Green Square is set to gain a coast-inspired aquatic centre, following the announcement that Andrew Burges Architects, in association with Grimshaw and T.C.L., have won the City of Sydney’s Green Square Design Competition. The plan includes a 50-metre outdoor pool, built within a larger, organically-shaped 'beach pool'; a 25-metre indoor pool; and a health and fitness centre. These facilities will be encompassed by Gunyama Park, which is to be revamped with the addition of a promenade, native landscaping and play equipment. All in all, the development will cover an area equivalent to three football fields. The competition was fiercely contested, with 144 Australian and international designers submitting entries, and five finalists announced back in June. This comes as no surprise, given that Green Square will be home to more than 54,000 people by 2030. "It is the fastest growing development site in Australia," said competition registrar Stephen Varady said in a media statement. "Having this competition was a very important part of that... Design competitions are about bringing out something that you wouldn’t find normally. The judges thought that this was a very special project. It’s a beautiful design; it’s a strong design; it's very appropriate... It's a public park for people to relax in; it's a place for sport; and it's a place to swim." "We need terrific facilities for this community living at very high density," added Lord Mayor Clover Moore. "It's very creative, very beautiful and very practical." Meanwhile, juror and architect Camilla Block pointed out the design's inherent 'Sydney-ness'. "It came from a Sydney idea — the rock pools of Sydney," added juror and architect Camilla Block. "It was meant for Sydney."
If everyone looked at strangers in the same way as French New Wave icon Agnes Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7, Vagabond), the world would be a much kinder place. Indeed, when Faces Places begins with the Belgian-born filmmaker and oldest ever Academy Award nominee hitting the road with street artist JR, the octagenarian can't hide her excitement. "I'm always game to go towards villages," she explains, "toward simple landscapes, toward faces." It's with honesty and humour that she expands upon why: "In fact, JR is fulfilling my greatest desire. To meet new faces and photograph them, so they don't fall down the holes of my memory." So commences Varda's 22nd film, one of this year's best documentary Oscar contenders. Co-directed by JR, the movie centres on the pair's jovial jaunts through the French countryside. Zipping about in JR's custom-made vehicle — a van with an in-built large-scale photo printer — Varda and her younger companion do just what the doco's title promises: they take photos of different faces in different places. The photographs are her obsession; for him, it's just the start. Thanks to his distinctive car's printing abilities, it's not long before JR is standing in a cherry picker, zooming up the exterior of rustic, historic, often crumbling buildings and pasting the giant photos on their facades. As pieces of large-scale art, the results of their efforts are never less than striking, each installation towering down in all of its detailed glory. Moreover, their odd couple collaboration makes for a heartwarming project, requiring and encouraging openness, curiosity and warmth. Wide smiles beam from lofty heights, sparking wide smiles from those below — regardless whose portrait is on the wall, or if it's a goat instead. A sense of community also springs up around the photographs, cultivated not only by something as simple as paper stuck on buildings, but by the willingness to pay a stranger some attention. "I like your laughing eyes," Varda tells one woman, whose likeness will soon adorn a stack of dockside shipping containers. "We wanted to pay homage to you," she tells another, who refuses to move out of her slated-for-demolition home in an old mining town. With her friendly, empathetic chatter and her distinguishing mop of grey and red hair, Varda looms as large over the project as the images she makes with JR. As the duo roam through small yet lively villages, Varda makes new memories while reminiscing about older ones — about love, work, times passed, friends lost and past moments immortalised in earlier photos. She's looking forwards and backwards in tandem, observing, sifting and making sense of her lengthy life in the process. Of course, all photos, films, paintings and the like are informed as much by the artist's aims as their experiences. Faces Places doesn't pretend to coin this idea, but rather explores it in a thoughtful and affectionate manner. In her travels, in the people she meets and in her blossoming friendship with a man six decades her junior, Varda interrogates how she chooses to capture her existence as it's inching towards an end. Well known for making personal documentaries across her career, hers is a sometimes melancholy but always enchanting journey, accepting the changes that time brings and acknowledging the fact that nothing is permanent. Served up with charm and heart, that's a perspective we could all benefit from embracing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKbjnLpxv70
UPDATE, October 9, 2021: Jungle Cruise is streaming via Disney+'s Premium Access, and is also screening in Sydney cinemas when they reopen on Monday, October 11. Take two charming actors, then couple them up for a feature-length volley of fast-paced banter: that's the screwball rom-com formula. Place this pleasing pair in a scenic but challenging setting — one that'll highlight their individual strengths, see them turn seeming weaknesses into new skills, and will obviously bring them closer together — and that's exactly how plenty of action-adventure movies have unfurled. Sending the always personable and likeable Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt to the Amazon, Jungle Cruise stitches together these two well-established formulas. It traverses its cinematic rapids in the slipstream of 80s fare like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone (and their respective sequels), and even rollicks along in the footsteps of The Mummy franchise of the late 90s and early 00s (a series which actually gave Johnson his first big-screen roles). But, as anyone with even a passing knowledge of Disney's theme parks knows, Jungle Cruise also falls from the attraction-to-film mould that the Mouse House clearly loves. Pirates of the Caribbean is an overt influence, right down to the way that some of this new flick's villains look, and thrusting all these blatant templates to the fore — and together — doesn't quite result in movie magic. Directed by Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter's Jaume Collet-Serra, who makes a workmanlike but hardly memorable jump from unleashing Liam Neeson's special set of skills, Jungle Cruise wants to whisk viewers off on a spirited ride. That's the experiential aim of most theme park-based films: these flicks want audiences to feel like they've stepped inside the attraction from their cinema seat. Before the movie's title card graces the screen, two sequences endeavour to set this tone. They're jovial, boisterous and bouncy, entertaining enough but blunt, and filled with slapstick hijinks and forceful gags. These scenes establish not just Jungle Cruise's mood, but its overall approach — one that, despite the unshakeable appeal of its stars, is primarily interested in the mechanics of hitting its chosen notes. This feature has been in the works since 2004, after initially being green-lit following the first Pirates movie's success, after all. It plays like a creaky relic, in fact, and not just in its nods as far back as 1951's The African Queen. Thanks to its predictable, straightforward yet also needlessly over-plotted narrative, it feels like writers Michael Green (Murder on the Orient Express), Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Focus) have been sitting on their box-ticking script for almost two decades, too. Those first two sequences set things up story-wise, of course. It's 1916, and Dr Lily Houghton (Blunt, A Quiet Place Part II) sneaks into an all-male science society to look for a treasured arrowhead from the Amazon. She's tasked her fussy brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall, Good Omens) with deflecting the organisation's members by telling them her theories about a fabled South American tree, called the Tears of the Moon, that can cure any illness or break any curse. The men are dismissive, but she knows they will be. She's there to steal the trinket so it can lead her to the mythical plant, all while Prince Joachim of Germany (Jesse Plemons, Judas and the Black Messiah) tries to get his hands on it as well. When Lily comes out on top, the Houghtons are off to Brazil to hit the river, but they'll need a captain to guide their watery jaunt. In his introductory scene, the roguish Frank Wolff (Johnson, Jumanji: The Next Level) is spied conducting tourist trips down the Amazon, every step choreographed like an amusement park ride, and with his own pun-heavy showman patter narrating the journey. He's corny, and he has a jaguar in on the act, too. Accordingly, there are zero surprises when Lily enlists his services reluctantly and after some subterfuge on his side, or when he keeps trying to trick her into giving up her quest. Also part of the plot, and also explained before that first title card: Spanish conquistador Aguirre (Edgar Ramirez, The Undoing) and his men, who found the Tears of the Moon almost 400 years ago, tried to take its secrets for themselves, but were cursed by the tree's Indigenous protectors for their treachery. They're the foes that look like cartoonish Pirates knockoffs, to the point of distraction — and they're rendered with so much CGI that any actors could be playing them. That's a recurring trait here, even in a movie that's biggest strength is its two immensely well-known, well-established and well-liked leads. Johnson and Blunt are as delightful as they can be in a feature that isn't big on character development or depth, but the fact that Lily's most-stressed attribute is her era-inappropriate penchant for wearing pants speaks volumes about how the plucky character is seen as a symbol, rather than a person. Comedian Whitehall trades in his usual posh schtick, with MacGregor's status as Disney's first openly gay character largely appearing an afterthought. Plemons is simply saddled with a bad accent — because there's a century-old attitude towards making fun of such things on display — and Paul Giamatti's (Gunpowder Milkshake) involvement as Frank's business rival is just as sketchy. Movies can follow a formula, stick to the obvious beats and still be engaging. Jungle Cruise seems unwilling to take any risks, though, and feels not just designed by committee, but by a corporation. It'll have kids clamouring to hop on the theme park ride, and it thankfully has a tad more personality than just a film-length ad — in other words, it doesn't just scream "hey, we own this and you should like this!" like Space Jam: A New Legacy — but, coming back to its two main stars, it feels like a missed opportunity. Taking a river jaunt with this charismatic and capable pair shouldn't be a clunky, by-the-numbers affair. When yet another pointless complication splutters up, and then another and another, it shouldn't feel like a drag, either. Jungle Cruise's sunny cinematography looks a treat, however, as you'd hope of a movie that uses Hawaii as a stand-in for South America. Swooping and frequently moving camerawork makes this a visually boisterous flick, too. But, like every theme park ride, the film's modest pleasures fade oh-so-quickly afterwards.
If seasonal change has left you in a dizzy headspin of brand new colours and fabrics and prints and jackets — or if, y'know, you just like some fancy new clothes now and then — you'll be pretty pleased to know that the Big Fashion Sale is coming back to Sydney for four days this July. The name pretty much says it all. This thing is big. You'll find lush items from past collections, samples and one-offs from 20 cult Australian and international designers, both well-known and emerging, including Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang, Pageant, Karla Špetić, Studio Elke, Lanvin, Christopher Kane, Benah, Marni and Macgraw. With discounts of up to 80 percent off, this is one way of upping your street cred with designer threads that'll leave your bank balance sitting pretty too. Prices this low tend to inspire a certain level of ruthlessness in all of us, though, so practise that grabbing reflex in advance. This is every man and lady for themselves. The Big Fashion Sale will be open 8am till 8pm Thursday, 8am till 7pm Friday, 9am till 6pm Saturday and 10am till 5pm Sunday.
Staycationing in your own city? Heading interstate for a getaway? Either way, deciding which hotel to spend the night in can depend on a range of factors. Some are straightforward, such as location and price. Others span the broader experience, including amenities, facilities, ad onsite restaurants and bars — and whether the place you're bunking down in serves cocktails using spirits that it has barrel aged itself. Set to open in Melbourne's growing 80 Collins Street precinct in late March, Next Hotel Melbourne ticks the last box — and it's the first hotel in Australia to do so. It'll be home to a space called the Barrel Room, where it'll run a wood-ageing program for spirits, cocktails and herbal liquors. You'll be able to drop in, make your pick, see your choice decanted, have a taste and even make requests regarding what else should be barrel aged. Those tipples will also form part of Next Melbourne's own signature bottled cocktail lineup, which'll be stocked in the in-room mini-bars. Also on offer at the new Melbourne 24-storey spot: 225 guest rooms; design touches that span marble, eye-catching lighting and art by Jonny Niesche, Consuelo Cavaniglia and Julia Gorman; and in-suite espresso machines and cocktail-mixing stations. The site will also include a club area for working and meeting away from home, complete with its own food and drink selection, plus a fitness centre with on-call personal trainers. Overseen by Daniel Natoli and Adrian Li, Next Melbourne will feature dining and drinking venue La Madonna, too, which'll span across an entire floor. Also due to open in late March, it'll offer share plates at the bar, a lounge space for cocktails, and booth seating and large tables for meals — and it's where the Barrel Room will be located. On the site's ground floor, Ingresso by La Madonna is already open, serving up coffees to start the day, an afternoon aperitivo hour, and other drinks and bites to to either eat onsite or takeaway. Next Melbourne joins a much-talked about precinct, with 80 Collins Street also just welcoming Farmer's Daughters — and already home to opulent champagne bar Nick & Nora's and cafe Maverick. Find Next Hotel Melbourne in the 80 Collins Street precinct, with entry via 103 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, from late March.
Gelato fans have a couple of fun new things to look forward to this month — and it's all thanks to the dessert aficionados at Gelato Messina and their latest collaboration. First, the chain has announced that it's teamed up with Sundae Body to drop a new range of ice cream-flavoured shower foams. Available in four varieties — strawberries and cream, lemon meringue pie, raspberry sorbet and lamington — the body washes have just hit the shelves at Aussie Priceline stores, as well as Messina and Sundae Body's websites. And what's more, to celebrate the arrival of these limited-edition shower treats, Messina is slinging a bunch of signature gelato scoops for free — for one day only. If you're in Sydney, simply head down to Priceline's George Street store on Saturday, April 15 to nab a free scoop of Messina while you're stocking up on your favourites from the new line of shower foams. They'll be scooping all four of the above Messina flavours that inspired the new body products — but you'll want to get in early as there are only 500 freebies up for grabs.
Forget the idea that you can only be a dog person or a cat person. Kedi puts that theory to rest once and for all. Even if you wouldn't be willing to share your home with a purring companion, there's no chance you won't fall in love with the feisty felines in this Turkish documentary and the contemplative take on life their happy existence provides. That's the beauty of Ceyda Torun's film: its meowing mousers don't come from YouTube, but from the streets of Istanbul, where cats have roamed for thousands of years. They're pets to no one but beloved by all; strays stalking the pavements in a place refreshingly hospitable to their free-wandering lifestyle. As opening narration from one of the city's two-legged residents describes, here, "the cat is more than just a cat. The cat embodies the indescribable chaos, the culture and the uniqueness that is the essence of Istanbul." That may sound like a bold claim, but it soon proves right on the money. Graceful cinematography gets up close and personal with the film's adorable protagonists, while at the same time offering a sweeping view of how they're positioned within the hustle and bustle of their surroundings. Sari searches for food for her new kittens, often successfully begging for scraps at cafes. Bengü has her own hungry mouths to feed, and gets jealous when her favoured humans give their attention to others. Deniz flits around a marketplace making friends with customers, while Duman pursues his refined taste for delicatessen food. Aslan Parçasi is often found by the seashore, soaking up the view near a famous local fish restaurant. Gamsiz hops between apartments. As for Psikopat, she rules her neighbourhood, enforcing her will upon animals and people alike. If they all sound like distinctive characters with their own stories, personalities and behaviours, then it's no less than they deserve. Indeed, that's part of the point of Kedi, which fittingly means 'cat' in Turkish. Boosted by interviews with the humans who know and love these kitties best, Torun treats each animal's journey as she would a person's. In fact, her care and dedication truly lays bare life at street level, her film flitting from bustling eateries to overcrowded areas just like her subjects. Their travels around the city provide a portrait of Istanbul in a microcosm. Finding the ordinary in the extraordinary is a common aim in documentary filmmaking, with the best non-fiction efforts making viewers reassess everything they thought they knew about something regular and routine. With the aid of deft editing and a whimsy tinged soundtrack, the observational and enlightening Kedi couldn't provide a finer example. It wears its affection on its sleeves — or, perhaps its collar — but pairs that obvious love with thoughtful insights. After watching this film, you'll never come across a cat (or watch a cute cat video on the internet) without wondering what stories it might have to tell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKq7UqplcL8
Pyrmont will score a lavish new restaurant next week when two of Australia's most exciting chefs join forces for the first time. Sydney's lauded chef Chase Kojima (Sokyo, Gojima) and Melbourne's acclaimed Lee Ho Fook chef Victor Liong are coming together to open Chuuka, a new Chinese-Japanese fine diner at Jones Bay Wharf. In the space that used to be home to Flying Fish (which has just moved across the road to The Star), the two chefs will combine their respective specialties and techniques (Kojima in Japanese cuisine and Liong in Chinese) to create a cross-cuisine menu that goes well beyond your standard Asian fusion. The restaurant's name plays to this cultural exchange and nods to the historic culinary influence of the late-1800s Chinese immigrants in Japan. This menu will feature an amalgamation of flavours and traditional cooking techniques, all while using fresh Aussie produce. While not all of the menu details have been released, Sydneysiders can expect a dedicated raw menu, a roe service and lots of fresh seafood. Two dishes that'll appear on the menu are stir-fried spiny lobster with chilli miso butter and Japanese milk buns, and a take on the popular Szechuan dish bang bang chicken, where strips of chicken are pounded and topped with chilli oil, peanuts, shiso and yuzukosho (a fermented paste made from yuzu and chilli). [caption id="attachment_728477" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Victor Liong and Chase Kojima[/caption] Dessert will also be a big drawcard here with an exciting 'premium frozen yoghurt service' on offer, as well as dishes starring purple yam, jasmine, Okinawan honey and matcha green tea. The two-level interior is set to be pretty luxurious, too. The ground floor will have a 60-seat restaurant, wine room and outdoor bar — all of which are arranged to amplify the venue's encompassing views across the harbour — while a 70-seat private dining space will take up the upstairs floor. Local tattoo artist Deepak Munsami has also painted intricate murals across the restaurant's walls, which reflect the combination of Chinese and Japanese elements on the menu. You'll be able to head to Chuuka exclusively to drink, too, with the waterfront outdoor bar primed for after-work cocktails with a view. Inspired by the five elements (wu xing), the drinks list features signature cocktails such as the Wood (with hickory-smoked umeshu, rye and Campari) and Water (gin, black tea, lemongrass and sichuan pepper). Chuuka is the first off-property restaurant for The Star Sydney, which plans to continue to expand as a luxury entertainment group beyond its Pyrmont casino and hotel. Find Chuuka at Jones Bay Wharf, 26–32 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont from Wednesday, July 3.
Meet George and Annie Steeper. He is an ex-premier. She is his brilliant wife. Together, with their two handsome sons (Sam Boneham and Matt Morrow), they present a picture of domestic bliss that has been winning George votes for years. Delve a bit deeper and dysfunction becomes an inadequate descriptor — George is sleeping with his son's girlfriend (Lauren Pegus) and Annie likes to yell at her husband. A lot. The feuding couple is played by real-life husband and wife, Sonia Todd (McLeod's Daughters) and Rhett Walton. The Worst Kept Secrets is an original Australian play, written and directed by the young and talented Thomas De Angelis (Jack Killed Jack), and is brought to the Seymour Centre by Bontom Productions, a collaboration between De Angelis and actor Sam Boneham, that aims to bring clever, fresh works to life. These guys are only doing six performances of the show, so if Aussie politics and family scandal is your thing (those things obviously go hand in hand, right?) get in quick.
He won't have two turntables with him, but he will be getting behind a microphone — 90s icon Beck, that is, for his run of 2023 Australian shows. The 'Loser', 'Where It's At', 'Devil's Haircut' and 'Sexx Laws' singer is getting acoustic in Sydney on Thursday, April 6, alongside his equally guitar-led appearance at this year's Bluesfest. Beck makes his latest appearance Down Under almost three decades after 'Loser' brought him to fame, and got lodged in every 90s teen's head for the entire decade (and ever since). He has a hefty list of material to draw upon, though, thanks to 14 records since his 1993 debut album Golden Feelings, including 1996's acclaimed Odelay and 1998's Midnite Vultures. Beck was a later addition to the festival's lineup that also features The Doobie Brothers, Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples, Bonnie Raitt and Gang of Youths. But, if you're not heading up to Byron for the fest, you can catch the acclaimed artist at the ICC's Darling Harbour Theatre. What a way to kick off your long weekend. In support is multi-hyphenated local legend Robert Foster, who you may — and should — know from his time spent as the co-founder of The Go-Betweens, plus his solo work and books.
UPDATE, September 11, 2020: Colossal is available to stream via SBS On Demand, Google Play and YouTube Movies. It may feature a giant creature lumbering around Seoul, but Colossal isn't your typical big predictable monster movie. In fact, there are plenty of refreshing ideas scurrying around within the latest film from writer-director Nacho Vigalondo, who previously taunted Elijah Wood through a computer in Open Windows, and now saddles Anne Hathaway with a lizard the size of a building. Come for the Godzilla-scale antics; stay for an insightful exploration of the destructive tendencies that lurk within us all, as well as an unexpected celebration of female empowerment. When we first meet Hathaway's aimless, out-of-work writer Gloria, she's a partying mess. Tired of her drinking-all-night ways, her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens) kicks her out, sending her fleeing from New York City to her empty childhood home. Though it has been decades since she lived in the small town she grew up in, it doesn't take long for her to catch up with former school pal Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), become boozing buddies with him and his friends (Tim Blake Nelson and Austin Stowell), and take a job at his bar. Binging and benders come next, as does the news that a monster has been wreaking havoc on the other side of the world. How Colossal expands its concept from there is one of the many joys best discovered by watching, but it's hardly a spoiler to say that battling demons, both internal and external, sits at the heart of the film. Connecting a trainwreck of a character with a gargantuan reptilian critter doing more damage than a railroad disaster mightn't be the subtlest metaphor, and yet Vigalondo ensures that the link between the two does more than just hammer home an obvious point. Indeed, examining just how one influences the other inspires narrative twists and emotional revelations, giving the movie the heart and smarts to match the size of its towering central figure. Just as it does with its creature feature premise, though, Colossal takes its underlying ideas a step further. Noting that humanity – collectively and individually – can be as ruinous as a hulking kaiju is really just the beginning. It doesn't escape attention that Gloria is surrounded by a bunch of ostensibly well-meaning men who all think that they're helping; realising just how large a shadow they're casting upon her life is crucial to the story. Indeed, this movie doesn't just tear down a city. It attempts to topple gender politics as well. Monsters, male domination and manoeuvring around both provide meaty food for thought, as well as a whole heap of meaningful material for Hathaway and Sudeikis to play with. Actually, their casting is a stroke of genius. Clearly given the lead role with a knowing awareness of how polarising she can be with general audiences, Hathaway fleshes out a protagonist who initially seems a stock-standard flurry of flaws, bad decisions and grating traits. Sudeikis also gets to toy with his usual persona, dissecting a character that seems on the surface like the kind of likeable nice guy he's played many times before. Just like the creature they're dallying with, however, there's more to each of them than it first appears. It takes a particularly inventive way of thinking to weave all of the above together, and to deliver a mighty fine monster flick at the same time. Vigalondo's brain is clearly wired in just the right way. His love for all things kaiju shines through every time his creature makes an appearance, visually boasting more in common with the genre's B-movie roots than its slick Hollywood incarnations. Still, his affection for his intelligent concept and empowering message stomps harder. Talk about a colossal effort. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOMp9sscNVc
The realisation that eventually comes to everyone underscores Once My Mother, one that dawned slowly upon filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz. She grew up listening to stories her mother, Helen, would tell of her life, but could only see as far as the intersection with her involvement. More immediate family history weighed upon Sophia, driving a desire for distance as she grew from a girl into a woman. Unforgiving about time spent in an orphanage, she also demonstrated an unwillingness to look past the emotional scars of her upbringing. It follows that Once My Mother takes a universal process — that of discovering the real personality of our parents, of understanding the true impact of their past not just upon their lives but our own, and of showing compassion for any missteps along the way — and relates it to the audience in the only way possible: as a personal journey. Turkiewicz's documentary is dedicated to dissecting Helen's resilience through decades marked by difficulties of destruction, discrimination and displacement; however, it is also shaped by a daughter's burgeoning awakening to things only age and experience could help her appreciate. Read our full review here. Once My Mother is in cinemas on July 24, and thanks to Change Focus Media, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=-fos7dm2inE
Usually when the Easter long weekend hits, music fans descend upon Byron Bay for five days of live tunes. Both in 2020 and 2021, that didn't happen — with Bluesfest cancelled last year when the pandemic began, then scrapped again this year after a new COVID-19 outbreak saw NSW Health issue a public health order to shutter the event. Thankfully for music lovers and festival devotees, the 2021 festival hasn't been ditched completely. More than a month after it was originally due to take place between Thursday, April 1–Monday, April 5, Bluesfest organisers have announced that it'll move to October instead. So, mark Friday, October 1–Monday, October 4 in your diary. That's another long weekend, although the rescheduled fest will be one day shorter than normal. Once again, the long-running festival will return to Byron Events Farm (formerly Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm) just outside Byron Bay. Originally, 2021's event was set to be headlined by Jimmy Barnes, Tash Sultana, Ocean Alley, Ziggy Alberts and The Teskey Brothers, but organisers haven't made any new lineup announcements yet. The fest will unveil its full new bill sometime next week, and revealed in a Facebook post announcing the new dates that it has "been adding more of Australia's absolute best talent". View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bluesfest Byron Bay (@bluesfestbyronbay) Bluefest also advised that season tickets for the festival will go on sale next week as well, with one- and three-day tickets available before that — but no specific dates were provided. Eager music fans can sign up for the waitlist now, and will be notified when tickets drop. Current ticketholders will be contacted by Moshtix with all the necessary information about the new dates, rolling your existing tickets over and getting a refund if you can no longer attend. And, because five-day passes were sold for the April dates, Bluesfest organisers are promising "something very special" for folks with those lengthier tickets during the October dates. Yes, that'll also be revealed sometime next week. Bluesfest 2021 will now run from Friday, October 1–Monday, October 4 at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay. The new lineup announcement is set to be announced sometime next week — to register for the ticket waitlist, head to Moshtix. Top image: Andy Fraser
This Australia Day, the Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel presents the annual Sydney event both your pooch and you will be pumped for: The Every Man and His Dog stand-up paddle race. Also open to those without a paddleboard (it can be hired on the day) or a four-legged friend (can't hire, go without), the race offers something for everyone, with different categories including long distance, sprint and a treasure hunt. You don't have to participate, if you're like us, you'll likely be crazily Instagramming from the shore. It's dogs on paddleboards, people. Dogs. On. Paddleboards. Kicking off at 7.00am, The Every Man and His Dog stand-up paddle race will leave your tummy grumbling. Luckily, the Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel have your back (or stomach) with their Australia Day shindig. $45 will get you a One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale or a glass of wine to accompany your grain-fed Angus rump with Yamba king prawns and chips. Live DJs will be playing all your go-to Aussie tunes, don't worry.
The Sydney premiere season of Australian Dance Theatre's Be Your Self commences on May 31. Garry Stewart's production transforms ADT's athletic dancers into "erupting, powerful, creative entities projecting startling physical images to a wildly unpredictable, cartoonish, electronic score." Identity is one thing, but understanding who we really are by breaking down the singular 'I' is another. Stewart challenges his audiences and revels in the power of the human body's ability to evoke thought, emotion and individualism. Collaborating with visionary New York architectural firm Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, Be Your Self fuses Stewart's uniquely audacious choreographic approach with spoken word, video and architectural design to create a visually exciting and inspiring new dance work. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lgDwVFxK5ZY
Carnivals were originally a festival to farewell the pleasures of the flesh before the Roman Catholic tradition of Lent. These days the focus tends to be more the party and less the restraint. Most famous Carnivals are done with for the year — Venice, Rio, New Orleans and our own Mardi Gras — but the Argyle in the Rocks is having its own go at drawing out the festival spirit. Last year they tested the water with a one day 'Carnivargyle', which this year they've expanded into a full month of anti-lenten excesses. 2011's Carnivargyle includes Brazilian dance, barbeques dripping with staple Argentinian green sauce chimichurri, and rhythmic demonstrations of capoeira. Thursday nights will see samba classes and tequila tastings, while Wednesdays and Sundays the space will play host to live latin bands. Gonzalo Porta & The Sydney Salsa All Stars lead a New Yorican (New York and Puerto Rican latino) evening Wednesday March 20, while the following Wednesday is a night of Afro-Cuban sounds. Friday and Saturday nights feature DJs pushing latin tunes, and barbeques in the expansive courtyard.
Yes, here comes the 'S' word: Sex.....es Festival. (Finally, a festival to call its own!) It seems that Performance Space wants to heat things up a little with some visual and performance art sexy times. Looking at sexuality and gendered identities in contemporary Australia, this is one festival that aims to be progressive and confronting — and refuses to shy away from embarrassing. The visual arts exhibition Sexes, which runs for the length of the festival, has 17 artists working across photomedia, video, installation, performance, sculpture, and collage, alongside a serve of theoretical discourse about all things gender. If live art is more your thing, never fear, because there will be a performance program that also comes under the heading of Sexes and aims to "generally prance around the themes and ideas" of sex and all that it entails. Another performance piece is Whelping Box (Oct 23 to Nov 3), where two performers will chain themselves to stakes to test their limits. By now you’re probally in the mood for some dance, which you can get in the form of Something in the Way She Moves (Nov 14-17), in which a middle-aged woman does the dance of the everyday. And finally, there's Clubhouse: Sex Club (you can't get much more illicit than that). But this isn't some sleazy club on the Kings Cross strip; this is a Sex Club that wants to talk about sex, watch dirty movies together, perform erotic readings (hopefully no 50 Shades of Grey), dance, and more.
Next time you slather your hands with sanitiser, you could be covering them with your favourite booze as well. With alcohol a crucial ingredient in the now-essential product — especially sanitiser that's effective against COVID-19 — distilleries and breweries are doing their part to help boost supplies. To the delight of coffee liqueur lovers, that now includes Australia's much-loved Mr Black. While gin aficionados can splash their digits with Manly Spirits Co's gin-infused hand sanitiser and fans of distilled and fermented sugercane can disinfect with hand sanitiser from Queensland's Bundaberg and Beenleigh rum distilleries — and plenty of other boozy outfits are jumping on the trend, too — fans of caffeinated booze can look forward to freshening their fingers with their preferred tipple. Mr Black has whipped up its own sanitiser and is shipping it around the country. It's also donated a heap of bottles of its A-class sani to a bunch of charities, medical centres and COVID-19 testing clinics. You can grab a maximum of two 500 millilitre bottles, for $19.95 each, plus a $10 flat-rate national shipping fee. The hand sanitiser is made using a World Health Organisation recipe with 80 percent ethanol, and as bottles don't come with a pump they're designed to be used as refills. If you decide to invest in some actual coffee liqueur while you're on the site — the OG ($60), single-origin ($75) and amaro ($80) versions are all for sale, as is the most adorable 50-millilitre bottle ($5.99) — or some sweet merch, and spend over $100, you'll get free shipping. We think this hand sanitiser is going to sell out super fast, so head over to the website and order yourself a bottle quick smart if you're keen. Mr Black hand sanitiser is available for $19.95 per 500 millilitre bottle, maximum of two per person.
Among the many challenges that Australians have faced over the past year, our love of travel has been hit hard. Domestic border restrictions keep changing with frequency in response to new cases and clusters in different states, meaning that planning a holiday beyond your own city has been more than a little tricky. This was particularly true over Christmas and NYE, when an outbreak on Sydney's northern beaches saw many states quickly shut their borders to NSW — including Victoria. On January 1, 2021, Victoria closed its borders to all of NSW. A week ago, it reopened to regional NSW. From 6pm tonight, Monday, January 18, it's reopening to parts of Greater Sydney, too. From that time, 25 of Greater Sydney's 35 LGAs, as well as the Blue Mountains and Wollongong, will be changing from a 'red zone' to an 'orange zone', as part of Victoria's new traffic light-style system, which means travellers from those areas can enter Victoria — but they'll need to isolate on arrival and get tested within 72 hours, then when they receive a negative result they're free to leave isolation. They'll also have to apply for a permit before entry, too — like all Australians. Last week, Victoria introduced compulsory permits for anyone who wants to enter the state. If you try and enter Victoria without a valid permit, you risk being fined $4957. You can apply for one over here. Travellers who have been in the remaining ten Greater Sydney LGAs in the past 14 days, which are still 'red zones', cannot enter Victoria. Those LGAs are: Blacktown City, Burwood, Canada Bay City, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield City, Inner West, Liverpool City, Parramatta City and Strathfield Municipality. Folks who've been in a red zone can apply to receive an exemption or a specified worker permit. The former covers instances such as emergency relocations, funerals, essential medical care, and people needing to return home for health, wellbeing, care or compassionate reasons. https://twitter.com/VicGovDHHS/status/1350957562263384069 From 6pm tonight, NSW towns along the Victorian border will also move to 'green zones'. Travellers entering Victoria from a 'green zone' still need to apply for a permit, but do not need to get tested or isolate on arrival, unless they develop symptoms. These new 'green zones' include: Albury City, Balranald Shire, Bega Valley Shire, Berrigan Shire, City of Broken Hill, Edward River Council, Federation Council, Greater Hume Shire, Hay Shire, Lockhart Shire, Murray River Council, Murrumbidgee Council, Snowy Monaro Regional Council, Snowy Valleys Council, City of Wagga Wagga and Wentworth Shire. The loosened border restrictions come as Victoria records its 12th consecutive day of zero new cases of community transmission. Overnight, the state did record four new cases in hotel quarantine, all of which are linked to the Australian Open. https://twitter.com/VicGovDHHS/status/1350938786365120517 Of course, the current designated zones and regulations are subject to change, with Premier Daniel Andrews advising that designated red zones would be reviewed daily. Victoria also reclassified the LGAs of Greater Brisbane as 'orange zones' from 6pm on Saturday, January 16. For more information on Victoria's new permit system — or to apply for one — head to the Department of Health and Human Services website.
No matter where you are in Australia, you've probably spent the majority of the year in your own state (if not the majority of the year in your own bedroom), with many states and territories keeping their borders firmly closed. But, the last of the interstate restrictions are starting to ease. With the exception of WA (which is currently open to only the ACT, Queensland and the NT and Tasmania, but is set to open to NSW and Victoria from December 8) and SA residents (who are still unable to visit Queensland), Australians can pretty much visit anywhere in the country without quarantining. To celebrate, Virgin Australia is selling over 60,000 fares to destinations around the country, starting from just $75 a pop. Hang on, Virgin? Yes. The same airline that, just months ago, entered voluntary administration. It has since been sold to US private investment firm Bain Capital, launched a comeback sale in early July and its voluntary administration officially ended on Tuesday, November 17. The 12-hour Happy Hour flight sale kicks off at 11am AEDT today, Thursday, December 3, and runs until 11pm tonight — or until sold out. In the sale, you'll find cheap flights on 25 routes to destinations across the country, with travel dates between December 5 and January 19, 2021. If you've been waiting to book Christmas flights home — or a summer getaway — now might be the time. Discounted flights are economy and include seat selection and checked baggage. Some of the routes on offer include Melbourne to Newcastle from $75, Sydney to Brisbane from $95, Adelaide to Sydney from $109 and Hobart to the Gold Coast from $169. [caption id="attachment_743607" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Whitsunday Beach by Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] The discounted flights are part of Virgin's relaunched weekly Happy Hour sale series, which will take place every Thursday for the foreseeable future. As we are still in the middle of a pandemic, flying is little different to normal. Virgin has introduced a range of safety measures, including hand sanitisation stations, contactless check-in and face masks provided to all passengers (but wearing them is not mandatory). Virgin is also waiving change fees and allowed unlimited booking changes between now and January 31, 2020. You can read more about its new flexible options over here. Virgin's Happy Hour sale runs from 11am–11pm AEDT on Thursday, December 3. Find out more about current interstate border restrictions over here.
At last, there may be a way to put your otherwise life-crippling Facebook addiction to good use. Japan Tourism Agency is looking to hook up 10,000 ‘highly influential blogger-types, and others’ - aka social media junkies - with a free trip to Japan. All they require in return is that the lucky recipients do what they do best, and share their experience in cyber land. The tsunami-triggered nuclear disaster of March this year delivered a mighty suckerpunch to Japan’s tourism industry. The agency is prepared to spend 1.5 billion yen on their plan to kick start tourism with the round-trip tickets, once approved by Japan’s lawmakers. The plan could well pay off, with first-hand accounts offering a personal touch to sooth the security fears of would-be travelers unsettled by heavy media coverage of the 80,000 locals still displaced by radiation. But it also invests a lot of trust in their temporary marketers to document a positive experience. Fingers crossed they don't get food poisoning from too much raw fish or attacked by the notoriously-aggressive snow monkeys - whatever you do, don't look them in the eye - along the way. Golden ticket bearers will have to pay for their own accommodation and meals, but will save at least a grand on airline expenses. So if Facebook owes you one for all the hours it has robbed from you that could have been spent having real-life experiences, keep an eye out for the launch of a website by the Japan Tourism Agency to lodge your application once the Japanese government approves the initiative.
The Sydney Mardi Gras is almost upon us and, along with it, a feast of new queer cinema is about to descend upon the city. For 29 years now, the Mardi Gras Film Festival has added the latest LGBTQIA+ movies to Sydney's big celebration, and it's doing the same again in 2022 — but, as happened in 2021, it's going hybrid with both physical and online screenings. Accordingly, if you're a Sydneysider who's keen to get your big-screen queer film fix between Thursday, February 17–Thursday, March 3, you can, with the fest showing at Event Cinemas George Street, and holding one one-off sessions at Hayden Orpheum, Cremorne and Event Cinemas in Parramatta and Hurstville. But if you feel more comfortable watching from home during the current Omicron outbreak or you're a fan of LGBTQIA+ movies located elsewhere in Australia, you'll also be able to enjoy MGFF digitally as well. The fest's 2022 lineup spans 119 films from 37 different countries, covering 32 narrative features, 15 documentaries, four episodic screenings, a retrospective and nine programs of shorts — so yes, there's more than a bit to watch. That said, different flicks will play in cinemas and on-demand, as happens with hybrid fests, but more than half of the program will be available for those playing along at home and interstate. Opening the fest on the big screen is Wildhood, which is set in Canada's Atlantic Provinces and hails from MGFF's focus on First Nations filmmaking for 2022. In-cinemas only, it's joined by high-profile international film festival circuit highlights such as Great Freedom, an immensely moving drama about a man's experiences being imprisoned under Germany's former law criminalising homosexuality; and Benedetta, which follows a 17th-century nun who shocks her convent with visions, wild power plays and lesbian affairs, and happens to be the latest feature by Basic Instinct, Showgirls and Elle director Paul Verhoeven. Or, there's the Carrie Brownstein and St Vincent-starring mockumentary The Nowhere Inn, which has them both play versions of themselves, and The Novice, about a queer student on a university rowing team. Other standouts include Mexican magical realist drama Finlandia; documentaries about queer comic creators, lesbians in post-punk 80s London and American artist Keith Haring; and closing night's B-Boy Blues, which is based on the celebrated novel o the same name. Online, LGBTIQ+ cinema fans can also check out horror film The Retreat, which combines a cabin-in-the-woods setup with planning a queer wedding; Cannes-selected Taiwanese drama Moneyboys; the relationship-focused Ma Belle, My Beauty, about a long-term couple living in a scenic villa in the south of France; and Estonia's Firebird, which charts a romance against the backdrop of the Cold War. There's also documentary Coming to You, following two mothers fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Korea; and As We Like It, an all-female version of Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It. Mardi Gras Film Festival 2022 runs from Thursday, February 17–Thursday, March 3 at Event Cinemas George Street, plus one-off sessions at Hayden Orpheum, Cremorne and Event Cinemas in Parramatta and Hurstville — and online nationally. For more information, visit the festival's website.
Two decades after Hae Min Lee's murder, the Baltimore high school student's horrific plight continues to dominate the true crime landscape. After featuring on the first season of Sarah Koenig's grimly addictive podcast Serial, it's now the basis for a new documentary series, The Case Against Adnan Syed. The four-part HBO series picks up where everyone's 2014 obsession left off — the trailers promise to reveal 'a new chapter' — not only exploring 18-year-old Lee's death in 1999 and her ex-boyfriend Syed's conviction in 2000, but the latter's ongoing quest to have the extremely complex legal matter reassessed in the years since he was found guilty. Everything from Lee and Syed's relationship, to the original police investigation and trial, to the developments up until now feature, with the film gaining exclusive access to Syed, his family and his lawyers. While the show started airing on HBO in the US in March, Australians can now watch the series, too — it's after airing on SBS throughout April, the four episodes are now available on SBS On Demand. Check out the HBO trailers below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQaTa5eTxnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA1qzo2WEew The series couldn't come at a more crucial time for Syed, who was convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life in prison, and has been fighting his case through the courts ever since. While he was granted a new trial in 2016, that ruling was subsequently appealed by the State of Maryland — only for the Court of Special Appeals to agree to vacate Syed's conviction and finally give him that retrial last March. Earlier this month in Maryland's Court of Appeals, that retrial request was denied, but Syed's attorney has committed to keep battling. Splashed across the small screen, it's certain to make for compelling viewing — but if you think you've spent too much time mulling it all over across the past five years, filmmaker Amy Berg has you beat. Unsurprisingly given how complicated the matter is, the director has been working on the project since 2015. And, with her excellent doco background — with Berg helming 2006's Oscar-nominated 2006 Deliver Us from Evil, about molestation in the Catholic Church; examining the West Memphis Three's quest for freedom in 2012's West of Memphis; and tackling the sexual abuse of teenagers in the film industry in 2014's An Open Secret — her new venture is certain to be thorough. As they did for West of Memphis, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis provide the score. The Case Against Adnan Syed is now streaming on SBS on Demand. Image: SBS. Updated: May 2, 2019.
If you're a fan of Gelato Messina and its frosty sweet treats, the past year or so has been mighty kind to your tastebuds. The dessert chain has released all manner of one-off specials, launched a new range of chocolate-covered ice cream bars in supermarkets and dropped a new merchandise line, for starters. And, thanks to a boozy collaboration, it has also been taking care of your cocktail cravings. Teaming up with Cocktail Porter, Messina started serving up DIY drinks kits last year — and Easter this year, too — letting you make your own boozy beverages using Messina products. Unsurprisingly, these make-at-home packages have proven popular, so one has just become a permanent addition to Cocktail Porter's range: the dulce de leche espresso martini kit. Basically, it's the answer to a familiar dilemma. No one likes choosing between tucking into dessert or having another boozy beverage — so these kits combine the two. To enable you to whip at dulce de leche espresso martinis at home, you'll get a box filled with vodka, coffee liqueur, premium cold-drip coffee and Messina's dulce de leche topping, plus Messina's chocolate hazelnut spread and shaved coconut to go on top. Then, you just need to follow the instructions and get drinking. You can pick between two different-sized packs. A mini espresso martini kit costs $85 and serves up six drinks — or you can opt for the large for $149, which makes 18 dessert cocktails. Cocktail Porter delivers Australia-wide, if that's your winter drinking plans sorted. You can also sign up for a subscription, which'll see a kit sent to your door each and every month. To order Cocktail Porter's Gelato Messina cocktail kits, head to the Cocktail Porter website.
Can you feel a tingling in your toes as your feet start to defrost? That's the feeling of winter slipping away (or maybe you've been sitting cross-legged for too long) and with its demise comes the return of Australia's beloved Moonlight Cinema. Ahhh balmy nights on the grass, we have missed you. Heralding the coming of the warmer months, Moonlight Cinema is a summertime tradition and it always nails the balance between new releases and cult classics. The film program is yet to be announced, but we'll keep you updated as soon as it is. Nosh-wise, Moonlight Cinema will again let you BYO movie snacks and drinks (no alcohol in Brisbane, though), but the unorganised can also enjoy a plethora of snacks from food trucks — perfect, messy treats made for reclining on bean beds. Bean beds and snack trucks, is there anything better? This season includes screens in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, running from November through to March. Get your pens out and jot down these dates. MOONLIGHT CINEMA 2019 DATES Sydney: Nov 28–Mar 29 (Centennial Park) Melbourne: Nov 28–Mar 29 (Central Lawn at Royal Botanic Gardens) Perth: Nov 30–Mar 29 (Kings Park and Botanic Garden) Adelaide: Dec 13–Feb 16 (Botanic Park) Brisbane: Dec 14–March 29 (Roma Street Parkland) The Moonlight Cinema kicks off on November 29. For more information and bookings here.
If you don't know your brut from your demi sec and you're keen to get schooled up, you won't want to miss an evening dedicated to champagne coming to Sorry Thanks I Love You in July. Across 90 minutes, attendees at the store's champagne masterclass will be taken through five premium drops by P&V's resident French wine expert Isabelle Webster (ex-Acme ) as well as hot topics like fashion and specialist wine production — including seasonality, sustainability and what makes champagne just so damn alluring. Running on Friday, July 1 from 6.30-8pm, tickets will set you back $90, which lands you five sparkling varietals and complimentary snacks. Set in the mini-atrium of the store at Level 1 of Westfield Sydney, you can check out some of the high-end fashion, gourmet food, craft beverages, jewellery and accessories while you're there. The event coincides with the close of Paris Fashion Week so if your passion for champagne is only equal to your passion for fashion, make sure to also check out some of the new season collections from the likes of Comme Des Garçons, Marni and Issey Miyake — perhaps with a glass of the good stuff in hand. Organisers say space is extremely limited, so book your spot sooner rather than later.
Setting up a veritable culinary fete in November, the inaugural Taste of Sydney Collective is set to be a four-day extravaganza of upscale food and drink. And adding to the flavour-packed program (because good food means nothing without an equally excellent drink to pair it with) is Tanqueray. Across the four-day event, the celebrated gin purveyor will be hosting an elegant terrace bar, giving visitors the opportunity to sip a variety of signature gin-based cocktails — and retreat from the general foodie chaos expected during the event. Reminiscent of bygone cocktail lounges with art deco accents, the terrace will have an airy, sophisticated feel, and the cocktails on offer will follow suit. Expert bartenders will be on hand to create delicately balanced drinks that hero the unique citrus flavours of Tanqueray No. Ten — the distillery's revered small-batch drop and the gin of choice for bartenders around the world. With centuries of expert knowledge to draw from, Tanqueray is also providing an inside look at how the cocktails on offer are made with a series of specialist masterclasses. Tanqueray Brand Ambassador Krystal Hart will be hosting and providing you with her wealth of award-winning cocktail-making experience. During her 30-minute masterclasses, you'll learn to perfect a Tanqueray No. Ten elderflower collins or Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla spritz. To keep the high-end spirit crawl going, keep an eye out for the Ketel One espresso bike rolling around and be sure to stop by the Johnnie Walker bar, where a selection of bitters, mixers and garnishes will be ready for you to design your own highball. Plus, Singleton Whisky is hosting an exclusive dining experience, The Taste Residence, where top chefs including Mark Best (ex-Marque) and Scott Pickett (Matilda 159 Domain) will serve up dishes alongside Singleton single malt whisky cocktails. The Tanqueray Pop-Up Bar will run from Thursday, November 8 to Sunday, November 11. Masterclasses are $12 per person and can be booked via the Taste of Sydney Collective website.
Australia's leading festival on gender All About Women is returning to the Sydney Opera House for its seventh season in 2019. This year features an especially impressive lineup of emerging female voices from around the globe, brought together for one day of talks, workshops, panel discussions and live podcast recordings. As usual, the festival will coincide with International Women's Day, taking place on Sunday, March 10. This year's cutting-edge topics include: 'feminism outside the Western world' with Arab-Australian human rights advocate Sara Saleh; 'female anger and desire' with US author Soraya Chemaly; 'toxic masculinity' with writer Clementine Ford (author of Boys Will Be Boys and Fight Like a Girl); 'problems with wokeness' by UK fashion stylist and cultural commentator Ayishat Akanbi; and 'hip hop feminism' with the US journalist who coined the term, Joan Morgan. The 2019 lineup has been curated by the Sydney Opera House's Head of Talks and Ideas Dr Edwina Throsby, and includes Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Emily Steel — who investigated the sexual harassment claims against Fox News and Vice News. Steel will talk alongside other heavy-hitters, including Indian activist Sohaila Abdulali, television presenter Osher Günsberg, German philosopher and former war correspondent Carolin Emcke and gender politics author Gemma Hartley. On January 16, 2019, the festival announced the second half of its lineup, which has a distinctly political edge. A roll call of current and former female politicians from the US and Australia will be taking to the stage — fitting at a time when record numbers of women are heading to Congress in the States. Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, Linda Burney, the first Indigenous woman to be elected to Australia's lower house, and SA Greens Senator, Sarah Hanson-Young will discuss life in parliament for women in a panel titled 'Leading While Female', while Tina Tchen, former Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, will talk about her career with political commentator Jamila Rizvi. The podcast hub will return with live recordings of cult shows, including the New York Magazine's The Cut on Tuesdays, Slate's The Waves and The Guardian Australia's The Witch Hunt. Other highlights include an exhibition on 'mental load' by French comic artist Emma and a free public event where attendees will imagine 'a collective feminist future'. Interactive workshops are also on the docket and include carpentry and flower arranging. Images: Prudence Upton and Yaya Stempler.
Former Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning has announced a huge, 17-date national tour — including several all-ages shows — to promote his debut album, Battleships, out June 7 on Dew Process/Universal. It's been a long wait for Fanning fans (which, in keeping with the precedent set by Beliebers and Directioners, we'll henceforth be calling Fan-nings), with this tour their first opportunity to see the great man since Powderfinger's farewell tour in 2010. He'll be traversing the country, from Nambour to Hobart, along with his special guests, Big Scary and Vance Joy. And if you're in Townsville on August 17, you'll get a special mini-festival when that already-awesome lineup is bolstered by The Rubens, The Medics AND Snakadaktal. With Fanning also announced for Splendour in the Grass following hot on the heels of the release of the album's debut single (and title track), it's sure to be a busy few months for one of Australia's favourite songwriters. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, May 7, via an exclusive fan club presale through bernardfanning.com. The Telstra Thanks presale is available from Wednesday, May 8, before the public on-sale kicks off on Friday, May 10. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Fi8OciiVIA4
In the world of photography there are few trends as divisive as the rise and rise of Instagram and Hipstamatic. Battle lines have been drawn between those who view the advent of such filter apps as a positive democratising force, spreading the artistry of photography to the masses, and on the other side, those who think they're just a refuge for teenage poseurs and their collections of cats. New York artist and photojournalist Benjamin Lowy has become an unintentional figurehead for the former, thanks to his stunningly evocative photographs of war-ravaged North Africa and the Middle East. Lowy, whose work has graced the cover of TIME Magazine (the first photo taken from a phone to do so) and been featured at London's Tate Modern, has spent the last five years making Afghanistan his second home, creating his first body of work made entirely with Instagram and his ever-resilient iPhone. For Lowy, the decision to use his iPhone was made more out of convenience than out of any great artistic or journalistic ambition. He found that the burden of lugging around his camera meant that his initial passion in photography was "losing some of its mystical wonder", and when he reverted to the phone, he found a fresh perspective on the world around him. "I've been shooting with my phone for years and posting it online. I didn't see it as art, it was just another form of self-expression," Lowy told us. "I started finding myself being able to express myself a little more viscerally and easily because [the camera] was in such a small package." As a wartime photojournalist Lowy found that the ubiquitous images of "raids, explosions, suicide bombers" had increasingly desensitised people to the horrors of war. When he first began using his iPhone, Instagram resembled more of a passing fad than a cultural mainstay, and Lowy thought that this brave new world of photography may go a long way in getting people to sit up and take notice. "When you think of Iraq or Afghanistan, people saw those same images day in and day out," he says, "and because people kept seeing those images all the time it was easier to tune them out. So my idea throughout the course of my career has been to constantly experiment with images and aesthetics in order to gain the public's attention." While these images are often filled with the explosive and dynamic moments of war, what is much more unique about these photographs is their depiction of everyday life in Afghanistan. They show us a foreign land that although ravaged and decimated by war is eerily familiar to our own world. "It is a different place from the place we all know and we all call home but at the end of the day people are all the same," Lowy said. "Our blood is all red, when we wake up in the morning we want to have our cup of tea or coffee and send our kids to school and live peacefully ... The simple things that make humans humans are all the same regardless of where you live." Lowy's iAfghanistan exhibition is on display in the State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street Foyer, from May 17 to July 22 as part of the Head On photo festival. We've featured a small selection of our favourites below. Images courtesy of Head On photo festival and © Benjamin Lowy.
New Year's Day can be a tough one. Resolutions to vaguely commit to, missed midnight pashes to mourn, dusty bear heads to nurse. There's only one real cure for the escapades of New Year's Eve: salt water, free-flowing Veuve Cliquot and one of Sydney's most ostentatious parties. The top spot for 'who dat, who dat' people-watching and jealousy-inducing Instagramming, Bondi Icebergs has announced the 2015 lineup for their infamously exclusive Icebergs New Year's Day Party. Set atop one of Bondi's most postcardy venues, Icebergs' NYD pool party is the Field Day for punters who want things a little more high-heeled and beachside. For a cheeky four hundy (yep, that's a casual $400 per ticket), you can compare New Year's resolutions with Bondi's chia-lovin' party people and throw back as much Veuve, Ciroc Vodka and head chef Monty Kulodrovic-crafted canapes as your NYE regrets require. Hosted by Icebergs' Maurice Terzini and musically curated by Angus McDonald (one half of Sneaky Sound System), the lineup is a beats-heavy fusion of Sydney-born, California-based shindig starters Bag Raiders, LA disco kings Poolside, Spice Cellar's Murat Kilic, (of course) Sneaky Sound System, ARIA-nominated Nicky Night Time, resident Icebergs go-to Miss Annie and newcomers Slowblow, Marc Jarvin and Pink Lloyd, Valerie Yum and Sam Francisco. Recent instalments have welcomed the first glorious day of the new year with the likes of Flight Facilities, Frankie Knuckles, Aeroplane and The Cuban Brothers, and so continues yearly furious discussions surrounding the moment the bass is likely to drop. “The 2015 event promises to be our best yet, with our recently refreshed interior design, a belter of a line-up and a pumping sound system, the place is going to be rocking," says Terzini. "It’s my favourite day of the year — we strip out all of the tables and chairs and turn what is on a normal day, one of Sydney’s top restaurants, into one of the world’s most energetic beach clubs." Exclusive beach parties with four-hundy price tags obviously aren't the easiest things in the world to chuck your name on the door for. Ticket registration is rather mysterious, through this link here. VIP packages are also be available if you've got cash to drop, hit up the team at VIP2015@idrb.com.
Car parks are usually thought to be places to simply park a car. Or a slightly different vehicle. But lately they’re being used for more arty happenings. First a Kings Cross car park was used in SafARI, and now The Vic’s abandoned car park is been transformed into a beer garden and multipurpose creative space called The Projects. Street art is a big part of these arty bits n’ pieces, most likely because they have a handy giant 20 x 8 metre wall to play with. Every fortnight it’s going to be graffiti-ed or street art-ed up by artists including Sofles, Roach, Pudl, Numskull. For the last Sunday before Christmas their Marrickville back lot will become extra Skate friendly. Their Skate Day threatens flatbanks and quarters, small-form basketball and even a little food on the side.
The Lunar New Year is nearly upon us, and The Galeries is celebrating the Year of the Pig in a big way. Think competitions, cash prizes, a pop-up food cart, lion dances, art and culture — along with a special degustation lunch. The main event is The Galeries' six-course feast. Hosted by Masterchef Australia's Callan Smith, the roaming degustation will take place on Saturday, February 2 from 12–3pm. Seven competition winners (and their plus ones) will hit six venues across The Galeries and indulge in a spread of Lunar New Year-inspired dishes. You'll start with a Golden Berries tea from T Totaler, followed by 'piggy' sweet custard buns at Lotus Bar and Dining, 'The Porkaroo' slider at Grill'd and more traditional delights at Jim's Malaysian and Yayoi. The food tour finishes with dessert at NZ Natural — the team have created a pink, pig-shaped macaron sundae for the occasion. Nab a ticket by entering the competition here. For more Lunar New Year fun, visit the CBD spot between Thursday, January 31 and Saturday, February 9 to test your skills on the 'get lucky' box — the person who guesses the correct number of fortune cookies inside will win a $2000 cash prize. There'll be trays of fortune cookies passed around during this time, too, with traditional blessings inside. Between February 5–7, Asian-fusion pop-up station Pig Out will be serving up 'lucky' noodle boxes from 5–8pm, featuring edible delights that include Black Star Pastry's famous watermelon cake and Lotus' 'piggy' buns. Local artists will also be showcased throughout the space, including freelance illustrator Freda Chiu, who created a visual narrative for the Year of the Pig, and a lion dance, presented by the Leung Cheung Martial Arts Academy Inc., that'll take place at 1pm on Tuesday, February 5. Plus, Caishen (the Chinese God of Prosperity) will wander the space giving blessings on Thursday, January 31 from 1pm. For more information on the Lunar New Year festivities and to enter the competition, head to The Galeries' website.
It's getting easier and easier to break free from your pesky plastic bag habit, especially now that the Victorian Government has followed through with its promised statewide ban on single-use plastic shopping bags. Confirmed 12 months ago, the new legislation was introduced to parliament today and, if passed by both houses, the ban will come into effect from November 1, 2019. That means in just four months, all single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags (with a thickness of 35 microns or less) could be given the boot — even those made from biodegradable or compostable plastic. The single-use bags will be removed from all Victorian retail outlets, which includes supermarkets, corner stores and even your favourite local vintage shop. Best make sure you've got a solid collection of reusable bags ready to go. [caption id="attachment_663522" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Queen Victoria Market banned plastic bags earlier this year.[/caption] Plastic bags that won't be included in the ban include garbage bags, bin liners, animal waste bags and those thin 'barrier bags' you get with your fruit and veggies. The legislative shakeup comes off the back of extensive community consultation, which found an overwhelming number of Victorians supported a ban ban on single-use bags. Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths enforcing their own nationwide plastic bag bans just under a year ago, while local shopping spots including The Queen Victoria Market and South Melbourne Market have also scrapped the plastic. As well as being a big win for the environment, the move brings Victoria into line with South Australia, the ACT, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Queensland, who have all banned single-use plastic bags. NSW is now the only state that hasn't committed to a ban. If passed by both parliament houses, Victoria's statewide ban on single-use plastic bags will come into force on November 1, 2019.
The super-adorable Finders Keepers Markets have been home to Sydney's most creative and quirky designers for almost five years. Now the independent hip-fest has grown up and burst forth from the confines of Carriageworks to return to their new home at Eveleigh's Australian Technology Park for the second time. The biannual, designer-centric, come-one-come-all mini-festival has managed to bridge the gap between local market and exclusive exhibition, creating a space for independent designers to engage with the wider community. You'll be able to nab some marvellous treats difficult to find anywhere else. From bespoke leather goods to bespoke stationary, upcycled journals to upcycled bicycle reflectors, every stall will be a unique shopping experience that combines innovative design with grassroots feel-goodery. As usual, there will be live music, a cafe, a bar and thousands of other Sydneysiders celebrating independent art and design. Finder Keepers is open 6-10pm on Friday, 10am-5pm on Saturday.
Science fiction doesn't always like engaging with death. Source Code director Duncan Jones doesn't have that problem. Jake Gyllenhall's Coulter, who seems at first like a drone pilot back from Afghanistan, finds himself suddenly on a double-decker train to Chicago, and seemingly in someone else's body. Coulter struggles to find a bomb on the train in a series of jumps into the past where he relives the same eight minutes over and over. But he's also trying to discover where he is in a bald present full of military technicians who don't feel like answering any of his questions. Jumping back and forth between sci-fi [spoilers] and the hazy surreality of dream, Source Code feels a bit like an acting exercise, constantly improvising a new version of the same scene. A lot of its essential parts involve people who won't talk about the past, but unlike Jones' previous Moon this makes getting into the characters a bit more difficult. Towards the end though, the film makes a brief crash through the territory of Alejandro González Iñárritu's crushing Biutiful, and brushes quite well through the same themes of fathers and children, imminent death and sober reflections on mortality. Reliving the same moment over and over has been played out many times, most nimbly in Star Trek and Groundhog Day. Films like the Matrix used to be consumed in piercing these apparently illusionary worlds and escaping closer to the real world, but since September 11 they've become more interested in the dream and dreamer, and less interested in the waking up. The zeitgeist is beginning to find reality unappealing to return to. Source Code owes a lot to the Matrix (one promo story [spoilers] in particular), and its biggest strength is its biggest weakness: uncertain ground under what is real, and what is dream. https://youtube.com/watch?v=_3QkJ_a1nlw
More than a quarter-century ago, a TV sitcom about six New Yorkers made audiences a promise: that it'd be there for us. And, as well as making stars out of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow, Friends has done just that. Sure, the hit series wrapped up its ten-season run in 2004, but the show has lived on — on streaming platforms, by sending an orange couch around Australia, by screening anniversary marathons in cinemas and in boozy brunch parties, for example. In news that was bound to happen someday — no pop culture entity truly comes to an end in these reboot, remake, revival and spinoff-heavy times — Friends is living on in a much more literal sense, too. First hinted at in 2019, officially confirmed in 2020 and just releasing its first teaser trailer (and announcing a US air date), the show is coming back for a reunion special on HBO's streaming platform HBO Max. Naturally, the whole gang is involved. Yep, it's 'The One Where They Get Back Together' — which is exactly how the trailer for Friends: The Reunion describes the special. That said, it's worth noting that the special is unscripted, which means that Aniston and company aren't literally stepping back into Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross and Phoebe's and shoes. Instead, the actors behind the characters will chat about their experiences on the show — all on the same soundstage where Friends was originally shot. And, let's face it, the fact that they'll all be on-screen at the same time in the same place celebrating the series that so many folks love is probably enough for fans. Aniston, Cox and the gang will have a few other famous faces for company. More than a few, in fact. The guest list is hefty, and spans folks with connections to the show and others that must just love it — including David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould, Kit Harington, Larry Hankin and Mindy Kaling, as well as Thomas Lennon, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, James Michael Tyler, Maggie Wheeler, Reese Witherspoon and Malala Yousafzai. Initially slated to air last May — with those plans delayed due to the pandemic — the special will now stream via HBO Max in the US on Thursday, May 27. For folks Down Under, just when and where it'll surface hasn't yet been revealed; however, it's bound to be here for us sooner or later. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MedRN92V6lE Friends: The Reunion will be available to stream in the US via HBO Max on Thursday, May 27. It doesn't currently have an air date or streaming date Down Under — we'll update you when one is announced.
New South Wales' live music scene has another casualty: Central Coast's Mountain Sounds festival. A week out from the fest's 2019 event, which was due to take place on February 15 and 16, organisers have announced that it won't proceed this year. The news comes after Mountain Sounds already scaled down the festival earlier this month, reducing its number of stages as well as cutting 20 acts from its lineup. In a statement about the cancellation, the folks behind Mountain Sounds have highlighted "the government's war on festivals", particularly "newly imposed safety, licensing and security costs". The fest's powers-that-be explain that they've been "put in an impossible situation as it was unrealistic for us to pull this money together, particularly given the timeframe". The cash that the festival references is in the vicinity of $200,000, which would've covered 45 police working across a 24-hour period. Organisers also state that they were given these figures just this week, after being advised mid-January that 11 police officers would be acceptable. With drug deaths at music festivals in the spotlight in recent months, and the government ignoring increased calls for pill-testing as a harm-minimisation technique, events are increasingly being asked to change and scale down their operations. Earlier this week, dance fest Psyfari also announced its cancellation for the same reason — and also directed the blame firmly at the current political climate If Mountain Sounds had staged its fifth incarnation this year, audiences would've been treated to live sets by Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett, Sydney-based electronica act What So Not and folk siblings Angus and Julia Stone, followed by a plethora of 2018's favourite acts, including Thundamentals, Middle Kids and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Organisers note that they're "devastated" about the cancellation, but "the combination of excessive costs, additional licensing conditions and the enforcement of a stricter timeline" left them with no alternative. Regarding the future, it's "unclear at this point in time but we will find a way to continue our passion and commitment in bringing music and arts to the coast," Mountain Sounds explained. Anyone booked in to attend this year's cancelled festival should expect to receive further information about their ticket purchases in the next week.
A sudden Nutella shortage has gripped the nation, leaving our pancakes dry and Melbourne is to blame. The supply of industrial-sized tubs used to fuel the Melbourne Nutella industry has dried up, forcing cafes to buy smaller tubs directly from supermarket shelves, leaving no Nutella for the little guys (the rest of Nutella-less Australia). Ferrero Australia has stated they will not be receiving new shipments from until August 7. That's like, a whole week. So this is it. All the years we’ve spent wondering how the end would come and here it is. Doooooooom. Listen Melbourne, we get it (FYI this is coming from a Nutellaless Brisbanite). You love Nutella. You slap that thick, creamy hazelnut spread on everything you can get your grubby little mitts on, from waffles to doughnuts to pizza. We know the second your sculpting classes pay off, you’re going to create a lifelike human form out of Nutella and live happily together for the rest of your life. We really have no problem with this; we wholeheartedly endorse your hazelnut love. But there’s one teeny issue: there’s no Nutella left for the rest of us. Yeah, so maybe we’re being a little dramatic. But for the time being you’ll have to get your Nutella fix from one of the many, many establishments that serve Nutella-themed treats. Desperate Sydneysiders, get your starved bodies down to Brewtown in Newtown for a Nutella cruffin (muffin-croissant, FYI). For Melburnians, try Peko Peko in Fitzroy and grab a Nutella dumpling; and Brisbane-based Nutella freaks can pick up a Nutella pavlova or Nutella lasagne at the Chester Street Bakery. Once you have your sweet hazelnut treat, take it home, lock all the doors and window, and savour every last morsel. Via Good Food. Image: ninacoco.
Add another impressive name to the long list of shows, plays and musicals alike, that've been treading the boards across Australia in recent years. That roster has spanned everything from The Book of Mormon, Hamilton and Moulin Rouge! The Musical through to Come From Away, SIX the Musical and The Mousetrap — but only Choir Boy hails from the Oscar-winning writer of the famously not-La La Land drama Moonlight. Tarell Alvin McCraney's other queer coming-of-age play premiered in London in 2012, then did the rounds of the US before opening on Broadway in 2018. It might've taken more than a decade since its stage debut for the show to make its way Down Under, but fans of Moonlight are in for a tale about sexuality, race, hope and gospel music, all focused around a young gay man finding his voice, that's certain to prove worth the wait. Story-wise, Choir Boy follows Pharus Young, who is determined to be the best choir leader that the Charles R Drew Prep School for Boys has ever seen in its 50-year history. That's easier said than done, though, given the rituals that've long been a part of the school, and the masculine expectations as well. Filled with a cappella gospel tunes, Choir Boy scored four Tony Award nominations back in 2019, including for Best Play and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play — and won Best Sound Design of a Play, while also nabbing music director Jason Michael Webb a Special Tony Award. In Australia, it finally premieres Down Under as part of Sydney WorldPride, with four stops on its agenda from Tuesday, February 14: a month-long stint at Riverside Theatres Parramatta, then short stays in Brisbane, Canberra and Wollongong. Leading the cast is international musical theatre performer Darron Hayes, joined by Tony Sheldon (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), Robert Harrell (The Shield), Zarif (Lonesome), Quinton Rofail Rich (Godspell), Theo Williams (Passing Strange), and debutants Gareth Dutlow, Abu Kebe and Tawanda Muzenda, while Dino Dimitriadis (Overflow, Cleansed) and Zindzi Okenyo (seven methods of killing kylie jenner, Orange Thrower) direct. CHOIR BOY AUSTRALIAN DATES: Tuesday, February 14–Saturday, March 11 — Riverside Theatres Parramatta Wednesday, March 15–Saturday, March 18 — QPAC, Brisbane Wednesday, March 22—Saturday, March 25 — Wollongong Town Hall Wednesday, March 29–Sunday, April 2 — Canberra Theatre Centre Choir Boy starts its Australian run from Tuesday, February 14 at Riverside Theatres Parramatta — head to the various venue websites above for further details and tickets.
UPDATE, MARCH 25, 2020: Due to cinema closures and other concerns around COVID-19, In the Heights will no longer release on its initially scheduled date of Thursday, June 25, 2020. At present, a new release date has not been announced — we'll update you when one has been revealed. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. Over the past five years, Hamilton has become a cultural phenomenon — and, thanks to its fame and acclaim, so has the hip hop musical's creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. But that's not the only stellar stage show to the multi-talented composer, actor, singer and playwright's name. Before he took on US history (and before he helped bring Bring It On to the theatre, too), Miranda turned life in Manhattan's Washington Heights into four-time Tony-winner In the Heights. While every Hamilton fan dreams of the day that it's turned into a movie, In the Heights is actually making the leap to the big screen first — in 2020, with a stacked cast, with Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M Chu behind the lens, and via a film primarily shot on location in its titular spot. Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote the text for the stage version, has also written the feature's screenplay. And Lin-Manuel Miranda is involved, naturally, producing the movie, overseeing the music and popping up on-screen as well. On Broadway from 2008–11, Miranda played the lead role of bodega owner Usnavi de la Vega. In the film, that honour goes to Anthony Ramos — an alumnus of the original production of Hamilton who has also featured in Patti Cake$, A Star Is Born and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Usnavi works hard, saves everything he earns and strives for a better life. He also sits at the centre of a vibrant community just beyond the 181st Street subway stop, with In the Heights charting the lives, loves and dreams of the Latinx neighbourhood through colourful, energetic and — as seen in the just-dropped trailer — exquisitely choreographed song and dance numbers. Joining Ramos and Miranda (who plays Piragua Guy, the owner of a shaved ice dessert stand) are Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton), singer Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera (Vida), Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black), Marc Anthony and Jimmy Smits — plus original In the Heights stage star Olga Merediz, Rent's Daphne Rubin-Vega and Matilda the Musical's Gregory Diaz IV. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Stephanie Beatriz also features, after Miranda made an appearance on the hit sitcom earlier this year. Check out the full trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0CL-ZSuCrQ In the Heights was due to open in Australian cinemas on June 25, 2020; however it'll now release on a yet-to-be-revealed date — we'll update you when one is announced.
Illustrator Dave McKean was a slow convert to digital. Putting together strange montage and box-art collages for comics, it took a long time before he fired up a computer to check out this Photoshop business. Once he did though, a brief period of fractal-laden cover-art gave way to artwork every bit as good as his period pre-mouse. The Art Gallery of New South Wales made the same transition long ago, and its new show Unguided Tours wants to take you to a strictly computer-generated place. The exhibition showcases digital art, with artists from Australia and beyond filling the Gallery’s halls with manipulated pixels and sculpture. Run once every two years, Unguided Tours is an incarnation of the Anne Landa Award bringing together local and overseas work, the best piece being bought up for $25,000. None of the artists will take your hand, but all of them are taking you somewhere. Arlo Mountford helps you either leave or arrive at a classical island, Ian Burns mixes tech-junk and social comment, David Haines offers a game-like, hands on experience, Charlie Sofo explores the minutiae of city life, and Jae Hoon Lee combines travel photos into vertical landscapes.
Middle-earth is about to sprawl across your TV screen — or whichever other screen you use to access your streaming queue. And, after five years of talking about it, Amazon has finally given Lord of the Rings fans what they've been waiting for: a first look at its new JRR Tolkien-inspired fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Elves, dwarves, epic cities, leafy landscapes — yes, 2022's new Lord of the Rings streaming series ticks all of those expected boxes so far in its just-dropped first teaser trailer. A young Galadriel (Morfydd Clark, Saint Maud) climbs ice, and a young Elrond (Robert Aramayo, The King's Man) features as well. Also packed into the 61-second clip: elves catching arrows, humans stuck on rafts on stormy seas, cave trolls, raging fires and orc battles. If you're new to The Rings of Power, Amazon first announced the show back in 2017, gave it the official go-ahead in mid-2018 and set a premiere date of Friday, September 2, 2022 back in 2021. In-between, it confirmed that it wouldn't just remake Peter Jackson's movies. Rather, the series will spend time in Middle-earth's Second Age, bringing that era from the LOTR realm to the screen for the very first time. According to show's official synopsis, it'll follow "the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history," with the action set thousands of years before the novels and movies we've all read and watched. The series will also "take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien's pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness." If you're a little rusty on your LOTR lore, the Second Age lasted for 3441 years, and saw the initial rise and fall of Sauron, as well as a spate of wars over the coveted rings. Elves feature prominently, and there's plenty to cover, even if Tolkien's works didn't spend that much time on the period — largely outlining the main events in an appendix to the popular trilogy. Naturally, you can expect Sauron to feature in the new show, and to give its main figures some trouble. "Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth," the official synopsis continues. "From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone," it also advises. In terms of stars, The Rings of Power will feature an unsurprisingly large cast — and some impressive talent behind the scenes. Among the other actors traversing Middle-earth are Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Undoing) as Arondir, Nazanin Boniadi (Bombshell) as Bronwyn, Owain Arthur (A Confession) as Prince Durin IV, Charlie Vickers (Palm Beach) as Halbrand and Sophia Nomvete (The Tempest) as Princess Disa. There's also Tom Budge (Judy & Punch), Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (The Accountant), Maxim Baldry (Years and Years), Peter Mullan (Westworld), Benjamin Walker (The Underground Railroad) and comedian Lenny Henry. And, the series is being overseen by showrunners and executive producers JD Payne and Patrick McKay, while filmmaker JA Bayona (A Monster Calls, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) directs the first two episodes. Check out the first teaser trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power below: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be available to stream via Amazon Prime Video from Friday, September 2, 2022.
Last week, Concrete Playground reported on a mini-heatwave bringing unusually toasty temps to the Harbour City this week. However, what first appeared to be a temporary reprieve from the winter status quo now looks set to become one of the hottest starts to spring on record, as temperature records for late August have been smashed across the country. Parts of Sydney hit highs of 27 Celsius on Tuesday, August 27 — eight degrees above the predicted average for this time of year. And yet, this unseasonal warmth paled in comparison to the temperature recorded in Yampi Sound in Western Australia on Monday, August 26, where the mercury peaked at a sizzling 41.6 Celsius — the highest winter temperature ever recorded in Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The previous record was a temperature of 41.2 Celsius, reached at West Roebuck on 23 August, 2020. Elsewhere in the country, local records were also bulldozed on August 26. The outback town of Oodnadatta in South Australia reached a high of 39.4 Celsius, Yulara in the Northern Territory recorded 36 Celsius, and Birdsville in Queensland peaked at 38.4 Celsius — all records for August. Far from being a passing phenomenon, heat in the mid-to-high twenties is predicted to stick around in Sydney well into next week and beyond. Early forecasts predict a high of 28 Celsius on Friday, August 30 and 29 Celsius on Thursday, September 5. The usual average temperature for early spring is 18 Celsius. While the official beginning of spring is September 1, the influence of climate change is shortening the colder seasons. Last September, much of Australia endured a similar heatwave, although the onset began during the middle of the month. On September 19, 2023, the mercury climbed to 35.9 Celsius at Sydney Airport, setting a new record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the city during September.
Flight sales have been a big part of 2020, ever since domestic travel started opening back up in Australia (and even with borders closing and opening with frequency). Indeed, when Jetstar offered up a heap of discounted tickets in mid-June, it sold 70,000 seats in just five hours, with Aussies keen to travel when and where they can in this pandemic-afflicted year. The airline has launched several other sales since and, until Saturday, December 19, it's hosting its big Christmas affair. So, get your clickers ready. The Jetstar Christmas sale is already running, with discounted flights on offer until 11.59pm AEDT on Saturday — if it doesn't sell out prior. In the sale, you'll find cheap flights all around the country, starting at $29. That'll get you from Adelaide to the Avalon airport in Melbourne. For $59, a Brisbanite can get to Sydney and for $99, a Sydneysider can get to Cairns, too. Other deals include Brisbane to The Whitsundays for $55, and to Darwin or Uluru for $89; Sydney to the Sunshine Coast for $59, to Hamilton Island for $99 and to Launceston for $49; and Melbourne to the Gold Coast for $69, to Ballina for $97 and to Margaret River for $99. Yes, the list goes on. Tickets are for one-way fares, for trips between January–June 2021, with exact dates varying in each region. So, if you're keen to get away, book some now and start planning. This time, before you get booking, you don't need to do as much work researching the status of interstate borders — because most of the country is now open. At present, only Western Australia has any restrictions in place, with folks from South Australia needing to quarantine for 14 days. Of course, this can change quickly depending on any new COVID-19 cases and clusters, as we've all become accustomed to seeing this year. Jetstar's Christmas sale runs until 11.59pm AEDT on Saturday, December 19, or until sold out.
The legacy of the legendary blues musician Muddy Waters runs deep, from influences on Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love and ACDC's You Shook Me All Night Long, and even to Westmont Pickles—an Australian picklery named after the town where Muddy died. His deepest influence, however, can be seen in his son, Mud Morganfield, and his career that carries the blues-rock torch that Muddy held aloft for over three decades. Although Morganfield was raised away from his father, he's been following in his footsteps for his whole adult life. Morganfield started out in life hauling trucks across the USA, just like his old man did before he found his music. When his father passed in 1983, Morganfield picked up the old familiar instruments and took to creating his own soulful blues ballads, and has been at it ever since. Despite the soulful style and rich vocal timbre Morganfield shares with his father, Mud's sound contributes to the intersection of Chicago Blues and Delta Rock in his own right. With the benefit of intervening decades of musical progression since Muddy Waters left the blues, Mud's sound incorporates modern styles into his oeuvre, but never strays too far from the track his old man beat before him. Catch Morganfield at Bluesfest 2017 in Byron Bay or at his Sydney sideshow at The Basement on Saturday April 8.
With a global population of more than 7.5 billion, it's difficult to know whether individual ambitions to change the world are hopelessly utopian, unwittingly dictatorial, youthfully naïve or a responsibility shirked by the daunted and cynical. Flight Paths, a new play by Julian Larnach, focuses on two young women taking radically different steps to make their presence felt on a global scale. Luisa (Ebony Vagulans) and Emily (Airlie Dodds) are both leaving Australia with their eyes on big change. Luisa's headed for Oxford University, Emily for Kenya to do aid work for an NGO. On opposite sides of the world, they discover that what they thought were clear-cut goals are blurred by factors they couldn't have accounted for. Then a man falls out of the sky. From here, fate starts reeling Emily and Luisa in, entangling them, the stranger and their ambitions. Larnach says that his goal for the work was to "put worlds onstage that I hadn't been seeing, populating them with young characters I hadn't been hearing, in order to prompt discussions about the world we haven't been having". Three separate continents is an awful lot of the world to fit on one stage at Riverside, but if you harbour any hope of revolutionising the planet, imagining them all shouldn't be a stretch. Image: Robert Catto.
Think there's just one Hottest 100 in January? Think again. Indeed, the second important countdown of the month goes rather well with the music poll that just proclaimed Flume's 'Never Be Like You' the nation's best track of 2016. In the GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers list, great brews are in the spotlight — and once again, Stone & Wood's Pacific Ale has come out on top. It's the second year that the Byron Bay brewery has been dubbed the country's best yeasty tipple, and their third win overall. With 1600 different beers in the running, winning is no easy feat. Run by GABS — or the annual brew fest also known as the 'Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular', the 'people's choice' poll is decided by booze-lovers around the country, and received its most amount of votes ever in 2016. In massive news for new bevs, 21 brews that first wet lips in the past year were included in the GABS Hottest 100, including the American Pale Ale made by Gold Coast-based, Mick Fanning-co-owned Balter Brewing. And recognising the strength of Australia's indie beer scene, a whopping 80% of drinks hailed from independent brewers. If you're thinking, "less background, more beer", here's what you've been waiting for: the rundown of the best beverages from the past year that just keep tempting tastebuds. Working your way through them isn't just a great way to show your appreciation for locally made brews — consider it research for the 2017 countdown. GABS HOTTEST 100 AUSSIE CRAFT BEERS OF 2016 1. Pacific Ale - Australian Pale Ale - Stone and Wood Brewing Co 2. IIPA - Double IPA - Pirate Life Brewing 3. Hop Hog - American Pale Ale - Feral Brewing Company 4. XPA - American Pale Ale - Balter - NEW 5. IPA - American IPA - Pirate Life Brewing 6. Little Dove - American Pale Ale - Gage Roads Brewing Co - NEW 7. Pale Ale - American Pale Ale - Pirate Life Brewing 8. Crankshaft - American IPA - BentSpoke Brewery 9. Former Tenant - American IPA - Modus Operandi Brewing Co 10. Pale Ale - American Pale Ale - 4 Pines Brewing Co 11. IPA - American IPA - Fixation Brewing Co. 12. War Hog - American IPA - Feral Brewing Company 13. Beechworth Pale Ale - American Pale Ale - Bridge Road Brewers 14. 150 Lashes - Australian Pale Ale - James Squire 15. Pale Ale - American Pale Ale - Little Creatures 16. Newtowner - Australian Pale Ale - Young Henrys Brewing Company 17. Indian Summer Ale - Australian Pale Ale - 4 Pines Brewing Co 18. Kolsch - Kölsch - 4 Pines Brewing Co 19. Barley Griffin - Australian Pale Ale - BentSpoke Brewery 20. Throwback IPA - IPA (Specialty) - Pirate Life Brewing 21. Sonic Prayer - American IPA - Modus Operandi Brewing Co 22. Taco - Specialty Beer - Two Birds Brewing 23. India Red Ale - American IPA - Prancing Pony Brewery 24. Golden Stout Time - Sweet Stout - Big Shed Brewing 25. Korben D. - Double IPA - Akasha Brewing Co 26. Single Fin - British Golden Ale - Gage Roads Brewing Co 27. Three Sheets - Australian Pale Ale - Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel 28. Cloud Catcher - Australian Pale Ale - Stone and Wood Brewing Co 29. Karma Citra - IPA (Specialty) - Feral Brewing Company 30. Atomic - American Pale Ale - Gage Roads Brewing Co 31. Coffee Ramjet 2016 - Wood-Aged Beer - Boatrocker Brewing Co - NEW 32. Tusk – Nov 2016 - IPA (Specialty) - Feral Brewing Company - NEW 33. Nail Red - American Amber Ale - Nail Brewing 34. Ramjet 2016 - Wood-Aged Beer - Boatrocker Brewing Co - NEW 35. Dark - Dark Mild - White Rabbit Brewery 36. Summer Ale - Blonde Ale - Mountain Goat Beer 37. Wild Yak - Australian Pale Ale - Yak Ales - NEW 38. Steam Ale - California Common - Mountain Goat Beer 39. Kosciuszko Pale Ale - Australian Pale Ale - Kosciuszko Brewing Company 40. Grizz - American Amber Ale - 2 Brothers Brewery 41. Small Ale - IPA (Specialty) - Colonial Brewing Company 42. Dog Days - American Wheat - Little Creatures 43. Footscray Ale - American Pale Ale - West City Brewing 44. Spearhead - Australian Pale Ale - Cricketers Arms 45. Vanilla Milk Stout - Sweet Stout - Thirsty Crow 46. Modus Pale - American Pale Ale - Modus Operandi Brewing Co 47. Furphy Refreshing Ale - Kölsch - Little Creatures 48. American Amber Ale - American Amber Ale - 4 Pines Brewing Co 49. Nail VPA - American Pale Ale - Nail Brewing 50. Californicator - American IPA - Big Shed Brewing 51. Freshie Salt & Pepper - Gose - Nomad Brewing Co 52. Mt Tennent Pale Ale - American Pale Ale - Pact Beer Co 53. Fat Yak - American Pale Ale - Yak Ales 54. Kung Foo - Pale Lager - 2 Brothers Brewery 55. KRUSH! - American Pale Ale - KAIJU! Beer - NEW 56. Windjammer - American IPA - Green Beacon Brewing Co 57. Reginald - American IPA - Blackman's Brewery 58. Pale Ale - American Pale Ale - Hawkers Beer 59. Session Ale - Australian Pale Ale - Mismatch Brewing Company 60. Calypso - Pale Ale (American-style) - Odyssey Craft Brewing Co. 61. 8BiT - American IPA - Stockade Brew Co - NEW 62. Hop Thief 8 - American Pale Ale - James Squire - NEW 63. The Chop - American IPA - Hop Nation Brewing Co - NEW 64. Sunset Ale - American Amber Ale - Two Birds Brewing 65. IPA - American IPA - Little Creatures 66. Rogers' Beer - American Amber Ale - Little Creatures 67. Watermelon Warhead - Berliner Weisse - Feral Brewing Company 68. Hop Culture - American IPA - Mornington Peninsula Brewery - NEW 69. Miss Pinky - Soured Fruit Beer - Boatrocker Brewing Co 70. Bright Ale - Blonde Ale - Little Creatures 71. Sly Fox - American Pale Ale - Feral Brewing Company 72. Hop Thief 7 - American Pale Ale - James Squire 73. Praline - Belgian Specialty Ale - La Sirène Brewing 74. Copy Cat - American IPA - Mash Brewing 75. Elsie The Milk Stout - Sweet Stout - Batch Brewing Co 76. Fancy Pants - American Amber Ale - Mountain Goat Beer 77. The Fox - Vienna-style Lager - Rabbit & Spaghetti Brewing Co. 78. Growler - American Brown Ale - 2 Brothers Brewery 79. IPA - American IPA - Hawkers Beer 80. Peanut Brittle Gose - Gose - Bacchus Brewing Co 81. Rare Breed: Pulped Fiction Blood Orange IPA - Double IPA - Mountain Goat Beer - NEW 82. Yenda Pale Ale - Australian Pale Ale - Australian Beer Co 83. Garden Ale - Australian Pale Ale - Stone and Wood Brewing Co 84. Hazelnut Brown - Brown Ale (UK-style) - Bad Shepherd 85. Bling Bling - Double IPA - Bridge Road Brewers 86. Beach Ale - Blonde Ale - Odyssey Craft Brewing Co. - NEW 87. Mornington Pale - American Pale Ale - Mornington Peninsula Brewery 88. Fred - IPA (American-style) - Murray's Craft Brewing Co 89. Imperial IPA - IPA (Specialty) - 4 Pines Brewing Co - NEW 90. F-Yeah - American Pale Ale - Big Shed Brewing 91. Session IPA - American IPA - Modus Operandi Brewing Co - NEW 92. Bling - American IPA - Bridge Road Brewers 93. Project #22: Bert (The Royal Albert Collab) - Australian Pale Ale - Colonial Brewing Company - NEW 94. Sourpuss - Berliner Weisse - Wayward Brewing Company 95. B.F.H. (Barrel Fermented Hog) - American IPA - Feral Brewing Company 96. 28 - American Pale Ale - Burleigh Brewing Company 97. Thanks Captain Obvious - American IPA - BrewCult 98. ALT Brown - American Brown Ale - Balter - NEW 99. The Chancer - Blonde Ale - James Squire 100. Hopsmith - American IPA - Akasha Brewing Co NEW — First brewed in 2016.
The Powerhouse Museum's flagship design program, Sydney Design Week, will return this spring as a live event for the first time in three years, with a curated lineup of exhibitions, talks, film screenings and workshops on offer across its seven days. From Thursday, September 15 till Thursday, September 22, you and your crew can catch the finest in local and international design across the festival's incredible week-long program happening throughout Sydney. Events are set to take place at multiple venues across the city including the newly opened Ace Hotel, Powerhouse Ultimo, Western Sydney University and more. [caption id="attachment_865161" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Zan Wimberley[/caption] This year's festival theme, 'Making Now', aims to celebrate the designers, makers and thinkers who are defining culture and design in Sydney and across the globe at this very moment in time, asking the question: who is setting the scene for the future? The program is focused on exploring exciting collaborations and showcasing cross-pollination between rising creatives and renowned artists in a variety of design disciplines including industrial, interior, graphic, sound, scent and scenography from the world of theatre. Need help deciding which events to prioritise to the top of your hit list? Look no further than a keynote address courtesy of designer and co-founder of Doshi Levien, Nipa Doshi, and artist, author, educator and designer Bruce Mau. You can also get inspired at the Making Western Sydney Talks (which includes a guided architectural tour of Parramatta in its lineup) or a series of conversations taking place at the Ace Hotel. Want to get your hands dirty? Join a clay-making workshop led by Karen Black and a team of established and emerging Australian ceramicists at the Ace Hotel's cafe Good Chemistry. Then, marvel at the New Australian Design pop-up exhibition, curated by Emma Elizabeth at Powerhouse Ultimo. Keen to head along? Sydney Design Week will take place from Thursday, September 15 till Thursday, September 22. For more information and to peep for the full program of events, visit the website.
