Whether you're a Brisbanite eager to head to another state, or you live elsewhere in Australia but you're keen on holidaying in Queensland, the past two years have been more than a little difficult. They've been hard for a heap of reasons during the pandemic, obviously, but the Sunshine State's border closures have definitely been tricky to navigate. In November and December, however, that'll all start to ease. Today, Monday, October 18, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that the state will start to reopen to the rest of Australia once the Sunshine State hits the 70-percent double-vaccinated mark among its eligible population. Queensland's domestic borders haven't been closed to the entire country this year, but with New South Wales and Victoria both experiencing lengthy lockdowns, they've definitely been shut to Sydneysiders and Melburnians — so this'll be welcome news to plenty of folks. "If we keep getting our vaccine, we can welcome family and friends from interstate hot spots in a little over a month who are fully vaccinated — and a month after that, in December, they can come without having to quarantine in time for Christmas, but they too will need to be fully vaccinated," said the Premier. "Queenslanders will acknowledge that that is a sensible and cautious approach to ensure that families can be reunited, but the people coming into Queensland will have to be fully vaccinated." Palaszczuk continued: "the faster we are vaccinated, the faster these deadlines will be achieved. It means that some of these dates may come forward if we get the vaccination rates up." BREAKING: Today we're releasing a plan for Queensland borders. Travel restrictions will ease when 70% and 80% of eligible Queenslanders are fully vaccinated.#covid19 pic.twitter.com/4PANA1CBjF — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) October 18, 2021 So, when Queensland reaches the 70-percent double-jabbed mark — which is expected around Friday, November 19 — travellers who've been in a hotspot area within Australian in the past 14 days can enter the state again. They'll need to be double-vaxxed, to arrive by air and to have received a negative COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before arriving. Also, anyone in this category will need to go into home quarantine for 14 days. Then, at the 80-percent double-vaccinated threshold — which is expected around Friday, December 17 — travellers from interstate hotspots can arrive by either road or air to enter the Sunshine State. They'll still need to be double-jabbed, and to have received a negative COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before arriving. But, there won't be any quarantine requirements at that point. The announcement means that Queensland will be welcoming in travellers from elsewhere in Australia just as summer arrives — and that quarantine will be scrapped for double-jabbed Aussies before Christmas. When Queensland hits 70-percent double-vaxxed, international arrivals will still be handled as they currently are. At the 80-percent double-jabbed mark, though, double-jabbed overseas travellers will be able to undertake 14 days of home quarantine — if they've also received a negative COVID-19 test result in the 72 hours before getting to Queensland. Finally, at the 90-percent double-vaccinated threshold across the Sunshine State, all entry rules and quarantine requirements will be ditched for folks who've had both jabs. For the unvaxxed, the 14-day quarantine rule will still be in effect. At the same press conference, Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles revealed that more restrictions within Queensland will start easing at the 70-percent and 80-percent marks — covering things like gatherings, entering venues and the like. And, these relaxed rules will start having vax requirements attached, so both Queenslanders and visitors from interstate will need to be double-jabbed to take advantage of them. Exactly what that'll entail hasn't yet been revealed, so expect further details before mid-November. Queensland will start allowing domestic visitors back into the state from mid-November, when the 70-percent double-vaxxed threshold is met. For more information about Queensland's border policies, head to the Queensland Government website.
Ever since I started watching How to Make it in America I started noticing more and more graffitied vans looking very much like the Rasta Monsta van from the show. Although it's taken watching the television show to notice run-down but artfully graffitied vans about town, illustrated vans make quite an interesting addition to the otherwise boring-coloured vehicles that line the streets of the city. New York artist Kevin Cyr takes this admiration of cars-as-mobile-canvases-for-graffiti to another level. His Van Series of oil and silkscreen paintings capture the finer details of twenty vans and vehicles found in Brooklyn, NY, and take note of the commercial aspect of vehicles otherwise dismissed as well past their used-by date. [via Flavorwire]
This article is sponsored by our partners, Rekorderlig. Cider is having something of a renaissance, one that's not just limited to pub courtyards and picnics. The fruity beverage du jour is gaining a connoisseur-type following in culinary circles, appearing in pairings with food that would put your average sommelier or brewer to shame. Think light apple ciders with pork to conjure up memories of your Nan's Sunday roast with applesauce, or a richer, bolder variety to cut through the spice and cream of a dhal or mutter paneer. Testament to everyone's love of alcohol-fuelled food (and because everyone knows the alcohol content totally evaporates while cooking, right?), it's also being used in recipes. These chicken pistachio meatballs with Rekorderlig cider chutney prove how well cider lends itself to hearty, wintry meals of the kind you might expect to be served on a blizzardy night in a mountain log cabin in front of a crackling fire. In fact, these meatballs are straight out of the Thredbo Alpine Hotel, where Rekorderlig have a poolside lounge. This dish is boozy, fruity, nutty and gamey, and the perfect adieu to these final frosty nights of winter '14. Chicken Pistachio Meatballs with Rekorderlig Cider Chutney Meatballs (makes 50) 1kg chicken mince 500ml Rekorderlig Strawberry-Lime Cider 100g cranberries 100g sour cherries 50g pistachio nuts 10g salt 10g parsley 1 egg pinch of white pepper Soak the cranberries in Rekorderlig Strawberry-Lime Cider for 30 minutes. Place all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix by hand. Work the mixture till all the ingredients are combined. Place in the fridge at least one hour. Roll into desired size balls. Lightly coat balls in flour and saute very quickly. Sauce 1L chicken stock 1L white wine 500ml cream Reduce stock and white wine by half and then stir through 500ml of cream. Place the meatballs in a baking dish and cover them with the sauce. Bake in a medium oven for one hour. Chutney 60ml olive oil 1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped 200g sultanas 100g raisins 100g sugar 400ml Rekorderlig Pear Cider 100g ginger grated 800g pears, cored and finely diced dash of nutmeg 2 heaped tsp of ground all spice 1 pinch of cinnamon Saute the rosemary, sultanas and raisins. After one minute add the sugar and then fry the fruit until it starts to caramelise. Pour in the vinegar and bring to the boil. Boil for a few minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Continuously stir so the pear doesn't stick to the bottom. Serve with a warm Rekorderlig Winter cider.
Whether you watched along from 2009–15 when it was in production or you discovered its joys via an obsessive binge-watching marathon afterwards, Parks and Recreation is one of the 21st century's TV gifts — and the beloved sitcom cemented its stars, from its lead roles through to its supporting parts, as audience favourites. Plenty of those talents also share something else in common: a fondness for touring Down Under. Nick Offerman has done it, taking to Australia's stages. Amy Poehler has made multiple promotional Aussie trips for Inside Out and Inside Out 2. Henry Winkler even headed this way to chat through his lengthy career. Now, add the latter's on-screen son to the list. Ben Schwartz, aka Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, has a date with Sydney and Melbourne in 2025. [caption id="attachment_968141" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Disney/Image Group LA[/caption] Don't be suspicious: Schwartz will be performing his Ben Schwartz & Friends live improv show, which begins with just a couple of chairs onstage. Where it goes from there, you'll only discover on the night — because that's the joy of improv. He's doing two gigs, one at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday, May 3 and another at Hamer Hall on Sunday, May 4. Schwartz isn't just known for Parks and Recreation, although that's the first thing on his resume that'll always come to mind for Parks fans. Since his time in Pawnee wrapped up — since he stopped being one of the woooooooorst people in the fictional Indiana town, that is — he's also starred in murder-mystery comedy The Afterparty, voiced a certain spiny blue mammal in Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, loaned his vocal tones to Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Invincible, and featured in Space Force and Renfield. You'll find Arrested Development, This Is Where I Leave You, The Interview, The Walk, House of Lies, The Lego Movie 2, BoJack Horseman, Bob's Burgers, DuckTales and Central Park on Schwartz's filmography, too, and a whole heap more. Does his resemblance to Stranger Things' Joe Keery come up in Ben Schwartz & Friends? Again, you'll need to attend to find out. [caption id="attachment_842850" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Afterparty, Apple TV+.[/caption] Ben Schwartz & Friends Australian Dates 2025: Saturday, May 3 — Sydney Opera House, Sydney Sunday, May 4 — Hamer Hall, Melbourne Ben Schwartz & Friends plays Australia in May 2025, with ticket presales from 10am on Wednesday, July 31 and general sales from 11am on Friday, August 2. Head to the tour website for more details. Top image: The Afterparty, Apple TV+.
It's been a tough time for huge music festivals over the past two years, including one of the biggest there is: Coachella. The 2020 event was less than a month out from its April dates when it postponed until October due to COVID-19 — and then, a few months later, it cancelled that year's fest completely. The aim was to return in April 2021 instead; however, unsurprisingly, that didn't happen either. But now the event has announced that it's definitely intending to make a comeback in April this year — and it's dropped its hefty lineup, too.. Mark April 15–17 and April 22–24 in your diaries, whether you're just keen to check out the livestream — remember, Coachella was livestreaming its sets long before the pandemic — or you have US travel plans for this autumn. The full bill is a jaw-dropper, as usual, with Harry Styles headlining the Friday nights, Billie Eilish doing the Saturday nights and Ye (aka the artist formerly known as Kanye West) on Sunday nights. Elsewhere, a bonafide metric fucktonne of squealworthy acts fill out the rest of the bill — Australia's own Flume and The Avalanches, plus Swedish House Mafia, Phoebe Bridgers, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Jamie xx, Run the Jewels, Fatboy Slim, Finneas and Joji, just to name a few. Anyway, let's be honest, you haven't truly read any of those words — you'll be wanting this: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Coachella (@coachella) For music lovers planning to watch along from home, Coachella will once again team up with YouTube to livestream the festival. That's no longer such a novelty in these pandemic times but, given the calibre of Coachella's lineup, it's still a mighty fine way to spend a weekend. For those eager to attend, the first weekend is sold out, but you can signup for the waitlist over at the festival's website — and also register for tickets to the second weekend, too, which go on sale on Friday, January 14 US time. Coachella runs from April 15–17 and April 22–24 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Find out more info and register for tickets or the waitlist at coachella.com.
What's better than watching a heap of top Australian talent sit around and talk about music? Watching them do all of the above while answering questions, competing for points and just generally being funny, too. That's the concept behind ABC TV show Spicks and Specks, which took a few cues from the UK's Never Mind the Buzzcocks, pit Aussie musos and comedians against each other, and has proven a hit several times over. A weekly favourite when it first aired between 2005–2011, it just keeps coming back — including its current series of new specials. When the program was first revived back in 2014, it returned with a new host and team captains. This time, it's back with its original lineup. That means that Adam Hills, Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough have all stepped back into the quiz show realm yet again. When the trio did just that back in 2018, for a one-off reunion special, it became the ABC's most-watched show of the year. Unsurprisingly, that huge response played more than a small part in inspiring this new comeback. If you're already eager to show your own music trivia knowledge and play along — we all know that's as much a part of the Spicks and Specks fun as seeing the on-screen stars unleash their own skills (or lack thereof) — then you probably lapped up the show's Ausmusic Month special last year. And, in the first half of 2020, you probably enjoyed its 90s episode and episode dedicated to 00s tunes as well. Next up, it's tackling past decade, focusing on all the tracks, bangers, one hit wonders and more that released between 2010–2019. When it airs at 7.40pm AEST on Sunday, December 20, viewers can expect questions about the best and the worst songs the last ten years had to offer — and expect not just Adam, Myf and Alan, but musicians Kate Miller Heidke and Vance Joy and comedians Claire Hooper and Luke McGregor as well. The 10s-focused episode marks the fourth of Spicks and Specks' specials, wrapping up its four-show comeback over the past year. And, if you need a refresher in the interim, this comedic chat about a Star Wars Christmas album will do the trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KNMtDu7TAY Spicks and Specks: 10s Special will air on ABC TV on Sunday, December 20 at 7.40pm. The show's Ausmusic Special, 90s Special and 00s Special are all currently available to stream via ABC iView.
Societies used to have forums, then markets, then the High street — a main shopping road and gossip factory, where people got together to talk about this and that, and especially each other. Now, as these older places wane, people have the internet to get together and talk about forums, markets, High streets and the future of the Internet, and especially each other. For Philip Brophy's film Northern Void, that meeting place is Preston in Melbourne's north. Set in the lite, consumer haze of its sleeping suburbs, Northern Void imagines the tramless slow transformation of the High street he lived in as a child. Or something like it. Stretched over the near, far and furthest future to a soundtrack by Brophy and Philip Samartzis, the film was originally presented taking advantage of the flash new facilities of Melbourne's national film centre, the ACMI. As part of their Clubhouse series, the Performance Space is putting it on here as well. If the need for a vibrant public space consumes you, or if the yen for good experimental film absorbs you, Brophy offers you a piece to talk about. Photos from Northern Void by Pancho Calladetti.
In a bid to contain the current COVID-19 outbreak, Sydney's northern beaches have been under stay-at-home orders since Saturday, December 19. Initially flagged to end on Wednesday, December 30, those orders were extended before the end of 2020 until at least Saturday, January 9, specifically for the northern half of the northern beaches. That end date is almost upon us and, when 12.01am hits on Sunday, January 10, the orders will indeed come to an end — as Minister for Health Brad Hazzard confirmed at the NSW daily press conference today, Friday, January 8. From that moment, the northern part of the northern beaches will adopt the same restrictions currently in effect in Greater Sydney and the southern part of the northern beaches. That means folks in the top section of the northern beaches will be allowed to leave the house for any reason; however, other requirements are in effect. You'll need to wear face masks in some indoor settings, such as shopping, public and shared transport, indoor entertainment venues, places of worship, and hair and beauty salons. And, you can only have five visitors (including children) to your house, and gather in groups of 30 people outside your home. For venues in the area — which includes hospitality venues — the one person per four-square-metre rule is in effect. And, a cap of 300 people remains for big venues, even if a large space can hold more than that and still abide by the density requirement. Outdoor performances and protests can have 500 people, controlled outdoor gatherings — that are seated and ticketed — can have 2000 people, and nightclubs aren't allowed to open. Folks are still encouraged to limit non-essential gatherings, and to reduce how much they go out where possible to help minimise the risk of transmission in the community. https://twitter.com/NSWHealth/status/1347334261926359040 The news comes as NSW reported 11 new cases over the past 24 hours, including four new local cases and seven acquired from overseas. In response to the just-announced lockdown in the Greater Brisbane area to try to stop a possible spread linked to one new community COVID-19 case in the Sunshine State, the NSW Government also advised that anyone who has been in Greater Brisbane since January 2 and is now in NSW must isolate until 7pm AEDT on Monday, January 11, too. Sydneysiders are also asked to continue to frequently check NSW Health's long list of locations and venues that positive coronavirus cases have visited over the past week — and, if you've been to anywhere listed on the specific dates and times, get tested immediately and self-isolate. You can also have a look at the venue alerts over at this new interactive map. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
When 2020 ticked over to 2021, Australians were asked to direct their eyeballs towards a brooding mystery set against our dusty, yellow-hued landscape. We did just that, and in big numbers, too, with The Dry quickly becoming a huge box-office hit. A year later, when 2021 becomes 2022, we'll be tempted to do something similar — but this time it's a six-part Stan series that strands Jamie Dornan in the outback that'll be demanding our attention to start the new year. That show is The Tourist, which sees Dornan add another TV role to his resume alongside The Fall, Death and Nightingales, New Worlds and Once Upon a Time. The Irish actor boasts an eclectic filmography — he's highly likely to get nominated for an Oscar next year for his role in nostalgic drama Belfast, in fact, and he hit Aussie screens big and small in the vastly dissimilar Synchronic, Wild Mountain Thyme and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar this year. For this new part, he plays the titular character, who has no idea why he's in the middle of Australia or even who he is. Written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams (Angela Black), and hailing from the Emmy-winning production company behind The Missing and Fleabag, The Tourist is a mystery-thriller, so its just-dropped first trailer starts out with an uneasy air — as Dornan's character gets pursued by a tank truck trying that's trying to drive him off the road. Things don't get easier after he wakes up in hospital with no memory, unsurprisingly, or when he's chased by plenty of other folks. On-screen, Dornan is joined by a heap of familiar faces, including Aussie actors Danielle Macdonald (French Exit), Alex Dimitriades (Total Control) and Damon Herriman (Mindhunter), English-born Australian talent Shalom Brune-Franklin (Line of Duty) and Icelandic American Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Trapped). You'll be able to binge your way through The Tourist's twists and turns on Sunday, January 2, Check out the trailer below: The Tourist will be available to stream via Stan from Sunday, January 2.
Abode Bistro and Bar may be a hotel restaurant, but it's has an impressive high tea that has none of the stuffy vibes you'd expect from an upscale hotel. Think bottomless sparkling wine accompanied by a seasonal menu, and at a very reasonable $65 per person to boot. On offer from Friday through Saturday, the sparkling high tea gets you two full hours of unlimited pours, plus your choice of tea from their Dilmah selection and an ever-changing menu of savoury and sweet bites. The latest menu includes mushroom and goat's curd quiche, smoked salmon and cream cheese roulade and chicken, radicchio and apple slaw sandwiches. Pastries, of which there are six, feature caramel and passion fruit tarts, rhubarb jam and burnt mandarin macarons, as well as lemon meringue pie. Abode Bistro and Bar's high tea runs every Friday from 2pm to 4pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 11.30am to 1.30pm and 2pm to 4pm.
Get ready for 18 days of around-the-block queues and arguing with people who refuse to put away their phone. That's right, Melbourne movie lovers: the Melbourne International Film Festival is a mere three-and-a-bit weeks away, and the freshly spoiled lineup is as diverse and enticing as ever. Of the more than 300 films and 52 countries represented on this year's MIFF program, the Australian contingent looks particularly impressive. The festival kicks off on July 31 with the world premiere of Predestination, a time travel thriller starring Ethan Hawke and Noah Taylor. Tony Ayres' period crime film Cut Snake has been tapped for the centrepiece gala, while closing night will feature Joel Edgerton and Melissa George in the Melbourne-set police drama Felony. Other local highlights include SXSW's Aussie darling The Infinite Man; Amiel Courtin-Wilson's grim but beautiful new drama Ruin; a destined-to-offend reboot of the classic Ozploitation film Turkey Shoot; and the latest cine-centric documentary from Not Quite Hollywood director Mark Hartley, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films. American indie cinema will also have a strong showing this year, with major titles including Richard Linklater's 12-year passion project Boyhood, Kelly Reichardt's lauded environmental thriller Night Moves and James Gray's fourth consecutive Palme d'Or competitor The Immigrant. Nicholas Cage, meanwhile, proves he still knows how to act as the titular character in David Gordon Green's new character piece Joe, while Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig give rare dramatic performances in The Skeleton Twins, which also won a screenwriting award at Sundance. Speaking of major festival winners, MIFF patrons can look forward to not one but two new films from Quebecois enfant terrible Xavier Dolan, in the form of the breathtaking mother-son drama Mommy and the tense psychological thriller Tom at the Farm. The former film shared the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival with Goodbye to Language, a 3D experimental work from the 83-year-old Jean Luc-Godard. The tense, strikingly shot Czech drama Honeymoon won Jan Hrebejk directing accolades at his native Karlovy Vary last July, while a little closer home, the Dardenne Brothers' Two Days, One Night deservedly took the top prize at this year's Sydney Film Festival. Melbourne's programmers have also continued their impressive run of Asian cinema, with standouts including Wong Kar-wai's long awaited martial arts epic The Grandmaster and the immaculately photographed Chinese neo-noir Black Coal, Thin Ice. More daring MIFFers might also want to check out the latest blood-soaked opus from Japanese provocateur Sion Sono, Why Don't You Play in Hell, described by Film.com critic David Ehrlich as "quite possibly mankind's greatest achievement". From the documentary section, no film buff should skip Jodorowsky's Dune, a fascinating and often hilarious look at what many people consider the single greatest movie never made. Also on tap: master documentarian Errol Morris probes the mind of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld in The Unknown Known, while Michel Gondry animates a series of interviews with Noam Chomsky, posing the question Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?. Alternatively, if all that sounds too challenging, maybe try I Am Big Bird, a no-holds-barred expose about Sesame Street's resident yellow pigeon. MIFF 2014 runs from July 31 until August 17. Tickets go on sale to the general public at 11am on Friday, July 11. For more information, visit the MIFF website
Prepare yourself for a serious dose of girl power: Janelle Monáe and Kimbra have announced they're joining forces for an Australasian tour, on sale this Thursday. The two pop heavyweights, who bonded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland last July, are coming to Australia for The Golden Electric Tour at the end of May. Scheduled for four shows throughout Australia, the dynamic duo is also making a stop in Kimbra's native New Zealand before closing out the tour in Melbourne. The award-winning pop powerhouses will co-headline the tour, combining forces for a portion of the show while also playing individual sets. Kimbra and Monáe first made sweet music together at an impromptu bar gig when they met last year. Their taste for eccentric pop music coupled with fierce vocals proved a heavenly match, thus the idea for a joint tour was born. To (successfully) hype us all up for the endeavour, the pair released an unfathomably adorable video singing a mash-up of Aretha Franklin's 'Rock Steady' and Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Something', both of which are sure to be on the set list. https://youtube.com/watch?v=SyqltX5lRhQ Monáe will feature tracks from her 2013 release The Electric Lady, as well as her celebrated 2010 debut album The ArchAndroid. Kimbra is expected to release the follow-up to her 2011 album Vows later this year, so fans should expect some new gems amongst the singalongs. Tour Dates: Friday, May 16 - Challenge Stadium, Perth Monday, May 19 - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Wednesday, May 21 - Brisbane Convention Centre, Brisbane Saturday, May 24 - Vector Arena, Auckland Monday, May 26 - The Plenary, Melbourne Tickets go on sale 10am on Thursday, April 17 via Live Nation. Pre-sale is available for My Live Nation members at 10am on Monday, April 14.
Brisbane-based Circa is one of the leading circus companies in the world. Under the artistic direction of Yaron Lifschitz, Circa has performed its thrilling, physically demanding shows to more than a million people in over 40 countries. So, we're pretty lucky to have another chance to see its prowess in the upgraded version of a show that premiered at Sydney Festival 2017. Like all good sequels, Humans 2.0 is a love letter to what's come before, and a chance to go even further with its feats of strength, ferocity and boundary-pushing acrobatics. Ten of Circa's finest ensemble members will move to music by composer Ori Lichtik, celebrating what it means to be human. Image 1: Justin Ma
You didn't do any cooking last night, did you? You had plans to meal prep for the week, but instead you went to the pub and ate chips and now you're sitting at your desk, broke and hungry, wondering what you can get for lunch for under $10 today. Well, my unorganised friend, you're in luck. If you work/live near a Roll'd, you can wander in there and get yourself a free rice bowl. Yep, free. And you don't even have to be one of the first people into the shop — you just have to fill out this form. The while-stocks-last giveaway is in celebration of the chain's sixth birthday, and is happening at all NSW Roll'd stores excluding the ones at the airport. There are seven in the CBD (including Gateway Sydney and Chifley Plaza) and six more in Bondi Junction, Parramatta, Castle Towers, Warringah, Campbelltown and the Macquarie Centre. If you can't make it for lunch, some of them are also open for dinner.
We’re only six weeks into a season far too cold for denim cut-offs and more suited to umbrellas than feather headdresses, but if you’re under the age of 50 and you like music then chances are you’re already saving coin for one of our many summer music festivals. Preliminary lineups for Harvest, Stereosonic and Falls Festival and Big Day Out have all recently been announced, with others set to reveal juicy details shortly. But while even the most civilised festival has its fair share of regrettable decisions, warm beers being chugged in the parking lot and liquid deposits being made in plastic water bottles, the truth of the matter is that at most of our own large-scale gatherings it’s easier to mislay a sense of refinement than it is to lose both your friends and your sunglasses. Ergo, Concrete Playground has handpicked a few overseas festivals that manage to combine brazen antics, booze and grannies in souped-up shopping carts with more cultivated offerings. 1. GOOGAMOOGA WHERE: BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, USAWHEN: MAY The inaugural GoogaMooga in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park offered festivalgoers not just sonic goodness from 20 performers ranging from Holy Ghost! to Preservation Hall Jazz Band, but also a little Extra Mooga alongside. With Anthony Bourdain leaving the stage just in time for James Murphy’s DJ set, and grain going head to head with grape at the Beer vs Wine smackdown, Googa Mooga is just a celebration of all things great in life. 2. ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES (UK) WHERE: EAST SUSSEX, ENGLANDWHEN: DECEMBER No one can create an arts and music festival better than an artist or a musician, so this English festival gets a different musical or visual creative to invite their favourite performers to play each year. Past curators have included Portishead, The National and Matt Groening, with B-side festival I’ll Be Your Mirror offering music, film and arts events outside of the holiday resorts. 3. BONNAROO MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL WHERE: MANCHESTER, TENNESSEEWHEN: JUNE Nashville is great for wearing rhinestone cowboy hats and dancing to Johnny Cash cover songs, but Manchester is where country and bluegrass music meets indie rock, world music, folk, gospel, reggae and electronica. The 100-acre entertainment village also features a classic arcade, on-site cinema, silent disco, comedy club and theatre performers, but it’s also the peaceful vibes that had Rolling Stone name Bonnaroo one of the 50 moments that changed the history of rock and roll. 4. BUMBERSHOOT WHERE: SEATTLE, WASHINGTONWHEN: SEPTEMBER The name of this music and arts festival comes from “bumbershoot”, a colloquial term for umbrella, which is a far cooler tag than its original 'Mayor’s Arts Festival'. Now in its 42nd year, music, film, comedy, spoken word, dance, theatre and performance are just some of the genres falling under its canopy. 5. STOCKHOLM MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL WHERE: STOCKHOLM, SWEDENWHEN: AUGUST Here are two things you probably already know about Stockholm: it’s beautiful, and it breeds creativity like Lara Bingle breeds LOLs. The island of Skeppsholmen is where these two things culminate each year, with acts including Patti Smith, Bjork and Antony and the Johnsons playing against a backdrop of intelligent art and glittering water landscapes. 6. OUTSIDE LANDS WHERE: SAN FRANCISCO, USAWHEN: AUGUST San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park holds many rich nuggets of culture, from fascinating buildings and major museums to scenic picnic spots and lakes. In August it also plays host to Outside Lands, a festival geared towards the green movement that celebrates the neutral terrain that became San Francisco’s common ground during the tumult of the 1960s. Food, wine and immersive art are dotted around the park, while the musical lineup — ranging from Metallica to Tame Impala to Norah Jones — really does offer something for everyone. 7. ICELAND AIRWAVES WHERE: REYKJAVIK, ICELANDWHEN: OCTOBER What started as a one-off event in an airplane hangar is now one of the premier annual showcases for new music in the world. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Bravery and The Rapture all played Airwaves in the infancy of their musical careers, and Rolling Stone dubbed it “The hippest long weekend on the annual music festival calendar”. But Airwaves and the exquisite city of Reykjavík don't offer just music — hose the stale beer out of your hair, hop on a bus and alleviate your hangover via geysers, waterfalls, lava fields and the world-famous Blue Lagoon. 8. CACTUS FESTIVAL WHERE: BRUGES, BELGIUMWHEN: JULY Because the only thing better than great music and great beer is Granny Turismo.
Whatever you've been dreaming about getting for Christmas, here's one thing that you don't have to write a letter to Santa for: a festive action-comedy about a Christmas Eve heist where a certain red suit- and white beard-wearing fellow kicks ass and tries to save the day. Making Violent Night an extra present of a film when it hits cinemas in December (when else?) is the man getting jolly, too: Stranger Things favourite David Harbour. The actor behind Hopper will get ho-ho-hoing in the seasonal flick — and dispensing with mercenaries like he's a Father Christmas version of John Wick. Hawaiian shirts are out, clearly, replaced by the expected Santa getup. The same no-nonsense attitude remains, though, as seen in the movie's just-dropped first trailer. Harbour as the merriest figure there is rescuing Christmas when a kid calls for his help? That's the basic plot, but there is slightly more to it. Those aforementioned mercenaries break into a wealth family compound on the night before the big festive day, taking everyone hostage. But Santa also happens to be there — and uttering lines like "time for season's beatings" as he gets to work. Those John Wick comparisons are by design, with 87North, the producers of franchise plus Nobody, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Bullet Train and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, behind the film. And yes, there's more than a little bit of Die Hard thrown in as well — just in a home rather than Nakatomi Plaza. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Jake Peralta would approve. On-screen, Harbour is joined by John Wick's John Leguizamo, plus Cam Gigandet (Without Remorse), Alex Hassell (Cowboy Bebop), Alexis Louder (The Terminal List), Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones) and Beverly D'Angelo (Shooter). And behind the lens, Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, the Dead Snow franchise) is in the director's chair — and the script is penned by by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, after writing the terrible Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Check out the trailer below: Violent Night opens in cinemas Down Under on December 1.
When Bob Dylan last toured Australia, it was billed as a 'once in a lifetime' experience. And, for all those who went, it was. It's just that now fans will be get the opportunity to have another such experience, because the legendary tambourine man will return to Australia for a national tour this August. This tour will be less exhaustive than his 2014 effort, with Dylan set to do eight shows — one in Sydney on August 18, as well as one in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle and Wollongong, and two back-to-back shows in Melbourne. He will draw on his incredible 60-year career — which spans 36 studio albums and countless hits — for the shows, so you better start praying to the music gods that your favourite makes it onto the setlist. Dylan may be 76 years old, but he has certainly showed no signs of slowing down as he approaches 80. In 2016 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature and, just this year, he oddly released his own whisky. But still, it could be the last chance you get to see this living legend perform live. His last tour sold out, so don't wait too long to get your hands on tickets.
That glass of wine or icy cold beer you've been sipping solo and feeling guilty about it — it's about to become a thing of the past if you're a pet owner. Our furry companions share life's ups and downs, and now critters of both the feline and canine variety can share a beverage too thanks to the invention that is animal-friendly wine. It's the tipple that'll make humans feel better without even drinking it, and one that cats and dogs will enjoy... we think. Actually, it might just be something two-legged folks like the idea of more than their four-legged friends — but who doesn't want to pour their kitty or pooch a hard-earned drink? Currently available in the US, pet wine doesn't actually involve alcohol. Don't give your mouser or pup real booze, folks. Instead, it's made from beets, herbs and catnip, and comes in cutely named varieties such as The Doggy Mary, The Meowmosa, Catbernet, Chardognay and Pinot Meow. They're just some of the products startup Apollo Peak has been selling for the last two years, alongside special cat wine glasses — and they now have competition thanks to Pet Winery and their Catinis and Dog Perignon. Like all great ideas, someone else got their first, with a Japanese company releasing Nyan Nyan (or meow meow) Nouveau for cats back in 2013. Still, your purrfect pal surely won't mind, even if felines are known for their discerning tastes. Plus, your barking buddy now gets to join in the fun too. Via Good Food.
Sometimes, Zac Efron earns headlines because he's spending the pandemic in Australia. Sometimes, it's thanks to whichever film he has in cinemas. And, sometimes it's because he's been in the gym preparing for a movie, as has Jeremy Allen White. That flick getting the Gold and The Bear stars bulked up and bringing them together? The Iron Claw. In this wrestling drama, the Von Erich family is rumbling onto the big screen, with help from not just Efron and White but also Harris Dickinson (Scrapper), Maura Tierney (Your Honor), Holt McCallany (Mindhunter) and Lily James (What's Love Got to Do with It?). The IRL brood get the biopic treatment in this 80s-set effort from Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest director Sean Durkin — and if you're wondering why, then you've clearly never heard of the "Von Erich curse". As the just-dropped trailer for the A24 film shows, the Von Erich brothers are all keen wrestlers under the guidance of patriarch Fritz (McCallany), who is pushing his inseparable offspring to be the best. The line between encouraging and domineering is thin, however, in a tale that piles on more than its fair share of tragedies along with championships. "Ever since I was a child, people said my family was cursed," says Kevin (Efron) in the first sneak peek at The Iron Claw, which is named after a wrestling move associated with Fritz and the family. "Mom tried to protect us with god, pop tried to protect us with wrestling," he continues. "He said if we were the toughest, the strongest, nothing would ever hurt us. I believed him. We all did." What happens from there will hit picture palaces in the US on Friday, December 22, and then on Thursday, January 18 Down Under. From the first footage from the film — which comes set to Blue Öyster Cult's '(Don't Fear) the Reaper', cowbell and all — viewers can expect training scenes, pressure, plenty of skin, Fritz issuing his sons rankings regarding his favourites, complicated family bonds, trauma, in-the-ring action and James as Kevin's wife Pam. Check out the trailer for The Iron Claw below: The Iron Claw hits cinemas Down Under on Thursday, January 18. Images: Brian Roede / Eric Chakeen.
Nine months after Randwick's Soul Burger ditched the meat products and embraced an all-vegan menu, the purveyors of plant-based goodness are heading west, this week launching a second store in Glebe . With this new addition to the family, Soul Burger continues in opposition of big agriculture, with owner and founder Amit Tewari keen to shake up the Aussie food culture and help inspire a shift towards plant-based eating. And it looks like he's firmly on the right track, given that Soul Burger's is the kind of menu that both carnivores and vegans will be beating down the door for. Think maximum feasting, for minimal artery clogging, with plant-based beef, snags and fish, egg-free sauces, and lighter, vegan cheese stealing the spotlight. The Glebe store will be rocking all the same treats as the original, including those addictive sweet potato fries, coconut shakes and the ever-popular Sumo burger, which teams plant-based beef and spicy sausage with roasted peppers, mushroom, cheese, salad, herbed mayo and tomato relish. Tomorrow's launch will kick things off in style, with burger lovers of all persuasions invited to check out the new Glebe Point Road digs, and spread the vegan love with a celebratory, meat-free feed. Plus, if you're one of the first 50 punters through the door, you'll even score yourself a burger on the house. Get there early. Soul Burger Glebe will open at 5pm tomorrow, Wednesday, September 28, at 111 Glebe Point Road, Glebe. For more info, visit soulburger.com.au.
Puppies underwater. That's all you really need to know. But if you're looking for some more context, photographer Seth Casteel is actually one of the world's biggest catches — the man teaches puppies to swim. Teaches. Puppies. To swim. According to Mashable, Casteel has taught over 1500 dogs to paddle their way to glorious swimming success, building up their doggy confidence so they can impress the canine babes in their teen years. Shooting the lessons for his just-released and made-for-everyone-ever's coffee table book Underwater Puppies. Casteel has been doing this for a while; his first book Underwater Dogs followed the same vein. Not since these outrageously excellent photographs of dogs captured mid-shakedown have we squealed with such unfettered delight. Just look at this dude: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4ZZNVrU9w34 So here you go, the ultimate scrollworthy medicine for an average Thursday. ACK. Ruger Corey Rolley Pringles and Pick Me Reason Popsicle Monty Ava Ginger Iggy Via Mashable. Images: Seth Casteel.
Ever since the ABC's War on Waste aired in May this year, we've seen a significant shift in the way people think about waste — from the bananas amount of bananas that are thrown away each day to the single-use coffee cups and plastic items we thoughtlessly use whenever we like. But it's that last item — plastic — that's seen some big companies spring to action. Last month grocery chains Coles, Woolworths, and NSW-based Harris Farm announced that they would ban single-use plastic bags by from 2018 — a huge (and influential) example of big business leading change. Now Hobart City Council is planning to take city-wide action by phasing out single-use plastic takeaway containers and cutlery completely. According to the ABC, the council voted 10-1 to amend draft environmental health bylaws which will see the items banned by 2020. They'll be replaced by compostable alternatives, which will be processed at a proposed new facility. If the changes are implemented, Hobart will be the first Australian city to completely ban single-use plastic containers — and it's quite possible others will follow suit. Last year France last year committed to phasing out single-use plastic plates, cups and cutlery across the entire country by 2020. Slowly, it seems the tide is finally changing — and hopefully we'll see a lot less plastic in it. Via ABC.
For all the logicality of urban planners and architects, we often end up with some pretty weird conglomerations of concrete and steel around town. Once in a while, we all end up staring at a nonsensical urban nook while waiting at the traffic lights and thinking, 'why?'. Austrian choreographer Willi Dorner and his company take that reverie one step further with Bodies in Urban Spaces. They see an odd little city space and think: human Tetris. So how does it work? Dorner enlists a group of movement artists (whose skills are not solely focused on dance — he also hires climbers, martial artists and circus performers) and choreographs a performance that sees these 20 human bodies, clad in bright colour-blocked clothes, gracefully shove themselves into any sort of architectural gap they can find, hold their positions for several minutes and then effortlessly wriggle out of the tight spot and move on to the next. What it means for the passer-by is that your eyes fall on brightly colour-blocked human staying perfectly, magically still in an otherwise dead space. "Bodies in Urban Spaces is an invitation to let go, to take the time for a new look at the city, an opportunity to think so that we can form opinions about what makes a city a liveable space, and eventually make changes to achieve that goal," says Dorner. Bodies in Urban Spaces premiered in 2007 and has been co-produced by festivals and venues across Europe and the US ever since. It will be appearing in Sydney for Art & About on Friday, October 11, and Saturday, October 12, from 12.30-2pm. Check out more of their cheeky and surreal appearances around the world in the images below.
If you're the one tasked with booking the office Christmas party, there's likely a whole mess of pressure on your shoulders. Trying to please everyone is no easy business, so the Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel have put their hand up to take that stressed-out frown and turn it upside down. The famous waterside hotel, which has constant stunning views of the harbour, is a stellar place to celebrate the silly season with your workmates. In terms of catering, you can choose from a slew of different menu options, including platter, banquet or something called the Grand Feast which sounds exactly how you'd want to spend a staff party. Drinks are a breeze too, with the option of including a roving spirits bar with your own personal cocktail-slinging buddy. Marry the two with their Bells by the Bay package which includes a three-course feast and four hours of drinks for $152 per person. With only a few weeks to go until Christmas lands in our laps, now would be a great time to get the party squared away. With oodles of space around the hotel, and recommendations for sweet activities like paddle boarding, the Watto has your yuletide festivities under control.
You could say that humans and space got fairly chummy in 2012 as they reconnected in many new and exciting ways. It was a fantastic year for NASA. As many new discoveries and advancements were made with the planet Mars, we have extended our view of space and said goodbye to a space legend. Through highs and lows, Earth has become but a dot in our ever-increasing knowledge of the universe, and these moments have significantly increased potential for space exploration in the future. Perhaps the worlds of Futurama, Star Trek, or Total Recall are really not that far away after all. Here are 10 of the most remarkable space moments from BBC News that occurred in 2012. 10. The Supermoon Once a year, a cosmic event occurs in which the full moon appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than in other months. 2012's 'Supermoon' occurred in May and produced some truly spectacular photographs. 9. First Triathlon in Space NASA astronaut Sunita Williams became the first person to run, bike, and swim her way through a triathlon - in space. The US commander of the Expedition 33 crew on the space station 386km from Earth completed the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in California along with her fellow athletes. She completed the course using exercise equipment: a stationary bike, a treadmill, and a strength-training machine specially formulated for weightlessness. 8. 26 New Alien Planets in 11 Solar Systems In January 2012, NASA announced that its Kepler telescope discovered 11 previously unknown solar systems, within which there were 26 alien planets, known as exoplanets. The size of these planets ranges from 1.5 times larger than Earth to even bigger than Jupiter, with their orbital periods ranging from 6 to 143 days and all of them located closer to their stars than Venus. This find almost doubled the quantity of planets discovered by Kepler in its two-year history and reinforces the exponential number of planets, particularly exoplanets, that exist in our universe. 7. The Earth Sings The Earth really gained a voice as NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission managed to capture radio waves emitted by energetic particles of the Van Allen belts in the magnetosphere and rendered them into an audio recording. This 'chorus' apparently sounds similar to a whale's song. 6. Space Shuttle Endeavour's LA Trek Endeavor was the fifth and final spaceworthy shuttle to be used in NASA's space shuttle program. The retired orbiter conducted 25 space missions during its 19-year career from 1992 to 2011. In October, the 155,000 pound Endeavor made its final mission, trekking the 12-mile journey from the Los Angeles International Airport to the Californian Science Centre, avoiding trees, utility poles, and the mass of stunned onlookers. 5. SpaceX Dragon attaches to the ISS The Dragon is a reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX, a private American space transportation company, that in May became the first commercial spacecraft to be successfully attached to the International Space Station. The Dragon delivered a series of cargo shipments, which brought 20 metric tons of supplies into space. This advancement brings the possibility of private space flight significantly closer to reality. 4. Space Jump Breaking the world record for not only the highest jump from a platform (128,100 feet), the longest distance freefall (119,846 feet), and the maximum vertical velocity (833.9 mph), stuntman Felix Baumgartner also broke the YouTube record for the most concurrent views ever on livestream (8 million viewers). This Austrian daredevil really took record-breaking to new heights. 3. Farthest Ever View into the Universe This view captured by the Hubble Space Telescope depicts thousands of galaxies within the constellation Formax, billion of light years away. The composite image from 10 years of telescopic views shows planets so far away that they don't even exist anymore. The title eXtreme Deep Field feels highly appropriate here. 2. Goodbye to a Space Pioneer and Legend The end of an era arrived when the world bid farewell to Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon in 1969. The world renowned astronaut passed away at 82 after complications from a heart bypass surgery but will forever be remembered for his incredible feat. 1. Curiosity Rover Makes History on Mars The most impressive advancement to occur in the space arena in 2012 was the Curiosity Rover's incredible experiences on the red planet. Since making her landing on August 5 — an event so tense it was deemed 'the seven minutes of terror' — the rover has discovered an ancient streambed where water once flowed, analysed soil, rock and atmospheric samples on the planet, been the first machine to 'check in' on Mars, and snapped an incredible self-portrait that would leave even MySpace users flabbergasted. And her trip has only just begun, with 20 more months to go before her return.
What does it mean to be you? The Art Gallery of New South Wales explores the ever-changing nature of identity in their new film series, Me, myself and I. The series, which will run alongside the 2016 Archibald Prize finalist exhibition, will showcase a new film each week from July 27 to October 16. They've got one killer lineup in store too. Many of the films in the series are old-school classics like The Shop Around the Corner — the 1940s film You've Got Mail was based on — and, one of our personal faves, Hitchcock's iconic 1959 film North By Northwest. But the series doesn't exclusively look to the past for answers to this age-old question of self. Also featured is the 2009 French film À l'origine — which follows the story of a professional conman — and the critically-acclaimed 2006 Iranian film Offside, a comic drama about a group of Iranian girls who disguise themselves as boys in an attempt to illegally attend a soccer match. Screenings will take place on Wednesdays and Sundays from July 27 to October 16. Tickets are free and issued at the Gallery's Domain Theatre an hour before each screening. For the full program, visit the AGNSW website.
The Australian bottleshop deserves a do-over. For too long we've purchased our grog at generic liquor stores that only really highlight the big, familiar names. Enter Native Drops. Bondi Beach's newest drinks retailer is putting a refreshing spin on the way we buy alcohol, turning the quick dash up to the bottle-o into an experience that features not only wine tasting, but also meet the maker sessions and workshops for customers. "Supermarkets can't showcase a lot of good wine in these places because they're being supported by big labels which have demand requirements to fill," co-founder Daniel Ferster explains about his venture, which aims to offer a sophisticated alternative to the model Aussies currently know. Ferster and his business partner Daniel Berman are the wine-obsessed brains behind the month-old space, which sells solely Australian wine, beer and spirits. It's a boutique business that emphasises the importance of buying local and provides a glimpse into just how vast, delicious and amazing the nation's industry is. Regions from Tasmania to the Margaret River are represented, with the selection hand-chosen and centred around small batch and often biodynamic producers. Featured wine producers include The Other Right, Arfion, Swinging Bridge, CRFT and Charlotte Dalton. Native Drops also plans to stock native cheeses, and will open a deli section in February. The interior design is earthy and rustic. Designer and architect Andy McDonnell has repurposed the site into a truly intimate space. It's low-lit and clean, with splashes of timber, copper and stone. Australian flora and fauna are celebrated with wildflower arrangements by local floral designer Selena Murray. "We've got a big tasting room attached and we're hosting a weekly wine-tasting series," says Ferster. "It's fashion-forward space and a cellar door-like experience." Native Drops is located at 7/19-23 O'Brien Street, Bondi Beach. Opening hours are 10am to 5pm every day, except Thursday (10am to 7pm) and Saturday (10am to 10pm). Visit their website for further details.
Time to brush up on your gin. The Rook is celebrating Gin & Tonic day with a week of celebrations, so expect lots of homages to the versatile spirit. It kicks off on Monday with the usual monthly meeting of gin lovers at the Rook, the Juniper Society (named after the plant gin is infused with). Anticipate an array of modern twists on the classic G&T from some of Sydney's best bartenders. Slated for the celebration on April 9 — the official International Gin & Tonic Day—includes lemon sorbet inspired by the spirit of the week and music by Sydney-based Rainbow Chan. $5 Tanqueray will be on tap all night, making sure everyone gets their Gin & Tonic fix. Friday promises to be a French-inspired gin day, with French pop being spun all night by So Frenchy So Chic and Daniel Clement. G&Ts with a sophisticated twist of G'Vine gin are not to be missed either.
April 14, 2018, will forever go down in history as the day Beyoncé took to the Coachella stage and made it her own. If you were lucky enough to be there, you'll no doubt remember it forever. If you watched the live stream — and it became the most-watched live-streamed performance of all time, so you probably did — then you'll never forget it either. Whichever category you fell into, you likely wish you were closer to the action — to the stage for the 105-minute performance, to the 100-plus dancers, to its powerful homage to America's historically black colleges and universities, and to the backstage antics as well. Enter Netflix's Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé, the concert documentary you definitely knew you needed, but didn't know existed until now. On Wednesday, April 17, the streaming platform will release the in-depth look at Beyoncé's epic show, revealing "the emotional road from creative concept to cultural movement" according to the official synopsis. The film reportedly clocks in at 137 minutes, so expect a lengthy and intimate tour through the festival set everyone has been talking about for a year, including behind-the-scenes footage and candid chats that delve into the preparation process and Beyoncé's stunning vision. Even if Beyoncé hadn't put on such a fierce 32-song performance complete with a marching band, Beychella still would've made history. Her performance was a year in the making, with the music superstar originally scheduled to play in 2017, but dropping out due to pregnancy (with twins Rumi and Sir). And when she finally appeared before the California crowd, she became the first black woman to headline the fest — and only the third woman to do so in 20 years. News of the film comes just as one of Beyoncé's 2018 co-stars, her sister Solange, announced that she was pulling out of this year's Coachella due to "major production delays". Check out the trailer for Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB8qvx0HOlI Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé hits Netflix on Wednesday, April 17.
By the time the triple-headline Blind Date Tour comes to an end with final shows in Sydney and Brisbane, the bands will have visited seven cities across Australia, bringing the nation together for eight fantastic shows. Sydney's Jinja Safari were recently called "a bristling force of nature" by New York label Neon Gold. And before jetting off to the UK for a massive set at the Isle Of Wight Festival, they're eager to remind their fans exactly why they've been given that title. Auckland's Opossum deliver a sound drenched in groove-laden psychedelia, with homespun tales about love and drugs from the just-released Electric Hawaii that'll take the crowd on a hazy roller coaster. Playing a set labelled as "a cul-de-sac of orgasmic, sweet indie-synth psychedelic-pop" that'll blow minds, Los Angeles' White Arrows round off the triple bill. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hswn0ScuvG0
It's a time-travelling romantic dramedy shot in the desert on the cheap, but what The Infinite Man lacks in size it makes up for in brains and heart. In that way, the film is a lot like its protagonist, the jumpy, obsessive, hopelessly romantic Dean (Josh McConville). A scientist of non-specific genius, Dean wants desperately to give his girlfriend, Lana (Hannah Marshall), the perfect anniversary weekend. Instead, his controlling behaviour ends up driving her back to her ex (Alex Dimitriades). Not to worry though. Dean can just casually invent a time machine and give the holiday another go. And another. And another. And another. Supported by the same South Australian funding initiative that helped pay for 52 Tuesdays, The Infinite Man is the rare sort of film that feels invigorated, rather than hamstrung, by its obvious financial constraints. Limited to just three cast members and a single, isolated location — an abandoned desert motel — first-time writer-director Hugh Sullivan has very few crutches to fall back on, and is instead forced to draw on a deep well of creativity to ensure his movie is a success. And what a success it is. Sullivan's script pulls from all manner of time-travel scenarios, including The Terminator, Back to the Future and a healthy dose of Primer. Each time our hero travels back in time, the situation grows steadily worse, as he finds himself interacting, and them competing, with different iterations of himself. It's not always easy to keep track of which Dean is which, but to be honest that's part of the fun. Sci-fi fans will delight in piecing the puzzle together — and after multiple viewings, we can confirm that the layers line up. Similarly sharp are the film's comedic sensibilities, riffing not just on the paradoxes of time travel but also sex, jealousy and love. McConville is brilliant as Dean, a perpetually insecure 'nice guy' who goes from endearing to pathetic to just plain creepy. At the opposite end of the alpha-male spectrum is Dimitriades, hilarious as Dean's dim-witted, javelin-throwing rival, who can't seem to acknowledge his relationship with Lana is over. Marshall is also great as the movies' perpetual straight-woman, although it's shame she's not given a bit more comedic stuff to do. But what really cements The Infinite Man as special is how it captures what it feels like as a relationship falls apart. To Dean in particular, the intricacies of time travel are nothing compared to the mysteries of the heart. His overwhelming need to recreate what has been lost is a compulsion that nearly everyone can understand. https://youtube.com/watch?v=-P7bQ9fUw7A
Feeling a big dose of wanderlust and itching to get away? We don't blame you. But sometimes it can be hard to know where to go, and also what you should do when you get there — which is exactly where a trip on the high seas comes in handy. There are more than a few reasons that you should consider hitting the water for your next getaway. Think: taking the stress out of navigating, getting to explore multiple locations, having ample opportunities for 'me time' and finding yourself with an abundance of entertainment options. Need further details? We've partnered with P&O Cruises to run through a couple of things that make cruising a great holiday option. YOU ONLY NEED TO UNPACK YOUR BAGS ONCE One massive benefit of jumping onboard a cruise ship is only having to unpack and repack your bags once. Every seasoned jetsetter knows the pain of having to pack and repack over and over — but on an ocean vessel, you can organise your things in your room and make yourself at home. Your toothbrush can stay in the holder, your clothes can go in the drawers and your skincare will be ready for you in an easy-to-find (and use) arrangement. And you won't ever need to wake up early to try to jam your suitcase shut because you're carting all of your stuff around with you from destination to destination. THERE'S NO CHANCE OF GETTING LOST If you've never been lost while on an adventure, you deserve a round of applause. For most of us mere mortals, this is a problem we're well-acquainted with — along with arguing over directions and getting flustered when driving in new terrain. Cruise ships, however, take all of that stress away by sailing you to exactly where you need to go (no Google Maps required). Instead of getting Siri to help navigate or debating with your travel partner over which turn you were supposed to take, you can just put your feet up and enjoy the ride. YOU CAN EXPLORE MULTIPLE DESTINATIONS Not only do you get to hang out in the fresh ocean air, sip cocktails with a view and relax in the sun when you're on a cruise, but you also get ferried to some amazing locations, which you then get to explore. Think tropical beaches and oceanside towns, plus places where you can take a trip through limestone caves filled with glow worms, snorkel over coral hotspots and hang with wild dolphins. Plus, some cruises also provide shore tours, which take you to hand-picked sights with some stellar tour providers. You get to just hop onboard the ship and be taken straight to a heap of incredible spots. YOU'LL HAVE PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITY FOR 'ME TIME' There's nothing like a bit of time to rest, recoup and recharge — and the pampering on the side is a pretty great bonus, too. Accordingly, one huge positive of cruise getaways is the ample opportunities they provide for a more than a little stint of 'me time'. Enjoy some solo exercise with a bit of yoga or a run around the onboard jogging track. Ease into a deckchair and escape into a good book, or relax in a salon chair as a beautician pampers you or a hairdresser tends to your locks. As a bonus, there's always retail therapy to fill your solo time if that's more your cup of tea. THERE'S AN ABUNDANCE OF ENTERTAINMENT You'll never be bored on a cruise ship with all the entertainment options on offer. While riding the ocean waves, you'll find plenty of music in the evenings, ranging from acoustic to jazz and R&B. You can flit between heading to theme parties, watching movies and checking out screenings of major sporting events. Plus, hitting the pools and waterslides, feasting at a fancy dinner, and taking part in deck games, table tennis and golf putting. You can take special event cruises too, such as an Elvis-themed trip or an onboard comedy festival with The Big Laugh. With so much to watch, listen to, laugh at and participate in, the time onboard will surely fly. For more information about P&O Cruises, head to the company's website.
Looking to bulk up your closet? Mark this date down in your diary. The Paddington Inn is hosting an exclusive fashion market that will feature clothing donated from some of Sydney's biggest fashion designers and bloggers. Some highlights include clothing from stylist Marina Afonina, designer Kym Ellery and Aje creative force Nadia Fairfax. Also on hand will be a floral pop-up stall with arrangements by the renowned My Violet. Whether you go with the intention of buying a whole new wardrobe or just to browse, you'll be entertained. The Paddington Inn's food and drink are available to shoppers, who can trawl the racks while listening to the tunes of DJs Valerie Yum and Lux Comms.
Nine days after Woolworths implemented its nationwide plastic bag ban, it has reneged on the ban — well, temporarily. After being inundated with complaints from customers in-store and on social media, the supermarket giant this morning posted to Facebook saying it will be giving out free reusable plastic bags until July 8. The reusable bags, which for the past nine days cost shoppers 15c, are thicker, more durable and are made from 80 percent recycled plastic — and were meant to encourage shoppers to bring them back, again and again, rather than buying a new one each time. The temporary, complimentary bag offer is only valid in certain states, NSW, Vic, WA and Qld, as the other states and territories have already had single-use plastic bag bans in place for several years (SA leading the pack, introducing it back in 2009). With Coles set to introduce its nationwide single-use plastic bag ban on Sunday, July 1, it will be interesting to see if the supermarket giant follows Woolworths' lead or, even, delays the start of the ban. Either way, the supermarkets will need to have their single-use bag bans running soon as Queensland will flat-out ban single-use plastic bags from July 1, and Victoria is set to do the same next year. NSW is yet to announce whether it will join suit.
The best documentaries have a way of transcending their subject matter, of using particular stories to explore significant human themes. Such is the case with All This Mayhem, the first theatrical effort from director Eddie Martin. Although ostensibly set in the world of professional skateboarding, the film is in fact a deeply personal portrait of brothers Tas and Ben Pappas — the Melbourne-born siblings who helped reinvigorate the sport, only to fall victims to the perils of their spectacular rise to fame. "This is the challenge, getting people [to] realise that it's not just a skate film," Martin told us. "For us, it's a story about brothers that just happens to be set in the world of skating. They're Greek boys, and it is like a Greek tragedy in a sense." The film begins with the siblings as teenagers, and chronicles their journey from a skate ramp in Prahran, Melbourne to becoming the two highest ranked skateboarders in the world. But with the success came money, and drugs, and soon the two brothers began throwing their good fortune away. Martin intercuts archival footage with a series of interviews with Tas, who speaks with devastating candour about the duo's fall from grace — one that culminated in his younger brother's tragic suicide in 2007 and his own incarceration for drug smuggling the following year. Now, after successful screenings at local film festivals, along with a recent UK premiere at the prestigious Sheffield Doc/Fest, All This Mayhem has hit Australian cinema screens. https://youtube.com/watch?v=8wDiszmA2o8 Just getting on camera was a huge act of trust "As a teenager I used to skate at Prahran Skate Park, and that's where I first met the boys," remembers Martin. "Then I stopped skating and we parted ways, but I still saw Ben around socially … then when he passed, that was obviously a huge shock for everyone. No one saw that coming." After Ben's death, the Pappas family was approached by a group of documentary filmmakers, but Tas wasn't happy with the direction they wanted to take the film. "They had approached Tas, who had said no, but they were still moving forward, and it just felt really exploitative," says Martin. "So we got ourselves motivated to go and talk to Tas, to try and do it properly." "Tas and Ben are incredible characters," Martin continues. "They've got a lot of heart and a lot of humour, and I knew Tas had the presence to carry the film. Obviously he had trust issues because of what had happened with that project … so it was just a process of making sure that everyone felt comfortable and that we were all on the same page and doing it for the right reasons." They don't shy away from rock bottom Since his release from prison, Pappas has slowly returned to skating, while steering clear of the temptations of his former life. As he tells it, part of his reason for wanting to do the documentary was as a way of reaching out to his estranged children in the United States. "I had to bear my soul, so my kids could see who I truly am … hopefully they'll see it one day and want to come find me," Pappas says. "Eddie's been a godsend. He's very understanding. He knows how sensitive the material is." Despite their friendship, Martin doesn't pull any punches when depicting the depths the brothers fell to. "We lived like pirates," says Pappas, looking back. "I didn't think about tomorrow. I didn't think about it [as a] career, or that my days were numbered … once I became number one, it was the best time in the world, but I remember thinking 'now what?' So then I really got right stuck into the drugs. I tried for years to get off them, but then I'd end up back on them even harder every time I relapsed." "It's like ripping open old wounds," he continues. "Sometimes I can watch the doco and it means nothing. And then other times I'll watch it and I'll find I'm depressed for days afterwards. Watching my little brother go all gaunt and then die … it wasn't really my brother, in the end." Mercy is the message "We've been blown away by people's response to the film," says Martin. "The response from the exhibitors has been so strong in the UK that they're going to bring it out on 30 screens, which is huge for an Australian film, let alone a doco." When asked about the positive response, Pappas says it feels "undeserved." At the same time, he's pleased by the prospect that his story might help others. "I've got a lot of regret, and I don't really esteem myself too highly with a lot of the stuff that I've done," he says. "But people seem to be forgiving. God is merciful, I've started learning that. If I've been shown this much mercy, I sort of have to try and help some kids who are going the wrong way." All This Mayhem opens on July 10 exclusive to Cinema Nova in Melbourne and Dendy Newtown in Sydney. Read our review here.
Pecans, pretzels, chocolate chip cookie crumbs, both chocolate and caramel syrups, whipped cream, cherries and rainbow sprinkles — and no less than 16 scoops of icecream. 'MUUUUURICA. Yours for a cheeky $100, the 'Kitchen Sink' sundae is the latest monstrosity from New York City joint Bubby's High Line. Apparently this mountainous beast's supposed to serve eight to ten hungry humans (but more likely to be ordered by groups of four max), this behemoth confection is next level indulgence and almost guaranteed cardiac arrest. But wait, no sparklers? If you're not feeling the whole 16-scooper, there's a $50 'Little Kitchen Sink' with half the scoops. That's still 50 nuggets for basically ice cream and a cute little flag. Seriously, if I'm going to throw down a pineapple for an out-of-the-punnet dessert, it'd better be scientifically-crafted into a freakin' Messina mushroom. Disney World's not going to be happy with Bubby's High Line, as the theme park's Beaches and Cream parlour has been churning out a colossal and literal 'Kitchen Sink' sundae since the '90s. These are the ingredients for Disney's WTF best-seller: ½ cup fudge topping, warmed ½ cup butterscotch topping, warmed ½ cup peanut butter topping, warmed 1 medium banana 1 cinnamon spice cupcake, quartered 1 angel food cupcake, quartered 2 scoops vanilla ice cream 2 scoops chocolate ice cream 2 scoops strawberry ice cream 1 scoop mint chocolate chip ice cream 1 scoop coffee ice cream 3 tablespoons chocolate syrup ¼ cup marshmallow crème ¼ cup strawberry topping ¼ cup pineapple topping 1 can dairy whipped topping 1 brownie, quartered 1 regular-sized chocolate bar, quartered 4 chocolate cookies with cream filling 1 tablespoon sliced toasted almonds 1 tablespoon dark and white chocolate shavings 1 tablespoon chocolate cookies with cream filling, crushed 1 tablespoon chopped jellied orange slices (approximately 2 large slices) 1 tablespoon milk chocolate chip morsels 1 tablespoon peanut butter chip morsels 1 tablespoon chocolate sprinkles 1 tablespoon rainbow sprinkles ½ cup drained maraschino cherries America aren't the only ones crafting gargantuan messes on the dessert menu. Max Brenner's recent menu change includes the 'Chocolate Mess to Share', a nostalgic party served in a nanna-like cake tin (that comes with a cooking spatula 'serving tool') in which devil's food cake, about five scoops of ice cream, whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles and that MB chocolate sauce hang out waiting for you to make poor (read: top notch) life choices. Or if you're into the oversized, Big Ol' Mess dessert industry, order anything from Paddington's beloved Micky's Cafe. Their 'sundae cake' can be made to order for bookings of over six (just six people needed) for just $5 pp. Devour layer upon layer of meringue, ice cream, rocky road, strawberries, housemade honeycomb, their infamous chocolate fudge. Eh. Screw it. Via Grub Street.
Kids have all the fun. Always covered in craft supplies, shimmering with the remains of runaway glitter, primary schoolers are treated to a pretty luxurious life. They spend all their day running around, making art and eating. It's the dream. Now, one element of your amazing childhood is becoming acceptable for adults — the colouring book. Inspired by the work of the art world greats, illustrator Marion Deuchars has created a colouring book for grown ups. Schooling you on the styles of Dada, pop art and surrealism to name a few, Draw Paint Print Like Great Artists runs through the life and work of artists such as Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Jasper Johns and Joan Miro. Full to the brim with beautiful illustrations, interesting facts and surprisingly fun activities, the book effortlessly combines your long lost primary school craft time with some of the art history you missed in high school. Alternatively, if you're up to date on your modern art theory, you could use the book as a little creative kickstart. "Every artist learns by looking at the work created by others, and then picks up bits of that and makes their own art in their own way," Deuchars said. "It may be something as simple as using scissors rather than a pencil, or being fascinated by a new shape or a playful exercise to take your imagination somewhere unfamiliar." Once regarded as child's play, creative exercises like this have been gaining prominence recently. In a simlar style, MOMA's Art Lab app offers its users an opportunity to unwind and experiment with digital technologies. Keri Smith's Finish This Book was packed full of outlandish tasks and artsy activities to complete, and it was a bestseller! This is definitely a trend we can get behind. Now we just need to get some quality crayons and convince our boss that nap times are a valid way to spend the afternoon. Draw Paint Print Like Great Artists is available via Laurence King. It's approximately $23 plus shipping. Via Huffington Post.
There's nothing that says 'Australian' quite like being the first ever company to crowdfund booze. But one company has found a way to combine Sydneysiders' two favourite beverages in one delicious, stylishly packaged drink. Sydney-based distillery MR BLACK recently launched a $10,000 Pozible campaign, harnessing the power of crowds and their love of coffee and alcohol to help launch their flagship product, MR BLACK Cold Drip Coffee Liqueur. The rewards for pledges range from invites to their launch party to actual bottles of MR BLACK, varying in size depending on the donation. According to head distiller Philip Moore, "MR BLACK is not for everyone. It’s not some cloying, sickly-sweet kiddie drink that makes your teeth hurt. Using the cold-drip method we’ve created a rich, intense coffee liqueur that actually tastes like coffee." MR BLACK is the brainchild of Moore and designer Tom Baker, and it's already getting quite a bit of attention from overseas, especially after winning the gold medal at the 2012 International Wine & Spirits Competition in London. Co-founder Baker says that not only are MR BLACK "at the intersection of Sydney coffee and bar culture" but they're also big supporters of the arts and creative scene — their bottle artwork is designed by local artist Dale Bigeni.
On small screens all around the world, The Last of Us is currently showing everyone how video game-to-TV adaptations can and should be done. Can the new Dungeons & Dragons movie do the same for tabletop role-playing games? Cinemagoers are about to find out, when Honour Among Thieves rolls out its campaign on the silver screen with Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, Michelle Rodriguez and Hugh Grant among the cast. As seen in both Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves initial sneak peek back in 2022 and its new just-dropped full trailer, the film focuses on a motley crew of characters rolling the dice. "We're thieves," Pine (Don't Worry Darling) explains in both, if the title wasn't already obvious enough. This crew, which spans Page (The Gray Man), Rodriguez (Fast & Furious 9), Justice Smith (Jurassic World Dominion) and Sophie Lillis (IT and IT: Chapter Two), too, "helped the wrong person steal the wrong thing". Cue the greatest evil the world has ever known, unleashed unwittingly, which this band of pilferers now endeavours to stop. In the two sneak peeks so far, dragons pop up, of course. So do dungeons, to the astonishment of no one. Other fantastical animals, fights, flaming swords, fireballs, an army of the undead and quips: they're all included as well, as are Grant (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), fellow cast members Chloe Coleman (Avatar: The Way of Water) and Daisy Head (Wrong Turn), and Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'. Behind the camera, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Game Night) are in the directors' chairs, and co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Gilio. The mood they're going for: lighthearted, comic, but also an action-adventure epic. And, like all movies these days, they're seemingly trying to start a new franchise as well. Another Dungeons & Dragons movie has long sat on the list of things that were bound to happen after the success of Stranger Things. The role-playing game has already sparked three movies, with the first dating back to 2000 — but none of them starred this bunch (or were well-received, whether they hit theatres or went straight to home entertainment). Actually, another D&D film has been in the works in some shape or form since before the world saw a bunch of kids in Hawkins, Indiana play the game. Thanks to the success of Game of Thrones, fantasy epics have become a huge Hollywood cash cow (see also: the return of The Lord of the Rings as a streaming series). And yes, films based on Hasbro properties don't have the best record — the Transformers series, the GI Joe flicks, Battleship, Power Rangers — but if you're a D&D devotee, you'll be hoping this one changes that. Check out the new Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves trailer below: Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves opens in cinemas Down Under on March 30.
Some couples are content to stay engaged for years; others feel they are in limbo until the Big Day officially signals the start of the rest of their lives. Tom (Jason Segel) and Violet (Emily Blunt) are in the latter camp, and they make some not-so-wise decisions while their attempts to set the right date stretch out to five years. They're initially waylaid when psych academic Violet lands a post-doc at an interstate university. Tom, a sous chef at a trendy San Francisco restaurant, contends he can do his job anywhere, but he doesn't count on the stunted restaurant scene in Ann Arbor, Michigan that means he can only get a job in a sandwich shop. Between that, the grey weather and his new friendships with downtrodden "faculty husbands", he's not happy. So when Violet's position gets extended beyond the initial two years, it puts even more pressure on the couple, and the constant prodding from their family and friends (including local hero Jackie Weaver as Violet's mother and Community and Mad Men's Alison Brie as her sister) to tie the knot isn't necessarily helping. Co-written by Segel (who also wrote The Muppets) and director Nicholas Stoller, The Five Year Engagement holds a lot of promise. It's a romantic comedy where the couple have a genuine, sweet, off-in-their-own-world connection, and both lead characters have complex lives that hinge on more than just their romantic relationship for satisfaction. Their obstacles are real ones, not the confected kinds usually used to keep apart a totally obvious pairing (she likes to knit, he runs an American Apparel, etc). Segel and Blunt each bring a sackload of charm, and they also seem to strive for gender equality in their comedic physical injury stakes (both admirably high). Unfortunately, for all the effort that went into making this feel real, their situation is riddled with inauthenticity. You feel it most keenly in the premise that Tom spends five years descending into disturbing levels of depression while Violet does almost nothing about it. This big chunk of the film is supposed to be funny but is actually horrifying. It's one of the areas where The Five-Year Engagement doesn't obey its own logic or quite find its comedy groove, chugging along at a tittering, offbeat level but trying to throw in hyperactive set-ups borrowed from an American frat movie. It's a shame, because although it's an enjoyable watch, with just a little more ruthlessness editing, this could have been a leader in the genre. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Us-5iN5aFqE
Over the past few years, the air travel industry has been flitting back and forth between two extremes. The desire for longer flights — especially non-stop from Australia to London and New York — keeps getting stronger. At the same time, the push to reduce the environmental toll of soaring through the sky has also been growing. Where the latter is concerned, Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly set itself a goal of becoming the world's first plastic-free carrier. Closer to home, Qantas pledged to phase out single-use plastics and boarding passes — and has been using mustard seed biofuel to power its planes. For Canadian seaplane outfit Harbour Air, however, the solution is electric. And, this month, it launched the first fully electric commercial aircraft. So far, the ePlane — a six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver magnified by a 750-horsepower (or 560 kilowatt) magni500 propulsion system — has only just completed its first test flight, which took place in Vancouver on December 10. Still, with Harbour Air aiming to build world's first completely electric commercial seaplane fleet for its 30,000 commercial annual flights across 12 routes around Vancouver and Seattle, it's the first step. The ePlane's magni500 propulsion system is the key to turning Harbour Air fully electric dream — and its desire to focus on clean, efficient, environmentally friendly power — into a reality. It's created by a company called magniX, which has its headquarters in the US but actually started in Australia — on the Gold Coast, where it still has an engineering centre. Before Harbour Air can bring its fleet to fruition, the two outfits will first need to get the magni500 propulsion system certified and approved — and then retrofit the airline's aircraft. For further information about Harbour Air, visit the company's website. Images: Harbour Air
It seems Sydney street artist Scott Marsh didn't spend too much time celebrating his alleged $100k profit last week (or drinking it at The Glad, for that matter). After his seven-metre Chippendale mural of Kanye West kissing himself went viral last month — and garnered interest from Yeezy himself, who apparently paid $100,000 to have it painted over — Marsh has come back with a new piece that is arguably even more relevant than Kanye's narcissism: a mural of NSW Premier Mike Baird. Great photo of me finishing up last night by @colebennetts 📷 Caught @mikebairdmp out on a big Friday night he was happy to pose for a few reference flicks 👍🏻 #casinomike #keepsydneyopen A photo posted by Scott Marsh (@scottie.marsh) on Apr 17, 2016 at 3:52pm PDT The mural, which was painted last night, Sunday, April 17, has popped up on the side of the Lord Gladstone Hotel in Chippen Lane. Dubbed #casinomike by Marsh, it depicts the Premier on a "big Friday night" past lockout time at 1.31am, complete with casino chips, an illicit late night kebab and a bottle of Penfolds Grange that he assumedly bought before 10pm. It's smug as all hell. Not sure that Mike Baird will be able to shell out Marsh's high wall buffing fees to get the mural removed, but maybe he'll be willing to bargain with some policy. A photo posted by Danny Clayton (@dannyclayton) on Apr 17, 2016 at 4:09am PDT Top image: Danny Clayton via Instagram.
We know the last few years have been pretty grim, what with the world imploding, hell freezing over and all that. But we need to remember good things happen as well, and here are two local examples we'd like to draw your attention to. Firstly, there's a pied currawong that's been delighting visitors to Sydney's Royal Botanical Garden. She's super cute and nearly complete white but she's not actually an albino. The lil gal has leucism, a rare condition that causes white patches to cover most of her body but causes no other adverse side effects. Because it's breeding season for currawongs, she's raising two hatchlings and has been seen around the park a lot recently. Which leads us to the second, and even cuter, piece of news… The park invited its Facebook fans to name the currawong. Now, you may have just shrieked "No! Remember Dub the Dew? Remember Boaty McBoatface?" But fear not, this isn't another "Hitler Did Nothing Wrong" situation. The internet has actually come through. Fans of the Royal Botanic Garden's Facebook page put forward some of the sweetest suggestions to name the currawong mama, including Flora (because she likes hanging around flowers, obviously), Elsa, Snowy, Graculina, Oreo, "Kelvin...Kelvinator...White goods...", Falcor, Apples, Louey, Flannel, Paloma, Stormy, Cookie, Bianca, Crow White and Casper. So pure. So innocent. Someone suggested "Carol from marketing" which is also an ace suggestion. Snaps for Carol from marketing. Read the thread here if you want your heart to be filled with gladness (keep it pure, people) and, if this story has made you uncharacteristically invested in a bird, check out the RBG's blog for information about the ghostly currawong. We assume the Royal Botanic Garden will pick a name soon.
Here is a story to both perturb and titillate the sensitive art-lovers among us. Unbeknownst to the general populace, Fujifilm has been stealthily developing something major for seven years: a 3D printing technology that can reproduce artworks, such that they are virtually undetectable as being anything other than the real thing. Coined 'Reliefography', the process has so far flawlessly cloned five works by Vincent Van Gogh, mimicking everything from the distinctive brushstrokes of the troubled ear-severing genius, right down to the faded and torn handwritten labels on the back of the frame. While a true expert would most likely be able to spot the fake, it's still kind of chilling, right? What will be the final refuge of authenticity in this madly self-replicating 3D-printed world? The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which worked with Fujifilm to create the process, appears to have absolutely no issues with it. Intending to use the profits to fund renovations and collection upkeep, it has already released limited-edition runs of 260 (up to three replicas can be produced per day), and many more are in the works. The current 'Relievos' that can be purchased are Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom (1890), Sunflowers (1889), The Harvest (1888), Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds (1890) and Boulevard de Clichy (1887). So how much will it set you back to own your own dazzling forgery? A mere $34K, a trifling amount compared to the price of a real Van Gogh. The technology could surely mean the world to galleries that can't afford to purchase an original masterpiece, and in particular to the blind — unlike an original, a forgery can be experienced through touch. The innovation could perhaps mean even more to anyone hoping to make a quick buck from selling illegal forgeries to suckers. Cue art heist shenanigans and Catherine Zeta-Jones undulating beneath security laser beams. Via Gizmodo.
The four exhibitions currently running at Firstdraft each a paint a kind of portrait: most of people, two of places. A main feature of Jacquelene Drinkall's Weather Underwater are its 'balaclava fascinators': stretched wire faces, with conical scalps towering to infinity. On the opposite wall, Seth Birchall's Man Crush is a series of faces. Each pair was painted in parallel — with every stroke of the first panel repeated on the second, making a mark-for-mark set of two. Paired, they look like stereoscopic photos, though minor details sit at odds from one image to the next. Arsenic tint colours offset Birchall's faces, giving them a television glow. Stella Rosa McDonald's Second City is the highlight of the four. In a black room at the back of the gallery, six people are projected life-size on the wall opposite. They meet your eye as they stand and shuffle patiently in place. A pair of earphones dangle from the ceiling. Listening, your hear critical discussion of "What is a bogan?" by some casual voices. Glebe locals, young and old, are featured in the project. The questions that make up the piece's audio features some of their interrogation. Behind Second City is a blue curtain, where a toothed tunnel which leads through to Claire Finneran and Hossein Ghaemi's This Way Up! The exhibition feels like an abandoned sea cave filled with religious ephemera. The little statues and symbols on the wall are evocative of religions and numinous moments, but none of them belong to a religion in particular. These little holy places revere kiwi fruit, pebbles, a spare cigarette or a shiny cereal packet plunked on a golden pillar. More than one devotion is worshipped here, and each tiny altar fights idly for attention, before you push your way back out through the curtain. Image by Seth Birchill.
Too lazy to walk? Want to get to a faraway part of town? Add a bus tour to your Art Month itinerary. Whether you live in Sydney's north, south, east or west, you can rest assured that artists on the other side of the city have something to show you that you've never seen before. 2016's bus tours will be travelling all over the place. And each will be led by an expert. Heading to Penrith is Gary Carsley, while Consuelo Cavaniglia will be helping you to Go East, with a trip through Paddington and Woollahra. Meanwhile, in Parramatta, Jon Kirkman, director of the International Culture Exchange, will be showing you private collections, studios and favourite eateries, and in Campbelltown, you'll meet with artist Rosie Deacon. Finally, Barry Keldoulis will be bravely taking on the Go North tour, covering exhibitions and ending with a live performance. Image: Rosie Deacon.
Life drawing and classes all typically unfold in the same manner: a model disrobes, budding artists commit their likeness to paper, and a wealth of potential masterpieces all focus on the naked human form. But at Magnolia's Art Class, that's just part of the equation. The other part? The folks behind the easel are also encouraged to drop their clothes. Open to women and female-identifying participants, next taking place on Wednesday, January 22 at Dulcie's Kings Cross, this art session is also a bonding session. It asks artists to embrace their own bodies while they're sketching someone else's, and celebrates confidence, diversity and empowerment in the process. And, it also lets attendees strike a pose as well — while there'll be an art model leading the charge, everyone can trying their hand at standing in their place. This time around, tickets cost $27 and, given that Australia is still burning, proceeds will go towards helping communities and animals affected by the current bushfire crisis. All 100 percent of the ticket price will be split and donated to the NSW Rural Fire Service, the RSPCA and WIRES's Emergency Wildlife Fund. You can also tack on an extra donation when buying a ticket through the Eventbrite page. Given the venue, there'll also be wine, cocktails and cheese available to purchase. How naked you get is up to you, based your own comfort levels — and the section of the bar where the class takes place will be closed off, and solely served by female staff. All drawing skill levels are welcome, too, with the teacher Kate taking you through the basics. Just BYO dressing gown, sketch book, and drawing or painting tools.
Since True Blood came to an end, Anna Paquin has kept busy; however, if you're only going to watch one of her recent projects, make it the acerbically amusing Flack. She plays Robyn, an American publicist now living and working in London. There's much to laugh about in the field of public relations, and ample drama, too — so Flack mines the industry for both as Robyn tries to navigate a seemingly never-ending array of professional chaos, and makes the most of her ever-hectic personal life as well. A couple of episodes from the show's second season are directed by her True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer, and the series' big names don't end there. Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo pops up as Robyn's boss and the always-beloved Sam Neill features, with the latter reuniting with fellow New Zealander Paquin after they both starred in The Piano back in 1993.
When Sydney Chamber Opera first performed Notes from Underground back in 2011 at the National Art School's Cell Block Theatre, they were, at just one year old, fresh and yet unestablished. But the production — which saw composer Jack Symonds and librettist Pierce Wilcox work together for the first time — was defining for the SCO, and cemented their position as a powerful voice in Sydney's arts scene. Five years on, they're revisiting the opera in a brand new production which will premiere at Carriageworks over five nights from August 13-20. Symonds, once again alongside Wilcox, has composed an epic soundtrack especially for the 2016 production and his troupe of performers. Directed by Patrick Nolan and designed by Genevieve Blanchett, the stage becomes a map of the central character's mind, and explores ideas of his memory, obsession, desire and belonging. As you may have guessed, Notes from Underground is loosely based around Dostoevsky's 1864 novella of the same name. But there's been some changes. While the production stays true to the two-part structure of the fictional memoir of an isolated 'Underground Man', it takes the narrative from 19th century Russia and pulls it into present day. Add in some influences from David Lynch and Spike Jonze and you've got yourself a modern day opera epic. Book into the final performance on Saturday, August 20 and catch a free pre-show talk with journalist Caroline Baum in conversation with both Symonds and Wilcox at 6pm.
If you've been dying to put that part of your mind which is great at cryptic crosswords and problem-solving games to work, then we've got some good news. Australia's largest escape room complex has just launched its twisty self into Sydney. Rediscover the highs and lows of teamwork (remember group assignments?) by picking a group of clever mates — you can be brutal — and rolling down to Glebe's MYST to give one of its challenges a go. You'll have your pick of three themed rooms — an ancient tomb, pirates or vampires — all with multiple rooms within them. You and your mates will be immersed in a world that isn't your own and will be quickly reminded of the beauty of teamwork — either you all escape or none of you will. MYST also features a fully immersive three-hour theatre experience, set in an ancient palace during the Qiang Dynasty. MYST is already open if you're ready to start cracking some codes, but it's also hosting a launch party on Friday, May 31. Tickets cost $15 per person and include beer, wine and canapés. There'll also be a DJ, plus a tour and souvenir key chain thrown in, too. You certainly won't be wanting to escape that quite yet — brainwork is for later. The MYST Launch Night Party kicks off at 5pm on Friday, May 31. To purchase tickets, head this way.
