A weekend getaway is always sweeter when it's a prize. This one should particularly appeal to lovers of both bourbon and honeybees. We've teamed up with the champions over at Maker's Mark and Beechworth Honey to create an exclusive Beechworth getaway. It's all in celebration of Maker's Mark's new Gold Rush cocktail: a symphony of Australian honey, fresh citrus and the bold flavours of bourbon. At first glance, one might think that there's not much in common between an American bourbon brand and an Australian beekeeping family. Scratch under the surface and you'll find they aren't so different. Two multi-generational family-run businesses with links to gold on both sides of the planet, both work with a natural product, champion craftsmanship and have a shared commitment to sustainable practices. Lucky winners of the competition will receive a two-night stay at the historic Hive Apartment located in the heart of Beechworth — the ideal hub for discovering the town's unique dining, retail and historical streetscape. The building that houses the apartment was originally built in 1865, making it one of the oldest bank buildings in Victoria. It once operated as the 'Gold Office' and stored bars of gold for the bank. Now it is a homage to a liquid gold: honey. Not only will winners stay at the Hive, but they will also take part in a unique one-on-one honey-tasting experience at the Beechworth Honey Shop where they will learn all about honey and the importance of honeybees from the staff. Plus, they will be greeted with a bespoke Gold Rush gift basket with all the ingredients they need to make the cocktail yourself: a bottle of Maker's Mark bourbon, a jar of Beechworth Honey, and a cocktail shaker. You don't even need to worry about travel costs — the prize includes travel (either flights or car hire) up to the value of $1000). [competition]898062[/competition]
Albert Tucker Slow Coffee is selling itself as the bubble bath of caffeinated experiences: clean, luxurious and not meant to be hurried. The joint venture of coffee expert Kate Britton and cultural entrepreneur Angela Bennetts, the pop-up shop will be making its debut at Redfern's 107 Projects between May 9 and 30. "We are unique, in that unlike most coffee vendors, we are serving filter coffee only," says Bennetts. “Basically, because it's a better way to taste coffee." Whereas an espresso machine tends to condense a bean's rich and varied flavours, a filter means the preservation of complexity. It is a type of pour-over coffee, entirely undeserving of the reputation American diners have given it. "In judging the quality of beans at cupping competitions, tasters will always try a filter,” says Bennetts. Having shopped around, the two coffee lovers have decided to launch their project with an exclusive blend from Engadine's Jack of Harts & Jude. "[It] is locally-sourced, organic and air-roasted," explains Bennetts. "The raw beans are sourced from the Byron hills region and are blended together with a new small-crop bean from just outside Nimbin to create the perfect filter drop." Apart from spreading the love of their filtered favourite, Bennetts and Britton are also seeking to create a "casual and communal environment". A selection of (mostly) locally and sustainably produced snacks, including artisan breads and spreads, will be on the pop-up shop menu. Plus, as the business names suggests, a distinctively Australian feel will inform the interior. "It's both a nod to our Australiana leanings and a not-too-imaginative pun on 'tuckshop'," explains Bennetts. "You could say that Tucker's renowned Antipodean Head is our unofficial mascot — he certainly looks like he chugs a lot of coffee."
When your nine-to-five plays out like a well-oiled machine, it can sometimes feel like each week is a little same-same. But Sydney is brimming with a fine bounty of things to experience and explore each and every day. So aside from casual laziness and a little lack of inspiration, there's really nothing stopping you from squeezing some adventure and spontaneity into your schedule. We've teamed up with Mazda3 to help you celebrate the little things that bring a sense of adventure to life. Shake things up, as we give you seven different detours in Sydney. From Monday to Sunday, enrich your everyday with one completely achievable cultural activity that inspires you to take the scenic route as you go about your daily routine. This week, dine in a private gallery, sketch overlooking the harbour and explore the biggest second-hand bookshop in Australia. Plus, we've got your future detours sorted for the new few weeks here. All require no more effort than a tiny break from the norm — what's your excuse for not trying them all?
Young Magic's silken, psychedelic sounds originated in New York as the sonic brainchild of Indonesian vocalist Melati Malay and Australian producer Isaac Emmanuel. They recorded their two albums, 2012's Melt and this year's Breathing Statues, while traipsing through Morocco, France, the Czech Republic and Iceland, and have performed at Austin Psych Fest, The Brooklyn Museum, and Berghain — the Berlin club capital of cool techno decadence. All of that, of course, meaning they're making good progress on their self-proclaimed status as "aspiring planet wanderers." Now, Malay and Emmanuel are bringing their sometimes lush and dreamy, sometimes explosive beats to our little corner of the planet. Take a listen to 'Fall In' or 'Holographic' to get in the heavenly, space-age mood, and pick out your most mysterious and ethereal-looking outfit. This'll be a night full of floaty dancing and wanderlust.
This moving Aboriginal story is the directorial debut feature film from Stephen Page, from the highly acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre. The theatre troupe brings their incredible dance moves to the screen in SPEAR, creating a visually stimulating and intimate piece of art. The film follows the cultural connection of the Aboriginal people, from the Australian outback to Sydney's backstreets. It’s an outright powerful film showing at Sydney’s most iconic venue — and at only $25 a ticket. Check out more of the best Sydney Festival events under $50 here. Image: Edward Mulvihill
As wonderful as Auckland is, the secret to experiencing New Zealand like a local is to head north and leave the city — a Northland road trip is an Aucklander's rite of passage. It's the best way to enjoy a patch of New Zealand that's long flown under the radar and autumn is the best time to do it. Adorned with stunning coastlines that are sensational year-round, the Far North is where you'll find an abundance of some of the nation's freshest seafood, enjoyed not too far from the source, and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where Aotearoa New Zealand as it exists today was born. [caption id="attachment_607571" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Alec McCutcheon[/caption] Eat Parua Bay Tavern She's a fair drive up to the tip of the North Island. The length of the journey gives you a decent excuse to stop for a while and enjoy a refreshment or two, served with fresh seafood and a ten out of ten ocean view. Parua Bay Tavern looks like a typical country pub, until you look out the back. An expansive deck covered in picnic tables sits before a rolling lawn that goes right down to the beautiful calm waters of Parua Bay — one of Whangarei Head's most picturesque spots. Ake Ake Vineyard Restaurant Forget to stock up on vinos for your journey north? A tad peckish from all the driving? Kill two birds with one stone at Ake Ake Vineyard Restaurant. Sit amongst the vines on a subtropical Northland night and treat yourself to an organic wine made on sight and a beautiful meal made with seasonal, local produce. You can't go wrong with the market fish or the pork belly if you're struggling to choose. Mangonui Fish Shop If you've tripped up to Northland and you didn't go to the Mangonui Fish Shop, your roadie doesn't even count. This place is a Northland institution serving fresh fish and chips right out over the water, in one of Northland's most quaint little historic towns. It's a tad expensive (we're talking $16.50 for a piece of snapper), so if you're on a budget pop down to Fresh and Tasty Takeaways. They're set in the Mangonui Pub (the northernmost pub in NZ) and serve fish almost as good as the fish shop at half the price. On the other hand, if you're not big on fish and chips, the Thai joint down the road does a top notch curry. Stay Tutukaka On the road to the Far North, a stay in one of the beautiful little beachside settlements around Whangarei is a must. Our favourite has to be Tutukaka, one of the most idyllic coastal locations in the country, complete with postcard-worthy white sand beaches, world-class diving spots and seriously good surf beaches. Take in the region's incredible views by staying at Canopy Camping Escapes, where the luxury tent set up blends creature comforts with proximity to nature. If you're after a wave make sure you head out to Sandy Bay — this spot looks like something straight out of a surf movie, and if you head up in autumn, or even late in summer, you may just get the beach all to yourself. [caption id="attachment_986117" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Camilla Rutherford[/caption] Culture Waitangi Treaty Grounds It's not an overstatement to say the Waitangi Treaty Grounds are Aotearoa New Zealand's most important historical site. It's the location where the Treaty of Waitangi, the nation's founding document, was signed all those years ago in 1840. Brush up on the history and stories of how New Zealand, as it has come to exist today, all began. [caption id="attachment_986619" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Miles Holden[/caption] Coast Puwheke Few beaches in Northland are so easy to access, yet so utterly untouched and pristine. Bring the 4x4, drive down a pothole-infested gravel road wide enough for one car and park on the dunes, or drive down the beach if you're feeling super adventurous. Climb over the rocks on the right of the beach to explore a cave that occasionally fills out with massive bats. If that's not for you, come on the right day and head to the left end of the beach — the surf's often stellar. The local secret is that if you time your trip well and head up anytime that's not high summer, you're in with a good chance of being the only one on this rugged white sand beach located along the Karikari Peninsula. Kai Iwi Lakes Just out of Dargaville you'll find a freshwater lake, surrounded by bone-white beaches and grassy campgrounds, that's truly a local secret. It's easy to spend a few days up here, barbecuing by the lake, enjoying the views over the uber-clear, light blue waters and perhaps swimming out to one of many pontoons to indulge in a bomb or two. The water is super shallow so you'll be pleasantly surprised at how warm it gets during summer. Matai Bay Surrounded by open fields, Māori land, and blooming Pōhutukawa trees, Matai Bay looks like something lifted straight off a cheesy postcard. It's a small golden sand cove, before a crystal blue harbour dotted with rocky islands. For a slice of the bay to yourself, hang a left under the boat ramp and walk to the far end of the beach. Otherwise if you're seeking a thrill, whack your way through the bush covering the hill on the right end of the beach and you'll find a stone ledge a few metres high that serves as a perfect diving board. Find your very own Aotearoa New Zealand here.
There's a certain NSW coastal town that's caught the attention of travel-deprived Aussies this spring. Maybe it's the primo surf beaches and plethora of restaurants and bars. Maybe it's the fact that both NSW and Queensland residents can currently visit without quarantining. Or maybe it's the Zac Efron sightings. Whatever the reason, Byron Bay is, more than even, the place to be. You can join the fun and visit the celebrated beachside spot for zero dollars. Yep, fashion retailer Surf Stitch and Aussie seltzer brand Delvi are giving away a luxury holiday to Byron Bay. And to enter, you just need to sling 'em your deets over here. No 25-words-or-less-answers, just your name and contact info. Pretty darn easy. If you're chosen, you'll get two return flights from anywhere in Australia, two nights of luxury accommodation, a fridge full of Delvi seltzer — because, it's set to be the summer of seltzers, after all — two $1000 Surf Stitch vouchers and an ultimate beach pack for two. A runner up prize of a 'summer worth of seltzers' will also be given out. Nothing to sniff at. Don't win and still want to visit? We've rounded up 20 of our favourite Byron Bay getaways for couples and groups. Enter the Surf Stitch x Delvi competition to win a free trip to Byron Bay here. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
Last year's inaugural Antidote, Sydney Opera House's new festival of ideas, action and change, saw an impressive lineup of LBGTQI+, Indigenous and feminist rights activists — and 20,000 balloons — fill the iconic building last year. For its second weekend-long run on September 1 and 2, the festival is bringing in a host of international heavyweights to inspire and incite positive change in this crazy messed-up world. Leading the list is investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, whose exposé on Harvey Weinstein in The New Yorker — along with The New York Times' piece — won him a Pulitzer Prize and triggered the start of last year's global #MeToo movement. He'll speak alongside WikiLeaks whistleblower, trans activist and US Senate candidate Chelsea Manning and Black Panther comic writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. These high-profile American voices will be joined by a pretty diverse list of thought-provokers, including Syrian urban planner Marwa Al-Sabouni, South African storyteller Sisonke Msimang and Liz Jackson, the founder of disability self-advocacy organisation, the Disabled List. You'll also be able to settle in for a night of queer stories with Maeve Marsden and get Benjamin Law and his mum to answer some of your most embarrassing questions. Extending its practical positioning, the festival will also feature a few workshops this time around — you'll be able to learn how to fillet a fish with Saint Peter's sustainable fishmonger Josh Niland and Kirsty Mootz will show you how to make your own organic skincare with things you find in your house. Antidote comes at a time when a lot of us are angry and anxious about what's happening in the world. Hopefully you can take away some action points — and if you don't, well, talking it out should at least prove cathartic.
Czech designer Kristyna Pojerova's latest creation ticks all the boxes - it's convenient, portable, aesthetically appealing, and it's green, too. Harmoniously combining simplicity with beauty, practicality with ethicality, her portable glasshouse is the dream of any inner-city or spatially-challenged dweller with a green thumb, finely tuned tastebuds and no backyard. It is a glass structure with four small holes for air as well as a large hole in the middle for easy access that is mounted onto a lightbulb and uses the excess heat to create a fertile and natural microclimate within it for growing herbs. Not only is it practical and eco-friendly, but it lends a homely atmosphere to your kitchen - a modern version of flowers-in-a-jam-jar-on-the-window-sill, if you will. Going to a dinner party and panicking about what to take? Why not take your portable herb garden. It's a culinary novelty and a segue into discussions regarding Eastern European design and innovation all in one. Do you often worry that your kitchen does not exude an ethos? These hanging herbs will add an element of environmental consciousness in a creative and thoughtful manner. Enraged about the recent passing of the Carbon Tax? Ensure that your electricity bills at least contribute towards your garden as well as your cravings for coriander. Utility aside, the glasshouse reminds me of designs such as these Icelandic moss rings and similar micro gardening products, which are quite beautiful, albeit ironic, in the way they try to bring us back to nature by bringing an instrumentalised microcosm of nature to us. This glasshouse has the same aroma of sweetness and nostalgia as does making your own strawberry jam from scratch, or knitting a scarf for winter. And while Pojerova states "all this is basically about making use of the otherwise useless waste heat of the (light) bulb", for all its practically and ecological benefits, this grandma element seems to me to be its true allure.
January 2014 will see Sarah Blasko embark on a short but surely sweet Heavenly Sounds tour, with the singer-songwriter choosing a restrained program of just four shows in four churches across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide. The tour will be the final round of performances celebrating her ARIA-nominated fourth studio album, I Awake. Loyal fans might have already witnessed the ideal pairing of the singer's ethereal tones and cathedral acoustics back in 2011, when her collaborative side project Seeker Lover Keeper (with Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby) launched Heavenly Sounds. Now’s your chance to settle back amongst the stained glass and enjoy a night of pure Blasko. "These will be my last shows for I Awake, and really, what better place is there to sing (apart from the shower of course) than a beautiful church?" says Blasko. "I'll be playing songs from all four albums and it's likely to be the most intimate show of mine you'll see for some time." Tour dates: SYDNEY: Wednesday 15 January, St Stephen’s Uniting Church, 197 Macquarie Street BRISBANE: Thursday 16 January, St John’s Cathedral, 373 Ann Street MELBOURNE: Wednesday 22 January, St Michael’s Uniting Church, 120 Collins Street ADELAIDE: Friday 24 January, Flinders St Baptist Church, 65 Flinders Street Tickets are $62.50 plus transaction fees and go on sale at www.ticketek.com.au at noon on Monday, 25 November. Or you can sign up for the Wednesday, 20 November, pre-sale by joining the mailing list at www.heavenlysounds.com
When you're a fan of a particular band, there are plenty of ways to show your love. Listening to their tunes, seeing them live, buying and wearing their merchandise: they're all old favourites. If you're keen on Dune Rats, you can also add drinking Dunies Lager to your list. The Brisbane musos are fond of a collaboration — already this year, they teamed up with Volley on their own line of kicks — and now they're bringing back their boozy team-up with Young Henrys. It all started back in 2017, when the brewery and the band initially joined forces on a range of cold ones. The beer in question actually arose from a pub bet about whether the group's second album, The Kids Will Know It's Bullshit, could top the ARIA charts. "We hung out with our mates Young Henrys one arvo, and it came up that we were gunning for number one when our new album dropped," the band said at the time. "The fellas said 'if you get the top spot, we'll brew you your own beer'." Now, Dune Rats are about to release their fourth album, Real Rare Whale, on Friday, July 29 — and make the rounds of the country's stages, taking their new tracks on tour. That's clearly as good a time as any to bring back Dunies Lager, with Young Henrys now selling the brew via its website, and also pouring it at the band's upcoming gigs. That means that you'll be able to knock back a few in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide between Friday, July 29–Thursday, August 4 — or whenever you like if you nab a case online. For the brew's return outing, it's still a limited-edition tipple. It's around for a good time, not a long time, basically. Dunies Lager still sports a Dune Rats-yellow design by artist Lee McConnell, of course. And as for the brew itself, it's described as a "slightly hazy, year-round smasher" that "gives a feisty first impression" but mellows "into an easy going friend that drinks for days". "After the first batch of Dunies Lager finished, there was a gaping hole left in our stomachs. We weren't sure what happened but something was missing... until now. We are so fucking stoked to announce the return of Dunies Lager," the band said. DUNE RATS 2022 AUSTRALIAN TOUR: Friday, July 29 — Soundmerch, Melbourne Saturday, July 30 — White Horse Hotel, Sydney Sunday, July 31 — Coorparoo Bowls, Brisbane Thursday, August 4 — Lions Art Factory, Adelaide Dunies Lager is available to buy at Dune Rats' 2022 gigs, and via the Young Henrys website.
Instead of shooting tequila and fighting back the tears while biting on a lemon, you might be better off using it as an alternative fuel. Originally seen as a potential saviour, crop-based biofuels are now criticised for competing for arable land, driving up grain prices and being grown in conditions that damage the environment. Agave, the plant used to make tequila, might just provide a solution. Since it grows in arid conditions, it doesn't compete for arable land and water supplies, and can adapt to future changes in the climate. Research into the energy and greenhouse cost of producing agave-derived bioethanol shows that it would be preferable to current biofuel crops, and one Australian company Ausagave is already giving it a try. So, the next time someone tries to force a tequila shot on you, you can refuse on the grounds that you'll need it for the drive home. Just don't put the salt or lemon in the tank... [via PSFK]
If you can't get enough of The Grounds of Alexandria, you can now do a workout surrounded by the venue's gardens and fairy lights. The lush eatery is hosting a series of hour-long vinyasa yoga classes throughout spring and summer. Flow through your sun salutations surrounded by lush greenery in The Grounds' garden, then end with a relaxing ten-minute meditation. After the class, you're invited to hang around (and maybe explore the Garden's immersive Nutcracker installation) and enjoy some post-flow tea. Plus, the money you spend on your ticket will not only better only your own mind, body and soul, but also go toward helping others do the same. All of the profits from the evening will go towards upcoming community programs run by Lovesweats. Yoga mats will be provided, too, so you just need to bring yourself.
Think of live music and you invariably think of one of our rich and diverse capital cities — but there's plenty going on beyond the big metropolises. From renowned multi-day festivals to the regional town that turns itself over to celebrate an enduring cultural icon once a year, there's something to tempt every music lover away from the city this autumn. Ready to reconnect with your love of music, dance under the stars in the outback and experience those heart-swelling, foot-stomping, feel-good moments that live tunes provide so well? We've teamed up with Destination NSW to pick a half-dozen events that'll satisfy your cravings for a live gig and a road trip in one go.
The Good Food & Wine Show is set to return to Sydney in June this year, promising a stacked schedule of shows with notable chefs and the chance to discover artisanal goods from over 300 producers and brands. The celeb chefs that will take the stage include Ready Steady Cook's Miguel Maestre and pastry queen Kirsten Tibballs, along with MasterChef Australia alumni Emelia Jackson, Khanh Ong and Steph de Sousa, TV personality Alastair McLeod, and Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTin Eats. Between demos and talks on the Cooking Main Stage, attendees can expand their gastronomic horizons at various other events. Explore the world of tea with tea-infused bites and cocktails at The Art of Luxury Tea with Dilmah 85 Reserve, sample elegant wines at the RIEDEL Drinks Lab and Wine Selectors Tasting Room, or visit the Singapore Airlines VIP Lounge for your choice of three meals and five wines or beers. The Good Food & Wine Show will take place from Friday, June 21–Sunday, June 23 at the ICC Sydney. General admission tickets start from $39 and are available to purchase at the website.
We all live in the moment. That's not to say we're spontaneous — few of us are that — but we don't see the many iterations of ourselves that have been and will be when we're so thoroughly immersed in the present. We can't see the loves that come and go, the failures that dissolve to nothing, the great pains that, tarnished, become part of the furniture in our cluttered personal hallways. That's what we tend to experience in the theatre, too: a single point on the chart, surveyed, studied, and mined for meaning. But perspective comes with its own truth. To have the whole of a life slapped down before us can be an innately powerful, piercing thing, and it's this that Belvoir's Strange Interlude harnesses so well. Constantly heartbreaking, relentlessly funny, and goddamn beautiful, it covers some 25 years in the life of Nina Leeds (Emily Barclay) and those close to her, starting with her bereavement, at 19, for fiance Gordon (Akos Armont), killed in war. It takes a long time for things to look up for Nina, and she begins to think happiness is just something not meant for her. She blames herself and her professorial father (Anthony Phelan) for her pointless sexual abstinence, wishing she had a baby whose face would remind her of Gordon's. Taking up a nursing position, she instead sees his visage and suffering in those of wounded soldiers and tries to give them everything she'd previously withheld. Her plummet to rock bottom is diverted by Sam (Toby Truslove), an ingenuous schmo who is utterly devoted to her, while her friends Ned (Toby Schmitz) and 'Uncle' Charles (Mitchell Butel), both in love with her in their own fashion, support the union. It's a match that, tragically, can never give Nina what she really needs and will saddle the group with devastating secrets. So far, so soap opera. But Strange Interlude has a few heavy weapons in its arsenal. The divisive classic, written by American Eugene O'Neill and first staged in 1928, has been massively reworked by writer/director Simon Stone (Thyestes, The Wild Duck) into a modern, crisply unsentimental vernacular that's believable and charming. The play is famous for its use of asides, where the characters convey their innermost thoughts to the audience, and those that have been kept in as the play was whittled down to less than two hours (the original is five — five!) are welcome intrusions that either deepen the stakes of the drama or gratifyingly flip the meaning of actions and words spoken. It's great spending any amount of time with Nina Leeds — strange, flawed, ordinary, special Nina Leeds — when she's brought to life by one of the country's best young actors. Barclay doesn't just act, she reacts, and it's mesmerising to watch. You empathise with her no matter whether she's breaking down with her whole body, betraying a strong facade with a glistening eye, or being bratty because sometimes there's those moods, too, okay? She steals every scene she's in, as she should. Thoughtful touches to the staging and costume complete the piece. Two contrasting shower scenes stand out as revealing so much about the emotional world of the people in them, while the costumes easily communicate ageing in character as university prep evolves into unironic captains' blazers and op-shop tea dresses and flats become flowing silk blouses with a sensible heel. Likely to move you to tears of several different kinds, Strange Interlude is a must-see. It's a play that says, "Don't be ridiculous; you've got years of love and heartbreak ahead of you still," and it says it both in its words and in its heart.
If 13 Rooms has left you pining for more interactive and performance art, State of the Art has you covered. What's the point of reinstalling Brecht's fourth wall in the world of art when you could instead be wandering through an inflatable gold environment, taking an active role in screen printing and live performance, creating imagery for a paste-up wall, and photo blogging? Presented by the Art Gallery of NSW, Kluster and blackandwhite creative, State of the Art invites the viewer to make his or her own mark on what's being viewed. Artists and musicians contributing to the sensory melee include Numskull, Jason Wing, Hollie Martin and Damon Williams, Urban Future Organisation, Adam Hill aka Blake Douglas, Alice Richards & Teresa Gay, Chico Monks, Oscar Wuts and The Seaport & The Airport. "The beauty of interactive art is its capacity to challenge the viewer," says State of the Art co-director Kat Hartmann. "It asks its audience for engagement and promises something richer than simple observation in return." Self-described as "someone with zero fine arts abilities — but a huge love for and interest in contemporary art", she finds that "there is something infinitely attractive about that exchange."
After headlining Splendour in the Grass earlier this year, The National are bringing their moody, Nick Cave-esque brand of indie rock back to Australia in February 2014. The tour kicks off in Adelaide before heading to Sydney (where they'll be performing on the Opera House forecourt), Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Given we're an island on the other side of the world, it took the New York-based band a while to make their way Down Under, but better late than never right? We've loved them doubly ever since. The National first came to Australia in 2008 to promote their fourth album, Boxer, before coming back in 2010 and 2011 for the Falls Festival and Harvest. They took a break for a few years before returning with their sixth album, Trouble Will Find Me, which is being hailed as their best to date. After appearances at several major festivals like Reading and Leeds and Lollapalooza, The National are fast building a reputation as a must-see live act. Fans can expect to hear some of their older songs, like 'Demons', 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' and 'Fake Empire' (which was controversially used in a Mitt Romney election video without their knowledge) as well as newer stuff from Trouble Will Find Me. https://youtube.com/watch?v=N527oBKIPMc
Sunny springtime afternoons are just around the corner, and to ring it in, Sydney's Primus Hotel has just announced it will open its luxe rooftop bar to the public. The poolside bar atop the five-star hotel has been open since 2015 — but, up until now, it has been restricted to guests. But from September 1, Level Seven will be a space for everyone to enjoy, complete with lush greenery, sophisticated styling, and some pretty stellar city views. It's the kind of urban oasis you're going to want to have on-hand over the coming warmer months, for after-work drinks in the nautical-themed cabanas, weekend cocktails by the pool, and late-night libations beneath the rows of twinkling fairy lights. The drinks list is far from basic as well; expect customised Champagne cocktails crafted on Veuve Clicquot Rich, a signature rosé spritz, and a range of cocktail popsicles befitting the breezy poolside location. A menu of casual bites by the hotel's executive chef Daniel Menzies will feature plenty of oysters to sit alongside that bubbly. You can make bookings for large groups, and sundown DJ sets will help those weekend afternoon sips glide easily into the night. Level Seven will open on level seven of the Primus Hotel, 339 Pitt Street, Sydney on Friday, September 1. For more info, visit primushotelsydney.com.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this month's latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest through to old and recent favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue in April. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL NOW DEAD RINGERS Twin gynaecologists at the top of their game. Blood-red costuming and bodily fluids. The kind of perturbing mood that seeing flesh as a source of horror does and must bring. A stunning eye for stylish yet unsettling imagery. Utterly impeccable lead casting. When 1988's Dead Ringers hit cinemas, it was with this exact combination, all in the hands of David Cronenberg following Shivers, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome and The Fly. He took inspiration from real-life siblings Stewart and Cyril Marcus, whose existence was fictionalised in 1977 novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, and turned it into something spectacularly haunting. Attempting to stitch together those parts again, this time without the Crimes of the Future filmmaker at the helm — and as a miniseries, too — on paper seems as wild a feat as some of modern medicine's biggest advancements. This time starring a phenomenal Rachel Weisz as both Beverly and Elliot Mantle, and birthed by Lady Macbeth and The Wonder screenwriter Alice Birch, Dead Ringers 2.0 is indeed an achievement. It's also another masterpiece. Playing the gender-swapped roles that Jeremy Irons (House of Gucci) inhabited so commandingly 35 years back, Weisz (Black Widow) is quiet, calm, dutiful, sensible and yearning as Beverly, then volatile, outspoken, blunt, reckless and rebellious as Elliot. Her performance as each is that distinct — that fleshed-out as well — that it leaves viewers thinking they're seeing double. Of course, technical trickery is also behind the duplicate portrayals, with directors Sean Durkin (The Nest), Karena Evans (Snowfall), Lauren Wolkstein (The Strange Ones) and Karyn Kusama's (Destroyer) behind the show's lens; however, Weisz is devastatingly convincing. Beverly is also the patient-facing doctor of the two, helping usher women into motherhood, while Elliot prefers tinkering in a state-of-the-art lab trying to push the boundaries of fertility. Still, the pair are forever together or, with unwitting patients and dates alike, swapping places and pretending to be each other. Most folks in their company don't know what hit them, which includes actor Genevieve (Britne Oldford, The Umbrella Academy), who segues from a patient to Beverly's girlfriend — and big-pharma billionaire Rebecca (Jennifer Ehle, She Said), who Dead Ringers' weird sisters court to fund their dream birthing centre. Dead Ringers streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. AUNTY DONNA'S COFFEE CAFE If comedy is all about timing, then Aunty Donna have it — not just onstage. In 2020, Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun was the hysterical sketch-comedy series that the world needed, with the six-episode show satirising sharehouse living dropping at the ideal moment. While the Australian jokesters' Netflix hit wasn't just hilarious because it arrived when everyone had been spending more time than anyone dreamed at home thanks to the early days of the pandemic, the ridiculousness it found in domesticity was as inspired as it was sidesplittingly absurd. Three years later, heading out is well and truly back, as are Aunty Donna on-screen. Their target in Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe: cafe culture, with Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane returning to make fun of one of the simplest reasons to go out that there is. Grabbing a cuppa is such an ordinary and everyday task, so much so that it was taken for granted until it was no longer an easy part of our routines. Unsurprisingly, now that caffeine fixes are back and brewing, Aunty Donna finds much to parody. With fellow group members Sam Lingham (a co-writer here), Max Miller (the show's director) and Tom Zahariou (its composer), Aunty Donna's well-known trio of faces set their new six-parter in the most obvious place they can: a Melbourne cafe called 'Morning Brown'. The track itself doesn't get a spin, however, with the show's central piece of naming is its most expected move. As demonstrated in episodes that turn the cafe into a courtroom, ponder whether Broden might still be a child and riff on Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt's 1967 disappearance, nothing else about Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe earns that description. Pinballing in any and every direction possible has always been one of the Aussie comedy troupe's biggest talents, with their latest series deeply steeped — riotously, eclectically and entertainingly, too — in that approach. Think: Richard Roxburgh (Elvis) playing Rake, even though that's not his Rake character's name; Looking for Alibrandi's Pia Miranda making tomato day jokes;. stanning Gardening Australia and skewering unreliable streaming services, complete with jokes at ABC iView's expense; and relentlessly giggling at the hospitality industry again and again. Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe streams via ABC iView. Read our full review. RYE LANE When Dom (David Jonsson, Industry) and Yas (Vivian Oparah, Then You Run) are asked how they met, they tell a tale about a karaoke performance getting an entire bar cheering. Gia (Karene Peter, Emmerdale Farm), Dom's ex, is both shocked and envious, even though she cheated on him with his primary-school best friend Eric (Benjamin Sarpong-Broni, The Secret). It's the kind of story a movie couple would love to spin — the type that tends to only happen in the movies, too. But even for Rye Lane's fictional characters, it's a piece of pure imagination. Instead, the pair meet in South London, in the toilet at an art show. He's crying in a stall, they chat awkwardly through the gender-neutral space's wall, then get introduced properly outside. It's clumsy, but they keep the conversation going even when they leave the exhibition, then find themselves doing the good ol' fashioned rom-com walk and talk, then slide in for that dinner rendezvous with the flabbergasted Gia. It's easy to think of on-screen romances gone by during British filmmaker Raine Allen-Miller's feature debut — working with a script from Bloods duo Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia — which this charming Sundance-premiering flick overtly wants viewers to. There's a helluva sight gag about Love Actually, as well as a cameo to match, and the whole meandering-and-nattering setup helped make Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight an iconic trilogy. That said, as Rye Lane spends time with shy accountant Dom, who has barely left his parents' house since the breakup, and the outgoing costume designer Yas, who has her own recent relationship troubles casting a shadow, it isn't propelled by nods and winks. Rather, it's smart and savvy in a Starstruck way about paying tribute to what's come before while wandering down its own path. The lead casting is dynamic, with Jonsson and Oparah making a duo that audiences could spend hours with, and Allen-Miller's eye as a director is playful, lively, loving and probing. Rom-coms are always about watching people fall for each other, but this one plunges viewers into its swooning couple's mindset with every visual and sensory touch it can. Rye Lane streams via Disney+. BEEF As plenty does (see also: Rye Lane above), Beef starts with two strangers meeting, but there's absolutely nothing cute about it. Sparks don't fly and hearts don't flutter; instead, this pair grinds each other's gears. In a case of deep and passionate hate at first sight, Danny Cho (Steven Yeun, Nope) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong, Paper Girls) give their respective vehicles' gearboxes a workout, in fact, after he begins to pull out of a hardware store carpark, she honks behind him, and lewd hand signals and terse words are exchanged. Food is thrown, streets are angrily raced down, gardens are ruined, accidents are barely avoided, and the name of Vin Diesel's famous car franchise springs to mind, aptly describing how bitterly these two strangers feel about each other — and how quickly. Created by Lee Sung Jin, who has It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dave and Silicon Valley on his resume before this ten-part Netflix and A24 collaboration, Beef also commences with a simple, indisputable and deeply relatable fact. Whether you're a struggling contractor hardly making ends meet, as he is, or a store-owning entrepreneur trying to secure a big deal, as she is — or, if you're both, neither or anywhere in-between — pettiness reigning supreme is basic human nature. Danny could've just let Amy beep as much as she liked, then waved, apologised and driven away. Amy could've been more courteous about sounding her horn, and afterwards. But each feels immediately slighted by the other, isn't willing to stand for such an indignity and becomes consumed by their trivial spat. Neither takes the high road, not once — and if you've ever gotten irrationally irate about a minor incident, this new standout understands. Episode by episode, it sees that annoyance fester and exasperation grow, too. Beef spends its run with two people who can't let go of their instant rage, keep trying to get the other back, get even more incensed in response, and just add more fuel to the fire again and again until their whole existence is a blaze of revenge. If you've ever taken a small thing and blown it wildly out of proportion, Beef is also on the same wavelength. And if any of the above has ever made you question your entire life — or just the daily grind of endeavouring to get by, having everything go wrong, feeling unappreciated and constantly working — Beef might just feel like it was made for you. Beef streams via Netflix. Read our full review. TOTALLY COMPLETELY FINE In Thomasin McKenzie's breakout role in 2018's deeply thoughtful and moving Leave No Trace, she played a teen being the responsible one while living off the grid with her PTSD-afflicted father. She turned in a magnificent performance in a film that also earns the same description — one of that year's best — and a portrayal that rightly ensured that more work came her way. In Totally Completely Fine, the New Zealand actor is again excellent, as she's been in Jojo Rabbit, The Justice of Bunny King, Old and Last Night in Soho in-between; however, this six-part Australian series, which makes ample use of its Sydney setting, casts McKenzie as the least responsible among her siblings. Vivian Cunningham's elder brothers John (Rowan Witt, Spreadsheet) and Hendrix (Brandon McClelland, Significant Others) are conscientious and family-focused, respectively, while she has internalised her bad decisions to the point of thinking that she ruins everything. But then her grandfather passes away when she's at a particularly low moment, wills only her his cliffside house and also leaves a note saying that she'll learn what to do with it. When Totally Completely Fine begins, Vivian is close to saying goodbye. Soon, she discovers that her inherited home is a destination for others feeling the same way. Creator Gretel Vella (a staff writer on The Great, and also a scribe on Christmas Ransom and Class of '07) doesn't shy away from a a tricky topic, as her definitely-not-totally-completely-fine protagonist becomes an unofficial counsellor to strangers — like runaway bride Amy (Contessa Treffone, Wellmania) — who step into her yard planning to commit suicide. This character-driven series doesn't ever reductively posit that only struggling people can help struggling people. Instead, it sees life's difficulties everywhere, the many ways that folks attempt to cope and don't, and the parts that others can have in that journey. McKenzie's performance is pivotal, selling the deep-seated grief that has defined Vivian's life, the chaos she's embraced as an escape, and how telling others that they have something to live for is both complicated and crucial. Totally Completely Fine streams via Stan. HUNGER Let's call it the reality TV effect: after years of culinary contests carving up prime-time television, the savage on-screen steps into the food world just keep bubbling. The Bear turned the hospitality industry into not just a tension-dripping dramedy, but one of 2022's best new shows. In cinemas, British pressure-cooker Boiling Point and the sleek and sublimely cast The Menu have tasted from the same intense plate. Now Hunger sits down at the table, giving viewers another thriller of a meal — this time focusing on a Thai noodle cook who wants to be special. When Aoy's (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, One for the Road) street-food dishes based on her Nanna's recipes get the attention of fellow chef Tone (Gunn Svasti Na Ayudhya, Tootsies & the Fake), he tells her that she needs to be plying her talents elsewhere. In fact, he works for Chef Paul (Nopachai Jayanama, Hurts Like Hell), who specialises in the type of fine-dining dishes that only the wealthiest of the wealthy can afford, and is as exacting and demanding as the most monstrous kitchen genius that fiction has ever dreamed up. There's more to making it in the restaurant trade than money, acclaim and status, just like there's more to life as well. As told with slickness and pace, even while clocking in at almost two-and-a-half hours, that's the lesson that director Sitisiri Mongkolsiri (Folklore) and screenwriter Kongdej Jaturanrasamee (Faces of Anne) serve Aoy. She's tempted by the glitz and recognition, and being steeped in a world far different from her own; however, all that gleams isn't always palatable. Plot-wise, Hunger uses familiar ingredients, but always ensures that they taste like their own dish — in no small part thanks to the excellent casting of Chuengcharoensukying as the film's conflicted but determined lead. A model also known as Aokbab, she proved a revelation in 2017's cheating heist thriller Bad Genius, and she's just as compelling here. The two movies would make a high-stakes pair for more than just their shared star, both sinking their teeth into class commentary as well. Yes, like The Menu before it, Hunger is also an eat-the-rich flick, and loves biting into social inequity as hard as it can. Hunger streams via Netflix. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK BARRY Since HBO first introduced the world to Barry Berkman, the contract killer played and co-created by Saturday Night Live great Bill Hader has wanted to be something other than a gun for hire. An ex-military sniper, he's always been skilled at his highly illicit post-service line of work; however, moving on from that past was a bubbling dream even before he found his way to a Los Angeles acting class while on a job. Barry laid bare its namesake's biggest wish in its 2018 premiere episode. Then, it kept unpacking his pursuit of a life less lethal across the show's Emmy-winning first and second seasons, plus its even-more-astounding third season in 2022. Season four, the series' final outing, is no anomaly, but it also realises that wanting to be someone different and genuinely overcoming your worst impulses aren't the same. Barry has been grappling with this fact since the beginning, of course, with the grim truth beating at the show's heart whether it's at its most darkly comedic, action-packed or dramatic — and, given that its namesake is surrounded by people who similarly yearn for an alternative to their current lot in life, yet also can't shake their most damaging behaviour, it's been doing so beyond its antihero protagonist. Are Barry, his girlfriend Sally Reid (Sarah Goldberg, The Night House), acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler, Black Adam), handler Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root, Succession) and Chechen gangster NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan, Bill & Ted Face the Music) all that different from who they were when Barry started? Have they processed their troubles? Have they stopped taking out their struggles not just on themselves, but on those around them? Hader and his fellow Barry co-creator Alec Berg (Silicon Valley, Curb Your Enthusiasm) keep asking those questions in season four to marvellous results. Barry being Barry, posing such queries and seeing its central figures for who they are is an ambitious, thrilling and risk-taking ride. When season three ended, it was with Barry behind bars, which is where he is when the show's new go-around kicks off. He isn't coping, unsurprisingly, hallucinating Sally running lines in the prison yard and rejecting a guard's attempt to tell him that he's not a bad person. With the latter, there's a moment of clarity about what he's done and who he is, but Barry's key players have rarely been that honest with themselves for long. Barry streams via Binge. Read our full review. LOVE & DEATH In the late 70s, when Texas housewife, mother of two and popular church choir singer Candy Montgomery had an affair with fellow congregation member Allan Gore, commenting about her being a scarlet woman only had one meaning. If anyone other than Elizabeth Olsen was stepping into her shoes in true-crime miniseries Love & Death, it would've remained that way, too; indeed, Jessica Biel just gave the IRL figure an on-screen portrayal in 2022 series Candy. Of course, Olsen is widely known for playing the Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as seen in WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness most recently. So, mention 'scarlet' in a line of dialogue around her, and it calls attention to how far she is away from casting spells and breaking out superhero skills. And she is, given that Montgomery keeps fascinating Hollywood (see also: 1990 TV movie A Killing in a Small Town) due to the fact that she was accused, arrested and put on trial for being an axe murderer. The victim: Betty Gore, Allan's wife, who was struck with the blade 41 times. It's with pluck and perkiness that Olsen brings Candy to the screen again, initially painting the picture of a perfect suburban wife and mum. She keeps exuding those traits when Candy decides that she'd quite fancy an extra-marital liaison with Allan (Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog) — slowly winning him over, but setting ground rules in the hope that her husband Pat (Patrick Fugit, Babylon) won't get hurt, nor Betty (Lily Rabe, Shrinking) as well. For viewers that don't know the outcome when first sitting down to the seven-episode series, that bloody end is referenced in the first instalment. With restraint, sensitivity and a suitably complicated lead performance, Love & Death then leads up to it amid local scandals over a beloved pastor (Elizabeth Marvel, Mrs Davis) leaving and being replaced (by Keir Gilchrist, Atypical). It also explores the legal proceedings that follow (with She Said's Tom Pelphrey as Candy's lawyer). Olsen is terrific whether she's in bubbly, dutiful, calculating or unsettling mode, and the show itself slides in convincingly alongside writer/producer David E Kelley's recent slate of twisty tales with Big Little Lies, The Undoing and Nine Perfect Strangers (Nicole Kidman is also an executive producer). Love & Death streams via Binge. Read our full review. THE BIG DOOR PRIZE Sometimes Apple TV+ dives into real-life crimes, as miniseries Black Bird did. Sometimes it mines the whodunnit setup for laughs, which The Afterparty winningly achieved. The family feuds of Bad Sisters, Servant's domestic horrors, Hello Tomorrow!'s retrofuturistic dream, the titular take on work-life balance in Severance — they've all presented streaming audiences with puzzles, too, because this platform's original programming loves a mystery. So, of course The Big Door Prize, the service's new dramedy, is all about asking questions from the outset. Here, no one is wondering who killed who, why a baby has been resurrected or if a situation that sounds too good to be true unsurprisingly is. Rather, in a premise isn't merely a metaphor for existential musings, they're pondering a magical machine and what it tells them about themselves. Everyone in The Big Door Prize does go down the "what does it all mean?" rabbit hole, naturally, but trying to work out why the Morpho has popped up in the small town of Deerfield, where it came from, whether it can be trusted, and if it's just a bit of fun or a modern-day clairvoyant game are pressing concerns. When the machine arrives, it literally informs residents of their true potential. Crowds flock, but not everyone is initially fascinated with the mysterious gadget. Turning 40, and marking the occasion with that many gifts from his wife Cass (Gabrielle Dennis, A Black Lady Sketch Show) and teenage daughter Trina (Djouliet Amara, Devil in Ohio), high-school history teacher Dusty Hubbard (Chris O'Dowd, Slumberland) is nonplussed. Amid riding his new scooter and wondering why he's been given a theremin, he's baffled by all the talk about the Morpho, the new reason to head to Mr Johnson's (Patrick Kerr, Search Party) store. As school principal Pat (Cocoa Brown, Never Have I Ever) embraces her inner biker because the machine said so, and charisma-dripping restaurateur Giorgio (Josh Segarra, Scream VI) revels in being told he's a superstar, Dusty claims he's happy not joining in — until he does. The Big Door Prize streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. MRS DAVIS It was back in March 2022 that the world first learned of Mrs Davis, who would star in it and which creatives were behind it. Apart from its central faith-versus-technology battle, the show's concept was kept under wraps, but the series itself was announced to the world. The key involvement of three-time GLOW Emmy-nominee Betty Gilpin, Lost and The Leftovers creator Damon Lindelof, and The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon writer and executive producer Tara Hernandez was championed, plus the fact that Black Mirror: San Junipero director Owen Harris would helm multiple episodes. Accordingly, although no one knew exactly what it was about, Mrs Davis existed months before ChatGPT was released — but this puzzle-box drama, which is equally a sci-fi thriller, zany comedy and action-adventure odyssey, now follows the artificial intelligence-driven chatbot in reaching audiences. Indeed, don't even bother trying not to think about the similarities as you're viewing this delightfully wild and gleefully ridiculous series. There's also no point dismissing any musings that slip into your head about social media, ever-present tech, digital surveillance and the many ways that algorithms dictate our lives, either. Mrs Davis accepts that such innovations are a mere fact of life in 2023, then imagines what might happen if AI promised to solve the worlds ills and make everyone's existence better and happier. It explores how users could go a-flocking, eager to obey every instruction and even sacrifice themselves to the cause. In other words, it's about ChatGPT-like technology starting a religion in everything but name. To tell that tale, it's also about nun Simone (Gilpin, Gaslit), who was raised by magicians (Love & Death's Elizabeth Marvel and Scream's David Arquette), and enjoys sabbaticals from her convent to do whatever is necessary to bring down folks who practise her parents' vocation and the show's titular technology. She also enjoys quite the literal nuptials to Jesus Christ, is divinely bestowed names to chase in her quest and has an ex-boyfriend, Wiley (Jake McDorman, Dopesick), who's a former bullrider-turned-Fight Club-style resistance leader. And, she's tasked with a mission by the algorithm itself: hunting down the Holy Grail. Mrs Davis screens in Australia via Binge. Read our full review. RECENT MOVIES FROM THE PAST FEW YEARS THAT YOU NEED TO CATCH UP WITH EMA Every project by Chilean director Pablo Larraín is always cause for excitement, and Ema, his drama about a reggaeton dancer's crumbling marriage, personal and professional curiosities, and determined quest to be a mother, rewards that enthusiasm spectacularly. It's a stunning piece of cinema, and one that stands out even among his impressive resume. He's the filmmaker behind stirring political drama No, exacting religious interrogation The Club, poetic biopic Neruda, and the astonishing Jackie and Spencer — with Natalie Portman earning an Oscar nomination for the former, and Kristen Stewart for the latter — so that's no minor feat. For the first time in his career, Larraín peers at life in his homeland today, rather than in the past. And, with his six-time cinematographer Sergio Armstrong (Tony Manero, Post Mortem), he gazes intently. Faces and bodies fill Ema's frames, a comment that's true of most movies; however, in both the probing patience it directs its protagonist's way and the fluidity of its dance sequences, this feature equally stares and surveys. Here, Larraín hones in on the dancer (Mariana Di Girólamo, La Verónica) who gives the feature its name. After adopting a child with her choreographer partner Gastón (Gael García Bernal, Werewolf by Night), something other than domestic bliss has followed. Following a traumatic incident, and the just as stressful decision to relinquish their boy back to the state's custody, Ema is not only trying but struggling to cope in the aftermath. This isn't a situation she's simply willing to accept, though. Ema, the movie, is many things — and, most potently, it's a portrait of a woman who is willing to make whatever move she needs to, both on the dance floor and in life, to rally against an unforgiving world, grasp her idea of freedom and seize exactly what she wants. Di Girólamo is magnetic, whether she's dancing against a vivid backdrop, staring pensively at the camera or being soaked in neon light, while Larraín's skill as both a visual- and emotion-driven filmmaker is never in doubt. Ema streams via SBS On Demand. Read our full review. SHE DIES TOMORROW When She Dies Tomorrow splashes Kate Lyn Sheil's face across the screen, then bathes it in neon flashes of pink, blue, red and purple, it isn't easily forgotten. It's a vivid, visceral, even psychedelic sight, which filmmaker Amy Seimetz lingers on, forcing her audience to do the same as well. Viewers aren't just soaking in trippy lights and colours, though. They're staring at the expression beneath the multi-hued glow, which seethes with harrowing levels of shock, fright, distress and anxiety. That's understandable; this is the look of someone who has just had the most unnerving realisation there is: that she is going to die tomorrow. In her second stint directing a feature after 2012's Sun Don't Shine, Pet Sematary, Lean on Pete and Alien: Covenant actor Seimetz serves up a straightforward concept that's all there in the title. Her protagonist — who is also called Amy (Swarm's Sheil) — believes that her life will end the next day, plain and simple. But it's how the on-screen Amy copes with the apocalyptic news, and how it also spreads virally from person to person, that fuels the movie. Initially, she responds by searching for urns, researching how leather jackets are made and roaming aimlessly around the new home she has recently purchased, and by brushing off her worried but sceptical friend Jane (Hacks' Jane Adams). If Amy is merely being paranoid, that persecution-driven delusion soon proves contagious, with the feature's cast also including Katie Aselton (Bombshell), Chris Messina (Air), Josh Lucas (Yellowstone), Tunde Adebimpe (Marriage Story) and Jennifer Kim (Dr Death). Among of the joys of She Dies Tomorrow is that it's never one for obvious or easy answers, or for explaining any more than it needs to. Indeed, how it morphs from exploring one woman's fears to cataloguing a shared nightmare that spreads like a pandemic is best discovered by watching; however, Seimetz crafts a gloriously smart and unsettling thriller that toys with surreal Lynchian moments yet always feels disarmingly astute. The film was made prior to COVID-19, so it pre-dates our coronavirus-afflicted world — but, as it ponders humanity's reaction to life-shattering news both on an individual and collective basis, the way that panic and doubt spreads oh-so-quickly, and how one idea can soon overtake entire communities, it's hard not to think of the real-life parallels. She Dies Tomorrow streams via Stan from Saturday, April 29. Read our full review. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2022 — plus January, February and March 2023. You can also check out our list of standout must-stream 2022 shows as well — and our best 15 new shows of last year, top 15 returning shows over the same period, 15 shows you might've missed and best 15 straight-to-streaming movies of 2022.
Many people travel overseas in order to partake in a process of self-reflection and immerse themselves in foreign cultures that will somehow alter their character when they return home. Others love to travel overseas to undergo extensive retail therapy and eat food in humourously large quantities and levels of deliciousness never experienced in Australia. After the recent explosion of interest in the In-N-Out pop-up store at Barrio Chino in Kings Cross, we decided to compile a list of businesses and brands that Australia not only wants, but needs. Let's face it - travelling across national borders to grab a burger or an item of clothing is deadset ludicrous, but we've all been tempted to do it (or actually have). Keep your fingers crossed and pray for one of these to land on our streets sometime in the near future. Muji Muji is Ikea's younger and slightly more efficient Asian brother. In compliance with everything that is produced by our beloved Japanese friends, Muji's products are focused on minimalism and practicality. They stock everything from stationary to storage units, all with a delightful simplicity that espouses neatness. Furthermore, their products are also environmentally friendly. With the company's expansion into South-East Asia, let's hope that Australia is the next stop on their global tour. Shake Shack Shake Shack describe themselves as a "modern day roadside burger stand," and we'd be delighted if one of these joints opened up on our local streets. Offering hot dogs, burgers and shakes, it's distinctly American and don't we love it. Shake Shack even have their own Shack Cam, which streams footage of their store in Madison Square Park in NYC to visitors on their website. The purpose? Allowing potential customers to check the size of the queue before heading down for lunch. Tasty and amazingly considerate. Pinkberry With the immense popularity of stores such as Wow Cow and Gelato Messina in Darlinghurst, we can only assume that Pinkberry would also draw massive crowds over on our shores. After initially opening in Los Angeles in 2005, the store has since gained an international cult following. Offering frozen yoghurt in a host of vibrant flavours with fresh fruit toppings, Pinkberry's menu would be a perfect accompaniment to sweltering summer days at any beachside suburb. Their products will have even the most dedicated and masculine carnivores digging into a wonderfully light pomegranade treat. Denny's Sydney and Brisbane are severely lacking when it comes to late night feeds, and a lot of the time the only option you'll have is a cold meat pie from the local convenience store. Enter Denny's, a restaurant which prides itself on being always open, serving meals around the clock. You'll find everything from steaks to banana splits, all at a reasonable price. This is definitely what the doctor ordered for those inevitable midnight cravings. Billionaire Boys Club/Ice Cream Pharrell Williams has not only crafted some of the most memorable beats in recent hip-hop history as a member of the Neptunes, but he has also dressed rap royalty with his BBC/Ice Cream brands, a collaboration with A Bathing Ape founder, Nigo. You may recognise some of their prints after they were bootlegged extensively at markets across the nation, but these items are of the highest calibre in streetwear. They'll cost you an arm and a leg too. However, as the recent Odd Future pop-up store and Adidas x Jeremy Scott sneaker launch have proven, Sydney definitely has its fair share of dedicated urban fashionistas. Ichiran Ichiran is for those who want a no-frills feed with no fluffing about. You order ramen noodles by filling in a questionnaire detailing exactly how you want your meal cooked. Each seat is fitted with a sensor, which allows queuing customers to know when a seat becomes available through an electronic panel. Each "table" is actually a small booth isolated from the wandering eyes of other customers. This might not be the most social eatery about, but it's ideal for those nine-to-fivers who want to get in and get out. ASOS With Zara and Topshop opening their doors to hungry audiences in Australia, there are murmurs that ASOS could be the next to follow suit. After recently launching a dedicated Australian site which includes free shipping on all orders, ASOS have a healthy following that would also transfer to any offline stores. Presenting customers with their own adequately-priced clothing line as well as premium fashion brands, news of an ASOS store anywhere in Australia may be the cause of numerous hipster heart attacks. In-N-Out Burger You guys all heard about it on Concrete Playground. Some of you may have turned up to Barrio Chino only to be told that capacity had been reached, and walked away hungry and emotionally shattered. But we can only hope that last week's In-N-Out pop-up store will be a sign of permanent residence in Australia. After successfully taking over the American West Coast, In-N-Out has gained global fame with their simple menu of undisputed classics. After living off their burgers for four days on my recent trip to Los Angeles, I can say with complete confidence that a Quarter Pounder just doesn't cut it. Legoland Lego is an integral part of everybody's childhood, and no child should be deprived of hours of countless fun building castles and all sorts of other cool stuff. But kids across the globe have been experiencing Lego on a whole new level at Legoland. These theme parks are made to appear like the rides are made out of the famous building blocks, and sections of Legoland are themed after existing Lego sets. The theme parks are owned and operated by Merlin Entertainments, a British company who recently purchased a handful of Sydney attractions and are set to open Madame Tussaud's in May. Legoland should be next on their list. H&M Over 2,300 stores and not one in Australia? I know we're tucked away at the bottom of the global map, but Australians need to be dressed too. H&M began in Sweden but has expanded exponentially across the globe, to pretty much everywhere except Down Under. Several years ago they launched a collaboration with Kylie Minogue, but the pop princess wasn't enough to entice them to open up our own store. Offering complete outfits from underpants to overcoats at reasonable prices, H&M would be a Godsend.
It's about to get a whole lot harder for any New South Wales driver to get away with using their mobile phone while driving — and it's thanks to a world-first move by the NSW Government, which is adopting speed camera-style technology to detect the illegal behaviour. After trialling the high-definition cameras during October — and spying more than 11,000 drivers using their phones, according to the ABC — the government has announced that a further test will take place from January. If proven foolproof, the technology will be implemented on a permanent basis. As first reported earlier this year, the legislation giving the tech the go-ahead was passed in NSW parliament back in May. And while the technology didn't actually exist at the time, the government put the call-out to companies who were interested in providing the technology. Three outfits took part in the first trial, with Australian company Acusensus selected for the January test run. Acusensus' cameras, which use artificial intelligence, will be placed on the M4 and Anzac Parade. They can operate in all conditions — day and night, and regardless of the weather — to detect folks using their phones while they're behind the wheel. It's hoped that using the cameras will have a huge positive impact on the number of road fatalities, much like when breath testing was introduced back in 1982 and slashed fatal accidents by almost 50 percent. While most drivers will probably see this as a cash grab, fines won't be issued during the January trial. If the cameras come into effect permanently afterwards, fully licensed drivers will be looking at a $330 fine and four demerit points if caught; however NSW Minister for Roads Melinda Pavey told The Sydney Morning Herald that money raised from the camera fines will go back into a Community Road Safety Fund. Via the ABC.
Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, Fingernails) has more meals to cook, and streaming audiences are getting more kitchen chaos to consume. In delectable if hardly surprising news — and a development worth exclaiming "yes chef!" about, obviously — TV obsession The Bear has been renewed for season three. The hit series will dish up a third serving after season one proved best new shows of 2022 and season two ranks among the best returning series of 2023. So, expect more ins and outs at the titular restaurant, formerly sandwich shop The Original Beef of Chicagoland, as Carmy and his team navigate the hospitality industry's ups and downs. Exactly when The Bear will return hasn't been revealed, and neither has the number of episodes that'll be on the plate. The show's first season spanned eight instalments, while its second featured ten. Here's hoping that whenever it drops, it arrives in Australia and New Zealand at the same time as in America — it streams via FX in the US and Disney+ Down Under — which hasn't been the case for either season one or season two. If you missed The Bear's first season, it jumped into the mayhem when Carmy took over the diner after his brother's (Jon Bernthal, We Own This City) death. Before returning home, the chef's resume featured Noma and The French Laundry, as well as awards and acclaim. In season two, Carmy worked towards turning the space into an upscale addition to his hometown's dining scene, with help from the restaurant's trusty team — including Ayo Edebiri (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) as fellow chef Sydney, plus Ebon Moss-Bachrach (No Hard Feelings) as Richie, aka Cousin, aka Carmy's brother's best friend. Also key to The Bear: truly conveying what it's like to work in the hospitality industry and weather a restaurant kitchen's non-stop pressures. In both of its seasons so far, The Bear's creator Christopher Storer (who also has Ramy, Dickinson and Bo Burnham: Make Happy on his resume) has expertly balanced drama and comedy — and, in season two, he also delivered spectacular self-contained episodes that featured everyone from Olivia Colman (Heartstopper) and Will Poulter (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) to Bob Odenkirk (Lucky Hank) and Jamie Lee Curtis (Haunted Mansion). Guest stars aside, The Bear's regular roster of talent also spans Abby Elliott (Indebted) as Carmy's sister Natalie, aka Sugar — plus Lionel Boyce (Hap and Leonard), Liza Colón-Zayas (In Treatment) and Edwin Lee Gibson (Fargo) among the other Original Beef staff. "The Bear, which wowed audiences in its first season only to achieve even greater heights in season two, has become a cultural phenomenon," said Nick Grad, President, FX Entertainment, announcing the renewal. "We're so proud to partner with Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Josh Senior and the rest of the creative team, as well as the brilliant cast led by Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. What they and the crew have done is truly remarkable, and we and our partners at Hulu and Disney+ join fans in looking forward to the next chapter in the story of The Bear." There's no trailer for season three yet, of course, but you can check out the trailer for The Bear season two below: The Bear streams Down Under via Disney+. Season three doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when one is announced. Read our review of season one and review of season two. Images: Chuck Hodes/FX.
Christmas isn't the only source of cheer in Sydney this month, especially if you like heartwarmingly endearing baby animals. After introducing the world to its new koala joey and lion cubs earlier this year, Taronga Zoo has just unveiled footage of its pygmy hippo calf, which was born at the zoo on Monday, November 22. The calf doesn't yet have a name; however, Taronga visitors will get to see her in the flesh in the coming weeks — with the adorable critter set to make her public debut just in time for the upcoming school holidays. She was born to parents Kambiri and Fergus, and marks the first calf born at the zoo in more than four years. At the moment, the calf's day involves spending time in an off-exhibit nursery den with Kambiri — suckling, getting energetic in short bursts and napping. And, learning how to navigate the water, because pygmy hippo calves aren't born knowing how to either swim or hold their breath. So, that's something that Kambiri is teaching her offspring. Once the calf masters splashing around, she'll be able to enter the public hippo exhibit, which has had its pond floor raised so it's easier for the calf to access. The new calf will call Sydney home but, in the wild, pygmy hippos are native to West Africa's forests and swamps. Only around 2000–3000 are estimated to remain outside of zoos, which makes the species endangered. And, in the wild, they only tend to come together for breeding. That's enough words about this new cutie, because we all know that you're here to get a glimpse. Check out Taronga Zoo's footage below: [video width="1080" height="1920" mp4="https://cdn.concreteplayground.com/content/uploads/2021/12/HippoAnnouncement.mp4"][/video] [video width="1080" height="1920" mp4="https://cdn.concreteplayground.com/content/uploads/2021/12/Pygmy-hippo-antics.mp4"][/video] Taronga Zoo's new pygmy hippo calf will make its public debut sometime in the coming weeks. For further information, keep an eye on the zoo's website.
For cheese fiends, there's only one suitable way to tuck into the beloved dairy product: all the time, or at least as much as possible. That's an idea that Australian cheese festival Mould not only understands but encourages, and has since 2017. In 2023, from May through to August, those cheese dreams will be continuing as well. Because you can never have too many occasions to eat cheddar, brie, camembert, raclette or whatever other cheese takes your fancy, Mould is back for another year, letting dairy lovers to explore and devour the mild, hard and soft bites that Australia's best cheese wizards have to offer. The event hails from Bruny Island Cheese Co cheesemaker Nick Haddow and the organisers of Pinot Palooza, and will hit up not just Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney but also Perth for its latest run. Running for either two or three days in each city, Mould will kick off in Brisbane in May, then head to Melbourne in early June, plus Sydney at the end of June and beginning of July. As for Perth, it's getting a Mould x Pinot Palooza combo — because cheese and wine are that fine a pairing. There won't just be a few cheeses on the menu at each stop. Usually, more than 75 artisan cheeses from around the country are ready and waiting for you to devour, spanning dairy from around 30 producers. In past years, that lineup has included Bruny Island Cheese Co, naturally, plus Grandvewe, Milawa Cheese, Yarra Valley Dairy and Stone & Crow, as well as Section 28, Red Cow Organics, Nimbin Valley Cheese, Dreaming Goat, Long Paddock Cheese and Second Mouse Cheese. Alongside unlimited tastings of Australia's best cheeses — snacking on samples and purchasing slices and slabs to take home with you — the fest features cooking demonstrations, masterclasses and talks. And it wouldn't be a cheese festival without beverages to wash it all down with, so expect a bar serving Aussie wines, whisky, vodka, gin, beer, cider, cocktails and sake, all of which match nicely to a bit of cheese. Unsurprisingly, Mould is mighty popular. In 2021, attendees tucked into a one million samples across the fest's three cities, and also took home over 3.5 tonnes of Aussie dairy products. So, if this the kind of event that your cheese dreams are made of, you'll want to nab an early-bird ticket ASAP for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane — with the Perth event not yet on sale. MOULD — A CHEESE FESTIVAL 2023 DATES: Friday, May 12–Sunday, May 14 — John Reed Pavilion, Brisbane Showgrounds, 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills Friday, June 2–Sunday, June 4 — The Timber Yard, 351 Plummer Street, Port Melbourne Friday, June 30–Saturday, July 1— Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, Sydney Friday, August 25–Sunday, August 27 — Centenary Pavilion, Claremont Showgrounds, Perth Mould — A Cheese Festival tours Australia from May. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the event's website.
Operational in New South Wales since 2017 and Queensland since 2018, container refund schemes are the waste reduction tactic that helps everyone. You get to exchange your used drink containers for shiny ten-cent pieces, and Australia in general benefits by removing bottles and cans from landfill — which is a small but worthy step towards a greener planet. Until August 23, 2020, swapping your empty drink vessels for loose change will also help another important party: Australia's bushfire-affected wildlife. In eligible states across the country — New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory — TOMRA Collection Solutions has launched Cans for Koalas, which'll direct your refund to WWF's Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund. Donating your refund to a good cause has always been an option; however, for the duration of the Cans for Koalas campaign, you can specifically direct your funds to the WWF. To do so, you'll need to head to a TOMRA recycling point, with more than 320 Return and Earn machines scattered across New South Wales and ten TOMRA recycling centres located around southeast Queensland. While Cans for Koalas' name singles out one particularly fluffy, adorable type of Aussie animal, they're not the only critters that'll benefit, with kangaroos, kookaburras, wallabies, wombats and a whole heap of other species all impacted by this summer's blazes. WWF will use your donation to provide food and water to affected animals in bushfire-impacted regions, help restore animal habitats via tree-planting projects, and support the veterinarians caring for and providing medical treatment to injured wildlife. The aim is to raise $250,000 by the end of May — a target that was not just met but more than doubled in the last big donation push, Bottles for the Bush. TOMRA Collection Solutions' Cans for Koalas campaign is running now until August 23, 2020. You can donate your empty drink containers via a TOMRA recycling machine in Sydney and Brisbane — for further information, visit the Cans for Koalas website.
Dance choreographer Rennie McDougall starts off with the jazz ballet moves of the '90s, but by the end of these 45 minutes, you won't be able to look at a grapevine the same way again. Here, the Chunky Move and Conversation Piece performer presents a dance routine that goes past the aesthetic beauty of dance to explore the human body and its capacity for individuality, impulse and error within a choreography. He has performed many times in Sydney, but yes dance is McDougall's much-anticipated choreographic debut. Yes Dance is one of our top ten picks of the Sydney Fringe. Check out the other nine.
It may be cold in Sydney right now but that's no excuse to spend evenings at home. This city is bursting with new places to be and new things to do, eat and drink: from trans-generational delights to delicacies served up by DJs. You don't even need to leave your favourite bits of home at home. We suggest taking your knitting to Grandma's or your favourite novel to the Owl House and sharing the love with the whole community. Just to make things easy, Concrete Playground has assembled all the best bits for you. Take your pick from our list of the ten best new bars and restaurants in town. 1. Grandma'sWhere: Basement, 275 Clarence St, Sydney There's no place like home. Except Grandma's. Grandma gives you a big hug, sits you down in her best, chintz-covered chair and gives you a treat. And the eponymously titled bar, the latest addition to an innocuous little office building off Clarence Street, will do all that and more. The self-described "retro-sexual haven of cosmopolitan kitsch and faded granny glamour," Grandma's is truly one of the most delightful bars that Sydney can now call it’s own. For review and details, click here. 2. Bill and Toni's Pub LifeWhere: 42 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills Pub Life is the brainchild of Jovan Curic and Daniel Gorgioski, a faithful extension of the Stanley Street la famiglia. There's something new happening here though: the vibe of a younger generation, fresh menu items and the chilled atmosphere of the Mac make Pub Life a sequel worth visiting. For review and details, click here. 3. The Owl HouseWhere: 97 Crown Street, Darlinghurst Say what you will about glorious fit outs, what makes or breaks the vibe of a bar is the barmen. These souls of hospitality, the embodiments of all the best parts of alcohol, have the power to charm, ease, surprise and delight. A case in point: the latest small bar to pop up in Darlinghurst, the Owl House. For review and details, click here. 4. The DipWhere: 55 Liverpool Street, Sydney Let's not start off on the wrong foot here. It's not that I want to label any food as 'bad' ... just different. But 'cuisine' is generally not the first word that comes to mind when I think 'American diner'. Levdawg is changing all that, and turning bad food good. Real good. For review and details, click here. 5. TimbahWhere: 375 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe It may not be the cheapest place to go for a tipple, but for a relaxed atmosphere, a guy on the piano in the corner, and a feeling of being very sophisticated for a Sunday afternoon without having to hoof it to the Eastern Suburbs, Timbah is well worth visiting. For review and details, click here. 6. The NorfolkWhere: 305 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint and some mismatched furniture can do for a courtyard. Just take the Norfolk's beer garden, for example. Since it's decidedly hip transformation, the leafy backyard has become a haven for Surry Hills locals to kick back and have a drink, and you'll be hard pressed to find a seat during the packed lunch and post-work hours. It's the jewel in this redone pub's crown. For review and details, click here. 7. El LocoWhere: 64 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills It seems like Merivale have gone a little loco lately. First the insanity of Freaky Tiki, now this: a downtrodden Surry Hills pub transformed into a Mexican cantina. El Loco is a temporary solution to the reinvention of this venue, a prequel to a fully blown Mexican restaurant. But we think the wild mishmash of this whirlwind transition is the best part about it. For review and details, click here. 8. FBi SocialWhere: 248 William Street, Woolloomooloo FBi Social, the Sydney radio station's first ever pop-up live music venue, has opened its doors, and is set to shake up Sydney's music scene. Housed on the second level of the refurbished Kings Cross Hotel, in stumbling distance of the Coca Cola sign, FBi is hoping to use the space to further their ever evolving mission of helping emerging local bands break through to larger audiences. For review and details, click here. 9. Sonoma BondiWhere: R10, 178 Campbell Parade, Bondi You’d be hard pressed these days to find a name more synonymous with good bread than Sonoma. In the wheat and yeast-sensitive, organic-obsessed age of the millennium, this humble yet rapidly expanding family-run business has found its market. What started out as a popular bread stall at Paddington Markets has lead to four Sonoma cafe openings around Sydney and, more recently, a newly opened wing on Bondi’s Campbell Parade. For review and details, click here. 10. Upstairs BeresfordWhere: 354 Bourke Street, Surry Hills Stepping into the Upstairs Beresford is like stumbling upon a secret disco inferno you weren’t quite ready for. It’s certainly a world apart from the main bar downstairs, which on a Friday night you’ll find jammed up with after-workers and glammed up 'somebodys' kicking off their weekend: a gaping maze of bars, plants, and food. Instead, pitch yourself down the alley to a discrete door. Winding dark stairs and neon orange arrows lead you up to a glowing amber pocket of glitz, the decadence of a bygone era. For review and details, click here.
If you've ever worn a little black dress, then you owe Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel a big thank you. Depending on your choice of suit, bag and perfume, you might owe her some gratitude there as well. The French designer's influence upon 20th-century fashion extends far and wide — and, even though she passed away in 1971, her imprint can be felt in the 21st century as well. So, when the NGV International sends some love her way at its next blockbuster exhibition, it'll have plenty to cover. Displaying at the St Kilda Road gallery from Sunday, December 5, 2021–Monday, April 25, 2022, Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto will arrive fresh from its current stint at Paris' Palais Galliera. Its stop in Melbourne is its first international jaunt, in fact. On show will be pieces from the French venue, as well as from the Patrimoine de Chanel, the fashion house's heritage department. More than 100 garments will grace the NGV's walls and halls, with the exhibition charting her career. You'll also be able to see what Chanel achieved with perfume, jewellery and accessory design, too. Some pieces will date back more than a century, given that the fashion icon opened her first boutique in Deauville in 1912, before making the leap to her own Parisian couture house in 1918. Expect to check out everything from black threads — obviously — to lace gowns, wool jersey and tailored tweed suits, and an array of beaded garments. As you peer at Chanel's designs, you'll see how womenswear developed, and both how and why she's left a mark that still lingers today. [caption id="attachment_819495" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Gabrielle Chanel (designer). Dress, spring–summer 1925, silk guipure lace, silk organza flower. Patrimoine de Chanel, Paris. Photo © Julien T. Hamon.[/caption] The NGV is also adding its own Chanel pieces to the exhibition, such as a white lace Evening dress that dates back to 1933, and a shirred red silk velvet and marabou-lined evening cape from around 1924–26. They'll form part of a showcase that's split into themed sections, with different parts devoted to her early work, the way her design language evolved in the 1920s and 1930s, the iconic scent that is Chanel No 5, and how the brand's pieces have favoured a look best described as "austere luxury". Also getting their own themed strands: suits, accessories and jewellery. To launch Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto, which will be ticketed — and will be the first-ever exhibition in Australia that'll solely focus on Chanel's contributions to fashion and culture — the NGV is bringing back its black-tie NGV Gala, which'll take place on Saturday, December 4. [caption id="attachment_819496" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Gabrielle Chanel, c. 1930s, photograph by André Kertész. Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine. Photo © Ministère de la Culture–Médiathèque del'architecture et du patrimoine, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais /André Kertész. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Victoria.[/caption] Announcing the exhibition, NGV Director Tony Ellwood AM said that "there is no bigger name in 20th-century fashion design than Gabrielle Chanel. Her originality, timelessness and elegance forged a radically modern vision of fashion and a singular style. Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto will be expansive, visually sumptuous and will reveal the achievements and enduring legacy of the extraordinary French fashion designer." If you decide to wear a little black dress while you're checking out all things Chanel this summer, you'll likely have plenty of company. Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto will display at the NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne from Sunday, December 5, 2021–Monday, April 25, 2022. For more information, or to buy tickets, head to the gallery's website. Top image: Anne Sainte-Marie in a Chanel suit, photograph by Henry Clarke, published in Vogue US, 1955, retouched by ARCP. ParisMusées. © Henry Clarke, ParisMusées /PalaisGalliera/ADAGP. Copyright Agency, 2021.
Step into your local arthouse theatre these days and you'd be hard pressed not to find a regional film festival going on. From established cinematic powerhouses like France, Germany and Japan, to less spotlighted industries such as Poland, Indonesia and Serbia, the sheer amount of world cinema on the cultural calendar means there's almost always an alternative to the latest blockbuster out of Hollywood. As long as you don't mind reading subtitles, that is. In 2014, the line-up is getting that little bit more crowded, with the inaugural edition of a brand new festival highlighting the films from Europe's frozen north. Covering Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the first annual Scandinavian Film Festival is set to put the kvikmynd in kvikmyndahátíð. One area where contemporary Scandinavian cinema really seems to excel is the crime genre. Case in point, the Easy Money trilogy, starring Joel 'RoboCop' Kinnaman as a uni student turned drug runner. All three films will screen at the festival — see them before the scheduled US reboot featuring Zac Efron. From across the bridge in Denmark, meanwhile, comes police thriller The Keeper of Lost Causes, one the highest grossing films at the Danish box office last year. Continuing the dramatic thread, Metalhead, out of Iceland, tells the story of a pre-teen girl who copes with her brother's accidental death by taking on his identity. Sounds a little strange, sure, but the film has drawn rave reviews on the international festival circuit and scored a record-breaking 16 nominations at Iceland's prestigious Edda Awards. Thankfully, despite the region's chilly climate, not everything on the program is so severe. Finland's August Fools is a rom-com set against a Cold War era backdrop, while opening night features the informatively titled Swedish comedy The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. For more information about the Scandinavian Film Festival, visit their website.
Following the controversial Callinan Review into the bandaid solution that is the NSW lockout laws, the State Government announced in January that selected venues would be allowed to extend their trading hours for half an hour. Tonight, that promise comes good as legendary leisure spot, The World Bar, opens for that little bit longer. Although the half-hour extension in trading hours can be seen as measly, it's a small step towards restoring Sydney's nightlife economy. Venues approved for later trading hours will have their lockout moved from 1.30am to 2am, and last drinks will be pushed back to 3.30am, instead of 3am. The relaxation of the laws is part of a two-year trial period, with The World Bar being the first venue approved to enact the new trading hours. Stonewall, The Palace Hotel, ArtHouse Hotel, and the Observer Hotel have also been approved, with no word on when they'll take the option of opening for longer, though one would imagine it would be as swiftly as humanly possible. 15 other venues are also having their applications for longer trading hours assessed at the moment. While the laws have been relaxed to a certain degree, strong efforts are still pushing for further reviews and relaxations of the controversial legislation. On Saturday, Keep Sydney Open have organised another rally in Martin Place from 12pm to protest against the unpopular and economically damaging lockout laws, after their most recent peaceful assembly was shut down by police before it even started. Image: The World Bar.
It's been less than a year since Scottish craft beer giant BrewDog made its much-anticipated Australian debut, opening the doors to its hefty Brisbane brewery DogTap last November. But already the team's looking to ramp up that local presence, announcing ambitious plans to open more flagship venues across Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney by the end of 2021. While the company's keeping hush for now on exactly where these new bars will be located, it has confirmed it's already started searching for sites between 300 and 1000 square metres, in each of the three above cities. It seems the choice to kickstart Aussie operations in the Queensland capital has proved a smart move for the brewery, especially given the extra COVID-19 fallout some other states have had to endure. "The continued success of our DogTap taproom has convinced us that the time is right to start the search and find exciting locations to join the fold," said BrewDog's Head of Australian Operations Calvin McDonald in a statement. Already operating in over 80 countries, the company plans on snapping up 25 more sites worldwide before the year's out. [caption id="attachment_751726" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pandora Photography[/caption] BrewDog's ambitious expansion plans come off the back of a few news-filled months for the brewing company. Just recently, it claimed the distinction of becoming the first carbon negative international beer brand in the world, removing twice as much carbon from the air than it emits. BrewDog plans to open more sites in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in the coming 12 months. We'll share more details as they're confirmed. Images: DogTap Brisbane by Pandora Photography
As everyone who has ever sipped an espresso martini knows, combining coffee and alcohol is a stroke of both boozy and caffeinated genius. Love a cuppa? Fond of a tipple? Then of course you like them paired together. What's not to adore? Fans of the beloved combination now have another boozy beverage to try, too, thanks to Sydney distillery Archie Rose and Melbourne coffee roasters St Ali. The duo have joined forces on a new and enticing concoction that, like its fellow blends of the caffeinated stuff and the hard stuff, is bound to give you a buzz. It's likely to earn its own obsessives as well. The end result: Blasphemy coffee whisky. It's actually a coffee whisky spirit, to be precise, and it's made from Archie Rose's single malt whisky and St Ali's Orthodox and Wide Awake coffees. Yes, as the name makes plain, the folks behind it know that it might be seen as sacrilegious by some diehard whisky and coffee aficionados. "Although strict whisky and coffee purists might consider it an abuse of both liquids, it's a pairing that when you taste it, and understand the production processes, actually makes perfect sense," says Archie Rose founder Will Edwards. Whether you're drinking it neat or in a boulevardier — as the two brands recommend — you'll also be able to taste amaretto, dark chocolate, creme caramel, roasted hazelnuts, stewed apples, plum jam and fresh berries. And no, unlike St Ali's cold brew, it isn't available in goon sacks. Instead, you'll find it in 700-millilitre bottles — which is perfect for adding it to your whisky shrine. Archie Rose and St Ali's Blasphemy coffee whisky will be available to order from Wednesday, July 28 via the Archie Rose and St Ali websites, for RRP $89.99 — and you'll be able to find it at the Archie Rose Cellar Bar, and at selected bottle shops. Images: Nikki To.
This week Art/Work has a chat with Jai Pyne, frontman of local Sydney band, The Paper Scissors. I won't bother with the talk up because I am sure you already know them, and if you don't - you should! - they have already reached Mecca in guest programming Rage, so there. Come with us as Jai takes us for a wander through his day and round his 'hood. Most days you'll find me in my kitchen. I cook as much as I can, it gets me away from the computer. There are so many virtual things in life that it's nice to get real things and combine them and eat them, for real. When I am not there I am behind my computer doing work on stuff for the band. In my day job I teach people how to make coffee, I'm a Barista trainer. I work for The Golden Cobra, which sounds like a martial arts school, but is actually a coffee roaster. I spent a long time working as a barista, but starting work at 7am very much conflicts with playing music. I'm also working at a restaurant in Surry Hills a few days a week, it's called El Capo. It's all Latin American style street food. At the moment I am working on some new songs with The Paper Scissors. In Loving Memory was made over the course of 18 months, so after purging that we have started working on new music. If money wasn't an issue I'd make more music, I'd have a better kitchen and I'd buy more clothes. Being a musician in Sydney is fun. I was tempted to say it was hard, which it is, but it's also pretty amazing. I've met lots of great people in the last 6 or so years through music, some of them I now count as my best friends, I've seen some of them succeed wildly, I've seen some of them have babies, buy houses, I play basketball with some of them, I have man dates with them, I have played music with them. Plus just being fortunate enough to be a musician is a very amazing thing, I've been able to travel, play to people that are having the time of their life because of your music, I've heard my music being blasted out of speakers, on the radio… all good things. I wish that there were more people with heaps of money that would open venues in Sydney, but hey, money is an issue. My neighbourhood is great. I live of the South end of King Street in Newtown. I've been here for 4 years. I think Newtown has its crap bits, lots of shit Thai restaurants, shit cafes, but I still love this end of town. There are heaps of cool little shops and random oddities, I love the Fiji Market - spices, coconuts, any random ingredient you need, and Pete's Musicians Market is always good for a browse. It's hard to find a good coffee but Addison Road and thus Alchemy is nearby which is some of the best coffee in Sydney. I like the fact that Newtown is at the edge of the inner city, so you can go to Marrickville, or Dulwich Hill or other spots that are a bit more removed from the upwardly-mobile-elite in the inner city and you get to see real people that have lived there for ever and will sell you olives or Portuguese custard tarts, or charcoal chicken or obscure Spanish beers. My favourite spot in Sydney is by the water. I grew up in Sydney and have lived everywhere from here to Bondi to Balmain, my parents and I moved almost yearly when I was a kid. I really like the cliffs at Coogee, the south end, I just like feeling like you are at the end of the earth although you are in a massive city. https://youtube.com/watch?v=H5EqYCBq0E4
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures and plenty of people staying home in iso will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you've been under the weather. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are 13 that you can watch right now at home. CRIMES OF THE FUTURE It takes a brave filmmaker to see cancer and climate change, and think of art, evolution and eroticism in a possible future. It takes a bold director to have a character proclaim that "surgery is the new sex", too. David Cronenberg has always been that kind of visionary, even before doing all of the above in his sublime latest release — and having the Scanners, Videodrome and The Fly helmer back on his body-horror bent for the first time in more than two decades is exactly the wild and weird dream that cinephiles want it to be. The Canadian auteur makes his first movie at all since 2014's Maps to the Stars, in fact, and this tale of pleasure and pain is as Cronenbergian as anything can be. He borrows Crimes of the Future's title from his second-ever feature dating back 50-plus years, brings all of his corporeal fascinations to the fore, and moulds a viscerally and cerebrally mesmerising film that it feels like he's always been working towards. Long live the new flesh, again. Long live the old Cronenberg as well. In this portrait of a potential time to come, the human body has undergone two significant changes. Three, perhaps, as glimpsed in a disquieting opening where an eight-year-old called Brecken (debutant Sotiris Siozos) snacks on a plastic bin, and is then murdered by his mother Djuna (Lihi Kornowski, Ballistic). That incident isn't unimportant, but Crimes of the Future has other departures from today's status quo to carve into — and they're equally absorbing. Physical agony has disappeared, creating a trade in "desktop surgery" as performance art. Also, a condition dubbed Accelerated Evolution Syndrome causes some folks, such as artist Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen, Thirteen Lives), to grow abnormal organs. These tumours are removed and tattooed in avant-garde shows by his doctor/lover Caprice (Léa Seydoux, No Time to Die), then catalogued by the National Organ Register's Wippit (Don McKellar, reteaming with Cronenberg after eXistenZ) and Timlin (Kristen Stewart, Spencer). Crimes of the Future is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. NOPE Kudos to Jordan Peele for giving his third feature as a writer/director a haters-gonna-hate-hate-hate name: for anyone unimpressed with Nope, the response is right there. Kudos, too, to the Get Out and Us filmmaker for making his third bold, intelligent and supremely entertaining horror movie in a row — a reach-for-the-skies masterpiece that's ambitious and eerie, imaginative and expertly crafted, as savvy about cinema as it is about spectacle, and inspires the exact opposite term to its moniker. Reteaming with Peele after nabbing an Oscar nomination for Get Out, Daniel Kaluuya utters the titular word more than once in Nope. Exclaiming "yep" in your head each time he does is an instant reaction. Everything about the film evokes that same thrilled endorsement, but it comes particularly easily whenever Kaluuya's character surveys the wild and weird events around him. We say yay to his nays because we know we'd respond the same way if confronted by even half the chaos that Peele whooshes through the movie. As played with near-silent weariness by the always-excellent Judas and the Black Messiah Oscar-winner, Haywood's Hollywood Horses trainer OJ doesn't just dismiss the strange thing in the heavens, though. He can't, even if he doesn't realise the full extent of what's happening when his father (Keith David, Love Life) suddenly slumps on his steed on an otherwise ordinary day. Six months later, OJ and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer, Lightyear) are trying to keep the family business, which dates back to the 1800s, running. The presence lurking above the Haywoods' Agua Dulce property soon requires just as much attention, though. Just as Get Out saw Peele reinterrogate the possession movie and Us did the same with doppelgängers, Nope goes all in on flying saucers. So, Emerald wants the kind of proof that only video footage can offer. She wants her "Oprah shot", as well as a hefty payday. Soon, the brother-sister duo are buying new surveillance equipment — which piques the interest of UFO-obsessed electronics salesman Angel Torres (Brandon Perea, The OA) — and also enlisting renowned cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott, Veni Vidi Vici) to capture the lucrative image. Nope is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE BLACK PHONE The Black Phone didn't need to star Ethan Hawke. In a way, it doesn't really. Fresh from Moon Knight and The Northman, Hawke is definitely in this unsettling 1978-set horror film. He's also exceptional in it. But, his top billing springs from his name recognition and acting-veteran status rather than his screen time. Instead, superb up-and-comer Mason Thames gets the bulk of the camera's attention in his first feature role. After him, equally outstanding young talent Madeleine McGraw (Ant-Man and The Wasp) comes next. They spend most of their time worrying about, hearing rumours of, hiding from, battling and/or trying to track down a mask-wearing, van-driving, child-snatching villain — the role that Hawke plays in a firmly supporting part, almost always beneath an eerie disguise. Visibly at least, anyone could've donned the same apparel and proven an on-screen source of menace. There's a difference between popping something creepy over your face and actually being creepy, though. Scary masks can do a lot of heavy lifting, but they're also just a made-to-frighten facade. Accordingly, when it comes to being truly petrifying, Hawke undoubtedly makes The Black Phone. He doesn't literally; his Sinister director Scott Derrickson helms, and also co-wrote the script with that fellow horror flick's C Robert Cargill, adapting a short story by Stephen King's son Joe Hill — and the five-decades-back look and feel, complete with amber and grey hues, plus a nerve-rattling score, are all suitably disquieting stylistic touches. But as the movie's nefarious attacker, who has been terrorising north Denver's suburban streets and soon has 13-year-old Finney Blake (Thames) in his sights, Hawke is unnervingly excellent, and also almost preternaturally unnerving in every moment. Whenever he opens his mouth, his voice couldn't echo from anyone else; however, it's the nervy, ominous and bone-weary physicality that he brings to the character that couldn't be more pitch-perfect. The Black Phone is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. OFFICIAL COMPETITION Every actor has one, albeit in various shades, lengths and textures, but sometimes one single hairstyle says everything about a film. Wildly careening in whichever direction it seems to feel like at any point, yet also strikingly sculptural, the towering reddish stack of curly locks atop Penélope Cruz's head in Official Competition is one such statement-making coiffure. It's a stunning sight, with full credit to the movie's hairstylists. These tremendous tresses are both unruly and immaculate; they draw the eye in immediately, demanding the utmost attention. And, yes, Cruz's crowning glory shares those traits with this delightful Spanish Argentine farce about filmmaking — a picture directed and co-written by Mariano Cohn and Gastуn Duprat (The Distinguished Citizen), and also starring Antonio Banderas (Uncharted) and Oscar Martínez (Wild Tales), that it's simply impossible to look away from. Phenomenal hair is just the beginning for Cruz here. Playing filmmaker Lola Cuevas — a Palme d'Or-winning arthouse darling helming an ego-stroking prestige picture for rich octogenarian businessman Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez, Truman) — she's downright exceptional as well. Humberto decides to throw some cash into making a movie in the hope of leaving a legacy that lasts, and enlisting Lola to work her magic with a Nobel Prize-winning novel called Rivalry is quite the coup. So is securing the talents of flashy global star Félix Rivero (Banderas) and serious theatre actor Iván Torres (Martínez), a chalk-and-cheese pair who'll work together for the first time, stepping into the shoes of feuding brothers. But before the feature can cement its backer's name in history, its three key creatives have to survive an exacting rehearsal process. Lola believes in rigorous preparation, and in testing and stretching her leading men, with each technique she springs on them more outlandish and stressful than the last. Official Competition is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING No one should need to cleanse their palates between Mad Max movies — well, maybe after Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, depending on your mileage with it — but if anyone does, George Miller shouldn't be one of them. The Australian auteur gifted the world the hit dystopian franchise, has helmed and penned each and every chapter, and made Mad Max: Fury Road an astonishing piece of cinema that's one of the very best in every filmic category that applies. Still, between that kinetic, frenetic, rightly Oscar-winning movie and upcoming prequel Furiosa, Miller has opted to swish around romantic fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing. He does love heightened drama and also myths, including in the series he's synonymous with. He adores chronicling yearnings and hearts' desires, too, whether surveying vengeance and survival, the motivations behind farm animals gone a-wandering in Babe: Pig in the City, the dreams of dancing penguins in Happy Feet, or love, happiness and connection here. In other words, although adapted from AS Byatt's short story The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, Three Thousand Years of Longing is unshakeably and inescapably a Miller movie — and it's as alive with his flair for the fantastical as most of his resume. It's a wonder for a range of reasons, one of which is simple: the last time that the writer/director made a movie that didn't connect to the Mad Max, Babe or Happy Feet franchises was three decades back. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that this tale about a narratologist (Tilda Swinton, Memoria) and the Djinn (Idris Elba, Beast) she uncorks from a bottle, and the chats they have about their histories as the latter tries to ensure the former makes her three wishes to truly set him free, is told with playfulness, inventiveness, flamboyance and a deep heart. Much of Miller's filmography is, but there's a sense with Three Thousand Years of Longing that he's been released, too — even if he loves his usual confines, as audiences do as well. Three Thousand Years of Longing is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BULLET TRAIN Buy the ticket, take the ride, strap in for an onslaught of frenetic locomotive-bound fights: that's high-octane action-comedy Bullet Train on- and off-screen. Set on a shinkansen hurtling from Tokyo to Kyoto, in as stylised a vision of Japan that anyone not named Quentin Tarantino has ever thought of, this neon-lit adaptation of Kōtarō Isaka's 2010 page-turner Maria Beetle couldn't be more onboard with its central concept. That premise isn't snakes on a plane, but rather assassins on a train — plus one snake, one of nature's hitmen, actually. Cramming all those killers onto a single engine sparks mayhem, banter and bodies, not to mention chaotic frays in the quiet car and almost every other space. And when it works, with John Wick and Atomic Blonde's David Leitch steering the show, Tarantino and Guy Ritchie alum Brad Pitt as his main passenger, and a lifetime's worth of references to Thomas the Tank Engine slotted in, Bullet Train is as OTT and entertaining as it overtly wants to be. It doesn't always completely work, however; every journey, zipping along on a high-speed train or not, has its dips. Still, there are plenty of moving parts trying to keep the movie in motion — and plenty of plot, for better and for worse in both instances. In his second 2022 action-comedy after The Lost City, Pitt plays Ladybug, who is back riding the hired-gun rails after a zen break packed with new-age self-help platitudes. That's what he spouts to his handler (Sandra Bullock, The Unforgivable) by phone, in-between rueing his bad luck, as he tries to carry out what's supposed to be an easy job. All that Ladybug needs to do is take a briefcase, then disembark at the next station. But that piece of luggage is being transported by British assassin double-act Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, The King's Man) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry, Atlanta), as they escort a Russian mobster's son (Logan Lerman, Hunters) home. To up the hitman ante, the shinkansen is also carrying The Prince (Joey King, The Princess) and Kimura (Andrew Koji, Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins), who have their own beef, as well as the revenge-seeking Wolf (Benito A Martínez Ocasio aka Bad Bunny, Fast and Furious 9). Bullet Train is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BEAST Idris Elba fights a lion. That's it, that's Beast, as far as film pitches go at least. This South Africa-set thriller's one-sentence summary is up there with 'Jason Statham battles a giant shark' and 'Liam Neeson stares down wolves' — straightforward and irresistible, obviously, in enticing audiences into cinemas. That said, the latest addition to the animals-attack genre isn't as ridiculous as The Meg, and isn't a resonant existential musing like The Grey. What this creature feature wants to be, and is, is a lean, edge-of-your-seat, humanity-versus-nature nerve-shredder. Director Baltasar Kormákur (Adrift) knows that a famous face, a relentless critter as a foe, and life-or-death terror aplenty can be the stuff that cinema dreams and hits are made of. His movie isn't completely the former, but it does do exactly what it promises. If it proves a box office success, it'll be because it dangles an easy drawcard and delivers it. There is slightly more to Beast than Idris Elba brawling with the king of the jungle, of course — or running from it, trying to hide from it in a jeep, attempting to outsmart it and praying it'll tire of seeing him as prey. But this tussle with an apex predator is firmly at its best when it really is that simple, that primal and, with no qualms about gore and jump scares, that visceral. Elba (The Harder They Fall) plays recently widowed American doctor Nate Samuels, who is meant to be relaxing, reconnecting with his teenage daughters Mare (Iyana Halley, Licorice Pizza) and Norah (Leah Jeffries, Rel), and finding solace in a pilgrimage to his wife's homeland. But Beast wouldn't be called Beast if the Samuels crew's time with old family friend Martin (Sharlto Copley, Russian Doll), a wildlife biologist who oversees the nature reserve, was all placid safaris and sunsets. Beast is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER What do you call a movie filled with giant screaming goats, magic weapons vying for attention like romantic rivals, a naked Chris Hemsworth and a phenomenally creepy Christian Bale? Oh, and with no fewer than four Guns N' Roses needle drops, 80s nostalgia in droves, and a case of tonal whiplash as big as the God of Thunder's biceps? You call it Thor: Love and Thunder, and also a mixed bag. The fourth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to focus on the now 29-title saga's favourite space Viking, and the second Thor flick directed by Taika Waititi after Thor: Ragnarok, it welcomely boasts the New Zealand filmmaker's playful and irreverent sense of humour — and the dead-serious days of the series-within-a-series' first two outings, 2011's Thor and 2013's Thor: The Dark World, have definitely been banished. But Love and Thunder is equally mischievous and jumbled. It's chaotic in both fun and messy ways. Out in the cosmos, no one can swim, but movies about galaxy-saving superheroes can tread water. Thor Odinson (Hemsworth, Spiderhead) has been doing a bit of that himself — not literally, but emotionally and professionally. Narrated in a storybook fashion by rock alien Korg (also Waititi, Lightyear), Love and Thunder first fills in the gaps since the last time the Asgardian deity graced screens in Avengers: Endgame. Ditching his dad bod for his ultra-buff god bod earns a mention. So does biding his time with the Guardians of the Galaxy crew (with Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper and company popping up briefly). Then, a distress call from an old friend gives Thor a new purpose. Fellow warrior Sif (Jaimie Alexander, Last Seen Alive) has been fighting galactic killer Gorr the God Butcher (Bale, Ford v Ferrari), who's on a mission to do exactly what his name promises due to a crisis of faith — which puts not only Thor himself but also New Asgard, the Norwegian village populated by survivors from his home planet, at grave risk. It also puts Thor on a collision course with his ex-flame Dr Jane Foster (Natalie Portman, Vox Lux), who's changed dramatically since last they crossed paths. Thor: Love and Thunder is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. ORPHAN: FIRST KILL What's more believable — and plot twists follow: a pre-teen playing a 33-year-old woman pretending to be a nine-year-old orphan, with a hormone disorder explaining the character's eerily youthful appearance; or an adult playing a 31-year-old woman pretending to be a lost child returned at age nine, again with that medical condition making everyone else oblivious? For viewers of 2009's Orphan and its 13-years-later follow-up Orphan: First Kill, which is a prequel, neither are particularly credible to witness. But the first film delivered its age trickery as an off-kilter final-act reveal, as paired with a phenomenal performance by then 12-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman in the pivotal role. Audiences bought the big shift — or remembered it, at least — because Fuhrman was so creepy and so committed to the bit, and because it suited the OTT horror-thriller. This time, that wild revelation is old news, but that doesn't stop Orphan: First Kill from leaning on the same two key pillars: an out-there turn of events and fervent portrayals. Yes, a big twist is again one of the movie's best elements. Fuhrman (The Novice) returns as Esther, the Estonian adult who posed as a parentless Russian girl in the initial feature. In Orphan: First Kill, she's introduced as Leena Klammer, the most dangerous resident at the Saarne Institute mental hospital. The prequel's first sighted kill comes early, as a means of escape. The second follows swiftly, because the film needs to get its central figure to the US. Fans of the previous picture will recall that Esther already had a troubled history when she was adopted and started wreaking the movie's main havoc, involving the family that brought her to America — and her time with that brood, aka wealthy Connecticut-based artist Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland, Possessor), his gala-hosting wife Tricia (Julia Stiles, Hustlers) and their teen son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan, My Fake Boyfriend), is filmmaker William Brent Bell (The Boy and Brahms: The Boy II) and screenwriter David Coggeshall's (Scream: The TV Series) new focus. Orphan: First Kill is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE FORGIVEN Patience is somewhat of a virtue with The Forgiven. It would be in it, too, if any of its wealthy white characters hedonistically holidaying in Morocco were willing to display the trait for even a second. Another addition to the getaways-gone-wrong genre, this thorny satirical drama gleefully savages the well-to-do, proving as eager to eat the rich as can be, and also lays bare the despicable coveting of exoticism that the moneyed think is an acceptable way to splash plentiful wads of cash. There's patently plenty going on in this latest release from writer/director John Michael McDonagh, as there typically is in features by the filmmaker behind The Guard, Calvary and War on Everyone. Here, he adapts Lawrence Osborne's 2012 novel, but the movie that results takes time to build and cohere, and even then seems only partially interested in both. Still, that patience is rewarded by The Forgiven's stellar lead performance by Ralph Fiennes, playing one of his most entitled and repugnant characters yet. Sympathies aren't meant to flow David Henninger's (Fiennes, The King's Man) way, or towards his wife Jo (Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye). Together, the spiky Londoners abroad bicker like it's a sport — and the only thing fuelling their marriage. Cruelty taints their words: "why am I thinking harpy?", "why am I thinking shrill?" are among his, while she counters "why am I thinking high-functioning alcoholic?". He's a drunken surgeon, she's a bored children's author, and they're venturing past the Atlas Mountains to frolic in debauchery at the village their decadent pal Richard (Matt Smith, Morbius) and his own barbed American spouse Dally (Caleb Landry Jones, Nitram) have turned into a holiday home. Sympathy isn't designed to head that pair's way, either; "we couldn't have done it without our little Moroccan friends," Richard announces to kick off their weekend-long housewarming party. But when the Hennigers arrive late after tragically hitting a local boy, Driss (Omar Ghazaoui, American Odyssey), en route, the mood shifts — but also doesn't. The Forgiven is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING Timing is everything in Where the Crawdads Sing, the murder-mystery melodrama set in America's Deep South that raced up bestseller lists in 2018, and now reaches cinemas a mere four years later. Its entire narrative hinges upon a simple question: did North Carolina outcast and recluse Kya Clark (Daisy Edgar-Jones, Fresh), cruelly nicknamed "the marsh girl" by locals, have time to speed home from an out-of-town stay to push star quarterback Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson, The King's Man) from a fire tower, then resume her trip without anyone noticing? On the page, that query helped propel Delia Owens' literary sensation to success, to Reese Witherspoon's book club — she's a producer here — and to a swift film adaptation. But no timing would likely have ever been right for the movie's release, given that Owens and her husband are wanted for questioning in a real-life murder case in Zambia. Unlike the film, those off-screen details aren't new, but they were always bound to attract attention again as soon as this feature arrived. One of the reasons they're inescapable: the purposeful parallels between Owens' debut novel and her existence. Like Kya, Owens is a naturalist. The also southern-born author spent years preferring the company of plants and animals, crusading for conservation causes in Africa. Where the Crawdads Sing is timed to coincide with Owens' own life as well; it's set in the 50s and 60s and, as a child (played by Jojo Regina, The Chosen) and a teenager, Kya is around the same age that Owens would've been then. Another reason that the ways that art might link with reality can't be shaken, lingering like a sultry, squelchy day: what ends up on-screen is as poised, pristine and polished as a swampy southern gothic tale can be, and anyone in one. There's still a scandal, but forget dirt, sweat and anything but lush, vivid wilderness courtesy of filmmaker Olivia Newman (First Match), plus a rustic hut that wouldn't look out of place on Airbnb. Where the Crawdads Sing is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MURDER PARTY If Amelie and Knives Out combined, the end result would look like Murder Party. If Wes Anderson and Agatha Christie joined forces, the outcome would be the same. It's highly unlikely that first-time feature writer/director Nicolas Pleskof and his co-scribe Elsa Marpeau (Prof T) were ever going to call this feature Murder in the Game-Filled Mansion or Death While Rolling the Dice, but that's the overwhelming vibe. There's an escape room element, too — thankfully, though, nodding towards the Escape Room franchise isn't on the agenda. Murder Party's characters get stuck in intricately designed locked spaces and forced to piece together clues to secure their freedom, and are only permitted to remain breathing by keeping their wits about them, but no one's in a horror movie here. The feature starts with a killer setup: an eccentric crew of relatives, their brightly hued home on a sprawling country estate, an usual task given to a newcomer and, naturally, a sudden passing. Architect Jeanne Chardon-Spitzer (Alice Pol, Labor Day) is asked to pitch a big renovation project to the Daguerre family, transforming their impressive abode so that living there always feels like playing a game (or several). Patriarch César (Eddy Mitchell, The Middleman) already encourages his brood to enjoy their daily existence with that in mind anyway, including dedicating entire days to letting loose and walking, talking and breathing gameplay. But he's looking for a particularly bold next step. He's unimpressed by Jeanne's routine proposal, in fact. Then he drops dead, the property's doors slam shut and a voice over the intercom tells the architect, plus everyone else onsite, to undertake a series of challenges to ascertain the culprit among them — or be murdered themselves. Murder Party is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN If The Phantom of the Open was part of a game of golf, rather than a movie about the club-flinging, ball-hitting, bunker-avoiding sport, it wouldn't be a hole in one. It couldn't be; perfection doesn't suit the story that director Craig Roberts (Eternal Beauty) and screenwriter Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2) are telling, which is as real and as shaggy — as so-strange-it-can-only-be-true, too — as they can possibly come. That other key factor in spiriting dimpled orbs from the tee to the cup in a single stroke, aka luck, is definitely pertinent to this feel-good, crowd-pleasing, happily whimsical British comedy, however. Plenty of it helped Maurice Flitcroft, the man at its centre, as he managed to enter the 1976 British Open despite never having set foot on a course or played a full round of golf before. It isn't quite good fortune that makes this high-spirited movie about him work, of course, but it always feels like a feature that might've ended up in the cinematic long grass if it wasn't so warmly pieced together. When Maurice (Mark Rylance, Don't Look Up) debuts on the green at the high-profile Open Championship, it doesn't take long for gap between his skills and the professionals he's playing with to stand out. In the words of The Dude from The Big Lebowski, obviously he's not a golfer — although what makes a golfer, and whether any sport should be the domain of well-to-do gatekeepers who reserve large swathes of land for the use of the privileged few, falls into The Phantom of the Open's view. So does a breezily formulaic yet drawn-from-fact account of a man who was born in Manchester, later settled in the port town of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria and spent much of his life as a shipyard crane operator, providing for his wife Jean (Sally Hawkins, Spencer), her son Michael (Jake Davies, Artemis Fowl), and the pair's twins Gene (Christian Lees, Pistol) and James (Jonah Lees, The Letter for the King). Maurice had never chased his own dreams, until he decided to give golfing glory a swing. The Phantom of the Open is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and our best new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies from the first half of 2022. Or, check out the movies that were fast-tracked to digital in January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August.
Don't fancy sitting in cattle class for 18 hours to Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo? Why not enjoy a little slice of South America in your own backyard? Barbecue is something they do very well in that part of the world and Redfern Asado at The Norfolk is bringing a taste of it to Sydney. Missing pork in your life? Fix it with a few hundred grams of lechon asado (Cuban roast pork). Need beef? Try some picanha (Brazilian rump cap with coffee and sugar). Not enough white meat? Beer can chicken is the solution. These meats are sold by weight and come with tostones (fried plantain slices), Coca Cola rice, beans and habanero corn. The flames are cranked up every Sunday at noon until sold out. Bring some friends, get there early and don't miss out. There are so many options you'll be left muttering ¡que fuerte!.
Another day, another international ride-share company driving around the streets of Australia. This time, it's an Indian-born platform called Ola, which we're told operates in over 110 cities, hosting a whopping one billion annual rides worldwide. That's over two million trips each day, and growing fast. A mere few months after rival Taxify hit the country, Ola has followed up its February launch in Perth by zooming into Sydney, with Melbourne also part of its future plans. To entice Sydneysiders into giving it a go, it's also offering free rides for new users — although, to get the details, you have to download the app first. When it did the same thing in Perth, customers received two free rides up to $10 each, which won't get you far in Sydney. The company counts its driver-partner focused approach as its main point of difference, hoping to tempt Australian drivers with incentives and upskilling opportunities. As Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal explains, that should result in a more competitive industry all round. "With a strong focus on driver-partners and the community at large, we aim to create a high-quality and affordable travel experience for citizens and look forward to contributing to a healthy mobility ecosystem in Australia," he said.
Mass environmental protests will flood the streets of Australia on Friday, September 20, when thousands of people across the country walk out of school and work to demand action on climate change. Part of the Global Climate Strike movement, and organised locally by School Strike 4 Climate, events will be held in cities and towns across the nation — not only in state capitals such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but in more than 100 Aussie spots. With the United Nations' Climate Change Summit happening on Monday, September 23 in New York, the huge worldwide protests are timed to send a message. Taking place in 120 countries, they're the latest initiative to take the climate crisis to the streets, building upon the outcry expressed in other rallies this year. In March, a Global Climate Strike for Future attracted 1.4 million people around the globe. This week's strikes have significant community backing this time, too — thousands of Australian school students are expected to walk out of class to attend, more than 30 unions have pledged their support, and over than 1200 Australian and global businesses have committed to giving their employees time off so that they can head along as well. As well as drawing attention to Australia's horrific two years, weather-wise — as seen via soaring temperatures, prolonged drought conditions and the horrific bushfires that have plagued the Queensland and NSW for the last fortnight — protestors are fighting for three specific demands. They're asking for a ban on new coal, oil and gas projects, including the recently approved Adani mine; that 100-percent energy generated and exported by 2030 comes from renewable sources; and the funding of fair transition processes, including the provision of jobs, for fossil fuel industry workers and the communities currently reliant upon the sector. Unsurprisingly, most places across Australia can expect disruptions and delays on Friday as a result of the strikes, including possible road closures and traffic diversions. If you're planning to join the crowds or you're pondering your transport options for the day, here's how the events will go down in your city. And here are a few placard ideas, too: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2ev1lbHuwE/?igshid=yaz9l9ueayup SYDNEY Sydney protestors will converge on The Domain on Art Gallery Road at 12pm, then march to Hyde Park — heading down Macquarie Street, then along Elizabeth Street and ending on Park Street. For those keen to march through the city beforehand, a Global Climate Strike bridge walk will set off from Bradfield Park near Milsons Point Station at 10am. Accompanied by a marching band, walkers will stroll over the Harbour Bridge, then continue along the Cahill walk to The Domain. If you're looking for a caffeine hit before the strike, Single O in the CBD and Surry Hills will be doling out free coffees to protesters between 10–11.30am — don't forget to BYO cup (obviously). For public transport and traffic updates on the day, check Transport NSW and Live Traffic Sydney. MELBOURNE Melburnians will start their protest at the Treasury Gardens on Spring Street at 2pm, with people advised to arrive from 1.30pm. After a Welcome to Country, speeches and performances, a march will take place from 3pm. Protestors will walk down to Collins Street, keep going until Exhibition Street, then head down to Flinders Street — which'll bring them back to the gardens. If you're commuting to the strike via train, you may want to join one of the four pre-strike train parties — on the Belgrave, Mernda, Craigieburn and Upfield — where there'll be snacks, chanting, singing and dancing. For public transport and traffic updates on the day, check Yarra Trams and Vic Traffic. BRISBANE Brisbanites will assemble in Queens Gardens on the corner of George and Elizabeth Streets from 12.30pm, with speeches commencing at 1pm and a march to Musgrave Park — via Victoria Bridge — starting at 1.30pm. More speakers and performances will follow in West End's Musgrave Park until 4pm. Unions and workers will also be marching to Queens Gardens beforehand, meeting at 12.30pm at Brisbane Square in Reddacliff Place. For public transport and traffic updates on the day, check Translink and Qld Traffic Metro. Australia's Global Climate Strike protests will take place at various times on Friday, September 20. For further details, visit the School Strike 4 Climate website. Top image: School Strike
UPDATE SATURDAY, MARCH 20: The final two nights of Summer in the Domain have been postponed due to extreme weather and will now take place on Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28. The below article has been updated to reflect this. Seeing a band at an intimate seated gig has been a nice way to ease back into the world of live music — but if you've been missing the big stage experience, The Domain has come to the table with a stacked multi-night set of shows. Set to take to the stage against the Sydney skyline is a string of Aussie favourites including Ball Park Music, Thelma Plum, Mallrat and Hayden James. Pop vocal powerhouse Vera Blue is bringing along the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for an exclusive collaborative performance, while Client Liaison, Confidence Man and Touch Sensitive will come together for a fun-filled night of dance beats, bass grooves and on-stage antics. While summer is officially wrapping up in February, Summer in the Domain will be extending the seasonal festivities into March, running from Thursday, March 18 until Sunday, March 28. Each group of attendees will be allocated their own 'pod' to ensure social distancing. Pods are available for groups of four or six and start at $82 per person. Tickets are on sale from 12pm, Monday, February 15 through Moshtix. SUMMER IN THE DOMAIN Ball Park Music and Thelma Plum — Thursday, March 18 Hayden James, Mallrat and Sycco — Friday, March 19 Client Liaison, Confidence Man and Touch Sensitive — Saturday, March 27 Vera Blue and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra — Sunday, March 28 Images: Cole Bennetts
Returning for its third iteration, The Fork Festival sees top restaurants across the country offering sit-down meals for half the usual price. Yep, 50 percent off your total food bill, folks — think of it as the proverbial carrot luring you out of the house. Kicking off on Monday, February 15, the offer is a blessing for those feeling a little light-pocketed after Christmas, NYE and Valentine's Day. To snag a half-price meal, you just need to make a reservation through The Fork website or app at one of the participating eateries for any service (breakfast, lunch or dinner) during the six weeks. There are some great venues coming to the party, too. In Sydney, you'll find cheap eats at the likes of Tayim in The Rocks, Marrickville's Poor Toms Gin Hall, No 1 William in Darlinghurst, Cottage Point Inn, Dulwich Hill's Bambino Torino Pizza and Lone Star Rib House in Blacktown. [caption id="attachment_701766" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tayim by Guy Davies[/caption] Brisbane's lineup includes the CBD's Pool Terrace and Bar, Baos Pop Bistro in South Brisbane and Albion's Nutmeg Indian Cuisine, while Melbourne's Giro d'Italia, Undercover Roasters, Don Taco, Temple Brewing Co and Tulum Restaurant will all serve up discounted eats — as soon as they're allowed to reopen, of course. All of Victoria is currently under a snap five-day lockdown until 11.59pm on Wednesday, February 17, and restaurants can only serve up takeaway until then. You might want to revisit an old favourite or you could get a little adventurous and road-test somewhere new. Either way, there's ample time to squeeze in a fair few discount feasts before the festival wraps up on Sunday, March 28. The Fork Festival runs from Monday, February 15–Sunday, March 28 at select restaurants nationwide, excluding the NT and Tasmania. Victoria's Fork Festival will begin when restaurants reopen. Top image: Giro d'Italia by Parker Blain
Attention all uni students: give those fingers that have been tap-tap-tapping away at your end-of-semester assignments a rest. Instead, get those thumbs moving because it's time for a huge party that you'll want to swipe right on. At Thredbo x Tinder Uni Week, you'll spend six whole days of shredding — first on the snow, then the dance floor. Thredbo has taken pity on those surviving on the humble Mi Goreng toastie and is offering all uni students a five-day lift pass at a discounted rate of $379 — with some sweet themed parties to boot. The week kicks off on Sunday, July 22 with a traffic light-themed party at the Thredbo Alpine Hotel's Keller Bar, where DJs will soundtrack your night from start to finish. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, it's the Ski, Swipe & Party events where DJs like Indian Summer will take to the stage. Monday night will require you to wear 'anything but clothes', Tuesday is a good old ugly sweater party and Thursday's theme is 'I can't believe you wore that'. Wednesday brings Jye's Jam, an urban rail comp at the Friday Flat stairs, followed by an after-party where you'll don your best headwear (the theme is 'party hats'). And if all that snow has you dreaming of somewhere more tropical, the week will be capped off with a Fireball Full Moon Party on Friday night to transport you to (an admittedly very snowy) Koh Pha-ngan. Grab your glow sticks and get partying. To discover more of Thredbo's winter program, head to thredbo.com.au.
While some of us appreciate the cosiness of winter, others can't wait until warmer weather returns. Now is your chance to become someone who loves the cold, as Tourism Tasmania has just opened its Winternship applications. With ten lucky participants heading to Tassie to undertake an internship experience that helps them become winter people, embracing the cold and damp could change your life. From caring for adorable local wildlife and maintaining historic chairlifts to foraging in tunnels for tasty mushrooms, there's every prospect you'll discover a new passion, while realising that perhaps spending your days on a windswept hillside isn't so bad after all. So, pull on your thickest socks and don your favourite beanie, as these Winternships are perfect for changing the pace of your daily life. For instance, the Sauna Skipper experience sees a Wintern keep the temperatures toasty at the woodfired Kuuma Nature Sauna — a floating relaxation adventure soaked in natural beauty. For something more upbeat, head to Penguin's Hideaway Farmlet, where the Goat Doofer Wintern is tasked with hosting a mini music festival for a vibe-seeking herd. Then, night owls are primed for the Devil Sitter position, as they'll babysit Tasmanian devils who love to shriek, screech and growl from dusk to dawn. If Tassie's burgeoning culinary scene is more your mood, Tunnel Hill Mushrooms is looking for recruits to grow, pick and prepare their award-winning mushrooms, cultivated inside an old railway tunnel. Meanwhile, McHenry Distillery — the southernmost distillery and brewery in the world — invites a spirit-loving Wintern to learn whisky's tricks of the trade from amid the remote Tasman Peninsula. With several more Winternships to explore, there's no shortage of ways to discover what's special about the cold. "Tasmanians are winter people at heart, so we don't just endure winter, we celebrate it," says Sarah Clark, Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Tasmania. "We're inviting Winterns to dive head-first into our winter culture that's probably a bit different to their home state. From babysitting Tasmanian devils to fragrance foraging, there's something for everyone in Tasmania this off-season. We guarantee you'll head home with some different skills and most importantly, a new take on winter." Ready to toss your woolly hat in the ring? Tourism Tasmania's Winternship applications are now open until Tuesday, June 17. To enter, simply write a short submission of fewer than 50 words, explaining why you want to become a winter person. If chosen, you'll have your travel covered and be guided by local experts throughout your stay. Plus, you'll return home with a selection of Tasmania's best seasonal produce and goods, handpicked by your hosts. Tourism Tasmania's Winternship applications are now open until Tuesday, June 17. Head to the website to learn more and submit your application.
This is the Redlands Wetspac Art Prize's 16th year, and the first in which the works in competition will be shown at the National Art School. The Prize is open to Australian and New Zealand artists in two categories — emerging and established — with no other defined curatorial parameters. The curator this year, giving things a bit of a politicised spin, is artist and educator (and person who is having a pretty big 2012, what with having her portrait in the Archibald and her work in the new galleries of the MCA) Lindy Lee. In accordance with the prize structure, Lee has invited a selection of established artists to submit a work to the show. Where it gets a bit more unusual is that each established artist also gets to invite an emerging artist of his or her choice, who also goes into the prize. The RWAP is an acquisitive prize, and there are also cash prizes: $20,000 to an established artist, this year the not-unfamiliar-from-having-won-other-things-but-really-very-good Ben Quilty with a painting of his father, and $10,000 to the emerging artist category, which was taken out by Kelly Doley with documentation of a project called The Learning Centre, in which she found out certain things about people. The two winners made very different works (both of which pay off the spending of time with them), and the disparity between them is representative of the variety that comes through in the exhibition as a whole. Without restrictions on theme or medium, there's all kind of work in this show. It's of an accomplished standard, and forms a good cross-section of things that are happening in Australia's and New Zealand's contemporary art. The layout of the exhibition in the airy two-floor space is good too, with works relating well to one another without being artificially segmented into categories. There are a couple of signage issues: while it's noted on the labels for works by emerging artists who the established artist nominating them was, this doesn't happen vice versa. And this can be frustrating for the viewer who wants to look at what the relations between nominator and nominee might be, in the course of their viewing. This is a little bit annoying. Any but the most art-world-involved of viewers would not know by name who is emerging and who is established. (And the criteria for this isn't made clear in the exhibition information.) The room sheet is a bit frustrating too, counter-intuitively listing artists in alphabetical order, rather than with reference to the placement of works. Pedantic gripes aside though, this show manages to be "something for everyone" - or maybe "something by everyone"? - without compromising on quality or coherence. It also reassures about the relevance of contemporary art as commentary and as community, which makes it a prize that rewards the visitor too. Video still from BBQ this Sunday (flight paths) by Joan Ross.
Over the past decade or so, Orange has become recognised as one of Australia's finest culinary regions. And, for one special weekend next month, Orange Winter Fire Festival will have the town bursting with great food, drink and cultural events, all with a wintry flavour. The festival will capitalise on the town's winemaking status as some of the best local drops are showcased at events inspired by classic Australiana images, such as crackling bonfires and chargrilled feasts. Held across the weekend of August 3–5, the festival kicks off on Friday with the nearby village of Millthorpe being transformed into a winter wonderland as country-folk duo Smith and Jones light up the stage and Pym Street bustles with food and wine market stalls. Meanwhile, back in Orange, Ross Hill Wines will host acclaimed chef Michael Manners, who'll serve up a casual meal of soup and paella by an outdoor fireplace. The fire theme continues on Saturday. The standout event sees Small Acres Cyder, See Saw wines and Canobolas Dance Hall join forces for a raucous night of 'wassailing' by the bonfire in preparation for spring. For the uninitiated, wassailing is an ancient act of chanting to trees, thus ensuring their prosperity. Nobody likes underwhelming wine, so be sure to belt out all good notes over your two-course feast. With poetry sessions, 'astronomical journeys' and Sunday roasts plus so much more taking place over the festival, a road trip to the Orange Winter Fire Festival would make for a pretty perfect winter weekend. Orange Winter Fire Festival 2018 will take place from Friday, August 3 to Sunday, August 5. Head to the festival website for event and ticket info.
Writer/director Paolo Sorrentino itched to create a character based on The Cure's Robert Smith. After seeing that Smith doesn't shed his '80s goth punk gear when he leaves the stage, Sorrentino became fascinated with the idea of "a 50-year-old who still completely identified with a look which, by definition, is that of an adolescent," and all the contradictions in character it implies. That's how we get Cheyenne (given life by Sean Penn), a former rock star who once fronted Cheyenne and the Fellows and now lives a quiet life on an Irish estate with his countervailing, down-to-earth wife (Frances McDormand). There's a little bit of Ozzy in him, too; after years taking drugs (though never booze), he moves slowly, dragging his grocery trolley behind him. He's prematurely old, but also stuck in youth. He's sweet, but petulant. He insists on living in the world the way he wants to live in it. And, yes, he still paints a red oblong over his lips and tucks his black jeans into Docs. This Must Be the Place is a unique comedy where you laugh with someone who's slow-paced, not quick-witted, and you laugh with him. Cheyenne's sentences are a meandering journey whose end you can't envision when you're at the beginning. Or in the middle, usually. It's uniquely funny, and in a gorgeously big-hearted way. There's a couple of lines in here so hilarious and inimitable they alone are worth watching the film for. There are a few other things This Must Be the Place does extraordinarily well. Given its character's history, there's a rightful appreciation for music, including a soundtrack by David Byrne and Will Oldham and a guest appearance by Byrne where he performs the film's title track in concert. There are gorgeous visual compositions and a real sense for how bewildering the world can be. The film gets beautiful early on, and it would remain so if the plot didn't intrude in a sudden and forced way. After Cheyenne makes it to New York too late to farewell his estranged, ailing father, he is bequeathed the man's detailed diaries and learns of what he went through during the Holocaust. To right past wrongs, he takes off on a quest ('road trip') across the US to find the Nazi responsible for his father's torment. This Must Be the Place gets into trouble once the unlikely truck gets on the road and its wheels grind stuck in a big ditch of twee. A fey man with bird's nest hair does not, in any universe, have sweet, revealing conversations with tattooed giants in dive bars in Bad Axe, Michigan. It's a particular kind of blind whimsy to which we've started to bristle, and it's a big part of why the narrative loses its energy just when it should be picking up speed. 'Cheyenne: Nazi Hunter' was always an unconvincing premise, and the film doesn't quite fuse its two big ideas successfully. Win a double pass to This Must Be the Place. https://youtube.com/watch?v=MuvFmg_Ge9k
A stunning location, a giant 350-square-metre cinema screen, and an impressive range of new and classic movies: that's the Westpac Openair Cinema formula. Come January 2023, Sydneysiders will be able to enjoy that combination for another summer, with one of the city's favourite outdoor movie-watching spots returning for 40 nights from Sunday, January 8—Tuesday, February 21. But don't forget the other huge drawcard: the food. Westpac Openair Cinema confirmed its dates for its next summer season back in October, and it's also been unveiling a few other tidbits ahead of the full program reveal later in November. One of those is the very important — and tasty — news about the event's culinary lineup, with Kitchen by Mike's Mike McEnearney behind the food range just like in 2022. While the exact menu hasn't been revealed as yet, the 2023 spread will hero European summer influences — and you'll have two spaces to choose from. The southern end of the event will feature Mike's signature Kitchen by Mike dishes, plus reserved dining tables to eat them at, while The Point will serve up a relaxed range of meals and snacks. Wondering what you'll be seeing on the big screen, to go with McEnearney's dishes? Three films have been locked in: this year's Palme d'Or-winner Triangle of Sadness, the Harry Styles- and Florence Pugh-starring thrills of Don't Worry Darling and the fashion-focused Mrs Harris Goes to Paris. Back when the dates were first announced, the team behind the beloved event did drop a few other names of movies that've caught their attention, and that "would be pretty awesome experiences on Sydney Harbour", though. On that list: Elvis, Top Gun: Maverick, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Fire of Love, Ticket to Paradise, Moonage Daydream and Bros. Whatever else graces the screen, catching a flick at the Mrs Macquaries Point pop-up cinema is a warm-weather tradition, and those panoramic views of the city, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge that go with it are spectacular. As happens every year, tickets are likely to go quickly when they go on sale on Monday, December 12 (with pre-sales for Westpac customers from Wednesday, December 7–Friday, December 9). Across the summer of 2018–19, more than 40,000 tickets sold within the first two days of pre-sale — so put it in your diary ASAP. Westpac Openair 2023 runs from Sunday, January 8—Tuesday, February 21. Tickets will go on sale on Monday, December 12, with pre-sales for Westpac customers from Wednesday, December 7–Friday, December 9 — and we'll update you with further details about the lineup when it is revealed. Westpac Openair Cinema images: Fiora Sacco.
There are many ways for you to help take the burden off Mother Earth. A few ways always spring to mind: recycling, being water conscious, and cutting food waste. How about buying ethical food and clothes? Yep, things like those chocolates with the Fair Trade stickers and organic sneakers that cost a little bit more. It might be a little confusing trying to figure out which brands to buy but this 'Conscious Consumer: Food and Fashion' workshop can help you. Guest speakers Lisa Heinze (Sustainability with Style) and Jaimee Edwards (Cornersmith Cafe) will walk you through how to be an ethical consumer. When you leave the workshop, you'll have a better idea of which brands and products to support, and what to look for when making purchasing decisions with your all-powerful consumer dollar. Image: well this is really pointless via photopin (license)
The war on waste is here to stay, especially in the cafe scene, but even the most environmentally conscious among us can stumble. Perhaps there's a stash of reusable cups sitting on your desk, because you never seem to have one with you when you're ordering a coffee. Maybe you haven't invested in a takeaway container yet. Or, you could prefer the convenience of a swap-and-go system, where there's always a clean cup waiting. Thanks to Green Caffeen, Sydney is welcoming its first reusable coffee cup sharing network — and, in even better news, it's free. Already up and running across much of the nation, primarily in regional areas, the scheme will launch on Tuesday, May 7 at Infusion on Clarence in the CBD. If you head by from 7am–1pm, you'll not only nab a green-hued container, but a free cuppa made with Danes Specialty Coffee's beans to go in it. Here's how Green Caffeen works: you download the app to sign up, grab a cup at your local participating cafe and then drop it off next time you're getting a brew — while nabbing your next coffee in a new cup. Each container comes with a barcode, so they're simply scanned in and out. You can scan out two at a time, in case you do still forget to bring your cup with you. And if you've had one in your bag for 15 days, you'll receive an email reminder to take it back (although most folks can't go without a caffeine hit for that long). https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7Znx2A11f/ Made in Australia, Green Caffeen's cups are made from BPA-free polypropylene — and the Kiama–based startup aims to save one million disposable coffee cups from landfill by the end of this year. So far, the scheme is available in 165 cafes around the country. A similar program, called Viva La Cup, kicked off in Melbourne last year, while Sydney's inner west is also contemplating its own reusable cup pilot. For more information about Green Caffeen, head to the scheme's website.
A genius on the piano before he was out of high school, Herbie Hancock defected to jazz when the lure of improvisation ensnared him. Starting out with the famous Miles Davis Quintet opened him right up musically, and this later combined with his background in electrical engineering to push him into being one of the early pioneers of blending electronic music and Jazz. For Hancock, maths is a lynchpin holding sound and engineering together. His early eighties hit 'Rockit' bestrode the style of We Are the Robots and formative hip hop. For two nights in May, he'll bring these twin expertise to the Opera House stage. Most artists find themselves a bit cowed playing our most famous venue. With Hancock, the House probably feels a bit more overwhelmed by Herbie than he is by it. This tour he brings a new band, mixing his older classics with songs from recent album the Imagine Project. The disc is a meditation on the theme of music as a unviersal language, and includes guests Chakha Khan, Jeff Beck and the Cheiftains. With talent like that lining up to work with him, it's hard to understate Hancock's stature. Old tracks or new, he's a hard act to top. Original image by Marco Fedele. https://youtube.com/watch?v=XrgP1u5YWEg
Any design led by Norman Foster paired with the resources that Apple can muster is guaranteed to impress. And judging by renderings of Apple's new eco-friendly headquarters in Cupertino, CA, the design team heading the project have not disappointed. The development proposal for the so-called 'Apple Campus 2' was released this week on Cupertino.org. According to Slashgear, the 60.7 hectares site surpasses the U.S Pentagon in size. CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, has described the design as a "spaceship". And rightly so. The centre-piece of the entire construction is a circular structure that is to house research and development facilities, an auditorium with a 1000-person capacity and a fitness centre amongst many things. Perhaps the most impressive (and ambitious) feature of the Apple Campus 2 will be the underground parking lot which will allow 80 percent of the 60.7 hectare property to be landscaped under the guidance of an arborist. Interestingly, Mercury News points out that while Apple plans to "generate its own electricity from natural gas" at the new HQ, the plans don't consider the use of renewable energy resources. The design team behind the project includes Foster & Partners, ARUP and Kier & Wright. [via Inhabitat]
