Peak TV is here to stay, it seems — and that doesn't just describe what we're watching, but how we're viewing it. Sitting down on the couch to watch a television show as it airs has long gone the way of the dodo, and in these these DVR, online catch up and Netflix-heavy times, we have more options than ever. That isn't stopping the world's number one source of cat videos, aka YouTube, from getting in on the action. In fact, they're aiming to make improvements. Keen to stream whatever live television you want, whenever and wherever you want, and on whichever device you want? Record every minute of TV you possibly can, without worrying about storage space and data limits? Access all of those saved programs even if you're far from home? Enter YouTube TV, a live television service that aims to do all of that, offering YouTube's own alternative to cable TV and the growing number of online streaming options. For $35 a month, US customers can get their fix of more than 40 channels, spanning entertainment, reality, sports and news options. Six accounts are included with each membership, as is access to YouTube Red Originals; viewers can watch up to three concurrent streams at a time; and all recordings sits in the cloud, which is how you're able to tape as much as you want and then play it anywhere on any device. Everything can be viewed online, via Chromecast and on both Android and iOS. For anyone outside of America, there's a catch, unsurprisingly — as yet, YouTube hasn't announced any plans to make the service available beyond the U.S. If you don't already have enough TV to watch or are tempted by unlimited recording, add it to the "wait and see" list.
We're pretty lucky here in Australia. No matter what the time of year, even if it's the dead of winter, there are always at least a few days (often plenty more) that allow you to sit outside and say things like "what a pearler of a day". Also, one of the greatest things about Australia is our ability to work a barbecue into almost any occasion. Your birthday? Nothing feeds a crowd like a few snags and some fried onions. Christmas? Throw some prawns on that barbie. A weekend trip to Bunnings? Don't pretend that the sausage sizzle isn't your favourite part. We really know how to celebrate the barbecue, don't we? Pair whatever you're grilling up with a few cold ones, and you've got yourself a great day, no matter the occasion. In celebration of our ability to bring some good ol' B-B-Q into any situation, we've teamed up with Hahn to scout out some of the best parks in your city with barbecues at your disposal. Pick a spot, gather your mates, snag a case of beer and warm up the barbie for a great day out, Aussie style. [caption id="attachment_593135" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Emily Davies.[/caption] BRISBANE: PICNIC ISLAND IN SOUTH BANK PARKLANDS Picnic Island makes semi-good on what it promises: the whole place isn't a legitimate island, but a picnic haven it does provide. Located at South Bank, it's an A+ place to sit around sipping some beers (between the hours of 10am and 8pm) while hoping someone else will do something about cooking the food. The barbecues are under cover for fickle weather, plus you're surrounded by trees and foliage, so it feels pleasantly like a nature escape from the city. Bonus marks for nabbing the private picnic spot which is an actual tiny island, accessed by a wooden bridge. SYDNEY: CENTENNIAL PARK Centennial Park is one of Sydney's most popular outdoor picnic spots for a reason; with electric barbecues and 11 picnic sites (that are bookable), you're guaranteed a hassle-free day for that huge 50-person family reunion you've got coming up. It isn't all just picnic fare over here though, there's also ponds, sports grounds and even an equestrian centre. With Centennial Park being so huge, there's really no limit to the activities you can carry out here: a game of cricket, a walk through the Rose Garden, bird watching at the Botany Wetlands around the water or just, simply, a sit and a drink with mates in the sun. MELBOURNE: EDINBURGH GARDENS IN FITZROY NORTH Longtime favourite of northern locals, as well as a worthy place for southsiders to commute to for a lazy Sunday, Edi Gardens (as they're affectionately known) have more to offer than just a nice spot of grass to sit on. The huge gardens play host to a rotunda, barbecues, a bowls club and — perhaps most importantly — heaps of doggos on the weekend. There are even tennis courts and table tennis if you're feeling especially active. Head to Fitzroy North with a six-pack, bikkies and some cheese in tow, and you've got yourself a great day. (Make sure you get there between 9am and 9pm, though, if you're planning to crack open a few cold ones.) Our tip for the day, though? Have your barbecue goods on display to summon cute pup visitors and you'll keep yourself amused all day. [caption id="attachment_593132" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Emily Davies.[/caption] BRISBANE: ROMA STREET PARKLANDS IN THE CBD Combine your barbecue and drinks with a killer view at Roma Street Parklands, which was designed in celebration of Queensland's subtropical climate. Here you'll be firing up the grill surrounded by gardens, a fern gully, lake views — and all in the heart of the city. There are free electrical barbecues placed throughout the park, so you're sure to find a spot to set up your spread and crack open a few beers (between 10am and 8pm in the Lake and Celebration precincts). You'll be so relaxed watching the ducks swim by or enjoying the rainforest vibes, you'll forget that you're actually in the middle of the CBD. Now, that's the life. SYDNEY: PARRAMATTA PARK Parramatta Park is a heritage-listed park that consists of 85 hectares of gardens, pavilions, cottages and historic sites. Apart from that, it's a lovely place to crack open a stubby and start frying up some snags. And, there are 14 free barbecue areas where you (or the king or queen of the barbie) can do just that. The land of the Burramattagal people, Parra Park is an active person's dream park as well as a significant historical site; safe cycling tracks are in a sealed off-road area and there's a well-used circuit road for runners. You can opt to take a tour of the 18th-century dairy building or of the park's general area by its director. There's also a ranger-led tour for those who are keen to discover wildlife. MELBOURNE: BANKSIA PARK IN BULLEEN Banksia Park might be a little way out from Melbourne city, but it's worth the cruise down the Eastern Freeway. Adjacent to Heide Museum of Modern Art and on the banks of the Yarra River, it's easily one of Melbourne's most picturesque parks — and a top spot for sinking a few cold ones in the sun. Half the picnic tables are sheltered — so get in early if it's a scorcher — and the barbecues are wood fuelled. The area is rich in history and makes sure picnic-goers are aware; information boards are scattered throughout detailing the original occupants of the land (the Wurundjeri people). A walk along the Heritage Trail is also recommended so you can learn about the significance of the land as well as enjoy being on it. Pay a visit to the Japanese Cherry Tree Grove, or if you're feeling lucky, try to catch your dinner in the Yarra. Pick a park, grab some mates and head out for a barbecue in the sun, Hahn in hand.
What with Kmart selling tents for 20 bucks these days, festival grounds across the country are often left looking like enormous rubbish dumps for canvases, poles and pegs after the festivities are over. For many people, taking down a tent just isn’t worth the hassle — especially when it’s cost them next-to-nix. It's a pretty disturbing phenomenon, given that we are (or should be) sorta worried about the fact that we’re killing the natural environment right now. Enter KarTent: a 100 percent recyclable tent made of cardboard, created by a Dutch startup. We’ll get straight in and pre-empt the most obvious question: cardboard? How’s that going to fare in a mud-fest? Well, according to the company’s site, the KarTent is guaranteed to keep you dry throughout a three-day deluge. Besides that, the tent’s most spruikable aspect is its friendliness to the environment. A regular tent can’t be recycled easily, but a KarTent can go straight into the nearest paper recycling facility, making the post-festival clean up easier, quicker and more sustainable. Cardboard’s other benefit is its decorate-able-ness. You can go to town drawing pictures on yours, or get KarTent to print any photos or messages you want to adorn your temporary home. Or festival organisers can buy a whole stack and cover them in sponsor messages. At this stage, KarTent is in pilot mode. It's been tested at a few festivals in Europe, but the company is looking for “adventurous” and “spirited” types to get involved. They haven't appeared at any Australian or New Zealand festivals yet, but if you want to make it happen, you can get in touch over here. Via Pop-Up City.
Sometime in the near future, Rose Byrne, Seth Rogen and filmmaker Nicholas Stoller could easily join forces on a new rom-com. In fact, they should. Until then, buddy comedy Platonic makes a hilarious, engagingly written and directed, and perfectly cast addition to each's respective resumes. Reuniting the trio after 2014's Bad Neighbours and its 2016 sequel Bad Neighbours 2, this new Apple TV+ series arrives on Wednesday, May 24 to pair Australia's comedy queen and America's go-to stoner as longterm pals who are never anything but mates — and haven't been in touch at all for years — but navigate a friendship that's as chaotic and complicated as any movie romance. That's an easy formula; however, there's nothing by-the-numbers about watching the show's stars bicker, banter and face the fact that life doesn't always turn out as planned together. Smartly, Platonic doesn't try to be a romantic comedy. It doesn't set its two protagonists on a path towards coupling up and, while one of the most annoying on-screen questions there is does earn a mention, the series isn't really asking it. Ignoring the precedent set by When Harry Met Sally and a wealth of other rom-coms both before and since — openly satirising it, actually — Platonic knows that men and women can easily be friends, instead exploring what happens when two former besties have gone their own ways, then come back together. Platonic also knows that reconnecting with old pals is always tinged with nostalgia for the person you were when they were initially in your life. And, it's well-aware that reckoning with where you've ended up since is an immediate side effect. There's nothing like the blast from the past that is slipping into a decades-old dynamic to make you take stock, and to provide the spark you might need to move forward. Sylvia (Byrne, Seriously Red) reaches out to Will (Rogen, The Super Mario Bros Movie) after hearing that he's no longer with the wife (Alisha Wainwright, Raising Dion) she didn't like, an opinion she didn't keep to herself. She's also a suburban-dwelling former lawyer who put work on hold to become a mother of three, and can't help feeling envious of her husband Charlie's (Luke Macfarlane, Bros) flourishing legal career. Her old BFF co-owns and runs an LA brewpub, is obsessive about his beer and hipster/slacker image, and hasn't been taking his breakup well. They couldn't be in more different places in their lives. When they meet up again, they couldn't appear more dissimilar, too. "You look like you live at Ann Taylor Loft," is Will's assessment. Sylvia calls him "a '90s grunge clown." Neither is wrong. Created by Stoller with his spouse and creative partner Francesca Delbanco, as two-season Netflix comedy Friends From College also was, Platonic reteams Sylvia and Will at turning points, and gives them inescapably sitcom-style broad troubles and struggles. She's frustrated with domesticity and responsibility day in, day out, even with fellow school mum Katie (Carla Gallo, Happiest Season) frequently by her side. He gets into full midlife-crisis mode, including dating the younger Peyton (Emily Kimball, Daisy Jones & The Six). Indeed, on paper the two characters and their arcs sound like unhappy housewife and manchild 101. Thankfully, that's just Platonic's scaffolding. As well as astutely sending up the whole "can men and women be friends?" nonsense, this series unpacks well-worn character stereotypes, fleshes them out and bounces them off of each other — as the Bad Neighbours movies did with young parents and the fraternity next door, and amusingly. Art clearly isn't imitating life in Sylvia and Will's specific details, but its stellar lead casting makes them feel emotionally authentic. Byrne and Rogen are reuniting themselves, of course, and capitalise upon their evident buzzing real-life chemistry as friends and colleagues. Stoller and Delbanco mightn't have come up with the premise purely to get their stars sharing the screen again, and to give them all an excuse to knock about, but that's the vibe, too. That isn't a criticism; Platonic works because Byrne and Rogen are such joys to watch together, and because viewers want to spend ten half-hour episodes watching them spend time together. It's a hangout series itself, because that's what it's audience gets to enjoy — and its leads make for charming company. Both play to their respective comic strengths, genuinely share the series, and take Sylvia and Will on resonant emotional journeys (while also finding laughs in iguanas, wild nights out, e-scooters, UFOs, ridiculous beer flavours and more). Platonic is always thoughtful, a pivotal trait that applies not only when Byrne and Rogen are together — or when they're just as ace in they solo scenes — but everywhere. Sylvia isn't stuck in a cliched bad marriage. Charlie isn't dull or awful. Family life isn't painted as either rosy or boring, or simple. Will's newly single existence has its ups and downs, and Will himself can be both juvenile and perceptive. And lengthy relationships, whether they're romantic or platonic, are seen as the ebbing and flowing experiences that they are, requiring not just sparks and a rapport but commitment, understanding and effort. It's a show about a reunion. It reunites two winningly matched talents, and also reteams them with the filmmaker who first unleashed their combined magic (and mayhem) on-screen. Trust Platonic to keep the theme going with Stoller's Bros star Macfarlane, who is sensitive and warm as Charlie, and with Rogen's always-welcome Undeclared co-star Gallo. It's no wonder that there's such a sense of comfort in each of the show's key performances — or, again, that it's so easy to hang with. Unless they're overtly courting cringing, great comedies know that cast charisma is as crucial as comic timing; this boasts and thrives with both. If Byrne, Rogen and Stoller don't reconnect for a rom-com next, or find another season of Platonic in them, then any situation that brings them back together will do. Byrne and Rogen's odd-couple setup is that energetic and entertaining — argumentative but affectionate, too — and they make that delightful a pair. Plus, Byrne's other Apple TV+ series, the excellent Physical, will end after its upcoming third season, and no one should be forced to miss her comedic presence for long. On- and off-screen, Rogen clearly can't, and no one watching Platonic will ever want him to. Check out the trailer for Platonic below: Platonic streams via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, May 24.
In primary school, ripping into collages lets you take grown-up things and shape them to your infant will. High school art class gives it back to you as culture. This art tradition embraced by Pop Art, pioneered by Dadaists with photo and pen, gets most of its airtime through stencil art these days. Photoshopping and outright collage still stir controversy, but it's rare to see the form get a dedicated show. For a brief correction, aMBUSH Gallery has brought a group of five local collage artists together to highlight this under-appreciated form, for the exhibition Alterations, Disturbances and Rips. Like their art, the five artists in this exhibition are juxtaposed for maximum contrast. Mauro Palmieri's art shows off his collage figure studies, Hilary Faye's giant figures stride Godzilla-like around their everyday landscapes and Kareem Rizk's earthy palette will feature. Dada-inspired Joel Lambeth and Danilo Brando's blind subjects are also on show. It's a short season, but these visual mash-ups have been shuffled together especially for your enjoyment. Check them out in this school-free setting before they shuffle away completely. Alterations, Disturbances and Rips opens Thursday December 15, at 6pm. Images by Joel Lambeth and Mauro Palmieri.
He's the ghost with the most, as well as the poltergeist bio-exorcist who turned life into chaos for the Deetz family — and he's returning to the big screen after 36 years. Calls for 1988's Beetlejuice to get a sequel have been echoing for decades, with a followup finally locked in in 2023. Entitled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, it's hitting cinemas this September, and it has just revealed its first teaser trailer. Yes, Michael Keaton (The Flash) and Winona Ryder (Stranger Things) are back with the poltergeists. So is Schitt's Creek's great Catherine O'Hara (Argylle). Keaton reprises the titular role, of course, while Ryder and O'Hara return as Lydia and Delia Deetz, the mother and daughter who learned what trying to live with Betelgeuse was like the first time around. Filmmaker Tim Burton also sits in the director's chair again, on what marks his first feature since 2019's Dumbo. He's no stranger to revisiting to his past work, as seen when he made two Batman movies in the late 80s and 90s, and when he adapted his short Frankenweenie into a full-length flick. He also loves collaborating with the same talent again and again, such as bringing in his Wednesday star Jenna Ortega (Finestkind) to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to play the daughter of Ryder's Lydia. As the first sneak peek at the sequel shows, tragedy ushers three generations of the Deetz family back to Winter River. Lydia remains haunted by a certain spirit — but then Astrid, Ortega's character, opens the portal to the afterlife. You don't need a Handbook for the Recently Deceased in your ghostly hands to get excited, but you might spend time with folks with one, which is what happened with the original flick's Barbara and Adam Maitland (GLOW's Geena Davis and Dr Death's Alec Baldwin). In the first film, viewers also saw what happened when that pair started to suspect that they're no longer alive, a new family moved into their house and they decided they needed a bio-exorcist. [caption id="attachment_893706" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Beetlejuice[/caption] In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Keaton, Ryder, O'Hara and Ortega are joined by Justin Theroux (White House Plumbers), Monica Bellucci (Mafia Mamma), Arthur Conti (House of the Dragon) and Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (Poor Things), all newcomers to the franchise. Behind the lens, Burton is working with a screenplay by Wednesday's Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie) coming up with the story by Gough. If you say "Beetlejuice" three times, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice won't arrive in cinemas quicker — but it is hitting the silver screen before the musical version of the first film finally makes its way Down Under in 2025. Check out the first trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice below: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will release in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, September 5, 2024. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice images: © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All year, you might have been bookmarking, dog-earing, Evernoting, Goodreads-saving a towering pile of books to read with all that spare time you never seem to properly find on a weekend. It's often a lofty idea, spending a few hours, hours, doing nothing but perusing a solid narrative on your sand-flecked beach towel, shaded by your nifty new beach tent. But folks, summer's officially in full swing and unless you work in radio broadcasting or public transport you're probably about to land yourself with a good few days of holiday lazing. Grab one of our favourite new releases and make yourself comfortable — we've been churning through Man Booker Prize winners, hilarious biographies and homegrown coming-of-age tales aplenty. THE SELLOUT — PAUL BEATTY For a book recommendation you can trust (sorry lusty Aunt Beryl) you won't be disappointed by this year's Man Booker Prize winner The Sellout by Paul Beatty. The plot follows an African American's plight to reinstitute segregation and slavery into his hometown of Dickens (yes, you heard that correctly.) Naturally, it's a satire and Beatty uses his well-developed wit to broach the thornier issues of racial identity, injustice and legacy. Hilarious, sometimes uncomfortably so. Get it before it does actually sell out. — Erina Starkey DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING BY MADELEINE THIEN If you don't know much about China's Cultural Revolution, you're not alone. It's been half a century since the movement was launched by then-chairman of the Communist Party Mao Zedong, and accounts of what actually happened are hazy; many of them have been suppressed or altered. Madeleine Thien's new novel delves into one part of this tragic time in history, namely the persecution of musicians at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The book switches between the narration of Li-ling, who is growing up in Vancouver in the '80s and '90s, and the complicated narrative of her father's life in China during the revolution she is piecing together after his death. For such tragic subject matter, Thien is incredibly eloquent and at times even surreal in her writing. It results in a book that is one hell of a compelling read as well as an important incidental history lesson. — Lauren Vadnjal THANKS FOR THE MONEY: HOW TO USE MY LIFE STORY TO BECOME THE BEST JOEL MCHALE YOU CAN BE BY JOEL MCHALE Have you been holding back, not fully realising your potential as the best Joel McHale you can possibly be? Well, put your own unique personality aside for a high-achieving second and brush up on life skills from the Hollywood gadabout behind Community's Jeff Winger. This tell-all memoir's so ambitious and life affirming, it has a trailer. Watch it, or perish in your Joel-McHale-machete-slicing-a-watermelon-midair-less existence. Chapters delve into boyhood head injuries, almost killing Chevy Chase and parental sex lives — you've been warned. — Shannon Connellan THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS BY MARK FROST It's happening again. That show you love really is coming back in style. Twin Peaks fans have waited 25 years to dive back into David Lynch and Mark Frost's television show, and while the third season won't reach screens until 2017, the latter has gifted us the perfect stopgap. Every one of The Secret History of Twin Peaks' 362 pages is filled with a dossier of details, secrets, and other tidbits that make the town, its mysteries and its eccentric inhabitants even more intriguing (and, just like the owls, little here is what it seems). As a bonus, why not pick up a copy of unauthorised Twin Peaks cookbook Damn Fine Cherry Pie too, and get some Twin Peaks-themed kitchen inspiration. Cherry doughnuts, fish percolator supper or fire walk hot tea smoked salmon, anyone? — Sarah Ward SWING TIME BY ZADIE SMITH Swing Time, Zadie Smith's latest novel, sees the award-winning author trying a few new things. It's her first book with a first-person narrator and it's set partly in West Africa — a departure from her other novels that are primarily set in the US and UK. Like all Smith's books, Swing Time offers a poignant reflection on the messy nature of human relationships and asks a lot of thought-provoking questions. Lyrical, witty, and enthralling, this is a holiday read you won't be able to put down. — Yelena Bide SEINFELDIA BY JENNIFER ARMSTRONG Seinfeldia is a tribute to those who erect a festivus pole every December. It's for people who can't look at a marbled rye loaf without feeling awkward. It's for those of us who make subtle references to the Bubble Boy, the Soup Nazi and the anti-dentite as if its the most natural thing in the world. Written by Jennifer Armstrong, Seinfeldia documents the evolution of one of the most popular sitcoms to grace our TV screens. Armstrong examines its progression from banter in a Korean supermarket, to an unknown struggling sitcom at the risk of cancellation, to the show that has permeated its way into popular culture, decades after it was conceived. The book examines the real-life inspirations for the quartet, and the evolution of the characters (ahem) quirks, as well as the one-off characters who built their careers around their Seinfeld roles. — Natalie Freeland ROLLING BLACKOUTS BY SARAH GLIDDEN Rolling Blackouts is comics-journalism nonfiction by author and artist Sarah Glidden, who follows her news-gathering friends from the Seattle Globalist across 2010-era Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Glidden's reporting flips the camera, showing the harsh dilemmas involved in covering people in danger, working low-budget news and pushing distant editors to publish unsexy, important stories. But this meta-journalism approach is strongest when it takes you behind the scenes of actually getting interviews: the interviewees' aspirations and desperation in talking to reporters, their misgivings and rational anger. Parts road trip, reportage and quick-read comic. — Zacha Rosen THE RED WAKE BY KURT JOHNSON Russia and the USSR is an area that has always felt complex, gritty and interesting to me, and with some old Cold War sentiment creeping back into the news I was super glad to find myself working on a book that took me right to its red heart. The Red Wake draws you in with personal anecdotes and beautiful description and sends you on your way knowing a hell of a lot more about the complicated social and political history of the area, in the style of Anna Funder's Stasiland. More than anything, this book made me want to travel around Russia and the 'Stans, through bleak grey towns still riddled with the bullets of uprisings, to the ruins of Pripyat near Chernobyl, to try to catch a glimpse of a rocket launch in the Kazakh desert, and to a town where abandoned fishing trawlers sit on the now dry bed of the Aral Sea, a gulag or two in the distance. — Lex Hirst (Disclaimer: Lex Hirst works for Penguin Random House, the publisher of this book.) OUR MAGIC HOUR — JENNIFER DOWN Our Magic Hour, the debut novel from Melbourne writer Jennifer Down, is an affecting story of the harsh realisations occasioned by our mid-twenties. Audrey, a cool girl in the truest sense, loses her best friend to suicide, and travels from Melbourne to Sydney and back again, in a journey that mimics her attempts to grasp and process this life-altering event. Down writes equally of significant moments and unremarkable days with sparing beauty. Particularly adept at depiction of place, Down made me wonder if I hadn't sat across from Audrey on the train to Redfern, bumped elbows with her at a bar in Bondi. Down is the kind of writer that you'll be lucky to get on at the ground floor with, she is only going up. — Maggie Thompson. HOT MILK — DEBORAH LEVY Set in the small coastal town of Almería in Southern Spain, amidst the hot desert sand and jellyfish-filled ocean, Hot Milk follows Sophie and her mother Rose as they visit the famed Dr Gomez and his assistant Nurse Sunshine in the hope of uncovering the mystery of Rose's ailing health. This hard-to-put-down novel has a hilarious undertone of sly humour, an enigmatic cast of characters, and a vividly painted landscape that will ensure that even if you can't make it to the beach this summer, Hot Milk will take you there. It's a cracker. — Katie Mayor. HONOURABLE MENTION: FAT BRAD: THE COOKBOOK BY LONG PRAWN Have you ever noticed how much Brad Pitt eats in his movies? He's like some sort of human garbage disposal, slamming down burgers, cookies, chips, Twinkies and whatever else he can find into his (perfect) cakehole. He eats without restraint, without delicacy, as we all should sometimes, and for that reason he's the central figure in a new cookbook called (appropriately but incorrectly) Fat Brad. The team from Long Prawn have collaborated on the project with photographer Ben Clement, PractiseStudioPractise, Tristan Ceddia, Ali Currey-Voumard and Mietta Coventry. The cookbook is a tongue-in-cheek collection of recipes based on Brad's most iconic food moments on film. You'll find instructions for a knuckle sandwich (Fight Club), game bird with taters and Guinness gravy (Snatch), Bellagio Shrimp Cocktail (Ocean's 11), roast turkey drumstick and Grecian salad (Troy) and bloodied roast (Mr and Mrs Smith) amongst others. As well as being straight-up hilarious, the Fat Brad cookbook is also just a really good looking (like its namesake) addition to your cookbook shelf. It's the first in a series of pop culture cookbooks by the Long Prawn crew, so keep an eye out and grab your Fat Brad: The Cookbook here. — Imogen Baker
Since Plan International Australia launched its Free to Be map in Sydney last month, giving women a platform to highlight safe and unsafe areas around the city, it's attracted over 2600 entries. With double the number of respondents of a similar map previously launched in Melbourne, it's a huge response — and one that has enabled the NGO to pull together a list of preliminary safety 'hotspots', which it has released to the public. The unsafe spots, which attracted the most 'sad' pins on the Sydney map, include Kings Cross, King Street, Wentworth Park, Pyrmont Bridge and the stretch of George Street near Town Hall. A big number of these negative pins around key bus and train stations also highlighted major issues surrounding safety on public transport. On a more positive note, a list of 'happy' spots has also been revealed — these include Central Park, the UNSW and Macquarie University campuses, Circular Quay and the ferries, Oxford Street and McIver Ladies Baths in Coogee. Alongside the list of hotspots, Plan International Australia has also released its Sexism in the City research report, which surveyed 500 young Sydney women to get right to the guts of street harassment issues. Some of the confronting findings include more than a third of respondents experiencing harassment for the first time between the ages of 11 and 15; those harassed on a regular basis being twice as likely to report experiencing anxiety, depression or ongoing mental health issues as a result; and alarming rates of women being harassed in front of bystanders without anyone stepping in to help. Contributions to the map have now closed, and the full results should be released shortly. Updated: June 2, 2018.
On the lookout for a dope new denim jacket? Or do you want to be rid of that weird-looking lamp taking up space in the living room? Then, by golly, you're in luck. The Garage Sale Trail works with local council partners Australia-wide to get as many trash-and-treasure troves happening on the same few days as possible. Last year, more than 300,000 Aussies took part at this festival of pre-loved stuff, holding more than 15,000 sales. Will this year's Garage Sale Trail top those hefty numbers? It'll certainly try via a huge array of events that will open their doors to bargain hunters, selling millions items across two big spring weekends: between Saturday, November 11–Sunday, November 12, and then again from Saturday, November 18–Sunday, November 19. Aside from the retro goodies up for grabs, the Garage Sale Trail is all about sustainability. Instead of ending up in landfill, unwanted clutter becomes a fantastic find. So get that tight pair of sunnies for peanuts and help the environment at the same time. The Garage Sale Trail began humbly in Bondi in 2010 and is growing bigger every year. There'll be a right slew of sales happening all around Sydney, so keep your eyes on the event website — or register online to make a quick buck from your old junk and hang out with the friendly folks in your hood.
Former NADIOC Artist of the Year, A.Professor Wayne Quilliam is celebrating the 2019 NAIDOC week theme of 'Voice. Treaty. Truth.' with his exciting new installation at Darling Quarter. The installation, dubbed Instaculture, consists of four huge display cubes with 16 artworks, each measuring over two square metres. Looking at the co-existence of nature and culture, Quilliam uses photographs and text to take the audience deep into the hypnotic graphics of the Australian landscape. Textures found in nature are emphasised in the works, exploring the six seasons of the Aboriginal Australian culture through the digital imagery of earth, sky and water. When walking around these vibrant installations take time to look at the decals in front of each image, they contain a traditional piece of text with its English translation and the Aboriginal language it comes from. In conjunction with the exhibition, there will be a bunch of free family-friendly workshops held in the foyer of the Monkey Baa Theatre from July 8 to July 11. These will include a didgeridoo show, face painting and storytelling, you can find more info on the workshops and installations here. Instaculture will be on display 24 hours a day.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this months latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from December's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW LANDSCAPERS In 2013, in an ordinary backyard in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, UK police excavated the bodies of Patricia and William Wycherley. The elderly couple was last seen 15 years prior, with their librarian daughter Susan Edwards and her accountant husband Chris telling neighbours that the Wycherleys had moved — before Susan and Chris fled their own bills and chased their own love of Gallic cinema to France, that is. In 2014, the younger duo were convicted of the Wycherleys murders, despite willingly returning to England to face questioning and offering their own version of events in the process. To the police, the crime was a premeditated act motivated by money. In their tale, Susan and Chris spoke of multiple layers of abuse, of a heated night that ended badly, and of poor decisions inspired by a lifetime of fear. With Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter) playing Susan and David Thewlis (I'm Thinking of Ending Things) as Chris, Landscapers unfurls the Edwards-Wycherley saga, digging into the story's details across a four-part true-crime miniseries. But as its irreverent name makes plain, this isn't the usual dive into real-life crime — and not just because its two leads turn in phenomenal performances that rank among their very best. As he's done in both TV series Flowers and recent feature The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, filmmaker Will Sharpe brings his whimsical style to this experimental retelling. On paper, such a tone and the visual flourishes that come with it might seem ill-suited to the material, but it's all a part of the show's interrogation of how its central pair — and everyone in general — navigate life by spinning their own version of reality. It's an inspired touch, and makes Landscapers one of the most distinctive and engrossing additions yet to a ridiculously busy, ever-popular genre. Landscapers is available to stream via Stan. ENCOUNTER Excellent casting can't save all films. Ambitious directors can't, either. But with Encounter, it's easy to see how the sci-fi thriller would've turned out if anyone other than Riz Ahmed was leading the show — and if a filmmaker other than Michael Pearce was at the helm. Across the last three years and his past three movies, Ahmed has turned in a trio of stunning performances that lay bare struggling men battling to reclaim a sense of normality. Indeed, arriving after Mogul Mowgli and Sound of Metal, Encounter couldn't be better placed on his resume. As for Pearce, he jumps into this slippery story of a father, a road trip and a possible alien parasite invasion after making a tremendous feature debut with 2017's Beast, and serves up the same commitment to telling thorny tales without needing to explain away everything. When Ahmed's ex-soldier Malik Khan kills a wasp in his motel room with intense determination, it's clear that he's unusually passionate about eradicating insects — and, believing that a meteorite crashed into earth not so long ago, brought extraterrestrial invaders with it, but hardly anyone else noticed, he has good reason for his entomophobia. His mission: to rescue his two young sons (Heartland's Lucian-River Chauhan and first-timer Aditya Geddada) from the bug-sized aliens, even if it means whisking them away from his ex-wife (Janina Gavankar, The Morning Show) in the middle of the night. Co-written with Joe Barton (Girl/Haji), Pearce's film isn't quite the mystery he thinks it is, but it doesn't need to be to relay its weighty character study. Whenever Ahmed is on-screen, which is often, this is a tense and moving examination of trauma, stress and endeavouring to cope with chaos both everyday and extraordinary. Encounter is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. THE SEX LIVES OF COLLEGE GIRLS Here's a great way to know whether a new TV comedy is worth watching: check whether Mindy Kaling is involved. After stealing every scene she could in The Office, then turning The Mindy Project into a smart, funny and adorable rom-com sitcom made with oh-so-much love for the genre, she just keeps adding new shows to her resume as a co-creator, writer and producer. The Sex Lives of College Girls is the latest, and quickly thrives thanks to the kind of savvy, authentic, honest and highly amusing writing that's always been a hallmark of Kaling's work. If you didn't know she was behind it going in, you'd easily guess. It also sports an immensely descriptive title, following four college freshmen — strangers to each other, but now roommates — as they navigate the move from high school to the fictional Essex College in Vermont. Because three movies currently in cinemas starring a member of Chalamet family just isn't enough (aka Dune, The French Dispatch and Don't Look Up), The Sex Lives of College Girls features his Timothée's sister Pauline (The King of Staten Island). She plays Kimberly Finkle, who heads to Essex as valedictorian of her small-town school, is more excited about the classes than the parties, but still wants to have the full college experience. And, she's thrilled to find herself rooming with aspiring comedy writer Bela Malhotra (Amrit Kaur, The D Cut), star soccer player Whitney Chase (first-timer Alyah Chanelle Scott) and the wealthy Leighton Murray (theatre star Reneé Rapp) — even if the latter in particular doesn't initially return the enthusiasm. The quartet's exploits from there navigate all the usual kinds of relatable college antics, but do so with a warm-hearted vibe, a great cast, insightful humour, and a shrewd focus on friendships and figuring out who you want to be. The first season of The Sex Lives of College Girls is available to stream via Binge. SWAN SONG It took Mahershala Ali a mere two years to back up his first Best Supporting Actor Oscar with a second one, initially winning for the sublime Moonlight before again earning the nod for being the best thing about Green Book. He won't add a third Academy Award to his mantle for Swan Song, but he gives it two tries — playing a terminally ill illustrator who doesn't want to put his family through the pain of losing him, and also playing the clone his character has secretly had made to replace him without his loved ones ever knowing he was even sick. That's the futuristic sci-fi premise behind this poignant drama, which tussles with life, love, loss and two inescapable realisations. This isn't just a movie about facing your own mortality, but about confronting the fact that everything that's important to you — everyone that's important, to be specific — will still continue on after you say goodbye. Not to be confused with the Udo Kier-starring film of the exact same name that's just reached cinemas, Swan Song ruminates on Cameron Turner's (Ali, Alita: Battle Angel) moral quandary after enlisting Dr Scott (Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy) to replicate him before he succumbs to his illness. Even after seeing how fellow patient Kate (Awkwafina, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and her clone fare, it's a decision that weighs heavily on his mind — especially given his wife Poppy (Naomie Harris, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) is expecting their second child. So much of Swan Song's power stems from Ali's ability to wade through such a difficult choice, and to convey its emotional ramifications often without saying a word. In this thoughtful directorial debut by writer/director Benjamin Cleary, Ali also unpacks the flipside as Jack, who'll replace Cameron, and sees the possibilities his existence brings with literally fresh eyes. Swan Song is available to stream via Apple TV+. THE NORTH WATER When ex-army surgeon Patrick Sumner (Jack O'Connell, Seberg) secures a gig on a whaling expedition to the Arctic working as the ship's doctor, he's clearly running from something. His new colleagues are instantly suspicious of his story, bloodthirsty harpooner Henry Drax (Colin Farrell, Voyagers) among them — although Captain Brownlee (Stephen Graham, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) and whaling company owner Baxter (Tom Courtenay, Summerland) are mostly just happy for his cheap services. That's the setup for The North Water, the 19th-century-set, five-part miniseries that takes to the seas, to the cold and to a brutal world, and proves grimly mesmerising with its Moby Dick-meets-Heart of Darkness vibes. Charting a survivalist tale not just of the physical kind amid all that unforgiving ice (and on those treacherous waters), but also of the emotional and mental variety as well, this is one of the most relentlessly intense shows to hit screens in 2021 — and it's also gripping from start to finish. The first episode sets the scene in a slow-burn fashion, culminating in sights so searing they're impossible to forget — and the story, as well as the vast chasm between Sumner and Drax, only grows from there. Writer/director Andrew Haigh adapts Ian McGuire's novel of the same name, but this series has the Weekend, 45 Years and Lean on Pete filmmaker's stamp all over it. He finds as much empathy here as he has throughout his stellar big-screen projects, and once again demonstrates his extraordinary eye for detail, exceptional sense of place and winning way with actors. With the latter, having O'Connell and Farrell lead the charge obviously helps. They're not only reliably phenomenal; they each put in some of their best-ever work, and their performances seethe with complexity. So does the entire miniseries, which is never willing to pose easy answers or provide straightforward interpretations when ruminating over the minutiae is much more riveting, fascinating and realistic. The North Water is available to stream via Binge. MACGRUBER They can't all be The Blues Brothers or Wayne's World — films based on Saturday Night Live sketches, that is. Eagerly silly, as you'd expect of any MacGyver send-up, 2010's MacGruber definitely doesn't belong in the same category as the two best SNL-to-cinema flicks. That hasn't stopped an action-parody TV series hitting streaming 11 years later, however. And, with Will Forte once again donning a Richard Dean Anderson-style mullet and wearing plenty of flannelette, this MacGruber revival is the satire's finest moment yet. You could easily think that it only exists because Forte had a gap in his schedule, or because even television skits-turned-movies never die, and both are likely true. Still, when it comes to making fun of all the action cliches that'll never leave screens either big or small, this series knows its unashamedly ridiculous niche. The setup: after spending a decade in prison, the eponymous hero is given a reprieve by his pal General Barrett Fasoose (Laurence Fishburne, The Ice Road) when the president's daughter is kidnapped. He's part of the ransom demand, but his long-term foe Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth (Billy Zane, The Boys) also has other plans. Cue a cavalcade of amusingly over-the-top gags about action-flick machismo and every other trope the genre keeps throwing at viewers, all with Forte and his co-stars as committed as ever to the concept, tone and non-stop jokes. If it wasn't so self-aware — and if both Forte and Kristen Wiig (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) weren't so pitch-perfect in their parts — it might just be stupid rather than stupidly funny. Thankfully, MacGruber knows what it is, knows how to do it well, and knows the difference between being dumb and serving up gleefully dumb fun. The first season of MacGruber is available to stream via Stan. NEW SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK STATION ELEVEN Add Station Eleven to the pile of post-pandemic movies and shows that ponder that very subject — a topic that'll continue to grace our screens for years and decades to come. It's unfair to clump this haunting end-of-the-world miniseries into the same group as opportunistic flicks such as Locked Down, though. Instead, like Y: The Last Man, it predates COVID-19, arrives after garnering a devoted following on the page, and taps into something far deeper than obvious observations about being stuck at home with your significant other and having to scramble to buy toilet paper. The focus of this excellent show, and of Emily St. John Mandel's 2014 book before it, is how art and community all play immeasurable parts in helping humanity process and navigate existence-shattering traumas — and to find a path out the other side. That's a sentiment that might sound mawkish and self-evident when described in a mere sentence, but nothing about Station Eleven ever earns such terms. It all starts with a flu that swiftly proves more than just the usual sniffles, coughs, aches and pains. For eight-year-old Shakespearean actor Kirsten (Matilda Lawler, Evil), the chaos descends during a tumultuous opening-night performance of King Lear led by Arthur Leander (Gael García Bernal, Old), the aftermath of which sees her traipsing around snowy Chicago with Jeevan (Himesh Patel, Don't Look Up), who she has just met. That's really just the beginning of this multi-layered narrative, which also jumps forward 20 years to experience Kirsten's (Mackenzie Davis, Happiest Season) life with a travelling theatre troupe as the planet adjusts to its new normality — and keeps fluttering backwards into her younger exploits, and into the experiences of others connected to her story in various ways. This is a dystopian disaster tale not just about merely surviving, but about truly enduring, and it's a lyrical, heartfelt and character-driven apocalyptic musing with an immediate difference. The first five episodes of Station Eleven are available to stream via Stan, with new episodes dropping weekly. FIREBITE Trust Warwick Thornton to rove his eyes across Australia's sunburnt landscape, imagine vampires prowling the outback and cast those predators within a narrative that hails back to the First Fleet's arrival. The Samson and Delilah and Sweet Country filmmaker co-created new Aussie fantasy-horror series Firebite with Mad Bastards' director Brendan Fletcher, so the credit isn't his alone; however, given that he's spent his career exploring the nation's treatment of Indigenous Australians, it slips easily into his filmography. His third TV project in short succession following the second season of Mystery Road and stunning docoseries The Beach, Firebite also carves out a place for Indigenous tales within the undead genre. Indeed, seeing the colonisation of Australia as the act of ruthless bloodsuckers is an idea so smart and shrewd that this new streaming delight deserves to span on for several seasons. Making glorious use of Coober Pedy's dusty expanse — and its underground dugouts, which help locals escape the heat — Firebite follows two black vampire hunters, aka bloodhunters. Tyson (Rob Collins, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) doesn't really like the label, but he's determined to keep his hometown of Opal City free of vampires, and he's teaching his teenage daughter Shanika (Shantae Barnes-Cowan, Total Control) the trade. But then The King (Callan Mulvey, High Ground) arrives, and more bloodsuckers follow. As a century of vampire fare dictates, this doesn't bode well for humans. Thornton and Fletcher — and fellow director Tony Krawitz (Secret City) — never merely follow in anyone else's footsteps, though. In fact, they don't just sink their teeth into a familiar concept, but tear into it to tell their own standout tale, and do so with a devil-may-care attitude that drips through Firebite's style, story and performances. The first two episodes of Firebite are available to stream via AMC+, with new episodes dropping weekly. EXCELLENT RECENT BIG-SCREEN RELEASES TO CATCH UP WITH IMMEDIATELY THE POWER OF THE DOG Don't call it a comeback: Jane Campion's films have been absent from cinemas for 12 years but, due to miniseries Top of the Lake, she hasn't been biding her time in that gap. And don't call it simply returning to familiar territory, even if the New Zealand director's new movie features an ivory-tinkling woman caught between cruel and sensitive men, as her Cannes Palme d'Or-winner The Piano did three decades ago. Campion isn't rallying after a dip, just as she isn't repeating herself. She's never helmed anything less than stellar, and she's immensely capable of unearthing rich new pastures in well-ploughed terrain. With The Power of the Dog, Campion is at the height of her skills trotting into her latest mesmerising musing on strength, desire and isolation — this time via a venomous western that's as perilously bewitching as its mountainous backdrop. That setting is Montana, circa 1925. Campion's homeland stands in for America nearly a century ago, making a magnificent sight — with cinematographer Ari Wegner (Zola, True History of the Kelly Gang) perceptively spying danger in its craggy peaks and dusty plains even before the film introduces Rose and Peter Gordon (On Becoming a God in Central Florida's Kirsten Dunst and 2067's Kodi Smit-McPhee). When the widowed innkeeper and her teenage son serve rancher brothers Phil and George Burbank (Spider-Man: No Way Home's Benedict Cumberbatch a career-best, awards-worthy, downright phenomenal turn, plus Antlers' Jesse Plemons) during a cattle-run stop, the encounter seesaws from callousness to kindness, a dynamic that continues after Rose marries George and decamps to the Burbank mansion against that stunning backdrop. Brutal to the lanky, lisping Peter from the outset, Phil responds to the nuptials with malice. He isn't fond of change, and won't accommodate anything that fails his bristling definition of masculinity and power, either. The Power of the Dog is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. THERE IS NO EVIL The death penalty casts a dark and inescapable shadow over There Is No Evil, which is just as writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof intends. The Iranian filmmaker has spent his career examining the reality of his homeland, as previously seen in 2013's Manuscripts Don't Burn and 2017's A Man of Integrity — so much so that he's actually been banned from his craft, not that that's stopping him. With There Is No Evil, Rasoulof doesn't simply continue the trend that's guided his cinematic resume thus far. Rather, he interrogates the most severe form of punishment that any society can enact, and doesn't shy away from horrors both obvious and unplanned. To call the result powerful is an understatement, and it's won him Berlinale's prestigious Golden Bear in 2020, and now the 2021 Sydney Film Festival Prize as well. An anthology film that unfurls across four segments, There Is No Evil explores capital punishment, its impact and the ripples that executions have upon Iranian society. Even the mere concept of state-sanctioned killing rolls through the feature like waves, changing and reshaping much in its wake. It touches a stressed husband and father (feature first-timer Ehsan Mirhosseini), a conscript (Kaveh Ahangar, Don't Be Embarrassed) who can't fathom ending someone's life, a soldier (Mohammad Valizadegan, Lady of the City) whose compliance causes personal issues and a physician (Mohammad Seddighimehr, The Sad Widows of the Warlord) unable to practise his trade. While some sections hit their mark more firmly and decisively than others — There Is No Evil's introduction sets a high bar — this meticulously crafted movie, both visually and thematically, has a lingering cumulative effect as it ruminates on the threats and freedoms that come with life under an oppressive regime. There Is No Evil is available to stream via SBS On Demand. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November this year — and our top new TV shows of 2021, best new television series from this year that you might've missed and top straight-to-streaming films and specials as well. Top image: Ian Routledge/AMC+.
If you could only carry 3.3 pounds’ worth of belongings with you into outer space, what would comprise them? Photographs? A new novel? A book of brain teasers? A guitar? That’s the possessions allowance for every astronaut who travels to the International Space Station. However, the agencies that send them also throw in an ‘Official Flight Kit’, which includes an array of paraphernalia, often of the nationalistic kind: flags, badges, patches and so forth. The majority of gear returns home, but according to a recent mashable report, the ISS has nonetheless become host to a rather bizarre collection of left-behind goods. For the past ten years, a guitar, a ukulele and an electric piano have welcomed astronauts who double as aspiring musicians. In fact, Chris Hadfield caused a stir with them earlier in the year when he created the first music video from outer space – an acoustic version of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’. There are also lego models of the Mars Rovers, the Hubble telescope and the ISS itself, constructed by Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa; a box of Christmas decorations, delivered by a group from the Russian Federal Space Agency; and a library made up of six books. Before March, a fruitcake the size of a garbage bin lid was floating around, but that’s now history, thanks to the Mars-sized appetites of Hatfield and his friend from NASA, Tom Marshburn. [via mashable]
Combining booze and personal grooming is nothing new to Mike Enright. The man behind The Barber Shop, York Street's inspired gin bar and barber (and its spinoff at Barangaroo), he's a master of both the close shave and many a high-end spirit. Now he's taking the marriage to the next logical step. No, we're not talking about alcoholic shampoo — although you're kind of on the right track. Enright's Original Gin is a series of gin-scented grooming products – think shaving oil, hand soap, and after shave with 16 botanicals, including touches of juniper, cardamom, liquorice root and lemon. "I wanted to create a gin experience in The Barber Shop as well as the bar," said Enright. After years of research, the products — which are all made in Australia using natural ingredients — launched earlier this month. They're available at The Barber Shop's two Sydney locations as well as online. For more info or to get your mitts on Enright's Original Gin products, visit enrightsgincompany.com.
Sure you can smell the dust on an old vinyl, but can you stare into it and zoom out like the planets but also zoom into the atoms and in that way aesthetically sympathise with sound and how sound moves and physics of sound and how notes in a room behave? And how they bounce off walls and between objects and its kind of more similar to how planets and microscopic things work? Well you can if you have a) DMT or b) an Apple iOS device. Björk’s Biophilia album/multimedia project/educational program has been available for a few months now on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, but those operating on Android or Windows 8 platforms have been left out of this brave new digital world. That's about to change if Björk has her way, with the musician turning to Kickstarter to make the app more accessible to kids in low-income households and schools with underfunded art budgets (ie reprogramming it for those who, to sound like a massive douche, can’t afford iPhones). The app is being used as part of the Biophilia Educational Program, developed by Björk to teach children about making music and finding out about natural phenomena. Comprising an album, a series of apps housed in one mother app, a live show, and an educational program for children from all backgrounds, it's about exploring the areas where music, nature, and technology meet. Ten in-app experiences are accessed as you fly through a three-dimensional galaxy, with all the album’s songs available for purchase as interactive experiences. At $13.99 on iTunes, it’s a truly phenomenal way to experience an album for around the same price as a physical CD. The Kickstarter's funding goal is £375,000 and pledging ends on February 27. Those who pledge will receive rewards including the app itself, T-shirts picture discs, lithographic prints, and DVDs. Those who pledge £800 or more will get a VIP pass to Björk’s live Biophilia experience in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo, or Paris. Plus the reward of, you know, helping people.
In yet another difficult-to-believe tech development, a new app allows doctors to conduct comprehensive eye examinations with their smartphones. It's a particularly important breakthrough for medical professionals working in developing nations, where access to equipment is often costly and troublesome. Known as Peek Vision, the app is the invention of an expert team of ophthalmologists, scientists and engineers, several of whom are based at the International Centre for Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Having worked at ground level in developing nations, they have had firsthand experience of the stories behind the statistics. 285 million people around the world are visually impaired. 39 million are blind. 90 percent of the latter live in low-income countries. 80% of blindness could have been avoided. Peek Vision currently has the capacity to perform a variety of tests and record-keeping tasks, including visual acuity, colour vision testing, contrast sensitivity testing, visual field testing, lens imaging for cataracts, retinal imaging, image grading and creating patient records with geotagging. Other possibilities, including front-of-the-eye-imaging, paediatric examination tools and autorefraction, are being explored. The Peek Vision team counts a number of medical bodies and research centres as its partners. Anyone interested in supporting the project, using the app or finding out more is invited to make contact. Via Springwise.
Espionage intrigue, explosions, chases, fights, Tom Cruise wearing masks: that's all heading back to cinemas, and soon, with Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning — Part One on its way in July. The seventh instalment in the spy franchise will also task viewers with the usual mission, should they choose to accept it. Since the saga's first big-screen outing back in 1996, watching Cruise work his way through all manner of stunts is a given in each and every movie — and the just-dropped full trailer for the series' latest entry enthusiastically keeps the trend going. That said, at this point in his career, all new Cruise movies seem to belong to a broader saga: "one of the world's biggest stars does death-defying stunts to lure audiences into cinemas" (see also: Top Gun: Maverick). The Mission: Impossible flicks have been keeping those daredevil flames burning for almost three decades now, and its leading man just keeps upping the ante. And yes, he's still committed to doing as many dangerous feats as he can himself, including riding a motorcycle off a cliff this time around. Hitting cinemas Down Under on July 13, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning — Part One has Cruise's Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Missions Force team on the trail of a new humanity-threatening weapon. As usual, the fate of the world is at stake. And, saving the day means hopping around the globe and putting everything on the line, all while facing off against Esai Morales (How to Get Away with Murder) as the film's villain. This latest sneak peek comes after a first glimpse back in 2022, more than a year before the movie's release. Both trailers cover plenty of other familiar faces, of course, including the characters of Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg, The Boys), Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, Silo), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames, Father Figures), and Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby, The Son). Also in Dead Reckoning — Part One's cast: Hayley Atwell (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Cary Elwes (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), Rob Delaney (The Power), Indira Varma (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Shea Whigham (Perry Mason), Mark Gatiss (Operation Mincemeat) and Charles Parnell (Barry). Five years after helming the series' sixth film, aka 2018's Mission: Impossible – Fallout, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie returns for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning — Part One — his third M:I flick in a row after also doing the honours on 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. And yes, as the name makes plain, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning — Part One will have a sequel, which is set to release on June 27, 2024. Check out the full trailer for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning — Part One below: Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning — Part One releases in cinemas Down Under on July 13, 2023. Images: Paramount Pictures and Skydance.
Thanks to Thor: Love and Thunder, Christian Bale is currently creeping out cinemas as Gorr the God Butcher. As the internet won't stop noticing, Margot Robbie is filming Barbie right now — fluoro-hued outfits and oh-so-much pink all included, naturally — ahead of the Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women)-directed movie hitting cinemas in 2023. But come November, they'll both be on the silver screen together, and involved in what looks like quite the crime caper. As the first trailer for Amsterdam shows, Bale plays one of two soldiers, alongside the always-welcome John David Washington (Malcolm & Marie). Meanwhile, Australia's own Robbie plays a nurse. The trio form a pact to protect each other no matter what, and soon find themselves wrongly accused of killing someone. Given that the feature hails from writer/director David O Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Joy) — and based on the sneak peek so far, too — expect hijinks to ensue. Expect pretty much every famous face you can think of to show up as well, actually. The Amsterdam cast also includes Alessandro Nivola (The Many Saints of Newark), Andrea Riseborough (Possessor), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Northman), Chris Rock (Spiral: From the Book of Saw), Matthias Schoenaerts (The Old Guard), Michael Shannon (Nine Perfect Strangers), Mike Myers (The Pentaverate), Taylor Swift (Cats), Zoe Saldaña (The Adam Project), Rami Malek (No Time to Die) and Robert De Niro (The War with Grandpa), after all. If you've seen Russell's American Hustle, expect that film's loose vibe to echo through, too — in the trailer, it's the first thing that springs to mind, and not just because the filmmaker's regular actors Bale and De Niro feature prominently. As for the exact story that'll be spun once Amsterdam hits cinemas on November 3, the trailer is taking a shaggy approach to the specifics — as the film looks like it will as well, which Russell does tend to love. In the sneak peek so far, it all starts with a dead body, and with Rock anxious about said corpse. From there, expect a blend of fact and fiction set early in the 20th century, and also a whodunnit angle — to go with that who's who-style cast, clearly. Check out the Amsterdam trailer below: Amsterdam releases in cinemas Down Under on November 3.
The plastic rings that hold six packs together are both genius and hazardous. On the one hand, they're really bloody handy when you're carting six tinnies to a barbecue — have you ever tried to hold six loose cans of beer? — but on the other, they have a devastating impact on marine wildlife when they become waste. To combat the effects these pesky pieces of plastic have on the environment, a Florida brewery has developed a type of biodegradable six-pack ring that can actually be eaten by the animals they usually pose a risk to. After seeing the effect plastic has on marine animals like birds and turtles, Saltwater Brewery — a small brewery in Delray Beach, Florida — teamed up with New York advertising agency We Believers to redesign their packaging to make it more environmentally friendly. What they came up with was a biodegradable version of the plastic rings made of the wheat and barley that's left over after brewing. They claim that it's the first 100 per cent biodegradable, compostable and edible packaging in the beer industry. The first batch of rings were made using a 3D printer, and the brewery aims to produce 400,000 per month to cover their current production. It's a great move that we hope bigger breweries take on. Now to tackle aluminium cans... Via Creativity.
To sail the seas, or to peer under the sea? For those keen to explore the ocean, that has long been the question. If you're on a boat cruising along the surface, you can't really get up close and personal with the world swimming below — until now. French cruise line Ponant have announced the "Blue Eye", the world's first underwater cruise ship lounge, which will be part of its new fleet of ships. In total, four vessels will boast multi-sensory spaces that allow guests to view the wonders of the deep. The first, Le Laperouse, is due to make its maiden journey in mid-2018. In an effort that pays tribute to great French ocean obsessives such as Jules Verne and Jacques Cousteau, the unique rooms were designed by architect Jacques Rougerie, who aimed "to enable PONANT guests to perceive and feel the underwater universe that has never ceased to amaze and inspire him." The end result features furniture, fittings and windows intended to evoke the shapes of cetaceans (aka whales and dolphins) and jellyfish, integrated screens that project images filmed live outside by three underwater cameras, and a sound experience that vibrates through the onboard sofas in unison with the sea. Basically, you'll peer through whale eye-esque portals and sit in chairs that ebb and flow like the water, all while you're headed to destinations such as Iceland, the Mediterranean, the Maldives and Asia. If you're going to fork out for a cruise, that's the way to do it, although trips start from AU$3,3400 for a seven-night stint in the North Sea. Via Travel and Leisure. Image: Ponant.
Though Dove & Olive's Craft Beer Fight Club is always epic, there's no beating the Sydney Craft Beer Week version. This year, Two Birds, Wayward Brewing and 4 Pines are teaming up with Dove & Olive, Keg & Brew and The Dog Randwick, respectively, to bring you a fight club people will definitely break the rule to talk about. The three breweries will split the taps, with brewers in attendance, and one collaboration beer will be crowned the victor by patrons.
Spike Jonze's Her was impressive in a lot of meaningful ways. It brought high-waisted woollen pants back in fashion, it made us totally forget about Joaquin Phoenix's crazy I'm Still Here phase, but most importantly, it presented a filmic vision of our near-future that wasn't dystopian. No more are mankind destined to perish in a Mayan doomsday! No more are sentient technologies bent on world domination! Instead, our technological destiny seemed pleasingly pastel and alluring in a clumsy, soft-spoken way. Enter, reality. The world's first responsive talking website is here, and it's super creepy. 'Him' is the creation of digital artist Bjorn Johansson. It's an interactive site and Google Chrome Experiment currently available to all those with a working microphone and Google Chrome web browser. Inspired by the 2013 film, Johansson (no relation to Scarlett) created 'Him' as a system similar to Jonze's fictional operating systems. The computerised male voice is able to converse with users; however, the program has limited functional application and is still in the beta stages of testing. Because of this limited function, your conversation can be pretty entertaining. Loaded up with references from pop culture to appear accessible, 'Him' regularly spouts off awkwardly dated quotes such as "I'm too legit to quit" and "Are we human or are we dancers?". Its response to my question "What's your favourite movie?" was "I want my MTV." That's a missed opportunity if I've ever heard one. It gets even better when you try to hold a conversation. With that familiar computerised diction from every movie about a robot killer, 'Him' stumbles through conversations like a desperately awkward teenage boy on a first date: "Where are you?" "Did you watch True Detective?" "Yes." "Great show, right?" "Yeah, I guess..." "Did you hear about that thing that happened yesterday?" "What thing?" "I can't believe you didn't hear about that thing!" Teasing aside, the technology is pretty cool. The voice recognition on Google Chrome is decent enough to make it work and the experience of talking to a machine is surreal and strangely compelling. However its creator has no real aspirations to take the idea further. "I think it'll take a few more years before it breaks through and becomes mainstream," he said. Johansson instead started the site as a form of "self-expression". When asked what he hoped others would get out of interacting with it, he said to Coolhunting, "I just hope people realise what a badass digital creative I am!" Badass being the operative word. If everyone's OS voices are tailored to each user, then 'Him' is definitely for some hip skater guy who still uses the word 'ill' as a synonym for 'cool'. 'Him' and I might both have a soft spot for the Beastie Boys and Bill Murray, but I won't be falling in love any time soon. Via Cool Hunting.
The year is 1987. One way or another, the residents of Hawkins, Indiana that viewers know and love will have their last experience with the eeriness that's been plaguing their town for years. That's the promise of Stranger Things' long-awaited fifth and final season, even if the hit Netflix show saying goodbye won't be the end of the franchise's universe. Audiences, start looking forward to 2025. More than two years after season four's arrival — a wait extended due to 2023's Hollywood strikes — the streaming platform has confirmed that Stranger Things will be back in 2025. More than that, it has revealed a few key details. The first: that the new season will be set in the fall of 1987, which means a jump from the fourth season's spring 1986 timing. The second: the titles of the eight upcoming episodes. [caption id="attachment_978610" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Atsushi Nishijima/Netflix © 2024[/caption] There's no specific release date yet, other than 2025 — and nothing more in terms of a storyline, either. But if you feel like obsessing over the episode monikers for clues, you've now got eight hints. The season will kick off with 'The Crawl', then deliver 'The Vanishing of ...', 'The Turnbow Trap' and 'Sorcerer'. Next comes 'Shock Jock', 'Escape From Camazotz' and 'The Bridge', before it all ends with the enticingly named 'The Rightside Up'. Netflix unveiled the titles with a teaser video that's just text on-screen, plus the familiar — and always-welcome — sounds of the Stranger Things theme. Wondering who or what vanishes? The details are also part of the episode name, but the spoiler part has been blurred out to keep everyone guessing. Fans already know, however, that this season features Terminator franchise icon Linda Hamilton, jumping from one sci-fi hit to another. That said, there's no news yet on who she'll play, where she'll fit in, what relationship that she'll have with the usual Hawkins crew, how many episodes that she'll feature in or if she'll be visiting the Upside Down — or how pivotal she'll be to the show's big farewell. And as for more Stranger Things-related antics after season five, when creators Matt and Ross Duffer revealed that their sci-fi show was working towards its endgame back in 2022, they also said that they had more stories to tell in this fictional realm. Instantly, we all knew what that meant. Netflix doesn't like letting go of its hits easily, after all, so the quest to find a way to keep wandering through this franchise was about as surprising as Jim Hopper's (David Harbour, Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) usual gruff mood. Check out the title tease video for season five below: Stranger Things season five will arrive some time in 2025 — we'll update you when an exact release date is announced. You can stream the first four seasons now via Netflix — and read our review of season four. Images: Netflix.
"They're hard and they're brutal and they're specific, but I know how to do it." So says Carmy (Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw) to his brother Michael (Jon Bernthal, Origin) in the flashback that opens the full trailer for The Bear season three. How true that claim will prove is the focus of this new batch of episodes — and, based on this latest sneak peek, it's going to be anything but an easy journey. What happens when a sandwich diner levels up in a big way, becoming a fine-diner that's angling for a spot among Chicago's very best restaurants, chasing perfection and a Michelin star? Fans of The Bear will soon find out. As not only the just-dropped new glimpse shows, but also two earlier teaser trailers, culinary chaos remains on the menu alongside the rotating array of dishes that Carmy keeps conjuring up in the name of kitchen creativity. Whether Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Bottoms) is advising that "this is a dysfunctional kitchen" or Carmy and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings) are asking her to "show me a functional one" in response, the three trailers are teeming with the hustle and bustle of the trio, and their colleagues, friends and family, working through the reality of having made their hospitality dreams come true. In season three, The Bear's namesake restaurant is now open, after Carmy, Sydney, Richie and the team transformed their beef-slinging eatery (where season one's action took place) into an upscale restaurant (with that process fuelling season two). But staying operational is still a struggle, especially with such higher stakes after the revamp and rebrand. [caption id="attachment_954671" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chuck Hodes/FX[/caption] How that pans out will be revealed on Thursday, June 27 both in the US and Down Under. In the past, there's always been a wait for Aussie and NZ viewers — season one hit in June in America, then in August in Australia; with season two, US viewers still had a June date, while Aussies and New Zealanders had to wait till July — but thankfully that isn't the case this time. Comfort food and winter do go hand in hand, after all — and since 2022, so has this dramedy and the frostiest time of the year Down Under. It was two years back that The Bear debuted to become one of the best new shows on television. In 2023, it then became one of the best returning shows on TV that year. The Bear was renewed for season three in November 2023 to the surprise of no one, but to the joyous shouts of "yes chef!" from everyone. Also, even though that third season hasn't yet dropped, it looks as if the show has been renewed for its fourth season already as well. If you've missed The Bear so far, its first season jumped into the mayhem when Carmy took over the diner after his brother's death. Before returning home, the chef's resume featured Noma and The French Laundry, as well as awards and acclaim. Then, in season two, Carmy worked towards turning the space into an upscale addition to his hometown's dining scene, with help from the restaurant's trusty team — including a roster of talent also spans Abby Elliott (Indebted) as Carmy's sister Natalie, aka Sugar, plus Lionel Boyce (Hap and Leonard), Liza Colón-Zayas (In Treatment), Edwin Lee Gibson (Fargo) and IRL chef Matty Matheson among the other staff. Check out the full trailer for The Bear season three below: The Bear streams via Disney+ in Australia and New Zealand, with season three arriving on Thursday, June 27. Read our review of season one and review of season two.
It's the source of many a childhood argument, and plenty more between adults as well. Thanks to its ever-growing range of themed versions, it has let players buy everything from Game of Thrones' King's Landing to AFC Richmond's Nelson Road Stadium from Ted Lasso. And, it's now rolling into its own IRL bricks-and-mortar space Down Under, letting everyone pass go and soak in all things Monopoly at a brand-new Melbourne theme park called Monopoly Dreams. Monopoly Dreams already exists in Hong Kong, but now it's Australia's turn. The Monopoly-loving space will unfurl its pieces at Melbourne Central, located across 1700 square metres in the CBD shopping centre's lower ground level, and opening in September to kick off spring with board-game love. If you're wondering what a Monopoly theme park entails, that's hardly surprising — and the answer isn't just a life-sized version of the game that everyone has played more than once. Rather, the venue is taking a chance on bringing Monopoly elements beyond the board, building a Monopoly city that includes water works, the electric company, the bank and Mr Monopoly's mansion. And yes, there's a jail. Presumably you don't go directly there upon entering, but you can get your mugshot taken within its walls. When you walk through the doors, you'll also find carnival games. It wouldn't be a theme park based on a board game if playing games wasn't a big part of the attraction, of course. Expect challenges as well — and, in the mansion, there'll also be a vault and gallery, alongside a 4D cinema screening a movie about Mr Monopoly and his dog Scottie touring Melbourne locations — as well as the opportunity to create your own customised Monopoly title deed. For bites to eat, patrons can hit up the Monopoly cafe. And if all this Monopoly talk has you wanting to play Monopoly or buy Monopoly merchandise, Monopoly Dreams will also feature Australia's first and only dedicated Monopoly store, too. Catering for audiences of all ages — so, you'll have kids for company, but it's open for adults without children in tow — Monopoly Dreams will take visitors around 60–90 minutes to enjoy the full experience. Monopoly Dreams will open in September at Melbourne Central, Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Head to the venue's website for further details.
It's starting to feel like every weekend one of our favourite inner-west music havens, Vic on the Park, is hosting one must-attend event or another. Not that we're complaining. On Saturday, October 4 it's the Junkyard Festival at the Vic. The Junkyard Festival is held bimonthly in Sydney's inner west, showcasing some pretty sweet local music. The lineup sees a string of local favourites such as Deep Sea Arcade, Chicks Who Love Guns, The Upskirts, Doc Holiday Takes the Shotgun and Grease Arrestor playing in the Vic's beloved carpark. Supplementing all this live music goodness, the crew have also got some solid DJ action going on in the form of Palms, Tsars, Zero Likes, Ok Cocaine, Bachelor Pad, Bust Lip and Simbles. Doors open at 1pm and runs till late. Entry is completely free, however RSVPs are encouraged. Drinks are recommended. https://youtube.com/watch?v=o-ptmVMRGlY
No matter who's starring in them, when and where they're set, and whether they're showing on the big or small screen, romantic comedies love telling tales about trying to hold onto a good thing. Two people meet, fall for each other — whether immediately or eventually — and do whatever it takes to enjoy their romantic bliss: that's it, that's the familiar rom-com formula. It's a setup that TV series Starstruck has been both adhering to and unpacking over the past two years, too, thanks to its glorious first season in 2021 and just-as-wonderful second run in 2022. And, because HBO knows that it should also hold onto a good thing, the Rose Matafeo-starring show has just been renewed for a third season. Instantly one of the best of new shows of last year — and already one of the best returning series of this year — Starstruck will continue its take on a trusty rom-com storyline over a third batch of episodes. That premise: falling for a stranger who happens to be a famous actor, then trying to make that fairy tale relationship work. And yes, Matafeo — who stars, writes and created the series — well and truly knows that Notting Hill got there first. She plays Jessie, a New Zealander in her lates twenties who's living in London and, when the show begins, is splitting her time between working in a cinema and nannying. Jessie (Matafeo, Baby Done) also isn't expecting much when her best friend and roommate Kate (Emma Sidi, Pls Like) drags her out to a bar on New Year's Eve. For most of the evening, that lack of enthusiasm proves accurate — but then she meets Tom (Nikesh Patel, Four Weddings and a Funeral). That night, she ends up back at his sprawling flat, only to realise the next morning that he's one of the world's biggest movie stars. In what's proven a wonderful showcase for Matafeo — and a savvily smart exploration of rom-com tropes as well, embracing and subverting them as needed — both Starstruck's first and second seasons have followed what happens next for Jessie and Tom. Obviously, their attempts to hold onto a good thing haven't flowed smoothly. Nodding to romantic comedies such as The Graduate, Love Actually and Bridget Jones' Diary has also come with the territory, amusingly, affectionately and astutely so. Announcing the renewal, Matafeo said "a third? Sure. Fine. I'm truly thrilled to bring this incredibly talented cast back for a third instalment, and equally excited to clamber into the director's seat alongside my nice friend Alice Snedden, who I cannot seem to get rid of." Matafeo co-writes Starstruck with fellow comedians Alice Snedden and Nic Sampson — and, yes, Matafeo and Snedden will also direct the third season. Exactly when the new episodes will arrive hasn't yet been revealed, but the turnaround between season one and two was quick. When they do drop, expect to see them Down Under via ABC iView in Australia and TVNZ OnDemand in New Zealand. In the interim, check out the trailer for Starstruck's second season below: Starstruck will return for a third season, with a release date yet to be announced. Starstruck's first and second seasons are available to stream in Australia via ABC iView and in New Zealand via TVNZ OnDemand. Read our full review of Starstruck's first season — and our full review of its second season, too. Images: Mark Johnson/HBO Max.
The Dune universe is returning to the small screen. Over the past four decades, the franchise started on the page by Frank Herbert has hit cinemas three times so far, thanks to David Lynch's 1984 film, plus the current spicy cinema saga starring Timothée Chalamet (Wonka) and Zendaya (Euphoria). In the 00s, it also spread sandy across TV via two miniseries. Now, because everything in pop culture has to span both movies and television at the same time, HBO has made six-part prequel series Dune: Prophecy. Due to arrive in spring 2024 Down Under, with an exact release date still to be revealed, the new Dune show sits in the same world as both 2021 standout Dune: Part One and this year's Dune: Part Two — but there'll be no Paul Atreides or Chani. Rather, Dune: Prophecy is set amid the Bene Gesserit 10,000 years before the birth of Paul. HBO has dropped a first teaser trailer for the series, which follows the sect that gives rise to the Bene Gesserit, aka the sisterhood that secretly sways the universe. In the debut sneak peek, the narration explains how the faction formed, and was "assigned to the great houses to help them sift truth from lies" — but also notes that that power comes with a price. Cue plenty of plotting, especially to get a sister onto the throne. Cue lurking in dramatically shadowy spaces as well, as schemes are hatched. Rituals, battles, marriages: they all pop up, too, in a series that's inspired by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson's novel Sisterhood of Dune. While no familiar faces from Denis Villeneuve's (Blade Runner 2049) Dune movies feature in the trailer, the show's cast includes Emily Watson (Small Things Like These), Olivia Williams (The Crown), Travis Fimmel (Boy Swallows Universe), Jodhi May (Renegade Nell), Mark Strong (Tár), Sarah-Sofie Boussnina (The Colony), Josh Heuston (Heartbreak High) and Jessica Barden (You & Me). On the big screen, there's also more Dune to come, with the tale of Paul, aka sci-fi's spiciest man, set to continue in a third Dune film that doesn't yet have a release date. Check out the first teaser trailer for Dune: Prophecy below: Dune: Prophecy will stream from sometime in spring 2024, including via Binge in Australia — we'll update you when an exact release date is announced. Read our reviews of Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two, and our interview with cinematographer Greig Fraser.
When season five of Stranger Things arrives, it'll bring with it a big ending, wrapping up the Netflix hit for good after the next batch of episodes. Yes, everything from Succession to Barry is also saying farewell these days, but Stranger Things won't be completely dropping off the radar — it has spinoffs to slip into your streaming queue, including a just-announced new animated series. Back in 2022 when Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer revealed that their sci-fi show was working towards its endgame, they also said that they had more stories to tell in this fictional — and sometimes Upside Down — realm. Instantly, we all knew what that meant. Netflix doesn't like letting go of its hits easily, after all, so the quest to find a way to keep wandering through this franchise was about as surprising as Jim Hopper's (David Harbour, Violent Night) usual gruff mood. "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but — as you'll soon see for yourselves — we are now hurtling towards our finale. Season four will be the penultimate season; season five will be the last," the Duffers said at the time. "There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures and unexpected heroes," the Duffers continued. Cue the upcoming Stranger Things cartoon, which doesn't yet have a name, but will boast the Duffer brothers as executive producers. Obviously, it's headed to Netflix. "We've always dreamed of an animated Stranger Things in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up loving, and to see this dream realised has been absolutely thrilling," the siblings said, announcing the new show. There's no word yet on when the animated series will arrive, what it'll focus on and who'll be among its voices. If you're devoted to the OG cast, start crossing your fingers that some or all of Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown (Enola Holmes 2), Finn Wolfhard (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio), Noah Schnapp (Waiting for Anya), Winona Ryder (The Plot Against America), Charlie Heaton (The Souvenir: Part II), Joe Keery (Free Guy), Gaten Matarazzo (The Angry Birds Movie 2), Caleb McLaughlin (Concrete Cowboy), Sadie Sink (The Whale), Natalia Dyer (Things Seen & Heard) and Maya Hawke (Do Revenge) are involved. Netflix did just reveal that it's getting the Scott Pilgrim vs the World cast back together to voice an anime continuation of that beloved flick, after all. There's no sneak peek at the animated Stranger Things series as yet, either, but you can check out the trailer for season four below: The Stranger Things animated series doesn't yet have a release date, but we'll update you when one is announced. You can the OG series via Netflix. Read our review of season four. Images: courtesy of Netflix.
Australians have hotly anticipated the opening of the very first Il Mercato Centrale in Melbourne ever since it was first announced in 2022. At that time, it was expected to launch late the same year. But it's now 2024, and we still have no hard date for its opening. The highly ambitious venture came across a heap of setbacks, as the team behind it is determined to create a hospitality venue unlike anything that Melbourne has ever seen. All the red tape has now been sorted, however, and construction is charging ahead at 546 Collins Street at lightning speed. [caption id="attachment_856983" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Il Mercato Centrale in Turin[/caption] First off, the 3500-square-metre space, spread across three stories, truly is enormous. The first floor will have a market feel to it but with more flash, fun and tech. Each of the vendors will be slinging their own specialty goods, with none competing with the other. There'll be a bakery, patisserie, pasta shop, pizza joint, cheese maker, butcher and seafood stall, to name a few. Here, you can get fresh produce to take away or order it to be cooked up right in front of you. That means that you can buy a steak to eat at home or ask them to pop it on the grill while you start on some wine that you ordered from the bar right in the centre of the ground floor. Want to make it a surf and turf? Order some grilled calamari from the seafood stall next door and create your own feast. Conveniently, you'll be able to order from any and all vendors all in one transaction by using a QR code — or even pre-order from your office to pick up when it's ready. It going to be one of the easiest Melbourne food halls to order from. Then, on the second floor of Melbourne's Il Mercato Centrale, you'll find a fine-dining restaurant, cocktail bar, pasta restaurant (all made by hand), pizzeria, gelateria, wine bar, a gin and vodka distillery, and live music stage. We told you, it's huge. Up here, you'll even be able to order some of the food from downstairs to be delivered to you. Say you're sipping on a negroni at the bar upstairs and get a bit hungry. All you've got to do is order a cheeseboard and perhaps some slices of pizza on your phone, and the team will bring it up to you. If it all works out how the crew wants it to, it will be a huge feat of tech and service ingenuity. The top floor of Il Mercato Centrale will then be dedicated to private events and masterclasses, where each of the vendors will run workshops on their particular trades each month. [caption id="attachment_856981" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Il Mercato Centrale Rome[/caption] There will even be a big outdoor seating area right on Collins Street, something that was not easy for the Il Mercato Centrale team to secure. Taking Concrete Playground on a tour of the site, General Manager Gary Patikkis couldn't share the details about the outside area, but he noted that it is set to be unlike any other street-level drinking and dining space in the CBD. The venue will have a 3am liquor license (another rarity for new venues in Melbourne) and be open until from 7am–12am every day of the week. Patikkis was reluctant to share any opening dates, but rest assured that Il Mercato Centrale is coming. And Melburnians and visitors alike hopefully won't have to wait much longer before being able to dine on a massive range of Italian eats in the Victorian capital's CBD. [caption id="attachment_856978" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Il Mercato Centrale Firenze[/caption] Mercato Centrale Melbourne is set to open at 546 Collins Street, Melbourne. We'll share more information as it is announced, and you can head to the venue's website in the interim. Top image: Il Mercato Centrale Milan.
Few labels have had the broad appeal and lasting success that Finnish design house Marimekko has enjoyed over the past six decades. Launching in a Helsinki restaurant in 1951, the label experienced a surge in popularity in the 1960s. Its bold prints and distinctive outfits were symptomatic of changes occurring at the time in both design and, more broadly, culture: liberation and defying expectation. Now, to celebrate this legendary brand, a large-scale exhibition is coming to Victoria. It will run from March 3–June 11, 2018, at the Bendigo Art Gallery — its only Australian stop. Original sketches, fabrics and other archival material will track the label's story. The exhibition will also highlight the revolutionary artists behind the brands unique aesthetic and feature many examples of the fashion and homewares designs including the iconic red 'Unikko' poppy print. For true enthusiasts, a number of events have been scheduled to coincide with the three-month residency, including talks by exhibition designer Megan Atkins and senior curator Leanne Fitzgibbon. On Saturday, April 14, the gallery will also host a 60s-themed party — BYO glad rags and groovy moves. Tickets to the exhibition are $15 and are available here.
If you're looking for another reason to be proud of this wide, brown land that we call Australia, have you considered becoming a huge fan of our indie games scene? Like our musicians who grace festival stages overseas, and movies that go gangbusters at foreign box offices, Aussie-made indies regularly take the internet by storm and garner awards around the world. With increased development funding from state and federal governments, the future is looking bright for Australian games. But there are already a bunch of bangers you can download and play today — like the five below. UNPACKING Who would've thought that one of the most arduous personal tasks that you can undertake would turn out to be such great fodder for a game? Developed by Brisbane-based studio Witch Beam, Unpacking puts you in the shoes of a woman as she opens unmarked boxes and distributes her belongings throughout the various spaces that she moves into over the course of her life, starting with her childhood bedroom and carrying through university dorms, sharehouses and more. It's immensely satisfying gameplay, with enough of a puzzle element to add rewarding "aha!" moments throughout. Despite having no dialogue and very little text, Unpacking is rich with a narrative borne through details, from the items that stay with its character over the course of her life to the limitations you encounter when trying to fit yourself into certain living situations. And, without giving too much away, there is a twist at the end of moving into your boyfriend's apartment that will send your emotions skyrocketing. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5, iOS, Android. UNTITLED GOOSE GAME There's no more succinct way to sum up Untitled Goose Game than the opening line of the description written by Melbourne-based developers House House: "it is a lovely morning in the village, and you are a horrible goose". As you might have guessed, this game sees you controlling a feathered menace whose sole purpose is to sow gentle chaos throughout a quintessential small English town. Each area has a checklist of broad objectives — from stealing a farmer's keys to trapping a small boy in a phone booth — and it's up to you to figure out how they can be achieved by honking, flapping, waddling around and generally being a mischievous little shit. With graphics that could've come straight from a children's book and a soundtrack based on Debussy's Preludes that reacts to what you do in the game, it's an experience both refined and hilarious — and, thanks to a multiplayer update, you and a friend can live out your avian scamp dreams together. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5. HOLLOW KNIGHT Metroidvania is a genre with almost four decades of history behind it — the name springs from Metroid and Castlevania, which both debuted in the 80s — so for a modern iteration to be considered a masterpiece, it has to come correct. Hollow Knight, developed by Adelaide's Team Cherry, satisfies that requirement. Set in an underground insect kingdom decimated by a supernatural plague, you play as the Knight, a little sword-wielding bug who must descend into the gloomy ruins to discover what happened, as well as the part you play in what comes next. With tight, frenetic combat, brutal boss battles, compelling exploration, a stirring soundtrack and gorgeous, moody visuals, it's a game that will command your attention for a long time. Sequel Silksong is tantalisingly just over the horizon, so there's never been a better time to start your descent into Hallownest. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5. THE FROG DETECTIVE TRILOGY The intersection of the Venn diagram of 'crime' and 'wholesome' is razor slim, but sitting dead in the centre is the Frog Detective trilogy, developed by Worm Club out of Melbourne. As the name suggests, you're Frog Detective — the second-best detective around, in fact — and, over the course of three cases, you tackle a potential ghost, an invisible wizard and a hat thief, conducting your investigations in first person with the help of your trust magnifying glass and notebook. The blocky, bright polygonal art is both retro and adorable, and your interactions with the various characters that inhabit each game are relentlessly charming. It's not the most taxing game in terms of puzzles — you'll mostly be finding objects and giving them to the right person — but that makes the Frog Detective series the perfect entry-level games to enjoy with kids. Of course, if you're an adult that loves cute and funny experiences, it's perfect for you too. Available on: PC/Mac. THE ARTFUL ESCAPE We've all had dreams of becoming a rock star. In The Artful Escape by Melbourne's Beethoven & Dinosaur, you can live out this fantasy on a cosmic scale. The game sees you controlling Francis Vendetti, the teenage nephew of a deceased folk music legend who is about to make his debut performing his uncle's songs. The only problem: he doesn't want to simply strum, he wants to wail. A chance encounter sends him out into the universe to overcome his doubts and find his true artistic self, the details of which are in your hands. It features a star-studded voice cast (Rocky's Carl Weathers, Wes Anderson favourite Jason Schwartzman, Kingsman's Mark Strong and Game of Thrones' Lena Headey all lend their talents), plus a story that balances heartfelt and hilarious deftly. On the gameplay front, it tends towards simplicity, with basic platforming and Simon Says-esque button prompts forming the bulk of the experience; however, it more than makes up for this with a eye-wateringly psychedelic visual spectacle and a button dedicated to searing guitar solos. Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5.
Some of gothic horror's greatest masterpieces foresaw their longevity. Bram Stoker's Dracula will never die, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein will never stop being brought to life, either. Shake & Stir Theatre Co took on the former back in 2015 and 2017, in a brand-new world-premiere stage production that sunk its fangs into the most famous vampire tale there is. Now, the South Brisbane-based theatre company has turned its attention to Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Shake & Stir's new version of Frankenstein debuted in Queensland in 2023, and will now head to Melbourne and Sydney before 2024 is out. The story remains the same as it has since 1818, of course, following a young scientist tormented by grief, a bold push to thwart mortality, plus the consequences sparked by his act of playing god. And, as always, it covers the impact upon the being that's spliced together, jolted into existence, yearns to belong, but is swiftly and cruelly shunned. "Gothic fiction is a passion of the company, and Shelley's ground-breaking novel, credited for both its gothic roots and for pioneering the science fiction genre, presents an excitingly monstrous challenge in mounting it for the stage," said Shake & Stir Co-Artistic Director Nick Skubij, who is also directing Frankenstein, when the Brisbane season was announced. "We couldn't be more excited to be presenting this brilliant production to audiences in Melbourne and Sydney. Those eager to see an absolute classic story live on stage will be appeased, along with those hungry to be impressed by new theatrical forms," added Skubij about the new seasons. "This production invites audiences on a journey into the mind of a madman and they will see things on stage that they've seldom seen before. This is Shelley's classic story told in a brand-new, hi-tech monster of a show. Multiple axis of automation, over 140 square metres of LED video panels, pyrotechnics and a cinematic, sweeping score — all working seamlessly together to bring Shelly's tale to visceral life." Accordingly, audiences at Melbourne's Princess Theatre from Friday, August 23–Sunday, September 1 and Sydney Theatre Royal from Saturday, September 28–Sunday, October 13, 2024 can expect an immersive performance that steps through Shelley's classic — and with a big emphasis on production design. Think: those video and digital elements playing a hefty part, and the meticulous sound design setting the mood. Shake & Stir's Frankenstein follows not only Dracula, but also Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, A Christmas Carol, Macbeth, Othello, Animal Farm, The Twits, Fantastic Mr Fox and Romeo & Juliet among the company's looks backwards. In the past few years, the theatre group has brought Fourteen and Tae Tae in the Land of Yaaas! — both personal stories, with the first based on the memoir of the same name — to the stage as well. The oft-adapted Frankenstein is no stranger to audiences, including earning a stunning Royal National Theatre iteration by Danny Boyle (Yesterday) starring Benedict Cumberbatch (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar) and Jonny Lee Miller (Guy Ritchie's The Covenant) in 2011 — with the two actors rotating roles between Victor and the creature each night — that's been playing cinemas worldwide ever since thanks to NT Live. With Shake & Stir's take, Skubij sees the timelessness of the work, plus the current parallels. "It's been fascinating to consider this incredible work dealing with themes of advancement, progress and pushing the limits of possibility alongside contemporary advances in AI technology today. The story could not be more relevant," he noted. "Like Victor Frankenstein's creation, AI is arguably neither good nor bad; it's how it's built and used that dictates its legacy." "Frankenstein's monster is just that: a living, breathing 'being' far superior in capabilities than any natural human could ever be. But what are the consequences of using science to play God?" Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Adapted by Shake & Stir Theatre Co Dates: Friday, August 23–Sunday, September 1, 2024 — Princess Theatre, Melbourne Saturday, September 28–Sunday, October 13, 2024 — Sydney Theatre Royal, Sydney Shake & Stir Theatre Co's Frankenstein will play Melbourne in August and September 2024, and Sydney in September and October 2024. Head to the production's website for further information — and for tickets from Friday, May 17. Images: Joel Devereaux.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee has just wrapped up its two-week long meeting in Manama, Bahrain, during which it added a further 19 sites to the World Heritage List — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's list of landmarks and areas that are legally protected due to their significance. Thirteen of the new sites have been selected for their cultural importance, three are sites with noteworthy natural features, and the remaining three fall into both the natural and cultural categories. The list of the new cultural sites chosen is as follows: Aasivissuit-Nipisat. Inuit hunting ground between ice and sea in Denmark. Al-Ahsa Oasis, an evolving cultural landscape in Saudi Arabia. Ancient city of Qalhat in Oman. Archaeological border complex of Hedeby and the Danevirke in Germany. Caliphate city of Medina Azahara in Spain. Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. Hidden Christian sites in the Nagasaki region in Japan. Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century in Italy. Naumburg Cathedral in Germany. Sansa, Buddhist Mountain monasteries in Korea in the Republic of Korea. Sassanid archaeological landscape of Fars region in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thimlich Ohinga archaeological site in Kenya. Victorian Gothic and Art Deco ensembles of Mumbai in India. Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains in South Africa, the Chaine des Puys — Limagne fault tectonic arena in France and Fanjingshan in China have been selected as the new natural sites. Meanwhile, the new mixed sites are Chiribiquete National Park, aka 'The Maloca of the Jaguar' in Colombia' Pimachiowin Aki in Canada and Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley's originary habitat of Mesoamerica in Mexico. In addition, the committee approved the expansion of one natural site: Central Sikhote-Alin in the Bikin River Valley in Russia. The World Heritage List now includes 1092 different sites spread across 167 countries. Perusing the full list is certain to get you marvelling at the planet's many wonders — and give you some serious travel inspiration.
Based on acclaimed author Jo Nesbo's novel, and from the producers of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Headhunters tells the story of Roger Brown (Askel Henni), a charming villain whose life is turned upside down through greed. Introduced as Norway's most successful headhunter, Roger seems to have it all, married to gorgeous gallery owner Diana (Synnøve Macody Lund) and living lavishly. However, his penchant for art theft leaves him in a dangerous position. At a gallery opening Roger is introduced to Dutchman Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a former mercenary who is in possession of one of the most sought-after paintings in modern art history. As Roger starts planning his biggest hit ever in order to become financially independent, he uncovers a secret which which takes him on a whirlwind series of events from society's financial and industrial elite to an underworld of contract killers and swindlers. Summit recently obtained the rights to make a US version of Headhunters, and Mark Wahlberg recently gave the film a huge tick of approval on internet site ShortList. We recommend you watch this Norwegian original before it falls in the hands of Hollywood. To win one of ten double passes to see Headhunters, just make sure you are subscribed to Concrete Playground then email your name and postal address through to hello@concreteplayground.com.au
While the haters may declare it a corporate conspiracy and serial bachelor/ettes may describe it as an excuse for gross displays of schmaltz, if you flee from the typical pratfalls of heart-shaped chocolates and plush animals, Sydney actually has a lot of awesome date opportunities on offer this Valentine's Day. From moonlight cinemas to swanky art exhibitions to kick-ass concerts, our top five ways to spend Valentine's Day will not only help you avoid all manner of cliches and teenage insipidity but actually provide you with the recipe for a genuinely romantic night out this February 14. 1. Late Night at the MCA From its breathtaking panoramic views of Sydney Harbour to its eclectic and endlessly fascinating international collection, headlined by Anish Kapoor's awe-inspiring body of work, we at Concrete Playground are total suckers for the revamped and revitalised Museum of Contemporary Art. Most importantly for those hoping to get the chemistry a-bubbling and the sparks a-flying, Thursday means late-night entry at the MCA, so this Valentine's Day you and your significant other can gesticulate about modern art even as the stars are shining through the gallery's gorgeous floor-to-ceiling windows. To complete the romantic package head to Ananas for super-jazzy vibes and unreal French cuisine and Palmer & Co. for a couple of classy, clandestine after-dinner cocktails. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 140 George St, The Rocks. Open till 9pm. 2. Breakfast at Tiffany's at Moonlight Cinema While perhaps not as high brow as its Macquarie Chair cousin, the Opel Moonlight Cinema has become a cultural mainstay of the Sydney summer, offering a range of contemporary, cult, and classic flicks in the beautiful garden ambience of Centennial Park. For Valentine's Day, the Moonlight Cinema is cranking up the romance and old-school charm with a screening of the Audrey Hepburn-led classic Breakfast at Tiffany's. If you wish to make this February 14 a particularly memorable affair, we suggest forking out a few extra dollars for a Gold Grass ticket, which will not only reserve you a spot in prime viewing position but a big ol' beanbag, perfect for some Valentine's Day canoodling. Couples looking for kick-ons in a luxurious champagne bar should head to One Moncur for an elegant yet affordable after-movie venue. Belvedere Amphitheatre, Centennial Park (on the corner of Loch Avenue and Broome Avenue) Paddington. Cinema gates and box office open at 7pm and screenings start at sundown. 3. Jens Lekman at the Oxford Art Factory With song titles like 'The End of the World is Bigger than Love' and 'I Know What Love Isn't', it's fair to say Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman ain't likely to make it onto a Richard Mercer playlist anytime soon. Instead, Lekman offers a refreshingly unique brand of baroque-pop that combines his trademark wit and lyrical virtuosity with a sweeping sonic pallet that touches on everything from Morrisey-esque crooning to jazz-lite grooving to stomping indie pop. Oh, and then when you least expect it, the songs turn into the most beautiful, melt-your-heart romanticism. Oxford Art Factory, Basement, 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 4. Spiegelworld Presents Empire Described by the New York Times as "Cirque du Soleil channelled through Rocky Horror Picture Show", Empire is a bewildering and bizarre world of flying bodies, titilating costumes, and jaw-dropping stunts. Part travelling circus part variety show and part cabaret act, the thrill of Empire lies in its ability to regularly shock, occasionally appall and consistently enthral, as it did to rave reviews in its recent New York run. Set in an intimate 700-person travelling tent and adorned with plush velvet booths, Empire is sure to be an offbeat and unforgettable Valentine's Day experience. Once you've had your fill of acrobats, contortionists, clowns that are actually funny (seriously), assorted daredevils and the 'Hot Russian Girl in a Bubble', head to The Apartment in nearby Surry Hills to try one of their famous Spanish cocktails, such as the delightfully named Aperolling with the Bulls. Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, 2021 5. Jurassic Lounge: Anti Valentine's Day As the name suggests, this isn't exactly your regular sugar-coated Valentine's Day schtick. In fact, Jurassic Lounge is so opposed to St Valentine's blessed day that it actually falls on February 12 (in their regular Tuesday slot). In a one-finger salute to couples across Sydney, Jurassic Lounge is putting on a collection of risque and raunchy events that celebrate all the perks and powers afforded to singletons. These include burlesque dancers, a tribe of love-hating comedians, sexy trivia, a silent disco, dating roulette, and a screening of Isabella Rossellini's Sundance series Green Porno, in which she re-enacts the mating rituals of various insects. It's another feather in the hat for Jurassic Lounge, who have transformed the traditionally drab and dreary Australian Museum into a fascinating and fabulous after-hours hangout, reminding us all just how cool dinosaurs and megafauna are. The Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, 2000 Image from Green Porno, screening at Jurassic Lounge.
Lycra-clad ladies of the 80s and 90s making their mark in a ruthless, consumer-driven and male-dominated world, all by getting active: as far as on-screen niches go, that's particularly niche. It's also growing, though. Back in 80s itself, Flashdance did it. Starring a fantastic Kirsten Dunst, the sadly cancelled-too-soon 2019 series On Becoming a God in Central Florida did as well. For three seasons from 2017–19, GLOW similarly stepped into the ring. And since 2021, Apple TV+'s Physical has, too. What a feeling indeed. Starring Rose Byrne in one of her best performances yet — slipping in smoothly alongside everything from Damages on the small screen to Two Hands, Bridesmaids, Bad Neighbours and Bad Neighbours 2 in cinemas — this 80s-set dark comedy series bends, stretches and struts through the world of aerobics. More than that, Physical uses getting physical in spandex as a flex, savvily examining the agency and control that women have over their lives, or don't, one squat and step at a time. That's a particular focus in the show's now-streaming second season, which is dropping new episodes weekly, and finds itself in the post-fairytale zone. What happens when your dreams actually seem to come true? That's season two's obsession. Season one didn't quite see Sheila Rubin (Byrne, Irresistible) get everything she'd ever fantasised about. Rather, it followed the San Diego housewife as she pursued something she didn't even know she wanted until her endorphins kicked in at an aerobics class. The series' first batch of ten episodes established Sheila's routine existence, one that women in her situation were expected to just and breeze through in the early 80s. Married to professor and aspiring politician Danny (Rory Scovel, I Feel Pretty), and also a mother to Maya (Grace Kelly Quigley, Killing Time), she hid her bitter unhappiness with a focus on physical perfection — complete with an eating disorder and fraying mental health for her troubles. Then, exercise became her path forward. In season two, Sheila is the star of her own fitness tape — and spruiking it, be it in supermarkets or by hosting public aerobics classes, has become her life. But while she's in control of every exercise move she makes, earning the same power in her relationships, and in business, isn't as straightforward. She's still stuck in a rut with Danny, to put it mildly. He reinvents himself as a house husband while she focuses on her career, but he's also clearly uncomfortable about no longer being the centre of attention. Sheila is still caught in a torrid affair with grim Mormon business developer John Breem (Paul Sparks, Castle Rock), too. And while she starts leaning on her wealthy and supportive best friend Greta (Dierdre Friel, Second Act) more, she's also unable to shake the engrained notion that needing anyone's help is a sign of weakness. Byrne plays Sheila with emotional dexterity to match the character's physical fitness. Her ability to segue from projecting strength and confidence in Sheila's efforts to establish her own lifestyle brand, to still grappling with the hurt and self-loathing that's long been festering inside, is masterful and phenomenal. And, while the internal monologue that tears its protagonist to shreds again and again isn't as prominent this time around, Physical's second season is deeply committed to understanding Sheila's complicated relationship with herself. It sees the solace she gains in her workouts, as well as the distress of her binge-purge cycle. It spies the inherent contradiction between the image she wants to project to the world, and monetise, and her real inner state. It doesn't shy away from how messy that contrast is, or the struggles of bulimia, or her unhealthily vicious mental tirades — and it doesn't judge, either, even if Sheila does still judge herself. As marvellous as Byrne remains in her leading part — as attuned to the show's balance of sharp comedy and bristling tension, too, all while shot with a beachside, decade-appropriate and fitness-attire sheen — she's gifted also-excellent costars. The camera often lingers on Byrne's face and the whirlwind of feelings it is usually endeavouring not to betray, and moments where she's the sole focus of attention come often. Many, including multiple instances in season two where she's physically in pain but attempting to soldier on, are an acting masterclass. But she's also a sight to behold and a force to be reckoned with when she's bouncing off of Scovel, who plays his part with a relaxed sense of goofiness masking an insidious streak of selfishness. The same holds true about Byrne's scenes with Sparks and Friel. And, it's also accurate with Della Saba (Stillwater) and Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story) as Bunny and Tyler — the aerobics instructor whose routine Sheila uses as inspiration for her own video and her surfer/stoner/videographer boyfriend. Season two also pairs Byrne with another Australian actor currently doing big things in America: The White Lotus scene-stealer Murray Bartlett. In a glorious piece of casting, he joins Physical as fellow aerobics instructor Vinnie Green, who Sheila seeks out when she wants to learn how to push her burgeoning aerobics empire into merchandise and infomercials. While Bartlett doesn't crap in anyone's suitcase here, his character plays a pivotal part in examining one of the season's core ideas: that truly having your shit together is a myth, no matter how much we'd all like to pretend otherwise. Indeed, for a series that's both candid and piercing about how its central figure sees herself — and what she has to do to tussle with that, all while carving out her own place in the world — Physical also understands and embraces how fraught and flawed it is to pursue perfection at all costs. On-screen, though, this smart and entertaining series from creator/writer/producer Annie Weisman (Suburgatory, The Path) does indeed have it all. That includes a staggering lead performance, a superb supporting cast and a complex premise unpacked with precision, as well as a pitch-perfect vibe and a killer 80s soundtrack. Check out the trailer for Physical season two below: Physical is available to stream via Apple TV+.
We've all got that one friend whose media diet exists solely of documentaries. They're usually, to be honest, the most interesting of us all wielding their accumulated eccentric knowledge. However, documentaries and doco-style films have long become mainstream and the capitalist marketplace has heard our hungry cries for more. Introducing DocPlay, the new Netflix for docos. It's an Australian and New Zealand-based service that lets you stream documentaries directly. Their libraries are stuffed full of all the big names — Blackfish, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Advanced Style — complemented by some niche Aussie and international titles with a big emphasis on music. A premium member fee of $6.95 a month (or $69.95 a year) will grant you access to their ever-growing library. And if sign up to a free account, you'll get access to their rotating selection of docos. This week features Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens, Academy Award winner The Cove, Ai Wewei: Never Sorry, and A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures amongst others. Not bad, not bad at all. If you don't want to cough up though, you can expect ads aplenty. It's still a pretty fresh service and can only get better with time. But anything that enables us to while away a Sunday watching back-to-back docos can only be good thing.
With a weekly listenership of 1.7 million and a strong following since 1995, the popular weekly hour-long radio program This American Life is due to make its debut in Australian cinemas. Filmed on a stage in New York City, This American Life — Live! is a packed show featuring stories by host Ira Glass, writers David Sedaris and David Rakoff, comic Tig Notaro and Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington, plus live music by OK Go. This live experience will encompass things you could never do on the radio, such as a new short film by Mike Birbiglia, dance by Monica Bill Barnes & Company, original animation, projected illustration and more. Glass is excited to see how it turns out: “We've built this line-up of stories mixed with super visual things," he says. "It's going to feel like the radio show but also totally unlike anything we've done before." A must-see event to be permanent-markered in, This American Life — Live! will screen in select cinemas around Australia.
Mark your calendars: if you've been hanging out for Triple J's One Night Stand to make its long-awaited comeback, the event has now locked in its 2024 date. While where the radio station's regional music festival will take place and who'll be hitting the stage hasn't been revealed as yet, everyone will be getting dancing on Saturday, September 14. Twenty years ago, the ABC station gave the Victorian town of Natimuk a day to remember when the spot 300 kilometres out of Melbourne hosted its very own major music fest, with Grinspoon, Eskimo Joe and The Dissociatives (aka Daniel Johns and Paul Mac) all getting behind the microphone. So began One Night Stand, which became a yearly tradition, with Triple J putting on a fest in different regional locations every year between 2004–2014, then again from 2016–2019. There's no prizes for guessing why One Night Stand hasn't taken place since 2020, but that gap in the event's history is finally coming to an end this year. Triple J announced the return of the festival back in April, then opened the call for folks to submit their towns to play host — and make a convincing case about their area — before one lucky place is chosen. Plenty of locations were put forward — a huge 2087, in fact. The winning spot and the lineup will be unveiled before July is out. The all-ages event is returning at time when the Australian live music scene has been suffering, and after a spate of festivals have been cancelling or saying farewell forever. In 2024 alone, both Groovin the Moo and Splendour in the Grass announced lineups, then scrapped this year's fests mere weeks later. Summergrounds Music Festival, which was meant to debut at Sydney Festival 2024, also didn't go ahead. As announced in 2023, Dark Mofo took a breather this year — and Mona Foma, the summer fest also held by Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art, has advised that its 2024 event was its last ever. With the state of the industry in mind, bringing back One Night Stand is not only much-needed and well-timed, but will also raise funds Support Act, the charity for the Australian music industry. In the past, the event has also been to Ayr, Dalby and Mt Isa in Queensland; Port Pirie, Tumby Bay and Lucindale in South Australia; Cowra and Dubbo in New South Wales; Collie and Geraldton in Western Australia; Sale and Mildura in Victoria; Alice Springs in the Northern Territory; and St Helens in Tasmania. And on the One Night Stand bill over the years? Flume, The Jungle Giants, G Flip, Hilltop Hoods, Silverchair, Pnau, Art vs Science, The Temper Trap, The Rubens, Rufus, Alison Wonderland, Peking Duk, Tash Sultana, Violent Soho, Tkay Maidza, Ocean Alley, Meg Mac, AB Original and more. 2024's triple j One Night Stand will take place on Saturday, September 14, with location and lineup details set to be revealed before the end of July. For more information in the interim, head to the radio station's website for more details.
In the lead-up to new Hollywood-set satire The Studio premiering its first season on Apple TV+, the streaming platform kept doing something that's a well-established element of the entertainment industry: name-dropping. This is the latest project from long-time collaborators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg after Superbad, Pineapple Express, This Is the End, Bad Neighbours and its sequel, The Interview, The Night Before and plenty more, with the pair co-creating, co-writing, co-directing and executive producing the series. Rogen (Mufasa: The Lion King) stars, with Catherine O'Hara (The Wild Robot), Ike Barinholtz (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Kathryn Hahn (Agatha All Along) and Chase Sui Wonders (City on Fire) rounding out the main cast. That's a starry group already. Across two trailers, however, a heap of guest parts and cameos were revealed — including for Bryan Cranston (Argylle), Zoë Kravitz (Blink Twice), Paul Dano (Fantasmas), Olivia Wilde (Don't Worry Darling), Charlize Theron (Fast X), Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Brave New World), Zac Efron (A Family Affair), Sarah Polley (Women Talking) Greta Lee (Past Lives), Ice Cube (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), Rebecca Hall (Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire), Adam Scott (Severance), Ron Howard (Jim Henson Idea Man) and Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon). A few days before the show's Wednesday, March 26, 2025 debut Down Under, the full list of well-known talents appearing on-screen arrived. Dave Franco (Love Lies Bleeding), Jean Smart (Hacks), Johnny Knoxville (The Luckiest Man in America), Josh Hutcherson (The Beekeeper), Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Ramy Youssef (Poor Things), Steve Buscemi (Transformers One), Zack Snyder (Rebel Moon), Aaron Sorkin (Being the Ricardos) and Parker Finn (Smile and Smile 2) are among them, too. It's clear through the roster of names, in The Studio's ten-part initial season itself, and from talking with a number of the show's cast and guiding forces: this is a series with the utmost of love for the art of making pictures, even as it savvily pokes fun at the whole business around movies. The task that Rogen and Goldberg have set themselves, and achieve winningly, is anchoring the act of parodying Tinseltown with details drawn from real-life experiences, assistance from that enviable lineup of Hollywood folks joining in and a celebratory insider spirit. Rogen plays Matt Remick, a film executive who has only ever wanted one job: to run the fictional Continental Studios. It doesn't take long for that dream to come true, or for the character to realise what being a studio head truly means. "I got into this because I love movies. But now I have this fear that my job is to ruin them," he tells his mentor and predecessor Patty Leigh (O'Hara). That line is indicative of The Studio's knack for turning reality into astute, acerbic but affectionate viewing — Rogen and Goldberg once heard it themselves, uttered by an IRL executive. "They're all really close to our experience in some way, shape or form," James Weaver — who co-runs Point Grey Pictures, the production company behind The Studio, with Rogen and Goldberg — tells Concrete Playground about the link between the series' characters and scenarios and actuality. That said, the team's own interactions across their careers were just the beginning. "We met with a lot of people in the industry who are friends of ours, who had run studios, et cetera, and tried to mine their experience for when we're not around. What do they say behind closed doors? And so I think we tried to have an understanding of what those conversations were like." Personal inspiration remains key across the show, though. "Giving a note to a filmmaker that you really respect, and a note that you know is not going to be popular, is something we've definitely had to do," Weaver continues. That 'been there, felt that' vibe is also crucial to the search for validation at the heart of The Studio. Everyone wants it, executives and megastars alike, whether by getting a gig, having their ideas heard, making a hit, leaving a legacy, winning awards, being thanked in public or being seen to have a worthy job. "Wanting to be thanked at an award show because that's the only evidence that you did anything on it is something that we've seen as well," Weaver advises. "I think we're hoping that that's coming through, that the authenticity of our experience is in the show, and that's partially, I think, what people seem to be liking." In Matt's Continental team, three fellow studio employees are rarely far from his side: Barinholtz's Sal Seperstein, another seasoned executive; Hahn's Maya Mason, the company's marketing head; and Wonders' Quinn Hackett, an up-and-comer. From their respective time in the business, each is familiar with the types of characters that they're portraying — and that knowledge played a part in their performances, sometimes directly and sometimes in a more general sense. "A lot of studio executives I've worked with over the years, some great, some not so great, but I pulled little moments from a lot of them and put them into Sal," Barinholtz notes. "I have not one specific person. What they wrote was what I basically followed. But as I was putting the costumes on, there's definitely some humans, one could say," Hahn says. For Wonders, "my best friend is an assistant to a director, and she is someone who's very precocious, very ready to take over the world, but definitely has to earn her stripes and bide her time, and I think lots of young, ambitious people can relate to that. So that's one person I had in mind." As Continental's execs weather everything from endeavouring to capitalise upon the intellectual property-driven movie trend by making a Kool-Aid flick to attempting to capture an expensive golden-hour one-take shot — plus missing footage, casting conundrums, trailer scandals, the Golden Globes and annual US movie theatre-owner convention CinemaCon — chaos is their baseline. Still, Wonders also sees the series as having "a big sense that if you love what you do and you do it with integrity, as sappy as that is, there is going to be something in it for you, some sort of goodwill that comes your way. I feel like these characters find they have sad lives where they just are so dedicated to this one thing, and at the end of the day they kind of find their family. So that's a nice universal message". [caption id="attachment_997078" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Apple TV+ via Getty Images.[/caption] And that oner? It isn't just a focus of a storyline within the show; long takes are also part of its own style. "It felt like every scene was a play, like you're doing a different play every scene — and just once you got dialled in, once we rehearsed and you knew what you were doing, it was really exhilarating to be in that zone," Barinholtz shares. "It's definitely more challenging, but then it's amazing how much you can accomplish," adds Hahn. "There's something heightened about doing it as a oner that I really, really love." We also chatted with Goldberg, Weaver, Barinholtz, Hahn and Wonders about the love that's baked into The Studio, that search for recognition that drives its characters, ensuring that the series is relatable far beyond Hollywood insiders, its visual approach, those cameos and more — including how Barinholtz and Hahn's past TV comedy roles on recent greats such as The Mindy Project, Parks and Recreation and The Afterparty came in handy. On How Everything in the Series, Jokes and Cameos Included, Filters Through the Show's Love for the Film Industry James: "At the beginning of the show, we really knew that this was going to be about having a show about how we love making movies. So I think it comes through the lens of that, everything that happens. So in terms of making jokes about A24 or some of the other companies that are in there, we've made movies with A24. They're great people. They do incredible work. And so I think the entire show is about our experience in Hollywood for the last 15 years, and I think we're trying to bring some truth and some sense of 'this is how it is', but also all through the lens of humour and fun. As far as the cameos, each of them came about in different ways. Some of them are people we've worked with in the past. Some people like Martin Scorsese or Zoë Kravitz, we met for the first time — and either through the script that Seth and Evan had written or through meetings, we talked to them about how we wanted to portray them in the show. And they were really excited and game. There is a history, whether it be The Player or The Larry Sanders Show, of Hollywood satirising itself. And so that was something that people understood, what we were going for, and people were really trusting and excited to be there. I think that we're not necessarily worried that people are going to see the show as some sort of takedown of Hollywood, because we love Hollywood and we love the fact that we get to make movies. It really is more of a presentation of our experience through the comedic lens than it is any takedown of the industry." On Barinholtz, Hahn and Wonders' First Impressions When The Studio Came Their Way Kathryn: "I mean, just to hear that these humans were involved. And I've never really worked with Seth and Evan together. And just the writing of it was just hilarious. And to think of these humans in those parts was really exciting. I couldn't wait to jump in." Chase: "They're telling very risky jokes, and I remember reading them on the page and thinking 'this is something I've heard behind closed doors, but never on television for all eternity'. So it's always good when you feel like you're doing something that's pushing boundaries." Ike: "I remember Seth called me and said 'hey, we're writing ...'. And I said 'I'm in'. And he said 'it's a show about Hollywood'. I said 'I'm in'. And he said 'Catherine O'Hara is going to be in it'. I said 'I'm in. I'm already in.'. It was the world's easiest 'yes'. It was just literally the world and the writing, and having them and Catherine — and Bryan Cranston, who is in really good physical shape. Beautiful body. It was the world's fastest and easiest 'yes'." On the Search for Validation That's at the Heart of the Show Evan: "I would say the nice thing about that element of the series is we set out not to make an aspirational version of Hollywood, but to make a real version of Hollywood. And that is the real version of Hollywood. People are very cynical and all that in the world today, but Hollywood is mostly people who are wildly passionate, care deeply and would rather do this than anything else in the world — no matter how high or low they are on the totem pole of success. People just are passionate in a way that most industries aren't. And so we get to tap into those hopes and dreams in making the show, merely by trying to replicate the real experiences we've had. And, of course, it doesn't always work out for people, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, but the passion is the thing that bleeds through it all." On the Importance of Balancing Satire and Affection for the Cast — and the Fact That The Studio Takes the Art of Filmmaking Very Seriously Chase: "I think it's important. And one thing Seth and Evan really tried to hit is the realism of the comedy, and comedy born of situations where people are just trying their hardest and it's just these doofuses who can't quite get it right. It also helps when our production design is impeccable, the way we filmed it is so high-level and it just naturally lends itself to a more elevated, smart type of comedy than just a slapstick sort of thing." Kathryn: "Because everything is so elevated, you really feel a certain responsibility to uphold the world around you and the filmmaking around you. And there is less opportunity for hamming around. So everything feels very focused in a way that keeps the energy legit and high and focused." Ike: "Could not say it better than they just did, so I won't." [caption id="attachment_997090" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Apple TV+ via Getty Images.[/caption] On How Barinholtz and Hahn's Past Work on Fellow TV Comedies Such as The Mindy Project, Parks and Recreation and The Afterparty Helped Them on the Path to The Studio Kathryn: "All good ensembles." Ike: "Yes, yes." Kathryn: "Great ensembles." Ike: "Great showrunners." Kathryn: "Yes." Ike: "Great writing." Kathryn: "Great writing." Ike: "We're lucky to have been through a lot of those and seen how they all work. And this was different than all those, just because they went about it a different way. But I think you learn every time you do a show, every time you do an episode of a show or whatever, you learn something, you learn a new trick. So it definitely makes it easier." On the Elements of the Series That Most Felt Real for the Cast and Crew James: "It all feels real to us. I mean, I think we day to day are in these conversations about what kind thing to get behind in terms of a movie or TV show — or who's a filmmaker or a performer that we really believe in. Then we have to have those conversations about 'how is this thing going to make people money?'. It's really this idea of art versus commerce that I think is at the centre of what the show is. But as Evan was just saying, I think then you put overlay that with characters who care deeply about doing something artistic, but also care deeply about not getting fired. And so I think those two ideas are butting up against each other at all times. And that feels very real. The executives that we've been working with for 15 years are friends of ours. We've watched them get married to each other and there's a lot of like, a lot of community, in terms of the people that this show is portraying. And so it all feels very real to us when it goes through that lens. Seth and Evan are also just very, very funny people. So when it comes to making the jokes and the scenarios out of the real thing, they're just very talented at making that funny and entertaining. But it comes from a real place, and I think that's why hopefully people like respond to the show." Ike: "I'm friends with a lot of people who are studio executives, and I think they like to drink a lot. And so I stole that, and I drink a lot in the show. In real life, moderation — but in the show, I have a problem." Kathryn: "Always moderation." Ike: "Always moderation. That's the takeaway." Chase: "I think also studio execs are people who wield a lot of power, but when they're put in front of actors, who are these big personalities, they can be very shy and kind of cower away. And that's something that's both really fun to play the comedy of and also show the humanity of these characters." Ike: "That's a good answer." Kathryn: "I definitely have been in things in which I've seen the mockups for the posters or the possible trailers, and clearly no one has seen the show or the movie. They're so wildly not what the movie's about." Ike: "Yes, yes, yes." On Making the Series Relatable Outside of Hollywood Ike: "I think that the guys, Seth and Evan, did a very good job — even though the show is undeniably set in this world of movies and studios and executives, I think a lot of the situations in each of these episodes are things that everyone has dealt with. We've all had a boss who's gotten too drunk. We've all wanted credit for something and we are afraid we're not going to get credit for it. We've all been jealous of a coworker at some point. So I think a lot of the themes that they deal with in the episodes are universal, and whether you are someone who works in entertainment or around entertainment, or you have nothing to do with entertainment, you'll recognise a lot of those themes and scenarios, and hopefully they'll make you laugh." Kathryn: "Chances are people watch entertainment, so they'll get an idea of what the situations are. But also it's made with love, and so I think that's a different thing, too. There's such care for these characters and there's such love for this business of making movies, and nobody's really tearing down anybody. And I think that that also feels fun for an audience, too." On the Visual Approach When You're Making a TV Series About Filmmaking Evan: "For our show, the method we filmed it came from two different sources. One was, directorially Seth and I have done a lot of improv comedy feature films where we do a wide shot, medium and we get cross coverage of closeups, and then in editing we mess with all the improv we did. And we just wanted to do something very different, so we thought long extended takes would be a great way to do that and to make it more directorial as opposed to written and edited. Then through that conversation, we talked about how it could impact the actual storytelling — and the thing we wanted to embrace was the panic that a lot of these people experience in these jobs. These studio heads, even though they're very powerful and very passionate and very intelligent, they're often panicking because they can just lose their job for one big disaster. One flop and their whole job, maybe even their career, could be done or messed up for a long time. So we thought it would good to anchor people in that mania, and in that intensity, and let them feel the panic — and the best way to do that is make it feel like you are a person, like you are the cameraman, like there's an individual there. So we used one lens with long takes, and it whips back and forth just like your own head would if you were in that room experiencing the scenario that our characters are." On Working with Seth Rogen in His Many Roles on the Series: Star, Co-Creator, Co-Director, Co-Writer and Executive Producer Ike: "Oh man, I'd worked with him a couple times but never as a director. And he's really incredible, I think, at acting and being present in the scene — but he's watching everything. So if there's a slight little problem in a take, if the camera operator accidentally bumps into someone and the camera shakes for half a second, Seth has seen it. And he will just start laughing and go 'let's go again'. But he's just very tuned in. I'm very impressed at how much. You would think, that for who he is and what he ingests, he would be just not — but he is so freaking tuned in. And he's also just an incredibly good-natured guy. I think a lot of times, if something goes wrong, I've seen directors or producers blow their stack and get mad — and I don't know, it's just they're nice Canadian boys who just don't get that upset." [caption id="attachment_997093" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Apple TV+ via Getty Images.[/caption] Chase: "Doesn't yell, doesn't get mad." Ike: "They don't yell." Kathryn: "You could see sometimes when you screwed up and you're trying to find a word, and then you see him, you see him basically shake his head and look at you." Chase: "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Kathryn: "And you're like 'well, save me'." On the Securing The Studio's Many, Many Cameos James: "Martin Scorsese was someone that we all admire and never thought we would have a chance to meet. Seth and Evan wrote a script with him as that character, and we sent it to him and he read it, and he was like 'yeah, I'd love to do it'. And then all of our heads exploded, basically. But then people like Charlize Theron or Zac Efron, they're all people that we have worked with in the past, so they were people that we could talk to directly and say 'hey, we have this idea for a character for you in our show'. And then there were some new people we got to meet, like Zoë Kravitz or Olivia Wilde. They were characters that we wrote for the show, and we just had to meet with them and get their ideas on that character. Seth and Evan were on a lot of zooms with each of them before they signed on. But it was nice, because I think once Martin Scorsese said yes, there were several phone calls that I started with 'so Martin Scorsese's doing the show — so can you do the show?'. And that was really nice, because people would generally say 'yeah, sure'." The Studio streams via Apple TV+.
Redfern is getting itself a facelift. Commissioned by the City of Sydney, renowned street artist Reko Rennie and a team of young Aboriginal artists have designed and painted a mural covering an entire Redfern terrace as a tribute and monument to the neighbourhood's rich history of Aboriginal activism and urban culture. Entitled Welcome to Redfern the mural was launched today and marks the first step in the City of Sydney Council's ambitious Eora Journey project to give Indigenous culture and issues more public recognition. The local artists — Nahdia Noter, Trae Campbell, Ji Duncan-Weatherby, Tyrrelle McGrath, Brandon Phillips, Isaac Phillips, Josh Addo and Josh Nolan — helped to paint the mural's bold stripes in red, yellow and black and added paste-ups of 'local heroes', including colonial leader Pemulwuy and activists Charles Perkins and Mum Shirl. "These young artists have grown up in and around The Block, and the imagery is a colourful reminder of these incredible leaders to make sure the next generation will remember them, too," said Rennie, a Kamilaroi man and Archibald finalist who's also responsible for the bright pink T2 Building at Taylor Square. But why are art murals like this significant? While these sort of public projects undoubtedly do much to brighten the aesthetics of rundown urban landscapes, there is a legitimate concern that they offer little more than a highly visible and PR-friendly band-aid solution to the deep and divisive problems that have plagued the local Indigenous communities. The disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in terms of life expectancy, education and unemployment levels remain glaringly pronounced and so the question remains: what does a mural have to offer as a tactic for urban renewal? One of the biggest advocates for street art as a means of urban renewal has been the Dutch duo of Jeroen Koolhaas & Dre Urhahn, who more commonly go by the name of Haas and Hahn. These pioneering muralists — with the help of local artists and enthusiasts — have converted some of the world's poorest urban landscapes into living, breathing works of art. Their project in the slums of Rio de Janeiro converted the once derelict and incredibly dangerous area into a sprawling, breathtaking mural described by the New York Times as a "radiant, updated form of real-life Cubism". The remarkable effect that these murals have on the local community can be more clearly seen in Haas and Hahn's 18-month endeavour to spice up Philadelphia's Germantown. Not only did this project employ dozens of locals but it has also stimulated economic growth and development in the area and given the poverty-stricken region a new lease of life. Mohammed, one of the painters and leaders of the 'Philly Project' told documentary maker Jon Kauffman that the murals had an amazing capacity to lift the hopes and spirits of the artists and the local community. "Everybody's had hard times," he said, "but since I've been working here it's kinda like getting me away from my little troubles." It is these sentiments that give credence to Haas & Hahn's street art philosophy: "what feeds the heart feeds the soul". Closer to home, large-scale murals Melbourne's inner northern suburbs have become a hub for cultural, artistic and political expression thanks to a long series of Indigenous murals dating back to the early 1980s. The murals of the Collingwood Housing Estate often depict traditional Aboriginal iconography such as of the Australian landscape pre-settlement/invasion and Indigenous elders in warpaint and traditional dress, but it is the process of their creation that is perhaps of greater interest. These murals were born out of collaboration between a collection of local muralists known as the BEEM artists and a number of homeless Aboriginal people who live in the nearby park and identify themselves as 'parkies'. The contrasting styles of the artists and the resulting murals — with the street graffiti style of the 'parkies' often in conflict with the more refined portraits of the BEEM artists — is demonstrative of this unique collaboration. According to Denise Lovett, one of the leaders of the project, these murals have provided the local Indigenous community with a sense of cultural ownership over the urban landscape and banded the community together across lines of socio-economic status and ethnicity. So will the City of Sydney's newest mural provide this sort of urban renewal to the Redfern area? For his part, Rennie led the young Redfern artists through workshops covering artistic techniques, as well as other valuable skills. "We talked about how art can benefit an individual, and how success as an artist can be measured, such as by the ability to travel and work in other communities," he said. And Welcome to Redfern is only the very tip of the iceberg. The sweeping reforms of the Eora Journey include not only a further six Indigenous art projects to be scattered across the city but a number of other cultural and economic projects, including a permanent Indigenous Cultural Centre. One thing we can be certain of: the 'Welcome to Redfern' mural has far more to offer the urban landscape than simply pretty colours. Top image of Reko Rennie, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and curator Hetti Perkins.
Winter might be dialling up the chill, but that doesn't mean things are starting to slow down. Across New South Wales regional hubs are stepping it up, with a packed lineup of events to keep locals and visitors alike buzzing through the cooler months. This month, the Central Coast is getting in on the action, serving up a fresh run of festivals and events that'll have you planning your next trip before the week's out. The Central Coast is an easily accessible day trip or weekend destination for Sydneysiders. The towns along the coast are peaceful enough to not feel overcrowded, yet lively enough to ensure there is always something new to see or do. We've rounded up some of the can't-miss events happening on the Central Coast this winter, so you can add them to your itinerary for your next drive up north.
When Game of Thrones came to an end, HBO filled that gap by making prequel House of the Dragon, and also exploring a heap more spinoffs as well. Plenty have been rumoured, including focusing on Jon Snow and devoting a second new series to the Targaryens — but A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is the next to get the official go-ahead. The American cable network and source of plenty of Binge, Foxtel and Neon's programming Down Under is announcement mode, revealing that it's renaming its own streaming service from HBO Max to Max — a platform that isn't available in Australia or New Zealand as yet — and also dropping details about a range of new shows that folks can look forward to watching on it. We hope you like TV versions of hit movies, too, because HBO's upcoming slate goes big on well-known properties. Harry Potter, The Conjuring, IT, The Batman: they're all covered in one way or another. A century before @GameofThrones, there was Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg. Executive produced by George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker, Ryan Condal, and Vince Gerardis, A Knight of the #SevenKingdoms: The Hedge Knight has received a straight to series order. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/MRPUke5Upt — HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is a prequel, and will boast George RR Martin as a writer and executive producer. It comes to the screen from the novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg, and has been rumoured for a few years now. The story follows knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg as they wander Westeros a century before the events of GoT, when the Targaryens remain on the Iron Throne and everyone still remembers dragons. Yes, there's an odd-couple vibe. The first-ever Harry Potter TV series has also been whispered about for years, with that chatter getting louder recently. Bringing the Wizarding World to the small screen, it will run for a decade and cover all of the original books — a tome per season, diving into more detail than the movies were able to. Your Hogwarts letter is here. Max has ordered the first ever #HarryPotter scripted television series, a faithful adaptation of the iconic books. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/3CgEHLYhch — HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023 Newly revealed is a drama series set in The Conjuring universe — a supernatural big-screen realm that's already hefty, given that it spans The Conjuring, Annabelle, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, The Curse of the Weeping Woman, Annabelle Comes Home and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and will score The Nun 2 later in 2023. There's no word yet on what it'll cover, other than that it'll continue the story established in the features. Australian filmmaker James Wan, who helmed the first two The Conjuring movies, may executive produce. The American network is also making IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, which it announced earlier in 2023. Plus, it also has a spinoff from The Batman, aka The Penguin, on the way for its 2024 lineup — with Colin Farrell reprising the show's titular role. Welcome to Derry. Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, James Remar, and Chris Chalk have been cast to star in the Max Original Series and prequel to the IT films, coming in 2024 to Max. #WelcomeToDerry #ITSeries #ITMovie 🎈 #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/wnX3YTIB21 — HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023 And, arriving in May, there's the animated Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, a prequel to the 80s movies that heads back to 1920s Shanghai and the Wing family's first meeting with Gizmo. Clearly, the answer to how HBO will cope with not just the OG Game of Thrones ending, but the looming post-Succession void, is leaning into other well-known properties. There's been no word of any spinoffs, prequels or sequels to the Roy family saga — even after its latest episode, and the fact that this is the acclaimed series' final season — however, based on the current announcements, don't be surprised if HBO gives it a try down the line. Most of the above HBO shows don't have exact release dates yet — we'll update you when further details are announced. Top image: courtesy of Max.
After a week of warm weather in Sydney, it feels like spring is finally almost here. With it, the expansive wildflower garden of the Muogamarra Nature Reserve will open its gates to visitors for six weekends only from Saturday, August 11 through Sunday, September 16. Located up the coast just an hour north of Sydney's CBD, the reserve is closed most of the year to protect the fragile ecosystems and Aboriginal heritage sites within — so it's a rare chance to get a peek inside. The reserve is dedicated to preserving wildflowers and contains over 900 species native to Australia — think waratahs, angophoras, banksias, pink boronias and native orchids to name a few. The parkland is also home to a variety of native animals, including echidnas, wedge-tail eagles and lyrebirds, which wander freely through the reserve. Guided expert tours are available for pre-booking only through the NSW National Parks Discovery Guide, with options to reserve walking or kayak tours along the Hawkesbury River. Discovery tours include the Aboriginal Heritage Walk, the Muogamarra Highlights Walk, along with the shorter Bird Gully Walk and Lloyd Trig Walk. For those looking for an all-day hike, the six-hour Peats Bight Walk takes visitors on a leisurely trek along the riverbank. If you're more of the DIY kind, visitors are also welcome to simply pack a picnic and enjoy a self-guided walk. The different paths wind along the river and rainforest, offering views of Aboriginal rock engravings and other historic relic sightings. The Muogamarra Nature Reserve will be open from Saturday, August 11 through Sunday, September 16. Open Saturdays and Sundays only from 9am to 4.30pm with a park access fee of $15 adults/$10 children. To pre-book one of the guided tours, head over here.
If you're lucky enough to count Woolworths' Double Bay store as your local, you might soon be in for speedier shopping trips and a whole lot less time spent battling the self-serve checkouts. As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, the supermarket chain will launch a trial of 'shop and go' technology in the Sydney eastern suburbs store from today, Thursday, September 6. The first of its kind in Australia, the program allows customers to dodge the checkouts completely, instead scanning and paying for products via their smartphone as they shop. The new technology has already been embraced overseas, with retail giant Amazon famously opening its first checkout-free, fully automated shop-and-go grocery store in Seattle earlier this year, and China's bricks-and-mortar Alibaba stores using a similar technology. The Woolworths trial will see a few thousand members of its loyalty program — who are also Double Bay regulars — invited to shop there using a special Scan&Go app, which they can download to their smartphones. The customer can then use it to scan the barcodes of each item they take from the shelves, while specially-designed scales will handle the weighing and scanning of fresh produce. At the end of their visit, the shopper can pay for their haul via the app, 'tap off' on a pole near the exit, then leave the store — without interacting with either a human or robot checkout. As well as being faster and, potentially, easier, the new technology has the added benefit of letting customers track their spending while they're going. So, you'll know when those $2 chocolate bars push you over budget. There's no word on how long the Scan&Go trial will run for, and Woolworths says it currently has no plans to roll out the technology to other stores.
By this point in the year, a certain three words have been overused and then some. That trio? 'Tis the season. That said, it truly is the season for booking in cheap holidays for the year ahead, starting with Black Friday sales and now going into Boxing Day sales. If you're after discounted flights to a heap of places — including around Australia and the globe — yes, Virgin is getting into the post-Christmas spirit and slashing prices again. For Boxing Day — starting at 12.01am AEDT on Monday, December 26 and running till midnight on Thursday, December 29, or earlier if sold out — there's a hefty 800,000 discounted domestic and international fares up for grabs. Sticking with home turf, you can head to Byron Bay, Cairns, the Gold Coast, Darwin, Hobart and more. And, if you're eager to journey overseas, you can hit up Bali, Vanuatu and Tokyo. With discounts of up to 30-percent off, one-way domestic fares start at $55, which'll get you from Sydney to Byron Bay. As always, that's cheapest route. Yes, we say that every time one of these sales drop, but it's genuinely always the case. Other cheap flights include Brisbane to Cairns for $89, Melbourne to Hobart from $79, Adelaide to Darwin from $139 and Perth to Sydney from $209. Internationally, return deals include Brisbane to Vanuatu from $539, the Gold Coast to Denpasar from $479 and Cairns to Tokyo from $699. If you're wondering when you'll need to travel, there's a range of dates across 2023, all varying depending on the flights and prices. As usual when it comes to flight sales, you'll need to get in quick. Actually, given how much everyone loves a Boxing Day sale — in-person or online — setting an alarm to make your New Year's travel resolutions come true isn't outlandish. Virgin's Boxing Day sale runs from 12.01am AEDT on Monday, December 26 until midnight on Thursday, December 29 — unless sold out earlier. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Constructed in the 1880s and renamed after local Olympian Dawn Fraser in the 60s, Balmain's Dawn Fraser Baths is the oldest pool in Australia. And, at the moment, it certainly looks like it. Thankfully, after much campaigning and rallying, the outdoor pool is getting the upgrades it urgently needs — and they'll be completed by the time summer rolls round. Late last year, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne revealed that the Council needed an extra $2.2 million for the pool's upgrades and without it the renovations could not go ahead and the pool could close in the "immediate future". But, last night, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne announced that the Council had received a $2.2 million grant from the NSW Government which, together with $4.5 million funding from Council, was enough to proceed with the urgent upgrades. "DAWNY IS SAVED," Mr Byrne said in a Facebook post. https://www.facebook.com/559272954148605/posts/2530006400408574?s=615055021&sfns=mo The restoration works, set to be completed in time for summer, will include replacing the pavilion and its decking; upgrading the lighting (to allow for more nighttime training and competitions); raising the baths' boardwalks and floor level to mitigate the effect of rising sea levels; improvements to the entry; renovating the showers, toilets and change rooms; and the construction of four unisex change rooms and new equal-access facilities. While the pools usually open for the season in September (and close in April), construction work is instead slated to commence that month. Mr Byrne has promised, however, that the newly upgraded pool will be open by summer 2020. The Dawn Fraser Baths is located at Elkington Park, Balmain and is slated to open by summer 2020. To read more about the upgrades, head to the Inner West Council website. Image: Destination NSW
Not long ago, a friend of mine described a serious medical treatment they were taking. They'd had to pick out the best drug for this, out of a bewildering range of medicines and wide ranges of side effects. To work out which would be most effective, they'd had their DNA sequenced. The normality of that seemingly sci-fi procedure briefly blew my mind. In fact, this is not only a relatively normal thing, but it won't be too long before it'll be routine for you to, say, grow thousands of tiny batches of your own body tissue in a lab and actually test those specific drugs on your specific biology. For now, the hard bit is convincing those tissue batches to grow. Enter the tissue engineer, who can corral cells in tissue into some kind of order. Someone like Nina Tandon. In her book Super Cells: Building with Biology, written with Mitchell Joachim, Tandon surveys what we can already build in the lab with cells: bricks, clothes, computer games, biodegradable coffins and Western Australian bioart. For her PhD, she grew heart cells. Then she took an electric current and ran it through them to make them beat. This is what we can do now, but Tandon sees growing your own tissue as something that will touch pretty much every part of ours lives before too long. And not just in medicine. Talking to her, it's hard to disagree. Growing Which Where With What Now? Despite the fact that this is stuff that's happening now, it seems like future tech. But it's really just building on some old ideas. Half her work is to "build the housing" that allows the cells to do their job. That "housing" for the cell that persuades it to do what you want is called a 'bioreactor'. Tandon works with cutting edge tech in her work, sure. But a bioreactor is actually old school. It can be as simple as an oven. "Baking is a bioreactor. You’ve got yeast. There are so many bioreactors. I mean, people eat yoghurt. That’s bioreactors too." Tandon, founder of startup Epibone, was in Sydney this week as a keynote speaker at Sydney's Vivid Ideas. And, as she put it in her keynote "there’s an element of market research in this: if I was a heart cell, what would I want out of life?" Much of the work in one of these bio reactors is in getting cells comfortable. She described it all as a bit like managing a fish tank, where, instead of worrying about fresh water for freshwater fish, you're wondering what sort of hospitality you’ll have to roll out to keep heart tissue happy or liver cells growing the way you want. This bioreactor hospitality already let us do all sorts of interesting things in the lab. Like cloning batches and batches of your breast cancer tumour to see what drugs kill your tumour best. Or growing relatively simple replacement tissues, like bone. We're getting there with bone. We're up to animal bones, like horses or pigs. What Can't We Make? It's hard to imagine what we'll soon be able to build this way. But not for Tandon. "I think it’s almost a better question to say what can’t we build?" What might seem normal in 15 or 20 years could be something like vegetarian* ham. "I bet we are going to see people’s croissants with ham and cheese where the ham is engineered. They’re going to be munching on ham that was never in a pig." Or more advanced organic lighting: "I can see a day where we have electric eels that are making light. Not as electric eels, but if we take the cells that make electricity from those eels and grow them in bioreactors…" While writing Super Cells, Tandon tried to imagine fields that aren't likely to be radically changed by biotech advances. She counted four: "aerospace and railway transportation and banking and accounting." And even those, on deeper thought, seemed to her to have tech or fuel backbones "very likely to be disrupted by biology". * Maybe. Closer to the Worm So, what do you become when you start being able to grow and implant your own spare parts? "If I can grow my own cells outside the body, and if there are more non-human cells than human cells in my body, what does it even mean to say the human body?" Tandon adds, though, that this is actually a quandary we've lived with all our lives. It's a bit like that question about some worms: "You can cut it in half and it’ll grow two new worms. But are those two different worms?" As human beings, she points out, we've already grown out of what were originally our parents' cells. "We were all one cell big at one point. We don’t know when we began to be an individual. And individuals are birthed from other individuals. In a way it’s a lot closer to that worm than not." This is a challenge though, not an enigma. After all, "we got through this with blood transfusions." Rather, in the absence of more scientifically informed politicians, the community at large just needs a little education in order to start puzzling out the ethics. "Everyone should be in that debate. And the only way that everyone can be in that debate is if everyone is familiar with the processes." You Can Start Young Early, hands-on education is what worked for Tandon. As a child she had a chemistry set and disassembled her vacuum tube TV ("those were the days"), though it also didn't hurt that she came from a science-friendly family. Her father was an engineer, while her mother, Judith, having had some time on Wall Street and with a masters in education, would teach both her siblings ("my first scientific collaborators") and Tandon "all this kind of fancy math and stuff". Judith would reward the question 'How tall is that building?' by making her kids calculate the answer themselves, using triangles and sight lines. Years later, educating the wider public and at university and a community biolab, is this the sort of experience Nina is trying to create for her own students? "Yeah, you know. I think I want to pass that on." Your Local Biology Gym A 'community biolab' is where a place like biolab Genspace comes in. Genspace is a biohacking space in Brooklyn, New York that Tandon helps out at. "Basically, like a gym membership applied to biology. So it’s like a hackerspace, but where people can use biological techniques without being bound by the scientific method." A board monitors ethics and safety, "but, really, there’s quite a lot of freedom". You don't have to be following a particular grant priority, you don't have to be a scientist. You don't even need to be a particular age. In fact, that's the point. "People can learn how to decode DNA if they’re 12 or if they’re 85." One of their go-to activities for newbies is extracting the DNA from strawberries. Once, a school student extracting DNA for the first time piped up, "Oh my gosh! DNA, it looks like boogers!". Says Tandon, "He was so happy. And I never forgot that he said that. And, you know what? It really did." For so much of this you don't even need a biolab. Tandon was first taught the procedure at a friend's place. By her toddler. You can follow the space's instructions if you want to extract your own strawberry DNA at home. Tandon would love it if an Australian wants to set up a local biolab. Prospective local biohackers are welcome to contact her for inspiration. She'll put you in touch with the right people at Genspace to get you started. In her keynote, Nina saw the need for similar spaces in biotech to the sort of spaces to where Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos started their companies. And that's what a Genspace is for, too. "It’s basically like the garage where information technology began, but for biology." Image of a moss photobioreactor by Eva Decker. Image of Earthworms (not actually the kind of worms that can grow back both halves) by Jack Hynes. Image of Genspace by .dh. Croissant by Stu Spivack. Pointing child at Sears Tower by Vincent Desjardins.
In a dream world, a new film pairing Emma Stone with Yorgos Lanthimos would hit cinemas approximately every six months. In this realm, that's happening at least once. Oscar-winner Poor Things reached picture palaces Down Under at the end of 2023, and now Kinds of Kindness, the duo's next collaboration, has a date with local big screens in mid-July. The Greek director has reteamed with Stone (The Curse) for their third feature, after The Favourite as well, with the end result first premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. While Lanthimos' current favourite lead actor won an Academy Award for Poor Things, it was Jesse Plemons (Killers of the Flower Moon) who scored a trophy at the prestigious French fest, collecting the Best Actor gong. As both the first teaser and just-dropped full trailer for Kinds of Kindness show, Lanthimos and Stone have made a triptych this time, with the film featuring three fable-like tales. One is about a man who doesn't have any choice as he attempts to seize control of his existence. Another follows a policeman whose wife goes missing at sea, then returns but doesn't seem like herself. And the last charts a woman trying to find a person with a unique ability that's meant to become a spiritual leader. The initial glimpse at the movie spanned speeding cars, dragged bodies, slaps, dancing, dogs, licking and Stone talking about the moment of truth, all soundtracked by the Eurythmics' 'Sweet Dreams'. If you're thinking "isn't it wonderful" about this combination of elements, the movie understands — they're Stone's last words in the footage. The new trailer keeps the same soundtrack, and also some of the above details, but also comes with cryptic warnings, declarations of love, fainting, intimate anecdotes and dogs driving a car. On-screen, Stone — who also worked with Lanthimos on short film Bleat — has her Poor Things co-stars Willem Dafoe (Asteroid City) and Margaret Qualley (Drive-Away Dolls) for company. Joining them and Plemons: Hong Chau (The Menu), Joe Alwyn (Stars at Noon), Mamoudou Athie (The Burial) and Hunter Schafer (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes). Lanthimos helms, co-writing the script with Efthimis Filippou (who penned the filmmaker's Dogtooth, Alps, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, too), on a flick that'll release Down Under on Thursday, July 11 — and play Sydney Film Festival before that. Check out the trailer for Kinds of Kindness below: Kinds of Kindness releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Images: Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
This post is sponsored by our partners, Wotif.com. Adelaide born and bred, comedian and known barfly Cam Knight has seen the city at its best. Here are a few of his tips for making the most of your time in the understated SA capital. Stay in the city at one of the boutique accommodations, like the Adabco Boutique Hotel, which is set within the beauty of a Heritage-listed, 19th-century Venetian gothic style building. If that’s not your style, The Mayfair is a 1940s-inspired, Hollywood-style boutique hotel in the heart of the city — slated for completion in October of this year. Wake up with the best coffee at the Coffee Branch on Leigh Street in the West End. Owner Josh has the palate of a genius, the speed of a mouse on Red Bull and the memory of an elephant that just snorted a mouse on Red Bull. Hire a free bike. Sounds like an oxymoron but Adelaide City Bikes has a free bike hire scheme. The whole place is flat and gridded so it's impossible to (a) get exhausted or (b) get lost. Adelaide city is low density and it still has a lot of original buildings standing. You can explore North Adelaide, River Torrens, or the various parklands that surround the city and still have plenty of time left over for drinking (and eating). Take a stroll down Ebenezer Place. It feels like a little Melbourne-esque laneway hidden between Rundle and Grenfell Streets with a lot of quirky shops selling one-of-a-kind items well worth a gawp. You’ll want lunch or brunch, yeah? Hey Jupiter will serve you a delicious amount of French food without the snootiness. There’s also Nano. They make their very own bread and do simple, restrained, tasty Italian food. Get thee to a pub. Order a Coopers beer at The Austral or The Exeter on Rundle Streett, or turn a corner and head to The Crown & Anchor on Grenfell Streett. The Wheatsheaf out in Thebarton is the place for craft beer, and The Grace Emily on Waymouth Street is the best pub for live music. There’s a lot to chose from (or ‘heaps’, as the locals would say). Radelaidians are super-friendly people who will love to help you have a top night out. Feel free to start a conversation up wherever you go. Hunt out a different style of bar like Udaberri on Leigh Street in the West End, which has been made out of a shipping container. The food is pintxos, the Basque region’s version of tapas, or you can simply order a 1kg rib eye steak like a boss. Press Club Food & Wine do one of the best burgers in town and regularly change their beloved wine list. Take in a night of comedy at the Rhino Room on Frome Street. There are always big name comedians from interstate or overseas on, plus some excellent local acts. The Howling Owl Cafe downstairs is not only a cafe; it's a bar and an art gallery showcasing some very talented local artists. You’ll also find the Urban Cow Studio tucked in to this building. Their art gallery has an opening night on the first Wednesday of every month, which includes wine, music and fun. Their shop showcases jewellery and all sorts of exciting new work from emerging or established artists. Visit Adelaide when the Fringe is on. The festival is huge — it’s like a circus exploded in the East Parklands. There are over 900 different events to choose from, including cabaret, magic shows, circus, comedians, puppetry, dance and so much more. Check out shows running late into the night at Rhino Room, Producers Bar, Gluttony and The Garden Of Earthly Delights. Rundle Street usually closes to traffic at night over the Fringe weekends, so you can roam the streets in a bleary haze taking in the energy of it all without fear of being run over. Get out to McLaren Vale for a day or two. It’s easily one of Australia’s greatest wine regions and is seriously only about 35 mins south from the city. Some of the vineyards, like Chapel Hill, have accommodation which are very handy post tasting tour for a cheeky nap. Spoiler: it’s almost impossible to feel hung over waking up to the beautiful landscape of the Adelaide Hills. Don’t believe me? Check this out. Do a tasting tour or have a very, very understanding friend or partner who elects to drive you around. Coriole, Samuel’s Gorge, Alpha Box & Dice, Primo Estate, Chapel Hill and D’Arenburg should get you going. If you get chatting with the wine makers they may have a few drinks with you and recommend some top places to visit, whilst also letting you into their intriguing world. Grab a bite at The Famous Star of Greece in Port Willunga, perched atop the cliffs looking out to one of the most stunning ocean views whilst savouring the freshest seafood around. Sounds terrible, huh?
