Celebrating Dia de la Independencia in 2023 in Sydney means enjoying some of Mexico's best bars right here at home. Three watering holes that landed on the World's 50 Best Bars List for 2022 list, plus one that placed just outside the top 50 in the 100-bar longlist, are travelling to Paddington to descend on El Primo Sanchez and Oxford House for Mexican Independence Day. On Saturday, September 16, Limantour (number four on the World's 50 Best Bars List) will be taking over El Primo's main bar, while Brujas (number 64) will be popping up at the attached speakeasy La Prima. Both bars will be in charge of the festivities from 6–10pm. The following day, you'll find number 13 Hanky Panky serving drinks poolside over at Oxford House alongside Baltra (number 32) from 1–6pm. Expect all four bar teams to bring their signature flair and some of the drinks that have seen them listed among the best spots for a bev in the whole world. The vibes are expected to be high, with dancing until late. Local party starter Discoteca Tropical will be in charge of the music at Oxford House on Sunday. [caption id="attachment_918066" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption]
The shortest day of the year is swiftly approaching, and Camperdown's Pocket City Farms is celebrating the winter solstice with a full day of free workshops, tours and events. The urban farm will open its gates to the inner west masses on June 22 from 11am–8pm, with produce markets, crop swaps and one big ol' community feast all on the docket. From 11am–4pm the produce stalls will be open, selling fruit, veg and herbs harvested from the PCF farm, along with produce from nearby organic farmers and locally made preserves and honey. For those growing their own produce at home, you can participate in the community crop swap from 1.30–3pm, with both homegrown and homemade items on offer. There will also be heaps of by-donation workshops on during the day, including farm tours, seed raising, sauerkraut making and paper lantern crafting. To finish off the day, a pot luck dinner will commence at 6pm — bring a dish, each cake, meet your neighbours and celebrate the solstice. For a full lineup of events on the day, head to the PCF website. Images: Luisa Brimble
There is nothing wrong with grown ups playing with Lego. Just ask architectural artist Adam Reed Tucker. In collaboration with Lego, Reed has created two new series in the Lego line which aim to celebrate the world's most iconic landmarks by bringing them to Lego life. For Reed, the humble lego brick has been somewhat of a revelation and he sees his mini lego creations as 'interpretations rather than replicas'. And he's right. Despite the fact that his creations are made of a toy you may have tried to eat as a toddler, they are undeniably sophisticated, artistic and a challenging exercise in right-brained fun. The Lego Architectural line consists of a Landmark Series and an Architect Series. The landmark series allows architectural enthusiastics to assemble their very own Empire State Building, White House or Rockerfeller Center, while the architect series pays homage to some of the world's greatest architects, in particular Frank Lloyd Wright. There is both a Lego creation of Wright's Solomon R. Guggneheim Museum and his Fallingwater, now one of the world's most famous and visited residences. The Lego Architectural line is a fresh and clever take on a much loved old toy , and a great gift for the young (or not so young) architects in your life. Or you might just want to keep it for yourself.
The first day of the year, The Domain and Sydneysiders flocking to see live tunes: that's one helluva New Year's tradition. It's also what Field Day serves up every year, and will again to start off 2024. Leading the just-announced bill: RÜFÜS DU SOL and Central Cee. The 2023–24 crossover period will be busy for the Sydney fest's two headliners. They're both hitting the Harbour City on Monday, January 1 after also playing Victoria's Beyond The Valley over the Christmas break. On their New South Wales stop, they'll have G Flip and Genesis Owusu for company, plus Romy, Sub Focus, Ross From Friends, Claptone and COBRAH. Yes, it's going to be quite the massive party. For RÜFÜS DU SOL, this is a huge hometown gig. For British rapper Central Cee, everything from 'Doja' and 'Let Go' to 'Sprinter' and 'Obsessed with You' will get a whirl. Combining both local and international names again in 2024 — as was the standard pre-pandemic, and returned in 2023 after an all-Aussie lineup in 2022 — Field Day will also feature Destroy Lonely, LUUDE, Logic1000, Kinder, Dameeeela, Mell Hall and JessB as part of its packed roster. A triple j Unearthed winner is still to join the lineup as well. [caption id="attachment_811734" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anna Warr[/caption] Over the years, Field Day has hosted the likes of Calvin Harris, Tyler, the Creator, Cardi B, Chance the Rapper, Childish Gambino and Disclosure. In 2023, Diplo, Denzel Curry, Kaytranada and Yung Lean did the honours. Tickets always prove popular for the NYD festival, with registrations for pre-sale — which kicks off from 1pm AEST on Monday, August 21 — open now. FIELD DAY 2024 LINEUP: RÜFÜS DU SOL Central Cee Cassian Claptone Cobrah Conducta Destroy Lonely G Flip Genesis Owusu Isoxo Knock2 Logic1000 Luude Mall Grab Notion Riton Romy Ross From Friends (DJ set) Sub Focus (DJ set and ID) Dameeeela Fukhed J-Milla Jessb Kinder Mell Hall Swim Willo Field Day will hit The Domain on Monday, January 1, 2024. Pre-sale registrations are available now until 2pm AEST on Sunday, August 20, with pre-sale tickets on offer from 1pm AEST on Monday, August 21 — and general sales from 12pm AEST on Thursday, August 24. Top image: Fifth Legend via Wikimedia Commons
Nearly twelve months after announcing the location for Australia's first Pride Centre, the Victorian Government has revealed the designs for the St Kilda structure. Local firms Grant Amon Architects and Brearley Architects & Urbanists will be responsible for what's certain to prove an important and influential building, both in its appearance and thanks to its status as a dedicated LGBTI hub. The St Kilda outfits were selected from a pool of 18 submissions, with the finished product due to open at 79-81 Fitzroy Street in 2020. The building will house up to ten major resident organisations — including JOY FM, Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Midsumma Festival, the Victorian Aids Council, LGBTQI Multi Culture, Multi Faith, Team Melbourne and the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives — and also offer flexible and multi-use spaces. Among them: a health service, library, training room and meeting rooms, as well as a café and bar, a theatrette and a gallery. "We wanted the winning design to be a building that our LGBTQI community can be proud of owning, a place of celebration and a safe sanctuary," said Jude Munro AO, Chair of the Victorian Pride Centre board. "This design is inspirational and more than satisfies these criteria. Our aim is for the Pride Centre to be a catalyst for the revival of Fitzroy Street and to fit into the St Kilda design vernacular which this design does superbly." Modelled after San Francisco's LGBTI Community Centre, the Victorian Pride Centre will receive $15 million in State Government funding, plus $13 million from the City of Port Phillip. "It will be a space for the community and LGBTI organisations to share ideas, collaborate and celebrate our diversity — it's also at a key site the Pride March goes past," said Minister for Equality Martin Foley. For more information, visit www.pridecentre.org.au
As the success of Every Sydney Ice Cream Shop Ever proves, ice cream eating isn't limited to the summer months. But launching a new one just before the season hits isn't a bad idea either. Opening this Friday, October 28 in Pyrmont, Love Crepe — a brand new creperie and gelataria — is the stuff of your sweetest summer dreams. The new venue comes from brothers Nick and Mike Kondilis. Having trained in the art of gelato wizardry at Bolgna's Carpigiani Gelato University, and been mentored by Michelin-starred pastry chef Francesco Giordano, the dessert-loving duo are packing some serious skills. From their Miller Street store, they'll be slinging top-notch hand-held crepes (made to a family recipe), along with artisanal gelato and a range of dreamy thickshakes to wash it all down. Only the best seasonal ingredients will be making it into this kitchen, and into your bellies, in the likes of blood orange sorbet, zabaglione gelato, salted pistachio shakes. Crepes will be loaded with the likes of Nutella and banana; dark chocolate, strawberry and coconut; custard, apple and dulce de leche; and the special Love Crepe with white chocolate buttercream, banana, dulce de leche and a big scoop of vanilla gelato. Get. Us. That. Love Crepe will open on Friday, October 28 at Shop 1, 104 Miller Street, Pyrmont. For more information, visit lovecrepe.com.
This spring, there's a fair bit of art going on in Sydney. But if you don't want to elbow your way through crowds to see sculptures at Bondi, there's — quite literally – a smaller local art exhibition just a few suburbs over: the annual Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. Considered Australia's leading prize for small-scale sculpture, the exhibition will feature 43 finalist works this year. Head on down to Woollahra Municipal Council and you'll see a bunch of beautiful, thought-provoking and challenging works. You'll come across the winning work — Merran Esson's Autumn On The Monaro — plus sculptures made from the usual metals and stone, plus glazed ceramics paired with neon tubing, the body of a baby deer with rubies and ones made with found objects. Best of all? It's free. To accompany the Prize, there'll be a series of free public workshops and talks, too. On Saturday, October 12, you can catch Ian Howard in conversation with some of the finalists. On the following Saturday (October 19), you can attend a drawing class with artist and curator Siena White, who regularly teaches at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and also runs Lilac City Studio. Or, on Sunday, October 20, finalist Wanda Gillespie will run an abacus-making workshop. Other highlights include a stitch meditation workshop with finalist Carol Cooke (November 2) and a class with fibre artist Samantha Tannous (November 3), where you'll learn how to turn merino wool into bowls which you can then take home. The 2019 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize will run from Saturday, October 12 through Sunday, November 3. UPDATE: OCTOBER 11, 2019 — The winner of the 2019 Small Sculpture Prize is Merran Esson for her work Autumn On The Monaro. Sydney artist Benjamin Jay Shand was awarded the Special Commendation award and artists Kieta Jackson and Jessica Leitmanis both received special mention. The above article has been updated to reflect this.
How many bricks of Lego does it take to build a bar? It probably wasn't the first Lego-related question we were going to ask (or test for ourselves), but The Brick Bar is proof that there are tangible answers to life's most ambitious questions. According to the creators of Australia's first bar made entirely out of Lego, it's a million bricks. And while we don't actually know if anyone counted a million bricks, you can try and fact check this point it when it pops up on Sydney Harbour on November 16 and 17. The bar has already made a stop in Melbourne, and its Sydney stop will see it take to the harbour on floating venue Starship Sydney. Why exactly the vent is held on a boat is unclear, but, one thing's for sure: you better be certain you're into Lego. Each session will run for 90 minutes over Friday night and all day Saturday. You can expect elaborate Lego sculptures placed around the adults-only space — the Melbourne bar had a Lego bath, a Lego water feature and a Lego throne. There will be DJs playing across the afternoon and night, and you can try your hand at Lego table tennis or a Lego building competition. And there's a ball pit for some reason. As for food, it's likely there will be brick-shaped burgers and bevs will be served in Lego keep cups. Punters will also be able to make use of a huge pile of surplus bricks to fashion their own Lego creations, in public, with no shame at all. Just don't walk around barefoot.
Finding a cafe that does brunch is easy. So is finding a restaurant for dinner. But finding a place for all those awkward in-between times — you know, when you have to walk into a cafe and ask: 'are you still open?' — can be surprisingly difficult. Sometimes you need a 5.30pm coffee, or you need somewhere low-key to do some work over dinner. Luckily, not everywhere is closed between the hours of 4 and 6pm. These diners are open all day, from breakfast and lunch right through until dinner (and, in some cases, maybe even later) — so you don't have to worry about rocking up just after the coffee machine's been cleaned.
After a week of warm weather in Sydney, it feels like spring is finally almost here. With it, the expansive wildflower garden of the Muogamarra Nature Reserve will open its gates to visitors for six weekends only from Saturday, August 11 through Sunday, September 16. Located up the coast just an hour north of Sydney's CBD, the reserve is closed most of the year to protect the fragile ecosystems and Aboriginal heritage sites within — so it's a rare chance to get a peek inside. The reserve is dedicated to preserving wildflowers and contains over 900 species native to Australia — think waratahs, angophoras, banksias, pink boronias and native orchids to name a few. The parkland is also home to a variety of native animals, including echidnas, wedge-tail eagles and lyrebirds, which wander freely through the reserve. Guided expert tours are available for pre-booking only through the NSW National Parks Discovery Guide, with options to reserve walking or kayak tours along the Hawkesbury River. Discovery tours include the Aboriginal Heritage Walk, the Muogamarra Highlights Walk, along with the shorter Bird Gully Walk and Lloyd Trig Walk. For those looking for an all-day hike, the six-hour Peats Bight Walk takes visitors on a leisurely trek along the riverbank. If you're more of the DIY kind, visitors are also welcome to simply pack a picnic and enjoy a self-guided walk. The different paths wind along the river and rainforest, offering views of Aboriginal rock engravings and other historic relic sightings. The Muogamarra Nature Reserve will be open from Saturday, August 11 through Sunday, September 16. Open Saturdays and Sundays only from 9am to 4.30pm with a park access fee of $15 adults/$10 children. To pre-book one of the guided tours, head over here.
Cuteness alert: Martin Place will be overtaken by puppies this week to celebrate International Guide Dogs Day. On Wednesday, April 30, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT will be bringing its largest puppy pop-up to date to the CBD to teach people more about the invaluable work these well-trained service doggos perform. Those who head over will have the opportunity to pat these very good boys and girls, watch training demonstrations, and talk to individuals living with low vision and blindness about life with their guide dog. Attendees can also learn about how the general public can get involved to help break down barriers and create a more inclusive world for everyone, with guide dog handlers and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT staff on site throughout the day. The proceedings kick off at 7.30am with a two-hour puppy training class, followed by one for older dogs at 9.30am. Then, at midday, you can get involved with the young pups' playtime. This year's pop-up will also feature a very special guest star: Gulliver, the world's largest guide dog. The six-foot-long, four-metre-tall fibreglass mascot will help demonstrate the critical role a guide dog can play in someone's life, while also making for a great selfie opportunity. The pop-up forms part of the Guide Dogs NSW/ACT 'Is Inclusion on Your Menu' campaign with the City of Sydney, which encourages the wider community to better understand the legal access rights for guide dogs, with many people in the low-vision and blind community still denied entry to hospitality venues because of their dog.
At first glance, one of Australia's most anticipated films of 2010 hardly looks like a local. With Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe taking the leads, Australian twin brothers Peter and Michael Spierig are doing their bit to cash in on the current vampire craze. It's 2019 and ten years after a vampire pandemic brought about the dusk of humanity. Indeed, humans are now too rare a commodity, and with blood supplies perilously dwindling, bank runs take on a whole new meaning. Reluctant vamp and haematologist Edward Dalton (Hawke) is under the gun from his steely boss (Sam Neill), trying to manufacture a substitute (oh for some True Blood!), while a starving population starts feeding on itself, to rather gruesome ends. However a chance encounter with a band of humans leads Dalton to team up with the plucky Audrey (Love My Way's Claudia Karvan), a wry Elvis (Dafoe) and to discover a truly revolutionary opportunity. Despite this fascinating premise and the careful construction of ingeniously retrofitted world, Daybreakers fails to dazzle. Granted, it's fun to watch local talent like Karvan, Vince Colosimo (Underbelly), Isabel Lucas (Transformers 2) and Michael Dorman (Prime Mover) bandy about with crossbows and American accents, however the scripting of these underdeveloped characters render most mere plot points. But fans of the genre won't be disappointed. The Spierig brothers aren't afraid to get very bloody – and although the climactic shootout looks like it takes place on the Matrix lobby set, it (and the rest of the film) is packed with gruesome, gory goodness. Be the first to see Daybreakers on February 3rd at Popcorn Taxi's premiere Q&A screening with the Spierig Brothers. To win one of ten double passes to see Daybreakers subscribe to Concrete Playground on our homepage then email your name and address to hello@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=ayYiMygqlfo
Ever since Sex and the City wormed its way into our collective subconscious, brunch has been synonymous with getting boozy. And Luke Mangan of MOJO knows it. This year, Brunch of Fun is back and sweeter than ever. On Saturday, April 30, Mangan is bringing together some huge foodie names for a brunch that would even make Samantha blush, including MasterChef runner up Reynold Pernomo, Insta-famous baker Alicia Henderson and the ballers from N2 Gelato and Black Star Pastry. On the menu (for between $10-15 a pop) you'll find brunch delicacies aplenty to line your stomach such as the MOJO brekkie burger with bacon, lettuce, tomato, fried egg and kimchi mayo, and bagels with smoked salmon, zucchini fritters, a poached egg, corn, avocado and horseradish salsa. You'll be able to wash it down with temptingly priced bevs ($5 beers, $10 wines and $15 champagne cocktails). Those of you who really, really love brunch can even join Luke Mangan at an intimate, ticketed degustation beforehand (tickets are $75) featuring endless free-flowing champagne. Trade Weetbix for champers? Fabulous. And if you dig what you see at MOJO, you might want to enter Mangan's CEO search — it's like MasterChef for switched on foodie bloggers, artisan food supplies and DIY home cooks. Brunch of Fun coincides with the last day to enter.
Every Australian knows that our warm weather doesn't suddenly kick in when December 1 hits — Sydney just experienced its hottest November night on record, for instance — but the arrival of summer still always feels like an occasion. The end of the year is near, the festive season is in full swing and holidays are so very close. Understandably, that's all worth celebrating. Fancy marking the warmest portion of the year by licking your way through an ice cream — and a free one at that? Of course you do. So, to make that dream a reality, Ben & Jerry's and Uber Eats have teamed up to deliver free ice cream tubs across the first six days of December. Every day between Tuesday, December 1–Sunday, December 6, the two companies will be targeting a different Aussie city and handing out freebies. It all kicks off in Melbourne, before heading to Sydney on Wednesday, December 2 and Brisbane on Thursday, December 3. Then, it's Perth's turn on Friday, December 4, Adelaide's on Saturday, December 5 and the Gold Coast's on Sunday, December 6. To score yourself some ice cream without spending a cent — with around 1500 pints available per city — you will need to do some sleuthing, though. Think of it as a virtual dessert treasure hunt. Uber Eats is dropping clues each day via its Instagram feed, which'll point you to a local celebrity's own Insta page (once you've worked out the clue, that is). On the latter, you'll then find a code. That's what you'll have to enter after you've then hopped over to the Uber Eats app, found the participating Ben & Jerry's outlet near you and picked your favourite flavour. You will need to pay a delivery fee — but the ice cream itself won't cost you a thing. It's a first in, best dressed kind of giveaway — so you'll want to get in quick. But, when it comes to free ice cream, no one ever needs much motivation. For more information about the Ben & Jerry's and Uber Eats free ice cream giveaway — which is available in Melbourne on Tuesday, December 1; Sydney on Wednesday, December 2; Brisbane on Thursday, December 3; Perth on Friday, December 4; Adelaide on Saturday, December 5; and the Gold Coast on Sunday, December 6 — keep an eye on Uber Eats' Instagram feed.
After almost two years of waiting, there's less than two weeks left until Stranger Things returns to your Netflix queue to unravel more of the Upside Down's mysteries. Come July, the beloved series will finally unveil its latest 80s-set supernatural chapter, much to the delight of fans everywhere. And if you've been counting down the days for far too long, the streaming platform has gifted fans with another look at the series' new eight episodes. As we saw in the show's first full season three trailer three months ago, everyone is back — although the main crew is a little older, so expect teenage versions of Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown), Will (Noah Schnapp), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink) this time around. Elsewhere, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) still looks shaken, Hawkins police chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) is still a man on a mission, and everyone's favourite walking hairstyle — aka Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) — is now working in an ice cream parlour. Of course he is. Steve's place of work isn't a minor detail. As the marketing campaign has made plain and this new trailer expands upon, the brand new Hawkins mall plays a major part in the new batch of episodes. It's the sunny summer of 1985 in the small town, and its inhabitants are making the most of the warm weather, lack of school and abundance of free time that comes with it by hanging out at the shops. And dallying with more monsters, naturally. Said critter don't appear to be just regular ol' Demogorgons, either. This time, the creatures have a voice, too, advising Eleven and the gang that "we're going to end you, we're going to end your friends, and we're going to end everyone." While she thought she had banished them from our world at the end of the last season, it seems that's not how things have turned out. Adding to a list of trailers, alongside the season's initial cryptic teaser, this new footage also serves up plenty of other bits and pieces, but we'll let you discover the rest by watching. Check out the full trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcnHOQ-cHa0 Stranger Things season three arrives on Netflix on Thursday, July 4. Images: Netflix.
Over the past 47 years, in this very galaxy, how much Star Wars merchandise has been collected? Not even a Jedi could probably give a definitive number. When it makes its Australian premiere, The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition won't answer that question either, but it will give fans of the space-opera franchise a glimpse at a hefty range of Star Wars memorabilia — one of the planet's largest private collections of replicas, in fact. The force is strong here, and so is love for everything in the George Lucas-created big- and small-screen saga. Soaring into Melbourne from Saturday, November 23, 2024, and then set to tour the country afterwards — with dates for its other stops not yet announced — The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition features Star Wars starships, lightsabers, droids, creatures and even battles. An entire section is about the dark side, with Sith obviously starring heavily, while another is called The Jedi Temple. Some pieces are life-sized. Others are detailed models. Either way, Star Wars will surround attendees everywhere they look. This isn't an official showcase, however, with only private works featured. The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition finally heads Down Under after past stops in New York and Los Angeles in the US, and also London, Madrid and Paris in Europe. After Melbourne, where it'll display at The District Docklands, it's also set to show in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth. The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition is one of two Star Wars-related celebrations with an upcoming date with Australia. The other: Lego Star Wars: The Exhibition, which is a world-first showcase of Lego models based on the franchise. It'll arrive in 2025, making its global premiere. The two showcases aren't linked in any way, other than adoring Star Wars. The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition hails from the same crew that've also celebrated Banksy and NBA Down Under, and have a Wes Anderson tribute about to hit Melbourne. The Fans Strike Back: Exhibition opens at The District Docklands, Level 1, corner Star Crescent and Studio Lane, Docklands, Melbourne on Saturday, November 23, 2024, with tickets on sale from 6pm AEST on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. After that, it'll head to Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, with dates yet to be announced. Head to the exhibition's website for more details.
The Crows Nest outpost of this family owned business is the place to stock up on healthy and organic ingredients. Whether you are after nuts, seeds, or even basics like flour and oats, this place has it all. You can also find pleasant surprises like bush tucker myrtle, wattleseed and spice mixes for your next curry. Pioneers of the zero-waste lifestyle, The Source passes on its ethos to shoppers. Take a few jars down and fill up on what you need. You'll be buying from a local business you trust, and helping the environment at the same time. Images: Trent Van der jagt.
Lycra-clad ladies of the 80s and 90s making their mark in a ruthless, consumer-driven and male-dominated world, all by getting active: as far as on-screen niches go, that's particularly niche. It's also growing, though. Back in 80s itself, Flashdance did it. Starring a fantastic Kirsten Dunst, the sadly cancelled-too-soon 2019 series On Becoming a God in Central Florida did as well. For three seasons from 2017–19, GLOW similarly stepped into the ring. And since 2021, Apple TV+'s Physical has, too. What a feeling indeed. Starring Rose Byrne in one of her best performances yet — slipping in smoothly alongside everything from Damages on the small screen to Two Hands, Bridesmaids, Bad Neighbours and Bad Neighbours 2 in cinemas — this 80s-set dark comedy series bends, stretches and struts through the world of aerobics. More than that, Physical uses getting physical in spandex as a flex, savvily examining the agency and control that women have over their lives, or don't, one squat and step at a time. That's a particular focus in the show's now-streaming second season, which is dropping new episodes weekly, and finds itself in the post-fairytale zone. What happens when your dreams actually seem to come true? That's season two's obsession. Season one didn't quite see Sheila Rubin (Byrne, Irresistible) get everything she'd ever fantasised about. Rather, it followed the San Diego housewife as she pursued something she didn't even know she wanted until her endorphins kicked in at an aerobics class. The series' first batch of ten episodes established Sheila's routine existence, one that women in her situation were expected to just and breeze through in the early 80s. Married to professor and aspiring politician Danny (Rory Scovel, I Feel Pretty), and also a mother to Maya (Grace Kelly Quigley, Killing Time), she hid her bitter unhappiness with a focus on physical perfection — complete with an eating disorder and fraying mental health for her troubles. Then, exercise became her path forward. In season two, Sheila is the star of her own fitness tape — and spruiking it, be it in supermarkets or by hosting public aerobics classes, has become her life. But while she's in control of every exercise move she makes, earning the same power in her relationships, and in business, isn't as straightforward. She's still stuck in a rut with Danny, to put it mildly. He reinvents himself as a house husband while she focuses on her career, but he's also clearly uncomfortable about no longer being the centre of attention. Sheila is still caught in a torrid affair with grim Mormon business developer John Breem (Paul Sparks, Castle Rock), too. And while she starts leaning on her wealthy and supportive best friend Greta (Dierdre Friel, Second Act) more, she's also unable to shake the engrained notion that needing anyone's help is a sign of weakness. Byrne plays Sheila with emotional dexterity to match the character's physical fitness. Her ability to segue from projecting strength and confidence in Sheila's efforts to establish her own lifestyle brand, to still grappling with the hurt and self-loathing that's long been festering inside, is masterful and phenomenal. And, while the internal monologue that tears its protagonist to shreds again and again isn't as prominent this time around, Physical's second season is deeply committed to understanding Sheila's complicated relationship with herself. It sees the solace she gains in her workouts, as well as the distress of her binge-purge cycle. It spies the inherent contradiction between the image she wants to project to the world, and monetise, and her real inner state. It doesn't shy away from how messy that contrast is, or the struggles of bulimia, or her unhealthily vicious mental tirades — and it doesn't judge, either, even if Sheila does still judge herself. As marvellous as Byrne remains in her leading part — as attuned to the show's balance of sharp comedy and bristling tension, too, all while shot with a beachside, decade-appropriate and fitness-attire sheen — she's gifted also-excellent costars. The camera often lingers on Byrne's face and the whirlwind of feelings it is usually endeavouring not to betray, and moments where she's the sole focus of attention come often. Many, including multiple instances in season two where she's physically in pain but attempting to soldier on, are an acting masterclass. But she's also a sight to behold and a force to be reckoned with when she's bouncing off of Scovel, who plays his part with a relaxed sense of goofiness masking an insidious streak of selfishness. The same holds true about Byrne's scenes with Sparks and Friel. And, it's also accurate with Della Saba (Stillwater) and Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story) as Bunny and Tyler — the aerobics instructor whose routine Sheila uses as inspiration for her own video and her surfer/stoner/videographer boyfriend. Season two also pairs Byrne with another Australian actor currently doing big things in America: The White Lotus scene-stealer Murray Bartlett. In a glorious piece of casting, he joins Physical as fellow aerobics instructor Vinnie Green, who Sheila seeks out when she wants to learn how to push her burgeoning aerobics empire into merchandise and infomercials. While Bartlett doesn't crap in anyone's suitcase here, his character plays a pivotal part in examining one of the season's core ideas: that truly having your shit together is a myth, no matter how much we'd all like to pretend otherwise. Indeed, for a series that's both candid and piercing about how its central figure sees herself — and what she has to do to tussle with that, all while carving out her own place in the world — Physical also understands and embraces how fraught and flawed it is to pursue perfection at all costs. On-screen, though, this smart and entertaining series from creator/writer/producer Annie Weisman (Suburgatory, The Path) does indeed have it all. That includes a staggering lead performance, a superb supporting cast and a complex premise unpacked with precision, as well as a pitch-perfect vibe and a killer 80s soundtrack. Check out the trailer for Physical season two below: Physical is available to stream via Apple TV+.
If your childhood even vaguely resembles mine, the slightest mention of ATYP can set off a chain of school-holiday-memory reactions and suddenly you are back in that spiral of self-doubt, resentment and, well, what I am guessing are more than a few of the themes in the upcoming ATYP Under the Wharf and Stories Like These co-production, Fireface. Just under 20 years ago this 94-scene play (yes, you read that right) was German playwright Marius Von Mayenburg’s breakthrough, and now director Luke Rogers is taking a plunge into the adolescent with Mayenburg’s sibling protagonist duo, Kurt and Olga. Like most people blundering towards maturity, these two want to be anything but their parents and are bluffing their way through a sexual awakening. Judging by bro's reaction to his sister getting a boyfriend, we can expect a touch of Bertolucci’s The Dreamers in this one, and the leads are almost as banging. (That sounded less creepy in my head.)
So, you think you can't enjoy a fine-dining experience on a budget? Think again. Until the end of September, upmarket Italian restaurant Otto is offering a steal of a deal: a pasta main with a glass of paired wine plus a dessert available for just $50. Otto is one of Sydney's most palatial dining spots — perched on the Woolloomooloo finger wharf with unbeatable views of the harbour. Until September 22, diners can choose between a Roman classic, bucatini alla carbonara, or the lesser-known Northern Italian pasta variety corzetti served with cavolo nero kale and pistachio pesto. From Monday, September 23 until Sunday, September 30, thick strands of pici pasta will be served with a rich pork and mushroom ragu or diners can opt for another Roman favourite, the ever-popular spaghetti cacio e pepe. Otto's pasta club menu is available until September 30. Walk-ins are welcome, subject to availability.
Alright, people of Sydney, we get it. Y'all love a tight rooftop. You love to drink bevs under the open sky and in line with your demands, venues countrywide are opening up rooftop bars. It's a glorious new era with a skyline of rooftop bars extending into the horizon and, happily, Paddington's Light Brigade Hotel is the latest place to jump on the bandwagon. It's one of many recent changes for Woollahra's beloved Oxford Street hotel. In November, they reopened after an extensive renovation and came out the other side a whole lot fancier. And since October 7, Brigade Rooftop joined Brigade Bar and Brigade Dining as part of the four-storey hangout, offering pub-goers a lush space with views of the Paddington rooftops and Sydney harbour skyline. The rooftop functions as a combination space for drinking and dining, and is designed to feel "as casual as a neighbour's terrace," according to Jonathan Richards, director of interior design company SJB (the design wizards who executed the renovation). "We have designed a circular bar that fans around the terrace to enable the visitor full access to the horizon." Executive chef Marco Adler has also developed an accompanying wood-fired pizza menu available on the rooftop and in the Brigade Bar. Pizza and drinks on the rooftop? It's like they read our mind. At the same time, the Brigade Lounge also opened downstairs. It's a 1920s-themed cocktail bar that blends right into the art-deco vibe of the building, aka the perfect spot for a post-rooftop-pizza tipple. Brigade Rooftop is now open on the corner of Oxford Street and Jersey Road. Check out their Facebook page for further information.
This year marks the first ever Sydney Comedy Festival appearance by 22-year-old stand-up Demi Lardner, and believe us, it's long overdue. Busting onto the scene in 2013 as the winner of RAW Comedy in Melbourne and So You Think You're Funny in the UK, the Adelaide born comedian has been killing it on the circuit ever since, and recently debuted her new show Life Mechanic in Melbourne to no small amount of acclaim. Here's hoping we'll be seeing plenty more of her in the years to the come. In the meantime, don't miss her act at The Enmore Theatre in the last week of April.
This documentary comes with a warning label straight out of Fight Club: the first rule of Catfish is that you don’t talk about Catfish. Of course this makes reviewing Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost’s provocative and strikingly poignant documentary rather tricky, but it’s a cracking marketing campaign! To skirt around spoilers, Catfish is initially the story of 24-year-old New York photographer Yaniv (Nev) Schulman, who is affectionately bullied by his brother into sharing the details of his budding online friendship with an eager young painter, Abby. What begins with a few watercolours in the mail ends up with Nev becoming Facebook friends with the whole family and, 8 months later, as a pretty full on virtual romance between Nev and Abby’s 19-year-old sister Megan. The relationship is conducted through flurry of phone calls and flirty text messages, before a few curious inconsistencies see Nev travelling cross-country with Ariel and Henry to meet Megan face-to-face. In the wake of feted and infamous mockumentaries like Exit Through the Gift Shop and I’m Still Here it seemed inevitable that Catfish would face similar scrutiny. Queries about staged scenes on the one hand, and concerns about exploitation on the other will no doubt continue to dog the filmmakers, who, at this stage at least, are resolutely sticking to their guns. So your best bet is to give them the benefit of the doubt, and let any questions that the film might raise mingle with the reflexivity it evokes in every Facebook fanatic viewer. The true, almost nightmarish beauty of Catfish is the all too crystal clear mirror it holds up to its audience. In what could easily be called The Social Network 2.0, this documentary questions the nature of friendship in the digital age and the lengths we go to for tangible human connection. And for all the filmmakers’ youthful bravado, the answers Nev finds are an all too human jumble of awkward, uncomfortable and deeply affecting realities; truths that will leave you pondering just how fragile and fragmented we are in this small, virtual world of ours.
If you haven’t gone yet, 20 June is a good opportunity to explore and experience what’s on offer at Danks Street's galleries, during their Winter Solstice late night. Nine galleries in Danks Street are heralding the arrival of winter and the Sydney Biennale, inviting anyone and everyone to enjoy the art and a glass of wine. Stella Downer Fine Art gallery on Danks Street represents over 30 contemporary Australian artists who work across many mediums, with a commitment to supporting and promoting sculpture and in particular placing works in both urban and rural environments. It and its eight neighbouring galleries will open between 6pm and 8pm to let you explore their many shows before the shortest night of the year takes hold. Danks Street Depot is also offering a Winter Solstice Feast at 6:30pm and 8pm, bookings on 9698 2201 or enquiry@dankstreetdepot.com.au
The last time I chatted to Darren Sylvester about his work, he said that the American sibling pop duo The Carpenters embodied the main sort of parable he aimed towards. Their obsessive ongoing refining and remastering of old songs to achieve the cleanest perfection possible, he said, was something he aspired to with his own practice. Certainly in the Melbourne artist’s photographic body of work, for which he is best known, there is an instantly recognisable highly polished and orchestrated artifice that runs parallel to this formulaic aesthetic of pop he so reveres; and so it made predictable sense that his debut album was a self-professed ode to The Carpenters and his other pure pop idols (like New Order and Phil Spector). Less predictable though was how good the songs actually were in their own right. Somehow both comforting and unsettling in their glossy depthlessness, they provide a perfect synth-heavy soundtrack to the rigidly controlled, self-contained worlds of his images. Entirely written, recorded and produced by Sylvester, the self-titled album was originally created on vinyl to be played non-stop for the duration of an exhibition at Queensland’s GoMA where the artist rebuilt The Carpenters’ original Japanese style backyard garden. Having since been picked up and released by Unstable Ape and Remote Control Records, it is being launched in Sydney twice this week; so you can pay double tribute to the deeply superficial sounds of this new-new-wave pop. Thursday Feb 11: GOODGOD SMALL CLUB (with Scott & Charlenes Wedding + Dominic Talarico), 55 Liverpool Street, CBD, $10 on the door, 8pm. Saturday Feb 13: THE COMMONS (with Jessica Says), 32 Burton Street, Darlinghurst, $50 with dinner/dessert or $25 performance only, strictly limited to 25 people, email rob@thecommons.com.au to register interest.
When Netflix officially launched on our shores back in 2015, three things happened. First, everyone without a VPN rejoiced. Next, anyone already familiar with their US offering couldn't help noticing that the Aussie catalogue was considerably smaller. Finally, while the streaming service was eager to sign up Australian customers, it didn't show any signs of putting those subscription fees towards making local content. It might've taken two years, but they're finally addressing the latter issue. Behold, Netflix's first original Aussie series. Due to be made in Queensland in 2018, and presumably providing fuel for late 2018 binge-watch sessions, Tidelands is a supernatural crime drama series about a fishing village with strange inhabitants: a group of dangerous half-Sirens, half-humans called 'Tidelanders'. Ten episodes, each running for 50 minutes, will be made, with Brisbane's Hoodlum Entertainment doing the honours. And Tidelands won't just gift Australian users with a new favourite series, with the show set to land in all 190 countries that Netflix is available in. Thinking you've seen plenty of Aussie stuff on Netflix already? You're not wrong, however, there's a difference between throwing old sitcoms and standup specials into a range inexplicably overflowing with new Adam Sandler movies, and actually funding brand new Australian material. Last year, it was announced that they'd join forces with the ABC to co-produce a second season of Glitch, which showed them dipping a toe in the water — but now they're completely diving in. Tidelands will join the platform's hefty stable of original series, which started back in 2013 with House of Cards, and just keeps growing (Orange Is the New Black, The Get Down, The OA, Wet Hot American Summer, Master of None, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Dear White People, BoJack Horseman, four Marvel series with one more to come — the list goes on). Given the premise, here's hoping it'll be the next Stranger Things, and not the new Hemlock Grove.
Chicken-devouring people of the inner west, Chargrill Charlie's is coming your way. As of Saturday, September 16, Annandale will be home to the tenth incarnation of the Sydney institution. And, to celebrate, the Charlie's team is giving away free food. Get there between midday and 1pm on opening day to score a free original chicken or beef burger and chips combo, then make a return between 5pm and 6pm, to tuck into a half-chicken and chips combo, also gratis. There should be plenty of room — Charlie's is transforming two shopfronts on Johnson Street into a huge open-plan space, with seating for 60 people. In keeping with the eatery's usual look, you can expect a modern industrial feel, with recycled timber and splashes of black metal. As well as burgers, chicken and chips, the menu will offer all the other goodness for which Charlie's has become legendary. That includes up to 15 types of salad on any one day, chicken schnitzel, creamed potato, rolls, DIY dinner plates and desserts, including apple pie. Chargrill Charlie's will open at 119-121 Johnson Street, Annandale on Saturday, September 16. Details of the other nine eateries across Sydney are chargrillcharlies.com.
Did you promise yourself that 2022 would be the year that you make that long-awaited trip to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef? Well, now you can finally tick that bucket-list trip off your list — on us. To celebrate the launch of the Qantas Green tier program, Qantas Frequent Flyer has teamed up with the destination leader in sustainable travel in Australia — Tropical North Queensland — to give away an eco-conscious holiday to the tropical north for you and a plus one. The prize is valued at over $11,000 and includes all the sustainable travel trimmings. You'll start with return airfares with Qantas that are 100-percent carbon offset. Then you'll spend three nights at the luxe carbon-neutral Daintree Eco Lodge, a Qantas Hotels eco-accredited property. The prize also includes an eco-certified trip to the Great Barrier Reef with National Sustainability Award winner, Sailaway, an exclusive rainforest conservation experience at Rainforest Rescue with a smoking ceremony by a Kuku Yalanji Traditional Owner, provided by Walkabout Cultural Adventures, and more. To take things one step further, we'll also be donating $5000 to Rainforest Rescue to help the organisation continue its crucial work in preserving and conserving the ecosystem in Tropical North Queensland. So you'll be doing good while you have a very, very good time. Keen to nab this incredible tropical holiday? Simply fill out your details below for your chance to win. [competition]844390[/competition]
For over 70 years, the Peter Pan Op Shop Market has presented one of Sydney's biggest vintage and second-hand clothing sales. Still not enough incentive to get you there? Well, all proceeds from your shopping trip will go to Barnardos Australia, a charity helping Australian kids at risk or suffering the effects of child abuse and neglect. So feel free to shop and shop some more, guilt-free. This year the Peter Pan Op Shop will host a winter sale from May 28-30 (Wed - Thu 9.30am - 3pm, Friday 9.30am – 1pm) at Paddington Town Hall. And local fave Sass & Bide have once again donated boxes of swoon-worthy fashion from their latest collections.
Banging is the certainly word for it; when Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn begins, it's with high school teacher Emi (Katia Pascariu, Beyond the Hills) and her camera-wielding husband Eugen (first-timer Stefan Steel) having loud, enthusiastic, pink wig-wearing sex — and filming it. Romanian writer/ director Radu Jude (I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians) shows the explicit three-minute snippet of footage as others will see it, because others will indeed see it: the students at Emi's school, their parents and her fellow teachers among them. All genitalia and thrusting and lustful talk (and shouted queries through the door from whoever is looking after the couple's child), this graphic opening also makes a bold and firm statement. So many people within the film's frames will take issue with it as vocally as Emi and her partner are enjoying themselves — and they're unmistakably enjoying themselves — but Jude definitely isn't one of them. 2021's Berlinale Golden Bear-winner, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn also starts with a gleeful provocation — not just to those seeing Emi and Eugen's home video within the movie, but to Jude's viewers. It's a jolting opening that's exactingly orchestrated to make audiences react, then unpack their own instant reflexes in tandem with the rude on-screen posse that may as well be waving pitchforks. The underlying question: to those who object, what makes this raunchy romp between two consenting adults so shocking? Worse exists on the internet en masse all the time, so is it its unexpected arrival? Within the picture, is it the fact that Emi is a teacher, a woman or that she's unapologetic, too? Both queries speak to ideas long internalised about what we see where, who we allow to do what, and the power that comes from enforcing arbitrary and hypocritical judgements about supposed immorality and obscenity. Indeed, loving, animated, costumed and sex toy-aided intercourse between a married couple in the privacy of their own home is the nicest thing that graces Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn — until the feature's glorious climax, that is. What follows the intimate clip is a razor-sharp satire of a world that's so indifferent to so much ghastliness and so often, yet remains so unaccepting of carnality and so quick to use it as a reason to unbridle our worst sniping impulses. The film wields that notion as a weapon, all as Emi and Bucharest's other residents also navigate the pandemic. Jude could've set his scorching feature at any time, but overtly drawing attention to the daily behaviour that's been accepted while the globe battles a decimating virus — and the fact that some here would rather fixate on a different and trivial kind of viral spread — makes a blunt but perceptive point. Accordingly, in the cinema verite-style first section, Emi rushes around the city on foot, going about an ordinary day that morphs into anything but. Actually, given that she learns of the sex tape backlash while surrounded by everyday hostilities and vulgarities, this chapter reinforces an ugly truth: that the performatively horrified responses from the parents of Emi's students are all too routine. As she traverses the streets, Bucharesters yell and argue bitterly — swearing at each other in the grocery store, purposely hitting pedestrians with cars and otherwise uttering language that'd be at home in porn. Emi is one of them as she tries to get sedatives from the chemist and drops by her school headmistress' (Claudia Ieremia, I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians) home, but the mood and intent is to lay bare a city heaving and brawling in its natural state. In this portion of the film, Jude and his regular cinematographer Marius Panduru observe intently and patiently, while also spying ample evidence of Romania's transition from communism to capitalism peppered around town. That helps anchor Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn's second act, which unleashes scathing and playful cine-essay snippets about the country's past, the planet's present, human behaviour — often at its most atrocious — and how porn is used as both a scapegoat and an anaesthetic. Again, subtlety isn't in the feature's wheelhouse here, nor need it be. Compiled from factual sources, such as news and social media, Jude badges this section 'A Short Dictionary of Anecdotes, Signs and Wonders' — and, in both providing context for so many of the movie's musings and exemplifying its experimental approach, it is certainly a wonder. Lastly, a mask-wearing Emi is interrogated and publicly humiliated by parents and teachers, their punitive savagery and blatant sanctimoniousness on full display. It's the picture's first brilliant, biting and bleakly hilarious climax — what would a film about a sex tape be without more than one peak? — and it initially plays out as anticipated. Yes, "Fox News" is shouted, because Jude's commentary isn't only limited to his homeland. Still, while the kangaroo court-style inquisition Emi faces overflows with foreseeable revelations, they're still shrewd and sizzling, and the movie also saves some of its final knee-weakening thrusts for its last few twists. It also uses this segment to showcase the filmmaker's skilled handling of farce, his adaptability through the course of this free-wheeling feat, and Pascariu's exceptional performance. Trying to glean deeper expressions and emotions from above a strip of face-covering fabric is a pandemic reality; however, Pascariu turns it into tour de force. Among the sights that Jude peers at in Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn's walk-and-witness section is a closed cinema, a 'for rent' sign on its window, which punctuates a chapter filled with incident after incident of antagonism — abuse and selfishness so common that it's clearly an engrained mindset. Losing even a single space to see art, connect with something bigger than oneself, and become immersed in different stories and perspectives alters any society, and it's easy to draw a line from there to Emi's arrogant and entitled tribunal of accusers. In a film designed to galvanise when watched communally thanks to its explicit opening, it's also easy to ponder how those censorious and bumptious parents would react if they were viewing this very movie. They'd likely be the type to desecrate the darkened theatre by loading the porn video on their phone mid-flick, only to then attack and insult anyone who asked them to pay attention to the feature in front of them and stop ruining the big-screen experience for everyone else. Jude could easily make a searing and stinging film about the state of Romania and the world out of that, too.
Braving the clogged artery that is Parramatta Road, headed for the biggest Victorian cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere to take an early morning sculpture walk, wasn't a typical start to a day. Yet arriving at the Reflections At Rookwood Café, I started to wonder if perhaps I was alone in that thought. Traffic was banked up for a kilometre coming out of the cemetery, crowds of people were swarming in and around the café and a huge florist was in full, frantic swing. This was not what I was expecting. The sculpture walk, however, was everything I was expecting. 'Hidden: A Rookwood Sculpture Walk' was conceived by Derek Williams, the General Manager of Rookwood, who sought to welcome new audiences through the cemetery gates. His vision to re-imagine a graveyard as a gallery space should be applauded. Now in its second year, the 2010 exhibition features the work of 24 artists whose sculptures respond to the site. Canvassing grief, death, life, love and, in some instances, a very personal connection to Rookwood, the 'Hidden' artists lure their audiences in close to whisper a story in their ear. Well actually, it’s a less a whisper and more a lively conversation, thanks to an excellent audio guide that can be downloaded online before a visit to Rookwood. The walk is open from sunrise to sunset, starting at Reflections At Rookwood Café near the Strathfield Gates. Annette Tzavaras, Catharsis, Tragedy and Restoration, photo by Danielle Hairs.
The Hayden Orpheum is about to become the most magical place in Sydney, as all eight movies in the Harry Potter franchise light up the screen over two spectacular days. Split into two parts — so you won't need a time turner to stay awake — the marathon kicks off at 11am on Saturday, November 3 with Harry's first four years at Hogwarts. It'll pick back up again at the same time the next day, when the battle against You Know Who begins in earnest. Coincidentally or not, this marathon falls on the same weekend as the Chauvel's Harry Potter marathon. That one runs for 20 consecutive hours, so the Orpheum's version might be a better bet if you're keen to spread it out over a weekend. This should help quell your Potter anxiety until the Fantastic Beasts sequel comes out on November 15, this should help you get your big screen spellbinding fix. Best part is that tickets are $25 per day — that will leave you with enough money for popcorn and chocolate frogs.
We like to pretend in Australia that it's not actually cold in winter. My knees would appeal to the contrary. But you do have to go a fairly long way from Sydney to see snow and find enough ice that you might be able to skate on. Or perhaps, because of the hard work of some fairly cool dudes, you don't. Once again the Winter Alpine Festival is coming to Sydney. If you feel like ice-skating outside St Mary's Cathedral, or nibbling on a winter delicacy from the Alpine food stalls with fare from all over the world, then jump on board. Highlights of the festival include ice skating at Bondi beach, the Winter Festival Bar where you can hear either traditional Bavarian beats or a collection of European DJs and performances from some of Australia's finest ice-skaters. Really the attraction to this festival is the ability to pretend, just for one night (or as many as you choose to go), that you're living in Europe in winter. And when the chai lattes are free and the bar can be wandered into as you please, who could say no to a snow experience on these cold Sydney winter nights? Check the website for dates for the Sydney and Bondi festivals. Note: the festival will be located in Bondi from June 30 - July 14, then outside St Mary's Cathedral from July 28 - August 14.
Usually, for one week each September, Brisbane becomes Australia's live music capital — even if a Melbourne survey generally claims otherwise. When BIGSOUND hits the city, it seems like every venue in Fortitude Valley is packed to the rafters with bands, industry folks and music-loving punters, all enjoying the latest and greatest tunes and talent the country has to offer. There's nothing usual about 2020, though. And, yes, that applies to this beloved music-fuelled celebration. Thankfully, BIGSOUND is still forging ahead this year as a physical — but socially distanced and COVID-safe — event; however it'll look a little different. Rather than a four-day lineup of conferences, workshops, facilitated conversations, live festival showcases, secret shows and official parties, music fans can look forward to all of the above across a condensed two-day (and two-night) program. And, instead of happening in September, it'll all take place on Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22. While just who'll be strutting their stuff hasn't yet been revealed, this year's changes are likely to mean that there'll be a smaller list of artists gracing the event's stages — down from last year's tally of 147. Venue-wise, too, BIGSOUND will be smaller, taking over ten Fortitude Valley spots compared to 2019's 18 sites. Again, just where the fest will be cranking up the tunes hasn't been revealed, but venues such as Black Bear Lodge, The Zoo and The Elephant Hotel have been involved in past years. [caption id="attachment_636255" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bec Taylor[/caption] Overseeing the yet-to-be-unveiled program are Janne Scott, BIGSOUND's creative director (and Splendour In The Grass' senior creative manager); Alethea Beetson, the event's First Nations producer and programmer; and Dominic Miller and Ruby-Jean McCabe as festival co-programmers. Past BIGSOUNDs have showcased everyone from Gang of Youths, Flume, Tash Sultana and Courtney Barnett to San Cisco, Violent Soho, Methyl Ethel and The Jungle Giants, so its program is usually a very reliable bellwether of current and up-and-coming talent. BIGSOUND 2020 runs across Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22 at various venues around Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. For further details, or to pre-register for delegate pass from 9am on Wednesday, July 29, visit bigsound.org.au. To discover what to do, see, eat and drink while visiting Brissie for the annual event, check out our weekender's guide to Brisbane during BIGSOUND.
Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes the return of Sydney Festival. The yearly festival promises a month of comedy, art installations, theatre and more — and the 2020 program is no exception. While there are many festival highlights to see, one of the more obscure events is the world premiere of physical theatre experience Night parade of one hundred goblins at the Art Gallery of NSW. Kicking off midway through the Sydney Festival, the show takes you on a twilight exploration of the supernatural world of Japanese folklore. Created by the absurdist Clockfire Theatre Company and led by drumming from multi-instrumentalist Masae Ikegawa, the theatrical procession will move past manga-influenced murals by illustrator Kentaro Yoshida and explore otherworldly themes. Then, Night parade... will head into the gallery's major exhibition Japan supernatural: 1700s to now. While you make your way through the gallery by lantern light, you'll catch some kyōka (Japanese 'mad poetry') performed by actors alongside a haunting soundtrack composed for this event by Tokyo-based producer and singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi, who performed at this year's Dark Mofo. Night parade of one hundred goblins runs Thursday through Friday nights, from January 16–25, 2020. You can opt for either a 7.45pm or 9.15pm session each night. Grab your tickets here.
Whether your fridge-shaped DVD box set is looking a little worse for wear, or you've spent too much time streaming the series in your spare time, we could all use a little more Seinfeld in our lives — and one Australian indie game developer is hoping to help. If Jacob Janerka's side project comes to fruition, playing a game about nothing could be as simple as pointing and clicking your way around your computer screen. Janerka's Seinfeld game has been mooted for the past couple of years; however the Perth-based fan released an updated compilation of potential artwork just before Christmas. Familiar characters, settings and scenes all get the pixelated treatment, including Jerry greeting Newman and the potential to play as the Soup Nazi. Here's hoping that Elaine's distinctive dancing style is next. https://twitter.com/ParadigmGame/status/942847812059906049 Before Seinfeld lovers start getting excited about wandering around a parking garage, enjoying Festivus or shouting "yada, yada, yada" — or seeing anything else from the series' 180-episode run make the leap onto your computer screen — Janerka has been waiting until he has a decent premise before progressing further. Or, in other words, he wants to ensure that it isn't really about nothing. In the interim, he has had his hands full with the indie adventure game Paradigm, which takes players through a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by the titular mutant and a genetically engineered sloth that vomits candy. https://twitter.com/ParadigmGame/status/946449916800393216 Via IGN. Image: Jacob Janerka.
When the first-ever SXSW Sydney took place in 2023, we were there as history was made. We didn't just check out the talks, gigs, films, TV shows and games on offer — Concrete Playground was part of the conference programming, which is called Session Select. When we took to the stage, we did so to dive into youth, information and the digital age. In 2024, we're keen to do it all over again. At the end of 2023, after the inaugural SXSW Sydney proved a success, the Australian event confirmed that it'd be back in 2024. This year's dates: Monday, October 14–Sunday, October 20. Earlier in April, SXSW Sydney also revealed that Session Select candidates are currently vying for your love, because that's how this part of the program is chosen — and we'd like your help. SXSW's Down Under leg lets the community get behind the microphone at Session Select. More than that, it allows you to choose what makes it into this portion of the fest's lineup. All you need to do is vote, which is now open for 2024 until Monday, April 22. We've submitted two sessions for consideration in 2024 — here's what we're planning, both of which you can vote for via the SXSW website. [caption id="attachment_920349" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brittany Hallberg[/caption] Appetite for Distraction: Youth, Information and the Digital Age in 2024 Call it a comeback. Call it a sequel. Either way, we're not done with this topic yet. Backing up our 2023 SXSW Sydney session, we'll host a discussion on how young people are consuming news and information in online spaces. This panel will bring together industry-leading communicators to discuss where Gen Z and young millennials are getting their news from, what's grabbing their attention, the importance of online communities and where the future of journalism and information-based content is headed. Vote for the Appetite for Distraction: Youth, Information and the Digital Age in 2024 panel online. [caption id="attachment_920350" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brittany Hallberg[/caption] New Rituals: The State of Socialising and Hospitality How is going out changing? How are consumer expectations changing? How is the hospitality industry changing to meet those demands? What trends are we seeing and how are hospitality businesses, food and beverage businesses adapting to meet them? In this panel, we'll share five minutes of insights and consumer trends from ongoing annual research into socialising, events and going out, which will be conducted in August 2024 for the second year in a row. Then, a panel of experts will discuss some of the key themes and trends, talking about their experience within their businesses, and how they are changing their products and services to meet changing consumer expectations. Vote for the New Rituals: The State of Socialising and Hospitality panel online. If you're be interested in attending our panels, please visit the voting pages for New Rituals: The State of Socialising and Hospitality and Appetite for Distraction: Youth, Information and the Digital Age in 2024 to show your support. Voting closes on Monday, April 22, 2024. SXSW Sydney 2024 will take place from Monday, October 14–Sunday, October 20. Top image: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney.
We've all heard of the saying 'the older you are, the wiser you are' — and in this case it stands true. It is common knowledge that we can learn so much from our elders with their breadth of experience. So when it comes time to learn about experiences pertaining to love, romance and sex, who better to ask than the ones with the most expertise? Strap in — or on — for a wild ride, as All The Sex I've Ever Had returns to Sydney completely revamped for WorldPride 2023. The Darlinghurst Production Company has teamed up with Canada's Mammalian Diving to bring an LGBTQIA+ edition of the hugely successful, 90-minute tell-all production back to Sydney. From 7pm Tuesday to Friday or 5pm on Sunday, you can draw upon the wisdom of queer local senior citizens at the Eternity Playhouse Theatre and experience the climaxes of truly raw storytelling as these generous elders recount some of the highest highs and lowest lows of navigating their way through dating, relationships and sexuality. Take the opportunity to hear or ask questions about the panel's escapades, spanning from first crushes and casual flings to unplanned pregnancies and tumultuous love affairs — nothing is off the table. As these sex-perts bear their chests in a spoken memoir of heart-warming and heartbreaking accounts, the courage to share personal stories on stage emphasises the importance of being unapologetically open and fearless. This WorldPride event re-establishes our elders as the ones to turn to for advice and life lessons, while breaking the stigma around the taboo nature of enjoying life's pleasures to the fullest in your twilight years. This must-attend event will be one for the books.
After what's seemed like an eternity, summer is finally here. Combine that with the usual silly season shenanigans, and it means that we're getting ready for some serious partying. The one thing that any party needs, though, is music. We've teamed up with Hennessy to ask ARIA-nominated rapper B Wise for his playlists that set the mood for any occasion — whether for the before party, the party party or the after party. SETTING THE MOOD: ALTERNATIVE HIP HOP B Wise checks this playlist as his "personal vibe and taste", while providing a good counterpoint to his own music. "I feel most of my music as an Australian-based rapper feels alternative to the rest of the world." HYPE MUSIC: BLACK LIVES MATTER Need to hype yourself up for a night out? Look no further than these songs about empowerment and pride. B Wise says: "the playlist title says it all. Some of the best sounds from Black creators." TIME TO MOVE: RAP UK Ready to really get the night started? This selection of UK rap is a sure bet. "When it's time to move like a road man (or hit the gym), this is my vibe." LOCAL PICKS: A1 This international selection of the hottest hip hop right now is an Australian-curated selection that also includes tunes from homegrown talent. According to B Wise, this playlist "always keeps the big energy up". HIT THE FLOOR: RAPCAVIAR You know that time of the night when it's past the point of no return? This is the playlist for that time. "If we partying, this is the first playlist I'm gonna visit." AFTER PARTY: STRANGE NIGHTS Naturally, even the after party needs tunes — and this list curated by B Wise himself is sure to strike the right note. "One of those if you know, you know kinda vibes. For the party after the party." Level up this summer with Hennessy. Hennessy V.S brings elegance and complexity to any mix while showcasing its versatile appeal. Whether it's an Espresso Martini, an Old Fashioned or the game-changing mix Hennessy x Ginger, Hennessy allows you to step it up this summer. Top image: Jarrad Shaw
It used to be said that the kitchen was the heart of the home — these days, though, it's the living room. Whether you're cheering (or jeering) your team, cueing up a playlist or exploring new worlds as you settle in for a movie or gaming marathon, the TV is now the heart of the action. And with a few smart upgrades, you can easily transform your setup into a home theatre that rivals the real thing. Upgrade your screen The foundation of any great home theatre is the display itself, but not all screens are created equal. TCL's new C8K QD Mini LED TV makes a strong case, with ultra-vivid picture quality, sleek border-free design (no blocky borders around the screen, just pure pixels from edge to edge) and immersive Bang & Olufsen sound that keeps the focus squarely on what's on screen. Whatever the occasion, a top-rate screen undoubtedly elevates the entire experience. Layer your lighting Gone are the days of all or nothing when controlling the lighting. Rather than just flicking off the ceiling light, use dimmable sconces or softly glowing lamps, LED strips behind the TV or smart bulbs that shift colour to match what you're watching. Or, go old school — lighting a candle or two also keeps things cosy. Ambient lighting doesn't just set the mood, but it also reduces eye strain and keeps you immersed in the action. Invest in soft furnishings You don't need to be an audiophile to appreciate cleaner sound. Soft furnishings are a simple fix to absorb echoes and stop audio bouncing around the room. And while integrated speakers like the C8K's Bang & Olufsen set do a lot of the heavy lifting, a plush rug under the coffee table or heavy fabric curtains can instantly make dialogue clearer and explosions punchier — not to mention they help dial up the comfort factor. For that authentic theatre vibe, swap out sheer curtains for blackout drapes to block out glare, improve on-screen contrast and give your living room that same feeling of anticipation when the lights lower in a cinema. Set the scene Cinemas have décor, so why not your living room? Frame your favourite movie posters, add a neon sign or even make a mini marquee on a blackboard listing that night's feature. Touches like these make the space feel more intentional and turn a regular movie night into an event. Hide the mess A tangle of cables and remotes can ruin the illusion. While not all TVs can be wall-mounted, hiding cords under cable covers and keeping devices in one console is an easy and surefire way to make the experience more immersive. Some TVs like the C8K have a built-in Google TV interface, meaning you can even cut down on boxes altogether. Level up your home viewing experience with the TCL C8K QD Mini LED TV. For more information, head to the TCL website.
Whether sprawling across a Tokyo warehouse, taking over a Japanese castle, turning old oil tanks into waterfalls or even popping up in Melbourne, the digital art made by creative collective Teamlab can make you feel like you're in another world. That's a sensation we could all after the past year year, even if visiting the group's overseas sites is currently off limits due to international travel restrictions. Enter Teamlab's latest project: the online-only Sakura Bombing Home. If it sounds familiar, that's because it's a twist on Flowers Bombing Home, which Teamlab launched in 2020. The project has been updated for cherry blossom season, because Japanese students usually graduate at this time of year — but can't currently enjoy the usual festivities due to the pandemic. Like the bulk of Teamlab's work, Sakura Bombing Home is interactive; however, as its name suggests, art lovers can take part from their own couch. The collective is asking its audience to draw and colour-in pictures of cherry blossoms — either on paper or on your phone — then take a photo and upload it to the group's site. Your pics will then be added to the bright, kaleidoscopic, constantly moving and evolving piece. That's the participatory part of the project. When it comes to watching — whether you've gotten arty first, or you just want to view the piece without breaking out your colouring pencils — you can head to Teamlab's YouTube channel. Sakura Bombing Home is live streaming constantly, joining together cherry blossoms created by folks all over the world. While viewing, you'll notice petals scattering, then coming together to form new images. Unsurprisingly given the sensory nature of its physical installations, Teamlab recommends viewing Sakura Bombing Home on your television set, "or as large a device as possible". The project will be available for the foreseeable future, too, with the collective advising that it "will bloom until the end of the coronavirus" — and that it'll also stick around afterwards "for people to remember this era". For more information about Teamlab's 'Sakura Bombing Home' — or to add your own drawing — visit the art collective's website. To watch the live-streamed artwork, head to its YouTube channel.
No matter how you feel about Game of Thrones' polarising eighth and final season, the epic HBO show will always hold a soft spot in many pop culture fans' hearts. It'll also always adorn a lengthy tapestry that's currently on display in Northern Ireland. In fact, the detailed piece of fabric has embroidered all of the show's ups and downs onto a massive, 90-metre-long artwork. Simply called the Game of Thrones Tapestry, the piece was inspired by the famous 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry — and while it has called the Ulster Museum in Belfast home since mid 2017, it'll head to Normandy to be displayed alongside its counterpart from September this year. Originally, the cloth reached more than 80 metres in length; however it has recently increased in size for a very important and obvious reason: to add the events of GoT's last season. Along the fabric's huge expanse, dragons, battles and blood sit side-by-side with well-known characters and lines of dialogue. Yes, "winter is coming" is one of them. If you've ever wanted to see Jon Snow in stitchery, the Iron Throne get a linen makeover, revisit Ned Stark's demise in cotton or get a completely different look at all of the series' standouts scenes, this is your chance. Daenerys' fiery rebirth, the Red wedding, the Night King's frosty reign, Hodor's touching end, the Battle of the Bastards and plenty of other deaths, fights, frays and phrases all feature, with the show's first first seven seasons all averaging around 10–13 metres of coverage each. [caption id="attachment_729913" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Ulster Museum, Belfast[/caption] If you can't make it to either Northern Ireland or France to see the intricate piece with your own eyes, you can peruse an online version — although, at the time of writing, it hasn't been updated to include the eighth season as yet. Designed by hand, employing a machine to do much of the weaving, and then embroidered by a team of 30 stitchers, the tapestry doesn't just celebrate the show that kept people talking. In addition, it uses fabric from Ferguson's Irish Linen, it commemorates one of the last surviving linen mills in Northern Ireland. Much of the series was filmed in the area, and a new museum will also pop up there soon — which is great to know if you're not ready to say goodbye to GoT just yet, can't wait for George RR Martin's long-awaited next book to finally drop, and are biding your time until the TV spinoffs and prequels come to fruition. The Game of Thrones Tapestry is on display at the Ulster Museum in Belfast until July 28, 2019, before moving to the Hôtel du Doyen in Bayeux, Normandy, France from September 2019. Images: Game of Thrones Tapestry.
'Have I got a story for you?' The uttering of this simple question is simultaneously charged with boundless potential, designed to pique interest and loaded with promise. Will the tale be hilarious, harrowing or just plain entertaining? This year, the Sydney Writers' Festival (the local wordsmith's answer to Glastonbury) has put grandiose, pompous conceptions of what truly great literature means aside to focus on the simple joy that can only be brought forth by a cracking yarn, plain and simple. Whether you're a book club aficionado who knows her Shakespeare from her Tolstoy or just a fan of The Breakfast Club, the dynamic program of events, released today, has something to make you lean in with anticipation. "Stories lie at the heart of our lives. We need them to understand ourselves, to understand others and to make sense of the world around us. In 2013 we look at the breadth of storytelling from Australia and around the world," explains Jemma Birrel, who debuts in her role as artistic director this year. Reckon you've heard it all before? Let the festival's astonishing stable of prominent orators, including Molly Ringwald, Naomi Wolf, William Dalrymple, Robert Green, Ruby Wax, Anita Desai, Archie Roach, Edward Rutherford, Hannah Kent, James Wood, Joe Rospars, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Kate Atkinson, Kate Mosse, Michael Sanders and Gillian Meares prove you wrong. These voices of our generation (minus Hannah Horvac of Girls, der) will wax lyrical on everything from the Future of Activism, to What Money Can't Buy and the question on everyone's, um, lips — I'm a Feminist, Can I Vajazzle? In a new addition to this year's program, a series of live storytelling events will see the likes of Claudia Karvan, Brendan Cowell, Jacqueline McKenzie and William McInnes hold court. Topics include personal passions and obsessions as told in 15-minute increments, true stories with the literally loco theme Lost the Plot and the sharing of specially written love letters by authors to their other halves in People of Letters. Gather round children, the Sydney Writers' Festival has a story for you. Images via Sydney Writers' Festival.
Between Thursday, June 13 and Tuesday, June 18, Palace Cinemas is giving movie buffs an extra gift. It's not just the gift of great flicks — that is, its daily bread and butter — but the gift of cheap great flicks. Head to one of the chain's four Sydney locations — Paddington's Palace Verona or Chauvel Cinema, Chippendale's Palace Central and Leichhardt's Palace Norton St — across the week in question, and any film at any time will only cost you $7.50, plus an online booking fee of $1.50. Want to see Rocketman with your friends on a Saturday night? It'll cost you $9 in total. Keen to laugh your way through last year's Lavazza Italian Film Festival favourite, My Big Gay Italian Wedding, after work one afternoon? Still $9 all up. After another excuse to stare at Chris Hemsworth on the big screen? Go see Men In Black: International for (yup, you guessed it) $9. We'd keep naming movies, but you get the picture. Booking in advance is highly recommended, given how much everyone loves going to the flicks for cheap, so you will want to nab your tickets online here and pay the fee. With the cold well and truly here, seek refuge in any Palace across Sydney and see some of the hottest movies showing on the big screen this season. Image: Palace Central
Vivid is Sydney's so-branded festival of 'music, light and ideas' aimed at getting us through the winter. This year, the Vivid LIVE (previously, Luminous) portion of proceedings will be curated by New York's premier rock royalty, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. The programme promises music, dance, film, theatre and comedy totalling a music festival with a difference — and, out of sheer hunger to attain their level of enlightenment, we will no doubt devour the whole thing. Anderson suggested prior to any announcements that the people she would be including were very "eclectic", and that she's drawn to the spirit of collaboration, improvisation and "things that can only be done live". Perusing the line-up, it is fair to say that she was not understating that sentiment. Highlights include Japanese experimental three-piece Boris, day trippers Bardo Pond, Lou Reed's critically condemned Metal Machine Trio, Sufjan Stevens' beautiful back-up singer My Brightest Diamond, Laurie Anderson's own Transitory Life, two-man Vice Magazine party machine King Khan and BBQ Show and lauded experimental play The Shipment from Brooklyn. Creative Sydney, Fire Water, and the bit with all the pretty lights will be back as part of greater Vivid this year, too. The festival runs May 27 to June 11. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WNAknZVzBRM
When the term 'kidulting' gets thrown around, it usually means one thing: taking a pastime that you enjoyed when you were a child and adding alcohol. It's why we have boozy mini golf bars, cocktail-slinging arcades and beer-serving bowling alleys, all aimed at adults. And at the latter in May, you can also add free gigs — and free brews and ten-pin, too — to the equation. Your destination: Strike Bowling, which is bringing back its Live on the Lanes concert series. The shows first took place in 2018, returned in 2019, but were then put on hold during the pandemic — and this time, they're going on the on the road. Live on the Lanes will hit up Strike QV in Melbourne, QV Wintergarden in Brisbane and Wintergarden King Street Wharf Sydney across Wednesday, May 11–Friday, May 13. But before you going marking your calendar, this is the kind of show you need to win tickets to. Entries open between 9am Thursday, April 7–11.59pm Wednesday, May 4 via the Strike Bowling website. If you nab a freebie, you really will get everything covered — the music, the beer and your time hurtling balls down the lane. Touch Sensitive will taking care of the tunes, hopping up on stages in each city that'll be set up on top of the alley. And those free lagers will come courtesy of Byron Bay Brewery — which is obviously something to say cheers to. LIVE ON THE LANES 2022: Wednesday, May 11 — Strike QV, Melbourne Thursday, May 12 — Strike Wintergarden, Brisbane Friday, May 13 — Strike King Street Wharf, Sydney Live on the Lanes tours Australia's east coast between Wednesday, May 11–Friday, May 13. For more information, or to enter to win tickets between 9am Thursday, April 7–11.59pm Wednesday, May 4, head to the Strike Bowling website.
Sydneysiders are now allowed back into the pub, so live music is beginning to return to the city. One of the first cabs off the rank is beloved Merivale pub Vic on the Park, which has set up a killer lineup of free live music for Sydney's first weekend out of lockdown. As part of Merivale's live sessions program, there will be local bands blaring from the band room at Vic on the Park on both Friday, October 15 and Saturday, October 16. Kicking off the weekend is indie rock five-piece The Phazes with singer-songwriter Sam Marks in support. Come Saturday, exciting upstarts Jet City Sports Club will be bringing their heartfelt guitar-driven anthems to The Vic, with inner west cowboys Big Dog and their blend of country, folk and rock providing support. While you're there, you can also soak in the atmosphere out in the beer garden and enjoy a pub feed. The pub's new deck menu features spicy lobster rolls and thick-cut porchetta with roasted potatoes and salsa verde. Seats in the band room are first-come-first-serve, so get down early.
