It's becoming more and more common for fashion designers to promote new collections via art exhibitions and installations, blurring the lines between fashion and art and creating events that are likely to attract a wider audience, people who might not consider themselves interested in high fashion. The latest event to take this approach is Perception, a "playful" and "unconventional" exhibition of Sydney-based jewellery designer Kate McCoy's latest collection, designed to be part art exhibition, part showcase. Kate takes a less mass-produced, more individual approach to her collections, which are mostly made up of one-off pieces. Her jewellery's made quite a few appearances at red carpet events like the ARIAs and the Logies, and she's got some pretty famous fans, including Kimbra. According to Kate's blog, Perception was "inspired by a curiosity in human behaviour, a fascination with how jewellery relates to the body whilst it is admired from afar."
In the past few years, Twilight at Taronga — the after-hours live music series that boasts arguably the best view of Sydney Harbour as well as lots of adorable animals — has proven it's got some real cred when it comes to hosting outdoor gigs. The 2018 lineup featured the likes of Neil and Liam Finn, The Preatures, Cloud Control and The Jezebels and, from the looks of things, 2019 will be just as epic. Held in Taronga Zoo's natural amphitheatre, the concert series will run from Friday, February 1 to Saturday, March 9, 2019. And we've got some real humdingers to look forward to including You Am I/Magic Dirt, Aloe Blacc, Xavier Rudd, The Whitlams and the Hoodoo Gurus (now that's my scene). And, as always, the ABBA tribute act Bjorn Again will be back by popular demand. You can BYO a picnic, but there'll also be gourmet hampers available onsite alongside a handful of food trucks. Tickets go on sale at 11am on Friday, October 26 and include discounted same-day entry into the zoo (so you can sneak in a visit to your favourite mammal, bird or reptile beforehand). As always, all proceeds will go back into Taronga's ongoing conservation work. So, you can see a gig and feel good about helping the zoo. Get excited and check out the full lineup below. AMERICAN EXPRESS TWILIGHT AT TARONGA 2019 LINEUP Friday, February 1: You Am I/Magic Dirt Saturday, February 2: Bjorn Again — sold out Sunday, February 3: Bjorn Again Friday, February 8: The Whitlams — sold out Saturday, February 9: Hoodoo Gurus — sold out Sunday, February 10: Hoodoo Gurus — sold out Thursday, February 14: The Waifs Friday, February 15: Xavier Rudd — sold out Saturday, February 16: The Waifs — sold out Sunday, February 17: Xavier Rudd Thursday, February 21: Aloe Blacc Saturday, February 23: James Morrison Friday, March 1: Do Re Mi Saturday, March 2: The Paper Kites Friday, March 8: Vera Blue — sold out Saturday, March 9: Comedy Gala: The Umbilical Brothers, Dave Hughes, Cal Wilson and Nick Cody.
'Tis the season for indulging, celebrating and catching up with friends you haven't seen for a while. You can tick all three of those boxes at the newly renovated Forrester's in Surry Hills, which has just launched a new lunch offering. For a sensible $79 per person, you can enjoy two hours of endless rosé and eight dishes to share, including king salmon tiradito (Peruvian-style crudo), fried crab cakes, guacamole, and roasted lemony chicken. You'll be eating in drinking in the sunny Phylli's restaurant, which is filled with plants, art and plenty of blond timber. The bottomless lunch is a weekend affair, with spots available on Saturdays and Sundays from 12pm–3pm. Bookings can be made for groups of four people more — so, if crab cakes, guac and a never-ending pour of rosé sounds like the perfect way to spend a sunny weekend afternoon, round up three of your closest and make a beeline for Surry Hills. [caption id="attachment_788391" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yasmin Mund[/caption] Bottomless rosé lunches available 12pm–3pm on weekends. Top image: Yasmin Mund
The idea of fashion as an art form is something that gets debated quite a lot — can something so commercially driven and seasonal ever make a lasting impact? That’s the idea that the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation wants to explore with their latest initiative, Feel and Think: A New Era of Tokyo Fashion. The exhibition consists of five elaborate installations by Japanese fashion designers ANREALAGE, Theatre Products, mintdesigns, SASQUATCHfabrix and writtenafterwards, as well as artist conversations, film screenings, a runway show and pop-up store at SCAF headquarters in Paddington. The exhibition was previously held in Tokyo but has been expanded into five site-specific installations at the National Art School Gallery in Darlinghurst, which has a long history of art-based fashion, boasting Akira Isogawa and Romance was Born as alumni. While many of the installations are constructed around their latest collections, this is done with wit and elements of kitsch and often makes statements beyond 'look at the pretty clothes'. Perhaps the work that embodies these things the most is the one by Sasquatchfabrix. Located at the entrance to the gallery, it’s a large buffalo with a skin constructed entirely from stitched-together fragments of what appear to be leather jackets. It’s visually fascinating in itself, even before the 'I see what you did there' realisation dawns on you. Cattle, leather, get it? I was a bit slow on the uptake on that one. The second floor of the exhibition takes you to an intriguing work by avant-garde label Anrealage featuring two side by side shop displays with identical layouts — except for the fact that one contains short, wide mannequins with short, wide clothing and the other contains towering, elongated versions of the same display, including a skinny typewriter and spindle-legged display table. The installation by Theatre Products experiments with interactivity, with visitors invited to scan the clothes on display, and creates an interesting contrast between the carefully constructed clothes and shoes, all tagged with large barcodes that produce a loud, echoing beep when scanned. The word 'anarchic' is being used a lot in promotional material for Feel and Think, but the better way of describing its general feel? 'Self-aware'.
For one day only, Sydney art lenders Artbank are transforming their Rosebery headquarters, which are normally closed to the public, into Artbank Social Club - sort of a one-off art exhibition with astroturf, a pop-up bar and live music from DJ Matt Vaughan. If you're feeling peckish, there'll also be a couple of food trucks around. You can wander into their showroom and take a look at their impressive collection (over 10,000 Australian artworks collected over the past 30 years), then hang with the artists themselves in their carpark-turned-outdoor-lounge area. Artbank is a support program created by the government to promote Australian artists by buying, curating and leasing artworks. Their headquarters are a bit tricky to find if you haven't been there before, so they've very kindly provided a shuttle bus running every 45 minutes from Chalmers St at Central Station, making stops at Flinders and Oxford Streets along the way. Otherwise, it's about a 15-minute walk from Green Square Station. Artbank's Social Club runs from 1-5pm.
Picture photobombing but with a wall instead of a photo, and an idea written on the wall instead of Kevin Spacey jumping in the photo... Okay, that analogy probably just confused you more. But, the point is Alaska Art Projects have a great new event coming up called Idea Bombing that focuses on the question: How can your city inspire your creativity? They describe the event (probably better than here) as "part meet-up, part pop-up bar, all fun." The evening consists of three main parts: an Ideas Wall where you can write, or 'bomb' any ideas you have on the night, four speakers talking about things that inspire them and, of course, drinks and live music. If you're live tweeting on the night — or you can't make it but want to join the conversation — you can use the hashtag #ideabombingsyd or keep an eye on @IdeaBombingSyd on the night.
Spare a thought for the St George OpenAir Cinema team, the folks behind one of Sydney's favourite outdoor cinema spots. When picking their summertime lineup each year, they're battling fierce visual competition: Mrs Macquaries Point's spectacular panoramic view of the city. Accordingly, every movie that graces the cinema's big screen has to hold its own against the stunning sights glittering away behind it. Don't worry — boasting everything from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in the music biz to an Australian premiere of Margot Robbie's latest transformative effort, their 2019 program achieves that feat. And the whole lineup hasn't even dropped. Kicking off on January 8 and running until February 16, the outdoor cinema's new season commences with the Australian premiere of Mary Queen of Scots, which sees Australia's own Margot Robbie and Academy Award-nominee Saoirse Ronan join forces for a powerful historical drama. It's just one of the movies making sure it'll be starry not only in the sky above, but on the 350-square-metre screen rising from the harbour. And with lineup featuring the likes of the aforementioned A Star Is Born, box office hit Crazy Rich Asians, Ryan Gosling heading to the moon in First Man, Rami Malek playing legendary frontman Freddie Mercury for Bohemian Rhapsody, the film adaption of Colin Thiele's famed Aussie novel Storm Boy and Bridesmaids' director Paul Feig's savagely entertaining A Simple Favour. Off-screen, expect culinary stars to join the fold as well, with OpenAir again partnering with Matt Moran's Chiswick. They'll be delivering a signature menu to hungry movie-goers each and every night during the cinema's 2019 run — but with 2000 patrons expected every evening, expect them to be busy. Booze, in the form of beers, wines and cocktails, will be available at the equally busy Kirin Bar. Speaking of, when tickets become available on Monday, December 10, they're likely to go quick. In 2016, more than 30,000 tickets sold within the first 30 minutes of sale. St George Openair Cinema 2018 runs from January 8 to February 16, 2019. Tickets are on sale from Monday, December 10. We'll update you when the full lineup drops on December 1. Image: Fiora Sacco
For much of the six years that a new Hayao Miyazaki movie has been on the way, little was known except that the legendary Japanese animator was breaking his retirement after 2013's The Wind Rises. But there was a tentative title: How Do You Live?. While that isn't the name that the film's English-language release sports, both the moniker — which remains in Japan — and the nebulousness otherwise help sum up the gorgeous and staggering The Boy and the Heron. They also apply to the Studio Ghibli's co-founder's filmography overall. When a director and screenwriter escapes into imaginative realms as much as Miyazaki does, thrusting young characters still defining who they are away from everything they know into strange and surreal worlds, they ask how people exist, weather the chaos and trauma that's whisked their way, and bounce between whatever normality they're lucky to cling to and life's relentless uncertainties and heartbreaks. Miyazaki has long pondered how to navigate the fact that so little while we breathe proves a constant, and gets The Boy and the Heron spirited away by the same train of thought while climbing a tower of deeply resonant feelings. How Do You Live? is also a 1937 book by Genzaburo Yoshino, which Miyazaki was given by his mother as a child, and also earns a mention in his 12th feature. The Boy and the Heron isn't an adaptation; rather, it's a musing on that query that's the product of a great artist looking back at his life and achievements, plus his losses. The official blurb uses the term "semi-autobiographical fantasy", an elegant way to describe a movie that feels so authentic, and so tied to its creator, even though he can't have charted his current protagonist's exact path. Parts of the story are drawn from his youth, but it wouldn't likely surprise any Studio Ghibli fan if Miyazaki had magically had his Chihiro, Mei and Satsuki, or Howl moment, somehow living an adventure from Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro or Howl's Moving Castle. What definitely won't astonish anyone is that grappling with conjuring up these rich worlds and processing reality is far from simple, even for someone of Miyazaki's indisputable creative genius. Brilliance fills The Boy and the Heron visually, with its lush and entrancing hand-drawn animation both earthy and dreamlike, and its colour palette an emotional mood ring. Being trapped between two states, domains, zones and orbits recurs here in as many ways as Miyazaki can layer in. This is a film with a raging wartime fire that haunts with its flames, plus a traditional countryside home rendered with such detail that viewers can be forgiven for thinking they could step right into it — and of a tunnel where floating bubbles called warawara wait to be born, pelicans lament the circle of life and masses of people-eating oversized parakeets demand to enforce order. It's also a movie where the titular bird looks as a grey heron should, then flips its beak back like a hoodie to show something less standard loitering. Said fish-eating wader and the eponymous boy frequently make a pair, but the former is also the latter's white rabbit: following the feathered figure does indeed make everything curiouser and curiouser. Voiced by The Days' Soma Santoki in the Japanese original and No Hard Feelings' Luca Padovan in the English-language dub that's needless for adults but helpful for young children, Mahito Maki starts The Boy and the Heron in Tokyo in 1943 during World War II. And so it is that 2023 delivers two Japanese icons, Studio Ghibli and Godzilla, each harking back eight decades to spin stories steeped in loss and pain that never stops whispering in hearts and minds. As heralded by air-raid sirens, bombings leave 11-year-old Mahito without his mother. For viewers, the tragedy sees Miyazaki nodding to his own mourning for Isao Takahata, his Ghibli co-founder, who died in 2018. Grave of the Fireflies, the studio's greatest film — amid fierce competition and many fellow masterpieces — is not only set during the same conflict but is mirrored by The Boy and the Heron's early moments. How do you live? By knowing what to grasp to, Takahata's old friend posits. The Boy and the Heron plays like a mix of reverie and memory, as it is, albeit with the second beaming through in emotional truths more than narrative facts. Miyazaki evacuated Tokyo in the war as a boy, however, as Mahito does when his father Shoichi (The Swarm's Takuya Kimura and Amsterdam's Christian Bale) has a new bride in his wife's younger sister Natsuko (Avalanche's Yoshino Kimura and The Creator's Gemma Chan). The change doesn't usher in a reprieve from the quiet and lonely kid's longing for his mum. Instead, it brings the talking heron (Don't Call It Mystery: The Movie's Masaki Suda and The Batman's Robert Pattinson) and everywhere that the creature leads. In a feature with more thoughtful touches than a seemingly endless flock of parrots has feathers, that Mahito's mother and aunt's family estate springs from a great uncle said to have gone mad from reading too many books is quite the inclusion. Stories defined that relative's world, then, which Miyazaki makes literal. After beginning patiently, Miyazaki also makes following Mahito a tumble down the rabbit hole for his audience. Always inventive as a storyteller and a visionary, the Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke and Ponyo helmer and scribe's return to cinema keeps besting its spectacle while giving Studio Ghibli some of its most breathtaking images (as set to a score by Joe Hisaishi, who's been doing the honours for the director for four decades, of course). There's no such thing as merely a pretty, dazzling or radiant picture for the great animation house, though. As meticulously controlled as its work is during its creation, with animators sketching in every single thing that's seen, Ghibli is unparalleled in understanding the expressive nature of its chosen medium. In conveying how war, growing up, death, love, fear, isolation, sadness, yearning, belonging, standing out, connecting and just life is a whirlwind of confusion, Miyazaki not only lets his imagination take flight, but his flair. The Boy and the Heron can be as trippy as his company's output gets — and as emotionally raw. Since 1984's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, no one has made movies like Miyazaki, other than Takahata. As The Boy and the Heron sails through light and darkness, hope and horror, serendipity and choice, and alienation and acceptance, it also bobs and weaves through many of its filmmaker's trademarks, gleaning that the elements that can unite people and features alike can manifest in as many different ways as an ocean has waves. The pull to retreat then return is the same, whether for a director saying that he's retiring several times (including in 1997 and 2001, after Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, respectively) or a lost child desperate to flee his hurt and bewilderment. An extraordinary return, and a personal one, The Boy and the Heron isn't expected to be Miyazaki's latest movie now that he's back behind the camera, but it's also the awe-inspiring piece of alchemy that it is because of that history.
Two beloved Sydney institutions are coming together for a celebration of the Lunar New Year. Across two Sundays — January 22 and 29 — Hello Auntie is taking over Philter's Marrickville brewery for a lineup of Vietnamese street food feasts. Hello Auntie's Chef Cuong will be manning the grill across both days, along with a very special guest: his mum Linda, who opened the first Marrickville restaurant with him back in 2015. The dynamic duo will be whipping up flavour-packed eats including banh uot — combining barbecue pork, fried onions, braised shallots and garlic stem, wrapped in rice noodle sheets and topped with a fried egg. Also on the menu will be king prawns and green papaya paired with roasted peanuts and ginger vinaigrette; char siu fried chicken wings with Vietnamese mint salsa; and the Bo La Lot burger, which piles a pork and veal patty, betel leaf, onion, tomato, mustard and mayo onto a bun. "The Bo La Lot Burger has been a favourite staff meal at Hello Auntie for a while and I've always wanted to share it with the public," Cuong says. Hello Auntie will also be in charge of creating some LNY ambience by decking out the brewery in Vietnamese decor. The pop-up will run across the two days from midday until 6pm with the last orders at 4.45pm.
Sometimes, the spirit of a movie can stem from something as simple as sole stroke of casting. Sometimes, the right actor in the right role so perfectly encapsulates the material to come that everything else hangs off of that one performance — even if everything else is finely done but also familiar, as well as quite slight. In People Places Things, that one actor and portrayal springs from Jemaine Clement, otherwise known as one half of musical comedy duo — and star of the TV series of the same name — Flight of the Conchords. If his turn as vampire lothario Vladislav in 2014's uproarious What We Do in the Shadows demonstrated a more heightened version of his antics, then writer/director James C. Strouse's (Grace Is Gone) latest feature celebrates him at his most deadpan and understated. Clement plays Will Henry, a New Zealand-born, New York-based graphic artist happily married to Charlie (Stephanie Allynne), and just as happily helping raise twin daughters Clio (Aundrea Gadsby) and Colette (Gia Gadsby) — or so he thinks. That upbeat emotion fades at his offspring's fifth birthday party amid revelations that Charlie wants to leave him for the man, Gary (Michael Chernus), she has been having an affair with. Fast-forward to a year later, with the newly single Will struggling with part-time parenting, not to mention full-time estrangement from the now-engaged and pregnant woman he thought he'd share his life with, and teaching at an art school to make ends meet. One of his more eager students, Kat (Jessica Williams), tries to set him up with her mother, Diane (Regina Hall). Alas, his considerable baggage threatens to derail any chance they have at forging a relationship. People Places Things may read like a typical mid-life malaise rom-com, and even initially threatens to follow such a path, but Strouse remains more concerned with Will's state of mind than his romantic endeavours. Love features prominently, as do laughs, but this is an effort steeped in finding internal contentment rather external companionship. The strong focus on Will's search to reclaim his sense of self — aka an adult coming-of-age — helps salvage his traversing of the usual plot points. That too has a been-there, seen-that quality, though in the filmmaker's hands it is thoughtfully written and elegantly executed, and in Clement's portrayal it feels real. Always awkward and dry, albeit authentically so, as well as enjoying impeccable timing, he's an ideal fit to deliver straight-faced puns about pain and embarrassment that sparkle with both truth and wit. He's also in good company when it comes to the commanding Williams and Hall, who each beg for more screen time, even if the narrative doesn't deliver. Other than the cast, the hand-drawn images by Gray Williams draw the eye, all passed off as Will's work and proving as charming as the actor who plays him. They're small sketches that map out big things, as the lead performance is as well. If only all such sincere and sweet yet still slender and recognisable efforts could possess such gifts.
For the biggest dance event of the year, you can’t go past Stereosonic, which will be making its '09 appearance as the sun heats up, touring the nation with such a massive line-up of local and international guests that your blue suede shoes will need re-sole-ing.In no particular order as there are so many big name dance, electronic, house and even Italian pop acts that you could poke a very small stick at and still hit something worth catching, we have: Deadmau5, Fedde Le Grand, The Crookers (you would have heard their hit Day N Nite remix), their fellow Italians The Bloody Beetroots, Sweden’s Axwell and France’s Miss Kittin and The Hacker, not to mention local acts Cut Copy, Andy Murphy and Grafton Primary. Warm up those calf muscles and be ready to go for Stereosonic at the beginning of summer, touring from 28th of November.
Take part in cooking classes, pick up some horticulture tips or just stuff yourself full of food from every corner of the world, when Bankstown Bites returns to the Olympic Parade on Saturday July 29. One of Sydney's best loved food festivals and attracting over 7000 foodies each year, this day long celebration of culinary culture will once again inundate the south-western suburb with a smorgasbord of food stalls, cooking demonstrations, guided food tours, live entertainment and more. Choose from Lebanese sweets to Vietnamese pho, and Chinese dim sum to locally made smallgoods and everything in between. The festival also features live entertainment, arts and crafts, bringing together a day not just for eating but also soaking in some of Bankstown's diverse culture. By Marissa Ciampi and Tom Clift.
After introducing strict new rules surrounding social-distancing on Monday night, the NSW Police has today revealed those restrictions will be in place for 90 days. At a press conference this morning, NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller announced it's likely they'll be lifted after this three-month period, saying "I certainly won't be seeking an extension, hopefully people will have gotten the message by then." The new rules, introduced on Monday in a bid to contain COVID-19, stipulate that Australians should only be leaving their homes for one of four reasons: obtaining food or other goods and services, travelling for the purposes of work or education if the person cannot do it at home, exercise and medical or caring reasons. The NSW Government has also outlined another 16 reasonable excuses for leaving your home. A nationwide two-person limit on public gatherings also began on Monday, March 30 with exceptions for being in the company of with those in your household, and for weddings and funerals, which have limits of five and ten people respectively. In NSW, if you disobey either of these social-distancing and public-gathering rules, you can be hit with a $1000 on-the-spot fine, with the maximum penalty being a $11,000 fine and six months in jail. In the past 24 hours, the NSW police has fined three people for not complying with the new isolation rules, including a man who was drinking alcohol in a park with three of his friends. The NSW Police said while three of the men left when asked, the fourth refused and was fined. The Police Commissioner also reiterated that the NSW Police are using discretion when issuing these fines, but ensuring "the safety of the community" was of utmost priority. "The safest place is at home in isolation," he said. As of 8am on Thursday, April 2, NSW had 2298 confirmed cases of COVID-19, out of 4863 cases Australia-wide. The NSW Government's new rules on public gatherings and social-distancing are available to read here.
Two men walk into a bar. One, Larry (Colin Friels), waiting to meet his daughter's fiance, is a Bostonian self-made man whose suave banker get-up is interrupted by a broken arm and accessorised with a reckless ownership over all that he touches. The other, Jimmy (Bryan Brown), is an Australian real-estate broker on the wrong side of the housing bubble who is bleeding from the head and will trade his limited-edition Hummer watch for a tab. It's 11am in the middle of a recession, so the bar is empty except for the salty barmaid, Robinson (Nadine Gardiner). There are punchlines coming aplenty. The STC's ZEBRA! is a new play by Ross Mueller (Concussion) with a transnational perspective and very funny, rambunctious, rapid-fire dialogue. It all unfolds on one set that looks like it won't be bumped out in a hurry — a fully realised, Irish-centric New York dive bar decked with leather stools, Celtics memorabilia, mounted game and firefighters' helmets, pictures of JFK and a framed harmonica gifted by Shane MacGowan. If you were to cross the worn timber floors, you could pull a beer from the tap. It's a marvel. Those hoping for the promised answers as to "who we are post-GFC" will likely be disappointed. It's a long time until the salesman and the entrepreneur start discussing the new financial world order, and the conversation rarely crystallises the surrounding abstract ideas. For something written with lofty intentions, ZEBRA! too often feels like it's about nothing at all. But sometimes, just sometimes, a thin thread does pull together the finest patches of verbal jousting and subtle introspection to evoke one very good question: What can be bought? Ultimately, the tension between the characters becomes a weight of shouting that blows out on near random lines, and it grates. Friels performs every word of it, but that's within the realms of possibility for the brash American Larry (who, after all, introduces himself to new acquaintances as "a millionaire"). Brown wears the ocker, make-do Jimmy like a comfy sweater. The two have a good dynamic, but the pleasant surprise is Robinson; her character is actually the one with the most depth, and Gardiner, ribald sass covering wounded stares, makes her especially compelling. The few leftover standing tickets will get you ringside for the rumble between these nationally prized actors, although maybe not close enough for the best bit of the play — seeing Friels' and Brown's brilliantly creviced faces at work.
When we take that first sip of our barista-brewed coffee on a workday morning, a lot of us can't actually imagine living without coffee. But what about living without a roof over your head or a guaranteed meal? Unfortunately, this is what many homeless people around Australia face each day, but on Friday, August 4, you can help your fellow Aussies out simply by buying a coffee as part of CafeSmart. CafeSmart is an annual event from StreetSmart that raises money and awareness for the homeless and is back for its seventh year running. This year over 500 cafes will aim to raise more than last year's total of $160,523. So how does it work? From every coffee purchased on August 7 at a participating cafe around Australia, $1 will be donated towards local projects. So if your go-to local isn't participating, shake things up for a day and head to one that is. Prefer a hot chocolate? You can also donate at the counter. Simply by aiming for a bighearted cafe, you'll be helping some of our country's most in-need humans, so treat yourself to a third or fourth coffee guilt-free. There are a heap of cafes participating across the country, but some include: SYDNEY The Grounds of Alexandria The Boathouse Bills Artificer Coffee Tea and Me Single O Three Blue Ducks Brewtown Newtown Daisy's Milkbar MELBOURNE Seven Seeds Assembly Proud Mary Top Paddock Tivoli Road Bakery Dr Morse Barry Axil Earl Sensory Lab BRISBANE Felix for Goodness Campos Mylk and Co Grinders Dovetail on Overend
Every story is built upon cause and effect. One thing happens, then another as a result, and so a narrative springs. Inspired by Andreas Malm's non-fiction book of the same name, How to Blow Up a Pipeline isn't just strung together by causality — it's firmly, actively and overtly about starting points, consequences and the connections between. Here's one source for this impassioned tale about determined and drastic environmental activism: the warming world. Here's an originator for that, too: fossil fuels, humanity's reliance upon them and the profits reaped from that status quo. Now, a few outcomes: pollution, catastrophic weather changes, terminal illnesses, stolen and seized land, corporate interests prioritised over ecological necessities, and a growing group that's driven to act because existence is at stake. Turning a text subtitled Learning to Fight in a World on Fire into a fictional feature, How to Blow Up a Pipeline joins all of the above, stressing links like it is looping string from pin to pin, and clue to clue, on a detective's corkboard. In his second feature after 2018's smart and effective camgirl horror Cam, writer/director Daniel Goldhaber isn't trying to be subtle about what dovetails in where. With co-screenwriters Jordan Sjol (a story editor on Cam) and Ariela Barer (also one of How to Blow Up a Pipeline's stars), he isn't attempting to rein in the film's agenda or complexity. This movie tells the tale that's right there in its name, as eight people from across America congregate in Texas' west with a plan — an octet of folks who mostly would've remained loosely connected, some strangers and others lovers and friends, if they weren't desperate to send a message that genuinely garners attention. Goldhaber's latest is explosive in its potency and thrills, and startling in its urgency, as it focuses on a decision of last resort, the preparation and the individual rationales before that. How to blow up hedging bets on-screen? That's also this tightly wound, instantly gripping, always rage-dripping picture. How to Blow Up a Pipeline's main players have a shared aim, but have taken different paths to get there. As the clock ticks on their mission, the film gets procedural as well as visceral, psychological and emotional — showing the method, and jumping backwards to flesh out motivations. The format is heist-flick 101, establishing a gang, then explaining how the motley crew came to be as they're pulling off their job. The treasure at stake: nothing less than a liveable planet. With cinematographer Tehillah De Castro (a recent veteran of Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo and Anderson .Paak music videos), editor Daniel Garber (a Cam alumni) and composer Gavin Brivik (yet another), Goldhaber makes a constantly bubbling throwback as much as an of-this-very-moment tension bomb. The details are all now, but the look and feel could've blasted out of 70s and 80s cinema. Those key on-screen figures: for starters, Xochitl (Barer, Saved by the Bell), a Long Beach resident who loses her mother to a heatwave, then gets mobilised when college eco-action groups aren't proactive enough; her childhood best friend Theo (Sasha Lane, The Crowded Room), who has the Californian city's proximity to oil refineries to blame for a rare leukaemia; and the latter's understandably stressed girlfriend Alisha (Jayme Lawson, Till). Also tied to each other: couple Rowan (Kristine Froseth, The First Lady) and Logan (Lukas Gage, The Other Two), complete with a history of making a splash for a cause. Then there's uni student Shawn (Marcus Scribner, Grown-ish), trading doomscrolling for something tangible; blue-collar Texan native Dwayne (Jake Weary, Animal Kingdom), after losing his family's land to oil companies via eminent domain; and self-taught bombmaker Michael (Forrest Goodluck, The English), who refuses to acquiesce to the many ways that America's Indigenous peoples, including himself, keep having the earth taken from them. As it charts blasting caps and more being assembled, and dives into everyone's histories as well, causation fizzes in How to Blow Up a Pipeline's structure, style, narrative and approach, too; William Friedkin's Sorcerer, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves and Bertrand Bonello's Nocturama all plant seeds. On show is the nail-biting pressure that makes the first of those flicks, which owed a debt to The Wages of Fear, such dynamite viewing about transporting dynamite. Always evident is the flitting to the events behind the events, plus the unpacking of the loyalties amid loyalties, that's so key to QT's debut, alongside a few other shared plot points. And, echoing with oozing-off-the-screen force is a question that also gushed when Jesse Eisenberg (Fleishman Is in Trouble), Dakota Fanning (also The First Lady) and Peter Sarsgaard (The Batman) were blowing things up a decade ago, plus a game cast playing Parisian radicals in one of 2016's French standouts: what else can be done? Amassing this ensemble is a plan-comes-together feat itself, and the reason for naturalistic yet intense performances, a blend that isn't easy to make feel this raw and lived in. Here, everyone doesn't just get their moment as their characters navigate mistakes being made, equipment failing, drones hovering and bones getting broken — they blister. Goldhaber, Sjol and Barer's writing is that incisive, especially while moulding their entire script around joining dots, then more dots, then more still. They connect to healthcare struggles in a system where medical treatment to stay alive is the domain of the rich; to awareness-raising documentaries that share difficult true tales, but don't make a practical impact for their subjects; and to the massive and engrained chasm between the haves and the have nots. How to Blow Up a Pipeline doesn't ever forget for a second, though, that everything that this story links to is about people. When the film is propulsive, hectic and a non-stop cavalcade of building momentum, Barer, Lane, Goodluck and company are electrifying, and also exceptional at conveying who Xochitl, Theo, Michael and the crew are via their physicality, presence and expressions. When the movie gets talky as the synth-heavy score thrums, they give voice to the storm of complications lingering around their quest, destruction as a form of protest and going beyond endeavouring to appeal to energy companies' consciences. One such point arrives about a third of the way in, over drinks and chats about terrorism, if their planned efforts count and past revolutionaries that would've earned the label in their time. Even as debate bounces around the room, no one shies away from what they're doing, why and the commitment to sparking repercussions for those benefiting from destroying the environment. How to Blow Up a Pipeline doesn't ever dream of doing anything but staring straight on, either — and it's incendiary to watch.
Every September and October, Germany erupts with brews, food and lederhosen-wearing revellers for its annual Oktoberfest celebrations. When that time rolls around Down Under, Australia follows suit. One such festivity is Oktoberfest in the Gardens, which has been throwing big Bavarian-themed celebrations around the country for 13 years — and is returning to Sydney for 2023. Oktoberfest in the Gardens will make its latest Harbour City stop at The Domain on Saturday, October 28. If you're keen to head along, expect company; the event expects to welcome in over 70,000 people enjoying steins, schnitties and German shindigs across this year's seven-city run. Sydney's fest will serve up the same kind of beer- and bratwurst-fuelled shenanigans that Germany has become so famous for. So, if you have a hankering for doppelbock and dancing to polka, it's the next best thing to heading to Europe. Oktoberfest in the Gardens boasts a crucial attraction, too: as well as serving a variety of pilsners, ciders, wine and non-alcoholic beverages, it constructs huge beer halls to house the boozy merriment. When you're not raising a stein — or several — at the day-long event, you can tuck into pretzels and other traditional snacks at food stalls, or check out the hefty array of entertainment. Live music, roving performers, a silent disco, rides and a sideshow alley are all on the agenda.
The Grounds of Alexandria has proven a coffee haven for Sydneysiders for five years and now they're breaking into the craft brew game. The beer, a collaboration with the longstanding Lord Nelson Brewery, pairs a bold American brown ale with The Grounds' signature, in-house roasted espresso. 'The Lord of The Grounds Brown' is quite the mouthful in name and in drinking practice — unlike some coffee-beer pairings, this is not simply a coffee-flavoured brew. Instead, a mug of the brown ale, with its rich malt flavour, pine hop aroma and slight bitterness, is served alongside a smooth shot of espresso ($13 for the two). This is truly a collab for both beer and coffee lovers — which, more often than not, are already one in the same. The brew is currently on offer, exclusively at The Potting Shed for the duration of winter, along with share plates, snacks, a full bar menu and regular live music, all in The Grounds' expertly overgrown garden setting. The Potting Shed at The Grounds of Alexandria is located at 41/43 Bourke Rd, Alexandria. Open Monday through Friday 11.30am to late and Saturday through Sunday from 11am to late.
Drape yourself in your finest pastel apparel and don a pair of sandworthy shoes — you're heading to Bondi Beach for a Champagne-fuelled, seasonally-driven picnic. And when we say Bondi Beach, we mean literally — as in, on the sand. If you're thinking this is sounding a bit like one of those white dinner affairs, your antennae are on point. Named A Moveable Feast, this event, which debuted last year, has been dreamt up by none other than Antoine Bessis, event director of Diner en Blanc. But this time he's diversifying the palette — into pastel colours — and aiming to recreate the Riviera on Sydney's most famous beach. Your ticket will buy you top-notch food, wine and Champagne, as well as a curated entertainment program, finishing with barefoot dancing. The tickets are $165 per person to be purchased in pairs, and include your seats at a styled table and an eight-course feast designed by chef and restauranteur Luke Mangan.
Science fiction has never been afraid of unfurling its futuristic visions on the third rock from the sun, but the resulting films have rarely been as earthy as The Creator. Set from 2065 onwards, after the fiery destruction of Los Angeles that could've come straight out of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, this tale of humanity battling artificial intelligence is visibly awash with technology that doesn't currently exist — and yet the latest movie from Monsters, Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards couldn't look or feel more authentic and grounded. That isn't a minor feat. And, it doesn't simply stem from making a sci-fi flick with heart, which isn't a new move. Don't underestimate the epic yet intimate impact of seeing bold imaginings of what may come that have been lovingly and stunningly integrated with the planet's inherent splendour, engrained in everyday lives, and meticulously ensure that the line between what the camera can capture and special effects can create can't be spotted; The Creator hasn't. So, as undercover military operative Joshua (John David Washington, Amsterdam) is tasked with saving the world — that go-to science-fiction setup — robots walk and talk, spaceships hover, and everything from cars to guns are patently dissimilar to the planet's present state. Flesh-and-blood people aren't the only characters with emotional journeys and stakes, either, with AI everywhere. Even if The Creator didn't tell its viewers so, there's zero doubting that its events aren't taking place in the here and now. Edwards and cinematographers Greig Fraser (The Batman) and Oren Soffer (Fixation) know how to make this flight of fancy both appear and seem tangible, though. Indeed, The Creator earns a term that doesn't often come sci-fi's way when it comes to aesthetics: naturalistic. Also don't underestimate how gloriously and immersively that the film's striking and sprawling southeast Asian shooting locations not only gleam, but anchor the story. Edwards and his team, including production designer James Clyne (another Star Wars alum), have given their film human skin, then, amid all the tech workings. That's one of the big leaps forward in Edwards' screenplay with his Rogue One scribe Chris Weitz, too, with The Creator delivering its main examples of AI in humanoid form. These droids can easily be mistaken for something less cybernetic if the whirling circles where ears would normally be are covered, plus their exposed metal necks and backs of their heads as well. As Joshua discovers, they're also easy to connect with. The feature itself earns that same description — as it splashes two-plus hours of spectacular sights across the screen, this is big-thinking and big-feeling science fiction not just about where technology might lead, what that means for humans and how the species could spark such a situation, but also about empathy. Humans and AI are long past co-existing in happy harmony when The Creator initially drops into Joshua's life, but he's a glowing expectant dad enjoying domestic bliss with his wife Maya (Gemma Chan, Don't Worry Darling) anyway. They're in New Asia, the artificial intelligence-sympathising part of the world after Los Angeles went nuclear, and she considers machines her family. The catch: his special forces gig, then a raid with a tragic outcome. Five years later, Joshua is back stateside, grief-stricken and on clean-up duties when he's brought back in by General Andrews (Ralph Ineson, The Northman) and Colonel Howell (Allison Janney, To Leslie). On this latest mission, eradicating AI's enigmatic mastermind Nimrata — and therefore wiping out AI at the same time — is still the aim, just made more urgent by news of a war-ending weapon that's capable of annihilating humanity's beam-wielding and village-bombing winged NOMAD vessel. But Joshua doesn't expect to meet android child Alphie (newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles) while going about the job. As his resume attests, Edwards is head over heels for his chosen genre. His pre-Monsters gigs also span visual effects, which makes The Creator's seamless appearance hardly surprising. In fact, on his feature debut — a flick that's one of the great first films — he was also the movie's director of photography and production designer, and took care of the VFX, doing the latter at home in his bedroom. Back away from franchise land after his Godzilla and Star Wars stints, he's at his best making original sci-fi again, this time with a picture that grapples deeply with the big existence-changing development of our time. The Creator eagerly stands out there as well, clutching onto a message of acceptance in its central conflict. Shining with ambition, it's also a rarity with such an utter (and welcome) lack of past chapters, books, flicks, TV shows and any form of pre-existing intellectual property behind it, although it does worship a swathe of inspirations. There's a difference between gleaning that a filmmaker watched and adored Blade Runner, District 9, Aliens and Dune, though — plus Apocalypse Now, Akira, The Matrix, Interstellar, Laputa, Castle in the Sky and, yes, Star Wars — and sitting through a movie that just brazenly ticks through element after element from other sources. The Creator never falls into the second category, instead playing like it's its own machine rather than a Frankenstein's droid built from other tech's parts. The narrative, the world-building, the visuals (even with Rogue One's Fraser earning an Academy Award for Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part One), the heartfelt mood, the down-to-earth and old-school vibe, the sound (with a score by fellow Dune: Part One Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer, and also the exceptional use of Radiohead's 'Everything in its Right Place'), the ideas: they all ensure that this isn't cobbled together from spare components. So do the excellent performances by Washington in Tenet mode and first-timer Voyles, who convey a poignant rapport while selling their individual and shared yearnings. Also beyond a doubt: that AI couldn't have made this movie (a timely thought given that it arrives to tackle the topic as Hollywood's strikes have been raging partly due to that very possibility). The Creator feels like it has fingerprints everywhere. As its magnificent visual effects glisten so convincingly that they don't resemble VFX at all even though they clearly are, the film looks carefully and affectionately crafted. When its dialogue is a touch obvious and Joshua's path a tad predicable, that still smacks of relatable and inescapable human nature. And, as it tensely and thrillingly — weightily, too — ponders war, hate, fear, military control, the fast jump to divide, what technology can destroy and give alike, and who sits on which side of the humans-versus-AI clash, The Creator happily gets thorny. Edwards seems sincerely fascinated with every thing, person, gadget, backdrop, sight, sound, notion, theme and musing he packs inside his film. Matching that response couldn't be a more instinctive reaction.
There's the truth, and then there's the tale that is told, a divide Kill the Messenger acknowledges. Driven by journalistic duty, Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner) unearths a scandal, though once his report is published, the press turns their attention to him over the facts. The surrounding film falls prey to the same trick, presenting an intriguing character study but skirting over the damage done. Webb is a small-time player for a small-time paper, yet unafraid of turning big leads into big headlines. In California in 1996, he receives a tip about a deal involving the nation's intelligence agency and crack dealers in South Central Los Angeles. Covertly supporting the Nicaraguan Contras in their fight against their country's socialist rulers, the CIA is accused of assisting their US drug racket. Webb scours through sources from South America to Washington to substantiate his story, all ignored when governmental denial thrusts him into the spotlight. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Oliver Platt as Webb's editors, Rosemarie DeWitt as his wife, and Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta as furtive figures, a competent cast fills in the details, in what remains a portrait of Webb's rise and fall. As compelling as he has ever been, Renner retains focus, matching his physicality to the transformative plight of a determined crusader victimised for doing the right thing. Often framed from afar or shown in hand-held close-ups, his recreation of Webb constantly looks over his shoulder with good reason. "We would never threaten your children," he is told in his only official face-to-face meeting with the CIA, and the feature's best display of tension. Based on Nick Schou's 2006 book of the same name, alongside Webb's own 1998 manifesto Dark Alliance, Kill the Messenger harks back to a host of conspiracy thrillers and whistleblower dramas in its newsreel compiles offering background information and incendiary montages setting the emotional tone. Better known for helming episodes of Dexter and Homeland, director Michael Cuesta sticks to the standard in evoking an air of unease and flitting between episodic jaunts in a quest for justice, his feature fervent in sentiment but fleeting in impact. All eyes stay on Renner's rising rage in his potent portrayal; however, the feature's message remains murky, swelling in telling of personal conflict but fading in spanning the extent of the scenario. That the most damning revelations are told as a post-script may indicate the difficulty of condensing the complicated true tale, but it also speaks to the same selectivity the film ostensibly rallies against. Kill the Messenger shouts the story of someone who refused to be silenced, yet favours an impassioned underdog account over a thorough consideration of its central media machinations. https://youtube.com/watch?v=14tFIJIp1bs
A tale of love and hidden identities, Twelfth Night has arrived at the Sydney Opera House with beloved theatre group Bell Shakespeare returning to the iconic Sydney venue's Playhouse. If you're out of the loop, Twelfth Night sees protagonist Viola arrive in a new city following a shipwreck and disguise herself as a man in order to find work. Things get tricky when she falls in love with her boss and her twin brother Sebastian arrives. If this all sounds familiar, it could be because the story is the basis for the 2006 teen classic She's the Man. Bell Shakespeare's new iteration of the stage show comes from director Heather Fairbairn and places the characters in a more nature-driven outdoor setting. Fairbairn's version pulls on threads of gender and sexuality in the original, diving deeper into these themes through a fresh retelling of the story. Twelfth Night is also one of Shakespeare's most music-heavy plays, and Bell Shakespeare has gone all out with the soundtrack, enlisting the help of ARIA Award-winning songwriter Sarah Blasko to create original pieces for the show. Blasko has crafted six new songs, all of which are performed by the cast live on stage throughout the two-and-a-half-hour performance. "My approach to everything, including theatre, is just to go with a vibe! But, my initial inspiration for the music came from conversations with Heather who wanted to convey a sense of melancholy with the music but for it not to be depressing," said Blasko. "I felt the blues was the obvious place to start as most popular music has its roots there, and the blues has that sadness but is ultimately uplifting." You can catch the show in Sydney until Sunday, November 19. Head to the Sydney Opera House website to secure your tickets. Images: Brett Boardman.
If anything's sure to step up your Sunday session a few levels, it's a few ice cold frothies for just $1 a pop. Exactly like the ones you'll find going for a steal at The George Hotel this Sunday, July 7. The budget brews are courtesy of Frosty's Pale Ale — the much-loved house favourite at CBD haunt Frankie's — which is brewed by NSW's Swill & Drill Brewers. The brewers will be dropping a keg of the refreshing stuff at the newly renovated Waterloo pub, which will be serving up its usual Sunday fun all day long, too, including top-notch Mexican eats from the Taco King. Entry is free, plus there'll be party tunes from DJ Goggles and local punk rockers Fangz to round out the good times. Think, Megadeth, ACDC, Black Sabbath, Meatloaf and maybe even a sprinkling of Elvis, while you sip your one-buck brews. The beers will only be $1 from 6pm until the keg is gone, so we suggest you get there early. Images: Kimberley Low
Last year, beloved social enterprise Two Good Co. opened a cafe and convenience store in Darlinghurst's Yirranma Place. The venue provides Sydneysiders with tasty breakfast and lunch options, as well as products from local ethically minded businesses like The Bread & Butter Project, Kua Coffee and Gelato Messina — all while raising funds to help Two Good's goal of supporting vulnerable women by providing pathways out of crisis living. Each month at the cafe, the crew brings in a well-known and well-loved chef or culinary team to create special one-off menu items. Kylie Kwong, Maggie Beer, Peter Gilmore and Matt Moran have all been in charge of curating the monthly menu in the past, and this month the pleasure falls on O Tama Carey and the Lankan Filling Station team. One of Sydney's best restaurants, Lankan Filling Station has built a cult following for its choose-your-own-adventure-style menu of flavoursome curries, hoppers and sambols. This is the energy that Carey, Head Chef 'Coco' Corentin Kergall and the whole team is bringing to this limited-time menu. Available throughout July from Monday, July 3, the menu features two no-fuss lunch items and a little sweet treat. Item number one is a spicy seeni sambol, cheddar and mozzarella toastie. This Sri Lankan twist on the classic grilled cheese adds some sweet, spicy and sour sambol to the mix, and is finished off with a brushing of curry leaf butter. Also available: the Sri Lankan coconut rice porridge kola kanda. The Two Good Co. version will include a hearty dose of pumpkin and a serving of roti to mop up all of the goodness. Rounding out the offerings is a cashew and cardamom milk toffee, for anyone who loves a sugary snack after their lunch. If you want to sample the menu, just head over to 262 Liverpool Street at some point in July.
The Commune Waterloo, will be transformed into a sensory explosion when the Middle Eastern Night Markets set up on Thursday, 21 July. A celebration of Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan, the event will bring together a massive variety of street food, art, craft, design, music, photography and film. Best of all, you can feel good about every dollar you spend, since all cash raised will be going to Act for Peace to assist Syrian refugees. You won't be short of company, either. The Facebook event has racked up 12,000 RSVPs and counting. What's more, if you're a creative type, it's not too late to contribute. The organisers are still open to suggestions for stalls. Ramadan, for those not in the know, is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. It's the holy month, during which participants fast, pray and give to charity. The aim is to promote empathy, generosity and an attitude of gratitude.
When The Square won the top prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival, it was considered a controversial choice. That's an understandable reaction — an over-the-top satire about the art world that's filled with odd incidents and clocks in at nearly two-and-a-half hours long was never going to be everyone's idea of a masterpiece. But with Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund behind the camera, that's by design. Fittingly, he's made a piece of art that's not only about a divisive piece of art, but also proves incredibly divisive itself. A complex look at the responsibilities that come with living within a society, as seen through the filter of creativity, contemporary art galleries and the reactions to both, The Square marches straight into the gap between public posturing and private truths. As such, it places the writer-director in very familiar thematic territory. Fans of Östlund's previous film, the fantastic Force Majeure, should instantly recognise his thematic hangups, as he skewers humanity's general tendency to say one thing but do another. Last time, he stepped inside the intimate confines of a dysfunctional marriage undone by a husband's selfish behaviour in a time of crisis. Here, the filmmaker similarly contemplates a wealth of complicated contradictions, this time in a world known for being polarising, prestigious and — sometimes — downright pretentious. Indeed, if egotistical Stockholm gallery curator Christian (Claes Bang) was to offer his thoughts of the film he's in, he'd likely declare The Square a triumph — all while knowing that half of the audience strongly disagrees. Moreover, he'd do so with a particular kind of arrogance meant to pressure others to come around to his way of thinking. That's how he talks about his new installation, also called 'The Square', which is designed to cultivate empathy. Whether he's being interviewed by journalist Anne (Elisabeth Moss), discussing viral promotional strategies with his marketing team, or trying to wow the elite art crowd at gallery functions, Christian is certain that the four-by-four metre space (a "sanctuary of trust and caring" where participants "all share equal rights and obligations") is vitally essential and important. How much of his behaviour is authentic? When you're expected to act a particular way, can you ever be your real self? Or are you putting on your own piece of theatre, whether you know it or not? And should your own personal role-play come at the expense of others? Again and again, Östlund puts his protagonist in situations that ponder the boundaries between art, life, truth and performance. Christian goes home with Anne, only to discover that she has a chimpanzee for a roommate. He hosts an elaborate party, which features an actor (Terry Notary) accosting the guests by acting like an ape. He's mugged on the street, but it's so well choreographed that it could be a show. As Christian, Bang lives up to his surname. It's not a loud performance, but rather a commanding and compelling one, with the Danish actor turning in a portrayal that's as dense and disarming as the film itself. Considering he's in a movie that probes the difference between the organic and the staged, that's quite a significant feat. Furthermore, he also achieves something that Östlund sometimes struggles with: balance. The Square might contend that art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, but it sometimes overplays its hand in making that statement. The film is funny and insightful when you're on its wavelength, and positively grating when you're not. Its stunning set-pieces grab attention no matter which side you fall on at any given moment, but the movie can jump from astute and amusing to patience-testing with whiplash-inducing speed. And yet, in a picture this savage, smart and wildly ambitious, even the infuriating bits always feel like they're part of Östlund's playful game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXOV2-7tYP8
Now in its third year, Parramatta's The Plot is a licensed, all-ages festival featuring an all-Aussie music lineup that spans every genre you could ever need for a Saturday afternoon — but it's as much about getting stuck into piles of delicious local delicacies as it is about the tunes. So, to save you some time at the festival on November 19, we thought we'd give the lowdown on what you'll be eating, drinking and Instagramming before you get there. Good news is that every tasty morsel will be brought to you by a local business, keeping those nasty miles to a minimum and ensuring you have a true end-to-end western Sydney experience. [caption id="attachment_588423" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Darcy Street Project[/caption] FIRST STOP: COFFEE AND TEA The first thing you'll be looking for when you roll up on Saturday afternoon will be a decent coffee to kick you into action. Thankfully, The Darcy Street Project will be taking care of your caffeine needs. This cracking coffee hub isn't just a cafe, but a social enterprise too. And for every coffee you buy at The Plot, you'll have the option to pay it forward — pay for an extra coffee, and it'll go to someone who visits Darcy Street the week following and perhaps can't afford a coffee that day. Alternatively, if tea's your beverage of choice, try a high-quality, boutique brew from family-run Mumford Tea. [caption id="attachment_588426" align="alignnone" width="1280"] StroopBros[/caption] FESTIVAL FUEL: THE FOOD With hours of music to dance, listen and kick back to, you're going to need some fuel. For a fierce feast, swing by Bella Shack Burgers' epic truck for a monster burger like the Shack Daniels — it consists of a house-ground beef patty, double American cheese, Jack Daniel's bacon jam, deep-fried mozzarella, crispy bacon, crème fraîche mayo, Westmont pickles on a Japanese milk bun. Also competing on the monster meal front will be Parramatta locals Jarrod's Shakes 'n' Snags. Rock up to a 1966 Kombi and take your pick of tastiness, from tomato parmesan beef chipolatas with Jarrod's chimmichurri to caramel bliss milkshakes. Meanwhile, Emmy's Gourmet Gozleme will be taking you on a side-trip to Turkey with their cooked-on-the-spot gozleme (the best festival snack), packed with local produce, while Sundweesh will be doling out street food in the form of sandwiches combining Middle Eastern and Western influences. Think kofta with tabouli and hummus, and peri peri chicken with slaw. For a healthy feed, you'll be able to stop by Papermill for what they call a 'spurrito'. It's a giant rice paper roll-burrito hybrid filled with veggies, rice noodles and meat (if you so choose) — you may have seen them around town at Bondi or Parramatta Markets and the like. With your savouries done and dusted, you'll be amped for dessert. Go Dutch with a StroopBros stroopwafel: a generations-old sweet treat filled with rich chewy caramel and doused in warm caramel sauce. AND FINALLY: DRINKS Let's get the healthy stuff out of the way first. Cleansers and tee-totallers should head to The Citrus Factory for freshly-squeezed, 100 percent-Aussie lemonade. But beer. You'll be spoilt for local choice. The Australian Brewery will be making a trip to Parramatta from its western Sydney home in Rouse Hill, and will be bringing a bunch of crafty brews along for the ride. Travelling from the Blue Mountains will be Hillbilly Cider, with their refreshing drops made from Bilpin-grown apples. Wine lovers will be catered to as well, thanks to Canonbah Bridge Wines, who'll be visiting from their farm in Warren, Central New South Wales (about 100 kilometres northwest of Dubbo). And, delivering Aussie-made spirits (and moonshine — yes, moonshine) will be the Hawkesbury's Ironbark Distillery. The Plot will take place at Parramatta Park on Saturday, November 19. For more info and to buy tickets, visit theplot.co.
As the days get warmer and longer, what better way to rediscover the city than at one of the many street parties taking over Sydney? Head west on Sunday, October 15, to celebrate Marrickville's vibrant culture and diverse community at the Marrickville Music Festival. Supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW, the free festival will spotlight local talent and businesses, from live music and performances to restaurants and retailers down and around Marrickville Road. Discover emerging artists across various genres at one of the seven music stages. The Main Stage will host performances by popular trio Haiku Hands, ChillCheney, Good Pash, Hellogrimbo, Smalls, The Minties and Boys at the Back. For something different, enjoy jazz and world music, such as an ocean-inspired musical suite by Freyja Garbett, Brazilian jazz by Performing Brazil, Afro-funk by Mister Ott and Afro-Cuban jazz funk by Obba Layé at the Plaza Stage. Community choirs and school groups will strut their stuff on the Community Stage while singer-songwriters share their heartfelt ballads on the Acoustic Stage. The festival has also partnered with FBi Radio and One Off Traks to showcase independent DJs and women and non-binary creatives, as well as Gasoline Pony to host gigs at their laneway stage and inside the venue. Between sets, meander down the road for the Inner West Artist Market, which will feature over 30 artists and makers, including bags by AMARLA, colouring sheets by Wonky Weirdo, clothing by Fresh Tees, jewellery by Mami Watta Collections and artworks by Brigitta Summers. For the little ones, there are doco screenings, jam sessions and even low-key karaoke at Marrickville Library. Stop for a breather and grab a bite at one of the food stalls along the main street. Or head to one of the many local restaurants, which will take over parts of the footpaths for the day, so you're well-positioned to enjoy some of the roving and pop-up performances. The event runs from 12–6pm on Sunday, October 15, but you can keep the good times going with a cold bev and even more live music at one of the official afterparty venues. Marrickville Music Festival is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW. Check out the full lineup of events and artists at the Marrickville Music Festival website and get in the mood with the festival's Spotify playlist.
At 11am on November 11, 1918, WWI came to an end — after four years of gruelling battles and around 40 million deaths. To mark the 100 years that have since passed, Liverpool is hosting Visions of Peace: a free, outdoor exhibition featuring illuminations, photographs, spoken word and live music. At the show's heart is a walking trail dotted with light projections. Begin at St Luke's Church, built in 1819, and travel down Macquarie Mall, before finishing up at the Memorial School of Arts, which was built in 1924 as a memorial to WWI veterans. Along the way, you'll find much of Liverpool's stunning 19th and early 20th-century architecture illuminated with century-old sepia images alongside colourful contemporary ones. Evening wanderers will be soundtracked by music from the era, performed live by the Liverpool City Brass Band and various local musicians. Listen out, too, for readings of authentic journal entries and poetry. Visions of Peace, produced by Esem Projects, involves collaborations with Liverpool Girls High School, Liverpool Boys High School, Liverpool RSL sub-branch, Moorebank Heritage Group, Western Sydney University and an array of community members. The purpose is to reflect on the past and how it has shaped Australia's identity. Visions of Peace will run nightly from November 1–11 between 6–10pm. Performances and activities will take place across November 1–3 and November 8–11 between 7.30–9pm. For more information, visit the Liverpool City Council website.
Horror isn't just for one month of the year. Celebrating Halloween for 31 days is all well and good — and fun and eerie — but there's no bad time to embrace the most terrifying genre there is. That includes at the cinema, because getting your frights from flicks is firmly an all-year-round affair. Sydney's A Night of Horror International Film Festival understands this. Because no film fest can run all day every day 365 days a year, this one pops up for a dedicated stint annually, but it isn't beholden to an October timeslot. So, in 2023, it's bringing ten features and 31 shorts to Dendy Newtown to lead into the scariest month of them all, kicking off on Thursday, September 28 and running till Sunday, October 1. Get ready for horror movies, then more horror movies, and then even more horror movies across four big days. Some of ANOH's features are homegrown scarefests, others arrive from the other side of the world and a few come to Sydney with the stamp of approval from fellow horror film festivals elsewhere. For instance, Puzzle Box hails from the Harbour City's own Jack Dignan, and marks the director's second effort on the lineup in as many years; The Moor goes all folk-horror, but UK-style; and Saving Grace nabbed awards at this year's Washington DC International Cinema Festival and Liverpool Indie Awards. Or, catch the witchy Mother Superior from Austria, which wowed 2022's Brooklyn Horror Film Festival — then get some thrills with What You Wish For, which tells a morality tale (with the name to match, clearly) starring Nick Stahl (Fear the Walking Dead). Prefer a Lithuanian slasher (aka Pensive)? A debut that takes its cues from giallo (DID I?)? A dose of horror-comedy (The Coffee Table)? Aussie-made, small-town musings on grief (Violett)? They're all on the lineup, too, from a full bill that hops to the US, New Zealand, Spain, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Denmark and India as well.
If there was still some question over who leads the current revival of superhero movies, you can stop your pop-culture equivocating now. It's Iron Man. It's always been Iron Man. With the release of Iron Man 3, probably the best film of the trilogy, all the other Avengers can fall into line and that over-earnest heavy breather should sulk in his cave/villa in Provence. The Iron Mans have always innately had the superhero secret formula, combining the wry delivery of Robert Downey Jr, plots that aren't totally dumb, eye-popping action, a contemporary sense of cool detachment and the observance of canonical Marvel comics tradition. Then there's the fact that Tony Stark, Iron Man's alter ego, is a wealthy tech geek, not a jock (a seemingly prescient move on behalf of legendary comics creator Stan Lee back in 1963). Iron Man 3 has all this — but it is even funnier and more balls-out thrillingly action-packed than its predecessors. New writer/director Shane Black (who worked with Downey Jr in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) keeps the film tonally in the same ballpark as forerunner Jon Favreau, but perhaps his take on Tony is even more endearingly unpredictable. Iron Man 3 isn't quite the famous 'Demon in a Bottle' alcoholism storyline, but one of Tony's nemeses in this instalment is definitely himself. He's shaken after travelling through a wormhole in an apocalyptic battle (it's worth being up to speed on the Marvel franchise before this trip to the cinema), he's feeling redundant now the government has their own 'Iron Patriot' (Don Cheadle), he's anxious, he's obsessive, and he's vulnerable. Into this mess step villains who are both corporeal and terrifying: a terrorist leader with digital prowess known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) and a spurned scientist, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who commands an army of what are essentially fire monsters. In the hypothetical extended game of rock-paper-scissors, fire usually beats iron. Iron Man 3 is not without its ridiculousness. A big theme is the abilities of superheros when stripped of their suits — and here it seems those abilities are still pretty super. Tony and James 'Iron Patriot' Rhodes both display outrageous brawn (as well as their usual level of brains, of course) in just their jeans and hoodies. And while the final battle is epic and enthralling, it does have a whiff of the ol' 'why didn't they just do this from the beginning?' to it. These are quibbles — a half-star's deduction, maximum. And that half-star is won back by the brilliant path down which Iron Man 3 takes its villains. This is a slick, inspired fantasy-adventure that almost anyone can enjoy. May Marvel Studios sign Downey Jr and co for many sequels to come. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ke1Y3P9D0Bc
When the city's newest music festival Sydney City Limits makes its debut in February, it'll be bringing much more to the party than just great tunes. Sister festival to Texas' Austin City Limits and run locally by the minds behind Falls Festival and Splendour In The Grass, the one-day, all-ages event will pull together a jam-packed program of music, food and art. The aural treats were announced last month, with Beck, The Libertines, Phoenix, The Avalanches and Gang of Youths just some of the acts set to grace the stage on February 24. Now, the all-important food lineup has dropped, curated by the legends behind Mary's, The Unicorn Hotel and The Lansdowne. They've wrangled some of Sydney's best-loved culinary offerings to add to the festival's flavour — poutine and fried chicken from Newtown's Hartsyard, Fratelli Paradiso pasta dishes, vegan Mexican eats from Bad Hombres, Sri Lankan hoppers courtesy of O Tama Carey, Korean bowls from Paper Bird, coffee by Artificer and, of course, burgers from the Mary's kitchen. There'll also be a range of food stalls and food trucks, slinging carnival classics, contemporary festival fare and everything in between. What's more, if you're bringing kids along, you can keep them occupied at The Unicorn pop-up. It'll play host to Kiddy City Limits, a tiny person paradise with complete with workshops, activities and kid-friendly food. Sydney City Limits will take place at Centennial Park on Saturday, February 24. Tickets are on sale now. Find more info here.
Curator Brook Andrews’ Taboo aims to give its artists space to make art about things normally considered too unmentionable to cover. Here, taboo means mainly race, racism and colonialism. The show has blackface. The show has porn. The show has colonial-era atomisation of race into castes, with accompanying photographs. There is nudity. There are multiple references to the Belgian Congo. There is also a real depth of talent. Probably the show’s strongest statement is Andrew’s gathering of so strong a mix of artists and art, with such apparent ease. Taboo seems to draw from a burgeoning field of artists with interesting things to say on race. A field much wider than we usually get to see in mainstream Australian galleries. Most of the more shocking stuff is quarantined in a single room hidden to the left of the exhibition. Some mid-sized Anton Kannemeyer works are dispersed here around a long table of original news photos depicting genocide, or colonial-era ethnography, and Jompet Kuswidananto’s brilliant, motive sculpture War of Java: Do You Remember #3. Kannemeyer’s works are drawn in a Tintin in the Congo-style, veering from political commentary, to humour, to crushing, amputation references about the horror upon horror that was the Belgian Congo. Many are funny, the others quietly moving. In the main room the art is powerful, but less confronting. Ricardo Idagi’s ceramics have rich colours and powerful eyes as he comments on race roles. Alicia Henry’s silhouetted or coffee-stained figures stare through you from a sadder, richer place. (The ones who still have eyes, anyway.) Judy Watson’s Blood, meanwhile, cleverly arranges apparently ethnographic blood samples of gallery staff. The samples are laid out dispassionately, seeming to study the sampling process itself. Labels read "collector", "artist", "curator", "archivist". Despite the quality of the art on show, none of the pieces are presented with title cards, or any real labelling context beside them. This isn’t in itself a bad thing, and certainly ups their striking artistic value for those already in the know. But for people not already familiar with the topics and past horrors at hand it becomes harder to penetrate and leaves the casual viewer with nowhere to go with their (no-doubt) newly-found indignation. Nonetheless, on the date visited, the exhibition was crowded with patient visitors. And it’s an exhibition that merits that sort of attention. It’s not, mostly, a fun exhibition. But despite reservations about its presentation, there is some powerful art on display. Image: Anton Kannemeyer, In Heaven 2011. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg © the artist
Sitting in Matt Moran's CHISWICK in Woollahra, you could be mistaken for thinking you were on some glorious estate in the Southern Highlands — not some 5km from the Sydney CBD. Wherever you are, floor-to-ceiling windows open onto lush greenery; on one side, there's a mini, landscaped park, on the other a thriving kitchen garden. It's the latter that drives the heart of the restaurant's menu, which is famous for its fresh, seasonal produce. "Matt [Moran] grew up on a farm," says CHISWICK's head chef Richie Dolan. "He's a country boy, so his philosophy has always been paddock to plate — about using the best seasonal produce available." Every morning, the chefs pick piles of herbs, leaves and veggies — and, by midday, they're on your plate. Sounds simple, but it takes a lot of time, a lot of planning and one hell of a vision to do things this way. We spoke to Richie Dolan about how CHISWICK's seasonal menu comes to life each and every service. START FROM SCRATCH Before CHISWICK opened in March 2012, the site was a derelict dumping ground, littered with chairs and rubbish. "But we saw there was a future for it," says Dolan, who's worked with Moran since 2005, having spent years working his way up the ranks at ARIA. "There was room for a 150-square-metre garden and, back then, Sydney didn't have anything like it. A lot of people had herb pots, but this was one-of-a-kind…We thought the garden would echo into the restaurant, where people would eat knowing the produce had been picked fresh that morning." To achieve this vision Moran appointed Peter Hatfield as head gardener, who works across all of Moran's gardens and restaurants, including Opera Bar and CHISWICK at the Gallery. In Woollahra though, he had to start from scratch — so, with the exception of some lilli pilly and one citrus tree, every plant you see began as a seed or seedling. "Peter's been gardening for years," says Dolan. "He has the talent and patience, and knows exactly when everything's going to be ready." WRITE SEASONAL MENUS With the garden visible from CHISWICK's kitchen, Dolan and Moran design their menus according to whatever's growing. "I have a chat with Peter about six weeks before the next menu's due to start," says Dolan. "He tells me what's going to be around and I tell him what I'd like to have planted...and I then write dishes for the season." But it's not all that simple. "You do have to be adaptable," he says. "In Australia, the seasons aren't as clean cut as they are in Europe. The asparagus season, for example, comes in and out really quickly, so we change the dishes as the best of the best produce comes and goes." Right now, summery plates are garnished with green basil, radishes, all kinds of leaves and serrano: a tiny, green chilli pepper with a big kick. Among the share dishes, you'll find kingfish sashimi with a sprightly combination of Australian shiitakes and daikon, and cabbage salad with soft organic egg and sunflower seeds, and a spanner crab linguini with sugar snaps, chilli and garlic on the mains list. Dolan adds to these seasonal staples with weekly specials, showing off produce that's sprouted unexpectedly due to sudden changes in the weather. With Sydney's propensity for heatwaves, storms and deluges, crops can be wiped out — or appear early — without much warning. Earlier this summer, for example, the garden was delivering kilo after kilo of cherry tomatoes — until a hailstorm wiped them all out. Dolan reflects on this with pragmatism: "We just had to take it on the chin and come up with something else." DON'T BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT The garden is also a place to experiment and share ideas. "One day Marty Boetz, from Cooks Co-Op, came in and gave us some red vein sorrel," Dolan recounts. "We started with just a few seedlings, and now they're thriving. We put it in our salads and I use it to garnish the Moreton Bay bug, because it has a quite a citrusy flavour to it and a bit of pepper." Meanwhile, he's waiting to find out what will happen to some newly-planted wasabi rocket, which was brought in by a diner. "She was an avid gardener from Bowral and said she had some wasabi rocket seeds she'd like to give us. So, they were planted a week ago and we're waiting for them to pop up." USE THE GARDEN AS GUIDE While CHISWICK's 150 square metres are extraordinarily productive, they can't provide absolutely everything. So Dolan and Moran also use the garden as a guide when they're getting in touch with local producers. "It's an indicator of what's around and what's available," Dolan says. "It's been a massive learning curve for me, seeing how long it takes for produce to grow and what it involves." At the moment, excellent figs are growing on Mangrove Mountain, a locality on the Central Coast. Matched with apple cucumbers and balsamic, they're one of Dolan's favourite summer dishes. At the same time, CHISWICK's pastry chef, Ashleigh Smith, is transforming locally-sourced cherries into a signature cherry ripe, while fresh mangos are being turned into pavlova, served with sorbet and chocolate. And when you know that the produce on your plate has come straight from the garden you're looking at from the window, you can appreciate it all the more. Long, summery lunches don't get much dreamier (or more delicious) than at CHISWICK. For your chance to experience CHISWICK and Richie's produce first-hand, Concrete Playground in partnership with James Squire are putting on an epic one-off CHISWICK summer banquet on Thursday, February 25 — and we've giving 17 CP readers (and their +1 of choice) the chance to attend. You'll sit down to a five-course meal custom-made by Richie, with each course paired with a James Squire beverage. To go in the draw, enter here. But be quick, entries close Friday, February 19.
If Sofia Coppola's Priscilla is one of your most-anticipated movies of 2024, and Westpac Openair Cinema's big summer return is one of your favourite film dates every year, then mark your calendar ASAP: when it opens its next season in January, this outdoor picture palace at Mrs Macquaries Point will launch with Mare of Easttown, Devs, On the Basis of Sex, Bad Times at the El Royale and Pacific Rim: Uprising actor Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley, plus Australian Euphoria and The Kissing Booth star Jacob Elordi as Elvis. Westpac Openair Cinema has been announcing details of its next season for a month or so now, including locking in its 2024 dates and revealing that Ferrari, Next Goal Wins and Poor Things will all grace its huge screen. Priscilla opening its season is the latest piece of news for movie lovers, with the film set to enjoy its Sydney premiere in stunning surroundings on Wednesday, January 10. Accordingly, audiences are in for Coppola's (On the Rocks) exploration of Elvis' marriage to Priscilla from the latter's perspective, adapting Elvis and Me, Priscilla's 1985 memoir that was co-written with Sandra Harmon. This isn't the first time that the book has hit the screen thanks to a 1988 TV movie, but it clearly has its namesake's approval given that she's one of the feature's executive producers. (Another: Coppola's brother Roman.) Priscilla will be joined by both Barbie and Amelie on the full Westpac Openair Cinema, with the event adding three more titles in total before it reveals its full program on Monday, November 27. If you're new to Westpac Openair Cinema, it sets up a towering screen at Mrs Macquaries Point each summer, backdropped by spectacular panoramic views. That'll be on the agenda in 2024 from Wednesday, January 10—Tuesday, February 20, complete with a vista over the city, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The team behind the event has posted on social media about Oppenheimer and Past Lives as well, so fingers crossed that they make the cut when the complete lineup drops. Cross your toes, too, if you'd love a Barbenheimer double. The Westpac Openair Cinema crew has also mentioned a few titles that it's still thinking about from its 2023 run, which you could take as a hint. On the list: Tár, Elvis, Jackie Brown and the OG Top Gun. [caption id="attachment_700088" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Westpac OpenAir Sydney[/caption] The event's array of dining experiences hasn't been announced as yet, including whether if Kitchen by Mike will be behind the cinema's meals again. As happens every year, tickets are likely to go quickly when they go on sale on Monday, December 11. Across the summer of 2018–19, more than 40,000 tickets sold within the first two days of pre-sale, for instance — so put it in your diary ASAP. Westpac Openair 2024 runs from Wednesday, January 10—Tuesday, February 20. The program will be announced on Monday, November 27, with tickets on sale on Monday, December 11 — check back here then for further details. Top image: Fiora Sacco.
Motel Mexication has arrived at Henley's, transforming King Street Wharf into a Mexican-inspired pop-up. This bright and bubbly fiesta brings the colours, spice and vibrancy of Mexico all the way to Sydney's harbourside. On the cards is a feast of Mexican-inspired dishes from tacos to loaded nachos created by Executive Chef Jason Roberson, who's put together a menu inspired by Tex-Mex street food classics. The hero is definitely the Trashcan Nachos – a tower of corn tortilla chips, melty cheese, guacamole, jalapeños and your choice of beef or mixed beans – all delivered to your table in a fun, miniature trash can. Another must-try is the DIY Taco Platter, offering barbacoa beef, fried prawns or braised shiitake mushrooms, along with all the bells and whistles you need for the perfect build-your-own taco extravaganza. You're no doubt thinking about margaritas by now. Head in on Mondays for $15 margs all day. Or, if (one or two) clearly isn't enough, book in for a Bottomless Margarita package, available daily from midday. You'll get your pick of passionfruit, watermelon, strawberry, mango and classic – plus all the corn chips, guacamole and salsa you can eat.
It seems a new international food celebration pops up every day. And while we're not sure if we believe in celebrating every single food day around, we can make an exception for chocolate, especially when it also involves 12-Micron. World Chocolate Day is happening on Saturday, July 7 and, to celebrate the occasion, Barangaroo's 12-Micron is providing seven days-worth of rich, chocolaty eats and drinks. A five-course chocolate-themed tasting menu will be available all this week, and the kitchen is not mucking around — it's serious choc business over here. Pepperberry-crusted wallaby carpaccio, raspberry and chocolate oil; rabbit assiette, truffle and chocolate; and white chocolate mousse, lemon aspen and yoghurt sorbet are but the tip of the chocolate iceberg. The tasting menu is $89 on its own or, for $145, you can opt for matching wines and original cocktails to go with. The choco cocktails on offer are sure to woo the staunchest chocoholic — none of which are for the faint of heart (or lactose intolerant). There'll be a Cherry Ripe vodka drink, as well as the Chocolate Caliente with mezcal, crème de cacao and chilli. Not quite in choco-comatose yet? The restaurant is also hosting a masterclass with executive chef Justin Wise and head pastry chef Ashley Smith on Saturday, July 7 from 2–5pm. For $145 per person, you'll experience some hands-on chocolate demonstrations, then enjoy the aforementioned, highly indulgent tasting menu with matching drinks. 12-Micron's Chocolate Week runs until Sunday, July 8. The tasting menu is available every day from 12–10pm. To make a reservation, contact the restaurant via phone or the website.
Late last year, Butter headed down south for a fiery fried chicken and champagne pop-up at Melbourne's Kong BBQ. Now, it has brought back something from that collab for us Sydneysiders: a limited-edition sandwich. Available at both the Surry Hills and Parramatta stores from January 24–February 3, the Kim Chi'Ken Sandwich combines Butter's fried chicken and the Japanese and Korean barbecue flavours found throughout the menu at Kong. In a soft milk bun, you'll find a big fried tender, kimchi butter, pickled fennel and cucumber, togarashi spice and a fried egg. All for $18.50. It's oh-so yolky and stacked high — so eating it will definitely require a napkin or two. To celebrate the collab, a limited number of Butter X Kong t-shirts will also be available online and in-store for $50. While you're at one of the store's eating the burger, you can also try Butter's famed fried haloumi, ramen gravy or miso corn — and pair it all champagne, naturally. The Butter X Kong BBQ Kim Chi'Ken Sandwich is available at both Butter Surry Hills and Parramatta.
Elegant CBD eatery Bopp & Tone is finally set to reopen its doors, and is doing so with an opening night feast with a twist. The 'choose what you pay' banquet will raise money for Applejack Hospitality's Food Sales For Staff initiative, which supports staff members who lost their income due to COVID-19. For one night only, the restaurant will serve up its banquet menu and allow diners to pay what they want. On the nine-dish menu, expect yellowfin tuna crudo, garlic king prawns, bone-in rib eye steak and smoky paprika spatchcock. Plus, a side of roasted potatoes, a buffalo ricotta and pumpkin salad and a dessert Bookings are essential and can be made from 6.30pm on Friday, August 14. The banquet is normally priced at $83, but will cost whatever you choose on the night. All drinks must be paid for (at full price) separately. You're encouraged to dig as deep as you can to help out employees, many of whom were not able to work during the lockdown and were also not eligible for the government's JobKeeper payments This is the fourth event held in conjunction with Food Sales For Staff, with more planned across other Applejack venues. Keep an eye on the website for upcoming event details.
It's an unlikely combination, but one we can totally get behind. Ken Done, the master of pre-school chic, and Scott Ludlam, the champion of all parliamentary smackdowns, are among the killer names lined up for the next Men of Letters event in Sydney. Writing about the women that changed their lives, these exceptional specimens will be dishing out some serious wisdom at The Basement on Sunday, October 19. An offshoot of Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire's hugely successful Women of Letters, this event will mark the fourth time men have been invited to the stage. Alongside Done and Ludlam will be TV personalities Andrew O'Keefe and Ian 'Dicko' Dickson. Hip hop artist Buck 65 and Queensland poet and rapper Omar Musa will be keeping things smooth and lyrical. The stage will feel like home to director of the Sydney Theatre Company Patrick McIntyre and writer, director and performer Nick Coyle. Even sports stars get a look in, with Brett Kirk of the Sydney Swans also penning a letter for the event. Though you may not have heard of the final speaker, you would definitely familiar with his work. Neil Lawrence was the brains behind the 'Kevin 07' campaign. Let's hope he brings some of that creative genius to play on the day. For those that haven't yet been to a Women (or Men) of Letters event before, it's a lot more than just storytelling. With a DJ set by Zan Rowe, flowing wine and letter writing by everyone involved, this could be the perfect time to pen your secret love letter to Scott Ludlam. Or Ken Done, if squiggly pictures of the Opera House are more your thing.
Thanks to an unfortunately timed COVID-19 outbreak, this year's edition of the Emerging Writers' Festival will take place entirely online. But if you're a devourer of books, you can rest assured it's still set to deliver a hefty lineup of talks, workshops, panels and more. Running from June 16–June 26, the all-digital program has events for all varieties of lit-lover — from After Dark, a night of live-streamed performance headlined by emerging stars like Wai-Mun Mah, Christy Tan, Jesse Oliver and Penny Smits, to a short story masterclass led by the award-winning Alice Bishop. Streamed via YouTube, Next Big Thing will feature readings from some of the country's hottest up-and-coming talent, while Littlefoot & Co heads up a night of spoken word on June 24. Plus, EWF favourite Amazing Babes will see a cast of familiar faces sharing stories about the women, real and imagined, who've helped shape their lives. The National Writers' Conference will also run as planned, with a full-day online program of panels, talks, workshops and pitching sessions. It's also your chance to hear from EWF's 2021 ambassadors, including poet and editor Elena Gomez (Body of Work), activist and novelist Tony Birch (Ghost River), and non-fiction star Sisonke Msimang (Always Another Country: A Memoir of Exile and Home). [caption id="attachment_811529" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sisonke Msimang[/caption]
If you like tacos, tequila and views of the ocean, clear your Saturday. Campbell Parade's Panama House is serving up an extra salty twist on its regular brunch for World Margarita Day. And it involves bottomless margaritas. To eat, the regular brunch packages will be available. For $39 a head, you'll get smoky beef croquettes, chicken enchiladas, swordfish tostadas, fajitas, baked barramundi and lots of shoestring fries. If you're vego, a similar meat-free feast will set you back $35, and includes the likes of portobello tacos, avocado tostadas and roasted cauliflower with almond mole rojo. For another $54, you can add on two hours of endless Tecate, mimosas, bloody marys, palomas and rosé. Now comes the salty party. On Saturday, February 22, you can add two hours of bottomless margaritas onto one of these brunches for another $25. That's a lot of booze, friends. If you can't make it along to the brunch, but would still like to enjoy a couple of drinks, the bar will be serving up $12 margaritas all day. You can book into the bottomless margarita brunch between 10–4pm. Image: Richard Mortimer
Benedict once told me about how she stumbled upon photography. It was fortuitous for the rest of us I suppose, and for her friends who are often the subject of her work. Her objective is not to preserve the sense of these peoples lives, but rather to share common experiences, sights and scenes. Nothing remarkable happens in these images, yet they are far from mundane; instead they contain a simply beauty. Rene Vaile's show has come down at Edition and has been replaced with Your pictures suck but I like you, an exhibition of images by Benedict and her sister Maggie. The title seems apt — the works on display shows the beginnings of Benedict's foray into the medium. Not all are perfect. In some the focus is a bit out or some of the framing is just a little off. But what is on show is her learning and experimenting, often succeeding but sometimes failing. There is no doubt she has a great eye, and what is refreshing is to see her willingness to show her progress — a progress that is obvious to anyone who follows her blog. Make any excuse to pop down to Edition to see the images in the flesh.
Marking its 14th year of celebrating a plethora of the world's best photographers, Australia's Head On Photo Festival is back and ready to showcase new stunning images at Sydney's Bondi Beach and across the Harbour city. Due to an influx of submissions, the 2023 festival will showcase an increased amount of works compared to its first 13 iterations. Head On 2023 has gathered the works of over 700 photographers which will be displayed across 100-plus exhibitions. Best of all, it's free for all to attend and enjoy. [caption id="attachment_923461" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Juli Balla[/caption] The festival celebrates photography across four different categories: portrait, landscape and environmental, plus a specific category dedicated to school students. Overall, there's a total prize pool of $70,000 up for grabs across the categories. To commemorate the upcoming event, the opening night is going down on Friday, November 10 at Bondi Pavilion, where the Head On Photo Awards winners will be announced. While the exhibitions are free, entry to the opening night is $10. If you want to head along to the launch party, secure your spot in advance. [caption id="attachment_923464" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Chloe Sharrock[/caption] Top images: Michelle Aboud, Matthew Newton and Toma Gerzha, courtesy of Head On Photo Festival.
The Nice Guys mightn't have scored a sequel, but The Fall Guy does nicely instead. Getting a hearty workout: Ryan Gosling's charm, comedic talent that just earned an Oscar-nominated showcase in Barbie and action skills as last seen in The Gray Man. He's back in stunts, too, as Drive first gifted the world so mesmerisingly. A loose remake of the 80s television series of the same name, The Fall Guy is a take-it-and-run-with-it kind of film, then. Not only does it grasp hold of what Gosling does best and sprint, but the same applies for co-lead Emily Blunt (Pain Hustlers) — and, of course, for director David Leitch (Bullet Train), who first took the journey from stunt performer to filmmaker with John Wick, has kept filling his resume with action fare since (see: Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw and Bullet Train) and now virtually comes full circle in helming a flick where his protagonist does the same gig that he once did. Gosling's Colt Seavers is also taking it and running with it — in a profession where it's his job to help bring whatever impossible physical endeavour is required to the screen, as well as on the gig that gets him to Sydney. The Fall Guy starts 18 months prior to his trip Down Under, however, but still with him doubling for Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bullet Train), one of the world's biggest actors. Seavers has a career that he loves and steady work at it thanks to Ryder's fame. He's also happily romancing Jody Moreno (Blunt), a camera operator with dreams of doing more. Then a stunt goes wrong, leaving him badly injured, battered and bruised emotionally and psychologically, and inspiring him to quit the business. Only a call from Ryder-loving producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso) sparks his return to the industry — he makes a crust as a valet once he's fit and able in-between — and, even then, it's only really the fact that Moreno is helming Ryder's latest movie as her directorial debut that nudges him onto the plane. Upon his arrival in Australia, Seavers soon discovers that the situation isn't exactly what he's been told. Ryder is missing from the Metalstorm set, putting the future of the production at risk. Shady folks keep popping up whenever anyone — well, Seavers — goes looking for the absent star. And Moreno had zero advance idea that the man who ghosted her had been enlisted on the shoot, and is far from thrilled about it or the way that their relationship ended. Trying to win her back, getting emotional fortification from Taylor Swift tunes The Bear-style, attempting to track down Ryder, evading the unsavoury figures on this trail, bouncing around Sydney: sometimes while fending off sword-swinging foes, sometimes while wearing fluoro, sometimes while paired with an acting dog who'll chomp on command, that's all on Seavers' plate in Drew Pearce's (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw) zippy screenplay. There's an easy, breezy vibe to The Fall Guy, the kind that comes from knowing wholeheartedly that you're capitalising upon the strengths of your key players. Although Seavers dates back to the television iteration and there was a Jody on the small screen, too (Banks, not Moreno), the film's main pair were moulded around Gosling and Blunt — and it always shows. For him, it's a charisma-forward performance whether he's getting goofy, earnest or thrust into a fray. His Kenergy-fuelled comic timing is impeccable, as is his ability to sell Seavers' soul-searching stint after a career that requires him to be invincible reminds him that no one is. For her, joining a resume that also includes excellent action turns in Looper and Edge of Tomorrow, it's a portrayal built on pluck. When Gosling and Blunt are together, the film boasts as much crackling chemistry — often of the screwball type — as it does dynamic fights, explosions, shootouts and car chases (one of the latter famously on the Sydney Harbour Bridge). And there are fights, explosions, shootouts and car chases (and boat jumps, helicopter battles and vehicular cannon rolls). You don't make a movie about a stunt performer on a mystery-caper adventure while working on a mega-budget alien sci-fi war romance flick — a film that turns the Sydney Opera House into a backdrop while it's at it — without highlighting stunts, stunts and more stunts. You definitely don't hold back if this was once your life as well. The action doesn't disappoint, nor does the commitment to weaving how such action comes to fruition into The Fall Guy's action sequences, complete with underscoring the importance of practical effects in the broader feature and the picture within it. This is a winking-and-nodding movie to its primary genre, lovingly so, right down to references built into the film. With stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Seavers swaps references to other films (The Last of the Mohicans and Rocky III, for instance). One of his prized possessions: a Miami Vice jacket. The words of 'Unknown Stuntman', the theme to TV's The Fall Guy which gets a new cover here, are clearly a guiding light for Leitch on this movie: "I might fall from a tall building, I might roll a brand-new car, 'cause I'm the unknown stuntman that made Redford such a star" is one memorable line. Accordingly, though the very basis of filmmaking's stunt performer-actor setup is that the former are meant to convince the audience that it's the latter risking their lives, revelling in everything that The Fall Guy throws Gosling's way as Seavers means relishing the work of his doubles Ben Jenkin (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Justin Eaton (The Killer). The campaign for the stunts game to be given the credit it deserves — aka an Oscar category — couldn't earn a more persuasive push, then. Leitch's feature manages something that most flicks would kill for, because action deployed for the sake of it, then shot frantically and edited messily, gets repetitive; The Fall Guy is the lively, passionate and meticulously crafted antithesis of routine smashing and bashing. Back-and-forth rom-com bantering can similarly fall flat if the stars and the vibe aren't right. There's something about Sydney of late: in Anyone But You, Sydney Sweeney (Immaculate) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) made it work in the Harbour City, as Gosling and Blunt do in the same place in The Fall Guy. So, while The Nice Guys mightn't have received a follow-up, it's easy to see The Fall Guy becoming a big-screen franchise, and welcomely. At the very least for its magnetic leads, it should set a new repeat double act in motion. Gosling teamed up with Emma Stone (Poor Things) three times on Crazy, Stupid, Love, Gangster Squad and La La Land, and makes an equally delightful duo with his current co-star. Just as there should be no underestimating stunt feats in general or in this flick, as Leitch stresses again and again, there should be no downplaying the ride that Gosling and Blunt take their characters on in this fun film, either — from doing the hard work while others win the glory to finally getting their time to shine.
Catering to our fierce love of seafood over the holiday period, Sydney Fish Market is once again pulling its annual all-nighter so you can get your hands on the freshest ocean treats for Christmas lunch. Each year, the Fish Market — which will be relocated to a $250 million new site come 2023 — capably serves over 100,000 buyers looking to snag a deal. Between 5am on Monday, December 23 and 5pm on Tuesday, December 24, the market is yours to scout out the most sumptuous fish, king prawns, oysters and calamari. The best news is that it's all Australian-sourced, with half of it from New South Wales. It's not only fish here, though. You can also peruse cold meats and cheeses at the deli for a grand charcuterie platter or stop by the on-site bakery and greengrocer. Or, if you're more of a Northern Hemisphere traditionalist, you can even pick up a turkey from the butcher. They sell basically everything here. If you're stuck for gifts, there are plenty of opportunities for that last-minute find. Head to the gift shop, florist, bottle shop or even grab a voucher for a cooking class at the popular Sydney Seafood School.
If you've ever wanted to know how Patrick Blanc cultivates soilless plants, how Indira Naidoo grows 70 kilograms of produce per year on her Potts Point balcony or what Brendan Moar thinks of Sydney's gardens, you'll have the chance to ask at the Australian Garden Show. For four days, the country's best-known green thumbs will converge on Centennial Park for a celebration of all things horticultural. There'll be grow-your-own demos, world-class designer gardens and spectacular floral installations. Naidoo has curated a dream kitchen garden for the event — a 1000 square metre, 100 percent sustainable plot, complete with chicken runs, pedal-powered sprinklers and aquaponics tanks. There's even a strawberry planting area and merry-go-round designed to keep children busy. A lecture series, titled Seeds of Wisdom, will run throughout. Highlights include Patrick Blanc's 'The Vertical Garden: A Forty Year Innovation'; Indira Naidoo's 'The Edible Balcony - How to Grow Fresh Food in a Small Space'; and Kylie Kwong and Skye Blackburn's 'Bugs and Bush Foods'. Once the sun goes down, the Park will transform into an illuminated night garden, with bars and restaurants open until 10pm. Day tickets are available online for $35 (or at the gate for $45), while season passes are selling for $120. Guest Phillip Withers' garden at the Melbourne Flower Show.
Grab the glitter (eco-friendly, please), let your rainbow flag fly and get ready for the Sydney Mardi Gras 2019 festivities to begin. To properly celebrate this year's LGBTQI+ festivus, Merivale and Absolut have come together to join the Mardi Gras party with a nonstop party at The Beresford, running till Monday, March 4. The pub welcomes one-and-all to embrace equality with festivities aplenty; think laneway parties, Sunday sessions, movie nights, brunches, bingo and even a dog show. Apart from the jam-packed lineup of events, there'll be special Absolut offers on each day, too. This year's featured cocktail is the Absolut Yasss Queen — a fruity concoction of Absolut lime, watermelon and citrus — and it'll only set you back $12 a pop. Plus, $2 from every drink will be donated to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Australia's oldest HIV charity. And for when you're not partying at The Bero, you'll be able to find the Absolut Yasss Queen at the ivy Pool Club, Ms.G's, Vic on the Park, El Loco Excelsior, The Fish Shop and Queens Hotel. To help you start planning your Mardi Gras outings, we've rounded up some of the best ways to show your pride all while enjoying a few blow-out bashes while you're at it. [caption id="attachment_708573" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Will Salkeld.[/caption] ABSOLUT BERESFORD SUNDAY Kick off your Mardi Gras celebrations with a big ol' party at Upstairs Beresford. It's all going down on Sunday, February 24 when the UK's famed DJ Neil Singleton will be spinning some sweet, sweet tunes. Hailing from London, he'll play a mix of funky, high-energy beats that'll put you in a dancing mood. This Sunday session is hosted by beloved Sydney drag queen Decoda and will feature other guest DJs, too. The festivities will run all arvo, with plenty of bevvies and eats from the kitchen to keep you fueled. Sunday, February 24 MOVIE NIGHTS When you need a bit of chill, head to The Bero's courtyard for a movie night. The first will take place on Monday, February 25 with a screening of A Beautiful Thing — a 1990s coming-of-age drama from the UK that follows two teenage boys exploring their sexuality. The following Monday, March 4 will see a necessary screening of the cult hit, Rocky Horror Picture Show — featuring unforgettable performances by Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick. Each screening will start at 8pm, with the kitchen slinging pub classics and pizzas to snack on during the movie. The screenings are free, but be sure to get in early to nab a good seat. Monday, February 25 and Monday, March 4 PASSPORT PARTY The annual passport party will again take over the pub on Thursday, February 28 with a lineup of international DJs taking the stage. Expect a blow-out bash, with beats from the likes of DJ Wayne G from the US, DJ Neil Singleton from the UK and DJ French Kiss from, well, France. Plus, Sydney's much-loved drag queen Decoda will again take the stage for a special sky-high performance — this time with her 'air hostess stewards' Rhys and Heath in tow. The night will take place at Upstairs Beresford from 7pm–1am, with free entry for all and free Absolut drinks on arrival for the first 100 partiers. This is your chance to show these foreign DJs how to party Straya-style. Thursday, February 28 MARDI GRAS PARADE The pinnacle of the week is, of course, the Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday, March 2. But, if crowds aren't your thing, The Beresford has you covered. From 7pm, the pub will be live streaming the parade in the courtyard so you can see all the action up close without standing on your tiptoes or getting an accidental elbow in the tum. Plus, you'll be able to watch it all happen with a cocktail in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other — no risk of hanger here. Entry is free and open to all, but, as you can imagine, you'll want to get in early to nab a table for you and your mates. Saturday, March 2 LANEWAY PARTY To recover from a week-long of partying, sometimes it's best to cap it off with just one more. What started out as a small street gathering among friends has become a long-standing tradition and the best way to farewell another successful Mardi Gras. The party will take over not just the laneway adjacent to the pub, but also the entire Beresford and the surrounding streets from 2pm on Sunday, March 3. Expect DJs and surprise guest performances throughout the arvo, plus expansive indoor and outdoor party spaces to choose from. Tickets will cost you $75 — you can nab them here — but they're going fast. VIP tickets have already sold out. Sunday, March 3 MARDI GRAS BRUNCHES No matter how hard you go, these boozy brunches are here to help you dust off the night and get back in the partying spirit. Brunches will take place on Sunday, February 17 and 24 from 11am–1pm, plus there'll be a final recovery brunch on Monday, March 4 from noon to 3pm for all those chucking a sickie the weekend after the parade. Each brunch features drinks on arrival, one Absolut cocktail during brunch and one of five mains — all for just $40 per person. For arrival drinks, you can choose from a peach mimosa or the Absolut Citron bloody mary. And during the meal, there'll be three more cocktails to choose from, including the Absolut Summer (Absolut Lime, St Germain, lime juice and mint), the KamiKaze (Absolut Lime with Cointreau and lime juice) and an espresso martini (Absolut, Kahlua and coffee). If you want another drink or two to wet your whistle, cocktails are only an additional $10 a pop till 3pm. For eats, expect falafel with grilled spicy chorizo, a fried egg and haloumi topped with tahini sauce; a bacon and egg roll with dry-aged bacon, buffalo mozzarella, avocado and tomato relish on ciabatta; and smoked salmon with crispy kale, kipfler potatoes and pumpkin seeds topped with a horseradish créme fraiche. Sunday, February 17 and 24 and Monday, March 4 Celebrate Mardi Gras to the fullest and check out the full program of events taking place at The Beresford here.
This autumn, the Sydney Opera House has announced a new biannual series, UnWrapped, that features rarely seen, critically-acclaimed works by both new and established independent artists and small performing arts companies. It will take place under the sails every May and August, with the inaugural season already underway until May 13 at The Playhouse and The Studio. What's more, the series aims to make performing arts at the Opera House from theatre to circus accessible to all, so all tickets cost just $45. In both spaces, emerging artists will showcase alongside established artists who are boldly trying something different. In The Playhouse, Aussie artists Brian Lipson and Gideon Obarzanek star in Two Jews Walk into a Theatre..., a dry, humorous exploration of the father-son relationship that sees both performers take on new artistic territory. They'll share the space with performances of Personal, an intimate piece by award-winning Jodee Mundy who expresses her experience growing up as the only hearing person in a deaf family. Presented in two languages, Auslan and English, the piece combines performance, storytelling, multimedia and animation. In The Studio, A Faint Existence, created by acclaimed Australian dancer Kristina Chan, explores our complicated connection to the environment through a mix of dance, design and music, while the wildly popular Mother's Ruin: A Cabaret About Gin, with performances by the beloved Maeve Marsden and Libby Wood, takes the audience on a hilarious trip through the history of gin. The season is part of the Opera House's artist and sector development program which supports local Australian artists, small companies and producers. Additional initiatives include masterclasses by artists-in-residence, free three-year memberships for Australian artists and an annual digital mentoring program for up-and-coming artists. Tickets for UnWrapped are on sale, costing $45 for one performance or $80 for two shows — a bang-for-your-buck deal, considering the calibre of performances to be expected. Images: Ashley de Przer.
Ambitious indie band Gomez and true global citizens of the world. Originally heralding from Southport, England, they now have members scattered over two continents from Brooklyn to Brighton. The boys have visited us so many times they’d qualify for honorary Aussie status, and Ben Ottewell (guitars/vocals) spread his musical wings by recording sounds at a Cambodian Street Fair that would end up on the group’s sophomore album, In Our Gun. In October the freewheeling Brits will return for the seventh visit in support of their sixth studio album, A New Tide. The record builds on the group’s eclectic and experimental musical directions, as their enviable discography features everything from Delta blues, psychedelia, Krautrock, folk, indie rock and more. A New Tide provides the perfect fusion of these varied influences, boasting multi-faceted textures, pitch-perfect harmonies and melodies. They were last here in January to pay homage to their debut, Mercury-Award winning album, Bring It On (no relation to the awful cheerleading film from 2000). These shows were an extra special opportunity to celebrate the record’s 10th anniversary. Fans can catch the Gomez juggernaut in October before they jettison off to explore new exotic territories. Bring it on. https://youtube.com/watch?v=fKJJRnuCwF4
