There are a lot of creative gatherings above-the-radar in Sydney these days. TEDx Sydney is almost upon us again, Creative Sydney is about to return under Vivid's big umbrella, and if PechaKucha wasn't already an above-ground thing, then its public presence at last year's Biennale pushed it over the top. But preceding all of these groups into the spotlight is a conference that hosts a convention of creative designers, artists and all their related mad crowd. Nestled between a freeway and a parking lot in Darling Harbour, the Sydney Convention Centre's bumpy curves aren't usually considered a hot-house of art and design. But for two days a year it puts aside its concrete reputation to host big names and up-and-comers of the design world at Semi-Permanent. Semi-Permanent is now in its ninth year of bringing together interesting speakers with interesting audiences. Last years' speakers included Triple J culture-communicator Craig Schuftan and the founders of Frankie. This year artists Reg Mombassa, Kelly Thompson and We Buy Your Kids will be speaking, along with others from creative agencies, digital FX and elsewhere. There will also be a free exhibition of conference artists at the Paper Mill and an after party at Lo-Fi. Image by Corey Arnold.
Fancy flinging yourself down a bowling lane? Ever even pondered the concept before now? Whatever your answer to the first question, we're betting your response to the second query was a resounding "no". As it should be, but someone, somewhere dreamed up human bowling and now it's coming to Sydney — because we all love turning something fun into something painful, we guess? Strike King Street Wharf is the place to be on March 15 if you're keen on sliding along the hard floors you normally throw equally hard balls down. After putting the notion into action in Melbourne in 2015, the bowling alley chain is bringing it to The Promenade, with free pizza, free vodka Red Bulls, free bruises (we're predicting) and the chance to win $5000. If you're keen to take part, you'll have to sign up for the chance to win one of ten spots, so don't go hurtling yourself down the nearest flat surface you can find as practice just yet. When human bowling rolled into Melbourne, participants suited up in padded yellow jumpsuits, oiled themselves up, then slid down lanes coated in plastic and doused in more oil. In other words: it's really more like an indoor slip 'n' slide in a bowling alley than really rolling down towards the pins, but it still sounds ridiculous. Strike's Human Bowling Night takes place on March 15 at Strike King Street Wharf. For more information, head to the venue website.
Start dreaming about visiting New Zealand's lush greenery — or enjoying a snowy midyear holiday — because Prime Minister Jacinda Arden has announced Aotearoa's latest reopening plan. The good news: by July, our neighbours across the ditch will let vaccinated Aussies head over for holidays, although an exact date hasn't yet been set. Prime Minister Arden unveiled NZ's new five-step plan for reopening to Australia and the rest of the world in a press conference on Thursday, February 3, with the new way forward beginning with allowing double-vaxxed New Zealanders travelling from Australia to return home without going into managed quarantine. That'll kick in from 11.59 NZ time on Sunday, February 27. Then, from 11.59pm NZ time on Sunday, March 13, New Zealanders from elsewhere around the world can return home to Aotearoa, and some skilled workers and folks on Working Holiday Scheme visas will also be allowed to enter. Next, over the following months, there'll be a staggered rollout regarding when other vaccinated visitors can come to NZ — including tourists from Australia — with most international visitors, spanning travellers from the countries covered in NZ's visa-waiver scheme, then able to enter by July. Aussies might even be able to head to NZ earlier, with COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins advising that "the reopening to visa-free tourists is also likely to be brought forward, with July being the latest date we anticipate this happening." New Zealand will still use its managed quarantine in some special cases, including for unvaccinated travellers and those coming countries it deems 'high risk'. Finally, in October, the border will reopen to visitors from anywhere around the world, and in all visa categories. If this all sounds a bit familiar — but just a bit later in 2022 — that's because New Zealand's border reopening plan was initially proposed in November last year, but was then postponed after Australia's Omicron wave hit, before emerging in the community in NZ, too. The new reopening plan comes after recent mounting pressure across the ditch to do away with its mandatory two-week hotel stay. Since the beginning of November 2021, double-vaxxed Australians have been permitted to leave our shores for overseas holidays; however, exactly where you can head obviously depends on travel restrictions in other countries. And, it's also subject to the border requirements and regulations in each Aussie state, as we've all come to learn over the past two years. For instance, while Queensland has recently opened up to double-vaccinated travellers, Western Australia remains shut for the meantime. The New Zealand border will reopen to Australian tourists sometime in July — we'll update you when an exact date is announced. To check out NZ's full border reopening plan, head to the NZ Government website.
In the two decades that Gelato Messina has been in dessert business, over 4000 special flavours have made their way through the chain's gelato cabinets around the country. Yes, that's a lot of frosty and creamy scoops. To celebrate some of these oldies but goodies, the chain brings a selection of these flavours back every now and then — and, sometimes, it busts out its entire top 40 greatest hits. That's happening again this winter, so you'd best make room in your freezer. Lucky Sydneysiders, Melburnians and Brisbanites will be able to treat themselves to a treasure trove of limited-edition gelato flavours. While, in the past, the greatest hits specials have been a buy-in-shop-only deal, the chain went with preordered tubs in 2020 — so no one had to worry about long queues and empty cabinets — and it's doing the same thing again this year. Gelato fiends can preorder 473-millilitre tubs of the 40 flavours from Monday, June 27. You'll then need to pick them up from Sydney's Rosebery, Tramsheds, Bondi, Darlinghurst, Norwest and Brighton Le Sands stores; Melbourne's Fitzroy and East Brunswick stores; and Brisbane's South Brisbane store between Friday, July 8–Sunday, July 10. Individual tubs are filled with just one flavour and will set you back $16, or you can get three for $45, six for $85, nine for $125 or — if you have the freezer space — 20 for $260. Wondering which flavours are available? Messina has dropped the full list of faves making a comeback — and it's stacked with deliciousness (just like your freezer will be). Jon Snow (white chocolate gelato with dark chocolate mud cake and almond praline), Fairy Bread (toast and butter gelato with 100s & 1000s) and Robert Brownie Jnr (milk chocolate gelato, chocolate brownie and chocolate fudge sauce) will all return in tub form. So will Hodor (peanut and milk chocolate gelato with caramel brownie and caramel fudge) and You Make Me Unicorny (milk gelato with vanilla poundcake and 100s and 1000s clusters), too. Love Messina's takes on other beloved desserts? Have a Gay Old Time riffs on Golden Gaytimes, the lamington and pavlova flavours recreate the obvious as gelato, and so do the Anzac biscuits and apple pie varieties — and they're all on the list as well. Good luck trying to choose just one, or even a mere few. Gelato Messina's Greatest Hits will be available to preorder on Monday, June 27 with pick up between Friday, July 8–Sunday, July 10 from Sydney's Rosebery, Tramsheds, Bondi, Darlinghurst, Norwest and Brighton Le Sands stores; Melbourne's Fitzroy and East Brunswick stores; and Brisbane's South Brisbane store.
No one makes movies quite like the South Koreans, one of the powerhouse nations of international cinema. Celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2014, the Korean Film Festival in Australia will once again deliver the best of the Hallyuwood industry to our shores. The festival kicks off with Cold Eyes, a cat-and-mouse surveillance film that blitzed the Korean box office last year. Other thrillers (a genre in which Korean filmmakers seem to flourish) on the program include mafia movie New World, featuring Oldboy star Choi Min-sik, and big-budget action flick The Suspect. But there's more to Korean cinema than just bloody tales of crime and revenge. Fashion doco Nora Noh recounts the life and times of the Korean Coco Chanel, while animated kids film The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow has possibly the greatest title of all time. There's also a selection of comedies, including '80s-set high-school tale Hot Young Bloods and age-swap movie Miss Granny. For the full KOFFIA program, visit the festival website. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hZ4iPhhvAY4
There's a lot of creativity bubbling up in the Sydney ether that you don't ordinarily get to see. But the suspicion that it's out there, and happening, can feel so strong you can almost come up with an address. One of the points of the creatively broad Creative Sydney is to find out what interesting stuff is going down. Usually you glean it from motes of compelling sidelines that shake loose from higher-minded discussions of how to get funded, where to put stuff on and enthusiastic objections from the floor. In a sense, the whole of Creative Sydney is like a giant show and tell. And at its Show and Tell sessions, the sidelined travelogue thread goes from intriguing aside to centre stage. Visual Enchantment brings designers and Semi-Permanent supervisors Design is Kinky to the podium alongside moving-imagers Snakes & Ladders, while the Digital Sydney evening focuses on Thor-making Sydney FX studio fuelvfx. There are five sessions in all, and though you might not yet know too much about the latest creative things on the boil around town, check out the Show and Tell sessions and you'll be able to tell me a thing or two. *Creative Sydney's main round of (free) tickets is full up. But space has tended to turn up in previous years, and you can hop on the waitlist for each event.
What started as an old tin packing shed on an avocado farm overlooking Wollumbin (Mount Warning) has now evolved into the fully-fledged low-impact brewery, Earth Beer Company. The brewery distributes locally using minimal packaging and even reuses its spent grain as food for the venue's pet pigs. Earth Beer Company's ethos runs along the lines of good people, good beer, and a love of the land they brew on. It's an ideal place to stop by for a beer and some eats on lazy Sunday afternoon. Or, you can book yourself into one of the company's informal yet informative brewery tours. The tour includes a 45-minute information session and a tasting paddle for some all-important sampling — including a tasting of the brewery's seasonal release. If this sounds like your kind of place, make tracks to the venue's North Coast Festival of Flavour event, Beer School. Here, you'll get to taste the brewery's favourite beers and learn more about the process and history of the brewery.
The Swedish village of Harads is home to only 600 people, but houses something truly special. Treehotel is a unique hotel that sits in the undisturbed forest. The hotel has five different rooms, all of which are themed differently and offer much more than your standard bed and complementary chocolate. These rooms created by Treehotel aren't just cool designs; they also contain environmentally-friendly combustion toilets and are built from chemical-free wood. One room uses mirrors on all its outer walls to reflect the surrounding trees, but is coated in infrared film so that birds don't fly into it. Amazingly considerate. Another room is decorated as a giant bird's nest, and according to Treehotel it is 'camouflage so you quickly disappear and become part of the surroundings.' Hopefully you don't get swarmed by feathered Swedish creatures upon entry. While this room sits in harmony with the surrounding nature, another room does the exact opposite as it is shaped as a UFO. Spread over two levels, it can house up to four people and comes with some cute astronomy-themed cushions too. The best part is that you can call your mates staying in the bird's nest and all head to the communal sauna for a good dose of relaxation. According to Treehotel, Greek philosopher Plato 'knew that trees and steam baths together made the perfect stimulus for philosophical thoughts and ideas.' Therefore you might want to read some books before heading up the sauna for some intense discussion about the purpose of human existence. While there are five different rooms avaliable now, a total of 24 rooms have been planned.
Knowing how to advance your career isn't always easy. If you're in the early-to-mid career stage and are looking to further your success, you may not even know where to begin. Feeling a bit clueless? Us too. That's why we've teamed up with Open Universities Australia (OUA) and Sydney career expert and psychologist Suzie Plush, because there's no need to jump in headfirst without any help. Plush talked us through five simple steps you can take to help you excel at your job — whether it be seeking further education, figuring out your strengths or getting out of your comfort zone. Her advice will have you feeling more confident by the second, so here's what we found out. [caption id="attachment_732002" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Suzie Plush[/caption] CULTIVATE A GROWTH MINDSET The term 'growth mindset' is just a fancy way of saying "push yourself to learn more". Being a continuous learner is important in many aspects of life, and especially so when you're looking to advance your career. "Success or intelligence is not a fixed thing," says Plush. "Make sure you're not stagnant in your learning by being really proactive and continuing to develop yourself." One way to do just that is to sign up for further education, whether it be an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. Through OUA, there is also the option of enrolling single subjects from leading Australian universities, if you haven't already got a degree under your belt or just want to dip your toe in before committing to a full degree. There are heaps available via online study — spanning skills such as leadership, digital media, communication, management, finance and marketing. If you continue to cultivate new skills and put your hand up for further learning within your company and outside of it, you're more likely to have an edge and take your career to the next level. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE It is easy to become complacent once you know a role well, but it's always worth leaving room for feeling some discomfort in your career. "As the saying goes, 'it's insanity to do the same thing and expect a different result'," says Plush. "It's so important to do things differently to what you've done before — to continue to innovate, change things up and stretch yourself for greater opportunities." This means you shouldn't be waiting around for the next job, opportunity or project to land on your lap. You'll never feel 100 percent ready, but getting out of your comfort zone means taking those steps and leaping in even when you're a little bit scared. That might include developing a new skill set — just a few degrees to consider include a Master of Marketing Management with the University of Tasmania, the Graduate Certificate in Finance with Griffith University and a Bachelor of Arts (Internet Communications) with Curtin University. Plus, you can undertake any of these degrees online through OUA so you can make study fit around your current lifestyle — and not the other way around. Remember that a little bit of anxiety and adrenaline can be a good thing. To help stop that anxiety from escalating, you can also check out these tips for taking on part-time study. INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS In an age where everything is digital and online, face-to-face networking is more important than ever — but is all too often neglected. "It's crucial, now more than ever, to have authentic connections with people," says Plush. "It will make a big difference and really give you that competitive edge. We often feel we are too busy to build relationships, but even little moments like grabbing a coffee are so powerful." So, the next time your co-worker invites you out for lunch or a hot cuppa, take them up on it instead of always leaving it off to next week. Those little interactions can be game-changing for your career. It is important to continuously keep up your network throughout your career, too — not just when you're looking for a new job. People often underestimate the power of those relationships, though. Many opportunities will come through your network. PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS This concept may be the simplest of all, but it too gets overlooked. You just need to build a better awareness of yourself. "Understanding what you're naturally gifted at, and how you can leverage those gifts for greater success, is key," says Plush. "Make sure you are spending more time cultivating your strengths, rather than working on your weaknesses." No matter what field you work in, there are plenty of courses to help further develop your strengths, including the Graduate Diploma in Project Management with the University of South Australia and a subject in Design Thinking for Business with RMIT University. There are also these Graduate Certificates in Clinical Leadership with Griffith University and Investment Analytics with Curtin University. Griffith University also offers a number of worthwhile single undergraduate subjects including Organisational Communication and Management Strategy and Decision Making. These degrees and subjects, along with many more, are all available to study online through OUA. Going forward, choose positions and projects that leverage your strengths while taking reference courses that keep building on these. If you want to stand out in your industry, you have to harness it. [caption id="attachment_732003" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Suzie Plush[/caption] EMBRACE THE CONCEPT OF GRIT Finally, we chatted with Plush about the budding concept of 'grit', which is described as perseverance and passion for your longterm goals. "Out of all the research, 'grit' is the strongest predictor of success," says Plush. "It's actually not the smartest or most popular or most affluent person who gets ahead; instead, it's the person with the most grit, who has the ability to keep going despite challenges, that most often sees career success." Grit is all about playing a long game and chipping away at your goals like its a marathon, not a sprint. If you consistently work at your career and don't give in to difficulty or adversity, you're much more likely to achieve a significant level of success. This goes hand-in-hand with making sure you have a good balance in your life, and that you're looking after your mental health and stress levels, too. "In order to look after that long game view, you have to pace yourself, look after your health and know when to prioritise work — but also when to not get too caught up in it." Explore hundreds of degrees from leading universities, available online through Open Universities Australia. You'll be working your way up the career ladder before you know it.
Of the show-stopping exhibitions that are part of Sydney Festival, this one might creep under the radar. That’s not say there’s nothing spectacular about it. Harnessing the power of natural and artificial light, New Zealand-born artist Bill Culbert arranges everyday objects in poetic ways. The centrepiece of this exhibition at the National Art School Gallery is undoubtedly Pacific Flotsam, an installation taking up most of the top floor. In addition to this, there are smaller and subtler works that give a deeper insight into Culbert’s practice, which spans more than 50 years. Among his earliest works, Culbert’s black-and-white photographs are perceptive studies of light and form. From tight domestic shots to sweeping landscapes, there are sinister silhouettes of sharp utensils and lonely New Zealand roads and beaches. He works to materialise light and solidify shadows, creating a quiet stillness. Light and wine are among Culbert’s favourite subjects, and he frequently pairs them in playful ways. For instance, there is the witty simplicity of Small Glass Pouring Light, which consists of a little glass of wine casting the shadow of a light-bulb. He also intensifies the reflectiveness of the wine — there is a sensory pleasure to the way this burgundy liquid magnifies the world around it. Another interesting facet of this exhibition is the way Culbert understands space through light. It seems he often testing the limits of light – how far it can travel, how it pulls optical tricks and the way it can be ‘poured’ into a vessel. Fluorescent light is perhaps the most important part of Culbert’s sculptures. Often you’ll see these long tubes penetrating a line of empty plastic bottles. The way the light diffuses colour is particularly interesting — sometimes it reveals the inconsistency of the paint, the brittleness of the bottle or residual stains. These bleeding colours can be quite beautiful. Often compared with Duchamp, Culbert’s art is also the art of re-use. He collects discarded objects, illuminates them and revitalises them. While some of his sculptures come across as mechanical reproductions of the same object, Pacific Flotsam is a wild scattering of bottles and lights – it is an image of organised chaos. This dazzling, large-scale installation was featured at the 55th Venice Biennale, and unlike the light-as-line works that seem to glue a set of containers together, this is a clutter of isolated things – no one thing is touching another. The light glows off the bottles in a different way, making their opacity glossy and their transparency almost invisible. While Culbert’s practice comes across as effortless and intuitive, his works are quite thoughtful. These fluorescent sculptures could easily look brash and sterile; on the contrary, there is elegance to this bare technology. A sophisticated artist, he uses different strategies to think through the idea of light as both subject and object.
For the first time in 50 years, a cyclone is set to cross the southeast Queensland coast. The Bureau of Meteorology and various levels of governments have been advising residents of the region, and of northern New South Wales, to get ready for Tropical Cyclone Alfred since last weekend. At the time of writing, the storm is expected to make landfall on Friday, March 7, 2025 — or perhaps even on Saturday, March 8 — but the areas bracing for impact are already preparing. In southeast Queensland, public transport has ceased, CityCats, ferry services, buses and trains alike. Venues are closing and events are cancelling. Schools are closed from Thursday. Sandbag depots have also closed — and Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has advised major roads and bridges may close if winds reach 90 kilometres per hour. Staying home, if it is safe to do so and you haven't been asked to evacuate, is the recommendation. On Wednesday, March 5, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner noted that "tomorrow and Friday are not days to be out and about". As at 7.46am on Thursday, March 6, the Bureau of Meteorology advises that Alfred is still a Category 2 cyclone, and is expected to stay at this intensity when it crosses the coast. It's currently working its way towards the southeast Queensland coast at seven kilometres per hour, and is still predicted to hit land between Maroochydore and Coolangatta. Wind gusts of up to 120 kilometres per hour are expected already, then up to 155 kilometres per hour from either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. Heavy rainfall is forecast from Thursday evening, which may cause flash floooding, along with a storm tide is likely if the cyclone crosses the coast at high tide. Wondering where to keep up to date with the details regarding latest conditions, warnings, alerts and more? Here's a rundown of resources worth bookmarking. Stay safe and dry out there. Weather Updates The Bureau of Meteorology's Queensland warnings page, New South Wales warnings page, national warnings page, tropical cyclone advice, Queensland X, NSW X and Facebook Windy wind tracker Government Updates Brisbane City Council's emergency dashboard, newsroom, X and Facebook Queensland Government's disaster alerts, hub and alerts Queensland Government's Get Ready site Queensland local government emergency dashboards Gold Coast disaster and emergency dashboard Sunshine Coast disaster hub New South Wales State Emergency Services website Roads and Public Transport Translink's website, X, Facebook and Instagram Qld Traffic Live Traffic NSW NSW Travel Alerts Hazards Near Me NSW app Preparation Guides Brisbane City Council's guide Queensland Government's Get Ready site New South Wales State Emergency Services' guide Emergency Services 000 Queensland State Emergency Services' website and 132 500 New South Wales State Emergency Services' website, Facebook, X and 132 500 Queensland Fire Department's website Evacuation Centres Brisbane City Council's emergency dashboard Gold Coast disaster and emergency dashboard Sunshine Coast disaster hub New South Wales evacuation centres ABC Emergency — Website and Radio Frequencies ABC Emergency website Brisbane: 612AM Gold Coast: 91.7FM Sunshine Coast: 90.3FM, 95.3FM or 1566AM Wide Bay: 855AM, 100.1FM, 88.3FM NSW North Coast Richmond and Tweed: 94.5 FM Murwillumbah: 720 AM Grafton: 738 AM
Until now, COVID-19 testing in some Australian states and territories has been restricted to specific hotspots, frontline occupations and to those with symptoms, but as of today, Friday, April 24, any Australian with any cold or flu symptoms can go and get tested for the disease. In a press conference after today's national cabinet meeting, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said, "every state and territory has now broadened their testing criteria ... anybody with acute respiratory symptoms — cough, sore throat, runny nose, cold symptoms, flu-like symptoms — can get tested." NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian echoed this sentiment in a statement released earlier in the day, urging "anyone in NSW who has COVID-19 symptoms", including mild symptoms, to come forward and get tested. "Testing is key to reducing community transmission and dealing with local breakouts," said the Premier. "And this is critical if we are going to lift any restrictions." https://www.facebook.com/NewSouthWalesHealth/photos/a.232420926957256/1279885778877427/?type=3&theater Expanding Australia's COVID-19 testing, beyond those who are just symptomatic, is one of the conditions outlined by Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week for the relaxation of social distancing and public gathering restrictions. Even if these conditions are met, the restrictions are set to stay in place for at least the next three weeks, until mid-May. The government has said testing is important to the containment of COVID-19 as it allows them to quickly identify cases, track who infected persons have been in contact with, and prevent community outbreaks. If you have COVID-19 symptoms, it's recommended that you contact your local GP, or call the 24-hour National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080, and visit a COVID-19 respiratory clinic. Once you've been tested, you must home isolate until you've received your test results, and then head to an emergency department if your condition deteriorates. To find your local COVID-19 clinic, head to the NSW, Victoria or Queensland Government websites. 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.
"Spectacles, not survivors". If you've ever wondered what the creator of The Hunger Games wants from its participants, they're his exact words. Meet Casca Highbottom, Dean of the Academy, and the reason that children from 12 of Panem's districts fight to the death every year for the entertainment of the masses — as well as a looming force of evil in prequel The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Yes, every movie franchise ever has to keep returning to screens, as Harry Potter and Twilight are as well. Unlike those two page-to-screen hits — two other favourites straight out of YA literature, too — The Hunger Games is making a cinematic comeback. And, it's gracing theatres again this November because author Suzanne Collins followed up her original trilogy of novels from 2008–10 with a step backwards in 2020. While Casca Highbottom is a pivotal figure in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, complete with Peter Dinklage (Cyrano) playing the part, another usually- nefarious presence is the movie's protagonist. If you've ever wondered about Coriolanus Snow's life before he became President of Panem and kept having encounters with Katniss Everdeen, here's your answer. This prequel is set 64 years prior to the dystopian tales told in the saga's initial four films between 2012–15, with Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid) doing his best to become a young Donald Sutherland. If the Wizarding World can have young Dumbledore, The Hunger Games can have young Snow, clearly. As the just-dropped first trailer for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes starts to cover, his backstory includes hailing from a family that's hit hard times in the postwar Capitol. That's how he becomes a mentor to District 12's Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler, Shazam! Fury of the Gods). And that "spectacles, not survivors" comment is spoken his way, in fact, as a word of warning about what's expected in his new role. Of course, this wouldn't be a Hunger Games story if one of its tributes didn't earn plenty of attention — and hearts. When his protege proves a hit, Snow starts to think about turning the odds in their favour. That said, viewers already know that any good he achieves here won't change the fate that's already been seen in the novels and past movies. As well as Blyth, Zegler and Dinklage, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes features a stacked cast spanning Jason Schwartzman (I Love That for You), Viola Davis (Air), Hunter Schafer (Euphoria) and Josh Andrés Rivera (Zegler's West Side Story co-star). Francis Lawrence jumps behind the lens again, as he did with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part I and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part II. Check out the trailer for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes below: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes releases in cinemas Down Under on November 16, 2023. Images: Murray Close.
Skeptic or not, 2012 might be the last year for all of us so why not celebrate the beginning of the end with a bang? But let’s cut the bullshit, stop worrying about whether Ryan will make it before 12 and save you from Oliver, the crazy dude who’ll try to ruin yours and all of your friends' lives (what? Sorry, I still think the OC is relevant) and just get down with your bad self, in your favourite place, with your favourite people. And just where can you do that in ye olde Brisbane? The answer: Oh Hello! They’re dishing up the goods, bringing French electronic producer Yuksek and his latest offering, Living On The Edge Of Time, to the polka-dotted venue to bring in the new year. He’ll be flanked by our own Young Men Dead, who are just about to head into the studio to record their EP, so New Years will probably* be the last time you can see them before they get too big for Brisbane. First release tickets are on sale now, at $30+BF. Or, treat yo self to an exclusive pre-party ticket at $75+BF and get rad things in the ticket price like jam jar cocktails, punch, Chandon NV Sparkling and more. Tickets are on sale through moshtix now, and if you know what’s good you’ll buy one before they sell out. LINE UP: YUKSEK (Full Live Show QLD exclusive) YOUNG MEN DEAD (Live) Midnight Tango Rock PoP and Ju Alex Terrel The Nice Guys Baby Making Djs Love From Pers *definitely
Because cinephilia isn't all about sitting quietly in the dark, the Sydney Film Festival has the SFF Hub. This year the Hub is not only returning for a third time but expanding its presence at the Town Hall to encompass the Treasury Room upstairs from June 5-15. As well as its scintillating lineup of talks and performances, it's decked out with designer furniture showcasing the legacy of the Eameses, a TITLE pop-up shop, Gelato Messina cart, vintage photo booth, the festival's discount ticket booth — everything you need to enhance your SFF experience and stretch your legs, eyes and mind between movies. Here are the five Hub events not to miss. The Vladmaster Viewmaster Experience Portland's Vladimir has hijacked the classic View-Master toy for art purposes, crafting a narrative you experience click by click. Her Vladmaster Viewmaster Experience contains a reel designed, photographed and hand-assembled by the artist. She also turns the usually private View-Master encounter into a public one. Here, you sit down with a 100 similarly adventurous nostalgics and click through together, following the cues from the soundtrack. The event was recently a hit at Melbourne's White Night, where it showed at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. June 7 and 11 at 8pm, June 14 at 6pm. Film Critics Death Match Just to be clear: David and Margaret are not scheduled to appear at the Film Critics Death Match. But wouldn't it be great if they did? Finally, finally, we would know: who is the better film critic? The obsessive or the polymath? The comedian or the hawk? The battle will be decided with a range of totally conclusive, on the-spot challenges — 140-character reviews, defences of indefensible movies, exaltations of the weirdest things ever filmed and other interactive exercises. It's presented in association with the Australian Film Critics Association, so whoever the competitors are, you know they'll be profesh. Reputations will be made, and broken. June 8 at 3.30pm Hell Is for Hyphenates: Altman on Altman Since 2010, Hell is for Hyphenates has paired cineastes with auteurs in monthly podcasts. Hosts Lee Zachariah and Paul Anthony Nelson have discussed everyone from John Waters to Michael Bay to Danny Boyle with a different guest critic or industry professional each episode. At SFF, the podcast’s first live recording also marks its first true insider insight into its filmmaker of the month. Michael Altman, son of iconic director Robert Altman, will talk about his father’s work, impact and legacy in person at the SFF Hub. It’s free, and it promises to be the type of event that cinephiles’ dreams are made of. June 5 at 5.30pm Freak Me Out Disco After days spent in darkened cinemas, there comes a point in every film festival when dancing the night away becomes a necessity. The Freak Me Out Disco promises a fun break from the big screen as well as an energetic celebration of female rock'n'roll in a night fittingly dubbed Girl Rock Riot. With Freak Me Out curator Richard Kuipers and filmmaker and grrl-music expert Daz Chandler curating the playlist, expect to step through music history with the ultimate soundtrack of talented ladies, from the early days of girl groups to the riot grrrl movement. Think the dancefloor equivalent of 20 Feet from Stardom crossed with The Punk Singer. June 14 at 9pm Women in Film panel The under-representation of women in film demands not just discussion but decisive action. At the SFF Hub’s Women in Film session, a panel of filmmakers and experts continue the conversation, examining the perception and reality both on screen and off. Complex issues of measuring the current status quo and striving to improve portrayals feature among the topics, alongside an exploration of the Bechdel Test. With films in the festival program, producer Julie Byrne (Touch), screenwriter Natasha Pincus (Fell) and director Sophia Turkiewicz (Once My Mother) will share their experiences with filmmaker Tessa Rex (www.passthebechdeltest.com) and film critic CJ Johnson. June 7 at 5.30pm By Rima Sabina Aouf and Sarah Ward.
When it was announced back in 2016 that Moulin Rouge! was being turned into a stage musical, fans around the world thought the same thing in unison: the show must go on. Since then, the lavish production premiered in the US in 2018, then hit Broadway in 2019, and also announced that it'd head Down Under in 2021 — and if you're an Aussie worried about whether the latter would actually happen after 2020's chaos, the same mantra thankfully applies to its planned Melbourne season. After the Australian production put out a casting call for auditions late in 2020 — and, in the process, revealed that it was working towards June rehearsals and August previews as part of its timeline — it has been confirmed that Moulin Rouge! The Musical will indeed hit Melbourne's stage in the second half of this year. So, from Friday, August 13, you'll be able to watch the spectacular show at Melbourne's revamped Regent Theatre. Based on Baz Luhrmann's award-winning movie, the stage musical brings to life the famed Belle Époque tale of young composer Christian and his heady romance with Satine, actress and star of the legendary Moulin Rouge cabaret. Set in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, the film is known for its soundtrack, celebrating iconic tunes from across the past five decades. The stage version carries on the legacy, backing those favourites with even more hit songs that have been released in the two decades since the movie premiered. Indeed, when Moulin Rouge! The Musical makes its Aussie debut this year, it'll help mark the movie's 20th anniversary year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p68Q1G1A_k4&feature=emb_logo The musical is heading to Melbourne in the hands of production company Global Creatures, along with the Victorian Government. The Government is also a big player behind the Regent's upgrade works, having dropped a cool $14.5 million towards the $19.4 million project. It co-owns the site, along with the City of Melbourne. At present Moulin Rouge! The Musical's season will run through until at least December, with general public tickets going on sale from 9am AEDT on Friday, February 19 for performances up until Sunday, December 5. You might want to get in quickly if you're keen on heading along, though — when pre-sale tickets were put up for grabs on Monday, February 15, they broke the Regent Theatre's record for the most pre-sale tickets sold in a single day. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will hit The Regent Theatre, at 191 Collins Street, Melbourne from Friday, August 13. General public tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster from 9am AEDT on Friday, February 19 — and for further details, head to the production's website. Moulin Rouge! The Musical image: Matthew Murphy.
So. You've watched all the documentaries on VICE's YouTube channel. You're up to your second viewing up just about everything on SBS's Food Network. You definitely don't want to watch A Current Affair. What's a news-hungry millennial to do? In answer to your free-to-air TV dreams, SBS and VICE are teaming up to create not only a new show, but a whole goddamn TV channel for your viewing pleasure. The new channel was announced earlier this year, but they've just let slip that it will launch at 4pm on Tuesday, November 15, replacing SBS 2. It will be an extension of VICE's online TV channel VICELAND, and will be called by the same name. So far details about programming are skint, but the new channel will feature SBS 2's news, sport and entertainment programs, as well as the best stuff from VICELAND. VICELAND launched online earlier this year with a collection of Spike Jonze-produced docos. Apparently more details will be released in the next few weeks. Until then, SBS is directing would-be viewers to make a free call to 1800 321 511. We don't know exactly why — but it can't hurt to give it a go. SBS VICELAND will launch at 4pm on Tuesday, November 15.
The Social Network offered a chilling prophesy of the impact of social networking sites, foreseeing the fracturing of friendships and a disturbing shift in human interaction. But a new study by the University of Milan reveals that the cyber world is a much cosier place than we thought. According to the study, the 6 degrees of separation that lie between the Earth’s inhabitants is, by social networking standards, as intimate as the dismal attempts at on-screen chemistry between an expressionless Robert Pattinson and his wooden Kristen Stewart. For us friendly Facebookers, however, there are only 4.74 degrees separating us from any other user around the globe. Zuckerberg ain’t lying when he tells us he’s ‘connecting people’. In layman’s terms, the rather precise 4.74 degrees translates to 5 ‘hops’ between users. As Facebok continues to grow this figure has steadily diminished, first measured at 5.28 in 2008. When you limit the measurement to a single nation, which tends to contain the majority of our friendships, the world shrinks even more; most citizens of the same country are separated by only 3 degrees. But does a tight knit cyber community translate to an increase in real, flesh and blood friends with whom we communicate beyond the ‘Wall’? It could be that the smaller the degrees in the cyber world, the greater they grow in reality, as increased Facebook interaction dilutes the quality of our face-to-face relationships. Either way, Facebook has proven that it really is a small world after all. [Via Wired]
It's been a crazy year all round, but there's one thing that's tracking along as nicely as ever and that's Apple's plans for its latest iPhone creations. The tech giant has just dropped all the hot little details for its next highly-anticipated iPhone 12 releases; the standard, Mini, Pro and Pro Max. True to form, Apple's new phones come fitted out with its finest suite of features yet, rendering all those before them instantly uncool. We're talking about an all-new design, complete with super speedy A14 Bionic chip, next-level pro camera, 5G and the largest edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR display to ever feature on any iPhone. Here are seven details about the new iPhone 12, served up in handy dot point form for your next debrief with mates. YOU CAN DOWNSIZE YOUR UPGRADE, WITH THE MINI VERSION The standard iPhone 12 clocks in at 6.1 inches from corner to corner, pretty much dwarfing the 5.8 inches of the old iPhone X. But if you'd prefer something that actually fits in your hand, the same features also come neatly packed into the iPhone 12 Mini, which measures at a more manageable 5.4 inches. That now lays claim to being the smallest, lightest and thinnest 5G phone on the market. THERE ARE NEW COLOURS TO CHOOSE FROM Once again, Apple is tempting buyers with a range of fun phone colours, with the iPhone 12 and mini edition available in red, blue, green, black and white aluminium finishes. The Pro and Pro Max keep things a little more subdued, with a choice of gold, graphite, silver or pacific blue. IT CHARGES WIRELESSLY...BUT DOESN'T ACTUALLY COME WITH A CHARGER Yep, Apple's caused a big stir with this one. The new iPhone 12 has been optimised for use with a MagSafe wireless charging system, featuring a special magnet in the back that's designed to work seamlessly with a newly released line of wireless charging devices and other phone accessories. But you'll find exactly none of them included with your new phone purchase. In what's apparently an environmentally friendly move, Apple's not supplying any new chargers or AirPods in its iPhone 12 boxes — instead, it wants buyers to keep using their old gear, or buy new ones separately. IT'S MUCH HARDER TO DESTROY If you're the kind of person that leaves a trail of ruined smartphones in their wake, these new models might have you breathing a little easier. Clumsy hands don't stand much of a chance against the ceramic shield cover, which is infused with nano-ceramic crystals and apparently makes the phones four times more likely to survive a drop than their predecessors. Spills aren't an issue either, with all four models boasting an industry-leading IP68 water resistance rating, protected up to six metres for up to 30 minutes. IT'S A GAMER'S DREAM The main thing you need to know about the new A14 Bionic chip is that it's 50 percent faster than any other smartphone chip out there. Which in short, means the iPhone 12 promises a console-quality gaming experience, without burning through that battery all in one hit. THE PRO CAMERA IS BETTER THAN EVER Phone snaps and Tik Tok videos are about to kick up a few gears, if the new iPhone 12 cameras have anything to do with it. Apple's incorporated night mode for both the wide and ultra-wide cameras, and a host of improvements mean low-light shots will be better than ever. The camera is also the first device in the world to enable an end-to-end Dolby Vision experience, which is a game-changer for smartphone video. IT'S NOT AS PRICEY AS YOU MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED The good news is, you can snap up one of Apple's latest for even less than you forked out for the iPhone X. The Mini starts from $1199, while the standard iPhone 12 will set you back $1349 for a 64GB, moving up to $1599 for the 250GB edition. Up the other end, the cheapest Pro clocks in at $1699 and the Pro Max starts from $1849. You'll be parting with a cool $2369 if you want the 512GB version, though. The iPhone 12 varieties will be available to pre-order from October 16. Head here for the standard and Mini, or here for the Pro editions.
If you only get stranded on one island this year, be sure to make it this one. After the colossal success of their inaugural endeavour, Wine Island is returning to Sydney Harbour this November for another long weekend of fun, food and sweet, sweet wine. For those who missed out last time, Wine Island is more or less what it sounds like, in that it's an island where you drink a lot of wine. More specifically, it's a four-day mini festival on Clark Island in Sydney Harbour, where you can spend your time knocking back glass after glass while feasting on mouth-watering cuisine. If it's anything like last year, there'll also be a range of activities to enjoy – think cooking classes and treasure hunts. Yes, treasure hunts. No wonder we dubbed it the Best New Event of 2015. Wine Island 2016 is set to run from Thursday, November 10 to Sunday November 13, and general admission tickets ($95) include vintage ferry transport to and from the island with a glass of sparking on board, five wine tastings, masterclasses and your own wine glass — however, there's only a few tickets left for the Thursday session at this point. For the real fancypantses, the VIP package ($190) gives you all that plus a meal voucher, licence to sip away to your heart's content with unlimited tastings (not a challenge), and access to the Friday sessions.
The Ladies Network, a Sydney-based collective for female creatives, has been celebrating and promoting artists, musicians, designers and all-round girl bosses since 2015. Last week, the group launched its latest initiative: an online gallery, where you can buy artworks direct. This move is a logical extension of the Network's bricks-and-mortar exhibition programme. Every two months, the agency gives more than thirty female artists an opportunity to show their latest works in a group exhibition titled The Ladies. Now you can lay your cash down whenever and wherever you fancy, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All you got to do is jump on the Net with your credit card in hand. Head there right now and you'll find a stunning abstract series by Carla Uriarte, impressions of the Nevada Desert by Claire Nakazawa, fearless portraits by Jessica Cochrane, organic clay formations by Holly MacDonald and much, much more. You can browse freely or search according to medium. To keep up to date with The Ladies Network's developments, give their Facebook page a visit. The timeline is busy with interviews and features about female creatives from all over the world, including comedians, musicians and artists. Plus, they've got one hectic event calendar, covering exhibitions, panel discussions, gigs and drinks afternoons.
Don't already have a date with Taylor Swift's Eras tour booked when it hits Australia in February 2024? Perhaps it won't be a cruel summer after all: more tickets are releasing on Friday, November 10. When Sydney and Melbourne stops for Swift's career-spanning showcase were announced back in June, it sparked a rush for seats. Before general sales even started, the 'We Are Never Getting Back Together', 'Shake It Off' and 'Bad Blood' musician had announced an extra gig in both cities. And, the Victorian Government even declared her Melbourne stint a major event so that anti-scalping legislation would apply to tickets. So, the response has clearly been huge — and now Swifties will have another chance to head along. Tour promoter Frontier Touring has announced that additional tickets will drop across all Aussie concert dates, with the Sydney shows releasing their extra tickets at 10am and the Melbourne shows doing the same at 4pm — all AEDT. Included among the new batch will be seats with a partially obstructed side view, with prices starting at $79.90. There'll still be limited tickets in the new release, but accessibility options will also be on offer. Expect another busy Ticketek day, obviously, with the singer-songwriter's Australian shows already garnering "historically unprecedented demand". Swift is playing the MCG in Melbourne across Friday, February 16–Sunday, February 18, and then heading north to hit the stage at Sydney's Accor Stadium from Friday, February 23–Monday, February 26. At all gigs, she'll have Sabrina Carpenter in support. [caption id="attachment_907314" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ronald Woan via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] That blank space in your calendar that you were hoping to fill with Swift working through her entire career so far, playing tracks from each of her studio albums in a three-hour, 44-song, ten-act spectacular? You now have another attempt to do so. Sadly, Swift still hasn't added concerts in any other cities across Australia — as Frontier has previously advised, "no further dates will be added for the Australian tour". This'll be Swift's first tour Down Under since 2018, when she brought her Reputation shows to not only Sydney and Melbourne, but Brisbane and Perth, too. And if you're wondering what's in store, then you clearly haven't seen Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour as a movie, aka a concert film of her latest shows that's been screening in cinemas Down Under since October. TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR AUSTRALIAN DATES 2024: Friday, February 16–Sunday, February 18 — Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Friday, February 23–Monday, February 26 — Accor Stadium, Sydney Taylor Swift will bring The Eras Tour to Australia in February 2024. Additional seats will go on sale on Friday, November 10 — at 10am AEDT for Sydney shows and 4pm AEDT for Melbourne shows. Head to the tour website for further details.
"It is with the reading of books the same as with looking at pictures; one must, without doubt, without hesitations, with assurance, admire what is beautiful." These are the words of one Vincent van Gogh, part-time ear surgeon, all-time famous artist, declaring the artistic beauty inherent within books. Some artists have elected to take his words literally, adopting literary works as their medium and through careful artistic surgery have constructed intricate and engrossing works that put even the greatest of pop-up books to shame. The best of these have now been collated together by Laura Heyenga in the new book Art Made From Books: Altered, Sculptured, Carved, Transformed. The volume features the varied book-based work of 27 different artists, each with their own technique of sculpting. Whether it is transforming a hardback book into a miniaturist tableaux of surgical precision or carefully operating with scalpel and tweezer to encapsulate a new literary work like the one below, each artist has their own means of message-construction. "Some of these artists are making comments about the role of reading in contemporary culture, others find that books are a handy art form," says Alison Kuhn, author of the introduction to Art Made From Books: Altered, Sculptured, Carved, Transformed, in an interview with Fast Co.Create. "They see books as a backdrop for their creativity." Whilst some may think of these works as vandalism, many are merely breathing new life into tired books or outdated telephone directories. "The information is outdated, the paper is probably yellowed or worse, so the fact that a book can become something charming and creative and valuable in a new light is kind of great." Amidst the depths of the digital age and the advent of the Kindle, these works just go to show that van Gogh was right; there is no replacing the enchanting aura of a book. Let the bookception begin. BRRRRRRRAAAAAWWWWRWRRRMRMRMMRMRMMMMM!!! Via Fast Co.Create
Each year, the National Gallery of Victoria commissions a new temporary structure to evoke a fresh perspective on the gallery. Previous years have seen a pink car wash and an openair maze pop up in the NGV's Grollo Equiset Garden, but 2018's Architecture Commission, announced today, will be a direct reflection of the gallery itself. A collaborative effort between Melbourne firm Muir and landscape architecture studio Openwork. Doubleground draws inspiration from past and present aspects of NGV International. The design is centred on a dramatic passageway that recalls the triangular patterns found within the NGV's Great Hall glass feature wall and on the gallery's roof. Elements of the NGV Garden will literally be raised up as sections of the garden become sharp embankments, creating canyon-like passageways below. The Sir Roy Grounds-designed building also provided inspiration for Doublegrounds decking area, which echoes the NGV International's foyer, while a bamboo garden reflects the building's former bamboo courtyard. Architect Amy Muir used her memories of visiting the gallery as a child to compose a blueprint for the new commission. "The 2018 Architecture Commission provides an intervention that challenges the role of the NGV Garden," Muir said of her studio's designs. "Acknowledging the intent and architectural language of the original Roy Grounds building, the Commission seeks to bring the memories of place back into play." Promoting the positive relationship between architecture, landscape and civic space, Doubleground was chosen ahead of 73 other entries from around Australia due to its collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach. As 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the NGV International, gallery Director Tony Ellwood explained the new commission "offers visitors a unique opportunity to reflect upon and re-examine the history and design of the Gallery as an integral part of Melbourne's public realm". The 2018 NGV Architectural Commission will be free to visit in the Grollo Equiset Garden at NGV International from November 2018 until April 2019.
Heading into their fifth year, Carriageworks has unveiled a multitude of risk-taking and culturally diverse events. The 2016 program was announced last night, and features more visual art, film, dance and music than you can poke a stick at. Unless you have 54 sticks. In which case, you are probably just as ambitious as Carriageworks themselves — going by what they plan to pull off in the next 12 months. No longer do we have to imagine things like rainbow-coloured horses running through the streets — instead, American artist Nick Cave will make this vision a reality with HEARD.SYD. Involving 60 dancers and musicians and 30 colourful, life-size horses, the performance work will bring Sydney’s streets to life, highlighting the beauty and joy of nature reimagined in contemporary art as part of the City of Sydney’s Art & About program. But 30 horses alone do not maketh a contemporary multi-arts program. Over 740 other artists are involved in the 2016 program, including cult K-pop boy band Boyfriend, who will be at the Chinese New Year Festival, Klub Koori for NAIDOC week, and some rare performances from solo artists such as Christian Fennesz and Michael Gira. Contemporary music fans will know Fennesz is synonymous with harmonically rapturous electronic music. Others will recognise Gira as the frontman of the Swans, a band that inspired generations of musicians, including bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth. Four decades of solo work has gained him a loyal following in North America and beyond, showing Gira's still leading one inspired flock. The 2016 program itself will commence with the Sydney Festival in January, with the first exhibition coming from Ghana artist El Anatsui, who this year won the Gold Lion at the Venice Biennale. Considered to be one of the most remarkable artists working today, Anatsui examines the complex histories of post-colonial Africa with the issues of consumption, waste and the environment. The festival will also see the Sydney Chamber Opera musically perform 21 poems by Friedrich Nietzsche in O Mensch! Carriageworks will be presenting Semi Permanent, and Sydney Writers' Festival: Carriageworks Edition, which will feature conversations with internationally renowned authors Simon Winchester and Andrew O’Hagan. An evening of motor-mouthed spoken words and storytelling by UK artist Christopher Brett Bailey. His theatre piece, This is How We Die, traverses tales of young love, ultra-violence and paranoia as part of Sydney Festival’s About An Hour program.. Performance art-wise, as part of Sydney Festival at Carriageworks, Vortex Temporum is the work by internationally renowned Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Bringing together seven dancers and six musicians to French composer Gerard Grisey, each dancer translates the sounds of a particular instrument into dynamic action. We're feeling sucked in and, due to our lack of interpretive dance moves, keen on the possibility to learn a thing or two. The majority of events will be capped at $35. Heck, some are even totally free. So start filling up your 2016 arts calendar — Carriageworks has made sure it'll be a busy year. Find out more about the full 2016 Carriageworks program here.
Ideas and inventions are usually intimately linked to the place they originate, displaying a wonderfully intricate relationship between form, function, culture and the environment. Think of the Hills Hoist in Australia, where people have the space and sunshine to use them, or the guillotine in France, where there was a severe excess of knives and nobility. If ever an idea sprang from completely the wrong place, surely it's the amphibious ice-cream truck floating around the UK. Thanks to ice-cream company Fredericks, the waterways of the British Isles are being bombarded with Rod Stewart's We Are Sailing whenever the HMS Flake 99 hoves into view to sell some ice-cream. The boat-truck is touring the UK to highlight the decline in ice-cream trucks due to rising costs, noise complaints, and childhood obesity fears. I'm sure buying a boat, blasting Rod Stewart and getting kids to eat more ice-cream will help... Jokes aside, an ice-cream boat is a great idea — it just should have been an Australian one. Wouldn't that boat look more tempting if it were cruising down our local waterways instead of under that leaden British sky! Sure, it's winter here now, but that just means you've got six months to source a boat and a freezer to make it happen. And when it comes to the music, why not announce your presence with The Lonely Island's I'm On A Boat? [via designboom]
There's less than a month left of winter. If that's reason enough to get you planning your next holiday, Virgin Australia understands. The airline is starting August 2024 with everyone's favourite excuse to book a getaway — yes, that'd be a flight sale — but you've only got three days to nab the 500,000 discounted fares. This new 72-hour sale runs until midnight AEST on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, unless sold out earlier, and focuses on domestic flights. You'll be travelling between Tuesday, September 3, 2024–Wednesday, April 30, 2025, so you'll be taking a spring, summer or autumn vacation, with prices starting cheap at $45. Where can you head? To Byron Bay, Launceston, Hamilton Island and Uluru, for starters. By now, everyone knows that the Sydney–Byron Bay route always has the lowest cost, which is $45 one-way this time around. From there, other discounts include Melbourne–Launceston from $59, Sydney to the Gold Coast from $65, Sydney to the Sunshine Coast from $69, Melbourne–Hobart from $75, Brisbane to Cairns from $89 and Melbourne to Hamilton Island from $129. Among your other options, Sydneysiders can take a trip to Cairns from $115, Melburnians to Uluru for the same price, Brisbanites to Uluru from $119 and also to Darwin from $169. This sale kicked off on Monday, August 5, 2024 — and the cheap fares, which cover both directions between each point in the discounted route, start with Virgin's Economy Lite option. With the travel periods available, all dates vary per route. Inclusions also differ depending on your ticket and, as usual when it comes to flight sales, you'll need to get in quick if you're keen to spend some, part or even most of September–April anywhere but home. Virgin's '72-hour Flight Frenzy Sale' sale runs until midnight AEST on Wednesday, August 7, 2024 — unless sold out earlier. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Let's call it the seven-, eight- and nine-month itch: that point when a year reaches its halfway point, and as winter starts to give way to spring, when holidays, holidays, holidays is all that's on anyone's mind. Is that you right now? Been spending every spare moment dreaming of summer getaways, and also making travel plans right into 2023? Then Virgin's latest sale arrives at the right time. More than one million fares are up for grabs as part of the Bring On Summer sale, covering both Aussie and international destinations. Yes, that means that you've got options, no matter where you'd like to head. Among the domestic routes, one-way fares start at $49, which'll get you from Sydney to Byron Bay. Other sale flights include Brisbane–Whitsunday Coast from $75, Melbourne–Gold Coast from $79, Melbourne–Adelaide from $79 as well and Sydney–Hobart from $85. And if you're wondering when you'll need to travel, you can book trips between January 17–June 24, 2023. Internationally, return fares cover getaways to Bali, Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa — from Sydney (from $489 to Fiji, $549 to Bali and $560 to Samoa), Melbourne ($549 to Bali and $579 to Fiji) and Brisbane ($475 to Vanuatu, $529 to either Bali or Fiji, and $559 to Samoa). Again, that means you've got choices, including if multiple getaways to different spots are in your ideal future. As always when it comes to flight sales, you'll need to get in quick. Virgin's discounted fares are now on offer until midnight AEST on Monday, September 5 or sold out, whichever arrives first. In total, the sale is taking up to 30-percent off Virgin's economy fares to 34 locations. Yep, best grab your suitcase now. Virgin's Bring on Summer sale runs from until Monday, September 5 — or until sold out.
In 2001, Rolling Stone writer Guy Lawson published the extraordinary article: 'The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders', and the response was predictably one of outrage and surprise. The entire story seemed preposterous, impossible, far too crazy to believe. As it turns out, it was precisely that quality that enabled its two subjects to get away with the impossible for so very long. David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, two Miami-based Jewish boys in their mid-twenties, had become high-end international arms dealers, most famously landing what came to be known as The Afghan Deal – an exclusive USD$300 million contract to supply the US-backed Afghan forces with weapons, equipment and one hundred million rounds of soviet-era AK-47 ammunition from Albania. Two guys, mid-twenties, and Packouz's previous job was as a part-time masseuse. Such is the subject matter of War Dogs by director Tod Phillips (The Hangover), chronicling Packouz (Miles Teller) and Diveroli's (Jonah Hill) astounding ascent to the big leagues of international weapons trading, as well as their inevitable fall. The title, War Dogs, refers to the nature of their particular profession: scrambling for small-scale arms contracts posted by the Pentagon to help redress the constantly undersupplied forces in the disastrous Iraq and Afghan theatres. Described as "eBay for weapons dealers", these contracts were sourced off a website containing tens of thousands of Pentagon requests for tenders. By focussing on the jobs too small to interest the major players, Packouz and Diveroli were able to amass a small fortune in a remarkably short space of time. Broken up into chapters with names like "God Bless Dick Cheney's America", War Dogs is at pains to show us the corruption of the American Ideal and the toxicity of unrestrained capitalism – both decades-old points long since made in every form of media, and laboured here with an especially heavy hand. With its Americana rock soundtrack, freeze frames and bro-tasctic dialogue, the film plays like a wannabe Big Short or Wolf of Wall Street, yet lacks the emotional drive or dramatic tension to ever really deliver. Neither funny enough to be a comedy, nor serious enough to land as a drama, it instead ends up somewhere in the middle (a fate similarly suffered by the recent Tina Fey project Whiskey Tango Foxtrot). Overall, far too much time is spent on the overtly amusing and entertaining elements of the boys' earlier days, leaving the heart of this remarkable real-life tale – a deal gone awry, double-crosses and a friendship in free fall – to the final stages only. As an indictment on the arms trade, it likewise barely scratches the surface, opting instead to focus on the absurdity and corruption of the political system that enables it. Admittedly, that narrative is a compelling one, revealing a level of bureaucratic absurdity not known to most members of the public. Still, when compared to 2005's Lord of War, which dealt with similar material, this more recent offering emerges as the undisputed weaker of the two. Bland, unimaginative and ill-befitting the extraordinary story behind it, War Dogs feels like an amazing opportunity gone begging. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwh9c_E3dJk
The popularity of Harry Potter has proven as enduring as comparable world-beating IP like Star Wars, for which the audience's appetite for newness and further exploration of the world has no apparent ceiling. Case in point: the epic two-part production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has enjoyed a huge run in Melbourne's Princess Theatre since debuting in February 2019. The production estimated 326,500 theatre-goers experienced the show in the first year alone — not bad for a play with a five-and-a-half hour run time. The two-parter finally wraps up its run this month with the final show on March 27. But, fortunately for theatre lovers and Potter stans alike: as one Cursed Child closes, another one opens! Tickets are now on sale for the new, condensed version of the play opening at the Princess Theatre from May 4, 2022 — a one-part iteration that's currently in the midst of a hugely successful Broadway run. The run time for the reimagined version comes in at far more manageable three-and-a-half hours (including one interval) and, while a third of the length has been removed, none of the magic has. It's the same story, just streamlined. And the brilliant Australian cast from the two-parter is almost entirely the same. So, what exactly is The Cursed Child about? The story picks up 19 years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Harry is now a Ministry of Magic employee, married to Ginny Weasley and the play focuses on his youngest son Albus Severus Potter coming of age at Hogwarts in the shadow of his famous father, as both father and son grapple with the past and the future. It's a fantastic production with plenty of heart, humour and incredibly well-executed magic, which is a credit to those pulling the literal and figurative strings (ropes?) behind the scenes. The new shorter format will mean a much wider audience can experience what is destination theatre-going. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is playing at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in its two-part form, running until Sunday, March 27, 2022. It switches to a one-session production from May 4, 2022, with tickets for the latter on sale now. For more information, head to the play's website. Top image: Tim Carrafa. Cast images by Dan Boud.
The artistic side of the Festival is in the mix from the beginning, with the Art Gallery of NSW staying open late to play with the Festival First Night crowd offering Picasso-friendly Spanish goodness in the form of film, performance and live music. Photographer William Yang returns to the stage, bringing his own life into focus with I Am a Camera. Crafting a story with his images, accompanied by the deep tones of Elana Kats-Chernin on cello and offering of Hasan Elahi levels of voyeurism focused on Yang's everyday life. Edge of Elsewhere returns from last year's festival for its final engagement, connecting Chinatown to Campbelltown with a Thai mural painted in clothing, livestock-within-a-house-within-a-gallery and new animation from Brook Andrew. Brook Andrew also brings his black and white aesthetic to the Carriageworks, peppering its foyer with full-size caravans containing stories within for attendees to investigate in Travelling Colony. Andrew's foyer is part of the Black Capital season, along with 181 Regent Street's collection of memorabilia and images from the stellar history of indigenous performance. The University of Sydney will have Sydney ex-pat Narelle Jubelin cover its campus with art for Vision in Motion, painting windows with video, draping art all over some of the Uni's less Potteresque modernist architecture and adding petit-point with abandon. Architectural talks will accompany her exhibition, as well a showcasing of young designers' transformations of Cockatoo Island, Hyde Park and the University of Sydney into weirder spaces in youtopia. The Scope brings ideas back to the festival, featuring interviews with festival artists at Microscope, Ira Glass's radio revelations at the Opera House and three nights of Bright Club — which will bring a TED-like vibe to the Spiegeltent, forcing scores of University types to compete for belly-laughs live on stage, with only eight minutes allowed for their profundity. Back to Main Page
It's been an explosive year for beer and brewing in Australia. Some old hands at the craft game sold to major international corporations, while new independent brewers continued to develop and expand. From fruit-infused sours to bold, hoppy IPAs, the discerning beer drinker has never enjoyed so much choice from both local and international markets. While there will always be a time and a place for a cold tinnie of VB, the following ten brews offer a range of flavours and unique styles to help you beat the heat this summer. The best places to find these beers, aside from the locations below, are specialist bottle shops. We've rounded up our favourites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. XPA, PHILTER BREWING The XPA style is still somewhat unclear, though the acronym stands for Xtra Pale Ale, but in the case of Philter's flagship brew — a pale yellow, slightly hazy session ale — the 'Xtra' refers to both the light colour and the depth of flavour. Head brewer Sam Fuss has put the myth to rest that brewing is a man's game with her brewing prowess. Packaged in retro blue and white cans, Philter XPA opens with a delicate bouquet of floral and summer fruit aromatics, notes of rockmelon, passionfruit and mango. On the palate expect little to no bitterness with some citrus and notes of freshly cut grass, balanced out by a subtle wheat and honey flavour from its malt base. Philter XPA won Best Pale Ale at the 2017 Craft Beer Awards, after only being on the market for four months. Available in cans at Liquor Emporium, St Peters, and as Beer of the Month at The Botany View Hotel, Newtown. EARL PEAR, MERCHANT BREWING COMPANY In the height of the Australian summer, a 6.9% ABV Belgian-style blonde ale seems like a strange choice. But the boys over at Merchant have taken some bold steps to create one ripper of a beer. Blending the toffee apple malt flavour with extracts of pear and earl grey tea, this beer is inventive and exciting without being gimmicky. The beer pours slightly cloudy, is dark orange in colour and has a strong aroma of pears, apricots and a touch of citrus. The immediate flavour is pear with a hint of tart funkiness, then the sweet malt flavour gives way to a light kiss of floral citrus rounded out by the herbaceous bitterness from the tea. Incredibly well-balanced and surprisingly delicate, this beer would make a fine match for seafood or a fruit-based summer salad. Just like the monocle-sporting sloth on the label, this is a sophisticated and fun slow sipper for those looking for something a little different this summer. Earl Pear is currently available on tap at Quarrymans Hotel, Pyrmont. PASSION OF THE PUSS, WAYWARD BREWING CO Between Parramatta Road and the backstreets of leafy Annandale, Wayward Brewing Co's tap room is the perfect place for those seeking shelter from the hot days. Housed in a converted wine cellar, the brewery boasts an impressive selection of vintage 70s-style couches, a wall-mounted Royal Enfield motorcycle and a labyrinth of rooms and spaces catering to crowds of all sizes. Passion of the Puss is a new spin on Wayward's incredibly popular Sour Puss Raspberry Berliner Weisse, but this time it favours passionfruit and yuzu. The result is a a bright, aromatic brew with plenty of passionfruit notes giving way to the acidity of the yuzu to round it out. This is a great beer for those looking to get into sours as it has enough complexity and balance to remain refreshing all the way through the pint. Sitting at only 3.8% ABV, it's great for session, and a reliable hangover cure. Passion of the Puss is currently available in 640ml bombers from Wayward Brewery Co, Camperdown. WEST COAST IPA, BATCH BREWING COMPANY Pioneers of the Sydney craft beer scene, Batch Brewing Company has maintained a steady rise to prominence in inner west Sydney, the cradle of brewing culture in Sydney. While the current trend among brewers seems to be about who can brew the biggest, hoppiest and strongest IPAs, this little gem from Batch's core range is a reliable and refreshing take on the classic American style. Over the years, Batch have made many IPAs, yet this is the only permanent fixture and with one sip you'll quickly see why. The blend of three hop varieties with three base malts achieves a beer that is supremely well balanced. Pale gold and ever so slightly cloudy, this beer is dominated by tropical fruit aromas of mango and pineapple, followed by fresh citrus notes. A subtle but firm bitterness rounds out the finish and leaves you wanting more, and as it sits at an approachable 5.8%, why not have another? Batch West Coast is currently available in cans, bombers, growlers and on tap at Batch Brewery Company, Marrickville. DIPA, HOPE BREWHOUSE When getting into the boozier side of brewing, some beers tend to almost drift into wine territory. With this in mind, it's incredibly comforting to know that Hope's head brewer, Matt Hogan, is indeed a former winemaker. This training in nuance and delicacy translates in the surprising form of a double India pale ale — a style famous for its in-your-face flavour. Hope's offering, however, is a joyously well-balanced beer; it has a pale straw colour with a beautiful floral nose, citrus aromas, big tropical fruit notes and a piney, resiny mid-palate. The light malts offer some sweeter notes of honey and biscuit, while a substantial bitter finish makes this big bold beer a truly dynamic flavour experience. Sitting at 9% ABV this DIPA would be suited to fans of Pirate Life Brewing's Double IPA. Hope DIPA is currently available in cans at Liquor Emporium, St Peters, and on tap at the The Local Taphouse, Darlinghurst. SAUCY SAISON, SAUCE BREWING COMPANY Starting a microbrewery in a warehouse in Marrickville is a tried and tested idea. With the craft cradle booming, however, offering something new and exciting can be a challenge. Enter Sauce Brewing Company, a strong team of brewers covering a broad range of styles with charm and reliability. Oh, and did we mention their converted warehouse space features a large, family-friendly beer garden? This beer is a modern take on the classic French/Belgian style where the yeast is the dominant flavour. A special Belgian ale yeast gives smooth notes of banana and clove with some light fruity esters, followed by a twist of citrusy hop flavour, all wrapped up in a smooth honey malt. For those seeking a less hop-driven beer, that still has a bit of a kick to it this summer, treat yourself to something a little different, after all, 'tis the 'saison'! Saucy Saison is available from Sauce Brewing Company, Marrickville in cans and growlers, and in cans at Red Bottle, Sussex Street. SERPENT'S KISS, GRIFTER BREWING CO Pilsner is a style that many beer nerds will scoff at, as it's often thought of as a bland boring lager. In the current game, however, the ability to produce an interesting lager-style beer is one hell of a trump card to play. This is exactly what the team at Grifter has done. With five-plus years in the Sydney brewing scene, their approach to this widely loved style of beer is sure to appeal to a wide range of drinkers. This light-bodied, easy-drinking brew is the perfect, refreshing drop for a sunny afternoon, it has a low level of bitterness complemented by a delicate fruitiness from the inclusion of real watermelon. The watermelon flavour is light, natural and not overly sweet, resulting in a beautifully sessionable beer with a fruity twist. Available in cans from the Grifter Brewing Co, and currently on tap at the White Cockatoo Petersham. OXYMORON, BRUNY ISLAND Traditionally, darker beers are reserved for drinking in the cooler months, but tradition goes straight out the window with this beer made by a cheese company from Tasmania. The aptly titled Oxymoron is a sort of Swiss-Army-knife beer, in that it's perfect for a multitude of occasions all year round. The style is billed as a 'dark pale ale' so expect some robust roasty notes of smooth cocoa and a touch of spice from the use of malted rye. This is wonderfully countered by a superb blend of four Tasmanian-grown hop varieties offering floral, citrus and light peach notes, rounded out by a firm bitterness. This is a beer that will serve as a refreshing, yet smooth and rich, alternative to the plethora of American-style pales dominating the market at present. A relative newcomer to the scene, even moreso the mainland, Bruny Island's beers are most reliably sourced through its online store, but keep an eye out for them in your local craft pub, bar or bottle-o. NORMAN AUSTRALIAN ALE, YULLI'S BREWS About halfway down Crown Street in Surry Hills there's a small, unassuming restaurant with a well-deserved reputation for serving some of the finest vegetarian food in town. To make it even better, they're also responsible for one of the finest local drops on the market. Created by bar staff seeking an approachable and casual beer that could also stand alongside fine dining, Norman is a light, refreshing summer ale with notes of apple and pear, followed by a gentle, clean, bitter finish. The green and gold cans adorned with a charmingly idiosyncratic cartoon character make for a staple in any Aussie fridge this summer. Perfect for a barbecue or beachside evening picnic, Norman is a friend you want to have around again and again. Available from Yulli's restaurant, Surry Hills, on tap and in cans at The Clock Hotel bottle shop. [caption id="attachment_648241" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA[/caption] TONIC, DOCTOR'S ORDERS The Sydney brewing scene's equivalent of the eccentric cartoon mad scientist Rick Sanchez (from Rick and Morty), 'Dr' Darren Robinson has been brewing weird, wacky and wonderful styles of beer since 2009. The latest seasonal prescription from the Doc is a sessionable witbier with an impressive array of botanicals including orange peel, juniper berries, lemon myrtle and cinchona bark. This inventive blend of flavours is enough to make for a beautiful summer drop all by itself, however, it is also a brilliant mixer with your favourite gin. This is the second seasonal release of the Tonic, which was a massive success last year and sure to become a summer favourite of both gin and beer enthusiasts. Available from the The Wine Cellar, Newtown, in cans.
Here's two ways that 2025 will be better than 2024: The White Lotus will return for season three, as will The Last of Us for season two. If you've been hanging out for more holiday chaos and dystopian tension, you can now start marking your calendar. Neither show has exact return dates yet, but HBO has just gotten more specific about when each will be streaming. In February 2025, it'll be time to check in again. Your destination this time: Thailand. Walton Goggins (Fallout), Carrie Coon (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Jason Isaacs (The Crowded Room), Michelle Monaghan (MaXXXine), Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale), Parker Posey (Mr & Mrs Smith) and Lisa from BLACKPINK are among the new cast of The White Lotus season three, all playing characters that are bound to learn — and the anthology series' on-screen figures always do — that getaways and bliss don't always go hand in hand. From season one, Natasha Rothwell (How to Die Alone) is also returning. HBO is planning to drop big tentpole shows a few times a year — so it'll be in 2025's second quarter, which is autumn Down Under, that The Last of Us will return. There's no exact month as yet, but Joel and Ellie will be back. In their shoes, so will Pedro Pascal (The Wild Robot) and Bella Ramsey (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget), of course. This time around, the series' main duo have company from both familiar faces and a heap of newcomers. Rutina Wesley (Monster High) and Gabriel Luna (Fubar) return as Maria and Tommy, while Kaitlyn Dever (Good Grief), Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus), Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), Young Mazino (Beef), Ariela Barer (How to Blow Up a Pipeline), Tati Gabrielle (Kaleidoscope), Spencer Lord (Family Law) and Danny Ramirez (Black Mirror) are the season's additions. The US cable network revealed the timing for both shows during a Wells Fargo-hosted conference, also advising that new Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set to arrive in summer in the US — which is winter in Australia and New Zealand, fittingly. And if you can't wait for more Euphoria, the long-delayed and eagerly anticipated third season is now expected to arrive early in 2026. If you're wondering what else is in store for HBO in 2025 and beyond — or even to close out 2024 — the network dropped a trailer back in November teasing the slate to come. Also on the way, and also debuting never-before-seen footage in the clip: IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, season four of Hacks, season two of The Rehearsal, a new show led by Bottoms and Saturday Night's Rachel Sennott, two-part documentary Pee-Wee as Himself, The Righteous Gemstones season four, Peacemaker season two, The Pitt with ER veteran Noah Wyle, Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)-led FBI series Task and Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) comedy The Chair Company. Season three of And Just Like That... and The Gilded Age also feature in the trailer, albeit without any new material, with each series joining the list for 2025. You can spot scenes from Dune: Prophecy, season three of The Sex Lives of College Girls, the animated Creature Commandos and limited series Get Millie Black, too, all of which are 2024 releases. From 2025's lineup, newcomer Duster with Lost's Josh Holloway and season two of Conan O'Brien Must Go scored a look as well. Where Australians will be watching all of the above is yet to be revealed, however, given that HBO has confirmed that its own streaming service Max will launch here sometime in the first half of 2025. Watch HBO's most-recent 2024–25 roundup trailer below: The shows highlighted in HBO's new trailer will arrive across the end of 2024 and in 2025. At present, the bulk of the network's programs stream via Binge in Australia and on Neon in New Zealand. Images: HBO.
As the weather warms up and winter draws to a close, we've got one thing on our minds: springtime. And we can't think of a better way to usher in the season of new beginnings than by seeing a stunning showcase of local floral talent in full bloom. From Friday, August 19 till Sunday, August 28, you and your best buds can catch the Australian premiere of Fleurs de Villes FEMMES at The Calyx in Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden. Some of Sydney's favourite florists will exhibit floral tributes to 17 trailblazing women including groundbreaking artist Frida Kahlo, pop queen Kylie Minogue, tennis champion Ash Barty and more. Alongside the exhibition there'll also be insightful talks, demonstrations from floral and horticultural experts, a pop-up market and creative workshops. Whether you want to make your own floral scent, learn how to grow a herb garden or to pick up some market-fresh flowers, there's ways for everyone to blossom at this flourishing ten-day event. Keen to check it out? Fleurs de Villes FEMMES will take place from Friday, August 19 till Sunday, August 28 at Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden. To peep the full program and to book tickets, visit the website.
In response to Sydney's growing cluster of locally acquired COVID-19 cases, residents in the northern beaches will be required to stay home for the short-term future — with Premier Gladys Berejiklian announcing the new public health order on the morning of Saturday, December 19. From 5pm today until midnight on Wednesday, December 23, the local government area will revert to the same conditions that were in effect when the state went into lockdown back in March, which means you'll only be able to leave the house for four specific essential reasons. If you need a reminder of those reasons, folks in the northern beaches can only leave home for work if you can't do it from your house, for essential shopping, for exercise and for compassionate reasons which includes emergency medical treatment or to visit an isolated relative). Otherwise, everyone must stay at home — but there are no restrictions on when you can go shopping or go out for exercise. Announcing the news, Premier Berejiklian said that 21 new cases have been identified over the past 12 hours that are directly linked to the Avalon cluster, and it is expected that Sydney will "see a repeat of those numbers across this 24 hours". Accordingly, the area-specific lockdown is being put in place to help stop the spread, and to give the NSW Government "sufficient time to get on top of the virus so we can then ease up for Christmas and the New Year moving forward". https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1340091759439671298 While the stay-at-home order only applies to the northern beaches, Sydneysiders in general have been asked to "abandon non-essential activity" over the same period. "We do not want the virus to spread outside of the northern beaches. We do not want perhaps unidentified strands of the virus outside of Sydney, outside of the northern beaches, to start getting to an extent which concerns us," the Premier said. "So can I say to everybody in other parts of Sydney outside the northern beaches, please limit your activity." Before the northern beaches cluster emerged, NSW had gone almost a month without any locally acquired cases of COVID-19. Yesterday, however, Premier Berejiklian confirmed that all of Greater Sydney was on "high alert" — and, before today's stay-at-home order, urged those in the northern beaches to remain in their houses "unless absolutely necessary". Since news of the first northern beaches cases on Thursday afternoon, NSW Health has been updating a long list of locations and venues that positive coronavirus cases have visited over the past week — which Sydneysiders are asked to check frequently and, if you've been to anywhere listed on the specific dates and times, get tested immediately and self-isolate for 14 days after your visit. There is also a series of new pop-up and drive-thru clinics now located on the northern beaches. If you need a reminder, the symptoms to look out for are coughs, fever, sore or scratchy throat, shortness of breath, or loss of smell or taste. You can find a rundown of testing clinic locations online as well. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
For everyone who's yearned for a sunny, sandy, surf-filled holiday over the past few years, screens big and small have come with a warning: be careful what you wish for. In M Night Shyamalan's Old, hitting a gorgeous beach meant ageing quickly. In The White Lotus, it sparked eat-the-rich dramas. While the horror movie remake of Fantasy Island arrived just before lockdowns and travel restrictions, it unleashed terrors in scenic surroundings (and a terrible movie upon audiences). And in the Tim Roth-starring Sundown, escaping to Acapulco permanently isn't as blissful as it sounds. Come the end of July, The Resort will keep this chaotic vacation streak going, all via an eight-part streaming series that'll hit Australia via Stan from Friday, July 29. Here, Nick Offerman (Pam & Tommy), Cristin Milioti (Made for Love) and William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) star in a comedy-thriller that's also a mystery and a coming-of-age love story. Plenty can happen on a getaway, after all. Milioti and Harper play Emma and Noah, two high-school teachers who've been married for ten years and head off on a trip to the Yucatan to celebrate. But while seeking a stint of vacation bliss, as well as attempting to reinvigorate a routine relationship and life that Noah at least is content with, they stumble upon a 15-year-old mystery involving Sam (Skyler Gisondo, Licorice Pizza) and Violet (Nina Bloomgarden, Good Girl Jane) — when they were each making the trip to Oceana Vista Resort with their respective parents back in 2007, but weren't seen again. As The Resort's trailer shows, Offerman plays Violet's father, who is still looking into the mystery, too. Also making an appearance: Luis Gerardo Méndez (Narcos: Mexico) as Oceana Vista Resort's head of security a decade and a half back, Gabriela Cartol (Hernán) as the concierge where Emma and Noah are staying, and Parvesh Cheena (Mythic Quest) and Michael Hitchcock (Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar) as two Teds who are married to each other. The cast also includes Ben Sinclair (Thor: Love and Thunder) as resort owner, Debby Ryan (Insatiable) as Sam's girlfriend, and IRL couple Dylan Baker (Hunters) and Becky Ann Baker (Big Little Lies) as Sam's parents. Behind the scenes, The Resort hails from showrunner, writer and executive producer Andy Siara (Palm Springs, Lodge 49), as well as producers Sam Esmail (Mr Robot) and Chad Hamilton, and was shot throughout Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Check out the trailer for The Resort below: The Resort will start streaming in Australia via Stan from Friday, July 29. Images: Marisol Pesquera / Peacock.
Maybe your house needs the kind of colour and flair that only art can bring. Perhaps you're keen on supporting artists. If the first applies, the second should as well. Whichever fits, one event has you covered without requiring you to bust your budget to enjoy art on your walls. Even better: Affordable Art Fair is doing the rounds of Australia's east coast again in 2025, including popping up for a four-day run in Sydney in spring. Everyone should be able to fill their home with art no matter their bank balance. That's the idea behind this event, and has been since 1999. Back in the 20th century, Affordable Art Fair initially popped up in London to share eye-catching pieces with the world at manageable prices, and then started spreading its art-for-all ethos around the world. Clearly Sydneysiders are fans, given that it's returning again in 2025. [caption id="attachment_866848" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Reed Photographic[/caption] This year, you'll be heading to Carriageworks from Thursday, November 6–Sunday, November 9. On offer: original artworks by the thousands, with prices starting from $100. If you do happen to be flush with cash, however, costs will max out at $10,000 per piece. Alongside London and its three Down Under host cities, Affordable Art Fair has brought its budget-friendly wares to Brussels, Hamburg, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Berlin in Europe; Singapore and Hong Kong in Asia; and New York and Austin in the US. Unsurprisingly, democratising art has been proving the hit as Affordable Art Fair notches up the years. Up to 2024 across its stops worldwide since 1999, the event had sold 568,000 artworks at a value of over AU$820 million.
Joining vinyl records and 8-track tapes on the dusty shelf of obsoleteness, CDs have fallen by the wayside. In 2011, the number of people in the US who downloaded their music had far surpassed that of people who bought physical albums. In an era when our grandchildren won't know what a Walkman is, what are we to do with our now-digitised CD collections? As it turns out, Amazon wants them. Beginning last week, Amazon launched alterations to its Trade-in Program, which allows customers to swap their old stuff for Amazon store credit. Amazon has previously accepted pre-loved items such as Kindles, textbooks, and DVDs in exchange for credit but hasn't accepted used CDs until now. The store credit can be used to buy new, downloadable albums, or any product from the site. We can't decide which we are more excited about: an extra buck or two, or forever banishing our questionable '90s music decisions.
It's hard to say which has gained greater mythical status: Blade Runner the film or Vangelis's enigmatic score. After a release process that consumed a dozen years, the soundtrack soared to the top of the charts quicker than a spinner could lift off. Rumours abounded that at least 20 different versions were in existence. Part of the mystery may be a reflection of the composer. We know that Vangelis's real name is Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (the adoption of a pseudonym was clearly a smart career move), and we know of his extensive musical contributions, but he's protective of his work and rather shy when it comes to media interviews. A 2005 chat with the Telegraph was a rare exception. Twenty-six years after releasing the Blade Runner soundtrack, Vangelis granted the UK's Heritage Orchestra permission to perform it live. Southbank Centre's 2008 Meltdown Festival saw the global debut, and this month's appearance at Vivid LIVE is the Australian premiere. Note that a Blade Runner-inspired backdrop will accompany the music, but the event does not include a screening of the film. https://youtube.com/watch?v=RScZrvTebeA
If you've ever dreamed of constantly being the life of the party, then this creation by Joey Andolina will be right up your alley. Instead of the standard carrying of a boombox in the hand or over the shoulder, this boombox is attached to a vest and can be worn with ease. The vest features two motorcycle speakers which protrude from the shoulders. Furthermore, an 8” Boss Audio Bass900 subwoofer is located on the back of the vest for more bass power. The whole device is powered by a rechargable battery, and volume can be adjusted from the hip. Arriving just in time for summer, this vest boombox allows you to show off your fashion prowess while blasting European hardstyle relentlessly as you walk around the block. If you're serious about partying, you know you'll have to wear the sunglasses like the model in the above picture.
Last year, Newtown Festival brought thousands to the streets in celebration of the inner west's weird and wonderful culture. The festival returns to Camperdown Memorial Rest Park for its 39th year on Sunday, November 12 with the theme Home is Where the Heart is. This year, the expected entry donation will be $5, which will go directly to social change leaders, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre. You're free to donate more, of course — if you hand over a tenner, you'll get a free Newtown Festival water bottle. There'll be food stalls, markets, art — many, many dogs — and performers, including 16 local music acts picked by Aussie music legend and Newtown local Sarah Blasko, as well as La Toosh Tram & Stage's 'old-world' circus performers. Belt tunes to your heart's content with Heaps Gay's Closet Karaoke, and watch the best doggos win awards in the doggie dash and celebrity look-alike contest. A collective of Newtown's incredible food offerings under the name Newtown Locals will nourish you with an Australian barbecue for the day, including Bloodwood, Hartsyard, Fleetwood Macchiato. N2 Gelato, Young Henrys, Stinking Bishops and Mary's among numerous others. The Writer's Tent in partnership with Better Read Than Dead returns, hosting talks and seminars from a broad selection of Australian writers, including the team from The Betoota Advocate, Felicity Castagna and Jaclyn Moriarty. You'll also be able to take part in a Cornersmith pickling workshop.
First, Coachella excited music fans worldwide with its 2020 lineup, with Travis Scott, Frank Ocean and Rage Against the Machine topping the bill. Then, when COVID-19 started having an impact on gigs around the globe — and travel to gigs, too — the huge Californian fest postponed this year's event from April to October. Now, in a move that's hardly surprising, it's scrapping 2020's festival altogether. Instead, it'll aim to return in 2021 in its regular April time slot. Revealing the news, fest organisers announced that "Under the continuing health guidance of the County of Riverside, Coachella and Stagecoach 2020 will not take place this October as previously rescheduled". Just what'll happen with Coachella's much-anticipated 2020 lineup — and whether Scott, Ocean and RATM will feature next year — is yet to be advised, with the festival saying, "we look forward to sharing our new lineups and more information." The cancellation comes after Coachella's parent company, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), told staff earlier this week that it'd be cutting back its workforce, including layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts, the Los Angeles Times reports. Coachella ticketholders will be able to use their passes for the 2021 festival and the company will be emailing information about refunds by Monday, June 15. https://www.instagram.com/p/CBT6AgsHdY5/?igshid=70jfi1nudmg Fallout from the coronavirus on this scale has been predicted for the music industry for months, with some experts forecasting that concerts, festivals and international touring won't return to normal until late 2021. Just this week, Australia's own Splendour in the Grass also canned its 2020 fest, after earlier announcing a move to October, just as Coachella had. Splendour will instead celebrate its 20th-anniversary event in July 2021. Of course, since Australia and New Zealand's international borders are currently firmly shut — and, if they reopen anytime soon, they only look likely to open to each other as part of an Australian–New Zealand travel bubble — music lovers from Down Under weren't going to be able to attend this year's Coachella anyway. If you had been preparing to to watch the always-popular livestream across the weekends of October 9–11 and 16–18, though, you'll need to cancel your plans. Or, you can check out the free YouTube documentary Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert, which does an entertaining — albeit highly official, and therefore highly celebratory — job of exploring the fest's origins, growth and success. The doco also includes some killer performance footage, highlighting performers who've graced the Indio stage over the past two decade, such as Jane's Addiction, Bjork, Daft Punk, Madonna, Amy Winehouse, Beyonce and Prince, plus Tupac in hologram form. Coachella will no longer take place in 2020, and is expected to return from April 9–11 and April 16–18, 2021. For further information, visit coachella.com.
Dust off your petticoat and get your doublets out of the attic, because London's historic Globe Theatre is popping up in Melbourne later this year — well, sort of. Pop-Up Globe is the world's first, full-scale replica of the historic theatre, which was built by Shakespeare's playing company and housed his greatest works. Melbourne's version will set up shop at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl from September 21 until November 12 this year. History buffs and Shakespeare enthusiasts alike will have the opportunity to soak in plays As You Like It, Henry V, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, and a special performance titled Around the Globe in 60 Minutes, which details the theatre's colourful history (it famously burned down in 1613 and was reconstructed a year later). It will be the first time the Pop-Up Globe has travelled outside of Auckland. With the round, 900-seat, three-storey venue, no member of the audience will ever be more than 15 metres from the stage, and all performances will be conducted without the use of mics, just as it was in 1614. Also keeping with tradition, tickets will offer the "groundling" option – standing room only, directly in front of the stage for only $20 a pop. Organisers promise that Pop-Up Globe won't host 'dusty' versions of Shakespeare — rather, performances will be more like a party. Pop-Up Globe will be at Melbourne's Sidney Myer Music Bowl from September 21 till November 21, 2017. For more info and to buy tickets, visit popupglobe.com.au.
When a TV show comes to an end, it isn't always the end. Plenty of beloved favourites have returned after they've said farewell, from Twin Peaks and Veronica Mars through to the about-to-drop Party Down revival. But one series that looks like it's staying gone is Mindhunter, the absolute best true-crime effort that Netflix has ever created — and one that's been missing from our screens since 2019. In the platform's ongoing quest to keep our eyeballs glued to the small screen, it pumps out new original shows with frequency. There are now so many to choose from, you could easily watch nothing else. But, both as a true-crime series and a Netflix series in general, Mindhunter has always stood out from the crowd. Combine filmmaker David Fincher ( Gone Girl, Mank), non-fiction book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit and a whole heap of real-life serial killer cases, and you get the greatest show the streamer has ever made. Naturally, after season one in 2017 and season two in 2019 — both of which were exceptional — viewers were keen for more of Mindhunter's look into the origins and operations of the FBI's Behavioural Science Unit. They're the folks who interview mass murderers to understand how they think, then use the learnings to help stop other killings, with the series drawing on its factual source material to dramatise the unit's beginnings. Alas, additional episodes haven't eventuated, with Netflix letting the cast's options expire in early 2020, and now David Fincher confirming that Mindhunter won't be getting a third season. "I'm very proud of the first two seasons. But it's a particularly expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we haven't attracted a large-enough audience to justify such an investment," Fincher said in a new interview with French publication Le Journal du Dimanche (as per a translation). "I don't blame them, they took risks to launch the series, gave me the means to do as I dreamed Mank and they allowed me to venture on new paths with The Killer [Fincher's upcoming film, which'll hit the service before the year is out]." Mindhunter really does boast the kind of concept that easily could span on forever. The show's main characters are fictional, such as agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff, Knock at the Cabin) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany, Nightmare Alley), plus psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv, The Last of Us), but the details they're delving into aren't. Also real: notorious figures such as Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton, A Man Called Otto), David Berkowitz (Oliver Cooper, The Goldbergs) and Charles Manson (Damon Herriman, Nude Tuesday), to name a few. With a hefty lineup of killers and cases to cover — and still prove fascinating and gripping in this always-meticulously made show — season three wouldn't have lacked in inspiration. But hopes for a third season have long looked as paltry as Holden Ford's social etiquette, and just keep getting dimmer. Fincher has still been rather busy making other things for Netflix of late. That includes producing Love, Death and Robots, then directing Mank and now The Killer — which stars Michael Fassbender (X-Men: Dark Phoenix) alongside Tilda Swinton (Three Thousand Years of Longing), and sees Fincher return to his fondness for crime (see also: Seven, Zodiac). Check out the trailer for Mindhunter's second season below: Mindhunter's first and second seasons are available to stream via Netflix. Via Le Journal du Dimanche. Images: Merrick Morton/Netflix.
So many beers to sample, so little time. If you don't know too much about craft beers, this is where you'll want to be. Brewers like Doctors Orders and Pirate Life will be in store offering tastings of their best beers and you can have a chat to them about the amber liquid of the gods. This event is one of our top ten picks of Sydney Craft Beer Week. Check out the other nine.
Take a wild real-life story, turn it into a docuseries, then release it during a worldwide lockdown — and the result is one of Netflix's huge current hits. True-crime series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness was always going to draw plenty of viewers, as you'd expect of a show that includes lions, tigers, eccentricity, polygamy and murder-for-hire. Indeed, the series has proven such a success that Netflix is now releasing a new special about all things Joe Exotic. The Tiger King and I will hit the streaming platform today, Sunday, April 12; however it's not merely another episode in this so-strange-it-must-be-true saga. Instead, it's an after-show special that features new interviews with many of the folks featured in the seven-part series' frames — not the incarcerated Exotic, but John Reinke, Joshua Dial, John Finlay, Saff, Erik Cowie, Rick Kirkman, and Jeff and Lauren Lowe. The one-off special is hosted by Joel McHale, who'll clearly be drawing on his time hosting pop culture show The Soup and Netflix's similar but short-lived The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale more than his time on sitcom Community. McHale will chat with the aforementioned lineup of Tiger King figures about what has happened in their lives since the series. https://twitter.com/NetflixANZ/status/1248372365542604800 If Tiger King has somehow passed you by until now, the series focuses on mullet-wearing zoo owner Joe Exotic. Obviously that isn't the name that he was born with. But given Joe's love of big cats, line of work and over-sized personality, he obviously decided that the moniker fit. Between 1999–2016, he created and ran The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, which was home to hundreds of tigers, lions and other large felines. Joe also took his tiger show on the road and, because he just adored tigers so much, he literally sang about them as well. His first country music album was called I Saw a Tiger, because of course it was. He found time to run for Governor of the state and, in 2016, President of the US. He's fond of guns and just as fond of marrying more than one person at once. Oh, and the zookeeper tried to hire a hitman to get one of his rivals — Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary's CEO Carole Baskin — killed. That's the jaw-dropping tale that Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness tells — and, soon, so will a new Kate McKinnon-starring TV drama that's set to recreate these events. Check out the trailer for Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTdxsoa428 Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is available to stream now on Netflix. The Tiger King and I will hit the streaming platform on Sunday, April 12, with new Netflix shows usually dropping at 5pm AEST. Top image: Netflix.
It's a region in the throes of political and cultural upheaval, but now you can get a nuanced glimpse inside the contemporary Arab world at the 2014 Arab Film Festival Australia. With documentaries, narratives and a selection of shorts from countries including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, the films at this year's festival are connected by the theme of social change. A Jordanian-Palestinian co-production, opening night film When I Saw You transports audiences to Jordan in 1967, as the nation was faced by a sudden influx of Palestinian refugees. Also from Jordan comes May in the Summer, an indie dramedy about a young Arab-American woman returning to Amman from New York, to inform her family of her engagement. On a darker note, Lebanese documentary Scheherazade's Diary takes viewers inside the Baabda Women's Prison. Through dramatic therapy sessions organised by director Zeina Daccache, inmates recall harrowing personal tales of false imprisonment and domestic abuse. For the full program, visit the Arab Film Festival website. Image: May in the Summer. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tCHijjRwChs
This year's Celebrity Theatresports is embracing all things Spanish. It combines the talents of its more-famous guests with the skills of some Theatresports regulars, the regulars more versed in the event's everyday diet of improvisation and humour. The show promises to touch on the highs and lows of Spanish culture, while taking you on a tour of the highs and lows of comedy as well. Modern Spain is a nuanced collection of regions, alternately collaborating and jostling with the State for autonomy. At Celebrity Theatresports, Peter Fitzsimmons will bring the sense of Castillian decorum, Rockwiz host Julia Zemiro some breezy Valencian style, Monica Trapaga looks to be a nation of Catalan cool and Adam Spencer may be the evening's Basque Country — spouting intelligent and ground-breaking ideas, in a venerable language few outsiders can understand. If this federation of talent isn't enough, comedians Claire Hooper and the Umbilical Brothers will also be on hand. As if that's not enough the show raises money for the charity CanTeen, which helps young people keep a handle on their youth while dealing with cancer. Will this be a nation united? No one will know until the night.
It's a fact that some architectural firms use Lego to privately demonstrate building layout ideas. How adorable it is to imagine a room of dashing young architects tinkering with the colourful plastic blocks of their childhoods. But now Lego has launched a sophisticated, minimalist, all-white set of bricks that can help make you an architect yourself. Maybe you could you be the next Harry Seidler. This is no children's toy; part of the adults' mini-architecture line, the Lego Architecture Studio is for ages 16+. It's a great example of how the accoutrements of playtime can become a lifelong educational tool, aimed at aspiring architects, designers and construction enthusiasts. Apart from its 1210 bricks, in lieu of an instruction booklet it comes with the true bargain of the set — a 272-page illustrated book that puts forth the fundamentals of architectural design. Christopher Turner edited the book, which was written with architecture firms including KRADS, MAD, REX, SOM, Sou Fujimoto, Winy Maas, Safdie and Tham & Videgaard. There are exercises included that will help you, poised on your living room floor with plastic blocks in hand, grasp the notions of scale, surface, texture, density, modules, voids, repetition and more. Online reviews of the Studio are packed with squeals of delight from architecture students the world over. The set even comes with sorting trays for your bricks — how advanced is that? — so invest and let your dreams of yore live anew. A world of speculative Lego layouts in tasteful Modernist white awaits. Via Hyperallergic.
The first teaser trailer for science-fiction film Jupiter Ascending has hit the web, and it looks epic. It's the first original story from the Wachowskis since the Matrix trilogy, and judging by the trailer, it will showcase more of the cutting-edge visual effects that have become the benchmarks of their films. From the streets of Chicago to far-flung galaxies, Mila Kunis is a lowly janitor who, unbeknownst to her, may hold the key to the universe. On the brink of her assassination, a genetically engineered ex-military hunter (played by Channing Tatum) charges in, kicks arse and teaches her of her genetic destiny. The first glimpse of the film is packed with jaw-dropping visuals of intergalactic warfare. There's a dark, post-apocalyptic flavour to the cinematography, with otherworldly cityscapes, futuristic demons, fractured planets, plenty of thrilling gadgets and gravity-defying fight scenes. The film also sees the Wachowskis reunite with their longstanding collaborators, including Oscar-winning cinematographer John Toll, whom they worked with on Cloud Atlas. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until July next year to see the film. But it will be interesting to see whether they can match the high standards they've set themselves.
