In 2020, when Gelato Messina decided that we'd all be much happier at home if we could bake and eat the company's OTT desserts, it kicked off its parade of tasty specials after Easter. So, while fans of sweet treats have been able to tuck into everything from cookie pies in choc chip, red velvet, choc-hazelnut, and peanut butter and jelly varieties to full tubs of both Iced VoVo gelato and Messina's own take on the classic Viennetta ice cream cake over the past year, we didn't get anything to pair with our chocolate eggs. Thankfully, that's changing in 2021. Up next: a hot cross bun version of the brand's sticky snails. Basically, it's their interpretation of a Cinnabon-style scroll, then combined with an Easter favourite. It's another of Messina's limited releases, and it'll be available at all of its stores for a very short period. Wondering what exactly Messina's hot cross bun sticky snail entails? Well, that spiced sticky hot cross bun dough is filled with choc chips and vanilla custard. Crucially, raisins aren't included — but it is topped with a cinnamon malt caramel. The sweet bake-at-home bite to eat can only be ordered online on Wednesday, March 17. It will set you back $65, which includes a one-litre tub of the brand's triple choc gelato hot tub, too — which features milk chocolate gelato, toasted white chocolate mousse and with Ecuadorian dark chocolate crack. Once you've placed your preorder, pick up will be available between Thursday, April 1–Sunday, April 4 from your chosen Messina store. And, after you've got the hot cross bun sticky snail safely home, you just need to whack it in the oven for 20–25 minutes at 160 degrees and voila. Gelato Messina's hot cross bun sticky snails will be available to order on Wednesday, March 17, for pick up between Thursday, April 1–Sunday, April 4 — keep an eye on the Messina website for further details.
More than once during Why Are You Like This, aspiring drag queen Austin (Wil King) attempts to shut out the world by scrolling through memes on his phone. Although the six-part ABC sitcom he's in isn't doesn't show him looking at any of the images that give the series its title, you can bet that he'd stumble across them. He'd have to. It's the internet — they're unavoidable. And, he'd likely do one of two things when he did find the memes on his screen: either flick past hundreds without giving a single thought to how they might relate his life, or keep viewing one after the other until he melts down because they hit a little too close to home. Irreverent and astute, honest yet hilarious, drawn from reality but also willing to poke as much fun as possible: that's Why Are You Like This' niche. Focusing on characters that can hardly be described likeable but are instantly recognisable, the series takes aim at the minutiae of 21st-century life. Witheringly funny, it knows that simply existing right now involves constantly being online, and also navigating the never-ending onslaught of expectations, information and opinions that comes with it. And, without flinching, it's also aware that just getting through the day in this non-stop environment can feel relentless and hellish. That's the situation that the show's three main figures, each in their early 20s, all find themselves facing in every one of Why Are You Like This' episodes. The days tick by, and the personal and professional problems just keep coming. It's a familiar laundry list, including getting fired, battling with colleagues, money troubles, hiding boyfriends, losing moon cups and trying to spark a workplace revolution but ending up getting other people sacked. So, yes, this trio is just like the rest of us — and they're just as glued to their phones while they're weathering everything from sudden social media backlash to dealing with frenemies. Penny (series co-creator Naomi Higgins, Utopia) wants to be an ally to everyone, a commitment that exhausts anyone who comes into her orbit. Her bestie Mia (Olivia Junkeer, Neighbours) matches that determination with both self-assurance and a self-serving mindset; if she's sticking up for anyone, it's always herself. Rounding out the trio is Penny's housemate Austin, the aforementioned fan of distracting memes. Alas, his glittery outfits, super-sized personality and blistering cynicism can't always hide his internal crumbling. Across the show's first season, these three friends keep trying to stand out in their own ways. They also routinely demonstrate both their best and worst traits in the process. In one episode, Penny goes overboard while trying to prove that she's Mia's closest friend. In another, Mia helps a new work colleague turn her cosplay hobby into cash — to take advantage of the sad men objectifying her — with creepy repercussions. And, when Austin gets tired of Penny's Marie Kondo obsession, it doesn't end well for her beloved belongings. The result: a must-see comedy that's as satirical as it is candid and relatable. Why Are You Like This knows that everyone and everything is awful at all times, leans in, and finds both the humour and the insight in that realisation. And, in terms of the series' style of comedy, the fact that Higgins created the show with lawyer and illustrator Humyara Mahbub and Aunty Donna's Mark Samual Bonanno says plenty. Indeed, like 2020's standout Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun, Why Are You Like This is ridiculously easy to binge in one sitting, then start re-binging again. Check out the trailer for Why Are You Like This below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw_iVa6bZgs Why Are You Like This is available to stream via ABC iView.
Shouts out to Picnic Touring and Events for putting on one of the most exciting shows of the year. Picnic presents the Australian debut of TIMELINE, the Underground Resistance all star crew live and direct from Detroit. Brrraaapp. The Underground Resistance collective began in 1990 and has become a living representation of the original spirit of techno — music that looks to the future, that's underground, experimental and radical in its aesthetic and technological vision. Born in a city with a rich musical history and known for its industrialisation of the automotive industry, the UR developed their unique live show with influences from jazz instrumentation and the regimented sounds of techno kicks and snares. They'll deliver 25 years of dance music history to the stage at the Imperial Hotel, with support from some of Sydney's own legend status DJs Simon Caldwell, Ben Fester and Kali. Music starts at 10pm and finishes up with at sunrise.
Since 5pm on Saturday, December 19, Sydney's northern beaches suburbs have been under stay-at-home orders, as part of the New South Wales Government's efforts to stop the area's growing cluster of locally acquired COVID-19 cases. The requirement for folks in the region to remain at home other than for one of four essential reasons was given a target end date, though, of midnight on Wednesday, December 23 — but Premier Gladys Berejiklian has just revealed that the restrictions won't simply be coming to an end. Instead, on a day that saw seven new cases linked to the cluster diagnosed in the past 24 hours, Premier Berejiklian revealed that the northern beaches will be split into two zones — and each will have different rules. At her daily press conference, the Premier advised that the area will be divided into a northern and southern section, using the Narrabeen Bridge and the Baha'i Temple as a boundary. The north half extends north from the bridge and east from the temple, while the south half obviously spans in the opposite directions. For those in the north — which sounds like something that'd be said in Game of Thrones, not in reality — the current restrictions remain in place for the foreseeable future, with no end date currently given. That said, there is a very slight change coming into effect from Thursday, December 24–Saturday, December 26. Folks will be able to have five visitors over including kids during those three days, as long as their visitors live in the peninsula zone. Accordingly, leaving the house to visit people in the area will be added as a fifth reason to head out — alongside work if you can't do it from your house, for essential shopping, for exercise and for compassionate reasons (which includes emergency medical treatment or to visit an isolated relative). This change is only in effect until midnight on Saturday, December 26. Come Sunday, December 27, no visitors will be allowed again, with the rules reverting to the present current stay-at-home conditions. And, during the three-day reprieve, people can't enter or leave the northern beaches' northern zone — so it's only folks within it that can interact with each other on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. In the lower half of the northern beaches, residents can have ten visitors plus kids from Thursday, December 24–Saturday, December 26. That does include folks from the rest of Greater Sydney, too — but not from the peninsula zone in the north. If you live in the southern part of the northern beaches, though, you can't leave your house unless it's for one of the original four reasons, or to visit someone else in the same northern beaches area. As for what happens afterwards in this zone, the government has said that it will make an announcement on Boxing Day. Premier Berejiklian announced a minor reprieve from restrictions for Greater Sydney over these three days, too — letting the rest of the city have ten people over plus kids, like the southern half of the northern beaches. Since news of the first northern beaches cases back on Thursday, December 17, NSW Health has been updating a long list of locations and venues that positive coronavirus cases have visited over the past week — which Sydneysiders are asked to check frequently and, if you've been to anywhere listed on the specific dates and times, get tested immediately and self-isolate for 14 days after your visit. There is also a series of new pop-up and drive-thru clinics now located on the northern beaches. If you need a reminder, the symptoms to look out for are coughs, fever, sore or scratchy throat, shortness of breath, or loss of smell or taste. You can find a rundown of testing clinic locations online as well. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
How does an underwater opera work? Is it through air pockets? Scuba gear? Gillyweed? All your questions will be answered and then forgotten in the majesty of Dido & Aeneas, the Sydney Festival's first big 'get' for 2014, announced today. First performed in 2005, the work is from Berlin dance-theatre guru and former Schaubuhne artistic director Sasha Waltz and her company, and has been much acclaimed in its performances across Europe. The Australian exclusive performance will mark the first time the show will have toured to the Asia-Pacific. That delay may have something to do with the stage design that definitely breaks the standard baggage allowance. The first part of the show is a dance that takes place inside a 7500L tank. The opera then unfolds in a dry-land spectacle with 60 performers that Neues Deutchsland called "in the best sense overwhelming". In the vein of last year's Semele Walk, Dido & Aeneas combines exquisite dance, costumes, singing, music and stagecraft to tell a passionate love story. By Henry Purcell, the Baroque score was described by festival director Lieven Bertels as having "topped the emo charts for almost 350 years now". It's performed on stage by renowned German chamber orchestra Akademie fur Alte Musik, who will play on rare Baroque instruments that sometimes have to be sourced locally so as to avoid the strain of travel. The Sydney Festival is your main chance in the year to see big-deal international productions, and Dido & Aeneas is one big, awe-inspiring deal. Dido & Aeneas is on at the Sydney Lyric Theatre from 16-21 January. Tickets go on sale today at noon from the Sydney Festival website. https://youtube.com/watch?v=u7nKmm7a71Q
There's a film festival for everything these days, so it seems, but few offer cinematic treats of the truly weird, wonderful and WTF variety. That's where the Sydney Underground Film Festival comes in, serving up a feast of film delicacies unlikely to be seen elsewhere — and not just likely but actively striving to make jaws drop in astonishment. Now in its seventh year, and forging ahead thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign earlier in 2014, SUFF boasts an enticing mix of boundary-pushing genre fare, provocative documentaries, experimental efforts and just general freaked-out film fun. From September 4–7, the festival takes over The Factory Theatre, Marrickville for four days of movie madness and once again adventurous audiences are spoiled for choice. https://youtube.com/watch?v=TJew_11l6n8 OPENING NIGHT FILM + PARTY: HOUSEBOUND Opening night picks aren't always indicative of a film festival's overall vibe, but Housebound promises to set a pleasingly playful tone in one of SUFF's many programming coups. A hit at SXSW and the Melbourne International Film Festival, ranking third in the latter's audience awards, the New Zealand horror-comedy mixes the tried-and-tested genre trope of the haunted house with an offbeat sense of humour and off-kilter mother-daughter hijinks. Think spookiness, silliness and a smile-inducing example of combining laughs and scares. There's more than just a film on offer, too — opening night also features pizza, drinks, and a performance by Renny Kodgers. https://youtube.com/watch?v=B6fyb8vW6Y8 THE GREEN INFERNO Every underground film festival needs a little bit of cannibalism, and at SUFF, that requisite dose of flesh-eating comes from Eli Roth. He had fun with the creepy cabin cliche in Cabin Fever, made audiences think twice about overseas backpacking holidays with Hostel, and ranked amongst Quentin Tarantino's Nazi-hunting brigade in Inglourious Basterds — and now he takes on infamous Italian effort Cannibal Holocaust. Part homage, part comedic spin on the age-old tourists in trouble storyline, The Green Inferno is born of the filmmaker's obvious affection for the history of the genre. The screening at SUFF also marks perhaps the only opportunity in Australia to see the film on the big screen. https://youtube.com/watch?v=9hFg-_SESpo THE DOG Dog Day Afternoon is rightfully considered a cinema classic, the combination of Sidney Lumet's direction and Al Pacino and John Cazale's performances producing one of the best works of their respective careers. The story the film relates, of a bank-robbing crook caught in a standoff with police after attempting to steal cash for his wife's gender reassignment surgery, is memorable — but what about the story behind the story? Focusing on John Wojtowicz's actual escapades, The Dog tells the true tale, as shared with documentarians Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren over several years. There's fact, there's fiction, and then there's an account of events so crazy and chaotic that it can only stem from reality. https://youtube.com/watch?v=RdFu2jd6Y3E WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? Sion Sono's anarchic ode to all things film has done the festival rounds for more than a year; indeed, the Japanese director's next feature, Tokyo Tribe, is about to start doing the same thing. Any chance to see his joyful genre mash-up projected large within the darkened confines of a cinema, however, simply must be taken. There has never been a love letter to the mania of the movies quite like Why Don't You Play in Hell?, nor will there be again; the gleefully rebellious effort offers a fun and frenetic feat unlikely to ever be repeated. That the narrative concerns a filmmaking collective called The Fuck Bombers as they become ensconced in a Yakuza war gives just a taste of the mirthful mayhem. https://youtube.com/watch?v=PdfL_MvOT8U WETLANDS A teen sex comedy swimming in bad behaviour and bodily fluids is nothing new, but this is no ordinary excursion through adolescent hormones. Wetlands is based on the cult German-language novel by author Charlotte Roche, a book deemed so disgusting that letters pleaded for it never to be made into a movie — and it is one such protest that introduces David Wnendt's big screen adaptation. The film's focus on a spirited female protagonist — the pithy Helen (Carla Juri) — offers one obvious point of departure from the norm; howeverc it is its valuing of honesty amongst its overt comedy that proves its most refreshing aspect. Closing out SUFF in sticky style, Wetlands will certainly spark many a post-screening conversation. SUFF runs from September 4-7 at the Factory Theatre, Marrickville. Check out the festival website for the full program.
Since they first won our hearts and tickled our senses of humour on Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have inspired two reactions. Audiences either want to be them or be best friends with them, though the former is impossible and the latter highly unlikely. 30 Rock, Parks and Rec and their Golden Globes co-hosting gigs didn't lessen this desire, so their latest collaboration offers the next best thing. For two hours, Sisters re-teams the charismatic comedic twosome, throws an outlandish party and invites everyone to witness the mayhem. Fun is high on the agenda, and laughs are too — aka everything anyone could want when two of their favourite stars join forces once again. But even with such a pedigree, there's a difference between an enjoyable film and an excellent one, just as there's a difference between meeting expectations and exceeding them. Sisters' director Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect) and writer Paula Pell (another SNL alum) know their leads will put a smile on most people's faces simply by sharing screen time. They're also aware that the movie doesn't need to do much else. Accordingly, Sisters takes a well-worn scenario, adds a few just-as-recognisable issues, and hopes that the charm and hilarity of Fey and Poehler wins out. Unsurprisingly, it does. The two play mismatched siblings forced to finally say goodbye to their childhood and face everything maturity entails. Fey's free-spirited hairdresser and single mother Kate can't hold down a job or find a permanent place to live, while Poehler's responsible nurse Maura has dedicated her post-divorce life to her job. They're summoned to their family home in Florida when their parents (James Brolin and Dianne Wiest) decide to sell. But before the sale goes through, the girls decide to throw one last party. Adults behaving like teenagers may have worn somewhat thin, now that every second film is obsessed with states of arrested development. Still, you can trust Fey and Poehler to make the most of the concept. They're game for whatever comes their way — and plenty does. Sure, the script reverses their roles from Baby Mama, their last big-screen pairing, and then relies upon the usual march of escalating big-screen silliness. Yet even when the parade of outrageous antics seems familiar, nothing ever feels stretched or tiresome thanks to the central duo's winning chemistry and all-round energetic performances. Moreover, while the leads are never anything less than a delight to watch, in a feature that's as much a reunion movie as it is a party movie, they're certainly not the only humorous highlights. Maya Rudolph threatens to steal every scene she's in as Kate and Maura's high school nemesis; Ike Barinholtz affably plays against type as Maura's love interest; and John Cena continues to amuse outside of the WWE arena. The movie's attempts to traverse darker territory aren't quite as successful as its jokes, though it's nice that there's something more to the film than Fey and Poehler acting wild and cracking wise. Though it's execution is slight and clumsy, the movie's initial nostalgia for times gone by blossoms into the bittersweet epiphany we all eventually have: that youthful dreams don't always come to pass. Sisters is the type of film best consumed with an eager crowd. There's little that's unexpected here, with the film largely content with letting two of the funniest people on the planet do their thing. And you know what? That's okay. When it comes to laughs, Sisters well and truly delivers — and throws in a great dance routine set to Snow's 'Informer' as well.
Turning the cute and cuddly into the rude and crude isn't a new concept. Everything from Greg the Bunny to Meet the Feebles to Ted has been there and done that with varying degrees of success, while the irreverent Who Framed Roger Rabbit bounced through somewhat similar terrain as well. It's not a lack of originality that proves The Happytime Murders' undoing, however. Rather, it's failing to realise that an amusing (albeit well-worn) premise still needs some fluff in its felt. He might come from a puppetry pedigree, but almost every single joke in Brian Henson's new film offers a variation on the same thing: what if puppets drank, did drugs, swore and had sex? Henson, son of The Muppets mastermind Jim Henson and director of both The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, wasn't responsible for The Happytime Murders' script. That honour goes to Todd Berger (It's a Disaster, Cover Version), although there's little in the way that Henson executes the screenplay that extends past playing up the obvious. In fact, other than flesh-and-blood stars Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and Elizabeth Banks, the movie's best touch actually springs from the writer's pen. In a film that endeavours to dive into nostalgic territory only to tear it apart in a sea of filthy fabric, having misbehaving puppets snort sugar as their substance of choice is a clever inclusion. Something sweet becomes something toxic, mirroring the picture's own gleeful approach. Made of blue material and sporting a gloomy attitude to match, Phil Philips (voiced by Bill Barretta) roams Los Angeles' streets as a wizened gumshoe. In short succession, two events change his life: he's hired by a seductive new client, and, working her case, he's found at the scene of a violent crime in a puppet porn shop. Before you can say "an octopus fondling cow udders" (something that happens in The Happytime Murders in graphic detail), another killing occurs, and Phil is teamed up with police detective Connie Edwards (McCarthy) to get to the bottom of it all. That the murder victims were all stars on 80s puppet TV show The Happytime Gang complicates matters, as does the fact that Phil was once the LAPD's first puppet cop (and Edwards' partner). While the puppet body count keeps climbing, little else in The Happytime Murders evolves across its mercifully brief running-time. From start to finish, it thinks that toys ejaculating silly string and having Basic Instinct moments is the height of humour. And let's be clear — we're not saying that puppets behaving badly can't be funny, just that it wears not just thin but threadbare here, and incredibly quickly. To give them credit, the filmmakers do try to branch beyond the Team America-style debauchery, setting their story in a world where the plush are treated like second-class citizens, dubbed 'felties' by their 'meat sack' oppressors and given no respect, in an attempt to parallel real-life racial discrimination. And yet, as well-meaning as that part of the story is, it's simply used to set up more debased jokes. It's also hardly unique, especially if the aforementioned Who Framed Roger Rabbit was one of your childhood favourites. Similarly working against the limp film is its unconvincing appearance, which never sells the idea that humans and talking pieces of cloth are actually interacting. There's an awkward, stilted feeling emanating from every scene, and it speaks volumes that the movie's most entertaining sequence involves Bridesmaids co-stars McCarthy and Rudolph and absolutely no characters fashioned from floppy material. Of course, a lot of hard work and skill went into making the furry figures come to life, as behind-the-scenes footage over the picture's closing credits shows. But, as the otherwise unseen green-suited puppeteers manoeuvre stitched-together toys, their efforts contribute to a stitched-together film that can't survive on a rote noir storyline, some human energy and too many gags about puppets gone wild. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ8R5xJeYfU
Love birds, it's time to get creative. As February 14 looms and restaurant reservations book up, planning the perfect night can seem like an impossible feat. Luckily, the Watson's Bay Hotel crew can do it all for you. Impress your other half by tucking into a picnic basket of goodies, all while watching the night descend over Watsons Bay beach. Packed ready to go, this takeaway feast contains your usual picnic essentials plus a bottle of bubbly and selection of canapes. For a classic candlelit dinner, there's the 50 Shades of Bay Feast for Two, and couples sharing a mushy snap of themselves with the hashtag #50ShadesofBay to Instagram go into the running to win an evening in the Hotel's Grand Harbour Suite (prize to be drawn during the night).
After nine years of keeping Ultimo locals well-fed with burgers, hot 'n' sticky chicken wings and fish tacos, Pub Life Kitchen is shutting up shop. The eatery — which is one of Sydney's OG burger joints — will go out with a bang on Wednesday, October 11 with the final PLK Experiment, before closing altogether on Saturday, October 14. "The experiment will be a big thank you to everyone who's eaten at Pub Life Kitchen," says owner Jovan Curic. "It'll also probably be the most expensive event I've put together to date because there'll be a lot of free burgers." There's no word yet on just how many free burgers there will be, but when Pub Life Kitchen is done and dusted, Curic won't be resting on his laurels. He'll continue to oversee Superior Burger, the burger joint he opened in Wakeley a year ago, and get behind the Superior Express, a 1950s Austin bus that puts Superior Burgers on wheels. "My business partner found the bus in a yard and has spent two years customising it," says Curic. "We're not doing the regular food truck run, but, instead, go where we get booked." On top of that, there are plans to expand operations in western Sydney, with the opening of a bistro in January 2018. Moving away from Pub Life Kitchen is, according to Curic, a "natural evolution". "Pub Life Kitchen has been around for a while and things became very burger heavy." Watch this space for what he does next. Pub Life Kitchen will do its last service on Saturday, October 14 at 265 Bulwara Road, Ultimo. For more info on that and its last PLK Experiment, visit the Facebook page.
You might remember the excitement when Wolfmother set the main stage of Homebake 2005 on fire playing songs from the then newly released, debut self-titled record. Fast-forward to 2009 when two founding members have left the fold and creative whiz kid Andrew Stockdale played a low-key gig at Oxford Art Factory with three new musicians.The quartet is now armed with a behemoth of a sophomore record Cosmic Egg, named after a favoured yoga pose. Recorded over a two-month spell in LA with English producer Alan Moulder, this will be the second time Sydneysiders have heard the new songs live.The supports include Brisbane rockers, Yves Klein Blue (whose own debut record continues to impress fans and critics) and Australian Music Prize Winner, Jack Ladder. Each ticket also grants the buyer free introductory membership to the group’s new official fan club, The Wolfies. May fans howl and delight in Wolfmother’s newest moon.https://youtube.com/watch?v=NiRnAO0QJ0E
If you've been saving your money the last couple months and are wondering where to spend it, head down to the Makers and Shakers Market on Saturday, April 13. Making its return to Sydney, it'll feature more than 50 high-quality stalls, so you'll definitely find something you like. The market provides an open platform for local makers to sell their handmade wares, gourmet foods and lifestyle products. Start your shopping at 10am with a kombucha from Mailer McGuire then wander to Clay Canoe for stunning ceramics and to Cardigan Threads for chunky, colourful jewellery. Finish up with a visit to You Are Brave to add some new textiles to your home — and that's just a taste of the goodies on offer. While you're wandering the stalls, tackle your post-shop hunger with some toasted sandwiches from Mister Toast, doughnuts from Nutie and Donut Papi, plus many more delicious foods. The market will run from 10am–3pm, tickets are $2 and kids under 12 are free. Image: Alana Dimou.
There's nothing quite like a true story, whether it's a wild, chaotic, so-strange-it-can-only-be-true kind of tale or an informative, eye-opening yarn. That's Antenna Documentary Film Festival's cinematic bread and butter, with the Sydney-based event rolling out a new lineup of factual flicks for ten fests now — and it's celebrating hitting that big milestone with an impressive 2022 program. When the festival returns from Wednesday, February 2–Sunday, February 13 — hitting up Dendy Newtown, Palace Chauvel, Palace Verona, MCA Australia and Powerhouse Museum — it'll do so with a lineup of 50 features and shorts, as well as a day-long industry chat about the medium. The big highlight is all those feature-length docos, of course, including the 13 movies in the fest's official competition. Among the titles competing for the event's $10,000 prize, Charm Circle serves up a portrait of eccentric New York family navigating and has been likened to Grey Gardens — and also opens the festival. In terms of other competition standouts, it's joined by homegrown effort The Lake of Scars, which heads to regional Victoria; Courage, which explores the protests against the 2020 Belarus presidential election; and The Bubble, which ventures to a Florida retirement home with 155,000 retirees, 54 golf courses and 70 swimming pools. Or, elsewhere throughout the program, Jagged dives into Alanis Morissette's career; The Real Charlie Chaplin uses audio recordings, reconstructions and personal archival materials to traces Charlie Chaplin's Hollywood stardom; Sisters with Transistors celebrates pioneering women in the electronic music scene; and The Most Beautiful Boy in the World unfurls the story of Death in Venice actor Björn Andrésen, who earned that nickname as a the 15 year old. Yes, it's a great year for docos about the entertainment industry. Plus, you can see Sundance award-winner All Light, Everywhere, which examines the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice; The Gig Is Up, which ponders the gig economy; and the Cannes-awarded A Night of Knowing Nothing, which contemplates university student life in India. Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2022 runs from Wednesday, February 2–Sunday, February 13 at Dendy Newtown, Palace Chauvel, Palace Verona, MCA Australia and Powerhouse Museum. For more information and to buy tickets, head to the festival's website.
As Australians gear up for a postal vote on the issue of same-sex marriage, Melbourne City Council is showing its unequivocal backing of marriage equality by lighting up the Melbourne Town Hall in rainbow colours for the next two nights — just as it did in the wake of last year's Orlando nightclub shootings. Along with the municipal building's temporary makeover on Wednesday, August 16 and Thursday, August 17, the Council has also arranged a message in support of marriage equality to be screened up on Swanston Street's Young and Jackson Hotel's iconic rooftop sign for an hour from 11am today, and on rotation between Monday, August 21, and Sunday, September 17. We'll see even more of its endorsement in the coming weeks too, with local businesses offered window stickers backing the campaign. It all comes after Melbourne City Council last night endorsed a motion to campaign in support for marriage equality and to promote respectful dialogue surrounding the debate, with Lord Mayor Robert Doyle AC clear about the message they're hoping to send out. "When I think of Melbourne I think of equality," Doyle said. "I want Melbourne to take pride in its tolerant, welcoming, diverse culture. I believe all of our residents should have the opportunity to marry, if they wish." Melbourne City Council's a long-time supporter of marriage equality, having unanimously voted to back same-sex marriage back in 2015 and called on the Federal Government to legislate for it.
This year has been anything but normal, and the trend is continuing into Christmas. Because of a recent outbreak on Sydney's northern beaches, COVID-19 restrictions are (once again) impacting what we can and can't do, and who (and how many people) we can see for the festive occasion. For the first time in 2020, Sydney is broken up into different areas with different restrictions. As the majority of the cluster is located in the northern part of the northern beaches, this is where the strictest restrictions are. Next, comes the southern half of northern beaches; then Greater Sydney — which, currently, includes the Blue Mountains — the Central Coast and Wollongong; and, finally, the rest of NSW, which has the most relaxed restrictions. The recent outbreak, which currently includes 104 cases, has led to the NSW Government tightening restrictions across all of Greater Sydney, but the good news is that some of them are being temporarily relaxed between Thursday, December 24 and Saturday, December 26. What that does mean, though, is that it's all a little confusing. To help you plan your day — and ensure you're not slapped with a $1000 on-the-spot fine — we've broken down exactly what you can do, region by region. NORTHERN NORTHERN BEACHES Sydney's northern beaches suburbs have been under stay-at-home orders since Saturday, December 19. They were initially flagged to end on midnight last night, Wednesday, December 23, but instead the NSW Government has split the northern beaches into two zones — a northern and southern section, using the Narrabeen Bridge and the Baha'i Temple as a boundary — each with different rules. You'll find a map from the NSW Government showing the two areas below. For those in the north — which sounds like something that'd be said in Game of Thrones, not in reality — the current restrictions remain in place for the foreseeable future, with no end date currently given. That said, there is a very slight change coming into effect from Thursday, December 24 until midnight on Saturday, December 26. Northern northern beaches residents will be able to have five visitors over, including kids, during those three days, as long as their visitors live in the zone. Accordingly, leaving the house to visit people in the area will be added as a fifth reason to head out — alongside work if you can't do it from your house, for essential shopping, for exercise and for compassionate reasons (which includes emergency medical treatment or to visit an isolated relative). Come Sunday, December 27, no visitors will be allowed again, with the rules reverting to the present current stay-at-home conditions. And, during the three-day reprieve, people can't enter or leave the northern beaches' northern zone — so it's only folks within it that can interact with each other on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. SOUTHERN NORTHERN BEACHES In the lower half of the northern beaches, residents can have ten visitors plus kids from Thursday, December 24–Saturday, December 26. That does include folk from the rest of Greater Sydney, too — but not from the peninsula zone in the north. If you live in the southern part of the northern beaches, though, you can't leave your house unless it's for one of the original four reasons, or to visit someone else in the same southern northern beaches area. As for what happens afterwards in this zone, the government has said that it will make an announcement on Boxing Day. GREATER SYDNEY, CENTRAL COAST AND WOLLONGONG In a bid to contain the stop the spread of the outbreak across Sydney, the NSW Government tightened gathering restrictions on Sunday, December 20 for Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast and Wollongong. Initially set to expire at midnight last night, the new caps for gatherings at home and in indoor venues were extended indefinitely — but there's a very minor change in place for December 24, 25 and 26. If you're keen to have folk over to your house, that's limited at ten people. At all other indoor settings other than the family home — which includes hospitality venues — the one person per four-square-metre rule is in effect. And, a cap of 300 people remains for big venues, even if a large space can hold more than that and still abide by the density requirement. From Thursday, December 24–Saturday, December 26, the ten-person limit doesn't include children under the age of 12. So, you can have ten adults and however many kids under 12 at your house. But, you can only have one group of people over on each day — so you can't have different lots of ten people and children coming over at different times. This very minor change stops at midnight on Saturday, December 26, with the hard ten-person rule — for visitors of all ages — back in effect from Sunday, December 27 until further notice. These new restrictions do not impact outdoor public gatherings, however, with the current limit of 100 people remaining. THE REST OF NSW For everyone outside of Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Wollongong and the northern beaches — and those who haven't been told to isolate after visiting a hotspot — the restrictions for indoor gatherings are much more relaxed. In the rest of NSW, you may have up to 50 visitors at your home at a time (including adults and children) and there's no daily limit on how many visitors you may have. If you do go over the 50-person limit, though, every single person present could possibly be slapped with a $1000 on-the-spot fine. Like Greater Sydney, public outdoor gatherings are restricted to 100. Hospitality and other indoor entertainment venues can have a limit of one person per two-square-metres. For more information about current restrictions and the developing northern beaches outbreak, head to the NSW Government website.
Surry Hills is a familiar terrain to many of us: late at night, wandering home in search of that soft, warm pillow. Yet to an unlucky few these lonely streets are their home, and they wander in circles with nowhere else to go. Imagine, if you just stopped for a moment, the people you would meet here and the stories they could tell. It may be something like Intersection. The upcoming show put on by the MilkCrate theatre combines a cast of professional actors with a group of homeless and disadvantaged members of the community alongside the Sydney Street Choir to put on an authentic community production. The show charts the meeting of two people at a crisis shelter in Surry Hills and tracks their story through the back streets of Sydney to Mission Australia and Taylor Square before heading back home to the Edmond Eager Lodge. We, the audience, will literally follow them on this journey which puts us all at a crossroad. The philosphy of the show is very much on raising awareness, like the many workshops that the Milkcrate theatre put on throughout the year. But keep a lookout for the post show banquet which happens every year — where else can you eat with the stars of your show, after walking a mile in their shoes?
Sydneysiders will have to wait a little longer before sipping Re's inventive cocktails is on the menu again — and construction delays are the cause. The zero-waste bar was initially slated to open up inside The Norfolk Hotel on Tuesday, May 14, but since announcing that date, the Redfern pub has had to postpone its relaunch. Re's boundary-pushing approach to sustainability has seen the bar earn a spot among Sydney's best bars, and has received acclaim on lists spanning the world's best bars multiple times. Hence, the postponement of its long-awaited reopening is bittersweet news. Now, the standout spot is set to welcome guests from sometime between mid-May to the end of the month. No open date has officially been confirmed as yet, so stand by for further details. The cocktail bar's revitalised menu for its sleek new digs at The Norfolk will feature its familiar game-changing cocktails made from discarded bread or chicken feet, alongside new inventions — including a Ricos Tacos-inspired tortilla-inspired cocktail, a Busby's-centred 'Dirty Bore' with salted focaccia butter vodka, a boozy Derrel's-style mango lassi cocktail and more. As for its upcoming food lineup, each dish will showcase the highest-quality local ingredients that can be consumed whole. You'll spot dishes like the squid ink and calamari duo, as well as yellowfin tuna paired with marigold. When Re reopens, you'll find it at The Norfolk, 305 Cleveland Street, Redfern. Keep an eye on the venue's website for more information. Images: Sam McAdam.
The MCA's summer music series Sounds on the Terrace is back for the fifth year running. And, this time round, the gallery is teaming up with Young Henrys — the Newtown brewers will curate the music lineup and, you guessed it, add a healthy dose of craft beer to the drinks list. The first session kicks off on Wednesday, November 1, with dreamy electronica from Matilda Abraham and ethereal soundscapes from E for Echo. The following three gigs will take place monthly until April 2018. It's no coincidence that Sounds on the Terrace is concurrent with the MCA's Lights on Later program either. In between beers, tunes and bites created by the MCA Cafe, you can take a wander through the gallery, which, from November 1, will house Pipilotti Rist's Sip My Ocean exhibition. This isn't the first time the Young Henrys crew has been called upon for their musical tastes. Over the past few years, they've worked alongside You Am I, DZ Deathrays, Josh Pyke and Sydney Symphony, among others.
Maybe viewing old episodes of Aerobics Oz Style helped you stay active during 2020's first long lockdown. Perhaps you've been obsessed with the now-iconic Key & Peele aerobics meltdown sketch for years, as everyone should be. Or, you might've watched the excellent Kirsten Dunst-starring On Becoming a God in Central Florida and got bitten by the water aerobics bug. Whichever fits — or even if none of the above applies to you — leotards, exercise and all things 80s haven't been far from our screens in recent years. And, they'll feature again in a big way in Apple TV+'s new ten-part dark comedy series Physical. Set in the decade that's always going to be synonymous with leg warmers, Physical sees Rose Byrne make the leap from hanging out with talking CGI rabbits in terrible book-to-screen adaptations to getting hooked on aerobics. She plays Sheila Rubin, a San Diego housewife who has always played her dutiful part as expected, but struggles with her self-image and her sense of self in general. Then, the only form of exercise that TV shows and movies seem to think that anyone did back in the 80s suddenly enters her life. Cue a journey that brings Sheila success, sees her forge her own path beyond being a wife and mother, and also turns her into a lifestyle guru. As seen in both the first sneak peek last month and the just-dropped new trailer, she obviously won't be posting about her daily life on social media — but this show is set in the peak VHS era, so expect videotapes to play a part in the story. Physical is set to start streaming on Friday, June 18, and will drop its first three episodes in one hit before releasing the rest weekly afterwards. Naturally, big hair and spandex are set to play a huge part in the supremely 80s-looking series. Alongside Byrne, the show stars Rory Scovel (I Feel Pretty), Dierdre Friel (Second Act), Della Saba (Ralph Breaks the Internet), Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story), Paul Sparks (The Lovebirds) and Ashley Liao (Fuller House). Desperate Housewives and Suburgatory's Annie Weisman created, wrote and executive produced Physical, and serves as its showrunner, while Cruella's Craig Gillespie, Dead to Me's Liza Johnson and Love Life's Stephanie Laing all enjoy stints in the director's chair. Check out the latest trailer trailer below: Physical starts streaming via Apple TV+ on Friday, June 18.
About Time is a new pop-up bar embracing the idea that nothing lasts forever by opening in a soon-to-be-demolished building in Sydney's CBD. Situated on the corner of Hunter and Bligh Streets, the venue opens from Wednesday, October 20 until the site's demolition in late 2022 to make way for the new Hunter Street metro train station. So it will go out with a literal wrecking ball. That's proper rock and roll. About Time is the baby of seven hospitality veterans, pulling together experience at a slew of Sydney venues including Opera Bar, The Baxter Inn, The Gidley and The Roosevelt. The menu is centred around an ever-changing drinks menu and simple slow-cooked and coal-fired dishes with an affinity for fun twists on Australian culinary classics. Think boozy versions of the servo slushie including Irish coffee and Frosty Fruit flavours, plus roast lamb sandwiches and the classic combo of Jatz and French onion dip made in-house. The lamb sandwich will be sourced from family farms in NSW and slow-roasted over coals before served on a damper roll from St Malo Bakery and topped with mint jelly. A rotating list of wines will also be on hand, with the bar's owners giving themselves the freedom to chop and choose selections for the drinks list depending on supply and what they're enjoying. Nothing lasts forever, after all. "Expect to see cracking examples of Australian wine alongside delicious European drops on a rotating list," partner Shannon Ponsford says. "If we can only get a few cases, when it's gone – it's gone!" Spritzes on taps and an array of inventive cocktails cap off the About Time drinks line-up. According to co-owner and award-winning bartender Jono Carr: "The cocktails will be fun and approachable, made with care, using high-end spirits, quality ingredients and forward-thinking techniques."
Timing is everything in Where the Crawdads Sing, the murder-mystery melodrama set in America's Deep South that raced up bestseller lists in 2018, and now reaches cinemas a mere four years later. Its entire narrative hinges upon a simple question: did North Carolina outcast and recluse Kya Clark (Daisy Edgar-Jones, Fresh), cruelly nicknamed "the marsh girl" by locals, have time to speed home from an out-of-town stay to push star quarterback Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson, The King's Man) from a fire tower, then resume her trip without anyone noticing? On the page, that query helped propel Delia Owens' literary sensation to success, to Reese Witherspoon's book club — she's a producer here — and to a swift film adaptation. But no timing would likely have ever been right for the movie's release, given that Owens and her husband are wanted for questioning in a real-life murder case in Zambia. Unlike the film, those off-screen details aren't new, but they were always bound to attract attention again as soon as this feature arrived. One of the reasons they're inescapable: the purposeful parallels between Owens' debut novel and her existence. Like Kya, Owens is a naturalist. The also southern-born author spent years preferring the company of plants and animals, crusading for conservation causes in Africa. Where the Crawdads Sing is timed to coincide with Owens' own life as well; it's set in the 50s and 60s and, as a child (played by Jojo Regina, The Chosen) and a teenager, Kya is around the same age that Owens would've been then. Another reason that the ways that art might link with reality can't be shaken, lingering like a sultry, squelchy day: what ends up on-screen is as poised, pristine and polished as a swampy southern gothic tale can be, and anyone in one. There's still a scandal, but forget dirt, sweat and anything but lush, vivid wilderness, plus a rustic hut that wouldn't look out of place on Airbnb. That Instagram-friendly aesthetic comes courtesy of filmmaker Olivia Newman (First Match), who helms a visually enticing movie — again, incongruously so given the story it unfurls and the location it dwells in — that's as typical as a murder-mystery meets coming-of-age tale meets southern romance can be. The film starts with Chase's body, the investigation that springs and the certainty around the insular small town of Barkley Cove that the supposedly feral and uncivilised marsh girl is responsible. Evidence is thin, but bigotry runs deep against someone who grew up with an abusive father (Garret Dillahunt, Ambulance), was left behind by her other family members and spent the bulk of her years fending for herself in poverty. That said, as in Owens' source material, that's just the framework. On the screen, though, Where the Crawdads Sing's dive into Kya's life feels like it's also been adapted from Nicholas Sparks' pages. Most of Barkley Cove has always shunned Kya, other than generous store owners Jumpin' (Sterling Macer Jr, House of Lies) and Mabel (Michael Hyatt, The Little Things), who she sells mussels to — the feature's only Black characters, who are woefully only used to stress how callous the rest of the town proves, rather than to even dream of digging into matters of race in America's south as the civil rights movement started to gather steam. Also kindly, taking on her defence, is her Atticus Finch-esque local lawyer Tom Milton (David Strathairn, Nightmare Alley). But romance still blossoms not once but twice for Kya, first with the doting, poetry-reading Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith, Blacklight), and then with arrogant rich kid Chase. That's where Newman's film prefers to reside, charting the ups and downs of Kya's affairs of the heart. That's why the movie appears so immaculate that it shimmers with a marsh-chic gleam as well. Smooching in the swamp replaces The Notebook-style kissing in the rain here. Skimming the surface replaces fleshing out what makes Kya tick, what her surroundings truly mean to her, and humanity's complex ties to nature. Kya is the strongest part of Where the Crawdads Sing, but the film makes everything about and around her so by the numbers. Taken from the book, sometimes-evocative turns of phrase litter Lucy Alibar's (Beasts of the Southern Wild) script, endeavouring to conjure up a rich atmosphere and bring Kya's inner feelings to life, including her love for the bayou. They're always far too neat, however, like everything within view. And as impressive as Edgar-Jones is as an actor (see also: fellow page-to-screen hit Normal People), it's impossible to reconcile Where the Crawdads Sing's careful words and dreamy vision of marsh life — such as the way its star is styled — with what the film tells rather than shows about its central character. Kya's kinship with the wetlands is stressed over and over, of course. Where the Crawdads Sing rarely misses an opportunity to mention it. The audience is informed that it's where she feels safe and at home, and learns to be herself — and also provides the inspiration behind her career as an illustrator, cataloguing the creatures that only live in the kind of thick bushland described in the movie's title. But viewers are still stuck doing exactly what the picture rallies against in its narrative: believing their eyes and taking appearances at face value. The only alternative is sketching in minutiae and texture that just isn't in the film — that is, bringing what's present in the book to this version of the story, including what Newman and Alibar left out, then combining the two in your head. That's not how turning novels into movies should work; they're standalone pieces of art, not visual companions. It doesn't fit the tale being told — one that includes child abandonment, sexual assault, domestic violence, and both societal and legal prejudices — but the movie's backdrop does always look stunning, as lensed with the golden glow of a tourism commercial by cinematographer Polly Morgan (A Quiet Place Part II). That's Where the Crawdads Sing, though: pretty rather than profound, meaningfully complicated or substantial. Dickinson and Smith's plights also sum up the film perfectly. While the always-welcome and ever-reliable Strathairn puts in a fine performance that's largely defined by rousing speeches, both Dickinson and Smith do exactly what's asked of them without being given much room to play anything but stock roles. That's Where the Crawdads Sing at its very best, too: always utterly standard. That said, although never visibly or emotionally, it's usually far muddier than that.
While they’re among our closest neighbours, the cinema of Indonesia doesn’t get a whole lot of attention in Australia, save for the martial arts carnage of The Raid and its recent sequel. Yet there’s a lot more to the Asian archipelago’s movie industry than broken limbs and severed tendons, as is demonstrated by the program at this year’s Indonesian Film Festival. Although unable to rival other national film fests in terms of size, the IFF aims to showcase the diversity of Indonesia’s national cinema through a selection of films across a variety of genres. Amongst the most intriguing entries on the 2014 program are Something in the Way, a drama about a devout Muslim taxi driver who falls in love with a prostitute, and What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love, a coming-of-age story set in a school for the blind. The festival will also welcome several filmmakers, producers and actors as guests, with many screenings being followed by audience Q&As. For the full IFF program, visit the festival website
With winter fast approaching, a new wardrobe is surely in order. And a huge warehouse sale is definitely the place to get it. The annual sass & bide Sydney warehouse sale is back this year and will be managed by Designer Sales Australia. Designers Sarah-Jane Clarke (sass) and Heidi Middleton (bide) of the fashion label sass & bide have reduced some of their newest collections and styles by 50-70 percent for just four days from April 18-21. So if you're looking for a whole new wardrobe or just a few essential winter pieces, be sure to make your way to Byron Kennedy Hall. If interested, check out the sass & bide Facebook event for more information and updates.
If you're a Queenslander who is currently in New South Wales or the Australian Capital Territory and you've been thinking about heading home, the Sunshine State has put a timeline on your return. The same applies to NSW and ACT residents pondering a holiday up north, or to anyone who has been in the two areas in the past 14 days and plans to mosey up to Queensland sometime soon — with the state implementing new border restrictions from 1am on Saturday, August 8. When the weekend kicks in, Queensland will completely close its border to NSW and ACT, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced today, Wednesday, August 5. Both regions have now been declared hotspots by Queensland's Chief Health Officer, which means that all visitors from NSW and ACT will be denied entry to Queensland, except for rare exemptions and returning Queenslanders. If you fall into those categories, you'll have to fork out for a 14-day stretch of mandatory hotel quarantine. The Premier advised that exemptions will be limited, however, including for compassionate reasons. During the shutdown, the aim is to only allow folks who live in border communities and essential workers such as truck drivers to cross. Anyone who fits that description will need to obtain a pass, with those who reside in the area requiring proof of address and photo identification to do so. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1290786409465278464 The move comes in response to rising COVID-19 case numbers down south, and follows earlier decisions to ban visitors from Victoria, as well as several parts of NSW — once Queensland started reopening its border in mid-July to interstate travellers, that is. The restrictions on NSW visitors started with the Campbelltown, Liverpool and Fairfield City local government areas, then spread to include the entirety of Greater Sydney, a limit that came into effect this past weekend. "I know it's going to be tough on Queenslanders," Premier Palaszczuk explained. "But your health comes first. We need to protect not only our health, we need to protect the families, we need to protect our economy. We've seen what's happened in Victoria. We don't want to see that happening here." The Premier also stressed that Queenslanders shouldn't be thinking about travelling south. "It's also very important that Queenslanders stay in Queensland. Now is not the time to travel to New South Wales. Now is not the time to travel to Victoria," she said. The border closure with NSW and the ACT will be in effect at least until the end of August, when the Queensland Government will undertake a review. From 1am on Saturday, August 8, anyone who has visited New South Wales or the Australian Capital Territory in the past 14 days will not be allowed to enter Queensland unless they are a returning resident or are entering for one a few essential reasons. For more information, head to the Queensland Government website. Image: Yun Huang Yong via Flicker.
What better way to cap off a Monday than with retro arcade games and beer taster paddles? Running from 3pm till late on Monday, October 23, you can while away your afternoon/evening playing air hockey, Time Crisis 2 or one of the two Nintendo 64s while savouring drinks from a few of the best small breweries around. New Zealand brewery Garage Project, Thirsty Crow from Wagga Wagga and South Australia's Pirate Life are supplying the beer, with everything from light pale ales to super-heavy black IPAs. Oh, and it's free entry.
The current true crime craze has filled our ears with acclaimed podcasts and packed our streaming queues with must-watch TV programs. Now, it's turning a former teen idol into a serial killer. After singing his way through high school, playing frat pranks at college and saving lives on California beaches, Zac Efron is swapping teen musicals, Bad Neighbours flicks and Baywatch remakes for a stint as notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. The end result is Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which focuses not only on the horrific string of killings that would eventually lead to Bundy's arrest and execution (he confessed to 30 homicides, but is suspected of committing more), but also on his relationship with single mother Liz Kloepfer (Lily Collins). How did the infamous figure charm his victims? How did Kloepfer fall in love with a psychopath? Both questions sit at this heart of this crime thriller. As the movie's first trailer (below) demonstrates, it's quite the change of pace for Efron, who has been garnering impressive reviews for his performance. Also starring John Malkovich and Haley Joel Osment, the film screened at the Sundance Film Festival over the past weekend, debuting 30 years after Bundy's execution on January 24, 1989 — almost to the day, a case of gruesome timing that obviously isn't a coincidence. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile director Joe Berlinger is clearly steeped deep in all things Bundy at the moment, with the filmmaker's other project — Netflix documentary Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes — premiering just last week on the actual anniversary of the murderer's death. Berlinger created, wrote and directed the four-part series, and his name should be familiar to die-hard true crime fans beyond that. He was also behind the three Paradise Lost documentaries, about the Robin Hood Hills murders and subsequent West Memphis Three trials — movies that played an enormous part in bringing the case to broader attention. Outside of his usual genre, Berlinger also directed acclaimed music doco Metallica: Some Kind of Monster — and the band's James Hetfield also features in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. While you're waiting to Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile to hit local screens, check out the unsettling first trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lW6Z38HHJw 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile' doesn't currently have an Australian release date. We'll update you if and when that changes.
Kiwis based in Australia hoping to see family across the ditch can start planning their sojourns home sooner than expected. New Zealand's planned five-step border reopening plan has been brought forward this week, with isolation requirements for double-vaccinated Kiwis returning home scrapped weeks earlier than expected. From 11.59pm on Wednesday, March 2, vaccinated Kiwis entering New Zealand from Australia will no longer need to self-isolate. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the change of plans amid New Zealand's current Omicron outbreak, which sees the country currently suffering the highest rates of COVID-19 transmission in the world. But Australians holidaymakers shouldn't get planning a quick weekend jump across the ditch just yet. Vaccinated Aussie citizens wanting a holiday in New Zealand still have to wait for step four of the original border reopening plan, which sees all travellers from Australia and from countries who don't require special visas able to enter NZ. While that is still currently proposed to happen around July this year, Aussies can cross their fingers they may be able to head across for an adventure holiday earlier. COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins advised last month that "the reopening to visa-free tourists is also likely to be brought forward, with July being the latest date we anticipate this happening." Of course, during all five steps, testing will remain critical. Every traveller will be required to undertake a rapid antigen test (RAT) on the day they arrive and on day five or six. All positive RATs must be registered and followed up with a PCR test. New Zealand had 19,599 new cases reported on Tuesday, March 1, with over 300 cases currently in hospital. Kiwis returning to New Zealand from Australia will not need to isolate upon arrival from 11.59pm on Wednesday, while Australian holidaymakers will need to wait to enter the country until later in 2022. For more information, head to the New Zealand Government's COVID-19 website.
New York, the 1960s. Sister Aloysius is a hard-bitten nun and principal of the St. Nicholas Church school. When she suspects Father Flynn, the parish priest of abusing a student, her pursuit of the truth is fearsome and unflinching. Flynn protests his innocence, but Aloysius is a scalpel in search of a jugular. As she tightens her grip, she begins to question not only her beliefs, but the institution she's served her whole life. Best known as a film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John Patrick Shanley's Catholic paranoia party Doubt took the 2005 Pullitzer Prize for Drama as well as a Tony Award for Best Play. Shanley's script is precise and cold, the scenes brisk as the Bronx winter setting. This is a text steeped in bitterness and suspicion — the characters twisted and the ground frozen. Think on your sins before booking for this one. Image: John Marmaras.
In Sydney, the words 'waterfront' and 'secret' are seldom found in the same sentence. But Little Fish Bar has done a fine job of pulling off the contradiction. Huddled up next to its much bolder mothership, Flying Fish Restaurant, on Pyrmont's historic Jones Bay Wharf, the bar breaks the propensity for Harbourside ostentation with its cosy, casual, hideaway feel, yet still delivers all the views. And this summer, it is set to take on an even more enchanting dimension when the Little Fish Summer Gin Garden pops up. Filled with lush vines, bursts of colour and a stair garden packed with flowers and herbs, the space will take on a kind of tropical oasis feel. To mark the occasion, Bar Manager and gin guru Adrien Charpentier has put together a brand new gin menu. Heading it up is, of course, Little Fish's famous Audemus Spirit's Pink Pepper Gin, all the way from France. You can't try this drop anywhere else in the country. In fact, only 500 bottles have been released worldwide. It's best served with just a dash of tonic, to bring out the nine botanicals found inside, which include pink peppercorns, juniper, cardamom and a honey distillate. Other premium gins on the 'Botanical Plot' menu are local drop 'The Cutglass' (from The West Winds, Dalkieth), G'Vine (from Cognac, France) and Monkey 47 (from Loburg, Germany). If that's all sounding too adventurous, you can always stick to a tried and tested classic, like Hendrick's, Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray No.10. Alternatively, give matters a shake-up with a choice of three delicately balanced 'Medicinal Cocktails': Lady Lavender (G’Vine gin, Rossi D'Asiago Limoncello, Lillet Blanc, tonic, lavender); Gin Bramble (The Botanist gin, lime, crème de cassis, sugar syrup, raspberry); and Rosemary Winds ('The Cutlass' gin, Noilly Prat, lemon, orgeat syrup, sugar syrup, rosemary, chilli, bitters). For snacks, Flying Fish Executive Chef Stephen Seckold has come up with a bunch of gin-loving dishes. These include freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters with gin and cucumber granita; handpicked cheeses and condiments; and a 'Chef’s Garden Menu' that will change every week. Some of the front-runners are spanner crab croquettes with fennel aioli; cider-braised chorizo, tarragon and crisp potato sandwich; and half-shell scallops with grilled herbs and rose dressing. Little Fish Summer Gin Garden (Jones Bay Wharf, 19-21 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont) will pop up from Saturday 15 November through to Friday 19 December. Opening hours are Monday, 5pm-10.30pm; Tuesday-Saturday, noon - 9.30pm; and Sunday, noon-4pm. To brush up on your gin skills (and perfect your Casablanca quotes) before heading along, check out our ‘Bluffer’s Guide to Gin’.
If you're sick of seeing those bright orange barriers around the CBD's light rail construction sites, your eyeballs could soon be in for some relief, with news most barriers will be removed or reduced before Christmas. ALTRAC Light Rail, the consortium overseeing the project, has announced the bulk of major construction work is nearing completion, with many of the eyesore barriers soon set to disappear from the stretch between Circular Quay and Town Hall, as well as in Surry Hills. "We are excited to be able to show the public what the end-state will look like along this part of the alignment, with barriers starting to be reduced on George Street near Circular Quay and more barriers to be reduced this weekend near Martin Place," ALTRAC Light Rail CEO Glenn Bentley said in a statement. The removal of the barriers will hopefully help improve the visibility of and access to some of the city's local businesses. Although, for some, it'll be too little, too late, with an inquiry into the impact of the construction of the light rail, launched by the state in May, having received 193 submissions from locals businesses and residents. Some of the businesses saying they've been impacted by the construction — or have been forced to close — include The Book Kitchen, Bishop Sessa and Cafe Jacks. Some barriers will be sticking around, too, including ones around light rail stops and localised sites staying for safety purposes and to manage traffic flow. It's also expected that barriers in Randwick, Kensington and Kingsford will be firmly in place until February 2019. Bentley said Sydneysiders can expect the next phase of the project to be "less intrusive", with temporary localised barriers in place for short periods of time during installation of underground cables and overhead wiring. The initial plan was to have the Sydney Light Rail up and running by 2019, though, thanks to a slew of delays, it's currently slated for completion in May 2020. Image: Sydney Light Rail
Looking for an excellent wine to sip? Plenty of prizes, nods and gongs have you covered. Looking for a great bar to drink a few glasses in? That's the domain of the Wineslinger Awards — which announced its top 50 venues for 2020 back in August, and has now revealed its picks for the best four wine-sipping spots in the country. Wine lovers in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Geelong, rejoice — your patch of turf is home to one of 2020's top vino venues in Australia. Only one can boast the overall winner, though, and that'd be Melbourne. This year's Wineslinger award went to the Carlton Wine Room — and that's a particularly nice win given that the venue was closed for almost seven months of the year due to COVID-19 lockdowns. In the other fields, Adelaide's Leigh Street Wine Room nabbed the 'Best New Haunt' prize. Yes, that gong is rather self-explanatory. And in the 'Maverick' category — which is awarded to a venue that pushes the limits — Brisbane's Snack Man emerged victorious for defying food-and-wine pairing combinations (including matching Chinese snacks with European vino). The three aforementioned awards were all voted on by more than 100 industry experts; think sommeliers, winemakers, hospitality tastemakers and journalists. But for vino aficionados at home, there's also the 'People's Choice' prize — and that went to Union Street Wine in Geelong, which has been serving great drops since 2014. [caption id="attachment_789256" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Carlton Wine Room[/caption] For folks looking for your next drinking spot, you now have four places to add to your must-visit list — whether they're close to home or you're making travel plans for when life gets back to normal. If you need further suggestions, the 50-venue shortlist shared the love around the country, with 15 bars in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, 12 in Victoria, eight in Western Australia, and five each in South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland. The Wineslinger Awards were created in 2018 by Rory Kent, who also founded the Young Gun of Wine Awards. Where the latter prize aims to recognise stellar up-and-comers, the former is all about excellent and innovative places where vino lovers can enjoy an ace drop. Announcing this year's Wineslinger winners, Kent noted that "2020 has been the toughest year ever for Wineslingers in this country, and that's made it equally tough on cutting edge winemakers who rely on the passionate individuals and their brilliant venues to capture the imaginations of wine lovers". He continued: "we're so excited to celebrate the places and hospitality professionals serving up the best wine experiences in the country, and after months of lockdown and restrictions, getting back to supporting them in person." For further details about this year's Wineslinger Award winners, visit the awards' website. Top images: Carlton Wine Room, Snack Man, Leigh Street Wine Room, Union Street Wine.
The festive season is officially upon us, which means it's time to think about what to gift your loved ones. We know present shopping can be quite the task, and having someone in your life who has practically everything is an even bigger challenge. If you're out of ideas or simply want to shake it up this year, we've got you covered. Together with Archie Rose, we've compiled a far-reaching list of unique experiences that we confidently believe will make the ideal gift for that certain hard-to-buy-for someone. A mate who's passionate about liquor? Parent who loves cooking? Someone that could use a little of salsa's flair in their life? These are the experiences to gift them. [caption id="attachment_878644" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] BOOZY MASTERCLASS AT ARCHIE ROSE See your loved one become a bartender for the day by via one of Archie Rose's creative cocktail masterclasses. They'll learn how to shake, stir and pour the professional away, and end up with a new skill to impress with at the next gathering. The history of cocktail culture will be served alongside a lesson in how to make three timeless cocktails. Alternatively, send them along to the Rosebery distillery to blend their own bottles of whisky or gin. They'll learn the ins and outs of how the liquids come to fruition, before using their nose and palate to blend their own bespoke drop. Now, if you've got a special someone that really loves their booze, this pressie is for them: a bottle from Archie Rose's Tailored Spirits offering. Although less hands-on, it's no less involved. Choose the botanicals for a customised bottle of gin to gift them, or play creative director and design the label for a bottled cocktail (which will be lucky to make it to Boxing Day). And if you're going all out, pick a base malt, spirit style, cask type and strength, then lean back knowing a truly unique cask of whisky is being created by the resident experts. Word of warning: your bottles won't be on their way to you until two or three months down the track, but what a thing to look forward to in the new year. CHEESE-MAKING WITH KRISTEN ALLAN Kristen Allan is no stranger to the cheese business. After starting her own dairy-powered company in 2012, this pioneer has perfected the art of cheese making — and winning multiple awards over the course of her career thus far. So, if you've got a fromage fanatic in your circle, what better gift than getting them in the presence of a master? Even better, in a hands-on class where they'll craft halloumi or feta, ricotta or burrata. Nabbing a gift voucher will see them pick a time that's right for them to come and witness the magic of Allan's techniques. Not only will your gift see them take their relationship with food to new heights, but they'll also be able to add their creations to meals at home (and even gift you a creamy serve of stracciatella in return). There's hands-on Melbourne classes and online courses too, for those you love out of the Harbour City. PICKLING WORKSHOP AT CORNERSMITH On the hunt for an end-of-year festive activity to do with mates? Look to Cornersmith's range of lessons at its cooking school for a fun and fermented way to spend your day. Make chutney on Saturday, November 26, or preserve tomatoes on Saturday, December 3. You'll leave with some jars that could make the perfect preserved pressies, plus new-found knowledge and kitchen skills. Or stick to the classics and get pickling on Saturday, December 10. During your session, you'll be taught how to make a seasonal vegetable pickle, the perfect pickled fruit to accompany a cheese plate, plus a quick and slow pickle. (And, you can use BYEBYE2022 at the checkout to get 25% off the last of this year's classes.) If you're gifting, stick to a voucher. The classes cover fermentation, kombucha, dumplings, pasta, seasonal preserving, waste-free cooking and more. [caption id="attachment_878603" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Declan Blackall Photography[/caption] SAUNA SESSION IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS European sauna culture officially landed in Australia this spring thanks to the passionate team at Blue Mountains Sauna. And a double pass to visit is the ideal present for that certain person who appreciates heat, health and endorphin-inducing activities. Co-founder Inga Sommerfeld grew up in northern Europe, where saunas are the norm. After moving to Australia and meeting her partner Nikita, the two realised that here down under, there was a shortage of establishments delivering an authentic sauna experience — with those delightful hazes of 'löyly'. What awaits your lucky giftee in the mountains? A carefully crafted room that radiates 80–90°C dry heat, ice baths and a recovery session around a fire. For the full experience, if the weather permits, the snow outside is awaiting to deliver a cold shock to warm bodies between sessions. SALSA CLASS AT LATIN JUNCTION Know someone that needs a little extra flair in their life? Or have a rhythmically gifted friend? Hit them with a ten-class pass to Latin Junction. There's everything from salsa to bachata, reggaeton to Latin fusion — and it's accessible for everyone (even those with two lefties). As well as gifting the skills of the New York Walk or the Enchufa, you'll be giving a gift that creates community through music and movement. They'll be burning up the dance floor in no time. [caption id="attachment_878600" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Veronica Eastell, Radical Wellbeing Studio[/caption] KNIFE-MAKING WORKSHOP AT NORDIC EDGE Yes, crafting your own knife is certainly a thing — a thing that Bjorn and his team at Nordic Edge know well. Gifting an avid cook? A fond forager? Someone that just loves doing things with their hands? If so, this Brookvale joint has the perfect pressie for them. Picture your pal at a one-day knife-making workshop. Being guided by master craftspeople, they'll set to work making their own hand-forged chef's knife. Over eight hours, they'll shape their own blade, quench it and grind it, then use a high-grit belt for a smooth, sharp finish. As well as taking home an original knife, they'll score knowledge about the forge, anvil, tools and techniques of blacksmithing, too. GIFT VOUCHER FOR THE RITZ Got a movie-lover in your life? Treat them to a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience at Ritz Cinemas. The heritage-listed building has stood in Randwick since 1937, and is one of only two original art deco cinemas left in Sydney. Along with a rich history, the space delivers events aplenty for those who live and breathe film. From screenings of films on 35mm and a constant stream of cult classics, to the latest releases and special events, it's a cinephile's dream. How to let them pick their perfect prize? A gift card that's valid for three years (and valid for use across films, events and food and drink), or a Movie Club membership (which will gift them $15 tickets for themselves and a guest, cheapies on Tuesdays and a $1 ticket on sign up). If you've got a loved one who has everything, look to experiences this holiday season. A top option? A boozy masterclass at Archie Rose in Rosebery. Head to the website for more information. Top images: Nikki To (first, second, fourth); Veronica Eastell, Radical Wellbeing Studio (third)
When children from Panem's first 12 districts are chosen to fight to the death, each year's unlucky kids conscripted into the bloodthirsty fray that gives The Hunger Games franchise its title, they aren't simply battling for survival. In this dystopian saga stemming from Suzanne Collins' novels, they're brawling to entertain the wealthy residents of the ruling Capitol — they're forced to submit to a display of power and control, too, and to demonstrate humanity's innate cruelty — all while waging war against perishing into nothingness. Arriving eight years after the series' last page-to-screen adaptation, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a swung sword, flung spear, hurled hatchet and jabbed knife in the same type of skirmish. This is a blockbuster franchise, but 2012's The Hunger Games, 2013's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2014's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 and 2015's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 have long faded from the big screen, which virtually means no longer existing to Tinseltown, other than as fuel to relight the flame. So kicks in the "sequels, prequels, spinoffs, continuations, TV shows, remakes, reboots, reimaginings or perish" motto that may as well be etched onto the Hollywood sign. Why The Hunger Games' battle royales exist, and what their purpose and substance are, prove topics of conversation more than once in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. A tale that features the person who created the games and the mind overseeing them — that'd be Dean Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage, Cyrano) and Dr Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis, Air) — ought to ponder such notions. A jump back in time in a now five-entry franchise, and a chapter that runs for 157 minutes at that, couldn't leave it out. But a sense of nothingness still swirls around this picture, even if Collins did actually write a novel with a plot that justifies the movie's existence (unlike comparable shenanigans over in the Wizarding World, aka the Fantastic Beasts films). There's an insignificant air to this return trip to YA bleakness, as smacking of chasing cash and keeping IP bubbling in the popular consciousness was bound to inspire; this doesn't feel like a return or a bonus, but an optional extra. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is largely engaging as it's flickering. To spin its origin story for President Coriolanus Snow, who Donald Sutherland (Lawman: Bass Reeves) portrayed with such gleeful menace in the initial movies and Tom Blyth (Billy the Kid) plays now as a young man 64 years earlier, it enlists a compelling cast. And, although nowhere near as meticulously, smartly and affectingly, it convincingly enough attempts the Better Call Saul feat of getting its audience hoping for a different path for someone with a murky future already inescapably established thanks to its lead performance. In the dialogue, riffs on Corio's surname spark retorts like "snow lands on top" — bad puns and heavy-handed nudges towards past films don't serve The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes well — yet "snow dissolves" is the prevailing vibe. Coriolanus himself doesn't here and there's four past pictures to prove it, but for all his longevity and this feature's length, the picture dedicated to him isn't the lingering kind. There's a prologue to this prequel, where a pint-sized Corio (Dexter Sol Ansell, Emmerdale Farm) and his cousin Tigris (debutant Rosa Gotzler) experience the horrors of Panem's nation-changing conflict firsthand, leaving only their grandma'am (Fionnula Flanagan, Smother) to be their guardian. When he's 18 and attending the Capitol's prestigious Academy, times are still tough for the remaining Snows, including the still-doting Tigris (Hunter Schafer, Euphoria); however, Coriolanus is a clever, savvy and determined fake-it-till-you-make-it type. As he dresses the part around his mostly snobby classmates, his hopes for college and security are all pinned on the scholarship-style Plinth Prize, which is usually awarded for academic excellence. But Highbottom and Gaul come bearing unforeseen news: in the tenth year of the country's kill-or-be-killed fights, with interest from the viewing masses lagging, the top students will be tasked with mentoring the games' tributes. Their assigned competitor winning won't guarantee them the prize, either; boosting the contest's status is just as important. Having seen other Hunger Games entries, or read them, isn't a prerequisite for following The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Those who have will know the setup for the movie's first two thirds. Folks in that category will also spot the over-emphasised nods throughout the entire film to its Jennifer Lawrence (No Hard Feelings)-starring predecessors, to the point of wishing that you didn't. So, the reaping singles out the year's batch of doomed contenders, Corio is allocated District 12's Appalachian-accented underdog female recruit Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler, Shazam! Fury of the Gods) and, of course, she proves more than the Capitol bargained for. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes makes good on its title by giving Lucy Gray a voice that can and frequently does carry a tune, which enamours her to everyone watching on. Her fellow gladiatorial competitors aren't impressed, especially with her public popularity. Also in the been-there-done-that category: romantic sparks flying amid the life-or-death games, with The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes happy to enter Romeo and Juliet's arena. Betrayal, duplicity, political scheming, autocratic barbarism, an indictment of entertainment at its most sensational and a savaging of the constant push to attract eyeballs pop up expectedly, too, the latter with zero self-awareness about how The Hunger Games movies are now in that domain. Returning director Francis Lawrence, who helmed Catching Fire and both Mockingjay instalments, is workmanlike. Screenwriters Michael Lesslie (The Little Drummer Girl) and Michael Arndt (also returning from Catching Fire) draw upon Collins' source material in the same way. Accordingly, along with production design that looks the part, it's Blyth and company that make the most of the film. As it tells its tale in three sections entitled 'The Mentor', 'The Prize' and 'The Peacekeeper' The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is never big on surprises, even when it heads to District 12 in its last chapter — but its stars are all in. If Blyth couldn't make Corio's vulnerability and kindness so resonant before it gives way to steeliness and ruthlessness, the film would suffer a fatal blow. If Zegler didn't shimmer with verve regardless of whether she's singing (chops already established in West Side Story), this Hunger Games entry's Hunger Games wouldn't muster up a second of tension. Tyrion Lannister might cast a shadow over Dinklage's Highbottom, but the Game of Thrones star has already demonstrated why that's a can't-look-away prospect. Davis is having a ball as the villainous head gamemaker, relish that's matched by Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City) as always-on TV host Lucky Flickerman. Although the same can't always be said for the film around them — and definitely doesn't apply to bringing back the saga from nothingness — the odds are at least in this excellent cast's favour.
We've seen plenty of services which will print your phone photos, but just when you thought iPhoneography couldn't get any more nifty, designer Mac Funamizu has conceptualised instant iPhone printouts for photos on the go. His iPhone case would allow your pretty iPhone pics to be printed Polaroid-style. The concept includes other functional features. For example, if you upload the photo to a website, you can add an QR code for the URL on the back. For a geo-tagged photo, you can also include the map to show where the photo was taken. Says Funamizu, "Yes, I’m one of those people who still relish the feel (and smell) of photos." [Via Lost at E-Minor]
Since 2011, DJ Tom Loud's travelling dance party Hot Dub Time Machine has ripped up stages the world over, offering a rolling crossfade of the last six decades of pop-music. Now, ready to sink his teeth into a new chapter of music-infused revelry, Loud's announced his latest project, Hot Dub Wine Machine — a series of al fresco get-togethers that'll take over four of the country's best-loved wine regions. This Australia-wide tour follows the raging success of Hot Dub Wine Machine's inaugural event, which saw over 6000 wine and music lovers flock to McLaren Vale's Serafino Winery in December last year. This time around, the scenic vistas and rolling hills of Hope Estate in NSW's Hunter Valley, Rochford Estate in Victoria's Yarra Valley, Ocean View Estate in Queensland's Somerset Valley, Home Hill Winery in Tasmania's Huon Valley, and Houghton Winery in WA's Swan Valley (so many valleys!), will play host to the festivities. Each boutique event will run from early afternoon through to after dark, and feature a hand-picked smorgasbord of Australian musical talent. This will all lead into one of Hot Dub's signature sets, which will see audiences dancing their way from 1954 to today, as the DJ mixes an iconic song from each year. Backing up the tunes, expect a careful curation of locally-sourced gourmet eats, craft beer, cocktails, and of course, some sensational vino from these iconic Australian wine regions. Safe to say, it's probably the rowdiest event these wineries will host all year. Hot Dub Wine Machine will take over Home Hill Winery on Saturday, March 4, Hope Estate on Saturday, March 18, Rochford Estate on Saturday, March 25, Ocean View Estate on Saturday, April 1, and Houghton Winery on Saturday, April 8. Tickets are now on sale here. Images: Pat Stevenson. Updated: January 19, 2017.
You know those muggy, dusky nights in the height of summer when all you can hear is cicadas? The heat of the day's subsided but something about it lingers, and relief only sets in when the massive southerly that hits after dark raises goosebumps on your skin, and weirdly you find yourself reaching for a jumper. Well, Sport for Jove are about to launch into their sixth season of outdoor summer theatre, with a double bill of magic and the spirit world that seizes that summer twilight feeling and runs with it, through the forest at the Everglades Garden, Leura. Susanna Dowling directs Shakespeare's cautionary fairy story A Midsummer Night's Dream. The characters — young lovers and dreamers — enter a forest world between sleep and waking, on the shortest night of the year. The fragile bonds of family, friendship and love are broken, while the Fairy Kingdom is upended and entangled with the human world in a war over a mortal child. And with Arthur Miller's parable of mass hysteria, The Crucible, director Damien Ryan creates a haunting site-specific production of the modern classic. Drawing a parallel between the Salem witch hunt of 1692 and the McCarthyism gripping the US in the '50s, this play is a timeless (and timely) reminder of the evils of ignorance, and the deadly combination of hatred and power. If the season trailer's anything to go by, this will be some seriously edge-of-your-seat, immersive, electric-as-the-summer-evening-air theatre.
What a time to be alive for gin lovers. Last month, we introduced you to a rainforest-infused gin from Byron Bay. Now, we're heading south, to Tasmania, where brand new distillery Southern Wild has just opened. Its first offering is a trio of gins known as Dasher + Fisher, named for two rivers that travel from Tassie's snowy mountains to its northwest coast. Each spirit represents a section of the rivers' journey, the first being 'Mountain', the second, 'Meadow' and the third, 'Coast'. What all three have in common is a trio of uniquely Tasmanian botanicals: pepperberry, lavender and wakame seaweed. Distiller George Burgess, who's been perfecting his recipes for a decade, then blends these base botanicals with additional native ingredients, sourced from local growers, to give each gin its distinctive profile. "My goal, right from the get-go, was to try and create a gin that would allow me a multi-layered experience," says Burgess. "It took a lot of experiments and a lot of work to try and get that layering to the point where it was achieving what I set out to do." 'Mountain' is a dry-style drop, which puts the pepperberry up front, surrounded by another ten botanicals, including eucalypt, rosemary and sage. 'Meadow', a modern gin, emphasises the lavender, which is combined with 14 other botanicals, including freshly-picked oranges. Meanwhile, 'Ocean' is all about powering up the wakame seaweed, made more complex thanks to 11 other botanicals. You can buy Dasher + Fisher online, via Southern Wild's website. To visit in person, get yourself to Devonport, on Tassie's north coast. The distillery is open Monday to Wednesday between 10am and 5pm, and Thursday to Sunday from 10am till late. There are live music events and, if you're keen to take a tour with George, it's a good idea to book in advance. Images: Jason Loucas.
Under stark lighting and to the beat of a throbbing soundtrack, a dancer and a bodybuilder come together in an unlikely pas de deux that tests the boundaries of physical endurance. This is MAXIMUM, the aptly named piece by Australian choreographer and dancer Natalie Abbott, recently returned from the Festival d’Avignon in France to showcase her performance in Sydney as part of Score season by Performance Space. The unique dance work developed when Abbott began collaborating with bodybuilder Donny Henderson-Smith. "I originally wanted to be lifted off the ground for a 45-minute show and thought it would be a strong contrast to work with a bodybuilder," explains Abbott. "When I began to work with Donny, though, I realised how much more information and personality he could bring to the work. We still include a pretty long and devastating lift; however, the piece is really more about us working together to find unity and a common language for performance. Given such an unexpected collaboration, the differences between dancing and bodybuilding are hard to ignore. Initially, MAXIMUM appears to be a performance of contrasts: light and heavy, small and large, grace and grunt. Despite this, the two performers find a unique harmony through mental focus and physical strength. The challenging choreography tests dancer and bodybuilder equally, and the whole idea of what happens to the human body at physical extremes is what fascinates Abbott. "My training as a dancer was quite intense and I really had to push my body to get through that," she says. "I know that the training is probably even more intense for a bodybuilder and this is why I was interested in exploring the relationship between both practices. Both forms are so intense and focused, yet yield such dissimilar results. I was super interested in exploring the dynamics of placing both bodies next to each other. The connotations of a massive male next to a smaller female, the traditional context of a man partnering a woman and what these images automatically imply for a viewer. My vision was then to override these assumptions and reveal us as humans, rather than performers, a bodybuilder and a dancer." You’d expect the performers to have endured intense physical training to prepare for such a gruelling performance. Not so, says Abbott, who points out “we need to be challenged during the [show]”, and so while the two prepared by tuning their bodies into sync, they avoided additional fitness training. That means the exhaustion we see on stage is real; the charade of a performance is stripped away to reveal the humans behind the choreography, lending the show its raw physicality that has both challenged and captivated audiences. ("Beautifully achieved, exhilarating work," wrote ABC Arts after the premiere at Next Wave.) Maximum plays as part of Performance Space's Score season of works driven by dance, movement, music and noise. Abbott is particularly “curious and excited” to see One Thing Follows Another... by Gail Priest and Jane McKernan, a performance inspired by the 1960s avant-garde that plays on ideas of independence and collaboration between music and dance. Other highlights include the genre-defying fusion piece Keep Everything by critically acclaimed dance company Chunky Move, as well as Psychic Synth, a digital work by Pia Van Gelder that will read your mind. Score is on from August 1 to September 7 at Carriageworks. See MAXIMUM from August 27-30. Single tickets are $25 adult/$15 concession, or you go all out and buy a season pass for $130. See the website for details.
Maybe you've sipped mulled wine at a winter market. Perhaps, when the weather gets colder each year, you make a beeline to whichever bar is serving the coveted concoction. Or, you could have fond memories of vacations spent in Europe downing plenty of glühwein. Whichever fits, drinking warmed-up wine is one of the best parts of the frosty season — including at home. Because everyone should be able to sip this delicious tipple even if they're not leaving the house — because of lockdowns, winter lethargy or any other reason — Jam Shed Wines has started making mulled wine mixes. You add it to a bottle of shiraz, heat it in a saucepan, bring it to simmer and then let it steep. After that, you can add oranges, berries and/or stone fruit as garnishes, pop in some orange liqueur if you'd like, and then you get drinking. It's that straightforward, although there is one catch: you can only pick up the mix with bottles of the brand's shiraz. Consider it a two-for-one kind of deal, given that you need some wine to make use of the mulled wine mix anyway. It's a limited-time-only special, too, with the mix on offer with Jam Shed shiraz at independent retailers while stocks last. You'll also score a jam jar to sip your soul- and stomach-warming homemade tipple out of, with the brand's shiraz retailing at $13 per bottle. And yes, only drinking mulled wine all winter — out of all the different types of booze you could possibly choose from — is completely acceptable. Jam Shed Wines is giving away mulled wine mixes with bottles of its Jam Shed Shiraz at independent retailers for a limited time. For further details about the brand, head to its website.
We're first introduced to Jasmine (Cate Blanchett), an unpleasant socialite who's fallen on hard times, as she talks the ear off a poor woman on a plane to San Francisco, her fellow passenger having made the mistake of interrupting a monologue she was having with herself. It's a fitting introduction to Woody Allen's claustrophobic new drama, which follows Jasmine to San Francisco, where she hopes to start afresh after her husband, Hal (Alec Baldwin), is exposed as a fraudster and adulterer. An unrepentant snob with a haughty bearing and a wardrobe full of designer clothes, Jasmine finds herself at odds with her adopted sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), whom she plans to stay with until she is back on her feet. Jasmine had little time for Ginger when she was living high on the hog in Manhattan and finds herself appalled at Ginger's working-class lifestyle and new boyfriend, Chili (Bobby Cannavale), a mechanic. Still clinging to her old luxurious lifestyle and increasingly embracing delusion, Jasmine finds she is so cut off from the modern world that she needs basic computer classes before she can even think about her lofty ambitions to train as a designer. The story flashes back and forth between Jasmine's glamorous New York life of polo matches and Hamptons holidays and her later comeuppance in California. Along the way, Ginger and ex-boyfriend Augie (Andrew Dice Clay) make a rare visit to New York, where Jasmine suggests Hal can invest money for Ginger and Augie. The flashbacks find Jasmine in wilfully ignorant bliss, raising the question of whether she should have taken more of an interest in his staggering accumulation of wealth. There are definite echoes of Blanchett's tour de force performance in A Streetcar Named Desire here, with Chili a kind of hot-blooded Stanley to Jasmine's pretentious Blanche Dubois figure. As in the Tennessee Williams classic, the arrival of a down-on-her-luck heroine strains the relationship of her reluctant hosts, and Hawkins is terrific as the long-suffering Ginger. The performances make up for the shortcomings in a script which is surprisingly slight at times, lacking for something new to say about the Bernie Madoff-like figure of Hal and his downfall. Still, the prickly figure of Jasmine, a character who is by turns contemptible and pitiful, washing Xanax down with vodka as she endlessly recounts stories from better times, is perfectly realised, and Blanchett's compelling work lights up one of Woody Allen's darkest films. https://youtube.com/watch?v=BXnktqEWvGM
Messina's next guest for its monthly Messina Eats pop-up is Melbourne's inventive Japanese-fusion eatery Mr Miyagi. Serving as Mr Miyagi's Sydney debut, the pop-up will see the Windsor eatery's Japanese-inspired hot dogs and tacos pop-up at Messina's Rosebery HQ for two special days. On offer will be three version's of Mr M's famous Japa-Dawgs — each served in a soft bao roll. Sink your teeth into either truffle wagyu beef, panko-crumbed 48-hour pork belly or a tempura tofu beetroot invention. Make sure you order a side of Miyagi's wasabi fries, too. The Spider Crab Taco will also be on offer — a delicious tempura soft shell crab set in a crunchy nori taco shell combined with pickled jalapeños, curried mayo, guacamole and sushi rice. Not to be forgotten, Messina will join in, too, with its Easy Cheesy Japanesy, a baked cheese tart served with strawberry yuzu gelato. The Mr Miyagi pop-up will run from 12pm till late.
When the Sydney Film Festival announced its full program at the beginning of May, it didn't actually announce its full program. Every year, the fest's powers-that-be always leave a little room for a few last-minute additions. That's what happens when you reveal your lineup just as the Cannes Film Festival is getting underway, and then hold your opening night just a few weeks afterwards — and it means that Sydney's cinephiles now have another eight films to try to fit into their busy movie-watching schedules. This year's late SFF announcement features quite the impressive Cannes haul, including Palme d'Or winner Shoplifters and Special Palme d'Or winner The Image Book. The former is the latest film by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, telling the story of a family of thieves who take in an abandoned and abused young girl. The latter is the newest feature from iconic director Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave. Nearly six decades after making his first movie, he has mixed together snippets of old flicks with YouTube propaganda, plus news headlines, paintings and politically charged voiceover, to make a statement about the role of cinema in contemporary society. Other Cannes award recipients include the highly lauded Burning, which is directed by Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong, based on a short story by Haruki Murakami and co-stars The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun (who, as regular SFF-goers might remember, attended the festival last year for the closing night screening of Okja). It's joined by best director winner Cold War, a historical drama from Ida filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski, plus Camera d'Or and Queer Palm winner Girl, about a transgender 15-year-old studying to become a ballerina. And then there's what's certain to be the most divisive film of the festival: Gaspar Noé's Climax. It won Cannes' Directors' Fortnight sidebar, and it's reportedly as provocative as the Irreversible and Love helmer's movies always prove. Following a dance party that gets hellish (yes, that's going to be an understatement), it was only shot in February this year. Helping round out the new batch is the Adam Driver-starring The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which means the movie does really exist, even if director Terry Gilliam famously made a documentary about his failed attempt to finish a previous version with Johnny Depp. Last but not least, Woman at War is the newest effort from Icelandic filmmaker Benedikt Erlingsson, who made the crowd-pleasing fest hit Of Horses and Men back in 2013. The 2018 Sydney Film Festival will run from June 6 to 17. To peruse the full program and to buy tickets, head to the festival website.
It's not every day you come across a robot movie that stars swashbuckler Hugh Jackman and weirdos Die Antwoord, but that's exactly what's happening right now. The South African hip hop group step onto the silver screen for the new movie from their fellow countryman Neill Blomkamp, the filmmaker behind two of the most interesting and well-received sci-fi films of recent times, District 9 and Elysium. Jackman? He's the bad guy for once. Chappie begins when a robot created for law enforcement (to help bring down Johannesburg's notoriously high crime rate) is programmed with a brand new piece of AI software that allows it to develop feelings and opinions. To start with, he's as innocent and curious as a child, though even more quick to learn. Under the care of Yolandi and Ninja (the Die Antwoord duo play gangsters but keep their names) but exposed to the conflicts of the world, the lessons he gets are sometimes good, sometimes bad. Whatever happens, you know you're in for an original two hours of cinema. As Tom Huddleston writes in the Time Out London review, "This hugely entertaining oddity could never be mistaken for the work of any other filmmaker." Chappie (© 2015 Columbia TriStar Marketing Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved) is in cinemas on March 12, and thanks to Sony Pictures Releasing Australia, we have 20 double in-season passes to give away in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter and then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au
Today, Thursday, August 26, New South Wales reported 1029 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, marking the biggest daily number Australia has recorded during the entire pandemic. While the majority were identified within Sydney, case numbers are still growing in regional parts of the state — and, in response, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that everywhere outside of Greater Sydney will remain in lockdown until at least midnight on Friday, September 10. As previously announced, Greater Sydney is under stay-at-home conditions until at least the end of September; however, regional NSW's lockdown was due to end at 12.01am on Saturday, August 28. Obviously, case numbers were always going influence whether that actually occurred. Regional parts of the state have been under stay-at-home rules since mid-August. At the state's daily COVID-19 press conference today, NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro said that "the decision to extend the lockdown is one to protect communities and protect the regions. We're sitting on a knife-edge. It's a tinderbox ready to explode." "And I do apologise to those communities that don't have cases today. But I put it this way: one of the reasons you may not have cases is because of the restrictions in place, minimising movement, because we know we're a very interconnected community in regional and rural New South Wales," he continued. "But we'll be working with those communities. We'll be working with the health team for regional New South Wales. We are on a knife-edge in the regions. We need to take pressure off the health system." Due to ongoing concerns about community transmission, stay-at-home orders in place for regional NSW will be extended until at least midnight on Friday, 10 September, in line with existing orders for the Greater Sydney area. — John Barilaro MP (@JohnBarilaroMP) August 26, 2021 Under the rules for regional NSW, everyone is required to remain at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to leave, just like in Greater Sydney. Work is a permitted reason to head out of your house, but only if it is not practicable to do your job from home. Also, no visitors from outside your household are allowed to come to your home, including family and friends — other than for very select reasons. So, regional NSW residents can only have one person over at one time, and only to fulfil carers' responsibilities, for care or assistance, or compassionate reasons, the latter of which covers people who are in a relationship but don't live together. Also in effect: the closure of all hospitality venues other than for takeaways, and the closure of retail premises except for a small list that sell essentials. Supermarkets and grocery stores, other shops that mainly sell food or drinks to consume at home, chemists and pharmacies, kiosks, and places that primarily sell office supplies, pet supplies, newspapers, magazines and stationery, alcohol, maternity and baby supplies, and medical or pharmaceutical supplies can remain open, as can places that sell hardware, building and landscaping supplies, and timber, garden and plant items. Vehicle hire places, mobile phone repairs shops, service stations, banks, post offices, laundromats and dry cleaners can also stay open. Anyone who leaves their home must carry a mask with them at all times, too — and they must be worn in most situations. So, that means masking up in all indoor venues outside of your own home, while working outdoors, in outdoor markets and at outdoor shopping strips, and while lining up outside to pick up products like coffee and food. As has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic, NSW residents are also asked to continue to frequently check NSW Health's long list of locations and venues that positive coronavirus cases have visited. If you've been to anywhere listed on the specific dates and times, you'll need to get tested immediately and follow NSW Health's self-isolation instructions. In terms of symptoms, you should be looking out for coughs, fever, sore or scratchy throat, shortness of breath, or loss of smell or taste — and getting tested at a clinic if you have any. The entire state of New South Wales will remain in lockdown until at least midnight on Friday, September 10. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Kandos, located one hour’s drive north of Lithgow, underwent an identity crisis last year when its cement works, responsible for producing much of the mortar that holds Sydney together, closed down. Early this February, however, forty artists will descend upon the tiny town, transforming its vacant post-industrial spaces into artistic extravaganza Cementa_13. Empty shop fronts will host 3D installations, community venues will act as cinemas, an abandoned school will turn into an art gallery. You can expect sound and video art, live performance and poetry recitals. Daily walking and cycling tours will also provide an opportunity to become intimate with both the town and the artworks. The artists intend to depict, question and explore Kandos’s rich heritage and shifting identity in the context of its contemporary changes. Accommodation options are varied, from bed and breakfasts, to hotels, to camping grounds; however, you might be wise to book in advance. Take care, too, if you’re planning to travel by public transport: the bus connecting with the Lithgow train travels only once or twice a day. Car shares there and back are being hooked up on Facebook.
Most fifth birthdays consist of DIY waterslides mingled with tantrums over the fairy bread being made on multigrain. (Seriously though.) Rumour has it that kids are developing a little earlier these days, and Rice is Nice is living evidence. The soon to be five year old Sydney record label behind Seekae, The Laurels, Straight Arrows, Good Heavens and more is throwing a party that's a little less putt putt golf and a little more live music toasted with $3.50 bevs. And with sets from Summer Flake, Spod, Angie, Richard in Your Mind, Donny Benet, Phonographics and Shatter Brain cranking in the Imperial Hotel's Roller Den, fifth birthday party itineraries have never been rowdier. Doors open at 4pm for the April 27 event that'll cost you ten clams for a not-so-lazy Sunday. And those $3.50 drinks? They'll be poured all afternoon until 7pm. Naice. Happy half-decade dudes.
Young writers often get told, 'write what you know'. Which is partially sound advice, and also partially to blame for there being so many plays about what could boil down to #firstworldproblems. Making theatre that presents something different than middle-class life to someone beyond middle-class audiences means both writers having to step outside their comfort zone and theatre companies having to cast a wide net for writers. A little bit of both is going on with Belvoir's stunning This Heaven, the first production in the smaller Downstairs Theatre for the year. The debut full-length play from 2012 Belvoir associate playwright and arts/law student Nakkiah Lui, it deals with what happens when the legal system does not furnish justice. Sissy (Jada Alberts) has her beliefs uprooted when her father dies in police custody and the court does not hold anyone responsible, issuing only a speck of a fine. Her family has always abided by not just the law but social expectations of what a 'good' Aboriginal family does: she's studying law to change the world, and her mother, Joan (Tessa Rose), is the Aboriginal liaison officer at the very station where her husband, a respected community member, died. Their new circumstances are a slap in the face. Sissy and her reactive younger brother, Ducky (Travis Cardona), are desperate, angry, and in total turmoil when they set in motion the events that will kindle violence in their neighbourhood. Watching This Heaven may be the first and only time a riot makes so much sense, which is exactly the sort of vast empathetic gulf we go to the theatre to cross. It's incredibly alive and unaffected, and it strikes a sonorous note of injustice. The power of it comes almost as a surprise given more cookie-cutter beginnings, in which Lui is invoking the inspiration that clearly possesses her as the play carries on. There is another character on stage, who spends most of his time with us quietly chain-smoking in a tracksuit top and ugly trainers. This Heaven would not be the same without the big-hearted attention eventually given to him, and the revealing performance of Joshua Anderson in the role. Between them, he and Alberts take This Heaven to the next level. Director Lee Lewis has used blackout and real fire to heighten the sense of danger and instability, and the metal swingset frame of the set (by Sophie Fletcher) doesn't hurt either, ringing out a reverberating clang when struck in the dark. You go, Nakkiah, this is an astonishing debut. Her next play has the working title Koorioke, so that can only go well.
For New Zealanders, holidaying in the islands will soon become reality, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown this week confirming that a travel bubble is set to open between NZ and the Pacific nation. Pending final confirmation by New Zealand's Director-General of Health and the Cook Islands Secretary of Health, two-way quarantine-free travel will commence between the two countries on Monday, May 17, one month after the opening of the long-discussed trans-Tasman travel bubble between NZ and Australia. The Cook Islands closed its borders in March 2020 and has been virus-free to this day. Prime Minister Ardern said a huge amount of work had gone into ensuring the two-way bubble was safe and that the Cook Islands was set up and ready for it. The quarantine-free travel will apply to travellers in NZ and the Cook Islands who meet the eligibility requirements, including spending at least 14 days in either NZ or the Cook Islands before making the trip. But if you're an Australian now thinking of planning a multi-stop overseas getaway, the situation isn't as straightforward as you might hope. As part of NZ's announcement about the planned arrangement with the Cook Islands, it notes that anyone wanting to travel between Australia and the Cook Islands would need to spend at least 14 days in NZ in the middle. Back in April, however, the Australian Government made a Biosecurity Determination that advises that Australian citizens and permanent residents can only leave the country to travel to NZ, unless they receive an exemption. So, hopping from NZ to the Cook Islands after a fortnight in the former isn't currently covered. Neither is hopping from NZ to anywhere else in the world. The Biosecurity Determination came into effect after the trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and NZ started, to cover the possibility that Aussies would use NZ as a stopover before venturing further afield. Whether Australia and the Cook Islands will enter into their own travel bubble arrangement is yet to be revealed — and whether the Australian Government will amend the current Biosecurity Determination to allow Aussies to travel to the Cook Islands from NZ hasn't yet been advised, either. So, for now, that island getaway you might be dreaming of still needs to remain on hold. The two-way quarantine-free travel bubble will commence between New Zealand and the Cook Islands on Monday, May 17; however, Australia's recent Biosecurity Determination means that Aussies still can only holiday in NZ without receiving an exemption, and can't hop from there to the Cook Islands. Full information about quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders to the Cook Islands, including eligibility, what travellers should expect and updates to requirements, can be found on the New Zealand Government COVID-19 website.
While plenty about taking a holiday has changed over the past year or so, flight sales keep coming — and Australians keep snapping up tickets. Unsurprisingly, we're all keen to travel when and where we can in these pandemic-afflicted times. And if you're constantly thinking about your next getaway, Jetstar is dropping yet another batch of cheap fares. The Limited Time Only sale will kick off at 9am on Friday, April 23. As the name suggests, it's only on offer for a brief period. You'll need to nab your discounted tickets before 11.59pm AEST on Monday, April 26, although fares might sell out earlier. In the sale, you'll find cheap flights across a heap routes from destinations right across the country. That's a regular part of these specials, so there are no surprises there. But this time, because the trans-Tasman bubble is open and zooming across to New Zealand is now possible — and allowed — you can also pick up discounted tickets to NZ. Domestically, fares start at $33 for flights from Sydney to Avalon, with Sydneysiders also able to head to Hobart from $69, either Uluru or Hamilton Island from $99, and Perth from $159. Melburnians can book trips to Launceston from $45, Adelaide from $49, and Ballina and Byron Bay from $59, while Brisbanites can zip to Newcastle from $49, and Cairns or Melbourne from $69. Yes, the list goes on. For flights to NZ, tickets kick off at $175, which'll get you from the Gold Coast to either Auckland or Wellington. From Sydney and Melbourne, it'll cost you $195 to Auckland and $225 to Queenstown. [caption id="attachment_808728" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Artist: David Hilliam[/caption] Tickets in the sale are for trips from May 2021–January 2022, with exact dates varying in each region. And there are a few caveats, as is always the case. The discounted flights are one way, and they don't include checked baggage — so you'll need to travel super light, or pay extra to take a suitcase. And, as always, keeping an eye on both interstate and New Zealand border requirements is recommended. To promote the sale, Jetstar has also commissioned three large-scale artworks, all emblazoned with the words "available for a limited time only". One 90-metre-long piece by artist Edward popped up in the sand along the Great Ocean Road, another took over a Sydney rooftop and a third also got sandy at Piha Beach in Auckland. Jetstar's Limited Time Only sale runs from 9am AEST on Friday, April 23 till 11.59pm AEST on Monday, April 26, or until sold out.
Much about this last week of March has felt like history repeating itself — initially for Brisbanites, and now for anyone with an Easter date with Bluesfest. For the second year in a row, the Byron Bay festival won't be going ahead, with NSW Health announcing that a public health order has been signed that cancels the 2021 event. The long-running festival was set to return to Byron Events Farm (formerly Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm) just outside Byron Bay from Thursday, April 1 — for the Easter long weekend, headlined by Jimmy Barnes, Tash Sultana, Ocean Alley, Ziggy Alberts and The Teskey Brothers. But, as happened last year, COVID-19 has gotten in the way. NSW Health has advised that the move has been made "to minimise the risk of the highly infectious COVID-19 variant of concern being transmitted in the local area, as well as across states and territories." Over the past weekend, between Friday, March 26–Sunday, March 28, Byron Bay was visited by two people who later tested positive to COVID-19 as part of Greater Brisbane's current cluster. Today, Wednesday, March 31, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that one person in Byron Bay has since tested positive as well. And, the Premier also advised that from 5pm AEDT today until at least 11.59pm on Monday, April 5, the Byron, Ballina, Tweed and Lismore shires will reinstate a number of social distancing restrictions. So, they'll be in effect exactly when Bluesfest was due to run. The north coast regions will revert back to 30-person caps for at-home gatherings, and will reintroduce the one person per four-square-metres rule at all indoor public settings, including hospitality venues. Folks in the area will also have to sit, not stand, while having a drink. And, masks will be compulsory on public transport, in retail settings and indoors in public places. [caption id="attachment_800519" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Andy Fraser[/caption] "Infectious Queensland travellers attended a number of venues in the Byron Bay area and the new locally acquired case was infected at one of these venues," said NSW Health in its statement. "NSW Health acknowledges that the cancellation of Bluesfest is disappointing for ticket holders and event organisers; however, while urgent investigations and contact tracing are ongoing, NSW Health is adopting a cautious approach to keep everyone safe." Minister for Health Brad Hazzard noted that "while the cancellation of Bluesfest is disappointing for music lovers and the local community, I hope that ticket holders would support Bluesfest and hold on to their tickets as I understand Bluesfest will be working on a new date as soon as possible." At the time of writing, Bluesfest hasn't made a statement about the cancellation. Via the festival's last social media posts earlier today, event organisers said that an update was coming soon. NSW Health advised that it wished "to acknowledge the outstanding cooperation of Mr Peter Noble and his organising team, who were working hard to ensure Bluesfest would be conducted in a COVID-safe manner." For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: Joseph Mayers
