A day of sun, surf and sand shouldn't break the bank, and holidaying in Vietnam is the best way to ensure that remains the case in 2018. As they did last year as well, three of the Asian country's beaches have topped Travelbird's annual Beach Price Index, which ranked 327 beaches from over 70 nations based on their affordability. Cua Dai Beach in Hoi An was dubbed the least expensive place to take a dip for the second year running, with hitting the waves costing AU$20.20 (or €13.44). City Beach in Nha Trang (AU$22,83) and Long Beach in Phu Quoc (AU$25.29) took out the next two spots, with beaches in India (Benaulim Beach, Palolem Beach, Mandrem Beach, Cavelossim Beach, Agonda Beach and Radhanagar Beach) and Egypt (El Gouna, Sunken City and Marsa Nayzak) rounding out the top 12. Germany and Mexico are the only other countries to make the top 20, courtesy of Hamburg's Falkensteiner Ufer and Oaxaca's Zipolite. Travelbird bases their rankings on the cost of five beach essentials: sunscreen (SPF30, 200ml), water (500ml), beer (an average between domestic beer prices, and the cost of Heineken, Budweiser, Becks, Guinness and Fosters at local prices), ice cream (pre-packaged and branded), lunch (for one person, including a meal, drink and dessert) and any applicable facility fees (entrance, lounger, chair, hammock, umbrella). If just more than an Aussie lobster sounds cheap for all of that, then spending more than AU$123 will sound mighty hefty, with New Caledonia's Anse Vata in Noumea nearing that mark at the other end of the scale. Don't go thinking that Australia's abundance of coastline means the country fares much better in the cheap beach stakes, however. Even the least expensive — The Basin on Rottnest Island — hits the $61.37 mark. In fact, all Aussie beaches rank in the 150 costliest spots to sunbathe and splash around, with Manly Beach in Sydney the ninth costliest at $97.86, and Perth's Cottesloe Beach taking 12th spot at $95.15. Others on the list include Blinky Beach on Lorde Howe Island, Bondi in Sydney, Cottesloe Beach in Western Australia, Mindil Beach in Darwin, and 75 Mile Beach, Whitehaven Beach and Palm Cove in Queensland. As for New Zealand spots to sunbathe and splash around, four make the poll. Over in New Zealand, Piha in Auckland is the most affordable, followed by Orewa, Karekare then Hahei in Waikato. Image: Prashant Ram
Don't work at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. That's the message at the heart of video-game franchise Five Nights at Freddy's, and has been since 2014. The folks earning a paycheque at the fictional joint, particularly the unlucky night-time employees, tend to get some rather unpleasant company: the restaurant's animatronic animal mascots turning murderous. In the button-mashing space, the concept has unsurprisingly proven a hit. So far, nine games have brandished the Five Nights at Freddy's name in the franchise's main series, plus a range of spinoffs. Next, however, it'll be cinemas that are splashing that moniker around. Joining The Super Mario Bros Movie and Gran Turismo among 2023's big-screen game-to-film releases, a feature version of Five Nights at Freddy will hit picture palaces in October. Josh Hutcherson (The Disaster Artist), Matthew Lillard (Good Girls), demonic robots: they're all in the just-dropped full trailer for movie take on the horror favourite. Hutcherson plays a security guard clocking in for this first night on the job, then discovering what's really in store. And those animatronics Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy? They're courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Also appearing on-screen are Elizabeth Lail (You), Piper Rubio (Unstable), Kat Conner Sterling (We Have a Ghost) and Mary Stuart Masterson (Blindspot). Putting Scream star Matthew Lillard in any horror movie is always a nice touch, too. Emma Tammi (The Wind) directs, while prolific horror producer Jason Blum is behind the movie via his company Blumhouse, adding it to a roster that's also given us The Black Phone, Freaky, Black Christmas, the Happy Death Day flicks and the most recent Halloween trilogy in the past few years. And, yes, Blumhouse just brought M3GAN our way as well, because 2023 is clearly the year of the unhinged machines. Also, Willy's Wonderland riffed on the same concept a few years back, if you're not a gamer and you're wondering why the concept sounds familiar. That movie's highlight: starring the one and only Nicolas Cage. Check out the trailer for Five Nights at Freddy's below: Five Nights at Freddy's releases in cinemas Down Under on October 26.
Change is in the air at Claude's. Soon to close up for an eight week renovation, the restaurant is preparing to enter a new chapter. The rumour is super luxe degustation dining upstairs and a new chilled out, neighbourhood version downstairs, with head chef Ben Sears (Vue de Monde, Cutler & Co, L’Enclume) on board. In the meantime, head chef/owner Chui Lee Luk isn't resting on her laurels. Pre-renovation, Claude's will be hosting a series of unlikely creative collaborations (cheekily) titled the Mighty Bouche. The first, with the Dip's Andrew Levins, dug into Americana with a menu featuring Biscuits and Gravy, Clam Chowder, a New England Lobster Roll, Chicken and Waffles and, to finish, 'Shoo-fly Pie'. Wowser. Make sure you don't miss round two (or three or four). Details will be announced here closer to the dates.
In this age of seemingly endless streaming platforms, there's never a shortage of things to watch. New movies hit the likes of Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+ and DocPlay all the time, as well as the plethora of other online viewing services that just keep popping up, especially in 2020 — and they're all ready to be viewed and enjoyed by your ravenous eyeballs. With such an ongoing onslaught of content fighting for everyone's attention, there's always a new highlight. This year has been full of them, in fact, and we've been rounding up the best streaming standouts each and every month. But, with 2020 now almost at a close, we're in reflective mode — so, from a 12-month period that saw us all glued to our screens at home far more than we ever dreamed of back in January, we've picked the 12 very best straight-to-streaming flicks from the past year. These movies didn't play in local cinemas, even for just a short period, but they're all absolute must-sees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcqItifbNUA SMALL AXE British filmmaker Steve McQueen hasn't directed a bad movie — and, dropping five new features as part of the Small Axe anthology, that isn't changing now. The director of Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave and Widows gifts viewers a quintet of films that are as exceptional as anything he's ever made, with every entry in this new series taking place in England, in the 60s, 70s and 80s, with London's West Indian community at its centre. The first, Mangrove, tells an infuriating true tale about a police campaign to target a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill. From there, Lovers Rock spends time at a house party as two attendees dance into each other's orbits, and Red, White and Blue follows a young forensic scientist who decides to join the force to change it from the inside. Next, Alex Wheatle explores the life of the award-winning writer of the same name, while Education unpacks unofficial moves to segregate children of colour in schools. There's no weak link here — only stunning, stirring, standout cinema that tells blistering tales about Black London residents doing everything it takes to resist their racist treatment. Every film is sumptuously shot, too, thanks to cinematographer Shabier Kirchner (Bull), and the cast spans everyone from Lost in Space's Shaun Parkes and Black Panther's Letitia Wright to Star Wars' John Boyega. All five Small Axe films are available to stream via Binge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ord7gP151vk MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM Chadwick Boseman, Oscar-winner. That combination of words is very likely to become a posthumous reality for the late, great actor, thanks to his last screen role. Boseman is just that phenomenal in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. He has earned that term before in Get on Up, Black Panther and Da 5 Bloods, but his performance in this stage-to-screen production is such a powerhouse effort that it's like watching a cascading waterfall drown out almost everything around it. He plays trumpeter Levee Green, who is part of the eponymous Ma Rainey's (Viola Davis, Widows) band. On a 1920s day, the always-nattering, big-dreaming musician joins Ma — who isn't just a fictional character, and was known as the Mother of Blues — and the rest of his colleagues for a recording session. Temperatures and tempers rise in tandem in the Chicago studio, with Levee and Ma rarely seeing eye to eye on any topic. Davis is in thundering, hot-blooded form, while Colman Domingo (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Glynn Turman (Fargo) also leave a firm impression. It's impossible take your eyes off of the slinkily magnetic Boseman though, as would prove the case even if he was still alive to see the film's release. Adapting the play of the same name by August Wilson (Fences), director George C. Wolfe (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) lets Boseman farewell the screen with one helluva bang. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTfJp2Ts9X8 UNCUT GEMS The best film of 2020, based on Australian release dates, might only screen on Netflix on our shores. That might seem a big call, but the anxiety-dripping, riveting Uncut Gems is a stone-cold masterpiece, complete with one of the greatest performances of Adam Sandler's career (alongside Punch-Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)). Far, far removed from his Netflix comedies of late, the actor is all hustle and bustle as Jewish American diamond-district jeweller Howard Ratner. A compulsive gambler who is deeply in debt, about to get divorced and being shaken down by a loan shark (Eric Bogosian) he's related to by marriage, he's always trying to lure in high-profile clientele. When he comes into possession of a rare black opal — the uncut gem of the title — basketballer Kevin Garnett becomes interested, sparking a wild chain of events. Writer/directors Josh and Benny Safdie last worked their gritty, vivid and relentlessly tense magic with the Robert Pattinson-starring Good Time to exhilarating and mesmerising effect, and this uncompromisingly chaotic thriller and all-round exceptional character study is even better. Uncut Gems is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5RDTPfsLAI DA 5 BLOODS A fiery examination of both the Vietnam War and US race relations, Da 5 Bloods is a Spike Lee film through and through. It nods liberally to its influences, such as Apocalypse Now, but only the acclaimed Do the Right Thing and BlacKkKlansman filmmaker could've made a war movie this affecting, incisive, entertaining and politically astute — especially given its focus on African American men expected to fight and die for the same country that still struggles to treat them equally. Plot-wise, the part combat drama, part heist thriller, part history lesson follows four ex-soldiers (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis and Isiah Whitlock Jr) who make the trip back to Ho Chi Minh City decades after the conflict. They're searching for buried gold, as well as for the remains of their beloved squad leader (Chadwick Boseman, as seen in flashbacks). In Lee's hands, and with Lindo taking charge as a PTSD-afflicted, MAGA hat-wearing veteran, the results are energetic, passionate, and both intellectually and emotionally stunning. Da 5 Bloods is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7X0O9lZ_jQ WOLFWALKERS From FernGully: the Last Rainforest to Moana — and including everything from Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko and Princess Mononoke to Pixar's Wall-E, too — many an animated movie has combined eye-catching frames with an important message about the environment. Irish film Wolfwalkers joins the pile and rockets to the top, thanks to one of the most visually and emotionally enchanting features of the year. Story-wise, it follows young wannabe hunter Robyn Goodfellowe (Honor Kneafsey, The Bookshop). In a tale set centuries ago, she moves to Ireland with her father Bill (Sean Bean, Snowpiercer) when he's hired to eradicate the last wolf pack lurking in the woods. The locals, as overseen by an English Lord Protector (Simon McBurney, The Loudest Voice), want to wipe out the wolves so that they can tear down the forest in the name of progress. But, after sneaking out to go exploring, Robyn befriends a girl called Mebh (feature first-timer Eva Whittaker) who just might be a member of a mythical tribe that's able to shapeshift into the creatures while they're dreaming. As well as a rousing eco-conscious narrative, Wolfwalkers delivers distinctive and delightful animation. Expect earthy, natural colours, with greens, browns, oranges and yellows dancing across the screen. Expect a line-heavy visual style, too, which is almost reminiscent of woodblock prints. And, expect another all-round beauty from co-director Tomm Moore, who also helmed the Oscar-nominated and equally beautiful duo The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea. Wolfwalkers is available to stream via Apple TV+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs--6c7Hn_A SOUL Released earlier in 2020, Onward definitely wasn't Pixar's best film — but Soul, its straight-to-streaming latest movie, instantly contends for the title. The beloved animation studio has always excelled when it takes big leaps. Especially now, 25 years into its filmmaking tenure, its features prove particularly enchanting when they're filled with surprises (viewers have become accustomed to seeing toys, fish, rats and robots have feelings, after all). On paper, Soul initially seems similar to Inside Out, but switching in souls for emotions. It swaps in voice work by Tina Fey for Amy Poehler, too, and both movies are helmed by director Peter Docter, so there's more than one reason for the comparison. But to the delight of viewers of all ages, Soul is a smart, tender and contemplative piece of stunning filmmaking all on its own terms. It's Pixar at its most existential, and with a strikingly percussive soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to further help it stand out. At its centre sits aspiring jazz musician-turned-music teacher Joe (Jamie Foxx, Just Mercy). Just as he's about to get his big break, he falls down a manhole, his soul leaves his body, and he's desperate to get back to chase his dreams. But that's not how things work, and he's saddled with mentoring apathetic and cynical soul 22 (the always hilarious Fey) in his quest to reclaim his life. Soul is available to stream via Disney+ from Friday, December 25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAveuCPBYSw I'M YOUR WOMAN Normally, when a criminal's latest job takes a turn for the worst for whatever reason, the film that tells their tale follows their part in the aftermath. I'm Your Woman isn't that movie. It looks like that kind of feature. It resembles one with exacting precision. But that isn't the narrative that's on offer here, and refreshingly so. Directed and co-written by Julia Hart (Fast Colour) with such a supreme handling of style, story and genre, this is a 70s-esque crime affair, but it focuses on Jean (Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel), the wife of a thief who has gone missing after a big score goes south. The aggrieved gangsters chasing her husband are also unlikely to be kind to Jean and her baby, so she's whisked off into hiding in the middle of the night with zero notice. That's a drastic change that she's unprepared to cope with — but, with help from the her spouse's ex-acquaintance Cal (Arinzé Kene, How to Build a Girl), she also discovers that she's far more resilient than she thinks. Compelling from the moment it opens with Jean clad in a magenta robe, add I'm Your Woman to the pile of movies that serves up a big shift in a familiar genre (see also: Sylvie's Love below), and does so in a spectacular fashion. I'm Your Woman is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTg62vsV4U I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS For much of I'm Thinking of Ending Things two-hour-plus running time, the film's characters sit and talk as discomfort fills the space around them. The movie's protagonist (Wild Rose's Jessie Buckley) and her boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons) awkwardly chat as they drive through the snow to the Oklahoma farm where the latter grew up. They both endure several seesawing conversations with Jake's erratic and eccentric mother (Toni Collette) and father (David Thewlis) once they arrive. And, steam-of-consciousness narration also provides a soundtrack. But given this feature is written and directed by Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, it was never going to be a straightforward flick about meeting the parents. Instead, it's a purposely ambiguous and complex exploration of identity, choice and the very nature of human existence — complete with sudden ballet dances, strange overnight stops at deserted dessert stands and flashes to an unhappy janitor (Guy Boyd) — and it's a fascinating, challenging, visually stunning trip the entire way. I'm Thinking of Ending Things is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCKfXpAGHc HAMILTON If you haven't been lucky enough to catch Hamilton on the stage — and, let's face it, most of us haven't — a filmed "live capture" version of the popular hip hop musical here to fill the gap. The story, for those who aren't intimately acquainted with US revolutionary history, chronicles the Caribbean-born eponymous "bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman" from his arrival in New York in the early 1770s. As the informative opening number explains, Alexander Hamilton will go on to become "the ten-dollar Founding Father without a father", with the production charting how he "got a lot farther by working a lot harder, by being a lot smarter and by being a self-starter". And, as shot on Broadway back in 2016, the results really are as phenomenal as we've all been hearing for the past five years. The entire cast, including not only creator, writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda but Tony-winners Daveed Diggs (Snowpiercer) and Leslie Odom Jr (Murder on the Orient Express), Mindhunter's Jonathan Groff and Waves' Renee Elise Goldsberry, is superb, as is every element of the production. Infectiously exuberant from its first moments, and not only lively but frequently funny, Miranda's rich, dense but always accessible words and songs interrogate US history with passion, intelligence and energy. They'll also become firmly lodged in your head, too, so don't say we didn't warn you. The filmed version of Hamilton is available to stream via Disney+. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7QpnvmMmag&feature=emb_logo PALM SPRINGS It wasn't the first movie to play with temporal trickery; however, Groundhog Day has a lot to answer for. Films about folks stuck in a loop, repeating the same day or events over and over, now almost comprise their own genre — but, wearing its allegiance to the aforementioned Bill Murray-starring comedy on its sleeves, Palm Springs is one of the best of them. Here, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andy Samberg plays Nyles, who has ventured to the titular location with his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner, Brightburn) to attend a friend's nuptials. He gets drunk, makes a speech and a scene, befriends fellow wedding guest Sarah (Cristin Milioti, Modern Love) and disappears into a cave, warning the latter not to follow. When dawn breaks, it's the same day again. Then variations on the same events happen once more, and they just keep repeating over and over. Also featuring an initially intense JK Simmons (21 Bridges) as another ceremony attendee, Palm Springs has a wealth of fun with its concept, and becomes one of the year's most enjoyable movies in the process. Produced by Samberg alongside his Lonely Island colleagues Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, directed by feature first-timer Max Barbakow and written by Lodge 49's Andy Siara, it also finds its own way to grapple with the time-loop genre's usual elements — the repetition that feels like being stuck in purgatory, and the existential malaise that comes with it — in a smart and funny rom-com that boasts particularly great performances from Samberg and Milioti. Palm Springs is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfTmT6C5DnM DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD Mortality is no one's favourite subject. Confronting the certainty of our own demise is so difficult, we all just generally carry on as though it won't happen. And the reality that everyone we know and love will die, including our parents, is just as tough to deal with. Facing not only the fact that her father is advancing in age, but that he's suffering dementia — meaning that she'll lose him mentally before he passes away physically — cinematographer and documentarian Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson) conjured up a playful and poignant project. In Dick Johnson Is Dead, she stages her dad's death over and over. He's very much alive and he takes part, with the father-daughter duo bonding during what time they have left together in the process. While it might sound morbid, this moving movie is anything but. As well as the scenes that give the film its title, it also provides an insightful chronicle of the Johnsons' lives. Tender, thoughtful, personal and intimate, and driven by both Dick and Kirsten's presence, the result is perhaps the most affecting feature of the year — and a very worth winner of the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Non-Fiction Storytelling at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Dick Johnson Is Dead is available to stream now via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGvYFB6GHRY SPACESHIP EARTH When it premiered at Sundance in January this year, Spaceship Earth wouldn't and couldn't have seemed as topical as it does at present. The documentary's subject: Biosphere 2, the biodome in the Arizona desert that played host to eight inhabitants for two years in the early 90s — all isolating themselves from the world by choice, in the name of science, to see if a closed-off, fully self-sustaining vivarium could work if/when humanity ever ventures beyond the earth. It sounds like pure sci-fi, but this is 100-percent reality. With the help of a treasure trove of archival material as well as present-day interviews from many of the folks involved at the time, filmmaker Matt Wolf takes viewers through the unusual and fascinating experiment. While it would've been very easy to play up the outlandishness of the whole project (indeed, as seen in media clips from the time, many an onlooker did), this doco approaches Biosphere 2 and the passionate people who made it happen with thoughtfulness and appreciation, in what proves a supremely mesmerising, engaging and intelligent film. Spaceship Earth is available to stream via DocPlay.
If you're not fond of clowns, find yourself scurrying past sewers and simply can't stand red balloons, there's probably one big reason for your phobias. Maybe you read Stephen King's horror tome IT, which first hit bookshelves back in 1986. Perhaps you saw the 1990 miniseries, which turned Tim Curry from The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Frank N Furter into the transdimensional evil entity known as Pennywise. In 2017, you might've seen the IT movie on the big screen, too, then backed it up in 2019 with sequel IT: Chapter Two. Whichever fits, your fears are about to get another workout — via your streaming queue, and if you dare. HBO has officially greenlit a prequel series set in the world of IT, and in King's go-to town of Derry, Maine. Fittingly called Welcome to Derry, it'll step through the locale's scares before the terror that viewers have already seen and experienced. Returning to oversee the show is filmmaker Andy Muschietti, who helmed the most recent two movies and next directs DC Extended Universe flick The Flash. So far, the rest of the details are scare, including the exact storyline, all cast members, when it'll arrive and how many episodes there are to look forward to. But Muschietti will direct multiple instalments, including the first. Also, the show is still based on King's novel, and will expand Muschietti's vision from his two features. "As teenagers, we took turns reading chapters of Stephen King's IT until the thick paperback fell to pieces," said Muschietti and his sister Barbara Muschietti, who'll also work on Welcome to Derry, announcing the news. "IT is an epic story that contains multitudes, far beyond what we could explore in our IT movies. We can't wait to share the depths of Steve's novel, in all its heart, humour, humanity and horror." "I'm excited that the story of Derry, Maine's most haunted city, is continuing, and I'm glad Andy Muschietti is going to be overseeing the frightening festivities, along with a brain trust including his talented sister, Barbara. Red balloons all around!" added King. If you've somehow missed all things IT so far, it follows the exploits of maniacal clown Pennywise, as well as the folks he's rather fond of terrorising. In the recent movies, Bill Skarsgård (Barbarian) put on the demonic makeup. In the first film, his targets were all kids. In the second, those teens — the Losers Club — were all grown up and still getting spooked. It's too early for a Welcome to Derry trailer, but you can watch the IT and IT: Chapter Two trailers below: Welcome to Derry doesn't yet have a release date, including Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced.
As any destination-hopping traveller knows, actually jumping between multiple locations isn't as fun as it sounds. Sure, visiting as many places as you can in a single trip is great, but the minutiae of moving between stopovers is far less exciting. Think complicated itineraries scheduled down to the last second, too many airport waits, and continually packing and unpacking your suitcase — you're exhausted just reading about it, aren't you? Inspired by Elon Musk's proposed high-speed, compressed air-powered transport system, the Hyperloop Hotel aims to take the hassle out of multi-destination trips by turning hotel rooms into a form of travel. Designed by University of Nevada graduate architecture student Brandan Siebrecht, and winning the student category at this year's Radical Innovation Award, the concept uses Musk's Hyperloop to move modular suites between 13 US destinations. Siebrecht's proposal relies upon shipping containers turned into hotel rooms, that can then easily undock from base sites in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Seattle and Washington, DC. Each suite would be fully customisable, featuring spaces for sleeping, bathing and living, while the permanent structures in each city would boast the usual on-site hotel amenities. With the Hyperloop currently in the testing phase — and mooted to become operational as early as 2018 — Siebrecht believes it could be as little as five years until his idea becomes feasible. Unsurprisingly, however, it won't come cheap. He has floated a cost of US$8-10 million per hotel, and suggested US$1200 per person for travel and a one-night stay. And as for just how long you'd spend in transit, the system Musk describes as a "cross between a Concorde and a railgun and an air hockey table" will reportedly cut travel time down considerably. In the US, it has been suggested that the trek from LA to San Francisco would take just 35 minutes. In Australia, apparently zipping from Sydney to Melbourne could happen in a mere 55 minutes. Via Live Science / Inhabitat. Image: Radical Innovation Award.
Murals don't have the best name for themselves. Instead of representing a vibrant and artistic community, they tend to conjure images of that fluoro abomination that donned the wall of your primary school hall; the one that featured fifty life-sized self-portraits of children with exceedingly long necks and circular eyes that stare at you with unblinking terror. Now, this amateur art form is being taken to the next level. Coupling with the community themselves, Spanish artist collective Boa Mistura are currently in the process of painting an entire town in Mexico (and the results are not at all cringeworthy). Taking inspiration from the art of the indigenous Otomie people, this group of painters, engineers and architects created designs that cover 30 buildings in the small town of Querétaro; with plans to expand to all 1,074 starting from September this year. Enlisting the help of young locals, Boa Mistura says the project is being carried out in an effort to rejuvenate and unite the community not only in the painting of the murals, but in their everyday lives too. "They are thinking in a different way right now," says a member of the group. "[They] have a new reality, a modified one. That's actually really good." This initiative comes after similar efforts in both Cape Town, South Africa and San Paolo, Brazil; and it's hard to say the pieces aren't a success. Bright colours pop from the landscape and energise the derelict surrounds; you can't help but smile at their simple charm. Similar groups are operating all around the world too. Much like Boa Mistura, Dutch street artists Haas & Hahn embarked on a huge project to reinvigorate Philadelphia's Germantown in 2012. Covering four city blocks, the Philly Painting project was carried out with the goal of "uplift[ing] the environment". The founding artists claimed "what feeds the eye also feeds the soul". If this is true, the citizens of Querétaro are in for some serious nourishment over the next few years. At the very least, the expression to 'paint the town red' will finally have a literal meaning. Via Design Boom and The Huffington Post.
We've spent heaps of time curating exclusive holiday packages for Concrete Playground Trips, but we're especially proud of this one. We teamed up with some of Auckland's biggest players in the food, music and culture scenes to bring you one epic luxury holiday experience in November. Guests will get VIP tickets to Spring City Music Festival headlined by Groove Armada, a one-of-a-kind private sommelier and chef lunch at Ahi Restaurant and a spectacular helicopter ride to Waiheke Island where you'll choose to do some gin or wine tastings. You have all these unique experiences organised for you as well as three nights at the five-star The Hotel Britomart on Auckland's harbour. 'Epic' only begins to describe this trip — and that's why numbers for this package are extremely limited. Read on to see why you should make your way to Auckland on November 26. SPRING CITY VIP ZONE Spring City Music Festival hits Auckland on Saturday, November 26. If you book our exclusive package on Concrete Playground Trips, you'll get express lane access into the festival, entry into the Spring City VIP tent, prime viewing to make the most of the festival, as well as access to the VIP bar. No lines, no portaloos and no crowds to navigate. This is a festival done differently. This year, for the festival's return, legendary dance music duo Groove Armada are headlining. You'll have the best reserved standing room to hear fan favourites like "Superstylin" and "At The River" and "Easy". There'll be plenty of other artists at Spring City too, with key performers still to be announced. CHARTERED HELICOPTER WINE OR GIN TASTING After a day of dancing, you'll head off on a helicopter ride across the scenic Hauraki Gulf. Once you've taken in these stunning surrounds, you'll touch down and be taken to your choice of locations – either a winery or gin distillery (choose your own adventure). Those who choose vino will be guided through the olive grove, down to the grape vines, for a unique tasting experience of the finest cabernet blends with the winemaker at Stonyridge Vineyard. You'll then dig into a delicious two-course lunch paired with wine at the restaurant overlooking the vines. Gin lovers are in for a real treat, too. You'll head to Waiheke Distilling Company to enjoy a bespoke distillery tour where you'll have the opportunity to learn, taste and explore Waiheke's hand-crafted spirits. Sample a range of internationally award-winning gins and vodkas, from the classic to the contemporary, with fresh botanicals being paramount. Top it all off with a delectable two-course lunch paired with wine at the cellar door. Both options are fab. Just choose your booze. AHI PRIVATE SOMMELIER AND CHEF LUNCH But wait, there's more. When creating this trip, we could think of no better restaurant to send you to than the famous Ahi. If you've seen A New Zealand Food Story then you'll already know the backstory behind the new downtown eatery. The eight-part online series follows acclaimed chef Ben Bayly and his team as they set out to discover what local cuisine is all about and where our produce comes from – the end goal being to create a truly unique New Zealand restaurant. And he did just that. The team serves up creative dishes with a strong sustainability ethos each and every day. And you are lucky enough to get a table for lunch. But it ain't just any table – we've reserved the best seats in the house. Expect a kitchen counter experience, with high stools perched right over the chefs working their magic. Indulge in a premium lunch tasting menu alongside world-class matched wines — all carefully selected and created to showcase the best of New Zealand's gourmet offerings. New Zealand's incredible gastronomy will be on full display. ACCOMMODATION We are also putting you up in The Hotel Britomart for three nights. This five-star hotel is one of New Zealand's finest accommodations, with the added bonus of being incredibly sustainable (it is New Zealand's only 5-Green Star hotel). Each of the 99 rooms is designed for tranquil escapism. Think of The Hotel Britomart like an opulent city retreat, lined in natural and sustainably sourced timber. Guest rooms all come with in-built sofas, hand-made ceramics and minibars full of locally sourced treats. Attention to detail is on point. It's the perfect place to return to, following day after day of extraordinary holiday experiences. Book your tickets now, by visiting Concrete Playground Trips.
There's no wrong way to visit a winery, whether you choose to participate in a boozy fun run within the grounds, cycle between a couple of wine-slinging spots, or simply stop by for a few hours, taste some tipples and make a few purchase. Or, you can stay for the night, which isn't a new concept — but one South Australian vineyard is letting folks sleep right next to the vines in a luxury pod. Wineries from Queensland to Victoria boast glamping facilities; however The Vineyard Retreat McLaren Vale now has an Escapod. As the name suggests, it's all about escaping from the hustle and bustle, which is definitely on the agenda in what's essentially a luxury detached cabin right in the heart of the vineyard. Measuring 72 square metres, the pre-fab structure includes an open-plan dining and lounge room, a king-sized bed, an open fire and two small external decks, plus a fully functioning kitchen, a separate bathroom and a storage room. On the mod cons front, it also has the requisite appliances, under-floor heating, reverse-cycle heating and cooling, and automated blinds — although you'll want to keep them open to enjoy the vineyard views. Furthermore, the pod can be connected to the main power or can go off the grid via a solar power battery, rainwater tanks and a wastewater treatment system. Built off-site then brought to the winery, the Escapod can also be moved again in the future if needed. It'll be available for bookings from September — and it's one of two pods destined for the McLaren Vale spot, although just when the second will arrive is yet to be determined. If the pod has you planning a boozy getaway, there's some other good news — more are planned. In total, Escapod is hoping to roll out 20 pods across South Australian sites across the next year. Find the first Escapod at The Vineyard Retreat McLaren Vale, 165 Whitings Road, Blewitt Springs. Visit the retreat website for further details. Via The Lead. Images: The Vineyard Retreat / Escapod.
Even though any Apple smartphone you've ever owned has struggled to survive more than a couple of years, the iPhone itself has just clocked up a whole decade. And Apple marked the occasion in style, launching three new phones, a new Apple watch and a 4K Apple TV, at the new Steve Jobs Theatre in California overnight. First up was the Apple 8 and its 8 Plus counterpart — which are the updates to the iPhone 7. They're pretty impressive, but it's the hotly anticipated iPhone X that breaks new ground — and it's this one that people have been itching to take a squiz at. Apple's calling this little beauty "the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone", claiming it'll "set the path for technology for the next decade". Of course, it doesn't come without its share of cringe-worthy factors. For starters, it's supposedly pronounced 'iPhone ten' which seems a bit contrived. It also comes with a pretty hefty price tag, set to retail at a cool $1579 here in Australia. But it's got some features that might make the cost justified — here's what you need to know. IT'S A TOUGH LITTLE COOKIE Like the iPhone 7 and 8 before it, the iPhone X makes poolside anxiety a thing of the past — it's water and dust resistant, even to a microscopic level. It should also be pretty darn tough, given Apple's used the most durable glass you've ever seen in a smartphone, along with surgical grade stainless steel along the edge. IT'S ALL SCREEN And it's huge. We're talking about a 5.8-inch display that runs from side to side and top to bottom, right into the curves. It's also got the highest resolution of any iPhone ever, clocking in at 2436 x 1125, or 458 pixels per inch. Throw in HDR capabilities and True Tone light sensor technology and you've got yourself some next-level video-viewing. THE HOME BUTTON IS HISTORY Of course, that mega-sized, edge-to-edge screen means the home button has finally been axed. Instead, you'll get to the home screen by simply swiping up from the bottom and move between apps by swiping along the base of the screen. Chat to your old mate Siri by just speaking into your phone, or holding down the new, larger side button. IT CAN RECOGNISE YOUR FACE No joke — we've officially entered an era where facial recognition technology exists on your phone. The iPhone X has ditched the old Touch ID fingerprint system, instead using a new state-of-the-art True Depth Camera System and neural engine to scan and detect your mug, even in the dark. After you set it up to recognise your unique facial map, you'll be able to unlock the screen simply by looking at it. Apple even reckons the technology is smart enough to adapt as your face changes over time. FACE ID MEANS YOU'LL BE ABLE TO BECOME AN EMOJI Namely, access to a bunch of augmented reality experiences. Apple's already teamed up with Snapchat on a special series of filters that'll fit perfectly to your own face, using your iPhone's facial scanning technology. The company's also taken its emoji game to new heights, allowing you to customise animated emojis to your own facial expressions, then send them on to your mates as looping videos. IT NOW CHARGES WIRELESSLY First they got rid of the headphone jack (no, it hasn't made a comeback) and Apple are reducing your need for tangled cords even further. Instead of plugging your phone in to charge, you'll be able to place it on an AirPower mat, which will also be able to charge the Apple Watch and AirPods. Of course, you'll have to buy this separately (and it's not available until next year), but Apple's aim is to eventually have the mats readily available in public places like airports, hotels and cafes. The iPhone 7 will be available to order from October 27 and to buy from November 3, right here.
Were you a little underwhelmed with all the tech news this week? A new iPhone or fandangled watch from the future is great and all, but most of us aren't all that up for throwing another $1000 at Apple. If so, here's a little piece of the tech revolution that won't leave you bankrupt (except maybe morally so). The world is about to get it's very first GIF keyboard for iPhones. The upcoming app PopKey will be available for those using the new iOS 8 and will enable users to save, select and send a variety of GIFs in exactly the way they currently use the emoji keyboard. Just like emojis, the GIFs will be organised into different sections. Categories supposedly include 'LOL', 'shocked', 'facepalm' and 'swag'. Basically, your phone will no longer be a means to communicate and articulate yourself with loved ones, it will be an interactive version of Buzzfeed. We have a lot of feels about this. At first we were nerdily excited. Then we remembered how people over-do it with emojis. GIF onslaughts could be a whole new level of crazy. Finally, we realised there's no other option than deleting our younger siblings numbers from our phones completely. But aside from all that, it's a pretty excellent concept. In addition to the library of GIFs you accumulate yourself, the app will update in realtime with those which are currently trending online. This means you'll be the first to know when Jennifer Lawrence or Tina Fey do something quirky, or the internet goes crazy for whatever this creepy thing with Emma Watson was all about. iOS 8 is set to launch on Wednesday, September 17 and PopKey shouldn't be too far behind it. Soon you can test out the technology for yourself. Give up your beloved red salsa lady emoji for a bit of Queen Bey. Let Emma Stone communicate your approval from here on out. Either that or throw your iPhone off a bridge. This is the way of the world now. Via Mashable.
We don't know what you have to do to be considered a 'beach expert', but after Australia's best beaches were revealed this week, we're sure we need to become one. The 2018 list details 101 of the country's most stunning beaches, but the one that's come out on top isn't Bondi or Jervis Bay — it's Nudey Beach. So where the bloody hell is that? It's located on Fitzroy Island, just off the far north Queensland coast. Now, the 'best' beach is obviously a hard one to quantify, but Brad Farmer has done a pretty thorough research job. He's the aforementioned beach expert, and for the release of the 2018 edition of 101 Best Beaches he visited, documented and rated a whole heap of beaches alongside coastal geomorphologist Professor Andy Short, who has personally visited every single beach in Oz (there's 11,761 of them, by the way). Eventually the pair landed on the tropical Nudey as number one. It's obviously insanely beautiful, and the pair have noted it as the best beach of them all due to its surrounding lush rainforest and views of the Cairns hinterland. Plus, for somewhere so special and secluded, it's super accessible — you can get there in 45 minutes on a catamaran from Cairns. Other top beaches are ones you probably haven't heard too much about either — Horrocks Beach north of Perth in WA, Dreamtime Beach at Tweed Heads on the NSW–Queensland border and Dolly Beach on Christmas Island all make the list. Tourist spots Burleigh Heads and Tassie's Bay of Fires get a look in as well. Have a look at the top ten below. BRAD FARMER'S BEST BEACHES IN AUSTRALIA 2018 Nudey Beach, Far North Queensland Horrocks Beach, WA Dreamtime Beach, NSW Cossies Beach, Cocos Keeling Islands Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Queensland Seal Rocks, NSW Bay of Fires, Tasmania Quobba, Red Bluff, WA Dolly Beach, Christmas Island Second Valley, SA Neds Beach, Lord Howe Island Image: Chris McLennan/Tourism and Events Queensland.
Both Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement will be present when Flight of the Conchords make a long-awaited, eagerly anticipated return to television — as part of a one-off live special filmed during the duo's recent sold-out tour. Announced earlier in 2018, Flight of the Conchords: Live at the London Apollo has now been given a US airdate, with the special screening on HBO in America on Saturday, October 6. As the name really does makes plain, it was recorded in the UK, where Flight of Conchords took their show on the road in March and then returned in late June and early July, following a forced break after McKenzie broke his hand. Yes, it'll be business time, Bowie will be in space and no one will have hurt feelings. Fans can expect to hear the classic tracks that everyone has had stuck in their heads since the folk parody pair's TV series aired between 2007 and 2009, of course, as well as a few new songs. It's also a case of Conchords almost coming full circle, with nabbing a spot on HBO's One Night Stand in the mid-00s one of their big breaks. Just when and where the new special will appear on TVs outside of the US has yet to be revealed, but in the interim, check out the date announcement video featuring McKenzie and Clement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLZQfnFyelTBOQ15kmHSgEbdjzLMWzZpL7&v=xz_-9PlcouE
Sydney, we know you love a burger pop-up. The news that Vivid was setting up an arcade game burger bar in Martin Place went nuts, the announcement that Hashtag Burgers is running In-N-Out-inspired pop-up was warmly received (to say the least), and 10,000 of you clicked attending to Sydney's first burger festival earlier this year. Now, Gelato Messina has got on board, announcing their own two-day burger and ice cream pop-up, aptly named Messina Eats. Fortunately, Messina hasn't created a pizza gelato (although we wouldn't put it past them). Instead they've lured one Melbourne's best burgermeisters, Huxtaburger, up north to flip some seriously delicious burgs over two days. They'll also be joined by their lobster roll counterparts Mr Claws, who'll be dishing out buttery beacons of goodness alongside some seriously good looking cremino choc tops from Messina. The whole thing will go down over two days on Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18 in the carpark at Messina's Rosebery HQ. They'll be open from noon for lunch and dinner until sold out. And considering how popular the Huxtaburger pop-up at Harpoon Harry was last year, it's a real possibility. Messina Eats will run from noon until sold out on June 17 and 18. Find more information here.
Ever wondered what the world would look like if it was run by hipsters? My guess is that tapered mustard chinos would be a mandatory addition to all wardrobes, while fixie bikes would become the sole method of transportation. One blog has put a creative twist on this idea by offering up hipster reworkings of corporate logos. Hipster Branding, a Tumblr that is 'holding up a mirror to the artsy community', presents viewers with a multitude of logos that would look right at home in the upmarket inner-west of Sydney. Colonel Sanders becomes a member of the cultured demographic with Buddy Holly glasses and ironic facial hair, while Mercedes-Benz gets a throwback makeover that's oh-so-retro. Like it or not, hipsters are here in force and inevitably going to take over the world. Soon enough, the logos featured on this blog will become reality as we're overrun by our cigarette-rolling, scarf-wearing, chin-stroking companions. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HR4n6OVoyYQ [Via PSFK]
In an ideal world, every single item necessary to living out of a carry bag would be slimline. So far, mobile devices have it well sorted. But between keys, water bottles and sundry accessories, it's way too easy for everything else to turn into the kind of mad jumble that'd give Detective Scott Turner a heart attack (yep, look 'im up). Instead of moaning about it, an Aussie-US collaboration has decided to take action — on at least one front. They’ve redesigned the water bottle and come up with a slimline, reusable version: the memobottle. Inspired by paper, it’s a rectangular vessel that slides into your carry bag, right next to your laptop or tablet, with such efficiency and style that you hardly notice it’s there. The memobottle team is hoping to revolutionise personal convenience while giving environmental protection a leg-up. Last year alone, more than 50 billion single-use bottles were sold across the planet. In the US, 1,500 or so of them are used and thrown out every second. One of the reasons for this insane waste, according to memobottle’s Kickstarter campaign, is that regular bottles are such a hassle to carry around. But this new invention changes all that. It's made of BPA-free Tritan, which is resilient, durable and dishwasher-friendly. Three sizes – A5, A4 and Letter – are available, allowing you to choose one to fit your bag (and hydration needs). Plus, whether it’s lying flat or standing up, the memobottle is leak-proof. So far, the innovation definitely seems to be hitting the right spot. With five days to go, the Kickstarter campaign has seen more than 5,500 supporters pledge over $232,000 — that’s fifteen times the initial target goal. Via Fast Company.
Rapidly developing technology sees damn great inventions pop up week after week — namely Snapchat’s scary new filters and this killer whale submarine that’ll set you back a cheeky 100k. The flipside of such speedy development comes when all those fully-functional, expensive devices suddenly become clunky and incompatible with new phones and laptops. But Google's come up with a nifty way to make old technology relevant again, your old Bluetooth-less speakers in particular. Paired with this week's release of the new Google Chromecast, Google has come up with a nifty little doodad that acts as a go-between for online tune streaming and old-school audio devices with 3.5mm audio jacks or RCA/optical audio outputs — the bit where your headphones plug in, for those feeling confused. It's called Chromecast Audio, a dongle that allows you to sync your phone to the once defunct speakers via wi-fi. This dinky doodad dongle (we'll stop) looks like a spy device but only costs $35 a pop — but you'll need one for each device you wish to make relevant. Chromecast Audio is compatible with iOS, Android and most laptops and can stream tunes from Pandora, Google Play Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Rdio. Where’s Apple Music, you might ask? We don’t know. Perhaps they fell down the village well on the way to the project signing or perhaps, as BGR suggests, they're just pulling a classic Apple and refusing to work with competitors. No synergy points for you, Apple. Via The Verge.
Brazilian beer company Antarctica Beer has created one of the most innovative products to ever come out of a brewery, the Beer Turnstile. Created for the Rio de Janeiro Carnival, one of the world's biggest parties, of which Antarctica Beer is the official sponsor, it was designed to inspire partygoers to catch public transport to and from the festival. When they arrived at the subway station to head home, they did not have to buy a ticket; all the drinkers had to do was pop their empty beer can into the turnstile and, once it was recognised by the reader in the machine, they gained access to their ride home. Whilst the turnstile was an excellent business move — if people do not have to drive they can of course drink more Antarctica Beer throughout the evening — it likely contributed to the 43 percent decrease in drink driving recorded at this year's event and lowered the impact of the festival on the environment, as every can submitted was recycled and the turnstile averaged more than 1000 patrons an hour. It also created less mess for the city to clean, music to the ears of some happy Brazilian workers. Via PSFK.
If you've tried cycling around London, you'll understand why residents are celebrating Mayor Boris Johnson's intention to spend nearly 1 billion pounds on the city's bicycle routes. Double decker buses, cramped alleyways and teetering lorries have made for a 21st-century population explosion in spaces that Dickens described as crowded 150 years ago. The plan's backbone is a 24-kilometre (or 15-mile, as the Poms would say) bicycle highway, which will enable Londoners to cycle from west to east, in a lane (mostly) separated from motorised vehicles. This "bike Crossrail" will be the longest cycle path of its kind to be found in any European city. The aim is to decrease pressure on roads and public transport, improve air quality and increase faith that two wheels can be better than four. In the words of the ever-eloquent Johnson, "I want to de-Lycrafy cycling ... [to] give people the confidence to get in the saddle." Apart from the Crossrail, the vision includes a Central London Grid, which will create links in frenetic areas like the West End and the City; a series of 'Quietways', which are extended, signposted, suburban routes that guide cyclists along tranquil side streets; and a host of semi-segregated and fully segregated lanes. The Dutch commitment to the cultivation of a healthy cycling culture will be emulated through the development of what are being dubbed 'Little Hollands' in a minimum of one, and perhaps as many as three, boroughs. If these cyclist-friendly areas are a success, expansion throughout Outer London is likely. Furthermore, the Safer Intersection Review is about to receive a 500 percent increase in funding, from 19 million to 100 million, which means that some of London's most chaotic junctions — including Elephant and Castle, Blackfriars and Vauxhall — will be treated to improvements. Eight police will be employed to deal exclusively with accidents involving cyclists and heavy goods vehicles. At an April 2012 hustings concerned with cycling and road safety, Johnson lost support from some members of the cycling community after describing "stereotypical cyclists" as those who "charge around in lycra", "jump lights" and consider themselves "morally superior". His new plan is likely to go a long way in healing the damage done. London cycling image by Felix O and Ottawa cycling image by John Talbot.
Hip hop culture, graffiti and architecture combine as one. The Hive apartment, the coolest apartment around, is graffiti inspired and located in Melbourne, the city renowned for its funky, impressive street-art. Designed by the architect Zvi Belling of ITN Architects, the Hive is the first in a series of Hip Hop buildings. Made mostly of concrete, this building symbolises the tumultuous relationship between architecture and graffiti. Whether it appeals to you or disgusts you, graffiti exists and is a common form of art around the world. Belling teamed up with old schoolgraffiti artist, Prowla RDC, to make this unusual, radical and not-so-humble looking abode. Not only is the house inovative and cool, but it is environmentally friendly, too. Fully equipped with solar panels lining the roof, the Hive is a green hip-hop home. Arrows, swooshes, and drips have been incorporated into the concrete walls but the biggest statement of all is the four meters high concrete letters spelling 'hive' across the building. Watch out for ITN's next unconventional design as it is bound to be interesting.
When you've made a movie fictionalising your life, played yourself in it and managed to get Marissa Tomei as your mother, what comes next? After The King of Staten Island, Pete Davidson goes for another arrested development-fuelled comedy, this time in sitcom form. The show: Bupkis, the comedian's latest project following his departure from Saturday Night Live — once again riffing on star's own life, and this time enlisting the one and only Joe Pesci, Tomei's My Cousin Vinny co-star, as his grandfather. Arriving on Binge on Thursday, May 4, this may be Davidson's show — indeed, as the just-dropped trailer demonstrates, it pokes plenty of fun at his life, fame and chaos — but having Pesci among the cast is no minor feat. Since 2010, the iconic Goodfellas, Casino and Raging Bull actor (and Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York talent as well) has exactly two on-screen appearances to his name: Martin Scorsese's The Irishman and now Bupkis. Well played, Pesci — if most of us could only roll out of bed for Martin Scorsese and Pete Davidson, we would. In Bupkis, Pesci plays the father of Davidson's mother Amy, which gives the series another tie to a great of the gangster genre: The Sopranos' Edie Falco. From there, the names keep on coming, with guest stars including It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Charlie Day, Red Rocket's Simon Rex, Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett and Ray Romano, Bodies Bodies Bodies' Chase Sui Wonders, SNL's Kenan Thompson, Miracle Workers' Steve Buscemi, Nine Perfect Strangers' Bobby Cannavale, Black Bird's Paul Walter Hauser, Machine Gun Kelly, Jon Stewart, John Mulaney, Al Gore and Method Man. With Day, Garrett and Romano popping up, clearly Davidson likes TV comedies as much as he likes mobster fare — although It's Always Sunny and Everybody Loves Raymond couldn't be further apart. Across eight episodes, Davidson and all that high-profile help will navigate another semi-autobiographical attempt to grapple with celebrity, everything it brings, keeping family ties healthy — and Davidson in general — and trying to forge meaningful bonds. Getting chased by the paparazzi, wielding a glave, life advice from Pesci, looking after a kid, movie stunts, guns and cars, Googling himself, Gore flashing the Wu-Tang hands: they're all included as well. Check out the trailer for Bupkis below: Bupkis streams via Binge from Thursday, May 4. Images: Heidi Gutman/Peacock.
The picnic mecca that is Moonlight Cinema doesn't just show movies outdoors each summer. It does exactly that, obviously, but it's also fond of theming its openair film selection around different parts of its season. So, when it kicked off for summer 2022–23 in November and December, it featured a heap of Christmas fare, naturally. When February hits, it'll be time for love — whether you're heading along with a date or mate. Surrounding both Valentine's Day and Galentine's Day — yes, Leslie Knope would be proud — Moonlight Cinema's just-revealed February program includes a week of romantic pictures spanning new and classic titles. Magic Mike's Last Dance will get a whirl, as will the Lily James (Pam & Tommy)-starring What's Love Got to Do With It. And, if you're fond of movie blasts from the past, perennial favourites 10 Things I Hate About You, The Notebook and Muriel's Wedding are also on the bill, as are the Julia Roberts-led Notting Hill and Pretty Woman. Other highlights include Australian favourites The Castle and Strictly Ballroom among the other retro titles — the latter, from Baz Luhrmann, also getting romantic — as well as repeat sessions of A Man Called Otto, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. Because the exact roster varies per city — and because Brisbane and Adelaide's season wraps up mid-February — some venues will also get treated to creepy doll thriller M3GAN, plus sneak-peek sessions of the cinema-loving, Olivia Colman-starring Empire of Light and Bill Nighy drama Living. As always, one piece of advice bears repeating: pack your picnic basket and get ready to watch a heap of flicks under the summer evening sky. Nosh-wise, Moonlight Cinema is letting you bring BYO movie snacks and drinks (no alcohol in Brisbane, though), but the unorganised can also enjoy a plethora of bites to eat from food trucks — perfect, messy treats made for reclining on bean beds. There's also a VIP section for an extra-luxe openair movie experience, a beauty cart handing out samples, and dogs are welcome at all sites except Perth — and there's even special doggo bean beds, and a snack menu for pooches. And, on Sundays in February, Moonlight Cinema will host a Singleton Whisky cart in Melbourne and Sydney. MOONLIGHT CINEMA 2022–23 DATES Brisbane: Thursday, November 24–Sunday, February 19 in Roma Street Parkland Sydney: Thursday, November 24–Sunday, March 26 in Centennial Park Perth: Friday, November 25–Sunday, March 26 in Kings Park and Botanic Garden Adelaide: Thursday, December 1–Sunday, February 19 in Botanic Park Melbourne: Thursday, December 1–Sunday, March 26 in Royal Botanic Gardens Moonlight Cinema runs through until March 2023, with dates varying per city. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the cinema's website — and we'll update you with further program details when they're announced.
Keen on chasing an endless winter, jet-setting to Switzerland's top slopes, and getting there in the most direct way possible? There's an airline for that. Because there's no niche too small these days, Europe now has a carrier dedicated to snow sports in the Swiss Alps. Due to fly its first passengers in December this year, Powdair will make its home base in Sion in the Valais region, near the Swiss resorts of Verbier, Saas-Fee, Crans-Montana, Zermatt and Nendaz. It'll connect to eight European airports, ferrying eager snow lovers from London Luton, London Southend, Bristol, Manchester and Southampton in Britain; Edinburgh in Scotland; Hamburg in Germany; and Antwerp in Belgium, straight to the heart of Switzerland's frosty playground. In an attempt to become the go-to airline for Swiss-venturing snow spots fans, Powdair also boasts free equipment carriage; yep, your skis and snowboard won't be classed as oversized baggage here. They'll also be offering season discounts for eager skiers. And, while their first routes are all focused on making the most of the icy weather, should they prove a hit, the startup plans to offer summer jaunts too — in case you'd like to check out the Alps in greener circumstances. Via: The Independent. Image: Aletsch Arena.
With Christmas Day, and the many traditions and festivities that come with it just over the horizon, it's almost time to rearrange the furniture and set aside some space for the beloved Christmas tree. The Christmas tree has origins which most often date back as far as the renaissance in Germany, however there are many contested theories of origins preceding this. Although the traditional christmas tree is generally considered to be an evergreen conifer, many alternative designs have been created throughout history. The first artificial tree was also introduced in Germany, in the 19th Century. It has a rich history and has long been viewed as one of the most important and globally widespread symbols of Christmas. Not only loved for its aesthetic value with a vast amount of decorations decking out its branches from top to toe, the Christmas tree also perpetuates the buildup towards Christmas throughout December, and of course it is also the cause of extreme excitement for kids as the host of Santa's treasured christmas presents. Since then a plethora of artificial trees have been created, meeting the different needs of various times. And of course one of the most pressing issues in the modern era is sustainability. Enter the eco-friendly christmas tree, One Two Tree. The One Two Tree's branches rotating around its central trunk, which lets you change the design each year. The wood comes from plantation pine in Queensland. This environmentally sustainable, reusable tree is an eco friendly way to enjoy your christmas with a modern twist, and a great way to test your creativity with its endless possibilities for presentation. Via Inhabitat.
As NSW's COVID-19 restrictions continue to ease and more Sydneysiders head back to work, commuters are once again piling onto the city's public transport network. While you might have to wait for a couple of packed trains to pass at the moment, partially thanks to the reduced COVID-safe capacities, this won't be a problem in the future, with the NSW Government today, Wednesday, February 24, announcing a $1 billion plan to increase the capacity of Sydney's rail network. Under the plan, hundreds of extra weekly services are set to run through the T2 Inner West Line and the T8 Airport Line each week. The moving of the current Bankstown train services to the WIP Metro service will free up trains to be redistributed throughout the T8, T2, T4 Illawarra and South Coast train lines. Key stations such as International and Domestic Airport, Mascot and Green Square will all see an increased capacity of 80 percent during the morning peak hour, while the T4 is set to see a 6000-passenger capacity increase. The T2 will be able to accommodate 4800 more passengers during the morning peak. Those who commute to and from Wollongong have also been given some good news, as more services on the South Coast Line will mean services between Sydney CBD and Wollongong will run every 15 minutes instead of every 20 during peak hour, and every 30 minutes instead of every hour in off-peak times. The plan is part of Transport for NSW's More Trains, More Services program, which has seen the rolling out of new services and trains progressively since 2017. The program will reportedly cost the government over $5.3 billion. For more information about the More Trains, More Services program, head to the Transport for NSW website. Top image: Quinn Connors
It's been over a decade since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 reached cinema screens, wrapping up the big-screen story about a certain Boy Who Lived. But, to the delight of wannabe wizards and witches everywhere, the franchise hasn't faded away. The Fantastic Beasts films have kept it alive in cinemas, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has done the same on the stage. Also, Harry Potter events have been a common occurrence, and dedicated stores sling merchandise related to the saga. For a few years, another addition to the wizarding realm has been rumoured: a TV series. There was a reunion special for the movies back in 2022, to celebrate ten years since they concluded, but word has persisted that all things HP would eventually accio up a spot on streaming. Those reports are swirling again, with Bloomberg breaking the news that a deal is apparently close. Also, it revealed that said show would remake the story that everyone has already seen on the big screen, with each season focusing on a different book. The details are still scarce, however, and nothing has been officially confirmed. So, who it'll star, who'll be guiding it behind the scenes and when it'll release are all obviously yet to be announced. That said, the idea is that HBO Max, the channel's streaming service, and Warner Bros would make a show that can go further in-depth into each of the novel's storylines — because movies can only cover so much. That means a return to Hogwarts, and obviously new faces playing Harry, Hermione, Ron and company. This is really a case of when, not if. The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have all made the leap to streaming, after all. And no huge pop culture phenomenon ever truly disappears these days, so the Harry Potter realm is bound to reappear — if not with this project, then something else down the line. There's clearly no trailer for this Harry Potter series as yet, but you can check out the trailer for the very first film below: The Harry Potter TV series doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you if and when more details are announced. Via Bloomberg.
The giggliest time of the year is back this month, as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival kicks off its 2023 instalment in a blaze of witty punchlines. Descending on the city from Wednesday, March 29–Sunday, April 23, this year's fest is set to serve up more than 600 shows, guaranteeing a huge month of laughs. The fun kicks off with the famed Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow, this year hosted by the internationally acclaimed Hannah Gadsby at the Palais Theatre and featuring a jam-packed lineup of hilarious guests. Other big-ticket highlights to follow include the national grand final of esteemed open mic competition RAW Comedy; Upfront's one-night showcase of stereotype-smashing female and non-binary comics; and the Deadly Funny National Grand Final, which is set to spotlight the country's funniest First Nations talent. As always, MICF will see comedic heroes flying in from all corners of the globe, taking the stage for sidesplitting solo shows and special events alike. Among them are celebrated British stars like Paul Foot, Carl Donnelly, Josie Long and Rosie Jones, plus Irish funnymen David O'Doherty and Dylan Moran, Emmy Award-winning US stand-up artist Sara Schaefer, Icelandic icon Ari Edljárn and Glasgow's Larry Dean. Homegrown heroes pack out the program, with big-name guests aplenty — Tripod, Claire Hooper, Lawrence Mooney, Kirsty Webeck, Wil Anderson, Akmal, Rhys Nicholson and Alex Ward are all there, along with the likes of Lano & Woodley, Dilruk Jayasinha, Osher Günsberg doing Night Time News Network National News, Dave Thornton, Diana Nguyen and stacks more. Of course, the rising stars of Aussie comedy will also get a huge look-in across the month, with MICF offering loads of opportunity for punters to scout out fresh talent. Check out the next generation of comic geniuses with a show at Comedy Zone, or stick closer to home and get your comedy kicks at one of the famed Neighbourhood Sessions. Meanwhile, Best of Comedy Zone Asia will deliver a lineup of emerging and celebrated talent from across Malaysia, India, Singapore and more. And, Headliners is set to dish up a hilarious taste of the US comedy circuit, featuring The Lucas Brothers, Patti Harrison, Sheng Wang and Shalewa Sharpe. [caption id="attachment_849381" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jim Lee[/caption] Melbourne International Comedy Festival will take over venues across the city from Wednesday, March 29–Sunday, April 23. See the full program and grab tickets over at the website. Top image: Jim Lee.
The Back to the Future franchise has pinned this decade all too well. In the next development of unbelievably futuristic sounding technology, Google-backed company Kitty Hawk released the first video footage of its flying car prototype yesterday, April 24. Yeah, Doc Brown's Delorean just got real. The company is financially backed by Google co-founder Larry Page and its chief executive Sebastian Thrun, is the founder of Google's 'semi-secret' X lab and a pioneer of the self-driving car. The 'Kitty Hawk Flyer' is described as an "all-electric aircraft" designed to operate over water. The open-seated, 220-pound single seater is powered by eight battery-powered propellers — it essentially resembles a mix between a jetski and a hoverboard, seemingly powered by what looks like a bunch of mini-drones. It will not require a pilot's license to fly, as it is considered an "ultralight aircraft" by FAA regulations, and Kitty Hawk claims drivers will be able to learn how to operate the vehicle "in minutes". Here's the just-dropped intro video, with requisite cheesy inspirational music and somewhat shitty acting: The company is trying to attract enthusiasts to test-drive the vehicle by offering a $100 three-year membership that includes waiting list priority, company-branded gear, flight simulator access and invites to company events and demonstrations. Members will also get a $2000 discount once the car does go to retail. Kitty Hawk is not the first company to attempt the flying car feat, with the Slovakian company AeroMobil making their flying vehicle available for pre-order by the end of 2017 and the aerospace firm Airbus releasing plans for its ground-air hybrid car at the Geneva International Motor Show last month. The government of Dubai, in partnership with a Chinese firm, EHang has also released plans to begin operating flying taxis by July 2017 and Uber is holding a conference in Texas on Tuesday to discuss details of their own "urban-air transportation" vehicle. Though the car is said to be in consumer production by the end of the year, no retail price has been given yet. As of now, the vehicle will only be shipped within the US, so Australians will have to wait a bit longer for a ride. Via The New York Times.
2024's working year might've only just begun, but it's already time to book in a big overseas holiday. Put in that leave request ASAP. Block out your calendar. Bust out your suitcase, too, and make sure your passport is up to date. Your destination: the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, because Coachella is back for 2024 with a characteristically impressive roster of acts. Mark Friday, April 12–Sunday, April 14 and Friday, April April 19–Sunday, April 21 in your diaries — including if you you're just keen to check out the livestream. (Remember, Coachella was livestreaming its sets long before the pandemic.) The full bill is a jaw-dropper, as usual, with Lana Del Rey headlining the Friday nights, Tyler, The Creator doing the Saturday nights and Doja Cat on Sunday nights. Also, the reunited No Doubt are on the bill, but without a set day so far. Also hitting the stage: a stacked array of acts that also spans everyone from Blur, Ice Spice, J Balvin and Peso Pluma to Sabrina Carpenter, Grimes, Lil Yachty and Flight Facilities. Whether you're after new tunes, the biggest music names right now or dripping nostalgia, it's on offer at Coachella 2024. Anyway, let's be honest, you haven't truly read any of those words — you'll be wanting this: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Coachella (@coachella) For music lovers planning to watch along from home, Coachella will once again team up with YouTube to livestream the festival. That's no longer such a novelty in these pandemic times but, given the calibre of Coachella's lineup, it's still a mighty fine way to spend a weekend. For those eager to attend in-person, you can signup for access to tickets over at the festival's website — with pre-sales starting at 11am PT on Friday, January 19 (aka 5am AEST/6am AEDT on Saturday, January 20). At the time of writing, the festival advises that best bet for passes is the second weekend. Coachella 2024 runs from Friday, April 12–Sunday, April 14 and Friday, April April 19–Sunday, April 21 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Find out more information and register for tickets at coachella.com — with pre-sales starting at 11am PT on Friday, January 19 (aka 5am AEST/6am AEDT on Saturday, January 20). Top image: Casey via Wikimedia Commons.
French, Spanish, German, American, Japanese: Australia has no shortage of film festivals categorised by country. But what about the stories of those with no nation at all? Lighting up screens for the first time as part of this year's Refugee Week, the films in the Refugee Film Festival will explore the trials and tribulations of people fleeing persecution and war. The festival will be held at the State Library of NSW from June 17-18. Standout titles include The Staging Post, which chronicles the lives of two asylum seekers stuck in Indonesia as a result of Australia's policy of turning back boats; The Land Between, about sub-Saharan African migrants living in the mountains of northern Morocco; and Constance on Edge, a ten year project that tells the story of a Sudanese refugee family making a new life in Australia. Cinephiles outside of Sydney and Melbourne can also put their hand up to host a screening themselves. For more information on how to make that happen, as well as the full festival program, go here.
"The grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What did they look like? Ships? Motorcycles? Were the circuits like freeways? I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then one day, I got in." If you've watched 1982's TRON and its 28-years-later sequel TRON: Legacy in 2010, or listened to the latter's sublime Daft Punk-scored soundtrack, then you've heard those words. But what if everything that Jeff Bridges (The Old Man) describes as Kevin Flynn wasn't relegated to the virtual realm? In TRON: Ares, viewers will watch what happens when the program that shares the movie's moniker makes the jump from the digital space to the real world, giving humanity its first encounter with AI beings. Indeed, amid its heavy lashings of laser-red hues, the just-dropped first trailer for the feature has a monster-movie vibe when worlds start to collide. Flesh-and-blood folks such as Greta Lee (The Studio) stare up, then start fleeing. While things happen quickly in the digital realm, films about it clearly don't always earn the same description, given that it has now been over four decades since the first TRON film made its way to cinemas, and 15 years since its first sequel. A third movie was announced the very same year that TRON: Legacy released, in fact, but TRON: Ares has taken time to return cinemagoers to the grid. For much of the past decade and a half, it's been one of those pictures in the "I'll believe it when I'm actually sitting in a theatre watching it with my own eyes" category, until Disney not only announced that the feature had a date with picture palaces in 2025, but also dropped a first image from it. The date that you can see the next TRON on the big screen: Thursday, October 9, 2025 Down Under. Cast-wise, Jared Leto (Haunted Mansion) plays Ares, aka the threatening face of AI. Bridges is also back as the software-company employee who first found himself in the digital world in the initial flick. Evan Peters (Agatha All Along), Hasan Minhaj (It Ends with Us), Jodie Turner-Smith (The Agency), Arturo Castro (The Vince Staples Show), Cameron Monaghan (Shameless) and Gillian Anderson (Sex Education) co-star in TRON: Ares, while Joachim Rønning (Young Woman and the Sea) directs. Following on from Daft Punk's masterpiece of a score for TRON: Legacy was always going to be a tough feat, but TRON: Ares isn't skimping on musical talent. Doing the honours, as heard in the feature's first trailer: Nine Inch Nails, adding to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' run of film work (see also: Soul, Mank, Bones and All, Empire of Light, The Killer, Challengers, Queer and The Franchise just in the 2020s alone). Check out the first trailer for TRON: Ares below: TRON: Ares releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, October 9, 2025. Images: courtesy of DIsney. © 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Professional boxers aren’t typically renowned for their eloquence. Pre-fight press conferences tend to centre around the two combatants standing silently and mashing their foreheads together, while the post-fight ones rarely escalate beyond monosyllabic grunts and the flaunting of novelty-sized belts. Maybe it’s the boxers' traditionally low socio-economic backgrounds at play, maybe it’s the almost guaranteed head trauma, or perhaps they’re simply still trying to figure out why a square arena is called a ‘ring’ and why anybody thought ‘light heavyweight’ wouldn’t sound ridiculous as a fighting category. In Southpaw, Jake Gyllenhaal plays one such professional ‘boxymoron', and he takes the inarticulacy to the extreme — presenting his character Billy Hope as a man who drools in the place of dialogue. It’s a bold choice for the accomplished actor, whose commitment to both it and the role’s physicality can't be overstated. One glance at the posters for Southpaw is enough to see that Gyllenhaal got jacked for this film, with muscles so enormous they should almost receive separate billing. He looks like a boxer, moves like a boxer and absolutely sounds like a boxer, meaning — in Southpaw — we totally believe him as a boxer. It’s a phenomenal performance, and without it the movie would be a complete write-off. Director Antoine Fuqua is fast establishing himself as the go-to action director in Hollywood, much like John Woo was in the '90s. With recent offerings including Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer, he’s continued to deliver slick, high-octane pictures without ever quite managing to repeat the success of his breakthrough film Training Day. The problem isn’t with the direction so much as the scripts, whose stories and dialogue languish in a mire of cliches. Southpaw is another example of this, failing to offer anything new despite coming tantalisingly close at its preface. The film’s early scenes touch upon compelling themes of administrative oversight, bureaucratic corruption, capricious management and the threat of ‘punch drunkenness’ courtesy of Hope’s particular fighting style in which he shirks defence and absorbs countless blows from his opponent until it makes him angry enough to retaliate. All of this largely falls by the wayside, however, as soon as family tragedy strikes and Hope finds himself bankrupt and alone. Redemption, then, becomes the order of the day, but the problem is we neither feel particular involved in it nor satisfied when it inevitably comes. This isn’t so much a tale of personal growth as it is one of reinstitution, where the only thing Hope really learns by the end is how not to get punched. Eminem was originally slated to play Gyllenhaal's role, but in his absence the roles of ‘singers trying to act’ were taken up by 50 Cent and Rita Ora, both delivering adequate performances as line delivery systems. Rachel McAdams pops in as a caricature of a boxer’s WAG and Oona Laurence does a decent job as Hope’s young daughter despite often unspeakably bad lines to work with. The only real other performance of note is from Forest Whitaker as Hope’s eventual trainer, whose brief screen time nonetheless reminds us why he’s one of the most gifted actors of his generation. He seems to find things in scripts that not even the writer could see, and injects some much needed humanity into Southpaw’s later stages, when neither the boxing nor the family troubles prove capable of sustaining the drama.
Bondi's beloved Neapolitan pizza, 100 percent handmade and traditionally woodfired, is coming to the CBD. Not content with the chilled out, communal dining vibes of Bondi, Da Orazio Pizza + Porchetta's Maurice Terzini has plans to extend his particular brand of stripped-back Italian to the city. Confirming plans with Good Food, Terzini is looking at possibly opening a new chapter of the super popular pizza institution in the CBD — perhaps on Sussex or Bridge Street. "It won't be exactly the same. It'll be an extension of what we're doing at Bondi. It might be Da Orazio Pizza and an enoteca, or a trattoria," he told GF. It remains to be seen whether head chef Orazio d'Elia (ex-Popolo) will move into the big city lights, or whether Melbourne architect Matthew Herbert will be on board — the man responsible for that slick, white communal dining vibe at the Bondi eatery. Then we're wondering whether this will be a six-hour, slow roasted pig sitch (the + Porchetta side of things) or whether Terzini will be content to have another woodfire pizza stove flown in from Napoli and transported to the site via crane, like the Bondi chapter. Terzini has a significant amount on his proverbial plate, having just today announced the annual, exclusive New Year's Day party at Bondi Icebergs and just a few weeks ago launching Sunday brunch there. You need something done, give it to a busy person. Via Good Food.
To some she was a caregiver. To others, a recluse. Now, the world knows her as an artist. Vivian Maier had a lot of faces, all of which are revealed in a problematic new documentary releasing in cinemas this week. Directed by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, the film pulls back the curtain on the life of its titular subject, a woman who, in the years since her death, has gone from a total unknown to one of the most acclaimed street photographers in history. That's the premise of Finding Vivian Maier. The problem is that it appears she never wanted to be found. The documentary begins in 2007, when Maloof, an author and amateur historian, was doing research for a book about Chicago. On a whim, he purchased a box of old, undeveloped photographs at an auction — photographs that just so happened to have been taken by Vivian Maier. Blown away by her talent, Maloof stuck her name into Google, only for his search to turn up a blank. So over the next few years, he continued to look, slowly uncovering more about the artist while shining an ever brighter spotlight on her work. As it turns out, Maier spent most of her life working as a nanny. Interviews with the children she cared for, now adults, paint an eccentric portrait of a bold, opinionated woman with combat boots and a phoney French accent, who would take them on outings to the rough side of town just so she could get an interesting picture. She was also a prolific hoarder, collecting not just photographs, but letters, receipts and stacks and stacks of newspapers. She never married, never had kids and, despite her remarkable body of work, appears to have died penniless and alone. It's certainly an intriguing story, one that Maloof and Siskel milk for everything it's worth. But, as the documentary goes on, it also becomes increasingly clear that Maier herself would have been uncomfortable with the attention she's being given. She never made any significant attempts to showcase her work while she was alive, and appears to have gone to great lengths to keep her private life hidden. Throughout the film, various people speculate, often rather tastelessly, about her feelings and state of mind. Ultimately, without the participation of Maier herself, it's simply impossible to know. Maloof, meanwhile, comes across as extremely unlikable; a self-congratulatory little hipster poking his nose where it doesn't belong. There are obviously a whole stack of moral issues at play here, but whether or not you can justify viewing Maier's work without her consent, it's pretty clearly not okay to rummage through her personal life just to satisfy a tawdry curiosity. Finding Vivian Maier smacks of gossip and exploitation. Let the poor woman rest in peace. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2o2nBhQ67Zc
Google's glasses may be set to bring our eyes back up from the tiny screen, but until then we're happily on the path towards having a permanent earthbound gaze. It is no wonder then that our love for the portable, digital universe has caught the imagination of publishers seeking to enhance the quality of our heads-down attention. Enter Branches Publishing and their freshly sprouted, digital-only anthology of new Australian writing, Cuttings. Having budded from arts app composers The Nest, Branches Publishing launches with a well-designed experience for electronic letter lovers. Cuttings Issue Zero is now available for free on Apple and Android tablets and what you'll download is a time capsule about Australian life in 2013. Editors Angela Bennetts and Alice Fenton (of Even Books) have ensured that this memorial contains the right balance of humour and solemnity from a local suite of talented posteritists*, all presented with wit by senior designer Dave Fernandes. Every work in Issue Zero is shorter than a Borges and kept to its own page (there will be longer pieces from Issue One onwards in May), which is great news for the scrambled brains of overloaded content junkies. Some pieces are presented as contemporary artefacts, such as Sophie Braham's '2012 Job Description', which efficiently captures the plight of every 20/30-something in a 20km radius. Other works act as framing text for a series of curated hyperlinks — Wilfred Brandt's hypothesis of skateboarding as alien technology and Steph Harmon's historiography of dog fashion both succeed as tap-and-swipe pecha kucha equivalents. A result of these short pieces occupying their own pages is that your reading slows down. Your eyes will not melt from the fatigue of gleaning conversation pieces out of cluttered content sewers, and in turn you'll calm down enough to actually meditate on the world observed by Cuttings' contributors. This is a world populated by M.B. Windle's graphic epiphany about Hollywood's lies, Tessa Lunney's nostalgic dancers, and Max Lavergne's suggestion of what might happen should a savvy Mexican girl be dropped into the West Bank. Fernandes and the contributing illustrators and photographers have equally crafted something poetic. Cuttings is attractive in both landscape and portrait, and each piece is augmented by an interface design that reminds readers that they're looking at a tablet and not a print article with some hyperlinks. Two lovely visual effects pop up, for example, in A.H. Cayley's meditation on how ineffectual jacarandas are as barometers, and in Cleo Braithwaite's sketch of impending feline dominion. One slight tarnish is that as several of the articles are hyperlink-enhanced, you will need an active internet connection on your tablet to gain the full experience of Cuttings. Though copyright does make it difficult to include certain things in the downloaded content — such as a Taylor Swift video clip — Matt Roden's fantastic illustrations are bundled with the issue and pop up within the body of his words with an elegance that could ideally appear throughout the whole publication. That said, Cuttings has launched with an auspicious debut and stands to only gain in quality as it opens its submissions to a horde of head-bowed Australian talent. *this will be a real word when the time capsule is unearthed
If you've ever felt unsafe in an Uber, because of a predatory driver, other riders or something going on outside the car, this new in-app feature might help ease your mind — a 'panic button' that lets riders contact emergency services directly through the Uber app. It's part of a new Safety Toolkit, trialled in the USA earlier this year and currently being rolling out in Aus, which is designed to help both riders and drivers stay protected and connected during a trip. According to the Uber website, you'll soon be able to access the new Safety Toolkit by clicking on a small shield icon located at the bottom right of the map. It'll allow you to connect instantly to 000 — with the app showing your location and address in real time, so you can pass it on to an operator if required. Drivers will be able to access the same emergency assistance feature on the left side of their own driver app. Another new function allows both riders and drivers to keep their loved ones in the loop, by adding up to five people as 'Trusted Contacts' — you can then arrange to share your whereabouts and trip status with them at any time, with just a subtle tap of a button. The Safety Toolkit also features a new SafetyCentre — a sort of hub, where you can learn all about insurance details, driver background checks and information of how to access Uber's 24/7 support. The launch of the new Safety Toolkit follows two alleged sexual assaults on female Sydney Uber passengers in recent weeks and an investigation by CNN into the prevalence of sexual assaults by Uber drivers in the US. After CNN released its report, Uber published a statement saying it had committed to making trips safer by rolling out new technology and screening drivers more thoroughly (and frequently). The new Safety Toolkit is expected to appear in Aussie apps over the upcoming weeks.
It's been a huge few weeks for Australian tour news — Kraftwerk! Meredith! Strawberry Fields! This That! Summer Camp! Paul McCartney! Harvest Rock! Pendulum! Flight Facilities! Weezer! Beyond The Valley! Field Day! Bluesfest! — but only one big announcement can whip it, whip it good. When Good Things returns for 2023, it'll hit Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with new-wave icons Devo on the bill. The 'Girl U Want' band will be celebrating 50 years since first forming in 1973, and also saying goodbye on a farewell tour that'll mark their last-ever Australian shows. Devo's famous energy dome hats will be on display at Centennial Park, Flemington Racecourse and Brisbane Showgrounds this December, on a jam-packed Good Things lineup that is brimming with nostalgia-inducing acts — including Fall Out Boy. A day after teasing that they were heading Down Under, the group behind 'Sugar, We're Goin Down' and 'Uma Thurman' have been confirmed as festival headliners, playing both tunes dating back to their 2000s heyday and recent tracks. From there, Good Things keeps rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' with Limp Bizkit; will see Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor hit the stage solo; and is guaranteed to burst with punk energy thanks to Pennywise. Bullet for My Valentine, Taking Back Sunday and I Prevail are also on the bill, plus Enter Shikari, Pvris, Behemoth and Sepultura. Fresh from featuring a reunited TISM in 2022, Good Things boasts a packed roster of local names in 2023, too, celebrating Australian alternative rock with Spiderbait, Frenzal Rhomb, Jebediah and Eskimo Joe. On both the international and homegrown front, the list goes on, including Hanabie, While She Sleeps, Magnolia Park, Short Stack, Boom Crash Opera, Luca Brasi and more. And yes, this is a fest where you can likely hear 'Whip It', 'Dance, Dance', 'Society' and 'Buy Me a Pony' live on the same day, plus 'The Last Fight', 'Leaving Home', 'Punch in the Face' and a very non-George Michael cover of 'Faith' as well. GOOD THINGS 2023 LINEUP: Fall Out Boy Limp Bizkit Devo (The Farewell Tour celebrating 50 years) I Prevail Bullet For My Valentine Corey Taylor Pennywise Spiderbait Slowly Slowly Enter Shikari Behemoth Sepultura Taking Back Sunday PVRIS Bloom Boom Crash Opera Eskimo Joe Frenzal Rhomb Hanabie Jebediah Luca Brasi Magnolia Park Make Them Suffer Ocean Sleeper Royal & The Serpent Short Stack Slaughter To Prevail Stand Atlantic Tapestry The Plot In You While She Sleeps GOOD THINGS 2023 DATES: Friday, December 1 — Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne Saturday, December 2 — Centennial Park, Sydney Sunday, December 3 — Brisbane Showgrounds, Brisbane Good Things will hit the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in December 2023. Pre-sale tickets go on sale from 10am, Tuesday, August 22, and general sales from 10am on Thursday, August 24. Head to the festival website for more info and to register for pre-sales. Top image: swimfinfan via Wikimedia Commons.
When you hear the word 'aurora', there are two possible things that pop into your mind. A lot of people will be reminded of fantastical images of the Northern Lights that colour the skies of Scandinavia — they're actually making their way over the UK right now. Then again, many of us will think of nothing other than Superintendent Chalmers yelling 'aurora borealis'. And, in our books, both are satisfactory responses. But what may not cross your mind is the lesser talked about aurora australis — the Southern Lights. Equally as magical and much closer to home, this phenomenal feat of nature may be visible from Australia and New Zealand this week. This Wednesday, NASA reported a huge sun flare that is currently hurtling its way towards Earth. As the ABC report, "the blast has sheared off a few billion tons of the sun's outer layer ... [it's] heading towards Earth at a speed of about 4 million kilometres per hour". And, while this sounds completely terrifying to anyone not well-versed in science, it's apparently a pretty good thing for those watching the skies. Once they arrive at Earth, the remnants of the blast could manifest themselves as beautiful auroras. NASA's already getting a preview of the show: The hot tip so far is to head to Tasmania, and locals are on high alert. Boasting over 14,000 members, the Aurora Australis Tasmania Facebook group is in constant chatter about the best place to see the magical lights and at what time they might strike. Though no definite auroras have been reported so far, the views aren't bad at all. Magaret Sonnemann, founder of the group and published author on the topic, is showing particular faith in the light's arrival. "We haven't seen an event like this for several years and we have no idea when it might occur again," she said. Though the event is incredibly difficult to predict, it's definitely worth keeping your eyes on the sky this week. Views like this would set the bar really high for next year's Dark Mofo. Via ABC. Images: Seabird NZ, 'J', Image Editor, Jonathan Esling Photography via photopin cc.
Spending your days jetting around the world is truly the travel dream. Doing so without paying for flights? Now that's a next-level fantasy. Actually, that's the exact gift that Jetstar is giving one lucky person and their favourite travelling companion to celebrate 19 years of operation. The discount carrier is having a birthday, but it's the one handing out a present. If you're the competition's winner, you'll fill a year zooming about, although there is a limit to how much you can get soaring over the 12-month period. The chosen recipient will receive 12 domestic return flights plus six international return flights, both for two people. So, if you win, your other half / bestie / sibling is going to want to start making holiday plans, too. That equates to three holidays every two months, whether you're keen to hit up your favourite places or try somewhere new. The winner will be able to choose from 86 destinations — and, if you want to be guided by where you would've loved to visit when you were 19, that's perfectly acceptable. Before you can go in the running for the contest, which is only open to over-18s, you will need to start pondering. Jetstar has dubbed the contest 'FEEL 19 AGAIN', and entering requires you to tell the airline in 19 words or less what your absolute dream job be. The specific question: "if you could try any job for a day, what would it be and why?". And yes, plenty of people are bound to answer "travelling the world". After you direct your response to the airline's Instagram, you'll then need to wait to find out if you're chosen as a semi-finalist, which will be revealed on Thursday, June 1. Nineteen folks will get the nod — spot the theme? — and will be picked based on the most creative, funny or quirky answers. They'll then have three days (until 11.59pm on Sunday, June 4) to create and send a short video highlighting why they'd be an ace fit (the best, in fact) for the gig. Following that, Jetstar will shortlist its top entries again, whittling down the contenders. Finally, the company's social-media followers will vote on Monday, June 5. Obviously, you'll want to pick something memorable to stand out. The airline suggests ghost hunting in Adelaide and being a professional mascot in Tokyo, but you can do better than that. Jetstar's 19th-birthday ticket giveaway runs from 6am on Thursday, May 25–11.59pm on Wednesday, May 31. Head to the airline's website and Instagram for further details. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Throw us Sydneysiders a bit of sunshine and we'll take just about any inside activity to the great outdoors. Open-air moviegoing, however, is a clear favourite, so you'll be chuffed to learn that the Sydney Hills Outdoor Cinema is returning for a third year. Running for a month from January 12 to February 12 at the Castle Hill Showground, this al fresco event promises summertime cinema at its best. The 20-strong film program — which will show on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights — will cover both new releases and classics, across all kinds of genres. The season will kick off with the Michael Keaton-starring The Founder followed by a screening of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them the next night, and finish up with WWII film Allied, which stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. But, really, the big screen stuff is just a tiny part of what this pop-up event has in store. Most importantly, Bilpin Cider is on drinks duty, with their fully licensed Garden Bar set to serve an assortment of summer-inspired cocktails, local wine, French bubbly, and the label's own collection of ciders. Meanwhile, a pop-up by local Dural café Wolfe & Co. will be taking care of those movie snacks, stepping beyond your usual popcorn selection to offer the likes of prawn cocktail rolls and beef brisket burgers. There's even a range of cheese and antipasto boards, for anyone wanting to really ace that date night situation. Crashmat beanbags will ensure total tush comfort, but if you really want to luxe up your cinema experience, why not try the four-person Koala Class viewing suite, complete with blankets and private butler service? Or you could get eight of your mates together, and shell out for a VIP bell tent — you'll get your own private viewing courtyard, a private butler, cover and all the creature comforts you need to spend a luxe evening under the stars. The Sydney Hills Outdoor Cinema will run from January 12-February 12, at the Castle Hill Showground. Gates will open at 6pm each night, for eats and drinks before the film kicks off at 8pm.
Great news, fans of LGBTQIA+ cinema: Mardi Gras Film Festival organiser Queer Screen is back with its second cinema celebration of 2023. That happens every year, but it's only been recently that the Sydney-based outfit's two fests both stream online — and nationally. So, getting cosy on the couch while watching your way through this year's Queer Screen Film Fest is 100-percent on the agenda between Wednesday, August 23–Sunday, September 3. Whether you're a Sydneysider with too heaving a social calendar to hit the picture palace in-person or you live outside of the Harbour City, a feast of new queer highlights and retrospective standouts awaits. Must-sees include the Berlin-set Drifter; the AIDS in Hollywood-focused Commitment to Life; and Equal the Contest, which follows regional women's Australian rules football team Mount Alexander Falcons in an exploration of the barriers still faced for women and gender-diverse people on the field. Gay, sapphic, and trans and gender-diverse shorts sessions are also streaming. And those retro titles? They span Anchor & Hope, about a trio's complicated relationship; German coming-of-age romance Centre of My World; rom-com Nina's Heavenly Delights, focusing on a woman reuniting with her Indian family in Scotland; and the southern Chile-set The Strong Ones.
One of the best pieces of Nicolas Cage news of 2023 has come to fruition, and your 2024 must-see list is likely to benefit. Back in May, word arrived that the inimitable actor was hopping from playing himself in 2022's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and then Dracula in this year's Renfield to becoming an Australian surfer in a film called, fittingly, The Surfer. Production has now wrapped on the movie's shoot — and the flick will land in cinemas and on streaming sometime in the future. There's no release date for Cage's Aussie stint as yet, nor a trailer, but there is a first-look image of the actor looking bloody in a car with the sun streaming in, binoculars around his neck and a bullet in his hand. Stan, which is behind the movie, has also dropped more details about the picture that adds to Cage's resume — slotting in alongside everything from crooning Elvis songs in David Lynch's Wild at Heart to having everyone see him when they slumber in Dream Scenario. [caption id="attachment_901588" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Gerald Geronimo via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The Surfer sadly isn't the only Point Break remake that needs to be made (forget the terrible 2015 do-over). Rather, it sees Cage star as an Australian expat returning home from America, then getting in a beach battle with a local gang of wave riders. Cage's titular character makes the trip Down Under after years in the US, only to get humiliated by other surfers in front of his teenage son. Cue a turf war, plus Cage's protagonist refusing to leave the beach. Cue the stakes escalating and the movie's namesake having his sanity tested, too. [caption id="attachment_901587" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Guillaume Paumier via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The film shot in Yallingup in Western Australia, just in the single location, with director Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium) helming and working with a script by screenwriter Thomas Martin. Featuring alongside Cage: an Aussie cast that spans Julian McMahon (FBI: Most Wanted), Nicholas Cassim (The Messenger), Miranda Tapsell (The Artful Dodger), Alexander Bertrand (Australian Gangster), Justin Rosniak (Mr Inbetween), Rahel Romahn (Here Out West), Finn Little (Yellowstone) and Charlotte Maggi (Summer Love). While we wait for the trailer for The Surfer, check out the sneak peek for Dream Scenario, Cage's next film in cinemas Down Under, below: The Surfer doesn't yet have an in-cinema or streaming release date — we'll update you when one is announced. Top image: Radek Ladczuk.
Sweden has always been renowned for its ability to build and innovate. Vikings built incredible vessels to cross the North Sea, Ikea emerged as the home of furniture and now Swedish media company Meganews has built a print-on-demand magazine kiosk in Stockholm. So next time you find yourself walking through Sweden's capital and craving Time or Sweden's popular gossip magazine Se og Hör, you can just waltz up and receive a fresh addition. Filling less then 4 square metres, the kiosk currently stocks more then 200 assorted magazines and journals in pdf form. Publishers upload the latest issue to a remote server, meaning that purchasers can access the most current issue. All they need do is select the periodical they desire via touchscreen, pay by credit card and within two minutes a newsstand-quality colour version will be printed ready for fingers to flick through. The environmental benefits are significant. With issues printed on demand rather than printed and distributed en masse, it has the potential to save forests' worth of foliage. Other benefits of the machine include the lack of space it occupies, its ability to provide access where retail space is absent and (huzzah!) no creases or torn pages from casual shop browsers. Whilst currently only residing in Stockholm, it surely will not be long before cities across the world appreciate this innovation and become populated by the kiosks. In the meantime, feel free to fly to Sweden and give it a go. Via Gizmodo.
Sometimes, we're all looking onwards, upwards and forwards because we're thinking about the future. Given how normality as everyone knows it has changed and evolved rapidly over the past couple of years, that's hardly surprising. But don't forget to look up literally, too — especially when must-see sights keep gracing the night sky. When it comes to vibrant astronomical visions, this is the latest in the space of a few short weeks, after the Lyrids meteor shower lit up the night back in April. Every autumn, the Eta Aquarids meteor shower sets the sky ablaze, too — and it's that time now. This year, the shower will be at its most spectacular early on Saturday, May 7 — very early, in fact. If you're eager to catch a glimpse, even from just your backyard or balcony, here's how. WHAT IS IT The Eta Aquarids might not be as famous as Halley's Comet, but the shower is actually a distant relation — because the bits and pieces you see flying around were on Halley's path a really, really long time ago. And, rather than only being visible every 76 years (the next Halley's Comet sighting is in 2061), the Eta Aquarids come around every year, usually between April 19–May 28 every year. The shower's name comes from the star from which they appear to come Eta Aquarii, which is part of the Aquarius constellation. So, that's what you'll be looking for in the sky. Luckily, being in the southern hemisphere, we get some of the best views in the world. On average, you can see up to 20–40 meteors per hour. [caption id="attachment_769233" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] WHEN TO SEE IT The shower will reach a peak in the early morning of Saturday, May 7, but will still be able to be seen for a few days on either side. The best time to catch an eyeful is just before dawn after the moon has set, so around 4am — but between 2am–6am is also recommended. At that time, you'll be in the running to see as many as 50 meteors every 60 minutes. Each will be moving at about 225,000 kilometres per hour, shining extraordinarily brightly and leaving a long wake. The shower's cause is, essentially, the Earth getting in the comet's way, causing stardust to fry up in the atmosphere. HOW TO SEE IT Usually, when a meteor shower lights up the sky, we'd tell city-dwellers to get as far away from light pollution as possible to get the best view. If you can't venture out of town at the moment, you can still take a gander from your backyard or balcony. To help locate the shower, we recommend downloading the Sky Map app — it's the easiest way to navigate the night sky (and is a lot of fun to use even on a non-meteor shower night). If you're more into specifics, Time and Date also has a table that shows the direction and altitude of the Eta Aquarids. It has been updating this daily. The weather might get in the way of your viewing, though, depending on where you live. Melbourne is set for showers until next Monday, and Adelaide is as well until Saturday — fingers crossed that the wet weather takes a break during the early hours. It's also forecast to be wet in Brisbane until Friday, so here's hoping that any rain doesn't hang around till Saturday. In Sydney and Perth, however, sunny conditions await.
The signature event of our city in summer, the Sydney Festival, kicks off 2013 with the Dirty Projectors, Vivienne Westwood, a series of blind dates, and a giant rubber duckie. They feature among the first line-up curated by new festival director Lieven Bertels. All up more than 750 artists from almost 20 countries will present nearly 100 works of music, performance, and visual arts from January 5-27. It kicks off with the three free acts of Day One that go from 9.30am until late into the night on Saturday, January 5. We loved Florentijn Hofman's five-storey-high Rubber Duck when it appeared in France's Loire River earlier this year, and we'll love it closer up when it bobs into Cockle Bay to mark the opening of the Sydney Festival in the two-hour spectacle billed The Arrival, complete with acrobats, 3000 littler ducks, and the opening of the Pyrmont Bridge. It's preceded by Fun Run, a theatricalised marathon focusing on one guy on a treadmill in Hyde Park (you can even be a part of it — no running required), and followed by the Daptone Super Soul Revue, a huge outdoor dance party in the Domain that thrills every year. To make room for the musical carnival winding its way into town, Sydney will re-erect many of last year’s much-loved pop-up music hubs. The Festival Bar is moving to Sydney Town Hall to play host to downtempo electronic producer Nicolas Jaar, sepulchral Mercury Prize nominee Richard Hawley, our own Dappled Cities and nu-disco pioneer Lindstrøm with the Future Classic DJs in tow. Over in Hyde Park, the Festival Garden will be the setting for an eclectic array of indoor and alfresco performances including one by tuneful darling of the interwebs Perfume Genius. Particularly strong on program 2013 are cutting-edge performances that play at the boundaries of music, theatre, and other worlds. In addition to the jaw-dropping Vivienne Westwood fashion show/Handel opera mash-up Semele Walk, the pioneering 2004 mixed-media work with the Aboriginal title, Eraritjaritjaka, from German Heiner Gobbels gets its first and only Australian staging. In the tradition of sell-out hits La Clique, Smoke and Mirrors, and last year's Little Match Girl, two house shows will fill the Famous Spiegeltent: dirty-sexy circus cabaret Cantina from Strut & Fret, and Frank Woodley and Simon Yates’ physical theatre and silent comedy INSIDE. The About an Hour series presents some of the most interesting, cutting-edge works of the festival for just $35, while, thankfully, the Tix for Next to Nix booth will be back in Martin Place, selling $25 tickets to all shows. With this mighty program looming and La Nina gone, we're quite prepared to line up. Read our list of the 12 best things to see at the Sydney Festival in 2013.
This April, we were titillated with news of an upcoming collaboration, a long spanning art exhibition hitting Sydney in the coming years. The National: New Australian Art is a home-grown exhibition rolling out in 2017, 2019 and 2021 (all off-Biennale of Sydney years) and will feature a coordinated exhibition across the city's major institutions: the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's some of the best news the contemporary Aussie art scene has had in years — and they've just announced the lineup for 2017. Artists across the three venues have been curated thematically and, obviously and wonderfully, they're all Australian. The AGNSW is focusing on art developed from field research or archival footage, grounded in history and featuring many Indigenous artists. Carriageworks is taking a more introspective view, curating their exhibition around self and relationships, with a focus on collaborative work. And the MCA is zooming in further still for its contribution, exploring iterative issues through time and their motifs. They've released an artist list but at this stage it's not clear where each artist will be exhibiting, only that the lineup is packed with potential. Exhibiting artists for 2017 include: Khadim Ali, Zanny Begg, Richard Bell, Gordon Bennett, Chris Bond and Wes Thorne, Matthew Bradley, Gary Carsley, Erin Coates, Megan Cop,e Karla Dickens, Atlanta Eke, Emily Floyd ,Heath Franco, Marco Fusinato, Gunybi Ganambarr, Alex Gawronski, Ghenoa Gela, Agatha Gothe-Snape, Julie Gough Alan Griffiths, Dale Harding, Taloi Havini, Gordon Hookey, Ronnie van Hout, Helen Johnson, Jess Johnson, Richard Lewer, Peter Maloney, Nicholas Mangan, Karen Mills, Archie Moore, Claudia Nicholson, Tom Nicholson, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Nell, Rose Nolan, Raquel Ormella, Alex Martinis Roe, Stieg Persson, Elizabeth Pulie, Khaled Sabsabi, Yhonnie Scarce, Keg de Souza, Simon Ward, Justene Williams, Jemima Wyman and Tiger Yaltangki. The National: New Australian Art will hit the Art Gallery of New South Wales from March 30 – July 16 2017, Carriageworks from March 30 – June 25 2017, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia from March 30 – June 18 2017. Entry is free to all exhibitions.
The famous Archibald Prize is going on a regional tour of Australia this year, taking up residence at the Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, yapang from April 8–May 21. To celebrate this, Lake Macquarie City Council is offering an epic set of prizes to one lucky person. The winner will receive two complimentary general admission tickets to the Archibald Prize 2022 regional tour at MAC, yapang that can be redeemed at any time up until May 21. To make the most of your visit and help you enjoy the best of Lake Macquarie, the prize also includes a $250 voucher for two people to stay in a Lake View room at the Esplanade Motel in Warners Bay and a $100 dining voucher for the Three Bears Cafe. [caption id="attachment_894628" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Three Bears Café at MAC yapang.[/caption] Two tickets to experience Coast XP's Lake Cruise and Nature Walk tour are also included. During this, you'll ride around Lake Macquarie in a custom-built adventure boat, go on a guided nature walk and eat some lunch by the waters. And to make sure you have something to take home with you, the winner will also receive a prize pack from Shop MAC valued at $150. It includes an Archibald Prize 2022 catalogue and the book Let's Face It, The History of the Archibald Prize. Submit an entry now for your chance to go an unforgettable art and nature-filled weekend in the picturesque coastal city of Lake Macquarie. Not a winner? Worry not. You can still book tickets to see the Archibald Prize 2022 regional tour via the MAC, yapang website. Top image: Coast XP [competition]894616[/competition]
It's been a long time coming and a pretty rough road for LGBTIQ+ Australians, but same-sex marriage is set to become legal in Australia within the month. This thing is actually happening. At approximately 6pm AEST today, the House of Representatives in Federal Parliament held a final vote to finally, belatedly, once and for all, pass the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 on its third reading. So what does this mean? To pull directly from the bill, it will officially redefine the Marriage Act 1961's definition of marriage from 'the union of a man and a woman' to the non-gendered 'union of two people'. The bill has been floating around parliament for a few weeks now. It was passed by the Senate on November 29 and has been debated in the House of Reps since Monday, November 4. Members have spent most of this week reading and discussing amendments to the bill — mostly ones related to religious freedom — of which none have been passed. To make it legal, the law needs to be ratified by the Governor-General, which could even happen this week. If all goes to plan, the ABC predicts same-sex marriages could start happening from January 8, 2018. The bill entered parliament after 61.6 percent of Aussies — that's a tidy 7,817,247 people — voted in favour same-sex marriage being legalised in the national postal vote survey. You can find a break-down of the votes for various electorates and the participation rates for different age groups on the ABS' survey results website. Cue the celebrations. We can practically hear the rainbow confetti cannons and collective cries of relief for the queer community from here (although, to be fair, our office is very close to Oxford Street). Image: Letícia Almeida.
Goodgod Small Club punters and regulars to The Dip were bitterly disappointed to find out the beloved American-style diner was closing this month. They needn’t be sad for long, as the internationally-renowned party house is spicing things up by announcing a cutting-edge collaboration. Jimmy Sing and the guys behind Goodgod will be teaming up with Damion Brown, the Jamaican-American chef behind Jonkanoo in Surry Hills. In a speedy turnaround, The Dip (which served its last hotdog this Saturday) will be transforming into an exciting new eatery called Jonkanoo Canteen. Opening Wednesday, the winter pop-up venture will be serving up relaxed Caribbean street food in the next chapter of Goodgod's trendsetting food and dancefloor combination. Jimmy Sing is enthusiastic about Goodgod's recent culinary reinvention. "I think it will work really well down here because a lot of people see Goodgod as a bit of a getaway from their day-to-day lives," he says. "To find a food that is really unique and you can’t find all across Sydney is something they’ll be excited about to come down to the club for." The launch menu will give revellers a chance to experience the melting pot of flavours, spices and colours in this 'one-of-a-kind' cuisine. Using Brown’s secret family recipe the kitchen will be preparing Jonkanoo's specialty jerk-seasoned dishes available in chicken, pork or squid. To name but a few enticing options of the authentic West Indian feast, expect fresh salads, Cuban sandwiches, tropical slaws and spicy curries. Jonkanoo (pronounced 'John Canoe') refers to a street parade or carnival found across the region, from the Bahamas and Jamaica, to Belize and Venezuela. The captivating atmosphere of the Caribbean will be much suited to Goodgod’s upbeat music venue and bar, which is has long had a distinctive Cuban vibe — strikingly decked out with 1950s Havana style furnishings and complete with indoor palm trees. According to Sing, the collaboration couldn’t have been more perfect. "We’ve always had a tropical feel to the look of the space, and reggae, dancehall and the sounds of the Caribbean have always been music that has inspired us, so it just feels like one of those natural fits." Snuggled in the club's cavernous basement with the heaters cranked up and the flowing crushed ice drinks, Jonkanoo Canteen will give you a sense of holiday right through Sydney’s chilly winter. This season the bar has been serving a variety cocktails which have a distinct Caribbean flair with a lot of fresh juices and lashings of Appleton golden rum. The Danceteria already hosts regular Jamaican dancehall parties — now with authentic food to boot and summer-inspired cocktail in hand, dutty dancing has never been so enticing. Grab a seat in one of Goodgod's legendary white booths, tuck into some tasty West Indian cuisine and dance the winter away to hypnotic Caribbean rhythms. Jonkanoo Canteen opens this Wednesday, July 16 at Goodgod Small Club; 55 Liverpool Street, Sydney.
Earlier this year, the NSW Government announced a set of new laws (read: new fines) for cyclists, which included a fine increase for not wearing a helmet and running a red light, and a new requirement that cyclists must carry ID when riding. A compulsory minimum distance of one metre between cyclists and cars was also introduced — presumably to ensure the safety of cyclists. But since the harsh new road rules came into effect on March 1, it's not those in cars that have started copping more fines. It's cyclists. In less than two months, more than 1500 cyclists have been whacked with a fine. And how many drivers have been given the same, you ask? Just four. According to The Guardian, in less than two months from when the laws were put in place, more than $350,000 in fines were documented from people riding without helmets alone. A total of 1100 cyclists were fined (a significant increase from the 710 fined in the same months last year), which makes up more than two thirds of the total number of infringement notices issued to cyclists this year. While 'safety' is still the party line NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay is going with, the laws seem to be making a tidy sum for the government. Under the March 1 changes, the previous fine of $71 for not wearing a helmet was increased a whopping 350 percent to $319, a very large increase for an infringement that already existed. So, the fines have increased — but has safety for cyclists on the road? Well, there's no way to know just yet. According to Transport for NSW's Go Together campaign, on average, 11 bicycle riders are killed and 1500 seriously injured in NSW each year, so we'll have to wait to see if those stats improve. When these new fines were introduced, Transport for NSW said they intended to ensure that bike riders receive the same fines as motorists for high-risk behaviour. But as only four motorists have been fined under these new laws, that doesn't seem to be working out in practice. Interestingly, another nine cyclists have been fined for riding "furiously" or "recklessly". No joke. It would seem the new system shows a disproportionate targeting of cyclists. Garry Brennan of the Bicycle Network told The Guardian the fine increases were a clear "dash for cash", especially with the vigour with which they've been enforced. So if you're a strapped for cash, environmentally-conscious cyclist, just don't ride too furiously on your way to work today. Via The Guardian.
