Just a few weeks after Sydney copped that 'vote no' skywriting, it appears the campaign against marriage equality has again taken to the skies, with at least three potential anti-same-sex marriage messages scrawled above Melbourne this afternoon. This time around, whoever's in charge has opted simply for the word 'NO', written in huge block letters. While it was confirmed that the Sydney Skywriting Company — the only one of its kind in city — is owned by active members of the Australian Christian Lobby, it's unclear whether yes campaigners are up against a similar situation in Melbourne. And, admittedly, the 'no' could be directed towards homophobic protestors or people who don't like puppies. Well, we can hope. Whatever its intentions, 'no' seems like a bad vibe to place in the sky. In a counter move to Sydney's 'Vote No' skywriting, marriage equality supporters banded together to raise funds for a huge rainbow flag to be pulled by helicopter above Bondi Beach on October 1. Melbourne, take note.
Trekking across a continent is the type of bucket-list activity plenty of people think about, but few ever manage. If you're in Canada, however, walking across the country just got a whole lot easier. Spanning 24,000 kilometres across 13 provinces and territories, the world's longest hiking track has just been completed. It has taken 25 years to come to fruition, so it's no wonder that they're calling it The Great Trail. Opening in its 100% connected form at the end of August, the path connects Canada's east and west coasts via an outdoor journey through all of the terrain the nation has to offer. Urban, rural and wilderness landscape is featured, plus greenways, waterways and roadways, with track perfect for not only hikers, cyclists and horse riders, but anyone keen for a paddle, cross-country ski or snowmobile trip as well. The trail was first conceived as part of Canada's 125th anniversary celebrations in 1992, with Pierre Camu, Bill Pratt, and Paul LaBarge coming up with the idea to connect all of the country's various tracks. As well as the types of treks you'd expect — over rocky ground and through leafy forests, for example — highlights include wanders through major cities such as Toronto and Ottawa, a sea-to-sky marine trail around islands and waterfalls, and dog-sledding during snow season. Via Travel + Leisure / Image: The Great Trail.
After the great Marvel drought of 2020, when the blockbuster franchise pushed back all of its cinema releases due to the pandemic, 2021 hasn't been short on superheroes. So far, WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Loki have all hit streaming, Black Widow debuted in cinemas and online at the same time, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings unleashed its Sydney-shot action on the big screen — and Eternals, Spider-Man: Now Way Home and Hawkeye are all still to come. Indeed, by the time the year is out, no fewer than eight new movies and TV shows will have brought the Marvel Cinematic Universe's crime-fighting, world-saving figures back to our screens in 2021. And, one of them is getting festive, because obviously Disney+ thinks that we could all use some streaming superhero antics combined with holiday hijinks (or that Marvel's sprawling film and TV realm could take some cues from Home Alone and Die Hard). That show: Hawkeye. Like the rest of Marvel's Disney+ shows, it has gone with the obvious, title-wise. And, when it hits Disney+ in late November, it'll start streaming just as everyone's starting to feel merry. So, the eight-part mini-series is leaning into that idea — twinkling lights, appropriate tunes and all — as the just-dropped first trailer for Marvel's fourth TV series of the year demonstrates. Yes, viewers will see how Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner, Avengers: Endgame) is doing in his post-blip life. They'll also watch him team up with hotshot archer and aspiring hero Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld, Bumblebee), who slings arrows just as well as the Avenger she admires. And, they'll see the pair try to get Barton back to his family for Christmas — and try to escape a presence from Barton's past. As well as Renner and Steinfeld, Hawkeye stars Vera Farmiga (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It), Fra Fee (Pixie), Tony Dalton (Better Call Saul), Zahn McClarnon (Reservation Dogs), Brian d'Arcy James (Devs) and debutant Alaqua Cox. Obviously, exactly who else from the MCU will turn up is the kind of detail that'll be best discovered by watching. Check out the Hawkeye trailer below: Hawkeye will start streaming via Disney+ on Wednesday, November 24. Images: Chuck Zlotnick/Mary Cybulski. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
As part of the New South Wales Government's response to two locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in Sydney, face masks will be compulsory in indoor public settings across Greater Sydney for the next three days. The mandatory requirement will come into effect from 5pm Thursday, May 6, and run through until 12am on Monday, May 10. Sydneysiders, including those who live in Wollongong, the Blue Mountains and the Central Coast, must don a mask when they are indoors in public. That includes shopping at supermarkets, shopping centres and other retail stores; on public and shared transport; and at all other public indoor venues including theatres and aged care facilities. They'll also be mandatory for all staff working at hospitality venues. Face coverings have not been mandatory in NSW since restrictions on masks on public transportation on Monday, March 29. The reinstating of restrictions comes after a man in Sydney's eastern suburbs tested positive for COVID-19 with an unknown source on Thursday, May 5. His wife then tested positive overnight. Compulsory mask-wearing isn't the only new restriction announced today, Thursday, May 6, for Greater Sydney, either. Under the new snap restrictions, singing and dancing will be banned in indoor venues, and no more than 20 people will be allowed to gather in homes. Patrons are also required to remain seated while drinking at venues; however, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian implored those with Mother's Day bookings or tickets for outdoor events to not to change their plans this weekend. The Premier also advised that anyone who can adopt the new restrictions — including wearing masks — before 5pm today should do so. NSW Health has also been updating the COVID-19 venues of concern list. Anyone who has visited these venues during the times specified are required to get tested and self-isolate until provided with an update from NSW Health. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Taking quality of beard and beardiness of lyrics as the two main factors, South Australian folk rock foursome The Beards are definitely at least one of the beardiest bands in music today. But they’re not the only band with facial hair that says a lot about their music. In anticipation of The Beards The First World Tour, which is currently making its way around the US before wrapping up on our eastern states in June, learn to know your EDM from your alt country by facial hair alone with this list of eight genre-defining beards. 1. THE INDIE FOLK BEARD Like the warm sounds of a guitar and a country-tinged melody, the indie folk beard is rural, familiar and comforting. It is comprised of a mid-density beard with rugged chops and a clearly defined moustache section. Often those two parts will merge slightly, but if so there will normally be some form of styling gel involved so the moustache retains definition. See Justin Vernon and Iron & Wine’s Samuel Beam, and closer to home, Angus Stone’s is a bristly contender. 2. THE CLASSIC ROCK BEARD In the same family is the classic rock beard, a more rugged and manly development that suggests life on the road and an inoffensively boisterous attitude. It can be seen on the faces of Clutch’s Neil Fallon, The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and most bands signed to Sub Pop in Seattle. The main feature of the rock beard is its thickness, while length can vary. It is also, despite its bushiness and proximity to the mouth, not a very dirty beard. 3. THE RAP BEARD Rappers don’t get the ladies because of their smooth rhymes, they get them because of their smooth mutton chops and well-groomed chin curtains. See: Ice Cube, 50 Cent, Flo Rida and P. Diddy. 4. THE METAL BEARD A fun thing to do is imagine the guys from metal bands plaiting their beards and fastening them with those little beads. They do this frequently, and it is maybe one of the reasons so many metal bands originate from Scandinavia, where hair is usually long and silky and lends itself well to styling. 5. COUNTRY Pioneering this style were Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson in the Highwaymen era. After a brief fling with the pornstache, country beards seem to be reverting back to that unkempt style, which is increasingly evident in light of the popularity of modern and alternative country. Zac Brown and Alabama Shakes’ Zac Cockrell in particular suggest both genre and beard and only betting bigger from here. 6. THE MOTLEY COLLECTION A discrepancy between styles of facial hair often goes hand in hand with a discrepancy between styles of music. This is particularly true concerning two of the worst reasons to have been born in the late ‘80s: System of a Down and Linkin Park. Part Swedish hardcore and part magician rock with a weak attempt at 'urban' thrown in, it’s just a recipe for confusion. 7. THE ELECTROBEARD Have you ever noticed that electronic artists appear to have good levels of personal hygiene? This is seems to be echoed in their facial hair, which is normally non-existent or well groomed and not excessive in length. Al Doyle of Hot Chip and our own Oliver Tank both have excellent beards, and it’s pretty much impossible to imagine Flume with a wild face mane. 8. THE GANDALF Some older rock bands make attempts to stay relevant, while others give youth the proverbial finger by growing massively daggy beards. The most famous example of this would be ZZ Top, made up of two fiercely bearded Texans and one beardless (and unfittingly named) Frank Beard. See also Benny and the Jets, a Detroit rock band formed several years before Elton John’s hit of the same name.
It's blast from the past time, again — and time to spend a couple of nights journeying back a few decades just by hitting the dance floor. Whether you lived through the 90s rave scene, spent every weekend enjoying club life in the 00s or just wish you were old enough to have ticked both boxes, Ministry of Sound will take you there when its huge Testament parties return for 2025. Ministry of Sound itself was around through both eras, so you couldn't be in better hands to get retro via old-school 90s and 00s bangers. The Testament events also toured Australia in 2023 and 2024, and will return for another year — including for three nights in Sydney on Friday, April 4–Saturday, April 5 and Saturday, April 12. Each evening is devoted to either the 90s or the 00s, so you'll need to attend two of them if you want to make shapes to tunes from both decades. But it's a choose-your-own-adventure type of affair, which means that fans of late 20th-century beats can hit up the session dedicated to 90s house, rave, trance and garage tracks if that's all that you're keen on, while lovers of 00s electro and breaks get their own shindig. The DJ lineup is headlined by international acts such as Paul Oakenfold, Roger Sanchez, Felix Da Housecat, Graeme Park, Krafty Kuts, Plump DJs, Smokin Jo and Utah Saints. Australia's own John Course, Sgt Slick, Minx and Mark Dynamix are also on the bill, alongside over 60 other names across the tour. Your destination: White Bay Power Station, with the 90s night taking over on April 4 and 12,and the 00s evening on the April 5. Updated Friday, December 13, 2024.
He has declared that he's not famous anymore, taken phone calls from strangers, transmitted his heartbeat, live-streamed a three-day movie marathon of his own films and asked the public to take him around North America. Now, one of the most intriguing actor-turned-artists of his generation has revealed his next performance piece — and it's happening in (and streaming from) Sydney this weekend. Shia LaBeouf fans and anyone interested in experimental art antics might already know that the American Honey star has been on the bill for the Sydney Opera House's new pop culture festival, BingeFest, since it was announced back in October. As part of the program, he'll continue to collaborate with his creative partners Nastja Säde Rönkkön and Luke Turner, who he's worked with on more than a dozen projects to date. And yes, at #ANDINTHEEND, they want you to participate. The first of their two free performances kicks off tonight at 11.59pm and runs through until 6am, with their second taking place between 10pm on Sunday until 6am Monday morning. Here's how #ANDINTHEEND works: visitors will be invited inside Sydney Opera House's Joan Sutherland Theatre one by one, and asked to deliver a statement or message in person to LaBeouf, Rönkkön and Turner. They can say whatever they like — but, the one requirement is that each participant's message should begin with the words: "AND IN THE END…". https://twitter.com/thecampaignbook/status/809926146313830401 Once communicated to LaBeouf and company, the statements will be live-streamed online at andintheend.sydneyoperahouse.com — and beamed across Sydney harbour on a 60-metre display installed on the Opera House itself. At the centre of the piece, the trio are aiming to ponder a number of questions, including where we are headed, what might it all mean and what is important in the end? "As 2016 draws to a close, we are all too aware of the pervasive sense of foreboding that has come to define the year," the artists offered in a statement about #ANDINTHEEND. "Wars have raged, demagogues have risen, cultural heroes have departed, environmental catastrophe looms, while the voices of the people have been continually manipulated and polarized. Hope for the future seems more distant than ever. And yet, we still yearn for some greater truth, for the utopias of our distant horizons, expressed through art." Just how it will turn out is anyone's guess, but that's the great thing about live art in general, and about LaBeouf, Rönkkön and Turner's performance projects in particular: no one knows just what will happen. If you're planning to flock to the free event in person — or just thinking about stopping because you're already heading to BingeFest's all-night Buffy binge-a-thon or 24-hour Street Fighter tournament — visitors are reminded that entry isn't guaranteed. Everyone else, train your eyes towards your nearest internet-connected screen once the clock hits midnight tonight, Sydney time. #ANDINTHEEND takes place at BingeFest on from 11.59pm, Saturday 17 December to 6am, Sunday 18 December — and again from 10pm, Sunday 18 December to 6am, Monday 19 December. Follow @thecampaignbook on Twitter for more information, and visit andintheend.sydneyoperahouse.com to access the live-stream. Images: Abazar Khayami, Daniel Boud and Vivi Fragou.
Master sommelier Madeline Triffon describes pinot noir as 'sex in a glass'. Winemaker Randy Ullom calls it 'the ultimate nirvana'. Broadway wannabe Titus Andromedon loved it so much he compares it to 'caviar, Myanmar, mid-size car' (see below). No wonder the good folk at Revel — who bring Malbec Day and Mould our way, too — created Pinot Palooza, an epic travelling wine festival celebrating all things peeeno noir. The event usually hits up Aussie capitals each year and lets wine connoisseurs sample more than 200 drops, direct from Australia and New Zealand's best producers. But in 2020, like many things, it's going virtual. Whether you're a newbie who likes something light and inviting, or a pinot pro fond of the biggest, most complex drops there are, prepare to get sipping at Pinot Palooza Side B. From 4pm on Saturday, November 21, you'll simply be tuning in digitally. As part of the stream, there'll be winemakers talking about the business and guest DJs spinning tracks — turning the whole event into a party in your dining room. Drinks-wise, you have a couple of options. If you know exactly what type of pinot you like, you can nab a free event-only ticket, grab your own vino and get pouring. Or, you can order a '12-track pinot pack' for $85 — which includes a dozen 150-millilitre cans of wine from regions such as Gippsland, Northern Tasmania and Central Otago that you can taste while you're streaming the shindig. https://youtu.be/A6yttOfIvOw
Not that you need any extra incentive to do your bit for the environment, but here's a fun one anyway: your mates at Victoria Bitter have just started a new program that lets Aussies swap their excess solar energy for beer. Under the VB Solar Exchange initiative, locals can turn the power bill credit earned by their home's solar panels into a few icy cold brews, rather than simply selling it back to the grid. Specifically, VB is offering participants in its program a slab of beer for every $30 worth of energy credits they rack up. And, those brews will be delivered straight to your door, too. Of course, not just any old beer lover can get involved — and there are a few tight eligibility requirements to meet. First, you'll need to already have solar panels and be connected to the grid as a residential customer in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria or South Australia. You'll also have to switch over to VB's chosen energy retailer, Diamond Energy. And you'll obviously need to be over the age of 18, so you can properly enjoy the spoils of your solar swapping. If you do tick all the boxes, you can register your interest over at the website and then sit back and wait to hear if you've been accepted into the program. Once in, you'll earn yourself a VB for every $1.25 of credit generated — and a slab once you've clocked up enough for 24 beers. Participants can track their progress as they go, with beers delivered to your door quarterly. That said, VB's producer CUB is only accepting 500 people into the program. It's also only handing out a maximum of 30 slabs per person each year, with debit cards sent out to cover the remaining credits. So if you're keen, don't wait too long to sign up. CUB is set to reinvest the solar credits back into the Solar Exchange program, as well as using a portion to hit the company's broader sustainability targets. The program is the latest in a suite of initiatives by CUB's parent company Asahi Beverages, as part of an ambitious sustainability program. It's committed to being powered by 100 percent renewable electricity by 2025. Registrations for the VB Solar Exchange are open now. Head to the website to check if you're eligible and to sign up.
It has been a big year for fans of The Crown, and the show hasn't even released any new episodes in 2020 so far. At the beginning of the year, Netflix announced that it would end the royal drama after its fifth season. Then, it had a change of heart, revealing it would continue the series for a sixth season. That's quite the drama — and all of this before the show's fourth season has even aired. If you prefer your royal intrigue on-screen, however, the streaming platform has now just dropped its first teaser trailer for the aforementioned fourth batch of episodes. The clip only runs for 46 seconds, so it doesn't give very much away at all; however Oscar-winner Olivia Colman is back as Queen Elizabeth II. Fans also get the tiniest of glimpses of The X-Files icon Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and Pennyworth's Emma Corrin as Lady Diana Spencer, too. Also included is a rather pivotal tidbit for The Crown aficionados: just when the show will make a comeback this year. Block out Sunday, November 15 in your diaries, as that's when you can start binging. As Anderson's casting intimates, the fourth season is set to take place during Thatcher's time as Britain's prime minister — and as the sight of Diana in a wedding dress demonstrates, will feature the latter's wedding to Prince Charles (God's Own Country's Josh O'Connor). It'll also be the last chance for fans to enjoy seeing the current lineup on talent, with the series' fifth and sixth seasons — which are expected to follow the Queen in the 1990s and 2000s — switching out its cast again. The show already did exactly that after seasons one and two, of course. This time, after season four, Downton Abbey, Maleficent and Paddington star Imelda Staunton will don the titular headwear, and Princess Margaret will be played by Staunton's Maleficent co-star and Phantom Thread Oscar-nominee Lesley Manville. Also, Game of Thrones and Tales from the Loop's Jonathan Pryce will step into Prince Philip's shoes and Australian Tenet, The Burnt Orange Heresy and Widows star Elizabeth Debicki will play Princess Diana. Check out The Crown's first season four teaser below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TGInHPoufg The Crown's fourth season will hit Netflix on Sunday, November 15. Image: Sophie Mutevelian / Netflix
Quiet and understated, Adelaide isn't always easy to navigate if you're a tourist. So much of the good (and there is a lot of good) is hidden in plain sight. That's where it helps to have some insider advice. We've teamed up with Pullman Hotels and Resorts to bring you a guide to Adelaide's less obvious but obviously fabulous experiences. Putting our heads together with Pullman Adelaide's chief concierge Enrico Angelletti, we've curated a list of must-dos that will leave you wanting more of Adelaide — from new art spaces to old smelly cheese shops, and from pizzeria nightclubs to tranquil gardens. Enrico (aka Ric) has been in the hotel business for nearly 38 years, and is looked up to by junior staff for his passion and expertise for helping guests find extraordinary experiences in Adelaide. His food knowledge is particularly strong — it comes at least in part from his Italian background. Check out the rest of our Explore More content series to hone your itinerary for some of Australia's best holiday destinations. ART & DESIGN ACE OPEN Born in response to dramatic cuts in arts funding, ACE Open is a new and innovative gallery space dedicated to creating challenging conversations with its audience. It showcases a diverse range of Australian and international artists who present experimental, unconventional work. Only launching in early 2017, ACE Open has quickly made a name for itself as being one of the most exciting art spaces in Adelaide, uncompromising in its dedication to quality and enthusiasm for creative risk-taking. Don't miss: Next Matriarch — an exhibition showcasing art from Indigenous women. SISTER GALLERY Created by artists Mia Van den Bos and Ashleigh D'Antonio, Sister burst onto the Adelaide art scene with its incredible stream of contemporary and experimental art from all over Australia. The gallery celebrates young, upcoming and underground artists with a bold point of view and a non-traditional approach. Located just outside of the city in Bowden (near some fabulous cafes and markets), Sister is easily accessible via the tram from the city. It's actually the perfect way to experience something totally different while exploring one of Adelaide's burgeoning cultural centres. Don't miss: Sister's October Openings, which will run in the gallery for two months. JAMFACTORY An Adelaide institution, JamFactory is a haven for all things ceramic and sculptural. Doubling as an education institute, it has purpose-built studios for the design and manufacture of jewellery, ceramics, furniture and glass. Because of its educational bent, visitors are not only able to buy direct from the artists but are able to get a sneak peek into cutting-edge processes and the next wave of influential Australian designers and makers. There's also the opportunity to participate in workshops and classes from industry leaders. Don't miss: Confluence. Presented in association with Tarnanthi Festival, it's an exploration of the work of Indigenous artists from all around Australia. ENSEMBLE ADELAIDE A concept store by and for locals, Ensemble is a new independent retail experience that puts good, sustainable design above all else. The recent home of the Slow Fashion Festival, Ensemble houses the work of local designers and artists, including BB Shoemaker and Goods Studios, and allows shoppers to buy direct from makers and artists. Beautifully curated and wonderfully relaxed, Ensemble is a space of beauty and collaboration that also highlights the innovation and spirit of the Adelaide creative scene. Don't miss: Seeing the makers work and chatting to them about their process. FOOD & DRINK NOLA Travel to New Orleans in the heart of Adelaide. Located in the city's relaxed East End, Nola is all about good beer, even better whiskey and delicious creole cuisine. Transforming Adelaide's stables building into the quintessential New Orleans speakeasy, the bar is a completely singular experience in the city's somewhat overcrowded small bar scene. Pouring at least 26 different craft beers at any given time, and having an ever-changing lineup of artisan whiskies, a menu designed for sharing (which features classics like cornbread, beignet and gumbo) and outdoor dining all summer, it's southern hospitality done right. Don't miss: The fried chicken is the most celebrated dish on Nola's menu for very good reason: it's light, crispy and just spicy enough to cut through all those beers. SUNNY'S This isn't your nonna's pizza. She'd probably like it, though. Serving Naples-style woodfired pizza with the best in South Australian beer and wine (and some very good cocktails), Sunny's is part restaurant and part club, with tables being cleared for live DJ sets every weekend. Located in the newly revitalised Solomon Street in the city's West End, Sunny's regularly involves collaborators representing the best of Adelaide's food scene. Delicious from start to finish. Don't miss: For all of its experimentation, Sunny's is still all about the classics. Their margherita is second to none. Pair that with their zesty Campari watermelon cocktail and you're set for summer. EAST END CELLARS Part bottle shop, part bar and 100 percent gourmet, East End Cellars is the perfect place to get your wine education. The shop has been pouring local wines (as well as a large variety of international labels), running educational tastings and preparing some of the most delicious food and decadent cheeseboards in the city for two decades. Everything is dedicated to getting the most out of your drink. Wines are expertly paired to your meal, and every week there is a guided tasting of their featured winery, where you can learn more about South Australian product from the best in the business. Don't miss: The huge selection of South Australian spirits, beers and wines exclusive to East End Cellars. THE SMELLY CHEESE SHOP An Adelaide Institution, The Smelly Cheese Shop has all your cheese needs covered. Located in the Central Markets, the shop stocks high-end and artisanal cheeses from all over South Australia and the world. With everything from imported French brie to Kangaroo Island feta, The Smelly Cheese Shop places quality above all else, offering customers the opportunity to have a real and in-depth experience with a true cheesemonger at the counter. In a state known for its passion for quality food, this shop is the pinnacle of excellence. Don't miss: The Smelly Cheese Shop runs classes all year round for the budding cheese connoisseur in all of us. They sell out notoriously quickly, so it pays to do your research and book in advance. WELLBEING & LIFESTYLE [caption id="attachment_643375" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] National Parks SA[/caption] MORIALTA CONSERVATION PARK While Adelaide is often derided as Australia's biggest small town, walking through Adelaide, you can see that size or space doesn't matter — it's all about how you use it. Located just 10 kilometres from the CBD, Morialta Conservation Park feels like another world, filled with rugged ridges, waterfalls and native woodlands. Visitors can challenge themselves with a variety of different hiking trails and, as they walk, be treated to expansive panoramic city views of the city and coast. And while you're walking, keep your eye out for native animals (koalas 24x7). Don't miss: A park. Adelaidians love Morialta, so it's best to head there early to save an inevitable car argument. BOTANIC GARDEN AND HIMEJI GARDEN If you can't leave the city but still want to get back to nature, the Botanic Garden and Himeji Garden should be at the top of your list. Designed by Japanese landscape artist Yoshitaka Kumada, the Himeji garden is a slice of beauty and tranquillity in the middle of Adelaide's bustling southern quarter. Featuring beautiful Japanese plant life, including black pine trees and gorgeous blossoms, the gardens are a favourite for Adelaidians who want to switch off and take some time out for reflection. Don't miss: Spring/summer sees the gardens truly come to life. Explore more with Pullman. Book your next hotel stay with Pullman and enjoy a great breakfast for just $1.
For anyone born between 1990 and 2005, some seriously iconic films are established in our memories as works of art. One of those films for millions of millennials, zillennials and early Gen Z'ers is Toy Story, the debut film of the now-legendary animation studio Pixar. Released in 1995 to massive acclaim, 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the tale of childhood toys coming alive, and a special calendar event is coming up to celebrate it. Likely, you've not seen the film on the big screen for a few years now or ever before, but you'll get the chance between Wednesday, July 16 and Saturday, July 19 at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra onstage to perform the soundtrack live alongside the film. If you've never had the pleasure of attending a symphonic screening before, or need some convincing to secure a ticket to this one, read on to discover why you should make this a must-see. Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of a Classic Pixar is a household name now, having since produced other timeless films like A Bug's Life, Cars, Finding Nemo, Inside Out, Coco and Soul. It all started in 1974 as a group of animators and computer scientists hoping to make the world's first-ever fully computer-animated film. After creating the Academy© nominated short film Tin Toy in 1988, Disney approached Pixar to help realise their dream of the world's first fully computer-animated feature film. Toy Story was that film, and its buddy story of toy cowboy Woody and space ranger Buzz competing for the favouritism of their owner was a hit from the start, becoming the second highest-grossing film of 1995 and earning three Academy© Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay — the first time an animated film received the nomination — Best Original Score and Best Original Song (for composer Randy Newman's 'You've Got a Friend in Me'). And even 30 years later, Toy Story is regarded as one of the best animated films ever. A Soundtrack Worth Seeing Live So how does a studio's debut feature film manage to create a soundtrack that lands not one but two Academy© Award nominations? Those within the industry considered an animated feature film like Toy Story a holy grail level achievement of animation, so the pressure was on to make the music just as good. Initially, Pixar and Disney disagreed on music's role in the film, with the latter hoping to make Toy Story stand apart from Disney's prior films. Eventually the two studios reached a middle ground: music could play over the scene without having the characters sing. Then they found their maestro, American composer and songwriter Randy Newman. Newman was understandably apprehensive about the job initially, having never worked on a film like this before. Still, as we know today, his compositions, both orchestral and lyrical, elevated the film to something greater than the sum of its parts. A Chance to Listen to the Music Like Never Before Newman knew the lyrical tunes of Toy Story had to mean something, even if they were about protagonists that weren't living flesh and blood. He explained his focus for Toy Story in an interview with NPR; "You have to take their [the toys'] feelings, their emotions, seriously. It's not unimportant when somebody's feeling bad." So, what do the songs mean? 'Strange Things' reflects Woody's lamentation that he's been usurped as Andy's favourite toy by "some little punk in a rocket", AKA Buzz Lightyear. When 'I Will Go Sailing No More' comes on, the woeful lines illustrate the feelings going through Buzz's head when he realises he isn't a heroic space ranger but one of millions of toys imitating one. And who could forget the iconic 'You've Got a Friend in Me', which sings of the friendship that grows between Woody and Buzz as they work together to get home in one piece? It Will Be Performed by One of Australia's Most Popular Orchestras We've talked about the movie and the music, but what about the musicians who'll be playing it? The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is one of Australia's most esteemed and accomplished musical institutions, with a rich record of exceptional performances. Established in 1932, the Orchestra has evolved into an ensemble that captivates audiences worldwide. Over the years, it has welcomed numerous acclaimed conductors, composers, and soloists, elevating its reputation for excellence in performing a wide range of classical, contemporary, and Australian works. The Sydney Symphony is also a leading presenter of "film with orchestra" concerts like these and has been performing soundtracks for over 20 years. They prepare for these as seriously as every other concert, so you really are hearing one of the world's great orchestras in full flight with all its trademark precision and passion - and all in one of the country's most iconic venues, the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. [caption id="attachment_986871" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tim O'Connor[/caption] The Conductor is a Veteran of Symphonic Screenings With a top film soundtracked by top tunes being performed live in one of Sydney's top venues, what are we missing in this picture? How about a top conductor? Enter a Sydney Symphony Orchestra mainstay and one of the world's masters of performing films in concert: Nicholas Buc (pictured above, left). The Melbourne-born conductor, composer, arranger, pianist and violinist bears a masters degree in Scoring for Film and Multimedia, and a resume of more symphonic screenings than you can shake a baton at. Nicholas has stood on the podium to conduct live-in-concert performances of Star Trek, E.T., Casino Royale, Skyfall, The Lion King, Shrek 2, Jurassic Park, How to Train Your Dragon, Psycho, The Godfather, Star Wars episodes IV,V, VI and VIII and all eight Harry Potter films…to name a few. With that many performances under his belt, you can rest assured that the score and orchestra will be in safe hands. 'Toy Story' in Concert will be playing from Wednesday, July 16 to Saturday, July 19. For more information or to get tickets, visit the website.
Going into 2024, no one knew that Baby Reindeer was about to become one of the most talked-about new shows of 2024. When Richard Gadd's next series arrives, however, it won't be taking audiences by surprise. In news worth sending to your mates from your iPhone, the Scottish writer, actor and comedian has locked in another drama series, this time with HBO and the BBC behind it. Lions doesn't yet have a release date, but it'll span six episodes and also dive into a complicated relationship. Gadd will be telling the tale of two men in Scotland who reunite at one of the pair's wedding. Niall is getting married. Ruben shows up unexpectedly. Cue violence, and also dive into a connection with ups and downs, plus highs and lows, from the 80s until today. The duo have been called 'brothers' by the official synopsis, but with those quote marks in place — so expect why that's the case to factor into the series as well. Meeting as teens, dropping out of each other's life as adults, how the world is changing around them: they're all set to be covered as well. So is a specific question: what does it mean to be a man? While Gadd is creating Lions, as well as writing and executive producing it, he hasn't been announced as one of its stars. Who'll play Niall and Ruben hasn't yet been revealed, and neither has when viewers can expect to see the show — or, Down Under, where, although plenty of HBO content usually heads to Binge and Neon. But, the series' directors have been unveiled: Alexandra Brodski (Somewhere Boy) and Eshref Reybrouck (Ferry: The Series). "Ordering a HBO boxset of The Sopranos, The Wire or Oz and watching it from start to finish were some of the happiest moments of my childhood. Since then, it has always been a dream of mine to work with HBO and be part of their iconic roster of shows," said Gadd about Lions. "I am so grateful to Francesca Orsi [HBO's Head of HBO Drama Series and Films], Kara Buckley [Senior Vice President HBO Drama Programming] and Clint LaVigne [Vice President, Drama Programming at HBO] for taking this chance on the show and on Ruben and Niall too, who — despite growing up in a dead-end Scottish town — would be absolutely pinching themselves at this! I cannot wait to get started." There's obviously no trailer for Lions yet, but check out the trailer for Baby Reindeer below: Lions doesn't yet have a release date on HBO — or Down Under, where plenty of HBO content usually heads to Binge and Neon — but we'll update you when more details are announced. Read our review of Baby Reindeer. Baby Reindeer images: Ed Miller / Netflix.
The team behind Sydney institutions S*A*S*H, Slyfox Hotel and Stanley's Bar has taken over a storied Oxford Street space to open a new techno and dance music-focused nightclub. Carousel Bar and Ballroom is the latest project from the accomplished crew, slotting into the former home of Byblos and Miind Club with a cabaret- and 70s-inspired bar that boasts a primary goal of hosting heaving dance floors. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the Darlinghurst venue operates as a small bar, serving approachable cocktails and Estrella Damm on tap. Then, from Thursday, Carousel transforms into a nightclub for the weekend, playing home for the night to some of the country's and the world's best DJs. A state-of-the-art Funktion-One sound system has been installed, featuring 33 speakers placed all around the venue — including the bathroom — to deliver the night's soundtrack as selected by each evening's chosen tastemakers. The DJ decks have also been moved off the wall and further onto the dance floor, placing the DJs right among the patrons and creating a setup reminiscent of Boiler Room's in-the-round layout. Rounding out the whole operation is an impressive lighting system that includes lights imported all the way from Amsterdam that you won't find anywhere else in Australia. The decks have already hosted the UK club mainstays Voigtmann, Yune Pinku on her Listen Out Australian tour and local favourites like Melbourne's Sleep D. Among the upcoming gigs taking over the Oxford Street digs, you can catch Casey Spillman, Booka Shade and the Subsonic Music Festival launch party. The name Carousel is derived from the rotating stage that the team discovered during the site's renovations. The unconventional setup is believed to have hosted creatives around 60 years ago when the venue went by Carpiccio's. Find Carousel Bar and Ballroom at 163–169 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, operating Tuesday–Sunday. To browse all of the upcoming events arriving at the new Sydney nightclub, head to the venue's website.
It's official: the sprawling venues atop Westfield Sydney are finally opening. Kicking off the launches is Babylon, a Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant, bar and terrace with a cool 800 person capacity. Take the lift up to this massive 1200-square-metre space, where an impressive calibre of hospitality vets are waiting to wine and dine you. Head Chef Arman Uz (Efendy) has created a menu that takes inspiration from his Turkish roots, as well as from the street eats of Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus and Egypt. His extensive 30-dish bar menu features the likes of duck gozleme, ground lamb pide, harissa chicken wings and meze aplenty — including hummus with wattleseed dukkah, charred Turkish chillies with molasses and smoked eggplant salad with woodfired capsicum. The restaurant alone seats over 200 and centres on a custom-built mangal (Turkish grill) and two rotisseries. Expect both eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences on the menu here, with share plates split between flora, fauna and ocean. There's 12-hour braised lamb neck served with Turkish dumplings and chilli butter, 72-hour sous-vide wagyu tri-tip with roasted eggplant purée and pan-fried snapper with tzatziki, pistachio and baharat rice. Enjoy it all with the house-made bread, which comes paired with za'atar spiced butter. [caption id="attachment_727047" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Then there's the 330 capacity bar, lead by bar manager David Nutting (Restaurant Hubert, Eau de Vie). He's offering six Middle Eastern-inspired cocktails, including the Beykoz (vodka and sweet vermouth mixed with house-made watermelon soda, hibiscus and rose hip) and the Smoke & Baklava (mezcal with baklava caramel syrup). Plus, two batched cocktails: the Baharat Fashion — dark rum washed with Baharat butter, banana liqueur and chocolate bitters — and the Martini Alla Turk, a dry gin martini with rosemary vermouth and roasted cumin seed. This is all joined by a 250-strong whisky list, 400 spirits and 300 different wines, the latter thanks to sommelier Simon Howland (Nomad, Catalina). [caption id="attachment_727039" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] The fit-out is the work of Queensland architects Hogg & Lamb and Woy Woy interior stylists Stewart + Highfield. As the venue's name suggestions, it takes inspiration from the metropolis of old, with the rooftop terrace modelled on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It's many opulent features include Italian travertine archways, velvet upholstery, spotted gum timber and marble finishes throughout — used in the dark gold bar, verde fusion tabletops and black stone terrace floor. Babylon is the second Sydney venue for Mantle Group Hospitality, which also opened James Squires' high profile microbrewery, The Squire's Landing, in Circular Quay last year. And it'll be joined on the Westfield rooftop by the group's third venue Duck & Rice this week. We'll share the full details on that one with you shortly. Babylon is now open at Level 7, Westfield Pitt Street, Sydney from 10am–midnight daily.
Cocktails, wine and bubbles are best when free-flowing. So, if you're partial to a drop or two, it's good to know where the best bottomless offerings are. If you're in and around the Darlinghurst area, the folks at Fortuna Drink and Eat have a sensational package. With lively music and plenty of warmth, the team behind this brightly hued Italian diner have mastered the art of entertainment alongside bottomless drinks and tasty plates. Now, they're bringing that spirit to a brand new weekend celebration: bottomless karaoke. This party-powered meal will be available on Saturdays and Sundays from 2–4pm, and will only set you back $99. For two hours, you and your fellow diners will belt out ballads, bop along to the latest pop and serenade each other — with prosecco, vino and select cocktails (like everyone's favourite brightly hued spritz, negroni sbagliatos and mimosas) on pour. When you book, opt for a standard bottomless package. There'll be house-made focaccia and burrata as delicious starters, as well as antipasti, pastas and pizzas aplenty — and maybe dessert to finish. So when you get there, all you have to do after curating your track list is eat, drink and lean into a joyous arvo. At the end of every session is a bingo draw with one lucky winner. The prize is different each week, but it could be anything from a booking discount to a round of shots for the table — there's only one way to find out, and that's to book. Fortuna Bottomless Karaoke will be taking over the stellar Darlinghurst spot every Saturday and Sunday from 2–4pm. For more information and to make your booking, visit the website.
Halloween is fast approaching, and the spooky season isn't always suitable for all ages. Good thing the Halloween Family Fest is made for the real little ones, with three days of kid-friendly scares and sweet treats at the Entertainment Quarter. Keep things classic and lead the little ones along the trick-or-treat trail, buckets in hand. There's no raisins or apples here, only the good stuff. Keep the costume at hand for the Monster Mash Disco, sure to be a kid-friendly graveyard smash, and the costume contest. Or for some low-key family time, introduce them to the Hollywood Halloween classic, Ghostbusters, at the outdoor cinema. The kids can get hands-on with some appropriately spooky creatures at the Critter Corner Reptile show, work off some energy on the rides in the Little Spooks Carnival or get their bounce on, Halloween style, inside the inflatable area, Monsteropolis and the Giant Pumpkin Bounce. It's all within the Entertainment Quarter, in an equally spooky and safe setting. Tickets start at $10, with the Trick or Treat Trail coming in at $15 extra. To bulk costs and be efficient, grab a 2-hour unlimited rider pass for $45 per head or the family treat pack (entry plus trick or treat) for $50. The Halloween Family Fest runs from Friday, October 31 to Sunday, November 2. For more information or to get tickets, visit the website.
There are heaps of Thai restaurants across Sydney, but Macquarie Park's Khao Pla is in a league of its own. The restaurant serves up modern dishes that span culinary regions from all over Thailand. Chef Pla Rojratanavichai uses only the freshest produce, much of which is sourced locally. The kitchen regularly turns out a menu of inventive specials, including king fish sashimi with tom kha dressing and deep fried whole fish with green mango salad. Some of the fan-favourites include twice-cooked pork ribs tossed in tamarind sauce and topped with a generous amount of spring onion as well as the raw beef larb with roasted chillies and ground rice. We also can't overlook the spicy and rich tom yum goong with prawn and lemongrass and the wok-fried crispy pork belly with curry paste and kaffir lime leaf. These are must-orders. The classic stir fries also make the cut, as do pad thai, pad see ew and staples like duck red curry, braised beef massaman and chicken green curry. Basically, come with a bunch of mates and order one of everything. Like any good restaurant, the desserts are especially exciting, with the black sticky rice with Jasmine tapioca, jack fruits, Thai milk tea ice cream and sugarcane sauce a highlight. The Roselle is also damn good — a lime curd and coconut meringue with lychee and roselle syrup. You've also got the roti banana served with Nutella and smoked coconut sorbet for those wanting something special. Enjoy your family-style dinner in bustling surrounds with exposed brick walls, hanging greenery and old black-and-white photos as wallpaper. It's a popular spot, so be sure to book ahead — or check out Khao Pla's second location in Chatswood.
Checho's opened in 2020, bringing contemporary Mexican dining to Penrith. The aesthetic is breezy, almost coastal chic, with pastel tones and tiles and neon feature pieces. But you're here for the food: expect vibrant flavours that pop. We're talking Tex-Mex-style snacks like jalapeño poppers with maple bacon; Latin-inspired zesty ceviche or steak with chimichurri sauce; and melt-in-your-mouth brisket tacos. The plates are made to be shared, especially larger dishes like sizzling fajitas and lamb shoulder. And the fresh house guac is, of course, non-negotiable. For bevs, there are classic margaritas and signature agave-focused cocktails, with tropical fruit flavours, spices and citrus.
UPDATE MAY 13, 2020 — I Maccheroni is reopening for private functions of up to ten people from Friday, May 15. You'll get a three-course sharing menu and a $500 bar tab. To book, head to the website or call (02) 9327 1416. All you need to so is to pay 1K to lock your session For the past two years, I Maccheroni's hearty and accessible nature has acted as a warm welcome for Rose Bay locals. Now, the modest Italian eatery will do the same for Woollahra, with the Italian restaurant having recently relocated to take over the old Buzo site along Jersey Road. Head chef, caterer and owner Marcello Farioli (ex-10 William Street, Fratelli Paradiso, Otto and Pendolino) will continue to serve up the locally sourced, seasonal Italian fare that the venue is known for, with breads and pastas made in-house and prepared fresh each day. Open for dinner six nights a week, the vibe is akin to eating at Nonna's house (whether you have a nonna or not). The menu continues to focus on Italian staples. Its signature pasta dishes have been carried over, including the burnt butter and sage spinach tortelli with 24-month aged reggiano cheese ($32) and the namesake rotating maccheroni, which at the moment is a lamb ragu with sundried tomatoes, Italian kale and asiago ($29). Regular blackboard specials are still on offer, too — as is expected with truly seasonal fare. The venue is a big upgrade from its former tony digs — the Jersey Road space spans two floors with a bar on the ground floor. While communal dining was the focus in Rose Bay, only one of the original polished concrete long tables has made its way into the new space. In Woollahra, it's a much more intimate atmosphere with smaller tables, bar seating and even a couch in the main dining room. The BYO policy has also been left at Rose Bay — that's because the restaurant is now fully licensed, as depicted by the expansive wine rack adorning one of the walls. Come by on Tuesdays when it's regional dinner night, with each week focusing on a different side of Italian cuisine. The meal is a bargain at $39 per person, which gets diners a three-course meal and a glass of wine to boot. Images: Steven Woodburn.
Last week, Australia had its first ever drive-in concert. It took place in Sydney's Robyn Webster Sports Centre in Tempe on Thursday, May 21, with Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan as the headline act. It was free and — despite the midday time slot and the slightly off-kilter artist choice — it garnered a crowd. Drive-In Entertainment Australia's first concert was an example of how it plans to run its (many) future events. From July, the company hopes to host live music concerts for up to 600 people, in 300 cars, with plans to launch eight drive-in venues across NSW and Victoria. Depending on how successful the events are, more states may follow. So, how does it work? Much like a scene out of hit 70s film Grease — or any drive-in cinema, really — you drive in, park up and watch from your car. The sound will be broadcast by an FM radio to your car, with the option for the spectacle to be live streamed via Zoom, too. You won't be able to get out of your vehicle though, unless going to the bathroom. All ticketing will be contactless, as will any snack purchases, which will be delivered to your car from onsite food trucks. It's no secret Australia's music industry has been hit hard during the pandemic, with website I Lost My Gig reporting about $340 million in lost income since COVID-19 saw the cancellation and postponement of festivals and gigs nationwide. With Australia's proposed roadmap out of COVID-19 lockdown, mass gatherings of up to 100 will be permissible from July, which isn't a sustainable outlook for all facets of the industry. Despite Falls Festival 2020 announcing its plans to go ahead, a public health expert predicts music festivals may not be able to restart until September 2021. At least with drive-in concerts, larger live music events will be able to have a small revival — even if it means you must cut shapes in your car. Australia is not the first country to trial drive-in gigs, with one of the first happening in an LA carpark back in March and another in Aarhus, Denmark last month, which sold out in minutes according to Forbes. Drive-In Entertainment Australia plans to launch eight venues across NSW and Victoria, with other states to potentially follow. Entertainers, producers, agents and managers can register for a gig from Saturday, July 18 onwards. More information and contact details can be found on the website.
Taking design cues from Everything Adorable Ever works a treat for Edwina Sinclair. The 22-year-old Brisbane designer behind Australian label Soot counts Emojis, kiddie terrycloth beach ponchos and post-swim towel huddling as the triggers for her SS14/15 collection 'Splash'. A beachworthy assortment of flowing, wide-leg pants, summery tunics and her signature knitted bubble print, Soot's spring/summer collection is a pastel-lover's paradise. An unfathomably recent graduate from Queensland University of Technology (we're talking a couple of years), industry favourite Sinclair took us through her pretty-as-blazes looks for next season. On Fusing the '30s with Emojis Soot's impossibly summery SS14/15 collection 'Splash' found its beginnings in Sinclair's enthusiasm for both structured '30s beachwear and her own Australian beach-bound childhood. "I wanted to incorporate humour, luxury and texture which are values that I aim to include in all Soot collections," she says. "Inspirations came from looking at 1930's beach loungewear and vintage pyjamas. I am all about comfort so this is subconsciously incorporated into the garments shapes." In an adorable move that reflects Sinclair's age, she found further inspiration right under her thumbs. "I further looked at Emoji's for the prints to incorporate another playful element and develop my 3D textures." On Getting Back to Aussie Roots Full of flat, flowy tunics, wide-leg pants, 'Splash' gives a firm nod to Sinclair's Australian heritage. Remember those 'ball gowns' you and your tiny crew used to make out of towels on the beach, perfect for a parental parade? Sinclair's taken those makeshift moments of Roxy towel-made haute couteur and made them into Actual Garments. "I love the beach, I am there almost every weekend!" she says. "The homage to my Aussie roots comes from the colour, the water references and some literal references too! Such as the linen towel dress — the shape came from wrapping a towel around you after a swim and the droplet jersey dress silhouette came from the terry toweling ponchos children wear at the beach!" On Her Signature Knitted Bubble Design Sinclair's signature knitted bubble bags and dresses popped up at every turn at this year's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, with many a front rower swanning by with SOOT's most recognizable items in tow. Trending at MBFWA is a dream for most up-and-coming designers, and while Sinclair is flattered by the design's success she can see the pressure such hoo-ha can create. "It is great to have other people respond so positively to an idea that has come from a concept to a physical object," she says. "When something does have a good response it does put the pressure on to create something that will be as well received the following season." On Teaming Up With the Fam Edwina isn't the only talented sibling in the Sinclair family. 'Splash' is the first SOOT collection to feature her sister Tilly's jewellery designs. Fusing the strengths of the Sinclair sisters in one gorgeous collaboration, 'Splash' is a beautifully-executed family affair. "It is fun! Also it is very easy to talk openly about our ideas and if we disagree on something it is easy to resolve and compromise," says Sinclair. "It is really great that Tilly wanted to come on board to collaborate this season. I think the jewellery has added a nice touch to the collection." On Hanging at Home in Brisbane So where does one of Brisbane's best exports hang out when she's at home? "I like Shady Palms, Tipplers Tap and Lefty's for a drink with friends. I usually go to Jamie's Espresso Bar or Reverends to get my coffee (both in Fortitude Valley just near my studio). I shop at my favourite store which also happens to be Soot's Brisbane stockist, Blonde Venus in Fortitude Valley." Now for more pretty pictures, here's Soot's SS14/15 'Splash' collection. Check soot.com.au for stockists.
Eight weeks is a long time to spend indoors, as folks in the Greater Sydney area currently know. At present, the region's lockdown will run until at least 12.01am on Saturday, August 28, which will see it spend more than two months under stay-at-home conditions. But for the past few weeks, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has pushed one specific tactic to help ease the city out of its current restrictions. If you've watched the state's daily COVID-19 lockdowns, you will have heard the term plenty of times: vaccination. The Premier wants NSW to hit six million jabs by the end of August — and, when that milestone is reached, that's when the state government will start looking at easing restrictions for vaccinated Sydneysiders. Premier Berejiklian has been mentioning this figure for weeks, too, but today, Tuesday, August 17, she specifically advised that "once we get to six million jabs, we'll be able to consider opportunities for what we might be able to do in September and October that we can't currently do." Obviously, this still depends upon daily case numbers. "Does it mean wheel live completely freely? No. But does it mean we'll live more freely than we do today? Absolutely," the Premier said. "There will be extra freedoms than we have today and that's an absolute assurance. Once we get to six million jabs, we'll call on [NSW Chief Health Officer] Dr Chant to make considerations of what we can allow people to do who are vaccinated." No concrete details have been given as yet regarding that vaccinated folks might be allowed to do once NSW hits six million vaccinations — if case numbers don't remain too high, that is — although eating in at bars and restaurants and getting haircuts are the kinds of ideas that've been floated over the past month. Reaching this vaccination milestone is seen as the first step in easing the Greater Sydney region out of its current lengthy lockdown. After that, when NSW reaches 70-percent and 80-percent vaccination rates, restrictions are meant to loosen even further — again, if case numbers aren't soaring — which falls in line with the country's new overall 'National Plan to transition Australia's National COVID Response' that was announced in July. "Obviously we're keen to make sure we hit the 70-percent double dose and 80-percent double dose targets. Now, at this stage, those targets will be met at the end of October for 70-percent double dose and mid-November for 80-percent double dose," said the Premier. "I want to make this very, very important point — life will be much freer than what it is today once we get to 70 percent and 80 percent. It doesn't mean we'll be completely free. It doesn't mean that we will let the virus be rampant in the community no matter our number of cases, but it will be freer than it is today. I really want to stress that point," she continued. NSW recorded 452 new locally acquired cases of #COVID19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/V8iZFFHJFd — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 17, 2021 This isn't quite the roadmap out of lockdown that Berejiklian promised in mid-July but is yet to announce — and, other than the six million vaccination threshold, no further details or even specific details are expected to be revealed until much closer to August 28. Today, Tuesday, August 17, NSW reported 452 new locally acquired cases — and until Sunday, August 22, the entire state of NSW is currently under stay-at-home rules due to spreading cases in regional areas — so the outbreak has clearly been worsening since the Premier first promised to release that roadmap last month. The Premier has also advised that the NSW Government does expect case numbers to remain high in September and October, too; however, she expects that there'll still be scope to ease some rules for vaccinated people — with encouraging folks to get vaccinated obviously a very big part of the strategy moving forward. "Can I make it very clear that we are assuming that case numbers will go up. Now, I say that only as a realist because when you have cumulative days of high case numbers, there is a tipping point where case numbers go up," the Premier said. "Our challenge is to make sure that we keep vaccination rates up, because the more people that are vaccinated, the less likelihood of hospitalisation and the less likelihood of death." She continued: "We will have, in two or three weeks' time, a much greater proportion of the population who are protected against spreading the virus further... So all of these factors are taken into account, but I do want to stress that once we get to six million, it does give us options as to what we can consider in the months of September and October." If you're wondering were you can get vaccinated, there's a handy online map that helps you find your nearest clinic. Australia's vaccination campaign is also expected to get a boost from September now that the Moderna vaccine has been approved for use and will join the rollout. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Luxury Australian hotel chain Crystalbrook has opened its flagship rooftop restaurant on top of its Newcastle outpost, Crystalbrook Kingsley. Roundhouse is the new sky-high eatery perched above the harbour city with a strong focus on hyper-local produce. The newly opened restaurant boasts a modern Australian menu with 80-percent of its produce sourced from within a three-hour drive of the hotel. Local farmers, fisherman and artisans all make up the kitchen's bank of suppliers that come together to form dishes that celebrate the region's great produce. Drop in for a meal and enjoy the panoramic views of Newcastle and its surroundings, with local landmarks like Nobby's Head and the vast wineries of the Hunter Valley visible from the restaurant. Heading up the kitchen is chef Natalie Bolt who has previously worked in United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Thailand. On the menu, you'll find highlights like lamb rack from Pukura Estate served with smoked eggplant and wattleseed pickle, or sustainably caught Paperback market fish, baked whole and served with harissa duck fat potatoes. If you come for breakfast, you'll be treated to a tower of early morning treats and selections from the la carte menu like house-made waffles and breakfast bruschetta. Accompanying the dishes is an extensive wine list that is, of course, hyper-local. The wine on offer showcases the breadth of different wines currently being produced a stone's throw from Newcastle in the Hunter Valley.
Sydney has experienced a recent influx of sleek bistros and flash steakhouses, but none are leaning into the opulence quite like Clam Bar. This Bridge Street brasserie from the team behind Bistrot 916 and Pellegrino 2000 sets itself apart by combining the modern sensibilities of its CBD counterparts with a playful fondness for the menu items from fine diners of yesteryear. Seafood towers, prawn cocktails, anchovy toast and oysters — they're all here. Dan Pepperell (ex-Restaurant Hubert and 10 William Street), sommelier Andy Tyson (ex-Alberto's Lounge) and former Rockpool Dining Group chef Michael Clift's third venue does nothing in half measures. On the hunt for caviar? Enjoy oscietra caviar with coconut blini and créme fraiche. The menu is continually serving up surprises, from fried kingfish wings to pickled mussels, but there are also plenty of down-the-line classics to enjoy. If you're after a meal that balances the luxurious and the familiar, you can start with the tuna tartare and anchovy toast before you move onto a bowl of spaghetti with chilli and garlic clams, or simply turn straight to the three-entry steak selection of 250g flat iron, a 400g New York strip and a 600g rib eye — all of which can be served with anchovy butter, sauce béarnaise and sauce diane. All of this is housed within a CBD diner that again rides the line between modern stunner and tastefully kitsch throwback. Golden finishing, playfully mirrored wall decor, wood panelling and retro light fittings invite you into a space that's primed for you to pair an excellent surf and turf meal with a side of grilled garden peas and beef fat potatoes. Credit: Jason Loucus Appears in: Where to Find the Best Steaks in Sydney
It just got a whole lot harder to pick your weekend yum cha spot, with the newly opened Duck & Rice announcing its own regular breakfast dumpling session. This one, however, is bottomless. The 500-seat Cantonese restaurant sits high on the top of Westfield Sydney in Pitt Street Mall. Opening its doors in June this year, it boasts an expansive outdoor terrace, Asian-inspired cocktails and, now, a very tempting weekend yum cha deal. Running every Saturday and Sunday from September 7, the bottomless yum cha menu will constantly change, but you can expect to catch loads of delicious treats to the tune of roast duck, Szechuan-style cuttlefish, Yangzhou fried rice, garlicky kai lan (chinese broccoli) and a selection of dim sum and desserts. The all-you-can-eat sitting is restricted to one hour, between 11am–3pm each day, and will set you back $50 a pop. To make a booking, head to the Duck & Rice website. Images: Steven Woodburn
Screw gas guzzling tankers and utes — Bruges is taking their beer transportation system underground, preserving their UNESCO World Heritage-listed city streets with an extensive, 3.2-kilometre-long beer pipeline that will begin operation in September. This ingenious design is all thanks to the perseverance of Xavier Vanneste, the heir to De Halve Maan (Half Moon), the city's only continuously working brewery. Initially established in 1564, the brewery is an iconic part of the city — and despite urging from financial advisors, Vanneste has long refused to relocate to a more industrial location. His alternative? To build an underground pipeline from the brewery to the bottling plant. The pipeline itself is an incredibly crafty design, with Vanneste hiring tunnelling experts from the oil and gas industry and Belgium's top brewing professor (what a title!) to get the plan just right. The experts laid the pipeline using computer-guided drills, which minimised street digging and further protected the historic city. As you can expect, the budget was a big one. A total of €4 million (that's almost six million AUD) were needed for the project, and over €300,000 was raised through a crowdfunding campaign. Backers who purchased a gold membership will be entitled to a bottle of Brugse Zot Blond every day for life as part of their €7500 donation. Beer for life is a such a legendary reason to donate. As it currently stands, the pipes can fit enough beer to fill 12,000 bottles an hour. The beer will be pumped down the underground pipeline from the brewery in the city centre to the bottling plant three kilometres out of town. Vanneste's ability to get this approved came as a shock to many, especially considering no private company in history has been allowed to lay cable under the city's cobbled lanes and medieval buildings. Luckily, city officials, including mayor Renaat Landuyt, smartly saw the pipeline as an opportunity to sustain employment while maintaining the city's heritage and sharply reducing the number of beer tankers driving in and out. If the pipeline actually works and stands the test of time, Vanneste will certainly go down in history as a beer legend and a champion forward-thinker. We're already hatching dreams of an Australian-wide network of underground beer pipelines and hope one of our many craft brewers is ready to get behind the idea. If a UNESCO city can get this approved, what's to stop the rest of us? Via The Guardian. Image: Ricardo Samaniego via Flickr.
Dessert king Reynold Poernomo is expanding his sugary empire, with the former MasterChef contestant and co-owner of Chippendale's KOI Dessert Bar opening a second location on the other side of town. KOI Ryde will sling the same decadent creations Poernomo's fans have come to expect, while also offering cooking classes with some of Sydney's best dessert chefs. The Ryde dessert bar will be run by Reynold along with his mother Ike and his brothers Ronald and Arnold, but it won't be a carbon copy of the Chippendale venue. Although it will function as a cafe where you can eat your cake straight out of the cabinet, the team hopes to also introduce a brand new menu offering (brunch is on the cards) and even monthly chef's table dinners. The space will also function as the production facility for all the cakes and pastries sold at both KOI locations and a masterclass kitchen, which will host classes by Sydney's best bakers, along with Poernomo himself. As for what you'll be scoffing on, expect KOI staples including the bright green mango yuzu made with mango mousse, yuzu curd and almond sable, and the coconut kalamansi featuring coconut mousse, white cheese, kalamansi (like a Filipino lime) curd and chocolate sable.
The hospo-geniuses behind two of Sydney's cosiest bars (The Duke of Clarence, The Barber Shop) are bringing you a brand new watering hole by the harbour: Hickson House. The newest hybrid venue featuring a distillery, bar and dining room is now open. Part working distillery and part destination cocktail bar, Hickson House is set in the soaring brickwork and girders of the former Saatchi & Saatchi garage (the location of many infamous warehouse parties). The towering space boasts an extensive back bar with over 600 spirits and a menu crafted with locally-sourced ingredients. Founders Mikey Enright and Julian Train are no strangers to the Sydney bar scene either, with over eight years of experience as co-directors of the Barrelhouse Group. "Weaving the needs of a full production distillery and significant bar space into what is a unique heritage warehouse has been a challenge that we have embraced wholeheartedly," says Train. The boys aren't holding back any punches and have brought ex-Manly Spirits legend Tim Stones on board. The bespoke range of Hickson Road Gin is the star of the show, but Stones will also be slinging out vats of housemade whisky, aperitifs, brandies and other speciality spirits. To sample the creations, take a seat at the main bar — the interior is lined with dark polished timber and dotted with French blue bar stools, a reflection of the venue's harbour location. For a more intimate experience, the mezzanine High & Dry Bar overlooks the entire dining space and is the perfect spot for a cocktail and bite to eat. Intimate distillery experiences, tours and private dining experiences are also all on the cards, so keep an eye on Hickson House's socials for any upcoming events. Highlights of the botanically-inspired menu include slow-roasted lamb porchetta with juniper jus and mint gremolata ($75). For dessert, indulge in a decadent piece of gin and mango pavlova ($15). After you've found a drop you like following dinner, you can also shop at the off-license spirits store and bring a bottle (or two) home to enjoy.
The idea behind The Lume was always a stunner, giving Australia its first permanent digital-only art gallery. When the Melbourne venue started welcoming in patrons in 2021, it lived up to its immersive, multi-sensory promise, initially with a spectacular Van Gogh exhibition that let visitors feel like they were walking right into the artist's work, and then with the French impressionism-focused Monet & Friends Alive. The next showcase set to grace the site's agenda has those past shows beat, however, heroing First Nations art and music. When Connection opens on Friday, June 23, it'll feature more than 110 Indigenous visual and musical artists in a dazzling fashion. At this Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre gallery, the art gracing its walls tower over patrons, with the space filled with large-scale digital pieces. And Connection will be full thanks to more than 550 works — digitals and originals alike. Set to feature: art by Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Tommy Watson, Anna Pitjara, Lin Onus, Sarrita King, Kate Constantine, Wayne Qulliam, Clifford, Gabriella and Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, and many more, in a walk-through exhibition that'll present its pieces through the themes of land, water and sky Country. Their work will score a soundtrack by Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach, Emily Wurramara, Gurrumul, Alice Skye, Baker Boy and others, plus composers such as William Barton. Grande Experiences, the company behind The Lume and its touring exhibitions — Van Gogh Alive made its way around Australia, and Monet in Paris is about to do the same from June — says that Connection will boast the largest representation of First Peoples art and culture ever assembled. It'll span over 3000 square metres, and its remit is just as sizeable: highlighting pieces by past and present artists, and surveying the entire country and Torres Strait. Shining a spotlight on emerging talents while showing their work alongside their inspirations is another key mission. "The technology Connection uses breaks down a lot of barriers to entry," says Constantine, a Gadigal artist of the Eora Nation. "A lot of people like Aboriginal art because it is colourful or pretty, but a lot of people are quite challenged by Aboriginal art too, by not knowing or understanding how to interpret it or not feeling like they have permission to be involved. Connection is just so inclusive." "I see Connection as this beautiful collection of storytellers sharing our culture with the world the way that our ancestors have taught us to do," adds Professor Wayne Quilliam, a NAIDOC Indigenous Artist of the Year, who is contributing digital storytelling via drone, photography and art to the exhibition. If it sounds familiar, that's because a smaller version premiered at the National Museum of Australia in 2022, with Grande Experiences joining forces with the Canberra gallery. Connection also benefits from an advisory panel featuring Constantine, Quilliam, King, Aboriginal art specialist Adam Knight, the National Museum's lead Indigenous curator and academic Margo Ngawa Neale, arts executive Rhoda Roberts AO, and designer and film producer Alison Page. Fingers crossed that Connection takes its show on the road, too, after thoroughly wowing The Lume. Connection opens at The Lume, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 5 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf, Melbourne, on Friday, June 23 — head to the venue's website for tickets and further information.
The Lego Ninjago Movie is the third Lego-based feature in a franchise that shows no signs of slowing down. It's also the first to take place entirely within an original Lego trademarked setting – the city of 'Ninjago' – and for its first half-hour feels like little more than an extended, big-budgeted commercial. Indeed, with the appearance of each new character, don't be surprised to see kids jumping out of their seats and pointing at the screen with gleeful recognition Still, while the film does its job as a marketing exercise from the get go, in terms of plot it takes a while longer to find its feet. Every day the evil Lord Garmadon (Justin Theroux) launches attacks upon the city from his evil villain volcano, and every day he's repelled by the colourful school-kids-cum-ninjas, the leader of whom is secretly Garmadon's own son Lloyd (Dave Franco). It's only once the lad's secret identity is revealed that the story shifts gears into something of a father/son reconciliation story – and while that's pretty familiar territory for the Lego franchise, it also provides the best material for the remainder of Ninjago. As with The Lego Movie and Lego Batman, this third movie utilises remarkable technology wherein almost everything on screen is assembled from computer-generated Lego pieces. Like the previous films, too, Ninjago is very self-aware, particularly regarding the Lego-ness of things like the absence of fingers and the way a Lego head can become stuck in the base of a Lego foot. It's these little flourishes that immediately feel familiar to anyone who's played with the toys before and, especially for adults, spark a pleasing nostalgia-based smile whenever they arise. The characters themselves, however, are noticeably less nuanced this time around, with only Lord Garmadon (played as a none-too-subtle parody of Donald Trump), Lloyd and Master Wu (Jackie Chan) offering any semblance of depth. The other five ninjas do provoke the occasional laugh but seem well below the calibre of the actors voicing them (Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods, Michael Peña, Abbi Jacobson and Fred Armisen). And yes, for those playing at home, you did count that correctly: six heroic ninjas, five of them male, which raises the age-old LEGO question: "uh...where are all the girls at?" It's a problem with which Lego is all too familiar. An internal review conducted by the company in 2008 revealed the damning statistic that 90% of its sales were directed towards boys rather than girls. Lego's response was to launch Lego Friends in 2012 – a toy line specifically intended for girls. Pretty smart move as it happens, with the company's annual profits shooting up by around 15 percent ever since. It's therefore both surprising and extremely disappointing that that same approach isn't being seen in the films. The Lego Movie's most kick-arse character was Elizabeth Banks' Wyldstyle, yet she was the only notable female in an otherwise male-driven story whose live action component centred upon a father/son bonding experience. Lego Batman, too, included only one notable female character in Rosario Dawson's Batgirl, and focused on the relationship between Bruce Wayne and the orphan boy Dick Grayson. Now we have Lego Ninjago, which not only suffers from a dearth of female characters but again deals largely with the father/son relationship between Garmadon and his estranged kid Lloyd. The only bright light in this situation is the announcement that The Lego Movie sequel will focus specifically on gender issues and the way boys and girls play with the toys in different ways. Solid fun for the kids and amusing enough to keep adults interested, whilst The Lego Ninjago Movie is the weakest entry in the franchise, it's still entertaining enough to satisfy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJBS1ogEVHE
On the small screen, 2023 started by showing the world exactly how a beloved video game should be turned into a television series. By the time the year had reached its midpoint, it had delivered one of the best TV murder-mysteries ever — from Australia, too, and also a smart and savvy comedy. Now that 2024 is almost upon us, a cringe-inducing parody of reality home-improvement programs, among a wealth of other targets, has proven a late-in-the-year stunner. So, as the best new TV shows of 2023 illustrate, no one can say that there hasn't been anything new to watch over the past 12 months. This year's television slate also gave viewers a subversive social satire, a David Cronenberg body-horror masterpiece turned into TV and a calming show about friendship in Japan. They're all among the best of the top brand-new arrivals, as are an eat-the-rich horror gem, a telemarketing true tale that has to be seen to be believed and a side-splitting history-of-the-world mockumentary. Here's an even better piece of news: not only has the past year been exceptional for television, but summer is a glorious time to reflect, revisit and, if you need to, work through your catch-up list. After filling 2023 viewing and rounding up TV highlights — and first selecting the must-sees midyear — we've now whittled down the results of all that couch time to the 15 best small-screen newcomers. THE CURSE It has always been impossible to watch TV shows by Nathan Fielder, including Nathan for You and The Rehearsal, without feeling awkwardness gushing from the screen. The films of Josh and Benny Safdie, such as Good Time and Uncut Gems, are such masterclasses in anxiety and chaos that viewers can be forgiven for thinking that their chairs are jittering along with them. From Easy A, La La Land and Maniac to The Favourite and Poor Things, Emma Stone keeps proving an inimitable acting force. Combine Fielder, the Safdies and Stone on one series, then, and whatever sprang was always going to be a must-see. Dark satire The Curse is also as extraordinary in its brilliance as it is excruciating in its discomfort. As well as co-creating the ten-part series, Fielder and Benny Safdie co-star, co-write and co-direct. Stone joins them on-screen and as an executive producer, with Benny's brother Josh doing the latter as well. And the Safdies' regular collaborator Oneohtrix Point Never, aka Daniel Lopatin, gets the show buzzing with atmospheric agitation in one of his best scores yet. Yes, The Curse is everything that the sum of these parts promises. It flows with disquiet like a burst hydrant. It fills each almost hour-long episode with a lifetime's worth of cringe. It's relentless in its unease, and also a marvellous, intense and hilarious black comedy that apes the metal Doug Aitken-esque houses that Stone and Fielder's Whitney and Asher Siegel like to build, reflecting oh-so-much about the world around it. The Curse takes the show-within-a-show route, with the Siegels eager to grace the world's screens as reality TV hosts spruiking environmentally sustainable passive homes in New Mexico's Española. The newly married pair have American pay TV network Home & Garden Television interested in Fliplanthropy, as well as their efforts to green up the community, create jobs for locals, and revitalise a place otherwise equated with struggling and crime stats. Lurking between the couple and HGTV is producer Dougie Schecter (Safdie, Oppenheimer), Asher's childhood friend with a nose for sensationalism — particularly as disharmony lingers among his stars as they try to start a family, get their show on the air, build their gleaming houses, find ideal buyers, honour the area's Indigenous history and overcome The Curse's title. The Curse streams via Paramount+. Read our full review. DEADLOCH Trust Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, Australia's favourite Kates and funniest double act, to make a killer TV show about chasing a killer that's the perfect sum of two excellent halves. Given their individual and shared backgrounds, including creating and starring in cooking show sendup The Katering Show and morning television spoof Get Krack!n, the pair unsurprisingly add another reason to get chuckling to their resumes; however, with Deadloch, they also turn their attention to crime procedurals. The Kates already know how to make viewers laugh. They've established their talents as brilliant satirists and lovers of the absurd in the process. Now, splashing around those skills in Deadloch's exceptional eight-episode first season lead by Kate Box (Stateless) and Madeleine Sami (The Breaker Upperers), they've also crafted a dead-set stellar murder-mystery series that ranks among The Kates' best work in almost every way. The only time that it doesn't? Not putting the tremendous pair on-screen themselves. Taking place in a sleepy small town, commencing with a body on a beach, and following both the local cop trying to solve the case and the gung-ho blow-in from a big city leading the enquiries, Deadloch has all the crime genre basics covered from the get-go. The Tasmanian spot scandalised by the death is a sitcom-esque quirky community, another television staple that McCartney and McLennan nail. Parody requires deep knowledge and understanding; you can't comically rip into and riff on something if you aren't familiar with its every in and out. That said, Deadloch isn't in the business of simply mining well-worn TV setups and their myriad of conventions for giggles, although it does that expertly. With whip-smart writing, the Australian series is intelligent, hilarious, and all-round cracking as a whodunnit-style noir drama and as a comedy alike — and, as Box's by-the-book Senior Sergeant Dulcie Collins and Sami's loose and chaotic Darwin blow-in Eddie Redcliffe are forced to team up, it's also one of the streaming highlights of the year. Deadloch streams via Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. I'M A VIRGO No one makes social satires like Boots Riley. Late in I'm a Virgo, when a character proclaims that "all art is propaganda", these words may as well be coming from The Coup frontman-turned-filmmaker's very own lips. In only his second screen project after the equally impassioned, intelligent, energetic, anarchic and exceptional 2018 film Sorry to Bother You, Riley doesn't have his latest struggling and striving hero utter this sentiment, however. Rather, it springs from the billionaire technology mogul also known as The Hero (Walton Goggins, George & Tammy), who's gleefully made himself the nemesis of 13-foot-tall series protagonist Cootie (Jharrel Jerome, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse). Knowing that all stories make a statement isn't just the domain of activists fighting for better futures for the masses, as Riley is, and he wants to ensure that his audience knows it. Indeed, I'm a Virgo is a show with something to say, and forcefully. Its creator is angry again, too, and wants everyone giving him their time to be bothered — and he still isn't sorry for a second. With Jerome as well-cast a lead as Atlanta's Lakeith Stanfield was the last time that Riley was behind the lens, I'm a Virgo also hinges upon a surreal central detail: instead of a Black telemarketer discovering the impact of his "white voice", it hones in on the oversized Cootie. When it comes to assimilation, consider this series Sorry to Bother You's flipside, because there's no way that a young Black man that's more than double the tallest average height is passing for anyone but himself. Riley knows that Black men are too often seen as threats and targets regardless of their stature anyway. He's read the research showing that white folks can perceive Black boys as older and less innocent. As Cootie wades through these experiences himself, there isn't a single aspect of I'm a Virgo that doesn't convey Riley's ire at the state of the world — that doesn't virtually scream about it, actually — with this series going big and bold over and over. I'm a Virgo streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. DEAD RINGERS Twin gynaecologists at the top of their game. Blood-red costuming and bodily fluids. The kind of perturbing mood that seeing flesh as a source of horror does and must bring. An exquisite eye for stylish yet unsettling imagery. Utterly impeccable lead casting. When 1988's Dead Ringers hit cinemas, it was with this exact combination, all in the hands of David Cronenberg following Shivers, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome and The Fly. He took inspiration from real-life siblings Stewart and Cyril Marcus, whose existence was fictionalised in 1977 novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, and turned it into something spectacularly haunting. Attempting to stitch together those parts again, this time without the Crimes of the Future filmmaker at the helm — and as a miniseries, too — on paper seems as wild a feat as some of modern medicine's biggest advancements. This time starring a phenomenal Rachel Weisz as both Beverly and Elliot Mantle, and birthed by Lady Macbeth and The Wonder screenwriter Alice Birch, Dead Ringers 2.0 is indeed an achievement. It's also another masterpiece. Playing the gender-swapped roles that Jeremy Irons (House of Gucci) inhabited so commandingly 35 years back, Weisz (Black Widow) is quiet, calm, dutiful, sensible and yearning as Beverly, then volatile, outspoken, blunt, reckless and rebellious as Elliot. Her performance as each is that distinct — that fleshed-out as well — that it leaves viewers thinking they're seeing double. Of course, technical trickery is also behind the duplicate portrayals, with directors Sean Durkin (The Nest), Karena Evans (Snowfall), Lauren Wolkstein (The Strange Ones) and Karyn Kusama's (Destroyer) behind the show's lens; however, Weisz is devastatingly convincing. Beverly is also the patient-facing doctor of the two, helping usher women into motherhood, while Elliot prefers tinkering in a state-of-the-art lab trying to push the boundaries of fertility. Still, the pair are forever together or, with unwitting patients and dates alike, swapping places and pretending to be each other. Most folks in their company don't know what hit them, which includes actor Genevieve (Britne Oldford, The Umbrella Academy), who segues from a patient to Beverly's girlfriend — and big-pharma billionaire Rebecca (Jennifer Ehle, She Said), who Dead Ringers' weird sisters court to fund their dream birthing centre. Dead Ringers streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. THE LAST OF US If the end of the world comes, or a parasitic fungus evolves via climate change, spreads globally, infests brains en masse and almost wipes out humanity, spectacular video game-to-TV adaptation The Last of Us will have you wanting Pedro Pascal in your corner. Already a standout in Game of Thrones, then Narcos, then The Mandalorian, he's perfectly cast in HBO's blockbuster series — a character-driven show that ruminates on what it means to not just survive but to want to live and thrive after the apocalypse. In this smart and gripping series (one that's thankfully already been renewed for season two, too), he plays Joel. Dad to teenager Sarah (Nico Parker, The Third Day), he's consumed by grief and loss after what starts as a normal day, and his birthday, changes everything for everyone. Twenty years later, he's a smuggler tasked with tapping into his paternal instincts to accompany a different young girl, the headstrong Ellie (Bella Ramsey, Catherine Called Birdy), on a perilous but potentially existence-saving trip across the US. Starting to watch The Last of Us, or even merely describing it, is an instant exercise in déjà vu. Whether or not you've played the hit game since it first arrived in 2013, or its 2014 expansion pack, 2020 sequel or 2022 remake, its nine-part TV iteration ventures where plenty of on-screen fare including The Road and The Walking Dead has previously trodden. The best example that springs to mind during The Last of Us is Station Eleven, however, which is the heartiest of compliments given how thoughtful, empathetic and textured that 2021–22 series proved. As everything about pandemics, contagions and diseases that upend the world order now does, The Last of Us feels steeped in stone-cold reality as well, as spearheaded by a co-creator, executive producer, writer and director who has already turned an IRL doomsday into stunning television with Chernobyl. That creative force is Craig Mazin, teaming up with Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, who also wrote and directed The Last of Us games. The Last of Us streams via Binge. Read our full review, and our interview with Melanie Lynskey. THE MAKANAI: COOKING FOR THE MAIKO HOUSE At the beginning of The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, 16-year-old best friends Kiyo (Nana Mori, Liar x Liar) and Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi, Silent Parade) leave home for the first time with smiles as wide as their hearts are open. Departing the rural Aomari for Kyoto in the thick of winter, they have internships as maiko lined up — apprentice geiko, as geishas are called in the Kyoto dialect. Their path to their dearest wishes isn't all sunshine and cherry blossoms from there, of course, but this is a series that lingers on the details, on slices of life, and on everyday events rather than big dramatic developments. Watch, for instance, how lovingly Kiyo and Sumire's last meal is lensed before they set out for their new future, and how devotedly the camera surveys the humble act of sitting down to share a dumpling soup, legs tucked beneath blankets under the table, while having an ordinary conversation. Soothing, tender, compassionate, bubbling with warmth: that's The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House from the outset. There's a key reason that this cosy and comforting new treasure overflows with such affection and understanding — for its characters, their lives and just the act of living. Prolific writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda simply isn't capable of anything else. Yes, Netflix has been in the auteur game of late, and The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House is unmistakably the work of its rightly applauded creative force. One of the biggest names in Japanese cinema today, and the winner of the received Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or back in 2018 for the sublime Shoplifters, Kore-eda makes empathetic, rich and deeply emotional works. His movies, including the France-set The Truth and South Korea-set Broker, truly see the people within their frames. On the small screen, and hailing from manga, the nine-episode The Makanai is no different. It's also as calming as a show about friendships, chasing dreams and devouring ample dumplings can and should be. The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House streams via Netflix. FULL CIRCLE Whether on screens big and small, when an audience watches a Steven Soderbergh project, they're watching one of America's great current directors ply his full range of filmmaking skills. Usually, he doesn't just helm. Going by Peter Andrews and Mary Ann Bernard — aliases from his parents' names — he shoots and edits as well. And he's prolific: since advising that he'd retire from making features after Side Effects, he's directed, lensed and spliced nine more, plus three TV shows. Among those titles sit movies such as Logan Lucky, Unsane, Kimi and Magic Mike's Last Dance; the exceptional two seasons of turn-of-the-20th-century medical drama The Knick; and now New York-set kidnapping miniseries Full Circle. The filmmaker who won Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or at 26 for Sex, Lies and Videotape, earned two Best Director Oscars in one year for Traffic and Erin Brockovich, brought the Ocean's franchise back to cinemas in 2001, and eerily predicted the COVID-19 pandemic with 2011's Contagion is in his element with his latest work. Six-part noir-influenced thriller Full Circle reunites Soderbergh with Mosaic and No Sudden Move screenwriter Ed Solomon, boasts a starry cast, involves money and secrets and deception, and proves a twisty and layered crime tale from the get-go. Full Circle starts with a murder, then a revenge plot, then a missing smartphone. These early inclusions all tie into an intricate narrative that will indeed demonstrate inevitability, cause and effect, the repercussions of our actions, and decisions looping back around. The pivotal death forms part of a turf war, sparking a campaign of retaliation by Queens-based Guyanese community leader and insurance scammer Savitri Mahabir (CCH Pounder, Avatar: The Way of Water). She enlists freshly arrived teens Xavier (Sheyi Cole, Atlanta) and Louis (Gerald Jones, Armageddon Time) to do the seizing under her nephew Aked's (Jharrel Jerome, I'm a Virgo) supervision; one of the newcomers is the brother of the latter's fiancée Natalia (Adia, The Midnight Club), who is also Savitri's masseuse. The target: Manhattan high-schooler Jared (Ethan Stoddard, Mysteries at the Museum), son of the wealthy and privileged Sam (Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble) and Derek Browne (Timothy Olyphant, Daisy Jones & The Six), and grandson through Sam to ponytailed celebrity chef Jeff McCusker (Dennis Quaid, Strange World). Savitri is convinced that this is the only way to stave off the curse she's certain is hanging over her business — a "broken circle", in fact. But, much to the frustration of the US Postal Inspection Service's Manny Broward (Jim Gaffigan, Peter Pan & Wendy), his go-for-broke agent Melody Harmony (Zazie Beetz, Black Mirror) is already investigating before the abduction. Full Circle streams via Binge. Read our full review. RAIN DOGS In 2019's Skint Estate, Cash Carraway told all; A memoir of poverty, motherhood and survival completes the book's full title. Penned about working-class Britain from within working-class Britain, Carraway's written jaunt through her own life steps through the reality of being a single mum without a permanent place to live, of struggling to get by at every second, and of being around the system since she was a teenager. It examines alcoholism, loneliness, mental illness and domestic violence, too, plus refuges, working at peep shows, getting groceries from food banks and hopping between whatever temporary accommodation is available. Rain Dogs isn't a direct adaptation. It doesn't purport to bring Carraway's experiences to the screen exactly as they happened, or with slavish fidelity to the specific details. But this HBO and BBC eight-parter remains not only raw, rich, honest and authentic but lived in, as it tells the same story with candour, humour, warmth and poignancy. Slipping into Carraway's fictionalised shoes is Daisy May Cooper — and she's outstanding. Her on-screen resume includes Avenue 5 and Am I Being Unreasonable?, as well as being a team captain on the latest iteration of Britain's Spicks and Specks-inspiring Never Mind the Buzzcocks, but she's a force to be reckoned with as aspiring writer and mum (to Iris, played by debutant Fleur Tashjian) Costello Jones. When Rain Dogs begins, it's with an eviction. Cooper lives and breathes determination as Costello then scrambles to find somewhere for her and Iris to stay next. But this isn't just their tale, with the pair's lives intersecting with the privileged but self-destructive Selby (Jack Farthing, Spencer), who completes their unconventional and dysfunctional family but tussles with his mental health. Including Costello's best friend Gloria (Ronke Adekoluejo, Alex Rider), plus ailing artist Lenny (The Young Ones legend Adrian Edmondson), this is a clear-eyed look at chasing a place to belong — and it's remarkable. Rain Dogs streams via Binge. Read our full review. SILO Rebecca Ferguson will never be mistaken for Daveed Diggs, but the Dune, Mission: Impossible franchise and Doctor Sleep star now follows in the Hamilton Tony-winner's footsteps. While he has spent multiple seasons navigating dystopian class clashes on a globe-circling train in the TV version of Snowpiercer, battling his way up and down the titular locomotive, she just started ascending and descending the stairs in the underground chamber that gives Silo its moniker. Ferguson's character is also among humanity's last remnants. Attempting to endure in post-apocalyptic times, she hails from her abode's lowliest depths as well. And, when there's a murder in this instantly engrossing new ten-part series — which leaps to the screen from Hugh Howey's novels, and shares a few basic parts with Metropolis, Blade Runner and The Platform, as well as corrupt world orders at the core of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner flicks — she's soon playing detective. Silo captivates from the outset, when its focus is the structure's sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo, See How They Run) and his wife Allison (Rashida Jones, On the Rocks). Both know the cardinal rule of the buried tower, as does deputy Marnes (Will Patton, Outer Range), mayor Ruth (Geraldine James, Benediction), security head Sims (Common, The Hate U Give), IT top brass Bernard (Tim Robbins, Dark Waters) and the other 10,000 souls they live with: if you make the request to go outside, it's irrevocable and you'll be sent there as punishment. No matter who you are, and from which level, anyone posing such a plea becomes a public spectacle. Their ask is framed as "cleaning", referring to wiping down the camera that beams the desolate planet around them onto window-sized screens in their cafeterias. No one has ever come back, or survived for more than minutes. Why? Add that to the questions piling up not just for Silo's viewers, but for the silo's residents. For more than 140 years, the latter have dwelled across their 144 floors in safety from the bleak wasteland that earth has become — but what caused that destruction and who built their cavernous home are among the other queries. Silo streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. BEEF As plenty does, Beef starts with two strangers meeting, but there's absolutely nothing cute about it. Sparks don't fly and hearts don't flutter; instead, this pair grinds each other's gears. In a case of deep and passionate hate at first sight, Danny Cho (Steven Yeun, Nope) and Amy Lau (Ali Wong, Paper Girls) give their respective vehicles' gearboxes a workout, in fact, after he begins to pull out of a hardware store carpark, she honks behind him, and lewd hand signals and terse words are exchanged. Food is thrown, streets are angrily raced down, gardens are ruined, accidents are barely avoided, and the name of Vin Diesel's famous car franchise springs to mind, aptly describing how bitterly these two strangers feel about each other — and how quickly. Created by Lee Sung Jin, who has It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dave and Silicon Valley on his resume before this ten-part Netflix and A24 collaboration, Beef also commences with a simple, indisputable and deeply relatable fact. Whether you're a struggling contractor hardly making ends meet, as he is, or a store-owning entrepreneur trying to secure a big deal, as she is — or, if you're both, neither or anywhere in-between — pettiness reigning supreme is basic human nature. Danny could've just let Amy beep as much as she liked, then waved, apologised and driven away. Amy could've been more courteous about sounding her horn, and afterwards. But each feels immediately slighted by the other, isn't willing to stand for such an indignity and becomes consumed by their trivial spat. Neither takes the high road, not once — and if you've ever gotten irrationally irate about a minor incident, this new standout understands. Episode by episode, it sees that annoyance fester and exasperation grow, too. Beef spends its run with two people who can't let go of their instant rage, keep trying to get the other back, get even more incensed in response, and just add more fuel to the fire again and again until their whole existence is a blaze of revenge. If you've ever taken a small thing and blown it wildly out of proportion, Beef is also on the same wavelength. And if any of the above has ever made you question your entire life — or just the daily grind of endeavouring to get by, having everything go wrong, feeling unappreciated and constantly working — Beef might just feel like it was made for you. Beef streams via Netflix. Read our full review. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER Of the many pies that Succession's Roy family had their fingers in, pharmaceuticals wasn't one of them. For virtually that, Mike Flanagan gives audiences The Fall of the House of Usher. The horror auteur's take on dynastic wealth gets a-fluttering through a world of decadence enabled by pushing pills legally, as six heirs to an addiction-laced kingdom vie to inherit a vast fortune. Flanagan hasn't given up his favourite genre for pure drama, however. The eponymous Usher offspring won't be enjoying the spoils of their father Roderick's (Bruce Greenwood, The Resident) business success, either, in this absorbing, visually ravishing and narratively riveting eight-parter. As the bulk of this tale is unfurled fireside, its patriarch tells federal prosecutor C Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly, SWAT) why his children (including Pet Sematary: Bloodlines' Henry Thomas, Minx's Samantha Sloyan, The Peripheral's T'Nia Miller, iZombie's Rahul Kohli, The Wrath of Becky's Kate Siegel and The Midnight Club's Sauriyan Sapkota) came to die within days of each other — and, with all the gory details, how. As with The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor before it, plus The Midnight Club as well, Flanagan's latest Netflix series finds its basis on the page. The author this time: Edgar Allan Poe, although The Fall of the House of Usher isn't a strict adaptation of the iconic author's 1840 short story of the same name, or just an adaptation, even as it bubbles with greed, violence and paranoia (plus death, loss, decay and the deceased haunting the livin)g. Character monikers, episode titles and other details spring from widely across Poe's bibliography. Cue ravens, black cats, masks, tell-tale hearts, pendulums and a Rue Morgue. What if the writer had penned Succession? That's one of Flanagan's questions — and what if he'd penned Dopesick and Painkiller, too? Hailing from the talent behind the exceptional Midnight Mass as well, plus movies Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, the series that results is a gloriously creepy and involving modern gothic horror entry. The Fall of the House of Usher streams via Netflix. Read our full review. POKER FACE Cards on the table: thanks to Russian Doll and the Knives Out franchise, Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson are both on a helluva streak. In their most recent projects before now, each has enjoyed a hot run not once but twice. Lyonne made time trickery one of the best new shows of 2019, plus a returning standout in 2022 as well, while Johnson's first Benoit Blanc whodunnit and followup Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery were gems of the exact same years. The latter also saw the pair team up briefly — Lyonne and Johnson, that is, although getting a Russian Doll-meets-Knives Out crossover from the universe, or just the Netflix algorithm, would be a dream. Until that wish comes true, there's Poker Face. It's no one's stopgap or consolation prize, however. This new mystery-of-the-week series is an all-out must-see in its own right, and a gleaming streaming ace. Given its components and concept, turning out otherwise would've been the biggest head-scratcher. Beneath aviator shades, a trucker cap and her recognisable locks, Lyonne plays detective again, as she did in Russian Doll — because investigating why you're looping through the same day over and over, or jumping through time, is still investigating. Johnson gives the world another sleuth, too, after offering up his own spin on Agatha Christie-style gumshoes with the ongoing Knives Out saga. This time, he's dancing with 1968–2003 television series Columbo, right down to Poker Face's title font. Lyonne isn't one for playing conventional detectives, though. Here, she's Charlie Cale, who starts poking around in sudden deaths thanks to an unusual gift and a personal tragedy. As outlined in the show's ten-part first season, Charlie is a human lie detector. She can always tell if someone is being untruthful, a knack she first used in gambling before getting on the wrong side of the wrong people. Then, when a friend and colleague at the far-from-flashy Las Vegas casino where Charlie works winds up dead, that talent couldn't be handier. Poker Face streams via Stan. Read our full review. TELEMARKETERS No one likes it when their phone rings from an unknown number, whether "no caller ID" or digits that you don't recognise flash up on your mobile's screen. Telemarketers isn't going to change that response. It won't dampen the collective ire that the world holds towards the pushy people on the other end of the line, either. HBO's thrilling three-part docuseries doesn't just reinforce what viewers already feel about the nuisance industry that thinks it can interrupt your day and life with a spiel that no one wants, and impact your bank balance in the process. In addition, it spins a true tale that demonstrates why a deep-seated dislike of telemarketing is so well-founded, and also why cold-calling operations can be so insidious. This true-crime story about the New Jersey-based Civic Development Group surpasses even the most call centre-despising audience member's low expectations of the field — and it's gripping, can't-look-away, has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed stuff. In fact, it's also an account of a tenacious duo revealing a billion-dollar fraud, and bringing this staggering whistleblower documentary to the masses. "Every other telemarketer who drives you crazy in the whole world is because of CDG," advises one of the series' interviewees. That might seem like a big claim, but co-directors Sam Lipman-Stern (Live From the Streets) and Adam Bhala Lough (The New Radical) step through its truth. The former knows the outfit's approach from experience, working there for seven years from the age of 14 after dropping out of high school, while the latter is the filmmaker cousin he wasn't aware of. Lipman-Stern is Telemarketers' on-screen guiding hand, too, but his ex-colleague Patrick J Pespas is its heart and soul. As seen early, Pespas is called a "telemarketing legend". Although he's happy snorting heroin on-camera in 2000s-era footage, he's switched on to CDG's shonkiness; more than that, he's determined to expose it even if it takes two decades. Everywhere that Lipman-Stern and Pespas look from there, this tale gets worse. It's no wonder that Uncut Gems and Good Time filmmakers Benny and Josh Safdie are among Telemarketers' executive producers, plus Eastbound & Down's Danny McBride, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green. Telemarketers streams via Binge. Read our full review. SWARM Becky with the good hair gets a shoutout in Swarm. Facial bites do as well, complete with a Love & Basketball reference when the culprit flees. This seven-part series about a global pop sensation and her buzzing fans and stans also has its music icon unexpectedly drop a stunner of a visual album, ride a white horse, be married to a well-known rapper, become a mum to twins and see said husband fight with her sister in an elevator. Her sibling is also a singer, and plenty of folks contend she's the more interesting of the two. Still, Swarm's object of fascination — protagonist Dre's (Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah) undying obsession — sells out tours, breaks Ticketmaster and headlines one of the biggest music festivals there is. And, while they call themselves the titular term rather than a hive, her devotees are zealous and then some, especially humming around on social media. Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, the show's creators and past colleagues on Glover's exceptional, now-finished Atlanta — Nabers also worked on Watchmen, too — couldn't be more upfront about who they're referring to. No one says Beyoncé's name, however, but Swarm's Houston-born music megastar is the former Destiny's Child singer in everything except moniker. In case anyone watching thinks that this series is trading in coincidences and déjà vu, or just failing to be subtle when it comes to Ni'Jah (Nirine S Brown, Ruthless), the Prime Video newcomer keeps making an overt opening declaration. "This is not a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or events, is intentional," it announces before each episode. From there, it dives into Dre's journey as a twentysomething in 2016 who still adores her childhood idol with the same passion she did as a teen and, instalment by instalment, shows how far she's willing to go to prove it. Swarm streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. CUNK ON EARTH If you've ever watched a David Attenborough documentary about the planet and wished it was sillier and stupider, to the point of being entertainingly ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining alike, then Netflix comes bearing wonderful news. Actually, the BBC got there first, airing history-of-the-world mockumentary Cunk on Earth back in September 2022. Glorious things come to waiting viewers Down Under now, however — and this gleefully, delightfully absurd take on human civilisation from its earliest days till now, spanning cave paintings, Roman empires, Star Wars' empire, 1989 Belgian techno anthem 'Pump Up the Jam' and more, is one of the best shows to hit Australia in 2023. This series is a comedy masterclass, in fact, featuring everything from a Black Mirror-leaning skit about Beethoven resurrected inside a smart speaker to a recreation of a Dark Ages fray purely through sound also thrown in. It's flat-out masterful, too, and tremendously funny. This sometimes Technotronic-soundtracked five-part show's beat? Surveying how humanity came to its present state, stretching back through species' origins and evolution, and pondering everything from whether the Egyptian pyramids were built from the top down to the Cold War bringing about the "Soviet onion". The audience's guide across this condensed and comic history is the tweed-wearing Philomena Cunk, who has the steady voice of seasoned doco presenter down pat, plus the solemn gaze, but is firmly a fictional — and satirical — character. Comedian Diane Morgan first started playing the misinformed interviewer in 2013, in Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe, with Black Mirror creator Brooker behind Cunk on Earth as well. Over the past decade, Cunk has also brought her odd questions to 2016's one-off Cunk on Shakespeare and Cunk on Christmas, and 2018's also five-instalment Cunk on Britain. After you're done with the character's latest spin, you'll want to devour the rest ASAP. Cunk on Earth streams via Netflix. Read our full review, and our interview with Charlie Brooker. Looking for more viewing highlights? We also rounded up the 15 best returning TV series of 2023, as well as 15 excellent new TV shows of 2023 that you might've missed — plus the 15 top films, another 15 exceptional flicks that hardly anyone saw in cinemas this year and the 15 best straight-to-streaming movies of the year as well. And, we've kept a running list of must-stream TV from across the year, complete with full reviews. Also, you can check out our regular rundown of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly.
Winter is here, and while unfortunately, we will have to wait another whole year for the finale series of Game of Thrones, there is an event coming for Sydney that will tide fans over (at least temporarily). Call your banners and get ready for a medieval-style banquet in the vein of GoT from the team behind Beyond Cinema. If, like Jon Snow, you know nothing, Beyond Cinema aims to create larger than life, immersive cinema experiences, notably entering the scene with its debut production The Titanic Experience, which happened on an actual ship with a crowd of 1000 people. But you can forget steamy car windows and any kind of dainty romance, as the collective's next offering is an immersive medieval-style banquet replicating the fascinating and often terrifying world of HBO's hit series that so many have come to depend on for meaning in life. While many details of the event are still shrouded in mystery (much like the eventual outcome of the series), we can be assured that Beyond Cinema's usual flair will ensure a night of gruff entertainment. There are rumours there will be knights, a performing jester, medieval music, a meal fit for a king and many tankards of hearty ale. Seeing as it's ominously titled the Red Wedding Banquet, we may also assume there will be some recreations of scenes from George R. R. Martin's saga. Here's hoping there's no regicide at this one. The Red Wedding banquet will happen in Sydney sometime this year. We'll let you know when tickets go on sale or you can sign up for updates here.
There might be a familiar face missing when you next venture through Berry, a town located about two hours drive south of Sydney. The region's legendary Berry Sourdough Cafe shut its doors for good in October, wrapping up an incredibly popular 17-year run. But while one institution's gone, there's another in the making, with the owners' other venture Milkwood Bakery still happily baking up a storm over on Queen Street. With seven years under its belt, this one's got its own legion of fans and is known for slinging a tempting lineup of signature cakes, pastries, bread and coffee. The cabinets are chock full of sweet delights, including fruit-filled danishes, buttery croissants and delicate chocolate caramel hazelnut tarts. Savoury options might include rustic sausage rolls and pizza slices, while the bread selection showcases classics like organic sourdough and chewy ciabatta. It's the perfect pit-stop for travellers, though if you've got the time, nab a seat in the leafy courtyard for a coffee and some brunch. The extended menu features cheery options like a loaded brekky burger, cheesy toasties and a vibrant brunch bowl.
If you're a Queenslander or a Victorian with a trip to Sydney in your future — or vice versa — the pandemic has just interrupted your plans. Yes, again. With the New South Wales capital currently experiencing a new COVID-19 cluster, both its northern and southern neighbour states have declared parts of the city either hotspots or red zones, depending on their respective terminology. And, as a result, both Queensland and Victoria are shutting their borders to seven Sydney Local Government Areas. Victoria announced the news late on Tuesday, June 22, while Queensland did the same today, Wednesday, June 23 — and each state's border closures come into effect at different times, too. In Victoria, the change actually kicked in at 1am this morning. In Queensland, it'll apply from 1am on Thursday, June 24. https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1407302855405363202 Accordingly, folks who've been in the City of Sydney, Waverley, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick LGAS will no longer be permitted to enter either Victoria or Queensland, other than in a few circumstances. Victoria is allowing the state's own residents who've been in the identified LGAs, which are now classes as red zones under its traffic light-style permit system, to obtain permits to return home — but they'll then need to quarantine for 14 days. If you're not a Victorian resident and you've been in the seven Sydney regions, you can no longer enter Victoria. In Queensland, residents entering from the seven Sydney hotspots will need to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days — and non-residents will only be allowed to enter if they receive an exception, and will also need to go into hotel quarantine for a fortnight. Plus, everyone will need to complete one of the state's online travel declarations first, after that system was brought back into effect last week. https://twitter.com/AnnastaciaMP/status/1407478815853400064 Queensland actually already made a similar move on Saturday, June 19, but limited to Waverley local government area. So, when 1am hits on Thursday, June 24, it'll be joined by the City of Sydney, Woollahra, Bayside, Canada Bay, Inner West and Randwick under the state's hotspot declaration. For more information about southeast Queensland's COVID-19 border restrictions, or about the status of COVID-19 in the state, visit the Qld COVID-19 hub and the Queensland Health website. For more information about COVID-19 in Victoria and the state's current restrictions, head over to the Department of Health website.
Home to the oldest vines in Australia, the Barossa Valley is renowned worldwide for its bold and beautiful wines. In particular, it's the rich jammy reds with complexity, texture and tannin structure that have contributed heavily to this reputation. It's in this region that Krondorf Wines lives, the estate making shapes to become the next go-to premium wine producer — a fact exemplified deliciously with the release of its 2023 five-bottle collection. The Krondorf story actually begins in 1847. The hamlet was founded by a collection of people from Silesia — what is now Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic — and among them notable wine families that regularly show up on standout wine lists and bottle shop shelves across the world: Henschke, Lehmann and Nitschke. The intrepid group named their newfound home Krondorf, meaning 'crown village' in German. Today the custodians of the Krondorf legacy, under the watchful eye of chief winemaker Nick Badrice, are realising the potential of their vines with consistently award-winning drops. The ripe bottles here showcase the best of the Barossa style, perfectly illustrated in the five-strong 2023 collection. Crafted with the traditional minimalistic approach, the 2023 release includes an ultra-expressive grenache, an intense but structured cab sav and a rich and robust shiraz. The standout of the collection is the winery's newest Icon wine: the aptly named King's Mantle Shiraz. It's described as having a luscious palate, evocative of juicy black forest fruits and plums, with an earthy liquorice undertone and velvety tannins — you're going to pay a pretty penny to taste it at $150 a bottle. If you're in the area, carve out some time to visit the cellar door and wine bar. With pouring beginning in 2021, the spot's housed inside a converted heritage-listed flour mill from the 1800s. You can taste your way through the whole range — including the 2023 collection — with a bespoke wine flight or set tasting that can be happily tailored to personal taste. For those that like nibbles with their tipples, the cellar door slings artisan pizzas as well as cheese and charcuterie boards (with the option to add on Maggie Beer's premium nosh and other local produce, too). Krondorf Winery's 2023 collection is a true celebration of the winery's history and dedication to producing wines that speak to the wonders of the locale. If you're heading to this bucolic South Australian region, the cellar door is a must-visit. But if you can't make it, we suggest you peruse the 2023 collection online, choose your libation and have it sent direct — truly stellar sipping guaranteed. Concrete Playground travelled to the Barossa Valley as a guest of Krondorf Wines. Book your Krondorf cellar door tasting experience here. The cellar door is open Monday – Saturday, 12–7pm and Sunday from 12–5pm.
If you thought the concept of Christmas gin was cool, you might be pretty excited about this: a Melbourne-born small-batch gin infused with cannabis has just hit the shelves. Distilled in Healesville by The Cannabis Co, local makers of all things cannabis-infused, The Myrcene Hemp Gin is made using one of the main essential oils, or 'terpenes', found in cannabis plants, called myrcene. It's supposedly the world's first cannabis gin made with tyrene. Also found in hops, this little guy can apparently help ease symptoms of inflammation and chronic pain, and is responsible for producing some of those joyful and euphoric effects associated with cannabis. All Cannabis Co products are currently free of psychoactive substances, but, as the company pushes for the legalisation of recreational marijuana use in Australia, it hopes to release products — like gin — with CBD and THC (cannabinoids) in the future. Terpenes, like myrcene, are also known for their specific aromas and flavours, and, in The Myrcene, works a little bit like the botanicals in regular gin. The result is a sip that balances the earthy and the fruity. According to the makers, it has aromas of bubblegum, pine forest, lavender and sage, with hints of cloves and woody spice flavours on the tongue. And it works a treat alongside some tonic and fresh lemon, or a sprig of rosemary. The creators of The Myrcene stepped back in time for their inspiration, looking to the gin-makers of 17th century Britain. Word is, small distillers would often flavour their creations by distilling resins from terpenes they found in the forest. All of The Cannabis Co's hemp products are certified organic and grown here in Australia. The first batch (aptly named batch 420) has already sold out, but if you're keen to get some cannabis gin in your life, you can sign up for pre-sales of the next batch through Alchemy. First image: Letícia Almeida
When Andor begins, the new Disney+ series digs into the Star Wars franchise's past, tussling with its history. Starring Diego Luna (If Beale Street Could Talk) as its titular figure, the show is a two-season prequel to 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, telling the tale before that tale. Luna reprises his role from the movie — a feature that was the first official Star Wars side story to reach cinemas, and unfurled the events that led to 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope. Yes, that makes Andor a prequel to a prequel. Yes, starting to stream its first season from Wednesday, September 21, it's also the latest example that this George Lucas-created realm will never stop sprawling across this, any or every galaxy. Long gone are the times when the space-opera saga's films were infrequent, and the main way to experience its ups and downs. A relic, too, is the idea that Star Wars is a rarity, or something that occurs every decade or so. And, absent is all traces of belief that huge sci-fi and fantasy hits won't take over every space they can, be it screens big or small, as Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings also have of late. That's a lot of baggage for Andor to carry — and shoulder it, it does. The result: a thrilling, confident and gloriously gritty addition to an on-screen world that viewers now either unquestioningly adore or feel like they've already seen every story ever from. An antidote to that second train of thought, Andor is a complex gem and a must-watch. With Star Wars fatigue in mind — five movies, five animated series and three prior live-action Disney+ shows have vied for wannabe Jedi and rebel eyeballs over the past decade alone, including Obi-Wan Kenobi already in 2022 — it's fitting that Andor's first moments actually recall another sci-fi franchise. Prepare to think about a different pop-culture favourite that dates back decades, recently made its own jump from cinemas to television screens and has its own debut live-action streaming series on the way, in fact. The Blade Runner aesthetic is as instantly recognisable as Star Wars' TIE Fighter roar, but Andor brings the former to the fore first, saving the latter for a few episodes down the track. That move makes a statement: there's more to Andor than being slavishly beholden to its own universe. Of course, when it arrived between Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi, Rogue One also sent that message in its own spy-slash-heist flick way. It felt earthier and murkier, more urgent and complicated, and far more steeped in everyday reality — within its science-fiction confines, of course — and more concerned with the here and now of its specific narrative than the bigger saga picture. It was certainly and unshakeably bleaker, and felt like a departure from the usual template, as well as a welcome risk. The same proves true of Andor, which slips into its namesake's routine five years prior. The Galactic Empire reigns supreme, the Rebel Alliance is still forming and, when the series opens, Cassian is a wily thief living on the junkyard planet of Ferrix. The Blade Runner-esque sheen hovers over a different place, however: the industrial-heavy, corporate-controlled Morlana One, which couldn't be further under the boot of the Empire if it tried. As Monos-style flashbacks to Cassian's childhood aid in fleshing out, he's searching for his sister, but his latest investigatory trip results in a confrontation and the Preox-Morlana Authority on his trail. Back on Ferrix, he endeavours to hide with the help of his friend/presumed ex/mechanic/black-market dealer Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona, Morbius) and droid B2EMO (Dave Chapman, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker), while keeping his latest antics a secret from his adoptive mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve). But, even after being told to drop the case, persistent Imperial Deputy Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller, Poldark) and higher-ranking officer Dedra Meero (Denise Gough, Under the Banner of Heaven) aren't willing to give up. Also vital on-screen: Stellan Skarsgård (Dune) as the charismatic Luthen Rael, who Cassian first crosses paths with while trying to sell a still-packaged Imperial Starpath Unit (aka Andor's MacGuffin) to fund his getaway; and Genevieve O'Reilly (The Dry) as the returning Mon Mothma, a senator with a key part in the Rebel Alliance. Andor has a mission, after all: showing how Cassian evolves from pilfering whatever he can steal from Imperial ships, seeking out his lost sibling and eking out the only existence he can to discovering how he can fight the Empire, firstly; and also charting the beginnings of that rebellion, including how its pieces, people and planets come together in response to such a fraught political climate. If Morlana One plays like 'Blade Runner but make it Star Wars', Ferrix does the same with WALL-E. As the series progresses through its first three episodes (all of which debuted to kick off the show), plus the fourth episode that follows, it's easy to think of Fast and Furious and The Lord of the Rings at times, too. There's also a taut and intense spy-thriller vibe that's right out of creator Tony Gilroy's playbook, given that he has four Bourne screenplays to his name and helmed The Bourne Legacy before co-writing Rogue One. Crucially, though, Andor doesn't ever feel as if it's borrowing from elsewhere because it doesn't have its own strengths, sources of intrigue or direction. While its initial two instalments take their time, this series is too gripping, smart, meaty and fleshed out — and too bold and ambitious — for that. Also in 2022, Jurassic World Dominion showed how dire something can be when it stitches in elements from other movies (riffing on whole scenes, too) to make up for its own glaring lack of interest, but that's never Andor for a second. It helps that Andor has a magnificent cast, perhaps the best that Disney+ has assembled for its Star Wars series so far, even with The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi already in its catalogue. Also assisting immensely: that its main talents relay a grounded yet impassioned story, as the plight of folks teaming up to stop nefarious influences that've turned their existence into a dystopian nightmare should be. That Luna is mesmerising, always weighty in the emotions he's conveying, and that the look of angst that's so often on his face speaks volumes about what it takes to strive to resist when the wrong forces are lingering (and they're firmly against you), couldn't be more important. And, that Andor knows the grim end that awaits — and knows that its audience knows it — is just as essential. Stepping backwards hasn't always worked for Star Wars, as Episode I — The Phantom Menace, Episode II — Attack of the Clones and Episode III — Revenge of the Sith demonstrated, but Andor isn't driven by easy nostalgia and connecting obvious dots. Rather, it interrogates and re-emphasises what the entire space fight has truly always been about anyway, and why it matters. Check out the trailer for Andor: Andor streams via Disney+ from Wednesday, September 21. Images: ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd & TM. All Rights Reserved.
It's nice to escape out of the big city sometimes. Just a hop, skip and a jump (90 minutes) from Sydney, the Pullman Magenta Shores Resort is a worthy way to exit hectic Sydney and get a little quality R&R in. Beachfront and with numerous, luxurious pools, the resort is nestled in between Tuggerah Lake and the sea, so swimming is probably #1 on your holiday priorities list. For those who can drag themselves away from their sunlounger, the resort is the perfect gateway to the New South Wales Central Coast. Around summer, this area is your go-to for outdoor adventures ranging from surfing and paddleboarding to quad biking and ziplining through the treetops. Take your pick from beaches like The Entrance, Bateau Bay, Shelly Beach, Copacabana or Macmaster's, enjoy your cold-drip coffee barefoot in the cafes of Avoca and Terrigal, and breathe in a big gulp of fresh air at Bouddi National Park. So you can further remind yourself that you're out of the city, all rooms at the Pullman Magenta Shores (choose from a studio apartment up to a three-bed villa) have relaxing nature views, just so you can remind yourself that you're out of the city. You can kick back in the Lagoon Pool, the heated lap pool indoors if it's a bit nippy, or even the beach rock pools if you want to go crab-watching. The Resort is also home to the Magenta Shores Golf & Country Club, designed by Ross Watson and 18-holes long to fully occupy your vacation days. You're only allowed on this private green if you're staying at Pullman Magenta Shores, or if you've invested in a pricey membership, so take advantage. If you're tuckered out from the activity time or golf isn't your bag, head to the on-site Vie Spa to pamper yourself in one of their five treatment rooms. Once you're hungry from all the relaxing, head over to the resort's fine-dining Barrett's Restaurant, or Shallows Bar – there's a tasting menu as well as a wood-fired pizza oven and a range of share plates on the menu, so your belly will be just as happy as your relaxed muscles.
Fourth Village Providore has been a staple of the Mosman community since 2008, featuring a veritable medley of authentic Italian fine foods. Now the time has come to refresh its offering, with the relaunch of Fourth Village Panini Bar & Café. Serving as the latest chapter of this family business, diners can expect a welcoming communal experience where the simple pleasures of Italian cuisine ring through every dish. Bringing a new dynamic to the menu, panuozzo is set to be a standout favourite. Born on the outskirts of Naples decades ago, this classic Italian street food is where pizza meets panini. Made with woodfired pizza bread and stuffed with sumptuous ingredients, Fourth Village is offering delicious combinations like salami and mortadella with stracciatella alongside veggie options such as chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables. Drawing from the business' huge range of high-end goods, the menu extends into house-made focaccia, fresh burrata salads, pastries, woodfired pizzettes and Italian gelato. There's also a selection of tempting desserts, with Fourth Village renowned locally for its panettone french toast. Plus, it will undoubtedly be hard to resist a slice of tiramisu whenever you stop by for a coffee and panini. "While our restaurant has been a special place for many years, reopening as Fourth Village Panini Bar & Café has been a heartfelt evolution of our family's passion for sharing the authentic flavours of Italy with our community," says Dominic Quattroville, whose parents Peter and Annette founded the business. "The café brings a fresh and inviting space where everyone can enjoy our family recipes and traditions in a casual setting." The Quattroville family's culinary story dates back to 1997, when they purchased 100 acres of farmland in the Lower Hunter region. Now, the property's 3,500 olive trees are responsible for some of the finest table olives and handcrafted olive oils, whether you prefer Spanish Manzanillo, Greek Kalamata or Italian Frantoio. While olives were the initial focus, soon Fourth Village expanded into condiments, balsamic dressings, pickled vegetables and more. "Most importantly, this new chapter honours our family's commitment to genuine Italian hospitality, where every guest is treated like family. We're creating a space where people can drop in any time of day, whether it's for a morning coffee and pastry, a relaxed lunch with friends, or a quick afternoon gelato," says Quattroville. Fourth Village Panini Bar & Café is open Wednesday–Thursday and Sunday from 8am–2pm and Friday–Saturday from 8am-3pm at 5a Vista St, Mosman. Head to the website for more information.
There's going to be another murder in the building. That's the only way to interpret the news that Only Murders in the Building, the murder-mystery comedy series that's been a delight not once but twice now, is officially coming back for a third season. Clearly, New York City's deadliest fictional apartment block will strike again — and residents turned true-crime podcasters Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin, It's Complicated), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short, Schmigadoon!) and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez, The Dead Don't Die) will have something else to chat about. Is there a more chaotic place to live in NYC at the moment, at least on the small screen? It doesn't appear so. As for exactly who'll be killed this time, and what the Arconia complex's resident sleuths have to say about it, that hasn't yet been revealed. (Neither has whether season three of Only Murders in the Building will indeed revolve around another murder in the building — but hey, the expected answer is right there in the show's title.) If you're still yet to experience the series' charms, it follows the odd trio of Charles-Haden, Oliver and the much-younger Mabel after they bond over two things: listening to a Serial-style podcast hosted by the show's own version of Sarah Koenig, aka Cinda Canning (Tina Fey, Girls5eva); and a death in their luxe abode. Of course, they did what everyone that's jumped on the true-crime bandwagon knows they would if they were ever in the same situation, starting their own audio series that's also called Only Murders in the Building. That's how season one kicked off — and continued, proving a warm, funny, smart and savvy series at every step along the way, as well as one of 2021's best small-screen newcomers. Now, in the show's second go-around, which is currently streaming week-to-week Down Under via Star on Disney+, Charles-Haden, Oliver and Mabel have another death to investigate. This time, it's someone they're all known not to be that fond of, so suspicions keep pointing in their direction. Again, no further details about season three have been revealed as yet — sorry, armchair detectives — including when it'll return. Considering that there was less than a year between seasons one and two, though, cross your fingers that the show keeps up the same schedule. Similarly yet to be announced: which high-profile names will join the wonderful Martin, Short and Gomez in the next batch of episodes. Both Sting and Amy Schumer have played themselves so far — and Cara Delevingne (Carnival Row) also pops up. Until more information about season three is unveiled, check out the trailer for Only Murders in the Building season two below: Only Murders in the Building's second season is streaming Down Under via Star on Disney+. Read our full review. You can also read our full review of the show's first season, too. Images: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu.
Before they were chasing storms in Twisters, the 28-years-later sequel to one of the disaster-film blockbusters of the 90s, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos were no strangers to whirlwinds. Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung, who directs the Twister follow-up, swirls alongside them in the same category. The last few years have seen the careers of all four rise rapidly. Normal People made Edgar-Jones a star. Powell has enjoyed a Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You and Hit Man hot streak. Ramos is a Lin-Manuel Miranda favourite with an originating part — two actually — in Hamilton and a lead role in the big-screen In the Heights adaptation. And Chung is fresh from drawing upon his own life in Minari, which won an Oscar and collected five more nominations, including for Best Director. How did this quartet end up following in the footsteps of Helen Hunt (Hacks) and the late Bill Paxton (The Circle), as well as cinematographer-turned-filmmaker (and Die Hard and Speed veteran) Jan de Bont? Chasing fun, valuing the chance to focus on the human side of weather wreaking havoc, bringing America's Tornado Alley to the screen, not only having a personal connection with the first film but wanting the second to feel personal: they're among the answers that Twisters three leads and its director shared with Concrete Playground. For Chung, growing up on the Oklahoma border means that he's also no stranger to tornadoes IRL. As a teenager in the 90s, he was mesmerised with the original Twister, as the entire world was. "That was a really big deal for me, and for my friends and for my family," he advises. Under his guidance — working with a script by The Boys in the Boat and The Revenant screenwriter Mark L Smith, which started with Top Gun: Maverick helmer Joseph Kosinski — Edgar-Jones, Powell and Ramos play storm obsessives on a mission. Make that missions, plural, beginning in college. At first Edgar-Jones' Kate and Ramos' Javi are on the road attempting to establish that tornadoes can be tamed. Then, tragedy strikes. Five years later, the pair reteam to scan the seasonal gusts that terrorise the US heartland, using portable radars that Javi has built a business around, albeit with now New York-based meteorologist Kate reluctant to be back out in the field and Javi leaving the details of his funding out of their conversation. Also seeking the same squalls is Powell's swaggering Tyler Owens, who prefers livestreaming his crew's exploits — and being a "tornado wrangler", merchandise and all — over taking the ultra-professional ethos sported by Javi's team. As Edgar-Jones and Ramos do with their characters, he ensures that this is a part that feels like only he could've slipped into. Indeed, Twisters doesn't enlist its impressive main on-screen trio just to get them caught up in the well-staged spectacle and action. [caption id="attachment_965979" align="alignnone" width="1917"] Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros.[/caption] No one gets out of the film without battling wild weather, of course, a process that's "like being in a washing machine, really", Edgar-Jones explains. "A great dirty washing machine," Powell adds. That said, the naturalistic imagery that Chung and cinematographer Dan Mindel (Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker) paint their tale with, favouring an aesthetic approach that makes Twisters visually resemble Minari more than the standard disaster flick, also mirrors the film's handling of Kate, Javi and Tyler. There's always storms to chase, plus run from, with special effects proving both pivotal and phenomenally convincing; however, there's also a genuine sense of character as its key threesome face devastating vortexes alongside their own baggage. Appreciating the communities impacted by destructive gales feels equally as authentic. If it seems like a leap for Chung to hop from Minari to here, he went via an episode of The Mandalorian — and that his latest movie falls in the middle of those two extremes, even if it might appear closer to the latter on paper, also came up in our chat. With Twisters in cinemas Down Under since Thursday, July 11, 2024, we also spoke with Edgar-Jones, Powell, Ramos and Chung about tackling a sequel to a beloved film after almost three decades, perfecting the right look, the human element of the narrative and more, including preparing to play the resident cowboy who wants to shoot flares into the storm. "I always came to set with fireworks and rockets," Powell jokes. "Nobody ever knew when I was just going to fire those things off." On Twisters Falling in the Middle of Minari and The Mandalorian Isaac: "After I made Minari, I was editing Minari and watching The Mandalorian — that's where I decided I'd love to do an episode of The Mandalorian, just because I fell in love with that TV show. When I worked on that show, it was so much VFX work, so much work on these LED screens and on a stage that, in taking Twisters, I wanted to bring our production back out to the field and back out to Oklahoma. So it did feel like it was kind of zigging and zagging and trying to figure out what I've learned from Minari, what I've learned from The Mandalorian, trying to bring those two things together in some way." On the Appeal of Chasing Tornadoes On-Screen Anthony: "It sounds fun — and that's kind of the biggest appeal. It's something that I never thought I'd ever do. And to work with this team has been a dream. It's cool, just the thought of going out into Oklahoma and driving trucks and being in the elements out there, and working with an incredible cast — I think that's what made it so appealing. That's what made it sound like 'hey, this is something I want to do, sounds fun'." On How Growing Up on the Oklahoma Border Influenced Chung's Decision to Direct Twisters Isaac: "That was a hugely influential part of taking on this project. I felt like growing up, there aren't many big films, blockbuster films, that take place in that world. And when Twister came out, that was a really big deal for me, and for my friends and for my family. And I remember that being really special. When I saw that this project was happening, I thought it was just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go back to where I grew up with a big tentpole action movie. So absolutely, that was a huge part of that decision-making." On Ensuring That This Is a Disaster Film with a Strong Human Element Daisy: "I think that was a big part of why I was so excited to be involved with this film. I'd watched Minari — I'm such a huge fan of that film and Isaac as a filmmaker — and obviously that's got a very indie sensibilities, very character-driven. And so when I heard he was making Twisters, I was so curious to see what that mixture would be like, someone who has this real interest in detail and interpersonal dynamics, but also this huge scale, this blockbuster feel. And so I think that was what was so exciting when we were involved, that all of the characters feel very beautifully drawn out. It's imbued with a lot of reverence for nature, but it also has this fun, this scale, this adrenaline to it. And I just think Isaac did such a remarkable job of really making all the individual characters feel so grounded in truth. As an actor, that's the thing I'm most excited about: to represent people truthfully." On Taking on a Sequel to a Film That's Widely Adored — and Making It Personal Isaac: "It really makes it very challenging because everybody has their own reason for loving that previous work. I'd encountered that already when I was working on the Star Wars shows, which I think Star Wars audiences are maybe the least forgiving, because I love that world so much. So I got my feet wet already with the idea of 'how do I honour something that a lot of people love for very good reasons, and still try to bring in my personal side and my own spin to things?'. In general, what I find with audiences is that if you really start with that love and appreciation for something, then they come around to whatever you choose to do as long as you're really honouring. So that was my approach with this. I wanted to honour that first film, but also make it personal to myself." On What Goes Into Playing the Resident Cowboy Storm Chaser Who Wants to Shoot Fireworks Into the Wild Weather Glen: "At the end of the day, it's Kate's journey to rediscover something she loves, something that should give her a lot of joy. And so Tyler's role in this movie is just to remind Kate why chasing something that gives you joy is the greatest pursuit of your life. And so it's fun to show up in a cowboy hat and jeans, and cowboy boots and drive trucks across the Oklahoma plains, and shoot rockets into the sky. I recommend it. It's a good way to go to work." On Favouring Naturalistic Cinematography That Grounds the Film Over a Glossy Action-Blockbuster Sheen Isaac: "I worked with an incredible cinematographer named Dan Mindel, and he's a real legend behind the camera. When he came on board, we were already talking about old western movies like The Searchers, we were talking about Kurosawa. We wanted to create a sense of place and space, and also evoke a feeling of a western with this movie. And then when we knew that we were going to be filming a rodeo, we wanted it to really feel like rodeo photography from the 1970s in magazines. So there was a lot of that thought going into the process to bring out the texture of the place. And hopefully that comes through. It was just a real joy working with him." On Filming Action Scenes in a Movie That's Not Only About Tornado Season in Oklahoma, But Was Shot During Tornado Season in Oklahoma Daisy: "Every scene felt quite laced with irony in the sense that we would have to shut down filming pretty constantly for actual weather, to then start filming again to then recreate the weather we had to shut down for. It was so incredible to really be in Oklahoma during storm season. There were a lot of tornadoes that did touch down while we were filming, and weather like I've never seen before, but it really helped us imbue the whole thing with truth. And everybody we met that was there, that were background artists from Oklahoma, they were chasers, they were also Red Cross workers, it really helped, I think, to imbue the film with as much truth as possible. The actual filming of tornado sequences is just sort of wild. It's like being in a washing machine, really. You don't really know what's happening." Glenn: "A great dirty washing machine." Daisy: "You're just hoping that there's some acting happening, but you're just kind of in it." Anthony: "Yeah, if you're getting pelted with wind and your face, you can't help but to make a face because you're getting rained on, there's dirt all over you. I see stills of me in some of the scenes that we shot, and I'm dusty and my clothes are filthy — and that's what you want when you shoot this kind of movie. You want to be in it. You want to feel that, and they were so good about making sure that we did it." Twisters opened in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Read our review.
Beach days and good weather aren't the only thing summer brings. With the return of music festival season, we're getting wind of Australian tour dates from heaps of cool bands. The latest news is from Okkervil River and Austra, who will be appearing at this year's Perth Festival and other sideshows around the country. Okkervil River Get ready, folk-rock fans, for a little something to spice up your musical repertoire from Okkervil River. The Texan-indie rockers have released their seventh full-length studio album, and you could hear it live this summer when they make their sixth tour of Australia. A nostalgic ode to the days of his New Hampshire-spent youth, The Silver Gymnasium is the autobiographical creation of frontman Will Sheff. Since the band members grew up in the 1980s, it's only fitting that the album stays true to the times with lots of pop influences. You probably wouldn't think of '80s pop and southwestern folk rock as a match, but Okkervil River makes it seem completely natural. Tracks like 'Stay Young' and 'Deep Down the Deep River' could be soundtrack-worthy of cult classics like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles with their catchy tunes and reflective lyrics. You'll find yourself humming along, fondly (or not so) reminded of the glory days of your high school years. Sydney: 21 February, Oxford Art Factor Melbourne: 22 February, Corner Hotel Perth Festival Tickets available from Handsome Tours. https://youtube.com/watch?v=n7UeGBULQ7Y Austra The Canadian electro-pop group Austra caused a sensation at the 2012 Laneway Festival, with their exhilarating fusion of riveting vocals and electronic synth. That performance was just from their debut album, and since then they've added two new members and dropped a fantastic follow-up album. 2013's Olympia is the perfect combination of indie rock and new wave. Katie Stelmanis, the main songwriter, rings a bell of Florence Welch and London Grammar's Hannah Reid with her operatic voice. Her songwriting talents have shone as well in this second album, which is a beautiful collection of lyrically personal tracks. But perhaps its been her ability to expand the band's range of sounds — which encompasses many dimensions of trance, electro and pop — yet stay true to feeling of their first album that have made Austra so successful. They've recently had a crazy touring schedule, sharing the stage with big-timers such as The xx, Grimes and The Gossip. This summer, Austra will be returning to the country for Perth Festival, and making appearances at sideshows in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Adelaide: 13 Feb, Uni Bar Sydney: 14 Feb, The Standard Melbourne: 15 Feb, Corner Hotel Perth Festival Tickets available from Handsome Tours https://youtube.com/watch?v=ODyWKkDBb4U
Consider this a case of better late than never: if you've been hanging out to discover if there's more Yellowjackets in your viewing future, that question has now been revealed. After the show's third season wrapped up in mid-April 2025, it has taken over a month to confirm that a fourth is in the works. The survival thriller's characters know more than a thing or two about waiting in both of its timelines — so consider this a case of standing in their shoes for a short stint, too. There's no word yet as to when Yellowjackets will be back, or even when production on season four will start. Season one debuted in 2021 and became one of the best new shows of that year, then season two arrived in 2023 and season three this February. Whether there's a two-year wait as in the past between seasons, or either less or more, getting to find out what happens after season three's cliffhanger is obviously an excellent development. The renewal comes after Yellowjackets' third season became its most-watched ever — and after season three's finale proved the most-streamed Yellowjackets episode in the show's history. As created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Dispatches From Elsewhere), the series serves up the answer to a compelling question: if a plane transporting a New Jersey high school's girls' soccer team across America was to crash en route, how would its surviving passengers cope both at the time while lost in the wilderness and also a quarter of a century later back in their everyday lives? Accordingly, in its 90s-set scenes, Yellowjackets' teenagers do whatever it takes to endure. Hop to the 2020s era and the women that made it home aren't done with their trauma yet. Battling the elements, cannibalism, haunting secrets, shifting power dynamics, embracing the otherworldly, romantic tangles, fighting over whether being saved is even the best outcome: they're just some of the places that Yellowjackets has gone across its three seasons to date. Bringing that journey to life so far, the show's cast has spanned Melanie Lynskey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz), Christina Ricci (Wednesday), Tawny Cypress (Law & Order), Juliette Lewis (Opus), Simone Kessell (Critical Incident), Lauren Ambrose (Caddo Lake), Hilary Swank (Ordinary Angels), Sophie Nélisse ( L'Indétectable), Sophie Thatcher (Companion), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Dreams in Nightmares), Samantha Hanratty (Brilliant Minds), Courtney Eaton (Parachute), Liv Hewson (For Worse), Ella Purnell (Sweetpea), Sarah Desjardins (Dead Boy Detectives), Warren Kole (A Wonderful Way with Dragons), Kevin Alves (No Good Deed), Steven Krueger (Roswell, New Mexico), Joel McHale (Animal Control), Elijah Wood (The Monkey) and more. After it debuted, Yellowjackets was swiftly picked up for a second season because its first was that ace, then renewed for a third season before that second group of episodes even aired. In Australia, viewers can watch via Paramount+. In New Zealand, the series streams via Neon. There's obviously no sneak peek yet at season four, but check out the trailer for Yellowjackets season three below: Yellowjackets streams via Paramount+ in Australia and Neon in New Zealand — we'll update you with a release date for season four when one is announced. Read our review of season one and review of season two, plus our interviews with Melanie Lynskey and Simone Kessell. Images: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
When historians in some far-flung future crack the books on 2023, one thing that will be immediately apparent is that it was an absolute red letter year for video games. Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Wonder, Diablo IV, Armored Core IV — the list of bangers goes on and on. But it wasn't just big games that shone – indie developers also had a cracker 12 months and that's what we're here to celebrate. Here, in no particular order (and, as a person with a full time job and a child, by no means exhaustive), are the best ten smaller games the year blessed us with. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnClIPdnXUs[/embed] Storyteller There's no better example of a passion project on this list than Storyteller. Created by Argentinian solo developer Daniel Benmergui, it's been a labour of love that has lasted almost 14 years since he first started work. Thank goodness he stuck with it. This puzzle game plays on the concept of narrative familiarity. Each level presents you with a title — for instance 'Seeing The Ghost Of A Lover', or 'Witch Becomes The Mirror's Favourite' – and tasks you with arranging a choice of characters and scenes in a visual setup not dissimilar to comic panels to build a suitable story. Your solutions update in real time as you move elements around, allowing for rapid-fire experimentation when the stories start to get tricky. The art style could be described paradoxically as 'restrained cartoony', but it works so well, imbuing each of the characters with enough personality to give you a sense of how they operate when deployed. Perhaps its greatest strength is how approachable it is. The gameplay is so simple that you could hand it to a 90-year old who has never touched a controller and they'll be up and running in no time, particularly when using touchscreen controls on a phone, tablet or Switch. Take that, generational gap. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrhivCSKZxk[/embed] Fading Afternoon 'Auteur' is not a word thrown around often in gaming, but it's not without merit to apply it to Russian-based developer Yeo. His latest, Fading Afternoon, is a rumination on the tension between the past, the present and the future. Step into the shoes of Seiji Maruyama, a legendary Yakuza enforcer who starts the game at the end of a stint in prison. His old crime family welcomes him back, but with advancing age and a cough that won't go away, is it really the life he wants? That's up to you to decide, with player agency forming the core of the storytelling, allowing you to fight for former glory, betray colleagues, dive into degeneracy or simply spend your hours fishing. It's got surprisingly deep combat mechanics – side note: breaking an enemy's arm and taking their weapon never stops being cool as hell – and a finely curated soundtrack that matches the various moods of the game perfectly. Plus there are controls that allow you to remove your character's jacket and sling it over your shoulder, put sunglasses on, comb your hair, light up a cigarette and more, turning something as simple as walking down the street into a moment. Fading Afternoon is not a game that holds your hand, which some may find frustrating, but approach it with an open mind and you'll encounter numerous 'wow, I didn't know I could do that' moments that are as rewarding as they are surprising. Available on: PC [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p85VHMpE0to[/embed] Dave The Diver The game that launched a thousand online threads about what truly constitutes an 'indie', it's being included in this list because it's too damn good not to talk about. You play the portly title character as he joins an old crony on a new venture: to establish a sushi joint next to a mysterious blue hole in the ocean that teems with sea life from around the world. Spend your days exploring this marine miracle rendered in stunning pixel art and catching its inhabitants, and your nights running the restaurant, both of which present gameplay challenges that are a joy to master. It's honestly unbelievable how much South Korean developer MINTROCKET managed to cram into the game. There's a wide cast of characters; a variety of different narratives involving merpeople, shady eco-warriors, and snooty food critics; boss battles; a whole farm management element; vast amounts of upgrades for your equipment, your staff and your dishes, and a whole lot more. What's most amazing is how balanced all these elements are, allowing you to choose where to focus at any given time without feeling overwhelmed. Be warned, it is addictive and you'll find yourself wondering if you can fit in another dive when the clock says 2AM on more than one occasion. Available on: PC/Mac, Nintendo Switch [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOD6tKr3dHE[/embed] El Paso, Elsewhere Some breakups are amicable. Some are bad. Some lead to the apocalypse. That's just the way love goes. El Paso, Elsewhere, developed by Strange Scaffold, sees you dealing with the third type of end to a relationship. You're James Savage, a folklore researcher with a pill problem and a score to settle with your ex-girlfriend Draculae, a powerful vampire who is bringing about the end of the world from an extra-dimensional space underneath a roadside motel in El Paso, Texas. Gameplay-wise, it's an unashamed love letter to the Max Payne series, with satisfyingly chunky gunplay augmented by slo-mo dives that are as cinematic as they are tactical. In your journey through the increasingly surreal sub-floors of the motel, you'll face off against werewolves, biblically accurate angels, living suits of armour and more, each requiring you to switch up your approach which keeps the combat interesting, particularly when crowds of enemies start testing your ammo reserves. Where this game really shines is just how fucking cool it is. The script is so hard-boiled it wouldn't be out of place in a Caesar salad. Savage is pitch-perfectly voiced by Strange Scaffold's creative director Xalavier Nelson Jr., and each cutscene in between levels is a welcome narrative reward for the chaos you've navigated. It's a journey into addiction and heartbreak that will stick with you long after the credits roll. Available on: PC, Xbox One/S/X [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00B3pbxoFvI[/embed] Blasphemous 2 There's no rest for the penitent. Spanish outfit The Game Kitchen brought us back to the grim, guilt-soaked lands of Custodia for another pilgrimage of exploration and gory combat in Blasphemous 2. The sequel leans more heavily into its metroidvania roots than its predecessor, adding in classic elements like double jumping and air dashing that give more options for both combat and traversal. There's also the expanded range of weaponry the Penitent One can wield, each with its own skill tree and strengths, meaning you'll be hot swapping up a slaughter during your journey. With its dense, lore-heavy plot that evokes shades of Dark Souls and Elden Ring, Blasphemous 2 goes beyond the usual fantasy fare into something that is more memorable (and occasionally bleak). And the world is huge, with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore whenever you unlock new abilities. Special mention should be made of the boss battles as well, with excellent character design and confrontations that induce just enough frustration to leave you fist-pumping when you finally triumph. Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5 [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHfzY-nIQxw[/embed] Cocoon The true measure of any puzzle game is the sense of achievement you feel when you finally crack a solution. Cocoon, the first release by Danish studio Geometric Interactive (founded by former employees of Playdead, developers of Limbo and Inside, which is an immense pedigree), is a symphony of such 'Aha!' moments. It's a game about orbs. As a small winged figure, you traverse a variety of biomes that blend the biological and mechanical, discovering these various pearls along the way. Bring them to specific machinery and you can dive into them, opening up new worlds to explore. The kicker? You can carry worlds into worlds, leading to some truly matryoshka-esque puzzles that can tax your brain to the limit. These conundrums are never unfair, though. The overarching game design is beautifully done, with each mechanic introduced and explored until familiar before the next one comes along. There's no backtracking, no missed items, no external information needed – everything you need to arrive at a solution is right in front of you in that particular moment of gameplay. You only need to think. Narrative fans be warned, it's vastly more weighted to exploration than exposition, but there is a plot at play here that crescendos in a cosmic fashion. But the real story is that warm glow you get throughout as you overcome obstacles and realise hey, I am smart! Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5 [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ws82dj_fA[/embed] Dredge Who would've guessed that adding a handful of horror to a fishing game would be such a good recipe? New Zealand developers Black Salt Games, that's who. Leaning into the cold hard fact that the ocean is a terrifying place full of nightmares, Dredge puts you behind the wheel of a small fishing vessel as a captain whose memory was taken by a shipwreck. You'll earn your keep by pulling fish out of the ocean through a variety of methods, each with their own minigame that keeps the gameplay fresh. Some of these fish, however, are… wrong, which speaks to the wider tension of the game. There's something sinister afoot in the various archipelagos you visit, from eldritch cults to abyssal monsters, and while you're never tasked with finding a solution to these problems, investigating them is chilling fun nonetheless. Supporting the eerie atmosphere that pervades the game are some excellent decisions around gameplay mechanics. Your ship has an upgrade tree that gives pleasantly concrete results in game. The aforementioned minigames are coupled with a Tetris-style mechanic of arranging your catch in your hold, leading to some hard decisions about what to keep and to jettison when you hit the space limit. Throw in an encyclopedia that tracks all the species you catch, and you've got a range of addictive gameplay loops that'll keep you heading out to sea. Available on: PC, Playstation 4/5, Xbox One/S/X, Nintendo Switch [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXgktRWrHaI[/embed] Thirsty Suitors If you've ever been in public, caught sight of a former romantic partner and felt a wave of panic engulf you, then have we got a game recommendation for you. Thirsty Suitors is the product of Outerloop Games, a studio in Seattle with a penchant for exploring underrepresented cultures and themes. You play as Jala, a second generation Indian immigrant and young LGBTQIA+ woman who is back in her Pacific Northwest hometown of Timber Falls for her sister's wedding. Only thing is, dear sister is not talking to you and there are a slew of ex-romantic partners who are eager for a reckoning due to your past problematic behaviour. While topics like this could be approached in a heavy-handed manner, Thirsty Suitors instead takes an over-the-top path that is as entertaining as it is sensitive. Each ex gets a showdown that plays out through turn-based combat, combining wildly imaginative battlefields and moves with conversational back-and-forths that tackle codependency, betrayal, the expectations of South Asian parents, navigating life out of the closet and more. Better yet, victory is not about domination but understanding, giving each battle a far more satisfying denouement. Throw in a deep and humorously acrobatic cooking minigame, Tony Hawk Pro Skater-style traversal and maybe one of the best video game fathers ever, and it's a truly unique experience with emotional enlightenment at its centre. Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5 [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKDwnRWroto[/embed] Sludge Life 2 It's time to go back to the sludge, baby! The crassest, coolest vandalism simulator made a return this year, shepherded into existence by developer Terri Vellman and musician DOSEONE. You're back as Ghost, an elite tagger turned artist manager responsible for the rapper Big Mud. He's got a gig to play, but after a night of epic partying with his Click Sick crew he's nowhere to be found. Time to leave your trashed hotel room and track him down. Sludge Life 2 builds on its predecessor in the simplest way: by being bigger across the board. There's more world to explore, more NPCs to engage with and more tools to help you get around, from sneakers that allow double-jumping to a portable launcher that throws you high into the air, helping you to reach the 100 tagging spots scattered around the city - some obvious, some fiendishly hidden. There's also a higher level of cheerful cynicism present. The world has evolved since the first game, with the corporate presence of the Ciggy Cig company now dominating the map with their efforts to get children puffing their wares (now with vitamins!). As you make your way around and talk to the inhabitants, you'll uncover a revolution brewing, which you can wind up playing your own part in. Also, the cat with two buttholes is back. Really, it's a game with something for everyone. Available on: PC [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__hzPH3tcvA[/embed] Chants of Senaar Chants of Senaar, developed by French team Rundisc, is the answer to the question 'what if the Tower of Babel and the Rosetta Stone had a baby that was a puzzle game?' The game sees you exploring a mystical tower divided into levels populated by groups organised around castes, each of whom has a unique language consisting of logograms (or symbols that represent words, for those who haven't studied linguistics too deeply). To progress, you need to decipher these languages using a variety of context clues, interactions and signs scattered throughout the environments. Your efforts are tracked in a notebook, where you can record what you think various symbols mean and confirm them in sets once you've discovered enough of them, a mechanic that helps to defeat a brute force approach. Eventually, grammar is layered in as another aspect to consider, testing your skills even more. The tower itself is a joy to explore, with distinct colour palettes and architectural styles for each of the levels and a great use of light and shadow throughout. Breaking up the language puzzles are the occasional stealth sections, giving a welcome variety to the gameplay. As mentioned earlier, puzzle games can be measured by the sense of achievement you feel, and watching the world around you gradually become more intelligible, not to mention helping the different castes actually communicate, well, it doesn't get more satisfying than that. Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, Playstation 4/5
Craft beer fans, get those hops-loving palettes ready; Sydney Craft Beer Week (SCBW) is returning. Marking its fourth year of beer-fuelled frivolity, SCBW will find its way into over 40 Sydney venues from October 18 – 26 for the city's largest celebration of craft beer from Bourke Street Bakery to the Local Taphouse. With a craft beer pub prawl (complete with beer passports), massive Carriageworks festival-within-a-festival, a wonderfully-named four-course 'beergustation', beer high teas, tap takeovers and an entire sitting of gourmet sausage/craft beer pairing, there's plenty to raise a glass to this year. And you won't need an app to let you know if you're drinking the real deal. The nine-day festival is making a snuggly home of Sydney's craft breweries, pubs, eateries and galleries — with a few pop-up installations along the way. One of the biggest and most anticipated events of the program, Sip and Savour is a two-day beer festival within the wider SCBW lineup. Bringing over 250 craft beers and ciders to Carriageworks for October 25 – 26, Sip and Savour pairs your crispy libation with local gourmet food, homebrewing, live music and a swag of interactive seminars designed to have you appreciating, brewing and tasting like a craft connoisseur. Now, about those beer passports. The so-called Craft (Pub) Crawl encourages seven days of beery exploration, with solid snaps awarded to hopping tasters at participating venues. Bragging rights abound with this one, as well as ideal tweeting conditions. Hopefully some of these winners are on offer this year. Food pairing beer lovers will love two meatlover events from Byron Bay's Stone and Wood and Northern Beaches' Ekim Brewing Co. S&W are bringing back their celebrated, pork-happy event 'The Big Pig Out' (with four pigs and all four Stone and Wood varieties on tap. Then Ekim collaborate with The Welcome for the awkwardly-named '[It's a complete] Sausage-fest!' — with five types of gourmet sausage paired with the Northern Beaches' brewing team's catalogue. Mega craft beer fan and SCBW director Joel Connolly sees the ever-developing festival as a quintessentially Sydney event. "Though we’ve grown faster than we ever imagined, we’re proud the event still has a local and relatable feel, giving everyone attending a sense of ownership of these locally produced craft beers," he says. "In a way, there is a definite form of community spirit and kinship built and celebrated during the festival, as we give craft beer a much deserved time to shine." Kicking off with a big ol' launch party at Giant Dwarf on Friday, October 17, SCBW's opening night will see over 25 Australian and international craft breweries offering up their wares and competing for your continued sippage. Sydney Craft Beer Week runs October 18 – 26. To check out the full program, visit www.sydneycraftbeerweek.com.
When it was announced back in 2016 that Moulin Rouge! was being turned into a stage musical, fans around the world thought the same thing in unison: the show must go on. Since then, the lavish production premiered in the US in 2018, then hit Broadway in 2019, and also announced that it'd head Down Under in 2021 — and if you're an Aussie worried about whether the latter would actually happen after 2020's chaos, it looks like the same mantra applies to its planned Melbourne season. Moulin Rouge! The Musical has put out a casting call for auditions in both Melbourne and Sydney in January and February 2021, with working towards June rehearsals and August previews part of its timeline. So, once the second half of next year hits, you could be watching the spectacular show — which is based on Baz Luhrmann's award-winning musical movie, of course — at Melbourne's revamped Regent Theatre. The musical brings to life the famed Belle Époque tale of young composer Christian and his heady romance with Satine, actress and star of the legendary Moulin Rouge cabaret. Set in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, the film is known for its soundtrack, celebrating iconic tunes from across the past five decades. The stage show carries on the legacy, backing those favourites with even more hit songs that have been released in the 19 years since the movie premiered. And, when Moulin Rouge! The Musical makes its Aussie debut, it'll be doing so in the movie's 20th anniversary year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p68Q1G1A_k4&feature=emb_logo The musical is heading to Melbourne in the hands of production company Global Creatures, along with the Victorian Government. The Government is also a big player behind the Regent's upgrade works, having dropped a cool $14.5 million towards the $19.4 million project. It co-owns the site, along with the City of Melbourne. While Moulin Rouge! The Musical's exact season dates haven't been revealed, you can register for the ticket waitlist via the production's website. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will hit The Regent Theatre, at 191 Collins Street, Melbourne in 2021 — with the show currently working towards an August 2021 kick-off date. To register for the ticket waitlist, head to the production's website. Moulin Rouge! The Musical image: Matthew Murphy.
Beverly Hills, 90210 did it. Saved by the Bell and Gossip Girl, too. If a teen-focused series is a hit, odds are that'll end up back on our screens years and even decades after it first popped up, telling new high school-set tales with a new cast for a new generation — and that's exactly what's happening with Australia's beloved Heartbreak High. Back in 2020, Netflix announced that it was bringing the series back — and now that revival is almost here. The series itself will join your streaming queue on Wednesday, September 14, and the platform keeps dropping trailers in the interim. Indeed, after the first teaser arrived at the beginning of August, the streamer has just unveiled the full sneak peek. Yes, it definitely looks like a 2020s take on the Aussie classic. Yes, this new batch of students still attend Hartley High, the fictional school that everyone watching was obsessed with when the OG version of the show first aired way back when. And yes, teenage chaos is still the main focus, including everything from friendship fights, yelling about vaginas from the top of a building and throwing dildos at walls through to a public sex map that charts who at Hartley has hooked up with who. 90s kids, prepare to feel emotional — the initial series screened for seven seasons and 210 episodes between 1994–99, and wasn't just a high school-set Aussie show; it was the high school-set Aussie show of the era. The original Heartbreak High was filled with now-familiar faces, too, including Alex Dimitriades, a pre-Home and Away Ada Nicodemou, and Avengers: Endgame and Mystery Road's Callan Mulvey as Drazic. It painted a multicultural picture of Australia that was unlike anything else on TV at the time. And, for its six-year run across two Aussie networks, the Sydney-shot show was must-see television — not bad for a series that started as a spinoff to the Claudia Karvan and Alex Dimitriades-starring 1993 movie The Heartbreak Kid. This time around, a revelation turns Hartley High student Amerie (Ayesha Madon, The Moth Effect) into a pariah, and also sparks a rift with her best pal Harper (Asher Yasbincek, How to Please a Woman). Attempting to repair her reputation, she calls on help from her new friends Quinni (Chloe Hayden, Jeremy the Dud) and Darren (first-timer James Majoos). Back when Netflix announced the cast, it described Amerie as a smart, big-hearted but loud working-class girl, and Harper as the person at Hartley that everyone is a little afraid of, including teachers. Quinni, who has autism, is "a brain trying to connect to a body and a heart", while Darren is "the warmest snarky shit-stirrer you're ever likely to meet". Other characters include Malakai (Thomas Weatherall, All My Friends Are Racist), a Bundjalung boy and basketballer who is new at Hartley High; Dusty (Josh Heuston, Thor: Love and Thunder), an insecure bass player in an indie rock band; Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran, Mustangs FC), who has been badged "the coolest, sexiest, and chiccest lesbian at the school"; and Ca$h (Will McDonald, Home and Away), a mullet-wearing drug dealer, food delivery driver and pet duck owner. Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Baby Done) plays Hartley High's principal, too — and yes, Netflix is still streaming the original series, should you feel like a double dose of nostalgia. Check out the latest trailer for the new Heartbreak High below: Heartbreak High will be available to stream via Netflix on Wednesday, September 14.
If you're a wannabe wizard or witch looking for more Harry Potter magic in your life, the last few years have provided plenty of ways to accio up some enchanting fun. Harry Potter-themed potions bars have popped up across Australia and New Zealand, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child hit the stage in Melbourne, and screenings, parties, escape rooms, scavenger hunts and other HP-centric events have been common everywhere, really. You can also play Pokemon Go-style game Wizards Unite or browse your way through the online Harry Potter at Home portal whenever you like, too. Soon, all of above will pale in comparison to the kind of space HP fans can really lose themselves in — and one that, hopefully, visitors will need a Marauder's Map to get around. That'd be a dedicated Harry Potter theme park, which is set to open in Japan in the first half of 2023. Fingers (or wands) crossed that international travel is back to normal by then. As first reported earlier this year, the new park will take over part of the existing Toshimaen amusement park in Tokyo's Nerima ward. That site has been up and running for 94 years, but will close at the end of August 2020 — so Warner Bros Studio Tours, Warner Bros Japan, Seibu Railway Co Ltd, ITOCHU Corporation and Fuyo General Lease Co Ltd are teaming up, waving a few magic wands about and turning a section of it into a Harry Potter-theme park. [caption id="attachment_761496" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Toshimaen. Image: Rsa via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Called Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo — The Making of Harry Potter, the new venture will take more than a few cues from the existing Harry Potter attraction in London, which spans costumes, props, exhibitions and special events. That means there'll be a focus on sets that fans can tour, rather than rides. If you were hoping to play quidditch, travel by portkey or ride the floo network, that doesn't seem to be on the agenda, sorry. Instead, visitors will be taken "on a fascinating behind the scenes tour of the Wizarding World series," according to the statement officially announcing the Tokyo park. Over a space of about 30,000 square metres that'll include a soundstage and backlot area, there'll be movie sets that were designed and built by the creators of the Harry Potter series, as well as original outfits and items from the films. Overall, it's expected to take patrons about half a day to wander through it all. [caption id="attachment_761499" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Warner Bros Studio Tour London[/caption] Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo — The Making of Harry Potter will be ticketed, unsurprisingly, but outside the entrance it'll also feature a landscaped area filled with sculptures of Harry Potter figures — and that'll be accessible to both park visitors and local residents. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will be turning the rest of Toshimaen Amusement Park's grounds into a public park, with the Harry Potter tour and the rest of site coordinating their development plans. Japan is already home to a Harry Potter theme park zone at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka — so diehard devotees just might have to visit two of the country's cities. When it comes to fruition, add the dedicated Harry Potter theme park to Japan's hefty range of pop culture-themed attractions. A Super Nintendo amusement park zone is due to open at the aforementioned Universal Studios Japan in Osaka this year, a forthcoming Godzilla attraction will let you zipline into the monster's mouth, and a Studio Ghibli theme park is in the works — and Tokyo already boasts huge Godzilla and Gundam statues, as well as the Studio Ghibli Museum just outside the city. Top image: Warner Bros Studio Tour London.
