Perhaps it isn't the most groundbreaking piece of literature, but the D.O.Double G's fans will certainly find inspiration in Snoop Dogg's new book: Rolling Words: A Smokable Songbook. The aptly titled literary work features pages of Snoop's lyrics which double as (what else?) rolling papers. The pages are conveniently perforated and bound by hemp material. Even the book's spine comes in handy, functioning as a match-striking surface. "This thing can also be smoked with some of your finest, where you at or however you at," Snoop says in his promo video. Looks like Snoop still has his mind on his money, and his money on his mind. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HkfC2dfNHGM [via Gawker]
Inspired by real-life events, David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method delves into the corrupt relationship triangle between aspiring psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), his renowned mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and their unbalanced patient, Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Studying psychiatry under Freud in pre-WWI Zurich and Vienna, Jung becomes seduced by both Spielrein's unique case and her beauty. He takes her into his care, initially utilising the methods of his master, who also proves to be intrigued by Spielrein's erotically disturbed case. Increasingly, however, the mindsets of the two men become divided, with Spielrein cast in between. Jung struggles with the sexually focused methods of his master, while Freud urges Jung towards a more defined line of psychological analysis. Tension escalates as the three come together along a dark path of erotic and intellectual exploration. Their discoveries result in the birth of modern psychoanalysis, polarising the two men and forever altering the world of today's psychology. Dark and seductively unsettling, A Dangerous Method will take you into recesses of the psyche that you may not have been ready to face. This twisted story line and impressive cast make for a can't-miss mind-boggle of a film. To win one of twenty double passes to see A Dangerous Method, just make sure you are subscribed to Concrete Playground then email your name and postal address through to hello@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=P_y_oW2S65w
After stealing every scene that he was in in Sex Education, playing a Ken in Barbie and dancing at the 2024 Oscars, Ncuti Gatwa has a date with the TARDIS from May. The first full season of the long-running British franchise starring the Rwandan Scottish actor will hit screens on Saturday, May 11, including Down Under — with Disney+ and the BBC releasing the first two episodes of the Fifteenth Doctor's run simultaneously worldwide. That timing means that it will have been two years between Gatwa being announced as the new Doctor Who and series 14 arriving; however, this isn't the first time that viewers are seeing the Fifteenth Doctor. Gatwa made his debut as the time lord in 2023, in both 60th-anniversary special episode The Giggle and Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road. Now that he police box-loving, time-travelling, Dalek-fighting character has regenerated into a new incarnation — which is how the series writes in its casting swaps — Gatwa has become Doctor Who's first Black lead. In a way, he takes over from two actors: Jodie Whittaker (Time), whose run came to an end in 2022 with series 13, after becoming the first-ever female lead back in 2017; and also David Tennant (Good Omens), who was the Tenth Doctor in three seasons from 2005–10, then also the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023's specials. In a season that also features Millie Gibson (Coronation St) as the Fifteenth Doctor's companion Ruby Sunday, Gatwa joins a long list of other British actors who've stepped into the part — 11 other than Whittaker and Tennant, including OG Doctor William Hartnell back in 1963; 70s favourite Tom Baker; and Christopher Eccelston (True Detective: Night Country), Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) and Peter Capaldi (Criminal Record) since the show made a big comeback in 2005. And yes, the fact that it took 54 years for the character to become a woman and six decades for a Black actor to play the part is clearly far too long. "At last, it's my great delight to unleash a whole new season of the Doctor and Ruby's adventures together. Monsters! Chases! Villains! Mysteries! And a terrifying secret that's been spanning time and space for decades. Don't miss a second!" said Doctor Who showrunner, executive producer and writer Russell T Davies (Nolly, It's a Sin, Queer as Folk) about the new season. Fans can look forward to jumps to England's Regency era and into the future, as well as a guest cast that includes Aneurin Barnard (1899), Anita Dobson (Murder, They Hope), Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper), Michelle Greenidge (Mandy) and Jonathan Groff (Knock at the Cabin), plus Bonnie Langford (EastEnders), Genesis Lynea (Death in Paradise), Jemma Redgrave (The Beekeeper), Lenny Rush (Haunting of the Queen Mary), Indira Varma (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One) and Angela Wynter (EastEnders). Check out the teaser trailer for Doctor Who series 14 below: Series 14 of Doctor Who will start streaming via Disney+ Down Under on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Top image:
The year that was 2012 will be remembered in popular music circles as the year in which The Stones Roses reformed their trippy, stadium-shaking odyssey, Pussy Riot turned political songwriting into actual political action and a quirky little Korean man conquered the world with his taste for tuxedos and obscene dance moves. Yet beyond the headline-grabbing stories, 2012 also saw the release of some truly awesome and at times groundbreaking new music. 20-year-old Flume became an icon for every pill-popping teenager with his slick beats and razor sharp production, Tame Impala broke the second-album curse in emphatic fashion with their fresh set of psychedelic riffs and Frank Ocean proved that kick-ass hip-hop does not necessarily have to come with a Kanye-West-sized ego. Independent music website, Pitchfork have their own take on 2012, with a "Best Of" list that includes some chart-topping juggernauts along with a bunch of unsung success stories. Here is Concrete Playground's take on Pitchfork's top five albums of 2012. 1. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city Californian local, Kendrick Lamar is a far-cry from the sort of arrogant, chest-beating and studio-polished rappers that we have come accustomed to hearing come out of the US of A. On his second solo album, "good kid, m.A.A.d city", Lamar rejects the misogynist rhymes of his West Coast peers in favour of a deeply personal and at times painfully raw exploration of his childhood growing up on the fringes of gang life in Compton, California. The album however is never overwhelmed by its emotional intensity, as Lamar's lyrical virtuosity is equalled by the album's sumptuous, beat-laden soundtrack, making "good kid, m.A.A.d city" not only one of the most personal but also most accessible records of 2012. 2. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange Having lent his considerable songwriting and vocal talents to the likes of Jay-Z, Kanye West, John Legend and even Justin Bieber, Frank Ocean was not exactly an unfamiliar voice even if he may have been an unfamiliar name prior to the release of his highly acclaimed debut album "Channel Orange". The mass of industry and social media hype that preceded its release turned out to be entirely justified with Ocean delivering an album full of silky vocals, Prince-flavoured melodies and touching word paintings that has had critics everywhere drooling and all other R&B artist clutching at his heels. 3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! Fusing anarchist politics with metal-like riffing an unreal string section and spine-tingling vocals, "Godspeed You! Black Emperor" have carved themselves a cult-like following a million miles away from the mainstream. "Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!" as such is part political manifesto and part soundtrack to the apocalypse, with beautiful guitar riffs building and crescendoing into euphoric explosions of raw power and noise. "Godspeed You! Black Emperor" is the sort of once-in-a-generation band that is able to effortlessly straddle the seemingly irreconcilable boundaries of brooding yet joyous, bombastic yet simple, epic and yet distinctly personal all at the same time sounding like they are having themselves a pretty unreal fucking party. 4. Grizzly Bear - Shields Shields is the fourth and most critically acclaimed album from the Brooklyn's indie darlings, Grizzly Bear. In this intricately layered album, the quartet have moved away from the dreaminess of their previous work in favour of a fuller sounding collection of songs which take the listener on a melancholic journey of loneliness tampered by moments of profound human connections. Grizzly Bear's melodies are self-consciously ''in your face'' demanding the listener to stop, listen closely and notice the beauty that exists in our otherwise fast-paced world. A woody concoction of lulling vocals, nimble guitar riffs and consistently evocative lyrics, Shields will resonate with you long after the final notes are heard. 5. Beach House - Bloom The Baltimore-duo's fourth offering is an enticing cocktail of dreamy vocals, tender guitar lines and breathy male-female harmonies that hits the listener in waves of sonic and ethereal bliss. For Beach House's devoted collection of fans this is everything they have come to expect of these dream-pop pin-ups, yet "Bloom" has the band taking their distinctive and deceptively complex sound to new levels of summery warmth, carving a near-perfect album of lush, bittersweet soundscapes. "Bloom" is perhaps the most beautiful album of 2012 and should be the soundtrack to anyone whose idea of the perfect Summer involves curling up with a bottle of white wine and a view of the sunset.
Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia, so innovative new event The Big Anxiety Festival should be well-attended. Launching in Sydney from September 20 through November 11, the new festival is an initiative developed by UNSW and the Black Dog Institute, along with over 25 partners across Greater Sydney. Bringing together artists, scientists, technologists and thinkers, the two-month festival aims to use art as a means to transform the way people think about and deal with mental health. The inaugural festival will present over 60 events across Sydney with hubs located at Circular Quay's Customs House, Riverside Theatre in Parramatta and UNSW, with five major themes on focus — awkward conversations, lived experiences, the 'NeurodiverseCity', mood experiments and power, politics and institutions. The immersive exhibitions will include the world's highest resolution 3D cinema, international art shows, theatrical performances, contemporary dance, interactive media events and public forums for all ages. A highlight of the program includes a design competition, during which students will build 'relaxation pods' that they feel encourage strong mental health. The pods will be designed in collaboration with specialist architects and be exhibited during the festival. Participation will also contribute to mental health research, with Black Dog Institute measuring the social and health benefits throughout the festival events. According to the ABS National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2007, anxiety is the prominent mental health condition in Australia, with one in four people experiencing anxiety at some point. Add to that, 65 percent of Australians with a mental health problem don't seek help according to the NSW Mental Health Commission. The Big Anxiety Festival hopes to change all that by creating meaningful interactions that expand awareness, support neurodiversity and promote mental health. The Big Anxiety Festival will run from September 20 to November 11, with the full program available here. The majority of events are free and wheelchair accessible, with select events Auslan interpreted, audio described, and with tactile tours. Image: Nick Cubbin.
Every February for the last ten years, Secret Garden Festival has taken over a forest outside Sydney, turning it into a magical natural wonderland with a 48-hour extravaganza of music, drag, food and art. It's always a banger. If you've been, you might have found yourself dancing on a cosmic suspended flying saucer dance floor, partying with drag queens at Camp Queen, getting a smooch at the kissing booth or even getting married. But, like all good ones, the party has to come to an end sometime. And for Secret Garden, the time is this year, with organisers announcing that the 2019 festival will be the last one ever. The announcement, which was made to gardeners in a Facebook post this morning, confirmed that 2019 will be the festival's last outing. According to the team, the decision to call it has been in the works for a while — and it's bowing out while everyone's still having fun. "I always knew Secret Garden wouldn't be around forever — in fact, it's gone on way longer that I thought it would," says founder Clare Downes, who started the festival on her family's farm back in 2009. "I really wanted to ensure we go out on a high. A big bang finale." [caption id="attachment_693852" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Kissing Booth at the 2015 festival.[/caption] Clare says the Secret Garden team has "achieved what we set out to achieve". Over the years, the festival has created a legendary safe space for Sydneysiders to escape into nature for a weekend of dancing, dressing up and spending time with mates. Plus, any profit that the festival makes has always been donated back to charity — which, after the last ten years, adds up to almost $500,000. While this is definitely the last Secret Garden to be held at the Downes Family Farm, the team has said the the festival "may reappear in some form in the future". But the good news is that there's still one more party to go — and it's set to be all-time. We can't tell you what to expect for the festival's upcoming iteration — as is custom, the lineup won't be announced until tickets sell out and most of the other details remain a secret until the moment you arrive — but the theme has been dubbed One Last Night in Paradise. Costumes are mandatory, and, considering it's the last one ever, you can expect that the Secret Garden team will go all out. Secret Garden's last ever festival is happening over the weekend of February 22–24. You can snap up tickets here.
There's a big, white container coming to The Rocks. But, like most shipping containers in the city, it's not being used to transport furniture. And the word 'séance' will be written on the side in black. It's kind of ominous. But Séance is actually a new installation where participants take a seat inside the tiny space, put on a headset and place their hands flat on the table in front of them. The lights go out and the container enters complete darkness. For the next 15 minutes, participants are fed 'suggestible information' through their headsets. You're probably thinking that there's something dark or supernatural about the whole thing — and going by the name, we don't blame you. But the installation's organiser assures us that 'séance' is simply a French word meaning 'session' or 'sitting'. And so Séance is a sensory experience that looks at the psychology of a group sitting together. Despite not being a horror or supernatural-themed piece, it's a scary indicator of how easy it is for confusion, information overload and the people siting right next to us to affect our judgment. Artists David Rosenberg and Glen Neath (who have collaborated in other sensory deprivation projects before) are the creative masterminds behind the project, which has been described as 'disorienting' and 'deeply unsettling'. It's not recommended for the claustrophobic or the easily frightened. After a residence in Melbourne, the installation come to Atherden Street in The Rocks from November 22 to December 10. Séance is open daily, three times an hour between 11am and 10pm until November 12. Tickets cost $20 each and you can purchase them through the website.
YouTube videos of pampered cats royally messing up are hilarious. Hell, even Drunk Girls of Melbourne Cup had its moments. But using Instagram to make fun of people who are homeless, mentally ill, drug-dependent, disabled, elderly, impoverished and otherwise marginalised? Not funny. Recently established Instagram account @themurdermall has clocked up almost 2000 followers by taking photographs of Surry Hills and Redfern residents in visibly less-than-privileged circumstances, such as sleeping on cardboard boxes, nodding off on benches or walking around in states of dishabille. The whole thing hinges around the Surry Hills Shopping Village on the corner of Baptist and Cleveland Streets, locally known as 'The Murder Mall' or 'The Methadone Mall' due to its reputation as a destination for 'questionable characters'. It's a legit shopping centre though, housing the Surry Hills Post Office, the only fishmonger in the area, Coles and a pharmacist. The moniker was kind of cute and affectionate, but @themurdermall Instagram account isn't cute. This is crossing a line. Laughing over other people's misfortune when they're completely unaware of it? You classy bunch. The account catches unfortunate residents unawares, with submissions encouraged. There's an image of a sleeping man on the pavement using a wine box as a pillow with the hashtag #Saturdaze. Nice. Bet this made you feel on top of the world. Then they whipped out their phones to snap a man in Coles who had soiled himself and added the caption "Getting wet over Coke specials." Sneaking up behind this poor guy must have made you feel great. Getting wet over Coke specials. @cocacola #tailgang #Devon #commando #swampland #summer #murdermall A photo posted by Murder Mall (@themurdermall) on Jan 16, 2015 at 6:40pm PST Nice work with the ironic racism too. Summer of breaststroke ???? @zaccanellis #swimming #dardy #olympics #fountain #of #yothu #murdermall A photo posted by Murder Mall (@themurdermall) on Jan 12, 2015 at 11:38pm PST We're not sure who's behind the account, but it seems like a fair bet to say it's someone (or several someones) from the area's newer, richer demographic, often called DINKs (dual income, no kids) or just plain hipsters. Of course, within this demographic there's only a small chunk of these neo-plutocratic, Vice circa '95-imitating clowns who think poor people have no dignity. Most of the community plays nicely. Surry Hills has a significant homeless population, with established services like the Wesley Mission's Edward Eagar Lodge providing nightly accommodation for up to 76 homeless people a night, aged between 18 and 80. The Lodge also provides services and programs to reconnect homeless people (or those at risk of becoming homeless) with the community, programs which rely on the support and cooperation of the more privileged local residents to make the transition smooth and friendly. These Sydneysiders don't have a snug, warm, comfy place to sleep, so they're forced to make do with whatever they can find during the day. Drug and alcohol rehabilitation is also a focus in the area, with facilities like The Langton Centre aiming to address the spectrum of health and social problems for people who use or are dependent upon alcohol and/or other drugs, including providing methadone treatment. It's likely the marginalised people you're taunting have no idea you're throwing shade at them, which probably makes you feel pretty damn powerful, huh? Let's get things straight: If you are one of the 'minds' behind this Instagram, you are the problem. A good city to live in has neighbourhoods that are diverse, with room for people from many income brackets and some affordable housing preserved in even its affluent neighbourhoods. A good city to live in has residents that support each other, not kick them when they're down. If you found yourself at rock bottom and some jokey joke-maker decided to snap you and plaster your face on the internet to All The Likes, would you feel like joining that community? Hell no. Does this infinite facepalm run afoul of Instagram's terms of use? Maybe, maybe not. Although Instagram prohibits "hateful" content (and bullying of specific individuals), parent company Facebook limits hate speech to attacks based on the specific categories "race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition" (ie, The Murder Mall's focus on the underclass might be too general. Their hate is, relatively speaking, inclusive) and also exempts speech that's "humorous" (see how much we're laughing?). So while reporting the account to Instagram's a good move, an even better one might be to fight their free speech with your own, and leave your takedown as a comment. Think before you 'gram. This isn't funny. I'm blue abidi abadi #smurf #related #touchoffrost #blueberry #latte #murdermall A photo posted by Murder Mall (@themurdermall) on Feb 9, 2015 at 3:17pm PST UPDATE 4/3/15: The Instagram account @themurdermall has now been taken down as of March 3. The account was set to 'private' yesterday and then removed from Instagram last night. Whether the owners removed it themselves, or the account was removed by Instagram remains to be seen. By Shannon Connellan and Rima Sabina Aouf.
There are many reasons first-time restauranteurs often fail. It might be that their management lets them down. Sometimes they're just not so great with the money side of it all. But occasionally their failure can be due to something much more simple. Take for instance, Brooklyn's forthcoming all-Nutella restaurant Nutelleria. They've timed their exciting culinary venture perfectly with a worldwide shortage of their primary ingredient. Good job, guys. Of course, we may be speaking prematurely. The restaurant hasn't even opened yet, and it's being met with considerable hype from local media — who wouldn't want a dedicated Nutella creperie around the corner from their house? And, a couple of weeks ago, we would have been totally on board too. On their upcoming menu, there's supposedly a sandwich made out of waffles crammed full of Nutella and bacon. You'd have to be either a dietician or a diabetic to be against such a heavenly creation. But all this was before the tragic news that hazelnuts will be in short supply for the foreseeable future. Due to devastating weather in Turkey — the product's main producers — most of the season's hazelnut crops were completely decimated. Now, hazelnuts are the most expensive they've been in the past 10 years and people all over the world are hoarding Nutella like the gooey, liquid gold it really is. Jamming an extraordinary 50 hazelnuts into every jar, Nutella in fact uses 25 per cent of the world's hazelnuts and would no doubt be hit hardest by the alleged shortage. And, although Ferrero has invested considerable money to ensure there are no halts in their hazelnut supply, Nutella fans are understandably sceptical. Even with a full global stock of the product, prices are expected to rise. While this is bad news for everyone, it's sure bank-breaking for the planned Nutelleria. Especially when that's combined with the fact its owners don't have any legal permission to launch a store around the copyrighted product. "[We're] simply Nutella® enthusiasts that decided to share our love for Nutella® with the rest of the world," their website states. All in all, we hope it works out for them. A world where everyone has access to Nutella and bacon waffle sandwiches is a world we want to live in. But if their new store and copycats like it end up being responsible for a worldwide Nutella shortage, we predict a riot. Via Grub Street. Photo credit: PG.NETO via photopin cc.
As the world stops to watch the World Cup, which kicked off a long haul of criminally early mornings today, it seems even those hundreds of miles beyond the Earth will be tuning in. NASA has released a video of astronauts based at the International Space Station bidding all World Cup competitors good luck, promising they will be watching the matches from space and throwing down some mad football skills. American astronauts Reid Wiseman, Steve Swanson and German astronaut Alexander Gerst filmed a short message for "all the teams and fans on the ground in Brazil." On tape, Gerst implores everyone participating in or attending the World Cup to have "peaceful games". All this, while laptops and their microphone float in zero gravity. After Wiseman wraps up the speech with, "Have fun, play hard, and we'll be watching on the International Space Station," Swanson executes a slow-motion flip and kicks a hovering ball midair. No biggie. What follows is perhaps the most spectacular video sequence ever taped in celebration of a World Cup: the three astronauts are shown playing soccer in their gravity-defying lodgings. They kick, dive and float in mid-air. The footage inspires the starry-eyed possibility of a what a World Cup in space could look like. Though the three astronauts — posted to work on Expedition 40 together — won't have the opportunity to watch the games live, NASA has promised to upload the matches for their viewing as soon as they are broadcast. Let's just hope there are no spoilers in space. Check out the video below: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sLwW3pdXkFo Via Fast Company and BBC.
Ask pretty much any of your friends what their idea of an out-of-town jaunt involves and we bet you'll hear some of these words in response: food, wine, art and road trip. Well, lucky for you, we've found a tour that ticks all the boxes — and has the added bonus of celebrating some pretty rad female producers, too. Leaving a Legacy is a luxury two-day tour around Bendigo. Designed by the owner of restaurant Masons of Bendigo, Sonia Anthony, this interactive experience will introduce you to the stories of a bunch of women who've done a lot of good for the local community. You'll start with lunch at Oak Forest in Harcourt prepared by Jane Grylls, a food stylist who also runs a kitchen garden program at a nearby primary school. Over the next few hours, you'll take part in a workshop on indigenous plants run by elder Aunty Julie; sample bready treats by baker Jodie Pillinger; attend a wine tasting at Sutton Grange Winery with Melanie Chester; and finally, enjoy a Slovenian dinner prepared by Sonia herself. After spending the night in The Residence of MacKenzie Quarters, a gothic revival-style family estate run by Rhianwen Seiter, you'll nab an exclusive tour of the Bendigo Art Gallery the next morning, hosted by curatorial manager Tansy Curtin. It's a two-day affair with a good measure of girl power. Leaving a Legacy tours will run on Thursday, March 21, Thursday, May 16, Thursday, September 19 and Thursday, October 24. Tickets cost $425 per person and include all food, wine tastings, tour costs and accommodation. To make a booking, visit the Bendigo Tourism website.
As all the best things usually are, Sauce Brewing's Marrickville tasting bar was a little while coming. The label began gypsy brewing out of The Australian Brewery last year and launched two debut beers in December, before setting up operations of their own within a Marrickville warehouse. Now, the next part of the dream has finally been realised, with the doors to Sauce's new on-site taproom opening to the public One half of that sprawling industrial space has been transformed into a comfy, laid-back watering hole, overlooking the shiny collection of brewing equipment. The bar area has been crafted from recycled bricks and timber, and there are seating options aplenty – because as owner Mike Clarke will tell you, "there's nothing worse than a crowded bar with standing room only and 50-foot lines to get a drink". And comfort is key, because this is the kind of craft beer lineup that'll keep you busy for a good, long session. While drops like the Mega-Hop Sauce Double IPA and a pale ale have been on local beer-radars for close to a year, the brewery just dropped a whopping six new beers in conjunction with its taproom opening. The family currently includes an on-trend New England IPA, a hops-driven hefeweizen and even an experimental porter, infused with chocolate and chipotle. Looking forward, there'll be a core range of about five beers, backed by rotating seasonal releases and collaboration brews, with a front beer garden also on its way. Stay tuned for news of Sauce's grand opening bash. You'll find Sauce Brewing's new taproom at 1a Mitchell St, Marrickville. For more information, visit their website.
A 30-year retrospective of one of the most dazzling pioneers of multimedia installations and experimental video art has opened at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art with Pipilotti Rist: Sip my Ocean. In what's being heralded as the most comprehensive exhibition of the Swiss artist's work ever held in an Australian gallery, you'll get to see pieces right from the start of her practice (including her early single-channel videos created during the 1980s) up to her most recent immersive environments and large-scale audio-visual installations. A truly unique artist whose practice explores the connection between the human body, nature and technology, Rist creates colourful, enchantingly sensual worlds for viewers to lose themselves in – such as 4th Floor to Mildness, where you'll get comfy on one of 18 beds and gaze upwards at a hypnotic underwater world projected onto massive abstract panels. It's not often you lie down on a gallery floor amongst strangers to soak up some art — and its this particular atmosphere of community and togetherness within the way you experience Rist's work that cements its charm. Taking place as part of the Sydney International Art Series, Sip My Ocean runs until February 18. Images: Courtesy of Pipilotti Rist / Ken Leanfore for the MCA.
'Poison Tree' inspired by William Blake While many a great writer have been inspired by the clothes on our back, few have attested to the efficacy and functionality of our second skin with such style and grace as that most eminently quotable of authors, Mark Twain, who famously (and accurately) stated that: "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." It seems however, that the shoe (if you'll excuse just one more clothing-related pun) is on the other foot as pioneering fashionistas The Affair have transformed their love and passion for literature into a unique and compelling range of men's T-shirts. From cult favourites to undisputed classics, from Macbeth to cyberpunk, and from Wilde to Animal Farm, these UK-based Australians have combined the language and imagery from the litany of literary greats with their own captivating designs to create an awesome range of clothing that is "fashioned by literature". The boys have just arrived back in Sydney for the Australian launch of The Affair, and in celebration Concrete Playground is offering you the chance to get your hands on one of three free T-shirts that not only is sure to turn heads but also evokes all the passion and beauty of the written word. To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter (if you're not already) and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. 'Mountains of Madness' inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and 'Crime and Punishment' inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
In Australia, January means warmth, more warmth and heading to the movies to watch Oscar contenders to escape it. In Park City, Utah, it means snow, a celebration of cinema started by none other than Robert Redford, and the first big international film festival of the year. Yes, the Sundance Film Festival has just played its slate of 2017 flicks — or, as we like to look at it, the titles that will hopefully be heating up Aussie big screens in the near future. Last year, number one on our Sundance wish list was Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Thankfully, that turned out to be pretty majestical. Plenty of our other 2016 picks have shown up at local festivals around the place too, such as Werner Herzog talking about the internet in Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World; singing Polish mermaids in The Lure; and Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern and Michelle Williams at their best in Certain Women. And, speaking of Williams, her Oscar-nominated performance in Manchester by the Sea from last year's choices is about to open in Australian cinemas. Enough looking backwards, though — 2017's lineup delivers a massive new list of movies to get in front of your eyeballs. First, the good news: from Sundance's latest batch, plenty are already coming our way. To name a few, they include US Dramatic competition winner I Don't Feel At Home in This World Anymore, which will drop on Netflix worldwide in February; Berlin Syndrome, the third feature from Australian Somersault and Lore director Cate Shortland, which is already slated for an April cinema release; and all-female horror anthology XX, which Monster Fest is championing. Plus, Netflix strikes again with documentary Casting JonBenet from Aussie filmmaker Kitty Green, environmental doco and audience award favourite Chasing Coral, and anorexia drama To the Bone by former Buffy writer turned UnREAL showrunner Marti Noxon. As for the rest? Here's the ten we're crossing our fingers and toes to see in our local cinemas (and a few others as well). CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Most actors wouldn't want to walk in the footsteps of the inimitable Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes, but that's just what Armie Hammer does in the film that became the talk of the fest, Call Me By Your Name. Set in 1983, the queer coming-of-age drama is the latest effort from Italian I Am Love and A Bigger Splash director Luca Guadagnino, which virtually guarantees how good its summery images will look. Bound to be more powerful than that, though, is the underlying tale of desire, as well as the accompanying performances. Also watch out for: Mudbound, which delves into the stories of two families in America's south post-World War II with an all-star cast of Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Mary J. Blige, Garrett Hedlund, Jonathan Banks and Jason Mitchell. THE BIG SICK If you've watched Silicon Valley or Portlandia (or caught 2016 flicks Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates or Central Intelligence), you'll recognise Kumail Nanjiani — though his list of credits runs much longer than that. In fact, with his wife Emily V. Gordon, he has added feature film screenwriter to his resume with The Big Sick, and turned their own culture-clash dating story into an amusing and insightful film in the process. Michael Showalter of Wet Hot American Summer fame directs, with the pair re-teaming after Nanjiani featured in his last ace movie, My Name is Doris. Also watch out for: Aubrey Plaza in everything, always — or, specifically, in Ingrid Goes West. Here, her titular character befriends an Instagram lifestyle guru played by Elizabeth Olsen, because that's a thing. Next-generation actors O'Shea Jackson Jr. (who played his dad, Ice Cube, in Straight Outta Compton) and Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt) also star. LANDLINE There have been plenty of comedies about pregnancy, but when Obvious Child took on the topic back in 2014, it showed the world what a frank, funny, empathetic and earnest look at unexpectedly discovering you're expecting could turn out — and helped show just how great a talent Jenny Slate is in the process. Three years later, the actress reunites with writer/director Gillian Robespierre for a trip to the '90s. Yes, it's set at a time when people chatted on the phones that you couldn't take with you, and it makes for a darkly amusing effort that's certain to bring the same honesty and hilarity to exploring family troubles. Also watch out for: Jenny Slate again, this time in The Polka King opposite Jack Black. They play husband and wife, with the former scamming his way to a polka music empire. Jason Schwartzman and Australia's own Jacki Weaver are among the cast. BEACH RATS Pay attention to the name Eliza Hittman. She received the US Dramatic comp's best director prize, and if her sophomore feature is anything like her moody, evocative debut It Felt Like Love, she's a certain talent to watch. In Beach Rats, the filmmaker charts the efforts of Brooklyn teen Frankie to brighten up a thoroughly unhappy summer — and explore his own wants and needs — when he simultaneously starts hooking up with guys at a beachside cruising spot and dating a young woman. Also watch out for: After featuring in 2015 flick People Places Things, The Daily Show's Jessica Williams once again joins forces with writer/director Jim Strouse in The Incredible Jessica James, this time taking the lead as an aspiring playwright who forges a new bond to cope with a breakup. I DREAM IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE Talk may be the focus of the Mexican-set I Dream in Another Language — getting the two last native speakers of a dying language to speak after a 50-year feud, to be exact — however this thoughtful love story says just as much with images as it does with words. Think deeply-felt cinematic poetry that leans towards the lyrical, patient style of filmmaker favoured by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (the director behind Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Cemetery of Splendour). Also watch out for: Carpinteros (Woodpeckers), an engrossing romance that introduces viewers to a world they've probably never thought of and a form of communication they likely haven't heard of — neighbouring prisons in the Dominican Republic and the form of sign language their inmates use to communicate. A GHOST STORY Don't you just love secret films? We're talking about the type that just spring up out of nowhere, made without anyone knowing. A Ghost Story fell into that camp when it first made headlines in November, and the talent involved with the movie makes it all the more exciting. After working together on 2013's Ain't Them Bodies Saints, director Dave Lowery (Pete's Dragon) re-teams with Rooney Mara and likely future best actor Oscar winner Casey Affleck (for Manchester by the Sea) to examine death and grief — and, yes, the spiritual presence you're expecting based on the title. Also watch out for: With Jon Hamm and Tim Robbins among the cast, Marjorie Prime similarly broods over mortality, focusing on the last days of an 86-year-old — spent with a computerised version of her dearly departed hubby. STEP They don't just give any old film a Special Jury Award for inspirational filmmaking, the gong Step took out in Sundance's US Documentary field. Treading the same turf that 2016 festival hit The Fits made its own with such style and skill, the doco follows three high-schoolers trying to chase their step dance team dreams. Expect more than just the usual formula as first-time director Amanda Lipitz peers inside the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, the ladies striving for a better future and the crowd-pleasing journey that results. Also watch out for: Tokyo Idols, which joins the growing ranks of factual efforts trying to understand just what makes Japanese girl bands, pop music, its stars and their fans tick. PATTI CAKE$ Does the road to rhyme-slinging rap success start in New Jersey? And is the rags-to-riches path paved with assistance from a goth-metal muso named Basterd? For the wannabe hip hop artist who calls herself both Killer P and Patti Cake$, it just might be. For Aussie actress Danielle McDonald, the energetic underdog effort that shares Patti's name could also be her stepping stone to broader acclaim — and, for music video director turned first-time feature helmer Geremy Jasper, his as well. Also watch out for: Roxanne Roxanne, a biopic about a big hip hop beef known as the Roxanne wars — aka a series of songs answering the last, with 14-year-old emcee Roxanne Shanté in the middle. Playing Shanté, newcomer Chanté Adams won a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance. AXOLOTL OVERKILL And the prize for best title goes to…actually, German drama Axolotl Overkill won a jury award for cinematography in the World Dramatic comp, but it'd have a fair shot if the other contest was a real thing. The feature debut of writer/director Helene Hegemann is based on her own semi-autobiographical novel, which she wrote when she was 17. Not only does it take the coming-of-age genre into partying and nightlife territory — which, yes, you've seen before — but the stylistic exploration of teen excess promises to traverse contemplative and surreal terrain as well. Also watch out for: A fellow contender in the great name stakes, Don't Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl! brings professional and non-professional actors together to tell a fairytale-like story of teenage love, colonial oppression and gang struggles in three languages. 78/52 Every film festival has one: a movie that cinephiles just won't be able to contain their excitement about. 78/52 takes the honours at this year's Sundance, with its moniker referring to the number of setups and edits it took to film the most iconic shower scene in cinema history. Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho fans will be in their element as the doco breaks down this famous sequence, and explores just how it changed filmmaking as we know it. And, the likes of Guillermo del Toro, Bret Easton Ellis, Karyn Kusama Eli Roth and Peter Bogdanovich are all on hand to help. Also watch out for: The Nile Hilton Incident, a Cairo-set corrupt cop flick charting an investigation into a murdered singer — and the film that took out the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic competition.
A new online ‘dating’ app bears the slogan “Threesomes made easy”. Titled 3ndr (threender), it’s made for anyone who’s always longed to meet a stranger (or two) via the internet and get naked. 3ndr is the latest offshoot of popular hook-up apps Tinder and Grindr. Although Tinder is proving itself as a conduit for all kinds of dating (it's even clocked up a few marriages now), 3ndr is very much about sex. “A service that works for singles and couples,” the site reads. “It’s the easiest way to satisfy your human needs and spend some fun time with other people.” Users can request pretty much any configuration of bodies — double couples, MMF, FFM, MMM, FFF and so on. The imagination is the limit. Plus anyone’s welcome: “swingers, newbies, curious and experienced”. Anonymous searching means that “you can easily hide yourself from friends and family, so you can browse freely”. 3nder’s creators assert that not only are they about facilitating fantasies buy they’re also on a crusade to “make society more open about sexual desires”. In their view, individuals with non-traditional sexual urges face discrimination in much the same way that “gay people did 15 years ago”. Via the Independent.
High-rises aren't the most ideal set-up for making new buds. It's not every apartment-dwelling crew that's lucky enough to undertake wacky antics in the hall, eat from each other's fridges and bond over Ugly Naked Guys across the way. You're more likely to encounter your neighbours through the wall — outlandishly vocal bedroom activity, raging Avicii-fuelled parties, World Cups. It's all pretty negative, fist-shaking stuff, usually moderated by your tired, tired landlord. But what if some friendseeking architecture firm just wanted us to all get along, even design friendships between neighbours? It all has do to with space. Dense, high-rise housing can be an isolating place to live, even though you're surrounded by hundreds of people and their better-than-yours cooking aromas. Vertically-stacked apartment living often lacks those common areas where you can bump into your (often hundreds) of neighbours and hang out — courtyards, gardens, front porches; Actual House areas — resulting in the whole nod-and-smile, awkward silent elevator ride and subsequent, perpetual avoidance of eye contact. But you might have more in common than you think with mean old Mr Macgillycuddy downstairs. Tired of these missed, loneliness-curing opportunities and taking cues from corporate setups, a presumably friendly Belgian design firm has come up with an inspired solution. C.F. Møller Architects and Brut Architecture and Urban Design have made social interaction the main goal of their new mixed-use high-rise design in Antwerp. That's right, an apartment tower designed to help you make friends. C.F. Møller's 24-story plan is all about mini-communities. Grouping together similar apartment types (family homes with other family homes, raucous students with other raucous students), the plan throws together residents with typically matching day schedules and increases the chance of bumping into each other for mad chats, recipe swaps and sugar borrowing. Cooking and eating alone's definitely another opportunity for buddying up in apartment living — nothing like a sad, tear-dressed Caesar for one. So the team have included a communal dining area in the design, perfect for post-work vents and cheap pot luck dinners, as well as a roof terrace for those beer-fuelled new friend-making chats. Nothing sparks a new friendship faster than similar interests. Cyclists can event meet other veloheads in the bike repair repair facility. Pet owners can let their four-legged friends roam free all year long in the triple-height indoor garden and students can compare notes from outdoor study sessions in the massive balcony space. While C.F. Møller haven't released a completion date yet, estimates look toward 2017 for the building's red ribbon ceremony. Until then, why not give your neighbours a chance instead of a passive aggressive note? Could be an everyday Ryan Gosling on every floor. Via Fast Company.
During international air travel, most of us zone out, watch movies and wait to be brought tiny packaged food. But Brooklyn-based Japanese artist Tomokazu Matsuyama made the most of his notebook's 17-hour battery life while in transit between Tokyo and Sydney. After unplugging the power lead from his Toshiba Portégé Z20T notebook, he made a full suite of finished artwork, all ready for exhibition, before he lost power. Combining cutting-edge technology and the quirkiness of Japanese popular culture, the pieces went on display for two nights only (June 24 and 25) at the Quayside Room of the Museum of Contemporary Art for Toshiba's Made in 17 Hours. Prior to boarding the flight, Matsuyama zipped around Tokyo taking some quick snaps of his favourite places and drew some preliminary sketches in the departure lounge. On the plane he used the laptop-tablet hybrid to create a colourful collection of images, blending traditional Edo-period influences with a more Western and urban sensibility. To convey Matsuyama’s process, the exhibition featured a time lapse, which is like watching the construction and assembly of an eclectic jigsaw puzzle. He breaks up photographs of downtown Tokyo (shrines, nightlife, neon signs and seas of umbrellas) and splices the fragments with his custom-made patterns. Over an Asahi and a sushi roll, you could even use the notebooks on display to experiment with whipping up your own painterly textures. Matsuyama is a self-taught artist, and this is his first venture into digital painting. Usually his work involves months of meticulous labour with the help of a handful of assistants. This experiment has turned out to be a pretty epic accomplishment for only 17 hours work and very little elbow room.
In 2022, McDonald's coveted Szechuan sauce finally became a reality in Australia, and Rick and Morty fans across the country were grateful. Here's something even better: new episodes of the hit animated series, which'll arrive worldwide in September. Everywhere across earth where television is screened and streamed — interdimensional cable, too — Rick and Morty will return in spring. US network Adult Swim has announced that the show's sixth season will hit on Sunday, September 4 in America, which is Monday, September 5 Down Under, where it beams into your queue via Netflix. Yes, that's the way the supremely great news goes today. Yes, you can get schwifty if you want to. And if you're wondering what kinds of chaos are in store this time around, Adult Swim advised that the new season will pick up with its titular pair "where we left them, worse for wear and down on their luck". "Will they manage to bounce back for more adventures? Or will they get swept up in an ocean of piss! Who knows?! Piss! Family! Intrigue! A bunch of dinosaurs! More piss!" the network also teased. Anything can happen in Rick and Morty — but you probably expect that Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith (both voiced by show co-creator Justin Roiland, Solar Opposites) will keep wreaking havoc, and that the series will keep zipping between as many universes as it can. And, it's likely that Rick and Morty's hijinks will still draw in Morty's mother Beth (Sarah Chalke, Firefly Lane), father Jerry (Chris Parnell, Archer) and sister Summer (Spencer Grammer, Tell Me a Story). Ripped and ready - Season 6 coming September 4th pic.twitter.com/RfvA1x5ELj — Rick and Morty (@RickandMorty) July 27, 2022 Also still certain to be present: the fact that the show clearly gleaned inspiration from Back to the Future, but has taken that whole setup — a genius scientist going on wild adventures with a high schooler — in a zillion out-there directions. If you're keen to rejoin the smartest Rick and Morty-est Morty in the universe, start getting excited for September — unless you're a total Jerry, that is. There's no trailer for Rick and Morty's sixth season yet, but you can watch an old clip below: Rick and Morty's sixth season will premiere globally on Monday, September 5 Down Under. It streams via Netflix in Australia and New Zealand.
It's the question that Sydney Film Festival asks every year: how can you make this massive cinema celebration even bigger once the full lineup has dropped and closing night's pick has been unveiled? Add a heap of flicks that'll be making their Australian debuts straight from world-premiering at Cannes. In 2024, eight such titles have just been added to the SFF bill — and if you can't wait any longer to see Megalopolis, which iconic filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola first conceived back in 1977, you won't have to. Starring Adam Driver (Ferrari), it's one of the big newcomers to this year's SFF selection. Also set to play from Wednesday, June 5–Sunday, June 16: Black Dog, a tale of a stunt motorcyclist from Guan Hu (The Sacrifice) that won Cannes' Un Certain Regard award for 2024; Rumours, which gives the fest a dose of Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson behind the lens (reteaming after Accidence, The Rabbit Hunters and Stump the Guesser), plus Cate Blanchett (The New Boy) on-screen; and The Seed of the Sacred Fig, the latest film from 2021 SFF winner Mohammad Rasoulf (There Is No Evil). The latter is particularly significant, given that its place on the Cannes lineup saw Rasoulof forced to flee Iran after being sentenced to flogging and imprisonment. SFF has also added Best Documentary-winner Ernest Cole: Lost and Found from I Am Not Your Negro's Raoul Peck, Caught by the Tides from Jia Zhangke (Ash Is the Purest White), the post-World War One-set adoption drama The Girl with the Needle and revenge-thriller Ghost Trail. And, after body-horror The Substance sold out its closing night slot, the also straight-from-Cannes flick has scored extra screenings. "We're thrilled to unveil an extraordinary selection of eight new films, direct from Cannes, to complete the final lineup of the 71st Sydney Film Festival," said Festival Director Nashen Moodley about the expansion to the 2024 program. If you weren't already thinking "normal life can wait, there's movies to watch", then you should be now. Also on the bill already: hundreds of movies, spanning everything from a Midnight Oil documentary to open this year's fest, a Bondi Icebergs doco, Hellraiser with a new live score and a retrospective that pays tribute to Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène through to Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things follow-up Kinds of Kindness, Hunter Schafer (Euphoria)-starring thriller Cuckoo, Sundance hit I Saw the TV Glow from We're All Going to the World's Fair's Jane Schoenbrun and Indigenous Aussie horror via The Moogai. Sydney Film Festival 2024 takes place from Wednesday, June 5–Sunday, June 16 at various cinemas and venues around Sydney. For more information — and for tickets — head to the festival's website.
Weird food museums have plenty in common with everyone's favourite doughy Italian dish — there's a type for everyone, and no one can resist their charms. Quite a number exist around the world, celebrating everything from ramen to currywurst to jell-o, but the latest will revel in the deliciousness that is pizza. Who doesn't want to while away a few hours in a pizza cave, pizza fun house or at the pizza beach, then play some pizza games? No one, that's who. They're just some of the attractions on offer at the pizza-themed space, which is is popping up in New York at a yet-to-be-disclosed location. Like the city's other over-the-top ode to a food that everyone loves, aka the Museum of Ice Cream, it's a short-term affair, running from October 13 to 28. Other highlights include an artist's gallery, presumably showcasing plenty of ace pizza-making; an interactive exhibit exploring the history of pizza, as well as promising to tell the dish's untold story (if it reveals that pizza also tastes great cold, well, that's something that everyone knows); and something called 'pizza zen', which, if it's meditation involving pizza, we're sure everyone will be onboard with. There'll also be a pizza screening room — if you'd like to watch clips of pizza, perhaps? So far, few concrete details about what any of these attractions actually entail have been revealed, but they sure will involve pizza somehow. The Museum is being called an "artistic tribute to pizza", according to its website, while the event's ticketing listing describes it as "a place to take amazing photos" and "a space to bask in multi-sensory, psychedelic pizza joy." Expect Instagram to be overrun with pizza photos, basically. If you're wondering about actually eating pizza, yes, attendees will also get a slice with their $35 ticket, from a vendor outside the venue. But, as every pizza fiend knows, one piece is never enough, so "the Museum will do its best to make additional pizza available." Via Eater.
Picasso crossed Spain to Barcelona as a young man, before settling in to paint in France. To accompany the artist's Sydney show, the Art Gallery of NSW's series of celebrity talks brings dancer Rafael Bonachela to explain how the same two countries have influenced his work. With a gentle Spanish accent and a yen for making dance easy to enjoy, Bonachela has been reworking the Sydney dance scene since 2008, when he took up the directorship of the Sydney Dance Company. Bonachela's time with the company has seen it move from its blue period to more vivid and abstract movements. Having moved himself as a young man to Barcelona, where the new environment threw him into a world of dance and a more cosmopolitan life, he knows the strength of a locale's influence in the creative process. A spoken topography that might lead to another lingering look at Paris in the subsequent screening of Jean Cocteau's Orphée in the Gallery theatre. And while Bonachela may dance with an economy of movement, with his words he's generous to a fault. Orphée is free, but you may need to pick up tickets in advance from the Info Desk. Image by the Sydney Dance Company.
This time last year, everyone was watching one thing — and talking about it too. Now, twelve months since Netflix's '80s-set sci-fi/horror series Stranger Things became everyone's favourite new show, the streaming platform has released the full-length trailer for its second season. In the words of Hawkins police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour), "nothing is going to go back to the way it was." Managing to dose up on even more nostalgia and find a clever way to work the ultimate '80s horror-themed track into the mix — yes, we're talking about Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', complete with Vincent Price's iconic voiceover — the trailer shows that the Upside Down isn't done with this band of bike-riding kids yet. Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) can't stop seeing all things creepy, everyone is definitely on edge, and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is reaching out to find her way home. Throw in some '80s arcade games, the expected unsettling vibe, that instant-classic theme tune and Winona Ryder, of course, and the scene is set for quite the second run. The trailer premiered as part of San Diego Comic Con's current explosion of pop culture, with the full series due to drop on Netflix on October 27 — just in time for Halloween, naturally. Watch it and try not to get goosebumps.
Diaries out: Good Things, the Australian music festival that's boasted the reunited TISM, Bring Me the Horizon, The Amity Affliction, NOFX, Millencolin, Devo, Fall Out Boy, Limp Bizkit, Corey Taylor and Pennywise on its lineup across its past two years, will return to the east coast in December 2024 to kick off another summer. There's no word yet on who'll be taking to the stage, but you can save the date, with the fest again playing Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Good Things runs over a single weekend even though it hits up three cities, and that's remaining the same in 2024. First up is a Melbourne stop on Friday, December 6, before heading to Saturday, December 7 and Brisbane on Sunday, December 8. Venues haven't been revealed yet either, so whether Good Things is again taking over Centennial Park, Flemington Racecourse and Brisbane Showgrounds is yet to be confirmed. Wherever it sets up shop in 2024, both its past rosters and the parts of town that it has popped up in demonstrate that this isn't a small affair by any measure. 2023's fest also featured Bullet for My Valentine, Taking Back Sunday and I Prevail, plus Enter Shikari, Pvris, Behemoth and Sepultura — and, on the local front, Spiderbait, Frenzal Rhomb, Jebediah and Eskimo Joe. Accordingly, whoever does the honours in 2024 is following in some mighty hefty footsteps. There's no word yet as to when more details will be unveiled, so watch this space. 2022's lineup dropped in June, while 2023's arrived in August. Good Things follows fellow touring fest Listen Out and Brisbane-only event Sweet Relief! in locking in a 2024 return in what's been an immensely difficult year for music festivals, with Groovin the Moo announcing its dates then cancelling, and Splendour in the Grass sadly doing the same. Good Things 2024 Dates: Friday, December 6 — Melbourne Saturday, December 7 — Sydney Sunday, December 8 — Brisbane Good Things will hit the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in December 2024. We'll update you when the lineup is announced and tickets go on sale — head to the festival website for more information and to sign up for the event's mailing list in the interim. Images: Kane Hibberd.
2015 was a good year for movies. We shifted our love of all things fast and furious to the latest entry in the iconic Mad Max series (although Fast & Furious 7 also hit the high-octane spot), and cried buckets when Inside Out told us that emotions have emotions. We followed Joaquin Phoenix's Inherent Vice stoner detective around in a daze, delved into N.W.A's history thanks to Straight Outta Compton, accompanied Emily Blunt through the drug war in Sicario, and reignited our love of boxing movies with Creed. And the list goes on. That was then, though, and this is now. Well, almost. 2016 is swiftly approaching, bringing with it a fresh batch of potential cinema treasures. Superheroes and sequels feature as always — which is good news if X-Men: Apocalypse or Zoolander 2 sound like your kind of thing. Awards contenders such as '50s-set romance Carol, journalism drama Spotlight and harrowing holocaust effort Son of Saul arrive on Australian screens, alongside a few others that release overseas in 2015, such as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's comedy Sisters, Quentin Tarantino's western The Hateful Eight and star-studded GFC effort The Big Short. Basically, it's all shaping up to be another great twelve months for film buffs — and anyone who heads to the cinema every now and then. To help stoke your excitement, we've found ten movies you should add to your 2016 must-see list. They'll be on a big screen near you before you know it. ANOMALISA If you've seen Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you'll agree that a new Charlie Kaufman film is cause for celebration. Eight years after making his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York, the writer turned helmer delivers his second stint behind the camera in the form of the animated Anomalisa. The tale of a man struggling with his mundane life might sound routine, but if there's one thing Kaufman doesn't do, it's ordinary. Don't expect the usual CGI fare either, with the movie using puppets made with 3D printers. In Australian cinemas February 4. HAIL, CAESAR! The latest Coen brothers flick sounds like the stuff that dreams are made of, with Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, '80s action heroes Dolph Lundgren and Christopher Lambert all starring in the '50s-set throwback to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Here's hoping that it lives up to everything we're all already hoping for and fantasising about. Given that the Coens' resume includes Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?, No Country For Old Men and Inside Llewyn Davis, we're pretty optimistic. In Australian cinemas March 3. KEANU No, Keanu isn't a film about a certain Mr Reeves — although we would watch out the hell out of that. Instead, it’s a movie about two friends who decide to pose as drug dealers to retrieve a stolen cat. Stay with us though, because it stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Yep, their brilliant sketch comedy series might've come to an end, but that just means they have more time for other things. Will Forte also features, should you need any more convincing. In Australian cinemas April 21. THE NICE GUYS Even if you don't recognize the name Shane Black, we're guessing you're a fan of at least one of his movies. He wrote Lethal Weapon, directed the Robert Downey Jr comeback that was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and now pairs Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe together in The Nice Guys. The former plays a private detective, and the latter an enforcer turned his unlikely partner on a murder investigation. Expect them to spout plenty of smart, wisecracking dialogue, in keeping with Black's style — and expect to have fun watching them. In Australian cinemas May 26. GHOSTBUSTERS Admit it: a certain Ray Parker Jr song just popped into your head. The catchy tune isn't the only thing that's memorable about the 1984 film — or its 1989 sequel — but the 2016 instalment looks set to add its own impressive elements to the mix. Case in point: the all-female cast of Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are taking over from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. They'll play the next batch of New Yorkers dallying with the paranormal, and one thing's certain — they ain't afraid of no ghost. In Australian cinemas July 21. DOCTOR STRANGE If you've been suffering from superhero fatigue, one of Marvel's two 2016 films might provide the antidote. After the third Captain America movie reaches cinemas in April, the company that kickstarted the current wave of caped cinematic crusaders gets magical and mystical with Doctor Strange. Everyone's favourite otter lookalike, Benedict Cumberbatch, stars as a former neurosurgeon who learns the supernatural arts and becomes the Earth's primary protector against otherworldly threats. Mads Mikkelsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams and Tilda Swinton join him, in an effort that looks a little more offbeat than usual, like Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy. In Australian cinemas October 27. ASSASSIN'S CREED Film adaptations of video games haven’t had a stellar run. But with Warcraft also releasing in 2016, Assassin's Creed isn't the only movie trying to change that — however, it is the only one that re-teams the main on- and off-screen talent behind one of 2015's best efforts, Macbeth. Yep, after adapting the bard into something moody and brooding, director Justin Kurzel, actors Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, reunite for something completely different. Even if you've never played the game — which focuses on the rivalry between two ancient secret societies — the team behind this is reason enough to be excited. In Australia cinemas December 26. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE It's been more than two decades since we first met the self-indulgent duo of Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone, but those champagne-swilling London ladies are still kicking on. After five series, a few specials and a handful of 20th anniversary episodes, they're making the leap to the big screen in an effort that's certain to earn its moniker. Yes, the alter egos of Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are back, accompanied by the other characters — Eddy's long-suffering daughter Saffy, her dotty mother, and eccentric assistant Bubble, for example — you know and love. In keeping with the TV series, they'll be bringing a host of famous names along with them, and inspiring ample laughs in the process. Australian release date to be confirmed. JULIETA After taking to the skies but not quite flying high with 2013's I'm So Excited!, Spain's premier auteur gets back on track with Julieta. Chronicling the life of a woman across two time periods — now, and thirty years prior — might seem like familiar territory for Pedro Almodóvar, but he never really does the same thing twice. The movie is set to release in the filmmaker's homeland in March, so fingers crossed that it heads to Australian shores without much delay. And if you'd been looking forward to the director's latest but don't recognise the title, that's understandable — until less than a month ago, it was called Silencio. However Almodóvar changed the name to avoid confusion with Martin Scorsese's forthcoming effort, Silence. Australian release date to be confirmed. A STORM IN THE STARS Forget Victor Frankenstein, and make note of the James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe-starring reimagining of Mary Shelley's classic text that looks set to head straight to DVD in Australia. A Storm in the Stars tells the tale behind the iconic tale, and is a film gothic horror fans should be looking forward to. Elle Fanning stars as the author, The Diary of a Teenage Girl's Bel Powley plays her sister Claire Clairmont, and Romeo & Juliet's Douglas Booth features as poet Percy Shelley. That the movie also marks the English-language debut of Wadjda's Haifaa Al-Mansour is the icing on the cake. Australian release date to be confirmed.
It has not been a good month for controversial bike sharing service oBike. First, it was announced that the ill-fated bikes were vanishing off the streets of Melbourne. Now, the Singapore-based company has announced via Facebook and its app it will no longer be Singapore-based, stopping operations in the city on Monday, June 25, 2018. oBike was launched in Singapore a little over a year ago — in January 2017 — but faced difficulties meeting the requirements of the city's Land Transport Council. The council passed new laws in March 2018 requiring bike-sharing operators to register for new licences that regulated fleet size. Regulations were the reason the service pulled out of Melbourne, too, as the company was unable to comply with new guidelines imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, in which abandoned bikes blocking streets for more than two hours would prompt $3000 fines. There are also reports flooding social media that oBike is refusing to return deposits ($49 in Singapore and $69 in Australia), with some users saying the refund button has disappeared altogether and others saying that the deposits have been converted into subscriptions. If this affects you, a Consumer Affairs Victoria spokesperson recommends "consumers should first contact the business to seek a resolution. If the business does not resolve the issue, and a credit card was used for payment, the consumer can contact their bank or credit card provider for a chargeback." There's no word yet on whether the infamous yellow bikes will be leaving Sydney, with the oBike's recent announcement stating, "this decision will not affect oBike's operations in anyway in countries outside of Singapore". The company is still promoting its new rewards for parking responsibly and in designated parking spots in Sydney via Facebook. We'll continue to update the story as further announcements are made.
Time is usually of the essence on an out-of-town trip, so you want to make sure you're hitting the best spots, particularly when it comes to meal times. This autumn, Bendigo is running a roaming tour that does all the hard work for you, so you can spend less time researching and more time feasting. Welcome to Our Kitchens, taking place on Sunday, March 17, will feature five different kitchens, a whole heap of local produce and an insurmountably tasty time in general. The tour is led by local guides Food Fossickers, who are experts at where to find the foodie goods. Across a five-hour period, you'll sample the best of Bendigo's local produce, hear from chefs and food makers and make your way around town on foot to pop into the various venues. Your produce crawl will take you to Masons of Bendigo, The Good Loaf Sourdough Bakery, Sangria Spanish Tapas Bar, Wholefoods Kitchen, Hoo-gah and Indulge Fine Belgian Chocolates. Tickets are $75 per person and partakers will get a savoury dish and a sweet treat at each venue, plus a limited-edition plate, handmade by Bendigo Pottery, to take home. For an extra fee, you can match a locally produced beverage to each dish — which is probably wise as walking and learning can be thirsty work. The Welcome to Our Kitchens tour starts at 11am on Sunday, March 17. To book your tickets, head to the Bendigo Tourism website.
Asylum seekers. Refugees. Migrant communities. In today’s Australia, these descriptions aren’t likely to generate warm feelings and positive stories. More likely these are buzzwords for negativity, for political disagreements and protests. What people won’t read in the immigration reports is that many refugees and migrants come from cultures where textiles, sewing and clothes-making are everyday practice, meaning they arrive with skills which fit quite perfectly into Australia’s thriving creative communities. And in that lies the intersection between fashion and social good. That’s right, philanthropist and CEO of The Social Outfit Jackie Ruddock is giving you a very good reason to bust out those credit cards: her social enterprise employs and trains migrants in producing fashion with a contemporary Australian aesthetic. The local fashion industry is not without its challenges, but it's not going to disappear. So when it comes to providing stable employment opportunities, education and empowerment to those who already have the skills to create, it feels a bit like a no-brainer. Many migrants come to Australia from interrupted educations, and employment in a physical shop allows them to become part of Australia’s culture and economy. Through business interactions, speaking in English and seeing each piece from conception to creation through to sale, employees are getting a truly beneficial education in a real-life classroom. The Social Outfit itself came into existence after Ruddock launched a 365-day social experiment where she committed to wearing a piece of Ken Done’s fashion line and donating $3 per day to her chosen charity, The Social Studio in Melbourne. “It wasn’t my intention to set up in Sydney,” Ruddock explains, “but we’d built so much interest that we had to ask ourselves what it would look like.” So with her steadfast following and believe in the cause, Sydney’s own fashionable social enterprise was born. An independent venture from Melbourne’s flagship, built through close collaboration. Nothing is by accident, down to the Newtown shop fit-out, designed entirely by Nina Maya, a Sydney designer who also contributed to Colour Chameleon, The Social Outfit’s first line, made up of donated digital prints from the likes of Dragstar and Ken Done. Two square cut-outs hide among the wooden shelving, allowing customers a direct view into the sewing room behind the shop, where every single piece is hand-created. Just to add further to the social cause, much of the fabric used is excess from fashion designers, otherwise awaiting its fate in the landfill. They say that location is everything and the inner west was the ideal connection to the migrant communities of Western Sydney and the inner city shopping destinations. Equally important was the shop’s accessibility via public transport, making King Street an easy choice. Having only just opened up the volunteer-run permanent shop (they had a pop-up in The Rocks last year), Ruddock and the board of seven have already seen massive support from the local creative and fashion communities and the possibilities for development seem endless. Next up, they have partnered with Sydney TAFE to provide Certificate III in clothing production through the in-house sewing school. This is just one more way The Social Outfit is providing detailed education and hands-on experience and celebrating the contribution of these communities to a caring and creative Sydney. The Social Outfit is at 353 King Street, Newtown. Words by Annie Bettis; images by Rima Sabina Aouf.
Even though many of us love the idea of home-grown veggies, our work and social schedules often take precedence over sowing, seeding and weeding. However, a new fully automated hydroponics system promises to change all that. Titled 'Bitponics', it runs a 'Personal Grow Plan' (i.e. an entire season of gardening) via its Cloud. The soil is embedded with Wi-fi responsive sensors, which respond to humidity, air and water temperatures, light and pH levels. The Cloud automatically turns accessories on and off, and monitors the sensors' data. This information is sent to a web-based dashboard, accessible from any electronic device. In the case of sudden problems, the system sends immediate alerts, to which the user can respond remotely. 'Bitponics is a path into the future of urban home gardening,' explains Michael Zick Doherty, co-founder and lead hardware engineer. 'Through the development of open source technologies, we are making it possible for urban gardeners to care for their plants while they're away. Growing hydroponically is more than just about providing free food to your home - it is also about the educational experience that allows us to reconnect with what we eat, empowering us to eat healthy and protect our environment. It is also a great way for students in the classroom to use hydroponics as an applied method of understanding sciences such as biology and chemistry. They can see in real time the changes in the plants' environment and how this correlates to plant growth.' Still in development, a Bitponics Base Station will retail at $US499. Three different web services will be available: 'Trial' (free), 'Serious Grower' ($9 per month) and 'Commercial Grower' ($49 per month). [via PSFK]
Calvin Klein Swim has found its way to Australian shelves, landing a little late in the season, but just in time to see the end of summer. Launching across Australia today, the men's and women's swim collections deliver waterproof versions of those iconic logo waistbands made popular by Kate Moss and Marky Mark Wahlberg in 1992. Throughout both menswear and womenswear swim collections, it's all about the bold, high-impact and cutting-edge with the use of bright primary colours, blocks of black and white, and ultra modern cuts. Ladies, strength and femininity combine with provocative zip-front one-pieces, sleek black, white and gold one-shoulder numbers, and classic thin strap cozzies with 'Calvin' emblazoned down the side. It's your choice if you want to play Bond Girl, Olympian or both, but slipping into that logo-banded red bralette and matching split waistband bottoms, you'll undeniably feel as if you've entered some '90s mashup of Baywatch meets TLC video — move over Bondi Rescue. For the guys, there's a fair share of logo waistbands for your boardies, plus styles with a choice of one big 'Calvin' down the side or several little 'Calvin Kleins' dotted among surfboards. Along with swimwear, the brand brings with it a collection of sporty, beach-ready accessories including a branded towel and branded slides: right foot 'Calvin', left foot 'Klein'. As we ride out the rest of summer, everyone will certainly know who you're repping at the beach as you layout your towel, slip off your slides and show off your new mid-summer swimmers. Beach body by Calvin Klein. The Calvin Klein Swim menswear and womenswear collections are available from today at select David Jones stores, and online and in Calvin Klein stores nationwide from next week. Prices range from $59-199.
Ever since the day that humans discovered how great smashed, fermented grapes taste, people have been struggling with wine stains. Abstaining from drinking red when you're wearing white might be a sensible-enough workaround, but it's not ideal, really. Don't worry, an Amsterdam-based company has invented a solution. Behold what Labfresh is calling "the next generation in shirts" — and if it does what it is supposed to, then it'll certainly live up to the hype. The crisp white items of clothing are stain, odour and wrinkle resistant thanks to sustainable cotton fibres made with water, oil and bacteria-repellent technology, as well as breathable and fast-drying. That means that as well as staying free from red splotches and other marks, it'll smell fresh if you need to wear it more than once. If that sounds like just the kind of thing you need when you're having an after-work tipple, then you're not alone. Since starting a Kickstarter campaign at the beginning of January, they've met and surpassed their funding target several times over. In fact, at the time of writing, they're just €382 away from quadrupling their original ask. Given that plenty of others have been dabbling in the area and making similar claims for a few years now, that's quite the response. The shirts are available in slim and regular fit, are expected to ship to customers around the world by April, and have been tested with ketchup, Sriracha sauce, red wine and olive oil too. A matching tie is also available in five colours to complete the stain-free look. Via MUNCHIES.
Whether it's the glitz and glamour of the world's most beautiful people telling each other just how beautiful they are or the inevitable glut of wink-wink, nudge-nudge jokes from this year's host, Seth MacFarlane, the Academy Awards ceremony is testament to the vanity and vacancy of Hollywood. But given the level of offence he seems to have caused in some quarters, it seems like MacFarlane will be giving even Oscar-naysayers a reason to watch the carnage. Most notably, he said this: "I read [Best Picture nominee] Amour was co-produced in Austria and Germany, right? The last time Austria got together and co-produced something it was Hitler, but this is much better." He also told the Best Supporting Actress nominees, "Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein", and finalists for the Best Adapted Screenplay that they'd "basically copied stuff from Microsoft Word and pasted it into Final Draft". A few casual insults were, too, thrown at co-host Emma Stone, who surely matches MacFarlane in humour but outdoes him in subtlety. Almost entirely despite itself, the Oscars remains an entrancing and addictive viewing experience. And, as such, I'm willing to excuse the hordes of actors-cum-models parading their Gucci undergarments and thanking their parakeets to find out who history will remember as the greatest performers, filmmakers, artists and writers of 2012. The net is already abuzz with the extended diatribes of bloggers and punters who can't believe the Academy have snubbed Ben Affleck for his crowd-pleasing direction in Argo or how a movie as consistently wry and touching as Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom could miss out on just about everything. Yet what the nominations, and for that matter the long list of snubs and surprises, show is that 2012 was a rip snorter of a year for motion pictures. Whether it was the shocking wartime reality depicted in Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, the overwrought yet utterly breathtaking beauty of Les Miserables or this year's best picture dark horse, Beasts of the Southern Wild, 2012 has been a monumental year in cinema. While it is far from a two-horse race, the frontrunners to take home a chest full of Oscar gold appear to be Stephen Spielberg's epic biopic Lincoln and the 3D magic of Ang Lee's Life of Pi, which snagged 12 and 11 nominations respectively. For the complete list of nominees for the 85th Academy Awards in feature films, click here.
Throw those GoPros, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. Triggering road trippin' pilgrimages country-wide since 2001, Splendour is a locked-in date on many a festival reveller calendar — and now you can make it permanent. The Splendour in the Grass 2015 dates have been confirmed. Splendour will return to North Byron Parklands on Friday 24, Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July. Onsite camping will once again be available from Wednesday 22 July. The coveted lineup will be released soon. Until then, let the furious pub debates and Facebook ponderings commence.
Winter is coming and you are so unprepared. You're still wearing that old jumper with lint balls of fuzz. Your jeans have a rip along the crotch. Or worse still, they no longer fit you. Curse that damned muffin top. Luckily, though, UNIQLO are setting up shop just in the nick of time with their Pitt Street Mall pop-up store. This means 100 percent cashmere sweaters available in 24 colours and no-frills jeans — exactly how we like them. UNIQLO's most popular collections will be available at the 150 Pitt Street Mall store, as well as the exclusive SPRZ NY range that fuses fashion with art. As far as pop-up stores go, this one will be open for a long while. Opening on Saturday, May 3, and running until September 30, UNIQLO's temporary Sydney store will last longer than many candle shops intended to be permanent. Melbourne might have had their permanent UNIQLO store recently open its doors, but ours will be four times the size of Melbourne's previous UNIQLO pop-up store — ha! This ahead of the Japanese retailer's planned permanent store, set to open in Sydney late this year.
Take an ordinary thing and work it into a picture of society. It's a formula that worked well with Salt: A World History, in the East Enders tea making of Britain from Above and here in Spirit of Jang In: Treasures of Korean Metal Craft at the Powerhouse Museum. There are many nooks and crannies here known only to the devoted, and this show takes place in one of its lesser known niches upstairs on level 4. 'Jang In' means 'craftsman', and this exhibition takes you from older, golden treasures to the clean lines of modern Korean design using things of crafted metal as its theme. A collection of golden artefacts dominates the first third of the exhibition. Older archaeological finds are arrayed in special glass cases: a horn-like golden ornament, a crown and a reconstructed saddle ornament decorate with only the wings of thousands of jewel beetles. Tiny figures of gold or bronze are engraved with all the delicateness of renaissance reliquaries — many are Korean reliquaries themselves. Beauty here is in the details, requiring much bending over and leaning in. But there are rewards in tiny wisps of gold which seem to have been accreted more than forged, or a seemingly art-deco metal Phoenix at rest on a flower blossom. These are joined by everyday things like dinner sets, or metal tableware whose use rotated with the seasons. At the back is a collection of modern Korean pieces. It includes the stark, sharp edged designs of Lee Kwang-sun, a collection of work by local Korean Australians and Lee Kyung-ja's vision of Nirvana, a populated sea of miniature Buddhas each stained with the designs of a different dream. Whether you're at the Powerhouse for Love Lace, or seeking things Korean directly, there's really no excuse for not searching out this show's little hideaway. Image: Cloisonné hair pin by Powerhouse Museum/National Museum of Korea.
A star-studded Friday night clash between the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder gives the loser from the season's first bout a chance to turn the tables. With the intercity rivalry bound to amp up the passion and drama, this headline-grabbing event represents one of the biggest matches on the Big Bash League's calendar. Setting the Sydney Cricket Ground alight on January 17, the non-stop action delivered by some of the world's best players ensures the buzz of the crowd resonates even louder.
A fire has broken out at the historic Mosman Rowers on Centenary Drive, with the incident starting in the fireplace on the building's second level. Emergency services were called to the site earlier this morning, with large plumes of smoke seen coming from the three-level harbourside building. Fire and Rescue NSW reported that several crews and trucks were on-site and have since controlled the blaze. The fire was was contained to the second floor, the newly opened Archie Bear cafe. According to Mosman Rowers, all staff and customers were evacuated and have been accounted for. No injuries have been recorded. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvxh6lFg3Nk/ Mosman Rowers is one of the oldest sports clubs in Sydney, and, after falling into disrepair, had reopened just last month under the Bird & Bear Group. The club announced via its Facebook page that the venue would remain closed until further. Mosman Rowers is located at 3 Centenary Drive, Mosman, and will remain closed until further notice. Image: Mosman Girl.
A new Australian ridesharing service that caters exclusively to female customers and hires only female drivers has officially started operations in Melbourne and Brisbane, with Sydney soon to follow. Created by comedian and single mother Georgina McEnroe, Shebah is designed to provide an alternative to women and parents who feel uncomfortable or unsafe using other ridesharing apps such as Uber. "My daughter and her friends had had some bad experiences with Uber," McEnroe told The Sydney Morning Herald. "The thought of getting in a small space with a guy seemed inherently unsafe." As of this week, Shebah will be operating in Queensland from North Lakes to Brisbane, down to Thornlands and then heading west to Bray Park, Albany Creek, Ferny Hills, Mount Ommaney and Inala, as well as on the Gold Coast from Coomera, Coolangatta, Currumbin Valley and Chinderra. In Victoria, the service will stretch from Bundoora to Essendon, Tarneit and through the western suburbs, as well as out to Doncaster and Ringwood, to Dandenong, Dromana and Blairgowrie. It will also operate within a 20 kilometre radius of the Geelong CBD. As for NSW, the service has assured its followers on Facebook it will be up and running as soon as they have enough drivers to support passenger demand. All Shebah drivers will be required to complete relevant legal checks, and in return will receive 85 percent of each fare. Shebah takes 14 percent, while the remainder goes to women-centric charities including Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia and the Northern Centre Against Sexual Assault's Respectful Relationships Program. The Shebah app is available on the App Store and via Google Play. For more information visit www.shebah.com.au.
Few things spell summer so much as outdoor cinema, and Flickerfest does it with highlighter pens and capital letters. The festival sets up shop at Sydney's quintessential beach, Bondi, for 10 days in January to showcase its impeccably picked short films. Flickerfest is renowned for being Australia's only competition accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science and recognised by BAFTA, which means award winners here go on to be considered for Oscars. In 2013, this recognition has extended from the Best Short Film and Best Animation categories to cover the Best Australian Short, too. It's a huge badge of honour for Flickerfest, which had its humble beginnings 22 years ago at Balmain High School. For us in the audience, it means 116 fine films selected from 2300 fierce local and international contenders. They're shown in programs of about 100 minutes, which include Australian and international competition streams in five parts, the Greenflicks environmentally themed films, and a Celebrity Shorts grouping studded with stars from Michael Fassbender to Judi Dench. With their not-so-commercial prerogatives and YouTube-able length, short films are a very fun watch — and yet we rarely get to see them in public screenings. Flickerfest is our premier remedy for this, first in Sydney and then around the country as it goes on national tour. You'll find day and stormy-weather sessions in the art deco Bondi Pavilion, as well as the accompanying bar.
It's now a whole lot easier to get your mitts on one of those recognisable (and authentic) Fjällräven rucksacks, as the Swedish outdoors label behind the bags has launched its first-ever southern hemisphere store. Opening on level two of Melbourne Central, the new space will give locals a chance to shop the internationally renowned brand in person, browsing an extensive range of its sustainably made clothing, accessories and outdoors equipment. Here, those brightly coloured box-shaped Kanken rucksacks (and the mini versions) will be on show in 55 different colours alongside menswear, womenswear, tents, sleeping bags, and plenty of other travel accompaniments. The 'concept store' also offers complimentary coffee, free wi-fi and loads of expert advice for those plotting their next outdoors adventure or even just an overseas jaunt. Fjällräven, now famous worldwide for its clever fusion of functionality and style, has been kicking on since 1960, when founder Ake Nordin made and sold his first aluminium-framed backpack. The label has since expanded to a huge line of fashion and equipment for nature-lovers and style-savvy city dwellers alike. Find Fjällräven at Shop 241, Level 2 Melbourne Central, Corner Latrobe and Swanston Streets, Melbourne. Updated: December 8, 2018.
The campaign to change the date of Australia Day to, well, any day other than January 26 — on account of the undeniable pain it causes Indigenous Australians — has been long fought. In recent years it's even been joined by local councils and the Greens and, now, local broadcaster Triple J has made a symbolic move away from the day of 'celebration'. The radio station will move the date of its annual Hottest 100 countdown to January 27 in 2018. About time. Around this time last year Triple J copped a cavalcade of requests to change the date of the countdown, which culminated in the station throwing open a survey of how listeners would feel about the change. The results were enough to make Triple J change its mind — 60 percent of listeners said they supported moving the date. In Triple J's official statement, it recognised that the Hottest 100 has become a symbol in the debate about Australia Day. "The Hottest 100 wasn't created as an Australia Day celebration. It was created to celebrate your favourite songs of the past year," it said. "It should be an event that everyone can enjoy together — for both the musicians whose songs make it in and for everyone listening in Australia and around the world. This is really important to us." It's a symbolic change, but an undoubtedly important one. The countdown on Saturday, January 27 will be followed by the Hottest 200 on Sunday, January 28. Voting will open on Tuesday, December 12. You can read all the details here.
It's home to both enviable views of Sydney Harbour's most famous calling cards and all the luxury hotel holiday dreams you've had bookmarked on your desktop. And that's not all Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney is known for. It's also got some mighty fine dining options to boot, even for those who aren't staying at the hotel. In addition to Blu Bar on level 36, which runs one of our favourite high teas in the city, it also houses Altitude. The restaurant boasts spectacular views (also on level 36) and the diverse flavours of both land and sea — plus some very indulgent (or, as we prefer to think of them, very necessary) desserts. And, just in time to fulfil all your belly-warming needs of autumn and winter, Altitude has just unveiled a hearty new menu courtesy of chef Insup Kim. The offering focuses heavily on grilled proteins — from charred octopus and roasted whole flounder to dry-aged rib eye and slow-cooked lamb shoulder. You can pair these with a selection of sides including charred cauliflower, creamy mash and brussel sprouts. But don't forget to leave room for the decadent desserts designed by executive pastry chef Anna Polyviou — in particular, the Anna's Mess. Yep, the OTT dome dessert that has featured on MasterChef Australia is now back on the menu by popular demand. And, thanks to Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney, we're giving you and a plus one the chance to try out Altitude's new menu for free. The three-course dinner is valued at $320 and includes Polyviou's famous dessert. Enter your details below for a chance to win. [competition]714391[/competition]
Following the announcement of this year's theme for the Sydney Writers' Festival, Concrete Playground caught up with the festival's artistic director, Chip Rolley. Texan-born Rolley, 47, reveals his personal take on the 2012 theme: the fine line between what is public and private. Read what Rolley as to say about the question of privacy - "the question of our time" - and start getting amped for the festival, which kicks off May 14. Concrete Playground (CP): This year's SWF focuses on the line between public and private matters. Why do you think that this topic is relevant to modern readers and writers? Chip Rolley (CR): I'll never forget when the ex-News of the World journo Paul McMullan told the UK Leveson Inquiry into the media, "Privacy is for paedos." The audacity of it: if you're concerned about privacy, you must have something to hide. That crystallised for me the question of where we draw the line between public and private. The sense that that line is vanishing has been building for years. Not just because of UK scandal rags, or even the increased state security apparatus. But with social media we post things about ourselves that in previous times we might not have even told our loved ones. It seems to me it's the question of our time. CP: How does this issue affect the artistic community? CR: It turns out the question we are all asking ourselves now is one that writers have been asking themselves for years. Any person who writes a biography or a memoir asks themselves this question. How much do I reveal – about myself or family members? How far do I go into the personal life of the public figure I'm writing about? Fiction writers, who often rework the stuff of life into their novels wrestle with this as well. Sydney Writers' Festival seemed to me a natural opportunity to explore this issue and to look at Australia's and the world's writing through this prism. CP: Can the breaking down of the public/private barrier be beneficial to readers? Does this create a more authentic author-to-reader experience? CR: I don't know about "more authentic". There will always be an art to writing – to rendering life and experience through words. But those memoirs that take a really liberal approach to the question (have a look at Joshua Cody's [sic]) can often be invigorating as a result – but only if done well… CP: How has this affected the accessibility of literature? CR: In one sense the Internet and social media have made all of us writers. We are all exploring these issues – deciding what to reveal and what to keep to ourselves. Perhaps that will lead to a wider understanding of writing or a greater appreciation of art in doing it well. CP: Some forms of writing (autobiography, memoir, etc.) are distinctly personal. How do you expect works and authors who work in these genres to contribute to the festival? CR: We explore myriad genres every year and this year is no different. There are some events that directly address the theme, such as "You Must Have Something To Hide" (which looks like it will sell out). Two other big events – "The Feminist Supremacy?" and "Why Get Married When You Could Be Happy?" – take the temperature of the two great social movements of the past 40 years (the women's movement and the gay liberation movement) – both of which relied on the transformative idea that the personal is political. But the beauty of the theme is that it will pulse through all the events, whether they directly address this issue or not. It will percolate through conversations as people spill in and out of the venues and it will emerge in ways we don't even yet see. CP: Do you think it is possible to be a writer, yet maintain your privacy? CR: I do think it's possible, if only to save your material for a rainy day…
It's already one of the most anticipated films of 2017 — Danny Boyle's iconic 1996 film Trainspotting is finally getting the sequel you kind of don't want to see but can't look away from. Set to be released on February 9, T2 will apparently be loosely based on Irvine Welsh's 2002 novel Porno, which was released six years after the film of Trainspotting. And while Trainspotting was perhaps the most effective campaign against shooting up heroin (and the need to learn the dialect and slang of Edinburgh youth), T2 may well do the same for the amateur porn industry. Don't worry, there'll probably still be gratuitous drug use. The old guard is back, with Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle reunited by Boyle, and even John Hodge, the screenwriter of Trainspotting, has worked on the film. Here's the latest trailer, one of the more detailed we've seen pop up ahead of the film's release. Take a peek and see Mark Renton (McGregor) returning to the only place he can ever call home. Gang's all here. T2 is in cinemas February 9.
In most places, the sight of cranes littering the skyline is a sign of change, with each giant machine usually working on a new building or development. In Bristol in the United Kingdom until late September, one particular crane isn't simply obscuring the view as it helps construct a new living space — it's offering a glimpse of stunning vistas and somewhere to stay itself. The latest project from Canopy & Stars, Crane 29 is a treehouse built into a crane high above the city's harbourside. Offering cosy, lofty accommodation for two, it's perched eight metres in the air and will remain open for 100 nights over the British summer. Inside, visitors will find plenty of touches that aim to conjure up the feeling of actually sleeping in the trees, rather than in a apartment in a crane. Wood-lined walls, wooden furniture and fixtures, greenery aplenty, planters designed to attract birds and butterflies, an indoor hammock and organic toiletries are all part of the sustainably built package. And, in case you're wondering, we're guessing Crane 29 is still being called a treehouse just because it sounds much, much better than cranehouse. Anyone keen to climb up for a night in the distinctive space can't just book in, however; due to the demand, potential patrons must enter a lottery and then cross their fingers. Successful applicants will pay £185 for a weeknight stay, and £250 for a weekend evening. Via AOL UK. Images: Canopy & Stars.
With the memory of 2017's shambolic Oscars ceremony beginning to fade, so too are the major contenders starting to slip out of Australian cinemas. But with the latest home-grown effort Jasper Jones copping it from all sides and the new Wolverine stalking the multiplexes yet again, the dedicated cinephile may well be thinking it's going to be a while between drinks. Not this year. The Sydney Film Festival may not kick off for another couple of months, but this time round it's getting an epic run-up. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Sydney Film Prize, Golden Age Cinema and Bar in Surry Hills will be screening all of the previous winners in the lead-up to the June festival — one a week for nine weeks. The Sydney Film Prize is the Festival's official competition, awarding $63,000 to a "provocative, controversial or cutting edge film that moves the art form forward". In its ten years, the Prize has recognised numerous works and artists that have gone on to bag acclaim at film festivals all over the world. If you still don't get how big this is, Steve McQueen's Hunger will get the ball rolling on April 4, with Nicholas Winding Refn's Bronson and Only God Forgives to follow. Others in the pack include Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning A Separation, last year's winner Aquarius, the Dardenne brothers' Two Days, One Night, starring Marion Cotillard, and Yorgos Lanthimos' Alps about a group of people paid by the bereaved to impersonate their deceased relatives. Or, you know, down the road they're showing one about a giant gorilla fighting dinosaurs. Your call. TEN YEARS OF THE SYDNEY FILM PRIZE PROGRAM April 4 – Hunger (2008) April 11 – Bronson (2009) April 18 – Heartbeats (2010) April 26 – A Separation (2011) May 2 – Alps (2012) May 9 – Only God Forgives (2013) May 16 – Two Days, One Night (2014) May 23 – Arabian Nights Volume I (2015) May 23 – Arabian Nights Volume II (2015) May 24 – Arabian Nights Volume III (2015) May 30 – Aquarius (2015) Ten Years of the Sydney Film Prize will screen at Golden Age Cinema from April 4 till May 30. For more info and to book tickets, visit ourgoldenage.com.au.
Everything is coming up Lorde. Fresh off topping the US Billboard alternative songs chart and announcing that her highly anticipated debut LP, Pure Heroine, will be released on September 27, she has now announced an accompanying October tour of our shores that is set to sell out immediately. The teenage songstress from across the ditch has had a meteoric rise to fame in the past 12 months, with her EP The Love Club downloaded more then 60,000 times before hitting double platinum when available for sales, and her hit tracks 'Royals', 'Love Club' and 'Tennis Court' continue to dominate Australian airwaves. She is so popular here that she was given the formidable task of filling Frank Ocean's Splendour in the Grass shoes after his late withdrawal, and whilst this may have overwhelmed many 16-year-old musicians performing only their eighth gig, she did it with aplomb, performing one of the best sets of the festival. Her song 'Royals' begins "I've never seen a diamond in the flesh". Well this is your chance to see a musical diamond in the flesh, who, if she continues at this rate, will soon be joining Russell Crowe and Phar Lap on the list of Kiwis we wish to call our own. Get in quick though; the last time she was here she sold out immediately and tickets will certainly not be this cheap the next time she arrives. Tickets are on sale on Monday, 19 August. The full tour dates are: Wednesday, 16 October - The Zoo, Brisbane Tickets through 1300 762 545 or www.oztix.com.au Thursday, 17 October - Metro Theatre, Sydney Tickets through (02) 9550 3666 or www.metrotheatre.com.au Saturday, 19 October - Zierholz at UC, Canberra Tickets through 1300 762 545 or www.oztix.com.au Monday, 21 October - The Corner Hotel, Melbourne Tickets through (03) 9427 9198 or www.cornerhotel.com All tickets: $30.00 + BF (presales) $46.95 + BF (presales with digital album) $35.00 (door sales)
We've seen social media play it's part at the pointy end of politics with Egypt's facebook revolution, but does it have a role in regular democracy? Iceland seems to think so. The country suffered badly at the hands of the financial crisis, causing the collapse of their banking system, and bringing down its government. In such a dire situation, tearing up the rule-book and starting again starts to look like a good idea, but who exactly should be involved in drafting a new constitution? Well, it's a document for the people, so why not have it written by the people? Given that their current constitution was copied from Denmark's in 1944 with a bit of find-and-replace work, a new version is probably due. Iceland's constitutional council has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and is using the social media channels to get the public involved in drafting the new constitution. Draft clauses are published to the council's website so the public can see exactly what they're up to, and provide feedback. The draft constitution, which will include checks to prevent further financial crises and changes to the way elections are run, is due to be put to a referendum at the end of July. Involving the entire population in the political process hasn't really been feasible in any nation since democracy's early days, but perhaps the internet is the way to manage it in the modern world. Australia's Senator Online has been trying to get at least one internet-driven representative into a 'traditional' parliament, but Iceland's constitution could be the first example of a democracy built on the internet involvement of its population. [Via Guardian UK, image via flickr]
After first being identified on Wednesday, June 16, Sydney's current cluster of COVID-19 cases keeps growing. Five new local cases were reported to 8pm yesterday, Monday, June 21, and a further seven have been diagnosed since last night's cutoff. In response, the New South Wales Government has announced that it is extending the current mask mandate — so Sydneysiders will need to keep donning face coverings for another week. In a press conference today, Tuesday, June 22, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian advised that folks in the entire Greater Sydney area — excluding the Central Coast and the Hunter Valley region — will need to keep wearing masks until 12.01am, on Thursday, July 1. At present, face masks are already compulsory on public transport across Greater Sydney, as well as indoors in public settings in seven local government areas in Sydney (City of Sydney, Inner West, Randwick, Bayside, Canada Bay, Waverley and Woollahra); however, from 12.01am this Thursday, June 24, all of these requirements will apply citywide. So, if you live or work in Greater Sydney — or visit — you'll need to wear a mask inside in hospitality venues, shops and any indoor situation where you aren't eating or drinking, as well as on public transport. Basically, unless you're at home, you'll need to mask up indoors. "It is only when you are eating or drinking indoors at a venue that you can't or shouldn't wear a mask," said the Premier. "In every other circumstance, if you live or are in Sydney, you must wear a mask for another week beyond Wednesday midnight." https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1407141304207765512 Back on Sunday, when the mask rules were last updated — to require mandatory masks indoors in seven Sydney LGAs — the Premier noted that the government was happy with that level of settings at the time, but would expand the rules if needed. Accordingly, after case numbers have been growing over the past two days, that's exactly what's happening. If you're wondering if more restrictions might be in store in the near future, Premier Berejiklian advised that the state will follow "the health advice." Asked specifically today if a lockdown might come into effect, she said that "at this stage, because all but one case is linked to an existing case and that case was only discovered a few hours ago, that gives us a degree of confidence that what we have asked people to do matches the risk that is there at the moment. If that changes, if we suddenly have a number of unlinked cases and if we suddenly have them outside the geographic region they are concentrated in, that will obviously adjust the health advice and we will respond to that." As it always does, NSW Health has been updating the COVID-19 venues of concern list, and will continue to do so as more places keep being identified. Anyone who has visited these venues during the times specified are required to get tested and self-isolate as per NSW Health's instructions. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
There are some things you can hear about, some things you can ken from a tv tube, pair of pc speakers or a sharply printed word. And then there's Fantine Pritoula's voice. Named after the mother of the better-known Cosette in the great humanist epic Les Miserables, Fantine has all the soul, all the fire, all the ever-present vocal power that her namesake lacks in fiction. It's hard to think of her as an emerging artist, but Fantine still hasn't had some of the high-profile exposure of other local acts. Wednesday night that changes, as she launches her first single, 'Rubber Room', by showcasing her talent at Goodgod Small Club. Fantine grew up in Russia, the Dominican Republic (a Spanish-speaking country on the same island as Haiti) and Perth. All these cultures, and more, mix in with her songs, her covers and her style. It's a surprise that she's only now producing her first single, after so much musical work around town. She's been promoting this show on the streets of Sydney, Mariachi-style. But don't be fooled, her shows won't stay this small for long. Get a listen in, while it's still possible to do it on a whim. Tickets will be on sale at the door on the night. Photo by Luke David Kellett https://youtube.com/watch?v=n5wgd-nOhaQ
