forward to seeing in Sydney from Wednesday, February 21–Thursday, February 22. [caption id="attachment_923130" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andreas Neumann[/caption] Concertgoers can look forward to a setlist that steps through QOTSA's 27-year history, including their Hottest 100 winner 'No One Knows', plus everything from 'Go with the Flow' and 'Make It Wit Chu' to 'Emotion Sickness' and 'The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret'. In support at the Hordern Pavilion: Pond and Gut Health. Queens of the Stone Age formed in Seattle in 1996 after Homme's prior band Kyuss split up, is linked to the Palm Desert music scene and have seven Grammy nominations to their name. Despite the long gap since their last trip Down Under, they're no strangers to playing Australia, including a joint tour with Nine Inch Nails back in 2014. Top image: Wünderbrot via Wikimedia Commons
Come on Australians, why don't we paint the town? With all that jazz, Broadway favourite Chicago is shimmying back onto stages around Australia from late 2023. Last touring the country in 2019, the record-breaking Broadway hit is bringing a healthy dose of 1920s razzle dazzle our way again on a three-city tour — so far — debuting in Perth in November, then hitting Brisbane in January 2024 and finally heading to Melbourne next March. For musical fans in Sydney, cross your fingers that a Harbour City stop is also in the show's future. Chicago isn't any old musical — it's the longest-running American musical in Broadway and West End history, as well as the longest-running production now currently playing the former. [caption id="attachment_714916" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jeremy Daniel[/caption] So far, the original Kander & Ebb musical has reached the eyeballs of over 34-million people worldwide in 38 countries, playing more than 33,500 performances in 525-plus cities. It's also won six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy. Inspiring 2002's Renée Zellweger (Judy)- and Catherine Zeta Jones (Wednesday)-starring Academy Award-winning film of the same name, it tells the tale of Chicago housewife and nightclub dancer Roxie Hart. In the decadent 1920s, she twirls through a whirlwind of murdered lovers, jail time, fierce rivalries and tabloid sensationalism — all set to a toe-tapping soundtrack. [caption id="attachment_714915" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paul Kolnik[/caption] "Chicago has everything that people love about a Broadway musical — a story of fame, fortune and all that jazz; one show-stopping number after another; and the most amazing dancing you've ever seen. We are thrilled to bring the razzle dazzle of this New York institution back to Australia," said producers John Frost and Suzanne Jones, announcing the new Aussie run. Who'll be taking to the stage for Chicago's next local seasons — following on from acclaimed all-rounder Natalie Bassingthwaighte and musical-theatre veteran Alinta Chidzey in 2019 — is yet to be revealed. Based on a 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, the production showcases music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and choreography by Tony Award-winner Ann Reinking. CHICAGO 2023/24 AUSTRALIAN TOUR: From November 2023 — Crown Theatre, Perth From January 2024 — Lyric Theatre QPAC, Brisbane From March 2024 — Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne Chicago returns to Australia from November 2023. For pre sales from Monday, August 14, general sales from Friday, August 18, to join the waitlist or for more information, head to the production's website. Top image: Jeff Busby.
Originally a travelling pop-up store, the high-end boutique Desordre has now firmly planted its designer heels into a lovely spot in Darlinghurst's fashion hub. Although small in size, the store is full of both up-and-coming and well established Australian and international designers. Its rails are filled with eye-catching jackets, elaborate dresses, shoes and accessories, so you can kit yourself out in its cool style from head to toe. On the lookout for a particular label? You'll find the likes of Dion Lee, Hellessy, Poster Girl and Nagnata here. Images: Cassandra Hannagan
If Face to Face is anything to go by, 100 percent of psychiatrists have some serious issues of their own to resolve. In Ingmar Bergman's film, here adapted for the stage by constantly impressive young director Simon Stone, the protagonist, Jenny (Kerry Fox), is confronting a lifetime of dissociation. The only other shrink we meet (Humphrey Bower) has some intense schadenfreude, and he'll end up her doctor. Despite Jenny's life looking beyond normal, she's long papered over her sense of disconnection from her basically invisible husband, her child (Jessica Nash), the auntie (Wendy Hughes) and uncle (John Gaden) who raised her, the patients she treats (Anna Martin), and the lover she's contemplating taking (Mitchell Butel). Eventually, she'll have to confront these spectres in psychology's traditional playground: dreams. It's thrilling to see each new work Stone comes out with at this point, given his string of mature, vivacious, and influential productions from Thyestes to this year's Strange Interlude and Death of a Salesman. Face to Face was always destined to be a tough one. The film has a quality of cool reserve, keeping the characters' motivations enigmatic, but we're able to connect with Jenny through the camera's insistent close-ups. There's no such luxury in theatre, so heed is paid to theatricalising her psychological journey. Unfortunately, not enough is done, and, keeping to theme, Face to Face doesn't quite connect. The creatives make much in the program notes of having never seen the film but rather responding to the screenplay and Bergman's own perceived flaws in it. It's a deliberately myopic move that may have sabotaged some of their decisions. They achieve a beautiful effect with the staging (Nick Schlieper), creating a grandiose, fey first half that overlaps time and place to make the real world seem like a dream, and making the dreams that dominate the second half a harsh, constrictive reality that demands to be faced. At the same time, something is lost in the overly literal parade of dreams. Dreams don't usually yell and lecture; they stalk and forebode. That's assuming dreams do much meaningful at all. Face to Face is essentially outdated in that sense. The film was released in 1976, a time when it was thought that psychological issues could be traced back to underlying emotional trauma and that Freudian psychoanalysis, particularly of dreams, was the tool it took to fix it. Now our view of mental illness is permeated by more complex neurological and psychological factors. If this story has a timeless heart, it will take more dramaturgical digging to find it. Face to Face has moments of deep humour and humanity, but ultimately a build-up of little things, some slightly flat performances included, mean it doesn't quite come together. Watching it on this stage, you can't help but be reminded of last year's surprising Gross und Klein, similarly a story of alienation from a female perspective among sets that convey the spectacularly surreal. In that comparison, Face to Face is left grasping for poetry, complexity, and relatability.
The Australian Museum, a much-loved cultural institution, has introduced a one-hour tour that takes a deep dive into the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Waranara Tours are led by a member of the museum's First Nations team and take place on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11.30am and 1pm. As you traverse through the permanent exhibitions that spotlight stone fish traps and possum skin coats, seasonal calendars and hunting spears, your host will enrich the experience with personal insights and knowledge. In the First Nations languages of the Sydney region, 'waranara' means 'to seek' — which seems fitting for use in the museum, a place of scientific research and wanderings. Get up close to shields, yidakis (didjeridus) and a traditional bark canoe in the Bayala Nura: Yarning Country exhibit, while the origins and significance of songlines are mapped out for you. Then, as you flow through Garrigarrang: Sea Country, the oceanside lives of the Salt Water People — those living along Australia's coast — will be brought forth, with everything from whale ceremonies and Torres Strait dance masks to the nuances of life lived by the water explored. You can even admire hand-woven baskets, nets and traps while you learn about the sustainable nature of First Nations fishing techniques. As you explore, your guide will talk you through the knowledge systems and practices that have been used by First Nations Peoples to ensure future generations have access to a sustainable way of living. So, if you're looking for a more immersive museum trip, a Waranara Tour is the tour for you (and a great way to discover more about the rich history and thriving cultures of our First Nations Peoples). Waranara Tours take place on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, at 11.30am and 1pm. Tickets are $28 for members and $35 for non-members, with concession and child prices available too. For more information and to book your exploration, head to the website. Images: Anna Kucera
You live in Sydney, so walks on the beach probably aren't that out of the ordinary. But one that involves riding on top of a camel? Now we're talking. Oakfield Ranch runs camel rides on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekend throughout the year that start from Birubi Point, the northernmost point of Stockton Beach. No bookings are required for the standard 20-minute day rides, which cost a very reasonable $35 per person. But if you'd really like to lean into the experience, make a booking for one of the 60-minute sunset treks for $90 each. As you stroll along the water's edge with views out to the ocean on one side and the monstrous sand dunes on the other, you'll feel much further away from home than you actually are. Images: Destination NSW
In 2022, Airbnb had travellers worldwide vying for nights at the Bluey house, the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine and The Godfather mansion, plus the South Korean estate where BTS filmed In the Soop, the Sanderson sisters' Hocus Pocus cottage, Hobbiton and the Moulin Rouge! windmill, too. That's last year's batch of must-stay destinations. New year, new range of spots that you wouldn't normally get to slumber at, but can if you're lucky enough to score a reservation. And if you're keen on spending the night hearing the music of the night, you'll be excited about the accommodation platform's latest addition. If you don't know the Palais Garnier by name, that's okay — but if you've ever seen or even heard of The Phantom of the Opera, be it on the stage or screen, then you're familiar with the Parisian opera house without realising it. The theatre inspired French author Gaston Leroux's novel back in the early 20th century, after he reportedly heard rumours about the 19th century-built, 1979-seat venue. The rest is literary history, and musical history as well thanks to Andrew Lloyd Webber and company from the 1980s onwards. As an opera house, Palais Garnier doesn't usually let folks slumber overnight — whether they're wearing masks like The Phantom of the Opera's namesake or not. But for two guests, that'll change on Sunday, July 16. This'll be the first time ever that the venue has opened for a sleepover, and whoever nabs the booking will even sleep in an opera box. The theatre's largest box, aka its box of honour, is normally reserved for visiting dignitaries — but that'll mean whoever gets to stay overnight this winter, too. For the Airbnb reservation, the chamber is being turned into a bedroom, complete with heavy splashes of luxurious red and gold. Of course, actually sleeping in such rare and decadent surroundings, and soaking in Palais Garnier's splendid architecture from the best spot in the house, is just one part of the visit. Also included is a tour of the theatre's hidden areas in the Palais Garnier, which usually aren't seen by the public — such as the Opera de Paris' private archives and its famed underground lake. You'll also get a private ballet initiation with one of the company's dancers, and watch a recital by the Paris Opera Academy over champagne and hors d'oeuvres. Dinner will take place in the private Foyer de la Danse, the backstage dancing rehearsal room. Also, a tour of the private dance studios that sit beneath the building's eaves will let you scope out stunning views of the Paris skyline. Your host: Véronique Leroux, the great-granddaughter of French novelist Leroux, who is keen to "welcome 'phans' to the famous setting of his much-loved novel for a once-in-a-lifetime stay". Folks already dreaming of a night — and a Paris trip — to remember will need to get booking on Thursday, March 2 at 4am AEDT / 3am AEST / 6am NZDT. Your stay will cost you 37 euros, which is AU$57, and honours the box of honour's number. You will need to be over 18, have a verified Airbnb profile and boast a good record on the service — and getting to and from Paris is not included in the reservation, so that's at your extra expense (and you'll need to organise it). For more information about the Palais Garnier listing on Airbnb, or to apply to book at 4am AEDT / 3am AEST / 6am NZDT on Thursday, March 2, head to the Airbnb website. Images: Blue Max Media / Thibaut Chapotot.
If you thought The Soda Factory's Tuesday Dollar Dogs was generous, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Having just surpassed the 10,000 like mark on Facebook, they’re hosting an event titled 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea to show their gratitude. To be held on October 2, this nautical bash will feature a complimentary seafood smorgasbord of gourmet fish and chips, salt and pepper squid and lobster sliders. There’ll also be complimentary cocktails for the early birds who arrive between 5-7pm. Rockabilly party-starters, The Two Timin' Playboys will be taking the stage from 7pm, followed by DJs spinning tunes into the wee hours of Thursday morning. Relatively new on the scene, The Soda Factory has quickly crept up the ranks of Sydney’s hottest bars. This dimly lit industrial space slathered with 1950s charm is the brainchild of Graham Cordery of Experience Entertainment and Michael Chase. In gutting out what was formerly Tone Nightclub to make way for this hip retro hangout, Corderoy told us before opening that whilst he enjoys a quirky decor and customised cocktail, what he doesn't enjoy is having to walk out at midnight. This is evidently a criticism that has struck a chord with many Sydneysiders — at least 10,000, in fact.
In the space that an average-sized Australian home sprawls across, how many smaller houses could fit instead? This question won't just be a topic of conversation outside the National Gallery of Victoria from November 2024. Each year at the venue's Melbourne grounds on St Kilda Road, the institution unveils its annual Architecture Commission, a site-specific pop-up construction that experiments with design concepts while pondering subjects of public importance. This year's pick is a tiny house — which might sound standard, except that it's a pint-sized abode within the frame of the standard Aussie home, and the contrast between the two is obvious. Created by Melbourne-based architecture and design studio Breathe, Home Truth continues the firm's focus on sustainable architecture that'll endure and has a purpose — and, from Wednesday, November 13, it'll get NGV visitors wandering through a house-within-a-house labyrinth. First, you'll step inside the larger abode, which represents the average 236-square-metre Australian residence. Then, drawing attention to alternative modes of housing, you'll enter the smaller-scale nestled within it. [caption id="attachment_706568" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NGV International[/caption] To get from one to the other, you'll enter via the larger house's garage door, then mosey through rooms and hallways. When you reach the tinier home, you'll feel like you've hit the centre of a maze. Attendees will notice two different materials distinguishing each abode, too, with the bigger spot constructed from framing pine and the smaller house from the waste-made saveboard — offering up a comment on how homes are currently built in Australia as well. "Through its clever play on scale and materials, this thought-provoking work of architecture sparks a fascinating conversation about housing and sustainability in this country," explained NGV Director Tony Ellwood, announcing the 2024 Architecture Commission. "Home Truth speculates that overconsumption of space and materials translates into ecological and social consequences — for both us and the planet. But importantly, it offers a provocative vision of a new way of thinking about building — seeing the value of living in spaces that are of smaller scale — a vision that prioritises people and planet," added Ewan McEoin, NGV's Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture. [caption id="attachment_927585" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Installation view of the 2023 NGV Architecture Commission: (This Is) Air designed by architect Nic Brunsdon in collaboration with ENESS. (This Is) Air is on display from 23 November 2023 until June 2024 at NGV International, Melbourne. Photo: Ben Hosking.[/caption] Home Truth follows 2023's stunning pick (This is) Air, a giant inflatable sphere that breathed, as created by Australian architect Nic Brunsdon with Sky Castle, Airship Orchestra, Cupid's Koi Garden and Lost Dogs' Disco' ENESS. The 14-metre-high piece did indeed expand with air, then release it — so, yes, it inhaled and exhaled all day — to get everyone thinking about humanity's need for and relationship to air, how essential it is, how dependent we all are upon the element, how finite it is and how its quality is being impacted. In the past, NGV's Architecture Commission has also seen a colourful mini Parthenon, a bright pink pool to wade through, a bamboo garden with its own deck and an unforgettable pink carwash pop up, all as part of an initiative that started in 2015. [caption id="attachment_890113" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Temple of Boom, NGV, Michael Pham[/caption] [caption id="attachment_840624" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pond[er], NGV, Derek Swalwell[/caption] [caption id="attachment_602904" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Haven't You Always Wanted..?, Sean Fennessey[/caption] 'Home Truth' by Breathe will be on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road, Melbourne from Wednesday, November 13–April 2024 — head to the NGV website for further details. Image: Render of NGV Architecture Commission 2024 'Home Truth' by Breathe. Image courtesy of Breathe.
There's no way that Dream Scenario could've been a horror movie, even if it does hail from A24 and boast Hereditary, Midsommar and Beau Is Afraid filmmaker Ari Aster as a producer. Constantly having one particular person pop up in your head as you slumber is indeed eerie; however, when that person is the one and only Nicolas Cage, who'd be scared? Cage doesn't play himself in Dream Scenario — so, it isn't going down The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent's path — but the characters played by actors other than the Renfield, Pig, Willy's Wonderland, Face/Off, Con Air, Wild at Heart, Vampire's Kiss and Raising Arizona star do indeed keep dreaming of his likeness. And, when it won't stop happening, it earns plenty of attention in this new sci-fi comedy from Sick of Myself writer/director Kristoffer Borgli. Paul Matthews is just an average family man and college professor when Dream Scenario kicks off, as the movie's trailer shows. And, if the Cage-inhabited figure didn't start haunting everyone's sleep, that would've remained the case. When we say everyone, we mean it, with millions of folks getting acquainted with Paul when their eyes are closed — his daughter, his students, old loves and then basically the entire globe. "It was one of the best scripts I've read, quite frankly, and I think it's my best performance and probably the best movie I've ever made," said Cage about the end result. The film premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, will release in the US in November, but doesn't yet have a big-screen date Down Under. Borgli's English-language debut, Dream Scenario also stars Julianne Nicholson (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story), Michael Cera (Barbie), Tim Meadows (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson), Dylan Gelula (Loot) and Dylan Baker (Hunters). And, it's another glorious chapter in the best Hollywood guessing game there is as long as Cage keeps hopping in front of the camera, aka where will the inimitable actor show up next? Check out the trailer for Dream Scenario below: Dream Scenario releases in US cinemas on November 10, but doesn't yet have a release date Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced. Images: courtesy of A24.
Some movies sport monikers so out of sync with their contents that someone really should've had a rethink before they reached screens. Uncharted is one of them, but it was never going to switch its name. The action-adventure flick comes to cinemas following a decade and a half of trying, after the first Uncharted video game reached consoles in 2007 and the journey to turning it into a movie began the year after. Accordingly, this Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home)- and Mark Wahlberg (Joe Bell)-starring film was fated to keep its franchise's title, which references its globe-trotting, treasure hunting, dark passageway-crawling, dusty map-coveting storyline. But unexplored, unfamiliar and undiscovered, this terrain definitely isn't — as four Indiana Jones films to-date, two National Treasure flicks, three Tomb Raider movies, 80s duo Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, and theme park ride-to-screen adaptation Jungle Cruise have already demonstrated. Uncharted mightn't live up to its label, but it is something perhaps unanticipated given its lengthy production history — a past that's seen six other filmmakers set to direct it before the Zombieland movies' Ruben Fleischer actually did the honours, plenty of screenwriters come and go, and Wahlberg once floated to play the saga's hero Nathan Drake rather than the mentor role of Victor Sullivan he has now. That surprise? Uncharted is fine enough, which might be the best likely possible outcome that anyone involved could've hoped for. It's almost ridiculously generic, and it sails in the Pirates of the Caribbean flicks' slipstream as well, while also cribbing from The Mummy, Jumanji and even the Ocean's films. Indeed, it borrows from other movies as liberally as most of its characters pilfer in their daily lives, even nodding towards all things Fast and Furious. It's no worse than the most generic of its predecessors, though — which isn't the same as striking big-screen gold, but is still passable. The reasons that Uncharted just hits the barest of marks it needs to are simple and straightforward: it benefits from Holland's charms, its climax is a glorious action-film spectacle, and it doesn't ever attempt to be anything it's not (although reading a statement of intent into the latter would be being too generous). It also zips through its 116-minute running time, knowing that lingering too long in any one spot wouldn't serve it well — and it's as good as it was going to be given the evident lack of effort to be something more. While you can't make a great movie out of these very minor wins, they're all still noticeable pointers in an okay-enough direction. Getting audiences puzzling along with it, delivering narrative surprises even to viewers wholly unfamiliar with the games, asking Wahlberg to do anything more than his familiar tough-guy schtick, making the most of the bulk of its setpieces, providing the product of more than just-competent direction: alas, none of these turn out. In a film that acts as a prequel to its button-mashing counterparts, Holland plays Drake as a 20-something with brother issues, a vast knowledge of cocktail histories that's handy for his bartending gig, an obsession with 16th-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and the gold he might've hidden, and very light fingers. Nate's elder sibling dipped out of his life after the pair were caught trying to steal a Magellan map as orphanage-dwelling kids, in fact, which Sully uses to his advantage when he first crosses his path in a New York bar — and, after some convincing, Nate has soon signed up to finish the quest he's been dreaming about since childhood. Naturally, this newly formed duo aren't the only ones on the Magellan treasure's trail. The wealthy Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard) is descended from the explorer's original financiers and boasts a hefty sense of entitlement, while knife-wielding mercenary Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle, You) and enterprising fortune-hunter Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali, India Sweets and Spices) are each chasing a windfall. It's telling — and farcically blatant — that Uncharted begins with Nate hanging upside down. He's suspended from a train of freight trailing out of a plane, but the visual message is instant and obvious: yes, Holland also plays Spider-Man. Actually, the film doesn't ever ask him to stretch his talents beyond everything he's already immensely famous for, going for a 'Peter Parker, but make him a thief with a heart of gold' setup. Still, he's as entertaining and charismatic as the part demands, and lifts the routine script by The Wheel of Time's Rafe Lee Judkins and Men in Black: International duo Art Marcum and Matt Holloway purely by his presence. Holland hasn't had a great time of late beyond the Marvel web, with the also long-troubled Chaos Walking proving flat-out awful, and Cherry failing to set streaming alight; however, if Uncharted leaves a lasting imprint, it's wondering how much better its star could fare with if he had more than a by-the-numbers screenplay to work with. A worthy lead, underperforming material, a general unwillingness to take any risks: that's a problem that's plagued too many movies about too many connect-the-dots treasure hunts well before now. Thankfully, Uncharted's eagerness to just get on with its story helps significantly — breezing by rather than loitering on its chest of illogical twists and turns, and, Wahlberg aside, never giving its one-note supporting characters too much of the spotlight. Also, when that aforementioned eye-catching finale arrives and puts the whole archaeology-meets-swashbuckling idea to nice use, the picture almost justifies its existence. X doesn't ever quite mark the spot with Uncharted, and the history of bringing video games to the movies still sinks more often than it swims, but there's just enough that gleams here to be watchable. It's a film with a few shiny coins in its bag, rather than a whole bar, cavern or ship of riches.
Dust off your sombreros, amigos. The latest international excuse for a good time to reach our shores is Cinco de Mayo — a celebration of all things Mexican (which, if we’re being nit-picky, is really more of an Americanisation than anything but shh, let us party). In celebration, the folks at Corona and Beach Burrito Company Bondi are putting together a fiesta, complete with face painting by local street artists and the first ever Taco Time Trials Eating Contest. For the less competitively inclined but equally taco-happy, Cinco de Mayo falls conveniently on a Tuesday, and Beach Burrito Co’s regular $3 taco deal applies, so your pesos’ll stretch further. With what you’ve got left, you can sip salt-rimmed margaritas, down trays of tequila shots (not recommended) or share a bucket of ice-cold Coronas. And, of course, come prepared to smash and whack your way to glory, because they wouldn’t be doing Mexico right without pinatas.
When you're not watching movies and TV shows on the big screen at SXSW Sydney 2024, why not step inside a few? That's the Primeville setup, immersing attendees in pop culture-inspired spaces as folks who went to 2023's first-ever SXSW Sydney discovered. Here, Prime Video brings some of its series to life for a few days— and this year, it's doing the same with a number of flicks as well. Fancy sitting at Hannah Howard's desk or hanging out in the Flinley Craddick kitchen, complete with tiramisu to snack on? With the Australian version of The Office hitting streaming the same week that 2024's SXSW Sydney takes place, of course it's a big part of this year's Primeville — which is called Primeville Sweet Spot this time around. The full pop-up runs from Tuesday, October 15–Sunday, October 20, but making a visit on Wednesday, October 16 will mean seeing a heap of well-known faces from the shows featured, including Felicity Ward (Time Bandits), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess), Josh Thomson (Young Rock), Jonny Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows) and Zoe Terakes (Talk to Me) from the new The Office. When you're not clocking on and wondering if there's a stapler in jelly hidden somewhere, you can also visit Middle-earth, where The Forge, some costumes from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and something sweet to eat all await. Or, thanks to the guest list, you can celebrate all things Deadloch with Alicia Gardiner (The Clearing) and Nina Oyama (Utopia), and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart with Leah Purcell (High Country), too. From Paramount+, there'll be a nightclub inspired by Last King of the Cross, plus non-boozy jelly shots to sip and series star Lincoln Younes (Strife) in attendance. And, nodding to the big screen, Despicable Me 4 gets some love thanks to Minions to follow, plus banana macarons to enjoy. It Ends with Us is also scoring some affection via Lily Bloom's (Blake Lively, Deadpool & Wolverine) flower shop and hot cocoa cookies. If you've noticed that there's a dessert on offer with each space, that's because Primeville Sweet Spot is living up to its name. Entry is free no matter whether you're hitting up the rest of SXSW Sydney or not, but badge holders will get express entry. Also part of the pop-up: a reality TV-focused Hayu zone and a chillout space with a spin-to-win wheel — plus The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's Heather Gay and Whitney Rose, Captain Jason Chambers from Below Deck Down Under and cricketer Meg Lanning making appearances. Primeville Sweet Spot is popping up during SXSW Sydney at Fratelli Fresh Darling Harbour, 2/14 Darling Drive, Sydney from Tuesday, October 15–Sunday, October 20, 2024. Keep an eye on the Prime Video Facebook and Instagram pages for more details.
It has been just over six months since Amazon finally launched in Australia, promising an array of goods delivered quickly and affordably, as shipped from Melbourne. But you're probably still making purchases from the company's US and UK sites, aren't you? Given that Amazon's Aussie range and prices don't quite match its overseas counterparts, that's understandable. But, come July 1, that'll no longer be an option. In emails sent out to customers today, Amazon advised that purchases from its international platforms will no longer be shipped to Australian addresses once the new financial year hits. The new policy is the result of an upcoming change to the country's GST laws, with the standard goods and services tax of 10 percent set to be applied to all online overseas purchases. At the moment, GST only applies to transactions over $1000. "We have taken this step to provide our customers with continued access to [our] international selection and allow us to remain compliant with the law which requires us to collect and remit GST on products sold on Amazon sites that are shipped from overseas," advised Amazon in its correspondence to customers. Anyone in Australia trying to purchase from Amazon US, UK or elsewhere will have the option of buying from a new Amazon Global Store, launched today, which will apparently "provide customers with continued access to [Amazon's] international selection". Still, it won't quite be the same. The Guardian reports that the Amazon Global Store currently has around four million items, which isn't even one percent of the range available in the US. And while Amazon states that more than 60 million products are currently available on its Australian site, if you're a seasoned online shopper, you've probably come across more than a few gaps. Or, you've found the same goods on sale to Aussie customers for a much steeper price, even taking exchange rates and international shipping into account. Given that the ban applies to all Australian addresses, we're sorry to say that sneaking around the block with a VPN won't work. Using a shipping forwarding service — where orders are initially sent to an overseas address, then forwarded on to Australia (for an extra fee) — will be an option though. If you're worried that this could change online shopping in Australia, you're not alone. With the change in GST laws and Amazon's precedent, it seems inevitable that other online retailers will follow in the global retailer's footsteps.
Yeah, we're thinking he's back — John Wick, that is. Five years after Keanu Reeves introduced everyone's favourite assassin (and dog owner) to the world, and two years after the film scored its first sequel, the action-packed franchise is bringing its third instalment to the big screen in 2019. Entitled John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum and due to hit cinemas in May, the series' latest follow-up picks up where the last flick left off, aka with Wick being hunted down by his fellow killers. With a $14 million price tag on his head, plenty of hitmen and women are out to collect the bounty. And all of this because, in the first movie, he became the proud owner of an adorable pooch. As Wick notes, of course, "it wasn't just a puppy". If you're not up on your Latin, parabellum means 'prepare for war', which is just what a kick-ass Keanu looks primed to do. This time, he'll have Halle Berry in his corner — and he's not adverse to brandishing some firepower while atop a horse or mowing down his enemies while he's riding a motorbike. With this year marking two decades since The Matrix first arrived and blew movie-goers' minds, he's not against quoting one of that film's most famous lines either. Like John Wick: Chapter 2, Parabellum does re-team Reeves with Laurence Fishburne once more, so prepare for another Neo and Morpheus reunion. As for the rest of the cast, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Jason Mantzoukas all return from the previous flicks, while Anjelica Huston ranks among the new additions. Behind the lens, former Keanu stunt double turned filmmaker Chad Stahelski directs again, as he has did with the previous John Wick flicks. The film's first trailer arrived earlier this year, and now a second sneak peek has dropped. Check them both out below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU8-7BX9uxs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v2P3cpPOXY&feature=youtu.be John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 16.
The Paper Mill is a relatively new gallery, studio and zine library specialising in emerging artists who work with paper, which seems almost retro in the current digital climate. Over the next few weeks, the gallery is playing host to a collection of four young and creative Sydney kids: Sean Batchelor, Del Lumanta, Isobel Parker Philip and Daryl Prondoso. Their work features photography, drawing and sculpture, all centering around the many meanings and associations you can make with the word 'incision' — entry points, cuts, meetings of the internal and external and sites of collapse. Like a murderer or a nervous anatomy student the idea is to expose things that are hidden and concealed under the flesh, literal and metaphorical. In their works the paper replaces the body on the operating table, and it's the material itself which becomes punctured, perforated and sliced apart — it's the paper, not the skin, which is wounded. Their world is one of jagged shapes and shadows, thin and unguarded as the paper itself.
There's never been a better excuse to indulge in a hair of the dog. 4 Pines Beer, in collaboration with Surry Hills' Single Origin Roasters, have conjured up the equivalent of Up & Go for beer enthusiasts by adding banana bread and espresso butter to the brewing process. It follows in the footsteps of such notable food/beer crossovers as spreadable beer and avocado beer. They'll be launching the ultimate breakfast beer, along with their new Porky Fig creation (a beer that tastes like East Village Hotel's famous pig and fig pizza), on Thursday October 24, at 7pm, as part of Sydney Craft Beer Week. Two free public 'Beer Mimics Food' events will run simultaneously, catering to beer connoisseurs on either side of the bridge — one at the 4 Pines Brew Pub, Manly, and the other at the East Village Hotel, Balmain. So how did two such unlikely taste breakthroughs come about? In the first case, 4 Pines head brewer Andrew Tweddell, along with Single Origin's head barista, Sean McManus, and coffee buyer, Wendy de Jong, spent a day dressed in banana suits, figuring out how to blend their specialities into one flavoursome, alcoholic powerhouse. Adopting a wheat-style brewing method, they diverted from the usual grain-driven strategy by adding 16 kilograms of banana bread and a batch of carefully selected Brazilian coffee beans to the mix. In the second, it was a matter of recognising that one of Balmain's most popular dishes could translate into drinkable goodness. The Porky Fig is reputed to smell as good as it tastes. Both beers are limited edition, and following the launch events, will be stocked at the 4 Pines Brew Pub and the East Village — only until they run out.
Since launching in 2008, Airbnb has drastically changed the short-term accommodation market. Travellers can now stay somewhere other than a hotel — and find more than three million places in 65,000 cities and 191 countries around the world — while anyone with a spare room or an empty house can rent them out and make some cash. Alas, their gains can come with pain for folks living next door to an Airbnb-listed property. There's no shortage of stories about neighbours finding themselves faced with an endless stream of parties, for example. Enter Airbnb's next move, Niido. Set to open in 2018, it's a Florida complex that's designed specifically with house-sharing in mind. In partnership with property developer Newgard Development Group, Airbnb will build a 324-unit block near Disney World in Kissimmee, Florida, rent out its apartments to tenants, and allow anyone who signs a lease for a year to offer up their homes on the website for up to 180 nights each year. If residents just wish to list a single bedroom, then there's no cap. If this sounds familiar, that's because it's rather similar to plenty of concepts that already exist, including ones that Airbnb is in direct competition with. Basically, it's their version of a hotel and time-share accommodation combined. Other hotel-like touches include keyless doors, housekeeping and cleaning services, and an on-site "master host" (aka, a concierge) who checks-in visitors, helps during their stay, and can act as an intermediary between hosts and guests. Speaking to Financial Times, Newgard CEO Harvey Hernandez said that 2,000 Airbnb-branded units are planned in the next two years. Airbnb aren't the first to attempt to reinvent something that already exists — Lyft announced plans for a bus-like shuttle service earlier this year. Via Financial Times / Forbes. Image: Airbnb.
Sorry, everyone who has written and sung a catchy and funny tune over the past 15 years or so. When it comes to getting hilarious songs instantly stuck in everyone's heads, Flight of the Conchords has all other candidates beat. And, when it comes to charting the exploits of two New Zealand shepherds-turned-folk musicians trying to make it in New York, too, the cult HBO series of the same name wins hands down as well. By now, everyone in Australia is well acquainted with FOTC — and with Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie's musical and comedic genius, of course. But, in addition to letting the talented duo play fictionalised versions of themselves and belt out their very amusing ditties, this sitcom introduced us all to the wonders of Rhys Darby as the pair's over-eager manager Murray, and to Kristen Schaal as their ultra-devoted (and only) fan Mel. And the Bowie episode, where the singer appears to Bret in a dream sequence (as played by Jemaine), is simply sublime.
If you’re heading to Dan Deacon’s Sydney Festival show, don’t forget your smartphone, whatever you do. It's your key to becoming an actual, live part of his gig. Before rocking up, audience members are asked to download an app, which will enable them to play an active role in his spectacular, synchronised sound and light extravaganza. Deacon, who hails from Baltimore, will be in rare solo form and is set to deliver one of his wildest, most chaotic and most fun performances yet. Last time Deacon visited our fair city for SydFest, there were dance races through the Hyde Park Barracks and the entire audience had to run through each other's raised-arm tunnels, one pair after the other. Expect everything. Dan Deacon is one of our top ten picks of the Sydney Festival. Check out our other favourite events over here.
