Ever wanted to have an artwork from Archibald Prize winner Blak Douglas in your home? What about Nicholas Harding, Abdul Abdullah, Joan Ross or Lara Merrett? Artworks from these acclaimed artists and works from hundreds of established and upcoming creatives are all on sale this weekend for just $100 as part of a new art auction raising money for Studio A, a Sydney-based arts company assisting with the professional development of artists with learning disabilities. The Incognito Art Show is presenting more than 3000 A5-sized artworks from artists big and small this Saturday, June 18. The twist is, the identity of each artwork's artist is hidden until the piece is purchased. From former award winners to artists still mastering their craft, each person's work is presented without credit and every single one is available for $100. You can examine the collection online and hone in which artwork you have your eye on before the day. Then all you have to do is head to 2 Lacey Street, Surry Hills and pick up your favourite piece. All art will be sold on a first-come-first-serve basis, so while the art show is on all day Saturday, and Sunday morning pending stock, it's highly recommended you get down early to ensure you get your hands on any pieces you have in mind. The auction opens at 8am and each buyer is limited to three pieces per person. Browse the artworks and head along to support a great cause. [caption id="attachment_814771" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Studio A[/caption]
Western Sydney Parklands is Australia's largest urban park, comprising over 5,000 hectares of green space, all for public recreation. You could spend months exploring all the paths, trails and loops this gorgeous area has to offer, but here we've partnered with Adidas to map out one particularly rewarding route. Plus, we've picked out some highlights where you can stop for a respite along the way. Start off at Shale Hills car park (within Shale Hills Dog Park) and head north towards Bungarribee Park. Take a look, then plan your own adventure using the map below. [caption id="attachment_802885" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pexels; Brett Sayles[/caption] CALMSLEY HILL CITY FARM You might be right in the heart of western Sydney, but you can still experience a slice of rural life. After an hour or so of walking, you'll come to Calmsley Hill City Farm where there's not only an opportunity to pet a range of cute farmyard animals, but also the chance to watch a sheep shearing show or join a cow milking demonstration. If you've got a bit more time on your hands, relax in the grounds with a picnic or take advantage of the free public barbecue facilities. With its focus on sustainability and education, the farm is the perfect pit stop if you're walking with the whole family in tow. SUGARLOAF RIDGE AND MOONRISE LOOKOUT An ideal spot to recharge your batteries, Sugarloaf Ridge on Border Road has large grassy areas where you can lounge to your heart's content. Just a few minutes' walk away is Moonrise Lookout: a picturesque spot that affords you views over western Sydney and, on a clear day, even as far as the CBD, 40 kilometres away. Both Sugarloaf Ridge and Moonrise Lookout are part of the Moonrise Loop, one of the Western Sydney Parklands' most-loved routes and a tramp that will make you forget you're in the middle of Australia's most populous city. [caption id="attachment_803675" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Pexels; Kampus Production[/caption] LIZARD LOG MARKETS Lizard Log is a nature-themed playground loved by young and old alike and, if you time it right, you can be lucky enough to be there at the same time as Mickey's ice cream van, which does a mean selection of soft serve favourites. If you pop down on a Saturday, you can also have a wander around Lizard Log Markets — a showcase for urban farmers and local producers to sell their wares. There are plenty of stalls selling everything from crafts to pre-owned goods, and it's also a fantastic place to grab a feed with a range of different cuisines on offer each week. SALUTI Named after an Italian greeting, Saluti is a cafe, a woodfired pizza restaurant and a wine bar. However, if you're journeying through the parklands and don't have time for a full sit-down meal, there's an extensive takeaway menu for you to get your teeth into. There are a range of sandwich filling options, available on turkish bread, in a wrap or in a panini, plus mouth-watering pastries and muffins and burgers jam-packed with extras. For those keen to keep moving, there's no better place to get a quick takeaway coffee or juice on this route. BUNAGARRIBEE PARK Bungarribee Park covers 200 hectares, contains native wildflower and tree life in abundance, and has an award-winning playground for the kids. It's also home to the Warrigal Dog Run, one of Sydney's largest off-leash dog areas and, if you're a fan of our four-legged friends, the perfect setting to meet a whole host of pawsome pals. Dogs are happiest when they have space to run around, a group of playmates, and enthusiastic humans to lavish attention and treats upon them, all of which means Warrigal is practically puppa heaven. Your pats, ear scratches and belly rubs will certainly be appreciated. STALLION BURGERS Located just next to the Warrigal Dog Run is Stallion Burgers, a killer joint that, unlike a lot of burger places, opens early and acknowledges that burgers are great at any time of day. Everything on the menu is served on soft milk buns and, really, your main issue is choosing where to start. For breakfast, it's hard to look beyond The Kingston which features a chorizo patty, egg, cheese, tomato and mayo. The house specialty, though, is The Stallion, comprising of two beef patties, two types of cheese, whisky sour pickles, onion, tomato, lettuce and — like many a burger emporium — a super-secret sauce. The shipping container outlet also serves hot drinks, soft drinks and water to keep you hydrated. SYDNEY ZOO When you think of zoos in Sydney, you probably think of Taronga. But its younger cousin is well worth your time. Founded in 2015, almost a century after Taronga Zoo opened, Sydney Zoo bills itself as Australia's most advanced zoo. Entry will set you back $39.99 right now and inside you'll find over 1000 species as well as the country's largest reptile house. In addition to sustainability and welfare, the zoo has a strong focus on innovation and technology; it uses the latest techniques to optimise visitor engagement and habitat design. It's the ideal place to see and learn about animals — local and foreign — in an environment tailored to their needs. Time your run to end here and you can spend the rest of the day exploring. It's open from Wednesday to Monday, 9am–5pm. In need of a new pair of runners? Take a look at the new Adidas Ultraboost 21 runners here. Launch the map below to start plotting your own running adventure in and around Sydney. Top image: Western Sydney Parklands
Behold a mystical race of Golden Age Hollywood stars-come-slug people. Springing from the allied imaginations of a mother-daughter duo, these hand-drawn portraits ingeniously wed the most mesmeric of faces to the most spazzy of Tyrannosaurus Rex stump arms. Proving that great and surprising art is often born from unlikely collaborations, illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks initiated the project in an accidental kind of way because her four-year-old always sets her beady eyes on her mum's luxe art supplies. When Hendricks recently tried to reserve a flashy new sketchbook for her own use, her crafty daughter Myla retaliated by appropriating classic mummy-language: "If you can't share, we might have to take it away if you can't share." Reluctantly, Hendricks allowed the wily kid to add a body to the elegant female head she'd just drawn. The result, a magnificent dino-woman, is rightly described by Hendricks on her blog as "carefree". A series of mother-daughter collabs followed, creating a funny little world of amoebic slugs and astronaut beavers with high-society noggins which somehow come across as believable beings. (I am fondly reminded of a young nephew who once claimed he had an imaginary friend called 'Prawn-Egg' with "the head of a prawn and the body of an egg". It would be great to see that illustrated.) Hendricks' blog post about the project reveals the amusing creative competitiveness between Myla and her, and how the activity has taught her to be less rigid in creative undertakings: "Yes, some things (like my new sketchbook) are sacred, but if you let go of those chains, new and wonderful things can happen. Those things you hold so dear cannot change and grow and expand unless you loosen your grip on them a little ... Most importantly, I learned that if you have a preconceived notion of how something should be, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE DISAPPOINTED. Instead, just go with it, just ACCEPT it, because usually something even more wonderful will come out of it." The logical next step would be to invent backstories for these characters with details supplied by both artists, to produce a very original book that would inspire kids and adult artists alike. See more of Mica and Myla's images on Mica's blog. Via Colossal.
Since 2011, DJ Tom Loud's travelling dance party Hot Dub Time Machine has ripped up stages the world over, offering a rolling crossfade of the last six decades of pop-music. And three years ago he launched Wine Machine, a series of al fresco get-togethers on some of the country's most-loved wine regions. The Wine Machine events were a success and the tour will be returning to Hunter Valley's Roche Estate for a second year on Saturday, March 14. The boutique event will run from early afternoon through to after dark. Leading the music will be one of Hot Dub's signature sets, which will see audiences dancing their way from 1954 to today, as the DJ mixes best-known songs from each year. He'll be joined on stage by NZ alt-rockers The Naked & Famous, indie four-piece The Jungle Giants, Aussie dance legends Bag Raiders and Brisbane DJ Young Franco. You can check out the full lineup below. Backing up the tunes, there'll be a tasty lineup of eats, craft beer and, of course, some sensational vino from these Australian wine regions. Safe to say, it's probably the rowdiest event these wineries will host all year. WINE MACHINE 2020 LINEUP Hot Dub Time Machine The Jungle Giants The Naked & Famous Regard Northeast Party House Bag Raiders Young Franco Alice Ivy Don West Danny Clayton Updated January 17, 2020.
More totes, less plastic: that's been the motto of supermarkets and state governments around the country over the past few years, as plastic shopping carriers have been phased out by stores and the authorities alike. But if you're the kind of shopper who always leaves their own bags at home, you might've simply swapped the thin, single-use plastic variety for their thicker, reusable counterparts. Now, Woolworths and Big W are ditching those nationally as well. Announced to celebrate World Environment Day on Sunday, June 5, the two chains will phase out all of its remaining plastic shopping bags — which includes 15-cent versions at Woolies, and both 15-cent and 45-cent versions at Big W. The move also covers bags not only in stores, but for online orders as well. Exactly when they'll stop being available depends on the brand, with Woolies gradually making the move over the next year, and Big W committing to scrapping them completely by the end of June 2023. Those two timelines are very similar, though — so, by July 2023, you won't be buying reusable plastic bags if you've forgotten your own totes. Woolies will still keep its recycled paper carriers on offer, however, saving you from lugging out your purchases in your arms if you gone shopping without bags. And, Big W is introducing additional bag options alongside its existing printed totes and other fabric bags. Western Australian Woolies stores have already made the switch, since back in March. South Australia and Northern Territory will follow from September 2022, with other states doing the same afterwards — with exact dates for New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT yet to be announced. Yes, that means that your shopping will help do the environment a solid — although, there'll still be plastic bags available for fruit and vegetables, but the supermarket is exploring more sustainable options for those as well. Woolworths will start phasing out reusable plastic bags over the next year, while Big W will ditch them by the end of June 2023. For further information, head to the Woolworths and Big W websites.
After a year that's been light on both theatre and live music, Belvoir St Theatre is coming to the party with the return of its high-energy musical Fangirls. Following its sell-out debut in 2019, the super-popular production is making its way to the Seymour Centre for three weeks this summer, with curtains opening from Saturday, January 30. Expect the 2.0 version to be bigger and bolder, with a refreshed script and new cast, bringing to life Yve Blake's sparkling tale of a young girl's obsession with the world's biggest boy band and its hunky lead singer. Still need convincing? Here's a look at what you're in for this time around. [caption id="attachment_793755" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brett Boardman[/caption] THE REVIEWS Fangirls proved a sell-out success with its premiere run last year, capturing the hearts of audiences and scooping multiple awards in the process. The Australian described the production as "a life-affirming night of pure theatrical escapism" while The Guardian called it "the best pop concert you've never been to". But it wasn't just the critics who were raving, with many audience members becoming, ironically, fangirls themselves. "Apparently last time someone came [to see the show] 13 times," says Yve Blake, who penned Fangirls' book, music and lyrics, as well as played the lead of Edna in the 2019 show. There was also a bunch of fan art that poured in, including handmade comics, embroidery and t-shirts. Blake says such a response "emboldened me and the team and made us go, 'alright, let's go wackier, let's go bigger and better, more camp. Let's be less apologetic'". So, even if you saw Fangirls' debut last year, it's likely you'll want to see it this time round, too. [caption id="attachment_793759" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brett Boardman[/caption] THE STORY It all started with the playwright's own encounter with a Harry Styles-obsessed 13 year old. Blake embarked on a deep dive into the long-held cultural phenomenon of fangirls, which served as the inspiration for her vivacious 2019 stage show. "I realised the way that the world thinks about fangirls is a microcosm for the ways that the world sometimes tries to ridicule young female enthusiasm," says Blake. The play follows protagonist Edna — performed by Karis Oka (Six the Musical) in the upcoming production — a city girl conspiring to confess her undying love to True Connection frontman Harry, performed by real-life popstar and The Voice 2018 finalist Aydan. Riding the highs and lows right alongside the disillusioned teenager, audiences are invited to embrace the idea of fandom while turfing aside all those pesky, inhibiting notions of shame. "From the outside, it seems like a party of a show that pokes a bit of fun at fangirls," says Blake. "But actually, at the bleeding heart of it, it gets you to laugh at these girls only to cry with them." [caption id="attachment_792366" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brett Boardman[/caption] THE MUSIC Fangirls' fun, unapologetic story is backed by Blake's boppy, banger-filled soundtrack that'll be sure to have you grooving in your seat. The inspiration? "For me, the show needed to sound like a Beyoncé concert, meets rave, meets church. I wanted to make a show about what it feels like to fall in love for the first time at 14." To that end, expect to rocket between soaring choral numbers, techno tunes and upbeat dance tracks — a fittingly bold sonic journey that neatly captures the spirit of fangirl phenomenon — with a high energy similar to being in the heart of a pop-concert mosh pit. "It's like the tequila shot that Australian musical theatre needed," says Oka, summing up the show's tunes, which sounds like a pretty good tonic after the trashfire year of 2020. [caption id="attachment_792363" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brett Boardman[/caption] THE TEAM For its 2021 run, Fangirls will be directed once again by Paige Rattray with a rejigged, diverse cast of young, up-and-coming stars. "They're the next generation of rockstars in musical theatre," says Blake, "I'm just really excited for audiences to see them". Oka is taking over from Blake as the lead and Aydan is returning to the Fangirls cast in the role of Harry. "He was in the show last year and his actual fans would show up and scream and get him to sign stuff. It was so meta," says Blake. Rising star James Majoos is another returning favourite, along with Chika Ikogwe whose 2019 performance won her Best Newcomer at the Sydney Theatre Awards. And if you aren't already familiar with new Fangirls stars including Shubshri Kandiah, Shannen Alyce Quan and Tomáš Kantor, we're assured you will be very soon. 'Fangirls' is showing at the Seymour Centre from Saturday, January 30 to Saturday, February 20, 2021. To book tickets and find out more about Belvoir St Theatre's latest must-see, check out the website. Top image: Brett Boardman
Established in 1996, the Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize supports early to mid-career artists from both Australia and New Zealand. This year, guest curator Julie Rrap has selected 21 established artists to exhibit recent work. Each of these artists then chose an emerging artist to also present work in the show. There are three prizes: a $25,000 prize for the winning established artist, a $10,000 prize for the winning emerging artist, and a Viewers’ Choice Prize, which visitors to the exhibition may vote in. It’s a great selection, and the mix of works by emerging and established artists creates a fantastic dialogue. Because so many hands went into the selection of the pieces, there is something for all tastes. There are works in every conceivable medium: video, sculpture, painting, photography, installation — you name it, it’s on show. With so many artists participating, there is always going to be variation in the quality of works exhibited, but the standard is exceptionally high and pretty much all the works seem to sit somewhere between 'pretty great' and 'really freaking awesome'. It’s difficult to name just a few of the standout pieces because there were so many highlights, but Todd Robinson's He knows at any moment it may be lost in a vertical field is definitely one of the best entries. I couldn't tear myself away. The work features two balloons that sag, trying to fall to earth. The contradiction between such traditionally light, buoyant objects and these morose, depressed sacks was fantastic. Bridie Lunney's delicate installation Still After is also a must-see. Described in the catalog as being a 'performative response to architectural conditions' the work is comprised of a series of objects attached to, pushed against and placed in front of a wall. There is something terrifically Dada-esque about the relationship between all the objects in this piece. It's absolutely wonderful. I risked a hefty parking fine so I could go back for another look at the end of my visit. It’s a big exhibition, so leave yourself a ample time to see it all. And do yourself a favour — load up the parking machine before you go. Redlands Prize is open 10-4, Monday to Saturday. Image: TV Moore, MOON PLANK STILL LIFE.
Maybe viewing old episodes of Aerobics Oz Style helped you stay active during 2020's first long lockdown. Perhaps you've been obsessed with the now-iconic Key & Peele aerobics meltdown sketch for years, as everyone should be. Or, you might've watched the excellent Kirsten Dunst-starring On Becoming a God in Central Florida and got bitten by the water aerobics bug. Whichever fits — or even if none of the above applies to you — leotards, exercise and all things 80s haven't been far from our screens in recent years. And, they'll feature again in a big way in Apple TV+'s new ten-part dark comedy series Physical. Set in the decade that's always going to be synonymous with leg warmers, Physical sees Rose Byrne make the leap from hanging out with talking CGI rabbits in terrible book-to-screen adaptations to getting hooked on aerobics. She plays Sheila Rubin, a San Diego housewife who has always played her dutiful part as expected, but struggles with her self-image and her sense of self in general. Then, the only form of exercise that TV shows and movies seem to think that anyone did back in the 80s suddenly enters her life. Cue a journey that brings Sheila success, sees her forge her own path beyond being a wife and mother, and also turns her into a lifestyle guru. As seen in both the first sneak peek last month and the just-dropped new trailer, she obviously won't be posting about her daily life on social media — but this show is set in the peak VHS era, so expect videotapes to play a part in the story. Physical is set to start streaming on Friday, June 18, and will drop its first three episodes in one hit before releasing the rest weekly afterwards. Naturally, big hair and spandex are set to play a huge part in the supremely 80s-looking series. Alongside Byrne, the show stars Rory Scovel (I Feel Pretty), Dierdre Friel (Second Act), Della Saba (Ralph Breaks the Internet), Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story), Paul Sparks (The Lovebirds) and Ashley Liao (Fuller House). Desperate Housewives and Suburgatory's Annie Weisman created, wrote and executive produced Physical, and serves as its showrunner, while Cruella's Craig Gillespie, Dead to Me's Liza Johnson and Love Life's Stephanie Laing all enjoy stints in the director's chair. Check out the latest trailer trailer below: Physical starts streaming via Apple TV+ on Friday, June 18.
When it came time to get rid of my break up shoes (the ones my ex bought for me as he dumped me, a misguided attempt to soften the blow) to avoid wearing any more evidence of my heartache, I (anti-climactically) threw them in the bin. But what are you meant to do with everyday objects that remind you of lost love? Where do the gifts, love notes and left-behind odd socks end up? In 2006, Croatian-based artists and exes Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišić found themselves with a number of physical reminders of their broken relationship. What started as 'what do we do with all this crap?', grew into the Museum of Broken Relationships — first a travelling exhibition, then a permanent museum in Zagreb, Croatia, with an outpost in Los Angeles and a virtual collection online. Now, as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival's love-themed 2019 program, the cathartic exhibit has set up camp in the CBD's No Vacancy Gallery for the month of September. After a call for submissions, Vištica and Grubišić have curated a selection of items evoking memories of heartbreak and healing donated by Melburnians, which appear alongside favourites from the museum's permanent collection. Each piece is presented with a story — some simply a few words, others long tales of another time and place — and reflects how we love, and how we cope with loss. The exhibition will be open in Melbourne until the end of September — here are the highlights. [caption id="attachment_740627" align="alignnone" width="1920"] "Marie, I am getting a flat for myself, I will be back here Sunday night to sort my things out."[/caption] DECEMBER 25, 1975, AUSTRALIA The 1970s equivalent of getting dumped by text: ending a ten year relationship with a note. In just a couple of sentences, Marie conveys the hollow feeling we've all felt when disappointed by someone we loved. Did she keep this in a shoe box under the bed, forgotten about for four decades? Did she get it out occasionally and think back on the man she married, who left her for his secretary on Christmas Eve, just months after they found out she was unable to have children? With Marie's parting line we sense how heartache heals over time: "No signature. How dare he assume I would know who it was from." JUNE, 2006–DECEMBER, 2007, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA The owner of a dozen duct-tape roses says, looking back, they serve as a reminder that difficult things pass. Made by a high school girlfriend for Valentines Day many moons ago, the roses are a symbol of the carefree spirit of young love, kept gathering dust for more than a decade, long after that love fizzled out, because it just didn't seem right to throw away a gift made with so much skill, time and patience. MAY, 2016–FEBRUARY, 2018, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Amid hundreds of artefacts in the museum's worldwide collection, revenge and vindication are pretty common themes — from the axe used to hack an exe's furniture to pieces, to a toaster taken across the country ("how are you going to toast anything now?"), to voodoo dolls made from shirts belonging to former lovers. Sometimes our methods of coping with pain are more productive than others. These buttons were cut from the clothing of a Melburnian's cheating ex before his possessions were given back to him. The story reads, "I found this act incredibly cathartic in itself, apart from knowing it would annoy him immensely. Sometime later, I sent him some buttons. Not necessarily the right ones." THIRTEEN YEARS, HELSINKI, FINLAND If we're looking for themes among the artefacts, infidelity sure is up there — a universal experience felt from Melbourne to Helsinki. In 2012, a wife sat on the floor of her hallway, cutting a small plastic figurine into pieces, waiting for her husband to come home so she could confront him about his affairs. His response to being caught out in his lies? To take the postcards of two American silent film stars, which his wife had said reminded her of them, from their place on her dressing table mirror, and tear them to pieces in front of her face. AUGUST, 2003–MAY, 2006, SAN FRANCISCO, USA A belt left on the back seat of a lover's car, a mere week before a move away brought the passionate relationship to a stuttered end. Under the anonymity of the museum's format, the belt's accidental owner speaks candidly of watching meteor showers, naked, in a playground: "Kinkiness on a park bench underneath a blazing sky, there was more on fire than just those shooting stars." The item is donated as a way of saying thank you to the man that made them feel alive: "I never got the chance to tell him that I love him, but at least everyone who reads this will know." SUMMER, 1993, ZAGREB, CROATIA Pieces in the museum aren't all representative of tumultuous, decades-long marriages ending in tears. We all have so many relationships throughout our lives — with family, friends, our bodies, fleeting romances and brief encounters — and the collection has become a space for saying goodbye to absent parents, lost limbs, and people we knew for just a little while. From in the middle of the Croatian War of Independence, a first sexual experience is remembered with a little yellow flag from the ship that witnessed it. The Museum of Broken Relationships is at No Vacancy, Melbourne, from September 1–29. Entry is free and the gallery is open Tuesday–Friday, 12pm-6pm, and Saturday–Sunday, 12pm–5pm. Images: Tracey Ah-kee.
With Moonlight winning last year's best picture Oscar, Call Me By Your Name topping many a 2017 best-of list, and the likes of God's Own Country, Battle of the Sexes and Professor Marston and the Wonder Women also gracing movie screens, it has been a stellar 12 months for queer cinema. For Sydneysiders, that's only going to continue come February, with the long-running Mardi Gras Film Festival back for its 25th year. To mark the milestone, the film-focused sidebar to Sydney's massive LGBTIQ celebration will screen 55 features and 69 short films across 71 sessions, including more than 60 Australian premieres and two world premieres. It's a lineup bookended with star power, opening with Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan playing a bickering couple in Ideal Home forced to take in their grandson, and closing with Freak Show's tale of a a precocious teen starting a new school, featuring The End of the F***ing World's Alex Lawther, Bette Midler, Laverne Cox and Abigail Breslin. From award winners to international standouts to revisiting old favourites, that's not all that's on the bill, however. Running from February 15 to March 1 at Event Cinemas George Street and Golden Age Cinema, plus a selection of other venues in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory throughout March and April, MGFF's other highlights range the world premiere of Aussie documentary Black Divaz, about the inaugural Miss First Nation pageant; to Filipino transgender beauty queen drama Die Beautiful, an award-winner across Asia over the past year; to French AIDS-focused effort BPM, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes last year. Or, audiences can catch homegrown body-swap movie Pulse, intimate Sundance hit Beach Rats, biographical documentary McKellen: Playing the Part, 'punk chick flick' Team Hurricane and Hollywood coming-of-age film Love, Simon, which screens before it hits general cinemas. In addition, the 2018 festival will host a session on the top 25 queer films of all time, speed dating evenings and filmmaking workshops at its festival bar at Event Cinemas, because every good fest is about more than just watching movies. And, because looking back is as much a part of a festival as looking forward, MGFF will rustle up a few current and old favourites courtesy of sessions of classics Desert Hearts and Young Soul Rebels, and more recent titles such as Zootopia and Call Me By Your Name. Mardi Gras Film Festival 2017 runs from February 15 to March 1 at Event Cinemas George Street and Golden Age Cinema and Bar, before touring to other NSW and ACT venues throughout March and April. For more information, visit their website.
Every Italian will tell you that no one cooks like their nonna — and to prove that claim true, Sydney's best Italian chefs and their grandmothers are teaming up for a brand new two-week festival of Italian deliciousness. Running from November 17–27, the Festival of Nonna will be a celebration of the traditional matriarchs of the Boot, with a whole fortnight filled with dinners, drinks and workshops at Redfern's 107 Projects. Preented by Sandhurst Fine Foods, it will show off the modern interpretation of Italian food coupled with the tried-and-tested traditions that make the cuisine so damn good. Sydney chef and restaurateur Andrew Cibej (of 121BC, Berta and Vini fame) will be teaming up with his mum to host a pop-up trattoria on the rooftop of 107 Projects. Together they'll host eight meals over the two weeks, where they'll showcase Andrew's skills that have fed hungry Sydneysiders for years, and pay homage to the humble roots of his craft. "Nonna taught me everything I know about the importance of fresh and simple ingredients," Cibej says."But I always show her a thing or two about throwing new flavours or techniques into the mix." For those keen to cook like nonna does, chefs — including two Luca Ciano of Milan's two Michelin-starred Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, Massimo Mele of the Woollahra's now-closed La Scala on Jersey, and MasterChef's Sara Oteri — will have their own grandmothers in tow to deliver hands-on demonstrations that show off the tradition and the techniques of crafting the perfect Italian meal. Tickets for the workshops are $30 a pop, while tickets for the pop-up dinners are $50 and include five courses with paired wines and a sweet party bag. Many of them are already booked out — so hop to it. The Festival of Nonna will run from November 17-27 at 107 Projects, 107 Redfern Street, Redfern. For more info, visit festivalofnonna.com.
Not content with boasting Descendents for their first Australian tour since 2017 — plus Oliver Tree, Chet Faker, Hilltop Hoods, Earl Sweatshirt, Golden Features and Ocean Alley, too — Wollongong's Yours and Owls has just added two huge names to its 2023 lineup. Fancy dancing to Flight Facilities' famed Decades mixes? To Australian electronic favourites Pendulum, too? They're both now on the bill. Taking place between Saturday, October 14–Sunday, October 15, this'll be the first Yours and Owls since April 2021, when it became the first major music festival that New South Wales had seen in over a year due to the pandemic — and the first to allow dancing as well. So, of course it's going big. The event was forced to cancel in 2022 when La Niña flooded its Stuart Park venue, which ensures that making another return is definitely worth celebrating. The two-day shindig affectionately labelled Gong Christmas has added both Flight Facilities and Pendulum to its Sunday bill at its new home at the University of Wollongong (UOW) campus. Stopping by during their own tours — with both Flight Facilities and Pendulum doing the rounds Australia-wide in October — they join a roster of talent spanning over 60 local and international acts, and a whole heap of genres. Also already on the list: US drill star Lil Tjay, as well as Vera Blue, Meg Mac, Peach Pit, Bakar, Safia, Broods, Hobo Johnson, Masego, RVG, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Royal Otis and Sorry. A few names from the SXSW Sydney music lineup are on the Yours and Owls program, too, with the two events sharing dates. Wallice, Ekkstacy, Dice, Go-Jo, Phoebe Go and Rum Jungle will all be appearing at both events. The south coast festival's dance music stage Das Shmelthaus is also returning, and is sure to make the most of the new UOW home. On its lineup of electronic tastemakers: Club Angel, DJ PGZ, Sam Alfred, Mike Who and Lauren Hansom. UOW and the festival have inked a three-year partnership, with the all-weather solutions available at the campus cited as one of the driving factors behind the team-up — plus the university's picturesque green spaces and a mutual commitment towards carbon-emission reduction. You can expect stages to pop up across the expansive space, with Yours and Owls promising to activate grounds, ovals and laneways. [caption id="attachment_906428" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jess Gleeson[/caption] YOURS AND OWLS 2023 LINEUP: Bakar Broods Chet Faker Descendents Earl Sweatshirt Flight Facilities Golden Features Hilltop Hoods Hobo Johnson Lil Tjay Masego Meg Mac Ocean Alley Oliver Tree Peach Pit Pendulum Safia Vera Blue Angel Du$t Big Wett Daily J Dice Ekkstacy Fazerdaze Forest Claudette James Marriott King Mala Old Mervs Pacific Avenue Phony Ppl Redhook Royal Otis RVG Shagrock Sorry Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers Teenage Dads The Grogans The Rions The Terrys The Vanns Tia Gostelow Wallice Babyface Mal Billy Otto Full Flower Moon Band Girl and Girl Go-Jo Lazywax Phoebe Go Possehot Rum Jungle Stevan Stumps These New South Whales Towns YB Wiigz Das Shmelthaus: Object Blue b2b TSVI Cleo Club Angel DJ PGZ Kornél Kovács Lauren Hansom b2b Mike Who Luca Lozano Sam Alfred Seb Wildblood Skatebard Tangela Yours and Owls 2023 will return from Saturday, October 14–Sunday, October 15 at its new home at the University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong — with tickets on sale now.
This year, the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards will be held in Melbourne, and will see the globe's biggest culinary names descend on Australia to shed some light on what goes into creating the world's best dishes. But what about the food that gets left behind? Well, none other than the world's best chef Massimo Bottura will tackle the issue of food waste head-on when he teams up with a slew of local chefs and food waste charity OzHarvest for an exclusive degustation in Sydney on Sunday, April 2. Bottura — the super affable renowned chef behind Italy's Osteria Francescana, which was again named the number one restaurant in the world last year — will host the eye-opening event at OzHarvest's Alexandria headquarters. While he won't be cooking, he'll be joined by a hand-picked team of local chefs who will, including Rob Cockerill (Bennelong), Josh Niland (Saint Peter), Monty Koludrovic (Icebergs, The Dolphin), Clayton Wells (Automata) and James Viles (Biota). They'll plate up a fine dining feast made with food that's usually destined for the bin, matched to some top Aussie wines. The 130 lucky diners will enjoy sharp service led by Rockpool Dining Group's food and beverage director Jeremy Courmidas, the sommelier skills of Icebergs' James Hird, and a stunning setting designed by George Livissianis and decorated with works from some leading Australian artists. Plus, with everyone's time and all produce and products donated, all proceeds from the night will head straight to OzHarvest, as well as Bottura's Italian food waste non-profit Food for Soul. It's set to be a once-in-a-lifetime dining event, so, naturally, it comes with a once-in-a-lifetime price tag. Tickets will set you back a cool $1000.
He's back! It's been eight long years since we first heard Thom Yorke's glitchy solo grooves in The Eraser now, out of nowhere, he's dropped a sneaky surprise album overnight. Tomorrow's Modern Boxes sees Yorke return to his trademark sound with a full LP of sneaky sneakster electronica. But you won't find this album in stores just yet. As always, Yorke has something else in mind. Similar to the release of Radiohead's In Rainbows where fans could pay whatever they wanted for an online download, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes has been released via BitTorrent. It's a bold move. Seeking alternative methods of distribution, Yorke has chosen to embrace the technology the music industry struggles with the most. The album, in fact, is the world's first paygated BitTorrent bundle. "It's an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around," reads a statement on the Radiohead website. "If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work." By releasing the music direct to the public, artists are able to keep a much larger share of the profits. For each album sold, BitTorrent reportedly takes a 10 per cent cut and Yorke gets the remaining 90. This combined with the savings on production and publicity means they are able to set the price at a mere US$6. Score. "It it works, anyone can do this exactly as we have done," the statement reads. "[This would enable] those people who make either music, video or any other kind of digital content to sell it themselves. Bypassing the self elected gate-keepers." BitTorrent's CCO Matt Mason told Mashable that this is a system many artists will soon be employing. And, why not? Unless you work at a record company, it seems like a win-win situation. Tomorrow's Modern Boxes is available for download via BitTorrent now. You can listen to the first single 'A Brian in a Bottle' prior to downloading. But don't be stingy, give this legend his $6 for the full thing.
It's not all about the New Year's Eve party — you can't forget about the recovery session on the first day of 2020. Luckily, Manly Wharf Hotel has it covered with two days of harbourside festivities. On New Year's Eve, the party kicks off at 6pm, so get down early for a few cocktails, nab a spot to watch the fireworks and enjoy local talent on the decks before headliners Friendly Fires take it up a notch. The English indie-dance trio will be playing an exclusive DJ set of disco, pop, yacht rock and vintage rave jams to take you into the roaring 20s. When New Year's Day rolls around, return to the scene of the crime for complimentary canapés and sips of Chandon and Heineken from 3–5pm. That should get you back on your feet just in time for some sun-soaked bangers when locals Set Mo take to the decks. First release tickets for each day are $35 or $60 for a two-day pass.
Based out of the architecturally textured Albury Library Museum, Write Around the Murray (WAM) is now celebrating a decade of reading, writing and storytelling. The five-day festival will return from September 13 through 17 and with it comes over 30 events featuring authors from around the country. This year's featured events include a Poetry Slam Bootcamp for a crash course in performance prose and Designing Stories For Games, a look at narrative for all you gamers out there. There will also be book sales and launches, round tables and even fabric painting classes for kids. The festivities aren't limited to reading and writing, either. Expect festival dinners and literary lunches to accompany poetry slams, workshops, author talks, performances, panel discussions and writing competitions.
For proof that Australia's cocktail game is world-class, look no further than the calibre of the international mixology stars lining up to play on our turf. In 2015, it was New York's famous speakeasy Please Don't Tell, taking over the bar at Fitzroy's acclaimed cocktail haunt The Black Pearl. Then Sydney Bar Week 2016 saw The Everleigh in Melbourne and Sydney's Henrietta Supper Club each play host to pop-ups by Asia's best bar, 28 Hongkong Street. Now it's time for one of the world's most famous hotel bars to make its way Down Under. The American Bar, which is located at London's Savoy Hotel, will take over The Black Pearl on October 15–16 and Darlinghurst's own cocktail gem Eau de Vie from October 18–19. As England's longest surviving cocktail bar, The American Bar has quite the pedigree — in the last year alone, it's scooped the title of Best Bar in Europe at the World's 50 Best Bars awards and seen its team voted Best International Bar Team by Tales of the Cocktail. Backed by the creators of local coffee liqueur Mr Black (who are behind the Espresso Martini Festival in Sydney and Melbourne), this Aussie adventure gives The American Bar the opportunity to showcase some of its own caffeinated mixology magic. At the helm will be senior bartender and World Coffee In Good Spirits champion Martin Hudak, as he treats local audiences to American Bar signatures like the Green Park, the Black Diamond and the Hanky Panky. It's not a ticketed event, so you'll have to be there when the doors open at 6pm each night for the best chance of scoring a seat. The American Bar takes over The Black Pearl, at 304 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, from 6pm on Sunday, October 15 and Monday, October 16. Then, it'll land at Eau de Vie, 229 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, on Wednesday, October 18 and Thursday, October 19.
Under normal circumstances, when a new-release movie starts playing in cinemas, audiences can't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the pandemic forcing film industry to make quite a few changes over the past year — widespread movie theatre closures will do that — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you're in lockdown. Perhaps you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Given the hefty amount of films now releasing each week, maybe you missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here's nine you can watch right now at home. THE SPARKS BROTHERS "All I do now is dick around" is an exquisite song lyric and, in Sparks' 2006 single 'Dick Around', it's sung with the operatic enthusiasm it demands. It's also a line that resounds with both humour and truth when uttered by Russell Mael, who, with elder brother Ron, has been crafting art-pop ditties as irreverent and melodic as this wonderful track since 1969. Sparks haven't been dicking around over that lengthy period. They currently have 25 albums to their name, and they've taken on almost every genre of music there is in their highly acerbic fashion. That said, their tunes are clearly the biggest labour of love possible, especially as the enigmatic duo has always lingered outside the mainstream. They've had some chart success, including mid-70s hit 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us', Giorgio Moroder collaboration and disco standout 'The Number One Song in Heaven', and the supremely 80s 'Cool Places'. They're beloved by everyone from Beck and 'Weird Al' Yankovic to Jason Schwartzman and Mike Myers, too. They're the band that all your favourite bands, actors and comedians can't get enough of, but they're hardly a household name — and yet, decade after decade, the Maels have kept playing around to make the smart, hilarious and offbeat songs they obviously personally adore. Everyone else should love Sparks' idiosyncratic earworms as well — and, even for those who've never heard of the band before, that's the outcome after watching The Sparks Brothers. Edgar Wright, one of the group's unabashed super fans, has turned his overflowing affection into an exceptional documentary. It's the Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver's first factual effort, and it's even more charming and delightful than the films he's best known for. That said, it'd be hard to mess up a movie about Sparks, purely given how much material there is to work with. Russell and Ron, the former sporting shaggier hair and the latter donning a pencil-thin moustache rather than the Charlie Chaplin-style top lip he's brandished for much of his career, are also heavenly interviewees. That's the thing about these now-septuagenarian siblings, every Sparks tune they've ever blasted out into the world, and this comprehensive yet always accessible film that's instantly one of 2021's best: they're all joyously, fabulously, eccentrically fun to an infectious and buoyant degree. The world has always needed more Sparks on a bigger stage; now, to the benefit of everyone that's ever loved them and anyone just discovering them, it's stopped dicking around and is finally delivering The Sparks Brothers is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. LITTLE JOE Pipes blow gently. The camera swirls. Rows of plants fill the screen. Some are leafy and flowery as they reach for the sky; others are mere stems topped with closed buds. Both types of vegetation are lined up in boxes in an austere-looking laboratory greenhouse — and soon another shoot of green appears among them. Plant breeder Alice (Cruella's Emily Beecham, who won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress award for her work here) is cloaked in a lab coat far paler than any plant, but the symbolism is immediately evident. Audiences don't know it yet, but her shock of cropped red hair resembles the crimson flowers that'll blossom in her genetically engineered new type of flora, too. "The aim has been to create a plant with a scent that makes its owner happy," she tells a small audience. She explains that most research in her field, and in this lab, has revolved around cultivating greenery that requires less human interaction; however, her new breed does the opposite. This species needs more watering and more protection from the elements, and responds to touch and talk. In return, it emits a scent that kickstarts the human hormone oxytocin when inhaled. Linked to parenting and bonding, that response will make everyone "love this plant like your own child," beams Alice like a proud parent. So starts Little Joe, which shares its name with the vegetation in question — a "mood-lifting, anti-depressant, happy plant," Alice's boss (David Wilmot, Calm with Horses) boasts. She's borrowed her own teenage son's (Kit Connor, Rocketman) moniker for her new baby, although she gives it more attention than her flesh-and-blood offspring, especially with the push to get it to market speeding up. The clinical gaze favoured by Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner (Amour fou) is telling, though. The eerie tone to the feature's Japanese-style, flute- and percussion-heavy score sets an uneasy mood as well. And, there's something not quite right in the overt eagerness of Alice's lab colleague Chris (Ben Whishaw, Fargo), and in the way that Planthouse Biotechnologies' other employees all instantly dismiss the concerns of the one naysayer, Bella (Kerry Fox, Top End Wedding), who has just returned to work after a mental health-induced sabbatical. Making her first English-language feature, Hausner helms a disquieting and anxious sci-fi/horror masterwork. Like many movies in the genre, this is a film about possibilities and consequences, creation and its costs, and happiness and its sacrifices — and about both daring to challenge and dutifully abiding by conformity — and yet it's always its own beast. There are aspects of Frankenstein at play, and The Day of the Triffids, and even Side Effects also. But as anyone familiar with Mary Shelley's iconic work knows, combining familiar elements can result in an intriguing new entity that's much more than just the sum of its parts. Little Joe is available to stream via Google Play and YouTube Movies. Read our full review. STREAMLINE Chasing a dream can feel like swimming through cool water on a hot summer's day — gliding, splashing and laidback paddling all included — with each refreshing stroke propelling you closer towards your own personal finish line. That's when everything is going well, of course, and when whatever your heart and mind desires seems as if it's waiting at the end of the pool. Otherwise, when you're bogged down by everyday minutiae and nothing seems to inch forward, working towards a set goal can also resemble treading water. It can mirror repetitively doing laps, too, when your destination seems out of sight despite all the hard work you're putting in. And, if you're tired and fed up with all the effort needed to even keep afloat — and when your heart is no longer in it — it can feel like floundering and drowning. In Streamline, all of these sensations and emotions bubble up for 15-year-old Benjamin Lane (Levi Miller, A Wrinkle in Time), as he pursues a professional swimming career, a spot in a prestigious squad in Brisbane and, ideally, an Olympics berth and all the glory that goes with it. Indeed, one of the delights of this Australian movie, which boasts Ian Thorpe as one of its executive producers, is how evocatively it sprinkles these swashes of feelings across the screen. Written and directed by feature first-timer Tyson Wade Johnston, Streamline is a sports drama as well as a small town-set family drama — and it's also a portrait of that time when you're expected to dive headfirst into adulthood, and into knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life, but you're also inescapably wracked with uncertainty and apprehension. Teenage awkwardness and angst aren't simple states to capture on-screen, although enough coming-of-age movies have been buoyed by both; however, Streamline opts to plunge deep into the existential stress that goes beyond feeling out of place with your peers or being annoyed at your parents. Its protagonist, who everyone just calls Boy, only really connects with his girlfriend and best friend Patti (Tasia Zalar, Mystery Road) at school. And, he's definitely mad at his mother and father. He resents his single mum Kim's (Laura Gordon, Undertow) efforts to keep him focused, which he sees as controlling rather than nurturing. He's doing tumble turns internally over his dad Rob (Jason Isaacs, Creation Stories), who's just been released from prison and has never been a positive influence in his life. Boy is also furious at his surrogate father figure, Coach Clarke (Robert Morgan, The Secrets She Keeps), for all the cajoling that coaches tend to give. But, mostly the swimming prodigy is unsure — about what he wants, what he's been told he wants and what to do next. Streamline is available to stream via Stan. Read our full review. THE SUICIDE SQUAD New decade, new director, new word in the title — and a mostly new cast, too. That's The Suicide Squad, the DC Extended Universe's new effort to keep viewers immersed in its sprawling superhero franchise, which keeps coming second in hearts, minds and box-office success to Marvel's counterpart. Revisiting a concept last seen in 2016's Suicide Squad, the new flick also tries to blast its unloved precursor's memory from everyone's brains. That three-letter addition to the title? It doesn't just ignore The Social Network's quote about the English language's most-used term, but also attempts to establish this film as the definitive vision of its ragtag supervillain crew. To help, Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn joins the fold, his Troma-honed penchant for horror, comedy and gore is let loose, and a devil-may-care attitude is thrust to the fore. But when your main aim is to one-up the derided last feature with basically the same name, hitting your target is easy — and fulfilling that mission, even with irreverence and flair, isn't the same as making a great or especially memorable movie. Indeed, a film can be funny and lively, use its main faces well, have a few nice moments with its supporting cast and improve on its predecessor, and yet still fall into a routine, unsuccessfully wade into murky politics, never capitalise upon its premise or promise, keep rehashing the same things, and just be average, too — and right now, that film is The Suicide Squad. Mischief abounds from the outset — mood-wise, at least — including when no-nonsense black-ops agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) teams up Suicide Squad's Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman, The Secrets We Keep), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney, Honest Thief) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, Dreamland) with a few new felons for a trip to the fictional Corto Maltese. Because this movie has that extra word in its title, it soon switches to another troupe reluctantly led by mercenary Bloodsport (Idris Elba, Concrete Cowboy), with fellow trained killer Peacemaker (John Cena, Fast and Furious 9) and the aforementioned Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian, Bird Box), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior, Valor da Vida) and King Shark (Sylvester Stallone, Rambo: Last Blood) also present. Their task: to sneak into a tower on the South American island. Under the guidance of The Thinker (Peter Capaldi, The Personal History of David Copperfield), alien experiment Project Starfish has been underway there for decades (and yes, Gunn makes time for a butthole joke). In this movie about cartoonish incarcerated killers doing the US government's dirty work, Waller has charged her recruits to destroy the secret test, all to ensure it isn't used by the violent faction that's just taken over Corto Maltese via a bloody coup. The end result is silly and goofy, fittingly — and yet, even when a supersized space starfish gets stompy (think: SpongeBob SquarePants' best bud Patrick if he grew up and got power-hungry), this sequel-slash-do-over is never as gleefully absurd as it should be. Again and again, even when Gunn's gambit works in the moment, that's how The Suicide Squad keeps playing out. The Suicide Squad is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Read our full review. REMINISCENCE The look is all Blade Runner. The idea owes a few debts in that direction, too. In Reminiscence's vision of the future, androids don't dream of electric sheep; however, humans do escape into memories while they slumber in a tank of water, reliving and interacting with cherished moments from their past as if they're happening again right that instant. The mood takes a bit of the aforementioned sci-fi classic's tone, and Blade Runner 2049's as well, but then doubles down on the noir, and on some of the plot twists. Playing a veteran of a post-flood war that's seen Florida split into the haves and the have-nots, and also a man in possession of the technology and know-how to let paying customers reminisce, Hugh Jackman (Bad Education) isn't ever told "forget it Nick Bannister, it's Miami". Given that Reminiscence often feels like it wants to be a futuristic take on Chinatown, that wouldn't phrase feel out of place in the slightest, though. This is a film that lets its influences flicker to the surface that forcefully. It trades in memories, too, conjuring up a long list of smarter fare. And while it gives Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy a new outlet for many of the themes that've always hovered through the hit HBO show — primarily humanity's increasing disconnection with each other, and the growing yearning to find solace in either artificial or nostalgic settings, or both — she gleefully treads in her own footsteps. Or, the writer/director gives the ideas she's clearly fascinated with a different appearance and atmosphere than she's been working with on TV, but still largely enjoys the same toys. Perhaps Joy just gets comfort from the familiar, just like Bannister's clients. That might ring with more truth if Reminiscence didn't primarily use its intriguing underlying concept — a notion with plenty of promise, even as it nods to sci-fi gems gone by — to wrap up a romance in a mystery in a flimsy fashion. The hard-boiled Bannister has settled into his routine guiding people through their personal histories, with assistance with his ex-military colleague Watts (Westworld's Thandiwe Newton), until the film's femme fatale walks through the door asking for help. Singer Mae (Rebecca Ferguson, Doctor Sleep) has lost her keys, wants to use Bannister's tech to find them and ends up earning his besotted affection in the process. Then bliss turns to heartache when she disappears suddenly. Bannister is as obsessed with tracking her down as he is with her in general when they're together, but secrets about the woman he realises he never really knew keep being pushed to the fore as he searches. Also prominent: dialogue that feels like it's parodying all the movies that Reminiscence is copying, which drags the feature down word by word. Thankfully, Jackman, Newton and Ferguson's performances exceed the trite phrases that they're repeatedly forced to utter. The film's look and feel gleam and haunt by design, even though they also shine with and are haunted by the greats of a genre Joy clearly loves; however, this ends up being a movie about revelling in the past that happily plays it safe instead of striding into the future. Reminiscence is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. SOME KIND OF HEAVEN If you didn't know that Some Kind of Heaven was a documentary, you might think that it was a skit from I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. The same kind of social awkwardness that makes the Netflix sketch comedy such an equally savage and hilarious watch is present in this factual look at the retirement community also dubbed "god's waiting room": The Villages, Florida, the world's largest master-planned, age-restricted locale of its kind, and home to more than 120,000 people. This is a place for folks aged over 55 to live in multiple senses of the world. Couples tend to move there, then sign up for some of the thousands of activities and clubs that get them out dancing, kayaking, cheerleading, swimming and more. If a resident happens to be on their own — usually after their partner's passing — they can get involved in the local singles club, too. Around since the early 80s, and also described as "Disney World for retirees", this community is meant to be a dream. It was specifically designed to resemble the kinds of small towns its inhabitants likely grew up in, right down to the shop-filled main street and the large town square, and locals aren't ever meant to want to leave. But as Some Kind of Heaven follows four folks who've made The Villages their home — including one ex-Californian import that's just squatting — it demonstrates the reality that lingers behind the busy facade and glossy sales pitch. Requiem for a Dream's Darren Aronofsky is one of the doco's producers and, while Mother!-style horrors never quite pop up, this isn't a portrait of bliss by any means. Many of The Villages' residents are clearly happy. In his first feature-lengthy documentary, filmmaker Lance Oppenheim trains his gaze at people who aren't likely to appear in any of the community's brochures, however. Every shot lensed by cinematographer David Bolen (1BR) and boxed into the film's square frame is scenic and striking — Some Kind of Heaven sports an exquisite eye for visual composition — but much of what the movie depicts feels like stepping into a surreal alternative realm. (In one sequence, the camera meets a room filled with women called Elaine, all of whom introduce themselves one after one — and it's a scene that could've come straight out of any one of David Lynch's visions of suburban horror.) Approaching their 47-year wedding anniversary, Reggie and Anne think they've found the place for them. That's what they're both saying, at least, but The Villages means different things for each of them. Reggie has used the move to embrace his love of drugs and doing whatever he wants, and Anne has once again been forced to stand by his side, including when he's sent to court and admonished for his rudeness while representing himself. Then there's Barbara, a widow from Boston who didn't ever plan to live in Florida alone. She still works full-time, a rarity among her fellow residents, and she yearns for the company she thinks a margarita-loving golf cart salesman might bring. Rounding out the interviewees is the sleazy Dennis, an 81-year-old living in his van until he can find an attractive and rich woman to marry. Some Kind of Heaven doesn't judge him, or anyone else in its frames, but it lets these stories speak volumes about a place positioned as a fantasy land and yet really just bringing out the chaotic teenager inside everyone. Some Kind of Heaven is available to stream via Docplay. WEREWOLVES WITHIN The last time that filmmaker Josh Ruben trekked to a snowy mountainous locale and tracked the characters stranded in its midst, Scare Me was the end result, with the entertaining horror-comedy combining cabin fever chaos with creepy tales. Accordingly, it's easy to see how he's jumped from that Sundance hit to Werewolves Within, which shares the same kind of setting and setup — but with lycanthropes and a whodunnit twist. Forest ranger Finn (Sam Richardson, Promising Young Woman) has just arrived in the remote town of Beaverfield as the weather turns and the strange attacks start. He's barely been given a tour by fellow outsider Cecily (Milana Vayntrub, This Is Us), the local mail carrier, when the village's generators are found destroyed and the bodies start piling up. Finn has already established that he's surrounded by eccentric characters, including an oilman (Wayne Duvall, The Trial of the Chicago 7) trying to build a pipeline through the foliage, a store owner (Michaela Watkins, Search Party) obsessed with her dog, a constantly arguing couple (No Activity's George Basil and Barry's Sarah Burns) with a fondness for skirting the law, and a pair of ex-city slickers (What We Do in the Shadows' Harvey Guillén and Saved by the Bell's Cheyenne Jackson); however, he's soon forced into close quarters with his new neighbours as they all try to work out who's transforming into a ravenous creature and indulging their hunger. If it all sounds a bit like Cluedo but with werewolves, there's a reason for that; the 2016 virtual reality game that Werewolves Within is based on also matches that description. Adapted into a movie, the narrative aims for Knives Out with claws — but, while overflowing with one-liners, sight gags and a healthy sense of humour to a not just jam-packed but overstuffed degree, the end result is never as funny as it should be. It's never quite as fun, either, even though the concept is a winner on paper. Comedian-turned-screenwriter Mishna Wolff spends far too much time trading in the glaringly apparent, not to mention the predictable. Hell is other people here, and the fact that a seemingly quaint and friendly small town can be filled with deceit, duplicity and disaster is hardly a new observation (and neither is the musing that the sniping within the community just might be worse than the supernatural threat they're now facing). That almost every character remains purely one-note doesn't help, and nor do the over-amped performances given by all of the film's supporting players. Richardson is a delight, though, as he has been in everything from Detroiters to Veep. Indeed, he makes the case not just for more work, but for more leading roles. Vayntrub sinks her teeth into her part, too, and her rapport with Richardson is one of the movie's highlights. Also engaging: the off-kilter tone that Ruben adopts throughout, again aping his previous — and better — feature. Werewolves Within is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. THE ICE ROAD They're called ice road truckers and, between 2007–17, they earned their own reality TV series on the History Channel. They're the folks who don't just drive while it's frosty, but steer big rigs onto frozen lakes and rivers in Alaska and Canada — using routes obviously only available in winter to haul freight from one point to another. And, they're the focus of The Ice Road. In his latest stock-standard action flick following Honest Thief and The Marksman in the past year alone, Liam Neeson joins the ice road trucking fraternity, although his character only does so as a last resort. A seasoned long-haul driver, Mike McCann has had trouble holding down a job ever since he started caring for his Iraq War veteran brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas, The Forger), who came home with PTSD and aphasia, and is also a gifted mechanic. The pair have just been fired from their latest gig, in fact, when they see Jim Goldenrod's (Laurence Fishburne, Where'd You Go, Bernadette) callout for help driving gas wellheads to a remote Manitoba site where 26 miners have been trapped by an explosion. It's a dangerous task, and one that calls for three trucks making the distance as quickly and carefully as possible. Mike and Gurty set out in one vehicle, Jim in another, and Native American driver Tantoo (Amber Midthunder, Roswell, New Mexico) and mining company insurance agent Tom Varnay (Benjamin Walker, The Underground Railroad) hop into the third rig, but transporting their cargo and saving the buried workers is a tense and treacherous mission. Much about The Ice Road will sound familiar to anyone who's seen Sorcerer, William Friedkin's stellar 1977 thriller about trucking volatile dynamite along a rocky South American road — which adapted 1950 French novel The Salary of Fear, a book that first reached cinemas via 1953's Cannes Palme d'Or-winning The Wages of Fear. This isn't an acknowledged remake, but icy, however. It'd be far better if it was, because the tension that ripples from simply driving along the titular route is The Ice Road's strongest element. In the feature's first half, after setting the scene for both the McCanns and the miners, writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh (Kill the Irishman) stresses the perils of trucking down frozen rivers. Bobbleheads placed on dashboards wobble whenever the ice threatens to become unstable, pressure waves shimmer and action-movie stress bubbles within the film's gleaming white images. That'd be enough to sustain the movie, but Hensleigh believes otherwise, which is where predictable double-crossing on the ice, among the stranded miners and back at company headquarters comes in. Even Neeson can't make the long list of cliches that fill The Ice Road's script entertaining, not that he seems to be trying all that hard. He's gruff and grizzled, and he yells, punches and fights for what's right, but he also just makes viewers wish they were watching him confront wolves in excellent survival thriller The Grey, or drive a snowplough in the average Cold Pursuit. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the cast fare just as badly, including the thoroughly wasted Fishburne and Midthunder, and Mindhunter's Holt McCallany as one of the miners. The Ice Road is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS More than once in Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, a supporting performance stands out — and not for the right reasons. Overdone and obvious, these portrayals leave audiences with no doubt that the corresponding characters are part of the game that this franchise has been playing for two movies now. The overall premise of this series sees ordinary folks receive invites that lead them into a maze of escape rooms. These are literal life-and-death spaces, and the body count grows room by room. This time around, Zoey (Taylor Russell, Words on Bathroom Walls) and Ben (Logan Miller, Love, Simon), the sole survivors of 2019's series starter, are trying to track down the villains responsible for the death traps. Of course, they're soon stuck in another one, alongside four fellow winners (In Like Flynn's Thomas Cocquerel, Follow Me's Holland Roden, Queen & Slim's Indya Moore and Step Up: High Water's Carlito Olivero) from other games. There's supposed to be a sense of anxiousness about where the escape rooms begin and the outside world ends, and vice versa, but that's completely stripped out of this second effort. Throughly unsubtle bit-part performances, even for a movie this blatant at every turn, will do that. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is still tense when Zoe, Ben and their fellow pawns are trying to sleuth their way to safety, thankfully, but that's largely a result of giving them twisty puzzles to solve at an urgent pace. Watching people trying to problem-solve quickly comes with innate tension. Will they succeed? Won't they? The seesawing between those two extremes is inherently suspenseful. That, and the rooms themselves, are two of Escape Room: Tournament of Champions' three highlights. The third: Russell, who is capable of so much more — as seen in Waves, for example — and gives her part here more depth than is written on the page. But, as much as returning director Adam Robitel (Insidious: The Last Key) tries to spin something memorable out of the nervous tone, elaborate spaces and Russell's presence, the repetition and overtness gets tiring fast. While individual scenes may be tense, the overall film never is. It's always apparent where the narrative is headed, even when the six credited writers (Mortal Kombat's Oren Uziel, Hand of God's Daniel Tuch, Counterpart's Maria Melnik, The Hive's Will Honley, Invincible's Christine Lavaf and Wildling's Fritz Böhm) think they're serving up surprises; thought has clearly gone into the minutiae of each escape room, and yet little seems to have been afforded the bigger picture. Visually, and in its soundtrack, every stylistic touch paints by the numbers, too. Also much too predictable: that the film is a setup for yet more to follow. The Final Destination franchise has ratcheted up five instalments so far, so the Escape Room series, the closest thing it has to a successor, can obviously keep milking its setup for several more formulaic movies to come. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. THE MISFITS Imagine Robin Hood meets Ocean's Eleven meets the Fast and Furious franchise, but helmed by the filmmaker behind Deep Blue Sea, and somehow starring the unlikely combination of Pierce Brosnan (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), Tim Roth (Luce) and rapper/comedian/TV presenter Nick Cannon (Chi-Raq). Then, picture a film set in the fictional Jeziristan, because appropriating a particular culture and applying it to a made-up place is apparently okay by this flick's powers-that-be — and also envision a movie so blatant with its Islamophobia at every turn that Cannon's character is almost constantly making fun of Middle Eastern accents and Arabic names, citizens of this part of the globe are largely depicted as terrorists or psychopaths, a group of villains is called the Muslim Brotherhood, but all the gloss and glitz of Abu Dhabi, where the movie is shot, is leered at (as are the scantily clad women seen in its hotels, too). No one wants to visualise this flick, but unfortunately it exists. And yes, The Misfits is as atrocious as it sounds. Director Renny Harlin (who also has Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight to his name) seems like he's simply trying to recreate shots, looks and scenes he likes from far better films, but badly. And, the fact that co-screenwriter Kurt Wimmer also has the atrocious 2015 remake of Point Break on his resume makes a huge amount of sense, because this bag of tripe just stitches together plot points from almost every other heist feature there is (as exacerbated by dialogue as bland and cliched as every aspect of the narrative). A big contender for the worst movie to reach Australian cinemas this year, and a film that surely wouldn't have ever gotten the chance if the pandemic hadn't upended the theatrical release slate, The Misfits brings together a ragtag gang of well-meaning criminals. They anoint themselves with the movie's moniker after ruling out 'motley crew' for obvious reasons, if you're wondering how stupid and inane this feature gets — and quickly. Bank robber Ringo (Cannon) usually flexes his light-fingered skills to rip off the wealthy and give back to the poor, so obviously he's keen to form a makeshift family with martial arts expert Violet (Jamie Chung, Lovecraft Country), who likes punishing terrible men; explosives-obsessed Wick (Thai popstar Mike Angelo), who blows up nasty businesses; and 'the Prince' (Rami Jaber, Tough Love), who may or may not be royalty in another made-up country. Their next target: a vault of gold hidden inside a maximum-security Jeziristan jail overseen by nefarious businessman Warner Schultz (Roth). Their latest recruits: UN-employed humanitarian Hope (Hermione Corfield, Sea Fever) and, if she can convince him, her conman dad Richard Pace (Brosnan), who of course has a history with their mark. Much that happens is nonsensical, which also applies to the messily staged and shot action scenes. The movie's sexism goes hand in hand with its blatant racism, too. Daddy issues, second chances, car chases, slow-motion explosions, pointless visual tricks — that's all part of this hideous package as well, alongside absolutely zero subtlety or enjoyment. The Misfits is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Amazon Video. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Check out our lists of movies fast-tracked from cinemas to streaming back in May, June, July and August. You can also take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows.
Messina's next guest for its monthly Messina Eats pop-up is Melbourne's Mr Miyagi. The inventive Japanese eatery hit Sydney for the first time ever last August, and now its heading back up north with some new dishes. This time round, the Windsor eatery is serving up three dishes in edible waffle baskets. Choose from a bowl filled with fried chicken, ramen noodles and spicy Japanese mayo, one with slow-cooked pork and popcorn, and a third with truffled mushrooms and tomato tempura. Make sure you order a side of Miyagi's wasabi fries, too. Not to be forgotten, Messina will join in, too, with its take on a melonpan — a sweet Japanese bun with a cookie dough crust. Here, it's stuffed with strawberry sorbet and vanilla gelato. You'll find it exclusively, alongside Mr Miyagi's waffle bowls, in Messina's Rosebery HQ on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30. Messina Eats will be open from 12–9.30pm or until sold out.
2012 was a killer year for Hermitude. On 3 February they released their new album Hyperparadise, featuring hit single "Speak of the Devil", which won a 2011 J Award for 'Music Video of the Year'. 16 October saw the duo receive an AIR Award for 2012 'Best Independent Dance/Electronica Album'. They also played spots at Homebake, Groovin' the Moo and Parklife. It's not only the general public that's after them, either. Urthboy welcomed Hermitude's production skills on his LP, Smokey's Haunt, and they've been putting together remixes for the likes of Missy Higgins and The Presets. Hermitude's contagious, irrepressibly danceable, hip-hop influenced sound has just resulted in a sell-out show at the Oxford Art Factory. Tickets for a second appearance are currently up for grabs. Supporting Hermitude will be the outrageously talented Jonti, who opened for Gotye throughout his recent tours of Europe and North America. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tb_Ogb0zzhA
You can't help but conjure up images of the romanticised '60s Woodstock era while listening to Richard In Your Mind. Putting forward a Beatles-ish pop sound swathed with psychedelic and krautrock rythyms, the Sydney five-piece have just released their newest album, Ponderosa via Rice Is Nice, the local record label boasting a host of Sydney talent such as Donny Benet and SPOD. RIYM's tunes are a fun and light-hearted affair, exploring overarching themes of things like nature, exploration and escapism — no doubt influenced by the band's hours spent in the Blue Mountains, where they recorded the tracks. To launch Ponderosa, Richard In Your Mind are playing a couple of intimate shows along the East Coast. It might not be the 1960s anymore, but these guys are definitely making sure the crazy psychedelia still lives on. And if you haven't seen the video for latest single 'Hammered in the Daytime', do yourself a favour and click the tab above. It's the family TV show we truly wish existed. https://youtube.com/watch?v=kMyxjFAyLMU
One seminal pop musician. One major public event. Two 'where-were-you-when-it-happened' tragedies, made even more tragic by a subliminal sense of shame, the sneaking suspicion that we had contributed to the demise of a pop icon and the disintegration of an American dream by supercharging them with social importance. In his confronting new exhibition, Daniel Askill juxtaposes the death of the 'King of Pop', Michael Jackson, with the atrocities of 9/11. His premise is that we have created a world of false idolatry where images, scenes and people zoom in and out of focus depending on popular perception, rather than inherent importance. Askill's recurrent theme — explored in We Have Decided Not to Die and Artefacts From The Fifth Ritual — is that contemporary culture has become a profit driven industry which blatantly and unapologetically follows the same rules of production as any other producer of commodities. Askill contends that the growth of capitalism and the growth of mass entertainment are inextricably intertwined, leading to an indiscriminate whorl of 'modern worship.' Through a large-scale, looping installation, Askill uses slow motion video tableaux to replicate the way major events are played out in mass media. Modern Worship deals with how social fragmentation undermines any sense of cultural community because, in Yeats' words, the "centre cannot hold". Through his art, Askill exposes how human tragedies become hyper-reality, and how cultural exploitation is so much a factor in the destruction of public ideals.
This is the top ten for 2012. Click here to see our top picks of 2013. Melbourne Cup frenzy is on the horizon with the biggest day in Australia's racing calendar fast approaching. We think it's about time you decided where it should be spent. Fear not if you can't be at Flemington racecource, because Concrete Playground is here to suggest a few of the best alternatives. Brave the bookies, get your frock on and be at the ready to lunch, because November 6 is almost upon us. 1. The Grounds of Alexandria Many Sydneysiders already make a pilgrimage to The Grounds for its superb coffee, and now the heritage warehouse cafe in Alexandria is making its mark as a top destination for Melbourne Cup day too. At $120 a head, the cafe is hosting a grazing table garden party, including a delicious spit roast, from 1pm. Full details on The Grounds of Alexandria website. 2. The Carrington The Hills' hipster hangout with a distinct Spanish flavour, the Carrington, is putting on a fiesta for Melbourne Cup day. For $90 per person, The Carrington is cooking up a four course banquet plus a three hour drinks package from midday to 3pm. Full details on The Carrington website. 3. The Sailors Club Sydney's new harbourside favourite in Rose Bay is hosting a Melbourne Cup lunch for $129 per person, including a three course meal and choice of champagne or cocktail on arrival. There'll be a bookie to place your bets, sweepstakes, fashions 'on the field' and a big screen to watch the race. Full details on The Sailors Club website. 4. The Abercrombie Home of the deep fried Gaytime and mac and cheese balls, The Abercrombie in Chippendale is where you'll want to be for a more informal Melbourne Cup lunch. They're taking bookings for the beer garden and inside the pub for $70 a head, including a four course feast and drinks. Full details on the Abercrombie Hotel website. 5. The Winery With many Surry Hills venues already sold out for Melbourne Cup, it'd be wise to book tickets for The Winery's laneway BBQ ($120 per person) or for the four course seafood lunch in the restaurant ($130per person) while you still can. Both options include bubbles on arrival, screens to watch the race, best dressed comps and plenty of ways to place your bets. Full details on The Winery website. 6. Palmer & Co In keeping with the prohibition-style speakeasy bar, the dress code for Palmer & Co's Melbourne Cup lunch is 'roaring twenties' (and we do like a good theme!). The small bar is celebrating from midday, and for $90 per head they're offering canapés, drinks and four big screens to catch the action. Full details on the Palmer & Co website. 7. East Sydney Hotel While the East Sydney usually holds firm to a no television, no pokies rule, the one and only annual exception is the Melbourne Cup. The mix of old-world and local charm makes this country-style pub one of the best spots in Sydney to enjoy a no frills Cup experience. Full details on the East Sydney Hotel website. 8. The Norfolk If it's tacos, a cool drink in hand and a sunny beer garden that you're hankering for this Melbourne Cup day, then put your trust in the Norfolk. From 1pm to 3pm, the pub is offering a four course Melbourne Cup lunch for $80 per person, including beer and wine and screens and TAB are close by. Full details on The Norfolk website. 9. BLACK If money ain't a thing, or if you're planning on winning it all back at the casino later anyway ... one should book a table with million dollar views, no? BLACK by ezard is offering a five course menu with matched wines by chef Teage Ezard. For $150 per person, the menu options include foie gras carpaccio, grain-fed wagyu and grilled snapper. Watch the race live, then head to Rock Lily for the Sneaky Sound System after party. Full details on the Black by Ezard website. 10. El Loco Reading this list on Monday 5 November? Then you're in luck, dear last-minute reader. Tickets will sell like hot cakes for many venues, but El Loco is strictly a no bookings cantina restaurant. Which means you can turn up when doors open at 11am to secure yourself authentic tacos, icy margaritas and a spot to watch the race. Arriba! Full details on the El Loco website.
Since beloved Turkish restaurant Stanbuli closed in April, you may have been waiting to hear who would be taking over its Enmore Road digs with bated breath. Thankfully, it's now been revealed that the Porteno team will be maintaining its ownership of the space, opening Bar Louise, a new Spanish tapas bar at 135 Enmore Road, with a name that honours the history of the building. Named after the Marie-Louise salon that occupied the building from the 50s through until the 90s, the bar will be opening in mid-September behind the iconic Marie-Louise facade. A fresh Bar Louise sign has been added to the historic shopfront, and the Stanbuli grill has been kept on-site to use for vegetable and seafood dishes. A tentative open date of Monday, September 12 has been floated — if all goes well. Porteno Foundr Elvis Abrahanowicz says the food offerings will be based around fresh seafood brought from the market each day, with the menu changing daily depending on that morning's haul. "We just want to make it a fun place everyone can come and drink wine and eat great food — open seven days a week," Abrahanowicz told Concrete Playground. Continental Deli Co-Owner and Manager Michael 'Mikey' Nicolian is also involved, helping pull together the menu that will feature a staple of both Porteno and Continental — curing and preserving. "We'll be doing a lot of house-cured things and preserved seafood ... making our own chorizo. We usually do that at our other places," says Abrahanowicz. Bar Louise will open down the road from Porteno's new Australia Street pop-up. The team recently opened a temporary Humble Bakery in Newtown. Located next to Continental and 212 Blu, the pop-up is serving up its renowned finger buns and almond croissants just two days a week (Saturday and Sunday) until the end of the year. And, fans of Stanbuli will still be able to enjoy the food of former Head Chef Ibrahim Kasif, with the renowned hospitality mainstay now teaming up with NOMAD to open a new manoush restaurant and wine bar later this year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bar Louise Salon De Tapas (@barlouise_enmore) Bar Louise is slated to open in mid-September at 135 Enmore Road, Enmore.
Everybody’s favourite genuinely alternative radio station FBi are once again delivering the music goods. FBi co-founder and president Cassandra Wilkinson has joined forces with FBi co-conspirator Paul McLeay, writer and musician Jim Flanagan and Catch Communications director Chrissy Flanagan to create a record label dedicated to the up-and-comers. The label has been christened Lazy Thinking Records (aptly represented by a sloth in the logo) and they’re launching tonight with a massive party at the Red Rattler Theatre in Marrickville. The event kicks off at 7pm, supported by Rita Revell, Greenwave Beth, JaysWays and Artefact alongside some slick projections and will be the first in a series of Lazy Thinking Records Thursday night events designed to profile progressive musicians. Wilkinson says the label will focus on local and unsigned talent, niche artists with an odd or non-commercial sound and anyone who is overlooked by the bigger labels. She says they wanted to create a label that they themselves would be happy to release with and that approaches the whole process ethically, taking into account the individual needs of the artists rather than the bottom line. She believes bigger labels have their place but aren’t necessary right for all musicians, particularly up-and-comers. “My view is that it’s a big eco-system. There needs to be a space for small artists to find their sounds and be championed at the start of their career,” says Wilkinson. "It’s been so wonderful to meet so many young unsigned artists. They can get nervous about dealing with professionals and we want to support and protect them. Some sounds take a while to take hold… Not everyone is ready for a big audience and not everyone will ever be." As of yet, the label is still in negotiations with various artists and has no announcements to make regarding who will flesh out their stable, but it’s all in keeping with their ethos — to take time, consider the needs of the talent and know that good things come to those who wait. Lazy Thinking Records launch party is happening tonight at Red Rattler Theatre, 6 Faversham Street, Marrickville, from 7pm. Tickets $12.
With the successes — and near successes — of the Arab Spring, it's easy to forget the earlier revolutions that didn't succeed. Most recent was Iran's 2009 Green Revolution. And in Burma,in 2007, the Saffron revolution's protesting buddhist monks seemed about to topple the government. Sydney author Katie Pollock was watching on the news as the Generals finally cracked down. She started writing A Quiet Night in Rangoon. Her play has three strands which slowly collide. An Aussie journalist (Kathryn Schuback) is writing a puff piece on Burmese tourism. A monk (John Buencamino), his friend (Barton Williams) and an underground Burmese blogger (Aileen Huynh) are hiding from the authorities after the protests. A major in the Burmese army (Felino Dolloso) attends to his buddhist devotions, preparing to follow whatever orders may come next. In the background is the Lake (Shauntelle Benjamin) in Rangoon, which swallows secrets and people, and the Internet itself, played with scene-stealing effervescence by Sonya Kerr as capricious, fact-laden and needy. Where do the ripples go when they disappear? is the question that constantly resurfaces. Where did the protesters of 1988 go? Where will the monks of the present day go after the Saffron revolution? A Quiet Night in Rangoon isn't so much a search for answers to Burma's many problems, as a quest to hand out the right questions. Despite its 2007 setting, the play is strongly rooted in the protests of 1988 which brought Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's to prominence, and consigned her to long periods of house arrest. The fates of people from this earlier period drive the present for the leads. All of them are Burmese loyalists, but some are much more powerful than others. And despite the hope presented in the play, you know throughout that these differences won't be heading towards a comforting resolution. Image by Zorica Purlija.
Mother once said: "If you've nothing nice to say, say nothing at all." On that basis, it's likely The Counselor will receive little to no press coverage whatsoever. To begin with, then, something nice. When production first began, this movie was promise itself. Potential made manifest. One of those films where every ingredient seemed perfect: directed by Ridley Scott, written by Cormac McCarthy and starring everyone you've ever heard of. Then something went wrong. Badly. In fact, in that respect the film closely reflects the story of the film, where a well-conceived drug deal completely falls apart to the ruin of many. To suggest, however, that this was Scott's masterful meta-direction would be far too generous. No, in more realistic terms, The Counselor is simply an incoherent piece of crap. It opens with a sex scene, and a none-too-subtle one at that. But just as it is in real life, sex in film requires at least a modicum of foreplay. With the darkness of the cinema only seconds old and the choc-tops largely intact, the audience was still drier than the days-old popcorn kneaded into the lining of its seats. Why this scene was in there, let alone as the movie's opener, remains entirely unclear. If its goal was to establish Penelope Cruz as a sexy woman, then Scott should probably have taken that 'as read'. If it was to set Michael Fassbender up as someone who likes to talk dirty, please break the emergency glass and retrieve your copy of Shame. Then comes the second scene (don't worry, this won't be a scene by scene account — nobody's that cruel), during which yet another crazy-haired Javier Bardem character sits alongside a cheetah-tattooed, gold-toothed, hombre-haired Cameron Diaz as they watch an actual cheetah hunt its prey. In case you missed it: yes, that's a metaphor. Then Bardem says, "Don't you think that's a bit cold?" to which Diaz replies, "The truth has no temperature." Together they stare off into the distance, as if silently aware that way off in that distance, the audience is already laughing at them. Finally, the third scene. Fassbender now discusses the purity and majesty of diamonds with a diamond expert in Amsterdam. Their attention turns to a particularly beautiful specimen which the expert calls his "cautionary diamond", saying "The flaws are there, but they are not visible." So, as the saying never goes: just like a diamond, getting involved with Mexican drug cartels might seem like perfection, but in the end one should exercise caution, because Mexican drug cartels are actually terrifically hard and can cut things. Ridiculous as it sounds, that is honestly the closest The Counselor gets to having a point: don't get involved with Mexican drug cartels, because it will probably end badly. There really isn't a whole lot more to say about this movie. Almost tragically, Cruz's performance is magnificent, representing one of The Counselor's few redeemable features. Bardem is similarly impressive, but everyone else either phones it in (Brad Pitt) or gets buried under impossibly dense dialogue (Diaz's script is, almost without exception, stupefying). With Scott at its helm, of course it looks fantastic and the action sequences are suitably menacing, but as the credits roll you find yourself shaking your head and wondering: what the hell was that actually about? https://youtube.com/watch?v=6ML50I0mVHY
Even if politics isn't your favourite topic, there's been no avoiding a certain name since the mid 2010s, ever since Donald Trump announced that he was running for US President. Over that time, he's been voted into America's top office, then voted out. Saying that he didn't take the latter well is an understatement. He got kicked off Twitter, too, and announced another bid for the gig in 2024. Much, much, much more has happened, of course — and much, much, much more again — but everyone has seen the constant stream of headlines already. One person who's been forced to observe all of the above from a unique position is Mary Trump, the former US President's only niece, as well as an outspoken critic of him and their family. You might've heard of or read the trained clinical psychologist's 2020 book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, which explores the obvious. Now, in winter 2023, you can see Mary chat about her thoughts and clearly chaotic life live onstage in Australia. That tome sold almost a million copies in a single day. Plus, with the next US elections two years away, that T word — Trump — isn't fading from view anytime soon. Accordingly, Mary will head to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to talk about it with Ray Martin, dishing the details from her firsthand experiences. [caption id="attachment_880176" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Matt Wade Photography via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Attendees can expect to hear about her uncle's impact upon the world's health and economic security, plus society in general. And, about the ideas and American history — the American Civil War, slavery and the Founding Fathers all included — that've helped lead to his position of influence. Mary will also give an insider's view into how the US works, the rise of the MAGA movement and what a future with Donald Trump in power, or even out of it, could hold. Taking to the stage at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne's Hamer Hall and Sydney's State Theatre, she'll add insights into her childhood and family dynamic in detail as well. Clearly, this won't be the kind of in-conversation session that anyone gets to see everyday. And, if you're a US politics junkie, it'd make quite the double — albeit spaced out by a few months — with Barack Obama's 2023 Aussie speaking tour. MARY TRUMP: LIVE ON STAGE — AUSTRALIAN 2023 TOUR: Saturday, June 17: Great Hall, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane Tuesday, June 20: Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Thursday, June 22: State Theatre, Sydney Mary Trump's Australian speaking tour will take place in June 2023. To join the waitlist for tickets — which will go on sale in February — head to the tour's website.
As beer and food geeks we can't imagine a much more exciting pairing than Restaurant Hubert and Garage Project. And they're teaming up for one beer-themed French-Mexican feast this Sydney Beer Week. With the boundary pushing brewers from across the ditch confirming two, of four, new brews already — the 2018 release of La Calavera Catrina, a watermelon, habanero and maize lager, as well Day of the Dead, a chipotle chilli black lager — things are already looking pretty promising. Add a French-Mexican feast by Hubert chefs Dan Pepperell and James McDonald and live music from mariachi/flamenco/rock/metal band Kallida all taking place in Hubert's underground Theatre Royale, and it's a celebration you won't want to miss. The $130 ticket includes canapes, a buffet dinner and four matching beers for Garage Project. Image: Daniel Boud.
You'd be hard pressed to find a Jewish Sydneysider that doesn't have time for this Bondi kosher butcher. Don't be fooled by its modest shopfront; Eilat is a tidy little business down on O'Brien Street that's been serving up worthy produce conforming with kashrut dietary law for over 31 years. They also deliver to most surrounding suburbs and offer cooked specials if your mother-in-law's popping over for a last-minute surprise visit. One of Sydney's best butchers.
Dancing is back and two of the godfathers of Sydney's clubbing scene are reuniting to usher in a post-lockdown era of hot and heavy dance floors. Hoodrat and DoomY were two members of the iconic DJ roster Bang Gang back in the 2000s and the duo is getting back together to kick off the weekend with a night of classic tunes. Where are these two hitting the decks? Club 77, of course. One of Sydney's most storied nightclubs, Seventy Seven has played home to an endless amount of beloved and acclaimed local and international DJs over the years, including most of the Bang Gang's most memorable nights. So it's only fitting that Hoodrat and Doomy are coming back together to grace the decks of the hallowed club once again. "I grew up inside this dungeon really and this is my 55th re-re-re-incarnation," Doomy told Concrete Playground. "I came straight outta Terror Terror Terrigal and into the basement — the four walls of Hades, the dance floor of lava, fire and brimstone. I've seen bliss. I've seen packets on packets. I've seen Ajax protect the little Terrigal boy from some Cronulla sharks one night." When asked what we can expect from the night at Club 77, his answer is simple: "I live and party by all the five letter words. NNNRG. PARTY. FUNNY. SILLY. HORNY. So this party will embrace all the same values and maybe infuse some of them together into unified amalgamations of vibes." The reunion is going down from 8pm until close on Friday March 11. Tickets are $22. [caption id="attachment_845824" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hoodrat and DoomY[/caption] Top images: Benjamin Weser
[nggallery id=62] You'd be hard pressed these days to find a name more synonymous with good bread than Sonoma. In the wheat and yeast-sensitive, organic-obsessed age of the millennium, this humble yet rapidly expanding family-run business has found its market. What started out as a popular bread stall at Paddington Markets has lead to four Sonoma cafe openings around Sydney and, more recently, a newly opened wing on Bondi's Campbell Parade. Tucked under a large residential and retail block, the Bondi venue is a lot more spacious and slick than its cousin in Glebe, and provides outdoor seating only. As a bakery-style joint, it forgoes big cooked breakfasts for champions' ready-to-eat sandwiches, soups and baked goods that rarely spill over the $10 mark. The standout from the freshly made sandwiches is the minted chicken tarragon on miche bread ($9). Another must-try is Sonoma's avocado, sea salt, and squeezed lemon on sourdough ($7), which comes with optional tasty extras like marinated fetta and cured meats. Those with an unshakable sweet tooth can choose from powdered almond croissants, citron tarts or Sonoma's delicious spice-infused honey muesli, available by the bagful. It's the bread, however, that really steals the show. The array of crusty 'boules' and 'batards' ($7) in the window entices passers-by off the street, including sourdough (kalamata olive or soy linseed), spelt fruit loaf and dense blocks of seeded rye. Sonoma prides itself on using only organic flour and natural yeasts in the baking process, and the results speak for themselves. Last but not least, the Sonoma boys have some serious pull in the coffee arena, with Sydney's cult-favourite roasters Single Origin producing a unique Sonoma blend that's smooth and approachable. All in all what the Bondi cafe lacks in rustic charm and warmth it makes up for in terms of the reliability and value of its product. The best way to go is to grab a fresh loaf, some preserves and a coffee, and retreat to your living room. It's a tough life - yes - but someone's gotta do it.
Calling all feline fans. Now, you're able to cat-ch your favourite flicks while socialising with cats — at Catmosphere. The space-themed cat cafe has launched Cat Cinema. Cult classics will be played on the just-refurbished cafe's 120-inch screen and purrfecting the night will be complimentary caramel popcorn shakes for each guest. The feline experience will set you back $40 and includes light refreshments during intermission and, of course, many curious cat companions for the night. Bean bags are also supplied for you and your cats' comfort during the movie. The first two films kicking off the cinema's new program are cult horror flick Frankenstein — on the opening night, Saturday, April 28 — and "the worst movie ever made" Plan 9 From Outer Space the following night. An eclectic mix of classic and newer films will screen at 6.30pm every Saturday and Sunday thereafter. To stay up-to-date with what movies will be playing, head to the website. Images: Andy Fraser
Ask a cyclist why they risk death on two wheels to get around town, and their response might mention the green credentials of biking: infinite miles per gallon, fewer resources used in manufacturing, no resources required to repair the damage to roads caused by bikes... But what if you wanted to take your eco-cycling to a whole new level? What about all that CARBON in the carbon fibre? One of the world's leading bike manufacturers has come up with a solution. Trek have a recycling program using waste carbon fibre products to make new bike frames, and keeping the waste from landfill. If that's not green enough for you, you could opt for a bike made from nature's own carbon fibre: wood. Audi have partnered with specialist bike manufacturer Renovo to create a range of luxury bikes with hardwood frames. But if you prefer to have an eco-bike that's not associated with a car company, why not grow your own? Bamboo bikes have been around for a while as a cycling curio, and are now getting the full cycle-bling treatment by the likes of Calfee. Or, if you're into DIY, there's even an instructables page on how to build one yourself.
Playwright Joe Orton has a most extraordinary biography. Starting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at age 18, he immediately met his best friend, lover and constant collaborator, Kenneth Halliwell, with whom he worked on numerous epic novels that no-one wanted to publish and a series of public pranks that pissed off all of England. When one of these pranks — replacing library book covers with their own art — earned them six-month jail terms, Orton and Halliwell were separated for the first time in 11 years and Orton forced to write on his own. He soon became a hit, his plays running back-to-back through the '60s. Halliwell, meanwhile, became mired in depression and plagued by personal and professional jealousy, until one night in 1967 he bludgeoned Orton with a hammer before consuming an overdose of pills. It is said that Halliwell died first. It's almost as if no story Orton himself wrote could compare to the intensely poetic and tragic one he lived. The antidote is that he wrote comedies, great slabs of satire that held up a mirror to British society. In Loot, a play he retooled over many years till it finally earned rave reviews, it's the day of Mrs McLeavy's funeral, and her widower (William Zappa) is grieving. It's an upper-middle class household — decked in the requisite crucifixes, flying ducks, and pattern clash of wallpapers — so when wastrel son Hal (Robin Goldsworthy) enters looking like he stepped out of the photo shoot for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, it's obvious he's trouble. Sure enough, he and his mate, working-class assistant undertaker Dennis (Josh McConville), have robbed a bank and, with the police on their tail, decide to stash the cash in his mother's coffin, enlisting her nurse Fay (Caroline Craig) to help. What follows are madcap hijinks with dead bodies. It's all so very English. Australia has at least one consummate comedian who immediately comes to mind for this sort of old-fashioned farce, Darren Gilshenan — and fortunately enough, he's in this, too. His cutthroat yet clueless detective (or employee of the water board, as he too-long insists as his cover) is a joy to watch. Gilshenan can make the simple act of taking a pipe out of his pocket a complex journey in absurdity, slapstick and subversion. Beside him, the other actors all hold their own, and Goldsworthy in particular pulls out some great grimaces as the cheeky young Hal. Teeming with fast talk, twisted logic and biting class observations, Loot is a good '60s satire staged in much the same way it would have been in the '60s. It can be, since its themes of bureaucratic corruption, religious hypocrisy, prodigal youth, prudish age and the taboo of death remain current, and classic British humour will always find a welcoming audience. But today's theatregoers may find themselves searching for an awareness of gender and other social constructs that isn't there and that hasn't been teased out. Without bringing much new to the table, this production has only limited interest. Still, you can take your parents to Loot, and afterward, hunt down the Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears, with Gary Oldman as Joe, for yourself.
You know what’s better than other people’s weird obsessions? A whole slide-show night dedicated to perving at other peoples weird obsessions. Thanks to our social-media-soaked society, I dare say we've all developed a taste for such voyeuristic pursuits. But long before we had the facilities to upload visual snapshots of our most intimate moments with the click of a button, humankind has been interested in marking the moments that make up a life: We need only peek inside an ancient Egyptian tomb to discover our early obsession with the symbols and paraphernalia that denote the human experience. The humble hieroglyphic was simply a primitive Facebook status update. The Australian Centre for Photography will be providing the proverbial keyhole for a good old ogle at the curious obsessions of 12 Australian photographers. In a slide display of cats, cars and collectibles; empty shops and interrogation rooms; lost loves, self-love and love-for-sale; and an entire year's worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners, Captured, Collected, Categorised embraces our strange need to express and examine life through visual and tangible symbols and in doing so exposes us all for the dirty pervs that we are. Image: this is what I ate by Patrick Boland.
One of Australia's top restaurants has finally landed in Sydney. But, Orana in Residence — the local outpost of Adelaide's Restaurant Orana — is only here for a month. Taking over the former Longrain site, the pop-up headed by chef and owner Jock Zonfrillo is serving up a very involved 22-course dinner. It's not a typical meal, but instead more like a very detailed, very tasty journey through Australia. On it, you'll try Tasmanian mountain pepper leaf, Port Lincoln bluefin tuna and buffalo milk from Myponga. You'll also try lots of native ingredients — which aren't a tokenistic nod to Australia's Indigenous culture, but a pillar of Orana. Ten percent of all profits from the $350-a-head dinners go to Zonfrillo's charity The Orana Foundation, which helps foster and preserve Australia's Indigenous food culture. Zonfrillo has also worked with local growers and Eora Nation Elders to source the ingredients. It's groundbreaking Australian dining — some are even calling it life-changing. And you've got three more weeks to make a booking. If you can't make it (or can't afford to splash at least $350 on dinner) we've distilled the 22-course experience into 22 easy-to-consume emojis. [caption id="attachment_738736" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Potato damper and lamb butter[/caption] 1. 🦘 On Commonwealth Street, there's currently a luminescent 'Orana' sign out the front of the otherwise fairly nondescript Orana in Residence building. While at first glance it may look like it's made of rabbit fur, it's actually kangaroo — something I'll be eating a lot of throughout the dinner. 2. 🐕 Inside, I take a seat on a custom-made chair, at a custom-made charred wood table under a sea of native plants hanging from the ceiling. This isn't Longrain anymore, Toto. 3. 👩🏻‍🍳 Despite the meal costing $350, I help prepare the first course. Well, just rotate the potato damper, which is wrapped around a stick of lemon myrtle and cooking on a bed of coals on the table. Once baked, I dip it in an umami-rich lamb butter. This is the only type of bread I ever want to eat again. 4. 🍞 But wait, there's more (*insert bread emoji*). It's on the table in front of us, proofing under glass domes. One of the Orana team members — some flown over from Adelaide, some Sydney hospitality stalwarts — comes to pick it up and take it back to kitchen to bake. They casually mention it's made with wattleseed and wholewheat flour from the Clare Valley. Of course. 5. 🤯 Have you tried emu eggs? As a custard? Topped with bunya nut miso, bunya nut cheese, crispy salt bush, long yam and trout roe? No, neither had I. And it blew my mind. 6. 🍷 The first wine of the evening — carefully selected by Orana wine director Kyle Poole and a handful of top Sydney sommeliers — is not red. But there's not an emoji for that. It's a Deviation Road brut from the Adelaide Hills, created exclusively for Orana. 7. 👽 Wines that follow include a magnum of skin-contact Tangerine Dream by Smallfry, a 2010 cabernet sauvignon from Wynn's, a Lucy Margaux pét-nat and something very tasty and red poured out of a giant harp-shaped decanter. Impressed, I am. 8. 🍺 Speaking of alcohol, the South Australian icon that is Coopers Sparkling Ale also makes it onto the menu — but not in liquid form. (I'll let you know more about that later.) 9. 🍔 The next dish, I kid you not, tastes like a Macca's cheeseburger. Although I'm sure it wasn't what Zonfrillo was going for when he created the roti sandwich filled with veal tongue and leek mayo, it's what he has achieved. And it's definitely not a bad thing. 10. 🐊🐊 Two emojis? Yes, for the 'soup soup' — so good they named it twice. And it is. A crocodile broth with lemon myrtle, aniseed, cinnamon myrtle and Tasmanian mountain pepper leaf, it makes a convincing case for ditching chicken soup in favour of croc. [caption id="attachment_738744" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] 11. 🎵 These two cubes of Port Lincoln blue fin tuna and Millicent beef cheek berry sauce — aptly called Surf and Turf — are so juicy, they almost deserve their own song. 12. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Despite trying to diligently track details of all the courses, I falter. A note in my phone reads: "kangaroo, potato, red wine, goat, decanter". The G.O.A.T dish? A goat carrying a decanter of red wine? Your guess is as good as mine. 13. 🍗 The next dish, however, is impossible to forget. A whole quail, carved at the table. Pick it up and eat it with your hands. Finger lickin' good. I think the Colonel would approve. 14. 🌒 It's 10.30pm. I'm about three hours and 17 (15? 20?) courses in. I hope it never ends. 15. 😭 Confirmed: only two more savoury courses to go. 16. 🍩 Oh, and five desserts. 17. 🤠 !! 18. 🍵 Thankfully, there's a short tea break to digest before we move onto sweets. A tannic jilungin dreamtime tea, harvested by the Nyul Nyul people of Western Australian. 19. 🍦 Remember that SA icon I mentioned? Instead of being served in a long neck, the Coopers Sparkling Ale is served as ice cream inside a paper bark sandwich. Hopefully this makes its way onto the Exeter menu. 20. 🕺 On the topic of Aussie icons, one of them created the playlist: Jimmy Barnes. Thankfully it's not just ten hours of screaming, but a very impressive genre-spanning, 524-song list — and you can listen to all 35 hours of it here. 21. 👵🏻 Finally, the oldest surviving dish on the Orana menu: set Wyponga buffalo milk with strawberry juice and eucalyptus. I can see why they haven't taken it off. 22. ⏮ It's done. I'm finished. I'm full. And I want to do it all over again. Orana in Residence is located at 85 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills, from August 16–September 15. It's open for lunch and dinner Thursday–Sunday and you can make your reservation via the Restaurant Orana website.
How better to warm up in winter than with a seriously good boogie? Get out of the cold and into Public House Petersham every Saturday night over the next month to nab a spot at one of the excellent house parties they're throwing with the party experts at Undr CTRL. Running every Saturday until July 9 from 5pm-late, a stacked lineup of musicians and DJs will be providing the tunes, while the PHP team supplies the beers and atmosphere. And the best part? There's none of that pesky morning-after cleanup that usually comes with a house party. You can just lie in bed in peace. It's free to attend and a first in, best-dressed kind of deal, so get down there early enough so you make it through the doors. Check out the pub's website for the full DJ lineup.
A cracking view is usually pretty high on the priorities list when booking a sweet holiday pad, but you probably don't go into it expecting one quite like what Oman's newest accommodation has to offer. Luxury hospo and hotel group Anantara has just opened the doors to an epic new five-star resort, Al Jabal Al Akhdar — and, boy, does it have views. Sitting at a lofty 2000 metres above sea level on the edge of a canyon in Oman's mountainous north (about four hours from Dubai), it's the Middle East's highest retreat. It towers over the Saiq Plateau in a way that's sure to cause a few goosebumps on the drive up. Just look at it. Basically the height of luxury, Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort is definitely worthy of a spot on the old if money was no object bucket list — the designer interiors reflect that eye-poppingly rugged terrain and each of the 115 luxury rooms lay claim to panoramic views. Of course, there's a price to pay for such luxury — rooms start at around 720 AUD a night and go up to 4000 AUD. Along with the rooms, there's six different restaurants and lounges, and the culinary situation sounds as interesting as the location. You can even get the best of both at Dining by Design, which sits on a cliff-edge platform named Diana's Point, after its most famous royal visitor. And if a peek from your room's window, or your dinner table, doesn't provide enough of an adrenaline rush, the resort also offers a 'via ferrata' climbing route, where you can boss up and actually scale the side of the cliff. If that's too much, you can always just take a dip in the canyon infinity pool, go mountain biking or get one of the hotel's 'mountain gurus' to take you on a hike of the area. Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort is located in the Al Hajar mountains, about 30 minutes from the ancient city of Nizwa in Oman. For more information on the hotel, visit jabal-akhdar.anantara.com.
While Messina's main jam is crafting supremely scoffable varieties of gelato, the brand's love of food extends far beyond the freezer, as proven through a series of pop-ups it's dubbed Messina Eats. Every couple of months, the cult gelateria teams up with a savoury-focused culinary hero and throws a big ol' food party in the carpark at its Rosebery headquarters. On January 31 and February 1, it's teaming up with Melbourne's Wonderbao to create a special Chinese New Year menu as dreamy as the soft, doughy pillows themselves. . Along with traditional pork buns, the team will also be steaming its cult gua bao stuffed with pork belly, fried chicken and silken tofu. And it's bringing a brand new product to the party, too: a lobster bao-guette. As you can guess, it's a cross between a bao and a lobster roll, and it looks damn tasty. There'll also be sides — including spicy fries — and a lychee soda and dulce de leche and early grey milk tea to drink. And for dessert? Messina's famous mango pancakes, stuffed with mango sorbet and whipped cream. The whole thing will go down over Friday and Saturday in the carpark at Messina's Rosebery HQ. They'll be open from noon for lunch and dinner until sold out.
Oxford Street has many identities, and the section that cuts through Paddington is largely known for and dedicated to fashion boutiques. Many homegrown labels have chosen the suburb for their first — and, in many cases, only — dedicated bricks-and-mortar space, including We Are Kindred. The boutique was selected by CP reader Susi Reed, for the "dreamy florals and pretty things" that get them compliments every time they wear them. Started by sisters Lizzie and Georgie Renkert in 2013, We Are Kindred is a luxe womenswear brand with a penchant for floral prints. The duo designs everything in this Paddington studio and sources quality fabrics like silk, washed linen and lace from across the world. Images: Cassandra Hannagan
Kaldor project 31 — a tough follow-up to Marina Abramovic: In Residence — promises cutting-edge choreography from French artist Xavier Le Roy. This ambitious project will unfold in three parts at Carriageworks and will be realised through the assistance of artistic collaborator Scarlet Yu and a group of 18 Australian performers. Self Unfinished is Le Roy’s seminal solo performance, which premiered in 1998. Unlike his later projects, this work was designed for a theatre space and has received acclaim for reconfiguring the relationship between audience and performer. You can also see two sides of Temporary Title – the rehearsals and the final product. Spoiler: everyone will be in the nude for the latter. Don’t let that deter you though. This piece will be an exploration of not quite human forms, testing the boundaries between the strange and the familiar.
This high-end furniture and homewares showroom is one of the most lavish places to shop if you're fitting out a brand new home. Your new space deserves elegant and high-quality pieces from some of the world's best interior designers and craftspeople, and that's exactly what you'll find here. Browse elegant side tables and consoles by Christophe Delcourt; block-like wooden and marble stools from Collection Particulière by Jérôme Aumont; lush throws, towels and bedding by Society Limonta; and brass bowls and steel vases by Michael Verheyden, alongside ceramics, glassware, jewellery and perfume.
Located within The Hills District, just 1.5-hours north of the CBD, the Rouse Hill Regional Park is a bush escape set within the Sydney boundaries. Your dog is allowed on-leash throughout the park (except for in the hired pavilions and children's play areas). Go for a jog around the short but sweet Second Ponds Creek Walking Track, which is mostly flat but will get your heart pumping. The scenic trail will take you through woodlands and past the park's picturesque pond. After your bit of exercise, relax on the grass or enjoy a barbecue in the picnic area — just be sure to share those snags with your best mate. Image: NSW National Parks & Wildlife
Flacco is an angry alien, a spitting, frothing creature that is only barely contained within the human form of author, performer and illustrator, Paul Livingston. In contrast, Marty Murphy is a polite, soft-spoken illustrator and film-maker who also happens to be occupied by over twenty-five crackpot characters purloined from the world around him. Each is one half of Double Exposure, part of B Sharp's Comedy and Cabaret Season at Belvoir Downstairs this summer. Kicking off the evening is Happy and Clean, Murphy's surreal tale of becoming a B Grade film director, shooting turkey-inspired horror tales with the residents of his hometown. Murphy's style is pleasant and he slips from one character to the next like he's copped a few squirts of WD40. Moreso, he's well adept at miming the odd musical instrument, a skill that is played to surprising effect throughout his tale. In the second half, Flacco takes command of the audience in his manic style, grabbing at individual audience members with his words and (occasional) gesture. While Murhpy's piece is a linear narrative, Flacco's Beyond the Pale is a jolting mash of segments that he picks up and drops with maniacal aplomb. Despite his performance abilities, however, Flacco's piece does not carry the same sparkle as Murphy's. Having spent many years watching Flacco performing on television, I was disappointed to see that Beyond the Pale bears many similarities to his work throughout the 90s. Despite a few stale moments, Double Exposure is a quick and fun night out, and certainly a nice jolt of absurdity to cap off your day. We have 5 double passes to give away for Double Exposure on January 14 at 8.15pm. Just email your details to hello@concreteplayground.com.au with "Double Exposure" in the subject line for your chance to win.
Sydneysiders and dogs go together like smashed avo and toast, Bondi and backpackers or Circular Quay and unintentional photobombs. While you can now take your pup along with you to some pubs and cafes, other activities are less accommodating. Take yoga, for example. Want to up your practice, but don't want to leave your furry pal at home alone? Cue Hot Dog Yoga. The new Double Bay studio allows well-behaved pooches to relax in the airy reception with Pavlova the Maltese concierge (and maybe try out a few poses of their own) while their human works on their own downward dog. The studio isn't just about welcoming your pups, though. It offers a range of yoga from beginner to expert classes, mellow to power flow, in a heated room (the studio has rain showers, too) and all classes are taught by friendly, experienced teachers. It also has a sleek, Scandi-inspired design complete with light wood, white details and eco-friendly yoga mats. Want to check out the studio but don't have the cash? Fear not. To celebrate the opening of Hot Dog Yoga, we're giving away five, three-week unlimited yoga passes, so you can savasana in peace for 21 days in a row. To enter, see details below. [competition]641487[/competition]
Not every Sydneysider has the luxury of being able to nab a cheeky beach dip in Tamarama after work. The words "hectic traffic", "epic trek", "generally CBF" start a long list of pretty solid excuses. If you're an inner-city dweller, chances are you've found your nearest community pool for cooling off and doing mad laps in. Luckily, the City of Sydney's built a fair few aquatic centres around town — five in all. And summer's the perfect time to try 'em all. For free. Over a series of Saturdays, the City of Sydney is hosting a series of free open days in their swimming pools, inviting locals to try out everything each 50-metre pool has to offer — from the insanely pretty Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool located on the edge of the harbour, to the $40 million Harry Seidler and Associates-designed Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre. There'll be a range of activities for all ages on the day, including tours, fitness classes, aquatic inflatables, learn-to-swim information, barbecues and face painting. Plus, you get to swim for free. The idea behind the open days is to give you a chance to test out the facilities associated with the City of Sydney's 360 card — $53.40 a fortnight for access to all five of the City of Sydney's aquatic centres across the city, and their adjoining fitness facilities. CITY OF SYDNEY SWIMMING POOL OPEN DAYS Prince Alfred Park Pool: Saturday, October 21 from 10am–3pm Victoria Park Pool: Saturday, October 28 from 10am–3pm Cook + Philip Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre: Saturday, November 4 from 10am–3pm Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool: Saturday, November 18 from 10am–3pm Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre: Saturday, November 25 from 10am–3pm
Ah, The Soda Factory — that haven of the hot dog, mismatched vintage furnishings and grown-up ice cream floats. Continuing their tradition of livening up your weeknights with events put to soundtracks from bygone days, the next offering in their quarterly Covers for a Cause series pays homage to '60s icon and source of bouncy, poppy, toe-tapping soul, Motown Records. Previously, Covers for a Cause has honoured Amy Winehouse, Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles. Each time round, the Soda Factory chooses a different local charity and donates a gold coin to that good-doing organisation whenever you order a food or drink item. This time your dollars will be going to Youth Off The Streets, a community organisation that has been working with Sydney's homeless (or otherwise disadvantaged) young people since 1991. It's a plenty good excuse to eat and drink up, and bop along to Soda Factory regulars' interpretations of Motown classics. We do love a side of philanthropy with our Wednesday night entertainment.
Mariage Blanc is not for the faint hearted. It tells the story of the fraught sexual awakening of Bianca (Paige Gardiner); a young woman kept in the dark about the birds and the bees towards the end of the 19th Century. The more she learns about sex the less she likes it, so she demands a non-physical arrangement with her husband, Benjamin (Gig Clarke). To be fair, the meter-long penises and enormous aureola on stage are enough to put anyone off copulating for at least one evening, if not longer. Be warned this is not a date night play, unless you are wooing a virile nudist with a taste for the grotesque. Polish playwright Tadeusz Rózewicz wrote the play in 1975 and its setting in the sexually timid 19th century makes it a sort of ode to the sexual revolution of the 70s. Putting it on in today’s sexually permissible culture means that the dichotomy of repression versus liberation is not as relevant as the other more interesting themes of asexuality and feminism. Bianca is certainly no triumph of independence, but her attempts at holding power over her body and gender are admirable and Gardiner manages to pull off the frigid, awkward character with suitable detachment. Sarah Giles’s direction is detailed and structured, but there comes a point where the vulgarity turns into noise and loses effect. A few moments break this up, such as an effective freeze of all characters in their nude suits leaving Bianca in the spotlight to explain her plight to the audience as well as some beautiful silences. These moments of stillness give the production some of the gravity it needs, but not quite enough. Macabre only works if the play is as serious as it is funny, but the balance here is tilted towards hammy revue.
