Some like it fancy. Their dining, their threads, their lifestyle. Quality craft, premium ingredients, considered processes — all key elements when producing the finer things that make life delicious and wonderful. Come Sunday, September 4, dads, father figures or your favourite leading legend can bask in a whole day set aside to celebrate all that they are. And, if that person likes to lean fancy, we've got your back with a top-notch roundup of luxe presents they're sure to love. First up? A smooth sip. DELICIOUS AND WONDERFUL WHISKY A terrific bottle of booze is a reliable winner when it comes to gifting for the 18+ crowd. And if a timeless Scotch whisky is their thing, Glenmorangie's full range should be your first port of call. The award-winning distillery produces a stunning range of whiskies in the Scottish Highlands (and the country's tallest copper stills). So, if your father figure is after a smooth sip, reap the goods of our legwork. Keeping it classic? You want The Original, the elevated yet mellow drop that's aged for 10 years in bourbon casks. Opting for something out-there? You're looking for The Lasanta, the attempt at bottling the "magic of a sunset" according to Glenmorangie's director of whisky creation, Dr Bill Lumsden. And if your dad deserves the top of the shelf, you're after the extremely rare — and extremely good — 18 Years Old. The lauded drop spends 15 years in American oak casks, then another three in Olorosso sherry. Good things take time, so trust this is brilliant. Glenmorangie, price varies FRESH KICKS Sneaker cred is important in the world of dads. So, regardless of how fashion-forward he seems, a little refresh to the wardrobe will never go astray. Playing into the luxe-streetwear trend is this green and white pair of Golden Goose Ball Stars. Paying homage to the eighties — and delivering a healthy dose of nostalgia — these Italian-made premium kicks are cool, effortless and set to be on regular rotation. Golden Goose, $830 LUSH LOUNGING Whether he gets his laps in or regularly enjoys a dip in the salty sea, having a luxurious towel around you really heightens the aquatic experience. Baina's Roman Pool Towel — made from 100% organic cotton in Portugal — hits the mark in both quality and style. A checkerboard of tabac and noir is both timeless and timely as far as trends go, making it a piece Dad'll use for years. Verdict: a truly solid gift. Slowe, $110 STAND-OUT SKIN SAVIOURS The largest organ in the body needs to be cared for with utmost importance. And when it comes to gifting-appropriate grooming options, you can't do much better than Aesop. The Parsley Seed Extended Anti-Oxidant Skin Care Kit is ideal for self-care novices and aficionados alike. Open this up and you discover six hardworking products: cleansing oil and toner, instantly hydrating serum and treatment, an eye cream and a masque — all tastefully packaged in Aesop's signature apothecary style. If your dad is always in the sun, out and about in city air or looking to brighten their face, present them with this — gold star guaranteed. Aesop, $360 HEIGHTENED HIGHBALLS Any drop that's worth drinking is worth pouring straight into a fancy — and deliciously different — glass. The sparkle of a highball housed in calm waves of viridescent glass will take happy hour up a notch, and Fazeek's designs are the ultimate way to get there. Specifically, The Wave Highballs in green (though, there's clear and pink, too). These stylish vessels are all hand-blown and come in sets of two — perfect for cheers-ing your pa. Fazeek, $99 for set of two FLASHY FURNITURE Your dad is a design-head who likes to make a statement? The Arnold Circus Stool — or side table or giant vase (if flipped on its head) — in red/orange is big, bright and will be a magnet for decor-related compliments. Expertly crafted from 100% recycled polythene plastic by the stand-out design talent Martino Gamper, each piece is wonderfully unique. Just imagine those green glass Fazeek highballs resting on top. Makers' Mrkt, $230 LUXE THREADS You can't go wrong with linen, and there'll be no shade thrown if you decided to nab this wardrobe essential for yourself instead. Rag & Bone do what they do so well: easy-breezy style, classic tailoring, designs that last. This Long-Sleeve Beach Shirt is a winner no matter who you're shopping for — regardless of personal style. Incu, $330 SMOKY SCENTS A hard-hitting present is a piece that someone covets but is reluctant to purchase themselves. Fragrance often finds itself in this category, though once you've made a scent your signature, there's no turning back. Cue the scentsmiths over at Roemy. Designed and made in Australia, cruelty free and long-wearing, they've got a stellar lineup of fragrances ready and waiting. Our rec? Forest. Crisp yet warm and reminiscent of sun after a sudden downpour. Plus, each bottle comes with a sample, so you can test drive an option for next year. Roemy, $239 Happy gifting this Father's Day, and if you're still scratching your head, you can't go past a bottle of Glenmorangie's delicious and wonderful whisky. Top image: Mark Babin, Unsplash
Folks, it's the happiest time of the year — and it's not Christmas. Netflix has come to town, the streaming video on demand service everyone is always talking about. If you like film and television, prepare to spend more time than you should picking from more movies and shows than you could possibly watch in your lifetime. But the fact is, having jumped through a number of well-publicised hoops, you might already be using Netflix US. Should you make the switch to the fully legit Australian service? There's a few factors to consider. Netflix never reveal the extent of their libraries, but more than 1000 titles are available locally. While that's only a fraction of the 8000-plus options on offer in the US, it's still plenty. Between Presto, Stan, Quickflix and Netflix (plus the range of services available with a little IP address masking), we're spoiled for choice. Here are some of the Australian Netflix inclusions and omissions that are swaying our decision. WHAT YOU SHOULD WATCH UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT Unless you've been trapped in an underground bunker, the name Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt probably rings a bell. The facts: it stars Ellie Kemper from The Office and Bridesmaids, it's the latest sitcom written by 30 Rock's dream team of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, and it might just be your new favourite show. It's not just the earworm of a theme song that gets stuck in your head, but the irreverent sense of humour and can-do attitude, too. The show follows a wide-eyed 30-year-old freshly saved from 15 years in a doomsday cult and now trying to make it in New York City, after all. What more convincing do you need? BLOODLINE It may have made its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, but Bloodline is actually Netflix's newest release. The latest original drama in the service's growing TV stable only dropped in the US last weekend — that's how fresh it is. Since then, the buzz has been building, particularly about Australia's own Ben Mendelsohn. He's joined by Kyle Chandler proving he's no longer Friday Night Lights' Coach Taylor, plus a cast that rounds up the likes of Chloë Sevigny, Linda Cardellini and Sam Shepard into a tale of family troubles. Just don't expect the standard sibling squabbles, given that the psychological thriller comes from the creators of Damages. BOJACK HORSEMAN His sitcom-starring days are long gone, and his tell-all biography is his last-ditch attempt at fame, so what's a washed-up talking horse that sounds just like Will Arnett to do? Yes, that's the premise of animated series Bojack Horseman — and it's only the beginning of its offbeat appeal. A whole host of other animals with human traits are in the mix, plus a swag of familiar voices, including Community's Alison Brie and Ken Jeong, as well as Kristen Schaal and Stanley Tucci. Patton Oswalt pops up as a penguin and recent Oscar winner J.K. Simmons becomes a turtle, while Aaron Paul plays — what else — a slacker. VIRUNGA AND OTHER NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARIES Netflix doesn't just produce television shows — it is also in the movie-making game. Funding new features takes some time, but there's already a stack of slices of real life available to choose from, covering topics as varied as human rights abuses, failed US presidential candidates, and the meaning of manhood. One of them, Virunga, crafts a compelling account of conservation efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a species of mountain gorillas face extinction courtesy of oil exploration, armed conflict and poachers. The heartbreaking film was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature just last month, following in the footsteps of fellow Netflix offering, Egyptian revolution chronicle The Square, the year before. AZIZ ANSARI: LIVE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN AND OTHER NETFLIX STAND-UP COMEDY SPECIALS You like to laugh, we like to laugh, and Netflix likes us all to laugh, clearly. Why else would they stack their library with stand-up comedy specials, featuring all the funny people we know and love, that you can't find anywhere else? Aziz Ansari: Live at Madison Square Garden is the latest and greatest of the lot, not to mention the perfect antidote to those suffering from Parks and Recreation withdrawals. The Australian catalogue doesn't feature the full suite of comedy sets, but it does include exclusive shows by Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Chelsea Peretti and Sleepwalk with Me's Mike Birbiglia, so we're not complaining. WHAT YOU CAN'T WATCH FRIENDS, AND YOUR OTHER FAVOURITE TV COMEDIES When all 236 episodes and 86 hours of Friends came to US Netflix at the beginning of 2015, fans of the program rejoiced in the thought of revisiting it from start to finish. Binge-watching older TV comedies and catching up on past seasons of newer shows you might have missed has always been one of the drawcards of the service, whether Archer, Portlandia, Peep Show or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is your thing, or something else. All of the above are absent from the Australian lineup, meaning you'd best hang on to your DVDs for now. With more titles added all the time, perhaps you'll soon be marathoning Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock and Bob's Burgers. Given Netflix was the driving force behind Arrested Development's revival, at least you know they'll always have that — though, curiously Trailer Park Boys isn't available locally, even with the service funding its latest seasons. KILLER MERMAID, AND OTHER MOVIES YOU WON'T BE SEEING IN MULTIPLEXES Yup, a movie about a man-eating mermaid actually exists, starring Franco Nero — aka the original Django. No, despite the appeal of the idea, the film isn't very good. But it is this kind of fare that makes Netflix US great for cinephiles with adventurous tastes, or just those looking to stumble across something outside the norm. Cult classics and foreign films that will never make it to a big screen are also typically well served by the service, as well as US indies, such as quite a bit of the work of Joe Swanberg. For now, this level of depth is absent, though the Australian lineup does boast some movies not available elsewhere, particularly local content. TWIN PEAKS We’re always going to tell you to watch Twin Peaks, but if you want to do so, you best seek it elsewhere. David Lynch’s surreal, small-town series is nowhere to be seen here — well, not in its small screen version. In one of those strange situations that can only be chalked up to rights issues, you can't watch season one or two of the program, which is available in America, but you can watch Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, which isn't. Given the kooky twists in the series in question, it actually feels quite fitting. Of course, we'll take some over none any day, especially when the movie sequel-slash-prequel is one of the scariest horror films there is. FIREPLACE FOR YOUR HOME Sure, we'll admit that much of Australia doesn't really have the climate for fireplaces for most of the year, but that doesn't mean that we don't want to pretend. Whatever the weather outside, we want to snuggle up on our couches, turn on Netflix, and look at a streamed video of crackling flames — just like it was the real thing. Alas, we can't, with Fireplace for Your Home glaringly absent from the local catalogue. It looks like we'll never know the joy of "a classic tale of logs and fire like you've never seen it before", or its holiday-themed winter wonderland spin-off. THE MAJORITY OF NEW TV SHOWS Netflix launching in Australia is certainly a step forward for our film and TV viewing choices; however, it is worth remembering that it isn't the be all and end all of SVOD services. Even in the US, it doesn't carry the newest seasons of the majority of television programs, other than the select few — such as House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black — Netflix makes themselves. As a catch-up service, there are still plenty of gaps too, including all the HBO shows you've obsessed about for years (sorry Game of Thrones fans). Instead, think of it as a great online library that you can always access — but like its offline counterparts, there's always bound to be something missing. Image: The stars of Netflix come out for the Netflix Australia launch.
Probably one of the most fun, interactive and accessible events on Sydney's cultural calendar, Underbelly Arts Festival will be kicking into gear on the first weekend of August (but they're letting you into The Lab from July 22). Dedicated to providing a platform for early career artists, this biennial showcase is all about amplifying the bold new voices of Australian art. Featuring over 100 artists, the festival will be a colourful patchwork of thought-provoking installations spread across Sydney’s industrial playground, Cockatoo Island. “The island is filled with possibility,” says artistic director Eliza Sarlos. “And I think it will continue to do so because every artist brings their own unique skills and imagination to the spaces.” From investigating artist studios to visiting a bar that serves air, to stuffing your face with Mary's and throwing shapes at an art party after a long day's exhibition exploring, there's plenty of indulgent adventures to be had this year at Underbelly — here's a sneak peek into what you're allowed to get yourself into. STUFF YOUR FACE (AND MIND) SILLY The Underbelly team is acutely aware of the relationship between artist and audience. And this year, they've cooked up an even bigger program to get your mind cogs moving. In addition to art, music and performance, there will be plenty of delicious noms from your favourite food providers — think inner-west all-stars such as Mary's, Rising Sun and Young Henry's — curated by Sydney foodie, FBi Radio presenter and The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry founder Lee Tran Lam. You can also look forward to a kickass art party smack bang in the middle of the weekend. SEE ART BEFORE IT'S READY Prior to the festival on August 1 – 2, the exhibiting artists will finish creating their works in an intensive two-week-long residency or The Lab. “One thing that excites me about Underbelly is what happens before the festival,” says Sarlos. “We have all the artists from different disciplines in the same space together. It’s that exchange that happens when people are creating under the same roof, side by side.” The Underbelly ethos is primarily forward thinking, showcasing art practices that dwell on the consequences of our current moment. “Art has this wonderful capacity to present versions of tomorrow and perspectives on what the future should hold,” says Sarlos. “I think Underbelly is in a great position to facilitate that. It's a precarious time for the arts, so it's important to have those opportunities to pause and reflect.” The festival also provides a laboratory to conceptualise solutions to the big issues. This has spawned a number of socially and politically engaged works. For instance, Emily Parsons-Lord is developing a bar that serves air. Yes, you heard correct. You will literally be served samples of air. Her work, The Arrariam, is concerned with the history of air and the impact of human development. MAKE A BUNCH OF NOISE Alongside the visual art offerings, there is a stellar music and sound program planned. “It’s really exciting to be presenting music in an art context because I don’t think it happens enough,” says Sarlos. “It’s rare that you’re in an environment where you have access to art, music and performance. One thing I love about the festival experience is that there aren’t those arbitrary lines.” From sonic sculptures through to serene acoustics, there will be a whole bunch of technologically innovative sound installations to experience. “We have the amazing Lucy Cliché (Lucy Phelan) recording a piece specifically for one of the bunkers on the island,” says Sarlos. “Getting to hear it in the space it was designed for will be quite special.” Saturday evening will be packed with punchy beats and danceable tunes. The art party lineup will feature Cassius Select, GUERRE, Austin Buckett, Megan Alice Clune and Softwar, to name a few. The Goodgod Karaoke House Band will also make an appearance, inviting festivalgoers to warm up their vocal chords and soak up some good ol' nostalgia. BRAG ABOUT NEW INTERNATIONAL ART YOU JUST LEARNED ABOUT For the first time, this year’s program will include a cohort of international artists. And as the festival spreads its wings, Sarlos believes it’s never too soon to reach overseas. “We’re definitely here for early career artists and I think that’s true for international artists as well. What is interesting for me is building networks with people across the world. I think there’s no reason to wait until you have a blockbuster to create those connections and opportunities.” UK sculptor James Capper is one of the foreign artists climbing aboard. He will be unleashing a number of earth-marking machines to crawl across the island and create their own compositions. “Even though it was developed in the UK, it’s funny how strongly this work resonates with industry driven and mining obsessed Australia,” says Sarlos. ADDRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM With recent government cuts, it's a bleak time for emerging artists attempting to carve out a career or simply pay bills. But simply by attending Underbelly Arts, you'll be supporting said artists and inevitably getting into heated debates over a cider at the end of the day about 'the state of things'. Thinking about this unsteady and uncertain future, Sarlos is a keen campaigner for visibility across every level of art-making. “I certainly don’t advocate against the major art institutions — there’s an important role for them to play,” she says. “Art offers such a beautiful ecology of people creating at different stages — everyone benefits from what everyone else is doing. If you lose the support mechanisms or the access points for audiences to see work from the new generation you miss the opportunity to develop sustainable careers.” Underbelly Arts Festival runs August 1-2 at Cockatoo Island, with The Lab running July 22-26. Check the website for more details or to lock down tickets. Images: Underbelly Arts, Prudence Upton, Lucy Parakhina, Rafaela Pandolfini, James Capper.
Sitting down to watch Cat Person isn't a passive experience. It isn't an interactive movie, but the bulk of the film's audience isn't coming to it as a blank slate. They've read Kristen Roupenian's viral New Yorker short story from 2017, because everyone has. They've seen the discourse that it started, and potentially engaged in the debate that's swelled ever since, too. They remember how the 7000-word piece arrived at the ideal #MeToo moment, capturing the intricacies of modern dating, gender power dynamics, text-first communications, and mediating not just our lives but our loves through screens one jokey SMS and flirty emoji at a time. As a feature, Cat Person isn't just about bringing the tale of 20-year-old college student Margot and 33-year-old Robert, who she first meets serving him snacks at her cinema job, to the screen, then. Six years have passed since Roupenian's story became the only thing that anyone was talking about, especially online, with the whole Cat Person phenomenon now about more than just the tale itself. In her third movie as a director after 2014's Life Partners and 2018's The Spy Who Dumped Me — and also helming episodes of Utopia, The Flight Attendant and The Wilds, plus writing Booksmart as well — that's also what filmmaker Susanna Fogel set out to capture with Michelle Ashford's (Masters of Sex, The Mayfair Witches) script. "There's always a fear with anything that people feel strongly about, and would get really passionate about, that you're going to let them down. I think that with this in particular, I had to release myself a bit from the notion that everyone is going to love this adaptation — because the truth is not everybody loved the story, and not everyone loves any movie, really," Fogel explains to Concrete Playground. "I also have to take my best shot of trying to bring this story into the next generation for a group of people who many of whom were too young to read the story. The Margots of today were 13 when the story came out, so this is a moment that I wanted to share the story with them in this format." "But there's always a fear of it. You of have to let it go. You have to say 'I'm going to do my best to honour the material, and if I can create the feeling that I got reading the story in an audience, then that's what I can do'," Fogel continues. "There are going to be details that aren't what people pictured. Some people are going to want it to be a faithful adaptation of the story because they just want to see that story the same way. And Michelle and I, and ultimately Kristen, really believed that there's another chapter to the story that's happened culturally since 2017 — people exhausted themselves debating the merits of this story and revealed things about themselves culturally — that became part of the story. So to us, the only reason to adapt it was to build upon the narrative and not just render it directly." The film version of Cat Person expands beyond the narrative that Roupenian relayed with such galvanising precision. The aim: capturing how it felt to read the short story, as well as the conversation swirling around it since. The focus is still "concession-stand girl" Margot (Emilia Jones, CODA) and customer Robert (Nicholas Braun, Succession). Everything from their first meeting to their texts, and also their age gap, dates and rampant awkwardness, remains. But Fogel's film not only adds details, but also complexities and perspectives, seeing the tale's ambiguity and clashing perceptions. The 2023 Sundance Film Festival first witnessed the end result, and now audiences in Australia and New Zealand can as well, with the movie opening in both countries Down Under in November. We chatted with Fogel about the process of bringing Cat Person to the screen — her first reactions to the short story, her thoughts on the response, the unique opportunity that is turning a viral short story into a movie, casting and continuing the Cat Person conversation all included. ON READING CAT PERSON WHEN KRISTEN ROUPENIAN'S SHORT STORY FIRST ARRIVED "I did see it. I was hard to not see. It was everywhere. It was something that people talked about a lot. It was very explosive in the culture. At the same time, I didn't see it as a movie. It's hard for me not to see things as movies just because I live in LA, and whenever something is viral or captures anybody's attention, there's going to be a stampede of people trying to make it into a film. But this one, I thought this is so brilliantly internal that I don't really know how it becomes cinematic, and how it becomes external, and how you capture what really resonated for people in a film — much less a film that people are going to see if they're men or people of all ages, which the story did have a bigger reach than just than just women. I was concerned that a film wouldn't be able to harness that somehow. And then two years later, I read Michelle Ashford's script. I realised that there was a there was a vision behind doing that that made so much sense to me — I just would never have thought of it myself." ON THE INITIAL RESPONSE TO CAT PERSON AS A SHORT STORY "The story itself, by the time I came to it, I was aware that it was very explosive and controversial. And when I read it, I wasn't sure why, because I thought that this is such a perfectly observed short story. It's so specific to this woman's experience. Why are people debating it? Why are people accusing the writer of man-hating? What is what is really like triggering to people about the story? And over time, that narrative around it became so explosive that it kind of hijacked the narrative — the narrative around the narrative became what was the most interesting thing about it. There's this undercurrent of male rage that courses through the subtext of the story, and that male rage was manifested in a very overt way among all of the people on Twitter who were arguing about the story. So, in a weird way, it kind of proved the concept of the story itself, and that to me was what was so interesting. And when we tried to expand upon the original format of the story, that anger and the male perspective on that was something that we tried to enhance and show cinematically, just because it was so much a part of that cultural moment. It eclipsed anything about the original story itself." ON BRINGING A SHORT STORY THAT'S GONE VIRAL TO THE SCREEN "It was a very unusual opportunity. I've always looked for ways to tell stories about women — granular, observant, emotionally driven, relationship-driven movies and TV shows. That's kind of my sweet spot. But it's so often that those feel small, and they always have to be combined with another genre or a mystery or something that feels like it gives them reason to be — stories that justify their telling, in a way. This one, obviously we did expand it genre-wise, but the fact that the story existed and was viral was a great opportunity to tell a really intimate, granular story about a woman's experience, and have a little bit of name recognition buoying the release of it, and the public interest in it. That was a really lucky — that was a real opportunity. There's name recognition and a curiosity about something that is ultimately so personal and would normally just go in the bucket of tiny movies that five women see at a women's film festival." ON TACKLING A TALE THAT'S STRUCK SUCH A CHORD FOR BEING SO RELATABLE "A different medium is always a challenge. When you take a short story that women project their experiences onto — so women are picturing themselves as Margot, women are picturing their own Robert from their own life as Robert, they're not picturing actors that I cast — trying to honour that and execute something that would resonate with women the same way as whatever was in their mind's eye when they read the story is a tall order. I just did my best to try to pick versions of both characters that made them human enough that whatever felt really realistic and grounded to women would would be manifested here, and it wouldn't feel like we took it in this crazy direction. It definitely escalates at the end, but from a starting point of relatability was the goal. I mean, that's always the challenge, I think. But I think from moment to moment, [it was] just making sure those performances felt grounded, making sure to cast somebody who felt really relatable to women, and felt smart and substantial — so that if she makes some dumb mistakes, you can still be rooting for her instead of dismissing her as a victim. And just making choices that I think try to keep threading the needle with nuance was something that was important to me, so that people couldn't really dismiss either side, or come down on one extreme side or another — just to try to maintain the ambiguity of the original story." ON THE VISION FOR CAT PERSON AS A FILM FROM SCRIPT ONWARDS "Michelle had this brilliant idea to take a lot of what Margot was going through internally and make it manifest in a really extreme multi-genre experience of being a young woman. So, Margo's experience is that she walks through her life, and she's very pop culture savvy. She's seen movies where young women are victimised. She's seen movies where young women fall in love. She's seen movies where young women come of age. So she's seen all the reference points, and she's trying to figure out where she belongs and what her story is. What excited me about Michele's adaptation was really that she opened the door to explore a lot of different genres, as if to say that being a young woman is a multi-genre experience. There's always a base level of fear, because we're when we're coming of age and even when we're not, we're aware that we could be overpowered on a physical level. That's always a fear that sits underneath our lives, and is ready to poke its head out at any point in time that it's triggered. But all of the things that Michelle wrote were so vivid. And then the fears and fantasies and violence felt like I just tried to capture those as viscerally as I've experienced them myself, in the hopes that other women have also had those fears if I've had them, I hope. I don't hope other women have had them, but I hope that I'm a good ambassador to tell their story in a way that feels relatable to as many women as possible." ON FINDING THE RIGHT MARGOT AND ROBERT "Casting is always easy and hard. What's easy is if you're the filmmaker and you have a sense of who those people are in your mind, there's actors that you know you want. The challenge is that they're not always the actors who you know are the most famous or the most bankable. Luckily we worked with StudioCanal, who were pretty open minded being a European company — they weren't as algorithm-obsessed and so they let me cast these two actors who were really on the cusp of fame and had recognition but weren't overexposed on a level where people would bring too much baggage into the viewing experience. By the time the movie came out, people have an association with Cat Person. They're expecting to be mad. They're expecting to be relating. They're just expecting a lot going in. And I didn't want that to have a toxic alchemy with some outrage about me casting the wrong super-famous person. So I wanted it to be a little bit like these characters, these are interesting actors, maybe you've seen them but you haven't seen them in everything. You don't know who they're dating. It's not a situation where you're rolling your eyes before you even walk into the theatre. Emilia has a real soulfulness and gravitas to her that I wanted Margot to have despite her youth, so that it wouldn't be just a simple story of a young woman and an older man, and she's naive and he's inappropriate. I wanted it to be a bit more [that] he has some arrested development, but also she is presenting herself with as much maturity as she can, and she has a presence that doesn't feel adolescent to him. Zooming out, it's inappropriate that he pursues her. But zooming into it, it sort of makes sense that she's presenting herself in a way that it would be overreaching past the bounds of her experience level or her actual maturity level. Emilia seems mature, and I thought that was important to keep Robert defensible as well. If she seemed really flighty and really young, it would be more egregiously only about her being young and not about the fact that they do have this connection, even though it's dysfunctional. I didn't audition either of them, but I spoke to them, and they get it. They got it. They understood what was weird about the dynamic, and they were so intellectually able to do it — and I knew how talented they were on screen, that I just kind of took the leap of faith that they could do it. They're both actors who have great comic timing, but they're not broadly comedic. They have an interesting presence, but they haven't done this role before. So it felt like they would really like invest in that challenge. And in Nick's case, he has like a base level of likeability, especially to other men who watch Succession, that I thought that would be a good place for Robert to start — a place where men are relating to him, even if they think he's kind of a loser or whatever, they're inclined to root for him because of because of who he is." ON FOGEL'S HOPES FOR THE MOVIE'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE CAT PERSON CONVERSATION "I would like for this movie to invite men and women to talk about their own experiences, and the differences in perception that go into relationships. I think that everybody has a story where they relate to one or both of the characters — that's why my hope is that everyone who's ever been on a date can watch that movie and say 'oh, I've been him' or 'I've been her' or 'I've been both'. To me, I think that the movie challenges people to think about their own relationships and be more authentic with the other person, however they can be — and really give themselves permission to not know what they want, take a minute to figure out what they want, not be sure what they want, change their mind. Those are all really important parts of dating and consent, and I'm hoping that this movie, by making people feel like they're not alone, makes people feel like 'it's okay for me to figure this out on my own timeline'." Cat Person opened in cinemas in Australia on November 23 and in New Zealand on November 2. Read our review.
"Careful, you've got about seven cameras on you," Josh Niland quips to one of his chefs on a quiet Monday evening. The Saint Peter cook in question offers a nervous smile, but isn't distracted from his meticulous work: chargrilling twenty identical King George whiting over coal. The butterflied fish are served with a nostalgic play on hundreds-and-thousands — a rich butter sauce with bright chives, finger lime and popping orange tapioca pearls. "Make sure you start at the tail end, so the fish continues to cook evenly," Niland recommends to the group, who have been invited to preview his pop-up collaboration with whisky-maker Talisker. By all accounts, things are going swimmingly for Niland: he was the only Australian chef to be awarded a spot in this year's Best Chef Awards, also nabbing the Best Chef Innovation Award for his nose-to-tail approach to the ocean's finest. Back in 2020, he also won the James Beard Book of the Year Award for his magnum opus, The Whole Fish Cookbook. But the peerless seafood chef rarely dabbles in branded collaborations. So, we took the time to chat about the art of collaboration in the kitchen, teamwork and the best advice he's ever received. [caption id="attachment_873425" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Talisker and Saint Peter pop-up.[/caption] How do you go about choosing the right partners for your venues? "The initial engagement with Talisker was fascinating to me — there are very few metrics around for what you can do with fish and whisky. It's a very robust alcohol to weave into a fish dish. But, I like being pushed into the corner and told 'this is all you're allowed to do'. It's also about quality [when it comes to partnerships]. We're making a decision based on quality and the underlying ethics of the business — ensuring that they're working responsibly in terms of the procurement of their ingredients and how they work within the company. We have to do our due diligence and make sure that both parties are aligned." Speaking of quality products, I assume there were a few whisky tastings involved in the process? "There were definitely some... should we say 'quality checks' — not just from me, but also from my chef Ben, who gave it a good taste." [caption id="attachment_855330" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Rob Palmer, Charcoal Fish[/caption] How do you approach collaborating with Julie, your wife and co-owner, particularly if you disagree? "I feel like Julie and I are obviously very aligned. We've been married nearly 13 years so we've had meals together and experiences together, and that polishes the edges of what we feel we want to be doing as professionals. But that continually changes all the time — the way we were pre-COVID is very different to the way we are now. And I think what you'll see from Saint Peter in the coming years will be starkly different to what you see now — that's just signs of a good, evolving business. Although there are moments of friction, above all it just comes down to trust — knowing that, if it doesn't seem 100% right because it's not the same as what we did at one time, then the trust is there that we're making the best decision. We trust that we're not going to steer the ship astray, and we rely a lot on the team around us to help us make those decisions — especially significant ones. We're very fortunate to be surrounded by some really extraordinary people in our management team and also the young chefs and front of house professionals." [caption id="attachment_870811" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Talisker and Saint Peter pop-up.[/caption] How do you collaborate with your chefs at Saint Peter? "It's been a learning experience the last two years, how to be a better coach as opposed to captain. We're now starting to see the benefits of mentorship and looking after the guys really well, and they're starting to feel more confident with what they can offer to the team. It's been a nice 12 months, even though it's been challenging — it's been super rewarding. You can go home at 6pm and put the kids to bed, and know that everyone is 100% behind you and they all believe in the one thing and they're all driving towards the same product. There are moments where you're like 'I wish I could've had my hands on that', but I've changed significantly in the last six years. I've gone from standing on the stove and going 'nobody touch anything, I'm doing it' to now going 'can somebody else do this cause I want to show you how to do it' and then people are thriving and they're showing the next people. It's all a maturity thing and a learning thing — I was 26 when we opened Saint Peter. I'm getting pulled in every direction personally and professionally so I'm just making sure that at its heart everyone understands what we're doing and why we're doing it." [caption id="attachment_739656" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Fish Butchery by Cody Duncan[/caption] Obviously finding consistent and reliable producers plays a huge role in what you do. How do you approach managing those relationships? "Consistent and reliable — that's actually the biggest challenge. You can never rely on anybody and you can never rely on the weather. When what we plan at the beginning of the week doesn't arrive, then we need to change. That's why when people always ask, 'why can't you leave dishes on the menu, why can't you just stop changing the menu?' It's not for not trying! It's because we always have to work like that. When you're a fish business you have to keep changing and evolving. We now have four teams all working on fish that is not always consistent and that is not reliable, so we rely on [the team] to remain flexible and adaptable and courageous enough to keep turning up. Finding the fishers that we've found — particularly Walkers Seafood in Mooloolaba in Queensland and Bruce Collis at Corner Inlet in Victoria — I would put that down to me having a relationship with Steve Hodges at Fish Face. So you've got Steve Hodges, Neil Perry, John Susman, Greg Doyle and Peter Doyle from the generation that's just gone through and they have carved out a pathway for our next generation and given us the ability to go direct to fisherman. But you have to be ready to pick up the phone and talk for an hour — about fish. The extension of that conversation is really powerful for the customer to hear about, because then there's a registering and appreciation for the price point, because they see the value of someone going out and intentionally catching something for their dinner." [caption id="attachment_870810" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: Talisker and Saint Peter pop-up.[/caption] What's the best advice you've ever been given? "'Treat everyday as a sprint, but life is a marathon.' Simon Marnie from ABC Radio told me that, he's a friend from a long, long time ago. I had just got back from overseas and he could see all the layers of places I wanted to go and people I wanted to meet in my eyes, but he kind of slapped me over the head and said 'listen'. Even Luke Magen said to me as a second-year apprentice that 'Rome wasn't built in a day'. That came at a really poignant time in my cooking, I had been there for about eight months and I was really frustrated that I hadn't been 'seen' yet, because you were part of a 35-chef system. It really bothered me. So I went and I did a trial at Balzac with Matthew Kemp and he offered me a job. And then I got back to work the next day, not to have the conversation, but to continue to think about if I wanted the job. Luke came up to me and said 'I heard you had a conversation with Matt Kemp.' And I realised that the kid from Maitland didn't realise how small Sydney was. Luke said, 'Rome wasn't built in a day, you need to be patient.' You gotta — not necessarily earn your stripes — but understand that you can't have everything you want right now, but with a bit of application and intentionality and telling us that that's what you want, then let's get on with it. And then from there I got to really be exposed to a lot more." Josh Niland's Taste of Talisker will pop up in Sydney's North Head between Friday, October 21–Saturday, October 22. You can purchase tickets to either the three-course menu or the Made by the Sea whisky experience via Moshtix. Top image: Rob Palmer, from Josh Niland's The Whole Fish Cookbook
'The mormons are coming', posters popping up all around Brisbane started promising this week. Come March 2019, they'll officially be here. If you didn't make it to Melbourne to catch The Book of Mormon, and haven't headed down to Sydney yet either, don't worry — Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit musical is bringing its hilariously irreverent self to QPAC's Lyric Theatre. After playing most of the last two years down south, with the show's Sydney run due to end in October, the multi-award-winning production will settle in for a Brisbane season from March 16, 2019. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, August 7 for its third Australian stint, and given that both Melbourne and Sydney experienced sell-outs, it's certain to prove a hot ticket. Written by South Park and Team America's notoriously puerile creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, together with Robert Lopez of genius grown-up muppet show Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon is probably one of the most lauded comedies ever to have centred on the Church of Latter Day Saints, African missions, AIDS, bum jokes and super ironic racism. If it wasn't so smart and so funny, few would forgive it. But since it is, The Book of Morman has picked up nine Tonys, four Olivier Awards and a Grammy since it debuted in 2011, and has been called "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years". If you've been envious of the throngs seeing the musical in New York, Chicago, London or elsewhere in Australia, then you'll be plenty excited that you'll now get the chance to go learn all the idiosyncratic details of Mormonism, meet war criminal General Butt-Fucking Naked and know the true meaning of the hakuna matata-like saying 'Hasa Diga Eebowai'. The Book of Mormon plays QPAC's Lyric Theatre from March 16, 2019. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, August 7, with the waitlist now open at BookOfMormonMusical.com.au. Image: Ryan Bondy, Zahra Newman, Nyk Bielak and company in The Book of Mormon, AUS 1411. (c) Jeff Busby.
It's been 17 years since Shannon Noll was robbed of the inaugural Australian Idol title – what else is there to say about the man? He's had ten consecutive top ten singles, his work has received 17 separate platinum certifications and his track 'Lift' was the most performed Australian song of 2007. Everybody knows Nollsy has a huge following wherever he goes. Whether shown by his popularity on I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, or the fact he's seemingly spending the entire month of November touring every regional venue in the state he possibly can, from country NSW to the coast. A bunch of his gigs already sold out, so if you want to see the Aussie legend — ironically or not — head over here for details. For the latest info on NSW border restrictions, head here. If travelling from Queensland or Victoria, check out Queensland Health and DHHS websites, respectively.
When you're sitting in a pub with an ice-cold beer in your hand, and you're about to bring it to your lips to have that especially refreshing first sip, there are plenty of things that you can say cheers to. You can direct your thoughts towards the pals you're drinking with, a special occasion or good news, for instance. Or, in these pandemic-era times, you can say cheers to simply being able to have a beer in a pub — when and where that's possible around lockdowns and restrictions. Australian brewery Furphy wants to help Aussies say cheers, and to help boost the country's vaccination campaign in the process. So, it's doing the best giveaway that a brewery can do and shouting a free beer to 33,000 people that've had both their jabs. Get vaxxed, get a free brew. That's it, that's the initiative. Furphy's 'vaxxed to the pub' aims to increase the number of jabs going into arms, and therefore help get Australia's vaccination rates up — because, under both state-level and national plans, the pathway to coming out of lockdown (in New South Wales and Victoria) and easing the rules in general (in states that aren't currently under stay-at-home conditions) is tied to the number of people who've been rolled up their sleeves. Here's how it works: you fill out the online form on the Furphy website, then you'll be contacted about how you can nab your free brew. The campaign is all about getting people into pubs and clubs again, so you'll be drinking your beer in a participating watering hole — when that's allowed in your state, of course, with the giveaway running from October 1–December 31, 2021. You'll get a free Furphy Refreshing Ale or Furphy Crisp Lager for your troubles, if you're wondering what you'll be drinking. And, you'll need to use the Myy App — and prove that you've been fully COVID-19 vaccinated by showing your vax certificate, of course. [caption id="attachment_825162" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Chris Pavlich Photography[/caption] "We're urging our fellow Aussies to roll up their sleeves and get double-jabbed so that we can start to bring much needed business back to our struggling hospitality sector," said Lion Managing Director James Brindley. "We want to encourage all Aussies who can to get fully vaccinated. We can't wait for the Furphys to flow once more and give some much-needed foot traffic to our hospitality mates." Like Furphy, a heap of Aussie breweries and venues have been finding ways to support the vaccination rollout in recent months. Some pubs have been handing out free brews, Hawke's Brewing Co painted a giant mural of a vaxxed Bob Hawke sipping a frothy on its wall in Sydney and VB has given its classic "hard-earned thirst" ad a jab-friendly spin, for example. For more information about Furphy's 'vaxxed to the pub' initiative, and to register for your free beer, head to the brewery's website.
A vibrating chamber filled with light. Guided night walks through Hobart led by teenagers. Forty-nine search lights beaming up into the sky. Multiple performances by Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore. Throw in an after-hours art path, late-night parties and a fiery waterside display, and that's still just a taste of Dark Mofo's just-revealed 2021 lineup. The Tasmanian winter arts festival will return to Hobart between Wednesday, June 16–Tuesday, June 22, after being forced to scrap 2020's event due to the pandemic. Something that definitely isn't on the bill: the now-cancelled Union Flag artwork, which was announced back in March as this year's first program inclusion, then sparked a thoroughly unsurprisingly backlash. Instead, arts lovers can experience the world premiere of Russian performance duo 404.zero's aforementioned vibrating installation, peer at the always-vibrant Spectra, enjoy Moore's residency (including gigs with electronic music composer Wobbly and New Zealand's The Dead C), and watch a series of sculptural false gods come to life thanks to Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran's Earth Deities. [caption id="attachment_800593" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jesse Hunniford[/caption] Elsewhere, a reclamation walk on opening night will focus on the city's vegetation, exhibition Paradise Lost will explore the work of suspected serial poisoner-turned-acclaimed colonial artist Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, Chicago-based composer and singer Haley Fohr will sing with music boxes she received on 18 different birthdays, and Jonathan Schipper's Slow Room will see a living room slowly pulled into a hole in a wall over the festival's duration. Yes, there's plenty to tempt you to Tassie in the full program — and, in good news for your wallet (especially after you've booked flights and accommodation for the fest), most of the lineup is free. Ticketed events still feature, especially among Dark Mofo's music gigs, but attendees can still see the bulk of Dark Mofo's 2021 offerings without paying a cent. That includes heading along to its annual Winter Feast in the Princes Wharf precinct, which'll offer free entry after 9pm and all night on Sunday — and going for a splash during the Nude Solstice Swim, another of the fest's returning signature drawcards. [caption id="attachment_812063" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jonathan Schipper, Slow Room. Courtesy Jonathan Schipper and Crystal Bridges Museum. Dark Mofo 2021[/caption] This year's Dark Mofo lineup is also designed to christen Hobart's new Darklab Bell Tower. It's the first bell tower that has been erected in Hobart in around 100 years, and features a 1800-kilogram bell that's been salvaged from a demolished church in Chicago. So, when you're dancing to DJs late at night at In The Hanging Garden, you'll be helping to celebrate one of the city's big new additions. And, although the blood-soaked Union Flag is no longer on the bill, Dark Mofo is still planning to make art from its audience — or from their loved ones' remains, to be exact. As part of a piece called Memorial by Alex Podger, the festival is calling for Tasmanian residents to provide the ashes of their loved ones, which will be placed into a handmade firework shell and then launched above the Derwent River, all to pay a fleeting but eye-catching tribute to life's beauty and complexity. Dark Mofo returns to Hobart from Wednesday, June 16–Tuesday, June 22. Tickets will be on sale from late May — for further details and to check out the full lineup, head to the festival website. Top image: Ivan Volkov, courtesy of 404.zero and Dark Mofo 2021.
"My whole life I got tangled up in complications. Today, I simplify matters," announces Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), and it seems director Gilles Bourdos tends to agree. Detailing the final years of the French Impressionist and those around him, Renoir falls short as a shallow and over-simplified biopic. In his Cagnes-sur-Mer retreat in the southeast of France, the 74-year-old Renoir is crippled by arthritis and tended to by a troupe of dedicated female servants who each began as a model for the late artist. After the death of his beloved wife (though apparently not beloved enough to keep him from infidelity), Renoir finds new inspiration when a 15-year-old model that "Titian would have worshipped" hits the screen. Sassy and ambitious, Andrée (Christa Theret), aka Dedee, refuses to meet the same fate as the models before her and for the most part sees through Renoir — basically just a self-absorbed tit — and his lack of genuine care for others. Though bratty at times, Dedee is otherwise the most likeable character and developed more than any other. But alas, her hyper-sensual representation lets the character down, occasionally reducing her to a frustratingly typical product of the male gaze. Nonetheless bewitching and enchanting, Dedee captivates both Renoir and his son Jean (Vincent Rottiers), who's returned home wounded from WWI. But the predictable love affair that ensues should have had a deeper focus. Jean promises that the pair will embark on a career in the burgeoning film industry. Though a far more interesting topic, we never learn how their relationship fell apart 16 years later and are left wondering how he died a prominent filmmaker — with titles Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game under his belt — and her alone in poverty. Unfortunately, a bare script that's self-consciously romantic and wannabe poignant leaves the actors with little to work with and viewers little to follow. In its 111 minutes almost no drama or tension unfolds and every word spoken is either meaningless or starry-eyed. Thankfully, Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Ping Bing Lee (In the Mood for Love) redeems Renoir with lighting and picture that's splendid and majestic. Despite a numbing script, Renoir is worth the watch just for its beauty. No, seriously, it's gorgeous; an impressionist artwork brought to life. https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Cv9KxLIHAE
Forget humdrum Hallmark — this Valentine's Day, it's time to up the ante by whisking your other half to a boutique escape that would knock even Casanova's (lacy) socks off. Best for lavish loving: Blakes Hotel London, United Kingdom Having long seduced fabulous film stars and glamorous glitterati, Blakes Hotel delivers hedonistic pleasures with a hefty dose of decadence. Put simply, the sexy boudoirs will have you seriously considering extending your stay (no wonder Blakes won 'Sexiest Bedroom' at our recent Smith Hotel Awards). Inspired by far-flung lands, including Turkey, Russia and Indi, each room has its own unique style: think suites kitted out with mother-of-pearl-inlaid furnishings, four-poster beds draped in rich fabrics or hand-painted white floors. Jimmy Choo-clad ankles and Rolex-boasting wrists head to Blakes’ dimly lit restaurant to dine on dishes that are influenced by the East: try tempura oysters for an afternoon aphrodisiac. Best for rustic romantics: The Farm at Cape Kidnappers Hawke's Bay, New Zealand Neighboured by a 6,000-acre working farm and jaw-dropping Pacific Ocean views, The Farm at Cape Kidnappers comes complete with a glam golf course, soothing spa and seductive dining snug. Communal areas in this French-style country house have exposed wooden beams above rough grey-stone walls, natural wood panelling, stone floors scattered with cowhide rugs and oversized couches clustered around a fire — perfect for snuggling up with your favourite person and glass of New Zealand pinot. Following a day on the green, choose from a range of dining spaces — the snug is perfect for dinner a deux. Be sure to leave room for dessert; the hotel’s pastry chef makes all of the scrumptious cookies, breads, jams, ice-cream and pastries from scratch. Best for party pleasures: QT Sydney Sydney, Australia Dubbed the ‘Directors of Chaos’, the red-wigged belles manning the doors at QT Sydney are the first hint that this hotel is not your average boutique bolthole. A playground for adults (ankle-biters are best left with grandma), the hotel occupies the beautiful old bones of the revamped State Theatre and Gowings department store buildings. All the rooms are tricked out with vibrant hits of colour, prints and patterns across fur throws, rugs and cushions. DIY Martini kits cater to budding mixologists and hint at pre-dining-and-dancing tipples. For morning-after alleviation, slot in a session at stylish SpaQ, where an old-school barber is a nod to the history of the Gowings building. Best for quiet canoodling: Ca Maria Adele Venice, Italy With heavy damask fabrics, shimmering Murano chandeliers and ornate flock wallpaper, Ca Maria Adele is a romantic respite hidden away from camera-clutching tourists. Couples are welcomed by a private dock and then coaxed into the elegant reception, resplendent in gold marble and deep African teak. A soundtrack of lapping water and chattering locals can be heard from the windows of Ca Maria Adele’s magnificent rooms: the grand Sala del Doge has sumptuous furnishings and a sensuous red palette; Sala Noire is darkly seductive, with black glass and muted lighting. Best for balmy beach bliss: Qualia Great Barrier Reef, Australia In the heart of the world's largest marine park, the postcard-perfect and too-turquoise views from Qualia extend as far as the eye can see. Pavilions — made from natural wood, glass and stone — are enveloped by lush tropical forest and gardens or are perched on the resort’s aptly named Pebble Beach. Those seeking to stimulate the senses in the most serene of surroundings should head for the spa; oenophiles can get their kicks with a chardonnay massage and vinotherapie body scrub. Golf buggies replace cars and can be used to explore Hamilton Island's main street offerings of shops, cafes and restaurants. When a growling stomach bids you to return to the resort, the Long Pavilion is a fine-dining eatery serving modern Australian cuisine at candlelit tables with sunset vistas. Best for a private palace: La Residence Garden Route & Winelands, South Africa Peering over Franschhoek's valley of vines, La Residence is a mini, modern Versailles with more Persian rugs and exotic antiques than you could poke a pith helmet at. Life happens at a leisurely and luxurious pace here — days are spent moseying between the come-hither infinity pool and shaded sun loungers, cycling around the estate or indulging in a private cheese or wine tasting at one of the neighbouring vineyards. Dine beneath dazzling chandeliers in the hotel's grand dining room. The Persian Alley is perfect for cocktails and canapes by candlelight, while would-be master-chefs can book a cookery demonstration at the chef’s table. Best for enchanting escapism: Jade Mountain St Lucia, St Lucia Rising above the Caribbean sea, Jade Mountain is a cornucopia of zigzagging stone walkways, cascading koi pools and sculpture-topped stone pillars. The vision of conceptual architect Nick Troubetzkoy, each of the ‘sanctuaries’ (fancy talk for rooms) has its own ‘sky path’ — an individual bridge suspended from a network of columns and a removed fourth wall, allowing for totally uninterrupted ocean views. There’ll be no quickly checking emails or uploading a #nofilter shot to Instagram; this is a tech-free zone with no phones, sound systems, TVs or WiFi. Bliss. Expect to fill days with waterskiing, snorkelling, kayaking, cycling, paddling in your private infinity pool and feasting on the seafood-focussed menu at the Jade Mountain Club. Best for decadent dining: The Prince Melbourne, Australia Behind its art deco facade, The Prince is home to simply decorated communal spaces, an acclaimed restaurant and a spa sure to soothe every niggle. In edgy and bohemian St Kilda, the Prince is so cool it's sure to illicit a raised eyebrow from even the most blase of hipster — credentials include a sophisticated vodka bar, buzzing public saloon and an iconic live-music venue. Paying homage to Melbourne’s favoured sleek and minimal aesthetic, rooms are uncluttered and spacious with dark woods, chocolate-grey carpets and unfussy white bed linen. Dining at the Prince is an award-winning affair: helmed by Ashly Hicks, Lyndon Tyers and Stephen Burke, Circa’s menu focuses on seasonal and local produce — roasted duck with mandarin and blackened onion, smoked quail with parsnip curd and mulberries. Best for upscale country manor: The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs Bay of Islands, New Zealand Soak up panoramic Pacific Ocean vistas from The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, which flaunts blissful beaches, a championship golf course and a cliff-top perch. Rooms at the lodge are the kind that you want to take back home in your carry-on so nothing gets broken: think neutral-toned comfy armchairs by the fire, walk-in wardrobes, indulgent bathrooms and private porches overlooking the sea. If golf isn’t your game, a private beach with soft pink sand is a mere 15-minute stroll from the seventh hole, or you can succumb to the spa, where treatment rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows and overlook a trickling stream. Best for Parisian perfection: L’Hôtel Paris, France In Paris, romance rules and L’Hôtel isn’t daunted by its setting; it will sweep you off your feet. In the hotel where Oscar Wilde penned his last, there are extravagant nods to this famed eccentric everywhere, from the glamorous underground swimming pool to the leopard-print carpet and original Jean Cocteau artwork in the lobby. From the cylindrical hotel atrium, a spiral staircase descends towards the basement hammam, where the pool is decked out with heavy velvet curtains, terracotta floors and rough-stone columns. Post-swim stomachs can splurge on Michelin-starred cuisine at Le Restaurant or, if liquid libations are more your speed, the adjacent Le Bar is a dark and seductive haunt, favoured by artists, film stars and discerning Parisians. Ready to swoon? See more romantic designer dens for Valentine’s Day or explore other collections at Mr & Mrs Smith.
On February 24, 2010, Florida SeaWorld employee Dawn Brancheau drowned after being pulled underwater by the park's star attraction, a five-and-a-half tonne orca named Tilikum. Her death was the third in 20 years to involve the massive killer whale, who has spent most of his life in captivity. Troubled by reports of the marine park's unethical treatment of its animals and spurred on by conflicting stories about how Brancheau's tragic death occurred, documentary filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite decided to investigate further. The result is Blackfish, a troubling if not particularly revelatory doco about the dangers of keeping predators in captivity. It's obvious that Blackfish is pushing an agenda, albeit one that most viewers will probably agree with. Convinced that SeaWorld's treatment of animals like Tilikum is morally wrong and may have played a key role in the death of Brancheau and others, Cowperthwaite's primary aim is to appal and incite outrage. Her interview subjects consist of marine biologists, animal activists and disillusioned former SeaWorld workers. Through the testimony of the latter in particular, Blackfish paints a damning portrait of physically and emotionally neglected animals along with subpar safety conditions for their trainers. Despite this, the trainers maintain they felt connected to their animals, like a parent does to a child. Footage of Brancheau at work — focused, professional but full of energy and laughter — is Cowperthwaite's emotional trump card. In contrast, the marine park chain is depicted as a faceless corporate entity, whose primary concerns seem to be dodging culpability and maximising profit (an end credits title card pointedly informs viewers that SeaWorld representatives refused to appear on camera). At the same time, Cowperthwaite never really breaks with documentary convention. Most of her major talking points, from the intelligent and social nature of marine mammals to the shady practices of the animals-in-captivity industry, have already been covered in earlier exposes, like Louie Psihoyos's shocking, emotionally devastating Oscar winner The Cove, to which Blackfish can't quite compare. Still, there's no denying the director's noble intentions, or the fact that her film is effective. While viewers may not be presented with much information that they didn't already know (or at least, assume to be true), there's certainly no harm in being reminded. Sickening footage of trainers barely escaping with their lives begs the question: when will the next fatality occur? If Blackfish causes even a few members of the public to reconsider where they go on holiday, then the project will have been a success. https://youtube.com/watch?v=G93beiYiE74
If you've got a hard earned thirst for some spiffy new beer merch, the folks at Victoria Bitter have you covered — again. Last year, the famed Carlton & United Breweries beer released a range of branded VB gear, going old school with their designs. This year, it has teamed up with menswear label Mr Simple and visual artist, director and animator Lee McConnell on a line of pop art-inspired pieces for your wardrobe, your feet and your head. There's still a definite retro edge to the new collection, with the folks behind the Aussie brew always keen to nod to its lengthy history quenching the thirst of hardworking folks. This time around, you can kit yourself out in clothing that nods to summer, Australian-style — so, as well as VB bottles, cans and logos, there are also cockatoos and melted palm trees. These elements are splashed across a collared 'BBQ shirt', resort-style shorts and socks. If you're keen on a vintage-style t-shirt, four different styles are available, including an Andy Warhol-inspired print, and recreations of old VB logos from beer trays and draught bottles. And yep, these threads are sure to get a serious workout over the upcoming festival season. Alongside the clothes, you'll find vintage-inspired stickers and coasters, a VB stubby cooler and a VB cap. Designing the pop art -influenced pieces, McConnell adds to his hefty resume. He nabbed an ARIA nomination for Best Cover Art for Dune Rats' The Kids Will Know It's Bullshit, and is known for his work both with the band, and with Jack River — as well as for Mambo. The VB x Mr Simple range is available for purchase online. Images: Mr Simple.
Heading to a gig in inner-city Sydney anytime soon? Well, your evening out just got a bit better — and longer. Thanks to a Supreme Court decision handed down this week, live music venues in the CBD are now exempt from the lockout laws. If you're looking for someone to thank or somewhere to have a late-night beverage, the ruling came about after a challenge by the Smoking Panda Bar at the Coronation Hotel. As the Park Street hotspot is attached to an accommodation provider (or a "tourism accommodation establishment", in official parlance), it was initially excluded from the unpopular restrictions. That changed — and the 1.30am lockout and 3am beverage service cutoff came into force — when Liquor and Gaming NSW spied patrons that weren't staying at the Coronation drinking at the Smoking Panda. Cue a successful fight for the right to party for a few CBD sites. As reported by The Daily Telegraph, the bar isn't alone in earning a reprieve. Seven others are no longer subject to the laws, including the Oxford Art Factory, and strip clubs Men's Gallery and Pure Platinum. In determining that the legislation couldn't be enforced against the selection of places, Justice Natalie Adams found that the laws didn't give the Justice Department the ability to declare a city venue subject to the restrictions. Her ruling might be limited in scope, but it's one of the first positive developments since the controversial regime came into force in 2014 and absolutely decimated the live music scene. You've attended the anti-lockout rallies and protests. You've helped crowdfund a documentary about the laws. You know what we're talking about. Of course, just what this means for the future of the lockouts beyond Smoking Panda and the other newly exempt spots remains uncertain, though the possibility of other venues challenging the laws doesn't seem that far-fetched. In far from surprising news, we do know that the NSW Government will be launching its own battle; in fact, they've already announced that they'll be appealing the Supreme Court's decision. Via The Daily Telegraph. Image: Stocksnap.
The Oxford Tavern's Handball Comp is back. As at the event's first edition, held back in March, the overall champ will score his/her height in cheeseburgers. But this time, a pool comp has been added to the program. And for that, the stakes are even higher. The winner of the singles category is promised his/her height in slabs of tinnies and the winning doubles team the same, but in tequila. The comp is happening on Monday, September 21, as part of Bar Week 2015, with the pool comp starting at 3pm and the handball kicking off at 7pm. It's not only open to industry professionals — members of the general public are invited, too. That's even if you're only going along to cheer/boo/take advantage of seriously reduced drink prices/recover from your dunce-square complex via schadenfreude. All afternoon, tinnies will be $4 a pop and cocktails $10. See yourself grinning smugly from atop a beer/tequila/burger tower? You'd better get your entry in quick. Email forbes@theoxfordtavern.com.au.
Drinkify makes sure you'll never drink alone again. Created in 24 presumably booze-soaked hours, the website matches whatever music you're listening to with the perfect drink. Combining information about genres and audio summaries of tracks from The Echo Nest with the treasure trove that is Last.fm, along with a truly astonishing appreciation for alcohol, Drinkify is weirdly and delightfully accurate. For example, if you're spending a lonesome night indoors being serenaded by Johnny Cash and your vanilla Coke seems oddly inappropriate, you'll want to combine yourself 4 oz. of Jack Daniels and 4 oz. of honey in a highball glass and sit back and just see if you don't feel the world become a better place. To fully enjoy listening to M83, for example, you'd be advised to combine 8 oz. of water and 8 oz. of iced tea in a highball glass, whereas if you're hanging out to OFWGKTA things get a little more complex, and you'll need to get yourself one bottle of 'rum, fucking rum', one bottle of honey and 4 oz. of Worcestershire sauce, combined in a highball glass, and garnish with a twist of grapefruit. Chilling to Sleigh Bells is simplest of all: 10 oz. of whiskey, neat. And to demonstrate just how accurate Drinkify appears to be, they recommend listening to Gotye with 8oz of vodka, served neat, stirred quickly and garnished with a glow stick, and believe a quiet evening with SBTRKT requires 1 oz. cocaine, on the rocks, garnished with sparklers.
It has been four weeks since the Greater Sydney area went into lockdown, and COVID-19 case numbers still keep rising. Today, Friday, July 23, New South Wales reported 136 new locally acquired cases in its daily figures. Accordingly, although an end date of Friday, July 30 was floated when the stay-at-home conditions were last extended, that isn't looking particularly realistic. But, if you're wondering what the next few months might have in store once the lockdown can end, you'll soon have a much better picture. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has advised that the state government will be releasing a broader roadmap next week — so, sometime in the week beginning on Monday, July 26 — that'll detail what August, September and October will look like. At her daily press conference, alongside announcing that residents of the Cumberland and Blacktown Local Government Areas are now only allowed to leave their LGAs for essential work, the Premier said that "there is no doubt that the numbers are not going in the direction we were hoping they would at this stage." She also advised that "it is fairly apparent that we will not be close to that next Friday." While there's no word yet on when lockdown will end, the Premier also said that "the New South Wales Government, based on the advice of [NSW Chief Health Officer] Dr Chant, will be working hard over the weekend and early next week to provide a roadmap for the people of New South Wales." She continued: "our challenge is to live as freely and as safely as possible until we get enough vaccines in arms. That means that we need to live as freely and as safely as possible during August, September and October. According to the federal vaccination rollout, by the end of October we will be at the stage for much more the population be vaccinated, and we will be able to live much more freely beyond that point — but we have to provide a roadmap to our citizens as to how best we can live freely, and also as openly as possible." https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1418376212662030341 If you're wondering what that might mean, some level of restrictions will obviously remain in place once lockdown does end. Sydneysiders are used to that, given that rules around everything from venue limits and dancing to at-home gatherings and masks changed multiple times between the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns. This time, though, there'll be a roadmap of exactly what'll stay in place until more NSW residents have access to vaccinations. The Premier also said that "the New South Wales government will be refocusing our efforts to a much more targeted strategy of focusing on Local Government Areas that are impacted, because we want to contain the spread". However, whether this will change during the current lockdown, or if it'll come into effect once locally acquired cases and the number of new cases who've been in the community begins to subside, is yet to be revealed. "Where there are opportunities for us to open up, to ease restrictions, to let the economy undertake its necessary work, we will do that — but we will have a clean review next week on what August, September, and October look like for citizens around the state," the Premier said. "A strategy remains to keep the virus out of the regions and allow the regions to continue doing what they are doing, but our strategy also involves having a much more targeted and localised approach, as well as looking at other parts of greater metropolitan Sydney, and what adjustments need to be made there." For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
If you're sick of watching fireworks from your sofa and are looking to splurge this New Year's Eve, look no further. Returning to the Sydney Opera House's Western Broadwalk, NYE Party at the House might be the most expensive place to retire on the last night of 2014, but if you are even slightly partial to uninterrupted views of the fireworks, fine food and drink, you'll understand why. Matt Moran, possibly the most recognisable restaurateur in Sydney (hello every prime-time cooking reality TV show ever), has crafted an Asiatic canapé menu for the night. Continuing his waterfront good luck streak, the Aria co-founder will be plating up Peking duck pancakes, seared salmon over rice, Saigon pork baguettes and yet-to-be-named-but-sure-to-be-delish sweet desserts. Bigtime Sydney DJs The Faders return to the party alongside DJ Dan Rowntree and soul singer and The Voice afterlife escapee, Ms Murphy. Champagne, cocktails, beer and Robert Oatley wines will flow freely from 7pm to 1.30am — plenty of time to craft those New Year's resolutions. Second release tickets are on sale now for $550 +bf. 18+
From Groundhog Day and Source Code to Edge of Tomorrow and the Happy Death Day films, many a movie has pondered what life would be like if you were forced to relive the same day or moment over and over. Of course, everyone who has made it through 2020 now knows that feeling, with each second of this year since mid-March blending into one big repetitive blob — so it's rather fitting that one of the year's most enjoyable movies is all about being stuck in a time loop. That'd be Palm Springs, a romantic comedy that first premiered back at this year's Sundance Film Festival, then hit streaming in the US mid-year. It's now finally arriving Down Under, with viewers in Australia and New Zealand able to watch it via Amazon Prime Video from Friday, November 20. And, it's a delight. Prime Video really should've released it earlier, on November 9, as that's the day that Andy Samberg' Nyles keeps repeating. He wakes up in the titular Californian desert resort city and attends a wedding with his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner, Brightburn), which might seem like a pretty standard day to most people. But from his drunken interruptions at the reception to the plethora of revelations that arise — and his interactions with fellow guests Sarah (Cristin Milioti, Fargo) and Roy (JK Simmons) , too — nothing turns out as planned. And it only gets more chaotic when not only Nyles but also Sarah both discover that they can't escape this one particular day. Palm Springs was also produced by Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Samberg, alongside his Lonely Island colleagues Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. And, narrative-wise, don't go thinking you know exactly where it's all going to go. As directed by feature first-time Max Barbakow and written by Lodge 49's Andy Siara, Palm Springs finds its own way to grapple with the time-loop genre's usual elements — the repetition that feels like being stuck in purgatory, and the existential malaise that comes with it — in a smart and funny rom-com that boasts particularly great performances from Samberg and Milioti. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7QpnvmMmag&feature=youtu.be Palm Springs will be available to stream Down under via Amazon Prime Video from Friday, November 20.
This event is over. For the April 2014 round of World Movies Secret Cinema, go here. World Movies will bring Secret Cinema to Sydney next month, transforming a mystery downtown building into a lavish cinema just for the night. The film to be screened, similarly, will be revealed on the night of the event. The only disclosed details on the film describe it as award-winning and oh-so-scandalously rebellious — so much so that some countries have banned it. Intrigued yet? Us too. Secret Cinema aims to present cinema as an active experience rather than a passive diversion, immersing the audience through elaborate venue theming. London's huge-scale version has become iconic, re-creating LA's Chinatown in 2019 for Bladerunner and a 1950s Algerian casbah for The Battle of Algiers. For World Movies' Secret Cinema, the first attempt at a similar project in Sydney, the exact inner-city location will be revealed to attendees via text message on the day of the event. Guests will be greeted with a drink upon arrival, and enjoy themed food throughout the evening — all included in the original ticket price. After the film, stick around for the afterparty and live DJ. Tickets go on sale April 18. Check out World Movies' Facebook page for more details.
Ever wanted to live out a David Lynch film? Probably not, but in September this year people will be given the chance to, sort of. Film auteur, coffee roaster and meteorologist David Lynch has announced that he will be designing a Parisian nightclub based on a fictional venue in his 2001 hit film, Mulholland Drive. Club Silencio, located on the Rue Montmartre, will feature an interior designed by Lynch that reportedly includes a concert hall, cinema, library and restaurant. Famous for the sinister and surreal tone of his films, Lynch said to the New York Times, "I enjoy how architecture and design create mood." Hopefully only the atmosphere of his films will be replicated in the club, and not so much of the psychotic murders. https://youtube.com/watch?v=96R9MG0DxLc [Via Contact Music]
For more than half a century, the Australian Aboriginal flag has flown high with pride as a symbol of the nation's First Peoples — and you can now expect to start seeing it in more places. The Federal Government has just announced that the black, red and yellow design, which was created in 1970 by Luritja artist Harold Thomas, is now freely available for public use following a hugely significant copyright deal. Before the new arrangement, copyright for the flag resided with Thomas — and, when displayed on clothing, to an apparel company thanks to an exclusive license. The latter deal helped spark the Free the Flag movement, after reported infringement notices were issued over the design's use by other organisations including Clothing The Gap and various sporting codes. Over the past few years, you've probably seen Free The Flag shirts, posters and billboards raising awareness about the flag's copyright restrictions. "We've freed the Aboriginal flag for Australians," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison, announcing the news in a statement. "Throughout the negotiations, we have sought to protect the integrity of the Aboriginal Flag, in line with Harold Thomas' wishes. I thank everyone involved for reaching this outcome, putting the flag in public hands." The @ScottMorrisonMP Govt has secured the free use of the Aboriginal Flag. The Aboriginal Flag copyright has been transferred to the Commonwealth & all Australians can use the Flag digitally or in any other medium without having to ask for permission or pay a fee. pic.twitter.com/COpVC0DVKJ — Ken Wyatt (@KenWyattMP) January 24, 2022 Now managed in a similar manner to the Australian national flag, the Aboriginal flag is free to use moving forward, "but must be presented in a respectful and dignified way," the Prime Minister said. "All Australians can now put the Aboriginal Flag on apparel such as sports jerseys and shirts, it can be painted on sports grounds, included on websites, in paintings and other artworks, used digitally and in any other medium without having to ask for permission or pay a fee." Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt confirmed that the new agreement resolves the copyright issues around the flag — and that "all Australians can freely display and use the flag to celebrate Indigenous culture". The Minister continued: "now that the Commonwealth holds the copyright, it belongs to everyone, and no one can take it away." [caption id="attachment_840573" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Oliver Lupton via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Aboriginal flags and bunting will still be made by Carroll and Richardson Flagworld, the exclusive licensed commercial manufacturer; however, that arrangement doesn't restrict individuals from making their own flag for personal use. The copyright deal also includes an agreement that future royalties from Flagworld's flag sales will be but towards the work of NAIDOC, the provision of an annual $100,000 scholarship for Indigenous students by the Australian Government in Thomas' honour, and the creation of an online history and education portal for the flag by the National Indigenous Australians Agency. And, the Australian Government will also display an original painting by Thomas recognising the flag's 50th anniversary and the historic transfer of copyright in a yet-to-be revealed but prominent location. For more information about the Aboriginal flag and the transfer of its copyright, head to the Australian Government website. Top image: Peripitus via Wikimedia Commons.
On Friday, August 20, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced two pieces of pivotal news: that Greater Sydney's lockdown will now run until at least the end of September, and that some stay-at-home rules will tighten. None of this was surprising; the region has been under lockdown since late June, and the stay-at-home orders have been extended multiple times now — and stricter conditions have been put in place more than once as well. The current requirements came into effect at 12.01am today, Monday, August 23. They tighten mask rules, and also enforce stricter rules on people living in Sydney's 12 Local Government Areas of concern — all while still keeping in place the four familiar reasons to leave your home. We've all been through this before, but a few new requirements have been introduced this time around, in another effort to stop the spread. The list of things you can and can't do can be a bit overwhelming, so we've broken it down for you. This information is correct as of Monday, August 23. For what reasons am I allowed to leave the house? Remember those four reasons announced back in March 2020? Yes, that long ago. Well, they were reintroduced at beginning of this current lockdown. So, folks in the Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour regions can only leave home for work and study if you can't do it from your house, for essential shopping, for exercise and recreation, and for compassionate reasons, which includes emergency medical treatment. Otherwise, everyone must stay at home. "The strongest message is: do not leave your home unless you absolutely have to," said New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian at her daily press conference back on Friday, July 9. There are also limits on what you can do and where you can go if you're leaving the house to exercise — or to go shopping. We've outlined these in relevant sections below, and you can find out more on the NSW coronavirus website and the NSW Health website. For what reasons am I allowed to leave the house if I live in a LGA of concern? If you live in a Local Government Area of concern — so in Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Canterbury-Bankstown, Campbelltown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Strathfield and 12 suburbs of Penrith — the rules are a little different. You can still leave your home for mostly the same four reasons; however, you're limited to a strict five-kilometre limit. "Unless there are exceptional circumstances, you have to make sure you do not move within a five-kilometre radius of your home. It doesn't matter whether it's for shopping. It doesn't matter whether it's for other exercising that you're allowed to leave the house from. You can't move beyond a five-kilometre radius, and that includes singles bubbles," the Premier advised back at the end of July. Also, you can now only leave the house to exercise for one hour each day. And, you can't leave your home for outdoor recreation (there's more on that below). Plus, if you're leaving for work, you can only do so if you can't reasonable work from home and your workplace is in the same LGA — or, if you live in the 12 suburbs of Penrith considered of concern, those suburbs — or if you're deemed an authorised worker. Also, from Saturday, August 28, authorised workers from LGAs and suburbs of concern will need to carry a Service NSW permit saying they're an authorised worker and can't work from home. For how long can I leave the house? For parts of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, there are no limits on how long you can leave the house, including to exercise, for recreation, or to shop for groceries and other essentials. And, time-wise, there are no limits on how long you can leave for permitted work or caregiving either. That said, only one person from each household is allowed to go out shopping each day to buy essential items. And, browsing at the shops is prohibited. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, the same shopping rules apply. If you're going out to exercise, you can only do so for one hour. Is there a curfew? In parts of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, there is no curfew. You are allowed out of your house at any hour as long as it is for one of the four permitted reasons. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, there is now an overnight curfew from 9pm–5am. So, residents aren't able to leave their homes during those times except for authorised work or for emergencies. What counts as outdoor recreation? Wondering what's meant by outdoor recreation? NSW Health advises that "recreation includes outdoor leisure activities such as sitting for relaxation, or to eat, drink or read outdoors". So, if you're not in Greater Sydney's Local Government Areas of concern and you'd like to have a picnic or just sit in the park and read, you're in luck. People in LGAs of concern are under stricter rules, including a 9pm–5am curfew. In these areas, going outside for recreation isn't currently allowed. For everyone else in Greater Sydney outside of these spots, you do also need to abide by the other applicable rules if you're undertaking outdoor recreation. So, you can only undertake recreation outdoors with one other person, or the people you live with; you're asked to stay within your LGA, or within five kilometres of home if you do venture beyond your LGA for recreation; you're not allowed to carpool with anyone outside of your household; and you need to wear a mask if you're outdoors and you're not exercising, other than when you're actually eating and drinking. Do I have to wear a mask? Yes, masks are compulsory unless you're at home. That means that you need to wear them whenever you're outdoors, other than if you're exercising; in all indoor non-residential settings, including workplaces (if you can't work from home, that is); on public transport, and while waiting for public transport; at outdoor markets and outdoor shopping strips; and standing in an outdoor queue waiting for a coffee or something to eat. You'll still obviously need to carry a mask with you at all times whenever you leave the house — even if you are exercising. The full list of rules — and exemptions to those rules — is available on the NSW Government website. How far can I travel? For parts of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, if residents in lockdown leave home for one of the allowed essential reasons, including exercise and recreation, you're asked to stay within their LGA — or within five kilometres of home if you do have to venture beyond your LGA for permitted purposes. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, you're limited to a strict five-kilometre limit. No matter where in Greater Sydney you live, you're not permitted to carpool with anyone outside of your household. Can I see friends and family? No, you can't generally have visitors to your home — unless you're part of a singles bubble (more on that in a moment). Outside of those singles bubbles, visiting other people isn't one of the four permitted reasons to leave the house, either. And, you can't gather with friends and family in a public place under the stay-at-home orders. That said, if you're not in one of the LGAs or suburbs of concern, you are allowed to exercise outdoors or enjoy outdoor recreation with one other person — and there's no rule requiring that other person to come from your household, or to be part of your singles bubble. You can also exercise outdoors and enjoy outdoor recreation with members of your household, if there's more than two people in your household. If you are in one of the LGAs or suburbs of concern, the same rules apply to exercising, but you're not allowed to leave the house for outdoor recreation. Partners who live separately are allowed to visit each other at home all across Sydney, though, which is covered under visits for caring and compassionate reasons. What's a singles bubble? A singles bubble is an arrangement that allows folks who live alone to have another person over to their homes. You have to designate one specific person, and only that person can visit your house — and only once per day. That nominated person is the only person who can visit you during lockdown. So, you can't have a different person over to your home each day. Also, if you can only be one person's singles bubble buddy — so, if you've been nominated by one person, you can't be by another. And, if you live in one of the LGAs or suburbs of concern, you have to nominate a person inside the same area, and officially register with the authorities to note who your singles bubble buddy is. Also in LGAs or suburbs of concern, your singles bubbly buddy will also need to reside within five kilometres of you, too. If you live outside of the aforementioned LGAs and suburbs, you must designate someone who also lives outside of them as well. Can I drive to a park to exercise? Yes, but only to exercise or for outdoor recreation in parts of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern — and to exercise only (so not to picnic or to do anything else) in LGAs or suburbs of concern. In parts of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, you also must stay within your local government area for exercise and outdoor recreation, or within five kilometres of where you live. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, you're limited to a strict five-kilometre limit — and for exercise only, because outdoor recreation isn't allowed. Can I take my pet out for a walk in the park? Yes, you can take your dog for a walk as it's considered exercise. Again, in areas of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, you also must stay within your local government area, or within five kilometres of where you live. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, you're limited to a strict five-kilometre limit. Can I go to the beach? Again, yes, but only to exercise or for outdoor recreation in parts of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern — and to exercise only (so not to picnic or to do anything else) in LGAs or suburbs of concern. In parts of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, you also must stay within your local government area for exercise and outdoor recreation, or within five kilometres of where you live. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, you're limited to a strict five-kilometre limit — and for exercise only, because outdoor recreation isn't allowed. During Sydney's last lockdown, many local beaches closed, so you'd be best to check your local council website before heading out. Can I go on a holiday to a coastal/regional town? No, you cannot. That is not one of the permitted reasons to leave the house. It's now an offence to leave Greater Sydney to travel to regional NSW without a reasonable excuse. If you do need to travel for an allowed reason, you'll need to get a permit. Can I road trip to an out-of-town beach for a day? Again, no. You must stay home unless you have a permitted reason — and that's not on the list. And, once more, it's now an offence to leave Greater Sydney to travel to regional NSW without a reasonable excuse. If you do need to travel for an allowed reason, you'll need to get a permit. How about driving to my holiday house? Once again, no. Spending time at a holiday house isn't classed as one of the four essential reasons for leaving your home — and it's an offence to leave Greater Sydney to travel to regional NSW without a reasonable excuse. Can I go to a gym? Exercising in public is only permitted outdoors — and gyms are currently closed under the lockdown conditions. Can I go shopping? For groceries and other essentials, yes. That said, only one person from each household is now allowed to go out shopping each day — and only to buy essential items. And, there are distance limits. Once more, in areas of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, you also must stay within your local government area, or within five kilometres of where you live. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, you're limited to a strict five-kilometre limit. Also, there are also now different rules regarding which stores can remain in different areas. In general, only businesses deemed "critical retail" are permitted to remain open. All other retail premises are closed to physical customers, but they can do takeaways, home deliveries, and click-and-collect orders. In areas of Sydney that aren't classed as LGAs or suburbs of concern, retail stores including supermarkets, and food and liquor stores, all remain open, for instance. In LGAs or suburbs of concern, the same types of store are open, but more businesses in these areas have been required to move to click-and-collect shopping — including garden centres, plant nurseries, office supplies, hardware and building supplies, rural supplies and pet supplies. How about to a restaurant or cafe? You can pick up takeaway from a hospitality venue, but dine-in service is not permitted. Deliveries are recommended. If you're looking for takeaway recommendations, our writers have listed their favourites — and we've rounded up the places doing takeaway options around the city. Can I attend a funeral? Yes, however funerals are limited to ten mourners. Attending a funeral or memorial service is a permitted excuse to leave home and to enter the LGAs and suburbs of concern — and people in those areas may leave their LGA or suburb to attend a funeral, memorial service or gathering afterwards if they are a spouse, parent, child or sibling of the deceased. Can I attend a wedding? No, weddings are not permitted. For more information on what you can and can't do in NSW, head to the NSW Government website or read the NSW COVID-19 public health orders. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
Salt Meats Cheese has expanded again. This time, it's headed down south — to the Sutherland Shire. The restaurant chain's fifth New South Wales establishment is a 87-seater located within the art deco and heritage-listed Commonwealth Bank building on Ocean Grove. It boasts big open windows, exposed brick walls and its signature woodfired pizza oven. The pizzas are, of course, the hero here, and include house favourites like the Amatriciana — topped with smoked scamorza, amatriciana sauce, pancetta and pecorino — and the Tartufo, made with fior di latte, mushrooms, gorgonzola and truffle oil. There are gluten-free bases and dairy-free gorgonzola up for grabs, too. With pizza must come pasta, and a standout is the tagliolini with blue swimmer crab, zucchini and chilli. Other Italian staples on offer include antipasti and cocktails. The latter includes a menu of signature spritzes, like the Yarra Valley (Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz gin, prosecco and soda) and the Riviera Spritz (ruby red grapefruit aperitif, prosecco and soda). Cocktails better suited to later in the meal are the amaretto sour and tiramisu martini — which is made with Frangelico and Sydney's own Mr Black coffee liqueur. Salt Meats Cheese's NSW expansion doesn't stop in the Shire, either — a sixth instalment is coming to a rooftop bar in Circular Quay soon, along with a seventh location in Dee Why. Keep an eye on this space for updates. Images: Jiwon Kim.
Just in time for summer, a new tapas wine bar has landed in Bondi. Iberica takes inspiration from small Spanish towns along the stunning Balearic coast, so it's no wonder that the restaurant has chosen Sydney's most iconic beach as its home. The venue is helmed by Managing Director Joaquin Saez (previously at Cho Cho San, Fratelli Paradiso and Alberto's Lounge), who also opened the popular Mediterranean eatery Ikaria Bondi. "Iberica is a labour of love, a culmination of years of expertise and passion for creating unforgettable dining experiences," says Saez. Joining him is Executive Chef Ivan Sanchez, who brings 15 years of experience in Spanish cuisine, including stints at Porteño and Bastardo. Head of Bar Carlo Valdivia, who formerly worked at Porteño, Continental Deli, Bar & Bistro and Sokyo, is in charge of curating the Spanish-heavy wine list and creative cocktail menu. The menu focuses on supporting local suppliers and showcasing their produce. Start off with house-made bread served with a truffle butter candle, salted cod croquettes with duck mayonnaise, anchovy and boqueron toast with sobrasada and tomato and grilled octopus with smoked potato cream and paprika. Bigger plates include charred market fish, seafood paella, charcoal-grilled sirloin with a Spanish grape reduction and a charcoal-grilled spatchcock with a corn reduction. Finish off with a caramel flan with manchego cheese, churros with dulce de leche ice cream or a refreshing grape sorbet. Located at 251 Bondi Road, Bondi, Iberica is now open for lunch on Saturday and Sunday from 12pm and for dinner on Wednesday to Sunday from 5pm to midnight. Find out more and make a booking at Iberica's website.
Sydney's weather's not the nicest right now, and forecasts reckon it's going to keep on. Time will tell. In the meantime, in Kazuyoshi Miyoshi's photos the weather is beautiful, the water still and the sky is clear. In 1985 Miyoshi won the Kimura Iehi award, and in 1998 he was commissioned to photograph Japan's world heritage sites by UNESCO. Though it may have taken a while to get here, that collection is touching down near one of our own World Heritage sites to settle in for a month of viewing at the Japan Foundation. As will Miyoshi, who talks at the exhibition Thursday evening. The show touches on the serene. Covered in gold, the Kinkakuji Temple which has been the subject of a Hiroshige woodblock, took ten years to build, and while it was originally put together for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's retirement, it became a temple after his death. Ashikaga's life itself was somewhat less peaceful than his temple. The water-footed Miyajima Torii Gate also features, as does Hiroshima's Genbaku Dome — the only building still standing where the atomic bomb dropped, a reminder of its human cost. Miyoshi's photography should help you keep it, and the other sites, fresh in your mind.
Whenever I jump on a bus, I stroll down to the back seat, pull out my old lenseless sunnies, and become privy to a moving stage of 43 licensed-to-sit actors (doesn't everybody?). Where else can you follow the story of Odysseus the drunk, on his way back home, admire the two seat-crossed lovers and feel secure knowing the bus will never go above 50km/h? Well, Stories from the 428 have gone one better. Over the past month, the show's writers have been gathering stories of their own, riding the 428 from Circular Quay to Canterbury, peering over your shoulder, reading your texts and listening in on your conversations, looking for the extraordinary in our ordinary rides. As a result, for two weeks over 50 actors will enact micro-dramas, monologues and even play the odd mp3 with humourous yet often sad effect from the lives that daily pass us by. So head down to Marrickville's Sidetrack Theatre for a comfortable and motion sickness–free ride on public transport's noble steed. Better yet, the bus stops right outside the theatre door, and with a new program for each week of the run, there's no reason not to pick up a travel ten and climb aboard. At $25, you almost certainly won't have to give up your seat to a stinking hobo. Image by Leah McGirr.
Being spoilt for choice can be overrated. Sometimes, like when deciding which wine varieties you feel like at any given moment, it's easier to have someone else do the picking for you. Enter Pinot Palooza, which celebrates exactly the type of vino that's in its name, and has also locked in when you'll be able to spend a day sipping pinot noir in 2024. Here, the sound of a light- to medium-bodied red wine sloshing around a glass is the standard soundtrack. And you'll hear that noise a whole heap — before the pandemic, the Melbourne-born wine-tasting festival had notched up an estimated 65,000 tickets sold globally. In 2024, Pinot Palooza has spring dates locked in for Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, all for a two-day stint. So far, venues are yet to be announced. Also, tickets will go on sale in early July. The vino-sipping fun will play out similarly to before, although exactly who'll be doing the pouring is also yet to be revealed. Whoever it is, Pinot Palooza's lineup always spans drops from Australia, New Zealand and further afield. Last year, more than 50 winemakers came to the party. As always, attendees will spend their session swirling and sampling that huge array of pinot noir, and hitting up pop-up bars and food stalls between drinks. And, while Pinot Palooza as a standalone fest only has east coast dates for 2024, in Perth and Adelaide it's part of an already-announced collaboration with cheese festival Mould. Pinot Palooza 2024 Dates: Friday, October 4–Saturday, October 5: Sydney, venue TBC Friday, October 18–Saturday, October 19: Brisbane, venue TBC Friday, November 22–Saturday, November 23: Melbourne, venue TBC Pinot Palooza will tour Australia's east coast in October–November 2024. For more information, and for tickets from early July, head to the event's website.
Want to drink wine and support a great cause while you do it? The team at Vinomofo has you covered. The online wine cellar has just launched its limited edition Homeless Grapes Project McLaren Vale Shiraz, and it's donating 100 percent of proceeds to Australians who are sleeping rough. The 2017 shiraz comes courtesy of the Penny's Hill winery in South Australia's McLaren Vale. It goes on sale on June 17 at $20 per bottle, sold in a case of six, with only 200 cases available. The sale of just one case can provide a home starter pack for a couple moving from the street to the home and for a hot breakfast and lunch for a week for someone doing it tough. Through the sale of 200 cases of the wine, the project will be able to provide housing for 570 clients, over 40,000 meals and 3000 appointments with nurses. The Homeless Grapes initiative has been running since 2015 and has already raised more than $100,000 for charity. "Homelessness is a community issue that can be solved by the community and initiatives like Homeless Grapes," said Vinomofo co-founder Andre Eikmeier. "We can raise money for the front line to help make a real difference. And importantly, we change our attitudes." To find out more about the Homeless Grapes initiative and to buy a couple of bottles, head to vinomofo.com.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. We've spent plenty of couch time watching our way through this months latest batch — and, from the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from October's haul of newbies. BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW THE GREEN KNIGHT Mesmerising and magnetic from its first moments till its last, The Green Knight is a moving musing on destiny, pride, virtue, choice, myths and sacrifice, all wrapped in a sublime spectacle. The medieval fantasy hums with haunting beauty and potency as it tells of Arthurian figure Gawain (Dev Patel, The Personal History of David Copperfield), nephew to the King (Sean Harris, Mission: Impossible — Fallout), and the only man who accepts a bold challenge when the eponymous figure (Ralph Ineson, Gunpowder Milkshake) — a mystical part-tree, part-knight — demands a duel one Christmas. The catch: whichever blows the eager-to-prove-himself Gawain inflicts on this towering interloper, he'll receive back in a year's time. So, when this initial altercation ends in a beheading (and with the Green Knight scooping up his noggin and riding off), Gawain faces a grim future. Twelve months later, that bargain inspires a quest, which The Green Knight treats as both a nightmare and a dream. There's an ethereal look and feel to every inch of this stunning movie, where the greenery is verdant, and the bloodshed and battlefield of skeletons just as prominent. Playing a man yearning for glory yet faced with life's stark realities, Patel is in career-best form — and the latter can also be said of writer/director/editor David Lowery. Every film he makes has proven a gem, from Ain't The Bodies Saints and Pete's Dragon to A Ghost Story and The Old Man and The Gun; however, The Green Knight is a startling and riveting feast of a feature that's as as contemplative as it is visionary. The Green Knight is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Excellent filmmakers helming exceptional documentaries about music icons just might be 2021's best movie trend. It isn't new — see: Martin Scorsese's filmography as just one example — but any year that delivers both Edgar Wright's The Sparks Brothers and Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground is a great year indeed. Both docos are made by clear fans of the bands they celebrate. Both films find creative and engaging ways to approach a tried-and-tested on-screen formula, too. And, both movies will make fans out of newcomers, all while delighting existing devotees. They each have killer soundtracks as well, obviously. They're each tailored to suit their subjects, rather than leaning on the standard music bio-doc template. As a result, they each prove the kind of rich, in-depth and electrifying features that only these two directors could've made. With The Velvet Underground and Haynes, none of this comes as a surprise. As well as the astonishing Carol and the just-as-devastating Dark Waters, he has experimental short Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, glam-rock portrait Velvet Goldmine and the Bob Dylan-focused I'm Not There on his resume, after all. Here, he makes two perceptive choices: splitting his screen Andy Warhol-style to show both archival materials and new interviews simultaneously, and avoiding the allure of giving the late, great Lou Reed all his attention. The result is an inventive, impassioned and wide-ranging doco that charts the band's story and impact; captures the time, place and attitudes that gave rise to them; and proves as dazzling as The Velvet Underground themselves. The Velvet Underground is available to stream via Apple TV+. SPREADSHEET When Katherine Parkinson starred in The IT Crowd 15 years ago, she played a woman trying to exude a cool, calm and collected air, but constantly finding her life — and her new job in IT — hindering that aim. In Spreadsheet, her new sitcom role, Parkinson's latest character isn't attempting the same feat. Instead, freshly divorced Melbourne-based lawyer and mother-of-two Lauren has has accepted that her existence is now messy; however, having a spreadsheet to keep track of her revamped love life is meant to help. Embracing being single, and all the opportunities for casual hookups that apps now bring, she isn't looking for a relationship. She even has her colleague Alex (Rowan Witt, Adore) helping to maintain her fast-growing database of sexual options. But this clearly wouldn't be a comedy if her new status quo turned out smoothly and stress-free. As this new Australian sitcom knows and keenly relies upon, there's a breeziness to Parkinson's comic performances that hits both humorous and relatable notes. Indeed, the British actor is the key reason that Spreadsheet's eight-episode first season is so incredibly easy to binge. Whether Lauren is being introduced in the throes of pleasure in the car park outside the Palais Theatre, is getting intimate in a snake dungeon or sports an eye patch after a run-in with a cuckoo clock, Parkinson is a comedic whirlwind. In a series that approaches its 'sex in the suburbs' setup with smarts and insights, too, she's also surrounded by an impressive local cast that includes Witt, Stephen Curry (June Again), Katrina Milosevic (Wentworth) and Zahra Newman (Long Story Short). The first season of Spreadsheet is available to stream via Paramount+. THE DONUT KING The documentary that comes with an obvious serving suggestion — avoiding pastry cravings while watching is impossible — The Donut King chronicles the life of Cambodian American Ted Ngoy. In the mid-70s, the soldier-turned-refugee fled the Khmer Rouge for a new start in the US. Then, after being enticed by the smell wafting out of a Californian doughnut shop, he found owning his own the path to success. After beginning with one venue, Ngoy grew his empire. In the process, he even helped cement pink-hued doughnut boxes as the industry standard — the pop culture standard, too. Inhabiting a constant cinnamon cloud might've been bliss, and it certainly was the impetus behind Ngoy's rags-to-riches story; however, filmmaker Alice Gu covers much more than pastry highs in this incisive and thoughtful portrait of the American Dream. Not even the best job is ever 100-percent filled with glaze and sprinkles, including when making desserts is your daily trade. For Ngoy, becoming a doughnut kingpin was the result of hard work — not just his own, but his whole family's — as well as savvy choices. His business also helped set a path for fellow Cambodians, as well as fostering a sense of community, by sparking a run of expat-owned doughnut shops in California. Gu captures all of this lovingly, with a celebratory tone, and with a warm appreciation for Ngoy's achievements both in general and as an immigrant entrepreneur. That said, she doesn't shy away from the twists and turns that've complicated his path, and this story, along the way. The Donut King is available to stream via Docplay. THE GUILTY It's the remake that was always going to eventuate; the remake that was announced before the original Danish film even reached Australian cinemas, in fact. A high-concept thriller set in a police call centre and solely conveying its dramas via telephone conversations, The Guilty was instantly destined to get the Hollywood treatment — not only because it's predicated upon a commanding concept, but because the first time around made for exceptional, Oscar-shortlisted, outstandingly tense and gripping viewing. Thankfully, Netflix's take on the tale lives up to its predecessor. It's as suspenseful and taut, as economical and evocative, and as superbly acted. Twenty years after Donnie Darko made him a star, Jake Gyllenhaal's resume isn't short on highlights; however, The Guilty easily sits among them. Gyllenhaal (Spider-Man: Far From Home) plays LAPD officer Joe Baylor, who's been demoted to taking 911 calls after an on-the-job incident that'll see him in court the next day. His evening at work will prove just as stressful, after a woman called Emily (Riley Keough, Zola) advises that she's been kidnapped by her ex (Peter Sarsgaard, Interrogation), with their kids left home alone. Joe springs into action, and tries to get his colleagues to do the same. But as the excellent series Calls also demonstrated, words can tell viewers the whole story while keeping on-screen characters twisting. Reteaming with Gyllenhaal after Southpaw, filmmaker Antoine Fuqua directs this intense affair with that truth firmly in mind. The Guilty is available to stream via Netflix. A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX When a certain Sydney-shot, Keanu Reeves-starring sci-fi/action film did big box-office business 22 years ago, it did more than just start a huge movie franchise. The Matrix and its sequels also gave proponents of the simulation hypothesis — the idea that this life we all call our own is merely an artificial simulation, but we don't know it — an enormously successful pop culture touchstone. Examining that notion, as well as its connection to the series that shares part of its title, A Glitch in the Matrix couldn't arrive at a timelier moment. The concept is about to get another blockbuster billboard, after all, with The Matrix Resurrections just months away from release. What truly interests this documentary, however, isn't the answer to that reality-versus-simulation question, but all the reasons that might inspire someone to think that nothing about their experience is genuine. Documentarian Rodney Ascher likes delving into ambiguous and liminal spaces. With Room 237, he pondered conspiracy theories around The Shining. Next, he dedicated his sophomore effort The Nightmare to sleep paralysis. He's clearly fond of fascinating, mind-bending concepts, too, but there's always a shagginess to his films — a sense that the underlying ideas he clasps onto are far more compelling than actually charting the stories he selects on his chosen topic. A Glitch in the Matrix is no different, but it's also ambitious and engrossing as it mixes everything from animation and archival clips to interviews. A movie can be thought-provoking and also messy, of course, and still make for compelling viewing. A Glitch in the Matrix is available to stream via Docplay. NEW AND RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK SUCCESSION For fans of blistering TV shows about wealth, power, the vast chasm between the rich and everyone else, and the societal problems that fester due to such rampant inequality, 2021 has been a fantastic year. The White Lotus fit the bill, as did Squid Game, but Succession has always been in its own league. In the 'eat the rich' genre, the HBO drama sits at the top of the food chain as it chronicles the extremely lavish and influential lives of the Roy family. No series slings insults as brutally; no show channels feuding and backstabbing into such an insightful and gripping satire of the one percent, either. Finally back on our screens after a two-year gap between its second and third seasons, Succession doesn't just keep plying its astute and addictive battles and power struggles — following season two's big bombshell, it keeps diving deeper. The premise has remained the same since day one, with Logan Roy's (Brian Cox, Super Troopers 2) kids Kendall (Jeremy Strong, The Trial of the Chicago 7), Shiv (Sarah Snook, Pieces of a Woman), Roman (Kieran Culkin, No Sudden Move) and Connor (Alan Ruck, Gringo) vying to take over the family media empire. This brood's tenuous and tempestuous relationship only gets thornier with each episode, and its examination of their privileged lives — and what that bubble has done to them emotionally, psychologically and ideologically — only grows in season three. It becomes more addictive, too. There's no better show currently on TV, and no better source of witty dialogue. And there's no one turning in performances as layered as Strong, Cox, Snook, Culkin, J Smith-Cameron (Search Party), Matthew Macfadyen (The Assistant) and Nicholas Braun (Zola). The first two episodes of Succession's third season are available to stream via Binge, with new episodes dropping weekly. Read our full review. LOVE LIFE Mere minutes into Love Life's second season, a big query arises. With The Good Place's William Jackson Harper taking over from Anna Kendrick as the show's lead, it's an obvious question: what would Chidi Anagonye think? He'd recognise the indecision bubbling away inside Harper's new character, Manhattanite book editor Marcus Watkins. From a moral and ethical standpoint, he'd be less enamoured with Marcus' other choices, especially the flirtatious friendship that Love Life's new protagonist pursues with Mia (Jessica Williams, Booksmart) while still married to Emily (Maya Kazan, Love Is Love Is Love). Thankfully, it doesn't take long for Harper to settle into his new part, and for the ghost of Chidi to fade. The latter would still protest, of course, but Love Life sends the man behind him wading through a different pool of rom-com dilemmas. It's a delightful stroke of casting, in a series that has always hinged upon its audience's connection with its main character. Harper doesn't ever let his natural charm eclipse Marcus' flaws — Love Life doesn't trade in perfect protagonists or easy, clearcut romantic fantasies — and that balance adds both weight and depth to the show's second season. That said, the storylines here won't seem particularly different to Love Life's season-one viewers. This is a case of new lead, same city, similar romantic struggles. It isn't a spoiler to note that Marcus and Emily's marriage doesn't last long, or that the relationships that follow take him on quite the rollercoaster ride, but Harper instantly gets you hooked on the journey. The first three episodes of Love Life are available to stream via Stan, with new episodes dropping weekly. FOUNDATION If you've ever wondered whether good things truly do come to those who wait, as the old adage insists, let Foundation convince you. In the 90s, these Isaac Asimov-penned sci-fi stories were slated to become a film trilogy, but those plans faltered. In the late 00s, Independence Day's Roland Emmerich was onboard to direct a different movie adaptation — and thankfully that didn't eventuate either. It's hard to see how Foundation would've worked on the big screen, unless it fuelled a sizeable number of features. On the small screen, it still spins an immensely dense storyline, but it also has room to breathe. Stepping into a futuristic world on the precipice of ruin, this is a series that rewards patience. (If you've ever seen the Party Down episode that jokes about hard sci-fi, you'll know how seriously it takes its genre, too.) Created by screenwriters David S Goyer (Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy) and Josh Friedman (the TV version of Snowpiercer), Foundation splashes its sizeable budget across the screen — all while reimagining Asimov's tales almost eight decades after they were written. Mathematics professor Hari Seldon (Jared Harris, Chernobyl) remains a key part, though, thanks to his prediction that the Galactic Empire will soon fall. That prophesy angers the three cloned versions of Emperor Cleon, especially Brother Day (Lee Pace, Captain Marvel), with his dismay sparking action just as Seldon's new protege Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell, Voyagers) arrives. That's just Foundation's setup, too, and it's sci-fi catnip. The first six episodes of Foundation are available to stream via Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping weekly. A RECENT MUST-SEE YOU CAN (AND SHOULD) STREAM NOW THE OTHER TWO You're in your twenties, trying to make it in New York and struggling to chase your dreams. The only thing that's making you feel better is the knowledge that your sibling is doing the exact same thing. Then your kid brother comes up with a throwaway pop hit, adopts the stage name ChaseDreams and becomes a YouTube sensation — and suddenly you're related to the world's next Justin Bieber. That's the premise of sitcom The Other Two, which follows struggling actor Cary (Drew Tarver, Bless the Harts) and his ex-dancer sister Brooke (Helene York, Katy Keene) as they come to terms with their new situation. Yes, they're thrilled for their baby brother; however, they're also shocked, envious and desperate to get their own time in the spotlight. That's the other thing about having a famous sibling: riding their coattails isn't the same as making it yourself. The Other Two leans upon two things: its sense of humour and the way it interrogates the celeb game, and its casting. Both are as sharp as Chase's rise to stardom; Case Walker even got that part after becoming a Musical.ly sensation IRL. Tarver and York's back-and-forth is the series' anchor, however. Also excellent: Molly Shannon (The White Lotus), Ken Marino (Black Monday), Wanda Sykes (Breaking News in Yuba County) and Josh Segarra (The Moodys). Its second season hasn't arrived in Australia yet, but The Other Two's first ten episodes are hilarious, acerbic and perceptive, especially when it comes to today's celebrity-obsessed, influencer-heavy society. It's an instant classic (it was one of our best new shows of 2019, in fact), and it's instantly rewatchable. The first season of The Other Two is available to stream via Paramount+. Need a few more streaming recommendations? Check out our picks from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September this year — and our top straight-to-streaming movies and specials from 2021 so far, and our list of the best new TV shows released this year so far as well.
Halloween is over, so it's officially that time of year: time to get Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' stuck in your head for two months straight. That's been a Christmas tradition since 1994, when the upbeat ditty became everyone's go-to seasonal soundtrack — and it has only grown in popularity since. Back in 2019, the track even topped the US charts. It didn't achieve that feat back when it was initially released, making it the song that has taken the longest journey ever to the top spot. And yes, the end of the year was obviously filled with plenty of festive cheer before Carey released the song, but no one can now remember Christmas without it. Last year, the singer actually gave us all another holiday staple, too, thanks to Apple TV+'s Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special. What's better than just listening to 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' on repeat? Watching the pop queen sing it, obviously. If you were planning to rewatch the 2020 special again this year, that's understandable — but Carey has another gift for us. As Apple TV+ has just announced, she's teaming up with the streaming platform again on Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues. Another Christmas, another Mariah Christmas special. Yes, that's the present we all need in 2021. While Carey has re-recorded 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' several times, and already has several holiday albums to her name, this new special will coincide with her new festive single 'Fall in Love at Christmas'. It's a collaboration with Khalid and Kirk Franklin, and they'll all be performing it on Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues. As for what else the special has in store, that'll be unwrapped sometime in December. If that's now all you want from the rest of 2021, Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues hasn't been given an exact release date yet — but obviously it'll arrive at the right time of year. There's no trailer for the special as yet either; however, because we already know you're humming it to yourself, you can check out the music video for 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' below: Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues will hit Apple TV+ sometime this December — we'll update you with an exact date when it's announced.
Gordi may be based in Sydney these days but, given she's originally from nearby Canowindra, her upcoming performance at the Cowra Civic Centre represents something of a homecoming for the indie pop artist. Her most recent album, Our Two Skins, was recorded at her family's farm and released during the global pandemic. Being involved in Great Southern Nights isn't even the first initiative in which Gordi's been involved in 2020; all profits from her single 'The Cost', released in January, were donated to Australian bushfire relief. Be aware that this jaunt to Cowra may be your last chance to see Gordi in such an intimate venue for quite some time as, next year, she'll be supporting alt-country legends Bon Iver on their Australian stadium tour. So, pack your bags, hit the road and catch this one-off gig you're sure to remember.
Some neighbours suck, like the Constant Complainers. The Constant Complainer is never short of an excuse to knock on the wall your terraces share. Worse still are the Loud Guys. Do they really need to barbecue that loudly? Some of us have jobs? Some of us contribute to society? Some of us, maybe, secretly, hopefully not, are Constant Complainers ourselves. But for all of their flaws, the Constant Complainers and Loud Guys are nothing, really. The worst of them are the Zac Efrons of this world, the fraternities of 50 brothers that move in shortly after the birth of your baby. These neighbours go above and beyond Loud Guys. And although they might have hilarious Robert De Niro-themed frat parties, for genius Kimye impersonator Seth Rogan and Aussie actor Rose Byrne, resigning themselves to the roles of Constant Complainers is not an option. Titled Bad Neighbours, this new comedy is directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and is destined to give you more than a few lols. Representing something of a turning point for Efron, the film is sitting at 100 percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes. Bad Neighbours is in cinemas on Thursday, May 8, and thanks to Universal Pictures, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=F8FKvhZLw9o
Travelling to and from Queensland is about to become a possibility again, and almost a week earlier than expected. At 5pm today, Monday, November 15, the Sunshine State will start reopening to double-vaccinated visitors. A 14-day stint in home quarantine will still be required if you're coming from a part of the country that's considered a hotspot, but this is the first step in the plan to open Queensland's borders back up — and it's been brought forward after the state hit the 70-percent double-vaccinated mark ahead of schedule. Yesterday, on Sunday, November 14, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that the Sunshine State had reached the 70-percent double-dose threshold, which wasn't initially expected until Friday, November 19. Back in mid-October, when the state's roadmap out of border restrictions was revealed, that mark was outlined as the key date for beginning to restart interstate travel. So, today's announcement means that you can now bring forward your travel plans. To travel here, you must return a negative COVID-19 test within the previous 72 hours, have a valid border pass and must complete 14 days of home quarantine at a self-contained dwelling, as long as it has no shared common areas accessible by people outside the household. — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) November 14, 2021 When 5pm hits today, travellers who've been in a hotspot area within Australia in the past 14 days can enter the state again. They'll need to be double-vaxxed, to arrive by air and to have received a negative COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before arriving — and to get a border pass. Also, anyone in this category will need to go into home quarantine for 14 days at a self-contained dwelling that doesn't have any common areas shared with people from outside the household. Obviously, needing to quarantine — even at home — still isn't the best incentive to travel to and from Queensland; however, given that the state hit the 70-percent double-jabbed threshold early, it's hoped that it'll also do the same with the 80-percent double-vaxxed mark. That was originally expected around Friday, December 17, and it's when travellers from interstate hotspots can arrive in the Sunshine State by either road or air, and also won't need to quarantine at all. At today's press conference, the Premier advised that "if these rates continue, that is good news because it may even see our date in December [brought] a little bit forward as well — but that depends on Queenslanders getting vaccinated." Queensland's Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski also advised that the state is "preparing if we need to go earlier as we have this time." BREAKING: We just hit 70% double dosed. Keep it up Queenslanders 💪#GetVaccinated pic.twitter.com/PyznKOjzxW — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) November 14, 2021 The 80-percent double-vaxxed mark is also when Queensland will ditch capacity restrictions for all hospitality and entertainment venues, and change entry requirements to only allow double-jabbed folks into places such as restaurants, bars, cafes, cinemas, stadiums, festivals, libraries, galleries and museums. So, if the 80-percent double-vaccinated threshold is met ahead of schedule, that requirement could kick in earlier as well. If you're wondering what all of this means for international travel, nothing is changing at the moment — because, under the roadmap, international arrivals are still handled as they have been during the pandemic at the 70-percent double-vaxxed target. But when Queensland hits 80-percent double-jabbed, double-vaccinated overseas travellers will be able to undertake 14 days of home quarantine — if they've also received a negative COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before getting to Queensland. And, when the Sunshine State reaches the 90-percent double-vaccinated threshold, all entry rules and quarantine requirements will be ditched for folks who've had both jabs. For the unvaxxed, the 14-day quarantine rule will still be in effect. Queensland will start allowing double-vaccinated domestic visitors back into the state via air from 5pm on Monday, November 15. For more information about Queensland's border policies and border passes, head to the Queensland Government website.
Feeling hemmed into the daily grind without much respite? It's time to break free from our own four walls in favour of spectacular scenery. If you have your sights set on a New South Wales getaway, we've found eight other-worldly spots that'll leave you spellbound — from extraterrestrial-esque terrains to luminous caves, jewel-coloured oceans and prehistoric forests. Here are some must-visit sites for your next NSW holiday that'll have you falling back in love with your own backyard. Due to extreme weather events, some places mentioned may be closed or operating differently. Check websites before making plans to visit. [caption id="attachment_802265" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] DISCOVER THE MARS-LIKE LANDSCAPES OF MUNGO NATIONAL PARK You'll feel like you're on a space expedition wandering around the wind-sculpted sand dunes and millenia-old rock formations of this World Heritage-listed site. It's home to the 40,000-to-42,000-year-old Mungo Lady and Mungo Man, some of the oldest modern human remains discovered outside of Africa. Dive into the park's history at the Mungo Visitor Centre and learn about the cultural heritage of the area, which is shared by the region's Indigenous landowners, the Paakantji, Ngiyampaa and Mutthi Mutthi people. Choose a walking, biking or driving route to explore the blazing red earth landscapes and vast, dry lakebed. Visitors can stay in the park's two campgrounds or the historic Mungo Shearers' Quarters, but numbers are limited. Or, find more accommodation in the nearby towns of Mildura and Balranald. It's quite the drive from Sydney — a solid ten or so hours — so, if you'd rather cut the highway drive, consider flying to Mildura or Griffith. [caption id="attachment_802263" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] SWIM IN THE SAPPHIRE SEAS OF MIMOSA ROCKS NATIONAL PARK Pack your camp gear, fishing rods and multiple sets of swimmers and visit this Sapphire Coast gem. You'll find idyllic inlets like Nelson Beach or Moon Bay, perfect for swimming, surfing and fishing. Picnickers and those prepared to paddle with a canoe or kayak should head to Nelson Lagoon. Or, if it's sea life you seek, stroll along the walking track to Wajurda Point lookout and spy whales and dolphins among the endless blue. Park your pack at the campgrounds at Gillards, Picnic Point or Middle Beach for a canvas room with an ocean view. Or, you can book the historic Myer House by Lake Wapengo for up to 12 people. The nearby towns of Bermagui and Merimbula are good spots to stay for the less intrepid, too — and you can even fly straight into the latter if you're short on time. [caption id="attachment_802357" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] CHECK OUT A JAW-DROPPING CANYON AT CAPERTEE VALLEY Regular Blue Mountains visitors and new explorers alike will be awestruck by the Capertee Valley, the second-largest canyon in the world. The mighty sandstone escarpment drops into a deep chasm of bush and grasslands that's a hiker's haven. If you're not so keen on climbing, easily accessible vantage points such as Pearsons Lookout let you gaze upon magnificent formations like Pantoneys Crown – a flat-topped monolith structure — without all the work. Campers can set up at the main grounds by the Capertee River, or you can find charming private accommodation around the valley, including three bubble tents with 360-degree views and outdoor woodfired baths. [caption id="attachment_802277" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] SNORKEL WITH SEALS AT WILDLIFE HAVEN BARUNGUBA (MONTAGUE ISLAND) Another jewel in the Sapphire Coast's crown is Barunguba, aka Montague Island, nine kilometres off the coast of Narooma. The nature reserve is home to a colony of fur seals, thousands of little penguins, more than 90 bird species and regular whale and dolphin visitors. This tiny island offers plenty of activities, from snorkelling and scuba diving to touring the lighthouse, fishing for tuna and marlin or wildlife spotting on the island walking track. The island can only be reached on a guided tour or if you book accommodation on the island, and all visitors must be over the age of five. The Montague Island Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage sleeps up to twelve people while the Lighthouse Assistant Keeper's Cottage sleeps seven. Either way, you'll more or less have the island to yourself. [caption id="attachment_802275" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] WANDER THROUGH ENCHANTED GARDENS AT DISTILLERY BOTANICA Get to know the botanicals that make a G&T really pop at this distillery hidden within three acres of lush gardens on the Central Coast. Take a turn around the leafy grounds where owner and herbalist Philip Moore grows ingredients for Distillery Botanica's range of gins, liqueurs and vodkas. Then, settle in for a tasting session at the distillery door, followed by a garden-inspired meal at the on-site eatery, Bar Botanica. Once you're done, bottle up the day and take it with you by purchasing your favourite spirits. Sure, you could just visit on a day trip but, with the Central Coast offering up pristine beaches, national parks and next-level food and drink options, it'd be remiss not to extend your stay. [caption id="attachment_802543" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] TIME TRAVEL WITH SERIOUS GONDWANA VIBES AT DORRIGO NATIONAL PARK The climbing vines and giant rainforest ferns of Dorrigo National Park are Jurassic Park-level. Drive an hour inland from Coffs Harbour and you'll feel like you're walking with dinosaurs as you hike past 600-year-old trees or brave the suspension bridge to feel the spray at Crystal Shower Falls. Well-kept boardwalks lead to uninterrupted views across the rainforest canopy and provide perfect birdwatching platforms. If a cool-down dip is in order, head to Dangar Falls where a crater within undulating farmland has produced a 30-metre waterfall cascading into a pristine swimming hole. If you're coming from the city, it's about a six-hour car ride, or you can fly into Coffs Harbour. Where to stay? The quaint, colourful town of Bellingen is just 30 minutes from the park and has plenty of accommodation — from campgrounds to luxe farmstays. [caption id="attachment_790432" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Daniel Tran via Department of Planning, Industry and Environment[/caption] HEAD ON LUMINOUS ADVENTURES THROUGH GLOW WORM TUNNEL The creeping ferns shrouding the entrance to the Blue Mountains' Glow Worm Tunnel provide a mystical air to this historic site reclaimed by nature. Speak in whispers and keep the lights low once you enter, and an army of glow worms will create a constellation of blue light along the surface of the 400-metre tunnel. This dreamy experience in Wollemi National Park is an easy one-kilometre walk from the car park at the end of Glow Worm Tunnel Road. If you'd prefer a guided tour, Blue Mountains Glow Worm Tours offers one-hour expeditions for $65. Beyond the transformed railway tunnel, you can explore the park's lush rainforests and stunning rock formations, all within an hour's drive from Lithgow. [caption id="attachment_802550" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wollongong Botanic Garden[/caption] TRAIPSE THE TRANQUIL GROUNDS OF WOLLONGONG BOTANIC GARDEN Just over an hour's drive south of Sydney, Wollongong thrums with an element of city bustle. But all that drains away once you enter the grounds of the Wollongong Botanic Garden. The peaceful rainforest-like oasis has semi-arid succulents and delicate rose gardens that have been carefully cultivated for 50 years. Horticultural enthusiasts can spend hours exploring the flora — some local to the Illawarra and many more from as far as Japan, Africa and North America. It all sits at the foot of the escarpment under the watchful gaze of Mount Keira. You can head to the summit lookout for views across the city and Wollongong's glistening coastline, too. If you are looking for more places to feel free in New South Wales, head to visitnsw.com. Top image: Dorrigo National Park, Destination NSW
Young campaign manager Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) believes "nothing bad happens when you're doing the right thing." The thing is, bad things can happen in a world where the public lets petty scandals eclipse what's right. The thing is, you can do bad on the path to what you believe is good. The Ides of March follows the up-and-coming politico in the lead-up to the Ohio Democratic presidential primary. A win there puts his candidate, Mike Morris (George Clooney), right at the door of the Oval Office, because, as we've learnt from watching The West Wing, "as Ohio goes, so goes the nation." To secure victory, Stephen and his mentor, Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), are negotiating for the support of Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright). But the middling politician may ask Morris to compromise more than he is willing to, as Stephen finds out when he meets in secret with rival campaign boss Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti). Meanwhile, making her way from the periphery and into Stephen's focus is Molly (Evan Rachel Wood), an intern even younger and more fresh-faced than he is. Over a few crucial days, this ambitious idealist will become a pragmatic manipulator, and it's an entirely believable journey. The dramas that develop are not huge, but they have huge consequences, and the cold political machinations are startlingly interrupted by reminders of what's softly, vulnerably human. George Clooney is a hit-it-out-of-the-park director. This is now his fourth feature (after Leatherheads, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), and it's so sophisticated and subtle as to show off his real, decades-strong mastery of both the medium of film and the back rooms of power. And Ryan Gosling? Ryan Gosling is George Clooney 15 years ago. Intensity comes to Stephen slowly, like clouds rolling in, and few actors of his generations could portray such a journey as effectively. https://youtube.com/watch?v=McCt-_yYLpo
Famed Australian restaurateur Maurice Terzini is at it again, this time opening a luxurious new cocktail bar that's set to reclaim the decadence of years gone by. Terzini is of course known for many of his iconic spots around the city, including Bondi institution Icebergs Bar & Dining, which the restaurateur has overseen since 2002, Bondi Beach Public Bar and Mitch Orr-helmed trattoria CicciaBella — a second site of which was opened in Parramatta back in 2020. Closer to the city, Terzini took over Surry Hills pub The Dolphin back in 2016 and opened Belongil Beach Italian Foood up in Byron Bay last year. Now he's bringing his Midas touch to The Bar, a sleek new addition to the food and beverage options in the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay. It's all part of a wider plan to return the hotel to its former grandeur, when it served patrons like Princess Diana, Bill Clinton and Elton John in its past life as the Ritz Carlton. The Bar is bringing Icebergs' white-clothed elegance to the hotel, with tableside service and a menu focusing on classic Italian/Australian fare. Purists will be able to get their paws on The Bar's take on a classic martini, as well as several signature cocktail offerings like The Contessa, The Venetian, The Hugo and The Yuzu Spritz. [caption id="attachment_857392" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Loucas[/caption] While the menu is still to be finalised, it promises to hero locally sourced ingredients like Sydney rock oysters, beef tartare and spanner crab. Of course, there will also be a classic American cheeseburger — if you've never had a waiter in a white tuxedo bring you a cheeseburger on a trolley, this is your chance. The team at design practice Alfred are behind The Bar's interiors — all soft furnishings, flattering light, acclaimed artwork and even a grand piano, which acclaimed 'Piano Man' Scot Finnie is set to perform at. Whether you're staying at the hotel during a luxurious getaway or a decadent staycation, Terzini's newest venture might just be a reason to book a seat at The Bar. The Bar within the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay opens to the public today, Tuesday, June 14. Top images: Jason Loucas
Following on from a killer season at Sydney Festival 2014, LIMBO will return to the Festival Village in 2015, taking up residence in the new Spiegeltent, the Aurora. With awe-inducing acrobatics, breathtakingly brilliant manoeuvres and a serve of cheeky cabaret, LIMBO is circus like you’ve never seen before. Presented by Strut & Fret (producers of Cantina), Underbelly Productions and Southbank Centre, LIMBO has all of the danger — but much more sexiness — of your regular night at Cirque du Soleil. This is circus with grit, set against the funked-up, old-time jazz, oompah, rap and bossa nova of Sxip Shirey's electric live score.
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, a musical sound was projected across the galaxies in search of intelligent life. This sound was soul-fi, mixing equal parts space laser and soulful rhythms, merging future and past with galactic synths and organic soul. The musical creators are the Gnarls Barkley-esque duo of Space Invadas. Consisting of Australian hip hop producer Katalyst alongside vocalist Steve Spacek, they are well qualified for this latest musical incarnation. Katalyst's music is taken to a new dimension with the addition of Spacek, who has previously collaborated with Mos Def and Common. Now, in their current form, they can be heard on Triple J and FBi, their tunes transmitting across time and space to seduce new audiences. And be sure to keep a watchful pair of ears on Russian-born Fantine Pritoula, an important part of the Space Invadas live band and a future soul diva in her own right. Fantine will be supporting Space Invadas as guest vocalist following a successful collab on "Super Sweet". To win one of five double passes to see Space Invadas just visit our Facebook page, click 'Suggest to Friends' and tell your mates about Concrete Playground, then confirm your entry on our wall. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tAO8k71bCyY
Reward yourself for getting through the week with a set of free doughnuts this Saturday. DoorDash is celebrating its second anniversary by giving away 26,000 free doughnuts, delivered to your door. The food delivery service has teamed up with Krispy Kreme to ensure you're giving into your sweet tooth this weekend. In order to claim your free doughnuts, you just need to spend $10 or more at Krispy Kreme through DoorDash and you'll be rewarded with four free doughy treats. Delivery on all orders has been cut to $2 on Saturday, meaning you can nab a pair of coffees and four doughnuts for $12 or eight doughnuts for around $16. Of course, you could also just throw caution to the wind and order yourself a whole heap of Krispy Kreme knowing you'll be treated to a few extra doughnuts in your delivery bag. The deal is available until all 26,000 doughnuts are sold out so make sure you jump on the DoorDash app early on Saturday and get your order in.
It's that time of year again. Australia's favourite mid-winter music festival kicks off this Friday, with some amazing acts gracing Belongil Fields in Byron Bay. Featuring The Kooks, Jack White, Bloc Party, The Smashing Pumpkins, Miike Snow, Gossip, Lana Del Rey, Azealia Banks, and New Zealand's Kimbra and Ladyhawke to name a few, the three day festival offers that little ray of escapism from the long winter months and the lack of summer sun time witnessed by most. And those fortunate enough to secure tickets to the sold out event are in for a treat, with long range forecasts for weather looking pretty good. If you can't make this year's event, you can watch the performances via over 8 hours of live streaming performances thanks to Virgin Mobile's sponsorship of Splendour in the Grass. Plus, Virgin Mobile customers who register via the Virgin Mobile Facebook App will be rewarded with access to a number of customer benefits made available to them by using Near Field Communications (NFC) Wristbands. Some of these benefits are: Star Treatment Stop on the drive to Byron, providing coffees, massages, comfy beanbags and refreshing tunes.Access to Posh Pits which is code for a fancy bathroom with five minute makeoversFast Lane express bar queue. More time watching the music as opposed to yarning to some random about how awesome this event is. You had me at hello.Recharge Stations for your mobiles so you can tell your mates how awesome this event isAccess to an exclusive Channel V party at the Beach Hotel on the SaturdayAnd of course, access to prizes (which you find out by tapping the Wristband). I will be heading on this trip to experience all of this, taking a representative from New Zealand's largest Festival Rhythm and Vines, who will no doubt be taking some serious notes on how brands can tastefully activate at a Festival without tarnishing the experience. For full updates, follow @playgroundnews and @playgroundNZ. Sponsored post
Mobile phone technology follows a pretty straight path - get smaller and get smarter. Over the past year we've seen the newest incarnations of the iPhone and Blackberry, with producers playing to the strengths of their models; Blackberries got more business-focused and iPhones got more fun. But what is the next progression? Can a phone really get any more compact? The answer, apparently, is an enthusiastic yes. Introducing the PaperPhone: an extremely light weight and, as the name suggests, paper-thin smart phone. Its creators are taking inspiration from its pliable form and running with it. When taking a call you can bend it into a cell phone, turn the pages on your e-book by flipping the corner, and write on it with a pen and have your words translated into text. The inventor, Dr. Roel Vertegaal, the director of Queen's University Human Media Lab in Ontario, Canada, states "The computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper, meaning that when users are reading they don't feel like they're holding a sheet of glass or metal." This has ramifications for office set-ups, with Dr. Vertegaal predicting "everything can now be stored digitally...you can place these computers on top of each other just like a stack of paper." https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rl-qygUEE2c [via DailyMail]
American artist Nina Katchadourian has what could aptly be described as a bit of a book fetish. Having spent the last 20 years trawling through libraries and personal collections across the globe in search of books that she can organise into meaningful stacks of "spine poetry", it seems fair to describe the artist as a fully fledged bibliophile. The Sorted Books project has been a labour of love for Katchadourian, who has now amassed over 130 stacks of books, displaying them as either the physical cluster or as photographs. The resulting poetry is at times quirky, sometimes thought-provoking, often laugh-out-loud funny and even touchingly poignant. For the artist the hope was that each stack would represent the unique character of the collections they were drawn from. Katchadourian writes that "the clusters from each sorting aim to examine that particular library's focus, idiosyncrasies, and inconsistencies — a cross-section of that library's holdings." Beyond this, it is the inspiration Katachadourian gains from the books she finds that has meant this project remains ongoing and unfinished, whether this be the aesthetic beauty of the covers, the highly tactile nature of well-loved literature or simply an enduring passion for the written word. Have a look at some of our favourite clusters below or head to Amazon to get your hands on your own photograph.
Look, there's been a lot of big talk thrown around gelato forums in the last few years. Everyone's favourite cold treat is a certainly a divisive topic in Sydney, and there's an unsung Italian hero in the Messina/Cow and the Moon dominated ranks. RivaReno, whose original gelateria in Darlinghurst serves up some of the best pistachio gelato in the business, have been so quietly successful in the iced confection game they've announced a second location — the fresh foodie hotspot Barangaroo. RivaReno has won a whole swathe of awards in Italy (including 'Best Gelato in Italy' from independent food guide Golosaria — not too shabby) and it's not hard to taste why. They make their gelato fresh in house every day and will soon expand the menu to include crepes and waffles (which are not technically Italian but our mouths are filling with drool so they get a pass on that one), bombolini, Mecca coffee and Italian hot chocolate. For those of you who haven't tried it, Italian hot chocolate can be likened to hot, rich cake mix. Get excited. Get very excited. In the overhaul, the OG headquarters is getting a makeover as well. Think dark finishings, pristine marble slabs and state of the art gelato equipment to keep your gelato the perfect temperate. Bellissimo. RivaReno marks yet another foodie opening to look forward to at Barangaroo, joining the likes of The Rabbit Hole, Banskii and Bentley, also opening this year.
If you're a Queenslander or a Victorian with a trip to Sydney in your future — or vice versa — the pandemic has just interrupted your plans. Yes, again. With the New South Wales capital currently experiencing a new COVID-19 cluster, both its northern and southern neighbour states have declared parts of the city either hotspots or red zones, depending on their respective terminology. And, as a result, both Queensland and Victoria are shutting their borders to seven Sydney Local Government Areas. Victoria announced the news late on Tuesday, June 22, while Queensland did the same today, Wednesday, June 23 — and each state's border closures come into effect at different times, too. In Victoria, the change actually kicked in at 1am this morning. In Queensland, it'll apply from 1am on Thursday, June 24. https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1407302855405363202 Accordingly, folks who've been in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick LGAS will no longer be permitted to enter either Victoria or Queensland, other than in a few circumstances. Victoria is allowing the state's own residents who've been in the identified LGAs, which are now classes as red zones under its traffic light-style permit system, to obtain permits to return home — but they'll then need to quarantine for 14 days. If you're not a Victorian resident and you've been in the seven Sydney regions, you can no longer enter Victoria. In Queensland, residents entering from the seven Sydney hotspots will need to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days — and non-residents will only be allowed to enter if they receive an exception, and will also need to go into hotel quarantine for a fortnight. Plus, everyone will need to complete one of the state's online travel declarations first, after that system was brought back into effect last week. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1407478815853400064 Queensland actually already made a similar move on Saturday, June 19, but limited to Waverley local government area. So, when 1am hits on Thursday, June 24, it'll be joined by the City of Sydney, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick under the state's hotspot declaration. For more information about southeast Queensland's COVID-19 border restrictions, or about the status of COVID-19 in the state, visit the Qld COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. For more information about COVID-19 in Victoria and the state's current restrictions, head over to the Department of Health website.
It has been more than six months since the Australian Government introduced an effective ban on international travel in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19 within the country. And, over that time, there has been plenty of speculation about when jetting overseas might resume — including predictions that the entire global travel industry mightn't return to normal until 2023, and that Australia's borders could remain closed until 2021. When it comes to Australia's prolonged border closure, an exception has been floated, however. Receiving ample chatter over the past few months is the concept of a travel bubble with New Zealand — which would allow international travel between the two countries, even as they potentially remain closed to other nations. Back in June, Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham noted that it was under consideration. Now, in a new media appearance on Sunday, September 27, he has said that it could possibly be implemented by the end of the year. Speaking on ABC News, Senator Birmingham advised that he hoped Australia's border would open back up to NZ by the time 2020 was out. "That would just be a great step, and it would prove the work that is being done to make sure this can be done, again, in a safe way — that travellers between Australia and New Zealand can be given corridors and clearances through our international airports without coming into contact with higher-risk travellers who might be returning from other parts of the region and still have to go through quarantine". Of course, this isn't just a decision that Australia can make on its own, as the Minister also noted. "We're making sure we have all the work done, all the preparations there, so that we can safely achieve that bubble with New Zealand. It's up to them as to whether they choose to open up to Australia, but we're certainly making sure that we're prepared and I'm hopeful that could be this year and then maybe set a model for us to look at for any other countries that meet similar high standards." Today, on Monday, September 28, the ABC reports that New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has also weighed in on the topic — and also mentioned the end of the year. On broadcaster TVNZ, she noted that it might be possible on a state-by-state basis before Christmas. As Brisbane Times reports, that travel might only be one-way, though, with New Zealanders able to come to Australia only. As 2020 has reminded us all over and over again, much can change very quickly during a pandemic — so whether Aussies will be able to head to NZ before the year is out is obviously still yet to be seen. But, if you've been dreaming of leaving the country the moment that any international holidays are permitted again, this might be the ray of hope that you need right now. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. For further information about Australia's current international travel ban, head to the Smart Traveller website.
Over the past 12 months, Qantas has responded to the pandemic and Australia's international border closure in a number of ways. The airline has sold off its fully stocked bar carts, done the same with its pyjamas and launched an athleisure wear range. It announced new routes for domestic getaways, signalled that it hopes to be flying overseas again by October this year and floated the idea of only allowing vaccinated passengers to travel. And, now, it has just run its first trial of a digital health passport with customers — in the hopes that it'll be able to use an app to facilitate safe travel when the global tourism market does reopen. The airline trialled the CommonPass digital health app, which it used on an international repatriation flight between Frankfurt and Darwin. Connecting users to testing labs, the app verifies COVID-19 test results and vaccination information — so border and health officials, as well as Qantas staff, can confirm that passengers have tested negative before their flight. CommonPass is one of two apps that Qantas is planning to trial, alongside the digital Travel Pass app developed by International Air Transport Association (IATA). The latter is also being assessed by Air New Zealand, which will test it on its Auckland to Sydney route in April. Qantas hopes that, whichever app it ends up implementing, users will be able to elect to connect its chosen digital health passport to the Australian Government's vaccination certificates, which'll be available via the Medicare and MyGov apps. Integrating the digital health passport technology into Qantas' own app, too, is the company's ultimate aim. Announcing the customer trial, Qantas Group Chief Customer Officer Stephanie Tully said that "we want to get our international flights back in the air and our people back to work, and a digital health pass will be a key part of that. COVID-19 test results and proof of vaccine will be required in many countries for quarantine-free travel, just as it has been for polio and yellow fever vaccinations in the past". Last November, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce first advised that the airline was "looking at changing our terms and conditions to say, for international travellers, that we will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft". He continued: "certainly for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country, we think that's a necessity". So, when you are next able to head overseas, you'll likely to add one more thing to your pre-travel checklist. Australia's vaccine campaign is currently underway, with the Federal Government pledging to give every Aussie the inoculation for free. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in Australia, visit the Australian Government Department of Health website.
Central Station is currently undergoing some big changes. You may have already spotted the massive overhaul of the Grand Concourse which, among a heap of renovations and refurbishments, will feature the longest elevators in the southern hemisphere. There are also plans to transform Eddy Avenue into a dining and entertainment precinct. The latest element to the NSW Government's projections for the bustling inner-city train station is possibly its biggest — with the introduction of new public spaces, parklands, restaurants, shops, office buildings and affordable housing. This ambitious new addition to the plans will see a series of buildings constructed over the existing rail lines and significant makeovers to some of the station's current spaces in order to facilitate a range of new public and privately run facilities. New connectivity between Ultimo and Surry Hills will also be central to the plan which hopes to bring more people into the city. "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine this iconic part of our CBD and transform it into a world-class precinct of shops, restaurants, office spaces, parkland and additional housing," NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says. 60,000 square metres of public parks, squares and plazas will be introduced into the area as part of the Central Precinct Renewal Program. Renders of the potential transformation show an expansive green space in place of Railway Colonnade Drive between the Grand Concourse and Railway Square, and rooftop parklands on top of the station alongside buildings reminiscent of those in the proposed Central Station tech hub. The plan also hopes to provide more connections between the suburbs surrounding Central via an over-rail pedestrian and bicycle bridge at Devonshire Street. "The masterplan celebrates the heritage of the precinct while also offering a grand new public square, three new parks, new community, social services hubs as well as at least 30 percent of affordable and diverse housing to better meet the needs of all sections of the community," said NSW Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport Rob Stokes. "This proposal will heal parts of our city that have been torn apart since the railway divided Surry Hills from Ultimo back in 1874." Premier Perrottet also promises the new constructions will assist in easing some housing pressure within Sydney by introducing 850 new dwellings. 15 percent of these homes will be classified as affordable housing while 15 percent will include diverse use types including student housing. "If you believe, as we do, that Sydney's growth should be concentrated around public transport, then Central Station is one of the best places to go big," said Gabriel Metcalf, the CEO of the Committee for Sydney, who put together the plan to revive Kings Cross. "The real test is whether they can resolve the public realm issues of such a complicated site, with level changes and lots of passenger movements, to make it feel like a nice place to be. Over-station developments are notoriously tricky, and places like the Hudson Yards in New York have achieved only mixed success." For all of those reasons, this is going to be one of the most closely watched projects in Sydney: an incredible opportunity, but also quite the challenge. You can find out more about the Central Precinct Renewal Program and provide feedback until Monday, September 19 at the NSW Government website.
The hottest festival for the colder months is coming — Queenstown's winter music festival and ski trip Snow Machine is set to make its long awaited debut for four snow-filled days of music and adventure this year. After launching in Japan in 2020, the festival was supposed to make its arrival in Aotearoa in September 2021 but was cancelled after the country was plunged into a snap level 4 lockdown. Now it's set to return this winter, taking place down south from Wednesday, September 7 until Saturday, September 10, 2022. Attendees will be treated to action-packed days on the slopes, aprés ski events on both Coronet Peak and The Remarkables and a lineup of international acts against the idyllic backdrop of New Zealand's adventure capital. Ironically, this year's Snow Machine is being headlined by none other than Melbourne electronic music group the Avalanches. Local legends Fat Freddy's Drop are also set to headline (let's be honest, it wouldn't be a Kiwi music festival without them) alongside dance-pop royalty Sneaky Sound System. Also dropping in to share the stage will be The Presets, Hermitude, Hot Dub Time Machine, Sachi, Bliss N Eso, Late Nite Tuff Guy, Yumi Zouma, Owl Eyes, Ball Park Music, Tori Levett, Mell Hall, Client Liaison, host Jimi the Kween and more. What really sets Snow Machine apart from other music festivals is that you can book the entire getaway with your ticket. A variety of five-night accommodation options ranging from 'Value' to 'Mid-Range' and finally 'Deluxe' are all available, which come alongside a four-day festival ticket and lift passes. If you'd rather make your own way or pass on the skiing, there are 'ticket only' options, and of course, VIP packages if you really want to do it in style. Additional services like flights, equipment rentals, mountain transfers and lessons for those beginners can all be purchased through Snow Machine further down the track. Festival goers are encouraged to immerse themselves in the adventure capital by adding on heli-skiing, jet boating, bungy jumping and skydiving. Snow Machine will be held from September 7–10, 2022 in Queenstown, New Zealand. Presale tickets go on sale from 6pm Wednesday, February 16 with general tickets available from midday Thursday, February 17, 2022. For more information, visit snow-machine.nz.
