Being able to call Sydney home certainly has its perks — particularly our proximity to some pretty epic cultural happenings. But the reality of inner-city living can look a little different. Whether your accommodation situation is solo or shared, there's no denying that it can be costly and, at times, kind of lonely. A new-age alternative to traditional renting is aiming to combat all of that. You may think co-living, or community living, is the latest craze to hit the real estate market but the concept has been around for ages in medieval villages, hippies of the 70s and monasteries. Then, last year, a modernised version of co-living hit our shores. UKO — owned by the same team behind hotel group Veriu and co-working space +U — opened its first co-living space in Stanmore in September 2018. Recently, it jumped on the opportunity to expand its offering into the eastern suburbs by converting a couple of beautiful Victorian terraces in Paddington. It may be a more radical way of living than you're used to, but don't be fooled — this isn't some kind of hippie commune. The new Paddington digs boast 26 studio apartments — all with that clean, fresh and minimalist aesthetic interior design nerds will go giddy over — plus, a sunny courtyard and spacious common areas. Here, you can take a look inside and discover whether this is the living arrangement you've been looking for. MINIMISE THE CLUTTER (AND MAXIMISE YOUR SPACE) You may be a wanderlust freelancer, a newcomer to Sydney or a local looking for a change of scenery. Whatever has led you on a solo search for a home, living alone in a big city isn't always an option — or an appealing one, at least. On the other hand, sharehouses aren't for everyone. For starters, it can be damn pricey — and what's the point of having the city's best restaurants, art galleries and cultural events on your doorstep, if you can't enjoy them all? UKO cuts out many of the upfront expenses by offering fully kitted-out apartments — each studio features a kitchenette, ensuite, bed and desk. They are pretty cosy, but a lot of the features, including the couch, bench space and wardrobe space, can be rolled or folded away to maximise space. It's sort of like living in your own Jetsons-style futuristic apartment — and it means you won't end up buying loads of stuff to fill empty space. Plus, co-living means reduced land use, shared facilities and efficient use of space, so you're doing your part for sustainability, too. COMBAT URBAN LONELINESS Aside from the cost factors of living by yourself, it can also get super lonely. The reality of modern life means that we've now got a generation of renters who are digitally connected but socially isolated. A study by Swinburne University recently found that over 50 percent of Australians feel lonely at least one day a week. Co-living fights loneliness by designing spaces for those looking to immerse themselves in an inclusive community. UKO Community Hosts play a big role in fostering an inclusive culture by organising free activities on-site to bring everyone together — think Saturday morning yoga, weekly dinner and movie nights and wine tasting sessions. So, rather than laying in bed and living your life vicariously through social media, you'll actually be creating memories of your own. EMBRACE THE PERKS A sad reality of growing up is realising how much time (and money) you spend on boring-but-necessary stuff just to, well, exist. And not just going to work — we're talking buying homewares, paying bills and doing the cleaning and laundry. Oh, and the discomfort of those things increases tenfold if you're living with others. But UKO sorts all that out for you. Residents won't find themselves stressing about splitting utility bills, dodgy wifi connections or arguing over whose turn it is to clean the apartment — it's all handled by UKO. Knowing that the tedious life admin is taken care of, guests are free to enjoy each other's company with falling victim to housemate bickering. On top of that, rent at UKO Paddington (which starts at $495 per week), also includes all furnishings in your studio apartment, free linen changing and a complimentary membership to car-sharing service GoGet. So, you won't need to cut back on your nights out or smashed avo, after all. KEEP IT NIMBLE Anyone who has tried to break a lease early can tell you what a nightmare it can be. UKO offers leases as short as three months and, just in case things don't go to plan and you need to say goodbye sooner than expected, you can leave after a month without penalty. And, since your studio apartment was fully furnished, you won't have the full stress of mountains of boxes and removalists — big win. To find out more about UKO Paddington, visit the website.
Prolific street artist Scott Marsh has painted portraits of everyone from George Michael to Danny Lim and Bob Hawke — as well as derisive murals of Fraser Anning, Mike Baird and George Pell — across walls in Sydney. And, just last night, he immortalised another famous Aussie: Egg Boy. Better known to his friends as Will Connolly, the 17-year-old rocketed to prominence on Saturday, March 16, when he filmed himself smashing an egg on Senator Fraser Anning's head. Senator Anning was holding a press conference at a right-wing rally in Melbourne following the release of his much-criticised statement in response to the shooting at two Christchurch mosques. Fifty people were killed and 48 injured in the attack on Friday, March 15. While Connolly has not been charged by police, a GoFundMe page to raise funds for his legal fees — as well as more eggs — has, so far, raised $64,683. Connolly says he will donate the majority of the money to victims of the Christchurch terrorist attack. You can donate at the link above. Sydney's Egg Boy mural has been painted in Chippen Lane, just outside the Lord Gladstone, where Marsh regularly paints street art. It features Connolly holding an egg and his phone with the text 'Not All Hero Heroes Wear Capes', painted by Sydney signwriter Ann Woo. The pub has added a $13 Egg Boy Burger, a cheeseburger made with bacon and two fried eggs (of course), to its menu for the next week. Three dollars from each burger sold will go to the crowdfunding page setup for victims of the Christchurch shooting, which has so far raised over $6 million. https://www.instagram.com/p/BvOA4wJBsqL/ The Sydney mural is not the first to pop-up in Australia since the weekend, either. On Monday, artist Van T Rudd painted a mural of the egging in Hosier Lane, in Melbourne's CBD. Rudd reported that it was then painted over by a far-right group the following night, but you can check it out below: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvH4nZ3nLgh/
In A Real Pain, as two cousins make a pilgrimage to walk in their dearly departed grandmother's shoes, the concept of alternative possible lives arises. Jesse Eisenberg's second film as a writer/director after 2022's When You Finish Saving the World doesn't hop between timelines science fiction-style; rather, when different pasts or futures come up, it follows a relatable Sliding Doors-esque train of thought about the events and decisions that've shaped David (played by Eisenberg) and Benji Kaplan's (Kieran Culkin, Succession) existences. They're in Poland, where their Grandma Dory grew up, and where they might've too if the Holocaust hadn't occurred. On their guided tour, Benji muses with David about their parallel-universe selves, where they're Polish with beards and everything that they've ever known is completely different. A Real Pain itself is the product of a comparable journey; it could've been a different movie and, originally, it was meant to be. Eisenberg was endeavouring to bring another project to the screen, adapting a short story that he'd penned for Tablet magazine. It was about two friends, not cousins, and instead of Poland they were travelling to Mongolia together. But the Oscar-nominated The Social Network actor, not to mention star of everything from the Zombieland and Now You See Me movies through to TV's Fleishman Is in Trouble, had himself been to Poland. He'd paid tribute to his own family history, visiting the house that his aunt Doris had lived in. He'd also been inspired by that trip to write 2013's off-Broadway play The Revisionist, about a young American man with an older Polish cousin who had survived the Second World War. An ad for "Auschwitz tours, with lunch", which Eisenberg randomly spotted online, helped him pull together influences from all of the above — the screenwriting task that he'd actually set himself, his prior play, his personal experiences and history — into A Real Pain. Audiences should be grateful that it did. Awards bodies have been so far, including via four Golden Globe nominations (for Best Film — Musical or Comedy, Best Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy for Eisenberg, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture for Culkin, and Best Screenplay — Motion Picture, again for Eisenberg), plus love from the Gotham Awards and Independent Spirit Awards. At Sundance, where A Real Pain premiered, the dramedy took home a screenwriting accolade. Eisenberg isn't just filtering elements of his family's past into the movie, or recreating a trip that he took with his now-wife two decades back. As he did with the Julianne Moore (May December)- and Finn Wolfhard (Saturday Night)-starring When You Finish Saving the World, he's also tapping into his own IRL anxieties. What he's digging into is right there in A Real Pain's name. As he tells Concrete Playground, "I'm trying to examine and ask the question that I ask myself every day: is my pain valid?". When there's such bigger struggles, troubles and atrocities haunting the world beyond the everyday woes of a person with a largely comfortable life, how can someone feel angst and hurt while also confronted with the bigger picture? In A Real Pain, David and Benji were born mere weeks apart and were almost inseparable as kids, and now make a chalk-and-cheese pair — as is immediately evident while the former leaves a series of messages about meeting up at the airport, where the latter has already been contentedly for hours — but both have their own tussles. In their interactions one on one and with others, one is a ball of tension and apprehension, while the other is laidback and charming. (Based on casting, it's easy to pick which is which before even watching, although Eisenberg initially planned to play Benji.) Where David has also settled into adulthood while grappling with his stresses, however, Benji is in a state of arrested development. Their grandmother's passing hasn't helped. At a pivotal moment, chatting over dinner with the pair's tour group — which includes Will Sharpe (The White Lotus) as their guide, plus Jennifer Grey (Dollface), Kurt Egyiawan (The Agency), Liza Sadovy (A Small Light) and Daniel Oreskes (Only Murders in the Building) as fellow travellers — while Benji is in the bathroom, David unburdens his feelings in a powerful torrent. "I love him and I hate him and I want to kill him and I want to be him," he notes, getting to the heart of the cousins' complicated relationship. Earlier, they'd been at Lublin's Old Jewish Cemetery. The next day, they'll visit the Majdanek concentration camp. A Real Pain sees its titular emotion in micro and macro, then, and knows how awkwardly that the two clash. Just as with questioning the legitimacy of routine trials versus all of the worse things in the world, Eisenberg drew that crucial monologue from his own emotions and experiences. "It's also the most-personal part of the movie — and this is a movie that is very personal," he told us. We also chatted with the Rodger Dodger, The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, The Double, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Vivarium and Sasquatch Sunset star about how A Real Pain came together, working with Culkin — including Emma Stone's advice as one of the film's producers that he shouldn't play Benji himself — and what he makes of his career 25 years after his screen debut in TV series Get Real. On What Keeps Drawing Eisenberg to the Question of 'What Pain Is Valid?' as a Writer/Director, First in When You Finish Saving the World and Now in A Real Pain "I've been in the arts since I'm a kid, and I married somebody who works in social justice. And so anytime time I feel I'm doing well or something, I'm reminded that my wife is maybe working with people in more immediate need than I am. And my mother-in-law ran a domestic violence shelter for 35 years, and was unimpressed that her daughter had been married to somebody in movies. So in that first movie, Julianne Moore plays a woman who runs a domestic violence shelter, and she's kind of unimpressed with her kid, who's her family, not doing anything of social value according to her. And then in A Real Pain, the characters are experiencing this very personal pain. My character has OCD, but medicates it away. And my cousin's character has very dark, dark demons inside of him, but it's on an individual level. And so I thought it would be interesting to put these guys against the backdrop of real historical global objective trauma, like the Holocaust. Because in both movies I'm trying to examine and ask the question that I ask myself every day: is my pain valid? I live in a comfortable apartment with a nice wife and kid, and work, I have a nice job. But yet I still feel miserable all day. And why do I have those feelings? So both movies are exploring that exact question. Questions of privilege versus pain — questions about how is it possible that we could feel bad for ourselves when there are so many worse things in the world? In the case of the first movie, it's about domestic violence, and in the case of this movie, it's the Holocaust. And that's just my preoccupation, which just comes from a very self-centred question of 'why do I deserve to feel self-pity?'. On A Real Pain Coming Together From First Trying to Write a Different Film, Then Seeing an Online Ad for Auschwitz Tours "with Lunch", and Also a Past Off-Broadway Play, Plus Eisenberg's Own Personal History and Trip to Poland "It's funny, my friend and I, he's a writer too, we write next to each other at the library every day, and he always says 'once you're on the downslope of the script, you know it's going well'. 'The downslope' in our lingo is basically just once you get past the point of setting everything up and the things are in motion and everything feels right, kind of resolving everything or maybe it's not resolving anything, but that downslope to the end is really smooth. So the last ten pages of this movie, I wrote, I think, in like five minutes, because my wife was texting me I'm going to be late to pick up my kid, and I was like 'I know, but I know the ending, I just have to..'. [caption id="attachment_985500" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Agata Grzybowska. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.[/caption] So I just wrote it really quickly and all this great stuff came out about me hitting him in the airport, and then this just sad ending of me going home to my family and him stuck at the airport, and it just happened because everything had been set up. And it was in my mind, as you mentioned, throughout several other plays and short stories and stuff, and a real trip with my wife. So once I was at that point, where the dominoes were all falling, I knew, 'oh, this is a story that feels complete'. And then I sent it to my parents and they had no idea what they were reading, because I sent it to them, I don't write in screenwriting programs, so I sent them an e-mail with no names above the characters. Anyway, they said 'this is terrible, what did you what did you do?'. And then I made it more official." [caption id="attachment_985499" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo by Agata Grzybowska, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.[/caption] On What Eisenberg Was Excited About with Working with Kieran Culkin — and Casting Him in a Role That He Was First Planning to Play Himself "I was originally thinking I would play the role of Benji. And our producer is Emma Stone, and she is obviously a very successful producer/actress, and she told me just it would not be a good idea to play a character like that, who's so kind of unhinged and spontaneous, while also trying to direct the movie where I had to be in my other side of my brain of managing a crew. So once I decided I wasn't going to play that role and I was thinking about who could play it, the only person that seemed to me — it's strange, because he's not a Jewish actor — but the only person that seemed to me of my ilk is Kieran. [caption id="attachment_985496" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for The Walt Disney Company Limited[/caption] I don't know what it is, that we're both from New York and speak in this kind of way, and have an energy about us that is similar, but I needed somebody similar and different to me. And Kieran is like me in so many ways and then completely the opposite of me in so many ways. He doesn't feel anxiety about acting. He doesn't think about it. He just wants to get to the set and to just perform. He doesn't want to talk. He does want to analyse it. He doesn't even sleep the night before, and he never wants to rehearse. And he's just comfortable in his own skin. He's now winning, like today, he just won two major awards for the role. I think he doesn't even care. I sent him a congratulations message. He's never going to get back to me. He just takes care of his kids and doesn't care about ambition, fame, success, any money, anything. He lives a really unusual life and it's exactly what I needed for the character. So what we were experiencing on set as colleagues was quite similar to what they're experiencing on set in character." On Capturing the Relatable Dynamic of Loving Someone But Also Hating Them in a Powerful Monologue — and How Pivotal That Moment Was for Eisenberg "Oh, very strangely pivotal in the sense that I was so conscious of the fact that I, as the writer/director, have a monologue in the movie. And I was so panicked about filming it, because I thought I would screw it up, and then I thought 'I don't want the other cast to be sitting there all day while I do this shot of myself'. So the cinematographer and the producer Ali Herting [I Saw the TV Glow, The Curse] basically forced me into doing this long shot that pushes in. We did one take and I was too embarrassed to do it again, because it just seemed indulgent. It's the only take we got. And because I knew I only wanted to one take, I put all the eggs in the basket of it, and so it was very lived in, so to speak. It's also the most-personal part of the movie — and this is a movie that is very personal. We film the movie at my family's house in Poland and it's about my family's history, and yet the most-personal part of the movie is where I say that stuff. Because I guess what I'm talking about is just the way I've felt in my relationships with other guys growing up, just finding people that I'm in awe of — not just guys, also women and family members and all sorts of people — where I have these dual feelings of wanting to be them and kill them at the same time, and loving them and hating them at the same time. I'm living in the shadow of Benji, but in some ways my life has greater stability than his. In most ways, my life has more stability. And so I understand that I've created the life I want, and yet still every time I'm with him he brings up those childhood feelings of envy." On What Eisenberg Makes of His Path From His Screen Debut in TV Series Get Real 25 Years Ago to Everything That's Come His Way Since, Including Writing and Directing "When I was like 16, I got my first professional acting job, which was acting in this TV show. And I'll never forget the audition, all the executives were there, and I remember I was just trying to be funny in front of them. And I was not thinking of myself as a funny person at that point. I was trying to be funny, and people were laughing, like adults were laughing. And I thought 'oh, that's interesting, I wonder if I'm allowed to just be funny the way I want to be funny — it can translate'. I didn't have to be funny like Adam Sandler or something. I could just be funny like myself. So that TV show allowed me to explore, let's say, my own voice as an actor. So that was a really, really lucky experience that no one watched. And since then, I've been very lucky to play roles where I can bring myself to it or bring my own sensibility to certain things, especially in a movie like A Real Pain, which is like my story, and I'm always surprised that anybody likes it. Because when you think of something that's your own, and that's private or artful or creative or something that's funny in your head, you never expect to have any kind of public reaction. But now I've found myself in this very weird position where I get to write stuff and can produce it, and it just feels quite strange because it all still feels very personal." A Real Pain opens in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, December 26, 2024. Images: Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Kosta's Takeaway is a self-proclaimed no-bullshit café. The local hole-in-the-wall spot is located right next to a smash-repairs workshop in the heart of Sydney's Rockdale, serving up some of the best sandwiches in the city with low fuss. The ethos is "classic, not basic". Don't expect an artfully curated space or deconstructed meals with theatrics — instead, get around an ever-revolving menu of big and tasty sandwiches accompanied by great coffee, shakes and pastries. Freshly baked bread comes from Thoroughbread bakery in Kirrawee and most of the deli meats get carted over by Whole Beast Butchery in Marrickville. Depending on what's good and available from these guys will determine what's made that day. Meat-heavy options include the likes of the rubenesque beast that comes with heaps of pastrami slices, pickled eschalots, red onions, mustard and dill on rye bread. Then there's the Mediterranean sanga that's stuffed with prosciutto, fresh ricotta, radicchio, figs and truffle honey. Heaven. The cult favourite, however, is the fish sandwich. It's a must-try Sydney treat loaded with oh so much tartar sauce. But sandwiches aren't the only lunch option at Kosta's Takeaway. Several Greek bites like spanakopita and rizogalo (dessert-style rice pudding), are also available to diners looking for fewer carbs. Kosta's hasn't caved to Sydney's health-food craze. Instead, it's all about big meals that are big on flavour. That's what helps make this one of the best cafes in Sydney. Whatever you eat will fill you up and make your mouth water. You can even buy some of the pickles, ferments and cold cuts to take away, so you can try to recreate this magic at home. It won't be the same, but it'll tide you over until you can get over to Kosta's Takeaway again. And, if you're closer to the city, you can get your sambo fix at Kosta's second outpost at Circular Quay's dining precinct Sydney Place. Appears in: The Best Cafes in Sydney
At first glance you might have thought, "Oh, this is obviously some kind of computer-generated building blueprint thing," when you saw the picture of Korean artist Do Ho Suh's latest artwork. These days we pretty much assume everything is Photoshopped. But in this case, the joke's totally on you. The walls are real, the windows are real. In fact, they're probably even more real than the people and cases on Judge Judy. So what is this ethereal blue structure? The whole thing's made of silk, and represents a 1:1-scale model of homes previously lived in by the artist, one nestled inside the other. Known for his zany, skewed-perspective manipulations of full-scale houses, walls and other exterior structures brought inside (you can check some of them out here, here and here, including earlier works constructed from nylon), Suh's latest installation is titled Home Within Home Within Home Within Home Within Home. Look closely and you'll see the distinction between the two homes: outside we have a modern Providence, Rhode Island apartment building — the artists' first US dwelling-place — and inside you'll glimpse, artfully suspended like a ghost, an exact copy of the traditional Korean house where Suh was raised. It's mind-blowing to conceive of the logistics of putting this project together, and the result is so big that visitors to the exhibition at Seoul's National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art are able to stroll through and study the work from every angle. Combining the intimately personal with replicated architecture carries a message about identity: according to the artists' bio, his installations explore "the relation between individuality, collectivity, and anonymity". Obviously the nesting of one cultural identity, represented by the physical house, within another — while both remain transparent — is a neat and direct metaphor for the artist's self. Memorialising familiar places through different media is a long-running theme for Suh — read his ideas about the sensuality of pencil-rubbings here. Via Colossal.
With a Game of Thrones prequel series on its way, and a new Lord of the Rings TV show as well, 2022 is shaping up to be a huge year for fantasy. From August onwards, you can expect your streaming queues to be full of the genre, in fact. Getting in before those two other certain hits: Netflix's The Sandman, which brings Neil Gaiman's graphic novels to the screen. The streaming service has just announced that The Sandman will drop on Friday, August 5 — and it has released a new teaser trailer, too, to get viewers excited. If this is your first interaction with Gaiman's's tale and the Dream King at its centre, prepare for a suitably dark and brooding blend of myth and fantasy. So, another characteristic entry in the genre. As first played out in comic books between 1989–1996, The Sandman combines contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend to tell the tale of the Dream King, who is also known as both Dream and Morpheus, and has power over all dreams and stories. Sweetbitter, Mary Shelley and Song to Song's Tom Sturridge takes on the key role, as the show dives into his character's efforts to mend his mistakes — both cosmic and human — after being held prisoner for a century. To do so, he must visit the people, places and timelines he's affected. In print, The Sandman hails from DC Comics — and, yes, beings with superpowers are at its core. Dream is part of the Endless, alongside Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium and Destruction, because everything these days (and in the 90s, too) needs a squad of folks with otherworldly abilities. Also set to feature, cast-wise, are Game of Thrones stars Gwendoline Christie and Charles Dance — the former as Lucifer, ruler of hell — plus Vivienne Acheampong (The Witches), Boyd Holbrook (The Predator), Jenna Coleman (The Serpent), David Thewlis (Landscapers), Stephen Fry (The Dropout), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Good Place) and Joely Richardson (Color Out of Space). And, both Patton Oswalt (Gaslit) and Mark Hamill (Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker) are involved as well, doing voice work. When The Sandman finally drops into your Netflix queue, it'll arrive after years of trying — both on the big and the small screens. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was once attached; however, that version didn't come to fruition. And the character of Lucifer has already scored its own series, but played by Tom Ellis (Isn't It Romantic). Check out the trailer for The Sandman below: The Sandman will start streaming via Netflix on Friday, August 5. Images: courtesy of Netflix.
Like the Dollarmite account, Peter Combe has faithfully travelled with us into our adulthood — to the point where the childhood music maestro sold out his 2011 Oxford Art Factory 18+ gig. Now he's back with the swinging melodies, hilarious lyrics, and oh-so-familiar voice that will bring rushing back memories of skipping through the family kitchen at bench height, running naked through the sprinkler, and laughing yourself silly on the rug in front of the TV while singing 'Wash Your Face in Orange Juice' — not to mention his numerous other catchy tunes, including 'Newspaper Mama', 'Toffee Apple', 'Juicy Juicy Green Grass', 'Spaghetti Bolognaise', and 'Chopsticks'. Get swept away with childhood nostalgia, listen a little more closely to his lyrics, and see if you can find some subversive behavioural messages and LSD-fitting allegory. Sweeeeeet.
Say cheers — Sydney is scoring a huge new drinks festival this year. Beerfest is a drinks-centred celebration dedicated to top-quality beer, cider, distillers and wine. Come December, you'll be indulging in two whole days of sampling Australia's finest local producers. The Sydney edition joins a roster of Beerfest events that have previously taken places in cities throughout the country, and now, it'll be drawing a crowd to Darling Harbour. Tumbalong Park is set to host the festivities, with the celebrations taking over the spot for two big days from Friday, December 6 to Saturday, December 7. "Sydney BeerFest at Tumbalong Park is the ultimate blend of party vibes and brew education, and a place where good times and great flavours collide," said James Harding, Co-Director of BeerFest. While craft breweries are a massive contributor to the Australian economy, Beerfest is fuelled by the pressures local breweries face as a result of Australia's high beer tax, which ranks as the third-highest in the world. Hence, the arrival of this celebration, which'll act as a cash injection for the industry — especially seeing as though the event organisers don't take a cut of sales. "Australian craft brewers need our support more than ever," said Harding, "With exclusive small-batch brews, one-off collaborations and themed cocktails, it's much more than just a paddock-to-plate experience." Over 8,000 attendees are expected to join the festivities, and there are plenty of drawcards on the lineup. In addition to sampling the wares of over 100 of Australia's best local producers, punters can also enjoy live DJ sets, food trucks, cocktail masterclasses, stand-up comedy and tattoo stalls. Head to the BeerFest Australia website for tickets, updates and further announcements.
If you weren't listening to Jonathan Boulet in '09 and missed the follow-up boat in 2012, there's a whole new Boulet chapter to wrap your ears around. With riff-heavy tracks that rarely skimp on the gnarl, the Sydneysider's sounds supersede your average post-punk howls — and his latest album Gubba proves he's only getting grimier. Boulet made his way into earholes Australia-wide with his self-titled 2009 LP, before giving hungry fans the highly-praised We Keep The Beat, Found the Sound, See the Need, Start The Heart three years later. Since then, he's shared stages with Mumford and Sons, Tame Impala and Kate Nash, done Splendour, Falls and SXSW, then last year he packed up, jetted off and found a new home in Berlin for a brief hiatus. Now the multi-instrumenalist is back, with a leather-laden Dad on one side and third LP Gubba on the other. The album's already been praised as brutal, sneering and showing new degrees of maturity — not in a "I pay my own rent, dammit," sense, but rather in terms of musical complexity. We had a chat to Boulet ahead of his nationwide tour about Gubba, the evolution of his unique sound and the coolest motorbike gang you might ever see. You've had a super busy 2014 so far with the release of Gubba, what's been a particular high? It's been a pretty good start, I reckon. Pretty energised and elated to have finished another album and have it out so quickly after the fact. I think just having this album released already is the high. It's only downhill from there. No, not really. Touring will be the only thing to trump the joy of having a new release. That and the cocaine. It's been two years since the release of We Keep the Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start the Heart, does that mean Gubba has been a solid two year project? No way. Two years?! My attention span is not that durable. Only after we were completely done touring that last record, I started to consider what may or may not lie in the future. I had already been working on some riff ideas by the time we landed in Berlin, but most of them were thrown out and replaced by younger, tastier and more seductive riffs. Gubba is a hell of a sporadic album — it bounces from grizzly to get-up in a matter of tracks. Why do you think there is such a change of pace in Gubba from your previous works? I think that before I was attempting to write an album entirely consisting of singles. This time I had a lot of fun making small musical things, little ditties and such to help break up the consistently high levels of loudness. Whether they are effective in actually breaking up the album is completely irrelevant. When you started piecing together the tracks, was there any overall style or plan you were working towards? Initially, the plan was simply 'balls to the wall'. Energy. And it began to take shape in a rock context. After a while I learned that for something to sound loud, it needs to be next to something that is quiet. So I sought to introduce more depth, dynamics and points of interest. It all continued to blossom and flourish from there. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FOcziciUnr0 The Hold it Down clip is pretty solid — excellent ratio of leather-to-wrap-arounds. Tell us a bit about filming the clip. Is your dad really the star of the video? My good friend Jack Saltmiras filmed it with a bunch of our mates. And yes, my Dad is the mad dog in charge. He said after shooting the scene where he was doing burnouts and thrashing the bike, it started to run smoother than it ever had before. It's the coolest motorbike crew I've ever seen and I'd give anything to be in a gang like that. How do you think your decision to uproot and head abroad has influenced your music style? Do you think a change of scenery has had a pretty significant effect on this album? I don't think it has much at all to be honest. I think the change of scenery has had an effect on me as a person and therefore possibly that has effected the music. It's hard to say. I think I would have made the same thing whether I was in Australia, Berlin or Antarctica. Although, if I made it in Antarctica the album would be called, Fuck You, Cold. For those who've missed the boat on your other music projects, tell us a little about Top People and Snakeface. Do you have any other projects in the works at the moment? Top People is a project I do with Zacc Abbott-Atchinson (ex-Halal, How Are You? singer). It's basically slow, loud music with hilarious lyrical content. Good fun if you ever get the chance to come to a show, if we ever play another one. And Snakeface is what started as a thrash band that more and more of our friends have become involved in, up until we made the album Oberon. A punk band, with as many varying influences as it does members. If you are of the heavy music persuasion, I implore you to check out both. If you gave Gubba to someone to listen to for the first time, what would you hope they respond to or take away from it? I would hope they would frame the record, dip the framed record in gold, then compress the gold-dipped, framed record into a golden crystal to be worn around the neck and passed down from generation to generation until they forgot what it was actually made of, then pawned it for cash and bought a cheap puppy with the money. Gubba is out now via Popfrenzy. Jonathan Boulet National Tour Dates: Friday 15 August — Northcote Social Club, Melbourne Saturday 16 August — Pirie & Co Social Club, Adelaide Thursday 21 August — Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Thursday 28 August — Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
We're different people in summer: laidback to the point of dopey, beach-haired to the point of feral and just looking to stretch out that chilled holiday feeling as long as possible into the new year. So it makes sense that we want a different thing from our summer bars. We want rooftop decks, gardens, water views, a splash of California here, some Mexico there and, every now and then, something that resembles a giant rumpus room. Here are ten new bars ticking those boxes with flair. For more of our top picks of Sydney in summer, check out the Summer Guide. Garden Bar by the Corner House Pop-Up Not everyone was a fan of the Opera House's last, occasionally boisterous venture into the world of pop-up bars with El Loco, but this year theatre-goers can probably breathe a sigh of relief; the Opera House's new pop-up bar is so chill they're even offering yoga sessions. The team behind Bondi institution The Corner House has brought its brand of laidback Mediterranean cool to the Opera House with their pop-up, Garden Bar by the Corner House, and will stay until January 27. Western Broadwalk and Western Foyers of Sydney Opera House Buns & Balls No body of water in sight, and yet this place (in a heretofor rather cursed position on Bayswater Road) screams summer party. It looks like Justin Hemmes' rumpus room — a large bar, street designed walls, a blue felt pool table and the greatest game known to humanity, Big Buck Hunter. And if you need any more convincing after you hear the words 'buck' and 'hunter', their chargrilled chicken burger ($10) was an instant addition to our guilty pleasure list (thank you original Oporto chilli recipe courtesy of owner — and Oporto founder — Gary Linz). 33 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross SoCal It's time to slip into something a little more comfortable. Grab those large dark sunnies, your best dressed-up beach chic and head on over to the growing bar area of Neutral Bay. Then sit back and get acquainted with Southern California. This is for the good-looking North Shore crowd who have been calling out for more stylish drinking venues. There's a MexiCali-inspired share plate scenario for eats, with a focus on fresh flavours and seafood. And one of the best parts? The 2am licence, which means ol' Maisy's down the road has some competition. Okay, not really. SoCal wins hands down. 1 Young Street, Neutral Bay Papi Chulo From Ms G's Patrick Friesen, El Loco's Christopher Hogarth and executive chef Dan Hong comes Papi Chulo, Merivale's first venture in Manly. The protein-packed cuisine revolves around the methods of three different barbecue contrivances: a smoker (to get that deep pit flavour of the American South), a wood grill for charring and a Brazilian charcoal rotisserie. It only opened on December 31, but the food and the Cuban-cool space have already attracted heaps of praise. Time to leave the fish and chips to the birds. 22-23 Manly Wharf, Manly Festival Village We all know Hyde Park is much better when conceived as a kind of Midsummer Night's Dream: a magical, atmospheric hub bounded by strings of lights. This Sydney Festival's hub, the Festival Village in Hyde Park, is the ultimate garden bar, thrice as sprawling as last year's Festival Garden. It's your one-stop summer destination, with Sacrilege for arty exertion; the Spiegeltent, Village Bandstand and Rekorderlig Gazebo for all your entertainment and booze needs; and Gelato Messina, Food Society, Jafe Jaffles and Woofys hot dogs for sustenance (just behold these custom-made Messina creations). Entry is free and the Village gates are open until 2am. Until January 26 at Hyde Park North North Bondi Fish Beach-loving foodies can cruise their last wave and, within minutes, be sitting in front of simple, freshly cooked seafood, accompanied by their choice(s) from a Matt Dunne-curated, 20-strong wine list. The emphasis is on quality produce, transformed into light, accessible, tasty meals and snacks, with fish cooked on an Inka Grill. Several Matt Moran favourites are on the list, including his very own fish fingers; grilled snapper with asparagus, pea shoots and avocado; prawn roll; sweet potato scallops; and yellow-fin tuna ceviche. To suit the coastal location, and the salty, sandy realities of beachside wining and dining, the restaurant has donned a relaxed, casual interior, evocative of what you might find in Mediterranean climes. 120 Ramsgate Avenue, North Bondi The Cliff Dive What it lacks in light and open air, Cliff Dive makes up for with endless summer spirit. Dubbed a "Papua New Guinean dancehall", The Cliff Dive is the tiki bar with a difference, with distinctive flavours from East Timor and PNG complete with authentic, hand-turned wooden artefacts, novelty cocktails and a sunken dance floor. Pass by kitsch neon graphics and down the darkened stairwell to reach what is a tropical oasis: a hub of beats, beards and novelty-sized tiki mugs. The vibe is electric. DJs are scheduled most nights of the week, and the dance floor begs for inappropriate, early morning grinding. 16-18 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst The Bristol Arms Hotel Gutted, metaphorically gilded and reopened in November by Riversdale Group, the Bristol is big, bright and sporting some fairly fabulous city skyline and water views up top. Mainly catering to the crowd who are trapped in the CBD for work, the roof area has not one but two large roof terraces. Which, accompanied with colourful cane and white decor, is, if anything, fairly awesome for summer sundowners. 81 Sussex Street, Sydney Cafe del Mar If you've been listening to the grapevine, you'll have heard Darling Harbour's recent Mediterranean import might not be 100 percent legit. It's true: the Ibiza original's website claims the Sydney version "has nothing to do with our iconic Cafe del Mar brand", while Aussie director John Zappia issued a response labelling the above statement "false and very disappointing". Luckily for Zappia, his venue, whether a part of the brand or not, is far from disappointing. From the Camilla-clad hosts to the blue, white, wood and golden decor that screams beachside holiday cocktails, the large open kitchen, ample outdoor summer seating and wraparound views of, albeit, this city's not-so-favourite aforementioned harbour, the team behind this place have put on quite the show. Rooftop Terrace of Cockle Bay Wharf, 201 Sussex Street, Sydney Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel Not new, but with a new lease of life after a little nip-tuck (it is, after all, the eastern suburbs, darling). The Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel has been an east Sydney icon for over 180 years, and here it makes its maiden voyage after a venue reno and menu shake-up. The historic facade is now Miami mint green, and the makeover is marked with an old-world seaside charm. Stripy umbrellas, schoolyard benches and tres cute Breton-striped waitstaff add to the retro styling. It's the kind of beachy-cool-baby thing that Sydney should do so well but doesn't always get so right. 1 Military Road, Watsons Bay By the Concrete Playground team. Top image from SoCal.
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, it looks like the same mantra applies to its planned Melbourne season. Moulin Rouge! The Musical has put out a casting call for auditions in both Melbourne and Sydney in January and February 2021, with working towards June rehearsals and August previews part of its timeline. So, once the second half of next year hits, you could be watching the spectacular show — which is based on Baz Luhrmann's award-winning musical movie, of course — at Melbourne's revamped Regent Theatre. The 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 show carries on the legacy, backing those favourites with even more hit songs that have been released in the 19 years since the movie premiered. And, when Moulin Rouge! The Musical makes its Aussie debut, it'll be doing so in 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. While Moulin Rouge! The Musical's exact season dates haven't been revealed, you can register for the ticket waitlist via the production's website. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will hit The Regent Theatre, at 191 Collins Street, Melbourne in 2021 — with the show currently working towards an August 2021 kick-off date. To register for the ticket waitlist, head to the production's website. Moulin Rouge! The Musical image: Matthew Murphy.
It's no surprise the humble banana is a lunchbox staple. After all, they pack in essential vitamins while being ripe to eat on their own or paired with myriad ingredients. What's more, this much-loved fruit can even score you a free workout this Wednesday, October 8, in celebration of National Banana Day. Made possible by Australian Bananas — the national peak body advocating for the potassium-packed powerhouses — the Banana Gym Pass returns for a second year following its 2024 debut. Just show a banana to the team at over 900 participating gyms nationwide to receive a free guest pass for the day. Featuring more than double the gyms included in the first year, the campaign has been embraced with open arms by boutique studios and massive chains like Virgin Active, Fitness First and Anytime Fitness. That means it's likely a nearby gym is ready to peel open its doors so you can get in a session — just check for a participating location. "Bananas have always been one of my go-to snacks," says Australian Bananas ambassador Tim Robards. "They're natural, easy to grab and full of the energy you need for a great workout, to chase after the kids, or just keep on top of a busy day. National Banana Day is a great reminder that looking after your body and keeping it fuelled doesn't have to be complicated."
In 2020, we all started paying extra attention to where we've been, in case venues we've visited were also attended by confirmed COVID-19 cases. And, with the Greater Sydney region currently under lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak, frequently checking the state's list of exposure sites is once again part of Sydneysiders' routines. The NSW Government maintains a register of venues that positive COVID-19 cases have visited, and urges the state's residents to get tested and/or self-isolate if they've also visited at specific times. Now, you can also see all of the venue alerts across the state on an interactive map. Called COVID-19 Near Me, the statewide map gives locations specific hues depending on the action visitors are being urged to comply with, making it easy to see whether or not you must get tested and self-isolate or just monitor for symptoms. For example, bright red-coloured venues are close contact locations and, therefore, visitors are to get tested immediately and self-isolate for 14 days, even if they receive a negative test. A darker red indicates that folks should also get tested immediately and self-isolate, but will then need to wait for further advice. Orange is used for casual contacts, with visitors urged to get a test and self-isolate until receiving a negative result. And blue dots are used for lower-risk locations, which require visitors to monitor for symptoms and, subsequently, get tested should any appear. Unlike the NSW Government's pre-existing map for COVID-19 cases by postcode, this map is not run by the Government — it's just powered by its official data. So, NSW residents are urged to also check the official NSW Health website if they have any concerns about venues they may have visited. At the time of writing, the map was last updated in the early hours of Thursday, July 15. Everyone in NSW with even mild cold and flu symptoms is encouraged to come forward and get tested. You can check out all existing COVID-19 venue alerts at covid19nearme.com.au. For more information about COVID-19 in NSW and current restrictions, head to NSW Health. Images: COVID-19 Near Me as of Thursday, July 15.
North Sydney continues to cement a reputation as one of Sydney's most up-and-coming dining destinations with a flurry of recent openings — most notably a four-in-one mega venue on Walker Street — giving the city's gourmands much to salivate over. The latest addition to the locale's culinary creds is a cosy modern Italian from a team of hatted restaurateurs, and with a surprising facade to boot. Take a stroll down Miller Street and you could be forgiven for assuming the handsome heritage-listed craftsman-style mansion on the McLaren Street junction is just another private home. Once you cross the threshold, however, the monochromatic deco-inspired dining space tells an altogether different story of refined yet relaxed hospitality. Created by the team behind the multi-award-winning fine-diner Entrata in Glenhaven, Antica is breathing new life into the historic 115-year-old Montrose House, which has sat disused for four years. Following nine lauded years as Head Chef of Entrata, Executive Chef Jomel Santos, formerly of the Shangri-La Hotel in both the Philippines and Singapore, has expanded his remit to also oversee the kitchen in North Sydney. Antica's considered menu showcases simple yet elegant Italian fare, summoning classic flavours presented with gastronomic flair. Expect rustic dishes like pork and salami ravioli and spaghetti pescatore with Queensland king prawns, blue swimmer crab and clams to be elevated with platings that are as beautiful as they are tasty. "There is a certain craft when it comes to creating authentic Italian dishes. I like to honour tradition while embracing fresh, local Australian ingredients," Santos explains. "I am passionate about creating memorable dining moments, I love making people smile with my food. We embrace the warmth, flavours and hospitality that you would feel in a local Italian trattoria." Given its sister restaurant's standing as a former winner of an Australia's Wine List of the Year Award, it comes as no surprise that Antica's cellar is substantial — the extensive yet approachable list features over 300 bottles spanning all regions of Italy. Find Antica at 196 Miller Street, North Sydney, open Monday–Thursday, 12–10.30pm, Friday, 12–11.30pm and Saturday, 5.30–11.30pm. Head to the venue's website for more details. Images: Samantha Rose
The end of the year isn't just about having a few days off, feasting on too much food and generally feeling merry. It's also about devouring dystopian visions of humanity's technology-saturated future. Because Black Mirror has become as much a part of Christmas as lazing about and eating too much, the Charlie Brooker-created series has dropped its latest instalment: a choose-your-own-adventure-style movie. Called Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and available on Netflix right now, the film lets viewers decide what happens next. Yes, it's really just like the Choose Your Own Adventure books that you couldn't get enough of as a kid. At various moments during the movie, two options appear on the screen, asking you to select your preferred course of events. Picking what kind of cereal computer programmer Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) should eat, and what type of music he should listen to, is just the beginning. Set in 1984, the film follows 19-year-old Stefan as he tries to turn his favourite book, Bandersnatch, into a game — including the novel's branching pathways. His dad (Craig Parkinson) seems supportive, and so does the gaming developer (Asim Chaudhry) who gives him a job, but his programming idol (Will Poulter) keeps making comments about free will. Where the interactive movie goes from there isn't simply best discovered for yourself — it's decided by you as well. Variety reports that the multiple-choice effort features five main endings, if you're keen to see if you can work your way through them all. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch can be viewed in as little as 40 minutes, although it typically takes 90 minutes to get through. Before you start literally hitting the remote over and over, here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0xWpBYlNM Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is now streaming on Netflix.
The Darling Harbour outpost of global hotel chain Sofitel is set to unveil a new two-storey spa overlooking the water at the start of next year. Set to open in January, Sofitel Spa is billed as a holistic retreat in the heart of the city, featuring an array of wellness treatments and spa facilities. It will join Sydney's existing impressive supply of luxe spa experiences. The spa will feature seven spacious treatment rooms, including two serene suites with soft timbers, alongside sandstone and marble finishes. Other elements include an infrared sauna, a meditation zone and a relaxation deck that will sit on level four of the hotel. The spa will sit alongside the hotel's previously opened level four infinity pool. The pool is heated year-round and offers guests the ability to enjoy a dip while soaking in panoramic views of Darling Harbour and the Sydney CBD skyline. "We have designed our new day spa to nurture and empower guests in their wellness journey, assisting them in identifying their needs and gently guiding them in accomplishing their own goals, whether that relates to fitness, stillness of the mind, replenishment with nutrition or achieving glowing skin," Director of Spa and Wellness Cecilia Ferreyra says. "Our aim is to create bespoke journeys for each of our guests which means all treatments are tailor-made, so guests walk out feeling the full benefits of being in our care." Traditional treatments like massages, facials, body wraps and exfoliation will all be available alongside more holistic half-day experiences that combine exercise, healthy eating, a variety of treatments and introspection. French beauty brand Biologique Recherche and fast-rising Australian company Waterlily have been enlisted to provide the spa with its cosmetic treatment products, each of which will be personalised to any one guest's needs. Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour is located at 12 Darling Drive, Sydney. Sofitel Spa is set to open at the hotel in January 2023.
It's the end of an era, and it's going out with some impressive names. When Bluesfest hosts its last-ever festival in April 2025, it'll have Crowded House, Ocean Alley and Vance Joy for company. A week after announcing that the music fest only has one more run in it, the Byron Bay mainstay has started unveiling its goodbye lineup, revealing the initial 20 acts on the bill. 'Don't Dream It's Over' should take on extra resonance when it earns a spot in Crowded House's set, with the band making one last Bluesfest appearance. Ocean Alley are also no strangers to the fest, and equally onboard for the final 2025 hurrah. From there, the roster of talent for Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20, 2025 so far also spans Tones and I, Gary Clark Jr, Rag'n'Bone Man, RY X, Allison Russell and Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram — and more already, with future lineup announcements still to come. "As we prepare for the final chapter of Bluesfest in 2025, I am profoundly moved by the outpouring of support from thousands in our community, along with the many artists and their management eager to be part of our farewell edition. Thank you all for your heartfelt messages and expressions of solidarity," said Festival Director Peter Noble, revealing the fest's first acts for next year. "We're thrilled to unveil the first wave of artists for our grand finale. This lineup, meticulously curated to honour Bluesfest's rich legacy, features a dynamic mix of legendary and cutting-edge performers. This announcement marks just the beginning. Our second lineup is well and truly in the works and the reveal is on the horizon, promising to further enhance what is set to be an epic farewell." Bluesfest's four-day 2025 event will celebrate the Easter long-weekend fest's 36th year, as well as its last. As for who'll join Crowded House, Ocean Alley, Vance Joy and company, start guessing — 2024's headliners Tom Jones and Elvis Costello, if that helps. The last few years have been tumultuous for the Byron Bay fest. 2023's event lost a number of acts, including King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Sampa the Great, after Sticky Fingers were added to the bill. Bluesfest ultimately dropped the controversial band. And while the fest went ahead in 2022 after two years of pandemic cancellations (and a thwarted temporary move to October for the same reason), it showcased a primarily Australian and New Zealand lineup. [caption id="attachment_970517" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Celina Martins[/caption] Bluesfest saying goodbye means that two huge Aussie music festivals that call Byron Bay home have shut up shop, although hopefully one is only temporary. After Splendour in the Grass announced its dates for this year, then its lineup, it swiftly cancelled mere weeks later. It continues to prove a tough time for the Australian live music scene. Bluesfest calling time follows Mona Foma doing the same after its 2024 event — plus a lengthy list of festivals beyond Splendour that've ditched their plans this year, sometimes also without announcing their intentions for the future. Just two years after debuting, Adelaide's Harvest Rock has scrapped its 2024 fest as well. Spilt Milk cancelled its 2024 festivals, while Groovin the Moo did the same after announcing its lineup. Summergrounds Music Festival, which was meant to debut at Sydney Festival 2024, also pulled the plug. As announced in 2023, Dark Mofo took a breather in 2024. Yours and Owls has postponed its next fest until 2025, too, but is hosting a pre-party in October this year. Bluesfest 2025 Lineup: Crowded House Vance Joy Ocean Alley Tones and I Gary Clark Jr Rag'n'Bone Man RY X Allison Russell Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Brad Cox Here Come the Mummies The California Honeydrops Marc Broussard Pierce Brothers Taj Farrant Fanny Lumsden 19-Twenty WILSN Cimafunk Neal Francis [caption id="attachment_969986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969989" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969987" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_867504" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kurt Petersen[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969988" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Roger Cotgreave[/caption] Bluesfest 2025 will run from Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20 at Byron Events Farm, Tyagarah. Early-bird tickets are on sale now — for further information, head to the Bluesfest website. Top image: Joseph Mayers.
Australia is all about the kidult craze. We've got trampoline gyms and bouncing castle obstacle courses, Holey Moley mini golf bars and its arcade sibling Archie Brothers, along with Australia's biggest game of hide and seek. Among all these fancy new ways to throw it back to your childhood, it's no surprise that Timezone Australia is still going strong. The nostalgic mega-arcade is now set to open its tenth location in New South Wales, this time in Chippendale's Central Park shopping centre in mid-2018. This outpost will join George Street's Event Cinemas as the second Sydney CBD location and was chosen because of the concentrated student population in the area. It'll stock all your old favourite games, from Street Fighter and Big Buck to pinball, street basketball and laster tag. Timezone has some new games in the mix too, including a Walking Dead spin-off and a Tetris-like one that uses holographic technology. In lieu of the paper tickets you remember, gamers collect points on a power-card tap system, which you can use toward those poorly made prizes you'll invariably break or misplace. The new space will sit next to the food court on Level 2 and is said to be "vibrant, inviting and modern" — though we find a "bright and airy" arcade hard to imagine. Either way, it'll be game on. Timezone Central Park will open at Level 2, 28 Broadway, Chippendale early in the second quarter of 2018. For updates and more information, keep on eye on their Facebook.
In 2022, Australian movie lovers felt a need for speed. The nation's cinemagoers flocked to see yellow-hued offsiders spouting gibberish, too, plus oh-so-many superheroes. We also adored rock 'n' roll icons, wizarding backstories and rampaging dinosaurs. Yes, Top Gun: Maverick, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Thor: Love and Thunder, The Batman and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all sit atop of the Aussie box office for the year at the time of writing, followed by Jurassic World Dominion, Elvis, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Your memory isn't failing you: Spider-Man: No Way Home did first hit screens in 2021, and was the top-grossing movie in Australia in 2021. It proved such a box-office smash, though, that it's one of 2022's best money-earners as well. Expect Avatar: The Way of Water to do something similar this year — it's already storming up the list. Indeed, expect it to crack the top ten easily by the time that New Year's Eve hits. So, they're the massive flicks that everyone saw over the past 12 months, with the literal receipts to prove it. If you only went to the pictures to see huge titles, however, you missed an array of other delights that are well and truly worth your time and attention. As we do every year — and have since 2014 (see also: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021) — we've rounded up a list of top-notch films that released in Aussie cinemas in 2022 but didn't rack up fat stacks of cinema takings. Here are our 15 picks that you need to catch up on ASAP. BLAZE In the name of its protagonist, and the pain and fury that threatens to parch her 12-year-old existence, Del Kathryn Barton's first feature scorches and sears. It burns in its own moniker, too, and in the blistering alarm it sounds against an appalling status quo: that experiencing, witnessing and living with the aftermath of violence against women is all too common, heartbreakingly so, including in Australia where one woman a week on average is killed by her current or former partner. Blaze has a perfect title, with the two-time Archibald Prize-winning artist behind it crafting a movie that's alight with anger, that flares with sorrow, and that's so astutely and empathetically observed, styled and acted that it chars. Indeed, it's frequently hard to pick which aspect of the film singes more: the story about surviving what should be unknown horrors for a girl who isn't even yet a teen, the wondrously tactile and immersive way in which Blaze brings its namesake's inner world to the screen, or the stunning performance by young actor Julia Savage (Mr Inbetween) in its central part. There are imagined dragons in Blaze, but Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, this isn't — although Jake (Josh Lawson, Mortal Kombat), who Blaze spots in an alleyway with Hannah (Yael Stone, Blacklight), has his lawyer (Heather Mitchell, Bosch & Rockit) claim that his accuser knows nothing. With the attack occurring mere minutes into the movie, Barton dedicates the feature's bulk to how her lead character copes, or doesn't. Being questioned about what she saw in court is just one way that the world tries to reduce her to ashes, but the embers of her hurt and determination don't and won't die. Blaze's father Luke (Simon Baker, High Ground), a single parent, understandably worries about the impact of everything blasting his daughter's way. As she retreats then acts out, cycling between both and bobbing in-between, those fears are well-founded. Blaze is a coming-age-film — a robbing-of-innocence movie as well — but it's also a firm message that there's no easy or ideal response to something as awful as its titular figure observes. Blaze is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. YOU WON'T BE ALONE Sometimes, a comparison is so obvious that it simply has to be uttered and acknowledged. That's the case with You Won't Be Alone, the first feature from Macedonian Australian writer/director Goran Stolevski, who also helmed MIFF's 2022 opening-night pick Of an Age. His debut film's lyrical visuals, especially of nature, instantly bringing the famously poetic aesthetics favoured by Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life, A Hidden Life) to mind. Its musings on the nature of life, and human nature as well, easily do the same. Set centuries back, lingering in villages wracked by superstition and exploring a myth about a witch, You Won't Be Alone conjures up thoughts of Robert Eggers' The Witch as well. Indeed, if Malick had directed that recent favourite, the end product might've come close to this entrancing effort. Consider Stolevski's feature the result of dreams conjured up with those two touchstones in his head, though, rather than an imitator. The place: Macedonia. The time: the 19th century. The focus: a baby chosen by the Wolf-Eateress (Anamaria Marinca, The Old Guard) to be her offsider. The feared figure has the ability to select and transform one protege, but she agrees to let her pick reach the age of 16 first. Nevena (Sara Klimoska, Black Sun) lives those formative years in a cave, in an attempt to stave off her fate. When the Wolf-Eateress comes calling, her initiation into the world — the world of humans, and of her physically and emotionally scarred mentor — is jarring. With Noomi Rapace (Lamb), Alice Englert (The Power of the Dog) and Carloto Cotta (The Tsugua Diaries) also among the cast, You Won't Be Alone turns Nevena's experiences of life, love, loss, desire, pain, envy and power into a haunting and thoughtful gothic horror fable. To say that it's bewitching is obvious, too, but also accurate. You Won't Be Alone is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. FULL TIME At the 2021 Venice International Film Festival, French actor Laure Calamy won the Best Actress award in the event's Horizons strand — and mere minutes into Full Time, it's easy to see why. The Antoinette in the Cévennes and Call My Agent! star is phenomenal in this portrait of a single mother's hectic routine, with writer/director Eric Gravel (Crash Test Aglaé) charting the ups and downs of his protagonist's professional and personal situation like he's making a thriller. In fact, he is. Julie Roy, the feature's focus, is stretched to breaking point, and every moment of every day seems to bring a new source of stress. For starters, her job overseeing the cleaning at a five-star Parisian hotel is both chaotic and constantly throwing up challenges, she's put all her hopes on a new gig in market research but getting time off for the interview is easier said than done, and the French capital is in the middle of a transport strike that makes commuting in and out from the outskirts basically impossible. Also adding to Julie's troubles: the childcare arrangement she has in place with a neighbour, having any energy to spend meaningful time with her children at the end of her busy days, trying to get financial support out of her absent ex and planning a birthday party. All of this might sound mundane, and like the kind of thing that plenty of people deal with every day — and that's partly the point. Full Time hones in on the rush, hustle and bustle to show how fraught this vision of normality is. Every shot by cinematographer Victor Seguin (Gagarine) ripples with tension, and the rhythm amplified by editor Mathilde Van de Moortel (Mustang) is nothing short of relentless. Gravel truly sees Julie, her stresses and the fact that she's at her wits' end, and the marvellous Calamy plays the part like she's living it. Full Time is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY One of two films by Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi that hit Australian cinemas this year — the other, Drive My Car, was an Oscar hit — Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy gives three tales about romance, desire and fate a spin. These three stories all muse on chance, choice, identity and echoes as well, and focus on complex women reacting to the vagaries of life and everyday relationships. Coincidence plays a role in each of the trio, too, and commonalities ebb and flow between each dialogue-heavy narrative. In other words, this is a smart, astute and savvily layered triptych from the director behind Happy Hour and Asako I and II, as brought to the screen with excellent performances, a canny knack for domestic drama and piercing long shots in each and ever chapter. In the first part, model Meiko (Kotone Furukawa, 21st Century Girl) discovers that her best friend Tsugumi (Hyunri, Wife of a Spy) has just started seeing her ex-boyfriend Kazuaki (Ayumu Nakajima, Saturday Fiction), and grapples with her complicated feelings while pondering what could eventuate. Next, college student Nao (Katsuki Mori, Sea Opening) is enlisted to seduce Professor Sagawa (Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Tezuka's Barbara) as part of a revenge plan by her lover Sasaki (Shouma Kai, Signal 100). Finally, in a world where the internet has been eradicated due to a virus, Natsuko (Fusako Urabe, Voices in the Wind) and Nana (Aoba Kawai, Marriage with a Large Age Gap) cross paths — thinking that they went to school together decades ago. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy isn't currently available to stream. Read our full review. COMPARTMENT NO. 6 Handheld camerawork can be a gimmick. It can be distracting, too. When imagery seems restless for no particular reason other than making the audience restless, it drags down entire films. But at its best, roving, jittery and jumpy frames provide one of the clearest windows there is into the souls that inhabit the silver screen in 90-minute blocks or so, and also prove a wonderful way of conveying how they feel in the world. That's how Compartment No. 6's cinematography plays, and it couldn't be a more crucial move; this is a deeply thoughtful movie about two people who are genuinely restless themselves, after all. Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen (The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki) wants what all of the most perceptive filmmakers do — to ensure his viewers feel like they know his characters as well as they know themselves — and in his latest cinematic delight, he knows how to get it. How Kuosmanen evokes that sense of intimacy and understanding visually is just one of Compartment No. 6's highlights, but it's worthy of a train full of praise. With the helmer's returning director of photography Jani-Petteri Passi behind the lens, the film gets close to Finnish student Laura (Seidi Haarla, Force of Habit) and Russian miner Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov, The Red Ghost). It peers intently but unobtrusively their way, like an attentive lifelong friend. It jostles gently with the locomotive that the movie's central pair meets on, and where they spend the bulk of their time together. It ebbs and flows like it's breathing with them. It rarely ventures far from their faces in such cramped, stark, 90s-era Russian surroundings, lingering with them, carefully observing them, and genuinely spying how they react and cope in big and small moments alike. Pivotally — and at every moment as well — this Before Sunrise-esque gem truly pays attention to, appreciates and understands its key duo. Compartment No. 6 isn't currently available to stream. Read our full review. C'MON C'MON The last time that Joaquin Phoenix appeared in cinemas before 2022, he played an overlooked and unheard man. "You don't listen, do you?" Arthur Fleck asked his social worker, and the entirety of Joker — and of Phoenix's magnetic Oscar-winning performance as the Batman foe in the 2019 film, too — provided the obvious answer. Returning to screens in a feature that couldn't be more different to his last, Phoenix now plays a professional listener. A radio journalist and podcaster who'd slide in seamlessly alongside Ira Glass on America's NPR, Johnny's niche is chatting with children. Travelling around the country from his New York base, C'mon C'mon's protagonist seeks thoughts about life, hopes, dreams, the future and the world in general, but never in a Kids Say the Darndest Things-type fashion. As Phoenix's sensitive, pensive gaze conveys under the tender guidance of Beginners and 20th Century Women filmmaker Mike Mills, Johnny truly and gratefully hears what his young interviewees utter. Phoenix is all gentle care, quiet understanding and rippling melancholy as Johnny. All naturalism and attentiveness as well, he's also firmly at his best, no matter what's inscribed on his Academy Award. Here, Phoenix is as phenomenal as he was in his career highlight to-date, aka the exceptional You Were Never Really Here, in a part that again has his character pushed out of his comfort zone by a child. C'mon C'mon's Johnny spends his days talking with kids, but that doesn't mean he's equipped to look after his nine-year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman, The War of the Worlds) in Los Angeles when his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann, Transparent) needs to assist her husband Paul (Scoot McNairy, A Quiet Place Part II) with his mental health. Johnny and Viv haven't spoken since their mother died a year earlier, and Johnny has previously overstepped when it comes to Paul — with the siblings' relationship so precarious that he barely knows Jesse — but volunteering to help is his immediate reflex. C'mon C'mon is available to stream via Binge, Paramount+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. FLEE When Flee won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, it collected its first accolade. The wrenchingly affecting animated documentary hasn't stopped notching up deserving acclaim since. A spate of other gongs have come its way, in fact, including a history-making trifecta of nominations for Best International Feature, Best Documentary and Best Animated Feature at this year's Oscars, becoming the first picture to ever earn nods in all three categories at once. Gleaning why this moving and compassionate movie keeps garnering awards and attention isn't difficult. Pairing animation with factual storytelling is still rare enough that it stands out, but that blend alone isn't what makes Flee special. Writer/director Jonas Poher Rasmussen (What He Did) has created one of the best instances of the combination yet — a feature that could only have the impact it does by spilling its contents in such a way, like Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir before it — however, it's the tale he shares and the care with which he tells it that makes this something unshakeably exceptional. Rasmussen's subject is Amin Nawabi, an Afghan refugee using a pseudonym. As his story fills Flee's frames, it's also plain to see why it can only be told through animation. Indeed, the film doesn't cover an easy plight — or a unique one, sadly — but Rasmussen renders every detail not just with eye-catching imagery, but with visuals that flow with empathy at every moment. The filmmaker's protagonist is a friend of his and has been for decades, and yet no one, not even the director himself, had ever previously heard him step through the events that the movie chronicles. Amin is now in his 40s, but he was once a kid in war-torn Kabul, then a teenager seeking asylum in Copenhagen. His life to-date has cast him in other roles in other countries, too, on his journey to house-hunting with his boyfriend as he chats through the ups and downs for his pal. Flee is available to stream via DocPlay, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. MEMORIA When Memoria begins, it echoes with a thud that's not only booming and instantly arresting — a clamour that'd make anyone stop and listen — but is also deeply haunting. It arrives with a noise that, if the movie's opening scene was a viral clip rather than part of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's spectacular Cannes Jury Prize-winning feature, it'd be tweeted around with a familiar message: sound on. The racket wakes up Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton, Three Thousand Years of Longing) in the night, and it's soon all that she can think about; like character, like film. It's a din that she later describes as "a big ball of concrete that falls into a metal well which is surrounded by seawater"; however, that doesn't help her work out what it is, where it's coming from or why it's reverberating. The other question that starts to brood: is she the only one who can hear it? So springs a feature that's all about listening, and truly understands that while movies are innately visual — they're moving pictures, hence the term — no one should forget the audio that's gone with it for nearly a century now. Watching Weerasethakul's work has always engaged the ears intently, with the writer/director behind the Palme d'Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and just-as-lyrical Cemetery of Splendour crafting cinema that genuinely values all that the filmic format can offer. Enjoying Memoria intuitively serves up a reminder of how crucial sound can be to that experience, emphasising the cavernous chasm between pictures that live and breathe such a truth and those that could simply be pictures. Of course, feasting on Weerasethakul's films has also always been about appreciating not only cinema in all its wonders, but as an inimitable art form. Like the noise that lingers in his protagonist's brain here, his movies aren't easily forgotten. Memoria is available to stream via SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. BELLE When Beauty and the Beast typically graces the screen, it doesn't involve a rose-haired singer decked out in a matching flowing dress while singing heart-melting tunes atop a floating skywhale mounted with speakers. It doesn't dance into the metaverse, either. Anime-meets-Patricia Piccinini-meets-cyberspace in Belle, and previous filmed versions of the famed French fairytale must now wish that they could've been so inventive. Disney's animated and live-action duo, aka the 1991 musical hit that's been a guest of childhood viewing ever since and its 2017 Emma Watson-starring remake, didn't even fantasise about dreaming about being so imaginative — but Japanese writer/director Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai) also eagerly takes their lead. His movie about a long-locked social-media princess with a heart of gold and a hulking creature decried by the masses based on appearances is firmly a film for now, but it's also a tale as old as time and one unafraid to build upon the Mouse House's iterations. At first, there is no Belle. Instead, Hosoda's feature has rural high-schooler Suzu (debutant Kaho Nakamura) call her avatar Bell because that's what her name means in Japanese. That online character lives in a virtual-reality world that uses body-sharing technology to base its figures on the real-life people behind them, but Suzu is shy and accustomed to being ignored by her classmates — other than her only pal Hiroka (Lilas Ikuta of music duo Yoasobi) — so she also uploads a photo of the far-more-popular Ruka (Tina Tamashiro, Hell Girl). The social-media platform's biometrics still seize upon Suzu's own melodic singing voice, however. And so, in a space that opines in its slogan that "you can't start over in reality, but you can start over in U", she croons. Quickly, she amasses an audience among the service's five-billion users, but then one of her performances is interrupted by the brooding Dragon (Takeru Satoh, the Rurouni Kenshin films), and her fans then point digital pitchforks in his direction. Belle is available to stream via Binge, Google Play, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT War makes meat, disposable labour and easy sacrifices of us all. In battles for power, as they always are, bodies are used to take territory, threaten enemies and shed blood to legitimise a cause. On the ground, whether in muddy trenches or streaming across mine-strewn fields, war sees the masses rather than the individuals, too — but All Quiet on the Western Front has always been a heartbreaking retort to and clear-eyed reality check for that horrific truth. Penned in 1928 by German World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque, initially adapted for the screen by Hollywood in 1930 and then turned into a US TV movie in 1979, the staunchly anti-war story now gets its first adaptation in its native tongue. Combat's agonies echo no matter the language giving them voice, but Edward Berger's new film is a stunning, gripping and moving piece of cinema. Helming and scripting — the latter with feature first-timers Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell — All My Loving director Berger starts All Quiet on the Western Front with a remarkable sequence. The film will come to settle on 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (astonishing debutant Felix Kammerer) and his ordeal after naively enlisting in 1917, thinking with his mates that they'd be marching on Paris within weeks, but it begins with a different young soldier, Heinrich Gerber (Jakob Schmidt, Babylon Berlin), in the eponymous region. He's thrust into the action in no man's land and the inevitable happens. Then, stained with blood and pierced by bullets, his uniform is stripped from his body, sent to a military laundry, mended and passed on. The recipient: the eager Paul, who notices the past wearer's name on the label and buys the excuse that it just didn't fit him. No one dares waste a scrap of clothing — only the flesh that dons it, and the existences its owners don't want to lose. All Quiet on the Western Front is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. HIT THE ROAD How fitting it is that a film about family — about the ties that bind, and when those links are threatened not by choice but via unwanted circumstances — hails from an impressive lineage itself. How apt it is that Hit the Road explores the extent that ordinary Iranians find themselves going to escape the nation's oppressive authorities, too, given that the filmmaker behind it is Panah Panahi, son of acclaimed auteur Jafar Panahi. The latter's run-ins with the country's regime have been well-documented. The elder Panahi, director of Closed Curtain, Tehran Taxi and more, has been both imprisoned and banned from making movies over the past two decades, and was detained again in July 2022 for enquiring about the legal situation surrounding There Is No Evil helmer Mohammad Rasoulof. None of that directly comes through in Hit the Road's story, not for a moment, but the younger Panahi's directorial debut is firmly made with a clear shadow lingering over it. As penned by the fledgling filmmaker as well, Hit the Road's narrative is simple and also devastatingly layered; in its frames, two starkly different views of life in Iran are apparent. What frames they are, as lensed by Ballad of a White Cow cinematographer Amin Jafari — with every sequence a stunner, but three in particular, late in the piece and involving fraught exchanges, nighttime stories and heartbreaking goodbyes, among the most mesmerising images committed to celluloid in recent years. Those pictures tell of a mother (Pantea Panahiha, Rhino), a father (Mohammad Hassan Madjooni, Pig), their adult son (first-timer Amin Simiar) and their six-year-old boy (scene-stealer Rayan Sarlak, Gol be khodi), all unnamed, who say they're en route to take their eldest to get married. But the journey is a tense one, even as the youngest among them chatters, sings, does ordinary childhood things and finds magic in his cross-country road trip, all with zero knowledge of what eats at the rest of his family. Hit the Road is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. QUO VADIS, AIDA? Films about war are films about wide-ranging terror and horror: battles that changed lives, deaths that reshaped nations, political fights that altered the course of history and the like. But they're also movies about people first, foremost and forever: folks whose everyday existence was perpetually shattered, including those lost and others left to endure when hostilities cease. Quo Vadis, Aida? is firmly a feature about both aspects of war. It homes in on one town, Srebrenica, in July 1995 during the 1992–95 Bosnian War, but it sees devastation and a human toll so intimate and vast in tandem that heartbreak is the only natural response. A survivor of the war herself, writer/director Jasmila Žbanić (Love Island, For Those Who Can Tell No Tales) knows that combat and conflict happens to ordinary men and women, that each casualty is a life cut short and that every grief-stricken relative who remains will never forget their magic ordeal — and she ensures that no one who watches Quo Vadis, Aida? can forget the Srebrenica massacre, or the fact that 8372 civilians were killed, either. A teacher-turned-interpreter, the eponymous Aida Selmanagic (Jasna Đuričić, My Morning Laughter) is Žbanić's eyes and ears within the demilitarised safe zone established by Dutch UN peacekeepers. The film doesn't adopt her exact point of view aesthetically — we see Aida, and plenty; Quo Vadis, Aida? wouldn't be the same without the tenacity and insistence that radiates from her posture and gaze — but it lives, breathes, feels, roves and yearns as she does. Aida has a mother's and wife's motivations above all else, however: she wants her husband Nihad (Izudin Barjović, Father), a school principal, to be with her and to be safe, and the same for their sons Hamdija (Boris Ler, Full Moon) and Sejo (Dino Barjović, Sin), obviously. It's a mission to even get them in the base, especially with so many other refugees pleading to be allowed in outside. But Aida hustles, including getting Nihad sent to negotiations with Serbian General Ratko Mladić (Boris Isaković, Last Christmas) as a town representative. And as the General's brash, cocky, swaggering troops start escorting out the base's inhabitants and putting them onto buses depending upon their gender following those talks, Aida makes every desperate move she can to save her family. Quo Vadis, Aida? is available to stream via Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. LOST ILLUSIONS Stop us when Lost Illusions no longer sounds familiar. You won't; it won't, either. Stop us when its 19th century-set and -penned narrative — written by acclaimed novelist Honoré de Balzac almost 200 years ago, and brought to the screen now by filmmaker Xavier Giannoli (Marguerite) — no longer feels so relevant to life today that you can easily spot parts of it all around you. Again, that won't happen. When the handsome and involving French drama begins, its protagonist knows what he wants to do with his days, and also who he loves. Quickly, however, he learns that taking a big leap doesn't always pan out if you don't hail from wealth. He makes another jump anyway, out of necessity. He gives a new line of work a try, finds new friends and gets immersed in a different world. Alas, appearances just keep meaning everything in his job, and in society in general. Indeed, rare is the person who doesn't get swept up, who dares to swim against the flow, or who realises they might be sinking rather than floating. The person weathering all of the above is Lucien Chardon (Benjamin Voisin, Summer of 85), who'd prefer to be known as Lucien de Rubempré — his mother's aristocratic maiden name. It's 1821, and he's a poet and printer's assistant in the province of Angoulême when the film begins. He's also having an affair with married socialite Louise de Bargeton (Cécile de France, The French Dispatch), following her to Paris, but their bliss is soon shattered. That's why he gives journalism a try after meeting the equally ambitious Etienne Lousteau (Vincent Lacoste, Irma Vep), then taking up the offer of a tabloid gig after failing to get his poetry published. Lucien climbs up the ranks quickly, both in the scathing newspaper business — where literary criticism is literally cash for comment — and in the right Parisian circles. But even when he doesn't realise it, his new life weighs him down heavily. Lost Illusions is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. LIMBO What happens when a group of refugees are sent to await the results of their asylum applications on a Scottish island? That's the question that Limbo ponders. There's no doubting why this second feature from writer/director Ben Sharrock (Pikadero) has been given its moniker; for Syrian musician Omar (Amir El-Masry, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker) and his fellow new arrivals to Scotland, there's not much to do in this void between the past and the future but wait, sit at the bus stop, check out the children's playground and loiter near the pay phone. That, and navigate the wide range of reactions from the locals — veering from offensive to thoughtful — and, in Omar's case, feel the weight of his prized possession. He's brought his grandfather's oud with him, which he rarely let go of, but his own musical dreams are in limbo as well. A film can be heartbreaking, tender, insightful and amusing all at once, and Limbo is indeed all of those things. It's both dreamlike and lived-in, too, a blend that suits its title and story — and also the mental and emotional state shared by Omar and his fellow asylum seekers as they bide their time on an island that feels like another world. A movie can be both heavy and light simultaneously as well, which is another of Limbo's strengths. Sharrock sees both seriousness and levity in his narrative, his characters and their plights, and recognises the nightmarish and the beautiful in tandem. The latter especially applies to the feature's haunting cinematography, which lenses a landscape that keeps Omar pals physically in limbo with a probing eye. Limbo is available to stream via SBS On Demand, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. CYRANO Love can spring quickly, igniting sparks instantly. Or, it can build gradually and gracefully, including over a lifetime. It can be swift and bold like a lightning strike, too, or it can linger, evolve and swell like a gentle breeze. In the sumptuous confines of Cyrano, the newest period piece from Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement and Anna Karenina), all of the above happens. The latest adaptation of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac, this time as a musical via playwright Erica Schmidt's own song-filled on-stage version, lends its attention to two men who've fallen for the plucky Roxanne (Haley Bennett, Hillbilly Elegy) in opposite ways. Charming soldier Christian de Neuvillette (Kelvin Harrison Jr, The Trial of the Chicago 7) gets the fast-and-infatuated experience, while the movie's namesake (Peter Dinklage, I Care a Lot), a poet also handy in battle, has ached for his childhood pal for as long as he can remember. Roxanne's two suitors make a chalk-and-cheese pair, with their contrasting approaches to matters of the heart — specifically, to winning her heart and helping ensure that she doesn't have to marry the rich and ruthless De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn, The Outsider) to secure her future — driving much of Cyrano's drama. Also present and accounted for, as all takes on the tale have included (see also: 80s rom-com Roxanne with Steve Martin, the Gérard Depardieu-starring Cyrano de Bergerac, 90s rom-com The Truth About Cats & Dogs with Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo, plus recent Netflix teen flicks Sierra Burgess Is a Loser and The Half of It): insecurities about appearance, a way with words and a ghostwriting gambit. Short in stature given Dinklage's casting, Cyrano can't even dream that Roxanne could love him. But he wants her to be happy above all else and knows that she's smitten with Christian, so he secretly lends his romantic rival his letter-penning abilities to help woo her by lyrical prose. Cyrano is available to stream via Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review.
Megan Washington has a voice that sets your heart racing. She makes sorrow seem soft and lovely, but lists a thousand indecisions and revisions to be considered before curling into somebody. She took the title of The Tour of Laughter and Forgetting from Milan Kundera's 1979 book, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. There is no doubting that Washington, whose album I Believe You, Liar went platinum in February, has her own perspective on the moral order of things. While Washington is creatively rich but "strapped for cash," she claims that she writes music for herself, not for others. Born in Papua New Guinea but a Brissie girl from age 11, her concept of pop culture was limited to fickle flights of fancy before she completed six years study at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. The bespectacled songstress then went down south, carving a niche in Melbourne’s music scene with her self-released EP titled Clementine. Her clever yet catchy indie-pop songs are sweetly brimful of contradictions; her lyrics are free of self-consciousness yet seek to make the personal universal. Washington was crowned the breakthrough artist of 2010 at the ARIA Awards and has completed a successful run of summer festivals. Her guitar-plucked ballad, Lightwell, is one of the more intimate songs on new compilation When I First Met Your Ma and her plaintive voice is hold-me-closer haunting. Supported by Lissie and Deep Sea Arcade, Washington will provide a tonic to whatever ails you at the Metro on Thursday.
In real life, technology is bound to keep bringing out the worst in people, or vice versa, in 2024. If you want to see Charlie Brooker's take on how humanity's use of gadgets and innovations can go nightmarishly wrong, however, you'll need to wait until 2025. That's when Black Mirror will return for its seventh season, two years after 2023's sixth season. Given that there was a four-year gap after season five, that's positively speedy. Season seven's batch of Black Mirror episodes will also be bigger than the past two seasons, serving up six instalments — which only season three and four have done in the past. There'll be another link to season four, too, with one chapter in the seventh season set to be a sequel to its Star Trek-riffing USS Callister episode. Netflix confirmed Black Mirror's 2025 comeback, number of instalments and return dive into USS Callister's realm as part of the platform's unveiling of what's next set to hit its catalogue from the UK. If you're after more details about Brooker's huge hit, though, that's all there is for now. Cast members, other storylines, if any cast members from USS Callister — which featured Jesse Plemons (Love & Death), Cristin Milioti (The Resort), Jimmi Simpson (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Michaela Coel (Mr & Mrs Smith) and Billy Magnussen (Lift) — will be back: that's all still unknown, as is whether Brooker took any inspiration from his headline speaker gig at the first-ever SXSW Sydney in 2023. Still, you can start preparing yourself for next year's dose of dystopian dread, and speculating about what might get the Black Mirror treatment this time. The show's sixth season pondered streaming algorithms with Salma Hayek Pinault (Magic Mike's Last Dance) and Annie Murphy (Kevin Can F**k Himself), true crime with Samuel Blenkin (The Witcher: Blood Origin) and Myha'la Herrold (Bodies Bodies Bodies), and an alternative 1969 with Aaron Paul (Westworld), Josh Hartnett (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) and Kate Mara (Call Jane). Also on its list: a paparazzi tale with Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), Clara Rugaard (I Am Mother) and Danny Ramirez (Stars at Noon) — and the first Red Mirror episode, going full horror, with Anjana Vasan (Killing Eve), Paapa Essiedu (Men), Katherine Rose Morley (The Syndicate) and David Shields (Benediction). Season seven has an announcement video, which you can watch below, alongside the trailer for USS Callister: Black Mirror season seven will stream via Netflix sometime in 2025, but doesn't yet have an exact release date — we'll update you when one is announced. Read our review of season six, and our interview with Charlie Brooker. Images: Netflix.
Hold the phone everybody, there's huge news a-brewin' in the Sydney art world. Three of Sydney's biggest cultural institutions – the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art – have just announced a major, citywide new exhibition showcasing Australian art. Yep, just like the OG Transformers, all banding together for the good of Sydney. Positioned as a counterpoint to the Biennale of Sydney (to occur in the off-years), The National: New Australia Art will run over six years with three editions presented in 2017, 2019 and 2021. The program is planned to run over the three spaces and activate an art corridor running between Redfern, The Domain and Circular Quay. There'll be a focus on the works of emerging, mid-career and established Aussie artists — in fact this will be the only large-scale, multi-venue exhibition series in Sydney focused solely on contemporary Australian art. It's straight-up huge news for Sydney. We've seen the effect citywide installations and cultural programs can have on this fine city of ours, just head along to the Biennale this weekend to see for yourself. And the sole focus on Australian artists, with no hat tip at all to international context, is sure to help us forge a contemporary art identity that genuinely resonates with everyday Aussies. "The National: New Australian Art will chart the rich diversity of contemporary practice featuring artists that work in dialogue with other disciplines including performance, dance, music and screen," says Carriageworks director Lisa Havilah. "The project will make a significant investment in Australian artists through the extensive commissioning of new work that reflects contemporary Australia and our place in the world." Curators for the 2017 edition of The National: New Australian Art are Anneke Jaspers, Curator Contemporary Art and Wayne Tunnicliffe, Head Curator Australian Art, AGNSW; Lisa Havilah, Director and Nina Miall, Curator, Carriageworks; and Blair French, Director, Curatorial & Digital, MCA. Okay team, break. We've only got 12 months to plan appropriately artsy outfits. The first installation of The National: New Australian Art will kick off on March 20, 2017 and run until June 18, 2017.
Gelato Messina has managed to achieve something that not many chains are able to do: even with its unfathomable success, which has launched it into the consciousness of the masses of tourists, each of its 12 Sydney locations is still considered a well-loved local gem. After enjoying lunch or dinner at one of the many Darling Square eateries (including Hello Auntie, Belles Hot Chicken and XOPP), wander over to the Messina storefront to get a scoop (or three) of your favourite flavour. The 40-plus lineup of classic flavours, like salted coconut and mango, boysenberry, and dulce de leche are on offer. And, of course, there are Messina's legendary weekly specials. Keep you fingers crossed for the Jon Snow (white chocolate gelato with dark chocolate mud cake and almond praline), the Fairy Bread (toast and butter gelato with 100s & 1000s) and the Robert Brownie Jnr (milk chocolate gelato, chocolate brownie and chocolate fudge sauce).
Carriageworks and UrbanGrowth NSW are collaborating on the latest project to come out of the Eveleigh multi-arts precinct — Artist Studios at The Clothing Store launches today, welcoming seven artists and one architecture firm in residence into the fold. The historic Clothing Store was built in 1913 and is now transformed into a collaborative community space where artists can undertake ambitious projects in a city that is in some serious need of more exhibition spaces. Artists include the colonial legacy-focused Tony Albert, the technology-minded Tully Arnot, sculpture artist Mikala Dwyer, self-taught artist Samuel Hodge, the internationally acclaimed Nell, multi-cultural artist Claudia Nicholson and mural painter Phaptawan Suwannakudt, along with ambitious architectural studio Other Architects. These artists were chosen by Carriageworks for their ambition and vision, with the Sydney-based artists ranging in disciplines, from sculpture and mural portraits to fashion and even robotics. Though all artists are now based locally, they hail from diverse backgrounds including Colombia and Thailand. As a collective, the new residents will lead community workshops throughout the year, providing opportunities for public involvement while drawing on the area's rich cultural history. The refurbished space is subsidised by UrbanGrowth NSW, who are leading the renewal of the North Eveleigh Precinct in the 'Central to Eveleigh' corridor — a NSW Government initiative. The Artist Studio Program will run for the next twelve months, with plans for future development in the works. Check the Carriageworks Artist Studios page for more information and upcoming details on workshops. Image: Tim Da Rin.
Built to Spill wine was started by Tai Tate (ex-Porteno, Mary's, P&V) in 2020, combining his love of natural wines and music. The local wine curator has since built a cult following, collaborating with the likes of Freddie Gibbs, The Chats and Cosmic Psychos. If you haven't had the opportunity to try Built to Spill's wines, Tate is bringing them to you with a series of pop-ups to close out 2022. The wines are making five stop-overs across Sydney and its surrounds, each time bringing DJ sets, free tastings, vinyl and merch with them. The first two will be at Inner West favourites, starting at The Lansdowne's recently reopened rooftop bar on Saturday, November 26, followed by The Duke of Enmore on Saturday, December 3. The following Saturday, December 10, these minimal intervention drops will be travelling to Laguna for a takeover of the Great Northern Trading Post. The Leichhardt Bowling Club will be the next stop on the tour on Saturday, December 17, before it all concludes at a yet-to-be-disclosed location in the Blue Mountains just before Christmas. You can follow along with the pop-up tour at the winemaker's Instagram. Just to top off the end-of-year festivities, Built to Spill has announced a new collaboration with eccentric Australian sketch comedy trio Aunty Donna. The collab is a $30 Bottle of Wine in both concept and name. If you're looking for an appropriate bottle of wine to bring to a dinner party or social occasion, this limited-time wine tells everyone in the room just how much you spent on it — the perfect middle point for a bottle of wine, $30. Plus, in the new year, Tate and co. have a range of events and collaborations lineup up for the new year, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more announcements to come.
2020 is already shaping up to be a great year for Studio Ghibli fans, with the Japanese animation house confirming it's working on two new films this year. But, if you need something to tide you over until those undoubtedly gorgeous new movies are released — your Netflix queue will have the answer from February 1. In a huge deal that marks the first time Studio Ghibli's films will be available to stream in most of the world, Netflix has acquired the streaming rights for the bulk of the company's back catalogue — for almost the entire planet, including Australia and New Zealand. The arrangement covers 21 films, which means that every solely Studio Ghibli-produced animated feature except Grave of the Fireflies will hit the platform. Made-for-TV movie Ocean Waves will also be available to stream as well. So, getting spirited away, spending time with Totoro and chasing a moving castle will be as easy as clicking a few buttons whenever you feel like it. Netflix is making Ghibli's films available in three batches, with seven different movies joining the platform on February 1, then seven more on March 1 and the last seven on April 1 — so you can spread out your viewing. In February, prepare to feast your eyes on everything from Castle in the Sky to Kiki's Delivery Service, plus My Neighbour Totoro, Only Yesterday, Porco Rosso, Ocean Waves and Tales from Earthsea, too. Come March, heavy hitters Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away will join the lineup, as well as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, My Neighbors the Yamadas, The Cat Returns, Arrietty and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. Then, in April, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo lead the charge, alongside Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, From Up on Poppy Hill, The Wind Rises and When Marnie Was There. Working your way through all of the above, you'll obviously delight in the talents of the great Hayao Miyazaki — however, films by fellow Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, Miyazaki's son Gorō Miyazaki, and other directors Yoshifumi Kondō, Hiroyuki Morita and Hiromasa Yonebayashi are also on the bill. Until Ghibli's titles start hitting the streaming platform, feast your eyes on the delightful trailer for Howl's Moving Castle below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwROgK94zcM Netflix will start streaming Studio Ghibli films in Australia and New Zealand from February 1, with further titles available on March 1 and April 1. Top image: My Neighbor Totoro
UPDATE: JULY 1, 2020 — Due to worldwide cinema closures and other concerns around COVID-19, Tenet will no longer release on its initially scheduled date of Thursday, July 17, 2020. Instead, it will now release on Thursday, August 13. This article has been updated to reflect that change. 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. Every ten years, Christopher Nolan sends audiences on a wild journey. The Batman Begins, The Prestige and Interstellar filmmaker makes movies more often than that, but a decade seems to be how long it takes to indulge his weird and wonderful side. In 2000, that led to Memento, the film that helped bring the writer/director to broader attention. In 2010, Inception and its dreams within dreams were the end result. Now, come 2020, Nolan will be trifling with time and tasking BlacKkKlansman's John David Washington with trying to stop World War III, all in the trippy Tenet. Until now, little has been known about Tenet, other than its name, its release date — July 16, 2020 Down Under — and its cast. And while the just-dropped first trailer doesn't spill many of the film's secrets, it does paint a very intriguing picture. In fact, rumours trying to connect the film to Inception are already circling, just based on the two-minute sneak peek. Washington plays a spy, partnered with Robert Pattinson, who is trying to stave off something worse than a nuclear holocaust. He's also welcomed to the afterlife, told to start changing the way he sees the world and, in one scene, senses that a fight will take place before it happens. Things also move in reverse, stunts defy logic in more than just the usual action movie ways and Michael Caine pops up. And, in case you weren't already thinking of Inception anyway, the trailer is scored with an ominous, droning thrum. Tenet also features Australian actor Elizabeth Debicki (Widows), Harry Potter's Clémence Poésy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Himesh Patel (Yesterday), Martin Donovan (Ant-Man) and Kenneth Branagh — with the latter also starring in Nolan's last film, the World War II epic Dunkirk. As for what else is in store in the filmmaker's 11th feature — other than dazzling visuals, an ambitious story and messing with viewers' heads in general — that's something Nolan isn't likely to give away until the film hits cinemas. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdOM0x0XDMo Tenet is slated to release in Australian cinemas on August 13, 2020. We'll update you if that changes again.
You know that feeling where you're begrudgingly up before dawn only to have your heart warmed by a surprise sighting of a hot air balloon set against the sunrise? Well this one's for you — and if you haven't ever experienced such a dawn, this one is really for you. In April, the Canowindra International Balloon Challenge sees the skies above the historic central-west town come alive with the roar of burners and the kaleidoscope of colourful hot air balloons in the atmosphere. The full event takes place over a whole week in April, with official balloon competitions happening throughout the week. The comp involves a number of difficult tasks, the most entertaining of which is the key grab — the aim is to fly your balloon in to try and pluck a large novelty key from the top of a flagpole, with the winner receiving some major dollar bills. There'll also be a campfire cookout and concert on Anzac Day evening (25th April). The final Saturday night sees the Balloon Glow and Night Market, where balloon operators light up their burners in the dark and in time to music.
Surf's up this summer with the NSW Pro Surf Series. The circuit — which will stop off at four beautiful beaches along NSW's coastline — adds an additional four events to the World Surf League Qualifying Series. Seriously promising professional surfers will be taking to the green room to show off their style and skills in an aqua acrobatic show you won't want to miss. The Tweed Coast Pro — the second stop of the NSW Pro Surf Series — will take place at picturesque Cabarita Beach. The quaint coastal town is known for its excellent surfing conditions, so set up shop underneath a pandanus palm on the beach and get ready to watch surfers carve it up. Grab a post-show beer with a view at the Cabarita Beach Surf Life Saving Club, or treat yourself to a cocktail in the breeze at the gorgeous Halcyon House. If you're keen to follow the series along NSW's stunning coastline, other events will be taking place at Sydney's Maroubra Beach, Boomerang Beach and Avoca Beach across January, February and March. A summer road trip is good, but a summer road trip where you get to watch the next Mick Fannings and Layne Beachleys? Gnarly.
Local Mbassy is a quaint cafe opposite Wentworth Park. It's the perfect spot for a decadent breakfast and quiet brew. The red velvet pancakes and waffles are notable fan favourites, but if you want to kick-off the day on a real sugar high, the Nutella Nest (brioche, strawberry and Persian fairy floss) is the way to go. The decor, a nod to 1920s Australiana, is a bit of an industrial mish-mash with the overall effect almost working. Discordant interior design aside, the staff are all very sweet and genuinely helpful. The beans here are Campos and, for the non-coffee drinkers that walk amongst us, there is a selection of specialty lattes including red velvet, matcha, taro and green.
Nothing inspires those carefree summer feels quite like a spot of outdoor cinema — especially when the flicks are free. This January marks the return of Darling Quarter's ever-popular al fresco film screenings, delivering 17 nights of outdoor movie magic for young and old (and in between). Taking over the precinct's Village Green from January 9 to 25, the annual Night Owls Film Festival will this year kick off at 6pm nightly with a special family-friendly program — think kids' entertainment, a series of short films and a family feature film from 6.45pm. If your inner child (or actual child) loves flicks like Toy Story 4, Aladdin, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and Pokemon Detective Pikachu head along then. But come nightfall on weekends, it's the big kids' turn, with a program of grown-up movies screened from 8.30pm on select evenings. Titles such as Avengers: Endgame, Bohemian Rhapsody and Yesterday are all on the lineup, rounding out with Crazy Rich Asians as the closing night film. Be sure to bring along your picnic rug and accompany your cinema experience with eats from one of the many nearby vendors — Thai, sushi, pizza, Brazilian barbecue and gelato are all a short stroll away.
New Year's Eve means different things to different people — but if celebrating it in the biggest way possible is your approach each year, then you've likely either made a date with Beyond The Valley before or wanted to. Need some motivation to head to the festival at Barunah Plains in Victoria to celebrate 2025 turning into 2026? Dom Dolla, Addison Rae, Kid Cudi and Turnstile should be plenty. That's who is headlining across the Sunday, December 28, 2025–Thursday, January 1, 2026 event — and yes, if you fancy spending the New Year's Eve countdown with Dom Dolla, you can. This lineup is also a helluva way for Beyond The Valley to mark a milestone, given that it's the fest's tenth anniversary. [caption id="attachment_1005091" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shevindphoto[/caption] Dom Dolla will cap off a year that's already spanned soldout Madison Square Garden gigs, plus stints at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, EDC Las Vegas and Ultra Miami — and will see him play his biggest-ever Aussie headline show at Allianz Stadium in Sydney in December. For Addison Rae, this is her Australian festival debut. Kid Cudi heads Down Under for the first time in a decade, too. The lineup also spans Spacey Jane, I Hate Models, KETTAMA, Chris Stussy, Ben Böhmer, The Temper Trap and Luude, plus JoJo doing an Australian-exclusive show, as well as 070 Shake, DJ HEARTSTRING, VTSS, SWIM, Pegassi, Channel Tres, Balu Brigada, Fcukers, Jane Remover, Miss Kaninna and a heap more. New for 2025 is The Lounge Room, with Kat Sasso hosting podcasters and other folks getting chatting — such as Undiagnosed Anthony; AFL footballer Tom Mitchell with the Ball Magnets podcast; more Aussie Rules stars thanks to Sam Draper, Nick Butler and Charlie Comben; Dr Esmé Louise James; Sez; Ash McGregor; and David The Medium. Plus, stage-wise, the Valley Stage is getting a new look and the Dance Dome is scoring a revamp. You'll also be able to enjoy a wellness program featuring meditation, saunas and cold plunges, for relaxing between sets. Beyond the Valley 2025 Lineup Dom Dolla Addison Rae Kid Cudi Turnstile Spacey Jane I Hate Models KETTAMA Chris Stussy Ben Böhmer The Temper Trap Luude JoJo 070 Shake DJ HEARTSTRING VTSS Patrick Mason SWIM Prospa Josh Baker NOTION Pegassi Cassian Channel Tres Mallrat Balu Brigada Fcukers glaive Jazzy ZULAN sim0ne TEED Bad Boombox b2b mischluft Clouds bullet tooth KILIMANJARO Narciss not without friends Juicy Romance Ollie Lishman Chromeo (DJ set) RONA. Bella Claxton DICE Jane Remover Julia Wolf Young Franco Kaiit Miss Kaninna 49th & Main Dombresky BL3SS Torren Foot B2B Airwolf Paradise ATRIP Linska CYRIL HoneyLuv Larissa Lambert Inside Kru Tyson O'Brien SYREETA TV Rock Willo Sex Mask BOY SODA The Tullamarines EGOISM Chloe Parché Brent Honey Emma Moon Morphena MAD.DAY Mell Hall Tina Disco Séarlait House Mum B2B Haus of Ralph Loosie Grind Afrodisiac B2B Baby G Cooper Smith Mon Franco Bertie Shanti The Lounge Room hosted by Kat Sasso 200 Plus Ash McGregor Ball Magnets Club Elevate David The Medium Esmé Louise James Sez Undiagnosed Anthony Teach Us Consent Beyond The Valley runs from Sunday, December 28, 2025–Thursday, January 1, 2026 at Barunah Plains, Wentworths Road, Hesse, Victoria. Ticket presale registrations are open now, with festival presales from 11am on Thursday, August 28, 2025. General sales kick off at 12pm AEST on Friday, August 29, 2o25. For more information, head to the fest's website. Beyond The Valley images: Lady Drewniak, Ashlea Caygill, Kelsey Zafiridies.
It's finally here, a permanent Sydney cat cafe you can actually visit, right now. We've teased you with news of Sydney's upcoming (and wonderfully-named) Catmosphere cat cafe, set to open in July. We squealed triumphantly petting little fluffballs at Sydney's first pop-up kitten cafe, raising funds for the upcoming Sydney Cat Cafe. But one crafty feline establishment has beaten them all to the punch, with the opening of Cafe Purrfection in Roseville. Officially dubbed Sydney's first cat cafe, Cafe Purrfection boasts the tried and true cat cafe formula: you can book in a cuddle with specially selected and completely adorable rescue cats and kittens (yep, they've got both) living at the Chatswood Cat Palace (a rescue organisation for homeless kitties). The coffee is free (free!) and the whole thing hinges around a win-win situation: people get therapeutic companionship, cats get affection — and could potentially be adopted. "The cats don’t just offer companionship to anyone who wants it, but also to those who need it, giving comfort to people who have either lost their cat or can’t have one because of where they live," says Sydney feline veterinarian and manager of Chatswood Cat Palace Dr Kim Kendall, on their website. "We have picked cats who love people and with the routine we provide and the regular interactions... I think they will be happier at Café Purrfection than most cats in private homes." Each formerly homeless or rescue kitty is handpicked by the rescue team for their temperament and people-friendly level. The cafe opened to the public for a test run on March 1, but is finally open to your cat-loving self to visit. You can nab a free coffee or bring your own nosh. There's no age restriction for entry, but poor petals with allergies are encouraged to wait outside. Enough talk, how do you cuddle a kitty? Choose a friendly feline from the 'Cafe Purrfection Cat Gallery' and phone (02) 9417 3329 to book your ‘cuddle time’. It'll cost you $20 per hour, which includes treats for the cats and goes towards the cafe's maintenance. You can even book a table, (three people maximum to one cat). And to celebrate the launch, Cafe Purrfection is giving away a mystery prize with every cat booking during May and June (from cat treats to free Cafe bookings). Find Cafe Purrfection at The Chatswood Cat Palace, Unit 18, 30-32 Barcoo Street, Roseville. Phone (02) 9417 33 29 to book your snuggle. Opening hours are Monday and Friday 8am - 8pm, Tuesday 10am-7pm, Saturday 9am-4pm and Sunday 12-4pm. For updates, visit The Chatswood Cat Palace Facebook page. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Barunah Plains is nowhere near the Gold Coast, but a taste of the Glitter Strip will hit Hesse in Victoria to farewell 2024 and welcome in 2025. Beyond The Valley is back for another massive end-of-year party, with the music festival giving former pro surfer-turned-DJ Fisher — a Grammy-nominee for 'Losing It', too — its top slot. With multiple days to fill, taking place across Saturday, December 28, 2024–Wednesday, January 1, 2025, Beyond The Valley goes big with its lineups. This year's just-dropped full roster pinballs between nations, music genres and eras, resulting in a bill where Ice Spice sits alongside Tinashe, Sugababes and Natasha Bedingfield — and Chase & Status, Marlon Hoffstadt, Royel Otis, Sammy Virji, AJ Tracey and Denis Sulta, too. Just from those names alone — and there's plenty more — that gives festivalgoers 'Munch (Feelin' U)', 'Nasty', 'Push the Button', 'These Words', 'Backbone', 'Call Me', new versions of 'Murder on the Dancefloor' and 'Linger', 'If You Need It', 'Bringing It Back' and 'World of Flies' to look forward to. Also on the lineup: Confidence Man, BARKAA, Teenage Dads, NEIL FRANCES, Lola Young, Ghetts and The Rions, as well as Kita Alexander, The Grogans, Billie Marten, The Terrys and Sycco. And yes, the list still goes on from there. After supporting Fred again..'s whirlwind Australian tour earlier in 2024, JOY (Anonymous) is on the electronic side of the bill, alongside everyone from horsegiirL, KI/KI, DJ BORING, SG Lewis and Tinlicker through to Ben Hemsley, Avalon Emerson, Sam Alfred, Sally C, LB aka Labat, Chloé Caillet, and Flowdan & Neffa-T. Music is the main focus of and drawcard at Beyond The Valley, but this fest knows that tunes aren't all that its punters listen to — and that dancing to them isn't the only way to have a blast. First, enter the dedicated podcast stage, this time with Dan Does Footy, It's Layered, The Hook Up, No Hard Feelings and The Psychology of Your 20s getting chatting. Next, there'll also be drag bingo with Poof Doof, hidden parties popping up and swimming pools for a summer splash. The fest is also aiming to give back via donating $1 from each ticket to Igniting Change and offsetting emissions via Treecreds. Beyond the Valley 2024 Lineup: Fisher Ice Spice Chase & Status Marlon Hoffstadt Tinashe Royel Otis Sammy Virji Sugababes AJ Tracey Denis Sulta Natasha Bedingfield horsegiirL Confidence Man Teenage Dads KI/KI DJ BORING SG Lewis JOY (Anonymous) Tinlicker (DJ set) Ben Hemsley NEIL FRANCES Lola Young Ghetts Flowdan & Neffa-T Avalon Emerson The Rions BARKAA Kita Alexander The Grogans The Terrys Sycco Malugi Sam Alfred Hannah Laing Girls Don't Sync Oden & Fatzo (live) Fish56Octagon Sally C LB aka LABAT Franck Chloé Caillet Odd Mob Anna Lunoe Billie Marten Nick Ward Jersey Sarah Story Luke Alessi Nina Las Vegas Half Queen MESSIE Vv Pete Laura King Little Fritter Jimi The Kween Djanaba tiffi Ollie Lishman WOLTERS Marli Ned Bennett Stev Zar Denim Liz Cambage Jewel Owusu SOVBLKPSSY DIJOK Kimboclat Eva Brown Suga Princess Podcast stage: The Hook Up Dan Does Footy It's Layered Luke & Sassy Scott No Hard Feelings The Psychology of Your 20s Beyond The Valley will run from Saturday, December 28, 2024–Wednesday, January 1, 2025 at Barunah Plains, Wentworths Road, Hesse, Victoria. Ticket presale registrations are open now, closing at 3pm AEST on Tuesday, August 27 — with festival presales from 6pm on Wednesday, August 28. General sales kick off at 12pm AEST on Thursday, August 29. For more information, head to the fest's website. Beyond The Valley images: Alex Drewniak, Mitch Lowe, Duncographic, Ash Caygill, Josh Bainbridge, Chloe Hall.
It's been more than a year since Five Guys, the burger joint with more than 1600 stores to its name across America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, first announced the news that folks Down Under had been waiting to hear. When the popular US-based chain revealed that it was finally launching stores in Australia and New Zealand, it sparked a lot of rumbling stomachs — and, from Monday, September 20, it's following through. That's when Five Guys will open its first Aussie outpost, which'll start serving up burgers, fries, hotdogs, sandwiches and shakes in Penrith. As already announced earlier in 2021, Sydney is the first place Down Under to taste the chain's wares. Due to the city's ongoing lockdown, however, it'll only be open for takeaway for the time being. Live within five kilometres of 123 Mulgoa Road — or within the same Local Government Area, depending on the restrictions in your part of town? Then you'll be able to head in to grab a bite to bring home with you. The temporary pivot to only doing takeaway orders is actually Five Guys' second big pandemic-inspired change. Initially, the brand was set to open its debut store Down Under in Sydney's CBD, but it switched to Penrith due to COVID-19. Overseas, Five Guys has amassed quite the reputation. Even given the number of big-name US burger chains with hefty followings, such as Shake Shack and In-N-Out, it stands out. If you're wondering why, the fact that its made-to-order burgers skew in the classic rather than oversized, jam-packed direction is one good reason. These burgs come with two hand-formed patties on toasted buns, with your choice of free toppings (including pickles, grilled mushrooms and jalapeños). Five Guys also does bacon cheeseburgers that add two strips of bacon and two slices of Kraft American cheese as well. Prefer hotdogs, sandwiches (in veggie, cheese or BLT varieties), hand-cut fries (with or without Cajun spices) and vanilla milkshakes? They're all on the menu as well. Don't go thinking that the latter are boring, though — you can add bacon, bananas, peanut butter, salted caramel and even Oreo pieces to your design-your-own beverage. The cult-favourite chain makes the leap to Australia and New Zealand as part of a master franchise agreement with Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group, aka the folks behind The Meat & Wine Co, Hunter & Barrel, 6 Head, Ribs & Burgers, Italian Street Kitchen and Butcher and the Farmer. Five Guys started back in 1986 in the Washington, DC area and, as anyone with allergies should note, only cooks its fries in peanut oil. Around 20 stores are due to launch in Australia, plus more in NZ — although exactly where else and when Five Guys will be popping up is yet to be revealed. In Sydney, additional sites are currently under consideration, including in the CBD around Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and Broadway. Find Five Guys' first Australian store at 123 Mulgoa Road, Penrith from Monday, September 20 — open from 11am–10pm daily. More eateries in other Australian states — and in New Zealand — are set to follow; we'll update you when more information comes to hand.
Given its location on the Sapphire Coast (a six-hour drive south of Sydney or seven-hour trip north of Melbourne), the Wanderer Festival may require a little more travel than the leisurely stroll suggested by its name. But, it promises to deliver an excellent final destination for road trippers seeking a weekend away that's big on tunes, tasty treats and a tonne of cool market stalls. Wanderer Festival is a three-day event held in picturesque Pambula Beach between Friday, 29 September and Sunday, 1 October. This year's genre-diverse lineup of 40+ artists include Ocean Alley, Django Django, The Jungle Giants, Thelma Plum, Spiderbait and UK indie-rock luminaries Gomez. Those looking for more than music will find it in the Wanderer Festival Big Top, which will feature gravity-defying circus cabaret courtesy of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. Other off-stage activations include craft markets and food stores. The former will be the place to stock up on unique hand-crafted, hand-made or hand-picked goods, while the latter will be packed with a range of stalls that focus on produce from the region and local beer, wine and spirits, as well as culinary delights from around the world. The Wanderer Festival will run from Friday, 29 September and Sunday, 1 October 2023. For the full event program visit their website.
It might be a movie about a faux romance, but Anyone But You hasn't faked its setting. In the upcoming rom-com, which has a date with cinemas on Boxing Day, Sydney Sweeney (Reality) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) play a couple pretending that they're in love — but as most of the just-dropped full trailer shows, there's no shams about the Sydney location. When Sweeney was in Sydney at a Sydney Swans game earlier in 2023, it wasn't just because she was playing the Sydney version of Pokémon and catching them all. Rather, the Euphoria and The White Lotus star was filming this movie. And, from both the first teaser and the latest sneak peek, this film clearly falls into a specific category of Aussie-made flicks: pictures shot Down Under that can't stop reminding viewers that they were made Down Under (see also: fellow future release The Fall Guy, which will arrive in 2024). [caption id="attachment_926799" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney star in ANYONE BUT YOU.[/caption] Multiple shots of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House feature heavily amid the banter-heavy glimpses at Anyone But You's stars. In fact, the Opera House even shows up in the background as Bea and Ben are having a Titanic moment on a boat. Anyone But You's setup: Sweeney's Bea had a great first date with Powell's Ben; however, then everything turned sour. Now they're at the same destination wedding and pretence becomes their solution. Anyone But You is directed and co-written by Will Gluck, who has both Easy A and Friends with Benefits on his resume, then the vastly dissimilar Annie and the two Peter Rabbit movies. On-screen, as well as Sweeney, Powell and a whole lot of Sydney — the city — Alexandra Shipp (Barbie), GaTa (Dave), Dermot Mulroney (Secret Invasion), Bryan Brown (C*A*U*G*H*T) and Rachel Griffiths (Total Control) also feature. Check out the full trailer for Anyone But You below: Anyone But You opens in cinemas Down Under on December 26, 2023.
In Talk to Me, grasping perhaps the creepiest hand you'll ever see meant messing with the dead, bringing the souls of those who've passed swooping in. After their feature debut became a huge hit, Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou aren't done with hauntings yet. In the just-dropped full trailer for Bring Her Back, their sophomore movie, "some people believe the spirit stays in the body for months after death", a foster mother played by Sally Hawkins (Wonka) advises. The directors, who started out their careers behind the camera as YouTubers RackaRacka, aren't done with nightmarish vibes yet, either. When these Adelaide-born twins unveiled Talk to Me in 2023, a new Aussie horror sensation took the genre, and the world, by the mitt to share its entertainingly eerie energy. The duo behind it also became one of the hottest new things in scary flicks. Two years later, the Philippous are returning to conjure up more chills — and show again, even just based on Bring Her Back's teaser trailer and full sneak peek, how expertly they can whip up an unnerving mood. After Talk to Me's huge success, including for cult-favourite distributor A24, sequel Talk 2 Me was quickly greenlit; however, Bring Her Back will be in cinemas first. Its Down Under release date: Thursday, May 29, 2025. Horror? Tick. A24 onboard? Tick again. Dancing with the dead once more? That seems to be the case as well. Here, Hawkins has a brother and sister in her care, but they find more than just a new parent in her home. Cue petrifying rituals, plus grief, death, coffins, blood, strange circles, a creepy kid, shaky home-video footage and a whole lot of creaking. Among the cast, cue also Billy Barratt (Kraven the Hunter), Jonah Wren Phillips (How to Make Gravy) and film first-timer Sora Wong in the Australian-made picture. A24 went all-in on the Philippous after picking up Talk to Me in a Sundance Film Festival bidding war, when global attention started being showered upon the Aussie flick about shaking hands with an embalmed palm, feeling the rush while being haunted, having your mates watch and film it, and dealing with the spooky consequences. Danny and Michael made their feature directorial debut after racking up a huge following with RackaRacka's viral videos, and via behind-the-scenes work on Australian films such as The Babadook. Their first flick feature proved a big box-office success, taking in US$10 million on its opening weekend in America alone, which placed it second among A24's films after Hereditary. Across its big-screen run, it clawed its way up to second on the company's all-time worldwide list, after Everything Everywhere All At Once and Civil War. And, at the 2024 AACTA Awards, Talk to Me took home eight accolades, including Best Film of 2023, plus Best Director. Check out the full trailer for Bring Her Back below: Bring Her Back releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, May 29, 2025. Read our review of Talk to Me, and our interview with Danny Philippou.
It isn't every day that Australia busts out a pop-metal tune to compete on the world stage. No, just at Eurovision 2023. Apologies to whatever's been getting a workout on your playlist over the past few weeks, but May is here, which means that Eurovision is here. And, so are a whole bunch of synth-heavy Europop tunes — plus that Aussie riff on a on Europop tune — that'll worm their way into your head. This is Christmas for pop songs belted out competitively in a glitzy ceremony filled with eye-catching outfits, with the the 67th Eurovision Song Contest kicking off at 5am AEST on Wednesday, May 10. Doing the honours for Australia, starting in the second semi final at 5am AEST on Friday, May 12, is Perth synth-metal band Voyager. Their track: earworm 'Promise', which'll have "it's gonna be alright" lodged in plenty of brains from the moment that the band take to the stage. For newcomers, Eurovision started back in 1956 as a competition between a mere seven nations. Now, more than six decades later, it's a glitter-strewn and spandex-fuelled global musical phenomenon. Thirty-seven countries not only in Europe but from elsewhere will compete in 2023 — hello Australia — and viewers tune in en masse to watch, sing along and add new pop tunes to their queues. This year's host city is Liverpool in the United Kingdom, in a break from Eurovision tradition. The song contest usually unleashes each year's contenders in the country responsible for the past year's winner — and in 2022, Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra won for 'Stefania'. But due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Eurovision will be held in the UK for the first time in a quarter-century. Thanks to duo TVORCHI, a huge hit on their homegrown charts, Ukraine will still defend its title with the song 'Heart of Steel'. Australians keen to tune in will be directing their eyeballs to SBS, with the broadcaster's usual annual celebration of all things Europop returning for another round. 2023 marks 40 years of the network showing Eurovision, in fact. When Voyager play their track, they'll be up against performers from 15 other countries, including Brunette from Armenia, Belgium's Gustaph, Diljá from Iceland, Joker Out from Slovenia, and Austria's Teya & Salena. Also in the same show: Aussie Andrew Lambrou, who is competing for Cyprus, his parents' homeland, with 'Break a Broken Heart'. If Voyager makes their way through to the grand final — with only 21 acts making the cut, and France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Ukraine automatically guaranteed spots — you'll also want to get up early on Sunday, May 14. Or, even if they don't, that's when this year's winner will be anointed. Of course, for those who can't tear themselves out of bed before it's light and can somehow manage to avoid the internet and social media, both semis and the grand final will also screen in primetime on the same dates. Wondering who Voyager are? And why you didn't get a say in their Eurovision selection? Unlike past years, there was no Eurovision — Australia Decides event and public vote to choose who'd score the Aussie berth; however, the five-piece band featuring Danny Estrin on vocals and keytar, Simone Dow and Scott Kay on guitar, Alex Vanion on bass and Ash Doodkorte on drums has been vying to represent the country since 2015. In 2022's Australian vote, they came in second to Sheldon Riley, who took the country to 15th spot in last year's Eurovision grand final. Now that it's time to watch along, SBS' usual local hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey are once again overseeing the Australian coverage. And if you can't decide whether to beat the sun or wait and host a party at sensible hour, it's worth remembering that Australians can indeed vote for Eurovision, but only until around 15 minutes after the last song is performed in each live semi-final broadcast and about 40 minutes after the last track ends in the grand final. In a big change to past years, voting is open to everyone in all finals — whether you're from a country participating in that final or not — and the artists who get through from the two semi finals to the grand final will be solely chosen by the audience at home. Still remaining the same: the rule that says Australians can't actually vote for Voyager, because no one can vote for the country they represent. EUROVISION 2023 BROADCASTS: LIVE BROADCASTS: Semi final one: 5am AEST on Wednesday, May 10 on SBS and SBS on Demand Semi final two: 5am AEST on Friday, May 12 on SBS and SBS on Demand — featuring Voyager Grand final: 5am AEST on Sunday, May 14 on SBS and SBS on Demand STREAMING REPLAYS: Semi final one: 12pm AEST on Wednesday, May 10 on SBS on Demand Semi final two: 12pm AEST on Friday, May 12 on SBS on Demand — featuring Voyager Grand final: 3pm AEST on Sunday, May 14 on SBS on Demand TV REPLAYS: Semi final one: 7.30pm AEST on Friday, May 12 on SBS Semi final two: 7.30pm AEST on Saturday, May 13 on SBS — featuring Voyager Grand final: 7.30pm AEST on Sunday, May 14 on SBS SBS' Eurovision 2023 coverage runs from Wednesday, May 10–Sunday, May 14. For more information, head to the broadcaster's website. Images: Sarah Louise Bennett / Corinne Cumming.
It was just a matter of time, really. Belvoir's new artistic director Eamon Flack has been rummaging through the canon again and came across Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. Flack is directing his own adaptation of the 1881 play, which stars Pamela Rabe, Colin Moody and Robert Menzies. Ibsen's the 19th century's master of the dirty secret, and you can get acquainted — or reacquainted — with Ghosts in the Upstairs Theatre until October 22. Even though this play is ancient, its themes are still strangely (and sadly) relevant to some of modern society's biggest issues: marriage equality, euthanasia, individual freedom. If you're heading along, don't go in blind. We've done some homework so that you can get the most out of the experience — and have some discussion points ready for post-show wines. SO WHAT'S IT ABOUT? When Ghosts premiered in 1882, it caused an outrage. That's not so remarkable considering how easily outraged audiences were back then; what is remarkable is that it remains outrageous today, 130 years on. Ghosts is an incredibly modern and confronting work, one that openly and boldly tackles issues such as euthanasia, domestic abuse, sexually-transmitted disease, even incest – topics that remain controversial even today. But equally confronting is the way Ibsen presents yet another strong female character as living a life constrained and limited by the burdens of marriage, motherhood and overwhelming pressure from a patriarchal society — a woman actor Pamela Rabe describes as "moving towards freedom, moving towards 20th century", but still very much constrained by her gender. Written in 1881, Ghosts centres on Mrs Helene Alving, a widow, with the action taking place the day before she is to open a new orphanage that she has built in her late husband's memory. Though Captain Alving has been dead for ten years, this orphanage will cement his legacy as a charitable man who put his wealth to good works — an image reinforced by Helene and her business partner and old friend, the local priest Pastor Manders. Oswald, the child of Helene and Captain Alving, has returned home to Norway for the dedication of the orphanage. Now in his mid-twenties, Oswald is an artist living in Paris, and infuriates Pastor Manders by revealing that many of his friends live with their partners, even with children, despite not being married — which was illegal in Norway in 1881. The pastor is outraged by the immorality of Oswald's life, and after Oswald leaves the room Manders berates Helene for the 'failures' of life, reproaching her for being wilful and weak, and allowing her son to live without morals or decency or parents as role models. But Helene has secrets that she has been carrying all these years, secrets that will shake Pastor Manders' faith, shatter Oswald's worldview and irrevocably change the lives of those around her. WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT IT IN 2017? Like Ibsen's other great plays, Hedda Gabler and A Doll's House, Ghosts seeks to challenge those traditional cornerstones of society: marriage, religion and patriarchy. What was remarkable then (and, sadly, is still remarkable now), is that Ibsen chose female characters to voice his challenges. Like Hedda Gabler and Nora Helmer in those other works, Helene Alving is clearly a woman of tremendous ability and strength who has been crushed under the weight of society's expectations of her from a very early age, and the audience's sympathy for them gives Ibsen's iconoclastic arguments emotional, as well as intellectual, weight. But Ghosts is a thoroughly modern play for reasons other than its critique of gender. Another key tension of the play is of individual freedom and individual rights versus the strictures and moral codes of religion and tradition — a tension that continues to frame so much in life, and indeed one that is at the very heart of the same-sex marriage postal survey. Ghosts also deals with the morals of euthanasia, sexual liberation, toxic masculinity and abusive relationships and how we as a society condemn the victims of them. The character of Oswald speaks of his life in Paris: a new life lived free of the restrictions of the past — one dedicated to discovering and revelling in 'the joy of life — but that idyllic, modern life is poisoned and ultimately killed by a very literal ramification of patriarchy and toxic masculinity. The play grapples with the tension at the very heart of human society: that any move towards collectivism and cohesion demands the sacrifice of individualism and individual freedoms for the greater good. We see this tension play out in debates around same-sex marriage, around cybersecurity and the surveillance state, around gun rights and among anti-vaccination activists. When Helene speaks of being haunted by the ghosts of her past, it is framed as flashbacks and visions of her late husband, but really it is the looming spectres of morality and tradition that seek to keep us locked in stasis, to prevent society from changing and evolving and to make the people that grew up in a different time, under different moral codes, relaxed and comfortable. DO I NEED TO GO IN PREPARED? If you have read this far then you know the plot and have a few points of discussion to think about during the show. But the great strength of Ghosts is its timelessness. The language is not difficult, and the translation and updating by director Eamon Flack are clear and strike an excellent balance between preserving Ibsen's language and modernising slightly for a contemporary audience. Ibsen's text is clear and direct and doesn't hide behind metaphor or analogy. Remarkably, the play remains almost as current and as challenging to our morality in 2017 as it did in 1881 — something we suspect Ibsen would find disappointing, if not wholly predictable. It is definitely worth reading the director's notes in advance, and also listening to the podcast that Belvoir has put together featuring director Eamon Flack, lighting designer Nick Schlieper and actors Pamela Rabe and Tom Conroy. It's only 11 minutes long but does a wonderful job of introducing the themes of the play as well as some specific elements of this production. Ghosts is now showing at Belvoir St Theatre, Surry Hills until Sunday, October 22. To book tickets visit belvoir.com.au. Images: Brett Boardman.
Mardi Gras is around the corner, so what better way to celebrate than a free-flowing lunch featuring bottomless sips, tantalising bites and high-energy drag queens. It's all happening at Chin Chin Sydney, with the team deciding to bring back its beloved Disco Sessions for this special occasion. Two hours of bottomless drinks are on the agenda, from craft beer and wines to mimosas. Yet this Mardi Gras party is taking things up a notch, handing out Tommy's Margs on arrival and serving a signature cocktail, Meet Yuzu in the Disco, combining Bizzarro aperitif, verjuice, strawberry shrub and yuzu. Paired with this assortment of beverages is a bite-sized menu bedazzled with new and classic dishes, like kingfish sashimi, crispy duck pancakes, and braised wagyu pad seuw. Running every Saturday and Sunday during the festival, this chance to dine and boogie down comes with in-house entertainment too. From 1-3pm each session, drag queens will carve up GoGo – Chin Chin's party space – beneath a dazzling disco ball.
We don't need to tell you that summer is coming, but what we do need to tell you is where to make the most of the gorgeous warm weather with a seriously swish lunch. Level up and book into one of these lovely long lunch spots, which place an emphasis on outstanding service, schmick menus, swanky cocktails and all-round fancy feels. Dress up, look smart and get ready to live the glamorous (flossy, flossy) life. The world's finest French vodka, Grey Goose, is committed to quality ingredients, which means bartenders are able create incredible cocktails that upgrade any summer occasion — particularly a leisurely long lunch on the weekend. With that in mind, here are six Melbourne venues perfect for a fancy, indulgent meal.
In as much as anyone can be one, Janette Sadik-Khan is an urban development rockstar. Spearheading the re-design of both New York City's transport system and the world-renowned Times Square public space, she is a global leader in her field. And, in speaking at this year's Velo-City conference in Adelaide, Sadik-Khan has offered some advice for Australian cities. Namely, our streets should be more like "living rooms" and — surprise, surprise — we definitely need better bike lanes. With six years under her belt as the Transportation Commissioner of New York City, this lady knows exactly what she's talking about. "Our streets are where we play and meet, kind of like the living rooms of New York," she told the crowd at Velo-City this week. Fighting a war against congestion, Sadik-Khan endeavoured to make New York's public spaces accessible for all — walkers, cyclists, drivers and those relying on public transport. In one of her biggest projects, last year she transformed Times Square into a communal pedestrian space with hundreds of fold-out chairs. It proved to be a huge win for businesses as well as the local community, and in fact shot the area into the top ten retail spaces in the world for the first time ever. In her trip down under, Sadik-Khan has praised cities such as Sydney, Adelaide and Auckland, stating that they seem to have a great deal of leadership at the local level. In fact in just this last week, Sydney has announced a new speed limit for their CBD in order to limit pedestrian accidents, and Melbourne City Council is considering the closure of many main streets in favour of an innovative new walking plan. However, the area all cities are lacking in is undoubtedly their facilities for cyclists. Sadik-Khan claims we must invest in better bike lanes and sustainable bike-share programs. Though many of our major cities have such programs in place, they're understandably not functioning as well as they could. With car doorings a regular occurrence, and animosity towards cyclists at an all-time high, it's clear more can be done. Of course, New York is far from the perfect example. I personally would be terrified to ride my bike through the main city streets and I don't think the local cabbies would be happy to share the road with me either. But it's undoubtedly a beacon of hope. With your feet up on a deck chair in the middle of an NYC icon, you can't help but think something's gone right. Via ABC. Photo credit: hadsie via photopin cc and cuellar via photopin cc.
With its ten-day feast of art, music and performances, heading to Launceston's Mona Foma can feel a little like wandering through a labyrinth. The first of MONA's annual arts festivals, the now 12-year-old event guides punters in one direction, then nudges them in another, thoroughly spoiling attendees for choice — which is what you'd expect of a fest that features more than 400 artists across 25 venues. When it returns in 2020, taking place between Saturday, January 11 and Monday, January 20, Mona Foma is taking that maze-like feeling literally. One of its headliners is the latest project by Nottingham's Architects of Air — who just popped up in Melbourne and will now be unleashing a giant, colourful, light-filled inflatable playground called Daedalum Luminarium on Tasmania. It'll turn the banks of the Tamar River into an interconnected series of caves and caverns with 19 egg-shaped domes, all inspired by the Roman Pantheon and taking their cues from mythology — and an accompanying soundscape created by Midnight Oil's Jim Moginie. [caption id="attachment_746633" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Orville Peck. Image courtesy of the artist and Mona Foma[/caption] There are plenty of other highlights on the program to lose yourself in, too. Chief among them is the music lineup, which is led by Slovenian industrial popsters Laibach, who'll perform their take on The Sound of Music (yes, really). If a masked cowboy crooner is your thing (and isn't it everyone's?), Orville Peck will be singing tunes of heartbreak and revenge from his debut album, Pony. They'll both be joined by Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi and his ivory-tickling tunes, Flying Lotus 3D's blend of jazz-funk, hip hop and eye-popping visuals, plus Mona Foma mainstay Amanda Palmer, who'll ask Launceston's ladies to share their thoughts and fears, then turn their answers into a new piece of music. Elsewhere, Mona Foma-goers can bounce around to the Japanese girl power stylings of Chai, and hear Paul Kelly perform with composer James Ledger, singer Alice Keath and the Seraphim Trio. And, in the type of show we're betting you haven't seen before, Berlin-based Holly Herndon is performing with her self-designed, artificially intelligent 'baby' called Spawn. [caption id="attachment_746634" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] MONA/Rémi Chauvin. Image courtesy of the artist and MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia[/caption] Keen to keep listening? Sound artist Akio Suzuki wants you to do just that, creating an immersive sound walk that's inspired by — and will take you around — Launceston. And while you're on your feet, follow them to huge puppet show King Ubu, which'll stage a version of Alfred Jarry's 19th-century French satire Ubu Roi in the famed Cataract Gorge with giant puppets. Among the other standouts, MESS and Soma Lumia's Hypnos Cave re-imagines existing Launceston attraction The Dark Ride — with lasers, video art, lights and a synth soundtrack adding an extra layer to the watery, convict era-inspired barge trip. You can also head along to The Centre, a collection of choreographed works inspired by after-school sport (complete with snacks), or ponder how sweat and even dead skin could play a role in futuristic fashion with designers Alice Potts and Tarryn Handcock. Laughing like kookaburras, enjoying Indigenous Australian art out of the city, watching movies about artists and hearing electronic beats inspired by the ancient music of the Japanese royal court — that's all on the bill, too. As is Mona Foma's beloved after-hours party Faux Mo: Working 9 to 5 (which'll run from 9pm–5am, naturally, and include breakfast at 4am). Mona Foma runs from January 11–20, 2020, in Launceston, Tasmania. For more information or to grab tickets from 10am AEDT on Monday, October 21, head to mofo.net.au. Top image: 'Daedalum' by Architects of Air (UK). Image courtesy of the artist/studio and Mona Foma.
When the end of the working week rolls around, and the singular bowl of soggy hot chips on the company credit card isn't enough to lure you to after-work drinks, switch things up with a visit to The Rocks. Usher in the weekend with scrumptious food and drink — think, fluffy paella, delectable omu rice and moreish mulled wine — boutique shopping and live performances at The Rocks Market: Night Edition. The markets will be taking place every Friday evening from 4–9pm from May 7. Wander through the charming streets of one of Sydney's most historic places as fairy lights dance overhead and live music soundtracks your outdoor shopping experience. Then, get airborne while keeping your feet on the ground at Trolley'd — a luxury airline-inspired bar that will be landing at The Rocks to serve drinks from repurposed airline carts. But don't expect any miniature bottles of booze on board this aircraft. These aviation attendants will be shaking up cocktails using sustainably sourced organic, native and foraged ingredients. Alongside all the usual market fanfare, there'll be dazzling performances and unique workshops from Sydney's creative communities. The markets will transform into a mini New Orleans on May 14 with a pop-up bourbon bar, irresistible food and funk, soul and jazz music spilling out into the streets. Check out Courtyard Cabaret on May 21, boasting roving performances, a vintage 1940s DJ set and a five-piece swing band. Or, if you want to shake off the week, head to Disco Alfresco on May 28 for an evening of outdoor dancing with some of Sydney's best vinyl DJs. Consider yourself an artist? Head there on June 4 for Dr Sketchy's Anti-art class — a free, drop-in art experience that is part art class and part performance — focussed on community and collaboration. The Rocks Market: Night Edition will run every Friday evening from Friday, May 7. For more information and to stay up to date on the program, head to the website.
It's hard to ignore the glistening sails of the Sydney Opera House or the star-studded sands of Bondi Beach when compiling a bucket list of must-visit sites in New South Wales. But these beloved icons are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to jaw-dropping landmarks in the state. Whether carved by hand or etched out by the elements over millennia, there is a bounty of awe-inspiring sites across NSW. A trip to these destinations could see you trekking through the desert or meditating in secluded gardens, so match your adventure to your mood and map out a mission to these ten glorious landmarks.
Update: This event has been postponed to Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14, 2025, due to unforeseen circumstances. One of Sydney's most popular tourist attractions is set to undergo a blood-curdling transformation. During two consecutive weekends, October 25–27 and November 1–3, a wander around the ghostly grounds of Cockatoo Island will become a delightfully nightmare-inducing experience. Visitors can face their fears at the Tunnels of Terror — a pair of immersive Halloween pop-ups featuring live actors. First, there's The Haunted, filled with spectres from beyond the veil, and then, taking its cues from Cockatoo Island's troubled past as a sanatorium for orphaned girls, there's The Asylum, a deranged descent into madness. Expect to be chilled to the bone with each unsettling step you take. If you manage to escape these tortured tunnels, your reward will be a devilishly delicious bounty of spooky snacks. Indulge in food truck treats and sips from signature Blood Bag cocktails (or mocktails) at the bar. You can also get into the Halloween spirit with the help of expert special effect makeup demos and show off your killer dance moves by learning the iconic MJ 'Thriller' dance. Tickets for access into the tunnels start from $40 and group packages are available for friends and families craving a truly terrifying Halloween experience. Travel with ease to the island with ferries every 20 minutes from Parramatta and Circular Quay. For young daredevils who may not be ready for the full-throttle horror of the tunnels, there are family-friendly sessions between 4–5 pm on Saturdays and 2–3 p.m. on Sundays for teens aged 14-18. Visitors to the evening sessions which run from 7–9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 5–7 pm on Sundays, must be aged over 18.
Frontrunners in the ever-brewing (sorry) craft beer scene in Sydney, Young Henrys have banded together, drunk many a Newtowner and created their very own ode to the inner west, the Small New World Festival. The brand new festival, announced this morning features some of Sydney's best local bands and culinary wizards on the bill; set to thrown down a day-long celebration of the vibrant cultural hub that is Sydney's inner west. Scheduled for September, Small New World promises to be the ultimate Sydney-centric festival, featuring music, food and the life force that inspired it all — beer — all proudly locally produced. The one-day festival will take over the beating heart of the inner west, Marrickville, the suburb where diversity is celebrated and enjoyed by locals. Marrickville remains the 17km stretch of land where you can pick up some authentic pho, take in some solid jazz tunes and enjoy the ambience of some of Sydney's sunniest cafes. Marrickville reps the essence of the inner west community, so it seems fitting to hold the festival along its beloved Jabez Street. "The idea started to take shape during a conversation over a beer, as all good ideas do. We were talking about all the amazing things that people put into the world from the inner west," explain Oscar Preston-Stanley and Rich Adamson from Newtown's YH brewery. "The conversation steered towards music of course, and we were in agreement that the music of the inner west isn't celebrated as much as it deserves to be." So who's playing? The music lineup has been handpicked by the Young Henrys crew, who are of the firm belief that music and beer should always be closely interlaced. Confirmed to headline the bill is legendary stoner rock band Tumbleweed, alongside garage-punk-pop trio Bloods, hip hop outfit True Vibenation, seven-strong Little Bastard, rascally rock and rollers The Snowdroppers as well as the beloved likes of Delta Riggs, Steve Smyth, The Upskirts, Pat Capocci, Royal Tennyson and Richard in Your Mind. Now that's a solid Sydney lineup. Booze will be plentiful and varied — just how we like it. Brewed to perfection, Young Henrys will be serving their golden oldies alongside some intriguing newcomers. Of course, their exclusively local Newtowner Ale will be on offer, as will their crowd-pleasing Cloudy Cider. Excitingly, the Young Henrys crew have expanded their horizons and brought something new to the table: gin. Festivalgoers will be among the first to try it. Makers have described the gin as "uniquely Australian, yet reminiscent of a classic London dry," and incorporates the combinations of juniper, oris root, Australian native bush tomato, pepperberry and Tasmanian grown hops to create a gin that is "both floral and dry, complex and smooth." Food will be served up all day, with the cream of the inner west crop getting involved in the fun — partaking restaurants will include Bloodwood, Porteño, Mary's and Cornersmith. This chilled out community festival will be held on September 20. Enjoy a crisp beer (or a spot of gin) in the sun, savour some local fare, take in some great local tunes and take a moment or two to appreciate the top notch cultural development that has come to define the inner west. Small New World Festival will be held in Jabez Street in Marrickville on September 20. Tickets are $59 +BF and $13 +BF for kids under 13 and can be purchased here.
Every suburb needs the essentials. For most cities that would be a grocer, a coffee shop, a chemist and some form of semi-reliable public transport. But these days, Sydney is spoiling its residents — if not with an abundance of public transport options, then with a tonne of poke places. And Balmain is the latest Sydney 'burb to cop one with Bowl.R opening on Darling Street today. It seems like a poke joint opens every other week in Sydney at the moment, but this will be Balmain's first eatery to serve up the Hawaiian raw fish salad. Like most of its competitors, Bowl.R will give you the option to build your own bowl with ingredients like trout, tuna and miso cauliflower as well as all the regular toppings. From Saturday, October 28 the eatery will also be serving up breakfast on weekends from 8am. But what sets this poke place apart is its dessert option: vegan soft serve. Bowl.R's Vice Cream — which is dairy-, gluten- and refined sugar-free — will be available in a cone or a smoothie bowl. Bowl.R opens today — Saturday, October 21 — and to celebrate, the team will be giving the first 100 customers either a poke bowl or vegan ice cream cone. Store opens at midday, so get in quick. Bowl.R is now open shop one, 308 Darling Street, Balmain. It will be open daily from 12–8pm and, from October 28, all day from 8am–8pm on weekends. For more info, visit their Facebook page.
