At Queen Margherita of Savoy, the magic is in the dough prep that results in a base that's thin, the right amount of chewy, and delicately flavoursome. Certified by the Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana, this place is as authentically Italian as it gets. Here, the toppings are minimal so as not to distract from those perfect bases. Think eggplant ragu and basil, as in the Siciliana, or leg ham, artichokes, and mushroom atop the Capricciosa. The impeccable pizzas are well-complemented by the cozy, timber-accented surrounds that feel a lot like the kind of place you'd find in a charming Roman alleyway.
Attention, Wes Anderson enthusiasts: The trailer for his latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, has just been released. This follow-up to the wildly popular Moonrise Kingdom is giving us another project to look forward to, with all the oddities that resonate with Anderson fans. The story follows Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), a manager at the swanky Grand Budapest Hotel and his devoted lobby boy, Zero Moustafa. The suave Gustave is a hit with the mature lady guests, and when one of them dies, he is suspected of murder and theft. So he and his precious sidekick make a run for it, and the story unfolds into a whirlwind of adventure, mystery, romance and, of course, comedy that captivate us with Anderson's films. It looks like Anderson won't be abandoning his colourful, dreamy sets; dry, poker-faced humour; and eccentric characters anytime soon. The usual suspects in the cast include Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Tilda Swinton, Jude Law and Saoirse Ronan are also thrown in, making The Grand Budapest Hotel one Anderson's most dynamically cast films yet. It is set to release in 2014. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Fg5iWmQjwk Via The Verge.
When you're taking your pet pooch to the pub, park, cinema, opera, for brunch or to any other dog-friendly event, you want your four-legged friend to look its best. Yes, all puppers are adorable anyway, because just comes with the territory. But your furry little woofer is certain to dial up its natural cuteness in a piece from The Iconic's new pet range. Whether your dachshund would look dapper in a fleece-lined denim vest, your jack russell terrier needs a Christmas-patterned jumper or your shih tzu could do with a cable-knit or fringed sweater, you'll find it on offer in this new line. Brands such as Paul Smith, Filson, Sebastian Says and Pethaus are all part of the retailer's pet-focused range — as are Driza-Bone oilskin dog coats and RM Williams leather leashes. More than 60 items are currently available (including various sizes and colours), spanning collars, harnesses and leads, as well as hoodies, pullovers and coats. Elf-themed jumpers, vests embroidered with the words 'girl gang', macrame leashes, gold collars — they're all covered. The fashion and accessory line will add further items throughout the year, too, because even your doggo's wardrobe can change with the seasons. While The Iconic has dubbed the line its 'pet-friendly edit', so far it's all for dogs. That said, if you can somehow manage to get your cat into a vest or sweater, then you're well-equipped to slip them into something from this range. The Iconic's Pet-Friendly Edit is currently available to purchase online, with further items due to be added to the range later this year.
Sydney comes to flamboyant life in Mardi Gras season with shows, parties and the globally broadcasted Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday, February 29. This year's theme is 'What Matters', and you don't have to venture far from the heart of Mardi Gras to find countless fun events across the month. Queer friendly venue The Beresford is hosting festive, raucous and glitter-filled events to get you and your friends into the groove this Gay Christmas. Head to the Surry Hills party palace, no matter how you identify, to get involved in the festival. You can even pen a love letter to your beau and enter it into this competition for the chance to win a whopping $10,000 Merivale gift card. [caption id="attachment_708573" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Will Salkeld[/caption] GET SERIOUS AT THIS COMMUNITY ISSUES TALK As well as celebrating how far we've come, Mardi Gras is also about remembering the challenges still faced by the community. Equality Australia is presenting a talk on the topic 'Freedom of Discrimination' on Sunday, February 23, which is a good time to contemplate the issues we continue to experience. Beresford Talks is your opportunity to consider the potentially damaging impact of the Religious Discrimination Bill across health, workplaces and inclusivity. It's also completely free to attend, and we bet even your most politically engaged mates could learn a thing or two about the big issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community today. WATCH 'THE BIRDCAGE' AL FRESCO Openair cinemas are a dime a dozen in Sydney, but how about catching a classic queer movie in a beer garden? Sounds like you should grab your mates (or perhaps a date) and head over to The Beresford's courtyard to see the 1996 comedy The Birdcage on Monday, February 24, or the musical comedy Hairspray on Monday, March 2. Movies start from 7pm, and you can laugh along and enjoy food, drinks and the summer breeze as you watch. As part of the celebrations, there's a special Mardi Gras cocktail on offer, with $2 from every coconut and lime concoction going to charities Bobby Goldsmith Foundation and ACON. GET THE GANG TOGETHER FOR BINGO WITH A TWIST Bingo? Boring. Bingay? Hell, yeah. Call up your most competitive mates for a night of fabulous tunes and outrageous game rules at this drag queen-led bingo night. Hilarious penalties and lewd calls are par for the course, and as it's a popular night we suggest booking your spot early for Wednesday, February 26. You'll be in for a chance to win one of many prizes, including tickets to the official Mardi Gras Party. Expect to be serenaded with gay pride anthems and to laugh out loud to cheeky banter from your hosts Charisma Belle and Naomi Palmer. It's $20 per person and 100 percent of the proceeds go to ACON programs and services that focus on health and wellbeing services for the LGBTQIA+ community and people living with HIV. [caption id="attachment_749877" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jeffrey Feng[/caption] WATCH THE PARADE WITH A COCKTAIL IN HAND Gay Christmas is almost here. On Saturday, February 29, you can watch the glittering parade standing shoulder-to-shoulder with tourists, or from the comfort of your couch. Or, you could join in the biggest party of the year with a cosmo in hand by watching a live stream of the parade action at The Beresford. Don your most colourful outfit and take a seat in the Surry Hills courtyard as you sip on cocktails, then later dance the night away with friends old and new. There'll be jaw-dropping costumes, plus some surprise performances from queer royalty on the night. You never know who might pop by. Merivale and Absolut are celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community across a number of events this Mardi Gras. Find out where you can purchase a special Mardi Gras cocktail. Absolut Stardust, and how to profess your love for that special someone, along with the chance to win a $10,000 Merivale gift card.
Nothing new here, folks — just another notch in Messina's Sydney domination belt. Head to the Tramsheds Harold Park Messina to find 40 freshly churned flavours — 35 signature flavours and five meticulously crafted new specials each week. Messina's strong point is its conceptual ice cream flavours, so the specials are the way to go. Once Donato Toce (head chef) and Nick Palumbo (head gelato science guy) think of a theme, they then negotiate the complex gastronomical terrain of proteins, fat and flavour to create the smooth, creamy milk confection we know as gelato. It's this Heston Blumenthal-style art/science nexus that has resulted in Messina becoming a household name and paved the way for its 18 Australian stores. The Tramsheds store offers all the regular scoops as well as the renowned Messina cakes. And, the heavenly gelato is also available through Deliveroo — oh dear, that's dangerous.
With a title that speaks of next generations, The Son is a film about second efforts, including off-screen. For writer/director Florian Zeller, it marks the French novelist and playwright's sophomore stint behind the camera, and notches the list of movies he's helmed based on his own stage works up to two as well. After dual Oscar-winner The Father, which earned Zeller and co-scribe Christopher Hampton the Best Adapted Screenplay award and Anthony Hopkins the much-deserved Best Actor prize, it's also his second feature with a family member in its title. And, it's his second largely confined to interior settings, focusing on mental illness, exploring complicated father-child relationships within that intimate domestic space and driven by intense dialogue spouted by a committed cast. Hopkins pops up once more in another psychodrama, too, as a dad again. Within its frames, The Son follows New York lawyer Peter Miller (Hugh Jackman, Reminiscence) as he's happily starting over with his second wife Beth (Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman) and their newborn Theo, his second son. Here's the thing about second chances, though: sometimes your first shots can't simply be forgotten, no matter how eager you are to move on. Peter confronts this truth when his ex-spouse Kate (Laura Dern, Jurassic World Dominion) unexpectedly knocks at his door one day, distraught about learning that their 17-year-old Nicholas (Zen McGrath, Red Dog: True Blue) has been ditching school long-term. The teen hasn't been a contented presence around her home since his dad left, either, with depression setting in after such a big upheaval to his status quo. So, Peter and Kate agree to a parental rekindling, with Peter giving being an active dad to Nicholas — having him come to live with him, Beth and Theo, in fact — a second go. Can lightning strike twice, for Zeller and for Peter? Once again co-writing with Hampton (who nabbed his first Oscar for adapting 1988's Dangerous Liaisons, and another nomination for his work on Atonement), The Son's creative force wants that to be a complicated question — and it is. In his layered narrative, Zeller keeps playing up doubles and playing with duality, including the varying ways that Peter treats his two boys, the push and pull of work and home as a new career opportunity arises, Nicholas' mood and attitude with two differing maternal figures, and the impact of Peter's own fraught relationship with his hard-nosed father (Hopkins, Armageddon Time). The latter is a dynamic that Peter doesn't have fond feelings about and is desperate not to reprise, but we all know what they say about history repeating. Accordingly, for The Son's increasingly exasperated patriarch, lightning striking twice is a double-edged sword. In all of the above, from the moment that it begins with Peter, Beth and Theo at home, then talks about Nicholas, his troubles and mental state before introducing him, The Son is firmly aligned with Peter. Consequently, it's also stressed by a big struggle: truly comprehending Nicholas. The Father, whose shadow the often-clinical The Son will always be under — yes, the connection between Zeller's first two movies mimics the connection between the characters in his second flick — was the masterpiece it was by bringing its namesake's mindset to the screen. Zeller surrounded Hopkins' brilliant performance with immersive cinematography that plunged his audience into the confusion, disruption and distress of experiencing dementia. With The Son, teen anxiety, truancy and the scarred arms that indicate suicidal ideation are things to talk about, brood over and saddle with Chekhovian logic rather than attempt to deeply understand. Set to a solemn score by Hans Zimmer (Prehistoric Planet), Zeller's latest film is filled with pain, hurt and devastation, clearly, but also distance from the person who's meant to be so pivotal that the picture is literally named after him. That said, the movie's moniker is revealing — because it's barely interested in fleshing out Nicholas as a person beyond being a son that Peter has to deal with due to the bonds of blood and the weight of regret. One of the feature's big emotional arcs charts Peter's growing realisation that being a parent is about genuinely seeing and accepting your child for who they are, and working to help them be the best version of themselves that they want to be instead of who you envision. It culminates in a stunning payoff sequence, but if only The Son paid more attention more often to who Nicholas is beyond his cutting anger, physical cuts, and Peter, Beth and Kate's reactions to him. If only The Son also spent more time showing rather than telling — indeed, with its talk-heavy screenplay always betraying the story's stage origins, it devotes almost all of its efforts to telling. Again, even with cinematographer Ben Smithard lensing both here and for The Father, his current work for Zeller peers on rather than dives in. It's a testament to Jackman and McGrath's performances that The Son is as engaging as it is, however, and as dripping with raw emotion. Both Australian talents, one famous for decades at home and abroad, the other an impressive up-and-comer to watch, their duel of words, heartache, expectations and internalised dismay is finely tuned and gripping. Alongside Jackman's one-scene face-off with Hopkins, their still-stagey but compelling one-on-ones are the film's showpieces. On the stage, The Father and The Son are the two parts of a thematic trilogy, completed by Zeller's The Mother — which, in its off-Broadway run in 2019, starred incomparable French icon Isabelle Huppert (an Oscar-nominee herself for 2016's Elle). Whether it too will make it to the movies is yet to be seen, but the two mums of The Son are sadly pushed aside. The always-great Dern and Kirby make the most they can of thin parts, though always deserving better, the two actors conveying a mother's and a stepmother's fears, anguish and hopes, respectively. They also share one of the film's key tussles: appreciating and unpacking its characters, Peter, Beth and Kate alike, and Nicholas especially, as more than their familial labels.
Tongue in a mousetrap? Breathing fire? Spinning on aerial acrobatic ropes? Roll up, Roll up: The circus is here! No, not that crappy one up the street where the fairy floss machine is about all on offer, pitched to a warbled music-box soundtrack; this is an amazing long weekend full of silly, silly antics, mind-boggling acrobatics, circus stunts that make you check your vision, awe-inspiring aerial acts, jaw-dropping jugglers, sickening sword-swallowers, comedy to thaw your heart and more. The one and only Hoopla — Australia's biggest annual circus, sideshow and street theatre festival — is coming to Darling Harbour and dazzling Sydney for five days over the Easter long weekend. This year's festival features three sensational international artists plus some pretty freaky Australian acrobats. The Chipolatas (UK) present Gentlemen of the Road: These guys will wow audiences with their unique and high-energy performance presenting unparalleled physical feats and buzzing circus skills backed with live squeezebox and break beats. Leandre and La Tal (Spain) present Demodes: Gotta love clowns. Who on Earth is afraid of clowns? Especially not those wound up in a tragicomedy about three of them being lost, cast out by a changing world and ... told in classic clown language. Becky Hoops (Canada): Hula-hoops are ubiquitous, but still, few can perfect this art. Becky Hoops will not only have her audience feeling like inadequate hoopists but in stitches with her absurd characters and her many crazy anecdotes. The Little Red Trapeze Company present Ready for Takeoff: Soaring high above the ground, these daring acrobats will fly, flip and float through the air with incredible precision and timing. Beautiful acrobatic balancing, hilarious slapstick comedy and truly heart-stopping stunts. As dusk approaches, get your ticket to one of the hottest shows in the performing arts scene with sexy vaudeville and freakazoid sideshow acts in the Big Top. So go run, play and frolic all day and night at Hoopla. Daytime performances go from noon-5pm everyday of the long weekend, and after-dark shows from 6-10pm. All outdoor entertainment is free, and this year indoor events can be pre-booked online. Woot!
Three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone has done it again with his 2012 film Savages. Based on Don Winslow's bestselling crime novel, it is a brutal, ferocious and sexy look into the lives of two marijuana growers. Taking place in glamorous Laguna Beach California, this crime thriller film follows two best friends' successful and homegrown marijuana business, where they produce some of the best marijuana ever developed. When the powerful Mexican Baja Cartel finds out about their business, a war breaks out. The two best friends, played by Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson, must take part in a savage battle against the cartel to save the girl (Ophelia, played by Blake Lively) that they both love and, oddly enough, share. Savages has elements of just about every film genre, including crime, drama, mystery, suspense, thriller and romance. The star cast includes Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, Demian Bichir, Benicio del Toro, Salma Hayek, John Travolta and Emile Hirsch. Thanks to Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, we have five DVD copies of Savages to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to Concrete Playground (if you haven't already) then email us with your name and postal address at hello@concreteplayground.com.au.
For every popular film franchise, there must be an origin story — or that's how it frequently feels. The latest beloved series to step back into its past to provide an insight into how one of its characters became who they are: Pixar's adored Toy Story saga, which is now diving into Buzz Lightyear's history (and has a trailer to prove it). First, to answer the obvious question, this isn't a film about how the talking toy was manufactured. If anyone could make that delight, it'd be Pixar, though. Instead, Lightyear focuses on the flesh-and-blood Buzz in Toy Story's world, aka the space ranger who inspired the plaything that's been such a pivotal part of four films so far. So if you've ever wondered why there even was a Buzz figurine, now you'll find out. "My Lightyear pitch was, 'what was the movie that Andy saw that made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy?' I wanted to see that movie," explains filmmaker Angus MacLane, who previously co-directed Finding Dory, and also worked as an animator on both Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. To tell that tale, MacLane's film follows Buzz on an intergalactic adventure — a trip that, as the just-dropped trailer for Lightyear shows, he's mighty excited about. Chris Evans swaps from wearing Captain America's spandex to voicing the spacesuit-wearing Buzz, and he's joined by a cast that includes Keke Palmer (Hustlers), Dale Soules (Orange is the New Black) and Taika Waititi (Free Guy) as new space ranger recruits. The film hits cinemas in June — reaching the big screen, unlike Pixar's past two releases Soul and Luca, as well as its soon-to-stream Turning Red — but the most adorable part of the Lightyear trailer right now belongs to Buzz's new robot cat companion Sox. Yes, you can already see how many toys that mechanical feline is certain to inspire. Check out the Lightyear trailer below: Lightyear will release in cinemas Down Under on June 16, 2022. Top image: © 2022 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Articulate, enthusiastic, candid, and at least a little bit enamoured with the sound of his own voice — you only have to be in a room with John Landis for a few seconds to see he was born to be an entertainer. In town for a career tribute as part of this year's Melbourne Festival, the 63-year-old director behind beloved Hollywood films including The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and the music video to Michael Jackson's Thriller, seems totally at ease in a room full of journalists, as he recalls anecdotes from a career that spans more than 40 years. YOU CAN'T PICK WHICH WORKS WILL HAVE A LASTING IMPACT While we now look back at movies like Animal House and The Blues Brothers as era-defining comedies, when asked if he had any notion that his films would still be celebrated 30 years after being made, Landis shakes his head with a smile. "The truth is," the filmmaker explains, "you work the same on a successful movie as you do on an unsuccessful movie. [Peter] Bogdanovich was the one who said 'the only true test of a film is time'. And unfortunately we're in a very schizophrenic business, because according to the media and the industry, the only true test of success is money. So many great films come out and tank, and many terrible movies are huge hits. So there's no rule of thumb." "The one that surprised me the most was Thriller," Landis says. "The album was already the most successful album of all time when we made the short … The Thriller video, on Beta and VHS, was $29.95, and they sold 8 million of them. That amazed me. And I think what still delights me, because it's so nuts, is Thrill the World, where they do the thriller dance. And if you go online, they do the thriller dance at weddings and bar mitzvahs … I guess it's the power of Michael Jackson." BAD MOVIES DON'T ALWAYS START OUT BAD Of course, not all of Landis' films have been so successful. Asked about the woeful reception to Blues Brothers 2000, he grins and responds, "the biggest problem with Blues Brothers 2000 is that it's lousy. We had terrible interference from the studio. It was rewritten something like 17 times before they gave us the green light… it was a terrible script. But I'm very proud of the music." Another one of Landis' lesser known works is 1996's The Stupids, which sat unreleased on a shelf for years after the financing company went bankrupt. Upon release, the film tanked at the box office and was panned by critics, although as Landis points out, eventual distributor New Line Cinema bought the film for more than it cost to make, and so "we all made money." "It was mis-sold. It's a children's film, and they sold it as a teenage tits and ass comedy. It was a horrifying experience." IF YOU DOWNLOAD RATHER THAN GOING TO THE CINEMA, IT'S YOUR LOSS Perhaps it's in part due to his rocky relationship with the Hollywood studios that Landis has spent most of the last decade working in documentary and television. "Hollywood as it used to be hasn't existed for a long time", Landis reflects. "I started in the mail room at Fox in the '60s, and it was already dying then. The film business has changed just like every other business, because of globalisation and economics and all kinds of things. Now, Universal, Fox, MGM, Warner Brothers, they're small subdivisions of huge multinational corporations. And these giant corporations, they're their own nation states. They don't even fucking pay taxes! So it has changed, and it continues to change." Even so, Landis remains mostly optimistic about the state of affairs in the movie business. "I think good movies will always be made. One of the big ironies is that technology improved, so now literally anyone can make a movie. The only thing I don't like, the only thing that makes me feel like an old fart, is that it breaks my heart that generations will see Lawrence of Arabia on their cell phone. Because nothing can reproduce the theatrical experience. Big house; beautifully projected — and you know that film is communal. The more people you are with watching a movie, the better the movie works. Comedies are funnier. Scary movies are scarier. Sad movies are sadder. It's contagious." A retrospective of John's films will be screening as part of the Melbourne Festival during October. Check it out here.
As the global phenomenon that is Game of Thrones draws towards it's inevitable, nail-biting, appendage-removing climax, fans of the series may begin to despair. To those preparing for the long night to come, do not fear; a blood-soaked parody of the beloved show will grace the stage of the Sydney Opera House in June. Oh, and did we mention it's a musical? From the creative team behind 50 Shades: A Musical Parody, this new venture sets the bar high for die-hard fans and newcomers alike. Not only did director Al Samuels distil the most important bits of the eight-season series into one stage show, but he also gave himself an even harder task of appealing to those who have never seen the show. How? "We created a cypher for that [uninitiated] audience member," explains Samuels. "A main character in our show admits the worst: she's never seen GoT before. Her friends are horrified, but they take it upon themselves to recreate all eight seasons for her in roughly 90 minutes. This conceit allowed us to not only appeal to a non-viewer...but also call out the greater meaning of the TV show. We [want] our show to make a social commentary about GoT." To get the full lowdown, we sat down with Samuels to nerd out about adaptation, parody and the five key scenes that truly capture the essence of the show. Read on to discover which of your favourite scenes will hit the stage this winter, but beware, the night is dark and full of spoilers. [caption id="attachment_673951" align="alignnone" width="1920"] HBO.[/caption] SEASON 3, EPISODE 9: THE RED WEDDING Now if you're reading this we will assume you're up to date and have watched (and rewatched) this heart-wrenching, throat-slitting and game-changing moment before. (But if not, turn back. We're serious about the whole spoilers thing.) This tragically subversive moment is perhaps the best indication of the brilliant unpredictability that makes GoT so compelling. As you can imagine, the musical version is a lot more light of heart, yet doesn't lose the sense of adventure and suspense. In Samuels' own words, "we become so invested in these well-drawn characters and their struggles and become addicted to the terror of worrying about whether they will fall in love, become queen or king, live or die." The Red Wedding scene typifies this kind of storytelling, so we're very much looking forward to seeing such a shocking scene retold via song and dance. [caption id="attachment_720947" align="alignnone" width="1920"] HBO.[/caption] SEASON 6, EPISODE 5: HOLD THE DOOR "When I wrote some stuff for the show," explains Samuels, "I would look for those moments that when I saw them, they were emotional gut punches." And nothing was more gut-punching or heart-wrenching than discovering the backstory of our beloved Hodor. Everybody's favourite monophrasing gentle giant met a grim, yet heroic death, which offered an important insight into the history of Westeros and its characters. Originally introduced as a simple-minded stable boy and, basically, Bran's servant and mode of transportation, the loveable giant won hearts all across the land (Westeros and Earth) simply by saying his own name 'Hodor'. After making it through five whole seasons (a rare feat in GoT), poor old Hodor makes the ultimate sacrifice (albeit being controlled by a warging Bran). This scene is sure to be one that leaves not a dry eye in the house. It's hard to see how any amount of song and dance could lighten the mood, but we're hoping they'll find a way, and in turn, honour the life of the series' most loved character. [caption id="attachment_720948" align="alignnone" width="1920"] HBO.[/caption] SEASON 5, EPISODE 10: CERSEI'S WALK OF ATONEMENT In a tale so vast as A Song of Ice and Fire, the moments that shock or stay with us the most aren't always limited to deaths. Enter Cersei. She's one of the longest survivors. She coined the term 'Game of Thrones'. And she's our favourite villain and anti-hero, who can somehow be behind the deaths of multiple well-loved characters, but still have us rooting for her and (somehow) sympathising with her. But such is the nature of GoT. "Nearly all characters are flawed," offers Samuels. "[But] all the characters have something we can sympathise with. Except Joffrey. And Ramsay. Those guys are pricks." (Ain't that the truth.) But, back to Cersei. When she takes the walk of ultimate shame — where she's stripped naked and those long golden locks are sheared off — it's the humiliation and punishment that viewers have been craving for the character since season one. While watching it all unfold, however, it feels like somewhat of a hollow victory. The viewer is instead made to feel the fear, uncertainty and 'shame' of someone the story vilifies. [caption id="attachment_721122" align="alignnone" width="1920"] HBO.[/caption] SEASON 6, EPISODE 9: DANY UNLEASHES HER DRAGONS ON THE SLAVERS' SHIPS GoT isn't all doom and gloom; for a story that delights in the macabre, there are moments where the 'good guys' serve justice for both fans and characters. After inching towards power slowly throughout the first five seasons, we see Daenerys and her dragons grow, offering a glimpse into a world of magic initially only hinted at. We waited a long time for Dany to go full blown killer kween, and she does it in a literal blaze of glory, slaying the evil slave masters and gaining a dedicated army at the same time. Moments of pure triumph are rare in GoT, almost always marred by a last-minute derailing or fractured feelings of who you want to come out on top. But this particular moment allows for one of the most victimised characters to assert her power in a truly epic fashion. Here's hoping the stage adaptation has as much glorious flame. [caption id="attachment_721121" align="alignnone" width="1920"] HBO.[/caption] SEASON 7, EPISODE 1: ARYA AVENGES THE RED WEDDING Character development is key in GoT and what makes people so invested in the series. And no character's growth and development has been as intriguing as young Arya's. She's become synonymous with vengeance ever since she witnessed the beheading of her father all the way in season one. And it was with her revenge upon the wicked Freys that her full wrath and dangerous potential is revealed. This moment allows fans to finally feel that justice for the Red Wedding has been served, yet it also represented one of the darkest moments for one of the youngest characters. Adding up to one of the biggest body counts for a single character, there's a morbidly Shakespearean quality to this moment — something that will undoubtedly translate to the stage in a satisfyingly gory fashion. See these five scenes reworked in Thrones! The Musical Parody and more at the Opera House from June 5–30. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased via the website. Top image: Thrones! The Musical Parody.
Open up your eager eyes, Australia and New Zealand: The Killers are headed our way. With international tours starting back up again, the Las Vegas-born rockers will hit up a heap of arenas Down Under in November and December 2022 — and a few Aussie wineries, too, if you're keen on sipping vino while singing along to 'Mr Brightside'. Destiny is calling you to shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne in Australia, plus winery gigs in the Barossa Valley, Geelong and the Hunter Valley, with most of the latter taking place as part of next year's A Day on the Green tour. In NZ, you'll be doing just fine at Auckland and Christchurch concerts — and no, there won't be any sick lullabies to swim through. Given the band's lengthy back catalogue, Brandon Flowers and company won't just be playing 'Mr Brightside' on repeat, but will be making a hot fuss over plenty of their hits — including tracks from their 2020 album Imploding the Mirage. The tour is named after that record, even though they released another one, Pressure Machine, this year. That's what happens when live gigs get put on hold during a pandemic, clearly. Remember: somebody told you that you'll be dancing along to 'Somebody Told Me', 'Smile Like You Mean It', 'When You Were Young', 'Bones', 'Human' and 'The Man' as well. While the Aussie leg of The Killers' 2022 tour includes plenty of outdoor venues, the timing means that they won't be repeating their AFL Grand Final berth after stealing the show back in 2017. [caption id="attachment_831494" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Raph_PH via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] THE KILLERS 2022 AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR DATES Auckland — Monday, November 21, Spark Arena Christchurch — Friday, November 25, Christchurch Arena Brisbane — Tuesday, November 29, Brisbane Entertainment Centre Barossa Valley — Saturday, December 3, A Day on the Green at Peter Lehmann Perth — Tuesday, December 6, RAC Arena Geelong — Saturday, December 10, A Day on the Green at Mt Duneed Estate Melbourne — Tuesday, December 13, Rod Laver Arena Hunter Valley — Saturday, December 17, Hope Estate Sydney — Monday, December 19, Qudos Bank Arena The Killers will tour Australia and New Zealand in November and December 2022. Pre-sale tickets go on sale at staggered times on Thursday, November 11, with general tickets on sale on Monday, November 15. For further details, head to the tour and A Day on the Green websites.
It's not often you'll voluntarily fork out 30 bucks to watch a bastard mock you, but then Red Bastard comes along. The internationally renowned clown, alter ego of Los Angeles' Eric Davis, is heading to the Bondi Pavilion. Habitually selling out shows and receiving five-star reviews, Red Bastard will take to the stage on Saturday, March 1, for one night only. And supposedly, many audience members quit their jobs, reunite with estranged loved ones, propose marriage and end friendships throughout the course of the show. Led by Red Bastard and open to everyone, a two-day clown workshop will also take place on March 1 and 2.
There's nothing quite like seeing a movie at the State Theatre during the Sydney Film Festival. The grand site doesn't operate as a cinema year-round, which makes the experience extra special — and then there's the decor, the history, the three tiers of seating, the knowledge that you're surrounded by a hefty crowd of people and just the general buzzing atmosphere. Of course, given that SFF had to go virtual in 2020 due to the pandemic, Sydney cinephiles didn't get a stint at the State this year. And you won't before 2021; however, you will be able to watch five movies there in January. For the first time ever, SFF is teaming up with Sydney Festival to screen a summer season — over one weekend, between Friday, January 15–Sunday, January 17, and all at the State. You can pick one or two flicks to go to, or book in for the entire five. And it'll be socially distanced, of course, but the venue is mighty cavernous as it is. The lineup might be compact, but it's powerful. Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra is a compelling and moving documentary about the dance theatre that provides its name, particularly focusing on the Page brothers. Also on the homegrown front, outback western High Ground has had audiences talking — and rightfully so — since it premiered at the Berlinale. And then there's Aussie doco Girls Can't Surf, about the female surfers who made their mark on the sport. Rounding out the lineup are two festival faves from other parts of the globe. Minari stars Steven Yeun as the patriarch of a Korean American family, while Another Round features the great Mads Mikkelsen as a teacher who, with his pals, decides to test the theory that humans actually need more alcohol in their blood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40X5EX6Us7c
At most, I expected to tolerate I'm Your Man. It is, after all, about boxing, for which I (and, let's generalise, most theatregoing folk) care not. So it came as a surprise when I loved I'm Your Man, and if you allow yourself to be transported through the doors of Belvoir Downstairs into a so-real-seeming boxing gym, creator/director Roslyn Oades and her multitalented, impressively athletic cast ensure you will, too. My (self-appointed) job is to convince you to take that first step and turn up. I'm Your Man spends time with the fighters, trainers and aspirants at a Sydney gym, and one in particular, Billy Dib, as he gears up for his world title fight. Oades spent 18 months observing and gathering interviews with these athletes, scratching at the psychology and culture that makes them. Her little bit journalistic, little bit anthropological documentation is distilled through a technique she's pioneered called headphone-verbatim, last seen in her Stories of Love and Hate. Rather than memorising the lines, the actors have the recorded audio from these interviews fed to them onstage through headsets and focus on wholly and accurately replicating the subtleties of speech. It might sound awkward, but it really works. We're used to theatre speech being worlds removed from everyday speech, and there are some great verbal quirks — fast-talking, stumbling, on-the-run grammar — that would normally never survive the flattening of the rehearsal process. These rediscovered idiosyncrasies of voice prove totally bewitching, and it's a neat antidote to theatrey declamation. (Plus, no complaints about dodgy accents here.) But more than just document, I'm Your Man immerses you in its characters' world. Even before you see your seats, the walk down the corridor carries you into another, intoxicating world — one where whitewashed walls brandish fight posters, articles, autographs and inspirational quotes; one that sounds of fists hitting vinyl and sneakers squealing against the lino. It smells thankfully not of sweat but of Deep Heat. It's powerful. You soon get a sense for just how this milieu might become a clubhouse, and a comfort. The sharp observation extends to the gym-bright but cleverly flexible fluorescent lighting (Neil Simpson), evocatively ringside sound (Bob Scott), and host of behaviours, exercises and rituals enacted by the performers (Mohammed Ahmad, Billy McPherson, Katia Molino, Justin Rosniak and John Shrimpton). The wrapping of wrists is hypnotic. In place of the usual dramatic climaxes, you want to clap feats of core strength and skipping. These actors may not have memorised lines, but they've been doing some hardcore practice. Often Billy Dib and his team seem to make boxing bear the weight of dreams and ideals bigger than it could possibly contain. Their stories of struggle, migration, self-improvement and community admiration come together to produce insight into the motivations of people who pursue something that most of us don't understand, and in some cases, can't abide. I'm Your Man acknowledges that real-life violence and the competitive violence of sport are not wholly disentwined; it just won't let the violence be the whole story. After earning their trust over many months, Oades clearly had her subjects open up to her, and she's honoured that trust by using their words with warmth, empathy and unflinching honesty.
American singer-songwriter Tom Krell (aka How to Dress Well) once described his sound as a convergence of Mariah Carey and Elliott Smith. It's that juncture of emo-acoustic and twinkly sentimental balladry that's led to Krell's music being labelled as 'lo-fi R&B'. Certainly in his older records, that came through. But with 2014 album "What is This Heart?" Krell's moving away from those early roots, towards something more musically diverse. (That said, the chorus of 'Precious Love' is decisively reminiscent of an early '00s R&B ballad, and it's great.) Krell picked his stage name semi-randomly from the spine of an old book he bought from a used bookstore ten years ago — justifying it by pointing out that we don't generally choose our names. True. That preoccupation with the uber real is reflected in his music. His lyrics are at times so personal they're almost uncomfortable, but then he turns it all weirdly in on itself with alien synth sounds and a falsetto that's painfully otherworldly — like, as one YouTube commenter put it so aptly, the ghosts of dead R&B singers come back to sing in empty bathroom stalls. Take this cover of Janet Jackson's 'Again'. Without a ukulele in sight, it's a refreshing antidote to the tired trend of white singers doing twee covers of the work of black musicians. We caught up with the super well-articulated, notoriously candid Krell ahead of his appearance at Sydney Festival, Melbourne's Sugar Mountain Festival and Brisbane's Australia Day Eve at the Brightside to chat about his newest album, the nature of quotation, embracing your influences, and creating intense, muscular live shows that are all about presence. Earlier this year you released your newest album, "What is This Heart?" which you recorded in Berlin with Rodaidh McDonald. What was the recording process like? It was cool. I came in with what could have been a finished record and then Rodaidh really helped me go through it. I'd have a guitar recorded and he would ask me, "What do you want this guitar to sound like?" and I'd say, "I want it to sound really close to the strings, and really raw-sounding." We'd re-record it and he'd help me dial in the details of the details. He's a really helpful engineer. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwRr2YyQD80[/embed] Making this album, were you influenced by anything in particular? How do you deal with your influences? A million things. For every song there's a whole handful of influences. I really do live through my influences. A lot of people I know write, and then listen to music separately. When they're writing they want to have this control, they worry that what they're making sounds too much like something else. I kind of have the opposite approach. While I'm working, if I hit on something that sounds like something else, I'll go listen to the song and try to figure out what it was in that song that so moved me that it snuck its way into my creative process. A lot of people have anxiety over influence, but I just really find it super inspiring. Let's talk about the title, "What is This Heart?". It's in quotation marks — what effect do they have for you? Quotation is a weird thing. On the one hand, it's about attributing something to someone. It's illegal to misquote someone because we really care, for some reason, about the things we say when they're in quotes. I started thinking a lot about that. An album is sort of like a long quote from me: this is what I want to say, and what I'm willing to have said in my name. Quotes also put things in scenes. Suddenly it's not just text on a piece of cardboard, but maybe it came out of someone's mouth. These things were stirring for me when I was writing. When I look back, what kinds of things do I want to have attributed to me? What kinds of things do I want people to say that I said? When I was writing lyrics for the record I also constantly found that I would think of something that someone said to me. A lot of the lyrics are made up of different kinds of quotes — things that I said that I wish I hadn't said, things that I overheard, things that I said that I didn't know the full consequences of. There's a lot going on with quotation in general. Talking about your lyrics, a lot of them seem deeply personal, or like they're really heavy with emotion. Does something compel you to write that kind of music? I suppose so. I don't think that they're personal in the sense of the coffee shop confessional. There are people who write much more directly personal things than I do. I would say that if they're personal, they're indirectly personal. The way I write, it is quite emotional. I guess I'm interested in the emotional life of people in general, which is another way of saying I'm interested in the way people live. Not in what people say when you ask them, "Hey, how was your day?" They'll tell they went to the library, they went to work, they went to the coffee shop, or whatever. But what I'm interested in in people and the self is not that story, but more the way it feels to actually live a life, the actual experience of life. That's the emotional part of life. So you went to the grocery store? Why, when you were walking down the aisle of the grocery store, did you think of your mother ageing and feel an intense pang of guilt? That's the kind of stuff that I'm interested in. Actual life. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTkGTfsMRYE[/embed] How would you explain the progression to this album from your previous albums? Especially because Love Remains, your first album, was very raw and stripped back — how did you move towards something more produced? Weirdly, I think of this newest record as the least produced. On Love Remains every single sound is filtered and changed to the point of being something really weird. It's full of little weird, suspended-in-time sound sculpture things. But for some of the stuff on this new record I just opened the microphone and sang right into it. There's acoustic guitar on Love Remains, but there's no way anybody other than me could ever pick it out because it just sounds like a weird wash indistinguishable from some of the other sounds. That's something I was actively trying to do because I wanted to make a specific record. Each record is a different response to a different time in my life. I don't really know what's next in terms of how to produce the next record, but it felt important for me on this record to do something with that real life thing I was just talking about. I wanted the music to have a realistic quality to it. So you're coming to Australia for Sydney Festival. In the past you've said that, rather than being like dance parties, you think of your shows as being more like a theatre performances. What's a How to Dress Well show like? I still don't think of what we do as a dance party, because it just isn't. But there are moments like that. The thing for me with the live show now is that I want it to be extremely physical and really obvious that there's a person present in front of you, doing this quite demanding performance. Another thing I was motivated by on this record was having really intense dynamic shifts. Having one moment be really quiet so you can sort of hear yourself breathing while you're listening and then another moment being so loud and muscular and intense that it knocks you back on your heels. That's a tough thing to do on a record. It's a much easier thing to do live because you can literally blast someone's head off and then very quickly go to something really quiet and subtle. I really do think we have the best show I've seen right now. I don’t think I know anybody else who plays a better concert than us, right now, which is cool. I really am super extremely proud of what we're doing live. It's super musical, really funny and fun, and really sad and touching. There are tender moments, and aggressive moments. It covers all the ground I really love in music and live music and live art. We have a really beautiful visual presentation as well that's weirdly connected with my motions. When I move quickly the visuals move. It's really cool. We've worked really hard on it. It's kind of the shit. See How to Dress Well as part of Sydney Festival's FBi Radio series at The Aurora on January 23, at Sugar Mountain Festival on January 24, or at The Brightside's Australia Day Eve on January 25. "What is This Heart?" is out now via Domino.
Ricos Tacos is coming to Redfern. Owner Toby Wilson's storied career has seen him whipping up tasty morsels at The George, Gelato Messina, Grifter Brewery, a sleepy corner of Chippendale and even the world porridge-making championship. Now, his most ambitious project to date will swing open its doors before September is out. After leaving Chippendale earlier in 2023, Ricos Tacos will reemerge as a two-story restaurant and bar at The Norfolk Hotel on Saturday, September 23. The huge 200-person taqueria is opening with help from the hospitality group behind The Strand Hotel, The Lady Hampshire, Oxford House and Maybe Sammy — and will feature two distinct areas: an expanded version of the original Ricos on the bottom level, and a late-night disco den and sports bar called Club Ricos up above. "We never intended to have a 20-seater venue," Wilson told Concrete Playground when the Chippendale outpost closed down. "Ricos was always meant to be something a bit bigger than that." Down in the main restaurant, quirky food-based characters and Mike Delaney murals will litter the bright yellow walls, and neon lights will surround the rotating al pastor. Looking to pair your lunch with a dose of vitamin D? There's a sunlit beer garden filled with plants and boasting a charcoal barbecue for Sunday sessions. At the heart of the menu will, of course, be tacos — with the hero dish topped with the likes of barbacoa, al pastor, fish or chicken with almond coffee mole. You can also expect to discover a taco of the week each time you head in, giving Wilson the opportunity to flex his creative muscles. Elsewhere on the menu, there are hamburgers, half a roast chicken with house-made hot sauce, Ricos' famous hash browns, white fish tostadas, zucchini flower quesadillas and ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Maybe Sammy's El Primo Sanchez has delivered on the cocktails with a lemongrass paloma and a pavlova colada, which can be paired with the flavour-packed eats alongside beers from Young Henrys, Grifter and Tecate. Up in Club Ricos you'll find red vinyl seating, 60s-inspired paraphernalia and DJs spinning tunes until late. If you find yourself hungry after many trips to the dance floor, there will be an upstairs snack menu dedicated to late-night feeds. "Between design, food, drinks and long-time friends, we've built Ricos Tacos with some of the original puzzle pieces of The Norfolk while keeping the Ricos customer in mind," says Wilson. "It's the blueprint of The Norflok with a Ricos overhaul. I envisioned late nights upstairs, sunny barbecues and fun, experimental food throughout the build process, and the opening weekend will be the first of many momentous days and nights." To celebrate the opening, Ricos Tacos Redfern is throwing a weekend-long party across Saturday, September 23–Sunday, September 24 with DJs on the decks and an asada barbecue on the Sunday. Ricos Tacos will open in The Norfolk Hotel at 305 Cleveland Street, Redfern on Saturday, September 23. It'll be open 12–10pm Wednesday–Thursday, 12pm-12am Friday –Saturday and 12–10pm Sunday. Images: Alana Dimou.
If you're a true-blue Aussie KFC fan, you've probably felt a little miffed by the fried chicken empire's decision to completely overlook us when doling out its unique merch. Our mates in New Zealand got KFC candles, the USA scored chicken-scented sunscreen and Japan lucked out with fried chook-inspired bath bombs. Well, now it's finally our turn for a piece of the finger lickin' action, as KFC launches what might just be the most Aussie merchandise collection ever. Dropping as part of a month-long fundraising initiative by the KFC Youth Foundation the limited edition goodies will be up for grabs online from noon tomorrow, Thursday, August 16. All profits from merch sales will go towards supporting local youth-focused charities, including Youngcare, StreetWork and ReachOut. The unique haul includes cotton trackies in that famous KFC print, racy red KFC-inspired budgie smugglers, printed socks, a necklace and a '100% Original Recipe' tee. You'll also be able to get your mitts on the world's first-ever KFC-scented surfboard wax and — if you're extra quick and willing to part with $3000 — the single-edition 'Harland' surfboard, emblazoned with the Colonel's face. If subtlety's more your style, nip into any KFC restaurant across the country to show your love with one of their limited run enamel badges. The five-strong collection features a mini nuglife box, the Colonel's iconic black tie, an Original Recipe bucket, a tie-wearing chicken, and a tiny homage to the KFC drumstick. Catch the collection from 12pm, Thursday August 16, right here.
In need of aesthetic inspiration? Fear not, dear friend, for the creative extravaganza that is Semi-Permanent is heading to Sydney this autumn - and you’re invited. The design festival is fresh from blowing minds in Los Angeles and Portland, and will make a sneaky stop in Sydney from May 24-25 as part of its world tour. Featuring a smorgasbord of visionary thinkers and exhilarating speakers, Semi-Permanent combines presentation, exhibition and party into an artful orgy of visual delights. It’s a must-iCal event for any artist whose heart longs for authentic creative community. Or for those whose hearts love free tote bags. Attendees will be able to rub shoulders with the likes of Brian Roettinger, Saturdays NYC, Finbarr O’Reilly and Aaron Rose, while concurrently soaking up the Darling Harbour sun. Highlights from previous years include behind-the-visuals insights into Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, fiery expositions from crazed photographer Charlie White and onstage rail sliding from artist/pro-skater Ed Templeton. When inspired thinkers collide, good stuff happens. Tickets are on sale right now from the Semi-Permanent website - but dive in quick because early bird prices end on April 26 (this Friday).
Last year saw the inaugural event for Hashtag Burgers' Burgerpalooza festival, with a sold-out Manning Bar completely at capacity, full of hungry folks sizing up each $10 burger. Akin to Superman, the Mummy, and the Jedi, Burgerpalooza is returning for round two, and they've raised the stakes. After selling out incredibly quickly last year, the festival will take place over two days, April 1 and 2, in Marrickville's Fraser Park. The added space means they'll be able to fit more vendors and activities in, notably featuring bespoke burgers from Sydney burger favourites BL Burgers, Burger Head, Down 'N' Out, Mister Gee, and Superior Burger, with more to be announced. Hashtag Burgers have teamed up with Menulog to kick things into overdrive, with each ticket coming with $10 credit for the site. The chilli eating competition will rear its head again, hosted by Daniel Muggleton, and there'll be a mix of live music and vinyl DJs to help you digest your wares. There'll be fun and games from The Burger Collective, plus booze by the official partner, Coors, and there's still a whole bunch more to be announced. Image: Burger Head.
Featuring some of Golden Age Cinema's favourite "classics, cults, creepies and cheapies", Hollywood Nights is that perfect date idea you've been waiting to spring on your secret crush. Combining our favourite boutique cinema experience with the fried and fabulous food of the Nighthawk Diner — as well as live music, drinks and the pure joy of sitting in the great outdoors — your night is sure to be one to remember. You could even call it a classic. On as part of new arts festival Spectrum Now, Hollywood Nights is held at garden hub Spectrum Playground in the Domain. The films programmed are a journey through time — both in when they were made and when they were set (which explains some of the double dates you see listed below). The series kicks off in the '50s with musical classic Singin' in the Rain, quickly followed by the 1955 American drama, Rebel Without a Cause. Week two features some favourites from the '80s and '90s — with everything from Back to the Future to Picnic at Hanging Rock, Ghostbusters and Hairspray — before heading into the 'future' with 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Nighthawk team have matched their menus to the movies. It's your chance to feel at one with the cinematic world of your choosing. Here's the full program: Wed 11 March – Singin’ in the Rain (1952/1927) G, 8pm Thurs 12 March – The Philadelphia Story (1940) PG, 8pm Fri 13 March – Rebel Without a Cause (1955) M, 8pm Sat 14 March – Back to the Future (1985/1955) PG, 8pm Sun 15 March – Breathless / À bout de souffle (1960) PG, 8pm Mon 16 March – Hairspray (1988/1962) PG, 8pm Tues 17 March – Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) PG, 8pm Wed 18 March – Ghostbusters (1984) PG, 8pm Thurs 19 March – Labyrinth (1986) G, 8pm Fri 20 March – Reality Bites (1994) M, 8pm Sat 21 March – The Big Lebowski (1998) MA15+, 8pm Sun 22 March – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968/2001) G, 8pm
Get Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand and more exceptional women in a room, point a camera their way, let the talk flow: Sarah Polley's Women Talking does just that, and the Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar-nominee is phenomenal. The actor-turned-filmmaker's fourth effort behind the lens after 2006's Away From Her, 2011's Take This Waltz and 2012's Stories We Tell does plenty more, but its basic setup is as straightforward as its title states. Adapted from Miriam Toews' 2018 novel of the same name, this isn't a simple or easy film, however. That book and this feature draw on events in a Bolivian Mennonite colony from 2005–9, where a spate of mass druggings and rapes of women and girls were reported at the hands of some of the group's men. In a patriarchal faith and society, women talking about their experiences is a rebellious, revolutionary act anyway — and talking about what comes next is just as charged. "The elders told us that it was the work of ghosts, or Satan, or that we were lying to get attention, or that it was an act of wild female imagination." That's teenage narrator Autje's (debutant Kate Hallett) explanation for how such assaults could occur and continue, as offered in Women Talking's sombre opening voiceover. Writing and helming, Polley declares her feature "an act of female imagination" as well, as Toews did on the page, but the truth in the movie's words is both lingering and haunting. While the film anchors its dramas in a specific year, 2010, it's purposefully vague on any details that could ground it in one place. Set within a community where modern technology is banned and horse-drawn buggies are the only form of transport, it's a work of fiction inspired by reality, rather than a recreation. Whether you're aware of the true tale behind the book going in or not, this deeply powerful and affecting picture speaks to how women have long been treated in a male-dominated world at large — and what's so often left unsaid, too. Stay and do nothing. Stay and fight. Leave the only home they've ever had behind, be excommunicated from their faith and forgo their spot in heaven. When the Mennonite women catch one of their attackers, he names more, arrests follow and the men are sent to the city — the culprits imprisoned, the rest there to bail them out — those three choices face the ladies of Women Talking. To decide which path to take, they hold a secret vote while the colony's males are away. When the results are tied, a cohort within the cohort chat it out in the barn. From elders to mothers and teens, everyone has a different perspective across three generations, or a different reason for their perspective, but the hurt, pain, dismay and distress simmering among the stern gazes, carefully braided hair and surrounding hay is shared. The women's religious beliefs dictate one solution only: absolution. That's the outcome demanded by the scarred Janz (The Tragedy of Macbeth's McDormand, also a co-producer here), so much so that she won't entertain alternatives. But her peers Agata (Judith Ivey, The Accidental Wolf) and Greta (Sheila McCarthy, The Broken Hearts Gallery) see shades of grey in their predicament — shades that Polley and her returning Away From Her and Take This Waltz cinematographer Luc Montpellier highlight in Women Talking's colour palette, even though their viewers will scream internally for the women to immediately leave. While dialogue-driven by necessity, the film also spies the country idyll that sits outside the barn doors, where the kids play contentedly in the crops. This isn't an aesthetically sunny movie — its tones are muted, as its women have long been required to be — but it still sees what departing means on multiple levels with clear eyes. As the debate rages against Hildur Guðnadóttir's (Tár) score of yearning — The Monkees' 'Daydream Believer' also gets a spin, surreally so — Agata's daughter Salome (Foy, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) furiously advocates for battling. Her toddler daughter was among those attacked, which is understandably something she can't forgive, forget and keep living submissively beside the perpetrators, in a culture that allowed it to happen, afterwards. For Greta's just-as-irate daughter Mariche (Buckley, Men), who is abused by her husband openly aside from the widespread attacks, nothing good can come from running — including with their god. And for Salome's sister Ona (Mara, Nightmare Alley), who is pregnant from being raped, her ideals keep her going. As pros and cons about fighting or fleeing are thrown around, she speaks calmly but passionately about wanting a better community where the Mennonite women have agency and educations, as well as being safe and free. Indeed, because the group cannot read or write, formerly ex-communicated teacher August (Ben Whishaw, No Time to Die) is the lone male permitted to their meeting, taking minutes. More than a decade has passed between Polley's third film and Women Talking, and cinema has been all the poorer for it. How rich and resonant — how raw, sensitive and potent at the same time — her latest directorial effort proves. Compassionate and thoughtful in every frame, it scorches as a based-on-a-true-tale drama and as a state-of-the-world allegory, and says just as much beneath all the feverish utterances. Even with the Mennonite order's rules and conformity, costuming and hairstyles convey plenty about varying personalities. Letting colour seep into the movie's characters as the sun sets parallels the vibrant personalities these ladies are not expected to possess. And when Women Talking peers at the boys of the collective, it does so softly, asking what it takes to turn those innocent faces into men who'd subdue Salome, Mariche, Ona and company with cow tranquillisers to violate them. Such a complex and empathetic feature that's also intense, gripping and wide-ranging — pondering gender inequality, what community truly means and should stand for, religious devotion and the sins permitted in its name, unthinking compliance to any societal order and more — is unsurprisingly packed with performances to match. Women Talking's cast are deservedly up for the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards ensemble prize, while Buckley and Whishaw earned Gotham Awards nominations as well; there's no weak link in this troupe, including with all the rhythmic chatter. Each in their own way, Foy, Mara, McDormand and their co-stars radiate heartbreak, determination, vulnerability and anger. Whishaw is similarly excellent, but also never the film's focus. These portrayals are talking, too, in a movie that wouldn't fantasise about offering easy answers — but dreams of the possibilities spirited conversations and no longer staying silent can and do bring.
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. From the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue for October — and yes, we're guessing you've already hit up The Trial of the Chicago 7, Rebecca and On the Rocks. NEW STUFF TO WATCH NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rsa4U8mqkw BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM Of all that twists and turns that 2020 has delivered, the arrival of a new Borat movie ranks among the most unexpected. Watching Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, however, it's obvious why the famed fictional Kazakh journalist is making a comeback at this very moment — that is, just before the US election. Once again, Borat travels to America. Once again, he traverses the country, interviewing everyday people and exposing the abhorrent views that have become engrained in US society. Where its 2006 predecessor had everyone laughing along with it, though, there's also an uneasy and even angry undercurrent to Borat Subsequent Moviefilm that's reflective of these especially polarised times. It's worth noting that Sacha Baron Cohen's last project, 2018 TV series Who Is America?, also used the comedian's usual interview technique to paint a picture of the US today, and the results were as astute as they were horrifying. There are plenty of jokes in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which bases its narrative around Borat's attempt to gift his 15-year-old daughter (instant scene-stealer Maria Bakalova) to Vice President Mike Pence and then ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to help get Kazakhstan's own leader into President Donald Trump's good graces, but this is the unflinching work of a star passionate about making a statement. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is available to stream now via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Tm63y-S4s THE GOOD LORD BIRD In The Good Lord Bird's opening moments, the new seven-part mini-series tells viewers what'll happen to 19th-century US abolitionist John Brown (Ethan Hawke), its central figure. The audience sees Brown approach the gallows, with narration making plain that he's about to meet his end. Given that Brown was a real figure, the show is merely outlining his history in this regard. But even with the knowledge of his character's ultimate fate lodged firmly in viewers' minds from the outset, Hawke turns in a riveting performance every time he's on-screen. Brown not only opposed slavery, but was driven to use violence to liberate enslaved Black Americans — and the power of his conviction shines through in Hawke's blistering portrayal, as it does throughout the engaging series overall. The Good Lord Bird's voiceover and perspective comes from the fictional Henry 'Onion' Shackleford (Joshua Caleb Johnson), a boy that Brown saves but mistakes for a girl, and who also crosses paths with other historical personalities such as fellow reformer Frederick Douglass (Hamilton's Daveed Diggs) and Confederate general JEB Stuart (Wyatt Russell). As for this smart, irreverent, bold and vehement take on America's troubled past in general, it stems from the pages of James McBride's 2013 novel of the same name. The first three episodes of The Good Lord Bird are available to stream now via Stan, with new episodes added weekly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeYWT7CnFK0 SCARE ME Written and directed by Josh Ruben, and starring him also, Scare Me doesn't just like scary movies — it loves scary stories. Indeed, this pared-back horror film understands that sometimes all that's needed to keep an audience on the edge of their seats is a great tale told well. Its characters, both writers, are all about unfurling creepy narratives. Fred (Ruben) falls into the aspiring category, while Fanny (You're the Worst and The Boys' Aya Cash) has an acclaimed best-seller to her name. With each taking time out in the mountains to get some work done, these two strangers end up in Fred's cabin telling each other disturbing stories when the power goes out (and trying to one-up each other). For its first two-thirds, Scare Me makes the most of that basic concept. Fred and Fanny perform their tales, sound effects and ominous lighting kicks in — it's a stormy night, of course — and the mood is suitably perturbing. The film also demonstrates its self-awareness, namedropping other genre titles with frequency and sending in a pizza from the Overlook. When this Sundance-premiering feature decides to ponder real-life horrors as part of its layered stories, however, it proves especially potent. Scare Me is available to stream now via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10dsDHszrcY TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL Perhaps the most frightening film of 2020, Totally Under Control isn't a horror movie filled with traditional bumps and jumps. For anyone who has been keeping a close eye on the constantly unnerving news served up by this hectic year, it also doesn't tell viewers anything that isn't already known. But this US-focused documentary unsettles from start to finish, all by exploring the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparisons with other countries — including South Korea, which initially had a similar caseload back at the beginning of the year — are particularly effective. To-camera interviews by officials involved in the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus, and from one volunteer given far too much responsibility for solving crucial PPE shortages, are just as telling. This isn't the first doco about COVID-19 and it won't be the last; however, as co-directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief) with Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, it's absolutely essential viewing. Totally Under Control is available to stream now via DocPlay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWoiNlLqLR8 THE UNDOING If it was made less than a decade ago instead of now, The Undoing likely would've followed Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train to cinemas. This page-to-screen adaptation certainly has the cast for it — Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Donald Sutherland, A Quiet Place's Noah Jupe and Edgar Ramirez — as well as a knotty mystery premise and a tension-dripping tone. But hot on the heels of Big Little Lies, The Undoing is actually HBO's latest big-name mini-series. Kidman returns, obviously, as does well-known TV writer David E Kelley (LA Law, Ally McBeal, The Practice). The former plays a successful therapist, Grace Fraser, whose seemingly happy home life and marriage to Grant's paediatric oncologist Jonathan starts to collapse when someone linked to her son's ultra-wealthy private school turns up dead. Based on Jean Hanff Korelitz's novel You Should Have Known and directed by The Night Manager's Susanne Bier, this six-part series is the epitome of #richpeopleproblems — but whether exploring heated moments in lush surroundings, or noting the type of emotions and behaviours status and standing can both encourage and hide, it's firmly aware of that fact. Thanks to a twist at the end of each episode, it's also very addictive, even when it's predictable. The first episode of The Undoing is available to stream now via Binge, with new episodes added weekly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfTmT6C5DnM DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD Mortality is no one's favourite subject. Confronting the certainty of our own demise is so difficult, we all just generally carry on as though it won't happen. And the reality that everyone we know and love will die, including our parents, is just as tough to deal with. Facing not only the fact that her father is advancing in age, but that he's suffering dementia — meaning that she'll lose him mentally before he passes away physically — cinematographer and documentarian Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson) conjured up a playful and poignant project. In Dick Johnson Is Dead, she stages her dad's death over and over. He's very much alive and he takes part, with the father-daughter duo bonding during what time they have left together in the process. While it might sound morbid, this moving movie is anything but. As well as the scenes that give the film its title, it also provides an insightful chronicle of the Johnsons' lives. Tender, thoughtful, personal and intimate, and driven by both Dick and Kirsten's presence, the result is perhaps the most affecting feature of the year — and a very worth winner of the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Non-Fiction Storytelling at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Dick Johnson Is Dead is available to stream now via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WHZM-gDONo FEELS GOOD MAN If you've somehow managed to avoid Pepe the Frog over the past decade, then you clearly haven't spent enough time on the internet during that period. The green character became an online meme back in the 2000s, popping up on message boards and earning users' devotion. It was then was co-opted by the alt-right movement, not only becoming its symbol but getting quite a workout in the lead up to the 2016 US Presidential election. That's not how Pepe started out, however, as Arthur Jones' documentary Feels Good Man shows. Originally, Pepe was created by artist Matt Furie and featured in his Boys Club comics — and the kindly illustrator definitely didn't intend for his cute critter to become associated with prejudice, hate and offensive viewpoints. In addition to charting the history of Pepe, Feels Good Man works through Furie's ongoing fight to reclaim his creation. As you might expect given the above description, this is the type of tale that can only be true, and is also best understood by watching it unfurl. Feels Good Man does something else, though, documenting how online content can take on a life far beyond that initially envisaged, as well as offering a pivotal snapshot of how politicised every facet of American life seems to have become. Feels Good Man is available to stream now via DocPlay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4ISTHi45_s FARGO Last month, SBS added the first three seasons of Fargo to its streaming platform, in preparation for the long-awaited fourth season's arrival. Based on the Oscar-winning Coen brothers' film of the same name, this is an anthology series, so watching previous seasons before starting the new one isn't essential — but, as the latest batch of episodes demonstrates, soaking in all things Fargo is highly recommended. Dropping fresh instalments weekly, Fargo season four is easy to devour. Set in 1950 in Kansas City, Missouri, it steps into its favourite territory: a turf war. While the first episode explains that different groups have been fighting to control the city's underworld for decades, this time it's Loy Cannon (Chris Rock) and his fellow Black Americans' turn to challenge the Italian crime syndicate led by Josto Fadda (Jason Schwartzman). As always, the story from there proves both twisty and blackly comedic, and appears on-track to deliver yet another cautionary tale about the perils of underhanded and illicit activities. There's gravitas to Rock's portrayal of a man trying to carve out his place, and he's joined by a similarly top-notch cast including Jessie Buckley (I'm Thinking of Ending Things) as a nurse with a secret and Ben Whishaw (No Time to Die) as one of Fadda's put-upon offsiders. The first five episodes of Fargo's fourth season are available to stream now via SBS On Demand, with new episodes added weekly. ONES TO WATCH OUT FOR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW7Twd85m2g THE MANDALORIAN Travelling to a galaxy far, far away sounds rather nice at this point in 2020. If you're a Star Wars fan, that's actually quite easy, too. While this year won't deliver a new movie in the franchise for the first time since 2014, the second season of TV spinoff The Mandalorian is heading to Disney+ from Friday, October 30. For those that missed it or need a refresher — the Star Wars universe certainly does sprawl far and wide, both within its tales and in its many different movies, shows, books and games — the Emmy-nominated show follows the titular bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal). In the series' first season, which was set five years after Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi and aired last year, that meant tracking his latest gigs. And, it also involved charting his encounter with a fuzzy little creature officially known as The Child, but affectionately named Baby Yoda by everyone watching. Also on offer the first time around: Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito playing villain Moff Gideon, aka the ex-Galactic Empire security officer determined to capture The Child; everyone from Carl Weathers and Taika Waititi to Werner Herzog playing ex-magistrates, droids and enigmatic strangers; and plenty of planet-hopping. Yes, it was firmly a Star Wars TV series, and yes, it plans to continue in the same manner. The Mandalorian's second season starts streaming via Disney+ from Friday, October 30, CULT CLASSICS TO REVISIT AND REDISCOVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob_Sq__g01E THE HITCHCOCK COLLECTION Fans of thrillers, and of the filmmaker who became a legend by directing them, have two choices this month. Eighty years after Alfred Hitchcock first brought the story to the screen, Netflix has produced a lavish-looking new adaptation of Rebecca — a movie that intoxicates visually, but doesn't ever quite match the heights reached by the Master of Suspense's Oscar-winning version all those decades ago. But for those who'd rather luxuriate in all things Hitch, Stan is streaming a collection of his greatest hits. It doesn't include Rebecca, but when you're watching classics such as Psycho, The Birds and Rear Window — and Rope and Saboteur, too — you aren't likely to mind. All five will always stand the test of time, but Psycho's tale of a troubled man obsessed with his mother and the unfortunate woman who crosses his path has always been innately unnerving. When you're not revelling in its twists, and its famed screech-heavy shower scene, Rear Window's voyeurism-fuelled storyline (and the fact that its protagonist, played by a commanding James Stewart, is stuck at home) feels particularly relevant this year. Stan's Hitchcock collection is available to stream now. Top images: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm courtesy of Amazon Studios.
With its mix of high-end boutiques and local, independent retailers, there's no denying that Paddington is home to some of the best shopping in Sydney. See it in full swing on the evening of Thursday, March 25, when the streets of the 'hood come to life at A 2021 Night Out. Making the most of the last days of daylight savings, the one-night event sees over 100 local businesses host an evening of fashion, food and festivities. A 2021 Night Out is a partnership between Woollahra Council, City of Sydney Council and Visit Paddington. [caption id="attachment_803592" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Elph Ceramics, Steven Woodburn[/caption] There'll be plenty to see, do and shop at sites in the main zones of Oxford Street, Five Ways, The Intersection and William Street. The one-night offers include 15 percent off storewide at Funkis, the Paddington-based Swedish designer store famed for its minimalist and timeless Scandi-style designs. Speaking of timeless designs, Aussie designer Scanlan Theodore is serving free signature cocktails and refreshments to enjoy as you browse the latest collection, or to sip on during a complimentary styling session by senior in-house stylists. Elsewhere, Parlour X, located in the former St John's Church, will offer 10 percent off new season items, as well as a further 20 percent off sale items, from its range of European designer wares. Closer to Five Ways, dreamy stationery and paper store Journals is teaming up with neighbouring restaurant Tequila Mockingbird for an evening of magazines and margaritas — and, we must ask, why hadn't anybody thought of this sooner? Also on the non-fashion front, Elph Ceramics is offering 10 percent off its stunning house range of handmade pieces. For more information on all participating businesses and their exclusive offers for A 2021 Night Out, head here. Top image: Funkis, Steven Woodburn
The 4th Brazil Film Festival runs in Sydney from February 19 to March 1 and presents 10 of the most acclaimed recent Brazilian film productions as well as a selection of short films. Here's a preview of five movies that have us totally intrigued. 1. Heleno is a portrait of real-life 1940s soccer star Heleno de Freito's romantic and professional exploits. Shot entirely in black-and-white, this looks to be a glamorous chronicle of the 'Cursed Prince', complete with well-dressed busty ladies, fast cars, and snappy dialogue. 2. Mulatas. The first word that comes to mind when you think of Brazil is probably 'Carnival'. This doco interviews the women embodying Rio de Janeiro's exuberant Carnival samba culture, the mulatas. Delving beneath the surface of a national symbol, the film explores the stigmas associated with the provocative dance style and its impact on the mulatas' personal lives. 3. Hauling. Sao Paulo is home to a marginalised subculture of professional recyclers, including Claudines, a man who for many years has based his livelihood on carefully salvaging what others would view as junk. He's not the only one, either. This documentary offers a fascinating look at Brazil's recycling underworld, covering both its social and environmental aspects. 4. Highrise. What does life look like from the perspective of the Brazilian upper classes, dwelling high above street level in the penthouses of major cities? Highrise scrutinises the country's social and economic disparities by entering the lofty homes of some of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Recife's wealthiest denizens, interviewing them about their motives for choosing the high life. 5. Amazonia Eterna. The Amazon is the last great forest wilderness, and the balance of its ecosystem affects all life on Earth. This documentary examines the way local inhabitants view their home, its significance and its future. The film will be accompanied by a panel discussion chaired by Green Cross Australia, raising awareness of parallels between conservation issues in the Amazon and Australia. https://youtube.com/watch?v=nq7XsCyZRVI Top image from Hauling by Sean Walsh.
Plenty of great movies made plenty of money at the Australian box office this year. From Black Panther, A Star Is Born and Mission: Impossible — Fallout to A Quiet Place, A Simple Favour and Halloween, Aussies spent many of their trips to the cinema wisely. That said, a wealth of excellent films didn't rake in the cash. Some were small dramas that could never compete with big-budget blockbusters. Some only released on a handful of screens around the country, if that. Some, for a multitude of reasons, just didn't find an audience. Thankfully, we live in an age where watching movies is as simple as pushing a button, especially when it comes to flicks that first hit the big screen a few months back. Yesterday's overlooked cinema gems are today's streaming highlights, waiting for your viewing eyeballs to give them the attention they deserve. With that in mind, here's ten 2018 standouts to add to your watch list — we know that you probably didn't see them at your local picture palace, thanks to their box office results, but they all rank among the year's must-sees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rsiWB-dhvg HEARTS BEAT LOUD If you didn't want Nick Offerman to be your dad already, then you will after this music-heavy charmer. The Parks and Recreation star plays Brooklyn record store owner and doting father Frank, who's worried that his only daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) is about to head off to college — and that, among other things, they'll no longer get to jam together. With dreams of music stardom, he uploads one of their songs to Spotify. When it finds an audience, he tries to convince Sam to take their songwriting sideline seriously. The end result is a sweet, earnest and warmly observed story about a father learning that his daughter has to make her own choices, with Clemons also stellar, the supporting cast featuring Ted Danson and Toni Collette as well, and the film's upbeat titular track certain to get stuck in your head. Rent it on Amazon Prime here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp88Nuci68c A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN Watching A Prayer Before Dawn, two things prove astonishing. The first: that this hard-hitting prison drama is based on a true story. The second: the performance of Joe Cole as British boxer Billy Moore. When Moore was arrested for drug offences in Thailand, and then sentenced to three years imprisonment, his experience was harrowing to say the very least. French filmmaker Jean-Stephane Sauvaire doesn't shy away from the violence, pain and more that comes with life inside two notorious Thai jails, in a film that doesn't let up from the moment it starts — and isn't always easy to watch as a result. As for Cole, he makes the audience feel every fierce blow, every second of claustrophobic anguish, and the enormous physical and psychological toll. Stream it on Amazon Prime here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRlUJrEUn0Y JANE Ever since Dr Jane Goodall took on a job few would — living in the Tanzanian jungle to observe chimpanzee behaviour in the wild — the wildlife activist and conservationist's story has been far from ordinary. That said, it's one thing to read about her feats and quite another to hear her look back on her life herself, with Jane offering the latter. This intimate documentary serves up more than that, however. It views her experiences as they happened, all thanks to mountains of rediscovered archival footage. As he did so commandingly with Cobain: Montage of Heck, filmmaker Brett Morgen once again tells his subject's tale in her own words, with the materials he's assembled proving endlessly fascinating. Stream it on Netflix over here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6U0T3DAyro I AM NOT A WITCH With her debut feature, writer/director Rungano Nyoni tells a tale that's both intricately related to its setting, and sadly universally relatable. An outsider in her own Zambian village, eight-year-old Shula (Maggie Mulubwa) is not only blamed for a series of minor incidents, but deemed a witch and shunned. Here, that means being taken to a camp, tethered to a stick (so that she doesn't fly away) along with her fellow witches, and gawked at by tourists. I Am Not a Witch's portrait of persecution runs deep, although Nyoni does more than make a statement. Hers is both an examination of superstition's influence (and convenient use as a scapegoat) and a portrait of a girl who defies the labels thrown at her, all in a film that's smart, satirical and also surreal at times. Stream it on SBS On Demand here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reMwL8uYXps THE ENDLESS There are two ways to watch The Endless. The first involves going into the moody and inventive movie with fresh eyes, and discovering the details of this cult-focused tale as they unravel. The second involves watching Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson's Resolution in preparation — and don't worry, if you opt for the former, you'll still want to seek their earlier flick out later. The filmmakers direct and star in this sci-fi/horror effort about brothers who've escaped from the compound that gave them a home in their youth, but are drawn back by mysterious videotapes. That might sound like an interesting but hardly unique setup; however, where the picture goes from there is an imaginative and twisty delight. From the siblings' struggles to the way that time passes, little is what it seems in the best and most thrilling way. Stream it on SBS On Demand here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2oTWr9KL7A IN THE FADE Back at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Diane Kruger went home with the best actress award for In the Fade, and it's a prize that was thoroughly well deserved. The topic of grief is frequently splashed across cinema screens, as is the subject of terrorism in recent years, but the raw pain in Kruger's performance isn't shaken quickly. Indeed, the topical Fatih Akin-directed film is one that lingers long after watching, as a German woman loses her family in a bombing attack, then navigates the emotional fallout as well as the highly publicised legal proceedings that follow. Astonishingly, after becoming one of the most prominent German actresses in Hollywood, In the Fade is also Kruger's first starring role in her native language. Rent it on Amazon Prime here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hc8tB9uhho THE DAWN WALL There's never been a better time to stare at a big screen while watching fearless folks try to scale great heights. Two recent highlights have done just that — and while likely Oscar contender Free Solo doesn't hit Australian cinemas until 2019, 2018 release The Dawn Wall is just as thrilling. Taking its name from a notoriously difficult rock face in America's Yosemite National Park, this suspenseful documentary charts Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson's world-first bid to reach the top. As well as exploring the personal impact, the film captures their extremely physical, punishing efforts with jaw-dropping cinematography that makes viewers feel like they're making the journey alongside the two determined climbers. Rent it on Amazon Prime here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqnQYsyeehA BEAST Remember the name Jessie Buckley. Based on her exceptional performance in this British thriller, she's someone you'll be hearing more about. In Beast, the Irish actor plays the initially timid Moll, who lives a sheltered Jersey life under the close supervision of her stern mother (Geraldine James) until she meets a charming stranger (Johnny Flynn). Alas, romantic bliss isn't all that it seems, especially with a series of murders blighting her island hometown. The feature debut of writer/director Michael Pearce, this is a dark fairytale, an unconventional crime flick and a psychological portrait of a woman breaking free from expectation that draws viewers in from start to finish. Rent it on Amazon Prime here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6o5WPcCgT0 FOXTROT He might only have two features to his name, but Lebanese filmmaker Samuel Moaz still boasts quite the resume. Perceptive, probing, intimate and political tales are his wheelhouse, and with Foxtrot, he shows that the tank-set Lebanon was no mere one-off. This time around, his story is broader, encompassing a young Israeli soldier's (Yonaton Shiray) experience manning a checkpoint as part of his compulsory military service, as well as his parents' (Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler) plight back in Tel Aviv. Of course, it's not just the narrative that Moaz tells, but the immersive and sometimes experimental way that he tells it. Foxtrot is another testament to his directorial prowess — and a testament to the cast's acting abilities as well. Stream it on Amazon Prime here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubrquR6i0WQ SHADOW With Shadow, Zhang Yimou does what the Chinese filmmaker does best: not only commit striking wuxia scenes to the screen, but pair them with a deeply felt period drama. It's a blend of his finest traits, as previously seen in everything from Raise the Red Lantern to Hero (and it's enough to make you forget that The Great Wall is also on his resume). While the narrative follows an epic tale from China's Three Kingdoms period, about nations warring over a city and a double agent in the thick of the unrest, it's the writer/director's imagery that truly stuns. Usually known for such vibrant splashes of colour, as seen in House of Flying Daggers, Zhang switches to inky, almost-monochrome shades to visually vivid effect.
Postponed from last summer, Australia's new touring pride festival has finally delivered the news that music fans and festival-goers have been waiting for: new 2022 dates. Mark November in your diary, because that's when Summer Camp will finally make its debut. And yes, while the fest is no longer taking place during the season that shares its name, the weather is still bound to show up for the occasion. Thanks to the pandemic, it's felt like years and years since Australia scored itself a huge new music festival featuring overseas headliners that took its lineup around the country. Summer Camp is closing that big gap, and giving the nation its newest pride festival — and only touring pride fest, in fact. Obviously, the fact that Years & Years will lead the bill really couldn't be more fitting. Years & Years, aka British singer and actor Olly Alexander (It's a Sin), will headline the new fest's stopovers in Sydney and Melbourne, all as part of Summer Camp's two-city tour of the country. Also on the lineup: New Orleans' Big Freedia, plus The Veronicas, Cub Sport, Ladyhawke, Jess B, Kinder, Art Simone and Stereogamous, with more set to be revealed. Summer Camp will tick a big first, too: it's set to be the biggest ticketed LGBTQIA+ music festival in the southern hemisphere as well. In addition to live tunes from all of the above across two stages, the festival will feature dance, performance art and art installations, as well as food and beverage offerings. More than 200 artists will be involved all up, including over 150 DJs, drag queens, dancers and performance artists in each city. Given the name, it's clear what kind of vibe that festival founders Kat Dopper (creator of Heaps Gay) and Grant Gillies and David Gillett (creators of Red Mgmt, and former Sydney Mardi Gras marketing and international talent managers) are going for. So, expect a cruisy summer camp-meets-arts and music playground-type atmosphere that's also all about inclusivity and supporting young diverse artists. Originally, the fest also had Perth and Darwin dates on its schedule; however, they're not currently part of the just-revealed new plans. But further city and artist announcements are in the works — so cross your fingers. [caption id="attachment_831849" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Years and Years, Theatrepeople via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] SUMMER CAMP FESTIVAL 2022 AUSTRALIAN DATES: Saturday, November 5 — Centennial Parklands, Sydney Saturday, November 12 — Reunion Park, Melbourne SUMMER CAMP FESTIVAL 2022 LINEUP — FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT: Years & Years Big Freedia The Veronicas Cub Sport Ladyhawke Jess B Kinder Art Simone Stereogamous Summer Camp head to Sydney and Melbourne in November 2022. For further details or to nab tickets, head to the festival's website.
The 2020s are an age of many things, but an underrated symbol of this decade is the age of convenience. Not only can our phones keep us entertained but they can also keep our pantries stocked and bellies full. Apps like DoorDash put even more convenience in our hands — and not just by being able to order from the local Dominos without having to interact with another human being. Depending on your nearby providers, you can order almost any essential item straight to your door, so below we've highlighted some of the lesser-known items you might one day need delivered. With bonuses for new users, plus a daily specials series (running until Saturday, March 23) for beloved vendors — think $5 burritos and buy-one-get-one subs. There's no reason not to give DoorDash a whirl. [caption id="attachment_943284" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Sarinya Pinngam via iStock[/caption] Fresh fruit and veggies We all dread forgetting the groceries, leaving it to the last minute when it's easier to hang on the couch binging a sitcom. Gone are the days of being forced to wear outside clothes and head to the shops. Nowadays, if you live within range of a participating grocer, you can simply press a few buttons, and a dasher will drop everything you need for a fruit bowl or salad right outside. Best for: fixing a healthy feed at the last minute. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943285" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Dennis Van Hoef via iStock[/caption] Meat and poultry Picture this: Friday night, you've had a long day at work rushing to hit a few end-of-week deadlines, friends are coming over for dinner, and you've got a barbecue for the ages planned. The grill's preheated and it's time to grab a steak and some chicken drumsticks out of the fridge — but they're two days past their best and smell like a bin. Fret not. The supermarket rule applies here too. Pick a replacement cut from a grocer; if it's available, a dasher can drop it at your door. Best for: replacing off meat when you've got a horde of carnivores coming over. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943280" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Jacob Lund via iStock[/caption] Beer, wine and spirits If there's a house party, dinner party or grownup birthday party coming up and your bar cart's looking a little empty, sure enough, DoorDash can come to the rescue if you have participating merchants nearby. With deliveries available from BWS, Liquorland, Vintage Cellars, Porter's Liquor and a range of independent bottle shops, you needn't worry about running out for drinks. From a ritzy champagne to a cold four-pack of premixed cocktails, the dashers will get your drinks to your door. Note: you will need to show ID upon receipt of the liquid goods. Best for: a last-minute addition for a party when you realise you've inadvertently emptied the home bar. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943286" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Vladans via iStock[/caption] Over-the-counter medicine If you're sick as a dog, feeling wiped out and legitimately cannot (and should not) leave the house, you can wait for your roommate or S/O to get a minute to get something for you and suffer a while longer, or open DoorDash. You'll find actual pharmacies here, and while they can't fill a prescription, they can send your choice of over-the-counter meds on their way to help beat any bug. Best for: when you're fighting a bug with no strength to leave home. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943281" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Dmytro Skrypnykov via iStock[/caption] Batteries and chargers You may take your phone with you everywhere you go, but do you bring a charger? You don't want to be caught amiss if your battery runs flat. Similarly, finding out you're out of actual batteries tends to happen when you need one most. Don't panic because if you've still got even 1% left on your charge, open up DoorDash and summon a fresh pack of power on its way to you ASAP, whether it's a wall plug or a AAA, you'll find one here. Best for: replacing the charger you forgot to pack. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943287" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Hung Chung Chih via iStock[/caption] Toiletries and hygiene products Running out of essential bathroom or hygiene items can be a disaster, especially in critical moments. Say you're in need of a fresh can of deodorant for a date; you're glued to the loo but didn't realise you were down to the scraps of your TP supply. Nightmare. With the participating grocers on DoorDash, everything from Lynx Africa bodywash to menstruation products are just a press of a button away. Best for: an emergency refill of the bathroom cabinet. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943283" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Frantic00 via iStock[/caption] Fresh flowers Nothing can heal the wounds of a bad day like a bit of romance at home. Say you want to surprise a special someone or simply pep up your home decor if it feels a bit short on colour and life, flowers can help you out. If there's a participating florist within range, a dasher can collect a fine bouquet and ferry it to your door in a flash. Particularly useful if you've forgotten a key birthday or anniversary and need an emergency surprise. Best for: a romantic surprise that won't require a drive. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943294" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Drazenzigic via iStock[/caption] Desserts and confectionary Anyone can tell you that a little sweet treat to break up the working day is essential. Feeling overwhelmed from a big day of studying? Little treat. Back-to-back deadlines at work? A little treat will help. If you're within range of a bakery, convenience store, or anywhere with a dessert menu, the power of a little treat is within your grasp on DoorDash. Best for: curing a mid-afternoon slump. DoorDash it now [caption id="attachment_943282" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Liudmila Chernetska via iStock[/caption] Hot (or iced) coffee and tea A tea or coffee can really work wonders to fix a bad day or poor mood. It's science! If you fancy a cuppa tea order some of your favourite blends from a nearby grocer, or get a fresh round of espresso coffee delivered from a nearby cafe with DoorDash. Best for: an emergency pick me up at work or home when you're too busy to self-brew. DoorDash it now Delivery gifting It's easy to order anything for yourself, follow your wants and needs, and order from local businesses accordingly. However, you might not have considered the possibility of ordering something for someone else. DoorDash offers a gifting service on the app. You just put in the recipient's address and tick the gifting option at the bottom, fill in an order, and then add a personalised message. Add the recipient's phone number to the order and send them the gift link to tell them it's coming. Easy. Best for: an easy gift for a special someone. DoorDash it now Download the DoorDash app for free on the Apple Store or Google Play to find out what's nearby. For more information, visit the website.
O captain, my captain. There are few actors that can make your heart break and your sides hurt in one feel-fuelled moment. Perpetually twinkly-eyed, Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams had done just that for many of us, becoming a sort of surrogate dad for many of our childhoods with his high-pitched Doubtfires, high-fiveable genies and Sesame Street how-tos. "Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most – from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets," remarked President Barack Obama this morning. With the tragic news of the 63-year-old comic genius's passing this morning, we took time to delve into the impact Williams has made on audiences young and old, opening minds through unrivalled slapstick comedy, Academy Award-worthy drama and that loud, lively, unforgettable voice. While an entire, kickass career can't be summed up in a list of ten (special mention to his unbreakable role as Aladdin's genie, the heartbreaking Patch Adams, everyone's favourite Jumanji and the terrifying One Hour Photo), here's a modest snippet of ten ways Robin Williams opened minds, hearts and lamps with his extraordinary talent. https://youtube.com/watch?v=vdXhWS7lLvs Dead Poet's Society The quintessential lesson in seizing the day, 1989's Dead Poets Society saw Williams take on unforgettable English teacher John Keating (and nab an Oscar nomination for it). Kicking his students into gear with a love of poetry and a fierce ability to tackle life head on, Williams' Keating is one of those captivating, To Sir With Love-like teacher characters who kicks your own butt into gear along with the characters. And then there's that table-topped scene. We're all standing tall with an "O Captain, My Captain," today. Williams Gold: "We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." https://youtube.com/watch?v=mXkApy0gkjM The Birdcage Making plain the ridiculousness of right-wing conservative homophobia, The Birdcage saw Williams delve into the world of gay cabaret to expose widely shared prejudice and bullshit. Playing South Beach drag club owner Armand Goldman in this remake of the hugely popular French musical farce La Cage aux Folles, Williams and his drag queen partner (Nathan Lane) have to put up a 'straight front' in front of a his son's fiance's narrow-minded parents. Damn good comedic timing from Williams and Lane makes a mockery of disdain and small-minded attitudes, with the subtlety of Williams balanced by the high pitched screams of Lane. Williams Gold: "Yes, I wear foundation. Yes, I live with a man. Yes, I'm a middle-aged 'fag'. But I know who I am, Val. It took me twenty years to get here and I'm not gonna let some idiot senator destroy that. Fuck the senator, I don't give a damn what he thinks." https://youtube.com/watch?v=qM-gZintWDc Good Will Hunting The role that earned Williams his Oscar (and rightly so). Teaming up with Matt Damon for a genuinely kickass onscreen partnership, Williams channelled all previous dramatic experience into his role as Sean Maguire, counselling Damon's troubled mathematical genius. Nailing a particularly rousing, almost one-take monologue in the park, Williams' performance cuts to the core of knowledge versus experience, knowing about something as opposed to feeling it. Then there's his delving into "superphilosophy" and Dead Poet's Society-like Take Control speeches. Williams Gold: "You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don't give a shit about all that, because you know what, I can't learn anything from you, I can't read in some fuckin' book. Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. Then I'm fascinated." https://youtube.com/watch?v=MAp8j4c2LGs Mrs Doubtfire Tackling divorce in an accessible way for your inevitably young viewers is a masterful skill for any film team — and Chris Columbus's Mrs Doubtfire nailed it. Dragging up in order to secretly spend time with his kids, Williams' wild and wonderful lead role as Daniel Hillard was deliberately appealing to a broad audience, dissolving the stigma attached to divorce at the time by making the simple facts plain (not to mention the Tootsie-like gender role adventure). Groundbreaking for the time, Sally Field (Miranda Hillard) and Williams didn't get back together in the end. So while audiences were chortling over Williams' fiery breasts or whipped cream face mask, the comedic master was giving a lesson in attitude change. High-freakin-five. Williams Gold: "Sink the sub. Hide the weasel. Park the porpoise. A bit of the old Humpty Dumpty, Little Jack Horny, the Horizontal Mambo, hmm? The Bone Dancer, Rumpleforeskin, Baloney Bop, a bit of the old Cunning Linguistics?" https://youtube.com/watch?v=W4fmVJ3nPs0 FernGully: The Last Rainforest Soaring through the rainforest canopy and throwing down a mean rap, Williams' Batty Koda taught us one important environmental lesson: humans truly suck. Teaching us to respect the natural environment, stop being tossers and Damn the Loggers, FernGully saw the fairy community and the recently-freed-from-animal-testing Batty take on a freakin' terrifying Tim Curry-voiced, human-released menace called Hexxus. Rapping out his terrifying past and constantly 'changing channels' through his human-installed aerial, Batty was one of Williams' most underrated performances — voiced the very same year as his kickass Aladdin genie (every inch worth a spot in our ten, we ran out of room for Williams chockers resume). Williams Gold: (Best rapped out loud) "I've been brain-fried, electrified, infected, and injectified, vivisectified and fed pesticides. My face is all cut up 'cause my radar's all shut up. Nurse, I need a check-up from the neck up. I'm Batt-ay." https://youtube.com/watch?v=Gl3e-OUnavQ Sesame Street A constant friend to the imaginary, education-addicted New York City street, Williams opened our minds to many a truth nugget as youngsters. While it's actually quite sad to watch his tutorial on how to tell whether something is alive, his clip unpacking conflict (above) is just adorable. Then there was that time he gave Elmo a stick. For years, Williams trained our silly young'un minds about things that matter, now Sesame Street mourns their lost, loveable friend. Williams Gold: "You can be playing baseball in the World Series, hit it over the fence and realise "I'M THE ONE." Or maybe you can be playing hockey... or you can be at the Olympics, throwing the javelin... Or you can be doing incredible things like riding a horse through the pass, leading all the wagons through. Or you can have a cane and you're dancing around with Tommy Tune, or it can be a conductor's baton... You can be at the head of the parade, or you can be AN ENGLISH OFFICER MARCHING FOR NO REASON, AROUND, BACK AND FORTH, or you can be playing pool..." (Williams on the uses of a stick.) https://youtube.com/watch?v=JsJxIoFu2wo Hook Growing up is overrrated. We all knew this was the main Peter Pan soapbox, until Williams took us through imaginary food fights, insult-slinging and Dustin Hoffman showdowns while keeping his grown-up life (read: family) together. The film that pretty much embodied Williams' anti-growing up lifelong persona, Hook saw Williams lend a new street cred to Pan, one absent in Jeremy Sumpter's poor 2003 effort. Williams opened our minds to the art of insults at the dinner table, a true artform. So if growing up comes with being a fusty, fun-hating adult and losing your ability to silence a regular Rufio, sign us up for a ticket to Williams' Neverland. Williams Gold: "Rufio, if I'm a maggot burger why don't you eat me! You two-toned zebra-headed, slime-coated, pimple-farmin' paramecium brain, munchin' on your own mucus, suffering from Peter Pan envy! I'll tell you what a paramecium is. That's the paramecium. It's a one-celled critter with no brain, that can't fly. Don't mess with me man, I'm a lawyer!" https://youtube.com/watch?v=wuk8AOjGURE Good Morning Vietnam Shaking things up on breakfast radio is one thing, doing it on a US Armed Services Radio station during the Vietnam War is another. Playing the highly unorthodox DJ , Williams nabbed another Oscar nomination for giving a finger to the system as Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning Vietnam. Diverting from his dull, monotonous radio predecessors, Cronauer's dynamite, wacky morning broadcasts turn real when he experiences first-hand the horrors of war — a broadcast truth that sees him replaced and facing another battle to get back on the air. Williams balances wacky outlandishness with dramatic poignancy, channelling all the Damn the Man finesse with high-fiveable conviction. And if we could wake up every day to Williams respect for microphone technique instead of certain bullshit shock jocks, we'd be outstandingly happy campers. Williams Gold: "GOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAAAAAAAAAAAAM." https://youtube.com/watch?v=PXeSgVk5aH4 Stand-Up Outspoken on everything from porn to the Vatican (and often blending the two), Williams made no compromises for his stand-up gold. Exposing hypocrisy in the Bible, taking digs at the Pope and slamming homophobia, Williams countless stand-up tours opened minds to prejudice, stupidity and the questionable nature of religious doctrine — made immortal through the biggest catalogue of vocal impressions you've ever seen in one sitting. Williams Gold: "In the beginning, Genesis, 'let there be light.' Could that be a metaphor for the Big Bang? 'No. God just went click.'" https://youtube.com/watch?v=v9g1yRXF8I8 Mork and Mindy "Nanu-Nanu." Less WTF than Bowie's The Man Who Fell to Earth and significantly less heartbreaking than ET, Mork and Mindy made a rambunctious ride out of alien-human relations. One of Williams' first real lead roles, Mork was a spin-off show from his bit character on Happy Days — Williams had impressed producer Gerry Marshall who cast him on the spot, later quipping that Williams was the only alien who auditioned for M&M. A bonafide archive of Williams' comic voices, slapstick and twinkly humour, Mork made us question the weird, wonderful and (most often) trivia parts of human life and the things we take for granted. Williams Gold: "If my knees knock any louder, I'm gonna look inside my pants and see who's there." Vale, Robin Williams. You freakin' ruled. Anyone across Australia experiencing a personal crisis or thinking about suicide can contact Lifeline. Regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation their trained volunteers are ready to listen, provide support and referrals. Lifeline answer around 1800 calls every day from Australians needing crisis support and suicide prevention services. Lifeline provide all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to online, phone and face-to-face crisis support and suicide prevention services. Call 13 11 14 for 24hr telephone crisis support or visit their website here.
For fans of Adam Driver, 2019 was a movie-watching delight. When he wasn't tackling zombies in Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, he was investigating CIA-sanctioned torture in The Report. He scored an Oscar nomination for his relationship struggles with Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story, and fought the force in Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, too. Alas, after that welcome onslaught of Driver-starring flicks in such short succession — The Man Who Killed Don Quixote also released Down Under the same year, in fact — he didn't appear on our screens in 2020. But this year, he'll be back in cinemas in one of his most-anticipated films yet. In the works for half a decade — and reportedly initially delayed in part due to Driver's busy schedule — Annette tells the tale of stand-up comedian Henry (Driver) and his soprano opera singer wife Ann (Marion Cotillard). He's funny, she's famous, and their lives are happy and glamorous; however, when their daughter Annette is born, they're changed forever. Few other narrative details have been revealed, but their story plays out in a musical — and if the just-dropped first trailer gives any indication, viewers can expect a brooding, dreamy, sweeping and immensely gorgeous film to dance across the screen. Actually, movie buffs can expect all of the above simply based on Annette's director. It has now been nine years since Leos Carax's Holy Motors hit cinema screens, becoming one of the most memorable films of both the decade and the 21st century in the process, so his next project has been eagerly awaited for quite some time. Annette will also mark the French filmmaker's English-language debut. And, after being shot late in 2019 and initially expected in 2020, it'll open this year's Cannes Film Festival in July. Exactly when viewers elsewhere will get to see the film hasn't been announced, but whenever it surfaces locally, it'll be a certain big-screen event. Every director wishes that they made movies that no one else could even dream of, but Carax is genuinely one of those filmmakers. Here's hoping that we soon get to see what Carax's inventive mind has put together next. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=068aFF8fOIA&feature=emb_logo Annette will open the Cannes Film Festival on July 6. Details for the film's release Down Under are yet to be revealed — we'll update you with further details when they're announced.
Gelato Messina wants to bring you its sweet treats in style this weekend. The famed frozen treats brand has teamed up with Deliveroo to deliver gelato by speedboat to nine beaches and wharves around Sydney. Because, why not? This Saturday, December 15 and Sunday, December 16, beachgoers simply have to hang out at the beach and wait for the speedboats to show up — no pre-ordering necessary. Once you see the Deliveroo boat approaching, you just have to flag it down, wade into the water and retrieve your dessert — a strawberry pavlova choc top or a peach bellini 'Weissina' Bar. A lucky few will also nab a free beach towel alongside their gelato. On Saturday, the speedboats will head to Double Bay at around 11.30am, before heading over to Rose Bay, Nielsen Park, Milk Beach and Watsons Bay (spending roughly 30 minutes at each spot). The boats will have a similar schedule on Sunday, but will start at Manly Wharf then make their way across to Clontarf Beach, Spit Marina and Balmoral Beach. If hunger strikes while you're lazing about on one of the beaches, and it's a hunger that a choc top alone can't fix, you could also order savoury food from Deliveroo. It's now delivering food directly to 150 beaches around the country — but it will be via a regular ol' motorbike or scooter (and a determined human on foot), not a boat. Deliveroo will be delivering free Gelato Messina to nine Sydney beaches and wharves on Saturday, December 15 and Sunday, December 16.
When the first images of Lily James playing Pamela Anderson in new miniseries Pam & Tommy dropped, they captured an astonishing transformation. The Pursuit of Love star didn't just look like herself dressed up as the famed Baywatch actor; thanks to the show's hair, makeup and costuming teams, she appeared as if she'd leapt into Anderson's body Being John Malkovich-style. That feeling only grew as several trailers arrived. In the finished product, her performance borders on uncanny. It needs to, and not merely to ensure that James never just seems like she's simply slipping into a red swimsuit for an easy impersonation. Now streaming on Disney+, with its first three episodes hitting the platform at once and the remaining five set to drop weekly going forward, Pam & Tommy focuses on Anderson's marriage to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan, The 355) in the 90s. It's all about the pair's sex tape as a result, because that intimate recording was the pop-culture scandal of the 90s, and it's impossible to step into Anderson and Lee's romance without it. Indeed, the show knows that it's spinning a wild story, even by celebrity terms. It's well aware that everyone watching will hit play with their own ideas already formed about the incident, and about the central duo's larger-than-life public personalities as well. Pam & Tommy leans into that exact certainty to begin with — talking penis and all — but, as James' performance demonstrates, it never sees the tale it's telling as a joke. [caption id="attachment_841923" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Erin Simkin/Hulu[/caption] First, that chattering genitalia. After meeting Anderson at a club, clicking instantly and enjoying a boozy night, Lee is smitten — and his junk (voiced by Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Jason Mantzoukas) audibly helps him talk through his feelings. It's an attention-grabbing moment, and one that Pam & Tommy will always be known for; yes, this is now and always will be the prattling package show. But the immediately memorable scene also serves up the risqué with a side of heart, and makes one of its OTT subjects — as Anderson and Lee have long been regarded in the public eye, at least — more human in the process. It's even a little cheesy: he's a guy falling for a girl and working through his excitement by talking to himself, as plenty of rom-coms have lapped up over the years. Pam & Tommy is both a romance and a comedy at times. Crucially, though, it's a piece of recognition that Anderson and Lee's plight isn't quite the narrative it's been immortalised as for the past quarter-century. It isn't a coincidence that Australian-born director Craig Gillespie helms some of the series' episodes, because he unpacked a sordid real-life story that solidified a famous woman's reputation in I, Tonya, too. That's the real point of focus here, although the fact the series went ahead without Anderson's approval undercuts its aims more than a little. Still, on-screen, there's no doubting Pam & Tommy's quest to expose how unfairly Anderson was treated after carpenter Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen, An American Pickle) stole footage of private moments with her then-husband. [caption id="attachment_841925" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kelsey McNeal/Hulu[/caption] Lee might get to converse with his dick — with Stan playing that scene, and his entire role, with as much commitment as James displays over and over again (and with as much helpful TV styling) — but he's also painted as a dick as first. Gauthier is one of the contractors helping build the ultimate bedroom for Lee's newly wedded bliss, and the rocker is a jerk of a customer. He keeps changing his mind about what he wants, blaming everyone else and, when he decides he's unhappy, refuses to pay or return Gauthier's tools. So, the disgruntled ex-employee hatches a plan to make off with Lee's safe, not knowing what it holds inside. When he finds the tape along with guns and cash, he's still so eager to get revenge on Lee that he enlists porn-producing pal Miltie (Nick Offerman, Devs) to help make it public, which he sees as his new payday. Pam & Tommy wants you to side with mullet-wearing Gauthier initially — including when Lee pulls a gun on him while he's just trying to get his work equipment back — but its real allegiance lies with Anderson. Its tender heart, too, something that the show shares with Lee and his chatterbox of an appendage. As it charts the path that Anderson and Lee's tape takes from their safe to Gauthier to eagerly paying customers, and then to the internet in online porn's early days, the series keeps returning to the fallout for the Baywatch and Barb Wire star. As she explains to Lee and to their lawyers more than once, things aren't the same for a man caught getting intimate on camera as they are for a woman, and the way that this true tale has already played out IRL has made that plain several times over. Come for the scandal, for the talking penis that everyone's babbling about, and for a show that always knows it's a rollicking ride, but stay for a far more thoughtful retelling and interrogation of a tabloid-fodder incident that changed multiple lives — and one more than most — weaved in, too. Also stay for the series' eagerness to spend time with its eponymous duo exposed as real people, and as victims of a crime, rather than as pop-culture punchlines. Stay for the magnificent performances by James and Stan as well, with both actors investing remarkable depth into figures who've rarely been allowed to be seen as such. And, obviously keep sticking around for the dripping 90s nostalgia in the process, including the outfits and soundtrack (because Yellowjackets isn't the only new show revelling in the decades' tunes). Check out the Pam & Tommy trailer below: The first three episodes of Pam & Tommy are currently available to stream via Disney+, with new episodes dropping each Wednesday. Top image: Erin Simkin/Hulu.
Melburnians, get ready to sit in the room where it happens — because Lin-Manuel Miranda's game-changing, award-winning, rightly raved-about Hamilton is finally coming to town. After initial rumours back in May suggested that the hit show would play Her Majesty's Theatre from March 2022, that news has just been officially confirmed and announced. So, mark Wednesday, March 16 in your diary, and don't throw away your shot to see the biggest thing in musical theatre this century. The Broadway blockbuster finally made its way to Australia earlier this year, opening at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in March with a cast that includes Jason Arrow as Alexander Hamilton, Chloé Zuel as Eliza Hamilton, Lyndon Watts as Aaron Burr, Akina Edmonds as Angelica Schuyler, Matu Ngaropo as George Washington, and Victory Ndukwe as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson. When it was revealed last month the Mary Poppins musical would float into the same venue from May 2022, however, speculation about Hamilton's future quickly kicked into gear. Obviously the Sydney theatre can't host two shows at once, after all. Hamilton is currently selling tickets for Sydney shows until Sunday, December 19, although exactly when the production will finish up in the New South Wales capital hasn't been advised. Still, come mid-March, Arrow, Zuel and company — including Shaka Cook as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, Marty Alix as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, Elandrah Eramiha as Peggy Schuyler and Maria Reynolds, and Brent Hill as King George III — will all be exploring 18th-century American politics in song in Melbourne. Haven't become a Hamilton obsessive yet? Not quite sure why it has been the most-talked about theatre show of the past six years? The critically acclaimed hip hop musical, for which Miranda wrote the music, lyrics and the book, is about the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, as well as inclusion and politics in current-day America. In addition to its swag of Tony Awards — 11 in fact, which includes Best Musical — it has nabbed a Grammy Award and even a Pulitzer Prize. Until now, Melburnians eager to see the show had to be content with trips north or watching the filmed version of its Broadway production, which started streaming via Disney+ in 2020 (and yes, it's as phenomenal as you've heard). This won't be Miranda's first musical to come to Melbourne, with his take on the classic 2000s film Bring It On: The Musical hitting the city in 2018. And, the news arrives just weeks out from the long-awaited — and lively, vibrant and charming — movie adaptation of Miranda's Washington Heights-set In the Heights reaching cinemas. Other big musicals, such as The Book of Mormon, have toured the country after their big local premiere seasons, so Hamilton's Melbourne stint was hardly unexpected. Here's hoping the $10 ticket lottery comes with it. Sydneysiders, if you haven't yet booked yourself in to see the musical, you'll want to remedy that while you can. And Brisbanites, start crossing your fingers that Hamilton plans a move up north after its Melbourne season. Hamilton's Melbourne season will kick off on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Head to the musical's website for further details, or to buy tickets from Monday, July 19, 2021 — with presales for Telstra Plus members available from 10am on Thursday, June 24. Images: Daniel Boud.
German artist Martin Klimas is painting with sound, endeavouring to answer the question: 'what does music look like?' Klimas put his idea into practice by splattering paint on a scrim, placed over a speaker while playing music. By turning the volume up, the paint colourfully vibrates off the scrim allowing Klimas to seize these moments as photographs. Through this series, Klimas has captured what music would look like as a physical object. Taking over 6 months and 1000 photographs to create, music from the likes of Miles Davis, Kraftwerk and Steve Reich and Musicians was featured. It makes you wonder what it would look like to have your favourite song framed. [via Gizmodo & NY Times]
Melbourne Fringe Festival is set to return this month (November 12–29), and with it comes one helluva opening night party. But, this year, the party will take place in your lounge room. Club Fringe will broadcast into homes all over Australia from 9.30pm on Thursday, November 12. For this year's festivities, Fringe has joined forces with the folks behind Yirramboi Festival as part of NAIDOC Week. They've curated an all-First Nations lineup including some of Melbourne's best independent talent. The night will kick off with a Boonwurrung Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country. Then, rapper Deejai with vocalist Breanna Lee, Arrernte drag artist Stone Motherless Cold and electro-tribal pop duo The Merindas will all take to the virtual stage. DJ Soju Gang will keep the party vibes going until midnight. Don't forget to nab your tickets, which are choose what you pay (with a $10 suggested donation). Then prep your dance floor (aka living room), deck yourself out in glitter and get ready to party like its 2020. Top image: The Merindas
Self-taught Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio and his internationally acclaimed company Mau return to Carriageworks with the Australian premiere of Stones in Her Mouth. Featuring an ensemble of ten Maori women, the piece is inspired by the strong Maori tradition of women authoring poetry and chant. Incorporating Maori language, spirituality, ceremony and genealogy, it explores themes of female oppression, silence, outrage and resilience. Mau has become recognised internationally for their beautiful, unnerving and hypnotic creations grounded in native Pacific cultures and their ancestral, elemental worlds. Stones in Her Mouth — combining choral work, dance and oratory — looks set to continue the company's habit of sidestepping traditional expectations, refusing to sit neatly within categories of 'theatre' or 'dance' and instead striving to reach a near-spiritual plane through performance. Ponifasio, who was once a philosophy student before he formed his "company of people", told the Australian, "I try to activate the space. To create a sort of cosmological space where we can somehow realise that we are part of the whole process of earth." To get a little taster of what they do, watch this video of Mau's Carriageworks performance of Birds with Skymirrors. Stones in Her Mouth is on at Carriageworks from May 28 to June 31. Tickets are $35 from here, but thanks to Carriageworks, we have four double passes to the Thursday, May 29, performance to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
After a weekend packed with Halloween themed gatherings, do you really want to wait another year to get those spooky juices flowing again? Or perhaps you tend the bar, pulled the short straw on the roster this week and missed out on the revelries? Worry not, because there is always the option of pushing on through Sunday with help from Tasmanian death metal legends Psycroptic and their state bros Moo Brew at Frankie's. Frankie's get super psyched for Halloween, and this year won't be any different. Doors open at 4pm, which is when they'll crack Moo Brew's barrel-aged Scotch Ale, then DJs hit the decks from 7pm. After the band tear it up, the DJs come back on until 3am. Whatever your reason for wanting to get down this Halloween Sunday night, Frankie's has you covered.
Arguably the biggest pop sensation to emerge in the last five years, Billie Eilish has just announced a run of Australian and New Zealand tour dates throughout September 2022. The tour marks the first time Eilish has graced the shores of either country since 2019. In the two years since her last tour, Eilish has released her latest chart-topping album Happier Than Ever, a documentary and visual book, taken out the Hottest 100 and swept the Grammys, taking home all four of the major categories at the 2020 ceremony. The announcement of this run on dates also comes days after the announcement that Billie Eilish is set to become the youngest-ever performer to headline the UKs Glastonbury Festival in 2022. The Happier Than Ever Tour will kick off at Auckland's Spark Arena on Thursday, September 8 before moving to Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena on Tuesday, September 13. It'll then move on to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne and Perth's RAC Arena throughout the remainder of September. The tour follows previous tour announcements from international artists Tyler, the Creator, Gorillaz and Guns N' Roses, marking the expected return of international touring for the first time in more than two years. Tickets to the Happier Than Ever Tour start at $99 and are available as part of Telstra Plus and Vodafone pre-sales on Monday, October 11, plus Frontier and Live Nation pre-sales on Wednesday, October 13 before they go on sale to the general public on Friday, October 15. BILLIE EILISH — HAPPIER THAN EVER TOUR Thursday, September 8 – Spark Arena, Auckland Tuesday, September 13 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Saturday, September 17 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Thursday, September 22 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Thursday, September 29 – RAC Arena, Perth You can find all the details on Billie Eilish's Happier Than Ever Australia and New Zealand tour at the tour's website. Top Image: Crommelincklars
What starts with a progress pride flag-raising ceremony, officially opens with Kylie Minogue and Charli XCX, then ends with MUNA and G Flip? What features the long-awaited return of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade to Oxford Street (with new viewing areas), more than 45 rainbow artworks all around town and a monumental pride march with 50,000-plus people walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, too? In other words, what'll make Sydney the centre of the queer universe from Friday, February 17–Sunday, March 5, and make history in the process? Sydney WorldPride, the first WorldPride ever held in the southern hemisphere, and basically a mega Mardi Gras — and your unmissable reason to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community in the New South Wales capital in early 2023. Plenty of the above has been giving everyone reasons to rejoice for a while now; however, the Sydney WorldPride crew has just dropped the full event lineup. In-person, the team has done so with Bondi Beach's first-ever gigantic rainbow sand sculpture — which is on display until sunset today, Wednesday, November 9, if you're in the neighbourhood and keen to check it out — but this is a program worth getting excited about for the next 100 days until Sydney WorldPride arrives. Charli XCX has indeed joined the opening concert lineup, as has Jessica Mauboy, both of whom will perform alongside Kylie Minogue. Also welcome news: more tickets have been released for the previously sold-out gig, although don't expect them to stick around for long. At the Domain Dance Party mid-fest — another huge highlight — Kelly Rowland will headline‚ with DJ Dan Slater curating the bill, and DJ Suri and DJ Isis Muretech among those on the decks. And, the Bondi Beach Party on March 4 will turn the famed stretch of sand into an openair club for a casual 12,000 people, dancing by the water from dusk. If that's not enough to start making plans — a staycation or vacation via Concrete Playground Trips and its seven different Sydney WorldPride packages, perhaps? — overall the fest will feature more than 300 events over 17 days, making it the largest-ever LGBTQIA+ festival ever held in the region, too. Still on numbers, that hefty total includes 19 official major events, 68 WorldPride Arts experiences, 17 WorldPride Sports events and 192 Pride Amplified community events. That's a massive lineup to sift through, so here's the short version: wherever you are in Sydney during WorldPride, expect the festival to be in the vicinity. The list of standouts worth mentioning is similarly sizeable, including the gigs at Sydney WorldPride's at Marri Madung Butbut (Many Brave Hearts): the First Nations Gathering Space — such as the Klub Village party and performance, the Miss First Nation drag contest, and exhibition Bloodlines, which honours artists lost to HIV/AIDS. There's also the impressive WorldPride human rights conference, which is the largest of its kind ever held in the Asia-Pacific as well, and will span three days. Also, Queer Art After Hours will head to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and its new building; the Mardi Gras Film Festival returns for its 30th fest, complete with a big focus on Asia-Pacific cinema and a day of free outdoor screenings; and the Queer Formal is back. And while some Mardi Gras favourites, such as the official 10,000-person Mardi Gras Party at Hordern Pavilion and the Mardi Gras Laneway at The Beresford and Hill Street, have already sold out, there's clearly plenty more where they came from. The WorldPride Arts lineup alone spans exhibitions by Paul Yore and Dylan Mooney, the first dedicated exhibition of Australian queer artist David McDiarmid's photos, lesbian divorce comedy Blessed Union, the Australian premiere of Choir Boy by Moonlight co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney, and installation Eulogy for the Dyke Bar — which will indeed operate as a bar — for instance. And, there's a 24-hour dance piece, a comedy night hosted by Ru Paul's Drag Race Down Under's Coco Jumbo, and Powerhouse Museum's showcase of Sydney's leading LGBTQIA+ artists, designers, makers and performers as well. Sports-wise, 17 different activities will be featured, spanning everything from roller derby, ten-pin bowling, soccer, ice hockey and basketball to wrestling, swimming, golf and dragon boating. Then, throw in a Pride Climb on Sydney Harbour Bridge, LGBTQIA+ history walks and a Sapphic Literary Lounge at Watsons Bay Library, all from the Pride Amplified part of the fest. That program covers gin dinners, events in spas and pop-up fetish bars, and a world-record attempt at the biggest disco dance class, too, and there's more still to come. Sydney WorldPride will run from Friday, February 17–Sunday, March 5, 2023. For more information, head to the event's website. Making Sydney WorldPride plans? Concrete Playground Trips has a heap of exclusive packages on offer, including tickets to and accommodation around the Opening Concert, Domain Dance Party, Bondi Beach Party and more.
Sydney Fringe Festival has unveiled its tenth anniversary program, which promises over 342 shows (including 120 world premieres) across 21 postcodes. Running from September 1–30, the festival includes a few major firsts, too, such as a precinct in The Rocks, a touring hub sponsored by Innocent Bystander, a comedy on a vintage bus and an Archie Rose Cabaret Club. There are also a whole heap of immersive and interactive events going down this year, including an eerie theatre show inspired by Wolf Creek, intimate long-table dinners and talks, a Kevin Bacon-themed flashmob and a night of eats, drinks and music that'll transport you to Babylon. All of this is going down at five hubs located across the city. To help you sift through it all, we've broken down the program by what's happening at each — so, open your calendar and start planning. CITY TATTS HUB As announced in June, Sydney Fringe Festival will be taking over the CBD's 124-year-old City Tattersalls Club this year. As well as playing host to the aforementioned Archie Rose Cabaret Club (complete with lots of gin cocktails, of course), City Tatts will be home to 30 events, a Young Henrys bar, a diner, a Heaps Gay 'RSL extravaganza', a tongue-in-cheek interactive seminar on How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse and a 1920s-inspired speakeasy, which will be open every Friday night with a lineup of female musicians playing jazz and soul. To round out the festivities, City Tatts will host the official Fringe closing party: a giant, four-level Dance All Night party that'll feature everything from an 80s prom to a 'Kevin Bacon in Footloose'-inspired flashmob. THE ROCKS HUB Also in the city will be the festival's first-ever precinct in The Rocks. The harbourside area's many laneways will fill with market stalls, shows, interactive installations and a free program of events every Friday–Sunday. The latter will include a communal trash-to-treasure sculpture, pub sing-alongs and story telling. In terms of interactive experiences (there are a lot of them happening this year) there's the aforementioned comedy on a vintage bus that will let you relive the movie Speed — fittingly dubbed Speed: The Movie, The Play — and a choose-your-own adventure theatre show that places you in the first day of a job at a start up, called By The Water Cooler. PADDINGTON HUB Wander up Oxford Street and you'll find everything from yoga to dinner parties going down at the Paddington Hub. The latter will take the form of three long-table suppers and conversations held underneath Verona Cinemas. Each intimate dinner will have a different topic of conversation — the art of social change making, the art of listening and the art of a campaigning contemporary artist — a different guest speaker and the food will be curated by a different artist. They're one part of Yoke Magazine's pop-up — called Fringe Unyoked — dedicated to talks, exhibitions, yoga classes and workshops about creation and change. [caption id="attachment_735460" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hillbilly Thriller[/caption] LEGS HUB Physical theatre company Legs on the Wall will once again transform Lilyfield's The Red Box into a buzzing hub of performance, complete with an outdoor bar and lots of live music. The highlight of this hub is Legs' latest intimate, interactive, immersive and (slightly) terrifying new performance piece: Hillbilly Thriller. Shown to just ten people at a time, the show is pitched as "Picnic At Hanging Rock meets Wolf Creek meets Jedda" and combines film, performance, sounds and installation. We don't think this is for the faint hearted. Also happening here are Adelaide Fringe Award-winning show Yuck Circus and a dark and poetic show called La Vide. [caption id="attachment_735470" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Ballad of the Apathetic Son and His Narcissistic Mother by Niall Walker[/caption] INNOCENT BYSTANDER TOURING HUB & NEWTOWN PRECINCT On the western side of the city, the Newtown Precinct will return with a whopping 192 events taking over 22 different venues. One of those will be the festival's opening party, Fringe Ignite. The Fringe Festival organisers have teamed up with the crew behind King Street Crawl to fill the street with performances from over 150 different artists. Over at the Emerging Artist Sharehouse, you'll find World's Best/Worst House Party — an immersive theatre experience that's part show, part party. Newtown's Old 505 Theatre will be the home of the Innocent Bystander Touring Hub: a program of award-winning shows from around the globe. Among them are modern (and award-winning) retellings of Orpheus and Eurydice, a high-energy show about a real mother and son who are obsessed with Sia (expect swinging from chandeliers), a part-comedy, part-game show called Love/Hate Actually and Matriarch, a one-woman show that highlights the strength of four generations of Gumbaynggirr women. Innocent Bystander has set up a wine bar here, too, so you can sip on vino before, after or between shows. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE... While not officially hubs, you'll also find the three-night Fringeville in Hurstville — with pop-up food trucks, light installations and shows — and an immersive Babylon-inspired world at Chippendale's Kensington Street. The inner-city food destination will transform with live music, snacks, drinks and soundscapes for one decadent evening. Of course, the program keeps going (and going). To check out all the events, head to the Sydney Fringe Festival website. Sydney Fringe Festival 2019 will run from September 1–30 at venues across Sydney. For more information and to buy tickets, head to sydneyfringe.com.
Father's Day happens around the same time every single year, and yet it somehow always manages to sneak up on us. And while dear ol' Dad probably won't complain if unwraps the umpteenth pair of socks or bottle of whisky (he's good like that), there is another way to make him feel appreciated with an unforgettable experience. Showcasing adventures for every type of dad, experience website Adrenaline is a good place to turn to snag him something awesome before September 1. From spine-tingling helicopter tours to caving explorations, and cooking classes that'll make him an expert behind the barbecue, Adrenaline has plenty of great packages to mark the occasion. To help you figure out what to get, we've highlighted six experiences that are bound to impress. But if you're still not sure, plug dad's personality traits into Adrenaline's Gift Guide and you'll get the perfect suggestion. HELICOPTER RIDES If climbing aboard a high-powered helicopter for a scenic flight doesn't get dad pumped to get out of the house this Father's Day, maybe nothing will. You'll have plenty of choices for scenic flights including those that climb high above Sydney's stunning skyline or explore beautiful out-of-town regions like the Hunter Valley or the the south coast. For dads who don't mind some thrill-seeking, there are also adventures involving military-style helicopters and a series of death-defying manoeuvres that'll get his blood pumping. Whether he prefers a quick scenic tour or an hour-long session that'll teach him the ins and outs of the aircraft, a helicopter ride will undoubtedly leave your dad stoked this Father's Day. INDOOR SKYDIVING Even if your dad thinks he's something of a daredevil, jumping out of an aeroplane isn't everyone's cup of tea. But an indoor skydiving package will help him experience the next best thing to leaping out of a plane at 14,000 feet. Fortunately, the indoor alternative is much safer than the falling-from-the-sky kind — plus, a rainy day won't ruin your plans. Adrenaline's indoor skydiving packages are suitable for most ages and fitness levels, so Dad will soon be making his way into iFly's specially created flight chamber for lift off. Donning a flight suit, goggles and a helmet, he'll be in safe hands as a personal instructor will be there to show him the ropes. SWIMMING WITH SHARKS Since we're on the trend of gifts that'll probably thrill and frighten your pop in equal measure, we're also going to suggest this exhilarating experience, too. This fin-filled (see what we did there?) experience will have him facing off to some creatures of the deep — well, actually, creatures of the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. On this underwater adventure, your dad will get to spend 30 minutes hanging/floating around with more than 30 sharks, including grey nurse and seven-gill sharks, along with stingrays, sea turtles and plenty of exotic fish. Plus, you can watch the whole thing unfold from the spectators' tunnel — take a camera so your dad can brag to his mates at the pub later. KAYAKING TOURS There's something remarkably peaceful about paddling along a picturesque waterway in a kayak. If you think your dad might benefit from some quality downtime, help him chill out this Father's Day by booking him a kayaking tour. He'll have the chance to gain a new perspective on the city, as Adrenaline offers kayaking adventures that set out along Sydney Harbour, through Ku-Ring-Gai National Park or around Bundeena in Sydney's south. If you're looking for something that goes above and beyond, there's also a wide collection of tours that include morning tea, buffet lunches and even oyster and wine tastings. AMERICAN BARBECUE SMOKING CLASSES Given the way most dads concerns themselves with the barbecue, you'd think they were all born to be expert grill masters. But if you're tired of yours overcooking the meat, get him a gift that'll not-so-subtly hint that he needs to touch up his skills. One class that's bound to do the job is an American Barbecue Smoking Class, which will teach him the fundamentals of controlling the coals, picking out the best wood and learning how to prevent the meat from sweating. If he's going to keep demanding unbridled control of the barbecue on every special occasion, he ought to have the skills that every self-respecting cook needs to do the job perfectly. Plus, you'll get the added benefit of springtime barbecues that are better than ever before. QUAD BIKING Do you have the type of dad who is still just a big kid at heart? If so, zipping, skidding and leaping around Glenworth Valley on four wheels is sure to get his adrenalin pumping. Located just an hour north of Sydney, this long-running quad biking circuit involves over 3000 acres of bushland, rainforest and trails around mountains. Your dad will be letting rip on a Honda 250CC quad bike (with automatic transmission) through bush trails and water crossings. Following a safety briefing, he'll get to let his inner child go wild for an hour-and-a-half. Oh, and we recommend packing him a change of clothes — things are likely to get dusty (and maybe even muddy). To find Dad an unforgettable experience for Father's Day that'll blow his (last year's gift) socks off, visit the Adrenaline website. Plus, until September 1, Adrenaline is running a sitewide sale with up to 52 percent off, so you can save some coin at the same time.
Lenin wrote secret letters with milk when he was in prison in Siberia. Not many people experiment with such strange pigments, and even less out of need than curiosity. For some artists held in Australian detention centres, working on the Refugee Art Project, paint and other art supplies became hard to get a hold of, so they made art with what they had at hand. Which led victoriana-like, delicate watercolour drawings done with instant coffee, among other ingenious ideas. These and other results of the Project will be on display at the Mori Gallery as part of Refugee Week, featuring work by artists originally from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Iraq and further afield. Detention centres are essentially prisons. Artworks at the Mori exhibition are by people stuck there, children and adults; a few released into the community, but most of them still behind bars. They get money from sales, but it doesn't do much to get them out of such places and into a life. Nonetheless, bearing witness to them is of no small importance. And once you're there, maybe you can think of something more useful to do. Image by All Fadhel.
Bondi's reliable party pub Beach Road has long been the place to hear some dirty tunes and be one with the d-floor on a Saturday night, but come Tuesday, February 28 it'll play host to something a little more #cleanliving: hip hop yoga. Led CrossFit Sydney's Naya Marie with accompanying beats from Melbourne DJ MIMI (of CRXZY SXXY CXXL), who will mine the back catalogues of just your average kings and queens of music — Kanye, Drake, Chance The Rapper, Beyoncè, Rihanna, et al. The soundtrack might be hectic but don't be afraid, the class will cater for yoga beginners as well as the more experienced. Even better than finding inner zen to Drake's 'Started At The Bottom' is the fact that 10 percent of profits will go to Australian-based charity Forever Projects, raising money for underprivileged families in Tanzania. Tickets are limited, however, so snap 'em up quick smart.
Take a wander through The Rocks this weekend and you're likely to stumble across a doorway into the Middle East. Tucked away inside a 19th century sandstone building, new restaurant Tayim serves flavoursome dishes inspired by Middle Eastern traditions — but with some modern touches. Tayim has moved into the premises that previously belonged to Scarlett Restaurant, on the ground floor of the Harbour Rocks Hotel. But Sydney architects Welsh + Major (The Mercantile Hotel, Fenwick Stone Building) have given the space a sleek revamp. Among the painstakingly restored sandstone, you'll notice splashes and wood, set off by striking wall coverings. Choose between two dining rooms — one comes with a friendly communal table, an outdoor terrace and a swish bar. Head Chef Ran Kimelfeld (ex-Nour) is behind the all-day menu. His not-so-secret weapon is an open grill (which you can watch in action in the communal dining room), where he cooks with old-school techniques, but adds ideas of his own. If you're with mates, tuck into share plates, loaded with grilled sardine shakshuka, summer mushroom borekas and grilled chicken masaha. Come dessert, options include roasted figs with radicchio, goat's cheese and chardonnay dressing, and semolina rose pudding with pistachio meringue and summer berries. Responsible for the drinks list is GM Reuvin Lim, who's also worked on beverages at Sake, Cho Cho San and Tequila Mockingbird. His picks for Tayim feature wines that match bold, spicy flavours, with drops from Australia, Turkey, France, Italy and beyond. The seasonal cocktail menu offers creative twists on classics. If you don't have time for a sit-down feast, swing by the Tayim Deli, which you'll find next door. Here, you can grab Middle Eastern street food to take away, including falafel, chicken shish and lamb kofta wraps, plus salads and sides, from Israeli couscous to roasted cauliflower. Find Tayim at 34 Harrington Street, The Rocks from Friday, December 14. The restaurant will be open from 6.30am–1pm Monday to Friday and 7am–11pm on weekends, and the deli will be open 7am–3pm Monday to Friday and 9am–4.30pmon weekends. Images: Guy Davies.
Marius von Mayenburg's The Ugly One is all kinds of satirical, and while it tends to be the convention to call satires 'searing' or maybe 'biting', let's bypass those particular clichés in order to say that the play moves on at an, er, 'cracking' pace. It is, at roughly an hour, quite short and a lot happens onstage. Like engineering, office politics, extramarital affairs, a lot of fruit getting eaten, and a bunch of surgeries rendered (especially the first) with ingenious and brutal sound effects that really justify the 'cracking' thing. "We'll start with the nose," the surgeon explains at the start of each, "because it sticks out furthest from the face." Onomatopoeia ensues. Faces are the big thing of the play, with the central characters transformation from having an "unacceptable" face to one that is perfect, precipitating a new age of personal and professional success that turns weird when his plastic surgeon starts replicating the procedure all over town. The subsequent confusion and upset is absurd enough that you don't feel bad about it, but hits close enough to home that feeling bad about not feeling worse comes into effect. The simple production design and sensitive performances keep the play poised between allegory and relatability, ending up at a point where you know you're not that shallow, but may be left wondering if you're not-shallow enough.
If school camp flying fox left you scarred for life, it's time to jump on a Taronga-bound ferry and start the healing process. Strung high above the ground in the zoo's wild bush lands is Wild Ropes, an adrenalin-pumping rope course. You'll climb, swing and soar from one challenge to the next, tiptoeing across bridges, scuttling through tunnels, scrambling up aerial rock walls and hanging out on a hoverboard. In between extraordinary feats, keep an eye out for koalas, kangaroos, emus and wallabies down below. And, when you're pausing to get your breath — and calm — back, check out the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from whole new, dizzying angles. All in all, there are four courses to conquer: two for scaredy cats and two for madmen. Once you've dominated the lot, you'll have smashed at least 40 obstacles. Not bad for a day at the zoo. If you've got little ones (or you've been asked to babysit your nieces and nephews over the holidays), you can now bring them with you. The adventure park has just launched two children's courses, which are appropriate for rugrats as young as three. To celebrate the launch of the new, mini courses — and just in time for the holidays — we're giving away a discount for all Monday to Friday bookings until December 16. Just use the code 'wildcp' at checkout to receive 20% off. (For the code to be valid, you'll need to make adult and junior bookings separately and only book up to four tickets.) Wild Ropes is open between 9.45am and 3.45pm, seven days a week, 364 days a year. Tickets start at $37 for adults and $20 for children, and we recommend booking online in advance. Things can get busy.
"Painting, like art, attempts to fill holes in hearts and minds wrought by life, work, politics and culture." Okay? So, yeah, the basis of this show is a bit, um, 'hol[e]y shit'. Forgive me for that, but honestly? A concept that presumes that painting has been "repeatedly killed by the middle of the 20th century" sounds a little bit risible. But this is actually a legit, serious issue given that it is striking at the basis of what painting is, is about, and might be for. The works in Extended Painting, by artists Tom Loveday, Mark Titmarsh, Sean Lowry, Mark Shorter and Andre Brodyk, collectively consider the act of painting itself by way of works of which some are paintings and some are not. The issues at stake are of the purpose and function of painting as techne rather than how a painting manifests a technique. What did Minimalism do to painting? What about Abstract Expressionism? How does appropriation as a thing change the status of the art object and how does the difference in the way we can represent and experience duration via newer media impact upon what it is to look at a painted work? Again: holey shit. Image: Tom Loveday, Video Stills "Polar Bear 002," 2011
To help slow and stop the spread of COVID-19, a number of hygiene measures are recommended. We all know them by now. They include frequently washing our hands and using hand sanitiser, maintaining 1.5-metre social distancing and staying home if you've experiencing even the slightest of symptoms. Wearing masks is another tactic, but the approach within Australia has varied state by state throughout the pandemic. They were first mandated in Melbourne back in mid-July, and were made compulsory in some indoor situations in Greater Sydney at the beginning of 2021. In Queensland, they'll be required for the three days that the Greater Brisbane area is in lockdown from Friday, January 6–Monday, January 11, in response to the first community case of the new, more contagious COVID-19 strain in the country. When it comes to flying, because social distancing can be difficult and you're sat in close quarters in a confined space with other people for a period of time, mask usage has long been recommended — but it'll now be mandatory, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced today, Friday, January 8. The new rule was adopted by the first Australian national cabinet meeting for 2021, alongside a number of other changes made in reaction to the new COVID-19 strain. The mask mandate applies to all domestic flights within the country, and to international flights to and from our shores as well. For domestic flights, only children under 12 won't have to don a face covering. Folks will have to wear masks for not only for the duration of their flights, but at airports as well, including airports overseas for those about to hop on flights to Australia. The rules cover international air crews, too, who will now be required to undergo a COVID-19 test in Australia every seven days or upon arrival, with the exact requirement to be determined by each state. Compulsory pre-flight testing for international travellers coming to Australia has also been adopted by the national cabinet, as part of "a set of improved measures to tighten the end-to-end process of international arrivals in Australia," said the Prime Minister. "Travellers to Australia must return a negative COVID-19 test result prior to departure to Australia," he advised; however, there "will be exemptions in extenuating circumstances. This could include for seasonal workers from amber-risk countries where there is limited access to testing, with mitigation of testing on arrival in Australia". Australia is reducing caps on international arrivals in some states as well — in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland — by 50 percent until February 15. In NSW, a weekly cap of 1505 will be in place, while WA's will be 512 and Queensland's will be 500. Quarantine workers will also be subject to changed requirements, moving nationally to daily testing. National cabinet is taking an expansive view of the term 'quarantine worker', and the Prime Minister said that "states are encouraged to take as broad a definition of that as they can, as is done in many states — that would extend to transport workers for people going to quarantine, not just those who are the cleaners or others directly involved in that process, medical staff and so on." As for when this'll all come into effect, the Prime Minister advised that the changes will be implemented "over the course of the next week — and the compliance arrangements that sit around that will be put in place by the Commonwealth and the state governments". For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Australia, visit the Australian Government Department of Health website.
This Is Not Art is the dream that keeps us trudging through winter each year, looking towards that October long weekend when Newcastle transforms into some wild, uncontrollable and utterly miscellaneous beast of the arts. Except that, for a moment there, it looked like this year's festival wouldn't happen. In early July, with less than three months left until the festival, TINA were notified by Newcastle City Council that their triennial funding had been canned. This meant an $18 000 deficit in the budget: a nightmare for any small arts organisation. The event, which annually offers over two hundred and fifty free events, featuring the work of more than four hundred Australian artists, and typically attracting over five thousand participants, was in serious doubt. Thanks to an assertive campaign by Festival Coordinator Eliza Adam, this week TINA have confirmed that the show is back on the road. Phew! Incredibly, supporters of TINA raised a huge $8 750 over only two weeks. What's more, the Copyright Agency Limited jumped on board to offer a huge $9 000 and a Newcastle-based web company, Izilla Web Solutions, pledged $2 000. In the wake of popular outrage, Newcastle Council flipped to offer TINA increased financial support, plus additional provisions for planning and assistance into the future. This year's festival is once again looking good. Keen to see TINA be all it can be? You can still help! Donations are being accepted at TINA's Pozible site until 7 August - and let's face it, it's a small fee to pay for an amazing, five day festival that's already free. TINA is also heavily reliant on volunteers, and there's a huge range of things to be done which you can check out here.
If you live in Adelaide, you probably already think your city is the best place in Australia. For two days this spring, music fans across the country will share that view, too. Come November, the South Australian capital will play host to a brand-new — and huge — music festival called Harvest Rock, and it boasts one helluva lineup. Headlining the bill is Jack White, with The White Stripes frontman playing his only Australian show — and, at Rymill Park and King Rodney Park across Saturday, November 19–Sunday, November 20, he'll be joined by plenty of international talent. The Black Crowes, Khruangbin and Groove Armada are all on the roster, as are The Lumineers and Hot Chip. Yes, that's a lineup worth planning a weekend in Adelaide for. From the local contingent, Crowded House will bring a hefty dose of nostalgia — don't dream it's over indeed. The Avalanches sit among the other big drawcards, as do Courtney Barnett, You Am I and Tones And I. [caption id="attachment_865436" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mia Mala McDonald[/caption] Hailing from Secret Sounds, the crew behind Splendour in the Grass, Harvest Rock's two-day run will also place a big focus on the other part of its moniker: food. That'll include a dedicated stage for chef and bar stars to showcase their skills, a clear marquee serving up curated bites by chef Jake Kellie (arkhé, Burnt Ends), and a food truck park. Plus, the bar lineup is being curated by Australian wine critic Nick Stock, and features Archie Rose Distilling Co pouring spirits, wine tastings at a cellar door pop-up, a beer hall and a champagne bar. One watering hole will be a LGBTQI+ space, too, and there'll also be a booze-free bar for anyone keen on avoiding a post-fest hangover. HARVEST ROCK 2022 LINEUP: Jack White Crowded House The Black Crowes Khruangbin Groove Armada Sam Fender The Lumineers Tones And I The Avalanches Courtney Barnett Kurt Vile Angus & Julia Stone The Teskey Brothers Hot Chip Goanna Genesis Owusu The Living End Cat Power You Am I Meg Mac Marlon Williams Holy Holy Alex Cameron Ruby Fields Allen Stone Electric Fields TOWNS Slowmango Harvest Rock will take over Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka and King Rodney Park / Ityamai-itpina, Adelaide, on Saturday, November 19–Sunday, November 20, with tickets on sale from 9am AEST on Wednesday, August 24. Top image: Paige Sara.
