Just this morning, Nike announced to the world that it had terminated its sponsorship agreement with boxer Manny Pacquiao on account of his offensive views towards same sex couples. It’s a timely reminder of the lengths to which corporations will go in order to protect their brand, even if it means dropping one of the biggest and most successful names on their books. The most powerful companies in the world understand that such power exists only insofar as the public continues to allow it, for without their buying power, these companies are nothing. The most famous and certainly most destructive example of this approach took place in the 1950s, when Hollywood’s major motion picture studios agreed to blacklist a group of their most successful screenwriters on account of their affiliation with the communist party. No crimes were committed, no treason alleged, yet these men were suddenly denied any ability to work in the industry to which they’d dedicated their lives and provided so many financial and critical accolades. Families struggled, many crumbled, and some of the blacklisted even died. And all of it because a few powerful conservatives including John Wayne and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (played here by Helen Mirren) deigned to call them ‘un-American’. The best known of the so-called Hollywood Ten was screenwriting legend Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston), the highest paid writer in town and the scribe behind such hits as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Kitty Foyle. When he refused to comply with the infamous hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Trumbo was immediately blacklisted and imprisoned, and soon realised the only way he’d be able to continue working was to write B-movies for a pittance under an assumed name. So began an extraordinary period in Hollywood’s history that ultimately resulted in not one, but two Academy Awards going to entirely fictitious writers. It's a story so fantastic it would seem to surpass the imagination of even the likes of Trumbo. Perhaps that explains why Trumbo the film falls somewhat short of the mark. A movie that not just centres on an extraordinarily gifted screenwriter, but also includes multiple excerpts of his craft, inherently sets up an unavoidable comparison with its own writers’ work, and the contrast is at times pronounced. The film’s tone, too, frequently errs on the whimsical despite its subject matter representing an incredibly dark and shameful period in America’s history. The scenes where its actors pay proper deference to this are by far the strongest – although the most moving scene of all takes place in the credits, when the real-life Trumbo pays tribute to his stoic daughter Nikola (Elle Fanning). Despite these issues, Trumbo tells a compelling tale. Led by a remarkable performance from Cranston, the extensive cast breathes much life into the story – and while it feels insufficiently told, the portrait of the man at its centre remains a moving one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gryhSJxx7I
This fashion destination is home to a plethora of designer clothes that'll take you from workout to work — or from the beach to a night out. Created by Deborah Symond O'Neil, Mode Sportif houses both international designers and Australian favourites. Browse playful prints by Copenhagen designer Ganni, easy separates by Lee Mathews, floral numbers by Rixo, activewear by Varley, easygoing denim by Citizens of Humanity, sneakers by Axel Arigato and heels by Rejina Pyo. Accessories aren't forgotten about either, with an extensive range of sunglasses (from the likes of Chloé, Gucci and Shevoke), handbags (by Staud, Hershan and Kayu) and jewellery (from Meadowlark, Anni Lu and Holly Ryan).
Before Chippendale was home to Coopers distillery, and well before it was the home to the high-rise precinct Central Park, Chippendale was rife with crime and poverty. Today, the inner-city suburb has undergone gentrification: factories are interlaced with hip cafes, art galleries are interspersed with bars and converted warehouses sit alongside terrace housing. As if to herald the neighbourhood's arrival, Kaleidoscope Gallery and Soma Studios have joined forces to create a local curated mini-market in Chippendale. The keyword here being curated; you're inside the iconic red doors of the Kaleidoscope Gallery, but this time you can actually touch the displays (except for the food — that would be awkward). Stall offerings range from natural skincare to garden accessories, sustainable fashion, flowers and jewellery. Being in an art gallery and all, you can even pick up some locally created art and watch live music performances. The markets are on hold as organisers wait for approval to extend the event into the laneway next door the gallery.
When you want to multiply your thrills on the Central Coast, there's a former cinema complex that ticks all the boxes for a nostalgic night on the town. It has a weekly rotation of cult classics on the big screen, vodka shots and Napoli-style margherita pizzas coming thick and fast from the kitchen, and a reliably fun roster of DJs spinning throwback floorfillers every Saturday night. The 1950s Long Jetty movie theatre operated for 20 years before closing for four decades — and its revival as a hub for good-old-fashioned good times has been welcomed by locals and visitors alike. Plan your trip for a Thursday or Sunday night to catch one of more chilled film screenings — think Pulp Fiction and School of Rock — or head in on a busier night for jugs of Beetle Juice and platters of 'retro dips' brought to your theatre-style seat. Movie tickets start from $12.64 and are available via Eventbrite.
The King has risen. Head out to Parkes in January and you would be forgiven for thinking you're in Graceland — if there's anything this town is known for (apart from the iconic Dish, of course) it's the Parkes Elvis Festival. Pull on your blue suede shoes and get ready to find yourself a hunk, a hunk of burning love. The festival takes place over five days during the second week of January to coincide with the King's birthday (January 8, as if you didn't already know). Over 25,000 visitors flock to the town to see international and national Elvis tribute artists battle it out to be named the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist. There's also a Miss Priscilla competition, rock 'n' roll dancing, busking, a midnight show and a finale concert. The Parkes Elvis Festival is officially endorsed by the King's estate, Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc., so you know it's legit. Stop talking about it, and just do it this year. A little less conversation, a little more action.
A decade ago, English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur FC scored a new American coach and assistant in an advertisement hyping up soccer coverage by US TV network NBC. In that four-minute commercial, Ted Lasso made his debut, taking a gig across the pond without knowing a thing about the sport — or letting that whole lack of familiarity with the world game stop him. At his side: a bearded, sunglasses-wearing, cap-donning offsider, who dutifully offered advice and tried to steer him in the right direction. Unsurprisingly given how successful Ted Lasso has now become as an award-winning sitcom, viewers warmed to the sketch and its characters. A year later in 2014, the clueless coach returned in another ad, this time back in the US and using his Premier League learnings on home turf. But it'd take six more years before the Apple TV+ series that's widely and deservedly loved would grace screens, and before Saturday Night Live alum Jason Sudeikis and his We're the Millers and Horrible Bosses 2 co-star Brendan Hunt would return to the roles of Ted and Coach Beard. Now, Sudeikis has two acting Emmys for the first two seasons of the smash-hit show, and another two as one of its executive producers — and Hunt has a nomination for his on-screen supporting part, and shared those latter two wins. "It's wonderfully insane," Hunt tells Concrete Playground while chatting about Ted Lasso's long-awaited third season, which starts streaming from Wednesday, March 15 after an almost two-year gap since 2021's season two. Even if you hadn't seen the two ads that sparked the show, Hunt's face might've been familiar when Ted Lasso first hit Apple TV+ — his resume also includes appearances on everything from Parks and Recreation and Community to How I Met Your Mother and Key & Peele — but co-creating, -producing, -writing and -starring in one of the biggest comedy smashes of the past four years has made him instantly recognisable. He's also the man behind one of the show's most beloved characters, which is no mean feat given how widely adored the AFC Richmond crew are. A man of few words who's always at Ted's side, Beard hasn't stopped intriguing viewers yet. When Ted Lasso started its run as a series, its namesake and his righthand man Beard moved to London, and switched sports. So far, so familiar from the ads. But Ted Lasso as a series has a warmer tone, a busy roster of other players and the hearty embrace of audiences worldwide thanks to its kindness as much as its comedy. The gap between season two and three has been keenly noticed and felt — and not just because season two ended with a bombshell, after AFC Richmond assistant coach Nathan 'Nate' Shelley (Nick Mohammed, Intelligence) defected to rival club West Ham United, burning bridges with his old team and, pointedly, with Ted. How will Ted and Nate handle their new status quo? How has Hunt handled the Ted Lasso rollercoaster ride so far? Why is Beard such a fan favourite? They're just some of the things that we discussed with Hunt — alongside season two's delightful Beard After Hours episode, of course. ON TED LASSO'S JOURNEY FROM A SKETCH TO A SITCOM — AND ITS HUGE SUCCESS "Yeah, it's bonkers. You know, we took that first gig in that first campaign, and the main selling point was 'oh and we get to go to London for three whole days!'. Cut to: last year when we're in London for ten months. I think last year we were in London so long, we were like 'eh, London'. But that first one was super fun, and it went well enough that they had us go the next year, and that was fun too. And then Jason, [Ted Lasso co-creator] Joe Kelly and I got together [and went] 'alright, we've got to find a way to do more of this'. And then we wrote a pilot and put together a season arc — that was in late 2014/early 2105, and it felt like 'oh wow, we're going to have a TV show any minute now!'. And we didn't. We didn't for years. Years passed. Jason's career, he's going fine. Joe's career, he's going fine. Me, I'm baking on a rock, holding on for dear life in Los Angeles. And I had officially gotten to the point where I had given up any hope of anything Ted Lasso happening — like I was no longer even asking Jason if anything was happening. Then one day out of nowhere, he was like 'hey, is that pilot we did, is that still online somewhere?'. Yeah man, of course it is, that's how online works. He goes, 'oh, because Im talking to [Scrubs creator and sitcom veteran] Bill Lawrence tomorrow'. And then suddenly things moved very, very quickly after years of nothingness and heartbreak. I mean the last four years — it is what it is, and I just cannot, cannot, still cannot believe what has happened. I try not to think about it. I try to just get on the ride and pull down the harness and shake it and make sure it's secure, and then 'weeeeeeeeeeeeee!' — and then not think about the actual physics of the loop-de-loops, because it's insane." ON WHY TED LASSO HAS STRUCK SUCH A CHORD WITH AUDIENCES "In the ads, it's a sketch. And a thin sketch idea can work really well for five minutes, but it's unlikely to work for 30. So we just had so much fun doing the first two — 'like, we've got to find a way to do this' — and as soon as were making the TV show, we knew from early on, and this was Jason's idea, that something has to be going on in Ted's life to make him do this crazy thing. And we came upon the idea that he's going through a divorce. We weren't going to play the divorce for laughs — we were going to play the divorce for real. Jason and Joe and I, we've all been through a divorce. It's nothing to mess with. It's a very hard time. And once we had that in there, then the reality of this character is more fully formed and is now baked in, and is something to keep returning to. That's what led the way to panic attacks. That's what led the way to finding out his history with his dad, and stuff like that. I think we wouldn't be sitting here still talking about this show if it was still what it was in the original campaign." ON COACH BEARD'S ROLE IN THE SHOW — AND HIS FAN APPEAL "I think the main thing was still have him standing next to Ted as much as possible, because then people understand why he's there. No, it's just the idea that Ted wouldn't do this crazy thing alone. He would do it with someone he trusts — someone who would help him with the finer points, such as offside. And Beard's whole mission — we come from an improv and sketch-comedy culture, and one axiom you hear in that world is while you're offstage, while you're watching your partners improvise, ask yourself 'what does the scene need?'. Then you come into the scene with that. Well, Ted is the scene that Beard is watching, and Beard is always asking 'what does Ted need?'. That is rarely for Beard to talk, because Ted's pretty good at that bit. So Ted and Beard just have a very unspoken yet incredibly clear relationship and dynamic, and one's not going to take such a journey like this without the other — they're bosom buddies. I think it's [Coach Beard's fan appeal] just sort of a happy ancillary result of how little he talks, because he's on camera a lot by dint of the aforementioned standing next to Ted, who will most often be in the centre of your screen. And when someone is on camera that much but isn't talking, well, that's mysterious. Now you don't know what that dude's really about. It makes him a bit if a blank canvas that people can project themselves on and make their own assumptions about, but they're still unable to fill up that whole canvas themselves. So that accidentally discovered air of mystery, once we knew that was there, then it was like 'we can play with this and have good fun with it'." ON SEASON TWO'S BEARD AFTER HOURS EPISODE "We started writing season two before season one had come out, and season two was going to be ten episodes as season one was. We'd been going for three or four months before season one came out, so by then we had the season worked out — we had it mapped out, we had the dynamics, we had the peaks and valleys, and where things were going to go. Then suddenly the show comes out and, as you may have heard, that went pretty well. Almost first thing Monday morning, Apple was like 'you have two more episodes, please do two more episodes!'. And we're like 'okay, alright'. But we can't just mess with the dynamics we'd created for the scenes, so we had to come up with two episodes that were kind of standalone. We had a bit of a discard pile of things we were thinking of doing, and one was the Christmas episode, and the other was an episode where we follow Beard around. On top of that, where it's placed in the season, we really liked from sort of a mischief standpoint — because the episode before is a very big episode where a lot of big things happen, and by the end of that episode, you're definitely ready for next week and to find out where these things are going to go. And instead we go 'no, no, sorry, you're getting Beard for 45 minutes'. 45 minutes! 'Yeah, sorry, his is how it worked out'. And then, the week later, then we finally get back to business. So it was a happy accident, essentially, and it ended up being a pretty fun diversion." ON SEASON THREE'S BIG THEMES "Certainly for Ted, he made a promise in season one if they ever got back he'd try to win the whole fucking thing. Well, now they're back, and he doesn't give promises lightly. So he has to decide if he's going to go whole hog with that and, if so, is that at the risk of the values that he's trying to teach? And at the same time, Nate is off at West Ham having to figure out if what he's done or what he's doing, and what he has now, is worth the bridges that he's burned. With Rupert in his ear, that can go a few different ways. Other than that, we're looking at some of the same things we always have — vulnerability and honesty, and love and pain. And every ten minutes or so, somebody apologises for something." Season three of Ted Lasso starts streaming via Apple TV+ from Wednesday, March 15. Read our full review.
If you haven’t been to the glittering celebration of diversity, local art and DJ talent known as Heaps Gay before, then good news everybody, this all-inclusive fun-time party for all is turning one and they’re pulling out some seriously awesome stops for the big bash. Since its sweaty beginnings almost a year ago, this monthly party thrown every third Saturday at the Gladstone Hotel in Chippendale is taking over the entirety of The Oxford Hotel to ensure the world and his wife/husband/significant other can party on down. In conjunction with this once-off venue change comes a whole bunch of talent too, including live and hot from Berlin, the onesie-styling wonders of 80s ballad belter, Peter Baecker, as well as Kato, Levins, Shantan Wantan Ichiban, Wild Sunset, Cunningpants and a load more. Oh and did we mention the twerking workshop? Come for the welcoming vibe, stay for the cheap booze and also shed a tear because it might be happy birthday to Heaps Gay, but it’s also the last for the year.
Sydney is no stranger to a pop-up concert venue. Just this year, gig-goers have been blessed with the introduction of Pleasure Playhouse in Haymarket and Speakers Corner on William Street. These two limited-time spaces brought together rosters of genre-spanning talent for a series of gigs, and this summer, another like-minded venue is springing forth — this time in a nostalgic Martin Place building. The Weary Traveller is taking over the basement of the iconic Harry Seidler mushroom building — also known as the CTA Business Club — between Thursday, January 5 and Sunday, January 29 as part of Sydney Festival. This late-night haunt will bring a 70s lounge bar energy to the longstanding building and play host to 16 shows, each presenting a different boundary-pushing artist spanning the genres of pop, punk, jazz, hip hop, dance and more. On the lineup: always relatable Wergaia and Wemba Wemba singer-songwriter Alice Skye, pop trailblazer June Jones, sax-heavy Sydney punk duo Party Dozen, experimental electronic producer and dance floor favourite Moktar, and rock-reggae icons Coloured Stone. And that's just the start. There will also be two big dance parties curated by Astral People, a performance from Australian voice Tom Snowden, a collaboration between Melbourne hip hop trio Two Birds and Sydney's Bayang (Tha Bushranger), two shows from British grime star Lil Silva, and appearances from Automatic, HTRK and Potion. Adding to the throwback energy of the venue, Sydney Festival has enlisted the help of nostalgic Australiana expert Hawke's Brewery as the official beer of the festival and The Weary Traveller. Tickets range between $29–59 and can be purchased in a multipack. Head to the Sydney Festival website to view the program and nab tickets. [caption id="attachment_884257" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jacquie Manning[/caption] Top image: Jacquie Manning
Fancy learning to drum the bongos or chowing down on rich, authentic African and Latin American grub? After its impressive, crowd drawing debut in 2011, the now-annual Afro Latino Festival will stage the same energetic cultural showcase again this year. Boasting a stack of musical workshops and performances, arts and craft stalls and even the odd fashion parade, the family-friendly event aims to educate Sydney siders on the history and spirit of our African-Latino community. Kicking off at 11am, folks are also invited to open their ears up to a specially-formed performance ensemble that will demonstrate just how much of the world’s music and dance has been influenced by African performance. Candombe drumming, one of the most vibrant, heart-racing forms of the musical art, will no doubt please the masses and families can also take part in lessons from the colourful local Candombe Urumbe crew throughout the day. Last year’s event saw over 1000 attendees but something tells us this type of high-energy weekend event will grab even bigger numbers this time around. The party will wrap up at 6pm.
Lengthy is the list of Australian actors who've started their careers on home soil, then boosted their fame, acclaim and fortunes by heading abroad. Some have won Oscars. Others are global household names. One plays a pigtailed comic book villain in a big film franchise, while another dons a cape and wields a hammer in a competing blockbuster saga. David Gulpilil doesn't earn any of the above descriptions, and he isn't destined to. It wouldn't interest him, anyway. His is the face of Australian cinema, though, and has been for half a century. Since first gracing the silver screen in Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout, the Yolŋu man has gifted his infectious smile and the irrepressible glint in his eye to many of the nation's most important movies. Indeed, to peruse his filmography is to revel in Aussie cinema history. On his resume, 70s classics such as Mad Dog Morgan and The Last Wave sit alongside everything from Crocodile Dundee and Rabbit-Proof Fence to Australia, Goldstone and Cargo — as well as parts in both the first 1976 film adaptation of Storm Boy and its 2019 remake. The latest film to benefit from the Indigenous talent's presence: My Name Is Gulpilil. It might just be the last do to so, however. That sad truth has been baked into the documentary ever since its subject asked director Molly Reynolds and producer Rolf de Heer — two filmmakers that Gulpilil has collaborated with before, including on Another Country, Charlie's Country, Ten Canoes and The Tracker — to make something with him after he was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer. That was back in 2017, when he was given just six months to live. Gulpilil has been proving that diagnosis wrong ever since. This heartfelt portrait of an Australian icon like no other also benefits from his defiance, particularly in practical terms. Initially starting out as a 30-day shoot, the doco eventually extended over twice that period, with Gulpilil, Reynolds and their movie alike all given the most precious thing there is: more time. The film that results celebrates a star who'll never be matched, and reminds viewers exactly why that's the case — but My Name Is Gulpilil isn't a mere easy, glossy tribute. Anyone could've combined snippets of Gulpilil's movies with talking heads singing his praises. In the future, someone probably will. But Reynolds is interested in truly spending time with Gulpilil, hearing his tale in his own words, and painting as complete a portrait of his life, work, dreams, regrets, spirit, culture and impact as possible. Accordingly, this touching feature steps through Gulpilil's highs and lows as relayed by the man himself. It spends much of its duration enjoying simply being with dancer, painter and actor, in fact. It surveys his daily routine in Murray Bridge in South Australia, too, where he now lives with a carer so that he can get western medicine's help. It also follows him to appointments, then watches on as he weathers his treatments. In her thoughtful, contemplative, affectionate and astute approach, Reynolds lets her audience peer deeply and listen intently. Her film favours soaking, basking and ruminating over clapping and cheering, and it was always going to be all the better for it. Marking and commemorating Gulpilil's many achievements is important, and his feats should and will rightly be remembered and saluted — but even the most vivid collection of clips and most enthusiastic rundown of his awards and other successes can only convey part of his story. There's just nothing like just passing the minutes with Gulpilil, especially when he stares directly at the camera, dives into his memories and unleashes one of his many sprawling but powerful tales. There's also nothing like facing him, taking in all that he's done for Aussie cinema and Indigenous representation, and simultaneously confronting the fact that he's unlikely to brighten up our screens again. My Name Is Gulpilil is many things, including a clear-eyed picture of a man trying to navigate terminal cancer and everything that comes with it — and it doesn't shy away from that reality at any turn. Just as moving and pivotal is its commitment to showing Gulpilil's approach to the end that awaits us all. By choosing to live in Murray Bridge to undergo treatment, he chooses to live away from Country, a decision that visibly haunts him. So, he prepares for what he describes as a one-way ticket home by planning. He spins his hair into fibre, and talks through the ceremony that will farewell both his body and spirit. For Reynolds, he poses in a coffin beneath unspooled reels of film. There's playfulness in the latter image, but such a forthright approach to death never comes as a surprise. When My Name Is Gulpilil addresses Gulpilil's time in the long grass, his run-ins with the law and his addictions, mentioning them alongside his trip to Cannes, meeting with the Queen, and interactions with everyone from Muhammad Ali to Bob Marley, the film is similarly frank and unflinching. My Name Is Gulpilil does still feature glimpses of its namesake's movies, of course. Given the wealth of material at hand — spanning plenty of the aforementioned titles, plus plenty more — no ode to Gulpilil would be complete without clips here and there. Just as Reynolds ensures that her audience genuinely takes in his inimitable presence, his culture, his health, and his ups and downs, she finds poetic ways to segue from archival and film footage to present-day scenes and back, putting them all to the most meaningful use. With editor Tania Nehme's (ShoPaapaa) considerable help, this documentary proves an act of cinematic weaving, rather than unfurling. It knows when to watch Gulpilil and an emu walk the same dusty path, when quiet reflection from the man himself is in order, and when snippets of his candour and charm from his 2004 one-man autobiographical stage show are needed instead. It's also well aware that no one will ever get the chance to make this movie again, and that only a film of astounding intimacy, honesty and insight could ever do the face of Australian cinema justice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK1DLvEkvtA&feature=emb_logo
After a somewhat traumatising 2020, there aren't many people in Sydney's hospitality scene that would dream of launching a restaurant that's only open for business once a week. For chefs Grace Chen (ex-Poly) and self-dubbed "Big" Sam Young (ex-Lotus) — the timing couldn't be better. The duo launched a private dining business last year after COVID saw the temporary closure of both venues. Business boomed, and the pair have since flown around Australia to curate luxe culinary experiences for clients, with their catering calendar booked out on Saturdays until September. Juicy Banana is their latest brainchild, a Sunday-only lunchtime restaurant out of the old Storehouse at Vibe Hotel in Rushcutters Bay. From Sunday, May 2, Juicy Banana will be inviting special guest chefs each week, with the likes of Toby Stansfield (of Fabbrica) on Sunday, May 16 and Alex Yu (of Sokyo) on Sunday, May 23. PS40 owner-bartender Michael Chiem and front-of-house manager Alessandro Ponzoni (ex-LuMi restaurant manager) complete the permanent Juicy Banana roster. Young says the pop-up restaurant gives himself, Chen and guest chefs the opportunity to collaborate and "create once-in-a-lifetime experiences for our guests". "We as chefs often have limitations on what we have to cook in the restaurant that we work at," Young explains. "This is an opportunity for chefs to come to our kitchen and cook whatever they want — no boundaries, just delicious shit." The formula behind Juicy Banana's weekly shared-style menu is simple: if Young loves the food, and it's delicious — he'll serve it. The bright venue is delightfully suited to leisurely Sunday lunches, bathed in natural afternoon sunlight along with elegant navy and white accents. Set lunch prices will range between $105–$140. For those interested in a more casual experience, Juicy Banana's bar is taking walk-ins and serving casual snacks with cocktails every Sunday. Drink options include a Basque-style old fashioned; a salted cucumber and habanero margarita; and a macerated strawberry spritz with dry sherry, Hendrick's gin, apple ribbon and dill. A curated selection of wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks will also be available. At the moment, the Juicy Banana team plan to stick to a one-day-a-week trade. "After COVID disrupted the whole hospitality industry, there is room for chefs and bartenders to be owning their own spaces," Chiem says. "But we just want to do Sundays, and do Sundays well." [caption id="attachment_811115" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A menu collaboration at Juicy Banana, by Wesley Nel.[/caption]
Overseas travel is at the top of many Australian bucket lists right now. And if you're the kind of traveller who prefers fewer stopovers, there's some exciting news on the horizon from Qantas. Dubbed Project Sunrise, the Australian airline has unveiled plans to introduce a fleet of twelve Airbus A350s, which are all capable of flying direct from Australia to London and New York. Direct flights are currently available from Darwin to London, however, for those on the east coast of Australia, this still means factoring in a layover to your journey. Qantas has announced that with these new aircrafts, direct flights will be available from the east coast as well, starting with Sydney-to-London and Sydney-to-New York flights in late 2025. Qantas first toyed with the idea of direct flights from Australia's east coast to New York and London back in 2017, however after two trial flights in 2019 decided to delay the decision. "The A350 and Project Sunrise will make any city just one flight away from Australia," said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce. "It's the last frontier and the final fix for the tyranny of distance." With time in the air set to exceed the current 18-hour flight time of the Darwin-to-London route, the new aircrafts are also being designed with comfort in mind. The A350-1000s will carry 239 passengers compared to other airlines' average of 300 passengers, and will feature a designated comfort zone in the middle of the cabin where people can stretch their legs. [caption id="attachment_852120" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A350 wellness zone render[/caption] Alongside this announcement, Qantas has also revealed it will add 40 new A321XLRs and A220 aircrafts to its domestic fleet late next year. These new planes will gradually replace the Boeing 737s and 717s as they are retired. "The A320s and A220s will become the backbone of our domestic fleet for the next 20 years, helping to keep this country moving," continued Joyce. According to Qantas, this new fleet of aircrafts will create over 1000 jobs and Joyce says the aircrafts will help reduce emissions "by at least 15 per cent if running on fossil fuels, and significantly better when run on Sustainable Aviation Fuel". This will play a role in Qantas' commitment that it made in 2019 to reach net-zero by 2050. If you fly Qantas regularly and you're committed to sustainability, you can also sign up for its Green Tier rewards program which unlocks rewards and benefits to customers who complete at least five sustainable activities across six areas in their lives. Qantas' direct flights from Sydney to London and Sydney to New York are set to take to the air in late 2025. For more information, head to the Qantas website. Images: Qantas
Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinema is coming back to Bondi this January for another summer of entertainment, bringing live music by day, cinema by night, and plenty of ice cream in between. The cinema is a mini music festival in its own right, with performances from some of Australia’s newest and best-loved bands, artists and local DJs. Past performers have included Cat Empire, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Amy Meredith, Bertie Blackman, and Kate Miller-Heidke. When the sun goes down, the gigantic 12x6m screen goes up. Cult classics, award-winners, new releases and premieres comprise the line-up, bringing something for everyone. Moviegoers can enjoy lawn chairs, beanbags, and blankets to stay cozy, and charge their mobiles at the Virgin Mobile charging stations. To beat the heat, Ben & Jerry’s will be scooping out free ice cream for every 'Sundae Session'. Local gourmet food vendors and a full bar will also be on site. So if you fancy music, movies and some Mint Chocolate Chunk, hit up Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema for some summer fun. Film screenings and DJ sets run from Tuesday to Sunday and live music performances on Saturdays and Sundays. See the Openair Cinema website for the latest programming updates.
Dress in your best 60s get-up and step back in time at the only permanent drive-in left in Sydney. With a Happy Days-esque diner offering classic snacks like hot chips, choc tops and burgers, you better not do anything more than hold hands with your sweetheart otherwise you'll ruin the schmaltz of the experience. There are two opposing screens which show double features nightly. As well as all the latest hits, the drive-in cinema screens retro favourites and seasonal specials. So, expect lots of slasher flicks around October, The Grinch in December and The Notebook on February 14. Like most drive-in cinemas, you'll pay by the car load here, which includes up to six people for $35 a pop. Some special events may set you back a little more.
Longrain and Spice I Am, you'd better look out. Chef and Thai food expert David Thompson is making a return to Sydney, opening a new branch of his Long Chim restaurant (which already operates in Perth and Singapore) in the CBD. After announcing that the restaurant would be opening in Angel Place back in May (and since announcing he'll be taking Long Chim to Melbourne too), we now have an official opening date: Monday, August 29. And boy are we excited. First of all, the restaurant's going to be pretty huge. Spread across two levels in old storerooms underneath Martin Place, it will have a large open-plan kitchen, a cocktail bar and room for 190 diners. Developed in collaboration with FJM Property and designer Kelly Ross from The Gentry, you'll have a choice of seating, from communal tables to counter stools to out-of-the-way alcoves, and there'll be original artworks from both Thai and Australian artists. Its atmosphere is set to be a bit of recreation of Bangkok's streets, with all manner of delicious smells, sounds of crashing woks and clattering utensils, and service at lightning speed. The menu will focus on street food (ah, that old chestnut), including crunchy prawn cakes, beef skewers, massaman curry and deep-fried squid. We're also happy to hear that cocktails will be a focus and banana roti will make it onto the dessert menu. "At Long Chim we want to capture all the excitement and tastes of the streets of Bangkok," said Thompson, who returns to the Sydney hospo scene after 15 years. "Long Chim is intended to be fun — 'sanuk', as the Thais say — with food and drinks that everyone loves. Our menu will have the dishes that many Thais miss the most when away from home." Long Chim Sydney will open for dinner on Monday, August 29. It will be located in a basement beneath 14 Martin Place, accessible through Angel Place. For more info, visit longchimsydney.com. By Jasmine Crittenden and Lauren Vadnjal.
These days, we're all aware of the impact plastic shopping bags have on the environment, but what about another popular disposable item that everyone uses and no one thinks about? If you've enjoyed a cold beverage somewhere other than your home recently, odds are that you've probably sipped it through a straw (or you were given one). From now on, that won't be the case at Brisbane's Crowbar. Because little things can make a big difference, the Brunswick Street haunt has adopted a "say no to straws" policy and will no longer be serving them with their drinks unless specifically requested. "We are conscious of the environmental impact of plastic and are taking steps to reduce our footprint," the venue advised in a Facebook post announcing the new move. Further expanding upon Crowbar's plans in an interview with The Music, manager Tyla Dombroski explained that they're currently assessing biodegradable options for punters that can't kick their straw fix, and that their efforts won't stop there. If they can work with an organisation that focuses on marine or wildlife conservation, Crowbar would like to implement a donation-for-a-straw scheme. "Even though we're already cutting back our usage, we can also be giving back," said Dombroski. "And hopefully it makes more people think about their use of plastic in everyday life." Here's hoping that Crowbar's efforts also inspire other bars to follow suit — and other industries. Just two months ago, France passed legislation to ban all plastic plates, cups and cutlery from 2020; however Australian laws still haven't caught up with the single-use plastic bag backlash, with only Tasmania, South Australia, ACT and the NT banning them at present. Via The Music.
If your life could use a bit more Pixar magic at the moment, then Disney is here to help, with the Mouse House rushing the beloved animation studio's latest film to Australian and New Zealand audiences via digital rental and its streaming platform Disney+. Featuring the voices of Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer, Onward was originally slated to release on the big screen Down Under on Thursday, March 26; however those plans changed when cinemas were ordered to shut. While the movie did play in Australian theatres for a few days over the weekend immediately beforehand, giving dedicated audiences a sneak peek, cinemas were hardly packed at the time — so, if this elf-filled adventure is still on your must-watch list, you're not alone. Pixar fans will be able to get their animation fix via video on demand from Friday, April 3, which'll require paying separately to view the film. Or, if you're already a Disney+ subscriber — or you've been thinking of becoming one — you'll be able to watch Onward on the company's own streaming platform as part of its regular package from 6pm on Friday, April 24. Story-wise, Onward tells the tale of brothers Ian and Barley Lightfoot (Marvel co-stars Holland and Pratt), two teenage elves who've grown up without their dearly departed dad. Thanks to an unexpected flash of long-dormant magic, they're given the chance to spend one last day with their father — but, in order to do so, they'll have to undertake a perilous quest in Barley's rundown van Guinevere. From the above description, you might've noticed that Pixar's usual formula isn't at play here, with the company branching beyond the "what if toys/cars/rats/robots/monsters/feelings had feelings?" setup that's served it so well in everything from the Toy Story franchise to Inside Out. Rest assured, however, that Onward's central elf siblings do indeed experience a whole heap of emotions as they cast spells, try to decipher mysterious maps, endeavour to avoid curses, explore their complicated brotherly relationship and team up with a part-lion, part-bat, part-scorpion called The Manticore (Spencer). Fast-tracking Onward to digital platforms is the latest example of film industry's efforts to adapt to the changes forced by the spread of COVID-19. In Australia and New Zealand, Disney follows fellow distributor Roadshow's lead — with the latter also speeding up the online release of a number of its big titles as well. Check out the trailer for Onward below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxKXiQvyG_o Onward will be available to purchase separately on digital platforms in Australia and New Zealand from Friday, April 3, before hitting Disney's streaming platform Disney+ as part of its regular package at 6pm on Friday, April 24. Images: © 2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
Sydney comes alive in summer — long lunches segue into golden-hour drinks, warm evenings spill into the streets and the city buzzes with new exhibitions and openair experiences. Whether you're browsing a waterside market or diving into a boundary-pushing gallery show, this season is built for discovery. Instead of dipping in for a single exhibition or market visit, treat each outing as the start of its own mini escape. In the spirit of making the most of every sunny moment, we've paired five must-see summer events with nearby neighbourhood gems that showcase the breadth of Sydney's food, culture and creativity. The Rocks Markets: Christmas Edition Why it's unmissable Set beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Rocks Markets: Christmas Edition brings together local makers showcasing their wares for three festive weekends of openair browsing. Add woodfired pizza, gozleme and crepes into the mix — along with furoshiki gift-wrapping workshops — and you've got one of summer's most charming holiday pit stops. Find out more here. Make a day of it Once you've filled your tote, wander a few steps to Hooked and Harvest, The Rocks' sunny new fish and chippery serving market-fresh fish, freshly shucked oysters and flavour-packed salads. If you're after something with a deeper sense of place, Midden by Mark Olive heroes native Australian ingredients via refined dishes like kutjera-braised beef cheek, blue gum-smoked miso eggplant and Olive's signature Bush Pavlova topped with a native fruit coulis and wattleseed cream, all from a breezy spot under the sails of the Sydney Opera House. [caption id="attachment_921470" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Wind down nearby As the sun starts to slip, take the lift up to Martinez, Circular Quay's breezy rooftop bar with Mediterranean coastal vibes, panoramic views and a bright drinks list made for golden hour. Extend your stay Make a weekend of it at The Russell Boutique Hotel, the charming new stay in the heart of The Rocks (and set right above Sydney's oldest pub). With its warm, character-filled rooms — some of which have direct courtyard access — and unbeatable proximity to some of Sydney's most iconic spots, it's an ideal base for an urban summer escape. [caption id="attachment_918689" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Eugene Hyland[/caption] RELICS: A New World Rises Why it's unmissable This immersive new exhibition at the Australian Museum transforms discarded objects into intricate LEGO® civilisations, from a grandfather clock reverse-engineered into a time machine to a cryogenics facility inside a vintage freezer. Part art installation, part nostalgic playground, it's a summer experience for kids and adults alike — and a reminder that creativity and curiosity have no age limits. Find out more here. Make a day of it Kick things off with coffee and a pastry — or an inventive breakfast plate like avo and kale bagel with peanut chilli sauce, or soft scrambled eggs swimming in chicken broth and served with garlic-buttered baguette — in the charming sandstone-framed courtyard of A.P Bread & Wine in Darlinghurst. Post-exhibition, stroll down to Woolloomooloo for a late lunch at Akti, the breezy, coastal-Greek diner serving moussaka croquettes, lamb shoulder with chimichurri and summer-ready cocktails overlooking the Finger Wharf. Wind down nearby Round out your day at Monica, Paddington's new sun-drenched rooftop bar overlooking the bustle of Oxford Street. Head up to take in sweeping skyline views, playful cocktail — like a rhubarb and grapefruit paloma on tap — in hand as the city lights flicker on. Extend your stay Not ready to go home? You don't have to — Monica sits on the roof of the new 25hours Hotel Sydney The Olympia, a design-forward Paddington boutique set in a heritage-listed former cinema. Its prime location offers easy access to some of Sydney's most vibrant neighbourhoods, with hire bikes available if you're keen to explore more. [caption id="attachment_1045265" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Emmaline Zanelli, 'Magic Cave', 2024-2025, installation view, image courtesy the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist, photograph by Hamish McIntosh[/caption] MCA double-header: Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists and A Conversation with the Sun (Afterimage): Apichatpong Weerasethakul Why it's unmissable While we're never short of reasons to visit Australia's home of contemporary art, this summer, the MCA is giving us two more. Running until early March, Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists continues the annual exhibition's nearly four-decade legacy of providing a platform to Australia's next generation of artistic and curatorial talent. This year's works invite visitors to consider what it means to continue making art in a digital and post-industrial world. Find out more here. Also on show: Palme d'Or-winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's new cinematic site-specific installation for the MCA. The large-scale work — on display in the MCA Macgregor Gallery until early February — features video diaries projected onto floating fabric, creating a dream-like experience inspired by pondering the sun while walking in nature. Find out more here. Make a day of it Take a leisurely stroll around Circular Quay and drop anchor at Flaminia, the refined yet laidback venue by acclaimed chef Giovanni Pilu (Pilu at Freshwater) plating up Italian coastal classics alongside sweeping harbour views. Feeling adventurous? Hop on the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly and arrive at Felons Seafood for towering seafood platters, salt and vinegar martinis and a tap pouring Australia's coldest beer. Take a seat in the spacious outdoor terrace to soak up the sun, or nab a seat by the window for uninterrupted views across Manly Cove and Sydney Harbour. [caption id="attachment_1011783" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Wind down nearby Next door to its namesake restaurant, Felons Manly brings the award-winning Brisbane brewhouse's beers to an expansive, sun-washed space, with regular events and live music keeping things lively throughout the evening. Or, follow the boardwalk around the shoreline to settle in at The Espy Manly, an alfresco bar serving up spritzes and sunshine in equal measure. If the mood is less wind down and more turn up, venture to neighbouring Freshwater and settle in at Bombies, a late-night bar and live music lounge that brings 1970s beach house energy to the rooftop of the historic Harbord Hotel. Extend your stay If there's a better way to start your day than at the beach, we're yet to find it. And at Manly Pacific Hotel, you'll wake up mere steps from the sand. And whether you choose to start your day with espresso on your sunlit balcony overlooking Manly Beach or you're popping across the road for a pre-breakfast surf, your morning will feel like its own little holiday. The Makers and Shakers Christmas Gift Market Why it's unmissable If you're hunting for holiday gifts with personality, this market at Rozelle's White Bay Cruise Terminal ticks every box: you'll find over 140 stalls selling Australian-made homewares, slow-fashion pieces and artisan treats in a bright, harbour-framed warehouse setting. Add drop-in workshops, kids' zones and free parking, and you've got all the ingredients for some feel-good festive shopping. Find out more here. Make a day of it Start the day with a hearty Middle Eastern-inspired brunch at The Rusty Rabbit, a light-filled corner spot in leafy Concord. If it's views you're after, it's hard to beat The Fenwick. This restaurant and art gallery on the edge of the East Balmain waterfront, set in an 1880s former tugboat store, plates up Italian-inspired fare and postcard-perfect views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. [caption id="attachment_706208" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Old Clare Rooftop[/caption] Wind down nearby Swap the Inner West waterfront for its indie bar scene. Start with the Inner West Distillery Trail, where small-batch gin, whisky and new-world spirits are poured straight from the source in tasting rooms across Rozelle, Marrickville and surrounds. The Inner West is also home to some of Sydney's best breweries, and the Inner West Ale Trail links a string of top-tier taprooms within a few easy kilometres. From hazy IPAs in sunny beer gardens to crisp lagers and barrel-aged sours in cavernous converted warehouses, it's a relaxed way to dig a little deeper into one of Sydney's most creative neighbourhoods. Extend your stay Make it a full weekend escape at The Old Clare Hotel, which blends luxe contemporary comforts with the character of a historic Chippendale building. By day, bask by the rooftop pool and bar, soaking up the city skyline with a drink in hand; then, wander into the laneways of Chippendale's buzzy food and bar scene to make a night of it. Ready to feel the Sydney side of summer? Discover the full calendar of what's on across the city at sydney.com.
If you live Down Under, winter is still coming for 2022 — but your next excuse to indulge your Game of Thrones love is already here. You will need to pack your suitcases and head to Northern Ireland, however, and also be mighty pleased that visiting the new GoT studio tour doesn't involve sailing by ship, walking for months or using other forms of transport from the fictional Seven Kingdoms. First announced in 2018, the Game of Thrones Studio Tour at Linen Mill Studios started welcoming in eager GoT fans at the beginning of February 2022 — and it boasts plenty to get excited about. And yes, while you're waiting for prequel series House of the Dragon to arrive later this year, and still biding your time wondering when author George RR Martin's The Winds of Winter will finally hit shelves, this'll help tide you over. Get ready to add Winterfell, The Wall, King's Landing and Dragonstone to your next holiday itinerary, and to peer at the Iron Throne as well, because that's all part of the new tour. Visitors are able to step inside the Great Hall, which is where Jon Snow was proclaimed the King in the North; see Daenerys Targaryen's Dragonstone throne; and also check out an array of props, weaponry, armoury, costumes, make-up and prosthetics from the show. Much of the series was filmed in Northern Ireland, hence the tour — which marks the first time that HBO has opened up the sets and sites to the public. Now rebadged as a tourist site, the GoT sets span across a hefty 110,000-square-feet location in in Banbridge. Basically, if you've ever dreamed about walking around Westeros, this is your chance. The tour has been dubbed an 'interactive experience', which covers wandering through fully dressed sets, reliving moments from the series and standing exactly where many of the show's standout scenes took place. Also part of the immersive attraction: learning more about the skills and craft behind the program that helped make it such a hit. And, there are also art files, models and other production materials in display, plus accompanying digital content and interactive materials highlighting GoT's digital effects. If it sounds huge, that's because it is. The whole setup comprises the largest authentic public display of Game of Thrones artifacts in the world — and is bound to make fans happier than Arya Stark crossing a name off of her infamous list. The Game of Thrones Studio Tour is now open at Linen Mill Studios, The Boulevard, Banbridge, Northern Ireland. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the tour's website.
When you've fought for your life, plus a massive cash prize, while donning a green tracksuit, you're probably not going to shake off the deadly endeavour easily. So shows the latest teaser trailer for Squid Game season two. Lee Jung-jae (The Acolyte) is back as Gi-hun, and there's a familiar face — or mask — at his door, awakening him from a restless slumber. Soon, he's back on bunks as competitor 456. Let the games begin — again. Following a three-year wait since its award-winning first season, and after teasing the show's 2024 return since January, Squid Game will start playing once more on Boxing Day. If you usually spend the day after Christmas shopping, at the cinema or recovering from your food coma by trying to play backyard cricket, you now have other plans if you want to catch the next instalment of the South Korean thriller ASAP. It was back in August that Netflix not only advised when its huge 2021 hit — one of the best new TV programs of that year, in fact — will finally make a comeback, but also announced that there's even more in store. After Squid Game season two arrives on Thursday, December 26, 2024, Squid Game season three will drop sometime in 2025. There's no exact date for the latter as yet, but it will be the final season, closing out the Squid Game story. The streaming platform revealed both pieces of news with a date announcement teaser that featured a running track, competitors in recognisable green tracksuits, and also-familiar folks in red watching on alongside the masked Front Man — and with a letter from series director, writer and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk. Now, Netflix has dropped its next sneak peek at the second season — including at new games. Also back: Gi-hun's nemesis (Lee Byung-hun, The Magnificent Seven). If you're wondering what else is in the works after the hefty gap — Squid Game was such a huge smash in it first season that Netflix confirmed at the beginning of 2022 that more was on the way, and also released a teaser trailer for it the same year, before announcing its new cast members in 2023 — a few further details were dropped earlier in the year. That's when Netflix previously unveiled a first brief snippet of Squid Game season two in a broader trailer for Netflix's slate for the year, as it releases every 12 months. In the footage, Seong Gi-hun answers a phone call while at the airport sporting his newly crimson locks. He's soon told "you're going to regret the choice you've made". Cue his statement of vengeance; Squid Game meets John Wick, anyone? Wi Ha-joon (Little Women) is also back as detective Hwang Jun-ho, as is Gong Yoo (Train to Busan) as the man in the suit who got Gi-hun into the game in the first place. A show about a deadly competition that has folks battling for ridiculous riches comes with a hefty bodycount, which means that new faces were always going to be essential in Squid Game season two — so that's where Yim Si-wan (Emergency Declaration), Kang Ha-neul (Insider), Park Sung-hoon (The Glory) and Yang Dong-geun (Yaksha: Ruthless Operations) all come in. If you somehow missed all things Squid Game when it premiered, even after it became bigger than everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton, the Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning series serves up a puzzle-like storyline and unflinching savagery, which unsurprisingly makes quite the combination. It also steps into societal divides within South Korea, a topic that wasn't invented by Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's excellent Oscar-winning 2019 thriller, but has been given a boost after that stellar flick's success. Accordingly, it's easy to see thematic and narrative parallels between Parasite and Squid Game, although Netflix's highly addictive series goes with a Battle Royale and Hunger Games-style setup. Here, 456 competitors are selected to work their way through six seemingly easy children's games. They're all given numbers and green tracksuits, they're competing for 45.6 billion won, and it turns out that they've also all made their way to the contest after being singled out for having enormous debts. Netflix turned the show's whole premise into an IRL competition series as well, which debuted in 2023 — without any murders, of course. Squid Game: The Challenge has already been picked up for a second season. Check out the latest teaser trailer for Squid Game season below: Squid Game season two streams via Netflix from Thursday, December 26, 2024. Season three will arrive in 2025 — we'll update you when an exact release date for it is announced. Images: Netflix.
You often hear that screen time and social networks characterise this generation. Does this mean that today's youth lack a sense of purpose in their lives and engagement IRL? Why are they considered to be so passive? That's where Apathetic comes in. It's a new biannual zine aimed at dispelling the idea that apathy is embedded in this generation. The first issue, 'Awake', is launching at the China Heights Gallery with an accompanying exhibition. The loose curatorial theme of 'awake' lets young creatives approach it from many angles and use their chosen medium to subvert notions of an apathetic youth. China Heights Gallery is an artist run initiative showcasing Sydney's up-and-coming designers and artists. The exhibitions are constantly changing and this should be a good one.
Nothing makes a nice meal fall apart quite like pairing it with the wrong wine — and nothing reveals how little you know about wine like trying to defend your wine choices. Imagine if you knew how to sniff, swirl and speak eloquently to what makes a wine perfect for the delicious feast you have prepared. As MasterChef Australia's official wine of choice for the second year running, Jacob's Creek is here to help home kitchen chefs create an evening worthy of a master. It's bringing back last year's sell-out Kitchen Collective pop-up, where ticketholders can learn skills from previous MasterChef Australia guest judge (and the man behind Huxtaburger) Daniel Wilson and Rocker chef Stuart Toon, a former MasterChef UK contestant. From a pop-up on Bennelong Lawn, you'll take part in a cook-off against your mates and enjoy a three-course dining experience, as wine experts Kristy Farrell and Katherine Candy let you in on the secrets of food and wine pairing. Jacob's Creek has let us have a sneak peek at the menu, and we have the recipes for an entree and dessert to share with you. Test your skills before the big day, and sharpen your wine talk with tasting notes for the Jacob's Creek wines they pair with from Jacob Creek's chief winemaker Dan Swincer. ENTREE When you pop down to the market to gather fresh ingredients for this confit vanilla king salmon, make sure to pick up a bottle of Jacob's Creek Barossa signature chardonnay. The creaminess of the wine works with the fat deposits of the fish (often called the wagyu of the sea), while the drop's citrus notes and the finger lime in the dish refresh the palate. Obviously, the ultimate pairing is putting wine in your food, so a splash of that chardonnay makes the fennel puree even creamier. Be sure to comment on the nutty, cashew notes in the wine, and how they interplay with the macadamia pesto. CONFIT VANILLA KING SALMON Ingredients 5 portions (about 400gm) of New Zealand king salmon, boneless, skinless and bloodline removed Half a vanilla bean 1 bunch of watercress, picked 1 finger lime 70ml of extra virgin olive oil FENNEL PUREE Ingredients 1 large fennel, diced 1 tablespoon of butter 50ml of Jacob's Creek Barossa signature chardonnay 40ml of cream Sea salt and ground white pepper MACADAMIA, THAI BASIL AND FINGER LIME PESTO Ingredients Half a bunch of Thai basil, picked 100gm of roasted and salted macadamia nuts 5gm of freeze dried finger lime powder Pinch of citric acid 125ml of extra virgin olive oil Method Switch your oven on to 90 degrees celsius, then get started on the vanilla oil. Cut the vanilla bean in half, scrape the seeds out and into a small bowl with 20ml of the olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and mix. Place the salmon fillets, evenly spaced, onto a baking paper-lined tray and rub the salmon on all sides with the vanilla oil. Pop that to the side (keep at room temperature). For the fennel puree, heat a saucepan over medium heat and add butter. Once melted, add fennel and sweat for five minutes stirring often. Add the chardonnay, then cover with a lid and turn down to low. Give it a stir every four to five minutes and cook until soft with no colour. Once the wine has evaporated and the fennel is soft, add cream. Puree with a stick blender, season with sea salt and ground white pepper and pass mixture through a fine sieve. Put the puree to the side and cover. In a bowl, mix up 50ml of the olive oil and the flesh of finger lime, making sure to remove any seeds. Set this aside for later. Pop the tray of salmon into the oven and cook for about 10 minutes or until just cooked. While that's in the oven, toss the basil leaves, macadamia nuts, finger lime powder and citric acid into a food processor until finely chopped. Add olive oil and blitz until it is the consistency of pesto and season with salt and pepper. Hey, presto, you've got pesto. To plate up like a real masterchef, warm the fennel puree and put a nice circle slightly to the left of centre on the plate. Carefully place the salmon half on the puree. Top with a quenelle (fancy way of saying an oval-shaped scoop) of the pesto and four pieces of watercress. Finally, whimsically drizzle that bad boy with finger lime oil, and enjoy with a glass of Jacob's Creek Barossa signature chardonnay. DESSERT Decadent is the only way to describe this dark chocolate and plum mousse, served with chocolate, coconut and shiraz soil and raspberry coulis. It's best enjoyed with a glass of Jacob's Creek Barossa Signature shiraz tempranillo. Each flavour in the dish mirrors the flavours of the wine: plum from the tempranillo, chocolate from the shiraz and coconut from the American oak. Plus, the fruity sweetness of the tempranillo matches the tart and slightly sour coulis. So fancy. Just make sure you correctly pronounce "tem-pra-ni-yo", so you sound sophisticated. DARK CHOCOLATE AND DAVIDSON PLUM MOUSSE Ingredients 200 grams of coconut milk 200 grams of dark chocolate 3 grams of Davidson plum powder 2 egg whites, room temperature Pinch of salt 20 grams of castor sugar 5 dark chocolate cylinders Method In a small saucepan, bring coconut milk to the boil, making sure not to scorch the bottom. While that's heating up, place the chocolate and Davidson plum powder into a stainless steel bowl. When the coconut milk is lightly simmering, pour it over the chocolate. Stir once with a rubber spatula and let sit for two minutes to melt, then stir well until it is all combined. Next, whisk two egg whites on high. Once it starts to froth up, gently add the sugar bit by bit until it's all mixed together. Continue to whip until glossy, stiff peaks have formed, but do not over whip. Grab the rubber spatula again and quickly fold one-third of the meringue into the chocolate mixture, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Fold in the rest of the meringue, mixing gently until it's all combined. Transfer the mousse into a piping bag and pipe into the chocolate cylinders, making sure not to leave any air gaps. Cover with baking paper and pop in the fridge to set. CHOCOLATE AND SHIRAZ SOIL Ingredients 40ml of cold water 100 grams of caster sugar 75 grams of dark chocolate 10 grams of shiraz powder 30 grams of desiccated coconut, lightly toasted 10 grams of raw cacao powder Method Place the water in a small saucepan and gently pour the sugar into the middle of the water, careful not to get any sugar crystals on the side of the pan. Do not stir or mix. Prepare a pastry brush in a small bowl of cold water to brush down the sides if the syrup starts to crystalise around the edge of the pan. Put the chocolate in a medium-sized stainless steel bowl and set aside until the syrup is ready. Pop the saucepan on a high heat and wait until it dissolves and starts to bubble. Don't stir the sugar. Continue to cook until you start to see golden brown edges. Immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk into the chocolate; don't forget to whisk around the edges. Keep whisking until all the chocolate has crumbled and looks like soil, which should only take a couple of minutes. Mix in the shiraz powder, toasted coconut and raw cacao, and transfer onto a baking paper-lined tray to cool. RASPBERRY AND ROSELLA COULIS Ingredients 150 grams of frozen raspberries 20 grams of caster sugar Juice of half a lemon 2 grams of dried rosella powder Method Over medium heat, mix up raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan, using a wooden spoon to break up the berries as they start to soften. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for two minutes. Pour the raspberry mix into a sieve over a bowl, pushing through with a spatula. Add the rosella powder and mix well. If you have one handy, transfer the sauce to a small squeeze bottle for next-level presentation. Pop this in the fridge until you are ready to plate up. On the plate, place a few puddles of the raspberry coulis and a couple of spoons of chocolate soil. Top with a chocolate cylinder of mousse and use a sieve to dust with plum powder. Pop open a bottle of Jacob's Creek Barossa Signature tempranillo shiraz and pour yourself a glass to enjoy with your indulgent dessert. Jacob's Creek Kitchen Collective will take place between Tuesday, July 16 and Sunday, August 4. Daytime sessions will run from 12pm–4pm every Thursday to Sunday, and the nighttime experience will run from 6pm–10pm every Tuesday to Sunday. Only 16 seats are available for each session, so move quickly and get tickets here.
Let’s take a moment to talk about destruction. Scales of destruction, to be precise. For earthquakes, we use the ‘Moment Magnitude Scale’, for tornados it’s the ‘Fujita Scale’ and hurricanes are classified according to ‘Saffir-Simpson’. There’s no official system for classifying destruction in movies per se (the ratings system is too broad), but if we were to put a name to it, the ‘Marvel Scale’ might be a good place to start. -A ‘5' would be the most severe: your full-blown, blown-up world situation, where entire planets are either destroyed or critically imperilled (see: Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: The Dark World, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer). -A ‘4’ would cover city-wide destruction, where entire skyscrapers tumble like box office records, generally with little or no regard for their hapless occupants (see: The Avengers, The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron). -A ‘3’ is a shocking amount of destruction localised to a single area, such as a small town or neighbourhood, otherwise known as ‘a standard fight’ in just about every Marvel movie (see: Thor, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and anything with a Hulk). -A ‘2’ would cover destruction on the human scale, where countless pawns (ideally ‘baddies’, then soldiers/cops and, when permissible, innocent bystanders) are mowed down by alien weapons, unwieldly superpowers or falling debris (see: Blade: Trinity, X-Men: The Last Stand). What, then, is a ‘1’? The answer is Ant-Man, where the violence is kept to such a minimum that the most meaningful casualty is an actual ant. An ant named ‘Antony’. What we get instead is a family-friendly Marvel movie where humour and dialogue offer a refreshing respite from all the usual, unimaginable carnage. Marvel actually frames Ant-Man as a heist movie, and that’s a good way to look at it. When an unscrupulous scientist (played by House of Cards’ Corey Stoll) perfects the science of atomic manipulation – allowing humans to be shrunk to the size of an ant whilst capable of enormous feats of strength – his former mentor and the original inventor of the technology (Michael Douglas) recruits a cat burglar named Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to steal the prototype military suit and destroy all related records, believing it to be a threat to global security. Lang is given his own special suit, one that allows him to shrink back and forth as he pleases, then trained both in martial arts and the ability to communicate with insects. Think 'Honey I Shrunk The Doctor Dolittle', combined with a little Matrix and a lot of Oceans 11. The implications of a ‘Marvel-1’ movie cut both ways. The downside is that the stakes feel significantly lower, with ‘end of the world’ being replaced by ‘might get caught’ as the biggest threat for most of the film. Generally, though, it’s all upside, with the smaller-scale storyline (and unavoidably concomitant puns) allowing for a funnier and more intimate superhero tale. The size-related jokes are predictably frequent, but thankfully also creative enough to surprise, and apportioned evenly to allow for more general comedy as well. As the title character Rudd is perfectly cast, allowing his boy-next-door charm to deliver Tony Stark level wise-cracks without the ego or arrogance to sour them. It’s the Peter Parker model, where self-deprecation reigns supreme and heroism is steeped in humility. Coupled with the comedic offerings of his ex-con buddies (led by a scene-stealing Michael Peña), and bouncing off the dry wit of his instructor/love interest Hope (Evangeline Lilly), Rudd simultaneously leads Ant-Man as confidently as any of his comic book compadres whilst downplaying it to a point that almost parodies the Marvel world in which it exists. Funny, charming and very family friendly, Ant-Man is unquestionably light fare, but also a solid debut for what will almost certainly develop into a meatier and more assured trilogy.
Think about Byron Bay, and a quiet coastal town with stunning beaches is no longer the only thing that comes to mind. Hemsworths pop up, plus other celebrities. So does the New South Wales spot's stint backdropping TV shows. Fancy leaning into the locale's luxe side? Enter its first-ever five-star hotel, with Hotel Marvell opening its doors on Tuesday, August 1. It boasts Marvell in its name, but Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will have spotted the spelling difference. No, even with Chris Hemsworth virtually synonymous with Byron Bay of late, this new place to stay has nothing to do with superheroes. Instead, this new addition to Marvell Street features 24 rooms and suites, the town's first rooftop bar and pool, and onsite restaurant Bonito. Owners Scott Didier and Scott Emery have gone lavish, aiming to give holidaymakers a one-of-a-kind stay. "Hotel Marvell is designed to offer our guests an extraordinary experience like no other. From the exclusive rooftop bar and pool with breathtaking views to the Bonito restaurant showcasing the finest local ingredients, we have crafted a haven for those seeking refined luxury in Byron Bay," said Emery. "Our passion for Byron Bay and our belief in the potential of this incredible destination inspired us to create Hotel Marvell. We want to offer our guests an unparalleled experience that combines the beauty of the surroundings with the luxury of our accommodations," added Didier. The 24 spots to slumber include 16 hotel rooms, six suites and a pair of two-bedroom rooms, all equipped with private balconies. Guests will sleep on Bemboka & Eadie linens, hit up the mini bar stocked with locally sourced products, make coffee from their in-room Nespresso machine, and take in the Byron Bay vibe and surroundings. Keen on room service? That runs from 11am–8pm. For a dip, head to level three — and for a bite beyond your room, to Bonito, which features chef Minh Le (ex-Spicers Peak Lodge, The Byron at Byron, The Foraging Quail) at the helm. His menu heroes seafood and plant-based cuisine, as well as his own heritage. On offer: organic sourdough with house-cultured miso butter, oysters in a Japanese dressing and Hiromasa kingfish glazed with spiced soy sauce Harley Graham of Harley Graham Architects is responsible for the hotel's look, which skews tropical, warm and colourful — complete with plenty of greenery and a pedestrian laneway. Unsurprisingly, a night at Hotel Marvell doesn't come cheap, starting at $600 per night for a hotel room. If you're keen on a suite, that'll set you back at least $780. Find Hotel Marvell at 4 Marvell Street, Byron Bay from Tuesday, August 1 — head to the hotel's website for further details and to make a reservation. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
A great bar isn't just about the tap count, but that figure can be a sign of a more-the-merrier situation for beer lovers. When the number is hefty, usually so are your drinks choices, including trying tipples that you mightn't have had a chance to otherwise. So when a 120-tap bar awaits, it really is a case of imagining the possibilities. The Great Australasian Beer Spectapular, aka GABS, loves getting creative with beers — and loves letting attendees at its annual festivals sip and sample over 100 different varieties each year. In 2025, when the fest returns to Melbourne in April, then to Brisbane and Sydney in May, it'll set up that 120-tap bar, all in a straight line. Exactly 100 of those taps will pour beers, and the weirder and wilder the flavours, the better. The other 20 will feature spirits, cocktails and other beverages. For many of the brews on offer at GABS, this is either the first time or the only place that you can taste them. It's too early for details on specific beers as yet, but sushi beer, cookie stouts and lollipop sours have featured in the past. Think of a foodstuff — peanut butter, coffee, earl grey tea, chicken salt, pizza, fairy floss, bubblegum, doughnuts, red frogs and sour gummy bears, for instance — and there's likely been a brew made to taste exactly the same at GABS. This year, GABS is doing two-day visits to its three Aussie stops. Across Friday, April 4–Saturday, April 5, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre will be saying cheers. Then, from Friday, May 23–Saturday, May 24, it'll be time to clink cups at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, before ICC Sydney hosts the last event of the tour on Friday, May 30–Saturday, May 31. If you're a newcomer to GABS, it started off as a Melbourne-only celebration of ales, lagers, ciders and more. Then it began spreading along Australia's east coast capitals, as well as to New Zealand. The event surveys both Australian and New Zealand breweries, plus sometimes some guests from further afield — Schlenkerla and Weihenstephan, both from Germany, are the first names on the list in 2025 — with more than 60 normally showcasing their wares annually. Also on the bill: other tipples, including non-alcoholic beers, seltzers, whiskey, gin, cocktails and wines. GABS is known for dishing up a hefty lineup of activities to accompanying all that sipping, too, which usually spans a silent disco, roaming bands, circus and sideshow performers, games and panels with industry leaders, plus local food trucks and vendors to line your stomach. And you might just find a ferris wheel or a mullet bar — yes, dispensing the haircuts — as well, as they've popped up in the past. Great Australasian Beer Spectapular 2025 Friday, April 4–Saturday, April 5 — Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne Friday, May 23–Saturday, May 24 — Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane Friday, May 30–Saturday, May 31 — ICC Sydney, Sydney GABS will take place across Australia's east coast throughout April and May 2025 — head to the event's website for further details.
There's nothing quite like a true story, whether it's a wild, chaotic, so-strange-it-can-only-be-true kind of tale or an informative, eye-opening yarn. That's Antenna Documentary Film Festival's cinematic bread and butter, with the Sydney-based event rolling out a new lineup of factual flicks for ten fests now — and it's celebrating hitting that big milestone with an impressive 2022 program. When the festival returns from Wednesday, February 2–Sunday, February 13 — hitting up Dendy Newtown, Palace Chauvel, Palace Verona, MCA Australia and Powerhouse Museum — it'll do so with a lineup of 50 features and shorts, as well as a day-long industry chat about the medium. The big highlight is all those feature-length docos, of course, including the 13 movies in the fest's official competition. Among the titles competing for the event's $10,000 prize, Charm Circle serves up a portrait of eccentric New York family navigating and has been likened to Grey Gardens — and also opens the festival. In terms of other competition standouts, it's joined by homegrown effort The Lake of Scars, which heads to regional Victoria; Courage, which explores the protests against the 2020 Belarus presidential election; and The Bubble, which ventures to a Florida retirement home with 155,000 retirees, 54 golf courses and 70 swimming pools. Or, elsewhere throughout the program, Jagged dives into Alanis Morissette's career; The Real Charlie Chaplin uses audio recordings, reconstructions and personal archival materials to traces Charlie Chaplin's Hollywood stardom; Sisters with Transistors celebrates pioneering women in the electronic music scene; and The Most Beautiful Boy in the World unfurls the story of Death in Venice actor Björn Andrésen, who earned that nickname as a the 15 year old. Yes, it's a great year for docos about the entertainment industry. Plus, you can see Sundance award-winner All Light, Everywhere, which examines the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice; The Gig Is Up, which ponders the gig economy; and the Cannes-awarded A Night of Knowing Nothing, which contemplates university student life in India.
Peering through the front window on Pittwater Road, you could easily mistake The Herring Room for a fine dining haunt. But the reality is quite the opposite. Once the space of a former surf shop, the boards and bathers may be gone, but the laidback northern beaches vibe certainly remains. What caused this confusion was the attention to detail that was paid to both the fit-out and the menu. Tactically accented by exposed brick walls, polished floorboards, candlelight and dark leather chesterfields, the space is polished but still warm and homely — complete with a prize herring mounted proudly over the fireplace. In the kitchen, you'll find a trio of chefs and a mix of culinary skills that clearly shine through on the seasonal menu. And while each of The Herring Room's influences takes a leading role at different points, there is one constant: its focus on seafood. A signature French dish is a squid ink spaghetti with a sea urchin butter emulsion and shaved bottarga, which makes for a deliciously rich but well-portioned combination. Making up the Aussie contingency is a dish of baked NSW Snowy Mountains rainbow trout with little neck clams, fennel, shallots and crushed peas and slow-cooked, braised lamb shank with red wine jus, rosemary and white polenta, among others. Switching to South Asian flavours try the Vietnamese-inspired beef tartare with cos, pine nuts, crispy shallots, chilli, coriander and mint leaf. When it comes to dessert — which you'll want to save room for — try the dulce de leche fondant with salted macadamia ice cream and fresh banana brûlée or the crepe Suzette with orange and caramel sauce and vanilla chantilly. They're both great desserts in their own right, but here they make for an epic partnership. The Herring Room is actually a much larger space than you would initially imagine, and the best seats in the house are in the courtyard out the back. Surrounded by high walls adorned with succulents, this little garden oasis epitomises the chilled-out nature of northern beaches dining culture. Images: Lauren Vadnjal.
Tomorrow, Woollahra's Hotel Centennial will reopen with Merivale at the reins. Not more than a month ago, the Centennial was abruptly bought by Merivale's pub collector Justin Hemmes for $15 million. And after a turnaround of only three weeks, the Oxford Street watering hole will open again on Wednesday, December 13. Ben Greeno has been brought on as executive chef. The Brit has had a varied back-of-house career, having worked the kitchens at Momofuku Seiobo, Noma and London's Michelin-starred Sat Bain. More recently, he's been at Merivale co-acquiree The Paddington and its classic chicken shop adaptation next door. He'll be joined by Danielle Alvarez of Fred's, who has collaborated with Greeno on the bar and dining room menus, along with head chef James Evangelinos of New York's Musket Room and Megan Sullivan of est., who'll manage the floor. The Centennial's food pickings will move towards meats and breads inspired by the Mediterranean. It'll be strong on the seafood, offering delicacies such as wood-fired squid with aioli and cherry tomatoes, and grilled flounder with seaweed salsa verde. There will also be flatbreads with toppings like minced lamb, merguez, yoghurt and pickled chilli, and fennel, greens and garlic cream. Other dishes will include rib eye, steak frites and, in classic Greeno style, whole-roasted chicken. Of course, it wouldn't be a Sydney pub in 2017 without charcuterie and cheese boards to graze on. And desserts will include the new — a lemon verbena custard tart with fresh stone fruits — and the old, like waffles with banana caramel sauce and whipped cream, which is a Hotel Centennial classic. Regarding decor, there will be no significant changes to the interior — after all, it was only three years ago that Anthony Medich purchased the dive for $6 million, giving it a new vibe and vastly changing the clientele. An overhaul of the front bar is set to begin in the new year. The Centennial is Merivale's latest acquisition. The group also last month bought Bondi's Royal Hotel, and is set to reopen The Collaroy on Sydney's northern beaches in the new year. Hotel Centennial will open to the public on Wednesday, December 13 at 88 Oxford Street, Woollahra. It will be open Monday to Saturday noon till midnight and Sunday noon till 10pm. For more info, visit merivale.com.au/hotelcentennial.
Years of hipster geekdom have led to this, a film directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced), starring Michael Cera (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Juno, Arrested Development) and adapted from a comic book based on the conventions of video games and romance. Cera is Scott Pilgrim, an average, sweet but EQ-challenged 22-year-old who plays bass with suburban unknowns Sex Bob-omb and considers getting a "fake high school girlfriend" one year on from a messy break-up a sure sign he's moved on. He soon becomes infatuated with the new girl in town — aloof, doe-eyed, tempestuously hair-dyed Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). So infatuated is he that nothing can shake him out of his loved-up reverie, not even news he'll have to face her seven evil exes in battle to the death. One ex-boyfriend has special powers bestowed by vegan purity and righteousness, another through musical skill daunting enough to conjure sonic dragons into combat, others just punch, kick and duel like kung-fu masters. And so, it turns out, does Scott, as Cera ably and amiably whips out the butt-kicking hero that's been hiding behind his constantly dopey demeanour. This plays out in the most stylised of fashions, where visual effects bend time and space, onomatopoeic lettering accompanies sounds and decimated ex-boyfriends explode into showers of coins. Amazing editing not only does the best job to date of mimicking the comics-reading experience but develops a mesmeric pacing all of its own and makes even featherweight jokes land knockout punches. It's buoyed along by a spotless supporting cast including Kieran Culkin, Jason Schwartzman and Mae Whitman (a.k.a. Anne/Egg from Arrested Development), plus original Sex Bob-omb tunes composed by Beck. Scott Pilgrim is an allegory of the male dating experience, so the manic pixie dream girls are in full force, but don't let that put you off. The film is inventive, observant and warm, and you can read as much semi-irony into it as you like. Best of all, it won't leave you out of the fun just because you haven't read the books, played Super Mario Bros., been a gen-X slacker or a gen-Y know-it-all. Wright has already proven himself a virtuoso of the niche-busting genre mash-up, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World — slacker-cross-martial arts in subject, film-cross-manga-cross-video game in form — is quite the opus. https://youtube.com/watch?v=8NUBVcit5VM
When a composer who has been dubbed the 'HG Wells of the jazz world' presents his contemporary musical score to the films of a magician, you know it's definitely gonna be worth going all the way out to Parramatta for. That's what Phillip Johnson will be doing this Sunday when he creates a thrilling symmetry between his original music and the silent films of French director Georges Melies in the Georges Melies Project. Melies was one of cinema's earliest directors, and one of the first filmmakers ever to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, stop tricks and stunning hand-painted colour in his work. His contribution to cinema was the subject of Martin Scorsese's recent Oscar-winning film, Hugo. Trained as a magician, he took the idea of creating seemingly impossible illusions and injected it into his often bizarre but always captivating short films — of which he made more than 500 between 1896 and 1912. A century later most of those optical gems have fallen victim to the ravages of time, and even the recently restored ones screening on Sunday have rarely been seen. And certainly not like this, with some of Australia's best jazz instrumentalists — including Daryl Pratt on vibraphone, Matt MacMahon on piano and Cameron Undy on bass — laying down the musical railroad for Johnson's enchanting score. https://youtube.com/watch?v=4dTVfSJoj04
Following a tumultuous couple of years for the team behind the beloved Wollongong music festival Yours and Owls, the live music crew is bringing the party to Berry over 2023's Easter long weekend with a brand-new festival titled Lazy Mountain. The one-day all-ages affair will be popping up at the Berry Showground on Saturday, April 8, with a stacked lineup of Australian favourites. Topping the list of acts is acclaimed Sydney band Gang of Youths, fresh off their run of arena shows and self-curated festivals. The rockstars will bring their catalogue of hits and new album Angel in Realtime to the showgrounds alongside an indie rock-heavy program. Joining Gang of Youths will be Tash Sultana, Middle Kids, Slowly Slowly, Tyne-James Organ, Merci, Mercy and Aodhan. Living up to its lazy name, the music festival is designed for those sick of running around expansive festival grounds trying to catch their favourite acts between frustrating set time clashes. All seven acts will appear back-to-back on the one stage, meaning that you won't miss your favourite Middle Kids song because you're at Tash Sultana's set. [caption id="attachment_886069" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Middle Kids, Ellen Virgona[/caption] Another enticing element of the new addition to New South Wales' collection of festivals is the location, set in the stunning surrounds of Berry on the NSW South Coast. Located two hours south of Sydney, the festival is a perfect excuse for a regional getaway across the long weekend. The drawcards don't stop there, though. You can expect top-notch tipples and moreish snacks to enjoy between sets as well, with the team behind the South Coast Food and Wine Festival in charge of Lazy Mountain's food and drink lineup. The full culinary and arts program will be coming over the next few weeks. While the event is all ages, anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Camping and glamping are available to book through the festival at the Riverside Campgrounds, or you can book a local hotel or Airbnb — including the Palm Springs-inspired Berry View Hotel. [caption id="attachment_886076" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Slowly Slowly, Marcus Coblyn[/caption] LAZY MOUNTAIN MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL 2023 LINEUP: Gang OOFf Youths Tash Sultana Middle Kids Slowly Slowly Tyne James Organ Merci, Mercy Aodhan Lazy Mountain's inaugural festival will take place at Berry Showgrounds on Saturday, April 8. The event's pre-sale goes live at 8am on Monday, January 30 — with general sales from at 8am on Tuesday, January 31.
In late March, Surry Hills scored itself a fancy new rooftop gym and wellness space, Paramount Recreation Club. The stunning sky-high fitness centre, whose opening coincided with that of the new Paramount House Hotel underneath, has just launched a roster of events that are open to the public, including markets, workshops and workout classes. One of the most exciting events to be held in the sparkling new space is a judgement-free dance class called Dance Memory, which is returning to PRC, after its inaugural class in June, this Friday, July 20, at 7.30pm. Hosted by accessible dance school Groove Therapy, the class focuses on the connection between mind and body. Supposedly dancing is not only a great workout, but can also help improve cognitive ability and muscle memory. If you were looking for another excuse to tear up the dance floor, here it is. It's also not just a class for experts. Whether you think you can dance, or know for a fact that you can't, you're welcome here — there are no mirrors, no judgement and great music. Tickets to the dance class cost $30 and include a towel, access to the showers (they're fancy), locker use and a complimentary Rec Club Soda. For further public Paramount Recreation Club events, keep an eye on the website.
About halfway through Atomic Blonde, enterprising MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) slinks her way into a Berlin cinema. Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker shrouds the room in both light and gloom, but settling in for a dose of existential Russian sci-fi isn't on the spy's agenda. Instead, she's simultaneously running from and dispatching with her many enemies, with their frenetic fighting infecting every nook and cranny of the theatre and eventually bursting through the screen. As well as providing a visually arresting example of movie's fluid action style, the propulsive, precisely choreographed fray sends a strong message to viewers. Goodbye classics of yesteryear, hello kick-ass entertainment. It's 1989, and the Berlin wall is just about to fall, but tensions remain as heated as the aftertaste of Broughton's favourite vodka. Sent in by her British handler (Toby Jones) and his CIA counterpart (John Goodman), Broughton endeavours to locate a stolen list of Her Majesty's finest undercover agents, whisk a former Stasi officer turned asset (Eddie Marsan) to safety, and work out just what her cavalier on-the-ground contact (James McAvoy) and a seductive French newcomer (Sofia Boutella) are up to. Oh, and she's also trying to survive the onslaught of foes and not-quite friends trying to kill her along the way. Apologies to Bond, Bourne and John Le Carré adaptations, but when it comes to slick spy flicks, this blonde really does have much more fun. Adapted from Antony Johnston's graphic novel The Coldest City, Atomic Blonde takes a familiar story, adds a stellar stroke of casting, and throws in all of the neon-hued images and '80s-pop songs an audience could want. From a narrative perspective, the film doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel – you'll notice the been-there, seen-that double-crossing and the familiar use of flashbacks. But when it's wrapped up in packaging this vibrant, odds are you just won't care. Indeed, to witness Atomic Blonde in action is to watch a masterclass in action, but that's far from surprising given the film's two driving forces. Let's start with the star no one will be able to stop watching — if Prometheus, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Fate of the Furious hadn't already proved Theron's genre credentials, then this film leaves absolutely no doubt. The Oscar-winner throws a mean fist, but, crucially, her platinum-tressed protagonist is soulful as well as tough. Presenting a hard-as-nails exterior with just enough of a beating heart inside, the talented actress makes it clear that Broughton's emotions are as bruised and battered as her black-and-blue flesh. And make no mistake: this is a bruising piece of cinema. An uncredited co-director on John Wick, stuntman turned filmmaker David Leitch knows how to execute action — whether he's asking his heroine to beat her way out of trouble using household items, or crafting a stunning stairwell sequence that might just be the best fight scene of the year. And it's not just the set-pieces that Leitch gets right. Berlin bars and industrial architecture help give the film a glowing grittiness, while a soundtrack featuring everything from Bowie to George Michael to '99 Luftballons' ups the toe-tapping factor as well. As much of a blast as its name suggests, Atomic Blonde leaves all future espionage action flicks with big stilettos to fill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu7fAD5zJpc
If you want something done right, you should probably go ahead and call the Reschs Appreciation Society. For the second time in two years, its fiercely dedicated members have managed to do the near impossible and bring back a cult-classic Reschs from extinction. This time, it's the beloved Reschs Dinner Ale which has been reinstated to bottle shop shelves across the state, albeit for a limited time. The red-and-white-tinned brew debuted back in the early 1900s and would go on to earn scores of devotees before Reschs ceased production in the mid-1990s — to the devastation of many. Now, Carlton & United Breweries is giving the trusty Dinner Ale its long-awaited comeback — and it's all thanks to the passionate pleas and successful petitioning of those Reschs Appreciation Society members. The tinnies will soon be available from NSW Liquorland and First Choice bottleshops while stocks last, with CUB marketing manager Marc Lord saying: "To have such a passionate group of people campaigning for a beer that hasn't been brewed for decades really says something." [caption id="attachment_778022" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Reschs Appreciation Society founder Matt Henricks (middle, wearing shirt illustration by Barry P) with other members[/caption] Founded in 2009 and now boasting an impressive 15,000 members, the Reschs Appreciation Society is truly a committed bunch. You might remember a previous petition of theirs led to the joyous re-release of Reschs Silver Bullet pilsner tins in 2020, inspiring CUB to permanently switch production from glass bottles back to the legendary cans of yesteryear. Yep, when it comes to a certain beer label and a refreshing brew, these folks get things done. Reschs Dinner Ale will be available from Liquorland and First Choice bottleshops across NSW, but only for a limited time.
Walk any street of Bondi and you're sure to be met by adorable puppies, always pamper-fresh and ready for a pat. As dogs are somewhat of a beach-lifestyle must-have, so too is a trusted groomer. Head to the busier Oxford Street in Bondi Junction to find Dogue — a distinctly luxe puppy pampering palace. It offers gold tasting plates of New Zealand mussels, doggy-friendly shepherd's pie and the full scope of celebrity chef Pete Evans' dog food line, so they know how to treat pets like royalty. The store also offers puppy training and daycare facilities, plus an array of pet-related accessories — think collars, bedding and more toys than your puppy pal could ever need.
Over the past few weeks, racially motivated discrimination, oppression and injustice has been in the global spotlight. It's a subject that always demands action and attention, both worldwide and within Australia. Lately, however, it's been particularly thrust to the fore due to the Black Lives Matter movement, and protests over the death of American George Floyd at the hands of a police officer — as well as, at the local level, the ongoing fight to end the systemic mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by law enforcement, and to stop Indigenous Australian deaths in custody. This isn't a new topic. The quest to end racial prejudice and inequality isn't new either. Centuries of history can attest to that fact beyond the current news headlines — and so can a wealth of powerful documentaries on the subject. Some recent films chart the American civil rights movement. Others explore the lives and impact of Indigenous Australian musicians. And, with examples from both categories, five such docos are now available to watch for free on YouTube for the entire month of June. All five films are distributed by Australian company Madman Entertainment, and all have previously screened in cinemas and/or at film festivals. They're all vital viewing, too — and, at present, doing so doesn't involve any cost or require a subscription to a streaming platform. The documentaries are now up on Madman's YouTube channel, as embedded into the company's website. Leading the bill are a trio of movies with a local angle, and with a particular interest in Indigenous music. Viewers can watch Gurrumul, the immensely moving portrait about the chart-topping late Indigenous talent from Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land; then check out Murundak: Songs of Freedom, which focuses on Aboriginal protest music, specifically following The Black Arm Band and other Indigenous Australian musicians on tour; then view Westwind: Djalu's Legacy, about Yolngu elder and master Yidaki (didgeridoo) player Djalu Gurruwiwi and his efforts to pass on his culture's ancient Songlines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_USf1UQIAYg Those docos are joined by two films that examine race and injustice in America, and prove particularly relevant to current US protests. 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets chronicles the 2012 murder of 17-year-old high school student Jordan Davis — who was shot at a Florida gas station after an argument over loud music — as well as trial that followed, and the media coverage and resulting protests also. Then there's Raoul Peck's potent and affecting Oscar-nominee I Am Not Your Negro, which tackles racism in America from a historical perspective. That's conveyed through the words of novelist, poet and activist James Baldwin — words written in the mid-70s, but sadly still applicable today — with Samuel L. Jackson serving as the documentary's narrator. In sharing the five films, Madman is encouraging everyone to not only watch, but to learn, listen, and talk about them with friends and family. It's also suggesting that viewers donate to support relevant causes, naming a worthy organisation — and, in some cases, multiple organisations — for each documentary. To watch Gurrumul, I Am Not Your Negro, Murundak: Songs of Freedom, Westwind: Djalu's Legacy and 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets for free until the end of June, head to the Madman website. Top image: I Am Not Your Negro.
Nestled into Bondi's Hall Street, Blanca Bar & Dining already boasts Finland's biggest celebrity chef in Tomi Bjorck. Now, for the duration of the 2018–19 summer, it'll also boast an izakaya as well. Bjorck and co-owner Samuel Cole have turned the bar side of their two-year-old spot into a Japanese-style hangout, complete with theming, food and cocktails to match. Opening its doors on Tuesday, October 23, it'll run while the weather is warm, slinging everything from snacks to bigger bites, and from sake to a rotating range of cocktails too. Specifically, diners can tuck into Bjorck and Cole's creative take on hot dogs — think soft steamed black buns, black pudding, truffle mayo and sauerkraut — as well as miso prawns with rice crackers, lemon and daikon pickle; salt and pepper soft shell crab with both truffle wasabi dashi and wasabi mayo; and grilled pork belly, house kimchi, pickles and aioli on a soft bun. As for the beverages, Bjorck has worked through his contact list and enlisted some of his bartender pals from around the world, with Jere Vihervaara from London's Dandelyan doing the honours first up. Vihervaara's tipples include the Charmanders Kick with whisky, plum wine, lemon and house made macadamia-rice milk, and the Melon Dollar Baby with gin, suze, lemon and watermelon. Three regular house specials are also on offer, alongside sake — naturally — plus Japanese beers and an international wine list. Setting the right vibe, Blanca Bar has been decked out with bespoke murals by Romance was Born's Lisa T, as well as snapshots from Bjorck's own travels around Japan and Korea — the very trip that provided inspiration for the pop-up. And if you're wondering about Blanca Dining, it's still business as usual next door. Find Blanca Bar's Izakaya at 75-79 Hall Street, Bondi Beach from Tuesday, October 23. It'll be open from 4pm–late from Tuesday to Sunday.
Heads up wellness junkies, superfood latte purveyors and plant-based peeps: a snow-filled winter market is coming to the Grounds of Alexandria. And it'll be stocked with vegan s'mores, hot wine and many (many) more healthy(ish) winter treats. The night will be a mash-up of a wholefood market and a winter wonderland. You'll be able to explore a snow-filled arena, sip organic mulled wine and toast vegan s'mores (yes, vegan s'mores) over a fire pit. Or, fill up a mug at the colourful superfood latte fountain then visit the olive barn to watch olive leaves being turned into olive oil. Apparently you can also exercise and have your smoothie, too — warm up on the smoothie bicycle and blitz your very own healthy smoothie via a pedal-powered blender. Enjoy a healthy woodfired pizza while you sip on a healthy cocktail, but don't fill up just yet — there'll be a host of laneway carts and market stalls offering product samplings and tastings under the fairy lights. Peanut butter fiends can find the 'world's best PB' (apparently), or you can just sip on multicoloured lattes and taste healthy curries. If you're trying to cut back on the alcohol, good news — there'll even be an alcohol-free gin. After you've got your fill, head to the cooking and demonstration theatre to listen to a talk or cooking demo from a line-up of health and wellbeing gurus. The market is thanks to GoodnessMe Box, a monthly subscription box filled with delicious health foods and samples to try, which has partnered with the inner-city food hot-spot to bring the event back for its second year. You can snag your early-bird ticket here, which includes entry as well as a GoodnessMe box to take home — offering a delicious range of tried-and-tested, natural products. The Winter Wonderland Wholefood Night Markets is open from 5.30–7.45pm and 7.45–10.30pm.
Were you aware that as well as hopping on Pop and putting the Cat in the Hat, Theodor Seuss Geisel made over 400 political cartoons about World War II and Nazis? There’s a lot to know about Dr Seuss. As a sideline to the Graphic Festival, the Opera House is putting on the retrospective Art of Dr Seuss exhibition in its western foyers. Check out Seuss’ Secret Art, Unorthodox Taxidermy and more grown-up art for children.
Andrew Upton’s Endgame is beautiful Beckett. Inasmuch as it invites us to wallow in the great fear and inertia of existence for 110 minutes, till we’re asking (along with main character Hamm), “Is it not time for my pain killer?” In place of a short synopsis, here’s my spoiler alert: Nothing. Ever. Happens. And therein lies the genius of Theatre of the Absurd’s poster boy, Samuel Beckett. This ‘absurd’ is a curious moniker for Beckett’s works. Yes, he discombobulates theatrical conventions, but he also exposes the inescapable suffering of our world, with stomach-turning realness. Endgame mulls over that incurable condition, life on earth. The question is always, “what’s happening?”, and the answer, “something is taking its course”. In my mind, the true wonder of Endgame is the humour that punctuates the pain. The misery is a given, the moments of light and childish hope are the miracle. Even if revelling in the cyclical despair of the universe isn’t your thing, see Endgame for the sheer display of vocal and physical prowess of the actors. Hugo Weaving as Hamm is immobile from the shoulders down but brings his character to life with wild acrobatics of the voice and face. It is beautiful to hear a master actor tasting language, as if he has forgotten how words are supposed to work, so syllables surprise and fly out unmeasured. He nails the harshness and fragility of Hamm, his constant contradictions and reneging. On the other side of this power dynamic is Tom Budge as the begrudgingly faithful Clov. Here, in his Sydney Theatre Company debut, he is wondrous. The precision of his physicality is mesmerising — the stance he assumes when awaiting orders, how he manages daintiness and dexterity atop huge clown feet. He desperately assembles an OCD routine to combat the chaos of his existence, and it’s enlightening to watch him perform his elaborate procedures with grubby flourish, over and over again. Sarah Peirse and Bruce Spence play Nell and Nagg, Hamm's elderly parents, who are literally thrown in the rubbish now they're no longer of use. Hamm refers to them only to curse the very organs that bred him. “I’ll never understand why I always obey you,” Clov ponders, in just one example of the self-referentiality underpinning Beckett’s script. Endgame pokes fun at the ‘game of theatre’, with its eternal status struggles and fabrications of time and space. At times Weaving assumes the role of the brooding poet, sending up the agony of creative genius. He evaluates his own monologues and frets the passing of time. He sits, in a weathered throne, in a forgotten castle, in the depths of the earth. A tyrant of emptiness; his kingdom an immense void. Nick Schlieper manages to capture the intrigue of this location-less place with his set design. Are we looking at a cross-section of a castle, or a dungeon? Or are we somewhere more metaphysical? Limbo, the space between? The constant drip also precludes the opportunity for complete silence. It's a space of eternal dissatisfaction and unease. It is worth going along just to see these wonderful actors present a theatre-changing text. In every corner of this uneventful endgame is a comment on life and society. Beckett's text is quick, captivating and efficient. And at the 'end' he's having the laugh on us. We're accustomed to momentous things happening in the theatre, but in this world, if you're crying, you're still alive. "I'll leave you," Clov again threatens, and we cry for him to do it, so that something can progress. Leaving us free to buy our painkiller at the bar.
Sydney loves a Sunday block party and Soul of Sydney’s a good'un — a funk/soul/hip-hop oasis for house heads, Bboys and Bgirls, and pretty much anyone who can get down with getting down to a good beat. This Sunday afternoon, Soul’s taking to yet another secret Sydney disco dance floor for an indoor/outdoor jam in homage to the godfather of house music, Frankie Knuckles. Knuckles passed away in March 2014, leaving a house music legacy like no other; he was credited as being there when the genre first got its name in the '80s, putting the ‘early’ in early Chicago house vibes. To celebrate his life and legacy, Soul of Sydney DJs will be spinning heaps of the disco funk and garage tracks that shaped house music plus — of course — a not-to-be-scoffed-at dose of solid '90s house. The lineup includes Superbreak, Scott Pullen and Phil Toke, and there’ll also be a stepping and house dance showcase. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, get on it. The super-cheap $5 round has sold out, but there a handful of still-pretty-damn-cheap $10 tix left to snap up.
Open from morning till night, District Brasserie is bringing a much needed all-day venue to the heart of Sydney's CBD. Acting as both a takeaway coffee shop and sit-down restaurant/bar from breakfast straight on through late-night dinner, the 200-seater opened this week to a warm welcome of city dwellers. Designed by Paul Kelly (BLACK by Ezard, Sokyo), the restaurant pays tribute to the classic brasserie style with aged brass highlights, simple timber tables, dark leather booths and an elegant green marble bar — perfect for post-work knock-offs or cheeky lunchtime tipples. Operating as both District Bakery and District Brasserie, the venue opened in two stages, with the bakery side serving patrons since late June. Its French-inspired takeaway menu features three varieties of tartine, a smoked ham and cheese croissant and a spiced rum canelé, along with all the pastries imaginable and locally produced Single O coffees for good measure. The sit-down offering is run by head chefs Mark Knox (ex-Public Dining) and Robert Ackroyd (ex-Arras) who are turning to local farmers for the freshest produce. For those blessed with more time in the morning, the brasserie breakfast menu features an Ora king salmon with green tahini, quinoa and kelp salt, all topped with a poached egg. For lunch or dinner, think charcoaled meats, along with a seafood medley of steamed hapuka, clams and mussels topped with mushrooms, warrigal greens, lemongrass and ginger volute. As with any good brasserie, charcuterie boards and an extensive selection of wine — 120 labels in total — are available for all day snacking. District Brasserie is now open on the Lower Ground of 2 Chifely Square, Sydney. District Bakery is open Monday through Friday from 6.30am to 4pm and District Brasserie is open Monday to Friday from 7am until late.For more info, visit disctrictbrasserie.com.au.
A tribute to Los Angeles in film. Dreaming about somewhere over the rainbow and defying gravity with Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo singing the house down. 2025 ceremony host — and four-time Oscar-viewer — Conan O'Brien making a The Substance-inspired entrance, then regaling the crowd and the watching world with a genuinely funny opening monologue. A Real Pain winner Kieran Culkin telling Jeremy Strong how phenomenal he was in The Apprentice when collecting the first award of the night. Parks and Recreation favourite Nick Offerman announcing the presenters. That's how the 97th Academy Awards began. As they went on, this year's Oscars made dreams come true for the folks behind some of the best movies of the past 12 months. Flow, Wicked, Anora, Conclave, The Substance, Emilia Pérez, No Other Land, Dune: Part Two, The Brutalist, I'm Still Here: with A Real Pain, they're now all Academy Award-winners. Accordingly, 2025 is the year that an independent, dialogue-free film about animals — a movie that marked the first-ever Latvian title nominated for an Oscar, and to make good on that nod — won Best Animated Feature, and Flow couldn't be a more-worthy victor. Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell made history as well, his award for the stage-to-screen musical making him the first Black man to ever take out the category. Best Supporting Actress Zoe Saldaña is the first American of Dominican origin to collect an Oscar statuette, too. I'm Still Here's Best International Feature prize makes it the first Brazilian flick to win that field. For Anora, Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket's Sean Baker, one of American cinema's great champions of otherwise untold tales, now has multiple Academy Awards — including for directing, writing and editing. Adrien Brody is now a two-time Best Actor winner, nabbing his second trophy 22 years after his first, again for grappling with the horrors of the Holocaust. By the numbers, this was a night of sharing the love, however. Best Picture's Anora wasn't the only film to get a shoutout more than once, even if it was the big winner with five awards. Also victorious multiple times: The Brutalist, Wicked, Dune: Part Two and Emilia Pérez. And, from the Best Picture nominees, only A Complete Unknown and Nickel Boys went home empty-handed — although both deserved better. Among the ceremony's fun, the 2025 Oscars also delivered an ode from Morgan Freeman to the late, great Gene Hackman to start the in-memorium segment, worked in a Bond song-and-dance spectacle, nodded to Kill Bill, honoured Quincy Jones and saw Mick Jagger receive a standing ovation for presenting the award for Best Original Song. When Quentin Tarantino announced Best Director, he was rewarded with thanks from Baker, noting that Anora wouldn't exist if QT hadn't first cast Mikey Madison in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The Oscars featured a pitch for a building dedicated to watching streaming movies on the big screen as well, and a Dune and Dune: Part Two sandworm playing various musical instruments. If you needed a reminder of who was hosting, O'Brien wasn't afraid to skew silly, clearly — and savage in some of his jokes, including about standing up to Russians. Wondering what and who won what, and the films and talents that were also contending, at this year's Academy Awards? Check out the full list below — and if you're curious, you can also see what we predicted would and should win, plus our full list of where most of this year's nominees are screening or streaming in Australia right now. Oscar Winners and Nominees 2025 Best Motion Picture Anora — WINNER The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Emilia Pérez I'm Still Here Nickel Boys The Substance Wicked Best Director Anora, Sean Baker — WINNER The Brutalist, Brady Corbet A Complete Unknown, James Mangold Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard The Substance, Coralie Fargeat Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Cynthia Erivo, Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez Mikey Madison, Anora — WINNER Demi Moore, The Substance Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Adrien Brody, The Brutalist — WINNER Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Colman Domingo, Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes, Conclave Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown Ariana Grande, Wicked Felicity Jones, The Brutalist Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez — WINNER Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Yura Borisov, Anora Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain — WINNER Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce, The Brutalist Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice Best Original Screenplay Anora, Sean Baker — WINNER The Brutalist, Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg September 5, Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum and Alex David The Substance, Coralie Fargeat Best Adapted Screenplay A Complete Unknown, James Mangold and Jay Cocks Conclave, Peter Straughan — WINNER Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard in collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Sing Sing, Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin and John 'Divine G' Whitfield Best International Feature Film I'm Still Here — WINNER The Girl with the Needle Emilia Pérez The Seed of the Sacred Fig Flow Best Animated Feature Flow — WINNER Inside Out 2 Memoir of a Snail Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot Best Documentary Feature Black Box Diaries No Other Land — WINNER Porcelain War Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Sugarcane Best Original Score The Brutalist, Daniel Blumberg — WINNER Conclave, Volker Bertelmann Emilia Pérez, Clément Ducol and Camille Wicked, John Powell and Stephen Schwartz The Wild Robot, Kris Bowers Best Original Song 'El Mal', Emilia Pérez, Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard — WINNER 'The Journey', The Six Triple Eight, Diane Warren 'Like A Bird', Sing Sing, Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada 'Mi Camino', Emilia Pérez, Camille and Clément Ducol 'Never Too Late', Elton John: Never Too Late, Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin Best Cinematography The Brutalist, Lol Crawley — WINNER Dune: Part Two, Greig Fraser Emilia Pérez, Paul Guilhaume Maria, Ed Lachman Nosferatu, Jarin Blaschke Best Film Editing Anora, Sean Baker — WINNER The Brutalist, David Jancso Conclave, Nick Emerson Emilia Pérez, Juliette Welfling Wicked, Myron Kerstein Best Production Design The Brutalist, Judy Becker, Patricia Cuccia Conclave, Suzie Davies, Cynthia Sleiter Dune: Part Two, Patrice Vermette, Shane Vieau Nosferatu, Craig Lathrop, Beatrice Brentnerová Wicked, Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales — WINNER Best Visual Effects Alien: Romulus, Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan Better Man, Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs Dune: Part Two, Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer — WINNER Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke Wicked, Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould Best Costume Design A Complete Unknown, Arianne Phillips Conclave, Lisy Christl Gladiator II, Janty Yates and Dave Crossman Nosferatu, Linda Muir Wicked, Paul Tazewell — WINNER Best Makeup and Hairstyling A Different Man, Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado Emilia Pérez, Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini Nosferatu, David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne StokesMunton The Substance, Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli — WINNER Wicked, Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth Best Sound A Complete Unknown, Tod A Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco Dune: Part Two, Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill — WINNER Emilia Pérez, Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta Wicked, Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis The Wild Robot, Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A Rizzo and Leff Lefferts Best Documentary Short Subject Death by Numbers I Am Ready, Warden Incident Instruments of a Beating Heart The Only Girl in the Orchestra — WINNER Best Animated Short Film Beautiful Men In the Shadow of the Cypress — WINNER Magic Candies Wander to Wonder Yuck! Best Live-Action Short Film A Lien Anuja I'm Not a Robot — WINNER The Last Ranger The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent The 2025 Oscars were announced on Monday, March 3, Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
If getting caught in the rain, not doing yoga and making love at midnight are the sort of things you like, then surely you must like piña coladas. All cheesy late-70s songs aside, there's nothing quite like this icy coconut, pineapple and rum drink to get you straight into holiday mode. Meaning 'strained pineapple' and originating from Puerto Rico where it's the national drink, the piña colada has been a steadfast favourite for all those on island time since at least the mid-1950s. The classic version of this tropical cocktail can vary, but for the most part, the drink consists of pineapple juice, coconut cream or coconut milk and rum and can be shaken or blended with plenty of ice. While messing with a classic can sometimes be a lost cause, when you enlist someone like Charlie Ainsbury, ex-This Must Be The Place bartender and Dan Murphy's Spirit Ambassador, to create a twist on the traditional, you end up with some delicious results. And while it's always nice having someone behind the bar pouring, shaking and blending your drinks, it's even better when you can be that person at home and really impress your guests. In the video above, Charlie Ainsbury teaches you the tips and tricks to making a classic piña colada and one with a twist. Study these recipes, stock up on some quality rum and tropical juices, and start wowing your friends with your newly learned piña colada knowledge. And if having your cocktails made for you is more your thing, head to Dan Murphy's House of Discovery, direction Tiki Bar, to immerse yourself further in the world of piña coladas. THE CLASSIC — 50 ml white rum — 50 ml pineapple juice — 50 ml coconut cream — A squeeze of lime juice — A slice of fresh pineapple Combine the rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream and lime juice in a shaker with ice, and give the mix a few good shakes. Pour over ice, and top it off with a fresh slice of pineapple. Charlie's tip: Feel free to add some sugar syrup to this recipe as coconut creams and pineapples vary in sweetness. THE SWIM-UP POOL BAR — 50 ml white rum — 30 ml pineapple juice — 15 ml lime juice — 10 ml orgeat syrup like Crawley's — Nutmeg Shake the rum, pineapple juice, lime juice and orgeat syrup together with glass, then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg. Charlie's tip: While white rum is classically used for the piña colada, have fun experimenting with gold and dark rums, too. Sip, savour and boost your cocktail savoir-faire at Dan Murphy's House of Discovery from March 8–10. Get your tickets here.
"I think if someone like Bong says 'I'd like to work with you' once and then again, you just say yes," Daniel Henshall tells Concrete Playground. In the past decade, Bong Joon-ho has directed three films: Parasite, picking up the Palme d'Or at Cannes and four Oscars in the process, plus two pictures featuring an Australian actor who initially came to fame in Snowtown, aka one of the nation's most-haunting movies. In Okja, Bong and Henshall's first collaboration, the former tasked the latter with playing an animal-rights activist in a sci-fi action-adventure about battling the meat industry. Reteaming with the writer/director for Mickey 17, Henshall now portrays the righthand man to a wannabe dictator — an egomaniacal politician with clear real-life parallels — who is attempting to set up his own space colony, and cares little for the lives, human and other, that are lost in doing so. "I think I read it after I'd already said yes," Henshall continues. "So I was already on my way to doing it before I got to really appreciate how brilliant and bizarre and epic and fun this film is. I think it's really funny, this one." He's right: while there's darkness in every Bong picture, and the filmmaker's career-long cinematic exploration of exploitation in its many guises continues in Mickey 17, this is a comedy as much as it's a science-fiction flick. Adapting Edward Ashton's novel Mickey7, Bong ensures that humour flavours what's otherwise a bleak premise, with the movie's namesake (Robert Pattinson, The Batman) unwittingly signing up to die again and again and again — enough so he's lived at least 17 lives, hence the title — to assist the sinister Kenneth Marshall's (Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things) designs on an intergalactic empire march forward. This is a tale about expendables — a term that applies literally in Mickey 17, but could've been used to describe much else across Bong's filmography, be how a serial killer regards his victims in Memories of Murder, the way people considered lower-class in Snowpiercer and Parasite are treated, or the animals in the food chain in Okja. Mickey's job, which he didn't read the paperwork for before agreeing, is basically a human guinea pig and crash-test dummy. Death comes with the gig, as does being cloned each time that he says farewell. There's one key rule, however: there can only be one of Mickey, or of any expendable, at a time. Multiples are expressly forbidden. When the 17th Mickey is left for dead on Niflheim, the icy planet that Marshall is endeavouring to make his own, but survives, Mickey 18 is generated. Keeping the fact that there's two of them a secret; navigating his other self's different personality; fighting with himself over his security-agent girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie, Blink Twice); feuding with frenemy Timo (Steven Yeun, Beef); avoiding scientists Dorothy (Patsy Ferran, Miss Austen) and Arkady (Cameron Britton, The Umbrella Academy); being stuck at the whims of Marshall and his sauce-loving wife Ylfa (Toni Collette, Juror No 2); communicating with Niflheim's indigenous creatures, which are nicknamed 'creepers': that's all now on Mickey's plate. Rarely far from Marshall's side, Henshall's Preston is the type of person who'll do anything for the man that he's pledged his allegiance to, including helping to shape his boss' image as fervently as he's constantly stroking his ego. Unlike Mickey of any number and his job, Preston is participating willingly. How did Henshall respond when Bong thought of him for the part? "The first reaction was 'this is more bonkers I'd ever experienced of his work'," he advises. "Parasite is proper bonkers, but this film was bizarre and excellent and unique and funny and humane and violent and scary, and all within this genre. And it was all the things that he brings to his work, all the commentary and the satirical nature of his work. I thought 'oh man, this is such a wonderful, delicious soup'. And Preston is a wonderful ingredient in that soup. What a strange character in this world, right? And from what he had said briefly about the character, it just seemed like a lot of fun — a lot of fun." [caption id="attachment_994744" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Vaughn[/caption] Henshall can thank Snowtown for plenty in his career. His performance as John Bunting in his first-ever film role — beforehand, single episodes of All Saints and Rescue Special Ops, plus a main part in soap Out of the Blue are on his resume — is that unforgettable, and everything from fellow Aussie movies These Final Hours, The Babadook, Acute Misfortune, Measure for Measure, A Sunburnt Christmas, The Royal Hotel and How to Make Gravy (which we chatted with him about in 2024) through to international productions Ghost in the Shell and Skin have followed. So too have TV roles at home in Bloom, Lambs of God, Clickbait, Mystery Road: Origin, Savage River and The Newsreader, and overseas in TURN and Defending Jacob. He can directly credit Justin Kurzel's debut crime drama based on the real-life South Australian murders for being cast in both Okja and Mickey 17, though, after Bong was on the Cannes Film Festival Camera d'Or jury in 2011 when Snowtown played at the prestigious festival, then approached Henshall after seeing the movie. How did that first meeting with the filmmaker lead to not one but two performances in front of Bong's lens? Having collaborated with him twice now, why does Henshall think that the South Korean director is so drawn to digging into humanity's penchant for exploitation? What energy did acting alongside Mickey 17's cast, with many of his co-stars turning in such distinctive portrayals, give him for his own performance? Alongside what gets him excited about a new project, what he makes of his career so far and more, our conversation with Henshall spanned all of these topics. On How Snowtown Led to Okja, and Then to Mickey 17 "So Bong was the head juror of the Camera d'Or back in 2011, which is a prize given to the what the jury deem is the best first film by a debut filmmaker at the Cannes Film Festival — and Snowtown played there. And so after the first screening of Snowtown, Bong waited around and he was very sweet, and came up and said hello, and gave me a card and said 'yeah, it'd be great to work with you'. There's a bit of protocol there that says they can't say much about the film or howthey responded to it, just because of the secrecy of the ballot at the end of the week and who wins what, but he said 'I'd like to work with you, very lovely to meet you' — and then he went on his way, and it was very lovely. I went back to an event at Screen Australia, I think, and Jennifer Kent — the writer/director of The Babadook and The Nightingale — was there. She with there with her producer, as she was selling The Babadook to get some international money before making it. And she taught me at acting school. She came up to me and she said 'I heard you met someone today'. And I said 'oh yeah, yeah' — and I was going through my mind who I may have met that she was so excited about. And I said 'oh yeah, there's this beautiful man from Korea'. And she was like 'yeah, I know who he is: director Bong Joon-ho'. And I was like 'oh yeah, yeah'. And she's like 'you don't know who he is, do you?'. And I'm like 'oh, no, no' — and she's like 'you're an idiot, you need to watch this, this, this, this, this and this'. And I was like 'okay, I will, I will'. [caption id="attachment_994759" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Okja, Netflix[/caption] So I went home when Cannes finished and I watched the films. And I was very happy that I didn't know who he was when I met him, because I think I would have been very shy because the films were incredible. Anyway, I was a bit naive. It was the first thing I'd ever been to outside of Australia to do with work, and I thought it was a nice gesture and nothing more. So years go by and we get a phone call, and he'd like to meet for me to work on Okja. I was on a plane the next day. He said 'I'm in LA, I'd love to meet you. I've got this film. I think you'd be great in it'. I'm like 'can I get there quicker?'. So I got on a plane and we met, and I think he'd already cast me in his mind, but he just was doing an energy check. He wanted to see, just to see, I think — he doesn't just cast the people he thinks are going to be great in the film, I think energetically he wants to put together an ensemble of people, not just in front of the camera but behind the camera, who are going to work best to make the film come to life. And I think he knew from meeting me that that might be a good thing. So, obviously you don't know until you do it, but I guess he trusted his intuition. And not long after that I got offered Okja. And then, I get a call out of the blue while I haven't had much work — it's 2022, I haven't had much work or I'm in-between jobs, and I think a couple of things have been pushed, and I'm about to go to start a job on a film. And I get this call from his American producer Dooho Choi, who was a friend of mine because we worked together on Okja, and he says 'hey, Bong wants to work with you again'. I thought he was joking and just having a laugh, and he was like 'no, no, I'm in London and you need to get here'. And I was like 'oh'. So then that happened, and I went to London a couple of months later and I got to do the thing — again. So I'm feeling very blessed and very grateful that I that I got to do it, not just once but twice, because I felt a lot more comfortable the second time working with him in the way that he works. And, of course, with the brilliant people that he brings together to make his very unique, excellent films. So I felt like part of the family the second time. There's a lot of co-collaborators that he worked with again, so I got to be part of that family again and we got to reunite and work together again, and I felt a lot more comfortable in my skin this time." On the Theme of Exploitation Continuing to Recur Across Bong's Career, Including in Okja and Mickey 17 "I think he's a very socially aware guy. I can't speak to what his reasons are, really — he's a very open and lovely human, but I haven't talked in-depth with him about how he came to do [this], because, as you say, there are themes that he, in every one of his films, these themes sort of show up. And I haven't really had a chance to talk in depth about that with him. So that, I couldn't speak to that, other than I think he sees the absurdity in humanity, and while it moves him to, I assume, sadness at times, he just sees the hilarity in the indifference. And I think what he's trying to do — and again this is my take on it — I think what he's trying to do is to show us there's a better way through the absurdity. I think that means a lot to him. I mean, he came out of — again, you'd have to speak to him, but this is my assumption knowing a little about the history — he came out of a military dictatorship, like in 1988 that was thrown over in Korea, and Korea came into this sort of industrial boom, which made people start having a bit more equity across the board and more finances to consume things. And he is the result of that, in that he can now comment on his experience through his art. And he does it so uniquely and so brilliantly. But I think the thing is, it's a lofty goal, but I think the hope when you make something and you spend so long doing it and you commit your life to doing it is to show people that there is a better way. That we can — because there are good people in every one of his films, right? And a lot of the darkness, he shows through absurdity. And you're right, there are some really dark moments in this film in the way that we treat the original habitants, the aliens, of this planet Niflheim, and the way that we treat the expendable, Rob Patterson's characters — character or characters — and the class system within this this spaceship. He's constantly making fun, not just of the people who are being awful, but the people down the scale. So I think that's the goal. Again, this is just me surmising. But that's what I receive when I see his work outside of the work that I've been involved in myself, is that you're pointing out to us that there's a better way — and look how silly we are as a race when ego and hubris and self-interest gets involved. And community is much better together rather than at odds." On Being Part of Such a Stacked Cast — and the Energy That His Co-Stars' Committed Performances Gave Henshall for His Own "It's so much fun, because those guys are so committed to what they're doing and what they're being asked to do by Bong, that it helps inform what you're supposed to do and where you're supposed to be as the character, and how you're supposed to respond to something — whether that be physically, emotionally or verbally. And so when people are giving you so much; I mean, Rob gives so much, Mark gives so much, Toni gives so much, Naomi gives so much. Everybody was coming to work wanting desperately to make this work. And everybody has such a different energy level. Everybody is such a unique, standout character for their moments. The scientists with Cameron Britton and Patsy Ferran, at odds with each other, that classic dynamic. Steven Yeun — Steven Yeun blew me away. Again, everybody's giving their personal story so much value. And our commitment that when you step into that soup or that mesh, you feel it, the energies are pushing and pulling you, and you know what you're there to do, what you're supposed to do there, what you've been asked to do and your intentions. So to play those intentions within that sort of tête-à-tête coming at you and you're responding to it, it's so much fun. You're in such good hands with the crew and Bong behind the camera. I can only speak positively about it. It's just so much fun. Even though he's very prescriptive and he has the film in his head — he only shoots the frames that he's going to use in the edit. So that might interrupt your speech or that might interrupt the dialogue. You only might get a chance to respond at one certain moment. You don't get to play the whole scene out on camera. And he knows exactly what he needs for that, so he might direct you in a certain fashion, and he'll show you the storyboard, and so you get an idea of what you're supposed to be physically — but within that he wants you to play and find something that's not within the storyboard, but you have to just hit those mark physically. And when you're getting the response from that you're getting from Rob — I just remember when doing the read-through and Rob was doing that voice, and I'm like 'this is so great, this is going to be so much fun to work opposite'. And then Mark was finding his voice, and I'm like 'these energies are just wild and within the Bong universe — I can't wait'." On What Excites Henshall About Getting to Skew in a Lighter Direction, Even If There's Still Darkness Evident, Than Projects Like Snowtown, The Royal Hotel and Acute Misfortune. "It doesn't have to be a dark turn for me to get excited to do the work, to flesh out of character. I think that's just the stuff that I've been lucky enough to have been thrown, and I really enjoyed investigating why men like those roles from those films that you mention, to question and investigate why these guys are the way they are and then try to portray that as best I can. But anything on any spectrum excites me. The thing with Preston in this film, Bong's world, there's always a sense of playfulness and absurdity and commentary, and you don't necessarily play that but you lean into the idea of it — and that's really exciting. And I cherish to be able to flesh something like that out in his world. Anything that comes along that is lighter or more comedic, too, that's a different type of challenge and a different type of investigation and curiosity. That's really fun to do, too, depending on who you're working with and the story and the context of the character within that story. But working with him — and his characters are arch at times, and you're fulfilling certain tropes within the story for him, but there's a menace to Preston. And an underlying nastiness, an ugliness that I think comes from an ideology that's dark, but it's portrayed in this sort of very humorous observation of people who can be like that, that end up working for or being part of a belief system. In Preston's terms, it's in with this sort of corporation church, and there are some uglier elements there that we don't delve into but are quite obvious if you look at them hard enough. And that's really fun and it's zany — you know, he's wearing a £2000 suit on a spaceship. Why does he look like that? Where did that come from? Who is he? Bong said to me, the first time we met and talked about this film and this character, he said 'I want you to be shiny and smell like shampoo. You've got no hair, but I want you to be shiny and smell like shampoo'. So that excites me. What does that mean? That's very fun, and inspires the imagination and your curiosity. And then at one point, he said to me 'you think you're Mick Jagger. Nobody knows this. You don't show it. But that's what's happening internally for you'. And again, whatever that means, that's a really fun, exciting thing to play within the context of the dynamics between Mark's character, my character, Toni's character, Rob's character. What a fun direction. What a fun note to give. And then there's the intentions, I think he's trying to influence heavily without offending someone who is obviously very intimidated and insecure but has a great deal of power. And I think he's trying to get in the ear of Marshall as best he can by inflating his ego so as to serve his own mission, which I think is to further his position. So there's a menace and a malice there, and an intention that isn't very light — especially when we're talking about the loss of life, whether it be creeper or human, to get to a certain place. And then you justify that because you have a certain belief in a certain, in god, but it's done in this very sort of absurd way. So all of that excites me." On What Henshall Looks for in a New Project at This Stage of His Career "Well, the people, really. I've been very fortunate to work with some really great people — not just incredible artists or practitioners or craftspeople, but good humans. And I've been taken to some really exciting places that, had I not been in this industry, had I not chosen this career, I wouldn't have gone to. And also the people that are in these places, I wouldn't have met. It's not just fellow film and TV folks — it's people that you meet on the ground wherever you are. So that's been incredible. What excites me about a new project is the possibility of new friendships and new collaborations, and also the possibility to apply everything that you've learnt from the past experiences. Every job is similar in context in many ways and you can rely on those things, but the variables are different — it's a different crew, perhaps, or different people that you don't know yet how they work, what makes them tick, how best to fit into the job, how best to form a relationship with them to get the best out of you and them. That's all very exciting and terrifying. Is it going to work? Who knows? We don't know until we're doing it and then when we're doing it, you can't really go back and do it again. I know you get the time to do multiple takes, but to really know someone you have to sort of do the time with them, whether it be a director or cinematographer, a crew member, or an actor, writer, producer. Many things. [caption id="attachment_983107" align="alignnone" width="1920"] How to Make Gravy, Jasin Boland[/caption] So that's all exciting. And to employ all the things that you've relied on in the past and then push yourself into new challenges — that could be location, that could be many things. The role, the people you're working with, opposite, as an actor, it's all new and exciting. So I enjoy that challenge. Also, obviously, the depth of the scripts and the role that you get to play — and what part of your experience do you get to employ or get to use? Hopefully it's something fresh. And as you grow, you have new experiences and new perspectives, so you get to play things differently, I suppose. [caption id="attachment_994760" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Okja, Netflix[/caption] And the opportunity to be working. Just working. It doesn't happen for all actors, as you know, and it's a very fickle thing. And you can be working a lot and then you don't work for a while or you don't work at all. So there's the joy of working, which I adore. And I adore what I do, so I really love all that. The chance to play something different, as you sort of intimated. Some of the stuff that I've done in the past has been very dark. I think more recently, I've done stuff that's been less dark. I've played less-troubled people or people who have exorcised some of the darker parts of themselves, have been better human beings, I'd say — or more-loving human beings. So that's been really fun. I played something quite comical recently, that's been really fun. I'm just enjoying the different parts of myself that I get to peruse, too, then put in place with whatever character presents. But yeah, the people and the challenge of the work and all the different variables, that's what excites me. I think it's a multi-faceted answer." [caption id="attachment_994745" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Vaughn[/caption] On What Henshall Makes of His Journey as an Actor So Far "I think I'm incredibly fortunate to have worked with the people that I've worked with and worked on some of the projects I've worked on. I've been taken all around the world. I've met some of the great, really great people, not just as practitioners but as humans. I've gotten to work on projects with director Bong. I've gotten to work with Justin Kurzel. I've gotten to work with Emma Freeman. Kitty Green. I've gotten to work on a television show in America for four years. I've gotten to play some really sinister people with some major issues, both mentally, physically and emotionally, and that's been an incredible exploration of perspective. And I've learnt a lot from that. I've learnt a lot from the people that I've worked with, young and old. It's just been brilliant. I feel very fortunate. I feel very fortunate that I can continue to do it. I feel very lucky. And I hope it continues, because I really enjoy it." Mickey 17 opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
The Commonwealth Games are not coming to regional Victoria. One year on from its announcement and just three years out from the event, the 2026 games are going to have to find a new host after Victorian Premier Dan Andrews announced his government had pulled the plug on hosting the global sporting event. In a press conference on Tuesday, July 18, Andrews announced the decision had been made after the reported cost to host the games had nearly tripled since it was first budgeted for back in 2022. "What's become clear is that the cost of hosting these games in 2026 is not the $2.6 billion that has been budgeted and allocated," said Andrews. "It is, in fact, at least $6 billion and could be as high as $7 billion. "[This] is well and truly too much for a 12-day sporting event. I will not take money out of hospitals and schools to fund an event that is three times the cost as estimated and budgeted for last year." The plan for the 2026 games was to share the event between four regional hubs – Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland – each with their own athletes' village and sports program. [caption id="attachment_831273" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Robert Blackburn, Visit Victoria[/caption] While the games were set to deliver billions in regional upgrades and tourism, the state government has instead announced a $2 billion+ regional fund. This will invest in sporting facilities, tourism, community sport and social and affordable housing across the state's regional areas. Included in the package is a commitment to deliver the facilities promised to these regional hubs as part of the 2026 games. As well, 13,000 new homes that will be built across regional Victoria. Andrews promised that the Victorian Government had "looked at every option", including moving the games to Melbourne. However, all alternatives far exceeded the original $2.6 billion budget. The premier said talks with Commonwealth Games authorities had been amicable and productive, but no plan for where the games would now be hosted was announced. Neither the Commonwealth Games nor Commonwealth Games Australia have made an announcement yet. Australia only recently held the games, back in 2018 on the Gold Coast and still has a massive sporting event on the horizon, with the 2032 Olympic Games already locked in for Brisbane. Bit of a long one this morning. You might have heard the news this morning that Victoria will no longer be hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games. And I wanted to tell you about the decision. — Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) July 17, 2023 The Commonwealth Games will no longer take place across Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland in 2026. Head to Victorian Premier Dan Andrews' Twitter for a full run-down of why the government has pulled the plug.
If you're already making travel plans for next year, you might want to consider a destination close to home: New South Wales' Lord Howe Island. Located 600 kilometres off the state's northern coast, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed spot has just been named one of the best places to visit in 2020 by travel publication Lonely Planet. The only Australasian location to make the list, Lord Howe Island ranked fifth in Lonely Planet's rundown of top regions, which forms part of its Best in Travel 2020 guide. The publication heaped plenty of praise on the NSW spot, noting that the "visually stunning island makes an instant impact on the senses". It also called out Lord Howe's "soaring green mountains", "perfect lagoon", "perfect crescents of beach" and "splendid hiking trails" — as well as calling it "a shining example of sustainably managed tourism". If you haven't yet experienced Lord Howe's wonders for yourself, only 400 people are allowed to visit the island at a time — which is why its approach to tourism earned a specific mention. That means you won't have too much company when you're trekking up Mt Gower's 875-metre one-day climb, swimming among 60 species of coral and more than 500 species of fish, surfing at Blinky Beach, visiting the world's largest sea stack or sleeping in a rainforest. [caption id="attachment_747140" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Zach Sanders[/caption] On the top regions list, the Aussie spot was in great company. The Central Asia's Silk Road took first place, Le Marche in Italy nabbed second, Tohuku in Japan ranked third and Maine in the USA came in fourth. Further down the rankings, China's Guizhou Province took sixth spot, followed by Spain's Cádiz Province, Northeast Argentina, the Kvarner Gulf in Croatia and the Brazilian Amazon. Lonely Planet also compiles lists of top cities, countries and best-value places to visit; however, no Aussie or NZ spots ranked among the selections. Salzburg in Austria was named the best city, Bhutan topped the best countries and East Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia emerged victorious among the publication's best-value picks. You can check out Lonely Planet's full Best in Travel 2020 lists over here. Images: Zach Sanders.
Feeling bold to start 2023? Brave? Fearless? Ready to take on a new year, embrace life and show your spirit? That's the standard January vibe, but this year has a colour to match: Viva Magenta, aka the hue of the year according to the Pantone Colour Institute. Each year, Pantone's colour experts pick a tone for the 12 months ahead. As announced back in December 2022 but supremely relevant now that 2023 is actually here, its latest selection is Pantone 18-1750. This hue from the red family — a colour that Pantone says "vibrates with vim and vigour" — is meant to both set the trend for and sum up the year ahead. Pantone is never short on words for its picks of the year, and has also dubbed this tone as "a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration, writing a new narrative". Viva Magenta is meant to be powerful and empowering, too, and a colour that "revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint — an electrifying and a boundaryless shade that is manifesting as a standout statement". View this post on Instagram A post shared by PANTONE (@pantone) "Viva Magenta welcomes anyone and everyone with the same verve for life and rebellious spirit. It is a colour that is audacious, full of wit and inclusive of all," Pantone's announcement continues. Explaining the decision, Pantone Colour Institute Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman said that the tone has a natural, primordial, galvanising feel to it. "Viva Magenta descends from the red family, and is inspired by the red of cochineal, one of the most precious dyes belonging to the natural dye family as well as one of the strongest and brightest the world has known." Expect to see all things Viva Magenta popping up around the place throughout 2023, with Pantone suggesting how it can be used in fashion and accessories, home decor, design and beauty, too. The new shade takes over from 2022's Very Peri, and 2021's Ultimate Gray and vibrant yellow Illuminating before that. In 2020, Pantone went with Classic Blue, while 2019's colour was Living Coral, 2018's was Ultra Violet and 2017's was Greenery. To find out more about Viva Magenta — and to check out all the previous Colours of the Year — head to the Pantone website.
If spending your days indoors has you feeling nostalgic, that's understandable. As the world reacts to the COVID-19 pandemic, pining for happier times gone by is a completely natural response. So far, you've probably adjusted your viewing — lapping up plenty of retro animated favourites, such as Studio Ghibli's back catalogue. And, thanks to San Churro, you can now send your tastebuds back to a simpler, rosier era as well. The nationwide chain has just launched a new 'throwback edition' range of churro snack packs, which combine its eponymous dish — aka those long, thin, fried-dough pastries — with a number of retro dessert staples. Think churros with fairy bread, churros with chocolate crackles, and churros sprinkled with strawberry and grape Nerds. Each pack comes with mini churros, its chosen nostalgic dessert, your choice of drizzled white, dark or milk chocolate, and either ice cream or strawberries. The fairy bread pack features speckles and white chocolate ice cream, for example, while the chocolate crackle pack keeps the theme going with chocolate ice cream — and the Nerds pack drops its sugary lollies over the pinkest of fruits. If you're not already getting playground flashbacks, San Churro is also hosting 'throwback Thursdays' throughout May, with its snack packs on offer at 90s prices every Thursday from 4–8pm. That'll reduce a $17 snack pack down to $11, with packs available for takeaway, or for delivery via DoorDash, Menulog, Deliveroo and Uber Eats. And, for those who prefer going retro with a warm, milky beverage instead, 'throwback edition' hot chocolates are also on the menu. Yes, that means that you can sip a hot choccy topped with fairy bread, chocolate crackle pieces or Nerds — or choose honeycomb pieces instead. San Churro's 'throwback edition' range of snack packs are available in-store now, with 'throwback Thursday' pricing available every Thursday from 4–8pm until Thursday, May 28. For further information, visit the chain's website.
