Next time you're looking for a healthy lunchtime meal near Circular Quay, you'll be able to head to the MCA. Its in-house cafe, which has a lovely outdoor terrace overlooking the harbour, has just launched a new vegetarian menu in collaboration with Sydney cafe and picklery Cornersmith. In great news for CBD pickle lovers, it means that you'll be able to get your daily dose of the cafe's salty and briny vegetables (in toasties, salads and bibimbaps) without heading out to Annandale or Marrickville. The Cornersmith menu, which launched on Friday, March 1, is available from 10am–4pm every day — and till 9pm on Wednesdays (when the gallery stays open late). Its launch corresponds with the gallery's new exhibition, Janet Laurence: After Nature, which explores the environmental challenges facing the world today — from coral bleaching to deforestation — through living sculpture, photography and video. It's only fitting, then, that Cornersmith's ethos is also focused on the environment. The cafe and cooking school advocates low-waste and uses minimal meat and produce that is sourced locally and sustainably. And it's making damn tasty fare — and it's super affordable, too. Everything on the new MCA Cafe is under $20 — from the kimchi and cheddar toastie with coriander slaw ($12) to the a brown rice bibimbap with kimchi ($16) and poached egg roll with red cabbage, chilli and pickles ($10). Meat-eaters will be happy to know that they can add leg ham ($2) to the latter if they please, while vegans will find solace in the Vegan Surprise Plate ($16), which comes complete with vegan cheese. Like the MCA's new exhibition, the Cornersmith menu is around for a good time, not a long time. So if you'd like to get your city dose of Cornersmith eats, you'll need to head along before Monday, June 10, 2019. The regular MCA Cafe menu will also be available during this time. The MCA Cafe's new Cornersmith menu is available from 10am–4pm Thursday to Tuesday, and 10am–9pm on Wednesday. It's available until June 10, 2019. The MCA's Janet Lauren: After Nature exhibition is also showing at the MCA until June 10. Images: Anna Kucera.
"If I told you I was going to make a film about a poor black boy raised by a single mother struggling with addiction who has questions about his sexuality, you assume certain things about that film," says Barry Jenkins about Moonlight. He's right. But his second feature isn't the movie you might expect from that description. Watching his applauded and lauded effort — the winner of this year's Golden Globe for best drama, and an eight-time Oscar nominee — proves an experience in witnessing all of those assumptions melt away. Indeed, based on a dramatic work by Tarell Alvin McCraney, and set and shot in the same Florida area where both Jenkins and McCraney grew up, Moonlight is anything but your average coming-of-age movie about dire circumstances. Jumping between three chapters of a young black man's life, it charts the progression of a teased and taunted Miami boy nicknamed Little (Alex Hibbert) into the awkward, still-bullied teen Chiron (Ashton Sanders), and finally into hardened Atlanta drug dealer Black (Trevante Rhodes). As relayed with a commitment to reflecting reality and capturing a rare perspective — and an ability to render its central journey and the accompanying emotions like cinematic poetry — specific moments and interactions shape his growth, worldview and identity. With Moonlight now showing in cinemas, we chatted with Academy Award-nominated writer/director Jenkins about reactions to the film, the importance of representation, making immersive cinema, and more. ON THE REACTION TO THE FILM "The only way I can really sort of reason or rationalise it [the acclaim for the film] is that I remember first falling in love with cinema as a film student. And it wasn't like the big Hollywood cinema. It was mostly foreign cinema. And I remember watching films by Wong Kar-wai or Claire Denis or Jean-Luc Godard, and I remember thinking "wow, this is a world that I'm never going to visit. I'm never going to go to France. I'm never going to go to Hong Kong, and I certainly don't speak these languages." And yet, I could relate to the characters that made the worlds feel extremely small to me. I mean that in the best way — that I wasn't so far removed from these people, these characters. And so it just gives me just such an amazing feeling that now my film is doing the same thing for audiences, because the world this movie takes place in is very small, you know, and these characters are very specific to the time and place Tarell and I grew up in. And yet it's travelling far, far away from Miami and people are seeing themselves in the film, and it is lovely to give back to cinema what cinema, I believe, gave to me." ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF REPRESENTING CHARACTERS THAT AREN'T OFTEN SEEN ON SCREEN "Here's the thing: there are just certain characters that aren't represented as often as others are in cinema. Or in arts and letters in general, I'll say. And even when those characters are present, they aren't centred. They aren't the focus of the narrative. I think because of that, when you have this kind of lack, when the character is present in the film, is centred, it inherently takes on added importance. Because people, I believe, are very hungry to see themselves represented. And so there was this feeling in the back of my head — I try to keep it in the back of my head — not that what we were doing was important, but that we had to get it right. Because it would do more harm, because of the lack of these centred characters, it would do more harm to finally present the character and get it wrong. You know, I didn't want to do an injustice to people whose stories align with Chiron's." ON CONVEYING CHIRON'S CONSCIOUSNESS — AND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS — RATHER THAN JUST TELLING HIS TALE "We approached the film as a piece of immersive cinema. And part of that has to do with the structure of the film — because we're not telling a traditional narrative in a traditional format. We felt like it allowed us the space to do certain things that maybe wouldn't fit into a more traditional narrative framework. For us, it was really important to have the audience take the journey with Chiron, and we wanted the visuals to arise from the consciousness of the main character. If I told you I was going to make a film about a poor black boy raised by a single mother struggling with addiction who has questions about his sexuality, you assume certain things abut that film. If I'm working from the idea that I want to make a film that is rooted in the consciousness of the main character — you know, consciousness is a very beautiful, beautiful thing. And this is something I haven't talked about much, but I think the idea of black consciousness or the way black minds work is often not presented. Or not framed in the way that it actually exists. By which I mean, black people dream. We have dreams and we have daydreams and we have dreams when we sleep. And yet, I very rarely see the personification or the presentation of a black person dreaming in a piece of cinema, you know? And that's because we always tie cinema to the conventions of the story form, and not to the consciousness of these characters. But in Moonlight, the visuals, the aesthetic, the craft, arises from the consciousness of the character. So when Chiron is feeling disoriented, you will look directly into his mother's eyes, and her lips are moving but sometimes you can't hear her voice, and then her voice catches up — because the character is being disoriented. You know, we tried to take our cues from moments like that. And it was great, because as a filmmaker, you know that sound and image is the tool that carries both my voice and the character's voices. And that tool should not be beholden to an A, B, C, D, E progression of plot." ON INTERROGATING MASCULINITY AND VULNERABILITY "It was about, you know, reflecting those things in the story of Chiron — and I say reflecting because Tarell and I saw those things living our lives growing up in this place. And this aspect of vulnerability over time is denied to young men, is denied to young boys — and not only boys like Chiron, boys everywhere. What's that saying? 'Boys don't cry.' It was very important to us that this is the currency of this film — it's not a plot-heavy film. I think the story of this film traverses, or travels in, these gestures, quite a bit of these gestures between and amongst men. I've never seen a black man cradle a black boy in a film before. I just haven't. I haven't seen a black man cook for another black man in a film before. I've never seen a black man, I think, cook for anyone in a film before. And these are very simple gestures that, one, are very nurturing, but also, two, are implicitly vulnerable on the part of the person extending the nurturing. They were very important because again, they keyed into this depiction of the full humanity of these characters." ON FINDING THE RIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY CHIRON AT DIFFERENT STAGES "It wasn't this idea of a physical similarity. It was the idea of this sort of spiritual essence that could be viewed in the eyes of the characters. Which is really hitting on this idea of this feeling in their eyes, because of this book by [three-time Oscar-winning editor] Walter Murch that I've always loved called 'In the Blink in an Eye.' And so we just tried to find these guys that had the same feeling. Because, when you look at Trevante Rhodes as Black in the third chapter, it was of the utmost importance to me that you could see that little boy who played him in the first story. You could still see Alex Hibbert. I think we see people that we pass all the time on the subway or the bus or the sidewalk, who look like Trevante Rhodes as Black in the third chapter of this film, and we would never believe that this person would dance in a mirror in his elementary school when he was ten years old. But they're the same person, you know? And when we were casting, it was very important to us that we could see that continuum between the characters." Moonlight is now showing in cinemas. Read our review here.
Ready to hit the open road? If you're looking to add a dose of wacky charm to your next road trip, follow the lead of our readers who've shared some excellent suggestions for offbeat attractions that'll have you chuckling all the way to your destination. From oversized critters to weird sculptures, here's our guide to the lame (but legendary) stops you won't want to miss — as recommended by you — as well as the nearest The Bottle-O so you can stock up on bevs for a winner of a weekend. [caption id="attachment_697951" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The Big Merino, Goulburn NSW No surprise, one of Australia's best famed big things is first on our list: the Big Merino in Goulburn, NSW. This colossal concrete ram stands tall and proud, paying homage to Australia's wool industry and is a favourite for our reader Anita: "It's a baa-rilliant photo op you need for your Insta feed." If you're on a road trip from Sydney to Canberra over the long weekend, you've got no excuses not to pull over for a quick photo opp with this absolute unit. And before you park up at your accommodation in Canberra, swing by The Bottle-O to grab some tinnies and snacks to celebrate your arrival. Closest The Bottle-O: Mitchell [caption id="attachment_944023" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Australia Rock, David Burke[/caption] Australia Rock, Narooma NSW Are you planning a coastal road trip in NSW for an upcoming long weekend? Head to the coastal town of Narooma and you'll come across the iconic Australia Rock, a natural formation that looks a lot like the outline of this fair country. "Australia Rock in Narooma is an excellent road trip attraction," says reader Ned. "There's also loads of seals or seal lions on the rocks below. Perfect spot to stretch your legs when driving down to Bermagui, where I'll be heading this long weekend!" Stop in at The Bottle-O on the way down so you have ice cold brews to enjoy with your epic coastal views. Closest The Bottle-O: Ulladulla [caption id="attachment_944024" align="alignnone" width="1920"] SapiTerbang via Canva[/caption] Jacob's Ladder, Ben Lomond National Park TAS Feeling brave? Love a driving challenge? How about a seriously steep zig-zagging road that makes a dramatic ascent to a plateau? Make your way to Jacob's Ladder in Ben Lomond National Park for some serious adrenaline-pumping action. "Jacob's Ladder is iconic", says reader Greg. "It's well worth the trip from Launceston." Grab a few cold ones from The Bottle-O in Launceston to celebrate your driving victory after you return safely to your accommodation. Cheers to that. Closest The Bottle-O: Launceston Penguin, TAS No, we're not talking about the cute and cuddly kind – we're talking about the town of Penguin in Tasmania. Tassie has a fun habit of naming its towns and villages ridiculous names — we're looking at you Nowhere Else, Break-Me-Neck Hill, Doo Town, etc. But Penguin really takes the biscuit. "We always make a pit stop in Penguin to snap a pic with the giant penguin statue, and if it's late in the day, you could spot some local fairy penguins making their way to the water," says Penguin-town enthusiast and reader Laura. Grab a meat pie from the local bakery and enjoy a picnic by the beach with some beverages from The Bottle-O in town. Closest The Bottle-O: Penguin [caption id="attachment_944026" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Big Pineapple, Alpha via Flickr[/caption] The Big Pineapple, Woombye QLD Planning an escape to Noosa Heads or up to Rainbow Beach for the long weekend? Hop on the Bruce Highway and make a stop at the endearingly retro Big Pineapple in Woombye, not far from Nambour. This fruity landmark is a true Aussie icon, and our readers reckon it's worth the detour for the cheesy photo op alone. "Of the Big Things in Oz, it's definitely my top choice for a road trip detour," says reader Aidan. There's even a heritage-listed Pineapple Train through the sugar cane there, which might just be the most Queensland thing in existence. Closest The Bottle-O: Maroochydore [caption id="attachment_944027" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pete Jones via Flickr[/caption] Tin Horse Highway, Kulin WA If the outback is calling you this long weekend, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more lame (with all due respect) but still legendary road trip detour than the Tin Horse Highway in Kulin, WA. This stretch of road is lined with homemade tin horses, each more ridiculous than the last. "The tin horses get more amazing the further your drive because the locals have been one-upping each other for decades," says reader Scott. "There's a slide made of tin horses, a horse riding a horse, and so much more." What started as a lark is now a fully-fledged competition with prize money, bragging rights and more tin horses. Now there are over 60 horses out there to discover. Take in a stretch, then you can debate your favourites when you pitch up at your campsite over a cold one from The Bottle-O. Closest The Bottle-O: Byford [caption id="attachment_944028" align="alignnone" width="1920"] David Burke[/caption] The Giant Koala, Dadswell's Bridge VIC If you're travelling around The Grampians for the long weekend, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't head south to Dadswell's Bridge and pay your respects to the Giant Koala. Towering over the surrounding countryside, this oversized marsupial is a legendary and ever so slightly cursed sight for any road tripper. "Nothing can prepare for looking into those wild red eyes," says reader Kate. "it reaches into your soul. Best Big Thing. No contest". Recover from the soul-piercing eyes as you relax as the sun sets over the mountains at your campsite with a much-needed bev from The Bottle-O. Closest The Bottle-O: Sebastopol [caption id="attachment_944029" align="alignnone" width="1920"] GrainCorp Silos at Sheep Hills, Artist Adnate, Credit Aaron Powell[/caption] Silo Art Trail, VIC We received a lot of recommendations for Silo Art, from the cockatoo-clad silo on Kangaroo Island to Newdegate in WA. But one state copped more recommendations than any other and that is Victoria. Whichever direction you head from Melbourne, you'll have plenty of silos to add to your roadside attraction list. "I love the Silo Art Movement. I've knocked off ten around Melbs and I'll be heading further into regional VIC to check off a few more this long weekend," says reader Michelle. And don't forget to pick up some drinks at The Bottle-O to enjoy while admiring your snaps when you reach your accommodation. Closest The Bottle-O: Doreen Wherever the road leads you on your weekend adventuring, find your nearest The Bottle-O and stock up on some standout bevs. Ready to start planning? Head to the website. Top image: David Burke
As Mother's Day fast approaches, finding the perfect way to honour the incredible women who have shaped our lives can be a challenging endeavour. But what better way to show gratitude and celebrate than with a glass of champagne? Mother's Day is the perfect occasion to indulge in the best, so together with G.H. Mumm or Perrier-Jouet Champagne, we've rounded up we've rounded up a selection of experiences featuring great cuisine, creative pursuits, and (of course) premium champagne that you can book now. Reign at the QVB Celebrate Mother's Day in the stunning, light-filled champagne parlour, Reign. Located in the QVB, the space exudes that old-school, classic charm with sprawling marble floors and iconic arched windows that overlook the city. For Mother's Day, Reign will host brunch and lunch sessions for $79 per person ($29 for kids). The Shared Feast Menu (fittingly) features a glass of complimentary G. H. Mumm upon arrival. Plus, a live DJ will set the vibe to commence the celebrations. You can book your table here. [caption id="attachment_786070" align="alignnone" width="1918"] Robert Walsh[/caption] Infinity at Sydney Tower Head up 81 floors to the top of Sydney's iconic Infinity at Sydney Tower, an unforgettable way to treat your mum this Mother's Day. Infinity is offering a three-course menu for $179 per person. Enjoy a decadent lunch with revolving city and harbour views, a glass of G.H. Mumm Grand Cordon on arrival, and live jazz from their two-piece band to set the mood. After dessert, your mum will walk away with an individual rose and homemade truffles, a perfect Mother's Day treat. Reserve your table here. Nour Treat your Mum to a Modern Middle Eastern feast at Nour in Surry Hills. The hatted restaurant will serve a special Mother's Day banquet lunch for $119 per person, featuring classic Lebanese flavours with a contemporary twist. Soak in the ambience in the light-filled dining room and give your mum the day she deserves. You can even elevate the occasion and organise some bubbly or oysters on arrival. The best part? Nour will send every mum home with a complimentary G. H. Mumm Champagne — a perfect end to the perfect lunch. Book your Mother's Day banquet here. Icebergs Club There's nothing that exudes a more iconic Sydney moment than looking out over Bondi Beach at the legendary Icebergs Club. The sun-drenched venue is a perfect place to celebrate Mother's Day. Enjoy a laidback, bistro-style lunch with that signature Iceberg flair and raise a glass to Mum with some Mumm champagne. The Club will offer $99 bottles of Mumm for the month of May to celebrate Mother's Day — a great deal to help you celebrate with the finest. Book your spot here. Finer Rings Jewellery-Making Class at Four Hundred Treat your mum to something special this year and relish bonding time with a jewellery-making class on Saturday, May 11. North Sydney's Mexican bar and kitchen, Four Hundred, will host Finer Rings, an afternoon of creativity and indulgence. For $120 per person, enjoy half a bottle of Mumm champagne and a gourmet grazing platter as you create a stamped initial necklace and pearl earrings. The class is intimate, so book in now to secure your spot. Book your spot here. Henry G's Wine Parlour Looking for a unique Mother's Day experience? Intimate boutique wine bar Henry G's in Manly will host a Mumm champagne masterclass with a paired menu of signature pintxos. Celebrate Mum with Mumm and discover the world of champagne while enjoying Perrier-Jouet Belle Époque by the glass. The immersive experience also includes a live pianist for that signature Henry G's touch, making it a Mother's Day celebration to remember. The event is spread across the Mother's Day weekend, and you can book your spot here. Mother's Day QTea High Tea by Adriano Zumbo For a real taste of opulence, indulge your mum in a High Tea experience at the QT Hotel. The world-famous pâtissier Adriano Zumbo has crafted a selection of decadent treats to enjoy for the very special occasion. Start off with 'Sconez' with Tasmanian strawberry, lemon myrtle jam and clotted cream, then move on to the Japanese Miso Chicken Roll with yuzu, avo and sesame. The tea can be perfectly paired with Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut Champagne for $130 per person to ensure you sip in style. Spoil your mum and book a High Tea celebration now. Bistro Mosman Celebrate Mother's Day in style at Bistro Mosman, the resort-style dining room will be serving a three course menu of Provencal French cuisine, embracing classic charm for the classic woman. Or, if you are looking for something a little less traditional, head to the intimate Juniper Lane for the signature ½ lobster and fries, served with a glass of Perrier-Jouet – a truly decadent Mother's Day treat. Every Mum will receive a beautiful flower upon arrival, along with a special surprise treat from The Beuna team. Whether it's lunch or dinner, make a reservation now to ensure a memorable celebration for the special woman in your life. Spoil your mum this Mother's Day by treating her to a glass of G.H. Mumm or Perrier-Jouet Champagne one of these stunning restaurants in your city.
It just got real dark in Sydney. And in Sydney in summer, that only means one thing: a storm is coming. So if you're currently reading this from somewhere dry, warm and cosy, we suggest that you keep it that way for the rest of the afternoon. After a slew of shorts storms over the last week (and last night), another one is heading our way for at least the next few hours. And not just any old wet weather, either. At 4pm today, The Bureau of Meteorology reported that heavy rainfall is on its way to Sydney, which "may lead to flash flooding, damaging locally destructive winds and large, possibly giant hailstones". A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Sydney, with south Sydney, the Sutherland Shire, Campbelltown and the south coast set to be the worst hit. https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1075619880790093825 The wild weather looks to ease later tonight. At the moment, public transport looks to be running on time and no major roads have flooded, but this could change as peak hour is about to hit. Stay dry out there. And remember to check Live Traffic, Transport Info and BOM for warnings and updates. Image: Live Traffic NSW.
There's a certain entrancing quality to rooftop bars — maybe it's drinking at altitude, maybe it's the fresh air on your face or the sun beating down on your Vitamin-D-deficient skin — whatever the reason, these beguiling open-air beauties consistently draw us in. Thankfully, Sydney has just scored five more swish new rooftop bars just in time for spring. While it might be tempting to head to the same old al fresco stalwarts you know and love, why not soak up the sun someplace new. From a Palm Springs-inspired bar to a plant-filled seaside oasis, these new rooftops on the block are pulling out all the stops. And, we're glad — cocktails taste infinitely better skyward in new surrounds. Here are our favourite new rooftop bars to visit in Sydney — so, next time it's sunny, you can spend less time Googling venues and more time drinking. You're welcome.
First, gyms. Then, saunas. Now, skincare is the latest service to get the membership treatment. Late-2022 saw the launch of Fayshell, Australia's first membership-based skin clinic in Bondi Junction. A second clinic is due to open on Sydney's North Shore any day now. Katelin Gregg and Ella James are behind the new beauty concept. After years of educating others on cosmetic enhancements and skincare via their podcast Cosmechix, the powerhouse duo are now channelling their knowledge into a bricks-and-mortar offering. The aim is to rebrand facials from a once-in-a-blue-moon treat to a regular step in a monthly self-care regime. "Facials shouldn't be reserved for a big event or a luxury day spa. This was our inspo behind the brand. We wanted to bring facials into the every day, educating our clients about their skincare needs and offering a customised experience to ensure they put their best face forward," says James. There are three membership tiers available, starting with the Basic Fayshell. For $169 per month, members will get one facial fully tailored to their skin concerns and goals. A dermal therapist will also help you craft an at-home routine, including skincare recommendations and nutrition advice. For $229, you'll also score unlimited LED light therapy sessions as well as more advanced treatments such as skin needling, hydrabrasion, herbal peels and chemical peels. "The monthly treatments are like PT sessions; they push your skin hard to get lasting results. The LED members lounge is like the gym; the more you go, the better the results," says Gregg. Not ready to commit just yet? A once-off facial will set you back $179, including skin consultation and an ongoing skincare plan, while a drop-in LED Light Therapy session is $59 a pop.
Redfern's Cult Design has been Sydney's acclaimed home of designer furniture for over 20 years now. Here, you can nab expertly crafted pieces from both international and local brands, many of which you won't find anywhere else. Expect designs from the likes of Denmark's Fritz Hansen, Carl Hansen & Søn and Louis Poulsen, as well as Italy's Poltrona Frau, Zanotta and Cappellini. On Aussie shores, Cult's own design brand, Nau, promotes Australia's leading designers. While Cult has showrooms across Australia, the Chippendale outpost is the main branch, so it has the best of the bunch. Can't make it into the shop? Check out the online store, which will ship heaps of designs to your doorstep.
Across the past eight years, Sydney's All About Women festival has featured sessions on everything from hip hop and toxic masculinity to the post-#MeToo era — and, for its ninth iteration in 2021, it's once again presenting an exciting and eclectic program. When the event returns on Sunday, March 7, it'll feature talks, panels, workshops and films about the evolution of the feminist movement, its limitations, the gendered nature of household responsibilities, misogynistic online communities and the judgements built into artificial intelligence. There's also a session about coping with doomscrolling, because that topic couldn't be more relevant after the past 12 months. Once again, the fest will take place around International Women's Day — happening the day before, though, so it can still be held on a weekend. And while AAW has always covered a huge array of bases each and every year, there is a particular focus on power structures that limit the female experience in 2021. That subject will come through in sessions about identity, sexuality and resilience, and others that explore technology, entrenched inequalities and feminist futures. Talks about sex work and mindfulness are also on the bill, too. Leading the lineup of speakers is writer Isabel Allende, who'll be discussing her 2021 memoir The Soul of a Woman — which explores her role in the feminist movement across continents, cultures, and centuries. She's joined on the program by How to Be A Woman and More Than a Woman author Caitlin Moran, who'll examine the realities of of middle-aged life; Koa Beck, the ex-Jezebel editor-in-chief who penned White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind; and Laura Bates, author of Everyday Sexism and Men Who Hate Women and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project — with the ways in which the individual is often valued over the community and the corners of the internet swaying the mindsets of boys and young men all on the agenda. [caption id="attachment_797616" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Isabel Allende. Image: Lori Barra[/caption] For folks interested in AI, researcher and professor Kate Crawford will chat about machine classification and its role in entrenching inequality. Covering completely different subjects, one panel session will examine the often-complicated relationship between sex work and feminism, too, while another talk will help participants learn to cope with uncertainty in today's COVID-afflicted world. Or, attendees can head to workshops about making zines, weaving baskets — as led by Yorta Yorta woman Tegan Murdock and her mum Margaret Murray — and using music to help let go of the past. Unsurprisingly given the state of Australia's international borders, speakers from overseas will appear via video, rather than in-person. For those who can't attend AAW in person — including those located outside of Sydney — some sessions will be live-streamed as well, and made available to watch on-demand afterwards. The jump to online also includes AAW's film component. Two documentaries, Brazen Hussies and Coded Bias, will screen at the Opera House — and they'll also be available to stream online, alongside a lineup of short documentaries from female Australian filmmakers. Top image: Prudence Upton
A quiet corner of Darlington is now home to its very own roastery, courtesy of coffee enthusiast and former Australian Barista Championship judge Cedric Kim. The 32-seat cafe offers quality eats, backyard seating and, most importantly, bottomless coffee for all. Customers can choose from all-you-can-drink batch or cold brew for just $7 — a nearly unheard of perk on Sydney shores. To keep his offering constantly evolving, Kim sources fresh beans from Alexandria's Collective Roasting Solutions every week. At the moment, the milk blend coffees use beans from Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia and Guatemala. The single-origin offer changes every week, too — right now those beans are from Burundi, Africa. "I want my customers to really get a sense of different characteristics of beans from all around the world," says Kim. Filtered, iced and pour over (using the high tech GINA) also make the menu. If you're not feeling like a coffee, there's also a house-blend brown sugar chai — steeped for 12 hours and brewed with almond milk — smoothies, gelato milkshakes and fresh juices on offer. [caption id="attachment_729547" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tanya Saint James[/caption] In the kitchen, Head Chef Muhammad (Obi) Owais takes the freshness of his food very seriously — the cafe receives a daily delivery from a local supplier and uses only those ingredients on the day. You'll find the Ivy Bruschetta (sourdough toast rubbed with garlic and topped with multi-coloured cherry tomatoes, boconccini and basil) and the Roaster's Eggs (free-range poached eggs and chorizo in a house-made tomato sauce with sourdough), along with a smoked pulled pork burger, which has already become a neighbourhood favourite, according to Kim. "People lick the plate all the time," he says. For vegetarians, the polenta sounds especially tasty, served with a mix of wild mushrooms and a poached egg and drizzled with truffle oil. Set in the residential side of Darlington, Kim wasn't looking to draw a big crowd with this venture. "I didn't want a main road shop because I want people coming in bit-by-bit and seeing that we do things differently," says Kim. "I want to really focus on making the best possible coffee, and if we are crazy busy it just won't work." Terra Cotta Roasters is now open at 1/74–80 Ivy Lane, Darlington. Opening hours are 7am–3pm daily. Images: Tanya Saint James
In great news for cat-loving cinephiles, 2019 is shaping up to be a huge year for felines on film. Photorealistic big cats prowled around the remake of The Lion King, and they'll soon be joined by a bunch of singing, scurrying street mousers in the silver-screen adaptation of stage musical Cats. For nearly four decades, Andrew Lloyd Webber's acclaimed production has pranced across stages everywhere, turning a tale inspired by poems from T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats into an award-winning theatre hit. But, while plenty of other popular musicals have made the leap to cinemas, this one hasn't until now. The trailers for the new flick might just explain why. The first trailer dropped back in July and inspired much talk about its strange CGI decision to combine cats with human faces. Terrifying? Maybe. Entertaining? Definitely. If you've recovered from the first 2.23 mins of Cats madness, you'll be happy to know a second, equally bizarre, trailer has just dropped. [caption id="attachment_751620" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Judi Dench as a cat[/caption] Ever wanted to see Taylor Swift pouring cat nip on a crowd of cats from a suspended gold moon? Keen to soothe your disappointment over the fact that Idris Elba isn't James Bond by spotting him with whiskers, fur and a tail? Perhaps you've always dreamed of watching accomplished actors such as Judi Dench and Ian McKellen channel their inner feline? Have you ever hoped for all of the above, and for the actors to all play cat-sized cats? That's what's on offer in the just-dropped second trailer, as well as a heap of dancing and singing. In terms of story, Cats zaps Swift, Elba and company down to feline height to spin a narrative about the Jellicle cat tribe, who spend a night deciding just which four-legged moggy will get to leave their group, ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. The movie comes with a significant pedigree, with Les Miserables' Tom Hooper in the director's chair, Webber on music duties, Hamilton's Andy Blankenbuehler doing the choreography, and the cast also spanning James Cordon, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo, Ray Winstone and Rebel Wilson. And yet, it all looks a little odd. But we'll let you decide for yourself. You check out the second Cats trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNTDoOmc1OQ Cats opens in Australian cinemas on December 26.
Already a go-to for budget-friendly groceries, snow gear and whatever other specials that it can rustle up, ALDI is now bringing its discounted prices to your wardrobe. Selling clothes isn't new for the chain, as everyone who regularly trawls its middle aisles will be well-aware; however, for the first time ever, the brand is releasing its own ALDI streetwear collection. And yes, everything comes cheap — under $20 cheap, in fact. We all know someone that's bought a fridge, bed or TV at ALDI. You might even be that person. Now, everyone can know folks — or be them — that rock an ALDI-branded hoodie, track pants, slides, sneakers, socks or beanie. The list of items on offer in the new collection, which is called ALDImania, also includes sweatshirts, t-shirts, bucket hats and caps. For some pieces, there's also multiple colours available, with grey, navy and white the range's base hues. In total, there's 23 items made from sustainably sourced or recycled materials, with compact umbrellas and double-walled insulated mugs helping round out the collection. The socks have the lowest price, coming in at $4.99 no matter which of four styles you choose from. And the dearest item is the sneakers, which cost $19.99. In-between those maximums and minimums, fleecy hoodies will set you back $14.99, slides and beanies $7.99 each, and tees $8.99. From top to bottom — excluding underwear — you could deck yourself out in ALDI gear for less than $50. You'll only find the ALDImania collection in ALDI stores from Saturday, April 13. Given how popular the chain's usual specials are, expect the range to get snapped up quickly. "We have been offering our shoppers high-quality, affordable loungewear for years, but this is the first time we've brought our own brand of leisurewear to the middle aisles," said Belinda Grice, ALDI Australia's Buying Director for ALDImania. ALDI's streetwear range will hit the chain's supermarkets around Australia from Saturday, April 13. Visit the ALDI website for more details.
Since it kicked off in 2015, Melbourne clothing not-for-profit HoMie has been one of the most genuine 'feel good' brands on the market. Their clothes look great, and their mission – combatting homelessness – is more important than ever. Now, HoMie has joined forces with global mega label Champion to launch a very special winter capsule. Dubbed 'Champion Change', all profits from the new campaign will go towards HoMie's mission of helping young people experiencing homelessness or hardship. You might remember other capsules from these guys. HoMie and Champion have technically been collaborating since 2019, and previous collections have all been absolute winners. It's HoMie meets Champion — what's not to like? Champion Change features six bespoke apparel pieces and accessories, all designed to keep you warm this winter. You'll notice the logo isn't the normal HoMie badge: they've co-designed a new-look design with Champion. There are genderless hoodies, crew jumpers and an eye-catching reversible parka in camo print. A little something for everyone. 100% of profits will go towards training, clothing and job opportunities for young people experiencing homelessness. The capsule is available for a limited time, or until stock runs out, so get around it. You can shop the new look here. Images: Supplied
It might come as a surprise, given Australia's questionable internet speeds, but Melbourne has claimed the ranking of tenth smartest city in the world, with Sydney snapping at its heels in spot number 12. Headed up by international parking app company Easy Park, the 2017 Smart Cities Index analysed 500 cities worldwide, ranking the top 100. Other Australian cities that made the cut were Perth at number 41 and Adelaide at number 61. The key factors used in the study looked at digitalisation (including 4G connectivity, access to Wi-Fi hotspots and high smartphone usage) and knowledge-based mobility and transport (considering the prevalence of ride-share apps, smart parking and traffic sensors). Sustainability, online access to government services, and significant levels of citizen participation were also taken into consideration. Over 20,000 urban planning and technology experts were then asked to provide opinions about their own cities. Melbourne scored highest of all the countries for 4G connectivity, with Sydney and Perth making up the rest of the top three. Melbourne and Adelaide also ranked especially well when it came to citizen participation. Unsurprisingly, no Australian cities broke the top 20 for internet speed. While San Francisco topped the class with a perfect score of 10, Melbourne ranked number 26, with Sydney at 29 and Perth clocking in at 31. See the full table of results for the 2017 Smart Cities Index here. Photo via Wikimedia.
Peter Pan is a tragic figure. His happy days in Neverland are so attractive because they are contrasted by the story's inherent melancholy. He is, after all, a lost boy, stuck in time. He is an object of nostalgia for adults and an off-kilter hero to children. He's both fun and sad, heroic and innocent. Tommy Murphy's adaptation now playing at Belvoir is clear and true to the James Matthew Barrie classic, and Ralph Myers' direction highlights the levity of Peter's adventures whilst shying away from the displacement and isolation of the story. We follow a rambunctious cast of nine as they cavort happily from bedroom to sky to treacherous waters. The jolly times take place in Robert Cousins' simple set, filled with a world globe, a bunk bed, and a handy drum kit that doubles as a hiding place. The set effectively transforms from suburban '80s bedroom to Neverland to Captain Hook's ship. A two-sided cupboard is a multi-functional magic space into which characters disappear. Harriet Dyer, playing the twins, uses it to great effect, chasing her own terry-towelling-clad tail in and out. Upstage centre is a sliding window opening out onto Belvoir Street, which will blow the minds of the spatially challenged who may have thought the stage faced the opposite way. Damien Cooper's lighting design effectively hints at other worlds waiting to be explored, with high-wattage pale blue light streaming in through the window. The adventuring takes some time to kick off. Murphy has retained some quaint, turn-of-last-century phrasing, which at times gives the dialogue a strange, halted rhythm. Indeed, the first half is slow, and comic moments are due to individual actors' own efforts rather than tightly directed ensemble hilarity. Dyer and Jimi Bani stand out as comically strong members of the cast, and Charlie Garber playing Captain Hook does excellent melodrama, while Paula Arundell playing the mother is withheld. Meyne Wyatt playing Peter has been directed as a jokey dreamer, which works for the most part but falls down at the end during the sadder scenes. There are some beautifully directed moments, such as Tinker Bell's brush with death, which Megan Holloway executes nimbly with a glass bell and bowl of water. But generally, the show is slow-moving and plays at one level. It doesn't quite manage the double coding necessary to appeal to adults and children alike. That said, to make Peter Pan into a harmless piece of entertainment is no crime, and to be reminded of the beautiful story is a treat.
While Pyrmont's beloved Sydney Fish Markets are set to move to its new-look multimillion-dollar site by the end of 2024, the NSW Government has just unveiled plans for the future of Blackwattle Bay and the current Sydney Fish Market site in its absence. The new plans for the bay are currently on exhibition to the public. The plan includes 12 buildings with the potential to hold 2800 residents as well as commercial, retail and community spaces. Libraries, childcare facilities, community centres and a public domain building for cultural use adjacent to the Sydney Fish Market are all outlined as part of the project. The transformation will also see the waterfront precinct feature a new foreshore promenade running between Glebe Island Bridge and the new fish market, which will form part of a plan to make the fish market site more accessible. Other aspects of the proposal include a new ferry stop, public wharves and an underground car park with 417 spaces. [caption id="attachment_819574" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Artist interpretation of the new Blackwattle Bay[/caption] "Building the new Sydney Fish Market at the head of Blackwattle Bay is an incredible opportunity to transform an under-utilised area into a vibrant, accessible and attractive waterfront precinct," Planning and Public Spaces Minister Rob Stokes said when more detailed plans for the fish market were revealed last year. The new-look Blackwattle Bay precinct will potentially form part of a larger foreshore project that will also see White Bay's heritage buildings and surrounding area restored and transformed into a residential and commercial precinct. Included in the proposed plan for White Bay, which is currently under consideration, is the restoration of the Glebe Island Bridge and the preservation of the Glebe Island Silos. Other elements of the planned development include affordable housing, increased employment opportunities, the maintenance of the area's maritime industry, a harbour foreshore walk and a waterfront park. [caption id="attachment_804466" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Render of White Bay[/caption] On Facebook, Sydney Lorde Mayor Clover Moore called the plan for Blackwattle Bay "shocking", claiming the project was designed with "maximum developer profits" in mind and warning the residential buildings would "re-cast the whole area as shadow land" including the new Sydney Fish Market's solar panel roof. If you want to have your say about the plan you can find out more and make a submission via the NSW Government's Planning Portal up until Sunday, August 8. The new Sydney Fish Market is slated for completion in 2024. Images courtesy of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.
Thanks to Keith Courtney, Australians have already enjoyed a walk through a huge house of mirrors in the past few years. And, also with his help, moseying through an eerie and endless labyrinth of doors became a reality, too. The Melbourne installation artist isn't done setting up massive mazes just yet, however — and his latest, which is designed to resemble a huge human-sized kaleidoscope, is finally coming to Sydney in 2023. Called Kaleidoscope, fittingly, this installation isn't small. It's a 700-square-metre expanse of glass, steel, mirrors and moving prisms that features a labyrinth of corridors decked out in a revolving showcase of lights and colours. Originally debuting in Melbourne in 2022, then hitting Brisbane and Geelong among six Australian stops so far, it'll start shimmering and luring Harbour City residents at Powerhouse Ultimo for just over a month between Saturday, July 29–Sunday, September 10. Like both House of Mirrors and 1000 Doors, Kaleidoscope has been crafted to be immersive as possible. Expect to have your senses disoriented while you're strolling through, including both motion and gravity. Expect to see plenty of shifting illusions among the ever-changing array of light and colour as well, and to be drawn in by the installation's soundscape in the process. "No two people will have the same experience in Kaleidoscope. This is a multi-sensory and physical experience where the visitor is completely submerged in sound and light — a vortex of serenity," explains Courtney. "Their experience is entirely personal, and I think that's what I'm most proud of with this artwork. It makes my heart sing knowing that each person can walk through and create their own feeling of magic." In bringing the massive piece to life, the artist has teamed up with visual artist Ash Keating, composer Tamil Rogeon and artist Samantha Slicer, plus a team of highly skilled technicians. "I'm humbled that Sydney will finally experience this incredibly ambitious work, truly befitting of such a majestic city," continued Courtney. "Sydney is a place of captivating light and reflection, bouncing across the water, the sandstone, the skyscrapers. Kaleidoscope is my expression of a shimmering, ephemeral sensory experience, and I think it will resonate strongly with Sydneysiders and their environment." Find Kaleidoscope at Powerhouse Ultimo from Saturday, July 29–Sunday, September 10 — open from 2–9pm from Wednesday–Sundays — with tickets on sale now.
Last weekend, Sydney looked a little different than it has since COVID-19 took over our lives and shutdown our hospitality venues in March. We sat in cafes with our coffees, had a pub feed with mates and went out to dinner — all of which had been off the cards for months. There were some restrictions, though. The strict ten-person limit meant, for us, that getting a table was trickier than usual. For those on the other side of the kitchen pass, it meant filling every one of those ten seats was crucial. With so few tables allowed at a time, making a profit was either out of the question or going to be pretty slim. But, still some went empty, with several venues having bookings that simply didn't show up. Not even a phone call. Even in normal circumstances, it's a pretty bad move. Now? Unfathomable. One of those cursed with a no-show on opening weekend was celebrated chef Mat Lindsay's Surry Hills wine bar Poly. One of the top spots in town, with an award-winning chef behind it, the wine bar reopened as Petite Poly, with bookings available on Friday and Saturday. But, people just didn't show. "Clearly ten seats is not going to generate huge income but it all helps," Lindsay told Concrete Playground. "More than that, though, we were excited to provide a place so people could come out finally and get a little hospitality and some food that didn't come in a box and reheated. And our team were really excited to be providing that again. Mostly I was upset for the people that came wanting and excited to be there, but we had to turn them away disappointed only for the seats to go empty." [caption id="attachment_698801" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Poly, Kitti Gould[/caption] Up the road at Crown Street's late-night bar Low 302, another table went to waste. A four-person table — which is 40 percent of every venue's capacity right now — didn't show up. Nor did they call to cancel, meaning the bar couldn't fill it with one of the many people on its waitlist. "No shows, whilst maximum capacity numbers are so restricted, is an extra issue that nobody in hospo needs right now," owner Aref Jaroudy told CP. "It was so disappointing for the crew. We're not going to make bank with just ten people. It was turning people away that was the most upsetting for us. It's a shame. We got slammed with potential bookings when we announced we were opening. To say no, you feel like you're letting them down." As a result, you'll now have to pre-pay for a set menu at Poly when making a booking, something the team had wanted to avoid. Low 302 is going ahead with no deposit for this weekend's upcoming bookings, but if there's another no show, it might have to make the switch. https://www.facebook.com/Low3o2/posts/2929795243754894 Some Sydney restaurants required a deposit straight off the bat, including Marta in Rushcutters Bay and Potts Point diner Chester White. Others are only taking reservations for private parties of up to ten people, requiring a minimum spend, which is paid at time of booking. Such venues include the CBD's multi-level restaurant and nightclub Prince of York, Maurice Terzini's Ciccia Bella in Bondi and Woollahra's I Maccheroni. Paddington's Tequila Mockingbird started off with walk-ins to get a grasp for it all and is now taking bookings, taking credit card details for bookings of six or more and has a $100 minimum spend for groups of eight to ten. When asked about people cancelling if sick, owner Michael Fegent told CP: "I don't want to give people too many rules. We'll adjust as we go." For more spontaneous diners, you can head to venues like Maybe Frank, Chaco Ramen and Pizza Fritta, which are walk-in only at this time. [caption id="attachment_659258" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chaco Ramen[/caption] It's no secret the hospitality industry has been one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 restrictions. According to website I Lost My Hospo Shift, at last count, 2614 Aussie hospo workers had lost their jobs and 13,339 shifts had been cut, which equates to over $2 million in lost wages this week alone. So, despite the no shows, the limited capacities and turning people away, Sydney pubs, restaurants, bars and cafes reopening is a big win. If you've got a booking and can't make it — a situation that is sometimes inevitable — or wake up with so much as a sniffle, restaurants and bar owners ask you to at least call ahead of time, so they can offer the spot to a walk-in or someone else on the waiting list. "If a person is feeing in anyway unwell, the last thing they should be doing is going out to a restaurant," Jaroudy told CP. "Nor should they be penalised — say if a deposit had been taken — if they cannot make the booking...There's no one size fits all perfect solution here. If you are unwell, stay home. If you can call and cancel that's great." To find out what other Sydney restaurants are now open to dine-service, have a look over here. Top Image: Poly by Kitti Gould
High-concept cocktails, leather booths and a distinctly horny vibe are the modus operandi at play in Pleasure Club. The new bar-meets-live music venue-slash-performance space has finally opened its doors on Wilson Street in Newtown after almost a year of preparation and the promise (according to Entertainment Manager Sabrina Medcalf) to "blow up the status quo of what your average live music bar is presenting". So does it deliver? Well, the drinks list is pretty unreal, for starters. For the venue's launch, Creative Beverage Lead Sam Kirk collaborated with booze whisperer Matt Whiley (of Re) on a cocktail series dubbed 'Nostalgia Machine'. And you very quickly get a sense of the 90s breed of nostalgia they are accessing. Our pick is the 'Cherry Ripe', an astonishingly accurate rendition of the polarising chocolate bar created with rum, cherry, dark chocolate, Davidson's plum and coconut. The 'Vegemite' is also a highlight, kind of like a dirty martini but... Vegemitey? Other creations on the menu include 'Mr Whippy', 'Cheese TV' and the more palate challenging 'Chicken Parm' made with vodka, comte cheese, bacon, tomato and chicken salt. We liken it to a chilled alcohol-laced chicken soup. Do with that information what you will. The drinks are accompanied by a simple menu of good hot dogs that pair surprisingly well with the cocktails. The vibe of Pleasure Club is an anything-can-happen horny hedonism. A glowing purple eye greets you at the street level entrance, hinting at the layers of violet hues contained within. Otherworldly decor and stage design are tone-setters for the entertainment program, which will be a true mixed bag of live music, performance art and audience interaction. According to Odd Culture Group's Creative Director Nick Zavadszky, "It really will be a different beast depending on the occasion. There will be some heaving and revelrous late nights as well as some pared back, lo-fi shows. We've spent a lot of time engineering the journey from evening into late-night, with cues for transitioning to what we call Dark Service around the 11pm mark. You'll have to experience that one for yourself." And as of this evening you can. Pleasure Club is now open from Wednesday to Sunday 4pm-4am at 6 Wilson Street in Newtown. For programming details and more follow the venue on Instagram. Images by Parker Blain.
After a horror run over the last three years, another major cancellation has hit the Australian festival scene. This time, The Grass Is Greener has been forced to cancel its new Canberra and Geelong gigs, and four of its acts won't be appearing at the remaining Gold Coast and Cairns dates. 2023 was slated to be a big year for the fest, which made its debut in Cairns back in 2016. This year, it was due to expand outside the Sunshine State, including heading to Canberra and Geelong as part of its planned four-date run — and, it had locked in multiple international headliners. The festival has sadly had to scale back last-minute, citing a range of reasons including weather forecasts, rising costs and the event industry post-COVID. "The reason for cancellation doesn't rest upon a single factor. Rather, it's related to the culmination of multiple elements that have affected not only us but our industry partners and siblings across the entire event industry in the COVID/post-lockdown period," a statement from The Grass Is Greener team reads. [caption id="attachment_856350" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Curdin Photo[/caption] The statement continues: "From an event standpoint, especially heading into these new markets, a festival team relies on certain milestones to enable us to run events successfully. What's more, the weather warnings we're receiving from Canberra and Geelong have also played a large role in this decision. While the shows were selling slower than predicted, we still had full intention of seeing them through — loss or otherwise. However, when coupled with the chance that sites might not even be built due to the impending weather, we knew we had to make a call as soon as possible." While this is sad news for those in the ACT and Victoria, it's not all doom and gloom. The festival will still be going ahead in the Gold Coast on Saturday, October 22 and Cairns on Saturday, October 29 with the likes of YG, PNAU, Alok, Wafia, Boo Seeka and Wongo. ONEFOUR, Ty Dollar $ign, Zhu and Maya Jane Coles have dropped off the bill, however, and won't be playing the Gold Coast or Cairns. [caption id="attachment_856349" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mitch Lowe[/caption] Refund information for folks with tickets for the two cancelled dates will be made available in the next 7–14 days, or Canberra and Geelong ticketholders can use their tickets to gain access to the Gold Coast and Cairns festivals. The festival's statement also mentions that tickets will be valid for YG's Melbourne sideshow on Monday, October 31. YG was billed to appear with Ty Dolla $ign at his Margaret Court Arena show on that date. Be sure to check the festival and YG's Instagram pages for up-to-date info on this sideshow. [caption id="attachment_812356" align="alignnone" width="1920"] PNAU. Image: Pat Stevenson[/caption] THE GRASS IS GREENER 2022 LINEUP: Alok Aluna Boo Seeka Brux Crush3ed Little Fritter Wongo Market Memories Mood Swing & Chevy Bass Pnau Sidepiece Sticky Fingers TDJ YG + more THE GRASS IS GREENER 2022 DATES: Saturday, October 22 — Doug Jennings Park, Gold Coast Saturday, October 29 — Cairns Showgrounds, Cairns The Grass Is Greener has cancelled its Geelong and Canberra dates. It will now hit the Gold Coast and Cairns with reduced lineups this month. Head to the festival website for more information. Top image: Mitch Lowe.
Dinner is great. We can all agree on this. But lunch, when it's done well, can be extraordinary. Hours of possible eating time. Sunshine on a dazzling rooftop, in a plant-filled courtyard or on a cute balcony. Possibility of a post-lunch siesta — maybe even in a park or at a beach. And this can all be accomplished before 4pm. As part of American Express Delicious Month Out, restaurants and bars are turning it on and levelling up their lunch game — so you can too. We've rounded up some of the most exciting venues hosting long lunches this May; places where you can linger over bottomless margaritas and Mexican share plates, indulge in a Middle Eastern truffle feast or eat until you burst at an extravagant fresh seafood buffet. MIDDLE EASTERN CELEBRATION OF TRUFFLE AT NOUR, SURRY HILLS Like caviar and Japanese beef, truffle is a food item that causes quite the commotion. The expensive and hard-to-find fungi is shaved on meals to the excited squeals of diners at restaurants across the city each season. And it'll be in abundance at Nour this May. The Surry Hills restaurant is offering a Middle Eastern Celebration of Truffle menu, which'll see four truffle-heavy dishes by executive chef Paul Farag paired with four matching wines picked by sommelier Eleonore Wulf. Think, foie gras shawarma finished with shaved truffle, and a truffled take on halawet el jibn — a classic Arabic dessert made with a sweet cheese dough and cream. The indulgent menu is available for lunch every Friday and Saturday in May — and dinner Tuesday to Saturday, but we suggest you choose the former and grab a table out the front in the sun. INDULGENT LONG LUNCH AT FLYING FISH, PYRMONT This long lunch is one of the pricier options on the list, but, trust us, it's worth it. The no-time-limit meal will see you feasting on oysters, sea urchin, caviar-topped hash browns, kingfish and prawn toast — and that's just for starters. The full Indulgent Long Lunch Menu at Pyrmont's Flying Fish will set you back $130 and also stars barbecued swordfish, wagyu scotch fillet and Moreton Bay bug, along with a picture-perfect dessert of passionfruit parfait and pandan cream covered in a delicately torched meringue. Plus, there'll be a roaming martini trolley stirring (or shaking) James Bond's drink of choice — however you like it. [caption id="attachment_811066" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arianna Leggiero[/caption] BOTTOMLESS MARGARITA SUNDAY SESSIONS AT MEJICO, CBD Two words: bottomless margaritas. CBD restaurant Mejico is endlessly pouring the tequila-spiked cocktails from 11am–4pm every week in May as part of its Bottomless Margarita Sunday Sessions. And it's plating up plenty of Mexican share plates, too. Between sips, you'll be snacking on guacamole (smashed tableside), beef brisket empanadas, spicy fried chicken with hibiscus sauce and margarita cheesecake — plus a whole heap more. For $99 a head, you'll get all of this feasting, as well as 90 minutes of all-you-can-drink classic margs. Got an American Express Card? Mejico will also throw in some free hot sauce. BOTTOMLESS SPRITZ LUNCHES AT KID KYOTO, CBD Sydney CBD's alt-rock izakaya is offering a weekly long lunch that'll see you downing cocktails on turquoise booths surrounded by neon. Every Saturday in May, Kid Kyoto is hosting Bottomless Spritz Lunches, which feature two hours of all-you-can-drink chu-hais (a sake-based lemon spritz). To eat, you'll get a four-course meal of modern Japanese fare. Expect to feast on the likes of watermelon sashimi with wakame, chicken tsukune with marinated egg yolk, fried rice with fish floss and furikake, and a burnt banana ice cream with black sesame. All of that will set you back a pretty reasonable $82. Round up your nearest and dearest for this one. YUM CHA SERIES AT SPICE TEMPLE, CBD Subterranean haunt Spice Temple is getting into the yum cha game this May. It's plating up dumplings, spring rolls and lamb pancakes at lunch from Wednesday–Friday in the bar. We suggest you schedule in that midday 'meeting' now. For $49, you get to choose five different yum cha dishes, along with one of the restaurant's signature Zodiac cocktails or a beer. So, you can feast on the likes of prawn wontons with black vinegar dressing, pan-seared lamb dumplings, steamed buns, and lamb and cumin pancakes. Feeling flush? Add on a side of the signature fried chicken wings. Drinks include the Snake (pineapple, kumquat marmalade and sake) and the smoky Ox (whisky, Chinese five spice and wagyu-washed mezcal). SEAFOOD BUFFET AT FEAST AT SHERATON, CBD Buffets are back, baby. After a short hiatus last year, all-you-can-eat help-yourself meals are a reality you can experience once again. And Feast at Sheraton is plating up a doozy. It's putting on a fresh seafood buffet complete with tiger prawns, oysters and crab, as well as made-to-order buffet classics and — wait for it — a dessert bar. Yes friends, unlimited dessert. You can end your lunch here with three, no, ten macarons, some cake and maybe even a couple of pieces of fruit. We 100-percent recommend stretchy pants. The buffet is available for just $69 as part of American Express Delicious Month Out — $30 less than its usual price. Celebrate dining in Sydney this May with a month of exciting dining offers and events across restaurants, bars, cafes and more with American Express Delicious Month Out. Plan your month out now by heading this way. Top image: Flying Fish
Got a taste for the finer things, but your bank account doesn't feel quite the same way? Luckily, you can satisfy the former without totally draining the latter, when Botswana Butchery celebrates International Caviar Day on Monday, July 18. The New Zealand restaurant group's Martin Place outpost is dishing up a budget-friendly taste of the high life, in honour of one of the world's fanciest ingredients. Roll in from 12pm and you can enjoy bumps of Black River Siberian caviar straight off the back of your hand, for just $5 a pop. Plus, you can match the gourmet seafood snack to drink specials like $10 vodka shots and $15 glasses of Perrier Jouet. If you're feeling extra fancy, the restaurant's usual caviar service will also be on offer, with two styles of Giaveri caviar served by the 30-gram or 50-gram tin, and matched with rice crisps, blinis, chopped egg and other classic accompaniments. Restaurant bookings can be made online, though there'll be walk-ins available too. Top Image: Garth Oriander
We can't think of a much better way to launch into the sunny season than a day spent on an island, gorging on delicious food and wine. With that we say bring on Wine Island 2019, which will take over Sydney's Clark Island for an indulgent weekend of wine tasting from November 1–3. As always, the well-loved food and wine festival promises a packed lineup, starting with the spritz you'll enjoy on the boatride over. The island itself is set up as the ultimate boozy adult playground, you'll be able to choose between the Rosé Imports' selection of pink drops from southern France, Jetty Road Brewery's cold beers, Brix Distillers' rum bar and Manly Spirits' many gin drinks. There'll also be a swag of masterclasses curated by the team at Wine Selectors, covering everything from the blind tastings to tongue twisters, and an espresso martini making session, too. Swing by the Napoleon Perdis Beauty Bar for a massage and a makeover or cruise the various wine stalls sampling a huge array of local and international drops — and enjoy some top-notch vino with even better views. And, to keep you fuelled for that big day of wine appreciation, expect food options galore, from oysters and cheese platters, to buns from your mates at Chur Burger. There are three Wine Island ticket packages available, starting with the $109 'five-star experience', which includes ferry transfers, five tastings, a souvenir tumbler and a spritz. Then there's the $209 'seven-star experience' — with more tastings, more food and a free massage — or, if you're feel extremely opulent, you can pay $299 and experience the whole thing from your own floating island, dubbed The Hamptons. Tickets go on sale at midday on Friday, August 9, with pre-sale from Wednesday, August 7 and group bookings from Thursday, August 1. Image two: Jack Toohey
Visit the old-school ticket box at the Elizabeth Street Bus Shelter next month and you'll score tickets for a very different kind of journey; namely, a ride to flavour town courtesy of Nutie's pop-up dessert bar. Best known for its gluten-free doughnuts and inventive plant-based sweet treats, the crew is teaming up with the soon-to-open Coffee Press Cafe for a tasty, two-week stint, where it'll dish up some of its most impressive all-vegan, all-GF desserts yet. The pop-up is set to run from October 5 to 20, opening for post-dinner dessert cravings and caffeine hits, from 5-10pm daily. One brand-new creation making an appearance is Nutie's vegan (and gluten free) cookie dough brownie sundae — a triple-decker fudge brownie teamed with cookie chunks, vanilla cookie dough bombs, rich choc fudge sauce and a hearty scoop of vegan ice cream. There'll also be (vegan and GF) s'mores torched to order, either featuring a classic choc fudge ice cream sandwich, or loaded with boozy cherry compote to create an indulgent black forest version. They'll sit alongside long-time Nutie favourites like baked doughnuts and those outrageous Golden Gaytime doughnut bombs. The pop-up's conveniently (or inconveniently, if you have trouble saying no) located right near the Night Noodle Markets. Keep it in mind for your post-dumpling dessert fix. Nutie Late-Night Dessert Bar will be open every night from 5–10pm.
If you only see one play this year, make it two. Angels in America is an epic in two parts, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, and Belvoir is putting them on in repertory, giving you the option of seeing both works back to back in one day. At some point, it ceases being theatre and becomes an event. It takes you past familiar experience and leaves you poised for something new and unforgettable. The play itself, by Tony Kushner, is a landmark piece. When he wrote the first part in 1988, AIDS was the great unknown terror. It was one year earlier in Australia that an iconic PSA lodged the grim reaper firmly into our consciousness (terrifying, but part of an impressive and often grassroots education campaign that put Australia ahead of the curve for once). To write about the effect of AIDS on gay men at this time was explosively humanising, let alone to do it with such grandeur and perspective. The play has since been an HBO series and an opera. It's won Tonys and a Pulitzer. It's almost too big to grasp, and yet its subtitle, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, is a pretty accurate precis. Angels is what an American brand of magic realism might look like crossed with The West Wing. Its characters talk fast about big ideas while travelling to heaven to backchat their divine orders. Prior Walter (Luke Mullins) is the chosen prophet. He's been diagnosed with AIDS, and after a truly wretched night of pain during which he's hospitalised, his partner, Louis Ironson (Mitchell Butel) leaves him. Louis cannot forgive himself for his act of abandonment, but he also can't go back. Despite the companionship of his friend Belize (DeObia Oparei, channelling Andre Leon Talley), Prior is mostly alone, making him prey to ghostly ancestors, unearthly voices and other phantoms affecting the heavily medicated (or the chosen ones). Meanwhile, Roy Cohn (Marcus Graham) — a Republican power broker, McCarthyist prosecutor, libertarian ranter and all-round vile human being (who's quite real) — is diagnosed with AIDS, too, but he chooses to call it 'liver cancer' and quietly procures himself the latest treatments. His protege, fresh-faced young Mormon Jo Pitt (Ashley Zukerman), is also fighting to repress his sexuality, while his behaviour drives his fragile wife, Harper (Amber McMahon), to disconnect further from reality. As cute as they are to each other, when he does finally admit his feelings, she astral travels to Antartica in the arms of a friendly hallucination. Angels in America is really all about these characters, whom you'll soon be willing to follow anywhere (even Ray, in a Joffrey-like sense), and the actors who bring them to life in front of you. Each performance is more flooring than the last, from the rawness and range of Mullins' Prior to the scary, constant intensity of Graham's Ray (through a combination of make-up/sheer force of will/audience imagination, they also genuinely seem to waste away over the course of the seven hour play, which is startling). Spread across several smaller roles, Robyn Nevin and Paula Arundell charm just as well — in fact, Nevin as Jo's Mormon mother and matronly Communist Ethel Rosenberg (deceased) carries off some of the show's most surprisingly tender moments. The parts were written for the actors to play across gender lines, and it remains a fun touch. Director Eamon Flack is playful but fidelitious. There's fire, snow, blood, smoke and a showstopping special effect, but the production retains a sense of handmade creativity and openness. It asks the audience, play along. The low-tech attitude stops at the set, by Michael Hankin. The guiding thought behind it seems to have been, 'how can we communicate the magnitude and un-temporariness of this production?' And the answer was, tile it, tile it all. Tile it so that ten bathrooms must go naked. Tile it so the audience is forced to imagine the drama of demolition. The glossy, beige-spectrum subway tile evokes the arteries of New York, but it also calls to mind bathrooms, hospitals and every situation in which the easy wiping off of fluids is valued. It's almost the maxi-minimalist set — a statement that simplicity is not a bludge. And in its capacity to make light dance, it's beautiful. This might sound weird, but a seven-hour play is the perfect entertainment for our time. We've already proved we'll watch a season of TV in one sitting, and now any book or movie shaped liked TV — that is, episodically — is likely to fare well, too. Angels in America is such a story. It's not that it doesn't tax your wits; it's that characters you trust will be there to hold your hand when it does. Don't fear seven hours of theatre — go the binge.
"Sadder than destitution, sadder than a beggar, is the man who eats alone in public," Jean Baudrillard famously wrote in his 1986 book, America. "Nothing more contradicts the laws of man or beast, for animals always do each the honour of sharing or disputing each other's food." Marina van Goor, the founder and designer of Eenmaal, a pop-up that made a lightning-quick, 48 hour appearance in Amsterdam last week, begs to differ. 'Here, you can dine in pleasant solitude,' she explains. 'Eenmaal is an exciting experiment for those who never go out dining alone, as well as an appealing opportunity for those who often eat alone at restaurants.' In fact, the only tables available at the restaurant were those for one. It was the first establishment of its kind in the world. Working in conjunction with Dutch branding agency, Vandejong, van Goor was hoping to lessen the negative stigma associated with spending time alone in public spaces. Even though we know that more and more people are now living on their own, many individuals still feel insecure about making a solo trip to a cinema, theatre or restaurant. The name Eenmaal translates (loosely) to 'One Meal' or 'One Time', with the sign pictured below reading, 'You come with one, You sit with one, You eat with one.' [via PSFK]
The celebrated sculptor and perpetual made-you-look artist has revealed his latest installation as part of the first Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India. Set in a gallery floor at the Aspinwall House in Fort Kochi, Anish Kapoor's Descension sees a caged vortex of black water furiously frothing and swirling, slowly receding into an bottomless abyss. Looks like Kapoor hopped out of the bath one day, pulled the plug and got well freaked out. The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is India's first biennale for contemporary art held in Kochi — with Kapoor's work one of the major drawcards for both local and international visitors. Created especially for the Kerala capital by the artist who gave Chicago Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Descension is located in a seaside corner room of the Aspinwall gallery, looking out to the harbour and freaking out gallery visitors looking for a peaceful stroll through Nice Art. I mean, look at this GIF: Terrfiying. Check out Kapoor talking to the Biennale team about the work here. Via Designboom and Colossal.
A new annual event is joining Sydney's regular celebrations of flavour and culinary talent, this time shining a well-deserved spotlight on Australian native ingredients and First Nations flavours — thanks to the inaugural First Nations Food Festival in Carriageworks this September. Taking place on the weekend of Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28, the festival is a showcase of Australia's leading indigenous chefs, businesses and creatives. The lineup, curated by organiser Indigiearth, will highlight bushfood and First Nations culture through food, education and performances. Talents from throughout the world of hospitality and beyond are set to take part, too. There'll be cooking demonstrations from Ben Shewry (Attica), Kylie Kwong and native grains expert, Kerrie Saunders and speaking sessions from Raylene Brown (Kungkas Can Cook), Ronni Kahn (OzHarvest), Pat Torres (Mayi Harvests), Jenny Khan (The Unexpected Guest), and Aunty Beryl, founder of Yaama Barrgay. Visitors will be able to enjoy any of the above sessions, or visit the Indigiearth pop-up cafe, browse market stalls from eighteen participating Indigenous-owned and operated native ingredient producers, and take part in bushfood masterclasses. Speaking ahead of the festival, Indigiearth CEO, Founder and Executive Chef Sharon Winsor said "This festival is more than a showcase, it's a celebration of Country, culture and connection through food…We're sharing the stories of the people who grow, harvest, cook and protect these ancient ingredients with the broader community. It's about honouring our past while creating a stronger future for native foods and First Nations voices." The inaugural Australian Native Food Festival will take place on September 27–28, general admission is free, registration required. To register or for more information, visit the website. Images: supplied
Dubai is truly the land of structural opportunity, the Hollywood of the architectural world. There seems to be no limit to what can be built in Dubai, and while they've spent the last few decades ranging upwards with more and more outlandishly tall towers — Dubai Civil Defence is even training a fleet of jet-packed fire fighters to respond to the crazy heights — they now have set their sights on the magical realm of under the sea. Dubai's first partially underwater villa, named The Floating Seahorse, has just been completed in the Heart of Europe, a cluster of luxury man-made islands just a few miles off the shore. The lower level of the three-storey structure is completely submerged so you can literally sleep with the fishes (in a non-life threatening kind of way). The house also features a man-made reef to encourage the growth and protect marine life in the area, with a special focus on their namesake, the seahorse. The villa is one of 42 being built in the area, all of which have apparently been sold for a cool $2.7 million clams. If you missed out, we suggest turning the heater up to humid and grabbing a copy of the Sims 3: Island Paradise expansion — it's basically the same thing but for a fraction of the price. While the villas are astounding, they're not altogether surprising because we, the collective consciousness of the Internet, have recently been going bananas for everything submerged. The Airbnb room literally inside an aquarium shark tank, Africa's first underwater hotel and Subsix in the Maldives — a sunken restaurant with 360 degree views of the surrounding marine life — all point towards an interest in watery accommodation. Something Sebastian the crab said must have really gotten into our brains because we all want to be under the sea (ideally with a hot crustacean band). And now we can. Via Travel + Leisure.
They're sticky, cinnamon scrolls, drenched in glaze and famous all across the USA. And now, at last, they're available Down Under. Yep, Seattle-born chain Cinnabon has landed in Australia, with a Brisbane outpost now serving up delicious baked goods. The launch was first announced in January this year, when family-run Queensland company Bansal Foods scored the Aussie rights to Cinnabon. But, now, it's more than just news. Brisbanites eager to get their fix can head to Toombul Shopping Centre in the city's north, and grab a scroll seven days a week — well, once the opening queues die down. Cinnabon has been going strong in America since 1985, so it has already picked up plenty of Aussie fans along the way. But this is the first time that we're able to get our hands on those sticky, cinnamon-infused baked goods on home soil. The new Brisbane store slings a trio of Cinnabon cult classics, including the classic cream cheese cinnamon roll, the popular chocolate-drizzled Chocobon and very extra Caramel Pecanbon. They're available in both mini and large sizes, along with packs featuring either four or nine 'minibons'. There's coffee and lots of sugary drinks to pair with your snacks, too, including a cinnamon bun frappe. If you're yet to get acquainted with the decadent dessert creations, prepare yourself for aromatic, cinnamon-spiked dough made to a long-held recipe, decked out with stacks of signature cream cheese frosting and loaded with extras. They're notoriously tough to replicate. Toombul Shopping Centre recently opened a new neon-lit upstairs dining precinct, but Cinnabon isn't a part of that. Instead, it's located on the ground floor near Coles. And if you're not in Brisbane, it probably won't be too long until Cinnabon makes its way down south. The Toombul store is set to be the first of many. A second Brisbane store in Mt Gravatt is due to open in January 2020 and, going off plans announced earlier in the year, Cinnabon is looking to launch in Sydney and beyond in 2021. Cinnabon is now open on the ground level of Toombul Shopping Centre, 1015 Sandgate Road, Toombul.
Broadcasting out of a tiny shopfront on New York City's First Avenue, the legendary East Village Radio has been a solid citizen of the Big Apple for the past 11 years. But heavy licensing fees will see the independent online station forced to shut down, broadcasting its last show on May 23. Covering every genre from experimental, brash Brooklyn garage rock to phonograph recordings of old-timey pre-war singalongs, EVR has had some serious talent behind the wheel over the years. With presenters such as Mark Ronson, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce (The Smiths), members of Das Racist, Elliot Wilson (Rap Radar) Hannah Rad (Diddy's Revolt TV), Bobby Friction (BBC) and many, many more, EVR has been responsible for both breaking green new artists and reminding listeners of legends they might have missed. Inviting countless big and small name guests into the tiny mirror-walled, glass-fronted studio wedged between a tattoo parlour and a local Italian eatery Frankie's (and sitting just around the corner from the former site of rock Mecca CBGB), EVR has formed an integral part of the New York music landscape over the years, with Lou Reed, Johnny Marr and Richard Hell popping in on occasion. And Drake. Popularity isn't the problem for EVR, with listenership rising daily for the online broadcaster since opening as a 10-watt FM radio station in 2003. But with each new pair of ears comes a price tag, one the station can't afford to front forever. According to the Congressional Digital Music Copyright Act of 1998, online broadcasters must pay a digital performance royalty for each listener. With EVR achieving over a million listeners a month, it seems popularity would bankrupt the beloved station. "Every time we get a new listener, it costs us more money with licensing fees and Internet costs," East Village Radio CEO Frank Prisinzano told East Village blog EV Grieve. "After doing some projections, we see that it is going to be very, very difficult for us to continue to break even." General manager and head of programming Peter Ferraro explained to the blog that the station was paying an unfair price for its own popularity. "It's almost like we are being penalized for our growth... We pay a higher rate for royalties and licensing than Pandora pays," he said. "We live in a world where these behemouth music-streaming services keep going in for more capital. It's very difficult for an independent medium music company to survive in a world where Apple is paying $3.2 billion for Beats by Dre." New Yorkers aren't the only ones who'll miss EVR. Broadcasting in an online capacity and through the EVR app, the radio station found most of its fanbase worldwide — particularly in the UK. Countless Australians have featured on the station, with drop-ins from locals The Presets, Flume, Courtney Barnett, The Preatures (pictured above), Kevin Parker, Jagwar Ma, Hiatus Kaiyote, Art vs. Science, Anna Lunoe, The Laurels, San Cisco, The Griswolds and many more. With just a few weeks of broadcast left, EVR presenters will have the chance to sign off in their own signature fashion. In a gesture of professional decency, the station will also release every last archived show to each DJ so they can hunt around for syndication elsewhere or land themselves another presenting spot. So crank up EVR while you still can and join the team for their last hurrah on May 23. Listen to EVR online here. Via EV Grieve and New York Observer.
Killing Them Softly is the third movie by Australian writer-director Andrew Dominik, and as with his two previous films (Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), it focuses almost entirely on the criminal underworld and those who inhabit it. Set in 2008, it follows hitman Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) as he's hired by the mob to track down and execute a trio of small-time hoods for sticking up one of their illegal card games (Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Vincent Curatola). Pitt absolutely excels as the shrewd, no-nonsense killer dutifully dispatching the mob's condemned subject to two important caveats: he won't kill people he knows, and he won't kill people up close. Not because it's ethically troubling or offensive to his sense of honour, but because it's awkward and a humiliating seeing old acquaintances beg and cry before they die. Cogan's preference is instead to "kill them softly", at least until he grabs the shotgun, and under Dominik's direction the violence (of which there's quite a bit) combines the graphic brutality of Casino with the stylised cinematography of Drive. It's at once horrific and mesmerising, most notably during a supremely slow-motion assassination between two cars stopped at some traffic lights. The story is largely based on Cogan's Trade, a 1974 novel by author and former assistant US attorney George V Higgins. Higgins was perhaps best known for his use of hyper-realistic dialogue, lending his stories a theatrical quality that Dominik was wise to preserve. His screenplay crackles with fantastic exchanges and wonderful one-liners ranging from the droll observations of the mob's lawyer (Richard Jenkins) to the menace of Pitt's casually veiled threats. It's a fantastic and accomplished offering, with the only heavy hand coming by way of the film's laboured political overtones. Killing Them Softly opens on the boarded storefronts and destitution of an unnamed but neglected city set against billboards from the 2008 presidential campaign and excerpts of Obama's convention speech extolling the virtues of America's promise. Later, we hear President Bush justifying the bank bailout over shots of those disenfranchised and indigent who would ultimately foot the bill. America's promise has failed, we're told again and again — empty words and empty undertakings in a world where corporatisation has transformed the country for the worse. Calvin Coolidge once remarked that the chief business of the American people was business. Crap, says Cogan. America is the business, and the American people are just trying to get one up on everybody else. It's do or be done — and if you’re doing, make sure you're damned well paid for it.
You sure couldn't accuse Sydney restaurant Bill & Toni's of expanding too quickly. After all, it's only now — with more than 50 years under its belt — that the Darlinghurst institution is preparing to add three more venues to the family. So, why now? Well, the venue has a new owner, Chris Montel, who, since taking over last year, has swiftly made plans to launch three more outposts by the end of 2018. Surfers Paradise and Melbourne's Lygon Street will each get their slice of Bill & Toni's in the coming months, followed by a venue in Montel's own stomping ground of Cronulla later in the year. The aim for each, according to Montel, is to recreate the vibe and offering of the original — everything from the retro-leaning decor to the memorabilia lining the walls will be reimagined for the new spaces. The loveable old-school diner has cemented its status as a cult favourite of Sydney's Italian dining scene with its generous fare, pinball machines and the complimentary orange cordial that makes its way onto most of the tables. But, arguably, its charm lies in the fact that it's been around forever, and we're not quite convinced that will resonate with new cities and communities — especially Lygon Street, which is full of long-running old-school Italian joints already. While details for the Cronulla restaurant are still vague, the planned interstate outposts will be a little smaller, each boasting just one level and room for about 150 people, though they'll be dishing up the same short and snappy menu Darlinghurst folks have been loving for years. Time will tell if those hefty serves of crisp chicken schnitzel and spaghetti bolognese will win over a few new lifelong fans. Bill & Toni's will open on the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Cronulla in Sydney's south this year. We'll let you know opening dates and exact locations of the three new venues as they drop. Until then, you can visit the OG Bill & Toni's at 72–74 Stanley Street, Darlinghurst. Images: Kimberley Low.
They say change is as good as a holiday, and at Church Point, we argue that brunch is as good as a holiday. This family-run general store on stilts may be in the far reaches of Pittwater. Kick back on the breezy deck and watch tug boats and tinnies drift through the water before you; stake out the gum tree-covered land across the estuary you plan to purchase when your side hustle goes global. The deconstructed breakfast tacos and French toast with ricotta and honeycomb are also very viable reasons to visit.
If you're the sort of person who likes to eat meat until you start shaking with the meat sweats and can (m)eat no more, then a festival very relevant to your interests is coming to town. Meatstock Festival, a two-day celebration of all things animal, is setting up its smoky self in the Sydney Showgrounds on the weekend of May 4 and 5. Not just your regular food festival, bands on the Meatstock lineup include Henry Wagons, The Sweet Jelly Rolls, Frank Sultana, Mojo Juju, Adrian Eagle, The Little Quirks, Busby Marou Benny Walker, with more to be announced. Sure, there'll be less music than there is at Woodstock, but there will be 200 percent more tasty meat-related foods. The food stars of the show are Burn City Smokers, Black Bear BBQ, Rangers Texas BBQ and more. Try some of each, or make your way through all of the food stalls and then fall into a sweaty, cholesterol-heavy heap — don't say we didn't warn you. Finally, for a little old-fashioned rivalry, the festival will be running its Butcher Wars, which will basically be a bunch of hopefully unbloodied people running around competing and wielding various knives. There's also Barbecue Wars too, heating up the grill in more ways than one. What a weekend.
When Baz Luhrmann makes a new film, the world takes notice — including the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts and its annual awards. No stranger to heaping the filmmaker's movies with accolades, with every single one of his past flicks from Strictly Ballroom through to The Great Gatsby scoring nominations (and those two specific titles winning Best Film), AACTA has continued the trend by showering the director's latest in 2022 nods. Topping the just-announced nominations for this year's AACTA Awards — which were previously called the AFI Awards, before changing their name — Elvis picked up a whopping 15 nods, the most of any film. The accolades recognise the best and brightest in Australian cinema and television each year, with Mystery Road: Origin also scoring the same amount of noms in the TV categories. In their respective formats, Elvis and Mystery Road: Origin have plenty of company. The former is competing against Here Out West, Sissy, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, The Stranger and Three Thousand Years of Longing for 2022's Best Film, for instance — and the latter is up against Bump, Heartbreak High, Love Me, The Tourist and Wolf Like Me for the year's best television drama. The winners of those categories, and AACTA's full list of fields, will be announced in early December on two dates: Monday, December 5 and Wednesday, December 7. Also highlights among the film nominees: 13 nominations apiece for The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson and Three Thousand Years of Longing, Austin Butler getting an unsurprising Best Actor nomination for playing the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Nude Tuesday scoring a heap of love, acting nods for the powerful Blaze and a whole heap of recognition for The Stranger, including for writer/director Thomas M Wright. And, among the TV cohort, Mystery Road: Origin also picked up five noms in the four acting fields for TV dramas, spanning Mark Coles Smith, Tuuli Narkle, Daniel Henshall, Steve Bisley and Hayley McElhinney; Love Me and The Twelve nabbed ten nominations each across all categories; and Heartbreak High's James Majoos received the show's sole acting nod. Across both film and TV, a heap of international names graced the acting nominations, too, a common AACTAs trend. On 2022's list: Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton for Three Thousand Years of Longing, both the aforementioned Butler and Tom Hanks for Elvis, Sean Harris for The Stranger, Jackie van Beek and Jemaine Clement for Nude Tuesday, Joanna Lumley for Falling for Figaro and Jamie Dornan for The Tourist. Here's a selection of this year's major AACTA nominations, ahead of the awards' ceremonies on Monday, December 5 and Wednesday, December 7 — and you can check out the full list on AACTA's website: AACTA NOMINEES 2022: FILM AWARDS: BEST FILM Elvis Here Out West Sissy The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson The Stranger Three Thousand Years of Longing BEST INDIE FILM A Stitch In Time Akoni Darklands Lonesome Pieces Smoke Between Trees BEST DIRECTION Baz Luhrmann, Elvis Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, Sissy Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson Thomas M Wright, The Stranger George Miller, Three Thousand Years of Longing BEST LEAD ACTOR Austin Butler, Elvis Rob Collins, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson Joel Edgerton, The Stranger Idris Elba, Three Thousand Years of Longing Damon Herriman, Nude Tuesday BEST LEAD ACTRESS Aisha Dee, Sissy Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson Julia Savage, Blaze Tilda Swinton, Three Thousand Years of Longing Jackie van Beek, Nude Tuesday BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Simon Baker, Blaze Jemaine Clement, Nude Tuesday Malachi Dower-Roberts, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson Tom Hanks, Elvis Sean Harris, The Stranger BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Jada Alberts, The Stranger Jessica De Gouw, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson Olivia DeJonge, Elvis Joanna Lumley, Falling For Figaro Yael Stone, Blaze BEST SCREENPLAY Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner, Elvis Jackie van Beek, Nude Tuesday Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson Thomas M Wright, The Stranger George Miller and Augusta Gore, Three Thousand Years of Longing BEST DOCUMENTARY Ablaze Clean Everybody's Oma Franklin Ithaka River TELEVISION AWARDS: BEST DRAMA SERIES Bump Heartbreak High Love Me Mystery Road: Origin The Tourist Wolf Like Me BEST TELEFEATURE OR MINISERIES Barons Savage River The Twelve True Colours Underbelly: Vanishing Act BEST COMEDY PROGRAM Aftertaste Five Bedrooms Hard Quiz Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell Spicks and Specks Summer Love BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA Mark Coles Smith, Mystery Road: Origin Jamie Dornan, The Tourist James Majoos, Heartbreak High Sam Neill, The Twelve Hugo Weaving, Love Me BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA Isla Fisher, Wolf Like Me Claudia Karvan, Bump Kate Mulvany, The Twelve Tuuli Narkle, Mystery Road: Origin Bojana Novakovic, Love Me BEST COMEDY PERFORMER Wayne Blair, Aftertaste Patrick Brammall, Summer Love Harriet Dyer, Summer Love Tom Gleeson, Hard Quiz Charlie Pickering, The Weekly with Charlie Pickering Doris Younane, Five Bedrooms BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA Hayley McElhinney, Mystery Road: Origin Jacqueline McKenzie, Savage River Heather Mitchell, Love Me Brooke Satchwell, The Twelve Magda Szubanski, After the Verdict BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA Steve Bisley, Mystery Road: Origin Brendan Cowell, The Twelve Daniel Henshall, Mystery Road: Origin Damon Herriman, The Tourist Thomas Weatherall, Heartbreak High
If you've been in the DIY-doldrums since Work-Shop disappeared from their Broadway premises, we’ve some excellent news for you. They’re back. And they haven’t merely moved. They’ve expanded their crafty crusade across two brand-new premises – The Makery, at 106 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, and the official Work-Shop HQ, at 80 George Street, Redfern. The first is the creative’s ultimate shopfront. Every single item has been crafted by a local artist. Hand-poured soy candles with names like ‘black bamboo + lily’ and ‘black raspberry’ line the shelves. Dioramas in vintage tins hold impossibly tiny scenes of striped lighthouses and motorcyclists and families. Reflection-based photographic portraits of surfers shimmer on the wall. There are hand-blended teas, detailed jewellery, painted skateboards and individually designed garments. Here’s how it works. Independent artists, designers and artisans 'rent' one of the shop's display environments — be it a wall or corner or shelf — for a minimal weekly fee. That's where the vendor's costs end. The Work-Shop Makery facilitates sales, devoid of commission or mark-ups. It’s a chance for creative types to display their wares, without the expense of through-the-roof rent, the scariness of approaching galleries and/or the hassle of risking inclement weather at markets. Not only do they get their very own space, they can also take advantage of Work-Shop’s increasing popularity, marked social media presence and the sheer volume of foot traffic on Oxford Street. "We work with City of Sydney a fair bit and they approached us with the space," Work-Shop co-founder Matt Branagan explains. "We wanted to create a space where we could give young makers and designers and artists a proper shopfront. It’s also a grassroots place, where people can meet and connect.” At least once a week, The Makery hosts ‘Meet the Maker’ sessions. The ‘makers’ head into the shop and spend some time painting, sculpting, stitching or doing whatever it is that they do. Anyone can drop in for a chat. “We often go into a shop and buy things,” Matt says. “But we don’t know much about the process of how or why it was made.” Workshops are also planned, with 3D crochet happening on Saturday, February 8, and Knitting 101 for February 15. There’ll also be various parties, events and launches. Pozible is scheduled to pop-up for a week in March, and a bunch of Etsy vendors are planning on organising regular meet-ups. “We want to create a community of people, just sharing and bouncing off each other, meeting other people who inspire them to take their path in a different direction or help their business,” Matt explains. Meanwhile, the spacious 80 George Street site has been turned into the Work-Shop HQ. Forty-five people turned up on February 1 for the first Work-Shop — typography with Gemma O'Brien. All kinds of new classes are on the menu — hula hooping, African drumming, robotics, foraging and swing dancing — and, in about a month's time, a cafe will be in operation, serving caffeine hits from 6am. You can even get in on the action semi-permanently by renting your own deskspace. The Makery The Makery The Makery The Makery The Makery Work-Shop HQ Work-Shop HQ Work-Shop HQ Images by Lindsay Smith.
Two years since opening in Surry Hills, Bar Suze has announced that it will be taking part in a well-worn hospitality tradition: pivoting. The small Foveaux Street bar that's been specialising in natural wines and Swedish snacks will shift its focus and reopen as B.S. Pasta Palace on Friday, July 7. Expect the same great Bar Suze atmosphere with a no-fuss menu focusing on pasta and snacks. Thankfully, this means that Surry Hills isn't losing the bustling spot, but you do only have a couple more weeks to get your hands on the venue's toast skagen or eggplant galette. [caption id="attachment_907153" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Toast skagen, Nikki To[/caption] To celebrate the site's time as Bar Suze and mark its evolution, the team is throwing a Midsommar party on Sunday, July 2 before the bar shuts down for a four-day hibernation. This walk-in-only celebration will feature plenty of natural wine, signature Bar Suze Nordic snacks and DJs setting the soundtrack. Not content with just an overhaul of their original venue, Bar Suze owners Greg Bampton and Phil Stenvall are also opening a new outpost in Potts Point. Named Caravin, this 30-ish-seat French wine bar will arrive in the former Dumpling & Beer site next to Piccolo Bar on Ward Street. [caption id="attachment_808310" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bar Suze, Nikki To[/caption] Bampton and Stenvall will bring their learnings from Bar Suze over to this second venue, where they're aiming to really put their stamp on Sydney's wine bar scene. Expect a diverse list of vino partnered with an experimental menu of European snacks. The opening will solidify Potts Point one of the best spots in Sydney to find an understated haunt with a standout drinks menu. Caravin will join its neighbour Piccolo Bar — one of our picks for the 20 best bars in Sydney — as well as Piccolo's sibling Vermuteria, the Love Tilly Group's Dear Sainte Eloise, Bar Lucia, Chester White Cured Meats and Jangling Jacks, just to name a few, in the vibrant late-night suburb that has enjoyed a major comeback since the end of the lockout laws. [caption id="attachment_907152" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bar Suze, Nikki To[/caption] B.S. Pasta Palace will open at 54 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills from Friday, July 7, while Caravin will open at 9 Ward Avenue, Potts Point in spring 2023.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. 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, 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. Everyone is tired in The Black Phone, albeit in varying ways. At first, that comes as a surprise — it's a looser, more laidback time, and the film happily rides the vibe in its opening Little League game. Still, that relaxed air comes with its own sense of anxiety. What's better, an era when kids escape their homes during daylight, roaming the streets as they like but also instilled with a festering sense of stranger danger, or a period where such unsupervised freedom seems utterly unthinkable? This movie lurks in the former, obviously, and there is indeed a dangerous stranger prowling around north Denver's suburban streets. To 13-year-old Finney Blake (Thames), his younger sister Gwen (McGraw) and their schoolmates, that monstrous figure is known as The Grabber, and he's abducted several of their peers so far. Finney and Gwen are also exhausted at home, where their alcoholic father Terrence (Jeremy Davies, The House That Jack Built) is hardly hands-on — unless his hands are flying in anger their way. At school, Finney has a trio of bullies to deal with, too; luckily, if his pal Robin (first-timer Miguel Cazarez Mora) isn't around to save him, the plucky and sweary Gwen usually is. She's zapped as well, courtesy of dreams of events that haven't quite happened yet. The pair's mother had the same ability, which is why their dad is so sozzled, and also so hard on the two of them. Fatigue is well and truly in the air, thick yet invisible, although The Grabber's (Hawke) is the flimsiest. After taking Finney, he's drained by his need to kidnap and kill. That doesn't stop him from terrorising the neighbourhood, of course — but if his latest target has his way, aided by advice whispered down the disconnected basement telephone by past victims, the masked assailant might soon be far worse than simply weary. 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. As Lola, Cruz is a 'find yourself someone who can do both'-kind of marvel. She's clearly starring in a comedy, and her timing, rhythms and line delivery are as fine-tuned as any acting great who has ever tried to amuse an audience — and serve up a hefty reminder that viewers rarely get to see her in such a role — but she perfects the drama of the situation, too. The latter stems from Lola's male leads, who are caught up in a clash of egos, and from the director herself as she keeps eagerly but purposefully pulling their strings. Light, fluid, sharp, smart: they all fit this savvily portrayed character, and never for a second does Cruz feel like she's seesawing too easily, needlessly or temperamentally from comic to serious and back. Earlier in 2022, she was nominated for an Oscar for her sublime performance in Parallel Mothers — an award she deserved to win, but didn't — and although Official Competition couldn't be a more different film, she's just as much of a force to be reckoned with within its frames. Cohn and Duprat might have a little of Lola in them, as well as conjuring her up with fellow scribe Andrés Duprat (My Masterpiece). The Argentine filmmaking duo's rehearsal methods aren't part of the movie, obviously, and it's likely that they didn't wrap their cast in cling wrap as their protagonist hilariously does — but, whatever mechanisms they deployed, they obtain outstanding performances from their key players. This is Cruz's film, but Banderas revels in the chance to cleverly and cannily satirise his profession and industry as much as she does, with the two teaming up yet again after featuring side by side in plenty of Pedro Almodóvar's movies (see: Pain and Glory most recently). The playful teasing is ramped up a level, and there's a greater emphasis on his killer stare, which can flip from brooding to charming to pouting in an instant; however, the result remains remarkable. Martínez plays it relatively straight in-between his co-stars, but is no less compelling; Iván has his own ego battles. 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, plus a rustic hut that wouldn't look out of place on Airbnb. That Instagram-friendly aesthetic comes courtesy of filmmaker Olivia Newman (First Match), who helms a visually enticing movie — again, incongruously so given the story it unfurls and the location it dwells in — that's as typical as a murder-mystery meets coming-of-age tale meets southern romance can be. The film starts with Chase's body, the investigation that springs and the certainty around the insular small town of Barkley Cove that the supposedly feral and uncivilised marsh girl is responsible. Evidence is thin, but bigotry runs deep against someone who grew up with an abusive father (Garret Dillahunt, Ambulance), was left behind by her other family members and spent the bulk of her years fending for herself in poverty. That said, as in Owens' source material, that's just the framework. On the screen, though, Where the Crawdads Sing's dive into Kya's life feels like it's also been adapted from Nicholas Sparks' pages. Most of Barkley Cove has always shunned Kya, other than generous store owners Jumpin' (Sterling Macer Jr, House of Lies) and Mabel (Michael Hyatt, The Little Things), who she sells mussels to — the feature's only Black characters, who are woefully only used to stress how callous the rest of the town proves, rather than to even dream of digging into matters of race in America's south as the civil rights movement started to gather steam. Also kindly, taking on her defence, is her Atticus Finch-esque local lawyer Tom Milton (David Strathairn, Nightmare Alley). But romance still blossoms not once but twice for Kya, first with the doting, poetry-reading Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith, Blacklight), and then with arrogant rich kid Chase. That's where Newman's film prefers to reside, charting the ups and downs of Kya's affairs of the heart. That's why the movie appears so immaculate that it shimmers with a marsh-chic gleam as well. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on April 7, April 14, April 21 and April 28; and May 5, May 12, May 19 and May 26; June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23 and June 30; and July 7 and July 14. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore, Ambulance, Memoria, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Happening, The Good Boss, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Northman, Ithaka, After Yang, Downton Abbey: A New Era, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Petite Maman, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Firestarter, Operation Mincemeat, To Chiara, This Much I Know to Be True, The Innocents, Top Gun: Maverick, The Bob's Burgers Movie, Ablaze, Hatching, Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero, Benediction, Lightyear, Men, Elvis, Lost Illusions, Nude Tuesday, Ali & Ava, Thor: Love and Thunder, Compartment No. 6, Sundown, The Gray Man and The Phantom of the Open.
May the force be with your streaming queue over the next few months, with not one but two new Star Wars series heading to Disney+. Both follow the same format, too, taking a character from the films, then spinning a whole show around parts of their backstories — and slotting in either before or between the tales that viewers have already seen. The first such program, Obi-Wan Kenobi, starts streaming today, Friday, May 27. The second, Andor, just dropped its first trailer today as well. On the agenda for the latter: not only a prequel to 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but bringing espionage thrills to a galaxy far, far away. As its name makes plain, Andor focuses on its namesake — Cassian Andor, again played by Diego Luna (If Beale Street Could Talk). Star Wars fans have already seen him as a Rebel captain and intelligence agent, and also watched how his story ends, hence the show's need to jump backwards. The focus: following Andor as he discovers how he can play a part in fighting the Empire. Indeed, charting the rebellion, and how people and planets joined in, is the series' whole remit. The moody and shadowy just-dropped first sneak peek ends with telling words, after all: "that's what a reckoning sounds like". In fact, it's filled with statements like that, setting the tone for an intrigue-filled first season — which'll start streaming on Wednesday, August 31. Alongside Luna, Andor sees filmmaker Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy) — who co-wrote the screenplay for Rogue One — return to the Star Wars franchise as the series' creator and showrunner. And, on-screen, Luna is joined by the Genevieve O'Reilly (The Dry) — who is also back as Mon Mothma — as well as Stellan Skarsgård (Dune), Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough (Monday) and Kyle Soller (Poldark). Oh, and a cute-looking new robot that's seen scurrying around in the trailer, although how big a part it'll play is yet to be revealed. Andor is set to span two seasons, both running for 12 episodes each and adding to Disney+'s ever-expanding array of Star Wars programming. Also on its way: the third season of The Mandalorian, which'll arrive in February 2023; and the just-announced Skeleton Crew, which'll star Jude Law and hit streaming queues sometime next year as well. Check out the first trailer for Andor below: Andor will start streaming via Disney+ from Wednesday, August 31.
Before Cannes Palme d'Or-winning director Apichatpong Weerasethakul won one of cinema's most-coveted prizes for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives — and picked up prestigious awards at the same festival for Tropical Malady and Blissfully Yours before that, then went on to make his English-language debut with the Tilda Swinton (The Killer)-starring Memoria — the acclaimed Thai filmmaker initially hopped behind the camera for 2000's Mysterious Object at Noon. It was his first feature. It heralded the arrival of an exceptional new talent. At First Films, Sydneysiders can catch it on the big screen. When red carpets and whichever stars stroll around glitzy events monopolise the headlines, it can seem as if film festivals are all about the big end of town — aka the movies that'll hit a theatre near us all anyway, and the actors and directors that we all already know. That's one part of the cinema industry staple. Another far-more-crucial component is highlighting new voices and getting their impressive movies before audiences. That's the First Films format. Surry Hills' Golden Age Cinema and Bar launched its own film fest that's solely about debut movies in 2022. In 2024, it's back between Thursday, December 5–Sunday, December 8 to again celebrate new discoveries — and showcase a feature in Weerasethakul's first film that helps illustrate why debut stints behind the camera are worth cherishing. The fest opens with the already-soldout Go Fish, another rightly revered blast from the past, with a 4K restoration of Rose Troche's first film screening to mark the influential queer cinema title's 30th anniversary. Also on the six-movie program, All, Or Nothing at All from Jiajun 'Oscar' Zhang uses Shanghai's Global Harbor mall as its setting; Mountains follows a Haitian man in Miami, and won Monica Sorelle the Independent Spirit Awards' Someone to Watch Award; and Jazmin Renée Jones' documentary Seeking Mavis Beacon steps through the story of the model on the cover of 80s-era typing software. All three are Australian premieres. Making its Sydney debut, The Hidden Spring sees Jason Di Rosso from ABC Radio National's The Screen Show turn writer/director while musing on his father's terminal illness.
How much of your work week do you spend counting down to the weekend? Too much, if our experience is anything to go by. With an overabundance of exceptional dining options dotting the Sydney CBD, the depressing desk-bound salad should be a thing of the past. Pay a visit to one of these CBD lunch hot spots instead and bring a little weekend to your weekday. LOTUS DUMPLING BAR Dumplings are a sure-fire lunch option when you need to inhale something delicious but be back at your desk within 16 minutes. And there are plenty dumpling houses that do this — but then there's Lotus Dumpling Bar, a glamorous 270-seater dining room with pretty blue day lounges and brasserie chairs, attentive wait staff and bathrooms so lovely you'll make the effort to go twice. It's easy to be a little sceptical when you notice that eight dumplings are going to set you back $25. I mean that's a banquet for two in Ashfield right there. But, thankfully they're good — and by good, we mean some of the best we've ever had, in a long and illustrious career of dumpling eating. You can't have a bad afternoon after a lunch spent here. CHOPHOUSE Hiding on Bligh Street among office buildings and convenience stores, Chophouse is one of the finest steakhouses Sydney has to offer. Designed as a throw-back to the grand steakhouses of old New York, the place exudes a refined elegance without any of the attendant pretension you might expect. Make an excuse to your boss before you depart for lunch, so that you can get comfortable in one of the stately leather and dark wood booths for a long and satisfying feast. Although there are plenty of salads and light options like a scallop ceviche with lime, chilli and blackened corn ($21), Chophouse is at its heart a cavern for carnivores. The 300g Grasslands New York striploin is cooked like a dream and served with the creamiest of mashed potatoes and a deliciously rich red wine jus, while the lamb mixed grill ($64 for two) will stimulate an unwinnable argument about whether the tender meat is best enjoyed in rack, rump or snag form, and with which of the three interesting house sauces. PABLO & RUSTY'S For a CBD with a cafe on every corner, it can be surprisingly difficult to find quality coffee in Sydney unless you know where to look. Enter Pablo & Rusty's. Their keen palate extends beyond the cup to the table, with a fresh and colourful lunch spread that's a perfect prelude to the ideal drop. The lunch menu ranges from the light and seasonal — like a spring salad of broad beans, asparagus, witlof, Corella pear and Sirbone pecorino drizzled with citrus dressing ($16) — to heartier options like a Hay Valley free range lamb shoulder braised in lemon, sage and garlic, and served atop a bed of quinoa tossed with pomegranate seeds, almond shards and marinated feta ($22). With its exposed bricks, scattered plant life, market produce and trendy coffee options, like a fresh cold brew served over ice with a sparkling water chaser, Pablo & Rusty's brings a slice of the Sunday morning cafe scene directly to your weekday. THE BRIDGE ROOM It's hard to find the right words to describe the Bridge Room. Stylish. Enchanting. Unique. From the moment the gleaming glass door to the Heritage Listed office building opens to a warm smile from Sunny Lusted, partner of chef Ross Lusted, you know this is going to be a special culinary encounter. The room has an intimate, exclusive feel, with inspired decor. John Dory is cured unexpectedly in sake, the gentle flavours of the fish complemented by the soft smokiness of a soft milk pudding and the crunch of a rock kelp crisp ($30). A fleshy Hapuka fillet is drizzled with rich sweet corn butter, dotted with nameko mushrooms and topped with a crispy potato shard, accompanied by sweet young lettuce roasted on the kitchen's signature robata grill ($44). Whether you're celebrating an important birthday or a big win for the team, the Bridge Room is the most special of special occasion dining in the Sydney CBD. MADAME NHU For a cheap, fast lunch that doesn't compromise on flavour or style, you can't go past Madame Nhu. Styled in kooky homage to a Vietnamese-French terrace house, complete with vintage outdoor furniture and hanging tropical plants, Madame Nhu beckons you from its little corner of the Galeries Victoria food court to step away from your work day and into the bustling back streets of old Saigon. The emphasis here is on pho, the rich, herbed noodle soup that is the Vietnamese national dish, with six variations on offer. The signature dac biet pho ($11.90) features three styles of beef and mountains of deliciously slipperly rice noodles in a flavoursome beef broth, served with sprigs of fresh basil, bean sprouts, lemon wedges and freshly sliced chilli. No diasporal Vietnamese restaurant would be complete without rice paper rolls, and here too Madame Nhu delivers: honey-infused silken tofu is rolled up with fresh vegetables and rice noodles for a satisfying snack ($8.90). GOWINGS BAR & GRILL Your passage into Gowings Bar & Grill can't help but make you feel like you're about to do something your mother wouldn't approve of. It begins when you're shown into the lobby of the QT Sydney hotel by a self-described Director of Chaos clad in black leather and sporting a bright red bob. The feeling grows as you make your way through the hotel reception, complete with dark walls mounted by plasma screens that feature pouting lips and posing legs. From there, a bright neon sign directs you up a short flight of stairs to the restaurant, and it's difficult to know what to expect. In fact, Gowings Bar & Grill is a classically elegant establishment, offering an impressive range of tasty, French-inspired options. Preserved lemon lifts rather than overpowering the delicate tartare of yellowfin tuna ($18), while salads in entree and main sizes showcase interesting ingredients like ashen chevre, white cooked organic chicken and hand-picked spanner crab. The rotisserie offers a choice of three birds, our pick of which is the half crisp spiced duck, cooked to perfection and served with Paris mash and steamed black cabbage ($44). BRIDGE ST GARAGE A themed American-style diner, Bridge Street Garage has absolutely nailed its genre. With a lime green car body hanging suspended from the ceiling, American major league baseball playing on the screen above the bar and a bright, retro mural decorating the length of one of the restaurant's walls, the part old-school mechanic, part sports-bar theming works a treat and reads as charming rather than overdone. The food plays its role perfectly: stereotypically American and bursting with all the right flavours. A set of four mini burger sliders ($23) lets you try two of the four main burgers on offer: the Garage Burger features a dry-aged Angus patty with lettuce, tomato, sweet beetroot, pineapple, bacon, pickles and sauces in a toasted brioche bun. The mains list travels from New York to New Orleans to Mexico and down to Argentina, with an impressive range of steaks, ribs and sandwiches that make decisions tricky. Whatever your choice, the crunchy onion rings ($8) and house-baked corn bread ($12) will make the perfect sidekicks. GLASS BRASSERIE Luke Mangan's Glass Brasserie is the full package. For one thing, the space it inhabits in the Sydney Hilton is stunning. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows bathe diners in natural light and provide a pretty view over the Queen Victoria Building. The menu opens with an appealing range of tapas dishes, our pick of which are the duck croquettes ($14). Next come pan-fried gnocchi with corn, asparagus, zucchini, parmesan and lemon thyme ($27). These fluffy pockets are perfectly textured and suffer none of the dryness that can let down this kind of dish elsewhere. The mains are varied and intriguing, ranging from a zesty Thai snapper fillet to confit duck with grilled mango, fennel and marsala sauce. But the clear winner for us is the dessert. Mangan's signature liquorice parfait ($20), which combines a dense liquorice semifreddo with lime prepared in three ways, is just impossibly perfect for the liquorice lover. Whether you come for a business lunch or a personal celebration, Glass Brasserie will have you planning your next visit before you've walked out the door. SUSHI HOTARU "YES FOOD 'eat' happiness," says the Sushi Hotaru website, and we couldn't agree more. With two outlets, one in the Galeries Victoria and a recently opened sister restaurant on Bathurst Street, Sushi Hotaru is what every sushi train experience should be: fast, varied and consistently excellent. All the original favourites are there: gorgeous sliced sashimi, crispy chicken sushi and lots of great vegetarian options. But Sushi Hotaru offers more than your usual sushi train, with interesting variations on classics and intriguing new options coming round with every rotation of the convoy. Watch the sushi chefs take a blowtorch to your salmon nigiri for a perfectly smoky, seared finish. At $3 a plate, you'll feel at ease trying every interesting concoction that tickles your fancy. It won't be long before you find yourself waiting impatiently for your next "Irasshaimase!" BARRAFINA In a dining scene where the word 'tapas' is rapidly becoming genericised, it is increasingly exciting when a tapas restaurant genuinely brings the taste of Spain. Barrafina is a great example of the latter, with an authenticity that transports you to Madrid's trendy, student-filled laneway bars. With a cute yellow and white theme to the decor and a quirky music-focused mural decorating the feature wall, the venue is pleasing to the eye; its long list of pintxos and tapas make it equally enticing for the tastebuds. Crusty slices of baguette rubbed with tomato and laden with shaved zucchini and manchego ($8) are an excellent place to start, and quaint cups of lime-cured yellow fin tuna ceviche with eschallots, basil, avocado, chilli and micro herbs ($9) make for a pleasing chaser. The menu progresses through to more substantial options, like veal and ricotta meatballs with pinenuts and potatoes ($12) and a set of delectable seared Queensland scallops served on morcilla and apple puree ($19). View all Sydney Restaurants.
Australians have always liked cheese, and we have everything from dedicated fromageries and festivals dedicated to the dairy foodstuff to cheese wheels filled with pasta and bottomless raclette sessions to prove it. Our stomachs are working overtime to digest all the lactose — and, honestly, we've never been happier. And the love affair continues with this latest cheesy announcement. Bon Fromage — a festival specifically celebrating European cheese — is returning in 2020, and it's making a few changes. Like plenty of events this year, it's moving online and going national. So, more cheese for everyone, obviously. The whole thing will be taking place from Saturday, November 21–Sunday, November 29. First and foremost is cheese, cheese and more cheese — which you can order in gourmet tasting packs until Sunday, November 15. They'll then be delivered to your door, ready for you to devour. And if you're wondering what you'll be feasting on, each pack comes with half a kilo of cheese made in France, plus a recipe booklet and cheese tasting notes. But the virtual cheese festival isn't just about eating so much cheese that you puke. Masterclasses will be held on different varieties of cheese, the history of cheese, cooking with cheese and, we assume, the correct way to draw a cheese fondue bath for yourself. You can also obviously use the who event as an excuse to buy some cheese yourself and watch along.
The ever-expanding reach of Google has been a contentious topic over the past decade. Though great for reminiscing on an old family home or researching a new one, Google Street View has creepy Big Brother vibes all over it. Their control over our data is unsettling to say the least, and with European privacy clauses changing just last week, many users have opted out of its clutches completely. But some good has finally come from this global panopticon! In a similar effort to Street View, Google is now cataloguing the best street art from all over the world. After its launch today, Google's Street Art Project already has more than 4,000 works available for viewing. The artworks both large and small span all the way from the now defunct exhibition space 5Pointz in NYC to randomly scattered works along the streets of Belgium. As a user of the new system, you can take guided 360-degree tours through graffiti-coated buildings in metropolitan Paris and make your way down a street in Argentina alongside huge murals that may be gone within the month. It's pretty great. Created by the Paris-based Google Cultural Institute, the system works off a combination of images captured via Street View, images from existing cultural institutions and artists, and submissions from random art lovers. Basically, this is what it would look like if Google had an Instagram. Understandably, the project comes with its own problems and debates. With street art still in a legal purgatory, concerns are mounting about such a public endorsement of what is considered by many as vandalism. On the flip side, some artists are known to protest about others benefitting off images of their public work. To quell the latter, Google has ensured its users that if any artists are unhappy with their images being used, they will be removed. Furthermore, any organisations providing images for the project must sign contracts confirming that they own the rights to them. Unlike what's currently happening to Banksy in London, no one will be profiteering off work that was intended for public use. Proponents of the new database include famed street artist Shepard Fairey — the guy behind both Obey and Barack Obama's Hope posters. "I’ve always used my street art to democratise art," he told the New York Times. "It would be philosophically inconsistent for me to protest art democratisation through Google." Either way you look at it, it's undeniably an amazing project for those who love art. Users can search for street art via artist name, location or genre, and there's even a special section devoted to New York walls of the 1990s. Though the real works invariably get painted over or demolished, like everything in Google (for better or worse), these pictures never fade. Get a cup of coffee, cancel the rest of your work for the day and check it out for yourself over here. Via New York Times. Images via Google Cultural Institute.
If you, like The Who, think you've played every pinball machine there is to play, you'd be dead wrong. This December Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre is bringing you a '70s-inspired pop-up arcade heaven to slake the lust of any pinball wizard. Belvoir's Downstairs Theatre will be transformed into the ultimate basement games room, complete with an original NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and a bar to quench the thirst that can only come with intense gaming. The beers will be provided by Coopers at $6 a pop, and local lads Poor Toms Gin will be slinging a deliciously retro punch for $10. The Bumper Bar pop-up will run from December 2 right up until Christmas Eve to coincide with Belvoir's last show of the year, Girl Asleep. On top of that, the cash you drop will go to the theatre's Arts Access Program, which provides theatre tickets to students who may not be able to access them otherwise. Then bucks gets you entry to the bar and unlimited gaming, so get those supple wrists working — there's pinball to be played. Belvoir's Bumper Bar will run from December 2-24 in their Downstairs Theatre at Belvoir Street, Surry Hills. For more info visit belvoir.com.au. Image: Wayne Patrick Finn via Wikimedia Commons.
Far from being abstract paintings of dragon scales or elaborate curves and textures, Andre Armolaev has captured incredible aerial images of Iceland's twisting rivers meandering across the black, ashy volcanic sand. With over 30 active volcanic systems, Iceland is host to one of the world's most 'explosive' areas. Armolaev describes the bird's eye view over the river and volcanic systems in this country as "an inexpressible combination of colors, lines, and patterns." He is fascinated by the contrast the land and water make against each other and the organic and incomparable shapes they create. These stunning photographs capture the beauty that can be created from natural disasters and demonstrate the unparalleled power and allure of Mother Earth. Take a look at the collection of aerial photographs of Iceland's volcanoes taken from thisiscolossal.
Since the beginning of time, humans have always matched food with wine. Jesus broke bread with vino, the Vikings had their salted fish and mead, the French have cheese and champagne and the Italians cicchetti and aperitivo — a pairing we've all enjoyed more than a few times this summer. If you've spent the last few months like we did, cured meats, olives, vegetables in oil, cheese and the like have become a diet staple, especially when paired with a spritz or even simpler, a crisp glass of prosecco. As we move into autumn, there's no need to lose this little evening, pre-going out ritual — even if that summer sun starts to slip away. To help you take the magic of this molto buono pairing from the bar terrace and into your home, we've partnered with the wine aficionados at Dal Zotto and crafted five cicchetti to serve with the new Dal Zotto prosecco. Before your next night out, grab a few friends, a bottle of bubbles and kick back at your own at-home aperitivo hour. Red and white gingham tablecloths are entirely optional. CURED MEAT AND CHEESE TOASTS The zesty flavour of the prosecco cuts through the rich flavours of the meats and cheese. Plus, making it DIY limits prep time so you can easily plate, serve, eat and go. — preferred cured meats (spicy salami, salumi, prosciutto, bresaola, etc.) — preferred cheeses (provolone, parmesan, mozzarella, gorgonzola, etc.) — baguette, sliced about 2 centimetres wide and toasted Plate the meats, cheeses and bread together for everyone to construct themselves to their preference. Just make sure to keep the bubbles flowing. PANCETTA WRAPPED PRAWNS This upscale version of shrimp on the barbie is crunchy and rich and contrasts beautifully with the ripe fruit flavours and crisp acidity of prosecco. — 16 raw prawns, deveined — 8 pancetta rashers — aioli (serves four) Preheat the oven to 200°C and cut the rashers in half lengthwise. Wrap each prawn in a pancetta slice and place on a baking tray and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until fully cooked. Serve with aioli and well-chilled prosecco. BRUSCHETTA This classic is an oldy but a goody — and requires minimal effort. All you'll need is a toaster, chopping board and well-sharpened knife. Oh, and a glass of prosecco for while you're constructing. — 4 large slices of ciabatta — 4 tomatoes, roughly chopped — 2 garlic cloves, crushed — 2 red onions, diced — 3 cloves garlic, minced — 1/2 cup of basil, chopped — pepper and salt, to taste — balsamic and olive oil, to drizzle (serves four) Toast the ciabatta until almost burnt, then oil the bread. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl, then divide the mixture evenly onto each piece toasted slice. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and garnish with basil leaves. Serve alongside a glass of prosecco immediately. PESTO ESCARGOT No, we're not eating snails. It's just a tasty pastry which has a cute snail-like (spiral) appearance, and the bitey parmesan and pesto counter the bubbly prosecco perfectly. — 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted — 3 tablespoons basil pesto — 1 cups parmesan cheese, grated (makes about 12 pieces) Preheat the oven to 180°C, then line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside. Roll out the dough and spread the pesto and cheese evenly over the pastry. Then, roll the sheet tightly into a long scroll and slice evenly into 12 pieces. Lay each piece on the tray leaving 2 centimetres between each roll, and bake for 10–15 minutes. Enjoy at a snail's pace over the afternoon with a bottle of bubbly, of course. ANTIPASTI SKEWERS Prosecco and antipasto are like old-timey best mates; they're always better together. The acidity of the prosecco counterbalances the saltiness of the olives and the creaminess of the mozzarella. — prosciutto — bocconcini — pitted olives — grape tomatoes — marinated artichoke hearts, drained and halved — basil leaves — skewers Add each ingredient onto a skewer, alternating colour and taste as you go. Arrange all the skewers on a serving platter, drizzle with olive oil and serve with a glass of prosecco. Keen for more fizz? Visit Dal Zotto for a glass of bubbly perfection. And once you're there, share your first Dal Zotto drink experience to Instagram and hashtag #FirstDZ to go in the running to win a year's worth of Dal Zotto prosecco and many more weekly prizes.
After nearly a decade of Westerosi power struggles, obsessed fans and soaring ratings, HBO now finds itself with a Game of Thrones-sized gap to fill. The network isn't completely saying goodbye to the world created by George RR Martin, with at least two spinoffs in the works, and possibly more to come. But it's also looking for its next big hit. Bleak superhero saga Watchmen is one of the network's options, thanks to a television adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel that's headed to screens this month. His Dark Materials is another, as based on Philip Pullman's award-winning young adult trilogy of books of the same name. And if the latter sounds familiar, that's because — like Watchmen — one of the tomes has already been turned into a movie. Twelve years after the incredibly family-oriented The Golden Compass made its way to cinemas, it's now heading to TV alongside sequels The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. HBO is keeping things simple by sticking with the franchise name, other than individual book monikers. Also, they're betting on star power. As the first teaser demonstrated a few months back, the series boasts a hefty cast, spanning James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Wire's Clarke Peters and Logan's Dafne Keen. Still on the big-name front, Academy Award-winning The King's Speech director Tom Hooper also helms the first two episodes (which, unlike his next big movie Cats, probably won't feature big-name actors and singers shrunk down to feline size). Amidst all of the above well-known folks, Keen leads the charge, playing an orphan by the name of Lyra Belacqua. She seems just like everyone else, but hails from an alternate universe — one where a person's soul manifests as a shape-shifting animal called a daemon. As she looks for a kidnapped friend in the Arctic, Lyra discovers a church-run stolen children ring, learns about mysterious particles known as Dust and ventures through different worlds, including the one we all know. McAvoy pops up as a powerful aristocrat, Wilson is his ex, and Miranda plays a balloonist and adventurer. If you're already eager, the eight-episode first season will drop in November — and there's more to come. Instigated by and co-produced with the BBC, the show has already been renewed for a second season before it even airs. Check out the full trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APduGe1eLVI His Dark Materials launches on November 5, Australian and New Zealand time — with the series airing weekly from that date on Foxtel in Australia. Images: HBO.
Zaffi is a multi-level dining and party space on Little Hunter Street that's arrived in Sydney right as the city is in the swing of a late-night revival. Joining the likes of The Abercrombie, Club 77 and Pleasure Club on the list of new and revamped venues pushing Sydney's nightlife into the early hours of the morning, Zaffi is a versatile space boasting a 42-seat ground-floor restaurant and a 122-capacity basement bar that's committed to keeping the party rolling until 4am on weekends. Owner Chady Khouzame has enlisted the help of ex-Chin Chin and Rockpool chef Graeme Hunt to create a refined Australian-Lebanese menu for the street-level dining room. It's a sharing affair at Zaffi, with plenty of mezze options including dips and veggies paired with mains like Aleppo pepper roast prawns and char-grilled spatchcock. The two banquets menus are highly affordable, with the $60 option bringing a table-covering feast of saj, hummus, baba ganoush, eggplant fatteh, labneh, haloumi, kofta, cauliflower, spatchcock, pickles and chips — or, for an extra $29 per person, you can basically sample the entire array of eats on offer, with the addition of pan-fried snapper, slow-roasted lamb shoulder, panna cotta and cheesecake. Downstairs in Zaffi's party bunker, you'll find pink velvet-cushioned booths, neon lighting, communal tables and upbeat tunes encouraging late-night revellers to stay well past midnight. The snacks also keep coming, with highlights from upstairs including kofta, dips, chips and grilled honey and za'atar halloumi all available on the after-hours menu. Appears in: Sydney's Best Underground Bars for 2023
To celebrate Halloween and mark the Newtown Hotel’s birthday in style, The Preatures and Tokyo Denmark Sweden are performing live in what sounds like an awesome October 31st (for those of you not in possession of nose-bleed seats to Beyoncé, that is). You may have heard Sydney rock ‘n' rollers The Preatures on triple j. Their singles 'Take a Card' and 'Is This How You Feel' are pretty damn catchy. And they are the master of the memorably kooky music video (see the video tab). They'll be performing songs from their second LP due out later this year and supporting them are up-and-coming dance act Tokyo Denmark Sweden, who have made waves with their singles 'Lights Off' and 'When It Breaks'. Guaranteed sweaty dancing. Plus, in what sounds like too-good-to-be-true news, the Newtown Hotel has generously deigned to make the event free as a thank you to their loyal locals (with a little help from Carlton and Bulmer’s) will be shouting everyone beer and cider from 6.30-8.30pm. It’s going to get full fast, so arrive early.
