Slap on that sunscreen and ready your most durable festival shoes. The annual pre-summer celebration of community spirit, craftiness and general shenanigans that is Newtown Festival is just over a month away and this year, there's a whole seven days of festivities to immerse yourself in pre-festival day. That's right, an entire week of festival-ing. The inaugural Newtown Festival Week will sunny up your life and douse you in community vibes and warm fuzzy feels from November 1, culminating with the much-loved and ever-sun-fuelled festival day on Sunday, November 9 in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park. As always, your gold coin donation on the day goes to the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, which provides social support services to disadvantaged people in the Inner West. The program for the week includes events, gigs and workshops showcasing the community's creativity and individuality, and a list of food and drink specials sure to have mouths watering and lines forming. "We thought it was time to take the celebrations back to the streets, and remind everyone of just how much we’ve got to offer in this neighbourhood," says festival director Sue Andersen. And what they've got to offer is pretty damn exciting, Newtown. Highlights of the week include live music at Corridor and Miss Peaches, a festival edition of Tokyo Sing Song's loose late night cabaret Care?-E?-Okay!, and Repressed Records' Only Mildly Neighbour Unfriendly Experimental Music Night. With a special burger at Mary's, and a festival combo at Bloodwood that'll leave change in your pocket for a scoop of one Gelato Blue's boozy, bespoke festival flavours, they've got you covered for satisfyingly Instagrammable eats as well. The 2014 festival's theme is 'Newtown Republic' — a cheeky nod to the individuality and community spirit of the suburb. The extension of the festival to the surrounding streets and businesses in the week leading up to it seems kind of natural — it's all about mutual support, inclusivity, and celebrating the local. Newtown Festival Week runs November 1–9. Check out the full program here.
The Cricketers Arms is hosting more than 20 of the country's top small and independent natural wine producers for a Sunday afternoon vino party in collaboration with Tasmania's Bottle Tops. Billed as a day of wine, food and music, Bottle Tops will be hitting up Hobart during Dark Mofo on Sunday, June 18 — but, in the leadup, it'll also be bringing a mini version of the culinary festival to Sydney, as hosted at one of the city's most beloved pubs. The day will also be accompanied by snacks from the pub's flash new bistro Chez Crix; the kitchen's General Manager and drinks list curator Jackson Duxbury is a Bottle Tops alum. The French-inspired eats will be included in your ticket price alongside all of the day's tastings. Some of the producers you can sample at the wine-fuelled party include Lofi, Momento Mori, Nikau Farm, Limus, Fox Wine Company and Frankly This Wine Was Made by Bob. Once you've made your way around to chat with all of the winemakers, you can also expect the Bottle Tops team to crack open a few rare wines to pour at the bar. The tastings will be on from 2–5pm for ticketholders, but The Crix isn't one to cut a party short, so you can expect the good times to keep rolling throughout the night — and Marty Doyle will be on the decks providing music until late. After years of throwing wine-tasting parties down in Tassie, this will be Bottle Tops' first time setting up shop for a get-together in Sydney. You don't want to miss it.
Russian cinema was relatively unknown in Australia until the Russian Resurrection Film Festival came along. This year the largest festival of Russian cinema outside of the mother country is celebrating a decade of cinematic offerings, returning to silver screens across the nation this July and August. Whilst originally appealing primarily to Russian expats, the festival has grown immensely in popularity, now fascinating a broad audience of cinephiles and Russophiles. The lineup for this year's anniversary event features a collection of Russian cinematic riches, intricately blending the contemporary and the classic. It will showcase 18 new films, including two world premieres, Marathon and The Geographer. Other contemporary highlights include the animated delight The Snow Queen — which tells the heartwarming tale of a quest to save family, art and the hearts of people everywhere — and Legend No. 17, the highest grossing Russian film in history, which explores the life of ice hockey legend Valery Harlamov and how he captivated a nation. If you prefer a classic take on Russian cinema, then check out the retrospective program on celebrated producer/director Valery Todorovsky. It features his cult hits My Stepbrother Frankenstein, Vice and Hipsters, among others. The Russian Resurrection Film Festival is in Melbourne from July 3-16, Sydney from July 24 to August 7 and Brisbane from July 26 to August 4 — and thanks to the festival, we have 10 double passes to give away per city (passes valid for a film session of your choice). To be in the running, subscribe to our newsletter (if you haven't already) and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. https://youtube.com/watch?v=jpfcuU6taTE Image from Hipsters.
We're all familiar with Sydney’s great affinity for Mexican food. These days, you can’t throw a sombrero without hitting a cute cantina filled with bright flags, smiling skulls and a slew of salt-rimmed margaritas. But decor and tequila aside, the real determining factor of a great Mexican joint is, of course, in the food — more specifically, the tortillas and their toppings. Whether you like them soft or crispy, from an authentic taqueria or shovelling them down at an all-you-can-eat competition, our picks of top ten tacos will go down a treat. We've even included a DIY version, so you can continue the fiesta at home. Dos Senoritas Top Taco: Baja fish and shrimp taco. The Baja-style seasoned mayo sauce is addictive. Touted as Sydney’s only authentic Mexican, Dos Senoritas upholds its longstanding reputation with a traditional Guadalajaran-style menu by native chef, Domingo Medina. While the decor could do with a refresh, it’s the award-winning tacos you came for and it’s here they abound. Just choose your shell, (gringo style - flour tortilla, street style - corn tortilla or tex-mex - crispy taco shell) and for $25, choose three tacos off the menu. There’s charbroiled chicken, marinated steak, spicy ground beef, Baja fish and shrimp or Dos XX (Mexican beer) battered fish. Tacos are served with rice and beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream and coriander. The authenticity is apparent in the flavour and spice lovers will appreciate the use of real Guadalajaran chillies. 265D Victoria Road, Gladesville; 02 9817 3737; www.dossenoritas.com.au Al Carbon Food Truck Top Taco: Carnitas Tacos. Slow, slow cooked pork with unmisseable extras. Canterbury favourite La Lupita moved to CBD venue The Basement, but then headed back to Canterbury under a new name, PAZAR Food Collective. But the crew's part-time food truck has been chugging away the whole time. The tacos here are $6, slightly bigger than your usual and packed with flavour. 'Al Carbon' means 'cooked over charcoal' in Spanish, and these guys are all about tradition. Making tortillas fresh to order in the truck, you can expect north Mexican-style tacos and nosh from the Sonoran region. The Carnitas Tacos (super slowly roasted pork with ciccarones (crackling) and habanero onion lime salsa are full of crispy, porky deliciousness. The truck also churns out the epic Sonoran Hot Dog ($12), bacon-wrapped beef, Applewood smoked hot dog in a bolillo roll with frijoles, salsa Mexicana, Oaxaca cheese, guacamole, salsa de chile de arbol, smoked jalapeno mayo and American mustard. We know we're talking tacos here, but this is some kind of meaty wizardry. Various spots around Sydney; www.visitalcarbon.com El Loco Top Taco: Carne Asada. The lemongrass adds a burst of Asian flavour to the tender beef. At Dan Hong’s Surry Hills establishment all tacos on the $5 menu are flavourful and inspired combinations. Spit roasted pork with pineapple salsa is a stand out, but the pub also offers lemongrass beef with salsa verde and queso, prawn with salsa verde and pico de gallo, chicken with sweet corn salsa, and a marinated tofu taco for the often-neglected vegos. The secret taco changes daily and the staff are tight-lipped about its contents, but it’s known to sometimes be offal. A good tip for those who can’t handle their gluten, or are watching their waistlines: lettuce cups can be substituted for tortillas. If you’re feeling particularly ravenous, keep your eyes peeled for their ad hoc taco eating competitions which are often organised during festival season or on a Mexican holiday. The deal is to eat as many as you can throw down in 15 minutes, but beware: they’re slathered with Dan Hong’s spicy sauce. The next one for 2014 is on March 25, but a word of advice from this writer and past taco-eating female champion: you need a stomach of steel to come out of this comp unscathed. 64 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills or at the Slip Inn, 111 Sussex Street, Sydney; 02 9211 4945; www.elloco.com.au El Topo Top Taco: Jaias y jalapeno. The soft shell crab is fresh and tender, and the lighter option on the menu. Taking your tastebuds on a trip to Oaxaca, El Topo gives us a taste of traditional Central Mexican flavours. There are three tacos on offer: the cochinita pibil (roast pork, radish and pickled onion, $6), the pollo negro (grilled chicken, black bean, and corn salsa, $6) and the newest and most popular addition, the jaias y jalapeno (soft shell crab, mulato mayo and a jalapeno and cactus salsa, $8). But for those sceptics who think tacos just won’t fill you up, the best way to go about things is to order one of the bigger mains, and add some tortillas ($1 for two) on the side. Try the traditional slow-cooked lamb shoulder, with a traditional mole sauce ($30) or the 12-hour beef brisket with Oaxacan barbecue sauce ($34). This joint is oozing atmosphere, and with ample seating, including a courtyard and a long communal table. After a tough day of shopping, this is the best place to refuel with ample options at the ready. (Don’t forget the roasted crickets!) 500 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction; (02) 8383 5959; www.theeastern.com.au Chica Bonita Top Taco: Baja fish taco. Flaky fish with a spicy Baja sauce goes down a treat on a hot day. Lazing around at the beach can really work up an appetite, so as your newly golden belly growls with hunger, head on over to this tiny Manly bar that’s full of spunk and looks just like you’ve stumbled upon a little corner of Mexico. Put the fries-stuffed burritos out of your mind (but definitely consider them next time) and get the soft shell fish tacos, the best on the menu. They’ve got a crispy batter with a Baja-style spicy cream. The Tama Asada (grilled steak with fried corn and pickled onions) or the Cochinita Pibil (shredded pork with salsa and pickled onions) are also both satisfactory options. All tacos are $5 and are only available in the evening. To enjoy them properly, they should definitely be served with a crusty beer (salt-rimmed beer) or two. 7 The Corso, Manly; (02) 9976 5255; www.chicabonita.com.au Mexicano Top Taco: Chipotle beef taco. Slow cooked beef in spicy chipotle peppers gives an authentic taste of Mexico. A little further north in Narrabeen, Mexicano head chef Sean Prenter and his team showcase their fresh take on modern and street-style Mexican. Sean takes pride in sourcing fresh, quality and local produce so you can take comfort in your food being some of the tastiest and most authentic around. All the tortillas are traditionally hand rolled and pressed daily using wheat and corn masa flours. Must-try tacos are the Mexican fish taco, with battered local fish of the day and a spicy chipotle mayo ($16 for three) and the chipotle beef brisket ($16 for three) or for a hearty vegetarian option, go the roasted winter taco (pumpkin, eggplant, zucchini and local cheese, $13 for three). We also hear a little whisper that the owners are opening up a new taqueria-style venue, MX, in Mona Vale soon. Shop 2, 209-211 Ocean Street, Narrabeen; (02) 9970 8975; www.mexicano.com.au Flying Fajita Sisters Top Taco: Huachinango. The grilled snapper is a lighter option with ample flavour thanks to the guajillo salsa. Glebe’s long-standing Mexican haunt is known for it cheap tacos and glowing wall of tequilas. Using fresh, seasonally available produce as well as imported spices and sauces that are usually only found in Mexico or the US, the taco menu is well-researched and constantly changes. For $14.90 you get two fresh, soft corn tortillas which you can fill with either Huachinango (grilled snapper, in a guajillo salsa, black beans, and queso fresco), Huitlacoche y Hongos (mexican corn truffles, braised mushrooms, salsa verde and queso fresco), Pollo Asado (grilled chicken in a guajillo salsa, black beans and queso fresco) or the taco stalwart, Al Pastor (roasted pork with pineapple salsa). If you’re looking for a mid-week meal that won’t reach too deep in your pockets, Flying Fajita Sisters also offers Taco Tuesday, where tacos and shots of tequila are a measly $3, making it that much more easy to say ‘si’ to a taco fiesta. 65 Glebe Point Road, Glebe; (02) 9552 6522; www.flyingfajitasistas.com.au DIY taco recipe Turn your kitchen into a taqueria and host your own taco party. Put the cervezas on ice and try out our recipe for Californian Baja fish tacos. Fish tacos with avocado salsa Makes 10 tacos Avocado salsa 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, de-seeded, finely chopped ½ red onion, finely chopped ½ large avocado, cut into cubes 2 radishes, finely sliced ½ bunch coriander, finely chopped 1 lime Spiced fish 1 tbs plain flour 1 tbs ground sweet smoked paprika 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 2 tbs olive oil 2 large white fish fillets 10 small flour tortillas 2 cups shredded red cabbage 1. To make avocado salsa, mix tomatoes, onion, avocado, radish and coriander into a small bowl. Squeeze over juice of half the lime and mix gently. 2. Mix flour, paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Add fish fillets one at a time, coating the whole fillet with the flour mixture. 3. Heat oil in a large fry pan and add fish fillets. Cook for 4 minutes on each side until cooked through. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer to a plate and slice into 1cm pieces. 4. Meanwhile, heat a small, dry frypan to medium heat. Fry the tortillas, one at a time, for 20 seconds on each side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. 5. To serve, add a few slices of cabbage to the middle of a tortilla and top with 4 pieces of fish. Top with salsa mixture and douse with as much hot sauce as you can handle. El Topo and DIY taco photos by Leigh Griffiths.
One of the best things about living in Sydney is its proximity to so much of the state's ridiculously nice coastline. There's just so much to explore — and, realistically, not enough time to do so. We get it, it's all too easy to get caught up in the daily grind and realise that all you're seeing is work, the train and your house. So, let's change that. The Central Coast, with its kilometres of coastline, winding waterways and lush bushland, is just waiting to be explored on a cheeky little trip. Plus, it's just a 90-minute drive north of the city, so you don't even need to book any extra time off work. Don't own a car? No worries. Popcar — the premium car-sharing service that offers members the benefits of owning a car without the hassle — has cars stationed all over the city. We've put together an itinerary of what to get up to once you get there. Update: This year's bushfire season is particularly dangerous. Before you head on an out-of-town adventure, check the RFS NSW and NSW National Parks websites and heed any alerts and warnings. START WITH BREAKFAST AT LIKE MINDS Find the closest Popcar near you and hit the road. You'll want to leave early to get the most out of your day, but it's okay, as the first stop is breakfast. Right by Avoca Lake (and just a three-minute drive from the beach), you'll find Like Minds. More than just a cafe, Like Minds is also a market garden, art gallery and creative hub. It has a zero-waste food policy and everything comes from the on-site garden or local farmers and producers. Fuel up with a bircher bowl, Spanish-style baked eggs or mushrooms and rocket cashew pesto on toast. Grab an espresso with beans from Fat Poppy Coffee, or be bold and order the chipotle mocha — two shots of espresso, smoked chilli and dark chocolate. [caption id="attachment_754051" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jacs Powell[/caption] GRAB A SNACK FROM BURNT HONEY BAKERY After brekkie, stop by the recently opened Burnt Honey Bakery in Copacabana. You might not be hungry right now, but you'll definitely want some snacks as fuel for the rest of the day, and you don't want to miss out on these pastries. Grab a couple of custard tarts (flavoured with cassia bark and lemon zest), a peach and vanilla danish and some of the shop's signature biscuits — burnt honey, salted almond and creamy milk choc chips — for when you get snacky in the car later. [caption id="attachment_754121" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pearl Beach via Destination NSW[/caption] TAKE A HIKE THROUGH BRISBANE WATER NATIONAL PARK OR ALONG THE COAST From Copacabana, you're an easy half an hour drive in your Popcar from a couple of great walking trails in Brisbane Water National Park. The area is prone to fire bans in the height of summer, so be sure to check that the park is open before you go (or save it for an off-season visit). Take the short-but-sweet 100-metre Somersby Falls track to the bottom of the falls, and enjoy nature spotting and the cooling spray of the natural water feature. For something a little longer (two kilometres), the Girrakool Loop Track is a scenic bushwalk that passes an Aboriginal rock engraving site, waterfalls and a creek. Whoever spots the first cool animal — keep an eye out for water dragons, frogs and kookaburras — wins, and the loser buys lunch. If you want to stay closer to the ocean, or want a more challenging hike, try the Patonga to Pearl Beach track: a three-kilometre (one way) walk through red gums and eucalypts that stops by the Warrah Lookout. [caption id="attachment_754124" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] HIT THE SHOPS IN LONG JETTY Before or after you stop for lunch, there are a couple of cute shops in Long Jetty that are worth a look in. Wander down The Entrance Road to find the perfect new outfit (well, new to you) at Long Jetty Vintage — just look for the bright, geometric pastel facade. Next, stop in at Shadow Bang Apothecary and Supply to browse beautiful things like clothing, jewellery, tea, essential oils, makeup, body care and homewares — everything is natural and made by female creatives and entrepreneurs. A little further down the strip, Plain Janes is a light and bright fashion boutique selling cute pieces and accessories for women and children. STOP FOR LUNCH AT BAR BOTANICA OR WOY WOY FISHERMAN'S WHARF We recommend one of two distinct, but aesthetically pleasing, vibes for lunch. For those that can't get enough of greenery, gin or gelato, head to Bar Botanica. Inside the lush green gardens of Distillery Botanica in Erina is an old mud-brick hut turned cafe and gelateria from the brains behind Mr Goaty Gelato. Sit beneath the conservatory-style windows of the eatery, or spread out a picnic blanket in the garden, and enjoy a ploughman's lunch with gin-spiked cheese and olives or a chicken and tarragon sandwich, followed by gelato in garden-inspired flavours. Be sure to stop by the distillery's cellar door after lunch, too. If you prefer water views with your meal, Woy Woy Fishermen's Wharf has that in spades thanks to its dramatic high ceilings and wall-to-wall windows. Here, you can enjoy fresh, sustainably sourced seafood, including Cloudy Bay diamond clams, Goolwa pippis in XO sauce and Singapore-style chilli mud crab. EXPLORE THE WINDY WATERWAYS VIA KAYAK OR PADDLEBOARD You can't visit the Central Coast without getting out on the water in one way or another. And the locals know it, so there are plenty of spots where you can hire paddleboards, paddle boats, kayaks and more. If you prefer to explore the water right after breakfast, Aqua Fun on Avoca Lake is only a couple of minutes from Like Minds cafe, and it even has a giant stand-up paddleboard that can fit a whole carload of adults. For a post-lunch venture, Terrigal Paddle Boats is not far from Bar Botanica, while Boat, Bike and Paddle Hire Central Coast is located on the Killcare Marina, just a short drive from Woy Woy. TAKE A MOMENT TO RELAX AT BELLS AT KILLCARE'S DAY SPA To truly shake off the city, make time for a little pampering at the Bells at Killcare day spa. Surrounded by the serenity of Bouddi National Park, this is the perfect spot to relax with a massage, facial or sea wrap. The spa offers a full range of treatments and packages to suit everyone, using products made with Australian botanicals, organic ingredients and the principles of Aboriginal herbal knowledge. HAVE SOME DINNER BEFORE HEADING HOME AT THE LUCKY BEE OR YOUNG BARONS Before heading back down to reality, we recommend The Lucky Bee in Hardys Bay for Southeast Asian street food — and a cocktail for those in the passenger seat. With a short and sweet menu of share plates, you can keep it light if you're still full from lunch with green papaya salad and poached prawns in betel leaves. Or, go for the szechuan pepper and salt whole fried fish with sweet chilli and prik nam pla sauce, if you're hungry. Otherwise, you can get your homemade pasta fix at Young Barons in Woy Woy. If they're available, order the ham hock and potato fritters to start. You won't regret it. Then, it's time to make your way back to Sydney. Before you drop off the car, ensure the tank is at least 30 percent full — there's a fuel card in every car so you don't have to fork out the cash. Get out and explore beyond the city this summer with Popcar car share. To sign up for just $1 and get one-day free hire ($80 driving credit), head this way. Top image: Woy Woy Fisherman's Wharf by Nikki To.
Hong Kong is almost close enough (an eight-hour plane trip) to justify a long weekend away. Doing it cheap isn't easy, and what would particularly be the point? As one of the world's most expensive cities, especially for hotels, it's all about bling. Eating out can be more affordable than the top end of Australian restaurants, with obviously superior Cantonese dining options, but drinking in the hipper bars will set you back $10 a beer. If you want cheap, go to Thailand. If you want style, go to Hong Kong. The main socialising districts are Hong Kong Island, traditionally where it's all happening, and Kowloon across the harbour, its less glamorous cousin, although that's changing. Italian and French dining is in vogue at the moment, with Caprice and Pierre the top-dollar and high-rise favourites. Further down the cheap food chain are the Canto picks. The Chairman and Fook Lam Moon offer traditional Chinese cooking with a modern flair, rejecting the MSG of the local diners. The owner of The Chairman, Danny Yip, owns three Chairman restaurants in Canberra and prides himself on an organic approach to crab and dumpling feasts. Spring Moon is an upmarket 1920s-style teahouse bang in the middle of a five-star hotel, with ornate surroundings. If you want more exclusive surroundings, Yard Bird does take bookings and is the hot new place to be seen by local celebrities. Drinking is synonymous with views of the harbour, with most bars perched on top of swish hotels. Among the most popular are Hutong, which is a faux traditional restaurant with an indoor mezzanine bar above the private dining rooms and red lanterns overlooking the skyscapers of Hong Kong Island. For outdoor boozing, head to Eyebar (level 30, 63 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon) for a vertigo-inducing vista, Ozone, apparently the highest bar in the world, or Sugar in the East hotel. More down-to-earth reveling can be found at the Kee Club, a members-only den with private rooms decorated like libraries and it hosts open club nights on the weekend. It's near Lan Kwai Fong, the main drinking area for visiting drunkards, which is open to the early hours and home to all-night clubs. It's not particularly cheap, but Hong Kong does offer expensive memories.
Update: Maiz is serving up its full menu 11am–3pm and 5–8pm for takeaway and delivery via UberEats and Doordash during Sydney's lockdown. Those that pick up their order can also treat themselves to a section of Mexican beers, wines and boozy aguas frescas. Rolling down King Street looking for lunch can be a daunting task. The sheer amount of options spanning every price point is enough to stress anyone out. Newtown's newest addition, Maiz, is here to make that choice easier, offering all-day Mexican brunch and local small-batch coffee in a beautiful openair courtyard. Maiz started as a family-run food stall at the Summer Hill Flour Mill Markets from brother and sister Juan Carlos Negrete and Marissa Negrete, and their respective partners Freija Brandie and Carlos Levet. The team begun by selling sopes, a thick corn torilla topped with fillings. They were Maiz's biggest sellers at the Flour Hill Markets and remain Maiz's best-selling dish at the restaurant nowadays. The Maiz team made the leap to a brick-and-mortar restaurant in early 2021, finding a historic 1830s building in a prime position among the bustling atmosphere of south King Street. Juan Carlos Negrete told Concrete Playground he originally planned to open in the eastern suburbs, but fell in love with the inner west through the Flour Hill Markets. "It's a city vibe, full of grounded and hard-working people, full of diversity and incredibly artsy. The buzz you get in this part of Sydney is the closest buzz we get in the streets of Mexico. Opening up a street food concept could only make sense in this environment," Negrete said. Maiz's menu is inspired by Negrete's time living in the central region of Mexico. The neat selection of lunch options purposefully steers away from tacos and highlights other mainstays of Mexican cuisine instead. Alongside the sopes, you'll find thick corn flatbread tlacoyos topped with combinations like eggs, shallots, queso salado, two types of salsa and filled with black beans. Negrete says this tlacoyos divorciados is his pick of the menu. "It's such a beautiful dish that reminds me of the markets of Cholula when I was a student. The Tlacoyo is one of the oldest snacks made by Indigenous cultures in Mexico and the "divorciado" is a twist we decided to do," he said. Alternatively, tuck into the tortas de longaniza, a Mexican sandwich-esque dish that combines green chorizo scrambled eggs, fermented cabbage and chipotle mustard mayo, or share a serving of chilaquiles burrata — corn chips topped with burrata, onions, radish and chilli oil. Fresh pastries are on offer from Pancho Bakery and coffee is sourced from small-batch Sydney coffee roaster Madding Crowd Coffee. Cacao is also on hand which is mixed with hot or cold water and comes at your requested strength anywhere between from 35 to 100 percent cacao. Newtown-based China Ceramics, a clay artist who splits their time between Marrickville's Clay Sydney and Maiz, has their handmade mugs and other clay products on display and for sale inside. And, those looking to make your brunch a little boozier, you can complete your brunch with a selection from Maiz's range of mezcal, tequila, Mexican beers and Mexican-inspired cocktails. While the new inner west spot is currently only open until 2.30pm, expanded trading hours and a dinner menu are on the cards in the next couple of months, so keep your eyes peeled for an announcement over at Maiz's Instagram. Maiz Mexican Street Food is located at 415 King Street, Newtown. It's open 8am–2.30pm, Wednesday–Sunday. Images: Debbie Gallulo
Feeling Women's World Cup withdrawals? That's understandable. After a glorious month of stellar football across Australia and New Zealand — the globe's best women soccer players all playing in our time zones, too — the competition is over for 2023. Want to keep the Matildas love going after the squad's historic fourth placing? You can watch a rousing docuseries about the team, get excited about Brisbane's upcoming statue commemorating their efforts and throw Sam Kerr some love to win the Goal of the Tournament. The Matildas won four of their seven games across the series, but you already know which one was home to the squad captain's nominated strike: the semi-final loss to England. And, we know that you saw it, because that match became the most-watched Australian TV event since 2001 and likely ever (ratings body OzTAM's records don't go back that far). Kerr is Australia's only nominee for the Goal of the Tournament, competing against nine other ace strikes. The winner is decided by public vote, which is where you come in. Get clicking, keep spreading the green-and-gold joy — it's that easy. Voting is open until Tuesday, August 29, via the FIFA website. If you're a Matildas supporter, you'll rightly think that there's no other goal as stunning among the contenders — but Kerr does have some impressive company. England's Lauren James, Japan's Mina Tanaka, Spain's Aitana Bonmati and The Netherlands' Esmee Brugts are all vying for the prize as well. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CommBank Matildas (@matildas) FIFA clearly know what Kerr's strike means to Australia, describing it as "the goal that made a nation erupt" and "a dream realised, the physical, tangible embodiment of hope". No, adults sadly can't enrol at Kerr's just-announced football academy for Aussie kids — girls and boys — to follow in her footsteps, but we can do our part to give our hero this accolade. .@samkerr1's out-of-this-world strike 🚀🌏#Matildas #FIFAWWC #TilitsDone pic.twitter.com/CRvBO1PonE — CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) August 16, 2023 To vote for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Goal of the Tournament until Tuesday, August 29, head to the FIFA website.
Rarely have I been given reason to reassess my opinion of Gordon Gekko, the ruthless stockbroker of Oliver Stone’s 1987 film, Wall Street. Rarer still has been the opportunity to consider his philosophy of rampant acquisition to the detriment of all else as anything approaching moderate. Melissa Bubnic’s Boys Will Be Boys, directed by Paige Rattray for Sydney Theatre Company, gave me both of these things. The play’s setting is a currency trading firm where the smiles are fake, the money is real and any part of your back that isn’t impervious to daggers probably needs your attention. Attempts to picture Gekko in this office conjured only various images of Michael Douglas’s head on a stick. This play is fast and mean and left me the bewilderment of the recently scammed. Priya (Sophia Roberts), a young businesswoman, is looking to become involved in finance. She talks the talk, but Astrid (Danielle Cormack), her mentor and an old hand at the currency trading game, recognises a dangerous naivete sitting alongside Priya’s potential. As she learns the ropes and cuts a few throats, Priya, like so many before her, realises that her material gains are unlikely to offset the staggering losses she is experiencing in the markets of morality and self-respect. At the same time, Astrid is negotiating a complicated relationship with a prostitute, Isabelle (Meredith Penman). Their deepening connection prompts many a conversation comparing their chosen professions and the pragmatic and fickle nature of both. A portrait of their boss, Arthur (an insanely charismatic Tina Bursill), looking the spitting image of David Bowie, coolly surveils the office as the real McCoy stalks in and out intermittently. David Fleischer has done an excellent job designing the office; fluorescent lights and cheap ceiling panels are offset by the stylish layout of the room, which has a professionally spartan quality to it (think corporate Zen garden). The cast is all female, though the characters are not. While Rattray has suggested that we are seeing "despicable women acting like men", there is very little of the adolescent machismo that tends to permeate similar male-dominated narratives here. Instead, there is an unrelenting, if not always overt savagery, focussed by pointed humour that refuses to dissipate the tension. "I remember you before Botox, that’s how old I am," and other zingers ricochet around the space, threatening to start small blazes where they land. Breaking up the office politics are Astrid’s occasional forays into cabaret, which are really a series of snide, irony-laden commentaries on society’s (mis)perception of the modern woman. Her broad accusations of female stereotyping are driven home by the rest of the cast, who during these intervals, shed complex characters to become flouncing, leotard-clad chorus girls. Boys Will Be Boys is fantastic — a tight and merciless show. Give these people your money; they know how to get the most out of it. Images by Brett Boardman.
Australian travellers can't seem to get enough of Japan. And it's not hard to see why — whether it's for the incredible theme parks, spectacular winter experiences, or the fact that you can still have a truly great time without blowing your budget, there are a multitude of ways for any type of traveller to experience the Land of the Rising Sun. And whether you know the streets of Shibuya like the back of your hand or you're thinking about making your first trip to the region, if Japan is on your must-visit list in 2023 you'd be wise to check out the upcoming Japan Travel Fair. Taking place at Luna Park's Grand Ballroom from February 4–5 — and organised by Japan National Tourism Organization — the fair will host around 20 leading tourism exhibitors who'll help you plan your perfect Japan trip. You'll also get a taste of what's to come when you do touch down, with the free event also featuring a range of traditional Japanese performances and cultural workshops. Plus, you'll also have the chance to score return flights for two to Japan thanks to Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways — all you need to do is complete a simple survey and you'll go into the draw. You can also try your chances in the Lucky Prize Draw and win a special prize from an exhibitor, one of 200 other prizes. Japan Travel Fair takes place at Luna Park's Grand Ballroom on Saturday, February 4 (10am–5pm) and Sunday, February 5 (10am–4pm). For more information, head to the website.
It's a film about searching for treasure, and it is indeed a treasure. La Chimera is also dreamy in its look and, while watching, makes its viewers feel as if they've been whisked into one. There's much that fantasies are made of in writer/director Alice Rohrwacher's fourth feature, which follows Corpo Celeste, The Wonders and Happy as Lazzaro — God's Own Country breakout and The Crown star Josh O'Connor leading the picture as a British archaeologist raiding tombs in 80s-era Italy chief among them. Thinking about Lara Croft, be it the game, or the Angelina Jolie (in 2001 and 2003 flicks)- or Alicia Vikander (2018's Tomb Raider)-led movies, is poking into the wrong patch of soil. Thinking instead about the way that life is built upon the dead again and again, and upon unearthed secrets as well, is part of what makes La Chimera gleam. Rohrwacher's latest, which also boasts her Happy as Lazzaro collaborator Carmela Covino as a collaborating writer — plus Marco Pettenello (Io vivo altrove!) — resembles an illusion not just because it's a rare mix of both magical-realist and neorealist in one, too (well, rare for most who aren't this director). In addition, this blend of romance and drama alongside tragedy and comedy sports its mirage-esque vibe thanks to being so welcomely easy to get lost in. As a snapshot of a tombaroli gang in Tuscany that pilfers from Etruscan crypts to try to get by, it's a feature to dig into. As an example of how poetic a film can be, it's one to soar with. The loose red thread that weaves throughout La Chimera's frames, intriguing folks within the movie, also embodies how viewers should react: we want to chase it and hold on forever, even as we know that, as the feature's 130 minutes tick by, the picture is destined to slip through our fingers. Wearing his crumpled linen suits and residing in his makeshift shack, O'Connor's Arthur knows what it's like to not be able to grasp tightly onto what you want. Just as the movie that he's in transports its audience four decades back, he's stuck in the past, obsessing over the missing Beniamina (Yile Yara Vianello, The Beautiful Summer). Stolen Italian artefacts are his trade, with friends to help with the excavations but his own divining methods (rod included) locating where an invisible X marks the spot. When he's not dowsing and delving, or offloading the loot he extracts to antiquities dealers who profit from and perpetuate the cycle of tombaroli thievery far more than Arthur and his pals, the mansion of Beniamina's mother Flora (Isabella Rossellini, Spaceman) is his frequent pilgrimage. It was equally true of The Wonders and Happy as Lazzaro: a movie by Rohrwacher, and with cinematographer Hélène Louvart (Disco Boy, The Lost Daughter, Never Rarely Sometimes Always) behind the lens, is a movie that looks ethereal and earthy at once. Shot on a mix of different film stocks (35-millimetre, 16-millimetre and Super16), La Chimera's imagery virtually floats, but it similarly sees the dirt and the grit. Arthur's journey couldn't better live and breathe that contrast as he illicitly uncovers riches in a marvellous setting, but not without the grime and the risk that goes with it. He also starts the feature freshly released from jail for his grave-robbing manner of making a living, then spends his time chasing more 2000-year-old pieces — pottery, statues and such — that mysterious broker Spartaco will pay for, as punctuated with chats with Flora and a burgeoning connection with her housekeeper Italia (Carol Duarte, Segunda Chamada). The language of archaeology, whether taking from the dead or studying history through its physical remains, is the language of discovering and seeking — and mine, disinter and pursue, Arthur does, including with his feelings and hopes. He pines for his lost love while burrowing down where valuables, secrets and lives gone by are kept; he's navigating his own Orpheus and Eurydice as well. He's haunted, plunging literally to where such torments spring from in humanity's eternal grappling with mortality, and also emotionally and psychologically into memories that gnaw as if they too are possessed. A mastery of symbolism is among Rohrwacher's many skills as a filmmaker; however, so is a command of effortlessly lingering in the realm, as La Chimera does, between the tangible and intangible. Here's another talent to her name: casting, especially with O'Connor standing in front of the camera. While Rossellini's involvement is a magnificent touch — only she can switch to marauding from warm, and back, so naturalistically and so quickly; also, the link with Italian cinema history that she brings via her director father Roberto Rossellini, the neorealist great, is so wonderfully apt — O'Connor is an exquisite choice as La Chimera's lead. Rumpled charm, lost-soul melancholy, drifting and yearning, a hold on his temper that's flimsier than a deal on the relics black market: as Arthur, he conveys or has them all. A picture as enigmatic as this needs someone at its centre that's able to both go with its flow and be grounded — and again, in a role that joins Mothering Sunday, Emma, Hope Gap and Challengers on his post-God's Own Country resume, that's O'Connor. As La Chimera proves evocative and expressive, and loose and playful, it takes its audience on an adventure so layered and distinctive that Rohrwacher could be the only one guiding it. Thoughtful and contemplative as her film also is, it has clear eyes to stare daggers at social inequality, and towards those who think that they can own the past. Forming a trilogy with The Wonders and Happy as Lazzaro — one about beekeepers, the other about sharecroppers, each fascinated with communities that are far from the everyday now, as with the tombaroli — La Chimera almost feels as if it has pulled off a heist itself, then. In ensuring that every single element of the movie works perfectly, this gem steals itself a place as an unforgettable piece of cinema; long may it keep being cherished.
If you like having plenty of choice, Anita Gelato has you covered with over 150 delicious ice cream flavours on offer. Even better, it has a mix of gelato, vegan, sugar-free and frozen yogurt options — so no-one misses out. Anita Gelato originated from a 'cosy Mediterranean kitchen' almost 20 years ago. Owner Anita and her son, Nir, developed recipes for their family and friends using house-made jams, which eventuated in Sydney stores in Bondi in 2013 and, later, Chippendale. Here, you're encouraged to mix and match flavours. Tiramisu and hazelnut mousse, pavlova and salted bagel are some of the winning scoops, though the Cookieman — a vanilla based loaded with meringue, biscotti and Nutella — is by far the most popular. For those that are dairy-free or vegan, Anita offers more than just the simple fruit sorbet – try the soy-based Oreo cookies, or the rich dark chocolate. For something lighter, go for green apple or watermelon and mint sorbet — or give sugar-free coffee a try. If you're really leaning into this treat-yourself moment, you can opt for your scoops to be served atop a crispy handmade waffle or beside a hot chocolate souffle instead — or blended into a decadent thickshake.
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.
In Australia, we remember the devastation of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami even more than most of the world. It was right there, just over the Timor Sea, in places we've been to, or come from. Nearly 10 years later comes The Impossible, a film based on the experiences of a Spanish family who were holidaying in Khao Lak, Thailand at the time of the tsunami. They survive the impact but are separated and have to fight for their survival while trying their utmost to believe the rest of their family is alive somewhere, too. The film has earned Oscar and Golden Globes nominations for star Naomi Watts, and Ewen McGregor and newcomer Tom Holland are also said to impress. If drama doesn't sway you, go for the special effects, which use a stunning mixture of digital technology and real water surges created in a tank. The Impossible has not been without its controversy, specifically, for being a film about the South Asian tsunami that has basically no Asian people in it. And for making the Spanish family it's based on even whiter. But a bit of controversy just piques our interest at this point. See it and see it early, so you too can take a side. Concrete Playground has five in-season double passes to give away to The Impossible. To be in the running, make sure you're subscribed to our newsletter and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address. https://youtube.com/watch?v=HU4mXJRHIcQ
Glebe Liquor is a second generation family-run business near the Blackwattle Bay end of Glebe Point Road. It's a local bottle-o with a lot of soul. Wines are helpfully sorted based on price, under headings like Struggle Street, Easy Street, Suburbia and Nob Hill, so you can cut straight to the chase and find a vino at the exact price point you're after. The friendly staff will help you find the right brew to suit the occasion, whether that's Just Got Fired, Just Got Hired, or My Life's A Mess, But What Harm Is A Bottle Of Red?. Images: Kitti Smallbone.
Germany takes its public transport seriously. When Berlin boasts a pair of sneakers designed to match the subway system, and the nation's state-owned railway company is looking to create a 'train of the future', that's pretty clear. The country's next idea not only stresses the point, but does the environment a solid and is certain to prove a hit with commuters: free public transport. As reported by Die Welt, according to a letter penned by German ministers and seen by German media, the government is proposing to trial the concept in five particular cities — all places considered heavily polluted. Bonn, Essen, Reutlingen, Mannheim and Herrenberg are set to put the plan into action, with the move coming as Germany faces legal action from the EU over its breach of air pollution levels due to vehicle emissions. Just how it would work — in terms of additional buses, trains and trams needed, and the budget required to finance them — is still under consideration, as are exact implementation timing and plans. Still, it's a smart, sensible and certain-to-be-popular idea, as well as an excellent incentive to leave the car at home. And, it's one that we'd all clearly love to see closer to home, even with Sydney and Brisbane's rail issues of late. Via Die Welt. Image: Shankar S. via Flickr.
Monika Behrens and Rochelle Hayley have brought out their best watercolour brushes for Bedknobs and Broomsticks series, and produced a set of finely detailed scientific illustrations of various flora, fauna and, um, sex toys. The plants and animals are elements of rituals and medicines used by wise women and in witchcraft; the dildos are there in reference to a possibly apocryphal claim that certain preparations were applied internally, using, um, aids to that. By depicting the artificial phallus on the same ground as the supplies a female healer would have had recourse to, Behrens and Hayley also make a neat point about the way womens' knowledge has been treated in this area: that it's either not taken seriously (it is kind of hard not to giggle at the meticulous rendering of some of these luridly-coloured devices) or perceived as a threat (they're witches! Witches!). Women healers threaten masculine ascendancy either by appropriating or providing a counter-tradition for treatment of the body and womens' sexuality does a pretty similar thing. The threat of the feminine is also central to Tim Schultz's Schultztown pictures. These are big, confronting nudes, grotesques whose bodies are pallidly degenerate and alien-seeming or robust to the point of animality. His two modes can be roughly described as Tim Burton doing Classical French portraits or Caravaggio painting villains from Disney films, both representing a strategy of containment of the erotic feminine and perversion of it to specific expressive ends. The titles and prices painted onto the gallery walls are suggesting what one of these might be and flipping the already foetid unwholesomeness of the chaotic salon hang into a camp critique. Image: Tim Schultz, The Piper, 2006
The New Theatre’s Sweeney Todd gives Stephen Sondheim's dark musical a uniquely Australian focus. There’s a lot to discover within Giles Gartrell-Mills’ staging, if you’re a theatregoer with an open mind. Yet it goes without saying if you’re in any way averse to musicals, and their associated style of acting, even the discordant score and narrative gore of this will be too much for you. With that, I’ll make like Sweeney’s razor and plunge in. Though you'll probably know the story from Johnny Depp and Tim Burton’s film version, the relationships and motivations are clearer on stage. For example, I was completely ignorant that barber Benjamin Barker had been deported to Australia before returning to London as the throat-slitting Sweeney Todd (played by Justin Cotta), but Gartrell-Mills chooses to highlight this oft-overlooked fact. He explores how the ‘Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ was borne from the horrors of convict Australia; a man hardened by the severe and unapologetic landscape of “a living hell”. Gartrell-Mills’ rejuvenates a story that in other aspects (like the lack of agency of the daughter/damsel character, Johanna) may seem tired. The show demands much of its actors and even more from the only three musicians who underpin the 2+ hour performance. The adept ensemble make the sound in the cavernous New Theatre ring out like in a cathedral. Yet it's clearly a place of dark worship, with unsettling organ music, screeches and clangs that perfectly conjure the squalor of low-class Victorian London. As Sweeney Todd, Cotta is most frightening in stillness, while the world around him goes berserk. He adequately conveys Sweeney's complex personal tragedy, which begins when the evil Judge Turpin (Byron Watson) banishes him in order to steal his wife. When this plan fails, Turpin takes custody of Sweeney's daughter, Johanna. Lucy Miller as Sweeney’s accomplice/lover Mrs Lovett is this production’s absolute gem. Her comedic timing is perfect, as are her slightly crazed facial expressions. Her singing voice accesses the brashness needed for the pragmatic, matronly character, as well as gentle womanly textures to indicate her romantic weakness for the story’s hero. It's hard to take your eyes off her. Sweeney Todd is at its best when it’s turning an eye onto us, the audience — referring to us as “meat”, or exploring base human nature. Although the explicit imagery of the poster had me wanting more gore than the piece delivers, perhaps reflecting on the continued public spectacle of executions and beheadings, this darkly cynical musical about the inescapable spiral of revenge has a lot of life in it yet.
Ask any brewer, winemaker or distiller just what makes a great beer, vino or spirit — or sangria or premix — and they'll likely give you a variation of the same answer. They might mention standout ingredients, an enticing taste or a big flavour, but they're all really talking about that sensation when a drink passes your lips and instantly becomes one of your favourite tipples. Another key quality behind every excellent beverage? Resilience. That's a trait few people might've thought about prior to 2020, though. But it takes hardiness and adaptability to turn a drinks-making dream into a reality — including initially deciding to jump into the industry yourself, doing the hard yards, getting your product in people's glasses, and weathering the ups and downs. Named the most-loved New South Wales-made tipples in the BWS Local Luvvas initiative, Audrey Wilkinson, Akasha Brewing Company, Lust Liquor and Nueva Sangria have all clearly crafted tastebud-tempting beverages. That's why the bottle shop retailer is now giving these four chosen companies an extra helping hand with getting their products stocked in more BWS stores. As we found out by chatting to the folks behind each brand, these drinks-making outfits have all proven resilient as well. You need to be in these testing times — and they've all told us about their experiences. INNOVATIVE DROPS FROM ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S OLDEST VINEYARDS The importance of durability, and of being able to evolve as times change, isn't lost on the team at Audrey Wilkinson. Indeed, when the vino brand's marketing manager Renee Raper notes that "it has been a tough year for everyone", she not only explains how it has hit home, but also how winemakers are doing everything they can to navigate this tough period. "The wine industry hasn't been immune to this, with the drought, bushfires and pandemic — but the wine industry is resilient," she says. Of course, you could say that's been a hallmark of Audrey Wilkinson — or the patch of land in the Hunter Valley that its vineyard calls home, to be specific — for some time. It has been more than 150 years since the Wilkinson family first acquired the spot, and almost 120 years since it started winning awards for its tipples. The winery has been owned by the Agnew family since 2004, who've continued on with a small and dedicated staff that's devoted to the task at hand. "We have an innovative, young and passionate team behind the brand, and this really resonates through the wines we produce," says Raper. The fact that those tipples are resonating with local drinkers, too, is a source of pride as well — and a much-needed boost in this difficult year. "We are really overwhelmed… winning the Local Luvvas means more people can buy Audrey Wilkinson wines throughout NSW, which is a real silver lining for small local brand like ours". HOP-FORWARD IPAS IN SYDNEY'S INNER WEST If Akasha Brewing Company's founder and CEO Dave Padden wasn't so adaptable, his Canada Bay brewery wouldn't exist. He fell in love with craft beer on trips to America, watched the scene explode in the early 2000s, then decided he wanted to do more than just drink his favourites. "It became readily apparent that the Australian market was lacking the hop-forward beers that were becoming so abundant in the US," he explains. "I threw in the corporate towel and embarked on my professional brewing career… this success led to the birth of Akasha Brewing Company in 2015 and the launch of many beers." Padden's motivation: hops. Noting that there are "literally hundreds of different hop varieties available around the world", he describes them as "a real focus for me and the beers that we brew and drink". But he's aware that, for any of Akasha's IPAs to stand the test of time, they need to do more than experiment with his favourite ingredient. "My passion is discovering that next awesome hop combination that creates a beautifully flavoured IPA, whilst maintaining balance and drinkability," he says. "Every single beer we brew must exhibit these qualities." In 2020, Akasha itself has needed to be adaptable. "It's been a strange old year, and we've had our ups and downs like everyone else," Padden notes. As well as hops, naturally, Akasha has been inspired by the love directed its way this year. "We've been really fortunate to have such an amazing following of local supporters who have continued to buy our beers, and visit our taproom for a feed or a refill," he says. "I think everyone could use a drink after these last few months." MEETING THE DEMAND FOR SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE TIPPLES Attending university and enjoying a few drinks have long gone hand in hand. But not every tertiary student turns their fondness for a tipple into a business. "We were at university when we noticed an increasing demand for sugar-free and low-calorie alcoholic beverages," Lust Liquor co-creator Nick Rowell says. "So we decided to stop studying and create our own. Nine months later, Lust was born." If Rowell's decision back in 2018 sounds like a brave move, that's because it was. Making that big leap — noticing a particular trend, then abandoning his current plans to help fill that gap — also required quite a display of versatility. That shouldn't come as a surprise, though, given the beverages that Lust serves up. When you're giving drinkers an alternative that doesn't otherwise exist, you're letting them be flexible, after all. Perhaps that's why Lust has amassed an avid fanbase — and why those local supporters have helped the company continue on in this difficult year. Describing everything that 2020 has thrown the world's way, Rowell is frank. "COVID-19 has been a horrible experience for businesses and individuals all over the world," he says. "When we went into lockdown in March, things got really tough for us," he continues. "We had to lean on our loyal fans and customers to make sure that we were ticking over. The support from our community has been amazing — more and more Australians went out of their way to support local and Australian-made products." [caption id="attachment_790538" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] MAKING AN AUSSIE-STYLE SANGRIA There are many ways to show resilience, agility and flexibility, of course — including discovering a niche just screaming to be filled, working out how to do exactly that in a creative and accessible way, and making something that people respond to in the process. That's Nueva Sangria's story. It specialises in bottled sangria that isn't just created in Australia using Aussie-grown pinot grigio grapes, but is designed to taste and feel uniquely Australian. "This is our interpretation of sangria made in Australia for Australia," says managing director Tegan Kynaston. The company initially sprang to life in response to a straightforward problem. "Sangria is the perfect celebratory drink, but we could never find a decent bottle of it anywhere in Australia," Kynaston explains. Resolving that issue wasn't easy, however. "Sangria has a pretty bad reputation here, because most of it is crap. We persisted, and it became a bit of a challenge: how to make a sangria for wine snobs?" Nueva Sangria's tipples aren't just the product of a sturdy and tenacious team, though — they're also drunk by locals who show the same traits, as Kynaston has observed this year. "Nueva Sangria is designed to be enjoyed with your mates. Obviously self-isolation is not conducive to that," she says. "But it's amazing how resilient and adaptable people are. We've been tagged in all sorts of ways that people have been sharing their sangria, from Zoom parties to employers sending it as gifts to cheer up their staff." That's something she hopes will continue now that life in much of Australia is returning to normal, too. To find these or other NSW drinks as part of the BWS Local Luvva initiative, head to your nearest BWS store.
When the time came for Hannah Gadsby to follow up her international smash-hit show Nanette, that seemed a rather difficult task. After all, the one-woman stand-up performance copped serious praise on its 18-month travels across Australia and the UK, even scooping the top honours at both the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe — and spawning its very own Netflix special. But, then Douglas was born, with the beloved Aussie comedian returning to the stand-up stage with a performance named after her own pet pooch. While Nanette pulled apart the concept of comedy itself, dishing up an insight into Gadsby's past, Douglas took comedy fans on a "tour from the dog park to the renaissance and back". It toured stages across Australia and New Zealand in late 2019 and early 2020, and then hit Netflix a year ago. Next on the agenda: following up both of those supremely popular shows, and doing so in-person. Between July and November this year, Gadsby will be doing just that thanks to her new stand-up set Body of Work. It'll tour Australia in 2021, before heading to the UK, European and North America in early 2022. Despite spending the past year sitting out the pandemic, as we all have, Gadsby's humour won't have lost its charms. She'll be kicking off her tour in Canberra, then heading to Albury, Newcastle, Hobart, Launceston, Darwin, Bendigo, Albany, Bunbury, Mandurah, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane. And yes, she'll be playing Sydney, too, although those dates and details haven't yet been revealed. https://twitter.com/Hannahgadsby/status/1391545052564914176 HANNAH GADSBY 'BODY OF WORK' TOUR DATES: July 23–24 — Canberra Theatre Centre, Canberra July 26 — Albury Entertainment Centre, Albury July 29 — Newcastle Civic Theatre, Newcastle August 5–7 — Theatre Royal, Hobart August 15–16 — Princess Theatre, Launceston August 22 — Darwin Entertainment Centre, Darwin August 27 — Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo September 1 — Albany Entertainment Centre, Albany September 3 — Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, Bunbury September 4 — Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, Mandurah September 10–11 — Regal Theatre, Perth October 26–31 — Comedy Theatre, Melbourne November 26–27 — QPAC, Brisbane Dates TBC — Sydney Hannah Gadsby's 'Body of Work' will tour Australia from July to November 2021. For further details — and to buy pre-sale tickets from Wednesday, May 12 and general tickets from 9am on Friday, May 14 — head to the comedian's website.
2020 might've temporarily taken away our ability to head overseas, hit up big events and, for portions of the year, leave our houses; however, it hasn't robbed us of our collective fascination with Christmas lights. Luminous festive decorations really shouldn't cause such a fuss. They pop up everywhere every year, after all, and we're all well and truly aware of how electricity works. But those twinkling bulbs are just so hard to resist when it's the merriest portion of the calendar — especially after a 12-month period with a noticeable downturn in joy otherwise. Perhaps you're a casual Christmas lights fan, and you're completely fine just checking out whichever blazing displays you happen to pass in your travels? Maybe you have a few tried-and-tested favourite spots, and you return to them every year? Or, you could want to scope out the best and brightest seasonal-themed houses and yards? Whichever category you fall into, an Australian website called Christmas Lights Search is likely to pique your interest. It's as nifty and handy as its name suggests, and it covers festive displays all around the country. To locate all the spots that you should head to, it's as easy as popping in your postcode or suburb — or those of places nearby — and letting the site deliver the relevant options. Christmas Lights Search also rates the lights displays, if you want to either go big or stay home. And it's constantly being updated, so, like the best combos of glowing trees, sparkling bulbs and oversized Santas, you might want to check it out more than once. When you pick an individual address listed on the site, you'll be greeted with some key information, too. The level of detail varies per listing, but expect to peruse photos, the ideal hours to swing by, a date range, a description of what's on offer and even COVID-19-safe info. All that's left is to get searching, plot out where you'll be heading every night between now and Christmas Eve, and get ready to see oh-so-many reindeer, candy canes and snowmen. Check out the Christmas Lights Search online now.
Three years in the making, SPON is a new kind of bottle shop for NSW. For several years, the Odd Culture Group has been pushing to open a venue where you could sample the wines before buying after seeing the success of similar venues in Melbourne and overseas — but Liquor and Gambling NSW is a tough negotiator. "Being able to finally open the doors to SPON is due to the landmark decision to allow these cohabitating licenses and a sign that the regulatory environment is shifting and red tape is finally starting to be lifted," says Odd Culture Group CEO James Thorpe. "The two-license model is convoluted and contrived — so, very NSW — but it works, and we're excited to finally get a cab off the rank, and be able to operate a business of this type in Sydney." The decision has seen a couple of these exciting new hybrid venues pop up in recent weeks — namely Famelia down Enmore Road and Frankie & Mo's in the Blue Mountains. And, it's allowed Odd Culture to finally transform its King Street bottle shop into the venue the team always imagined in the space. The result is SPON, a small 20-seat bar and bottle shop named after the process of spontaneous fermentation. As with the previous Odd Culture bottle shop, SPON is all about the weird and the funky in the drinks world. Rare wines and eccentric ales are available here, either for takeaway or to be drunk in the venue with the addition of a touch of corkage. If you love to bring a natural wine over when you're catching up with friends but your mind goes blank when presented with a wall of exotic pét-nats and skin contacts, this is the spot for you. Each day, 12 wines and ales are added to the open-bottle list — two chosen by the house and ten by customers as they venture in and want a try of something. This means you can sample your way through a couple of different vinos before deciding what to purchase — and if you're in early, you can even add a bottle to the open list for you and any other visitors that day to taste. "The concept lends itself to being able to open some really cool, rare and exciting stuff that wouldn't normally make it on by-the-glass lists in your standard bars or restaurants," says Group Beverage Manager Jordan Blackman. For those who are dining in (or rather drinking in), there's an ever-changing and affordable by-the-glass list featuring a mix of wine varieties and price points. To celebrate the opening, SPON is even offering $6 glasses of pét-nat, orange and chilled red wines, alongside half-priced corkage, throughout the rest of August and September. "The spirit of SPON is to make the inaccessible or esoteric into the easily consumed and understood and increase the level of interaction and knowledge sharing with our guests which is our favourite part," says Thorpe. Snacks like yellowfin tuna, LP's charcuterie and Odd Culture's beer bread will also be brought down from the group's beloved King Street restaurant. Plus, the space will be used to host local and interstate winemakers so they can share their craft with Sydney's wine lovers. It really is your one-stop wine shop. SPON is now open at 256 King Street, Newtown. Both the bottle shop and bar are open 12pm–10pm Monday–Thursday, 12pm–12am Friday and 11am–12am Saturday.
There's nothing like the feeling when everything falls into place. We’re talking about those pure moments when the ordinary becomes extraordinary, or when something great and unexpected happens, leaving you with a smile on your face. Luckily these moments normally don't stun you quite so much that you forget to whip out your smartphone, because if you've got photographic evidence, then social-media-savvy beer masters Pure Blonde are offering to deliver the unexpected to your bank account. There's $10,000 in cash up for grabs, and for the chance to win a share of it, just upload a photo from Facebook or Instagram via the competition app on their Facebook page. You'll also get the chance to see your fleeting moment live a longer life in a crowd-sourced video montage using the campaign's best images. Check out the competition here, start digging through your favourite photos, and get your entries in before May 10. Here are a few of the shots we will be entering. Concrete Playground photography by Nick Fogarty
Sydney’s reached peak burger obsession, so we reckoned it was about time for a good ol’ fashioned burger battle — and so did Merivale. This February, we invited 16 of Merivale’s top chefs to ivy Ballroom to hit the kitchen and cook up their ultimate burger for March Into Merivale‘s Between Two Buns. Some, like Mr. Wong‘s Dan Hong, opted for their widely celebrated, longtime burger recipes (hel-lo Lotus Burger), while others dreamed up new and strange burger possibilities —Bistrode CBD‘s Jeremy Strode did a chicken and eel burger (and nailed it). Sitting on the judging panel, our own fearless leader and founder of Concrete Playground Rich Fogarty, Merivale CEO Justin Hemmes, Merivale chef Danielle Alvarez (Fred’s, opening soon), and Merivale marketing director Andrew El-Bayeh. Feasting on 16 top-tier burgers sounds like a tough job, but these guys pulled through (with many, many napkins) and picked their six finalists. BETWEEN TWO BUNS FINALISTS: Dan Hong (Mr. Wong) — Lotus Burger Alex Lewis (The Beresford) — The ultimate duck burger Jeremy Strode (The Fish Shop/ Bistrode CBD) — The Fish Dog (chicken and eel) Jordan Toft (Coogee Pavilion) — Aged trim beef, cheese, burger sauce, B&B pickle Paul Donnelley (Ms.G’s) — Beef, bacon and cheese burger Patrick Friesen & Chris Hogarth (Papi Chulo/Queen Chow) — Canadian beef and bacon burger Then, on Wednesday, February 17, the six (or seven, with the team-up of Pat and Chris) went head-to-head in a mighty burger battle at Palings. Punters sampled all six burgers and dropped voting chips in the designated vases for each chef. Who came out on top? Who was the audience's pick? None other than Patrick Friesen and Chris Hogarth of Papi Chulo and the upcoming Queen Chow at the Queen Vic Hotel. They won hearts and stomachs with their juicy, juicy Canadian beef and bacon burger, picking up the golden burger trophy and mad bragging rights for the next year. Kudos guys. Now, we need a bit of a lie-down.
In the quiet coastal village of Thirroul, just north of Wollongong, Frank's wild years are still going strong. Unlike the protagonist in Tom Waits' song, this Frank isn't a person, but a cocktail bar, record store and live music venue hidden just off Lawrence Hargrave Drive. At Franks Wild Years, you can browse the shelves upon shelves of predominantly pre-loved vinyl, then grab a seat at the bar or in the courtyard and hoe into a toastie (pumpkin and fermented chilli or roasted capsicum and pineapple, both $12) and a cheese plate ($14–23) with house-made chutney and assorted pickles. To drink, you'll find tinnies; classic cocktails, such as pisco sours and margaritas; and natural wine from Villa d'Esta on the mid north coast. If you time your visit right, you can make it there for happy hour from 6–7pm Wednesday–Friday when there are $5 beers and wines and $10 cocktails. Time your visit even better and you'll be able to sip cocktails while watching a live gig or trying your hand at a life drawing class. The bar is quite small, however, and has a particularly tiny capacity with COVID-19 restrictions. So, keep an eye on the bar's Instagram page for gig announcements and ticket sales if you want to catch an event. Images: Reuben Gibbes
There aren't a whole bunch of things that can beat a day in the sun with a drink in your hand. Recognising the need to slake that thirst, Canadian Club is bringing their Racquet Club back for the summer, dosing out refreshing Canadian Club, dry and lime by the water with a screen showing the tennis. The Racquet Club celebrates Australia's biggest annual summer sporting fixture, the Australian Open. After keeping punters hydrated in Melbourne last year, the pop-up will this year extend to Sydney and Brisbane as well. The club will set up at The Bucket List on Bondi Beach for a whole month, from December 29 to January 30, and overlooking Sydney Harbour at Cruise Bar from January 3 to January 30. The pop-up bar will carry Canadian Club on tap and a whole slew of Canadian Club cocktails (the grapefruit Summer Spritz is our favourite), and will be decked out in all the tennis memorabilia that they can find. Plus, when the Open starts on January 16, there'll be a big screen showing every game, loud and live. Sports, beach and Canadian Club? See you there.
With all these blustery, grey, wintry days afoot, you'd think Sydney would begrudgingly hibernate for the season, retreating indoors to binge-watch Cleverman and inhale a bunch of soup. But the city's got too much going on, too many new exhibitions opening, activities aplenty and hidden natural gems to explore. Bundle up in your favourite woolies and get amongst your city this chilly season. All you need is a crisp $20 — and in most of these cases, you'll have a little (or a lot) left over. By the Concrete Playground team. 1. EAT HOUSE-MADE DAMPER IN A CITY PUB Redesigned by the team behind Momofuku Seiobo and Bar Brose, and with a menu inspired by the pub's former regular Henry Lawson, The Edinburgh Castle has officially reopened in the CBD. Ex-North Bondi Fish chef Daniel Lanza has created a menu that subtly references the Edinburgh's important literary history as one-time home to Aussie writer and poet Henry Lawson. Tasty morsels on the snacks list include house-made damper with garlic herb butter ($8 a serve), the perfect thing for a chilly winter's day. They also do a mean pork sausage roll for $14. Cost: $8 2. BUNDLE UP AND TAKE A HIKE According to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, 'walking is man's best medicine'. 2500 years — and the invention of antibiotics — later, he's still got a point. This week, a Tasmanian study showed that people in their 50s who walk 10,000 steps a day, every day, lower their mortality risk by 46%. And in Sydney — where spectacular waterfalls, mountains, caves and coastline are just minutes away from the car-strangled CBD — following the doctor's advice is easy. Plus, you'll boost your overall health to avoid those nasty winter sniffles — just make sure you bundle up and take your vitamins. Cost: Free 3. VISIT THE CALYX Meet the Royal Botanic Garden's new world-class horticultural experience, The Calyx. Opened 200 years after the official opening date of the Garden on June 13, 1816, this dazzling new UFO-shaped public space not only houses thousands and thousands of plants, but gives Sydneysiders an escape from the city's busy streets and relentless traffic. It also provides a new home for fun, innovative exhibitions. The first, now open, is Sweet Addiction, the botanic story of chocolate, from bean to bar. Also part of the show is a collection of over 18,000 plants, which are arranged as living artworks. Together, they form the biggest interior green wall in the Southern Hemisphere, measuring six metres in height and 285 square metres in area. Cost: $15 online/$17.50 at the door 4. FIND OUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE 'POST-HUMAN' Step into New Romance: art and the posthuman at the MCA this winter and you'll be greeted with a dizzying array of moving parts, flickering lights and a casual spot of time travel. Splicing science and technology with politics and aesthetics, 18 artists from Australia and Korea conceive of the distant and not too distant future in this just-opened exhibition. New Romance runs Thursday, June 30 to Sunday, September 4 at the Museum of Contemporary Art and is open until 9pm on Thursday nights. Cost: Free 5. 'RESEARCH' YOUR WAY THROUGH SYDNEY'S BEST BAKERIES Sydney bakeries these days are in hot competition for your dough — especially in winter, when fresh, hot, bready goodness is just the ticket for a dreary day. There aren't many bakeries left just churning out simple loaves of white bread — now it's all about sourdough, fruit loaves, croissants, cronuts and cruffins. But not all of them rise to the occasion, so we're here to sort out which establishments you knead to visit, and which crumby ones you can be gluten-free of. Use your loaf and follow the Concrete Playground Crust-See Sydney Bakery list this season. Cost: Around $5-10 per visit 6. LEARN UP ON FRIDA KAHLO Two of the greatest artists in history, who happened to have one of the most volatile relationships in recent memory, are the focus of the Art Gallery of New South Wales' brand new exhibition, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Kahlo and Rivera's artistic and personal rollercoaster ride is the focus, with 33 artworks from the pair — including self-portrait paintings, drawings and canvases — all from the renowned collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman. Australia doesn't actually have a Frida Kahlo on public display, so this is one heck of a slam dunk for the gallery. Cost: $14-18 7. CURL UP NEXT TO A FIREPLACE As the pelting rain and wind of winter roll in, it's easy to see your enthusiasm for a night on the town being replaced by a deep craving to don your long dachshund-print pajamas and settle in for a dry and drama-less night of MasterChef. But there's one thing we know that's worth braving the rain and wind for, and that's cosy beers at one of Sydney's fireplace-equipped pubs and bars. It's your chance to feel like Hemingway with an alcoholic beverage in one hand as you relax in a room filled with that incredible open fire. Here are nine of the best. Cost: Around $10 for a cheeky beverage by the fire 8. WANDER THROUGH A BAMBOO PAVILION Paddington's Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation is going green with the final installation in their Fugitive Structures temporary pavilion series. For the finale of this awesome series, SCAF has teamed up with award-winning architect Vo Trong Nghia to create Green Ladder. The pavilion structure is made entirely from bamboo, "the steel of the 21st century" according to Nghia. The temporary pavilion will be on public display at SCAF from July 7 to December 10 and aims to raise awareness of bamboo's strength as a 'green steel' building material. Green Ladder aims to resemble a dense bamboo forest and visitors will be able to move through the graceful grid at their leisure. Cost: Free 9. GO ROUND THE TWIST AT SYDNEY'S LIGHTHOUSES Gone are the days when lighthouses were the domain of lonesome keepers, spending long nights keeping an eye on kerosene lamps and braving the fog and the foam. These days, automation does all the work. But despite that, it's hard to spend time at one without feeling like you're going back in time 100 years, when adventuring by ship was an extraordinarily risky business. Since 1622, more than 8000 ships have wrecked on the Australian coast, yet only about 2000 have been found. Visit these ten lighthouses in and around Sydney to travel back in time a little, take in some dazzling views, visit some beautiful beaches and perhaps even sleepover in an original light keeper's cottage. Cost: Free 10. SEE A SEASHORE ART EXHIBITION YOU'D USUALLY SEE IN SUMMER Lovers of outdoor sculpture, you no longer have to wait till October for your waterfront fix. The good folks at Sculpture by the Sea are teaming up with the Barangaroo Delivery Authority for an epic new annual exhibition, Sculpture at Barangaroo. Launching on August 6, the inaugural event will feature 12 spectacular outdoor works, created by fifteen Australian artists. Six of the pieces are brand new, while the other six are existent, but have been handpicked for their suitability to the site. Best bit? It's free. Cost: Free 11. DO YOGA AT AN URBAN FARM Though Sydney is filled with some awesome yoga studios, there are very few chances for city slickin' yogis to breathe in fresh air while trying out their best crane pose. Pocket City Farms is connecting mind and body to the actual earth with outdoor yoga classes that overlook their urban farm. For those worried about the winter chill, the practice will be held in a heated pavilion overlooking the market garden, with additional heaters and clear blinds also available for the cooler mornings. Cost: From $10 12. GO WHALE WATCHING Whale watching season is upon us, and the New South Wales coast is one of the best spots in the world to catch these majestic creatures in action. From May to November, the Pacific Coast migration goes from south to north and back again as the whales seek warmer water for the winter months. While humpbacks are the most documented, you might be lucky enough to catch orcas, brydes and southern right whales as well — and all without having to step foot from dry land. From Sydney to Byron, we've put together a list of all the best spots to stake-out and catch a glimpse of the majestic sea creatures. Binoculars, hiking shoes, snacks and picnic blankets recommended. Cost: Free 13. TRY A POPCORN OLD FASHIONED Easy Eight was opened by the Mojo Record Bar crew in March 2016 and they've got one heck of a delightfully fun winter cocktail for you. Order big from the fun and frivolous cocktails list, where every drink comes with an edible garnish, hurrah! There's an apple pie cocktail (i.e. an appletini) with an adorable pie crust lid which you can pull off and dunk into your drink. But we're here for the Popcorn Old Fashioned, with popcorn-infused bourbon, maple syrup and little pieces of popcorn. It'll warm you right up. Cost: $19 14. EXPLORE HIDDEN CAVES NEAR SYDNEY Don't spend all winter sprawled on the couch enthralled by The Goonies — go out and choose your own adventure. Within a couple of hours' drive of Sydney, there are hidden caves for cooling off in, huge sandstone caves for camping in (with 50 or so of your closest mates), beachside caves for picnicking in, tunnel caves for meeting glow worms in and river caves for swimming in. In short, there's a lot of caves. Here are ten we think you should visit. Cost: Free 15. SNUGGLE UP TO SOMEONE ELSE'S DOG Dog-sharing. Yep. Read it again. Dog-sharing. Services that allow pooch owners to connect with other pooch owners to help with everyday care, pupsit for holidays, do walks and so on. It's happening. Australian service Dogshare was initially launched for dog owners only, but it's now launched a pretty damn exciting feature — a 'borrowing' feature for dog loving people in the same neighbourhood. Similar Aussie service BorrowMyPooch works on the same principle but has a subscription fee for owners and borrowers, while Pawshake is free to sign up as a sitter, but owners pay to host their pups. Cost: Free 16. BUY A SUCCULENT The gardening bug is a hard one to shake. What might start off as some Woolies parsley growing in the windowsill above the sink can quickly evolve into obsessively spraying Seasol on your asters and getting elbow-deep in dirt to dig up this month's potato harvest. By then, you'll know succulents are glorious gems to invest in during the colder months — they're hardy little blighters. Here are the ten best places to buy plants in Sydney, go pick out a nice little summery cactus. Cost: Smaller succulents can cost as little as $10 17. BRAVE THE COLD AND LISTEN TO THE STARS SING It's such a shame David Bowie's not around to see this. Sydney installation artist Michaela Gleave has come up with an app that translates constellations into musical scores so you can 'play' the stars above you. Wherever you are in the world, at anytime of night, A Galaxy of Suns can read your geolocation and plays the music it transcribes from the constellations within your view. Bundle up and get amongst the cold winter night. Cost: Free 18. FIND HIDDEN ARTWORKS IN THE CITY If you've got a hankering to see new art but have run out of vital organs to sell for travel money to Venice, there's actually quite a bit to see around the traps. You can experience a whole different cultural side to Sydney, especially in the CBD, if you know where to look. Check out our guide to some of the best public art permanently installed by the City of Sydney — you might have literally tripped over it. Cost: Free 19. GO BUSHWALKING IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS If you particularly love a solid mountain trek in winter, pull on those Blundstones. We're lucky enough to have so many great hiking tracks right in our backyard, and the best among these is arguably the Blue Mountains, but with so many trails and paths to traipse, choosing is the hard part. From easy day hikes to hardcore overnighters, the Blue Mountains have it all. Check out a few of our favourites. Cost: Free 20. GO FOR A BIG LONG BIKE RIDE Many people associate cycling in Sydney with dodging cars, battling road rage and navigating their way through complicated tangles of main roads and side streets. But it's the best way to warm up with the wind in your hair this winter, and there are oodles of dedicated (and more serene) bike paths to explore, passing through expansive parks, around tranquil lagoons and alongside stunning beaches. Whether you're still on your training wheels or prepping for the Tour de France, here are ten of Sydney's best bike routes. Cost: Free Top image: Ondrej Supitar.
Even Polyphemus the Cyclops needs sunglasses. Just because Polyphemus doesn't exist shouldn't stop us from dreaming up eyewear for him. That's what Italian artist Giuseppe Colarusso appears to be suggesting in one of the images from his ongoing series of reality-defying Improbabilita. The uniting theme of all the 50+ whacky visual concepts in this project? Unlikelihood. Sourced entirely from Colarusso's skewed yet strangely logical imagination, his bizarre inventions aim to draw a double-take from the viewer. At first glance these might be real things — until your improbability reflex kicks in. How about a set of cutlery with limp rope handles that totally negate their functionality? A sink without a plughole? Dice denuded of their dots? A hieroglyphics computer keyboard? A mix of real-life construction and Photoshopping, there are over 50 such concepts live on Colarusso's very entertaining website. Each item is easily worthy of the International Chindogu Society — chindogu being, of course, the Japanese art of the 'un-useless invention', a tradition which over the years has brought us such hilarious ingenuities as the butter gluestick. Funnily enough, like chindogu, Colarusso's surreal images more often than not raise the question of "Why doesn't this exist?" If you stop and think of the physical logistics of such a thing — for example, spaghetti in an ice cream cone — during that whimsical moment of pause before you realise why the object's existence is totally unlikely, for the briefest fraction of a second there, it's likely. Via Colossal.
Meredith is a festival where you're guaranteed to have a good time, no matter what. But whatever your reasons for heading to the three-day December festival in central Victoria, you won't be disappointed with the acts Aunty Meredith has just announced for this year's lineup. They're absolutely spiffing awesome. Superwoman and curator of all things wacky, Peaches, will be headlining the bill, bringing her extravagant live show to The Sup. Kelela will be coming all the way from Washington to kick off the after-dark vibbes on Friday night, and Geelong boys King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard will be providing that dose of psych rock every weekend at Meredith needs. BADBADNOTGOOD will be fusing jazz and electro, while Angel Olsen will be bringing all them feels and The Triffids will be there for a shot of nostalgia. And that's not even a half of it. Aunty has really covered all bases here. You're wondering how you can get tickets to this aren't you? Meredith tickets are only available by entering the ballot. You can still do so at aunty.mmf.com. Fingers crossed that we can all hang out in The Sup on December 9, 10 and 11. But we know what you're really here for. We'll cut to the chase. Here's the full lineup MEREDITH MUSIC FESTIVAL 2016 LINEUP Peaches Sheila E King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard BadBadNotGood Angel Olsen The Triffids Kelela Ben UFO Japandroids The Congos Baroness Archie Roach Jagwar Ma Mount Liberation Unlimited Fred & Toody Cole Chiara Kickdrum Cass McCombs The Goon Sax Ross Wilson CC: Disco! Cable Ties Wilson Tanner Silence Wedge The Sugarcanes Terry Judith Lucy Sheer Mag Dungen Meredith Music Festival will return to Meredith on Friday 9, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 December, 2016. Onsite camping will once again be available from Friday. To put your name in the ballot to win tickets, go to aunty.mmf.com.
It's official: the first underground section of Sydney's $16.8 billion WestConnex project is set to open this Saturday, July 13. It's starting with the new M4 Tunnels, which are planned to cut traffic on Parramatta Road by up to 20 minutes. The twin tunnels span 5.5-kilometres from Homebush to Haberfield, spanning three lanes in each direction and linking up to the already widened M4 Motorway. That distance will bypass 22 sets of traffic lights and, by 2021, is expected to reduce the overall volume on Parramatta Road by 53 percent. These tunnels have been under construction for three years and cost $3.8 billion alone, so they'll be hoping this forecast comes to fruition. It'll cost $4.27 to take the tunnels the full distance from Haberfield to Homebush (with no initial toll-free period), and $7.89 to go all the way to Parramatta along the widened M4. The road is still toll-free west of Parramatta. You can check out all the detailed costings over here. [caption id="attachment_730676" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NSW Government[/caption] Still in the works for the WestConnex project are the new M5, the M4-M5 Link Tunnels and the Rozelle Interchange — which will connect Sydney's west and southwest with the city and airport via a continuous 33-kilometre motorway. While supporters of the motorway (including NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian) see this first opening of WestConnex as a win that will cut travel time for those living in Sydney's west, the project has had heavy opposition from Sydney's inner-city communities — who see WestConnex as an environmental and infrastructural nightmare. Opponents specifically question the NSW Government's decision to invest so much into a project that encourages more cars on the road, instead of one that creates more public transport options. The project has also been seen as a threat to residential neighbourhoods, including the felling of 500 trees in Sydney Park, as reported by the SMH. For or against, it's happening in three days' time, so get ready. The WestConnex M4 Tunnels will open this Saturday, July 13 with tolls starting immediately. For more information, head to the NSW Government's website.
What sits at the heart of European storytelling? That's a question that one of Australia's must-attend film festivals has been pondering for three years. It was back in 2022 that Europa! Europa initially started showcasing the breadth of cinema from across Europe — surveying as many countries as it can fit into each annual program, and swinging from the latest to the greatest pictures from across the continent. 2025's event kicks off in February to explore that idea again. Attending Europa! Europa's opening night this year means discovering what makes a French box-office hit, for starters. A Little Something Extra, directed by comedian and actor Artus, was its nation's highest-grossing homegrown movie of 2024. When it kicks off this Australian film fest in Sydney and Melbourne on Wednesday, February 12, it'll start the celebration of cinema with a tale about jewel thief and his son at a summer camp for young adults with disability. Returning to Ritz Cinemas Randwick in Sydney for a month, running until Wednesday, March 12, Europa! Europa has compiled a roster of 44 movies from 26 countries. Accordingly, its latest program lets viewers dig into what drives filmmaking from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark and Estonia, and also Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine. Titles from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Georgia, Montenegro, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom are on the list, too. Unsurprisingly, the largest contingent comes from France. Indeed, Gallic cinema provides Europa! Europa with its centrepiece film as well — and it's an Australian premiere, with Once Upon My Mother stepping back to the 60s. The festival's headliners bring big-name talents, as well as touching documentaries to Sydney and Melbourne. In Another End from The Wait director Piero Messina, Gael García Bernal (La Máquina) plays a mourning widower exploring tech-enhanced ways of facing grief, with Renate Reinsve (Presumed Innocent) and Bérénice Bejo (Under Paris) co-starring. The Dardenne brothers (Tori and Lokita) co-produce the Belgian tennis academy-set Julie Keeps Quiet, while Sweden's 2025 Oscar submission The Last Journey hails from Swedish journalists and TV hosts Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson, and focuses on a trip to France with the former's father. Still on familiar faces, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Academy Award-nominee Maria Bakalova (The Apprentice) leads the satirical Triumph, French standouts Daniel Auteuil (An Ordinary Case) and Sandrine Kiberlain (November) get farcical in Love Boat, and Mélanie Laurent (Freedom) and Guillaume Canet (All-Time High) portray Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI in their final days in The Flood. Other highlights from the fest's slate of new titles include Spain's I Am Nevenka, about an IRL MeToo case; U Are the Universe, a Ukranian sci-fil film made during the current war; the Sundance-premiering Sebastian, about a writer who is also a sex worker; Anywhere, Anytime, a modernisation of Italian masterpiece Bicycle Thieves; and Loveable, from the producer of The Worst Person in the World — and the list goes on. Europa! Europa's annual retrospectives keep proving a drawcard, too. After shining the spotlight on Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness director Yorgos Lanthimos in 2024, the festival is jumping back into French film history by heroing the iconic François Truffaut. Four of the French New Wave filmmaker's movies are on the lineup, all showing as new 4K restorations: Shoot the Piano Player, The Soft Skin, Two English Girls and Finally, Sunday!.
How does anything compete with Mrs Macquaries Point's stunning view of Sydney Harbour, the city, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge? By placing a 350-square-metre cinema screen at the scenic spot every summer, and filling it with an impressive array of new, recent and classic movies. That's the Westpac Openair Cinema setup, aka a Sydney institution — and it returns from Sunday, January 8—Tuesday, February 21, 2023. This summer's season will open with Steven Spielberg's new flick The Fabelmans, and there's a hefty list of movies to follow. Also on the lineup: the cinema-focused Empire of Light, the Cate Blanchett-starring Tár, #MeToo drama She Said, the Emma Thompson-led Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, and The Lost King with Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan. And, there's also culinary thriller The Menu, bleak Irish comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody and certain blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water, as well as stunning volcanologist documentary Fire of Love, the Emily Brontë-focused Emily, saucy threequel Magic Mike's Last Dance and rom-com What's Love Got to Do With It. Throw in Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling, 2022 Palme d'Or-winner comedy Triangle of Sadness, haute-couture comedy Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, and sessions of classics like Titanic, the OG Top Gun, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown and Cinema Paradiso as well, and the Westpac Openair Cinema bill is clearly stacked. All of those titles are joined by the Australian premiere of Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, aka the film that's bringing Brendan Fraser back into the spotlight; a preview of Guy Ritchie's Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre; Damien Chazelle's starry and jazzy Babylon; and the Bill Nighy-starring Living. Movie buffs will also score another chance to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Bullet Train, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Top Gun: Maverick, Ticket to Paradise and Elvis, plus Jodie Comer-starring NT Live production Prima Facie. And, in a special collaboration, viewers will be treated to a session of artist Wu Tsang's Moby Dick; or, The Whale thanks to Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It'll play with a will be live score, levelling up an already special way to see a movie. Kitchen by Mike's Mike McEnearney will be behind the event's food range just like in 2022 — and booking your movie tickets ASAP is recommended. Across the summer of 2018–19, more than 40,000 tickets sold within the first two days of pre-sale. So, put 9am AEDT on Monday, December 12 in your diary ASAP, or Wednesday, December 7–Friday, December 9 for pre-sales if you're a Westpac customer. [caption id="attachment_880098" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrew Maccoll[/caption] Images: Fiora Sacco
Whether you are a south coast local or a city slicker who needs a quick getaway to paradise, the Huskisson Hotel is the place to be this summer. Situated right on the sandy shores of Jervis Bay, the Husky Pub is a much-loved institution. And if you are looking for an excuse to plan a pub visit, we've got some good news. Veuve Clicquot is taking over the Huskisson Hotel lawn to bring a touch of luxury to that enviable laid-back coastal lifestyle. Until the end of February, you can relax on a deck chair under a bright yellow Veuve umbrella and enjoy sweeping ocean views while sipping on quality bubbly. A cheeky glass of Veuve Clicquot will set you back $30, or you can splash out on a full bottle for $140 — you're on holidays, after all. Pair your bubbles with some top-notch snack from the bar menu — think, freshly shucked oysters topped with wakame and Japanese dressing, tiger prawns with caper lime aioli or a charcuterie grazing board. Veuve Clicquot in the Sun x Huskisson Hotel is running until Monday, February 28. To make a booking, head to Husky Pub's website.
They may have proved a hit overseas, but here in Australia, dockless share bikes aren't about to win any popularity contests — at least not from the authorities. After making news for clogging up footpaths, sitting wedged up trees and being pulled out of waterways, the bikes are coming under some new rules in Melbourne. The City of Yarra, City of Port Phillip and City of Melbourne councils have signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding with one of the main companies, Singapore's oBike, in an attempt to address the problems these rogue bikes have brought to Melbourne. The new rules seem pretty straightforward, specifying oBikes must be parked upright, aren't allowed to block footpaths and have to be removed from any dangerous locations within two hours. Though with no more than ten oBike employees on the ground overseeing these three council areas, sticking to the rules won't necessarily be easy. Currently, the councils impound any rogue bikes for 14 days, before they're destroyed and turned into scrap metal, with oBike stuck with a $50 fee to reclaim each bike. According to Melbourne City Councillor Nicolas Frances Gilley, the share bike crackdown is about keeping Melbourne's streets safe. "At City of Melbourne, we are continually looking at ways to promote cycling and make it easier for people to use bikes," he said. "But the safety of all city users shouldn't be compromised in the process." It will be interesting to see if these new restrictions make a noticeable change to the way oBikes are managed, and if Sydney follows suit with both its bike sharing services, oBike and Reddy Go.
What's more terrifying: knowing that death is inevitable, because our fragile flesh will fail us all eventually and inescapably, or accepting that little we ever sense can truly be trusted given that everything in life changes and evolves? In horror movies, both notions stalk through the genre like whichever slasher/killer/malevolent force any filmmaker feels like conjuring up in any particular flick — and in You Won't Be Alone, the two ideas shudder through one helluva feature debut by Macedonian Australian writer/director Goran Stolevski. An expiration date isn't just a certainty within this film's frames. It's part of a non-stop cycle that sees transformation as just as much of a constant. You Won't Be Alone is a poetically shot, persistently potent picture about witches but, as the best unsettling movies are, it's also about so much that thrums through the existence we all know. Viewers mightn't be living two centuries back and dancing with a sorceress, but they should still feel the film's truths in their bones. First, however, a comparison. Sometimes a resemblance is so obvious that it simply has to be uttered and acknowledged, and that's the case here. Stolevski's film, the first of two by him in 2022 — MIFF's opening-night pick Of an Age is the other — boasts lyrical visuals, especially of nature, that instantly bring the famously rhapsodic aesthetics favoured by Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life, A Hidden Life) to mind. Its musings on the nature of life, and human nature as well, easily do the same. Set long ago, lingering in villages wracked by superstition and exploring a myth about a witch, You Won't Be Alone conjures up thoughts of Robert Eggers' The Witch, too. Indeed, if Malick had directed that recent favourite, the end product might've come close to this entrancing effort. Consider Stolevski's feature the result of dreams conjured up with those two touchstones in his head, though, rather than an imitator. The place: Macedonia. The time: the 19th century. The focus: a baby chosen by the Wolf-Eateress (Anamaria Marinca, The Old Guard) to be her offsider. Actually, that's not the real beginning of anyone's tale here in the broader scheme of things — and this is a movie that understands that all of life feeds into an ongoing bigger picture, as it always has and always will — but the infant's plight is as good an entry point as any. The child's distraught mother Yoana (Kamka Tocinovski, Angels Fallen) pleads for any other result than losing her newborn. You Won't Be Alone's feared figure has the ability to select one protege, then to bestow them with her otherworldly skills, and she's determined to secure her pick. That said, she does agree to a bargain. She'll let the little one reach the age of 16 first, but Old Maid Maria, as the Wolf-Eateress is also known, won't forget to claim her prize when the years pass. Nevena (Sara Klimoska, Black Sun) lives out that formative period in a cave, in her mum's attempt to stave off her fate — and with all that resides beyond her hiding spot's walls glimpsed only through a hole up high. Then the Wolf-Eateress comes calling, as she promised she would. From there, Nevena's initiation into the world — of humans, and of her physically and emotionally scarred mentor — is unsurprisingly jarring. Her transition from the care and protection of her "whisper-mama" to the kill-to-survive ruthlessness of her new "witch-mama" disappoints the latter, soon leaving the girl on her own. Still, the need to hunt, devour and mutate has already taken hold, even if Nevena is left fending for herself as she shapeshifts between animals and other humans, after extracting their innards and stuffing them into her own body first. With Noomi Rapace (Lamb), Alice Englert (The Power of the Dog) and Carloto Cotta (The Tsugua Diaries) also among the cast, You Won't Be Alone turns Nevena's curiosity-driven experiences of life, love, loss, identity, desire, pain, envy and power into an unforgettable, mesmerising and thoughtful gothic horror fable — charting switches and the stories that come with them with each metamorphosis. In her first new human guise, Nevena may as well be a newborn again; the families and communities she enters, assuming their members' forms, think her behaviour is strange to say the least even when she's been through the process a few times. But every incarnation teaches the young woman plenty, including that existence and its happinesses are oh-so fleeting, precarious, tenuous and precious. The more years that Nevena spends among the living, the more that the bitter Maria is dismayed, as she returns periodically to stress (and because completely leaving the child she took as her own isn't ever straightforward.) Stolevski doesn't let hurt and cruelty subside from You Won't Be Alone, especially as it ponders the way that women — be they mothers, daughters, spinsters desperate for children, ageing figures considered past their prime or anything in-between — are and have been so savagely treated in a patriarchal world. Suffering and fear dwell in the feature's intimate frames, which rove and roam, and also survey nature's horrors (as well as its splendours) as devotedly as they follow its central figure. Cinematographer Matthew Chuang adds the handheld camerawork here to his also immersive and expressive work in Blue Bayou, not only sweeping the audience on a witchy and whispery journey, but making them sense the film's emotions deeply. A repeated refrain, alongside that contrast between stark agonies and gorgeous sights, says everything about the movie, however: "it's a burning, breaking thing, this world; a biting, wretching thing. And yet... and yet...". Unnerving flicks, whether gruesomely carving up a body count like fellow 2022 release X or contemplating a plethora of weighty themes as Nope does, also pulsate with another truth: that life isn't something to lose or squander lightly. You Won't Be Alone emphasises that fact, and the yearning for connection that simmers within us all — recognising that being alive can mean blood, terror and tragedy, but also hope, beauty, affection, soul-changing bonds and even just delighting in the smallest of wonders. Cycling through its cast given the premise, the film's performances soar beyond the last category with their impressive and pivotal physicality, although it's You Won't Be Alone's ethereal mood, energy, understanding and reflection that hang powerfully and poignantly in the air. Take the title literally for many reasons, and because of one pivotal outcome: you won't be alone in being haunted by this meditation on what it means to live. To say that it is bewitching is obvious, too, but also accurate.
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.
Before the Titanic collided with an iceberg, became one of modern history's most famous tragedies and inspired one of cinema's biggest box-office hits, a different cross-Atlantic liner sailed into chaos. So says Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, with the German pair's new — and wholly fictional — Netflix series 1899 taking place onboard the steamship Kerberos 13 years before the sinking that everyone knows about. This vessel is travelling from England to America with 1400 crew and passengers, filling everywhere from stately rooms to jam-packed halls, when it receives word of a missing craft. Owned by the same company, the Prometheus took the same route four months prior, and was thought to have disappeared without a trace until that distress signal beckons. Friese and bo Odar love a mystery, and 1899 has a hefty one right from the outset. Friese and bo Odar also love making labyrinthine puzzle-box shows that keep dropping clues, twists, and philosophical ideas about the meaning and point of existence in aid of the bigger picture — aka an approach that made their 2017–20 German-language effort Dark such a massive and deserving success. Over its three-season run, that series probed fate and destiny in a woodland town, not only diving into its residents' deepest secrets but charting the looping consequences backwards and forwards in time. Friese and bo Odar love grand ambitions as well, clearly, and Dark didn't just have them but fulfilled them, proving one of Netflix's best originals yet. How do the TV-making duo — Friese writes and co-writes, bo Odar directs and they both produce — ensure that sparks ignite twice? By diving even deeper into their favourite themes, tactics and flourishes, all in a series that couldn't spring from anyone else. If anyone familiar with Dark started watching 1899 without knowing their shared origins, they'd guess immediately. Everyone unacquainted with the former should end the latter desperate to seek it out ASAP. The one sizeable departure: inconsistent pacing, with 1899's first four season-one episodes glacial in setting the scene, and its last four busy to pack in as many revelations as possible. Still, taking the voyage comes with a boatload of thrills, suspense and intrigue; if Dark met Titanic, Snowpiercer, Black Mirror and Lost, and showed a ship's worth of love for the Alien franchise, it still wouldn't be close enough. Extra-terrestrials aren't the answer to this sci-fi/horror/mystery series, but the first Alien film started in the exact same way as 1899. Cue an unexpected transmission interrupting a trip, the crew committing to investigate, a derelict ship awaiting and a surprise making its way over from the abandoned vessel. Back on the Kerberos, like the Nostromo before it, cue crawling through passageways in search of answers, away from threats and to escape the discontent festering in the craft. In more than just the name of its other key ship, 1899 nods to the Alien saga's Prometheus as well — and for fans of the iconic Ridley Scott-created big-screen series, spotting the references adds a whole other game to a show that already has viewers sleuthing from the outset. Chasing clues is a prime pastime on the Kerberos, too — 1899's two ships draw their monikers from myth, aptly — with everyone from doctors, captains and sudden interlopers to enigmatic children and relocating Europeans trying to solve the show's puzzles. Chief among them are Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham, The Pursuit of Love), a rare female medical practitioner at the time; Kerberos' leader Eyk Larsen (Dark alum Andreas Pietschmann); and Daniel Solace (Aneurin Barnard, The Goldfinch), who climbs aboard while everyone's focusing on the Prometheus. As well as being perplexed by their situation, Maura and Eyk are haunted by their respective pasts; her brother is missing and her father (Anton Lesser, Andor) provides a firm presence in her dreams, while the captain can't stop thinking about, and believing he's seeing, the family he lost in a heartbreaking fashion. Traumatic histories are a common thread among the other passengers, too, as 1899 explores by beginning its early episodes honing in on a different character. Also onboard: Spaniards Ángel (Miguel Bernardeau, Everything Else) and Ramiro (José Pimentão, Teorias da Conspiração), one flouting wealth and the other posing as a priest; Ling Yi (newcomer Isabella Wei), who dresses like a geisha but speaks Cantonese with her travelling companion Yuk Je (Gabby Wong, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story); and Virginia Wilson (Rosalie Craig, The Queen's Gambit), who has more than a passing interest in the ship's Asian commuters. Then there's French couple Clémence (Mathilde Ollivier, A Call to Spy) and Lucien (Jonas Bloquet, Marie Antoinette), newlyweds hardly in the throes of marital bliss; stowaway Jérôme (Yann Gael, Saloum) and stoker Olek (Maciej Musial, The Witcher), found among the vessel's bottom levels; and a Danish family that includes religious fanatic Iben (Maria Erwolter, Outlaw), her husband Anker (Alexandre Willaume, The Wheel of Time), their pregnant daughter Tove (Clara Rosager, Morbius), scarred son Krester (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen, Borgen) and youngest child Ada (Vida Sjørslev, Carmen Curlers). And, thanks to the Prometheus, there's a mute boy (Fflyn Edwards, The Snow Spider) as well. With Friese and bo Odar pulling the strings, Dark and now 1899 instantly grab attention with their riddles, nightmarishly brooding mood and — as one series put right there in its name — their willingness to get and stay dark. Throw in the pair's penchant for existential musings, trippy setups and premise-shattering revelations, and both shows are catnip for mystery lovers. This one sports a heavy eat-the-rich vibe as well (although nowhere near as strong as 2022's also ship-set Cannes Palme d'Or-winner Triangle of Sadness), and contemplates how the unwanted turns that everyones' lives take shape our future choices and selves. With a moniker from the past, 1899 understands that no one can ever truly evade theirs, with our own personal histories causing not just ripples but waves and tsunamis. Friese and bo Odar have another crucial skill, however: casting. 1899 features an international collection of characters, each speaking their own tongue, all adding to the show's exploration of immigration and played by a stellar lineup of actors. The series has its on-screen talent act against a virtual studio, with special effects-created sets and locations made during the shoot — crafting 1899's effects in-camera, rather than afterwards — and the resonant performances that result bear the benefits. A Cannes Best Actress Award-winner for 2019's excellent Little Joe, Beecham is always potent to watch, but alongside fellow leads Pietschmann and Barnard she helps ensure that this mind-bender is as emotional as it is cerebral. All aboard, obviously. Check out the trailer for 1899 below: 1899 streams via Netflix.
Some would say it's a waste of a perfectly good piano, but what Canadian artist Maskull Lasserre does to wood is worth every unused inch. Lassere explores the unexpected potential of the everyday, unassuming wooden object, and with his exceptional carving skills, transforms them into incredible works of art. He reveals strange creatures and skeletons that seems to have been fossilised inside common inanimate objects such as pianos, doors, books or axes. The artist says his work is a demonstration of how once something ceases to be, it becomes something else: "When the remnants of life are imposed on an object, and that’s true especially with the carving work that I do, it infers a past history or a previous life that had been lived, so again where people see my work as macabre, I often see it as hopeful, as the remnants of a life. Despite the fact that the life has ended, at least that life had a beginning and middle as well, so often by imparting these bodily elements to inanimate objects it reclaims or reanimates them in a virtual way." Yes, his name is Maskull Lasserre. What a dude. via Viral Nova explore the unexpected potential of the everyday
Upmarket hospitality precinct Wunderlich Lane has quickly transformed part of Redfern with top-notch restaurants, bars, retailers and wellness spaces since it opened in July last year. This June, the vibes after-dark will reach fever-pitch, as NightShift takes over for a week-long festival that celebrates the winter solstice through feasting, live music, art and more. Presented from Monday, June 16–Sunday, June 22, the precinct's first major winter event will feature a myriad of immersive installations, surprising culinary collaborations, roving performances and even a noodle-fuelled rave. Set against the glow of the winter moon, you and all your pals might just let out a howl of anticipation after checking out the schedule, as this late-night affair offers an abundance of once-off experiences. On opening night at 6.30pm, Olympus hosts the NightShift Greek Feast Launch Party, serving a playful spread beneath its oculus, inspired by ancient Hellenic feasts. Book out an entire table for ten of your friends, as this plentiful sit-down banquet sees tables adorned with flowers by Doctor Cooper, roving art performances between courses, and hypnotic instrumental sets by GODTET. On Tuesday, June 17, much-loved music brainiacs Myf Warhurst and Zan Rowe take over Baptist Street Rec Club for 'The Best Music Quiz Ever'. Joined by Love Police's James Bellesini on the decks, now is the perfect time for your music-loving crew to put their heads together alongside a round of disco cocktails. Then, S'WICH and Regina La Pizzeria will join forces for the 'After-Work Pizzetta Party' from Wednesday, June 18—Thursday, June 19, slinging a limited-release pizzetta sandwich against the vinyl deep cuts of Barney Kato and Adi Toohey. Looking further ahead, Island Radio hosts a 'Noodle Rave with JNETT' on Saturday, June 21. On the eve of the year's longest night, this six-hour session features abundant noodles, lasers, booming beats and pure rave energy. On the same night, R by Raita Noda presents 'The Whole Fish', where the namesake Japanese master is joined by his son Momotaro to break down an entire tuna as part of an atmospheric live sushi demonstration. With numerous other events to explore throughout the week, this moonlit showcase captures what makes Wunderlich Lane such a dynamic addition to the city's scene. "NightShift is a celebration of Sydney's after-dark magic — community-driven, immersive, and a tribute to the wonder of the longest night of the year," says Jacob Rolls, Executive General Manager at Toga Hospitality. "It brings together the very best of Wunderlich Lane: collaboration, culture and a love of the unconventional. There's a little mischief in it too — just as there should be when the nights run long." NightShift is happening Monday, June 16–Sunday, June 22 at Wunderlich Lane. Head to the website for ticketing information, specific event details and more.
For the past 26 years, the suburb of Glebe has been hitching up its harbour-lined skirts for a party every November, and so have all the locals. The reason behind the party? Why, to celebrate itself of course! Stretching for a kilometer down the main drag, the Glebe Street Fair has a circus theme this year, prompting many high-falutin' ideas of acrobats and clowns and a pervasive sense of playfulness. What more does one want on a Sunday? Certainly, more than 100,000 people were lured in by the fair's sights and sounds last year. One of the longest-running annual community events in Sydney, this year's fair will incorporate over 200 stalls that make up the much loved weekly markets, plus delicious food stalls, rides for children and all manner of carnival-inspired activities. Sounds like that's the humans taken care of but what of the Glebe pooches? Funny you should ask, because the fair also doubles as Glebe Dogs Day Out. While the Glebe cats will be sleeping it off at home, the suburb's pups are invited to enter a canine Olympics or if they look better in heels than sneakers, try their luck in one of the "Doggie Fashion" events. Just a heads-up: I saw a dog, a poodle no less, wearing a polo t-shirt and jeans (jeans!) on Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD last year. Too casual I say, go with a nice tutu instead.For those who think dressing up animals is for the slightly disturbed, head or be lead by a roving troubadour gang, to the Arguer's stage where you can get on your figurative soapbox and have a bit of a whinge or perhaps stir the crowd with the your hypothetical Logies speech (what, you've never written one?). I'm kinda tired just thinking about where to start. Safe bet is the baby animal farm in Foley Park.
Following the closure of its original location in October of 2023, SOUL Dining has finally reopened in a new site with its familiar elegant charm. You'll now find the brainchild of Daero Lee and Illa Kim serving up its sophisticated Korean eats on Carrington Street in the heart of the CBD. Previously residing in Surry Hills, the original eatery opened in 2018 to serve modern Korean cuisine, fostering plenty of adoring fans while opening a series of sibling restaurants in Bar SOUL and SOUL Deli. Now residing in a brand-new location right by Wynyard Station, SOUL Dining has returned with an abundance of tasty dishes for you to try. "We are thrilled to embark on this exciting new chapter at Wynyard and continue our mission of showcasing the best of Korean cuisine in a contemporary setting," said Executive Chef and Owner Daero Lee. The Carrington Street outpost dons its familiar dark ambience, maintaining its signature blue and charcoal theme splashed across its interiors, paired with velvet seating and gold accents. Whether you're in for an intimate date night or a classy night out, SOUL Dining's newest outpost provides the perfect setting. SOUL Dining's menu still features its original ethos, starring traditional Korean flavours and dishes through the team's unique lens. There's plenty to dig into on the menu, from Korean staples to desserts inspired by nostalgic sweets reminiscent of Lee and Kim's childhood. Returning menu highlights include the kingfish in kimchi water, while there are new items to discover on the refreshed menu like the scallop bori-bap — a common Korean rice dish with vegetables and soybean paste. The drinks selection has also undergone a revamp, with Head Sommelier Liz Dodd bringing experience from Altitude Restaurant at the Shangri-La Hotel to create an exciting new wine list. Plus, the cocktails menu still features the much-loved Melona and Sesame Sour. You'll find SOUL Dining's newly reopened eatery at 50 Carrington Street, Sydney — open for lunch and dinner Monday–Saturday. Head to the restaurant's website to make a booking or for more info.
Semi-anonymous street artist JR has won the 2011 TED Award (we highly suggest listening to him speak here), and is appealing to you, the public, to help him turn the world inside out using street art as a medium for social and political change. Appreciating that the world is sometimes an ugly, always volatile place, JR believes in the power of the public — 'the curators', who walk past his iconic images on a daily basis — as a vehicle for worldwide upheaval. For JR, "that is where we realise the power of paper and glue." JR's mission is simple, and it's based on his existing body of work — "we didn't push the limit, we just showed that it was further than anyone thought." Now, JR is asking you to explore the boundaries of limit in order to imprint your better world upon the flawed one we already have. While the artist doesn't believe that art can change the world in a tangible sense, he holds firmly to the philosophy that art can be harnessed to change perceptions. The Inside-Out project urges you to "stand up for what you care about, by participating in a global art project... Because when we act together, the whole thing is more than the sum of its parts." Inside-Out asks participants to have their photo taken in this travelling booth (rumoured to hit New York next), or upload their picture to the projects website. JR's team will then mail you a giant poster that you'll paste up within your community. Both the romanticism and the practicality of the Inside-Out project is inspiring, with a certain poignancy bred from the physical joining together of people from across the world for a common cause.
It wasn't simply debuting during the pandemic's first year, in a life-changing period when everyone was doing it tough, that made Ted Lasso's first season a hit in 2020. It wasn't just the Apple TV+ sitcom's unshakeable warmth, giving its characters and viewers alike a big warm hug episode after episode, either. Both play a key part, however, because this Jason Sudeikis (Saturday Night Live)-starring soccer series is about everyone pitching in and playing a part. It's a team endeavour that champions team endeavours — hailing from a quartet of creators (Sudeikis, co-star Brendan Hunt, Detroiters' Joe Kelly and Scrubs' Bill Lawrence), boasting a killer cast in both major and supporting roles, and understanding how important it is to support one another on- and off-screen (plus in the fictional world that the show has created, and while making that realm so beloved with audiences). Ted Lasso has always believed in the individual players as well as the team they're in, though. It is named after its eponymous American football coach-turned-inexperienced soccer manager, after all. But in building an entire sitcom around a character that started as a sketch in two popular US television ads for NBC's Premier League coverage — around two characters, because Hunt's (Bless This Mess) laconic Coach Beard began in those commercials as well — Ted Lasso has always understood that everyone is only a fraction of who they can be when they're alone. That's an idea that keeps gathering momentum in the show's long-awaited third season, which premieres the first of its 12 episodes on Wednesday, March 15, then keeps rolling out more week by week. Season three starts with Ted left solo when he desperately doesn't want to be, in one of the rare situations that can cut through the Kansan-in-London's usually unflappable optimism. Season two helped unpack his perennially upbeat ways, and started to see fractures, so a less-than-chipper Ted is no longer a complete surprise. But Ted questioning why he's on the other side of the world, and alone away from his son Henry (Gus Turner, Life After Life) and now-former wife Michelle (Andrea Anders, That '90s Show)? That's how Ted Lasso's third season kicks off, and it scores a goal with that choice. The series has already established that its various figures — Ted, Beard and the AFC Richmond crew they joined when owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham, Hocus Pocus 2) brought them to the UK initially to tank her ex-husband's beloved club — can work as a team. Now it's going deep on why they want to. "I guess I do sometimes wonder what the heck I'm still doing here," says Ted. "I mean, I know why I came, but it's the sticking around I can't quite figure out," he continues. That's a new core thread, and a notion that echoes across other plots. After becoming West Ham United's manager under Rebecca's ex Rupert Mannion (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Anthony Stewart Head), the Greyhounds' former assistant Nathan 'Nate' Shelley (Nick Mohammed, Intelligence) is thrilled and overwhelmed — and happy to keep his nasty streak going publicly, while also grappling with it privately. He knows why he joined a different team, as everyone who has seen the past two seasons does. But, as showdowns with his old club and mentor keep bubbling up, that isn't the same as knowing why he should commit to being Rupert's version of himself to stay with that team. Season three also has delightfully grumpy retired player Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein, Uncle) leaning into his coaching role at Richmond in Nate's absence, and face why he's doing it, including pushing him closer towards star striker Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster, The Devil's Hour). He has time, after his relationship with Keeley Jones (Juno Temple, The Offer) — now an ex to both Roy and Jamie — ended in season two, while she's exploring why she was so eager to start her own PR film. As for Jamie, his arc since episode one has been one of cockiness humbled by stark truths, then finding a sustainable status quo. When a new hotshot arrives, he also has to confront why he's part of the team and what he wants that to mean. As celebrated as Ted Lasso's entire cast is, with two acting Emmys for Sudeikis and Goldstein in two seasons, one for Waddingham, and nominations for Hunt, Temple, Mohammed, Jeremy Swift, Toheeb Jimoh, Sarah Niles and more, Dunster's performance deserves more notice. What will all this questioning lead to in season three? Ideally, to happier, kinder people who understand themselves better — Ted's ultimate goal always, ranking high above winning. But with Richmond back in the Premier League, Britain's football media predicting it'll be relegated again when the season is out, Rupert securing West Ham's success however he can and Rebecca desperate not to lose to the man she's already lost plenty to, winning matters more than it ever has in Ted Lasso. So, whether everyone will benefit from that journey, why they're taking it, what it'll cost and what it'll mean for the show's various teams sits at the heart of the season. Of course, as every TV viewer knows, a lot can happen in a season. Every sports fan, and anyone who has ever just watched a sports-themed TV show or movie, is well-aware, too. Higher stakes, deeper emotional dives: that's the first four episodes of Ted Lasso season three, across longer episodes that clock in between 40–50 minutes apiece. As the second season did, this go-around also broadens who it spends time with, giving Richmond players Colin Hughes (Billy Harris, The Outlaws) and Thierry Zoreaux (Moe Jeudy-Lamour, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan) a bigger spotlight as Sam Obisanya (Jimoh, The French Dispatch) and Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernandez, Spider-Man: No Way Home) gained before them. There's that team focus again, so much so that Ted Lasso can't stop filling the field. Beard and Higgins (Swift, Housebound), the club's Director of Football Operations, still have Ted's back, and Dr Sharon Fieldstone (Niles, The Sandman) remains a call away. No Ted Lasso devotee wants to start thinking about its end game, but its creators have; a three-season arc has been discussed. Unlike Succession and Barry, a finish to the acclaimed hit hasn't been announced going into this new round of episodes — but as the series ponders why Ted and company have chosen their teams, what keeps them there, and what makes them better by being there, a feeling of change lingers in the air. Everything that's always made Ted Lasso a delight remains in season three, including its sincerity, warmth and care, determination to see both the joys and the struggles, and the pitch-perfect performances. Also, every season of the series has always started with new beginnings of a sort. If this one concludes the way it kicks off, though — whether or not there's a season four — then it looks set to embrace why teams achieve, fail, find success out of mess, are stronger together, but can only win when everyone does. Check out the trailer for Ted Lasso's third season below: Season three of Ted Lasso starts streaming via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, March 15. Read our full review of season two.
To Valhalla, George Miller went: when Mad Max: Fury Road thundered across and shone upon the silver screen in 2015, and it did both, it gave cinema one of the greatest action movies ever made. It has taken nine years for the Australian filmmaker to back up one of the 21st century's masterpieces with another stunt-filled drive through his dystopian franchise — a realm that now dates back 45 years, with Mad Max first envisaging a hellscape Down Under in 1979 — and he's achieved the immensely enviable. Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga's white-hued, silver-lipped war boys pray to gain entry to a mythological dreamscape just once, but Miller keeps returning again and again (only 1985's Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, in a now five-film series that also includes 1981's Mad Max 2, is anything less than heavenly). "The question is: do you have what it takes to make it epic?" Miller has Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Love and Thunder) ask in Furiosa as biker-horde leader Dementus, he of the post-apocalyptic Thor-meets-Roman gladiator look and chariot-by-motorcycle mode of transport. Returning to all things Mad Max after an affecting detour to 2022's djinn fable Three Thousand Years of Longing, the writer/director might've been posing himself the same query — and he resoundingly answers in the affirmative. An origin story-spinning prequel has rarely felt as essential as this unearthing of its namesake's history, which Fury Road hinted at when it introduced Furiosa (then played by Charlize Theron, Fast X) and made her the movie's hero above and beyond Mad Max (Tom Hardy, Venom: Let There Be Carnage). Discovering the full Furiosa tale felt imperative then, too, and with good reason: Miller had already planned the figure's own film to flesh out her background before her celluloid debut, and that she existed well past her interactions with Max was always as apparent as the steely glare that said everything without words. Now with both Anya Taylor-Joy (The Super Mario Bros Movie) and Alyla Browne (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) playing the lead, Furiosa is an act of seeing how sands shift. Time, terrors and tragedy sweep through Furiosa's life, moulding her into Fury Road's formidable figure — and the grains blasted around by the years, and the trials and tribulations, assist with the shaping. As exceptional as Theron was, owning her time in the role and the film that she was in, Miller was smart to recast with Taylor-Joy rather than deploying digital de-ageing. His new Furiosa doesn't mimic her predecessor, but evolves into her take on the character, including via fierce and anxious eye emoting beneath slicks of grease in a frequently wordless performance. Browne is also excellent, and equally as determined. Furiosa has chosen all of its key talents wisely; in a showcase turn, Hemsworth peacocks and drips evil like he's never had so much fun on screen, while Tom Burke (Living) is commandingly stoic as Praetorian Jack, a war rig pilot and a thoughtful mentor. When Browne begins the film as Furiosa, The Green Place of Many Mothers and the Vuvalini, its matriarchal custodians, are the character's safe haven and guiding forces — blissfully so. But she's resourceful, knowing to sever the fuel line on the bike of roving scavengers to stop them from finding her home. The girl that audiences already know will become an Imperator under The Citadel warlord Immortan Joe (Three Thousand Years of Longing's Lachy Hulme, taking over from the now-late Hugh Keays-Byrne) — and will then secret away his captive wives, each treated as little more than human breeding stock — can't stop the raiders from snatching her up, however. Their hope: impressing the volatile Dementus, who rides across the desert with a teddy bear strapped to him, with living proof that more than the wasteland's dust and savagery exists. Furiosa's world-building first hour spends its time with its protagonist as a plucky pre-teen trying to escape back to her mother Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser, Anyone But You) — who is in swift pursuit — and then internalising the trauma of becoming her captor's adoptee as he plots dominance guided by sheer arrogance, entitlement, cruelty and buffoonery (Hemsworth wears his bluster as well as he does red capes, which he amusingly isn't done with in this move away from Marvel). She's still a girl when Dementus and his gang arrive at The Citadel, where she's traded into Immortan Joe's care. Fifteen years pass in Miller and Fury Road co-scribe Nick Lathouris' new narrative, but Taylor-Joy's step into Furiosa's shoes leaves the character no less enterprising and consumed by anger at a world where everything that she loves has been taken from her. Max Rockatansky was a vigilante, after all — and, as shot in Australia for the first time since Beyond Thunderdome, Miller is still making a vengeance story here. "We are the already dead, Little D, you and me," Dementus will tell Furiosa later. This remains a movie where speeding along dirt roads in the vehicular equivalents of Frankenstein's monster — tinkered together road trains ferrying arms from the Bullet Farm and petrol from Gas Town — is an eye-popping high-octane spectacle, but it's also one where pain, grief and, yes, fury run deep. With Aussie accents everywhere, and a sunburnt country that's inching closer to reflecting reality every day baking parched sights into the Simon Duggan (Disenchanted)-lensed frames, Furiosa doesn't forget that it's in a franchise about ecocide, what humanity robs from itself by committing it and what it takes to endure afterwards. Fury Road didn't, either, but by adding more room between the on-the-road chaos, its prequel buzzes and thrums with the urgency and immediacy of survival, and also lets the weight of Furiosa's plight land. With Oscar-winning editor Margaret Sixel (Happy Feet) and costume designer Jenny Beavan (Cruella) both back — the first working with Eliot Knapman (a second assistant editor last time) and whipping up action sequences as frenetic as ever, the second in vintage form — Miller has top-notch help etching stunning sights into cinema history again. Although Furiosa isn't just one long pedal-to-the-metal display, it's still filled with them. A mid-movie 15-minute setpiece is as tremendous as Mad Max flicks get. While CGI leaves bigger tyre marks this time, there's an apt air to the glossier look versus Fury Road's lived-in aesthetics, reflecting Furiosa's journey. The wasteland and its horrors greet her afresh in this film, but they're as caked on as mud when she's an Imperator. It also feels fitting that Furiosa arrives, finally, in a year that sand has already stretched across screens as far as could be seen in Dune: Part Two, and also revenge has fuelled Love Lies Bleeding and Monkey Man and Boy Kills World. Making the vast, primal and eternal feel vivid and shiny and new keeps proving Miller's 00s-era Mad Max wheelhouse — and what a treat, what a lovely treat, it makes for viewers.
Every December, the Geminids meteor shower lights up our skies. Considered to be the most spectacular meteor shower of the year, it's caused by a stream of debris, left by an asteroid dubbed the 3200 Phaethon, burning up in Earth's atmosphere. The shower is expected to be visible from around 10.30pm in Sydney, 11pm in Melbourne, 10pm in Perth and 9pm in Brisbane on Saturday, December 14 through to the early morning on Sunday, December 15. The best time to catch an eyeful will be after midnight, when the moon has set and its light will not interfere, and before sunrise. While some years you could catch as many as 120 meteors every 60 minutes, this year, unfortunately, there's almost a full moon (a waning gibbous), which will make it harder to see as many. [caption id="attachment_699423" align="alignnone" width="1920"] NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, Jeff Dai.[/caption] But the Sydney Observatory says it's "still worth a try". So, get as far away from bright lights as possible — this could be a good excuse to head out of the city to a clear-skied camping spot — and pray for no clouds. To see the meteors, you'll need to give your eyes around 15–30 minutes to adapt to the dark (so try to avoid checking your phone) and look to the northeast. The shower's name comes from the constellation from which they appear to come, Gemini. So that's what you'll be looking for in the sky. To locate Gemini, we recommend downloading the Sky Map app — it's the easiest way to navigate the night sky (and is a lot of fun to use even on a non-meteor shower night). If you're more into specifics, Time and Date also has a table that shows the direction and altitude of the Geminids. The Geminids meteor shower will take place during the night on Saturday, December 14. Top image: A composite of 163 photos taken over 90 minutes during the Geminids by Jeff Smallwood for Flickr.
With over six decades under its belt, Surry Hills' The Forresters has quite the watering hole history. While the Foveaux Street site has housed a pub since the 1950s, in recent years you'd be more familiar with its $10 steak nights, value-packed happy hour deals and laidback hangs in those plaid-upholstered booths. But from next month, this colourful, kitschy haunt is jumping into a whole new phase of its life under new owners, hospitality group Applejack. You'll probably recognise that name as the one behind CBD newcomer Hester's, though Applejack's also responsible for popular venues including Neutral Bay's SoCal, bar and restaurant Bopp & Tone, and Endeavour Tap Rooms in The Rocks. The latest Surry Hills takeover will mark the group's eighth venue. [caption id="attachment_780928" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Applejack's Ben Carroll and Hamish Watts[/caption] So what's next in store for The Forresters? The new owners are keeping hush on most of the specifics for now, except to reveal plans for a 'major renovation' and a relaunch happening some time in the next few months. Group Founders Ben Carroll and Hamish Watts hinted they'd be serving up something a little more casual than the rest of their stable, going on to say: "Our goal is to deliver a community-centric watering hole with an Applejack twist." Unfortunately, there's no word yet on whether cheap steaks and $5 schooners will still be on the menu when the pub reopens its doors. The Forresters last enjoyed a major makeover back in 2012. It's been helmed by the Australian Venue Co — formerly Dixon Hospitality Group — since 2016. Find The Forresters at the corner of Foveaux and Riley Streets, Surry Hills. Applejack Hospitality will take over from September — we'll share more details about future plans as they drop.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. THE BLACK PHONE The Black Phone didn't need to star Ethan Hawke. In a way, it doesn't really. Fresh from Moon Knight and The Northman, Hawke is definitely in this unsettling 1978-set horror film. He's also exceptional in it. But his top billing springs from his name recognition and acting-veteran status rather than his screen time. Instead, superb up-and-comer Mason Thames gets the bulk of the camera's attention in his first feature role. After him, equally outstanding young talent Madeleine McGraw (Ant-Man and The Wasp) comes next. They spend most of their time worrying about, hearing rumours of, hiding from, battling and/or trying to track down a mask-wearing, van-driving, child-snatching villain — the role that Hawke plays in a firmly supporting part, almost always beneath an eerie disguise. Visibly at least, anyone could've donned the same apparel and proven an on-screen source of menace. There's a difference between popping something creepy over your face and actually being creepy, though. Scary masks can do a lot of heavy lifting, but they're also just a made-to-frighten facade. Accordingly, when it comes to being truly petrifying, Hawke undoubtedly makes The Black Phone. He doesn't literally; his Sinister director Scott Derrickson helms, and also co-wrote the script with that fellow horror flick's C Robert Cargill, adapting a short story by Stephen King's son Joe Hill — and the five-decades-back look and feel, complete with amber and grey hues, plus a nerve-rattling score, are all suitably disquieting stylistic touches. But as the movie's nefarious attacker, Hawke is unnervingly excellent, and also almost preternaturally unnerving in every moment. Whenever he opens his mouth, his voice couldn't echo from anyone else; however, it's the nervy, ominous and bone-weary physicality that he brings to the character that couldn't be more pitch-perfect. Everyone is tired in The Black Phone, albeit in varying ways. At first, that comes as a surprise — it's a looser, more laidback time, and the film happily rides the vibe in its opening Little League game. Still, that relaxed air comes with its own sense of anxiety. What's better, an era when kids escape their homes during daylight, roaming the streets as they like but also instilled with a festering sense of stranger danger, or a period where such unsupervised freedom seems utterly unthinkable? This movie lurks in the former, obviously, and there is indeed a dangerous stranger prowling around north Denver's suburban streets. To 13-year-old Finney Blake (Thames), his younger sister Gwen (McGraw) and their schoolmates, that monstrous figure is known as The Grabber, and he's abducted several of their peers so far. Finney and Gwen are also exhausted at home, where their alcoholic father Terrence (Jeremy Davies, The House That Jack Built) is hardly hands-on — unless his hands are flying in anger their way. At school, Finney has a trio of bullies to deal with, too; luckily, if his pal Robin (first-timer Miguel Cazarez Mora) isn't around to save him, the plucky and sweary Gwen usually is. She's zapped as well, courtesy of dreams of events that haven't quite happened yet. The pair's mother had the same ability, which is why their dad is so sozzled, and also so hard on the two of them. Fatigue is well and truly in the air, thick yet invisible, although The Grabber's (Hawke) is the flimsiest. After taking Finney, he's drained by his need to kidnap and kill. That doesn't stop him from terrorising the neighbourhood, of course — but if his latest target has his way, aided by advice whispered down the disconnected basement telephone by past victims, the masked assailant might soon be far worse than simply weary. Read our full review. OFFICIAL COMPETITION Every actor has one, albeit in various shades, lengths and textures, but sometimes one single hairstyle says everything about a film. Wildly careening in whichever direction it seems to feel like at any point, yet also strikingly sculptural, the towering reddish stack of curly locks atop Penélope Cruz's head in Official Competition is one such statement-making coiffure. It's a stunning sight, with full credit to the movie's hairstylists. These tremendous tresses are both unruly and immaculate; they draw the eye in immediately, demanding the utmost attention. And, yes, Cruz's crowning glory shares those traits with this delightful Spanish Argentine farce about filmmaking — a picture directed and co-written by Mariano Cohn and Gastуn Duprat (The Distinguished Citizen), and also starring Antonio Banderas (Uncharted) and Oscar Martínez (Wild Tales), that it's simply impossible to look away from. Phenomenal hair is just the beginning for Cruz here. Playing filmmaker Lola Cuevas — a Palme d'Or-winning arthouse darling helming an ego-stroking prestige picture for rich octogenarian businessman Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez, Truman) — she's downright exceptional as well. Humberto decides to throw some cash into making a movie in the hope of leaving a legacy that lasts, and enlisting Lola to work her magic with a Nobel Prize-winning novel called Rivalry is quite the coup. So is securing the talents of flashy global star Félix Rivero (Banderas) and serious theatre actor Iván Torres (Martínez), a chalk-and-cheese pair who'll work together for the first time, stepping into the shoes of feuding brothers. But before the feature can cement its backer's name in history, its three key creatives have to survive an exacting rehearsal process. Lola believes in rigorous preparation, and in testing and stretching her leading men, with each technique she springs on them more outlandish and stressful than the last. As Lola, Cruz is a 'find yourself someone who can do both'-kind of marvel. She's clearly starring in a comedy, and her timing, rhythms and line delivery are as fine-tuned as any acting great who has ever tried to amuse an audience — and serve up a hefty reminder that viewers rarely get to see her in such a role — but she perfects the drama of the situation, too. The latter stems from Lola's male leads, who are caught up in a clash of egos, and from the director herself as she keeps eagerly but purposefully pulling their strings. Light, fluid, sharp, smart: they all fit this savvily portrayed character, and never for a second does Cruz feel like she's seesawing too easily, needlessly or temperamentally from comic to serious and back. Earlier in 2022, she was nominated for an Oscar for her sublime performance in Parallel Mothers — an award she deserved to win, but didn't — and although Official Competition couldn't be a more different film, she's just as much of a force to be reckoned with within its frames. Cohn and Duprat might have a little of Lola in them, as well as conjuring her up with fellow scribe Andrés Duprat (My Masterpiece). The Argentine filmmaking duo's rehearsal methods aren't part of the movie, obviously, and it's likely that they didn't wrap their cast in cling wrap as their protagonist hilariously does — but, whatever mechanisms they deployed, they obtain outstanding performances from their key players. This is Cruz's film, but Banderas revels in the chance to cleverly and cannily satirise his profession and industry as much as she does, with the two teaming up yet again after featuring side by side in plenty of Pedro Almodóvar's movies (see: Pain and Glory most recently). The playful teasing is ramped up a level, and there's a greater emphasis on his killer stare, which can flip from brooding to charming to pouting in an instant; however, the result remains remarkable. Martínez plays it relatively straight in-between his co-stars, but is no less compelling; Iván has his own ego battles. Read our full review. WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING Timing is everything in Where the Crawdads Sing, the murder-mystery melodrama set in America's Deep South that raced up bestseller lists in 2018, and now reaches cinemas a mere four years later. Its entire narrative hinges upon a simple question: did North Carolina outcast and recluse Kya Clark (Daisy Edgar-Jones, Fresh), cruelly nicknamed "the marsh girl" by locals, have time to speed home from an out-of-town stay to push star quarterback Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson, The King's Man) from a fire tower, then resume her trip without anyone noticing? On the page, that query helped propel Delia Owens' literary sensation to success, to Reese Witherspoon's book club — she's a producer here — and to a swift film adaptation. But no timing would likely have ever been right for the movie's release, given that Owens and her husband are wanted for questioning in a real-life murder case in Zambia. Unlike the film, those off-screen details aren't new, but they were always bound to attract attention again as soon as this feature arrived. One of the reasons they're inescapable: the purposeful parallels between Owens' debut novel and her existence. Like Kya, Owens is a naturalist. The also southern-born author spent years preferring the company of plants and animals, crusading for conservation causes in Africa. Where the Crawdads Sing is timed to coincide with Owens' own life as well; it's set in the 50s and 60s and, as a child (played by Jojo Regina, The Chosen) and a teenager, Kya is around the same age that Owens would've been then. Another reason that the ways that art might link with reality can't be shaken, lingering like a sultry, squelchy day: what ends up on-screen is as poised, pristine and polished as a swampy southern gothic tale can be, and anyone in one. There's still a scandal, but forget dirt, sweat and anything but lush, vivid wilderness, plus a rustic hut that wouldn't look out of place on Airbnb. That Instagram-friendly aesthetic comes courtesy of filmmaker Olivia Newman (First Match), who helms a visually enticing movie — again, incongruously so given the story it unfurls and the location it dwells in — that's as typical as a murder-mystery meets coming-of-age tale meets southern romance can be. The film starts with Chase's body, the investigation that springs and the certainty around the insular small town of Barkley Cove that the supposedly feral and uncivilised marsh girl is responsible. Evidence is thin, but bigotry runs deep against someone who grew up with an abusive father (Garret Dillahunt, Ambulance), was left behind by her other family members and spent the bulk of her years fending for herself in poverty. That said, as in Owens' source material, that's just the framework. On the screen, though, Where the Crawdads Sing's dive into Kya's life feels like it's also been adapted from Nicholas Sparks' pages. Most of Barkley Cove has always shunned Kya, other than generous store owners Jumpin' (Sterling Macer Jr, House of Lies) and Mabel (Michael Hyatt, The Little Things), who she sells mussels to — the feature's only Black characters, who are woefully only used to stress how callous the rest of the town proves, rather than to even dream of digging into matters of race in America's south as the civil rights movement started to gather steam. Also kindly, taking on her defence, is her Atticus Finch-esque local lawyer Tom Milton (David Strathairn, Nightmare Alley). But romance still blossoms not once but twice for Kya, first with the doting, poetry-reading Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith, Blacklight), and then with arrogant rich kid Chase. That's where Newman's film prefers to reside, charting the ups and downs of Kya's affairs of the heart. That's why the movie appears so immaculate that it shimmers with a marsh-chic gleam as well. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on April 7, April 14, April 21 and April 28; and May 5, May 12, May 19 and May 26; June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23 and June 30; and July 7 and July 14. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Fantastic Beasts and the Secrets of Dumbledore, Ambulance, Memoria, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Happening, The Good Boss, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, The Northman, Ithaka, After Yang, Downton Abbey: A New Era, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, Petite Maman, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Firestarter, Operation Mincemeat, To Chiara, This Much I Know to Be True, The Innocents, Top Gun: Maverick, The Bob's Burgers Movie, Ablaze, Hatching, Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero, Benediction, Lightyear, Men, Elvis, Lost Illusions, Nude Tuesday, Ali & Ava, Thor: Love and Thunder, Compartment No. 6, Sundown, The Gray Man and The Phantom of the Open.
Victorians are preparing to say goodbye to plastic bags as the Victorian Government last night announced it will clear everyone's cupboards of single-use plastic carriers via a statewide ban. Premier Daniel Andrews announced the ban last night on The Project, saying that "we know this is really important for the environment, particularly for our waterways, for landfill [and] for waste management". This comes in direct response to a #BanTheBag Change.org petition run by the nightly Ten current affairs program. Premier @DanielAndrewsMP announces Victoria's plan to #BanTheBag! What say you, @GladysB? #auspol #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/J9u26wa5xr — The Project (@theprojecttv) October 17, 2017 The move brings the state into line with South Australia, the ACT, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Queensland, who announced it will next year ditch lightweight single-use plastic bags in September. It follows the news that Woolworths and Coles will also be doing the same nationwide. NSW is now the only state that hasn't committed to banning single-use bags. Victoria's ban might seem like a long time coming — but, well, better late than never. It's unclear whether the ban will cover just lightweight plastic bags or both degradable and biodegradable options. Further details are expected to be announced by Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio today.
On the lookout for a dope new denim jacket? Or do you want to be rid of that weird-looking lamp taking up space in the living room? Then, by golly, you're in luck. The Garage Sale Trail works with local council partners Australia-wide to get as many trash-and-treasure troves happening on the same few days as possible. Last year, more than 400,000 Aussies took part at this festival of pre-loved stuff, holding more than 14,000 sales. Will this year's Garage Sale Trail top those hefty numbers? It'll certainly try via a huge array of events that will open their doors to bargain hunters, selling millions of items across two big spring weekends: between Saturday, November 9–Sunday, November 10, and then again from Saturday, November 16–Sunday, November 17. Aside from the retro goodies up for grabs, the Garage Sale Trail is all about sustainability. Instead of ending up in landfill, unwanted clutter becomes a fantastic find. So get that tight pair of sunnies for peanuts and help the environment at the same time. The Garage Sale Trail began humbly in Bondi in 2010 and is growing bigger every year. There'll be a right slew of sales happening all around Sydney, so keep your eyes on the event website — or register online to make a quick buck from your old junk and hang out with the friendly folks in your hood.
On The Domain's stage on Friday, February 24, here's hoping that Australia's princess of pop utters five specific words: "come into my Sydney WorldPride". The massive LGBTQIA+ festival is heading to the southern hemisphere for the first time, taking over Sydney for two and a half weeks — and who else but Kylie Minogue could open it? Sydney WorldPride's lineup isn't short on highlights, but Kylie headlining Live and Proud: Sydney WorldPride Opening Concert, spinning around and making sure that Sydney WorldPride festivalgoers can't get her out of their heads is obviously massive. LOVERS! For the first time ever, WorldPride is coming to the Southern Hemisphere. YES! I'm so excited to announce that I will be performing at the opening concert in Sydney on 24 February, 2023 at The Domain. Can't wait to see you there! 💖 https://t.co/ExghPi5NEw pic.twitter.com/Wt0q1Szg2n — Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue) September 23, 2022 Sydney shall be so lucky — and so will Live and Proud: Sydney WorldPride Opening Concert attendees, because it'll mark Kylie's only WorldPride performance. Her set for the night is also being created especially for the evening, so this isn't the kind of Kylie show you've seen before. Also, she'll be sharing the stage with Charli XCX and Jessica Mauboy. The performance will be broadcast live nationwide on the ABC, too — and on a night like this, Casey Donovan and Courtney Act will be on hosting duties. "Kylie is not only a beloved musician and rainbow icon, but the highest selling Australian-born solo artist of all time," said Sydney WorldPride CEO Kate Wickett, announcing the news. "We are honoured and INCREDIBLY excited to have Kylie again stand with our community at Sydney WorldPride 2023 — the global rainbow family reunion we've been waiting for."
