It's not easy being green in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So far, Kermit the Frog — the OG source of that nugget of wisdom — hasn't made the leap into the sprawling big- and small-screen franchise; however, the MCU's emerald-hued characters have still faced their struggles. Bruce Banner aka the Hulk is one. Guardians of the Galaxy's Gamora is another. Thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Green Goblin fits, too. And now, so does Jennifer Walters — who's about to be know to Disney+ viewers as She-Hulk. The premise of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is right there in its name. Walters (Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black, Perry Mason) is a lawyer newly specialising in superhuman law. After an experiment by Banner (Mark Ruffalo, Dark Waters, I Know This Much Is True), she's soon turning green when she's scared and angry. As the just-dropped trailer for the new MCU show points out, those two emotions "are the baseline for any woman just existing" — and how that plays out will be covered when the new series hits your streaming queue from August 17. If your memory of TV extends back to the late 90s and early 00s, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law should give you big Ally McBeal vibes — but with superheroes instead of Calista Flockhart and dancing babies. Walters' work life, her efforts to balance being an attorney and being She-Hulk, her dating experiences: they're all covered in the initial sneak peek, as is sitting around chatting about everything with her best pal (Ginger Gonzaga, Kidding) over drinks. [caption id="attachment_854362" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.[/caption] As it explores what it's like to be a single thirtysomething attorney who is also a green six-foot-seven-inch hulk — you know, that old chestnut — the show's nine-episode first season will also feature familiar MCU faces in the form of Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) as Wong and Tim Roth (Bergman Island) as Emil Blonsky/the Abomination. Rounding out the cast is a heap of recent sitcom standouts: Josh Segarra (The Other Two), Jameela Jamil (The Good Place), Jon Bass (Miracle Workers) and Renée Elise Goldsberry (Girls5eva). And, behind the lens, Kat Coiro (Marry Me) and Anu Valia (And Just Like That...) share directing duties across the season, with Jessica Gao (Rick and Morty) as head writer. When She-Hulk: Attorney at Law arrives in August, it'll be the latest dose of Marvel mania in what's proving to be a huge MCU year. It follows Moon Knight and the soon-to-drop Ms Marvel on streaming, then Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder in cinemas. Check out the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law trailer below: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law will start streaming via Disney+ from August 17.
If you’re the forgetful type and your keys often go rogue then this new technology may be the solution for you. KeyMe is a cloud-based key management platform where you can now store your keys digitally so you no longer need a physical key in order to make a copy. KeyMe’s newly launched free mobile app which scans a copy of your key and generates a set of instructions that you can give to any locksmith to create a new key from scratch instead of bringing in a physical key to make the copy, very handy when you’ve misplaced the original. KeyMe can even mail you a key within two to three weeks if you’re not in a rush. The app also allows you to share your digital keys and create digital key chains to share with flatmates or overnight guests, but be wary of you who trust with your digital keys, once shared you can’t revoke them. Currently only available in the USA, this technology will be a saving grace for the almost 90 million forgetful folks who get locked out of their homes each year. Now just makes sure you don’t lose your mobile phone with your keys. [via mashable]
Japanese artist Ryosuke Fukusada has created a wooden light bulb using an ancient technique called 'rokuro'. By wrapping an LED light bulb in a thin layer of wood, Fukusada's bulb was launched recently at New York Design Week. The bulb's LED lighting creates only a small amount of heat, meaning it will not catch alight. A recyclable aluminum socket works with the wood to create a sleek, modern and sustainable design, which recently received an award at the Kyoto Design competition. The bulb is currently being developed.
Public transport just stepped up a notch in France. Are you done with hair-pullingly long off-course commutes, but don't have the sweet funds for a ride of your own? The French city of Grenoble has found the perfect middle ground between two evils — electric, tiny, publicly-owned car sharing. Driven by Toyota's brand new, three-wheeled, Tron-like i-ROAD electric vehicle, the French city is trialling a new car sharing program called Smart City; designed to bring public and private transport together in one big planet-saving exercise. The City of Grenoble has teamed up with Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, EDF Group, Toyota and Citélib to put these ultra-compact, sustainable automobiles on the road amongst its current car sharing program. Basically, Grenoblians (yeah? Maybe Grenoblites?) pick up the Toyota EVs at one station and drop it off at another, kind of like NYC's Citi Bike or London's Barclays for cars. The tiny, tiny electric cars take up less space than those terrible, terrible pollution-happy 4WDs, so parking and traffic congestion loosen up while air quality increases. Two people can sit in tandem, if you're feeling like giving the Goose to your Maverick a lift. Even if you already own a car, the initiative is meant to get commuters to switch vehicles for the last leg of the journey into the CBD problem zone. Nice one, Grenobliers. The Toyota i-ROAD cars will zoom around Grenoble within the car sharing program for the next three years. Plans to bring the cars to Japan are underway, but no talks for programs in Australia or New Zealand have been had yet. And although these gloriously '90s-looking colour ranges... ...are slightly too similar to this... ...we're all for investing in sustainability, saving the planet one multicoloured faddish gizmo at a time. Via Inhabitat.
Throw those GoPros, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. As usual, speculation has run wild in anticipation of the lineup announce — will Kendrick and the Arctic Monkeys make an appearance? Will there by more than three females on the lineup? — but the details for Splendour 2018 are finally here. And we're happy to report that some of the rumours were true. There will be no Arctic Monkeys, but King Kunta himself, Kendrick Lamar, will be Splendouring. The lineup also doesn't state that Splendour is his only show, so stay tuned for news of a national tour (hopefully). The other huge name is Lorde, who will be doing her only Oz show at the Parklands — better get practising that 'Green Light' hair flip now. She leads a female contingent — that is kick-ass but still nowhere near as big as the pool of male performers — which includes Amy Shark, the Lauren Mayberry-led Chvrches, Sampa The Great, Alex Lahey, Jack River, Anna Lunoe, Stella Donnelly, female four-piece All Our Exes Live in Texas and Wafia. Also doing their only Australian shows at Splendour will be Vampire Weekend, Khalid and Girl Talk. The lineup seems to go on forever, including The Wombats, Gang of Youths, Franz Ferdinand, Superorganism and MGMT. Anyway, we know what you're here for. We'll cut to the chase. SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2018 LINEUP Kendrick Lamar Lorde (only AUS show) Vampire Weekend (only AUS show) Khalid (only AUS show) The Wombats Hilltop Hoods Chvrches Miguel Girl Talk (only AUS show) Angus & Julia Stone Gang of Youths Franz Ferdinand MGMT Ben Howard Dune Rats & Friends James Bay PNAU Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite The Avalanches DJ set Chromeo DMA'S Ball Park Music Henry Rollins (only AUS show) SAFIA The Jungle Giants Lil Xan Methyl Ethel Amy Shark The Bronx Ocean Alley Carmada (L D R U & Yahtzel) DZ Deathrays Lord Huron Middle Kids Hockey Dad Towkio Cub Sport Touch Sensitive Sampa The Great Dean Lewis Skegss Albert Hammond Jr Mallrat Marmozets Alex Lahey Riton & Kah-Lo Jack River Superorganism Anna Lunoe Lewis Capaldi All Our Exes Live In Texas Alex The Astronaut Yungblud Crooked Colours Nina Las Vegas Soccer Mommy (only AUS show) Elderbrook Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Tim Sweeney Stella Donnelly Bully Baker Boy Wafia No Mono Waax Angie McMahon West Thebarton Eves Karydas G Flip The Babe Rainbow Haiku Hands Didirri Alice Ivy Amyl & The Sniffers Ziggy Ramo Fantastic Man Lo'99 Human Movement Manu Crook$ Kasbo Madam X Andras Alta Ara Koufax Two People B Wise Made In Paris Jensen Interceptor Woodes Teischa Antony & Cleopatra Muto Elk Road triple j Unearthed winners (TBA) Mike Gurrieri Love Deluxe Lauren Hansom Poolclvb Godlands Nyxen Emma Stevenson Ebony Boadu Splendour will return to North Byron Parklands on Friday 20, Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 July. Onsite camping will once again be available from Wednesday, July 18. Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 19 at 9am sharp AEST. More info will soon be available at the official Splendour In The Grass site. Image: Bianca Holderness.
It's a busy week in the playground as we gear up to host two events this Sunday. In the early hours of a day usually reserved for bacon, eggs and Bloody Marys, we will be joined by 200 of CP's finest film fans for a special screening of Wish You Were Here, after which people will have the chance to meet and talk to the filmmakers themselves. Afterwards, things are set to get a little more rowdy as we head down Oxford Street to set up shop at Global Gallery in Paddington, where the rest of the afternoon will be spent sampling the best Italian-inspired Aussie wines. Join us if you can Around town there are, as usual, a plethora of interesting cultural happenings to pique your interest this week. Why not spend your evenings enjoying the abstract (and a lot of the time, free booze) as Sydney's night art scene takes shape, or get yourself on the inside as Secret Cinema gears up for its Australian debut. And if music's more your thing, fear not; we have princes, keys and conchords all heading our way soon. The Big Issue Street Football Festival 2012 The details: Thursday, April 12 - Sunday, April 22 @ Darling Harbour Held on a floating football pitch in Cockle Bay, the Big Issue Street Football Festival will bring together players and fans from across the country. The inaugural event in 2011 welcomed 600 participants in no less than 148 football matches, and this year's festival promises to be even bigger. The program supports disadvantaged people who are experiencing homelessness, disability and long-term unemployment. Find out more Life in Movement The details: Thursday, April 12 @ Various cinemas In 2007, talented 29-year-old Tanja Liedtke was appointed artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company. Before she could start, she was tragically killed. Find out more Festival of German Films 2012 The details: Wednesday, April 18 - Monday, April 30 @ Various Cinemas Two weeks that highlight the breadth and diversity of contemporary German filmmaking. Find out more Thursday Lates The details: Thursday, April 5 - Thursday, June 14 @ Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Get your week's fill of art and culture at the MCA's new late night. Find out more Macbeth - Bell Shakespeare The details: Friday, March 30 - Saturday, May 12 @ Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House The witches, the ghosts, the murders, the coups, that wonderful, powerful, punished, sleepwalking Lady — this play is thrilling every time. Find out more Yacht Club DJs The details: Saturday, April 21 @ The Standard Expect the grotesque, the kitschy and the downright ridiculous. Find out more Concrete Playground presents Sip Your Modo The details: Sunday, April 22 @ Global Gallery Avoid the end-of-the-weekend blues sipping the finest Australian-made, Italy-inspired wine. Find out more The Story of Mary MacLane by Herself - Griffin Theatre Co and Ride On Theatre The details: Wednesday, April 4 - Saturday, May 12 @ SBW Stables Theatre Tim Rogers and Bojana Novakovic take the stage for this hoedown about a life full of sex, drinking, wild rants and feeling very deeply. Find out more
If movies have taught us anything, it's that there's nothing quite like a romantic vacation with your significant other. Obviously, real life has taught us that as well. And with Valentine's Day upon us for 2023, Jetstar has dropped a hefty sale to help make that amorous dream come true — another round of its popular 'return for free' sale, no less. The airline is doing discounted flights across Australia and to a range of international destinations, including in Thailand, Japan and New Zealand. Wherever you'd like to head, the key part of this sale is coming home without paying for the flight, making your holiday oh-so-much cheaper for you and your special someone. Running from Valentine's Day through till 11.59pm AEDT on Monday, February 20, or until sold out, it really is as straightforward as it sounds. Whatever flights you opt for as part of the sale, you'll get the return fare for nothing. There is a twist this time around, however. Jetstar's current return-for-free sale is focused on holiday packages, rather than just airfares. So, you'll be nabbing your flights and accommodation in the one transaction, and scoring those return fares for nothing in the process. On the destinations list: Tokyo, Phuket, Queenstown, Uluru, The Whitsundays and more. Out of Melbourne, flights and five nights at Nap Patong Phuket starts at $751 per person, for instance, while heading from Sydney to Daydream Island Resort for three nights kicks in from $784 per person. Deals include staying everywhere from Tokyo's Hotel Gracery Shinjuku, aka the Japanese capital's famous Godzilla hotel, through to mountainview resort options aplenty in NZ. Packages in the sale are for trips across a variety of dates depending on the destination, but are generally focused on mid-July—late November this year. Inclusions also vary per location and hotel, but span daily breakfast, dinner and late checkout. There are a few rules, as is always the case. You have to the same departure and arrival ports for the two fares — so you can go from Melbourne to Honolulu and back, for instance, but can't return via another place or to another city. And, the sale fares don't include checked baggage, so you'll need to travel super light or pay extra to take a suitcase. Jetstar's 'return for free' sale runs until 11.59pm AEDT on Monday, February 20 — or until sold out. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
Like show, like trailers: that's the approach that HBO is taking with getting everyone excited about House of the Dragon's return for season two. Fiery feuds are this show's baseline — this franchise's as well, since Game of Thrones was also full of them — so the Targaryen-focused series has scored not one but two new sneak peeks at what's to come. HBO is calling them "duelling trailers", in fact, in a first for the US network. There's also a trailer for the duelling trailers — because this pair of promos is all about getting audiences to choose a side. Given that the green and black councils are doing battle, one for King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney, Rogue Heroes) and the other for Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy, Mothering Sunday), the pair of House of the Dragon trailers also split their allegiances. Accordingly, viewers get a glimpse of the tale that's set to unravel from each camp's perspective. Just like winter, which is when House of the Dragon season two will hit Down Under — HBO also announced a Monday, June 17, 2024 premiere date with its new sneak peeks — the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons is coming, then. In the initial teaser for this season, Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best, Nurse Jackie) told her niece Rhaenyra that "there is no war so hateful to the gods as a war between kin — and no war so bloody as a war between dragons". Because this is the Game of Thrones realm, expect the events that unfurl in House of the Dragon to make good on that observation. Also returning in season two as the fight for the Iron Throne continues: Olivia Cooke (Slow Horses) as Alicent Hightower, Matt Smith (Morbius) as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Rhys Ifans (The King's Man) as Ser Otto Hightower and Steve Toussaint (It's a Sin) as Lord Corlys Velaryon, plus Fabien Frankel (The Serpent), Ewan Mitchell (Saltburn) and Sonoya Mizuno (Shortcomings). HBO is also adding new faces to the mix, with Clinton Liberty (This Is Christmas) as Addam of Hull, Jamie Kenna (Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) as Ser Alfred Broome, Kieran Bew (Warrior) as Hugh, Tom Bennett (Black Ops) as Ulf, Tom Taylor (Love at First Sight) as Lord Cregan Stark and Vincent Regan (One Piece) as Ser Rickard Thorne. They join Abubakar Salim (Napoleon) as Alyn of Hull, Gayle Rankin (Perry Mason) as Alys Rivers, Freddie Fox (The Great) as Ser Gwayne Hightower and Simon Russell Beale (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Ser Simon Strong among the season two newcomers. When it premieres in June, House of the Dragon's second season will arrive two years after the first debuted in 2022. Game of Thrones was always going to spark spinoff shows. Indeed, when HBO started thinking about doing a prequel six years ago, before the huge fantasy hit had even finished its run, it was hardly surprising. And, when the US network kept adding ideas to its list — including a Jon Snow-focused series with Kit Harington (Eternals) reprising his famous role, novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg and an animated GoT show, to name just a few prequels and spinoffs that've been considered, but may or may not actually come to fruition — absolutely no one was astonished. So far, just House of the Dragon has hit screens; however, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, the Dunk and Egg adaptation, is now due in 2025. WithHouse of the Dragon, Game of Thrones' first spinoff jumps back into House Targaryen's history. When it initially roared into streaming queues, it became an instant success. Accordingly, as it delivered more complicated GoT realm relationships, flowing long blonde hair, dragons, stabbings and fights for power — and plenty to fuel a drinking game, as we created — it was quickly renewed for season two. The series kicked off 172 years before the birth of Daenerys and her whole dragon-flying, nephew-dating, power-seeking story, and gave HBO its largest American audience for any new original series in its history when it debuted. If you're thinking that House of the Dragon is basically a case of new show, same squabbles, as it was easy to foresee it would be, you're right. It's pretty much Game of Thrones with different faces bearing now well-known surnames — and more dragons. If you haven't yet caught up with the show so far, it dives into the battle for the Iron Throne before the one we all watched between 2011–19. Paddy Considine (The Third Day) started the series King Viserys — and it's exactly who should be his heir that sparked all the Succession-style fuss. The words "succession" and "successor" (and "heir" as well) got bandied around constantly, naturally. Also, Australian actors Milly Alcock and Ryan Corr were among the stars. This latest adaptation of George RR Martin's popular fantasy books — based on Fire & Blood, specifically — is bound to continue on for more than just two seasons, but that's all that's confirmed for the moment. Check out the duelling trailers (and the trailer for the duelling trailers) for House of the Dragon season two below: House of the Dragon streams Down Under via Foxtel and Binge in Australia, and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand, with season two arriving on Monday, June 17, 2024. Read our full review of season one. Images: HBO.
Whether you're keen to cross completing a marathon off your bucket list or you're just looking for a wholesome and endorphin-inducing way to spend the weekend, there are plenty of must-run events taking place around Australia during the second half of the year. So, chuck on your very best activewear and get ready to clock some serious — or not so serious — kilometres at these events along the east coast. CITY2SURF, SYDNEY The annual City2Surf has called upon all Sydneysiders since its humble beginnings nearly 48 years ago, and this year shall be no different. The world's largest timed fun run has raised around $36 million for more than 900 charities since 2008 — and is aiming to raise a jaw-dropping $5 million this year alone. With more than 80,000 participants expected to tie up their laces and join the race, the City2Surf is a must-do for running enthusiasts. Owned and organised by the Sun Herald in partnership with Westpac, the 14-kilometre-long course starts from Sydney's Hyde Park, winds through the city streets, up the notorious Heartbreak Hill and through the eastern suburbs until it comes to a finish at glorious Bondi Beach. As you can tell, this isn't just your casual stroll through the park. Beyond the finish line, a beachside event awaits participants. Live entertainment, food vendors and cold beers await you. The City2Surf will take place on Sunday, August 12. You can register for the race here. RUN MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE This year, Run Melbourne will celebrate its 11th birthday with a two-day running festival — and it features live music and delicious food pop-ups as well as the race. As one of Australia's most iconic winter running festivals, Run Melbourne attracts both super fit athletes and casual Tan strollers alike. More than 175,000 runners have participated in this famed Melbourne running event since its inception — raising roughly $12 million for more than 400 charities to date. Organised in partnership with Lululemon, the course includes three race options: five kilometres, ten kilometres and a hefty half marathon. Run Melbourne will commence in the heart of the city at Federation Square, taking participants past Melbourne landmarks including the MCG, Rod Laver Area and South Wharf before finishing up at Birrarung Marr. Run Melbourne kicks off with the Friendship Dash on Saturday, July 28 with the main race taking place the following day, Sunday, July 29. Register for the Run Melbourne events here. THE COLOR RUN, NATIONAL Founded as a way to promote happiness and health, this five-kilometre-long run involves splashes of colour to distract you from the fact that you're, you know, exercising. All participants are asked to wear white t-shirts and embrace the colour pigment that's blasted at them at various points during the race. This is sweaty exercise disguised as straight-up fun. With a party at the beginning, a party at the end, and four colour zones to dance your way through — the fun never stops, and neither do your legs. The Color Run now takes place in more than 35 countries worldwide, attracting six million runners across the globe. This year it'll run races in Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast and Perth. The Color Run will happen on the Gold Coast on Sunday, August 19; Sydney on Sunday, October 7; and Melbourne on Sunday, November 25. You can register for the events here. SYDNEY RUNNING FESTIVAL, SYDNEY On this Sydney track runners are afforded postcard-like views of the city while running on one of Australia's most iconic landmarks: the Harbour Bridge. With four events — the Marathon (42.2 kilometres), Half Marathon (21 kilometres), Bridge Run (nine kilometres) and the Family Fun Run (3.5 kilometres) — it doesn't matter whether you are a seasoned athlete or just starting your running journey. Post-event, all runners and their family and friends are invited to celebrate their achievements in the recovery village located in the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Blackmores Running Festival kicks off on Sunday, September 16. You can register for the races here. BRISBANE MARATHON FESTIVAL, BRISBANE A run is always made better by a scenic view — whether it's keeping you motivated, or distracted from your athletic endeavours, a pretty landscape makes all the difference. The Brisbane Marathon Festival provides running experts and novices with exactly that. Runners and walkers descend on the streets of the Brisbane CBD for this annual event, enjoying full closure of major city streets to experience a marathon event of epic proportion. The course has three duration options — the marathon, the half marathon and the ten-kilometre race — and whether you're from Brisbane or interstate, it's the best way to see the city in all its glory. The Brisbane Marathon will take place on Sunday, August 12. You can register for the marathon here. MELBOURNE MARATHON FESTIVAL, MELBOURNE The Melbourne Marathon Festival started back in the 70s and is a favoured annual running event for many Melburnians. The races vary in length and difficulty — the shortest event being a three-kilometre walk — and the flat course is perfect for less-experienced runners. The track spans the Melbourne CBD and gives runners an opportunity to experience the city's famous landmarks, feet first — from the St Kilda beach foreshore to the MCG, there's plenty to see. Take part on your own, as a team or with colleagues, and help raise funds for the Cerebal Palsy Education Centre, or a charity of your choice. The Melbourne Marathon Festival will take place on Sunday, October 14. You can register for the race here. [caption id="attachment_677471" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Flickr.[/caption] PUB2PUB CHARITY RUN, SYDNEY The annual Pub2Pub is arguably one of the most scenic runs in Sydney boasting spectacular beach views. Celebrating its 27th birthday this year, the running festival has raised more than $3.5 million for local northern beaches' charities. Whether you consider yourself an avid runner or more of a leisurely stroller, Pub2Pub has three course options available to satisfy all types of runners: Dee Why Beach (13 kilometres), Warriewood (six kilometres), and Mona Vale (three kilometres). Beyond the finish line, on the shores of Newport Beach, a huge family-friendly festival awaits with live music, a licensed bar, an array of food vendors, fun rides and games. The Pub2Pub Charity run kicks off on Sunday, August 26. You can register for the run here.
Diane Kruger returns to her German roots with In the Fade, a tense, moving portrait of tragedy and vengeance, and the winner of the 2018 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Helmed by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin, the film stars Kruger as Katja, a mother whose son and husband are murdered in a terrorist attack. It's an incredible performance, with the actress slipping into the empty, hollow-eyed space of insurmountable grief. She abuses drugs, alienates her family, and even attempts to take her own life. But she's eventually lifted out of her sorrow by the burning desire for revenge. For lack of a better category, In The Fade is a revenge story, one driven by Katja's personal mission to deliver justice for her family. We soon learn that the crime was committed by a pair of neo-Nazis, who are eventually acquitted after a lengthy, emotionally charged trial. We watch as Katja sits behind the plaintiff's desk, just a few short metres away from the accused, and feel her internal world becoming more and more pressurised. Kruger's performance is more than deserving of the Best Actress award she scooped up at Cannes. She's also stated that the process of making the film wore her out, to the point that she took six months off after filming. It's easy to understand why. Beyond Kruger's performance, what works best about the film is the format Akin employs. The narrative is split into three separate segments, set in three different environments, with three distinctive looks. In "Family" we see Katja cordoned off in her house, drowning in an ocean of grief, even as rain buckets down outside. Then there are the fluorescent lights and straight lines of the court room in "Justice". Finally we get to "The Sea", in which a softer, sunnier aesthetic belies the chapter's actual function – Katja has bid goodbye to her old life and is now bent entirely on vengeance. Perhaps less successful is the minutiae of the film's actual plot, including the fact that the two perpetrators are acquitted despite all the evidence against them. Nor are we given much insight into their twisted psyche. In The Fade provides a thorough study of its protagonist's state of mind, but could have benefited from doing the same for its villains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyjnzhXJlHU
Rootstock is all about those words that can cause heated dinner party debates: natural, orange, biodynamic, and sustainable wine. But rather than banging on about what they mean, let's focus on what’s going on at the Italian Forum in Leichhardt. There's a market with some of the foodie favourites (think Reuben Hills, Kitchen by Mike), chats with sommeliers, tunes by Blue Juice, oh — and some wine. Some of the wines for tastings will be Giuseppe Rinaldi from Italy, Grace from Slovenia, and Milton from New Zealand. Drop by the Orange Wine Bar to find out what orange wine is all about, or do a masterclass. If you're still peckish and have some money left in your wallet, head to the long table dinner. Your stomach is sure to be happy after eight courses with matching wines, especially with food in front of you by some of Sydney's best chefs, including Luke Powell (Tetsuya's) and Benjamin Greeno (Momofuku Seiobo). Sunday, 17 February, from 10am; Italian Forum Cultural Centre, Norton Street, Leichhardt; http://www.rootstocksydney.com
It's almost that time of year again. Not yet Christmas, the Indian festival of lights, Diwali, has arrived. Also known as Deepavali, the finale of this big festival of lights is kicking off the annual Parramasala festival, which wraps the culture of South Asia around the streets of Parramatta. Parramasala starts with a huge Deepavali Fair at Parramatta Park, featuring the immolation of a Fawkes-like Demon King, and keeps on going with a week of free music at Parramatta's Town Hall Square, itself culminating in a grand finale concert by Spicks and Specks guests the Bombay Royale. A season of film at the Riverside includes proof that Afghan Girls Can Kick, the four cities of London South Asian Film Festival winner I Am and DJ Tigerstyle's 45 minute remix of classic Indian epic Mother India. Tablatronics will show off a fusion of old and new Indian sounds and instruments, Surry Hills media gurus Curiousworks offer to take you to Sri Lanka and home again by boat and if all this excitement proves too much, there's a program of mind and body events to help you get your focus back. Packed with dance, music and occasional urban art, unless you're off to the subcontinent tomorrow it's a hard offer to pass up.
David Bowie lit up the entertainment world like a flash of lightning. In fact, after wearing a bolt of brightness across his face on the cover of his 1973 album Aladdin Sane, the symbol became forever linked with the star. Now, a collective of Bowie-obsessed designers are trying to ensure that he continues to dazzle London thanks to a proposed permanent public memorial. In a plan that has must-visit tourist attraction written all over it, creative consultancy This Ain't Rock'n'Roll have launched a crowdfunding campaign to see a three-storey-high, red and blue coloured piece of stainless steel art built in the centre of Brixton, just five streets away from where Bowie was born. Yes, it'll take the shape of a lightning bolt. Yes, they've already thought of calling it the ZiggyZag. Yes, measuring nine metres in height and almost seven metres in width, it'll be just like the man who inspired it — impossible to ignore. The structure will sit next to another Bowie tribute in the form of Jimmy C's internationally famous Aladdin Sane mural, turning the Brixton spot into an absolute haven for worshipping the artist. If it eventuates, we're guessing there'll be plenty of dancing in the streets. Created in consultation with Bowie's team in New York and London, the project has a target of £990,000 — raising £43,647 so far at the time of writing — with the pledge period ending on March 21. Those who donate funds won't just play a part in making history, but can also receive books, pins, prints, t-shirts, pendants, limited-edition art and even 3D-printed miniature replicas, depending on the level of their contribution. For more information, visit the David Bowie memorial's crowdfunding page.
No one likes the middle seat on a plane. Does anyone book flights, select where to sit and genuinely (and willingly) pick being stuck between two other people, with no window to look out and no easy access to the aisle, if there's another option? No, no they don't. Until now, that is, because Virgin Australia has just started throwing some love towards folks who do indeed take everyone's least-favourite spot — via a new Middle Seat Lottery. Running since Monday, October 24, and showering people sitting in the middle with prizes until Sunday, April 23, 2023, the Middle Seat Lottery is as self-explanatory as it sounds. Plonk yourself down in the abhorred seat — with a ticket, of course — and you could score goodies for your trouble. The freebies change each week, but there's more than $230,000 in prizes on offer across the six-month competition — only if you either select the middle seat or you're assigned it. Those prizes include Caribbean cruises with Virgin Voyages, complete with flights to and from the USA; a helicopter pub crawl in Darwin, again with flights there and back included; and a Cairns adventure package, which covers flights, accommodation, bungy jumping, river rafting and other activities There's also flights and tickets to your AFL team's away games in 2023 — and, still on Aussie rules, an AFL Grand Final package, covering a lunch, tickets to the game, being on the boundary line before the match, merch and an after party. One prize will be given out each week, with 26 prizes in total across the competition's duration. And if your week doesn't coincide with a holiday giveaway, platinum Velocity Frequent Flyer status with one million points is also on the freebies list. An hour or so in a seat you wouldn't normally pick for the chance to win holidays, heaps of footy or frequent flyer points to book more holidays? Worth it, probably. To go in the running to win any of the above, you do need to be a Velocity Frequent Flyer member over the age of 18. And, you'll have to fly somewhere within Australia, on a Virgin Australia-operated domestic flight, during the competition period — in a middle seat, obviously. Also, to enter, you then need to use the Virgin Australia app within 48 hours of your flight's scheduled departure time, tapping on the Middle Seat Lottery tile, finding your flight and entering your details. From there, winners will be drawn each week and contacted if they're successful. Virgin Australia's Middle Seat Lottery runs from Monday, October 24, 2022–Sunday, April 23, 2023. For more information, head to the Virgin website. Images: Carly Ravenhall. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
So you walk out of Central Station along Elizabeth St, get your phone out and in a couple taps you're looking through the camera across the streets. Where you see stuff. 'Augmented reality' is a few years old now, essentially laying the locations of local interesting things over a live video feed as you move your phone's camera around. Creative space benefactors Queen Street Studios have just put together their own AR camera-fed tour of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst, launching this weekend as Peep Show. In the (iPhone) app, moments from the suburb's history, history in the making and local hotspots get marked out for you virtually, as the tour takes in spaces as diverse as Brisbane Street's Paramount Pictures building, the now relocated statue of Joy, the sex worker, and the homes and haunts of late lamented 'razorhurst' personalities. And while the app is easy to find, the party is more of a challenge. Officially the launch takes place Saturday and Sunday on the hour, every hour, 11-5 outside Heffron Hall. But for those willing to search for clues around some 'hotspots' highlighted over the weekend, there's also a secret launch party waiting there for the intrepid and the lucky.
Pygmalion is a play about the power of language, and the price of transformation. A phonetics professor decides to turn a clueless Cockney wench into a captivating creature who he can “pass off as a duchess”. In teaching Eliza Doolittle to “talk proper”, Henry Higgins aims to do two things: win a casual bet and prove that language empowers people, whatever their class or gender. He's a proud, unpleasant man who relies on his housekeeper to prevent him from committing breaches of public decorum, but he has money, status, enunciation and eloquence, all of which count for a lot in this play. Written by George Bernard Shaw in 1912, Pygmalion has been transformed over and over again — you might recognise the plot from My Fair Lady, or from teen flicks like She's All That. It's been parodied on Family Guy, The Beverley Hillbillies, and The Three Stooges. It's a story about transformation that never seems to lose its potential for being transformed again. The Sydney Theatre Company has certainly attempted to transform it; to dust off what is known as a museum piece and re-pose its crucial questions about the politics of identity and character. Peter Evans' production consciously modernizes the material — whilst the text is unchanged, the acres of empty stage are anchored by video input on a drop-down screen, and the costumes are clearly not cut from the same cloth that you'd find round Convent Garden at the turn of the twentieth century. Henry is played with louche affectedness by Marco Chiappi. He is vulgar, conceited, totally egotistical and eccentric, but able to get away with bad behaviour because of his station in life. Eliza Doolittle (Andrea Demetriades) is shrewd enough to take advantage of the offer of an upper-class education. It just doesn't occur to her that learning to speak nicely might limit rather than liberate her. Nor does it occur to Eliza to wonder what will become of her after Henry tires of his project, or to weigh up what being made a “duchess” might make of the independence she has always held dear. Peter Evans has been at the helm of several particularly fine productions in the last year, but this one is a little too experimental to effectively convey Eliza’s displacement: rather there is a sense of displacement between Shaw’s text and the theatrical experience. The Edwardian text and the contemporary visuals just don’t sit comfortably together — much like Mrs Eynsford Hill, her two children and the newly posh Eliza in the supremely funny tea party scene.
Ikea products are notoriously frustrating to assemble, and the lack of words in their assemble instructions doesn't make it any easier. While their commitment to sustainability and not wasting paper is admirable, surely a few words here and there wouldn't kill too many more extra trees. But have you ever been tempted to just throw the instructions out and see what happens? Italian design firm Teste Di Legno did just that, although more out of curiosity than frustration. While assembling some new office furniture, they came up with the idea of "enriching" one piece of furniture with bits of another, which led to the creation of their 'Lato B' collection — four pieces of multipurpose Franken-furniture made entirely out of reimagined Ikea products. For instance, their 'Unacucina' ('one kitchen') piece combines a coffee table, toy storage and flower pots with an island bench to create a quirky, one-off piece of furniture that even has space for a herb garden. On Teste di Legno's website, they describe the process of making the collection as being "like moving around a body to discover the less visible parts (from side A to side B), or illuminating with a ray of light the dark part — not of the moon — which forces a design to have a fixed, rigid, defined identity: a table is a table." Although 'Ikea hacking' is not a new idea, this is definitely among the more creative attempts we've seen. Via PSFK.
Have you ever wondered who the people on our money actually are? Sure, the Queen's pretty obvious. Okay, we seem to be a little enamoured with our native animals. But wouldn't if be great if you could actually relate to the people proudly emblazoned on our currency? Imagine if you could pay for a cold beer with a few cheeky Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That's a world I want to live in. So to does German-based designer Andre Levy. Working on an popular Instagram turned Tumblr project called Tales You Lose, this skilled artist has been altering currency from around the world to suit this great idea. He's transformed politicians, royalty and cultural icons into the likes of Princess Leia, Amy Winehouse, Flash and Apu from The Simpsons. "I never collected coins," he told Hyperallergic. "What initially made me accumulate a few was the fact that I keep forgetting them in my pockets ... I saw those coins as massively reproduced sculptures, and felt they could be turned into templates for something richer." Though the act is inherently a kind of defacement, Levy says his intentions aren't political. His subjects are instead decided by convenience. For instance, he often chooses to colour over Queen Elizabeth because of her easily manipulated silhouette. He especially like the Italian 'Vitruvian Man' because you can sneak in a whole standing figure. As far as we can tell, he hasn't yet tackled any Australian currency, though he's always thinking up new ideas for artworks. Right now, he's actually looking for a coin to transform into RuPaul. Seeing as our only pictured person other than the Queen is an Aboriginal elder, I don't think Australia can help him out. Via Hyperallergic.
There's thinking outside of the box, and then there's redesigning the box — and when it comes to the structure certain to be Taiwan's next landscape, Dutch architecture firm MVRDV has done the latter. To be specific, their new home design does away with squares, preferring a rather unusual form instead. Meet Y House, which is shaped just like the letter, and comes complete with a sky-high pool between the inevitable rooftop gap. "Why not?" is what everyone involved in the project must've sad when someone came up with the idea for a holiday home that resembles a giant Y-shaped sponge. While it'll be made out of concrete when it comes to fruition, the mutiple-storey building will also be littered with circular windows from top to bottom. In addition to the eye-catching pool between the sloped surfaces of the structure's roof, Y House will also feature two multiple levels of communal living space (including a solarium, change rooms, and entertaining and dining area), two lower floors filled with bedrooms, and ground-level garden tea room. A landscaped, Feng Shui-friendly garden will surround the home, as will a second decorative pool with stepping stone paths. The structure might sound futuristic; however it'll become a reality sooner than you might think, with the building due to be constructed in 2017 in a new residential community on the outskirts of Taiwan's Tainan city. And the best part: because it'll be used as a holiday house, you can cross your fingers and hope that the owners will list it on an accommodation-sharing website when they're not using the place. Via Dezeen.
Their impressive 2023 Women's World Cup efforts mightn't have ended in a medal, the 2024 Paris Olympics sadly didn't turn out as planned and the next Women's Asian Cup, which Australia is hosting, isn't until 2026 — but the Matildas have an opportunity to emerge victorious on the international stage in 2025. The contest: the SheBelieves Cup, a four-nation annual competition that's been held by US Soccer for a decade now. This is the first time that Australia is taking part, and you can watch along between Friday, February 21–Thursday, February 27. Australia's national women's soccer team will play three other squads that also competed in Paris: Japan, the USA (unsurprisingly) and Colombia. First up is the Japan match in Houston, then battling it out with the contest hosts — and Olympic gold medal-winners and world number-one team — in Glendale, before facing Colombia in San Diego. While the time difference means that none of the games are being played in Aussie prime time, they're still on in Australian-friendly slots — all mornings. On the east coast, you might want to go into work late on Friday, February 21 (8.30am AEDT / 7.30am AEST / 8am ACDT / 5.30am AWST) and Monday, February 24 (8.30am AEDT / 7.30am AEST / 8am ACDT / 5.30am AWST), or have an early lunch on Thursday, February 27 (11am AEDT / 10am AEST /10.30am ACDT / 8am AWST). To watch, Paramount+ is your destination, showing the games live exclusively Down Under. For this batch of matches, Steph Catley is donning the captain's armband, with Ellie Carpenter and Emily van Egmond as her deputies. After Tony Gustavsson left following the Olympics, the Matildas don't yet have a new permanent full-time coach, so Tom Sermanni — who did the job between 1994–97 and 2005–12 — remains at the reins, after stepping in temporarily in late 2024. Mary Fowler is back in the squad after sitting out the Matildas' last 2024 games to put her mental and physical health first — and, as well as Catley, Carpenter and van Egmond, she has plenty of company. The team also includes Mackenzie Arnold, Caitlin Ford, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Katrina Gorry, Michelle Heyman, Alanna Kennedy, Hayley Raso and Tameka Yallop. As for Sam Kerr, she hasn't yet returned to the field following her ACL injury last year, so isn't taking part in the SheBelieves Cup. The Matildas 2025 SheBelieves Cup Games Friday, February 21 — Matildas v Japan at 8.30am AEDT / 7.30am AEST / 8am ACDT / 5.30am AWST Monday, February 24 — Matildas v USA at 8.30am AEDT / 7.30am AEST / 8am ACDT / 5.30am AWST Thursday, February 27 — Matildas v Colombia at 11am AEDT / 10am AEST /10.30am ACDT / 8am AWST The Matildas' SheBelieves Cup 2025 games take place between Friday, February 21–Thursday, February 27 — and you can watch via Paramount+. Images: Tiffany Williams, Football Australia.
Staying on a private island seems like something reserved for Beyonce, Jay Z and Blue somewhere in the Caribbean (and most definitely with some kind of a yacht). Because where do mere mortals even access entire islands, anyway? And do you have to be a millionaire to access one? These are all questions people who haven't had the pleasure of erasing all unwanted human contact from their lives for a period of time ask. All we know is that, in the words of Liz Lemon, we want to go to there. Enter Satellite Island. Just off the coast of Tasmania, the small 30-hectare piece of land in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel is every bit the idyllic alpine Tasmanian dream getaway you could hope for. And when you visit, it's totally, 100% only inhabited by you. The island has been owned by the Alstergren family for a few generations, but when Will and Kate inherited it six years ago, they decided to open it to the public for the first time. Which is great news for everyone else, because it's crazy beautiful. Sea cliffs drop down into that clear, fresh Tassie water, blue gums cover the landscape and you can see across to Bruny Island. Just take a look at where you could be sleeping. The island is yours to explore, with walking tracks, kayaks and fishing rods available for use. You can walk around the island in an hour and a half, so do that. Plus, Bruny Island is only a five minute boat ride away, so duck over there for all your cheese, wine and oyster supplies and come back and eat them on the deck as the sun goes down. Oof. Satellite Island is accessible from the Satellite Island private jetty at Middleton, about a 40 minute drive from Hobart. The manager will meet you to take you to the island. For more information, visit their website. Image: Tess Newman-Morris via Instagram
"Is this really happening again?" asks Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) in the just-dropped first teaser trailer for Only Murders in the Building season three. "Well, you know, who are we without a homicide?" replies his neighbour, fellow murder-mystery buff and co-podcaster Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die). Clearly, this hit sleuthing comedy is returning as it's always gone on — since season one made it one of the best new shows of 2021 and season two put it in the best returning category in 2022. Also starring Steve Martin (It's Complicated), the hit Disney+ series will drop its third season sometime in 2023 — and while there's no official release date as yet, the first sneak peek sets the tone for what's to come. Mabel, Oliver and Charles-Haden Savage's (Martin) dynamic is filled with as much banter as ever, and there's another murder to solve. The latter won't come as a surprise, of course, because season two ended with another big death. So, that's what the new batch of episodes will look into, complete with Paul Rudd (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) and the one and only Meryl Streep (Don't Look Up) joining the Only Murders in the Building cast. The newly released trailer serves up a glimpse at both, too — one for the first time, one after making quite the series debut last time around. From the looks of it, season three will spend a fair amount of time working through the events leading up to that last murder at the end of season two. So far, though, few other details have been revealed. Indeed, the new trailer focuses on "a surprise you never saw coming" — which is Streep, although her casting was announced earlier in 2023. The series does love adding names to its on-screen roster. Over both season one and two, Tina Fey (Girls5eva) has been a significant presence, Sting and Amy Schumer have played themselves, and Cara Delevingne (Carnival Row) has also popped up. If you're still yet to experience the series' charms, it follows the odd trio of Charles-Haden, Oliver and the much-younger Mabel after they bond over two things: listening to a Serial-style podcast hosted by the show's own version of Sarah Koenig, aka Cinda Canning (Fey); and a death in their luxe abode. Of course, they did what everyone that's jumped on the true-crime bandwagon knows they would if they were ever in the same situation, starting their own audio series that's also called Only Murders in the Building. That's how season one kicked off — and continued, proving a warm, funny, smart and savvy series at every step along the way. In the show's second go-around, another death needed investigating. That time, it was someone the main trio were all known not to be that fond of, so suspicions kept pointing in their direction. Check out the first trailer for Only Murders in the Building season three below: Only Murders in the Building's third season doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when one is announced. Season one and two are currently streaming Down Under via Star on Disney+. Read our full review of season two — and of the show's first season, too.
When you've already announced Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay as one of your keynote speakers, what comes next? At the 2024 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, the conversation will flow from being a serial dissenter to the smartphone backlash, propaganda and censorship, giving kids the right to vote and taking on the one percent, then also cover tackling inequality, the myths surrounding women's health and humanity's need to find meaning through god-like figures. The full for the Sydney fest, which will take over Carriageworks for two days from Saturday, August 24–Sunday, August 25, is filled with exactly what an event dedicated to crucial and complex topics demands: a wide-ranging lineup of boundary-pushing talks where hopping from one session from the next means jumping between a vast array of subject matter. Under Festival Director Danielle Harvey, FODI has curated its 2024 roster around the theme of 'sanctuary'. Joining Gay among the 16 international guests presenting keynotes are US psychologist Jean Twenge, which is where diving into the impact of handheld devices comes in; journalist and writer Masha Gessen, who'll explore the ways that narratives about conflicts are controlled; and David Runciman to give the Christopher Hitchens Oration on the topic "votes for six-year-olds". Plus, Megan Phelps-Roper of Unfollow fame will team up with Andy Mills from The New York Times' The Daily and Rabbit Hole to dig into the impact of their podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling — and Jen Gunter has her sights set on the poor medical care women can be subjected to. Elsewhere, academic Saree Makdis will examine the west's response to the conflict in the Middle East, economists John N Friedman and Richard Holden will chat through ideas for increasing upward social mobility, The Next Frontier academic Todd Fernando will hone in on Indigenous excellence and The End of Race Politics' Coleman Hughes will be a guest on Josh Szeps' Uncomfortable Conversations. Attendees can also hear sustainability professor Jem Bendell step through how civilisation is already collapsing, philosopher David Benatar dive into the ethics of having children and comedian David Baddiel deliver the first John Caldon Provocation on how the need for god to give life substance disproves the deity's existence. The lineup goes on, whether you're keen for a session featuring Jordan van den Berg, aka renter advocate Purple Pingers, on why the one percent should be afraid — or chats about the new breed of world leaders, the price of democracy, public forgiveness, artificial and transplanted wombs, positive masculinity, peer pressure making us sick or individualism. If you can't attend or won't be in Sydney, some sessions will be livestreamed. For those heading along in person, perhaps you'd like to hear from Talk to Me's Danny Philippou about his favourite horror film and why we're all fascinated with fear, then crawl through a tape installation by Austrian and Croatian artists and designers Numen / For Use, then watch a jailbreak experiment by performance collective re:group, too? Yes, across what promises to be a busy weekend, they're all also on the program as well. Images: Jodie Barker, Ken Leanfore and Yaya Stempler.
MCA Opening by Zacha Rosen. See the gallery here. It’s back: the only reason non-tourists ever visit the rocks (besides a 2am pancake craving and home-brewed beer). The MCA, our resplendent harbour-side cultural gem (uh, the other one) reopens this weekend, showing off its shiny makeover with new exhibitions, talks and events to remind us why we love contemporary art, and especially why we love it in Sydney (the new upstairs café that offers sweeping views of the harbour for one). But as delighted as we are to have our homecoming queen back on the scene, it doesn’t mean we should forget our humbler, less glamorous members of team contemporary art. Offering up some fierce rivalry to any grand opening of any grand establishment are some of our local favourites: Anna Schwartz with Shoot from the Hip, The Tate with Dancing Words, and Serial Space with a unique approach to the concept of a lecture. There’s also no shortage of film, theatre and events that make you go hmmm, to add to your cultural calendar this week. But whatever you do, do it with the lights out. Earth hour is once again upon us, so this Saturday let’s aim for the kind of pitch black that would put a Stanley Kubrick film to shame. MCA Opening Weekend The details: Thursday, March 29 - Sunday, April 1 @ Museum of Contemporary Art After an absence of more than a year, the Museum of Contemporary Art is rebuilt, refit and ready to bring you more art than ever before. Its innards have been expanded, a white, lego-like addition fused to its northern edge and a cafe upstairs now offers you a view with your mid-art breaks. For its Opening Weekend, the MCA lights itself up to take its first contingent of new guests, with talks, art and events to keep you busy for three full days of artistic exploration. Read more La Traviata - Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour The details: Saturday, March 24 - Sunday, April 15 @ Mrs. Macquaries Point Probably the best outdoor event to ever be staged in Australia, this stunning spectacle floats in the harbour, while you sip champagne from Fleet Steps. Read more Lauren Brincat: Shoot From the Hip The details: Wednesday, March 28 - Saturday, April 21 @ Anna Schwartz Gallery Moody video cycles and triangular sculpture feature in this solo show, Lauren Brincat's first at a private gallery. Read more The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra The details: Thursday, March 29 @ Oxford Art Factory Featuring Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords, here is something that could either be truly amazing or amazingly bad. Read more Message Sticks 2012 The details: Tuesday, March 27 - Sunday, April 1 @ Sydney Opera House See great Indigenous films for free, alongside a fiery array of music, talks, dance and art. Read more Earth Hour 2012 The details: Saturday, March 31 @ Sydney City Streets and Parks The Hour started in Sydney in 2007, and has become an international event in the years since. Get unplugged, as small acts lead to bigger things. Read more Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes The details: Saturday, March 31 - Sunday, June 3 @ Art Gallery of New South Wales While we can always count on this annual crowd magnet to deliver awe-inspiring celebrations of Aussie celebrity, the Archibald Prize offers especially fascinating portraiture. Read more The Hunger Games The details: Thursday, March 22 - Wednesday, April 25 @ Various cinemas An exhilarating debut from the bestselling series about teenagers engaged in a deadly bloodsport. Read more
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. From the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from February's haul of newbies (yes, we're assuming you've already watched News of the World and Malcolm & Marie). BRAND NEW STUFF YOU CAN WATCH IN FULL RIGHT NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ9cCFrCBxI IT'S A SIN More than two decades after creating Queer as Folk, Russell T Davies gives the television landscape another excellent queer drama. The screenwriter and television producer has been busy over the intervening period thanks to everything from Doctor Who to Years and Years — and he also has 2015's Cucumber to his name, too — but It's a Sin is one of the very best things on his lengthy resume. Stepping back to the AIDS crisis of the 80s and early 90s, the five-part miniseries follows a group of friends chasing their dreams in London. Ritchie (Olly Alexander, Penny Dreadful) heads to the city to become an actor, and to avoid telling his stern parents that he's gay. Roscoe (Omari Douglas) flees his parents' home when they keep threatening to take him back to Nigeria. Colin (Callum Scott Howells) arrives for an apprenticeship at a high-end tailor shop, but soon finds himself seeking an escape from his lecherous boss. Given the era, there's no doubting where the story will head. It's a Sin is as joyous and vibrant as it is soulful and heartbreaking, though. Ritchie, Roscoe and Colin not only cross paths, but form a makeshift family in their modest flat, with the former's college friends Jill (Lydia West, Dracula) and Ash (Nathaniel Curtis) rounding out the quintet. Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Fry also feature, but they're never It's a Sin's stars — because, in series that looks and sounds the period part at every moment, the show's five main players are simply phenomenal. It's a Sin is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lkCCo63nhM I CARE A LOT She may not end up with many shiny statuettes for her efforts, but Rosamund Pike's Golden Globe nomination for I Care a Lot is well-deserved. The Radioactive and Gone Girl star is stellar in a tricky part in a thorny film — because this dark comic-thriller isn't here to play nice. Pike plays Marla Grayson, a legal guardian to as many elderly Americans as she can convince the courts to send her way. She's more interested in the cash that comes with the job, however, rather than actually looking after her charges. Indeed, with her girlfriend and business partner Fran (Eiza González, Bloodshot), plus an unscrupulous doctor on her payroll, she specifically targets wealthy senior citizens with no family, gets them committed to her care, packs them off to retirement facilities and plunders their bank accounts. Then one such ploy catches the attention of gangster Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones), who dispatches his minions to nudge Marla in a different direction. She isn't willing to acquiesce, though, sparking both a game of cat and mouse and a showdown. Dinklage makes the most of his role, too, but I Care a Lot is always the icy Pike's movie. Well, hers and writer/director J Blakeson's (The Disappearance of Alice Creed), with the latter crafting a takedown of capitalism that's savagely blunt but also blisteringly entertaining. I Care a Lot is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw_iVa6bZgs WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS Named after a meme, and focusing on characters that can hardly be described likeable but are nonetheless instantly recognisable, Australian sitcom Why Are You Like This takes aim at 21st century life. Its three main figures are all twentysomethings endeavouring to navigate a never-ending onslaught of personal and professional problems, such as getting fired, battling with colleagues, money troubles, hiding boyfriends, losing moon cups and trying to spark a workplace revolution but ending up getting other people fired — so, yes, they're just like the rest of us. Penny (series co-creator Naomi Higgins, Utopia) wants to be an ally to everyone. Her bestie Mia (Olivia Junkeer, Neighbours) matches that determination with both self-assurance and a self-serving mindset; if she's sticking up for anyone, it's always herself. Rounding out the trio is Penny's housemate and aspiring drag queen Austin (Wil King), whose glittery outfits and super-sized personality can't always hide his internal crumbling. Across the show's six-episode first season, these three friends keep trying to stand out in their own ways. They also keep demonstrating both their best and worst traits. As satirical as it is candid and relatable, Why Are You Like This knows that everyone and everything is awful, and leans in. And, in terms of the series' style of comedy, the fact that Higgins created the show with lawyer and illustrator Humyara Mahbub and Aunty Donna's Mark Samual Bonanno says plenty. Why Are You Like This is available to stream via ABC iView. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqXhMYjasHM ROCKS Not only thoughtful, empathetic and heartfelt, but also offering a very familiar genre a fresh perspective, coming-of-age drama Rocks explores the life of British Nigerian teenager Olushola Omotoso (engaging debutant Bukky Bakray). She's given the eponymous nickname by her friends, and she's forced to call upon a hardy type of fortitude when her mother (Layo-Christina Akinlude, I May Destroy You) leaves suddenly, entrusting the 15-year-old to care for her her younger brother Emmanuel (D'Angelou Osei Kissiedu). This situation isn't new for the siblings, so they soldier on. But, approaching the film with a tender but also forthright touch, director Sarah Gavron (Suffragette) and screenwriters Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson (Gangs of London) don't sugarcoat their story. As Rocks tries to rustle up enough money to by, endeavours to evade social workers chasing her and Emmanuel around town, attempts to maintain a routine for her brother and also deals with her own schoolyard struggles, the film repeatedly demonstrates that a feature can be both honest, unflinching, bittersweet and charming all at once. Indeed, it also illustrates that when a movie manages to be all of those things — as well as immersively shot, superbly performed and keenly showing a far more expansive snapshot of British life than often seen on-screen — it's something special. Rocks is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZU_76SPdI CLARICE When The Silence of the Lambs became one of the most talked-about movies of 1991 — and won the 'big five' Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay — it was always going to earn a follow-up. But, the three films that did just that all cared far more about psychiatrist and serial killer Hannibal Lecter than FBI Agent Clarice Starling, as did the Mads Mikkelsen-starring TV series Hannibal. Accordingly, television crime procedural Clarice feels as if it's righting a three-decade-old wrong. Set a year after the events of The Silence of the Lambs, it follows its eponymous figure (Australian actor Rebecca Breeds, Three Summers) as she returns to the field. She's still shaken by the case that made her famous, and she'd much rather stay behind the scenes than lead the charge, but she's brought to Washington DC to join a high-profile taskforce that hunts down serial killers and other predators. Clarice is made by US network television, not cable, so it happily sticks to an obvious formula; however, case-of-the week programs like this have remained a TV mainstay for a reason. Breeds capably steps into Jodie Foster's shoes, the series as a whole sinks into its unsurprisingly grim mood, and stories about women reclaiming their own space after trauma, as this is, aren't as common as they should be. Clarice is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B7m-ARHz0c FAKE FAMOUS No one could've known how timely Fake Famous would be, especially in Australia. Arriving in a month where much of the nation's social media usage has pivoted from Facebook to Instagram, it explores influencer culture on the latter platform, all thanks to an experiment by journalist-turned-filmmaking first-timer Nick Bilton. Interested not only in people famous for being famous, but in the way that Instagram in particular has heightened the phenomenon, the writer/director endeavours to create three influencers of his own. He holds auditions, selects candidates, gives them makeovers, sets them up with a crew to snap their photos and shoot their videos, and buys them bots to follow, like and comment on their posts. His aim: to take his three chosen Los Angeles residents from everyday Instagram users with dreams of online stardom to the type of social media celebrities who've turned their virtual existence into a full-time job (and have the statistics and the swag sent to their door to prove it). Mixed in with insights about social media and influencers in general, the result is a fascinating film — especially in seeing how Bilton's three central figures handle the process. That remains true of this slickly made, perkily toned documentary even if there's little that's overly new here for anyone with an ongoing interest in or knowledge of the subject. Fake Famous is available to stream via Binge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9XJ1AxrAcs THE VIRTUES Director and screenwriter Shane Meadows has a fantastic track record, spanning everything from Dead Man's Shoes to This Is England — as well as the multiple TV shows inspired by the latter. Fellow screenwriter Jack Thorne is no stranger to working with Meadows, also thanks to the This Is England franchise; however his individual resume includes Dirt Music, Radioactive, The Secret Garden, Enola Holmes, The Eddy and His Dark Materials over just the past couple of years. So, the pair's involvement in The Virtues immediately marks it as a miniseries to watch. So does its star Stephen Graham, yet another veteran of This Is England. Here, all three combine for a four-part drama that's bleak, raw, frank and devastating — and, once you've started watching, it's also impossible to tear your eyes away from until the credits roll on the final episode. After it finishes, it's downright impossible to forget, in fact, a claim that can't be made of most television shows. Graham plays Joseph, a labourer who's barely getting by. When his ex-partner and his young son move to Australia, he hits the bottle, has a big night, and wakes up certain that he has to head back to Ireland and confront his troubled past. So starts an emotional journey that's never easy — not for a single second — but is also never anything less than astounding. The Virtues is available to stream via Stan. RETURNING SHOWS TO CHECK OUT WEEK BY WEEK WELLINGTON PARANORMAL Three of the best comedic actors currently on TV all star in New Zealand-made sitcom Wellington Paranormal. Playing Officer O'Leary, Officer Minogue and Sergeant Maaka, Karen O'Leary, Mike Minogue and Maaka Pohatu spit out devastatingly hilarious deadpan line readings. They need to in this mockumentary series, which follows a squad of Wellington cops who investigate the supernatural — as the show's title so succinctly explains — but every episode of the series so far has demonstrated just how perfect these three actors are for their job. That includes the just-arriving third season of the program, which once again sees the team tackle cases of the paranormal variety (and, yes, of the often silly and always amusing kind as well). This batch of instalments starts with an invisible foe, then ponders what might be lurking in the woods, with laughs heartily ensuing. A spinoff from Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement's excellent 2014 movie What We Do in the Shadows — well, one of the film's spinoffs, given that a very funny US TV series also called What We Do in the Shadows also exists — Wellington Paranormal aces its concept again and again. This time around, Clement directed half of the season's episodes, while Rhys Darby reprises a familiar role. Wellington Paranormal's third season starts streaming via SBS On Demand from Wednesday, February 24, with new episodes added each week. CULT CLASSICS TO REVISIT AND REDISCOVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhulR_kJf7Y PARKS AND RECREATION She's the government worker we all wish could be in charge of, well, absolutely everything — and she's the Indiana city of Pawnee's most devoted employee and biggest fan. We're talking, of course, about Leslie Knope, Amy Poehler's super passionate waffle-loving character in iconic sitcom Parks and Recreation. Willing to work hard in any situation and always ready to lean upon her friends and co-workers, Leslie knows how to handle almost anything. In one particular fifth-season episode of the Nick Offerman, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe-costarring series, that also includes grappling with a pandemic. Created by The Office's Greg Daniels and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation may have only come to the end of its seven-season run back in 2015, but the sitcom has been an instant classic from the get-go for one reason: focusing on relatable characters, the minutiae of their lives and the time working in local government, workplace-based comedy has never felt more kind-hearted, or — thanks to the show's penchant for letting its main players talk directly to the camera — so inclusive. And while Parks has done the rounds of streaming platforms, hopping from one to another over the years, its arrival on Netflix is as good a reason as any for a rewatch (not that anyone ever needs an excuse). All seven seasons of Parks and Recreation are available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zaQgbACc1E THE MUPPET SHOW Created by Jim Henson, first seen on TV in the 50s and boasting eight movies to their name, The Muppets are easily the most loveable felt and foam creations in pop culture history. They're also the driving force behind the best variety television series that's ever reached the small screen: The Muppet Show, which ran for five seasons between 1976–81. Forget all those other efforts hosted by humans over the years, because nothing is as absurd, surreal and delightful as this puppet-fuelled program. And, whether you grew up watching reruns over and over, have always wanted to check it out or somehow weren't aware that the series even existed, it's now available on Disney+ in full. Yes, it's time to play the music and light the lights — and to revisit this Muppets-starring favourite. You won't just be checking out the comic stylings of Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and the Swedish Chef (and their songs and skits, too), of course. The Muppet Show is also famed for its guest appearances, so get set to spy everyone from Elton John and Mark Hamill to Martin, Liza Minnelli, Alice Cooper, Julie Andrews, Diana Ross and Gene Kelly. All five seasons of The Muppet Show are available to stream via Disney+.
Bottle shops. You know the drill; hovering wistfully in front of an arsenal of bottles, hand stroking chin, staring at the labels and hoping the one with the nice font is a surefire winner. But as soon as your cluelessly-picked vino makes its way to the glass, that shit's way too woody man. Too dry. Too fruity. High damn acidity. It's all wrong. You know what you like, when you get it, but you can never quite pick it. Luckily, a brand new app is about to hook you up with your perfect match — using science. Next Glass is a brand new app which acts as a 'matchmaker' between humans, wine and beer, hoping to Cupid you straight to your favourite new drop according to your tastes. Ditch the wine diary, these guys are using science. The Next Glass team have analysed ingredients from microbreweries and vineyards across the globe — and even taste-tested them, in what sounds like the most applauseworthy 'research' excuse for throwing back bucketloads of drank we've heard yet. App developers George Taylor and Stephen Pond have been analysing up to 200 bottles of beer a day through a project called The Beer Census, attempting to hoard every beer in America and rate their chemical makeup in the lead-up to Next Glass's release. Party at George and Stephen's lab y'all. So how do you use it? To start with, users build a profile by finding wines and beers they already like through the app and give them a rating out of four. Kind of like Spotify for booze, the app gives better recommendations the longer you use it and the more flags you raise on what you like and don't. Then, when you find a shiny new Pinot Noir to try, all you have to do is scan the bottle and the wine's profile will be matched to your preferences. You'll be given a percentage rate of how the wine fits in with your tastes and if the score's over 90 you've got a pretty great match. Like all apps nowadays, users can share their findings and connect with other Next Glassers (as well as giving vital stats to beer and wine distributors, always). Plus, if you and your buds all scan the same bottle you can get a few more scores to see how you all compare — Max might be a Savvy-B type of guy, while Lisa might get all up in Riesling, but this cheeky wine might suit them both. And if trying out an app is excuse enough to 'scan' multiple bottles of wine among friends, we're in. While the app's only available in the US so far, fingers crossed for an Australian taste-testing team call-out. Next Glass is available for free on the App Store and Google Play — but only works in the US so far. Via Springwise and Grub Street. Image credit: djwtwo via photopin cc.
Hot on the heels of its Brisbane opening earlier this month, global hotel chain W Hotel has just announced that it'll be landing in Sydney's Darling Harbour in 2020. Set to become part of The Ribbon – a sleek new $730 million development designed by HASSEL architects and sitting on the former IMAX theatre site, which was demolished in late 2016 – W Sydney is promising, not just a hotel, but a luxury hideaway. As with every W Hotel, you can expect impeccably-designed futuristic spaces, eateries overseen by expert chefs, cocktails created by top-notch bartenders and collaborations with local artists, musicians and designers. One of W Sydney's drawcards — apart from its 593 rooms and suites spread across 25 storeys — will be a stunning pool deck, overlooking the water. Also in the plans are a signature spa, a ballroom and two bars, including a W Living Room with expansive glass walls and an extraordinary sound system. We don't know, quite yet, who'll be running the restaurant, but chances are it'll be some local legend, given that the Three Blue Ducks are in-house at W Brisbane. Sydney was previously home to a W Hotel on Woolloomooloo Wharf, but it was sold to the Taj Hotel Group in 2007, then again the Hind Group (the owners of Ovolo) in 2014. The new W Hotel is only one part of new The Ribbon development, which will also be home to serviced apartments, retail spaces and — potentially, most excitingly — a huge new IMAX theatre. W Sydney is slated to open in 2020 and will be Australia's third W Hotel, following Brisbane and Melbourne, which is also due to open in 2020. The brand is aiming to be 75-strong hotel worldwide within the next two years. W Hotel is a branch of Marriott International, the world's largest hotel group, which now owns 18 hotels across our nation.
If you've got a pair of boots that were made for walkin' but not enough reasons to strap them on and eat up some pavement, there's an occasion coming up where you can do just that — and it's for a damn good cause. The occasion in question is Dusk to Dawn, a night walk event organised by UNICEF, taking place on Saturday, November 23. It's the newest and biggest night walk in Sydney's history, where participants will lace up and walk a 37km route from North Sydney to Bondi. It's not a race, there's no running required and it's a great way to see the city in a new (moon)light. The goal is for every entrant to raise $500 in donations for UNICEF (the world's largest children's charity organisation) which in turn goes towards lifesaving supplies for children in emergencies. Registrations are open now and are $75 until 11.59pm on Tuesday, October 8. UNICEF Dusk to Dawn will kick off at 8pm on Saturday, November 23. Registrations are open now, to register or find more information, visit the website.
The last time that Patricia Arquette graced the small screen before High Desert, she was icy and commanding, pulling company-controlled strings and overseeing a corporate-styled sci-fi nightmare world. Other than also streaming via Apple TV+, 2022's instant-standout first season of Severance has little in common with the Boyhood Oscar-winner and The Act and Medium Emmy-winner's latest project. Here, she leads a private investigator comedy that dapples its jam-packed chaos under California's golden sun, against the parched Yucca Valley landscape and with an anything-goes philosophy — not to mention a more-mayhem-the-merrier tone. In High Desert, the always-excellent Arquette plays Peggy Newman, who isn't letting her age get in the way of perennially struggling to pull her life together. That said, when the eight-part series opens — streaming from Wednesday, May 17 — it's Thanksgiving 2013 and she's living an upscale existence in Palm Springs, with gleaming surfaces abounding in her expansive (and visibly expensive) home. Then, as her husband Denny (Matt Dillon, Proxima) jokes around with her mother Roslyn (Bernadette Peters, Mozart in the Jungle), and her younger siblings Dianne (Christine Taylor, Search Party) and Stewart (Keir O'Donnell, The Dry) lap up the lavish festivities, DEA agents swarm outside. Cue weed, hash and cash stashes being flushed and trashed, but not quickly enough to avoid splashing around serious repercussions. A decade later, High Desert's protagonist has been sharing Roslyn's house and trying to kick her addictions while working at Pioneertown, a historical attraction that gives tourists a dusty, gun-toting taste of frontier life. Peggy would love to step back in time herself when she's not pretending to be a saloon barmaid — to when her recently deceased mother was still alive, however, rather than to her glitzy post-arrest shindigs. Still angry about being caught up in a drug bust, Dianne and Stewart have zero time for her nostalgia and a lack of patience left for her troubles. Their plan: to sell Roslyn's abode with no worries about where Peggy might end up. Her counter: doing everything she can to stop that from happening. High Desert doesn't just embrace the fact that living and breathing is merely weathering whatever weird, wild and sometimes-wonderful shambles fate throws your way; in a show created and written by Nurse Jackie and Damages alumni Jennifer Hoppe and Nancy Fichman, plus Miss Congeniality and Desperate Housewives' Katie Ford, that idea dictates the busy plot, too. The end result isn't quite in Mrs Davis territory but, as Peggy decides to talk her way into moonlighting as a private investigator for local detective Bruce Harvey (Brad Garrett, Bupkis) after he rips off her best friend Carol (Weruche Opia, I May Destroy You), it repeatedly proves gleefully ridiculous. Instead of a nun fighting AI, this series spans stolen art, an anchorman-turned-guru (Rupert Friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi) whose motto is "everything is stupid!", a missing mafia family member (Tonya Glanz, Hightown), and father-daughter assassins (American Horror Story's Carlo Rota and Tuning In's Julia Rickert) with debts to collect and a penchant for slicing off nipples. Also filling High Desert's frames: blasting people out of canons, a wine- and car-stealing teen (Jayden Gomez, Love) with an all-seeing drone, Denny getting out of prison and chasing new schemes, a talking parrot plucking out its own feathers, and an actor who looks so much like Roslyn (and is also played by the great Peters) that Peggy decides to write a cathartic play around her to work through her mummy issues. For a show taking place in sleepy surroundings — Yucca Valley's IRL population is just over 21,000 — there's nothing placid about the hectic parade of capers it unfurls against the rocky setting. As an illustration of life's non-stop bedlam, though, this happily shaggy ode to sleuthing, hustling and trying to get by always feels authentic. How does anyone navigate their days when there's a lifetime of pain to sift through and just as much baggage to carry, everyone's right choice is someone else's wrong option, and we're all just making it all up as we go along? That's High Desert's vibe — and while it's never afraid to be OTT, it's also wonderfully astute. Adding another memorable role to a four-decades-long resume filled with them, and bringing to mind True Romance's Alabama but 30 years on, Arquette is a key reason that the series plays as engagingly and thoughtfully as it does. She's a committed comic gem as a woman who is never willing to be anything less than herself no matter the costs and consequences, and she's also both a source of pandemonium and a trusty anchor. Arquette is in fine company, with Dillon in There's Something About Mary mode, Friend demonstrating his knack for comedy as the immediately absurd Guru Bob, Garrett adding another interesting part to his post-Everybody Loves Raymond resume and Peters an on-screen treasure as always. Indeed, High Desert's stacks-on feeling echoes everywhere under director Jay Roach's (Bombshell) guidance, from the series' lead performance to its supporting players, and also including its bouncing plot and vivid imagery — brightly, involvingly, entertainingly, and never just throwing more and more hijinks in for the sake of it. With a PI job front and centre, hitmen to avoid and a disappearance to solve, High Desert joins Apple TV+'s packed lineup of mysteries. Severance, Servant, Black Bird, The Afterparty, Bad Sisters, Hello Tomorrow!, The Big Door Prize, Silo, this: they all fit the mould, filling the platform's catalogue with what's clearly its favourite genre. In fact, High Desert's biggest disappointment is that it doesn't lean in further, giving more time and attention to Peggy's no-nonsense detective talents in the spirit of Veronica Mars and Poker Face. Perhaps that's a road for season two to drive down, should another go-around eventuate. With Arquette being a delight at the show's the centre again, more would be welcome. Check out the trailer for High Desert below: High Desert streams via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, May 17.
Even the most seasoned traveller can get a little homesick from time to time, particularly if you're bunking down in the great outdoors without the usual creature comforts. Enter the Bank luggage range by Marc Sadler, as designed for Fabbrica Pelletterie Milano. As well as spanning the usual array of suitcases, it also features three trunks that turn into your own office, bed and kitchen away from home. Encased in shiny aluminium exteriors, jet-setters will find fold-out mini rooms that take care of our basic needs: sleeping, cooking and, sadly, working. The 'bedstation' includes a wooden base with a thin folding mattress, while the 'workstation' contains a table, chair, storage draws and charging ports. As for the 'cookstation', which isn't yet available, it'll boast a hot plate, chopping table, storage for kitchenware, its own power and even a mini fridge. Unsurprisingly, nothing in the range comes cheap — expect to pay nearly AU$11,000 for the bed, around AU$7500 for the office and an estimated AU$10,000 for the kitchen. Still, if you're keen on taking a piece of home with you on your next trip, or close enough to it, it's an option. For more information, visit Marc Sadler's website or the Fabbrica Pelletterie Milano website. Via Travel + Leisure.
They started as an opening act for the Beastie Boys. They've been fighting the power for almost four decades. They're no strangers to big hats and giant clocks, or for fighting for a worthy cause. They've been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2013. They'll forever come to mind whenever Def Jam and Long Island come up. They're Public Enemy, of course, and they're about to get Australia believing the hype when they bring the noise — and their latest tour — Down Under in October 2024. Chuck D, Flavor Flav and company have announced six Aussie dates for their spring visit, starting in Perth at Red Hill Auditorium. From there, they'll head to Adelaide's AEC Theatre, John Cain Arena in Melbourne, Sydney's Hordern Pavilion and Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, before ending the trip in Brisbane at Eatons Hill Outdoor. Audiences, you're gonna get yours when the icons take to the stage to play through 37 years of tunes that began with 1987 singles 'Public Enemy No 1' and, yes, 'You're Gonna Get Yours', all from their debut studio album Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Expect tracks from 1988's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and 1990's Fear of a Black Planet — two of the most-influential records of the period, and home to 'Bring the Noise', 'Don't Believe the Hype', 'Rebel Without a Pause', '911 Is a Joke' and 'Fight the Power' — as well, through to songs from 2020's What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?, their most-recent album. For company, Public Enemy have AB Original in support, pairing one classic duo with another in Briggs and Trials — and matching the US group's commitment to social rights activism with an Australian act just as devoted to standing up against injustice. Public Enemy last played in Australia a decade ago, on a 2014 tour that included Golden Plains, plus gigs in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Launceston. Public Enemy On the Grid 35th Anniversary Tour Dates: Wednesday, October 2 — Red Hill Auditorium, Perth Friday, October 4 — AEC Theatre, Adelaide Saturday, October 5 — John Cain Arena, Melbourne Wednesday, October 9 — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Friday, October 11 — Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Newcastle Saturday, October 12 — Eatons Hill Outdoor, Brisbane Public Enemy are touring Australia in October 2024, with Telstra presales from 10am local time on Friday, June 28, Ticketek presales from 10am local time on Monday, July 1 and general sales from 10am local time on Tuesday, July 2 — head to the tour website for further details.
Everyone's got their Thing. Electrical engineer Scott Brusaw and his partner Julie are passionate about solar panels. If they had it their way, they’d cover every single concrete/asphalt surface on the Earth with them – including major roads. However, before taking on Highway One, they’re starting with more modest aspirations: parking lots. And they’re looking for crowd funding support to get things moving as quickly as possible. Over the past eight years, the Brusaws have devised a modular system named ‘Solar Roadways’. With the help of US Federal Highway Administration funding and an Indiegogo campaign in the works, they’ve developed panels that can handle traction, loading and impact resistance. In other words, you can drive all over them to your heart’s content. A prototype parking lot has been tested and now the Brusaws are ready to go into production. Not only does a Solar Roadway parking lot enable the nearest buildings to come off the grid, it also provides a clean energy source for the recharging of all-electric vehicles. Plus, there’s enough heat to melt ice and snow — salting the streets will be a chore of past grumbling teenagers. Each panel is fitted with LEDs, reducing the danger of night blindness, as well as enough intelligence to warn drivers of unexpected obstacles, such as wandering animals. No more deer in the headlights. What’s more, the inclusion of special ‘Cable Corridors’ means two things. On one hand, they’re an easily accessible home for open air cables and fibre optic internet. On the other, they enable the storage, treatment and redirection of storm water. So many wins. Solar Roadways have already won the blue ribbons around town. The road received First Prize in GE’s 2010 Ecoimagination Grid Challenge for 'Powering the Grid' and First Prize in GE’s 2011 Ecoimagination Challenge for 'Powering the Home'. The Brusaws' Indiegogo campaign, running until May 31, is hoping to raise $1 million. [via PSFK]
White Rabbit Gallery has announced its new show, and it's looking like a cracker. Titled Ritual Spirit, the exhibition is promising to transport you to a world that's half-godly and half-human — that in-between place where the afterlife and the spiritual meet the earthly. The works of more than 20 artists from China and Taiwan, both young and old, will feature. Among them is Geng Xue, who was shortlisted for Young Artist of the Year 2017 in China. She sculpts in bronze and ceramics, among other materials, and her recent solo show explored Mount Sumeru, which, for Buddhists, is the centre of the universe: physically and spiritually. In addition, there's Yu Hong, who's known for her powerful, intimate figurative paintings; Tianzhuo Chen, whose multimedia works combine colour and kitsch to comment on celebrity, fashion, drugs, hip hop, New York vogue, Japanese Butoh and London raves; Cheng Ran, who explores philosophical issues, such as identity and dying, through video; and Xu Bing, whose installations and print mix images with text. Ritual Spirit will show at White Rabbit Gallery from 30 August 2017 through to 28 January 2018.
Those lucky Parisians with their high-speed metros and regular services! They have so much infrastructure, it seems, they might get to party down in repurposed metro stations that no longer serve the network. Lucky. Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a candidate for mayor of Paris, has proposed to reclaim abandoned "ghost stations" by repurposing them into pools, restaurants, auditoriums, theatres and clubs. Some of those metro stations — including Haxo, Porte-des-Lilas, Champ-de-Mars and more — were either never opened or closed during the 1930s and '40s. Parisian architect Manal Rachdi, along with urban planner Nicolas Laisné, have begun imagining how these might look; but the prospective mayor has opened the floor to the public with a co-creative platform whereby locals can access plans and pitch new ones for the stations. It might mean a spot of trouble for the squatters currently inhabiting them, but both locals and tourists should be able to enjoy these new sporting, cultural and festive venues. Not that this is an entirely unprecedented idea. Swedish design studio Visiondivision has plans to repurpose space beneath Stockholm's Tranebergsbron Bridge into a promenade, outdoor cinema and art gallery. And abandoned subway stations have long been home to underground parties in New York City. Regardless, none have stretched as far as Kosciusko-Morizet's proposal. Manal Rachdi and Nicolas Laisné reimagine Parisian ghost stations Proposed changes to Stockholm's Tranebergbron bridge. Via Gizmodo and Dezeen.
Lena Dunham had her debut hosting gig on Saturday Night Live last night and — because she's Lena Dunham and a camera was present — she got naked. For a debate that was once so fiercely alive in the media, it seems to have reached tipping point and become a joke in and of itself. Like your distant cousin who always gets naked to play in the sprinkler and is maybe, sort of, kind of, a little too old for it. At some point, you just let them run free. All in all, the show has been touted as a success. A visibly nervous Dunham centred her monologue on Girls, its nudity, and the problems she faces when everyone brings their sex problems to her. As the show's preview suggested earlier in the week, breasts and feminism were top priority, and culminated in skits deriding men's rights activists and making pubescent girls seem like the most terrifying thing in the world. Tragically though, there was no sign of Blerta. Haters of her Girls character Hannah Horvath will be both elated and annoyed by the stand-out skit of the night. In a bit titled Girl, Dunham plays Eve in the Garden of Eden as a version of her show's alter-ego. Alongside Taran Killam as Adam (also playing a spot-on version of her on-screen boyfriend Adam), Dunham takes Horvath's grating self-obsession to the extreme with lines like "I may have committed original sin, but at least it's original and I think I deserve credit for that." This is good news for Horvath haters because hey, at least she can laugh at herself. But it's also bad news because you still had to listen to that whiny voice for an extra two-and-a-half minutes of your life.
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.
A brand-new interactive advertising campaign from Play Melbourne jumps energetically away from traditional advertising. In an attempt to allow tourists to experience a city before they actually arrive, the Remote Control Tourist lets online users control the movements of two real tourists and watch the results via live stream. Essentially, you sign into remotecontroltourist.com using your Facebook or Twitter account. You can see the map of where the tourist is, what’s nearby, and their video and audio feeds. Then, just send a request for that tourist to do whatever you want. For example, "Find out if Manchester Press do Brazilian coffee." They don’t. The logic behind the two peeps with camera strapped to their heads seems to be that typical tourism ads just show what the tourism company wants you to see, but as a tourist the experience is always totally different. So why not check out the tourist life before embarking on it, all from the comfort and safety of your own home? The idea is not so crazy. The real-life tourist doesn’t have to acquiesce to every request, so nothing creepy or weird is going to go down. Plus, it appeals to the God complex that hides deep down inside us all — who doesn’t want to have complete control over somebody for a little while? It’s also oddly addictive to watch a total stranger responding to online requests like that. So, if you want a chance to "go before you go" to Melbourne, check out the website between October 9-13. Images via Remote Control Tourist.
Before Game of Thrones ended its eighth-season run, HBO spent years telling the world that the end of the hit show wouldn't actually be the end. Firstly, the American cable network announced that it was considering five different prequel ideas. It then green-lit one to pilot stage, scrapped it and later picked a contender to run with: the upcoming House of the Dragon. It also opted to give novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg the TV treatment, too, and to work on an animated GoT show. And, it's been reported that another three prequels are also under consideration. Throughout all of this, GoT fans have been told one thing over and over, even without it being explicitly said. Our days of watching fiery fights between famous Westerosi names — and games over who gets tot sit on the Iron Throne — are far from over, clearly, and won't be for quite some time. And, now that House of the Dragon is getting nearer, dropping teasers and setting release dates (releasing in winter Down Under, when else?), that's glaringly apparent. HBO has just unveiled a new sneak peek at its first GoT spinoff and, yes, all of the basics are covered, including men being unhappy about the idea of a woman on the throne. Focused on House Targaryen — and including flame-breathing scaly creatures, naturally — House of the Dragon promises to dive into the chaotic family's past. That's intertwined with the entire history of the Seven Kingdoms, though. And, as the new footage makes plain, the prequel knows that everyone watching are all well aware of how things turned out when Daenerys Targaryen claimed power (even if this series — which is based on a George RR Martin book, Fire & Blood, of course — is set a couple of hundred years earlier). Cast- and character-wise, House of the Dragon stars Emma D'Arcy (Misbehaviour) as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the first-born child of King Viserys; Matt Smith (His House) as Prince Daemon Targaryen, the King's brother; Rhys Ifans (The King's Man) as Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King; Olivia Cooke (Slow Horses) as Alicent Hightower, Otto's daughter; and Steve Toussaint (It's a Sin) as Lord Corlys Velaryon, aka 'The Sea Snake', a nautical adventurer from a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen. These Westerosi folk all grace a tale that harks back to Aegon I Targaryen's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms — which is what started the hefty 738-page first volume in Fire & Blood's planned two-book series — and then works through the family's backstory from there. Aegon I created the Iron Throne, hence the returning favourite's prominence. Also, you don't have to be the Three-Eyed Raven to know that fighting, battles for supremacy and bloodshed are always a part of every GoT narrative. Popping up on camera as well: Paddy Considine (The Third Day) as King Viserys, Eve Best (Nurse Jackie) as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon and Sonoya Mizuno (Devs) as Mysaria, Prince Daemon's paramour. Behind the scenes, Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal are acting as the series' showrunners. Sapochnik has a hefty GoT history, winning an Emmy and a Directors Guild Award for directing 'Battle of The Bastards', helming season eight's 'The Long Night', and doing the same on four other episodes. As for Condal, he co-created and oversaw recent sci-fi series Colony, and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2018 film Rampage. The latest trailer follows an initial sneak peek back in October last year. Given there's still a few months until House of the Dragon's ten-episode first season starts airing, expect more to follow. That dance with dragons will arrive on Monday, August 22 Down Under, if you don't already have it in your calendar. Foxtel and Binge in Australia and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand will be doing the honours, if you're wondering where to direct your eyeballs. Check out the latest teaser trailer for House of the Dragon below: House of the Dragon will start airing on Monday, August 22 Down Under via Foxtel and Binge, in Australia and SoHo, Sky Go and Neon in New Zealand. Images: Ollie Upton/HBO.
A well-designed sneaker is one of the finer things in life, much like a fine wine, a Cuban cigar or a cabinet fashioned from rich mahogany. Step into a crowded room wearing a good pair of kicks and you may verily command that room. Knowing this, luxury brand-touting Sneakerboy has come to us from Melbourne bearing not only the finest sneakers but a novel way of purchasing them — combining the efficiency of online shopping with the hands-on, social advantage of bricks-and-mortar stores. One feels that if Kanye or will.i.am were to go shopping in Sydney, this would be their first stop. Creative director Chris Kyvetos, who's formerly contributed his talents to Harrolds as creative director and Assin as a designer, is the mastermind behind this high-end sneaker gallery. How does it differ from your Hypes and your Platypi? Sneakerboy is like the Berlin underground gothic nightclub of sneaker stores, with a semi-secret location deep in Temperance Lane — you may have already walked by it, completely oblivious to the illuminated circular tunnel of leathery delights right under your nose. (Like me you may, however, have clocked the mysteriously attractive men loitering in the laneway). Enter the industrial-style, concrete-floored magic bunker and you'll see mounted rows of shoes by Prada, Yohji Yamamoto, Pierre Hardy, Balenciaga, Reebok, Krisvanassche, Givenchy and more. There are also clothes to be tried on, by designers Hood By Air, Christopher Kane and other trendoids of a similar, street-wise stripe. The shopfit is inspired by public spaces and the Paris Metro in particular, with future-retro metal seats and lighting cues giving the store a vibe that's raw and edgy yet sleek. Tech details hint at the forward-thinking outlook of this retail concept — plugs peeking out of shoe displays and screens mounted in the chairs. Where's the cash register? There is none — all sales are done on your own phone. This is just the physical place where you experience a product that you'll buy online, and which will be shipped to your door from offshore warehouses in Hong Kong (within 3-5 days, pledges Chris). It's also where you're likely to run into some of the slickest folk in town. Maison Martin-Margiela x Barneys NY x Sneakerboy Balenciaga Giuseppe Zanotti Store image by Rodney Eggleston/March Studio.
In one of the best new shows of 2022, and a Golden Globe-winner as well, a Chicago sandwich shop served up far more than just meat and bread. Following Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, Shameless) as he returned to run the family eatery after his brother's (Jon Bernthal, We Own This City) death, The Bear's menu also spanned intense kitchen and interpersonal chaos, plus its head chef's dream of levelling up the humble beef-slinging business. When season two arrives this winter, change is well and truly part of the show's spread, with Carmy's renovation and revamp plans at the The Original Beef of Chicagoland underway. As seen in the just-dropped full trailer for the series' upcoming return — which follows an earlier initial sneak peek back in March — neither the show nor its protagonist's life have gotten any less stressful. Trying to bring a fine-diner's level of meticulous to a neighbourhood sandwich shop didn't go smoothly in season one, and endeavouring to completely transform the restaurant was always going to be peppered with mayhem in season two. Get ready to devour requests for cash, tight timelines, constant construction noise, cooking experiments, visits to culinary school, awkward interviews and t-shirt typos. And, of course, an array of dishes being whipped up and instantly whetting appetites off-screen. The new trailer also adds Shiva Baby and Booksmart's Molly Gordon to the cast — and, although he hasn't been seen in season two's early glimpses so far, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul great Bob Odenkirk will also be guest starring. Gordon and Odenkirk join not only the exceptional White, but the rest of The Bear's impressive roster of talent, such as Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Dropout) as Richie, aka Cousin, aka Carmy's brother's best friend; Ayo Edebiri (Dickinson) as sous chef Sydney; Abby Elliott (Indebted) as Carmy's sister Natalie, aka Sugar; and Lionel Boyce (Hap and Leonard), Liza Colón-Zayas (In Treatment) and Edwin Lee Gibson (Fargo) among the other Original Beef staff. The Bear was renewed for season two before the show even made its way Down Under, after debuting in the US last June, then reaching Australia and New Zealand via Disney+ at the end of August. Given that it's now a huge hit, here's hoping that audiences here won't experience a delay again this time around when it hits the US on June 22 again. This go-around will span ten episodes, giving viewers two extra servings of Carmy's culinary endeavours. While season one already saddled him more than his fair share of troubles and struggles, there's no way that season two is going to a cruisy dream for the kitchen ace. If you missed the first season, it jumped into the mayhem after Carmy took over The Original Beef of Chicagoland. Before returning home, the chef's resume spanned Noma and The French Laundry, as well as awards and acclaim. That's just the beginning of the story, in a series that truly conveyed what it's like to work in the hospitality industry — including navigating a restaurant kitchen's non-stop pressures. Yes, the mood is anxious from the outset, with The Bear's creator Christopher Storer (who also has Ramy, Dickinson and Bo Burnham: Make Happy on his resume) starting the series as he definitely meant to go on, but still expertly managing to balance drama and comedy. Check out the full trailer for The Bear season two below: The Bear streams via Disney+ Down Under, with season two set to return on June 22 in the US — we'll update you with an exact local season two release date when one is announced. Read our full review of season one.
Are you searching for somewhere to wine and dine in Sydney over the long weekend? There's no shortage of cafes, restaurants and bars around town that are dishing up the goods in celebration of the king's birthday. Here are a few spots that are open, ready to fill your belly and whet your whistle. Restaurants: The Botanist, Saturday: 12pm–midnight, Sunday: 12–10pm The Butcher's Block Barangaroo, Saturday, Sunday: 8am–late, Monday: 8am–3pm Coogee Pavilion, Saturday, Sunday: 7.30am–late, Monday: 11am–midnight House Bar at Barangaroo House, Saturday: 12pm–midnight, Sunday, Monday: 12–10pm House Canteen, Saturday: 7.30am–11pm, Sunday: 7.30am–12pm, Monday: 7.30am–11pm Little Pearl, Saturday: 7am–late, Sunday, Monday: 7am–10pm Loulou Bistro, Saturday, Sunday: 11.30am–11pm Loulou Boulangerie & Traiteur, Saturday–Monday: 7am–4pm Lotus Barangaroo, Saturday–Monday: 12–3pm, 5.30–9.30pm Opera Bar, Saturday: 11–12.30am, Sunday: 11am–10pm, Monday 11am–11pm Reign, Saturday: 10am–11pm, Sunday: 10am–6pm, Monday: 11am–8pm Untied, Saturday: 11am–late, Sunday: 12–10pm, Monday: 12–10pm [caption id="attachment_848714" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Vic on the Park[/caption] Bars and Pubs: Albion Hotel, Saturday: 10–6am, Sunday: 10am–midnight, Monday: 10–4am The Abercrombie, Saturday: 12pm–5am, Sunday: 12pm–6am, Monday: 12pm–2am The Bank, Saturday: 10–4am, Sunday: 12pm–midnight, Monday: 10–2am Cargo Bar, Saturday–Monday: 11.30am–2am The Clock Hotel, Saturday: 11.30am–10pm, Sunday: 10am–midnight, Monday: 11.30am–midnight The Courthouse Hotel, Saturday: 12pm–midnight, Sunday: 12–10pm, Monday: 12pm–midnight Darlo Bar, Saturday–Monday: 12pm–midnight The Dolphin, Saturday, Sunday: 11.30am–midnight, Monday: 12–10pm The Erko, Saturday: 10am–midnight, Sunday: 10am–10pm, Monday: 10am–midnight The Golden Sheaf, Saturday: 10am–2am, Sunday: 10am–midnight, Monday: 10am–1am Kings Cross Hotel, Saturday: 10am–3:30am, Sunday: 12pm–midnight, Monday: 10am–3.30am The Marlborough Hotel, Saturday: 10am–4am, Sunday: 10am–midnight, Monday: 10–4am Paddo Inn, Saturday: 12pm–1am, Sunday–Monday: 12–10pm Public House Petersham, Saturday: 12pm–1am, Sunday–Monday: 12pm–midnight The Royal Paddington, Saturday: 11am—midnight, Sunday: 11am—10pm, Monday: 11am—midnight The Strand, Saturday: 10am–3am, Sunday: 10am–midnight, Monday: 10am–10pm Top image: Grant Angus.
Sydney knows it thanks to Vivid. Melbourne's RISING makes the same point clear. No matter the place, there's nothing like a city lit up with glowing lights, outdoor art installations and projections in winter. Since debuting in 2021, Illuminate Adelaide has embraced the same idea each year in the City of Churches — and 2024's just-dropped full lineup includes more than 40 works that'll dazzle the city, plus everything from after-dark puppetry in the zoo and a digital garden to Max Cooper and Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. And Fire Gardens. Back in April, Illuminate Adelaide revealed that the French art collective Compagnie Carabosse would headline the fest with its acclaimed piece, which will fill Adelaide Botanic Garden more than 7000 fire pots, sculptures and terracotta urns. While it'll be the event's scorching centrepiece from Thursday, July 4–Sunday, July 21, the highlights keep coming on the complete program. [caption id="attachment_953096" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrew Beveridge[/caption] Much of the brightness in the South Australian at Illuminate Adelaide comes via the City Lights program, which will span those 40-plus free site-specific works over 17 days. The class of 2024 features Renaissance artworks coming alive, interactive lights inspired by the moon's phases, the harp becoming a light-and-colour experience, illuminated street furniture, blue fireflies and more. The World Has Gone Pear Shaped — a large-scale, six-metre-tall inflatable sculpture that turns earth into a pear to muse on humanity's impact upon the planet — is sure to be standout. So is intangible #form by Japanese artist Shohei Fujimoto, which uses lasers, strobe lights, other moving lights and haze to create a multi-sensory piece across an array of rooms. You'll be swinging at Spectrum of Happiness, and as you do you'll create a rainbow. And Tjarutja Dance Theatre Collective Project's Ngarrindjeri Ruwi tells the Ngarrindjeri tale about Kondili, the whale that projects the spark of fire. [caption id="attachment_953092" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Artec House[/caption] Puppets roaming outside have increasingly become a key component of arts festivals of late — Parrtjima in the Northern Territory just proved this true in April — so of course Illuminate Adelaide has incorporated the trend into its lineup. Cue Universal Kingdom: Prehistoric Nights, a brand-new blend of puppetry and animation from Erth Visual & Physical Inc and A Blanck Canvas that'll take over Adelaide Zoo. A glowing dinosaur skeleton with a giant skull and a ribcage that you can walk through, ancient critters wandering along, an eight-metre animated plesiosaur in the sky: they're just some of its elements. Similarly immersive and built for folks to mosey around is interactive digital garden EDEN, which splashes its nature paradise across 150 square metres of LED screens — and will be accompanied by The Light Room Bar for bites and beverages. [caption id="attachment_953094" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Erth[/caption] Bridging the gap between Illuminate Adelaide's art and music bills, Max Cooper's 3D AV gets an Australian-exclusive run. Hindley Street Music Hall will welcome in its audio-visual display, which adapts each performance to its venue so no show is the same as any other. Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Dutch pianist Joep Beving are also on the program, the former as part of experimental music fest Unsound Adelaide within the broader fest. Its lineup features The Caretaker doing his first Aussie show, plus Yirinda, 33EMYBW, Eiko Ishibash, ∈Y∋ with C.O.L.O. and more. [caption id="attachment_953098" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Danielle Neu[/caption] And if that's not enough to enjoy around Adelaide, Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, one of the Studio Ghibli great's very best films, is getting a free screening; Patch Theatre's family-friendly Superluminal uses lanterns that change colour in your hand, paired with nature sounds; and Fill the Earth combines physical performance and visual art, plus dance and video, on a 3.5-metre round stage. Pop-up bar and eatery hub Base Camp is back for its fourth year, too, complete with its own interactive light show, while Live @ The Lab will add more live tunes to the program. [caption id="attachment_953093" align="alignnone" width="1920"] florafaunavisions[/caption] [caption id="attachment_953100" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Kozobolis[/caption] [caption id="attachment_953099" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Oscar Lewis[/caption] [caption id="attachment_953090" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Frankie The Creative[/caption] [caption id="attachment_953101" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Saige Prime[/caption] [caption id="attachment_953102" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Samuel Graves[/caption] Illuminate Adelaide 2024 runs from Thursday, July 4–Sunday, July 21. Check out the festival's website for the full program and to grab tickets. Top image: Amigo and Amigo. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
It's impossible to think about Mythic Quest without the fellow television show that helped it come to fruition also springing to mind. If there was no It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this Apple TV+ series about a video-game studio wouldn't exist. 2025 marks two decades since the world first met the Paddy's Pub gang in Rob McElhenney's initial small-screen hit. Midyear, TV's longest-running live-action sitcom will drop its 17th season. With his It's Always Sunny co-star Charlie Day and Megan Ganz, one of the show's writers, he also created Mythic Quest in 2020 — and five years later, it's been streaming its fourth season since late in January, will be accompanied by a companion anthology series Side Quest in March and has cemented itself as another beloved workplace-set favourite. One of the reasons that Mythic Quest has returned not once, not twice, but three times now since its debut run: its stellar cast. McElhenney (Deadpool & Wolverine) plays Ian Grimm, the man behind both the studio that shares the show's name and the hugely successful game that it makes; however, this is an ensemble effort. As crucial at MQ as its original architect is Australian Poppy Li, the lead engineer who has joined Ian as co-creative director over the years. On the business side of the company, high-strung executive producer David Brittlesbee endeavours to keep everything running smoothly. Charlotte Nicdao (The Strange Chores) and David Hornsby (Merry Little Batman) are among the show's standouts — but when the roster of talent also includes Community alum Danny Pudi as a ruthless money man, Ashly Burch (Chibiverse) and Imani Hakim (Will Trent) starting out as testers, and Jessie Ennis (Better Call Saul) as a determined personal assistant, there's no weak links. With Mythic Quest, Nicdao continues a mini trend across her career: tales with media ties. For Australian comedy queens Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (Deadloch), she was part of breakfast TV-skewering delight Get Krack!n. Then came the also-excellent Content, the short-form web series that enlisted Nicdao as a wannabe influencer willing to do pretty much anything for fame. Building on a resume that also spans A gURLs wURLd, The Slap, Please Like Me, Top of the Lake and Bluey, her path to Poppy hasn't always stuck to the topic, but she's happily at home portraying a successful woman in the gaming world — a well-rounded character with ups and downs, as Concrete Playground describes the role to her; "really flawed and kind of an arsehole" is Nicdao's take, she tells us. And, she's also eagerly expanding the world's view of Australians on-screen. Nicdao's Filipino Australian dad Alfred Nicdao was one of the first Asian actors on Aussie television. Although she initially auditioned for Mythic Quest with an American accent, getting to bring her Asian Australian heritage — keeping her natural voice in the process — to international TV is a rare feat, as she's well aware. "Honestly, it's an honour for me. I don't think that that's overstating it," she advises. When he joined Mythic Quest at the outset, Hornsby came onboard not just as a star but also as an executive producer. Thanks to It's Always Sunny, it's a balancing act that he knows well — and it was "working with friends" that got him excited about being part of the MQ cast alongside playing Sunny's Rickety Cricket, plus his off-camera roles on both, he notes. On the two shows, the Pearl Harbour, Minority Report, Six Feet Under, Flags of Our Fathers, Jake in Progress, How to Be a Gentleman, Idiotsitter and Good Girls actor is also among the writers. Mythic Quest's second-ever episode was penned by him, in fact. Plenty has indeed changed for both Poppy and David over the course of the show so far — and evolves again in the fourth season, too, through romances, pregnancies, friendships and the like. They're both far more sure of who they are and what they want, and willing to fight for it. They're both much more comfortable beyond MQ. This is a workplace comedy, but it's also a series about dreams and fulfilment, and the mental and emotional toll of chasing both. Increasingly, it's as interested in not forgetting to put yourself first, even when you might be working on your dream. Indeed, one of the key themes of its latest batch of episodes is knowing when to make space for something beyond your job or an obsession — and that working on, creating, overseeing or loving something doesn't need to be anyone's defining trait. As a series, Mythic Quest keeps levelling up and broadening its focus, including among MQ team members, their loved ones and players within the narrative. That all-embracing approach equally applies off-screen. Hornsby and Nicdao have both made their directorial debuts with the show — the former in season three, the latter this season on an episode that Hornsby wrote. Burch, Pudi and Hakim have stepped behind the lens as well. Hornsby sees Mythic Quest as facilitating its key players reaching new stages together. "It moves the marker forward and makes you feel like you're growing in your life, and in your in your profession," he advises. Our chat with him and Nicdao also covered the initial appeal of being in a workplace sitcom set in a video-game studio, stepping into the shoes of layered characters as David and Poppy, potential Aussie It's Always Sunny episodes and more. On What Interested Nicdao and Hornsby About Starring in a Workplace Sitcom Set in a Video-Game Studio When Mythic Quest First Came Their Ways David: "It was a job." David to Charlotte: "Is that what your answer's going to be?" Charlotte: "Well, definitely — I mean, at the time, I was very much an unemployed actor. So yeah, it was a job. But also, I say this all the time, I feel like I manifested this show into existence. Because I feel like if you had've asked me to write down my absolute dream gig before I was cast in Mythic Quest, it would have been a heartwarming workplace comedy that was really funny, where I got to stretch my dramatic chops sometimes. And one of my favourite shows ever was Community, and I think Always Sunny is one of the greatest shows on TV. So the fact that now I get to be on this show that I feel like I dreamed up with these people who have already created some of the greatest shows of our time, I'm like 'how did I land this?'." David: "I think a workplace comedy is really great, just because it's really relatable. You can set the tone from the beginning — and I'm really, really happy with the tone that we've forged over these four seasons, of being able to be ridiculous and absurd sometimes, but always hopefully tethered to reality. And then being able to break away and explore some different episodes that really pay tribute to the complexities of stories related to video games. It felt like it was surprising, I think, when it came across my desk of sorts, that there was not already a show that truly lived in the video-game world that was an office-based comedy." On the Number of Projects, From Get Krack!n and Content in Australia to Mythic Quest, with a Media Angle on Nicdao's Resume Charlotte: "That's so funny. I hadn't thought about that before, but you're right, there is kind of a media bent to a lot of my work. I don't know what that is, and sometimes I wonder if it's — I mean, all of those things are fairly contemporary or modern themes to get into, and so sometimes I wonder that's something that I'm particularly comfortable in, for whatever reason. Those projects that you mentioned — Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, who created Get Krak!n, are the some of the funniest people working in Australian television, and everything that they do is brilliant. So the fact that they wrote that role in for me was really exciting. And then with Content, Daley Pearson brought me that project. I'd worked with Ludo Studios before on an animated show, and when he brought me Content I was like 'I've never seen anything like this before and I have no idea how we're even going to shoot it, but I definitely want to be part of that'. So I'm glad that it lives on." On What Excited Hornsby About Taking His Collaboration with the It's Always Sunny Team Into a New Series David: "Working with friends, initially — it usually starts with Rob and Charlie calling me up and asking 'hey, we've got a part for you. We were thinking of a new show. We were thinking of you. Would you want to act on it and write on it?'. What more can you want except to do the thing that you love with your friends, who make you laugh and raise your bar? That in itself is a door I'm willing to walk through and then see what adventure it leads to." On What Nicdao Draws Upon to Play a Smart, Successful Woman in the Gaming World — But Also a Very Well-Round Character with Flaws and Struggles Charlotte: "I love that you're calling it well-rounded, when really what we all mean is that she's really flawed and kind of an arsehole. Yeah, that's a great question. Coming into the role without that gaming background — and I certainly didn't know anything about programming, that's definitely not how my brain works — I did speak to some game developers about what drew them to their particular jobs. And I loved hearing about this idea of programming being very much about solving puzzles, like being able to take something apart and put it back together in new ways that you wouldn't expect. So I feel like that was my way into understanding a little bit about how Poppy's mind works. It's like she doesn't really have control over most of her life, but this is a space that she fully understands and she can do anything in this world of programming. And that's kind of what makes her so good at her job, is that confidence that she has in this area and maybe no other area. I feel like I relate to that a little bit in terms of — I don't think, I would never think, that I am as good at acting as Poppy is at coding, but I definitely know that feeling of when you lock into something that you love doing and the rest of the world fades away, and you finish shooting a scene and you're like 'whoa, where am I?'. I don't really do that, but that's the feeling." On Hornsby's Task Playing the Most Sensitive and Vulnerable Character in the Series — and One Who Is Steering the Ship, But Is Also Often the Butt of the Office's Jokes David: "It involves me taking my ring off and walking in front of a camera, and then when I'm done, I put my ring on and I go home. No, it's really fun. I enjoy pushing the stories forward and serving the crazier egos in the show, but also having, when I was able to be the wolf back in a previous season, something like that. The specificity of this character and being able to then have earned that storyline is, is super fun. The wins taste sweeter, the victories taste sweeter, for this character when he gets them. So whether he's being a pawn in Brad's game or being overlooked by Poppy or Ian, it's always fun for me, for this character, to get a little victory here and there, and just to see what he does with it." On Knowing When to Make Space Beyond Work or an Obsession Being a Key Theme in Season Four — But Not a Sign That the Show Is Winding Down Charlotte: "I also hope that it's not leading to the end of the show. I don't think that's the intention. I actually think it opens up a whole lot of new story actually. And specifically with Poppy, this season is very much about her trying to discover who she could be outside of work. We see that right in the very first episode, with her having a boyfriend, which is something you never — I never, certainly — expected for the character. But I also think that it's something that we continue to explore and realise, that her whole life, since she was a child, has been about work. And in episode six we get introduced to her sister, who's played by another Asian Australian actress, Natasha Liu Bordizzo [Ahsoka], who I'm sure you know is fantastic — and a close friend. And we had so much fun on set. And this character comes in and reveals a little bit to the audience about who Poppy has always been — and I think that makes it all the more poignant that Poppy is now trying to break outside of that way of being. And I would be really interested to see, with the progress that Poppy makes this season, what that would mean for her in seasons to come in terms of her relationship with Ian and with the game." On the Parallels Between Mythic Quest Broadening Its Focus Among Its Characters and the Show's Cast, Such as Nicdao and Hornsby, Expanding Their Involvement by Writing and Directing David: "When a show's cast well, I think sometimes it's a fine line between who we are and who the characters are — certainly with my character in some ways — but we've all grown into our characters more. We've grown into ourselves more over time. A lot has happened since we started the show. We went through COVID and the pandemic. We made a show during it. That brings us together. That shows us what we're capable of. We've got to do our own makeup. We've got to shoot our own thing. We grow to appreciate the other person's job, especially when you have to do your own makeup. So at the end of the day, at five years later, I think we all have grown and feel, having gone through all this together — from professional firsts, like directing when I did it or when she did it, to doing a new episode or going to a new place with your character — it does make you, it moves the marker forward and makes you feel like you're growing in your life, and in your in your profession." On What It Means for Nicdao to Help Expand the World's View of Australians — and Initially Auditioning for Mythic Quest with an American Accent Charlotte: "Yeah, it's honestly, it's an honour for me. I don't think that that's overstating it. I feel like the world has a very particular idea of what an Australian looks like, and the fact that I get to show a different kind of Australian on an international level is, yeah, I'm really proud of that. And I'm so grateful that during that audition process, I think it was Rob, that was like 'wait, wait, stop'." Charlotte to David: "Well, maybe it was even you. I definitely remember you being in some of my early auditions and this conversation starting around 'well, but what if you just did your natural accent?'. I was so used to auditioning in my American accent at that time." David: "I wanted us to all become Australian." Charlotte: "He wanted everyone to do an Australian accent." David: "But then it just came like 'no, what if she just does it?'." Charlotte: "Yeah, it was like 'maybe just the Australian should do it'. But yeah, I was particularly proud of the episode 'Sarian' in season three that portrays Poppy with her young Filipino Australian family. Filipinos are the fifth-largest migrant group in Australia, there's a big community of us there. And since that episode has come out, I've spoken to people who have stopped me on the street in Australia, in Melbourne, who were like 'I loved that episode because that's what my family looked like growing up — like we spoke Tagalog at home and we had Australian accents at school'. I'm so grateful to the show for helping to tell that story." Concrete Playground: "Everyone becoming Australian sounds like it's going to be a future episode of It's Always Sunny." Charlotte: "Yes! 'The Gang Goes Australian'." David: "Yeah — yeah, that's fun." Mythic Quest streams via Apple TV+. Read our reviews of season one, season two and season three.
Queensland holidays are back on the agenda — and interstate getaways for Sunshine State residents, too. Australia's go-to holiday spot has reopened its borders to double-vaccinated travellers without any quarantine requirements, effective from 1am AEST today, Monday, December 13. And, if you're currently planning a trip north — or you're a Queenslander eager to head south, then return home hassle-free — Virgin is celebrating with a huge flight sale. Running until midnight AEST on Friday, December 17 or sold out, whichever arrives first, this sale is solely about flights to and from the Sunshine State — with more than a million fares on offer. It might be focused on one part of the country, but you still have options in terms of departure points and destinations. Within Queensland, you can leave or arrive in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville, Hamilton Island, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. And, around the rest of the country, flights to and from Adelaide, Alice Springs, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth and Sydney are all covered. One-way fares start at $59 — which'll get you from Sydney or Hobart to the Gold Coast, Launceston to Brisbane, or Newcastle to Brisbane (and vice versa). Other sale flights include Sydney–Sunshine Coast from $65, Melbourne–Gold Coast from $69, Melbourne–Townsville from $99 and Sydney–Hamilton Island from $109. And, if you're wondering when you'll need to travel, you can book trips for selected dates between January 1–June 23, 2022. Only some fares cover seat selection and checked baggage, however, with the airline announcing back in August that it is now splitting its economy flights into three types. Economy Lite doesn't include checking any baggage or picking your seat, but Economy Choice does — and Economy Flex gives you extra flexibility (hence the name) if you have to change your plans later. As we are still in the middle of a pandemic, flying is little different to normal. Virgin has introduced a range of safety measures, including hand sanitisation stations, contactless check-in and face masks provided to all passengers. Wearing masks on flights also became mandatory in Australia in January. Virgin's Queensland is Good to Go sale runs from today, Monday, December 13–midnight AEST on Friday, December 17 — or until sold out.
The second International Wall Ball Championship, where 160 men and women from across Australia compete for the Golden Hand trophy, is no laughing matter. Kind of. The trophy is essentially a life-size plaster mould of a hand covered in gold paint that the winner wears around their neck and the game involves a bouncy ball. Regardless, for a sport that will give you the most enthusiastic crowd around and take your childhood playground memories and cram them full of adult ambition and sweat, the Wall Ball Championship is something you've just got to see.
Twenty years ago, Triple J gave the Victorian town of Natimuk a day to remember when the spot 300 kilometres out of Melbourne hosted its very own major music festival, with Grinspoon, Eskimo Joe and The Dissociatives (aka Daniel Johns and Paul Mac) all hitting the stage. So began One Night Stand, which became a yearly tradition, with the Australian radio station putting on a fest in different regional locations every year between 2004–2014, then again from 2016–2019. There's no prizes for guessing why One Night Stand hasn't taken place since 2020, but that gap in the event's history will come to an end in 2024. Triple J has announced the return of the festival this year — date, lineup and place to be confirmed, of course, because this stint of live tunes is still all about folks submitting their towns to play host, making a convincing case about their area, then one lucky place being chosen. The all-ages event will return at time when the Australian live music scene is suffering, and after a spate of festivals have been cancelling or saying farewell forever. In 2024 alone, both Groovin the Moo and Splendour in the Grass announced lineups, then scrapped this year's fests mere weeks later. Summergrounds Music Festival, which was meant to debut at Sydney Festival 2024, also didn't go ahead. As announced in 2023, Dark Mofo is taking a breather this year — and Mona Foma, the summer fest also held by Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art, has advised that its 2024 event was its last ever. With the state of the industry in mind, bringing back One Night Stand is not only much-needed and well-timed, but will also raise funds Support Act, the charity for the Australian music industry. "The ABC is one of the biggest supporters of Australian music and live performance. At a time when the local music industry needs support, the ABC is thrilled to come to the party with the return of triple j's One Night Stand," said ABC Managing Director David Anderson. "We recognise the festival landscape in Australia has changed since we last put on a One Night Stand." "We're beyond stoked to be bringing back Triple J's One Night Stand in 2024 to continue our support of Australian artists and provide an opportunity for young people in the regions to get around some live music," added Lachlan Macara, Head of Triple J, Double J and ABC Country. "We're busy working on an incredible line up sure to create another One Night Stand for the history books and we can't wait to see where we'll be heading in 2024." If you live beyond the big smoke and fancy a music fest in your regional town, now is your chance to tell the radio station why — and a party might be coming your way, while helping the music industry at the same time. Submissions to host 2024's One Night Stand are open now. In the past, the event has also been to Ayr, Dalby and Mt Isa in Queensland; Port Pirie, Tumby Bay and Lucindale in South Australia; Cowra and Dubbo in New South Wales; Collie and Geraldton in Western Australia; Sale and Mildura in Victoria; Alice Springs in the Northern Territory; and St Helens in Tasmania. And on the One Night Stand bill over the years? Flume, The Jungle Giants, G Flip, Hilltop Hoods, Silverchair, Pnau, Art vs Science, The Temper Trap, The Rubens, Rufus, Alison Wonderland, Peking Duk, Tash Sultana, Violent Soho, Tkay Maidza, Ocean Alley, Meg Mac, AB Original and more. To submit your regional Australian town to host 2024's triple j One Night Stand, fill out the radio station's form — and head to its website for more details.
So much to see, so little time. If hitting the couch is one of your favourite ways to unwind, that'll be a familiar refrain. Now that there are far more streaming services to choose from than we each have fingers and toes, finding something to watch is never a problem — and in 2022, there's been a lengthy list of excellent shows worthy of your attention. Some have tapped into our struggles with work-life balance in chilling and thrilling ways. Others have made hearts soar and swoon several times over. Also on this year's must-see list: multiple shows that dance with exceptional movies, a behind-the-scenes television great doing what he does best, porn for women, spectacularly lifelike dinosaurs and murder-mysteries. And, they're just some of 2022's standouts. Haven't been able to watch all of the year's ace new arrivals thanks to life getting in the way? Not quite sure where to start? With 2022 now at its midway point, here are our picks of the year's 15 best new television and streaming shows — consider it your catch-up list over the next six months. SEVERANCE It's the ultimate in work-life balance, an antidote to non-stop after-hours emails and Slack messages, and a guaranteed way to ensure what happens at work stays at work. In mind-bending thriller series Severance — which plays like Black Mirror meets the Charlie Kaufman-penned Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with Wes Anderson's aesthetic if he designed soulless office complexes, plus sprinklings of everything from George Orwell to also-excellent 2020 TV effort Devs — switching off when clocking off at Lumon Industries is easy. There's a brain implant for exactly that, and it's a condition of employment on "severed" floors. Accordingly, when quittin' time comes for Macrodata Refinement division employee Mark (Adam Scott, Big Little Lies), he physically steps into a tiny, shiny elevator to re-enter his after-hours life; however, the version of him that works for Lumon won't recall anything beyond the company's walls. The instant that the lift starts moving, it goes back to the office for Mark's "innie", as his work-bound consciousness is dubbed. Voila, it's clocking-on time once more. Severance's attention-grabbing premise springs from creator Dan Erickson, a TV first-timer, and understands how most folks feel about the nine-to-five grind. The show is knowing in its lead casting, too, given that Scott is best recognised for two workplace comedies: the joyous hug that is Parks and Recreation, as well as the acerbic, astute and soon-to-return Party Down. But as savvily and evocatively directed by Ben Stiller in its first three season-one episodes (and again in its last three, with Kissing Candice filmmaker Aoife McArdle helming three in the middle), Scott's new series dwells in 'be careful what you wish for' territory. For the part of Mark's brain that blanks out work, Severance initially seems like heaven. For the half that only knows the office, it's hell. For everyone watching, soaking in its twisty mysteries — and enjoying Patricia Arquette (The Act), Christopher Walken (Percy vs Goliath) and John Turturro (The Plot Against America) as fellow Lumon employees — it's a surreal and riveting must-see. Severance is available to stream via Apple TV+. Read our full review. IRMA VEP One of 2022's most magnificent new shows, and a cinephile's dream of a series, Irma Vep requires some unpacking. The term 'layered' has rarely ever applied to a TV program quite as it does here. French filmmaker Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper) retraces his own footsteps, turning his cult-favourite 1996 movie of the same name into an Alicia Vikander-starring HBO miniseries. And, in this series itself, a director is also remaking one of his own past flicks as a television project. In all versions of Irma Vep, the movies and shows being made are also remakes of 1915–16 French crime effort Les Vampires. It was a ten-episode, seven-hour cinema serial, and it's supremely real. Indeed, by first helming a feature about remaking Les Vampires, and now a series about remaking a movie that remakes Les Vampires (which, IRL, is also a remake of a movie that remakes Les Vampires), Assayas keeps remaking Les Vampires in his own way. It all sounds exactly as complicated as it is — and Assayas loves it. Viewers should, too. The nested dolls that are Irma Vep's meta setup just keep stacking, actually. The 1996 Irma Vep starred Maggie Cheung, who'd later become Assayas' wife, then ex-wife — and the 2022 Irma Vep haunts its on-screen filmmaker René Vidal (Vincent Macaigne, Non-Fiction) with visions of his ex-wife Jade Lee (Vivian Wu, Dead Pigs), who, yes, led his movie. If you're a fan of word puzzles, you might've also noticed that Irma Vep is an anagram of vampire; that said, Les Vampires isn't actually about bloodsuckers, and nor is any iteration of Irma Vep. To add to the list, while Cheung played a version of herself, Vikander (Blue Bayou, The Green Knight) plays fictional American star Mira — a name that's an anagram of Irma. You can also take that moniker literally, because mirroring is patently a pivotal aspect of the brilliant Irma Vep in every guise. Irma Vep is available to stream via Binge. Read our full review. WE OWN THIS CITY For the past 20 years, we've all fallen into two categories: people who've seen, loved and haven't been able to stop raving about HBO's Baltimore-set masterpiece The Wire; and folks who don't tick any of those boxes but have been told by everyone who does that they really need to watch it ASAP. We Own This City deserves to spark the same response — and shares many of its predecessor's key pieces. It too takes place in Maryland's most populous city. It also follows a law-and-order battle, complete with time spent within the Baltimore Police Department. It springs from former Baltimore Sun police reporter-turned-author, journalist and TV writer/producer David Simon as well, and sees him reteam with writer George Pelecanos, a veteran of not only The Wire but also Simon's Treme and The Deuce. Oh, and as it tells a compulsive crime tale, it's packed with phenomenal performances. One of those astonishing portrayals is among the first thing that viewers see, in fact, with We Own This City opening with Sergeant Wayne Jenkins lecturing new recruits on the BPD Gun Trace Task Force. Chatting through how to legally do the job — how to get away with what he deems necessary, that is — Jon Bernthal (The Many Saints of Newark) is hypnotically unsettling as Jenkins, who'll become the focus of a corruption investigation for his methods. He isn't the only "prime example of what's gone wrong in Baltimore," as viewers are told. So is Daniel Hersl (Josh Charles, The Loudest Voice), who is initially glimpsed pulling over and terrorising a Black driver for no other reason than that he can. Department of Justice Civil Rights Department attorney Nicole Steele (Wunmi Mosaku, Lovecraft Country) is charged with tracking the force's bad eggs, and that's just one of this complex, revealing and arresting six-part miniseries' layers. And if it feels so detailed that it could only be true, that's because it's based on a non-fiction book by Justin Fenton another ex-Baltimore Sun reporter. We Own This City is available to stream via Binge. MINX When home video, the internet and mobile phones with inbuilt cameras each arrived, six words could've been uttered: get ready to look at dicks. HBO comedy Minx is set the early 70s, so before all three, but the same phrase also applies here. It's true of the show itself, which isn't shy about displaying the male member in various shapes and sizes. It also stands tall in the world that Minx depicts. When you're making the first porn magazine for women — and, when you're making an ambitious, entertaining and impeccably cast The Deuce meets Mrs America-style series about it, but lighter, sweeter and funnier (and all purely fictional) — penises are inescapable. Also impossible to avoid in Minx: questions like "are erections consistent with our philosophy?", as asked by Vassar graduate and country club regular Joyce Prigger (Ophelia Lovibond, Trying). Idolising the magazine industry and unhappily working for the dispiritingly traditional Teen Queen, she has long dreamed of starting her own feminist publication — even penning a bundle of articles and making her own issues — but centrefolds splashed with male genitalia don't fit her ideal pitch. No one's buying what Joyce is selling, though; The Matriarchy Awakens, her dream mag, gets rejected repeatedly by the industry's gatekeepers. Only one is interested: Bottom Dollar Publications' Doug Renetti (Jake Johnson, Ride the Eagle), but he's in the pornography business. Minx is available to stream via Stan. Read our full review. OUR FLAG FLAG MEANS DEATH In the on-screen sea that is the never-ending list of films and television shows constantly vying for eyeballs, Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby have frequently proven gem-dappled treasure islands. When the immensely funny New Zealand talents have collided, their resumes have spanned four of the most endearing comic hits of the big and small screens in the 21st century so far, aka Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows, Wellington Paranormal and Hunt for the Wilderpeople — and now, with pirate parody Our Flag Means Death, they've given viewers another gleaming jewel. This show was always going to swashbuckle its way into streaming must-see lists — and into comedy-lovers' hearts — based on its concept alone, but it more than lives up to its winning idea and winsome casting. Come for the buccaneering banter and seafaring satire, stay for a thoughtful and sincere comic caper that's also a rom-com. The inimitable Darby stars as Stede Bonnet, a self-styled 'gentleman pirate' and a great approximation of Flight of the Conchords' Murray if he'd existed centuries earlier. Meanwhile, Waititi dons leather, dark hues aplenty, an air of bloodthirsty melancholy and an eye-catching head of greying hair as Edward Teach, the marauder better known to the world as Blackbeard. The two real-life figures eventually cross paths after Bonnet leaves his life of wealth, privilege and comfort to rove the oceans, captains a ship staffed by a motley crew to end all motley crews, and initially gets captured by Blackbeard — or Ed, as he calls him. As these two opposites bond, riding the waves from adversaries to co-captains to potentially something more, Our Flag Means Death truly and gloriously opens up its warm heart. Our Flag Means Death is available to stream via Binge. Read our full review. THE AFTERPARTY Only Murders in the Building isn't the only new comic murder-mystery series worth streaming from the past year or so. Joining it is The Afterparty, which also sports a killer cast — this time Sam Richardson (Detroiters), Ben Schwartz (Space Force), Zoe Chao (Love Life), Ilana Glazer (Broad City), Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project), Dave Franco (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Tiffany Haddish (The Card Counter) — and a savvy spin on an oft-used gimmick. Rather than skewering true-crime podcasting, this quickly addictive comedy from writer/director Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie) toys with the reality that every tale differs depending on the perspective. Whodunnits always hinge upon that fact, and Miller has also clearly seen iconic Japanese film Rashomon. And, considering that its big murder takes place after a school function, there's a touch of Big Little Lies at play, too. With his directing partner Phil Lord, Miller has made a career out of getting smart and funny with familiar parts, however, and that doesn't change here. The setup: at the afterparty following his 15-year high-school reunion, obnoxious autotune-abusing pop star Xavier (Franco) winds up dead on the rocks beneath his lavish mansion. Enter the determined Detective Danner (Haddish), who starts grilling his former classmates one by one to find out who's responsible. Her interrogations start with the sensible Aniq (the always-great Richardson), who was hoping to finally make a move on his schoolyard crush Zoe (Chao) — and after his version of events, Danner hears from Zoe's macho ex Brett (Barinholtz) in The Afterparty's second episode, then from Aniq's best bud Yasper (Schwartz, riffing on Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio without being quite as ridiculous), and so on. The cast is top-notch, the writing is clever, there's much fun to be had with its genre- and perspective-bending premise, and the throwaway gags are simply glorious. The Afterparty is available to stream via Apple TV+. Read our full review. HEARTSTOPPER It only takes minutes for British newcomer Heartstopper to explain its title — showing rather than telling, as all great shows should. A year ten student at Truham Grammar School for Boys, Charlie Spring (first-timer Joe Locke) finds himself seated in his form class next to year 11 rugby player Nick Nelson (Kit Connor, Little Joe). Sparks fly on the former's part, swiftly and overwhelmingly, with the eight-part series' graphic-novel origins inspiring a flurry of fluttering animated hearts on-screen. But Charlie has a secret boyfriend, Ben (Sebastian Croft, Doom Patrol), who won't even acknowledge him in public. He also hardly thinks of himself as sporty, even after Nick asks him to join the school team. And, while a friendship quickly solidifies between the two, Charlie is initially unsure whether anything more can happen — and anxiety-riddled in general. As well as writing Heartstopper's source material — which initially started as a webcomic — Alice Oseman pens every episode of this perceptive teenage-focused gem. From the outset, it bubbles with heartwarming charm, while its coming-of-age story and central love story alike prove wholly relatable, aptly awkward but also wonderfully sweet and sensitive. In short, it's a series that plunges so convincingly and inclusively into its characters' experiences that it feels like its heart is constantly beating with affection for Charlie, Nick, and their fellow high-schoolers Tao (fellow debutant William Gao), Elle (Yasmin Finney), Isaac (Tobie Donovan), Tara (Corinna Brown, Daphne) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell). First crushes, young love, the swirling swell of emotions that comes with both and also figuring out who you are: all of this dances through Heartstopper's frames. Also, when Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter) pops up, she's glorious as always. Heartstopper is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. PREHISTORIC PLANET Five episodes, one comforting voice, and a time-travelling trip back 66 million years: that's the setup behind Prehistoric Planet, an utterly remarkable feels-like-you're-there dive into natural history. Having none other than David Attenborough narrate the daily activities of dinosaurs seems like it should've happened already, of course; however, now that it finally is occurring, it's always both wonderful and stunning. Filled with astonishing footage on par with the visuals that usually accompany Attenborough's nature docos, all thanks to the special effects team behind The Jungle Book and The Lion King, it truly is a wonder to look at. It needs to be: if the Cretaceous-era dinosaurs rampaging across the screen didn't appear like they genuinely could be walking and stalking — and fighting, foraging for food, hunting, flying, swimming and running as well — the magic that typically comes with watching an Attenborough-narrated doco would instantly and disappointingly vanish. Welcome to... your new insight into Tyrannosaurus rex foreplay, your latest reminder that velociraptors really don't look like they do in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World flicks, an entertaining time spent with al kinds of animals, and your next favourite dinosaur project with an Attenborough attached. Each of Prehistoric Planet's five instalments focuses on a different type of terrain — coasts, deserts, freshwater, ice and forests — and chats through the creatures that call it home. Set to a spirited original score by Hans Zimmer, fresh from winning his latest Oscar for Dune, there's a formula at work. That said, it's no more blatant than in any David Attenborough-hosted show. Viewers watch as some dinos look after their young, others try to find a mate, plenty search for something to eat and others attempt not to be eaten. The same kinds of activities are covered in each episode, but the locations and dinosaurs involved all change. Prehistoric Planet is available to stream via Apple TV+. Read our full review. LOOT Aptly given its title, new Apple TV+ sitcom Loot doesn't look cheap — or sound it. It's partly filmed in one of America's biggest private homes, an enormous mansion with 21 bedrooms, five pools, a bowling alley and a cinema. It's filled with well-known needle drops that come quickly and often, with one episode featuring three Daft Punk tracks alone. It couldn't scream louder or drip harder with excess; the series is about a mega-rich tech whiz's wife who gets $87 billion in their public and messy breakup, after all. And, it is inescapably made by a company that's a big technology behemoth itself, and has been splashing stacks of cash to build its streaming roster (see: The Morning Show, Ted Lasso, Severance, Physical, Prehistoric Planet, Foundation, The Shrink Next Door, Shining Girls, Slow Horses, Lisey's Story and more). Loot is also clearly a satire, however, and a canny, warm and funny one at that. The premise: amid being gifted a mega yacht for her birthday, then jumping to a party in that aforementioned sprawling home, Molly Novak (Maya Rudolph, Big Mouth) discovers that her husband John (Adam Scott, Severance) is cheating on her. Post-divorce, after that huge settlement and a stint of partying around the globe with her assistant Nicholas (Joel Kim Booster, Fire Island), she gets a call from Sofia Salinas (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Pose), the head of the foundation she's forgotten bears her name (and even exists). With Molly's drunken decadence all over the news, the charity is finding it difficult to do its work. So, the organisation's namesake decides to ditch the revelry — and her married moniker, becoming Molly Wells — and put all that dough to better use. She also commits to playing an active role in how her funds can truly help people. Loot is available to stream via Apple TV+. Read our full review. TOKYO VICE Seven years after making his most recent movie, aka 2015's Chris Hemsworth-starring Blackhat, one of America's best directors is finally back behind the lens. Thief, Heat, The Insider and Collateral filmmaker Michael Mann only helms Tokyo Vice's pilot, but what a tone-setting debut episode it is — as stylish and gritty a piece of television as you're likely to stream any time soon, in fact. Mann also serves as the eight-part book-to-screen series' executive producer, which explains why its slice of neon-lit Japanese-set noir always feels like it bears his fingerprints. Of course, the show isn't shy about its links to the director, who also executive produced the original 1980s TV series Miami Vice, and wrote and directed the 2006 big-screen remake. That said, Tokyo Vice's moniker actually stems from Jake Adelstein's memoir Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, about his years writing for Yomiuri Shimbun as a non-Japanese journalist. Nonetheless, everything about the HBO-backed program feels as if it was always fated to end up in Mann's hands. Adelstein was Yomiuri Shimbun's first foreign staff writer, with Tokyo Vice exploring his quest to cement himself inside the publication from the bottom up. As played by West Side Story's Ansel Elgort, Adelstein always stands out, as does his dogged determination to chase the stories he's explicitly instructed to ignore. Murders don't happen in Japan, he's told. What he's witnessing screams otherwise, though. So, he starts spending his own time investigating, befriending Tokyo organised crime division detective Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) for guidance, and also getting close to club hostess and fellow American-in-Tokyo Samantha Porter (Rachel Keller, Legion), plus jaded Yakuza enforcer Sato (Shô Kasamatsu, Love You as the World Ends). Elgort is the weakest part of the series, but that also suits the overall narrative and its focus on the city's underworld — and everything around him, including Rinko Kikuchi (Pacific Rim: Uprising) and Hideaki Itô (Memoirs of a Murderer), is stellar. Tokyo Vice is available to stream via Paramount+. Read our full review. PACHINKO When novels are turned into movies, there's usually a sense that's something is missing, no matter how fantastic the film proves. That's understandable; when you compare the time it takes to unfurl a story on the page with the usual running time of a feature — even a lengthy one — not everything can make the leap from book to screen. Named for the gambling machines that fill Japanese arcades, Pachinko turns author and journalist Min Jin Lee's award-winning text into an eight-part series instead, and it's a canny and clever move. So too is getting filmmakers Kogonada and Justin Chon to direct four instalments apiece, both coming off fantastic work via After Yang and Blue Bayou respectively. And, adding to the smart and savvy choices made by this immediately engrossing series, which unfurls a sweeping, 20th century-set, multi-generational tale about struggle, resilience and endurance: casting always-wonderful Minari Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung — as well as newcomer Kim Min-ha as the younger version of her character. Youn and Kim play Sunja (and, as a child, first-timer Yuna does as well), who anchors a story that's both impressively sprawling and devastatingly intimate. As a girl, she grows up in Japanese-occupied Korea, a fact that shapes every part of her young life. When she's older, she moves to Japan — and by the time that she's a grandmother, that's where the bulk of her existence has unfolded. Jumping between different periods, Pachinko charts how the shadow of colonial rule has lingered over not just Sunja but the family she's brought into the world, including in the 80s where her grandson Solomon (Jin Ha, Devs) works in finance in New York and her son Mozasu (Soji Arai, Cobra Kai) has made his way thanks to the titular game. Splashing an epic story told with emotion, resonance, insight and elegance across the screen, this is at the pinnacle of novel-to-screen adaptations. Pachinko is available to stream via Apple TV+. SLOW HORSES One of several espionage-themed efforts hitting streaming this year — see also: the returning The Flight Attendant and movie All the Old Knives — Slow Horses gives the genre a pivotal switch and entertaining shake up. It's still a tense thriller, kicking off with an airport incident and then following a kidnapping, but it's also about the kind of spies that don't usually populate the on-screen world of covert operatives. Stationed away from the main MI5 base at a rundown, clandestine office called Slough House, Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard) and his team are the agency's rejects. They haven't been fired for a multitude of reasons, however, including boasting ties to influential past employees, being great at their jobs but also a drunk and having impressive hacking skills yet proving impossible to get along with. Given the nickname that gives the show its moniker, usually they do little more than push paper, too, until they get caught up in a high-profile case. Oldman goes big and broad as Lamb, and he's also ceaselessly absorbing to watch, but Slow Horses isn't short on stars. In a six-episode first season adapted from Mick Herron's 2010 novel of the same name, Kristin Scott Thomas (Rebecca) plays MI5 Deputy Director-General Diana Taverner, Lamb's supremely competent head-office counterpart — although it's Jack Lowden (Fighting with My Family) and Olivia Cooke (Pixie) as young operatives River Cartwright and Sid Baker, and their efforts to chase down a lead they're not meant to, that's at the forefront. Behind the scenes, executive producer and writer Will Smith (not that one) brings a sly and witty way with dialogue from his past work on The Thick of It and Veep, making Slow Horses both crackingly suspenseful and tartly amusing. The slinky theme tune by Mick Jagger also helps set the mood — and season two is already in development. Slow Horses is available to stream via Apple TV+. THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH Who'd want to try to step into the one and only David Bowie's shoes? Only the brave and the bold. Two people earn that description in The Man Who Fell to Earth, the new TV sequel to the iconic 1976 movie that starred the music legend in the role he was clearly born to play: an alien who descends upon earth and ch-ch-changes history. Bill Nighy (Buckley's Chance) is charged with taking over the character of Thomas Jerome Newton and, thankfully and with style, he's up to the task. Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) slides into the same kind of part that Bowie owned in the original, however, as fellow extra-terrestrial interloper Faraday. He's this follow-up's newcomer to the planet, and he's just as destined to do big things. That's not a spoiler — early in the first episode, Faraday addresses a massive crowd like he's Steve Jobs announcing Apple's latest product, and The Man Who Fell to Earth's tech success uses the occasion to spin his origin story. Who'd want to try to pick up where one of the best sci-fi films ever made left off? That'd also be the brave and the bold, aka Clarice creators Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman. Drawing inspiration from silver screen gems is obviously the pair's niche of late, but it's worth remembering with this new effort — which takes its cues from Walter Tevis' 1963 novel of the same name, too — that Kurtzman was also behind exceptional 2008–13 sci-fi series Fringe. Indeed, The Man Who Fell to Earth 2.0 feels like the perfect use of his talents, with the series thinking big and brimming with urgency in its vision of a world that might only be able to be saved by a spaceboy who truly cares about stopping climate change's damage. To follow through with his mission, though, Faraday also needs the help of former MIT physics whiz Justin Falls (Naomie Harris, No Time to Die). The Man Who Fell to Earth is available to stream via Paramount+. OUTER RANGE Some shows commence with a dead girl wrapped in plastic. Others begin with a plane crash on a spooky island. With Outer Range, it all kicks off with a void. On the Abbott family ranch in Wyoming, in the western reach that gives the show its name, a chasm suddenly appears. A perfect circle swirling with otherworldly mist and resembling an oversized golf hole, it's just one of several troubles plaguing patriarch Royal (Josh Brolin, Dune), however. There is indeed a touch of Twin Peaks and Lost to Outer Range. A dash of Yellowstone, The Twilight Zone, The X-Files and whichever family-focused prime-time soap opera takes your fancy, too. As a result, while Royal is visibly disconcerted by the unexpected opening staring at him in an otherwise ordinary field in this intriguing, quickly entrancing and supremely well-acted eight-part series — a show that makes ideal use of Brolin especially — he has other worries. His rich, ostentatious and increasingly madcap neighbour Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton, Halloween Kills) suddenly wants a parcel of the Abbotts' turf, claiming mapping inaccuracies. One of Tillerson's mouthy and entitled sons, Trevor (Matt Lauria, CSI: Vegas), ends up in a bar spat with Royal's sons Rhett (Lewis Pullman, Top Gun: Maverick) and Perry (Tom Pelphrey, Mank). And there's also the matter of Perry's missing wife, who disappeared nine months back, leaving both her husband and their young daughter Amy (Olive Abercrombie, The Haunting of Hill House) searching since. Plus, into this sea of faith-testing chaos amid such serene and dreamlike scenery, a stranger arrives as well: "hippie chick" backpacker Autumn Rivers (Imogen Poots, The Father). She just wants to camp for a few days on the Abbotts' stunning and sprawling land, she says, but she's a key part in a show that's a ranch-dwelling western, an offbeat enigma, an eerie sci-fi, a detective quest and a thriller all at once. Outer Range is available to stream via Prime Video. Read our full review. THE DROPOUT Dramatising the Theranos scandal, eight-part miniseries The Dropout is one of several high-profile releases this year to relive a wild true-crime tale — including the Anna Delvey-focused Inventing Anna, about the fake German heiress who conned her way through New York City's elite, and also documentary The Tinder Swindler, which steps through defrauding via dating app at the hands of Israeli imposter Simon Leviev. It also dives into the horror-inducing Dr Death-esque realm, because when a grift doesn't just mess with money and hearts, but with health and lives, it's pure nightmare fuel. And, it's the most gripping of the bunch, even though we're clearly living in peak scandal-to-screen times. Scam culture might be here to stay as Inventing Anna told us in a telling line of dialogue, but it isn't enough to just gawk its way — and The Dropout and its powerful take truly understands this. To tell the story of Theranos, The Dropout has to tell the story of Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley biotech outfit's founder and CEO from the age of 19. Played by a captivating, career-best Amanda Seyfried — on par with her Oscar-nominated work in Mank, but clearly in a vastly dissimilar role — the Steve Jobs-worshipping Holmes is seen explaining her company's name early in its first episode. It's derived from the words "therapy" and "diagnosis", she stresses, although history already dictates that it offered little of either. Spawned from Holmes' idea to make taking blood simpler and easier, using just one drop from a small finger prick, it failed to deliver, lied about it copiously and still launched to everyday consumers, putting important medical test results in jeopardy. The Dropout is available to stream via Disney+. Read our full review. Looking for more viewing highlights? Check out our list of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly. We also keep a running list of must-stream TV from across the year so far, complete with full reviews.
Those chocolate-filled advent calendars are fun and all, but after 12 months of aiming for a spot on Santa's 'nice' list, a few wines feels like a more fitting reward. Wine subscription club Good Pair Days agrees, so it's put together the ultimate pre-Christmas treat for grownups: the 12 Wines of Christmas Advent Calendar. The festive box features 12 different full-sized bottles of wine, as chosen by the Good Pair Days experts. They're each hidden behind a pop-out cardboard door and individually wrapped so each one is a little surprise gift. And the options are endless. You can gift the box to yourself and unwrap one wine at a time in the lead-up to December 25, or snap one up as an early Christmas present for that wine-loving mate. Or, simply have an advent box on hand so that you're extra prepared for the calendar of silly season parties to come. There are three boxes to choose from: one with reds, one with all chillable wines (sparkling, whites and rosés) and one with a mix of the two. Then, you decide how expensive you want to go — the cheapest is $189 and the most spenny is $465. And while you won't know what wines are in them until you open the box, you can be reassured that there are some ripper drops in there as the bottles have been picked from the highest rated of Good Pair Days' local and international collection. Wine pairing suggestions, tasting notes and recipes are also included. Good Pair Days (previously The Wine Gallery) was founded back in 2015 by mates Tom Walenkamp, Beto de Castro Moreira and acclaimed sommelier and Bar Liberty co-owner Banjo Harris Plane. It's a personalised wine subscription service that aims to hook you up with your perfect vinous matches through an expert curation and a nifty wine taste tester app. The 12 Wines of Christmas Advent Calendar packs are available now via Good Pair Days.
If you hoped that 2021 might see an end to border restrictions and lockdowns, the first few days of January — and the end of December 2020, too — have sadly scuppered that kind of thinking. Today, Friday, January 8, it was announced that the Greater Brisbane area in Queensland will be going into a three-day lockdown in response to the latest local case of COVID-19 in Brisbane, in a hotel quarantine worker. And that now has implications for folks in New South Wales who've been in Greater Brisbane recently. NSW isn't closing its border to Queensland, or to the Greater Brisbane area. But at the daily NSW press conference on Friday, January 8, Acting Premier John Barilaro announced new requirements for anyone in NSW who has been to Greater Brisbane — which includes the Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Moreton and Redlands local government areas — since 12.01am on Saturday, January 2. If you fall into that category, you're required to isolate under the same conditions that'd be in place if you were still in Greater Brisbane. Accordingly, from 6pm AEST/7pm AEDT on Friday, January 8 until 6pm AEST/7pm AEDT on Monday, January 11, anyone who has been in Greater Brisbane since 12.01am on Saturday, January 2 are required to stay at home. The rules in place are the same as during March's lockdown — which means that you're only allowed to leave the house for four reasons. So, you can only head out for work or education if you can't do that at home, for essential shopping, for exercise in your local area, and for health care or to provide support for a vulnerable person. While Queensland has had community cases of the coronavirus before — including back in July and August, when restrictions were tightened only weeks after they had been relaxed from the first lockdown — the state is being particularly cautious in the current instance because it involves the new, more contagious UK strain of COVID-19. That's why NSW has also taken action, and is applying stay-at-home conditions to anyone who has departed, left, worked or been in those Greater Brisbane areas. Unsurprisingly, Minister for Health Brad Hazzard also advised that "if you don't have to come [to NSW] from Brisbane, don't come in the next few days". He continued: "if you really need to, comply with the moments your government has placed on new in Brisbane but comply with them here in New South Wales". https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1347334261926359040 The news comes as NSW reported 11 new cases over the past 24 hours, including four new local cases and seven acquired from overseas. Sydneysiders are also asked to continue to frequently check NSW Health's long list of locations and venues that positive coronavirus cases have visited over the past week — and, if you've been to anywhere listed on the specific dates and times, get tested immediately and self-isolate. You can also have a look at the venue alerts over at this new interactive map. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Streaming service turned production house Netflix has announced its next big TV show project — and this time, it's animated. Voiced by Will Arnett of Arrested Development fame, BoJack Horseman is the lead in a new 12-part series of the same name. A former star of Horsin' Around — a '90s sitcom within the program — BoJack is galloping toward failure, dealing with alcoholism and is, er, a horse. Alongside Arnett is Strangers with Candy’s Amy Sedaris, playing Princess Caroline, BoJack’s ex-lover and agent who's also a cat, while none other than Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul plays his human buddy, Todd. And there's every chance Aaron will get to say 'bitch' just as much this time around, because BoJack Horseman is an adult animated series that's said to be darkly humorous. Netflix is surely hoping Bojack will continue their hit parade, following on from 2013's Arrested Development Season 4, House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. LA-based studio Shadow Machine (Robot Chicken, Moral Orel) is behind the animation for the program that's set premiere in mid-2014. The design will come from acclaimed graphic artist Lisa Hanawalt. Discussion is already underway for a second season, which leaves us thinking this stallion of a program is pretty sure to be a runaway hit. Via Rolling Stone.
